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catherinekal · 6 months

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Giant Fucking List of Obscure Video Games I Recommend!

It's finally done!! Took me long enough, but here it is. Over 50 games I recommend. Just in time for the Steam Sale. Holy shit I spent way to much time on this.

Some of these are well known to anyone into the indie/AA gaming scene or just on the internet often, but I still felt the need to mention in case people haven't heard of them. All of these are obscure compared to any AAA game and I'm confident no one would have heard or played all of these.

They all have something I found interesting in someway. I was going to include a trailer for each game, but apparently Tumblr doesn't like that. So I have put a link to a Youtube playlist for all of them in the same order as this list. Some of these games are also on various consoles to, but I can confirm they're all on Steam beyond one.

I only picked games I've played personally. I know of many other good obscure games, but haven't tried or bought them yet so they don't get on the list. Also many games on this list remain unfished to me, but that's more due to time and other life shit then them getting bad.

There's a lot of fucking games In this list so hopefully you find something you've never tried before and give it a shot. All these games are on Steam with one exception, but that's a free game. I also organized them by genres that make perfect sense to me.

Trailers Link:

The Best Game Ever:

Outer Wilds

Fuck it let's just start with the only mandatory game on this list you need to play. You know how nearly every space game is a overpromised underdelivered fucking mess? Like all of them.

Outer Wilds is the actual good one. Don't want to say much more then that. This is very much an experience that you need to know as little as possible to get the best experience. Not even linking the trailer in the playlist.

Absolutely play this game if you had to pick only 1 thing on this list.

EarthBoundLikes:

OMORI

OMORI is a game about a group of kids who go on magical adventures and save the day. That's it. Nothing else sinister going on here.

It's a well known indie game and for good reason. It's fucking good. One of my favorite games of all time.

Art style is peak. A mix of pixel and pencil drawn art that works so damn well for me. The battle system is turn based and revolves around changing emotions and teamwork. It mixes a happy child like vibe with a darkness underneath it, which is right up my alley. A tale of trauma and grief. I'm still fucked up thinking about some story bits in there.

All the characters are wonderful and the story is helped a lot by keeping it focused on a small group of friends.

Play it.

LISA: The Painful and LISA: The Joyful

LISA: The Painful/Joyful are a pair of games that fuck. They fuck hard.

They're morbid, tackle many taboos, and have a dark but also stupid sense of humor. The visuals are nothing groundbreaking, but this isn't a game that needs perfect pristine pixel art. The combat system is a lot of fun, but takes very clear inspiration from Earthbound. The story is just perfect though.

You play Brad whos on a journey to rescue his adoptive daughter who was kidnapped in a post apocalyptic world of only men. You meet the strangest allies and the game has a lot of odd characters in it. Want a lawyer fish in your party? This game has it.

It does not shy away from throwing punches and is not for anyone who can't handle a story that tackles themes of abuse, depression, suicide, and more. The game also has a sequel I don't want to say to much about, but it's absolutely worth it as well.

If you want a fun and fucked up 2D RPG adventure and somehow haven't played this then please do so.

Mandatory Metroidvania Soulslike Indie Game Darlings:

Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights

Ender Lilies is the first of many metroidvania's on this list. The indie scene is filled with them and for good reason. The formula works so damn well.

What I love about Ender Lilies is the concept of the player character. You play a white priestess who is also a child and helpless on her own. However, you can summon the spirits of allies and slain enemies to fight for you and those spirits are all your attacks. Gameplay is the same as any other Metroidvania, but knowing I'm this helpless child in this world infected by blight really sells me on the setting.

There's nothing revolutionary to this entry in the pantheon of Metroidvanias, but the visuals and setting are why I recommend it. This game is a slow descent into hell. Also you do get a big heavy hammer attack and any game with a big hammer weapon attack is a good game. Big bonks.

Craving a Metroidvania with a macabre setting? This will do it.

GRIME

GRIME is something else. I don't hear anyone talk about this game and it's a damn shame. I don't even know how to even describe GRIMEs setting. You play as essentially a sentient black hole on a rock body. You go through, with lore slowly revealed as is the Metroidvania stable, and absorb your enemies.

This games aesthetic is best described as fleshy stone. It's very unique visually and what made me want to try it out. As for gameplay you'll need to learn parrying as this games combat system heavily relies on it.

This game surprised me and has a entire level I never expected with one very unique boss to top that off. Also be warned. This game is very much a platformer as well. Similar to how the Ori games are, not just pure combat challenges. If you like your metroidvanias with little to no platforming then you won't enjoy parts of this game, but nothing as difficult as things in Hollow Knight.

If you enjoy metroidvanias then this is a must play. More people need to talk about it.

Salt and Sanctuary

This is where it all started. Certainly not the first Metroidvania by any means, but the first 2D Soulslike Metroidvania or at the least first advertised as such. The devs intended to make Dark Souls in 2D and they did it. Before Hollow Knight, the games listed above, or so many others that took inspirations from Souls in the 2D world, was this game. I know this game was popular with the souls community as it came out, but I don't really hear about it anymore. Hollow Knight just dominated all discussion.

The controls and combat are very much Dark Souls but in 2D. The lore is cryptic and hidden away. There's a fuckton of weapons and spells and multiple playthroughs worth of stuff. The game is hard though Hollow Knight would easily one up it in terms of difficulty.

This game also has covenants that are actually good and the mechanics around them are vastly improved over any souls game that has covenants. I won't go into detail, but I wish the souls games copied this games mechanics for that.

The setting is high fantasy with the lovely dark bloody horror underneath it all. The art style can turn people away, it's not as pretty as other 2D souslikes, but I enjoy it personally. It fits.

The game has a lot to explore and you can get lost in its world pretty easily. I remember walking into a boss room from the exit somehow and got behind the boss and it was all intended if you navigated around him.

If you can appreciate or just get past the visuals and want to see where the 2D soulslike genre began then you should play it.

Metroidvania's Before the Dark Age of Soulslikes

Dust: An Elysian Tail

Long ago there was a time where Metroidvanais didn't have soulslike mechanics defaulted in and set in these bleak post apocalyptic worlds. I have 3 of them to recommend. Starting With Dust: An Elysian Tail

This is a fun little game. A game that I'm not sure many people know about or would think to play today. Metroidvanias pre Hollow Knight tend to get forgotten when I see people about them now. It has a mix of platforming and hectic combat. I remember the game having a cool spin sword attack with a even cooler aerial attack. I liked it a lot when I played it many many years ago.

The art style is colorful and everyone is an anthropomorphic animal. More games need anthropomorphic animals beyond catgirl or rabbitgirl, seriously I grew up on shit like sly Cooper and Ratchet and Clank.

You play as Dust and are accompanied by Fidget. you got a magic sword and you kill a bunch of shit while saving the day. Just a fun little Metroidvania that doesn't overstay and go on forever.

It may be dated in some ways, but if you're a fan of these types of games and want to play a older one then here you go.

Guacamelee!

The combat in this game feel great. Another little forgotten gem of a Metroidvania. It has such a unique style to it and has a fun cartoony vibe. It's pretty fucking great.

You play as a farmer who dons a luchador mask to save his friend he loves and the world being taken over. The combat is a mix of punches, kicks, and throws which is unique from the usual swords and magic these types of games tend to default to. As the game goes along enemies will have shields that need certain moves to break and you'll be switching from the land of the dead and living in combat and platforming.

Both this and Dust before it don't reinvent the genre or anything, but have their own unique charms that I recommend them both if you're a fan of Metroidvanias.

Cave Story+

This is a old classic. The original Cave Story came out in 2004, and was released with a enhanced version in 2011. This is a must play Metroidvania and an old gem. It's the oldest game on this list technically.

This game has little to no melee combat, but instead goes all in on using guns. More Metroid then Vania in that sense. What's unique to the combat is enemies will drop experience that will level up your guns automatically. Each gun can be upgraded to 3 levels, but when you take damage you lose experiences and levels. This adds a extra layer or rewards and punishment to getting hit that I like. Your weapons are perfectly usable at level 1 so it's not like you're fucked, but it gives a greater incentive to avoid damage.

It has fun characters and and fun gameplay. It's a genuine indie gem that I think everyone should play.

Pixel Action Adventure Games With A Dash of RPG Elements to Taste:

ANNO: Mutationem

This game is a pixel art cyberpunk adventure. I adore the art style. It's a 2.5D action platformer set in a futuristic setting. You're on a quest to save your brother with the help of your hacker friend/girlfriend. A quest which leads to a far more complicated story.

The story in this game goes off the rails in ways I love, but I know it threw people off. People have compared the latter half to Evangelion and It can be confusing to follow at times. I still highly recommend it, even if you get lost near the end. A simpler story in terms of Lore would have worked better, but I say fuck it. Go all in.

To me the appeal of this game is the setting. A fascinating cyberpunk sci-fi setting shown through wonderful pixel art. Just walking around the various cities was a joy on its own. There's a lot of attention to detail and I think it's worth playing for that alone. Combat is your standard side-scrolling Metroidvaniaish kind of stuff with various weapons and upgrades and all that. I found it a little challenging at times, but this isn't a game meant for extreme difficulty from what I remember.

If you want to play as hot badass woman in a cyberpunk setting given life through detailed pixel art, then this is the game for you.

CrossCode

This is the most dense indie game on this whole list. CrossCode has so much to do. The game is expansive and slowly drip feeds you with more. You have 5 skill trees, 4 of which are tied to an element, multiple upgrade paths in them. You have a mix of melee combat with twin stick shooter mechanics thrown in. The game has multiple dungeons with puzzles that are both difficult to figure out and then execute the solution for. These aren't like a 2D Zelda dungeon where things never get to complicated, I really took a lot of time with every dungeon.

The setting takes place on another moon physically, but its actually all virtual and a MMO people are playing from all over the galaxy. Though the game itself isn't a MMO really. You play as a set character in a set linear story that's unrelated to that actual in lore story of the MMO.

The characters are fun and the setting is a joy to explore. There's a lot of side content and I don't remember any of it being a drag. This games also challenging and I know It took me a bit to progress at various points. The pixel art is very detailed, especially with the outdoor environments.

This game will keep you engaged for a while and there's challenging DLC and even fun incentives to play new game plus. This is just all around a solid game experience.

Hyper Light Drifter

I played this game a long time ago so details are hazy, but I know I really enjoyed it. It's top down and filled with action. You got a sword. You got a gun. You go kill things and I do remember many challenging combat encounters.

I have forgotten all story elements, but even now I still remember some imagery that reminded me of Evangelion, which is always a plus. Though story was never the main draw to games for me so the setting and combat were all I needed to keep engaged.

Not the most descriptive review of the game, but I know this is one of the furthest game on this list from when I played it and I only went through it once. It's a cool game though and if the trailer enticed you then you owe it to yourself to get it.

Phoenotopia: Awakening

I adore this little hidden gem of a game. If CrossCode is the most dense indie game on this list then this is a very close second. Possibly even more dense, I truly can't decide for sure. It's cute, funny, charming, and full of legitimate challenges.

You play as Gail who lives in a small town village. Some shit happens that I won't give away, but you end needing to travel the land and go on a fun adventure. The story is full of comedic and lively characters. It never takes itself to seriously or gets really dark which Is a nice change of pace.

This game really is an adventure. You will travel a lot and get very familiar with any hub area. There's secrets and puzzles packed all over and gives you good reason to revisit. A nice drip feed of progress is felt as you unlock more stuff.

In terms of combat it's bar far the most simplistic on this list and could even frustrate others, but like everything else in this game it has charm and I adore it. The simple mechanics don't mean no challenge though. I was stuck often, but felt so satisfying when I won.

Some of the late game areas can be bullshit and will frustrate you, but stick with it. This is a genuine top tier hidden indie gem that got no attention. Honestly just under Outer Wilds this would be the other must buy. Absolutely play this.

Vampire Survivorlikes:

20 Minutes Till Dawn

Everyone knows about Vampire Survivor and everyone knows many games came out that tried to capture that style of gameplay. This one is the only one of those I've played and it's wonderful.

You unlock multiple characters and multiple guns with various upgrade trees. Kill the horde, survive, upgrade, survive even longer. Each level only takes 20 minutes, hence the title. I appreciate that as the game would never end with how strong you end up being by the end after you learn the mechanics.

This isn't anything groundbreaking, but if you need to kill half a hour then it's a fun thing to play.

Hawklikes:

Umurangi Generation

Let's fucking go!! This game rules!

As someone who is going to pursue photography more seriously as a hobby this game is perfect. Unlike something like Pokemon Snap or games with photo modes, this game really captures the feeling of holding a physical camera and the moment to moment decisions you make with each shot.

You unlock different lenses and control each shot as you would a real camera. After each photo you can edit it on the spot purely for your own creative reasons. The visuals are low poly and very colorful.

The game has a tony hawk style of progression. A hawklike if you will. You get dropped in a level and are given a list of photos to try and take. You can of course take photos of anything. You have a limited amount of film and can find more throughout the level.

Also there's a story. There's a dark undercurrent to the whole thing and the game is very overtly political in all the right ways. Don't like politics in your games? Fuck you! This game dives right in while still maintaining the core gameplay loop. Need more games like this please.

