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selh0ve · 8 months ago

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Hello!

I finally decided to write my thoughts about the game down! So here is my own "little" review, which is in fact quite long, and segmented in three parts, beginning with a general review, then my personal opinions on the LIs, and finally some more specific likes and dislikes.

Thanks in advance for reading 😘️

General Opinion

First off, the interface is refreshing, and I appreciate all the efforts put into it, although I admit it can be quite heavy, and therefore buggy (even without anything else running, on a good laptop). For this reason I'd like being able to disable some features (the animation of the transition between pages, for example, gives me a lot of troubles).

I like that Candy can have a more defined personality, and I also like how we can better understand the intention behind the answers now. No more "what? but that was not what I meant by choosing this"! For the new AP and gems system… I am still wary of it for now, and will see later if it is really as manageable as it seems. I also like sending hearts to other players, so even if they don't end up useful I'm still happy to have them I personally like the idle mini-games, and am quite curious about how the other game will be. I also think the calendar is a nice touch. And lastly, the jokers seem nice and promising, though I would have preferred having a stock-limit instead of them being temporary.

Story-wise, I like that things are going rather quickly for the beginning, and I trust they'll know when to slow things down later. I saw a few reviews saying these two first episodes felt punitive, and let me tell you… Yes. Amanda disliking me right of the bat on my first play was unexpected. So was Roy. And Devon. But I think it is kind of the point of starting a new game, we don't know their personalities yet, so it's quite normal to screw up when not using guides. But yeah, it was frustrating and Devenmentiel broke my heart.

The Love Interests

Jason is my favorite so far. Why you may ask? … I find him funny. The man is just having fun being an annoying bitch, and I absolutely love that for him! He also was one I had a quite good Lo'M with at my first play without even trying (rip Roy and Devon who did not appreciate), and it felt quite nice since things did not go so well with most of the other characters. And of course being the antagonist has its own ring, and in my taste the white streaks of hair too.

Amanda comes in the second place with Thomas. Even though my first play did not go well with her, I managed better on my second, and I quite like the relaxed Amanda.

For Thomas, he is the one I had the easiest time with on my first play, everything went smoothly and I found him pretty nice and relatable, though I do not plan on following his route.

Devon is the one I am the most neutral about I think, I don't particularly like or dislike him yet, though his route does intrigue me in a "Ah shit, here we go again" kind of way.

… Now, listen. I do not dislike Roy. He honestly seems like a great dolphin-loving guy who likes to be half-naked a lot and decided to dislike me when I was trying hard for him not to! He is just not my type. This is nothing personal, I swear! Joke aside, Roy is the one I like the least for now. And honestly, it is a shame, because I totally see why other people appreciate him. But the warningless half-nakedness happening twice summed to his for now unexplained short-patience with Jason really did not woo me, quite the opposite in fact.

Other things I like:

I find Candy's customization quite good! Whether it is for the illustrations, where you can choose between different skin colors, or for our profiles. Candy can also have disability aids (though no mobility aids yet) and a panel of skin features for really cheap, and you can not know how happy it makes me! There also are so much outfits from the beginning, and though many of them have to be paid with real money, Beemoov needs to be profitable, so I think it's rather fair (and hopefully, we'll be able to get those outfits through mini-games).

The music and the animation. I said it before and I'll say it again, I absolutely adored the theme switch when Jason appeared, and I also liked the creativity in the animation very much too. I can not wait for other such things to happen again.

Things I find too bad:

So far there has only been one character that is not thin (two if you count Danica who will show up later), and I regret that all of the men Love Interests are so fit. I can not tell you how down bad I would have been for a fat Devon or Roy (I get that Roy is the athletic type here, but you can be incredibly strong and not be skinny).

Amanda being rich was really emphasized, too much for my taste, on my first play it made me feel like being rich was her main personality trait, which made me uncomfortable. I would have preferred a more subtle way to express it (show don't tell amiright?).

I would have loved to see more not-conventionally-thought-as-attractive features in the LIs, like visible disabilities for example, or different noses, or scars, the kind of things that make the characters feel more real.

What I hope for later:

For the characters of color to be written like ones, with at least their cultures included in some aspects of the game. I understand Beemoov's wish to keep the game lighthearted, so I'd personally understand if they choose not to show racism in the game, but I would also hate that to be an excuse for ignoring the characters' cultures when addressing them would actually be relevant. Here is a better post about the matter.

More non-skinny characters.

Hopefully some in-game disability representation.

#my candy love new gen #mcl new gen #mcl ng #beemoov #critic #my post

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arlana-likes-to-write · 2 years ago

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Lightning Bug - Chapter 7

Previous Chapter // Master List

Warning: religious trauma, mention of an exorcism, reader needs a hug

Word Count: 2.5

Kate groaned as America climbed over the couch and kicked her. “Sorry,” she said, getting comfortable under the throw blanket.

“You could sit on the couch like a normal person,” America smiled at the archer.

“I’m not a normal person.” The teen said. Kate rolled her eyes.

“Don’t I know it.” Yelena sat down next to Kate with a bowl of caramel popcorn. The Black said it was the perfect movie snack, a little sweet and salty. It was movie night and all the Young Avengers as Tony called them gathered (the ones that were in the tower) on Peter’s floor. The Young Avengers plus Ned and Mj but they were at the tower so much no one batted an eye when they were walking the hall.

“What are we feeling like?” Ned asked, flipping through the various streaming services.

“Action,” MJ suggested, unwrapping a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup and threw it in that air, catching it in her mouth. The Black Widow groaned.

“We see enough action as is.” It was true. Besides whenever they did watch an action movie, the Avengers found themself critiquing the fight scenes instead of watching it for the plot.

“Musical?” Peter suggested. America shook her head.

“We just watched Hairspray.” Kate sighed, throwing her head back.

“Horror,” her friends looked at one another and no one objected. “Put on The Conjuring.” Ned nodded, queuing up the movie.

“Wait!” America yelled. The sudden sound caused Ned to jump and drop the remote. It landed on the ground with a crash. The back opened and the batteries scattered to the ground. “Opps. Sorry Ned.”

“It’s no biggie. Just gave me a small heart attack.” He and Peter began to look for the batteries.

“Why the sudden outburst, Lil Liberty,” America rolled her eyes at the nickname.

“Should we invite Y/n?” She asked. The mention of the newest addition to the tower made everyone freeze.

“Mr. Stark said she had a rough day.” Peter said. She had a bad day because of Stark, Kate thought. But she did seem in a better mood at dinner. “Do you think she’d want to join us?” The archer shrugged.

“Can’t hurt to ask,” Kate stood up. “I’ll go ask.” She shoved some popcorn in her mouth before heading off to her floor. The worst that could happen was she said no. She felt horrible for the teen today. When Natasha came back telling everyone she ran away, Kate felt her stomach drop. It was like she was on a rollercoaster, going up and down and up and down. Even FRIDAY didn’t even know where she went so they were required to find her the old fashion way, search known places she would likely visit. In the end, Kate was glad she was home.

You were placing the few books you owned on the bookshelf you and Tony built. To anyone that walked into your room, it looked like a normal bookshelf. But the bookshelf had FRIDAY’s interface built into it which was connected to an app on your phone. It could keep track of what books you had to prevent double buying and it kept the progress of each book you were reading. “Kate Bishop is at your door,” The AI said.

“Thank you, FRIDAY.” You said, putting on your gloves and walking to the door. “Hi,” you greeted as you opened the door.

“Hey, how are you?” She asked.

“Pretty good actually.” You answered honestly. Kate smiled.

“Good, a bunch of us are watching a movie and we are wondering if you want to join us?” Your eyes went wide.

“You want me to join you guys,” she nodded. “Why?” The question seemed to startle the brunette in front of you.

“Because you are our friend and friends invite friends to hang out.” Oh. That made sense. “So, do you want to hang out?” You nodded with a smile.

“Yeah, I’d love to.” You stepped out of your room and closed the door behind you. “Who's going to be there?” You asked, following Kate to the elevator.

“It’s on Peter’s floor,” you haven’t seen the excited teen since that night you ran into him. “So it’s him, his girlfriend, MJ, and his friend, Ned.” You nodded, if they were anything like Peter it was going to be a long night. “Then me, Yelena, and America.”

“Cool.” You said, rubbing your hands on your shorts. You were a little nervous, a little excited. It was a weird feeling running through you. The metal doors opened and Kate stepped onto Peter’s floor.

“MJ, Ned met Y/n, Y/n met the other people that aren’t Avengers but are here all the time.” You gave them a small wave. MJ rolled her eyes at Kate’s jab.

“Your life would be colorless without me in it.” You smiled, sitting down in the empty space between Kate and America.

“Hi again Peter.” He seemed surprise that you remembered him. He waved.

“Do you want some popcorn?” Yelena asked, passing a bowl to you. You looked into the bowl.

“What is that?” You’ve had popcorn before. At special events at Lucia’s store, she had a popcorn machine. This wasn’t popcorn.

“It’s caramel popcorn,” the Russian said. “Instead of butter, they use caramel.” Oh. You’ve had caramel, sometimes Annie would drizzle it on your hot chocolate. You picked up a piece and ate it. It was delicious.

“That’s really good.” You said, taking a few more pieces.

“Have you had a Reese’s?” MJ asked you. You shook your head. She tossed you an unopened candy. Chocolate and peanut butter. “You aren’t allergic, are you?”

“No..” You said slowly.

“That did not sound convincing,” Ned laughed. You smiled, opening the candy. You weren’t allergic to peanut butter. A peanut butter sandwich was a staple in your childhood, it was a food you lived on.

“This is my favorite,” MJ tossed you another one.

“Try this.” Peter handed you a red candy. Licorice, it read.

“If you like this I’ll be amazed.” America said. You opened the candy and smelt it. It was sweet. You took a tentative bite and your face scrunched up at your distaste of it. The group laughed.

“That’s not good,” You swallowed the piece in your mouth and Yelena handed you a bottle of water.

