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vael · 1 year ago

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2023 Annual Review

"I might as well copy-paste last year's Annual Review..."

Of course, even last year I thought the same thing. "A tiger doesn't change its stripes," and now in my 35th year, it's apparent I won't be changing mine.

What went well this year?

Parenting. I'm very aware of the cost of lackluster parenting. "It's a terrible thing to do to someone." No matter how strained I am, I've said I am going to be a dedicated father. This year I dedicated myself to both my girls and continued my usual routine of rallying the boy to greatness.

When parenting, I track their milestones and development because I want the children to be able to play at (and somewhat over) the level of their peers so that they're able to play with the maximal number of children. Milestones are also easily measured: they can do the thing or not. My son still struggles to relate to his peers today because he's never been on their level, and it's a pitiable thing which I personally experienced as a child. It lead to my poor self-esteem and lack of ambition. When I celebrate milestones, this is why.

Violet. "My little storm cloud." 🖤 Violet continues to meet her milestones. She's ahem strong-willed, sweet, intelligent, curious, and funny: I think she's picked up on my ability to parody -- songs and such -- and she'll make up her own little parodies of various things. This year she became a lot less fearful.

Olivia. "Child of light." I thought Violet was an especially happy baby; Olivia redefined that for me. For her first year, we called her the colon D baby. This guy -> :D

Olivia is an absolute joy to be around. She took 13 months to walk, which was a surprise given that Violet was fully walking at 10 ½ months, but it looks like she instead allocated her effort towards speech, because this girl can talk. And enunciate! She's also good with her fine motor skills.

My wife was able to flawlessly breastfeed Olivia for six straight months, which is a big achievement.

Made two new friends. Each from different countries, and each of them web developers. I always love hearing about other cultures and it was because of my Argentinian friend that I...

Started learning Spanish; soft-quit PGO. This year I finally was able to put down Pokémon GO. Partially because I'm playing Pokemon Sleep now, but mostly that I was a little too obsessive about PvP and I felt childish being distracted in public so that I could play the PvE events.

I started Duolingo mid-November. My learning strategy is slow-paced and with frequent review. I fully achieve "legendary" on the current unit before moving on to the next. It's working, and it's got to be better for my cognition, and certainly for my life.

Rearranged the house. My wife came up with the plan. My son took my old office and my new office is in the study, previously our entertainment room. I could barely stand living in this house before, but now I'm comfortable.

Game development. I may have burned myself doing it, but I can't argue with the results. I don't think I've ever been better poised for a successful year than I am now.

This year I also received the most volunteer help I ever have. Aforementioned Argentinian friend wrote a robust weather script, and Tinydark's Raigen helped develop tinydark.com and Hub features; I'm also excited to announce we've been able to hire him to work remotely at my workplace. We even had an artist draw some holiday costumes for Tinyblob, our mascot.

Health. I took almost three months off eating "optional sugar," breaking my nightly ice cream routine. I'd felt like I was starting to get fat, so I simultaneously started focusing more on building my upper body. I went as far as to take before-and-afters for Facebook, but I eventually had to stop so I could focus on game dev. Though I stopped my upper body work, I did start jogging in the morning. I fell out of the habit once Daylight Saving Time hit, and the girls' circadian rhythms were an hour ahead.

Artificial Intelligence. Not exactly "my" win, but AI has been instrumental in this year's high production. To think it's only gotten better throughout the year and stands to get even better, it's such a privilege to be able to use AI. That's just code; assets have always been a problem for my game development, but AI trivializes some of my asset issues (it's still pretty bad proper asset generation).

What didn't go so well?

Relentless work ethic. I have a long, contemplative post on this here, but: I am too ambitious. "A good problem to have." Well, in August I had my first real panic attack at 3AM. I thought it was a heart attack at first. But what's mildly concerning is that I felt stronger for it after; I overcame it on my own and that now that I know what it is, I'm better prepared for it. I didn't feel like I should try to avoid this at all, but rather that I'm more prepared for a second panic attack. Seems kinda not-a-good mentality.

My body. I said my forward neck posture would be my focus of the year, and I did a passable job of it, but it wasn't enough. I still get headaches and they feel like they're getting worse. We don't have the money nor do I have the bandwidth to see a rolfer, and I'm not sure what to do other than try to keep my posture in mind throughout the day. I tried to train myself to sleep without a pillow but had minimal success. I typically lay down once a day, mid-day if work allows it, for about 15 minutes just to clear my head and alleviate some of the pain.

I also abused caffeine: by my definition, two cups/packets/sessions a day. That likely contributed to the panic attack.

My focus. Nothing new here. It's just hard to truly focus when my morning's waylaid by children and I'm needed throughout the day. Interruptions break focus, so that's that: I cannot truly focus. The time I get at night is rarely good for focusing considering it's so scarce, the girls could wake up at any time, and that's typically the bulk of time I get to spend talking with my wife.

Buried. Two-under-two, working my job, working tinydark, doing (it seems) more chores than the typical husband does, my crumbling body and keeping myself healthy are the primary stressors.

No sympathy allowed; I chose this path and would choose it again.

Finances. We had two kids in two years (I regret not waiting an extra six months) so it's to be expected, but we've found ourselves deep in the negatives at the end of the year. Inflation's a real killer. We (ie: my wife) made some progress with the decision to grocery shop at two different stores for our weekly shopping trip, but the extra store is Trader Joe's... full of novel temptations. We're still better off for it, anyway.

Released neither Black Crown: Exhumed nor Bean Grower. I did have to take two weeks off for some contracting, but ultimately I just decided to spend more time on URPG, and everything takes longer than I expect.

What did I learn?

I feel like this year, I didn't get too worked up about our lack of financial progress. It feels more like acceptance than complacency. I will be free, unburied when my dream is realized: we just need to save up enough money for a down payment on a new house build, then sustain our finances while it's built, and finally sell this house for a minimum of $100k in the bank when all is said and done. I have confirmed this is entirely possible, and I'm grateful to have moved South before the pandemic. This is why it's acceptance: achieving this peace of mind is the only way I can finally buy the ice cream.

Otherwise, I've meditated on it, and honestly: I don't know that I really learned anything notable. At least as far as wisdom vs. tangible knowledge.

Goals and Expectations: 2024

Game dev. I can at least guarantee Bean Grower's getting a final release, presumably onto an app store. I'm giving myself three damn months for it. Black Crown is also getting three damn months, but I will concede that Steam Store support might be a stretch goal. Either way, I'm ending this year with two full titles under my belt.

Financial recovery. Sort of a given, and who knows, maybe the 15,000 hours I've spent building a game studio will actually pan out this year.

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Welp, figger that's it. Vael

#Annual Review

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theconstantine-moved · 1 year ago

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name dev prompt | requested by rhian on discord verse: 2x2 Pokémon

janice

J: What is their most irrational fear?

Janice crinkles her nose, then looks at her jigglypuff sleeping. While her rational fear would be for any injury to happen to her dear friend Alia, her irrational fear probably makes less sense since the little creature never really does any battling at all and is usually by her side. “Irrational fear? Well, uhm, I’d say something happening to little Nina. She never does any battling and is mostly by my side, so I don’t see how anything could happen to her unless something totally random happened. But who knows? Guess that’s why it’s called an ‘irrational’ fear.

A: Who are their exes? Do they still keep in touch?

“A few exes. No one is worth mentioning. I date a lot. It’s dope.” Janice nods, semi-lying.

