#love love love making something silly and lighthearted out of Saw. next project is a sitcom intro (jk i can't it's so much work)

[sculkshrieking]

Saw IV and V but make it one of those classic children's cartoons

[dribbonart]

Steven Universe Rewatch: Steven Universe Future

After ~130 daily posts, it makes sense that my first break in the schedule falls on the break between the movie and Future. That felt like a long time, the first time around.

I think generally, Future is less liked than the main show. It’s easy to think of some reasons: 

Lightning doesn’t strike twice. Even if the same team of talented people work on a similar project, that doesn’t mean they’ll be talented and lucky, which is what you need to make something truly exceptional.

Future isn’t part of the main story arc. The events of the original show were being thought about for years, Future is its own, smaller group of ideas.

Future isn’t going anywhere. Where the rest of the series held the promise of something more, Future is only promising an end. When the original series did a silly story, it’s fine; there’s more coming. When Future does something we don’t like, it’s one of our precious few last moments with the show. 

Similar to the last point: We blame Future for any “missing” plots we want to see. Future doesn’t have the Morganite plot. It doesn’t have the origins of Diamond civilization. Of course, the original series doesn’t have those plots, too, but we think of it as a Future’s failure.

Future is more about trauma and “negative” emotions.

I’m genuinely not sure what I think about Future. I think I only saw it the once, and I haven’t really thought about it the way I thought about the rest of the series. Only the hardcore fans engaged with it in the way they made fan art, OCs, theories, and fanfic for the original series. This means my reactions will be more raw and less considered.

How about those opening credits?

They start with our core cast,

expand to the “Secondary” cast,

then show us everyone. What a great way to show their larger ambitions.

Ah! Robots! 

The perspective work is amazing, but it’s a little lifeless.

Oh, this gallery of villains was once so promising. Who would have guessed that basically all of them were just a new angle for Steven to process his trauma? (In retrospect, we should have seen that coming.)

They really went hog wild for the perspective on this opening. End of an Era has the lines by Takafumi Hori, and they’re really something.

This makes it seem like it’s going to be lighthearted. Look at Garnet’s goofy smile and Steven’s tongue!

I love that Peridot gets the last words.

Did anyone figure out the significance of this shot? Just a picture of a car driving off into the night is enough to make me emotional.

Tomorrow: Little Homeschool!

Twenty days later, I should be done with the series. Then I’m going to do a few of the books/comics. Then, if anyone asks, I’ll do a post about a specific character or whatever. Just think: early next month the remnants of the Steven Universe fandom can breathe a sigh of relief that I’m no longer clogging up their tags.

Thanks to everyone that has liked and reblogged the posts. A special thanks to everyone (all three of you) that gave positive feedback!

[seth-storm]

I Belong Up There...

(A random thing because I want to write but don’t know what to write so I’ll make this up as I go!)

Pairing: Royality

Patton had always wanted to fly. Ever since he was a child he could remember his dreams of flying. He read a book called “The Girl Who Could Fly” (by Victoria Forester) in Middle school and loved it so much that it sparked something in him. He used to lay on the floor of his bedroom and kick his little legs as fast as he could, hoping he would be able to lift off the ground. He had dreams where this technique worked and he would soar around his house and into other, extraordinary worlds. He would watch the birds up there and felt like that was his place. It was where he belonged. He became obsessed with the Tinkerbell movies and the Rainbow Fairy books. He loved the intricate talents of each fairy. They could fly and they all had an identity. They had something that made them special and unique. He wanted to fly just like the fairies in those stories. He wanted to fly in the sky that called for him and have a unique identity of his own.

As Patton grew up, he found out that liking Tinkerbell and children’s fairy books were frowned upon. Further frowned upon was his idea of not belonging. Other kids didn’t belong either. Some kids thought didn’t belong because they were odd. Some kids thought they didn’t belong because of their sexuality or gender. Patton made all those people feel loved anyway, and made them feel like they belonged. And when they would confide in Patton in the dark hours of the night that they didn’t belong, Patton would smile at them and tell them that they did belong. But Patton didn’t belong because he always felt the sky was calling him. He felt the overwhelming hope that if he could just figure out the secret, he could fly. He could soar with the birds. He could be unique. But he couldn’t say that. His dreams seemed childish. Silly, even.

