#pinning this for a while.. everyone read some wally ok. For Me

[blackbatcass]

i was going to publish my bitchy post on conservative wally jokes but i fear i would get canceled and doxxed and have people showing up to my house with pitchforks if I did so that one’s not seeing the light of day. instead I will leave you with my notes app minimum wally required reading list: (all issues from flash v2 except the impulse issue)

if you are unlike me (aka. normal) and don’t want to read all 263 issues of flash v2 then these will imo give you a good insight into the gist of him as a character! i will trust you to talk intelligently on wally if you have read all of these<3

[jennamoran]

The Art of Glitch (Part 19)

Glitch is available here!

… including, now, print on demand!

               Hi! We’re talking about Glitch art direction.

So previously,

we talked about the art in the pre-release;

and then a bit about the general set up for the 1st edition art!

and then covered some ways that example characters can die.

and then a bit about gender/ethnic balancing, plus details on a few pieces in particular!

and then about the first assignment to Elizabeth Sherry.

and then about the first assignment to Beatrice Pelagatti!

and then about the first assignment to Kirsten Moody!

and then the first assignment to Mel Uran!

and then about void flowers and Alexander Benekos!

and then about the first assignment to Robin Scott!

and then about the first assignment to Maria Guarneri!

and then about the first assignment to Lee Moyer!

and then about the first assignment to ?? and, uh, ??!

and then about the first assignment to Sadia Bies!

and then about the first assignment to Silvia Cucchi!

and then about the first assignment to Elena Albanese!

(aside)

and then about the first assignment to Melissa Spandri!

Let’s move on!

         Karma

https://kaaramel.tumblr.com/tagged/karma-draws-things

      So Karma’s been doing fan art for my RPGs for quite some while, and all of it has been awesome.

I was nervous here for much the same reason I was nervous about Kirsten---

That Karma’s work would be great I didn’t doubt, but would it be a stylistic match?

This was Glitch, after all.

Glitch, explicitly conceived as a successor to James Wallis’ coffee-table-book vision for Nobilis.

Glitch, designed to be all ... all high-arty and stuff, and recapture any members of the stick-out-their-pinky-when-drinking-tea-and-reading-message-boards demographic that I’d been losing with Chuubo’s and Nob3.

Glitch, you know. A deep and solemn tome.

(Why did I do a deep and solemn tome? I’m not a deep and solemn person!!) :P

... but anyway, I was reminded, I think by Rand, that I loved Karma’s work, and everyone loved Karma’s work, so how could it possibly be a bad idea?

And in fact this was correct!

          Page 74

“Erchen’in Branza, who dies by the Sandwich”

Piece Style: a “Strategist” dying of the thing ...

                     Strategist: Middle Eastern, she/her

Bane: Your choice, or “sandwiches”

Examples:

she is at a food court or school cafeteria staring at a taco with anguished uncertainty

she is on a sidewalk with mulberry trees surrounded by a ring of sinister-looking sandwiches held together by pins

she is being run off the road by a sandwich truck

two giant hands carrying pieces of bread are closing in on her

she’s clawing at her eye, trying to pull out the sandwich that’s stuck in it. Chunks of sandwich are scattered on the floor around her.

she’s staring dolefully at the “keyboard” of her computer, which has been replaced by a sandwich. As has one of the pictures on the desk, and two lights in the chandelier, and a windowpane.

she’s at a funeral, and another attendee has wrapped bread around her leg and is about to take a bite.

she has just opened her sandwich at a restaurant to reveal the wriggling nest of poisoned spined monstrous things that are within.

            Note: Please avoid unfortunate stereotypes. Heck, please avoid stereotypes at all. Unless you’re a Middle Eastern woman or clear it with a Middle Eastern sensitivity consultant first:

She is not a terrorist.

She is not a belly dancer.

She is not wearing full-on desert survival clothing unless actually in the desert.

Don’t put her in full burka or niqab.

Don’t assume she’s Muslim, although if you want to make her Muslim and use hijab or maybe chador that is OK.