N: Are they clumsy and/or prone to accidents?

Janice nods, admitting her 90s movie montaged style of falling over air through action and not words. But she’s getting better at it. It’s fine. She won’t admit that shit out loud though.

I: In general, are they organized or messy?

A bright smile makes its way to her lips. “I am incredibly organized. I always have everything, incredibly put together.”

C: If they had to pick one sport to play/watch which would it be?

“Pokemon battling, but I prefer to watch than actually battling. I hear I could be great, but it just looks like a lot of effort. I’d rather help people find the goods for it than be involved.” She shrugged but then smiled. “I do like to watch the battles though.”

E: Are they the happiest they’ve ever been?

“When I do retail, and when Pokémon are happy.” She nodded, enthusiastically.

#[ 2x2: pokemon ]#[ tagging: rhian ]#[ c: Janice | Pokémon 2x2 ]#noahs1x1writing*#noahswritingstuffall*

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iraprince · 2 years ago

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okay actually i chewed on this a little longer and i do have some scattered ttrpg-making tips i'll just throw out whether anyone wants them or not (can't sleep. hi lol)

1. get your entire game written, to the point of final text, BEFORE you start making the pretty glossy final pdf. maybe this is obvious to everyone else but it was not to me for my first game and i got excited about the pdf and started making it before the core game text was finalized. this sucked!!!! every time i wanted to make an edit, i had to change it across all versions!!! FINISH THE GAME FIRST

2. speaking of pdfs, i've been using the website canva to put mine together and have generally really enjoyed it. graphic design is NOT my passion and honestly i sometimes find formatting rulebooks (and fussing about spacing and symmetry and shit) a huge drag, but on canva it's pretty painless. and if you don't draw or don't have the budget to commission art, they have a lot of nice graphics and clip art and stuff that are royalty free! ("clip art" gets a bad rap but i mean, like, cute stuff. idk go see for urself!)

3. speaking of glossy fun pdfs with graphics: you don't need one! a game can just be a word document. i will say the longer your game is, the more i think that more intentional formatting and some images will help keep readers' attention and guide them through it, but at the end of the day if the need for a pretty package would be a hurdle to you getting your game out into the world, fuck it.

4. if you can playtest, i really recommend it. i have tons of breakthroughs while playtesting, it makes me notice if something is off about the balance or the flow of gameplay, i get new ideas, it shows me if something actually doesn't make sense in practice or isn't fun, etc etc. if you're making a multiplayer game and getting friends to playtest, i recommend trying to shut up while they're reading the rules/do NOT add extra clarifications that aren't on the page if you're reading them the rules — you won't be in the room with future players once you share the game with the world, so you want to see how ppl interpret the rules as written (and if anything confuses them) WITHOUT your input first. if your game has concrete mechanics you want to test, like dice rolls/a token economy/etc, remember you can usually just blitz through and test those parts alone without doing any of the roleplay stuff in between!

5. if you can't playtest, don't sweat it. players are adaptable and if they run into a snag or accidentally break the game with something you overlooked or anything like that, they will figure it out, i promise. actually, "the players will figure it out, i promise" is a good thing to keep in mind throughout the entire dev process. this includes worries about making your game too niche or too focused in scope or "will anyone want to play this though, have i made it too XYZ" — if players are determined to play your game in one specific way or another they will bite and tear and find their way there, no worries. someone hacked my court intrigue fake marriage game to work for pokemon, including gym battles (and i adore that that happened). they will be fine

that is everything in my brain atm and is also more or less an overview of how i approach the whole process, kind of?????? get an idea -> brainstorm and decide on game type/mechanics -> write first draft -> playtest, if possible/relevant -> tweak and repeat until it feels good -> final formatting -> chuck it into the world and then people can play it. that's games!!!

Hello! Did you ever make a tutorial on how to make a ttrpg? I couldn't remember if it was you or Prokopetz and I couldn't find anything when searching your blog. Thank you in advance.

i haven't mentioned anything like that, so u must be thinking of someone else — but also, i wouldn't know where to start! ttrpgs are such a broad medium that i'm not sure how i would wrangle the idea of how to make one into a guide.

if it helps, i think the thing that was the most useful for me was just to read lots of other games! playing them is wonderful if u can, of course, but even just reading rulebooks through really helps get the wheels turning for me, and especially when i was trying to write my first one but didn't know where to start, reading a bunch of other games was what helped to teach me 1. what kind of game i wanted to make, 2. what games like that look like, etc.

if you have any specific questions on getting started, i would be happy to help as much as i can!

#resources #tutorials #ttrpgs

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celepeace · 4 years ago

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A monster-taming game recommendation list for fans of Pokemon

Whether you're a pokemon fanatic obsessed with all things pokemon past and present, or a veteran fan disillusioned with GameFreak's recent adoption of monetary philosophies and strategies reminiscent of other major game publishers, or looking for a monster-taming fix as you await new Pokemon content...

I'm compiling here a post of little-known games in the genre that Pokemon fans are likely to enjoy!

Under readmore cause long, but some of these games really don’t get the attention they deserve, so if you have the time, please read!

(I am also likely to keep updating and editing this post)

First up is Temtem!

Temtem is a game made by and for Pokemon fans, from the spanish indie developer Crema. Temtem is currently in early access on Steam and PS5, and is likely to remain in early access until sometime late next year. Full launch will include a Nintendo Switch release, too. Despite this, it has plenty of content to explore before full release. The developers are active, release new content on a semi-regular basis, and are responsive to the community as a whole and individuals if you happen to come across a bug you want to report.

Temtem boasts a wide variety of monsters to collect and train. It takes place in the Airborne Archipelago, a system of floating islands that orbit their star, the Pansun. The monsters inhabiting the archipelago are called Temtem, or tem(s), for short.

As far as game mechanics go, it has many similarities to Pokemon, but also many important distinctions. The biggest one, in my opinion, is that the element of chance has been removed from battle entirely. Moves cannot miss, have the same power constantly, and status afflictions have an obviously displayed countdown to when they will wear off (for instance, sleep lasts as long as it says it will last. Not 2-4 turns). PP does not exist, either. Your tems can battle for as long as their HP holds out. In place of PP, a new system called Stamina exists. Stamina is an individual stat, like HP and Attack. Each move costs a certain amount of stamina. If you go over the amount of stamina your tem has, the deficit is detracted from your health instead, and that tem cannot move next turn. Stamina passively regenerates a certain amount each turn, and items and moves exist that can heal stamina. All battles are also double-battles, you and your opponent will typically have two tems on the field at a time. This is just a few of the differences Temtem has from Pokemon, but they're some of the biggest ones.

Temtem is also a massively multiplayer game. You complete the storyline independently (or with a friend through co-op!), but in the overworld you can see other, real players moving around and interacting with the world. There is also public and area-specific chat you can talk to other players through. Despite this, all multiplayer functions are (currently) completely optional. You do not need to interact with others to complete the game.

Overall, Temtem is suitable for the Pokemon fan who is looking for a more challenging experience. Temtem is not a walk in the park you can blaze through with a single super-strong monster. For one, individual tem strength is more well-balanced than it is in Pokemon. There are very few (if any!) completely useless tems. Even some unevolved tems have their niche in the competitive scene! Aside from that, enemy tamers are scaled quite high, and you typically cannot beat them just from the exp you get from other enemy tamers. You have to do some wild-encounter grinding if you want to progress.

