#will probably update this post when i finish the script

[junipvelt]

"Centricide the VN" will be coming out sometime next month! (exact date TBD)

stats for the current build v

I would apologize for it taking a year to make but at this point I'm just glad it might be finished during my lifetime.

[thankskenpenders]

Thoughts on two specific areas of the writing in Sonic X Shadow Generations

The best new 3D Sonic game in over a decade (or even two, depending on who you ask) dropped late last year. And I didn't write anything about it! Sometimes life happens. Well, I've finally sat down to finish Shadow Generations, and by now everyone has already been singing its praises for three months. This is the rare instance where the entire Sonic fandom, and even mainstream reviewers, are in agreement on something. The level design is the best it's been in a long, long time and the cool factor is off the charts, embracing Sonic's peak cringe era in an incredibly confident way. It's great. If you're even reading this post, you probably don't need me to tell you that. So I won't!

No, what I'm really interested in here is the writing. Because this is me we're talking about. But I actually don't want to talk about the main narrative of Shadow Generations, which is really solid little story about Black Doom trying to mold Shadow into his perfect soldier. No, I'd like to zero in on two other aspects of the writing here: the revisions made to Sonic Generations, and Gerald Robotnik's unlockable journal.

The updated Sonic Generations script

The new package mostly presents Sonic Generations how you remember it. There are some tweaks, but it's not a major overhaul. Graphically, I don't think the game has been touched much, if at all. I certainly can't notice any difference without a side-by-side comparison, despite playing it on a PS5. The most notable update is that the game's script has been rewritten by Ian Flynn.

Naturally, this caught my attention. Generations always had a nothingburger story, so with Ian rewriting Pontac and Graff's lame dialogue there was nowhere to go but up. (I don't like to pin the blame for those games' stories entirely on them, as a ton of it was dictated to them by Sonic Team, but, well, I don't think they're very good dialogue writers.) But it's less a complete rewrite and more like Ian was brought on as a script doctor for some minor touch ups here and there. Many lines of dialogue are completely identical to how they were originally written in 2011, and many others only have slight wording changes. Ian was clearly not allowed to request additional scenes or extend the ones that already existed. He has to match the original beat for beat so that they can reuse 99% of the cutscene animations. Don't expect it to be a whole new experience compared to the original.

Still, I think the new script is an improvement, albeit a minor one. Various things have been tweaked to maintain characterization consistency. Cream calls Sonic "Mr. Sonic" instead of just "Sonic." Instead of calling Sonic "buddy," Rouge uses the pet name "Blue," like she tends to do in things like the IDW comics. Espio doesn't have to remind you in the dialogue that he's a ninja, and he no longer has a line making it sound like he has some kind of soul reading power. I also like that Modern Sonic now actually has responses to what his friends say when he rescues them, rather than being silent like Classic Sonic. They won't blow you away, but they make Sonic feel a little more engaged with everything.

In general, the altered dialogue just seems tighter to me, and some of the more childish or trite wording of Pontac and Graff's script has been altered. Here, let's actually make a direct comparison, just because this stuff is interesting to me as a writer. Here's a couple lines from after the Egg Dragoon fight late in the game, in the original script:

Modern Eggman: Ooooh... I can't believe this! I was supposed to beat you this time. Modern Sonic: Aw, I'm sorry! I didn't get that memo. I beat you every time! [Turns to Classic Sonic] No, seriously, we beat this guy every time. It's like it's our job or something!

This is a simple exchange. Eggman is mad that he lost. Sonic is unflappably confident because he always beats Eggman, and he explains this to his younger self. But the wording here isn't particularly good. Eggman's simple and direct wording makes him come off like a little kid who's mad because his older brother beat him at Mario Kart, rather than a mad scientist who just had his plans foiled. It's making light of the situation.

And I've never liked Sonic saying "It's like it's our job or something!" That doesn't feel like a thing Sonic would say, it feels like a thing an outside observer would say about Sonic. This is a frequent problem with so-called "MCU dialogue," where quips meant to echo the commentary of a casual, somewhat disinterested audience are inserted into the story itself so that the writers can be like "See? We get it. We're genre-savvy, too!" It also just reminds me of bad Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric lines like "Rings! It's like they're made for me!"

And then here's Ian's rewrite:

Modern Eggman: I recalibrated everything! This was supposed to be my time! Modern Sonic: Oh, please, keep dreamin', Egg-head. I beat you every time. [Turns to Classic Sonic] No, seriously, we beat him every time. Our score card's flawless.

Eggman's still mad about his defeat, but the line "I recalibrated everything!" makes it more specific. He put all this work into the engineering side of his latest scheme and got tunnel vision, thinking if he got his creations just right there'd be no way he could lose. "This was supposed to be my time!" also turns it into a time travel pun, which is a bonus. He's still pitching a fit over losing, but it feels more like Eggman pitching a fit, rather than sounding childish.

And then instead of saying that beating Eggman is "like his job or something," Sonic says he's got a flawless score card against Eggman. He doesn't take Eggman seriously as a threat—at least, not to his face. He acts like it's all a game. But he conveys this in a way that feels truer to the character, rather than feeling like the words of a real world observer poking fun at the tropes of the Sonic series.

Is this amazing, A+ dialogue that blows me away? No. Again, it's not a completely different scene from the one we already had. Ian had to fit the beats of what was already there. He couldn't go all out and write an all new story confirming his longstanding headcanon that the Time Eater is a remnant of Solaris or whatever. But the wording here makes the existing story land a little better and feel truer to the characters in subtle ways.

But to me, the main change is that the Sonics and Tailses seem to have a more solid understanding of what's going on with the timeline and the Time Eater, compared to how idiotic they sometimes seemed in the original game. Which is good! No more standing outside Green Hill and wondering why it seems so familiar. Thank god. As part of this, yes, there are a few more references to past games in the dialogue, like Sonic briefly being confused about the fact that they're time traveling without the Time Stones, or South Island and Westside Island being acknowledged as the normal locations of Green Hill and Chemical Plant. Yes, ha ha, insert joke about how Ian loves references here. Look, it's Sonic fucking Generations. It's a game built entirely out of nostalgic references. Just own it! And, again, in this instance Sonic and Tails come off as less stupid when they make it clear that they do, in fact, remember their adventures from presumably less than a year ago in-universe.

Eggman, too, seems to have a better understanding of the powers he's toying with. Where in the original vesion his focus was simply on going back in time to undo his previous defeats and he seemed kind of oblivious to how much the Time Eater was actually fucking up the universe, here Eggman says he wants to use the Time Eater to give himself complete control over the entire timeline. Eggman also makes way fewer references to his own failures and shortcomings. Of course he won't admit that Sonic has defeated him time and time again. To him, he's never truly lost—Sonic just keeps delaying the inevitable total victory for the Eggman Empire.

So, yes. The new Sonic Generations script is better. It won't blow anyone away, but it's better than it was. It's been elevated from "kinda lame" to "fine." No, if you really wanna see Ian flex his ability to breathe new life into old Sonic stories, look no further than...

Gerald Robotnik's Journal

Hoo boy.

The story of what happened aboard the ARK has always been... a bit confusing, to say the least. Fans with encyclopedic knowledge of the script for every route of Shadow '05 may disagree, but it's the truth. We've had all the pieces to understand the story for a long time now, but that info was given to us out of order by a pair of unreliable narrators—Gerald, who became a vengeful lunatic shortly before his death, and Shadow, who was subjected to multiple rounds of amnesia and altered memories. Some of the ambiguity left by Sonic Adventure 2 was cleared up in Shadow '05, but that game also retconned in a bunch of new elements to Shadow's backstory (aliens!) that lead to further confusion. Not to mention the fact that that game had multiple routes and only revealed the truth about Shadow if you sat on the ultimate final boss battle for WAY longer than the fight would normally last. Or the fact that Sonic X made its own tweaks in its telling of the story. Or the fact that none of these things ever had the best English translations. I can't blame anyone who hasn't played those games in two decades for not remembering the truth about these characters and getting some details mixed up.

