#or have scary graphic glitches

[azuphere]

Okay but you still haven’t explained what the glitch theory is, like what does it mean??

omgg lore dump time this is so exciting, more under the cut but the glitch theory basically revolves around this merch from phil from november 2019 !

(re: this ask)

so like at the time, this piece of merch had ppl like 👀👀 bc the concept and the graphic novel vibe and the way it said ‘to be continued’ had ppl thinking this might be a hint at a secret project!

and over the years, phil would keep hinting at wanting to channel his creative energies into a project, and how he'd love to do smth interactive like bandersnatch ! esp in 2019/early-2020:

in 'The Scary Reason I Didn't Buy A House' (april 2019), he said: "I do actually have a story in my head, I'm just not quite sure how I wanna tell it yet. So it could be a book, it could be like a TV series-style screenplay, it could be a movie script. I just need to consolidate all these ideas in my head and turn them into the thing. But I have been thinking about it for about five years, so it's just when the right time is to actually release the ideas."

in 'draw my life: part 2' (august 2019), he said: "maybe for the next secret big project, it's time for Philly to think about the big dreams he's always had! [...] What I've always dreamed of doing is writing stories and directing films to take what's in my mind and share it with the world on your screen, maybe even a bigger screen. Now remember the rule of secret projects! Who knows what's going on and if it'll ever be real, but let's just say some writing is happening."

in an interview from february 2020, he said that his plans for 2020 included: "a few projects on the burn which I'm not ready to announce fully yet. They all involve writing. There are some stories I'd like to tell, so with some hard work and a bit of luck I might be able to share these with you on-screen on in print next year."

in the TalentWorks podcast from vidcon london (february 2020) at about 29:35 (youtube link), he said: "I think I've reached a point where I'm ready to sink my teeth into a new big project [...] I'm ready to do something new that's also very Phil and very my own thing, so I've been looking into- I'm really obsessed with interactivity. I think there's been a big boom of it since Bandersnatch [...]. I already pitched one interactive thing which didn't work out, but I got a lot of other ideas that I'm thinking of."

and in one of the stereo shows, dnp also confirmed that they tried pitching an interactive show to netflix but it fell through cause of covid ! and there was this insta story of dan being in LA in january 2020, which aligns with the timeline mentioned in the podcast. a transcription of that stereo moment is here

so it was never confirmed whether the glitch hoodie was actually supposed to be smth greater or if it was just a fun merch idea, but it was a common fan theory that glitch was supposed to be one of phil's projects!

and i think one of the most notable theories that supported the glitch concept was that a couple weeks after the merch release, phil tweeted this:

bc the suspicious thing is that it's nearly identical to smth he tweeted 4 years prior on literally the same day and almost the same exact time ! so we’d joke about how it was like a glitch (!!) in the simulation and he even responded to a tweet about it. and he also talks about it in this liveshow (at 24:39), where he just jokes about how he's living in the matrix

so yea! tldr: glitch is just one theory about what (one of) phil's secret projects is <3

[beks-crooked-glasses]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/54112066/chapters/137003632

HAHAHAHAHAH ITS DOOOOOOOOONE!!!! THREE MONTHS AND 100K LATER (it was still meant to be a 10k one shot lmaoooo) AND THE RED LIGHT OF DAWN IS FINALLY FINISHED (mostly. Still got the after credits fluff but the main story is done!) IM FREEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

Graphic Depictions Of Violence Steffen Mössner | Docm77/Rendog GeminiTay/Pearl | PearlescentMoonRendog (Video Blogging RPF)Steffen Mössner | Docm77GeminiTay (Video Blogging RPF)Pearl | PearlescentMoonJohn Booko | BdoubleO100Xisumavoid (Video Blogging RPF)Evil Xisuma (Hermitcraft)ZombieCleo (Video Blogging RPF)impulseSV (Video Blogging RPF) Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence Alternate Universe - Fantasy Ren the King But actually a king Enemies to Friends to Lovers Werewolf Rendog (Video Blogging RPF) Dryad Doc Moon Witch Pearl Meet-Cute Unethical Experimentation Corruption Arcs my beloved advisor bdubs Glitched Server thanks Evil-X now everyone has trauma Hurt/Comfort Angst and Hurt/Comfort I promise there's comfort guys I will not leave my idiots without hugs Touch-Starved overly excited Ren moon and cat wives because they deserve it scary Doc not really - Freeform the ghosts watch the action and scream

Summary

It is time to go to a new world, led by the ever faithful Admin. No one was expecting interference to take what should have been a routine world switch and turn it into a living nightmare. Now scattered through a dozen separate worlds the Hermits must fight to find each other and come together. Starting with a world that contains a story line that we've seen before but... nothing like this. Trapped and unable to do anything but wait the Hermits must pray that this time the story will go better than any they have seen before.

All hail the Red King! May his reign be filled with the peace and unity that he has fought for!

[whmp]

I just wanted to say that your video game looks really cool! I'm a (fairly beginner) game developer and overall it just looks really great. I love the graphics and style. I do not consider myself a sadistic person and I can confidently say I have never had any urge to hurt somebody, but I'm still super hyped to play your game.

Anyways, I guess I'm just curious on how you're making it/ any details of the process so far you'd like to share.

hehe thank you so much anon!!! don't worry, the "have you ever wanted to keep someone in your basement" was (mostly) a joke, being a sadist is by no means a prerequisite. : ) the process itself is a bit chaotic - such is life of a solo developer. i'm spread a bit thin between animation, modelling and programming so when making the game i'm trying my best to stick to my strengths: for example, when you look at characters and items, most of them have only very basic textures, but they do have a neat little shader on top which makes them look cel shaded. there's also a hefty dose of VHSesque post processing on top of everything! i left for a bit of a vacation recently, hence the lack of updates, but i YEARN to go back to work. on top of the to-do list is to finish up the time-simulation system. originally i wanted the game to be in real-time like animal crossing or something, but i've since shifted focus to a different approach with a simulated time, kind of like in stardew valley or minecraft or pretty much any game with a day/night cycle. the two tasks i dread the most are going to be fixing whumpees hair and his skeleton. god. take a look at how this smug fucker's hair look like:

if you know anything 3d you're probably getting a headache just from looking at this terrifying thing. stop. stop looking at it now, please, avert your gaze and don't make fun of my topology skills. if you don't - on the left there's a wire frame of polygons that when painted gives us the poor little meow meow on the right. as you can see, his hair is SUPER DENSE when it comes to polygon distribution. basically, a good 95% of whumpee's geometry is concentrated in his hair. i have since changed it (it's an old screenshot) but his hair still is a bit too dense for my liking - this is the sort of thing that WILL cause performance issues further down the line. i should just shave him bald i swear.

the second thing is his skeleton (or rig, or armature or """avatar""" if you go by unity's terminology). there's no nice way of putting it, his bones are fucked up. i rigged him in blender and upon being transported to the game engine environment, his spine just sort of left his torso. i managed to shove it back in, but it's far from ideal. here's how he looked like prior to the Bone Surgery:

scary. think of the back pain.

to summarize, gamedev is hard, bones are bad, but i really want to get back to work. hopefully i'll post a major update post within a week or so! no taglist on this post since it's not really an update, but @fanboy-enby-undead mentioned wanting to see bloopers/glitches so here's an @. : )

[jujuberry136]

Puppet History - 5.02

New episode just dropped, more lore!

