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just-a-8th-dreamer · 5 years ago

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Sun and Moon | Poly Hyewon

Request : “Can I request for some poly Hyewon? 🥺💕 scenario or anything, as long as it's them uwu 💗“

While you were waiting for your suitcase at the airport, you could already feel your heart racing in anticipation. You were in Los Angeles to see your two wonders, your two marvelous girlfriends. Since they were in the US to meet their international fans and perfom during KCON, you hadn’t seen them for few weeks and you had missed them a lot. They were always calling you when they could (Chaewon couldn’t forget this habit) and texting you till late at night but you needed more. You needed them. You were all completing eachother and you couldn’t deny that they were a part of you.

The thing is, even when you were all laying on the bed, cuddling eachother, your three hearts were beating at the same rythm, building a peaceful and unbreakable cocoon around all of you. It was the three of you against the world and nothing could change that. Hyejoo was the one who watched over it. No one could hurt her two girls or try to separate her from both you and Chaewon. No one could break what you had and If someone tried, she would be quick to shut them down and protect to all costs your relationship. On the other side, Chaewon was the one who tried to keep the balance in your relationship and always reassure Hyejoo. The dark haired girl had an overprotective side and the fact she worked with Chaewon was calming her down but for you, It was different. When It came to you, she would always turn into her tough mode because she couldn’t control what was happening. You were the one with that joyful personality and Hyejoo knew that lots of people liked to talk to you at work, making her blood boil. Chaewon was there, like a referee in football games, taking Hyejoo in her arms, trying to make her understand that nothing was happening to you and that you would never leave them. Hyejoo was the most insecure and her love for both of you was so strong that she easily felt vulnerable when she was separated from you or Chaewon.

That’s why you had a fight with her two days ago and your blonde girlfriend had tried her best to ease the tensions between the both of you but this time, Hyejoo’s anger was too violent to disappear. You fought because, as a professionnal dancer, you had to teach some moves to your trainees and Hyejoo didn’t like the fact that you had stayed late at your work to help one of them that day. Overprotective, she couldn’t stand the idea that someone were spending sometime alone with one of the love of her life. But this was one of her way to show her love. Chaewon was as jealous as Hyejoo, even worse sometimes, but she would never show it. Never except this time.

“Please understand Hyejoo” she had told you when you were on the phone with her two days ago. “We are far from you, Y/n. We can’t see you, we can’t hold you before sleeping or in the morning. We can’t defend you If someone tries to flirt with you and we are scared of loosing you because we are powerless here...Being far from you makes me sad and makes Hyejoo tensed.”

What she had said to you had made you think all night long and you had decided to surprise them on the other side of the world because your heart couldn’t take it anymore. You needed them by your side.

And here you were, smiling like a fool in the taxi that were bringing you to their hotel. During the drive, you couldn’t take your eyes off the colorful streets of the city of angels and the early californian sun was making your heart feel warm. You had lived here for five years before going to Korea to teach dance and this american oxygen made you feel ecstatic. You were already excited to see your two wonderful girls but you wanted even more to share the beauty of the californian landscape with them. You came back to reality thanks to your phone and noticed you had a message from Hyejoo. You hadn’t talk to her since your fight and couldn’t help but smile in front of the wolf emoji on your screen, next to her name.

We miss you. It’s the morning here and today, we have some free time. I would like to go to places you went when you lived here. Chaewon is wearing your hoodie every night. She says it makes her feel like both of us were holding her. I wish you could be with us right now. Sleep well, baby.

Your lips turned into a broad smile but you didn’t reply, your taxi parking in front of the hotel. You quickly took your suitcase before coming into the building. You went to the third floor and when the elevator doors opened, you were greeted by Jiwoo and Sooyoung’s smiles, as expected. They were your secret card for the surprise you prepared, telling you where they were and when you could come. You felt instantly hugged by four arms and Jiwoo couldn’t contain her excitment, jumping on the spot because she knew her friends who felt down were going to be filled with happiness. The other Loona members were in the corridor, all of them except your favorite ones and Haseul appeared in front of you.

“We are going to the amusement park near the beach so If you want to come with us later, you can text me anytime” she told you with a broad smile. “Enjoy your time with your two monsters and don’t let Hyejoo kill anyone”

She gave you a playful look before leaving with the others, Jiwoo giving you a last joyful hug before following her members. Blessed by their love and happiness, you felt warm but you suddenly remembered why you were here and your heart started to beat faster. You couldn’t contain your smile when you knocked at your girlfriends’ room door and your heart almost exploded in your chest when you saw your favorite blonde in the world.

“Don’t open Chae, I’m still naked !” you heard Hyejoo’s voice shout from the bathroom. “I swear to god If It’s Sooyoung again, I will grab a knife”

But your other girlfriend didn’t reply, frozen in front of your sight. Her eyes looked like a deer who saw some lights and you couldn’t help but laugh happily in front of her legendary facial expression when she was surprised. As If you didn’t know her, you were taken aback by her pure and delicate beauty. Her blond locks were falling on her soulders, revealing her wonderful doll’s face and her caramel eyes. She was wearing an elegant white top with cute denim shorts and a flower crown on her head, and you could tell that this californian style on her was leaving you speechless. She was holding your hoodie against her chest and you felt your heart melt because of her gesture. You were not the only one who were craving their presence.

When Chaewon came back to reality, she crashed into your arms, saying your name softly and you held her tightly.

“Please don’t cry or I will too, princess”. you whispered, feeling her sobs against the crook of your neck while you were stroking her hair.

“But you were so far from us” she only said, hiding her tears while you were holding yours. “It was too long”

You kissed her forehead, telling your angel you were here now and suddenly, Hyejoo appeared in the middle of the room. She was dressed in black ripped denim shorts with a moutarde crop top and a washed black denim jacket, the one you bought her. The second part of your heart almost bursted and when you crossed her intense gaze, you could feel the tension between the two of you. She stayed still for a few seconds, watching you as If she was processing what was happening and even If her eyes were cold, you could see a luminous spark in her eyes. She was looking at you from your feet to your head as If she was checking everything was okay and you could see her jaw clenching.

“Baby” you started but your voice cracked, your eyes full of tears that were starting to fall on your cheeks.

She shook her head and came closer with a determined approach, crashing into your arms, next to Chaewon who pulled her closer as If she wanted the three of you to make an only one person. You let both of them leaning against you, balancing their wheights with your strength as they were letting their emotions explode against your heart. Hyejoo was the only one who wasn’t crying, holding her tears in her eyes as she was holding harshly your jacket in a desperate gesture, trying not to be overwhelmed by all her emotions.

“Couldn’t you tell us you were coming” she growled against your chest.

“It wouldn’t be a surprise If I had told you” you replied with a smile, drying your tears.

“How did you find where we were ?” asked Chaewon, pulling away a little to look at you with heart eyes while Hyejoo was drying her tears with her thumb.

You were about to reply but when you crossed Hyejoo’s eyes, she laughed a little while all the three of you started to hold eachother hands.

“Sooyoung and Jiwoo” she answered with a low voice and you could see her happiness in her dark eyes.

You felt suddenly Hyejoo’s arms around you and Chaewon, pulling both of you closer, against her own chest.

“My turn” she ordered softly, kissing your forehead.

You felt relieved in your girlfriends arms, feeling Chaewon’s hand in your hair and Hyejoo’s warmth around you. You were craving their touch. You couldn’t feel filled without their bodies against yours. It was like wolves’ instinct, you needed your pack with you. Anytime, anywhere. And here you were, with the two love of your life, full of alleviation like a butterfly in Its cocoon.

______________________________________________________________

Santa Monica had always been one of your favorite place in L.A. Especially because you could enjoy the californian vibes better there, near the beach and the amusement park on the pier. You were walking next to the sand, Chaewon’s arm in yours, Hyejoo a little futher ahead from both of you, trying to skate with your longboard you had brought in your luggage. A memory from your west coast’s life.

“You know If she falls, you might never see your board again” giggled Chaewon, squeezing your forearm.

“I know but If she falls, she might start pouting and acting like the baby she is, wanting us to take care of her” you sneered. “I am ready to take the risk”

Hearing Chaewon’s laughter was a melody to your hears and her shining smile made your heart race.

“You’re really the smartest” she told you before resting her head on your shoulder, still walking, while Hyejoo was coming back.

She noticed both of you were smiling and she furrowed her eyebrows.

“What are you two planning ?” she asked, pretending to be suspicious.

Chaewon shook her head with excitment before kissing her cheek quickly and running to the candy seller while you were waiting for her.

“She is really happy” whispered Hyejoo, taking your hand in hers, your board under her other arm. “So am I”

Her voice was low and you knew she really meant all of her words with that soft tone.

“Baby” you told her but she squeezed your hand.

“I’m sorry about what I said during our fight” she continued. “I felt so desperate without you, I couldn’t control my anger”

You nodded, giving her a smile and drowning into her wolf gaze. She was so beautiful in the sunlight, her dark hair revealing her red so kissable lips. How could you be with two pieces of art ?

“You are always mad when I’m gone” you declared, teasing her a little and she was fighting a smile.