What we needed was something to piece together all of the info we have into one coherent backstory, told in chronological order. And thanks to Shadow Generations, we have that, in the form of an official journal tying together what we knew from Sonic Adventure 2, Shadow '05, and Sonic Battle into the tragic tale of Gerald's rise and fall.

Ian Flynn was the perfect man for the job here as the guy who started his career by tidying up the mess that was the first 159 issues if Archie Sonic. This is what he excels at: taking disparate bits of weird Sonic lore from multiple different sources, boiling them down to their most interesting elements, and connecting it together in a way that will make the audience see the dramatic potential he's always known was there. Rather than feeling like a cynical exercise in franchise building, going back and explaining things that never needed explaining so that people can add more bullet points to the wiki, he puts a new spin on things that retroactively enriches those past stories. The story here means something to the characters involved and gives us a better understanding of them as people, rather than as plot devices to motivate Shadow.

(And, of course, Ian didn't do this journal alone. He wrote the story, but I also have to give a huge shout out to Evan Stanley, who made the final product. All of her handwritten journal entries, sketches, and "photos" included throughout. The physical damage done to the journal over the course of 50 tumultuous years, passing from Gerald to Eggman to a certain special someone at GUN. The way Gerald's handwriting gets less and less legible as his mental state declines. So much love was put into what could have been a mere text dump in a menu, and it really elevates it to the next level. Congrats on officially getting hired by Sega, Evan, you've sure as hell earned it!)

The main idea the journal conveys is that Gerald was under a lot of pressure from a lot of different parties—GUN, the President, his colleagues aboard the ARK, Black Doom, even his own family—and boy did it get to him. The known incidents aboard the ARK mentioned in previous games are put together here to form a story where everything slowly spirals out of control as Gerald keeps compromising his morals to further his research, thinking he'll eventually find some way out of all this because he's a genius. I won't recap that whole story here (if you haven't already played the game and read the journal entries, I would highly recommend at least reading it on the Sonic wiki), but I'd like to highlight my favorite elements of the story, as Ian tells it here.

1) The Eclipse Cannon

Here's something that never quite made sense in Sonic Adventure 2: why does the ARK have a laser that can blow up the Earth built into it? It was supposed to be a peaceful research colony. Sure, Gerald went crazy and swore revenge on the Earth, but, like... when did he have an opportunity to go back up to the ARK and modify it? Did he have someone else do it? How? The ARK was raided by GUN and shut down! And then they arrested him, held him in prison for an unclear period of time, and executed him by firing squad when he was no longer useful! It doesn't add up. Shadow 'the Hedgehog '05 would give its own answer by introducing the Black Arms and saying that the Eclipse Cannon was always supposed to be a secret trump card against the Black Comet. But, like... we know that's kind of a bullshit answer, right? You don't need enough power to blow up a whole planet just to destroy a comet.

Well, the new journal retains what we already knew, but it paints a much more complete picture.

See, long before Gerald ever made a Faustian bargain with Black Doom, he had already made one with an even greater evil: the military. GUN gave Gerald much of the funding for the ARK, Gerald's personal utopian research station in space, but it didn't take long for GUN to start pressuring him to design them weapons. Gerald tried to get GUN off his back by personally contacting the President of the United Federation, and the President gave him an alternative: how about, instead, you just use your genius brain to figure out the secret to immortality for us, so our soldiers can be immortal? Gerald was initially sickened by the notion and found it completely absurd, like chasing a shadow... but given no other option, the sarcastically named Project Shadow soon began in earnest. (Maria would later put a more positive spin on the name after Shadow's awakening, pointing out that a Shadow can show us the direction of the light, like she says in the game itself.)

Of course, this search for the ultimate life form didn't go very well, and without any results on that front GUN kept hounding him for weapons. Gerald would throw them a bone here and there to get them off his back. His research on Chaos resulted in the Artifical Chaos prototypes, which he worried would be used for warfare but could at least theoretically be used for search and rescue missions in floods, in his mind. But that wasn't enough. So he gave them Chaos Drives to power their mechs. And that still wasn't enough. He's got Emerl. He'll give them Emerl. They're not impressed by Emerl. They'll shut the whole ARK down if Gerald doesn't give them something big.

Fine! GUN wants something big? Gerald builds a huge fucking laser cannon into the ARK. However, as a middle finger to GUN, Gerald makes it so powerful that it would destroy the Earth if it was ever fired at any target on its surface. In other words, GUN now has their ultimate weapon of mass destruction, fulfilling his contract, but they can never actually use it. Oh, the delicious irony. (And also Shadow will blow up the Black Comet with it in 50 years yada yada yada.) Is this perhaps extremely shortsighted and naive of Gerald, to believe that such a weapon would never actually be used just because of the risk? Of course. But hey, that's Gerald for you. And I love this as an answer.

(Also, this, uh, kinda echoes something from real life! Remember the bit in Oppenheimer where he says all nuclear war will become unthinkable, and Edward Teller responds "until somebody builds a bigger bomb"? Yeah, Teller went on to conceptualize a superweapon codenamed Project Sundial that would have been able to kill all life on the planet, as the ultimate deterrent for war. This was never made for obvious reasons, but hey, there's a basis for this sort of thinking outside of heightened sci-fi! There's a whole Kurzgesagt video about this if you're interested.)

2) The Biolizard

The Biolizard is, of course, brought up as the initial failed prototype of the ultimate life form, from before Gerald met Black Doom. We don't really learn all that much about it that we didn't already know, but I just love the way it's framed in the story.

As you can see above, we actually get to see a picture of Maria holding up the cute little salamander that would end up mutating into the Biolizard through Gerald's experiments. (Researchers want to figure out how to replicate salamanders' regenerative abilities for humans in real life, too, so this was a natural starting point for the project.) And then, after it grows to a monstrous size and goes out of control, Gerald has to lock it away in an unused sector of the ARK. He needs to keep the poor thing alive for his research into harnessing Chaos Energy, building life support systems directly into it, but he doesn't have the heart to tell Maria what happened. So it just becomes this first dark secret weighing on his conscience. The Biolizard becomes Gerald's Tell-Tale Heart beating beneath the floorboards of the ARK. I love that.

3) Lost Impact was the breaking point for the ARK

Remember the level Lost Impact in Shadow '05? The flashback level on the hero path where Shadow is running around fighting Artificial Chaos enemies on the ARK 50 years ago? Yeah, that wasn't just a random incident. That was important, as we now know due to its placement on the timeline.

See, Emerl's rampage aboard the ARK that was chronicled in Sonic Battle and Dark Beginnings set off a domino effect. Emerl riled up the Artificial Chaos, causing Gerald to lose control of them. They became violent, and so Shadow had to stop them, as depicted in Lost Impact. The thing is, that incident sent an SOS signal to GUN telling them that shit was going down on the ARK. Gerald didsn't fully understand the trouble he was in and assumed that he'd simply be reprimanded by the higher ups, or maybe face legal action. But, well... the next time he heard from GUN, armed troopers were raiding the ARK.

So Lost Impact was the straw that broke the camel's back. I just really like that detail.

4) Maria

And, of course, there's Maria herself. Maria has often been more of a symbol than a character, this perfect embodiment of everything that's good and pure in this world who gets killed to motivate Shadow and Gerald's revenge plots. But I really like the wrinkles this journal adds to her and Gerald's story, and their relationship. This is the most fleshed out they've ever felt.

