#studio cryo

[cparas-art]

The other Kaeyas I have drawn (2022 & 2023) :3

The 2nd one I tried to study Genshin's artstyle--I'll never do it again but it was a fun experiment XD

[i-vrdude]

Here are more 8-bit chibis of Genshin that I created!

[orchardpuppy]

in light of hydro kaveh and pyro (corrupt) alhaitham, i decided to also change the visions and designs of a few other characters!

cryo tighnari, and dendro dori ☆

[amzblu]

I redraw an old Chongyun art I did a while ago but digitally this time

[nickolashx]

System Shock 2 (1999)

System Shock 2 is a 1999 action role-playing survival horror video game designed by Ken Levine and co-developed by Irrational Games and Looking Glass Studios.

You awake from the cold chill of your cryo-tube to discover cybernetic implants grafted to your flesh and the crew of the starship Von Braun slaughtered.

The infected roam the halls, their screams and moans beckoning you to join them as the rogue artificial intelligence known as SHODAN taunts and ridicules your feeble attempt to unravel the horrifying mystery of the derelict starship Von Braun.

[chirpthingz]

Involvement of third parties in the noise event:

I just wanted to organize everything, because i am... confused? about the actions of some of them because they seem somewhat uncharacteristic

The Federation:

gave jaiden various quests- after she expressed her intent to protect the all eggs at any cost- to collect materials/skills

gave jaiden the location of a dungeon (abandoned federation facility)

the federation facility had 8 cryo chambers (presumably that is what they are)

the facility had a timer startup sequence that required jaiden's quest items to start

initiated a sequence (most likely accidentally) that alerted the players and caused the train to disappear back into the portal

informed jaiden that they "are one step closer"

The Code:

appeared inside the inaccessible federation cryo-room

altered the egg quests to say "your time is almost up"

gave players cords to two broken down machinery rooms that, once fixed,

the timer-end cinematic was somewhat staticy and had a green & black color scheme similar to other code appearances

The Update Accounts: (may fall under federation as well)

were aware that something was happening- could hear noises/smell smoke (but only english and spanish updates)

some non-qsmp quackity studios updates briefly had a corrupted layout (cannot confirm this)

continued to update as normal after posting a teaser photo

Mysterious Third Party: (that contacted cellbit)

contacted cellbit seemingly impressed by his actions

told him to follow jaiden & record everything during the noise event, and told him failure meant losing his son forever

[lunarblessingart]

Betcha didn't expect me to pivot from my favorite AA4 boys to Matt Engarde, but here we are!

In my brainstorming for this project concept, I was thinking aloud with some of my Ace Attorney friends and asking for feedback, and I think one of them (I sadly don't remember exactly who) suggested that Matt would fake a different element...so now we've got this! There's a few clues planted to help you tell which is which, but the cryo vision is the real one.

I don't really have a lot to say about this, since I explained how I believe Cryo as an element is isolation in my last post about a character with a cryo vision, but I kind of imagined that Global Studios would specifically want someone with an Anemo vision when casting the Nickel Samurai, for whatever reason, so Engarde would just get good at icy wind or something and hide his actual vision.

You could add to that by giving Juan Corrida an actual Anemo vision, but I'm...not really sure it fits him either. I didn't assign him anything, feel free to brainstorm or debate or something if you're into that.

Post written & scheduled June 2nd (happy pride month :] )

[chrisairgames]

A Year in Retrospect

The social media diaspora began a year ago, and I've been neglecting Tumblr. Trying to come back, slowly, so here's what I've been up to since November 2022.

Bio-Drones & Cryo-Clones

From November to February 1st, 2022, I worked on my Zine Month campaign, a Kickstarter for my first ttrpg zine, a Sleeper Crew Adventure for Mothership RPG called Bio-Drones & Cryo-Clones.

I was blown away by the immense show of support. The crowd-funding allowed me to pay for even more art, better and bigger maps, development and editing, and professional layout. I got to make the zine into the amazing package I'd dreamed up.

The zines were sent off to the fulfillment center last Friday! A ton of my ttrpg work time was spent on what's in these boxes, and it's pretty scary to see it go off into a truck. That does mean the zines will be available at retailers soon, though, which just feels nuts to me.

The Unseen City

I also wrote The Unseen City, the first 3pp setting and adventure for Cloud Empress, the ecological science fantasy RPG, the successful Mothership hack from Worlds by Watt.

I go into depth about how this 20pg zine turned evolved from the "Pamphlet Duet" I originally conceived in my most recent newsletter. A lot of struggles, gained some killer art from HodagRPG, and all for a game I'm really quite happy with. I do plan to return to writing more adventures for The Unseen City as well!

Mitosis, Escape from STAR Station

Last year, RV Games published my Mothership pamphlet series The Cerdo Cycle (that was my last Tumblr post!). Shortly after the campaign, Violet asked me to write a giant 8x16 inch pamphlet adventure for RV Games' upcoming in-universe Mothership board game, Mitosis.

I wrote Escape from STAR Station, a gonzo adventure about a Prison Break amidst two warring factions: Cyberviral Pirate Goons & STARS Staff Brainiacs. Both sides are infected by experiments with the Mitosis board game microorganisms. It's a crazy lil adventure with awesome art by Sigmacastell. You can pick up an abridged print-at-home version for free on my itch page, even.

5 Million Worlds RPG

For the One-Page Game Jam this past summer, I submitted a pocketzine Space Adventure hack of Mothership, called 5MW RPG: Avatar Basics.

In this little A4/US Letter space, I've designed two main pulls away from sci-fi horror to space adventure. The first are Push Tables. Similar to the end of act in a Star Trek episode, these tables push the conflict in new and unexpected directions.

The second is a switch from Stress into Limit. Limit is your PC's XP, used to improve Stats/Saves, build towards projects, etc. Notably, instead of a Panic Table, 5MW has two tables: a Break Down table (similar to Panic), and a Limit Break table (like in FF).

