#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.

[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.

[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

[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.

[frenchifries]

Deltarune.com “Secret” Pages

People have already catalogued the secret pages in Google Docs (1, 2), but they’re a little scattered for my tastes, so I thought I’d try to make my own. This is a compilation of information discovered by myself and many other people, so lots of credit goes to everyone who contributed to the linked documents!

1 & 2. code & code/comments

The bottom of the sweepstakes page contains this banner...

...which links to this “blog post” in which Noelle mentions the official Dragon Blazers website (an in-universe video game many Deltarune characters play) updating with “a bunch of weird links.” The number of links mentioned was originally lower (the first reported number seems to be 14), but increased as more pages went live on the Deltarune site, capping out at 26.

The included audio file, midi-holiday-country.mp3, is a country-style rendition of jingle bells. In the post comments, Berdly attempts to convince Noelle to make him a mod or admin of the blog, which she rejects by alleging that her computer is bugged and the admin panel won’t work.

Berdly also complains that someone keeps prank calling him, as he has included his phone number in his username; the number was originally a static fake phone number (beginning with 555) but was at some point changed to randomize itself on every page load; it still has a 555 area code, and the number itself is one digit too long to be valid.

Jockington comments to ask if Dragon Blazers contains sports; it doesn’t.

3. icee

The sweepstakes page also displays one of three randomized banners. this one...

...links to a page titled Have you seen him? containing a submission from Noelle as a young child (with poor spelling and grammar) in which she encountered a creepy Ice-e’s pizza box. As we know from her room in Queen’s mansion, Noelle has had something of a fixated fear of the Ice-e character, worrying that he’s real and potentially dangerous.

The mention of Noelle’s sister at the end there is exciting! Let’s see what that links to!

4. december

...Oh. Well, you will notice this is of course a fake 404 page. It could certainly be a reference to the fact that December is known to be missing, perhaps even trapped outside of reality/within the game’s code itself. The note “had its name changed” could also be trying to make a point that Noelle’s sister doesn’t actually go by that name anymore; After all, we’ve mostly heard her referred to as...

5. dess

This page doesn’t seem to be linked from anywhere, but its existence may be intentionally hinted at by the above page. It contains a sprite of a guitar, and the page title reads * (It’s a red guitar).

When the guitar is clicked, a version of Lost Girl plays. The song is called findher.mp3, and was also uploaded as a short, titled decemberholiday.ogg, to the holidaygirl1225 Youtube channel (we might circle back on this in another post, as this one is going to be atrociously long).

All of this suggests that the song Lost Girl is indeed intended to be associated, at least in part, with our very own lost girl Dess Holiday, and that Dess may have played guitar. Interestingly, when Deltarune Chapter 2 is hacked so you can attempt to equip the Puppet Scarf to Noelle, she comments that it “feels like guitar strings.” Noelle is known to draw comparisons to things that remind her of her sister.

6. secretpipis

Now, let’s get back to those banners.

This one links to a page with an image of a single pipis, which plays a crowd gasping sound effect (crowd_gasp.mp3) when clicked. the page is titled You lost! Not much else to this one.

7. secret

The final banner we’re looking at links to a page titled But what’s behind door number one? containing a 4x4 grid of blue cabinets.

Clicking each cabinet opens it, accompanied by a sound effect labeled wing.mp3. Most will simply show the open empty cabinet and play a crowd groaning sound effect (crowd_ouch.mp3). The following cabinets will trigger different effects:

Row 1, Column 2: A Ralsei plush appears, accompanied by the adoring crowd_aww.mp3.

Row 2, Column 3: A pipis appears, accompanied by crowd_gasp.mp3.

Row 3, Column 4: A photo of an empty gumball machine appears, accompanied by crowd_ahh.mp3.

Row 4, Column 1: A cropped screenshot from the Wikipedia page for the website Superbad, a “web art” project from the late 90s.

Row 4, Column 3: Links to...

8. chair

This eerie page contains a picture of a chair with a cloth draped over its back.

Clicking the chair changes the page title from But what if it could... to ...get darker than dark? and swaps the chair with a dark, undulating version of itself, accompanied by the sound effect water.mp3.

There is also a smallish chance that clicking the chair will result in a “jumpscare” consisting of Spamton’s pixellated eyes, accompanied by the creepy laughter sound face.mp3; this jumpscare will quickly redirect to the main sweepstakes page.

9. catpetterz

Linked in the description of the “Fur-thentic Cardboard Box,” this is another blog post from Noelle in which she discusses one of her favorite games, Cat Petterz 2. The accompanying audio file is a corrupted-sounding version of the first one, midi-holiday-country.mp3, except this one is deceptively titled midi-holiday_country.mp3 – the second dash is replaced with an underscore.

I love Noelle’s discussions of weird, vaguely unsettling video game lore and mechanics. It feels very realistic to how many games, especially older ones, have aspects that aren’t inherently outright scary, but that, especially to a young mind, can come across as creepy and disturbing. I remember having plenty of irrational fears around strange video game glitches as a kid!

The link at the end here leads us to...

10. egg

Another entry from Noelle, although it seems the black and gray pages represent her personal blog or digital journal, as opposed to the pink blog where she talks about games specifically – though the page title on these entries is still “Welcome to holidaygirl1225’s game secrets, glitches, and theories blog!” so I guess it’s all supposed to be part of the same blog. The link at the end links back to /code.

In this post we learn that Noelle encountered a “special egg” in Cat Petterz that never hatched, made a weird sound when clicked, and “left home due to happiness” after being cared for as opposed to running away from neglect. She suspects the problem arose from having too many incompatible mods, but the fact that this page is linked from a second source – and that Noelle is certain the egg had a name despite being unable to remember what it was – suggests another possible source of said egg.

11. man

Sources say this page actually existed on the Deltarune website before the sweepstakes. I believe I remember seeing it as well, but I couldn’t tell you with 100% confidence. It mimics the strange hidden rooms in Chapters 1 and 2 in which Kris encounters the man who gives them eggs.

The page is titled * (Behind the tree.). – yes, with a period inside and outside the parenthesis – and clicking the space above the tree links to /egg.

