#'how is this working So Well in-game but not in my writing software' and i think i have Some idea of why

[hua-fei-hua]

truly nothing could ever hope to compare to the feeling of spending over half an hour looking through one's font collection to switch up a thing only to decide to use the font you'd been using originally will suffice

#thirty minutes is actually severely lowballing it #also this post is mostly abt how i've been editing the gnshn font to be Not Bold for reasons that are like 45% enrichment 30% for Me #and like 25% for friends/just so that this can Exist and also not be weirdly painful to look at when writing #bc it Also bothers me when writing that this font doesn't have ligatures which like #at first i thought it was crazy that i didn't notice it in-game but then i paid more attn to it in-game and i was like #'how is this working So Well in-game but not in my writing software' and i think i have Some idea of why #the heavier weight makes it easier to read against the varied backgrounds as well as at smaller varied font sizes #it's also white text with a thin dark outline in-game to give it a bit of depth; i think that's another contributing factor #and the letters are also spaced out slightly more to accommodate for these things which is good it increases legibility #and so overall it works well in-game but then when you try to write with it you're like 'what the fuck why's it ugly' #花話

[askablindperson]

In what way does alt text serve as an accessibility tool for blind people? Do you use text to speech? I'm having trouble imagining that. I suppose I'm in general not understanding how a blind person might use Tumblr, but I'm particularly interested in the function of alt text.

In short, yes. We use text to speech (among other access technology like braille displays) very frequently to navigate online spaces. Text to speech software specifically designed for blind people are called screen readers, and when use on computers, they enable us to navigate the entire interface using the keyboard instead of the mouse And hear everything on screen, as long as those things are accessible. The same applies for touchscreens on smart phones and tablets, just instead of using keyboard commands, it alters the way touch affect the screen so we hear what we touch before anything actually gets activated. That part is hard to explain via text, but you should be able to find many videos online of blind people demonstrating how they use their phones.

As you may be able to guess, images are not exactly going to be accessible for text to speech software. Blindness screen readers are getting better and better at incorporating OCR (optical character recognition) software to help pick up text in images, and rudimentary AI driven Image descriptions, but they are still nowhere near enough for us to get an accurate understanding of what is in an image the majority of the time without a human made description.

Now I’m not exactly a programmer so the terminology I use might get kind of wonky here, but when you use the alt text feature, the text you write as an image description effectively gets sort of embedded onto the image itself. That way, when a screen reader lands on that image, Instead of having to employ artificial intelligences to make mediocre guesses, it will read out exactly the text you wrote in the alt text section.

Not only that, but the majority of blind people are not completely blind, and usually still have at least some amount of residual vision. So there are many blind people who may not have access to a screen reader, but who may struggle to visually interpret what is in an image without being able to click the alt text button and read a description. Plus, it benefits folks with visual processing disorders as well, where their visual acuity might be fine, but their brain’s ability to interpret what they are seeing is not. Being able to click the alt text icon in the corner of an image and read a text description Can help that person better interpret what they are seeing in the image, too.

Granted, in most cases, typing out an image description in the body of the post instead of in the alt text section often works just as well, so that is also an option. But there are many other posts in my image descriptions tag that go over the pros and cons of that, so I won’t digress into it here.

Utilizing alt text or any kind of image description on all of your social media posts that contain images is single-handedly one of the simplest and most effective things you can do to directly help blind people, even if you don’t know any blind people, and even if you think no blind people would be following you. There are more of us than you might think, and we have just as many varied interests and hobbies and beliefs as everyone else, so where there are people, there will also be blind people. We don’t only hang out in spaces to talk exclusively about blindness, we also hang out in fashion Facebook groups and tech subreddits and political Twitter hashtags and gaming related discord servers and on and on and on. Even if you don’t think a blind person would follow you, You can’t know that for sure, and adding image descriptions is one of the most effective ways to accommodate us even if you don’t know we’re there.

I hope this helps give you a clearer understanding of just how important alt text and image descriptions as a whole are for blind accessibility, and how we make use of those tools when they are available.

#image descriptions #alt text #accessibility #a11y #screen readers

[wingedtyger]

How to Buy a Computer for Cheaper

Buy refurbished. And I'm going to show you how, and, in general, how to buy a better computer than you currently have. I'm fairly tech-knowledgeable, but not an expert. But this is how I've bought my last three computers for personal use and business (graphics). I'm writing this for people who barely know computers. If you have a techie friend or family member, having them help can do a lot for the stress of buying a new computer.

There are three numbers you want to know from your current computer: hard drive size, RAM, and processor speed (slightly less important, unless you're doing gaming or 3d rendering or something else like that)

We're going to assume you use Windows, because if you use Apple I can't help, sorry.

First is hard drive. This is how much space you have to put files. This is in bytes. These days all hard drives are in gigabytes or terabytes (1000 gigabytes = 1 terabyte). To get your hard drive size, open Windows Explorer, go to This PC (or My Computer if you have a really old OS).

To get more details, you can right-click on the drive. and open Properties. But now you know your hard drive size, 237 GB in this case. (this is rather small, but that's okay for this laptop). If you're planning on storing a lot of videos, big photos, have a lot of applications, etc, you want MINIMUM 500 GB. You can always have external drives as well.

While you've got this open, right-click on This PC (or My Computer). This'll give you a lot of information that can be useful if you're trying to get tech support.

I've underlined in red the two key things. Processor: it can help to know the whole bit (or at least the Intel i# bit) just so you don't buy one that's a bunch older, but processor models are confusing and beyond me. The absolutely important bit is the speed, in gigahertz (GHz). Bigger is faster. The processor speed is how fast your computer can run. In this case the processor is 2.60 GHz, which is just fine for most things.

The other bit is RAM. This is "random-access memory" aka memory, which is easy to confuse for, like how much space you have. No. RAM is basically how fast your computer can open stuff. This laptop has 16 GB RAM. Make sure you note that this is the RAM, because it and the hard drive use the same units.

If you're mostly writing, use spreadsheets, watching streaming, or doing light graphics work 16 GB is fine. If you have a lot of things open at a time or gaming or doing 3d modeling or digital art, get at least 32 GB or it's gonna lag a lot.

In general, if you find your current laptop slow, you want a new one with more RAM and a processor that's at least slightly faster. If you're getting a new computer to use new software, look at the system requirements and exceed them.

I'll show you an example of that. Let's say I wanted to start doing digital art on this computer, using ClipStudio Paint. Generally the easiest way to find the requirements is to search for 'program name system' in your search engine of choice. You can click around their website if you want, but just searching is a lot faster.

That gives me this page

(Clip Studio does not have very heavy requirements).

Under Computer Specs it tells you the processor types and your RAM requirements. You're basically going to be good for the processor, no matter what. That 2 GB minimum of memory is, again, the RAM.

Storage space is how much space on your hard drive it needs.

Actually for comparison, let's look at the current Photoshop requirements.

Photoshop wants LOTS of speed and space, greedy bastard that it is. (The Graphics card bit is somewhat beyond my expertise, sorry)

But now you have your three numbers: hard drive space, RAM (memory) and processor (CPU). Now we're going to find a computer that's better and cheaper than buying new!

We're going to buy ~refurbished~

A refurbished computer is one that was used and then returned and fixed up to sell again. It may have wear on the keyboard or case, but everything inside (aside from the battery) should be like new. (The battery may hold less charge.) A good dealer will note condition. And refurbished means any flaws in the hardware will be fixed. They have gone through individual quality control that new products don't usually.

I've bought four computers refurbished and only had one dud (Windows kept crashing during set-up). The dud has been returned and we're waiting for the new one.

You can buy refurbished computers from the manufacturers (Lenovo, Dell, Apple, etc) or from online computer stores (Best Buy and my favorite Newegg). You want to buy from a reputable store because they'll have warranties offered and a good return policy.

I'm going to show you how to find a refurbished computer on Newegg.