“Enough with the sweets or she’s going to be sick.” Yelena said. “Let’s start the movie.”

“We are watching a horror film,” America whispered to you. “Is that okay?” You nodded as Ned pressed play. Horror wasn’t a genre you gravitated towards but you’ve read your fair share of horror novels. Stephen King. Shirley Jackson. Your favorite was The Shining.

The movie began to play. The ominous music filled the quiet floor. The couples around you began to cuddle up with each other. You didn’t miss the way Ned gagged. You could count the number of movies you’ve seen on one hand. Movies were available at Lucia’s bookstore and the shelters you visited but movies weren’t your thing. “See always trust a dog.” Yelena mumbled. You chuckled. It was different from watching a story play out on screen then in your head. You didn’t dislike it, it was just different. The movie was scary as it followed a married couple trying to help a big family with a paranormal problem. You enjoyed. You made a mental night to check the horror books the tower had. The genre was interesting.

But it took a turn. Ed had to perform an exorcism on the mother to rid the demon that possessed her. You kept your eyes glued to the screen as the familiar Latin phrases were chanted in the room. You dug your fingers into your palm to keep you grounded, to stay in the room. It was so hard to keep your mind on the movie and not when your parents dragged you to the church. They forced you on your knees as the Latin phrases were screamed at you. Excorizamute, omnis immundus … omins legio diabolic … Humilione sub potent…

“That was an actual scary horror movie.” Ned said once the credits started rolling.

“That clapping bit was freaky!” Peter said. You agreed that part made you jump.

“There are a few more movies we can watch the second one.” Kate said. “Did you like it?” She asked you. You nodded.

“It was good. A little inaccurate.” You added.

“Isn’t it based on a true story?” MJ questioned. You shrugged, playing with a string from the blanket America was using.

“What was not accurate about it?” America asked. You didn’t answer right away. You should have just kept your mouth shut.

“Exorcisms,” you said. “They usually happen at a holy place like a church not a house.” You sighed. “They are a last resort. Most people start with medication if no improvement is made then a priest is brought in.” You explained. The group was silent.

“How do you know that?” Yelena asked slowly like she was afraid to know the answer.

“My parents were really religious,” you kept the truth locked deep inside you. “Let’s start the second movie.” You said desperately trying to get the attention off of you. Ned looked around the group, no one said anything. He took the silence as confirmation to start the second film. You sat back with your arms crossed. You caught America sending you a smile. You forced a smile back.

“That was weird, right?” Kate asked as she pulled back the covers of the bed. Yelena stepped out of the bathroom, brushing her hair. Kate tapped the spot in front of her and the Black Widow sat down in front of her girlfriend, her back to Kate’s front. The archer took the brush and began to brush the blonde hair. It was a red flag when the young girl began to talk about exorcisms like she’s had first hand experience on the matter. Yelena sighed, enjoying the feeling of Kate’s hands braiding her hair.

“It was worrying,” Yelena finally said. “I’ll talk to Natasha about it tomorrow,” Yelena heard Kate sigh. “What is it, dorogoy?” The Russian asked, turning to face her.

“I just worry about her. It seems everyday we learn something more heartbreaking.” Kate gently pushed on Yelena’s shoulder for her to look forward.

“We’ll keep her safe,” Yelena said. “She’s not alone anymore.” The Russian felt Kate’s lips press a soft kiss on her shoulder. Yelena knew they couldn’t keep her safe from her mind.

Yelena woke up early. She untangled herself from Kate and left her room. She found her sister on the couch, typing at her laptop. “Are you not going for a run?” Yelena asked, as she sat down next to her. Natasha shook her head.

“I have to get this done for Maria.” She answered, not taking her eyes away from the screen.

“So do you have time to talk?” Natasha immediately closed her laptop and gave Yelena her full attention. The blonde was grateful for this time with her sister. For years the two Russian sisters were separated but now they were back together. She knew her life could be incredibly different.

“What’s going on?” Yelena looked toward Y/n’s door.

“What do you know about her parents?” She asked. Natasha looked at her sister, trying to decode the real reason she asked.

“Not much,” The redhead answered. “We found an article that may have been about her family.” Yelena raised her eyebrows.

“May have?” She questioned.

“FRIDAY found no record of her existing, not even a birth certificate. The article said a fire killed them and it appears that she may have been in the house but survived.” Natasha explained. “Her father was a priest, a popular one. What is this about?”

“It was movie night and we watched The Conjuring. At the end of the movie there was an exorcism. She said she enjoyed the movie but said the exorcism part was not accurate,” she watched the realization wash over her sister. It was haunting. Her voice was so clear and so unlike any other time she’s spoken. “Siestra, the way she talked about it made it seem like she’s been so close to one.” Natasha didn’t say anything as she let what Yelena said sit with her.

“I’ll talk to her,” the older Black Widow stood up. “Her parents are dead, they can’t hurt her anymore.” Yelena wasn’t so sure about that. The blonde grabbed her sister’s arm, stopping her.

“We all know that death doesn’t erase the pain.” Yelena was referring to the man behind the Red Room. He was dead. The Red Room fell from the sky. It was over, done, and young girls were safe. But the memories were still there. Natasha grabbed her hand.

“You are right. But death is finite and the pain can begin to heal.”

You were startled to see Natasha when you opened your door. “Hi.” You said. She gave you a smile.

“Where are you off to this morning?” She asked.

“Oh I was going to go see Annie. I barely said two words to her yesterday.” You told the Black Widow. “Is that okay?” You added. You were going to tell someone just so they knew you didn’t run away.

“Of course it is. Can we talk? It won’t take long.” You nodded, stepping out of the way so she could enter your room. You kept the door open and sat at the edge of the bed. “Are you okay?” Natasha asked, sitting down next to you. You looked at the red head.

“I’m fine.” You said. She didn’t say anything waiting for you to continue. You were fine. It was the truth. Besides.. “Is this about last night?” You asked. You shouldn’t have said anything but your mind was scattered therefore you didn’t have time to process the consequences of what you were saying. You just spoke.

“Yelena said you said something that worried her.” You sighed. “You can talk about your parents if you need to.”

“They died in a fire,” you told her. “What more needs to be said?” You asked.

“Just because someone that hurt you is dead doesn't erase the pain they caused.” Your heart began to pound. The organ was beating against your ribs. Thud. Thud. Thud.

“I don’t think I’m ready to tell you about them,” you answered honestly. To tell them about your parents and your brother would mean you would need to tell them what you are, what you are capable of. You looked at Natasha and you weren’t surprised to see a smile.

“When are you ready we’ll be here to listen,” she stood up. “Tell Annie we all say hi.”

“I will.�� She left your room. You fell on your back staring up at the ceiling. You let the beating of your heart settle down. You didn’t know how to talk about your parents. Wasn’t the point of a mom and dad to love their child? To keep them safe. To protect them. They didn’t do that for you. You wished they did, your life would be so different if they just loved you.

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yoiku · 2 months ago

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Did some changes to my pinned post with all the links. also a general update. Oh wow this turned out WAY longer than I thought i'll just put it under read more lmao.

Removed twitter/x entirely from the pinned post, It's really just one man's joke of a site, and i'd rather not have anything going on there. Really thinking about just deleting my acc there alltogether, but i'm still giving it a bit of time so more people can find me on bluesky. each time I retweet about being on bsky instead on twitter a few people see it and start following me on bsky, so there's still stragglers out there. But i'm no longer posting on twitter, i'm not even going to use it to announce stuff on other sites etc.

Another rather big change (at least for me) is the swap to Piczel from Picarto for streaming. I've been on Picarto since 2016, and the site continues to prioritise pointless things instead of the stability or quality of the service. while their subscription price has pretty much doubled from when i started. the facelift for the site was a good sign some years ago but the functionality stayed the same. and while I understand it to a degree from the business wiew, it does feel shitty that the admins and mods on the site favor the big name streamers. I think it would also be nice to show some love for the small fry who are often more actively streaming then the big ones. It's just so difficult to move from a place that's been your home for so long, I wish I'd done the move sooner. It's wonderful that more or less our entire little group is moving over so the most important thing, the people, will still be there. I have to also give praise to Piczel right off the bat. I've exchanged emails with the owner before, and they're genuinely a nice person. Offering a month of free premium to anyone who wants to try the site, and being fairly transparent about what's going on and what are the plans for the site. Not to mention that they were in the chat day one when we were testing the site, helping everyone with the setups and answering questions. I paid for my premium right away since I felt like returning the generous gesture of a free month, but they still gave me a code for a free month, lol. That's another nice feature, that the premium service is given as 30 day codes. while it's a recurring payment, it also lets you choose if the codes are automatically added, or if you want to manually activate them. I find it nice, because you can have a break if you feel like it, but you're not "losing" paid time for a premium. and you can choose to gift the code to someone as well. It's more consumer friendly. (and a bit cheaper than picarto's) While the new interface is going to take its time to get used to, the more I learn about it the more I prefer it. There are so many things that make it easier for streamers. I really appreciate it. Multistreaming on Piczel is crazy. it allows up to 16 streams which sounds like way too much, but the settings make it work better than it sounds. i've noticed that whenever there's more than 4 streams online in the same multi, the site defaults to setting the video players to a mode than only refreshes the picture every 10 seconds, which is much lighter for less than ideal connections/lower bandwidth. and it's really smooth to change between different streams and you can enlarge one without having to set it on fullscreen, if you'd rather just focus on one of the many streams. you can have some playing, some on the 10 second refresh mode or paused. At least for me it has been working very smoothly. Piczel is also mostly favored by nsfw artists from what i've gleamed, but the sfw/nsfw settings on there actually work unlike picarto of late, where putting a filter on did -nothing- and telling the staff about it nobody replied and the issue persisted.

And maybe my favorite little thing, I have a button on my stream to "share on tumblr" which makes it so much easier to remember to announce streams. Hmm, anything else to talk about? I think I'm slowly coming out of the worst of the depression, or at least I finally feel SOME movement in my mind. I'm not gonna lie the blorbo asks have been like a serotonin injection. feel free to send some any time! I will ruminate on questions that make me think more, but all will be answered.

