#this is about the upcoming map editor

[quincysonofquincy]

who's ready for penis map

[kaija-rayne-author]

Thoughts on upcoming Veilguard AMA.

Obligatory 'I'm not an asshole' disclaimer. Feel free to jump to the cut if you've read it.

Something came to my attention. I need to make it crystal clear that I utterly love the diversity in DAV. It's fantastic. I'm also a heavily left leaning, non-binary, queer as fuck reviewer, editor, and author.

I was on media blackout while I played it. Please be safe and take care of yourselves. Arguing with incels and white supremacists is completely pointless. They sea lion worse than an actual sea lion. Your mental health is important.

Though, every single time the anti-queer brigade comes out for a new DA game, I sit there thinking 'have you bozos ever played any DA game, like, ever?' My guess is nope.

Note. None of my writing on DA, but especially DAV, is edited. This is just my off the cuff writing. I don't have the time, energy, or heart to edit them properly.

Heard there was an AMA coming up on the 4th of December.

Given how the devs weaseled out from every actually important question in every other AMA, I don't have a lot of hope that we'll get any answers as to why DAV is so bad.

I just want to know why they scrapped Joplin. It had almost everything committed fans wanted. I want to know why every single decision they made somehow managed to make the game worse. I think there was pressure from EA. But rumour has it that BioWare has always had a lot of control over the games they make.

It's probably partially EA's fault. But I think the blame for the DAV mess belongs firmly on the devs and the people who decided to fire their (often) best writing talent.

But I'm not going to go. Because of said weasely behavior.

Maybe I just have to be done with games from huge corporations. I'm playing Greedfall now and loving it. It’s an RPG from an indie studio. It's a wee step back on graphics, they reused a couple of sets, but generally, it's a very solid RPG that feels like an RPG. They aren't staying away from sticky ideas and awful behavior by people. I find that incredibly realistic. The main/player character is a diplomat, who lies like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.

I kept expecting Rook to burst into song and bluebirds to fly out of their ass. Maybe big corporates just can't give me what I want in RPGs anymore. I want truly morally grey choices. I want sticky political shit. I want passionate Romances with happy endings. I want to feel when I play games like these. Which means I need games with solid writing, good characters, and excellent world building. It means the OST has to be good. Not something that had the dedication to it as if Zimmer scraped it off his boot. Greedfall has all that. Plus the morally grey choices.

I've usually purchased and played AAA games from bigger companies because I do like unique maps to explore, and I'm an admitted graphics slut.

But holding DAV on one hand and GREEDFALL on the other? Greedfall wins, hands down. And it's a 5 year old game that very likely didn't have the 250 million dollar budget DAV had. I haven't even finished it yet, and it still wins. I played Subnautica Below Zero just before this one. It's more survival sandbox, but has plenty of RPG elements to it. When Unknown Worlds made both Subnautica games, they were still indie.

Perhaps, after loving BG3 as much as I do (Larian is also Indie) I should've gotten the message to check out indie produced RPGs earlier.

Message received.

DAVs utterly disastrous showing... It's likely a result of late stage capitalism and Disney polluting everything, and people in charge thinking MARVEL actually has any relevance since Disney bought it. Among a lot of other things I'll probably never know about.

But those are excuses. If BioWare truly has as much control as rumoured... it's on them. All of it.

I tried watching Loki. I utterly adore Tom Hiddleston, and even he couldn't get me through that disaster.

I already picked up a few more indie RPGs in the Steam fall sale. Looking forward to exploring them.

Maybe BioWare is just too corporatized to produce anything truly good anymore. Corporations don't have any room for true creativity.

It doesn't really matter. DAV broke my heart and landed BioWare on my boycott list for several reasons I detailed in my review series. I'm just done with them.

[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!

[wat3rm370n]

I am appalled at the news of mask bans.

Rejected Letter to the Editor, October 2024.

I submitted this to the Scranton Times-Tribune on October 5, 2024, and never heard back, so I’m posting it here.

