#the tumblr grand strategy game

[thegrandstrategygame]

Vote on who to play as for Season 1 of the Tumblr Grand Strategy Game:

sorry for being late

[amalthiaph]

I took an interest in The Bad Batch around the tailend of S2. It's not news to Tumblr that I almost slept on this show. And I cannot thank Caleb Dume enough for being the reason why I pressed the play button for this one. While I haven't been around for most of its active run, and I wish I had been, the last year has been among the best months of my life.

This show challenged my morals, and taught me lessons that I will forever take with me.

Tech taught me to embrace and take pride in who I am. I now think that I am not something that needs to be cured. I needed to be understood and accepted. He taught me that we deserved to be loved and be allowed to live the way we want to (as long as we are not causing harm to ourselves or to others).

Hunter taught me that at the end of the day, we're all still humans. We make mistakes. We fail. But we can learn from them, and we can strive to be better. And I should also take care of my hair bec I cannot accept that a man in a galactic war have better hair than me (Okay, did you honestly think I'm gonna be serious this entire essay?)

Crosshair taught me that at the end of the day, we really are still humans. Sometimes, we make choices that not everyone will understand or agree to. Sometimes, we don't even understand our own choices. But we can learn from them, and we can strive to be better. And that I should also go to therapy bec istg my hand shakes like hell I always need to rely on a pen stabilizer when doing my artworks.

Wrecker taught me that in this world where we can be anything, always choose to be kind. He is a great man who would always be there for everyone, and I hope that one day, I can be that person too. He is afraid of heights, but he climbs and go on high places anyway. Like him, I should also start conquering my fears. Dear Wrecker, I did try conquering my fear of heights last March 9 but I can't. I will try again.

Echo taught me to always fight for the greater good. Almost two years ago, me and a group of people campaigned for a great tomorrow. With pink flags and pink balloons, we worked on our little thing I like to call our rebellion. Sadly, we lost. At times, I am thinking of just giving up bec that's democracy and I cannot go against the people's decision, but characters like Echo and the rest of Rogue One taught me that nothing should ever stop me for fighting for the people's rights and that my love for my fellow citizens should always come first before hatred.

And lastly, Omega taught me to be curious, or more likely to not be ashamed for being curious. Learn about the world. Learn about lots of things. We never know when we need it. While I could say be good at strategy and win 30 grand on card games, nahhh, I'm not that smart.

I also learned to reevalutate myself as an artist. This show taught me integrity. I had ranted about this lately but these characters challenged me in terms of art. I knew that the creators aren't best at proper representation. While I could draw them as they are in the show, I choose to stand for what is right, and represent them as properly as my skills could. In the more technical side, I became good at drawing armors. And this little Actors AU Draw Series taught me to be responsible; I tried my very best to create and post them on time. This increased my productivity.

But enough about me.

There's something I realized two nights ago; we, the fandom, are Bad Batchers ourselves. We can consider ourselves a family, but not one of us is the same and we're all interesting, and capable in our own unique ways. We can have our own opinion and stand about something and still coexist. Like our favorite charactera, we embrace and celebrate our differences.

This show may end. No more Bad Batch Eves, no more cryptic tweets that cause us to hyperventilate, no more Bad Batch Wednesdays but it will live on, through us.

I know there will be a day where we decrease in number, one by one, little by little, but still, the show will live on through our actions, our opinions, our choices we make after May 1, 2024 because I know that all of us were changed in some ways by these characters and this show.

To the crew, your cryptic tweets caused me sleepless nights, but thank you so, so much. It is through your hardwork that we had this wonderful show. Thank you for making every second of the past year so worthwhile and enjoyable for me and for everyone.

However this show will end, whether happy or sad, I am glad it happened. However short my time was with them, I am happy I had been here. However short my time with everyone in the fandom was or if some of you leave one day, still, thank you so much for being part of my life; I am so happy I met all of you.

To Clone Force 99, thank you. I've never loved anything like this before. May the Force be with you.

[thedragonagebigbang]

Bang Creator Interview: Tumblr: @mortalitasdeeznuts 

The Collaboration period has begun! In these quiet months before works are due, we want to foster a sense of excitement, camaraderie, and celebration among our participants. To that end, all participants were given the option of a formal interview by our mod, Dema, or an informal “ask-game” survey. We hope you enjoy getting to know our phenomenal creators as much as we have!

Interview with Ascindio

Ascindio and Dema talk symbolism in art, the collaboration process, and strategies for constant improvement 

Dema: So first: welcome to the bang! We're about a week into the collaboration period – how is that going?

Ascindio: It's going great! I have a very clear image of what I want to do, just waiting to see if my writer is cool with the idea. The story they've written is wonderful.

Dema: Without spoiling too much, can you describe your idea using 3 words or less?

Ascindio: Disappointment, hurt, chasm. [EDIT: there has since been a pivot! The new words are: almost, chance, tentative. But since we were angsty before we're rolling with it. -Dema out.-]

Dema: MMMMM delicious.

Ascindio: I do so love angst.

Dema: I am reminded of that very gorgeous Lavellan piece you did. What is the strategy you use for conveying that angst?

Ascindio: Ooowh thank you! I loved doing that one. For angst, I wait until I have an idea/feeling that just grips me and I kind of churn it over and over in my brain until I can start to form a visual. I am very much in love with symbolism, so pretty much every emotional piece I do is bursting with it, hahaha. I have to have a very clear idea of what I want to get across.

Dema: Where do you draw your symbolism from? Is it all from the DA lore itself, or are you incorporating symbols from other sources?

Ascindio: Mostly the symbolism is from artistic choices. For example, in the one that you mentioned, she is the focal point, but the frame is much larger than her. I'm trying to show her loneliness and how sometimes she feels small, regardless of how Grand she is. She's an unwilling religious figure, hence the halo.

Dema: The orb halo is SO cool. 

Ascindio: There's more, obviously, but just to give an idea of what I mean. Pretty much every choice I make in the composition is deliberate.

Dema: I love that! And so exciting that you already have an idea for your Bang piece. Do you do many collaborations?

Ascindio: I don't, but I'd LOVE to do more, I looove collaborating and making art with/for others!

Dema: Is this your first Bang?

Ascindio: Yes!

Dema: What about the collaboration process is appealing, as an artist?

Ascindio: One of my favorite things is the challenge of trying to bring to life something from someone else's brain, and then put my own spin on it. I just find a lot of satisfaction in it. It's like one of the best ways I know how to connect with people.

Dema: That's one of my favorite parts of this kind of event, too. It's so fun to relate to the specific visuals of the fic!

Ascindio: Yes!

Dema: Does the timeline feel intimidating at all, or are you pretty comfortable?

Ascindio: The only thing that's intimidating me is that I need to keep it secret for so long 😂 I usually work on a piece for like 10 ish hours over one or two days and then immediately post it because I have No patience lol!

Dema: Oh yes, the secret-keeping is so hard. I understand! But the reveals are SO exciting when they do happen.

