#okay so it’s like- it’s an rpg maker game that’s making fun of rpg maker games KIND OF??

[askthebadkidz]

(13 insight)

Sprak nuzzles Baron back and nips him. You’re welcome.

Baron sprints back into whatever area of the Mirror Manor Riz is in, holding what seems to be the entire grocery section of the goblin market.

I have...returned. :)

-Baron

Woah. How did you. Carry all of that here?

*Riz sinks deeper into his little blankie mountain.*

-Riz

[catskets]

A more in-depth guide for creating visual novels, especially in the horror, horror-romance, etc circles

Some of you have seen my previous, smaller post on crafting visual novels, especially in this little space of Tumblr that a lot of us have found themselves in. Since that post took off, I've wanted to create a longer guide to help touch on some points I've thought about for the past few months.

In case you've never heard of me, I'm Kat, also known as catsket. I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Game Design. I've been making games for nearly 5 years, and I've been doing visual novels more "professionally" for 2. You may know me for Art Without Blood, 10:16, God is in the Radio, or Fatal Focus. I'm here to help you make your first visual novel.

Please note that my advice does not fit everyone, and you may disagree with what I say. That's okay! It doesn't work for all. That's why there's thousands of resources out there.

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE NEVER MADE A GAME

So, you have an idea for a huge visual novel. Horror, a shady and obsessive love interest, a little bit of woo-hooing. 100k words. Maybe a million. What is this, the 07th Expansion?

I notice a lot of people getting into visual novels are artists first. That's okay! I wanted to do art for games before I realized how much I enjoyed writing. And even less of you have probably touched Visual Studio. Again, perfectly okay. We all start somewhere.

My number one piece of advice? Make shitty games.

What does that mean?! My recommendation to those who have never done games is to make a bunch of shitty ones. Think of a theme, or hell, even join a game jam, where you make a game that fits a theme in a short amount of time. Spend about a week on your game. Focus on making something polished. Polish your mechanics. Polish your output.

I recommend, if you can, to make at least 4-6, if not more, kind of shitty games before hopping into longer projects. Making a game is a skill, just like art, just like writing. And game development is combining ALL of these together into one big soup being stirred by a skeleton hand puppet. You'll get into the rhythm and see what works for you.

It also helps you learn, perhaps, the second most important thing here: do you even like making games? There are cases out there where people have created video games (not saying visual novels) just for clout. That's no fun for you, that's no fun for your players. And you might go through this process and find that you don't like making games. That's completely okay! It's not for everyone.

Also, you can use these shittier games to gather an audience. I've built my audience because, for the past few years, I've been releasing games that slowly give me growing fields of eyes every day. A success story overnight is a rare one. It takes time. It's like building a brand, but you aren't a brand, you're an artist.

REV UP YOUR ENGINES!

Ren'py is the number one engine you will be recommended. It is very beginner-friendly, with lots of tutorials, assets on itch.io to use and download, and support. The engine comes with a few tutorials in the form of games, whose code you can freely browse. This is the engine I use most often. Most visual novels you see are made in this engine.

Twine is a text-based engine that most people use for interactive fiction. You can add images and audio, though, if you don't mind messing with HTML. I use Twine for text games and for outlining for my larger games. Ever played Degrees of Lewdity? Yeah, I know you have. Don't ask why. That game was made in Twine.

RPG Maker has multiple versions and has been used for exclusively VNs if you don't mind fucking around with plugins. It can definitely give your game a super unique feel. I recommend RPG Maker MV, since it has the most resources. This line of engines usually costs money, but it often goes on sale for under $5-$15.

People will recommend TyranoBuilder, but as a user and player, the lack of options and the format the games often come in is just...not fun to navigate. It advertises itself as little to no code, but it's often evident in the final results. Some good games have been made in it, though, so if you want to use it for prototyping/practice, you can. I'm not a fan, but that doesn't mean that fans don't exist! This engine costs money.

Not an engine, but check out Ink! Super useful scripting language that's used for more professional projects.

DEMOS, DEMOS, DEMOS

You've got an idea for a long-term project, and now you want to show it to the world! But wait, wait, don't do that yet!

When should I start advertising my game? This is a personal opinion, but I say that you should not start advertising your game until 50-60% of your demo is complete. Why? As I've discussed with some fans of indie VNs, they can name quite a few projects that have been in the "working on the demo" age for 1-2+ years. I've been in the Kickstarter MMO circles. If you, making a single-player experience with little mechanics to balance and polish (aka a visual novel), are taking that long on a demo, I am going to assume the game is not coming out. There are some games I have seen out here that have been in "working on the demo" phase where I haven't seen a single ounce of what the project will look like.

What should I put in my demo? The purpose of a demo is to showcase the mechanics and the vibes and the mechanics of your game. It's a demonstration. In my last post, I pointed to the Dead Space 2 demo that was showcased at E3 (RIP), that takes place about 2 hours into the story and shows how enemies are defeated, some animations, bits of the story, etc. Usually, because it's less about mechanics and more about vibes, visual novel demos showcase a certain percentage of the full thing (5-10%.) Can you showcase the vibe of the game here and what players should expect? If not, show off another portion.

How long should I work on my demo? Before, I said 3-4 months. That can be true, that can also not be true. Think about how long the demo takes you in proportion to how long the actual game should take you. Don't put too much effort. The demo is to showcase the vibe. It's to see how much the public and fans may enjoy the game.

My game is 18+, what should I do? Make a splash screen when the game is downloaded to let players know your game is 18+. If it's going to contain sexual content, you can hide it with itch.io's adult content filter. Write it on the page itself that your game is for adults only. Don't put your demo behind a paywall. This is genuinely ridiculous. The purpose of a demo is to showcase what a game is like before a player purchases it. That defeats the point of a demo. I've seen this happen, and it discourages players from approaching, especially because most demos never make it past the demo phase. So...I'm paying you $10 for 2-3k words of a game that may never come out?

Should I make a social media for my game? YES! Go for it. These anchors are how people will find your game. Make a Tumblr and open that ask box. Make a Twitter. Go to BluSky. Advertising is not bad. Some YouTubers even take e-mail suggestions from developers. Feel free to shoot your shot. The worst they can do is not respond.

HOW TO SET UP YOUR ITCH.IO PAGE:

Getting your itch.io to a presentable state can be very challenging! There's many ways to do it. I highly recommend using this page image guide for learning how to size your images to make your page pop!

Itch.io themselves has suggested to not publish a page until the game or demo is released. You can make the page and keep it as a draft, but do not publish it until you're ready!

Your cover image is the image that will appear in the search of the website, on any front pages, in collections, and on your profile. What have I seen that works? Key art of one of the characters up close and the title of the game! If you can make it a .GIF, do it! Bitches love .GIFs!

Itch.io recommends 3-5 screenshots on your page. I recommend 1 of these 5 be a .GIF that shows how gameplay feels. This is effective, even for visual novels!

Write a 3-5 sentence summary about your game for the description. What is your story about? What is the draw?

DO NOT BE ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO IS GOING TO SAY "This is not like other visual novels. It doesn't have that cheesy this or that or-" No one cares. Genuinely. You're putting down other games in your genre and elevating yourself to the pompous level.

TAG YOUR GAME! itch.io gives you a list of tags to choose from when you go to tag. DON'T USE THIS! Try to go for more specific tags. Arimia has a very good guide on how to use itch.io's tagging system to your advantage.

GENERAL GAME MAKING ADVICE

SCOPE KNIFE IS SUPER USEFUL! Everyone makes games that are way over their workload. It's okay to cut out features and add them later. Prioritize making a finished game before hitting those stretch goals.

PLAN, PLAN, PLAN! Writing outlines is super helpful. I use Twine for my outlines, because you can connect your passages together and make really well-thought webs.

IT'S OKAY TO ASK FOR HELP! Whether it's from friends, professionals, or anything in-between. They can help with assets, editing, etc.

HONE YOUR SKILLS OUTSIDE OF GAMES! Write some poetry. Do some sketches everyday. Improve on your craft to improve your games

MUSIC IS HARD. THERE ARE RESOURCES. Most of us aren't musicians. That's okay. Make sure the music you get for your game is allowed to be used. You can use anything non-commercial if your game will not cost money or donations. I try to do songs in the public domain or free to use overall with credit if I don't have a musician. Consult the Creative Commons website if you're unsure how you're supposed to use a certain piece of music. If you don't use the right stuff, not only can it put you in legal trouble, but it can put streamers in hot water if they play your game and they can't upload the video because music is copyrighted.

PLEASE, DO SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR UI. Wanna know an easy way to get your game to look more professional? Edit the damn UI for your game. Make a new textbox, even if it's just a black box. Change the font. Eventually, players recognize the defaults and patterns of games made in certain engines and may attribute a lack of UI changes to a developer being lazy. It doesn't take very long to change the colors around and move text! Please do it to add a little pop to your game.

DEADLINES ARE AWESOME. Not everyone works well under pressure, but if you give yourself an infinite amount of time to make something, it'll never get done. Set goals for yourself for how much you can work on something.