For one, the journal leans into the idea of Maria's intellectual potential. The rest of the Robotnik family is all geniuses, after all, and she was proving to be a really bright kid. She excelled in her studies on the ARK, and she even helped design Shadow's jet skates and inhibitor rings. When Maria died, the world didn't just lose a symbolic personification of purity. She genuinely could have been a hugely influential scientist who did so much good for the world. That's what Gerald wanted for her. But we'll never know, because GUN killed her.

Speaking of her family, their presence isn't just mentioned for the sake of fleshing out the Robotnik family tree. It's mentioned that as Gerald struggled to find a cure for Maria's illness through his genetic research, he faced mounting pressure from his family. They didn't want Maria to be up on the ARK forever. They wanted Gerald to hurry up and find a damn cure, or otherwise just send her back home to Earth so she could be with her family again. She'd been up on the ARK for so long that Gerald's coworkers started thinking that she had been born up there. Eventually she gains a baby sister on Earth who she's never met. A rift forms between Gerald's two sons, and he's unable to really deal with it because he's so consumed by his work. There's this sense that the family is falling apart, and that everyone is dreading the possibility that Gerald will never find a cure and that Maria will just spend her final years up in space and die far away from her family, because Gerald just couldn't let go. If that happens, it'll break the whole family. But he can't stop now. So he just keeps working. Curing Maria is the only way to win his family back, in his eyes. It can't all be for nothing.

But my favorite detail regarding Maria is this one paragraph:

Maria is growing into a lovely young woman. It breaks my heart that someone as bright and energetic as her is diminished by disease. There are no visible effects, and I've caught my fellow researchers muttering to each other, doubting her illness. It is infuriating. I find all my reason and restraint vanishes when she's slighted.

This is SUCH a great addition to the story! It's always been true that Maria doesn't really seem all that ill, just looking at her in cutscenes. With this one little comment, Ian flips that issue on its head and turns it into a story about invisible disability. She doesn't act like she's in chronic pain, so she must not be, everyone thinks. And this really, really gets to Gerald, as does the pressure from his family. He's dedicating his whole LIFE to saving her, and they think she's faking it?! It's such a small addition, never referenced elsewhere in the journal, but it adds so much flavor to the story, as does the implied family drama. It grounds Gerald and Maria and makes them feel more like real human beings, rather than being pure archetypes. It's just enough info to let my imagination run wild filling in the blanks.

You also get the feeling that Maria being such a walking ray of sunshine was the only real source of joy Gerald had left in his life before Shadow was awakened, and the only thing keeping him from snapping under pressure sooner. All this stuff just keeps piling on, everything's spiraling out of control, but at least Maria is keeping her chin up, right? It makes so much sense that losing her would make him go off the deep end when it's framed like this.

It's just... man, I never thought I'd care so much about Gerald and Maria. But that's the Ian Flynn touch. After years of less than stellar Sonic writing that seemed to be embarrassed of itself, I'm so happy to have new games coming out that fully embrace the history of the series like this, making its world feel so rich and real instead of just serving as an excuse for a string of platforming levels. I don't even like Shadow '05, but I'll be damned if Ian and the rest of Sonic Team didn't make something amazing by "yes, and"-ing Shadow's cringe past here. Sonic has truly reached levels of "we're so back" never thought possible.

[spread-the-influence]

Plans after the main comic is finished?

i'll release all of the files for this comic ! including the art files for the pages , notes , concept art , and documents for those that want to read unhinged ramblings of my thoughts on each chapter , dialogue and how i wrote each character . not releasing the script though . that thing's unsalvageable .

VERY sporadic updates of the epilogue . like . i'll be very busy by the time the main comic ends so . yeah .

PROBABLY make a dtiys to celebrate the comic ending if people are interested !

other than that , i would pretty much be done with the blog and close the ask box , and only really reopen it when i post a page of the epilogue . finishing this behemoth of a project is enough of an achievement ! like ... seriously , by the time i'm writing this there has been 249 files of the pages . and we're only justtt about to reach chapter seven ....... no seriously chapter seven is the next page We're Just About To Reach Chapter Seven--

[scam-alerts]

❗❗Scam Update❗❗

Previously on... 🔎Scam Exam(ination)🔍

Seen as: I would like a commission of my son/pet... Scam Type: Commission Scam

Please read this post for a complete rundown of this scam.

While browsing #scams on tumblr earlier today, I saw a post from the wonderful and very talented @louksna-0 where they were calling out a scam account that seemed to be running the art commission scam.

After messaging them.. I found out something... interesting.

The scammers are now changing their script.

@louksna-0 was kind enough to answer some questions and help explain their interactions with this scammer with me, and even provided me with some screenshots which I'll show you all as well.

----------

Part 1 - How it start(s/ed)

Note: @louksna-0 has told me that due to being blocked, they cannot access their conversation with this scammer, but they were kind enough to detail their conversation with me to the best of their ability. :)

@scam-alerts: When this person messaged you for a commission, what did they ask you to draw? What was your response, and what sort of images did they provide?

@louksna-0: They asked me to draw two cartoon portraits of a girl with blue eyes and blonde hair, it was 2 photos, but the second seemed to be taken from a video, not a photo itself. I told her alright, the two were separate drawings, one for $18, the other $20. $38 in the end. She started pressuring me for the details of the commission to get the process finished, being cold and even rude.

@scam-alerts: Did you tell them a price first, or did they offer you money first? Was this amount higher than normal, or was it the price of your commissions?

@louksna-0: I told them the price first, they didn't offer a price to pay. They were pressuring me to tell them the final price.

@louksna-0: I say them because although the profile seems like a girl. Her account of PayPal, email confirmation and Tumblr were all different. So I can't really say their gender. Her profile said Elizabeth, her email said mayes Mary, and her PayPal account said Margaret castro.

These were the screenshots provided to me:

image 1 - The scammer getting very persistent in having @louksna-0 check their spam email for confirmation that the money was sent.

image 2 - The different names that appear on the PayPal, blog, and email (in that order.)

Image 3 - A screenshot of the fake email. (the same exact one that can be seen in the previous scam exam(ination) report.

Image 4 - This one is.. odd. @louksna-0 says that this was sent to them by the same email with a request telling them to send a refund, yet it has a very odd and fishy looking link. (they did not click on it.)

----------

Part 2 - Examining the Evidence

From what it looks like, the scam is pretty much the same 'I want you to draw my <thing>' scam except now they've switched from:

can you draw my son / daughter / pet. to can you draw this cartoon character*

*They might look at blogs now and see what an artists 'style' is to get a grasp on what an artist can do before trying to run this scam? Since not all artists can draw kids and/or pets? So that might be worth keeping an eye on.

They've also switched from:

Offering you a very large amount of money. to accepting commission prices to seem unsuspicious.

----------

Part 3 - What you should do now

🚩Red flags still present🚩

Blogs sending these asks are either blank or bare in one way in another. Little to no reblogs, maybe 'one' picture or two posted. In this case the scammer just had a picture of a dog that probably isn't even theirs.

They will refuse to pay with any other method than PayPal.

The purpose of asking for your real name and your PayPal email is just so they can make a fake email to scam you.

Stop. Read the email very carefully. Think about what it's asking you.

'you are to send (name) money to expand your account.' You are to send someone money, to get money.

You can't just 'expand' your account by sending another user money. That's not how PayPal works.

Emails from these scammers will always show up in your spam folder because they are not from the real PayPal service. They are 100% fake. Only trust emails about PayPal from a @paypal.com email address. Any email claiming to be from PayPal ending in a gmail/hotmail/yahoo.com address is. a. scam.

