#project scope estimation

[asestimationsconsultants]

Key Factors That Impact the Accuracy of a Construction Estimating Service

Introduction

In the construction industry, cost estimation is a crucial process that determines the financial feasibility of a project. A minor miscalculation in cost estimation can lead to budget overruns, project delays, and financial losses. That’s why accuracy in a construction estimating service is essential for contractors, project managers, and developers.

Several factors influence the precision of cost estimates, including material prices, labor costs, project scope, and unforeseen risks. In this article, we will explore the key factors that impact the accuracy of a construction estimating service and how companies can enhance their estimating processes.

1. Well-Defined Project Scope

One of the most common reasons for inaccurate cost estimates is a poorly defined project scope. If project requirements, materials, and specifications are unclear, estimators may make incorrect assumptions, leading to cost discrepancies.

Unclear Scope: Missing project details force estimators to make guesses, reducing accuracy.

Frequent Scope Changes: Modifications after estimation can alter material and labor costs significantly.

Solution: Clearly define project requirements before engaging a construction estimating service and update estimates as scope changes occur.

2. Quality of Blueprints and Specifications

The accuracy of an estimate depends on the quality of the blueprints and project specifications provided. Incomplete or conflicting plans can result in incorrect material takeoffs, leading to miscalculations.

Incomplete Drawings: Missing dimensions and unclear layouts lead to errors.

Inconsistent Specifications: Variations between the design documents and project requirements can create discrepancies.

Solution: Ensure all blueprints are accurate, well-detailed, and approved before submitting them for cost estimation.

3. Material Cost Fluctuations

Material costs are one of the most variable components in construction. Prices for materials such as steel, concrete, and lumber fluctuate due to market demand, inflation, and supply chain disruptions.

Price Instability: Global market trends, tariffs, and economic conditions impact material costs.

Substitutions and Availability: Limited supply can force the use of costlier alternatives.

Solution: Use a construction estimating service that integrates real-time pricing databases to reflect the latest material costs.

4. Labor Costs and Productivity

Labor expenses make up a significant portion of construction costs. Labor rates vary based on location, workforce availability, and project complexity.

Skilled Labor Shortage: Higher demand for skilled workers drives up wages.

Labor Productivity Variations: Estimators must consider realistic productivity rates to avoid underestimating labor costs.

Solution: Conduct market research on labor rates and include productivity assessments in labor cost estimates.

5. Accuracy of Quantity Takeoffs

A construction estimating service relies on quantity takeoffs to determine material requirements. Errors in this stage can drastically impact the final cost estimate.

Manual Errors: Human mistakes in calculations can lead to material shortages or excess costs.

Incorrect Measurements: Misinterpretation of construction drawings can result in inaccurate takeoffs.

Solution: Use digital takeoff tools that automate the process and reduce the risk of human error.

6. Site Conditions and Location Factors

The physical conditions of a construction site significantly influence project costs. Factors such as soil type, weather conditions, and accessibility can impact labor and equipment costs.

Remote Locations: Higher transportation and labor costs due to distance.

Difficult Terrain: Additional work required for site preparation increases expenses.

Solution: Conduct a thorough site analysis before estimating costs and adjust estimates based on local conditions.

7. Contingency Planning and Risk Management

Unexpected project risks can lead to financial setbacks if they are not accounted for in the estimation process. Common risks include permit delays, design changes, and unforeseen environmental factors.

Lack of Contingency Funds: Failure to allocate extra funds can lead to financial struggles during the project.

Unanticipated Costs: Legal and regulatory changes may require additional expenses.

Solution: A good construction estimating service should include contingency allowances (5–10% of total project cost) to cover unforeseen expenses.

8. Estimating Software and Technology

The tools used for cost estimation can make a significant difference in accuracy. Outdated manual methods are prone to errors, while modern software solutions enhance precision and efficiency.

Manual Estimation Risks: Increased potential for human error and time-consuming calculations.

AI and Automation Benefits: AI-powered construction estimating services analyze vast amounts of data for better accuracy.

Solution: Invest in advanced estimating software that integrates real-time data and automates calculations.

9. Experience and Expertise of the Estimator

The accuracy of a construction estimating service also depends on the experience of the estimator. Skilled estimators understand industry standards, potential risks, and pricing trends better than inexperienced ones.

Lack of Industry Knowledge: Inexperienced estimators may overlook critical costs.

Improper Use of Historical Data: Inaccurate use of past project costs can distort estimates.

Solution: Hire experienced estimators and ensure continuous training on the latest industry trends and estimating techniques.

10. Economic and Market Conditions

External economic factors such as inflation, interest rates, and supply chain disruptions can impact construction costs. Estimators must factor in these variables to create realistic budgets.

High Market Demand: Increased demand for construction services can drive up material and labor costs.

Inflation and Tariffs: Rising costs of imported materials can affect estimates.

Solution: Stay updated on economic trends and adjust estimates accordingly.

Conclusion

The accuracy of a construction estimating service depends on multiple factors, including project scope clarity, material and labor cost fluctuations, estimator expertise, and the use of advanced technology. By addressing these factors, construction firms can improve cost predictability, reduce financial risks, and ensure successful project execution.

Investing in modern estimating tools, regularly updating pricing data, and refining estimation processes will enhance the reliability of construction estimating services, leading to more profitable and efficient construction projects.

[phoenixiancrystallist]

My fellow fic writers, do you ever reread something you wrote and get slammed with a fully rendered cinematic sequence so vivid you forget for a moment that it doesn't actually exist?

I don't have the ability to make that cinematic but oh my goodness golly gosh do I want to so bad ;-;

[kenomacreature]

A META-HISTORY OF ELYSIUM CORONA MUNDI

Chronicling (almost) everything we know about the development of Robert Kurvitz's quasi-sacral object complex

This post represents an attempt to gather (almost) all the reliable public info we have about the broader worldbuilding of Elysium Corona Mundi (the series to which Disco Elysium and Sacred and Terrible Air belong) and how it developed over time into one place, presented more or less chronologically and in a way accessible to fans unacquainted with the, shall we say, more arcane lore of Elysium. In the original incarnation of this post, basically every sentence was scrupulously referenced; however, referencing is a major pain in the ass on tumblr, so instead I just have a broad list of sources at the bottom and if you want to inquire any further into a specific claim you can just message me.

I'll also warn readers that the sections discussing the Torson & McLaine campaign and the (currently cancelled) sequel to Disco Elysium contain potential (albeit relatively minor) spoilers for the planned plot of that game. The creators still hope to make that game one day, so if you want to go in totally blind, you know what to avoid.

Evermier

The first serious worldbuilding project that Robert Kurvitz embarked on dates back to at least the year 1997. It was developed with his childhood friends in Estonia, including later Elysium worldbuilders Martin Luiga, Argo Tuulik and Kaspar Kalvet, and went by the name Evermier. This was a medieval fantasy setting formed around a tabletop roleplaying system that Robert Kurvitz and Martin Luiga have referred to as “bootleg Finnish Dungeons and Dragons,” but which Argo Tuulik suspects was actually a Powered by the Apocalypse framework. The vast majority of the boys’ time with Evermier was not spent actually playing any campaigns, but rather formulating the setting and mechanics (both Argo and Luiga ended up never participating in a roleplaying session of Evermier). Argo splits the time spent conceiving Evermier into two broad periods – one he dubs “Evermier 1.0,” which stuck close to traditional Dungeons and Dragons – and one dubbed “Evermier 2.0,” where no tabletop campaigns were ever actually played and all the time was spent system-building. Argo estimates this latter period lasted some 2-3 years.

Scope creep quickly hit the project, with character sheets evolving into whole character books. Luiga alleges that that “the wizard book” was supposed to have 350 spells altogether, each with at least a half-page story about the spell, in prose, and that “about a healthy third of the book got done in the end.” Argo gives a different number, stating that early estimates for it had more like 900 spells, but agrees that two-thirds of each page would’ve been reserved for “juicy literary stuff” about the spell in question while the rest of the page was dedicated to stats, and says that Luiga and Kaspar wrote a lot of excellent stuff for these spells.

Argo says there were about twenty different schools of technology (such as “metallurgy” and “optics”), at least twelve classes of mages, and “so many” subclasses of elves. There was also a subclass of dwarf that, instead of being stocky, chubby and bearded like traditional dwarves, were veiny and more like “Russian miners.” When implementing necromancers, Robert “zoned in on this soul aspect,” which later became the basis for Elysium’s pale. Argo describes these necromancers as “hobbits, but with these little lanterns that guide spirits or souls from this massive fog.” Luiga places the invention of this “fog of death with whom some could communicate” as happening late in Evermier’s development and likewise considers it a primitive precursor to what would become the pale.