Temtem is a very fun game and I've already gotten over 100 hours out of it, despite only 3/5-ish of the planned content being released!

However, I do feel obligated to warn any prospective players of one thing: the current endgame is quite inaccessible. After you complete what is currently implemented of the main storyline, there is still quite a lot left to explore and do, but much of it is locked behind putting a lot of hours into the game. You kind of have to get perfect temtem to do the current PVE (and this is also somewhat true for the PVP too). By perfect I mean you have to breed a good tem and then train it to get the preferable EVs (called TVs in temtem). This takes... well, for a whole team... tens of hours. Of boring grinding. Some people enjoy it! But I don't. Regardless, the game was still worth buying because the non-endgame content is expansive and fun.

So overall, pros & cons:

Pros

Battle system is more friendly towards a competitive scene

Cute monsters

Lots of gay characters, also you can choose pronouns (including they/them) independently from body type and voice

Less difference between the objectively bad tems and good tems than there is in Pokemon

Lots of stuff to do even in early access

Most conversations with dialog choices have the option to be a complete ass for no reason other than it’s fun

Having less type variety in your team is less punishing than in Pokemon due to the synergy system and types overall having less weaknesses and resistances

At least one major character is nonbinary

Cons

Falls prey to the issue of MMOs having in-game economies that are only accessible to diehard no-life players

Related to the above point, cosmetics are prohibitively expensive

Endgame CURRENTLY is inaccessible to most players unless you buy good monsters from other players or spend tens of hours making your own. However I must add that the grind is great if you like that kind of thing and is quite easy and painless to do while watching a show or something.

Here is their Steam page and here is their official website.

Next is Monster Hunter: Stories!

This is a spinoff game of the Monster Hunter franchise released for the 3DS in 2018. If you're anything like me, and you've played the core Monster Hunter games, you've often thought "Man, I wish I could befriend and ride these cool dragon creatures instead of killing or maiming them!"

Well now you can! In Stories, as I will be calling it, you play as a rider rather than a hunter. Riders steal monster eggs from wild nests to raise them among humans as companions and guardians. And yes, egg stealing is a whole mechanic in of itself in this game.

This game works pretty differently from most monster-collecting games. You do battle (usually) against one or two wild monsters using your own, except you fight alongside your monsters too. With swords and stuff. There's armor and weapons you can smelt to make yourself stronger. Type match-ups also kind of don't exist in this game? Except they do? But not in a way you'd expect?

The vast majority of attacking moves you and your monster use fall into categories reminiscent of rock-paper-scissors. Moves can be categorized as power, speed, or technical. Speed beats power, technical beats speed, and power beats technical. The matchup of your move vs your opponent's determines how a turn will go down. If one move beats the other in matchup, then the winner's move will get to go and the loser doesn't get to do anything. If you tie, you both get hit, but for reduced damage. There's also abilities and basic attacks, with abilities basically being the same as pokemon moves, and basic attacks just being "I hit you for normal damage within this category". Also, you don't control what your monster does all the time in battle. You can tell it to use abilities, but what kind basic attacks it carries out is determined by its species' preference. Velicidrome, for instance, prefers speed attacks, but Yian Garuga prefers technical. Stamina also exists in this game in a very similar manner to Temtem.

Overall this game carries over a lot of mechanics Monster Hunter fans will find familiar (how items and statuses work for instance). You don't have to have played a core Monster Hunter game to enjoy Stories though! It's fine and is easy to understand as a stand-alone.

The story has some likable characters and is rather long (it was actually adapted into an anime!), for those of you who enjoy a good story.

I'd really recommend this one especially. If it sounds fun to you and you can drop $30, just do it. I bought it on a whim and I got a few weeks' worth of playing almost nonstop out of it, and I didn't even get to do everything! (I got distracted by Hades, oops)

Stories is also getting a sequel later next year on the nintendo switch! How exciting!

And yes, you do ride the monsters.

Pros & cons:

Pros

Large variety of cool monsters to befriend and raise

Pretty lengthy story

Every tamable monster is also rideable

Deceptively simple combat mechanics, easy to be okay at, hard to master

Incorporates some mechanics from early turn-based party rpgs like Final Fantasy for a nice twist on the monster collecting genre

Cons

Many monsters are objectively outclassed by other ones, making what can be in an actually good team more limited than you’d expect

3DS graphics inherently means the game looks like it was made 7 years before its time

Here is the Monster Hunter Stories official 3DS product page.

And here is Monster Sanctuary!

Monster sanctuary is a game that just had its 1.0 launch- meaning it was in early access and no longer is! Although the devs say they still plan to implement a few more things into the game in future updates. It is available on Steam, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PS4.

Monster sanctuary is a metroidvania twist on the typical monster collecting game, meaning it is also a sidescrolling platformer in which you use abilities you gain throughout the game to explore the world around you. The abilities in this case are the monsters you get! Every monster has an ability that helps you traverse the sanctuary.

Speaking of the sanctuary, the game is set in one. The monster sanctuary is a magically shielded area, cut off from the rest of the world, created by an order of monster keepers, people who befriend and protect the mystical monsters inhabiting the world. Humankind encroached too far on the natural habitat of monsters and were hostile to the native wildlife, so the keepers created an area of varied environments to safely protect and preserve the remaining monsters of the world.

Unlike many other monster collecting games, this game only has 5 types: fire, water, earth, air, and neutral. However, the types themselves do not possess resistances and weaknesses. Instead, each monster has its own assigned weaknesses and resistances. And yes, this can include things like debuffs, physical vs special attacks, and the typical elemental types.

All battles are also 3 vs 3! And unlike in pokemon, where you can only hit the enemies nearest, all monsters have the ability to hit any opponent they want. Turns also work a little differently in that speed doesn't exist, you just use 1 move per monster in your turn and then it goes to your opponent's turn. Your monsters hit in whatever order you want them to.

There is also a quite important combo system in this game, where every hit builds a damage multiplier for the next. Moves often hit multiple times per turn. Healing and buffing actions also build this combo counter. So what monsters you have move in what order really counts!

But the main mechanical difference between this and other games in the genre is how it handles levels and skills. Instead of learning a set move at a certain level, this game incorporates a skill tree, and you get to allocate points into different skills as you grow stronger. And jeez, these skill trees are really extensive. Monster sanctuary is a theorycrafter's dream. Each monster has a unique, specially tailored skill tree, making every monster truly able to have its own niche. You can make use of whatever monster you want if you just put thought into it!

And like Temtem, this game is not made to be beatable by children. I'm sure a child could beat it, but it's not made to be inherently child-friendly like pokemon. It's honestly quite difficult.

On top of that, you are actively encouraged to not just be scraping by each battle. Your performance in battle is rated by an automated system that scores your usage of various mechanics like buffs and debuffs applied, type matchups, and effective usage of combos. The rating system directly influences the rewards you get from each battle, including your likelihood of obtaining an egg from one of the wild monsters you battled (no, you don't catch wild monsters in this game, you get eggs and hatch them). If you're not paying attention to how the game works and making good, effective use of your monsters, you'll have a hard time expanding your team!

The music is also really good, it's made by nature to be able to play over and over and not get old as you explore each area, and the composer(s) really did a good job with this. Some area songs, namely the beach one, I especially enjoy, so much so I've actually played it in the background while I do work.