Ascindio: I cannot WAIT to see what everyone does.

Dema: When you work on pieces for yourself, especially in long stretches like that, do you have a particular environment you prefer? Any creative rituals?

Ascindio: I just recently set up a new little work station, with a couple monitors and I love it. So I have a rainy fireplace ambience on YouTube going, then I have a spread of inspiration/reference collage app I use called PureRef and I either listen to music or have some tutorials going from an art patreon I subscribe to, and I try to put a new skill into every piece I do. And I paint on a huion using ibis paint.

Dema: That is such a great idea to incorporate a specific new skill or technique into each new piece. Does that keep it fresh for you? Or is the goal just to keep improving?

Ascindio: It is my idea of fun haha, also I am always completely unsatisfied with just about everything I paint. So yes, it's definitely also to try to improve little by little without overwhelming myself.

Dema: I am very sympathetic to that feeling, haha. What was the latest new skill you tried out?

Ascindio: Owh okay so the latest has been working on creating a more harmonious color palette! I've always had a hard time with color theory as I'm self taught and the colors I choose often seem to stick out and draw attention to themselves when the focus is supposed to be something else. So for example choosing a murky white for a white shirt, when in reality a lavender may be better for a specific piece and it will still translate to white without being so Look At Me.

Dema: Ah, yes! I find that color is so much harder in digital art, as well. Maybe because you have access to All Of Them. At least, that has been my experience 😂

Ascindio: Yes, so tempting to say oh a blue shirt, I shall choose a Pure Blue. It is very rewarding to see little bits of progress here and there.

Dema: Yes! Do you have any go-to color schemes, or palettes you gravitate to?

Ascindio: Oowhoho yesss. It's funny you can see my main color palette shift over time when you look at all my pieces in chronological order. Right now I'm very into nature sunset color schemes. For example:

I actually have a Coolors chrome extension, so when I open a new tab it goes to a randomly selected color palette.

Dema: Oooh so very saturated, very warm?

Ascindio: Lots of purple, blue, pink, and green, with a bit of gold.

Dema: Lovely! Thank you for sharing so many great tips and rec's, as well as for taking the time to talk to me today!

Ascindio: Thank You! It was very fun!

[lateantiquechud]

NEW ACCOUNT, NOT A BOT

hey guys so tumblr broke for me on another account and i have zero fucking clue why so after months of procrastinating i made a new account, no one followed me but i followed a lot of disparate blogs, if you see me following you randomly just know that i am just refollowing you from a previous account

UNTO ME:

hello im a homestuckcel (i cant get pussy because i like homestuck) and this is my tumblar blog

im interested in:

-homestuck,

-team fortress 2,

-grand strategy games,

-mount and blade,

-games in general,

-GIRLZ,

-i was in the undertale fandom in google plus in 2017 i still binge watch some comic dubs on yt i guess,

-interesting internet communities and forums including their history,

-human history in general

im free to talk to anyone so hit me up if you have some of my interests or not i don't really CARE.

[kamikazia]

Fate/Samurai Remnant

So, I've invested WAY too much time into Fate/Samurai Remnant recently, and I figured I'd make a tumblr post about it because I, frankly, adore this game.

The Fate series does not have a perfect record. I love it for the story, but even I was thinking that Fate/Samurai Remnant would be another blemish. Honestly, that probably was for the best, because it blew my expectations out of the water.

I saw a lot of people complaining that the game would be a Musou/Warriors-like Game. I don't really think that's a fair comparison. Yes, it has Musou aspects, but it plays more like Bayonetta or Okami. Battles are actually fun, and there's bit more strategy than just button mashing (I'll admit, there's still a fair bit of button mashing, but it hasn't impeded my enjoyment of the game.)

This is also one of the few Fate games that actually gets the vibe of a Holy Grail War right. There's alliances, friendships, rivalries, weird sexual tension with historical figures- the whole shebang. The protagonist, Miyamoto Iori, is actually a fairly compelling character who develops quite a bit. Saber is always fun to listen to, and even side characters like Zheng Chenggong (Koxinga) or Takao Dayu get their time to shine.

Overall, if you're new to Fate and want to play a game rather than read a visual novel or watch an anime? This is where you'd start. It's a much better introduction than Fate/Grand Order and feels a lot like a real Holy Grail War. I'd give it an 8 or 9 out of 10, with its main flaws being that some battles feel a bit tedious and that they occasionally lean on references that newcomers wouldn't get (though they're few and far between)

[swgohgamer]

WEEK 52: Couple of big headlines this week. First, I finished the Beskar Mando journey, which is something I started over a year ago, before taking a hiatus. Feels good to finally cross that one off the top of my-do list. I still need 30 more ship blueprints to 7-star the Razor Crest, and those are hard to come by, so I guess I can take my time leveling up the character. I’m moving my energy resources toward farming up the other bounty hunter ships so that I can finish the Millennium Falcon journey. Hard node ship farms are suuuper slow. Good news is, the bounty hunter pilot characters are all relic 5, and that happened slightly ahead of schedule thanks to the other big development this week…

…lightspeed bundles are back! Well, at least some of them. And I ended up buying every single one that came out this week. In hindsight the Starkiller one was way too pricey at $50, and I probably could have done without the Padme bundle. But both had relic characters who are part of my farming plan. There was a lot in those bundles overall that I wish I hadn’t spent time farming, but that’s how they get ya. Well played yet again, CG, well played.

The lightspeed bundles first came out when I was taking a break from the game, so I didn’t realize just how many of those had been released back then. If they end up,re-releasing all of them, we might have a bunch more to go. Makes sense that they would do that as we get closer to the holidays, when people are in a more spendy mood.

Anyway, adding all those relic characters really shook up the roster. I’m almost glad we’re in between Grand Arena seasons, because I need to work on mods & even figure out optimal squad compositions for all these guys. I’m short on omega ability mats & zetas too. I do have enough for my next omicron, but I’m not sure who should get it. According to Hotutils, my best bet is Mara Jade or Embo. I had been thinking of putting it on Poggle for TW, but my guild hasn’t had enough members sign up for TW the past few weeks, so I’ve been hesitating. Right now we’re up to 33 members & over 90GP, so hopefully soon we’ll be back in business there.

I went back to the Easy difficulty level for Conquest, which has been a breeze so far with all these new relics. I want to get to the final red crate this time. If I can do that, then I’ll give Normal another try next time.

I got my TIE pilot to G12, and I’m putting my fleet energy toward G13 there. Once that’s done, I’ve already got enough relic mats to bump him right up to R5, which is a requirement for Executor. The other relic requirements will take more work, but it’s only 3 more characters.

