#post-mortem review

[projectmanagertemplate]

Utilizing lessons learned effectively transforms past experiences into a blueprint for future success. It fosters a learning culture, reduces inefficiencies, and ensures that every project contributes to long-term growth. Remember, the key lies in capturing insights consistently, turning them into actionable strategies, and sharing knowledge across the organization.

[musicmags]

[omnivorouscinephilia]

La Casa Lobo: A Chilean Stopmotion Nightmare of Fascism

This review was originally published on HorrOrigins.com on 2/26/2022 Animation as a medium is uniquely situated for experimentation. However, at times, the medium can feel as though it is a microcosm of cinema as a whole: tightly controlled in form and mode into hegemony by media corporations only interested in acquiring endless capital. Even Disney, a company that pioneered various animation…

[tumblasha]

book review: yellowface by r.f. kuang

overall rating: ★★★★★/5

literally it was so good; i couldn't put it down once i opened the ebook on the plane. originally i was reading the vegetarian by han kang, but the ebook download didn't finish (it ended suddenly on a random page), so i started this one!!

synopsis: (cw: anti-asian racism) athena liu is a very famous author. her college friend june hayward is not a famous author (her first book flopped big time). athena suddenly dies and june finds athena's latest unfinished manuscript. after various edits (including to her own name, now "juniper song"), she publishes that manuscript as her own. the story follows the rest of june's story with this new book

this book was literally so good. every other sentence was just this white woman saying some microaggression (author makes it v obvious that she's wrong in a funny way). i was on my flight back home and i just read this book for ~3hrs w/o stopping. kinda feel bad for the guy sitting next to me who saw me make this "shocked but about to start laughing" face i always make lmao

i've always liked kuang's writing! i read the poppy war by her, and it was really good too (started the second book that trilogy but school kept me busy) ((might re-read))

one little thing is that i saw this tweet a month ago that said "it sounds like kuang has an agenda and is just using these characters as a vessel" which doesn't make sense since that's all that fiction writing ... is. alas, sometimes june acted so comically racist that i felt that tweet bounce around in my head, but there's nothing we can really do about that

pls read! and support ur local libraries. this review was sponsored by the libby app /j

[gbhbl]

Album Review: Subway to Sally – Post Mortem (Napalm Records)

It’s not just folk metal that is alive and well, but the folk metal that Subway to Sally play.

Rumoured to be finished, Subway to Sally, the German grandmasters of folk metal, prove they are very much alive with their 15th studio album, ‘Post Mortem’, released on December 20th, 2024 via Napalm Records. Photo Credit: Heilemania & Pedro Stoehr So much for 2023’s Himmelfahrt being their last album! Subway to Sally have found the drive to carry on, continuing their 30+ year career, and…

[m1d-45]

post-mortem

summary: war was not a gentle affair; not to the land, the civilians, the soldiers, or their captain.

word count: 1.1k

-> warnings: major spoilers for natlan aq, very very brief mention of canon-typical violence

-> gn reader (you/yours) and unspecified traveller

taglist: @samarill || @sarienic || @valeriele3 || @shizunxie || @boba-is-a-soup || @yuus3n || @esthelily || @turningfrogsgay || @cupandtea24 || @genshin-impacts-me || @chaoticfivesworld || @raaawwwr || @ryuryuryuyurboat || @undrxtxd || @rainswept || @wanderersqt || @rozz-eokkk

< masterlist >

harbingers were not meant to be kind. they were meant to carry out the tsaritsa’s will, and while they were allowed some level of leniency within their methods of doing so, their goal remained firm: fetch the gnosis. if they could manage that, then it was to return home in more or less one piece.

capitano was not in natlan for fun. he had a mission to complete. anything that stopped him was an obstacle to be immediately removed. anything that slowed him was to be brushed off and cut away. for hundreds of years, he had had no problem with this goal, and no problem for what would come after it.

he stationed himself just within natlan’s borders, gathering as much information on the ley lines as he could without stepping on too many toes. he had bided his time patiently, tending to his mechanical heart and the souls within, his plan ready to go as soon as the traveller arrived. carefully reviewed and edited millions of times, paperwork he no longer needed to read to remember the words of. it was the pinnacle of his years on teyvat, his will and testament to the nation he once served.

he held no reservations. he had no doubt, no fear for what was to come. il capitano did not linger.

