#this is about the upcoming map editor

[quincysonofquincy]

who's ready for penis map

[inkymysteryanimatedpilot]

Updates!

We have about 2 or 3 languages already completely translated, and several others in progress

We have 97% of the V.A audios recorded

We have 74/80 storyboards complete

We have now a bigger number of voice editors who all have taken their parts to work on already, one of the 12 audio segments being already complete

The first 3 minutes of the animatic are already stitched up!

Future plans

We will be making the oc map and a reference for the oil stains on the bbros this month still

We are hoping to finish stitching up the animatic this month still, and if not then halfway through next month

We are hoping to post small snippets of bloopers during the v.a recording next month

The entire animatic of the upcoming video for 100 followers is fully done, as is the audio editing for it, leaving the animation closer to being finalized!

We will be streaming on the IMA discord watching the full animatic(no sound effects, no music, only voice acting) but snippets of it will be posted in here and on the youtube channel. We do not have a set date yet, but will make an announcement once we do. We hope to see you there!

[bellakenobi]

Tutorial - Extracting the assets from Shining Nikki for conversion for Sims games (or anything, really)

Finally! In advance I'm sorry for any errors since english isn't my first language (and even writing in my actual language is difficult for me so)

And first, a shoutout to The VG Resource forums, where I found initially info about this topic 😊 I'm just compilating all the knowledge I found there + the stuff I figured out in a single text, because boy I really wanted to find a guide like that when I first thought about converting SN stuff lol (and because there's a lot of creators more seasoned than me that could do a really good job with these assets 👀)

What this tutorial will teach you:

How to find and extract meshes and textures (when there's any) for later use, and some tips about how stuff are mapped etc on Shining Nikki.

What this tutorial will not teach you:

How to fully convert these assets for something usable for any sims game (because honestly neither I know how to do that stuff properly lol). It is assumed that you already know how to do that. If you don't know but has interest in learning about CC making (specially for TS3), I'd suggest you take a look at the TS3 Tutorial Hub, the MTS tutorials and This Post by Plumdrops if you're interested in hair conversion. Also take a look on my TS3 tutorials tag, that's where I reblog tutorials that I think might be useful :)

What you'll need:

An Android emulator (I recomend Nox)

A HEX editor (I recomend HxD)

Python and This Script for mass editing

AssetStudio

A 3D Modeling Software for later use. I use Blender 2.93 for major editing, and (begrudingly) Milkshape for hair (mostly because of the extra data tool).

Download everything you don't have and install it before starting this tutorial.

Now, before we continue, a little advice:

I wrote this tutorial assuming that people who would benefit from it will not put the finished work derivative from these assets behind a paywall or in any sort of monetization. These assets belong to Paper Games. So please don't be an ass and put your Shining Nikki conversions/edits/whatever behind a paywall.

The tutorial starts after the cut (and it's a long one).

Step 1:

Launch Nox, then open Play Store and log in with a Google account (if you don't have one, create it). Now download Shining Nikki from there.

After downloading the game, launch it. It will download a part of the game files. After that, log in on the game, or create a new account in any server (the server is only important if you want to actually play the game. For extracting it doesn't really matter since the game already has the assets for the upcoming events and chapters. It also doesn't matter if you actually own an item in game, you can extract the meshes and textures even if you don't have it in game). If you're creating a new account, the game will lead you through the presentation of it etc (unfortunately there's no way to skip it).

After that, click on that little arrow button on the main screen. There, you can download the actual clothing assets. Wait for the download to finish (at the date I'm writing this tutorial, it is around 13GB). When finished, close the game (not the emulator).

Step 2:

Now we're going to copy the assets to our computer. Click on Tools, then on Amaze File Manager. Navigate to Android > data > com.papergames.nn4.en > files > DownloadedBundle > art > character. This is the folder where (I believe) most of the assets are stored.

Now, where the stuff is located respectively:

Meshes are on the meshes > splitmeshs folder

Textures are on the textures > cloth folder

Tip: Want to really data dump everything? Just select the folders you want and copy to your PC! 😉

Click on the three dots on the side of the wished folder, then in copy. Then click on the three lines on the left upper corner to open the menu, and then click on Download. Now just pull the header of the app to show the Paste option and click on it. It might take a while to copy completely (the cloth folder might take longer since it's bigger, so be patient).

If you're confused, just follow the guide below:

The copied folder will be located at C:\Users\{your username}\Nox_share\Download

Step 3:

Now that we got the files, we need to make them readable by AssetStudio.

For this, we need to open the desired .asset file on a hex editor, and then delete the first 8 bytes of the file, and then save.

You can see it is a pain to do that manually to a lot of files right? This is why I asked my boyfriend to create a script to mass edit them. (I only manually edit when I'm grabbing the textures I want, because afaik the script won't work with .tga and the .png files, more about that forward this tutorial)

How to use the script:

Make sure Python is already installed, grab the nikki-fix-headers.py file and place it on the folder where you copied the folder from the game (mine is still the Nox_Share Download folder).

It should look like this, the meshs folder and the script.

Let's open the Command Prompt. Hit Windows + R to open the Run dialog box, then type in cmd and hit Enter.

Now follow the instructions pictured below:

The folder with the edited files will be at the same location:

Now, we finally can open it all on AssetStudio and see whats inside 👀

Step 4:

Open AssetStudio. Now click on File > Load Folder and select the folder where your edited meshes are (mine is "splitmeshs-fixed"). Wait the program load everything. Click on Filter Type > Mesh, and the on the Asset List tab, click twice on the Name to sort everything by the right order, and now we can see the meshes!

To extract any asset, just select and right-click the desired groups, click in Export selected assets and select a folder where you wish to save it.

Stuff you need to know about the meshes:

Step 4-A: Everything is separated by groups.

Of course you'll have to export everything to have a complete piece. Only a few pieces has a single group. When exporting, you have to select every group with the same name (read below), and the result will be .obj files of each group that you have to put together in a 3D application.

Step 4-B: The names are weird.

They're a code that indicates the set, the piece, the group.

Items that doesn't belong to a set won't have the "S...something", instead they'll have another letter with numbers, but the part/piece type and group logic is the same.

As for the parts, here are the ones I figured out so far:

D = Dress

H = Hair

AEA = Earrings

ANE = Necklace

BS = Shoes

ABA = Handheld accessory

AHE and AHC = Headpieces/hats/hairpins

AFA = Face accessory (as glasses, eyepatches, masks)

(maybe I'll update here in the future with the ones I remember)

Step 4-C: The "missing pearls" issue.

Often you'll find a group that seems empty, and it has a weird name like this:

I figured out that it's referent to pearls that a piece might contain (as in a pearl necklace, or a little pearl in a earring, pearls decorating a dress, etc). The group seems empty, but when you import it to Blender, you can see that it actually has some vertices, and they're located where the aforementioned pearls would be. I think that Unity (SN engine) uses this to generate/place the pearls from a master mesh, but I honestly have no idea of how the game does that. So you'll probably have to model a sphere to place where the pearls were located, I don't know 🤷‍♀️ (And if you know how to turn the vertices into spheres (???) please let me know!)

Step 5:

Now that you already extracted a mesh, we're gonna extract the textures (when any). Copy the textures > cloth folder to your PC like you did with the splitmeshs folder.

Open it, and in the search box, type the name of the desired item like this. If the item has textures, it will show in the results.

Grab all the files and open them in HxD (I usually just open HxD and drag the files I want to edit there), and edit them like I teached above. Then you can open them (or load the cloth folder) on AssetStudio, and export them like you did with the meshes.

Stuff you need to know about the textures, UV map, etc:

Step 5-A: The UV mapping is a hot mess (at least for us used to how things works in sims games).

See this half edited hoodie and the UV map for a idea:

So for any Sims game, you'll have to remap everything 🙃 Also, stencil-like textures all have their own separated file.

As for hair, they all use the same texture and mapping! BUT sometimes they are arranged like this...

Here's the example of a very messed one (it even has some WTF poly). Most of them aren't that messy, but be prepared to find stuff like this.