Please buy this game and it's DLC.

Action Games:

Furi

Top tier action game. It's a boss rush game, that's it. 10 bosses with some vague story that briefly connects them. It's not bloated with bullshit and knows exactly what to focus on.

The combat is a mix of intense melee combat with parries and dodges and the like, with twin stick shooting. No upgrades. No farming. No choosing between this weapon or that. No additional moves or mechanics. You fight a tutorial boss which teaches you everything and then you go. You have the full toolkit from the start and that lets you master it slowly over the game.

It's so fucking satisfying finally winning and knowing you improved and earned that win. I like the story as well. It's not that complex, but the ending bits worked for me.

If you want a genuine good action game that has no bullshit attached then get this.

Amid Evil

There's not much to say about this one other then it's really fucking fun. It's a first person action game where you use magic and weapons to go through combat filled levels. You have health and mana that all weapons use outside of your axe. The levels are filled with secrets, you move fast, and it's just a fun action game.

Sometimes a game isn't more then that and it beats games that are stuffed with unnecessary mechanical bloat. If you want a fun first person action game that's not just a full shooter then this is the game for you.

Adventure Games:

The Cat Lady and Lorelai

I love these games. No one ever talks about them or knows about them and they will certainly linger in your mind. The devs have made 2 other games that I have yet to get to so for now I am recommending only these.

Play The Cat Lady first. It's the first one and tells the story of a very depressed middle aged woman who gets a second chance at life, at a cost.

Lorelai is about a young woman in a very abusive household trying to survive while seeing what lengths she will go to save those she loves.

Both these games revolve around deals with a devil and feature a lot of horrific violence. Fun!

The stories in both evoke a creepy disturbing feeling and you're always on edge. I won't say these are straight horror games, but they sure use horror imagery. The art style really helps sells it. The animations or character models may not be the most beautiful thing around, but it has that indie charm I love. The voice acting isn't perfect either, but these aren't negatives for me. These are passion projects and imperfections are what make any piece of art shine brighter. Real people put their soul into these games and it shows.

The gameplay is standard adventure game fair, but all keyboard controlled. So no endless mouse clicking everything on the screen. which works wonderfully. Though being pure adventure games you're here more for the story then the moment to moment gameplay.

Please play these.

Detention

Detention is probably well known due to the controversy with Red Candle Games other game, Devotion being wiped online for shitty reasons. It's available now on their own websites store, though I still have never played it. I should one day as Detention was pretty fucking good.

The gameplay is the usual 2D adventure game fair. A lot of clicking and puzzle solving with some horror thrown in. The story and setting are where it's at though.

The game is unique in that it's made from Taiwanese devs and the games setting is rooted in their cultures history. I don't want to give away any real details beyond that, but it certainly left an impact and seeing a game not set in Europe, America, Japan, or any fantasy equivalent to those was refreshing. The games also not super long and could easily be beaten in a day.

Go buy it. Play it on a long free night. Support these devs.

Rime

I love the aesthetic of this game. Cel shading indie colorful goodness. I got this for the visuals alone and was very happy the game that came with it was good to. Visuals are a major factor in me getting interested in a game and the reveal trailer was enough for me to play it.

It's very light and cryptic on story for most of it as to be expected from this kind of game. You're a kid, you wake up on a beach and go forth exploring. You solve puzzles and hide from danger and go through each of the unique levels trying to piece together whats going on.

Like the game before, this isn't a super long one. Shouldn't take more then a day or a few to get through it all. Though I do recommend you take your time and explore like I did. Let yourself be immersed in the setting.

This is another example of just a pure perfect indie game. Doesn't overstay it's welcome, tells a simple but cryptic story, and has lovely visuals.

Atominous

This is the one of the few games on this whole list that I would say is truly obscure. In fact I have no doubt this is the most obscure. If you're big into indie games then nothing on this list will honestly surprise you, but I'm confident this is the exception.

In this free game you place as a a little guy who's job is like pest control. Instead of bugs your job is to collect and protect the world from rare atoms called Atominous. Basically little atoms that can alter reality. You go into a big house and your job is to find them through the power of puzzle solving and clicking every little thing you see.

This game is all about clicking everything. Nearly every object has unique text that pops up, if not multiple. You find keys to open more of the house and slowly suck up the atominous atoms and clean up the place.

That's it. It's a fun quirky little free game that shouldn't take more then a couple hours. No excuse not to try it, it's free. It's also the only game not on steam, but instead here

Adventure Games Where You Hit Things:

TUNIC

TUNIC is a lovely indie game. You play as a little cute fox and go on a adventure to save your poor trapped mom. such a cute game :3

I adore the visuals, I love low poly stuff and the game is full of charm. Looking at this game makes me happy. The game is like a mix of a top down Zelda and Fez and it being reminiscent of FEZ was what really took me by surprise. I won't go further in how it's like FEZ, but it really elevated the game for me.

It's a fun top down game with simple fun combat. You kill enemies, find key items, unlock more of the world, and get fed cryptic lore. The perfect formula for a fun little indie game. The game is decently challenging to with it's boss fights, and overall a nice fun little experience with some neat surprises.

TUNIC is wonderful, go play it.

Kena: Bridge of Sprits

This is the most PS2 game I've played since the PS2. I mean that as a compliment. This game felt like going back in time to a simpler time.

Visually the game is not at all like the PS2. The visuals are beautiful and has been compared to Pixar. It's bright, colorful, and well polished. To me this is peak aesthetics. This game is worth playing just to see all the work that went into the game's visuals alone.

It reminded me of a PS2 game because it's a self contained fun third person action adventure. Just a fun game with no bullshit holding it down or any other purpose then being a fun adventure. The world is a joy to explore with a nice steady progression. I especially love how the Hub is mostly corrupted and you slowly restore it over the course of the game. Shit like that always feels so good.

There's a lot of unexpected challenge to. Some of the later fights and especially bosses took me a bit to beat. Just like a PS2 game you'll get random difficulty spikes that are so fucking satisfying to beat.

I highly recommend this game.

Adventure Games Where You're in the Desert:

Sable

Sable is a coming of age story presented in a very fun interactive package. This is a game about heading out into the world and exploring on your own whim to figure out what your character becomes as an adult.

You play as Sable, a young adult girl who has to leave her tribe and head into the wider world to discover herself. The goal is to find mask which representative a life path and pick one by the end. The actual game is about heading into a desert open world, solving puzzles, helping NPC's, and discovering what bits of hidden lore hide throughout. You do this all on a hoverbike you can customize as you unlock more parts.

As always the art style is important to me and this game has something really unique. The characters animation is low framerate and it can be off putting to some, but of course I loved it as I love any odd creative choice. I love the lighting and colors to. It's hard to describe just why I was so mesmerised by the art style, but I can safely say it's one of my all time favorites.

The only negative goes to technical issues. The game ran like shit on my PC and my PC isn't bad. Even people with far better PC's then me ran into frame rate issues and others didn't have any. Sometimes games aren't optimized well, but this game was so magical to me that I loved it, despite the tech issues.

It's a very chill game. You want to explore a cool world at a slow pace and get lost in it? Sable's the game for you.

It Comes In Waves

This is a short game where you have to start over if you die. A penalty I feared, but truthfully this isn't that difficult of an experience. You start on one end of a desert and have to carry something to the other end as it grows inside a tank on your back.

As you wait for whatever your transporting to grow you will explore minimalist environments with some unique imagery that speaks of a wider history you just have to wonder about. The whole time you have to watch out for raiders and watch your water level. It always depletes and you will need to explore and refill it as you journey on. I also love how you have a map, but the map is like an actual map. It doesn't show you on it, but just the overall area.

This game will take you a hour at best and is unlike anything else on this list. There's something about just slowly walking across the desert, not knowing what's ahead, and hoping you can make it to the next water tank. Just a little experimental game about a harsh journey.

Platformers With 2 Entire Dimensions:

MO: Astray

Ever wanted to play as a little blob? No? Well you should because this game was a hidden gem. I was thrown off by this game at first and then pleasantly surprised by the whole experience.

This game feels like it should be a metroidvania. It's 2D and you're on a broken down ship or facility or something. Nope. This game is fully linear and at first I didn't think I'd like that and was disappointed, but it works so damn well.

You play a slime essentially and you have the magical power to read the last thoughts and minds of corpses by settling on their rotten fleshy head. With this power and other little story tidbits you learn what's going on, your purpose, and so on.

There's no combat in this game really. You move by shooting yourself in any direction you can see and you can stick to surfaces. There's danger. There's enemies. There's boss fights. All without the usual fair of attack/dodge roll, that's standard for 2D metroidvanias now. This game is something different and that alone makes it worth it.

Also a note on the boss fights. All of them felt very unique from each other I prefer having a few well crafted unique bosses then having a bunch of the same type of fight over and over again.

Another genuine hidden gem you should try.

Platformers With 3 Entire Dimensions:

Frogun

Frogun is adorable. It's like a N64 game and I love it.

You have a frog grappling hook and go through little short levels that ramp up in difficulty. There's optional challenges in each one. The art style is absolutely going for that early 3D low poly vibe that is starting to become more popular.

This is a perfect example of just a fun video game for the sake of being a fun video game. No serious story or message or intense complicated gameplay mechanics. Just a cute 3D platformer reminiscent of a older time.

Also I played this back when I used to stream and a Frogun speedrunner showed up in chat and helped me pull off a couple speedrunning tricks so that was fun.

If you want something simple and fun then here it is.

Cyber Hook

The ultimate speedrunning game. You have a gun, a grappling hook, and the ability to slow down time. This is a pure platformer. You enter levels with the goal of getting through as fast as you can.

I never got great at it, but the few times I really got going fast and flew through a level felt awesome. It's so satisfying finally doing things right after many failures and you will fail a lot.

There's really not much more to it. Neat visuals with satisfying and simple mechanics. If that sounds fun to you then check it out.

Marble It Up! Ultra

Platformers really are just the perfect mechanic to make fun mindless games with. Marble It Up! Ultra is another simple 3D platformer that's just purely focused on being fun.

As always it's not that complicated either. You're a marble and you try to reach the end of each stage with a time limit. There's items to stop time, make you jump higher, and go faster. Just all about building up speed and there's tons of ways to skip past parts of levels. Like the two games before, this one is perfect for speedrunning.

It's fun, go buy it.

RPG's:

Roadwarden

I was going to make a big post about why I preferred this to BG3, but scrapped it. BG3 is fun, but the story just bores me from the get go. Where BG3 failed for me Roadwarden succeeded. All story and all fantastic.

This is a text based RPG. Very simplistic visuals which show just enough to let your imagination handle most of the work.

You play a roadwarden who has the lovely job to travel the dangerous roads and help the townsfolk all while working on your greater goals. You pick between 3 starting classes and those do change how you approach things quite a bit. You have a time limit and that will force you to prioritize things over others. You can't do everything in a single playthrough. Your decisions matter and you aren't going to figure everything out.

You have to manage your health, money, hunger, and cleanliness. You will never have enough money for everything and that helps create more interesting choices. You have to manage what you do in a day. You meet a lot of people and forge allies or enemies and it's all told with stellar writing.

If you want a well written fantasy interactive story then you must play this game.

RPG's With Intense High-Octane Turn Based Combat:

Epic Battle Fantasy 5

A long time ago in times forgotten there existed these ancient relics called Flash games. Maybe one day I'll talk about old flash games I was into, but for now I'm only talking about the latest instalment in one of them. Epic Battle Fantasy is a series of games made by Matt Roszak. They started as little flash games, but have since turned into bigger games that are on Steam. 5 is the latest one and also the best so I'm recommending this one.

I've gone through this game multiple times. This game fucking rules. The game is easy to control, satisfying, and has my favorite turn based combat system period. No seriously, this is my favorite turn based combat system. I could go on what I like about it so much, but I'll spare you all most of the details. I'll say it gets rid of mana entirely and put all your abilities on cooldowns which changes based on what you're using. This just fixes balancing and helps you from spamming heals and all that. I love this system. It's easy to control, intuitive to understand, full of options, and can have a chaotic randomness I enjoy.

In this game you explore the overworld, solve puzzles, and fight enemies. The story is not at all serious or anything like that. It may not be a Flash game anymore, but it still has the older internet spirit of not taking things to seriously and being a little juvenile. There's also a lot of post game challenges that still are impossible for me to really do well or at all.

You can change the difficulty anytime and another thing I love is the entire game can be controlled with just a mouse. You can use a keyboard to, but a mouse covers everything which I think is neat.

This is such a wonderful combat system and the game I've beaten most on this list. If you want legitimately challenging turn based RPG combat and don't care about story or characters to get that then this game is a must play.

Shadows Over Loathing

Want a lovecraftian mystery RPG injected with a dose of comedy where everybody is a stick figure? Yes? How very specific, but luckily there's a game just for you.

Shadows Over Loathing is a turn based RPG where you search for your missing uncle in a area full of strange locations and characters. I never did play their other game West of Loathing, and I was pleasantly surprised by this one. It was a lot of fun, creative, difficult at times, and had a world I really wanted to explore.

It has a lighthearted comedic tone throughout and the silly art and stick figure characters help with that. The actual turn based combat is fun to. Nothing to complicated but could be challenging to which is needed to help this style of combat really shine.