I am still struggling with getting back on with the comic which annoys me to no end, but I'm sure it'll come as i start to draw more again. I am really trying to get commissions back up and going before the end of the year. I am planning on dropping my workshop days to 2 instead of 3 for at least 3 months, and i'm gonna take a 2 week break next month or december. so additional funds will be needed ;u; I'm incredibly dissapointed in the healthcare services atm, so much so that i've kinda given up for a while. I'm just gonna let those things move on their own if they will, since me trying to make things move hasn't done anything the entire year. It's all been wasted energy and pointless stress.

#shut up yoi

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etherealvoidechoes · 4 months ago

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Dinner Offer: Coasting Gigs - Pt. 1 of ???

Goro eventually takes Varsha up on her dinner offer sometime after the warehouse infiltration. After having the twins help decipher and clear up his misinterpretation of her texts from that night.

Well, I've been sitting on this for a bit and finally feel like I can post it. Maybe a 3 to 4 parter, not sure yet with how chapter 3 is slowly coming together. Hopefully, the characterization isn't too far off. Need to give the game another go for the other lifepaths.

Ao3 || Fic Wiki Hub

1(You are here)||2||3||

Appox. 4.6k

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Goro’s brows furrowed, knitting tightly together as he scrolled through his phone, searching for the “note” app to double-check some information for future endeavors. “››Infernal device…‹‹” He cursed under his breath for the fifth time as his quick fingers accidentally activated another app he did not want. How he missed the phone and the familiar interfaces he once used. With a mere thought, he would have what he wanted instead of aimlessly searching like a toddler.

“Hm?” He felt and heard that familiar ping of an established hidden connection in his modified Internal Agent before seeing an equally familiar icon take over the screen before a button press would transfer it to his internal hud. A portrait of Vargus’ face — the right side obscured by stylistic smoke billowing from an elegant cigarette holder held by two fingers. Goro’s cyber eyes lit up orange as he looked up and out from his windmill perch. “More targets incoming, I assume?”

It had been a few days since Goro and his unlikely former Corpo compatriots had infiltrated the warehouse where the Arasaka parade floats were being stored and infected the target float with the malware.

Today, he was assisting the twins in a gig they got from Fixer Dakota. More or so, the twins roped him into joining them when they overheard him mumbling about needing more cash so he could procure some more gear before the parade happened after a quick meet-up.

At first, he declined, partially him still being cautious with his fugitive status and then he didn’t want to get roped into the possible shenanigans they would be getting into in the Badlands. But the cut they offered — half paper, half digital — made his judgment wain just enough. And it wasn’t the first time they had managed to do so.

“Heh, yes’em!” Vargus softly laughed. “Eyes up, Goro. More Wraiths coming in hot. More to dust.”

Goro set his phone down on the grating before lifting the Techtronika SPT32 Grad sniper rifle, one the twins let him borrow, from his lap. Military training kicked. Good habits to always have. Magazine check first. Still a fresh one he had swapped to once the first round of their business was done. Black-tipped armor-piercing rounds greeted his eyes. Then the chamber. Loaded, locked, and ready to fire. Repositioning himself, raising his left knee higher than the other before placing his left arm on top of it and nestling the rifle in the crook of his elbow. Lowering his head and raising the scope to his face, he scanned that parched landscape around the Wraith camp they had wiped out 15 minutes earlier.

Towards the southeast, he spotted a massive dust cloud rapidly charging their way.

“Hm.” How many this time? His finger gently turned the dial, feeling each subtle click until it reached the infrared vision. “A convoy of ten vehicles from the southeast. Rapidly closing in on our location.” He relayed to Vargus.

“Got four more coming from the west.” Vargus said. “Oh ho! They ain’t happy about losing this catch. Time to zero these fools.”

Shots rang out. An explosion followed by the sound of metal grinding and twisting in the distance.

“Mhm.” He nodded. He steadied his aim on the lead car. Lining up those crosshairs to the driver’s head. “How much time does Višnja still have?”

Another familiar ping rang in Goro’s head. This time, he saw the ID appear in the corner of his vision. A sleepy cartoon bat with massive ears and connection cables crisscrossing over it like a spider’s web. That portrait was quickly replaced with Višnja’s and that concentrated hacker face — scrunched brows and bitten lip — he had come to learn.

“Secured the important data slates and caches, but still digging through this ICE of these kleptoid deckheads.” A second caller window opened, showing the inside of the garage she was currently in. It was a pig’s sty. Various boxes and containers were strung about, as well as half-eaten, near rotting food. Fresh and dried-up blood stains were splattered across almost every surface. The people of interest were in a nearby bath — with barely a hint of ice floating — with a mass of cables weaving back and forth between them and the nearby servers.

Višnja’s fingers rapidly tapped away at a console as her eyes glanced back and forth between the two net runners and the monitor. A low rumble of a growl entered her voice. “Gonks really had to make their rescue harder with some of these daemons they have set up.”

“Hm.” Goro pulled the trigger twice in quick succession. Two shots rang out. One for the driver, another for the engine block. Seconds later, that silhouette of the driver slumped over the steering wheel. The car took a hard left, careening into another vehicle before the two crashed into a boulder. “Is the option of ‘delta-ing’, to leave these two overzealous fools to their fate still available?”

“Yeah.” Višnja answered. “But…”

“But?”

“We get more eddies if we bring ‘em back alive.” And extra money was always nice. A second later, she cursed. “Oh, for fuck’s sake! What do you mean there’s another layer!?”

“Told ya, ya should’ve asked Varsh to lend over Chroma, batsy.” Her brother butted in. “That spunky AI would be done lickity split compared to you, slowpoke.”

“Can it, Varg or I’ll shut your brain off for a week!”

“Nuh uh, feedback will knock you out, too.”

Their squabbling continued into more name-calling. Like most siblings would do.

A soft chuckle left Goro’s lips. Though he could find the young ones’ conversations grating at times, he did enjoy the sibling squabbles they would get into from time to time. Something refreshing for the pressing times. It reminded him of childhood friends. And to think he was slowly considering the two to be entering that territory.

“Think you two kids can save your sibling ‘love’ for ‘nother time?” Johnny’s voice joined the call. “Gonna get flatlined with all the distractions.”

The twins; squabbling stopped like a bullet drop. “Shut it, Johnny.” They spoke in unison.

A snort slipped from Goro’s lips. How that construct could make everyone laser focus to shut him up. It was strange hearing the voice of that dead man when they linked their Agents like this.

It was strangely alluring, as a few times he couldn’t help but pick at the “samurai’s” brain when they all would meet to discuss future plants. More often, Goro would make disparaging comments due to the terrorist’s vexing, often vulgar comments. Loose lips and barely a filter Silverhand had. But it was also a constant reminder of that every pressing time limit. Varsha’s mind would be overwritten by the construct’s or outright killed from the information they receiving from Hellman. Then the potential brain-damaging feedback the twins were receiving the longer they had their neural oscillation synchronizer linked to Varsha’s systems.

Each Relic malfunction was bringing all of them closer to the grave.

Goro fired several more shots, causing four more cars to crash, but the others, looked like they had reinforced windshields and hoods. “Hm.” He grumbled, tugging on his collar. He would have to deal with them once they arrived. His free hand went down and unbuttoned the first three buttons of his sweat-soaked shirt.

“››Blasted heat.‹‹” Muttering, he wiped the sweat from his forehead. “Update on our situation. Four vehicles are closing in on your position, Višnja. Mere seconds away. The other vehicles are disabled, but some of their occupants still live. Those that can walk and wield weapons are making their way here on foot.”

“I’ll engage them.” Vargus said. “Deal with the others and want to see what my new spine can do. Doc Roth let’s see how good your daughter’s work is.”

“Hey, didn’ V tell you to be careful with that new Sandy of yours with the whole ‘potentially catastrophic’ feedback from you and ya sis’ synchro horn things?” Johnny interjected. Though he usually sounded dismissive, this time he sounded genuinely concerned.

“Doc Roth, Mithra, Višnja, and I fixed up some limiters and warnings. We good.” Vargus said, confidently. “Goro, you can provide me support, but focus on those stragglers.”

“Affirmative.” Goro responded. Pulling away from his rifle for a moment, his eyes darted over to the windmill Vargus had made his perch.

Eyes zooming in, he saw him holstering his rifle on his back before pulling out a knife and revolver. The next second, he jumped over the railing and landed on the ground below with a hard thud. The fabric of his pants flared out, most likely in response to the sections of his cyber legs flaring out in response to the impact. Raising himself up, he broke out into a blur of a sprint towards their enemies.

Goro shook his head. “Insane.” A bold move to only use those weapons against dangerous odds.

Goro shifted his focus back to the vehicles he had disabled earlier and made quick work of the ones pulling themselves out of the wreckage and the others moving on foot towards the camp.

“Hot damn! They don’t know what hit ‘em!” Johnny exclaimed.

With them taken care of, Goro shifted his focus over to where Vargus was once he heard Silverhand’s excitement. The construct was right. He barely had to provide support for the cocky edgerunner. Even with partially reactivated(jailbroken) cyberware, his mind could barely process the speeds Vargus was moving at. Strategically activating his Sandevistan in short bursts, Vargus was a blur dancing across the battleground. One second he was plunging his blade handle deep into the neck of a startled Wraith.

Next, like a flickering flame, he appeared behind each individual in another group, placing the barrel of his revolver to their heads mouthing “bang” as he pulled the trigger. Nothing happened, as he quickly moved on to sink his blade into the gut of one with a machete that tried to sneak up on him.

BANG BANG BANG BANG

Goro heard the delayed shots. Blood, brain, and bones flew. The bodies dropped. Vargus was wearing a cheshire grin that grew wider as he repeated the cycle of violence against the rest.

The engagement barely lasted for a few more minutes before the desert grew quiet once more.

