#people are interested in this - so I'm releasing the game with like a small amount of the originally intended content removed

[icewindandboringhorror]

Hrmm... Revising my game and I feel like there's still sooo much writing left to do, for something that probably won't even amount to much, so.. I do want to narrow my focus more (especially given my health problems seeming to get worse/less energy the past few years), but I'm not sure how would be best to...

I currently have 5 characters as the Main ones with full planned questlines and such, with each character having 6 quests you can do for them. But I haven't really started the writing for the 5th main character. So then I was thinking, if I were going to write 6 full quests worth of content anyway... is it better to allocate that time on just doing a Complete 6 Quests for ONE single character, OR would it be better to do something like.. choose THREE side characters and do 2 quests for each of them? So that people have a wider variety to interact with and sort of sample around (of course with the idea that, once the first version of the game is released, IF people actually care about it enough to make it worth the effort, I would then add additional content to complete those 3 characters stories as well)

-

SO... If you were playing an interactive fiction sort of game centered around talking to & doing quests for a cast of characters (like there's no larger plot, more it's just about interacting with people, every character kind of has a self contained story, the focus is just learning about them and the world and exploring the area) --- Which would you rather have?

(and of course it would be stated up front which characters have only partial questlines, so people don't expect them to have full quests like the others and then get disappointed, or etc. etc.)

Basically, is it better to just focus in specifically on having one fully complete questline? Or for there to be a few stories that are not complete yet, but have more initial options available?

[moiraimyths]

Howdy, fateful friends! Are you an artist or illustrator with an interest in visual novels?

If so: Moirai Myths, creators of the visual novel The Good People (Na Daoine Maithe), are in need of guest artists! More specifically, we're looking for up to two artists to help us with the content graphics ("CGs") for Maeve and Shae's upcoming routes. All of the details will be listed on our application form (linked below), but here is the gist:

This is paid work with 20-30 business day deadlines per piece!

Complicated revisions in the post-sketch phase are compensated!

You will be prioritized for future guest artist opportunities!

You will be featured/credited on Moirai Myths' website and in the game itself!

Sound interesting? If so, apply here:

Click under the cut for some F&Q 👇

Who are you? (I'm new here!)

Hi! We're Moirai Myths: a small, newish visual novel company based out of Canada. We're making a game inspired by mostly Irish mythology, which was funded on Kickstarter in 2023! Our game's got fairy politics, a diverse cast, a Gaeilge-to-English translation tool, and routes that can be played either romantically or platonically! Also horses. An ungodly amount of horses, really.

If that odd pitch sounded intriguing, perhaps you'd like to play our demo! It's free on Steam & Itch.io.

Why are you looking for guest artists?

When we originally launched our Kickstarter, the plan was to have our three in-house artists collaborate on the CGs in the same way our header image was. However, we quickly realized that adding CGs, even if they're done collaboratively, onto the existing duties of our artists was a tall order. Add to that the departure of our original sprite artist (who has since been replaced by our graphic designer), and we determined that having our in-house team work on CGs was simply not possible if we still wanted our first release to happen in 2024. So, rather than omitting CGs or adding them in at a later time, we came up with the idea of hiring guest artists. Overall this means our CGs will be a bit more varied in terms of art style, but we like to think of this as a positive! NDM's development will take a number of years to complete in full, so we hope our CGs will allow us to feature a lot of artists either within the VN/indie dev community already, or artists who aspire to work in gaming and are looking for entry positions.

How long will applications remain open for?

This application will be open until Sunday, March 24 at midnight (EST)! If we intend to extend past that deadline, we'll make an announcement about it.

I can't apply right now. Will you look for more CG guest artists in the future?

Definitely! As mentioned, NDM will take a while to develop in full, so this is by no means your only opportunity to apply. That being said, we suspect we're going to end up shortlisting a number of artists over the course of this application period, and we intend to keep a list of all the runners-up. So, even if you won't be able to participate this time, it might be a good idea to apply anyway just to remain in our contacts! Either way, this will not be the last time we have apps.

Will you be looking for guest artists outside of CGs?

Maybe! We already have two guest artists (Nefukurou and Madi Funk) working on sprites and CGs respectively, so it's always possible that we'll have other artistic needs later down the line. Likewise, we may also reach out to past guest artists for future work with us, whether it's on this game or something else!

You say we need to sign an NDA. What does that entail?

The non-disclosure agreement essentially means you will be legally unable to publicly disclose any confidential information you become privy to as a result of working with us. This would include personal information about the developers, as well as spoilers from the game itself. In addition do this, you will be expected to sign over the IP and copyright of any artworks you produce for us.

Can I still use my artworks in portfolios, even if I don't own the copyright?

Yes! We'd only ask, if your portfolio is a website, that you wait to do so until after your art has been made public by us, either on our social media or via the publication of the game. Our first release is anticipated to happen later this year, most likely mid-autumn.

How do you guys feel about AI? Do you intend to use it, or would you ever train an AI off of the artworks whose copyright you own?

No.

Making a game is expensive and time-consuming, but AI is no replacement for human artistry. We fundamentally believe that any advancements in AI should be used for the purpose of giving people more time to make art, not take away opportunities for it. Moirai Myths will never, ever use AI or train an AI off your work.

***

If you've got any more questions for us that we didn't think to include here, feel free to send us an ask!

[when-life-gives-you-lemons-if]

I have been a lurker for the longest time. But the amount of updates you have for us is mind-boggling (in a good way) I can't resist but send you this ask.

So for a lost follower like me, can you share a summary of status of all your WIPs (i am looking at you side WLGYL commissioned single parent angsty wip)?

Haha. I think you're kind of lost track too, because that side WLGYL commissioned single parent was completed and delivered to its owner, and then the concept was fully implemented in the full game after the readers were kind enough to support me through a Kickstarter.

But to answer your question.

When Life Give You Lemons: I'm hoping to submit it to Hosted Games by the end of April. They will then decide when to publish it.

Insert Rich Family book 2: the demo is out will have an update at the beginning of May. This one will not be finished this year.

