#the web was a sidequest

[thejaymo]

COMPUTER SPACE (1971)

"In 1971, a Californian entrepreneur named Nolan Bushnell decided to deliver Spacewar! to the masses. Computer Space—essentially Spacewar repackaged—was the first modern coin-operated arcade game."

SPACE WAR! (1962)

Spacewar! is a space combat video game developed in 1962 by Steve Russell in collaboration with Martin Graetz, Wayne Wiitanen, Bob Saunders, Steve Piner, and others. It was written for the newly installed DEC PDP-1 minicomputer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"the popularization of video games is better traced to Steve Russell, a graduate student who studied at MIT in the early 1960s. Russell is commonly credited for creating Spacewar with the help of collabora- tors. In Spacewar, each competitor controlled a spaceship. The players navigated the ships on a flat plane around a central sun (with simulated gravity) and attempted to destroy each other with missiles. In an interview with a reporter from Rolling Stone magazine, Russell described Spacewar not as a game, but as a way to “simulate a reasonably complicated physical system and actually see what is going on.”

Came across this whilst researching my book. Thought it was cool.

Quotes from Virtual Justice: The New Laws of Online Worlds by Greg Lastowka (2011) Read more about Computer Space at the Online Museum of play

[alepresser]

Hey, do you like Ranma 1/2?

Because Ranma is the manga that inspired me and @kbspangler on writing Side Quested, our fantasy comedy webcomic.

And we're just getting into the banana-crackers crazy bit.

[codacheetah]

The Loop Dialogue Spreadsheet

RELEASE 1.0 BABY!!!!!!!

SHEETS LINK

WEB LINK (I don't recommend this one, but it's also here)

✦ WHAT IS THE LOOP DIALOGUE SPREADSHEET? ✦

As I'm sure you could guess by the name, this sheet is a compilation of (to my knowledge) all of Loop's dialogue in the game, sorted into tabs for easy access.

✦ WHAT DIALOGUE IS ON THIS SHEET? ✦

Currently, the sheet is divided into:

Generic dialogue - Dialogue for starting and ending a conversation with Loop, calling them, basic dialogue options

"What should I do next?" - Loop's advice regarding story progression.

"Let's talk about something..." - Optional conversations with Loop, relating to the "Behind the Scenes" achievement, also known simply as "loop chats"

"I had a question about..." - Loop's advice regarding sidequests

Predialogue - Automatic conversations with Loop preceding the regular dialogue options

Tutorials - Occasions in which Loop gives information to Siffrin in brackets.

Item interactions - Loop's reactions to using Souvenirs near them, as well as to using Your Dagger near them

Story events - Loop's introduction, Beginning of ACT 3, Loop hangout, Forgetting Mirabelle's name random event, ACT 5 Loop confrontation, and the Epilogue

(...plus the intro, where the key comes from)

✦ WHY USE YOUR SHEET? ✦

So you can be obsessive over Loop the same way I am (◕‿◕)

Also so you can take screenshots and see stuff you missed! Yippee!

Anyways, with that out of the way, thank you to anyone who has helped with this project along the way, ESPECIALLY @felikatze and his script project. 💖 You're free to copy anything out of this sheet without credit because, well, I didn't write any of this dialogue.

Fair warning ahead of time that this sheet contains unmarked spoilers for the entire game, including several optional achievements.

[theangrycomet-art]

The Spooky Sidequest NO ONE wanted to sign up for

Drift's Jettrine having to deal with Airachnid because they clearly don't have enough trauma with shady criminals with creepy bug altmodes that spit webbing at you and want you as part of their collection.

At least with Shadow Raker they were sure he wouldn't kill them and waste all the time, energy, and resources he put into training them.

Dealing with a serial killer who has a thing for smaller prey bots is a very different story.

Jetfire is the definition of the "this is fine" meme

COMMISSIONS OPEN

[thisisnotthenerd]

and the other half of round two, the sidequests!

feel free to give reasoning/propaganda as you like!

the intrepid heroes poll

quick episode descriptions:

volcano of violence: all of the lotr parallels in one place. leiland being a cringefail after casting circle of death. markus negotiating with an eagle. the combination of grasping web and reverse gravity. balloon elf. sokhbarr raising the lava mog. the concept of galfast hamhead. efink facing her father and husband and beign conflicted

the great chase: caravan chase, mad max style on the teenager's bed. ti wants to blow up the boy. car-go and bean are remarkably effective. boomer is a boarding party. jizz balloons. lots of toy vehicles. car-go transforms with felix inside.

the horizon beyond the squall: marcid attacking a chimney. you wrote a whole song just to be mean to me. cheese, prince bitch. no kings for this captain. nat 20 medicine check to revive myrtle. destroy undead. beating a motherfucker with another motherfucker. bob's inflict wounds. ending with cheese getting a ship and the buccaneer buddies sailing off.

unfinished business: splitting up to resolve the mystery. buckster's legendary nat 20 persuasion to give advantage on stealth. daisy and the vicar sneaking in. sylvester failing at climbing the tower. lars killing the constable and pretending to be a ghost for lucretia. gangie and the vicar undulating. daisy and sylvester simultaneously arriving. shitting out of a window to "provide a cushion". daisy getting her story with sylvester's help. gangie falling into mrs. molesly's room. sylvester almost dying but getting a nat 20 death save with buckster's help. a wedding and bacchanal.

we're the heroes: one of these things is not like the others. collecting the bag of socks. jammer crying about weights. sam and philtrum. dates at the questing beast. the tournament. dream's cinderella moment. where did those mice get lithium. you don't get wet fire. i disavow you. what do you want me to tell your family. he had enough. blast him to the underworld. you can gps a phone. my girl just glinda'd your ass! that's some american magic, bitch! evan and dream lock up tallulah's wand in an orb.