The worldbuilders spent a lot of time gearing up for an ultimate roleplaying session that never ended up materializing, but their artist friend Jüri Saks drew illustrations in anticipation of it, including character portraits. Luiga’s character was a “sickle-elf” whose class was called “saint.” This saint character was a handsome elf with small pointy ears and a neat little beard, who wielded two “light swords” (possibly katanas), and a crossbow called Crucifix on his back. The character was from a “grim northern land” and was a “religious lunatic type” who believed in a “grim, monotheistic God.” Argo alleges that Luiga related to this character so much that it almost became a part of his persona; he “developed this mode that sometimes when we were drinking he happened to slip in, where he would start judging people. I would like to say that it still remained within the boundaries of normalcy, but uh, unfortunately it didn’t.”

Kaspar Kalvet at some point played an archer character named Minor Mortifer (“Small Death-bringer”), and there was also a dwarf king named Fuirum Thundergate.

According to Luiga, the name “Elysium” was suggested by someone on the dragon.ee forums, but it took half a year for Robert to start seriously considering it. This was back when the setting was still a medieval fantasy world. Luiga and Argo both agree that the historicized Elysium as we know it now was born around the time when Robert decided to get rid of fantasy races, because – as Argo puts it – “they were kind of stupid.” With this decision, Evermier underwent a modernization process of sorts, an attempt to bring the setting closer to real life, where many other fantasy elements were stripped away in favor of more realistic representations of cultures, mostly in the form of nations. Argo says that many of the fantasy races transformed over the course of this process into the nations of Elysium – the dwarves became the nations of Graad, the elves became the great desert isola of Iilmaraa (formerly Armaghast, a nod to Dan Simmons’ Hyperion, still referenced to this day with Iilmaraa’s Erg desert), the night-elves or star-elves eventually became Seol, and the snow-elves became Katla (which apparently has not changed too much since the Evermier days, and whose namesake is the dragon in Astrid Lindgren’s novel The Brothers Lionheart). Among the first innovations of the new modernized setting was the concept of floating magnet trains, later described in Sacred and Terrible Air.

After the Evermier setting had been discarded, many of its ideas ended up being repurposed into historical periods within the new historicized Elysium setting.

The Elysium tabletop campaigns

Between the years 2003 – 2007, three tabletop campaigns were played in the then newly formed Elysium setting. These all took place in Revachol during the Current Century and featured Robert as dungeon master. The first campaign seems to have been called Soul Milton’s World Autumn, the second one Riget and the final one known simply as Torson & McLaine, or alternatively the RCM campaign. The first two were played at Robert’s old apartment in the concrete block project at Mustamäe, while the third one was played in the house of Luiga's dad, which the three later lived together in following his death.

Soul Milton’s World Autumn

Of the three campaigns, Soul Milton’s is arguably the one most shrouded in mystery as it stands. It took place in Revachol and Martin Luiga played the titular character Soul Milton. The character has been described as “one of the cornerstones of the Elysium mythos” and an “aspiring world-historical person.” By the time of the campaign, Milton seems to have become an amnesiac as a result of “suppressing his own mind to protect himself from his enemies,” and in this process apparently also adopted a disguise by “putting another skin on himself” (what precisely that means, we don't know). He was “very rich” and came from a well-off family, had a complicated and possibly romantic relationship with his sister and was a “politician slash businessman” who “wanted to be the innocence of consumerism.” As it turns out, the enemies who were chasing him were the Therriers of Elysium’s final innocence, Ambrosius Saint-Miro (a major figure in both Sacred and Terrible Air and Full-Core State Nihilist, to be discussed later), who Soul Milton met at one point. Saint-Miro apparently told him that “there has never been an innocence who is also not an innocence.” This encounter places the Soul Milton campaign firmly after the events of Disco Elysium, possibly in the late Fifties or Sixties. During this campaign, Argo played Soul Milton’s horse carriage driver, a man by the name of Elroy Quint Duval.

Also associated with Soul Milton are two other characters. Before Sacred and Terrible Air was conceived, Robert had planned to tell the story of Elysium in three books; one starring Soul Milton, another starring a character named Dister, and the third a character named Dallasz.

Dister, or Marius Dijsters, was an extraphysicist and published author hailing from Oranje. He was a son of diplomats, one of them the grand ambassador of Oranje on Iilmaraa. He seems to have been a significant enough figure to have an entire strand of thought – Disterism – named after him (mentioned in the inside covers of Sacred and Terrible Air), and like Soul Milton, he had an antagonistic relationship with Ambrosius (as made apparent by an incident where he was threatened by the innocence’s Therriers at age 25). He is also apparently involved in some way with Theo Van Kok (of Sacred and Terrible Air fame), along with a Paul Messier (presumably the husband of Disco Elysium's Joyce Messier), apparently the beneficiary of such prestigious titles as "Enemy of the Press '67" and "Worst Person of the Year '67."

Information is rather scant on Dallasz, but during the making of Disco Elysium, there were plans to repurpose him into another project, a comic book named Mercurio Dallasz and the Twelve Kojkos which was going to be illustrated by Aleksander Rostov. This project unfortunately fell through, but we know the premise: a band of kojkos under Dallasz’s leadership attempt to assassinate innocence Saint-Miro. This was presumably an Inglourious Basterds type affair. 

Riget

“It’s better to die in the Kingdom than live in a shithole.”

This was the tagline of Elysium’s second tabletop campaign, Riget, whose name is Danish for “kingdom” and was taken from Lars von Trier’s mini-series of the same name. Once more, the setting was Revachol, but this time it was limited to a peculiar part of it: Le Royaume (French for, again, “the Kingdom”) a vast network of dungeons and burial chambers two kilometers beneath the city, housing ancient ruins and remnants (quite possibly of the Seraseolitic civilization mentioned in Disco Elysium), along with treasures such as bioluminescent plants which have adapted to living in total darkness. The stars of this campaign were three impoverished children, all between the ages of 10-12 and members of a gang named “Earthworms,” who decided to venture down into the catacombs in search of valuable artifacts to sell. At some point, these kids somehow found themselves unable to get out of Le Royaume, supposedly trapped underground by demons who sought to use the children as vessels to escape back to the surface. When this campaign was being played, demons were still a part of the setting and haunted the halls of the underground network, along with monsters – such as the armakhaan beast, also known as Lelo Lelo, a terrifying blind and flightless hunter killer bird which was a mix between the xenomorph and cassowary. As for whether demons are still part of the setting in any way; both Argo and Luiga's statements are too ambiguous to reach any firm conclusion. Argo does note that the concept of 'demons' connotes something subtly different in Estonian than the scary red guys in popular Western culture, and are more like a primordial evil.

In the campaign, Argo played a boy named Miron, whose nickname was ‘Sneaker’, while Luiga played Joschka, a crippled boy with a bad leg. During the campaign, individual roleplaying sessions with Robert were held where the players’ stories evolved in parallel without them being kept on the same page. Each of them would get info the others were not privy to: Argo’s was that Joschka is unaware of the fact that he’s not considered a true member of the gang; in reality, he’s an outcast generally considered a weird, creepy weakling, and was only brought on for his lockpicking and mechanical skills.

Eventually, the Riget campaign got quite far into “Lord of the Flies territory.” Near the end, Sneaker and the third boy (played by another friend) conspired to kill Joschka deep underground.

Torson & McLaine

The worldbuilders continued to refine the roleplaying mechanics they were working with for the campaigns. By the time of Riget, the basics of the Metric system had been introduced, with the now familiar INT, PSY, FYS, and MOT. But according to Argo it was the RCM campaign, known principally as the Torson and McLaine campaign, which was “the first mature cycle of Elysium storytelling.” It took place, once more, in Revachol – this time in a ghetto called Jamrock, named after a Damian Marley song, and was focused on the goings on in Station 51 (renamed Precinct 41 by the time of Disco Elysium), the RCM’s lone precinct in Jamrock. The campaign took large amounts of inspiration from the TV series The Shield and its depiction of corrupt police officers and the intermingling of gang warfare and state-sanctioned violence. A central concept was: the cops are a gang, and the gangs are cops.