The Wedding: Steam page is up. The next update will be at the end of March but for Patreon only. I'm hoping to release the game in full by the end of this year.

~~~~~~~~~~~~New Projects~~~~~~~~~

The lawyer IF: The first chapter will be released in March for Patreon only. It will go public later on.

The IF where you'll be a Chef: This one I can't really say much about the plot until I have confirmation. But... I'm hoping that a certain IF label that uses chili pepper as scales will be interested in it. 🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶 🥵🤫

The New VN: It's called "Pilow Talk" and you're an undercover agent who needs to blend with the people of a small town in order to discover the identity of a serial killer. Basically, MC has to spend time getting to know people and even sleep with them to get intel and know about their deepest secret, hence the name Pillow Talk. It's a mystery/romance/erotica VN, and there will be explicit artwork in it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~Some other stuff~~~~~~~~~

Side stories of Lemons for Patreon

More spicy short story for Seduction. Patreon.

That's all it is, really. I'm getting laid off as of March 8, so I plan on staying busy creating content because Patreon will be my main source of income to pay bills. So, yeah. 😁

[pinkgy]

PB is fucking things up, but there's hope, and here's why

During the past hours i've gave different opinions about this whole mess that's going on with What in Hell is Bad, but this is my final opinion.

Please, don’t attack me for “justifying” PrettyBusy, because I’m not, I already expect bad reactions because of this post.

I decided to write this because moments ago I checked the game's Reddit page and well, i already knew that many people has been quitting the game for various reasons, like the constant bugs and the lack of new content, but within the past hours this number increased significantly and almost every player of What in Hell is Bad that has some kind of presence in social media related to the game has spoken up about this, and i'm glad this is happening. For change to happen people needs to speak up, but i think that by know, PrettyBusy already knows it. I talked about this in a reblog i did some weeks ago, but i'll say this again, PrettyBusy is a business, a small one, but a business, and they have and can keep track of many things that are going on in the game, and by now, they probably noticed that they are losing players even without having to check what's going on in different social medias, and my hypothesis is that there's some internal issue going on for them to have so many unfulfilled promises and so many things that are lacking in the game. But i don't mean to say that we should be considerate, that's something that's up to every singular person.

They know about what's going on, and if you ask me, i believe that by the end of the day we will have an update from them explaining everything, Prettybusy may be fucking up many things right now, but they are really receptive and i think many of us have noticed that with the past issues, the last one being when they deleted the mission that involved using Nightmare coins during the past Nightmare Pass when many of us started to complain about it, they had no need to fix that because it wasn't an impossible mission, really hard i must admit, but not impossible, but they still did and compensated us later. And no, i'm not excusing PrettyBusy, I’m just trying to see the positive side out of this. PrettyBusy is being greedy, not event the biggest dating games have 40$ cards, or even content that is worth that amount of money, and for a game that doesn't even have a year since it's release that is absolutely inconsiderate, my theory is that they noticed that those overly expensive cards were actually being sold by players so they thought that if they released others, the same would happen and the F2P players would just ignore it and keep playing, and they ended up making a mistake by saturating the game with paid content and neglecting those parts of the game that are actually important, the Main Story and the Organic Players. And surprisingly, this is a common mistake many companies do, but they usually end up fixing it, because at the end of the day, us, Organic Players of What in Hell is Bad are the best promotion for the game, or any game in question since this example can be used for many other situations, a singer can have the biggest billboards, the best music, the most expensive commercials, but the fans are always going to remain as the best promotion they could have EVER, and if they don't have fans, they won't be successful. And if me, a normal 19 year old college student can realize this, i'm sure a COMPANY, a BUSINESS, can definitely do it way better and quicker too. No game wants to lose players, yes, they're earning 40$ for selling those cards, but they’re losing waaaaay more by losing F2P players, and summarizing the last tho paragraphs, PrettyBusy needs us because we are money.

It makes me really sad to see many players lose interest in the game, and if any of you care, I'm not leaving, at least not for the time being, i know it sounds dumb to see the positive side of everything that's going on (Because it's definitely not positive at all) but i will keep doing it, I like the game but that doesn't mean I'm going to justify what PrettyBusy is doing, and I think that's a valid opinion.

To conclude this, I’m going to gaslight myself into thinking that PrettyBusy isn't dumb and they do know that what they're doing it's wrong, and they will search for a way to fix this as soon as possible, and if you think this is impossible, read again this post because that's the whole purpose of it. I hope I'm right, but if I'm not, then I’ll try to stay optimistic until they fuck it up again.

If you want to mail PrettyBusy complaining about this, I'm really glad you are! I'm working on a mail too, I recommend you read THIS post before you do it, and please, remain respectful.

Thank you so much for reading this long-ass post! I'll gladly accept any addition to this post or any comment, but please remain respectful, and remember, this is a personal opinion, I'm also a F2P player, and believe me when I say that I'm as mad as you are about this but I just have my own point of view of it.

[shinakazami1]

have you seen the promotional material from tsp greenlight? if yes i would absolutely love to hear your thoughts on it. otherwise i can go fetch it for ya

First - please check Maximum's art - one of my fav TSP artists fr fr <333 Thanks for the ask!!

I asked for the files and now I'm sharing it here for you guys, too of the original TSP: HD REMIX greenlight.

I want to say that the TSPUD release took some inspiration from this campaign and I will compare the two, focusing mainly on the greenlight as you've asked for it.

There is a lot to unpack here so, I will break this into a few parts.

TABLE OF CONTENT

1) Trailers 1a) The First Trailer 1b) The Raphael Trailer 2) Images 3) The FAQ (frequently asked questions) 4) Final conclusions

1a) The First Trailer

Let's look at this trailer first. From what I can tell, this is the first instance of the 2013 intro. The layout of the Parable is once again unique, which happens in other trailers, too.

What is intriguing is the ending.

The exit sign - was also visible in 2011 Escape Ending (with Curator), and 2013 (Mariella Ending - it's green). The only instance of it being above the door is the Demo (door close to 'Do you like the Stanley Parable' choice). It feels like a clever blend of the 2011 and 2013 ending to me, as the Narrator experiments more with the new placement. That's maybe why the layout feels isn't as familiar.

It's also the first instance where we see Stanley being conscious, besides the 2011 opening. From his perspective - he woke up to completely. Every video present in it is from the intro - which, seeing erratic movements from the camera, could mean those are new to him, too.

My take is this is where the Other Stanley comes in place. As he can move too, he might either be the guy who we see in the trailers OR, the one in the video. I like both interpretations

This trailer was reimagined for the PS5 release of TSPUD.

The layout is also different from the main game. What is intriguing, however, is the setup. While the intro does show the room from above, making this fake 427 room just a scrapped material, the fact that the new Freedom ending (look at the difference in the sky between the images), only furthers what I said in my prev post (about IOS release )

Conclusions:

For trailers, the Narrator likes to make new parts of the Parable and play with layouts, letting Stanley run around freely.

That Stanley might be The Other Stanley. These, besides the Escape Pod Ending, are the only spots that Stanley moves by himself.

The greenlight trailer is there to show the new content from the perspective of 2011 mod, with a small callback to the original.

Now, onto

1b) The Raphael Trailer

Link to it Before I get to the trailer, I just want to give a shoutout to a Raphael Parable mod. It's an interesting fan game and I truly admire it.

The orange walls are typical Source SDK engine ones, and we have the emotion boxes found later in the Demo.

Have this list tho because it's funny

It's the typical type of crazy list we see in the Demo, Disco, and iOS new content; I feel this is closer to most of them, written by the Narrator instead of Proctols like the Disco one.

It's also the first mention of other types of game and the Narrator's interest in them. The survival horror element with the Bicycle scene is really nice. It shows up later in the Memory Zone <3

In general - this is, before Cookie9, the first canon situation of the Narrator reading other people's feedback on the game. Just like with Cookie, he seems to take a proactive method with negative feedback, trying to show he can change. The attitude, however, also changed - for Raphael's ending, he is still 2011 way meaner self. The amount of sarcasm throughout the whole thing is so enjoyable and, whoever Raphael is, I hope he enjoyed this.