This is a game I would really recommend. If I made it sound intimidating, it is by no means unbeatable, you're just gonna have to put some thought into how you play. At no point did I actually feel frustrated or like something was impossible. When I hit a wall, I was able to recognize what I did wrong and how I could improve, or I could at least realize something wasn't working and experiment until I found a solution. It's challenging in a genuinely fun, rewarding way.

Pros & cons:

Pros

Extremely in-depth combat system

I genuinely don’t know if there’s an objectively bad monster in this game

Evolution exists but is completely optional, as even un-evolved monsters can be great

Entire soundtrack is full of bangers

Large and diverse variety of monsters to tame

Cons

Story is a little lackluster, but passable

That’s the only con I can think of

Here’s a link to their Steam page and the game’s website.

A kind of unorthodox recommendation is the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series!

Likelihood is that everyone reading this has heard of this series already, but just in case anyone hasn't, I thought I'd include it! I would categorize this as a hybrid between the mystery dungeon genre and the monster collecting genre, because you recruit pokemon as you play and can use those pokemon on your team!

If you're unaware, the mystery dungeon genre is a small subset of dungeon crawler games where you progress through randomly generated levels called mystery dungeons. Throughout the dungeons, there will be enemies to fight and items to collect. The challenge of these games is mostly due to the stamina aspect of them, in that you have to manage your resources as you progress through the level. If you go all out in each fight, you will inevitably lose quite quickly. You have to learn to win against enemies while balancing your use of items and PP, so you have enough for the next fight, and the fight after that.

Pokemon mystery dungeon in particular is famous for its stories, the likes of which isn't seen often in Pokemon games. They are hugely story-driven games and are notable for the emotional depth they possess. It's pretty normal for the average player to cry at least once in the span of the game. There's lots of memes about that specifically.

This entry in my list is also unique for being a series. So, which one should you play first? It actually doesn't matter! Each storyline is entirely self-contained and requires no knowledge of prior entries. The quality of each entry varies and is a point of contention among fans. I say you should play all of them, because they all have their merits (though some more than others.... coughgatestoinfinitycough). They're mostly distinct for the generation of Pokemon they take place in. Rescue team is gen 3, Explorers is gen 4, Gates to Infinity is gen 5, Super Mystery Dungeon is gen 6, and Rescue Team DX is a remake of a gen 3 game but has the mechanics and moves of a gen 8 game.

My only real caution is that you play Explorers of Sky, not Darkness or Time. Sky is basically a combination of the two games with added items and content. It's an objective upgrade over its predecessors, and I honestly wouldn't waste money on the other two.

I’m not going to include a pros and cons list for the PMD series because I’m incredibly biased and it wouldn’t be an honest review.

Next is Monster Crown!

Monster Crown is a monster collecting game that seems to take heavy inspiration from early-gen Pokemon games in particular. It is currently in early access on Steam and is not expensive. I learned about it through the developers of Monster Sanctuary, when they recommended it on their official Discord.

The game has lots of charm and interesting creature designs, and an entirely new take on monster typings as well. Instead of monster types being based off of natural elements like fire, water, electricity, etc. Monster Crown uses typings that seem to be influenced by the personalities of the monsters. For instance, Brutal, Relentless, and Will are all monster types!

It also captures a lot of the charm many of us look fondly upon in early GameBoy-era games. The music is mostly chiptune, with some more modern backing instruments at times, and the visuals are very reminiscent of games like Pokemon Crystal in particular. Monster Crown is definitely the monster collecting game for fans of the 8-bit era!

The thing that stands out the most to me about this game is the breeding system. Instead of one parent monster passing down its species to its offspring, you can create true hybrids in this game.

However, it is very early access. I would consider the current build as an alpha, not even a beta yet! So temper your expectations here. I have not encountered any major bugs, but visual glitches here and there are quite common. The game also could definitely use some polish and streamlining, and is quite limited in content currently. But the dev(s) seem quite active, so I fully expect these kinks to be worked out in time!

The reviews are rather positive, especially for being in early access. I'm all for expanding the monster collecting genre, so if you're looking to expand your horizons in that sense, I would recommend you at least give this one a look! I personally had quite a bit of fun playing Monster Crown and am going to keep an eye out for updates.

Pros & cons:

Pros

Charming artstyle, appealing monster designs

Faithful callback to a bygone era of gaming

Controls are fairly simple and easy to get the hang of (and are completely customizable!)

Cool breeding and hybridization mechanics

There's a starter for each monster type!

You can choose your pronouns, including they/them!

Cons

Inherent nature of being very early access means can be clunky and unpolished at times

Also not much content as of right now, see above

User interface could use some redesign in places

Here’s their Steam page and the official website!

Here’s an oldie but a goodie, Azure Dreams!

This is one I actually haven’t played, mostly because it’s really old and therefore only practically accessible if you play it on an emulator, unless you're one of those old game collectors. Azure Dreams was developed by Konami and released for the PS1 in 1997. My impression of it was that it either didn’t sell well or only took off in Japan, because it’s actually really hard to find any comprehensive information about it on the internet.

Azure Dreams is a monster collecting - dating sim hybrid. You can build relationships with various characters and can pursue some of them romantically, although that isn’t the main draw of the game. There is also a stripped-down version that exists for the GameBoy Color, which forgoes the dating portion of the game entirely.

Azure Dreams is kind of like a mystery dungeon game in that you progress through a randomly generated, ever-changing tower using the help of the familiars you have accrued throughout your adventure. Similarly to Monster Hunter: Stories, you yourself also take part in the fighting alongside your monsters. Each time you enter the tower, your character’s level is lowered to 1, but your familiars keep their experience. Thus, progression is made through strengthening your monsters. To obtain monsters, you collect their eggs, just like in Monster Sanctuary (which, turns out, was at least partially inspired by this game!)

Due to this game being very old and on the PS1, the visuals leave a lot to be desired... but if you can get past that, Azure Dreams has lots of replayability and customization to how you play the game. To this day, it appears it has a somewhat active speedrunning community!

If you don’t mind the effort of using an emulator, and like old games, Azure Dreams just might be that timesink you were looking for in quarantine.

Honorable mentions:

Pokemon Insurgence (or any Pokemon fangame/ROMhack, really!) is a Pokemon fangame that introduces Delta Pokemon, which are really cool type-swapped versions of existing Pokemon. It’s sufficiently challenging and has a lot of variety in what you can catch in the wild, so you can pretty much add whatever you want to your team! The story is quite good, and the main campaign is multiple times longer than a typical Pokemon game’s campaign. Download it here!

ARK: Survival Evolved is NOT a monster collecting game BUT you do get to tame and fight alongside a lot of really cool extinct species, including but not limited to the dinosaurs we all know and love. This game is genuinely fun as hell, especially with friends, but I must warn you: never play on official servers. I highly recommend singleplayer, playing on a casual private server, or making your own server. Here’s the Steam page.