The RCM campaign began on a sort of prologue session, wherein Argo and Luiga played characters named Antwone Novak and Trinidad Tranquile respectively, two junior officers newly recruited into the RCM. Antwone was a “petit bourgeois type,” whereas Trinidad was a young communist who had recently been given time off work due to excessive violence. Luiga describes him:

He worked at a meat shop that belonged to Carson Torsson, Mack Torson’s dad, and had a system of stealing from work in order to ‘adequately compensate for his labour’. He also liked to practice a crude type of critical theory in the vein of ‘this building has been made that large to humiliate me, to show off with a power greater than me, to scare me into submission’. And he had a system of smoking no more than five cigarettes per day to cut down on smoking costs — Kim’s single cigarette habit might be a distant echo of that. He had, I think, a 7 in PSY (at least 5) and 2 in INT and mediocre physical stats, the core system was pretty much set by then.

At the end of this prologue session, Station 51 became the target of a terrorist attack. We don’t know much about the perpetrators beyond them being “Church of Evil type guys” in Luiga’s words, but the dice was rolled badly and Antwone and Trini both ended up dying in a “horsebombing” attack, falling onto the bridge outside the station.

Map of Station 51, located in a repurposed steel mill.

Going forward, Argo and Luiga had to find new characters to play, and they ended up going with ones they had earlier conceptualized, half-jokingly, on one of their many walks around Tallinn from parties and other events, since public transportation was notoriously unreliable. These characters were Chester McLaine, played by Luiga, and Mack “the Torso” Torson, played by Argo. Torson was derived in half from Vic Mackey, the protagonist of the Shield, and half from Argo’s own personality. Argo says that Luiga put his own personality into Chester as well, but isn’t sure where the other half of that character came from.

The main plot of the campaign centered on a revenge operation against those who perpetrated the attack on Station 51. In the second session of the campaign, Torson and McLaine are involved in a church raid; though Argo takes care to mention that he doesn’t think this is the church raid mentioned in Disco Elysium, and that it’s not a Dolorian Church but rather the “Armed Church of Saint-Michelle.” Among the tasks of Torson and McLaine were gathering “guns and drugs” for the “big revenge operation.”

Mack Torson was an idiotic body builder, an admirer of Lieutenant John “the Archetype” McCoy, the Station’s resident mass murderer, and altogether “way too stupid to concentrate on the main plot and politics of the police station,” focusing his attention instead on matters like “how to get it on with the captain’s secretary and tattooing the word ‘Jamrock’ on his body hundreds of times over.” Chester McLaine was a little more perceptive, wondering about things such as “what the hell is going on with the armour maker or Nix Gottlieb,” but was still an all-around uncritical person who put a lot of stock into “loving the captain” and “being a communist memebot.” McLaine was also “a sword guy,” since at this point in the worldbuilding swords were still viable weapons, with guns being slow to reload. Torson and McLaine lived together, along with two other cops, Sundance Fischer and Elfboy Williams. “Elfboy’s thing was being the dexterity bro, in which he continually lost to McLaine, and Sundance’s thing was having a fat ass and cleaning his guns all the time.” Torson had a wife named Tessa Torson, and later in life both Chester and Mack would apparently raise adopted daughters, Tessa and Triss (whether these Tessas are separate characters or represent the same character at different stages of development is unclear; Argo and Luiga seem to contradict each other, unless there's something very weird going on).

Torson and McLaine both regularly abused their powers, as RCM officers in general are prone to do, and in their heads they were justified in doing so. A highlight of the RCM campaign had been sessions dubbed “the Ballad of Chad Tilbrooks and Émile Mollins,” centering on two junior officers which were ritually abused and exploited by the older members of their station, including Torson and McLaine. At one point, Torson and McLaine were also involved in an interrogation of a local religious figurehead which devolved into mutilation torture, which only the “bullet-lobotomized” officer Damien “44” Latrec called out for what it was (enthusiastically). The interrogation ended up being ineffective as the religious leader simply “retreated into a happy place inside his head.”

The Captain of Station 51, Ptolemaios Pryce, was immensely respected and glorified by its officers, whereas the station’s lazareth Nix Gottlieb, while also respected, was generally resented and found hard to tolerate for being “an absolute horrible cunt.” In spite of this, Nix Gottlieb was known to have a curious friendship with Pryce, talking alone with him in the Captain’s office long into the night. This fact regularly perplexed the officers of Station 51.

Eventually, at some point in the campaign, Torson and McLaine would come to the focal point of the story, when they make a shocking discovery: the reason for Pryce and Gottlieb’s strange friendship is that they are both members of the top-secret underground anarchist organization the Ultra, and not only are plans underway for a national liberation movement freeing Revachol from Coalition control, known as THE RETURN, but the two have set their sights on a much larger goal: world revolution. 

The novel cycle

No more campaigns were played in the Elysium world after 2007, when the boys stopped playing the RCM campaign (with the story unfinished). Robert Kurvitz instead shifted his attention to writing a book in the Elysium universe. Eventually the plan became for it to be the opening to a cycle of novels, totaling eight altogether. We have the English titles of each book and their epigraphs, along with the order of the series, from a post by Kurvitz on the dragon.ee forums.

They are as follows:

#0 A SACRED AND TERRIBLE AIR My heart will not rest until it rests in you. - St. Augustine

#1 THE COUNTERMEASURES What am I searching for in your dreams? I am not searching. I am merely cleaning up. - Christian Emmerich

#2 NO TRUCE WITH THE FURIES Man-kind, be vigilant! We loved you. - Julius Fučik

#3 MADRUGADA It must be lit as dreams, by lightning flashes only. - Witold Gombrowicz

#4 TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY NINE DAYS REMAINING Evening brings the child back to the arms of the mother. - Sappho

#5 COALITION WARSHIP I don’t want to be in no indie shit. I want to be in the big ones. I want to be in the ones that matter. - Mickey Rourke

#6 WE ARE THE WAITING What remains, is longing for something completely different. - Luis Althusser

#7 INDIFFERENCE A great silence, some low pressure front is forming. - Arvi Siig

Sacred and Terrible Air was eventually released in Estonian back in 2013, and after the success of Disco Elysium plans were made to translate the book into English. Rumor goes that this translation was very far along or even finished, but unfortunately all plans for releasing this translation to the public have been halted with the ongoing legal dispute.

Fortunately, dedicated fans have taken it upon themselves to translate the book into English for those particularly interested. The most successful translation by far is the one by Group Ibex, which still receives updates to this day.

Read it here.

Full-Core State Nihilist

Many don’t know that Sacred and Terrible Air is actually not the only written work predating Disco Elysium. Before even Sacred and Terrible Air was released, Martin Luiga wrote a short story later given the English title Full-Core State Nihilist, which was uploaded to the old ZA/UM blog. While obviously not as meaty a text as Sacred and Terrible Air, it deals with some overlapping themes and gives us our first proper window into the nation of Mesque, so important to the broader narrative of Elysium.  

Full-Core State Nihilist was later heavily edited and uploaded to nihilist.fm, another blog site which many of the ZA/UM members were active on.

Finally, in 2022, Martin Luiga translated the Estonian story, basing his English version on the original ZA/UM blog version, and uploaded it to Medium. This translation itself could be seen as a third edit of the story, featuring new references to Disco Elysium.

(As it happens, I have also arrogantly taken it upon myself to create my own translation of this brilliant story, which combines elements from all three versions, and is an attempt to render the prose in slightly less idiosyncratic English, closer to the “house style” of Disco Elysium, while remaining heavily informed by Luiga’s own translation.)

You can find Luiga’s translation here and my version here.

THE RETURN

In 2014, Robert Kurvitz pitched an idea to his friend and associate, novelist and businessman Kaur Kender, to turn the Torson & McLaine roleplaying campaign into a full-fledged video game for PC. The pitch proposed a 3000 EUR investment to produce a vision document, with design and artwork handled by Aleksander Rostov and Juri Saks, detailing the setting, plot, game mechanics and art style. In 2015, this document was finished, and by this time a provisional name for the project seems to have been settled on: THE RETURN.  

This vision document reveals that the game was once planned to feature turn-based tactical combat. The plan was also for the player to create their own character from certain “archetypes,” each with different personalities, talents and appearances. Over time it became clear that these plans were too ambitious; by 2016 the archetypes had been narrowed down into a single character – the “disgrace to the uniform” Harry du Bois – and the prologue chapter of his story, set in Martinaise, was split off into its own game. This smaller project received the title that originally was given to the third novel in the planned cycle (which was almost certainly anticipated to center around the story of Precinct 41 in the year ’51) – NO TRUCE WITH THE FURIES.