“You are ours, Y/n, that’s all” she told you, her face becoming serious. “We can’t live without you, I won’t let that happen”

Your felt butterflies flying in your stomach and you blushed because of her deep voice while she was saying those words. Hyejoo brought your hand to her mouth, kissing each one of your knuckles, her eyes in yours.

“I couldn’t wait anymore” you admitted while Chaewon was coming back with a pineapple granita. “I was lost without both of my princesses”

Chaewon’s lips turned into a broad smile, her eyes shining in front of your confession and her cheeks turning pink. Hyejoo sneered, giving you one of her wonderdul amused grin.

“You”re flirting” she said and you could tell she was shy about it, her ears redening. “I’m not a princess though”

“Of course you are, a dark one but still a princess” you replied with a laugh.

Hyejoo raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms, ready to debate. Suddenly, Chaewon, coming out her quiet mood, took the dark haired girl’s hat off her head before putting it on you. She then placed her flower crown on Hyejoo’s hair, tilted her head with impatience.

“Well you are a princess now” she told her, sighing playfully. “Can we eat now ?”

Both you and Hyejoo bursted in laughter in front of the queen’s order and she offered you to taste the drink. When you saw Chaewon’s grimace after taking a sip, you weren’t confident but you wouldn’t say no to the prettiest blonde in the world. As expected, It was really sour and you pinched your lips, your tongue trying to accomodate to the taste. You gave Chaewon a look full of complicity, both of you watching carefully at Hyejoo’s reaction. But she didn’t react at all, keeping her legendary emotionless face and the blonde next to you widened her eyes.

“Come on, stop pretending to be badass” you laughed, hitting softly Hyejoo’s shoulder, Chaewon imitating you. “It’s too sour to stay still”

“You both are too sensitive, that’s all” Hyejoo replied, shrugging. “And if you want to hit me, at least do it with your lips” she added with a low voice.

There was a game between the three of you : making the others shy by flirting or teasing them. You were one of the best player but Hyejoo won this time ; you and Chaewon were flustered. Both of you blushed and the girl with triangle shaped mouth ran a hand in her pretty hair, before grinning victoriously. You felt your heart pounding against your chest because of the sight in front of you. Chaewon and Hyejoo fighting playfully, their hair flying thanks to the soft wind and their beauty overwhelming the horizons. If you could have drawn the scene, you would have. They were your happiness. You couldn’t dream for better. And they were making each moment of your life filled with love and joy. The blonde girl with her elegant laughter, the dark haired girl with her deep gaze. The older girl with her girly attitude and the younger with her bad girl expression. Chaewon and her sudden amounts of excitment, coming from nowhere. Hyejoo and her secret adoration for cuddling activities. Chaewon and her mom side, Hyejoo and her baby side. Your heart was beating for them. They were all you wanted. All you needed. Your sun and moon. You had what you had never imagine you could have. That’s why ou couldn’t stay quiet in front of them.

“I love you”, you let out, a little smile on your lips.

Your girlfriends instantly froze and turned to you, their eyes shining and looking at you lovingly. They always had told you that they loved you and you never really return the words except when you were texting them. Hearing those words from you made them feel as If their chests were to tiny for their hearts. The words were so meaningful for you and they could feel It. They were speechless, looking at you as If you were a treasure before coming into your arms.

“My two wonders” you whispered. “Have you lost your tongues ?” you added, laughing a little.

“Fine, you won” replied Hyejoo, her face against one side of your neck while Chaewon was against the other. “Stop ruining this moment now, Y/n-ahh”

#Loona #loona scenarios #loona reactions #hyejoo #chaewon #olivia hye #Go Won #hyewon #girl group scenarios #kpop scenarios

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syndicalcrossing · 4 years ago

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Optimisation Headaches

I am enjoying the development of Syndical Crossing immensely, but the process is presenting its fair share of difficulties. I want the game to look good, at least within the aesthetics of my visual style. I like chunky, blocky graphics. They soothe and comfort me.

I am altering the height of the terrain programmatically based on a runtime-loaded greyscale height map, and then texturing it by extending the excellent Terrain Toolkit written by the talented and generous Heparo. I have already run up against the limitations of Unity’s built-in terrain features, it would seem.

The sun is setting as I work on this, reflected in the fog and lighting of the screenshot above. The FPS counter in the upper right reveals a less-than-optimal 59 frames per second, although the FPS appear to vary wildly, between 142 on the high end and an embarrassing 15 on the low end. As you can see the scene is bare bones, containing only the terrain, my avatar and some water.

Using Unity’s frame debugger, I have been able to deduce that the Pixel Error attribute of the terrain is a primary component contributing to the number of draw calls it requests. The higher the fidelity, the higher the batch overhead, which makes sense. The above screenshot represents a pixel error of 25. The higher the number, the fewer the batches but the uglier the terrain. At a pixel error of 5, the terrain requests up to 700 draw calls by itself.

That will not be tenable, to say nothing of the fact that even at that resolution, the terrain doesn’t look anything approaching the gorgeous landscape of ACNH.

I have made my peace that Syndical Crossing will not attempt to replicate the visual resolution of ACNH, as I am one person and I like things low-poly. Still, I find myself striving for better looking terrain.

To that end, I have started toying around with generating a mesh myself, with mixed results. It would require writing a triplanar shader to achieve the same look as the screenshot above, which would be fun to be sure. Still, dynamic mesh generation is not my forté, so I am hemming and hawing as to its utility. Sometimes I like the look of my jaggy terrain, sometimes I don’t.

All par for the course in game dev.

#game dev #syndical crossing #devlog #unity #terrain #optimisation

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pixelrender · 5 years ago

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My 5 genres of video games

I used to spend my time on a variety of games from AAA open world titles to small flash tower defense games. I’m still quite fond of many of these games and Kingdom Rush in particular has a special place in my heart as the smoothest tower defense game I’ve ever played. I got obsessed over niche genres from time to time too. I had a short period, in which I read many articles on hg101. Naturally, I got super interested in shmups back then. I still like to play a simple free shmup from time to time, but I avoid more difficult entries these days and I can’t call myself a hardcore fan of the genre.

For the longest time I was big on RPGs and Boiware in particular. I loved Dragon Age and I still plan getting my hands on Inquisition one day. I need to replay Mass Effect 2 and finally finish the trilogy. Baldur’s Gate is still on my shortlist of games to finish and Jade Empire is one of my favourite underrated games to recommend. There were other RPGs than those from Bioware too. Gothic 3 probably qualifies for the game I spent most time with as completing it took me half a year. I still like low fiction of Gothic series and admire compact worlds of the first two games and Risen. Oblivion is my favourite roaming game. The best part about it was bumping into a small settlement in the middle of nature and just be there. The last not least I should mention RPG Maker. I developed few small games in it and I still sometimes work on three more. 2 of them are actual RPGs. I played and enjoyed many RM games, some of them epic fantasies. So, why is this genre only a honorable mention? I don’t find myself as attracted to it and its power fantasies as I used to. I don’t have time for sprawling epic and there are certain strategy games fulfilling my lust for medieval and characters better. The two basic premises of RPGs aren’t as interesting for me as they used to be. I don’t really care about hero’s journey narrative and I’m little bored with basic mechanics. For example leveling up can be such a chore.

Now my choices are way narrower than they used to be. I still play other games and especially hobbyist and micro RPGs, which might enter my top 5 one day. These are the five genres I purposely follow, build up libraries or knowledge of their game design and talk about on Discord the most.

1. Non-linear platformers

I enjoy myself a good metroidvania. There’s only one thing, which makes a foggy, rainy better. It’s not alcohol. Also, I used term non-linear platformers on purpose. I enjoy sideview platforming and not every metroidvania’s that. There are many different movements and some of them are less fun and there are 3d games, which use Metroid inspired progression. Also, I haven’t played a single Metroid or Castlevania proper. I don’t have any excuse for the travesty. Ok, not being a console guy might give you an explanation of my situation. And with so many likes and clones on steam, I have enough to eat through without touching emulators.

I enjoy the genre’s level design in particular. I think that adding multiple layers and making souls inspired timing based combat or adding too many rpg elements rarely helps. Movement’s still the core. Upgrades/progression is at its best, when focused on obtaining new ways of movement and not stronger weapons. Clever boss fights are always important, but I prefer them to be a puzzle rather than an endurance competition. I have a huge, almost endless list of metroidvanias to play and to base my own one on.

2. Walking simulators

Sometimes I just need to turn off. Games in general are a good resting activity, walking sims and ambient games take it little further. And I usually feel enriched by playing them. I don’t feel like an overgrown child. Walking around studying original aesthetic of their creators. It’s a dialogue, in which I confront and reflect their approach to architecture and aesthetics They are definitely better enjoyed on a big screen with proper audio and smooth performance. They’re quite power hungry as even low poly ones are usually 3d. That’s a problem with my current hardware and software. In general I enjoy low poly and minimalist walking sims the most. They tend to focus more on composition.

Almost walking sims present you with a sense of wonder. You explore unknown and often massive lands. They should let you find your own way, but some of there are more focused and lead. Even if the land’s strange, it’s for the better when it rings a sense of familiar. Going cheap surreal isn’t the way. Landscapes in walking sims can be way weirder than Dali, but they should have their own nature. Walking sims are usually very slow. There’s no activity besides walking, maybe you can pick up an item. Sometimes, you follow a story. It’s hard to define a hard border, where walking sims end and other genres start. Gone Home is about something completely else than pure walking sims, but I still enjoy it for its pacing and ambiance. That brings it very close. Curtain certainly isn’t a walking sim, but the way you move around the apartment and then walk through a corridor to bend time is very much close to timeless scenes of walking sims.