Always check your PayPal account via the website or App for issues before responding to someone and certainly before sending anyone money. If you see no issues, there are no issues.

Never click links in an email you get during or after interacting with a stranger when money is involved. If someone asks: 'did you get the email?' Check your spam folder.' Make sure you click the link to fix your account.' It's a scam. And they're probably trying to hack you.

----------

Final thoughts:

Remember, take screenshots and report these users to the websites they are running these scams on. If they DM you on tumblr? Report the DM. If they do it on insta, bsky, twitter or even discord?

Make sure you report them there too.

ALSO: Beware of recovery scammers. This is anyone coming into your DM's telling you they can 'help you get your money back' after you made a post talking about how you got scammed. These scammers are just looking for a quick buck.

I've got a whole post right here talking about what one looks like.

Take care and stay vigilant.

And thanks again to @louksna-0 for being a dear. <3

Other helpful guides on spotting scams. (by @kyra45)

[johnny-depplyloveyou]

ICYDK, a workaround method to get the "Gale Dekarios likes you too" scene before Larian fixes the bug

Normally the dialogue option that led to this scene should be available if you bring Gale with you and have “Speak with Animals” buff on when you talk to Tara for the first time in Act 3 (btw, you could find her twice on different rooftops in the Lower City and buy magical items from her). Currently, it’s still bugged and can’t be triggered, and Larian has not fixed it despite people have been reporting this bug to them... So here is a workaround method to get this crucial scene to his character arc:

Requirements: Norbyte's BG3 Script Extender(console version): BG3SE-Updater-with-Console-20231028.zip (this is an old version with a config file that enables the console, it will automatically update once you start the game, or you need to manually edit the JSON file if you download the latest version from the first link)

After you talk to Tara on the rooftop in Act 3, don’t immediately talk to Gale, switch to the console, press enter, copy and paste the text below then press enter: Osi.SetFlag("ORI_Gale_Knows_TaraMentionedDekarios_9ccec403-dc18-661d-ed53-e5472b8145b4", GetHostCharacter(), 1, 1)

Talk to Gale afterward and pick the first dialogue option, Enjoy!

Edit: Patch 7 fixed the bug! The first part of this post is no longer needed 🎉

BTW, if you want to avoid the situation where Gale secretly still wants to become a God after seemingly agreeing to give up the Crown in the boat ride scene and then dump your character in the end, you can check the status of this flag to see if he's truly convinced after you finished his personal quests by copy and paste the text below in the console, if it returns a 0, then he's convinced and won't become a God, if it's a 1, you probably should redo all his scenes in Act 3 after you read the Annals of Karsus and choose more dialogue options that point out the Crown is dangerous, he is enough as he is and does not need to become a God, and kiss him when he protests, and choose less options that stay neutral or encourage him to pursue godhood... This flag is set to 1 as default, so don't panic if you check it before his Act 3 events, it's supposed to be that way.

print(GetFlag("ORI_Gale_State_SwayedTowardsCrown_76150a10-511d-4eeb-b263-46994bab0b48", GetHostCharacter()))

Update: for console players who can’t use the code above to check which ending they’ll get, there’s a way to check it! I made a new post about this, including a list of dialogue options that determine his ending result.

There’s a new mod that fixes the bug where you could not convince him to give up godhood even with a successful persuasion check at the brain stem, with this mod you no longer need to check this flag anymore!

[dorkagedoodles]

And there we have it folks - the end of Empyrean Book I! I sound like a parrot but just ... thank you so much for reading! Also, for everyone's convenience, the afterword is also in text under the "keep reading" bellow. <<< PREVIOUS ✧˖☆˖✧˖☆˖✧Page Archive✧˖☆˖✧˖☆˖✧

(To be continued ... ) AFTERWORD

I’ve been putting off writing this for way too long, thinking I have plenty of time until suddenly: BAM! December was upon me and the final update of Empyrean Book I was uploaded while I had the worst migraine in years and couldn’t even scramble together a last minute afterword. But here we go. I’ll try not to care about sounding professional or eloquent, just so I can get it done.

First I want to say a big thank you to everyone who've read Empyrean, all the way through or just a little bit, I’m grateful nonetheless. And extra big thank you to everyone who’s left comments or nice tags in the reblogs etc. I’m awful at responding, but I’ve seen them all and really, really appreciate it.

I worked on the book on and off for three years and I’m pretty happy with the end result. Of course, this is just the beginning of the story. I have an outline for the whole thing, aiming for a total of four books of similar length which will, as you can guess, take a loooooong time. Which brings me to my second point.

Empyrean will go on hiatus for the time being. For how long? I wish I knew. While Book 2 is all scripted and currently in the sketching stage, I have no idea when I’ll have enough finished pages for an update. Once I do, however, I’ll probably update as I finish the pages, rather than wait for the whole book to be complete.

I don’t think I need to explain much of why this is. It’s simply being an adult. It’s having rent, bills and a cat with special dietary needs. And what Empyrean brings in joy it certainly doesn’t bring in money, so ever since July I’ve drawn almost nothing but freelance work.

Despite that, I still feel positive about the future of Empyrean. It’s already been published in parts in a small Swedish magazine and I’ve met people and opened doors that would have been impossible, had I not created Empyrean. Long time followers might remember how I’ve long wanted to be able to support myself by making art. And right now? That's exactly what I’m doing.

Finishing Empyrean will take many years and, in the end, it might never even get picked up by a publisher. But I’m at peace with both of those things. I draw Empyrean entirely for myself and would continue to do so even if not a single other person was reading it. Though … as long as there’s at least one such person I will keep uploading it too!

Lastly, I’ve been looking into self-publishing and hope to give that a try. No solid plans yet, just counting costs, looking at kickstarters and such. I’m currently neck-deep in a big project, but once that’s over I can start thinking about it again. When the time comes, I will of course post about it.

I think that is all. It got a bit longer and ramblier than I planned but oh well.

Again, thank you so much for reading Empyrean! And until next time! -Hans

[shyve3]

Buddy's Personality type?

Hey! So i don't really post often because I don't really know how tumblr works but i've been seeing a lot of character anaylsis from many users like @pali-and-proud and @jthealien who both made posts on Buddy Character anaylsis and @lapileaf who made a post talking about Chase's personality type. This got me thinking: what would Buddy's personality type be? (There's more users who talked about character anylsis of other CB characters, I'll update this post to tag them as well when I go back and check, don't worry!) I feel like Buddy is an ISTJ. Let me explain.

Buddy is a character who has relied on things that have been written out for him, and I've seen a lot of people talking about the fact that Buddy seems to be extremely nervous when he doesn't have a script to follow. Some recent examples I can think about was when he made his "evil villain entrance" in the "All that Glitters" arc and as soon as he noticed Chase wasn't there *aka the story not going as he had planned* he got angry and even stuttered, which was out of character for Buddy. another time would be when he got shoved into a coffin in the "Requiem of Blood and Moonlight" arc. He couldn't leave the story, but he convinced himself it was what was supposed to happen. He doesn't like deviating from the story, nor skipping parts of it! ISTJs tend to stick to rules: just like how Buddy can't deviate from the story, most likely because of how Ex-Libris would treat him if he did, but also because he's very disciplined and reliable. He's very loyal to Ex-Libris and he has firmly decided that he can't leave a story, no matter how much he wants to.

He's also very stubborn, sticking to the exact script of a story. that is why, when he first meets Chase he can't believe that he would deviate from the story, skip parts of the plot...Buddy doesn't skip parts of stories. From cutting off the heels and toes of the stepsisters in "Cinderfella" to fighting over inheritance in "Beach Boys" (while overdramaticizing it obviously), he finds a way to include every part of the story. Buddy is very dedicated to his role as a villaness and sees the whole story.