New observations

Episode opened with a very midwestern “Op” (verified via subtitles) - maybe a linguistic hint?

The jokes about the Professor having a Masters degree from Charles University

The box now has chains - the Professor is very insistent Ryan can’t touch the box OR the chains. Maybe something to that theory that the actual Professor is in the box and escaped in last week’s post-credits scene?

Yet more in-episode hints of imposters!

The Professor would “love to be boiled”! More support that this is Asmodeus who is missing the warm warm temperatures of Hell?

The example window first looked like there was a big scary t-rex outside it and then maybe instead had a birds nest with what looked like an egg - referencing the image we saw in the S4 trailer of the Professor in the egg/post-credits scene of the Professor emerging from the egg? Referencing the idea of a cuckoo bird (who famously hid its own eggs in other birds’ nests?)

When they do the graphic of Brian David Gilbert as a near martyr, the Professor’s head is superimposed over what looks like a dog. Indicating some sort of “mark of the beast” or other demonic relation? Just funny due to his height?

The Professor’s favorite bit - a couple of sea dogs! (best bit of the show) was completely MISSING when Ryan/Brian David had to answer how long the war was (the 80 years war). NOT MY PROFESSOR! He once again focused on the “B Boys” (this time with bees and basketballs) and admitted he couldn’t remember what they do, but ignored his favorite bit. Something is definitely hinky

The conversation about keeping your hat as a way of keeping you safe - well, didn’t we see a fossilized little hat in the post-credits of last week’s episode?

The multiple references to the example window and throwing someone out it - we see the Professor in a graphic being thrown out, but there is definitely menace aimed at Ryan for this acrtion

THE MID-SONG SCENE! The Professor DEFINITELY glitched - HOLOGRAM!!! The complex victory algorithm is real and kept true to past seasons trends and announced a victory for Brian David Gilbert BUT the Professor overrode that and announced Ryan as the winner. And for a second week in a row (or second day per the episode’s stated timeline) made Ryan use the puppet cream ASAP

Ryan lost his bidding war with Connie for the lamp with the genie in it; but definitely knows the Professor is up to something

More voice and color weirdness this week from the Professor, especially towards the end

[snowe-zolynn-rogers]

TW: sewer slide

The Undertale and Security Breach Shows. 

Monsters surface to find there are now living robotic furries everywhere. 

Frisk goes to the Pizzaplex and somehow make friends with Bloodmoon. Chara provides snarky commentary and roasts the absolute fuck out of Eclipse, but only Frisk and maybe Golden Freddy can hear what they’re saying. Golden Freddy has no idea how this small child gained control of time with zero magical training (he canonically avoids fucking with soul magic).

Papyrus and Lunar become fantastic friends. Sans and Monty trade scams, but Sans is also secretly judging him for the atrocities entire time. 

MTT and Fazbear brand rivalry. Burgerpants quits his MTT job and gets a job at the Pizzaplex. It’s very somehow an improvement.

Undyne and Bloodmoon somehow become best friends over violence, and she also ends up a Pizzaplex security guard. 

Alphys and Moon also become science friends and share magic-science research. Moon has so much fun with the blueprints for Alphys’s box bed. Especially after the Foxy incident. He modifies it so his bed turns into a nice pointy star shape, and puts the Computer in control of that, so nobody can use his bed without his or the Computers’ permission.

_____

The Frisk and Bloodmoon Show! Every game they play is basically that bagel meme.

Frisk and Bloodmoon play Security Breach. Frisk manages to pull the Fazerblast glitch that lets them skip straight to the Disassemble Vanny Ending, after somehow glitching their way to the Princess Quest games while exploring. Thus they manage to cheat their way to a Pacifist Ending on the third video.

They actually SAVEd right before recording, and learned how to glitch their way to the Princess Quest Ending through trial and error. But nobody except Flowey, Chara, and Golden Freddy need to know that they cheated hard to get to a good ending without hurting anyone.

Bloodmoon is enraged and destroy their computer over this. They wanted to see some carnage. They aren’t satisfied until Frisk lets them use their account to finish the game themselves. They very intentionally get the Disassemble Vanny Ending, the proper way, and are disappointed that Vanny’s death wasn’t graphic enough.

_____

Papyrus sees Frisk getting popular from their channel, and The Papyrus and Lunar Show is born. Lunar cries during their first scary game and Papyrus just abandons the computer mid-recording to break into the Daycare and comfort him. Unlike… some people,  Papyrus never forces Lunar to play a scary game again. He does all the playing for the scary games, unless Lunar volunteers on his own

______

This inevitable causes Undyne to start The Undyne and Alphys Show because everything is a competition to her. Undyne tries to brute force everything and Alphys nervously tries to play things smart.

______

Mettaton, after seeing Alphys start a channel, and realizing that Freddy and Glamrock Freddy, two of the biggest faces of his rival company, also have channels, he starts The Napstablook and Mettaton Show. Yes, Blooky’s name goes first. His favorite cousin deserves some of the spotlight. Blooky ends up being the more popular one on the channel.

Blooky somehow ends up as Glitchtrap’s henchman and Glamrock Bonnie’s coworker through chance and sheer lack of confidence. Wrong place, wrong time, and Glitchtrap, being Glitchtrap, just started telling them to do stuff and Blooky, with their utter lack of self-esteem, just went along with it. Next thing they knows, they’re signing a contract to be Glitchtrap’s henchman. Mettaton is disappointed that his favorite cousin somehow accidentally ended up being some weirdo’s evil minion.

______

Sans keeps setting up illegal hotcat stands in the Plex. Nobody knows how.

The Sans and Montgomery Gator Show also becomes a thing. Monty used Papyrus to bully his fellow scam artist into it. They do a “sponsored message” to Play Gator Golf and Buy Hotcats at the beginning and end of every episode. People usually skip over those parts. Sans also promotes Grillby’s sometimes, just because. Asks people to “tell him sans the skeleton sent you” and asks them to “donate to help pay off my tab there”

_____

Jerry and Trashcan become best friends. And get murdered by Bloodmoon together. Frisk and Undyne witness that, but choose to look the other way. Until it turns out Jerry somehow caught Trashcan’s immortality. Then they choose to walk the other way.

_____

The Annoying Dog and Golden Freddy are old friends. 

They aren’t with eachother anymore, but Asgore and Toriel both individually end up with Golden Freddy in a polycule, and decide to go to group therapy to settle their issues from the Underground so this doesn’t become toxic, and they end up friends again. And sharing a husband.

The wedding is crowded. Frisk ends up staying with Freddy, Shadow Freddy, Funtime Freddy, Mr. Pepper, and Toy Chica during the honeymoon. To get to know one of their new step-brothers and their new sister-in-law. Also so Freddy and Toy Chica can get in some parenting practice. Then Frisk moves in with Circus Baby, Glamrock Freddy, and Monty for a bit. To get to know their other new step-brother.

_____

Flowey somehow ends up on Team Killcode. He wants to be here about as much as Eclipse does. Eclipse and Flowey bond over how much they hate being here and working for Killcode and that they’re both horrible accidents that weren’t supposed to be sentient and how they’d rather be becoming god for their own selfish fucked up reasons instead of being here or getting therapy.

The Eclipse and Flowey Show eventually happens. They’re using their channel to make money so they can hopefully buy their own secret evil lair without KC finding out. They are 100% prepared to stab eachother in the back if need be, and are absolutely already planning out how they’re gonna betray eachother once they get the Star. The channel is 90% snark.

