#project castaway how to build

[pcgamer]

Project Castaway - Building your first shelter

[writingquestionsanswered]

Struggling with Setting and Plot

[Ask edited for length]

enzoid23 asked: I can easily make characters/relationships but the setting and plot are difficult for me. I like stories where characters are stuck together in a new place and have to learn to accept it or find a way to escape, which is a basic concept, but I can't figure out how to do it. I'm trying my to avoid copying other stories but I'm not sure where to draw the line between that and inspiration either. There's too many gaps, such as the how and the where and how many characters. I keep throwing in as much stuff as i can whether it fits or not, like a Mary Sue, but it's plot instead of a character.

First, since you asked about copying vs inspiration, start by reading these posts:

Taking Inspiration from Another Story’s Premise Similarities vs Plagiarism Plagiarism vs Reference vs Inspiration Hopefully that will help you get comfortable with borrowing ideas from other sources but making them into something new and unique to you.

Next, being able to come up with characters is great, but unless those characters are rooted in a particular setting or situation, it doesn't help much with world building and plot. And while some writers can find a plot within a setting, I think for most writers its easier to start with the plot, and once you have the beginnings of a premise, it's not too hard to expand a plot from there. As luck would have it, you already have the beginnings of a premise:

People get stuck together in a new place and have to learn to accept it or find a way to escape.

Now we can look at that and start asking questions. Perhaps the easiest question to start with is "do they learn to accept it, or do they find a way to escape?" Which one? Because those are two very different goals. Choosing one and eliminating the other tightens up your premise:

People get stuck together in a new place and have to learn to accept it.

All right... I think the next logical question is who gets stuck together in a place? Is it two people? Three people? Five people? Twenty-six people? One-hundred people? You don't even have to figure out the exact number right now, but just knowing whether this story is about two people, a few people, a small group of people, a bigger group of people, or a huge group of people is going to really narrow things down.

A small group of people get stuck together in a new place and have to learn to accept it.

Okay... where do they get stuck and how? Let's brainstorm... are these modern day boaters, or a misfit bunch of 18th century buccaneers, who become castaways on a remote island? Are they a group of students whose project gets them sucked into another dimension? Are they far-future astronauts who get stranded on an isolated planet? Keep going...

A small group of students get sucked into another dimension and stranded when their science project goes wrong.

Ahoy, there! A PREMISE!!!

Now you can start brainstorming the specific details... who are these students? Middle school/equivalent? High school/equivalent? University? Graduate school? Where and when is their school located? 1926 Chicago? 1980s London? 2077 Kinshasa? 1926 Shanghai?

A small group of middle school students in 1980's London get sucked into another dimension and stranded when their science project goes wrong.

Time to start world building and brainstorming this alternate dimension. Is it going to be an alternate version of our dimension? Will it be a dimension that's similar to a past time/place on Earth? Will this dimension be like a futuristic city? Will it be something fantastical like a place that feels like an alien city, or like Blade Runner meets Ready Player One? Are there other people in this dimension? Or is this group completely on their own?

Now you can start to think about a conflict... what is the problem that must be resolved by the end of the story? Is it simply a matter of figuring out how to survive in this new place? Are they immediately captured by some faction or army or group, and they must escape, or convince someone that they're not dangerous, or win their freedom somehow? What is the specific goal they work toward in order to reach this resolution? What steps must they achieve? Who or what places obstacles in their path, and what obstacles?

Once you know all of this, you can figure out the nitty-gritty details like how many characters, who each one is specifically, and what their role in the story will be. You can look at various structure templates (like Save the Cat! Writes a Novel, Larry Brooks Story Structure, Dramatica, etc.) for guidance... just don't feel like you have to stick to it exactly. You can also read through posts on my Plot & Story Structure master list for more help with plotting.

I hope this post gets you over the hump, though! ♥

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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[writingwife-83]

Hi, do you want to play Desert Island Fics?

If not, then no worries!

But if yes, then imagine you've been marooned on a desert island. You have to choose which 8 fics you will save from the waves. They can be your own or written by other authors, they just have to be important or meaningful to you. Please explain why you selected them, include your favourite quotes if you like.

Out of the 8, choose your absolute favourite.

And on this desert island you also get to choose a luxury item to have with you, just as long as it has no practical use; and a book to read.

Finally, as you are castaway to your desert island, you get to select who will be the next Castaway.

Good luck!

I’ve had this sitting in my inbox for way too long lol. I knew it would take some time to answer, so I kept being slow about getting to it. But here goes, I’m gonna do my best! And I figured I’d break the first part up and do half fics by others and half fics by me. Also, heads up this is a multi ship list…

The Full House by @strawberrypatty (Emcee) This post s2 canonverse fic has a special place in my heart since it was not only my intro into sherlolly fan works, but also the first fanfic I ever read. It inspired me to try writing fanfic myself. ❤️

Blind Ambition by @opalskylovedivine This sherlolly canonverse fic is just so lovely in general, but it’s also special to me because I was privileged to be the beta reader for it. Good memories!

Repairer of the Fences by @englishable is just one of the best reylo au fics I’ve read. It’s so beautifully and emotionally written. It’s deeply moving but in the softest of ways.

The Green Rushes by darthsydious is absolutely one of the sweetest sherlolly aus. Choice world building and feels all around!

I Told You So. Listen, writing and sharing this fic was an experience like no other has been, and probably ever will be lol. So you best believe I’d want to save that one.

Zephyr. The fact that this is a multi chapter, it has art by @thisisartbylexie , and it became a pod fic? Yep, definitely worthy of being saved.

Half Agony, Half Hope by @thisisartbylexie and myself must be saved because it was such a fun project and the first time we collaborated on actually writing a fic together. I’m proud of how we made a modern Persuasion inspired sherlolly au work with Sherlock in the role of Anne. For similar reasons, my next and last one is…

Alliance also written by both me and @thisisartbylexie . This arranged marriage canon divergent fic was absolutely epic and just everything I could ever want the story of Reylo to be. If I do say so myself. 😂

I know I said I’d do my best but I refuse to choose a favorite. You cannot make me. 😝

As for the other luxury item question, I’m not sure if this is meant to be a book or not. The wording tripped me up a bit lol. If a book, I’ll say the Bible, but if it’s not supposed to be a book I’ll go with shampoo. I’m a grease ball and can’t stand not being able to wash my hair!

Thanks for sending the ask, and for the next castaway (if you want but no pressure!) I’ll tag @musicprincess1990 😉

[adamwatchesmovies]

Return to the Blue Lagoon (1991)

While I didn't enjoy this film, that doesn't mean you won't. No matter what I say, the people involved in this project did it: they actually made a movie. That's something to be applauded. With that established...

Return to the Blue Lagoon is so brazen about its laziness I almost want to give it credit for its audacity. Minus a few tweaks at the beginning and end, this is the EXACT SAME MOVIE as 1980’s The Blue Lagoon. You’ll be bored, you’ll be frustrated… you might also be grossed out.

