#mod celeste answers

[akito-shinonome-daily]

Chibi Akito should try to climb Celeste Mountain from Celeste

➥ chibi akito is going to climb celeste mountain from celeste!!

[temper-temper]

What is Celeste's favorite adventure that she's been on?

I’m sure she is bias towards the adventures she’s had with Fell (of @flashtheponyofwind) But she also loves to remember sailing around the world as an apprentice navigator

[celestemodder69]

I'm going to discuss the setting/deco and maybe narrative aspects first since they're going to be simpler and do gameplay at another time. Starting with setting there are two major factors that come to mind which are relevant here.

1. Recycling parts: Although it is true that Everest/Lönn has the programing groundwork already put in to construct a cohesive environment of a certain kind. The individual elements for this system still have to be made, and will generally have to be made for purpose, meaning a pixel artist/composer/trained "specialist" of some kind has to coordinate with mappers to make this happen.

Essentially, the reason why the asset drive is not a replacement for this work is similar to why the asset store has not been a replacement for a trained artist in a dev team. You can sometimes source generic elements to it but not much more and to create a non generic environment purpose-built elements are a must unless you are making a collage map. Plus a lot of these "generic" elements have their own styles distinct from the base game, are of subpar quality, are the wrong size, clash with the map composition or each other and can have any other design decision that makes them inappropriate for a particular context or may not even exist. So from the moment you plan to implement any stylistic decision making, you need to have already planned what specific elements you are gonna be using. And the moment you plan to have custom entity textures you might as well design the map aesthetic around them, any custom visual effects are, of course, out of the question.

In terms of music it's a different story, mainly because of two tools 1.a vast library of ready made music from a variety of sources 2.copyright infringement. Unlike most visual elements which are heavily restricted by their format and availability, songs and specially songs from other videogames can usually fill the need for music pretty well, since there's usually no requirements for specifics in the same way, to the point where you can relatively comfortably leave music for later if you have a big enough library to pull from. With the caveat that custom music will almost always fit better and can actually utilize certain adaptive music systems (particularly the music layers)(also cassette blocks). Additionally, the particularities of the community's opinions on the matter of art ownership generally work such that nearly all practically available music can be used in a way that wouldn't work out with most visual equivalents or even most elements from other celeste mods (including some in the asset drive, which also impedes its usage).

In conclusion, although the audio is generally workable, in terms of visual design the engine nor the current production process of most mappers facilitate the creation of custom game environments in my opinion. And given that most modded celeste mechanics are of the base game or derivations of them, to have this environment be meaningfully impactful to the player experience in its own terms (practically untethered to the environments of the base game) in a mainly mechanics focused engine is a much greater ask still. Meaning, the mechanics accompany this sentiment.

Collabs and team focused projects can and do avoid this to a much greater degree (as do mappers with a background in art production to some extent, a few come to mind) but I'm choosing not to address this cause it's not the norm and this is getting long enough.

2. The audience in question: Vanilla celeste is very much a gameplay focused game. The story is built around the gameplay and is gameplay driven, the deco and music* were built to furnish the gameplay audio-visually and the moment to moment game experience is mechanically focused gameplay. Add the fact that gaming culture as a whole tends to be very focused on games as intrinsically focused tests of mechanical execution (see The Witness speedruns existing) and you get an audience whose main goal is to make celeste maps, here meaning celeste gameplay.

I very much don't think this audience has gotten the wrong idea about what Everest is and will allow them, the popularity of celeste within gaming culture generally is very much a consequence of it genuinely being a certain kind of intrinsically focused test of mechanical execution. So, ultimately, regardless of the specifics of how this gameplay driven design is carried out to frame it in such a manner is the logical conclusion of what celeste/Everest encourages in my opinion. The difference in environmental design/this sense of place mainly coming down to, beside the fact that it isn't the main focus for most, a lack of supplied tools in most contexts of mapping production.

I also want to make note of the fact that once a kind of design focus has been established it carries with it inertia within the community. Because it conditions audience expectation, because it's easier to build upon something that's already there, because it draws more people in who are interested in making more things like it, because more tool are built with it in mind etc.

*I remember that in an interview or devlog it was said that for level 4 golden ridge the tone of the music did significantly affect aspect of its level design, although this was an exception.

modern celeste gameplay is hyperspecialized to a very arbitrary set of standards that's divorced from the celeste engine's actual strengths.

i think what celeste is good for is that it provides the player a highly expressive / adaptable moveset, which requires a good sense of space to use well. combined with how relatively easy it is to make appealing visuals in celeste and the adaptive music tools that fmod offers, i would a priori hope to see most mods heavily prioritize atmosphere and the kind of improvisation and spatial awareness that characterizes the vanilla a sides, which all together would be really powerful at evoking a vivid sense of place.

instead, we see very abstracted gameplay where people basically design a linear obstacle course for madeline, sometimes with the added twist that we must figure out in what order to do the obstacles.

setting, aesthetic, and narrative if present become very superficial and have no connection to the gameplay.

[ask-crests-gang]

Welcome to the Kingdom of Negativity…

Welcome to the ask blog for Crescent and his gang! Here, you’ll find you can ask various members of Crest’s group, or address the moderators and ask us questions about the gang or the multiverse itself!

Some ground rules before we enter the castle…

- All of the mods are minors, so please keep asks appropriate. - Please respect the boundaries of the mods. - Don’t harass the mods. - You are free to ask the gang personal questions, but don’t ask the mods personal questions. Also, don’t expect the gang to answer these queries in the nicest way possible. - No real-world politics are to be mentioned. - No bigotry will be tolerated. If you’re being disrespectful, you will be blocked from accessing this blog. - Kross and Inkmare are canon ships in this multiverse. Shipcourse is not to be talked about here, and also results in a block if brought up. - Art-answered asks are not guaranteed and highly rely on the motivation of the mods. Do not be disappointed if your asks are not responded to with art.

Now that you’ve got the rules of the place, meet its inhabitants!