You're going to go to Newegg.com, you're gonna go to computer systems in their menu, and you're gonna find refurbished

Then, down the side there's a ton of checkboxes where you can select your specifications. If there's a brand you prefer, select that (I like Lenovos A LOT - they last a long time and have very few problems, in my experience. Yes, this is a recommendation).

Put in your memory (RAM), put in your hard drive, put in your CPU speed (processor), and any other preferences like monitor size or which version of Windows you want (I don't want Windows 11 any time soon). I generally just do RAM and hard drive and manually check the CPU, but that's a personal preference. Then hit apply and it'll filter down.

I'm going to say right now, if you are getting a laptop and you can afford to get a SSD, do it. SSD is a solid-state drive, vs a normal hard drive (HDD, hard disk-drive). They're less prone to breaking down and they're faster. But they're also more expensive.

Anyway, we have our filtered list of possible laptops. Now what?

Well, now comes the annoying part. Every model of computer can be different - it can have a better or worse display, it can have a crappy keyboard, or whatever. So you find a computer that looks okay, and you then look for reviews.

Here's our first row of results

Let's take a look at the Lenovo, because I like Lenovos and I loathe Dells (they're... fine...). That Thinkpad T460S is the part to Google (search for 'Lenovo Thinkpad T460s reviews'). Good websites that I trust include PCMag, LaptopMag.com, and Notebookcheck.com (which is VERY techie about displays). But every reviewer will probably be getting one with different specs than the thing you're looking at.

Here are key things that will be the same across all of them: keyboard (is it comfortable, etc), battery life, how good is the trackpad/nub mouse (nub mice are immensely superior to trackpads imho), weight, how many and what kind of ports does it have (for USB, an external monitor, etc). Monitors can vary depending on the specs, so you'll have to compare those. Mostly you're making sure it doesn't completely suck.

Let's go back to Newegg and look at the specs of that Lenovo. Newegg makes it easy, with tabs for whatever the seller wants to say, the specs, reviews, and Q&A (which is usually empty).

This is the start of the specs. This is actually a lesser model than the laptop we were getting the specs for. It's okay. What I don't like is that the seller gives very little other info, for example on condition. Here's a Dell with much better information - condition and warranty info.

One thing you'll want to do on Newegg is check the seller's reviews. Like on eBay or Etsy, you have to use some judgement. If you worry about that, going to the manufacturer's online outlet in a safer bet, but you won't quite get as good of deals. But they're still pretty damn good as this random computer on Lenovo's outlet shows.

Okay, so I think I've covered everything. I do recommend having a techie friend either help or double check things if you're not especially techie. But this can save you hundreds of dollars or allow you to get a better computer than you were thinking.

#computers #buying computers #laptops

[dragonmuse]

How to be a Dirtbag Fic Writer

I got to do some talking about writing today and I couldn’t stop thinking about it so here are my full thoughts on the matter of being a dirtbag fic writer.

Being the disorganized thoughts of someone two and a half decades into the beautiful mess that is writing fanfic (and a few non-fanfic things too).

What is a dirtbag fic writer? 

 I am talking about someone who is not cleaning up anything. We show up filthy, fresh out of rooting around in the garden of our imaginations. We probably smell a little from work. We will hand you our hard grown fruits, but we have not washed them and we carried them in the bottom upturned parts of our t-shirts. The fruit is a little bruised. It’s not cut up or put in a bowl yet. But we got it in the house! It’s here. Someone can eat it.  

Why dirtbag it? Because the fruit gets in the house. If you’re hemming and hawing, if the idea you want to do seems to be big or you want it perfect and shiny. If you’re imagining a ten thousand step process, so you’re not taking the first step? Dirtbag it. 

How do I dirtbag? 

That’s the best part. You just write. Sit down. One word after the other. No outline, no plan, no destination. No thought of editing. Just word vomit. Every word is a good word. It’a word that wasn’t there before. Grammar sucks? Who cares. Can’t think of the perfect word? Fuck it, put in the simplest version of what you mean. 

Write the idea that you love. The one thing you want to say. Has it been done 3000000 times? WHO CARES human history is long, every idea has been done, probably more than twice. YOU have never written it before. It’s your grubby potato that you clawed out of the ground and guess what someone can still make it into delicious french fries. 

Now here’s the critical part. Write as much as you can squeeze out of your brain. One word in front of the other. 

And then I challenge you this: at most, read it over once and then put it into the world. Just as it is. AND THIS IS IMPORTANT: DO IT WITHOUT APOLOGY OR CAVEAT.  I challenge you, beautiful dirtbag to not pre-emptively apologize. Do not make your work lesser. THAT IS YOUR POTATO! It has eyes and roots and dirt clinging to it because that is what happens.  We are dirtbagging it today. Hell really confused people at do #dirtbagwriter on it.  

Dirtbag writes id, base, lizard brain. Dig in the fertile garden of your imagination. What is the story you tell yourself before you fall asleep? What’s your anxiety this week? Your fantasy? What is going well? What do you wish things looked like? Who is the feral imaginary character you’ve been crafting to take your frustrations and joys out on? 

But, VEE, I wish to have an editor and an outline, use a cool software like scrivener instead of retching up onto a google doc and making it look NICE and PRETTY!

COOL! DO THAT THEN! IF YOU’RE ACTUALLY DOING IT! You should have a process! That’s cool and healthy and necessary for sustainable writing. But if you’re not writing because all of that seems too much? THEN DON’T. 

Did you know fic is free? That we do this from love? From sheer desire? For the love of the game? If you have a process, and the words are flowing, amazing, I love that for you, you don’t need this essay.  If you don’t, let us continue. 

What does dirtbag writing look like? 

It’s messy. It’s a little raw and tatty around the edges sometimes. It’s weird.  It’s someone else’s first draft. Maybe it winds up being your first draft, Idek, that’s your business. 

It’s jokes that make YOU laugh. It’s drama that would make YOU cry if you read it. You are your first commenter. You are your first audience (and possibly continuing pleasure! If you don’t go back and reread your own work sometimes, you might be missing out on one of your favorite authors cause you wrote it for you! Wait until you’re not so close to it. Years sometimes. Then hey, maybe some of this is pretty dang good actually.) 

It has mistakes. 

Dirtbags make mistakes, but dirtbags have published pieces. They have things other people can read out there. 

What if I don’t get good feedback? 

Look, the most likely outcome of any new, untried fic writer (and even established writers trying something new-ish)  is that you get no feedback. That’s real. Silence. It’s eerie, it’s terrible, it sucks. I don’t want to pretend it doesn’t. But nothing is not negative. It’s a big fic-y ocean out there and we are all wee itty-bitty-sometimes-with-titty fishes.  

You should still do it all over again. And again. And again. You get better at writing by writing. You just do. Nothing else replaces it. If your well is dry? Fill it with new things. Go do something new, read a new kind of book, watch a new film,  (libraries have so much good shit, you don’t even have to spend money for so many things if you have a library card), just go for a walk in a new direction. Stimulate yourself. Got a cup of something hot and eavesdrop on conversations. Refill yourself with newness. 

And hey, speaking of, do you leave comments? Because you get what you give. You can build relationships with people by commenting and that builds community and community means places to get feedback in the end. Comments are gold. They are all we are paid in. Tip your writers with ‘extra kudos’ or ‘this made me laugh’. And hey, when you go back for a re-read so you can tell them your favorite part? Ask yourself how they made that favorite part? What do you like about it?  Tone? Metaphor? The structure? Reading teaches us how to write too! 

BUT, okay. Sometimes. Sometimes there is actual bad feedback and people suck. 

You know the best part about being a dirtbag? Unrepentant block, delete, goodbye. You don’t own anyone with a shitty opinion any of your precious time on this earth. You did it for free, you gave them your dirty, but still delicious fruit and they went ‘ew, this is a dirty strawberry, how could you not make a clean tomato?”  Because you didn’t plant fucking tomatoes, did you? Don’t fight, don’t engage. Block. Delete. Goodbye. 