I know it may seem counter-intuitive to what the strategy of getting narratonin in fairytales is: (This is paraphrased, and I can't find an exact quote at the moment) They must ENJOY the story to get narratonin. Then the question is: how does Buddy do it? ISTJs' discipline and dedication to a certain role is the reason that they are able to enjoy tasks that are so straightforward and strict: even though Buddy has been, as far as we know, forced into his role, he tries to take enjoyment in it. Yes, he follows the plot of a story like a villaness would, without taking any shortcuts, he probably finds comfort in following scripts and his endless knowledge of stories.

this is not to say that Buddy is rude or insensitive in many ways, even though ISTJs apparently have a rep for that sorta thing: he has a lot of reliance on facts rather than emotions, which ISTJs don't usually take under consideration.

In the beginning, we can see this with how insensitive he used to be. He wasn't used to being told what to do, nor Chase's sensitivity of a heroine. After all, Buddy had never met of nor thought about someone who would be so motivated to help others and think about emotions rather than finishing the story and getting narratonin. He isn't used to being selfless. That all changed when he met Chase.

He didn't really understand Chase's insistence to help others, and he mocked his weak nature too. He hurt Chase a lot in the beginning, but their stubborness evened each other out: both of them weren't willing to leave.

Buddy isn't an evil villaness, it's just more so how he's been raised and his perspective of life. As far as I know, he hasn't been raised to think about people's feelings, and his knowledge and insistence on completing stories through and through, despite Chase telling him multiple times that he can "just leave whenever he feels like it" is also an indicator of this.

So yeah, to sum it up, my interpretation of Buddy is that he's just a traumatized character that's also just extremely stubborn and likes to stick to facts over emotions (until he met Chase)

If you're still here, thank you for reading this :) I wrote this instead of studying for finals, so ty for sticking with me till the end >_<

I love Buddy.

[ckret2]

Pardon me, however, have you ever considered getting help on WAIGLZ or any other fic of yours? Such as a ghost writer or someone to help you with art so it can get done faster?

I am just curious because I thought it would be really coolio to work with you or something, idk.

Please have a truly wonderful day/evening and toodaloo! ^ ^

+ Btw, if I sound rude at all, that is %100 not intentional tone is kind of hard to translate through text lol

I appreciate that the question is meant kindly; but why would I want somebody else to tell my story for me?

It might not make a difference to an audience member; y'all simply just wanna see the rest of the story, it doesn't make a difference who made it because from the consumer's end it still reads the same.

But it makes a hell of a lot of difference to the writer.

If i wanted a ghostwriter I could just chuck my outline into chatgpt. it would be just as good—which is to say it would be very bad—because in both cases it'd be written by someone/something that doesn't intimately understand the vast web of ideas the story's built on and the hundreds of tiny tiny goals I'm looking for places to thread into the story and the exact themes I'm trying to achieve and exactly where and how I want to make it funny and make it heartwarming and make it hurt; and in both cases I'd have to rip the product apart and edit it to sound like the story i'm trying to tell rather than sound like a 40% accurate retelling of my story that was based off of a barebones summarization.

Like, how many times have you seen Gravity Falls? Probably at least once or twice? If you sat down with an episode summary—only the summary, not the transcript or gallery—and tried to rewrite the script word-for-word and redraw the episode shot-for-shot, do you think you could get every word and every angle right? And you've already seen the episode! You remember the finished product! Imagine trying to guess at all that based off of the summary alone if you'd never seen it before!

So now instead of writing my own story i'm merely editing SOMEONE ELSE telling a water-downed version of my story. It takes me just as long if not longer; and on top of that there's no joy in it.

And if that's what i wanted to do with my life... at least shoving it in chatgpt would get me a first draft to edit faster.

as for art: about a decade ago i was writing/drawing a fancomic and tried to split it with friends so i was writing and they were drawing. it slowed down the whole thing immensely. took 4x longer to get art than doing it myself would've taken.

At the time, I updated multiple times a week (my art was worse then lol); and when I asked someone else to do art I had to keep choosing between:

delaying my next post for days while patiently waiting for a friend, with no guarantee they'd actually finish;

impatiently waiting and trying to find a way to politely repeatedly pester them about finishing the art; or

give up on waiting and do the art myself, which would hurt them deeply, especially if they'd already started it and I just went "nah you're too slow, I'll do it myself."

The thing is, I put my passion project ahead of my other hobbies. Why would somebody else put my passion project ahead of their own hobbies? It would be unfair and unkind for me to ask somebody to do that; but I'm not willing to slow down and wait for somebody to do some art for me when it's finally convenient for them; so therefore I'd better do my own art.

[skriblee-ksk]

hey guys!! status update!!!

still playing twst daily but if you realized i haven’t been posting lately it’s because……

i’ve been making a visual novel

completely self-indulgent so idk if you’ll ever see it. but my point here is idk when i’ll get back to drawing twst stuff. TEEHEE *star

SORRY FOR NOT BEING ACTIVE;;; BTW;;;; although that sorry means nothing because i’ll probably not be active until i finish this thing. 2 more bgs and 3 cgs and a cg screen to go. and also 4 sprites and end of script writing.

It’s really fun!!! If you’re ever wanting to make a visual novel for funsies, you should for real try renpy out!! super easy (unless you want to make it complicated. which i am going to because i’m a nonogram addict so i want to put a nonogram in the game. i’ll get it somehow)!! Doesn’t matter if you can code or not because the documentation explains everything!!!

SO YEAH. END OF UPDATE, TY!!!

[vicstwashington]

We've been waiting for more information on the new DCU. Well today from Deadline we got some updates on projects. I only picked a few... It's a good read.

Superman and Peacemaker: Season 2 are deep into post-production. July 11, 2025 August 2025

Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow director, Craig Gillespie is halfway through film production. Releasing June 26, 2026.

Lanterns (starring Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre) production has officially begun. Aimed to premiere on Max, Early 2026.

A brief update on The Batman: Part II and a possible Season II of The Penguin:

Matt Reeves has "yet to turn in a full script, but what we have read so far is incredibly encouraging." ——— "We don’t know," Safran said. “There are a lot of moving pieces — probably most important Colin himself."

Batman: The Brave and The Bold remains in active development.

Gunn & Safran confirm that Matt Reeves' universe exists in its own timeline & Pattinson will not be reprising his role for this film. There's a possibility that the DCU version will show up before his titular debut: "I wouldn't rule anything out," Gunn said. "He could show up in something else. But the actor doesn’t exist [yet]."

Blue Beetle's animated series is in active development.

Safran expects the executive producers Angel Manuel Soto and Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer to present the project for a possible greenlight "pretty soon." Miguel Puga is directing, Cristian Martinez will be writing.

My Adventures with Green Lantern has officially been greenlit.

Following high school student Jessica Cruz who has her life upended when a Power Ring falls from the sky and chooses Cruz to be its champion. Things get even worse when more debris from the Lanterns' ancient space war arrives – along with their alien foes. Jake Wyatt is executive producing, and Stephanie Gonzaga is a co-executive producer.

DC Super Powers has officially been greenlit.

Taking place at the Alliance School for Heroes and focuses on new students Lightning, Flash, Plastic Man, Aquagirl, Green Lantern and Terra who level up their powers under the supervision of Principal Martian Manhunter, in the hopes of one day graduating and becoming the next generation of Earth's defenders. Matt Beans is executive producing, and Michael Chang is a supervising producer.

Starfire has officially been greenlit.