When characters are in the shit, and they have to roll a Limit Check, the players can decide whether to spend their XP and do some cool shit to overcome the circumstances, or accept the Break Down. Good ol' @christiansorrell even did a TikTok video discussing the game, if you wanna check that out.

I'm very excited to continue to pursue creating a player's handbook, 5MW RPG: Avatar Primer. If you download the game on itch, I'll keep y'all apprised of substantial updates. Next up is developing the chargen, and reconfiguring the pocketzine as an A6 booklet: 5MW RPG: Avatar Basics+.

Outer Rim Uprising

I was extremely honored to join 11 other designers to create pieces of the Outer Rim Uprising Megabundle, spearheaded by our intrepid leader, Iko of The Lost Bay Studio.

Several months of brainstorming and collaboration went into this 20+ piece bundle. I contributed two pieces for this bundle. The first is a 12pg adventure module Rusted to the Core. Androids aboard an aerostat station floating in a gas giant's clouds have gone on strike. Can the PCs resolve the issues before the Rust overtakes the station?

The second is the more "experimental" Bones on the Ground. Bones is a bifold adventure into an android museum-prison, paired with three diegetic fliers supporting the ARA, the Android Rights Association (or Android Rebel Alliance, depending on who you ask!). Pieces of the three flyers contain clues for PCs who join the ARA to better succeed when they begin their museum infiltration.

A Buncha Spaceship Deckplans

So I have ADHD, and experience bouts of summer mania. Spaceshiptember rolled around, and I thought, "Hey it'd be no problemo to write 30 deckplans and release them this month, while I'm also trying to print BioCryo, promote ORU, starting a newsletter, and finishing up The Unseen City." Totally sane decision, right?

Well, I got through half the month. And I sketched out a third week's worth of ships on paper too. One of those sketches caught Adam STATION's eye, even, and he asked me to join An Infinity of Ships to turn it into a micro-adventure!

As long as this quick-n-dirty zine remains unfinished, it'll be free on itch.io. Again, if you'd like, follow along and I'll send out dev updates when new pages are added!

the dying tides

Another Jam entry, this time for The Lost Bay Studio's system agnostic fantasy setting + coloring book, SKYREALMS.

I made the dying tides as a short, lightweight fantasy adventure to venture among wavebros and squidillies. The art is based on my 4 yo daughter's paintings. Since she loved coloring the SKYREALMS books so much, I figured it was a poetic homage to the kind and mysterious heart of this game.

An Interactive Terminal Network

Last but not least, I smashed my skull against Twine on and off for six months to create a unified Interactive Terminal Network for my Mothership adventure, Bio-Drones & Cryo Clones.

The terminal is absolutely free to play on itch.io. Though passwords that can be found in the zine lock off a few areas. That said, I'm sure many folk could dig out the passwords without the zine. I don't know how to do that stuff. The fact that I even MADE this thing is a miracle to me, hahaha.

Goal for 2023

Talk about this stuff as it's happening so I don't infodump on people like this, haha.

What I'm working on now:

Twisting Unseen

Untitled Liminal Horror adventure

Provisional sketches, for the artist/layout designer.

Also, if you made it this far, thanks.

-Chris Air

[pixiecaps]

so comparing the photo cellbit posted and the one qsmp studios posted i am assuming that qcellbit is being put in one of those cryo chambers. the angle cellbit is sharing should allow us to see felps if that was the cryo chamber felps is in. you’d at least see the lower body.

the room is pretty much the same. the black bars make it look like a hallway so the pov is someone entering the room from a hallway.

what would be interesting is if instead of it being the chamber qcellbit is gonna be put in is if this is actually showing qcellbit FINDING felps room and it being empty…🤔 to illustrate he walks in the room frantically searching for qfelps but all he sees is the empty chamber. in that moment he understands he’s already been taken to moved somewhere else

AND THEN HE GETS SHOVED IN THE TUBE💀

[ivy-plays]

Welcome to Pandora

Summary: This is your first day on pandora. You will get to see new things and meet new people. And begin to get a grasp on what you will be doing for the next five years.

Warnings: Talk of Death, cussing, smoking

Italics = A memory/ dream or inner thoughts.

Quotations " " = someone is talking.

⚠️I do not own Avatar or any of it's characters. This franchise belongs to James Cam'ron and 20th century Studios Lightstorm Entertainment ⚠️

"Welcome to the avatar program."

"My name is Tommy. Tommy Sully and this is Norm Spellman. What's yours?"

" Be safe and I'll catch you Monday. "

"This is for you"

"He doesn't even have any training. He's just another thick skulled marine."

"Have a nice nap. We'll see you guys in 5 years."

"People, you have been in cryo for five years, nine months and twenty two days. You will be hungry, you will be weak. If you feel nausea, please use the sacks provided for your convenience. The staff thanks you in advance." A man in white scrubs announced, as my fellow passengers and myself floated out of our bunks and got our things from our lockers .

Grabbing my bag and slinging it over my shoulder I close the locker and float off.

The shuttle rocks and jolts as it begins its descent on the planet's surface and a man in military gear stalks down the aisle .

"Exopack on!" The crew chief barks and I do as he says expertly slipping the oxygen mask over my face and tightening the straps.

"Remember people, you lose your mask you're unconscious in 20 seconds and you're dead in four minutes. Let's nobody be dead today, it looks bad on my report." He begins again reminding us all of the dependence we will have these masks.

I watch as he continues walking down the row before stopping to bark out "exopacks on!" To some one I couldn't quite see.

In the next few minutes we're all standing up, gear ready to go , In organized rows waiting for the hatch to open to our new home.

"I wonder if he is anything like Tommy." I hear a voice barely above a whisper say to me from behind .

I playfully rolled my eyes before replying ," of course he is Norm. There twins remember? I'm more curious about how they mean for him to be an avatar piolet if he doesn't even have any training on it. Hell, he's not even a scientist. He's a marine which is the last person we need prancing around in an avatar." I reply .

Whoever is in charge of everything here is seriously not someone interested in the science behind the program if he is sending someone with no training in, Souley on the bases of his twin brother was scheduled to be here and they didn't want to waste there money by having a useless avatar.