I guess since this is “week 52,” I should do a bit of a retrospective. The account is more like 5 years old (started in 2019), but I was very casual for the first few years. Didn’t really look up any strategies, just kind of opened the game when I felt like it & tapped on quests. Then in March 2022, about 2.5 years ago, I bought the hyperdrive bundle (back when it was $100, you’re welcome CG) and started this tumblr. I had less than 900k GP & was in the process of building up a Phoenix squad to get Palpatine & Thrawn. I decided at that time that I’d just work my way through the journey guides, & continued from Palpatine & Thrawn to GMY, Artoo, BB-8, Padme, CLS, Rey, and started Beskar Mando around September ‘22. But then I put the game down and didn’t pick it back up until June ‘24. So that was almost a two-year hiatus.

A bunch of different factors in my personal life caused me to drop the game for a while, which I won’t go into here other than to say that one big difference is that on “Week 30” when I came back, I had been sober for a little over a year, and still am today. And the only reason I mention that here is because I feel like there’s a marked difference between my play style post-hiatus, where I’m getting better results, and sobriety is a big part of that. (The other part being that I pivoted from strictly following the journey guides to following a path that’s closer to YouTuber Ahnaldt101’s 2024 farming guide, which is much more productive.) I guess what I’m saying is, I know the week numbering that I do at the beginning of each post is a little confusing, but it’s less about tracking actual time than it is about tracking progress. I don’t really expect anyone to read these anyway - it’s just a little hobby - but if you’re reading this and you’re struggling with a substance addiction, I see you.

[rasmot-corner]

Rasmot Hates HFY: a barely held together ramble about a certain writing sub-sub-genre.

As you can tell by the title of this one, this is going to be a fairly lengthly rant about a very specific genre. For those of you who either enjoy or write this specific genre: this is your time to get off the ride. I have a very strong opinion about HFY that I have had for the better part of a number of years now. You're welcome to your opinions and likes about this genre. Hell you're welcome to disagree with either all, or a lot of what I have to say. But I will not be changing my opinion about HFY. You write what you want to write, or read what you want to read. But if I contain this any further I will pretty much end up like Praxis.

For those of you sticking around, I thank you for doing so and hope that this will either be insightful or perhaps entertaining. I will be adding a spoiler/read more after this, so keep that in mind.

--Part one: What in the ever-living hell is HFY?--

So as some of you might've gathered from the title of this ramble, HFY is a sub-sub-genre of writing. Specifically it is a sub-genre within Sci-Fi writing. In fact I would go as far as to say that it is often a sub-genre of Space Opera. Which pisses me off to no end. But I am getting ahead of myself there. So as such let me give a bit of history.

Before it was called HFY, it started as a small if innocuous thought experiment on Tumblr. Now it could have also started on Reddit. But I am more than certain that the majority of the conception of it began here on Tumblr. What was this thought experiment? What if Humans/Humanity were considered "Death Worlders" by the galactic community. This is also sometimes known as the "Humans are Space Orcs" theory. Now one could say that it goes earlier than that and that Humans are "confusing" to Aliens simply in how they act or are made. But the part where it really started to take-off was in that thought experiment that Humans are essentially the "Orcs" of the greater galactic community.

Very tough, born on a planet that in many ways hates them, and I could go on and on. But you can get the general idea behind the concept. As such when it came to Reddit, it was put into the writing tag of "HFY" or "Humanity, Fuck Yeah!" And while I could leave it at that, there is a lot more to it. So why does it bother me so much? Well . . .

--Part two: "I hate this! I find it utterly repulsive!" (Star Trek Generations)--

As someone who is a very large fan of Science Fiction, I have watched and read quite a number of things in relation to the genre. From the original series of Star Trek, to even the more strange and interesting Farscape. I have immersed myself deeply within the genre. In fact my favorite sub genre of the genre is Space Opera. The idea of a grand and wider universe full of different races with their own opinions and motivations. As such I tend to enjoy 4X Strategy games that involve Space Opera. In fact one that I started with all the way back when I was steeping myself in the genre was "Sword of the Stars". One of the more unique 4X games that put in a lot more into making all the races unique from each other in the ways that they operated and how they traveled across space.

But I have always had one problem with all the Space Opera and Sci-Fi that I have read and steeped myself in. And ironically one of the better series, Star Trek, had a scene in one of their movies that encapsulates my problem.

"It's a Homo-Sapiens only club!" - Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country

And this extends to far beyond just Space Opera. There is a lot, and I mean A LOT of Sci-Fi that is either Human-centric, or very focused on humanity. Now some series manage to do a little short-hand and convey an interesting idea. Like say the Galactic Empire from Star Wars and how it is an oppressive human-only regime. But then it kinda undercuts itself by having the main characters of most of it's entries be humans. In fact they are often a very specific type/breed of human.

Let me just say that I do get it. These stories are often written by humans. So as such you will often have a human or humanity being part of, if not the central crux, of the story. And there are ways to either offset that or weave in interesting themes and stories into everything. And there are times where this is actually done! Again Star Trek is often a really good example of this. There are stories and thoughts and themes that run throughout all the various series. And all of them help to create this interesting weave that often ends up being a nice quilt of sorts.

Warm, Soothing, Comforting.

I love Star Trek, I love Farscape, Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda was my jam, There are so many series and movies and stories that I have delved into and enjoyed and always gotten an immeasurable sense of enjoyment.

And then along came HFY.

--Part Three: The "Human" problem--

Now when I first saw this concept I got a bit of a chuckle out of it. Mostly because a lot of it was due to silly scenarios. Like aliens being confused about the mental process of humans, or the idea of human ingenuity, or even about the habit of humans adopting things or sticking weapons (knives) onto said adopted things (roombas). It was pretty much a silly/fun thought idea and I thought nothing more about it.

But then people started writing HFY stories and I had to take a much closer look. About Humans being "secret masterminds" of war. Or Humans living on what the galaxy considers to be a "Death World". Or the idea that Humans are tougher and stronger than most alien races. Or the idea that humans are somehow braver than the majority of alien races.

And it started to get me really REALLY angry. For the longest time I couldn't figure out exactly WHY it was making me angry. But it was. And then came a flood of HFY stories on both Reddit and Youtube by various narrators. And still I was struggling to fully comprehend why it was angering me so. There were even ones that I enjoyed! But they always had the problem of a Human being a "Mary Sue" or "Gary Stu". Before long it started to click to me as to WHY I was getting as angry as I was.

Humanity was always put as Number One.

They were always the Strongest, the Fastest, the Bravest, the Smartest. And all the other races, no matter HOW UNIQUE or interesting they were, were always put in the dust. Now this is nothing entirely new to Sci-Fi, but it is usually a lot more subtle about it. Even pulp Sci-Fi was far more subtle about things. And yet here was this sub genre of a sub genre that was being absolutely brazen about things. And that's when I came to a sudden conclusion.

HFY is completely Racist.

--Part Four: Living in the Shadows--

Some of you may sit there and balk. Some may say "well that's not entirely true . . ." And here's the thing. I get the initial knee-jerk reaction. But what I get even more is my own feelings on the matter. Especially when it comes to being viewed as an "other" in society.