#pokemon #temtem #monster sanctuary #monster hunter stories #monster crown #azure dreams #pokemon mystery dungeon #pokemon alternatives

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ask-rp-devra · 4 years ago

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With autumn slowly creeping in, the team was busy every day, getting ready for the winter to come. The crops looked good, morning dew on them as the professor stumbled out with a few Pokemon, taking them out for a morning stretch and bathroom break. She ambled about the garden, mindlessly eating a berry or two, pulling the odd weed out, while sipping coffee in the quiet. It wouldn’t be long before the Galar region was to open a new area up to the general public, and seeing as the team now had a galarian resident on it, the woman decided it’d be wise to go back and get the remainder of Devra’s Pokemon. They’d been stashed at her family home from what she had gathered, and now the gates were being fully opened, they could apply to move to johto, to the island. She had to admit, the idea of the tundra area becoming accessible was a little daunting, peach had never been too resilient in the cold. Perhaps this would be a good test for her. Val was going to come along for this trip, she planned to just go for a field visit with her Pokemon, but with Devs enthusiasm to explore too, it seemed wise to team up and go together on the trip. The young intern had been steadily learning, and because of her, Peach was freed up to do more work in other areas, now less busy with the herds of non-grass types. She did however get to visit for fun more, which she had to admit was enjoyable. Secret meetings with the stantler had become her lunch breaks as of late, they all seemed very calm with the big leader around, Donut, peach’s dear baby boy. Sadly he couldn’t come with her on the trip, he would have been a perfect fit for the area and it’s cold.

Perhaps it’d be nice to just start fresh, see who she ended up with as a team. Her hand found Val mid thought, petting her stupidly warm body. At least they could get some time together. Val had been so upset about not being able to go to Galar the first time round, so now was the chance to make it up to the Pokemon.

Devra was up an hour before sunrise, a rhythm to her day now that just came easily to her now. She would get up, get dressed for the days needs, then feed her main team of Pokémon first. Once they were taken care of she made her way outside, heading over to the main stable and barn of her little pocket of the island. She went inside and flicked on some of the lights, not wanting to startle the sleeping Pokémon awake. Never the less, she was still greeted by some happy calls from stalls scattered around the building, the Pokémon inside having grown used to Devra’s routine by now. She grabbed her push cart full of different feed mixtures, humming to herself as she started feeding everyone down one side of the building then working her way back down the other side. The last stall she always took care of was that housing her favorite family. Her partner Pokémon Fiona was laying in hay next to her mate, Peach’s Pokémon Titan. While they still dozed there was already a nose poking over the stall door, little Aliza always excited to see her mom’s favorite human.

Not too long after her coffee, peach had thrown an outfit on, and ambled towards the stables, she needed a mount today, and figured it was a good time to pop across, see how everyone was doing. A few members of the barn groups had to be checked on, at least once or twice a week, peach could leave the busy work to Devra and she appreciated it, but still had to go do the general health checks needed to keep everyone monitored, especially as the winter was threatening to roll in heavily. She kicked the door too a bit, Val going in first, clocking Devra, leaning over the stall door to pet the young ponyta. Upon seeing peach Titan stretched his neck as high as possible, able to see over the stall doors, giving a cry to ‘come over here’.

“morning everyone, Dev, Fiona, lil baby bean lady. She smushed Alisa’s little face briefly before focusing on her big fire type who stayed lying down. “Buddy, parenthood has slowed you down.” She teased the Rapidash, his body finally getting up, looking more sprightly now, putting his entire face in hers, hot gross morning breath and all.

Devra had moved down a few stalls by the time the Professor came in. She had just opened the door to the pasture, letting out a handful of wooloo out so she could clean their stall. She grinned she heard her name called. “Morning Professor! Hi Valka!” She dusted herself off and went to join them, grinning as she watched Peach. “Titan had a particularly rude wake up call today. Aliza tried to jump over him again. Failed terribly though. Knocked the wind out of both of them for a second. I watched them though. They both got over it quick. And Fiona gave the little bean a good scolding.” She sighed, giving her own rapidash attention as she finally got up to the door.

“certainly giving them both a lot to deal with day to day. She’s getting so boisterous now.” Aliza was running in and out of the entry to the paddocks, running circles around a stray girafarig, small in size but otherwise ordinary looking. “you been spending time with her recently? She’s about ready to start doing some proper training, got all that energy and no where to direct it.” With a final pat to the family, they seemed happy to go out to graze.

the professor wandered from stall to stall, some Pokemon remaining in to avoid the morning frost, greeting her as she passed by. “‘have you given any thought to who to take with you on our trip back to Galar?” She mindlessly hung up any stray harnesses, returning items to their homes.

She followed along with the Professor, opening doors and adding water or feed here and there as they went. “I’m not sure. I was thinking Zek or Fiona. But Zek has gotten really into it with the bug community around here. The little ones love playing with him so much. They use him as a slide! But I think he really likes it too. He never turns them down. And Fiona...I think she’d like to stay with her man. We don’t know how long we’re going to be there after all.” She sighed, rubbing her neck as she let out three Kanto ponyta. “It’s a real head scratcher.”

The colder climate was an oncoming issue to prep for, hearing she had thought through taking Zek was very logical. That centiscorch had a lovely nature to travel with.

“‘how about the youngster, Aliza. She’s about ready to start seeing the world, and we won’t be gone for too long.” The family looked happy out in the field, but it was noticeable how much energy the little hybrid ponyta had now. The professor stooped to pet a passing wumple, placing him higher up to avoid getting stepped on.

“‘there’s also potentially one other Pokemon you might want to see before you make your mind up, rung of the litter, a bit scrappy but a good strong hybrid.” She left a lot of details out, the Pokemon she had in mind for the trip was a particularly fun little guy, but they had yet to home him. Perhaps this would be a good fit for both the Pokemon and Devra.

Devra finished the last of her tasks, closing the stall as she turned to Peach. “I was entertaining the idea of taking Aliza. It would be nice to have a good strong bond with her.” She brushed herself off again as they left the barn. “Well, if you think it’s a good idea to take a look then I’d love to see the little guy.”

The last time peach had checked the Pokemon in question was up near the water plant. Professor Grey was the owner of the young pokemons father, a rather gentle houndoom, who had been a household pet to both peach and grey for a fair few years now. The mother of the Pokemon was an arcanine, and having had her pups and completed her rehabilitation, she had since been rehomed, along with several brothers and sisters, all beautiful hybrids. The last, however, was very small and so he stayed behind and got extra care. Peach had been overly quiet, forgetting to speak out loud sometimes.

“I think you’ll really like them, they’re a bit different.”

Devra grinned as her friend Mel, a sweet little Chatot came over to join her. “I’m always up to meeting new Pokémon. And you know I’m a sucker for different. That part of the reason I’m so excited to go explore the Crown Tundra.”

She nodded once in response and glanced up at the clock hanging at the end of the barn.

“want to go now? Not got any patients until later today.”

She looked around the barn, doing one last run through of her mental checklist. “I’ve got the morning rounds done. And anyone that wants in the pasture is already outside. So I don’t see why we can’t go now.”

#professor peach #pokemon #crown tundra

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doubleddenden · 5 years ago

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So pokemon is a bit on thin ice with me due to some shady business practices, but New Snap legitimately has me excited. Silver was my first official game, but SNAP was my FIRST pokemon game. I still remember my sister and family struggling to get pictures of all of those pokemon and trying to figure out how to get to Johto pokemon (it never happened, just baseless school yard rumors).

Anyway, let's look at the rest of the stuff that's been announced

Pokemon Smile: it's strange. I mean it's good for little children and people who struggle to remember to brush their teeth. However this feels awfully suspicious in the same vein Sleep is suspicious. Are they gonna sell your teeth data? Facial recognition? I can't see how micro transactions could apply to this so there's definitely some amount of personal data being gathered and sold here.