In 1897, castaways Richard & Emmeline and their baby, Richard, are discovered by a ship sailing nearby. The parents are dead so the boy is taken in by Mrs. Sarah Hargrave (Lisa Pelikan), a widow with a child of her own, Lilli. An outbreak of cholera forces them to abandon their ship. When they do, they land on the same paradisal island Richard’s parents inhabited. Years pass. The now pre-teens witness their mother die of pneumonia. As the two nubile islanders grow, Lili (Milla Jovovich) and Richard (Brian Krause) begin to look at each other in a wholly different way than when they were children.

This movie is about one thing only: two innocent members of the opposite sex living in isolation where society has not corrupted them by teaching them what to expect once they reach sexual maturity. There are many shots where they frolic in the island's clear blue waters and verdant green forest as the rest of us either eagerly wait for them to discover how attractive they are to each other. Well, if you're a creep. I hope you’re watching with a look of discomfort on your face, as Milla Jovovich was 16 when they shot this film and she appears topless a couple of times. Gross. If you're somehow able to separate yourself from that fact, you might be able to give your full attention to the plot… which is a bore.

The film is doubly lazy; first by replicating the story of the two young people inside a Garden of Eden (the very same Garden we saw in "Blue Lagoon"; talk about contrived) and secondly by focusing entirely on the drama of the situation at the expense of the potential Robinson Crusoe story. When the family land on the island, they move into Richard’s parents’ house. They didn’t even have to build a shelter! I’d like to imagine my own sequel to this movie in which Richard and Lilli have a child, attempt to leave the island and die, with their son coming back again, in a cycle that has the technology on the island advance with each generation. Think coconut radio and crab-powered pianos.

There is a conflict beyond the “stop looking at my chest, Richard!” drama but the second it begins you’ll immediately know how every detail will pan out. Even when Return to the Blue Lagoon film tries to mix things up, it contains no surprises. Despite its promises of lascivious and lusty imagery, it's unfit even as a substitute for softcore porn, meaning it’s got zero appeal. (August 23, 2019)

[vitaminwaterreviews]

Red Velvet - Perfect Velvet

Kind of a short album at just 9 songs, but there’s a decent bit of variety in them, and for the most part they’re quite good. This is another album that you often hear people suggest as the GOAT kpop album, and I can definitely see why. I generally prefer Red Velvet’s synthy stuff to their velvet stuff though, and you can kind of tell based on my ratings. Still, they do the velvet in this album really well (it is Perfect Velvet after all) and I can still appreciate how objectively good a lot of this music is, even if it isn’t all totally for me. But still … two of these songs are among my Favorites, and that’s saying something. There’s only one other album with two songs on my Favorites playlist (although now that I’ve heard Pink Tape that’ll probably change soon lol). Average score of 7.9, which feels accurate to my own preferences.

I know this album very well. I listen to several of the songs on a regular basis, and a couple of them are among my Favorite Kpop Songs. But it would be incorrect to do a project on SM girl group albums without including Perfect Velvet, so here we go.

Peek-A-Boo

I absolutely love this music video. Whenever I see the question “if you had one video to show someone to explain kpop to them, what video would you send?” this is always one that comes to mind.

Musically it’s somewhere between synth-pop and r&b. The synths carry the melody in the chorus, but it’s way too dark for regular synth-pop. Red and velvet together

Plus that bass is just so good

Love how they build the chorus up from just synths, adding vocals each time

9/10, iconic

Look

These processed vocals that we here throughout the song, the “bah bah bah bah bah,” I feel like I’ve always known those. Like when I first heard this song, I was like, “I’ve known this melody since the day I was born”

Kinda like Peek-A-Boo, the instrumentals are very synthy, but it doesn’t feel synth-pop, it feels way more r&b

Wikipedia lists the following as genres of this album: Pop, R&B, hip hop, soul, trap, future bass, synth-pop, nu disco

I agree with several of those for this particular song – not so sure where trap happens in this album but I guess we’ll find out

Random male vocalist samples in the bridge

Ugh, I just love the vibe of this song though. It doesn’t do as much for me as some others on this album, but really solid song

8/10

I Just

This song is currently #15 on my list of favorite kpop songs (which I think is a bit low, it’ll probably end up a bit higher next time I adjust the playlist)

Actually let me tell you the story here

Before I got into kpop, I had two absolute favorite songs. One of them was Grant - Castaway (feat. Juneau). I just loved the vibe of that song, it felt sad and yet it was so upbeat and powerful, synthy with super pretty vocals and powerful drops and it just feels SO good. My first kpop song was Likey, which felt similar, but not the same. But since Likey felt similar, I figured I’d give this kpop thing a shot, since it seemed like a decent way to find more songs like Castaway. A couple of years later, I found I Just, which has exactly the same feeling to me as Castaway. So in a way, I got into kpop to find this very song.

10/10 in case you haven’t guessed yet, this song is perfect.

Kingdom Come

Currently #6 on my favorite kpop songs

This song is different.

This is like, a song to listen to when you feel suicidal, y’know?

If Wikipedia lists “soul” as one of the genres of this album, then they’re referring to this song specifically

They did this on Killing Voice which made me so happy

God, Wendy in that last chorus just kills me every time. I’ve heard this song a hundred times and I still get goosebumps

“I love you… ‘till kingdom come”

10/10

My Second Date

This is an album of two halves for me. And I do enjoy both halves but … expect lower ratings for this half

Vibes very similar to I Just, but the vocals are way cleaner

The chanty chorus never totally does it for me

I’m not completely convinced by the dinging that goes through the song. I feel like it makes the song feel a bit too monotonous

The instrumentals are excellent though, and the rap break fits really well

7/10, good song, not my favorite

Attaboy

Ohhhhh this is the trap song, okay yeah that makes sense, no wonder I forgot about it haha

There are a few things about this song that I’m not a huge fan of

The bass/vocal contrast feels a bit to extreme, I kind of want more mids

Also just, the trap bass itself doesn’t feel totally necessary to me, it makes the song feel super dark, but the vocals are so fun! And so I’m just not sure what to think

6/10, I appreciate what they’re trying to do here, it just doesn’t do it for me

Perfect 10

This song is so velvety

Isn’t it weird how you just like, know what “red” and “velvet” sound like? Like idk how to describe it, it just is

Those background synths take up a Lot of auditory space, if that makes sense

Haha maybe they should’ve taken some of the mids from this song and put them into Attaboy

I don’t think this is strictly a slow jam, but like most slow jams, it doesn’t totally do it for me

7/10, definitely not a perfect 10

About Love

For some reason the electric piano in this song reminds me of Wii music

Like the first gens, this feels like a song to kind of fill space. It fits the album really well, but when I’m listening to the album all the way though, it’s kind of just … there

If this was Pink Tape for example, this would be a great spot to throw a random synthpop red banger in, just to keep you interested and on your toes

But it is true that in most albums, the second to last song is the weakest (or one of the weakest (although Pink Tape has no weak songs haha))

I guess I’m just gonna forever be comparing this album to Pink Tape which is super unfair but … that album changed my life dude