“Whoo! Mithra’s got miracle hands. That is ex-hil-arating.” Vargus was pulling his knife free from the last Wraith, having to give it a firm pull with how deep he buried it in their skull. Blade free, he wiped the blood and brain matter against the dead’s shirt before gently sliding the blade against his black fingernails. A few ribbons of the polish rolled up against the wicked sharp edge. “Hun’dred miles better than my old chrome spine.”

“Don’ let it get to your head, kid.” Johnny said.

Feeling an unexpected “heavyweight” dig into his back shoulder blade, Vargus lurched forward. Gritting his teeth, his head snapped around, eyes nearly closed tight in a glare. No one was there. To the visible eye, that was. “Oh? Gonna be a killjoy now? Thought you liked being gung ho? A little reckless?”

“The construct is right.” Goro said, agreeing with Silverhand. That made Johnny laugh with surprise. “One should not lose oneself to the dangers of bloodlust in the heat of battle. Keep your senses sharp.”

“The ronin and terrorist agreeing? Hell’s getting colder…” Vargus grumbled.

There was probably a smirk on Johnny’s face, even more so with Goro agreeing with him. “Kinda am in a kill joy mood ’n’ making sure you ain’t going cyberpsycho.”

“I ain’t hexed. Ain’t that chromed.” He rolled his eyes. He took a step forward, letting Johnny “fall” before rolling his shoulder. “No plans to be, ever.”

Johnny made a halfhearted “aaaaaah” and “oof”.

Goro continued to scan the landscape.

The desert was still clear. No reinforcements in sight.

An excited exclamation from Višnja. “Finally!” She was beaming from ear to ear. “Cracked the ICE. Both are free. Applying the coolant since their temps are high. Get the truck, bro!”

“On it.” Vargus replied. He was off.

Hearing that, Goro began to gather all his gear before leaving his windmill perch. “Coming to assist.”

Once Vargus brought the truck around, they tossed the unconscious netrunners in the back, along with the other items they had come for. Before leaving, they made their way around camp to gather whatever weapons and gear were salvageable from the Wraiths. Just another way to secure some quick eddies unless there was something they wanted to keep for themselves.

The trip to the rendezvous was uneventful. Goro stayed in the truck (though he didn’t need to) as Višnja and Vargus did the handoff. The netrunners and items were handed over. In return, they got their eddies and some extra goodies for a job well done.

“Aaaaand your cut, choom.” Višnja sang as she entered the passenger seat. Reaching towards the back, she placed three stacks of 10,000 €$ on the middle seat. Then, her eyes glowed blue as well as the lines in her neural oscillation synchronizer implant — the horn — on the right side of her head.

Goro glanced at his phone first. A smile crossed his face as he saw those numbers in his account rise. He then picked up the stacks. Old and new bills glided against his fingers. After a few flicks, the amount matched the band. And it was more than enough for what he needed to buy.

“Thank you two, again for allowing me to join your… gig.” His mind still had some trouble comprehending some of the slang of the city.

“No, probs. We have a few more lined up and ain’t hurtn’ for the cash.” She said.

“Actually, have another gig we’re about to hit next if you’d like the join?” Vargus offered. “Deals with an annoying Maelstrom branch. They got their hands on something they shouldn’t have and the owner wants it back and doesn’t really care if half the block hears us. Says it’ll get a point across or sum’n’.”

Višnja tilted her head back and forth as she giggled. She leaned forward towards Goro, placing the side of her hand to her mouth. “That’s code for zero ‘em fools to send a message.”

“Hm.” Another gig? Goro wasn’t so sure about that. He had his money now and had some final planning he needed to do before the big day. Besides, he felt like he had been out long enough, though nobody had seen him. And the possibility of this next contract could be quite loud and bloody.

“We’ll give you a fair cut agaaaaaiiin.” Višnja playfully sang. Her wide smile soon turned into a sour sneer as her eyes focused on the empty seat next to Goro. “Oh shut it, Johnny! He deserves the cash and a bit of a break from being on the run.”

Goro stifled a chuckle. He wondered what Silverhand had said this time.

He tapped his fingers together. Another fair cut? More eddies were always nice. Maybe he could use the extra money to buy some new clothes?

“Where too?”

———————————

The trio’s next gig went on into the long night. But was another successful venture, even if they ended up more banged up due to close-quarters combat.

“››Will need to buy some new clothes. Or mend these.‹‹” Goro muttered to himself as he used his sleeve to wipe the blood dripping from his nose.

His shirt was littered with tears and holes as well as blood, synthetic blood, and other questionable viscera painted it. Feeling stray hairs tickling the sides of his face, he took a moment to fix his equally disheveled hair. A hiss slipped from his lips. Something felt off with the joints of his fingers and knuckles as they ran through his hair. There was one metalhead that snuck up on him and Višnja that he had to punch dead in their borged-up face.

Hair slightly neater, he took a look at the offending hand. At a glance, it looked fine, but moving his fingers slightly, there was an odd bend in the digits and the gaps between the knuckles were slightly off.

“››Out of joint.‹‹” A hiss shifted into grunts as he popped his dislocated knuckles back into place before flexing his fingers several times. “Ah… and may need to pay Viktor a visit to make sure there is no damage. Or maybe Dr. Rothschild, if he has an opening.”

He was waiting for the twins. Vargus was gathering up weapons and gear to strip or sell, and Višnja was turning in the gig. Feeling his phone buzz, he brought it out. Another hefty deposit of eddies in his account. Good. Since he didn’t know how long he would have to wait, he tried locating that “note” app once again. There were a few fumbles before he finally found it.

Eventually, the twins made it back. Vargus got their spoils of war loaded into the truck before he and his sister started discussing their plans for the night. Višnja gave Goro the other half of his payment.

“Yo, Goro, where do ya need us to drop you off for the night?” Vargus asked, rolling his jaw a few times. The segments to the armor plating that lined his cybernetic jaw and part of his neck flexed open and closed.

“Hm?” He glanced up from his phone. “The same place you picked me up from for the first gig.”

“Alright.”

“Unless ya wanna grab a drink and bite with us?” Višnja said. “It’s a low-key joint. Pretty preem soul-food style grub and breakfast. Waffles and fruit sound real good right now.”

Goro raised a brow, inadvertently wrinkling his nose. He had still yet to find anything in Night City that his palette found remotely palatable. Though there were a few places he was growing a soft spot for. Tom’s Dinner.

“I think, as you two say, ‘I’ll pass on that shit.’” Though he would never admit it, around the twins he let that air of sophistication wain and let their “city lingo” infiltrate his speech. “I have preparations I need to make.” His eyes winced as his body tensed. A hand went to his stomach. There was an audible rumble coming from his stomach.

“Sure about that, choom?” She grinned. He only glared in return.

“Don’t needle the old man.” Vargus nudged his sister’s arm a few times before roughly tussling her hair, which made her threaten that she’d hack his brain.

The three hopped into the vehicle and started their drive.

Goro fiddled with his phone. The talk about food brought a text conversation from the night they infiltrated the warehouse. A few taps, and he found his conversation with Varsha.

He quickly scrolled up to find their discussion from that night. A dinner offer for real food. A private dinner offer. At her place. The viper’s den. And perhaps sex? The stressful circumstances made it tempting and his mind could only imagine what she looked like under that dark emerald dress she often wore. Quite pleasing to the eye. But Varsha didn’t seem like that kind of woman.

From his observations, she was the complete opposite, especially when that one ‘associate’ of hers attempted to court her at every interaction whenever they crossed paths. She ignored every gesture, every word uttered by that silver tongue. Everything was strictly business to her. But there was always the possibility his assumptions were wrong. She was harder to read than most of the Corpos he dealt with during his service to Arasaka.

“Višnja. Vargus.” He said as he leaned forward and perched himself between the gap between the driver and passenger seat. “Can you help me decipher this message from Varsha.” He moved his phone into their view. “I am not sure I understood her offer.”

“Driving.” Vargus said.

“I got it.” Višnja was about to pluck the phone from his hand but noticed those fingers tightened. Right, trust is still tentative. She read the text.

“Let’s see, let’s see.” She read it over a few times before mumbling Varsha’s portion of the text history.

[Varsha]: What would you say to a little dinner together? Real food. I know some places that may fit your refined palette and the owners can ‘look the other way’ for you. If that doesn’t work for you, how about my place? I can order some food or cook it myself. Think you could use the company for one night. Perhaps we can get off on a better foot?

It read like Varsha. She was always generous to those she considered friends, or those who stayed on her good side.

She then read Goro’s response and Varsha’s response to that and held in a snort the best she could. Where was this old man’s brain going to misinterpret her offer for food like that?

“What’s so funny?” Vargus shot her a few glances.

“››Think the old man thought V was offering sex in exchange for dinner besides not wanting her to go through the trouble of hiding his identity and he has ‘no appropriate wear’.‹‹“ Višnja slipped over to that machine language she, her brother, and Varsha liked to converse in if they didn’t want people listening.

The car jittered for a second. Vargus’ grip tightened on the steering wheel to steady it. He bit his tongue to stifle snickers breaking through.

Goro narrowed his eyes, even more so noticing those horns of theirs pulsing softly with color. He had his suspicions about what was shared between the two, but wouldn’t press. “So, what do you think?”

“She offered you dinner.” Višnja said, pushing his phone back to him.

“And?”

“Just dinner. Nothing else, mate.”

“Are you sure?” He reread the texts again, especially his response. “Was she not offering…sex?” He almost didn’t want to say it.

“Sex? Hell no!” Vargus laughed. He slapped the steering shelf with each laugh. “Geez mate, and you said we could be fools, ya gonk.”

“Are you sure?” He just had to ask again.

“V wasn’t doing some tit for tat for dinner and sex, Goro.” Višnja shook her head, doing her best to keep her laughs at a minimum. “She’s not like that.”

He looked at the two before closing his eyes. Shaking his head, those shoulders dropped. He sighed. So he had misinterpreted her message. He felt like such an idiot.

“No hard feelings, Goro.” Višnja said. “I can somewhat see how you read it like that. V still needs to work on her people skills.”