As time went on, High School battered down Patton’s desire to fly. But he still had other absurd and unattainable wishes. Patton wished to have Heterochromia because he wanted people to think his eyes were pretty and focus less on his glasses. Patton also wanted to have synesthesia because he wanted to be different and be able to impress all his classmates when he said he could hear colors. But not all Patton’s wishes were big. Some were simple, but just as unattainable. Patton wanted to be a good singer to be able to impress his friends who could sing really well. Patton wanted to be tall so he could make lighthearted jokes about his short friends, instead of always being at the recieving end of such jokes. Patton wanted to be able to draw, and bring his creations to life on a page exactly the way he’d envisioned it. Most importantly, Patton wanted to be able to be different.

He didn’t remember his dreams of flying until one day in English. The teacher had asked the class what their craziest dream was. Patton had to think about it for a moment, since he’d had plenty of weird dreams. He’d had a dream of two monkeys chasing each other around an arena trying to wack each other with hammers one time. That one was pretty weird. But before he could raise his hand to respond that, another hand went up in the back row.

“Yes?” The teacher had asked, smiling at the student in the back. Patton didn’t look back, raising his hand patiently and waiting for his turn.

“My craziest dream is to be a star.” A dramatic voice came from the back of the room.

“A star? Like a movie star?” The teacher smiled. “That’s not too crazy coming from you, Mr. Alexander.”

“No, a literal star in the sky.” The same voice answered wistfully. “In my dream I’m one of the stars up in the sky. I’m not particularly different, or special, or unique, but people look up at me in wonder. Because I’m so far away and yet so close all in one. I’m so high up, ordinary, and beautiful that I make up part of something bigger than myself. I belong up there, Mrs. Talyn. In the sky.”

Patton’s head turned to the back of the room at the last part, curious. There he saw Roman Alexander, the brightest and prettiest boy in school. Roman met his eyes across the room and smiled. His eyes were blue, Patton noticed. Blue like the sky.

Suddenly all his dreams of flight came back to him. He remembered all those years he had felt so out of place on the ground, all that time practicing so he could fly in the sky, all that time desperately wanting to be noticed and different. Roman wanted to leave the ground too. But Roman didn’t want to be noticed or different. He just wanted to be part of a stunning galaxy.

“That was quite beautiful. Thank you.” Mrs Talyn said, smiling. “How about you, Mr. Baker?”

Patton startled in surprise, not realizing he had never put his hand down. He adjusted his glasses, unsure of what to say. He’d just been reminded of his grandest, craziest, most wonderful dream, but it almost directly contradicted the most popular boy in school’s ideal. Should he tell them? Would they laugh?

Patton took a deep breath, smiling. “My craziest dream is to fly. To fly without wings. To just be able to do it because I’d be able to and soar up with the birds. To be different. To be noticed. To finally feel like I belong somewhere instead of being discontent on the ground. To be closer to the beautiful stars but to never leave the green and blue wonders of the planet that I love. I—“ Patton realized he’d started rambling. Which was only to be expected, since he had thought this all his life but never told anyone. But he looked down at his desk regardless, embarrassed. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Talyn.”

Mrs. Talyn smiled. “I thought that was lovely Patton, just lovely.” The bell rang. “I want you all to record your dreams for the next week, and we’ll be analyzing them for examples of figurative language afterwards as your semester project!”

Patton started to gather up his things, smiling happily to himself. He had done it. He had said something. He felt so good, it felt so wonderful to remember that dream. A little nostalgic and bittersweet, too, but still good.

“Hello.” A voice said from in front of him. Looking up, Patton saw Roman standing in front of him. “It was... Patton, right? Patton Baker?”

