#shootbangers

[netherstray]

Congrats to Remnant 2, my favorite game of 2023, for being nominated for Best Action Game!

You can vote for your favorites here:

[transgenderization]

Zortch n Cultic are pretty good shootbang games

shooter type one

[oldpaledrake-blog]

👁️ STREAM TODAY! 👁️

I'm flipping the script today! Since I cancelled stream yesterday, we're gonna be doing some Destiny 2 tonight! I'm still feral for some sweaty shootbangs and I needs my fix!

[Live at 7:00pm PDT! Link in Bio!]

[golmac]

Inform Basics (#9: Shooting Something with a Shootbang)

The past couple of posts promised an implementation of shooting the gun. That's pretty easy, actually. Let's make a new action the same way that we have in the past:

Shooting it with is an action applying to two things. Understand "shoot [something] with [something]" as shooting it with.

Ok, we have an action, and the command ought to suit our needs "SHOOT TARGET WITH RAILGUN". But what if somebody tries something different, like "FIRE RAILGUN AT TARGET"? That seems tricky, because the object and direct object are reversed, right?

It isn't so bad, actually. First, the definition:

Firing it at is an action applying to two things. Understand "Shoot [something] at [something]" as firing it at. Understand "Fire [something] at [something]" as firing it at.

Second, the changeup:

Instead of firing something at something: try shooting the second noun with the noun.

Note that we redirect the action to our already-defined "shooting it with" action, reversing the noun order to second noun followed by noun. Ta- da!

As a bit of housecleaning, let's do an instead rule for stopping people from shooting things the story hasn't defined as guns (or anything else capable of shooting):

A thing can be a shootbang. A thing is usually not a shootbang. The railgun is a shootbang. Instead of shooting something with something when the second noun is not a shootbang: say "Why not try to paint a house with a fork instead?".

It's risky mocking the player, but in this case they are almost certainly goofing off. Try not to tease or chastise players unless you have a clearly-defined rhetorical scenario for it. Porpentine once referred to the typical narrative voice of parser games as the "smirking nerd," and you know, that's fair. So be mindful of that perspective. Be funny when it works, and don't when it doesn't.

We should put a target in the lab.

The bullseye is in the lab. The bullseye is a shootable. Understand "target" as bullseye. The description of the bullseye is "This is a familiar bullseye shape that is painted on one wall of the lab. It's quite large, the diameter reaching from floor to ceiling.".

That's all straightforward, familiar stuff, right? But we're going to do some new stuff to do to/with the bullseye. It's just a painted target on a wall, so the player's can't do much other than shoot it and examine it. Let's nail that down:

Instead of doing anything to the bullseye: if the current action is shooting the bullseye with something: continue the action; otherwise if the current action is examining the bullseye: continue the action; otherwise: say "The bullseye is painted on one wall. There isn't a lot you can do with it." instead.

Note that the structure of this rule is more complex than most we've seen. With the ifs and otherwises, we can ask Inform 7 to go down a list of possibilities, stopping at the first match.

Did you notice the "continue the action" statements? We can use those in "instead" rules to prevent specific options from proceeding while allowing others.

What about shooting the target with the gun? First, let's confirm that it is mounted on the tripod:

Check shooting the bullseye with the railgun: if railmount is false: say "The gun is too large to aim unassisted. You'll have to find something to mount it on first." instead; otherwise: continue the action.

OK! Now, the big moment:

Carry out shooting the bullseye with the railgun: say "Surprisingly, the wall beyond the bullseye is just a painted facade. The projectile smashes through it easily, presumably flying down the long tunnel behind it. If you enter, be sure to bring a source of light. It's quite dark in there."; end the story finally saying "You Shot the Thing".

What's missing?

An instead rule for shooting things that aren't shootable.

Dealing with attempts to "dismount" the gun or otherwise play with the assembled gun/mount.

Disambiguation, a feature that confounds beginners and prize-winning authors alike!

Does the railgun fire a projectile, or what (we shouldn't spend a lot of time there, this isn't a railgun simulator)?

Dealing with player attempts to act on or look at the walls, since the bullseye is on a wall.

I'll probably slow down and look at these issues next time. I think that might be it for the magnetic propulsion laboratory!

I'm attaching a new version of the code. You can run it, read it, look through the index. As I've mentioned, it looks surprisingly good on mobile. I've added a lot of comments in [brackets]. Hope it helps.

[dickdebonair]

THURSDAY,  Stein & I get into Dark Souls w/ Guns. Again. but like it's actually kinda fun this time? So you should come see the shootbangs. 