If someone in person, looked you in the eye when you brought them a plate of food to share at a party and they said “Why didn’t you bring me MY favorite? This isn’t cooked well at all.” You would probably write up a Reddit AiTA question about it just to hear five thousand people say they were an asshole.   Fic is no different 

And hey, when you dirtbag it? You know you did. It’s not your most cleaned up perfect version. So who cares what they think? You might make it more shiny and polished next time! You might NOT. 

Ok, but what if I don’t finish it? 

Fuck it, post it anyway. 

What if it’s bad? 

Fuck it, post it anyway. 

What if it doesn’t make sense? 

That’s ART, baby. Fuck it, post it anyway. 

What if what I want to write doesn’t work with current fandom norms? 

Then someone out there probably needs it!  And what the hell is this? The western canon? FUCK IT POST IT ANYWAY* 

*Basic human decency is not a ‘fandom norm’. Don’t be racist, sexist, ableist, fat shaming, classist or shitty about anyone's identity on main, okay? Dirtbag writers are KIND first and foremost. Someone saying you are stepping into shit about their identity is not the same as unsolicited crappy feedback about pairings. In the immortal words of Kurt Vonnegut: "God damn it, you've got to be kind.”

You’re being very flippant about something that’s scary. 

I know. I know I am. I know it can be scary. But no risk, no reward and hell, you aren’t using your goddamn legal name on the internet are you? (please for the love of fuck do not be using your legal name to write fic) You’ve got on a mask. You’re a superhero. With dirt on your cape. 

That niche thing that you think no one cares about? Guaranteed you will find someone else in the world who wants it. Maybe they won’t find it right away. Maybe they will be too shy to comment or even hit a button. But your dirty potato will stick with them. They will make french fries in their head.

You have an audience. But they can’t find you if you have nothing out there. 

Go forth. Make. 

You have some errors in this essay. 

PROBABLY CAUSE I DIRTBAGGED IT.  But I picked this strawberry for you out of my brain, so I hope you run it under some cold water and find the good bits and have a nice snack. Or throw it away. Or use it to plant more strawberries (I know that’s not how strawberries work, metaphors break when stretched).  

#dirtbagwriter 

Go forth and MAKE

#writing #i'm not an expert #I just have been doing this a long time #and these are my feels #please feel free to throw away this strawberry

[ikroah]

I have reached the breaking point, the point of no return, it’s very clear to see a fool like me will never, ever learn. I have reached the breaking point, I hear the drums of doom, I’m gonna flip my wig in one great big atomic boom! —“The Breaking Point,” Bobby Darin (1966)

It Keeps Right On a-Hurtin’ #27 - Ring-a-Ding-Ding VI

Collaborative Issue! Guest Artist: @sas-afras

«« First | « Previous || Next » | Last »»

Read IKROAH on Archive of Our Own

Notes / Transcript:

Notes

Huge thanks to Monty over at @sas-afras for getting this one done! I handled the original layout and lettering, but the rest was all them. Layouts like this can seem simple and easy because of how straight-forward and repetitive they are, but when all you've got are a dozen and one reaction shots, every single one of those reaction shots needs to be as perfect as you can get them. And Monty did a hell of a job. Especially on the coloring! Monty, if you're reading this, you're a hell of a good colorist (on top of everything else). Thanks again!

Another note about this issue is that it, along with the previous one, were some of the most difficult to write in this whole damn comic so far. I really hate repeating in-game dialogue verbatim without good reason, but there's really not much else I could do here. It's a very necessary part of the story that is also literally a part in the game where your character is fixed in place listening to a monologue. I took some liberties, did some punch-up, not just for its own sake but to really drive home what I find most interesting and vital here about Mr. House as a character.

Anyway, Agnes is in trouble. And there's only one issue left in Volume 2! The next one closes out this arc of the story, at long last. Stay tuned.

Transcript

INT. LUCKY 38 BASEMENT. From an observation deck of sorts, AGNES SANDS watches several SECURITRON robots position themselves in a testing area, containing several sandbags, dummies, and makeshift fortifications. A voice booms from an unseen speaker.

MR. HOUSE: You're well familiar with my Securitron police force. But have you ever wondered: what exactly makes them the marquee option in perimeter security and pacification?

AGNES glances in the direction of the voice, uncomfortable.

MR. HOUSE: Well to start, the reinforced titanium alloy housing of each unit, which protects its electronic core, easily deflects small arms and shrapnel.

MR. HOUSE: As for its offensive capabilities, its X-25 gatling laser—produced to spec by Glastinghouse, Inc.—is deadly against soft targets at medium range.

SFX: BZZTZZTZZTZZTZZT

AGNES recoils as a red glow washes over her from the testing area.

MR. HOUSE: And then for close-range suppression or crowd control, the Securitron is also armed with a 9mm sub-machinegun.

SFX: DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA

AGNES shuts her eyes, wincing from the crack of gunfire.

MR. HOUSE: These features have been sufficient for keeping the peace within Vegas, but with the NCR and Legion closing in on Hoover Dam, and sizing up my city like a piece of prize cake, more than ever we need to be prepared for, well...external conflict. Policing is one thing, but when geopolitical powers are involved, my Securitrons can only pose so much of a threat.

MR. HOUSE: That is...if they're forced to rely exclusively on their secondary weapons--as they have been, all this time!

AGNES looks upward, surprised.

MR. HOUSE: Remember, the Great War interrupted a pivotal moment for RobCo's work. Consequently, all extant Securitrons have been stuck, running on a mere Mark I operating system—the first production version of the OS—which has simply lacked the software drivers for the use of their primary weapons all this time!

AGNES looks around, as if HOUSE were in the room somewhere and she could find him, in a panic.

MR. HOUSE: The platinum chip, you see, was never just a token. At a time when industrial espionage ran rampant, it was minted as a high capacity, proprietary, and uniquely irreplicable data storage device. In a way, it's more like a computer chip. And now—with the data from the platinum chip finally installed onto my nextwork—it's time for a very crucial software update. Behold: the new Mark II Securitrons!

AGNES gawks downward at the testing area, eyes wide. Oh no.

MR. HOUSE: Their newly accessible M-235 Missile Launcher gives them the ability to engage ground and air targets at significantly longer ranges...

SFX: PSSSSSHHH KTHOOM THOOM THOOM THOOM

AGNES flinches, covering her face for protecting, and screams as explosions rip apart the testing area below.

MR. HOUSE: ...and their rapid-fire G-28 grenade launching system, another part of the Mark II, makes them much more powerful in close-range engagements as well.

SFX: THMP THMP THMP KRRSSH KRAKTK KABOOM

AGNES, nearly frozen, watches the bombardment with horror.

MR. HOUSE: It also includes rewritten drivers for the Securitrons' auto-repair systems—although always sophisticated, the new optimizations render them inexhaustible in even the most protracted and attritious of engagements. Altogether, the Mark II upgrade confers a 235% total increase in combat effectiveness per unit—and it's all because of you!

AGNES lowers her arm slowly, jaw slack, mortified.

MR. HOUSE: Vegas finally has an army—worthy to protect not just the city itself, but the best interests of all of mankind, at home and abroad. Which is to say: this simple display of might remains a mere teaser for what I can, and what I will, accomplish, in an illustrious new epoch.

AGNES sinks further into a paralytic terror.

MR. HOUSE: What we will accomplish, Agnes—should you accept my offer, of employment. Ah—but I digress. I'm certain that you've had a long day. You can rejoin Miss Cassidy in the presidential suite for the night, if you'd like to, as they say, "sleep on it."

MR. In fact...say for as long as you'd like. However long you may need, to think everything over. And you'll be very well provided for in the meantime, consider it a taste of what could be...should you make the right choice before you.