Patton nodded, smiling brightly. “Yep! That’s me! It’s a pleasure to meet you Roman!”

Roman smiled, looking at Patton’s eyes with his own. “I’d just like to thank you.”

“Thank me?” Patton asked, confused. “For what?”

“Every day when I would walk into this class, I would be tired and bored. It’s early in the morning and I usually stay up late because of homework on top of play rehearsal, and so I have to try hard not to fall asleep. One day, I walked in and saw you doodling a person flying in the stars on your assignment paper. It reminded me of when I was a little kid and I would study the constellations for hours until my parents made me go to bed. It reminded me of everyone always calling me the “Star” of the show, but my heart wanting to be a different kind of star. I wanted to be far away, distant, and loved because of my context, not my looks. Every day after that, I’d watch you draw people flying in the margins of your notebook. I even started to draw a few of my own. You reminded me of better times, and this class got less boring because I remembered the days when I would dream about my place in the sky. I know we both want to be in the sky for very different reasons Patton, but if we ever get there... make sure to come visit my star, ok?”

Patton stood there, bewildered. “O-Of course, Roman!” He smiled. “I promise I’ll come visit your star.”

Roman smiled and walked out of the room, seeming a bit embarrassed but very happy. Patton sat there for a moment, processing what had just happened.

“Mr. Baker, you’re going to be late to your next class.” Mrs. Talyn said, a smile on her face from watching the pure exchange between the high school Juniors.

Patton stood up quickly, a smile brighter than a star settling firmly on his face. “Thank you Mrs. Talyn! See you tomorrow!”

Patton grabbed his things and walked quickly down the hall, unable to shake the light, bubbly feeling inside of him. And if someone had looked at Patton walking down that tiled hallway, they would have seen a normal boy walking to his next class, feet planted firmly on the ground.

But if you asked Patton, he was a whole inch off the ground as he flew down that hallway, and he was perfectly content to never come back down.

(Ok so this turned WAY longer than I expected, also I don’t usually write Royality, but I think I like this!! Let me know what you think!)

Taglist: (You may request to be put on/taken off at any time!)

@stop-it-anxiety @littlewolf432 @winterrs-child @ms-top-hat @idunnosong @scared-ghosthunter @anxiousvirgil13 @i-love-wordassociation-games @remusownsmyuwus @thatweriddoodlingllama @emmillie @nutmegandgingersnaps

[little-writings]

Can you do something like Jumin's father likes MC but MC only likes and wants to be with jumin? And maybe jumin will do something to be with MC. Sorry for my bad English.. and thank you if you're

Of course, I’d be happy to do this request! Thank you and have a wonderful day! Enjoy hun

———————————————————————————————————–

You had recently been hired at the C & R company, a bright smile painting your face as you stepped in, one of the assistants waiting for her.

“Hello,” She gave you a polite dip of her head. “I’m Jahee Kang, Mr. Jumin Han would like to see you to discuss your beginning objectives.” 

You nodded lightly, following alongside her her heels clacking against the floors.

“What’s it like being Mr. Han’s assistant?” You asked, eyes wide like a curious child in your excitement.

“Don’t tell him I said this,” She sighed. “but frankly, it’s rather exhausting.” 

“You don’t like it?”

“Not exactly, but I suppose if you love cats it’s essentially heaven.” 

“Cats…?”

“The more you ask, the further you’ll get pulled in,” She murmured. “However, I suppose if you’d like to make a good first impression I would suggest stating you like cats.” 

“Oh I love cats!” 

“You’ll get along amazingly then.” 

You eventually stopped at a door, Jahee offering you a small, yet supportive smile as she wrapped her fingers around the knob. 

“Good luck MC, I’m sure you’ll do lovely here. If you have further questions, don’t hesitate to ask me.” 

You thanked her softly as she opened it for you, revealing the chairman’s son on the other side. 