Eclipse and Flowey are about as close to best friends as a person can get when they can’t feel feelings (or repress most of their feelings to the point they might as well not have any) and are very pro backstabbing. Flowey also picks up some mechanical engineering skills from regular Eclipse (based on a Flowey from a different crossover AU I have).

_____

Frisk had to repeat the same day about 30 times to save Bloodmoons’ ass. It was a school day, so they had a very limited timeframe to work with. Eventually they ended up faking theirs and Bloodmoons’ deaths, and then bribing Sans to encrypt their channel so the other Shows couldn’t see any new videos.

Sans’s help was actually vital, because Sun just hunts Bloody down if he misses the first shot. Frisk needs to tackle Bloodmoon out of the way and have Sans shortcut in, grab all three of them, and shortcut out before Sun’s vision returns from the lightshow.

______

The Never Separated Dimension is also the Horrortale dimension. 

______

Good Eclipse’s dimension is a King Papyrus Neutral Route dimension. 

______

The dimension where Moon Never Existed is a No Mercy Run dimension where Frisk is running around the Surface with 20 LOVE, a burning hatred for everything and everyone, and so much murderous intent. 

They have no friends besides maybe Chara, but would’ve been besties with Bloodmoon if they could exist in that dimension. Completely feral, do not approach, thank fuck the Star can’t be made when Moon Never Existed because they would destroy their whole universe if they could. 

Golden Freddy eventually has to dive into Soul Magic and seal the little menace away.

_____

The Lord Monty dimension gets to be Outertale. Frisk and the gang are all long dead in this one. Except Blooky and Metatron, they’re still alive and going strong. They sometimes do shows with Roxy and Chica.

———

Monsters are extinct in Lord Eclipse’s dimension, because he absorbed all the magic. His coddling of the human race has left their Determination much lower than before he Reset the universe. Frisk and Flowey, who’s actually Asriel now, survived thanks to their Determination.

 Chara disappeared when Lord Eclipse Reset and absorbed all the magic. Without magic, a SOUL, or a corpse/grave, they had nothing to keep their spirit around, and they vanished. It’s just been Frisk and Asriel Dreemurr against Lord Eclipse’s World for a long time.

Lord Eclipse does not have or know about RESET or SAVE. His Reset using the Newton Star had an unintentional side effect of disabling all of that. Frisk and Flowey panicked at first, when they realized that the SAVE files were completely gone, and that neither of them could RESET anymore. And their Inventories, Frisk was very upset when they realized their Inventory was gone and everything in it was completely inaccessible.

Frisk and Flowey used to be in Monty’s rebellion, before Lord Eclipse took that down. Monty took care of Frisk for a bit, during the rebellion. They were just a kid, but they were also a damn good fighter, so naturally the pro-child-labor guy got to be their guardian. 

Monty even helped transfer Frisk’s SOUL into a nanomachine body as their 20th birthday present, because Monty didn’t want them dropping dead, as humans tend to do. It was only a few years after that that Lord Eclipse finally bored of the rebellion and killed almost every animatronic. And Monty wiped his memories of Frisk and Flowey so Lord Eclipse couldn’t hack him and find out their plan or secrets, the same way he found out where the Star was, to protect them. Thus, at the ripe age of 25, Frisk lost their friends and family to Lord Eclipse again, leaving them with only Asriel.

Nanomachine Frisk gave themself little reminders of what they lost. A red scarf. A blue jacket. Pink boots. Yellow fangs and a ponytail. A dinosaur tail. A locket and pink cheeks. White fluffy ears, red eyes, little white horns, a purple cloak. Purple gloves and spiked wristbands. Just, little pieces of everyone they lost because of Lord Eclipse.

Nanomachine Frisk also has glasses, because I headcanon (and project) that Frisk’s vision is absolute dogshit but they thought they were normal and that that’s just how things are supposed to look. And Monsters don’t know how Human vision is supposed to be. So they generally don’t pick up on the fact that they need glasses until they’re older and someone outside the Monster friend-group tells them.

They also have some serious cracking on their face. They’ve lost some nanomachines over the century, and that’s how they choose to distribute their remaining ones.

Asriel has guns that Monty made, and some mechanical skills he picked up from Vanny, Monty, and Glamrock Freddy, because of the previously mentioned AU that happens to be why I had normal Flowey pick up some engineering skills.

Frisk and Asriel have spent the century working towards finding and collecting SOULs as powerful as the ones from before Lord Eclipse’s Reset. To make Asriel a reality-bending god, powerful enough to challenge Lord Eclipse. Moon and Lunar actually find them in the middle of collecting the 6th. 

Without any living parents, as a Boss Monster, Asriel can’t age normally in Lord Eclipse’s dimension. He instead gets a growth spurt of about 3 years worth of aging every time he absorbs a SOUL. Excluding the first one, which just turned him back into Asriel. Conveniently, they had been out getting that first SOUL when Lord Eclipse took down the rebellion.

Ironically, all the SOULs have been children so far, just like in the Underground. So Moon and Lunar just walk in on a 20-something version of their favorite pacifist (or at least everyone believes their Frisk is a pacifist) stabbing a kid to death while a goat Monster they’ve never seen before grabs at the kid’s SOUL.

Frisk has secretly been planning on being the final SOUL since they murdered that first other kid. Every SOUL reinforces their choice. Not out of some sense of guilt or duty, but because it’s taken a whole century just to get 6. Why waste another 15-20 years hunting for #7, when Asriel can just use Frisk’s extremely powerful Determination SOUL and get this over with now?

They reveal this at the jump point, right after Lunar snaps at Lord Eclipse. They just pull out their SOUL, shove it in Asriel’s hands, and rush Lord Eclipse with a knife. Nobody expected this. The last thing Moon and Lunar see as they leave the dimension is Hyperdeath Asriel facing down Lord Eclipse while a Witherstorm announces its prescence.

Fortunately, it’s canon that Chara and Asriel were sharing Asriel’s body when he absorbed their SOUL, so it’s still Frisk and Asriel against Lord Eclipse’s World when Moon and Lunar go home. Not that the Daycare Attendants were aware of this tidbit, or of who Asriel is. They didn’t even know about the whole Monsters can absorb Human SOULs thing before Nanomachine Frisk told them, because Monsters know better than to just tell people about the thing that got them locked Underground in the first place. 

The point here is that Lunar needs so much more therapy after that adventure in this AU. Was yelling at Eclipse cathartic? Yes. Was learning that Monsters can kill people and absorb their SOULs to become insanely powerful horrible? Also yes. Was realizing that he was a literal a coin flip away from his best friend suffering eternal torment and his other best friend dying before they could even meet horrifying? Very much so. Was watching an older and more jaded version of close friend murder a kid in cold blood, and then be literally vaporized by his ex-brother right before leaving that world to be devoured by an eldritch horror extremely traumatic? Hell fucking yes it was.

____

Hyperdeath Asriel: You know, Eclipse, I used to be a prince once. A long, long time ago. Way before Sun and Moon were even a concept in someone’s head. It’s funny, really. I thought I stopped caring about them. About anything, really. Then you stole everything from me, and it turns out that yeah. Even without a SOUL or feelings, I still cared a lot. But you know what? That’s where you fucked up. We lost everything. I have nothing to lose now. And there’s everything to gain from defeating you. I’m filled with DETERMINATION

After the monologue there’s fucking boss battle music and his name just appears in front of him. Turns out that having enough DETERMINATION to become a god also lets you start generating magic again, even though the other god altered reality so nobody else could use magic.