3. Art games - game art

This is a difficult category to define. Art games are usually aiming for more than entertainment. They’re deeper with references to other media or filled with social critique. Having fun sometimes feels bad in them. Game art is even more difficult to define. To put it simply, it’s usually a piece of art using games as its medium. It can have a form of an interactive executable or weird modification of an existing game but the artistic concept is more important than it being a working game. In terms of mechanics, this is a diverse group and vague one, when it comes to game design. Here I can learn from areas more relevant in the real world. They often take on philosophy, ethics, politics, aesthetics and other fields I’m interested in more than in violence and loot.

Some game are clear art games. An easy example is Kentucky Route Zero, which despite it’s artsy nature is clearly defined by its mechanics and sense of progress. The other example from my favourite games would be Little Party. This one’s lighter on mechanics, but it tells a very subtle and civil story and it uses art and creativity more than being a product of it. Proteus would be my personal borderline example. The game’s about complementing and its island are small art pieces. This is actually very close to an ambient video installation and could be considered game art.

4. Turn based strategy games

Games my brain enjoys the most. I get satisfaction from solving. Solving concrete situations of strategy games is closer to me than abstract puzzles and logic games in general. Into the Breach is close to the latter in terms of mechanics but I love it, because it’s not cold, it makes me feel and every time I fail and an enemy hits one of the cities, I stop breathing for a moment. It makes me feel heroic to put one of my mechs in front of houses and almost sacrifice its pilot to save those lives.

There’s a huge influence of Heroes of Might and Magic. That game has many flaws, but its pace is perfect. Battles are usually either swift of epic. Heroes were my first love and I still fondly return to them from time to time. They’re not as challenging or complex as most tactics/strategy games, but they’re perfect rewarding fun. I only left them as my default turn based strategy to branch out. Series like Civilization and Warlock are building more consistent worlds. Especially in Civ its super fast turns and ties to the real world’s history make it a captivating game, in which you need to strategize on several fronts at once. Tactics are the second path I currently follow. There are closer to RPGs, but for reason your characters becoming stronger makes more sense here. It’s often because you can lose them and losing a level 10 character hurts more. I enjoy the small scale of tactics games too. The smaller the better. Again it’s a game design challenge of going further without sacrificing complexity.

5. Grand strategy games

I wonder how longer this one sticks. I love engrossing myself in Paradox games, losing track of real for weeks and becoming weirdo obsessed with my own history of the world. But it’s weird and disconnecting and you can’t talk about it with your friends, because explaining it is impossible. You can share some stories with fellow grand strategy players, but it’s not difficult to realize the weird nerdness of the company.

So, what’s so good about them? They simulate politics on a world-wide level with an amount of realism, which just feels right. You can change history, but only within borders set up by Paradox. For example you can conquer France as an Aztec, but it stays France. Shapes are the same, systems too. This shade of reality makes fiction in Crusader Kings, Europa Universalis, Victoria and other games much more easy to engage with. That’s also why I find Stellaris boring. Leaving reality, there’s nothing to compare your fiction with. It renders my choices irrelevant and different developments have same impact on me. Multiplayer probably changes this.

Civilization is far less complex than grand strategy games. It’s simple and easy to explain and to change. Yet it keeps certain connection to the real world and it has great modding scene. There isn’t an infinite number of expansions for it, which would make it bloated with features. And one run lasts a lot less. Civ isn’t a simulation, it’s still a very long puzzle. One day, I will only stick with one of the two. Now It looks better for Sid Mayer than Paradox.

Pictures are from following games: Caged Bird Dont Fly Caught in a Wire Sing Like a Good Canary Come When Called, Gunmetal Arcadia, Mura Toka (1 and 2), Morphblade, Victoria 2

#feature #genres

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rolypolywl · 5 years ago

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Hello, and welcome to Roly-Poly weight loss. I’m your host, Roly-Poly.

Welcome to day 33!

Today we are continuing our assessment of factors that you need to consider for your lowercase-d diet. And today’s factor is number 2 - your environment!

Now, this, in combining the lists, I have broken down into three subfactors. The first is an abundance of food. The second is sedentary snacking, and the third is aggressive marketing. So we’ll go through those in order.

Now, environment tends to tie in with genetics, as you saw last time. It is hard to talk about the one without the other. This is something that comes up in the WebMD article, as Dr Li says so pithily: “Genetics load the gun, environment pulls the trigger.”

Last time I touched on how, while you get your genetics from your parents, you also get a portion of your environment from your parents. Harvard Health elaborates. “Childhood habits often stick with people for the rest of their lives. Kids who drink sugary sodas and eat high-calorie, processed foods develop a taste for these products and continue eating them as adults, which tends to promote weight gain. Likewise, kids who watch television and play video games instead of being active may be programming themselves for a sedentary future.”

The Explained docuseries’s Dr. Christopher Gardner agrees that genetics and environment are linked: ““One of the things we also know is that genetics haven’t changed appreciably over the last 30 years that have corresponded with the rise of the obesity epidemic.” Our genes may not have changed much, but our food environment has.”

This is something that we touched on last time, from “Why are We Getting So Fat?” Dr. Giles Yeo said, “In the developed world, we’ve never had so much available to eat, and so little to do. In the last 20 years, the number of Take-Aways has soared. And research has shown that living and working near a high density of Take-Away outlets doubles your liklihood of being obese.”

So we talked about how this relates to your genetic inclination for obesity, but on its own, purely as an environmental factor, that is a huge statistic. You are basically twice as likely to be obese if you live in a fast-food saturated environment!

But this statistic isn’t as straightforward as it seems. The prevalence of fast food ties in to food availability. As Healthline notes, “Food, especially junk food, is everywhere now. Shops display tempting foods where they are most likely to gain your attention. Another problem is that junk food is often cheaper than healthy, whole foods, especially in America.”

Junky fast food is usually cheaper than a more healthy alternative. For example, a place like Souplantation, where you can have a large salad and other healthier choices, costs $10 for lunch, not counting a drink. And more than that for dinner.

On the other hand, I can get a 5-dollar-fill-up at KFC, or a combo at Taco Bell for 5-6 dollars, and those include drinks! So I can feed two people fast food for the same price as one person at a Souplantation.

Sure, the fast food is less healthy, but sometimes cost is the more crucial factor.

Of course, it also bears asking if your local environment even has a place like a Souplantation. There are only about 100 Souplantations across the country - though I’m sure there are similar types of restaurants. Even if we take Southern California, where Souplantation originated, as the most prevalent location, there are just a dozen in the San Diego area and one in LA. In contrast, there are over 5,000 Taco Bells in the country, with almost 1,000 of those in California. Over 50 are in San Diego and LA alone. And that’s nothing on McDonald’s, which has almost 14,000 locations in the US!

So what is more likely to be close to you? The cheap, ubiquitous, unhealthy option, or the expensive, rare, healthy option?

Now, tied in to this is food deserts, which is probably a term you’ve heard of. And also a term you probably haven’t heard of, which is food swamps.

So a food desert is a location where people don’t have ready access to supermarkets or other sources of fresh, healthy food. The general notion is that these people only have access to fast food or convenience store-type food, and that getting to a supermarket to get fresh food, either because of distance or because of lack of transportation, is unreasonable.

Now, the Washington Post has a very intriguing article on this. “The idea that areas that lack of access to a full-service supermarket — a.k.a. food deserts — promoted obesity “made theoretical sense,” Dubowitz says. And it was a testable thesis. So, it got tested! Scientists looked closely at the relationship grocery access has to obesity, and tracked changes to obesity and other health outcomes in low-access neighborhoods that got a new supermarket. It turns out that grocery access doesn’t correlate cleanly with obesity, and a new grocery store is unlikely to make a dent in obesity rates. And those results came up in study after study after study.”

This is where we try to fight against misinformation. Now, this research does not suggest that food deserts are unimportant, by any means. Access to healthy food would certainly have an impact on anyone’s lowercase-d diet. But science has shown no direct correlation to obesity.

For example, the Washington Post author notes, “The obesity needle might not move, but Dubowitz found that the new supermarket she studied, in Pittsburgh, was associated with several smaller changes. Study participants reported eating a little better — less sugar, fewer calories. People felt better about living in the neighborhood. None of this was specifically attributable to the supermarket, as people who didn’t shop at it reported the same changes as those who did, but it raises the possibility that a supermarket can help improve a neighborhood in ways that go beyond food access. It brings jobs, and could pave the way for more investment. It can make the area feel safer.”

Solving the food desert problem can certainly help people, but it won’t automatically cure obesity.

And when you think about that a little further, that makes sense. If your habit is to go to the convenience store to get your ramen and soda or whatever, and your taste buds are attuned to that kind of food, and maybe you have a double FTO risk variant that makes you crave those foods, and the existence of the supermarket in your food environment isn’t going to instantly change all of your other factors.