He stood up as he caught sight of you, his sooty gaze that you had seen so murky and blank in photos, seemed almost in struck speechless as he noticed you.

“Um-hello!” You smiled, approaching him, beginning to reach out an inviting hand.

He blinked for a moment, snapping back into reality, returning the handshake.

“Yes-hello, you must be MC, correct?”

“Yes! That’s me!” 

“Good, it’s great to meet you.” He gestured to you to sit down, his gaze oddly enough, never quite leaving you as he sat down.

“I’m sure you’re anticipating finally getting to begin your job, your resume seemed very promising.” 

“Thank you, I’ve worked hard to make it so.” 

“That’s a very good sign,” He raised his head. “Would you like me to show you to your workspace?I can help you get started as well if you would like that.”

You brightened, nodding. “I’d like that a lot! Thank you!” 

“Alright, follow me then,” He rose to his feet, opening the door for you.

Yet as he thought of what to say, you happened to speak first.

“Um so…I heard you’re a fan of cats?” 

He looked at you with surprise, lips parting almost speechlessly before nodding faintly. 

“Yes, I am, why do you ask?”

“I’m a pretty big fan too.” 

And the most peculiar thing happened.

He smiled.

It was tiny, but it was still there.

And it was wonderful.

“I suppose you won’t mind me perhaps rambling a bit then?”

“Not at all.” 

And from then on, the two of you seemed to be attached at the hip.

His excuse to show you to your work became more or less an hour or so of cat fanaticism, his grin only becoming more and more prominent as time as went on.

This lead to him asking you to join him the next day, continuing the topic over coffee early in the morning.

Yet throughout these small meetings, you learned small bits and pieces about him.

His family.

Friends.

And even an odd organization known as the RFA.

Yet no matter what it was, you felt more than happy to hear his stories and tales.

Even his silly jokes.

And the more he learned about you, the more he seemed to be more curious.

He’d ask you more and more questions, listening with absolute interest with every word.

And over time, his tone became softer when he spoke to you.

To the point when it was drenched in sincerity, a hand always hovering you almost protectively. 

And a smile always painting his face when he spoke to you.

And soon enough the same came with you.

So perhaps it seemed inevitable when he approached you one morning, pink rushing to his cheeks, beaming at the sight of you.

“Ah, MC h-how’re you?”

“Good!” You greeted him, your fingers coiled about a warm cup of coffee. “How are you?”

“I’m…fine. I was actually wondering if I could speak with you?”

You nodded, reaching out as you noticed the softness in his tone.

“Yeah sure…is everything okay?”

“Y-Yes it’s fine…it’s just…” His face became redder by the second, ushering you to his office. “follow me please.” 

“Sure, of course.” 

He shut the door behind the two of you as you entered, a hand curling about the back of his neck. 

“I um…I was wondering if you’d be willing to join me for dinner.” 

“Oh, if this is about my latest project I’m sorry I just-” 

“MC please, you should know that isn’t the issue at all.” 

“…I should…?”

“Yes, I mean-” He huffed, flustered to the point to where he could hardly muster the words. “I mean in the sense of a…a date.” 

“A date…?”

He scoffed, running his fingers embarrassedly through his hair. “I won’t lie I’m…well I’m smitten.” 

“With me?” 

You were more in shock as he continued you, believing this be more of a dream for a second.

“I wouldn’t be talking with you if I wasn’t.” He let out a deep breath. “Please do not feel pressured to say yes I would hate you to only do this to-”

“I’d love to.” 

The words had felt natural, spilling from your mouth the second it was opened.

Perhaps that was why your heart fluttered.

He stopped dead in his tracks, looking you in utter shock. 

“What? Really…?”

You came closer to him, laughing gently. 

“I would like nothing more-” 

You were cut off as the office door opened once again, unveiling an older man, who you recognized instantly. 

“Mr. Han!” You gasped, twisting to face him. “H-Hello!” 

He watched you for a bit.

Examining you.

Until he came to you and took your hand, pressing his lips to the back of your palm. 

