#thank you™ for the tutorial

[casquinha--mista]

I HATE HAVING A NEW OBSESSION AND NOT BEING ABLE TO TALK ABOUT IT TO MY FRIENDS BC THEY DON'T CARE/LIKE IT AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[b4kuch1n]

Your swsh art always makes me want to replay the game because i love it and its my favorite pokemon game and every time i play another pokemon game i think of it how i miss certain elements from swsh. Then i boot up the game and im once again caught in the 1 hour 40 minutes hand held intro and im like ah- now i remember why i have been playing other pokemon games instead of this one. Happy (late?) birthday!

you don't want to listen to hop? you don't want to hear him teach you about type matchups? you don't wanna let him cheer u on...? 🥺 waa....?

[sailor-artemis]

KBITY!!! I have done it, y'all. I've transcended my human form to become The Catgirl Of All Time™.

Jokes aside, here's my finished Izutsumi cosplay! This project has ruled my life for the past five months or so, and I'm so happy with how it turned out. I tried so many new techniques and did many of them scared, stupid, or both, but I've learned a ton and I'm excited to take the knowledge forward to future cosplays (and maybe even improve this one, too).

More thanks and rambles under the cut, the tl,dr is that my friends are awesome people and I love them a lot!

I had such a blast for my first time at a full weekend con, and while I'm bummed I wasn't able to make the official Dungeon Meshi cosplay meetup, I still met a ton of amazing cosplayers! I'm immensely grateful to everyone who came up and offered compliments or asked for photos, and a special shout-out to the person cosplaying Hayao Miyazaki (the famed animator, yes) who took the photo of me playing the train-driving arcade game. Thank you for indulging my silly request; you might've taken my favorite photo of the weekend.

I also have to thank my amazing friends I went with for making the con extra special; between letting me crash in your room last minute, putting up with my daily cosplay prep, holding my stuff during con floor photos and spotting other cool cosplayers to take pictures with, it truly would not have been as great as it was without you all.

Beyond that, I also have to give a huge thanks to @reversalsun! I truly don't know if this project would've come out even half as well as it did without your help and support. For tolerating my endless barrage of questions and progress pictures, for offering advice and tutorials, and for keeping me motivated with HxH watch parties, I honestly cannot say thank you enough. I look forward to seeing the projects you're working on, and I hope we can inspire each other going forward to keep making amazing stuff, cosplay and otherwise.

In summary, I'm kbity!

(Also I know the black nails aren't canon, I just thought they looked cooler :P)

[agtteam]

AGT Team July - August Progress Report

There are big changes ahead! Namely...

The AGT Team has a new home!

After weeks of working away, we're excited to finally be able to launch our new website! It's a one-stop shop where you can find news and downloads for all of our projects, as well as patch your games online and get detailed guides on how to play them. We hope it'll help make our translations more accessible to all. Go check it out!

We'll still be answering asks/messages on tumblr, as well as cross-posting any major announcements here. So with that in mind, let's dive into this month's progress report...

[NDS] Naruto RPG 2: Chidori Vs Rasengan

We're pleased to announce that there's big news for Naruto fans too! In fact, you could say we're now on the Path to Release™.

Please keep your eyes peeled for more coming soon!

[NDS] Death Note: Successors to L

Moving from one big milestone to another; Successors to L is now over 50% translated thanks to the hard work of translator creeper!

The tutorial and story mode cutscenes are now fully translated, with the remaining text coming from the board-game sections, in which there are hundreds of unique character lines to discover.

On the hacking side, more work remains to be done on the VWF and wordwrapping in order to get the inserted translations looking as we want them.

[PS2] Fullmetal Alchemist 3: Kami o Tsugu Shoujo

Update on "Fullmetal Alchemist 3: Kami o tsugu shoujo" by Iredc - There's been quite a lot of progress in the font department, where Illidian solved many bugs like wordwrapping. A variable width font has been implemented as well.

Around half the graphics are already edited by Phantom (CG Gallery still on the works). As for the text translation, the main story, menus and quests were translated by myself (Iredc). The scenes with Winry and Sophie at the church are still pending translation.

Apart from this, we're working on some issues when generating the patch file (this game has a weird ISO format), and need to find a way to insert subtitles during the cutscenes.

This project looks very promising so far, so don't forget to check on our updates from time to time!

[NDS] Mushishi: Amefuru Sato

Ithyrial here with another update!