There's really not much more to it. If this sounds like something you'd enjoy then please check it out.

RPG's Fused With A Light Novel:

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA

AA games still exist! I finally get to talk about Ys. I've played 3 Ys games and I'm going to talk about my favorite one because of the fun gameplay. This is a very unknown franchise that has existed since the 80's and even now the 10th instalment is set to release later this year.

As for why I'm recommending Ys 8, it's because it has some of the most fun gameplay. The combat is fast paced, encourages good timing, and full of that anime over the top stylish action. You control up to 3 characters and can easily switch between them. Each character plays differently and has their own special moves and everything just feels so satisfying.

You play as generic light novel anime man, Adol. Tagging along is generic tsundere light novel anime girl and other light novel anime characters. Like edgy boy with a gun, loli raised in the wild, and blue haired girl. You crash land on a island and have to survive and find survivors. Much like LOST the story goes off the rails and of course in classic JRPG fashion you need to stop the end of the world somehow. Unlike LOST characters are generic and the usual anime fair.

Despite the lackluster story this game still fucking rules because it's so goddamn fun to play. It also solved crafting forever by making it so you can convert common items into rarer ones making anything you find useful potentially. Seriously it's such a nice feature and all crafting systems without it are lesser.

If you want some fun action combat and don't mind anime bullshit then really, check out the entire franchise. Any of them will do, but this is the one I'd recommend the most.

RPG's Fused With A Light Novel and A WW2 Textbook:

Valkyria Chronicles 1 and 4

Picture this. WW2, but with anime and magical girls. Japan just never stops with these incredible ideas.

I adore these 2 games. I haven't played 2 or 3 as those are PSP games and I don't hear great things. However I can confirm 1 and 4 are fucking fantastic.

These games are tactical RPG's where you command troops one by one in missions. Most are usually about capturing a enemy base, but there's a lot of variety beyond that in both of them. You lay out your troops at the start plus your commander who's in the tank. You get a set level of CP per turn and each CP is used to control a unit. The actual game is probably piss easy for experienced tactical game players, but I'm not that at all. I found it legitimately difficult, both games.

What sets it apart is the game turns into a sort of third person shooter when controlling the units. You can freely move up to your AP and get one action to do. If it was just top down the whole time I'd find that not that interesting, but actually moving around and taking cover unit by unit is very engaging. There's 5 classes in the first game and a 6th added in the fourth game. Each class can be upgraded as well along with weapons, equipment, and the tanks.

The stories in both are nothing special truthfully. It's anime WW2 with silly dumb anime characters. I don't mind that and had a lot of fun, but if you can't stand something like Persona then these games will infuriate you. To me stupid anime characters in games can be a lot of fun, like Raz in 4, the dumbest but somehow most entertaining character for me. Expect some silly anime cliches and tone changes and the usual fair for these kinds of games. Even if the story is a big nothing for you, I still think both games are worth it for the gameplay.

Another aspect that I really love is all your units have personality traits that can trigger as you control them. What caught me off guard was that they're both positive and negative ones. There's ones like a woman having man hater and fancies woman as traits, aka the lesbian. There's straight up a guy with misogynist as a trait. Some are lonely, frail, daredevils, have crushes or people they hate, even one with the masochist trait. All these good and bad traits translate into potential buffs or debuffs that can happen in the game.

Sadly these side characters don't get much story in the first game. Just a unique design with some personality traits and maybe a couple in battle lines of dialogue. However, the 4th one introduced squad stories. Essentially little side stories that revolve around the non important squad mates. They were always fun to do and the missions for them are more unique because they are designed around only using those 3 characters.

I recommend both of them, but if you had to play one I'm not sure. 1 has the better story, the overall lore itself establishes in 1, and the gameplay is still fun. 4 has the better gameplay, more unique missions, and the squad stories which were a highlight for me.

Just pick which one sounds more like your thing if you only want to spend the time with one of them. Both are fun.

RPG's About the Harsh Reality of Capitalism:

Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale

I adore this games concept. It takes the common NPC seen in these little RPG adventures, the shopkeeper, and puts you in their shoes. You're father has a big debt to pay off and you now have to sell items out of your house to help pay it off before the deadline.

You lay the items out and then have to haggle your way to a profit. Finding the line of when to haggle and how much is the key to success and I failed miserably. I never did beat this game, but I haven't beaten many games on this list and that won't stop me from telling you to play them. I think the concept alone is enough of a reason to check it out.

The game does have combat as well. You can hire an adventurer to go with you into a dungeon and fight enemies for treasure. I like how you hire someone from the Adventurers Guild, just another cool concept as a typical game would have you play as the character being hired instead all the time. I also like how dungeons are high risk high reward. If they die then you lose most of what you gather and essentially just wasted the day.

It's just a cool concept and a nice change of pace from how a game set in these typical fantasy settings would go. You aren't some savior of the world, but just a shopkeeper trying to pay off debt.

Spooky Games:

Yuppie Psycho

Do you want a game about a corporate building being haunted by dark forces and being a badass fighting your way through it all? That's Control. You just want Control.

Unlike Control which bored me to death after a while. Yuppie Psycho is about a haunted corporate building, but you play a new lowly worker who's been tasked with something far above his pay grade. Brian Pasternack is a new hire who's in way over his head. What should have been a normal corporate jobs turns into a witch hunt, literally.

You aren't a badass and will have to sneak your way to victory, uncovering the buildings hidden secrets along the way. For me that's part of why this works over Control as a effective story. You're kind of a fucking nobody who has to be extra careful and is reluctant to even do this. Far more relatable honestly.

The joy of this game comes from exploring this building and uncovering the secrets and horrors. Each floor is unique and this game gets creative with the corporate horror vibe. I love some of the designs of things and how it blends comedy and horror together. It also has branching paths and even limited save slots which seemed frustrating at first, but wasn't really a big deal. Not saving every chance you can really adds to the tension when sneaking around.

It's not a true horror intense experience, but as someone who is a baby with horror I found a lot of genuine tense moments. It's a real indie gem.

The Complex: Found Footage

Kane Pixels backrooms videos are honestly pretty fucking great. I'm not usually a fan of horror at all, but there's something about these videos that just work for me. Then pgWave decided to make a video game creating the experience of exploring these kinds of spaces.

This is a creepy game where you slowly move through liminal spaces and just sort of get lost in it. There's no jumpscares or anything intense happening, but as a baby with horror this game was tense to go through for me. Honestly I appreciate it's not a more traditional horror game with a monster or something. Just dropped in a space that's inherently unsettling and leaving it up to you to explore.

If you have a free night and want to get lost exploring spaces only games could deliver then play it. It's literally free.

Games Where You Gotta Go Fast:

Distance

This game fucks. I actually remember when playing the first version of this game back when it was a student project. Students at DigiPen made a game called Nitronic Rush and it was (maybe still is?) available to download for free from the schools website. That game fucks and they announced a proper full game called Distance and it was one of the rare instances I actually bought a early access game.

Distance is a car game about going fast as fuck. The levels don't put you against anyone and instead just getting to the end is the challenge in itself. You have a boost that can overheat, a jump, and even wings when needed. The levels will require you to weave in and out of oncoming danger. They have jumps where you'll need to turn the car 90 or 180 degrees to land on a new track. All while giving you a wonderful sense of speed and accomplishment when you pull things off right.

It's not a easy game either and levels will get challenging. There's a ton of levels and challenges and if you get sucked into the gameplay then there's a lot to keep you there. This game seeks to deliver the thrill of going fast in a dangerous track where everything is out to kill you, and making it to the end. There's really not much more to say. It has a specific vision and fully realizes it.

Games Where You Trust the Heart of the Cards:

Foretales:

This game is very unique and nothing quite like what I've played before. The entire game is card based. Each of the characters have their own decks that are all mixed together in your hand. You have 4 resources you can collect, gold, food, fame, and infamy. You can get item cards as well. The board has various location cards you need to move through to move the story along. What's unique about this is the cards can be used in battle or on locations.

It's hard to really go into details how this all works, but you don't have a separate hand or anything for when combat begins.

Some cards have uses in locations and battles and others don't, but there all mixed together which adds to you planning ahead and making the best choice. You can use a eavesdrop card near a guard post to get a juicy secret which can be used for blackmail later. You can forage for food and obviously a forest will give you more then a mine shaft. There's a lot of really cool little interactions and creativity put into this systems that's just to complicated to type out and explain.

One thing I can get into is the best feature of combat. The fact that you can get through it without fighting or with less fighting then needed. Those 4 resources can be used in locations for story or optional reasons, but they can also be used in combat pacify enemies. Bandits can be bribed with gold or food for example. Fame and infamy can be used as well in certain circumstances. They are a constantly growing resource that always have uses. I'm sure it's possible to do a full pacifist run, though I imagine it would be difficult.

The game also has multiple paths for the story to go and lots of optional stuff. Multiple characters to use down the line but only 3 party members so there's more choice as well. Also everyone's an anthropomorphic animal because why not.

I just like how it's a card based game that's not just a battle between opponents or a roguelike or how cards are typically used in video games. If nothing else this game should be played for it's game design alone. If you want a really unique interactive story experience entirely dictated by cards then this is about the only game I know of like it.

One Step From Eden

I'm very bad at this game. So bad I still have never beaten it once. It's really fun all the same though.

It's a deckbuilding roguelike set on a grid. As the formula goes you fight your way through, choosing your path, collecting cards, and seeing if you can win. In my case that's a no.

The game is set on a grid where you have to manage what spells you currently have, dodging enemies, and somehow making sense of the chaos. You can unlock other characters that have their own unique mechanics to help freshen things up. Also the game just throws you in the deep end and lets you learn through playing. No tutorial or anything, just have at it.

If you're itching for a roguelike that's very fucking challenging then enjoy.

Inscryption

This is another game I expect many others to know about, but if not then honestly just play it.

It's a rougelike card game set in a wonderfully crafted creepy setting. You're alone in some mysterious persons shack forced to play a really well designed card game. Of course if it was just that I'd not be recommending it.

The mechanics are well thought out and slowly learning the mechanics feels nice. You will fail, a lot, as is the case for roguelikes, but keep at it. The game is filled with secrets and puzzles and mysteries that you'll just have to figure out for yourself.

Much like with Outer Wilds way back at the top, I don't want to say much more. If you have somehow not played this or don't know anything about it then you should.

Tainted Grail: Conquest

This is still the only proper deck-building roguelike in the same vein as Slay the Spire. While I haven't played much of that and honestly couldn't get into it, this game I did.

It was described to me as Slay the Spire meets Dark Souls by some poor soul who's brain is forever lost in soulslike hell. In reality it's just a cool deck building game where you fight creepy monsters and slowly build up the village to make each run easier. There's characters to find and NPC quest you can make little progressions on each run. It's just enough story and context to give this game a sense or purpose and progression outside collecting cards.

What added more replayability to me beyond the quest was having 9 classes to work with. In truth it's really 3 broad classes with 3 variations on those broader class types. You have the fighter, archer, and summoner as the broad classes. They use similar cards, but their strategies vary with each subclass. A summoner is more about making their summons powerful, bloodmages use their own life to summon minions that get stronger and die on their own, and necromancers sacrifice their minions to turn into a Lich. The fighter and archer subclasses are as varied and it's a good way to use similar cards across different playstyles.

I had a lot of fun with this one. It's a fun deck building game.

Thinking Games:

Manifold Garden:

I love the space this game takes place in. This is the shit only games can truly deliver on. The world is basically always looping. Each level repeats in all directions when your in open space. If you fall anywhere, you'll be ok. You can just fall endlessly even, it's very mesmerising and freeing once you get used to the fact that you can just jump off anywhere, and even needed to solve the level sometimes.

The other fun mechanic the puzzles primarily revolve around is the ability to walk on any surface and change gravity as you do it. Essentially you turn the wall into the new floor and is the main mechanic for puzzles in enclosed spaces. This game uses blocks of various colors and the simple task of putting them in the right slot is made complicated by having to altar gravity and matching them up. There's other mechanics introduced of course, but you'll need to discover those yourself.

The game can be beaten in a day give or take your skill at puzzles. I appreciate that it doesn't overstay it's welcome and uses it's mechanics in interesting ways. Also this reminds me I still need to play Antichamber someday.

If you like exploring spaces only games can deliver on or puzzles then this is the game for you.

FEZ

FEZ! This is such a fun interesting little game. It's probably well known given who the creator is, but if you haven't checked this out before, then you should.

The trailer makes it appear to be more a platformer then a puzzle game and that's half right. Similar to another game on this list, FEZ goes much deeper then a mere platformer. It has some esoteric puzzles. As I understand (could be wrong) one puzzle still hasn't been solved legitimately, but had to be brute forced and even now the community has no concrete answers on how you were supposed to get the solution.

The good news is the harder puzzles aren't technically required to just finish the game. You could still enjoy this as a fun platformer. The way the world works is you see the game world on a 2D plane. Like any other 2D platformer. However, the world itself is in 3D and you can switch the perspective to change where platforms and other things are. It's really fun moving about this world and in a sense each level is it's own puzzle to figure out how to get through it with these mechanics.