“I don’t believe we’ve met,” He hummed, humbly. “I’m Mr. Han, Jumin’s father!” 

You awkwardly drew your palm from his hold, hiding them in your pockets, doing your best to appear polite.

“Y-Yes I know! I knew it was you the moment I saw you.” 

“I’m delighted to see I’m so well-known that someone as beautiful as you would know me.” 

“Oh well I…” 

Jumin stepped in, clearly bothered.

He moved ahead of you, shrouding you as he confronted his father.

“What is it? Did you need something?”

“Yes I did in fact, I wanted to inform you of one of our newest partners. The president has arrived personally, to speak with you. It’s in regards to our newest policy and how that’ll affect our relations. They’re waiting in the conference room for you.” 

“What?” Jumin seemed aghast, turning to you and the exit, eventually grabbing onto your arm, a pleading expression upon him.

“MC, will you please wait for me? I’ll be back as soon as I can.” 

“I will don’t worry.” You smirked. “Good luck!” 

He melted at your response, giving earnest thanks before leaving.

Yet another person still remained. 

Mr. Han.

“So, what exactly are you doing here?”

“Besides…working?”

He chuckled. “No, I mean, here in my son’s office?”

To that, you weren’t quite sure what to say.

“O-Oh um…m-my latest project is all…”

“Well, if you’d like we can begin our own conversation,” He cleared his throat, a chill running down your spine. 

“In my office.” 

You crinkled your nose uncomfortably, holding back a sneer. 

“N-No I’m okay! Really, I’d much rather wait for Jumin to come back.” 

That didn’t stop him. 

“Perhaps it could be rescheduled then over lunch?” He offered, somehow still coming off as lighthearted. “I could show you a good time.” 

“I’m really-really not interested, Mr. Han.” 

He came closer, your body pressed against the desk as far as you could go, your breath caught in your throat. 

“I really would appreciate it if you’d give it a second chance.” 

As he neared closer, you shifted back, gripping tight onto the desk as though it were some sort of shield.

“P-Please-leave me, alone sir.” 

“All I’m asking is for you to reconsider dear-” 

You could hardly believe your luck as the door was opened.

And Jumin came in from the other side.

“It wasn’t anything serious, all it required was some clarification and plans for revision-” 

He glanced up, seeing his father almost leaning over you, you yourself doing whatever you could to slither away.

“What is going on here?” He snapped his gaze to Mr. Han, sneering. “What are you doing?” 

“All I was doing was suggesting a…get-to-together or sorts. No harm in that.” He scoffed, perplexed. “Why do you sound so upset? They’re merely an employee of yours-”

“No, they’re not!” Jumin snarled, sneering. “Far from it in fact!” 

“Is that so?”

“Yes, it is. Now go.” 

“Jumin please-” 

His son snapped, pulling you behind him.

“Unlike a contract, this isn’t negotiable father. I won’t repeat myself. Leave.” 

He hadn’t pried his eyes away from his dad before he left, turning to you with a heavy sigh, a low, angered rumble in his throat. 

“I…I’m sorry that happened my father has a reputation for being a ‘womanizer’.” He huffed. “He means well but- I’m truly sorry he did that. I never thought he would attempt that.” 

“It’s…it’s fine.” You tipped your head from side to side in consideration. “…Sort of.” 

He took your hand in his own, running a soft thumb over your knuckles.

“Please don’t think poorly of me for my father’s actions,” He assured you. “I truly do care for you. All I want is for you to be happy, so if after that you’re not ready I-”

“I still want to be with you.” 

He appeared bewildered.

“You do…?”

“I do. I know you, for you. I know you would never do that. I trust you.”

You laughed sheepishly.

“And I like you…a lot.” 

“I…” He sniggered. “I like you a lot as well. If you’d like me to say it that way.” 

“How else would you?” You asked, finally feeling the same warmth return, comforted immensely just by his presence alone.

And his next words only strengthened that.

“Absolutely head over heels.” 