Which the article agrees with. “Step back, and look at how much has changed in our food environment over the past several decades. We’re navigating a landscape of diabolically irresistible food specifically designed to swamp our willpower, both by being engineered for deliciousness and by being available everywhere we turn. In that context, it makes sense that simply moving a produce section into the neighborhood won’t change much.”

This said, there is a journal article archived in the National Library of Medicine that poses an interesting distinction. They introduce - at least to me - the term “Food swamp.” As they explain, “Food swamps have been described as areas with a high-density of establishments selling high-calorie fast food and junk food, relative to healthier food options.”

Now this, you can see, is subtly different from a food desert, which deals specifically with a lack of good options. A swamp might have good food options, but they are overwhelmed by junk options. And this is just like what Dr. Yeo was talking about before, with people who live in a place with a high density of fast food outlets, or Take Aways.

And the journal’s authors agree! “Our results suggest that the presence of a food swamp is a stronger predictor of obesity rates than the absence of full-service grocery stores. We found, even after controlling for food desert effects, food swamps have a positive, statistically significant effect on adult obesity rates.”

They do offer one caveat, though, in that future studies should find a way “to adjust for the possibility that obese adults choose to live in neighborhoods that are food swamps.” So it might be an issue of which came first: the chicken or the egg kind of thing here.

But, cause and effect aside, if you live in a food swamp, you should consider that when forming your food plan. Likewise, if you live in a food desert that will also be a consideration, but in subtly different ways.

Okay, so the next sub-factor is sedentary snacking. This I touched on earlier, when talking about how we can even get fast food delivered now, for the absolute minimum amount of effort!

So far we’ve largely been talking about environment as something outside of the house, but Harvard Health makes a point that your inside environment and habits are also important. They note, “The average American watches about four hours of television per day, a habit that's been linked to overweight or obesity in a number of studies. [...] People with overweight and obesity spend more time watching television and playing video games than people of normal weight. Watching television more than two hours a day also raises the risk of overweight in children, even in those as young as three years old.”

Now, you might assume that this ties in to exercise. If you’re watching TV, you’re not being active. Or, conversely, if you’re not watching TV, you might do something active instead.

But the study referenced by Harvard Health points to a different reasoning. “Studies show that eating food in front of the TV stimulates people to eat more calories, and particularly more calories from fat. In fact, a study that limited the amount of TV kids watched demonstrated that this practice helped them lose weight — but not because they became more active when they weren't watching TV. The difference was that the children ate more snacks when they were watching television than when doing other activities, even sedentary ones.”

So something about the environment of watching TV, even compared to other sedentary activities like reading or sewing, leads to snacking, and potentially becoming overweight.

Another thing that might influence TV-related snacking is advertising. Though many people stream their TV now, and avoid advertisements, so it can’t be wholly responsible. But just watching a few minutes of commercials on TV will give you an abundance of food ads.

Harvard Health concurs, and expands on this. “Food advertisements also may play a significant role. The average hour-long TV show features about 11 food and beverage commercials, which encourage people to eat.”

Healthline points out that these ads are not exactly innocuous. “Junk food producers are very aggressive marketers. Their tactics can get unethical at times and they sometimes try to market very unhealthy products as healthy foods. These companies also make misleading claims. What’s worse, they target their marketing specifically towards children.”

Science Daily has a fascinating article about this. “Health-related buzzwords, such as "antioxidant," "gluten-free" and "whole grain," lull consumers into thinking packaged food products labeled with those words are healthier than they actually are, according to a new research study conducted by scholars at the University of Houston (UH).”

The study looked at the degree to which we consumers can be fooled by these kinds of buzzwords by showing them actual marketing images that included them, and then photoshopped versions that removed the “healthy” words. “It found that consumers tend to view food products labeled with health-related euphemisms as healthier than those without them. The research also showed that the nutrition facts panels printed on food packaging as required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration do little to counteract that buzzword marketing.”

So that last part, about the nutrition facts panels, is, I think, more telling than the buzzwords on the fronts. They showed two labels at a time and had the study participants pick the one they perceived as “healthier.” “"Food marketers say there are nutritional labels, so people can find out what's healthy and what's not," he said. "Findings from this research study indicate people aren't very good at reading nutritional labels even in situations where they are choosing between salmon and Spam. Approximately 20 percent picked Spam as the healthier option over salmon," said Northup.”

So 20% of the people who looked at these labels were confused or mislead about the actual health benefits of the contents. That’s kind of scary!

Why is it so scary to me? Because those labels aren’t as good as we think they are, even if we are reading them correctly! US News and World Report explains this in their article.

“Unfortunately, Nutrition Facts labels are not always factual. For starters, the law allows a pretty lax margin of error—up to 20 percent—for the stated value versus actual value of nutrients. In reality, that means a 100-calorie pack could, theoretically, contain up to 120 calories and still not be violating the law. The same margin of error goes for other nutrients as well.”

As they point out, for diabetics who are counting carbs, or people with high blood pressure who are counting their sodium, or anyone else counting a specific aspect from the labels, this “margin of error” can be a huge problem.

They go into specific detail about Vitamin A and iron content - two nutrients that are often outside of the 20% margin of error - pointing out several problematic labels. My favorite is the one for a cereal that supposedly gains 5% the daily amount of iron when you add milk, which doesn’t have iron in it. That’s a neat magic trick!

They offer “a rule of thumb: unless a packaged, non-meat food is iron-fortified—in which case, the word "iron" would appear in the ingredient list—any label's claim to have more than 10 percent of the daily value for iron per serving should be viewed with great suspicion.”

The problem with these labels is that, as US News explains, “The FDA has never established a systematic, random label-auditing process, and compliance with the law is expected to be self-enforced by food manufacturers.”

And, of course, why would they want to tell us anything bad? Or anything less than ideal? It’s almost enough to make you not trust the labels or food manufacturers at all!

And if they aren’t truthful on their labels, why would their commercials be any different? We’ve all heard the “part of a balanced breakfast” lie, or seen the teeny tiny fine print on the bottom of a commercial and not bothered to pause and get a magnifying glass and read it. This all ties in, again, to that “misinformation” factor that we’ve touched on throughout.

And this is all a part of the environment of food around us that can contribute to obesity.

So it is important to keep all of these things in mind when you’re considering your lowercase-d diet plan and just what is around you.

This has been Roly Poly Weight loss. As always, I am your host, Roly Poly. Use the hashtag #Food Advertising to share any crazy commercials or labels you’ve seen!

And please join me next time!

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waynekelton · 5 years ago

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The Best (And Worst) Auto Chess Games on Android and iOS

Dota Auto Chess is being heralded as “the next big thing” after its meteoric rise back in January 2019. While It hasn't quite managed to surpass the Battle Royale craze just yet, its potential has yet to be fully realised. Just as we saw with the Puzzle, MOBA, and Battle Royale genres in the past; clones, copycats, and tributes are quick to spring up across gaming landscape.

If you gave Dota Auto Chess a shot and have always wanted the option to play on the go, mobile is finally stepping up to the plate to deliver just that. The genre is spreading on PC thanks to Riot Games and even Valve itself. But with such lacklustre vetting processes on mobile, there are at least 5 cash-grab clones for every decent attempt at mimicking the formula. We've gone through the best and worst Auto Chess variants mobile has to offer right now, and we're ready to give some recommendations (and some hard passes).

And you needn’t worry about price. All 'Auto-Battler' games (legitimate or otherwise) are Free-to-Play. These things make their money through cosmetic micro-transactions like board skins and avatars – there’s nothing we’ve found so far that lets you spend real money to have an in-game advantage, which the way it’s meant to be done.

Those that don’t follow this model gain swift admittance into our 'Ones to Avoid' section.

Dota Underlords

Developer: Valve Platforms: iOS Universal, Android (PC, Mac)

In an unusual display of vigour, Valve have been anything but lax in getting their own, 'official' Auto Chess take out the door and into the hands of players. Available in beta across all platforms, Valve have essentially built on the original Dota Auto Chess mod and put their own unique spin on things. From little changes like bench size and how the various synergies work, to their own take on monetisation, ranking and an offline mode, Dota Underlords sports a fully functional tutorial, robust AI play, as well the ability to seamlessly transition a game between PC and Mobile.

While it's still early days yet, this is our favourite mobile version of the Auto Chess games so far, mainly because Valve have put a lot of thought into addressing many of the usability and quality of life issues the original game had on both PC and mobile (although, Drodo isn't slouching there either). It's really the offline play that cinches it - not only can you play against different difficulty levels, you can completely disable the round-timers so that you can take your time as you learn the ropes of Valve's blend of Auto-Battler. Anyone who's been wary in getting caught up in knock-offs or clones may also feel starting here a safer bet, before looking at some of the others below.

Auto Chess: Origin

Developer: Dragonest Game/Drodo Platforms: iOS Universal, Android

If you were quick to the scene on Android and assumed Auto Chess by Dragonest to be nothing but a Chinese copycat, you'd be forgiven. It happens with website domains all the time. But in actuality, this is the ‘OG’ Auto Chess game that started it all. It comes from the same developers - Drodo. Washing itself of its Dota roots, Auto Chess (or Auto Chess: Origin as it’s now known on iOS) is the real deal.