i fucking love you: no one is surprised. incendiary cloud. OSTENTATIA'S DIVINE INTERVENTION ON A 19. god wants a bag from ostentatia. antiope will not submit. penny texts i'm in. nta 20 counterspell on finger of death. nonna wallace approves. katja trips a snake. i didn't even know you could trip a snake. antiope's incredible action surge turn that ends with showing her ass. sam is power word killed. that's my sister. danielle channels anima. revivify. bringing talura through the doorway in death. ending with graduation and 'take us to the book!'.

waylaid by werewolves: the werewolves are girls. zarb mini with six buttholes. chewing gum mist. fifi. shooting through the flamethrower. losing dracula. drago was the star. fifi becomes a werewolf. reading a letter in the middle of battle. florina under the carriage. enraged frenzy. i've heard of a cat scan. i make the horse fly. something seems very familiar about her. the dog is my wife! izzy holds with disappointment. a monster has been eating my letters to you.

duel on the southern lawn: rumor phase. rue writes the letter and commands wuvvy to burn it. i drank tea and went to bed. letter to wrackingspelt. rue's assistant. hob getting clocked by rue. wuvvy demanding satisfaction. andhera demanding satisfaction. wet wrestling. this is the biggest stretch of a fuckin' lifetime. nat 20 to be a slippy boy. hoisting andhera up by his taut cotton pants. accepting the hand of friendship.

yonder where the fruit do be lyin': quichei. deli's perception roll. raphaniel as a youth pastor. giant radish head. colin is covered in blue. extremely realistic fake orange. rick perry, you dog. silence. queen's losing it. raphaniel gets the orange down. banana boat guy. come on provolone! deli attacks queen pamela rocks. subtle spell shatter in the carriage. brennan kills pamela rocks again. you died for nothing. chasing and murdering the mushroom guy.

in the heart of death: brennan walks jujubee through an optimized turn. 49 damage immediately. troyánn slips. keekee starts falling. scorching ray. the devil works hard, but d20 works harder. buddy bear shoves zaria into the pit. lightning javelin in the titty. fireball. princess does like 70 damage and pushed kerwyn into the abyss. troyánn goes down. princess gets keena. nat 20 counterspell. twyla crits on morgan to end the battle.

case closed: the party converges on oblongata station once more. they're facing down the don and madam loathing, who can turn them against each other. imelda and dan flash the gangsters to wildly differing results. ivana rolls a 59 on hunch and he still comes back. elias punches his boss. dan goes down. the fix eats the key. conrad rolls a 57 [the number of heinz varieties] to bring down madam loathing. elias steals a birthday cake and runs out into the street, gets a date and reconciles his childhood trauma as he goes into witness protection.

evolution & revolution: warning the populace. pitching scam calls. driving the truck. phoebe is jaegering dr. wenabocker in a very gross maxi. the ground collapses. revenants are charmed. viola is very efficient. thorn calls lightning. tula attacks her son for 67 damage. ava attacks the groun for 109 damage and a long rest. jaysohn gets phoebe. lila fireballs. viola crits twice and kills one guy with paladin/fighter shenanigans and then kills the rest by kicking the trigger of a gun and hitting a gas tank. tula heals jaysohn, lukas, and herself a little bit. battle is over in 1.33 rounds.

[stars-in-a-jam-jar]

This chapter, Kyana apologizes A Lot. Also I added a sidequest that was 1000% not in Season 1. Or any subsequent season for that matter.

[canmom]

love modern game development. the dev tools require a web login. all of meta's web services have gone down for some reason. so I have to use a third party program (Sidequest) to simply install an APK that I built on the headset sitting next to me. this is a reasonable way to do things right

[motheatencrow]

BUG GAME MASTERPOST (AS OF NOV. 2022)

heyhey! this isnt actually anything "official"! i just thought i’d make this for fun and to also spread around bug video games that others, who like the silly little critters as well, might enjoy!

(remember that this is as of nov. 29 2022 so if any game unreleased game on here is now released, it may have been after the date that this was made)

there will be 3 categories: released games, games to be released/are being developed, and honorable mentions

under the released games, i will also be stating if i have finished the game, played them, or simply heard of them (can range from "i have the game wishlisted", "owned but not played", literally only heard of it, etc.)

these bug games will also only list games where most invertebrates are the main focus of the game

other than that, i will be doing the following if possible!:

- i will be providing brief comments for what i think of each game (this is my opinion of each game!! everyone has their own tastes and its alright if you dont agree with what i say! and in no way is my comments for each game professional/an attempt to critique the game in any way ksfhskjd)

- what the gameplay is like (sort of. im not really good at explaining LMAO)

- where you can find these games (game websites may be linked if available instead!)

visual warnings for this post: gif/image heavy, bright imagery click here for the text-only version!

let's begin!

released games

hollow knight - website; finished - a challenging metroidvania! i personally found this game really fun though i did have to take breaks from the game due to some difficult fights and events lsfhdskj. its definitely the type of game thats fun to replay and see how much you've improved since first playing it! i also think the world building, implied lore, and characters are really well done! (i highly enjoy reading people's analysis posts of this game jksdfkj)

overall, i suggest this game if you enjoy challenging fights and platformers, creative characters, games with deep lore, and/or emotional osts!

bug fables - website; finished - i am emotionally attached to the blue moth. anyways! bug fables is a paper mario rpg inspired game (used to be called paper bugs actually!) and it has charming characters and a good story! this game has a very fun ost and you definitely fall in love with the characters as you learn more and more about them. i find the sidequests very much worth doing and also really fun as it makes you go around and interact with a lot of the npcs in the game! you'll end up seeing that a lot of them have unique personalities and are loveable in their own right :] !!