Conclusions:

The Narrator takes a proactive approach to critique that feels close to heart.

The construction part with desk 000 is shown for the first time - which could potentially mean each office number corresponds also to the part of office built.

2) The Images

There are 17 images in total. This part is also referenced in the PS5 TSPUD release video but also, if you look at the Mind Control Facility, some of the images are also used there as some of the room renders.

There are main three types of these images. The first, the contradictions that are also present in the PS5 video. It's a theme in the game in general to combine these, as The End is Never The End (thing that the PS5 text segment ends with) only shows it more.

The second element - image 7 mentioned multiple different games styles that just like the video, fits the fact the Narrator loves gaming.

But the third one is most interesting. The text in these seems conscious

For the person who could say this, it could be either The Narrator or The Settings.

a) The Narrator: - Asking someone for help when game doesn't work like he thought:

Demo: " THEY SAID THEY LIKED IT! I NEED SOMEONE TO STOP THE DEMO! HELLO??"

Expo Achievement Fix: "Who fixed it? Is someone here?" ;

Confusion" "Will someone come for us?" - Skip Button parallels:

Image 12: slow corruption and scattered mind,

Image 15: "I am in control" ("It's all out of my control now. ") ,

Image 16: repetition,

Image 17: the return to normality

b) The Settings Person / 432 / TimeKeeper : - This could be his first appearance in the series.

- References to 'someone' could be his coworkers.

- Image 12: we know the number 8 is significant in the game. Just like the Bucket and Gamborrata, we know there seems to be some spiritual stuff going on and that might be the exact moment when he became the Timekeeper.

- Image 14: "If someone could get rid of the text maybe then I would see what the game is about" seems not quite like The Narrator's thing to say, as it's his game. Rather than that, it feels like someone else could be involved. - and with the corruption, it feels like a great

- Image 15: "don't tell me what to do" and Image 17: 'Let's begin again' fit their Settngs Persona

Both interpretations are as likely and while I prefer it's 432, feel free to make your own interpretations :] Maybe it's even a new character we don't know!

EDIT: I want to just show the smallest text on image 14:

"I would just like to know who is writing all of this. Do you know who is doing that. Would you please ask them to stop? Because I'm trying to figure out what this game is about (covered)"

This one part could mean whatever we see here are transcripts of thoughts, or what the person is saying is either written on the slides as they speak (meaning someone IS observing them), or they possibly have internet access (Google Translator). Once again, both can be true for The Narrator and 432 but, I thought it was a neat detail :]

Now, onto the last part:

3) The FAQ

It ties a bit back to who might be the person speaking in the images. And here, I would say it's even harder to tell due to the answers.

The question that starts it all is this:

If you remember the iOS post, the Narrator will in the future to this say he holds back on the details. Of course, as this is Davey/Cakebread, it could be interpreted as one of the Proctols speaking.

The second part though, is really interesting.

The question of identity is one in gen also present in the game (i.e. Confusion ending).

But the ending note-

"I'm alone again, aren't I."

makes me feel that once again. This might be either a) someone else entirely,

b) The Settings Person (theme of loneliness, loss of identity, understanding of weird rules),

c) Or, for this one my favourite, The Narrator.

Skip: "And here I am now, stuck in a room waiting for you (...) and that I'm going to be stuck all alone(...)" 

Bucket apartment: "No, no no, no, no, no, no, no, what's going on? Why do I want to be with the bucket, hear what the bucket has to say do anything it asks, what's wrong with me? I don't understand!"

4) Final conclusions

First - thank you maximum for the ask. I had no clue about the Greenlight Steam page so, this was a delight to look through and analyse. Here are my final thoughts on this:

This was still a collaborative work for the Narrator. The construction work, the different characters seemingly present in the images and the FAQ work well with the Demo having mention of Proctols. He used some old ideas and is going into new territory.

Trailers are spaces for Stanley (or, the Other Stanley) to walk in peacefully without a player's interference. It's unclear which Stanley is it.

The critique was meaningful to him from the start. The way he responded to it felt similar, but the emotional impact seemed to have changed, just like he did between TSP and TSPUD.

Themes of madness and loss of identity are important in the game. It might be the first instance of The Settings Person appearance, but no canon information is shown.

The FAQ might be the last canon instance of him being directly in touch with the Proctols.

If you got to this part of the post - thank you :] Nine cookies for you!!

🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪

[sylvaridreams]

I'm going to try and word this better than I did at 1 am venting on cohost last night, and maybe slightly gentler. I haven't finished the SotO update from yesterday. I got home, played for a couple of hours, did some meta on the current map, triiiiied to get myself to go back to story... and I couldn't.

I was BORED. It was quite honestly boring. Any dialogue that matters is Peitha talking to her people. I am a stage prop that occasionally vocalizes expositional questions and fires arrows at grunt mobs.

I could physically feel myself losing any remaining interest in the story as I clicked "what does this mean? What do you think of Peitha's plan?" type questions (which offer a poor illusion of choice in conversation. Look! Dialogue options! You can click all of these in any order you like but you must click them all!)

Why should I care about this story? I'm being brought along as the muscle that Peitha doesn't really need. I'm not offering anything special I'm terms of skill. I'm not an invaluable resource. I'm not even being utilized as the leader that gw2 has ALWAYS made me! It's always been "You're out there leading the armies, commanding all the way from the front line to the supply chains!" Now I'm just kind of around. Run a few events and come back. Characters refer to me and I apparently have no in-game response. MY CHARACTER doesn't seem invested.

And so many new characters. Every drop, it's like, have a bunch more named people! I was learning names during drop 1, and know some of the Wizards off the top of my head, but honestly I’m not bothering anymore. Why should I? Even if Nexus isn't killed off in the next chapter I play, I'm never going to meet this character again after he stops serving the story.

And where IS the story? Where is the meat? Drop 1 was at least interesting to me. Secret society hiding demons from the Commander. Getting sucked into this strange and horrifying place. Getting the life beat out of Alba by a hulking, terrifying demon and crawling away in fear. Escaping into the arms of strangers and getting this unknown voice in Alba's head, talking to him, saying what he wanted to hear, teasing him. Him refusing to tell anyone she was in there, because he *trusted this unknown voice in his head over all these strangers.* The story lulled a lot and it wasn't like... prime gw2 content. But it had a few hooks. When in Amnytas, Alba GASPED "Peitha!" right outside of the next story step and said "I can *see* you," and I turned my camera and saw what I knew, what Alba had to have suspected, confirmed. That there was a demon using his mind as a lounge. THAT was a moment, it was SOMETHING!

At least it was fun at points, at least there was some small amount of intrigue and mystery. And from there it was all just, "take a backseat, Wayfinder. This isn't YOUR story." I'm getting nothingburger bites out of each new story drop. Oh we went into Nayos to take the fight to them and killed Peitha's model reskin cousin. Anything else that drop? Anything? No but next time we recruited some general to fight with us! Can I get a smidgen of story? Something to hang onto? The only thing this drop that hasn't been "Don't care didn't ask plus I've seen your character model elsewhere" was Alba being called "that ugly creature" by a kryptis.

That's all I've got. I'm not enjoying it. I don't like SotO. And it is not for lack of trying it, it's not because i just don't like change and don't wanna see something new and different! This expansion feels like an empty parody of Guild Wars 2, and it feels like a slap in the face to anyone who was invested in Tyria. Pre-release they really hyped up that "It's time for new places and new people! We're gonna get a new cast and explore a vast new world!" I CARED about that world, which we still had SO MUCH left to explore. Are the borders of the map even the ends of the world of Tyria or does it keep going? Who cares. There's shit going on above the clouds. I cared about those CHARACTERS. Does Alba get to see people that he loves and cares about ever again? Is he making it to the wedding? Does he get a chance to go home and see anyone? Like yes we are not chained up in the Tower between instances, we can still play the game in those old maps, but the characters have been written out of the story.

And frankly these new ones are shitty replacements. I don't care about these people. I maybe had some small amount of "OK cool its Zojja I know her!" but it's not like I had any deep care or feeling for her. Not personally. Peitha was interesting at first but being brought along as part of her nameless, faceless grunt entourage has made me lose a lot of interest. She's not going to be a core character post-SotO. She either dies at the end, or takes over as King, and at best becomes a very occasional callback. "Ah, King Peitha! It's been some time, how is Nayos!" She's not going to reclaim the throne and then ignore rebuilding her people's infrastructure to hang out in Commander’s brain all day or join them on quests. We are a temporary ally and a stepping stone for her story.