"Yeah you have a point. " He replied as the ship jolted one more time as it landed. " Let's just hope he picks up quick " he finished as the hatch began lowering itself .

"Go directly into the base! Do not stop! Go straight inside!" The crew chief ordered as we all began to depart the shuttle and head straight inside as instructed. As I walk across the lot I take in the amount of mining trucks and military machinery and as one rolls by I note the giant arrows wedged into the sides of the tires .

After the briefing Norm and I weave our way through the crowd of scientists and military personnel alike trying to get to the labs without being trampled alive in the narrow hallways of the base. I hold onto the straps of Norm's bag as we walk using his height as a guide and shield from those around me, before he begins to take off in a jog pushing through the crowd.

" ack! Norm slow down! Why are you rushing!?" I call out surprised as I rush to stay up with him.

Norm doesn't reply to me before I hear him call out to someone in the crowd. "Hey, you're Jake right? Tom's brother? You look just like him." He said ,I could only roll my eyes. I could see the man.Jake's face almost fall before it went back to its natural resting state.

I knew he would look some what like Tommy but he really does look exactly like him .

"Sorry, I'm Norm Spellman, and this is (yfn) (yln), we went through avatar training with him." He continued none the wiser to Jake's change in mood. Only at the mention of my name did Jake notice my presence and look at me for a few seconds seemingly studying me.

"It's nice to meet you Jake. Tommy has told me all about you. " I said kindly a small smile gracing my lips while reaching out my hand for him to shake.

Norm does the same before continuing on,"He was a great guy -- funny. It was a big shock to all of us." Jake only excels before saying an quick," yeah" before continuing to roll himself down the hall way Norm and I are walking with him.

"And duh! -- obviously you look like him. I mean, if you weren't genetically identical, you wouldn't be taking over his avatar." Norm followed up on the conversation from before.

"that's why I'm here." Jake replayed not looking anywhere but Infront of him until I asked him a question as to which he looked to me.

"so-- you wanna check it out?" I say a bit of playfulness lacing my tone.

The three of us made our way to the bio lab, it was chock full of equipment of all sorts , incubation tubes and much more. From the main room there were several adjoining rooms each one holding another price to the puzzle that is the avatar project.

As we walk up on the chambers holding the avatars a man begins talking behind us,"Me and Norm were out here to drive these remotely controlled bodies called avatars. They're grown from human DNA mixed with DNA from the natives here." He said and I turned to look at him, observing him I found his name tag stitched into his lab coat. Dr.Max Cullimore.

We watch as two shipping containers are being uncrated , the one nearest to us contents visible. An acrylic tank that reached the ceiling. From the corner of my eye I watched as Jake continued to wheel himself towards another tank following him I turned the corner to see this tank completely uncovered and inside was a fully grown avatar. Jake's avatar.

"Damn they got big " I could hear the man exlame while studying the creature in front of him.

"Yeah, they grew on the trip out," Norm responded to Jake before Turing back to Max," So the proprioceptive sims worked pretty well."

" Yeah, they've got great muscle tone. Give us a few hours, you guys can take them for a spin." Max says before walking off to check on the progress of other tanks.

The avatar rolls in the tank his face now visible to the three of us. " It looks like him." I could hear Jake mutter mesmerized by the avatar's features. I only smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder," It looks like you. This is your avatar now Jake " I say not noticing how Jake moves his head ever so slightly to look at me before looking back at Tommy's his avatar.

I had already finished my first video log. Max told us we had to log our days here on Pandora to monitor things such as our mental state and anything we discovered along the way. I now sat in a chair to the left of Jake watching him as he made his own video log.

"Is this right? I just say whatever I want?" He suddenly stops and turns to ask Norm.

"Yeah. You just need to get in the habit of documenting everything -- what you see, what you feel -- it's all part of the science. Good science starts with good observation." Norm answers before turning back to Max.

Jake turned back to the camera and continued to talk until Max stopped him," Log off. It's time to meet your boss for the next five years."

The four of us leave the desk and Max leads us down the hall to the link room. As we walked in I could feel the excitement bubbling in my chest as I looked around.

"Grace Augustine is a legend. She's the head of the Avatar Program, and she wrote the book -- I mean literally wrote the book -- on Pandoran botany." Norm exclaimed just as excited as I am to be here and excited to meet Grace Augustine.

Max looked back at us over his shoulder before whispering to us," that's because she likes plants better than people"

Were all silent until a female voice cuts through the lab "who's got my goddamn cigarette?!" She exclaimed before we saw a Tech rush over with a cigarette and lighter in hand. The four of us walk over to where Grace is sat in her chamber smoking her cigarette.

" And here she is, Cinderella back from the ball. Grace this is Norm spellman , (yfn) ( yln) , and Ja--" Max begins but is cut off before he can finish Jake's name by Grace.

" Norm and (yfn). I've heard good things about you two. How's you're Na'vi?" She asks.looking between the two of us expectantly.

"It is nice to meet you Grace " I say in Na'vi while slightly bowing my head.

"May the All Mother smile upon our first meeting." Norm said doing the same jestire as myself.

" not bad. But you sound a little formal." She said looking at Norm.

"There is still much to learn" he countered.

The three of us continued to talk in Na'vi until Max broke our conversation once more trying to introduce Jake .

"uh Grace , this is Jake s---"

Grace only turned to Jake once more cutting off Max. Poor dood can't even finish a sentence.

"Yeah, yeah, I know who you are, and I don't need you. I need your brother." She snipped before turning back to Max. I could see the irritation on Jake's face at the way Grace spoke about him, his brother.

"You know the PH-D that trained three years for this mission." She finished.

" He's dead. I know that's a big inconvenience for everyone." Jake spits out and I look at him with pity in my heart.

The man just lost his brother and got his life uprooted and they have the nerve to say he's not good enough to his face.

"How much lab training have you had? Ever run a gas chromatograph?" Grace asked Jake, taking a drag of here cigarette.

"no "

"any actual lab work at all?"