6/10, not bad, doesn’t do much special

Midnight Melody

The ballad of the album, right at the end

I know it’s slow jammy and all that, but it has two things going for it: it’s the only r&b slow jam on the album, and it’s Red Velvet

Also it’s in three and we love that

Someone once said to me that hardly any kpop songs are in three, but if this project has taught me anything, it’s that r&b ballads love their 6/8-except-maybe-it’s-3/4 time signatures

I also think that for a slow jam, this song is paced really well. It has the moments with the generic slow jam percussion, but it also knows when to pull away from the percussion and let the piano and vocals do their thing

8/10, which is probably the highest rating I’ll ever give an r&b slow jam

[roosterbox]

Fic Rec Friday 9/29/23

Title: 39 Days to Fall in Love

Rating: Explicit

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply

Category: M/M

Fandom: Inception (2010)

Relationship: Arthur/Eames (Inception)

Characters: Arthur (Inception), Eames (Inception), Jeff Probst, Original Characters

Additional Tags: Survivor - Freeform, Reality TV, Alternate Universe - Reality Show, AU, Romance, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Cuddling & Snuggling, Kissing, Rutting, Frottage, Shower Sex, Anal Sex

Summary: Outwit, out play, outlast. That’s the game. Sixteen castaways are stranded on the beaches of the Philippines and split up into two tribes to survive and fight for the one million dollar prize. Romance isn’t supposed to be part of the strategy, but sometimes it happens anyway.

———

This one’s an old favorite, guys, so please allow me to indulge.

I feel like Survivor AUs are some seriously untapped potential. Just in general, not in Inception fic in particular. So many characters, so many creative situations to put them in, so many relationships and alliances and strategy, JEFF PROBST. They practically write themselves!

I love the flow of this fic. The build-up, of both the tension in the story and of the relationship between A/E. It’s very believably paced. Makes me wish I had seen that season of Survivor, or at least wish it was real, lol. And I also love the side characters. It would have been so easy to put the other Inception characters in as other contestants, but the author didn’t do that. And a lot of the OCs, though the narrative interacts with them very briefly - Arthur and Eames are the draw, after all - seem very interesting and cool. I always appreciate good OCs. Also, Jeff Probst is there too, did I mention that? I was almost more excited for that than to see my boys fall in love, lmao.

Every stop on this train feels earned. Every lingering touch, every kiss, every cuddle. It moves fast only in the sense that it’s reality TV. Kind of hard to take things slow when you’re out in the wilderness with a camera crew all hours of the day, right? But it’s believable, that’s the important part. And the ending! Not gonna spoil it, but man, getting Jeff Probst to help you when you [SPOILER]? Talk about setting the bar high for the rest of us mere mortals, Eames!

This will always be one of my favorite AUs of all time.

———

Next Week: how about some Dreamling again? This one’s got two things I always appreciate in a Dreamling fic: insecure Dream and loving, understanding Hob. Plus it’s got a slight Meet-the-Family sort of plot to it. Well, meet the sibling, in any case (Hi, Death!).

Until next time!

[theprojectreneblogger]

Confirmed: The Sims 4 to Continue After Project Rene is Released

Lyndsay Pearson, the Vice President of The Sims franchise on EA/Maxis, was a guest on today’s Behind the Sims to talk a few details regarding the future release of Project Rene – the upcoming new title on The Sims series.

She confirmed The Sims 4 will still go on after Project Rene is released, saying that both titles “are gonna continue to exist side by side. We plan to support both at the same time and we’re gonna continue to bring even more exciting content to The Sims 4 for the foreseeable future”. Advertisement

Lyndsay also explained how they may approach new game content differently for Project Rene, mixing new free features to the base game (which is confirmed to be free at launch) as well as paid DLC.

You can watch the whole interview starting at 8:34 on the latest Behind the Sims. Project Rene, which is a working title for the next The Sims game, has no release date confirmed yet.

Behind The Sims Transcript

We have the full transcript of that interview right here. So you can read it for yourself. Lyndsay shared a lot on the upcoming game, Project Rene during Behind The Sims Episode 3. One being that Project Rene will not be a Sims 4 replacement, the two games will co exist side-by-side and both will receive regular content alongside each other for the foreseeable future.

Also, what was mention is that the next Sims game will be free to download?! This may not be too surprising, given that The Sims 4 base game is now free to play; however, this information does mark a pretty big shift in the way Maxis and EA are planning to market and sell future releases.

MERSEA: Okay, I’m super excited to have The Sims™ Queen Mother herself, Lyndsay Pearson, back today to chat with me about Project Rene and the future of The Sims™. Sul Sul, Lyndsay.

LYNDSAY: Hey, Mersea. I am very excited to be here today. And Sul Sul to our community. I am thrilled to be back and sharing what we are working on. I think it’s a really good time to be playing The Sims™.

MERSEA: 100%. Maybe it’s just the way I play, but my game really hits different each time. Can you tell us more about how your experience over the years is shaping and setting the stage for Project Rene?

LYNDSAY: Yeah, over the years, you’ve seen us introduce so many versions of Sims experiences, from The Sims™ to The Sims™ Online, The Sims™ Castaway, The Sims™ Medieval, Urbz. We’re always looking for ways to bring The Sims™ to more players and keep that charming character and creation center at the heart of what we make. What must we preserve to make this still a Sims game. And what can we do in this game that we couldn’t do before.

MERSEA: Right. During the last episode of Behind The Sims™, the team shared a look at a whole lot of work in progress with Project Rene. Is that how you’re trying to find that new vibe?

LYNDSAY: Exactly. And with Project Rene, we want to do things from the start that The Sims™ hasn’t ever done and try to do familiar things in a new way. Project Rene will be a new way to play The Sims™. Now, we’ve shared a few of those differences that we’re already exploring, such as the ability to play with friends and across devices, and we can’t wait to show you more of the gameplay itself. And I’m really excited to be building this new and different approach.

Project Rene and The Sims™ 4 are going to continue to exist side by side. We plan to support both at the same time, and we’re going to continue to bring even more exciting content to The Sims™ 4 for the foreseeable future.

MERSEA: Don’t get me wrong. I’m super invested in my Sims 4 storylines, but thinking about the different opportunities we’ve seen in like The Sims™ Castaway and Urbz which, by the way, one of my absolute favorites, it just makes me excited to think about how I’ll pop into Project Rene to play with friends.

LYNDSAY: We want to make it super easy for your friends to come and join you. We’ll actually have more to share about what multiplayer will look like in Project Rene in the year ahead, but I want to talk about one way specifically that we’re going to make it as easy as possible to join.

We intend for Project Rene to be free to download, and that means that when it’s ready and fully open to our players, you’ll be able to join and play and explore Project Rene without a subscription, without core game purchase or energy mechanics. We want it to be easy for you to invite or join with a friend, and that means extending an open invitation for everyone to play.

MERSEA: Really? Bombastic side eye?