Separating from its Dota foundation means Auto Chess: Origin no longer has access to familiar assets like sounds and models. So, while you might recognize its logo from the original PC version, you’ll find a pretty different looking game when you fire it up, with humour that might seem a little too juvenile for some. If you can get passed that, you’ll find a mobile replacement almost exactly the same as the PC version minus the obvious (and better suited) touch interface. It's added new pieces since first launching, and is also now starting to experiment with new game modes to try and stand-out from the competition.

Arena Allstars

Developer: Match Set Games Platforms: iOS Universal, Android

This is another recent newcomer, Arena Allstars is as innovative as it is kinda lazy. 'Optimised for mobile' returns as a selling-point, although in this game's case it's basically true - quicker matches, a vertical UI and lots of information on hand to help you figure out what's what. You'll notice on the screens everything from front-and-centre synergy guides, and you can even tap on your income to get a breakdown as to whether it's all coming from (Notice Interest makes a return in this game). Levelling up is also nice and seamless, and space concerns are addressed by allowing you to stack the same pieces together (provided they are of the same tier).

Other than that though, you'll kind of recognise all the playing pieces. Even that ability that fires a ship made of water at your opponents is in there. It's also got the typical back-end progression and monetisation offerings that most of the others have. I'd say despite it's laziness some of the quality of life features make it worth a potential migration, or at least checking out.

Chess Rush

Developer: Tencent Games Platforms: iOS Universal, Android

Tencent being one of the 'big names' in Chinese videogame publishing, it makes sense that they'd try and push out their own version of Auto Chess - which makes the partnership with Drodo over OG Auto Chess a bit odd. Come to think of it, Imba are also partnered with Drodo, and they've got their own game on this list as well. The Auto Chess Wars are weird. Anyway, Chess Rush might as well be a carbon copy clone of Auto Chess: Origins. It's got pretty much all the same features, and the heroes are very similar in a lot of respects apart from extra/different types and synergies. It's also got a slightly more in-your-face free-to-play economy in the sense that it keeps throwing free resources at you but it's largely harmless.

I'm recommending this one because it's a prettier looking alternative to Auto Chess: Origin - the production values are actually surprisingly good, with nice visuals, and a neat little intro into every match. I suspect Tencent have more resources to draw on than Drodo does so if you're looking for something that's likely iterate and polish at a decent rate, this might be an alternative. It's currently experimenting with a 4x4 mode, after having just introduced Co-op to the game, and is proving to be a bit quicker in terms of pushing out iterations and new ideas.

Arena of Evolutions: Red Tides

Developer: HERO Game Platforms: iOS Universal, Android

Now this is what we're talking about. A grittier, more sci-fi take on the Auto Chess formula. With some moody splash artwork and even a full-fledged opening movie to boot, our first thought when firing up this game was just how quickly the company must have got the ball rolling when Dota Auto Chess originally broke onto the scene.

Everything about Arena of Evolution: Red Tides screams respectable production value. If you're trying to avoid being called out as a clone, this is the way to do it. The units don't always match the space war vibe the opening movie sets up (thank you, kung-fu panda), but there's a nice variety of unique characters to pick up and play with. If you're not into multiplayer, AI brawls will still give anyone but the pros a decent (and welcoming) challenge. If you're looking for a more mature Auto Chess experience, this is a solid recommendation over the official counterpart. Everything from the chess board – which is less a board and more a stone battlefield – to the crude iron fence separating the brawl from your bench screams quality in the face of what comes next.

Auto Chess Legends

Developer: Imba/Suga Platforms: iOS Universal, Android

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This one was down for maintenance when we first tried to test it out. It wasn't a good look, and we honestly thought the game was just dead on arrival… Turned out we were wrong! It fired up without a hitch the next day and was a pleasant surprise. There's a clean UI and most of the of the details you'd come to expect from a game of Auto Chess, but without an AI mode after the initial tutorial, it might scare off newcomers looking to practice before diving into the real thing. It's a little sparse of the extra game modes, but at least the developers found the time to offer micro-transaction goodies, right?

While it starts off looking like one of those cheap mobile ads on a dodgy website, Auto Chess Legends is one of the better made alternatives out there. Nowhere near the same level of depth and detail of the above games, but enough to avoid the bucket list below.

Ones To Avoid

We're not going to call out the lack of direct competition on the app stores right now. After all, Auto Chess isn't even a year old. But what we will call out are deplorable cash grabs siphoning the Auto Chess name and bewildering any curious mind that dares search for the next big thing. These games aren't vying for your time at all – just your money. They function mostly the same as any other Auto Battler game would, albeit for once little thing – they're all pay to win. Avoid these unless you're looking for the quick and easy route to learn the fundamentals of the game.

Heroes Auto Chess

Developer: Tap2Play LLC Platforms: iOS/Android

The first of the lot we tested out, Heroes Auto Chess is one of the better efforts of the bunch – but it's still pretty gnarly. Its low-poly art-style is reminiscent of old Steam shovelware riding the 'voxel' hype train. Hop into a match, however, and the quality starts to rapidly deteriorate further. It's a very basic take on Auto Chess, with no notable polish. Units lack personality as they're absolutely mute, while battles are nothing more than a slight wiggle animation with a cheap stock sword clash sound playing out every second or two.

Then comes the worst part – you can forgo any need for actual strategy by watching an ad to re-roll and buy additional units in the shop. Not cool. With only three slots on the bench, there's very little actually strategy to be had here, anyway. Without the ads, we could let Heroes Auto Chess slide as a decent way to introduce the game to a far younger audience. Accept donations or charge for skins by all means, but don't nullify the whole point of your game just to make 1c on an ad click. You're better than that.

AutoChess War

Developer: Phoenix Mobile/Chengdu Phoenix Electronic Arts Co. Limited Platforms: iOS/Android

We wanted to like this one, but it flops out of the gate a little too soon. AutoChess War looked promising – and actually could be if development keeps up – but what little it does is quickly soured yet again by in-game ads. A unique Adventure mode is a nice little touch. It doesn't really add much to the Auto Chess formula (aside from the horizontal board), but it does separate the game into bite-sized rounds you can drop in and out of at will, making the game more commute-friendly. When you're at home, the Endless Challenge mode can be a good way to test out some strategies. But you'll need to play another game entirely to actually execute them against another player.

Auto Chess Defense

Developer: Phoenix Mobile/Chengdu Phoenix Electronic Arts Co. Limited Platforms: iOS/Android

The first thing I noticed is that this one calls itself Auto Chess Mobile in game. Looks like someone paid for a logo a little too soon. Diving deeper, Auto Chess Defense (Mobile?) feels like a game you would have found on the original iPhone. The first app of its kind. While that would have been a glowing recommendation back in 2007, it's the worst kind of criticism you can have in 2019. We appreciate the option to skip straight into battle rather than waiting on a laborious timer, but, again, the ads creep in the sour the experience.

Seen any other games worthy of people's attention, or ones they should definitely avoid? Let us know in the comments!

The Best (And Worst) Auto Chess Games on Android and iOS published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

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savingcontent · 6 years ago

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ISLANDERS is the answer to the question, “what’s the one game you’d bring to a deserted island?” There’s nothing else that’d be more appropriate. ISLANDERS is an endlessly replayable game that’s a satisfying city builder. The game bills itself as minimal, but don’t mistake that for simple. There’s still depth and nuance to the gameplay, and it’s an absolute delight to play no matter how much time you’re able to put into it.

This bite-sized, low poly game is extremely colorful and vibrant. By extension of its look, ISLANDERS offers a quiet, serene place to build up your cities. Now, you won’t find any people or cars, rather more primitive architecture. It has character and personality through the colors, buildings, and islands they take place on. There are varied biomes which offer different looks like deserts, tropics, snowy mountains, and even archipelagos. Hardcore purists are likely to bounce off of this, but this is not who that game is made for. This is for those who usually stray away from city builders, it couldn’t be more inviting. ISLANDERS is like every city builder you’ve played before, yet not.

There’s no economy, no micromanaging, nobody to appease here. There is a point system, and a threshold alongside your own desires, but the minimalism continues. You’ll always be offered a choice between two packs, and there’s some knowledge that has to be gained to make an informed decision, in which you’ll have in just a few games time. These packs can be buildings that have a focus on lumber, city, shaman, or farming. Though that’s only a sampling. They get more focused as you grow, offering towers, fountains, and plateaus to extend what is likely very little space to build on existing land. You’ll have an inventory that you can hold on to packs for later. There’s no persistence, so city designs and progress on one island does not carry on to the next.

ISLANDERS is a low-key score chase game. Points are a key to success as placement is. Even a duplicate of a certain type of building like a temple or a circus can subtract points, ultimately ending a run too early or increasing the complexity to make it to the next point threshold. The game does great at not only displaying a radius of the object you’re going to drop, but the point value you’ll get, to include any points subtracted or added. While the information is minimal, it’s exactly what you need without much guesswork. Once placed, points refill your inventory of building pack choices to continue.

Once you’ve reached the necessary points to move to a new island, you can stay and move forward with the current one, or you can start anew. You can’t ever go back, but each island feels wholly unique and special, and is sometimes hard to let them go. New islands are the same in terms of biomes, but the layout is different each time you visit them. Once you run out of building packs on an island, there’s nothing else you can do there except move on. So long as you haven’t run short of the points needed to start the next island, you can keep going. This is the cycle of ISLANDERS, it somehow maintains your interest even though you’re starting over in new places all while trying to build up a score.