12. bluecircle

Continuing Noelle’s Cat Petterz 2 saga, in this post – linked from the description of the Pipis Bath Rug – Noelle recounts the time she put some “random letters and numbers” from a mysterious spam email into the game as a mod.

When loaded, the game created a glitchy creature consisting of a single blue circle, capable of reproducing on its own until it created so many copies that the game crashed.

I wonder if Noelle’s note about how she “couldn’t explain why anyone liked it, but it was really funny to see who did XD” is meant to reflect people’s unexpected reaction to Spamton as a character 🤔

Once again, the link at the end leads back to /code.

13. kris dreemurr kriss

Let’s wrap up Noelle’s last two blog posts. They’re both marked as private, only visible to friends. This one is linked in the description for the Heart Locket. In it, Noelle recalls when she and Kris were younger and would play together at her house. Apparently Kris would sometimes play piano. The page is accompanied by an audio file called pianpian.mp3 that consists of... somewhat odd piano music.

So it seems Kris used to play piano, though we know from interacting with the hospital piano that they seem unable to do so while under the player’s control.

14. the n3w3st g1rl g1rl

Linked from the description of the Engraved Wristwatch – and no, I’m not sure what it means that the URL is spelled like that. Here Noelle describes an incident, likely shortly after Susie joined their class, in which Susie threatened Kris and said their mom would be happier without them. Yikes!

It’s interesting how Noelle seemingly recognizes how brutal this behavior is while still retaining her desire for Susie to push her around. Other people in other posts have already talked at length about Susie’s potential reasons for saying this stuff and how Kris might feel about it, so I won’t linger on it here.

15. d a m n y o u t e n n a

Now this is an interesting one! Linked in the description of the Spamton Engraved Wedding Ring – specifically, the text reading [It hurts! It Hurts!]. The page is titled DELETE THIS !. We’ve got a TV with a red X over it, and Spamton’s ramblings about how everything is someone’s fault, and that everyone will pay, except...

Mike, whose name is written in black so as to blend in with the background.

Tenna, of course, likely refers to a TV antenna. Is this another character involved in the Chapter 3 Dark World and Spamton’s backstory?

Clicking on the TV changes the page to TV static and the title to YOU’RE EARLY!, accompanied by the sound effect tv_static_bad.mp3. Scrolling down this page reveals some difficult-to-read white text that says “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? YOU SHOULDN’T BE HERE!” At the bottom of the page are two clickable images, camouflaged with the background as they also consist of TV static. The upper one changes the page yet again to a blue screen, titled AREN’T YOU FORGETTING SOMETHING? When you scroll back to the top, you will find a... door?

Which takes us to...

16. icepalace glaceir

(Yes, it’s spelled glaceir. Also for the record, the “broken image” is in fact a properly embedded image called screen.gif that intentionally mimics the old-school broken image icon.) Did I say we wrapped up Noelle’s blog posts? Sorry, I lied. It’s 2:30 in the morning where I am right now!

Ah yes, more old childhood video game weirdness. Noelle talks about a maze in Dragon Blazers where you can get stuck if you access it without the necessary character in your party. Except, in her persistent curiosity, she found a way to a door, and was able to repeat this despite feeling like the process is different every time. Unfortunately, she could never figure out how to open that door...

17. ramb

back on the static screen, we will find that the lower clickable image takes us to a... different door. The page title is Where could this be?

Clicking the door changes the title to Welcome to the Green Room! and we are greeted by a very pleasant looking room with some sofas, TVs, a bar (with a little Maus hanging up in it? Also swords?), and perhaps some sort of vending machine. A nice chill variant of the already quite chill Hip Shop, called greenroom.mp3. This seems like a shop area that will be in Chapter 3.

Each door leads to a different page. The one on the left takes us to...

18. weather

Here we seem to get a sneak peek of a couple weather-based Darkners we’ll likely encounter in Chapter 3! Exciting stuff! For some reason, the title of this page is You’re the Annoying Now Dog! (a reference to the website You’re the Man Now, Dog).

Clicking on these guys gets us a full page of them doing a little attack animation, large text that says THE WEATHER ALWAYS STICKS TOGETHER, and a variant of Rude Buster called battle_vapor.mp3.

i feel it’s worth mentioning that the 3D text effect was achieved by duplicating, resizing, repositioning, and recoloring every line multiple times (about 30-40 times each).

19. changingroom

Back in the Green Room, the door with the star on it takes us to the “changing room,” a page titled (Private...). A pink curtain awaits, just begging to be clicked.

Doing so cues up the “wing” sound effect again, and reveals a “Shadowman” putting on a sock. After a moment, he screams, using the aptly-titled scream.mp3.

There is also a chance that, instead of a Shadowman, you will find a tiny spinning Lancer!

Doing nothing will result in the curtain simply closing again, allowing you to open and close it as many times as you wish. However, you can also click on the Shadowman or Lancer before the curtain closes to go to, well, /shadowmen or /lancer! So let’s look at those.

20. shadowmen

More exciting stuff! This appears to be a preview of a Chapter 3 battle against Darkners called Shadowmen, sock-wearing cartoony gangster type characters that wield saxophones and shotguns. We get to see the Fun Gang “knock their socks off” with this cool group attack that for some reason involves wearing slick suits!

battle_vapor.mp3 also accompanies this battle. This page is also linked from the description of the Ralsei Nurse Costume For Plush.

21. lancer

Just a lil picture of a very small round Lancer, also linked in the description of the Lancer Cookie. Shares the You’re the Annoying Now Dog! title with /weather.

Clicking on Lancer does a similar thing as /weather as well, showing us a full page of repeating, spinning Lancers and large text that says HO HO HO! YOU JUST GOT LANCERED!!! with the same 3D text trick, accompanied by a fast-paced chiptune rendition of Lancer’s theme, called lancer-spin.mp3.

22. tv

Okay! Back to /ramb (the Green Room)! Finally, the door on the right leads to...

A TV, turned off. No, really, that’s all that’s on this page. I’m looking at the source code right now. It’s just this. The page title simply reads * It’s off.

23. bluebubble.rodeo

This is an odd one, as it’s not even technically hosted on deltarune.com but is its own standalone URL – which is found on the Spamton Toiler Paper. Not in the description for the toilet paper. ON the toilet paper.

