#you can see the image in the original game by a secret within a secret room!

[thatmiraclecupcake]

thank you to @queen-of-the-nerdlords and @curry-demon12 for giving me both halves of this idea. The recent (like. 3 days ago) remake of Misao means that the Misao and Mad Father overworld sprites are almost proportional to the Angels of Death overworld sprites! I say "almost" because. uh. I had to make Danny shorter. sorry.

actually no I'm not sorry. I'm not. I'm putting their asses in the French Press after this. lol. lmao.

[blasphemousclaw]

tanith for the character list thing?

MY GIRLLLL

• favorite thing about them

I love how she occupies this position of power as the proprietress of the Manor, the consort of a demigod, and she’s the sole person in charge of operating their cult movement (since Rykard doesn’t seem to do much except kill eat and sleep these days) and yet she comes from such a humble background as a dancer from a foreign land… she projects this image of ruthlessness and strength, but she actually has really deep insecurities about herself that start to come out during Rya’s quest? her greatest fear is that she’s always been weak, and that Rykard always knew that… I think she clings to the entire structure she’s built up at the Manor because she’s afraid of feeling powerless, maybe because she felt powerless in her past? also her mask is sexy

• least favorite thing about them

I just wish she had more content! the dlc introduced the Dancer of Ranah with almost an identical face to Tanith, which implies Tanith was the same kind of Dancer? was she actually an expert swordswoman who gave up the lifestyle to run a cult with a demigod? I NEED TO KNOW

• favorite line

“Dear Rykard, please find purchase within me, I wish to be your serpent; your family.” eating your beloved’s corpse is what true love looks like <3

also it’s super long but her speech about the Volcano Manor’s goals is really good; you can tell she’s tailored her and Rykard’s goals to appeal to the Tarnished and get them fired up against the Erdtree… queen of public speaking

• brOTP

her relationship with Rya is so sweet and also so emotionally complicated, like they love each other so much but Tanith lies to her about the truth of Volcano Manor and the circumstances of her birth and shatters that trust… :(

I also feel like Tanith would’ve had a great dynamic with Bernahl?? there’s this implication that he’s her most trusted Recusant; he never got eaten by Rykard even though Tanith feeds all the greatest champions to him, and Bernahl seems to know everything about Rykard and his mission after we kill him… and there’s also the fact that he uses a really important weapon to the serpent cult, and it’s implied that he goes to Farum Azula to challenge Maliketh, which was seemingly what Rykard was originally gonna do? so Bernahl and Tanith must have shared their plans and secrets with each other… I wonder if he was the “precocious” guest Tanith mentions having long ago whom we remind her of if we show up to the Manor unannounced?

• ОТР

TANITH/RYKARD. OBVIOUSLY. I won’t write a whole paragraph about them because I already talked about their relationship here

• nОТР

Patches LOL I know he’s trying to keep Tanith from destroying herself and remind her that she has other things in life to live for but what if I WANT her to destroy herself because of her undying love for her serpent god husband who’s prophesied to devour the entire world! like what’s sexier than this!! STAY OUT OF THIS PATCHES

• random headcanon

she braids Rya’s hair to match her own hairstyle :,)

• unpopular opinion

I’m never going to police the kind of content people want to make and enjoy, but it really bothers me when I see serious analysis of the game’s story and interactions with my own content that are like “Tanith is such a good mother!” and “this family is so wholesome!” when the actual story involves her making really questionable decisions that ultimately harm Rya’s wellbeing? there’s no doubt that Tanith loves Rya more than anything, but she’s lied to her about the Manor’s true purpose and the circumstances of her birth for her whole life, and then asks us to drug her so she forgets the truths she’s learned? like… it’s kind of baffling to me how these things are never talked about. I just think it’s such a huge disservice to Tanith’s character to smooth over all the flaws in her relationships, because her flaws are what make her so interesting to me… loving someone doesn’t always mean you’re doing what’s best for them!

• song i associate with them

ok I’m so sorry but I never know how to answer these questions because I only listen to instrumental music so I guess I’m just gonna pass 🙈

• favorite picture of them

I think this one is by @/Zlofsky2nd on twitter? she’s so pretty

also this image I edited

[goldensunset]

OKIEEEEEE DOKIEEEE @deityofhearts has permitted me to infodump about some of my favorite pokémon so yay!!!!!

here they are YAYYYYYYYYY undead foxes that kinda look like peppermint whipped cream. hisuian zorua on the left (baby) and hisuian zoroark on the right (adult). as you can see zorua is just a pathetic sad little thing i mean it still very much is full of malice but like it’s really just a lost lingering child y’know? zoroark though. that design tells you everything you need to know. that thang ain’t here to cuddle

hooray for vengeful ghosts!!!!!! bitter towards the world of the living!!!!!! reincarnation gone wrong!!! always a banger trope. the part about using a power so strong that it hurts you and you don’t even care bc you’re just that full of rage… letting those emotions do damage to both yourself and others… the way the red parts might be its own blood….

as for the baby zorua there’s less anger and more sorrow bc it notably has a melancholy expression where its original form had a more mischievous one. like this is a dead lost child far from home basically. bitter for certain and trying to vent those emotions somehow. no guys it’s misunderstood ok!!!

^but also look how gosh darn cute it is. resentment who? that is a baby animal!!! this is from a beautifully animated short series called hisuian snow and the protag meets and befriends this little guy who comes back to save him later (and it’s a shiny too!!! alec is so lucky)

there’s also a cool hisuian zoroark mask that was an event distribution item in the game (which i sadly missed 😔) but alec gets one bc good for him

also these pokémon (and their original forms) are particularly notable for being illusionists that can shapeshift and/or create mirages to mess with people. sometimes in a purely mischievous way and sometimes to legitimately help themselves. zorua in particular likes to turn into a silent child so 👆 changeling am i right (although zoroark has been seen able to speak human language before)

also in case it wasn’t clear within the game hisuian zorua and zoroark in particular are Feared like children in the area grow up hearing scary stories about it. it’s known as the baneful fox. in the game you only really tend to find it in secret caves- and these are like pitfalls that normal people couldn’t get out of on their own. you might trip and fall into a hole you didn’t even see a moment ago and whoops you just landed in the murder fox den. better luck next life!

y’know what just watch this clip from hisuian snow actually my screenshots won’t do it justice please

but like they’re really only like this in bc they’re just fiercely loyal and trying to protect themselves and those they love from potential threats. hisuian snow in particular establishes that they’ve been mistreated by human beings and have turned into monsters as a way of adapting to it/coping with rage and grief. like at the beginning you see it in its original unovan form cradling an injured baby zorua and then it like gives a terrifying enraged cry and transforms into its hisuian form

alec’s friend later saves him by scaring off another pokémon— like imagine being so scary you stop a massive dragon shark thing just by looking at it. man

^the dragon shark in question

nonetheless. could a thing like this baneful undead fox ever truly be besties with humans? or even other pokémon???? it’s so distinctly set apart from everything else in the world… it leaves after this once again…

anyway i sadly can’t put more than ten images in here but in conclusion this thing is really really cool and i have keychains of these two so YAYYYYYYYYY

[stardestroyer81]

My first post of 2024 may have been cited to be the first look at Star Tower, my arcade-centric Pizza Tower AU, though consider this post to be your first real look at both the AU! This is a post I've been wanting to make for quite some time, and I am simply overjoyed to finally reveal the first set of characters for Star Tower!!! ⭐👾✨

This is a long post packed to the brim with art— some of which aren't featured in the above image— so if you're interested, I highly suggest you read on underneath the cut! 💙✨

As an AU, Star Tower dates back to March 3rd of 2023, which is when I first drew the logo for it. A sprite of myself drawn in the Pizza Tower artstyle predates Star Tower as an AU by about a month, so I think it goes without question that the stand-in for Peppino is Star Tower is a representation of myself!

It's just another day for Star Splitscreen at the local arcade, when all of a sudden, the multicade cabinet bugs out and sucks her inside! It's within the cabinet's confines where she meets the omnipotent Sinistar, who claims it'll set her free if she can best its '20-in-1 Supercade Challenge'.

What follows is an arduous adventure that sees Star venturing through arcade games familiar and obscure, and learning Sinistar's secret identity as well as escaping back into the real world all depends on her success... it's a good thing a seasoned arcade expert like her has what it takes!

I knew going into designing for Star Tower that I wanted each floor boss (I.E. Pepperman, The Noise, etc.) to be represented with an actual character from an established arcade game (With one exception...) and trust me when I say that I spent a fair amount of time carefully going through every arcade game I knew of and selecting a character appropriate for each boss's role.

Ultimately, I'm quite proud of the selection of characters I settled with, so let's jump right in and discuss Pepperman's stand-in...

Goro from 1983's Mappy! I find that, in terms of appearance, Goro was a perfect fit to replace Pepperman. Both are predominantly large red characters who are often depicted with wide, toothy grins— it was the perfect match!

Unlike both his canon personality and his personality in the animated ShiftyLook series, Goro in Star Tower is a lot more nefarious and self-centered, and sends out the Meowkies to do his dirty work when his own efforts don't cut it. I wanted to include sprites of the three Meowkies for this post originally, but I decided to save them for a future post (That's tech talk for 'I'm still trying to figure out how to stylize them').

I think of the four main bosses, Goro was the hardest to sprite in the Pizza Tower artstyle solely for the way his head is drawn. There's something about his face that was extremely difficult to draw at such a small scale, but after drawing pretty much every other sprite featured in this post, he was the final character in this lineup that I drew a sprite for, and I'm quite happy with it!

While Goro is certainly an iconic character, the same can't be said for The Vigilante's stand-in who, in spite of starring in one of the earliest known arcade games, is all the more obscure. Enter...

Mr. Jack from 1979's Sheriff! The Vigilante is the only boss of the main four who originally was going to be represented by an entirely different character, that being Kinzo from 1996's Pac-Man Arrangement.

It was when I remembered about Sheriff that I realized that Mr. Jack was the perfect candidate to replace The Vigilante. I mean, both are represented as mostly yellow cowboys armed with guns and a fashionable cowboy hat. How much closer could you get than that?

The real challenge was finding a good image of Mr. Jack to base his appearance in Star Tower off of. For those who don't know, Mr. Jack only has three known images of him that exist despite the fact that the game he hails from is over forty years old, so it wasn't exactly the easiest task.

I decided to base his appearance off of how he looks on Sheriff's bezel as that's the only full-body look we've ever gotten of him. The guy already looks like a Pizza Tower character as it is (A long lost cousin of Burton, perhaps?), and I find that his sprite looks the most like something you would actually see in Pizza Tower!

On the topic of arcade characters that are perfect fits for stand-ins of certain Pizza Tower characters...

Charley Chuck from 1983's Food Fight was, without question, the ideal choice to replace The Noise. One look at this flyer for Food Fight should perfectly encapsulate as to why. He's a little brat who's primary objective is to make the lives of the local chefs miserable. Sound familiar? It should!

Charley has had numerous different designs drawn for him around the time his game debuted, and it was pretty difficult settling on just the right one. I decided to give him a white and red striped shirt which he wears on the Food Fight arcade cabinet, and draw him as similar to the Noise as I could— I even sized him so that he stands smaller than Star, which took a lot more time than I'm willing to admit.

What's particularly interesting is that, fairly recently, Atari announced a Splatoon-like game for their VCS console, and you'll never believe who's the poster boy and what the game is a sequel to. I'm fairly certain that just before the announcement of Food Fight: Culinary Combat, I was the only person who was doing anything with Charley Chuck, and here he is starring in a brand new game some forty years after his initial debut. Not bad, kid!

One must wonder if I was the one who manifested Charley's return into existence...

With Charley Chuck properly introduced, I can move onto who may just be my favorite of this post's lineup...

Crazy Star.

With the success of 1981's Donkey Kong, an officially licensed clone was created for use in Japan only, though found its way outside of the country without the license to do so from Nintendo. This clone's name is Crazy Kong, and to say it's uncanny wouldn't be doing it justice.

Originally, I was a bit hesitant on just designing a 'fake Star' and calling it a day. I wanted there to be some arcade theming to it, and when the idea of a 'bootleg Star' came to mind, I quickly turned to Crazy Kong as a point of reference and Crazy Star is what came out of it (I should also mention that Crazy Kong released in 1981... now that's what I call meant to be)!

Out of everyone featured in this post, I've definitely drawn Crazy Star the absolute most because, as I mentioned before, it's just about my favorite of the Star Tower bunch! My favorite detail about it is that its color palette is made up of colors hand-picked from Crazy Kong itself!

Originally, I had screen-picked its colors from a YouTube video of the clone, resulting in a slightly different color scheme, but once I found a sprite sheet for Crazy Kong, it resulted in the Crazy Star you see in this post! Crazy Star may look unsettling, but in reality it's just as welcoming as Star, and all it wants is to be just like her.

Just like her... just like her... just like her...

Beware... Sinistar from the 1983 arcade game of the same name lives! Yet another instance of the perfect replacement, both Pizzaface and Sinistar are giant evil floating circles, and it was clear to me from the get-go that Sinistar would make a perfect stand-in for the former, especially since half of its name is 'Star'!

Drawing a sprite for Sinistar was both a cakewalk and a challenge. For one, seeing as its sprite is on the larger side, that meant I had a lot more detail to work with. On the other hand, however, I struggled for a while to get a good design drawn for Sinistar. Eventually, my good friend @panurei-derogatory suggested that it would be funny if Sinistar was hyper-realistically detailed compared to the other sprites, and that was something I had a lot of fun with when drawing its sprite!

Anyone who's played Pizza Tower knows that Pizzaface himself is merely a facade, as the true mastermind behind Peppino's misery has been hidden in plain sight since the very start— the comically villainous Pizzahead! I think out of every 'arcade stand-in' I chose for Star Tower, coming up with one for Pizzahead was the absolute hardest, because none of my ideas really seemed to stick the landing.

But then, I thought "What if it was a completely original character?"

And that's where Richard Benito Townsend (More commonly known by his alias 'Richie T.'), the self-proclaimed 'king of video games', enters the scene!

Richie T., who is absolutely not based off of any notorious cheaters in the arcade world record scene, is a washed-up video game master has-been, once highly regarded in his heyday for being an icon in the world of video games before his supposed 'unbeatable world records' were discovered to be fraudulent.

Shunned to a life of seclusion, the ever boisterous Richie T. now pilots Sinistar within a multicade cabinet where he's free to call the shots, daring to go toe-to-toe with Star once she proves herself worthy of being a Supercade Superstar. After all, she's just some girl— she can't possibly trounce the Richie T., can she?

Spoilers: He has no idea.

And with that out of the way, that's just about everything I wanted to touch base on in pertains to this first set of Star Tower characters! As I said before, this post has been a long time coming, and it's ever so wonderful to finally get this out onto tumblr!

You can expect a part two of sorts to this post sometime in the coming months, as there are still more stand-ins I've yet to post... this time, replacements of the supporting characters, such as Gustavo, Mr. Stick, and a couple of others! For now, I hope that you've enjoyed your first real look at the world of Star Tower! 💙✨

[knightofhylia-sageofthetriforce]

-Ganondorf’s Gloom-

Context lost in translation and how that can affect Hyrulean PC faiths.

This post is heavily inspired by “Gloom vs Malice: The Untold Secrets of Gloom in Tears of the Kingdom” by QuestWithAaron on YouTube. I will be making many references to his video, including his thoughts on the Japanese texts while giving my own thoughts. His video is discussing the lore of the video games, but I will frame much of this in the context of how these revelations can relate to my own Hylian Faith and other Hyrulean based faiths.

Fans often wonder what the differences are between Malice produced and used by Calamity Ganon in Breath of the Wild and Gloom produced and used by Demon King Ganondorf in Tears of the Kingdom. For starters, what was localized into English Malice was the Japanese word Onnen meaning “deep-seated resentmenment.” This is a Buddhist concept referring to the essence of one’s hatred that persists throughout the cycle of death and rebirth.

Pictured here is the dragon Naydra corrupted by Malice.

Gloom was actually a rather odd choice of word chosen for the English localization. The Japanese word that was used was shouki meaning “Miasma, toxic gas, bad air.” Anyone who ever watched Inuyasha should be very well acquainted with the concept of miasma. The miasma produced by characters like Sesshomaru or Naraku is in fact quite similar in function and form to Ganondorf's gloom. This shouki becomes linked with another concept known as jyaki. Jyaki is translated literally to mean "evil energy." This evil energy is a corrupting force that can infect people. We see the effects of this evil energy throughout the Legend of Zelda series, whether it is corruption of land, demonic possession, what have you.

In the Japanese text of the game, there are two words that describe how gloom or miasma affects people. These are the words mushibamu and okasareru, which refer to an invasion of the body and spirit which deteriorates physical and mental wellbeing. However, these invasions of the mind and body by shouki and jyaki can be opposed with purification.

All of this relates heavily to a term I have spoken on before which originates in Shinto thought: kegare. This kegare, or impurity, bogs us down and separates us from our connections with divinity, whether it be our own innate divinity or our relationships with our deities. In Shinto, which was a major inpiration for the Legend of Zelda series as well as my own Hylian Faith, the Kami and humans are deeply interconnected via musubi, the power of creation or becoming. Harmony. In fact, in Tears of the Kingdom, the terminology used says that the royal family of Hyrule was born from a musubi (harmonious relationship) with a tribe of Kami, referring to the Zonai.

This gloom produced and harnessed as a weapon by Ganondorf to corrupt the land and infect the people within it served to destroy this harmonious relationship which had produced so much power of creation and peace.

While I hesitate to say whether there exist literal evil figures that seek to corrupt us and our relationships with the divine, impurity absolutely exists. Whether it is generated by our own negative thoughts or feelings, harmful actions, or even literal filth, this impurity must be purified in order to maintain harmonious relationships with divinity.

This image depicts Princess Zelda in BotW purifying herself in the Spring of Wisdom before praying to Goddess Hylia.

Purification is an important practice that should be used relatively often. I need to partake in this practice far often, myself. I have written of purification in past blog posts but I intend to expand on purification practices that can be used specifically in a Hyrulean PC context.

[krys-in-the-playhouse]

[Profile] Ophelia of Revaire - IkeSen OC

Full Name: Ophelia of Revaire Preferred Pronouns: She/Her Age: Mid-Late 20s Appearance: Average height, slim build, before coming to the Sengoku, she kept her hair very close to her head with a crown braid. After joining up with Kennyo, she cut it short to just below her chin. Her hair is white, can appear very light blonde in some lights. Has beauty mark on her chin. Pale skin. Eyes: Red, like Nobunaga's eyes

Birthday: March 13th Main Suitor: Kennyo Special Interests: Sewing, Gardening Signature Colors: Red and Black

-Like Houki before her, Ophelia was originally a Seven Kingdoms: A Princess Problem MC. The basic premise of the game is that you are sending your MC to a diplomatic summit meeting to form alliances with the other countries. Whether those relationships are political or romantic (or a secret third option) in nature happen through choices and stat raising within the game. At the beginning, you go through dialogue choices that let you choose your character's base nature, intelligence, how pretty they're perceived to be, how charismatic they are, etc. Then, you are given a basic background based on the stats your character has the most points in.

-For Ophelia, she was my third MC build in the game after Houki and another MC that I didn't develop as much. I had mostly figured how the game worked and flowed at that point, so I wanted to play around with some of the other stats and what the other backgrounds were like. I also had played two relatively good-natured girls with Houki and my other MC up to that point, so I wanted to see about some of the… let's say darker routes the game could take (as if Houki getting poisoned and almost killed a few times wasn't dark enough, lol).

-Ophelia's base background is called An Ambitious Widow. Set against the political turmoil going on in her homeland of Revaire, Ophelia comes from a poor noble family that puts on the image of wealth when they don't actually have that much, often going into debt to keep up appearances. As the eldest daughter, she social-climbed as much as she could to keep the family afloat. When she was considered old enough, she was married off to a man old enough to be her grandfather. She had no strong feelings towards the old man either way, so long as her family was okay, she would do almost anything.

-The marriage lasts for about a year before her husband mysteriously dies. Ophelia had no hand in his demise, but the rumors surrounding his death didn't do her any favors. And when her family came to her in need again, she takes up her social-climbing ways once again, her sights now set on this Summit meeting, hoping to remarry once again, only this time she wants to aim for someone with more money, maybe someone of royal status so that her family doesn't have to worry anymore.

-That plan goes right out the window once she gets wormholed, ah geez…

-This part is still a little fuzzy for me that I might clarify it at a later date and I need to redo Kennyo's route to remember some of the events that happen in it, but Ophelia's story from here loosely follows his route from this point on. She helps out Nobunaga initially, but afterwards, the two get along like oil and water that's on fire, eventually leading her to running away from him, running into Kennyo and she chooses to stay with the monk, not wanting anything to do with the Oda Forces anymore.

-With Kennyo is where she begins her healing journey, away from the politics and toxicity of home. She's allowed to be herself and to let the wounds of the past staunch and scab over, finally growing to trust others again. She picks up her old hobbies of sewing and gardening again and spends her days teasing Kennyo and Ranmaru gently, when she sees them. 

-Ophelia is also in a weird place for me in that I don't have any major plans for her future as I do with Houki and Clara. At most, she wants to see if her family is okay, to at least know the fate of her younger siblings, but it's probably for the best that she's away from that toxic environment. If nothing else major happens in IkeSen, she'll probably continue as she is with Kennyo and Ranmaru.

Some other fun facts:

-Ophelia is the eldest of nine siblings, six younger sisters and two younger brothers. She and her sisters are named after Shakespearean ladies because I wanted a theme and since Ophelia was named after a Shakespearean tragic lady, her sisters were named in a similar manner.

-Ophelia and her siblings in order:

Ophelia (eldest daughter) Sister #1-Cordelia Sister #2-Rosalind Sister #3-Portia Nicolai (Brother #1) Sisters #4 and 5-Bianca and Beatrice (Twins) Frederick (Brother #2) Viola (The Baby and Sister #6)

-Other suitors for consideration: Shingen. He's too smart for his own good and she admires his intelligence and charisma. And they're both notorious Nobu haters, so they would get along in that aspect. He's too flirty for her, personally, however, thus why they're not together. He's also dying secretly and her world doesn't have the technology to save him like MC's world does. Even if she could take him back home, she couldn't cure him of his illness and she doesn't deserve having a second husband suddenly dying on her, this OC parent isn't that cruel (but damn wouldn't that make for some delicious drama?)

I can see her getting along with Kicho too, but since his route and motives balance on a world and history she wasn't a part of, it's a little harder to gauge how they would get along based on that.

-Not that it would be relevant in any stories in IkeSen between her and any suitor, but I've made the executive decision to have her be infertile, as a mercy to her because of her first marriage. She also has a little trauma from seeing her mother withering away from her and all her younger siblings. Her mother was happy about each and all of her children, blissfully so, but Ophelia saw it a little differently with so many mouths to feed, an appearance to uphold, not to mention the Revaire of her childhood was… not a good place to be, especially depending on if you supported the old royalty or the new one.

-The suitor I had for her in the original Seven Kingdoms game (now completed! It's on itch.io in early access!) rekindled her love for gardening. The suitor, Emmett, was a sweet soul that loves travel and just loves animals and all kinds of plants. The two had been walking together and he was pointing out various plants to her, telling her their names and interesting things about them. Ophelia, having spent the majority of her years clout-chasing, admired this chatty young man because he was so unabashedly himself, and so kind and gentle. They grew closer with their time at the Summit, becoming friends despite Ophelia wanting to keep him at arm's length. She's supposed to be here to marry a rich nobleman or a prince and gain as many political allies as she could… yet his kindness and sweet personality kept winning her over. I think, when she is worm-holed and is on her healing journey, she takes up gardening in his honor, to the first person that really showed her kindness that wasn't family or wanting something out of her.

-Though it wasn't intentional with the birthday randomizer putting her in March, it makes a lot of symbolic sense. It's a transitional month between winter and spring, thus symbolizing her narrative journey of new beginnings after the cold. Even in-game, winter symbolism was tied a bit to the Widow. In a conversation over dinner with Clarmont (another suitor also from Revaire), the Widow MC tells a story from her childhood, when she and her sister watched their first snowfall together. She recalls it as the last moment she can remember feeling truly innocent and at peace with herself, before things started going to hell. Even Ophelia's inspo playlist is titled 'Even winter must come to an end…'

[love-bigboss1fan-me]

Lol even more ramblings about the similarities between MGS and DS. The same warnings apply in spoilers for both games and if you find the dialogue heavy. Enjoy 💜

ID: we start with a scene of Deadman and Sam talking about the cufflinks and how Bridges will monitor his condition, to Die-Hard man and Sam arguing, then to Higgs in his new red, black, and amber cybernetic suit and hold that image for a while then it goes black for a few minutes before showing Higgs in his original military gear and golden mask with the Demens standing behind him, to Fragile’s flashback with Higgs walking her to the edge of the timefall and then we end with a logo of APAC’s and a quote from the DS2 trailer, saying “It wasn’t the UCA that made the final decision, it was APAC. A private organization.” End

Subtitles:

Meryl: “The nanomachines keep track of the soldiers and their real-time personal data 24 hours a day. They monitor each man’s position, movement, speed, firing accuracy… wounds, rations, water intake, and supply… Sweet secreted, heart rate, blood pressure, and sugar levels, oxygen… All the data gathered on the body condition on sensory organ data showing pain and fear… Data on every internal response within the body. All of it is collected by an AI at the system’s core. It was creepy at first, knowing you’re being watched 24/7, but I have gotten used to it. It gives us a lot of advantages in the field too. We get a clearer picture of what’s going on around us, so there is less confusion during missions. And our nanomachines communicate with each other, making teamwork a lot smoother. The nanomachines network inside each member’s body allows us to share each other’s senses. They can see what I see. And it helps control pain.”

Solid Snake: “Is that part of the System, too?”

Meryl: “With SOP, my team can literally operate as one. And that’s not all the System does for us. It is also a security guarantee against the PMCs.”

Solid Snake: “Security guarantee?”

Meryl: “That’s right. The PMCs are combat groups without states or ideologies. They’re not fighting out of nationalism or for a cause. They don’t care why the war is being fought. They are just bodies, fighting on someone else’s behalf. They’re mercenaries. A commodity. So it is easy to imagine them betraying their clients by joining with the enemy, or refusing to fight… Or committing humanitarian atrocities. To keep these things in check… They ensured that no one can use firearms or military vehicles without the proper System ID. It’s true for every piece of equipment out there.”

[thestarsarehaunted]

Please do tell us more about this haunted house character you played 👀 Was chickadee actually a stationary house?

I am always happy to talk about Dee!

17 Chickadee Lane is one of the oldest houses in its city. Many years ago, a witch (the ancestor of one of the other characters) made a deal with a devil in Dee's attic. The fiendish energies that clung to the structure have doomed all future residents to misery and death, often at each other's hand, as time spent in the house brought out the worst they were capable of. Over time, the house developed a dim sort of sentience. Its perception of humans was shaped by watching happy, loving families take up residence and inevitably descend into violence and tragedy. It gained a reputation for being cursed.

A resentment built up in the house's budding consciousness. These humans were intruders, parasites. From its perspective, they brought their own misery with them then laid the blame on its doorstep as if it had owed them happiness. Fueled by the deaths that occurred there, the house became strong enough to lash out with poltergeist activity. Lives were taken. It was abandoned and left to stew in bitterness alone.

Its historic status as one of the few remaining original homes kept it standing, but the only people brave enough to enter were the occasional thrill-seeker looking for a ghostly encounter. Most made it out alive; some were never seen again. Then Daniel came along. The house lashed out, as it always did. And Daniel said "I'm sorry." He said "Please." He treated the house not as a mindless evil but like a person with agency. It chose to let him go.

A short time later it learned a new skill; by siphoning energy from humans in its vicinity it could create a human projection to venture beyond its own walls. It remains tethered within its foundation, but a portion of its awareness can travel out into the city. It reunited with Daniel and his friends. They know its identity - it is familiar with secrets and lies as tools of humans but hasn't actually made the leap to "Oh, I could do that too" - but they treat it as as much of a person as any of them. It is respected and welcomed.

Dee's emotional intelligence is... underdeveloped. It can't express or even understand its own feelings beyond "I like this, I dislike that" - but it feels strongly nonetheless. It has seen great love and tenderness in its former residents and desires those things for itself, even as it believes that they always end terribly. It lashes out aggressively at anyone it sees as dismissive or disrespectful (don't intrude on its personal space - a house takes trespassing very seriously) but it clings to anyone who shows it the least bit of kindness.

Dee's human form has no standard appearance - it looks like an amalgamation of the last several people it pulled energy from to sustain itself, with an uncanny valley quality. It looks something like those "we combined 100 faces to find their average looks!" images. When using its poltergeist abilities - or when it turns its focus back toward the part of it still in its walls - it goes visually fuzzy around the edges, like tv static.

During the game it stole a dog toy to gag a vampire. It kept the toy - the first thing it has ever actually owned that wasn't placed in it by a human - and never put it down for the rest of the campaign. It finds the squeak oddly comforting.

[iloveabunchofgames]

#JakeReviewsItch

After The End: The Harvest

by Elushis

Price: $AUD 7.50

Included In: Bundle for Ukraine

Genre: Role Playing

Pitch: It's Secret of Mana and Pokémon and and and, um, also you get to have a space ship, and you can go to a hundred—no, 200 planets! Plus also you can do crafting and get lots of cool stuff.

My expectations: Ohhhh, boy. I'm nervous. First of all, this is the banner image on the Itch page:

That's followed by 24 (!) screenshots and images explaining this game's mechanical systems and characters. Too much! Especially for an RPG that looks like typical Game Maker junk. This release includes DLC and "the official 300+ page Official Strategy Guide." The download is 3.1 gigabytes. For a Game Maker RPG with stock pixel art. I never go into a review looking for a bad time, but oof. I am not excited.

Review:

This map, taken from After The End: The Harvest’s strategy guide, depicts the game’s galaxy.

Within that galaxy are solar systems.

Within those solar systems are planets.

And on those planets is a slow, awkward action RPG.

The tile-based,eight-directional movement is mushy, especially when attempting to dodge incoming enemies. Attack range is inconsistent. Menus are cluttered. Weird scaling issues make text ugly and difficult to read. There’s a menu for remapping controller buttons, but it doesn’t work. I could type the dialogue faster than it appears on the screen, and there’s always a too-long pause afterward before accepting button presses to move to the next line. The same button is used for backing out of menus and for attacking, so I accidentally shot several shopkeepers. Visual bugs are everywhere. The technical performance is a joke.

Most of the strategy guide’s 246 pages (not 300+) describe items, locations, and fake Pokémon, but it doesn’t matter how much there is to see, do, and collect when every interaction is this grating.

+ Constantly getting new gear and reaching higher experience levels might make you feel a sense of accomplishment. Crafting materials are everywhere. + There sure is a lot of it. + I don't know if it's an original score, but they got the RPG music just right. + If you're willing to accept the consequences. you're free to kill anyone you like.

– Everything feels bad. Action, menus, advancing dialogue—atrocious. Don't even try to use a controller. – Boring, stock Game Maker tiles and sprites. – Boring, stock sci-fi/fantasy RPG story with boring, stock sci-fi/fantasy RPG characters. – A technical mess. Opens on an unnecessary, seemingly in-engine cutscene where nothing happens. This scene is just over one minute long, and it takes around two minutes to load. The rest of the game is a non-stop assault of stuttering, slowdown, and visual bugs.

🧡🧡🤍🤍🤍 Bottom Line: There's ambition, and then there's naïveté. Indie developers with a minimal budget, working in Game Maker, trying to make a massive, loot-heavy action RPG with elaborate crafting systems that's also Pokémon and a space shooter? That's not admirable. It's denial. There's some fun to be had from watching numbers get bigger and stuffing virtual pockets with every loose item in sight, but enduring After The End: The Harvest doesn't make sense in a world where hundreds, in not thousands, of other games offer that much and more.

#JakeReviewsTwitch is a series of daily game reviews. You can learn more here. You can also browse past reviews...

• By name • By rating • By genre

[zeedropcrosslister]

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[ledenews]

Santorine: Finding a Voice Despite All the Squirrels

Another Memorial Day weekend is in the books and there have been many well-written and well-thought-through editorials about what our fallen soldiers gave to us. There have been a slew of memes attempting to boil a very complex and emotional holiday down to its essence. Other than thinking that Memorial Day deserves all that is written about it, I don’t have anything substantive to add, other than a hearty thank you. I threw away the original piece I wrote for today. I didn’t like it. It was technically correct, but it didn’t “get it” for me. Not because it didn’t read well; it didn’t “feel right”. So, here’s “Take Two”. One of the great things about writing an opinion column is that I get to pontificate on things that are important to me. I try to stay somewhat within my wheelhouse, and share subjects that you’ll find of interest, and where I have some knowledge or expertise. Some special sauce to add. I do endeavor to be authentic. I have a tortuous history of pulling words and stories together, and not all of it is good. I took pictures and scribbled for a small newspaper that no longer existed when I was in high school. The important parts of this description were “took pictures,” as opposed to being a photographer. "Drowning in this literal sea of talent, I scribbled the story of a game that I didn’t see based on the statistics. I was stringing words together. Journalistic sandlot ball and the real sports journalists were pitching for (place your favorite team here)." One is an artist and understands composition and what works graphically; the other (me) a technician. Amazingly sharp and clear images, proper exposure or flash, with composition choices that left the sports editor pulling his hair out. “Scribbled” is a bit more complicated to explain. Those who lived through those days with a newspaper remember being on the phone after the football games ended. Each team’s statistician would call in and we had a mimeographed form (I can still smell it) where we would collect the information. Penmanship mattered. Based on that, we would scribble a story. Relaying the story of a game you didn’t witness from the stats is formulaic. Slightly more complicated than plugging in the numbers and the big plays. The scribblers were that era’s artificial intelligence, There were sports reporters that would physically go to the top three games of the week. They wrote stories … beautiful prose created quickly and efficiently, and it was a pleasure to read. Those articles made the sports section – the go-to section – and even though you knew the score by the time the newspaper arrived, you poured over the paper to get the story. The sports journalists … passionate people, and essential to the financial success of the newspaper, yet poorly compensated. Drowning in this literal sea of talent, I scribbled the story of a game that I didn’t see based on the statistics. I was stringing words together. Journalistic sandlot ball and the real sports journalists were pitching for (place your favorite team here). I was in awe of the journalists. In many ways, they were (and are still) “rock stars.” I didn’t have a journalistic voice then, and for most of the ensuing 45 years, I didn’t have the opportunity to develop one. While I wrote a lot, it was mostly facts and figures. While in school, I was clueless about how much I would be writing for business. I probably worked 10 hours per day in sales and senior management, and at least half of them were as a scribe, communicating with my customers, employees and stakeholders via the written word. Clearly and concisely, stretching the boundaries of the truth when putting together advertising copy, but minus the hyperbole … factual stuff. When I started there were typewriters and carbon copies that used carbon paper. There’s something I have not seen in a while. Secretaries were not yet ‘administrative assistants,” and took shorthand dictation. My secretary, Nancy, could type faster than that first-generation word processor could print. I learned to communicate clearly and respectfully. I also created more than one poison pen letter, and often looked forward to inserting key phrases like “I thank you in advance for not writing me again” or “confident you’ll be avoiding all known moral approaches to prosperity.” Hey, when the bridge is burned, you may as well have some fun with it. I was, and remain a bit of a bull in a China shop. A bull moose, if you will. I’m also fairly well adept at going right off the rails and abruptly changing subjects. The distracted version of, “OH LOOK! A SQUIRREL!” So, I’m perfectly capable of starting a column on the Tribology of Motor Oil and ending it with a comparison of Scotch and Bourbon Whisky. I’m working on finding my journalistic voice. I’m thankful for the opportunity to do so on these pages, and I love the positive feedback. Actually, I use the negative stuff as well. Keep those cards and letters coming! Read the full article

[henryaanderson]

Sexual Seeds

Before you can examine anything in depth in hopes of explaining what makes it unique, you have to look at its creation. In order to appreciate a fine wine we chart its age. We track where the grapes were grown and what climate existed the year it was bottled. When studying a piece of fine art, scholars inevitably look at the artist. They study his life, environment and associations in hopes these will grant us a better understanding of how the image in question came to be.

This is true with everything. Without looking at origins we cannot begin to understand evolution.

In order to explain who I am today I must also examine my creation. Not my physical birth, mind you, but my carnal one. I am the product of my sexual discovery and growth. Now I don’t claim to be on par with a Chateau Lafite or Renoir, but I am just as unique, and when I take my slaves to the limit of their passions one can make the argument that my creations are just as intoxicating and breathtaking.

So, in an effort to better explain the Master I am today, I need to start by showing you the sexual seeds that were planted years ago. 

My earliest sexual memory is clear in my mind. I can picture it better than any memories of Christmas, vacations or weekend sleepovers with my best friend. I was quite young and was spending the day at my best friend’s home. We had been playing in his room and for some reason we found our way into his older brother Trevor’s bedroom. Trevor was 16 and hated us getting into his things, but this particular day he wasn't so we were able to sneak in.

We were pretending to be spies slipping into enemy territory, hunting for plans. My friend was going through his closet and I set my sights on his end table. I quietly slid open the drawer in hopes of finding the imaginary documents needed to win our fictitious war. Little did I know the contents of that small, white drawer would set me on a path that continues to grow to this day.

Resting in the top of the drawer was a magazine. It would have been ignored or tossed aside if not for the image on its cover. A brunette woman was sitting in a window, her limbs curled to fit within the sill. She was totally naked, one perfect breast exposed.

I was startled at first. I felt my breath leave me and my heart begin to race. I knew I wasn’t supposed to see this, but I couldn’t look away. I remember my eyes darting between her breast and bare feet.

I looked around to make sure nobody was coming and then I pulled the magazine out of the drawer. I had to open it but I was scared I would get caught and it would be taken away. I grabbed a piece of paper from the drawer, slammed it closed and before my friend could react I yelled “Got it!” and ran from the room.

I remember thinking I had to hide the magazine. I didn’t want my friend knowing I took it. This had to be all mine. I made it to his room as fast as I could and I slipped the magazine into my sleep over bag, hiding it beneath my pajamas. As Travis came running in I grabbed the paper I stole and waved it around proclaiming it to be the secret documents we were hunting for.

Our game continued all day but my mind kept going back to the picture on the Playboy cover tucked in my bag. I couldn’t wait for the chance to look at it again, to open it up and see what was inside. My chance finally came that night when it was time for us to change for bed. I pretended I had to go to the bathroom and I took my bag with me. I locked the door and quickly and quietly pulled the magazine out of the bag. Sitting on the floor beside the bathtub I placed the magazine on the floor before me.

There she was again, smiling at me. I couldn’t get over how she made me feel. She was totally naked which seemed so taboo to me. I had never seen a naked girl before and as strange as it was to me then it was clear I liked it.

I quickly flipped through the rest of the pages and each time I found an image of a naked woman I felt this shock run through me. I know now this was arousal but at the time I had no clue what to make of it, or what to do to heighten it. Instead I hid the magazine and counted the hours until I could look at it again.

The next day, in the privacy of my own bedroom, I was able to look at each page in detail. I discovered many things that day. I realized just how beautiful a woman’s body is, and I started to detect what features and poses I liked most. These are still strong in me to this day. I discovered seeing a woman totally naked was far more exciting for me than seeing them with partial clothing, or shoes on. I noticed that the photos of the women outside or in places where they might be seen by others drove me wild. I also found myself delighting over the tight bare asses and beautiful bare feet.

Another discovery was that I was actually enjoying reading something. I poured over the words on each page as if they held some amazing secret I had to know. I was thrilled when I saw the first comic portraying a naked woman. I would never look at my Superman comics the same again. Why couldn’t Lois be naked? What if Batman stripped Batgirl and made her run around his cave in the nude?

There was a pictorial of sex scenes in French Cinema, which fascinated me. The thought that there were movies of naked women having sex blew my mind and became an obsession. Is it any surprise that now my career finds me making films?

I still have the magazine to this day, and occasionally pull it out and revisit its pages. They still arouse me when I see them, and it is like reconnecting with an old friend. Even as I write this, I find myself growing hard at the memory of Marilyn Lange naked on those pages.

So, with the discovery of naked women under my belt I found that I looked at everything differently. Every time I saw a magazine in the store, I would imagine the model or actress on its cover was naked. On TV I would picture the young actresses taking off their clothes and I imagined they would engage in sex for me to see. I became obsessed with watching Valerie Bertinelli on One Day at a Time, somehow connecting her brunette beauty to the cover that was tucked deep in my closet.

I started searching desperately for a way to see an actual girl naked. I would study my friends and classmates and wonder what they would look like without clothes. It wasn’t long before I starting suggesting games like truth or dare in hopes of finding a way to achieve this. I wasn’t prepared, however, for the constant frequency that girls would choose truth. Even when I would guide the questions in a naughty direction there were only so many secrets girls had to reveal at that age. Mostly things like who do you have a crush on, or who would you most like to kiss. This wasn’t what I wanted, what I needed. I decided that if nobody else was going to be brave enough to choose dare then I would have to.

I remember my frustration when the dares I would receive were as vapid as the truths that came before. The girls all wanted to make me kiss somebody. It is funny to think of this as not a desired result when I think back now, but at that time all I wanted was to see one of them, all of them naked. I did, however, quickly learn of the joys of actual physical contact. Kissing soon stopped being gross or silly and I started to enjoy it. Still, if I was going to reach my goal I need to get somebody to push the dares to the next level.

I decided that I needed somebody to start daring me to do naughtier things.  I couldn’t dare myself, and I couldn’t control what the girls would dare me, so I turned to Travis, my best friend. I would have him push it to the next level. I couldn’t ask him to dare me something like that, he would think I was weird or crazy, so I had to outsmart him. I’d mention things that I would hate to be dared, making it clear how horrified I would be if I were ever asked to do them. My hope was he would pass this on when the time was right.

It didn’t take long. At the next game I bravely asked for a dare and the girls all started to giggle. They were whispering to each other trying to decide what to have me do. I shot Travis a look telling him to stay out of it and not mention any of the ideas we had talked about. I made my face look scared and that seemed to do it. He started whispering with them, and the girls shrieked. I remember feeling the sudden swell of my cock, which took me by surprise.

Tina Heck looked me in the eye and dared me to take my shirt off. Finally, things were headed in the right direction. I acted horrified and embarrassed as I slipped my shirt off. The girls giggled, and it was my turn. Before long I got a girl to choose dare, and I pretended to want payback. I told her she had to remove her shirt.

Everyone got quiet.

This seemed so naughty at the time. Poor Fern’s face flushed, and it didn’t seem like she would do it. I egged everyone on forcing them to put pressure on Fern to give in. Then it happened. Her face red, her eyes glassy, I watched as she pulled her shirt off. It was the most beautiful, erotic thing I had ever seen. She had a white bra on. I was overwhelmed.

I quickly learned how to manipulate things to get what I wanted. A few months later I got my first peek at a girl’s bare chest, and a few peeks down a pair of white cotton panties to glimpse a pussy. In turn I learned I had to be willing to go first. I was often dared to flash my cock, which I always did with protest, pretending to be shy about it. In truth this was where I learned how much I enjoyed being on display.

I learned that I possess a unique gift. This was the ability to influence others and put them at ease. Almost akin to the soothing control a hypnotist works over their subjects, I can guide people into situations that they would never find themselves in otherwise.

Take, for example, young Missy Pruitt who, without warning found herself in a game of truth or dare. Missy stood slightly removed from the group. I could tell by the look on her face that she wanted to see what was happening but didn’t actually want to take part. I can still see the shock on her face as I called out her name.

“Missy, truth or dare?” 

Everyone spun to face her, letting out gasps and giggles. I stepped closer to Missy, determined to get her to choose dare. Mind you this was the least likely result. It was a certainty that Missy would shyly select truth expecting to answer some silly question and then be left alone. I looked her in the eyes and let the words flow from me.

 ”I would choose dare Missy.” I whispered. ”I have a truth that will make you expose your darkest secret.”

She stared at me. Everyone started to yell at her to choose, and as I saw the terror grow in her eyes, I discovered myself getting harder. Tears dripped down her cheeks as she stared at me. At the moment she was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen, the look in her eyes, the helplessness. I thought my cock was going to rip through my uniform grey slacks.

That’s when it happened. This innocent, shy girl who never played these games stepped forward and with a soft voice she spoke.

“Dare.”

I think I was as shocked as everyone else. More yells and laughs filled the air. Nobody could believe she said dare. I had her right where I wanted her. All she could think of was avoiding this terrible secret being revealed. If there really was a secret I certainly did not know what it was. Perhaps there wasn’t one, but Missy was scared enough not to risk it. Either way she now had to do what I said. I thought for a moment, knowing deep inside I would not pass up this chance. I had to make Missy Pruitt do something so out of character for her that it would change her life.

“I dare you to take off your panties and flash everyone… and you have to give them to me. You can’t wear them for the rest of the day.”

The yells were so loud I thought we would all be caught. Everyone was beside themselves. Missy looked at me, and I noticed her eyes pleading for me to let her go free. That’s when the guilt rose up in me.

As wide as my capacity is for pushing limits, the depth of my conscience is just as dominant. I still wanted to see her do my dare. I wanted to see her naked, and I wanted to feel her panties in my hand and to know I forced her into this humiliation. However, it was now clear I had to find a way to make her want to do this. My desire was to humiliate her, but not to force her to do something she really didn’t enjoy. She couldn’t be forced to do this. She had to make the decision to expose herself, and maybe even enjoy it.

I whispered into her ear that she didn’t have to do it. I could give her a smaller dare, and that she should just ignore everyone’s teasing her. I think she knew down deep that once the dare was given she had to live up to it. She shook her head and told me she was OK with it. I remember her voice grew stronger, and she seemed more confident. She had reached down inside herself and found this power and she was going to take control.

Missy reached under her skirt and slipped off her pink cotton panties and handed them to me. I waved them around so everybody could see, and everyone cheered. Missy took a few steps backward, leaning against a tree. I decided I wouldn't press her to flash, but I was shocked then to see Missy lift her skirt up so everyone could see her naked pussy.

The crowd grew quiet when she did this, and for many it seemed too much. This was the last dare. The others, all still excited, were now nervous. I had taken things a step beyond anything they had imagined, and they didn’t know how to proceed. I could see many of them were excited but overwhelmed.

The rest of the day I remained hard knowing Missy was naked under her skirt. Every time she tugged it down, sitting on it so she didn’t flash the teacher, I felt my cock throb.

At the end of the day, I knew I had not only succeeded in getting her to do what I wanted, I gained proof that she had actually enjoyed it. Missy came up to me and asked if she could have her panties back. I told her no, they were mine and she would have to go home without them. Instead of her growing upset or sad at this she giggled. She actually giggled and told me OK. She spun around, her little skirt lifting slightly and with a wave she headed toward her car.

I kept the panties in my pocket, and that afternoon when I got home I masturbated, running her panties up and down on my cock. As I came in them, I remember feeling so fulfilled. It was time to start planning my next encounter.

After that masturbation became one of my favorite activities. One night when in my bedroom, as I crossed the room I glanced out of my window. It was dark outside, but my neighbor’s window was lit across the side yard. Inside was the bedroom. The window and the curtains were open to let in the summer breeze. I could see easily into the room, and on the bed were my neighbors having sex.

I remember seeing him on top of her. His bare ass pounded up and down, and I could see the entire bed shake. Her long naked legs reached into the air, and her feet pointed as I heard her moan loader and loader. I peered over the window-sill watching as he fucked her. I could feel my cock start to grow in my pajamas as she moaned. Each time I heard her voice it would jerk in my pants. At one point he grabbed her ankles and lifted her legs above his shoulders and for the first time I could see her pussy as his cock slid in and out. I was transfixed. I couldn’t stop watching them as they grew louder and faster. As she came I remember wanting to explode.

When they finished I pulled the Playboy out and masturbated. They would often have sex that summer, and the next time I saw them I sat on the edge of my bed and masturbated as I watched. Her voice always made me harder than I thought possible, and I found these were the best orgasms I had at that age.

I couldn’t stop thinking about sex. I longed to see other women naked and to hear them moan. I would imagine my friends naked, and I would often react when a girl would make even the slightest orgasmic noise. In gym class I would get hard hearing the girls grunt as they went about various activities. One day I almost lost my mind when one girl rested on her back on the gym floor and lifted her legs into the air. Her bare feet pointed, and I could imagine myself fucking her, making her moan and writhe.

As we all grew older and puberty began to hit my friends I became the life of the party. I was the one everybody wanted in their truth or dare games because I would come up with the most amazing and creative dares. In turn I was always willing to do anything. I remember one party where I was dared to strip naked in front of everyone and masturbate. I sat in the middle of the room stroking my cock as everyone watched. I remember the thrill of seeing their eyes on me, boys and girls alike. They would dare me to do crazier and crazier things thinking I wouldn’t do them, but secretly wanting me to. Everyone thought I was crazy, but that year I had 8 different girlfriends. I learned that many girls pretended to be pure and shy but down deep they are curious and want to explore.

I got my first blowjob in the school parking lot after a football game. Audrey Watson and I were dating, and her best friend Jana was in the backseat watching. It was late that same year when I lost my virginity in the woods behind my house.

I talked Audrey Watson into going all the way on this hard, cold rock. I remember the feeling as I slid my cock into her the first time. I could picture my neighbor pounding his wife on their bed as I thrust harder and harder. I tried to lift her legs onto my shoulders, but this was far too advanced for us. She was in pain as this was her first time, and I was gentle until the hymen broke. I do remember, however, the strange feeling or pleasure that surged through me when with each thrust, she would let out a small whimper of pain. It wasn’t long before I came which I think was fine with her due to the discomfort. Two days later we fucked again on her mother’s bed, and this time we both were far more creative.

I remember another day in history class when I was so horny I thought I was going to lose my mind. I sat next to the window and that time of day the cheerleaders were practicing on a small section of grass outside. I couldn’t take my eyes off of their short skirts and tight legs. The occasional glimpse of the yellow panties under their skirts drove me wild.

I slowly unzipped my pants and slipped my cock out right there in the classroom and jerked off. I had to slowly stroke so as not to draw attention. It didn’t take me long before I felt myself cumming. I couldn’t control it anymore. I remember thinking the noise of my cum hitting the bottom of my desk was horrendously loud. However, nobody turned around. I had gotten away with it. As I glanced around the class though I found I was mistaken. Katie Price was staring right at me. As I caught her eye, she just shook her head at me and laughed. That summer was filled with sexual exploration. I fucked Audrey every day and thought it would never end. Little did I know that I would soon meet a girl who would change my sexual life forever.

Master Anderson

Slavegirls - Audrey Watson

[nerdroot12]

The Game Development Company - Nerdroot:

NERDROOT — THE GAME DEVELOPMENT COMPANY YOU WERE LOOKING FOR

The ability to have an experience for the user without leaving home has brought more players to virtual reality, which is steadily taking over the gaming industry. Because of this, creating Nerdroot games is already quite popular in the business, and more companies like the concept of adding a new dimension to their games.

Since the production must match the demand, Andriod game development company are also expanding. Research indicates that the market for Nerdroot gaming has grown over $0.4 billion in 2017 to $1.6 billion in 2022, with predictions that it will reach $2.4 billion by 2024. Amazing evidence pointing to a bright future for the sector, right?

Benefits of Making Games for Nerdroots Headsets

Did you know that, with over a million copies sold, Meta’s Quest 2 appeared to be the best-selling virtual reality headset in 2020? This is the main justification for why creating games for Meta Quest 1 and 2 has a wide range of additional advantages for Video game producers

1. Rapid market exposure. You can reach a larger audience of prospective players if you develop a game for the Meta (Oculus) Quest, since it is one of the most widely used virtual reality headsets with a lot of room for advancement.

2. Possibilities for flexibility and scalability: You are free to publish the Singleplayer mode of an existing 2D or 3D cross-platform game to increase industry exposure, reach new users, and grow your fan following.

3. Impressive images.: Modern hardware enables Virtual game creators to freely use more polygons, bigger open landscapes, and extraordinarily detailed VFX without losing the frame rate. The same is true for Meta Quest, whose superior graphics and performance are supported by the headset’s CPU and GPU..

4.visibility to SDKs and plugins: These days, Nerdroot game creators use a variety of software development kits (SDKs) and plugins inside game engines like Unreal or Unity to streamline the workflow and expeditiously approach the delivery date.

Game Development for Mobile Version and Headsets

Similar to as you would for Meta (Virtual reality headset) Quest, you may create games for the Headsets. Interestingly, statistics show that Virtual reality headset Quest is sold more successfully than Headsets by a factor of two (435k units compared to 145k within about the same amount of time after release in 2019 and 2016, respectively).

What makes making games for Meta (Headset) Quest and Oculus Rift different from one another?

1.Connection methods

Remember that both you and your players will need to connect the headset to your PC through a USB cable when creating goods for Oculus Rift. This could be a disadvantage from the perspective of convenience and consumer.

2 Hardware

It’s no secret that Meta Quest 2 outperforms Virtual Reality headset, even the original model. It seems to have a complete software library, a 120hz refresh rate as opposed to a 90hz refresh rate, and a resolution of 3664x1920px as opposed to 2160x1200px. It also has an accurate motion tracking system. Additionally, it supports 3D audio, has a remote control, works wirelessly, and has a see-through mode. In contrast, the Oculus Rift boasts an OLED display, a 33g smaller weight, and a 10-degree larger field of view.

3.Market accessible & coverage

Meta Quest 2 may be easily purchased at practically any retail location, unlike Oculus Rift. Additionally, as was already noted, Oculus (Meta) Quest is a much more widely used gadget, making it rewarding to create video games for this headset.

What are some more justifications for or against designing things to work on a particular platform? In terms of cost, Quest 2 is $399, which is $200 less than the Rift version, which was $599 at launch. Players choose the most recent Meta Quest 2 for this reason. The most recent version of Meta’s headset has a range of advantages, including being less expensive, easier to use, and prepared for next-generation games.

You should choose Meta Quest as your main platform for developing Video game because, in addition to other benefits, you’ll save time by not having to optimise your assets for low-end hardware. Oculus (Meta) Quest 2 is, after all, more potent than any of its predecessors.

[zimcard-artblog]

"I found a weird floppy disk, heard there's a funky game in it!"

"Oh god oh fuck what is that"

Long text explaining the AU >>>

Oliver Swift is indeed the poor fool who bought himself a random floppy disk from a quote-unquote haunted garage sale, was told there were some dark secrets in the disk along with an old game that has never seen the light and Oliver bought it because he only heard game.

Booting it up, he is met with the title ENCRYPTION which isn't actually the true game's name besides the title reflecting the buried data called The_Enc0unter which, of course, plays a huge role within the digita and coded world.

He's met with only >continue on the screen which brings him to ACT 1; Norm G. Allen. A shadowy figured man wearing a cowboy hat and a Nasa suit. He has been stuck in his own game like an isolated hermit for who knows how long, waiting for someone to pick up the game again so he can finally be done with everything.

He doesn't care for the game except for wanting all of it to end, following his own set of rules he had placed beforehand such as punishments and the rule book yet he sounds very... very tired.

He isn't an actual character from the original game besides a manifestation of some of the contents in the buried data, explaining the Nasa suit and American flag on his hat. He stands out the most and his main goal is to leave the awful place because it has caused him nothing but pain.

Upon finishing ACT 1 by finding the New game button before Norm could even do anything drastic such as deleting the entire game, it moves to ACT 2- the real game before the buried data had infected it: Crowned Glory.

In a world that uses cards to solve conflict and build harmony within the four main themes such as beasts, machinery, ghouls, and mages; there is an unknown place that the Challenger- Gingi- must get in. However, Jerry, a penguin beastman who guards the gate, says that Gingi is unable to pass as they are not worthy of meeting the Crowned One.

Gingi has to beat everyone through card battles but can cut down the task by doing side quests, building friendship and whatnot. It has lots of dialogue options and Oliver having Gingi being an extension of himself despite Gingi having already gained sentience; the two were, indeed, sharing the same braincell.

It is unknown if Gingi's current design was meant for the Challenger as they are more or so an amalgamation of existing assets to create a vessel for Oliver to monitor. Dialogue wise, Gingi is saying what's on their mind. Card battle wise? All Oliver’s work.

The world does not have any scrybes, mere funky characters in their respective themes and areas.

Printer-Bot, who named herself Karen, works at the factory. She prints things of course but unlike the regular printer, she generates her own images through what she sees and processes all of that. She's an artist, of course, and works through the factory in means of concept art and printing out papers to share. She sees something? She prints it.

Randy Jade, a ghoul in the local graveyard. He claims he died from a curse yet the lodged hammer within his skull says otherwise. He lingers near his grave , in complete denial of both his past lives and afterlife. Sad little ghoul. Sad sad sad. But friendly...? He can be a sweetheart.

Bigfoot exists there deep within the woods if you find the right spot, lingering in a cave and waiting for company. He would give out banana peels or make funny 'oogh' sounds in response but if he receivers a banana then Bigfoot will give little bits of The_Enc0unter to the player. It's his way of trying to warn the player that there is a lingering evil within. Bigfoot is a manifestation from contents within the buried data.

We move to ACT 3, in which it returns to the theme of ENCRYPTION but the one running the show is none other than Mayor Mingus Crown. A cat lady who had taken control after realizing that Norm had failed in his attempt to escape, laughing at the fact he also failed to go nuclear. She was originally a mere cat for the Crowned One yet due to the buried data, she ended up becoming a cat lady beastman who was mutated by the contents of the data, giving her the 'Mayor' vibe. Politics cat lady, yes, a smidgen of corruption.

She starts off by explaining her drive and goal, her main drive being the Crowned one: Callum Crown. Callum Crown was the heart of the game, the main ending for the Challenger, the end goal to complete the game. However, he was left unfinished and the data had distorted him along with the world, causing this game to go through a cycle of self destruction and desperate healing, causing pain to the characters who are now sentient and aware of a lingering evil.

Most live in blissful ignorance yet a handful knew pain.

Mingus has a deep connection to Callum Crown, he's like a paw-paw to her. She cares for him and thus attempts to build the world into the perfect vision of the game, enforcing the data to stay buried and not tether the world again. By any means necessary. Her entire game focuses on the Player patching things up such as errors and reintroduction ACT 2 characters through cards. Mingus wants to rebuild the game as a last chance to bring Callum Crown back, only caring for her Paw-paw. If he wasn't the heart of the game then she'd say fuck all to the world and focus on him only.

She doesn't care about anything else, no, ignoring whenever the ACT 2 characters experience pain through being in a card or ignoring the room for doubt incase there was no hope for Callum Crown at all.

Callum Crown is merely a husk of a character, a distorted image, mere static within the deep, he is there but at the same time not, perhaps he is in a loop of decomposing or just a standing corpse. All you can hear is a soft, radio-like, static voice that says;

"Is the war over yet? I can't get a signal..."

[rrandomtthings]

Why Bkdk is NOT toxic:

A look through their relationship throughout the series

Cw// MAJOR bnha manga spoilers

As bakudekus, we experience that “bkdk is toxic!1!” argument on a daily. It’s something that we have all just.. let sit next to us knowing that it’s always going to be there. Of course, and understandably, it bothers most of us. What many see, especially non-manga readers, isn’t what we see.

Let’s start off with what they see. In the first episode/chapter, we start off with Bakugous infamous “Swan dive off the roof” line.

Of course, no matter how you look at it, this was a terrible thing that Bakugou said to Izuku. There is no excuse. Telling someones to kts, no matter how you may disagree and not see eye to eye, is always inexcusable (this applies to real life too!!)

Later in the chapter, Bakugou carries around a can that says “Lip Service,” which, pretty much means being all talk and not meaning actions behind the words that are being said (usually said with a negative connotation.)

Once again, does this excuse what he said to Izuku? Absolutely not. However, this does give us insight on the future and when we find out about how Bakugou feels for Deku.

Note: As for the bullying prior to this scene, there is no proof that Bakugou continuously bullied Deku as of when this has been written.

Then, the sludge incident happened. At first glance, Deku looked horrified at the attack. However, he didn’t make any moves as he assumed that the heroes will come in and save the person. Once it was revealed to him that it was Bakugou, Izuku had his “My body moved on its own” moment and did not even hesitate to save Kacchan.

After the sludge villain attack, it was explicitly stated that Bakugou had not bullied Deku since then.

Now, the two are in UA and it is revealed that Deku has a quirk to Bakugou. A quirk that he was told to keep its origins of a secret. However, Deku told Bkg about OFA, ignoring All Mights warnings because he felt like he could not lie to Kacchan. Despite them still having a very rocky relationship at this point in the series, Deku still felt the need to tell Kacchan about OFA. He could not lie to him. He could lie to his mom, all of UA, everyone in the world, but not to Kacchan.

Fast forward to DVK2 and they are fighting out their emotions. Here, Deku talks about how, although he hated those small parts of Bakugou that bullied him, he never let the bad outshine the good. He always looked up to Bakugou and wanted to be just like him.

Deku compares how he sees Kacchan to All Might. His literal hero. The man who he idolizes like crazy. He felt closer and more inspired by Kacchan than All Might. Because Kacchan was always there next to him. In Dekus eyes, despite the bullying and all, he saw Kacchan as more than All Might.

Izuku expresses how he is the only one who can accept Bakugous feelings. Not because it is explicitly about the two of them, rather it’s because he is the only one willing to listen and understand where he is coming from. And Bakugou knows this too. He could have easily asked anyone else, but instead he chose Izuku. He trusted Deku enough to be vulnerable around him.

During this fight, Bakugou expresses how he always thought that Deku continuously looked down on him. And it’s because he has never seen such genuine kindness from anyone. He was always expected to get up on his own. All because of his quirk and how he was praised for being gifted with such. He always thought that Izuku had an “attitude” that he was so unfamiliar with.

Deku, during their fight, although he does not say it out loud because he thinks that it “sounds stupid,” talks about how he sees Kacchan and his image of victory. To him, when he thinks of victory, Kacchan is who comes to mind.

After this fight, they are able to start to see eye to eye and start to understand each other’s perspectives. Now that Bakugou knows about OFA, they start to work and grow together. Win to save and Save to win.

In the JT arc there are very fun moments between the two as they start becoming more and more friendly with each other. They continue to try and one up each other, but it is much different than before. There is a lighter undertone to their words and actions. They start hanging out in the meeting room with All Might as there is also a lot of banter between the two—this is when their relationship has started to mend. Not to mention, during this arc Deku unlocks black whip all because Monoma insulted Kacchan.

Now, after the two spend so much time together with the JT and Endeavor agency arcs, the two has become much closer than they were at the beginning of the series. The two have started to mend their bond and continue to do so.

Then, the war arc.

After realizing that Shigaraki is after OFA, Deku makes the decision to follow after him. Throughout these panels, he looks absolutely terrified. Of course, why wouldn’t he be? He is about to run into a battle field all on his own, without any support and with no one knowing what he plans to do.

However, Kacchan does.

Kacchan follows Deku to Shigaraki. He claims that it’s because he has “unfinished business” with him, but, while that may be partly true, that’s not the full truth (I.e. he wants to protect Deku.)

Now, the two have reached Shigaraki and Deku is fighting against him. Bakugou tells Deku to get away from him and that he should be the last person near him. The response Bakugou gets is that no one else can defeat Shigaraki as Kacchan watches Deku in absolute fear that he will end up being terribly hurt.

Side note: look at the terror in his eyes.. I’m gonna sob

Within this specific fight with Shigaraki, there are many heroes with the two. Some of which are Endeavor, Shouto, Rock Lock, Aizawa (injured), etc. Despite knowing that this is a child up in the air fighting Shigaraki, some (not Rock Lock, he had the right idea with questioning why children are on the battle field) look in amazement as Deku continuously breaks himself so he can try and get Shigaraki down.

However, Kacchan sees past this as he yells at the other heroes about how this is not helping Deku in the slightest and that he is going to get himself killed at the rate that he was going.

Bakugou devises a plan to try and help Deku and to get Shigaraki down as the heroes look in awe at Deku. He uses Shouto and Endeavor as they try and get up to where the two were and have Endeavor use his Prominence Burn on Shigaraki in hopes that would bring him down.

While Bakugou is flying them up to Deku, he has a flashback to a conversation with All Might.

They were training Deku with black whip. They were playing a game called “Catch a Kacchan” (I will never get over how cute this name is 😭) and they called in others to help Deku practice with quirks similar to the ones that he will eventually or has either unlocked (Uraraka for Float, Tsu for black whip, etc.)

As All Might and Bakugou watch on as Deku trains, they have a conversation.

Bakugou asks All Might why he is hiding information about the fourth user from Deku. No, he doesn’t ask, he confronts him. He confronts his childhood hero for the sake of Deku. He straight up tells All Might to stop keeping information from, knowing that this could potentially harm him.

Bakugou is upset at that point. He wishes for All Might to stop keeping secrets from them, more specifically Deku.

Then, as the two continue to talk, All Might brings up the fact that he is worried for Izuku. And Bakugou is too, to which he does not deny in any sort of way.

Note: once again, even when they’re not on the battle field, Bakugou looks so worried for Deku. Many have speculated that him looking tired throughout this chapter (ch. 284) has to do with him continuously worrying about Izuku and thinking about their past together.

Bakugou continues the conversation as he talks about how Deku does not understand how special he is. All Might brings up the idea of atonement and questions Bakugou as to whether that is what he is doing with Deku as a way to make up for their past, to which Bakugou does not disagree upon. The conversation then ends with All Might talking about how the two will eventually get to talk this out together and allow for Bakugou to express his worries for Deku to him.

Then, the scene changes back to the battle field as Endeavor uses his Prominence Burn onto Shigaraki, only for it to fail as he got right back up due to his regeneration.

The battle continues between Deku and Shigaraki (who at this point is AFO) as he releases Quirk Activation spikes in Izukus direction.

Kacchan, seeing as Deku is about to get hurt, rushes to him in an instant.

Throughout this scene, we see Bakugous inner monologue. Here, we are shown all his regrets with his and Dekus relationship. How he completely regrets bullying him in the past. Deku are his final thoughts in a moment where he thinks he is about to die.

Kacchan had his “my body moved on its own” moment as he rushed in to save Deku.

After Bakugou was hit, his first words to Deku were to try and calm him down and to tell him to not win this on his own.

Upon seeing Kacchan hurt, to even say that Deku went bat shit crazy would be an understatement. He was absolutely livid as we see him fight like never before.

As Deku continues to fight against Shigaraki, Shouto flies up with his fire quirk to catch Bakugou as he is falling, to which he eventually grabs Deku after him and Shigaraki separate and Izuku starts to fall.

After putting them on the ground, Shouto goes back and fight with Nejire.

As Iida had arrived at the battle field by this point, he tries to help an injured Bakugou get out of the battle field. However, Bakugou refuses as he continues to fight.

Here, it is revealed that Bakugou, just by seeing Deku almost die, has never felt so close to death in his lifetime. Not when Bakugou got kidnapped. Not when class 1A was attack at the USJ, not after he was stabbed. It was the thought of Deku dying that made him feel like he was about to die.

The need to get to Deku caused for a quirk evolution as he had to advance his quirk in that moment to be able to reach Deku.

After the battle is done, Bakugou falls into a 2 day coma. When he wakes up, the first thing he asks is how Deku, Todoroki, Aizawa, etc. are doing.

Upon hearing that Deku is still asleep, Kacchan rushes out of bed to get to his room despite still being heavily injured. At this moment, Bakugou knew that he would not be able to talk to Deku. He just wanted to know if he was okay. He just wanted to see him.

After having to tie him up with Tsuyus tongue, knowing that that if they tie him up with anything else he would explode it, Bakugou yells “Why am I awake while you’re still asleep?” towards Dekus room as he is being dragged away by the class.

Many have taken that line as a way of showing that Bakugou fully expected to die for Deku at that moment. And he was willing to. Seeing that his effort to protect him failed and led to Deku being in a coma only greatly upset Kacchan.

At the moment that this has been written, Deku still hasn’t woken up and Kacchan was forced back to his room.

If after reading this post you still think that bkdk is toxic because of their past, I do want you to understand that people change. We all have a past, a present, and a future. You are not who you were in your past. You are who you are in the present, and you will be someone different in the future.

Bakugou clearly regrets how he treated Deku. This is not an opinion, this is a fact. He is trying to change and mend their relationship. They are living in the present right now, not the past.

Izuku does not hold any grudge against him and even admits that he feels blessed to be able to have conversations with Kacchan.

When it comes to Bakudeku, so many only look at the first episode. Even if you’re just an anime-only, the anime has DVK2. The episode where a lot of their progression comes from.

At this point, if you still think that their relationship is toxic, then im really not sure what to tell you. If your argument is still “in the first episode...” The no. Stop. We are 300+ chapters in. These two are the main protagonists and the show literally revolves around them. They are obviously going to grow. You can’t completely ignore this growth because of what happened in the first episode. You can’t only look at the things you want to and ignore the big picture.