i suggest the game if you like rpgs, bright characters and settings, bubbly osts, and/or perhaps even learning a dark secret or 2?

bugsnax - website; finished - silly game about catching and eating bug-shaped foods! or food-shaped bugs? food bugs!!!! the horrors. all the bugsnax designs are super fun and some of them are challenging to catch which i think makes the game pretty fun! there's also a bunch of ways that u could catch a bugsnak, its just up to what you can think of! the horrors. the characters are also pretty loveable and they have really neat stories and getting to know them can change the course of the game (just the ending really actually)

highly suggest the game if you enjoy being a little creative with how you perform a task/solving puzzles, characters that are more than what they seem, and silly creative creature designs!

creepy castle - available on steam; played - i have yet to finish this game! but from what i've played, its pretty fun exploring around, reading lore tidbits, and doing the duel minigames! it has a neat retro style and you can change the colors/gui settings if i remember correctly!

i suggest the game if you like rpgs, pixelated style games, and/or minigames!

webbed - website; finished - super cute spider game about saving your bf, swinging around on and crafting webs, and making new friends! did i also mention that youre a spider that shoots lasers from their eyes? webbed is a really charming game that can be completed in just a few hours, even with all the bonus/side things that you can do!

i suggest it if you like pixelated style games, are a completionist, want a shorter game, or just want to be a silly little laser spider!

apico - website; finished - a relaxing game about keeping bees and restoring bee populations! recently they've added an update where you can help repopulate solitary bees and butterflies, and there's a bunch more content that they're planning to develop and release!! the characters have silly bee pun names and have neat dialogue! (they also have pronouns next to their names when you talk to them <3) bee management is not super demanding and with some mods, you can enhance your experience in the game. personally, i have not played with mods, i really enjoy the base game alone! you can also build pretty bases, listen to the relaxing ost, or trap yourself in menu hell!

i suggest the game if you want something that's more laidback (though there is a bit of management), like reading silly dialogue blurbs, want to have a calming ost to listen to, or just wanna do some beekeeping! (proceeds also go to charities that help repopulate native bee populations!)

grounded - website; played - grounded is an open world survival sandbox game (theres also a literal sandbox in the game) where you're a teen that's been shrunken down and must survive in the backyard while finding a way to bring yourself back to your original size. the game actually got a full release in back in september and i have yet to play it because my partner has not been able to play kfhskj. but we have played when it was in early access and it was super fun! there are giant spiders in the game but there's an accessibility setting that allows you to make the spiders more blobby in case you have arachnophobia! other than that it's really fun to go running around the game screaming and crying because the giant mosquito is about to 2-shot you. the base building is also pretty fun with a variety of materials you can make your base from as well as decor. there's also a variety of weapons and armors to choose from and create a build to optimally destroy bugs that are not so friendly. you can also tame some of the passive creatures and become extremely overprotective of them. (im not speaking from experience [lying]) there's actually a storyline to follow as well that helps encourage exploration and progression in the game!

i recommend the game if you enjoy open world sandbox survival games, being scared out of your mind when something you didnt see gets aggro'd on you, making neat bases, and/or strategizing and making builds to suit your playstyle! (i also highly recommend playing with friends!)

space moth dx - available on steam; played - an arcade-like shoot-em-up bullet hell where you play a moth shooting lasers at other laser shooting bugs! this is actually a fairly tough game if you're not familiar with these types of games. i personally have not gotten that far and have yet to play it again kslfhkjs but i think the art is super neat and the gameplay is pretty fun!

i recommend it if you enjoy bullet hells where you literally don't see anything But bullets (there is also space moth: lunar edition!)

bug academy - available on steam and switch; played - a pretty fun physics puzzle game where you control a swarm of bugs! there are different levels with different objectives and a star-based score depending on how well you do in each one! the only reason i havent finished this game is because im a completionist for it and got stuck on a level i have yet to get 3 stars on ksjfhkj. if you ever get this game, i highly recommend playing with a controller!

i suggest this game if you like puzzles, timed/stopwatch levels, trying to see how far you can chuck something, destroying buildings by chucking items, crying when you knock over your tower on accident, and/or being a silly bug swarm

crustacean nations - available on steam and itch.io; finished - woah moth!!! a game about crabs???? yeah they're getting a spot on this list, they're sea bugs to me. but anyways! crustacean nations is a fairly short game with only 3 levels (if i remember correctly) and a sandbox mode. you're essentially commanding a kingdom of crabs and you must defend your sand castle while destroying the other crab sand castles. there's also a pit where you can sacrifice crabs and summon a Big One. it doesn't take too much strategy to win each level but you still need to think about it a bit!

i suggest it if u want to play a brief n short army-building game! with crabs!

kill it with fire - website; finished - a silly game about exterminating spiders. as you progress through the game you get a bunch of new weapons to um. delete spiders with. there's also a bunch of challenges you can do and achievements to get! i've completely 100%'d the game just because it's kinda fun trying to do the challenges and collect all the achievements. the ending is also. a little messed up.

i suggest the game if you're a bit of a completionist, don't like spiders for some reason (i think theyre pretty neat), want to have a stress-relief game (or would it be stress inducing??), or want to see how goofy it gets

social moth - available on steam; heard of - a lot of my mutuals talk about and adore this game! i have not played it yet but it's wishlisted! here's a copy n pasted excerpt from the steam page: "Social Moth is a narrative platformer where you play as a small moth contending with social anxiety. Set in a close-knit community on the forest floor, the game allows the player to explore themes of mental health, relationships, and finding a sense of belonging."

i think i can suggest this game if you have social anxiety/want to understand social anxiety while also playing a puzzle platformer with an endearing art style and characters!