Serving as an origin story that follows her adventures after she uses an ancient spaceship, she discovers on her home planet, Tamaran, to escape and explore the stars. Along the way, she'll meet space biker Crush, plant-loving Fern, and the magical Princess Amethyst of Gem world. Together, they will uncover the deepest reaches of the DC universe, save Space Dolphins, surf technicolor nebulas, and boldly soar into the unknown. Josie Campbell is executive producing, and Brianne Drouhard is co-executive producing.

Teen Titans is officially in active development.

Briefly described as "a group of young superheroes: including Nightwing, Cyborg and the aforementioned Starfire." "It was something that Ana [Nogueira] was really impassioned about, and she turned over an amazing script for us. She's fiddling with that now, but it's definitely not a finished script." — James Gunn

The following DC projects have had problems in development:

Waller - Still haven’t cracked the scripts yet Booster Gold - Showrunner almost joined but lost interest The Authority - “The script had a harder time coming along”

James Gunn says they’ve talked to NetherRealm and Rocksteady about developing more DC games.

Gunn says they mapped out a six-year plan that tells a wider story, resulting in a project akin to Marvel Studios' Avengers films, though "each individual project works as its own thing." "It isn't like they're chapters of an overall story; they're characters that are part of an overall story." DC has set a goal to release 7 projects a year: 2 live-action films 1 animated film 2 live-action shows 2 animated series

[damoselcastel]

Tagged by the glamorous, @mannatea!

How many works do you have on AO3?

66 fics (but there are more under Anon, that I'll never tell)

What's your total AO3 word count?

500,503

Your Top 5 stories by kudos

Fire Emblem fics, various games

(I shouldn't be surprised 3H stomps FE14)

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes, love to! Although on chaptered works I have a rule for myself- gotta get an update posted before I can respond to previous chapter's comments. It's an attempt at an incentive.

Do you write crossovers?

One of my oldest fics was taking FF7 characters and moving them into a hard sci-fi setting (like, space exploration/alien planets). I still enjoy the mental puzzle of fitting together disparate elements, but am more likely to AU these days. Here's an ultra short Dragon Age/FE14 crossover ficlet.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yep, honestly PWP can be good writer's -block breakers for me. But fully admit, the plotty smut is more fun. It's usually about exploring a particular ship's chemistry.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't know. Maybe? I remember years before AI was a thing, I'd get contacted about turning a fic into OW...but by these shady vanity presses? Was weird considering the particular fic was extremely unfinished and 2 chapters long.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I'm aware of.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Totally, I think my first ever was over email with my Jr High bff for Escaflowne (our shared fandom). For posted, the generous @mrmissmrsrandom has been collaborating with me through RPs, and it's been a lot of fun. Building the Dancing verse, I think is the most steady cowriting I've done.

What's your all time favorite ship?

My OTP tag, and I once sailed the (Marx)Xander/Hinoka ship as the sole fandom captain in the early FE14 fanfic days.

What's a WIP that you want to finish but probably never will?

My FE14 longfic Into A Walled Garden. But I fully confess, since I formed my characterization/opinions based on a fanfic translation of Fire Emblem If's Japanese script, my stuff must feel OOC if compared to Treehouse's localization-- which killed a lot of fandom motivation for me. (I'm having OW thoughts where I write the OTP under different names)

What are your writing strengths?

Pathos (getting those emotional plot hits in), dialogue (especially between two charas), descriptive language (been called poetic, for prose), cultural exchange/clash (esp. within romance), and worldbuilding (its just fascinating).

What are your writing weaknesses?

Being too wordy, purple prose... and sometimes when I hit writer's block, I just- can't get over it. I admit, I should probably do more hard outlining, but my motivation can get very negatively effected by IRL stresses (and then, I just don't carve out time).

A different weakness is, having weirdo ship tastes and focusing on stuff that seems to be FAR from popular? Like, I've accepted it but sometimes I wish I could get behind the big fandom-moving popular ships- but almost always my contrarian tastes plain don't vibe with those (rarepair cake baking for life)

What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet, but want to?

Been thinking about 3H's Nabateans.... a Catherine/Rhea post-AM ship fic, or post-VW Seteth surviving Morphis naturalists, or pre-game Flayn having to deal with the cult of the Western Church. Some very different (and two non-shippy) ideas that I like, but haven't found the motivation/time for.

I'd also like to do more non-FE fics, buuuut I guess the ideas tend to grab me less. Got a really good Jinshi/Maomao premise I hope can get postable someday.

What's your favorite fic that you've written?

For a long time Bird's Milk was my fav because I wrote it in one afternoon with little problem, and I adore the spinoff @flutterbatwrites wrote for the AU verse. But, my new fav is probably Shelter From the Storm because the premise for that fic lived so dang long inside my head, so was great to get it written out and see other FE10 fans emerge from the woodwork for it. ...for a fic AFTER 2020 (the year that lives in infamy) I'd say take a gander at Daemoni, cause it's a monster-bender premise I've had a lot of fun with.

Tagging @mrmissmrsrandom , @dithorba , @flutterbatwrites , @hiboudeluxe , @fury-brand and anyone who sees and wants to (also reverse is true, don't wanna don't do)

[fersauce47]

About the TikTok situation... no way.

So I haven’t posted that much in the past few days, I kind of took a break after the Bo Burnham situation went down. I made the Bo Burnham situation my thing for a few days, and now that’s fallen from its grace and has become old news. If the two masterminds do anything with the channel, (because that’s what they said they’d do) I’ll revisit it. 

On January 10th I said “So I downloaded TikTok the other day. I wanted to check out the hype before it got banned. It’s a fine app, I don’t think it deserves its hate. If it gets banned I’ll probably just go back to YouTube shorts or migrate to Instagram reels. I heard about this “Lemon8” thing as well, which is an option. I'll have more to say about this topic at a later date, that date being January 19th. Since I just joined TikTok, I don't have much knowledge about it. From what I've seen, it's a fine place. I like it. On January 19th I'll talk more about it, but Idk what I'd post.”

Here we are, 10 days later, it’s finally time to address the situation. IT’S BULLSHIT! I may be naïve, I thought the Bo Burnham situation was real, I thought that Tally Hall was gonna return, I thought that the ceiling really did say “gullible” but even I saw this one coming! People are really dumb enough to praise Trump for bringing it back? What the fuck is wrong with them?

Listen, the whole thing was a rug pull. A publicity stunt, if you will. FunkyFrogBait, who I love, was back on my feed this morning talking about “Hi, this is awkward… I guess we’re just back now? This is one of the most obvious publicity stunts I’ve ever seen.” and yeah, no shit! It’s not HARD to believe that there’s a lot of people who didn’t see this coming and thought that trump actually saved that shit, it’s just sad. Mfs are really out here praising Trump for taking Shou up on a win-win situation! He didn’t do shit! That’s like getting robbed, the robber giving your things back, and then expecting you to get on your knees and thank them oh so graciously for being so kind. No! Absolutely not! Bullshit!

12 hours? Are you kidding me? That’s all it lasted? I saw the notice late Saturday night and I said “Damn, I have a lot of things to say on Tumblr later.” and then I went to sleep, and the next day I was playing Pokemon Brilliant Diamond when I got the notification like “Heyyyyy, we’re back” and then I said “DAMN, now I REALLY have a lot to say on Tumblr.” wth? Like damn, at least let the mfs finish their job applications first, why so hasty?

Don’t get me started on all the TikTokers losing their shit. I saw an AngryAsian video about it, and I realized that, yeah, there were probably a lot of people who wanted to go out with a bang. Sucks to be them, when I left YouTube I just yapped for 20 minutes. It must be hard for all the people who confessed their deepest darkest secrets to the rest of the sailors aboard the sinking ship, but they deserved it. 