Crescent, King and Guardian of the Kingdom of Negativity, or simply Crescent or Crest, is the head of the castle. Mod Nash [ @nashdoesstuff ] is responsible for his character and asks.

Killer is Crescent’s right hand man, and a bit of a prankster. He is a proud cat dad and the proud boyfriend of Cross. Mod Nash is responsible for his character and asks.

Cross is the newest addition to the gang, and is usually on the serious end of things. He is a proud dog dad and the proud boyfriend of Killer. Mod Funtime [ @funtime918 ] is responsible for his character and asks.

XChara follows Cross around, and was only discovered by the gang until recently. Crescent considers him one of his boys. Like Cross, Mod Funtime is responsible for his character and asks.

Horror is the second to join the group. He spends a lot of time playing games and helping the castle’s garden grow fresh produce. He can seem intimidating at first, but is a sweetheart once you get to know him. Mod Nash is responsible for his character and asks.

Dust is the third to join the group, and is the quietest of the castle. He is the occasional reader and does like to be on his phone. Mod Funtime is responsible for his character and asks.

Pastel is the unofficial member of Crescent’s group, and is the latter’s husband. He spends a lot of time drawing, despite his busy job as the guardian of the multiverse. Mod Deni [ @denieatsart ] is responsible for paint’s character and asks.

other characters that may be mentioned include celeste and swap, both managed by mod nash.

TAGS:

#ask - all asks! whether directed towards the mods or the castle’s inhabitants, they will be here.

#not an ask - self explanatory— all posts without an ask attached to them!

#mod nash - any posts created under nash or their characters!

#mod deni - any posts created under deni or its character!

#mod funtime - any posts created under funtime or their characters!

#art based posts - any posts with mod art attached to them!

#text based posts - any posts with only text and no art attached to them from the mods!

#lore?! - any posts that have links to character lore or plot.

characters will be tagged respectively, e.g. “#pastel!ink”, “#xchara”, “#crescent”

That is all for now! Enjoy your stay at the castle!

all characters mentioned belong to their respective creators.

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

Dodge tanks are technically speaking, the characters that can't necessarily take a hit nor need to be the strongest in damaging but have so much ability to dodge attack thanks to high evasion that they can basically solo every battle. Imagine a whole army gets aggro'd/taunted by this tiny fucker. They all attack him and they effing miss like crazy cuz they can hit him for shit. Welp. They wasted their turns. Now he's just gonna take his time dealing consistent damage in a game of attrition.

//Then yeah, my answers of Peko and Celeste remain the same.

-Mod

[favretheundead]

celeste difficulty is silly. the main game is hard; and the mods get ridiculous

there are 7 primary difficulty levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced, expert, grandmaster, virtuoso, and celestial.

base game ranges from low beginner to high intermediate, so you know the higher difficulties get effed.

representative maps for each difficulty:

beginner - summit a-side, from vanilla. if you know anything about Celeste, you know it's a hard game, and it only get's harder from here on out.

intermediate - farewell, also from vanilla. most people, upon being told that 9a is intermediate, ask how. the answer is there's so much room for difficulty not explored in vanilla.

advanced - glyph, a modded campaign of low advanced difficulty. advanced takes the mechanics in vanilla, and takes them to new levels.

expert - monika's d-sides, a modded campaign based on the vanilla levels, but much harder. expert is precise (but there is still a significant amount of leniency left) i reccomend getting this good.

grandmaster - glyph d-side is a good introduction to the difficulty; vivid abyss is a good representation of the difficulty (be warned, vivid abyss's moon berry is virtuoso difficulty) grandmaster can be a time investment

virtuoso - this is where things get mad. Darkmoon ruins is a good introduction to the difficulty (DMR has six checkpoints: three expert, two grandmaster, and one virtuoso); more representative maps are Mauve and MOCE // CPCL

celestial - this difficulty has two good maps: avian ascension and MOCE // LXVI. just watch a clear of LXVI. it's insane

[wayfayrr]

Hey there, gonna hit you with lots of questions at once.

Are you part of any other fandoms?

What kind of games do you play mostly? Names or genre, whichever you prefer.

Which Zelda game got you into the franchise? Or well was your first? And was that long ago or recently?

And do you watch anime? If so which?

Apologies if you already answered any of these before. I'm just curious and maybe others are too. Please don't feel pressured to answer them soon or at all.

Have a nice day/evening!

:0c well I'm happy to answer them for you <3

I'm not really active in any, the closest one would be destiny but I stopped posting for that a while back. Fandoms can be pretty intimidating to me and zelda is where I feel comfortable tbh

I really like indie games generally but the genres vary a lot, Celeste and stardew are huge comfort games for me but I have a lot of others too. I'll drop some names in the tags as recommendations - they're all pretty affordable and are value tbh (celese and stardew especially with how many mods there are)

I don't actually remember a time where I didn't love the games?? My dad was into them way before I was born and I guess it got passed on dfvdsvfc I think the first one I played myself was Twilight Princess? either that or oot and that would have been about 13/14 years ago now?

not really, I used to but now I tend to watch youtube instead - komi can't communicate is the only one I really watch anymore cause she kinda reminds me of myself at times (I do have some comfort animes that I won't share though)

and no I don't think I've answered any of them, least not on tumblr :3c it was a fun little QnA though - so thank you for it!!!

[corviknight-appreciator]

Hello rotomblr!

You can call me Persephone. I use she/her.

I’ve been lurking for a bit, and was recently convinced to make an account by the local weatherboy since I’m the only one whose internet connects to other dimensions, apparently.

I’m from another world. I reserve the right to not answer questions about this depending on what they are.

I might post pictures of my team, if I feel like it and they do something particularly cute

Please do not send me pictures of fire or open flames. This is a hard boundary.

Icon from the game Coronet

Sometimes one of my rivals posts on here, because he can also access multiversal internet when basically no one else can. He uses purple.