"Highschool chemistry. But I ditched."

Grace turns back to Max throwing her hands up into the air. "You see? You see? They're pissing on us without even the courtesy of calling it rain." She said before turning away and heading towards the lab exit . "I'm going to Selfridge." She states shoving past Jake his chair slightly rolling out of the way.

Max called after her but his words fell on deaf ears as Grace had already stomped out of the lab. Max turns to Jake " here , tomorrow, oh eight hundred. Try to use big words. " He said before following Grace out the lab.

@elegantkidfansoul

[loveephia]

is there anything you're working on (writing or not) that you're excited about?? I was just wondering if there's anything other than writing that you enjoy like, other hobbies

(i have the memory of a fish🐟 so if there's anywhere you've mentioned it before I probs forgot alredy 😓)

OOOOOO well, i'm not working on much lately, but i do have a few other hobbies than writing!!!

i actually draw a bit from time to time. >:D here are a few of my drawings:

nowadays, i focus on rendering my ocs so that i know who to imagine when i'm reading fanfics from the same fandom. :p the kokomi drawing isn't as polished because that was the first drawing i did after a year of getting no motivation to draw.

i also dance. i've been going to this studio for years now with two other friends, and we're trying to get a reunion soon. on the days that i can't go to classes, i stay at home and practice by myself.

i sing a bit too, and in a few days, i'll be performing a song in my family's church. RAAAAHHHHGHGH, I'M GENUINELY SO NERVOUS BECAUSE I HAVEN'T PERFORMED IN FRONT OF A CROWD IN YEARSSS

i don't know if learning languages count, but i have fun doing it. i study japanese (with the help of a friend), but it's mostly for my future because i'm hoping to live in japan after i graduate.

i love gaming with my friends!!! i play a lot of genshin impact, minecraft, and a bit of roblox. i'm trying to get on genshin every day to do comms because sHENHE NEEDS TO COME HOME. I NEED A CRYO SUPPORT FOR MY DPS KOKOMI. ++ me and my friends started a little world in minecraft a few weeks ago, and so far, everything is looking really good!1!11!

I'M SORRY THAT I GEEKEED OUT A BIT WHILE WRITING THIS ENTIRE THING,, VERY FEW PEOPLE ASK ABOUT MY HOBBIES AKHDKSJDKS

[misty-groves]

Revelations (Mari & MacCready)

Rating: G

Pairing: Pre relationship Mari/MacCready or MariCready as I've dubbed them.

Summary: MacCready and Mari share some time after clearing a building. Mari shares more about herself than expected.

Warnings: Canon typical filth, guns

Other: If I missed anything, please let me know

"You're gonna get us blown up." MacCready scoffs as he looks at the woman beside him.

"You worry too much, we just cleared the place." Mari says as she leans against the wall.

"I do not. I need to stay alive. You're welcome to get yourself killed if you want."

"Wow, I feel so loved, Mac."

MacCready just rolls his eyes. He's not got much to say to that.

So, he watches the door that separates the studio apartment-esque room they've holed up in.

He knows they cleared the place. But still.

He hears Mari light up a smoke, and as much as he's trying to quit he misses it sometimes. He's not going to begrudge her the vice though, she so rarely uses it.

"You know, I think I should redecorate my apartmen. This room is just soQ10 inspiring."

"There's a pee pudle in the corner." MacCready rolls his eyes as he turns to really look at her.

She laughs, cigarette held between her middle and pointer finger.

The light in the room is enough to see the amusement in her impossibly green eyes.

He's never seen that shade of green on anyone besides her twin.

"Yeah, I'm not that trashy." She says before taking another drag.

"Good." MacCready says.

He sets about cleaning his gun. They're safe. And really, if anyone shows up Mari will do something.

Because if he's honest (and this is totally objective), Mari is a badass that's taken down a super mutant with a few well placed slices. And the whole judo flipping a raider.

Clearing out a gunners' base by herself.

Yeah, he's fine. Mari seems to have some sort of honest care for him, as more than a hired gun.

Besides, they cleared the place themselves.

"You're overthinking again." Mari says as she snubs out the half smoked cigarette.

"You're wasting smokes."

"Yeah, maybe. But I've committed worse sin."

"You make it sound like there's a god out there that cares."

"There used to be." Mari says softly, getting that bittersweet tone she gets sometimes.

"Did you know that god?"

"No. But I remember learning about it. It's a nice thought."

"You must have grown up somewhere else."

"You'd never believe me of I told you."

"Try me." MacCready challenges.

Mari looks at him, and she has a funny expression on. Bitter amd nostalgic and trying to ignore both.

"I am from here." Mari says after a minute.

"That's not out of the ordinary. Lots of people live and die in one area."

"I'm from here, before the bombs. I grew up before the bombs hit, I remember the war that started it."

"Yeah? How did you even survive?"

"I was frozen. I was a military experiment put into cryo-freezr when I was seventeen."

"You're messing with me."

"If you say so." Mari says with a shrug.

After all, the only person she's told that believed her was Daisy. Though, Hancock at least pretend to.

"Ypu say that like you're being honest."

"Have I ever lied to you?" Mari challenges, turning her gaze back to him.

There is nothing but curiosity there.

MacCready rubs the back of his neck. He knows she hasn't lied to him. Yet. (Dosen’t everyone lie eventually?)

But he has to admit, as far fetched as it sounds it makes sense.

She sings songs he's only heard in the Capital Wastes.

She's got a softness in her heart that no one else has besides her twin.

And hell, she references things that only the ghouls seem to understand.

Maybe she's being honest.

"It's hard to believe. You gotta admit that."

Mari just gives that bittersweet smile again. She can't bring herself to respond.

She can't lie to MacCready about anything they're talked about so far. And she isn't starting now.

But she can't make someone believe something.

"Just- tell me something. If you're really from then, how are you so - good at this stuff?" MacCready asks.

Mari laughs softly. Of course he asks.

"I was a military experiment, they wanted to make immortal super soilders. They didn't have the stuff to make us immortal so they froze us."