buggos - available on steam; heard of - ive had this game wishlisted for a while! here's a copy and pasted excerpt from the steam page: "Buggos is an RTS Auto Battler where you evolve your army into the perfect bug fighting force. You control a young hive mind bent on world domination, and your swarm will mostly listen to your every beck and call. Guide your swarm’s evolutionary path and breed your best bugs for world domination!"

i think i can suggest this game if you like the idea of world domination and slaughter, want a bug army building game, or enjoy pixelated style games.

i commissioned some bees - available on steam; heard of - did you know there's 10 of these games plus an advent edition?? these games are essentially just where's waldo bee edition and multiply those by like 1000. i've had this game wishlisted for a while but it hasnt been a priority pft. here's an excerpt from the steam page!: "The brief was simple. I commissioned artists to create a fantasy world, and hide as many bees as they can inside it. Now it’s your job to find them all! With 10 art pieces to choose from, and 1000+ bees, you will have a lot of searching to do."

bee simulator - website; heard of - i own the game but havent played it yet. the most ive done is watch markiplier play it hfkjsd. here's an excerpt from the epic games page: "The hive awakens as the sun's first rays warm the horizon. It's time to test your wings, receive orders from the Queen and begin your first mission. And that's just the start of your adventures. Humans want to cut down the tree that holds your hive, so your fate – and that of the whole swarm – rests on your tiny shoulders!" i think this game is more of an educational game aimed towards families and children but who knows! maybe some of you will enjoy it too?

i think i can recommend this game if you like bees :) and doing minigames/tasks/challenges!

black widow: recharged - website; heard of - an arcade shooter where you play a spider! i own this game but havent played it yet. here's an excerpt from the site: "Aim for a high score in the old school arcade mode and earn bragging rights with your name at the top of the leaderboard. Or test your skills and rank on the boards in one of 30 intensely creative challenges, which twist the gameplay in new and exciting ways. Collect cash from downed enemies to charge a powerful web blast, or pick up one of a dozen new power-ups including explosive blasts, spread-shots, and fear, trapping all enemies in your web. Every mode and level is playable in local co-op mode with a friend."

centipede recharged - website; heard of - i've played centipede in an actual arcade but it was not this specific game so i dont know if the experience is around the same. (i own it but havent played it) centipede recharged is similar to black widow: recharged in terms of an arcade shooter as well as the description given

empires of the undergrowth - website; played - an army building game about ants! in the "main zone", you're an experimental ant species that seems to be able to take on traits of many other ant species. you play levels as real-life ant species and try to grow your colony and complete objectives that are given to you. the rewards you get from these levels are used to upgrade your lab species and after completing a set of levels, you'll be given a challenge using the lab species. i havent completed this game due to being stuck on one of the challenge levels fhksjd but i think its kind of fun

i suggest this game if you like army building games (similar to starcraft or warhammer) and the idea of making a huge ant colony and competing against other colonies

yoku's island express - available on steam; heard of - there's actually a lot more places where you can purchase yoku's island express (epic games, switch, gog, etc.) but their website is down so i decided to resort to linking the steam page. i currently own the game but have not played it! it's a game about you being a tiny postman exploring around islands, delivering packages, while also making new friends and saving the islands where you reside. it's a pinball platformer adventure game and it seems really cute and fun to play!

earthtongue - available on steam and itch.io; heard of - this game actually just got recommended to me after this was posted! earthtongue is a game where you watch over a world inhabited by fungi and bugs. here's an excerpt about the game!: "You will spend most of your time watching life grow and eat each other to survive. Your subtle nudges will be required to maintain the balance of this world, but it can handle itself much of the time. Player given goals are limited, aside from maximizing the health of your ecosystem. You may choose to try to create a fungal garden to your liking. You may try your best to breed as many beetles as you can. You might use those beetles instead as food stock for the mantises. You might instead just peacefully watch the story of Earthtongue unfold on its own."

stonefly - website; heard of - stonefly is an adventure game where you control a bug-shaped mech! here's an excerpt from the site: "Harness the wind and soar through the wilderness of Stonefly, a chill and tranquil action-adventure game about self-discovery, legacy, and belonging. Glide your mech strategically among beautiful flora and dangerous fauna, confronting hungry bugs, adventures, and memorable characters."

to be released/in development games

hollow knight: silksong - website - the game that the hk fandom says doesn't exist and is actually a collective fever dream (it is 100% a real game, we're all just very excited for it to come out! /srs) the game is going to be like hollow knight (a challenging metroidvania) but this time the player plays as a new protagonist, who was a character in the first game, hornet! this game will have a new world to explore, new mechanics to master, new faces to meet, and much more.

bugaboo pocket - website - a really cute pixelated game about raising bugs! an excerpt from the site: "Bugaboo Pocket is a digital pet game where you raise bugs from egg to adult. How you care for your pet influences their personality and impacts the ecology around them. Inspired by real bugs!"

another crab's treasure - website - a game where you play as a hermit crab! you use trash in your surroundings as your shell and each "shell" provides a different effect that affects how you play the game! an excerpt from the site: "Another Crab’s Treasure is a soulslike adventure set in a crumbling underwater world. As Kril the hermit crab, you’ll need to wear the trash around you as shells to withstand attacks from enemies many times your size. Embark on an epic treasure hunt to buy back your repossessed shell, and discover the dark secrets behind the polluted ocean." (i recommend checking out their tiktok, some of the posts there are extremely funny)

dewdrop dynasty - steam page - a pixelated style metroidvania where you play as a gunslinging bee who lost their wings and finds themselves trapped in an unknown place. you'll meet interesting characters, challenging enemies, and also learn new skills and mechanics as you play the game. goodgis, dewdrop dynasty's dev, also posts a bunch of videos on youtube regarding game development tips and devlogs. (that's how my partner knew about the game and introduced it to me) a fun and charming game that will have mysteries to discover!