LYNDSAY: We’re developing this game in a different way, and we’re bringing everyone along with us, and that means a lot of different phases of development, which can include everything from closed invites and small public tests to large-scale early access options. And yes, when Project Rene is ready, it’ll be available to download for free.

MERSEA: What does that mean for content in the game, like updates?

LYNDSAY: We want to focus on building something strong and cohesive from the start. It definitely won’t start with everything you have in The Sims™ 4, but we’re going to add new experiences and content to Project Rene over time.

MERSEA: Okay, so what might that look like? We talking DLC, packs?

LYNDSAY: Well, beyond regular updates to the core game, we will sell content and packs, but we want to change that mix a little bit. Let me give you a theoretical example. In The Sims™ 4, the only way to experience any weather was if you purchased Seasons. Now, in Project Rene, we might introduce basic weather to the core game for free for everybody. And then a pack for purchase might be focused on winter sports and could include activities like ice dancing or a snowman-building competition.

Building this way means that down the line, we could use wind or rain or clouds for other pack themes as well. Now, it’s a little early to know exactly where we’ll draw the lines, but it’s important for us to lower those barriers to play and give everyone the broadest shared systems because that feels like the best foundation to grow from.

MERSEA: That’s really interesting. I will definitely need to think about this some more and I’ll need to review this all again on The Sims™ Newsroom. Shout out to that team for the recap.

LYNDSAY: As we shared last time, we’re still exploring a lot of different ideas and we haven’t settled on all the details of everything, but it’s important for us to keep sharing. Stay tuned for more updates as we go. But for now, how about a quick summary? Project Rene and other Sims games, including The Sims™ 4, will coexist for the foreseeable future. It means Project Rene is not setting out to replace your current awesome Sims experiences. And because we want everyone to join The Sims™ party when it’s ready, Project Rene will be free to download.

MERSEA: Thank you so much for your time, Queen Mother. I can’t wait to keep learning more about Project Rene, so know that you are always welcomed on our couch.

LYNDSAY: Thank you, Mersea. Pleasure to be here.

[manonamora-if]

A confession for I have "sinned" : Have you ever made a game that overwhelmed you? Like genuinely overwhelmed you? Cuz I have this game which seems like it's going to be a behemoth in terms of coding and writing. Partially because it's too ambitious and I am a newb in coding and an amateur writer. It doesn't help that there's so many branching routes too. I know the story beats and what I want to include but it's still too much. I haven't touch on the LORE yet.

Hi Anon :)

��

Any large project will feel that way. The larger the project is, the more it has the potential to be overwhelming. This is even more true when you are just starting out.

Also, lol at me being stuck with @crimsonroseandwhitelily, I have the whole next scene drafted but I can't seem to write a single sentence I don't want to burn in a fire as soon as it is written. And that project is huuuuge! Also, was kind of the reason of my burnout/disappearance last year.

I know it is tempting to create a large/complex story from the get go, especially when you find something exciting to work on. But if you don't feel confident in your writing/coding just yet, starting out with a smaller project/story to test the water/get in the groove is so much easier/better/helpful for your confidence.

[This is also an advice given to almost all newbies asking questions on the Twine server, start small to get the basics, build on your knowledge]

Maybe pause that project for a bit. Take a break from it, and do something else. Don't think about it. Don't do anything with it. When you come back with fresh eyes/clear mind, strip it bare and build again (this is how I got passed the first scene in @crimsonroseandwhitelily actually...) or start writing a bit you like (that's how I broke my writing block with Exquisite Cadaver).

OR

Pause the project and create a SMALL story. Participate in Jams with a fixed/short time to help ensure it stays short and contained. You can learn a lot in constrained environment. You can also test out concepts/theme you might not have thought of because of your large project...

Here are a few starting/ending soon:

The Goncharov Jam.

The 2-button Jam (i.e. 2 choices max every time, they do accept IF, I'm doing the 1-button one rn )

The Thalassophobia Jam (if you want to make it spooky deep water)

The Twine Sci-Fi Jam (Twine only sorry)

Winter Visual Novel Jam 2022 (for RenP'y and the like)

Castaway Jam 2022 (that's the theme :) there's a cute mermaid couple on the header :P )