MR. HOUSE: That reminds me—I've already sent Victor to collect your belongings from the Vault 22 Hotel, so no need to exhaust yourself further by making that trip on your own, hm? There's much about your future to consider, Agnes—and I would like you to think of it as our future.

AGNES stares straight ahead with a deadened expression.

The testing area in the basement has been reduced to smithereens. Fires rage on the rubble of obliterated structures, gnarled steel, and collapsed walkways. The dummies have been dismembered entirely.

MR. HOUSE: ...Goodness, what a mass. With friends like these, I sure wouldn't envy my enemies.

MR. HOUSE: Wouldn't you agree?

#fallout #fallout new vegas #fnv #mr. house #courier six #agnes sands #it keeps right on a hurtin #ikroah archive #volume 02 #27

[tossawary]

I think SVSSS as a 2D cartoon would be the best moving medium for it imo.

I mean, personally, yeah, that's how I'd enjoy seeing it as well! My ideal slightly pretentiously artsy SVSSS screen adaptation would probably look only a little more detailed than linograph prints (2D or shaded 3D?) (someone hit me up in like two weeks to draw an example of what I mean, if I don't remember on my own, I don't have access to art stuff right now), very stylized and vibrantly colorful, because that's one of the art styles that I particularly enjoy.

I'm not a personally a fan of the 3D SVSSS show because I find the characters a little too doll-like and same-facey for my tastes? It's fine! It works! It's serviceable! It's just all, backgrounds included, a little... safe? I tend to like over-the-top bright colors and intricate details and impractically weird shapes and yet also coherent world production design in my fantasy, which is a lot to demand of any production, perhaps especially with animation productions, which are always squeezed for time and money.

(EDIT: I know the SVSSS show was under heavy constraints and the results are impressive considering their resources; it doesn't change the fact that I just don't like the art style and nevertheless find the results underwhelming. I don't like a lot of "realistic" modeling / rendering styles, not just "anime" ones, even if they are extremely technically impressive. Believe me when I say that I know the vast majority of the entertainment industry is overworked and underpaid and creatively restrained.)

Slightly tangential general note: I don't think 2D is inherently superior to 3D (EDIT: NOT trying to imply asker is saying this, just having some general thoughts), especially because, with the realities of production, each have their advantages. 2D has a lot of stylistic advantages still, but 3D shaders are catching up and doing some incredible things these days! More advanced puppet controls and particle effects and such are doing some beautiful things for 2D shows as well these days. A lot of stuff has been subtly mixed media as soon as 3D became possible. It is potentially possible (note: not saying any studio would actually greenlight this) to do an equally slightly weird and artistically stunning 3D SVSSS show, given the freedom to work. (Good boarding and writing is also sooooo important in both mediums, obviously, it's not just about the art design. You can get away with incredibly limited animation with good boarding, writing, and art design.)

Another slightly tangential ramble: both 2D and 3D have the potential for stiff animation and poor character acting, which also comes down to production limits and animator skills? (I often think of character animators as a type of actor!) There are a lot of 2D shows that I don't really like because I find the animation incredibly stiff, both puppet and handdrawn (there's great 2D puppet stuff out there these days), which pretty much always comes down to production limits (deadlines and budget and software, saving up their animation for the coolest scenes). One of my favorite things about Studio Ghibli films (which as features get a lot more space to focus on art compared to the demands and restraint of television) has always been the squash and stretch in otherwise relatively realistic action, making things like hugs look SO nice for example. But 3D stuff is getting better at that these days! The ways characters slumped into each other in "Nimona" for example was great. And it's just fascinating to look at the elasticity / stylized sculpt of expressions in "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" compared to the technical limits of the models / rigs in "Shrek" or "Shrek 2".

Adding these side notes because I want to be clear about my respect for both 2D and 3D artistically! A lot of video games are doing cool stuff in 3D that looks very close to 2D with stylized shaders, which you can sometimes spot by the large or small rotations in character action / acting, which is difficult (and therefore often expensive) to do in 2D with all of those extra drawings / angle poses. Also, I think the current push towards funky shaders in 3D is so cool and it's hard not to gush about them!!!

#foreverliminal #tossawary svsss #ask tossawary #long post #tossawary watching

[xinyuehui]

Hello there! do you still have an older version of evolwallpaper? I was late to the party and I can't install it properly anymore T_T

Hi anon, unfortunately I no longer have the old .exe 😩 I checked weibo, other users in China are having problems with it as well, my conclusion to this is that it's a broken app full of bugs, probably got nothing to do with regions (ノへ￣、)

Babe because of your ask, I spent good 5 hours tonight trying to debug it, because I insist we all get the dynamic wallpapers!!!

Original guide // Deepspace PC guide

By the end of this tutorial, we should have a video like this applied to our computer wallpaper:

There's Nikki, MLQC, Deepspace and The Perceiver wallpapers.

New guide:

https://paperwall.papegames.com/

Same step as before, download this but don't install yet!

The following was actually hidden in their Q&A, you'll also need this for it to run, download the runtime version.

https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/dotnet-framework/net48

After you install the .NET Framework 4.8 go ahead and try to install the PAPERWALL .exe

→ If it works, great! We solved the problem!! 🎉 (You can skip to the section on the bottom on how to use the app)

→ If you get this error message, ugh congratulations, this is where I tried about 67 solutions for hours just so you don't have to

It's weird, because at this point, the thing have successfully installed on your local drive but it won't run.

Let's go back a step, if you open the .exe again, take note of where it's at on your computer. For me you can see that it's in the C drive, I presume it'll be the same for you.

Find the folder, open it

Open the app

→ If it works, great! We solved the problem!! 🎉 (You can skip to the section on the bottom on how to use the app)

→ If you get the same error message, read on:

If the images haven't loaded in the 1.0.1 version it will most likely going to crash when you try to do anything on it, so read on:

Let go back to the C drive

We are gonna move this somewhere else, if you have a hard drive, paste it to your hard drive, if you have another drive on your pc, you can move it to the other drive. BUT DO NOT MOVE IT TO YOUR DESKTOP!!!! Because we practice good computer hygiene 🙏

Once you've moved everything away, open it back up and try to install it again in your new file location

→ If it works, great! We solved the problem!! 🎉 (You can skip to the section on the bottom on how to use the app)

→ If you still get the same error message, I will send my portfolio to Paper Games to be a software developer in their office and write a new app

Once you get it running *fingers crossed* move the entire folder back to your C drive if you moved it to your hard drive, unless your hard drive is plugged in all the time.

If for whatever reason you get the "access to the path is denied" error message, try the right click and select the "Run as administrator" option.

For easy access:

Go onto your desktop, or wherever you want to access it from quickly and paste shortcut!! Remember it's the shortcut!!

───── ⑅ ♡ ⑅ ─────

How to use the app

The UI has changed a little since the original one, but it's easy to navigate.

Change the language to English, it should reboot the app

From here it's self explanatory

For good computer hygiene you might want to double check where the wallpapers are stored and change directory if needed.

If you're like me and have 2 monitors, this is what it'll look like with the wallpapers applied and the game opened, looks like I need a 3rd monitor for Shen Xinghui ⭐

(Desktop icons should show up, I just don't have icons on the desktop)

───── ⑅ ♡ ⑅ ─────

If you still have problems, check your PC specifications against the following that were recommended on the official site:

System: Windows10 or above

RAM: 1024MB or above

Processor: 1.66Hz Intel i5 or above

Graphics: HD Graphics 4000 or above

DirectX: 10

Secret third thing: you might be able to run it and have the lovely wallpapers but it suddenly goes glitchy or black screen... that's because of the faulty app, I've seen people mention it on weibo, it's not just you 😔

───── ⑅ ♡ ⑅ ─────

Feel free to drop me an ask with images if you still run into problems, hope this helps, until next time~ (✿◠‿◠)

Check out this tag for already answered questions #/wallpaper woes

#ask #anon #love and deepspace #love and deep space #love and producer #mlqc #shining nikki #love nikki #the perceiver #mr love queen's choice #live lockscreen #this is not a good sop its written all over the place but ive spent too long sorting it out and writing this up it'll have to do for now #if this helped you out i would appreciate it if you can reblog it! #you dont have to but its a good indication for me to post more things like this in the future for the english speaking fandom 💕

[blubberquark]

Your Code Is Hard To Read!