That is where the crux of this lies. When it comes to society, I am considered as one of the many categories of "other". I'm not a part of the main "bulk" of humanity. Especially when it comes to how I operate mentally. I talk "weird", I think "weird", I act "weird". Most common people really don't know what to do with me, or even how to act around me in most circumstances. I have what one could call "Resting Bitch Face". I walk on my tip-toes. I am frankly taller and bigger than most people. And yet in many ways I am more agile and gentle. I try to hold myself back as often as I can.

In my own little way, I am an Alien.

And this was forced unto me even when I was younger. I always had a vivid imagination and was always considered strange or "weird" in comparison to other people. So imagine the sense of comfort when you partake/immerse yourself in something that seems to VALIDATE your existence. That makes you feel like you BELONG for a change. That you're not some sort of other or lesser being because of how you act or are. That it is perfectly acceptable to be who you are.

That is what Sci-Fi, and more importantly Space Opera, did for me. It allowed me to put myself outside of the context of humanity and make that alright. And for years that was more than fine. In a weird way, the places I was in were mostly fine with me being that way for the most part. There were sore spots of course, but nothing too bad. And then I came to Texas. And a sense of deafening loneliness. That I was simply too weird for the majority of the people in the state. That I was a confusing piece in a grander puzzle. Why couldn't I be more like them?

"Why can't you be normal?"

Now mind you I wasn't alone in that regard/respect. There were a number of people that were like me. Far more weird and different than one would believe. But still, that haunting loneliness stuck with me. It had been there for a while, but it only seemed to be magnified with time.

Which is why Space Opera became more and more of a comfort to me. Here was something I could immerse myself in. To feel more REAL in. Where I didn't need to "preform" to the standards and envelope of the world around me. It was my escape. It was my salvation.

--Part Five: Barely contained Hatred--

Let it not be said that I just don't "get" HFY and why it's written. This is not a case where I don't simply understand. But this is a case where even WITH that understanding, it still causes a problem. Because it is a "solution" to a problem that really didn't exist. As I said a while back, the vast majority of Sci-Fi has a very human-centric skew. And I normally don't have a problem with that because as I said, it is usually very subtle.

HFY is nowhere NEAR subtle. It is very clearly trying to puff up the chests of humans to make them feel like they're unique in a wider cosmos. When that is FAR beyond the truth. The simple matter of the truth is that there would be more species and cultures that are like humanity than there would be that are not.

Cultures that are as tough as humans.

Cultures that are as brave as humans.

Cultures that are as smart as humans.

And all the flaws that would entail. Humanity is not some super special unique race within the cosmos. There are probably a number of races that are either similar to humans or perhaps even better than humans. In the grater scheme of things, Humans are like any other species or culture. And I suppose that is the anxiety and fear that fuels a number of HFY authors. This idea that Humanity is not unique, that it is not very special at all. But instead of embracing that and following complex and interesting ideas about how many civilizations and cultures can come to the same conclusions/ideas, instead they have to create a fantasy about humans are special or unique.

We live in an age with constant conflict between factions of people. Of disagreements and misunderstandings. Where many want to put themselves above others just simply because they don't look or act the same. And here is HFY throwing more gasoline onto the fire.

Perhaps I'm rambling into the void. Or perhaps I am connecting on some similar wave-length or thought line. At the end of the day there should be more stories about over-coming differences and being able to coexist. Rather than trying to fluff up one group of people over others.

So as a closing thought, let me put in a question for you to ponder. Say humanity were to venture into the stars. Say they were able to meet other races and cultures. Would you prefer that they see their differences and similarities and focus on what makes them similar to each other rather than not? Or would you prefer humanity to puff up it's chest and declare itself superior to everyone else no matter the consequences?

I have my preference . . . but that's just me.

[allie-wants-filled]

Non-horny post, if you're not here for that then I totally understand, I'll have a TLDR at the bottom.

This is going to be longwinded, I get that I've got a relatively small amount of followers but I still love you all and you get a lovely flower to rest on your ear just for hearing me out.

I've been sitting on this for a couple of days, time which I've spent doing my usual things: drawing, playing grand strategy games, reading comics and listening to music. Pretty normal stuff. During that time I thought about how people seem to perceive me based on what messages I get from them.

I've had people immediately get frustrated and pissed at me for not posting nudes or sending them stuff privately. A relatively small amount of people have been sent stuff by me but only when I felt like I could trust them and that they respected me and my body. Full honesty is that I absolutely hate it, I hate that I'm over 6 feet tall, that I don't do anything about my body hair, that I'm broad shouldered. The list goes on. And it really helps to see all the positive posts that people make about body types being included within labels, it's content that I wish I had in my life from a younger age.

But I also think that brings me to my next point. I love that content so much, I really needed to see it so that I could start to accept that my larger hands aren't this defining feature that'll mean I can't be who I want to be. But it is my body. I don't need people messaging, asking to see my "pussy" and then throwing a fit when I let them know that I've got a dick and don't want to do anything with them. I don't need people disregarding what I say when I ask that they refer to my dick as a dick and not as whatever they've decided to call it. That's not you "being dominant", that's just ignoring me. You don't need to tell me that I "don't need to wear a bra" when I bring up that I'm big and don't have breasts but still wear one because it helps make me more comfortable.

Like, fuck, I've met some truly wonderful people who make me smile and recommend shows or music and treat me with more respect than I believe I deserve. But damn, I don't need to be verbally attacked because some individuals seem to have this image of what every trans person has to look like. Guess what? I'm not out here to "pass" or anything like that, I totally support anybody who has that as a goal and I genuinely wish each and every one of you the best of luck (you can have an additional flower for your ear if you'd like one) but it's just not me, I've got loads of other stuff that I'm dealing with and they are my priorities: I've had no heating in my flat for coming up three years, I've got to write statements about a colleague from a previous job, I'm trying to start a small business in my home town, I'm just trying to be me.

So, yeah, longwinded like I said but I just wanted to get my thoughts down here. And, if whoever is reading this is okay with it, I'd like to hear about your experiences of interacting with people on Tumblr, both the good and the bad, how you deal with it or just anything. Or even just tell me how your day is going or scream into the void with me about something. Because it felt good getting this out and I hope that it'd feel good for you all too.

TLDR;

I've got a dick, you don't get to decide otherwise. I'm not on HRT, I wear a bra, you don't get to tell me I don't need to. Stop throwing temper tantrums when I, or anybody else, tells you something about our body that you don't like or that doesn't fit into how you imagine people. Just fucking let people be themselves and refer to them and their bodies however they tell you, it shouldn't be difficult and it shouldn't cause you to throw a tantrum.