           As a general rule, it is fine to set the scene in America, although that may make it harder to clearly indicate that she is Middle Eastern in a greyscale picture. That said, it’s actually fine if most readers can’t clearly identify her ethnicity as long as a hypothetical Middle Eastern woman reading the book can go, “Oh, like me!”

          Karma: I’m giving you this one because I think that your work will be good for the lighter-hearted banes. I’d still like it if you pretend that you’re in the Renaissance trying to satisfy a noble patron with how art-y your result is, to get more of that Nobilis spirit, but this one will let you keep your usual liveliness, spark, and humor in play.

                          Commentary

Three sketches!

In sketch 1, Karma pretends to be in the Renaissance and attempts to please a noble patron with how art-y these sandwiches are.

Mm, those are some arty sandwiches, indeed.

         In sketch 2, Karma plays more to their strengths:

(This is not me guessing their motives, they explained this in email ^_^):

and finally (though while also expressing certain doubts on the matter), they attempted to synthesize them:

Well, while they were uncertain about whether that synthesis was a good idea, the art slot wasn’t---and the test of putting each sketch into the art slot and seeing which one works best never lies!

...

... actually, I have no evidence of that, really, do I?

...

The test of putting each sketch into the art slot and seeing which one works best is intuitively compelling, and produced an awfully good book!!

That, I do have evidence of. ^_^

So, anyway, I went with sketch #3. ^_^

It would later develop into

        and then from there into the piece in the book!

               Page 275

“Dresdinian Granda, who is dying of Family”

Piece Style: a “Strategist” dying of the thing ...

              Strategist: Caucasian, they/them

Bane: Your choice, or “family.”

       Examples:

they are sitting at a dinner table with a mundane family looking miserable;

or with a mostly mundane family, and an exaggerated monster;

a mother and father with wings, which Dresdinian definitely doesn’t have, are pushing them out the high window of an apartment building, or off the branch of a tree (with a distortedly large nest);

they are sitting on a bench staring at a ringing phone looking sick;

they are in a prison-cell-like room with a high, barred window;

they are being dragged through an airport crowd by shackles on their wrist, pulled by an ordinary-looking but efficient person;

they are sitting with their head in their hands as their father uses their Abhorrent Weapon to pound in nails on the roof and their sister rides their out-of-control pale horse around the yard;

they are opening a door to a pair of faceless/masked monsters in tuxes and gloves doing a “ta-da we’re here!” pose with luggage behind them;

they are being squeezed hard by a python coiled around them while staring in horror at a goat snacking on what looks like mail. On the wall is a family genealogy chart including something like

[wiggling snake]             +            [goat]                                         |           ???!                           [falling stars]

                [Sensitivity Note]

               Karma: this one is a little more serious, possibly, or possibly not! I wanted to see where you went with it.

       Commentary

There was some discussion over whether a serious take on a nonbinary Strategist dying of family might hit too close to home for some readers, but Karma went in a loosely serious direction anyway because of the piece’s location in the book (amidst solemn topics) and I felt like I’d assigned enough nonbinary characters (... 8ish?) that it wouldn’t feel like it was a bigger statement than “yeah, stuff happens.”

So I expressed my support!

After plugging the piece into the page, I did suggest that the character probably needed to be facing the other direction, though, it being a right-hand page.

... I’m always wanting to flip characters or pieces horizontally and I’m honestly not sure why, is that a brain thing? Am I right about it? Is it some kind of minimalistic version of “editors/developers like to futz with things without actually changing them?”

But, well.

The character really did need to face the other way!

I’m almost certain of it!

Here’s where that piece, anyway, landed (sketch-wise):

and bam, there’s another sketch good enough that I could have slipped up and left the sketch in the book. ^_^

... well, I mean, hopefully I would have noticed the blank nameplate. ^_^

... hopefully.

      Anyway, the final was more detailed, and cleaner, but that sketch above is the heart of the piece!

[havenesc]

For the character ask: Wally West, Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne and Damian. Pretty please! 🥰🙏🏻😄

OOOOOH YOU HIT LIKE ALL MY MAIN FAVES AMEN

WALLY WEST

Favorite thing about them: Wally’s heart. His heart is HUGE and he is always determined to do the right thing and be the best hero he can be and do the legacy of the Flash justice. 