"Really? They couldn't make you invincible?"

"You've seen me get thrown around like a rag doll and walk away from grenades with almost no injury. They got close."

"Do you miss it?" MacCready asks after a moment.

Because he's realized she isn't lying. She really does have some odd quirks that being from back then explains. She keeps eating utensils and almost always uses them.

She walks with perfect posture and her smile is entirely too charming for her own good.

Mari just shakes her head. "Sometimes. But I was taken from my family without warning when they started experimenting on me. So it wasn't a great last year there."

"Wow."

"Yeah... But hey, I'm a he'll of a shot so it's not like I'm in bad shape these days."

"Yeah." MacCready echoes.

"You know I've been thinking about recording some of the songs I know. They seem like they aren't really in circulation."

"You can sing?"

"Of course I can. I play piano too... though that's not nearly as helpful."

"Huh. You're all educated then?"

"Got my GED and everything."

"Your what?"

"General equivalency diploma. It's an alternative to a highschool diploma."

"Oh."

"You should let Teddy ramble about history or art. He's all English and art smart."

"That explains why he likes Publik Occurances."

Mari laughs again, shaking her head. "Yeah, that's why. It has nothing to do with Piper, like, at all."

"Oh shut up."

"You know I can't."

MacCready just breathes. He can admit he has a soft spot for Mari, but the way his heart squeezes when she gets cheeky with him is unhealthy.

He's probably just sick. Yeah.

When he looks back over, Mari is fiddling with an old pipboy she's had for a few weeks. She'd raided a vault outside the common wealth.

The green glow is familiar.

Diamond city radio turns on, and orange colored sky plays quietly.

[eljackinton]

A freewheeling pitch for a System Shock style successor to Alien Isolation.

Alien Isolation is a game that's been stuck in my head for a very long time. I bought the game at launch in 2014 but never finished it because it was too scary. It's only going back a few weeks ago to finally do it that I managed to banish the old ghost. Nonetheless the pitch perfect visual designs harkening back to the 1979 original as well as the perfect adaption of that film's tension to it's core mechanics have cemented the game with a legendary status that it rightfully deserves.

This has left many over the years questioning the lack of a sequel, and yet when actually pondering this question it's answer is immediately apparent. Escalation. How do you escalate a game whose tension was already wound as perfectly tight as it needed to be? Empower the player too much and you ruin the tension, empower the alien too much and you make the game frustrating.

Far better to leave the game untouched. It's own solitary island in the Alien franchise history.

Anyway here's how I'd do a successor.

Note that I said 'successor.' This is not a pitch for a sequel, semi-sequel or even a spiritual successor. This is a pitch for a game that takes the same relative premise as Isolation but zigs where the previous game zagged. While my pitch takes a hearty dose of inspiration from Isolation, it also harkens to one of it's older predecessors, System Shock, and by extensions Shock's own 2016 successor Prey.

This is just going to be a bit of a freewheeling ramble to explain an idea in my head. A sort of pitch as to how the experience would unfold, but to be clear from the start, here's what ideas and concepts that we will be carrying over from Isolation:

- The plot takes place on single, isolated space station, it's downfall being told through audio logs.

- The hunting Alien that triggers an instant kill if it reaches you.

- The complete dedication to a retro-future aesthetic. While it won't be 1:1 the style of Isolation, it will share a great deal of similarity in it's low-tech future depiction.

- The Working Joes.

Other than that, the differences will become apparent as you continue to read this pitch. So what I'd like you to do is sit back, imagine you've just booted this game up on your console or PC, the distorted 20th Century Studios fanfare plays, and you begin the game.

Intro

Our opening cinematic begins our storyline. Our point of view, player character and protagonist is the daughter of a wealthy CEO of a pharmaceutical company. She has been diagnosed with an incurable future disease. Doing all he can do, The Father puts The Daughter into cryo, in order to have her transferred to his brand new, state of the art medical space facility out in the heart of the colonies. With a promise that one day he will see her again, The Father puts us to sleep, and the game begins.

Tutorial Prologue

The Daughter awakens from her pod to the sound of emergency sirens and flashing hazard lights. All around her is devastation and chaos. We are confused, with no explanation to the scene in front of us. Quickly, we hear a voice from a nearby speaker. Making our way over to a medical desk, we pick up a headset and are greeted by our first friendly voice. We'll call them Mission Control.

Mission Control tells us that he has no time to explain, but numerous hostile beings will be approaching shortly and if we want to live we'd better damn well follow his instructions. Swiftly we run to hide as a Working Joe, dressed in medical scrubs and covered with blood comes to inspect the scene. He expresses confusion that the 'priority patient' is unaccounted for.

Following Mission Control's instructions we sneak our way out. He tells us that the cryo wing is currently under lockdown and he won't be granted the authority to let us out until the 'hostile contaminant' is dealt with. He guides us through the corridors, avoiding Joes and catching glimpses of something sneaking its way around the vents. Once we start to assemble our inventory, a hacking tool, wrench, blowtorch, the creature then reveals itself.

Our first Xeno encounter will be of a Runner Xenomorph, of Alien 3 fame. Fast, but weaker than their larger brethren, we use our guile and cunning to evade it's grasp (though no doubt screw up and die a few times) building noise-makers and whatnot to draw them away. Mission Control confirms that it can be killed, but it'll need to be weakened first. Following his instructions, we find components to build a pipe bomb and obtain a slug shooting heavy pistol.

Eventually we head out to the cryo wing's reception area. Following more of Mission Control's instructions, we set a trap, putting down the pipe bomb and throwing a noise-maker. If done correctly, the explosion stuns and weakens The Runner, giving us a window to bring it down with the pistol. However, it still takes some putting down, with nearly all of the ammo we have collected so far required to kill the thing. After it's death, Mission Control requests that we obtain a nearby 'sample extractor' device, to preserve some of the creature's biomatter, which will become useful later.

At that, he lifts the lockdown, and allows us to enter the greater part of the station.