This is one of those posts I make not because I think my followers need to hear them, but because I want to link to them from Discord from time to time. If you are a Moderator, Contributor or "Helpfulie" on the PyGame Community Discord, I would welcome your feedback on this one!

"You posted your code and asked a question. We can't answer your question. Your code is hard to read."

Often when we tell people this, they complain that coding guidelines are just aesthetic preferences, and they didn't ask if their code followed coding guidelines. They asked us to fix the bug. That may be so, but the problem remains: If you ask us to fix your code, we can only help you if we can read it.

Furthermore, if there are many unrelated bugs, architectural problems, and hard to understand control flow, the concept of fixing an isolated bug becomes more and more unclear.

In order to fix unreadable code, you could:

eliminate global variables

replace magic numbers with constants

replace magic strings with enumerations

name classes, functions, constants, variables according to consistent coding standards

have functions that do one thing and one thing only like "collision detection" or "collision handling". If your function does two things at the same time, like rendering AND collision detection, then it must be refactored

rewrite deeply nested and indented code to be shallower

rewrite code that keeps a lot of state in local variables into special-case functions

use data structures that make sense

write comments that explain the program, not comments that explain the programming language

delete unneccessary/unreachable code from the question to make it easier to read or from your program to see if the problem persists

My own programs often violate one or more of those rules, especially when they are one-off throwaway scripts, or written during a game jam, or prototypes. I would never try to ask other people for help on my unreadable code. But I am an experienced programmer. I rarely ask for help in an unhelpful way. Almost never ask for help in a way that makes other experienced programmers ask for more code, or less code, or additional context. I post a minimal example, and I usually know what I am doing. If I don't know what I am doing, or if I need suggestions about solving my problem completely differently, I say so.

Beginner programmers are at a disadvantage here. They don't know what good code looks like, they don't know what good software architecture looks like, they don't know how to pare down a thousand lines of code to a minimal example, and if they try to guess which section of code contains the error, they usually guess wrong.

None of this matters. It may be terribly unfair that I know how to ask smart questions, and beginner programmers ask ill-posed questions or post code that is so bad it would be easier and quicker for an experienced programmer to re-write the whole thing. It is often not feasible to imagine what the author might have intended the code to work like and to fix the bugs one by one while keeping the structure intact. This is not a technical skill, this is a communicative and social skill that software engineers must pick up sooner or later: Writing code for other people to read.

If your code is too hard to read, people can't practically help you.

It gets worse. Unreadable code is sometimes unreadable because it is un-salvageable. It is hard to understand because there is nothing to understand, it would not work, and you need to go back to the drawing board.

Defensive Responses

This is not where the problem ends. Often, after a couple of rounds of back and forth, after questions like "Well, you say there is a bug, but can you tell me what you would want the code to do in the first place?", or "Is this a class or an instance? If it's supposed to be an instance variable, could you give it a lowercase name?" or "Could you give that variable _obj a more descriptive name? It looks like you are assigning different things to this variable in different parts of your loop. Perhaps you could use two variables with different, more descriptive names", you see a defensive response. The original question asker is not interested in making code easy to read, just in making it work. As I explained above, this is a confused way of thinking, because ill-posed questions and unreadable code make it difficult to impossible to make the code work, or to even understand what making it work would look like.

"Style is irrelevant." – This is by far the most common one. Since coding style, comments, variable names, and even re-factoring code into smaller functions do not affect the output, and thus not the correctness of the program.

"I asked for help with bugs, not style." – This is a variation on the first one. As long as there is no concrete and discrete bug, style feedback and questions for clarification can be discarded.

"This is too much work." – The original poster explains that making the code more readable is too much work for them, and fixing the bugs would be easier for others.

"Nobody will see the code anyway" – Nobody will see the code of the finished product, so it's irrelevant. Sometimes there are variations like "We aren't graded on code quality, only correctness" or "This is for a class project, nobody will depend on the code, so we don't need robustness."

"This is just throwaway code, it doesn't have to be good." – Like the previous one, this is frustrating to read because somebody posted the code on a forum for other people to read and asked them to understand it, and then said he doesn't care if it's readable or debuggable.

"I asked you for help." / "I am asking the questions here." – The original poster refuses to answer questions, because he asked, he expects answers, not questions in return.

"Don't blame me, I didn't write it" – We have completely left the realm of correctness and style now. The poster knows the code is unreadable, or doesn't make sense. He tried to protect his reputation. But he doesn't like the tone of the responses. Its not his fault the code doesn't make sense. It's not his fault if it doesn't work. Common variations are "This must be correct, it was the accepted answer on StackOverflow", or "I copied this from a tutorial", or "Don't blame me, this was written by GitHub Copilot". Often part of the problem is that the code has different parts written in different styles, or uses different data structures in different places, and both parts could benefit from a re-write to make them more consistent with each other. At other times the problem is that the code from the book is "correct" for certain purposes from the book, but not really suited for the problem at hand.

"I apologised already" – The poster is frustrated because he said "I am sorry I am a n00b" or "I am sorry for my bad English" already. Then somebody said his code is unreadable or his prose makes no sense. The poster sees readable code, or at least code that is readable enough to understand what the idea was, as a courtesy, as a social custom, not as something necessary to make the whole question and answer thing work. The same goes for a firm grasp of English. The poster apologised already that his English is bad, and you should just see past it. Dealing with this is especially difficult, because Q&A is framed as some kind of status game, and the poster is trying hard to save face already. Push-back will make him feel like he is losing face, and he will only get more defensive.

Causes

So where does the problem begin? Why do people write unreadable code, post it online, and get defensive? I think the answer is a combination of programming skill, social skill, and simplistic mental models.

Software Engineering is Difficult: Obviously, one root cause is that beginner programmers can't already write readable code from the start. Writing readable, well-factored code that is easy to debug, re-use, and adapt is something that comes with experience. Writing code for other people to read can only be learned after one has learned to write code.

Magical Thinking/Limited Cognitive Empathy: The most common and most direct cause of this phenomenon – the refusal to help others read your unreadable code – is not the unreadable code itself. It is the belief that it should be easy for experienced programmers to understand the structure of and intent behind a piece of code, even if the person who wrote it didn't. If you see software as basically magic, and don't see computers as soulless automatons that do what they do because they are built that way, then this is an easy trap to fall into. A variant of this works for language. If somebody is bad at English, or bad at the technical jargon needed to ask his question, he will often think that the question he thought up in his native Klingon was perfectly well-formed, and that other people should have no trouble reading his words, because they also think in Klingon, so they would translate it into a question that makes sense anyway.

Status-Consciousness: Many beginner programmers feel the desperate need to distinguish themselves from other beginners, and if they have been learning JavaScript for two moths now, they want to be seen as real programmers, not as children who play with Scratch and build Redstone contraptions in MineCraft. They want to be taken seriously. This reminds me of a five year old boy who stretches out his arm and tells me he is THIS BIG, and he is already FIVE, going on SIX, and he will go to SCHOOL soon.

Naive Mental Model of De-Bugging: Every program has a certain number of discrete features bugs, and when you remove all bugs, you end up with a program that works. This is of course nonsense. You can write a program that has an indeterminate number of bugs, or a program that implements an algorithm that doesn't quite work, or a useless program, or a program that does random nonsense.

With any luck, sooner or later, programmers will learn the technical side, and the social and collaborative side of software development.