Imagine being caught up in a three-way boss battle free for all between immortal gods capable of destroying reality, but one of them is so hopped up on raw overwhelming spite he there’s nothing that can keep him down.

Hyperdeath Asriel: *gets vaporized by an inconvenient crossfire from Lord Eclipse and the Witherstorm*

Nanomachine Frisk’s SOUL: BUT IT REFUSED *forcibly revives Asriel and all the other SOULs*

_____

In an alternate series of events, where Moon accidentally takes Nanomachine Frisk and Six SOUL Asriel home with him, and has to explain why there’s a bitter pragmatic adult robot version of the Monster Ambassador in their ballpit. And then he has to explain it to Toriel. And then he has to explain where he got the fucking dead Monster Prince from. He didn’t even know Asriel was the Prince.

Nanomachine Frisk is pissed. They were so damn close. Azzy just needed their SOUL, and he’d have been all set to take the world back from Lord Eclipse. What was the point if it all gets destroyed by that Witherstorm? Why did they commit all those murders if it’s not to fix things? Why did dad Monty forget them if they failed anyways? What was the point of any of this, if it they couldn’t SAVE a single persom?

Also, Nanomachine Frisk can and will slip up and call Monty dad sometimes. Mom too, every once in awhile. Ruined Monty raised them for 13 years (headcanon Frisk as 12 in Undertale). Of course they saw him as a parent.

They also very much join Sun on the Let’s Kill Eclipse journey. They hate Eclipse so damn much. As long as he’s alive there’s a chance that he gets the Star and Resets the world. They already had a conspiracy board at the ready when Sun snaps. 🦇

I understood maybe half of this give or take but it is very much enjoyable, especially the mental image of the crossover shows. I was outright cackling at the idea of Eclipse and Flower (who I'm pretty sure is a sentient flower?) starting a show together.

[modded-xcom2-aar]

The Tutorial: Part 2

With utmost priority, Commander began to organize Operation Necrotizing Key.

Dan's Notes: Due to a graphical glitch, two of the soldiers, both of whom normally wear modded-in clothes, appeared in clean-generation outfits. I believe there may be some mod conflicts, as some modded assets were determined to be clean-generation outfits anyways. At the time, I was not permitted to customize soldiers, but this will not be the case after the tutorial section is completed.

Excerpt from Commander Stumpe's Journal:

We were in such a rush to get the mission done that I just told the two closest rookies to slap on whatever the closest pieces of armor they could find lying around and hop in the Skyranger. They seemed a little cheesed off about it, but that's lesson 1 for you: If you wanna wear something besides the basics, you gotta make sure you've got it prepped.

Operation Necrotizing Key After Action Report:

Dan's notes: Not really sure why the game decided the "wilderness of New India" was in the "Greater Anchorage Area", but even without the mod I added that adds more locations, the game is weird about the names of mission locations, often going for a much more general area than wherever it appears on to be on the map.

Central Officer Bradford's Pre-Mission Briefing:

CENTRAL: Communications with resistance forces in the area have gone dark...which can only mean one thing. These people sacrificed everything to give us this shot. We need to recover that converter at all costs.

With the first priority of recruiting the Commander out of the way, the next major mission for reviving XCOM needed to be accomplished: Acquiring an ADVENT power converter needed for base operations.

Prior to undertaking Operation Gatecrasher, regional resistance cells were contacted to find the power converter. Serendipitously, they managed to block the ADVENT convoy meant to deliver the converter to the next location.

Operating in this mission were Squaddie Ranger Jane Kelly, and Rookies Cain Juntley, The Wanderer, and Christopher "Troopz" Taylor.

Dan's Notes: It was at this point going through my footage that I realized that the Steam overlay was on. Whoops! Disabled it between the first and second session.

Enemy forces included ADVENT troops, Officers, and a Sectoid.

Mission Control's notes on the enemy forces:

CENTRAL: The ADVENT Officers seem more capable than the grunts. We're not sure whether to chalk it up to training or stricter mind control. TYGAN: Although they bear some resemblance to the Sectoids first encountered during the invasion, their genetic structure now includes human DNA. They're stronger than ever with an even greater psionic potential. COMMANDER: Oh jeez, those sectoids are real scary now, eh? I miss the old ones, they were a lot cuter and way less of a threat.

The combat began with The Wanderer ambushing a Troop and an Officer by throwing a grenade at the pod while they were scouting the area on a rooftop.

Commander Stumpe's Notes:

Good old grenades. Guaranteed damage and great for destroying cover. Oldest trick in the book is to land an explosive grenade at a rooftop. If the explosion doesn't kill 'em, the fall will.

Unfortunately, just before Kelly could stabilize the Converter, The Wanderer was mind-controlled by the sectoid. While the sectoid hijacked The Wanderer's mind, The Wanderer was dragged over to Cain Juntley and fired on him, killing him in a single burst of fire.

Mercifully, once Kelly had stabilized the converter, she was able to kill the sectoid using her sword.

Commander Stumpe's notes:

Those fellas looked so darn frail. I'd say get 'em a sandwich but they probably eat people. I figure a good whack will hurt them way more than a gunshot.

Dan's notes: Sectoids have a weakness to melee attacks and can easily be oneshotted by any melee class.

With the converter stabilized and ripe for the taking, the mission was considered a success.

For surviving the mission, Troopz and The Wanderer were both promoted to Squaddie. Troopz decided to specialize as a Sharpshooter, while The Wanderer took the path of the Stormrider.

Bradford's Notes:

Just like it sounds, our sharpshooters engage enemy targets with pinpoint accuracy from extreme range. They're also trained in pistol marksmanship for the occassional close encounter.

Raze's(???) Notes:

We are the ultimate weapon, and we will not rest until every last alien is dead. The Storm is coming, Commander. Let's ride it together.

Dan's Notes: I don't utilize sharpshooters as much as I do other classes, however I find training a sharpshooter in pistol skills to be extremely fun and versatile. Sniping-focused sharpshooters are also handy, but when the game is designed to be focused on pushing forward, it's something I put less focus on.

As for Stormriders, I have only gotten to try them out while doing a test run I did during signup week, but they're pretty interestingly designed as a non-templar melee-only class. No idea who Raze is.

In addition to our key objective, XCOM managed to recover an expanded magazine. And as according to original XCOM procedures, bodies were collected and placed into cold storage.

Tygan: These items should prove useful in our ongoing efforts against the aliens. When you have a moment, Commander, I've made some interestesting discoveries as they relate to the implant we removed from you earlier.

Dan's Notes: Forgot to check the loot descriptions for the other pick-ups during the recording. Will see if I can find them later.