Which sucks.

In terms of the rest of the SotO cast, it again feels like a pale imitation of prior Gw2 content. Like they're saying "remember season 1, meeting all those people one by one who would become your best friends and allies in life? 🤔 " and then they didn't even do it that way. Season 1 was a gradual introduction to these characters that you were given time, story, and Reason to care about. If Braham, Rox, Marjory, Kasmeer, Taimi, Rytlock, and Canach had all shown up and said "oh we're the Best Friends Patrol. Come along with us stranger!" I would have felt like a tag along. Not an equal in the group. Instead we met on level ground. We became a team together, we became friends together, each of us a vital part.

Which is opposite to how it feels now. These characters have deep history going back AGES. I just showed up, no one respects me, I'm not privy to any information or details on who is who and why should I care, I don't Get story time to ACTUALLY hang out and meet these people and develop my OWN relationships with them. When I leave, they will not care. I'm just being brought along like a lost kid at this point, until we reach customer service and they can drop me off, or until I wander away and find another deep group to follow.

I don't like this story. I don't like the setting. I don't like the characters or the group dynamic. I don't feel like an EQUAL in this expansion, I don't feel like I matter. Anyone could stand here and ask supporting questions to drive the dialogue between the 2-3 characters that actually matter, which again, does not include me.

And FRANKLY I hate that no one can say anything that isn't glowing praise of GW2 and Anet and every little detail is just scrumptious don't worry I love it, without a bunch of vague posts filtering in about "so much Negativity, everyone is a HATER, you just don't support The Writers and want them to FAIL, well then stop playing the game and delete your account and blog and go away forever, REAL fans LOVE nothingburger" to shun whoever dared say "I didn't like some or all of it." I'm happy for you if you're liking SotO but I am not. I'm sorry if you don't understand that criticizing something that I've played for a decade doesn't mean I hate it. I'm sorry if you can't take the MILD CONFLICT of me or someone else saying "I love this thing that you love too but I don't like how the new part feels" but most of us learned about conflict in kindergarten or at least through children's picture books and TV, so idk. Maybe you just need to cope at that point.

As it stands I don't like the expac. I don't see Anet turning it around and blowing my mind with the ending. And I really don't even care how it ends. I was asked the other day "how are you going to handle Peitha?" (in terms of the canon that I write, which has already moved past the end of SotO.) And frankly I was like. I dunno. It doesn't matter to me. She's either dead or on the throne, I don't care much either way. We could get the huge plot twist at the end that Peitha was the big bad or Isgarren or WHOEVER THE FUCK, and I wouldn't care. None of this matters to me. I'm going back to Tyria with my writing. The rest is filler.

[aquatark]

Okay! So! I'm breaking out the correct capitalization because this news is so insane! The Japanese website for Endless Ocean Luminous received a major update last night, and I want to walk through the biggest new info from it with you! This is gonna be really long, so please bare with me, there's just so much to cover...

Here's the link for people who want to check this themselves: https://www.nintendo.com/jp/switch/a7lka/index.html

The Veiled Sea is random, but not in the way you think

It has been officially confirmed that the Veiled Sea's terrain and creatures will change with each dive, and creatures will likely spawn in accordance to the nearby terrain. But don't panic!

After filling in 80% of an area's map, you will be given a map ID, which you can use to access that exact same map, either by yourself or with friend, whenever you like! Think of them like Minecraft world seeds. An example ID (which can likely be used upon release) is given in the photo above, accompanied by what looks like a photo of the one and only...! Maybe you can reliably encounter her on that map ID?

2. Salvages are back, baybee!!

In what looks to be a system similar to EO1 and the Everblue games, salvages of all sorts can be found under small glints on the ocean floor! The P earned from salvages immediately goes into your current amount once you've picked it up. According to the photo above, salvaging is "essential to unravelling the ocean's mysteries", and another photo states that you may even find traces of "ancient civilizations"...

3. A diving rank system has been revealed, along with fishy friends

As you discover new creatures and treasures, you will unlock all sorts of things, and your dive rank will increase! Higher dive ranks have access to more suit colors (which side note omg i'm loving the options), as well as larger creatures following you, and more creatures following at the same time! What does that mean? Well... you know EO1's friendship system, where if you're friendly enough to a fish, it'll follow you around? This seems to be returning, but reworked! The creatures that follow you depends on your dive rank: at a low rank, only small fish will follow you, but as your rank increases, you can have dolphins and even huge whales tag along with you!

4. Behold a whole new range of underwater environments

I already showed pictures of them in my previous post, so I won't here to save photo space, but to list a few, underwater magma flows, shipwrecks in the abyss, polar areas, freshwater caves, and active hydrothermal vent fields have all been shown off here!

5. Different missions will be available each dive

Not much elaboration is needed here, but each dive, you will be given special missions (such as seeking out a location or creature). We don't yet know what reward these will give us, but it's gotta be good, right?

6. A new method of identifying creatures

Creatures you have yet to identify will glow, and pressing the L button while near these creatures will unlock their information. Multiple creatures' info can be acquired this way at the same time, making for easy scanning of big groups! This info will then be available in the marine encyclopedia, which can be accessed at any time.

The encyclopedia will also record the creature's behavior, habits, and the largest/smallest sizes of it you have found.

7. Creature variants have been introduced

Though the site did not elaborate on this, it did showcase a picture of a creature labelled "variant".

This one is especially interesting, because though the scientific name here is accurate, the Japanese text below it reads... "Coco Maharaja", which is this EO2 legendary's Japanese name! Will we be able to encounter the exact legendary specimens from EO2 again in the Veiled Sea, or are these simply colored variants named after them? Either way, the creature variant system is going to be awesome, I can tell!

8. Photography is back, and better than ever!

Photos will be sent to the Nintendo Switch's album when taken. What purpose they will serve in the greater game has yet to be seen, but you can take photos with yourself in them!

9. Multiplayer and singleplayer options

I know some people were worried about multiplayer being the only mode, but this is not the case! Players can dive either solo, or with a group over the internet with the "Dive Together" option. When diving together, up to 10 random players can play... or, when diving with friends, up to 30 people can!

Additional multiplayer reveals include the ability to use tons of emotes to communicate, adding emojis to creatures or treasures you find which can be seen on the map for others to check out (the Cacao Maharaja photo showcases a bunch of these emojis), being able to teleport to any player in your current dive, and more!

10. A new mythical creature...?

The array of photos shown of new creature models is absolutely astounding... but one in particular that caught my eye is the set of new prehistoric creatures!

One of these things is not like the others though... what could "Raja Emas" be...? Can prehistoric creatures be mythical too?

This update has made me more hyped than ever for this game! I'd be curious to hear your thoughts too~ :>

[omeletcat]

ALLRIGHTT I AM HAPPY AND PROUD TO ANNOUNCE MY FIRST EVER DEMO FOR MY GAME SOULSHATTERED IS COMING OUT VERY VERY SOON!!!

I am not sure if its actually a demo? or a gametest? BUT I'M RELEASING SOMETHING!!!!!!!! I have been getting more and more close to finishing the main combat mechanics in my game!!!! And to make sure the main mechanics are all functioning i am planning on releasing a super itty bitty demo to see if people like it!!! I will try and gain as much advice, critique, tips and any other kind of help to improve the main combat system!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And just the game in general!! any art tips as well!!

It will take a bit of time before that is ready tho! Here is a tiny list of things that i will need to add/fix before i will release this demo!!!! - All player animations are finished and added!! - All attack code is written and functioning! (I am expecting massive amounts of gamebreaking bugs and glitches so i will try to find some stuff myself before i post this demo just to minimize the insane amount of bugreports.) - At least 1 functioning enemy with all their animations (Already have this! just need to fine tune the animations to be less ugly and fix the ai a tinyyyyy bit!) - An Hp system and a death screen!! - A small tutorial to explain all the attacks and mechanics!! - A small play area where you can spawn new enemies and test out the game!