the captain sat behind his desk, the plain wood empty and unoffensive. there was neither pen nor paper across its surface, all reports having been reviewed just as midnight struck. the only light in the cramped tent was from a lamp in the corner, the flame’s light flickering over the walls and everything held within. outside, the wind whined through the stone of tezcatepetonco range, keeping all words far from listening ears. had he wanted to, he would feel comfortable even listing out his plan to someone he trusted enough to tell it to.

that had been his plan, initially. his tent was nestled deep within the heart of the camp, and he doubted neither his soldiers’ fealty nor their ability to alert him should something go wrong. in the wilds of the land of war, he had forged a sliver of true privacy. any day now, he would receive word that the traveller had finally left fontaine, and his plan would fall into place. every possible failure and fault had long been accounted for; all that was left was to secure that his affairs would be in order after he died.

and with that, you had been called into his office, the summons delivered by an agent with a deep red mask and a voice permanently roughened by illness.

you had been hired young by the fatui, like so many others in their ranks. you were a remarkably ordinary person, in fact; at least by snezhnayan standards. you were born, you starved, you joined the cause. and because the captain made a point of caring after those put under his banner, he let you try to forget the things that happened in between. you came when called and struck when commanded, carrying the same loyalty that marked the rest of his division. you were entirely unassuming, if not for the fact that for some inexplicable reason, it was you that he had called.

there were soldiers with more experience than you. there were soldiers with a more precise control over the elements than you, with a higher kill count, with a broader stature or quicker strikes. you were perhaps not average, but assuredly not him, nor someone fit to manage every loose string.

the only thing you were, for certain, was slumped over his desk, leaning rather uncomfortably on your arm in a way that you’d certainly regret in the morning. normally, he’d never allow such disrespect—this was his tent, after all—but given that you were the one he’d chosen to step alongside him for the past few days, he supposed he could cut you some slack. regular people needed sleep, after all, and the captain was in the habit of protecting those under his banner. as a reward for trekking with him across the country and back and dealing with the combat in between, he would allow you to rest with him as your guard for one more night.

no one person could handle every consequence of the power vacuum that would be left in his stead, and he was not stupid enough to think so. he had informed both the jester and her majesty, but their business was not with inter-platoon affairs. while he may not have to worry about anyone striking when they thought the harbingers were weak, he did have to worry about who would upkeep all of his contacts, monitor the ley and those that resided within them, who would coordinate his troops while they either filtered to the other harbingers or were reassigned to whomever would take his place. it was for this reason that he had spent his tentatively “free” time developing and editing a second plan for when news of his death reached fatui ears. it sat in his pocket, a thin weight he was never meant to hold on to.

he was meant to give it to you. ordinary you, as plain as the uniform over your shoulders, tasked with filling his shoes until the storm passed. you, who he should not be fond of because captains did not have time for such childish things as favorites, and yet your name had refused to leave his mind. no, he was not forced to give command to you in particular, and neither was he made to leave it at all. but war was cruel, and a soldier without a cause was as good as a cart without wheels. he was to reduce his people’s suffering, not impart more upon others. you just happened to be better suited for the job, and he had happened to tell you more about natlan’s ley lines than anyone else. it only made sense that he kept calling on you rather than anyone else, as he could handle any combat anyway. informing you would make your transition to stand-in all the more easier, that was all. there was no place for “kindness” in his crowded heart. “kindness” implied a level of sympathy he did not show, not to any of his troops and assuredly not to you. it was not “kind” to mark you with his death.

he waited until the sun crept above the horizon to move, letting you sleep uninterrupted. you would need a much of it as you could get. he let his chair slide against the floor as he stood, letting that wake you instead of his gauntlets on your shoulders. you snapped to sitting up, but just as fast winced at the knot in your shoulder. “get moving,” he ordered, and you hurriedly apologized, thanked him, and turned to comply. as the wind swept in behind you, he watched you shiver at the sudden drop in temperature, hunching your shoulders high and walking quickly.

for just a moment, his mind briefly drew the idea of giving you his coat. he discarded the idea as soon as it came, pushing his chair back into place and following you out, running through today’s agenda.

his last wishes would be dealt with another day.

[raichett]

joel commits a hit and run

During the Watchers' debriefing after the end of Wild Life, Grian gets himself an unexpected - though certainly not unwelcome - ride home.

Content warnings: intentional vehicular violence against non-human entities who are not hurt by said violence, vaguely referenced character death, memory alteration, and being non-consensually trapped and made to play death games. This is unrepentantly crack.

AO3 version.