Tutorial Geoscape: Part 2

Personnel Logs:

The Wanderer and Kelly sat in the bar. While it was a nice place to relax, it also served as a memorial for all those lost in the fight against ADVENT. Osei, Rodriguez, and Juntley's portraits had been taken and placed on it. This wasn't the only memorial. There was another, much larger one that was dedicated to any original XCOM members that had been lost during the original invasion, which was kept off of The Avenger and in the resistance haven the Avenger was currently docked in, and many resistance havens kept their own personal memorials. Death was a constant risk for those who chose to deny the Elders. The Wanderer had gotten their usual headgear back on: A gasmask and a hat that was good for keeping the sun out of their eyes. They had a special tape deck they liked to use instead of speaking. Not because it was practical or tactical, they just found it aesthetically pleasing. If they needed to explain things more thoroughly, they had other means. Signing. Tablets. A whiteboard if absolutely necessary. Tactical signing was more handy when prepping an ambush anyways. Kelly had her head in her hands. Three operatives were dead in one night. It's not that she wasn't used to death, but on some level she was frustrated with herself. Scouting further away from the convoy, there was no way could've gotten to the Sectoid before The Wanderer started firing on Juntley. She downed another shot. The Wanderer tapped on her shoulder. They began signing to her. She was drunk, but she was familiar enough with signing that she could get the gist. Mind control was like a bad dream, they signed. You could see what you were doing and feel what you were doing, but you couldn't control it. With a dream, you could wake up and remind yourself there's no way any of that could've happened. When you were freed of mind control, you just had to live with whatever the controller decided on. "You know," she said aloud, for she was too sluggish to try signing herself, "I checked the reports and the footage and the stuff. If I, If I had tried shooting him, I don't think it would've worked. Would've missed, or it would've hit and that asshole would keep moving Juntley around. It's not your fault, it's not my fault, it's just," She readjusted her position so she could lean her back against the counter. "It's just like, circrumstatial bullshit. And that fuckin' sectoid The Wanderer nodded. They pulled out the tape record and pressed a button. "[Thank you for your time.]" Said the recorder. They offered her their hand. And then they started arm wrestling, because Kelly was drunk and didn't realize it was supposed to be a handshake.

Jane Kelly and The Wanderer developed the start of a friendship together.

Commander Stumpe was summoned to Engineering to speak with Chief Engineer Lily Shen.

Excerpt from Commander Stumpe's Personal Journal:

Shen's gone? Darn shame...well, I knew it wasn't particularly likely he'd survive 20 years of an alien empire. But his daughter looks like she's got a good head on her shoulders. Love those little robots she's got flying all over the place.

SHEN: I can't promise any miracles, Commander, but I should be able to put some of this stuff together in no time at all. I'd suggest we get started with a medikit, it'll probably come in handy sooner rather than later.

Dan's notes: Medikits are a massive boon in the battlefield. I highly suggest keeping at least two on hand, one for the combat unit and one for the reconnaissance unit. At this point in the game they're very limited, but that won't be the case once we get Specialists in our roster.

Commander Stumpe was quickly thereafter summoned to Research, where Tygan had made completed his research on the implant chip.

From Commander Stumpe's personal journal:

He's right. I can't really explain it, but it was like I was in some kinda endless war commanding endless missions. Every so often it felt like victory had been achieved only to find myself back at the beginning. Kinda like when there's only reruns on TV. I wonder if TV's still around? That's beside the point, I guess. When it was happening I couldn't really tell I was in a loop. It just sorta happened, ya know? Wonder how much of it was real. I remember we had mech troops and gene splicing and every so often you could get a psi soldier. Not to mention all those battles with EXALT. I wonder if they were just simulations or if I was really commanding alien soldiers with an XCOM paint job. Pretty scary stuff.

With the research efforts completed, the Commander went about ordering the next research project, Modular Weapons.

Commander Stumpe's notes:

The most important thing to prioritize are the guns. It's not good when a soldier gets shot to pieces, but the best defense is a good offense. If the enemy goes down before they get a shot in, that's a soldier that never got shot to begin with.

Shortly thereafter, the commander returned to the bridge, where more developments occurred.

Excerpt from Commader Stumpe's personal journal:

Ya know, one of the things people say when they're flying is "I can see my house from here!" Course, we didn't fly over Manitoba, and even if we did my house is probably a crater nowadays. But it was pretty exciting! We'll be flying all over the place now, so I'll have to get used to that. And the cramped quarters. Reminds me of the old days with the UN.

END OF PART 2

Dan's notes: Unfortunately, I accidentally set off another mod-based glitch during mission select that softlocked the game, so the first recording session ended here. Expect more updates soon!

[claitea]

some thoughts about pokemon violet. spoilers ahead!

there are. quite a few graphical glitches and messes whbejrvhr. sometimes trainers and pokemons eyes get stuck closed for a while, camera clips into the floor during battle, a sunflora i was in battle with and therefore Very Close To moved at a lower frame rate like other faraway entities. hough the homeroom scene..... almost everyone in that room looked so janky.

but tbh? i've been having too much fun to care too much about that specifically. the rest of the game is pretty :)

wish i could stop the minimap from spinning. i can lock the map app to north but not the minimap????

THE FOOD ILLUSTRATIONS ARE SO GOOD I WANT TO EAT THE ICECREAM SO BAD

rip pixel pokemon and item icons though </3 i find them more charming. also the icon for persim berries is too red and its bothering me, persim berries are PINK this is BRIGHT SCARLET

idk how pokemon icons on the minimap work either i'll be running all over the place it indicates and not find the pokemon its showing. i want a charcadet :(

i chose sprigatito but was THIS close to choosing fuecoco because of the first cutscenes. quaxly having to tell fuecoco not to eat the burnt orange whjegjevdj

miraidon my beloved asshole lizard who eats all my sandwiches. i gotta rewatch any and all miraidon scenes with koraidon when i'm done with the game, the first cutscene with the houndoom was SO COOL

PEOPLE WERE RIGHT ARVEN IS THE PROFESSOR'S KID

there were a couple nods to older games! a book in the library talks about someone seeing the stow-on-side mural get broken by a copperajah, another book talks about pewter crunchies, and the meditative seat art installation in artazon are items you could buy in oras as decoration for your secret base. i know every game has callbacks to previous ones but the stow-on-side one caught me offguard because thats a spoiler isnt it?? the other one surprised me too but more becaue Why do i remember this one specific base item. i havent touched oras in years

a library book also said Hydreigon and Volcarona got alt forms like donphan did and i need to see them IMMEDIATELY

as far as i've seen in the library, the pokemon that get those forms are donphan, tyranitar, volcarona, hydreigon. and Delibird. which i find hilarious bc its all these threatening scary pokemon and then. DELIBIRD.

WHY DID MY BELOVED LECHONK EVOLVE INTO AN EMO BOY

so far out of the new pokemon. the only design i dont like is spidops. spiops. i forgot how to spell it. where did my cute little yarn ball go :( maybe its just New Pokemon Doesnt Look Like A Pokemon Yet Syndrome but there is just SOMETHING about spiops's design that doesnt sit right with me

miraidon jumping is a little janky sometimes idk??? also i got stuck in a pond once and it could NOT climb out no matter where i tried. i had to fly out

i already like tera raids a lot more :') i HATED how max pokemon could shield and move multiple times and all that. i dont have online so max raids are damn near IMPOSSIBLE for me to do because the ai sucks That bad. i feel like with the time limit thing and infinite revives i could stand a chance doing it solo. this is just me talking about the early 1-2 star raids though idk how it'll go later on

i did get one odd glitch where my first attack didnt appear to deplete the hp bar, but then a few attacks later it looked like it had hp left but it fainted? my damage just. Didnt Show for some reason while still registering as damage

i think they fixed the overlevelling problem bc i was even getting my ass kicked by wild pokemon sometimes HKWBDJBF. i was cruising through fast like i'd gotten used to in xy to swsh, so i was actually underlevelled a lot. mela almost curbstomped me

THE CAR IS A POKEMON THEY WERE RIGHT ITS AN ACTUAL POKEMON

mela walks like manga emmet lmao

clodsire. thats it thats the bullet point <3

in conclusion i am having a BLAST. i absolutely adore this game so far!! i'm honestly able to overlook anything that bothers me just because i enjoy it a Lot. like of Course i still wish the subpar graphics werent subpar but Who Care look at my clodsire his name is Mousse and i love him

[hyperthinks]

15 questions for 15 mutuals ^_^ i was tagged by @socialbunny!