i am a caterpillar - dev's twitter - a game where you play as a caterpillar!: unbothered. slimey. thriving. in your moss. squelched up. wriggling. an excerpt from one of the dev's tweets!: "Become the squidgy lil' caterpillar you've always wanted to be, on a quest to stop your own metamorphosis. Crawl & wriggle all over anything in your path and explore the canopy."

a webbing journey - website - a cute 3D game where you play as a spider! you'll explore the world, making webs and slinging around on them. you'll also meet some friendly faces to talk to and do quests for them! an excerpt from the site: " You control a little spider equipped with all the typical spider abilities and a little bit more as you travel through various stunning islands searching for the most exotic flowers for your spider date. Along your journey you meet other spiders and animals who provide additional side stories and quests which challenge your spider abilities."

invertipets - dev's site / toyhou.se - a petsite game being made by @shadybugdev where you take care of bugs and bug-like pets! there's not much on it publicly available yet other than some pet concepts (which can be viewed through the toyhouse link!) but it's something to look out for! (the picture provided is some of the pets and their possible morphs!)

honorable mentions

an isopod game(?) being made by riley neville (part of sbuggames/made webbed) - this "game" has not actually been announced to be a game that will be published but it looks neat!

a worm game(?) being made by riley neville - same thing as the previous one!

all the games in my bug game collection on itch.io! (if i added all the ones in here i would be making this post forever. but please please check them out!!)

woah its the end!

that should be all i know! most of these games, if not all, are made by indie devs so i highly suggest checking them out and supporting them if you can!

thanks so much for reading and i hope i've helped you find a new bug game to pick up and enjoy! (or to wait for!) <3

[tnc-n3cl]

More Rito Headcanons!

Something of an expansion of my "Rito Biology 101" post, but I'm not going to bother with the in-universe POV and talking about a couple different things here so...

Here's the original. Now that TotK is out, we got some new info so I'm going to go over things. (Namely a new Tribe for Penn and some thoughts on the aged up kiddos.) There my be some minor spoilers in the images, so I'm going to put them below the read more line.

Minor edit: 7/30/23, realized that one of the new NPC's mentioned something I forgot to talk about!

New Rito Guy! Penn is a reporter who you team up with for a few sidequests. Clearly he's some kind of pelican, so a quick search on Wikipedia and... Pelca Tribe (from Pelecanus the genus that contains all living pelicans)

So a couple things here. One: the triangles on his little sash reminds me of Kass' scarf. (What did you do to Kass Nintendo?!) Two: his outfit appears to be made of some kind of blue leather. I'm assuming that all Rito wear leather armor basically (except Saki and the little ones). Interestingly, I had drawn an axe that had talon grip handles in the axe head that are sometimes made out of leather sourced from blue monster hides. Doubt that's the case here since he's not a warrior but still...

His catchphrase... You can see they did the little hook on his beak! Is that yellow on his chest part of his clothes? Hm...

Including this because, A: this is quite possibly my favorite quote from him and B: you can see he has webbed feets! (Still say they should have given the Rito four toes but whatever...)

Look at his tiny pen and notebook! (The dangles on his hood are shaped like pens!)

Okay, that's enough Penn for now... In other news, new color morphs just dropped ya'll!

So the first guy looks like he might be a shade or two lighter than Huck, but the second guy is a new color altogether. We gots purple Orni Tribe Ritos now! Really don't have much to say about these two, but more variety is nice.

EDIT: Actually I do have something to say about Ornest. He mentions that all Rito have the ability to manipulate the wind, something I was theorizing to be the case. So, headcanon confirmed!

Moving on to the kiddos!

Kotts! Again her headband makes me think of her father's scarf and I miss him so much!

Here's BotW Kotts for comparison. As you can see, the white on her face is starting to fade, and she's lost her "bangs", and her head is starting to be more bird shaped. Rough estimation is that TotK is around 5 years after BotW and I'm assuming that she's 5 during BotW so that would make her 10 in TotK. (I'm going with Rito living around 80 years on average BTW).

She's almost as tall as Link! Also that dialog speaks to me on like, a molecular level. (She gets up at 10AM BTW) Also note her Saki-like clothing.

BotW Molli

TotK Molli

I, uh, don't think she grew at all...

She wants to make cool arrows so her dad will use them with his bows... (Why's there no emoji/emoticon button?! I need a big eyed sad face here!)

Speaking of her dad... Here enjoy this totally unrelated to anything I'm talking about shot of Harth actually standing! He gets to do stuff in this game guys! (Can you believe I almost forgot he existed when I went from BotW to Age of Calamity? How could I forget this unique bird?!)

Last but not least, Bird Son himself...

Tulin!!!! Look at this adorable little guy! LOOK AT HIM!!!!

I like to think he admires the hell out of Link and so he's mimicking Link's pose as much as he can. Speaking of which... Get that guy a cowboy outfit and a giant belt buckle!

Look at him some more!

So I don't know if that's eyeliner or just natural markings but he's doing his mom's thing and I can't even you guys!

I am SO normal about these birds...

*regains composure*

Okay, so what have we learned from this? Rito start off with blue sclera (the whites of the eye) when they're little. Around 10 or so the sclera becomes white and the irises are blue. Given that neither Kass nor Amali have blue eyes, I'm going to assume at some point their daughters will develop yellow eyes like them. Tulin... Let's just say his eyes stay blue.