Shining Nikki just repeat the texture so it end up covering everything, for Sims you'll need to remap, and the easiest way is by selecting "blocks" of hair strands, ticking the magnet button to make your seletion snap to what is already placed (if you have familiarity with blender, you know what I'm saying). Oh, some clothes are also mapped with the same logic.

Regarding the hair texture, I couldn't locate where they are, but here is a pack with all of them ripped and ready to use. You can also grab the textures from any SN hair I already converted :)

The only items with a fine UV map are the accessories, at least for TS3 that the accessory has a UV map independent from the body.

"But I typed the ID for the set and piece and couldn't find anything!"

A good thing to do is to search with only the set ID and edit all the files with it, because some items (especially accessories) share the same texture file. But if even then you can't find anything, it means that there's no texture for this particular item/group because Shining Nikki use material shaders* to render different materials like metal, crystal, some fancy fabrics, etc. So you'll have to bake or paint a texture for it.

*I believe that those shaders are located on the other cloth folder in the game files. This one is way bigger than the other one and once I copied it to see what it was, AssetStudio took ages to load everything, almost used all my 16GB of RAM, and then there was only code that the illiterate me didn't know what it was 🤷‍♀️

So that was it! I hope I explained everything, although it is a little confusing.

If you have any questions, you can comment on this post or send me a PM!

[fountainpenguin]

tl;dr For 'Fic Followers:

In the upcoming weeks / months, I'm going to be posting for maybe 3 to 4 fandoms at a time.

If you are subscribed to me on AO3 and would like to avoid emails for fandoms you don't care about, I have a post HERE that tells you exactly which series you can follow to get all the updates for the fandom of your choice :)

===

Updates

I recently discovered you're allowed to put essays/meta on AO3, so I think I'm going to copy the five big species overviews from @riddledeep over to an AO3 document sometime soon.

iirc, they're like 20k words apiece, which isn't allowed with the current Tumblr editor, and I've had those posts flagged a couple times for having my body reference images in them (even though they're blobby bodies that don't depict anything), so I do get nervous about losing them and in the past, I wasn't able to edit without them getting flagged, so it would be nice to have a back-up place for them in case they ever get shut down.

I'll probably make another piece for "7 Billion Years in 15,000 words" just because I feel that also qualifies as essay form and it's a piece I really like, and I could probably add Fae Magic as an essay as well.

I think everything else will stay on the sideblog - The sideblog is mostly character profiles, family trees, maps, and the episode timeline and would not qualify as AO3 legality in my mind - but I think these things would be okay and now you know 👍

These posts will still be on the sideblog, just copied

Right now I'm wrapping up One and a Half Birds- 12 of 15 chapters up, draft complete and they post every Friday. My plan is to post the last 2 chapters of Criminal Experience on Fridays after this (They're fully outlined but not finished yet) since Friday was always its update day.

After that, I think I'll post these FOP essays as a cue to my AO3 followers that Friday is being phased out as an MCYT 'fic day in favor of FOP stuff (with Sunday as the new secondary MCYT 'fic day).

For years, I've balanced on that razor edge of knowing my writing has improved a lot lately and that I'd love to tidy up Origin and Knots so they present the lore better and fit my current writing style (which I think is cleaner), but that's a dangerous road to go down, so I've kept moving forward instead.

That's also why I've tried not to get sucked back into the sideblog, as I just really want to wrap Origin and Knots up. Bit of a wake-up call for me when I realized I think when Dog's Life goes on hiatus in a few weeks, it will have outpaced the wordcount of Knots which I started in 2017, wheeze...

I look at Origin and Knots and see them as things we're only 3/5 or halfway done with and it's scary to me considering how much very important stuff I'm balancing (i.e. upcoming Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda relationship pay-off after a very long slow burn; I wrote their first romantic scenes back in 2016) and I hope I do a good job conveying everything right.

Definitely have to grit my teeth and remind myself that "done is better than perfect," though, as I just am never satisfied with it- I had to scrap a lot of things I was excited for because of new story directions, but I think I've pulled everything back together, and I'll be excited to share what I have coming up.

tl;dr - I do love this lore, and as far as I can tell, these long posts would qualify as meta essays and be legal, and that definitely makes me feel safer considering how many times my 20k-word Anti-Fairy culture post got flagged despite the bodies being blue and green, wheeze...

And I've always wanted to write an essay about Lexiconian vs. Hexagonian culture, so I might do that as well, and I'm almost done with my 60k+-word piece about the lore in my MCYT 'fics, so I'm very excited to share :)

Lastly, while this is not lore or an essay, I'd like to copy some or all of my Total Drama 'fics from FFN to AO3, as I discussed in the beginning of the year. I'm thinking I might start moving them in June for Life of a Loser's 11th anniversary.

This 'fic had shorter chapters than what I have now and will probably be updated every few days (Maybe a Mon-Wed-Fri schedule?), which can lead to many emails. So, if you want to limit emails, check THIS post to find out which series to follow for the content you want :)

Closing Note - I have maybe 2 'fics that already have "Here are the series you can follow if you only want updates for this fandom's content" notes in the end notes.

I think I'm going to do a big sweep of all my stuff and make consistent end notes for all pieces. We shall see!

Anyway, thank you!

[thecraftyfoxthewriterscorner]

Raising Stakes for Characters with Time

Using time to create a sense of urgency, and a master post of sorts. Also, The Writer's Corner is going on break!

Hey Story Crafters,

We’ve almost hit the halfway mark for NaNoWriMo! How is the writing going? Was it easier to write this week, or harder?

After this post, The Writer’s Corner will be going on break due to the upcoming holiday. You can expect the next post in December!

On Character Stakes

At this point of the writing process, it’s important to remember that your characters need to have stakes. Stakes create a sense of urgency, which keeps the reader engaged in your story. When you’re having fun creating beautiful settings, interesting dialogue, and exciting action scenes, it can be easy to forget the reason you’re writing this story in the first place—the “so what,” the reason why a reader should choose to read your story. The “so what” of a story is linked to the stakes a character faces, the decisions the main character must make and act on in the process of pursuing their goal.

One way to raise the stakes right at the start is to give characters a deadline: The main character needs to achieve their main goal of the story by X amount of time, or face Y consequence(s).

An example I like to fall back on is Avatar: The Last Airbender. The main character needs to master three other types of bending and become recognized as the Avatar, before a scheduled comet appears in the sky to increase the antagonistic force’s offensive power astronomically.

For a book example, I recently read Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses, which has two deadlines: one that the main character (and therefore the reader) isn’t aware of, and one the main character chooses to accept. The reveal of the unknown deadline was an interesting twist (about three-quarters of the way in), because the clues of this deadline’s existence was hinted at for a good chunk of the story—pretty obviously, in retrospect. This gives the main character’s decision to accept the imposition of the second deadline (the succeed-or-die kind) more impact, because both the main character and the reader truly understand what’s at stake. I really admired this technique, and wanted to share it in case it inspired someone else’s writing.

A Master Post (of sorts)

Since a lot of us are focused on writing right now, here’s a list of previous posts I think might be helpful.

Thoughts to Consider While Writing

What Makes a Story Compelling?

Point of View + Psychic Distance

Saving Multiple Drafts of Your Writing

3 Tips for Staying Inspired During the Writing Process

How to Avoid Stalling During the Writing Process

Writing Tips for Characters

3 Tips for Creating a Memorable Main Character

Make Your Main Character Shine

Profile of a Main Character

Character Development: First Conflict Event

The Value of Side Characters

Looking at Character Archetype: The Strongest Character

The Wound that Haunts Characters

Creating Physical Wounds for Your Characters

Relationship Mapping Part 2

Writing Tips for Dialogue

Let’s Talk Dialogue:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Writing Tips for Fight Scenes

Writing Fight Scenes Part 1

On Writing Fight Scenes: A Long Post

Example of an Effective Fight Scene: A Brief Breakdown

Feel free to reach out if you have any writing or editing questions, or requests for post topics!

Happy writing!

Best,

Leah

Reminder: The Writer’s Corner will be on break for the next 2 weeks. Expect the next post in December!