Those pesky bugs have been (mostly) taken care of, and the playtesting/proofreading phase has been opened! We've already brought on a few people, but that doesn't mean we don't have room for more, so please feel free to contact us if you're interested in helping out!

Other

As some may be aware, we started a translation project for Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion on Nintendo DS in early 2022. Unfortunately the project has made very little progress during this time as other things always demanded our attention. However, we're pleased to say that the project has found a new home with it's original leader, Lance, where we hope that it will thrive and receive the attention it deserves. Japanese translators who may be interested in helping out should please contact Lance#6642 on Discord!

[batdiangelo]

Dionysus and/or Dionysus kids headcanons? If you do that, but it’s worth a shot:)

YES I LOVE DOING THIS, I HAVE SO MANY. thank you sooo much for this question dez!

okay so, Dionysus definitely cares about the campers and the camp itself.

It shows when he heals Chris Rodriguez from the bout of insanity, it shows when he grieves for Castor and asks Percy to look after Pollux.

I like to think his kids also care like that

they care so deeply for their close friends and family that it hurts sometimes

Dionysus can't show it normally anymore because he's seen so many hopeful kids get their spirits crushed.

he's also seen them die. countless times.

if gods could dream, Dionysus would be plagued with haunting nightmares.

Dionysus kids are really good with plants, but not as good as Persephone or Demeter kids

They're also the type of people who say "I listen to anything!" for music and they mean it.

They have the best outfits. Sorry, cabin 7, but their fits slay, hardcore.

that being said, Specifically Pollux has TERRIBLE style.

My OC Grayson's style is definitely also bad, he dresses similarly to his father (oof)

Dionysus leaves shirts and stuff in the cabin and somehow his kids are stealing them and wearing them better than him

He doesn't know where they get the style from

The cabin has all the best quality "Slime tutorials" of your favorite musicals. You do have to take some chores off their camp chore list to get the footage though.

can and will rant to you about Gender being a social construct while wearing clothes typically associated with the opposite gender

Grayson is genderfluid, and so while he definitely prefers masc terms and whatnot there are days he goes all out with dresses and skirts and he literally slays

Castor will definitely go all out with a skirt, but dresses are a different story.

Dionysus secretly encourages his kids to break the gender normality.

Dionysus is definitely also a hands on dad, He tries so hard to be there for his kiddos before they reach camp age

in my story, the twins are at camp as early as 9 years old, simply for two reason- hella powerful and bonding time with Grayson

but, Dio was there, giving the twins mother (I've named her Marryane Moncharm) any help she needed.

for Grayson it's a different story, so you'll have to read the story to see

but I digress

At camp, he's attentive with his children, listening to their issues, giving advice if they want it and a distraction if they need it.

He will, however, tell his children that silly drama is below him before helping.

Dionysus has a secret obsession with dad jokes

think Patton from sander sides, but way more disgruntled and gruff than typical.

Dionysus has made Zeus tell a dad joke without realizing it, and to this day, it is his best achievement ever.

Has a shirt that says "Dad jokes? I think you mean Rad Jokes." and will wear it unironically.

as for his actual cabin and how I picture it.... that's a whole different set of headcanons.

I've previously said I think the cabins got a major upgrade at the end of the titan war thanks to annabeth, I believe.

prior to that, Cabin twelve feels the most homely.

there's no big harsh lighting. only soft warm lighting.

the beds have the best bedding ever, like it's so cozy

lots of theatre memorabilia hanging up

uh, like that one guy from only murderers in the building, I forget his name but he had theatre stuff all over his apartment- like it was a lot

also, Dionysus definitely has like, his item of power hung on the wall in there because he Does Not Care™ and the only rule is no touching the insanely powerful pinecone stick (Thyrsus)

Cabin 12 to me is the physical embodiment of Noah Kahan's music if that makes sense.

there's a bunch of headcanons for you friend! I hope you enjoyed them!

[merakisphere]

After running my handmade mandala shop for over 4+ years, here are some popular questions I get asked:

Are these really handmade, or do you import them in from somewhere? - Yes, these are handmade by myself. Every order that comes in is handcrafted as you see in the video above.

If you don't have a style I want, can I request my own personalization? - Absolutely! I love custom requests, and can discuss with you about creating the perfect mandala. If I don't have the beads, I will go out and get it. :)

Where are you located? Do you ship to Italy? - I am in Edmonton, AB Canada, and just recently I now offer worldwide shipping, which includes Italy.