-

JOEL COMMITS A HIT AND RUN

The empty space between is desolate, as always. The others aren’t here, thankfully, too busy being other people in kinder places than this, even if they do remember. Only their own victory, of course, their one game, unlike Grian who is unfortunate enough to remember them all, and unfortunate enough to be held here and made to participate beyond the role of a player.

It’s possible he deserves this misfortune, of course. They have such power, see, and he is only one Watcher trying to stem the tide of many, all of whom are so eager to take delight in their newest game series. If he can’t stop them then maybe he can help lessen the damage, have a voice in the planning process, take part as recompense. Harm reduction, that’s what it’s called.

They’re talking, and he’s waiting, only half-listening to the post-mortem, the debriefing, as they chatter about likes and dislikes, review the experimental factors, reflect upon the latest game like they’ve just walked out of the cinema or the theatre, buzzing with glee. It’s offensive, this almost innocence, this lack of comprehension of the pain they’re causing, too caught up in the storyline, and the character arcs, and the symbolism. Sun, stars, moon, all the rest. Fuck them, absolutely fuck them.

Grian doesn’t speak. He’s just – too tired. He nearly won again, but not quite, and he doesn’t really begrudge Joel the win, his friend had worked too hard for it – but he had hoped that if there started to be double wins, then maybe they would start getting bored, their attention drifting away. A game is only a game if people agree to play, otherwise it’s just tugging people about and laughing when they stumble, when they fall, when they collide into the arbitrary rules and get tangled there, strung up to be laughed at.

There’s a sound, then, like cave noise, and for a moment Grian thinks it’s just a glitch, some piece of the Universe snagging and then setting itself to rights, but the Watchers’ chattering stumbles, grinds to a halt, and –

It’s low, rumbling, but getting louder. Getting closer. It’s not cave noise.

There are no doors in this place, but there is a type of barrier, some invisible division between the Void outside and this little space carved here. Grian watches, frozen, heart rabbiting in his chest, as – as a car smashes through it. He knows that stupid fucking car.

The car vrooms, revving its engine as it smashes into the meeting circle and runs over one Watcher, two Watchers, swinging around to shove to the nebulous ground a third and a fourth as it screeches to a stop right next to Grian. Watchers are damn hardy, they’ll be fine, but it puts Grian in mind of bowling pins and that’s just – it’s – it’s so insane, it’s ludicrous, and a laugh bubbles up in Grian’s chest just at the absurdity of it, the incongruity that makes everyone too stunned to react.

The window rolls down. “Hey, Grian,” says Joel, grinning.

“Joel!” Grian replies, loud and shocked, but somehow not surprised – who else’s car would it be? – which feels like the only thing he can say.

“Heard you needed a ride home,” Joel says, bright and vicious, his eyes still red. “Come on, this place is cramping my style. We gotta get back to Hermitcraft.” He turns his words now to the surrounding Watchers. “Sorry, folks! Me and Grian got things to do, places to see, honey shops to buy and sell at, all that good stuff. Later, losers, hah!”

The passenger door opens on the back, behind the driver’s seat, and Grian scrambles for it, diving in and slamming it shut behind him, barely getting his feet out of the way in time. There’ll be repercussions later, he’s sure, but right now? Right now, they drive out – nearly running over two more Watchers, but they get out of the way in time – and Grian hasn’t got a seatbelt on, doesn’t know how Joel got here, or why he knew to come, where to go, but that doesn’t matter: it feels good to do something to get one over on the Watchers, and Grian understands the power and importance of small victories.

“I can’t believe you ran them over,” Grian says, and at his own words he starts to laugh.

“They’re so cringe, Grian,” Joel answers, also barking out a laugh, as the car rockets into the Void like a comet. “What losers. Stupid idiots. Now come on, us winners gotta stick together.”

“Even Scott?” Grian prods, though his heart feels like someone just dunked it into a warm bath, liquid comfort melting in his chest. Us. Joel recognises an us.

“Ughh!” Joel bemoans. “Maybe not Scott. He can sleep on the sofa, maybe, or whatever. Dunno if there’s a winner’s sofa, but – yeah, something like that. Something like that.”

“You’re so generous,” Grian says, his smile irrepressible.

“I am a king of humbleness,” Joel assures him. “You have never met anyone as humble and generous and handsome as me.”

The laughter that punches out of both of them echoes inside the car like music. Outside the windscreen, a trail of stars leads the way back home.