I am appalled at the news of mask bans popping up in various places. I ought to have a right to protect myself from the elements: viruses, pollen, pollution, wildfire smoke, or cold, by wearing a mask. Health exceptions are not sufficient because having to carry papers or explain medical status is Un-American. Anonymity should not be forbidden and we should be allowed liberty of movement, a right described in our Constitution. There are already reports of disabled and elderly being targeted with harassment. It was in the news that a cancer patient in North Carolina, at a time a mask ban was merely proposed, was “confronted by a man who shouted expletives and called her a liberal for wearing the mask”, he feigned coughing and said he hopes the cancer kills her. It was also in the news that a mayor in Kentucky, a state with the highest rates of cancer, suggested mask bans would “curb gun violence” - instead of doing something about the guns, which seems entirely misguided. Mask bans are likely to lead to more violence. There have been letters to the editor in a New York newspaper suggesting vigilantism - one suggesting that others should harass people wearing masks by rudely taking photos, and fear mongering with the suggestion that masked elderly community members might actually be dangerous criminals “in costume”, which is ridiculous. Mask bans put targets on vulnerable innocent citizens who already have been marginalized by a society that’s politicized personal safety and is failing in the prevention of various disease spread. It’s a grotesque irony for people with cancer to get difficult and expensive treatments, only to be recklessly infected with a virus because masks are criminalized in some places. I hope nobody suggests such a nonsense law in northeastern Pennsylvania.

References:

https://www.nyclu.org/press-release/nyclu-condemns-nassau-county-mask-ban

https://www.wral.com/story/scared-to-put-on-my-mask-cancer-patient-says-she-was-intentionally-coughed-on-in-spat-over-mask/21478890/

https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2024/10/01/louisville-mask-ordinance-what-is-it-who-is-exempt-upcoming-changes/75468091007/

https://statecancerprofiles.cancer.gov/map/map.withimage.php

https://www.asbestos.com/cancer/state-cancer-rates/

https://www.newsday.com/opinion/letters/lithium-ion-battery-storage-state-abortion-laws-nassau-mask-ban-ji10m9i5

https://www.axios.com/2023/08/31/omicron-covid-cancer-deadly

(crossposted)

[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!

[foundinfantasy]

the survey

Can't keep myself from wishcasting. With many more years of Sims 4 ahead, I want every pack they suggested and more (and refreshes!). Here are my expectations, wants, and ramblings for each idea.

Rank: 6, 1, 8, 4, 7, 5, 9, 3, 2

[Also: so weird and surprising that they didn't bring up hotels, fairies, bands, or specific hobbies which might be my last big asks. My most generous assumption is that these are already in the works and my most delusional is that they'll be game packs (if we ever see those again)]

I picked this one as one of my favs.

Surfing (third chance's the charm?) for toddler+

Swimming update - teach infants and toddlers

Fish bowl/home aquarium update

Volleyball (hobby & sport for HSY and DU)

Turtle pets

Sailing (and being lost at sea)

Yachting (for the rich)

Pirating (because I love pirates)

Underwater lot (for mermaids) and gameplay ( I imagine once you dive [and you're not a mermaid] it'll start a timed event where you have to leave and get air before the end or die? OR have extra scuba tanks in inventory to extend the timer)

Fix the bug preventing waterfront apartments

Crosspack update to mermaids (at this point bring it to base game if need be to update them, mermaids are not the selling feature of IL. Give them the skill tree they deserve!)

Aquarium lot interactions and gameplay for all ages

It's coming off as Jungle Adventure and Strangerville but instead of tombs, sims will "discover" towns/islands and trading goods might help with attracting animals to your aquarium (as PG as possible)

Sea monsters (and integration with Loch Ness from Get Together)

Idk about the submarine, it'd probably end up being a rabbithole and a moodlet (maybe even a chance of death:)

I'm skeptical... and slightly bored.

Is this how they give us cars? Please no. This is honestly the weakest of all the ideas imo (on the principle that I feel like it's baiting car fans) and not just because I like my idea better.

Would the "van" be like the "fixer-upper car"? (that you buy in various conditions [broke, working, pristine] to act like a tent and you'd customize it by adding a bathroom, a kitchenette, etc using the mechanic skill in this case or buying the upgrade outright if already in better condition) - I fear this could be the whole pack, no other "car" included. It won't move but it'll be draggable. That's a terrible EP idea, barely a SP.

How does "life on the road" play out on a map? In the most literal, a series of road neighborhoods with lots on it? Instead of 3 neighborhoods, it's 6 streets? [HOWEVER this could be a way to update the world overview to an official sim nation overview AND/OR introduce a editor of some kind, scrolling to click a world is going to get old]

Would the heft of the pack come in with the road destinations stops and events?