#gallery-0-4 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-4 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-4 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-4 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

At five dollars, ISLANDERS is a steal. What it lacks in permanence, it more than makes up for in replayability thanks to its point system for score chasers and procedurally generated landscapes. I only wish I could zoom in to get a better look at what I’ve made, but that’s a quibble against something really fantastic and cool. Beyond that, this is a game I keep coming back to for how laid back it is, for it relaxes me between games I’m playing. ISLANDERS is simply wonderful, a micro game for macro enjoyment.

A Steam code was provided by the publisher for review purposes

ISLANDERS Review ISLANDERS is the answer to the question, "what's the one game you'd bring to a deserted island?" There's nothing else that'd be more appropriate.

#GrizzlyGames #ISLANDERS #PC #Reviews #Steam

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robbieplatt · 7 years ago

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Critical Evaluation

With the project at a close I will look at what I have done and how it measures against the initial idea and criteria I set out for myself to achieve.

Aims of project:

- The core aim was to create environment focusing heavily on landscaping and nature with the addition of some props.

- Improve upon making 3D environments in Unreal Engine.

- Learn how to create Terrains and over worlds for games.

- Develop skills at using and creating materials in Unreal Engine.

- Further develop skills in 3DS Max and Photoshop, as well as making use of new techniques such as using multiple texture maps. Also develop skills by making assets that I have never made before, foliage and rocks etc.

How my work has achieved these outcomes

With the aim of the project being to create a 3D environment focusing on landscaping and nature in the form of foliage and rocks etc. Having created a landscape using Unreal Engines landscape/terrain tool I have achieved this whilst both learning to use height maps and sculpting as well as terrain painting.

I have achieved the first 3 outcomes with this.

I have achieved the foliage and props creation aim as I have made various trees and rocks as well as grass. Additionally with the creation of a few armour pieces, a weapon and some roadside assets such as fences, light-posts and signs I have better achieved the environment prop outcome.

In order to meet my aim of developing skills at using materials I had to make them more advanced or add more than just the basic diffuse map and maybe a roughness. This links in with why I chose to make an environment that is a snowy region. I wanted to make snow shaders and ice. With the use of more and material nodes that are new to me, trial and error allowed me to achieve different effects, of course with the aid of internet tutorials to aid me. This helped me learn and advance in using materials and added to my knowledge of them.

I have developed my skills with 3DS Max and Photoshop in the sense I have just been making more assets and feel like the more assets I create the more efficient I will get at making them. Workflow becomes more refined and easier after doing it for a while, getting things right the first time and doing it properly etc. I have also made assets like trees and other foliage which I have never made, so I have gained a bit of knowledge and skills on making assets such as these.

I met the aim of using multiple texture maps, below shows examples of some of them. Note I even made displacements but did not use them due to performance or them not working properly. This may be something I need to improve.

There are some additional ways in which I have improved in making 3D environments, things like lighting and post process effects that I tweaked to better add atmosphere to the scene.

How my work is suitable for my audience

Below shows the audience I outlined in my research.

I aimed it at people who like MMORPG games and the environments you would see in such a game. I believe I have achieved the MMORPG aspect just by making it a whole map that is free to roam and is just a wilderness, this is usually how they are. Some of the locations included such as a castle, an inn and many more kind of reinforce the medieval fantasy genre. I also have armour pieces and swords and shields, this is a key aspect of RPG games.

The locations are specific and obvious that they are key points of interest. Each area has its own look, you have a glacier, a little inn, a dock, a fortress in the mountains. MMO games do this, it’s why they are called theme parks, the way they aren’t that seamless in transitions or so blatantly obvious. You know that is the bad guy’s castle over there, here is the friendlies etc. I think I achieved this tone in the environment.

I also appeal to the people who like modelling and level design obvious because this is what the project is. It’s a timed project to make a 3D environment this would be appealing to those who would like to see how it was done and what it turned out like.

I kept it in the age rating as there is no over the top dark themes or excessive violence. The environment doesn’t use anything like gore in the asset work and as it stands there is nothing to even imply violence or bad language except maybe that there is weapons present.

How I would develop my work

A way I would develop my work is introduce animations into the scene, these will be in the form of matinees. Here is a tutorial that introduces matinees to beginners: 1.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR0X9Rb08KY ("Unreal Engine 4 Beginner Tutorial Series - #26 Matinee Introduction") I will follow this tutorial and use it for things like the boat model that we have. The boats will move along the water in the distance, these will simply move in a straight line over a certain amount of time and perhaps even loop and turn back around. This will simulate ships coming and going as well as giving the illusion that there is more to the environment past the horizon.

One way in which I would develop my work is to complete the armour set for the character. I managed to fully create two of the five or six planned pieces.

Another way would be to add new features such as characters that walk around key areas like villages for example. This would require AI of some form or perhaps hardcoded NPCS that walk in a given path. This tutorial shows how to do this with splines: 2.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN5yx3WvPTU ("Unreal Engine 4 AI Moving Along Spline"). I will have to study this tutorial and learn how to make the AI walk around the scene, this will be done with blueprints and or matinee.

A major development would be to add some interactivity to the environment, I would also need to make sure everything has proper collisions so the environment is playable as a game rather than something to just look at. Examples of creating proper collisions that are accurate and performance friendly: 3.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXGW6Vf2rzY ("Custom Collision Meshes In Unreal Engine 4 - Tutorial")

To create the collisions I will follow the tutorial. Taking my models into 3DS Max and create a simplified mesh around the model or optimising the already existing mesh until it is as low poly as it can be whilst still being good enough to act as a collision mesh. Making sure the naming conventions (UCX) are correct I will then import the mesh into Unreal making sure not to auto generate the collision and then it should work as according to the tutorial.

Another development would to be fix and tweak things like the fog system, now the particles spawn 1000 and remain infinitely, when they move out the map they keep travelling. The fog could be made to collide with the environment or despawn after a certain time on collision to prevent some of these issues. The following link shows where I got these ideas: 4.https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Engine/Rendering/ParticleSystems/Reference/Modules/Collision/ ("Collision Modules")

I could use the kill option as shown in the documentation above for the collision, this will kill any fog particle when it hits any surface.

Problems I encountered and how I/will overcome them

One problem which I encountered was textures for the terrain turning black. Unreal by default has a limit on how many textures can be in the terrain material, I believe it is 12.

This issue was solved by referring to the Unreal Forums, another user posted a similar issue. The following link was where I found this forum post: 5.https://answers.unrealengine.com/questions/570995/landscape-texture-dissapearing.html ("Landscape Texture Dissapearing - UE4 Answerhub")

What I have done is changed the sampler source of all the textures to shared wrap as the forum user has explained above, the textures worked after applying this fix.

Another problem I encountered was my ice material using the wrong directional lighting, or rather the ice was the only thing being affected by it. In order to make the BP_Sky_Sphere change the time of day you need to tie a directional light actor to it. So I had one directional light actor for that and another for the actual scene. However my ice material in the landscape was using the one for the sky sphere and made it way too bright without the rest of the scene matching its brightness. The result is shown below.

To fix this I had to drop the intensity of the directional lighting to 0.

An “issue” I encountered was that I wanted my mountains to be even higher than they were, in a certain part of the map I wanted the mountain to be exceptionally high as this is the one the player would be able to walk up the mountain path. I found a simple workaround for this from the following link however there are more efficient ways: 6.https://answers.unrealengine.com/questions/48862/how-to-sculpt-mountains-over-128m-high.html ("How To Create Mountains Over 128M High? - UE4 Answerhub")

What I did was scale the Z axis of the terrain up according to what the forum user said, this is kind of a cheap and cheating way of achieving this however it worked for my needs.

Another issue I encountered was some textures such as my path being completely black. I have recreated this effect below.

The issue seemed to be that I didn’t have a normal map for it yet, for some reason this made it just show up as black. I wasted some time thinking about it and trying to fix it. However all I needed to do was import my normal map.

A general issue we had in the project is not being able to share the work in a way that was efficient and consistent, we had to split the project down the middle in terms of time allocated by both me and my team member which made progress slower and meant lessened focus and attention to some details. After some research I have learned that there is tools available for sharing your Unreal project as you work on it. The follow links I have looked into:

7.https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Engine/Basics/SourceControl/InEditor/index.html ("Source Control Inside Unreal Editor")

8.https://wiki.unrealengine.com/Git_source_control_(Tutorial) ("Git Source Control (Tutorial) - Epic Wiki")

I will have to learn how to use source control for future group projects to make it more efficient. This is still something that is seems daunting to me so it will take some time to learn, I will look into the tutorial above to see if I can set it up.

Another issue was that the fire particle system was disappearing from certain angles and distances, I have read the following forum post and it seems that there could be a fix for this issue. Link shown below: 9.https://answers.unrealengine.com/questions/25156/force-gpu-particles-to-render.html ("Force GPU Particles To Render? - UE4 Answerhub")

According to the user on the forums simply increasing the bounds of the particle system will help with this issue. This should be a simple fix to add.