I want to try making it! Can I ask you how it's made? - Of course! No gate-keeping here. I believe the process is as soothing and enjoyable as the end product itself. I sell DIY kits with prepared pieces. All you have to do is assemble it. I also have many tutorials on my TikTok and Instagram accounts. Please feel free to ask me any questions as well.

What are some ways to use this mandala thingamajig? - Some ways I use mine, as well as how customers use theirs include: fashionable bracelet, hair bun basket, Christmas tree ornament, sensory fidget toy, unique desk decor, meditation tool, fruit holder, mantle display, air plant holder, gift idea, and more!

Shop my 3D wire mandala stims, bracelets, and Orbi Loops™ from my Etsy shop! Use this share & save link www.merakisphere.etsy.com | Use Code: TUMBLR for a special discount. :)

Thank you for your support! Please consider sharing this so others know my handmade mandalas are #actuallyhandmade! In a world of industrial goods and manufacturing, it’s sometimes hard to know which products are truly made by hand. 🙌🏼

Music: Wander

Musician: @iksonmusic

[aashiqeddiediaz]

Hi!

I was just wondering if you have a tutorial on how you created this effect in your gifset, it's something I'd like to try but have no idea where to start. Your set is so pretty! Any helps appreciated x

https://www.tumblr.com/tawaifeddiediaz/712911415428743168/ill-take-you-with-me-then-well-both-die-you?source=share

Hey Nonnie, thank you! This is super late, but I don't actually have the psd for this set anymore (I delete them as soon as I post them), so we're just gonna wing it with a gif I made the other day. I think this ask is about the text, but if it's anything else, just drop me another line and I'll get to it when I can!

I'm pretty sure I got this tutorial from the wonderful @eddiediaaz but I then turned it into Lazy Girl Hours :)) anywho, here we go!

We’ll be making this gif:

This tutorial assumes basic knowledge of gif-making, Photoshop, and coloring. I’ve only described the typography tutorial in this, but you can reach out if you have any questions.

Tutorial under the cut:

Couple things to note beforehand:

There is a lot of trial and error involved when doing any sort of effect, and this is no exception! You might have to play around with the colors and the settings before you find something that looks good and readable and that fits your set!

This text effect works better on big gifs (540px width).

For this, I find that a simple font works better than a fully-cursive one, but play around with what you like. The boxes may need some adjusting if you use a font with too many tall or tail letters (i.e. text where all the letters aren't on one uniform line - that's why capital letters work so well.)

Movement works really well with effects like these, but again, it depends on your gif + readability. If you have a blended gif, it may take a little more trial and error.

I work in frame animation for all my text effects, but this works just as well in timeline as well.

We’re going to start with this gif:

First, I like to put my text on the gif. You can obviously move this around later so don't worry too much about how it looks right now.

The dialogue is "Just don't feel it." "Feel" is one of those Big Words for this quote, so I'm going to emphasize it with cursive text.

I am using Moon for the sans serif text, and Santa Fe Spring for the cursive text. Keep both of these in white for now:

Next, we're going to use the rectangular marquee tool to draw our rectangles around the capital letters (we're not touching the cursive text right now). I just eyeball this, and then try to center it as much as possible.

(The rectangular marquee tool has a keyboard shortcut of M, and it's the second tool in that little toolbar on the left of most people's Photoshop.)

This is what that'll look like:

Next, we're going to go down to the icons at the bottom right of the layers panel and select the half-black half-white circle > Color Fill.... You should get a color dialogue box. Choose your color - I'm using #8d0000. Then, we're going to move that layer below the corresponding text layer, and set its blending mode to Difference. This is what that looks like (click the image for better quality):

I'm going to repeat that with the other two boxes as well, using the same color. The boxes will look different with the Difference blending mode because of the shadows underneath.

For example, the box with "it" looks like a solid red square because it's against a completely black background, while the other two have some blue shading to them since there are some highlights behind them.

This is what my gif looks like now:

Next, I like to go The Lazy Girl™ route and put all three color-fill layers into one group underneath all the text layers. This just lets me edit the drop shadow of all three of them at the same time.

Right-click the group and open up the Blending Options. In Drop Shadow, these are the settings I'm using. The drop shadow color is #0c6477:

(Note: uncheck "Use Global Light" especially if you're working in frame animation to make sure all the drop shadow has the same angle on all frames.)

This is what my gif looks like now:

Now that we've finished that, time to move on to the cursive text.