[fuck-you-i-am-spiderman]

Carmilla talk

So with the movie coming up I just wanted to make a post spreading some positivity and share my love for the awesome web-series that helped me out of a dark time in my life.

We got 3 Seasons all with 36 episodes - that’s 108 episodes (not including the 12 we got in the forms of Season 0).

I know that it’s not the best camera or lighting work but we got it for free, as well as a lot of different behind the scenes bits and pieces. This isn’t a big movie franchise or a massively popular tv series, it isn’t owned by a large company so funds were understandably low and we had no idea we were getting a 2nd season let alone a 3rd one. Funding and making a webseries is very different to making a bigger production.

The one camera might not appeal to everyone but if you look at the plot it’s actually very fitting, the whole premise is that Laura Hollis is making a student vlog for a class project and that then progresses to surveillance, having the wider angle makes it exactly what the plot needed so that we could see everything and the storyline could advance.

If the performances are “awkward” to you then that might be the fact that most of the actors come from stage backgrounds. Transitioning from stage to screen is difficult and the overacting was (for me at least) what made me like it. I like that it’s silly and lighthearted, I like that it’s wacky and I like that it’s weird.

It’s based on a novella called Carmilla about a lesbian vampire and the novel (as far as I can tell) was all about painting this image that being a lesbian is bad and this webseries used that and completely changed the story and aimed to show lgbt stories in a positive light instead of how that story portrayed it.

The plot and the acting abilities of Elise Bauman, Annie Briggs and Natasha Negovanlis in particular far out weigh the critiques (again this is just my opinion). The actors film in a very short amount of time - 4 days for the first season, that’s a very busy schedule and it was very hands on.

 So here are some of the reasons why I love the little webseries that could:

The characters are all flawed and realistic, I relate to most of them in some way and I think that having characters who you can find a likeness in and find ways to relate to them is really important.

The story told of a girl in college/university that wanted to save her roommate and have a normal life. As the story went on you saw how her perception of the world and what was “normal” changed, you saw how this girl grew and how she changed as a person.

We saw a lot of characters with a lot of different morals and how sometimes it takes a little grey area to find the right decision.

The character’s sexualities aren’t the main focus, the main focus is adventure, of character growth and of change. 

The “soy milk” container of blood

The graphics are silly and cheesy - because Laura is a giant dork and a massive nerd. I think it makes the show more lovable

WLW characters are played by WLW actors, there is a non-binary character who is played by someone who is actually non-binary. 

Most episodes fill you with suspense and I was always really interested to find out what would happen next.

DONNA AND HER RANDOM LEGS APPEARANCE

#FreeLophii

The many different film and tv references: “holy hufflepuff”

The edible nicknames

The yellow pillow movement

The dreaded giraffe shirt

It’s full of magic and mayhem and they parody vampires all the time

The Christmas Special with an evil witch who tried to turn them into gingerbread cookies, featuring multiple camera angles,a cheek kiss and the famous “MURDER HER FOR CHRISTMAS”

The breathtaking emotional performances given by Elise and Natasha

Annie Briggs getting to play Lola Perry in so many different ways

Possessed!Laura and Possessed!Perry

The progression of JP Flashdrive to JP reanimated body to JP hacking into Library software.

How Laura reenacted Carmilla’s life through puppets - NO LAURA JUST NO

Finding out that Kirsch’s first name was in fact Wilson

Kirsch having the best response to being Danny’s friend instead of being a romantic pairing like he’d originally wanted

How Laura could attack people with spatulas and used ancient evil books as bathmats

Mel was the Queen of Snark

Getting to see Carmilla go from being this very guarded, scared and hurt girl to opening up, talking about her problems and fighting for what she believes in.

The library set in Season 3 was so cool and we got to see the characters relax a bit more in their environment.