And many, many more on the itch Jam page.

~~~~~~~~

SEND ME YOUR CONFESSIONS ! RELIEVE YOUR SOUL!

[forgottenidenity]

Do you feel like you're done?

                All the dreams you had are hard to remember

                                  Well, you're not the only one

The sounds of clanging metal almost fall into a rhythm. Actually if he tore his attention away from his current project? It already was a rhythm. Fingers tapping against metal as the raging fire of the forge keeps the room at a burning hot temperature. A faint hum resting in the depths of his throat as he tightens his grip against the handle of the wrench as he begins tightening the newest nail. One hand pushing the edges of his wild mane of hair out of his face. A faint snort at the next verse. How poetic the words were.

   Well it's over, it's over, it's over

                    I won't be pushed around                                          Move over, move over, move over                                                              Get back or just get out

He gazes at his handiwork. The newest invention that was sure to put him a step further. There’s no doubt it could He build it after all. The faint sparks of the forge drifting across the room as he takes one of the nearby rags to start getting segments of the thick amounts of oil off his hands. The substance was quite easy to burn if he wasn’t careful but it’s not like he had to worry about the element. Arguably of course he made sure all his clothes were fireproof as well! That came with being a fire demon. A very powerful fire demon.

         Set this plane up in flames

                                            It's over, it's over, it's over

                                                                    It's time to burn it down

When did he begin humming to the song? He doesn’t know. The slight tapping of his shoe against the hard stone floor as he moves with the beat, each movement almost in tune to the song that’s somehow overpowering the sound of clanging metal and the raging forge. He doesn’t mind. He peeks his head around the corner, his humming coming to an abrupt stop as soon as he finds the door and opens it. His hair must be a mess, he needs a brush, a cold glass of water and some more scraps. Time to wander around until he gets all three then return to what he was working on.

“ This one goes to the castaways, Who break their backs slaving every day. All these things I can do without, Gonna burn it down, burn it down...” And yet he couldn’t stop slightly singing along to the song he can still faintly hear. Damn it. He quiets himself, huffing slightly once he finds a cold glass of water. Only then does he clock in on the fact the rumored sixth sense is screaming at him as he whirls on his feet, a spark of flames in his free hand aimed in the direction of the possible intruder.

[teatropaloma]

Director's Notes

Welcome to Teatro Paloma and Creative Works of Lancaster’s co-production of Quiara Alegría Hudes’ Miss You Like Hell! This show is Teatro Paloma’s first ever musical production, and it’s been our most ambitious project to date. Miss You Like Hell’s contemporary energetic story,  various modern rhythms, and eclectic choreography also contains an important reminder of the daily reality facing so many undocumented families nationwide. The show’s playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes has said that, "art has a lot of stories that must be told right now about our humanity, the truth of our culture, the meaning of life and the human soul—and that can be white, that can be black, that can be mixed, that can be Latino, but it’s about being human.” 

Since Miss You Like Hell’s publication in 2018, a year before the pandemic, the show has only been produced a few times. We’re very excited to bring this story to Central PA for the first time! Underneath the show’s free-spirited nature is an exploration of the latent threat of disenfranchisement and the importance of family. We follow the story of Beatriz, who sings, “You don’t understand, looking over my shoulder, how unsteady I stand.” However, throughout their journey, Beatriz and her daughter Olivia collect and carry the human connections and allies they’ve made on the way. Their story poses the question to us the audience: Who belongs in this land? A quick look at the U.S. / Mexican border crisis easily shows the sad but real struggles underlined through Beatriz’s pursuit of belonging. Miss You Like Hell reminds us that musicals have the power to expose the territory where the political and the personal meet. 

Thank you for being with us tonight. It continues to be such an honor to produce stories never told before, yet which contain urgent messages about change, belonging, and community-building with cariño (affection). We hope you enjoy the work of our immensely talented group of artists. And above all, after leaving the Ware Center tonight, remember… we are not castaways, we are not rafts, we are not even islands, we are the ocean!

Gracias,

José Rodríguez-Plaza and Maria Enriquez

Click here to see digital program

[land-of-holly]

Rings of Power Episode 2 Liveblog

The opening credits are pretty cool

Where's you're God now, Galadriel? (Literally)

So is the cold fire supposed to put us in mind of the torches from the previous episode?

POKE!

So this meteor guy is obviously a Maia of some kind

Nice that he fell from the sky with a scrap of cloth to protect his modesty.

I love Poppy, the sane friend.

Poppy! None of the elves are handsome! Why would you taunt us like this??!!

I'm surprised they actually kept him hidden successfully

Some people have wondered if Meteor Dude is a Blue Wizard, but I can't imagine them not arriving in a pair. (Spoiler, my guess is Gandalf if they're playing fair, Saruman if they're pulling a switcheroo)

I guess it was useful to have Bronwyn along after all.

Eregion! Where did that giant lake come from?

Feanor's hammer!

"True creation requires sacrifice" That's not ominous at all.

Hypnotic Silmarils confirmed! Didn't expect that.

Stop sucking up, Elrond.

YES I am all on board for Celebrimbor's super forge project! He sounds so excited!!

I love how he talks about the dwarves too

Gonna admit, it took me a sec to figure out why Khazad Dum only has this tiny little gate on the western side of the mountains.

Guess my dream of non Scottish dwaves simply wasn't to be

I love the dwarf masks!

Knowing why the dwarves are so surly makes this make a lot more sense

Oh dear. Your strange giant dude has run off. Who could have foreseen this?

Always a fan of magic powers that you can't really control

The little ear tug is a cute bit of body language

It's not a silly question, Maiar actually only eat on special occasions

Snails, yum! Cronch.

JESUS ow, cool it with the sympathetic magic!

You can hide your ears, Galadriel, but what about the light in your eyes?

So where did these castaways come from?

So obviously the hot one is the one that's gonna survive.

Corsairs prowl these water? The Numenoreans are slacking on the job.

RIP other castaways, we hardly knew ye. We didn't need your deaths to raise the stakes but we sure got em

And obviously I'm not gonna nitpick Galadriel having that name from the beginning, with nary a Celeborn in sight. But, you know. I could.

Elrond stronk. Got those Maia genes. You know, they haven't really mentioned the whole halfelven thing at all yet? And they can't exactly pretend it doesn't exist. He's kinda famous for it. Makes me wonder how much they're gonna build on that.

I choose to believe Elrond did not intentionally throw that challenge, but he did pick one he couldn't win.

"Has it been only twenty" Oh, buddy.

YOU MISSED HIS WEDDING ELROND.

Always working the diplomacy.

I love that the halls of Khazad Dum are spacious, but Elrond still has to duck sometimes.

Oh, I love Disa with my whole heart. Her hair is so cool!

"Gamli" the diffident attempts at naming OCs continue.

Disa and Durin's courtship story is so! cute! I like their dowsing technology too.

He has a tree!

But what *kind* of tree is it, Elrond?

Everything about Elrond's actions is sincere, yet calculated. He certainly is something.

What exactly is Galadriel trying to do with that rope, anyway? There's no sails.

If he's from Bronwyn's hometown how did he get to the Western ocean?? Is she not from way farther East??

Oh man, just watching Arondir crawl through that hole is giving me claustrophobia

Either it's not an Orc, or Arondir's knife is faulty

Again I'm not gonna nitpick names too much, but Theo's is kinda weird; Tolkien didn't generally import Greek and Latin names to stand in for Middle Earth languages (except for some of the Hobbit women's jewel and flower names I guess)

I suppose I understand Bronwyn's instinct to stay with her son and hide instead of running for help while she can.

Lol, fail orc got taken out by two level 1 commoners

Yow, Galadriel was raised by sailors but I guess she never really trained in seas this rough. She should know how to tie a better knot, though