[OOC info below, updated 4/8]

OOC: mun uses they/it. This blog takes place after the main game (update 2/22 now postgame too!) of Shield. Persephone has been isekai’d from another media, but that’s not her actual name. She likes her internet anonymity for a few reasons! The icon for this blog is from Celeste, which I hc in the pokemon world is called Coronet.

I am going to be sporadic for a bit! In universe let’s blame this on the gym challenge, but I have some irl responsibilities. I’ll try my best to interact though.

Generally up for interactions, but might stay away from high-stakes pokereality stuff on account of “I think I’d prefer any high-stakes stuff on the pokeblog to be local to Persephone’s current dimension”.

She will treat sentient pokemon, hybrids, and eebydeebys completely normally. This does not register to her as potentially weird at all. So feel free to interact with those accounts!

Pelipper Mail is on (with ooc limits on what I’ll accept, but feel free to be menacing if you want). Musharna Mail is OFF for the duration of the “dream goes on” arc. Magic anons inactive.

If you think you know Persephone’s deal, or would like to know it, feel free to dm me about it because she definitely isn’t going to tell you if she can avoid it.

Please tell me if you’d like anything tagged!

Mod and muse are both adults, but no nsfw anyways please.

Ooc tags are: pokemon irl, rotomblr, pokeblogging, anything for blacklist so it’s easier for people to track, arc tags (“dream goes on”, “back in the future”, “balcony horse arc” (which I started on a whim oops), and muse mixup madness tags/the tags I decided on for if I bring the AU Persephones back for events, etc. if it doesn’t look like someone rambling in tags it probably is ooc) and //anything that starts with two slashes like this

[celestemodder69]

At first one would think that art can be evaluated in a myriad of different ways, that for any given piece one can find its meaning to be in any combination of the things it could strive to do and you could find its significance by applying it in any number of contexts.

This, of course, is false. The only important metric that art can be judged by and the one that determines its worth is how wide is its appeal in the context of the gringo consumer market.

Can it be effectively consumed as a product? Is it in English? Can it be applied to the yank's life in some way? If the answer is no to any of these its basically worthless.

And you may think "But celestemodder69, how can this evaluation be applied when not every piece of art is subject to the usamerican commodity market? What about celeste mods?", but fear not there is a surefire way to apply this evaluation.

You want to find the most individualistic self-centered dipshit gringo liberal consumer you can find and they will graciously inform you, without the need to ask the question, that their opinion is fact about the worth of a given piece of art. Thank god for these people, otherwise we would never have known.

[puppetchamber]

@eliias-bouchard

to answer your Qs

I have legitimately only modded one other game in my life and it was freelancer(3d space sim) like 10-15 years ago. I actually wanted to shove Celeste into rain world for the lols but that looked significantly(ha!) harder to do anything more complex than re-texture artificer using texture mods.

Lonn(celeste mapping) + Everest(modding) are excellent for celeste. RW does not have anything that good. Not really a coder. I can do a little if the documentation is good.

--------------------------------

textures:

I actually did not rip anything other than color scheme and that was eyedroppered from those screen shots taken from the big RW mapping project. all those sprites are handmade. they are extremely eyeballed. but They are not traced/ripped, plus I wanted them to feel more like they fit in celeste-world. If I just straight ripped them wouldn't be quite as fun and would have been a lot more of a pain to deal with.

I do use the 0x0ade layouts because it's easier to wrap my brain around. this is one of the girder textures.

how everything is laid out: https://github.com/EverestAPI/Resources/wiki/Custom-Tilesets

for that white bg there's actually two sets of six sheets like this(one dark white and the other cave white) to create that bg,

there's 7 for the foreground legit same tilesets recolored for each.

----------

anyway Celeste uses 2 layers for sprites, technically, theoretically. in practice you can use decals which are just non collision textures so in theory its 4+ because you can stack decals on top of each other and move them off grid by CTRL-drag

1.foreground decal

2. foreground block(what celeste walks on)

3. background decal

4. background block(behind celeste)

there's also the styleground(2d parallax skyboxy-like thing) behind everything which have layers too but frankly I've messed around a little and the little doccumentation I've read is not super clear. luckily rw doesn't exactly have extreme backgrounds except for like 2 rooms in wall and a couple in outer expanse.

----------------------

Not sure what you mean by slime unless you mean the little dangly dead plant things or the ripples on the storage tank texture that one's a little off still. needs some work.

Or the particles emitted by the Squidcada(retextured jellyfish) that I have no idea how to remove.

but seriously I have like less than 10 hours experience modding this game, but I'm having a blast figuring out stuff.

I have learned two things.

one. celeste's engine adds these weird black outlines to object sprites

two: mapmaking for this game is hard when you still haven't beaten farewell and don't know how many tiles a dash is long by anything other than instinct.

[moonsinkfoxgirl]

Woe, prime numbers be upon thee

2) Do you like playing with mods?

Not usually no, but rn I'm playing Wind Waker with that really cute girl link mod, which is the only good method of playing that game and I will never play a Zelda game ever again without.

3) Do you like to get 100% achievements?

When a game is good then that's a lot of fun, so yes, but depending on how much work it is I will also often just not^^

5) Games you’ve played in the past 12 months that you really enjoyed?

Oh that's one hell of a long period...in no particular order, favorites in bold:

Nier Automata; 20 Minutes till Dawn; Merchant of the Skies; Maiden & Spell; Rusted Moss; Timberborn; Journey; Hades; Ikenfell; Yomawari, Shinyomawari; Helen's Mysterious Castle; Spiritfarer; Lost Ruins; Celeste; Summon Night - Swordcraft Story 2; Tetris with Cardcaptor Sakura Eternal Heart; The Legend of Zelda - Wind Waker HD; Touhou - Embodiment of Scarlet Devil; Minoria; Dark Souls; Gris

Probably not a complete list (this is way too hard to assemble, and also doesn't include VNs which would like double it.

7) A series you’ve lost interest in?

already answered^^

11) A game location you really like

The second floor of Helen's Mysterious Castle is really nice^^

13) A series you’ve enjoyed since your early days of gaming and still enjoy to this day whether it still has games coming out or is one you return to?