IF YOU HAVE TO GIVE UP, GIVE UP. Making things is hard, especially long-term. Emergencies happen, jobs happen, life happens. Let your fans know that a project isn't happening anymore. Don't leave them in the dark. You don't need to tell strangers your medical history or anything, but transparency + honesty are really hot traits. You should use those in your creative work. This is one reason why I advocate for not publishing or advertising things until you know it's stable.

SHOWCASING YOUR CONTENT

People love to see WIPs for games! This is what the devlog is good for! A devlog is a post where a developer talks about and showcases some things happening in the game? What can you add to your dev log?

PERCENTAGES! How much of the artwork is done? How much of this character's route is done?

SNEAK PEEKS AT ARTWORK AND SPRITES!

GIFS! GIRLS LOVE GIFS!

Anything else to showcase your game's content! Posting consistent updates retains and even gains a fan's attention for your work.

RUNNING YOUR TUMBLR

You've joined us, and you've made a Tumblr for your blog! Link it on the itch.io page, so people can come find you after playing your awesome demo!

Do I have to respond to every ask? No. It's your blog. Delete whatever asks you want.

I got a hate comment! What do I do? Delete it and move on. I have a more detailed section on hate below.

I want to interact with [blog]! How do I do that? Reach out to the devs for silly little collabs. If you come onto a developer slightly headstrong, they might feel you are being abrasive or using them for content.

If people make fan content, interact with it! Encourage it! Reblog it. Show your love.

OTHER IMPORTANT THINGS

PROFESSIONALISM IS KEY. These may be pet projects, but you want to appear some level of professional on your actual itch.io page.

Being dismissive of player and fan complaints or criticisms will make you appear childish.

If your game is broken, fix it. I have been told by some amateur developers to ignore game-breaking bugs. It does not make me, a player, want to engage with your content. It seems messy and unfinished.

With the above point, it's 100% okay to have bugs and errors upon release. Every developer and their brood mother has. To decrease these issues, get playtesters. Friends can play your games, spot any errors, and help you point out things that can be improved upon. I recommend having playtesters at every stage of development.

Make sure your game runs before you publish it. Please.

You can still be silly and giddy! There's no reason to not be, especially when you get positive comments! The point of this is to not be outright rude to potential players and fans.

IGNORE HATE COMMENTS. In this case, a hate comment is a statement that contains no constructive criticism and are only here to be insulting or malicious. People are going to leave you with actual piles of dog shit in your ask box. They are trying to provoke you. Giving hate comments any attention, even if you're there to "clap back" proves that they got to you, even if you don't take the hate to heart. They will continue to pester you. Delete any hate comments and ignore them completely. Laugh about them with friends in a private setting, sure.

THINK BEFORE YOU REFERENCE! I know one big thing in this community is adding references to other games in yours, such as plushies of other characters or putting them on posters. The best thing you can do it ask the developer before adding this. How would you feel if some random person you've never met put your character in a video game? Most of us would feel weird and potentially violated. Open communication with devs is awesome. I am usually okay with it as long as someone asks for permission.

As a complete aside, I prefer more tasteful references to other games as opposed to 523482346 plushies and posters. These have been slightly overdone. Why not theme a candy after another game's character? Maybe your characters know each other.

OTHER RESOURCES I RECOMMEND

Devtalk is a server dedicated to independent visual novel creators. You can find jobs, resources, advice, talks, and, like, everything there! Devtalk is super useful. Everyone in there is so cool. They have a really great and comprehensive list of resources that I could not even begin to cover.

Visual Novel Design is a great YouTuber. No other words, check the guy out!

Ren'py and whatever other engine you're using has documentation that's super useful to follow.

Arimia not only has amazing VN resources, especially for marketing, but she also just has? Amazing games that you should check out?

And for a shameless self plug, I'm the lead of Sacred Veins, a collective of devs creating narrative games, whether it be horror, humor, romance, or everything in-between. Come hang out with us!

[leog4u]

Game Design and Porn Pt. 1

or, How To Fuck Up The Best Intrinsic Reward Ever

Hi, I'm Leo G, veteran pervert. One time while chatting in a server exclusively made of porn artists, I brought up the game design of a porn game I enjoyed. One of them laughed, saying "Who cares, it's just a porn game?" Being unwell, I never let this go. Since then, I have played many adult games and took each one as serious products made by professionals. Fast forward to today, and the demo for my porn game, Joker's Trip, is nearing completion. I also have some sci-fi erotica you should check out.

So you wanna make a porn game. You heard they make money, and hey what’s more fun than making a video game AND porn? But you don’t know where to begin! Well don’t worry, Leo’s got you covered. We’re gonna walk through the line of thinking you should have when designing your porn game. There's gonna be at least three parts to this, with part 1 focusing on how to reward your player.

Define "porn game" for me, Leo.

There are porn games, and then games with porn in them. A porn game is a game where you won’t last 5 minutes, where everything exists solely to meet and, subsequently, fuck. A game with porn in it is a game where everything exists for the purpose of the game, and also, you fuck. Fate Stay Night, for example, is a VN with a story that just so happens to have some CGs where the protagonist rails Saber, but is mainly about Shirou and the Holy Grail War. Much like how I would call Castlevania a game with horror in it, but not a horror game.

Porn games are a lot like horror games. They both get a bad rap for being cheap to make, appealing to base instincts, and generally being low quality. They're also both not actual genres of games, but genres of content. Think about it, if I asked you what a horror game is, you'd say a game that's scary. But what's the actual game part? The unfortunate answer would most likely be "walking sim," but there are a lot of examples that are FPSes, puzzles, driving sims, platformers, deck builders, the list goes on.

The most common genres of game I see for porn games these days are by far RPG Maker RPGs and VNs. I won’t be talking about VNs because they’re closer to writing than game design, which isn’t a flaw but a feature. What used to be everywhere, in days of old, were breakout games, where the more bricks and levels were cleared, the more of the sexy image would be revealed in the background. Other arcadey type deals like shoot ‘em ups and mahjong were also around, and had a similar “strip ‘em down until you have sex” gameplay loop.

Okay, so what’s an intrinsic reward?

There’s intrinsic rewards, and there're extrinsic rewards. Extrinsic rewards, generally, are the number go up rewards. Things that make your character stronger, or give you more resources to buy new gear or whatever. Intrinsic rewards in games can cover a large swathe of things. It can be the feeling of satisfaction of completing a puzzle, a piece of lore or world building, or a new dialogue option with a character you want to fuck.

I like fucking characters, are we talking about porn now?

Yes! I’m of the opinion that you literally can’t make a better intrinsic reward than pornography. On top of setting the tone for the entirety of the game., at its best it can add to a story, add to someone’s character development, or be a beautiful piece of art to look at. AND you can jack off to it! Unfortunately, that’s at its best. Let’s talk about how porn is delivered in a theoretical RPG porn game. (As a head’s up, there will be talk of “bad end” scenes, but this is under the assumption that the player is the one consenting.)

So you’re playing an RPG and get into a fight. Maybe you were underleveled or too cumbrained to remember to buy healing potions. Then your HP goes to zero, and instead of going back to the title screen, you’re getting fucked by orcs. That’s right, let’s talk about Game Over CGs.

You get to watch porn when you lose?

To someone making a porn game with a battle system, this delivery method makes sense. The characters in this world are driven primarily by lust, this is just the obvious conclusion. And it doesn’t even have to be non-consensual! Games like Future Fragments show that it can be presented as a sexy inconvenience rather than anything uncomfortable for the player or our hero. Game Over CGs even have the benefit of softening the blow of defeat, by giving the player a chance to reflect on their defeat and jerk off. Even better if losing a fight isn’t lost progress, but rather a bump in the road. However, there’s a problem here. The player is a dog, and we’re rewarding bad behavior.

The porn is an intrinsic reward, so why are we giving it to the player for losing? Incentivizing losing on purpose isn’t just bad game design, but a waste of time. And to that end, a lot of porn games try to give solutions to this. One being a kill button on the keyboard or a skill that instantly KOs our hero to get to the lose screen faster. What might seem like a convenience is really just expediting failure.

What it says is that the gameplay doesn’t actually matter. You’re just here for the porn, right? In that case there’s plenty of places I can go to see a chick with huge knockers get railed by an orc, with the added bonus of not having to play forgettable and mid turn based combat!

Another solution I’ve seen is the game outright telling you, “hey don’t bother killing yourself to see the porn. Once you beat the game all of the scenes you missed will be unlocked!” At first this seems like a reasonable way to go about it, but it comes with another problem: your game better be fucking good to make me play through the entire thing before getting to see cock. Like I said earlier, porn at its best can reveal things about the world and drive character development. I uh. Just beat the game. I don’t care anymore. Showing me a scene that’s taken out of context by a factor of 5 hours or more isn’t what I’d call great game design or story telling. It’s also too little, too late.

What if we made the porn actual rewards?

Now we’re getting somewhere! Let’s make the reward…a reward! What if, every time the player beats a level, we get some porn? If we tie the CG to beating the boss, we’ll be tying the reward to game progression. That’s good right? So now, on top of the extrinsic rewards you’d normally get for beating a boss (a lot of EXP, better gear, opened areas) we also get that sweet dopamine rush of pornography! So we’re good, right?