“Really, don’t think Varsh is even interested in sex. Hell, don’t think she’s wired for it.” Vargus said. “Don’t think we’ve ever seen her with somebody since we’ve known her. Minus anything for an Op.”

“She’s not. Remember the dollhouse story she told us?” Višnja said, corners of her mouth lifting with a little sticker.

Her brother, in turn, lost his composure, breaking out into a deep laugh as he threw his head back. He was laughing so hard that his eyes glued shut; he had to pull over and wipe the tears from his eyes.

“H-her co-workers, her nosy coworkers wanted to learn about her sex life and instead witnessed a therapy season!” His fist pounded against the steering wheel.

Goro slowly tuned the twins out. He didn’t feel like he should be privy to that information. Besides, there were more important matters he needed to handle. How to apologize to Varsha for misinterpreting her offer? Perhaps he should accept it? As an apology? He was unsure. Hearing the sound of snapping fingers in front of his face brought him out of his brooding thoughts.

“Yo, Goro.” It was Vargus. Composure regained, he then motioned his thumb to the center seat. “Before I forget, check the cooler next to you. Center seat. Varsh’s got a gift for ya.”

“Shoot, I forgot about that.” Višnja said.

Goro raised a brow. He put away his phone and went to open the cooler. “A gift? Why?”

“Just open it, you’ll figure it out.”

With the cooler open, Goro spotted several things. A few drinks, a backup handgun, an assortment of boosters, and then a few turquoise bento boxes.

“Those bento boxes are for you.” Višnja said.

“Really?” He asked as he picked them up. They had some heft to them. He closed the cooler and placed them on his lap. “Why?”

“Even though you turned down V’s offer, she’s been feeling sorry for you and your refined palette. Made ya some food. Home cooked and ordered something from a friend’s restaurant.” She said.

“Her cooking is the best. Real preem, you’ll love it.” Vargus said.

“Hm…”

Goro cautiously opened the first box. What greeted his eyes was a blanket of white rice, an assortment of vegetables elegantly cut and folded into shapes, and what he could tell was a few small cuts of raw fish with vibrant red meat. Fish. Real or fake? Raising the box to his face, he took in several sniffs. He prepared himself for a questionable, if not repugnant, smell. Eyebrows raised, his eyes lit up. There was nothing but a faint oceanic smell. Perhaps it was real? His stomach growled again. He bit the inside of his cheek.

“Yoooooouuuuuu’ll looooove iiiiiiiiiit.” Višnja sang again, dragging out every word to a nearly obnoxious degree.

Goro rolled his eyes. He opened the second box. His nose wrinkled not out of disgust but from the strong spices emanating from the second meal. It was nearly overpowering to his senses. There was more rice and next to it looked like reddish-brow curry and what he assumed was chicken or coconut chunks in it. His fingers found the silverware in the lid. Perhaps a taste test wouldn’t hurt? And it would silence his stomach for some time. He’d save the fish for later.

With the spoon, he carefully grabbed a portion of each piece of the meal, he finally took a bite of it. His eyes lit up, glimmering with surprise. It was all so flavorful. And the textures all felt right. The rice was light and fluffy. The chicken was firm and juicy, with the coconut only enriching its flavor. And the curry, his mind couldn’t describe it, but it was good. Nothing tasted like sawdust and plastic, and the meat wasn’t a chalky, stringy mess. He was already going for the second bite.

“The ronin likes it.” Višnja said.

“The ronin likes it.” Vargus agreed with a laugh.

Despite their Agents being disconnected, he felt a faint tickle in his ear like he could hear Silverhand joining in on their teasing. He ignored them. Best not to fall to their level. It would be foolish. He ate about half of his meal.

———————————

The rest of the ride was uneventful. The two dropped him off where they had picked him up earlier that day.

Slipping through the shadows, Goro made his way back to his safe house, not before stopping to buy some replacement clothes and ammunition. Back home, he meticulously laid out his gear and went over his plans. As he did so, he snacked on what was left of the curry meal and took a few bites of the other and was pleasantly surprised it was real fish. Salmon from what he could tell.

As he was winding down for the night, his mind drifted back to the meals and that text conversation with Varsha. He shook his head and sighed.

“I need to apologize for my swift assumptions… and thank her for her generosity, this kindness. I do not deserve it, as I have been more judgmental towards her than the twins.” He mumbled his thoughts as his hand reached for his phone. “She deeply cares for those two. How she became complicit in this foolish chaos.”

For another hour, before sleep would finally take him, he made several drafts of the potential text he would send her in the morning.

#writings #cyberpunk 2077 #cp 2077 #goro takemura #Corpo V Trio #corpo v

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mentalisttraceur-software · 2 years ago

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execve(2): insecure by default

a rant that ended up flowing into "structured privileges"

Thinking about the execve(2) interface of UNIX, particularly with elevated privileges - especially in combination with the UNIX philosophy of little tools that do small jobs well.

This generalizes, actually - the same ideas of privilege segregation could apply within a process if languages and runtimes took advantage of modern kernels' support for it - at least in Linux, where processes and threads are basically the same kernel primitive, with just a few configuration differences.

Anyway, it bothers me that the default behavior is that if I start a root program, everything it executes is also root. In some sense, the ideal default for a program with a privileged effective UID and an unprivileged real ID is that the execve system call drops privileges - and if you want to keep privileges, that should be an explicit flag.

Even more ideally, this wouldn't be a flag that you, as the program with privileged effective UID or effective capability set or whatever, get to just set however you want - this should be some sort of object, like a file descriptor or a 128-bit random key or a pointer into read-only mapped memory, which is given to you by the caller who gave you elevated privileges. So your options are either "drop privileges" or "keep any privileges that your caller allowed you to keep" - notably absent from your options is an unconditional "keep privileges".

Of course, one problem here is that at some levels of abstraction, forking another process should be an implementation detail - when I call a program as root, I shouldn't have to know "this program wants to fork a child", let alone details like which child programs, how many, how deep the process tree goes, and so on.

So execve isn't exactly the right boundary here, at least not always. But here are a couple examples where the execve boundary is user-facing and explicit, and is the right boundary:

Suppose I want to run a privileged `find` program - because it needs to look inside directories that only root can read, and then I want to run some un-privileged command per file path - the most secure thing, especially if I don't have time to audit the command's source and build and binary for problems, is to prefix my exec arguments for find with something like sudo -iu "$USER" so that the child process of find drops privileges back down to my user before running the command.

For another example, suppose I want to run something like fzf on a list of paths, and then I want fzf to use `bat` to preview those files. bat could need read-only root privileges if some of those files are only root-readable, but there's no great way to give those privileges to just bat instead of fzf - at best, I run sudo once before running fzf, sudo caches my credentials, and then I set the preview argument of fzf to include a sudo call. But this isn't friendly to building larger programs: if the fzf call is inside some larger script, that script now has to either unconditionally include that sudo call, or include it or not based on either a flag that is passed in or if it already has special privileges.

Going back to how this generalizes, this same problem happens with libraries - instead of calling into another program, you call into some library, but either way, you probably don't have time to audit the whole thing, and it often doesn't need all the elevated privileges that you have - if I've got code to parse YAML inside my process, those instructions don't need any privileges besides access to the input bytes and enough memory to return the parsed result, and yet I have to go out of my way to isolate them and drop privileges if I want to be safe from some exploitable parser bug.

Ideally, code should have to go out of its way to explicitly take privileges that it either needs or can optionally use, as a kind of parameter. The whole system, from the ground up, would be built with APIs which have a bias towards dropping privileges and which require every privilege to be passed in from higher up in the call tree. Then the path of least resistance aligns with security: if you're writing code which doesn't need privileges, you don't go out of your way to take them from the caller - if you need privileges to do something, you have no choice but to reveal it in the API.

The only wrinkle here is that people should be able to write middleware which doesn't know or care about privileges, but is transparent to them. The simplest solution is to do what Go did with its context type - force middleware to take that parameter, and pass it through just in case the thing it calls needs it. This is... better than privilege use being invisible, but it's still pretty bad, especially when we generalize it to a granular "permissions" object, since middleware would need an arbitrarily permissive type: instead of knowing if we're calling something that requires privileges, we are back to calling something that might use any of the privileges we fed into it, and we can't know without inspecting the middleware.

In languages with templates, the permissions could be expressed as a template parameter, and then it's at least clear that the middleware takes whatever permissions its callee requires - and someone higher up in the call stack is defining the callee, so they have the responsibility and knowledge of those permissions. But this still isn't really enough, that's just a nice way to make the type system transparently propagate information about elevated privileges to the places where a developer is most served by knowing it.

But at runtime, we need a distinction between a usable privilege, and an unusable "sealed" privilege which is just being passed through code from a higher caller to a transitive callee which has what they need to unseal it.

This has been on my mind for a couple years now, at least. The overarching theme here is that ideally software has a reified representation of all interesting privileges, which ideally is both visible in the type system and actually enforced at runtime, and that code should be forced to be explicit whenever it uses or passes privileges to do anything.

(I call this "structured privileges", and it's yet another special case of the general/abstract idea that unifies structured programming, structured concurrency, my structured preemption idea, and so on. If we fully generalize the concept, the most appropriate term is something like "structured capabilities", because it comes to encompass the ability to do anything that we might want to explicitly manage in some parts of code. More on that soon, hopefully.)