Already answered as number 14 by mistake lol, the prime numbers have truly gone out of control

17) Pick a series you like. What was the first game you played for it? Was it a good starting point? Would it still be a good starting point now?

uhhh, I started playing Yomawari with the first game and while the second had a much gayer story the first one was more fun to 100%, and it definitely was a good starting point^^

19) A game you didn’t finish but would like to get back to or restart someday

Spiritfarer, I tried it twice now but the game starts becoming a slog with so much less interesting characters and soooooo much more busywork midway through it's kind of very difficult. (at least it's a lot of busywork for people with my kind of must do as much as possible autism)

23) A game ending that’s really stuck with you

The way the sense of achievement resonates with its story just burned Celeste's ending into my brain despite the fact that arguably not much happens in it.

29) Mario or Sonic?

Never played a sonic game, so Mario^^

31) On average do you have one game or multiple games going?

Kind of multiple, I often have one I play myself, while there's one I stream for my gf, plus some others on-hold.

37) Speedruns?

Fun to watch sometimes, not fun to play. Also much prefer like challenge runs that aren't speed based? They're usually more interesting in the ways they break games.

41) Best game currently on the market?

What does this mean 'currently'? Steam sells most games all the time. And what they don't (or even if depending) you buy for the price of waving a pirate flag.

In any case it's Celeste^^ As for games that came out this year it's Rusted Moss^^

43) Favorite cosplayer?

The only connection I have to cosplay is that I could imagine going to an anime convention in a maid outfit if I had some guy or butch lesbian I trust to come with as a body guard.

47) Most tragic gaming death?

Shinyomawari ;_;

53) Do you like dialog options in games?

If they're well made, sure^^ If they're ''we are giving you morality points for not being a caricature of evil'' then uh no.

[temper-temper]

How would Jetstream and her S/O handle being parents in the first year of their daughter being born?

I feel like Merlin would be over the moon but nervous while Jetstream would try to be calm and collected... until her hormones get the better of her and she gets snappy with her husband. It's okay thought Merlin totally understands. Celeste is a pretty chill baby though so after the first few months I feel everyone would settle into a routine... until Celeste is old enough to go sailing and leave them for a few years.

[righteousness-and-tea]

You think all DR characters would be fine with their S/O smoking weed? Even Taka? I imagine he’d start LOSIN it. Not a request, mb

Okay, so I know that there are several instances where characters could have different thoughts on it, but... honestly, I think Taka would be one of those kids raised on DARE who just changes his opinion when more info is available to him, haha. I mean he wouldn't do it himself but, he'd educate himself. He seems like the type of guy who tries not to judge without reason to me! But mostly, I meant it as a blanket tolerance/acceptance statement lol. -Mod Celeste

[sknolls]

I just saw this and it's late, so my response will be even later. But yeah. I can give some tips on designing nonlinearity in maps.

I'd divide nonlinear into two general categories: "multiple intended routes" and "no intended routes." And I would also divide this on a micro and macro scale.

When you're designing for multiple intended routes, you're basically just saying "hey, I have more than one way that I intentionally designed the level to be completed in," this will likely look like something with branching paths. For an example in base game, think the section in Chapter 3 where you have to clean up the mess. You have three intended routes you can take. You may also think of rooms where they have strawberries where you have to take a unique route through them in order to obtain.

When there is no intended solution, you're functionally designing a jungle gym. You aren't designing a problem and solution, instead you're designing a problem and the tools the player is given to solve said problem. In base-game, think of the Old Site Badeline Chaser sections where you have to run around and collect keys while being chased. Or if you want an example from SJ, the entirety of EAT GIRL. It's actually possible to do this with puzzles too, but it makes people, like, really uncomfortable (take that how you will, I'm not even referencing modded celeste with this one).

When I'm dividing macro and micro, it's a question of scale. Micro is referring to individual movements, while Macro is referring to the room layout as a whole.

So, let's start with micro, the individual movements. As that's the style of nonlinearity I'm more comfortable with. Generally speaking, my main philosophy on my level design is that I don't really mind if the player takes an alternate route so long as the alternate route is similar difficulty to the intended route. That's how Floating Oil Rig has so many variations on its clears despite being GM+. So, this is a sort of "there's an intended solution, but there's no expectation on the player for them to follow through on it." And this wasn't really something intentionally designed for. The thing I really like about corner tech is that it forces you to reexamine your relationship with spikes and what sorts of things you legally can jump on, so it just naturally resulted in a map that with a lot of minor variations on the solutions for each room. To be clear, this is still a very linear map.

I think the reason this style of mapping isn't as common in higher levels of Celeste is because it's not super compatible with wavedashing, which is what a lot of popular tech is based around. Going nyoom isn't exactly conducive to thoughtful gameplay, since that type of gameplay generally works best when you to slow down and think about what's happening and can see everything kn screen, which doesn't work very well for super fast paced shit. I think in general, raw speed has diminishing returns in terms of garnering an emotional response from the player. It's much more effective to have a room that is constantly slowing down and speeding up in order to get the most out of the nyooms.

When it comes to widening the scope beyond instant-per-instant gameplay, the idea is just to give the player a problem and enough tools to solve the problem. With the bullet hell map, I was just viewing the rooms as jungle gyms with systems that the player needs to figure out for themselves how to navigate. So, the rooms air on the side of being long, which turns the entire map into a bit of a routing puzzle with open-ended answers, that will probably vary from player to player. The player has to figure out what route is the most consistant for them.

I also want mention that a great way to make routing puzzles is to have rooms where you go through the same areas and use the samw things multiple times but for different purposes.

Like, in this room, there's this open area that you visit three times. The gravity spring there is used twice, as is the dream block. So, the purpose of the elements placed in the level isn't static, which lets you get the most out of each thing placed.