1. are you named after anyone?

nope to both my birth name and chosen name! my motivation behind picking the name miles was that it 1. had the same first initial as my birth name and 2. PEOPLE COULD ACTUALLY SPELL IT LMAOOO

2. when was the last time you cried?

i graduated college last weekend and i dont know if id consider it a Full Cry because all i did was tear up but when i gave my favorite professor a hug after i went onstage i was screaming and crying and throwing up on the inside

3. do you have kids?

nope!

4. do you use sarcasm a lot?

yeah but in a lighthearted way! im a goofy guy but i dont ever want my jokes to come off as too mean spirited

5. what sports do you play/have you played?

HELP im so shit at sports 😭 my hand eye coordination and depth perception are both awful so im not good at any of them… when i was in the 3rd grade my mom put me in cheerleading and i had such bad social anxiety as a kid that when it was my turn to cheer i would just CRY. it makes for a funny story though

6. what’s the first thing you notice about other people?

ooh this ones tough. uhhh it depends on the situation i first meet them in but generally their voice and speech patterns? when i was a kid i didnt inflect a lot (autism.) so i had to “study” other people… i think that’s kind of a holdover from that ?

7. eye color?

brown! ^_^

8. scary movies or happy endings?

hmmm. depends on what mood i’m in and also how well its written!

9. any special talents?

well i just graduated magna cum laude (CUM? 🤨) with a BFA in graphic design so i HOPE i’m good at that LMAOOOO

outside of that? im decently good at digging through code and messing with hex editing for someone who has no formal coding experience outside of HTML and CSS

10. where were you born?

the united states! i was born in missouri but i’ve lived in georgia most of my life

11. what are your hobbies?

ooh lets see. i like researching unused content and the effects of glitches in video games (lifelong special interest. teehee) in addition to, well. actually playing the games. i used to draw a lot more (if you’re reading this and you followed me from my furry twitter: I’m Sorry) but i’ve shifted a lot of my creative energy towards writing (check out my tycutio fanfiction) and graphic design (i need to post some of my stuff here… my senior project was sims 2 themed even)

12. do you have any pets?

i do! we got my dog daisy (lab mix) when i was really little, and she’s 15 now!

we also have a tortoise named tortimer (after the guy from animal crossing) but we just call him torti

13. how tall are you?

5’8” but i used to be 5’9” before scoliosis nerfed me (<- coping and seething)

14. fave subject in school?

in high school it was probably literature, but in college i’d say typography? i like letters. teehee

15. dream job?

please for the love of god i want a job making promotional materials for a game company SO BAD.

i tag… YOU!!! >:D nahhh jk but i AM gently tapping my mutuals on the shoulder if they want to do this . ^_^

[auggielovesreading]

Security Breach is the WORST game in the franchise.

Let me explain.

Now, hear me out. This might get hate because, as we all know, when SB was released the entire FNAF spotlight shifted to it. Everyone was talking about it and the fandom grew 10x bigger overnight. From a gameplay point of view it was amazing. The graphics were really cool and the free roaming was well designed, but that was about it. To me it played like the knock off FNAF games people developed in 2015, almost FNAF, but not enough. Let’s be honest here, the characters just didn’t feel like Five Nights at Freddy‘s characters. I know they’re meant to be modernized versions of the original crew, but it wasn’t well executed. Freddy and Chica remained in the game, but Foxy and Bonnie were completely written out. Not to mention the complete bastardization of Freddy and Chica.  I loved Glamrock Freddy while playing the game solely because I do believe he was meant to be possessed by the ghost of Michael Afton, which is such a cool viewpoint to be lead by the character you’ve been playing as since 2014. It was fun in the moment but still didn’t translate to Five Nights at Freddy’s.

One of the best things about FNAF is that it has a very signature feeling to it. I think that feeling was lost at Sister Location. The characters we see in these games have the same basic design but we’re completely lost in translation. Freddy has been overdeveloped, between OG Freddy, glamrock Freddy, withered Freddy, shadow Freddy, toy Freddy, nightmare Freddy, twisted Freddy, golden Freddy, Lefty? Not to mention the others that I literally do not have it in me to name. There’s just TOO MANY!

Serious question. How did a single dad running a pizzeria afford the materials it would take to make over 100 animatronics? One animatronic costs anywhere from 10,000 to 1,000,000 depending on the quality. These ones are massive and have free movement, allowing them to roam on their own without coding to do so, these things would probably cost about 700,000 dollars each (probably more. definitely more but whatever.) You’re seriously telling me this man spent 70M dollars on animatronics just to shove some kids souls in there? No way.

And let’s address the elephant in the room, SB is a children’s game. Sure, there’s some measly jump scares, but it’s the children’s equivalent of the original games. The original games featured the eerie 8-bit murder scenes and bone chilling lore of the heartless child serial killer luring kids to the back room of his pizzeria and slaughtering them, only to shove their corpses into the suits of the characters he made. Never once in security breach did I ever feel a hint of fear or that signature eeriness that made the old games so amazing. If you play security breach to the end, you escape the pizzeria and woohoo yippee no scary suits or child murder or anything. Where’s the fun in that? In past games the endings have still left you feeling weird. Like burning down a building (and yourself) or being reminded that you have to come back the next week, or just flat out being brutally murdered anyway. My personal favourite has to be in Help Wanted (the VR game) when, despite completing the game, you’re led by glitch trap to the back where there’s a more than creepy birthday display for you, complete with your favourite lifeless animatronics sat against the wall and our signature rabbit leading you to the back room, cut to you standing on stage and realizing that you’re now trapped in the bear suit you so loved as a kid! AMAZING! Experiencing it in VR is absolutely chilling and I never got that feeling from SB. It’s just too Disneyish.

Anyways.  It was also a huge part of the plot that the Freddy Fazbears Pizzerias’s were unable to stay open for long because of the reputation. Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 was literally set in a haunted house they made based on the restaurant. A company that can only continue making profit making a haunted attraction based on the horrific tragedies that took place in their establishments would not go on to continue making very successful multi-level MALL SIZED attractions in the future. Does nobody care that every single building this company has made, people have been horrifically murdered in? specifically children? To put it plainly, SB’s restaurant would’ve never existed in the first place. The modern setting alongside the crappy lore being added to the plot completely ruins the feeling of Security Breach. The characters we’ve all grown to love and the setting and timeline thats held the story together have been detached and destroyed. Nothing is holding SB to the FNAF franchise besides its tiny additions to the lore. Oh great, William is back from hell? For shits and gigs?

To sum it all up, I miss that straight out of 2014 feel that FNAF games 1-4 clung onto so well, but it’s been ruined and I don’t think it’s gonna get any better. Let’s all pray that the movie is set STRICTLY in the universe of the first few games, because I stg.