Act One

The game opens up proper as we enter out into the station's foyer. It's a big, grand entryway that reveals how prestigious the station was in it's prime. Huge glass windows look out over the planet the station orbits, very much invoking the opening of Prey. Our respite is brief, however, as a patrol of Weyland-Yutani combat synths start paroling the floor. We've seen these guys before, in Aliens Fireteam Elite. They're armed, and one or two shots will kill us outright, so Mission Control tells us to sneak past  them, since we're also low on resources after having taken on the Runner.

We make out way to a great glass elevator which Mission Control has sent down. We ride it up to the station's secure command centre. It's a huge spherical vault accessible only from a single walkway. Part panic room, part security office, part personal lab, part emergency habitation, the command centre is the one place in the station totally secure from both the aliens and the synths.

We meet Mission Control in person. He's a maimed young man in a wheelchair, acid burns revealing that he likely lost those limbs taking on one of the Xenos. He greets The Daughter, who impatiently demands an explanation as to what is going on. He fills us in on what has transpired since The Daughter went into cryo.

The Father began his search for the cure with great optimism, funded on the back of his state of the art medical station bringing healthcare to the colonies. However, after an attempt at an operation performed by an expert doctor failed, his behaviour became more and more erratic, leading to a bad series of business decisions that began the downfall of the station, like replacing a lot of the orderlies and staff with budget Seegson androids.

Getting ever more desperate, The Father was offered a deal by Weyland-Yutani, who needed specialised lab space for the research of 'exotic biomaterials,' some of which might help result in a cure. The Father sold off part of the station to them, but over time their demands would start to get higher and higher. Eager for a solution, he let them take over more of the station, as well as help themselves to 'test subjects' from the patients.

Eventually The Father figured that there was no cure forthcoming, and that W-Y had been stringing him along. When he confronted them, however, it was far too late, as whatever they had been doing resulted in an outbreak of deadly life forms. W-Y locked down their own labs, overrode the Working Joes, and sent their Synths to protect their assets, and most of the station was wiped out by the aliens or the synths.

Mission Control, a menial worker and union rep, managed to round up a few survivors and flee to the command centre, where he intended to lift the lockdown and broadcast a distress call. The Father didn't trust MU-TH-UR computer cores, so instead the command centre was designed to be a human operating system for the station. However, it was also locked to his own bio-signature, with only minimal functions to everyone else.

Mission Control figured the only way off the station would be for him to unfreeze The Daughter and guide her to the command centre, using her bio-signature to unlock greater functionality. He apologies that she doesn't have long to live, but that she is their only chance to get off the station.

Naturally The Daughter begrudgingly agrees to help, and with a drop of blood unlocks the command centre's functions. W-Y however, have sabotaged the distress beacon, and so our first order of business is to go about the station, building up our arsenal and going through a series of convoluted quest-lines to lift the lockdown on the W-Y labs and reactivate the beacon.

To go about this, the command centre introduces two critical gameplay mechanics:

1) Station control. While she is unable to activate the beacon, The Daughter can control pretty much every other aspect of the station. However, there is not enough power to have everything running at once, so she can delegate 'power points' to various wings to aid her in her quest and mitigate threats. This involves things like activating security defences that can kill synths and repel xenos. Power up health stations. Deactivate the Joes or turn them to her side. Unlock all doors to bypass hacking. She can also turn off the lights, which makes her harder to detect by synths but makes being hunted by xenos more dangerous.

From the station control map she can also see which wings currently have a roaming Xeno. To begin with there are only a limited number of Xenos on the ship and once they're eliminated they stay dead. However they can roam from one wing to another, so The Daughter can spend power points to 'lock down' certain wings, keeping the xenos from roaming. The reactor is also permanently locked down to start, as we suspect that it contains a hive that could spawn more Xenos across the ship.

2) Research Lab. I always loved the research aspect of System Shock 2 and felt that it's semi-revival in Bioshock and Prey was too watered down. Upon killing a Xeno we can harvest biomaterials from it, and use that to research better weapons and equipment. This takes time, however, so once a research has started we'll have to go off and do some side-quests for a bit. This serves as a sort of tech-tree, allowing us to increase  the damage of our weapons, resist harm and improve stealth, however, there are only a limited number of Xenos, meaning we won't have bio-material for every upgrade, players will have to chose which ones suit their style best.

Hopefully by now this should be giving you an indicator of how the core gameplay will go. We'll have multiple objectives across the station that players can complete in any order, and freedom to roam most of the wings. Threats are deadly, but beatable, but resources scarce. Players will be using the environment as much as their arsenal, leading combat synths into electrocuted floors, or luring Xenos into industrial crushers, for example.

Taking on the alien will be a challenge not to be taken lightly, and one that players will need to embark upon with great care. Doing so is optional, but required if you want those precious upgrades. Think of them like the big daddy fights in Bioshock, but rarer and much more difficult. I also envision a few different xeno variants roaming the halls. A spitter that can attack at range if it's not close enough for a charge, a chameleon alien that can blend into the scenery, and of course a health dose of the deadly drones.

Act 2

After doing a bunch of busywork and helping survivors around the station, as well as finding out about more of the backstory in detail from terminals and audio logs, we'll finally get the chance to access the W-Y labs. Surprising nobody we'll find out that they've been breeding Xenos, but what we also find there in a large hanger is an intact Engineer ship (cue Prometheus soundtrack sting.)

It turn out that W-Y had obtained an Engineer ship fully stocked with Xeno eggs and needed a secure location to study it. We also learn that the ship had two occupants in stasis, one of which was infected with a chest-burster.

By this point in the game we will have gotten quite proficient at taking on the aliens, so act 2 goes on to introduce two new threats. Firstly, roaming the W-Y labs and later the station as a whole is an imposing Engineer. He's not immediately hostile, instead staring at us menacingly from a distance. However, if we get too close, attack him, or interfere with his unknown goal he will immediately charge us and break our neck. He cannot be killed, but he can, however, kill other Xenos, and luring one to him to get pummelled is one of the possible solutions to taking them out.