Most of these things are already 75% finished but still need to be completed!!! And besides those things i also would like to add these things but they aren't rly that important and could be skipped if y'all think it isn't that important. -A short repeating music track! -A title-screen!

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THIS GAME AND THE FIRST EVER DEMO/PLAYTEST!!! AND WANNA KEEP YOURSELF UPDATED FOR WHEN THE DEMO IS COMING OUT FOLLOW ME CAUS I GIVE BASICALLY DAILY UPDATES ON ART, WRITING AND PROGRAMMING FOR MY GAME SOULSHATTERED!!

and thank y'all so much for following me so far already!!! i would have NEVER been able to get this far without the support i have had from all of you!!

[junoverses]

I'm generally not very keyed into a lot of mainstream pop culture, specifically hip-hop and rap in this instance, mostly because i feel fairly removed since a lot of the time I just don't vibe with a lot of the more popular music, but the Kendrick-Drake beef really started to pique my interest. Not just in terms of the drama/spectacle, (which I usually just completely ignore most of the time when it comes to literally anything else) and it is admittedly very captivating in a sense, but it's also lit a sort of fire under my ass to maybe broaden my music taste because ever since Like That came out and tons of people talked about Kendrick's feature on it, I've been very intently listening to the tracks he's been putting out and all of them have been very good in their own ways.

I've had a lot of respect for Kendrick as an artist before as someone who didn't listen to his music, but still understood how impactful and how skilled he was technically, how he talked about his life experiences and how he communicated them and reflected on himself through his songs. And this also just generally extends to genres of music like rap or hip-hop, where just because it's popular and the popular stuff can give off a bad impression, it's obviously never a good idea to write off an entire section of an art form just because of a small amount of works that may leave a bad taste in your mouth, because it's still art. It's still an outlet for people to express themselves, to talk about important topics while also being enjoyable to experience for an audience and have it be also be able to spread and resonate with people.

All this to say, while it's very much not the main point of all these diss tracks, I'm very happy that they could act as a sort of personal catalyst to maybe listen to something else besides the same few rock songs and video game osts for once in my life, because there's so much other good stuff out there that you could miss out on because you're too stubborn to break away from the one playlist you have.

Also, while this wasn't what this post was specifically about, it's still important to keep in mind that while it's very entertaining, it's not purely a spectacle and the things being said are very heavy and serious, (like Drake being a fucking creep) and while obviously this is music being released to the public for people to listen to and enjoy, the accusations levied shouldn't be ignored for the sake of personal enjoyment, but I think that's obvious.

P.S.

Fuck Drake, part of me does kind of hope Kendrick keeps releasing more stuff about this purely because of how funny it'd be for him to just keep going off while Drake just handles these responses horrendously

[aimlesspixel]

Isat Scintillation ch 10

This chapter was particularly satisfying and stressful to write. Hopefully I did it some justice. Spoilers for 2 hats general game content below the cut.

Bonnie stops for you all at the edge of town. The smell of salt water washes over you with the wind. It's nostalgic.

It's not too big a town but it's not that small either. The port at least shows plenty of use and the lights make it somewhat difficult to see the stars appear.

Odile - "You! gasp How do you even-" Bonnie - "Pure unbridled excitement." Odile - "I even gasp used slow craft on you. How?!?!" Bonnie striking a pose - "Nothing can stop me!" Isa - "M'dame that's hardly fair of you." Odile glares at Isa - "And who's fault was it that they managed to evade us?" Mira - "Well we made it at least, wait for us next time though Bonnie!" Bonnie - "But I did wait! And I can't wait anymore! Lets go Lets go Lets go!"

Bonnie begins jogging somewhere easily weaving through the area quickly picking back up the pace.

Odile - "Gems alive this child will end me if we don't wait a second." Mira - "I'm sure you're interested too though Madame! Come on!"

Bonnie eventually crashes through the door of a small house equidistant to the forest and waterfront. "NILLE! NILLE!!!!" You hear their shouts as you eventually catch up.

Bonnie has crashed directly into a lady and is crushing them with hugs. After a moment she snaps back to reality hugging Bonnie back and crying.

"I'm so glad you're safe! I'm so glad!" Her voice breaking, hugging visibly tighter.

Bonnie - "Nille! Nille!" Bonnies dam also bursts. "I worked so hard! I ran! Just like you told me to! It was so scary!" Nille - "You did so well! You were so brave!" Bonnie - "Everyone said you'd be moving again! I'm so glad they were right! I'm so glad…"

They relish in each others embrace giving ample time for the rest of the family arrive

You remember Mira and Isa talking about something like this before, back then Bonnie and Odile interrupted and broke their fantasy but… there's no way anyone could interrupt this here and now.

Nille eventually notices you all and moves to release Bonnie, a veritable feat as Bonnie resists for a substanital amount of time eventually leaning towards her face, whispering something, and relenting.

Bonnie still facing her sister - "Sorry for running again, Dile." Odile - "It's alright Boniface, I'd appreciate the concern earlier but I certainly can't blame you either." Nille - "Are you these the people who helped you Bonnie?" Bonnie - "Uh huh sniffle we all went to kick that crabbing kings butt!" Nille - "You went and kicked his butt huh?" Bonnie - "Yea!" Nille looks towards you all, exhaustion clear upon her face - "Thank you all. For saving them. For saving me." Siffrin - "We couldn't let our favorite preteen down." Bonnie - "Frin…" Nille - "You haven't eaten yet have you? I can see what I can make for everyone." Mira - "Oh you don't need to force yourself it's getting late and all-" Nille - "Please I insist I haven't had anything yet either so It won't be any trouble." Bonnie whips out their frying pan - "Yea! I'll help!" Isa - "It's settled then." Odile - "We'll help in the prep if you're still worried about it Mirabelle." Nille - "Oh crab, where are my manners I'm Petronille." Odile - "I'm Odile, that's Siffrin, Isabeau, and Mirabelle." Bonnie - "You stole my job Dile! I was supposed to introduce you all!" Odile - "Consider it payback for today's marathon."

[shinydelirium]

hi, just wanna say that without the essays and analysis people as you have published here, I wouldn't love Kiro as much as I do nowadays, he's my precious sunshine. I don't really expect anything from Papergames as a company, so I'm keeping my little treasures regardless of what's gonna come out of it in the end. do you plan in the future to explain what you think ended up going downhill with the direction of the game you have briefly mentioned?

Hello @ladyjune26! Thanks for the ask and being so very patient with me on answering. Here are the major complaints/pet peeves I have with what Papergames has done and continues to do to lessen my love of the game and their treatment of Kiro as a main love interest: *WARNING* LOTS OF RANTING AHEAD

Kiro always being the "odd one out of the bunch" in regards to karmas: Honestly, why did Papergames think it was a good idea to do this? I can tell which love interest they favor most over Kiro just from looking at the karma illustrations during group events. It's almost like they use a different filter on them or use a different artist completely to draw his karmas cuz his stick out like a sore thumb. A perfect example would be from last year's Xmas/New Year's event (Modern Rhapsody) where all the guys get stylish hairstyles and Kiro gets the short end of the stick. They forgot he's a main love interest and now he's just an afterthought. Another example is the Valentine's event where all the guys get kiss karmas and say "I love you". All the guys have open-mouth kisses with their eyes open and once again they don't do that with Kiro. IS IT REALLY THAT DIFFICULT TO BE CONSISTENT!?!?! MAKE IT MAKE SENSE!!! Plus, why can't they ever draw MC in gorgeous outfits or hot and intimate scenes with Kiro? She constantly looks plain and boring in many of them. Her relationship with Kiro is no longer friends anymore. THEY'RE LOVERS!!! Also, no creativity. There's a lot of karmas where they draw the same old stuff in them like a teddy bear, daisies, sunflowers....COME ON!!! THOSE AREN'T THE ONLY THINGS GOING FOR HIM!!! 'The Versatile King' my ass!!! Don't make statements like those if you can't even fulfill them. If they need ideas for karmas I have plenty...no wait, they already used them for the other love interests which leads to the next point.

Kiro has been reduced to a minor character/NPC role: In season 1 main story, Kiro had the least amount of screen time. I remember a Weibo post where a CN player calculated how much total screen time he had and it was 80 minutes! I haven't exactly tested if this was true but I've seen many CN fans mention this. Also, throughout season 1, his major plot points were all put into Rumors and Secrets and they're still doing it in season 2. And don't get me started on how much repetitiveness on certain aspects of his character...ISTG, I'VE NEVER SEEN SO MANY METAPHORS ABOUT A BEAR IN MY LIFE!!! Starting to see the pattern now?