[featurenews]

Trump campaign strategy pivots to praying he wins September debate

As former president fails to land attacks against Harris campaign, advisers hope to capitalize on upcoming debate ​Donald Trump’s campaign insists that they’re pursuing multiple strategies against Kamala Harris, but the true picture that is emerging is that the Trump senior advisers’ grand plan, for now, is to pray that the former US president ​has a good night at the presidential debate next month. ​The game plan, in other words, has become one of hoping that Trump wins the debate so they can regain momentum – a stunning approach that shows the serious predicament for Trump and his campaign as he struggles to find ways to land effective attacks against the vice-president just months before the election. Continue reading... https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/29/donald-trump-campaign-strategy-debate?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=tumblr

[ideas-on-paper]

Gamescom 2024 résumé

It’s that time of the year again when Gamescom has come to an end after 5 intense days of playing Steam demos, and after sobering up from my "gaming beano", it's finally time for me to collect my own thoughts - or, at least that’s been my usual experience of it in the past few years (I haven’t been there in person since 2019). While I did my “mini reviews” for indie games that I tried out on Mastodon, I’ve decided to publish my general résumé on Tumblr this year, since I have quite a few thoughts that I wanted to take the time to address in detail (and frankly, I just didn’t want to put up with Mastodon’s character limit and a mile-long thread of posts). So, without further ado, here are my impressions of Gamescom 2024.

First off, let's start at the beginning: Opening Night Live. My opinion on this year's ONL is essentially the same as the previous years: pretty okay. I should mention, however, that I don't really care about modern triple-A gaming - the stacks upon stacks of open world graphic marvels with a maximum of uninspired game design just bore me to death.

The only thing that could've made this showcase potentially interesting to me would've been an announcement of the Lies of P DLC - however, since Neowiz wasn't even among the exhibitors, any hope I had for that deflated before Gamescom even started. (It's strange, actually - Gamescom would have been the opportunity to announce it if they're sticking with the release window of late 2024.)

One good thing that ONL did though was reminding me to check out Ara: History Untold. I was already intrigued by it when I heard about it during last year's Gamescom, and since the game will release soon in September, they finally showed some more extensive gameplay. It's strange that despite being such a big strategy fan, I've never played a Civ game before (except the Nintendo DS variant I had as a child where I lost horribly due to trying to play the game as a pacifist), but I'm actually very tempted to give this one a shot - a grand strategy game with environments rendered in an amount of detail comparable to Anno sounds really great. (One of my favorite things when I was playing Anno 1503 as a child was to stop for a brief moment and just look at everything that was going on.)

Also, I'm really intrigued by the feature that you can create your own leaders. I used to say “the moment I'll pick up a grand strategy game is when I'll be able to play as Vercingetorix and absolutely blow Caesar to kingdom come” - and even if Vercingetorix isn't in the game by standard, I can simply create him. I kid you not when I say that I could cry every time when I think about how the Gallic Wars were essentially just instigated by one person to gain political power and money - Rome itself wasn’t even interested in conquering Gaul, and Caesar had enough enemies in Rome who would’ve loved to see him fail in his self-staged glory campaign. A Gallic victory might have even inspired other peoples and nations to push back against Roman expansion and Romanization, leading to a more diverse European legacy as a whole (fun fact, btw: a lot of “Roman” inventions were actually just taken over from other cultures). Now, this is an alternate reality that I would love to see - plus, I’m always open to bullying some Romans. Who knows, if I’m really getting to rewrite history, maybe Carthage can join in the fun too. (Bring me those elephants, Hannibal!)

Since I've been a bit confused that they chose Nefertiti over Hatshepsut as an Egyptian leader*, I would love to play a campaign as her, too - the, according to James Henry Breasted, “first great woman in history of whom we are informed”. Not only that, her rule was so successful (especially in regards to trading and construction projects) that the patriarchal authorities of Egypt saw their worldview threatened, and because they couldn't have any records of an actually competent woman, they went out and erased her name on almost all of her monuments so she was basically forgotten by history for a long time. Well, I'd love to change that - as usual, though, I will wait what the reviews for Ara are going to be like, and maybe wait a little more until I can snatch the game at a good price.

*It's not that I'm unhappy with Nefertiti as a choice, I'm just a little surprised they wouldn't choose Hatshepsut in the light of her achievements. It’s also a little baffling that they announce Nefertiti as “pharaoh of Egypt” when she was just Great Royal Wife (albeit a very influential one) and Hatshepsut literally held the position of pharaoh. (There are theories Nefertiti ruled briefly after her husband died, though this is a matter of debate.) Also, tiny detail, but that Nefertiti starts out with Waset (aka Thebes) as a capital is hilarious to me, since she and Akhenaten demonstratively left Waset to establish Amarna as the new capital during their reign.

One novelty this year was the German Indie Showcase (“Deutsche Indie Showcase”), which took place about one hour before Opening Night Live and focused on upcoming indie games from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Although a lot of them weren’t really “world premieres” in the sense of the word - more like new trailers for already announced titles or new content releases/updates - I still found it way more interesting and entertaining to watch than ONL, in no small thanks to the commentary by German YouTubers Gronkh (whom I’ve been a long-time fan of) and PhunkRoyal.

Speaking of which, some people may know Gronkh as one of the “regular guests” of Gamescom, but this year, he actually didn’t make an appearance at the fair. This is something he announced last year, after he realized that more and more influencers who had nothing to do with gaming tried to use Gamescom as a means to gain publicity. Because of this, Gamescom was increasingly criticized for turning more and more into an “influencer convention” in the past years, which led to Gronkh clearly positioning himself and saying “I don’t want Gamescom to exclusively become an influencer event, and I don’t want my presence to divert attention from what’s supposed to be the main attraction: the games”. As a consequence, Gronkh announced he wasn’t going to be at Gamescom 2024 and instead would organize smaller events for his community. I think this is actually a very commendable move, and that he uses his range to give more visibility to local indie games is something I appreciate all the more.

The German Indie Showcase itself was hosted independently of Gamescom, featuring no third-party advertisements, show acts, or any other useless knick-knack. This is a development that I welcome a lot, not only that we get a special event with a spotlight on local developers, but also that the showcase focuses on what it’s actually about: the games.

After catching up on some of the other showcases after Gamescom (because I was too preoccupied to watch them live), one nice surprise for me was Planet Coaster 2, which I didn’t even know about before seeing the trailer (for some reason, the announcement about a month ago just completely flew over my head ^^'). Frontier Developments took some inspiration from Roller Coaster Tycoon 3's "Soaked!" expansion this time, adding water attractions as the brand-new feature. I would be interested in checking it out if I didn't know I'm 100% going to get stuck again trying to make everything as pretty as possible, which is exactly why I never got very far in Planet Coaster 1. xD

Meanwhile, in my opinion, the indie game division had a lot more interesting titles to offer. Same as last year, I checked out a selection of 20 Steam demos from Indie Arena Booth during Gamescom, plus 4 I already played preliminary. Out of the 24 games I tried out in total, my highlights were:

Moses & Plato - Last Train to Clawville

Songs of Silence

Closer the Distance

Winter Burrow

Goodbye Seoul

Steel Seed

30 Birds

Once Upon a Rogue's Tale

Awaken - Astral Blade

Bloodless

I want to thank all the devs who provided online demos of their games for this wonderful experience - the indie games are what I’m looking forward to the most every Gamescom, and I had tons of fun checking out all the awesome demos, even those that didn’t make it into the top 10. If you’d like to read my full thoughts on all the demos I played, here are my review threads from Mastodon:

Preliminary/New in August

Day 1: Strategy

Day 2: Detective, point & click, visual novels

Day 3: Action, platformers, metroidvanias

Day 4: Puzzle

Day 5: Sim, story, cozy games

In general, I had the impression that way more indie developers provided demos of their games than last year, and some even held special events in celebration. Awaken - Astral Blade, for instance, had a Gamescom Special Demo (it was essentially just a slightly more polished version of the normal demo, but it’s still nice the devs used this opportunity to show everyone how things are coming along) and Goodbye Seoul held a simultaneous Steam giveaway event.