There’s 1142 words left in this post, so I’m assuming no.

Well. It’s a start. It has the problem of predictability. If not handled properly, it comes off as lazy. As a game designer, one of your goals is to not constantly remind your player that they’re playing a video game. Get through the level, get porn. It feels a little too “mouse in a maze looking for cheese” for my taste. And much like the game over method, if the actual game itself is mid, the player will start to question if the reward is worth it, and might be afflicted with the worst condition a player could receive: boredom.

Of course there are exceptions. In puzzle or arcade type games where you don’t get extrinsic rewards, giving the player porn as another form of reward per level or whatever is perfectly reasonable (though it does have the issue of being predictable.) This is a perfectly good way of doing it if your game is short, or if the game is, y’know, good and fun to play. Bad Color’s game, Heroine Conquest, is a level based puzzle game with porn as the reward, but only when you do good. Combining the actual challenge of mastering the game, with a genuinely unique game loop makes for a feeling of accomplishment when beating a level. Pair that up with a sex cutscene, and the dopamine rush will hit.

So! Let’s combine giving the player a power trip, with a less rigid structure for giving the player porn. Instead of tying the porn to purely progression gates, let’s tie it to the progression.

Plot milestones

In Third Crisis, sex scenes are peppered throughout the regular game’s plot, starting with some lesbian bondage before introducing the protagonist, who goes through a tutorial before having their own horny encounters. It’s not just given when you win or lose, but is a natural part of the game. Beating bosses, losing to enemies, and exploring dialogue options in sidequests all lead to unlocking new CGs.

Now what’s nice about that, is that the sex isn’t placed somewhere extremely predictable. It isn’t just a reward for beating The Boss Of Forest Zone, Now Go To Ice Zone And Beat The Ice Boss For More Cock. Because that’s the biggest issue of predictable rewards, you know you’re not getting anything until that checkpoint, which will make the player weigh whether or not it’s even worth continuing. This is fine, again, for an arcade type game, not an RPG or adventure game. By sprinkling sex throughout the plot itself, the player will not only want to progress, but their curiosity will have them wondering “what else is out there?”

Rewarding exploration

By putting sex scenes behind optional side quests or encounters, the dog that is the player will scour every single corner of the map, and leave no pixel unturned. Personally, that’s more exciting to me than what you’ll get in the main progression route. In Future Fragments the player can find their rival Faye in sexual situations if they explore the map enough. These are completely optional, and don’t give any direct rewards like more HP or an item, but they’re by far what motivates me to explore the maps as thoroughly as possible, more so than the plot macguffins the game is named after!

So now the player is excited. Sex can happen anywhere. Maybe that daunting off road path with stronger monsters isn’t just hiding a secret, but a sexy secret! They’ll be more likely to venture down those optional paths you painstakingly made.

If we’re using sex in game overs, boss fights, and just randos, why not put it everywhere?

So now I want to talk about the concept of a “sex stat”. It’s not a bad idea! Say, the higher the player’s sex stat is, the more opportunities you unlock for fucking. It could even be tied to the player character’s personality, and affect the story! Instead of using a sword and shield, they’ll end any conflict with sass and sex. They open their eyes to the horny world around them and stop being a hero, and instead become a succubus, and the ending is a massive cum filled orgy.

That sounds excessive

Yeah, it does, doesn’t it.

I’m not a fan of “corruption” systems in porn games. Corruption as a kink is totally fine, and having it be a part of the story lets you incorporate more sexuality into the plot. But as I alluded to, it snowballs pretty fast (and I’m not talking about spitting in someone’s mouth). It ends up being like a cheat code, where you’re bypassing parts of the game for no cost. It stops being a reward, it stops being unexpected, and it stops it from being sexy.

Wait, what? Stops being sexy? What’s not sexy about a succubus orgy?

Alright, listen, we gotta rein it in for a minute. This isn’t so much about game design as it is about writing erotica, but if you have a world where everyone’s fucking and sucking 24/7, there’s no contrast to make what would normally be a hot taboo a hot taboo. If everybody’s naked, nobody’s naked. The aforementioned snowball effect of a corruption system can be seen if you play literally any game that has one. It won’t take long to not have to engage with any combat or adventuring system if you can just press the “Submit to the big dick warlock” button and watch porn to progress.

Which, now that I said that, is exactly the problem. Imagine any other rpg you’ve ever played. Now imagine if every encounter and dialogue option had an option to just watch a short cutscene to skip the encounter. That would suck ass, right? Literally no difference here.

It would. Hey, I’m sort of lost now.

Don’t worry, we’re wrapping this up.

So what did we learn? We learned game over CGs have a critical design flaw that shouldn’t be relied on. We learned that predictable rewards can lead to boredom. We learned to keep sex as a reward and not devalue it.

To summarize, here’s a neat trick to know where to put your porn scenes.

”Would I put an Xbox Live achievement here?”

It’s that easy. “Lose to Goblins for the first time,” that’s an achievement. “Beat orc commander,” that’s an achievement. “Find Hubert the Magical Dickhead,” that’s an achievement. Using that as a guideline is foolproof. Almost.

This sounds like it’d take a lot of resources

It sure does! But don’t worry. I’ll cover that in the next post talking all about how to deal with the resource management of a porn game.

(Shoutout to Taylor, my guy for editing!)

[dsaf-confessions]

yeah, im sorry this is so long. its not meant against you, mod, respect ya for all that you have to put up with here... yeah.

i think a lot of the people coming on here to complain about other peoples opinions need to take a deep breath. you don't have to agree with them. but bashing people in the tags, anonymously sending in that someone's opinion on a fucking rpg maker game that, at its core, is a massive shitpost.

suicide jokes, especially when you dont know the person saying it at all, are not funny. if it isnt a joke and youre really about to kill yourself over a fun little tumblr blog, get help. seriously. i hope you get better and feel okay one day.

somebody who probably lives 12 to 24 hours away from you, by plane, saying they self-ship or ship an oc with a character you find irredeemable is not the end of the fucking world. sure, you may see it as weird, but at the end of the day a surprising amount of this fandom is around about 13, and thats what 13 year olds do. no shade to yall. those of you that i know are great.

i myself am a minor, i only got into the games, and months later, the fandom around my 15th birthday. its easier than some of you want to admit to stay away from the parts of the fandom that arent child appropriate. i dont mean the drugs. drugs arent anyone-appropriate. theyre fucking illegal. shoving an eggplant up someones urethra is also totally outlandish and sounds like it was written by a 5th grader

lets all respect each other for a bit. nobody fucking deserved to get the colossal amounts of anon hate that ive seen soley because of a harmless opinion.

to the adults here who churn out high-quality comics and fics and ask blogs, that i so joyously read, hell yeah! keep doing that, do what you want with it.

to the children, and by that i mean minors okay we are in fact legally considered children, you keep it up too. keep up your ask blogs and fics and fanart and shit that is sometimes so high-quality i assume youre fucking 30 until i check your bio.

yall, collectively, need to learn that at the end of the day people are gonna do what they want with these characters. it doesnt matter if someone draws henry miller in fucking cat ears because hes a fictional guy. have you seen what they do to steve raglan out there, man? its a fucking warzone but instead of explosives everyones firing out furry edits! it doesnt matter if someone ships something you dont like. im not a proshipper, theres lines i personally refuse to cross, but can i do anything about the people who do? no. ive come to terms with that.

ship your weird rarepair who never met in canon. draw your genderswap fanart. make your au askblog. write that fic you think wont be good enough. someone, somewhere, probably loves what youre creating.

the anons here saying shit like "oh im gonna kms over this" and "thats a fucking weird character to like", yall are the same. im sure you arent all vanilla ice-cream on a summers day level basic. youve got your unusual headcanons too.

we really have to let the minors in this fandom be. they arent going anywhere, myself included, because they dont want to. you cant force people out. so be fucking nice instead of making someone feel ashamed because they make jake a she/they or whatever.

holy fuckin shit that is. long. i am so sorry mod. if its too long you dont have to post it lmao

.