#programming #python #forum culture #stack overflow #teaching programming

[potterheadedme]

(the rest of) a bit of writing for Garbagechocolate's Truth virus AU

“Um…Friendo, I don’t, I don’t know how I feel about this” sun says from with the pizzaplex parts and service animatronic repair station™️. Having relized shortly after the repair station patented paralysis kicked in, that they may not be as on board with this idea as they thought they were

From with in there shared operating system, moon let’s out what might have been a deep exhausted sigh if either of the had lungs,

“Gasp! What? final come to your senses about randomly downloading software because ‘it’ll be cool’” moon mocks

“In my defense starlight seemed so excited, what was I suppose to say moony” sun says back from with in the OS

“.. the truth”

That’s when they both hear their repair specialist Y/N call back “Did you two says something” from From somewhere beyond their current scope of vision they can hear here it sounds pretty muffled, after a bit they seem to poke their head back into view.

“Nothing starlight!” Sun hurries out with a grin

At this moon huffs

“Oh, um.. ah, actually…moon? Has um a few concerns, about this download” sun stutters out

“ oh don’t you two fret, Minecraft is a completely passive program, and this version should be a hundred percent compatible with your operating systems” y/n finishes with a thumbs up

“Oh”

“Yeah, so are you two ready?”

Sunny can feel moon doing the equivalent of slowing shaking his head from further back in the code

“Ready when you are, starlight!”

At that y/n starts the download, from here they can hear the faint loading chimes the main Control panel emits,

"...Alright....there we are,... downloads started, shouldn't take all night ,but it may take a bit" y/n says as they turn their gaze from the screen in front of them to the currently immobil daycare attendent, sat within the repair station, in the depth of parts and service.

"how are you two holding up?" y/n asks after a bit, breaking the relative silence, of the subterranean room

“Just peachy starlight!” sun said without thinking, and while it wasn’t a total lie, it wasn’t exactly true either, over the years the daycare attendant has had countless updates to their software and operating systems and while the uploading process is slightly different each time, they know what to expect by now, they know enough to know that something feels off about this.

“Sun. No, you feel it to” moon says, his voice coming through over the rising buzz of an ever growing number of binary strings as the files enter their operating system and make their selves at home, burrowing in and warping the applications around it to its managed tasks.

“Moony, I’am sure it’s fine, starlights checked everything over, they say it’s compatible, sure the download feels a little funky, but am sure its nothing”

“This doesn’t feel like nothing, Sun”

“How would you know we only ever get new security and health protocols these days” punctuated with a mental pout “ this is a game moony!! We’ve never got a game before, of course it’s going to feel different!”

“Listen, theres reasons we’ve never directly downloaded games before, do you ever know if you can run the game after getting it? ‘Compatible’ doesn’t mean usable” moon snaps back

“Well if you gonna be a spoil sport, we can uninstall if it doesn’t work, happy”

At this moon mumble something Sun can quite hear over the new application own internal humming.

Upon realizing this conversation with his darker half has come to a momentary halt, Sun turns his attention back to their code, by now he’s having l a bit of trouble ignoring the itchy squirming feeling these files leave him with.

Sun goes to voice this concerns with there trusted technician… only to find that he can’t

moon let’s out a sound of exasperation, that can nearly be heard over the rumbling and buzzing of the code “tell y/n to pause this”

“…moony…I can’t, the controls are stuck”

“Let me see” moon says as he wrench control from sun, to see the interior controls are currently unavailable.

“What’d you do Sun?”

“ME! I didn’t do anything”

“The OS dosent just freeze like this on its own, and one download shouldn’t be enough to shut us down, what else is running” moons is growing noticeably more frustrated

While they continue to attempt troubleshootin, moon turns his attention outwards, now noticing that y/n may have been talking to them this entire time pacing back and forth for who knows how long.

“-portant you guys let me know, alright?” Y/n finished as they come to a stop in front of the glass cylinder, looking towards the still anamatronic expectantly.

“…right? …guys?” Y/n finish before concern starts to creep in

~~~~~

The daycare attendants have been uncharacteristically quiet, it has been a solid 15 minutes since they have lasted talked, I didn’t think much of it until there LEDs began to switch through a few settings before dimming completely.

At this point I am significantly more that a little worried, I fear, no I am certain that the altered version of Minecraft, that I suggest is causing this. I can’t just stop the download that is the first and most important thing they tell any engineer or technician that works here, that stopping mid upload or download or backup will cause irreparable damage to any and all of the bot under the faz co brand.

This is when it occurs to me that the most helpful I can do right now is, nothing, I’ve done enough damage already and any action I take now may just drawl this out or make it worse,

So instead of bolting to the console and running through every debugging program I can think of I sit, in the cheat plastic of the rolling chair sat by the console, and watch keeping vigil over the subterranean room and it’s robotic occupants.

~~~~~

“Oh. Hello” a metallic voice say, breaking the silence that’s settled over the room,

I jump a little, sorry to say I may have been zoning out as the hours of nothing stretched on, then spin around to see how bad I’ve goofed things up.

“Hey, your back” I say as I try and guess, who I might be talking to, usually it pretty clear which ai is fronting, if not by there appearance than there ‘voice’

This doesn’t seem to be the case right now, whoever just spoke is currently lacking Sun usually expressive lilt and Moons more taunting almost breathy inflection.

It seem like I might be I am be hearing there shared ‘base’ voice, this may mean they are still sorting themselves out, so while they finish ‘loading’ for lack of a better term, I turn my attention back towards to console to seem is I can gleam anything from the download stats.

After a bit of searching I think I come across the problem, while the application in question was compatible with the main operating system, it wasn’t nearly as compatible with the central processors of the attendances AI, and it seemed to have spawned new files in response. I can’t see see what they do from here, but this can wait,

In the computer screens reflection I can just barely see moon, sit up in the center of the repair station glowing red eyes fixed on me, I take a few deep breaths before turning to face the music.

“Moon” I say in acknowledgement, he simply nods back

“Alright, that didn’t seem to go quite to plan, could you run a quick diagnostics for me”

“Sure friend” moon responds in a surprisingly chipper manner, I try not to freeze up and being called a friend, I’ve worked alongside the daycare attendant for a while, and I’ve even talked with my predecessors on a few occasions, this first time I’ve ever heard of the night themed animatronic giving anyone this moniker, i try not to dwell or draw attention to this.

As I am getting ready to pull the nighttime attentions diagnostics stats up on my faz pad, he chimes in.

“Hm, everything’s moved around, I haven’t a clue what half of these files are” moon let’s me know, which it a bit suspicious, neither ai Is usual this forthcoming with there ailments, for whatever reason it usually takes more pestering to get this kinda information information.

“…what?” I blink in surprise, I am a little lost at whatever moons playing at

“There’s at least one background application running that doing something” he shrugs

“What’s that supposed to mean”

“No idea” he kinda shrugs again

“Alright. How are you feeling”

“No idea”

“What’s that’s supposed to mean”