Before jumping into a level, I like to make a room in debug or as a throwaway map where I just experiment with different combinations of stuff. Like, looking for synergies between mechanics. For example, Theo + Gravity Helper is a really strong combo because now the player has to consider where they are, where Theo is, the player's gravity, and Theo's gravity. From there, I know that I want dream smuggling to be part of the map, so I decide to have Gravity Helper Dream Blocks and regular Dream Blocks since that adds more stuff for the player to keep track of. I want to stick exclusively to gravity toggle in this map because toggle gravity is the most open ended variation of gravity helper. I'm using double dash so that I can force the player to dream hyper without needing obvious telegraphs and double dash generally makes handling Theo feel a lot better because it offsets the mobility debuff you naturally get from Theo. Like, a lot of thought can go into just picking which mechanics you want to use, and you can get a lot of value out of stopping and thinking about how those mechanics will interact and what they bring out in one another. I play a lot rpgs, so I think the ideas of min maxing and customization are heavily impacting how I view level design, but also, yknow, just putting a lot of thought into why you're doing something does tend to make the end result more thoughtfully put together.

And yeah, the concept of making rooms loop and choosing mechanics does apply at literally every difficulty level. Like, here's a room from a GM+ difficulty puzzle map.

Like with before, it's a routing puzzle. And you go in a loop. The puzzle is to use the camera offset trigger to perform a spinner deload and then perform an off-screen ultra before the spinners load. The idea behind this map is that you're navigating a space where nothing is really meant to survive, so you're just blatantly glitching through reality. Like, you have to softlocke the game to progress through the level at one point. And that was a decision made around the idea of getting across a certain atmosphere. I want the map to be existentially terrifying. Like, you're lost in a maze without an exit. So, the unintuitive solutions and puzzles are in favor to that concept. But it also results in what is definitely not what you usually see from GM+ gameplay.

Here's another GM+ example.

I've had to edit the layout of this section a little to enforce the solution, but you can see how the player has to loop around and reuse elements in different contexts. That's more or less the main thing about how I go about designing rooms without obvious paths in mind.

I sort of see the GM+ gameplay as tech puzzles. Where the player has to consider their wide catalogue of tech and determine which tech is appropriate for the situation. So, simply making the required tech not obvious can go a long way. This can also probably be applied to lower difficulties, but, like, where else are you going to force the player to steer a superdash variant demo through some spinners with the ultra boost and then force the player to corner jump immediately off of that? But, like, there's definitely room for routing puzzles where the player has to choose between super and demo hyper, for example.

Not all of this is nonlinear. Like, the three maps I gave videos for are technically linear in the sense that there's really only one solution and potentially cheese. But these are all nonscripted. Or at least, maps that are asking for more than just inputs from the player.

Anyways, the more macro heavy form of nonlinearity is a different beast all together. Personally, I'd recommend drawing a map of your level before you open Lonn or Ahorn. I mean, like, pencil and paper. That way you can know ahead of time where to plan for connections between rooms. Having the player zig zag through the level is also really helpful. Like, there's a lot of power you can get by just moving left. It can also really help to think of a small amount of lore. Not in the sense of creating a backstory or writing anything. More in the sense of "this is a castle. this section of the level is the exterior of the castle. this section is the barracks. this section is the hallways. this section is the courtyard. this is the ball room. etc." Thinking of that early can do a lot to not only assist with a nonlinear level, but it can also make individual rooms feel more memorable, it can encourage more diverse gameplay between rooms, and it can make your map more immersive.

You can also totally apply the concept of loops on a macro scale. They're very satisfying to pull off. The first map that comes to mind for doing the loop is Fortress Fall (SJ), which has a looping section. I know Switchtube Vista also did this, but I didn't actually notice on my first playthrough. Tho, tbf, when I was playtesting Fortress Fall, I almost accidentally ran in a circle because I got confused. I think loops are at their best when you're revisiting a section under a new premise, which is a lot harder to do on a macro scale.

Plus, loops can absolutely get complicated fast, both on a room to room basis and as a structuring system for your entire map. I think that's a reason why they're not very common.

But yeah. I think my best advice for this stuff kinda just comes down to circles, not making solutions obvious, and some amount of planning.

I think I have to hard disagree on the idea that difficulty implies linearity. And I'm specifically talking about Celeste mods. In my experience, having ten solutions to one problem doesn't make a map less difficult if all ten solutions are equally bullshit. The actual problem with balancing difficulty and linearity is that when you design a level with so many potential solutions, you have to make every solution roughly even in execution. Or at the very least, you want to account for the various potential approaches in balancing them. Which just makes designing rooms so much harder.

Generally when designing difficulty, I like to either make something that someone could probably pick up immediately after Chapter 9 or something that I personally can barely beat. So, in more common terms, it has to either be Intermediate, low Advanced, or Cracked GM.

But I've been experimenting recently with making cracked GM stuff where the player is offered multiple approaches and it's absolutely possible. Maybe that's because I really like working with Spike Jumps and Corner Tech, which inherently expand options and make you rethink how you interact with common obstacles, while I hate working with Ultras because they're the exact opposite of that.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xkotKbNJd_g&list=PLAlu1k6xjlvT74eGDfT6-f2QWRKRE2Q6x&index=5&pp=gAQBiAQB

I made this as a proof of concept for a bullet hell corner spam hybrid and currently all of these solutions except for the last one are usable and similar difficulty. It all comes down to personal preference.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VrxkOK-lAU0&list=PLAlu1k6xjlvT74eGDfT6-f2QWRKRE2Q6x&index=6

And this is what the completed screen looks like. Some of the difficulty comes from the corner tech, some comes from the player needing to manage the infinitely spawning homing missiles, some comes from the player having to make decisions and execute shit while under pressure, and some comes from the lack of a single clear solution to any given segment. At some point the player gets such a huge catalogue of options that asking them to perform clearly signaled tech quits being challenging compared to asking them to filter through their options to find the correct one.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=I7y1M-GEhOY&list=PLAlu1k6xjlvT74eGDfT6-f2QWRKRE2Q6x&index=3&pp=gAQBiAQB

Or here's another map I'm working on. The badeline fight is a massive spike in difficulty specifically because the solutions are open ended and combined with having to manage resources, being trapped in a closed in environment without a lot of options to manuever around Badeline chasers, and the heightened pacing, these two rooms are easily a difficulty spike despite the previous rooms using more complex tech. In fact, more than half of my time getting the recording for this was me trying to beat the final screen.