There are A LOT of plotlines in this show, it's hard to wait for everyone to come back around the carousel

Would a lantern full of fireflies actually...work? Very Aesthetic, though.

Could be Radagast, I guess

Nori has a lot of dreams in her head, doesn't she

Is it in Sadoc's book? Is that where you can find the stars?

HE KILLED THE FIREFLIES!

I heard a theory that Durin III is actually just an illusion or hallucination. Interesting if true.

I SWEAR TO ERU IF THERE IS A SILMARIL IN THAT BOX I AM CALLING MAEDHROS ON THE PHONE RIGHT THE FUCK NOW

Evil vampire sword!!! Oh, poor Theo, I don't want you to become a ringwraith

Elendil?? Are we finally getting Numenoreans? Maybe??

See y'all next Friday!

[roundaboutnow]

Two

If Jazz had learned anything in her 16 years, it was that her parents were a force to be reckoned with. The completion of the Fenton Portal was a testament to that.

The portal was an expert piece of technology- where researchers had failed thousands of times before, her parents had finally succeeded. It was constructed delicately, precisely- it had to be, because even the slightest oversight would lead to failure. The portal was a demonstration of not only the Fentons’ expertise in engineering and chemistry, but also their finesse in physics and the supernatural.

When they first began designing the portal, Jack and Maddie estimated that it would take ten years of study and engineering to complete- ten years at the earliest. They finished it in just six, and for the first time in those six years, Jazz let herself feel something akin to hope.

Before that, back when Jack and Maddie were just playing around with the idea of a manmade portal, they spent most of their time studying natural portals. At the time, natural portals were the strongest connection between the ghost zone and the human world- understanding how and why they formed, it was theorised, could help them calculate when and where these portals would appear.

Unlike the researchers before them, though, Jack and Maddie did actually find a way to calculate this. But just as these portals were only around for a short period of time, there was only a small window in which they could calculate where it would form. That window would open when temperatures in Amity Park suddenly fell, about an hour before the portal would form, and would close just as the portal appeared. What other variables were needed to make this calculation was beyond Jazz, but whatever they were, it worked. More often than not, her parents were able to track down a natural portal and study it to its fullest extent.

Back then, this was the height of their careers. For once, their family wasn’t the subject of mockery but of acclaim. After a long period of near-bankruptcy, investors were finally interested in what the Fentons had to offer. Even the kids at school, who paid little attention to what the Fentons actually did for a living, could tell that something had changed and eased up on Jazz and Danny.

Of course, everything went downhill from there.

Danny went missing when their parents were at their busiest- the investors wanted more products, new projects, better results. Whether Jack and Maddie were too busy to pay attention to what their kids did or if they had simply become relaxed in allowing the children near their work, Jazz wasn’t sure. In either case, Danny had been with them when their parents went to study yet another portal.

She didn’t need to imagine what happened that day- there was video evidence that she would go on to watch day after day until the footage was burned in her memories. Her parents’ memories, too, she assumed. She wanted to call Danny an idiot, to blame herself for not being with him, but at the root of it all, she couldn’t help but blame her parents. It was their negligence that had gotten him lost, after all, and as much as she wanted it to, she wasn’t so sure that the Fenton Portal could fix that.

...

The lab alarm was going off.

Jazz became disoriented every time the alarm was triggered, but unlike previous emergencies, this was the first time she was home alone while it was going off. Her parents had given her thorough directions on what to do in this situation, but that didn’t mean she actually knew what she was doing. Instead, she was left with the feeling of panic and the frightening realization that she was the only one who could do anything about it.

She had to find the thermos. It was somewhere in the room- she hadn’t taken it anywhere since her parents had given it to her- but after a while of it just sitting on her dresser, she shoved it into some drawer and hadn’t seen it since. Now, she cursed herself for having been so careless with it- of course the alarm would go off while she was home alone. When did things ever go right with this family?

Jazz didn’t relax when she found the thermos in her dresser- she became colder, picturing what she would have to do. With the thermos gripped in her arms, she made a dash for the lab.

…

She’d seen a ghost in person before- you don’t grow up with ghost hunters for parents without seeing a ghost at least once in your life. But there was a very big difference between seeing a ghost in a controlled environment and being expected to catch one for the first time. Even so, her parents trusted her enough to handle it- and if they trusted that she could handle it, then there was nothing to worry about.

Taking a deep breath, Jazz cracked open the lab door and crept down the stairs, hoping it was all a false alarm. That she could simply turn off the alarm and be on with her day- apparently that had happened before. But peeking around the corner, she found that that was not the case.

There was a ghost in her basement.

With his back to her, she didn’t get a very good look at him, but could see that he was humanoid, whereas previous ghosts had been animals. But luck was on her side this time- the ghost was distracted, studying her parents’ inventions, holding an ecto-gun in his hands and observing it closely.

With a racing heart, she clicked the thermos on, closed her eyes, and pointed in the ghost’s general direction. That’s all she would have to do, her parents had assured her, so when she opened her eyes, the ghost would be gone.

Slowly, wincing, Jazz peeked into the lab again and felt her heart drop.

The ghost wasn’t gone, and he was looking right at her.

…

Danny didn’t have much time to assess where he was or what was happening. When the siren went off, he covered his ears and hurried to his feet- unless he wanted to jump back through the portal, he would need to find an exit.

For a brief moment, he couldn’t help but be reminded of the time he’d escaped Walker’s prison. It had been the first time he’d been in an actual building since falling through the portal, but with a sentence of 8,000 years on his head, he wasn’t about to stick around. Back then, however, Danny had been a human in the ghost zone. Escaping was a matter of walking through walls and avoiding guards. As a human in the human world, there was no reason he would be able to escape so easily.

Under the red lights of the siren, Danny turned to get a good look at the lab, his heart skipping a beat when he recognised it.

This wasn’t just any old lab- it was his parents’ lab.

It had changed- that wasn’t a surprise- but there was no doubt that this was the same lab he’d grown up with, either. On the right was their work table, the wall behind it scorched black. On the left, there were a few finished products, most of which Danny didn’t recognize, but were crafted in the same unique styles his parents so often adopted. In one of the corners was his mother’s chemistry set and in the other, he remembered, were the stairs to the exit.

Logically, Danny knew he should hide or make a run for the stairs- there was always the chance his family would shoot first and ask questions later- but he felt drawn to his parents’ work, looking over the tables full of inventions. He couldn’t tell what all of them were supposed to do- some of them were clearly guns, but others resembled jewelry and old appliances. On closer inspection, he noticed a name stamped across all of the inventions- Fenton- and could feel his eyes tear up. He barked out a laugh and hugged the ecto-gun that was in his hands- he already knew it was his parents’ lab, his parents’ work, but there was something very relieving about seeing their name with his own eyes.

When he had woken up that morning, he hadn’t expected his day to turn out like this- and he certainly wouldn’t have guessed that Skulker of all people would have helped him. This should have been the happiest Danny had been in a long time, except something felt wrong. Beyond the blaring siren and the red lights, he felt something else. A chill. It wasn’t the same as the ghost sense that he’d developed years ago, but the feeling might as well have meant the same thing- he was being watched.

Turning to see who was there, he was taken aback by the fact that he knew her.

He almost didn’t recognise her- she was a lot older than he remembered, but she resembled his sister all the same, with her red hair and narrow face. She was pointing an odd device at him, something that might have been a gun, her eyes squeezed shut in a pained wince.