[mr-double-downer]

No I think it’ll be mediocre and forgotten about in a year. Seriously borderlands as an ip is past its prime. who care about shootbangs

Ok Benjamin Byron Davis as Marcus is a good call but everything else is Not Great™

[streetmobz]

Its goin’ down in the DM 📱 - Bordeaux - - - - #candidpicture #awesomeclick #capturedmomentsphotography #candidpictures #photographymood #morningphotoshoot #lovephotography📷 #candidphotographer #candidshots #shootbangers #urbanshots #streetphotographyincolors #streetcandid #photographiederue #streetphotographyincolor #colorsphotography #saintecatherine #bordeaux_photolovers #bordeauxblogger #bordeauxphotography #sonyalphacollective #sonyalphagram #sonyalpha77ii #sonyalphagear #sonyalpha #sonyshooter (à Bordeaux, France) https://www.instagram.com/p/CT2fVZ-Ilmv/?utm_medium=tumblr

[contac]

[asailoroftheworld-blog]

Let me out. @hinfluencercollective #creativesontherise #portrait #portraiture #lifestyle #moodyportraits #shootbangers #collectivetrend #visualgang #moodyports #ftmeof #ftwwne #pursuitofportraits #nextvisualportraits #discoveratl #portraitsatl #atl #atlanta #atlantaphotographer #atlantamodel #fashion #vscomag #implied #filmfeel #portraitpage #lifestyle #sony #sonyalpha #a7ii #tylerhawk #feeliseverything (at Atlanta, Georgia)

[natalieironside]

Started playing stalker (I've been meaning to for years your rec was just the last straw) and fuck. I'm officially thst girl now.

Your advice to grab a vintorez was so good, that thing is a beast. In the open world, shootbangs sections it makes me feel like a god hurling lightning from heaven as my foes crumple before me. And then a story sequence with horror shit happens and I'm clutching it like a security blanket.

I'm having so much fun (which is good cause this storm is making my joints so damn achey, a distraction is nice)

Yay :)

Good hunting, stalker

[lycanisms-blog]

Is a magical girl

But is also 18, so come to her for MG training

[deco-devolution]

re: the whole dumbass Wounded Knee discourse you've gotten into: I feel like in a game full of shootbang, saying people got burnt alive has a way bigger impact than saying they got shot? You've been shooting people all game long lmao. anyway it doesn't make any of the race stuff in Bioshock Infinite less clumsy or stupid, but I have to nitpick.

It seems like such a weird hill to die on for a post that’s obviously not meant to be taken analytically. That’s partly why I was so confused— why drive home a point that’s secondary to the discussion?

It’s like people discussing a movie about the triangle shirtwaist factory and instead of joining, you stand on the fringe and remind them how it wasn’t the fire that killed, it was smoke inhalation. Like thanks for the details, we already knew it was bad

[hemogobbler]

Pass the happy! 🌻🌈 When you receive this, list 5 things that make you happy and then send this to 10 of the latest people in your notifications!

Thanks so much for asking, Nar!! Here goes:

CATRADORA! (free space) WRITING about them, THINKING about them, LOOKING at beautiful artwork of them, ((hint hint ;)) it's all prime serotonin.

Making people laugh! Prolly my favourite thing to do on this earth, knowing I've made someone happy makes me happy.

As much as I'd love to put reading in this third spot I've gotta be real and say vidyagames instead. I'm esp weak for parenthood narratives (God of War/The Last of Us) and good ol' fashioned shootbangs. (CoD/DOOM)

FOOD! I love trying new eats and I'm a force to be reckoned with at a buffet. Shameless food scavenger with a ravenous appetite. I WILL comfort eat and you CAN'T stop me.

My pet corn snake Ripley! Watching her slither, yawn, wrap around stuff and tongue things makes bad days easily forgot. Staring competition extraordinaire bc she has no eyelids.

[veryimportantsparkles]

At some point I had learned that you’re not supposed to put your finger on the trigger of a gun if you’re not really sure you’re gonna pull it.  So I decided I would incorporate that into character behavior to help indicate who knows how to use a gun and who doesn’t.  And then I keep forgetting it!  And then I almost put laser shootbang effects on these guns and then had to delete it because I remembered their fingers are off the triggers!

We’re just going to continue not thinking about how Seri’s gun is blood powered and plugs into his wrist.

[catsi]

autisticmagnus

  what’s your favorite shootbang game

WHO DID U MAIN IN CO-OP……………..was it maya

oh buzz did you even have to ask OF COURSE IT WAS MAYA

unless she was already taken then i played zer0

[taiblogcomics]

“Stroke and Blow” Is A Terrible Title

Hey there, aerodynamics. Well, it's finally time. We're clear of our pony backlog and now... Sigh. We're back into the New 52, with their terrible version of the Teen Titans.