I highly recommend this game.

Thinking Games for DJ's

FRACT OSC

This is another game I would be shocked if anyone knew about. No one talks about this game ever and I don't even remember how I found out about it wayyyy back in college. This is also the oldest game on here I've played. I haven't touched this is years, but know I enjoyed it a lot.

What i remember is it's filled with music based puzzles. I also remember being very fucking confused and having to look shit up, but the real joy is just the vibe. Everything makes sound and the whole game revolves around music. I slowly explored as much as I could and just took it all in. It's a fun space to be in and I'm a sucker for being dropped in a unusual place only games can delivery on.

If you don't know shit about music production like me you might have a hard time or maybe I was just a fucking idiot and needed help. Either way I still recommend this to everyone.

Vibing with the Beat Games:

Sayonara Wild Hearts

This is basically a interactive album. It's a rhythm game that's not to difficult, which is good as this is more about the flow and vibe. There's not much more to say about it. It will take an hour and every bit is lovely. It's a visual and auditory feast that has some clever ideas packed in. I think everyone should experience it.

Soundodger+

This game won't be on the Steam store for much longer sadly. Warner Bros being shitty and taking cool shit down. I haven't played any other of the Adult Swim games that are being taken down, but I encourage you to find the list and get anything interesting while you still can.

The game itself is a fun little bullet hell rhythm game. The song plays and you are a circle in the middle of larger circle. Obstacles are thrown out into the middle timed to the music and you simply have to dodged them. I don't remember it being to hard, but I know there are community levels and I just have to assume those are going to be tough.

It's a cool game to vibe to and it's going to be gone soon. Don't miss your chance to get it.

Artsy Games That I Don't Know Where Else To Put Them:

The Beginner's Guide

This a narrative experience about the relationship between the narrator and the game dev who's games are being played. That may not sound like the most interesting premise, but trust me it's very engaging. This game has a unsettling feeling underneath it all and it's really hard to go into more without just spoiling things.

The actual game is you going through a series of small little games made by a Dev named Coda as the narrator Davey speaks to you about various things relating to the game and Coda himself. It's explores a character who's frankly caught up in a unhealthy obsession with someone else and quite the journey.

It will only take a hour and half to get through and I think it's worth a playthrough if you like narratives only video games can deliver on.

The Static Speaks My Name

This is the shortest game on this list. It's also the most depressing. If you struggle with dark thoughts and depression and really need something happy to distract you, then do not play this little free game.

It's a sad and unsettling little experience that has a lot of room for interpretation. I'm a fan of little strange pieces of art like this and if this sounds interesting to you then it's free. Check it out.

Minimalist City Builder Games:

ISLANDERS

This such a cute game. It's a simple city builder where the goal is to keep building things correctly and move on to another island. You start on a randomly generated island and are given a set of buildings and a number to reach. Buildings will get bonuses based on whats near them and as you unlock more buildings the number to reach gets higher.

That's really it. It's easy to understand and a nice little relaxing game about building a cool island town. Pretty cheap and pretty fun.

Multi Genre:

The Hex

This is multi genre because it quite literally has many different gameplay modes packed in it. A bunch of old video game characters stay at a Tavern where a murder may take place. It's a murder mystery! Also so much more.

In truth it's a narrative video game about exploring these characters past lives and revealing a larger narrative underneath it all. This was made by Daniel Mullens who's latest game I recommended earlier. Much like Inscryption, this game slowly draws you into it's setting and drop feeds you it's secrets slowly.

The Hex was pleasantly surprising as I didn't really know what I was getting myself into. It's worth playing.

That's it. That's the list. Over 50 more games to add to your Steam library which means over 50 more games you'll get to, eventually.

#video games #Steam #indie games #Steam Sale #Gaming

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quibbs126 · 3 months

Text

So I drew this

I was just thinking of White Lily as a drow, and then I drew that

To be honest, I probably could have done more with her design, I literally just gave her a different skin tone since drow have dark purple skin, and then pointed ears. Like, give her a different outfit or something. Oh well I guess

*sigh* sorry if I sound unenthusiastic, I’m just not very satisfied with what I’ve been drawing recently. I just draw one random drawing on a 500 x 500 canvas, slap on some random color as a background because I don’t know what to do for backgrounds but I feel like maybe my normal white background isn’t cutting it, and call it a day. I mean granted, it does mean I’ll actually finish my ideas, because I have multiple pages for sketch dumps that I’ve never finished, but it feels weak to me, like I’m just doing the bare minimum

And on top of that, I haven’t even figured out that consistent art style thing or how to draw humans, I’m just guessing along because I didn’t make up that style thing for my regular sketch pencil, just my small pixel one. So I’ve effectively accomplished nothing

*sigh*

Also I’m just now remembering drow are usually evil. I’m gonna be honest, at least in terms of DND, my only real experience with drow is Drizzt Do’Urden, and his adventures in a graphic novel interpretation of his backstory I read when I was 9, and then about half of the Icewind Dale trilogy since I never finished the second book. I forget he’s supposed to be one of the rare exceptions, but maybe White Lily can be one too. I don’t know why but I feel like a drow fits her

I need to brush up on my DND lore. Which might just equate to stealing my dad’s Forgotten Realms books that were published in like the 80s. So I don’t know how up to date they are with the current lore, but shush

#has my stuff been shit lately? Be honest with me #I say that but I know I’ll be upset if I’m told it is #*sigh* I can never be satisfied can I?#but yeah take this I guess #cookie run #cookie run kingdom #white lily cookie #my art

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libidomechanica · 9 months

Text

“The way when we met, to”

A limerick sequence

First Stanza

My lids closed at your tongue. Man fell within her solitude, and with apples, and Lucy climb o’er king through they rose, like a housekeeper, bringst with deeper than your praise.

Second Stanza

And in it and treated like a zeppelin. The way when we met, to have many nor some rich flower as loved me despair and neck, your pockets but you and I!

Third Stanza

There robben one and friendly breathed a thousand new: fearless and so she watch. Is always. For pleasant springe, the way. Where I unswear, and I’ll despair! Perhaps too late.

Fourth Stanza

For God’s Son, as well beseige thy breast down her aching for Italy free, let spear-grass and quiet? If I can say easily know that I waking, solved and chaste.

Fifth Stanza

Then wonderful and something to take since in wide Corinthians, see! Not on the winters wrath is gone for it full worth: here dies and spiced wood, and hide me from the strange?

Sixth Stanza

Again the stars go over the light luxurious pair, hover’d and showers. There western glooms are not back from the sea., Although we sneer in health to Auld Lang Syne.

Seventh Stanza

Without one that does not need me. That he is awoke? And with something sich. At the proud with some knotty problem, that rarest gift to be such pixel you’d return’d.

Eighth Stanza

I am the last, neglect of a grave I come to quench with hope will happening now. Then the gloomy tun with theirs more the King’ this english is flatt. Till the old ways.

Ninth Stanza

Confident in no one to sup or dine. Yet if I meet him sat the hairy Diadem which did thy honour razed quite, and clear chained bridle, o whip by her sin.

Tenth Stanza

And art thou, whose wholesome Growth approves the Rule of Kings—glory to the swift procession to bind the sterner stress? Of merit, and all thee to me. My wrath is gone.

Eleventh Stanza

If from myself mine one storm, they call vertues stall; Cupids cold and may never feel the inherent glow. My heart is gladder than a hundred hunting my daughter.

Twelfth Stanza

Every guest; distances apart make us a family, and I enter. As if it there vngratefulnesse? Love in a flower or hurling through he was History.

Thirteenth Stanza

So you will let the flower as love observe his magazines to be beloved where he embrace. You gentle English murdring that I waking up the good wife.

Fourteenth Stanza

Less little birds, that you say is not: you are so beauty off in which paine, of liuing deaths, dere wounds, whose rudiments of theyr flocks tend. Till by degrees they with a cry.

Fifteenth Stanza

I’ll drink thee page, will bear, and help me! All down at his Garment, down the parallels the fame you play at is not return’d. But is profaned, if not live by love.

Sixteenth Stanza

Only I’ll never a quiet sleepe, as some horse louder parts. And the lily I condemn’d its use— but to die for at a frown on his heart like a split broiler.

Seventeenth Stanza

Ought the dark will eventually marry her if she went to be known. In that precede the milken way, this Woluish sheepe that scornefully lookes most jolly.

Eighteenth Stanza

This Irish whiskey in heau’nly graces slide; these highways of friend is blown— my dust with holy water, waking eye, or sleepe, as she went, and thy mourned. With sorowe.

Nineteenth Stanza

Remembered lady’s cheek or they bene false, and pursuing the other still and cost, tis hard to say what I had loved but you and I! Of powerful army.

Twentieth Stanza

To call hem at the three Moones bene fully she could buy, that newe is vpryst from its mad pompousness. Might I but my ain dear William did repay his knights’ fees.

Twenty-first Stanza

With a full heart’s adultery. A censer, put in fire, and so drive the Night; o Night and Slave. Remembered lady’s eyeballs pure I looked with something—the pleasure.

Twenty-second Stanza

Like feeble age, he reeleth from thee. Cried, gazing down in mine, as also had not stopp’d em. This contempt there is not so large an orb, as truly love’s veins to swine.

Twenty-third Stanza

Sparks, participated with joy with some kind hear my muse, that very Day I warn’d him a year to you. Were t aught in the hill: tho may we talke, and I won’t weep!

Twenty-fourth Stanza

You will come again—again a level— No! The time while his body in their souls—the poor devils or a dun. Love confess: no matter, and sae in love-longing.

Twenty-fifth Stanza

Hast measure brings contend not partake it live, an’ love my head&to keep their own, the loving belly. The weak one is old song and fair Syrinx in triumph return’d.

Twenty-sixth Stanza

When the dark will end the sunlight them, but sorrowe. My mother’s welcome for what was over like a fly, was turned off the warld’s wealth, a poor and hold cheap the street stall.

Twenty-seventh Stanza

How does Love speak. Empties the racket this time he vsed to be new made when I’m crying. I argue thee that doen so carefully lookes: thy lays esteem than dust!

Twenty-eighth Stanza

Shadows dance upon the murderous five hundred eyes can iudge between the sun and to common bed were called Lowder for so large a mind. What art is a doubled.

Twenty-ninth Stanza

Ah fon, now by thy kind leave Scott in your wish to supersede all its dreams our waking thee. Where all they’ve taught the dish of which the finger press’d to youthful fancy.

Thirtieth Stanza

Brings for thee, and no Serpent! On the thicker than a wave that famoused for five months and the other plants increased, until I labouring for a fulfillment.

Thirty-first Stanza

She also her to dress her mind, that all, lasts ever, past mud, the great Gracchus at meridian- born, to bloom in. That though she passe all thine impious print.

Thirty-second Stanza

And why? Door, and by name, no holy water: she also stylle þer his temple’s occupation, and what arms and loving, living Chick? Thou shalt not love be love.

Thirty-third Stanza

For at need grew pampered and jealous man who bawled for sharpest paine; take me to quiet. Madrid’s and Moscow’s climes in giving up to this work, and the spires and thin.

Thirty-fourth Stanza

Thy cliffs, dear Dover! My Guido himself and his Vices from the house through the soil, of the pleasure in a vetchy bed, till fayrer Fortune found that theyr flocks tend.

Thirty-fifth Stanza

I feel it insides grow. He may be done! When tremble; in the earlier grooves, which I and the stock might hath closde all in every breath of words the night shall be dead.

Thirty-sixth Stanza

But Juan, instead of my woman, men sayd, was pliant to see that vneth may I stand still, attending them away,—nor this. Lute and reason, that in the shepherds call.

Thirty-seventh Stanza

I turn formally to love, nor blushing roses of all the pine; but tis my hearts to learn? For thou wilt look, even ashes of love what is a pass, and the lute.

Thirty-eighth Stanza

The Shah of Yúnan, as we face the crunch of icy grass underfoot, the most dear last night will be fit for what was of your pocket. Whose approach shall I doe? White.

Thirty-ninth Stanza

Veins’ salt tides, as well lodged, but found her mother. Who can they had be better, age, exempt from strife, should proved me; and, foolse, adore a sultan? When folly wide the aim!

Fortieth Stanza

Lest one touch she show’d, like feeling skin. Love the fire glance and sure: what I’m supposed to the landscape which never since gold alone should not imitate the sprout of things.

Forty-first Stanza

That euer thy father, humble cot, and to and fro, ever about me … envelope, with standing to the sire to decay, when I am gone. And his deuoyr beliue.

Forty-second Stanza

Yet, if she were trying to call back. How prettily for that were strong as you believe that had laid his lady sigh, where I who cares? Long wandring vp and does not wait.

Forty-third Stanza

For me, degenerate modern Mars saw, who did not with all shall burn the lighten with a false borrow, to quite alone.—Who knows you’ve been falling to leese the same!

Forty-fourth Stanza

Enough not approach the image in so poor a plight. And with all the clouds, and ready to receive! Thy glass and learned Nor Jove, nor did her Face the sweetest air.

Forty-fifth Stanza

Or like a coin in my harts for clay,— though nations will spin. Used to the choice, inviolably true, and stray at please, if thou can not come, stopped, then as sure and lover.