I usually match the cursive text to the palette of the rest of the text, and since the drop shadow is our "accent" color, so to speak, I'm going to use a lighter version of that color. I am also going to add a drop shadow for readability.

The color I used for the text is #acfffe and I actually ended up adding two drop shadows, just because I needed something subtle that doesn't overwhelm the text, especially since it's a delicate font. Here are the settings for both layers:

And here's what my gif looks like now:

Now, before we move on to the lines, just check the adjustment of all these text layers, see if there's anything you want to change. It's easier to change now than after the lines are added, since you'll most likely have to redraw them if you move the boxes after the fact.

To draw the lines, we're going to use the Line Tool. I just freehand all of this, and I try to go from center to center of the boxes when I can. It all depends on your angles.

My lines are 2px thick, but you can change these depending on your preference. Here's what mine look like right now:

We're going to do the same lazy hack that we did for the color fill, and put all three line layers into a group. Move this group below the text layer and the color fill layers. The reason for this is so that the lines look like they're coming seamlessly from the box, rather than from on top of them or something.

Then, set the group to opacity 50%. I like more subtle, simple looks in my gifs, so I don't like super high opacities.

And that's it! This is our final gif:

Some final notes:

Absolutely play around with the blending modes of the color fill layers for this effect. These two gifs are the exact same color we've been using, just two different blending modes. You can see how drastically different they look. The first one is Linear Dodge (Add) and the second one is Vivid Light:

It can change how your gif looks in a BIG way, so play around with it, see what you like, especially if you don't really like the "two toned" thing going on.

Sometimes, I also like playing with the width and height of the text in the font settings, making it shorter and wider, or making it taller and more compact. You can play with the letter spacing as well. The world is your oyster, etc etc.

One other thing I've started doing is erasing the lines with a big brush, just to fade them from his face a little, like this:

To do that, use a layer mask on the line layer folder, and a brush that's 0% hardness, and at least 200px big. For this gif, I also changed the opacity of the lines back to 100% so the fading effect is a little more pronounced:

(this gif isn't the best example for this, but oh well. Anywho, hope this helps, Nonnie! Let me know if you have any questions.

Enjoy!

[selkiemoonofficial]

Hi! It's a pleasure to contact you. 😊 I have to say that I love the content you post on Tumblr and how underrated and undervalued it is. You deserve much more recognition! Your work with 3D models is amazing. I've always wondered how you make them, what program you use to work with the bodies and avatars from the Attack on Titan Final Battle game. I love the Rivetra ship because I resemble Petra a little, especially a few years ago when I used to dye my hair red. Now it's brown, but I still like to think that Levi would fall in love with Petra, and I feel like that opens up the possibility that he could fall in love with me too. ❤️ I've been in love with Levi since 2021, and he is a fundamental pillar in my life, my emotional and physical integrity. He means a lot to me. 😍

Thank you so much for giving us these beautiful works. I've activated notifications so I won't miss any of your new posts. I don't want to miss a single story!

Oh my gosh thank you so much!!!!!!

I can relate tbh. As odd as it sounds, I used to feel the same way about Gaara from Naruto when I was growing up. One day, you're going to find your Levi. I promise <3.

My boyfriend (my irl Gaara) pointed out that rivetra is my "security blanket" as he calls it (a.k.a my emotional support pairing). Levi has also become quite the pillar in my life as well. He (and AOT in general) has helped me through some of the most difficult times in my adult life. But the Selkie Tragic Backstory ™ is for another day.

The Software I use is called Miku Miku Dance (or MMD) and there are a ton of tutorials on how to use it at www.learnmmd.com . It's really easy to learn and you can get the models from deviantart.com. Be warned though, it's a live-render 3D animation software so your CPU will NOT like it.

It means so much to me that you guys love the skits and my old youtube videos, though. It feels good knowing I'm not just throwing stuff out into the void of the internet like I used to.

[wibblus]

i'm sorry if you already answered a question like this but i've been wanting for actual Years to do low poly models and you're a huge inspo for me but i just have not a single clue how to get started. do you have any tips for like. beginners? thank you for your time hope you have a lovely day bless

hmmm its hard to name all the 'beginner tips' I'd give because honestly . pretty much everything I've learned about designing low-poly models has just come from experimentation, having a goal in mind and fiddling around with a model until it matches that vision .

what has helped me is to make that goal very specific; try to make note of what art styles you are taking the most inspiration from and study those models a bit: the texturing, the basic shapes n forms that make up the models, poly counts, etc.

in terms of actually learning the modelling process, youtube is your friend!! there are plenty of great tutorials for getting started with blender that teach how to model out basic forms, which is perfect for low-poly work! if blender is really daunting, I'd recommend starting with blockbench . it provides a much more streamlined process for creating specifically low-poly models, without requiring the in-depth modelling knowledge that blender does.

i guess my final point is to just go for it!! regardless of the actual "quality" of what you end up with, simply making a thing™ will always be a good learning experience .