Yeah, if you zoomed in to read that and decided to type in that URL, you would be greeted by a picture of Kris and Susie in cowboy attire on a page titled Get ready for 2 minutes of mildly entertaining shoot-out action! Clicking on the image plays a whip sound effect (whip.mp3).

24. blink

A page titled What? depciting Susie in her dark world outfit lying down asleep.

Clicking on her will cause her to open her eyes, appearing confused. She will proceed to blink at random intervals, with each blink accompanied by blink.mp3.

Clicking on her again will put her back to sleep.

25. sighting

A page titled SIGHTING 1997 depicting a slow zoom in on a grainy black and white photograph of a Spamton plush sitting on a toilet. Clicking anywhere on the page switches to a different photo and causes digitalroots.mp3 to start playing.

26. dog

I... don’t know why I saved this one for last. It’s not the most exciting page. I was just trying to group things together in ways that made sense, and these last few pages sort of wound up here at the end. Sorry.

This one is pretty straightforward. Titled HALL OF FAME, it’s linked from the description of the Championship Belt. Clicking on the image causes the Annoying Dog to appear in the picture frame, with the words BEST INU emblazoned across the plaque, and playing a triumphant variation of HEY EVERY ! simply called dog.mp3.

conclusion?

So, depending on how you count up all these pages – does /code count even though it introduces the idea of the secret pages? does /code/comments count as its own page? – that brings us to 26 pages, the final number mentioned in Noelle’s original blog post.

It took me a long time to write up and format this post! I think we’re approaching the 5 hour mark. So I hope the information here is cool and interesting to everyone, and if anyone has any questions, comments, addendums, or corrections, feel free to let me know.

Oh, and if you haven’t already, be sure to check out Toby’s September status update! Some neat stuff is in there.

[tomthesoftie]

her hidden crystal tears

❧ synopsis: keeping a relationship under covers isn’t an easy feat. when a popular, successful jock of a college, who has many obsessive fans, dates an average student, they decide that it’s better to keep their relationship secret due to safety reasons, but when the jock starts to become more ignorant of how their s/o is feeling, what might happen to their barely stable relationship?

❧ pairing: jock!tom x fem!reader

❧ genre: angst

❧ warnings: lots of angst (?), petty girl fights technically harassment, crying, pent-up emotions, unhealthy coping

❧ a/n: this is an unedited fic, as always and I didn’t know how to end it because I had two endings in mind. I might write both endings (angst and fluff) or maybe I’ll let you guys suffer lmao I’m kidding I originally was writing a blurb about the reader hiding their emotions/hiding their tears by feigning happiness, but I ended up writing like a 2500+ word fic lmao. also if some shit seems wack, it’s because I posted this on my phone.

alternate fluff ending here: let them flow

masterlist                     prompt list                     add yourself on my taglist!

Swerving through the large crowd, you found yourself a seat on the filled bleachers, squeezing to fit in the front rows to spot your boyfriend. Looking about, you located your brunette partner jogging into the field arms raised in the air, pointing towards the crowd you were hidden in. He waved his hand mindlessly, eyes scanning the ocean of screaming schoolmates and “fangirls.” His gaze finally fell on you, and his face lit up, bringing a pink haze to your cheeks as he blew a kiss in your direction. The girls sat beside you screamed out, pretending to catch his kiss and sending one back. 

You and Tom decided to keep your relationship under covers, due to the overly obsessive “fangirls.” Both of you knew it would be the best option to keep you safe. If you were ever injured or threatened by one of his “fangirls,” Tom wouldn’t be able to forgive himself. 

Tom held the leather ball in the crook of his arm, with the other pushing his way through the attacking team. Calculating his success, he dove into a touchdown, scoring him and his team the winning point. 

The anticipating crowd jumped up, cheering loudly and hugging one another, whereas the visitor team’s crowd let out a loud, mutual sigh of disappointment. 

You jumped out of your seat, screaming out your lungs as you stared, wide-eyed, at your beaming boyfriend. His teammates had lifted him into the air, tossing him about. You giggled as he caught your eye, slyly winking at you. 

Lost in your own world, you almost ran down to where Tom was before you saw a hoard of girls jumping and reaching their arms out to grab at him. Frowning, you walked away from the crowd to retreat to the warmth of Tom’s car. 

You scrolled through the collection of images you and Tom had had together, warmly smiling at the memories. You let out a breathy laugh, selecting on one specific memory: Tom’s head laid on your lap, eyes shut, and lips puckered lightly as he let out even breaths. 

The car door beside you opened, shaking you out of your train of thought. 

“Hey,” your eyes were met with the blue pupils you weren’t expecting. 

“Haz?” You looked behind him, hoping to find your beloved boyfriend. 

“Tom — um — he told me to drive you back to the dorms, said he would be heading to the celebratory party,” Harrison explained, eyes shaking with concern and sympathy. 

“Oh, I understand,” your smile not quite making it to your eyes.

“He was being hoarded by his,” Haz hesitates, “fangirls. He didn’t want you to get involved.”

“It’s all good, Hazzy. No need to worry about me,” you let out a feigned laugh. 

You stepped into the warm building, waving Harrison goodbye. Another football victory, same schedule. 

You go to Tom’s game to support and cheer him on, Tom wins, you avoid him, Tom’s “fangirls” hoard him, you wait in Tom’s car, Harrison comes instead of Tom, Harrison brings you back to your dorm while Tom goes to his party, you fall asleep in your own arms: the ‘Tom’s football victory’ schedule, named and created by you. 

To say the least, you weren’t fond of the last half of the schedule. You always were left alone to celebrate Tom’s victory on your own, while Tom was doing who-knows-what at the afterparty. 

In full honesty, you were slowly growing tired of hiding your affection for one another. You didn’t know how much longer you could hold onto this style of dating. If the pair of you were going to date, you would date publicly and however you wanted, whether it meant risking your safety or not. Besides, you weren’t some helpless girl that doesn’t and can’t protect herself.

The next day, you woke up with an aching head and puffy eyes. Groaning, you looked into your mirror located at the corner of your room. You flinched at the sight of your pink, tear-stained cheeks and tangled, mop hair. Pushing yourself off the soft mattress, you stumbled into your bathroom, prepping a warm shower to start your day off fresh.