What would make this pack different from being "off the grid" - the build/buy? Another try at tiny living furniture? mechanic bb?

What would make it van life? Possibility of bears? Bigfoot or other cryptids? Journaling sights/experiences? Documentary Filming? Homeschooling kids?

How would the mechanics career tie in? Traveling mechanic and his elder townies? Traveling elder mechanic? A mechanic retiring? Would the world just be Granite Falls/Moonwood Mills duplicate? or an Oasis Springs/Strangerville duplicate?

If not already a future pack, hotels/motels would fluff this pack out if you really lean into the land travel idea and less van life and/or cruises, if you really just want to add Elder gameplay and the boat could be its own map.

Side: does this mean we're not getting anything elder related with Life and Death? Or maybe the upcoming content is for pre-death elders and this would be for post-retirement elders?

Would be a great chance to add canes (if not already in L&D), dentures, bingo, crossword/sudoku books, water aerobics?

Even putting this idea out there to flirt with the fans who want cars makes cars even less likely to happen.

Real or not, give toddlers those tiny cars and me, motorcycles!

so Batuu but official? or maybe I'm leaning too much on the 'otherworldly' aspect and this is just apocalypse/dystopia/survivor gameplay (*squint*)

This is actually the weakest idea. Van Life at least had some replay value depending on what they add for Elders but this, not so much. Too vague. The world would be cool though.

Will this still be a vacation world? Will the world change (like Eco Lifestyle) into something solarpunk or ecopunk? Will it also be like Jungle Adventure?

Snakes, as pets.

I like the expanded fishing and exotic pets though it could be included with idea#1. EPs should fit in Sim Nation and expand my entire game; and expanding fish isn't enough. It's just too GP and niche.

What could be added? An update on woodworking and painting (crafting and gathering). More harvestables or flowers? Archery/Marksmanship. Pottery. Blacksmithing. The Watcher and Cults [imagine being a cult leader]. Playable daycare, oddly enough.

I don't think they'd add raid mechanics to TS4 but Zombies as spawn npcs [and a Zombie mini-game where you'd have to escape the zombie chasing you and if you lose you get bitten]

Zombie occult with a skill tree. Plantsims with a skill tree.... though I know they can't do EP Occults right to save their lives. They could go the alien route and give us the desperately needed alien update.

Also what happens if the "resource" is managed poorly? Game over? Mysterious crate shipment? Do I fight for someone's shelter and resources? Oregon Trail? Cannibalism?

So Jungle Adventure but Australia?

I want useful museums and bigger items so I'm not mad at this. This could have gameplay across ages and re-playable regardless of being the visitor or the owner.

With the other idea mentioning aquariums, this could go along the lines of fossils for museums / wildlife for conservation parks (new lot type) [integrate with items from IL and JA]

Museums could work on a reputation scale and hire front desk workers, tour guides, janitors, maybe rent out "rooms" from the Gallery as exhibits or allow the creation of exhibits with interactive plaques, apply for research grants, hold fundraising events, introduce new wealthy donor townies, have events that force that useless national leader to swing by. Museums could be so much better.

Conservation Parks work along a similar line but hiring knowledgeable caregivers. I'm not even going to dream of EA giving us animations for seven+ kind of animals to watch/play on the same lot. Lucky if we get one or two, but maybe required shells to give the idea of it that we have to buy?

Would we get larger lots? Imagine a 100 x 100 Conservation Park.

Taxidermy (just because)

Maybe for the education part: new post-grad school and degree (which yes would be DLC for DLC but if we're stuck with TS4 I'll need more than just 2 colleges: post-grad, community, medical, clown, and more degrees) OR create a base game community college / trade school and add post grad for both that and DU degrees.

^^ side rant: my biggest critique of DU is that it could've done more with frats/sororities [and parties]- treated it just like the secret society and have legacies [to be a legacy player playing a legacy was right there] and charity events and having a "rush" task/event

New jungle gyms for kids. Seesaw. Balance beam. Park items. Getting scuff marks and stains or roughhousing amongst kids should loosen a tooth.

If world is based around Australia I either need items that reference giant spiders or ... giant spiders (and a new fear.)