Fluffy white baby feathers on the face slowly fade over the years until they their faces are solid colors (Orni Tribe at least). Tulin's little bun, is this like his mom's "hair" or more like his dad's floof? His he tying it back? You can make out something around the base of it in that second image of him so I think so... What if he ends up with a braid like the Ancient Wind Sage? (Why couldn't you just name them Nintendo? You could have just used the Divine Beasts' names and it would have been fine!)

None of the kids have proper tail feathers yet, so I hesitate to call them juveniles... Give them a few more years and they'll probably start growing them.

I like Penn, and pelican/waterfowl Rito fit in with ideas I was having for my fanfic so... Just gotta find a way to fit him in...

I made it so that different Rito settlements have different symbols. Normally these would be found on the cloth around their waist. However, Penn has this unique symbol on his chestpiece... Granted there's some similar symbols around the village but...

[bonefall]

Do you plan on using Morningflower's two deceased kits are in the missing kits? Or Eaglekit?

Yes, I am planning to use those three at some point. That's Eagleswoop, Quailheart, and Storkfeather.

I keep doing little 'side projects' to make it make sense in my head. I just made a rough timeline so I could see how I'd be filling out the shuffled space between the Campaign Era and the Thistle Period, here's a preview for you since those three are relevant to it;

Just so I'd sort of have a visual, to make sure there isn't a year where absolutely no kits were born. Though, as you can see, the births thinned out in the late Campaign Era which I think is good. It makes sense that less kids would be born when the Clan's in the middle of a bloody, exhausting war.

I'm finding that this project includes a lot of "sidequesting." It's such a small Clan with so few relations to begin with, so that means that I'm like... getting acquainted with the characters and how they fit together by doing exercises like this. Shuffling their places a few times and seeing what sticks.

More fragments I've got so far;

I'm REALLY feeling that Hillrunner and Downwind are twins. Identical twins; pure black cats.

I'm also feeling that they are the children of Crowfur.

Downwind is probably the parent of Nightcloud and Tawnyfur.

I feel that Darkfoot was the cousin of Hill and Down, and the parent of Web and Running

Drizzle and Rustle are probably technically cousins; but Webfoot is going to adopt their child after Running is killed, making them adoptive siblings.

Whiskernose, as you can see, is not born in Po3 anymore. He's actually an older guy, and has an expanded role as a Dark Forest cat.

Whintail is probably going to get buckled in as his brother, having kittens while Whisker doesn't have any,

Flytail is probably going to end up as the father of Stoneclaw and Thrushwing, but he dies on the night of the massacre with Thrush. There is a chance, though, that he becomes the father of Quailheart and Storkfeather instead.

Morningflower will probably not be having surviving kits, I kinda like the idea of her just never having another after Gorsepaw.

Speaking of Gorsepaw; Gorsetail TNP is now WHINTAIL because I want Gorsetail PO3 to have been named after him. Gorsetail's parent was probably one of Morningflower's apprentices.

Shrewclaw doesn't die in Tallstar's Collapse. I really don't like how he had like... a noble death in battle and a tearful goodbye with Tallstar when he was his bully. I'd rather keep him around as a problem, even compete with Talltail for deputyship.

I don't want to bloat the TNP apprentice generation too much, so that every cat is meaningful. Owl, Weasel, Drizzle, and Rustle were apprentice-age OR YOUNGER on the Great Journey

Cranberrysplash, Crowfeather/foot, and Gorsetail were young warriors, less than 2 years old and ineligible for apprentices.

The Po3 WindClan Apprentice Generation's size is small on purpose to keep the intimate feel for Po3, and allow enough time to explore them all

[ao3feed-jonmartin]

They came bringing Fear

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/p1YWgiH by ImNobody122 Martin Blackwood and Jonathan Sim end up somewhere else, the Discworld. More importantly they brought the Fears with them, and that's something the residents of the Disc will have to deal with in their own unique way. Words: 4107, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Fandoms: Discworld - Terry Pratchett, The Magnus Archives (Podcast) Rating: Not Rated Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: Gen, M/M Characters: Martin Blackwood, Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Mustrum Ridcully, Ponder Stibbons, Rincewind (Discworld), Havelock Vetinari, Esmerelda "Granny" Weatherwax, Samuel Vimes, Nobby Nobbs, Om (Discworld), Death (Discworld), Original Fear Entity Avatars (The Magnus Archives) Relationships: Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist Additional Tags: Basically the Discworld characters dealing with the fears, Vetinari vs the Web, Angry Samuel Vimes, Nobby and Colon are on a whole different sidequest, Minor Character Death, The Lonely Fear Entity (The Magnus Archives), The Hunt Fear Entity (The Magnus Archives), Can Granny Weatherwax borrow an Avater of Fear? Yes., Colliding Genres, Rincewind has new things to run from, Canon-Typical Violence read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/p1YWgiH

[thejaymo]

A metaverse slide I showed some students the other day LOL

[diwayaps]

sidequests! with diwa

sidequests! with diwa was the first attempt at executing the ideology i made this sideblog for.

born from an inspired 1-month stint at learning old school webmastery, i obsessed over html and css to code my first blog semi from scratch. it's hosted on github and i have no intentions of taking it down (at least anytime soon).

it was quite fun and the skills i picked up has, in the most part, positively affected how i go about my existence on the internet.

the contact page is my favourite page of the whole site. in fact, this blog links to it as my online guestbook.

the landing page for the "blog" section is pretty neat too! i intended to make special 88x31 buttons for the "read the latest" iframe to advertise new blog posts. i only ever made one – the button i intended for the whole site itself, made for the introductory blog post.

i thought about editing the about section when i made this sideblog but it was a cute time capsule of the time i made the site. i'm thinking of keeping it as such. i figure it might be fun to return to in a decade and see how much i've changed or how far i've come.

the obvious question then is why i made this blog when i had already poured so much effort into coding my own. the very simple answer is that it became too intimidating to maintain.

to be clear, it would not have been difficult to just keep using it. i had already prepared templates of pages for regular use. copying and pasting wasn't what daunted me.

i grew up on the internet after the dot com bubble popped. the social internet was the internet i came of age in. sidequests! with diwa was simply out of my regular commute.

i experimented with medium, blew the dust off my wordpress, almost settled on substack, but i was raised on this dashboard – between the discourse and the discord.

time and time again i return to tumblr. so tumblr it is "to house my hobbies, interests, and thoughts." to continue quoting the about page on sidequests! with diwa, "i'm hoping that i can use this to share my experiences, opinions, and creations to the worldwide web in a way that feels genuinely me (and uniquely mine)."