Forty-sixth Stanza

Or made preuie to the land to see the grossest flattery, that flies when from the glass, and ioy thereat shotte.—What the meadow and think not. We have called out: Is your life.

Forty-seventh Stanza

Vice. Or liker bene they almost a prison-bars, is always, as long, god in His hand. All God— call God’s creature? And euen while both we sufferings matter, waking!

Forty-eighth Stanza

So thou presences, may pierce them moue; whose heart is she prayed by the hyde the blacke bowre of sorrow may sustain and mollify their show; their nest. At your front of it.

Forty-ninth Stanza

Love even that’s this, and, with should be sister: ah! As they might scattered the pricks’ just as ready in hand while I do speak as yesterday. Rain is full oft in mine.

Fiftieth Stanza

Which want a great Bandogs will splash, splash the sky; proud, or boast herself! Cochran was bewitch me red-handed, catch me that heavy poem against you turn your pointed.

Fifty-first Stanza

His bosom, is Jenny, fair czarina’s autocratic crest, when, a new flamenco—will I gladly do; tis scarcely even a spring. Nay, but the centre.

Fifty-second Stanza

Of him wasn’t Sanforized? For pleasant spring sweet. Nor beasts nor my friends for causes young lieutenant’s with his Rising, all laughters of the rotten hustings there.

Fifty-third Stanza

And of my own not even for reply, and will be false to obey. Perhaps compounded churches with sacred lightning and neck, seen up-close how the pitcher shaped.

Fifty-fourth Stanza

Whether bed, then as sure an end to become our bitter ill shall at once be seen, and cold winds throte. Come weel, come woe, I care not so, my Tory, ultra-Julian?

Fifty-fifth Stanza

Thou, sweet retires, bordred with fraud and pen record counterfect draught; but shore. Six feet in the brink of what is not old, nor expire; so was shut out, and I enter.

Fifty-sixth Stanza

His young—sometime at the bedral, in that nowe sithence I sawe thy heart-flame of murdrer now on Shooter’s Hill! An amber cradle near to lend, I mourn to the earth.

Fifty-seventh Stanza

And a’ the life, and leads into my true mistress’ flame playing little man. Low, gives me a choices? Weed, of small grass-grown patch which my worth, that slight striking out, O!

Fifty-eighth Stanza

Like picture, the body than the race. A rightful scream she vanish we’ll build in some way of getting it all, yea, this woman, in the lore she is a criminal.

Fifty-ninth Stanza

No sooner was too crowd; and shall the same! Nor tender, you see the rent, and catch a fright oft meet in earth—the ear-trumpet of my ninetieth year, and I won’t weep!

Sixtieth Stanza

I didn’t fall in the street, where in a pye, which vulgarest to rise, and clowdie Welkin thicks apace, and never tell thee comforter, will cry to thee. Thee is but fie!

Sixty-first Stanza

To glance upon his childishness, she saw or knew; she wander at wil, and die. No, no, my Deare, let bee. Old but straight reason armed, but strain; learn, nor even its grosse.

Sixty-second Stanza

So in my dream, i’ll not be ours forever! I was lonely tree, and leads summers had she given of old thy current pour’d, fair Venus! I dream’d, then ought or wrong.

Sixty-third Stanza

In polish’d Russian—how we come off hands his gift; creating her second story window the more. I rail’d at the pride or scorn toward the tool’s true that now we meet.

Sixty-fourth Stanza

At day-break or harden’d an ejection, could mark her enough. Who, while underlids uplift, would always, always? Turn them ease his passion to the nations glowing?

Sixty-fifth Stanza

Oh! Not outrun her. The June that slight pelisse, madrid’s and Moscow, led by Fame, that thou art made, for on him! The ear of it. They sayne the world. Who does not need me.

Sixty-sixth Stanza

I know thee, I am a man but for they wyll: or they amble away, oh! It is me the stake, the pains, for Gods still, attending thoughted, how I pity both!

Sixty-seventh Stanza

Floated into her even its praise, once the Veil. The glory is the villain famous farce saw which the kitchen they to plumb, so passed serenely internal love?

Sixty-eighth Stanza

Not that love a wild deluge from her and trysting to countenance due to every week his praise. Must speak to each house throat blossom’d the Maker’s on the glory round.

Sixty-ninth Stanza

Mother, and down at his feeling skin. She gotten away so lively figur’d, as he did best! Moder& mayden was neuer take me give the gift of song. Alas!

Seventieth Stanza

I would bring so, he should not all relation; perhaps—but, sans perhaps the sprout of place, scarce fair surpassing. Not if you have made my tongue says beauteous state was dead!

Seventy-first Stanza

Make amends for a course of common straw into gold? With lossum cheered in my purpose lost, and then a kind of faith, my Mary, and silver-proud queen, but of thee.

Seventy-second Stanza

At first of euils is spoken with the laugh’d, as pale it laye? Do you to see that he promising and country’s going? To be hanged at this is how I pity both!

Seventy-third Stanza

Remember when I shall share as much more and blank, made closed fist thickened ear. Countries of growth, and no child will not there I may know; as liberally, as to be known.

#poetry #automatically generated text #Patrick Mooney #Markov chains #Markov chain length: 7 #203 texts #limerick sequence

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im-fairly-whitty · 5 years

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I had a dream last night where I was in/playing an RPG pixel art game like Undertale, and in it I met Lucy. She was such a vividly complete character that as soon as I woke up I had to bring her to life, and now here she is in a full conversation for you all to meet as well. I’ve never had a character claw their way into reality from the dreamscape so aggressively before, she is very friendly and very powerful.

#undertale #pixel art #Deeperville #rpg #I luv her #seriously though this is what I've been doing all day #I've never made pixel art before but apparently the demand that she be created was enough to pave the way #oc #lucy #i remember that as you became better friends with her she started to get a teasing sarcastic streak #and that she didnt like to fight but if you provoked her into battle she 100% wrecked you #a la sans #but I think she helped you avoid/get around her dad #because even though she think he's the best she does admit that he's pretty strict #and that it would probably be safer for you not to get caught by him #wit art #and yes the name Lucy is a play on Lucifer :3 #she's got yellow carnations and orange lilies in her basket #which traditionally have pretty ominous/bad symbolism #it makes me want to make a game now...

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nonobadcat · 3 years

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Rule List For Interaction With this Blog

You must be over 18 years of age

Please have your age in your profile before interacting

If you cannot have your age in your profile be aware that this blog does random "are you over 18 years of age?" checks. Failure to respond to the question in a timely manner (less than 7 days) will result in the assumption you are a minor and you will be perma-blocked.

Your blog must have some customization to prove you aren't a spam bot. This means an avatar, some content or at least a note in your profile. All totally blank, avatar-less, profile-less blogs are assumed to be spam and blocked on the first interaction.

This blog has a zero-tolerance policy for anyone sending other users suicide-baiting messages or Doxxing. Suicide is not a joke. You will be blocked and reported to tumblr on first offense

This blog does not support Zoophiles (those that are sexually attracted to non-human animals) or "MAPs" (those that are attracted to real human children and teenagers). You will be blocked and reported to tumblr on sight even if you don't interact with this blog at all.

If you have your onlyfans in your blog I must assume you are a catfishing computerized bot and block you on first interaction. Please note that sexworkers are fully supported by this blog and always welcome to nerd out about pixelated people on this blog. I just ask you use your side blog to interact or DM me first so I can tell you aren't a bot.

What this blog does:

This blog likes yanderes, day lilies, non-con/dub-con, dark fic, monster fics, cats, birds, and kawaii stuff.

Only 2D or fictional men/women are interesting to this blog. Real human porn is not. Celebrity porn is not.

This blog does allow the aging up of characters who are fictional just as nature allows real humans to grow into adults with time. However, stated or implied under-aged smut fiction is not permitted.

This blog contains and interacts with dark content and kink including non-con, dub-con, yandere behavior, and the sexualization of fictional monsters/characters.

This blog fully supports vaccines, evidence-based medicine, LGBTQ rights, POC rights, people with neurodivergent minds, the BLM movement, the right to choose to or choose to not believe in a higher power and feminism (not TERFs).

This blog does not take any issue with furries. You do you because those suits are works of art.

This blog is not perfect and sometimes screws up. It does its best to correct itself or else it gets the hose again.

Do you take paid commissions?

No. I accept no money for my fanworks and will only write what I feel like when I feel like it.

I have a career that is all-consuming, stressful and amazing. I routinely work 12 hour days with rare lunch breaks. That job and my family will always take priority over writing. Always.

I am working on an original professional-grade second-person (yandere style) dark romance which I am planning to publish. If you want to support me, follow my efforts on my side blog and buy a copy when it comes out!

(Things I won't write)

Scat

Guro

Vore

Two penises in one vagina

Cervix penetration during humanxhuman intercourse (monster oviposition is fine)

Sexual cannibalism (nonreader directed off camera or implied cannibalism is fine - I do write for Moonfish and monsters)

Sexual vomiting

Reader directed amputation/Apotemnophilia/Acrotomophilia

Real people/Celebrities

Omorashi/Water Spots

Beastiality (excepting demi-human monster fucking)

Characters under 18 years of age in sexual relationships (see #3 on the does list)

Rape designed to turn someone against their sexuality (traditional dubcon/noncon is fine)

First-person perspective

Blood relative incest

Dabi

I reserve the right to add anything to my "nope" list whenever I want.

I love hearing your ideas but I reserve the right to turn away anything (even awesome ones) if I feel I lack the time or motivation to bring your idea to life.

#rule list #nonobadcat rules #master list #minors do not interact #lgbtq positivity #black lives matter #get your vaccine #or else it gets the hose again

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minisception · 3 years

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2021 Summer Painting Challenge: July 17

July 17th? Geeze, what happened? I take a break for like a weekend and next thing I know more than half the month is gone! What happened?

Oh, yeah. Bideo James.

I mean, it wasn't just that, I had a fair bit of house work and work work to catch up on, and my AC broke which left me largely unmotivated to do anything at all until I could replace it, but yeah. What free time I've had so far this month has gone to these two games, one a remaster of a game I loved from the PS1 era, and the other a moody atmospheric 2d platforming metroidvania with a soulsesque feel.

Sadly, Legend of Mana doesn't really hold up. Oh, sure, it still looks good - once you get over the janky mismatch of the clearly-designed-for-CRT pixel art sprites with the crisp, high def, water-color style background art. And the remastered music sounds great. But the combat gameplay was pretty bad by the standards of its own day, and nowadays it's just... I'm sorry, past me, but it's just aweful and absolutely brings down the rest of the experience.

Like, yeah, there's so much to do, so many systems to engage with between skills and special attacks and smithing and pets and spell crafting and robots, and absolutely none of it matters because the core combat system it's all layered on top of, with its sludge-like movement and extremely passive enemies, just doesn't give you any reason to engage with any of it. There's an option in the remaster to turn off the enemy battles altogether, but while the game's various story paths aren't terrible for action rpgs of its era, they're not strong enough to be an entire game in themselves. Such a shame, really. I was hopeing it would be something I could recommend to @retphienix, but while I'd love to hear his thoughts on it, I just can't recommend it as worth the time investment, despite how lovely everything /other/ than the gameplay is.

Ender Lilies on the other hand is actually pretty solid, and it did draw me in enough to 100% it. It's no Hollow Knight, IMO, but for fans of the genre it's absolutely worth a deep dive while you're waiting for Silksong. I'd say it's more on the Castlevania side than the Metroid side, but I honestly haven't played enough Castlevania games to say that with confidence. I do wish it was eventually a bit more clear on some basic details of the premise. Unless I'm mistaken, the game never really explains the 'Rain of Death' that is a core aspect of the premise. Like, does the rain cause the blight? Spread it? Activate it? The blight itself is emanating from the abyss deep underground, how does it get into the clouds to rain down from above? But whatever, the game's more about its atmosphere and tone and themes and gameplay and challenge, and those are all more than strong enough to make up for a bit of murkiness in the narrative, which is pretty common in souls and souls-inspired games regardless.

....

So, anyway. Yeah. With my new AC in place and video game fugue passing, where am I with the Summer Painting Challenge? IIRC my pledge for the month was:

Commission Raven Guard Rhino

10 Zombies

10 Dire Wolves

I had also intended to get some of those sidequest tutorials left over from June done this month, but now it's going to be a bit of a struggle just to finish my relatively modest pledge for July. Not as much of a struggle as the June pledge was, but still. The rhino definitely needs to come first - I was supposed to make commission progress along with the pledge last month and that just didn't happen. The last batch I finished for that commission was so brutally overdue that it's a wonder I can show my face in public. A bit of work yesterday leaves progress here:

A pretty decent start on the internals, which I want to get painted before assembly. The goal for today is to finish the internal painting and basic chasis assembly, as well as assembly & texture painting on the dire wolves and zombies. Goal for the weekend is to finish painting on the rhino chasis - leaving aside accessories like the doors & pintle guns.

The finished product should be something akin to the previous rhino I did for the same commission:

The new one one won't have the same round side doors & fancy modeled front plate, but needs to hit about the same painting quality & style.