There was another particle problem, this time with the snow particle system when indoors. The snow simply travels through any model. This can be fixed by adding and tweaking scene depth. Here is a link to a forum post that enlightened me of this: 10.https://answers.unrealengine.com/questions/263627/rain-collision-problem-with-particle-system.html ("Rain Collision Problem With Particle System - UE4 Answerhub")

According to the user on the Unreal forums I will have to use scene depth collision for the particle system, I will also have to generate distance fields within the render settings. This is to be done with CPU particles rather than GPU.

Skills I have developed and how they will help my career path

The career path I wish to take is 3D environment art. With this path in mind making 3D environments would definitely be something in which I would directly like to develop as a skill.

Specific skills I have learnt is making terrains, this is something that would be a valuable skill. Especially in some open world environments that are very much focused on the over world aspects, sculpting out realistic terrains is a tool that is very valuable for an artist.

Creating new assets such as foliage is a skill in which would help me in my career path. Environment art again heavily uses foliage as a way to flesh out the scene. Environment artists could make trees, grasses rocks and more for an environment.

Prop creation obviously linking with the foliage is something that an environment artist would do. Environment props can be anything really. In my case making things like fences and light posts to be added to an environment to flesh it out. It goes without saying getting better at making props and texturing them is an obvious benefit to this career path. My learning of using multiple texture maps also helps with prop creation as this adds more detail and realism to them. Improving workflow by creating more props is helpful and helps make a better more efficient artist.

Other skills such as learning to do lighting and post processing are helpful as this helps better present the scene as well as accentuating details.

Links/Sources

1. Virtus Learning Hub / Creative Tutorials. "Unreal Engine 4 Beginner Tutorial Series - #26 Matinee Introduction". YouTube. N.p., 2017. Web. 16 June 2017. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR0X9Rb08KY

2. pally qle. "Unreal Engine 4 AI Moving Along Spline". YouTube. N.p., 2017. Web. 16 June 2017. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN5yx3WvPTU

3. SpeedTutor. "Custom Collision Meshes In Unreal Engine 4 - Tutorial". YouTube. 2017. Web. 16 June 2017. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXGW6Vf2rzY

4. "Collision Modules". Docs.unrealengine.com. 2017. Web. 16 June 2017. Available at: https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Engine/Rendering/ParticleSystems/Reference/Modules/Collision/

5. Black Phoenyx. "Landscape Texture Dissapearing - UE4 Answerhub". Answers.unrealengine.com. 2017. Web. 16 June 2017. Available at: https://answers.unrealengine.com/questions/570995/landscape-texture-dissapearing.html

6. Budello. "How To Create Mountains Over 128M High? - UE4 Answerhub". Answers.unrealengine.com. 2017. Web. 16 June 2017. https://answers.unrealengine.com/questions/48862/how-to-sculpt-mountains-over-128m-high.html

7. "Source Control Inside Unreal Editor". Docs.unrealengine.com. N.p., 2017. Web. 16 June 2017. Available at: https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Engine/Basics/SourceControl/InEditor/index.html

8. "Source Control Inside Unreal Editor". Docs.unrealengine.com. N.p., 2017. Web. 16 June 2017. Available at: https://wiki.unrealengine.com/Git_source_control_(Tutorial)

9. Jacky. "Force GPU Particles To Render? - UE4 Answerhub". Answers.unrealengine.com. N.p., 2017. Web. 16 June 2017. Availabe at: https://answers.unrealengine.com/questions/25156/force-gpu-particles-to-render.html

10. "Rain Collision Problem With Particle System - UE4 Answerhub". Answers.unrealengine.com. N.p., 2017. Web. 16 June 2017. Available at: https://answers.unrealengine.com/questions/263627/rain-collision-problem-with-particle-system.html

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nataliejean2412 · 8 years ago

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Thoughts during the Nintendo Switch presentation 01/12/17

While waiting to watch the presentation, I realized I really wanted to write down what I was thinking. So, here are my thoughts during the presentation. I haven’t really done anything like this before, so it may seem a bit odd. Note: Every one of these reactions were real. A few of these were typed while the video was paused, which I think worked out better than typing while watching. Either way, these are best read alongside watching the video, linked here.

Enjoy!

Pre-Start: Was this 30-mins of store-brand chillstep necessary? 33:33 - AAAAAAAHH! It's releasing too soon! My body is not ready! Help me, Reggie! Where are you? 35:42 - Nice, I actually expected a $400 price tag 36:13 - inb4 paid subscription 36:40 - Called It 37:14 - Hopefully Nintendo can help reverse the trend they started with region locking. I like the occasional imported game. 37:36 - Please tell me they aren't going to repeatedly snap for the next hour... 37:53 - Lol we think our audience doesn't know the term "Design Philosophy" 39:02 - Wait, where's the "DNA" of the Virtual Boy? Did it not get invited to the Switch orgy? I wanted VR gaming that would burn my eyes out within 10 minutes! 41:27 - 41:36 - I swear, Nintendo loves repeating themselv... WTF!? That is a shit battery life!!! 41:44 - Ok, it has a USB standard. I'm ok with the battery if I can get an external for it. (I'm calling it now, Charger bags for the switch are going to be a thing.) 42:10 - Nintendo sure wants its' demographic to leave the house. 43:33 - I can't get over these Joy-Con things. What are these, controllers for ants!? 44:35 - "Whoops, we forgot to program in our new sharing features. We'll put it in later." 44:52 - "Now you can shimmy shimmy shimmy with your new Nintendo Switch!" 45:10 - Yep, those shoulder buttons totally won't get broken being in the connector piece. 45:40 - "They fit in the palm of your hand" if you're a small child, yeah. Which, that's a good thing to bring up. They are not targeting kids in this at all. Everything i've seen is targeting the young adult crowd. 45:53 - See, this is what i'm talking about. "You can release the tension from your shoulders, and relax while you play." They're targeting the working crowd, not kids. ...well, I hope they're not targeting the working kids demographic... Also at 45:53 - "Mario Paint me like one of your French girls" 46:14 - What is this... 46:24 - Oh, look, the magic of hype marketing! 46:45 - Now you can shimmy shimmy shimmy without throwing your controller. 47:24 - Careful, Nintendo, Don't say the C-word. It's a trigger word for the Orwellians in the audience. 47:40 - ... 48:20 - I don't know why, but this whole part is making me uncomfortable. 48:36 - Nintendo seems to have a hard-on for galaxy-looking stuff nowadays. 48:51 - Yeah, this snapping thing is going to go on forever. 50:45 - Ok, now what the hell am I watching? 52:36 - Nintendo sure wants its' demographic to socialize. 52:55 - "4: Spend half an hour arguing over what to play. 5: Lament that Smash Bros isn't on the Switch. 6: Regret your early purchase." 53:54 - Oooo, some kind of fighting game, that would be interesting. They /did/ say it would be challenging. 54:00 - Office worker fighting a middle-school girl. This ought to turn out well. 54:34 - wat 54:45 - wat 55:20 - ...what am I watching? 56:08 - Arms? ARMS? Why would you name it that? They don't /have/ arms! 57:20 - Hmm, those are interesting controls. 59:20 - Arms: Because having a new idea ALWAYS means you should make it. 59:40 - Yep, wildly flailing your hands = Strategy and tactfulness, and they recommend carrying the game into public to wildly flail your hands at other people doing the same. Real social booster, Nintendo. You know your demographic well. 59:50 - Ah, Splatoon, it's so good to know Nintendo still has a hard-on for their new money maker. They totally won't repeat the mistake of letting other things fall apart from focusing on you too much. 1:01:50 - I would like to take this time to give a shout-out to whoever the English translator is in this presentation. He has just completely given up on trying to convey the emotional nuances in the presenters' speech, and it's making this much more enjoyable to watch. 1:03:07 - Oh good, now I can hurl my entire console across the room when I lose a game. It's what i've always wanted. 1:03:51 - Oh. My gods. I just saw that. That pose was actually a thing. Wait wait wait, i'mma rewind it. 1:04:25 - Well, no need. He did it again. 11/10 best dab 1:04:52 - [after that lame pan, I got up, went out for a cigarette, and contemplated life.] 1:05:05 - Ooo, another Jet Set Radio-style game? I'm down for that. 1:05:20 - wat 1:05:30 - wat 1:05:40 - Okay, so a Mario game in an urban setting? Eh, seems like a cool idea... 1:05:50 - or not 01:06:07 - Well, at least the graphics are really niDAMMIT!!! What is this low-poly nonsense? 1:06:26 - Ah, jump-roping. My favorite of classic Mario gameplay. 1:06:33 - All jokes aside, these landscapes are freaking beautiful! 1:06:50 - Ah, hat tossing. My favorite of classic Mario gameplay. Seriously though, that does add an interesting idea to the classic platform formula. 1:07:01 - 'Bowser & Peach: A Royal Wedding'. Wow. I wonder what that that kid would look like. I know Bowser Jr. turned out not to be her kid. Dammit, now I have the image of Bowser with long flowing blonde hair. 1:07:05 - Oh no, he crushed the hat. Good thing it isn't alive. 1:07:06 - Wow, Bowser Jr. and gang are looking a little white-washed. 1:07:25 - Well, Super Mario Odyssey looks pretty good. Pretty epic gameplay. 1:07:33 - AAAAAAAA! THAT THING HAS EYES! IT'S ALIVE! Mario: "Yeah!" 1:07:37 - AAAAAAAA! NOW IT HAS EYES ON THE LOGO TOO! 1:07:41 - AAAAAAAA! OH GODS NOW IT'S REAL! 1:08:32 - YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT I NOTICED THEM! 1:09:28 - They're launching without a Mario title. Have they not learned their lesson yet? 1:09:50 - Oh good, another Xenoblade. [skips forward in the video] 1:10:06 - [stops skipping] Wow, the graphics actually don't look half bad. That framerate looks atrocious though. 1:12:07 - Oh look, another Fire Emblem trailer that tells me nothing [massages forehead] 1:12:35 - Oh boy, it's time for the yearly Third-Party Garbage Fire! 1:12:44 - Funny, I didn't know Unity and Autodesk made their own games. It's almost like Nintendo wanted to fill this image with whatever they could scrape up. 1:13:21 - Meanwhile, at Square-Enix headquarters: "Crap, we don't have anything to put on the Switch yet. Let's just port a few games over to it for now." 1:13:41 - Oh, an Atlus game. I'm actually excited! Maybe we're getting a new Shin Megami Tensei! 1:15:00 - ... Right, moving along. 1:15:44 - Ok, this actually looks really good. Mental note: keep an eye out for Octopath Traveller. Maybe this won't be the garbage fire i'm predicting. 1:16:36 - This snapping thing... I swear. 1:17:00 - This translator is so done. I can't stop laughing. 1:17:40 - Oh good, Bethesda can now pat their own back on Nintendo Switch. Seriously, I actually don't like that they remastered Skyrim. They could have put that effort into a new game. 1:18:50 - Ok, I feel bad for this guy. That was awkward as shit, and you can tell he immediately realized it. 1:18:54 to 1:19:05 - Ok, the translator literally stopped talking. You can actually hear him scoff at 1:19:01. This is the best part of the show. 1:20:00 - And here we see the garbage fire I was predicting. This presenter looks like he just got shoved out on stage at the last second, and has no idea what he's trying to say. Even the translator is having trouble understanding him. 1:21:18 - Thank the gods that's over. Moving on. 1:21:29 - Oh dear sweet zebra, it's EA. Hold on, I wanna guess this one. Some sports game, no footage, and we'll get to the end somehow having lost knowledge along the way. 1:24:37 - And nailed it. Ladies and Gentlemen, we have reached the end of the ride. Thank you for attending the 15th Annual Third Party Garbage Fire. Please keep all hands, feet, and accessories inside the vehicle until the vehicle comes to a full stop. Please exit through the Gift Shop on the right, and have a wonderful day! 1:25:05 - Ok, there's the montage. It's the standard signal that it's almost over. ...wait, where's LoZ? 1:28:28 - I like how they're talking about how it's going to have a version with colored controllers like it's a game-changer. 1:29:00 - Yay, let's jump to Nintendo Europe, where they get to hear about how they are getting no information yet! 1:30:15 - Oh gods, I was just kidding before. They really did get nothing. 1:30:27 - Oh, Reggie! I'm so glad you're here. I need help! My body isn't ready! 1:30:48 - Is that Miyamoto just chillin in the background? I think he may be stuck in the US now. He's been showing up on US television a lot lately. 1:31:55 - "If you listen carefully, you can hear it floating in the air. Yep, there it is. I'm high as fuck." 1:32:22 - Yep, it was Miyamoto. Why did I recognize him from the back of his head? 1:32:32 - They are talking to each other in their own languages. This is great. 1:32:44 - AAAAAAA! Why the hell are you just jumping out of a hiding spot like that? Don't you know that's like taking the express lane to gettin’ hit? 1:32:57 - "When are we releasing Loz?" "Idk, ask him." "Oh, idk either. Ask someone in another country." 1:34:29 - Yay, finally! LoZ! Time to find out if it's a launch title! 1:35:40 - Neat, full voice acting! 1:37:55 - Woo! Launch Title! Aaand that's the end of it. That was a bucket of fun, and every bit the train wreck I thought it would be. I personally think they are rushing the release of this console, and it looks like I can count on one hand how many games there will be at launch. Like I said at the beginning, this was the first time i’ve done something like this, and it was much more fun than I anticipated. I may do a video saying this over the presentation later on, i’m on the fence about it. I may just shelve the idea until another video. Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it!