Least favorite thing about them: Honestly? Honestly??? Whatever the FUCK they’re doing to him in HiC. If I’m not being honest, then how they wrote him for the first few episodes of YJ. But boys are boys I suppose. 

Favorite line: “We both have a Martian on speed dial and you can’t give me the benefit of the doubt?”

BROTP: Dick & Wally, Shayera & Wally !!

OTP: Spitfire. But I’m also currently trying to find a good place to dig into the comics since all I really know is YJ/JL atm so there’s that. 

nOTP: Pretty much anything that’s not Spitfire.

random headcanon: i have a lot of headcanons for aus but. this is wally 

unpopular opinion: Wally West deserves better writers and better treatment by DC lmfao

song i associate with them: Ask Yourself - Foster The People

favorite picture of them:

JASON TODD

Favorite thing about them: Honestly? I definitely noticed that Jason has a lot of compassion and cares very deeply about people, even when he pretends not to. He loves his found family very much and would do anything for them, and that’s what makes a lot of RHATO’s stuff so much fun for me to read.

Least favorite thing about them: While I understand what his moral code is and how it differs from Bruce’s, sometimes he’s really impulsive and it gets him into some really bad situations. Take care of yourself, man. 

Favorite line: “Listen to the city on the other side of the walls. The cars racing to places people don’t want to go. The ambulances racing from horror to hope. Listen to the people shouting and laughing and loving and fighting and giving birth and taking lives. Listen for the heartbeat among the chaos of Gotham City... Like I did when I was a kid and slept on the sidewalk on more than one night. There is a world out there in this one city. Can you hear it?”

BROTP: the outlaws and jay!! and jay and his brothers!!

OTP: nothing really. 

nOTP: i get j.ay.ro.y etc, that’s cool, but anything within the batfam is a HARD pass from me

random headcanon: Jason finds himself liking the countryside the more he spends time out in it, even if it’s not really anything he’s familiar with. Gotham will always be his city, but sometimes it’s good to get away from the chaos and sit and watch wide skies and listen to the sound of the grass blowing or cows calling to their calves every once in a blue moon. It’s a whole different world.

Unpopular opinion: There comes a point where ripping someone’s family away repeatedly for shock value isn’t fun to read or watch the aftermath of and Jason is the poster boy pin cushion for it. Plus I’m not a huge fan of his new design (or the white hair streak thing either don’t slaughter me) 

song i associate with them: Fairly Local OR Message Man - Twenty Øne Piløts

favorite picture of them: miss yasmine putri does NOT have to go as hard as she does with the variant covers but i am GRATEFUL

BRUCE WAYNE

Favorite thing about them: He’s fuckin Batman but he also gives to charity. He doesn’t just beat people up and turn them in for criminal activity, he goes out of his way to supply funding for programs and welfare to help keep people of the streets and tries to give alternatives to criminal activity to stay afloat. Plus adoption man.

Least favorite thing about them: His distance keeping. His family worries about him and he has a whole nest of kids that really, REALLY need some empathy or a very active father figure, and Bruce is written as to be....not the greatest at that. Of course, luxury of comic reading that it is, we can retcon it, but I’m a bit tired of seeing Bruce only acting paternal in moments where it’s a life or death situation for one of his boys. I have a lot of shit to say about him and Jason’s relationship too but this is already too long as it is. 

Favorite line: Listen this is really stupid but the dry “yeehaw/yippe kai yay” in n52 I think?? where a goon tells him they’re gonna gore him like a fucking bull and he just coasts ON THEM down the stairs in resposne? fucking power move

BROTP: justice league and his family!

OTP: wonderbat wasn’t a bad idea during jlu ngl but other than that i don’t see anything that’s like “OH GAWD”

nOTP: anything with his family members. oof. big yikes.

random headcanon: Bruce can play polo and has some investments in the TB racing industry. Derby day is fun for the batfam. 