No Truce became Disco Elysium and the rest, as they say, is history. But unlike many fans who view Disco as a singular statement that needs no further comment, the developers were far from done with the world they had created. The dominant internal view, especially among the original worldbuilders, was that Disco Elysium was merely a minor project to get ZA/UM’s foot through the proverbial gate. Work on the true game – the one they had wanted to create all along – could finally begin now.

As far as we know, the plot of the game would’ve stuck fairly closely to the events of the Torson & McLaine roleplaying campaign. The game was to open with an attack on Precinct 41, and the rest of the game would’ve been a revenge story of sorts. Players would assume control of Harry again, and this time his primary partner would be Jean Vicquemare, although there would be an assortment of other potential party members. The map would be at least four times bigger and set in Jamrock.

Plot points which would be explored in the sequel had already been set up in Disco Elysium – among these are Pryce and Gottlieb’s revolution, Le Royaume, Edgar Claire, and La Puta Madre. Cuno and Cunoesse would’ve featured as returning characters; not much is known about how Cuno and Kim would’ve been integrated into the game given how variable their endings in Disco Elysium are, but Argo says that he would’ve insisted on Cuno returning. X7 – the now-cancelled DLC project which Argo worked on for the remainder of his time at ZA/UM after Robert, Rostov and Helen were ousted from the company, would’ve featured Cuno as the protagonist. Meanwhile, Cunoesse was planned to reappear in THE RETURN as a leader of a gang of kids in Le Royaume, according to Martin Luiga.

Obviously, the characters of Precinct 41 would've featured heavily, and we'd be introduced to many familiar names which we were already given glimpses of in Esprit de Corps checks in Disco Elysium. One of these would be Lt. Berdyayeva, a superior of Harry’s, whose daughter is Jean Vicquemare’s ex. A character we know nearly nothing about except for the fact that he was conceptualized back in the tabletop days as a sort of joke character, but survived all the way into the planning stage for THE RETURN, is “Marivald the Merry Butcher” – what his role might've been, your guess is as good as mine.

Pryce and Gottlieb’s goals in the game might've involved an attempt to unite several diverse groups with a common interest in an independent Revachol; this would’ve included the besmerties, the West Revacholian crime syndicates mentioned in Disco Elysium. Prominent among them would’ve been La Puta Madre, a Mesque gang leader and drug manufacturer, a man of such immense power that he has RCM officers tending his poppy fields in terror (his influence also seems to survive past the events of the game; he gets a mention in Sacred and Terrible Air). The Madre would’ve apparently been an attractive feminine-presenting man, impeccably dressed and wearing beautiful makeup; his gender-nonconformity a way of projecting power over the traditionally macho culture of Villalobos. The rival gang, Ahura Mazda, led by a gangster known as the Mazda, would’ve presumably also featured prominently – Rostov recently released old concept art depicting one of their gang members.

There were more plans for the sequel that only came along after the development of Disco Elysium itself. Robert has talked about wanting to double down on events like the Mercenary Tribunal, handling big action scenes within the more closed literary format of the FELD dialogue system, hopefully allowing for even more variation than was possible in Disco's big confrontation. Another infamous idea was the inclusion of a second protagonist – a pregnant woman, about 5 months along. Kurvitz has mentioned this idea in interviews, saying that it would be "an incredible writing challenge" within Disco Elysium's internalized skill system: "It would be unbelievable to use our skill system to speak about the bodily sensations of having another organism inside of you, while you're in the setting and talking to another person." That said, the addition of an entire new protagonist is very ambitious indeed – it's not clear whether the idea would involve alternating perspectives of some sort, or a choice in the character creator of which one to go with, but Kurvitz made it clear that these would be entirely different characters, unlike many games which offer only a superficial choice between male and female playable characters. Kurvitz expressed some doubt about being able to include this in the game, but at least expected it to be integrated via an expansion post-release if not.

Miscellaneous info

Argo and Robert have both hinted that there is a metatextual element to the overarching Elysium narrative. Whenever presented with readings or theories that contextualize the game as some sort of story-within-a-story, they act coy and refuse to give any clear answers. Argo outright offered an interpretation of the pale which presents it as what happens as the narrative starts “leaking out” of the head of a reader or audience member no longer actively absorbed in the world and said that “Elysium is a fictional world that is aware that it’s fictional.”

Apparently related to this aspect of the narrative, according to Argo, are the three satellites in orbit above the world of Elysium – Iikon, Zenith and Shakermaker – which have been there since “before the 8,000 years of recorded history” and before “the Polycarpeum event.” The satellites have only been mentioned in niche corners of the currently published materials, and the innocence Polycarp has only been mentioned in secondary materials, such as the artbook and the inside covers of Sacred and Terrible Air, leading to speculation about him being involved with the pale and the memory of his reign being wiped from history.

Also related to the metatext, again according to Argo, is a character known as “the Man Behind the Black Sun” – he gets one mention by the Paledriver in Disco Elysium, but curiously she seems to refer to it as the title of a movie that was released in Mesque during the revolutionary era, potentially a boiadeiro picture starring the actor Gabriel Buenguerro.

The magical elements of the pre-Elysium fantasy world morphed over time into what is called “extraphysics” in Elysium. The innocences, the pale, and “plasm” all testify to this supernatural aspect of the setting.

At some point, Ambrosius Saint-Miro apparently constructs nihilist death camps, which Triss and Tessa (the adopted daughters of Torson and McLaine) end up in and eventually escape.

"Magpies" are not a real thing and were never a part of the original plan for the Elysium narrative. The concept artist who made the image from which the term was popularized has gone on record saying that he invented this idea himself and that it was taken from his own worldbuilding ideas. There is nothing to suggest that this was integrated into the game; Argo and Luiga reacted with confusion at the mention of this concept.

Kurvitz had an insanely ambitious list of projects he wanted to make in the Elysium universe before he was ousted from ZA/UM; "The last one I want to make, when I'm 50 or 60, that I want to absolutely go crazy on and throw out all commercial considerations and get this as conceptual as possible, is the tabletop setting. The working title for the tabletop setting is You Are Vapor. It will be a really, really, crazy pen-and-paper game."

List of sources:

All parts of Argo Tuulik's Human Can Opener Podcast episode.

Martin Luiga's Human Can Opener episode.

Martin Luiga's Medium account and other blog posts: Interview, 8 years ago..., Hello Fellow Worldbuilders, Correction, A Policeman In Revachol, Fuirum Thundergate (Substack)

Tweets by Martin Luiga: 1, 2, 3, 4

Tweets by Argo Tuulik: 1

The dragon.ee post about the novel cycle

"Welcome to Revachol" on the devblog

"Outro" by Robert Kurvitz, featured in the official Disco Elysium artbook.

Disco Elysium, Sacred and Terrible Air, and Full-Core State Nihilist. Obviously.

Possibly more that I'm forgetting. Feel free to ask.

[jccatstudios]

Hi! Im pretty sure someone already asked you this but I really want to know. When working on the comic, do you make a script for yourself or do you "just" work with the book as it is? I know that making a script adds another work to the already long list, but working with the book as it is seems really overwhelming (many words me not likey)

You know, I don't think I have answered this before! Not in-depth, at least. Here's how I do it.

This is my extra annotated copy of the book (my original copy remains untouched). Got it used and as-is from Powell's. I also have a digital copy of the book when I can't bring this copy with me. I underline certain things I don't want to forget in the artwork, and write little notes to myself here and there. It's not shown on this page, but sometimes I cross things out that I won't/can't adapt like worldbuilding info and smaller flashbacks. If dialogue needs to be changed for lettering purposes, I do that when I'm actually making pages, not at the annotating stage. In the digital copy, I highlight character and setting descriptions to keep track of. This process is actually how I made my second graphic novel, which was an adaptation of a short story I wrote.

The ratio up top is my book page to comic page estimate. Last chapter's ratio was 10:21, which is in the ballpark of 3:7. With it, I've figured out how long each chapter and section would be just for fun. I even have a rough estimate of how long the entire book would be in comic format with nothing cut from it (try plugging in the numbers yourself if you'd like a fun surprise).

If this were a real professional project, I would write out a script myself. I'd want to keep the whole book in mind instead of doing it chapter by chapter. Working directly from the book for how things are structured is just a way to make the comic faster. Even thinking about the last chapter, I have ideas already for what I would change to create a stronger comic adaptation. For now though, I just go off the individual chapter to create something more one-to-one. This project has always been a way to improve my art and comic skills before I graduate, so doing structural rewrites to the story, even though that would be necessary for an actual adaptation, is out of the scope of this personal project I do outside of my classes.

[woebegonefanzine]

Updates and some FAQ answers!