#software #software security #software architecture #structured concurrency #structured programming #structured preemption #structured allocations #structured privileges #structured capabilities

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archer3-13 · 2 years ago

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SO! went out and actually got my hands on an engage physical copy. played through the first lil bit. thought id start up an internal reblog chain for myself here on thoughts on the game!

opening:

very abrupt but it goes hard on the music even if the visuals feel somewhat noncommittal and incoherent. in fact ill add right off the bat that the music here SLAPS HARD! like holy shit is it good.

title is in that kinda static manner a lot of title are these days.

prologue:

im playing on normal for a first run, cause i like to get a handle on what the developers are designing the bare basics of the game around. ie, the experience they assume most people are going to undergo when playing the game. idk, first impressions and all that.

anyways! prologue is doing the fe awakening thing of a flash forward [?] with a fight against scary bad man though instead of evil sorcerer were apparently fighting the fell dragon of this game itself. WHO WEARS NO SHIRT AND IS THEREFORE SUPERIOR TO GRIMNA BY DEFAULT!

its fine for what it is, the hook of the story and a quick run down on basic move attack mechanics. we even get to 'engage' and use an engage skill!

that said, i feel it misses the mark on what was effective about awakening paralogue. to clarify off the bat here, awakening is on the lower end of fe games for me personally, so when i say it misses the mark i really do mean it. awakenings paralogue setup worked by building a lot of dread and tension, oppressive music and atmosphere, the pre fight cg throwing us right in the action in a frantic and somewhat grim fight, the dramatic tragic twist with shishchrombob and a jarring evil laughter to play us off.

engage raises questions like awakenings, but thats all it really does. raise questions, otherwise being kinda flacid in atmosphere comparatively.

ch 1

which brings us to ch 1! alear wakes up, meets the stewards, and then suddenly were on the ground! feels like we missed a transition here, cause i wasnt sure if we had been in the sky or not like the game insisted we had but hey. i can forgive it a bit here cause a] its not an essential transition and b] the following stuff in the chapter is real good!

zombies show up, the corrupted, to cause some ruckus and the twins get into a sticky situation we have to unstick them from. namely that we actually get a 'diagetic experience' as it were cause the twins are on the map getting attacked as we rush out to save em. the twins run ahead a bit, zombie enemy turn ambush spawn and we dip into a cutscene then a cg

on a side note, the in engine cutscenes are such a massive improvement over what we had before! theres the dialogue skit sections of course where we do the awkward stand and nod like mascots that plagued three houses [though not as bad in engages case], but also we get actual action sequences animated in engine! and they look pretty slick minus some clipping.

anyways, cg marth shows up to bedazzle us [hes so pretty...], and we get some engage buisness to deal with and to help illustrate how op it is we get to mulch a bunch of enemies! fun.

on another side note, map sizes along with mov ranges so far have been reduced from average. infantry has sat at 4 well vander the paladin has sat at a 6 mov. armours im guessing have 3 move well flyers have 4 and non promoted cavs have 5 as it follows the heroes model as it were. in fact a lot of the mechanics and interfaces feel very heroes inspired which... im not entirely against as heroes does do a lot of things right and expanding on what works there in a full fe setting sounds very delicious to me.

dragon mama shows up at the end to save us from some more enemy reinforcements and we get a nice little reunion cutscene still [also very nice], and moment in general. dragon mothers cloths clip like no tomorrow in engine but shes very pretty and her voice actress giver her a nice melodic quality that i find very calming.

on an aside, i was giggling like a maniac the entire later half of the battle map for ch1. its a very over the top sequence but it just feels so fun to watch and its delightful to see some over the top choreography in action.

characters at the moment!

the twins: could not remember their names at the moment as they are just 'the twins' that exist in all of fiction

vander: is uther. reminded me of uther lightbringer from warcraft 3 when i first saw him and his personality and portrayal just kinda reminds me of uther in general. uthers pretty cool though and vanders definitely endeared himself to me in just a handful of scenes. more so then the twins anyways.

lumenera: sweet and melodic as i mentioned. i feel like the twist of the story is going to be that alear is related to the fell dragon in some way [fell dragon going 'i am your father!' or somethin] and lumenera is either the fell dragons ex or tryin to just put alear on a better path. interested in seeing and learning more anyways, and i feel shes the most endearing early game slated to die mother figure so far thats become very common in modern fe storytelling. at time of writing this anyways.

alear: somewhat timid, obviously gonna have a story about learning to be bolder. they talk so its a step up from byleth regardless.

marth: speaking more then i thought he would. hasnt said much yet but as ever hes sweeping me off my feet for no reason other then i like him.

#fire emblem #fire emblem engage #spoilers

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sepublic · 2 years ago

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“Here I come, to save the daaaaayyyy!!!”

If you hear these words, run. Dioclius is here!

He’s a self-proclaimed superhero, and. WELL. He’s definitely admittedly super, I’ll give him that. But hero…?

So this dude is a bit nuts. Maybe Dioclius (pronounced Die-OH-klee-uss) has an overzealous response to any and all crime, as well as potential crime. Perhaps his methods to save the day are a little destructive and cause more harm than if he’d just let the criminal get away. So what if he threatened to burn down an orphanage, unless the robbers in question surrendered? Sometimes you gotta fight crime with an even bigger, WORSE crime…!

Dioclius probably watched one too many superhero flicks and tokusatsu shows, as well as the deep dive into comic books. He trained and mastered various martial arts in preparation for his new role, while also improving and free-styling his own moves as well! And at night, he donned his costume to become… Dioclius Man!!!

…Despite his ridiculous appearance and deep, exaggerated voice, Dioclius (Man) proved to be a shockingly dangerous and formidable opponent. It’d be easy to dismiss him as JUST an idiot, but he was a very skilled and fast one, and more than lived up to his claims of being a martial arts master. When striking terror into the hearts of evildoers (and civilians), Dioclius (Man) would play his custom-made theme song from his stereo… Literally just the 1966 Batman theme song, but all mentions of the word ‘Bat’ were stricken out and edited over with a clip of Dioclius (Man) saying his name.

It didn’t take long for Dioclius (Man) to have to go on the run, his secret identity found out. For a while he scoured the rooftops at night, responding to chaos with even greater chaos. As a result, this appealed Dioclius (Man) to the Terrorbrai, who rather enjoyed that sort of attitude. They did contemplate converting him into a Stromling, but decided to instead use Dioclius (Man) as a test subject for their own weird experiment.

Why were they doing this experiment? Just because. It involved one of many magical, golden artifacts, forged from cooled ichor; A powerful substance said to be the very blood of the god whose being made up this universe. A single molten drop was incredibly, deeply volatile, capable of levelling entire cities; But when stabilized into solid form, ichor acted as an indestructible substance that empowered whatever enchantments were forged into it.

One of many artifacts forged of ichor was a marionette control bar, you know those things that look like a big plus and have strings attached to the ends for a puppet to hang from? Yeah. But these strings were different, being golden cables that retracted into the control bar; At the end of each was a little sharp diamond.

Under a user’s control, up to twenty of these sharp points (five for each end of the control bars) would shoot out. Whatever living being they embedded themselves into, was now under the command of the wielder; A puppet on a string, quite literally. The more puppets there are, the more difficult it is to coordinate. Likewise, if a victim is under the control of just one string, they’re harder to control and more likely to resist.

But the more strings embedded into them, the smoother the interface is between puppet and puppetmaster. If one were to embed all twenty strings into a host, they would be able to control it and themselves like another limb, with the ease and grace of one who has always lived across two bodies, linked by golden cables.

The Terrorbrai acquired this strange relic, and not having much else made of ichor, just shrugged and chose to melt it down into its original molten form… And then injected it into the body of the strapped-down, kidnapped Dioclius (Man). Previous test subjects had been agonizingly vaporized, but something about Dioclius, perhaps his strange soul, was different… Miraculously, he survived the process as the ichor cooled, melding with Dioclius’ body. Likewise, his own costume was fused to Dioclius, as his anatomy and proportions changed, and he emerged not exactly a human being anymore.

With his newfound strength, Dioclius (Man) tore free from his restraints and escaped. His Terrorbrai captors didn’t put much effort into stopping him, certain he’d cause even MORE chaos this time. And they were right! Dioclius (Man) flip-flopped between public nuisance and outright menace. He was the same, but to a far greater degree.

Dioclius now possessed superhuman strength and durability, with an almost metallic structure to his bones and internal anatomy; If he cracked his neck, one would hear a sound like metal clinking together. He was even faster than ever before, and his brutal hand jabs were upgraded, as the artifact’s sharp points now emerged from the ends of each finger like a claw. Dioclius’ number of fingers had also doubled, adapting to the artifact; Now he had four arms!

Dioclius was one with the artifact, and had inherited its powers, able to fire off golden cables from his fingertips to jab into victims and control them. These cables were virtually indestructible and served as great makeshift garrote wires, though to avoid a scenario where he was entangled, Dioclius could will these cables to shatter, the pieces disintegrating as the energy of the ichor retreated back into his body and regrew a new set of strings.

Dioclius trained again, mastering his new body and its capabilities, making full usage of his powers and reworked anatomy and accommodating his fighting style accordingly. His strings could act as grappling hooks, enabling Dioclius to reel in and swing himself around like Spider-Man, clinging to surfaces with suction-cup shoes that had become his feet!

Now a truly supervillainhero, Dioclius (Man) went back to terrorizing the night and even day with a renewed vigor! His ability to control multiple people at once was more precise than others’, perhaps due to his own skill and/or the artifact literally becoming an extension of Dioclius (Man). He could quickly turn from a one-man army into a twenty-one men army, with the allies of his victims afraid to hurt Dioclius’ puppets.

Eventually, Dioclius’ reign of terror abruptly ended. He came across a wandering stranger even more strong and skilled than him, and despite employing a wide variety of strategies, such as embedding his strings into debris to create makeshift flails, Dioclius was ultimately beaten. He was imprisoned in the Tower of Tears and remained trapped in there for years, preserved in a magical, cryogenic stasis, subject to horrific nightmares… But when the Tower of Tears was destroyed, Dioclius escaped into the night with several of its Escapees, forming a particularly large group led by Midas the Golden Man.

Midas had ideas, and among his required objectives, he needed, of all things, for some of his fellow Escapees to terrorize a group of students at Arkley’s, all just to kill one in particular; The nephew of the one who imprisoned them. Alongside Tiken the Phantom Knight and Cardinsto the Plant Master, Dioclius the Puppet Master embarked on his vengeful crusade!!!