Happy writing!

Best,

Leah

Substack Post: https://thecraftyfoxwriterscorner.substack.com/p/raising-stakes-for-characters-with

Interested in learning more about me, and the kind of energy I’ll bring to a writer-editor relationship? If you're a writer, consider subscribing to my free Substack newsletter (you can check out the archives, too). You'll get a free writing resource on relationship mapping, and a special offer when you subscribe!

Are you searching for an editor to work with on a completed (or soon-to-be-completed) manuscript? Get in touch! I’d love to hear about your project(s). I’m looking to work with authors of:

Fantasy

Dark Fantasy

Science Fiction

Horror

Send me an email!

[amnglobal]

Calling All Underground Artists across the map:

Submit Your Original Music for Monumental Mondays Artist Spotlight

Interested in showcasing music across the AMNG platform & blog? Our music editors are looking for original submissions to feature on our Monumental Mondays blog.

This is a huge chance to get more exposure this Summer 2024 and beyond, meet other underground artists for potential collaborations, and receive helpful feedback from indie talent.

Why Submit Your Music with AMNG?

1. Increased Exposure

Get your music heard by more people. Our Monumental Mondays blog reaches a diverse range of creative music fans and industry professionals who are always looking for new talent.

2. Networking Opportunities

Connect with other underground artists at in-person shows and other live events. Building relationships within the music community can open doors to collaborations, live performance gigs, and more.

3. Valuable Feedback

Receive helpful feedback from our music editors and other indie music listeners. Use this chance to improve your music and reach new heights.

Submission Requirements

To make sure your submission meets Monumental Mondays standards, please include the following:

Original music only:

We want to hear your unique sound!

High-quality audio files & music videos.

Submit your tracks in MP3 or WAV format.

Artist bio: Tell us about yourself in 100 words or less. Please include professional pictures. Media with weapons or sexual nature will not be posted.

Social media links:

Help us connect with you and promote your work.

Song lyrics: If your songs have lyrics, include them. No explicit print media will be shared.

Contact information:

So we can reach out if your music is selected.

How to Submit

Send your submissions through our website or email.

Don’t miss this chance to showcase your talent and join a community of upcoming underground artists.

Submit your tracks today and let’s gain exposure together on Monumental Mondays!

#UndergroundMusic #IndieArtists

[aweissweiler]

#acim - Chapter 14.X.8:1-5 - Where can I find a Community or Support Gro...

0:00 - 0:12 (Introduction)

What is being discussed? Greeting and introduction to the topic of A Course in Miracles (ACIM), specifically Chapter 14, Section 8, sentences 1-5.

Why is this important? To prepare viewers for the upcoming discussion and highlight the significance of the topic based on frequently asked viewer questions.

0:12 - 1:18 (Introduction to ACIM and Editors)

What is the main message of ACIM? Beginning the discussion on ACIM and emphasizing its main message.

Why should one engage with it? To provide viewers with an overview of ACIM's main message and address frequently asked questions.

1:18 - 2:27 (Connecting with the Inner Self)

How can I apply the teachings of ACIM to my daily life? Through an introductory exercise connecting with the inner self.

Why is the application of teachings important? To show viewers how to implement ACIM principles in daily life, addressing frequently asked questions about practical application.

2:27 - 3:33 (Feedback Round and Viewer Questions)

Where can I find a community or support group for ACIM? By integrating responses to frequently asked viewer questions about community search.

Why is a community important? To encourage the exchange of exercises and experiences, addressing frequently asked questions about integrating ACIM into the community.

3:33 - 8:04 (Reading and Delving into ACIM)

What are the key concepts or principles in ACIM? Beginning the reading from ACIM and focusing on key concepts.

Why is the reading important? To quote directly from the text and address frequently asked questions about key concepts.

8:04 - 10:28 (Community Search and Online Meetings)

How does ACIM differ from other spiritual teachings? By mentioning Facebook groups and the L World Map in response to frequently asked viewer questions about community search.

Why is this distinction important? To convey the uniqueness of ACIM to viewers, addressing frequently asked questions about comparisons with other teachings.

10:28 - 13:53 (Exercises and Inner Guidance)

Why is forgiveness emphasized in ACIM? Through shared exercises and emphasis on inner guidance.

How can beginners start their journey with ACIM? By emphasizing exercises and providing advice for beginners, addressing frequently asked questions about starting with ACIM.

13:53 - 19:40 (Ego Dynamics and Answering Questions)

What are some common misconceptions about ACIM? By discussing ego dynamics and clarifying misconceptions.

Why is clarifying misconceptions important? To address possible concerns and answer frequently asked questions about clarification.

19:40 - 26:21 (Ego, Perception, and Emotions)

How does ACIM address the concept of miracles? By emphasizing perception and the transformation of emotions.

Where can I find reliable resources for studying ACIM? By integrating responses to frequently asked viewer questions about resource search.

26:21 - 32:06 (Perception, Form, and Ego Attack)

How can ACIM principles help overcome conflicts? By emphasizing perception and avoiding ego-centric filters.

Why is overcoming conflicts important? To address frequently asked questions about applying ACIM in conflict situations.

32:06 - 38:06 (Misunderstandings, Conflicts, and Solutions)

How does ACIM address the concept of miracles? By emphasizing perception and the transformation of emotions.

How does ACIM address common misunderstandings? By emphasizing the clarification of misunderstandings and proposing solutions, addressing frequently asked questions about clarification.

[daveg65]

260 - Cattle Rustler with an AirTag With Ben Roethig

The latest In Touch With iOS with Dave he is joined by Ben Roethig. iOS 16.5.1 security update was released a must install.  The case of the cattle rustler and AirTag. The very first visionOS SDK is released. Chrome for iOS AI address detection, Apple's new subcategories in its podcast app, and the upcoming CarPlay updates in iOS 17. Tune in to catch up on all things Apple. 

The show notes are at InTouchwithiOS.com


Direct Link to Audio 

Links to our Show

Click this link Buy me a Coffee to support the show we would really appreciate it. intouchwithios.com/coffee 

Another way to support the show is to become a Patreon member patreon.com/intouchwithios

Website: In Touch With iOS

YouTube Channel

In Touch with iOS Magazine on Flipboard

Facebook Page

Twitter

Instagram

News

Chrome Browser for iOS Getting Improved Translation, Google Lens and Maps Features - MacRumors

Apple Podcasts App Updated With Enhanced Search Functionality - MacRumors

Apple expands Self Service Repair with iPhone 14, M2 Macs, system config changes, more

iPhone App Store rolling out new ad format, visible on Today tab without scrolling - 9to5Mac

Apple Music’s hidden social network is basic but great for discovery

Fiberglass cattle rustler foiled by a strategically placed AirTag

AirPlay coming to hotel TVs soon thanks to LG and Apple partnership | AppleInsider

Topics

iOS 16.5.1 was released must update with security fixes. iOS 16.5.1 and macOS 13.4.1 Address Actively Exploited Vulnerabilities, Make Sure to Update

Apple Releases watchOS 9.5.2 With Security Fixes - MacRumors

Apple Releases iOS 16.5.1 With Fix for Lightning to USB Camera Adapter Bug

Beta this week iOS 16.6 Beta 3 was released.  Apple Releases Third Public Betas of iOS 16.6 and iPadOS 16.6

visionOS Beta released for the first time. Apple Releases First Ever visionOS Beta

Apple Vision Pro Developer Tools Now Available With New visionOS SDK

Apple releases visionOS SDK to developers and details testing process

iOS 17 Beta 2 was released this week. 