Everyone has been saying that they have a bad feeling about this, and I wholeheartedly agree. As Bo Burnham puts it, “There it is, again, That Funny Feeling.” I feel that the situation isn’t over, because that couldn’t have been all of it. It just couldn’t. 

No way it’s over and this won’t happen again. No way. The only way I can see this ending is if Shou sold TikTok to Trump or Elon, which I think is very likely. Even then, I’m sure that mfs will find another reason to ban it. I can’t say for sure that Trump won’t come out in a couple days and say “Actually, nvm, fuck your TikTok” and take it away again. 

Thanks to CerosTV for keeping me updated. He’s very helpful, check out his channel on YouTube and his TikTok. I think he has reels as well. 

But TikTok has grown on me. If it isn’t gone by February I’ll start posting. I’ll just be using my Tumblr rants as scripts though, so you wouldn’t be getting anything special at the moment. 

Let’s all hope and pray that this shit doesn’t go south very soon. I have a strong feeling that it will. Let’s just say, a funny feeling. 

[crimsonhydrangeavn]

Hi! I absolutely loved the demo of your game—it was amazing! I'm excited to see more of it. I have two questions: First, how would Garret or Teagan react if they were in a room full of yanderes with y/n? Second, I hope this doesn't come across the wrong way, but I'm genuinely curious—how long does it usually take to release a new episode? I'm really looking forward to continuing the game, and I appreciate all the hard work you put into it. I hope I'm not rushing anyone, and I'm truly sorry if it comes off that way. Thank you so much for reading!

Thank you so much for your ask! I'll go ahead and answer your second question first before moving onto the first one! lol

I wanted to start off by thanking you for asking your question in a kind and respectful way, I completely understand where you're coming from and I don't take any offense to it what so ever!

I know I really appreciate transparency when it comes to games/ things I'm a fan of, so I want to do what I can to make sure I'm as honest and upfront with you all as possible.

So I went through my logs and did the math. Day 1 took me about 6 months from start to finish and Day 2 took me almost a full year from start to finish. That being said, Day 1 was 11k words and Day 2 was 24.5k words total. So given the fact that Day 2 was more than twice as long as Day 1, I can see why it took double the time as Day 1. (That and I learned how to add animation into Renpy and spent a little over a month going down that rabbit hole and making a few animations for the game. I also spent some time refining Day 1 while working on Day 2 so that probably made the Day 2 release take longer than it would have otherwise)

The reason why it takes as long as it does is because I'm making this game entirely by myself. That includes the script, all of the art assets, the programming, the audio, and not to mention all of the social media, and patreon content.

On top of that I also have a pretty steady stream of freelance work that usually equals to about 30-50 hours a week. I've burnt myself out in the past and I'm trying to keep a sustainable pace where I'm making progress on CHVN but I'm also enjoying life and taking breaks as needed.

That being said, I do post monthly game updates on my patreon to discuss what I've finished that month, what I have left, and what the current word count is. ( ATM it's longer than Day 1 and I still have a lot planned haha)

I also think it's worth mentioning that this is my first game and I'm learning how to do everything from scratch. My background is in the visual arts so programming and audio stuff is completely foreign to me. That being said, I'm stubborn as hell and for better or for worse once I put my mind to something, I'll get it done one way or another.

Hopefully that answers your question! Once I finish up the script portion of Day 3, I can give a better estimate of how long it'll take me, but until then I really have no idea when the actual release date will be.

Now, onto the easier/ fun part of your question! lol

Garret would play nice at first, however he would make sure that he was never more than a step away from your side. He doesn't trust anyone to behave themselves around you, especially if they're anything like him.

Teagan on the other hand would immediately try to get you to leave the room. They don't deal well with competition and would want to remove you from the situation asap. If you refused/ couldn't leave with them, then they would make sure to talk shit about all of the other Yandere's and taint your view of them. While it would put an obvious target on their own back, at least they'd know you wouldn't talk to or go off with them out of your own free will.

Thank you again for all of your support! I really appreciate it and I can only hope that the next update is worth the wait!

[braindeathaoe]

🌧️Spots of Grey🌧️ (02/04/25)

"Every fiber of your being sings with rejection."

To quickly address the date on this post: Weekly updates have been premeditatively scheduled for a month now, so it won't hurt to use the real dates they've been written. You know to expect them every Monday at 12AM EST.

~How many outcomes should exist?~

It's a question that has loomed over me at every turn, despite the answer being absurdly elementary. The only possibilities that exist are the ones introduced—trying to account for any ideas that haven't yet been conceived is nothing but a waste of time and energy. Still, so many hours of careful thought and experimentation are required to create an end result that I can be proud of. It would be too simple to write up a full script on a whim, add a few choices here and there and then dump a half-assed product on you. This game and I deserve far more than that, as well as you. There's a story inside me that is thrashing, kicking, screaming its wishes to be something special. I'm in love with it so badly, I'm willing to forfeit all of my other dreams to give it the best chance possible.

~What is the correct medium?~

ChoiceScript won't always be the program Brain Death is written in, that's for sure. Twine might be the software I turn to after this build, but with that I'll need to determine which format to use in tandem. Hell, maybe I'll throw caution to the wind and learn 3d modeling. Time will tell, so long as my heart continues to beat and my love keeps blooming. I should hate every moment of this after months of failure, rinsing and switching and repeating the process of writing and deleting and rewriting. Yet somehow each time, I feel a bit closer. I want to breathe life into my characters and create an environment equal parts immersive and interesting; to give the choice to engage in meaningful conversations that fit like a perfect glove. How do you appear, what is your identity, and which parts were you born with? How does the past align with the present? When did the change become visible? Have you changed, or are you the same? You should be seen as you are, treated in accordance with the views of the people around you. How will their mood shape their words? In what ways will they perceive you? Will those perceptions be altered or strengthened with your actions? And what about your own?

~Simultaneously overwhelming and thrilling...~

Only a genius could efficiently figure out the answers to all these questions, while also deciding on the wordings of choices, the outcomes, consequences etc. I'm the furthest thing from a genius. I'm a mentally disabled high-school dropout, whose every project to date has either come out half-baked or scrapped entirely before release. My 24th birthday is coming up in a couple months, too. All in all, these past few days, I've thrown a lot of my work to the abyss and shuffled events to hopefully make transitions more fluid. Currently, Chapter 1 is slated to be called Happy Unity, and will likely be around 10k words when it is complete. Including the Prologue, the first demo will maybe be around 10k to 15k words including code. (Feels weird for it to still be so up in the air after everything, but as I've said in an earlier post, I tried really hard to make the old intro work for a really long time. It didn't reflect my vision well enough.) Act I will be the shortest Act in the game (the 1st of 4), including only the Prologue and Chapter 1. Act II's demo build will possibly be made in Twine. As of now, what's in the game is almost 10k with code, but some text is set to be replaced or taken away completely. (Update 06/04): I've just finished penning a summarized script for Chapter 1—as well as a sheet for a new central character—and while I think there're some minor kinks to be worked out, it looks promising. In just a few days, I'll probably hunker down and begin writing everything down in ChoiceScript. I'd wanted this to be done in July for lore-sake, but if it's done sooner I will upload it then and there. Don't get your hopes up, though.