Unpopular opinion: jason is right more often than not idgaf what bruce and his moral code have to say about it

song i associate with them: drowning - EDEN project

favorite picture of them: MIZ WE HAVE THE SAME TASTE CAUSE OOOH

DAMIAN WAYNE

Favorite thing about them: He’s a shit. But he is trying his hardest to follow in his father’s footsteps and not be what Ra’s decided he should be. He endures some awful hardships and still gets back up and steels his resolve. 

Least favorite thing about them: Ok so it was fixed with character development but sometimes hE REALLY IS MEAN AS FUCK TO JON AND HIS SIBLINGS PIPE DOWN BABY BAT

Favorite line: “Let me drive.” “No.” “I know how.” “No.”

BROTP: jon and his siblings /dabs 

OTP: nothing because he’s a baby

nOTP: da//mijon romantically and anything with his siblings, because that apparently is a thing too YIKES

random headcanon: everyone knows when damian’s falling ill because he becomes overdramatic about minor stuff and says shit like “guess i’ll die” and it pisses bruce off. he drops the whole formal language habit too so that’s how you know it’s fixing to REALLY hit him like a bus in the next day or two

Unpopular opinion: i still think it was ow that he got to be robin and tim got the boot ngl

song i associate with them: You’re On - Madeon

favorite picture of them: literally anything jorge jiminez draws of him is so good

[entergamingxp]

Five of the Best: Scares • Eurogamer.net

Five of the Best is a weekly series about the small details we rush past when we’re playing but which shape a game in our memory for years to come. Details like the way a character jumps or the title screen you load into, or the potions you use and maps you refer back to. We’ve talked about so many in our Five of the Best series so far. But there are always more.

Five of the Best works like this. Various Eurogamer writers will share their memories in the article and then you – probably outraged we didn’t include the thing you’re thinking of – can share the thing you’re thinking of in the comments below. Your collective memory has never failed to amaze us – don’t let that stop now!

Today’s Five of the Best is…

Scares! Boo! It’s beyond me why people play scary games. I look at someone like Ian Higton, playing Resident Evil 7 in VR, or Alien: Isolation in VR, and I wonder what’s wrong with him. Why willingly put yourself in that position? He’s the person in a horror film who walks into a dark basement on their own. I, on the other hand, am the person on the sofa screaming “don’t do that you wally!” while hiding behind the pillow. Look, I’d love to be as brave as Ian but I’m not. I nearly threw the PlayStation VR headset across the room when the shark started attacking my diving cage. Heck, I nearly threw the Vive headset across the room when I was standing on a sunken pirate ship and a whale swam up next to me. Ian, I am not like you. And sadly Ian is too busy to contribute to today’s piece, but he suggested the above games as well as Dead Space so I thought I’d at least mention them here.

Scares don’t have to come from scary games, though. Any game which ramps up the tension can make you jump out of your seat. So here’s to being scared and here are five of the best scares. Let’s hear yours below. Happy Friday!

Half-Life: Alyx

Oh man. So you’re going to meet Jeff. How bad can Jeff be? Here’s a guy who’s surviving the Combine. He warns you that if you go any further you’re going to be in Jeff’s domain. But really – How Bad Can Jeff Be?

Jeff is, um, quite bad actually. I think he was once a person. But now his head has sort of opened out like a kind of meat flower. He wanders around spreading toxic spores out of a little meat factory he has in his back. He’s very angry.

Jeff can’t see but Jeff can hear you. So for a while you have to inch through Half-Life: Alyx with your hand over your mouth and nose to stop those spores from making you cough. And you have to distract Jeff while you collect things from the maze where he lives. And you have to try and make it to an elevator. Which is very loud.

You don’t have to be a classicist – I’m not! – to understand the myth that Valve is tapping into here. But annoyingly there is no Ariadne in this version, no red thread to follow. Instead, you have to inch forward, one risk at a time. Surely I’m not meant to do that? Surely I’m not meant to try this?! The moment when you finally fire the lift up… and Jeff…

Okay it’s too horrible. But the weird thing is as much as you fear Jeff, you sort of feel for him too. Poor Jeff!