Apple Seeds Second Betas of iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 to Developers

Everything New in iOS 17 Beta 2

Apple Seeds Second Beta of tvOS 17 to Developers

Apple Seeds Second Beta of watchOS 10 to Developers

New finds in iOS 17

iOS 17 and macOS Sonoma Add Passkey Support to Your Apple ID 

Apple adds passkeys to Apple ID, iCloud logins

iOS 17 lets users ask Siri to play media on the HomePod using iPhone apps

What is new with CarPlay in iOS 17? Everything New With CarPlay in iOS 17

iOS 17 superguide: Everything you need to know about the next iPhone update

Tips

How to turn off iCloud's default settings in macOS and iOS

Apple Arcade Guide: Everything that's available [New: Bold Moves+]

OneNote on iOS is about to get a big boost for organizing notes

How to clear cache on your iPhone

Macstock 7 is here! Tickets are Sold Out but Virtual Tickets are available.Dave is speaking again at the event along with Jeff Gamet, Brittany Smith, Chuck Joiner, and many others. Please join in all the fun July 22-23, 2023! Speakers Link.

Our Host

Dave Ginsburg is an IT professional supporting Mac, iOS and Windows users and shares his wealth of knowledge of iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV and related technologies. Visit the YouTube channel https://youtube.com/intouchwithios follow him on Mastadon @daveg65, 

Twitter @daveg65.and the show @intouchwithios

  Our Regular Contributors

Jeff Gamet is a podcaster, technology blogger, artist, and author. Previously, he was The Mac Observer’s managing editor, and Smile’s TextExpander Evangelist. You can find him on Mastadon @jgamet as well as Twitter and Instagram as @jgamet  His YouTube channel https://youtube.com/jgamet

Ben Roethig Former Associate Editor of GeekBeat.TV and host of the Tech Hangout and Deconstruct with Patrice  Mac user since the mid 90s. Tech support specialist. Twitter @benroethig  Website: https://roethigtech.blogspot.com

Here is our latest Episode!

[linuxgamenews]

RAILGRADE  train game and automation to run on Linux with Steam Play

RAILGRADE train game and factory automation to run flawlessly with Proton on Linux with Windows PC. Developer Minakata Dynamics is eager to unveil updated details for their coming release. Due to make its way onto Steam and GOG. There is a unique new game coming called RAILGRADE. Due to give players the chance to build complex production chains and grow cities with customizable trains. Similar to that of childhood train sets. So that players can rebuild the economy of an off-world colony that was mismanaged by the Nakatani Chemicals corporation. The game features over 60 story missions that are each between 30 to 120 minutes long. That means there's plenty of gameplay to delve into. Players have called RAILGRADE "addictive.: Whiled some Japanese players have even said it's a "Time Thief" because they can't stop playing it. Which is due to offer Linux players, flawless Proton support via Windows PC.

...I know and love Linux and am planning to make sure RAILGRADE runs flawlessly through Proton. That's not a full native port, but I don't think a native port would have any player meaningful improvements.

We received an email reply from Minakata Dynamics about their upcoming game, which is being developed using Unreal Engine 4. The good news is that the game will have solid Proton support on Linux. This means that Linux users will be able to play the game without any major issues. Although it's not a native port, the developer has a history of working on Linux. In fact, they seem very eager to make sure that the game is fully supported on the Linux via Proton. Which also carries over to Steam Deck.

RAILGRADE Announcement Trailer

One of the best things about RAILGRADE is that it's a very deep game. According to PlayTracker stats, players have spent an average of 14 hours playing the game. The fastest completion time for a speed run is 50 hours. While the longest is a whopping 320 hours. The folks working on RAILGRADE have some exciting features in store for the game. They're working on making the game playable on the Steam Deck handheld. They're also planning on giving you the ability to create your own maps using the map editor. This also allows players to upload directly to Steam Workshop. And finally, there is a sandbox mode that generates a brand new world for every new games. Prior updates included additional 10 hours of story gameplay and play style modifiers. Offering up a blend of both Factorio and Satisfactory, but in a train game. RAILGRADE train game and factory automation will release on Steam and GOG. With an MSRP price of $19.99 USD / £15.49 / 19,99€. But due to offer a launch discount that matches the deepest discount ever offered on existing store fronts. So be sure to Wishlist RAILGRADE.

[caffeine-n-words]

Sarra Cannon's HB90 Bootcamp

Image: 2023 Quarter 1 vision board. Background: Asexual flag. Top left to bottom right: (1) A person writing in a journal with their laptop in front of them, (2) upside-down picture of a hand heart against a sunset, (3) a person relaxing with a cup of coffee, (4) a piece of paper torn away to reveal the word “plot,” (5) Q1 Focus!, (6) A book with light and letters coming out from between the pages, (7) a book with two pages curved over to make a heart, (8) a mysterious shadowed figure against a greenish light, (9) a girl in a white shirt with red stripes standing back-to-back with a girl in a black-and-white striped shirt.

You can read this article on Substack!

Hello, all!

So, recently I decided to take a one week intensive course called the HB90 Bootcamp, which is run by Sarra Cannon of HeartBreathings. I’ve followed Sarra on YouTube for a few years now; she’s a very successful indie author, and someone I look up to. This bootcamp teaches her HB90 system, and a lot of other authors have sworn this has been extremely helpful for them, for a variety of reasons.

So what is the HB90 system? It’s a system of goal setting and planning. It uses Sarra’s planner system, which has been developed over years of her own experimentation, combined with a kanban board for visual representation of the things you’re working on. You then set your goals for the upcoming quarter (no more than three), break the goals down into projects needed to accomplish them, and break the projects down into individual tasks.

The class itself teaches you how to do these things, and also how to set up the planner (like how to map your available time and estimate how much you think you’ll need to complete a task and/or project, so you can estimate how long you’ll need for the goal), and how to set up your kanban board.

Was this class useful to me? I feel like it was. It definitely forced me to take my lofty writing and authorial goals and make them into something concrete. I had to state what I wanted, and make an actual plan to accomplish it—something more solid than “write a book, find an editor and cover artist, hit publish.” In fact, I set three goals—one for my future as an author, one for my fanfiction (because I need to write that, it helps me decompress and it’s fun), and a personal life goal. Most of my time is going into the first goal, but having the other two let me schedule in time for mental health and personal improvement as well.

Do I think it would be helpful for other people? Overall, yes. A lot of the material is geared towards authors and writing, because Sarra is an author, but I think it would also be helpful for everyone else. A word of caution, though, when it comes to scheduling time—it asks you to be brutally honest about your available time, and you make a chart of every activity you do. This can be overwhelming if you’re not prepared. I have anxiety, and for me, once I saw the visual representation of my schedule, I almost had a shut down at how packed it looked. Mostly because of work hours.

That said, my schedule is based off my current work schedule, and once holidays are over my work hours should drop back some. It’s also an “idealized” schedule—my work days change week-to-week, so (for example) I probably won’t have two days off in a row, but that’s how I blocked it out. I’ll have to adjust the actual plan on a weekly basis. These realizations are honestly what kept me from shutting down and deciding I can’t do what the class asks. If thinking about the sheer amount of work you have to causes any kind of similar reaction, this may not be the class for you. At the very least, you’ll need to make some adjustments to it.

Is the class effective? It definitely has been for making the actual plan, but when it comes to the execution…I guess I won’t be able to tell until the end of the quarter. I’ll definitely do a follow-up post then, let you all know how the overall plan went, and some updates throughout Q1 to let you all know how things are progressing!

[earthboundrecast]

Update #1: Status report

Hey everyone! Ian here. I think it’s time to bring everyone up to speed about our progress. As it has been exactly 7 months since we began development on Earthbound Recast. So far it’s been an interesting journey working on this project. We’ve grown a lot since then! Now we want to show our passion for this even more by giving everyone who has been following us a big update on how things are currently looking, plans going forward, and a personal message. We hope you enjoy!

The world of Earthbound Recast

So far, things are looking exciting! Everyone on the team has been working hard to make the project look as professional as it can be. As of current, mostly design and music is being done. We needed to find the right look and feel of the project and see how it would affect working with this in the future. So far, we are very happy with the response!

Mapping

Our current aim is to finish all assets for Onett, Everything is recreated from scratch with some noticable improvements here and there. Onett needs a few more assets that need to be finished before it’s completion!

Of course, work has started on different parts of the game to learn more about how other locations should look.

Mapping is done in Tiled, a flexible level editor that is capable of porting maps to several engines. It’s free, quick, and easy to use!