Other games from Hall 10.2 had playable Steam demos as well, including Paws and Leaves - A Thracian Tale, Reka, and We Harvest Shadows. Even some bigger developers followed the trend, with Krafton providing a Steam demo for inZoi’s character editor.

Given that more possibilities to take part in Gamescom online was one of my biggest wishes last year (due to the online section diminishing somewhat after the Covid years were over), I am especially heartened by this development. Due to chronic illness, it has become increasingly difficult for me to travel to Gamescom myself (not to mention the noise level and crowds, which were always a challenge for me as a neurodiverse person), and it’s so great that people who can’t visit Gamescom in person for whatever reason also get opportunities to take part in it. Also, since more accessibility was a huge topic this year, I think online presence can also be used to further improve on that - and since Gamescom 2024 set a new record in regards to online reach with 310 million digital accesses, this development will hopefully continue.

Finally, I’d like to make a brief comment on this year’s “motto” of Gamescom as formulated by the organizers: One of the guiding principles was “games foster democracy”, which, understandably, has caused quite a bit of confusion among some commenters. One German journalist even humorously remarked: “As long as I haven’t formed a conclusive opinion on that, I’d rather rely on the Federal Constitutional Court than Candy Crush Saga.”

While I wouldn’t make a general claim that video games foster democracy, I would like to add that games can foster diversity. If we have a diverse range of games made by a diverse range of people - such as we see in Indie Arena Booth - it can lead to more diversity in the medium, which in turn can increase open-mindedness among the people who consume it, and thus foster democratic values.

Overall, the impression Gamescom 2024 left me with is a very positive one, and I think there were a lot of steps in the right direction.

What’s your opinion on Gamescom 2024? Do you have anything you’d like to add? Feel free to share your own thoughts!

[thegrandstrategygame]

The winner for who you will be playing as this season is: The Kingdom of Hawaii!

The other “players” are:

Turkmenistan (me)

South Africa (AI)

Germany (AI)

Since this is a new nation, I will be assigning it scores based off of what Hawaii the state has.

Current stats:

Economic Strength: 5

Military strength: 3

Population: 3

What will you be doing next?

[thereasonsimbroke]

MachineGames Drops 1937 Indy Adventure

In Ep. 593, Macio, Julian, and I discuss Obsidian's Avowed and Square Enix's Visions of Mana promising dynamic RPG experiences on Xbox, Oxide Games' Ara: History Untold redefining historical grand strategy, MachineGames announcing Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and more! CHAPTERS 0:00:14 Introductions and Welcome to The Reasons I'm Broke podcast 0:03:03 Avowed: A Massive Game in the Works 0:08:25 Hellblade: A Unique Viking Narrative Experience 0:10:04 Hellblade's Immersive Gameplay Experience with Psychosis 0:15:09 New Mana game with vibrant world and innovative combat 0:18:35 Speculation on co-op gameplay and hopes for the game 0:23:34 Confusion with Final Fantasy numbering in Japan and English 0:26:57 Square Enix's collaboration with Microsoft and future releases 0:31:18 Square Enix's Exclusive Deals and Financial Struggles 0:33:14 Ara History Untold: An Innovative Strategy Game 0:40:02 Exploring the World of Indiana Jones 0:43:13 Mixed Feelings about Todd Howard and Bethesda 0:51:57 Annual Flagship Titles and Game Development During the Pandemic 0:54:50 Lack of Console Editions and Missed Opportunities for Microsoft 1:01:13 Mixed Feelings on Microsoft Developer Direct 1:06:22 The Importance of Appealing to the Japanese Market 1:09:42 Excitement for upcoming Pokemon gaming series

FOLLOW/SUPPORT CO-HOST JULIAN: @kagezero21 (Twitter) @LazyGamingGuys (LGG Twitter) LazyGamingGuys' Channel (YouTube) As always, we appreciate your constructive Feedback, Suggestions, and Questions. You can also leave us an audio question on SpeakPipe. Thank you for the continued love and support! Enjoy the show. Daniel Podcast Awards 2019 || Games & Hobbies (Winner) Podcast Awards 2017 - 2018, 2020 - 2022 || Games & Hobbies (Nominated) Official Site FOLLOW US: - X | @ReasonsImBroke and @TRIBPod - Instagram - Threads - Pinterest - Tumblr - Discord Lounge - YouTube Channel SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Google Podcasts / iHeartRadio / TuneIn / Overcast SUPPORT THE POD: Getting $1's worth of entertainment and information each month? Support us on Patreon! SPREAD THE WORD: If you're enjoying the show, please head over to iTunes and leave us a rating and a review! Each one helps new Brokettes discover the podcast. Contribute to the Hero Initiative to offer assistance to comic creators facing difficulties. Show your support for the AFSP's efforts by donating to the Autumn Snyder Tribute Fund. CREDITS: Opening/Closing Jingles - Alex Scott Show Logo By - Opanaldiova

The latest episode of The Reasons I'm Broke Podcast!

[frankhightower]

12 things I learned after depending on commissions for 2 years

I've been meaning to write about this for a while now, but PayPal charitably reminded me of the $600 reporting threshold this morning (which will no longer require you to pay taxes, but still, wasn't originally planning on assigning neurons to that today) so it's as good a time as any.

I started seriously pursuing commissions in the summer of 2021 (you may remember I'd been talking before the pandemic about automating most of my badly-paying dayjob away to free up time for other pursuits, this was the point where I finally said "I've done it!"). The failure of the 2017 opening still weighed heavily on my mind, though, so I was pretty sure simply posting "hey, I'm open" and uploading 5 "samples" a week wasn't going to work. I tried to get an art stream set up since I remembered getting followers that way in 2014, but I could never get it to work.

So instead, I took to Discord. I've always been bad at keeping up with multiple forums, but I made an effort to participate in all of them. I was very casual about my commissions (since, you know, pandemic: I kinda needed the social interaction more ...and pandemic stimuluses were keeping me afloat) and sold a grand total of 2 commissions that way in the whole year.