…So yeah! Dioclius is an utter weirdo, to put it lightly, and definitely a bit delusional and caught up in his ‘heroic’ crusades. He definitely fits the actual reality of what crusaders were like… He’s a pretty goofy dude who’s subject to the laws of his genre, but underneath it all, he really is deeply skilled and dangerous, and not JUST from being an idiot. He’s a bombastic and energetic individual, playful and a bit of a romantic, and for all his messy faults and willingness to kill, Dioclius makes for a surprisingly faithful friend. If you can actually, somehow, befriend him.

Dioclius (Man) would appreciate fame, but in the end, he’s content with just the deeply misguided good of his deeds. His motives are to take down whatever criminals (as well as civilians in the vicinity) he encounters. So as long as law and by extension crime exists as a social construct, Dioclius has a reason to fight! And yes that includes all crime, so RIP to your spine if you loitered or got a parking ticket.

#oc #ocs #my ocs #Dioclius #my art #drawing #sketch #the escapees #GEverse

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jcmarchi · 9 months ago

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MLB The Show 24 Review - Breaking Barriers - Game Informer

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/mlb-the-show-24-review-breaking-barriers-game-informer/

MLB The Show 24 Review - Breaking Barriers - Game Informer

MLB The Show’s commitment to nuance, iteration, and diversity is what sets it apart. Since the long-running series arrived on Xbox in 2021, the baseball sim has recontextualized sports games – emphasizing the purpose of communities while fitting in new features like Pinpoint Pitching, custom stadiums, and online ranked co-op. The Show 23 pushed the bar further with Storylines: The Negro Leagues, an interactive museum that detailed eight stars of baseball’s segregated past. This year’s iteration mirrors it with new Storyline episodes, a 60-minute tribute to Yankee legend Derek Jeter, and an original RTTS narrative where “Women Pave Their Way.” While it isn’t a hyper-creative leap forward, MLB The Show 24 finds a new swing by tethering style and strategy to baseball’s fundamentals.

MLB The Show 24’s gameplay is almost identical to The Show 23 – complete with 23’s quirks (Break Outlier, Pick Off Artist), throwing interfaces, swing feedback, and updates to attributes that associate the clutch attribute with RISP. There are 400 new animations in 24, plus logic improvements, new base sizes, and “Impact Plays” that add major league realism to defensive assists. However, it lacks an innovative change to a hitting and pitching engine we’ve seen in past entries. The new face and hair details are a sight to behold when Bryce Harper and Fernando Tatis Jr. are bat-flipping home runs next to cherry-kissed skies, but the immersion breaks when a star player drops a pop fly, misses routine grounders at third, or “soft tosses” a double play ball in extra innings. The Show 24’s updated lighting system provides a sharper, detailed look at the diamonds across Major League Baseball, and it takes advantage of a boost in exit velocities. This shift makes it easier to hit the ball in Petco Park, Chase Field, and Kauffman Stadium, all of which were problematic in past entries.

As expected, Storylines: Season Two is a delight. The docuseries, narrated by Negro Leagues Baseball Museum President Bob Kendrick, stands by the NLBM’s mission to “educate, enlighten, and inspire,” and it continues to combine archival footage, gameplay-driven scenarios, and personal anecdotes to illustrate why baseball is the most romanticized sport on Earth. The new season introduces 10 new Negro League heroes, with four episodes available at launch – reducing the initial runtime to institute a more immersive environment for Kendrick’s narrations.

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And it doesn’t miss. Season Two embraces the Negro Leagues’ revered architects, highlighting how the introduction of “night baseball” in the 1930s led to the discovery of a phenom known as Josh “The Black Babe Ruth” Gibson. It recalls how Walter “Buck” Leonard was a thinking man’s player and a fixture for Pittsburgh’s Homestead Greys; how Henry “The Hammer” Aaron started his career with the 1952 Indianapolis Clowns as a “skinny, cross-handed hitting” shortstop; and how Toni “The Trailblazer” Stone learned how to play with the fellas before becoming the first of three pioneering women to play professional ball. All four narratives are accompanied by iconic moments – such as recreating Stone’s single against the immortal Satchel Paige and hitting a home run with Aaron and the Milwaukee Braves in Sportsman’s Park – and it never once feels overly dramatized. Instead, every photograph, audio excerpt, and subtle ode to Pennsylvania’s Greenlee Field and Newark’s Ruppert Stadium is an organic lesson in American history. Bold and full of soul thanks to scores by Stevie Wonder, Marlena Shaw, and A Tribe Called Quest.

That attention to detail is also embedded in Storylines: Derek Jeter – a ‘90s-based spinoff mode that pays homage to “The Captain” and his New York Yankees-inflected path to baseball nobility. Much like Season Two, it’s a collection of career-defining, playable moments from 1995 to 2000, including his first career hit versus the Mariners in Seattle’s Kingdome, his famous “jump throw” from Game 1 of the 1998 American League Championship, and how the Yankees’ initial All-Star Game MVP drove the club past the New York Mets to seal a three-peat in the 2000 World Series. It’s not the most compelling narrative, particularly if you’re a fan of the Yankees’ rivals, but thanks to San Diego Studio’s Live Content team, it does offer a surplus of in-game rewards, including Atlanta’s 2000 All-Star Game uniforms and Subway Series player items for Diamond Dynasty.

There’s also an interactive subway map, complete with graffiti, billboards, and “New York-isms”, that provides a snapshot of the city and a fan base with high expectations, but it’s difficult not to imagine Storylines being a distinctive voice for pockets of culture that are less commercialized.

Other modes like Franchise and March To October have been largely untouched – pairing The Show 23’s amateur scouting system, postseason formats, and “Ohtani Rule” with custom game conditions and Prospect Promotion Incentive (PPI). Road To The Show is directly tied to the Draft Combine, a four-day event where hitting, pitching, and fielding is graded to provide an accurate projection for attributes, comparisons, and club interest for the MLB Draft. It provides explanations for multiple ballplayer archetypes and their position’s focus, but the core narrative lacks creative ingenuity that goes beyond dated minigames and dialogue systems. Especially when it reaffirms what the community already knows: RTTS is for ‘80s mullets and XP bugs.

“Women Pave Their Way” is a fresh addition that alters the Road To The Show formula in new and exciting ways because it presents an atypical narrative about breaking barriers in baseball. It’s a unique pivot, led by narrative designer Mollie Braley and USA Baseball’s Kelsie Whitmore, and it’s one that promotes awareness of the women who play baseball and that other aspiring athletes are capable of competing at multiple levels. It sounds like “marketing jazz,” but Braley and SDS use pre-recorded video content with MLB Network’s Robert Flores, Lauren Shehadi, Dan O’Dowd, Melanie Newman, and Carlos Peña to stress the physical and mental adversity that is attached to carving a path in minor-league systems. They don’t sugarcoat anxieties or rewrite old baseball traditions; their intention is to inspire new and returning players to chase their lifelong dreams, and it’s a vision that gets its own full circle moment when MLB.com’s Sarah Langs starts detailing RPMs and spin rates.

With the exit velocities, Diamond Dynasty is off to its best start in years. The Show 24 alters 23’s Ultimate Team concepts to reintroduce “Seasons 2.0” – an expansion on “Sets & Seasons” that ditches 99 OVR player items on Day One for a traditional power creep, multiple Wild Card slots, monthly Team Affinity drops, and reward paths that differentiate Ranked, Events, and Conquest. There are Cornerstone Captains that implement seasonal archetypes for team building and new Team Captains that add comparable boosts to hitting and pitching attributes for all 30 MLB clubs – solely to create hypotheticals like Yankees vs Dodgers, Cubs vs Phillies, and Rays vs Padres. There are still microtransactions, sure, but The Show’s monetization policies are less iniquitous than Madden NFL, FIFA, and NBA 2K’s practices because they rarely “gatekeep” limited drops when there are hundreds of diamond player items “sitting at home.” Diamond Dynasty is still in need of a visual overhaul, a Custom Practice mode, a new uniform creation system, and more unique customization options that tap into collaborations with Sanford Greene, King Saladeen, and Takashi Okazaki, but listening to a community’s input is a start – especially if it continues.

MLB The Show 24 doesn’t hit it out of the park at every at-bat, but it doesn’t have to. The series is in the middle of an experimental phase that’s trying to mitigate its perpetual “online vs. offline” war. Despite a clear lack of innovation in mechanics, it has still found a way to impress, inspire, and engage with a younger generation that shares an interest in history. The Show’s art team is second to none, its OST shuffles Eladio Carrion, IDLES, Flowdan, and Brittany Howard with the grace of a 2 Chainz verse, and its “Grind 99” mantra has been edited to be a modern ideology – “play however and whenever.” It’s why Diamond Dynasty is the best take on Ultimate Team in terms of approachability and competition and why The Show 24 hopes to reignite annual titles through personalization. As the great Toni Stone once implied: “Get you one ‘cause I got mine.”

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jambjars · 1 year ago

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ACADEMIC BLOG POST 2- Gesamtkunstwerk and Spectacle(s)

Richard Wagner’s original concept of gesamtkunstwerk has gotten a little muddied in intention over the centuries, but I dare say the spirit of the phenomenon is alive and well. Instead of adhering to Wagner’s initial vision, I think pieces that stimulate multiple senses of the audience to elicit an awed response could be considered for the definition. Art is subjective, so far be it from me to define what can’t fit under the parameters of gesamtkunstwerk, but I’d go up to bat for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida being considered as such.

By and large, the concept of a theme park such as those which exist in some of the world’s most major cities aligns with the definition of a “total work of art”, brought on primarily by the sheer spectacle of the various Disney parks. In the case of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, specifically (hereby referred to in this post as "Harry Potter World" for the sake of being concise), immersion is an outright necessity. While I haven't heard personal recountings of character training being grueling from my friends who work in the Universal park(a divorce from the Disney practice of overworking their character actors), the sheer amount of detail in every inch of this attraction is awe-inspiring.

Figure 1: The centrepiece of the Harry Potter World park

A little closer to home (for now) is the less grotesquely expensive Harry Potter Warner Bros Tour on the outskirts of London-- still utterly consumerist in concept, but immaculately crafted.