Friendly neighbors

Earthbound has a wacky, memorable cast of characters. The artists Quak, Cardigan, Max and Prism. Have done an amazing job thus far working on redrawing all the characters you’ll meet throughout your adventure.

Enemies

Next to mapping, this has been the busiest activity, as redrawing enemies for this remake turns out to be surprisingly entertaining!

As of now, currently 47 enemies have been completed! There's about 165 unique enemies if you're not counting duplicates.

Enemies are sketched out first and completed from there.

Battles

We currently don’t have our hands on a working game engine yet. (More on that later down this post). But this is an example on how battles will look in Earthbound Recast.

Menus for battles and overworld are being redesigned to make navigation easier. No more messing through menus!

Music

Please Visit our Soundcloud here!

Irikachana who is known for the MOTHER3 Restored Soundtrack is working on re-arranging the whole soundtrack while still sounding faithful!

Engine

This project started out in GameMaker Studio 2, but it quickly turned out to be unfit for this project due to several limitations that would decrease the quality we aim to achieve.

Unity was then being considered, but we soon learned that there’s a faster and more future-proof option coming our way...

introducing...

MODOT is an upcoming open-sourced Earthbound game engine powered by GODOT. Currently being developed by Benichi. The co-director of MOTHER: ROOTS

Check out the webpage for MODOT here.

Applications for programmers experienced with Godot and GDScript will open as soon as we get our hands on MODOT. It’s very important for a good programmer to know what they are getting into. To show we are working on this huge commitment with promise. Documents like a GDD and progress spreadsheets will be handed out to programmers who are interested in working on this project in their free time (Non-paid).

For artists who are also interested in joining the project, applications are in fact always open, just send your portfolio to earthboundrecast@gmail.com or DM us on our Twitter!

Please be aware, the Portfolio has to match the artstyle for this project, so tasks can be comfortably assigned.

Thank you!

Thanks to all the people who have supported us on Twitter, it means a lot. We might have revealed a bit too early, thus explaining why there is no current build in the new engine yet, but we are fully commited to follow our plans step-by-step! and with MODOT underway, we will have nothing to worry about!

Final message

Writing this blogpost has been an absolute blast, we hope you like what we currently had to show! You can expect us to write updates on this blog every now and then. We aim for letting everyone know exactly what is going on during development.

We have to point out, this is still a FANMADE project, always take fanmade products into account, anything can happen during development. 

Thank you so much for reading and we’ll see you next time!

-Ian Noah

Team members

Ian Noah

Quak

Max

Goraiken

Chair

Cardigan

Jalecko

Benichi

Irikachana

Maedeaz

Prism

[st-agatha-city]

St Agatha Gazette, Issue #2 🐇

Hello, citizens of St. Agatha - we meet again! Welcome to our second ever weekend update! Things have been choo-choo-chuggin' along! 🚂 Been taking it a little easier the past couple of days (though not on purpose, and not by choice >:P) due to finally getting my second vaccine and coming down with symptoms disorder.

On a bittersweet note, I just had a job interview that went well! So yay~! I might soon again be able to work, and worry less about rent and other fun things! ^^ But this could mean updates will be slowing a little - and I do mean as little as I can help it! Working on St. Agatha City has been such a positive force in my life!

Alrighty, on to the updates!

Traffic

With the exception of yesterday, the usual three hours per day have been successfully spent plugging away at St. Agatha City! A lot of the usual writing, coding, and art, but also researching the more complex features I hope to implement! A map system (which I will be showing off a little tomorrow~), an inventory, and a phone with a basic call function, so you can contact characters you bond with throughout the game, and maybe instigate events that way. Out of those three, though, the latter is on the lower end of priority, but the first two are confirmed and in development :)

I've been making use of the developer communities, as well as Ren'Py (the software I'm using to make St. Agatha City) forums to reach out with my questions to more skilled (and very kind, patient) users, who have been an absolutely huge help!

And thanks to alpha testers like my boyfriend, and our very own community member, @sugarcoatedsadism, things have been progressing nicely! Edits are being made, and new content is being added almost daily.

Weather

Enjoying the sun, citizens? I know I have! From inside, coding, at least ^^ It looks like it's due to be cloudy this upcoming week, at least through this weekend. But good news! With the map mentioned last week being slowly but surely being implemented, I will happily be turning my focus to an inventory system, as the new navigation system develops.

And, most excitingly, with more places to go, there will be more characters to meet! Expect, as my time allows, new character intros, art, and places around St. Agatha to be revealed!

Sports

The end of last week marked a big play, sports fan, and a big win! You'll be hearing more about this tomorrow, at noon, but I can show you a messy little sneakpeak of the basic design!

Now, it looks... a little rough at the moment, as it is only a placeholder example for me to experiment with, but with new research happening shortly, I'll be designing something that resembles the intended product relatively soon, which will be a lot closer to what is released with the finished game :)

You will be able to preview some of the locations that will be available to you to explore, interact with other characters, and answers to the different questions Pixy's time in St. Agatha causes.

I am super excited to go over it with you guys, with a more detailed fly by! See you at the game! Go... team...!

Closing Thoughts

I am happy to say that, after a week, I am still at it! St. Agatha City is progressing consistently, and just earlier this week I was able to release enough content to do an Alpha Demo Test with some friends, and get Chapter 0 looked over by an editor. It's small, but I am proud. I admittedly have a history of instability that has caused finishing projects to be difficult - but commitment to St. Agatha City is a point of pride to me. Creating it has helped me feel a sort of peace I really haven't before.

Speaking of Chapter 0 - once the map is done, all that's left is some writing, sprites, art fixes, and some final touches! Maybe, after some editing, I could release it as a demo for the public to try! :) that would be an amazing stretch goal. I think then I could feel confident opening a ko-fi perhaps, as I would now have an actual product that has been delivered, and more on the way!

Thanks again, for all of your kindness, support, and excitement. Stay safe out there, citizens! And have a great weekend!

~ Fairyfly

[thecraftyfoxthewriterscorner]

Happy Holidays 2023!

❄️Wishing you a happy holiday season from The Crafty Fox Editing Services!☃️

Hey Story Crafters,

Season’s Greetings! I wish you and your loved ones a happy holiday season.

Thank you all for reading this newsletter, and your support this past year—this newsletter wouldn’t be possible without you! 😊

You can expect to receive more frequent newsletter posts in the upcoming year. See you in 2024!

Best,

Leah

Visit the Crafty Fox Editing Services

Connect with me on social media!

Substack Post: https://thecraftyfoxwriterscorner.substack.com/p/happy-holidays-2023

Interested in learning more about me, and the kind of energy I’ll bring to a writer-editor relationship? If you're a writer, consider subscribing to my free Substack newsletter (you can check out the archives, too). You'll get a free writing resource on relationship mapping, and a special offer when you subscribe!

You can also check out the archives.

Are you searching for an editor to work with on a completed (or soon-to-be-completed) manuscript? Get in touch! I’d love to hear about your project(s). I’m looking to work with authors of:

Fantasy

Dark Fantasy

Science Fiction

Horror

Send me an email!

Note: Due to the upcoming holidays, I may not respond as quickly as usual. Thanks in advance for your patience and understanding!

[rpgmgames]

November’s Featured Game: Grimm's Hollow

DEVELOPER(S): ghosthunter ENGINE: RPG Maker 2003 GENRE: Indie RPG, Adventure WARNINGS: Discussions of death, losing a loved one, grief SUMMARY: Grimm’s Hollow is a spooky, freeware RPG where you search the afterlife for your brother. Reap ghosts with your scythe, explore haunted caves, and eat ghostly treats on your journey through death.

Download the game here! Our Interview With The Dev Team Below The Cut!