(I love fnaf. This definitely may have made me seem like I don’t but I 100% do and could sit down and give you the entire lore in about 20 minutes. This is just the harsh truth)

[sleepparalysisgeek]

They Shouldn't Have Made Melatonin Gummies

I could have fully leaned on becoming the demon you think we are, but then I realised being intimidating and feral every night as you lie there helpless is pastiche, you know?

So, hello, welcome to the site!

Obviously, I’m not the best in my line of work. I prefer you awake so I can actually have a conversation. Then again, you won’t get to see me and I can’t influence your dreams.

That’s why we’re here! People start and end their days holding their phones, and so I might as well post about my interests here like anime, books, dungeons and dragons, and other things. Then have you read it so you have context when you’re hallucinating while I’m there.

Look at me, a supernatural entity having worldly interests. If I had money, I’d have spent it all on that.

I admit, I’m most likely just bored. But hey, you’re already scared right, I might as well make it interesting for you.

Anyway—do you know what sleep paralysis is?

It’s a glitch in your brain that happens between wakefulness and deep slumber.

Once you reach REM sleep, the dreams become more vivid, intense. Then your brain does this clever thing when it turns on a switch that paralyses your body and prevents you from acting out your dream.

Useful, isn’t it?

Think about some of the more graphic dreams that you’ve had.

Go ahead and take a minute.

Was it a good dream? One of those happy memories dredged up from your years in school. When your crush walked in looking tired and haggard from climbing the stairs, and you for one reason or another felt love for the first time.

Was it a nightmare? An embarrassing moment being played in a loop. Silhouettes of people looming over you, guffawing as if they’ve seen nothing more than a big joke standing in front of them — you, helpless and alone. Their faces begin to carve wide, grinning lips, sharp teeth visible from where you stand.

Sometimes that switch fails.

If I ask you which of these you’d rather live out, I think I know the answer.

But you never get a choice, do you?

The worst thing about nightmares is insomnia.

As I’m writing this, those of us on shift are waiting patiently for you to sleep.

When your brain inadvertently wakes up and your body is still paralysed, you’re stuck in that paradoxical state between being awake and asleep. The vivid imagery of REM spilling over like a dream forcing its way into your reality — that’s our gateway. Like a vampire waiting to be invited into a space, that’s how we appear in yours.

It’s easy to assume we’re malevolent because of how we look once we’re there. The moniker ‘sleep paralysis demon’ is totally understandable. But some of us don’t mean harm, honest!

Here’s a trade secret: we don’t need you to be afraid. Not too much at least. I was told it’s the vulnerability we feed on more than the fear.

We just happen to look hunched over, red eyes glowing in the dark, fanged and ready to pounce. If it makes it any easier, just think of me as jetlagged next time you see me.

But for most, that’s traumatising.

Each night you anticipate seeing a ghostly figure in your bedroom, when really it’s just a string bean looking demon about to tell you the latest manga leaks. Scary!

So you don’t sleep! Then you develop insomnia because you don’t want to see us.

That’s why we follow schedules now and can’t visit every night. Insomnia is bad for business, but worse than that, it’s bad for me! I don’t want to hang out with these guys. 🥺

On the bright side, I have more time in between shifts to click on ‘Continue watching’ for the nth time, and add to the off-grey scuff mark on my wall from throwing books when I’m feeling overwhelmed.

And I have more time to collect the stories I want to share with you!

At night.

Through your nightmares.

While looking the way I do.

Yikes. 😬

Melatonin gummies are berry-flavoured nightmares.

I tried ZzzQuil for a while, and they taste great!

They really shouldn’t have made those into melatonin candies because I’ve downed gummies five at a time.

Of course, that means even I’m getting the side effects, which I’m told isn’t normal for us.

It’s weird to be upstaged by gummy candies.

My nightmares were horrifying. They were like a chimaera of memories chasing me in places that I think should’ve been familiar to me. I was seeing people I don’t remember call out to me for help, and I couldn’t get to them because it felt like I was running through sludge.

See? If All Might had been there he could just Carolina Smash our way out of that ordeal. If all of the night creatures had their own sleep entities who had a pinch of imagination, one of them would have added a random concert from 4Town.

Suffice it to say, I take the melatonin gummies only when I want to remember.

Anyway—this is just a long winded way of saying I hope you enjoy your stay. And may your dreams be sweet and nerdy.

[mig-murgthenurg]

Alien Isolation was pretty damn good. The Xenomorph was decently scary and OH MY GOD DAN ABNETT WAS ONE OF THE MAIN WRITERS OF THIS GAME??

THE VERY SAME WARHAMMER DAN ABNETT??? I am shocked right now because his name just scrolled by in the credits.

Anyways, back on topic, good game. Every horror game fan needs to give this one a go, it's easily a classic. And despite it's lean towards realism, it's graphics have aged surprisingly well for a 2014 game, probably due to the constant grainy filter over everything to mask the shortcomings of the technology.

Also funny thing. In the literal final 10 minutes of the game, I was engaged with a cinematic sequence in an area where no enemy can get you. That's what should have happened until the game suddenly decided to show me what life without plot armour is like for the Ripleys and promptly glitched out, spawned the Xenomorph out of nowhere as I was locked into the sequence and fucking murdered me.

Still, I would definitely recommend.

[allegedlyfunny]

i used to (still kinda do) have a huge fear of OOB area/mostly empty testing worlds(in a similar way to how people feel about classic "liminal spaces." (which didnt even scare me)) for seemingly no reason noclip was such a scary concept (like if you have a shitty pc and when a game loads and you start falling further from the white load box until the game loads never fails to get a reaction out of me)

so like, imagine, booting MAYA or Blender and getting the sanity damage EVERY SINGLE TIME. noclip was such a scary concept (i feared falling OOB in games so hard as a child)

Especially in more realistic games (which i dont really actually play), when graphics glitch out and character models do things they shouldn’t, I get freaked out from it. This is also true when I accidentally clip through buildings and see the vacant underworld because they didn’t model what you don’t see. Or when you noclip and go to far off scenery objects and see how low res they are up close.

[mcrmadness]

I saw the weirdest damn stress dream in a while. I woke up so exhausted by it wtf.

I was on my way to somewhere and I was going there by plane. I was sitting in the front seat, but the plane looked more like a bus. I kept forgetting all kinds of things, such as the seatbelt, and I was trying to put on my sunglasses.

The plane was still driving on the runway, and some woman in the plane started talking to the pilot/driver and asked him about plane accidents. He said most of the accidents happen on the runway and demostrated what kind of driving leads to them often. Which was scary since he was driving in order to get the plane into air...

At some point the plane stopped somewhere. It was like a really tiny souvenir shop but it was just candies everywhere. I was looking at the candies and trying to find something I could buy for myself, but didn't find anything I'd have wanted to eat so I left, because I was the last one and others were still waiting for me in the plane. I went back and sat on the front again. It also started snowing outside despite it being summer, and I was wondering whether it'd cause problems for the plane.

At some point the plane was "driving" in a forest, towards a slightly steep hill where there were also a part with a vertical side. Other were cheering for the pilot that he can do it, he can drive the plane up that hill and get it flying. Then I realized that I was actually outside the plane, I was sliding forward and floating in the air. It was like the plane would have glitched like a video game, the plane was going uphill but I continued forwards so I went "through" the plane's walls and was sliding towards the wall slowly. I think I tried to yell at them that they, I'm not in the plane anymore!