Think of it like this, if the player can afford to put 100% of their attention on executing a tech, then it's easier than if they have to divide their attention. And that division can come from psychological pressure like "is this really the best solution?" or "I need to keep track of the shit chasing me while also doing this thing." Plus, I think open ended shit is more exciting to see run by speedrunners, TAS, and Goldens because part of it is just going "how will they go about it?"

[nostraightheadcanons]

Who prefers coffee and who prefers tea?

This one also answers an anon asking about Mayday's reaction to coffee!

May: Neither, I think standard teas would be too boring for her and most coffees too bitter for her sweet tooth, unless she pours a bunch of sugar and cream in it. Not to mention, I hc her with ADHD, so she wouldn't be affected much by the caffeine. She'd be more of a hot cocoa or fruity drink enjoyer instead. Mod Celeste says that boba tea would probably strike her fancy! Zuke: A tea guy for sure, though he also enjoys coffee sometimes. Mod Nine thinks he'd like green tea! At least he doesn't have to worry about May stealing sips of his drinks like she does with bites of his food. DJSS: Everyone knows coffee is a scientist's best friend! I'm kidding, but I can totally see him watching the stars at night with a cup of strong coffee in hand; he wouldn't want to doze off and miss any shooting stars. How he drinks it is a mystery. Sayu's crew: They give me boba tea vibes! They would all make boba when they hang out together. And Sayu-brand pearls being manufactured for the stores just makes sense. Sweet honey bubbles, anyone? Yinu & Mama: I'm imagining them holding tea parties together and the cuteness is off the charts. Yinu would make little sandwiches and cookies for her stuffed animals too! Neon J: Does he eat/drink? If he does he seems more like a coffee guy to me. He bundles up with the occasional cup for those long nights in the workshop, or as a morning pick-me-up for NSR meetings. 1010: If they eat/drink like NJ, you can bet they would be all over those trendy Starbucks-style beverages. They probably promote new coffee flavors in exchange for free drinks! Eve: She might like latte art for its aesthetic, but I think taste-wise she'd definitely prefer tea, it helps her relax after stressful days. She likes to go to different tea shops around the city and taste different artisan blends. I could see her and Zuke bonding over various teas back in the day. Tatiana: Coffee, a constant stream of coffee. Running a city is tiring work! She drinks it scalding hot to help her wake up and get her embers flowing in the morning.

-Mod Pango (mostly!)

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

Since we’re talking about versus stuff, mod. If there was a free 4 all for each DR cast (1 2 3 v3 and UDG) which character from each cast would win the fight?

//Good question actually, because it can kind of change in the context of Survivor or canon. A few of the answers are fairly obvious though.

//I'm not gonna ever do this as a Death Battle, so I guess I can answer here.

//For DR1, it’s really difficult to determine based on the circumstances. Hifumi, Sayaka, and Chihiro are immediately out because none of them have shown any meaningful defensive or offensive capabilities besides Sayaka trying to attack Leon, which backfired massively. Largely the reason why the three of them are always left out of the team fights unless the situation is desperate, i.e the fight with Celeste.

//Celeste and Hiro are out for the same reason, because without any tools, and that stupid dress augmentation in Survivor in Celeste’s case, they’re kind of boned. And as shown, in a free for all situation, it’s easily countered anyway. Then Leon, because while he is decently strong, he has no training or experience. Hina is the same case, but she gets a little bit above him because I feel like she would have picked up some martial skills and tips from Sakura, and I do feel like she could take a person out with a well-aimed kick.

//I do think that Byakuya might have learned some self-defence moves earlier in his life, but I doubt he’s ever needed to capitalise off them in a meaningful way. At least not compared to Kyoko or Taka, whose career paths probably put them in danger sometimes, and they need to know these moves to defend themselves. So after them, Makoto and Mondo stand a better chance because Mondo’s been in fights ever since he was young and definitely knows his way around them, and Survivor Makoto has had formal training from the ultimate soldier herself, which at least puts him on a level where he might be able to defend himself for a substantial amount of time, but not enough to net him a win.

//Toko/Genocide Jack I think barely misses the top spot, because while they have a lot of experience killing, and are generally really stupid busted at their best; being able to dodge lightning and stuff, she never does well in fights where she has to go against someone of equal power and skill to herself. At least not with Komaru backing her up. I.e. Narumi Osone.

//Sakura is the obvious pick for the winner, but I don’t know if there’s ever been a point in time where Sakura has been shown to be able to take down multiple opponents at a time. In fact, there is an unused execution for her which shows that happening. She gets attacked by a bunch of enemies in the same vein as Peko’d execution and becomes overwhelmed, so clearly she doesn’t do too well in group fights. Still, presumably those enemies are about as strong as Monokuma, and the rest of the DR1 cast certainly aren’t. So I doubt it would be too much of an issue for her.

//Mukuro is a contender, and she’s definitely on the same level as Sakura AND has fought 100 Monokuma’s off by herself with a makeshift weapon. The only reason I still think Sakura wins is because Mukuro had no hesitation when it came to fighting the Monokuma’s, but wasn’t confident about her chances against Sakura alone. Sure, part of that may have been Mukuro trying to prioritise Makoto’s safety, but if it came down to the two of them, Sakura is used to fighting opponents on equal footing, and Mukuro typically isn’t.

//However, it’s important to note that Junko subjugated BOTH of them through manipulation and blackmail, and brought these two titans to their knees one way or any other. And did the same inadvertently through the killing game.

//The most physically powerful member of Class 78 is Sakura, but the most universally powerful is Junko. But if this is a free for all fight to the death with little room for tricks and everyone is bare handed, I’m gonna give it to Sakura, but Mukuro is a very close contender.