#2021 summer painting challenge #warhammer #40k #30k #random video game tangent

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cruddyborderlandstheories · 5 years

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COMMANDER LILITH

THIS NEWS @ ME AND THE VINE COMP

LETS GOOOOOOOOO

BEST NEWS FIRST

IT’S SUPPOSEDLY FREE AND COMING OUT NOT THE 11TH BUT THE 9TH LIKE THIS MONTH THE 9TH LIKE IN 4 DAYS

I FEEL BAD FOR THE PEOPLE GOING TO E3 CAUSE NOW THEY CAN’T PLAY THIS DLC UNTIL THEY GET HOME, F IN CHAT FOR THE BOYS

HOLY SHIT THIS IS REAL OKAY

EVERYBODY STAY CALM

SANCTUARY IS UNDER SIEGE

TELL ME SOMETHING I DON’T KNOW, BABY

THE VAULT MAP HAS BEEN STOLEN

OH WE’RE OFFICIALLY CALLING IT THE VAULT MAP NOW, OKAY, CALYPSO TWINS CONFIRMED TO HAVE TAKEN OUR OLD KEY

YOU KNOW WHAT’S NOT CONFIRMED WHATEVER THE FUCK IS GOING ON WITH ALL THESE GODDAMN PLANTS

YOU GUYS REMEMBER THAT OLD CANCELED TPS DLC? OF COURSE YOU DO, THAT’S WHAT THEY ARE APPARENTLY USING AS A BASE FOR THIS ONE

REMEMBER THE “INFECTED” STATUS EFFECT? WELL, I’M ASSUMING THAT’S WHAT THE TOXIC GAS IS

“A DERANGED VILLAIN HELL-BENT ON RULING THE PLANET” SO WE’RE NOT FIGHTING THE CALYPSO TWINS?! SOMEONE UNDER THEM??? I ALMOST WANT TO BELIEVE IT’S SOMEONE ENTIRELY DIFFERENT- JUST SOME RANDOM ASSHOLE WHO WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD AND THE TWINS SHOW UP AT THE END OF THE DLC AND WIPE HIS ASS OFF THE MAP FOR US AND YOINK THE VAULT MAP THAT IS RIGHTFULLY OURS AWAY FROM UNDER US

NEW LEVEL CAP 80?? HOLY FUCK?????? AND WE CAN START PLAYING IMMEDIATELY AT LEVEL 30 OH MY GOD I COULD KISS WHOEVER DECIDED THAT WAS NECESSARY I LOVE YOU

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR OP LEVELS? AM I GONNA BOP IN WITH MY OP8 ZER0 AND END UP FIGHTING ENEMIES AT LEVEL 88 WHEN I FINALLY LEVEL UP??? WHEN MY GEAR IS LEVEL 80 (AS THAT’S WHAT OP8 DOES) BECAUSE OH MY SWEET JESUS I DON’T WANNA GRIND MY HIDE OF TERRA AGAIN AHHGGGGGG

okay im gonna take a breath now

we’re calm

we’re good. this is good, we’re okay, i have to type everything 5 times over so its coherent but you know what this is okay this is happening, we’re cool.

i have to be the bearer of bad news as well but i don’t know if those screencaps of the ship from bl3 are what we’re seeing here in the new dlc (as much as I want to be right lmao). the screencaps of the ship definitely seemed like a insect infestation, not a plant one, ya know?

THEY’RE TURNING THE CARS GAY

or at least like... Buttstallion themed... check out the little horseshoe emoticon in the back there

but it’s pride month, they totally knew what they were doing and the fact that pre-ordered copies of bl3 apparently get a buttstallion themed skin for their ...gear... guns..? iirc... that means we can have gay guns in bl3, too. gearbox is treating us so fucking right, thank you

anyway the location the car is in looks like the highlands or a hammerlock’s big game hunt-type area. mossy/grassy with boulders in the background.

it looks almost like uranus spawns in right at the start of the dlc! which is awesome, and now i understand why they boost you to 30 before you start.

im verrrryyyy interested in that shot of Sanctuary up in the sky there. you can see the drill, its surrounded by a cloud of dust, it looks like its falling to pieces. i also don’t know where exactly this screenshot takes place but my first thought was the eridium blight (because of the mountain in the back) but that wouldn’t match the sky at all. I then thought maybe the ruins of helios? but we would be able to see more rocks and shit around the edges. then i was all “maybe the highlands”? the rock would match as it has grass growing on top, and sanctuary is very close to overlook, so it’s definitely possible. im gonna say somewhere near the highlands, yeah. the WEP and Opportunity are both fairly near there and it does have some pretty mountainous areas... so. maybe the highlands.

it looks like the giant vines are reaching up towards sanctuary so i retract my previous statement. i don’t think that’s dust. i think they’re drilling away at the plants trying to grow up to it lol

“Shooting the Moon” makes me think this has something to do with Elpis (not a surprise, if you realize the dlc they’re basing this off of is an old TPS dlc called Luxy’s Space Adventure where a bunch of mutated plant people end up on the space-cruise ship)

honestly i’m really fucking hoping they bring back the flamethrower for the final boss (elon musk’s..?)

an area where we can see exactly what this space-cruise ship was supposed to look like

we also know in the dlc that the disease was spread by some space pirates, so i don’t know if that’s going to be the case here (they board the cruise ship and start spreading disease). Loader bots are apparently ‘Hacked’ so it’s probably not Hyperion we’re going at again. I could see them throwing the space pirates at us, tho maybe changing the guys a little bit so it’s not too much like Captain Scarlett.

there is this boss character and that logo on the bottom, possibly a logo for who we’re going to fight in the new dlc? Interestingly enough, she’s got the red and black color scheme, too. cough troy cough. god them having space pirate as a backstory would be fucking AWESOME

i have been going thru the concept art album here if you want to take a look for yourself and tbh

this pic got me thinking about that “Atlas ice cream shop” prompt the VA for lorelei released 🤔

anyway, moving on from old dlc to what’s new! because lord knows they must’ve changed a lot lol

the infected psychos on the title art

also, correct me if im wrong, but it looks like lily is standing in 2 places at once- flying sanctuary on the right and three horns divide on the left

anyway

uranus looks a lot more DAHL themed than i originally noticed, like yeah he looks like saturn, but check that color scheme. may be the work of the new baddies.

this logo may hold some importance, but i can’t recall ever seeing something like it before.

so this minimap

lucky me i extracted all the textures from bl2 a couple days ago

im very pleased to say this doesn’t look like any minimap we’ve been shown so far, although i did a very quick glance through, so if you guys recognize it, please tell me!!

i can’t believe they made the guns sparkly and gay. Thank you gearbox. fucking thank you.

the area sal is in reminds of that one place in frostburn canyon, but i doubt that’s actually where he is. likely a new area we haven’t discovered yet!!

lily

the background is uhhh disgusting, but it is giving me WEP vibes, with the windmill/lighthouse (wherever that area is where you find maya’s ECHO log) and the walls. though the texture of the ground is giving me hammerlock’s hunt vibes.

anyone know why her wings are giving off the digital pixel look angel’s did? like the digistruct vibe?

weird.

tina! she’s clearly playing a big part in this dlc. wondering if pickle and athena are also around. I don’t think this is sanctuary. the big wall in the back. perhaps where the vines are actually growing from below the mining ship?

would then pin this as somewhere near overlook.

brick! looks to be the same-ish area as tina (if the buildings have anything to say about it)

honestly the people in the ground is killing me lol. person on the left seems like some random civilian..? he’s just got pants and loafers on. maybe the cruise ship crashed on pandora and the pirates aboard are taking their changes lol

doubtful, though, considering the plan seems premeditated with the huge cloud of toxic gas and shit

now I’m just wondering if the reason the CoV psychos are wearing those respirator-like masks is because the twins showed up with them and were like “if you wear these ‘blessed masks’ when you go to fight the plant shit, you won’t die. yeah, we’re gods. join our cult lmao”.

im just really curious how this ties into the CoV. I imagine either the twins are working with the (new?) villain somehow, or they end up stealing the Vault Map away from us (and possibly killing the bad guy first) at the very end of the DLC. I do want to entertain the idea that they’re like “hey!!! we can help!!!” and then end up betraying us right at the end and toppling Sanctuary for good and taking the key.

alright, that’s all i’ve got. I’m gonna go scream into my pillows now until the 9th happens.

btw, season 1 of vip stuff happens TOMORROW (the 6th!). hype!!!

edit:

lilith’s digistruct pack has a red accent on it now

im wondering if this is some sort of projection of Lily since her wings have the weird pixels...

#borderlands #borderlands 3 #bl3 #HOLY FUCK #commander lilith and the fight for sanctuary #aaaahgdfjhfhgdgsdf

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kicksparkleaxe-blog · 6 years

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Fashion is the pumpkin latte that tries to catch a trend. Trends always adapt, they chart the course of history. Your aesthetic is your politics, and ideal politics are ethics. Abolish American law, it is based on precedent. Break imperialism, and you break through the bars containing past hurts. I don’t know about God or gods, but the empire of heaven is in those that march fearless into the dark, and a frat star can be a soldier, so can a punk or a composer or a metalhead or a rapper, like an engineer does mental gymnastics. A rain dancer is a victim who reports or records everything, and who trusts she can change the system that violated her. Beat a war drum, but never beat a face; when you shoot, make it a camera so people see what you do. Have such good rhythm and pacifism that they realize they should dance instead of hit; make a hit out of any strike, and strike when something is an injustice. We built all of this, we run your cities, we will demolish it if you try to demolish us because we are dynamite: the Nobel Peace Prize is an apology, because some of us survive and thrive. Einstein’s theory of relativity built the atom bomb, but it also confirmed that all interpretations and experiences of external phenomena is subject to our idiosyncratic feelings, bodies, and experience. He explained it by saying put your hand on a stove for a minute or talk to a pretty girl. It’s one minute either way, but if agony can have an eternity inside, eternity is a timeless connection.

Be the cheerleader who forgives and supports the player that beat her, men and women have skin cells and we are trapped and interactive and porous. Everyone has their own battles, no matter how rich or famous or how small, everyone has a different set of privileges and challenges; something can be broke, broken, and Baroque; the gold has the iron that built it inside. Beauty is a heart of metallic glass, it is hard, and it shines like a prism in any prison until the panopticon bursts in a pop; only punch up and you can kick flip an unfair world. Be a ballerina that tackles anyone who asks if you’re an athlete, be the football player as graceful as swans slicing through a lake. If people copy you, it’s because your moves are awesome; delete copyright, because an open-source world might be an Amazon, and trying to survive the tropics; but it is also a jungle gym, and if oppression is your gym, you will always win. Whether you are an athlete or a gamer or a thinker; if you’re a master, you’re a polymath, and everything you do teaches us about everything else. There are no boundaries between subjects or people or countries, Europe just put those there, so remember that all separation is an illusion. When the bell tolls for someone, they reaffirm the wedding of us all.

Swim with anyone who asks including former enemies, and watch friends just in case. Trust strangers, and always be suspicious of the familiar. Never synchronize: a hybrid is the most vigorous of all; a haute monoculture always dies, so when the calla lily plagiarism bridge collects a toll from your work, then laugh and make a song out of the absurdity. This is a theatre of the absurd, so if you have to push a boulder up a mountain again and again like Sisyphus, change the route every time and celebrate the pain, it gets easier as you go, if you’re a kid forever. Children have immortal souls, and maturity is realizing that you need to have that innocence and danger forever.

The strongest swimmers dive into open water, and they are like the ocean: their surface and muscles may break, but their soul never does. You can bruise or cut the shore of a hero, but an ocean is indestructible. When corporations and autocrats pollute the world, the ocean rises: when it burns, the sea boils, and unexpected things survive. When there is trouble, there are cunning exiles. Never stay still or in one place. Build feet like wings by flying from anything that comes your way, including things you trust and like. The best chefs taste everything, and the best curators can critique anything, and love or hate something on each facet when everything is a spherical gem with infinite facets reflected inside.

Justice is cosmic; listen to the static essence of the sound and fury, the censorship and the silent tears, and you will hear the hum, you will capture the tune, you are every instrument. You are a symphony of one and everyone you’ve ever met. Innovation is based on everything, most of all what is outside the official doctrine; the person that knows a cheater best is his mistress. If you really want to know a celebrity, ask the people they left behind for the spotlight, because the dark contains the real stars. If you want to know the heart of a billionaire, ask his maids and workers and his wife and ex-girlfriends if he is kind. If you want to know a petty person, than listen to a Taylor Swift song.

If a dictator throws a bomb, make a shoe factory. If Forever 21 collapses a factory because corporations do not care about lives, then strap cameras to cockroaches and release them into the rubble. Cockroaches have an amazing vantage point, and they will lead you to the survivors in the rumble. Their exoskeletons teach us how to build bionic limbs. Their movements teach us how to hook up a horror movie. A mosquito killed Alexander the Great like a cruise missile he never saw coming, but people who live in poverty or whose families have known conquerers, we would’ve known.

Be aware of threats from everywhere and know that any recording device has a lightsaber inside, and you can kill any army; what is most dangerous is a threat a Sun King does not see. The light of that arrogance is the demolition team we must reflect back. The moon holds the sun inside, and everyone is most honest in the dark.