Again, Danny knew he should run or hide, but he was overcome by the calming knowledge that this was his home. His sister may have been pointing a weapon at him, but this was once a safe space for him. Everything would be okay- everything had to be okay. Why would a few years have changed that?

When Jazz finally opened her eyes, she and Danny made eye contact, but instead of relaxing as he had expected, she stiffened and let out a small shriek. She smacked the side of the device a few times, urging it to work, and backed herself as far away from Danny as possible.

He wasn’t sure what to do then- she obviously didn’t recognise him as anything but a ghost, and unless she was willing to listen, there wasn’t much he could do that would convince her otherwise. There was, however, always a way to prove that he was her brother.

Taking a deep breath, Danny winced under Jazz’s terrified gaze and called over the alarms.

“Jazz!”

...

Thank you guys for your support and for the title ideas! I ended up deciding on just calling it Castaway and I'll probably post it on Fanfiction.net soon.

[dustedmagazine]

For Those I Love — For Those I Love (September Recordings)

There’s the Ireland you know. Leprechauns and pan flutes and weathered Celtic crosses and Joyce and Beckett and U2 and Aer Lingus and wistful stories of Charles Parnell and corned beef and cabbage and Kerrygold butter and potatoes, endless potatoes except in the famine, and Guinness and Jameson and names like Sean and Brian and Roisin and Siobhan and hurling and faded IRA murals and St. Patrick driving all the snakes out and Grian Chatten’s fuckin’ diddly-diddly-aye and a great green sweeping countryside washing out to the ocean.

Then there’s the other Ireland, the real one the tourism board doesn’t touch.

The one in the study that showed 49% of women reported being sexually assaulted or harassed, that 31% of adults experienced sexual harassment, that 15% have admitted to being raped at some point. Sex offenses on the rise, residential burglaries on the rise, public drunkenness on the rise, and all of that was before the pandemic. And somebody has to make up that 5.16% unemployment. For a nation it takes five hours to drive one end of the other in, there’s more than enough of the roughest stuff to make hard hearts of the softest souls — and it’s that Ireland, lacerated and flush with those scraping by to the tune of everyday strains, which serves as the backdrop to David Balfe’s nine-track therapy session and debut full-length under the For Those I Love name.

The entire project is fueled by the suicide of Balfe’s best friend. It helps to know that Balfe’s friend in question also happened to be one of Ireland’s most celebrated young poets and performers, Paul Curran. Before his passing in 2018, the songwriter and vocalist from post-punk band Burnt Out was an outspoken advocate of working class youth identity and the forces conspiring against it. “Dear James,” to take the band’s best example (and one that gets namechecked on For Those I Love), was itself a true story about a teen’s public suicide in the early 2000s. “The pressure of merit, valid work, social status and identity” were at the root of Curran’s art. It’s no different with Balfe: Every one of these songs is shot through with local flavor shedding light on similar experiences, most of them painful.

Some of what you hear on For Those I Love cropped up in cruder, briefer forms across the 47-minute mixtape/hodgepodge Into a World That Doesn’t Understand It, Unless You’re From It posted to Bandcamp in August ahead of “For Those I Love” the single — if nothing else, David’s certainly made his intentions clear — which arrived fully formed both musically and visually the following month. So proves the rest: Written and recorded out back at night in his mom’s shed in Donaghmede north of Dublin’s city center, For Those I Love is a wonderfully open-hearted portrayal of young Ireland akin to contemporaries Fontaines D.C. or the Murder Capital.

The method by which he conveys that perspective, however, shares almost nothing in common with those bands. Indeed, the most jarring aspect of For Those I Love might be the music itself: Balfe talks his way through stories and rarely rises above a quiet flooded monotone of weighty thoughts that runs itself dry irrespective of the track beneath it, which often strikes an optimistic note, a positive tone, an upbeat figure. He’s already been slapped with the “Irish Streets” billing, but his homespun productions are a little richer than Mike Skinner’s and wouldn’t sound out of place at an EDM festival or a Night Slugs party a decade ago, full of post-Burial long synth decays, atmospheric vocal samples and house rhythms as the bedrock for his eulogies.

Take “You Stayed / To Live,” which resembles a Caribou castaway as Balfe describes stealing and setting fire to a couch (possibly the one from the “Dear James” video), then veers into a digression about their younger years hanging at each other’s houses, playing in a band and how fire reminds him of Curran now. “To Have You” is similar, assuming the dynamics of a big room build-up with huge piano strikes, thumping kick drum and, improbably, a sample of Bread’s “Everything I Own”; Balfe’s vocals, meanwhile, wrestle with the instrumentation. It’s not always clear exactly what he’s saying (and not just because of the brogue), but you get the point, understand the message.

“Top Scheme” is comfortably the shortest song on the record at less than three minutes, but it’s also the most aggressive. Balfe notches up the intensity by giving the state a proper goodnight/fuck off flip of the fingers. “How can we not feel this rage / When the therapy costs more than half your wage / And you’re turfed back out the same that very day?” Though he doesn’t always go for the throat of the system outright, it permeates all his and his ilk’s tortured actions.

Balfe is at his best when the beats match the gravitas of the subject matter. “The Shape of You” is a raw heartbeat where the music perfectly matches a lighter tale of wasted youth waking up to a Belgian hospital and the joking romp it took to get him back home; its extended outro, better even than the occasional recorded interstitials between tracks, serves as a space to collect yourself. Along with “Birthday / The Pain” (whose Finn remix, it’s worth noting, eclipses the original in its ebullience), it might be the most uplifting song here. The latter is an ode to surviving a world fraught with violence, but it’s the unexpected brass sample that slides in like a herald announcing love’s arrival that really catches you out.

Yet for all of that, there is still no better song to explain what For Those I Love is about than the title-track. It was a smart move to close the album with “Leave Me Not Love,” which interpolates the opener and brings things full circle, but the wordplay at work as Balfe elevates Curran’s memory to nigh holy status remains the album’s best. You can feel the anguish in his own muted way as he runs back through face guards, grief and knaves talking tunes and poems with too much weight for his age. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more open wound in music over the past year.

There have been times when I’ve, say, longed for a good crumb cake and my mom has commented on how it was one of my grandfather’s favorites, or I catch myself watching thermite welding videos on YouTube a little too long and remember I’m my father’s son. A person isn’t just who they are, it’s what they pass on to the rest of us, the little quirks and the stories we tell ourselves to remember who we’ve lost and who we’re losing. Both are inevitable. “I have a love and it’s full of pain” go the last lines of For Those I Love, but I say they’re indistinguishable, that you couldn’t know the grace of one without the other’s suffering. That’s how you know it’ll never fade. Tell all your friends, I’d say.

Patrick Masterson

[theprojectreneblogger]

Confirmed: The Sims 4 to Continue After Project Rene is Released

Lyndsay Pearson, the Vice President of The Sims franchise on EA/Maxis, was a guest on today’s Behind the Sims to talk a few details regarding the future release of Project Rene – the upcoming new title on The Sims series.

She confirmed The Sims 4 will still go on after Project Rene is released, saying that both titles “are gonna continue to exist side by side. We plan to support both at the same time and we’re gonna continue to bring even more exciting content to The Sims 4 for the foreseeable future”.

Lyndsay also explained how they may approach new game content differently for Project Rene, mixing new free features to the base game (which is confirmed to be free at launch) as well as paid DLC.

You can watch the whole interview starting at 8:34 on the latest Behind the Sims. Project Rene, which is a working title for the next The Sims game, has no release date confirmed

Behind The Sims Transcript