//For the second game, I shouldn't have to explain who takes it, because it's so bleedingly obvious, but for a general breakdown though, Teruteru, Mahiru, Hiyoko, and Chiaki are all out, because Chiaki doesn't have a physical body, and wouldn't be able to fight with it even if she did, and the others have next to know combat experience, or physical manpower. Hiyoko did get a good hit in on Nagito once, but the only reason why they were able to take him on then is because Mikan had already weakened him, and it was a 6 on one essentially.

//Kazuichi gets a better advantage than them, as does Ibuki, but mainly thanks to the fact that they have good tools, like the machine gun arm and the flamethrower guitar, plus Ibuki could use her music to disorient people like she did in DR3. However, without the tools, they're both kind of sitting ducks, and the only thing that keeps them above the one's I've just mentioned is the fact that they have a bit more stamina.

//Above them, I would say Fuyuhiko and Ryuji/Imposter, because unlike all the others I've just mentioned, I imagine they both have some genuine fighting experience. After all, being a Yakuza is a life threatening career, and he must have learned to defend himself at some point. However, it's clear that Peko does most of the heavy lifting for him, and in the face of most of the other people in this fight, Fuyuhiko is kind of dead weight. And as for Ryuji, while he's definitely mobile and knows his way around a sword, he has so little screentime that it's hard to glean what his actual capabilities are. He might have dressed and wielded the same weapon as Munakata, but I doubt Ryuji has any skills that would net him a higher spot on the ranking.

//The next one's out I would say are Gundham, then Mikan. Gundham has proven to be able to take Mechamaru in a fight, and yeah, while he won with a sneaky tactic, he still faced Nekomaru down in the funhouse, AND his Dark Devas and animals would be allowed here. But I still think they wouldn't be enough to net him a win. As for Mikan, I know that sometimes I make her appear extremely OP, and I know that we all agree the logistics behind Case 3 are extremely dumb, but they still happened, and having that kind of speed, precision, and power is somewhat integral in a fight. But in a free for all, her lack of general experience, as well as the general weight of all her tools, would slow her down enough for her weaknesses to be exploited.

//My next to slots are kind of a close call, but I'm going to say that Akane is the next one out. Akane is insanely strong, especially if you give her Seiko's doping medicine that she used in DR3, but the fact that she barely tends to strategize really sets her back. With a decent plan, she might actually get a few slots higher, but she's too dumb for that. On the other hand, Sonia, while not as physically strong, could beat her in strategics. While we never see her fight in the main series, Sonia says that everybody in Novoselic is trained in military tactics from youth, and no doubt that would include her. In Survivor, she also knows how to use a sword, ride a tank, and can use a variety of firearms. So yeah, she is shockingly busted for this kind of fight.

//Still, with that said, Peko and Nekomaru have both dealt with this kind of stuff, and they are clearly stronger, being in the upper echelon of power for the group, and the clear runners up. Nekomaru is a bruiser, like Akane, but actually has a decent amount of intelligence that would back him up, despite being a goofball most of the time. He knows his way around a fight, and the best strategies to net a win, and Peko, who has been trained in swordplay since birth, and is almost fast as lightning, can do just as much damage as Sonia with her one weapon.

//Still, as strong as Peko and Nekomaru are, the clear winners of this fight are the Ultimate Hope's. And between Nagito and Hajime, we've already seen that Hajime is LEAGUES stronger, and it's only because he holds back so he doesn't hurt anybody around him. Take away that morality, and he could annihilate everybody. And while Nagito's Ultimate Luck presents a difficulty, Hajime has that too, so it kind of cancels out. So yeah, easy dub, Hajime takes this one.

//Thankfully, Ultra Despair Girls doesn't have a huge roster, so I can get through this one quickly.

//If we are counting Toko/Genocide Jack, she takes the fight, because as I mentioned before, she is surprisingly busted. NOT counting Toko though, it comes down to Komaru, who is clearly a similar level of speed and precision, being able to keep up with Toko, or Monaca because of her unmatched genius.

//But seeing as Komaru did beat Monaca, I think we can give this one to Komaru ultimately. The other characters simply aren't worth talking about.

//DRV3 is easily the hardest of all them though, because counting Survivor, this group is the most physically overpowered of the lot, and almost all of them are capable of kicking ass in a fight. So I'm gonna try and go through them one by one.

//Himiko is the clear loser of the fight though, because she's the only one of them who doesn't have any kind of physical or mental stamina, and if not for her puppet form, she wouldn't be capable of landing a punch, much less dealing damage. And I don't want to count her capabilities as a puppet as part of her kit, because ultimately, that's not Himiko herself, and it doesn't help her net a win.

//Angie and Kiyo are next because, in Angie's case, she is good with a blade, and managed to take on Sonia. But Sonia is very clearly the more tactical genius between them, and Angie wins most of her fights through manipulation rather than physical confrontation. Nevertheless, she isn't nearly as good at this as Kokichi. As for Kiyo, I imagine he probably has some sword skills due to his focus on the katana in V3, and his anthropological knowledge covering many kinds of cultural marial arts. The reason he falls so low is because I'm not certain he would be able to apply them.

//Next I would say Kaito and Ryoma because both of them have been shown to be very physically capable, but at the same time, they severely lack any sorts of tools besides their own fists, and in Ryoma's case, a tennis racket and ball.

//Which is nothing compared to our A-listers, which consists of Kokichi, Kirumi, Miu, Tenko, Gonta, and Maki. Kokichi is out next, because, while yes, he is ingenious and manipulative, and he could steer events to turn the tide in his favor like he did in V3, he lacks tools compared to the others here, and the V3 characters are so used to him, most of them wouldn't fall for any of his traps anyway, especially not Shuichi. It's not like he could goad people into picking each other off anyway, because this is a free for all, and there's no guarantee he'd be able to take out whoever remains once the numbers start dwindling, and his only real weapon is a pair of guns, which ironically, are not a guaranteed win. Kirumi is highly intelligent, but again, lacks tools that would help her net a win, and though she's most definitely trained in hand-to-hand combat, everybody above her either overpowers her, outranks her, or has some tools or equipment that she simply cannot answer against.