-Christian Donlan

Eternal Darkness

Eternal Darkness is a horror game, which means scares are all over the place. I remember evil monks, cursed Legionnaires, spooky rooms and all sorts of creepy stuff. But the biggest scares cross through the screen and are frightening in a more practical way.

This is one of those fourth-wall breakers. Sometimes while playing Eternal Darkness a fly will land on the TV screen, or the volume will start to turn up or down. But the biggest scare by far – I feel bad spoiling it – comes when you try to save your game at a particularly tense moment. DELETING FILE reads the on-screen text. For a minute, first time I encountered this, I totally forgot all the fourth-wall malarkey that had come before it. Some things in games are sort of sacrosanct – so of course that’s where Eternal Darkness chooses to get to you.

-Christian Donlan

Dead by Daylight

There’s nothing scarier than another human being. This is something I’ve learned not only from watching horror films and reading my Twitter replies, but also from gaming – with Dead by Daylight remaining one of the most stressful experiences so far.

That’s because it tackles a problem I’ve encountered with many horror games, in that after a certain point, you just stop getting scared. Once you’ve been caught for the first time, you remember it’s a game, you can’t actually die, and the monster is beatable. Then it’s merely a matter of figuring out the system to win.

Not so in Dead by Daylight, where as part of the asymmetrical multiplayer, the monster chasing you is a fellow human. Out goes the rulebook of a single-player game, and suddenly you’re playing mind games with a real person. One who may well bait you into a trap, try to outsmart you during a chase, or relentlessly track you down. There’s something distinctly menacing about knowing another human is sitting behind a screen somewhere, planning to impale you on a meat hook. And although with enough playtime you’ll become more familiar with the strategies, that element of unpredictability will always be there – and that’s what gets me scared.

-Emma Kent

Counter-Strike

Scary games are good fun, especially if you’re playing them in a group. You rush through the dank water, a monster close behind, screams of terror from the player and screams of laughter from those watching. But for me, the scariest moments I’ve ever experienced in a game have been in Counter-Strike.

In Counter-Strike, you’re always thinking about where your opponents might be. There are two teams of five, necessarily spread out across a wide map, so if you’re defending a bombsite you might not see another player, friend or foe, for the whole round – you’re just sitting in a corner, holding an angle, biding your time, listening to your teammates. Occasionally you do see someone, or hear the click of a grenade’s pin being pulled, and you get that kick of adrenaline as you anticipate the onslaught to come. They could come from anywhere! You could be challenging a whole team by yourself! This is exciting – but not scary. You’ve prepared for this.

Scary happens when that mental model – that understanding you carry of what is happening on the map right now – is disrupted. When you’re holding down B and someone calls “Five on A! They’re planting!” You relax. You think, ah, brilliant. I’ll just wander over to A now and help out. Shall I go via spawn, or through the middle? Do I still have grenades left? Let’s look at the kill feed and see how the defense is going – am I going to have to clutch this one, or are we doing alright? Just then, someone walks out into the B site and shoots you in the face. And you shit yourself, because you are not prepared for this.

-Will Judd

F.E.A.R.

I mean, it’s in the title – how can it not be scary?! What was so special about First Assault Encounter Recon though, a name no one ever used – besides the slow-mo and besides the level-shattering action and besides the aggressive, flanking AI – was the brand of horror it opted for. FEAR went for psychological Japanese-style horror at a time everyone else was going in-your-face jump scares, and the result was something insidious, something which got under your skin. A girl called Alma who had supernatural powers. A girl with lank dark hair who might as well have been pulled straight out of The Ring and The Grudge horror films, which I still rank among the scariest I’ve seen (and if you know any better, please suggest them below). She was always there but never quite there, haunting your every move. Menacing, malicious and absolutely pant-wettingly creepy.

-Bertie

OK it’s not F.E.A.R. 1 but it’s close enough!

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/05/five-of-the-best-scares-%e2%80%a2-eurogamer-net/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=five-of-the-best-scares-%25e2%2580%25a2-eurogamer-net