MERSEA: Okay, I’m super excited to have The Sims™ Queen Mother herself, Lyndsay Pearson, back today to chat with me about Project Rene and the future of The Sims™. Sul Sul, Lyndsay.

LYNDSAY: Hey, Mersea. I am very excited to be here today. And Sul Sul to our community. I am thrilled to be back and sharing what we are working on. I think it’s a really good time to be playing The Sims™.

MERSEA: 100%. Maybe it’s just the way I play, but my game really hits different each time. Can you tell us more about how your experience over the years is shaping and setting the stage for Project Rene?

LYNDSAY: Yeah, over the years, you’ve seen us introduce so many versions of Sims experiences, from The Sims™ to The Sims™ Online, The Sims™ Castaway, The Sims™ Medieval, Urbz. We’re always looking for ways to bring The Sims™ to more players and keep that charming character and creation center at the heart of what we make. What must we preserve to make this still a Sims game. And what can we do in this game that we couldn’t do before.

MERSEA: Right. During the last episode of Behind The Sims™, the team shared a look at a whole lot of work in progress with Project Rene. Is that how you’re trying to find that new vibe?

LYNDSAY: Exactly. And with Project Rene, we want to do things from the start that The Sims™ hasn’t ever done and try to do familiar things in a new way. Project Rene will be a new way to play The Sims™. Now, we’ve shared a few of those differences that we’re already exploring, such as the ability to play with friends and across devices, and we can’t wait to show you more of the gameplay itself. And I’m really excited to be building this new and different approach.

Project Rene and The Sims™ 4 are going to continue to exist side by side. We plan to support both at the same time, and we’re going to continue to bring even more exciting content to The Sims™ 4 for the foreseeable future.

MERSEA: Don’t get me wrong. I’m super invested in my Sims 4 storylines, but thinking about the different opportunities we’ve seen in like The Sims™ Castaway and Urbz which, by the way, one of my absolute favorites, it just makes me excited to think about how I’ll pop into Project Rene to play with friends.

LYNDSAY: We want to make it super easy for your friends to come and join you. We’ll actually have more to share about what multiplayer will look like in Project Rene in the year ahead, but I want to talk about one way specifically that we’re going to make it as easy as possible to join.

We intend for Project Rene to be free to download, and that means that when it’s ready and fully open to our players, you’ll be able to join and play and explore Project Rene without a subscription, without core game purchase or energy mechanics. We want it to be easy for you to invite or join with a friend, and that means extending an open invitation for everyone to play.

MERSEA: Really? Bombastic side eye?

LYNDSAY: We’re developing this game in a different way, and we’re bringing everyone along with us, and that means a lot of different phases of development, which can include everything from closed invites and small public tests to large-scale early access options. And yes, when Project Rene is ready, it’ll be available to download for free.

MERSEA: What does that mean for content in the game, like updates?

LYNDSAY: We want to focus on building something strong and cohesive from the start. It definitely won’t start with everything you have in The Sims™ 4, but we’re going to add new experiences and content to Project Rene over time.

MERSEA: Okay, so what might that look like? We talking DLC, packs?

LYNDSAY: Well, beyond regular updates to the core game, we will sell content and packs, but we want to change that mix a little bit. Let me give you a theoretical example. In The Sims™ 4, the only way to experience any weather was if you purchased Seasons. Now, in Project Rene, we might introduce basic weather to the core game for free for everybody. And then a pack for purchase might be focused on winter sports and could include activities like ice dancing or a snowman-building competition.

Building this way means that down the line, we could use wind or rain or clouds for other pack themes as well. Now, it’s a little early to know exactly where we’ll draw the lines, but it’s important for us to lower those barriers to play and give everyone the broadest shared systems because that feels like the best foundation to grow from.

MERSEA: That’s really interesting. I will definitely need to think about this some more and I’ll need to review this all again on The Sims™ Newsroom. Shout out to that team for the recap.

LYNDSAY: As we shared last time, we’re still exploring a lot of different ideas and we haven’t settled on all the details of everything, but it’s important for us to keep sharing. Stay tuned for more updates as we go. But for now, how about a quick summary? Project Rene and other Sims games, including The Sims™ 4, will coexist for the foreseeable future. It means Project Rene is not setting out to replace your current awesome Sims experiences. And because we want everyone to join The Sims™ party when it’s ready, Project Rene will be free to download.

MERSEA: Thank you so much for your time, Queen Mother. I can’t wait to keep learning more about Project Rene, so know that you are always welcomed on our couch.

LYNDSAY: Thank you, Mersea. Pleasure to be here.

[stusbunker]

Hmm - headcanon AU - I’m picturing SPN in a Gilligans Island setting lol 😆

Shelly, I’m so so sorry, but I literally don’t know enough about Gilligan’s Island to do this justice. I’m tweaking it to be a castaway au, if that’s okay?

Dean has a shelter made by sundown their first day, with plans of a larger encampment once they have pilfered the wreckage for scraps and tools.

Sam checks in on everyone, one-on-one, not taking time to rest himself.

Castiel helps wherever he’s asked, he just likes to be useful, but always seems to extend the project due to poor judgement or clumsiness.

Charlie is in charge of setting traps for food and fishing. She gets sunburned easily and is only spared permanent damage after Rowena helps with a palm frond hat and a healing salve.

Jody is the only one everyone listens to. She can even get Dean to chill out and stop beating his frustrations into logs for the east wall.

Claire and Jack are kept apart because parents are dumb about teenagers, even when their conflicting sexualities is apparent.

Eventually, Donna and Dean start a thing, but nobody makes a fuss. Who could begrudge good people good things in a forsaken existence?

They sit by the fire at night and talk about what and who they miss. Dean goes on and on about pie.

Sam retells the books he loves and what a run in a forest on a cold morning feels like.

Jody talks about how grateful she is to be free from paperwork and how easy a mystery is to solve on the island. Generally it was Cas or Jack who did it.

Kevin dies first from infection, they watch his body drift off to sea.

That is what it takes for Dean and Sam to get serious and really start building their way home.

Send me an AU, get headcanons

Ask Box

[biffybobs-archive]

Get To Know Me Tag — Simmer Edition

Thank you for tagging me @whyeverr and @cantseemtohide. I can always rely on you two 😊

Your name: Biffy / Sylvia

Languages you speak: English, passable French.

Are you a mermaid: ooh no, I don’t like swimming in the sea.

Your playstyle: do I ever get to play long enough to have a style?!

Your selfsim picture: She has her own tag and turns up often enough.

Stories or gameplay, builds, lookbooks, edits or cc: Gameplay with a hint of storytelling, lookbooks and some cc recolours.

Your favourite age state: I think they all have their good points.

Your favourite season: Autumn.

Your favourite holiday: Winterfest. I will get Father Winter to be less grumpy one year!

How was your day: Ehhh ok I guess? I started a book and made some nice food.

Your favourite career: I am enjoying the scientist career with Charlie, mostly to make him freeze ray annoying premade colleagues.

Your favourite aspiration: Nerd Brain and Freelance Botanist.

Your favourite ep, sp or gp: City Living & Seasons, Strangerville & Parenthood, Laundry Day.

How old is your simblr: This ‘ere TS4 one is coming up to 2 years old.

Have you woohooed: I have two kids so go figure.

Your favourite skill: Cooking, Piano, Gardening.

The size of your mods folder: It’s in the middle of being culled because it’ s currently 2gb *shudders*

Your 3 favourite mods: MCCC, Pose Player & Teleporter, Faster Skills.

Your interests (other than sims): reading, baking, cross stitch, live music, non-live music 😆 ,  taking over my kids’ craft projects... sleep... 

Your favourite sim (picture if possible): I’m very fond of Celestine already.

which sims games you have played (including mobile games): TS2, TS4, TS2 (DS), Castaway (DS), FreePlay.

Propose a crazy scheme: I actually sit and play for longer than an hour?!?!

Best part of simblr: Making new friends.

Worst part of simblr: Shitty anons, stupid drama.

What other games you play: SDV, Hay Day, and lots of little mobile games to kill time - Cooking Craze, WordBrain, Two Dots etc