[caelumsnuff]

Oh boy, aren't you just tired of those damn opinions in your fandom?

If you would like to stop seeing my opinions and those of others who don't think exactly like you, i have a great little tool to tell you about called "Blocking."

By blocking me or anyone else who posts opinions that oppose your own, you no longer have to see our posts and we are incapable of interacting with your blog via likes, reblogs, replies, messages, or asks (unless we operate on side blogs, that is). Unfortunately, blocking someone on tumblr never will prevent them from seeing your posts, so you will just have to live with that fact. (Telling other people to block you does nothing positive for you!)

Here, i'll teach you how using myself as an example;

Blocking on your main blog vs your side blog are two different tasks, but ill explain both.

If you are on your main blog, you will need to click on the blog of the person you are wanting to block. It should look something like this.

You're going to want to click on that small button with three horizontal dots, which will open a drop down menu that looks like this:

Just click the bright red block button at the bottom, confirm your choice, and you can peacefully go about your life.

Blocking someone from interacting with a side blog is slightly more complicated. You're going to need to be on a desktop to follow this tutorial.

On the left hand side of the screen, you should see a bunch of options like this

You're going to want to click the drop down menu for "Account".

It's going to look like this. Click on whatever side blog you wish to block this blog for.

There will be a menu on the right hand side of the screen like so. You are going to want to click the "Blog settings" button at the bottom of the menu.

From here, you are going to scroll all the way down to the bottom of your blog setting. You'll see a bunch of stuff, ignore them, they're irrelevant to blocking. You will want to click the pencil button beside the pixelated pfps of blogs you have blocked.

From here the list of blogs you have blocked will drop down and open like so

You'll want to type the name of the blog you wish to block in the box at the top, like this.

Simply click the block button

and ✨VOILA ✨! Blocked!

Now you never have to see those pesty Different Opinions™ ever again! Though it may be a good idea to remember the usernames of the people you block for this reason, in case in the future you mature enough to be capable of civil, critical discussion with people who don't agree with you. Or don't! That's no skin off either of our backs :)

This tool is also quite helpful when someone posts art, fanfics, head canons, or whatever else you may not like. In fact, it is encouraged that you use the block button instead of harassing others, making call out posts, defaming others, or letting something that frustrates you linger in your head!

You should always use the block button when you see something that is triggering to you or puts you in distress. This alongside using the filtering system that tumblr has can keep you much safer. You can do your own part to help others by remembering to never censor words you use on tumblr.com and instead typing the entire word with no euphemisms. This will prevent your post from winding up on the dash/search for someone who has those subjects/words/tags filtered out.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk, and godspeed.

[not-with-you-but-of-you]

your gifs are so good! do you have any tips to find hq clips of the show to turn into gifs ?

Thank you so much! I get Gilmore Girls files from @hdgilmoregirls, they have all the episodes in 1080p! You need to have MEGA to download them. This program has a size limit that only lets you download 1.5 gb at a time though, and since almost all Gilmore Girls episodes are slightly bigger than that, you have to wait 6 hours to get one file 😭 (but it’s not really that big of a deal 😂, just start the download before you go to bed or work, and when you get back, the file should be ready to finish downloading).

If you’re new to gifmaking, I recommend this amazing tutorial. It has EVERYTHING you need to know to make gifs that look good™ and high quality from scratch, even if you have zero prior knowledge of the process/photoshop — I mean it, zero (that was my case). Seizing the opportunity: if anyone that sees this would like to learn how to make gifs but doesn’t know where to start, seriously, just follow this tutorial!!! (It’s actually quite simple once you get the hang of it.)

[insertdisc5]

Devlog #9: Play and Testing

Hello everyone! Welcome to this month’s devlog!

If you just stumbled upon this, I am Adrienne, also known as insertdisc5! I’m the developer, writer, artist, main programmer, etc of the game. The game being In Stars and Time, which is the next and final game in the START AGAIN series, following START AGAIN: a prologue (available here!).  You can find out more about In Stars and Time here!!! 