Pokemon Cafe: harmless enough, "free to start" seems to be the new business lingo for "pay to win" but whatever. Seems like some spiritual successor to Trozei but like... a lot more swirly. The Pokemon Company really seems to be embracing that Mobile Game lifestyle that Game Freak is so afraid of. Probably not for me but I'm sure there's someone who wants it.

New Pokemon Snap: BRUH ITS BEEN 20 FUCKIN YEARS WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!? I've been begging for a Pokemon Snap 2 since I was a kid! And this isn't a remake either, this is a whole new game with newer pokemon! Aw shit the graphics look wonderful. Honestly I'm mad the REAL games don't look this good. The Wailord is no longer the size of a saint bernard! The water looks so god damn gorgeous! Theres still this weird red glow but eh. I'm just excited for the new scenery. The Torterra! He had pokemon on his back! Ahhhh!!!!

And of course we have the DLC. I bought it, i regret it because I know something will be done wrong, but this could surprise me with a different Director. Whether or not I continue to trust Game Freak rests solely on Tani's direction. Don't fuck this up. Please don't.

June 24th announcement seems a bit awkward. Let's make some predictions:

Pokemon Sleep. Seems likely. We were warned about it a long time ago and still nothing. Just maybe be cautious about it. This has biometric data profits written all over it.

More new games. Possibly a Ranger 4 if they're generous, most likely more pointless app games that will sell your personal data. God I would kill a man for Genius Sonority to come back with Colosseum 3 or Battle Revolution 2 with Home sync up.

Merch: shirts, shorts, skirts, plushies, amiibos, what have you.

Ports: possibly gen 3 ports to the switch, MAYBE COLOSSEUM!!!! But probably not.

Remake: I'm going to say this is not too likely, but Diamond and Pearl remakes, OR Let's Go Johto. Tbh it wouldn't be wise to announce these for this year with the DLC still selling and a second DLC coming in November, not to mention BotW2 that they'd directly have to compete with. But Ultra Sun and Moon were announced around this time last time so hmm. Could also release for March of next year. Out of the two I'd want Diamond and Pearl. But I'm gonna quit pokemon forever if it's some shit like Dyna Sword and Dyna Shield because that's shitty business right there (I don't think they will because of the DLC but you know. Stress.)

I hope TPC isn't putting their employees and affiliates in harm's way during COVID. All of these games are nice but I sincerely hope they're being fair to them too. I hope New Snap has enough dev time and doesn't stress its employees out.

#pokemon

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tequitoclown · 10 months ago

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I feel like I get hate from random non-followers/mutuals every time I post about my Pokemon opinions lol. But here I go anyways.

Legends: Arceus was the last Pokemon game I truly enjoyed. Even then, I wasn't exactly impressed with it. I know the whole "THE GRAPHICS" point has been talked to death, but dear god they are just... Not good. It was very distracting at points. Yes I know, Switch limitations and all. That's fine, but it was just downright ugly at points.

The gameplay was great, there were only a few things I didn't enjoy Spiritomb quest.

... But the main series games. I bought Violet release day, and sold it 2 days later. The performance issues literally gave me a headache. I had to stop playing because the stuttering was so bad I couldn't take it. The game looked like garbage. I was clipping through a bunch of shit.

I didn't get very far, but even the little bit of gameplay wasn't fun imo. I was looking to buy a very specific item and I had to click through half the city, covered in shops that sold a handful of items each. Why not just... Make one store? You couldn't even go into the buildings, it was just a door with a menu.

The sandwich mini game kept crashing my game, making me lose progress a few times. I tried to catch a Pokemon and the game crashed. I was just walking around and the game crashed.

I have no hope for the new games. They're not giving these devs enough development time. No game should come out like that, especially not one made by one of the most successful companies in the world.

My eyes have been opened to the wider monster-taming genre. And I think it's going to be very hard to go back to Pokemon, as I've lost most of my faith. I'll still enjoy seeing the little guys but... I don't see myself buying the games anytime soon. Hell, I don't think I'll ever preorder a game ever again after that.

So there's my raw thoughts after running on 6 hours of sleep and some caffeine.

I don't really consider myself a Pokemon fan anymore, but I'll come back here with my thoughts on the presentation in a bit.

#tequito.txt

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slade-neko · 5 years ago

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Took a quick break of Pokemon Sword and Shield to finally test out The Sims 4 University DLC.

I literally know next to nothing about this pack. Just what I saw in the two preview trailers. I got it thinking it’s gonna be so much fun, right?! Well... we’ll see... I’m inserting a “keep reading” because its a looong post.

First off I wasn’t sure who to send to Uni. Ended up playing it as my main OC.

Bought him a new University laptop and enrolled him into the Fox-trot University (or something like that.) Had to wait a full day or two before he got accepted. That’s a pretty long wait with MCCC cutting my game time to half-speed... Maybe you can do it instantly somehow, but I missed out on that if you can. Turns out you can, with TestingCheats True and shift-clicking to bypass the wait time. Good ol’ cheat codes savin’ the day, hahaha! Only wish I knew that sooner...

Anyways, he arrived at the University eventually. I easily got distracted looking around at all the sims walking around and one of his many classes crept up on him and he was late. Like really late, made it to class with only 3 minutes left for the session. That’s off to a wonderful 1st day.

Turns out it didn’t matter as they were actually just off-screen rabbit holes. Joyful fun, that is. I had signed him up for a buttload of computer-related classes thinking they’d be fun/ playable? Kinda regretting that now. What do the devs expect the player to in a single person household during a rabbit hole event? Are you supposed to just wait there in real life? Stare at the walk-bys? (Y’know I’ll admit the walk-bys were mildly entertaining...)

I even spotted Danny from NSP as the new “Health” teacher, I presume? Just look at those “painted on abs.” Go, Danny!

The classes are only a couple of hours too, so its not a terribly bad wait.

After that disappointing 1st class. I noticed my sim had a bunch of career tasks to do.

a final exam

term papers x2

give presentation

and homework x4

I misunderstood thinking he had to do it all at once, so I sent him to the study hall to spend the rest of the day doing “career tasks.” Luckily he had a cool study partner.

Finally sent my sim to his dorm to meet his roommates, but before he could do that, I noticed somehow he had got thrown into the E-Sports career and had to do some team gaming? I think I accidentally set him up with a gaming scholarship. I’m not really fond of “competitive gaming” though. Probably should’ve read through the scholarships a bit better.

Several more hours later, I ended up just sending him to sleep because it was incredibly late. Dawn of the 2nd day came and then he finally got to meet his “very epic” roommates! Probably the thing I was most excited for seeing in this expansion.

A Nature-loving hippie boy, a space bounty hunter girl, a space alien girl, and an edgy little jackal...? Oh, boy this will be interesting...

Then well that’s uhh, that’s honestly as far as I got in my playthrough...

The last few days I have been doing more extensive University play testing on my brother’s game and discovered a bunch of annoying things about University. Like how households are ripped apart and individual sims are thrown into single households for the schooling system. I completed an entire term and sims were not re-merged into their original households. Maybe I needed to wait more time after the term is over or something, but if it doesn’t actually re-merge my households that’s reallllly annoying. I don’t want to have to spend time moving sims around to get them back in their rightful households after a term at a University.

Another annoying thing I’ve noticed is that it would seem my roommates in Uni were creating their own University outfits that were REPLACING my outfits I made for them.