Again we're getting niche and the only thing saving this is that vibrant futuristic cities already exists alongside uncontacted tribes IRL so this doesn't need to be a world that exists in a vacuum like Batuu...... so I'm excited for the world more than anything. More cities please!

Even so, EPs usually introduce a new system/UI usually and I'm just not seeing it with one. Unless they're going full cyberpunk and we'll get a body map/tech tree to replace with customizable pieces. [but that's really niche, where would it hide?! or is it something only accessible via a workstation [that makes the most sense]?

Tattoo Career? Brainchips? Mad scientist? Data miners?

How will this pack mix with Discover Uni Servos or Batuu Droids? And differentiate from them?

Robot fighting? > Betting? > Gambling? > Casinos? Are we back?

Will we see the return of the Food Synthesizer? Intro to Hoverboard? Maybe even as things we have to make ourselves? I'm down for more tech and science*.

Prosthetics base game update?

Expanded Hacking.

Cinematography and Glassblowing - random, but I can see it.

Update boxing to a hobby/sport or introduce a martial arts.

*Update on Science - small microscope, science lab for HSY, ways to do science as a teen. Ant farm return? Train set return? Large interactive zero gravity tube? Flight simulator? Hypothesizing and experimentation process in a journal or on a white/chalk board?

Motorcycles! How do we still not have this?

I wouldn't mind seeing Errands or Side Quests specific to townies, but what's the end game here? How will this change my Sim Nation? This is all for experience gamers, what makes a family gamer buy it [or rather entices them]?

CAS and BB requests - neon vs brutalism, tech wear, insane masks and eyewear.

This was my favorite!

I want all the consequences!

Pool/Billiards and the counterfeit machine.

Being a Mafia Boss, making sims sleep with the fishes in game, shaking down sims, having goons, running multiple operations, evading the law, and keeping it in the "family" this could be so funny.

*bullhorn* A LONG TIME COMING update on the spy, criminal, and detective careers where they effect each other!.

Make jail mean something!

This could create banks/banking and again add purpose to museums (for possible art, fossil, plant, collectable, heirloom theft) - I want to assemble a crew or risk it solo and for it be semi active for planning, giving orders, and hacking.

Introduce Simish illicit materials (similar to Riverdale with its jingle-jangle and fizzle rocks) and shady townies.

Cross-pack play with 4R!

Being a vigilante? So would autonomous crime be a thing? Autonomous pickpocketing during a timed event? Stealing from vendors (a loaf of bread)? And the sim has to find out who did it and different outcomes for right or wrong, fighting and/or peaceful? Would the vig-sim get arrested instead?

Con artist? A side hustle to make phone calls, emails, and grift?

Are they introducing crooked cops to base game? To play both sides?

Would you get like errands or PI cases-odd jobs for the stakeouts (and use the photography skill)?

Graffiti update?

Casino possibility again? Motorcycles! Marksmanship?

Burglar return? Alarm system? Lock boxes in banks?

I'll never say no to more things for the kid, but this is possible in game already? Move kid from household with "counselor" into "camp" lot in Granite Falls/Willow Creek and/or do scouting/fishing, look for frogs, etc. for a few days. Move Back. Done. This way the game would just prompt you first? Gonna need a whole lot of gameplay to buy this.

What saves this: different types of (horse, science, space, music, art, spy, correctional, tumbling, etc) camp to introduce and the sheer amount of activities they could jam into this even if they stick with traditional camp: river-rafting, kayaking, canoeing, fishing from the boat, VOLLEYBALL, marco-polo, ARCHERY, scavenger hunts, tug of war, various new paper crafts and recipes, making tie-dye shirts, sending letters home, talent shows, relays, food fights, etc. and the more kinds of "camps" they do the longer the list gets.

^^ so could this become a create-a-camp pack? With similar UI to restaurants/retail?

Also would this be before or after EP idea#4, is adventure camp a given with this pack?

Update scouts to include a cookie drive.

Diving - hobby/sport

Pottery & wood carving

For Teens + active career? semi-active? Would work similar to daycare?

Slasher townies?

Large forest jungle gym. Bungie jump? Zipline?

Preteens and crushes!

Also could this not just be boarding school? It doesn't specify "summer" so when would you send them away? What happens to their grades while away? And if it's boarding school - return of schmoozing to get my kid in.