[papidiaz]

Part 7 : Interviews and articles focused on Buck/Oliver, Eddie/Ryan and Tim Minear

24/11/07 9-1-1 boss promises major 'confessions' from Buck, Eddie, Tommy, and Maddie tonight (exclusive preview)

24/11/07 9-1-1′s Oliver Stark Reacts to Tommy’s Insane Reveal, That ‘Profound’ Glee Reference and Buck’s Last Scene With Eddie

24/11/07 9-1-1’s Ryan Guzman on How an Underwear Dance and Shaving His ‘Stache Sparks Eddie’s Search for ‘Joy’ (Exclusive)

24/11/07 ‘9-1-1’s Gavin Stenhouse On The Hot Priest’s Return, Eddie’s Emotional Confessions, And More

24/11/07 ‘9-1-1’ Boss on Tommy’s Wild Revelation, Buck & Eddie Figuring Themselves Out

24/11/07 RIP Eddie Diaz’s ‘9-1-1’ Mustache, The End Of An Era *

24/11/07 9-1-1 Season 8, Episode 6 Review: ��Confessions’ *

24/11/07 ‘9-1-1’: Ryan Guzman Talks ‘Risky Business’ Dance, New Version of Eddie Going Forward

24/11/04 9-1-1's Ryan Guzman on Eddie's Risky Business dance and mustache shave

24/11/07 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 6 Pulls Buck and Tommy In Different Directions *

24/11/07 9-1-1's Oliver Stark on Buck and Tommy's shocking relationship developments

24/11/07 9-1-1's Oliver Stark and Ryan Guzman break down that Risky and touching 'Buddie' final moment

24/11/07 ‘9-1-1’ Star Oliver Stark Breaks Down Buck’s ‘Devastating’ Breakup and That Abby Twist

24/11/07 ‘911’: Oliver Stark on That Relationship Shocker and the “Unexpected, Delicious Way” He’ll Move Forward

24/11/07 ‘9-1-1’ Star Oliver Stark on That Ex Twist, Tommy’s Choice and Why Buck Went to Eddie for Comfort

24/11/07 9-1-1 Post Mortem: Ryan Guzman Talks Eddie’s Confession, Self-Love, That Risky Business Moment & More

24/11/07 9-1-1's Ryan Guzman on Dancing in His Underwear Like Tom Cruise

24/11/07 Ryan Guzman Addresses Whether 9-1-1 Season 8 Will Provide The Answer To Eddie's Happiness: "He's Asking The Right Questions"

24/11/07 9-1-1 Star Ryan Guzman Breaks Down Buck & Eddie's Final Scene In Season 8, Episode 6

24/11/07 Lou Ferrigno Jr. on Saying Goodbye to 9-1-1, That Breakup and What’s Next

24/11/08 ‘9-1-1’s Lou Ferrigno Jr. Reflects On Tommy And Buck’s “Heart-Wrenching” Breakup And Why The Role Was A “True Blessing”

24/11/08 ‘9-1-1’ Boss Teases ‘Full Circle’ Midseason Finale, Talks ‘Hotshots’

24/11/11 9-1-1 Star Ryan Guzman Previews His Character's Journey Of Self-Discovery & What's Next For Buck And Eddie In Season 8

Does Eddie know who he is, and he's just been trying to hide it, or is it that he hasn't taken the steps to discover what's out there?

Ryan Guzman: I don't think he's known who he is. I think he's just figuring that—not even figuring that out. I think he's starting to ask the right questions. I believe that there's so much left to explore with Eddie. I think he has a generalized idea of where he wants to go, but I think anything you do new, you're not really good at it in the beginning.

[crystalgastles]

I will not accept a life I do not deserve (My Nina the killer)

Yay finally a nina post! Read my information on Mortem feeders to understand what kind of creature she is

YouTuber in the late 2000’s and early twenty tens

She got pretty popular for the time with her hair and makeup tutorials, she loved doing music and hair dye reviews

Obsessed with views and numbers, she’s gonna be a star

“I’m going to be a star, look how many views I got on this one video!”

It comes to a point where it’s almost all she talks about, that and partying.

She was invited to a concert in may of 2012, friends didn’t want to go alone

She vlogged the whole thing, doing makeup and hair in the hotel, her outfit, the guys she and her friends went out with after.

It (my slenderman) found her body in a dumpster behind a gas station three miles away from the show venue . Cut in half.