Why are these not Situational outfits? They straight up replace the Everydays I created. I can’t tell if that’s a bug or maybe an outdated mod. Seems to only affect my active sim’s roommates though, but jeez I can’t have my sims losing outfits. I spend way too much time making nice outfits on them to have my game go deleting them.

Other than those two big annoyances, the DLC is pretty fun to play. As it is now, I don’t really want to go to a University with all the headache of the cleanup duty I’d have after each term. Those two problems go a long way for me. On the positives, I really like the roommates system. It’s funny to enroll into a university and see which random sims get assigned to my dorm. As for the world, Britechester, I love it and the Universities’ designs! I personally prefer the old gothic Garreg Mach looking school way more than the modern design of the Fox-burrow university.

#The Sims 4 #The Sims 4 Discover University #my thoughts #dumb

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traumerei-project · 7 years ago

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Meet the Dev

I was tagged by multiple people. Notifications haven’t been working for me as of late (and I was out of the country for about a month), so I just found out about this tag now while looking through some devblogs.

Rules: answer and then tag 20 followers you want to get to know better. If you feel like doing this but don’t want to tag a lot of people, feel free to do so :3

–- Nicknames: Veynn

–- Gender: Female

–- Star sign: Capricorn

–- Height: 5′1

–- Time: 12:40PM

–- Birthday: December 22

–- Favorite Bands/Artists: I don’t really have any favorite bands/artists, but I do like listening to Disney soundtracks.

–- Song stuck in my head: "Let Me Make You Proud” from Tangled the Series.

–- Last movie I watched: I watched The Breadwinner on the way back home. I highly recommend it if you don’t mind your heart tearing itself into bite-sized pieces. The film easily became one of my favorites and just--

Have you seen the art? It’s lovely!

I also plan on watching all of Cartoon Saloon’s films now.

–- Last TV show I watched: Bungou Stray Dogs

–- What do I post: I primarily post game updates, comic updates, and fanart.

–- Do I get asks: I get a good amount, and appreciate every single one of them! ^w^

–- URL meaning: It’s just the name of my game.

–- Average hours of sleep: My sleep schedule is rather sporadic.

–- Nationality: Asian-American

–- Favourite games: Pokemon, Animal Crossing, Ib, & Alice Mare.

Now to tag some people! (If aren’t down to do the tag, then don’t worry about it!)

I tag: Anyone who wants to do this tag! >w</

#Tagged #Reblog

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puppyluver256 · 7 years ago

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The Homestuck Bedroom Method of Character Study

“A young man stands in his bedroom.” That’s the first line of Homestuck, and it’s that bedroom that leads me into a new kind of character study that’s come to my mind. Well, not specifically John Egbert’s bedroom, but rather the bedrooms of every character in Homestuck are indicative of this idea, and it can be applied to just about any form of media where strong characters are a focus. Imagining a character’s bedroom, a very personal place where they can more often than not express themselves as freely as they wish, can be a great tool for developing who they are as a person, or at least who they are at the start of their story.

To begin, let’s have our first example be the initiator of this idea I’ve been given: the bedroom of John Egbert from Homestuck.

Already you can get both a sense of what John is like and what setting this is presented in, whether or not you know anything about Homestuck and its characters. The bare window shows that it’s a lovely day outside, with the calendar nearby revealing that it’s currently April and that the month is significant with not just one, but two circled dates. Movie posters adorn the walls, and regardless of the quality of the movies, they’re something that John enjoys and that’s all that matters for this study. The hammer and nails on the ground are probably what was used to hang the posters (which I’m gonna break the study for a bit to say this is a BAD IDEA, just use thumbtacks or tape, dammit John you’ll ruin the walls). The bedsheets have a ghost pattern, so it’s likely that John is interested in ghosts. There’s a computer in the corner with a large tower of discs, signifying that John also has an interest that involves computers, and the Game Bro magazine nearby hints toward that interest being games. A chest against the wall is decorated with a celestial pattern, pointing at John having a bit of whimsy to him. Two cakes are in this room--two! Clearly something important is going on if there are two whole cakes here, one of which looks like it has candles on it and the other seemingly having holes where candles would have been.

Let’s move on to another example, one with more images since it’s created in 3D, the bedroom of the protagonist in Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.

(the screenshots for this section were taken from MunchingOrange’s USUM playthrough, I can’t tell you if there’s much difference between the boy’s and the girl’s because I haven’t been back to my house in a long time)

In this first shot, we see there’s a lot of floor space. Our character likely prioritizes having a lot of room to walk around and do other activities in their bedroom (or the devs didn’t want the player to get hung up on things, but that’s not what we’re talking about). Obviously being from a Pokemon game there is going to be a lot of Pokemon imagery, which is immediately noticeable with the large Poliwhirl rug in the dead center of the room. Whether you’re familiar with Poliwhirl or not, you can tell that it’s a Pokemon that this character enjoys. They’re sleeping on a fairly simple bed, a Pikachu plush doll beside them, indicating that they’re either still rather young or are a bit childish. In the background there are a few drawers and a rolling chair that is presumably at a desk, and on one of the drawers is a framed item. You can’t tell what it is just yet, but if it’s framed it’s definitely important. The Meowth at the bottom left is probably the family pet.

This angle after the character has woken up reveals a bit more. That chair was indeed at a desk, and on that desk is several books, one being open, and a globe. Perhaps this kid likes to travel, or is interested in the world in general. Beside the drawer with the framed object is a large television with a Nintendo Switch on the floor. Out-of-universe product placement aside, this kid wouldn’t have a Switch if they didn’t enjoy video games on some level. At this angle you can see that the framed object looks like a scribble of sorts. An autograph, perhaps?

That’s exactly what it is! You don’t have to know what a Gym Leader or Kanto are, but you can guess that Kanto is a location that holds significance for this kid and that the Gym Leader that gave them this autograph is someone they respect or admire. Not gonna take another screenshot for this extra detail, but the next line of text in examining the autograph reads, “They wrote: ‘Good luck!’” This implies that said Gym Leader might have a bit of personal connection to the kid aside from just being someone they like, but as the game never says anything about that I’m just speculating here.

Also this Snorlax cushion. Clearly the kid enjoys the simple comfort of laying on soft things. And it’s obscured by the text box, but in front of the cushion is something that resembles a cat teaser. Definitely a toy for that Meowth from earlier.

Let’s get one more in here, it’s more of a house than just one room, the Mario Bros.’ house from Superstar Saga:

There are two beds in the bedroom loft area, covered with red and green quilts, so clearly two people with a platonic relationship live here and they both enjoy those respective colors. A hammer hangs from a hook on the wall against the stairs, and a hatrack topped with a star ornament is placed beside the door. Overall the decor is simple yet homey, a warm and inviting color scheme, with a touch of nature brought about by a houseplant. A portrait of a woman hangs on the wall, likely someone the house’s occupants care about very much. Why else would they hang her portrait? Under the loft are drawers and cabinets that look like workshop storage, as well as a toolbox with various scattered tools and what looks like a metal pipe. Someone in this house, or maybe both occupants, are inclined to doing some form of blue-collar work. Perhaps they’re a pair of plumbers?

I could give countless more examples, but my point remains that you can tell a lot about a character through just looking at their bedroom. What are your thoughts on this? What are some iconic bedrooms that give you a feel for the characters they belong to? Try using this as an exercise to help develop your characters, it might just help out quite a bit.