Introduce yourself! *BB: My name's Bruno and I did some of the music along with Nat! I’m super happy to have participated in this game! *NW: I’m Nat Wesley, a.k.a. Natbird! I’m a composer available for hire with a few projects in the works. I’m honored to have had the chance to work on the soundtrack to Grimm’s Hollow! *GH: Hello! I go by ghosthunter online; I started developing RPGs with a friend in school when we found out that we both enjoyed RPG Horror. I enjoy art, webcomics, cartoons and narrative-driven indie games a lot. I bought RM2K3 on sale and started pouring pixel art into it, before learning how to do things like chase scenes, cutscenes, etc. I used to fantasize about making my own game, drawing dungeons and ghosts in the back of my sketchbooks, before I finally started Grimm’s Hollow. Now I’m near the end of high-school, and I’m hoping the best for uni!

What is your project about? What inspired you to create this game initially? *GH: Grimm’s Hollow, originally, wasn’t as ambitious or personal. It was simply just going to be “my first game”, something that I could finally put my doodles and RM2K3 skills to. I wanted a game that a younger me would have enjoyed, back when I first discovered the classic RPGMaker games and replayed them constantly for those endings. That was my initial inspiration. It eventually evolved into an action turn-based RPG that relies on timing, yet it’s mostly narrative-driven. You traverse death in search of your sibling, and try to make an escape. There are unexpected pieces of me that ended up in this game, some of which I’m still noticing even now.

How long have you been working on your project? *GH: Since the summer of June 2018.

Did any other games or media influence aspects of your project? *GH: Standstill Girl, OFF by Mortis Ghost, Undertale, Over The Garden Wall, and the animation medium in general.

Have you come across any challenges during development? How have you overcome or worked around them? *GH: Many! Making your first game is such a giant learning curve, that the list of challenges goes on. I would say that the most difficult issue I encountered (and that, in some ways, I am still facing after release) is working around the limitations of the game engine I am using. I wanted to see whether creating an engaging but simple 1-party RPG in RM2K3 (without going completely custom) was feasible, and I experimented with quick time events as part of that. I worked around the engine’s built-in formulae so players could see progress when they upgraded their stats - although the game might display as defence as “10”, in reality the game stores it as 40 since the engine splits defence by 4. Since I did not want to create an RPG which was too complex for my first game, I also scrapped traditional staples such as armour or weapons. There were also issues such as having an appropriate “game over” handling event which wouldn’t shoot you back to the title screen after you lost a battle; getting RM2K3 to play a small cutscene where you faint and respawn somewhere else was tricky. I felt that if the player had to reload after a loss, it would disrupt the game flow.

Have any aspects of your project changed over time? How does your current project differ from your initial concept? *GH: Like I mentioned before, the game started off impersonal. I just had a soft spot for a spooky cute aesthetic, and I wanted to indulge in that. It was (and in its essence, still is) meant to be a short story, to keep the player invested for the short game length - nothing grandiose. The original draft did not have Baker play a role in the narrative - he was just an ordinary shopkeeper NPC. For a long time during development, Lavender did not even have a name. In the very first draft, she was a silent protagonist the player could name and customize. But she played a very active role in the final outline, so it was hard not to give her own unique voice when one emerged from the narrative naturally. I am glad I did; she grew on me quite quickly! Grimm was virtually unchanged from beginning to end. The only difference was that a close friend suggested that he seemed like he would be into drinking Oolong tea - so that’s what he offers you when you meet him. Timmy also did not go under massive overhauls like Lavender and Baker did, but his relationship with Lavender became much more fleshed out as I wrote the narrative. In other facets of the game’s design, there were not many changes to the original prototype.

What was your team like at the beginning? How did people join the team? If you don’t have a team, do you wish you had one or do you prefer working alone? *GH: It was just myself, doing the art, writing, programming, etc. But halfway through creating the second cave, I realised I would need a very specific sound for Grimm’s Hollow. So, I contacted Nat for music, but I also created a post on tumblr calling for a composer since there were many tracks to make. I met Bruno as a result! I am very happy with their work and I am so grateful I’ve got to work with them! (Some players are asking for an OST release, which is in the works).

What is the best part of developing a game? *GH: I really enjoyed the early stages of development: creating new tilesets, sprites and maps and piecing them together in the editor, then taking a small screenshot and sharing it with my friend over summer vacation … It was nice to see the game’s world slowly come together. I think that’s what I enjoyed the most from beginning to end: that sense of world-building, that sense of relaxation from making a small cosy game. The latter started to disappear as work and other responsibilities started to intrude, and pressure began to seep into development time - but I never stopped loving making the world and characters. I also want to say that, by lucky chance, I have met a lot of kind people from making my first game. I’m very grateful for that, so thank you to everyone.

Do you find yourself playing other RPG Maker games to see what you can do with the engine, or do you prefer to do your own thing? *GH: All the time! Other RPG Maker 2003 projects are great inspirations for pixel art tilesets, as well as how to code harder features such as custom menus. They’re also just fun to play.

Which character in your game do you relate to the most and why? (Alternatively: Who is your favorite character and why?) *GH: Lavender and Timmy are relatable to me in multiple ways. I can’t elaborate on Timmy since that would go into spoiler territory, but I somewhat relate to Lavender’s insistence on managing her life on her own - sometimes to her own detriment. I’d say the most fun character to write for was Grimm. He can be unintentionally silly while speaking in the most formal way, but also very caring too. Everything he does and says was easy to write, whereas I had to think harder for the interactions between everyone else - especially for very crucial scenes regarding their development. That being said, my favourite is still the game’s central two siblings. I can not pick between them for the life of me.

Looking back now, is there anything that regret/wish you had done differently? *GH: I wish I started testing even earlier! Not only does it give you a good sense of what’s missing, but seeing people enjoy what you’ve made yet get hindered by bugs is a very strong incentive to fix your game immediately. When I was lacking motivation or was stuck, I found that good feedback and support made me motivated again. I also wish that I could have pushed the deadline a little further, or perhaps released the game on Early Access since it will take me a while to refine post-release bugs - but as it is, the 31st of October really was the deadline for my game due to external circumstances (no, that deadline wasn’t just because it was Halloween!). Other than that, I wonder if using an updated version of RPG Maker would have produced the same game …? It’s hard to tell, but I hope people enjoy it for what it is - I will be working on that post-release patch soon!

Do you plan to explore the game’s universe and characters further in subsequent projects, or leave it as-is? *GH: There are no current plans, but I would be happy to have the opportunity to improve and expand on the game. As it is, the game’s released for free and done as a hobby, so I would struggle to do that by myself.

What do you most look forward to now that you have finished the game? *GH: Earlier on, I was really looking forward to players’ reactions. Games are made to be fun, and I would have felt distraught if my game didn’t achieve what it was set out to do. Yet it was not just about the gameplay; it was about the narrative. I hoped that what I found funny, the player would too; what was heartfelt to me, was heartfelt to the player as well. Like sharing a laugh, or just a good experience together. I hoped they would enjoy the feeling that went into it, despite the struggle of making it against circumstance and limitations. Now, I look forward to resting and sleeping once this over. I want to explore my other interests, improve, and explore new media. I want to relax, and refocus again like I was before the heat of development.

Is there something you’re afraid of concerning the development or the release of your game? *GH: Bugs! Some are easy to fix, but others are harder due to the limitations of the engine (e.g an error in one ending is caused by an overflow error).

Do you have any advice for upcoming devs? *GH: Show your game as early as possible, to as many people as possible. As soon as you have something playable, it’s ready for feedback. You’ll see if that game mechanic you spent hours refining works, or if it doesn’t work and why. You’ll understand what players enjoy and what they want more of, but also what they don’t like or don’t enjoy. And you will definitely encounter bugs. You’ll be able to pinpoint and fix minor problems early on that can easily become a larger issue later. You’ll be able to fine-tune your game so its best bits shine, and the difficulty is just right.

Question from last month's featured dev @dead-dreams-dev: Is there anything you’ve added to your game for no other reason than because you’re hoping fans will get a kick out of it? Fanservice, fourth wall breakage, references to other games, jokes, abilities that are just ridiculously overpowered and badass, etc? *GH: It’s hard to say; game design is trying to find the intersection between what’s good for the player, what the developer enjoys, and what’s feasible to implement. Every decision made should be conscious of that … I think a lot of the game’s early light-hearted jokes was not only made because I enjoyed it, but I hoped the player would “get a kick out of it” too. But more so, I think it’s because I would struggle to write a story which is serious and bleak from beginning to end. The game is a little self-indulgent in the narrative that way.