She woke up with the smell of trash in her nose , morbid memory in her mind and ravenous, No amount of greasy food would satisfy this hunger though.

she found a man after hobbling three miles up the road camera in hand. Long black hair and leather, cologne that invaded her senses. Men like that don’t think twice about tattered clothes and blood. (Foreshadowing)

She tore him to pieces and filmed the entire thing.

People on the internet love gore

She found the men who killed her, still hanging around the venue, she could still eat.

“I will not accept a life I do not deserve!”

Her smile is too wide now but not to the point where she can’t appear out in public.

her jaw unhinges when she eats, the skin on the sides of her face split open and stay that way for a few hours until they close back up.

She finds her fame on youtube, superstar on gore sites

[pamsdrabbles]

After seeing this post, I realized I had ten minutes to spare so might as well check it out. I'm glad I did. I really enjoyed this! I absolutely adore how glimpses of the MC are revealed through the questions and answers. Even with such a short story and so little information actually revealed, the MC does feel like a fleshed out character with a whole world that we don't get to see. I love love love stories like that. Well done! You also nailed the 'creepy corporate interview' vibes perfectly. Job hunting is the worst, but hey I got hired :)

Anyway my short little surreal game about the job interview experience (and being trans) is almost at a thousand plays and it'd be neat if it hit that number by the end of the year.

It's short, free, and can be played in browser: play here

[clonerightsagenda]

Kate used the Tumblr Top 10 tool to generate her most popular posts of the year, so I am following suit to add to my #year in review post. However I'm making a separate post because the first one was already pretty long with my perfect and correct TV show opinions.

I was rambling on the issue of museums and human remains and how certain populations are more likely to have their bodies put on...

Arcane is an advanced form of doomed by the narrative/doomed from the beginning because the show is trying so hard to create...

On discord a few days ago I was saying that while "resolve love triangles with polyamory!!" is trendy at the moment, most of the...

Clapping and cheering that the lunar lander carrying human remains is experiencing an "anomaly". Navajo Nation said hey we're...

Hollow

Q: May I ask what the 'no sex in space' rant is? Zero G sounds like fun :<

Ironically all 3 of the books I was vaguing in that post for being cozy and charming in a way that bores me uncritically...

Thank you for applying for a library card!

Forget the NYT blorbo review. Forget the time Booklist reviewed a book that was clearly omegaverse. I just encountered the...

I've started noticing content warnings start popping up more frequently in the front of published books, and I'm curious as to...

As a post-mortem, deeply regret the first two because 1) I'm getting constantly corrected due to not covering every contingency in my offhand post and 2) I have to hear about League of Legends. I have no regrets whatsoever about the sex in space rant. Finally can you believe I'd actually forgotten about the mooncourse.

[angelofsmalldeath-codeine]

The trolley problem in corporate life.

Me in a business review meeting:

Idiot 1: we have to change the process

Me: nope, you have to get your team in order and actually follow it for the process to work. Then give me concrete examples of what is not working so we can improve. And if they don’t have the capabilities and skills to deliver even to the bare minimum standard it’s a you problem. They also need to work on their basic business vocabulary. It is not my responsibility to explain adults and very expensive professionals at that what common words mean.

Idiot 2: the process is bad, cumbersome and it’s too much documentation required.

Me: you haven’t launched a single product in the past ten years. 86% of the post mortem sessions of the past two years are your failed projects. The root cause of each one of them was failure to adhere to the process leading to non-compliance with government agencies, quality controls, financial decisions made by the wrong people failing SOx and a total lack of documentation that would allow us to dispute the patent infringement claims as well as maintain the certifications that cost a lot of time, money and effort to get. I can pull the figures for the money to at went down the drain with all of this if you like me to illustrate it for better understanding.

Idiot 1 and 2: it would be better if take this offline

Me: nope. You were ready to slander me, my competence and expertise in public. We will continue to discuss it in this forum since it is a point in the agenda. We are not dropping because you can’t prove that the process is inherently bad but you exposed yourselves on how incompetent your teams are. And how you are working against my function and failing to lead by example.

And this, kids, is how I solved the trolley problem today.

[windvexer]

Howdy Chicken!

I've got a question I hope it hasn't been asked before. For context: today I did a spell and it went above and beyond what I wanted. Now, this spell was actually a three separate part thing that involved a prayer and an offering which I usually don't do together. I genuinely thought it was an overkill but tbh I needed a miracle to achieve that result lol.

Now, I know that the three of them do work separately with various degrees of success, but I have been practising witchcraft for too little to have a big enough sample size to know what works and when. So now that I want to do a review, I don't know how to go about it because for now I've just been recording what happened and noticing the eventual patterns.