Anyway, this month's devlog is gonna be about playtesting!

LET’S GET TO IT

Playtesting!!! Has finally started!!! 

So a few weeks ago, I gave a code to the game to a few dozen friends, and they’re all slowly playing through it and giving me their feedback. Finally, a small sample of people (that are not me or QA) get to play Da Game…

To elaborate a bit more on QA vs Playtesting (at least for this game??? I don’t know if that’s how it is for other games???), my publisher Armor Games has a QA team whose job it is to play through the game and check for bugs! As a QA team member from Armor Games puts it, QA is about

1. Making sure the main path functions correctly (aka no soft/hard locks, no blockers, etc),

2. Attempting to check every interaction in every possible situation, and,

3. Confirming previously known issues that are stated as fixed are actually fixed, and that no new issues resulted from the fix!

What I’ve been doing for the past few months is wait patiently for the team to tell me “Adrienne, this thing happened and we’re not sure if it’s intended or a bug” and I go “it’s a bug” and I fix it and then the game is better. Know that their work is irreplaceable and SORELY needed. Thank you QA team, and thank you to QA teams everywhere.

Playtesting is (again, for this game) me giving the beta to some trusted friends and telling them “what do you think? Is it good? Do you GET IT? Also you’re a Normal Gamer ™ and play like a Normal Gamer ™ and not like me (the dev, I made the game, I know the game so I won’t do anything “”weird””) or the QA team (who are trying to break the game so it can be fixed, so they play in very specific ways) so your experience is valuable please tell me everything you’re thinking plz”.

Having some people playtesting the game is very, very fun. I told them right away “If i had my way i would want to stand behind you really close and look into your brain to hear every single thought you have, but once every so often is fine <3” so I’ve gotten a lot of very excited livetweeting my way, which is. The Best Thing Ever. For me, the most important part of playtesting was figuring out if the story was good! Beyond “does the story make sense?”, I asked a few times “so, what are your theories Right Now”, to see if my crumbs of foreshadowing were leading them where I wanted to, or if it led them in completely the wrong direction (which is also fun teehee). Also yes I did get a lot of screaming already. Love it when my friends yell at me that the story made them feel something <3

Having Normal Gamers ™ play the game means I also got some valuable feedback on some other important stuff, like: Does the game feel good to play? Are the battles too easy, too hard? Is there anything I can do to make the game better? Do you get what’s going on, or are you completely lost as to what you should do next? Thanks to them, I figured out where the game needed more explanations or tutorials, so hopefully this should make for a smoother experience!

Having a bunch of different eyes on the game was also VERY useful for typos and various writing mistakes. Did you know “discretely” and “discreetly” are two different words??? I learned that this week!!! Wow!!! And also did you know that I am bad at remembering the difference between East and West? I messed it up three times in the script!!! Oops!!! I’m bad at directions!!!

Of course, with feedback comes not-positive feedback as well! I did get some feedback on a potentially upsetting scene- I didn’t warn for it enough, and a friend thought it was too sudden and shocking, and would’ve appreciated some warning. I left the scene in, but I made sure to warn for its contents before it happens, so players can avoid it entirely if they’d rather not see it! In Stars and Time deals with some heavy subjects, but I want to make sure players can skip some of it if they know it would upset them. As a note, we don’t have the content warnings written down yet, but we definitely will before the game comes out! They’ll be pretty similar to START AGAIN: a prologue’s.

Overall, I’m very glad I got over my apprehension and showed the game off a bit. I’m getting some extremely valuable feedback (negative AND positive!) that I wouldn’t have gotten elsewhere. Anyway, this just turned into a “hey if you’re making a game you should have people play it BEFORE it comes out. I know it’s scary. I know you’re afraid of showing people something you made. I know you’re afraid of The Feedback. But also it’s better to have The Feedback now from people you love and trust, rather than all at once from strangers. Please make people playtest your game” manifesto for small indie devs. This is also addressed to past me. I didn’t ask enough people to playtest my previous game before it came out and I missed some obvious bugs. PLEASE ASK YOUR FRIENDS TO PLAY YOUR GAME THEY’RE YOUR FRIENDS AND WANT TO PLAY YOUR FUN GAME

(In other non-playtesting news, I had an interview with Pocket Tactics if you wanna read it! It's good!!!)

That’s all I have to say for today! Let me know if you have any questions, or if there’s any aspect of the game development struggle you’d like me to talk about! See you next time!!!