[obscurecharactershowdown]

Semi-Finals

[image ID: the first image is of Stag Malinay, a young man with auburn hair and yellow-orange eyes. he's wearing a black shirt, black pants, and black, lace up knee high boots with belt straps. he's sitting on a red and gold throne. beside him is written his name, "Stag Malinay." the second image is of Granger, a girl with green eyes and short, wavy or curly black hair. in her hair is a red hat or ribbon. she's wearing a black turtleneck sweater, blue overalls, and a green coat. end ID]

Stag Malinay

Very self confident, bisexual manwhore with a troubled background he doesn't like to talk about. Said past is the cause of all his anger issues which he regularly takes out on the MC, initially. They become friends later, so it's okay. Also, he has a Tumblr account! @stagmalinay, run by me, the author. Can't really get more obscure than only selling a few copies of my entire book so far. [additional propaganda 1] [additional propaganda 2] [additional propaganda 3] [additional propaganda 4] [additional propaganda 5] [additional propaganda 6] [additional propaganda 7] [additional propaganda 8] [additional propaganda 9][additional propaganda 10] [additional propaganda 11] [additional propaganda 12]

Granger

so granger is the main character of the indie game "NeverHome" Chapter one, which is only $1 on Steam, is called NeverHome: Hall of Apathy. if ur a fan of young protags being put in RPG maker horror games, then this is the game for you!! so granger is just that… she wakes up to find herself in a strange, hostile world. she, along with the friends she makes, must solve the various puzzles before them while creatures are out to kill them… and along the way they can uncover the secrets of these never ending halls… her dynamics with the cast is also super fun… each character gets their moment or moments with granger. and what's so cute is that there's unique art for each pair that highlights the fact you cant get through these halls alone!! she also has her own theme song!! here!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_vwtmIj5cw it's called cyclical tragedy AND HERE IS AN ANALYSIS OF THE THEME!! MUSIC THEORY!!! written by my good friend @HIEMIOLA "cyclical tragedy" embodies the protagonist, granger, through the music theory behind the track and ties itself back into the main track as well. to begin with an overview of the track, the key is D minor and hte time signature is 3/4. the piece begins with a broken minor third starting from the tonic. that is, it begins on the main note and moves along the main chord, D to F. the next set of notes are C to E, which is shifted down a step. the phrase repeats again, this time D to F, then G to E, which is an inverse movement from the original sequence. even in this first part, we could tell that the protagonist begins from square 1 with a simple pattern, then tries it again when it works. however, the inverse breaks that expectation of repetition, thus showing the diverse variations of solutions she comes up with using just the tools she has (the two notes moving in thirds). just like the game, she is given a handful of objects as well as a knife to defend herself and solve the mysteries of the world she exists in. with her creative uses of the items given to her, she continues on her way through the plot. we will keep moving. the melody begins. true to the title of the track, the melody cycles around the same beginning note, D, that she always returns to at her square 1. this is a nod to the save states she is allowed to keep to make sure that we the players don't lose the game, but it also references the health bar that appears as a circle around her avatar. the melody, mapped out, is also moving in an up-down wave movement across the sheet music. granger is creative with the knife she has and the quest items she obtains throughout the story, but she is not entirely reckless. rather, she knows when it is time to return to the safe rooms to rest. to time her returns requires skill because she must run to cover without being caught by varying her path so the enemies don't corner her as she tries to return to the room. most of the time, she is successful, shown through the consistent return to the beginning note. let's keep going. i would like to turn your attention to the main theme briefly. in the bass notes, you can hear arpeggios and outlined chords. this makes up the bulk of the accompaniment in the main game theme. [mod note: the rest of the essay, and some more propaganda, is continued under a cut because tumblr will not process more text than this in an indent. sorry to split it up, please continue below for the rest of the essay and additional propaganda!]

the third variation of granger's theme also has arpeggiated chords in the accompaniment while the melody features broken chords. at this stage, the pattern switches to eigth notes instead of the quarter notes at first. with greater movement and heightened senses, she runs throughout world and befriends other people, thus interacting further with the environment. while she isn't exactly someone we would call open, she is respectful to the people she first meets and has no problems with asking them for help when she needs it. because of her openness to working together, she speeds up her progress by asking for aid at obstacles that would be too difficult for her to overcome on her own, such as asking a teammate to break things, move things, or reach into smaller holes. fusing the main theme elements with her own theme marks this step as the inciting incident that sets her on the path to escape from this world. we'll continue.

continuing the same part, we hear some secondary fifths. i'm not entirely sure if this is what you call it, but it is a nod to the parallel key, D major. depending on what theory class you take, this could also be considered the other half of the key. i dont know how else to describe it, but i digress. these are glimpses to different dialogue options she could take, glimpses to a different key or a different ending. because this game only has one chapter ending so far, we are unsure of what other paths granger will end up in; we only know that there are certainly other endings she will experience, only to begin the cycle again when the save state is loaded for players to reach another ending. both A major and G major are chords that signify different choices that may lead her elsewhere only for her to return back to the tonic or main note, D. despite this, she keeps going, as will we.

at the midpoint of the track, we see a quick shift in patterns. instead of upward leaps in the notes, the melody falls in stepwise motion. true to the plot, this is another turning point of the game when she is forced to make a choice: continue or stop. after facing the spoiler event, her once determined personality is challenged as she struggles to keep herself and her team together. despite being the headstrong protagonist who spearheaded solutions, even now she finds herself doubting and taking smaller steps, smaller risks.

even after all of this, she rises to the challenge as the melody returns to its beginning sequence. true to a protagonist she gets up again despite the events that transpired and keeps her team moving in their lowest points. the thirds return as she finds more objects to solve more puzzles to open more rooms to save more friends. this repeating part of the track only solidifies her resolve as the piece ends with a broken chord in the main key, her key, of D minor. despite everything that transpired, she stayed true to herself."

the game is also so, so charming with the art, music, and story made by the same person… its so clearly loved and full of passion!! i love listening to the game's ost on occassion!! since it's all on youtube!

ok one last thing thing!! on may 8th, the game hit 100 downloads (on both steam and itch.io). you can see the creator of the game celebrate that with this lovely drawing of granger: https://twitter.com/NeverHome_Game/status/1655761270694633472

so at most, only a bit over 100 people have played the game… id like to say that makes it obscure!!

anyways granger and neverhome!! we love to see our protagonists put in horrific situations and isn't she super cute with a lil bow on her head? she is my daughter…

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[juni-ravenhall]

Hey, I want to start learning coding and animation ( preferably 3D, but I would've mind 2D either.) and I was wondering if you knew a good program or engine to start with.

You seem to know a lot about stuff like this so I thought I'd ask, no pressure though.

Have a great day/night

yay!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D ur very welcome to dm me if u want more specific advice but ill tell u some basics :3

for coding, if its for games, you should pick a game engine that's commonly used and has a lot of free tutorials, and pick the programming language that is used for that engine (if it uses a regular programming language). the langs are all similar to each other so its more about learning the "programming logic" than really learning one specific language, so its ok no matter what you start with, dont worry. some engines also use "visual scripting" / "logic blocks" to build the game logic instead of typing out stuff in regular code, which can be easy to start with.

preferably pick a free engine (its okay if they have paid upgrades / paid licenses for professionals, just ignore that part until ur working on a serious project, ur just learning for now!) so u can try out a couple free engines to pick one that feels the most fun to get into. some ones i would rec:

Ren'Py is a free engine for visual novel games / text adventures, and its very easy to get into imo. it has its own simplified code based on Python but u dont need to study any python to start. just follow a tutorial and read the code in the examples etc, and try to make a small game. you can use .png artwork for your sprites, both stuff you grabbed somewhere or if you wanna put in your own drawings, so the graphics are easy to work with.

Stencyl is a free engine for 2d games, you could make a 2d platformer, 2d action, a puzzle game, stuff like that. graphics are easy here too, just 2d art you make yourself or grab free from somewhere. it uses visual scripting. follow a tutorial and itll make sense pretty quickly.

Unity is a free engine for 2d and 3d games, you code in C# (theres also plugins to use visual scripting). very popular with tons of different tutorials and resources, but can be overwhelming to get into. you can check out some video tutorials first and see if that feels like too much for you to start with, or if it seems doable with tutorials. (u can download free 3d models / 2d assets to get started if needed)

Unreal Engine is free and mostly for 3d games. you should prob have a good computer to try using it tho. it has a visual scripting blocks language too so it seems relatively easy to get into, and good if you want to make the typical AAA looking stuff, bc thats what everyone else is doing with that engine. (you can download free 3d models to get started if needed)

there are way more engines so you can also search for them to find more options. a popular paid one i would add is RPG Maker which might be relevant depending on ur interests. and a not-as-popular but beloved-by-me engine is GB Studio (where you make gameboy games), which is free and pretty easy to use, it uses visual scripting.

its ok to try different engines but make sure to not get stuck just hopping between engines, try to follow some tutorials from start to finish, or to finish your own little test projects. one good tip about game dev tutorial videos is: watch each video twice, first one time just watching, and then again once to actually follow along. it tends to feel less confusing.

for animation:

u should pick a type of animation u prefer the style of, to start with, theres obvs similarities in how to make good movements/etc between all types of animation, but a lot of differences in how to technically do things.