We are already over 20 sign ups, thank you for the interest so far!

As of now the scope of the project based on interest check:

This will be a W.BG only zine.

There will be no strict theme! So long as you keep it “in universe” you can do whatever you like! Our plan is to include as many different characters and scenes as possible. Canon ships are all welcome!

We’ve had mostly artist sign-ups so far, more writing options would be great! Reminder that we’re accepting fiction as well as non-fiction for this project! (Meaning you can get meta and write an essay on the music in the show if you want!)

We want to be as clear as possible as to what this project will entail, but since we want to leave it open to anyone doing anything it’s hard to nail down! If you have any direct questions on what will be welcome we will be happy to answer!

As of now, every person who’s signed up will be making it into the project - we estimate every person who signs up will be accepted to at least 1 role.

We’re still looking for moderators! There’s been a lot of interest but not a lot of applications! The more mods we have the more people can join as well!

The current mod team consists of:

K.M. @threearmsally

Acting as Lead mod and finance/shipping (if goals met)

(@/malevolent-fanzine, @/malevolenttarotzine, @/malevolentfairytalezine, @/mycupofteafanzine, many others.)

Mar @xenoglssie

Acting as Art and Merch mod

(@/malevolent-fanzine, @/malevolenttarotzine, @/malevolentfairytalezine, others)

The zine itself is planned as a digital PDF with the opportunity to be made physical with both digital and physical merch options. All projects led by us go as close to “at cost of production” as possible.

There will be no profits made off of this - it’s entirely for the love of the fandom!

If you are having difficulty with the application or sign-up forms at all please reach out! We want everyone who wants to join to be able to!

Right now our only social account is on Tumblr, but feel free to share this project with everyone who may be interested!

A carrd with all the details including estimated schedule will be coming shortly!

Thank you!

Reminder that the interest check will remain open until January 15

Contributor sign ups will remain open until Feb 15

Mod applications open until Feb 01

[askagamedev]

Is classic game porting/remastering becoming its own specialization? What I mean is, of course it's happening more these days, so/but is space growing to be someone who specializes in these projects? Or is it still niche enough that the small number of teams/staff who do it will continue to do it?

The answer here is "kind of". Here's the main issue - game development is expensive. AAA studios are expensive and cost a lot to run, assigning a AAA studio a remake/port project is not really worth it when compared to the estimated return on investment. Instead, what game publishers often do is contract out the remakes/port job to an independent third-party studio. This has two major benefits.

First, it costs notably less than the publisher putting their own internal AAA studios on it. When you're doing a remake/port, you often don't need super high fidelity assets or extremely large scope - the majority of the gameplay design and systems already exist. Contracting the project out to an external studio means the publisher can just pay a flat amount and doesn't have to worry about things hiring new people, handling benefits, setting up the studio, etc. The external studio gets to do that, and often has their own stuff in place already. This works very well for the independent studios too - they can take jobs like this in order to pay the bills and fund their own game development. Behaviour, independent developer of Dead by Daylight, also has a second team that does work like porting and remakes/ports for other studios. Their porting and remake team provides the income to keep the studio afloat during leaner times.

Second, it allows the publisher to give these external studios a chance to prove themselves - can they deliver a promised project in time, budget, and quality? If they can, this studio may be worth acquiring or working with again. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom was developed by Japanese independent studio Grezzo, but this is far from their first game for Nintendo. They ported Ocarina of Time 3D, Majora's Mask 3D, and Luigi's Mansion for the 3DS, and they did the port for Link's Awakening to the Switch. The team that built Sonic Mania first proved themselves to Sega by doing iOS ports of Sonic CD, Sonic 1, and Sonic 2 before being given the Sonic Mania project.

With these two reasons in mind, doing remakes/ports do two things. First, they can earn money to pay the bills in a situation where it isn't worth it for the publishers to build them internally, allowing these studios to build their own projects or just have a more stable sustainable situation. Second, it provides a "minor league" situation where these external studios can prove their ability to the publisher in a lower-stakes situation in order to be entrusted with a higher and more interesting project later. As long as remakes and ports of games continue to do well, this kind of work will be in demand.

[Join us on Discord] and/or [Support us on Patreon]

Got a burning question you want answered?

Short questions: Ask a Game Dev on Twitter

Long questions: Ask a Game Dev on Tumblr

Frequent Questions: The FAQ

[the-golden-comet]

✨Writer Questionnaire Tag ✨

Thank you for the tags @wyked-ao3 here, and @thatuselesshuman here and @nczaversnick here. Y’all are great! 💛✨

How long have you had your writing Tumblr/Writeblr? A fast and loose estimate is fine!

I’ve had this blog since….end of April? Early May?

What led you to create it?

When I set up all my socials, I wanted to use this as a way to build a writing community, share my stories, and exploring and sharing the ideas of other likeminded individuals.

What’s your favorite thing about the Writeblr community?

How kind and welcoming writeblr is. The community is supportive of everyone’s stories and OCs, and everyone has some wonderfully unique and fascinating characters.

What’s one thing you’d like your mutuals to know about you?

You are always. Always. ALWAYS welcome to tag me, message me, send asks, interact with me. I absolutely endorse the engagement and excitement in this community, and even though I may miss a few tags, just know that seeing you tag me to see your stories brings the biggest, goofiest smile on my face. Thank you for being you and sharing your creative minds with us 💛✨

Is there anything you’d like to see more of on your dash?

Kindness, support, and creative stories. Keep writing, keep inspiring, keep on keeping on.

WIP it Good

Which Works-in-Progress (WIPs) or writing projects are you noodling about, lately?

Your Wish Is My Command is my current WIP at about 75% complete. I have a little bit to share from Tenshito as well, but the latter will have to get majorly cut down and restructured before it’s ready ✨

How long have you been working on them?

Planning and ideas began a couple of years ago. Writing them down? For YWIMC since early May, and Tenshito since 2020 (took a hiatus to focus on work and big life stuff, like moving twice and getting married)

Do you remember what inspired them/what got you started?

My love of storytelling, video games, and Disney. I wrote and published Peter Hart based off of a few of my favorite video games 🏴‍☠️💛✨

How much time, in your best estimation, do you spend thinking about them?

All the time. At least once a day, if not more. My stories help me get to sleep…when I eventually GET to sleep 😴💤

When someone asks the dreaded, “What do you write about,” question, what do you usually say?

BL romantasy novels. It encompasses every person asking, and umbrellas many subgenres.

Let’s Rotate Blorbos

Name any characters you created.  Side characters, protagonists, antagonists, characters who’ve never been written, the first original abomination you ever pulled from your ass; whomever you’d like!

Oof that’s a big list. Let me just do major protagonists/antagonists from stories: Peter, Benjamin, Davey, Ali, Noah, Tenshi, Itazura, Yoji, Tyr, Gustav, Jak, Johnny, Nathan, X, Ollie, and Callum

Who’s the most unhinged?

Peter 🏴‍☠️💛✨

Who comes the most naturally for you to write?

Peter 🏴‍☠️💛✨

Do you ever cringe at them?

Sometimes….depends on what they do. I never cringe at my stories, but sometimes my characters make choices that personally make me go “😬”

How much control do you feel you have over your characters?  AKA, do they ever “write themselves,” refuse to cooperate, or do things you didn’t expect? To what degree? Are some less cooperative than others?

(Slowly looks over at Peter)

Peter: …..What?

Do you enjoy people asking questions about your characters? And do you have a preferred means of receiving said questions? For example, as Asks, as replies, as reblogs, as tag notes, as comments on AO3, etc.

Oh always!! ALWAYS!! Any method is absolutely fine and encouraged by me, but I ALWAYS love when people leave AO3 comments on my stories 💖💫✨

On writeblr engagement

What makes you want to follow another Writeblr account? Do you follow ‘em as you see ‘em, or take time scoping out the blog to make sure you align with its content? Do you follow based on WIPs, or vibes?

I scope out the content before I follow for sure. Because I write adult fiction, I look through posts to make sure that our interests would align, and that the blog mentions an age that is 18+. If I am ever uncertain or have a suspicion beyond a reasonable doubt that the blog is run by a minor, I won’t follow them (and unfollow if I get suspicious of their posts)

What makes you decide against following?

I use discretion on age, politics, and religion before following. Any homophobic, transphobic, or otherwise hateful conduct gets automatically blocked. The world needs more kindness and uplifting of one another. We need to bring each other up, not tear each other down.

Do you interact with non-mutuals often?