I think I then walked on top of that hill (it was probably just about 3-4 meters high wall) and I looked at the sky where the plane was flying. But it glitched, again. Part of it just came apart like bad graphics, everything from wings to turbines, and it fell and crashed. There was some sort of an airport underneath, but it fell next to it. I started running towards the airport and I guess I kinda just teleported there because next thing I knew was that I was inside that building. There were already people investigating the crash and trying to save the people that were in the plane. I found some cops there, I think we were in Austria actually, and I started talking to them in English and they took me seriously until I started explaining I was also in that plane but somehow glitched out of it, which is when the cops just started smiling and giggling at me because it sounded so stupid. So I decided to walk away and look for people who would believe me instead.

Next I found a hospital room and there were women that apparently were on the plane too, but they were all fine. All of them had their boyfriend in the room too, they had been in the plane crash as well and they were much worse injured but still more of had bruises etc. But they were doing worse then the girlfriends. Afaik everyone in that plane did survive.

Then it got more intense when there was some adult man, who was just. Insane. He was very violent and he was threatening and following his father around, he was saying so horrible things and his dad was just running away and trying to tell him that they're related, they cannot possibly do anything like that. There were also snow piles somewhere but idk why. I also remember hiding in a room that was actually a room in my parents' house, and I was scared of that man and I wished he wouldn't do anything to people he doesn't know. So I tried to stay hidden as I didn't really want to know what he'd do if he saw me.

I think I woke up somewhere here. The weirdest part of this dream was definitely that where I glitched and floated through the plane. I do remember thinking about, tho, that I was also extremely lucky because I could have died in that plane crash if I didn't glitch like that.

[crowsworks]

Fnaf Related; Not afraid to speak my mind

A good portion of you know me by now and know I'm not afraid of speaking my mind and saying what's on it. So that being said (here we go) earlier today; while at work on my break no less, I read a very Unfortunate post regarding a fnaf fic. If you know nothing about Fnaf then reading that fic might bother you...a lot. And if it bothers you then please ignore the story, leave the writer alone, and block them. But if you are like me and have delved into Fnaf with everything that Scott Cawthorn has created then you'd know that Fnaf is not fluffy, cute, or anything sweet. It's about children missing, children dying, the souls of the children in the beginnings of fnafs history inhabiting the animatronics. Later it becomes a glitch invented by William Afton aka Springtrap. In the Graphic Novels (Very good reads by the way) he's using the flesh of people to meld with the endo skeletons to create a new kind of life. His efforts are of course thwarted by the group of teenagers and Sam and the childrens souls are set free. Moon and Sun are two identities in the same body and depending on which one is in control depends on the light and thus seen by their clothes. The glitch does make them self aware that's what William Afton was going for all along it's what make the animatronics so lifelike and scary. The first time I saw Moon I admit I was terrified, but I liked it. I saw Sun and he was so sweet even warning you to keep the lights on, and when you go to turn them off after restoring power you are in fact kicked out of the daycare. Montys whole thing was to take over as lead singer of the band and use Roxy and Chica to achieve his own ambitions (this is cut content, it was supposed to be in the game until Security breach was changed, because Monty was supposed to have more scenes so was Moon and Vanny as well). Moon was supposed to be seen creeping around more than he was following the player (Gregory) and attacking. Vanny was supposed to have an even bigger part that eh, really got downplayed. Also there is more than one ending even secret endings that not a lot of players got, but one of the endings shows that Vanny is pushed off the roof and Vanessa is looking down from the roof onto the scene. Another is Vanessa sitting with Gregory at the end eating Icecream. Again secret endings you have to do different routes to unlock them.

I think a lot of people just tend to overlook or cherry pick what to remember. But Fnaf was built around lifelike glitches and dead children, and souls being used to create new life or lifelike robots. So if that's not something you like, ignore it, block, move on with your life. It really is that simple.

[renabees]

if i never get to the end of rdr2 then nothing bad can happen :)))

[holyarcadeglitter]

Alright sit down. Let's have a chat about Cyberpunk 2077. This has been in my drafts for 3 days because I'm lazy and also sleep deprived.

I'm but a lowly QA tester, so maybe my opinion maybe isn't valid, but I am in the gaming Industry, so that's gotta count for something, right? Right.

So, disclaimer, if you choose to play the game, I aint gonna hate you. I just think it's important to know what you're supporting.

Second disclaimer, I HAVE actually played this game very briefly (otherwise I'd be relying solely on hearsay).

Lastly, I'm putting a HUGE content warning here for the following: transphobia, racism, fetishization, queerphobia, exploitation, transgender slurs, ableism. As far as I recall, none of the links in the epilepsy section have the actual game play footage, so it should be safe to view those. Just to be safe though, this is an epilepsy content warning.

For those of you who do not wish to do your own research, I have compiled a huge list of references and resources pertaining to why this game isn't so great.

Let's go.

So over here is the first article I found partaining to transphobia. Here is a really shitty cop out excuse as to why the perpetuated transphobia in the first place, and here is the reason why it's a cop out.

Here, here, and here are just other links on it.

Now, I'm sure I don't have to explain the fetishization of trans women, but I will link some spots for you to check that out. Basically, trans fetishization has been rampant in the anime and gaming community with tropes such as "s**sy"* and "f**tanari" (which itself has interesting history but has been bastardized by western fans. This thread has some interesting takes. Maybe not all good though.).

Fetishization of femmes

This link explaining that trans women are NOT for your "sexual bucket list"

This one on tropes

This one one fetishism

Their response was also one of the oldest, most tired back lashes at the trans community. Yup.

"Did you just assume my gender"

More on that here.

Let's not forget that the game completely disregards a wide range of its player base by being ableist. Yeah. There was a scene which could trigger epilepsy in photosensitive players. And it had no warning and was unskippable.

Now, as a QA, my job is literally to find bugs before players do. To keep them safe from shit like this, to keep my bosses safe from backlash, and to keep hardware safe from memory leaks and whatnot. I, of all people, am HIGHLY aware that some bugs slip through the cracks. It happens! It's okay! But a bug this fucking dangerous with a studio of this caliber is absolutely unacceptable. Not even a goddamn warning.

Now, let's move on to the actual people. The gaming industry it cut throat. Deadlines are scary. I do not want to normalize crunch, but it happens, especially in this industry. The least the studios could do is be transparent about it and pay overtime. It's probably not great if it's mandatory too.

Moving on to the game play. Personally, to me, it just felt like Grand Theft Auto but with shiny lights and a custom character. Nothing worth writing home about. I'm easy to please when it comes to graphics, but again, for a game of that caliber, they're not special. I've seen modders do better jobs. Granted, I understand that one modder may spend months on a single texture, and expecting any more from this project would quite likely actually endanger CDPR employees.

Lastly, the game plays on so many racial stereotypes and generalizations (but that's probably a "glitch")

That's also not even going into the stuff about sex work and mysoginy that the game depicts. Anyway, that's my two cents on this. Buy it, don't buy it, I don't care (just kidding, I obviously do since I made this whole ass post while using tumblrs sucky mobile formating) but just know what you're getting into. I'm sorry if I repeated some of the links, as I said, Tumblr mobile is tricky. There you have it.

TL;DR: Here's a nice summary.