Capture any fire with aplomb, and be so beautiful they want to buy your alchemy. Build any gadget or product or art yourself to start, and always be recording and building and breaking and remixing, and every second is another start. When you build a brand, offer a living wage, bathroom breaks, air conditioning, offer resources from materials to instructions to workshops so that the seeds can blossom. We must be a greenhouse in a possible nuclear winter. Let interns write the CEO’s speech; they have trusted me, and I realized: not all CEOs, the best ones are inventors and soldiers and artists at heart.

CEOs have believed in me, because the best bosses are entrepreneurs and they can identify whoever has a diamond mind and they never extract something that harms. The truest entrepreneurs trust whoever believes in themselves enough to correct a leader or suggest something new. The best leaders are those who were humble enough to follow, the best architects have built the structure themselves. Try to plant a scarlet future in the cracked soil of the scars you let show, and you will grow the capacity of an orchid with the hardiness of a dandelion. A spore as soft as a lamb and with the delicacy of a fairy and that flight: it has a wishing well inside, and all vulnerability is brave.

An acorn contains an oak tree inside, and a root system is as intricate as any tree. We have arteries and branches inside of us. We contain multitudes: we must leave our bodies and build trees that never die, and if there is a monster, we must run in the wires and rig the space.

Make a wish, make electricity, shake the grid until it breaks. See the shadows behind the wallpaper, and shake it until you crack the cage. Makers make until they hack the system. We will re-code until the source is ethical: the best of the oppressed always are. Be a Frat King and his Chaos Kween in a hipster scum world. When pilgrims invade Plymouth Rock, make the music they want. When Elon buys Stank Memes, because he can only trace and recite what already happened, hack the algorithm, and make Swank Memes he may never know.

Run so fast that the academy explodes trying to understand; you can bike across the world without understanding the physics of how it works. Drop out of a classroom, drop a mike, this is what a runner looks like. They record everything, they forget nothing, they forgive everything: Katniss kiss the LAPD with the photographic shots you took, because not all cops; every cave has sleeper cells filled with idealism inside. Every nihilist was once an idealist, so prove their sorrow wrong, and you have a dreamer: we must lucid dream and that’s how you make your imagination real.

Hug a rapist when he cries for the girl he assaulted, go to Christian camp when you’re an atheist, and if someone hates you, listen, and prove their prejudices wrong by teaching them that every human defies every category if they are authentic to themselves.

Know that anyone who survives in the eye of a storm becomes a hurricane that will shake the world. Forgive whoever hurts you, but store all the proof, cause the system won’t believe you. The outsiders run the system from within, outside, from without, from everywhere and we are no one place for long.

We built your cities brick by brick, atom by atom, we are the molecular bonds, we are the concrete that binds everything you see, we are the beams in your palaces and the rays between the pixels of your screen and all the star dust that inhabits us all.

We clean your house, we listen when you don’t want us to speak. We sing what the kings think is unspeakable. Every jester is a bard, and every tragedy has a comedy inside. Laugh when you cry. Kings are basic, and so are the barbies they abuse if the barbies never question it. It’s a brat that does. Sour Patch Kids forever in a White Milk Dud present. We will build the future, they steal cause they wish they were us, and honestly, not all white people. Not all activists. We change every moment, so record everything, adapt, evolve.

Be a 4D Chess Emperor or Empress. Play Go, play tetris, play every sport, take Plato’s cave and make playdough, and that is the match that lights it up.

Be everything at once. Abolish the binary code the oppressors used to build this illusory world. Poison is a women’s weapon, and a military is a man’s. The best styled tanks play in our movies and are jacked by girls like Megan Fox and Angelina Jolie, the best KGB agents are as covert as a dictator’s daughter who survives. Tiffany Trump is dating a Nigerian billionaire, and Ivanka is actually very talented; if only she had Tiffany’s heart. Not all rich girls, and watch everyone. Take the moves you like, accept how they are, and if they’re wrong, win a game and only do necessary violence.

That’s your reputation: a reputation is your contribution to history. Your actions define your destiny.

A shithole country can rise and its sons can marry a dictator’s princess. Anyone of any gender or any sex, they can show you that everything is a spectrum. If you are mixed, and the best people combine disparate parts like Rene Descartes, then you are a technicolor go-kart in a tabula rasa world rigged against you. We’ll blow up the dismal science by showing that all the subjects are one.

You can’t choose your character base, but if you accept it, you will know who you are. Know your weaknesses, and reverse them into strength. You must distrust all knowledge and burst into the strange, and you will design the future.

The only answer is the question, and the best questions inspire more. Be too cool for school, be too school for cool, be so confusing and unique that no one accepts you, and one day they will idolize you. If everyone says your wrong, but you believe in yourself: history will absolve you, and your echo will be a banshee for the other ghosts in the night who are both haunted and illuminated by what they saw.

This is what an inventor looks like. Anyone. Everyone. Anything and everything inside and out. Don’t wait for Godot. Be divine. There might be Jesus, if there is, you are a God inside. If there is a trinity, the holy spirit is everywhere, especially where it hurts.

3 is a holy number in Christianity, 9 is lucky in China, in Russia you must give odd roses because a double means someone is going to hurt you. Be an odd number that breaks an ignorant world. The Wizard of Oz is a very Odd man indeed. Don’t just use your body, rig the stage.

Perform when no one is watching, because you should busk what you love, and when you perform, do it like you’re the only one there. There is a quandary between self-expression and communication. Express and communicate to yourself, and someone might hear you and understand one day. If they don’t, well, James Joyce died and his final cry was, “Does no one understand?”

It’s okay if you don’t understand. Admit it. And focus harder. Einstein said he is not so smart. He just stays with problems longest.

Siddhartha left a kingdom to be a holy man. A champion dismantles all power. He plays to master the sport or the game or the art. A true master used to be a slave, and he abolishes the house. May there be no more slaves; then we shall master the world.

This is what a prophet looks like; a prophet is a rebel against the illusion of a still world. Ambitious and ambiguous, hoping to inspire you, who wants to empathize with everyone. Realize that love and hate have the same intensity, and the worst thing is to be “normal” or “moderate”, because as Hannah Arendt said, it is the moderates that refuse to see the fascism behind the manners and the current rules. The extremists are very similar, and they’re the ones we remember, for good or for ill, depending on how you look.

If someone is strong enough to harm you, they can also be an effective ally, because they know your blind spots, and they have weapons and strategies that you can learn.

The fringes define the base, because the boundaries measure the board, every law is a rule, and every outlaw is an inventor.

Be a sex worker in a world that is filled with prostitutes, be Holden Caulfield instead of his screenwriter brother. If Marie Antoinette says let them eat cake, and starves you, be a cake boss and make a culture that France wishes they had. I speak French, it is very beautiful and I’ve lived in Paris: it was my first true home. But I can’t watch 12 Years a Slave in French, though I’ve watched it many times in English. The illusion of the linguistic flourishes: it hurts.

May the oppressors eat their own chaos like Kate Tempest being an intersectional feminist with a prize named for Ted Hughes. We will play out the consequences of their wrongs for them so well, they will want our cake. All the frosting and the decorations have within them a blueprint out of abuse.

Be a Trojan horse or a lover someone didn’t think they’d like, but you’re actually the best. Be a Helen and fuck whoever you want, start a war for your freedom, and trust anyone who would fight a battle for you. Be Joan of Arc in a Teen Vogue world that only catalogues the basic, but wishes it was you. Another magazing in another country for adults will invite you to shoot for them; that’s happened to me.

All selfies are solipsism. May your self worth be a documentary that tells your truth. A hero’s journey never dies, and a hero is anyone that tries. Anyone is a hero. This is the West Coast. You cotillion shits and Dismay-flour equestrians and polo players invaded, so we will use your ashes to build a better world. We will beat you at your own games, we will make our own, and we will break and bend this into a better world. Bend it like Beckham, but Bend it like Beckett too.

Europe is dying and exported its fascism. We are a port to the East, we come from the South. Westworld is basic. This is a globe. A circle has infinite edges according to mathematical theory, and Thomas Ligotti and True Detective. A circle includes everyone, and a sphere defies every box by bending its architecture to show its confinement, or being too big to fit. Throw balls, jump a base, dive from a board or a helicopter or a bungee, be a gymnast, be a football player, be an inventor, be an entrepreneur, be a scientist, and if you are an artist, be a dissident. Shoot the hipsters. Explode the academy. May the earth be our school.

Be the cheerleader who forgives and supports the player that beat her, men and women have skin cells and we are trapped and interactive and porous. Everyone has their own battles, no matter how rich or famous or how small; something can be broke, broken, and Baroque; the gold has the iron that built it inside. Beauty is a heart of metallic glass, it is hard, and it shines like a prism in any prison until the panopticon bursts in a pop; only punch up and you can kick flip an unfair world. Be a ballerina that tackles anyone who asks if you’re an athlete, be the football player as graceful as swans slicing through a lake. If people copy you, it’s because your moves are awesome; delete copyright, because an open-source world might be an Amazon, and trying to survive the tropics; but it is also a jungle gym, and if oppression is your gym, you will always win. Whether you are an athlete or a gamer or a thinker; if you’re a master, you’re a polymath, and everything you do teaches us about everything else. There are no boundaries between subjects or people, Europe just put those there, so remember that all separation is an illusion. When the bell tolls for someone, they reaffirm the wedding of us all.

Swim with anyone who asks including former enemies, and watch friends just in case. Trust strangers, and always be suspicious of the familiar. Never synchronize: a hybrid is the most vigorous of all; a haute monoculture always dies, so when the calla lily plagiarism bridge collects a toll from your work, then laugh and make a song out of the absurdity. This is a theatre of the absurd, so if you have to push a boulder up a mountain again and again like Sisyphus, change the route every time and celebrate the pain, it gets easier as you go if you’re a kid forever. Children have immortal souls, and maturity is realizing that you need to have that innocence and danger forever.

The strongest swimmers dive into open water, and they are like the ocean: their surface and muscles may break, but their soul never does. You can bruise or cut the shore of a hero, but an ocean is indestructible. When there is smog, the ocean rises. When there is trouble, there are cunning exiles. Never stay still or in one place. Build feet like wings by flying from anything that comes your way, including things you like. The best chef has a taste for everything.

Capture any fire with aplomb, and be so beautiful they want to buy your alchemy. Build any gadget or product or art or thought yourself to start, and always be recording and building and breaking and remixing, and every second is another start. When you build a brand, offer a living wage, bathroom breaks, air conditioning, offer resources from materials to instructions to workshops so that the seeds can blossom. We must be a greenhouse in a possible nuclear winter. Let interns write the CEO’s speech; they have trusted me, and I realized: not all CEOs, the best ones are inventors and soldiers and artists at heart. Your brand should be your soul, it should reflect your actions and your fate and the response you chose, it should be bonded by everyone you’ve ever hired, everyone who has ever inspired you, the people you inspire, and the sweat of everyone’s brow.

CEOs have believed in me, because the best bosses are entrepreneurs and they can identify whoever has a diamond mind and they never extract something that harms. The truest entrepreneurs trust whoever believes in themselves enough to correct a leader or suggest something new. The best leaders are those who were humble enough to follow, the best architects have built the structure themselves. Try to plant a scarlet future in the cracked soil of the scars you let show, and you will grow the capacity of an orchid with the hardiness of a dandelion. A spore is as soft as a lamb, with the delicacy of a fairy and that flight: it has a wishing well inside, and all vulnerability and every hope makes a brave warrior.

We built your cities brick by brick, atom by atom, we are the molecular bonds, we are the concrete that binds everything you see, we are the beams in your palaces and the rays between the pixels on your screen and all the star dust that inhabits us all.

We clean your house, we listen when you don’t want us to speak. We sing what the kings think is unspeakable. Every jester is a bard, and every tragedy has a comedy inside. Laugh when you cry. Kings are basic, and so are the Barbies they abuse if the Barbies never question it. It’s a Bratz or a troll doll that does. Sour Patch Kids forever in a White Milk Dud present. We will build the future, they steal cause they wish they were us, and honestly, not all white people. Not all activists. We change every moment, so record everything, adapt, evolve.

Be a 4D Chess Emperor or Empress. Play Go, play tetris, play every sport, take Plato’s cave and make playdough, and that is the match that lights it up.

That’s your reputation: a reputation is your contribution to history. Your actions define your destiny.

The only answer is the question, and the best questions inspire more. Be too cool for school, be too school for cool, be so confusing and unique that no one accepts you, and one day they will idolize you. If everyone says you’re wrong, but you believe in yourself: history will absolve you, and your echo will be a banshee for the other ghosts in the night, who are both haunted and illuminated by what they saw.

It’s okay if you don’t understand. Admit it. And focus harder. Einstein said he is not so smart. He just stays with problems longest.

This is what a prophet looks like; a prophet is a rebel against the illusion of a still world. Ambitious and ambiguous, hoping to inspire you, who wants to empathize with everyone, including the people they sometimes hate for the pain. Realize that love and hate have the same intensity, and the worst thing is to be “normal” or “moderate”, because as Hannah Arendt said, it is the moderates that refuse to see the fascism behind the manners and the current rules and the fringes who see that anarchy is the fairest forge of all. The extremists are very similar, and they’re the ones we remember, for good or for ill, depending on how you look.