(to get good at movements/etc for all types, study and practice the principles of animation + study from irl reference + study from your favourite animations!)

i think, if you think 3d seems more fun than 2d then go for it, and vice versa. its not going to be vastly more difficult one way or the other, it just depends on your personality and what comes easier to you. there are also different types of 2d animation, like traditional (think old animated movies/cartoons - and most pixel art games), or rigged, where you move a 2d image based on a rig / armature / skeleton just like with 3d or stop-motion puppets. an example of this type of 2d is the MLP:FiM cartoon, the Cult of the Lamb game, and many other modern cartoons and 2d games. lots of vtubers have 2d character art that is animated like this too.

if you want to make traditional 2d animation, the best types of games to do with this would be 2d games in general (platformers, rpgs, puzzles, whatever) and visual novels - you can do either pixel art, or regular drawings (raster art), or vector art. (for a fun example of 2d animation in a visual novel, see the old Ace Attorney games.) for this type of animation you just draw a bunch of images, and import/export the sequence of frames as sprites in your engine, pretty much. programs id recommend for doing trad 2D animation is Krita (free, great art program, i use this to draw and animate all the time, but not good for pixel art), and Aseprite for pixel art (not free, but great, i use it for all my pixel art / animation).

if you want to do 2d rig animation, you will need an engine that supports this type. i dont have much experience w this animation style (only a tiny bit and not for gamedev) so i cant really help, but i think you should prob pick Unity engine if u want to do this style, and im sure theres a bunch of tutorials for that to get you started.

if u want to do 3D, you download Blender for free and go wild. pair with Unity or Unreal engine to start with. there are tons of free blender youtube tutorials for all purposes and skill levels, you can both model, sculpt (like clay style), paint textures, rig, animate, and render, all within blender without even needing to leave the program if you dont want to. (i use other programs for texture painting tho, like Krita which is free.) follow some simple beginner tutorials for making a simple model, then for a simple character and making a simple first animation, and it wont be that hard. it might feel overwhelming for like a week or two but then itll be fine if you keep at it. try to follow only recent tutorials for approximately the same version of blender that you install, otherwise it might get confusing.

after making a model in blender, you will be able to export it to various formats and import it in 3d engines like Unity or Unreal. there are tutorials for that too. i really recommend picking a beginner tutorial and just going with it, and maybe if they provide you with free tutorial models for the project, you could switch out one of their models with your own 3d model to test it out.

i know this is super long... i tried to make it digestable.... TL;DR:

start with Ren'Py for visual novels if u wanna make some easy visual novels with 2d art (drawings etc)

start with Stencyl or GB Studio or RPG Maker if u wanna make other types of 2d games, especially with pixel art

start with Unity or Unreal Engine for 3d games (but unity can also do all kinds of 2d games. unreal might be heavy on ur comp)

get Blender for free now. install it on ur computer and rejoice. if u want to make 3d stuff ofc :)

get Krita for free now and same as above rejoice etc. but its for drawing, trad 2d animating, image editing in general, and making drawn textures for 3d.

if u can afford it and want to make pixel art, get Aseprite for relatively cheap. there are other programs u can use so dw if u dont want to pay, just my recommendation.

[rinayeas]

Played the ib remake heres some food 4 thot

Garry has transmasc swag. But i am open to other interpretations

I almost felt sorry for Mary but on my 2nd run i did all the endings and the together forever ending still makes me feel all the rage and discontempt as it made me feel 10 yrs ago

THE FACT THAT WHEN YOU FIRST MEET HER SHE SAYS THAT RED IS HER FAVORITE AND BLUE IS OKAY AND THEN SHE SUDDENLY HAS BLUE AS HER FAVORITE JUST TO GET GARRY'S ROSE GRRRRR

When i got to the true gallery it clicked that Garry vs Mary was supposed to be a difficult choice for the player so now im a bit dissappointed abt the fact that Mary is such a cunt in her ending and that garry is 100x more favoured by the narrative and i wish it could have gone further w the concept

In the 2012 game when something important happened or there was a cutscene the caracter party would separate to show their individual sprites and the remake doesnt do that??? Which is very weird honestly why wouldnt they do that

I still love u garry. My first anime crush....

Ib's dad is not hot anymore 💔

Honestly?? Beyond the direct support for the team + graphics overhaul, you're good playing the 2012 version honestly. If you want a diff experience with the puzzles and the chance for a whole lot more garry dialogue then play this one. But i have to say im a bit dissappointed

Not a lot bc the base game is still awesome and i love it but with the other remakes it felt very different??? Like witchs house is fun and i always love to replay it and adds a bit more lore from the ellen novels and the Sen games are the best remakes so far with better graphics, fun gameplay and completely new puzzles + the death counter for Misao so this one left me a bit empty

I hope more rpg maker remakes come soon!! I love replaying these and the more the merrier

Side note bc im never touching the topic again: the mermaid swamp remake is cool bc ooo shiny new graphics but im not a fan of the characters not having portraits (i feel like thats intentional for the atmosphere but i also really wanted some new art for rin and seitaro) and also??? The ending Cg???? Theyre better but they lack the grainyness of the og, except for the rin crying one that one was such a downgrade

ALSO URI WHY WOULD YOU POST THE SEITARO DEATH CG AND SAY YOU REGRET NOT PUTTING IT IN THE GAME BC YOU FORGOT AND THEN NOT PUT IT IN THE REMAKE AAAAA

[lunariamv]

its time, im in my charon era

ive made my first three rpg horror games :DDD

there's three because two of them are parodies and then there's one actual legit one

all three are in authentic charon game format: rpg maker 2000, similar art style, similar horror premise, short story

i did it for the aesthetic OKAY

⚠️ Before venturing into any of my works, please heed my disclaimer/rules;; I don't want obstructive people engaging with me or my works ⚠️

✿ warning: running these games is a gamble because rpg maker 2000 is old software that windows is trying to assassinate (i cant even run it on my computer sometimes, i have to use a virtual machine or the game editor lol) so i apologize if it doesn't work ✿

the readme has troubleshooting solutions, and easyrpg exists to combat this, but it's not perfect. for example, it changes the text a little bit, which ruins the aesthetic

if ur like me and u care about the aesthetic a lot, then use a virtual machine, otherwise if you have a laptop and not a hardcore gaming pc, the game will probably run fine.

(the one time that having low quality graphics is good xD)

windows 11 users beware, im sticking with 10-

when all else fails i have gameplays available on my youtube

🌸 HERE IS THE GAME MASTERLIST 🌸 PLAY THEM HERE

✿ warning: running these games is a gamble because rpg maker 2000 is old software that windows is trying to assassinate (i cant even run it on my computer sometimes, i have to use a virtual machine or the game editor lol) so i apologize if it doesn't work ✿

!! please care and heed my content warnings when playing these games, as they contain dark subject matter; i promise ill make less edgy stuff in the future its just rn i REALLY WANNA MAKE CHARON GAMES FOR FUN !!

the first two (Akeno Delusion and Carousel) are strictly parody games on the genre, and Doom Stones is the authentic 100% serious charon game

looking back akeno delusion sucks to me but thats cuz its my first one and i gotta start somewhere, the quality only goes up from there

eventually ill stop using rpg maker 2000 and make games with the other makers for more versatility but rn im in love with the retro aesthetic im so sorry

*my art isnt that good but im getting there ok!!

also just a heads up, im not 1 to 1 charon; the aesthetic, artstyle, and story elements are the same, but i dabble in male yanderes instead and i go different places with the story;

🌸 mostly male yans

🌸 protagonist is actually a character

🌸 story goes a little more in depth

🌸 more focus on the horror aspect than sexual

so basically im like a female charon right now heheheh

i plan to make more rpg games, but for sure i want to make at least three more games with similar story beats.

its because i want my own take on the concepts -- doom stones is my take on makoto mobius, but i also wanna make a "scavenger hunt a person's house" type game like makoto nikki and a yanderella equivalent (but the love triangle has more drama)

AND…. MIX ORE BUT YANDERE BUBBLE TEA??????? :DDDD

once im done ill move onto dsp era cuz i wanna make some actual rpgs; like with the cute assets and pixel art

🌸 please follow and support me if you like these and want me to make more; this is just a small portion in the large list of games i wanna make <3

💮 please feel free to contact me regarding game ratings if you sincerely think they're off, im a noob when it comes to posting stuff;; and im just going off code of conduct, if it has any hint of explicit content its going to be 18+, whereas implicit would be like 17+ idk

im not taking any chances lol

🌸 I'd prefer if people don't contact me about troubleshooting problems, but if they have to, carefully go through my instructions first. even then keep in mind i might not be able to help;;

💮 I'm posting these games on tumblr only because they're short. If I make longer games, I'll crosspost them to itch.io or something.

🌸 I'll also make a website in the future, but for now I'll post the games on here. Thank you for stopping by!!

[charonarp]

Fangame Inquiry

So...I've been trying to do some research into the logistics and legality of fangames and what is and isn't allowed, but I'm so confused because none of the examples share what I'm trying to do and doesn't help me know if what I want to do is okay or not...so...I decided to hop on here and see if anyone's able to give me a clear answer if possible.

Recently, I purchased RPG Maker (MV/MZ - got both since they share file sizes and I might like one over the other for different games), and had the idea to make 3 possible fangames: A Legend of Zelda fangame, a Curse of Strahd RPG, and a Thomas Sanders fangame.

I'll be focusing on the first two, since those are connected to large companies. I'm pretty sure I'd be in the green light with my third idea, haha :p

Starting with the Legend of Zelda one (Project Acorn - a temporary name), this is the one I'm the most confused about. With this fangame, I want to make an original story with original characters, which happen to take place in Hyrule and use the races from the game (Hylian, Gerudo, Rito, etc.)

During my research, many have stated that Nintendo is VERY unwelcoming of fangames, but from what I understand, it seems to mostly be due to games that share too much similarity and assets from their games? I plan to make a lot of the game's assets on my own: custom sprites, tiles, portraits, etc., so I don't know where my idea would lie in regards to legality.