[felixcloud6288]

3, 8, and 30 for the video game asks?

3. Favorite boss?

Probably the Koshi & Roshi boss in Nier: Automata. It constantly alternates between an action beat-em-up and a shmup and during the final phase, you're switching between characters who have VERY different playstyles. It's a fight that demands you use all the skills you've developed during the game.

8. Most anticipated upcoming game?

Technically, it's already out in early access but I'm looking forward to Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist. I previously played Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knight and loved it. Plus Mili is coming back as the composer. I absolutely love their music.

30. Favorite aspect of a game

Probably the world-building. I really like how many Tales of games have an extensive backstory to them and half of all the sidequests and optional cutscenes are just the characters talking about things like history and culture. And in Xenoblade 1, the main reason I got into all the side quests was because I got to build this gigantic web of how all the NPCs in the game know each other.

[micalpixel]

May Flowers Game - May 2024 Progress Report

The first version of May's front-walking sprite. And 9 revisions.

So, it’s been a month since I decided to seriously start making a video game. To help keep myself accountable, here’s a progress report.

I’ve posted five things since then, all done towards that end.

Game Concept Art – Set the art direction and basic plot.

Walking Animations – Set the main character’s design. I’ve done some touch-ups since then, and will probably do more.

Kicking a Ball – Use Godot 4 and the images created above to make an actual tech demo “game” and export it to the web. This was a big leap for me. I’m ecstatic some people were able to play it and apparently enjoyed it too.

Eastward Animated Scene – Made a cutscene scripting engine and used it to create a small cutscene, in an art style similar to what I’m going for.

A Hat in Time Animated Scene – Modified the scripting engine above with better handling of concurrent actions. And physics.

Additionally:

I joined the community for the Godot game engine and have been participating in several discussions, learning things along the way.

I joined a local Indie GameDev group in my area and have been participating in meetings and chats.

Overall, I’m thrilled with how May has gone. I’ve struggled so much with procrastination and fear of failure in the past, but this month things have somehow finally clicked.

So, what next?

Well, I haven’t done much on the actual game’s design. I initially wanted this May Flowers game to be just SOMETHING. To get SOMETHING done. But unfortunately, May has grown on me and somehow graduated from “throwaway OC” into “character who deserves a good game.” Maybe spending hours animating a character will actually make you want to make things worthwhile. Who knew? I want this game to be fun. I want it to be, like, good. Maybe only 15 minutes of good. But still, good.

May’s game is meant to be a game about exploration and village life. But no combat. I don't want to add that level of complexity to my first game. Keep things simple. A walking simulator. And, uh, I don’t have too much experience with those kinds of games. :/ How do you make a 2D overhead game (that isn’t a farming simulator) without combat fun? Fun usually means Flow. Keeping a balance between too-difficult and too-boring. In a game with combat, that means carefully increasing the difficulty level and mechanics the user must learn to progress. But in a game without combat…what do you do? Puzzles? Probably puzzles. Do I just cram this game with puzzles, then? That can’t be right. This needs more thought.

Basically, this means it’s time to do research. I just replayed To The Moon, which is the closest game I could think of in this genre. I heard One Shot also fits the bill, and others, and so I’ll likely be playing that soon (been on my radar for months now).

So, that's it so far. The game's basic outline is still intact. But I want to think more about what the player will do to win, and how to make it fun. That will have a huge impact on the rest of the game - especially the map and sidequests. So, it's a high priority.

Major missing piece #2 is: music and sfx. No progress to report on those fronts.

Thank you for reading. Without people to play games, there would be little reason to make them. I hope you have a great rest of your day!

[silver-wield]

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Review Chapter 10

Okay, this collection of posts will be filled with spoilers, including clips and screenshots, so if you don't wanna see things, then don't look. Some of the things I'm gonna highlight will include references to Remake and other sources to link with the overarching plot. This is a straight path playthrough with no sidequests or extra content.

Time to howl at the moon 🤣

We meet Cid at the airstrip and for a fee he'll take us all over. Yuffie is her overly enthusiastic self and winds up airsick lol

Once we reach Cosmo Canyon there's a dramatic change in Red, who drops his tough guy act the second he spots a friendly face. Barret's reaction is worth everything here!

The story progresses the same as OG with our first meeting with Bugenhagen and Tifa's adorable surprise at hearing how old Nanaki is.

It's worth noting from this point on, the team switches between Red and Nanaki, although nobody says his name that much anyway. Red also switches between voices depending on the situation and how he feels. Like when facing down the Turks or corneo, he'll sound tougher, but with his friends he's more gentle.

After a tour of the planetarium, where you literally have to climb several floors and interact with items to progress, bugenhagen treats Tifa's eyewitness account like she's seeing things. He arrogantly says he'll educate them and leads them into the SIM.

The standard explanation about the planet follows, with how the lifestream works as a river and reservoir for life energy. This explanation is in harmony with part of Sephiroth's grandiose statements about how some branches of the lifestream ultimately wither or rejoin the main body.