Nothing gets changed when Kiro fans address issues: There was a time when during one of Gavin's bday karmas, his fans were hounding customer service to add the gingko bracelet to MC's wrist and within a very short period of time, it was done. However, whenever Kiro fans want something changed, nothing, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, gets done. A while back, there was a magazine advertising the game and for some very strange reason, they typed Kiro's name wrong and his birthdate. The entire Weibo page was just post after post about it. There's no excuse for such a small mistake which could have easily been avoided.

His karmas are released last: Whether it's the Fragrant Sunshine ERs, solo Wish Tree events, or in general, Kiro tends to be the last one scheduled. So far, he has not had a single free SR/SSR karma this year and it's already July. When the first kiss karmas were released several years ago, Kiro was once again the last one released.

Storyline and character arc: Are they ever going to address how Kiro can change into his silver-haired Helios form? Why does he have those markings on his right arm and how can they appear and disappear whenever? Is he ever going to find his master KEY? Why does Kiro look so much like his master KEY who was the previous Helios? Does that mean KEY also had blue eyes? What is this mission they keep teasing about? HELL, HIS ORIGINS!?!? There's been no story development whatsoever and they keep reusing the same stuff in the chapters. What happened to all that awesome character development in the first half of season 2? Crumbs keep dropping but it leads to nowhere. Here's a hot take: Westmoon had a much better, cohesive story overall. I am forever sad that it's over. If it isn't already obvious, the writers are heavily milking the main story. As much as I don't like season 1, at least it was more entertaining and mysterious especially when MC "died" and ended up in Winter World where all the love interests didn't know her. They should have continued from there. It would have been interesting to see how the relationships developed and MC ended up staying despite everything. Did she have to go back to the "main world"? There's just too many questions or maybe I'm being too analytical.

Kiro is constantly paired with Victor or Gavin during top-up karmas: Mostly he's paired with Victor and outshines Kiro's karmas in art style even if Kiro's karma is a SSR one. What are you trying to say Papergames? Always catering to the love interests who are the most popular in the fandom and give you the most money. I never see Kiro paired with Lucien. The unfairness is through the roof when this happens.

Dates that coincide with Main Story: For real though. Whatever happened with that? I remember there were a handful of these dates that follow-up with events that occurred during the main storyline (i.e. Light Pursuit- God tier date👌and Clinic date). PG completely did away with them for some reason. It gave so much insight and fleshed out Kiro's character more. I have yet to see a SINGLE date in season 2 that does this.

That's pretty much all the major issues I've come across. There are others but I've done enough nit-picking. However, don't let my opinions sway your enjoyment of the game. If you still like it, then please by all means, continue to play. Hope you have a wonderful day and take care!

[fiabex]

So what on EARTH are swaps anyways?

A couple times when discussing what makes FIAB unique we've mentioned the mysterious "swaps" as a feature. What are swaps? Well, I'm glad you asked!

Have you ever been cruising the requests for an exchange and thought "oh man, User A's worldbuilding prompts are amazing, I wish I could create for User A— but look, User B is prompting my OTP and my favourite tropes, I want to create for User B too— oh but User C has opted into an absolutely incredible medium I want to create for— I want to create for all three of them! Why can't I create for all three of them? This is so unfair."

Swaps lets you live in a world where you can do that.

As you know, FIAB gives you an assignment of 10k (or equivalent in your chosen medium). You can deliver that in the form of a single 10k (or equivalent) gift, or you can chop it up into several small pieces by 1k increments, and give them a 9k and a 1k. Or a 2k, a 5k, and a 3k. Or a 6k and four 1ks. Etc. Swaps lets you take this a step further and instead of turning in 10k for one person, you chop your assignment into smaller pieces, the mods swap things in a massive spreadsheet, and you get assigned 4k for one person, 3k for another person, and 3k for another person, which you then turn in. Still 10k total, but in smaller bites. This is a great way to make sure you get to create for multiple different fandoms that interest you, it can mean you get to try out different mediums that have caught your eye, and it can reduce a daunting assignment down to several manageable smaller ones.

Before I go any further now, I should say— are you hearing this discussion and thinking it sounds overly complicated and getting stressed out just trying to think of juggling multiple assignments? No worries. Swaps are totally optional. They're an extra bonus thing you can do to spice up your assignment, and completely opt in. If this sounds bad to you, entirely disregard the rest of this post.

If the idea of getting multiple assignments has you bending closer to your screen in interest, keep going.

How does this work?

The mods release a google form that you fill out, here linked with extensive FAQ on the dreamwidth blog (or you can email— instructions for how to do that are in the dreamwidth post). You sort through the signups on the Ao3 Automagic App, and you make a shortlist of ones that you like, or you adjust your Ao3 offers so that you're offering all the ships you'd really like to create for, and you fill out the form.

It asks you for:

Your Ao3 username and an email they can contact you with

The max word count you want to be assigned (you can go higher than 10k if you're really ambitious)

The minimum amount of your original assignment you want to keep (maybe you want to keep 4k— maybe you want to get rid of all of it!)

If you want to swap with anyone you're matchable to on Ao3, or if you have a short list of people you are open to being matched to

A minimum length for your assignments (maybe you know that you just automatically write in 2k lengths, so you want your assignments in 2ks)

The total maximum number of assignments you're willing to take, including your original assignment (maybe you know you don't want more than three recipients— maybe you go hit me, I want ten recipients).

And an optional question that asks you if you want to specify that you need a certain word count for a certain person— maybe you know you need at least 2k for recipient B cause you'll be making them a comic! Or maybe you want no more than 1k for recipient D! If you want to go super granular, this is where. Otherwise you can ignore this question.

And then the mods go to town.

Now, the mods don't guarantee that they can get you any specific assignment or any specific recipient. This only works because they're playing the world's most complicated game of tetris behind the scenes, and if someone's original assignment doesn't want to swap, or only wants to swap a specific amount, maybe they can't swap for you. But they do their best.

What does this look like in practice?

After sign ups end you might find that your initial assignment is for X. You know you could create a full 10k for X, but maybe they haven't opted into any extra mediums, and you wanted to do some art for FIAB.

Looking around the requests, you see that A, B and C are all requesting art mediums you can do for fandoms/relationships you're interested in.

You submit a swap request form telling the mods:

You'd like the following swaps: 1k for A, 3k for B, or 1k for C

You need at least 2k for B because you want to make them a comic at least that long.

You want to keep at least 7k of your initial assignment for X.

You don't want more than 3 recipients total.

The mods get a whole bunch of swap requests like the one above and then do a huge spreadsheet puzzle to figure out who can actually swap what.

In the end, you will either get an email letting you know we couldn't make any of your swaps happen…

…or you will get an email with telling you about your swapsignments, which might be any of the following:

You've kept 7k of X, and now have 1k of A & 2k of B

You've kept 7k of X, and now have 1k of C & 2k of B

You've kept 7k of X, and now have 3k of B

You've kept 8k of X, and now have 1k of A & 1k of C

You've kept 8k of X, and now have 2k of B

You've kept 9k of X, and now have 1k of A

You've kept 9k of X, and now have 1k of C

And then you start creating!

But how can I do swaps until I know what my assignment is? Not everyone is even signed up yet!

Very valid. The swaps form is open at least a day after assignments are out, so you have time to assess your assignment, take stock of the signups, and put in your requests. Many people wait until after assignments to swap.

However, some people have intermittent access to internet, or already know who they want to swap for regardless of who they get assigned, or are just saying "swap me to anyone I'm matchable to on Ao3", and don't have to wait until all signups are in to pick among them. The mods didn't want to have the form only open for a few days or one day (what if someone's travelling!) so they open it early.

Sometimes people fill out their swaps assignment as soon as they make a short list of people they want to swap for (which can happen quite early in signups), some people wait until signups are closed and they can sort through everyone and know for sure who requested in their fandoms or mediums, and some people wait until assignments are out. Each of those things work!

What if I file my swaps assignment early but I change my mind?

As long as the swaps form hasn't closed yet, you can re-fill it out, and mods will just throw out the earlier one. They'll always go with the latest swaps request.

Questions?

For more information about swaps, mediums, signing up, late tag nominations, or much more (questions about how pinch hits work? we have documentation about that), check out the dreamwidth blog!