I don't plan to call it "Legend of Zelda: ___". The main thing I'm confused about is if it'll be a problem with me using specific locations, temples and races, even if they're original characters and personally constructed. Like Kakariko Village, would I get in trouble if I had this as a location in the storyline? Would I get in trouble for using the word "Hyrule"?

I'm fairly confident that mentioning names of existing characters in the franchise would cause issues, but honestly, I don't plan to have them involved or mentioned at all in it. I genuinely want to make a fully custom story with my own characters in their own timeline/universe, in a time where there is no Hero of Courage, there's no looming threat due to the Triforce of Power or anything related to it.

I plan on making this game entirely free, should it be made. In fact, I plan on making all my fangames free, should I be able to make them long enough to publish. I am just one person after all, with no experience making custom tilesets or sprites or anything (pixel art is not my strong suit, but I'm willing to try). I just have a story in my head I'd love to see in an RPG format, that's all. I also plan to use custom or copyright free music for it as well. Even if I'm no musician, I do wish to learn.

For the second, I can see the Curse of Strahd fangame having some issues, considering the fact that I do have the idea of making an RPG fangame playing a majority of the plot from the campaign into it, but not exactly one-to-one. However, it'd use characters straight from the book, the only custom characters just being the character(s) you play and extras that may share importance to those characters.

This one I'm the most scared of because of this reason. Although I do plan on making the game free (should I be able to make it), I can definitely understand if this one in particular causes problems with wizards. I mean, it would also spoil a lot about the game...I just thought that Curse of Strahd would be a fun game in an RPG format, considering that it's a sandbox adventure that has the same plotline throughout the book, but changes drastically due to the tarot cards.

Now that I think about it, maybe I shouldn't make this game...hmmmm 🤔

Sorry for the long ramble, I'm just genuinely lost. If you tell me to "look it up", I tried. I hate looking up stuff like this because I'll find so many answers and none of them will answer my questions. There's so much information on the internet that I seriously don't know what's true or not by just one post.

Again, I plan to make these free, should I be able to publish them. I personally don't feel comfortable even charging money for anything I'd like to make in regards to games. I'm also pretty sure I'd definitely get in trouble if they costed money to play, lol.

I got inspired to try to make some games again thanks to my 14th re-watch of Markiplier playing the Hearts and Heroes fangame, haha. I tried making games before, but dropped it pretty fast due to being an inexperienced writer and not knowing how to progress at a certain point (I also didn't legally own RPG maker back them either, but that's all gone now lol).

I would probably ask this on Reddit, but I seriously don't understand that website and don't know where I'd even post this, lol. I am also very afraid of that site, so....yeah <_<'

Hope you take care! And remember to HYDRATE :D (Help idk how to tag-)

[lizzyofthelake]

THE START TO MY NEWEST PROJECT

So I've recently had my future rattled a little bit. I won't go into details but the tldr is I suddenly have a lot of time on my hands and not a lot to do with it. Coincidentally, I also bought rpg maker MZ some time ago, and I had maybe an hour of use. So I figured I'd try and make a game, cause worst case scenarios are nobody seeing it or someone playing it and being like "I don't like this". My idea is basically is basically to do a sort of role reversal with the protagonists. They're all escaped princesses going to rescue their would be hero and saving him. They do typical protagonist stuff in the interim, finding magic items/artifacts and fighting monsters. That sort of thing has probably been done before to some extent (hell, it might even be common), but I like it and I wanna give it a shot.

First thing I did after deciding to actually go through with this was to get some assets. I wanted it to look like some older rpgs that you'd find on a gameboy (My zoomer brain doesn't really know the term, but retro is probably a good enough descriptor). I found some assets on itch by The Mighty palm (https://themightypalm.itch.io/). I'll probably still make my own art, but this def helps to actually put it all together.

I really like this princess sprite, I think I'll use her for the protagonist

I think she looks like a Katja personally. Second thing on the list was some music, and I found some stock music that works okay but I think it'd be fun to make some myself. If anyone has any recommendations for a beginner friendly composing software, that'd be sick and I'd love to hear it. Something else kind of important is the effects from spells and such. I'm gonna see what I can do as far as making my own, probably using piskel or smth since it's fairly simple and free. That'll probably be the easiest thing since rpg maker doesn't really require programming (part of the reason I got it said eons ago). I'm also probably gonna need to draw the title screen and maybe some battlebacks as well, but that's it's own beast and for now I'll just use what rmmz has or find some place holder assets.

Aside from that, I don't really know what else to say. This is my first time doing anything like this and I don't really know how to end this. If you guys have tips or recommendations, please tell me. Until then, buh bye!

[mefismagnificent]

some days, like today, i sit down, i wonder and stare at the ceiling; will i ever be able to do it? i have a lot of big dreams, big ideas, fun projects that i want to create - but will it ever come to fruition? could it ever come to frution?

im not very good at art, or game design, or music. im okay at writing, but thats about all i have. and yet, i want to do so much...

i think there is something to be said about worries like this. many times, this same worry has entered my brain: "can i actually do it?" and many times that worry has ended the project.

im still young, and ive still a lot to learn. though, one thing i have learned is that a question like "can i actually do it?" only serves to make you not do it. your project can suck, it can be great, it can be middling - whatever. ingest it, learn from it, be better.

i stare up at my ceiling and i wonder, should i finish my game? music is hard, art is hard, its being made in rpg maker so what is even th-

yes, i should. of course i should. and i will.

[gear-project]

Fighting Games and Growing Old Part 3

So, I'm fully aware of the fact that some games just do not click with me or mesh well with my sense of taste. I've been aware of this for some time.

I've gotten in to debates with people over exactly "why" I don't like certain games, or just plain why I can't get as involved towards them as other people do.

That's not to say I don't appreciate them by themselves, it's just very difficult for me to break in to a "groove" when it comes to playing certain characters.

It's definitely a dream of mine to master every character in every fighting game I've come across, but it's still a bit of a pipe dream. And I sincerely doubt I'll be anything like the guys on Twitter/X who post their elite combos and mixups that destroy whatever poor kids they happened to come across online.

I've been sincerely feeling somewhat "guilty" (excuse the pun) that I haven't played Strive as often as I play other games lately.

It's not that I don't play Strive, but it's more along the lines of that I haven't found a sincere motive to pick up on just yet.

I see all these players playing high level and it's amazing and all, but to me that's not part of what's fun about the game.

To ME, what's part of what's fun is the interactions I have with the friends I've made, the game features that previous games have let me tinker with and explore. Boss Characters, Unlimited Tension, Roman Cancel shenanigans, Instant Kill setups, Danger Time... the spices and herbs of what made GG so appealing to me when I was younger.

When I see guys like Demonseth999 posting videos of his character mods, I know he's livin' the dream. He's making characters the way they're supposed to be: fun. No limitations on imagination, no limits on rules, certainly no BALANCE, but at the same token, who wants balance when the rules are boring?

And it's not just his character mods that people find appealing about the guy: he posts RPG-maker-esque videos of a game he's working on... he posts streams of unique games and makes the effort to goof around and interact with his fanbase and even sets up rooms for people to come hang out with him on the weekends.

He could do a little less involving drinking alcohol, but that's just MY OPINION.

No, see, when you've played games for as long as I have, you start to see that it isn't the games themselves that are fun... it's the people you're having fun WITH.

I used to spend the better part of 10 years playing Accent Core by myself... do you have ANY IDEA how unfun it was to train alone by myself? Nobody knew GG existed, it was niche... nobody knew I existed... I had nobody to play a multiplayer game with, FOR YEARS.

It would've been simple if no netplay was the only problem, but only a select few amounts of people even LIKE FIGHTING GAMES to begin with... so that struggle has always been in the back of my mind.

Like everyone wants to play sports games or Street Fighter, and they always bash "anime games" like it's some kind of curse.

Nowadays, I take to grinding and forging weapons in Soul Calibur's Libra of Souls mode... it's like a gacha, but at the same time, making good weapons turns me in to an unkillable monster on the battlefield.

I used to mess with Game Genie a lot when I was a kid... Code Breaker, GameShark, Hex Editors, Game Mods in general... Infinite Lives, Infinite Health, Immortality, games with those kind of rules in them were so much more relaxed and FUN when I didn't have to worry about time limits or dying for fast Game Overs.

I wish more game developers thought about what makes a game fun instead of making it all "hard mode" all the time... yeah okay the elitists enjoy their challenges... but what about the rest of us who just want to relax and kill things?

I just want more games that let me make my own characters and make my own rules... is that so difficult a task to achieve?

It also wouldn't hurt to be able to share my experiences of these games with my friends, too.

Even if I currently "suck at some games", if they give me enough of a reason to play them, I'll come back... Strive included.