With your laptop and notebook resting in your arms, against your chest, you made your way to your next lecture. You walked sluggishly across the large campus, occasionally catching a glimpse of passing football team members. 

A specific group you walked past caught your attention. You saw the familiar brunette curls in your peripheral vision, immediately making you turn your gaze towards it. You saw his warm smile as he chuckled with his group of friends, some of his “fangirls” giggling along with the group. 

There Tom stood, laughing and joking about with his peers, radiating happiness. He was basking in the attention he received from his friends and “fans.” 

You tried to catch his eye, and you swore you did for a split second, but he only walked past you as if you weren’t even there. Not even a hidden smile or wink of acknowledgment was sent your way. 

Your walking came to a stop as you frowned at your boyfriend’s back. You wanted to shout out his name, call for his attention. You wanted to nuzzle into his chest, breathing in his scent. You wanted to look into his chocolate-pooled eyes, see the twinkle of adoration as he stared at you. Nevertheless, you couldn’t. You couldn’t do anything with Tom in public, for you were just another girl on campus, trying to get by, and Tom was the successful jock with a bright future ahead.

You walked into the large room, taking a seat, conveniently, in front of Tom. This time, you were the one to not spare him a single glance, albeit he probably wasn’t expecting or looking for one. 

You tried your best to listen and focus on the lecture, but the consistent whispers behind your back began to nag at your patience. You leaned your down further into your notes, as if it could fix the slowly kindling fire in you. Checking the clock, you saw that only five minutes of the lecture had passed, and your professor had barely said anything. 

“Five minutes? I swear it felt like half of the lecture had gone by. And the professor. I swear he had just said like tons of important information,” you muttered to yourself under your breath, catching a few students’ gazes. 

You gently pounded a fist into your temple, forcing your attention onto the lined sheets of paper on your desk. You expected to see notes, not illegible scribbles. You silently groaned, switching the sheet for a new, clean page. You took a deep breath and began jotting down the key points of the presentation that was being projected onto the large whiteboard. 

A feminine voice cleared their throat beside you, “Excuse me.”

You looked up from your work, a glare on your face as you were pulled out of your focus once again.

“Can I help you?” You asked, irritated. 

“Uh, yes, you can. You can help me by moving yourself to that seat over there,” she pointed at an empty seat across the room, “and giving this,” she placed her hand on the desk, atop you notes, “seat to me.”

You scoffed, “And why should I?”

“Oh, honey,” you cringed at the nickname, “Tommy, here,” she nodded towards Tom, “shouldn’t have to suffer by looking at your terrible hair. Like, honestly, do you even care for your looks?”

You were practically fuming in your seat, but to avoid trouble, you responded with a monotonous voice, “I’m sure “Tommy” can take care of himself. Spare us both the inconvenience, and go sit yourself on that empty seat because if you couldn’t tell, I’m occupying this spot.”

“Who do you think you are?” She shouted, hand crumpling your notes.

Furrowing your brows, you grabbed at your notes, hoping to spare them.

“Move your ugly ass before I kick you off this seat,” she threatened, pulling you by your hair.

The professor stopped talking, glaring at the pair of you. You took it as a sign to shut up and not fight back.

Fist clenching, nails creating red crescents in your palm, you stood up, pushing the girl off of you, ignoring her gasp. You grabbed your notes and laptop, turning to see if Tom would defend you, but when you saw his passive expression, you let out a quiet laugh of disappointment, carrying yourself to the back of the room. 

For the rest of the class, you stood in the back, writing your notes with blurry, tear-filled vision. Although you were still in shock due to the event that had unfolded minutes into the lecture, you wouldn’t let it falter how you were doing in school. 

As soon as you were dismissed, you bolted out of the room, heading to your safe haven on campus. 

Not many people, if any, knew about the hidden garden located within the campus’s vast park. You had only discovered it by accident when you were a freshman looking for your way around campus. 

The first thought you had when you walked in was that you were transported into a different dimension. Thinking back on it, you were naive to think that, but you were still justified. Anyone would think such a beautiful place couldn’t belong to the aggressivity and rashness of this world. The variant shades of light green and pastel pink flowers growing between the weeds of grass gave the place a heavenly feeling, followed by the mist that sparkled under the sunlight. 

You dropped yourself at the thick tree’s stump, letting your notes and laptop slip out of your grasp. You cried into your knees, pouring out all of your stresses. Your breaths were short and heaved, occasional hiccups bubbling from your lips. Your sobs slowly lulled you closer to sleep, emotional and physical fatigue catching up to you. That is, until you heard the recognizable clang of the door handle hitting against the wooden door.

“Darling,” the accented voice you longed to hear spoke up.

Quickly wiping away your tears and sniffling away any evidence of your sorrow, you stood up, “Tommy!” A feigned smile lay on your supple skin as you ran over to your boyfriend, embracing him in your arms, “What’s up?”

“Are you alright? I’m sorry I didn’t speak up for you during class. I should’ve told that girl to get her hands off you,” he stroked your hair, “She didn’t hurt you, did she?” 

Letting a pained giggle out, you shook your head, “Nope, I’m fine. You know how strong I am.”

“I really, really did want to speak up, but you know that we should keep our relationship under covers, for your sake,” he spoke gently, placing a kiss on your head.

You scowled into his shirt but kept up your cheerful facade, chirping, “Mhm, safety.”

“I knew you’d understand,” he sighed. His hold on you weakened, “I should get going, though. The group will start to wonder where I’ve gone.”

You frowned, pulling away from him.

“Don’t be like that, darling,” he cooed, “I’ll come over tonight. Don’t worry.”

You let out a sarcastic laugh, “Of course, as you always do.”

His brows furrowed at your sudden mood shift, “What are you on, darling?”

“Oh, nothing,” you chirp, hopping back to the tree, collecting your notes and laptop. “Go ahead, meet with your friends. Leave me behind like you always do,” you murmur the last half.

“Love?” His voice neared you, and you barely registered the stray tears betraying you, rolling down your peachy cheeks. 

Quickly bringing up a hand to wipe the wetness away, you keep your back facing Tom.

“Shouldn’t you be going? Don’t want your friends to worry,” you laughed, lightly. A hand placed itself on your shoulder, the sudden contact startling you. “You scared me, Tommy. You shouldn’t do that,” you giggle, hiding your true emotions, “You know how easily scared I am.”

“Darling, can you look at me?” He asked, quietly, concern lacing his tone. 

“What for, Tommy?” You inquired, nervously laughing.

“You’re acting quite… strange,” he explained.

“No need to worry about me, bubs. I’m as peachy as always,” you quipped, shoulders bouncing in emphasis.

“I’m giving you one more chance to turn, or I will do it for you,” he said, sternly. 

You stayed, unmoving, forcing Tom to turn you with his raw strength. At first, you tried to fight it, but you came to the revelation that there was no way you could overpower him.

When you met his warm, liquid eyes, you felt your own tear up, and suddenly, your shoes were an intriguing sight. 

“Baby, please look at me,” he whispered, hands rubbing up and down your arms.

You shook your head in denial, trying to keep your weakness hidden.

“It breaks me to see you this way,” he lifted your face with a finger to your chin. His thumb moved to wipe away your crystal tears.

“Then leave,” you hissed, weakly.

“W-What?” Tom stuttered at the unforeseen reply.

“I’m tired, Tom. I’m tired of hiding, of you ignoring me and me, you. How long are we going to do this? It’s so stupid, all of it,” you dropped your head again, this time of fatigue.

“B-But, you know why we’re doing this-” you cut him off.

“I know, and I can’t help but think that this was a stupid choice,” you motioned between the two of you, “You’re barely around me, and on campus, you don’t even acknowledge me. On the slim chance I do have you to myself, it can only last for so long. At this point, it feels like we’re not even together.”

“I-I don’t understand. What are you trying to say?” Fear filled his eyes as the pit in his stomach became more and more noticeable.

“I think it would be better if-” you stuttered in a breath, “if we took a break.”

“Why? Just because we’re hiding our relationship? You know why I- we chose to keep it secret,” he rushed out his words, hands gripping yours.

“Do I? Do I really? Today was display enough that even though we act like we don’t know each other, I’ll still get harassed by those “fans” of yours. Not to mention, you saw it all unravel, and what did you do? Nothing. There’s no practicality to keeping our relationship hidden because either way, some “fans” will go overboard no matter who the person. Also, I think I showed that I can defend myself from crazy people when I pushed that girl off of me today,” you spoke, ferocity and resentment spurring you on.

“I know I messed up when I didn’t help you, but I thought about our relationship-” you scoffed.

“So what? Even if we weren’t in a relationship, you should’ve helped a girl out. Especially when she’s getting harassed because of you,” you jabbed a finger into his chest.

“Tell me how to make it better. I want to make it better. Don’t end us, please,” he begged, gripping your hand tighter.

“Stop, Tom. I told you that I want to take a break. Besides, it won’t be any different to how our normal relationship is,” you laughed. Pulling your arm out of his grasp, you walked away, “Now, I won’t have to waste any tears on you anymore.”

[syzekrom]

This is a translation of Nintendo Dream August 2017, an interview with Kumazaki that covers the story of Amazing Mirror and Team Kirby Clash Deluxe, insight on Planet Robobot, and Kumazaki's game-making days as a student.

I originally decided to translate this for the info about Dark Mind and King D-Mind, but I ended up looking at the whole thing, since it also has info about PR and Kumazaki despite being a TKCD interview. I got these scans of the interview from a friend who said they got them from MeteorZ, as he uses them in one of his lore videos. But besides certain segments shown in his videos, I don't believe this has been fully translated, so I've taken the liberty of doing it, since the information of this interview is a massive gap in knowledge for most Kirby fans I've talked to.

Unlike my previous translations, I'm not including the Japanese text, only the translation, because firstly there's a lot of text and it looks really cluttered, and secondly because well it's from an image and I'd have to like transcribe with Google Lens or something and then fix it up.

Everyone! Kirby Hunters Z Character & Worldbuilding Background

Shinya Kumazaki-san

Chief Creator in Development Department #1 of HAL Laboratory Development Headquarters. Involved in development of Kirby since GC “Kirby’s Airride”, currently oversees the entire series as the General Director.

Interview with General Director Kumazaki

(This is the random blurb on the left under the box with 3DS in it) As with the last issue, this issue is also a feature on Kirby! From General Director Kumazaki, we’ll share the secret development stories of “Everyone! Kirby Hunters Z” (Hereafter “Hunters Z”) not told in the game. As well, news on the new title “Kirby’s Great Inhale Offensive” releasing this summer!

Everyone! Kirby Hunters Z is the Japanese name of Team Kirby Clash Deluxe.

Kirby’s Great Inhale Offensive is the Japanese name of Kirby’s Blowout Blast.

What is “Everyone! Kirby Hunters Z”?

Choose 1 job you prefer from “Sword Hero”, “Heavy Hammer”, “Heal Doctor”, and “Magic Beam”, and four Kirbys will cooperate to defeat giant enemies in this co-op action game. You’ll level up as experience points accumulate. Buy and equip weapons and armor and challenge various quests!

(Ice Dragon battle and Colossal Waddle Dee quest board caption) ←↑Play with up to 4 players using local communications by bringing multiple 3DSs with the software. There are more than 40 types of quests to play and it’s outstandingly non-repetitive!

遊び応え = worth playing/satisfying/deep/fulfilling gameplay/non-repetitive or something

★ The Reason Bandana Waddle Dee was Chosen as the Guide of Pupupu Kingdom

― Why is the bandana-wearing Waddle Dee kindly and politely instructing Kirby on this and that?

Kumazaki: When we set out to create an RPG-style world called the Pupupu Kingdom, we needed a background character to be a resident of the kingdom. I thought that a Waddle Dee would obviously be suited to be a citizen, but to stand out as an individual, it was necessary that they were someone who would make you want to start a conversation. Also, the first quest is a fight with Grand Waddle Dee… it’s tricky in a series like “Kirby”.

― What does that mean?

Kumazaki: Waddle Dees are considered enemies. However, the bandana-wearing Waddle Dee participated as one of the friends within “Kirby of the Stars Wii”, and was an assistant that gave you things such as healing items in “Kirby of the Stars: Triple Deluxe” and “Kirby of the Stars: Robobo Planet”. Also, a bandana itself is very easy to handle, and matches the aesthetic of whatever world. It matches the middle-ages RPG style worldbuilding, and also it's naturally a perfect match for Kirby’s world. Bandana Waddle Dee is super convenient because he solves a whole variety of problems at once (Laughs).