How can I analyse a spell/petition "post mortem"?

Hi!

This is an interesting question and I'm not sure I have an answer beyond what you're already reflecting on.

In my experience, a lot of that postmortem information can come months or years down the road, both as your knowledge pool increases, but also as things become clear in hindsight.

Take as detailed and accurate notes as you can now, including date and time of day, every step of the spellwork, numerous details about the situation that you were working over, and how the spell manifested.

A good method of dissecting past successes is to try and replicate them.

Keep an eye out for things that may have a multiplying, rather than an additive effect; in witchcraft, things paired together may produced changes larger than both of them working independently from each other.

But as far as the details you provided, I'm not certain there is any great mystery to be analyzed. Putting in three times the effort to accomplish your goals may readily provide results in greater magnitude than you're used to.

[crescencestudio]

Intertwine Post-Mortem

i lied. i don’t know if this qualifies as a post mortem. i don’t even know what a post mortem is LMFAOkxkak

but this is my post intertwine release “devlog” chock full of dev experiences, behind the scenes looks, and more for those who want to know more about the process of creating intertwine and thoughts i’ve had in reflection of release/experiencing otojam!

it’s long bc in usual crescence fashion, a bitch loves to talk. so buckle in gamers!

my thank u offering for all the downloads and reviews

Committing to OtoJam

for those who didn’t know, i entered otojam on a sort of Whim. because i am deep in the alaris trenches, i didn’t want to distract myself for too long from my main game, especially when there are people who have paid to support development. after talking to some friends, i thought otojam would actually be good for me. i’d been struggling with burnout and was in a creative rut. on top of that, i’d been doing this dev thing for almost 2 years with no full game to show for it (cries). even if otojam would take time away from alaris, perhaps it would give me what i needed—a kick of Motivation, a dash of Creativity, and some GD Fun.

so i decided about two days into otojam to officially enter it! And thus Intertwine made its appearance

the graphic that started it all

Oh, we are Otojamming

the intertwine editing team assembled and we got to work. because i already had a pretty solid idea of the game (it had been an idea i was sitting on for a while), there was less time spent on brainstorming and more time spent on writing and editing the script. for playtesters, i already have a group for alaris, and a couple of them kindly offered to playtest intertwine for otojam. i spontaneously decided to cast a va after some discussions with the editing team, and max joined. then, with One Week left of otojam, faefield productions entered the scene!

regarding development, the first month was largely dedicated to the script. weeks 1-2 were writing and fleshing out. weeks 3-4 were dedicated to editing and fine tuning. when my editors were reviewing the script, i was creating all the art assets. after the first month, i would say we had most of the gui, one cg, and the base sprite done!

at that time i felt pretty good. we were making good progress! i even was productive on alaris and irl work!

then the Second Month happened lmao.

i always forget the Horrors of fine tuning a build. i’m projecting right now, but i’d argue a lot of developers forget or underestimate the fine tuning/ quality testing stage. during the 4th-6th weeks of otojam, i wrapped up all the assets needed for the beta build. i finished the remaining cgs, all sprite expressions, and the rest of the gui. then i coded all the features into a beta version: learning how to create a messaging system for the first time, nailing the multiple iteration mechanic, cutting and editing the voice acting audio, and other Horrors that i’m sure i’ve since blacked out from my memory all happened during the sixth week of otojam. i was truly in the Coding Trenches.

BUT i got the build done and was able to send it out to playtesters for a week of quality testing. spoiler alert: the build wasn’t perfect and there were many bugs that needed fixing. the seventh week—the second to last week of otojam—was dedicated to this as well as my own tinkering so that the build felt completely Perfect (making sure expressions r exactly how i want them, transitions and audio fade perfectly, animations are perfect, that godforsaken clickable string to get to the next iterations that No One was clicking. all of the tiny aspects that make a game feel really polished). I am Not good with grinding. Suffice to say this was probably the most miserable week.

me every hour: DID U CLICK THE STRING

But once again WE MADE IT! Near the end of the seventh week, orpheo of faefield productions reached out to me and after gushing to each other about how big of a fan we are of one another, we spontaneously collaborated for a custom OST. Enter the eighth week, and we were ALL grinding. playtesters trying out a second build within only two days. editing team making fine tuning edits for the best script. coding. voiced lines that needed the slightest bit of tinkering.