[scrunkore]

Scunkore Media "Thread" 2023: Part 3

welcome back to the scrunko core

25) OneShot (PC, 2016)

It's not often that you fall in love with a videogame protagonist immediately, but I did just that with Niko - the little cat creature is possibly the most adorable kid I've ever seen and I did not want a single bad thing to happen to them ever. Though that's enough about them, the rest of the cast is really nice too, and the actual game itself is REALLY good. The relatively simple item-combining puzzles aren't that special, but the story and world have such a particular vibe to them that I enjoy, especially with the kinda huge extra stuff they added sometime after the initial release of this version. And that's not to mention the extra twists that do very interesting things with the medium, and I do not really want to spoil that if you don't already know about it, so go play it if that's the case. This game is honestly beautiful and I love it, and do play it on PC if you can. [5★]

26) VVVVVV (3DS, 2012)

This game's pretty simple, but it's also kind of a classic little indie joint, and it's really cool that it got a 3DS port that actually makes (admittedly not very interesting) use of the 3D effect, probably due to how early it came out. The core gameplay is just solving puzzles by rapidly flipping gravity up and down and swooping around the world map rescuing your friends, which can be done in basically any order, and it's really quite fun for the most part. Not a whole lot to it beyond that, but its simple graphics are cute and I enjoyed it a fair bit, although I did have to use the available options to make it easier when it was its most difficult - not cheating if the options are there, come on now. Anyway, it's a decent game. [3.5★]

27) Yume Nikki (PC, 2004)

Here it is, perhaps the single most well-known RPG Maker game, as well as one of the most bizarre and cryptic even to this very day. The creator is equally cryptic, and infamously elusive, only giving an interview to Toby Fox with just yes and no answers. Nobody really knows what the game is even about other than the pretty obvious yet not very descriptive answer of "shut-in girl explores a strange and often scary dream world", and it's not like it has a plot aside from the ending that was added at some point for when you get all the collectibles, which I do recommend you try to do for a somewhat complete experience. All you do in it is explore the various weird dream worlds, each one uniquely atmospheric, intricately designed and full of secrets in the most unusual of ways. I don't think it's something you can really assign a numbered score to, it's just a surreal and unsettling experience that's worth having at least once, even if you don't enjoy it. It's fuckin' Yume Nikki, you probably already know how influential it is. [?★]

28-31) BOXBOY! Series (3DS/Switch, 2015-2019)

HAL knows their stuff when it comes to puzzle games, believe it or not, and this really shows with the adventures of Qbby the funny little cube guy. In this consistently solid series, you solve a wide range of puzzles based around creating and destroying cubes to make it to the exit, with each new game introducing its own gimmick to shake up the basic formula and make it more interesting. It's kind of a deceptively simple game, as the puzzles ramp up in difficulty and end up becoming some real head-scratchers, and I appreciate that. The presentation is also charmingly simple, with pleasant audiovisuals, and even a simply story that eventually gets surprisingly interesting in the later entries. Give these games a try to finally see what that one sticker in Kirby: Planet Robobot was all about. [4★]

32) Pokémon Picross (3DS, 2015)

Pokémon and Picross feels like a pretty effortlessly winning formula for a crossover, and this one is... well, it's okay. The puzzles are decent Picross, and the gimmick of catching and using Pokémon to help you out in the trickier stages is pretty good too, but the area where it suffers is in the actual design of the game - it's one of those 3DS titles that is basically a mobile game, with stamina cooldowns and microtransactions to speed up wait times, though like Kirby Clash it does have a cap on how much money you can spend. But that spending cap doesn't make up for the core way in which it's designed. I don't find Picross too repetitive, so I want to be able to play it for hours at a time, but the damn game doesn't let me, and it just feels kinda poorly designed in general. But when I get to play the game properly, it's solid Picross. Maybe the unreleased but eventually leaked Game Boy Color game of the same name is better just for that. [3★]

33) Learn With Pokémon! Typing Adventure (DS, 2012)

This game is such a gimmick but god, I kinda really like it. It's a typing game on the DS, and so to facilitate that they made every copy come with a small Bluetooth keyboard that was pretty good for the original price at the time but of course isn't that good nowadays. But it works quite well, it's responsive enough to play this game, even if it can be kind of awkward sometimes just because of positioning. And the game is quite fun too, it's not very long but it can pose a pretty tough challenge if you're not that good at typing fast, and the typing action is actually quite intense as you get into the harder levels. It's marketed as an educational title to help you learn typing, but I don't think it really does that so much. But it's a fun game, with pretty good music and a funny computer voice reading everything you type out loud, and I am actually glad I shelled out for a complete copy of this obscure Pokémon gem. [4★]

34) Undertale (Switch, 2018)

Yeah, I didn't actually play this one until 2023 despite being a fan of it and Deltarune for quite a while, sue me. There's not much new that I can say about it, but this indie smash hit really does hold up even now that there's a similar game from the same guy that does a lot of gameplay things better. It's filled with unique and charming characters who you can either kill or spare (the latter is what you should do, but the former can be tempting), a really good and somewhat meta storyline particularly if you go for the "true" ending, and some pretty fun bullet-dodging gameplay that can be pretty difficult - though there is an option to grind for several hours and get an item that makes it much easier, no shame in doing that if you can be bothered. You probably already know everything that one should know about this game, but yeah, I liked all those things about it that much more after playing it for myself. It's definitely something you should play if you have interest in it, and I just know Deltarune is going to be way bigger and even better. [5★]

35) Animal Crossing Movie (Anime, 2006)

It's kind of an anomaly that this movie even exists at all, Nintendo rarely makes anime adaptations of their games and they're almost never full movies, plus it's based on Animal Crossing, a game series that doesn't really have much of a story and certainly didn't back in 2006. What they actually end up doing with this one is kinda fun, it's a fairly standard slice of life anime condensed into a movie decently enough, with a very comfortable atmosphere and nice interpretations of some of the characters from the games, and the narrative follows a young girl making friends and taking part in a few of the events from the earliest entries in the series - about what you would expect from it, really. It's not anything special or even particularly good, but it's really nice to see them replicate the vibe and characters of Animal Crossing in anime-movie form, and I do wonder if they'd try something like this again. [3.5★]

36) Tunic (Switch, 2022)

I don't really play very many games that aren't in a language that I understand - it's easy to find stuff in English most of the time - but this game technically counts, because it's specifically aiming for the vibe of playing a game like that, with almost all the text in a totally new language the devs came up with entirely by themselves. And honestly, I kind of love it for that, it combines with the lonely and mysterious vibe that the whole game has. Because the game doesn't tell you much, you kinda have to feel it out as you explore the top-down Zelda-like world fighting monsters and collecting pages of the literal manual while figuring out what's going on with everything. It's filled with cryptic (sometimes too cryptic) puzzles and secrets, with one even leading to a pseudo-ARG that helped people decode its language, and it's clear a lot of love went into this project. Towards the end I did look things up about it, but as it stands, this game is a wonderful adventure that might not be to everyone's tastes, but I certainly really liked it for what it does. [4.5★]

37) Hatsune Miku Logic Paint S (Switch, 2021)

Yes, another Picross game, and this time everyone's best friend Hatsune Miku is there, along with her other Vocaloid friends for good measure. And... that's about it. It's super barebones, only offering puzzles and unlockable music, but that is basically all it needs to be. It's cute, it's Picross with Miku, it does what it says on the tin. I just don't have much more to say about it other than that, it's just an average Picross game that does average Picross things, just without using the actual name Picross. It's fine, it kept me occupied for a few hours. [3★]

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[digital-binary-bunny]

Ah, I should make an intro post huh...

Uh... hi!!! You can call me Mel, or Bunny, or some other name you feel fits! I thought it would be fun to make an agere sideblog, so here it is!

[As this is a sideblog, interactions will come from @chicken-huggit!]

Some things you should know:

♡ If you are not an agere blog and are uncomfortable with me interacting with you, please let me know and I will remove your content from my blog!

♡ I am an adult (21+) [If you're curious abt my exact age, ask in a DM!]

♡ I identify most closely as a demigirl or femme nonbinary. Both she/her and they/them pronouns are cool with me!

♡ I guess I'm what you'd call a flip? Tbh I'm still pretty new to the agere community on here;;

♡ When I regress, I'd say I'm about 4 years old-ish. Other than that, I'm inclined towards older sibling mindset!

♡ I am autistic with other minor mental illnesses I'm not comfortable disclosing.

♡ I'm also a self-shipper! I have an old side blog and no I'm not telling you!!

♡ I'm either bunny or big sibs-ter, no in between with me lol

♡ I don't really have a CG at the moment, however I do have some fictional CGs!

♡ I do sometimes post about mature games. I will tag them appropriately, of course!

Please don't interact if...

♡ You meet the general DNI criteria (no -isms or -ists, etc. Nazis are KOS)

♡ You're a NSFW/Kink Blog. My content is not for you.

♡ You're just going to be a jerk! I've been on the internet longer than most, I'm just gonna block you lol

It's okay to interact if...

♡ You're gonna be chill! Yes, even if you think you're gonna annoy me!

♡ You're another SFW agere blog! I always welcome more friends!

♡ You're a Caregiver! I'm not looking, but I don't mind folks interacting and filling in lol

Things I like and will probably end up posting about at some point:

Helldivers 2

Hazbin Hotel

Stardew Valley

Sanrio

Needy Streamer Overload

Project Zomboid

Hunt: Showdown

Fallout (mostly New Vegas)

RPG Maker Games (think Yume Nikki, OFF, Ib... The "old school" stuff!)