If you have questions, feel free to ask them here, check the dreamwidth blog, email the mods, or join our discord server. The discord server has a lot of experienced participants happy to answer questions, and you are also welcome to join just to hang out!

Note: you must be 18 or older to join FIAB.

Links

Email: ficinaboxmod@gmail.com

Ao3 Collection (sign up here)

Tag Set (everything you can request or offer is here)

Ao3 Automagic App (you can see all current signups here)

Dreamwidth Blog

Discord (includes question channel)

[artinandwritin]

For the ask game 6, 10, 11, and 14... hopefully those can fill your time but let me know if you need more lmao!

AGH TY for asking so many!! Im certain ill be able to fill a lot of time with those <333

6. Favourite ships; like i mentioned on your post, for me it really fluctuates what ship is in the front of my mind on any given day. Ofc, hiccstrid is a big one (theyre really good to me personally) and I'm currently also in a big snotstrid mood bc of my friend @spacenintendogs 's dragons off the coast au! (Also p l e a s e if you aren't familiar yet with dragons off the coast im begging you to look into it, its such an interesting take on a modern au and Rose's writing and worldbuilding is absolutely phenomonal). Fishlout also takes up a space in my heart, adore them so much! The dynamic is so good.

Ruffnut and her army of men is also so good, and the dynamics she has with Eret, Fishlegs and Snotlout is really fun and has a lot of potential. Tho i do also think she and Heather have potential. As do Eret and Heather! That whole group can just be mixed and matched together haha. Heather and Fishlegs ofc is also wholesome, they deserved more than this!

Due to me being so involved in the oc side of the fandom and being a really big supporter of everything oc (which is common knowledge after 4 years of this haha), I also love a lot of people's ocxcanon ships! Such as Rose's oc Ermintrude and Snotlout, @nosuda-cringe 's oc Mayeth Vang and Snotlout, and ofc the ships you've hinted and teased in otwd (zephbal save me... save me zephbal. I think about them a. Normal amount. Same with castav but i wouldnt let them save me, they need to save themselves first), plus a lot of others. Theyre all very dear to me <333

10: favourite songs from the soundtrack; OKAY so ive actually got history with this! When i was about 13-16-ish i had music classes as part of my middle school experience (lmao) and we were given the freedom to do any project we wanted. In those 2-3 years i used the httyd soundtrack twice for projects!

First I used Forbidden Friendship (that song man. That song) as like. An underbeat or smt? To add things on. Im sure it sounded horrendous and y'know the other kids in my class laughed at me bc of me using an animated movie's soundtrack, but the song did remain a favourite of mine and still is.

The second time I used the soundtrack was just after the third movie released! We were once again granted freedom and I decided to learn Once There Were Dragons on the piano! (Im not certain i still know it LMAO its been 5 years, this was even before I learned about OTWD which is in hindsight pretty funny)

Ofc once again the kids around me weren't amused and I couldn't play piano to save my life (my hands are too small to reach the octaves needed which. Sucked haha) but i had a lot of fun and the song really stayed with me throughout the years, it always brings me at least some sort of emotion <3

11; favourite locations; OH gotta be Old Berk and Dragon Island. We spend so much time in Old Berk during the shows and the movies and the form of the island is just so... memorable, in a way. In school of dragons, i always loved climbing the Great Hall up to Gothi's little hut haha. Miss that silly little island.

Dragon Island is soooo underused but i adore the implications sm! Like, the Red Death's corpse is there (and we all know how much i love environment changing giants) and we haven't really seen it since RoB/DoB. Underused location in my humble opinion.

Honorable mentions to Berserker Island and the weird treasure island from rtte season 1. They really slayed haha

14; favourite animation style; everyone knows i'm a big hand animation girlie so I have to go for those little moments in the franchise where more 2D animation is implemented (like in Fishlegs' leadership dream and the Boneknapper special). The keyframing and the subtle movements are really worth analysing and i absolutely adore how it's used. A real treat for us animators! (Special mention to the animation that's been going around from the live special, so good)

As for 3d styles, I have to say the first movie. It has a very raw edge which i love and it gives everything a great feeling. Plus, the animation error during forbidden friendship they left in the final cut owns me <333

[darkisrising]

⭐

(But also I'm greedy and if you want to do Never Leaving Well Enough Alone, I have a special soft spot for that one since it's one of the first ones of yours I ever read.)

(link to game if anyone wants to play)

Sure thing, friend! Never Leaving Well Enough Alone was one of my first attempts at writing in the Mandalorian world. My friend @treescape was writing dinluke and was talking about how active the ship was (back in those early days, circa 2021). Since I was writing quiobi where we were small but very engaged, I was intrigued by this phenomenon of hordes of ppl reading a single fic at once, but made the off hand comment that I doubted I was good for writing any other ship, since I'd only just returned to writing fanfic and still was in my painfully insecure era. But then she said something along the line of (back then) there being very little explicit content for the ship (oooooooh how the tables have turned on THAT lmaoo) and I had this moment of "well... I can write sex at the very least?" so my first few dinluke I went into them with the very clear objective to sex them up more than the landscape at the time was doing, since I *think* if I recall that the emphasis on the ship back then was more on Luke as a potential second dad for Grogu... very romancing the single dad vibes... and mando was essentially one big walking chastity belt.

NLWEA was basically me throwing a chunk of sex into the ship, and then I was gonna run away and hide. At least, that was my plan. So it's a 5+1 time structure, with the idea that they kept running into each other, and then at some point they would have sex. That's... pretty much it. I knew Luke because I went through a hard core OT phases back when the OT was re-released, and I like my Luke as the mouthy Tattooine "what a hunk of junk" farmboy so that's what I wanted to play with in this one. Han's ride or die. Leia's headache of a trouble-magnet brother. I don't think I'd even managed to watch all the episodes of Mando season 1 when I wrote this, let alone 2, but I liked the eternally exhausted freelancer in a gig economy bounty hunter we first meet in the show and figured meh. Why not give it a whirl? The sheer shock of waking up from throwing a post up on ao3 and getting the kudos email the next day. I mean. I can't overstress how MANY readers there were back then. Just. Mindbreaking amounts. I went from quiobi where a hundred kudos was like "oh man, yes, yay, I'm so proud of myself" to just. *hundreds* upon hundreds at once. It was... well. Yeah. Addictive to chase that validation. That's probably not what you're supposed to say when it comes to writing fic, that you got swept up in the attention, but it is what it is. I did. And it was very *very* fun to be participating in a fandom like that, when there's interest and energy, and so so so SO many talented people working at once at a frantic pace. It was such a rush.

I wrote without a really clear idea of where the story was going, except for the structure. As I wrote I was also watching the last few episodes of Mando season 2, and when I watched the episodes with cgi Luke I was like oh huh this isn't really the Luke I remember at all. Part of the lack of affectation was the cgi, but I liked the idea of trying to thread the needle between young Luke and Jedi "stoically driven by the force" Luke, so that's where chapter 4 changes mood from hijinks Luke to reserved Luke. And then, that let me have some fun with the idea that Luke was so consumed/inebriated with the force he absolutely didnt recognize Din from his younger days. Which made the reveal that Din knew extra fun to play with in the next chapter. Chapter 5 also happens to be the first time I wrote Boba Fett, and may *that* be noted by the historians, because I fell in deep, deep love with that man from that moment on. Which eventually led us to the BobaDinLuke stuff that took over my life for the last few years 😆

[sophisticatedpjparty]

I don't think I've ever properly explained my magical girl manga concept here before, so to catch everyone up:

This is the basic summary of what I'm currently calling

Action-Magic Art Club!!

Basically, a handful of artists all over a city in Japan are mysteriously given powers based on their art styles and mediums. These powers are contained within little vials or pendants containing different art mediums (paints, craft materials, charcoal, pastels, whatever), which grant their users their abilities and are activated when the vial is opened.

The series will follow 4 girls who help the other artists who've been given powers gain better control of their abilities and stop magic-related disasters, while also leading up to a mystery surrounding disappearances in the city they're protecting.. Oh, and cute slice of life shenanigans too.

These are the 4 main characters who are granted these abilities; Shizue, Kagami, Naoki, and Ishi. Each have their own unique powers and styles!

(Pictured are their casual/everyday outfits, I'll be posting full refs including their magical girl transformations soon!)