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waynekelton · 5 years ago

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The Best (And Worst) Auto Chess Games on Android and iOS

Dota Auto Chess is being heralded as “the next big thing” after its meteoric rise back in January 2019. While It hasn't exactly turned the masses away from the current Battle Royale craze just yet, its potential has yet to be fully realised. Just as we saw with the Puzzle, MOBA, and Battle Royale genres in the past; clones, copycats, and tributes are quick to spring up across gaming landscape.

Those that don’t follow this model gain swift admittance into our 'Ones to Avoid' section.

Dota Underlords

Developer: Valve Platforms: iOS Universal, Android (PC, Mac)

In an unusual display of vigour, Valve have been anything but lax in getting their own, 'official' Auto Chess take out the door and into the hands of players. Available in beta across all platforms, Valve have essentially built on the original Dota Auto Chess mod and put their own unique spin on things. From little changes like bench size, how the various synergies work among a few other things, Dota Underlords sports a fully functional tutorial, robust offline play against bots, as well the ability to seamless transition a game between PC and Mobile.

Auto Chess: Origin

Developer: Dragonest Game/Drodo Platforms: iOS Universal, Android

Separating from its Dota foundation means Auto Chess: Origin no longer has access to familiar assets like sounds and models. So, while you might recognize its logo from the original PC version, you’ll find a pretty different looking game when you fire it up, with humour that might seem a little too juvenile for some. If you can get passed that, you’ll find a mobile replacement almost exactly the same as the PC version minus the obvious (and better suited) touch interface. It's added new pieces since first launching, but generally is proving a little slower at iterating as its competitors.

Chess Rush

Developer: Tencent Games Platforms: iOS Universal, Android

I'm recommending this one because it's prettier looking alternative to Auto Chess: Origin - the production values are actually surprisingly good, with nice visuals, and a neat little intro into every match. I suspect Tencent have more resources to draw on than Drodo does so if you're looking for something that's likely to be a bit more polished a lot quicker, this might be an alternative. Chess Rush is advertised as having a 'Turbo' mode (which everyone is bringing in now, pretty much) to make matches shorter. We're not sure how match can last as low as ten minutes though. Maybe if you're the first one to get knocked out? But we tried Turbo mode and it didn't seem much shorter, so take those claims with a pinch of salt and know that 'faster matches' is not something that's unique to this one.

Arena of Evolutions: Red Tides

Developer: HERO Game Platforms: iOS Universal, Android

Auto Chess Legends

Developer: Imba/Suga Platforms: iOS Universal, Android

youtube

Ones To Avoid

Heroes Auto Chess

Developer: Tap2Play LLC Platforms: iOS/Android

AutoChess War

Developer: Phoenix Mobile/Chengdu Phoenix Electronic Arts Co. Limited Platforms: iOS/Android

Auto Chess Defense

Developer: Phoenix Mobile/Chengdu Phoenix Electronic Arts Co. Limited Platforms: iOS/Android

Seen any other games worthy of people's attention, or ones they should definitely avoid? Let us know in the comments!

The Best (And Worst) Auto Chess Games on Android and iOS published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

0 notes

waynekelton · 5 years ago

Text

The Best (And Worst) Auto Chess Games on Android and iOS

Dota Auto Chess was called “the next big thing” after its meteoric rise back in January 2019. While It hasn't exactly turned the masses away from the current Battle Royale craze just yet, its potential has yet to be fully realised. Just as we saw with the Puzzle, MOBA, and Battle Royale genres in the past; clones, copycats, and tributes are quick to spring up across gaming landscape.

Those that don’t follow this model gain swift admittance into our 'Ones to Avoid' section.

Auto Chess: Origin

Developer: Dragonest Game/Drodo Platforms: iOS/Android

Arena of Evolutions: Red Tides

Developer: HERO Game Platforms: iOS/Android

Dota Underlords

Developer: Valve Platforms: iOS/Android (PC, Mac)

Just like how Valve created Dota 2 from the foundations of the original WarCraft III mod, the overlords of Steam are prepping their own official Dota Auto Chess – Dota Underlords. And it's coming to mobile real soon. It'll officially place Auto Chess in the Dota lore with its armies battling it out for dominance of the city of White Spire. Announced in May, it'll be released in beta for Dota 2 Battle Pass owners in the first instance, with an Open Beta planned on all platforms, including iOS & Android, not long after that.

Auto Chess Legends

Developer: Imba Platforms: iOS/Android

youtube

Ones To Avoid

Heroes Auto Chess

Developer: Tap2Play LLC Platforms: iOS/Android

AutoChess War

Developer: Phoenix Mobile/Chengdu Phoenix Electronic Arts Co. Limited Platforms: iOS/Android

Auto Chess Defense

Developer: Phoenix Mobile/Chengdu Phoenix Electronic Arts Co. Limited Platforms: iOS/Android

Seen any other games worthy of people's attention, or ones they should definitely avoid? Let us know in the comments!

The Best (And Worst) Auto Chess Games on Android and iOS published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

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