//While I don't think Miu is as intellectual as Kokichi, it's an indisputable fact that her inventions REALLY bump her up in this ranking, especially the electrobombs and electrohammer which can disable other tech like Kaede's Mozart Mk2, Shuichi and Rantaro's Symmetra Matrix, Tsumugi's Nanokumas, and just Keebo in general. The big problem is that characters like Maki and Tenko, who overpower her without tech that she can exploit, and Gonta who can just straight up tank the physical damage; plus every character I've just listed is way faster than Miu, and speed and precision is kind of the deciding factor on these inventions working. Tech and tools are a MASSIVE part to play in this fight, and unfortunately, though Miu has many, none of them net her a win. As for Maki, Gonta and Tenko, it's a close call, but I think I'm going to have to give this one to Maki. In terms of power, I think Tenko and Gonta are stronger, but though Neo Aikido allows for the use of weapons, and Maki isn't as adept at hand-to-hand combat as Tenko is, Maki has more tools, equipment, and ways to net a kill that Tenko can't actively counter against. If this was a one-on-one confrontation, Tenko might stand a chance, but in a free-for-all where everything is automatically haywire, Maki has a much bigger advantage using every distraction she can. And also, both of them have way more experience than Gonta does in a fight, which makes him easily exploitable.

//That leaves 5 more characters; Shuichi, Kaede, Rantaro, Keebo, and Tsumugi.

//Of this group, I think the first one out is Keebo. His robotic body gives him a significant physical edge, and he possesses superhuman strength, speed, and durability, allowing him to perform feats none of the other characters can. His body includes sensors, communication devices, high-powered energy blasters, a rocket launcher, thrusters for flight, and many others, which made him capable of keeping up with even Nagito as an Ultimate Hope. However, the reason he falls flat is because SO many of the other characters have counters to his kit, and being a robot, one well-timed EMP can take him out with relative ease. And Miu and Kaede are packing heat in that regard. Plus, Keebo's body has also been shown to be really fragile and easily breakable by superpowers like Nagito, which many of the characters here can match, so if they can get the jump on him, he's going down quickly.

//And as good as Keebo's tech is, the sad reality is that the Symmetra Matrix is just WAY too powerful a weapon for him to counter.

//The Matrix is essentially a poor man’s Green Lantern Ring. It transforms light into tangible constructs, enabling its bearer to create anything they can imagine, from weapons and tools to complex machinery and even entire environments, and it can be used for incredible mobility, as well as a means of blocking any attack thrown at you. It DOES have a battery life, but it's one that is easily recharged, and rarely runs out anyway. Its adaptability makes it a universal tool, capable of addressing any challenge, limited only by the user's imagination and intellect; something that Shuichi and Rantaro both have in spades. I can't possibly say which of them is better at using the Matrix though, so they get to share a pedastal here.

//But unfortunately, while the Matrix is amazing, Kaede and Tsumugi's respective weapons; the Mozart Mk2 and the Nanokumas, are better. The Nanokuma's do very much the same thing as the Matrix, and are capable of shapeshifting Tsumugi's body parts into weapons, and making her perpetually bulletproof. And also, while the Symmetra definitely helped Shuichi fight back against Tsumugi, it was NOT powerful enough to actually defeat the Nanokuma's.

//Also, Tsumugi is generally able to use the Nanokuma's to repair herself if she loses limbs. The first thing she does with it, in fact, is cut herself in half, and stitch herself back together good as new. So any kind of damage that the other characters CAN do is almost instantaneously repaired.

//So ultimately, this long, difficult clash of tech and power, ironically, comes down between Kaede and Tsumugi as the last women standing. As for which one of them nets a win?

//I'm gonna give this match to Kaede, and for one simple reason...Hacking Mode.

//As covered in Kaede's Death Battle, the Hacking Mode of the Mozart Mk2 functions exactly the same as Komaru's Hacking Gun from Ultra Despair Girls. Though she never really uses it in the main story of Survivor, Kaede has access to all the bullets, on top of the other modes of her weapon being different kinds of javelin/spear.

//This fact single handedly means Kaede outmatches or overpowers Tsumugi's Nanokuma's, Shuichi and Rantaro's Symmetra Matrix, and ALL of Miu and Keebo's tech! After all, there is no way the Nanokuma's are resistant to the Hacking Gun, because Miu's Electrobombs disable them easily. And just by shooting Tsumugi once, the hacking gun could disable the entire Nanokuma system before they have a chance to duplicate and protect Tsumugi from lethal damage

//Also, the Hacking Mode aside, the Mozart Mark 2...is just a PREPOSTEROUSLY good weapon!

//It's definitely possible for Shuichi or Miu to hack into the Mozart and disable it, but the fact that Kaede can fly on the weapon at twice the speed of a bullet means there is no way they are getting that opportunity.

//And with the kill mode alone, the spear is capable of downing giant robots like Himiko's Titan puppet, and the Exisal robots, with COMPLETE ease. The exisals, which might I remind you, are at least as strong as Monokuma is in the Killing Game, i.e. the version that went toe to toe with Sakura.

//This means that if Kaede outspeeds them (which she definitely does) she could kill Maki, Tenko, Gonta, and everybody else in this battle in a SINGLE STRIKE!

//Of course, the big weakness with the Mozart Mk2 is that if Kaede somehow misplaces the glove that she controls it with, it doesn't become nearly as versatile, and she isn't capable of controlling it while airborne, which severely limits her chances. HOWEVER, due to how incredibly fast, agile, and adept Kaede is at taking down several targets, none of the others here are probably going to get the opportunity to swipe it. Especially since there are no friends in this game.

//It might be a little biased, I will admit, but I personally had no idea how clutch this weapon was going to be, and ultimately, Kaede wins this free for all because of it.

//However, if we are talking non-survivor feats, the winner is Maki, for the reasons that I already kind of mentioned earlier.

-Mod