We mods would like to thank ghosthunter & team for agreeing to our interview! We believe that featuring the developer and their creative process is just as important as featuring the final product. Hopefully this Q&A segment has been an entertaining and insightful experience for everyone involved!

Remember to check out Grimm's Hollow if you haven’t already! See you next month! 

- Mods Gold & Platinum

[bakersstreetirregulars]

Ovenbreak Season 6: Yogurt Dunes Escapade

🌰 Is it really time for Season 6?

🔎 Yes, it is. Time for another deep dive, since there’s a lot to unpack. But before we get started, use this video as a guide if you get lost along the way: https://youtu.be/tp-B1Ni_WKo. If the video reaches 400,000 views worldwide across every region’s YouTube channels before June 28th, 11:00 PM UTC, then everyone gets a special prize worth 2,000 Crystals 💎 and 2,000 Rainbow Cubes 🌈!

🍮 Tell everyone, and everyone wins! *giggle giggle*

🔎 And as for Roguefort, they said they’ll be dropping in “soon”, whenever that is. But until that happens, let’s get started!

Main Story Mode

🌰 As explained in the Q&A video with the main director, a main story mode is being added which follows Gingerbrave and his friends to find Cookie Paradise.

🔎 They found a mysterious compass that reacts to an unknown mystical energy, but…

🔎 *ahem* Getting back on track, they follow the compass to the city of Yogurca where they meet with Yogurt Cream Cookie and his friends as they set off for Jellydusa’s temple. What will become of them? We don’t know yet. All we know is that this story will be continuously updated with each new update. Advance through each stage and progress the story by reaching the target score to get as many as 3 stars per win! More stars, more rewards! Get enough stars to unlock Hard mode and Master mode. Get 3 stars in one stage to unlock a Quick-Run feature there where you can instantly clear the stage for only some of the rewards.

Invocation Cards

🪄 I’ll take over here, since magic card tricks are my forte!

🔎 Sure, you do you. I have to double-check that Roguefort isn’t stealing that painting again, so it works out for both of us. [Walks out]

🪄 First off, what are Invocation Cards? These invocation cards are special skill cards that can be used on Cookies that have reached their maximum level, allowing them to use a second skill for even more points! What separates these cards from treasures is that you will have a third button that activates the card’s effect, allowing you to use it at any time up to a maximum number of times noted on the card and the button!

Editor’s Comment: Fire Spirit and Werewolf’s skill buttons will most likely be mapped into a fourth button, as they’re both activated by a third button already.

🪄 How do you get them? Easy! Get Invocation Tokens and give them to Jellydusa to get new cards! Have any duplicates? Merge them to promote it to a higher level! A special event will run for the first month or so, allowing you to try them out and get some rewards along the way by earning stars through high scores! You don’t need the featured card to play each level, so don’t worry about that! Token rewards will also be granted to celebrate the upcoming update, so stay tuned in daily to keep earning!

Balance Changes

💎 [Drops in with a sack of jewels in tow] What, you actually thought I would be stealing that painting already? That’s because I already did!

🪄 W-wait, what? In here?! That’s just inviting trouble to our front door!

💎 Tut, tut, Cinnamon. You already took a fall from one round of deception and lies when Gingerbrave fell from that ladder with a jar of strawberry jam. Lighten up a bit, yes? I already have that satchel taken care of, as well as these balance changes here.

🪄 If you’re sure you’ll be fine, then I’ll be in the break room with a jelly shake practicing my card tricks. [Walks away into the break room]

💎 It’s as if he’s one of us, isn’t he? Anyway… Season 6 will bring a sweeping balance change that is said to bring more uniformity with the following changes:

Less points from skills used by Cookies and Pets

More points from jellies

Such changes are aimed to close the score gap between older and newer Cookies.

💫 D-does that mean that I’ll be favored by everyone again?

💎 Oh- Cream Puff Cookie? How did you find your way here? You *almost* surprised me, but one answer to that question is a definite maybe.

💫 Oh… also, Almond Cookie is at the door, and he’s gone several hours without a coffee break…

💎 …and that’s my cue to leave. Take care of the rest of the information here, yes?

🔎, 🕵️‍♂️ [Walnut and Almond chase Roguefort through the studio as the three of them engage in a background foot chase] GET BACK HERE, ROGUEFORT COOKIE!

💫 Where were we again? Oh, riiiiiiiight here. Second point. All Cookies and Pets will now have a maximum level of 15, regardless of their rarity, but the resources you need to max them out will be the same as before. Upgrading a Legendary Cookie will still require significant effort, but those efforts from upgrading to level 5 will be spread out into 15 levels to give you a sense of achievement and progression more often.

Third point, Cookies that used to start with an instant skill activation will now start with an empty skill gauge that will have to be filled from scratch. Skills activated at the start of a run such as mine, Cinnamon’s, and Moonlight’s will now activate after the gauge fills. Skills that rely on collecting enough resources like Carrot’s, Beet’s, Cream Unicorn’s, Chestnut’s, Dark Choco’s, and even Wind Archer’s will now require the full amount before they can show their hidden potential.

New Events

💫 C-careful, guys! Don’t knock anything over!

💎 I’m not the one tipping everything over, it’s them.

💫 Where’s Latte Cookie when I need her the most…? Okay, Cream Puff, calm down and continue on to the events:

⚔️ New Guild Run Season

💎 Crystal Cashback

🌅 Summer Custom Run Season with a new Lobby Design!

🃏 Invocation Card Test-Run

⛏ Curious Rainbow Mine

Rotating Breakout Episodes

💫 Starting with this update, Escape from the Oven and Black Sugar Pirate Ship will return to replace the two preexisting Special Episodes.

Editor’s Note: Yes, I’m just as tired of EFTO as many of you since most of us, if not all of us, already have Fire Spirit, Sea Fairy, and Dark Enchantress at level 5, making the weekly Legendary reward virtually useless. For anyone in the late game that has millions on millions of coins, BSPS and the current Spooky Spider Mansion are practically useless as those just add more coins for those that don’t need much more of them, but I can understand why that’s there so newer players have a sustainable source of coins to farm.

Lilac Cookie

🌰 Man, they’re really messing this place up, Cream Puff- wait, we were still recording! Next up, Lilac Cookie! Since we first met him in Season 4 two years ago, lots of people wanted him to be playable. In fact, when you guys helped me re-print those newspapers back in December 2020, the major opinion found on most of your newspapers stated that Lilac was the fan favorite request to be playable out of everyone that’s currently an NPC, even overtaking Aloe despite her being introduced three months before Lilac!

💫 At given intervals, he fights villains with his chakrams. Throw them at the right heights to defeat them and challenge their boss for even more points! With a Magic Candy, he can throw his chakrams at any time once the blue gauge fills and you perform a Double Jump followed by a Slide immediately afterwards to destroy obstacles with bonus destruction points. His pet Tranquil Bloom drops lilac petals and larger lilac blossoms for points.

[Background shattering noises and explosions]

💫 N- no! They’re tearing this place apart! I have to do something!

🌰 Uh, we’re gonna have to cut to a commercial break for a bit while we try to control the situation.

🪄 Is she about to do what I think she’s about to do?

💫 Jellius… BLASTIUS!!!

🪄, 🌰, 🔎, 🕵️‍♂️, 🍮, 💎: (All in unison) CREAM PUFF, NO…..!

[Massive explosion followed by the sound of static feedback]

Unfortunately, Tumblr has a 10-photo limit that is forcing me to split this update breakdown into two parts, so be on the watch for the second half. If another large update happens again in the future, then I’ll most likely split it into two halves.

[letshaikyuu]

𝐈𝐟 𝐈 𝐖𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐀 𝐊𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫

𝐒𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬: “When the FBI busted down my door, the last thing I was expecting to see was a hot, young agent. But then, our two worlds collided and I couldn’t let him leave my side.”

𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: A FBI!Kuroo Tetsurou x Writer!Akaashi Keiji short fic

𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠: mentions of blood, crime scenes and any other material needed for mystery novels

𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬: This story is just me being inspired from a prompt that I have seen on Tumblr and decided that this pairing suited it the best.

𝐎𝐮𝐭𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞  - 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐈 - 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐈𝐈 - 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐈𝐈𝐈 - 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐈𝐕

It is not surprising that at whatever Akaashi strived to do, he was always the best. When he was seven, he picked up drawing and happened to win a competition just a few months later. When he was fourteen, history was a subject he found intriguing and competed in for the rest of his school days. Pictures are plastered on his family's wall where he is holding up 'First place' trophies. So when he decided to pursue a Literature and Creative Writing degree, his family was more than welcome to support him with his dreams. He published a best-seller during his second year and his teacher assigned him as one of the assistants, offering him a spot as a professor when he finishes his Master's.

Akaashi was not interested in teaching. Even during university, he felt the stuffy air of the classroom and bustling voices of the other students to be very irritating and too much of a hassle for him. His parents paid extra to accommodate him in a single-bed dorm so he would have the most peace any university student would want. That dorm was the same place Akaashi wrote his second novel: 'The Lost Case of Neverland', a mystery novel he found very peculiar and interesting to write. That was when he decided to focus his talent on writing solely mystery novels.

There was no doubt that he was a very mysterious person himself. Even now, at 27 years of age and standing in an empty living room with boxes around him, Akaashi was still an enigma to many. He moved, rather out of the blue, to this little town called 'Brightwood'. Population 600, Brightwood was the perfect place for Akaashi to settle down and pursue further writing escapades. Finding a house that was affordable and isolated from the rest of the houses on the only street in town, he bid farewell to his parents and a handful of friends before moving.

Someone who had the needed amount of money to happily live in a big city has now moved to a run-down, closed-off town that hardly has anything going for it? It wasn't even located on the map. His parents were nervously awaiting for him to call and let them know that he had finally arrived at his new home, but what shocked them immensely was a text message from Keiji that was sent right before he entered the town:

'There is no signal in this town. You won't be able to reach me while I'm here.'

◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤

A few days have passed since the boxes have been neatly placed in the corner and minimal furniture found it's way into the house. The state of the house was not something to be proud of. House n.66 was the cheapest house in town. Once owned by an old couple that passed away from old age in said house, the state was awful. Floorboards that were creaking, the roof that was leaking and there was always a spider a day crawling its way out into the open. But, this was exactly what Akaashi was looking for.

'A mystery novel isn't a mystery novel until the writer puts himself in the character's shoes,' Akaashi would say to people who asked him how was he so good at writing mystery novels. All of his novels had this eerie feeling. It was not fit for a nightly read because they were terrifying, but they also never let you leave their content because of how engrossing they were. He couldn't count the number of times someone would ask him if he was possessed by a demon or if there's a ghost haunting his home. Akaashi would always say maybe.

His good looks were pleasuring for the eyes as well. A lot of women came up to Akaashi during book signing events and asked for an autograph on the weirdest of places. He was never able to hide his annoyance, but they always seemed to decipher that as something sexual and not the complete opposite. It usually took Akaashi getting dozens of numbers and sexual compliments to snap and ask that the book signing ends early. Even though his temper was unappealing to some, no one decided to leave his works because they were that amazing.

When the campaign for Akaashi's upcoming novel 'If I Were A Killer' started, people could hardly contain the excitement at the thought of another phenomenal novel in their hands. Rather unwillingly, Akaashi gave a short interview regarding the upcoming release and stated that if everything goes as planned, the novel should be published in a few months. He also added that he will be completely unavailable to the public eye for the time being so that he can finish his novel in peace. That interview was the last time Akaashi was seen in the public eye.

Now, with a cup of black tea in his hand and the fireplace quietly crackling in the background, Akaashi was ready to work on the final chapters of the novel. It was a novel that challenged him greatly as an author because it differed from his other work quite greatly. His editor was not too keen on this novel, it was too heavy to read and felt as if the storyline would be too difficult to understand:

'Akaashi-san, I don't think such a novel would be greatly appreciated in the public. It seems like it will be very hard to read-'

'I've already made my decision and the plot has already been developed. I do not plan on changing anything Furudate-san.'

'But Akaashi, isn't it extremely difficult to write someone who's a serial killer?'

He only smirked at the words of his editor and continued drinking his already cold tea. 'You don't know Furudate-san,' Akaashi glanced at his editor, something mysterious glinting in his eyes,' just how much that topic interests me.'

His editor didn't want to admit how the obvious coffee stain on his suit appeared. 'My hands were just shaking,' he said to the dry-cleaners, but the evil-like gaze he got from Akaashi was something he would never forget.

◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤

It was proven to be a very easy task for Akaashi. Before moving to Brightwood, he spent hours researching everything there was to know about serial killers and their ways of work. From what triggered them to how they dispose of bodies. Akaashi had everything written down in his documents. One of the main reasons he moved to Brightwood is that his novel was set right in this little town. You could say that he was invested in this novel, paying attention to every single detail and writing it with such ease. So, when he found out about such a small town, he figured it was the perfect setting for his novel. What doesn't interest people more than a serial killer wreaking havoc in a small town like Brightwood, where everyone seems to 'know' their neighbors that well?

'When shit happens, everyone is everyone's enemy. Nobody is safe from the obvious hate and mistrust. Who was once drinking coffee in your backyard is now suspected of murder? Who was once dropping newspapers on the street is now sentenced to life in prison? Can you trust the people living with you? How can we be so sure of what's going on in another person's mind? Life wouldn't be this interesting if we knew everything, would it?'

The night was very calm, the perfect fit for Akaashi to add something new to his ever-growing novel. The complete silence would be nerve-wracking for most, but it suited Akaashi perfectly. He enjoyed not hearing the bustling noise he couldn't get rid of in his dorm or continuous shuttering of cameras during promotion periods. He was alone with his thoughts. Perfect for writing mystery novels with serial killers. Once he finished writing the predicted part for today, Akaashi closed his laptop and went to drop off his dirty dishes in the sink. He was crossing the hallway with his empty mug in hand when he heard a commotion on the street. 'There must be some kind of party going on out there,' Akaashi shook his head at the thought, thinking back to the day he first moved to this town. The neighbors were quick to welcome him and offer any kind of needed help. They were also preparing a welcoming party for the newcomer, but once Akaashi found out about it, he immediately shut it down and said he wasn't the type for parties.

'Maybe that's why nobody has visited me these past few days.'

While he was thinking back to his neighbors, the commotion outside was becoming clearer and louder. It started to feel like they were right outside his door, banging up a storm. To Akaashi, the constant noise reminded him of pencil tapping on the desks in his university classes, just much more boosted. He could feel his brain pulsating in his head, any kind of loud noise irritates him greatly and his annoyance starts to show. Trying to calm himself down as much as possible, he took a deep breath and continued his way to the kitchen. Not even a step further, his front door was suddenly on his floor. The entrance was completely bare. It should be showing the clear night sky, but all Akaashi saw were dozens of people dressed in black, equipped with heavy machinery. Unceremoniously, the empty mug was shuttered on the ground and Akaashi was down on his knees with unknown people surrounding him.

'FBI! DOWN ON THE GROUND NOW AND HANDS WHERE I CAN SEE THEM!'

The last thing Akaashi saw before his head and body were forcefully pinned to the ground was the shattered mug on the floor and a mop of messy black hair. He looked too hot in Akaashi's eyes and it wasn't fair that he got to wear that smug smirk on his face while Akaashi was here mopping the floor with his body. Akaashi isn't a puppet. He was always the puppeteer.

══════════════════

𝐓𝐚𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭: @mysticrainpain​ @kawaiibaka96​ @kashika​ @brokutoforever​ @shangyinn-ig​ @miyulovestowrite​ @heccingdead​ @kellyyween​ @death-waves-to-me​ @bareeganbaree​ @caxsthetic​