AND DON’T FORGET TO WISHLIST THE GAME ON STEAM ALSO IT REALLY HELPS BECAUSE STEAM’S ALGORITHM IS MORE LIKELY TO SHOW OFF GAMES WITH A HIGH AMOUNT OF WISHLISTS THAT’S THE REASON WHY GAME DEVS ALWAYS ASK TO WISHLIST!!! OKAY BYE!!!!

[kindlyanni]

hi, i hope you're well today.

i watched your sketchbook tour video on yt (from like 2 days ago) and so, i wanted to try to ask for advice, if you want to give it ofcourse, no pressure to.

you see, i love sketces so much, there's just some special beuty about them. i really enjoy seeing artists' sketches, including yours, ofcourse. i love seeing them on tumblr & yt.

also, even though i'm 26, i'm a COMPLETE begginner at drawing. i'm struggeling with the basic boxes-in-correct-perspective things, drawing faceless heads and motionless torsos, and.. yea, that's it. i know practice is the only way to advance in drawing, but i can't bring myself to. i see artists like you filling your sketchbooks with characters you're passionate about and honestly that's all i've ever wanted to be able to do, but i literally don't have the ability to do so.

just to be clear, i'm not asking you how to motivate myself to draw. the thing is, even though people are telling me that maybe it's not meant to be and i should give up, some insane part of me refuses to let this dream go. my question to you, as someone who somehow got there, is: do you think it's doomed? do you think that me struggeling so much with the drawing itself AND the motivation, means i won't be able to do it? do you think if i'm not having fun with it now, than i'll never get to a point where it will?

it might sound dumb, but it's a thing i'm nervous about. and after seeing your sketchbook, filled with so much characters and stories that i could see are so dear to your heart and so fun for you to draw, i'd love to hear (read) youe 2 scents about it, if you're willing to share. again, no pressure to.

thanks in advance, though.

Hi there Anon!

I'mma be frank and honest here: "maybe it's not meant to be and you should give up" is the absolutely stupidest thing someone can say to you. What the hell?? Dear Anon, if you feel even the tiniest bit of "I want to draw" then you should draw. You don't have to be good at drawing to draw, that's what's great about it. Anyone can find something to draw with and something to draw on. And just draw. If the act of drawing scratches some itch for you, then that's all you need. It doesn't mean it has to be fun all the time, though. Sometimes I can't get part of the drawing right, or even the whole drawing! Sometimes I hate what I finished drawing. Sometimes I want to draw but nothing comes out. But the itch is still there, it doesn't go away completely. You say it's your dream, then you should follow it. Everyone starts somewhere, and it's never too late too start. It's never too late. When you're dead it's too late.

If you don't feel the itch for drawing anymore, then you know it's time to move on to other things. And that's okay too, and it's not giving up. And don't let anyone else tell you that you should give up, if it is your passion.

In case you have sketchbook anxiety, don't think a sketchbook has to be one big art piece with each page something instagram worthy. I know it's become a thing where artists share their sketchbooks on social media and it's so Aesthetic™ that it's giving anxiety and pressure for everyone to have a sketchbook that pretty, but it really doesn't have to. You don't have to show it to anyone. Or you don't have to even have a sketchbook. Draw on random paper and put them in a folder. I did that for ages. The ones I use now aren't really sketchbooks either, but sketch pads with spirals. And those work the best for me. I have a few books but I haven't finished any of them.

If stiff figures is your issue, I suggest figure/life drawing as practice. Drawing tutorials about boxes and circles and proportions can only get you so far. Gather images of people in different poses. Dancing is really good for this. Sports too. And the less clothes the better. Draw what you see. Do it in 1 minute, 2 minutes, 5... Focus less on getting details right and more on the flow, the movement of the body. Tracing the image is lower effort and not as beneficial, but it still helps get the idea of how things are shaped and connected etc. And remember you don't have to show these practice drawings to anyone.

I know thanks to social media there's this pressure to show everything you make. But you really don't have to, if it makes you nervous. When I started drawing, we didn't have tumblr, twitter, ig or facebook. I drew a shit ton! I bought so many drawing pads, and no one has seen most of what's in there. I drew for myself. I had a webcomic idea and I drew so much of the characters and what would happen with them in the comic. I've drawn So. Much. And just recently I'm at a point where I can show my entire sketchbook to the entire internet. I wouldn't have done that maybe like 6-8 years ago. And I still skip some pages I don't want to show, for one reason or another. And that's fine.