“I don’t know yet” moon starts to look like he zooming out

“Fine, can I talk to sun then” I say try not to grit my teeth

“Sun doesn’t want to talk to you right now” moons eyes grow large in shock,some how he seems surprised by his own words.

~~~~~

Soon as he’s able moon begins shifting through all the losses files, sorting out tangled strands of code, and closing an application that can be before long everything is at least neat which doesn’t mean much as far but it at least a little easier to think,

Moon then turns his attention outwards to see y/n working on something, he sits and watches them work for a little bit before they freeze, and turn to acknowledge him.

“Moon” the nighttime animatronic nods in response

“Sure friend” moon mumbles not even paying attention

Before long they continued with “Alright, that didn’t seem to go quite to plan, could you run a quick diagnostics for me”

As moon starts the diagnostics he can hear Sun grumbling about something

Finishing the diagnostics, they see one maybe more applications failed to close when they were supposed to, along with brand new files that can be opposed,

“Hmm nothing to bad,”

Sun huffs “let’s let y/n know so we can get out of here moony!”

“Hm, everything’s moved around, I haven’t a clue what half of these files are” moon says for some reason

“Moon!! What ? We didn’t need to mention it” Sun mentally cuts it

“That’s not what I wanted to say”

They both hear the slight apprehension in y/ns voice “What’s that supposed to mean”

“No idea” moon shrugs

Moon hear feel suns deep frown from here

As y/n asks “Alright. How are you feeling” moon can feel sun starting to creep closer to the controls

“Come on moony, this one’s an easy one, I know the correct answer, you know the correct answer, go ahead and say the correct answer, we can still salvage this” sun is starting to sound a little anxious

“I got this sun” moon says as he starts to respond with the answer most every human expects to get when they ask, ‘fine’

“No idea” moon says this and sun does a mental double take

“We just talked about this moony”

“What’s that’s supposed to mean” y/n looks confused

“I don’t know yet” at this sun is yelling

“GAAHH, I can’t with either of you right not, I don’t know if you know but we’ve got a daycare to take care of!! Stop trying to get us started in parts and services!!!” Sun takes a ver digital deep breaths

“I’m not doing anything, I don’t know what’s going on” moon says

“We can talk about this later, smooth things over with y/n so we can get out of here, I don’t really want to talk to them and this exact moment” sun says after he’s calmed down

“Fine, can I talk to sun then” upon hearing y/n say this sun looks to moon and moon looking to sun

“I got this, smooths my middle name”

“Sun doesn’t want to talk to you right now” moons eyes grow large in shock,some how he seems surprised by his own words.

“MOON YOU, YOU TATTLETALE”!!!

Ant this point sputtering both inside and out, face in his hand how this go so bad

Part 1/?

Part 2

Here’s a snippet of writing for @garbagechocolate’s truth virus au,

it’s not betaed and I didn’t actually proofread, so if you see something that needs fixed let me know

#the daycare fandom #the daycare attendant #fanfic snippet #truth virus au #fnaf sun #fnaf au #fnaf moon #phm rambling #I apologize for the grammar and how repetitive it gets #I will admit this probably wasn’t the best place to start

[insertdisc5]

Devlog #11: Localization and Organizing Notes

Hello everyone! Welcome to this month’s devlog!

If you just stumbled upon this, I am Adrienne, also known as insertdisc5! I’m the developer, writer, artist, main programmer, etc of the game. The game being In Stars and Time, a timeloop RPG, which is the next and final game in the START AGAIN series, following START AGAIN: a prologue (available here!).  You can find out more about In Stars and Time here!!! 

LET’S GET TO IT. This month's devlog is about localizations and how I organize my notes!

The month of January has, once again, been all about bug fixing. My producer once told me QA and bug fixing would take forever and I didn’t believe her, but it is true. You kill one bug and three take its place.

Bugs aside, the first pass of the localization of the game into Japanese has been completed (thanks Kakehashi Games!) ! Wait did we even mention officially that the game will be in English and Japanese at release. Well there you go! In Stars and Time will be released in both English and Japanese!!!

Now that the first pass is over, it’s time for the very time intensive work of adding all that translated text into the game, as well as translating any illustrations. And after that, the localization team will take over QA, and will play the game from beginning to end in Japanese, making sure everything works well in context!

I can’t wait for Japanese speakers to try out the game as well!!!

Oh! Also, speaking of words, I wrote a post on how I approach worldbuilding, more specifically expressions and swear words and about how Jesus Christ is not canonical to the ISAT universe. Mayhaps it could tickle your fancy?

Uuuuuh this devlog is so short. I feel bad. Well uh (thinks very hard) how about you come with me on a journey, and look at how I organize my notes? Yeah? YEAH!!! (This section will feature: blocked out text) (Also: I realized after writing all this that I did talk about my writing process a bit in my #2 devlog. Well uh you get writing process: 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

I use OneNote for all my ISAT notes! I use it because quite frankly this was the first software I tried and it works. I like how it has tabs within tabs within tabs, so I can easily (ISH?) find any notes I’m looking for!

If you look at the colored tabs, the first one is “demo”, which is everything related to START AGAIN: a prologue (aka: has not been looked at for a year). It contains all the text in the game, as well as general gameplay notes and musings like “hey wouldnt it be fun if I used rock/paper/scissors.” You might notice the text here isn’t in the correct order. That’s a feature not a bug, thats just how my brain works OK!!!!!

The second tab is “Game”, which is the big In Stars And Time tab. It’s divided into a lot of sections, including: 

General Dev Notes, which contains general reminders (“ADD MORE PUNS”).

Random Dialogue Corner, which, as the name implies, contains a lot of random dialogues between the characters. They’re also divided into different sections, depending on what kind of dialogue it is- is it a funny scene, or a more serious one? Is it between characters, or just Siffrin going on a big monologue? Etc. This dialogue may or may not be in the game, its main reason for existing is “hee hee I like when my little guys talk in my head”.

Gameplay and Stuff, which is all about the rpg part of the game. What are the skills? How does each enemy behave? What quests are available? How does the game over screen work? Etc

And finally, a big section filled with The Story, which is divided into acts. From the very start, I knew ISAT would have very delimited story beats, which made it easy to just go “ok, this scene goes into Act 3”, etc. For the text, I make sure to keep all the different drafts I had of a specific scene, partly because I sometimes lose a nugget of Fun Stuff by rewriting a scene, and partly because it’s fun to see how a scene has evolved. I tend to write important story scenes 3 times, each time without looking at earlier drafts to see what comes out, and then frankenstein the scene from what I have.

In general I try to keep as many of my notes as possible, because I deleted a lot of my notes for START AGAIN: a prologue and it makes me sad I can’t look at my thought process on a lot of things anymore. KEEP YOUR NOTES KIDS

Going back to the big tabs, next we have “World”, which is everything related to worldbuilding, relationships between characters, the general timeline, more detailed notes on the culture, etc. I used this tab a lot less as time went on, but at the start it was very useful to be able to refer to it, especially for all the city names and their spelling…

After that, we have the “Devlog” tab, which is my own private devlog! I find it very useful to keep a private devlog for myself, because it helps me see clearly that YES, the game is coming along. Every week, I try to write down where I’m at, any problems that I have, as well as screenshots of what the game looks like. 

I also give myself space to write how I feel about the game! How is it going? Is it fun to work on this? What do I think about the story, about this character, about this development? I think it’s important to write those things down in the moment- I always keep in mind this post by Wreden, the creator of the Stanley Parable- in it, he talks about the reaction to the Stanley Parable, and how getting so many Thoughts thrown his way about what his game means meant that he lost sight of what his game meant to him. In Stars and Time means a lot to me, and I want to make sure future me remembers why!

Next is “meta”, which is mostly coding references. The way rpgmaker (and, I guess, most video game software???) works is by using variables to keep track of quests and whatnot, and so I used this tab to write down “if this variable equals 5, it means we’re at that point in this quest”! I also used it for code I always use but can’t be bothered to remember, like the conditional code that checks if a switch is ON or not. Aka the simplest most basic code. LISTEN I DON’T WANNA REMEMBER CODE OK

After that is the “To Do” tab, which is pretty self explanatory. I try to divide it into chunks like “To do (localization)”, so I don’t have a massive to-do list, but instead lots of small ones, teehee. This is also where I keep my changelog, to write down any changes I make between builds.

And last, but definitely not least, is my “Messy File” tab! This is where I put ALL MY NOTES. It needs different parts because I made a new part every time opening a tab made my computer chug like crazy. Because it has so many words.