Figure 2: Diagon Alley in the Universal Studios Tour

While I have no plan to build a massive handcrafted homage to Harry Potter, I think keeping in mind what gesamtkunstwerk entails in this day and age is still a good idea. While this phenomenon is, again, highly consumerist in nature, it brings a lot of children joy and wonder. In physical spaces as well as digital ones, I would love to inspire a similar sense of awe through my own work. For now, I'll have to stick to visual mediums, but Wagner's initial gesamkunstwerks were such as well, so the sky's the limit.

Additionally, I suspect (as an American) that the sheer popularity of Harry Potter World is motivated in small part due to the novelty of a walkable, "European" space. Of course, there isn't a real city in the whole of the real continent of Europe so immaculately and in-authentically decorated, but the phenomenon truly is notable in such a car-dependent community.

Disclaimer that I do not agree with the personal views of the author of the Harry Potter series, and actively disavow transphobia in every form.

Bibliography

Godwin, V. (2017). Theme park as interface to the wizarding (story) world of Harry Potter. Transformative Works and Cultures, 25. doi:https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2017.01078.

Shaun (2022). Harry Potter. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1iaJWSwUZs&ab_channel=Shaun [Accessed 19 Oct. 2023].

Warner Bros. Studios ed., (2018). Diagon Alley in Warner Bros. Studios. [Digital Photography] Digital. Available at: https://media.timeout.com/images/105171327/750/422/image.webp [Accessed 19 Oct. 2023].

‌ Waysdorf, A. and Reijnders, S. (2016). Immersion, authenticity and the theme park as social space: Experiencing the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 21(2), pp.173–188. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877916674751.

#ma digitalmedia #academicblogdm

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frankstudio4b · 1 year ago

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Intentions for this semester

I’d like to fully dive in to my interests in social commentary, but instead of doing one long form project and delving deep into one topic, I’d like to do something similar to what I did when I was doing my “Variety Show” series. Where I was exploring multiple social topics through the medium of video audio.

These are my current ideas for this semester and what themes they cover:

BAT-COMPUTER

The Bat-Computer is a video installation inspired by Batman’s computer from the Batman comics. A desk attached to multiple screens with a detective/spy interface. Through the screens it would tell a story through news clips, internet clips, CCTV footage, Bat-Cam bodycam footage, video calls etc etc. The story I will tell through the physical structure of the computer will cover topics of social justice, woke culture, justice and internet discourse.

WHEN A MAN LOVES A WOMAN

This is just a little fun experiment I want to do. It will be a series of paintings that depicts famous woman that I STAN. I LOVE. I ADMIRE. It’s a play on gay men’s obsession with female celebrities and aims to turn the idea of het love on its head.

ELLA ENLIGHTENED

This is a skit I’ve been writing at the moment that I want to do before week three crits. It takes the form of a fictional podcast hosted by a white woman spiritual advisor and self-proclaimed “guru”, throughout the podcast she speaks on spirituality while also incessantly promoting her paid content and merchandise. It’s a comment on white spirituality and the gentrification and appropriation of eastern religion. It also comments on the commodification of eastern iconography and practices as a form of profit for white people.

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teleconhaikus · 1 year ago

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I’m annoyed today.. I have to do a basic lift and shift of all the common library interfaces stored in frontends because someone thought it was good to copy pasta away everything as we go into every single frontend sooo we need another spot for all of that to handle, as is obvious, deprecation, new endpoints, modifications to handle validation and error and bugs etc.. but in the process am finding a lot of boiler plate code which is just like veryyyyy obvious everyone came from a Java background switched to web and didn’t once bat an eye. We have a billion getters and setters, we have no type aliases or other items which are strategically created for Typescript so that you do not need to define a class to use for simple items like in this situation a matrix which is now an internal class which supports getting elements... WHY WOULD YOU WRITE THIS CODE??? You can literally define this with an array of arrays or I guess some call this a “jagged array” but because JS says and is written in all things “Functions serve as a first class citizen” you never really need a class.. not really, not unless it entirely makes sense whereas in a lot of old coding languages like say Java or C++ you do need a namespace and and that namespace does define classes and objects usually first and then those objects hold actions, Javascript can instead behave more often as first methods that then act on many things.. this creates less bloat and code boilerplate and often is one of many reasons people say they hate web coming from OOP driven design but truly it is just different and everyone’s hateful and I am going a bit insane because I am doing what is an inherently wrong bad practice like I feel itchy all over doing it but if I do it the right way, it will never be complete.. it’s too big, so I gotta first chop off my leg to save my face or whatever then repair everything best I can but I am making the problem worse because I have to move all the unnecessary typings and objects and constructors to a third place and then try and find a way to fix that and I guess.. Idk I wanted to vent, but I also wanted to just sorta rubber ducky and console myself in the process..

#dev life #software engineering #just a girl coding away in her goblin cave as usual #work log #work from home life

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makingstillwithyou · 2 years ago

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slow descent into madness | and finally escaping the editing bat-cave

dated: 230331

technical difficulties but they got worse:

this past week… has really been something. the reason i call it an ‘editing bat-cave’ is because that’s exactly what i turn my room into when i edit a project- i’ll sit with my laptop and a bottle of water, open up my editing program (filmora 10), and just… disappear into the process until i check the little clock on my laptop and realise it is now six hours later.

from having my (brother’s) laptop shut down at almost regularly-occurring 15 or 20 minute intervals because it couldn’t deal with my editing program and the high-quality footage to scouring the internet for ways to fix the problem and make my editing process just a little bit smoother, it was quite a lot to deal with.

still, i didn’t let all of this affect me and just kept on working- making sure to save my project as often as i could so i wouldn’t lose any progress once the program crashes as per schedule.

starting in earnest:

i whittled my ‘usable footage’ down to 27 minutes of cut footage, and then got to using it to tell the story i wanted to. i actually realised with a start at this point that the footage i had might not be enough for the music video, but since planning another shoot day (even just a small one- an hour or two at most would’ve given me enough time to film the extra couple of shots i wanted for diversity) at this point was practically impossible due to my actors not being available, i just had to try my best to work with what i had.

it took me a couple of days, but i finally completed my first draft of the music video (which meant that i had synced up all the clips i wanted where i wanted on my timeline in accordance with the song lyrics and music) by the 30th of march.

color-grading:

from there, i then moved on to do the colour gradation for the music video, experimenting with a couple pre-set lut’s but ultimately deciding on colour grading all my footage myself so that it would fit and look best with the aesthetic i was going for.

initially, i had actually planned to have all my flashback scenes where the couple was together colour-graded in soft, warm hues (yellows and oranges) and to have the present scenes where the main character was alone colour-graded in stark, cold hues (blues and greens) in order to really drive home the contrast between the two states of emotion.

but ultimately, i realised that colour-grading my present scenes like that (in harsh blues) didn’t make them look good since a lot of my present scenes naturally had warm, sunny tones to them.

things work out for the best:

instead, to make sure that the flashback scenes and the present ones had a clear contrast between them, i opted to put a grain and film filter on the flashback scenes and construct a viewfinder overlay to put on top of the point-of-view flashback scenes so that it would seem like the main character was filming his significant other in those scenes.

this allowed for a much more natural-looking colour gradation for my music video footage overall and still let me clearly differentiate between the two types of scenes in my music video, so i thought it was a good call on my part.

making the title (an ode to canva):

after i was done with this, there was only one thing left: to make the music video title! in order to make the title, i turned to my photo editing ‘software’ of choice: canva. i know it’s not professional photo editing software by any means, but photoshop has always felt too complicated and clunky for me whenever i’ve tried it, and canva truly works wonders for most everyday projects with the bonus of having a wonderful, clean, easy-to-use user interface.

plus, i’ve used canva for all of my photo editing needs since something like 2018, so it’s a program i’m really comfortable with, and that’s always bound to make the going easy, so canva was a no-brainer choice for me here. in any case, i got to work playing around with the official album art for the song ‘still with you’ released by jungkook’s music label ‘bighit entertainment’, and that’s how i ended up with the following:

animating the title:

after i was done making the title art to my liking, i headed back over to filmora (my video editing program) to fiddle around with the effects etc. there and maybe figure out how to get some movement into the title.

while looking for some inspiration regarding this on the internet, i came across a tutorial on how to do a handwriting effect for titles, and though it was (quite frankly) an unnecessarily long process and i very well could have just settled for a simpler title sequence, i decided to give it a go since the handwritten title would go really well with my overall music video aesthetic (there’s something sentimental and analogue about both handwritten notes and old film, after all).

after a lot of fiddling around with different settings and trying out a variety of movement effects on my title, i finally ended up with the following, which i was fully satisfied with:

at this point, all that was really left was to add my newly-made title sequence to my music video timeline, but i felt like something was missing in the title card… and that ‘something’ was: a little ‘writing with pencil’ scratching sound so that it would really feel like someone was writing the title.

making the credits:

after i had added the sound effect, my title was complete, so i moved onto the next order of business: making the credits. i opted to keep my credit sequence fairly simple, with just a film overlay on top of some unused b-roll footage of my main actor walking along the beach and simple, white credits popping up on top of the footage.

first export of the video:

it was now that i was finally ready to export my music video! i exported the project in 4k with a happy heart, and when i played it after it was done, i realised that i had put the grain intensity a little too low (25%) for the flashback scenes and that the grain was barely visible in the final video despite having looked okay in the viewfinder of the editing program.

still, adjusting the grain settings to a higher intensity (50%) wasn’t really hard to do, and i just exported the project once again. this time, when i watched the music video all the way through, i was overjoyed not to find any faults in it.

tumblr_video

and finally, escape:

and that is how i finally escaped my editing bat-cave! it might’ve been one of the most stressful, awful weeks of my life where i felt my sanity slowly slipping away from me every time filmora crashed or my (brother’s) laptop shut down on me, but i finally did it, and ‘proud’ is an understatement for how i feel about the outcome of this project or myself for finishing it.

& that’s all for today!

signing off now,

rida zeeshan siddiqui 🤍

#coursework development

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