Also bringing up Granite Falls, plz free this world from its lonely purgatory when/if we get hotels.

Multi-functional lots, but I fear this will break RRs [more than it's already broken] <- [side rant: sometimes sims enter my apartment to disappear in my basement and even after setting up all the rentals I can still see inside someone other sim's apartment].

Everything about this is perfect. I'm not thinking it'll be a "past" pack but rather the world will feel stuck in time [similar to a futuristic pack] Truly a time where no one minded their own business because they didn't have pocket distractions.

This would fix everyone walking around with phones.

Make buying the phone a thing as the last "feature": New phone skins & new earbud skins and put them in the inventory as they should be.

BB requests: boombox, old box computer, a sega, landlines, coupon books.

Getting letters in mail, writing letters as communication.

A regular arcade machine and new games [shooting, dance-dance, claw, sky ball, racing!

Comic book collecting and writing! So writing, painting update and/or new sketching skill with a simple sketchbook.

Cinematography skill, videos and, hopefully we'll have bands already, music videos.

Would mall cop be a playable job?

Record shops and vinyl collecting!

All the DND clutter! New action figures. The lava lamp.

New side hustle for kids (done two ways: walking and on bike), parttime for teens+. - the newspaper but also maybe even magazines. Active babysitting (possible hauntings happening)

Model career, just because.

That charlatan sim!

Skateboarding.

Strollers.

Break-dancing.

Return of the hacky-sack.

Graffiti update once again.

Despite my ranking, I'm not against this pack. It's going for high society and finer things but even as a modern monarchy I don't see how it fits [within SimNation]

Queen Cordelia lore unlock though.

So do you create Kings/Queens in CAS? Does it start with a quest for the crown? Will the game assign roles if you're not playing with monarchy or will you be able to toggle it in settings? How do heirs work? Will my sim need to get rid of their sibling? Do they fight for the thrown? Are there multiplle ways to claim the throne, a trial or puzzle, a pie eating contest? Is heir determined by the ruling monarch, can that be challenged? Can it be written that the 7th son becomes king?

Are there warring kingdoms? Rivalries? Alliances? Militia?

Secrets and scandals in the palace! Palace/Estate lot trait/type? Galas? TS4 introduces class consciousness? Also you've given us polyamory so are we getting a harem next?

Can my sim behead someone? Do I go around claiming citizens and collecting taxes or is each world now its own kingdom? Can I, ruler of Oasis Springs take over Tartosa? What about the Leader from the Politician career? Do they just go missing? *wink*

How else does my sim earn money? Or does it just appear?

Will there be class gameplay?

Is this active days of fundraising and philanthropy or rabbit holes?

If ever a pack for the sewing machine to return, this is it.

Model career, just because

Blacksmithing again / Glassblowing .

Would BB just be really expensive items?

Carriage rides (with horses) and wheelbarrow plow (attached to horses for quick harvesting)

Birds in cages, seems fitting.

Will it start with Emperor/ess or King/Queen? Can there be multiple kingdoms in one save? Can I arrange the princess to be the Queen of Willow Creek through marriage?

Would my sim make laws? Would this not conflict with NAPs? Can I outlaw magic and be cursed for it?

Can another sim plot to overthrow the ruler? Can I be overthrown by my citizens and beheaded? Will there be a new kind of reputation UI for the kingdom? How will all these systems communicate/work together? Are kings/queens automatically famous?

I just have so many questions and honestly it just feels like another shallow attempt at appeasing players who've been begging for some kind of royalty pack. The cross-pack play would go insane though. Imagine a famous vampire King meets a medium mermaid in Strangerville. HA!

IDEAS I WISHED THEY WOULD'VE BROUGHT UP:

(outside of actual Cars, Hotels, Hobbies, Fairies, and Bands)

Circus/Clown

Sports/More Fitness equipment/Simlympics

Martial Arts/Dancing

Alien Deep Space

Rollercoasters/Water-rides/Extreme parks

Reality/More Competitions

a brand new Occult

[speaking of hotels -> not only does this pack need to cover running and experiencing, but also tourist attractions, cultural awareness, have likes/dislikes automatically interact with it, integrate with lifestyles, and come with a photography update and maybe introduce official blogging/writing update]

[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

[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!

[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.

[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

[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.