Basically it's stating that there's no alt timelines, just pathways not taken that die off because there's no energy used to maintain them over a more logical path with stronger and more positive results for the planet.

It's all about the planet's survival, not the people on it.

Bugenhagen sends Tifa to a "seminar" where she can learn more about the planet because she wants to know if there's more than one way for lifestream energy to rejoin the planet. She wants to know if people's souls aren't truly lost.

She talks about her experience in the lifestream and wants to encourage people to do something for the planet. She doesn't know what they can do, but she feels frustrated about it.

There's another choice convo event later at the fire where Cloud can say he understands her pov and that she shouldn't worry so much about what others think.

The other characters get their relationship development with Cloud, and it finishes with Aerith standing before the fire going on about how hard and sad her life is as the last cetra. Honestly, this came off whiny to me, especially when you consider the worst thing that happened to her is her mom died and Zack went missing. Cloud, Tifa and Barret lost their homes and families. Red was experimented on for two years by Hojo. Yuffie saw Sonon murdered in front of her and grew up in a warzone and had to witness the destruction of her homeland and culture.

I'm sorry, but Aerith being poor me pity me because she didn't have friends just ain't it.

Some lanterns are let off at the end of the scene and then we head down to the challenge of the Gi so Red can be recognised as a Watcher of the Vale.

You're stuck with just Red and Barret for this part. It's fine. There's minimal struggle with these two and they combo well. Barret's dialogue gets a bit repetitive whenever Red goes wall climbing, but it could be worse.

Bugenhagen explains the history of the Gi and the Vale and Red's family as we head deeper into the caves. There's some creepy looking gates that replace the spider webs from OG, and we have to raid a tomb to get an icon for a pedestal, so it's pretty faithful to the OG section of the game. The wall climbing is fun and let's us take short cuts that means we're alone until Barret catches up 🤣

Bugenhagen tells us the cetra used to talk to the imprisoned Gi and then we have to kick some ass!

I'm not gonna spoil the scene with Red and his dad. Y'all need to watch it. It's perfection and Max Mittleman did as good a job with this as John Eric Bentley did with Barret's part in Corel. I love those character arcs best and that hasn't changed for Rebirth ❤️

Anyway, Bugenhagen hits regret after having a think and then the Gi reappear and beckon us into a dark cave. Sephiroth appears and Cloud is very eager to follow.

And we're going on a boat ride. Gi Nattak wants us to be quiet because the planet is listening and that means the cetra are too. He definitely has no love for them or Aerith when she does her stupid hand raise question time thing again. Is she in middle school?

We leave the A team on the boat and hit up the B team over in Zack's interlude. He's having a nice chat with Biggs about how they both dodged death and how weird it was. They talk about Cloud and have contrasting character profiles for him, and neither can tell time.

Biggs has set up a recruitment for Avalanche, but the only person who turns up is a mocking Kyrie. Discouraged, Biggs leaves and Zack heads home.

Zack goes to see Aerith, calls to her and holds her hand.

Back over in the real world, Aerith can feel his touch and is startled. Tifa looks worried, but nothing comes of it because we have arrived at our destination 🤣

The Gi village.

There's a lot of info dumping happening between battles here. The main points are:

The Gi aren't of the planet. They're aliens. We don't know how they got here, but it turns out they arrived before Jenova. That's explained in the temple of ancients, not now. It's possible their actions drew jenova to the planet.

The Gi can't die. Because they're not of this planet, she refuses to accept their energy. Like a blood transfusion that's the wrong type it would make the planet sick if she absorbed their energy.

The Gi really want to die. They're sick of existing. They're not alive, they're not dead, they're stuck.

The Gi created the black materia using the planet's energy and their own desire to die. We know it summons meteor, so basically they wanted to die so much they infused their will into a piece of materia, which is of the planet, and that results in the planet taking on the consequences of their wish to die. It's kinda like a murder/suicide.

The cetra stole the black materia to protect the planet, but didn't do anything to help the Gi. Red's father promised to help them too, but they turned him to stone. Red then takes on the task. They group agrees the Gi shouldn't have the materia, but they need help.

Cloud now has the urge to get the black materia. He thinks it's to get hold of it before the bad guys do, but we know better.

Once we finally leave the Gi village, which is a section I think was needed to expand the Gi and fill in some gaps in the lore, Cait Sith wants to access a Shinra terminal to look for the temple the Gi said hides the materia. Bugenhagen got creative with it and now they're up shit creek without a paddle.

Until a guard says a black robe is at the entrance. And this one has something different to say than the others. This one says "Nibelheim". It's almost like he took a detour to tell them to go there and find a terminal because Cosmo Canyon isn't somewhere they need to be.

But we've got our next destination and some gil in our pocket to pay the airfare!

This chapter was good. The lore and all the new content with the Gi and expanding on all the back story and everything made this one fun to sit through. The cut scenes get a bit long, but it's FF, they do cinematic 🤣

Red and Barret as a team is fun, but I wanted more banter. Zack's interlude is getting more interesting and I can't help but wonder at the inconsistent accounts and personalities of the npcs. The Kyrie we know didn't seem to be quite such a mean spirited bitch as this one is, and Marlene is also pretty bratty actually. Since when is she the type of kid to stick her tongue out and push people? In Remake she was a shy lil cutie. And Elmyra. Since when is she so defeatist? Where's the woman who went to the station every day to wait and pray her husband was safe? Everybody seems slightly off.

I guess we'll see what happens in part three with all that.

Our next stop is Nibelheim, and it was somewhere I was looking forward to a lot, and it didn't disappoint! The game really did pick up after we left Costa del Sol. It's like they started switching off from vacay mode and going back into "oh shit my life is fucked" mode 🤣