Here came the first hard lesson: Do not give free samples of your work. People will always say "do you have a sample?" and since I was being asked for combinations I'd never done (such as, let's say, "cell-shaded and macro"), I'd always say "no, but I can make one", and then would go off to do just that. Several things can happen in that process:

You take so long to produce the sample, the would-be commissioner loses interest

They judge your sample as not good enough

The free sample satisfies their "need" and they no longer want "the paid version"

(also, commissioners, don't ask "do you have a sample", look at the artist's gallery and talk to them about that; artists love gushing about their art!)

From here, I decided to be systematic about it: I was going to create a sample of every possible combination and put them on a price sheet (I don't recommend this, by the way). I'd long planned to get "volunteers" to appear on my price sheet, but by this point, the pandemic stimuli had stopped so I decided to sell the slots in a huge YCH. To promote it, I started using Twitter ...I mean really use it. I'd never "gotten" Twitter much, but again, I made the effort and soon went from replying to 1 or 2 tweets every few days, to replying to 20 tweets a day.

And here I learned the second lesson: The online art space is an interconnected ecosystem. I only sold 2 slots on Twitter itself (people I knew saw my retweets), but by posting the slots sold on FA, DA and Tumblr, I was able to get more attention there. Then, by making reminders for FA and DA since they don't have a retweet option (and posting those reminders on Twitter), I was able to get more attention back on Twitter ...and the feedback loop continued until I had people asking for slots when I'd run out! I kind of already knew this, to be honest. I'd always praised EA's pre-2007 strategy of "cross pollination" (releasing the "same" game on multiple platforms to motivate people from one platform to get the other) but seeing it firsthand was just next level.

I considered myself too busy during the Winter Quarter of 2022 (we work in quarters at my school) so, though I was still brimming with ideas, I wasn't posting anything. ...Then I noticed my friends on Twitter were depressed. I mean, a lot of them were. They needed me. I'd been to therapy during the pandemic (and it bankrupted me so I knew not everyone could afford it) but it had given me the tools necessary to deal with it. I could tell they didn't have them. And one of those tools (which I was underusing) was "draw something every day". So I started the "Free Hugs" series. From a commercial standpoint, this was a great way to get "out there", since gift art is far more visible than the average twitter reply, but that was not the main reason to do it.

So let's call this the third lesson: Gifts are good. A gift is not a free sample, it is a labor of love. You wouldn't buy a gift for someone you don't know at all, and giving the gift doesn't weigh on your conscience as a waste of time in the same way as "the prospective commissioner never got back to me" does. Sometimes the receiver only responds with a like, and that's more than enough. Sometimes they'll comment show their followers in turn. But because you're not doing it for the attention, it's always a bonus.

What really changed things was something unexpected: I reached 150 followers on Twitter! I'd always planned that, if I reached 150, I would draw the 150 pokémon. I'd kind of resigned on the idea years ago because I'd "stopped growing"... and then it happened. I now had to put that plan into action! (and no, "celebrate milestones" isn't a lesson learned, I'll come back to this later)

Turning my daily drawing into "the next pokémon on the list" was a huge boost to my productivity (so long as I kept the list handy) and it contributed to the "ecosystem" positive feedback loop. Let's call this the fourth lesson: Always have something to do. If you're ever "out of ideas", have something you can turn to that will allow you to keep posting. Something that doesn't stress you out (drawing Pokémon is a huge comfort for me, it's literally therapeutic). Something that doesn't require a lot of effort to decide what to do next. Something that (for all practical purposes) you could do forever.

And now, having a huge roster of pokémon under my belt, came the next turning point. I'd always considered black and white sketches to be "unfinished" art, but people were quite happy with them as they were. And with Pandemic payments stopping, I offered to "finish" them... as a commission. Approximately one out of every ten people who received a pokémon sketch were willing to pay to see it "finished", which is the exact ratio taught in marketing classes. This brings me to the fifth lesson: Direct marketing works (ha,ha, just kidding, please don't spam your followers). The fifth lesson is: Keep in touch with your follower base. They already made the decision to follow you, they are clearly interested in what you have to offer. Make sure you talk to them, listen to them, study them individually, and yes, give them fan service (and I mean this literally: give them what they came for, not what a stereotype says they want).

After about a year of toil, my price sheet was ready (remember I said I don't advise making them like I did?) and I sold 2. and here I learned another hard lesson: Commissioners are creative people (they just lack the time, tools, or skill to do the art themselves) This should be a good thing; what better person to work with as a creative, than a creative? The problem is that not many people are creative, so a broad "throw anything you want at me, the only limit is your imagination", only works with people who have unlimited imaginations. Not even lowering prices helps in this situation. If you want to reach a larger audience, you need to do what most artists do and offer donation drives, YCHs and adopts. If you need ideas for these, celebrate holidays or milestones (told you I'd come back to it) but do it with intent, not out of obligation. Try to stay away from newsbites or trending topics as these will become dated very quickly (and you want the stuff people paid for to act as an ad).

So I launched a donation drive. I'd always been planning one for Macro March. This taught me the next lesson: People want to give you money! This may come as a shock to many of you, but it's true. Your followers do like you that much. Give them opportunities to show it on their terms. And never fail to acknowledge it!

I soon after launched another huge YCH, got only 1 response, and learned the 8th hard lesson: Some months are just dead. If you've ever wondered why no artist ever does X in the month of Y, this is why. People just disconnect from the internet at certain times of the year (and with the pandemic ending, doubly so!). Trying to get anyone to even see what you're doing at these times is literally shouting into the void.

By this time, my mother had lost her job, and her severance pay had run out. My family was financially in trouble. I went back to my list of pokémon, and people who said they'd be interested in paying to get it finished "later". Only 2 of them still did, which taught me two new hard lessons: 9: Buying art is an emotional endeavor. Once emotions subside, the push to put money on that particular piece is gone. This also means that art should always have emotion (and probably why so many people hate AI art for non-"it was made by AI" reasons) 10: People wait for their paycheck. Even if your followers may recognize your situation on the 23rd of the month, even if they want to give you money, they won't have any money to give until the 30th. But by that point, they may have forgotten (after all, what is the internet but a myriad of things trying to get your attention?) so you need to time your announcements considering this. Use that week for a personal project or try to cut back.

Things went very well for a while... but then there came the Death of Twitter. What do I mean by that? I track "views per followers" on my art tweets. I normally get 1 view for every follower, thanks to my carefully scheduled retweets. However, I've noticed a steady decline in that number since July (when the "rate limited" debacle happened). Starting at about the last week of September, it's been stuck at about 0.2 views for every follower. I doubt this is a matter of algorithm suppression, though, since I'm also seeing people I follow, post less. I conclude people really are spending less time on Twitter, which brings me to the final hard lesson: Don't put all your eggs in one basket, don't even put the majority of your eggs in one basket! From the beginning, having many more followers on Twitter than on any other platform set off alarm bells in my head (and if it's been your situation, it should do so, for you, too!) The fear was not that Twitter, as a whole, would fail, it was that I could lose my account! I am happy with the fact that I currently only have about 50% more followers on Twitter than I do on FA (ideally the numbers would be equal, but since FA relies on people using "browse" and "search", that number is really hard to raise!) To bring it full circle, cross-pollinate! Link your other accounts constantly. Anyone who's finding you for the first time in one platform should quickly be able to know if you're in any of the other platforms they use. This is how I've managed to survive the Twitter-pocalypse.