#homestuck #pokemon #super mario #character creation #character development #homestuck bedroom study

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pcrownnewsletterexample · 7 years ago

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Hey! Below is my Patreon newsletter for October - I’m sharing this one publicly as an example of what I’ve been writing up and posting every month since July. I cover all the game dev & 3D modelling work I’ve done that month and post progress gifs and lil explanations of my progress and such! There’s usually a bunch in em that I don’t post anywhere else too. October’s newsletter is also a good introduction to my current game project, Housepet! If you’d like to support me and read newsletters like this every month, please consider becoming a Patreon here :O At the time of posting this I’m pretty close to my first goal...! Thanks for reading!!

BOO!!! It’s here again, the spookiest time of the year... [THUNDER SFX] When Ghouls and and Devils roam the streets... [WOLF HOWL SFX] That’s right, it’s [AUSTIN POWERS VOICE] Halloween Baby!! Although by the time you’re reading this it’ll be… [GHOST MOAN SFX] NOVEEEMMMBER 2017! Truly, the march of time is the ultimate fright. Speaking of, let me start talking about the work I did this month past.

A reminder of what my current game project is: it’s called Housepet! It’s a game where you decorate the inside of a pet house to attract characters that can become tenants who pay you rent which can be used to buy more furniture. The furniture you place alter your Housepet’s stats and your tenant’s comfort contributes to your Housepet’s mood. You also fight enemy houses in simple RPG style battles, and every tenant you have can be equipped as their own unique attacks to be used in fights. Obviously.

The first thing I did this month was start designing some enemy houses for World 1! Last time I talked about the battle system it was time based, but I’ve since remade it to be turn based and more similar to a pokemon battle system, which I think is generally easier to explain and get into. Here’re some sketches:

Enemy houses have an evil form when you fight them and a good form when you beat them. You cured them by fighting them I guess?? I’m not worrying too much about making stuff make sense at this point, I’m just doing what I think feels funny or game-y. A more cohesive “plot” can be figured out later if I want there to be one.

For the first overworld area I want these guys to be the enemies, going in order of No. 1, Birdnest, Neighbours, Sweetooth, B&B and then the boss, St. Catherine. The theme of the overworld here is like, typical grass intro level and small village/town, so the enemy houses are kinda standard houses/buildings, but it’d definitely be fun to start losing that in later levels.

Battles in Housepet would be pretty special events as opposed to a game where you’re expected to grind by fighting enemies. You have to fight them one at a time to progress through a board, and the stat increases between them will usually mean you’ll need to decorate your house some more or get more tenants before you can win the next fight. Battling here isn’t a focus of the game, but more of a way of marking progression. Beaten houses will drop Catalog Scraps which can be used to unlock new types of furniture as well as rewarding players with a chunk of cash, and there’ll be a simple EXP system that rewards you with new rooms in your Housepet on level up. There’ll also be bonus spaces on the board with rewards and minigames and such. That’s the plan!

Like I mentioned previously, the battle system has been reworked to be more similar to something like Pokemon, but I’ve simplified it. The only stats the Housepet has are HP, POW, DEF and SPD. HP is just health, or House Points (lol...). POW is your attack power, DEF is your defence against being attacked and SPD determines if you should go first in a battle. You might notice there’s no special attack or special defence, since in Housepet attacks won’t have elements tied to them.

In this early gif (the UI is very temporary) you can see you can exit to the overworld from inside the house, pick the enemy to fight, compare stats, choose and make attacks, damage/crit the enemy and have the enemy take turns too. I’ve also implemented winning and losing, progressing to the next enemy after a win, attacks that can damage others/damage self/heal others/heal self and such, as well as a STUN and SLP status. STUN is essentially being paralyzed, meaning there’s a chance you won’t be able to make a move that turn, and SLP means you’ll sleep for a few turns before waking up. I have other statues I want to implement planned too.

I also played about with making a system for controlling the camera during fights, which I think’ll add a cool dramatic element to certain attack animations!

Below is a text example of just how exciting fights can be with the SLP status…!

Obviously here I was just testing - enemies actually have a hidden “urgency” variable that helps determine the chances of what attack they’ll use (above though it was ignored and they were forced to use Birdsong every turn). If their urgency is high, if they have low HP for example, they’ll be more likely to use more advantageous attacks, such as something damaging or something that would heal them. With a low urgency though, say if they had high HP, they might be more lax and more likely to take a turn to try do a non damaging move that might cause a status on the player. Urgency can also be lowered if the player has a status, and if they have one that can be caused by one of the enemies attacks, the chance for them trying to use that attack while you already have the status dips very low. Each enemy has their own unique rules for urgency and their attacks, which means they all act differently! I think that’s cool.

Woah who’s this!! I want Housepet to have lots of different characters you can unlock as tenants, since the character collection to me is a pretty important and fun aspect of the game. This guy’s the Edgy Rival type, look at his cool spikes and brooding, golden eyes...

I’ve come up with a good few tenants so far and plan to make many more. Here’s a look into the Creative Process of coming up with character types:

Right now I have it in my head that you convert Guests (visiting characters attracted to your house) into Tenants (permanent characters in your inventory you can place in your house and use as attacks in battles) by finding them visiting one of your rooms and interacting with them in a short VN/dating game style dialog back-and-forth where they ask questions about the home and, depending on how appealing to them you make it sound with your answers, you’ll “weaken” them. The more weakened they are, the more likely you’ll be able to “catch” them Pokemon GO style by throwing a crumpled up paper lease ball at them. But I also want there to be other ways that are perhaps more secret or multi-staged. For example, there’ll be characters that knock on your front door from time to time, and one of them could start a path like this:

...Listen, it’s fine. This is what people want from games I think.

I spent a good half of the month just on designing a more permanent UI that connects everything together, since that was a big goal of mine for this month. Man, UI is hard…! It’s something that takes a lot of energy for me to do personally at least. I’ve come up with a solid enough solution for now, for inside the house at least, that’ll work something like this:

I’ve started implementing this and so far you can pick items by main category and subcategory, place move rotate and remove furniture and tenants, have tenants activate and move around when not in move or remove mode. I’ve also started to re-implement buying and selling furniture from the catalog.

The last thing worked on this month was starting to add a way to change the floors and walls of a room. I’m thinking I want low res tiling photograph textures for the floors to give it that Petz/early 2000s game feel that has such a charm to it and works well in highlighting the solid colour furniture and characters.

Oh! And! I modeled a victoria sponge cake I ate in Edinburgh castle as an item I want people to be able to place on surfaces. I want a whole sub category of food “furniture” because, it’ll be a good excuse to model a lot of pretty food.

Unrelated to Housepet, here’re the sticker designs I’ll be sending out to this month’s sticker tier backers! I haven’t done pixel stuff for a long time now and I miss it, so it was fun to do these pixel flowers… Very relaxing. I’ll also add in stickers of these pixel roses I did a while ago now (the ones featured on my business cards!) since I think they’ll go nice together…!

[THUNDER SFX, AGAIN] Hah ha ha… Did you enjoy it? My spooky tale of times since past? Thanks for supporting me this month everyone!! I think I made some good progress - it’s definitely fun to compare stuff from the first newsletter I introduced Housepet to how it is here. But for now… [DOOR SQUEAK SFX AS I CREEP OUT] Farewell… And sweet dreams… [NO FURTHER SFX AS I STAND OUTSIDE THE DOOR I LEFT AND WAIT FOR YOU TO LEAVE SO I CAN COME BACK IN AND WORK SOME MORE]

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