Red Dead Redemption 2

The Owl House

Gravity Falls

Puella Magi Madoka Magica/ Magia Record

Over the Garden Wall

[loafiecat]

DISCLAIMER! 

These reviews are my informal thoughts and opinions purely and by no means are they meant to harm the creators in any way, shape, or form.  I love OFF and I love the OFF fandom, I wish nothing but the best for these creators and I respect them for their hard work. Thank you for your understanding. 

CLUELESS is one of many fangames made by Zachariecide. It is a very short game that serves as one of three sequels to another game called UNKNOWN. In it, you play as the Batter. After waking up on a monorail next to Zacharie, you are forced to solve a mystery involving a strange, horrific phenomena and many, many deaths if you are not careful. Now, one might ask why I decided to start in non-chronological order. Well, this is for a very simple reason: CLUELESS is, in fact, the first OFF fangame I've ever played. Many years ago, I was introduced to the OFF fangame community through playing this title, so it holds a special place in my heart and if it weren't for it, I wouldn't have met the wonderful friends I still talk to today.

That all being said, this game goes in....odd directions.

Due to how short the game is, it's difficult to review without spoilers so, uh- anyway I'll try not to spoil much.

Clueless throws you right in after a brief warning about gory narratives. You start off on the monorail and things immediately go downhill for the Batter. Have fun, champ, go out there and solve the mystery! Oh- your friend's dead? Oh uh- okay- hey wasn't that a different room before? Ohh....oh dear...

There are so many. Deaths. In this game. The starting area alone has at least two ways you can get a game over right off the bat. To be honest, half of the enjoyment is finding how many ways to get a game over there are. It makes me think of The Witch's House a little in that regard. Thankfully, the game lets you save any time, as well as gives you prompts to save at certain points. Speaking of saves, the game comes with save files already packed in. I am not sure why these were left in.

So throughout the game, when you examine certain things or talk to npcs, you get clues. They take spaces in your inventory and you can "examine" them to get a reexplanation of the clue in question. It's like the Batter is taking notes on a pen and notepad. I actually thought this was pretty cool! I'd imagine you'd use them to solve puzzles or as "keys" to get through obstacles. Sadly, none of the clues are applied in such a way. At least, I tried where I thought it would make sense to and nothing worked, so I assume it's just a system to remind the player of certain topics but with no further application. Oh well. Game play wise, there's very few combat encounters so most of the game is spent speaking to npcs and exploring the limited areas. I personally don't mind this as I don't really care for RPG maker combat.

It's hard to talk about the story without spoiling anything, but my opinion of it is that it didn't have much room to breathe. You aren't given much time to ponder what's happening before it's revealed to you and the answers to questions I do have about much of the game simply do not exist. Why is everything trying to kill me? What is the red mansion..place...thing? And why is there a smutty fanfic and why DOES THE BATTER WANT TO KEEP IT-

Overall, I feel rather neutral about it. I definitely enjoyed it more when I was much younger and played this for the first time though. I really feel that the clue mechanic was a missed opportunity.

Anywho, I hope you enjoyed my rambling! Until next time!

[va1ennyx]

MOTHERMAKER Progress Report

(WEEK 1)

INTRO:

Ever since 2020, I've been toying with the idea of making an authentic 'MOTHER' engine within the limitations of RPG Maker.

I bounced from engine-to-engine, trying to find the right Maker to start work in, and eventually settled on RPG Maker MV.

You can even see some of my early progress here!

The hyperfixation eventually subsided after some small adventures in the MOTHER fangame scene, and I took a fairly long hiatus.

Fastforward to 2023 and you'll find me. In my room. Really Fucking Bored.

It started off with me brushing up on my event code, making some practice menus and playing with switches and variables. Eventually I ended up with this.

NOW. For the fun stuff...

TECH! TECH! TEEEECHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Going into this project, I had like. Three Fundamental Rules.

Those being;

All CORE systems must be retroactively achievable in previous versions of RM.

Everything must be achievable through RM's default features (i.e. I must utilize the default map editor, database, etc.)

Plugin/Script usage MUST be kept to an absolute minimum.

This will definitely make things difficult moving forward, but if I wish to create some sorta out-of-the-box MOTHER framework (especially one with THIS scale), I think it's important to adhere to SOME kind of design philosophy.

With these principles in mind, allow me to show you some of the duct tape and bubblegum holding the code together!

Starting with;

Menu Stuff!

In RM, developers are very limited when it comes to customizability, at least out of the box. That changed around the time we first received those iconic Don Miguel fan translations. Many developers were dissatisfied with the default systems given to them, and instead opted to use in-game eventing to manipulate pictures to do whatever they wanted. Very interesting stuff!

However, despite me being able to Talk For Fucking Centuries about RM history, I don't wanna lose too much focus on the subject at hand. You can check out my favorite website ever over here to learn more about the early lil seedlings of our community!

Anyways, almost every graphic-based aspect of this project is done through vanilla eventing. Now, as any Well Seasoned RM Developer can attest, THIS IS NOT A FUN PROCESS!! This is done by modifying variables based on inputs, and referencing those variables to determine where your image should be drawn.

This process can range from easy:

to HARD:

(just reference the scrollbar size for an idea of the process, this kinda shit is NOT something you want to see)

Now, for the save system, it was relatively straightforward. I just changed some switches to record which save the player selected, and a few variables to record which 'flavor' the player chose. These are referenced at various points, such as the battle system, the in-game menus, and even small stuff like dialogue boxes.

For the naming system, well, I haven't actually finished that yet. But you'll undersTAND WHY I PROMISE..

Basically, if I wanted to do this in a way I could "easily" downport to other versions, I had to avoid writing a plugin for it. As you can imagine, eventing an entire custom naming system is Not Fucking Fun. It's fairly easy to do however, just mighty tedious. I did some digging in threads for old RPG Maker MOTHER fangames, and I saw a few examples of people explaining how they made their systems.

Let's call my Chosen Approach 'The Roach Method'. This is named after the creator of a long-since-cancelled fangame called EAGLELAND. Essentially, he made different 'Actor' slots in the database for each letter of a characters name, and referenced them in dialogue through text codes. Once set up, it should look a little something like this;

So on and so forth.

The frontend of my keyboard (and a tiny bit of the backend), is functional. Obviously I can make it prettier and more responsive, but I want to make the naming process smooth first.

I'm thinking of making it so that when you press okay, it triggers a switch to move onto the next letter, and then when you press the cancel key it goes back by one? Idk yet this Keyboard Is The Worst Fucking Thing Ever.

Movement:

Most RM devs know this, but 'pixel' movement doesn't really play nice with the way the engine handles collisions. In my (few) years of Mother Fangame Experience, I've come to learn that the weird pseudo-collision detection utilized by RM (iirc its just a coord check to see if you can move or not) doesn't really Provide the Movement Experience we've come to expect from the MOTHER series.

This is one of the many contentious aspects of making MOTHER fangames in RM. A lot of devs treat (newer) makers like this "out of the box" solution to everything, this framework that you can just absolutely stuff to the brim with plugins to achieve whatever functionality you want. However, in practice, this proves to (almost) never be the case.

It's an especially nasty mindset because it contradicts the reality of gamedev (at least within RM) being a constant uphill battle full of compromise. Unfortunately this stuff takes effort, more effort than just dragging and dropping a JS file into the plugins folder.

tl;dr: plugins and scripts should only ever be complimentary to your event code, don't expect them to do everything for you!

RANT ASIDE!! For the most part, unless you want to make a whole new movement and collision system from scratch, you're gonna wanna stick with the grid. Most grid-based diagonal movement plugins allow you to turn on a setting that lets you clip through the corner of tiles (PLUS, the default follower system is 'MOTHER' enough). This is good because it allows you to make pseudo-slope collisions, which is really useful for stuff like fences and buildings!

You can even see an example of this here!

So yeah, when it comes to movement, the main compromise is choosing between functionality and fluidity.

Mapping:

I'll keep this one brief. The default RM mapping system is less than stellar. However, parallax mapping is NOT a good solution. It leads to massive bloated images inflating file sizes like no tomorrow, long loading screens, and occasionally lag. That's why its better to design your games around the limitations of RM, and maintain your project's scope.

That leads us to our....

CONCLUSION

Unfortunately when it comes to fangaming (specifically within RM), you need to be willing to compromise. You (most likely) will not be able to perfectly replicate your favorite game, and that's okay.

This is where The Big Question really rears it's head;

Are you making a good MOTHER game, or a good RPG Maker MOTHER game?

This is the main conflict when it comes to developing one of these weird lil things, and it's been the death of many a project. After all, you'd have to be Fucking Insane to put yourself through all the eventing bullshit that comes with the territory of anything custom being done in Rm. I mean, sometimes even *I* wonder if i even like doing this, or if I just REALLY wanna flex. Usually it's a lil bit of both. ;)

HOWEVER, it's important to manage your expectations and work ALONGSIDE the limitations of the engine, rather than forcing it to do something it can't and ending up dissatisfied with the final product.

Good read? Good read. See You next week (maybe) mwuaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH