#without giving a huge platform to something you don't want to draw attention to

[statementlou]

Hi, I always like reading your thoughts. What do you thinking was the main point of all this parmageddon/chickengate nonsense? I just don't see how Louis answering that and making a few headlines about "denying" larry will benefit him in some way, at least with part of the fans it doesn't. Or at this point is any publicity is good publicity?

aw thanks babe! Well... first of all I'm not sure what you mean by "at this point" like... this is a very GOOD point, objectively speaking, things really just couldn't be going much better! That said, today's twitter chat was definitely Louis at work doing promo: it was pre planned and announced, hardly just a spontaneous impulse, he came on at the usual time for maximum exposure (around 5 pm UK/ 9 am-noon US time), he hit lots of standard promo talking points, and it was without question happening because he just announced a bunch of major dates, his first solo stadiums (and very possibly they announced those during the tour break so he could do promo for it). He answered questions about music, about how excited he is to visit LATAM and that yes, he wants to go other places, he threw in some of the trademark sassy snark we love so much, he mentioned Freddie and, of course, there was the anti-larrie tweet. He doesn't do that last one every time it's true; but mostly he hit the usual points, and throwing in some kind of "hi I'm straight btw" when promoting something IS absolutely part of the standard playbook, and this is actually much less effort than getting papped with a girl- especially now that Louis seems to have decided he's not doing that anymore. Every time something like this (Louis or Harry actively promoting the idea that they are straight) happens, there's an outcry at how they are alienating people and losing fans and it's bad for their brand so someone must be forcing them to do it, etc- which I find completely bizarre. It's always possible to find specific fans who are alienated or are like fuck this I'm leaving but if you take a step back their fandoms, both of them, are DEFINITELY NOT SHRINKING!! This is empirical completely objective FACT like just LOOK! Saying this hurts them in any way is, in my opinion, not being able to see the forest for the trees. The things they are doing are working extremely well for them- so it doesn't seem strange at all to me that they just keep doing the same things. I don't think anyone is doing it against their will on their behalf, I don't think they are being forced to do it (except by the heteropatriarchy and homophobic society generally), and I don't think it's bad for their brand: and as far as I can see today nothing has changed with that. Larries think exactly what we have thought before this and are carrying on as usual, solos/antis got a little boost, hell maybe Louis got to vent a little even (lbr larries ARE so fucking annoying at him all the time and it must seem SO ludicrous to him that we spend so much time thinking about this and care so much), his tour gets some press, and everything continues on as ever! Like I think calling it parmageddon is hilarious so I'm totally in, but also I mean... a bit dramatic yknow lol, it's just not that big a deal??

[ivysangel]

listen, i think smut is great. i read it, i write it, i think about way more than is probably considered healthy, but i don't think it should be as readily accessible in bookstores as it is right now, and especially without warnings.

i went to barnes & noble with my friend a few weeks ago and in the front of the store was this humongous romance section that had hundreds of those booktok romance books that was trending now. i wish i had a picture to show you guys just how big it was, because there were like six or so book cases and then this big table with some "romantic summer reads".

naturally, because it's what's trending right now, so many of the books had those really cute cartoon couple drawings. you know the one's where the two mc's are standing next to each other, or back to back, or hugging or smth (ykwim) and all of them were completely innocent looking and not marked as having adult content in any way. this isn't my first rodeo or anything, so i know that a really good chunk of these books have graphic sex written in them despite having no warnings or indicators of such content. and sure enough as me and my friend are flipping through them we're seeing all of the graphic depictictions of sex that if you were just reading the blurb on the back you would not know existed in the book.

the rationale i've seen from a lot of the authors and readers of the book are that they want something "inconspicuous" that doesn't draw attention to the fact that they're reading smut in public or whatever. and while i understand the sentiment, there's got to be some kind of regulation for this kind of thing. because some kid who's just looking for a cute romance book accidentally picking up smut is actually very bad and shouldn't be normalized in the slightest.

and i always see people saying, "well their parents should be checking the stuff they read anyway" or "i read smut when i was young so i don't see what the problem is" which pisses me off so bad because:

A) i know that when i was younger my mom didn't monitor what i read because the books i was reading were never misleading. both the covers, blurbs, and warnings (if there ever were any) were in line with the content of the books i read and there was no reason to be worried. i'm almost 100% sure that when most parents go to the bookstore with their kid and their child picks up a book with a cute cover, and the info about the plot on the back says nothing about it being anything other than a cute relationship, they don't think anything of it. maybe if it was one of those harlequin novels with the shirtless guys and the ladies with their boobs spilling out of tight dresses they'd tell them to put the book down but because the covers of new age smut books are designed to decieve, that's exactly what they do. decieve. and if it works on your friends and family and everyone around you, why in god's name wouldn't it work on someone's parent.

and B) it's no secret that kids have been reading smut well before they should for ages. i read smut as a kid, some of my friends read smut as kids, lots of people have and will continue to do so, the difference is that it wasn't as mainstream and easily accessible as it is now. not that you had to scour the internet for it, a quick search on wattpad would give you a million results, but it wasn't something that wasn't so publicly advertised, and sold. in my experience, it was the kind of thing that you heard about from a friend who heard about it from another friend not fucking tiktok. the biggest social media platform rn.

i'd also like to point out that if you read smut when you were younger and grew up to not understand how harmful it is, even going as far to encourage kids to read it, you're a huge fucking weirdo. i'm only 18, still very much a "child" by some people's standards, and i get chills when i remember how young i and some of my friends were when we created our first wattpad accounts. which is probably why i care so much about this topic, i don't think children should be exposed to that kind of stuff at all, and i don't like how now anyone of any age can walk into a bookstore and either knowingly or unknowingly pick up some freak nasty sex because a bunch or horny people on tiktok can't understand how harmful it is to have these books in so many places without any warnings whatsoever.

also: this had already gotten so long but i forgot to mention that there's a rising interest in "dark themes" and those books DEFINITELY need a warning. i wrote an essay once on how unregulated darker themed media has contributed to the idealization of toxic relationships in young people, and i'd like to say that right now i think booktok is one of the biggest contributors

[rpbetter]

a vent (feel free to ignore if it's too much!): so recently i've noticed psd makers getting anon asks on whether they're ok with people who write certain topics (mostly rpf, incest, rape, underage, the usual "problematic" topics) using their recourses. now, i don't roleplay any of these subjects on tumblr, so even if a content creator said not to use their stuff, it's not even something i need to worry about - but, and maybe this is me overthinking it, what if i, someday, write a noncon fanfic on ao3? i'm still not using their resources on the subject or writing it on tumblr, but i'd probably feel weird about it, like i'm crossing some boundary. what if a psd maker whose content i've already purchased suddenly goes "actually don't use my psds if you rp abusive relationships", which is probably the closest to what people consider "taboo themes" of the things that i roleplay. it just feels like a fine line between personal boundaries and a shitty situation for a customer - not wanting to cross boundaries but already having PAID for something previously, when no such rules existed. it's making me want to 1. block everyone i see saying this, because even though i don't personally roleplay the topics above, i don't feel SAFE around people who tell others what kind of fiction they are allowed to enjoy and 2. just quit using people's resources and spend years learning to make my own psds so i won't have to worry about this shit. it's just stressing me out, as someone who has been harrassed and bullied online for speaking against censorship. i've had literal sock accounts made just to spew targetted harrassment at me on twitter. i've been accused of being a pedo and supporting incest and this is??? literally for saying "i don't think real people should be harrassed for fictional shit", i've not even shipped underage or incest ships. both make me uncomfortable. but fuck, antis make me 1000000x more uncomfortable than people who ship these kinda ships. i digress, this got rambley, i just. do you have any advice on what to do with the potential psd situation, or am i really just overthinking it? (always worried i accidentally send stuff like this off anon. help)

I need you to know that I actually had to rush-scroll back up and just double check that you did submit on anon lol! I always get worried I'll miss the one person who accidentally didn't use anon, if it makes you feel any better! When someone does submit with their URL attached, I message them first to be sure they are okay with them having it posted that way/it wasn't an accident ;) That's what I would want someone to do!

Alright, so, anyhow...

I've also noticed that becoming a more common thing and it's been on my (maybe huge) list of things to look into for a bit because I really do try to make sure I'm not just noticing things in my areas of the RPC/failing to notice things that do not impact me. Since I do all my edits and graphics, it falls into the first category for me. So, thank you for moving that up the list and informing me that it really is more prevalent and not my imagination!

My take on seeing it was a combination of business logic and anxiety, not going to lie.

On the first: charging to do a psd that is just that, just a psd file being used as a template/to act as an easier version of a photoshop "action" in a way, that's 100% legal and fine. Absolutely no muddy waters there. However, charging to do things like icons, edits, etc. that include images of celebrities and stills from movies (or gifs) is quite muddy. Legally, it's not legal. It's a thing we're allowed to do and use (on most platforms) because we're not making money off of it, we're not claiming to hold rights to the images, and so on - it's ignored but illegal. Charging money for it, however, even when phrased as "for my time" (which, absolutely valid feeling), is a more serious form of illegal and potentially attention-getting. This all gets more iffy though when we add donation instead of direct commission/purchase when working with these copyrighted materials. You can ask people to donate and suggest a donation based on your time spent, and that is always what I advise people to do.

Okay, so, that preface is necessary because the thing about stipulating use-rights is that they're iffy, too, there are variables present.

Often, these same people are charging for things like icon packs as well, meaning that even if they're only charging you for a template-style psd file sans imagery they don't own, they've kind of shot themselves in the foot. Not to mention, it's exceedingly damn hypocritical to pitch a fit about someone violating your rights when you're literally using other people's copyrighted materials lmao And that does tend to occur to me, yeah, it's a consequence of attorney friends and running businesses.

The other issues with this are that usage rights have to be stated at the time of purchase and morality clause-style shit, as pertains to products, is not legally binding.

When you purchase something like a psd file, that purchase acts as a sort of contract.

Think of like...buying a photoshop brush set - the person selling it puts very simple rules as to its use, such as: non-commercial use only, brush pack cannot be resold or distributed for free, separate brushes from the pack cannot be resold or distributed for free individually. Meaning that you own the brushes you bought, but you are not legally allowed to make real-life money from anything you use them in, and you cannot send the whole pack or files individually to friends for free or charge other people for them. By buying these, you have agreed to these stipulations of use and ownership.

If the person sells psd's and you agree to what they've stated about the use (you can't use them to do commissions you make IRL money from, you can't give them away to friends, etc.), that's binding even somewhere as casual as RP Land. The exchange of real currency makes it that serious.

However, there are limits to stipulations of use! One of those things is when you agreed - this person cannot, even one literal second, later change their terms of use and retroactively hold you to them. If they were okay with you not crediting them anywhere or using them in works you will gift others or charge others something like game currency for at the time you purchased, then that's it. Tough shit for them, not you, when they decide a month later that they want credit given where the work appears, that they do not want finished products gifted, or don't want you to make even in-game currency from them.

And that absolutely would apply to the morality wank, yes.

Except that this very morality wank comes with its own issues. Reality is not tumblr. In reality, at least in most instances and countries, you can't throw in a fucking morality clause regarding the buyer, use of item, or finished product.

Think of this in this way: Chik-Fil-A starts denying chicken and waffle fries to anyone suspected of being queer. They're legally allowed to run their business (as a private business, everything does have variables) with some things that are morally objectionable that they feel morally aligns with their religious beliefs. They're not allowed to deny queer workers a job or queer customers service, however, in accordance with overarching laws.

While "being gross" online in fiction is not like, making anyone a protected status person lol this is just an extreme example to drive home the point. Legally, when it comes to items/products be they digital or physical, your rights and responsibilities as the seller don't include your moral policing.

What your right is, is to make people uncomfortable to a degree, yeah. You absolutely can do that. You can state some nasty shit about prospective buyers you don't want. For example, they should (I mean, they should just grow up and get some real concerns, but) be stating that they would not like to see their psd's used by people on this following DNI list of idiocy, and they will block those users if possible to prevent interaction and purchase. That's really it, that's what they can do and the least immature way to proceed.

On the second: none of this logic would make me feel comfortable about interacting with them and their psd's in the future once they had outed themselves as morally objectionable and dangerous to me with this nonsense. And I would still feel anxious about using things I had previously bought because once harassed...it doesn't really go away, does it? It would just give me some ease about the latter with things I'd already made. Like, I could keep using the icons I'd made with those psd's with a little bit more comfort knowing that they honestly have not a leg to stand on outside of their harassment.

I might have the tendency to respond to harassment without much upset, but that doesn't mean I want to be harassed. Especially when I am not doing anything that draws that kind of attention. Not that harassment is warranted over anything, but when I make a PSA or answer an ask that I know is likely to get their attention and piss them off? That's an acceptable risk I am knowingly taking. When I'm just going about my life as a RPer, it isn't.

So, I don't feel like you're overthinking it or being too concerned! In no way did you sign up for getting unwanted attention, and because it has happened before, of course, you're trying to insulate yourself from having it happen again. That's totally reasonable!

Now, what you could do about it...

It's another of those situations in which we're only truly capable of controlling ourselves. Everyone else is kind of a NPC.

You don't have to do anything I'm suggesting, but these are things I would do!

I would block the shit out of anyone saying these things/trying to make them stipulations, yes.

By that, I mean that I would also visit blogs they appear to interact with and they'd be blocked as well. We can all reblog something like resources or a shit post from a user we do not agree with without realizing it, but when it's frequent reblogs, direct support, and friendly vibes going on, it's safer to assume that they are aware their friend sucks. More importantly, that they do not think their friend sucks and support their views.

Even if that is not the case, do you want someone else's repeated inattention to expose you to bad actors? Nope! So, don't run the risk of paying and otherwise interacting with the one resource blog in the group that doesn't express these views/"requirements," but does involve themselves with those who do.

Try to find people selling these resources, that are not connected to the problem ones, who do not have those views. Once a trend starts, it is very hard to stop until it has run its course naturally, so, this might be difficult and take some extreme effort. You might want to consider asking like-minded friends who use psd's where they got them so you can check those users out for yourself.

If they're all the same, problem, people...

Look for users well outside of your corner of the RPC(s) who are not asking to be paid. I know it sounds wild, but there really are RPers out there who just enjoy making things for others! I can think of at least one right off on my dash. They might not be advertising for doing psd's or psd packs, but either they might be willing to do so (especially if they do not appear policing-positive) if you explain what is going on, or they could at least fill some requests for you for fully made icons and such. Hell, people who love doing this work usually know others who do as well, and anti-policing people quite reasonably stick together. They could have suggestions for someone not vile selling psd's.

Depending on what it is you want your psd's to do, I promise you that it wouldn't take you very long to learn it. I know...I know lol that's both really easy for me say when I've been doing it for over twenty years and am about to piss some people off. The latter because the most common settings on popular psd's are extremely simple shit, a lot of that is the kind of thing you're expressly told not to do in design work. Like ramping up extreme contrast, pixelating the fuck out of an image, and turning up the primary colors only. Once you get to playing with photoshop or an equivalent, you will totally see what I mean. You can accidentally make an icon look identical to something that is on trend in the RPC. If that was what you were going for? You've hit the mark, and it's just repetition and tweaking it here and there!

Once you start playing with it, too, it's actually pretty intuitive when it comes to the basic things like resizing, adjusting colors and contrast, and doing easy effects like blurs and sharpening. Frankly, playing with it is better than half the tutorials you'll find because they get unnecessarily complicated when all you want to do is crop your muse's face, overlay some color, and add a damn dotted border. Listen, like I said, I have a lot of experience...and I find many tutorials frustrating and overwhelming!

It is not just you, you're not dumb or anything. People get very comfortable with something and when they try to explain it to others, they use terms and methods that are more advanced or specific to them than they realize. That's all!

If you have friends who make their own things, ask them some very basic questions about what you want to do. They know you, so, they'll know better how to explain to you, specifically. Just keep it simple until you've had some time to experiment! Ask things like, "I want to take this image, resize it to be an icon, and add an orange tint to the image while sharpening only my muse's features...how would I do that? Easy mode?"

And! You don't even have to pay for photoshop or pirate it anymore! Photopea is as an exact copy as possible entirely located in your browser for free. It's all overwhelming at first, a real case of too many options and ways to do the same thing, but the only way it gets less overwhelming is just diving into it. Dive in, get a little frustrated, have some successes, make some awesome discoveries, it gets a bit addicting in short order. Then, the tutorials and tips are so much easier to figure out and expand on, too.

If you'd like, you can always send me a pm here and ask me. I'm happy to try to explain how to do things, zero judgment or impatience. Just an additional option if you both decide to try learning and would feel comfortable doing that. Zero judgment as well on not wanting to do either of those things!

Okay, this one is much harder than learning PS basics because it's honestly a bit terrifying...the way these people are, they're going to take issue with you no matter what you do, and in the end, if they notice you and feel like bothering you, they will. There's literally nothing you can do about it. All you can do is try to buffer yourself, stay away from them, and be aware that you are not the problem.

Like with the AO3 thing or writing what could be viewed as toxic relationships. You can never write or be interested in a single, solitary thing that they're on about (and accusing you of doing in real life when the burning Eye of Moron turns your direction), but to them, you supporting the right of other people to do so is just as bad as doing it yourself. To them, the toxic relationships not only would be problematic, they'd be problematic enough. Being uncomfortable with their policing and feeling unsafe because of it is, to them, a red flag of how problematic you are. Writing anything they've deemed objectionable (or reading or viewing it, for that matter) anywhere, doesn't have to be on this platform or RP-adjacent, doesn't have to actually utilize any of their materials, is enough.

They're absolutely including you in who shouldn't use their shit. That's part of the "logic" and methodology of policing. Everyone is problematic, so, everyone can be labeled a pedo and harassed without too many people getting up in arms about it. No one is safe, so, everyone better behave. You don't actually have to be engaging with or enjoying things like underage, non/dubcon, rape, abusive relationships, etc.

It's gross, it's bullying, it's actually a problem...and there isn't much you can do.

All that is truly up to you is making an effort to avoid them, though, this is very often unfair and likely to get more unfair as resource blogs of all sorts deal in it more. At least, in this case, you do have some small bit of actionable power - by not ever buying from them. They wouldn't be charging if they did not either need or want the money, not giving it to them is a bigger hit than things like simply unfollowing/blocking, reblogging PSA's, and so on is!

Nope, it isn't like you're denying them some extreme amount of money by yourself, but every three, five, ten dollars is felt pretty hard when you desperately need money and/or are saving for something.

I know, I mean, I personally do know, that it's impossible to "get over" bullying, Anon. I'm in no way telling you to just get over it and move on, find some great well of not caring somewhere! What I'm saying is that there is power in not giving them power. The power to make you anxious, uncomfortable, unsafe, when you have every right to be here doing your thing and are not hurting anyone. And it might seem to be a deeply contrary sort of logic, but realizing and accepting that there are people out there who irrationally dislike you for literally no reason, that you cannot infallibly escape or avoid, despite doing nothing wrong is a bit empowering. Because it puts into perspective the things you can control, and when we know what is in our control, it's easier to just enjoy our time here without constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. If it drops, we can go put it back in the closet where it belongs.

It starts to put a positive spin on the whole, damned if I do, damned if I don't feeling, if that makes sense? I'm probably way too tired to try to be explaining this lol I'm sorry!

Anyway, again, I'm not implying you can or should do any, let alone all, of those suggestions! I just really hope that something will help you feel even a little bit more at ease. It's an unfair situation, it isn't right, and you have every reason to be uncomfortable and stressed. If I could make it happen, you better believe that every policing asshole out there would be writing heartfelt apology letters and sending donations to everyone they've upset lol but...since I can't make that happen, all I can do is say what I, personally, do, would do, or have done.

[ratwrites]

Lies In Paradise 1/2

Requests.

Masterlist.

Prompt/s: "I guess this is goodbye?"

Summary: You are captured by a Jinn and must leave behind everything you've ever wanted.

Warnings: Suicide

Pairing: Sam Winchester X Reader

Word Count: 6376

A/N: I'm not ready for this show to end ;-; I'm currently rewatching it so I decided to finally write some Sam stuff!

[[MORE]]

Fairfield Illinois, a small forgotten town that you'd never been to in your entire life. That was one of the perks of hunting; traveling all over was a weekly deal. You pulled yourself out of the backseat of your car stifling a yawn. The nine hour drive had been death on your body. You'd made the mistake of driving straight into the night, but you were also the idiot who left hours after everyone else.

You shut your car door and headed to the back unlocking the trunk. You grabbed your duffle bag and shut the trunk before heading to the motel office. You opened the door the bell above it drawing the attention of an older man.

"Looking to stay for the night?" He questioned.

"Actually, I already have a room booked, should be under the name Dylan," you answered, lazily. The man flipped through an old book for a moment before nodding. He reached down under the counter and handed you a room key labled 5.

"Your uh- friends went to the diner I think," the man added, before you could leave. You'd seen the diner on the way in, it wasn't hard to miss considering it was right next to the motel, but you hadn't bothered to look for their car due to your exhaustion. You bowed your head in thanks before leaving the office in search of your room. You spotted the door labeled 5 right off the bat and headed over to it. With a push of the key and a soft click of the door you were inside.

You closed and locked the door behind you before tossing your stuff down onto the floor. Their stuff was placed on the two beds as if claiming their sleeping spots. You sighed and moved to the furthest bed tossing the heavy bag off into the floor. Screw them you wanted to sleep.

You sat down on the edge of the bed removing the knife from inside your boot before untying and kicking your combat boots off. You rolled up your right pant leg and removed the small handgun hidden in a holster. With a yawn you crawled all the way onto the bed and flopped sliding the gun under the single pillow. You rolled onto your stomach your arms burying themselves under the pillow as well. While one hand loosely gripped the gun the other touched a small bracelet on your wrist.

Another yawn left your lips as you allowed your eyes to slide closed. You swore if they woke you when they got back you'd kill them.

...

You stirred from your sleep as the bed dipped down. Your instincts reacted swiftly your fingers shifting and positioning themselves dangerously around the gun. With careful movements you turned your head to the side your body instantly relaxing at the silhouette sitting next to you.

"Need me to move over?" You mumbled, making the shape jump.

"Didn't mean to wake you up," he whispered.

"Sam, you're fat. If you didn't want to wake me then crawling into with me bed was your first mistake," you snorted, through a yawn.

This was your first case with the Winchesters in a while. Well, it wasn't like you hadn't been with them, it's just that no hunts seemed to be coming up. You'd been friends with the boys since the first round of the apocalypse. You'd spent a lot of time with them eventually moving into the bunker with them. If heaven could've been on earth, it was in that bunker with them.

When you'd first met the boys you had barely gotten to know Sam before he took a trip to hell. You spent time with the older Winchester during Sam's time in hell. Even after the younger brother returned it had been hard for you to connect with him like you had with Dean. Though once the Winchester had recovered his soul you grew to care about him. Eventually your caring had turned into crushing, which you tried to push aside. In this life, you couldn't have connections, but Sam seemed to widle his way in whether you liked it or not. You two had been dancing around each other for months, but each too scared to act.

A quiet chuckle left the brother's mouth as you pulled yourself to the edge of the bed giving the Moose man room to lay down comfortably. Once he settled down you moved back a little until your back rested comfortably against his. His heat warmed your body. "So, you two find out anything?" You questioned, nuzzling your head into the pillow.

"Not much. The victims have nothing in common whatsoever. It's almost like they're normal kidnappings except for the one body that was found," Sam answered, quietly. The only body found had been drained of all it's blood. At first you thought it might have been a vampire, but Sam had called you mid drive to tell you that they'd checked the place out and there were no signs of vampires anywhere, not to mention the body only had one puncture wound on the neck.

"Can you two discuss this in the morning please? I want to sleep," Dean's rough voice grumbled. You giggled lightly.

"Goodnight Dean," you teased. He didn't respond, but you heard the shuffle of his bed which indicated that he rolled over probably with his back to your bed. You closed your eyes allowing yourself to drift back to sleep.

.

You woke up at the crack of dawn your body complaining from the three and a half hours of sleep you'd gotten. To your surprise the diner, a Five Brothers, was actually open. You'd gone into the diner with Sam's laptop and ordered yourself some breakfast. Once seated in a booth off in a secluded corner of the restaurant you propped open the laptop and began to scroll through the information the boys had gathered so far.

Once your breakfast arrived you closed the laptop and ate in a peaceful silence. The only other people in the local diner were the workers, a trucker, and an elderly couple that didn't look like they needed to be up this early; then again, you didn't need to be either.

Finishing your breakfast you opened the laptop again and continued to research. The little information they had was making the task of identifying this creature very difficult. You let out a frustrated sigh scanning through the police report again.

"Never seen you in here before." You drew your attention to a young man standing by the booth. He looked like he was maybe nineteen. The young man was around 6'0 his curly mud brown hair messy and unkept. His deep brown eyes stared down at you uncomfortably.

"Just passing through," you replied, coolly. He cocked a brow at you tilting his head slightly.

"I'm Jacob," he said, plopping down into the seat across from you. You frowned turning your attention back to your laptop.

"Not even a name?" he pushed, one of his feet touching yours. You pulled your feet criss cross into your seat shooting him a warning glance.

"I'm way older than you kid, get lost," you huffed, keeping your cool. The kid, Jacob, was the one to frown this time. He didn't budge from his seat.

"Come on, just a name," he urged.

"Look kid, I'm busy, so why don't you run along. Shouldn't you be getting ready for school?" You growled.

"I'm graduated," he defended.

"Good for you and I'm busy," you replied, snappily.

"Everything okay here Agent?" Relief flooded through you at the sound of Sam's tired voice.

"Fine, just going through the case files," you answered, turning your attention toward Sam. The boy didn't budge for a moment.

"That is my partners seat," you said, looking back at him. He angrily got up coming almost face to face with Sam. Even with only a four inch advantage the kid coward away from Sam. Sam slid down into the seat across from you.

"I'm surprised you're up," you commented, putting your feet back down on the floor.

"Well, I noticed that there was something missing," he replied, referring to your back against his. You rolled your eyes playfully. A waitress approached the table.

"Anything I can get for you?" she asked. Sam grabbed the menu from a small holder on the table and flipped through it.

"Black coffee with the Morning Egg Special please," he answered, setting the menu back in the holder. She nodded before hurrying off.

"So, did you make anything out of what we've got?" You shook your head.

"My first thought was still vampire, but you said you've already checked for that," you explained. Sam nodded. The waitress brought Sam his coffee along with a glass of water. Sam thanked her before taking a sip.

"Dean said he had an idea, but refused to spill until he got some sleep," Sam chuckled, taking another sip. You huffed through a smile looking through the information again.

"Where was the body found again?" You asked.

"Outside some wearhouse on North 1st street," Sam answered. You sat quietly for a moment.

"I'm going to drive down there and take a look at the warehouse," you stated, standing up.

"I'll go with you," Sam started. You pointed a finger at him stopping him in place.

"Stay and eat your breakfast Sam. I'll be fine. I'll call if I need anything." Sam let out a reluctant sigh and settled back down in his seat. Without another word you headed out of the diner and back to your car. You slipped into your car and punched in the warehouse directions in your phone.

.

The drive wasn't too long considering it was a small town. You parked your car outside the warehouse giving it a once over from behind the trunk of your car. You grabbed your gun and slid it inside your coat pocket. A section of the parking lot had been blocked off by police tape indicating that the body had been found there. You were going to look inside. You headed to the front door and picked the lock. Once inside you closed the door behind you. A large empty room rested before you. Toward the back of the warehouse was a staircase leading up to a huge platform. You couldn't see what was on it. Below the platform rested a few doors with scratched off labels. You pulled out your gun and began your tour.

.

You let out a deep sigh and headed toward the front door. Your search had been fruitless. Your hand fell to the door handle coming to a halt when a loud cry echoed throughout the building. You whipped around swiftly your gun coming to defense. You moved back into the warehouse following the screams and cries that kept coming. You spotted what seemed to be a hidden door. You quickly moved to the door and opened it heading down a flight of stairs and into a poorly lit basement.

Your eyes widened at the sight before you. The missing people had their arms strung from the ceiling a needle pressed into their necks. They were being drained. Your heart dropped as the realization of what this was hit you. You needed to get out of here and fast. You ran toward the screaming girl tucking your gun away.

"Hey hey, easy. Shh," you soothed, trying to calm her down. You reached into your boot and removed your knife. You began to cut her ropes desperate to get her down. Her eyes widened as she screamed again. A hard object struck the back of your head sending you down onto the floor. Hands rolled you onto your back. A tattooed man crouched down over you his eyes glowing an unnaturally blue color. You tried to fight, but your vision and body betrayed you. The blue light from his hand made your heart race as he pressed it against your forehead. Darkness swirled around you until it consumed you.

.

You woke with a loud gasp shooting upright. You wildly looked around a dark room not able to recognize your surroundings. You looked down noticing your attire. You were wearing sweatpants and a bra. "You okay?" You yelped at the sudden voice jumping away from it. Another cry left your lips as you got tangled in the comforter over you sending you off of the bed and onto the floor.

"Jesus! Are you alright?" The stranger flipped on a light and shuffled off of the bed and to you. You knew that face.

"S-Sam?" You gawked, his lack of clothes catching you off guard. He was wearing a loose pair of sweatpants that hung dangerously low on his hips. You could tell there wasn't anything under them. Your cheeks heated up violently turning a deep shade of pink. He crouched down untangling you and standing you up. His touch on your skin was gentle.

"What- what the hell is going on?" You breathed, looking around.

"I uh- could ask you the same question. Are you okay?" He asked, concern evident in his voice.

"I don't know. Dude, where are we? What the fuck is going on?" You asked, pulling yourself out of his grasp.

"We're at home.. Honey are you Okay?" He asked, again. You froze at the pet name. Sam hadn't ever called you by a pet name before.. Then again Sam had never dressed like that around you before.

"Home?" You walked out of the bedroom surprised to find a house outside the room. You walked down a short hallway and out inside a living space. You stood dumbfounded taking in the change. Off of the living room was a small kitchen along with a family room and a dining room. There were three more rooms down the hallway along with the room at the end which was the one you'd practically ran from. You slowly began to walk around the house until you came to the living room. Your eyes went to a kennel telling you that there was a dog. You gazed around spotting a desk. Slowly you went to the desk noticing pictures that sat on it.

You hesitantly scooped up one of the pictures and turned it toward you. You almost dropped it out of shock and confusion. Sam's arm was wrapped around your waist his lips pressed against yours. You set it down and walked around the desk looking at the other pictures. Every single one of them was you and Sam, all except for one. The picture in the center caught your attention. You picked it up examining it. It was a family photo. On one side rested Sam, Dean, Cas, Bobby, John, Mary, Samuel, and Deanna. On the other rested your, your mother, father, sister, two brothers, and your father. You and Sam were next to each other both clearily dressed for a wedding along with everyone else.

You choked back the tears that dared to spill as you set the picture down.

"Baby?" Sam called, quietly. Your eyes met his as he flipped on the lamp on the desk.

"Oh baby," he cooed, seeing the tears in your eyes. He came around the desk pulling you comfortably against his bare chest. Without thinking you curled into him tucking your arms between his chest and yours. You looked down noticing the ring on your finger. You were married... To Sam...

You pulled back looking up at him. "You okay?" He asked, again.

"I-" you hesitated. "I don't understand... I had just left you to go and check out the case we were working," you began. Sam tilted his head.

"What are you talking about?" He questioned.

"The- the thing we were hunting.." You continued. Sam chuckled.

"Hunting? You hate hunting, remember? Honey, you're tired. You should go back to sleep," he soothed.

"No! Don't you remember?" you yelped.

"It was just a dream love," Sam said, calmly. You shook your head in confusion.

"Come on, let's get you back to bed." Sam took your hands in his gently tugging on you. You didn't fight him allowing him to lead you back to the room you'd woke up in. Maybe it was just a dream. You'd wake up and be back where you had been. You settled onto the bed tensing as Sam pulled you close tucking you safely against his side. He pressed a kiss into your hair making your scalp tingle.

"Sleep love," he encouraged, reaching up to stroke his fingers through your hair. Your body automatically relaxed into his touch. This was all wrong, but you couldn't help but enjoy it while it lasted.

.

You woke to find yourself in the same room. You sat up quickly looking around again. Light pooled through the bedroom window. A delicious smell hit your nostrils causing you to realize that Sam was nowhere to be found.

"S- Sam?" You called, panicking.

"In the kitchen!" he answered. You climbed out of bed and found a sweatshirt on the floor. You slipped it over your head noting that it was huge on you. You walked out of the room stepping over a baby gate and out into the living space. You didn't know that Sam could cook. A beautiful dog rounded the corner bouncing happily up to you. You couldn't help but bend down to pet it for a moment. You approached the counter that seperated the kicthen from the living room. Sam's eyes met yours.

"I see you've found my sweatshirt," he chuckled, his gaze sliding over what he could see. Your cheeks turned a light shade of pink.

"I thought you'd like some breakfast before you head to work," he explained. You tilted your head.

"Work?" You questioned. Sam looked at you again.

"You did say you had a private art session today, right?" he confirmed. Art student..

"I'm an- art teacher?" You murmured.

"Yep!" Sam chuckled. When you were a kid you'd wanted to be an art teacher, but gave it up for hunting. Hunting had always been apart of your family, but consumed your life after your sister had been torn to shreds by a Banshee. You stood quietly for a moment.

"I canceled it," you said, suddenly. Your memory had gone back to the picture you'd seen last night. Your sister was alive along with your parents. Your mother had died of cancer when you were 19 and your father had a hunt go wrong. It was just you and your two brother's left, but you hadn't heard from them in years and basically assumed they were dead too.

"Why?" Sam asked, curiously. You shrugged.

"Mental health day I suppose," you excused. Sam drew his brow together.

"Are you okay baby? Honestly?" You weren't sure.

"Yeah, I'm fine!" You lied. You walked around the counter and into the kitchen taking a seat in one of the kitchen chairs. Sam left the stove and came to you. He towered over you for a moment before bending down. He tilting your chin up and captured your lips. Sparks shot through your body waking the butterflies in your gut. You'd always wanted to do this... You pulled back when things started to escalate. You didn't want to stop, but this all seemed so wrong. He smiled softly before returning to the food he was making.

You hadn't noticed that you'd picked up your phone until it buzzed in your pocket. You pulled it out seeing "Pain In My Ass" across your screen. You answered it.

"Dean?" You asked.

"Hey! Is Sammy there? He's not answering my calls," Dean replied.

"Um- he's cooking breakfast," you answered, hesitantly. Sam wasn't paying attention.

"Dude, what the hell is going on?" You whispered, trying not to draw Sam's attention.

"What are you talking about?" Dean asked.

"I was in that warehouse checking out our case then the next I woke up next to Sam!" you whispered, urgently. Dean laughed.

"Damn, Sammy was right, whatever dream you had last night really did screw you up didn't it?" You pinched the bridge of your nose your head starting to ache from the confusion. Had everything really been a dream?

"Is that my sister? Tell her I said hi!" You choked on your air as your little sister's voice echoed in the back of the call.

"Lillian says hi," Dean chuckled. You didn't have the words to answer.

"Okay well, tell Sam we'll be a little late tonight Lil's got some stuff to take care of," Dean continued.

"Oh- okay.." You hung up before Dean had the chance to speak again.

"Who was that?" Sam asked, setting a plate of food down in front of you.

"Dean, said he's going to be a little late... Late for what exactly?" You looked up at Sam.

"Did you forget? Tonight is game night," Sam huffed, sitting down in the chair across from you. He dug into his food. You leaned forward and picked through the food. It smelled fantastic and tasted fantastic too, but your appetite was small.

"Game night... Right," you muttered, after a few minutes of picking through your food. You met Sam's concerned gaze.

"Are you sure you're feeling alright? We can cancel if you need to," Sam ensured.

"No! No, that's okay. I'm okay, really Sam," you smiled, fakely. Sam sighed continuing to eat his food. You reached down to your wrist your body going alert. You rolled up the sweatshirt sleeve to find a bare wrist.

"Sam, did I take my bracelet off last night?" You questioned.

"What bracelet?" Your gut turned uneasily.

"The bracelet that Dean gave me for my birthday three years back," you explained, slowly. Sam scoffed.

"Dean wasn't around three years ago Hon," Sam corrected. Your fingers gripped your wrist.

"Right.. Don't know what I was thinking," you muttered. You hadn't taken that bracelet off since the day he'd given it to you. You weren't imagening that. You stood up from your chair and left the kitchen eyeing the dog that sat at the edge of the kitchen.

"Where are you off to?" He called, after you.

"I'm going to go for a walk," you replied. You entered your bedroom and closed the door locking it behind you. You paced for a few moments before pulling out your phone and sitting on the bed. You went through your pictures taking in each one. Ninety percent of them were of you and Sam, but some were pictures with other people from your family. You didn't see one picture with Dean which was odd. Dean was your best friend. He had been from the start. You were closer to Sam, but your love for him wasn't in the friendly sense like it was for Dean. That man had basically become your third brother. You set your phone aside and stripped out of your clothes changing into something different. You slid on a pair of jeans and a Van Halen t-shirt. You were surprised that there was no plaid in your closet nor Sam's. That was another red flag.

You rifled through your closet in search of your combat boots only to come up empty. You frowned settling on a pair of tennis shoes. You headed out of the room moving through the house and to the front door.

"Want me to come with you?" Sam called, as you grabbed the door handle.

"I'm good, thanks!" You answered. You opened the door and stepped outside. You backed up getting a good look at the house itself. It was a small brick house with a one car garage on the side. The yard around it was small, yet big enough for you. You glanced around the area not recognizing what town you were in. You pulled out your phone and clicked on your map.

"California?" You zoomed out on the map your eyes catching on one destination. Stanford University. That was the school Sam had been going to.. You tucked your phone back into your pocket and began to walk.

.

You'd wandered for hours eventually making your way back to your home. To your surprise Sam was outside along with the gorgeous dog. The dog was the first to notice you. It let out a loud bark before racing to meet you at the edge of the yard. You crouched down running your hands through its soft fur. You'd always wanted a dog. Sam jogged over to meet you as you stood up. Before you could speak he took you in for a soft peck.

"Thought you'd be gone all night!" he teased. You followed him back up to the house the dog trotting next to you.

"Yep, I planned to walk all night," you responded, quickly. Tossing sarcasm was something you and Sam always did, though you had to admit, Dean was better at matching your sarcasm. You gut clenched as you stood at the front door allowing Sam to hold it open. Your eyes met Sam's. The light in his eyes was almost blinding to you. The smile he offered you melted your heart. You couldn't help but return the smile before walking inside with Sam on your tail.

"So, we've got two hours before everyone shows up, anything you'd like to do?" Sam asked, grabbing your waist and spinning you around. You squeaked as your body collided with his. His other hand snaked around your lower back pulling you closer. Your eyes met his again sending chills down your spine. His pupils dilated slightly the longer he stared at you. It was odd, this look was familiar to you. He leaned down catching your lips in a breathtaking kiss. You couldn't help but lean further into him your hands finding his stomach.

You were hesitant for a moment until Sam suddenly moved. His strong arms moved down gripping the underside of your thighs. With one swift motion you were off of your feet. Without a thought you wrapped your legs around his waist hooking your ankles as best as you could. Everything was right. You attacked Sam's lips your confidence building as he manuvered through the house and back to the bedroom.

His knees hit the bed sending him down. Your back landed against the soft bed and to your surprise Sam caught himself above you. He stared down at you his pupils dilating. Your body heated up under his intense gaze. The feelings you'd been desperately pushing down had sprung free.

.

You slid out of bed and dressed yourself as the doorbell rang. Your body was tired, but pleased. You glanced over at Sam who still slept peacefully his body curved to where you had been. You smiled softly before heading out of the room. The dog was barking at the door in a high pitched tone. You opened the inside door your heart stopping at the sight.

Dean pulled the glass outside door open and engulfed you in a friendly hug.

"Where's Sam?" Dean asked, letting you go.

"He's... He's in the bedroom," Dean smiled and headed that way.

"Dean I wouldn't do that!" You called, over your shoulder. You briefly heard Sam yelling before different arms embraced you. Your full attention was on them. They were soft and familiar, yet strange. You pulled back your heart clenching in your chest. Your sister stood before you grown and alive.

"Sis?" You gulped.

"Hey girl," she smiled, happily. You embraced her again burying your face into the crook of her neck.

"Geez, you act like you haven't seen me in years!" She giggled, pushing you off.

"Okay girls, reunion out of the doorway please!" You honestly hadn't noticed your brothers behind her along with John, Mary, and your father. You forced yourself to step back allowing them all inside. You hadn't been around to meet John, but you'd heard a lot about him that made you bitter toward him. They said their hellos each one hugging you.

"Hey dad," you murmured, as he approached you. He wrapped his arms around you making your warm up happily. This was perfect. He released you as Sam and Dean entered the room.

"Seems like you two had a little fun before we got here," Dean teased, finding a seat on one of the couches in the living room. Your sister sat next to him snuggling against his side. You stared blankly at them for a moment before you realized she had a ring as well. She married Dean? Your head ached slightly. Your brothers sat on the floor by the glass coffee table in the center of the room. John and Mary took a seat next to your sister while your father sat down in the secluded chair by the larger couch. Sam took a seat on the smaller couch that sat across from the larger one. You stood in the room taking in each member in the room.

"You gonna stand there all night or are we gonna play?" Dean laughed, drawing you out of your trance.

You shook yourself before moving to sit by Sam. Everyone was staring at you. Sam let out a low chuckle before he stood and fetched the games from a closet by the front door.

"Take it easy, she's a bit tired," Sam explained, setting the games on the table. Dean let our a hearty laugh. You'd never heard him laugh this much and the night was only getting started.

.

Hours had passed since your family had arrived. Everyone was laughing, yelling, and in your brother's case, crying over a loss. Everyone had settled in getting drinks and snacks for themselves. You laughed along with them as you set down your hand of cards. Dean growled under his breath passing you a twenty.

"Thank you!" You teased. Everyone laughed at Dean making you smile widely.

"Another round?" John asked. Everyone agreed, allowing Sam to shuffle and pass out the cards.

"I'll be back, I'm going to go get my sweatshirt, it's a bit chilly in here," you announced, standing up. You headed to your bedroom as their new game started. You picked up Sam's sweatshirt sliding it over your head. A scream left your lips as a young boy stood in front of you. His skin was pale as if he was dead. You stumbled backwards your back hitting the dresser against the wall. You heard a loud thud as Sam hurtled the babygate.

"Babe!" He was at your side in moments. His hands gripped you causing you to jump. You pushed him away your eyes leaving the boy. You whipped around only for the boy to disappear.

"What's wrong?" He asked, offering his hands in surrender. You looked between Sam and where the boy had been.

Dean, your father, and John stood in the doorway concern on their faces.

"I- I saw something.." You rasped, trying to calm your breathing.

"Hey, hey it's alright," Sam soothed.

"Did you see something outside the window?" Dean questioned. You nodded going along with it. You couldn't tell them.

Dean looked at the others.

"I'll go check it out." With that they left the bedroom and headed outside your brothers tagging along as they went outside. Sam cautiously reached for you guiding you to sit on the bed. He sat next to you.

"Are you sure you're alright? You've been acting strange since that nightmare you had last night." His concern was genuine. You didn't answer him as you leaned against him. Sam understood and wrapped his arm securely around your shoulder. The small ache in your head grew. Sam's hand rubbed reassuring circles against your arm.

After a few minutes Dean and your father returned to the room. "Anything?" Sam enquired, tilting his head slightly. Dean shook his head.

"Nothing, not even a sign that something was out there," your father piped. You snuggled further into Sam. Your husband let out a sigh.

"Stay here love. You should get some rest," Sam encouraged, slowly standing from the bed. You didn't protest as he followed Dean and your father out of the room closing the door gently behind him. You stayed in your spot tuning in on their conversation.

"Is she okay?" your father asked.

"I don't know... She's been acting strange ever since last night," Sam answered.

"Strange?"

"She had a really bad nightmare last night. It left her completely out of it. She didn't know where she was, what was going on, and she said we'd been hunting something." Silence followed for a moment.

"Maybe we should all call it a night," Dean suggested. The door opened again revealing Sam.

"Everyone's going to head home, would you like to wish them off?" Sam asked. You shook your head.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure," you snapped, coming off harsher than you'd intended. Sam closed the door. You ran your hands through your hair your head aching. Your instincts were returning to you. You couldn't let this thing trick you anymore than it already had.

"They're not real... They're not real!" you repeated, standing suddenly. You began to pace trying to focus on the last thing you truly remembered. You had been hunting a monster. You desperately tried to think back. Sam had told you about Dean's run in with a Jinn. It had made his dreams come true. You wracked your brain trying to remember how Dean freed himself. You let out a frustrated groan pacing the room. You paused in your movements and closed your eyes. You opened them only to see the little boy again. Instead of panicking you walked toward him. You reached out grabbing ahold of him.

Yells echoed through your head causing you to let go. You recognized the voice but couldn't quite put a name to it. The boy was gone. You stumbled back hearing the door behind you open.

"Babe?" You pinpointed the voice. It had been Sam's. You turned to this Sam. You were conflicted. He seemed so real... You approached him reaching up and touching his cheek. The light stubble scratched against your hand. He was as real as you were. Your heart sunk as his warm hand came to rest over yours. All of your dreams were here... Your sister was alive and well, she even got married to your best friend. Your family was back together again and so was theirs. Sam, the man you loved, returned your love was you were married! You pulled back from him looking at the ground. This wasn't your place. Your Sam was looking for you. You knew it.

"I- I need to sleep," you said, suddenly. You didn't give Sam a chance to answer as you slid onto the bed resting on your stomach. Sam snuggled next to you warming you. You kept thinking about the story a thought occuring to you. Your gut twisted at the thought, but it had to be done. You would wait for the perfect time.

.

Once Sam had drifted off you carefully lifted yourself from the bed and headed to the kitchen. You dug through the drawers until you found a sharp knife. You held it in your hand for a moment before lifting it.

"What are you doing?" Sam's horrified voice growled, as the knife pressed against your throat. Your attention shot to Sam who stood across the counter.

"S-Sam.." you choked, tears stinging your eyes. He slowly came around the counter.

"Stay back," you warned, placing it closer to your neck. He put his hands up in surrender fear coursing through his wide eyes.

"Put the knife down," he pleaded. You shook your head.

"I have to do this. I shouldn't be here," you shook, keeping the knife in place.

"Don't say that..." he whined, taking a step closer.

"This isn't real Sam! You're not real! I can't stay here.. I can't just leave you," you cried, tears springing out onto your cheeks.

"If you do this I'll be alone, please don't leave me," he whimpered. You shook your head.

"If I do this everything will go back to normal.." You explained. He took another step closer.

"I love you... Please don't do this," he pleaded.

"You don't love me! This isn't real!" You shouted. The knife stung your neck. Before you could move his hands were on yours. The warmth made you jump. He moved your hands down and you didn't fight him.

"Do you feel that? That's real." He didn't let go.

"No... No let go," you sobbed.

"No! Don't you understand? I'm real. I'm here. You don't need to do this."

You pulled back from him taking the knife with you. "Please don't do this.." Your sister's voice called. She stepped out from behind Sam.

"We want you here... If you leave I'll be nothing but a memory," she explained, calmly. Your father stepped out as well.

"I-" You stared at them. You didn't want to leave them, but you knew you couldn't stay.

"I'm sorry..." You put the knife back to your neck.

"I guess this is goodbye?" Sam murmured, coming to stand close to you. You nodded slowly. Sam leaned forward watching you for one last kiss. You cried into the kiss closing your eyes. You ran the knife sharply across your neck.

Cold and pain washed over you. Your wrists stung above your head. Your head and neck throbbed. Someone's hands were on you. "Hang on," I'm gonna get you down. Dean in here!" Sam's voice echoed in your ears. The hands moved up touching the binds on your wrists. You didn't have the strength to open your eyes, but a raspy groan left your lips as the binds dropped. Your body collapsed into strong arms.

"Easy, I've got you," he soothed. You were lowered down and placed with part of your back against a solid chest.

"Did you find her?" Dean called.

"Get the others down, we've got to get them out of here," Sam ordered. You heard shuffling which told you Dean was listening.

"Can you hear me? Hey, stay with me," Sam pleaded, shaking you gently. After a moment your body was lifted off of the ground completely.

"Please don't leave me," Sam's voice came, softly. Everything faded around you leaving you in darkness.

Forever Taglist:

@rosierosieelain   @xaviersmutcnt @raindrops-on-roses142

[youreallyshouldtalkmore]

Wakandan OutReach Center_HalloweenSpecial_ Part 2

This is a Halloween special that is part of the Lion and his Lamb series!

I also think this can double as black cosplay/cosplayer fan fiction as well!! 

Tags: @chaneajoyyy​

Part 2

It was finally Halloween Night and the center was flooded.

Flooded, do you hear me!

People pouring every which a way.  You couldn’t remember a time when this many people were at the center at one time. Everyone from the young to the old were there. Many were in costumes but some were not. For this Halloween party, a costume was not mandatory to join. None of you wanted anyone to feel left out so you didn’t make it an requirement. However for the less fortunate younger children, you had a rack of some basic costumes so they could feel the joy in dressing up.

You were dressed as a fairy and was in charge of face painting. You didn’t realize just how popular the face painting session would be. Especially for the younger children so at the beginning of the party you spent most of your time with them painting the little faces.

The younger children were in awe of your costume, especially since you were not a black Tinkerbell. Instead you decided it would be cool to be an aziza, which was an African fairy of the Dahomey tribes.  So many people were shocked to know that Africa even had their version of fairies.

You had just finished a little boy’s face and gave him a hug before sending him on his way.  The party had only been going for a half an hour so far. You hadn’t seen either T’Challa or Nakia so you wondered when they’d make their entrance. You hadn’t seen their final costume either so you were looking forward to it.

You stood with a small stretch and almost jumped when you heard the suddenly grotesque laughter coming from the haunted house that was on the parking lot.

From your basic understanding, apparently Shuri had invented some space condrium thing that allowed the haunted house to be bigger on the inside than the space it took up on the parking lot. It also generated some heat allowing it to not be so cold around the center. Killed two birds with one stone, she said.  

You hadn’t been in the haunted house and if you had your way you’d stay out. You weren’t particularly fond of haunted houses or being scared in general. Something that Erik had teased you about since he found out.

Speaking of Erik, you heard the familiar group of giggles from the female teenagers before you saw him.  You giggled when he came into view, surrounded by the teenagers. 

Ahh, you had to say, this was your best work.

You didn’t think your boyfriend counted on the fact that dressing as an African vampire would go over so well. As such he had garnered a little following for the night. You looked him over.

You thought he was handsome anyway but as a vampire…...

He wore Nigerian outfit and fangs. 

You made him outline his eyes which he gripped about. 

He apparently had his fangs custom made because they were gold fangs. (And he kept telling everyone else who’d listen that they were way too into the Halloween thing...) 

He was even wearing golden earrings. 

And he carried an apple around as a prop.

You can see why when the girls saw him they went absolutely insane. They had never seen a vampire like this before.

“Aight, Imma go see my girl….” Erik stressed as he spotted you across the room.

“Okay!” the girls chorus all giggling again.

You saw them tittering as he walked over you, dragging you into the corner without pause in his step. He looked over his shoulders once and the girls tittered again before looking at you.

He gave you a hard stare, “Imma blame you for this.”

“You’re welcome!” you chirped.

Erik forked and eyebrow, “Ain’t you jealous?”

You waved your hands, “Of them 18-20 year olds? Naahhh….in the interest of education and fun this season, I can share my boyfriend for a few hours.”

Erik gazed down at you and you couldn’t help the shiver in your heart. His gaze seemed especially piercing as his eyes were outlined. Finally he grinning showing off his golden fangs, “Aight….”

You suddenly became suspicious, “Alright?”

Erik nodded, “ Yeah, I can do no other than what my woman wants. If she wants to share her boyfriend with some underage girls in the spirit of the season, who am I to argue?”

You twitched once. How the devil was this man twisting your words?

Erik shrugged an turned around to give a nod to the girls who suddenly started flitting all over themselves, “As a vampire, I do have a reputation to uphold. We know that vampires like young blood….”

He went to walk away but you reached out and grabbed his wrist. He didn’t turn around though there was a mad grin on his face. Slowly he turned his head and looked at you before looking pointedly at your grip. His dark eyes went back to yours.

You looked at him coolly, “Try it and this fairy will come out of her ant hill to stab you.”

Erik cackled then before turned to you and gripping both sides of your face with his hands. He leaned down until his lips was next to your ear, “Ain’t you cute….?”

You pushed him back with a roll of your eyes.

Suddenly the lights in the center flickered making you look around worriedly until you heard Shuri on an speaker.

When and how she did that, you won’t ask.

“Can I have everyone’s attention please? I need everyone to come out to the parking lot as we have a special surprise for you. One that cannot be missed. This is your 2 minute warning. Thank you!”

Both eyebrows went up and you looked up at Erik, “Know something about this?”

Erik shrugged, “It’s Shuri….do we need a reason?”

You nodded and both of your filed out with the rest of the group. Shuri was standing in front of the haunted house, holding her tablet and when she saw you both, she waved. Erik and you made your way to her side.

Shuri decided to be a mad scientist, with goggles on top of her head. When you heard her idea, you thought it was perfect. She added her own flair which made her doctor’s coat, have African prints instead of being a pure white lab coat. 

“Sister Y/N….Cousin!!” she greeted with a huge smile.

“So, what’s going on?” you asked looking around.

Shuri gave a secretive smirk, “You’ll know when you see it.”

Without another word she stepped up to address the crowd who quieted down,

“Ladies and Gentlemen!!” Shuri cried, “I present to you….the King and Queen of the Nile…..”

Shuri pressed something on her tablet and stepped to the side. Everyone looked around waiting to see what would happen. After a second you along with everyone else saw a light in the sky and looked up. 

You saw T’Challa ship slowly float down to the ground across the way. The ship hovered before the the hatch open. 

Suddenly, music began to filter out into the parking lot.

Your eyes widen as you watched in anticipation. After a moment, eight Dora filled out in two lines. What caught you off guard was that they were dressed in Egyptian style armor instead of their normal uniforms.  They marched perfectly in sync down the platform before they turned so they were facing each other.

A hush fell of the crowd, even as the music continued and although Shuri wasn’t saying anything you could hear the cackle in her smirk.

After a moment, two identical looking Egyptian thrones came floating out side by side. Suddenly you were getting Stargate SG-1 feels….

Your mouth fell open as you saw T’Challa and Nakia dressed to the gills as the Pharaoh and Queen of Egypt. They looked looked regal and solemn though you could see the mirth in their eyes from where they sat. They even were holding scepters that the Egyptian royalty held.

The audience began to titter as excitement flowed through. You barely gave the audience an glance so enthralled with this production. You could heard and saw a few phone cameras going off though.

The chairs floated to front of the crowd and landed. T’Challa gracefully stood up and held out his hand to Nakia who took it and stood. The chairs then, seemingly on their own, turned and floated back to the ship which at sometime floated back up to the sky and disappeared, but you certainly didn’t notice as you were taken with the couple.

T’Challa step forward to draw attention to himself. He must have been wearing some kind of microphone you couldn’t see as his voice was amplified.

“Welcome, my children!”  he intone, “I hope that you are enjoying this Halloween party. We the King and Queen of Egypt have come from the Nile to join you this evening.”  

You were floored. You never thought that they would take your idea and run this far with it. You gazed around finally looking at some of the reactions of the crowd. Even the older people seemed in stunned awe just at the younger ones. You blinked. Why the devil did you feel a little misty all of a sudden?   

It takes a lot for Erik to become speechless but this was one moment it managed to be accomplished. In all his life, he had never seen a more accurate representation of the Nile and even at his age it stunned him. Although he would not tell them, he was suddenly filled with a sense of pride watching T’Challa and Nakia enter the building followed by a large portion of the crowd. He heard Shuri telling that that there was going to a selfie station if anyone wanted photos with the Pharaoh and his Queen.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Erik gave a laugh as he slipped his arms around your shoulder without taking his eyes off of the people around them, “You did good, ma.”

He frowned when he heard a sniff and looked down to see you were fanning yourself and blinking rapidly.

“Are you crying?” Erik asked incredulously.

“I ain’t crying….my sinuses acting up.” you said. Erik thought it might be prudent to not mention that your voice wobbled once.  

Instead he said with a roll of his eyes, “You better watch that makeup.”

You waved your hand at him, “Don't’ worry about it. It’s waterproof.”

Erik looked down at your incredulously, “Waterproof? You planned for this didn’t you? What did you spend another $100 on makeup like you did last time?”

“Nope! I kept it shy of $50!!” answered with a chirp before walking toward the building.

Erik rolled his eyes and followed. As expected Erik could see a line of the people waiting to get photos with T’Challa and Nakia.

Neither of you could figure out, since it wasn’t there before, there were a section of the gym that had became a selfie station with the throne of the Pharaoh and Queen with a smaller throne between them for the person to sit in on a dais. 

To come up the four stairs you had to pass two Dora Milaje facing each other. The other Dora were lined around the gym. You giggled to see a few kids running up to them to get a better look at them in their costumes. 

Behind T’Challa and Nakia was a digital representation of a throne room.  

Shuri was monitoring taking the photos. 

You shook your head and giggled, “Your family is so extra!!”

Erik sighed, “I notice.”

The two of you watched a moment longer before Erik suddenly through his arm around your shoulder. You looked at him warily as he grinned, golden fangs and kohl making him look downright devilish, “Now what I got to do to get you into that haunted house, ma?”

You glared at him, “You trying to die tonight?”

Erik cackled.

A.N: I just want to put it out there. If we can get someone to do Chadwick Boseman as an Pharaoh drawing the way we have Lupita as Nefertiti.....I’m just saying.... 

Pass the word.... 

[clickbliss]

Battle Princess Madelyn is an enchanting Ghosts N Goblins tribute that's hard to recommend

by Amr (@siegarettes)

Battle Princess Madelyn

Developer:

Publisher:

PC, PS4, Switch

Born of a daughter’s request to have a version of Ghosts ‘N Goblins with a playable girl, Battle Princess Madelyn carries both the spirit of that childhood desire and the series it pays homage to. This results in a game that both challenged and charmed me, bringing spooky character designs with a sense of cuteness, alongside familiar chaotic action.

It leaves a good first impression. I was drawn into the world and simple joy of warding of the assault of the undead. Changing the damsel into a pup that needed to be avenged (and watches over you as a spirit) was a cute, if sad, touch. But as I went on it slowly dawned on me that it wasn’t the game I wanted. The levels were unfocused, too often full of sprawling areas that felt barren and tedious to navigate. Alternate paths and secret areas seemed promising but often led to...dead ends? Or side quests with no tangible reward.

I felt pretty down on it. Until I was met with the realization that Battle Princess Madelyn was actually two totally different games.

It’s true! Selecting Story Mode from the main menu gives you a sprawling quest, complete with dialogue, cutscenes, collectibles, side quests and a non-linear hub world that unlocks as you gain new abilities. Selecting Arcade Mode, however, leads you to a very different game based on the arcade Ghosts ‘N Goblins style! The stages here are remixed from the Story Mode into more compact stage designs with a straightforward action game approach.

I stuck with Story Mode for a few more bosses to get a better feel for it and see if it could impress me, but ultimately I didn’t enjoy it. Simply put, it’s not very good. Battle Princess Madelyn namedrops Wonder Boy 3 as its secondary inspiration, and while I can see its influence here it doesn’t take any of the elements that game successful. Wonderboy 3 uses its different abilities to recontextualize the world and force you to play differently upon revisiting other areas. Metroidvania style games has a different approach, gradually unlocking the world with each new ability.

In either case, it results in a world that gradually begins to feel bigger as you gain new abilities. Battle Princess Madelyn fails to resolve either of those approaches, instead feeling as if it was designed with a moveset in mind then had the character stripped of those moves to crush down the world. It doesn’t feel empowering, just restrictive.

By contrast Arcade Mode gets off to a much better start. You aren’t given a very extensive moveset, but having the double jump and chargeable ghost dog attack from the go allows for better navigation and stage design. Immediately I was leaping around, changing course mid-air and dashing through its spaces while tossing lances and ghost dogs around. It definitely captured that arcade sensibility, and the more compact level design kept it dense with action and demanded my attention at every second. I was having a grand time, but there was one problem: I couldn’t get past the first level.

I don’t mean that the first stage was too hard. It was difficult, but not unreasonably so. Instead I was stopped in the first stage after defeating the boss, with the victory screen just hanging there announcing how legendary my battle was but refusing to move on. This didn’t happen on every playthrough, but it did happen a few too many times and made me terribly anxious that the same thing would happen after each boss. Thankfully it didn’t, but another major obstacle stood in the way instead.

Stage 2, to put it mildly, is a massive, unfair difficulty spike that almost made me quit the game entirely. I eventually got through it after literal hours of practice, but it was a huge early roadblock that kept me from seeing most of the game. A combination of projectile enemies that never let up and a long precision platforming section repeatedly aggravated me until I could find a solution. The archers in the stage barely give you a gap to retaliate once they become active, and the platforming section involves climbing on precarious platforms with snakes around them who also spit venom as bats fly around you, with a single hit sending you falling for seconds to an instant death. This section tormented me with its cheap deaths, leaving me with barely any health to try to figure out the boss. And if I died? Back to the start of the level.

Worse, there was no coming back to this stage later after a break. Unlike Story Mode, if you quit in Arcade Mode you need to start the whole game over. So I decided fuck it, I’m going all in and completing as much as I can in one sitting.

While the game can apparently be completed in less than an hour if you know the stages, I didn’t and there wasn’t exactly a way to practice them. Instead I spent several hours grinding through the stages. Completing Stage 2 confirmed my suspicions that it was out of whack with the rest of the game, as most of the following stages were more reasonable in difficulty, and I even defeated a few bosses within a few or even the first try. Plenty of these stages are memorable in their own right as well, with stages set during storms as you cross on a rickety boat, or one set in a snowstorm, prompting Madelyn to change into a winter coat for its duration.

The bosses are enjoyable as well. It’s a familiar bestiary, with large wolves, crabs, possessed trees and the like, but they often have a fun gimmick for taking them down. For instance, you might have to drop a load of cannons onto the crab, or distract the wolf with a large chunk of meat. These gimmicks aren’t very involved, mostly requiring you to shoot something to open up a vulnerability, but they add variety and remind me of some of the cool boss fights in something like Dragon’s Crown.  

Despite enjoying these later stages it became really hard to ignore Battle Princess Madelyn’s faults. There are many bugs that make it more difficult that it already is. Objects frequently get stuck in walls, at times I repeatedly became stuck in a ladder climbing animation or had the walking animation freeze to a single frame. Your ghost dog is also the only way to attack at oblique angles, but it frequently fails to detect enemies, wasting your charge and leaving you defenseless as enemies approach.

The camera is by far the worst offender, constantly obfuscating platforms from view despite having plenty of screen estate to work with. A certain area on the pirate ship area kept having the camera briefly flicker to a different view, and jumping on a ladder causes the camera to instantly snap to it in an unpleasant and distracting way. All these problems mean it frequently forces blind jumps, which become more of a problem as the stages progress. One later stage even has an area where a horizontal platform you need to jump on isn’t synced up with a vertical one, forcing you to go to an area above where the horizontal platform is totally out of view, forcing you to make a jump with nothing but a guess of where it is based on the timing of its movement. If you miss you of course die and start the section over.

Even the once charming art started to wear on me. The heavy use of glow effects to simulate lighting isn’t my bag, but I can take it or leave it. What looks worse are some of the background art, which don't’ seem like they were originally created as pixel art but are rather higher resolution art that’s been scaled down. This gives it a highly compressed look not unlike the use of pre-rendered backgrounds from the PSX or Saturn era. It’s just a blurry, hard to look at mess.

This is especially true for the title screen and opening cutscene, which were clearly lovingly hand animated. You can see the high resolution art of opening scene in the trailer, but in the game it’s inexplicably compressed as if run through a terrible ancient codec. My guess is that this was an attempt to make it feel more in line with the pixel art aesthetic but it doesn’t work and ruins perfectly good looking artwork.

I hate to admit it, but Battle Princess Madelyn is hard to recommend. The initial charm wears off quick in the frustration of trying to overcome both its daunting challenge and technical issues. You might argue that this brand of frustration is in line with its source material, but the best of the Ghosts ‘N Ghouls series, as well as spiritual successors like Prinny or Maldita Castilla bring a consistency that’s missing here.

Even as I began to enjoy Battle Princess Madelyn my run was eventually ended by sheer randomness. A random weapon drop gave me a leg up early in my run, then a subsequent drop cut my range short and made ever encounter more difficult. Unlike other games in the style drops are inconsistent and you retain weapons after death, so a bad pickup means you’re forced to play with a disadvantage for a while. After hours of struggle this finally killed my run.

I kept playing after, but the decision of choosing between the meandering stages of the story mode or the forced marathon of arcade, stopped my momentum. Between that, the bugs and the inconsistent general direction, Battle Princess Madelyn has too many caveats to recommend. Maybe you could argue its lack of saves in Arcade Mode and unrelenting difficulty are in line with the games it draws from, but it’s hard to stomach that excuse when it so many other problems plague it. There’s a core to the game that might be salvageable, but as it is Battle Princess Madelyn brings back the frustration of the arcade without its magic.

[symbianosgames]

What’s old is new again. For proof, look no further than Playtonic Games’ Yooka-Laylee, a throwback 3D platformer in the vein of titles like Banjo-Kazooie and Donkey Kong 64. Playtonic is well-suited to the project -- many members of the team are ex-Rare devs who worked on those 1990s classics.

With Yooka-Laylee, the Platonic team is attempting to show what a classically styled 3D platformer can look like in today’s game market. Following a successful Kickstarter, Yooka-Laylee will release in April, after a delay pushed it from its original planned release date last year.  [Disclosure: I was a backer of the game.]

Needless to say, a lot has changed in video games since the days of the Nintendo 64. We asked some of the Playtonic staff to tell us about how technological improvements have impacted different areas of game development, and what that means for the designers, artists, composers, and directors involved throughout the process. 

Developers used to have to craft their own tools for each title. Now, however, the advent of pre-built engines has changed that need. 

 “One big difference is that in [the] N64 era, most of our in-game tools were custom made per project, whereas now not only do engines like Unity exist, but also they themselves are a platform allowing a community of tools to be built on top of the engine,” says Chris Sutherland, project lead on Yooka-Laylee (previously lead programmer, Banjo-Kazooie). 

This ends up being good news for both fixing bugs, and all-around team productivity. 

“With such toolsets being more sophisticated, stable and easier to use, it means that whereas on N64 most bugfixes might be left to engineering to complete, nowadays we’re seeing a large volume of bugs actually fixed by non-engineers," Sutherland says. "This also applies to final stages of polish too, where it’s not just restricted to one discipline. This leads to a more effective use of persons on a development team overall.”

Sometimes the sky being the limit can be its own problem. Mark Stevenson, technical art director on Yooka-Laylee (previously art director on Donkey Kong 64), shared his thoughts on how advances in technology mean that artists now need to consciously reel themselves in, instead of relying on the technical limitations imposed by hardware.  

“Most of the differences revolve around having vastly more powerful hardware to work with and massively improved tools and technology," Stevenson says. "Whilst these are good things in terms of opening up your options and improving productivity and work flows, the flip side to this is you also need to make sure you’re exercising restraint and making smart decisions so that you can achieve the results and quality you want, without things spiraling out of control.”

  “Back in the N64 days you were always looking for the edge and ways to push the boundaries of what you could achieve with very limited tech,” Stevenson says. “Now it’s incredibly easy to be like a kid in a candy store and go nuts, so, certainly with a team the size we have at Playtonic, you need to be very mindful of the limits. But the difference is that you have to set those limits yourself rather than having those limits set for you by the tech.”

Think back to the character design in Banjo-Kazooie. Banjo in particular. Do you remember the big bear with the blue backpack having fingers?

If so, you're wrong. It wasn’t actually like that on Nintendo 64. Character detail and animation is another area that has come a long way since Banjo first set out to stop a witch. 

“We can now do so much more in terms of animation,” says Steve Mayles, character art director on Yooka-Laylee (previously character artist, Banjo-Kazooie) . “On N64, we had to work with minimal joints --every extra joint to animate was a performance hit--so poor old Banjo didn’t even have eyes that could look around, no way of moving his mouth, not even fingers to pick up his Jiggies!” 

“Now we add as many joints as we like – very occasionally time constraints might mean certain joints don’t even get animated, but they are there if needed,” Mayles says. “Also the way the geometry is bound to the skeleton now allows for much more realistic animation rather than the rigid-bound vertices we worked with on the N64.”

But, this also means that technology gives artists an opportunity to keep working on things that perhaps players might not even consider, and that may only end up being a drain on time.  

“For characters, there is stuff we can now do around layering animations (a basic example would be to give characters a lean as they run) but with all things, you have to keep perspective whether what you are adding is worth it. Will people notice, or is it more for your personal satisfaction? Sometimes you just need to draw a line and move on to the next task.”

Not all technological progress simplifies things. The 3D landscapes and terrain that players roam have only gotten bigger, and that means more hands are needed to digitally sculpt and bring said worlds to life. 

 “Environment art creation has become much harder,” says Steven Hurst, environment art director on Yooka-Laylee (previously environment artist, Banjo-Kazooie). “Although the creation tools are much more sophisticated and models are easier to produce, the detail and size of the worlds has increased dramatically. As a result, the production time is now much greater than it used to be and requires more people.”

Multi-platform development also has its own share of challenges. Unlike the Banjo games, which was designed solely for the N64, Yooka-Laylee is being shipped across multiple consoles. 

“Assets have to be more scalable when developing for multiple platforms with more emphasis on things such as Level of Detail to ensure that the game runs smoothly on different hardware – it was far easier developing for a single platform when you knew it`s limits and capabilities,” Hurst says. 

No matter how much game technology continues to advance, it doesn’t change how many hours are in a day or how much can be gotten done in a week. And some processes – like character development – actually take longer now to complete than they did decades ago. 

“N64 characters could be concepted, modeled and animated in a week (if you worked as hard as me, anyway,)” says Steve Mayles, character art director on Yooka-Laylee (previously character artist, Banjo-Kazooie) says. “We were working with around 500 polygons, as opposed to the 10,000 we use now. Sure, tools have improved, but even with 1997 tools you can see how 500 polygons is going to be much quicker to produce than 10,000. Think a month for the same process today and you won’t be far off.”

Give the much longer timeframe, there’s less time for error, or going back and changing direction.  “It’s of greater importance now to make sure a character is going down the right path from inception,” Mayles says. “Being a relatively small team, the last thing we need is to have to re-do work. ‘Going down the right path’ might involve several people if necessary – questions need to be asked such as ‘Does it fit the style of the game? Does it fulfill all design requirements?’ etc. Sometimes the look of a character will spark new ideas around design, so it works both ways.”

Bigger 3D worlds means more places to go and more paths to take, but it also means there’s more area in which a player can find themselves lost.   

“Planning and designing worlds can happen in 3D a lot sooner to get a better feel for space, way-pointing, creating key points of interest etc,” says Gavin Price, creative lead (previously designer, Grabbed by the Ghoulies). “However, creating a design language to subliminally guide the player around and focus their attention without hand-holding has become more difficult.”

And now, designers can’t simply rely on technical limits to help players figure out what parts of a level are important.  

“As the power of modern systems can now be used to fill and decorate a world with more details, so all of a sudden everywhere can look interesting and important which can blindly lead the player around an environment for no achievement creating a feeling of being ‘un-rewarded,’ Price says. “In many ways the limitations of old systems made life easier for a level designer as only important bits could afford to have eye-catching detail!”

While the composition process for his music hasn’t changed much, Grant Kirkhope, composer on Yooka-Laylee (previously composer, Banjo-Kazooie) says the jumps in available memory have allowed him to include higher quality music in Yooka-Laylee. 

"My process for actually writing music hasn’t really changed at all," Kirkhope says. "I still sit down at the keyboard and try to come up with something like I always used to do, but it’s the quality of what I can do now that has changed dramatically,”

The amount of memory used to be a huge issue, with composers having to strip music down to get it to fit inside a N64 cartridge. 

"Back in the N64 days I had to sample instruments to use, resample them lower and lower in quality until they were just bearable, then compress them and only then add them into my little MIDI soundset that was in the cartridge on the N64,” Kirkhope says. “I had a finite amount of memory that I could use and that was for everything including sound effects. I think on Banjo-Kazooie, it was 2 mega bit!”

And while there are still restrictions, game music has come a long way in terms of what it can offer listeners. 

"These days, I can use super high quality sample libraries that can sound so authentic it’s sometimes difficult to tell if it’s real,” Kirkhope says. “The memory restrictions are way less than they used to be, they’re still there but there’s no comparison. Obviously it all has to still fit on the disc and it’s compressed so you’re still not getting full CD quality but it really is night and day compared to what it sounds like on Banjo-Kazooie or GoldenEye!"

[symbianosgames]

What’s old is new again. For proof, look no further than Playtonic Games’ Yooka-Laylee, a throwback 3D platformer in the vein of titles like Banjo-Kazooie and Donkey Kong 64. Playtonic is well-suited to the project -- many members of the team are ex-Rare devs who worked on those 1990s classics.

With Yooka-Laylee, the Platonic team is attempting to show what a classically styled 3D platformer can look like in today’s game market. Following a successful Kickstarter, Yooka-Laylee will release in April, after a delay pushed it from its original planned release date last year.  [Disclosure: I was a backer of the game.]

Needless to say, a lot has changed in video games since the days of the Nintendo 64. We asked some of the Playtonic staff to tell us about how technological improvements have impacted different areas of game development, and what that means for the designers, artists, composers, and directors involved throughout the process. 

Developers used to have to craft their own tools for each title. Now, however, the advent of pre-built engines has changed that need. 

 “One big difference is that in [the] N64 era, most of our in-game tools were custom made per project, whereas now not only do engines like Unity exist, but also they themselves are a platform allowing a community of tools to be built on top of the engine,” says Chris Sutherland, project lead on Yooka-Laylee (previously lead programmer, Banjo-Kazooie). 

This ends up being good news for both fixing bugs, and all-around team productivity. 

“With such toolsets being more sophisticated, stable and easier to use, it means that whereas on N64 most bugfixes might be left to engineering to complete, nowadays we’re seeing a large volume of bugs actually fixed by non-engineers," Sutherland says. "This also applies to final stages of polish too, where it’s not just restricted to one discipline. This leads to a more effective use of persons on a development team overall.”

Sometimes the sky being the limit can be its own problem. Mark Stevenson, technical art director on Yooka-Laylee (previously art director on Donkey Kong 64), shared his thoughts on how advances in technology mean that artists now need to consciously reel themselves in, instead of relying on the technical limitations imposed by hardware.  

“Most of the differences revolve around having vastly more powerful hardware to work with and massively improved tools and technology," Stevenson says. "Whilst these are good things in terms of opening up your options and improving productivity and work flows, the flip side to this is you also need to make sure you’re exercising restraint and making smart decisions so that you can achieve the results and quality you want, without things spiraling out of control.”

  “Back in the N64 days you were always looking for the edge and ways to push the boundaries of what you could achieve with very limited tech,” Stevenson says. “Now it’s incredibly easy to be like a kid in a candy store and go nuts, so, certainly with a team the size we have at Playtonic, you need to be very mindful of the limits. But the difference is that you have to set those limits yourself rather than having those limits set for you by the tech.”

Think back to the character design in Banjo-Kazooie. Banjo in particular. Do you remember the big bear with the blue backpack having fingers?

If so, you're wrong. It wasn’t actually like that on Nintendo 64. Character detail and animation is another area that has come a long way since Banjo first set out to stop a witch. 

“We can now do so much more in terms of animation,” says Steve Mayles, character art director on Yooka-Laylee (previously character artist, Banjo-Kazooie) . “On N64, we had to work with minimal joints --every extra joint to animate was a performance hit--so poor old Banjo didn’t even have eyes that could look around, no way of moving his mouth, not even fingers to pick up his Jiggies!” 

“Now we add as many joints as we like – very occasionally time constraints might mean certain joints don’t even get animated, but they are there if needed,” Mayles says. “Also the way the geometry is bound to the skeleton now allows for much more realistic animation rather than the rigid-bound vertices we worked with on the N64.”

But, this also means that technology gives artists an opportunity to keep working on things that perhaps players might not even consider, and that may only end up being a drain on time.  

“For characters, there is stuff we can now do around layering animations (a basic example would be to give characters a lean as they run) but with all things, you have to keep perspective whether what you are adding is worth it. Will people notice, or is it more for your personal satisfaction? Sometimes you just need to draw a line and move on to the next task.”

Not all technological progress simplifies things. The 3D landscapes and terrain that players roam have only gotten bigger, and that means more hands are needed to digitally sculpt and bring said worlds to life. 

 “Environment art creation has become much harder,” says Steven Hurst, environment art director on Yooka-Laylee (previously environment artist, Banjo-Kazooie). “Although the creation tools are much more sophisticated and models are easier to produce, the detail and size of the worlds has increased dramatically. As a result, the production time is now much greater than it used to be and requires more people.”

Multi-platform development also has its own share of challenges. Unlike the Banjo games, which was designed solely for the N64, Yooka-Laylee is being shipped across multiple consoles. 

“Assets have to be more scalable when developing for multiple platforms with more emphasis on things such as Level of Detail to ensure that the game runs smoothly on different hardware – it was far easier developing for a single platform when you knew it`s limits and capabilities,” Hurst says. 

No matter how much game technology continues to advance, it doesn’t change how many hours are in a day or how much can be gotten done in a week. And some processes – like character development – actually take longer now to complete than they did decades ago. 

“N64 characters could be concepted, modeled and animated in a week (if you worked as hard as me, anyway,)” says Steve Mayles, character art director on Yooka-Laylee (previously character artist, Banjo-Kazooie) says. “We were working with around 500 polygons, as opposed to the 10,000 we use now. Sure, tools have improved, but even with 1997 tools you can see how 500 polygons is going to be much quicker to produce than 10,000. Think a month for the same process today and you won’t be far off.”

Give the much longer timeframe, there’s less time for error, or going back and changing direction.  “It’s of greater importance now to make sure a character is going down the right path from inception,” Mayles says. “Being a relatively small team, the last thing we need is to have to re-do work. ‘Going down the right path’ might involve several people if necessary – questions need to be asked such as ‘Does it fit the style of the game? Does it fulfill all design requirements?’ etc. Sometimes the look of a character will spark new ideas around design, so it works both ways.”

Bigger 3D worlds means more places to go and more paths to take, but it also means there’s more area in which a player can find themselves lost.   

“Planning and designing worlds can happen in 3D a lot sooner to get a better feel for space, way-pointing, creating key points of interest etc,” says Gavin Price, creative lead (previously designer, Grabbed by the Ghoulies). “However, creating a design language to subliminally guide the player around and focus their attention without hand-holding has become more difficult.”

And now, designers can’t simply rely on technical limits to help players figure out what parts of a level are important.  

“As the power of modern systems can now be used to fill and decorate a world with more details, so all of a sudden everywhere can look interesting and important which can blindly lead the player around an environment for no achievement creating a feeling of being ‘un-rewarded,’ Price says. “In many ways the limitations of old systems made life easier for a level designer as only important bits could afford to have eye-catching detail!”

While the composition process for his music hasn’t changed much, Grant Kirkhope, composer on Yooka-Laylee (previously composer, Banjo-Kazooie) says the jumps in available memory have allowed him to include higher quality music in Yooka-Laylee. 

"My process for actually writing music hasn’t really changed at all," Kirkhope says. "I still sit down at the keyboard and try to come up with something like I always used to do, but it’s the quality of what I can do now that has changed dramatically,”

The amount of memory used to be a huge issue, with composers having to strip music down to get it to fit inside a N64 cartridge. 

"Back in the N64 days I had to sample instruments to use, resample them lower and lower in quality until they were just bearable, then compress them and only then add them into my little MIDI soundset that was in the cartridge on the N64,” Kirkhope says. “I had a finite amount of memory that I could use and that was for everything including sound effects. I think on Banjo-Kazooie, it was 2 mega bit!”

And while there are still restrictions, game music has come a long way in terms of what it can offer listeners. 

"These days, I can use super high quality sample libraries that can sound so authentic it’s sometimes difficult to tell if it’s real,” Kirkhope says. “The memory restrictions are way less than they used to be, they’re still there but there’s no comparison. Obviously it all has to still fit on the disc and it’s compressed so you’re still not getting full CD quality but it really is night and day compared to what it sounds like on Banjo-Kazooie or GoldenEye!"