However, we now also get the other new addition. A massive Engineer Xenomorph (based on the Ultramoprh concept from Alien: Engineers). This creature serves much the same role as The Nightmare did in Prey. It can't be killed, acting more like the alien from Isolation, and it can come from anywhere, but it will only roam for a limited time, so best you can do is hide or try and evade it.

As we explore the W-Y labs, The Daughter will begin to wonder why her health isn't deteriorating, and, in fact, is only getting stronger. Up until this point we'll maybe drop in some red herrings that W-Y might have implanted alien DNA in her, sort of like Clone Ripley from Resurrection, but that was dumb then and it'd be dumb here. In actuality we will discover that The Father's initial operation was actually successful, but, wanting access to the station and needing to keep The Father in dire straits, W-Y secretly killed the lead surgeon and replaced him with a synthetic duplicate, lying to him that The Daughter was still terminally ill when in fact she had been cured the whole time.

While The Daughter has now accessed the labs, reverting W-Y's sabotage of the distress beacon, she now has a new goal to undertake while they await rescue, tracking down the details of her operation and finding the cure, knowing that if she can bring the details to light many other lives might be saved.

Act 3

With a distress call sent it's time to start wrapping up our affairs, filling out our arsenal and finishing off any remaining roaming aliens. While the Xenos will still be a big threat, they'll be much more manageable at this stage of the game with better gear and skills researched. The Engineer and Ultramorph will still be roaming the station though, so we'll need to evade them if we can.

After travelling around the station looking for clues and the eventual location of data regarding The Daughter's operation (could be randomised, or always the last potential location you look,) we eventually have to go to the office of the former security chief to acknowledge a response to our distress signal. One unique alien spawns to pursue you to the office (maybe for security reasons The Daughter won't be allowed to enter the security wing with weapons, like the Apollo Core in Isolation).

With the xeno in hot pursuit, we make it to the office, to discover a lockbox containing a pulse rifle with a single magazine of ammo. We use this to execute the Xeno with ease. However, most of the ammo will have been used to take it down. There'll only be enough left for a very brief further use.

Mission Control confirms that a unit of Colonial Marines has responded to their signal, but there's a problem with the hanger that they're trying to board. Making our way to the hanger, we find that it has become a battleground between the Engineer and The Ultramorph, and the chaos they are causing is preventing the hanger from functioning.

With some sneaking around required to not get killed in the ensuing melee, we repair the airlock and door functions and, ending two threats in one go, eject both the aliens in to space. Shortly afterwards the Marines arrive, revealed to be the same unit that appear in Fireteam Elite as a nice little cameo. They start evacuating the survivors, but tell us that their scans reveal that an alien hive has been constructed at the base of the station beneath the reactor core.

Since it is the Marines duty to never leave a threat unresolved, so they prep to head to the core with a bomb to destroy the station and make sure no Xenos escape. While we might want to just leave, the unique status of the station means that The Daughter will have to go with the Marines to the core, as the stations system will only accept her request to lift it's permanent lockdown.

Finale

Seeing as she clearly now knows how to look after herself, the Marines kit The Daughter out with weapons and armour. With this new upgrade, all our previous weapons pale in comparison. Our pistol and shotgun are replaced with a fully stocked pulse rifle. Home made pipe bombs and EMPs are replaced with grenades and shock lances. Our acid resistance increases tenfold, and if a Xeno engages us in melee we will have now a short window to hit a few keys to push the thing back.

The game has, for it's brief few moments, now become a power fantasy after hours of hiding and stalking. The Daughter lifts the reactor's lockdown, and with the Marines we descend into the hive. We now do battle with hundreds of Xenos, but with better weapons and squamates at our side, we can hold back the tide.

For the final challenge in the game, you and the squad must defend the bomb being prepared at the base of the reactor, first fighting off waves of Xenos, before eventually drawing the ire of the Queen. The Queen can't be killed, but she can be stunned, so it's up to you to keep her distracted and lead her on a chase while the Marines finish their prep.

With the bomb set, The Daughter and the Marines charge desperately back through the halls of the station, Xenos and Queen in pursuit, as they run back to the dropship. They make it at the final moments, and then launch, left to watch the station erupt in an atomic explosion. In the final cutscene, Mission Control contacts The Daughter on the radio, asking her what she's going to do with her new life, pulling out the data package from her pocket, she notes that only one threat has been ended, but there are still many more lives that need to be saved.

Roll credits

So there you have it. Obviously the game would be compared unfavourably to Isolation, given that it cribs it's core premise from it, and I think a lot of people will find contention in the inclusion of more action orientated elements, especially the ending, but ultimately I think doing a game where the player escalates from a helpless victim to a gun toting badass would be an interesting take on the genre. A sort of truncated version of Ripley's evolution from the start of Alien to taking on the Queen at the end of Aliens, but explored through game mechanics.

There's a few other ideas that I spitballed that I liked the sound of but couldn't really fit into the pitch. I toyed with the idea of being able to send other survivors on their own mini-missions with some instances putting you in a Mass Effect 1 situation where we are forced to chose who to sacrifice, but it'd probably overcomplicate a game that's going for the lone survivor System Shock vibes.

Likewise, I liked the idea that the Union of Progressive Peoples and a squad of W-Y Mercs would board the station, each looking to get their hands on Xeno samples, with you being given the option to help or hinder them, resulting in multiple endings, but I thought this would be overcomplicating a story that would be best kept as lean as possible.

So what do you think? Do you think drawing too much on Isolation would invite unfair comparison? Do you think more action elements like the finale with the Marines needs to be dialled back. Should the elements taken from Prometheus just be left well alone? Let me know if you have thoughts, I'm always happy to chat.

[melodyvictoria]

Vroid added fantasy outfits!

I use Vroid Studio a lot for my own vtuber but I also enjoy using it to work on my genshin oc XD Only slight tweaks so far as I have to get to work but it already is getting closer to my vision of her. (Just need to find a 3d model of a mondstadt cryo vision eventually :P ) Thought I'd share have a great day!