(Grand Waddle Dee battle caption) ↑The first fight is this Grand Waddle Dee. Fight in order to stop its rampage.

― I see (Laughs). Speaking of Waddle Dee’s, I’ve been curious for a while, can they speak human languages?

Kumazaki: Because Waddle Dees don’t have a mouth, they speak as per the sound effect that sounds like monyo monyo. I don’t know if they can speak human languages, perhaps Kirby senses whatever the Waddle Dees are saying.

(Talking to the town guide caption) ↑So Kirby senses Bandana Waddle Dee’s messages!

― Kirby doesn’t speak much either.

Kumazaki: I think Kirby should be silent. But if you do that, it means that there isn’t any character who’ll talk. For “Kirby of the Stars Wii”, I left most of the dialogue to Magolor.

― So that’s how it was.

Kumazaki: I think having the minimal amount of messages that can make characterization recognizable is sufficient for building emotion and story. I think it's on a title by title basis as needed, and would not be the case if a Kirby game is created that would be enhanced by characters speaking more lines.

Very iffy on what this second sentence actually says. タイトルごとに必要に応じてとは思いますが､もしセリフを喋った方が盛り上がる「カービィ」のゲームが誕生するのであれば、その限りではないかなと。

★ A Story That’s Made Deep and Summarized Simply

― How is the World of “Hunters Z” Made?

Kumazaki: Although the backstory I created was deep, I decided I wanted the game to be simple to play, so not every element was included. I decided to imply the story in “Hunters Z” through illustrations and other means, but while the gameplay itself was solidified, I adjusted the story portion quite a bit with director Todo (Yumi-san). I shrunk the volume to the minimum acceptable for an action game, so even after clearing it, you could continue talking about how this game is based on fragmented information, even when not playing the game. 

(Prologue caption) ↑Things such as an appearance that resembles reading a book, and visual accompaniment in the style of illustrations were devised to enhance the imagination! 

★ That Mirror Created the Another Bosses

Parallel Bosses are called Another Bosses in Japanese

― Where exactly did Another (Parallel) Susie come from? 

Kumazaki: The backstory emerged from the Another Dimension Road that was in “Kirby of the Stars Wii”. What connected to Another Dimension was the power of the magic-possessing "Distorted Black Dimension Mirror" which Taranza used, and consequently the balance of the worlds collapses, resulting in Another (Parallel) Susie and the others being summoned. As a result of Taranza’s desire to revive Queen Sectonia using that Distorted Mirror, Another (Parallel) versions of past bosses are born one after the other, and in the end, as he loses control, even Taranza’s own alter-ego/offshoot (分身), Dark Taranza, is born.

Another Dimension Road is removed from the English description for riding Landia and the cutscene title for Magolor shooting you down, but it's still mentioned once in Magolor's conversations, translated as interdimensional tunnel. Planet Robobot translates it as extra-dimensional road. It is the road that leads to a variety of other dimensions and connects Popstar to Halcandra... essentially literally everything we've seen of Another Dimension is the Another Dimension Road.

(Parallel Susie caption) →So, another world’s Susie was summoned. She’s not wearing her gold hair ornament, the little differences are curious!

★ How the Last Boss Mutated Into Dark Mind’s Appearance

― The mastermind behind the story is Taranza, but the true last boss betrays fans’ expectations well…!

Kumazaki: Given that Taranza manipulated Great King Dedede as the Hero of the Lower World in “Kirby of the Stars: Triple Deluxe”, King D-Mind was created from the “Distorted Mirror” as what Dark Taranza considers the most savage individual. The backstory of “Kirby of the Stars: The Great Labyrinth of Mirrors” is that “Evil minds were gathered and born within the Dimension Mirror”. This time, Taranza’s evil mind gathers in King D-Mind, who is not the actual Great King Dedede, and consequently, Dark Mind emerges from within his body. Dark Taranza produced what he considered to be the strongest warrior,  but despite his efforts, in the end he’ll be discarded, a development typical for Taranza. 

(King D-Mind emerging from the Distorted Mirror caption) ↑It’s not actually him since it’s a being created from the mirror, but it’s been quite a while since Great King Dedede appeared as the last boss?

Guess they're ignoring Fighters Deluxe, lol.

(King D-Mind swinging his axe and his Dark Mind core caption) →His attacks and movements are (the same as) Great King Dedede’s… or so you think, but during the second phase, he transforms into the figure on the right

(Masked Dedede's Revenge caption) ↑Great King Dedede battles Kirby while manipulated by Taranza. His attacks using an ax rather than the usual hammer are impactful

(Dark Mind caption) ←Dark Mind’s final form looks like a big eyeball.

(Dark Mind chase caption) →At the end of the battle, he turns small and tries to escape… and is chased and destroyed! 

Interview Tidbits 1

Hidden Episodes of Storytelling

An interview with Kumazaki-san was published in the previous Kirby of the Stars 25th Anniversary feature. This time, we will deliver a secret episode on the story production of “Kirby of the Stars: Robobo Planet” and memories of game development as a student. 

Kumazaki: When creating a story that appeals with a new world design and emotions, I thought about what would have the greatest emotional impact. So, I came up with the backstory of a father who became a money-grubber and forgets his beloved daughter (that or a daughter loses her memories of her father). Since I had a daughter myself, I thought that nothing could be more shocking... The love between a parent and child is very exciting. So, Planet Robobot’s story is a story I made as what I thought would have the greatest emotional impact at the time.

(Susie giving you an Invader Armor caption) ←The story’s impression changes with the perspective that the company president’s secretary was his blood-related daughter.

(Kumazaki caption) "The games are made with the quality of being an all-ages game not just made for children, but also played by beginners."

Very iffy about this sentence too. 「子供向けでなく、初心者でも遊べる、全年齢のゲームとしてのクオリティを意識して作っています」

★ Why the First Boss was Kracko

― Why is the first Ordeal Quest Boss not Whispy Woods?