So those are my 12 hard lessons:

Do not give free samples of your work

The online art space is an interconnected ecosystem

Gifts are good

Always have something to do

Keep in touch with your follower base

Commissioners are creative people

People want to give you money!

Some months are just dead

Buying art is an emotional endeavor

People wait for their paycheck

Don't put all your eggs in one basket

Cross-pollinate!

They're all "easier said than done", but don't let anyone tell you that artists hate sharing their secrets!

And Merry Christmas.

Posted using PostyBirb

[jennamoran]

A key lesson of tumblr is that even people who are unutterably ridiculous can be insightful and that it is not necessarily possible to disentangle the two.

**

So as you know, but not every Glitch reader necessarily does, the Glitch traits are conversions from the 24 Chuubo’s Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine RPG Arcs. And those Arcs are loosely divided into eight “colors” and three “types,” with one type being the “while you’re on this Arc you dramatically suffer, because this Arc can’t coexist with reality.”

In this light two things are extremely notable:

* all four of the Deceiver Arcs are of the dramatic suffering type, as opposed to, say, Strategists, who actually only have one trait, Wyrd, completely unable to coexist with the world.

* ... but the “colors” of the Deceiver Arcs themselves are relatively peppy: they’ve got “dramatic suffering while having a good time,” “dramatic suffering while being over-the-top,” and “dramatic suffering that’s spiritually enriching” (plus “dramatic suffering to live up to their role in the world,” which isn’t really peppy, but isn’t *not* peppy.)

The conclusion I tend to draw is that they’re Like That because that’s what *lets* them survive in the world with more ease than the Strategists---that a Deceiver who let go of the theater or equivalent survival strategy would just get crushed utterly and practically instantly by the world. That they’d have it worse than the Strategists if they weren’t Like That; that it’s by being Like That, and only by being Like That, that they have it better.

(I don't have a better term than "Like That." They're a lot.)

Anyway, this does wind up meaning they roll up a lot of personal mythos into what they’re *doing,* a lot of stuff that isn’t “the True Thing” from some kind of grand Doylist perspective but just ... like ... what keeps them going.

So what does that mean about your question?

**

I think Deceivers are fundamentally postmodern and transcend the division between “full of it” and “not.” 

It’s like asking whether GalaxyQuest is serious science fiction, or whether Ivan the Fool would be better off with a ring of +4 intelligence.

Like ... OK, to be clear, I am not ... actually much of a postmodernist. I don’t understand much postmodern theory, and the bits I do understand appear to be ... half-finished thoughts, like a philosopher putting half their shoes on in the dark. But! I can still recognize that a couple core things are going on with the Deceivers:

* first, the pseudo-Estate stuff is probably fake. Not every Deceiver knows it’s fake, but it’s fake even for them. At least to the same extent that, like, it’s fake when someone mentions that we’re out of eggs and I "blame society." I mean, yes, if you trace back the causality, society is almost certainly to blame, but! I'm not blaming society in the sense you would expect if you took the sentence apart and analyzed the words individually and then rebuilt it. I'm blaming society as a gestalt meme waved in the situation's direction. I'm serious, and the sentiment is accurate both literally and as a gestalt meme, but it's also intrinsically fake at the same time.

* second, the Deceivers' personalities are exaggerated. Not every Deceiver is consciously exaggerating their personality, and maybe a few aren’t doing it at all, since they don’t have Eide, but, they are. They’re not *forced* to be Like That, it’s a survival strategy.

* third, the Deceivers are perceiving something that is at least as legit as the Strategists’ contention that the world is wrong---something about the world’s fundamental falsehood that I would hesitate to declare as factual here in a tumblr post but could absolutely see myself declaring in a Deceiver game.

* fourth, they absolutely conflate one, two, and three, even though one is fake, two is personal, and three is "real" ... and very few of them could draw a line between them if they had to. Part of this is because the player of any Deceiver that can distinguish the three would have to be genuinely insightful on command, which, like, isn’t necessarily a problem but can be.

So like ... are they full of it? Is it all just a pose? Or is it real? ... like, it’s usually both?

In theory, you could have a Deceiver that wasn't really “full of it,” just “over the top.”

Given precisely whose perspective Glitch is written from, it makes sense that Powers are depicted as brainwashed child soldiers, Warmains as violent idiots, and Deceivers as fundamentally full of shit – like, of course that's how Strategists would see it, being the way that they are, and the text of Glitch is severely biased in their favour as a conscious creative choice. It does make me wonder, though: is there an alternative perspective on the game's setting where Strategists are whiny nerds and Deceivers have the right idea, or is being fundamentally full of shit so central to the Deceiver idiom that they're full of shit even when the story is being told from their point of view?

[meinberg-writing-and-design]

Howdy folks! I’m Mids Meinberg, author and independent game designer. I’m a firm believer in the ability of games and narratives to lead to deeper thought and consideration around a variety of topics, from the personal to the political to the universal.

I publish my games and write blogs as Goat Song Publishing (you can find the link to my blog on there up top, it’s the wordpress link). I have a few games you might be familiar with:

The Angelical Life has gotten an AP on Party of One, and is a two-player game based on my experience of seeing CATS (2019) which I then combined with Silent Hill 2, because they were basically the same feeling for me.

When You Meet Your Doppelganger on the Road, You Must Make Out With Them is also a two-player game, which received a three episode run on Hope’s Hearth, and is about a meeting between two identical strangers that might just a bit steamy.

The Warrior’s Journey is a solo game, an a Game Chef finalist, and is about a person who had lived their life by violence coming to an understanding with the effects of that violence.

In addition, I have written for Hard Wired Island, specifically its sections about accessibility tools and disability in general aboard the Grand Cross.

My blog has had two major series, both of which you might have heard of it at some point:

First, the Game Design Against Fascism series has talked at length about how to mechanically represent political themes in a game’s design, how certain mechanics enforce fascism, and a variety of strategies to avoid falling into the traps of earlier design eras.

Second, my Designing For Gamefeel series approaches mechanics design with my burgeoning theory of gamefeel, which is frankly best understood by reading the first article in the series, which you can find here.

As for me, I’m an agender queer (prefer using thon, but they is fine too), and I have a weird brain to say the least. I have major depression and social anxiety, and maybe more, who knows!?

Getting onto tumblr has really reinvigorated my passions, and I’m looking forward to making some more games and articles for y’all to enjoy! Be seeing you real soon!

[jame7t]

they should make tumblr into a Grand Strategy game like VIC or stellaris