Come 3PM on june 30th (otojam ends 6pm june 30th) and i’m coding the new music room, adding and double checking the new ost, and more. Two hours pass and it’s 5PM. We have less than an hour to submit. 5:30something comes by and with shaky hands, i release the game page and submit to otojam.

flashbacks to college 11:59 deadlines fr

On top of last week crunching, i was also dealing with extreme prerelease stress. i’ve never released a full game before. a demo, i can change. i can still tinker. this isn’t the final product. But a Full Game? My god. what if ppl hate it? or worse, what if ppl are so apathetic, they don’t even look at it and it gets sent to the void? after all, this year’s entries are stunning. they are Bold and Creative and Fun and intertwine is so….

Boring?

Some Lessons—Take Them or Leave Them

lesson 1. don’t listen to prerelease anxiety. that is the devil talking to you. if u have friends at least they will play and be nice to u. if u don’t have friends and no one plays, well it’s not the end of the world!!!! there’s always the next game. and u fckn know what? at least u Made that shit. keep ur head high, icon.

lesson 2. have fun and take care of yourself. the reception to intertwine has been amazing. i couldn’t be happier with it. but at the end of the day, the reason i look back on otojam fondly is because of the very dear friends i had to support me and have fun with me thru it all. life is meant to be enjoyed. it’s meant to be about memories, not metrics! never forget what’s truly important in life (cheesy, everyone boos me, but i’m right idgaf)

where would i be without them

lesson 3. plan. there is room for spontaneity and flexibility. after all, u can’t guarantee everything will go to plan. but with otojam being a crunch, plan as much as you can beforehand to not stress urself out during it. with intertwine, i had a somewhat outline and at least a pretty good idea of the concept, game mechanics, narrative design, mood board, etc. i had character concept art of van. if i had to do all of this during otojam we wouldn’t have made it i’m so srs. i also think when u plan as much as u can before, u have more room and time to have fun during! more polished build and more loving memories it’s a win win.

early concept art tbh i never thought it’d see the light of day

Typical Brand of Crescence Cheesiness

if you’ve made it this far ur a real one. all i have left to say is thank you for the support. while i was proud of intertwine (until the last week of otojam lol), i didn’t know what the response would be. to receive so many kind words has been unbelievably heartwarming.

as i said before, i’ve been in this game dev thing for 2 years with nothing to rly show for it. but during otojam, i could really feel the skills and experiences i’ve gained shine thru. i had a better handle on narrative design, coding things, integrating gui, and even more dev friends to talk to (thank u to all my friends who have played and messaged me U DONT KNOW HOW MUCH I LUV U). it was rewarding in a different sense compared to releasing a game, and i really am glad i did otojam to give me that perspective <3

a lot of things seemed to cockblock otojam this year (or so i’ve heard) between the sheer amount of entries (go us tho), the release of a lot of aaa otome games, and then twitter literally breaking less than 24 hours after otojam ended. even with all that, i’ve been so humbled and honored to see ppl enjoy intertwine. the comments i’ve gotten have honestly made me emotional, with many of you comparing it to games that i heavily admire and or expressing emotions i never would’ve dreamed to have been able to instill.

the otojam experience has been incredible, from the memories to the game to the reception. and i’m very grateful for all the people who made it that way! thank you for enjoying our silly little game made with our grubby little fingies. i hope you all continue to enjoy intertwine (and the other otojam entries from this year) and van!

i luv u all!

[colossal-niamh]

A long vent on MJF's world title run shaped like an essay

There's been a consistent debate about the quality of MJF's title run post mortem and I think I fully stand on the side that it was terrible. Possibly even the worst world title run AEW's had yet (aside from CM Punk's nonexistent 2nd run). Overly lengthy, rarely defended the belt on tv (a total of 5 times in 406 days), diminishing returns on title matches (the Double or Nothing and Full Gear matches are especially bad) and I grew more cold on him as he turned more and more face.

In retrospect I fully believe he should have dropped the belt at All In. obviously creative didn't have the booking foresight to plan around Adam Cole's ankle exploding, but I don't think we needed another 4 months of MJF title run. They should have started the big betrayal and new heel faction at the biggest show the company's ever run and not when both sides of the big feud are too bruised and beaten to work an angle. but that's more fantasy booking than proper analysis.