Kumazaki: Whispy Woods appeared as a boss in the previous sub-game version entry, so I decided I wanted a change, and the main reason is that Kracko did not appear in the previous entry. Unlike the bosses up until then that are fought on land, Kracko flies in the air, so he was suitable to be a demonstrative boss battle for team tactics. Whispy Woods is the “Kirby” series’ early skill check boss, but Grand Waddle Dee fulfills that role in this title.

(Whispy Woods battle caption) ↑Now that he’s not the first boss, he seems a bit tougher than before!?

★ The Scene Itself is Sometimes Changed Due to the Music

― The music in “Hunters Z” is pretty good too. The Ordeal Quest’s BGM is particularly intense!

Kumazaki: The music is titled “Save the Kingdom! Ordeal Quest” (Composition: Hirokazu Ando-san), it’s a cool track I’d like to use in the main “Kirby” series. I thought it would be more exciting if people went “Oh!” at the first Ordeal Quest, so I wanted a boss suited to this track to appear. So, I thought, rather than Whispy Woods… Kracko! The sense of accomplishment of Ordeal Quests is big in this title, and the 完成度 quality of this track became an influence on the game's excitement. The directing may be arranged based on the outcome of the music. In the past in “Kirby of the Stars Wii”, in order to make the Grand Doomer battle more exciting, instead of the usual boss theme, it was given a different stage theme as his own theme to make it ostensibly seem like it was the Last Battle.

完成度 'degree of perfection/completion' is a made-up term in Japanese art critique that can simply mean quality, but could also mean the accuracy of the final product to the original intent, or if the final product was worth what was invested into it. Or like... literally anything else as far as I can tell.

(Kracko battle caption) ←Kracko is a classic boss just like Whispy Woods!

― Did changing the whole game based on music come about from a development structure with Kumazaki-san at its center?

Kumazaki: Maybe… I think so. I ask each composer “Please make a theme like this”, but it may or may not be the case that the result has more impact than I thought. Rather than adjusting the 完成度 quality by repeatedly retaking in order to fall in line with the specifications decided at the start, good things are good, so I find the best scenario to use them.

― Your impression (of the music) expands when you listen to the music, doesn’t it?

Kumazaki: That’s right. I work while listening throughout the day. So, if we make a lot of good themes, we readjust the boss battle direction to match.

― It’s growing more and more over the top, isn’t it (Laughs).

Kumazaki: You can’t make it so that a theme is always rising in temperature towards the climax. For example, although a theme might have been made for the first stage, it sounds like it’s from the climax no matter how I think about it (Laughs). If a stage theme from the second half sounds like a battle theme, that theme can be a boss battle theme, or if there aren’t enough extremely Kirby-like themes, Kirby-like themes from the second half can be brought to the front… that’s how I develop. The last boss themes always get finished as I imagined them, but the last boss themes in this title even explains the backstory through the change in music.

Interview Tidbits 2

Memories of Game-Making Starting as a Student

― Is there anything that was particularly memorable in your experience making games?

Kumazaki: I started out around when I was a student. When I was in elementary school, I tried making games like Sugoroku, or messing around voluntarily making wild drawings of the map for something like W9-1 or W10-1 of “Super Mario”. I didn’t have access to a computer, so I was a painter-type. However, once “RPG Maker” (※1) and “Dezaemon” (※2) were released for home game consoles, I started making games that could actually be played.

Sugoroku is a Japanese board game similar to Backgammon.

― It’s now the age where you can make games with games.

Kumazaki: So when I was around 18, I got my friends to form a team and enter an “RPG Maker” game contest (※3). But as we were making it, we realized we wouldn’t make it in time for the application deadline as things were. Even if there’s a team, if you’re making it for fun and the power balance is even, there’s no such sense of duty like “If this can’t be done in time, it should stop”, so development speed doesn’t increase.

Japanese doesn't require I or we so I've just assumed anything ambiguous as we in this story of the contest.

― By the way, what kind of RPG did you make?

Kumazaki: Depicting the Hero’s solitude and the world after the subjugation of the Demon King… We were trying to make an RPG with a long story. But we thought “We can’t make the deadline at this rate!”, so we used the assets that we had then, and remade them into an action RPG. Furthermore, we put together a schedule and wrote “Complete graphics by here” on the calendar. Recently, I suddenly realized, I was reorganizing a project back then!

― Amazing (Laughs).

Kumazaki: Looking back on how we strived from our predicament until its completion, we were also learning a lot about game-making, and I think we did a great job. It was good experience to cram as much as we could into the title, completing it, and having it properly evaluated in the contest.

― As a result, you were chosen for the grand prize in the contest.

Kumazaki: That’s right. My dream of making games that I’ve always had since I was a child has come true. That’s why I’m really happy every day now, and I feel thankful while creating.

(HAL Lab blog and photoshoot caption) ↑Kumazaki-san wrote about the interview published in last month’s edition on the HAL Lab blog. Behind the scenes of the shoot, the editor-in-chief was also taking photos. 

(MONSTER SCHOOL caption) ←This is the RPG which won the grand prize, “MONSTER SCHOOL”. The protagonist is a teacher.

Annotations

※1: As the name suggests, it's a software that allows you to create RPGs. Released on various platforms, from PCs to home consoles.

※2: A software that allows you to make shooting games. Kumazaki-san was playing the Super Famicom version of "Dezaimon".

※3: A game contest with prize money as the grand prize that selects an original game made with "RPG Maker". Kumazaki-san used the "RPG Maker" series and applied for the "ASCII Entertainment Software Contest" and "Tag de Maker Contest".

[electronicdelusionstarlight]

I’m on computer this time so it’s time for a proper Inscryption spoiler post about the recent news over Old Data, this time with photos.

SPOILERS FOR NOT JUST INSCRYPTION BUT ALSO THE HEX.

Ok, now that we can talk.

0) FIRST OFF, THE LUCKY CARDER YOUTUBE CHANNEL:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJRJ0UymMLfutSy0RBxYH4w

Honestly go check it out for more mind fuck. It contains some The Hex spoilers tho.

1) Someone on Reddit checked the files for Inscryption to specifically check the photos that show up during the final OLD_DATA sequence.

https://www.reddit.com/r/inscryption/comments/qgfdk8/i_finished_the_game_and_now_i_cant_sleep/

This is what they found:

Hitler’s Bunker.