I try to! Usually in the form of reblogs and ask games. My pile for work and tumblr keeps stacking though, so I find myself getting very busy very often (and that’s a good thing! ✨)

Do your mutuals’ characters occupy space in your noodle?

All the time, every time. To name a few mutuals: G.J, Jamie, Gioia, Casper, Tobin, Jay, Wyked, Gina, and Jev have characters that are my current hyperfixations. But there are SO, SO many that are so interesting that I want to learn more!! ✨

Thank you so much for tagging me, you two!! Going to alert the tag list on this one 💛✨

✨Tag list for writing snippets below. DM me if you’d like to be added 👇✨

Tag List for writing tidbits (lmk if you want + or -)

@jev-urisk , @sunglasses-in-the-bentley , @wyked-ao3 , @glasshouses-and-stones , @alinacapellabooks , @gioiaalbanoart , @fortunatetragedy , @deanwax , @dyrewrites , @honeybewrites , @paeliae-occasionally , @lychhiker-writes , @thatuselesshuman , @kaylinalexanderbooks , @katenewmanwrites , @zackprincebooks , @fantasy-things-and-such , @billybatsonmylove , @madi-konrad , @far-cry-from-finality , @froggy-pposto , @fractured-shield , @avaseofpeonies , @thecoolerlucky , @willtheweaver , @somethingclevermahogony , @noxxytocin , @leahnardo-da-veggie , @addicted2coke-theothercoke , @mysticstarlightduck , @the-letterbox-archives , @theink-stainedfolk , @ominous-feychild , @saturnine-saturneight , @words-after-midnight , @sableglass , @cowboybrunch , @moltenwrites , @pixies-love-envy , @davycoquette , @writeahurricane , @greenfinchwriter , @oliolioxenfreewrites , @lavender-gloom , @smellyrottentrees , @aintgonnatakethis , @thecomfywriter

[rjzimmerman]

In addition to the story about the waste caused by the layoffs, The Guardian reports that nearly $500 million of food aid is at risk of spoilage after trump shut down USAID. Brilliant, right? From The Guardian:

Nearly half a billion dollars of food aid is at risk of spoilage following the decision of Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s “Doge” agency to make cuts to USAid, according to an inspector general (IG) report released on Monday.

Following staff reductions and funding freezes, the US agency responsible for providing humanitarian assistance across the world – including food, water, shelter and emergency healthcare – is struggling to function.

“Recent widespread staffing reductions across the agency … coupled with uncertainty about the scope of foreign assistance waivers and permissible communications with implementers, has degraded USAid’s ability to distribute and safeguard taxpayer-funded humanitarian assistance,” the report said.

According to USAid staff, this uncertainty put more than $489m of food assistance at ports, in transit, and in warehouses at risk of spoilage, unanticipated storage needs, and diversion.

Excerpt from the Mother Jones story about the USDA:

The widespread layoff of Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists has thrown vital research into disarray, according to former and current employees of the agency. Scientists hit by the layoffs were working on projects to improve crops, defend against pests and disease, and understand the climate impact of farming practices. The layoffs also threaten to undermine billions of taxpayer dollars paid to farmers to support conservation practices, experts warn.

The USDA layoffs are part of the Trump administration’s mass firing of federal employees, mainly targeting people who are in their probationary periods ahead of gaining full-time status, which for USDA scientists can be up to three years. The agency has not released exact firing figures, but they are estimated to include many hundreds of staff at critical scientific subagencies and a reported 3,400 employees in the Forest Service.

The IRA provided the USDA with $300 million to help with the quantification of carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. This money was intended to support the $8.5 billion in farmer subsidies authorized in the IRA to be spent on the Environmental Quality Incentives Program—a plan to encourage farmers to take up practices with potential environmental benefits, such as cover cropping and better waste storage. At least one contracted farming project funded by EQIP has been paused by the Trump administration, Reuters reports.

The $300 million was supposed to be used to establish an agricultural greenhouse gas network that could monitor the effectiveness of the kinds of conservation practices funded by EQIP and other multibillion-dollar conservation programs, says Emily Bass, associate director of federal policy, food, and agriculture at the environmental research center the Breakthrough Institute. This work was being carried out in part by the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), two of the scientific sub-agencies hit heavily by the federal layoffs.

“That’s a ton of taxpayer dollars, and the quantification work of ARS and NRCS is an essential part of measuring those programs’ actual impacts on emissions reductions,” says Bass. “Stopping or hamstringing efforts midway is a huge waste of resources that have already been spent.”

[davycoquette]

Get to Know Your Moots Writeblr Interview

Remember, folks; if any of the questions don’t spark joy, just delete ‘em. If someone tags you and this feels like a chore, don’t do it! This is for fun!

On the Tumblr Writing Community

How long have you had your writing Tumblr/Writeblr?

A fast and loose estimate is fine!

What led you to create it?

What’s your favorite thing about the Writeblr community?

What’s one thing you’d like your mutuals to know about you?

Is there anything you’d like to see more of on your dash?

What tips/advice do you have for someone who made a Writeblr today?

WIP it Good

Which Works-in-Progress (WIPs) or writing projects are you noodling about, lately?

How long have you been working on them?

Do you remember what inspired them/what got you started?

How much time, in your best estimation, do you spend thinking about them?

When someone asks the dreaded, “What do you write about,” question, what do you usually say?

What do you want to say (if it’s different from what you do say)?

Let’s Rotate Blorbos

Name any characters you created.

Side characters, protagonists, antagonists, characters who’ve never been written, the first original abomination you ever pulled from your ass; whomever you’d like!

Who’s the most unhinged?

Who comes the most naturally for you to write?

Do you ever cringe at them?

How much control do you feel you have over your characters?

AKA, do they ever “write themselves,” refuse to cooperate, or do things you didn’t expect? To what degree? Are some less cooperative than others?

Do you enjoy people asking questions about your characters?

And do you have a preferred means of receiving said questions? For example, as Asks, as replies, as reblogs, as tag notes, as comments on AO3, etc.

On Writeblr Engagement

What makes you want to follow another Writeblr account?

Do you follow ‘em as you see ‘em, or take time scoping out the blog to make sure you align with its content? Do you follow based on WIPs, or vibes?

What makes you decide against following?

Do you interact with non-mutuals often?

Do your mutuals’ characters occupy space in your noodle?

[persephinae]

U.S. Copyright Office Presses 'Pause' on DMCA Exemption for Video Games

By Lydia Leung, LLB | Last updated on November 08, 2024

When we think of a library, we picture never-ending shelves of books; the world's knowledge available to us at the touch of a finger. But nowadays, it's not just physical records that libraries collect. Many now lend video games to their members, providing their local communities with entertainment while helping preserve the software for future generations.

The recent decision by the U.S. Copyright Office (USCO) to reject an exemption to the DMCA for video games in libraries' collections has put that practice into question. The decision prevents video games from being accessed remotely by researchers. While some in the games industry view this ruling as a win for rights holders, others see it as a major setback for arts research, especially compared to researchers in other fields with "routine and regular access" to digital archives.

What Is The DMCA?

Passed in 1998, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) brought the U.S. in line with treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), updating copyright law for the digital age. Section 1201 of the DMCA criminalizes the "circumvention of copyright protection systems" that prevent unauthorized access to copyrighted works, such as reading encrypted optical discs or removing copy restrictions from electronic documents.

Exemptions are made for some uses, including for nonprofit libraries, archives and educational institutions (section 1201(d)), as long as a "good faith" determination is made. Libraries are permitted to create digital copies of obsolete works for purpose of preservation, but those works must not be commercially available for a "reasonable price" and can only be accessed onsite.

The Petition

The Video Game History Foundation (VGHF) has been working with the Software Preservation Network (SPN) since 2021 on a petition to the U.S. Copyright Office, proposing that the DMCA digital copying exemption be expanded to allow access to games outside of the physical premises of an institution. A study published by the VGHF in July 2023 estimated that 87% of video games released in the US before 2010 are "critically endangered" and inaccessible, being out of print in either physical or digital form. Options to play classic games are limited as many require vintage hardware or are no longer available on a digital storefront, potentially pushing consumers and researchers towards piracy as the most convenient means of access.

The petition's main argument is framed from the perspective of fair use: works kept by archives and collections are exempt from copyright infringement laws if they are used for purposes such as research or teaching. To enable this, the SPN proposed a system of user vetting and copyright notices, allowing institutions to restrict access only to users who submit a research request detailing the scope of their project and providing notices to remind them that their access is subject to copyright law.