The Length of MJF's run felt excessive and unnecessary considering the lack of anything substantial for several stretches on TV. A lot of the builds for his title defenses were him being challenged by someone and then MJF sets up a bunch of stipulations to get that match like a gauntlet his opponent would run through. This led to some solid TV matches like Bryan vs Rush, but left the show devoid of MJF himself outside of being essentially a talking head. AEW prior had made sure the world champ was on the card and the belt was a hotly contested prize. Without those regular matches on TV it felt the world champion was distant from the product and was what the world title scene had avoided up to that point, avoidable.

The actual matches MJF did have were inconsistent in quality and in particular his pay per view matches steadily got worse as his run went on. I will say up front I like the ironman match with Bryan and the match with Tanahashi is the only title defense I haven't seen, so maybe that one might be some hidden gem I missed. As for the others, they either range from alright like the Mox and Samoa Joe matches where he won and lost the titles respectively, to legitimately the worst PPV world title match AEW's had in the 4 pillars 4-way. A match where 4 guys nowhere near skilled or experienced enough to put on a quality world title match, which also floundered due to the build up being MJF failing to bounce off of 3 guys with sub par promo skills (side note, Sammy Guevara is the worst promo in the company, bar none). I think the main factor for this is a borrowed observation from Joseph Montecillo's review* of the Jay White match from Full Gear

"This match with Jay White is a strange mix of good and interesting ideas shaped into the entirely wrong fashion. It’s an unwieldy uncanny valley kind of creation–all the elements of “good” wrestling are there but in the wrong order, mutated and warped into an ugly whole. Everything about it feels discordant, unpleasant to behold.

MJF knows all the words, but not the music."

MJF knows what a good match looks like, but doesn't know how to pace or structure one. he's like a artist with some cool OCs and a story in his head, but he doesn't get the mechanics of panel flow and puts too many speech bubbles in the panels.

I found his heel work as champion standard practice for him but good, however as he pivoted to being a face I was fond at first but progressively soured on him. He's an excellent chicken shit heel and capable of some absolute bastard behavior, in fact he's too good. Face MJF comes off as disingenuous mainly for two reason. Number one his entire AEW run was defined by how heinous and untrustworthy he was, literally in the same run he turned face he hospitalized William Regal and shoot threw a drink at a kid on live PPV. Number two is that once he was portrayed as a face, he kept doing shit the exact same as when he was a heel, but now with a cheep city pop and a "I'm your sucmbag!" Once he had a friend AEW portrayed him as a loveable scamp for stuff commentary would curse him out for over half a year ago. He kept the sleezy prick routine and the body shaming and the only real noticeable change is his name calling somehow got worse. The big example of how face MJF doesn't work is the Jay White feud. Lizzy Flanagan at The Sportster* makes the point I'd like to make exactly.

"MJF’s go-to tactic to being a babyface has been garnering sympathy, but his sob story about being bullied as a well-off middle-class child in Long Island has been repeated three or four times now. He then resorts to humor, but the best he can come up with is calling Jay White tofu. Then, he tries some crowd work. This usually works fairly well, as the AEW crowd wants to see MJF succeed, but the promos can’t help but come across as cheesy and cliché. You can put lipstick on a pig. It’s still a pig. You can put a t-shirt and a smile on MJF. MJF is still a heel."

His face work feels fake and undercooked, so when put in a program with a fully realized and, frankly, better character like Jay White, Face MJF falls flat. The guy who's supposed to be the man of the people who recently turned over a new leaf is the same guy that flipped of a child at a public autograph event and mocked Darby Allen's dead uncle. The only thing that's changed as a character is now he has crocodile tears.

MJF's run as world champion was an abject failure. A spotlight that exposed the weakest parts of one of AEW's most popular performers during a creatively frustrating time in the company's short history. An example of many flaws in the modern wrestling landscape and the creative short comings of the man himself. As I write this I assume once Max recovers he'll take up the vengeful babyface role, chasing Cole and his faction. Do I hope it works? sure, but to I expect it to work? No, the experiment failed and it's inevitable that MJF will turn heel again. He has nothing without the bitter chicken shit heel persona, as a face he's a dog with no teeth. All bark, no bite.

*(Links to articles referenced in the replies below)

[mia-studyhaus]

sep 10, 2024

hiii today i had a test and i made a few careless mistakes and i was so sad genuinely... then i decided to eat a chocolate and then make an AAR (after-action-review) or what y'all might know as a post exam mortem. here are my takeaways:

make mindmaps for each section of a chapter

table lists with columns for defining characteristics (e.g. filtration methods w features, pros, cons)

make a sheet just for formulae and important numbers

i still hope that i can grab a good grade for this module... doesn't hurt to do so :")