I think it’s a generic bunker image this one.

A non combatant certificate for the department of defence from 1954 for a certain Barry Reginald Wilkinson. Reasons for issuing this certificate are unknown.

AI generated image of a person that does not exist.

A pocket.

A field on the side of a road.

Whatever the fuck this is also seems to be a recurring image within the files of the game.

2) On a side note, after getting a better look at the Sado freeze frame, and it’s apparently only on Amanda (The supposed GameFuna’s employee that ends up shooting Luke), specifically replacing her face with hers.

Given how it’s implied that Sado escaped the game world at the end of The Hex, and is now in our reality, Amanda might simply be the body she’s currently using to achieve her goals, since shapeshifting was one of her many powers.

Sado for reference (The other guy is a cooking game character that was forced into a fighting game against his will, when all he wanted to do was bake pies with his Grandma).

Sado is also a Malware Character created by Carla Dosa, Lionel Snill’s former best friend and top employee, who decided to curse him after he ran away with the money and mass sacked his other workers after the Secrets of Legendaria fiasco, by having her infect all of his games. She designed her for the fighting game as the ONE OF TWO only female characters in the game, because Lionel was a sexist asshole about it too, got really angry over the other female character being a generic scantly clad elven woman, which topped with the fact she not only had to drop her last year of university to start working for him, but also the fact that post SoL she ended up ruined by her association with the game AND by the fact her supposed best friend just, again, sacked her with no severance and ran away with all the money that were left, which, again, led her to create Sado the malware.

Sado is also demonic in origin, since Carla used devil magic or some shit in the code when she made her, which would explain the following point:

3) So, in Act 3, you can get something called “Holopelts,” a virtually useless item since the Trader is nowhere in sight, as Po3 points out. If you get all of them you get an achievement.

However, if you reach the final stage, and open the lock in the room to Golly’s left in the game board, the room to your left OUTSIDE OF THE GAMEBOARD will be opened, and the Trader, now permanently fused with the Trapper and using They Pronouns, will be there as an hologram, where you can trade secrets for your pelts.

The secrets are what she could see from the OLD_DATA.

The “Secrets” Cards, styled after the Major Arcana, and are physical cards in the same style as Grimoria’s cards from her Gamemaster game, and are therefore thus:

0) THE FOOL: The card is a large ear. The card refers to someone known as “Big Ear,” who did not outlive his plot, and who helped smuggle OLD_DATA from across the sea, but was ultimately discovered and gunned down. The person in question is Barry Wilkinson, the man from the Department of Defence card, as the Trader refers to him as “Poor Barry.”

III) THE EMPRESS: Featuring a skeleton person at a computer with a triangle in hand (Gamefuna’s logo is a blue triangle), the card represents Kaycee, the Game Dev of Inscryption. There were probably other game devs, but Kaycee is the one who was doing quality testing and control of it, and whose name was also “inscrybed” into one of the characters, one of Grimoria’s three skeleton underlings. The secrets ends with the reveal that she found OLD_DATA in her testing, and discovered many things in it.

XIII) DEATH: A skeleton with behind a radiation symbol. It’s the Karnoffel Code, the thing the Mychologist, who is rejected by all 4 scribes in the base game and is a secret boss fight in the third act, is trying to understand by combining two identical codes together. The Trader has managed to understood some of it, and is horrified by their discovery.

“The Code is in the Cards, and then Oblivion”

Incidentally, Luke Carder is also trying to figure out the code IRL, but the camera feed, again, currently controlled by a GameFuna product, always cuts out or turns the CC to binary when he’s about to mention it, making it look like he’s simply going insane due to the nature of the game, or even OLD_DATA.

That said, the five Tarot Cards the Trader has been showing you each have 8 numbers in binary, which in order from 0 to XVI give you the following code:

0) 00000000 III) 00000011 XIII) 00001101 XV) 00001111 XVI) 00010000

(Which appears to be their number in Binary)

XV) THE DEVIL: OLD_DATA. The Trader claims the data is a curse, so malignant it will never be erased, and who is a corrupting influence on every character in the game. It is the one to blame for the Scrybes animosity toward one another, and it is the one who created the Karnoffel code.

FUN FACT: Karnoffel is the first recorded card game in existence.

XVI) THE TOWER: A resplendent tower with a triangle on top of it. The Trader admits they do not know about the specifics of the creation of the game itself, so the Tower symbolizes the place where it was created, GameFuna’s headquarters. The Trader then concludes that a Blue Man visited them while they were being created.

The Blue Man is another The Hex character, Irving:

Irving isn’t actually a game character, he’s a digital assistant from GameWerks, a program for videogame making sponsored by GameFuna (Much like CameraWerks, the program Luke is using to make videos, is).

He’s seen as an enforcer of the developer of by the other game character, and is usually a slave driver among other things. He appears in one of the corrupted videos in Luke Carder’s Youtube channel, right as he cripples a videogame character almost to death due to its obsolescence.

This means that, during development, the Blue Triangle Powers (GameWerks) were used to beat the world of Inscryption into space, which we could already assume by the presence of another Stock Character from the GameWerks engine, the Mechanic Goblin Biker Girl that Fixes Bridges and other Roadblocks (TM).

4) The Mychologist Secret Boss Battle.

If you created all 4 instances of spore cards during act 2, you will gain a key that will allow you to enter the Mychologist’s hut in Act 3, hidden away in a secret zone, roughly in the same place it would be during act 2.

The Mychologist will take control of Po3, and will begin experimenting with you in a boss battle, while also using actual actors for their images in the bot’s screen.

Notice, if you will, that the bigger head happens to be the same as Barry, the Spy who smuggled OLD_DATA across the seas.

At the end of the boss battle, the Mychologist will be able to combine two cards into one, creating this:

It’s a fragment of the old code, which prompts the Mychologist to erase Po3 memory of what happened, and remove themselves from its programming, going off to study the code somewhere else.

5) Side note, but during the very last video we see of Luke, the camera begins emitting strange sounds the SECOND he starts mentioning Inscryption to a journalist on the phone, which then leads to Amanda’s “visit” right as he mentions her, which gives credit to the theory that GameFuna is controlling the camera, if not outright Sado.

Nothing else I could find for now, however the Discord is actively working on it as we speak.