[someblakearts]

Cryo Pod from System Shock 2

Here's a hi-res version of the Cryo Pod from System Shock 2, trying to stay pretty faithful to the original. It’s also made to the exact same scale so that it slots into the level.

It was mainly made to see how much effort re-creating assets would be for my personal SS2 project:

Regarding the model - it’s a bit high-poly for what it is, but originally I wasn’t sure if I was going to use it for pre-rendered assets. I figured I can always bake down some of those polys to the normal map later on if I need to cut it down a bit. It’s also a little bit too weathered for a brand new ship like the Von Braun, but I was hiding my inadequacies as an artist behind grime textures/normals :p

The model was created in 3ds Studio Max and textured in Substance Painter.

You can also view a 3D model by clicking the image below:

System Shock 2 Cryo Pod by blakearts on Sketchfab

[fridge-reviews]

Recore: Definitive Edition

Developer: Amature Studio, LLC, Comcept Publisher: Xbox Game Studios Rrp: £14.99 (Humblebundle and Steam) Released: 14th September 2018 Available on: Humblebundle and Steam Played Using: An Xbox One Control Pad Approximate game length: 14 Hours

I remember seeing the trailers for this game when it was first announced, much was promised and it didn't look bad. But what have we learned about trailers? Most of the time they over promise and the games end up under delivering, and it seems that this was the case with Recore. When this game was originally released it got absolutely panned by the critics and understandably so. Buggy game play and slow load times along with a £60 price tag, it was doomed to fail. Just to add insult to injury within months of the games release Horizon Zero Dawn dropped and I can tell you choosing between this game and that one is no contest. Two years after its initial debut the Definitive Edition was released. This new version fixed quite a lot of bugs and reduced the load times as well as seemingly adding a new ending if you did enough. With this review though I'll not be taking into account how the game originally released but from what my was experience at the time of writing.

The game takes place on the planet of Far Eden which has been selected for terraforming for the remnants of humanity to live on after a cataclysm has destroyed Earth. This process of terraforming will take a long time to come to fruition, hundreds of years in fact. Due to this, Corebots (a form AI controlled robot) are sent down to handle the task while the humans remain in cryo-sleep, occasionally waking one or two specialists to oversee things and go back into stasis. This is where you come in, you play as Joule, a young woman who has awoke from cryo-sleep to find that something has gone very wrong, the terraforming hasn't occurred and nearly all the Corebots have become murderous. I say nearly because Joule is accompanied by Mack, her own trusty Corebot, and as you play through the game you'll have more Corebots that join your cause.

I've been tempted to call this game 'open world' but it doesn't meet my personal qualifiers to be classed as that. The world you play in is separated into specific areas, each time you pass from one area to another (or enter and exit most dungeons) you have to wait for a loading screen. This is quite frustrating when the world itself is quite small and that other games had been released long before this one with bigger worlds and very few loading areas (such as Skyrim and Dying Light).

Each Corebot has a coloured core (thus the name), the colour of the core dictates how the Corebot will act in combat. Typically you'll fight Corebots that are one of three colours; red, yellow or blue. Red Corebots tend to be more aggressive and can perform attacks that have a damage over time effect. Yellow Corebots have an attack that slows you down and lastly blue Corebots have an ability that will stun you, forcing you to waste precious moments freeing yourself from the effect. There are other Corebots you find that are combinations of colours, such as green or orange who can perform attacks from both colours. The last, and most important, colour is white, White Corebots are bosses and will change colour to perform attacks related to that colour.

In combat herself Joule uses a rifle to take down the various Corebots that attack, however she isn't alone, she also has a Corebot companion of her own to assist her. Joule can switch her rifle to use one of four ammo types each of which corresponding to the enemy Corebots colour (Red, Yellow and Blue). Shooting the Corebot with the matching ammo does increased damage and can even interrupt attacks. You also can command your companion Corebot to perform their own special moves on selected targets which can really even the odds. Combat is the only time you can collect enemy cores (more on that later) which cannot be attained by simply destroying the Corebot in question. So while in combat you have to decide if you want the materials the destroyed Corebot will drop or their core. If you want to collect the core you have to first weaken the Corebot to a specific point (which is indicated on their health bar) and then push the [Right Analogue stick] in. Once you do this you enter into a tug of war with that Corebot, though to be honest it has more in common with a fishing game really. Pull back on the analogue stick to try and dislodge the Corebots core, if the line glows red you need to be careful and if its white you have to release it completely or the line will break. Of course, while you're busy having a tug of war the other Corebots aren't simply going to ignore you and any damage you receive will immediately end the tug of war.

The cores and materials you collect are used to improve your friendly Corebots, which is done through two methods (both of which can only be done at a workbench) researching blueprints or fusing cores. Blueprints are found out in the world in chests etc once brought to a work bench you can research them to create new Corebot pieces each of which have stat increases and sometimes special abilities. Doing this will cost materials that you find in the world. Remember I mentioned about collecting cores? This is where those cores become important. Collected cores can be 'fused' to give stat increases to your Corebots making them much more potent in combat. Red cores increase attack power, yellow defence and blue energy (which is used for directed attacks).

Ok, lets talk about the world this game takes place on, Far Eden. From what we're told its a desert planet, with a breathable atmosphere and not much else. The problem is that the world is TOO well realised in that regard. There is nothing alive on this world (apart from the Corebots), the majority of the game is varying shades of brown under a blue sky. Sure, they break it up with the some of the remnants of the terraforming machines but those are just as lifeless and dull. Frankly, playing in this world became a tedious affair, I started using the fast travel as much as possible because I didn't want to have to trudge through that sea of brown again.

How do I feel about Recore... well in its current state I don't feel it deserves the ire it seems to be garnering. I'm not saying this game is good, per say, but it certainly isn't terrible and definitely not deserving of the 'mostly negative' it has on Steam. That being said... play Horizon Zero Dawn instead, the gameplay is better, it's prettier and frankly has a much better story.

If this appeals to you perhaps try;

Horizon Forbidden Dawn Mad Max

----

If you’d like to support me I have a Ko-fi, the reviews will continue to be posted donation or not.