Shizue is a 19 year old trans girl who lives in the city with her younger sister, Kagami. She's a hobbyist artist who makes surrealist paintings with watercolors, and after finding her vial, gains the power to manipulate large amounts of paint into different shapes and states. She tends to be quiet and reserved, and often struggles with strong feelings of anxiety in her day-to-day life. However, despite the challenges she faces, she's very hardworking and responsible, especially after becoming Kagami's primary caretaker at an early age. No matter what comes her way, she does her best to be kind and understanding to the people around her.

Her other interests include gaming, cosplay, and anime.

Kagami, on the other hand, is incredibly energetic, outgoing, and most of all intense in everything she does. She's a 16 year old high school student who likes to draw and write action manga in her free time. Upon finding her vial, she gains the ability to summon short-range magical weapons made of ink. She's very determined and nearly unstoppable when she sets her mind to something, but can sometimes a bit reckless and hot-headed. She's strong, passionate, and would do anything to protect the people she cares about.

Her other interests include alternative music, poetry, & athletics.

Naoki is a 20-year-old Japanese-American immigrant who lives with her girlfriend, Ishi. She's fun, carefree, and does her best to keep the people around her in high spirits. She's a freelance artist that specializes in nature paintings, and when she discovers her vial, becomes able to instantly create plants out of acrylic paint. Although sometimes impulsive, she's optimistic, loving, and always strives to be compassionate.

Her other hobbies include cooking, hiking, swimming, & photography.

Ishi is a 21-year-old storyboard artist for an animation studio. Level-headed, mature, critical, and always honest, she can sometimes come off as cold or blunt, but underneath her stern exterior she feels a deep care and concern for others that guides her above all else. When she finds her vial, she develops the power to create nearly unbreakable structures out of charcoal. Between her work at the studio and her life as a magical girl, she often finds herself overworked and stressed, but no matter what, she'll always make time for her friends when they need her.

In her small amounts of spare time, she enjoys reading, interior design, and TV dramas. (But secretly, she's also a massive nerd who loves fantasy rpgs and loud music to release all the pent up stress in her mind)

Some backstory/dynamic ramblings:

As a couple, Ishi and Naoki tend to bring out the best in eachother, as while Ishi helps bring Naoki down to earth and offers a more realistic approach to Naoki's endless optimism, Naoki helps Ishi to loosen up and recognize when she's been pushing herself too hard, and when it's time to take a break. They care for eachother in their own ways and balance eachother's perspectives in a healthy way.

They met online when they were much younger, when Naoki resided in the US. Their relationship was already strong, but one day after turning 18, Naoki decided to collect her savings and fly overseas to stay in Japan, due to unfortunate circumstances in her home and family life. She had planned to stay with extended family that agreed to take her in, but upon arriving, found an empty house, and the discovery that that they hadn't been seen since the morning before. Ishi offered her a place to stay instead, and they've lived together ever since. Naoki never forgot the kindness and compassion Ishi showed her that day at a time when she was stricken with grief and needed support more than ever; and does her best to pay it forward every day.

As sisters, Shizue and Kagami both care about eachother, but often clash with eachother due to their polar opposite temperaments and outlooks. Shortly before the series begins (roughly a year), their parents disappeared under unknown circumstances, and Shizue as a very young adult was made to step in and act as Kagami's caretaker during investigation. They've both dealt with the loss in their own ways and in some ways it's created a rift between them, but at the end of the day Shizue wants nothing more than for Kagami to be safe and happy, and even though she'd never say it, Kagami secretly looks up to her older sister and appreciates everything she does for her.

I'm not sure when I'll start releasing actual pages as I've still got quite a few things to work out in the story, but I'm excited to write more and I hope you all enjoy it, however it ends up looking when I'm ready to share it with you. ♡

Feel free to ask any questions or share any thoughts you have! I'm happy to talk about it anytime ☆

[retphienix]

Anyways, since I'm rambling payday 3, some thoughts.

Does anyone else feel like Payday 3, in terms of replay value, is EXACTLY the game people who don't understand Payday 2 think Payday 2 was?

Because I remember the naive opinions I heard when Rock city or whatever came out from youtubers who never played Payday.

I remember hearing repeatedly "The game is repetitious, but I guess Payday fans who replay the same missions over and over and over again won't mind" because these dolts don't understand the randomization / pre-planning / alternate conditions etc that added together to give Payday 2 INSANE replay value on nearly every heist BEFORE you consider the decade of content shoved into that game or the plethora of ways you could build your character to play.

Anyways, playing a good amount of Payday 3 feels like playing the "assumption" version of Payday 2 those youtubers spoke into existence.

There's nothing meaningful that changes on repeat plays- and this feels minorly exasperated by the fact you can't get new seeds unless you quit to the main menu entirely. And majorly exasperated by how gutted pre-planning is with all the insane combinations and alternative heist experiences of Payday 2's system cut to shreds and replaced with.... do you want a shitty alternative entrance? How about a keycard? What about a dumpster to loot into? Pick ONE.

Funny fact on that- why the FUCK can a solo player only pick one? You SHREDDED fucking pre-planning to the most soulless shitty thing it could possibly be- and then punished solo players with the new system too???? why??? Fuck off

Also god fucking damn it do I miss multi-day heists.

Pre-release I said I wanted more "small scale" heists like 4 stores and I was not gifted a single interesting mission like that one (Give me my silly shoplifting missions!!)

And I said I wanted them to further explore multi-day heists that divert based on your actions- like fucking up the election heist and having to "fake" a bank robbery- that's an entire heist track a ton of people never experienced!!!!!!! THAT FORMULA RULES!!!!

WHERE IS IT~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There are a ton of problems with this fucking game, there really are.

Progression is shit on MULTIPLE levels

Weapon xp is tied to mission objectives and not anything to do with using the weapon???

XP is 90% weighted towards challenges which are not interesting in the slightest- with highlights like "Do each heist 150 times, kill 1000 enemies with every weapon, and slide 5000 meters (all 3 of these are real and for every weapon and heist btw)" WHERE IS THE CREATIVITY OF THE PAYDAY 2 ACHIEVEMENTS??>????

IF YOU WANT TO UNLOCK ALL THE SKILLS TO ACTUALLY MAKE A FUCKING BUILD YOU WILL SPEND YOUR FIRST 50 INFAMY LEVELS JUST RUNNING A SKILL POINT IN EVERY SKILL TREE- MEANING YOU WILL HAVE NO BUILD AND NO IDENTITY BECAUSE YOU'RE JUST TRYING TO GET XP FILLED OUT SO YOU HAVE ACCESS TO THE ENTIRE LIST OF SKILLS. WTF IS THAT STUPID NONSENSE.

Also, the feedback loop of this game is non-existent. You do things over here to get progress over there, you play your heart out and get pennies, you fumble with your belt buckle and level up 9 times and unlock 50 challenges. The game has like no weight to what you're doing and "trying" to progress feels... bad!

Like, you figure it out, sure, but the feedback of "do thing get reward" is just fucking JANK!! The fact the fastest way to level weapons is to speedrun heists ASAP because objectives > everything else is ????? what????

The fastest way to level up your infamy is to camp in a corner spamming deployables and kill grinding???? what????? Not weapon xp???

Hell, what else. C-stacks are bugged to fuck in the most mind-boggling way- the way in question is that they Don't List The Correct Price for some fucking reason.

$1,800,000 for 10 C-stacks is actually $2,700,000. Why? Because managing a simple table of data is really hard :(

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH

Cosmetics are fucking dog shit across the board- the first paid DLC has some cool stuff coming that was sourced from amazing fan-artists who have been commissioned to help (what a surprise! The talent is coming from OUR side of the table!)

Builds in 3 can be fun! But are not in any way interesting. Like, that's maybe the worst part of it. You can make something "fun" but it's also just.... soulless more often than not. A shotgun build. A throw build. A rifle headshot build. A hipfire build.

The MOST interesting builds are just "I refresh my throwables so I throw a bunch of grenades" and "I use grit and edge to become stagger immune and then hold a hostage".

And again, those can be fun, but man do the list of "interesting" options feel.... nada.

They cowered away from the wacky stuff in 2 and it "works" but where is the new identity? Where's the new "payday"?

I'm being bitchy but look at this rant, I have things to bitch over and plenty more than what comes to mind here.

And all that comes to make the game mid! Just! Mid!

I WANT it to be great as fuck and I don't know if it can when the foundation is so... this! Add pre-planning, expand heist variety IN THEMSELVES (ONE HEIST DOING MORE THINGS ON DIFFERENT RUNS), Multi-days, skills, fucking anything man just give this damn game a chance but hey

that's the operative word ain't it.

There's a chance it's great in a bit of time.

I hope so.

At least Payday 2 is right there still.