Hollstein having a beautiful and loving relationship which ended with them both alive and together

Laura Eileen Hollis saved the world with a hug 

Carmilla gave me something to look forward to, it gave me the courage to start writing again and it makes me happy, it’s something I can turn to when I’m feeling overwhelmed or sad. If you don’t like it that’s your opinion and it’s perfectly valid but don’t write off why I like it as to me “just being there for the gay” and if your whole reason for not liking it is because of some technical issues then that’s fine too, I just choose to focus on the plot because the webseries is so much more than the technical side.

We’re getting a movie and if you don’t like it or don’t want to watch it then no one is going to make you, you don’t have to like it, you don’t have to watch it but I am will be watching it because it’s important to me and I’m not going to feel ashamed for liking it. I always tag my Carmilla posts so if you don’t want to see it then blacklist the tags I use which are #Carmilla and #Carmilla movie. 

[anthonydev]

The Man in the Cape: Special Edition is Coming Soon!

The Man in the Cape: Special Edition is coming to Steam on October 17th! Since this is a devblog, I can post a little bit of how the game came to be.

Development

When I first got into solo game development, I did it to teach myself how to program and how to create an engine. I decided that I needed a game project to develop these skills. What was started as a few test levels of a twin stick shooter quickly developed into a full game concept.

I conceptualized what this shooter game would be about: a stick figure superhero who would become trapped in superhero elimination dungeon. The art style would be simple enough for me to bang out assets quickly, while creating dungeon rooms would keep in spirit with the SmashTV inspired gameplay concept I had originally created. Full development began sometime in 2010.

Developing the game sort of became an obsession for me. I was at a point in my life where I had nothing going on, and I felt like I needed to create and accomplish something. Years before 2010, I was in game development, then quit out for a few years. I had always loved gamedev, so I felt compelled to pursue that avenue again, for better or for worse.

The Man in the Cape took, more or less, about 2 years to finish and it was released on October 15th, 2012. I sold it independently on a website for a while, but I was inexperienced when it came to getting the word out and handling the release. About 6 months later, I began to develop Turnover, and The Man in the Cape was relegated to a backup disc somewhere. It became like an estranged family member that I no longer mentioned.

Revisiting

Turnover has been out now for almost 2 years, and I have moved onto the development of my next game. A couple of months back, I became a little introspective and felt like delving into some of my game development archives. I had frequently saw the latest build of The Man in the Cape in my backups, but I never allowed myself to give it a thought. A little later, I was looking through my files again and stumbled into the most recent project and development files for The Man in the Cape.

I had looked back negatively on the game. Turnover is a serious game with a serious tone. The Man in the Cape is a weird, surreal, silly game with an odd, lighthearted tone. As I pulled the latest build of Capeman out of my archives, I kind of began to accept the fact that these project all represent facets of my personality. I felt ready to jump in and cringe.

So, I started the executable and had issues. I could run it in Windows XP compatibility mode, but it would crash frequently. I then opened up the old project files and converted them to my newest development environment, updating libraries and recoding things to fix issues from 5 years of library changes. It only took about a day of serious work to get Capeman up and running decently. So, I dove in.

And you know what? I was really having fun and laughing a lot. As I played through Capeman, I started to feel a little guilty that I didn’t gave it the support that I should have. While playing, I really cringe, I was proud of it.

It was 4 or so years since my last playthrough, so I was able to see things with a fresh perspective. Using the experience I gained working on Turnover, I rebalanced the game as I played through it, fixing enemy issues, lifting the difficulty in some rooms, making it a little tougher in others. Also, I added things I felt the game needed to have: better controller support, with XInput support and a default Steam controller template, support for 16:9 resolution above 1080p, and higher frame rate (lifting the cap from 60 to 240). I also spent some time reprogramming the game loop to eliminate a stuttering issue the original version had.

Special Edition

As silly as the game is, I’m proud of The Man in the Cape. It‘s a fun twin stick shooter with a surreal atmosphere and some weird writing. I was happy I reunited with it, and I have accepted it back into my game development family.

The Man in the Cape: Special Edition will be available for a low price upon release. So, check it out!