So, since it's been a while, let me put the refresher up here before the cover. So, before we left off, we also covered all 12 issues of Ravagers. And why was that, you ask? It's simple. Because Deathstroke's appearance there was the final climax of the story. And where did we leave off in Teen Titans? Why, it was during the Villains Month event, where every series instead pushed aside its characters to give a backstory to the villains. Last issue, we did... Trigon, wasn't it? Jeepers, that was all the way back in February. But anyways, all that preamble, the whole review of Ravagers? It's because of who the next Villains Month feature.

Here's the cover:

That's right, it's your boy Deathstroke. I interrupted the narrative and reviewed 12 issues of a side series just to set up this one issue. And then we didn't get to it for three or four months anyway because I delayed it for pony comics. And Halloween was in there too. Anyways, I'm not the best forward planner. The point is: this cover. Which is... Wow, okay, the background is lazy, in that it is exactly the same one as the previous issue. It made sense with Trigon! It makes no sense here. Also, Deathstroke's design is fine, but the weird shines on his helmet are making him look like he has some sort of anime face. It doesn't look like that in the issue, so it's weird here.

So! We open "about a decade into the War on Terror". Oh no, is this going to be political? How could that ever happen, with Deathstroke's well-known military background~? Anyways, wherever the hell this base is, the wall explodes and Deathstroke enters. The other guy at this base? Deathblow, a former Image Comics character. He might also be a supporting character in Grifter's series in the New 52. But here, they're pairing two characters whose names begin with "Death" in the same comic. So therefore, we're gonna call Blowey here by his real name "Michael" and Deathstroke will be "Slade", just to keep the confusion down. Got it~?

Looks like both of them are here on a job. One's wrecking the place and one's guarding it. Ooh, this is gonna get awkward. Slade fights his way through all of Michael's troops and jumps into the elevator. He then counts down and jumps through the escape hatch at the top, since he figured Michael would cut the cables. Ah, one of those fights, where they keep out-anticipating the other. Slade kicks Michael over, telling him he doesn't need him to die, just stand aside. And 30 seconds later, Slade's on the roof with a sniper rifle already set up, and he fires at a clear politician-looking dude.

We then jump over to Bosnia, before either of them were putting "Death" in front of their name. They're just ordinary soldierm'ns here. While Michael holds off some enemy combatants, Slade sets up them the bomb and detonates it. It's only when there's five seconds left on the timer does he notice it was a children's hospital. He's justifiably upset with his superiors, and this is why he leaves the military. That's perfectly understandable. Instead, he ends up putting more time into having his own kids, presumably to make up for all the ones he blew up.

So his son Grant eventually grows up and becomes enough of a badass in his own right that Slade starts taking him on missions with him. Slade's teamed up with Team 7 at this point, which is a name that's come up before. I think they even had a short-lived series in the New 52, which I never read because it's full of boring shootbang military superhero bullshit. Slade's in full costume at this point, but he's got two halves to his orange mask. He's in North Korea, and ends up literally Dr. Strangeloving a missile that they're test-shooting in a two-page spread.

Slade punctuates all this with describing how he only worked for governments at this point, not trusting the ideas of corporations and private contractors. And then... The next page is Slade cutting apart a bunch of soldiers, with an inset panel of him saluting a gravestone. The captions say "Only one person could know where we were staying that night", so I guess the implication is that someone betrayed them and killed his son. And that brings us back around to the start of the comic (and a completely different art style, I might add).

And so, with the narrative loop closed, Slade fires that sniper rifle and kills the guy in the white suit behind the podium. Whoever it is. The comic never really explains their identity, but I guess you can interpret that he's involved in Grant's death. A page before has Slade noting that you can trace a call from Asia to the United States, and you see such a call between a man in a military uniform and someone else, talking about getting Slade off their back. But still, I think the precise details are unclear. After that, Slade slaughters all the guy's guards and returns home.

And the comic ends with Slade returning to his wife and daughter, who is still at a very young age, so this is still pre-Teen Titans. He tells her he had a good time on safari, and you can see all kinds of animals mounted in his home. So that's basically his cover story, and his wife wonders if it's okay to lie to his daughter like that. He says he'll tell her the truth in time, but she's young yet. And the last panel shows his daughter, Rose Wilson, picking up Slade's mask from his briefcase and holding it up admiringly.

This comic is... not the best. Like, you couldn’t tell Deathstroke’s origin in a single 20 page comic? Even with some of the backstory changes for the New 52, like removing the H.I.V.E. origin for Grant and not mentioning Jericho at all, this feels like a really bad and confusing origin. It’s not so much Slade’s origin as someone vaguely trying to tell you Slade’s origin while drunk at a bar and he can only half remember it. That’s what this issue feels like: a drunk, half-remembered retelling. Deathblow didn’t need to be a part of this at all, other than to try and tie the New 52 origins closer together.

Well, that wasn’t worth the ten month wait at all, was it~? More typical Titans issue next week, but they will probably be equally as terrible~