The requirement of having to request specific access ensures that games are being used for research purposes, with the SPN citing "academic literacy" as a way of filtering out users planning to access them for entertainment. The USCO already allows institutions to lend other forms of media remotely, and the SPN argued that the DMCA's stringent rules around distribution of software programs places impediments on video game scholarship that are not present in other disciplines.

Arguments Against

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA), a trade association representing the U.S. video game industry, opposed the SPN petition, stating that the exemption would leave rights owners insufficiently protected and that the market for classic video games would be damaged. The SPN's proposed method of fair use vetting was dismissed by the ESA as "illusory", arguing that this was not enough justification for the breadth of use they would enable. It would be too difficult for libraries to supervise multiple users remotely accessing games, thus enabling usage for entertainment purposes.

Furthermore, the ESA contended that the market for classic video games is "vibrant and growing", citing the number of titles currently available on digital storefronts such as the Xbox Game Pass, not to mention frequent re-releases of individual titles on modern systems. That a game is "out of print" does not mean it is lost forever, only that the copyright owner decided not to put it on the market. Allowing widespread remote access to classic games would present a serious risk to the market and prevent copyright owners from enforcing their copyrights.

The USCO Ruling

The USCO observed that, for a fair use exemption, access to the games would have to be guarded against recreational use by containing "appropriately tailored restrictions". The view taken by the ESA on the SPN's proposed restrictions was echoed by the USCO, which ruled that they were not specific enough to prevent market harm and that the SPN had not met the burden of showing that allowing simultaneous remote access by multiple users was likely to be fair.

Regarding the claims of market damage put forth by the ESA, the USCO acknowledged the evidence presented of a "substantial market" for classic video games, and the SPN's concession that the industry has made a greater effort in recent years to reissue older games. Considering these arguments, the Register ultimately rejected the petition, but recommended clarifying the wording used in the DMCA to reflect that a computer program may be accessed by as many individuals as the institution owns copies.

What Does This Mean?

As a newer form of digital media, U.S. law has yet to settle on a definitive classification of what copyrights arise from a video game. A common view is for games to be treated as computer software and for the source code to be considered a literary work. However, unlike "traditional" literary works such as books or newspapers, the interactive nature of a video game makes regulating access to it more complicated.

Games are often limited to their corresponding hardware, potentially leading to research costs going up as researchers may be forced to travel long distances or somehow purchase a retro console for themselves; not to mention potential consideration of extra-legal methods. Researchers are pushed into focusing on works that are easy to access rather than those they have a true interest in studying. Teaching is also affected: academics cannot assign their students games with historical or technological significance if they may not be able to access them (for example,  the original Metroid Prime (2002), noted for its female protagonist and being the first game in the series to use 3D graphics, is only available on the GameCube). This curtails the growth of video game studies, introducing obstacles to a field with deepening cultural impact and technological advancement.

In their submission to the USCO, the SPN compared the rise of video games to the film industry, highlighting the creation of the National Film Preservation Board in 1988 as a way of recognizing that films are a part of cultural heritage, worthy of academic preservation and study. Whether games will ever reach that status remains uncertain: they make up a large part of our cultural and entertainment landscape today and it's clear that they are here to stay, but only time will tell whether the USCO's attitudes change.

Man, come the fuck on....

i think CEO's should be rounded up and shot personally

[goblincow]

401% FUNDED | ONLY 5 DAYS TO GO!!

Field Agent Handbooks: Observancy Dept. 1924–28

Sharpen your ESP skills and seek out suspicious activity as a pendulum-dowsing Field Agent

This set of four Field Agent Handbooks are an always-on solo RPG/LARP to play with when out and about. They’re created as in-world artefacts from the 1920s, made for you to note your observations about the world around you through a lens of suspicion. 

1924 – Revolution

We suspect the animal kingdom of plotting a revolution and you are here to help us understand their devices.

Our mission in the Observancy Department is to spot any such behaviour or signs of suspicious activity, note them down, and draw our conclusions.

Additional pages include:

Blank map with grid references

Table of potential signs of revolutionary activity

List of weather types and symbols for notation

1925 – Leviathan

The age of flight may still be in its infancy but we have heard worrying reports from our aeroplane and dirigible pilots of glimpses of giant beasts roaming the aether, just out of sight.

Our fresh mission is to observe the clouds, look for unusual shadows & formations, and attempt to discern the activity and anatomy of these sky-bound leviathan.

Additional pages include:

Common anatomy of leviathan (hypothesised)

Illustrated chart with types of clouds and symbols for notation

Illustrated chart for estimating distance to horizon

Table to identify the Beaufort Number for the wind

List of weather types and symbols for notation

1926 – Communication

While we looked upward, we didn't think to concern ourselves with the growing cacophony in our very own gardens, forests, and fields.

Our mission turns to our leafy neighbours to see if we can understand their speech and intuit their meaning throughout each season.

Additional pages include: 

Signs and shapes to look out for

Size estimation chart

List of weather types and symbols for notation

1928 – Giants

From the landscape sprung the flowers, but who formed the landscape? Newly uncovered texts indicate the folklore might be true and giants may have indeed roamed and shaped the earth.

Our mission is to lower our gaze to the ground to identify oddly shaped mounds, mimetoliths (rocks resembling faces), gouged earth, and suspicious urban planning decisions. Under the hills there may be sleeping colossus.

Additional pages include:

Signs to look out for

Common rock types

How to draw landforms & rocks in an isometric fashion

I wanted to shine a light on this project because I met Luke at Dragonmeet in December '23 and fell in love with the way he thinks about RPGs, graphic design and play/ritual/thinking-the-world in his games!

I can't recommend this project enough and I've been waiting excitedly to support it and see it succeed! It really represents everything I think is special about RPGs and the things I also want to explore in this design space *and art movement* and if you have any interest in TTRPGs beyond the scope of dungeon games, Luke is making some of the freshest and most evocative design you can find in the entire medium.

Everything you see here is directly from the kickstarter. Go back it! I promise you'll be glad you did, there are few more unique and inspiring things you could spend your money on in TTRPGs right now!

[asestimationsconsultants]

New Construction Materials Revolutionizing Estimating Services | AS Estimation & Consultants

New construction materials are revolutionizing the way cost assessments are conducted in the industry. Innovations such as self-healing concrete, lightweight composites, and 3D-printed materials are making it necessary to rethink traditional approaches to an Estimating Service. These cutting-edge materials often require updated cost databases, revised labor estimates, and new techniques to ensure accurate project budgets.

At AS Estimation & Consultants, we understand the significant impact of these materials on modern construction projects. In the past, estimating services relied on standard materials, but the emergence of sustainable and high-tech alternatives means estimators must adapt. For example, using prefabricated components might lower labor costs but could come with higher initial material expenses. A reliable estimating Service must account for these variations to offer realistic cost breakdowns.

Moreover, the prices of new materials can fluctuate due to limited availability or production challenges. This makes real-time pricing and predictive analysis essential for accurate cost estimation. By integrating these factors, we provide an Estimating Service that helps contractors and developers avoid costly surprises.

As the construction industry evolves, so should your approach to cost estimation. With AS Estimation & Consultants, you’ll ensure that your projects stay within budget while embracing the latest innovations. Reach out today, and let’s build a better future together!

AS Estimation and Consultants

6/32 LAW VIC 3020, AUS

(61) 488874145

https://asestimation.com/

[cerinslair]

Heart Heist: The Zine Update 1.1 Out Now!

While work on the Complete Edition continues, Heart Heist: The Zine has also received its first major update!

Now that I understand itch's platform a bit better - as well as the scope of this project - it no longer seems correct to update the zine itself directly into the Complete Edition. I think it makes more sense to split Heart Heist into two bespoke editions: the cheap, easy to distribute, lowest-possible-barrier-of-entry Zine Edition; and a Complete Edition that is free to grow into whatever it ends up becoming. I don't want anyone who supported this project already to feel cheated out of the Complete Edition, which is why anyone who purchased (or purchases) the Zine Edition on itch will get $5 (the full price of the zine) off of the Complete Edition when it releases.

This does not mean that the zine is an unfinished version of a full game. Now it is quite the opposite - it is its own, complete thing (and has had its release stats on itch updated accordingly). It has everything you need to play, and can stand on its own. Some might come to call it a "rules-lite" version, and while I don't want to fall into the rabbit hole of definitions, it is looking very likely that the Complete Edition will have at least three more mechanics than its zine counterpart. Some players might even come to prefer one version over the other - relative simplicity and ease of use vs. mechanical depth and additional useful tools. Only time and continued development will tell.