💧Please, Hydrate.💧

[yuriisclumsy]

𝐀𝐫𝐜 𝐈𝐕 — 𝑬𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒊𝒕𝒚

𝐀𝐫𝐜 𝐈𝐈𝐈 | 𝐀𝐫𝐜 𝐈𝐕 (you are here) | 𝐀𝐫𝐜 𝐕

Sub-Serie: City Outskirts Art | Timeless Treasure Concept Art

Authors note: Hi, Lovelies! It's been a while since I uploaded something to the Arc series. But here it is, at last! I have other Arcs' I've been working on, so expect a few more updates in the following weeks! PS. I'll probably post a schedule once I finish the arcs and the next two chapters for the Story.

Entrance

–The main way to enter the Divine City is by first going through a system of permission only entry given and issued by the Permission of Entry Council. 

╰This Council is composed of members especially selected by her Grace.

–You have to apply to get permission to enter, with exceptions of Diplomat Permission and special Student Permission – also issued by the Council.

╰There are regulations as to who can come in, but that’ll the explored later.

–Once your permission has been approved, detailed instructions will be given to the entrance location. Even if the location of the entrance is already known to all, they still say it out of formality.

–The Main Entrance of the city is far away from the actual city contrary to common belief. Well, that is if you wish to enter by carriage or foot. Otherwise, an official boat comes around the ports of each nation every 2 weeks for transport. Hot-air balloons are also an option, though it is more complicated and expensive.

–Once inside, visitors will be given an Identification Document (ID) for recognition of Visitor Status.

–There are also guides inside the city especially for visitors. They also act like Field Trip Guides for students.

–The Hot-Air Balloon port is at a high altitude attached to the mountain the city is on. Those who chose this option will get a carriage and guide included, so it is a safe option when traveling with children.

Commerce District

–The Commerce District is the most visited place in the city. Its regulars consist of the citizens of the city and merchants, and the tourists that come in every two weeks.

–You can find all types of stores and restaurants in the district; from Sumerian cuisine to rare Liyue objects

╰Collectors usually visit Collection Actions hosted by some of the biggest treasure hunters (not to be confused for Treasure Hoarders) and adventurers out there.

Schools

–Schools… Pretty self-explanatory in my opinion. They are institutions that teach future generations. Nothing too important.

Colosseum

–The Colosseum. The second most visited place, and the most visited structure in the city. Mainly used for holding the Upholder Competition each year, the Colosseum is a place for holding big scale events. Such as, the academies introduction and orientation for first years, competitions, exams, and on rare occasions, concerts.

╰PS. For someone to get permission to hold a concert in the Colosseum, you’ll have to submit a request to the castle, and have it approved by none-other than her Grace.

Grand Library

–The Grand Library was founded by her Grace as an achievement for humanity. Achievements, published works, unpublished works, paintings, machinery, scripts, languages, everything is in here.

╰Students usually come to this library than any other because it has all they can ask for. But when outside, they will use any library they can find.

–There are a few restricted areas in the library, some having more importance than others. One in particular that no one has access to other than her Grace. No-one knows what is inside.

╰Some speculate that the answer to immortality is kept within its walls.

Castle

–The Castle is the residence of her Grace and high ranked officials. A saying about the castle says that whoever lives in the castle is automatically considered a royal. It’s been circulating for ages, many telling it to children to inspire them to achieve for the best in their fields so they can be chosen to live there.

╰Although this is fake information, those who live here are indeed treated like royals when out-and-about in the city.

–When talking to officials who live, you’d hear how they always get lost in the castle before getting the aid of Head Maid Zu or Head Butler Arias to guide them. To them, the castle is one large maze. Even General Tridalia gets lost after he takes naps in remote locations in the castle.

╰Because of the unique way the castle is structured, there is no one-way path to a place in the castle. This is why even some newer maids get lost, with even veteran butlers having difficulty when going to a new section they haven’t worked in.

Royal Garden

–The Royal Garden is her Grace's favorite place to enjoy tea when having done her work. The atmosphere is calming, with animals finding home within it.

╰Species from all over Teyvat visit.

–The garden has a lake, with rivers flowing down to the ocean.

╰All rivers in the city derive from here.

–The water in the rivers is safe for drinking.

╰People drink it when sick thinking there is healing properties in the water.

Table of Celestia

–The Table of Celestia used to be the meeting point for the gods, up until the Cataclysm, 500 years ago.

–It used to hold meetings between the devine and the mortal realm. A tree was planted there, a pledge between the two realms was formed: Mortals followed the Divines’ rule, and in turn, the Divine will protect them.

–Now, it stands as a reminder of the peaceful times we live in and those who lost their lives to achieve it.

╰It is a desolate place, not even animals come here. Her Grace softly watches from afar the table holding dear memories of time gone by.

…: ≧◉◡◉≦

???: Well, if it isn't our dear little one. It’s been a while, has it not?

…:  (◡‿◡✿) *Nod*

???: Well, what have you been up to lately?

???: Not doing chaos I hope.

…: (ㆆ_ㆆ)

???: What?

???: You youngsters are capable of anything!

???: How would I know if your intentions are always pure?

…: ( ≖.≖)

???: Alright, alright.

???: I won’t judge you anymore.

…: (゜-゜)?

???: Who am I?

???: …Isn't it a little too late to ask that question?

…: ಠ╭╮ಠ

???: You want my name…Hhmm…

???: I won’t give it to you.

…: (◑_◑)

…: ◉_◉???

???: Why?

???: Simple.

???: I like the feeling of suspense.

𝚃𝚊𝚐𝚜: @udretlnea, @taurus-caeli. Re-blog or Comment if you want to get added into the Tag section for The Divine City: Arc. Back to The Divine City: Arc Master-List. Go to Story, a related series.

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[chibishortdeath]

I’m ranting a little about my own comic planning and writing about the Castlevania games :)!!!

Cutting this here because it will likely be long!

So—

I have a bit of progress on the CoD Trevor and Julia comic! I haven’t gotten to Julia yet, but I’m drawing the conversation Trevor has with Isaac while being stabbed just to set up everything, warm up, and figure out how I want to be drawing panels and poses and such. I’m sharing the WIP for now mostly cause I drew a couple head angles I’m usually pretty terrible at and they came out nice :3. Idk, I need to finish more of it until I figure out whether or not I’m digitizing and coloring it. Either way I’ve dedicated a handful of pages to it.

Anyway— in this comic my main goal is to show how Julia managed to save Trevor because 1. It’s not shown in game and 2. God damn she must be a good healer to have saved him at all ∑(ﾟДﾟ). Where Trevor gets stabbed is not a great spot to get stabbed in (I’ll probably make a separate post ranting about that lol), so I’m just very curious as to how I’m going to depict her saving him from the castle and then actually doing the doctoring/magic part. It’s genuinely such a shame that this doesn’t get a cutscene of its own because I really want to see these two interact with each other and in general just more of Julia.

So anyway that one I can’t talk about too much more or else I’ll be spoiling all of it X,,,,D.

In other writing and comic idea news though— I think I’ve figured out the route I’m going with when writing Selena :3. It kinda came to me while I was playing Chronicles recently and also through a conversation with my sister about it! So I have some good ideas of how characters will be written now, I just have to think about outlining all of the sections better and writing out scripts for it and then I’ll be good to go ahead on the whole CV1-CV2 comic X3!

Well, as long as uh art block and stress and general life will allow it 💀.

Other things I have ideas for are a lot of random character interactions, very headcanon-y stuff, and the two with mainly OCs, though these will probably be either random shorts for now or will be on the back burner for other projects. The 1950s movie set story in particular though has a lot more ideas for as of right now, including new side characters and such… tbh I almost want to make this an RPG Maker fangame project, but I don’t have the skills for that quite yet.

And uh that’s kinda just the whole update! It’s a bit shorter than I expected so here’s some doodles :3

First is just practice of drawing Selena in general, second is designs of Simon and Selena as kids, approximately like 12-13 ish. Okie bye!