Gosh, this became a longer reply than I intended. I hope it helps! Find that thing that makes you want to draw. For me it was the story I wanted to make and the characters for it (I started the webcomic but never finished it lmao). For you it can be your OCs, or some other characters, it can be a pet or a band you really like, it can be Nicholas Cage, or flowers, or anything! Find the itch and scratch it real good.

Let me share a drawing of mine from 20 years ago (I was 16):

[mannatea]

part 5!

There's something SO insane about the power plays in Lycia. I almost feel like Lundgren trying to kill his own brother on the down-low is almost the most sane thing that's happened in the last 20 years.

The whole thing with Marquess Santaruz (Lord Helman) is interesting too, btw. That the marquess has no children...and at his age... Is this not another inheritance squabble in the making in the post-game? It should be. Surely he has some relatives... But then, there should also be an inheritance squabble over Caelin, too, even with Lundgren out of the picture. Like you're telling me that these old men had no children, not even bastard children? If Hausen loved his wife and never wanted to take another and have more children: okay. But Lundgren, too? Lundgren would have definitely married and had a slew of children to solidify his place in the family line!

Don't get me wrong, I think one of FE7's strengths is that it's a pretty simple/basic bitch game. Like even a dumbass can understand the plot. But tiny details like this send my brain into overdrive. I now need a post-game fic where as Hausen lays dying Lyn has to deal with claims to the throne from cousins...while Santaruz is also hashing out some bullshit.

Anyway, it's crazy how Elbert was close friends with Helman, and like, oops...no big deal. Helman's just kind of like...friendship ended with Elbert. </3 Darin is my new best friend! <3

It would actually be SUPER interesting if Helman's plan was to see Santaruz ceded to Pherae upon his death.

The tutorial was so annoying and then they do this which is trying to tell you about how to get supports and me, playing this game in 2003, was like. "Hector, Eliwood, Lyn, and Ninian are the only characters who can support. Got it." God I was so stupid.

Anyway, IT'S HECTOR TIME.

"EWWW!" god Serra where would we be without you?

Matthew is a suck up.

OSWIN. <3 <3 <3

Oswin is a really fun character. He follows Hector around but he doesn't defer to him the way Kent and Sain do to Lyn or Marcus and Lowen do to Elwiood. He's a pretty severe guy, but he's not without a sense of humor.

Also look at these Eliwood level ups.

Anyway my strat is mostly to steal Marcus's weapons and leave him out as bait. Works every time. <3 I love u Marcus, but you will not be stealing everyone's XP, thanks.

This is honestly just super sad when you know what's actually going on with Uther.

I love that Hector just drops this bit about experienced bounty hunters and mercenaries going missing, but knowing what we do of Fiora and what happens to her entire wing of knights, it really makes you wonder how many other hired mercenaries and such had no survivors return. Hmmm.

Hector goes awoooo confirmed.

Caelin's very popular. But also, Matthew must have stumbled on Guy in Caelin as he was leaving (following Lyn's reunion with her grandfather, of course).

Get got, Guy. I forgot how Matthew is basically a master manipulator and Guy is so sweet. Omg.

Built Ford Tough™. You sound like a commercial, Hector.

It's true. Hector's high strength is bonkers.

I love how when Eliwood claps back, Hector's like...hmm...true. 😂 I love them so much.

Look at this insane Rebecca level up.

YESSSSSS.

Fuckin'...Darin.........Asshole.......piece of shit....Hate HIM.

Chancellor Reissmann moonlights as steward of Santaruz? Crazy. Kidding, kidding. This man's liege is dead like 25 seconds and he's like, "I guess this makes me the steward. Help???"

Hector's advice is good, obviously, but it's kind of funny to think about how this guy is going to wait for the Lycian League to meet but this quest feels like it takes a year and a half. He'll be waiting a while. Hahaha.

SUPPORTS GOTTEN:

Hector/Eliwood C Support

[horusmenhosetix]

Hi, that Lilith hair texture looks really good (and I love the colors you have chosen for your hair system)! I'd really like to make some retextures myself but I can't find this texture anywhere so could you share the link to it, please?

Thank you! I'm glad you like them! You can find the texture here by @lilith-sims! And a tutorial she made on how to use them! I'll release those hairs shortly and the actions so anyone who likes them can use them to make their own Aplomb Hair System™ hairs! 😁

[void-kill]

I sent you the beanie tutorial :3

thank uuu :3 will probably make it when the horrors™ are over :)