While the Zine Edition obviously won't have everything the Complete Edition will have in it, it will still benefit from some of the updates work on the Complete Edition produces - such as the changes that released today!

Thank you for continuing to support Heart Heist!

Changelog:

Created a Google Sheet that helps automate calculating each Thief's Favor at the end of the game if you don't feel like doing math

Updated estimated play time based on additional playtesting with more groups of different players - down from 5 or 6 to 4 hours!

Added expectation of an additional 30 to 60 minutes if the entire group is new to playing Heart Heist

Added section strongly encouraging players to read their intel before meeting up to save time at the table. This section also explains that heists cannot be "spoiled," and are reusable!

The Evocative Language Update

"Stats" → "Vibes"

"Game Master" → "The Guy in the Van" (GV)

Removed unnecessary references to upcoming material meant for the Complete Edition

Rephrased explanation of "Fake It 'til you Make It" for clarity

Fixed unspecified print error on page 5

Added missing paragraph break on page 9

Fixed various typos

Removed grey sketch line from corner of Bingo.png

Fixed missing Alt Text for Bingo.png

Clarified that armor counts as a set of clothes

Specified how long it takes for a glass cutter to cut holes of various sizes

Reduced cost of the Aptitude spell from 3 to 2 Favor

Added advice for players to - at minimum - figure out how they will get in, how they will acquire the target, and how they will get back out again within their planning time limit. You'd be surprised how many groups forget one of those three things!

Added reminder for the Guy in the Van to award bonus Favor for the Dragon's Patron effect at the end of Phase 2: The Plan

Various tweaks to The Princess in the Box example heist based on continued playtesting

Added a timeline overview of the heist to The Princess in the Box

Increased margin size of The Princess in the Box intel handout for easier note taking

Updated the titles of some of the art pieces in the credits

[drchenquill]

Writer Questionnaire~

Thank you @the-golden-comet , @kaylinalexanderbooks and @the-letterbox-archives for the tag!

how long have you had your writing tumblr/writeblr? a fast and loose estimate is fine!

I think a couple of months.

what led you to create it?

I wanted to find a place to share and talk about my stories and OCs and meet other creative minds.

what’s your favourite thing about the writeblr community?

The support. The overflowing creativity that inspires me to keep writing and the lovely people I've met so far.

what’s one thing you’d like your mutuals to know about you?

That I appreciate every type of interaction, really. Even if you want to reach out to ramble about your stories, I always welcome it. ( Although I won't do the first step because I'm socially anxious and awkward)

is there anything you’d like to see more of on your dash?

I like my dash how it is, but I would love more positivity, any kind of positivity. People need to know that they are loved and appreciated, because everyone is.

which wips or writing projects are you noodling about, lately?

I'm currently writing on a WIP called "Daisy." It's a werewolf romance story with some drama sprinkled in.

how long have you been working on them?

God, I don't know. Long? I often forget because I work on others in between so I lose track on when I started what.

do you remember what inspired them/what got you started?

It was born in my "Wattpad-werewolf-story" era. (I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I basically inhaled those type of stories)

how much time, in your best estimation, do you spend thinking about them?

A lot.

when someone asks the dreaded, “what do you write about,” question, what do you usually say?

I usually say I write fantasy-romance, which is just the tip of the iceberg. I don't usually talk about what I write outside of Tumblr, other than my family, and they know exactly what I write about. (I basically force it down their throat)

name any characters you created. side characters, protagonists, antagonists, characters who’ve never been written, the first original abomination you ever pulled from your ass; whomever you’d like!

Oof, my OC list is way too long for this. I'm just going to mention the ones I mentioned here more often:

Leon Martens - Kilian - Margaret Robins - Kiki - Azul - Sophie

who’s the most unhinged?

Okay, I think it would be Atlas. I never, ever, mentioned him, but he is bat shit crazy. One of the first scenes of his story, he jumps from one moving car to another, laughing like a maniac. But right after him comes Azul.

who comes the most naturally for you to write?

I think Azul.

do you ever cringe at them?

Yeah, sometimes I write some cheesy sentences and cringe a bit, but I love it~

how much control do you feel you have over your characters? do they ever “write themselves,” refuse to cooperate, or do things you didn’t expect? to what degree? are some less cooperative than others?

NONE. These bastards don't care what I have planned for them, they just do what they please.

do you enjoy people asking questions about your characters? and do you have a preferred means of receiving said questions? for example, as asks, as replies, as reblogs, as tag notes, as comments on ao3, etc.

I love, love, love, love getting questions about my babies. In any shape or form.

what makes you want to follow another writeblr account? do you follow ‘em as you see ‘em, or take time scoping out the blog to make sure you align with its content? do you follow based on wips, or vibes?

I follow based on vibes, I think. But mostly because I'm very much interested in the stories.

what makes you decide against following?

Easy, if I feel like they are a bad person or if our morals don't align.

do you interact with non-mutuals often?

Not that often.

do your mutuals’ characters occupy space in your noodle?

YES! A LOT! Some honorable mentions: Dr. Tievis, brought to life by the lovely @finickyfelix (he is a little meow meow. I know he wants to fuck monsters, but nobody is perfect.) Vesperine by another lovely person @theink-stainedfolk (she is beauty, she is grace) Marsh by yet another lovely person @paeliae-occasionally (I know he kills a lot, but I don't judge a man by his hobbies) and recently I've wanted to adopt Tenshi by the lovely @the-golden-comet (but I was told someone was faster)

This is just the top, there are so many more because you lovely people have such a beautiful and creative minds that you always amaze me with your creations.

~~~`

Thank you for reading this far. I love you~ (very platonically but very affectionately)

Tagging for this with no pressure @theink-stainedfolk , @finickyfelix , @thecomfywriter , @paeliae-occasionally , @davycoquette , @oliolioxenfreewrites open tag~

[sgiandubh]

Reading comprehension

This info is currently making the rounds in the fandom:

The uber-intelligent Mordorian Sopranos are already chanting the end of OL. 'No Season 8, karma is a bitch' and all the rest.

Ahem. Not at all. Quite the contrary. Let's do a very brief overview, ok?

More than 10% out of a total of 670 employees would roughly mean between a clear minimum of 67 and a possible maximum of 99 ('high in the double digits , but less than 100'). Worldwide - not just the UK.

Considering the fact that we now know that the wide majority of the people involved in the OL production are freelancers, we then restrain the scope of our estimation to those with *** employment contracts in the UK. My best guess? Somewhere between 5 to 10 people tops. This estimate is based on the possibility of the 10% cut being made on an uniform basis, which is unclear: it could be 20% at HQ and 5% elsewhere (Latin America or Canada or other US subsidiaries). I think it's mostly about office staff, not production.

On which planet would 10 people being fired compromise the whole future of a project of OL's amplitude?

Typical preparatory move for merger/acquisition. If they want to look good in front of a new partner/potential owner, they must be interested to show off their best china & finery: OL. It's common sense, ladies: we don't go on dates in a frumpy tracksuit, do we?

Subscription figures look good-ish enough to me.

But hey, why miss an opportunity to simply bitch, when you have no idea of the things you are talking about and apparently also no reading comprehension skills?

Back in a (short) while.

[deepdive002]

An Apology

About 2 weeks ago I posted an art gig on Tumblr. There, my price estimate was probably off by a factor of 5.

I hadn’t really thought about it. If the gig is like a part time job and you are not working weekends and my timeline was 512 hours and my budget was $512 that would be about $5/hour. I’m kind of embarrassed about that.

In this repost, I’m boosting the price to 150% and asking for 1 image instead of 3.

With this adjustment it’s more like $16 an hour. I know $16/hour isn’t great in 2024, but the timeline isn’t certain. If you can get it done in 256 hours (about 10 days) instead of 512 hours (about 20 days), then you would be making $32/hour.

Everyone who applied to my last post will be included in this new selection at the new price, but please re-apply here if you can.

The Image: A Diverging Path

I need an image of a diverging path with fame and fortune to the left and connection and knowledge to the right. Like this:

Please review the updated details of the project on my new Reddit post. If you have time, you can see the full scope of my website for political live streamers on my other Reddit post about it.

Shout Outs:

I had some comments on my last post that really hurt. If @beesmygod and @sparkledog could review this new post and let me know if we can be friends, that would be awesome. If that's not possible I understand.

I also had some very supportive comments. If folks like @honestlyvan, @ex-libris-craux, @flavorgate, @nerdygirl2000bbse, @bambambunny, @bliss-bliss-bliss-bliss or @shining-dawn are up for helping me find an artist again, I would be grateful.

I look forward to working with you!