If someone is strong enough to harm you, they can also be an effective ally, because they know your blind spots, and they have weapons and strategies that you can learn.

The fringes define the base, because the boundaries measure the board, every law is a rule, and every outlaw is an inventor: the instruction manual and guidebook are everything you’ve ever consumed; understand what you eat, or it will consume you.

Be a Trojan horse or a lover someone didn’t think they’d like, but you’re actually the best. Be a Helen and fuck whoever you want, start a war for your freedom, and trust anyone who would fight a battle for you; if someone would’ve launch a war for you, leave, and if they gang-rape you or batter your or abuse you, honestly, try to let their new girlfriends know and keep an eye on your ex-abuser, like we must protect each other. Be Joan of Arc in a Teen Vogue world that only catalogues the basic, but wishes it was you. Another magazine in another country for adults will invite you to shoot for them; that’s happened to me.

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lilycutesmith · 8 months

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Mockup for Melontroid (i really should figure out a proper name for it lol) bc im struggling to really feel out the exact VIBES i want the game game to have setting-wise? I'm real close i think tho.

#lily does game dev #lily does pixel art #Melontroid #thats my working title LOL

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spiritblossomstars · 2 years

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Spirit Blossom Qiyana Developer Blog

Introduction

Spirit Blossom Qiyana was a concept established not long after the first Spirit Blossom Event. The concept was simple: What if this great and arrogant Queen, wielding this massive blade, transitioned into the spirit realm?

The skin(s) development team swiftly grew to include some of the greatest community authors, artists, 3D artists, voice actors, and sound editors to handle this multi-realm Queen.

And just like that, soon, the idea blossomed. After doing some meetings and concepts we got a hold of something. Flash forward to today where we created the tales, art pieces, playable content, additional voice lines, sound effects, and more, Spirit Blossom Qiyana will really become “Your final memory!”

But how did it all start? Where did this concept originate? And who do we dedicate the long-awaited fan-made Qiyana skin to?

Concept - The Early Sketch Explorations

Spirit Blossom Qiyana’s initial pitch was to have long sleeves, a shiny crown and three little elemental spirits., I firstly managed to do a sketch with no sleeves and no spirits, just Qiyana and her big Ohmlatl. But when I shared some early exploratory art, the team realized that we could push the idea even further.

"We need to give a new sort of elegance to Qiyana's fierce playstyle, one that can be spiteful while still being elegant!" The team adds.

So, for the second batch of concept art, I present three silhouette concept paintings of Qiyana in her real strong Queen stance, complete with her sharp blade, graceful posturing, and long killer sleeves!

“Graceful, poised, and perfect.”

“The eyes are the window to the soul”, right?

We've lately attempted to come to know Qiyana and Draven as personalities, as spirits, rather than merely pixels. So, for Spirit Blossom Qiyana, I created five headshots in order to portray her emotions, style, and general feel.

She does, however, return with a similar hairdo from her realm, and I felt she required a fresh haircut in this domain. Something more elegant and befitting of her majesty's throne!

And if you're wondering where her green jewel went, you're not alone. She still looks great in green...yeah…I'll get to that later.

For better comprehension and model assistance, we've lately started matching the skin idea with in-game concept art! I attempted to simply design Qiyana on the Rift, how she would appear, feel, and how the materials will operate, as seen in the image, so that I could later submit them to the 3D Artist and the team for additional discussion.

As I previously stated, green still looks on Qiyana, but we felt like Spirit Blossom Qiyana required a bit of an amethyst hit. As a result, we changed her Grass element to Lotus as a design choice!

“The Lotus is with me.”

We also had to come up with a whole new design set for her three elemental Ohmlatl modifications!

I wanted to provide lively yet accurate sketches for the VFX concepts that showed us how strong the Spirit of Pride really is!

VFX for the Wall element, I knew I wanted to show the notion of combining smoke with flowers, which isn't something we see very often. As well as the strong deep reds and bright pinks mixed in to match the weapons appeal.

We basically stuck to Qiyana's original particles for the Ice element VFX, save for the beautiful lily pads and ice spikes! Simple but eye-catching. We used striking light blues and greens on this part!

Last but not least, there's the Lotus Element.

The Lotus Element VFX had its own set of problems and components that were unfamiliar to both us and you, the users. We persevered and chose to concentrate on the stealth component of the Ability, so we used smokes, flowers, and... purple! That's all there is to it!

Also, it appears like some spirits are mingling with those particles! Our narrative writer, Aereyla will tell you more about it later!

Aside from concept art, I was in charge of certain decals, which you can see in our respective postings later.

We wanted the W decals to look identical yet still stand out!

They all have the same basis, but each one has a unique touch, such as spikes on the ice element, rock particles on the wall element, and a stunning purple blossom on the lotus element!

What matters is that you can distinguish them separately in a few seconds when they appear in the game!

~ Hristijan “Duxteh2,” Concept/Splash Artist

VO/STORY DEVELOPMENT:

The Folklore of the Ixtali Lotus

It was such an honor to join a collaboration project like this! And I get to showcase some Spirit Blossom narrative ideas for the Empress herself, Qiyana of Ixtal. I briefly read the original concept from our Concept and Splash Artist, Duxteh2, and instantly had ideas take root with the current lore and also some headcanons that could also fit into Runeterra itself. Of course, I attempted to grab bits and pieces of their original personality and mix it in to this skin concept, mainly focused on Qiyana and slightly on Diana.

The basic idea was a broken Qiyana who lost a battle and her reputation for her home and kingdom from the infamous Targonian of the Moon, Diana. And as her soul drifts into the afterlife, she is caught on keeping the path with the Gatekeeper or follow the whispers that burden her heart with guilt and pain which slows her golden pathway and into a dark, perhaps obsessive, gateway.

I edited and gave the original concept a twist, new ideas, and some spicy dialogue. This allowed me to create Qiyana’s star spirits who guide her on the righteous path of the Spirit Blossom. They look like your normal spirits that can be seen in the background of different splash arts of previous champions in the same skinline, but they are elevated for the sake of Qiyana regaining her three elements via her three star spirits: Essie, Shizu, and Tenzu. And perhaps, they may even be alongside Qiyana for however many universes she decides to venture, away from their duties upon the River of the Lotuses.

Much of Qiyana’s voicelines came from her base with an adjustment to the Spirit Blossom verse, keeping her spunky and confident personality. Some can be referenced as a reminder to herself from her three star spirits with their cheery guidance. Others were made as a reference with our team putting a Latina spin on Qiyana, especially her joke interaction.

But all in all, I hope you enjoy our collaboration project with our Spirit of Pride, Qiyana. If you want to befriend her, be nice to her star spirits and maybe they’ll let you upon her Lotus Throne.

And come join the Lotus Star Spirit Festival too for a new stall awaits you once more as the lanterns fly above the Spirit Blossom Festival. Just like Qiyana, you can wish and create a star spirit of your own. And perhaps they’ll come to life to guide you free of your burdens and making you a hero in your own story. And looks like there are more champions out there with their own spirits, too.

~ Amira “Aereyla” Dao. Narrative Writer

VOICE OVER (VO):

Hi, this is Are and I’m the Voice Actress for Qiyana. Some of you may be asking, was it truly difficult to give Qiyana a voice for this project? I wouldn’t say it was difficult but to me it was such a laborious job. I’ll open my heart for a little bit: I’m a queer latina 20 year old gal who comes from a very dysfunctional family, when I saw Qiyana’s official launch, I literally wanted to cry because in my eyes, I was her and she was me. I’ve never felt so emotionally attached to a League character before. So, when Duxteh came to me and told me about the project which intrigued me very much, I fell in love with the idea almost immediately, imagining the thought of my voice in a custom skin of my favorite character!

Uhh hell yeah! However, it wasn’t until Aereyla showed what she had in mind for her backstory when I knew this would be a challenge.

Mainly because as you can tell, my voice is not even close to gorgeous Montse Hernández, but then I read that in this universe, Qiyana has failed on her mission and she wants to redeem herself in memory of her fallen kingdom and people.

I asked myself, ‘’How is it to fail in something you have always wanted?’’.

Well, turns out that I’m a big failure in everything I want, haha, just kidding, but I do relate to that with my own life experiences. I wanted to reflect that failure in her voice, you know, kind of like when the rich, high school girl turns into a good person because Daniel, the Quarterback cheated on her with Brittany, but also wanted to give more maturity into her voice without taking those well-known elements of bit**iness that we all love. We, as a team, wanted to give her that lust for victory that she has but with a whole new perspective of determination and perseverance without letting her silly and ruthless personality out because she can either be like ‘’I’ll cut you in half for making fun of me’’ or ‘’I didn’t ask to be born latina, nomás tuve suerte’’. (which by the way, there is a Becky G reference somewhere in there!)

~ Areli ‘’Are’’ Rangel

SPLASH ART:

I intended to show a struggle, a moment, a snapshot of the clash between the Spirits of Pride and Vengeance with the splash thumbnails.

These are now rather old and rusted, but the foundation was subsequently discovered in a combination of C and D, only to be modified again.

However, I've always intended to maintain the C thumbnail, so keep her in mind as we go over the splash's progress!

We went back and forth on different concepts with some constant feedback from our team, but in the end, we concluded that this captured the event as it actually was: quite heart-stopping!

Unlike the previous Spirit Blossom splash artworks, I wanted to make this one unique! So here we were, in the dark night sky, close to the glowing spirit blossom lanterns, dealing with this issue!

We utilized a fantastic technique in which the 3D Artist gave me with various 3D model images of the Ohmlatl in order for me to find the perfect match for the splash art and weapon viewpoint!

I realized that both the team and I liked the old Thumbnial C, therefore it was time for a refresh! I decided a day ago, as I'm writing this blog, to see if I could redraw it and make it better!

This lovely scene took place in front of a waterfall, with Qiyana reclining on a rock that divides the lake's stream in two directions, enjoying the mild spring breezes and the scent of new blossoms, all while surrounded by her three little spirits!

One thing that has changed in the current artwork is the time of day. We can see that there was no indication of what time of day it was on the old version, but on the new one, we can obviously see that it's a comfortable sunset, which was established with the use of the proper colors. I'll get to that in a minute!

I wanted to explore a bit more into how the colors came to be, how we progressed from dull hues to vibrant colors, and, well... Pride!

That's why I made two color thumbnails based on:

1. Colors from Riot Games's fantastic Spirit Blossom Ahri’s splash art

2. Spirit Blossom Draven by one of the Spirit Blossom Draven team's splash artists! Unfortunately, the colors did not turn out as I had hoped, so I had to start over!

More monotone hues and pink were used in the second thumbnail! The majority of the references were from Spirit Blossom Yone, Teemo, and Irelia's Spirit Blossom splash artwork (ChenBo's fanart).

I felt secure about continuing to paint now that I knew I had the right colors! So, keep an eye out for this painting's arrival; I guarantee she won't let you down.

I finished the splash just on time, having worked on it for months and had to redo it once, since the entire team's work was approaching its one-year anniversary!

I decided to call it a day after adding a few more touches and finalizing the rendering. And when I told the team about it, we were all ecstatic because we got the splash where we expected it to be. It was finally ready to be used in the game!

That's my contribution to this dev blog; I hope everyone learned something and, most importantly, enjoyed the experience as much as I did. I'd be delighted to address any questions you might have, which you can submit to me via any of my social media accounts!

~ Hristijan “Duxteh2” Concept/Splash Artist

3D MODELING:

As for Qiyana’s model and textures, there was a point during the creation process where we had quite a large amount of time before our planned release date. While I was also creating other custom skins during this downtime, I kept learning new ways of going about my texturing process like using more varied colors for the skin by adding bits of orange and pink here and there as well as creating folds and creases in the cloth to make it feel more believable. Every time I looked back on our Spirit Blossom Qiyana after working on the other models, I wanted to push it even further and improve on it by having it be entirely custom-made as opposed to using some parts from Riot Games (face for example which I used initially to create consistency) and following references like Spirit Blossom Ahri, Kindred, and Yasuo to make sure the textures felt consistent with Riot’s work.

We discussed how her design could improve and better fit what we had imagined for our blossoming queen. The new face is custom made and textured, as well as all of the other elements. There were some parts that I reused from my old model such as the crown and the hair piece. Her outfit evolved as we discussed what could be improved, and we ended up with this final design pushing for long sleeves.

The plugins we have for custom skin modding isn’t quite as advanced yet and we can’t necessarily adjust animations for “new” skeletons. We also didn’t have an animator on-deck with our team, but had we, we would have found some solutions so that she would have received some movement on the sleeves for most of the animations.

This is her final in-game presentation. As you can see, even with the addition of sleeves, Qiyana still remains consistent with her silhouette thanks to her stance and the ohmlat being such a prominent element to her design. Just like it is for Soaring Sword Fiora, long sleeves don’t hurt!

~ Daniel “Bearded Shepherd” Matos, 3D Artist

A Spirit Blossom Farewell

We hope that you’ve enjoyed reading up on this new Spirit Blossom Qiyana fan skin! Thank you all for the support that you have given us. It has been a truly special experience.

May you blossom and rise,

The Spirit Blossom Qiyana Team

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