I get an idea for a scene in the middle of the night? GOES INTO THE MESSY SCENE. Oh, I realized when I was grocery shopping that I should fix this small bug by doing this! MESSY FILE. Hehe what if I drew Siffrin baldMESSY FILE. Everything goes there, and then every couple weeks I go through it and put all those little nuggets of ideas into their actual tab. I find it useful to have a file that is allowed to be messy as hell, so the other tabs can be clean and neat!

The Messy File tab also contains the “Entire Story”, which is something I wrote in August 2021 when I started thinking I had no idea where I was going. I took like 4 hours to write down the entire story, from beginning to end, and if I had no idea what would happen, I would just make it up on the spot even if I thought it was bad. And guess what. After that, I knew where I was going. CRAZY!!! I did that a couple more times when I felt stuck at a specific point in the story, and it helped me every time. Would recommend.

And, that’s it! That’s how I organize my notes! I hope! This was! Insightful! Somehow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That’s all I have to say for today! Let me know if you have any questions, or if there’s any aspect of the game development struggle you’d like me to talk about! See you next time!!!

AND DON’T FORGET TO WISHLIST THE GAME ON STEAM ALSO IT REALLY HELPS BECAUSE STEAM’S ALGORITHM IS MORE LIKELY TO SHOW OFF GAMES WITH A HIGH AMOUNT OF WISHLISTS THAT’S THE REASON WHY GAME DEVS ALWAYS ASK TO WISHLIST!!! OKAY BYE!!!!

#devlog #in stars and time #start again start again start again #game dev #indie game #indie dev #reference

[devsgames]

Breakdown of a Dialog Tracking Document

Here's a little overview of the Voice Over tracker template I use for tracking dialog in my games! If anyone wants to view these in action please check out this Google Sheet and make a copy for your own use.

I think this format is mostly useful for games that are smaller and/or only have some VO, I can't imagine it scales well to larger projects which might need more complex software like Articy. I use a separate 'working copy' of docs like this with additional language columns for tracking translation specifically, but this structure I find is a useful starting point for managing any kind of string-based localization or VO to your game. I do most of my writing in docs like these.

Overview

Generally I keep docs like this for my own sanity when organizing VO, and also for sending out to collaborators like localization specialists or Voice Actors who need access to this organized information. Keeping docs like this not only helps yourself during production, but also anyone else you might be working with.

You'll notice that in this doc for an unreleased game I have it broken down into 'Days' (effectively levels in the game), but in terms of Macro Structure I tend to lean towards whatever makes sense for each game. Some games I break it down by level while others might be broken down more by sequences or events - it really depends on the game you're making or how your VO will be applied.

I typically have a "Guide" section to walk a user through how to use the doc (some people have never used spreadsheets before, after all!). I also often have a "Generic" section to catch dialog that doesn't fit elsewhere like character barks, noises, grunts, etc. "Data" is just isolated section for spreadsheet data like Roles and the like.

Speaker

This column indicates the speaker of the line. I typically have these filterable, so that if I'm working with Voice Actors they can break it down to their line exclusively to read from the sheet directly, or if I need to only view certain actor's lines while working.

Line Key

Each line is given its own key which indicates its place in the structure of the wider game, as well as relative to each other. This is vital for certain implementations like Localization/Translations, which pull from Line Keys instead of directly from the line itself. This allows the line to be changed for each language independently, the only thing linking them being this key. This also allows you to change individual lines without breaking dependencies.

I typically name keys as [Actor]_[Context]_[NumberOfLine] as a baseline.

Context

This is for direction of voice actors and localization, to give people who may not have access to a build better context of the lines - especially if the lines might be confusing when viewed in a vacuum. (Note that in most cases you'll want your collaborators to have access to some kind of build to make their lives easier).

Notes

Similar to context, to apply any direction for VO or additional context that may be relevant to collaborators (e.g. direction to Voice Actors, intonation notes, or elaboration for translators).

Line

The content of the line itself; what the line should say!

Anyway yeah, feel free to copy this and use this how you like. I just find docs like this are super helpful for not losing your mind when it comes to planning game structure and dialog sequences. :)

#gamedev #game development #indie games #game dev #indie game #gamedevelopment #indiegames #indie dev #indiedev #solo dev #thoughts #resources #blog

[fandomsoda]

Intro/pinned post!!!

last updated: 4/30/24

Ok Welp I’m finally making one of these-

Most basic info about me can be found in my blog’s about (names, identity, pronouns, DNI), but here’s where I’m putting all the other stuff! First of all, here’s my pronouns page for those who want to know more about my exact pronouns/word boundaries!

Here’s my sona, Soda!

Their full ref can be found here

Art usage rights: My art is fine to be reposted, but strictly with credit. Want to use it as an icon? Make it an edit or add something small for pfp purposes? You’re welcome to, but with permission, credit, clarification that you edited it, and as long as you’re not in my dni/use it for such purposes. Derogatory edits of my work are not permitted so don’t go marking everything up. Do not feed my artwork into ai software. Also do not directly feed my writing or own general text into an ai.

Requests?: Requests for art are a complicated thing and are simply a matter of what I do and do not want to do. Feel free to ask, but just know I may decline! This goes for moodboards and stimboards as well, but I’m much more likely to accept a mood/stimboard rather than art request!

AU/personal projects!: I have a handful of personal AU’s and projects and OC’s I’d like for people to check out and look at. (Also please please please ask about my characters and ask them stuff I wanna answer!) You are welcome to make fanart for any of them but I request that you stay on-model unless you are simplifying the design or the point of the piece is to reimagine the design/put the character into a new outfit. I don’t want to be overbearing but my designs mean a lot to me so I’d like them to stay how they are. People in my dni are not permitted to depict my characters in any way, shape, or form. Don’t touch my babies. Also- No, you may not use my characters in tournaments or polls. Those give me heavy anxiety and rsd to the point of literal nausea. Please keep your vile, Spartan popularity games away from my babies.

Personal projects masterpost

Additionally:

Please @ me in fan/inspired content! I want to see it!

I also know that I can often come off as aggressive and do stupid shit or say stupid shit. I have a lot of growing to do and I make a ton of mistakes. Please be patient and if you desire to call me out on by bullshit (which you absolutely should do) please be constructive and respectful. I struggle a lot with tone and accidentally upset people often. If I upset you, PLEASE let me know. I have no way of realizing if you don’t, please do not lie to me, tell me what’s wrong I promise I care and will try not to take it personally. =m=

Important note: While I may make suggestive jokes from time to time or touch vaguely on mature topics/talk about more mature media, this blog does not welcome nsfw blogs. Any and all interaction with me or my art that is nsfw in nature (inappropriate DM’s, comments, and reblogs) will be instantly blocked. We can joke, we can have fun, but I do not want any concerning behavior towards others or towards myself/my art on this blog. I know that many people who follow/are friends with me are minors and thus I will ensure that this space is not dangerous for them.

I also consume my media critically, even as a Homestuck enjoyer, I do not support Andrew Hussie and recognize the comic’s flaws, but I also love Homestuck for what it is at its core and how it changed my life. I also assume most people consume media critically and thus do not have any fandoms in my dni, but do know there are a good handful of them that I’m apprehensive about, but won’t block on sight.

On the topic of media consumption, I also like a lot of ships that others don’t, and will not tolerate hate. Crossmare has been my comfort pairing since long before Underverse season 2 was even out, and I am not ok with people who think it’s “inherently abusive”. As long as a pairing is not child x adult or family x family, I don’t believe it can be inherently abusive. As long as someone’s specific depiction of the ship isn’t abusive, they shouldn’t get flack for it. However, if you ARE someone who romanticizes abusive versions of these ships, please get out.

Also note that due to my nebularomanticism (arospec umbrella), I do not know what the fuck romantic love is supposed to feel like or look like, the lines between strong platonic bonds and romance are so blurry they barely exist for me, and such- all of my ships are queerplatonic in some way. I have never seen any ship as solely romantic and I don’t think I’m capable of that. But I also do not limit the types of intimacy I depict these characters having. If you’re not ok with queerplatonic kissing or holding hands or other forms of “romantic gestures” or if you think they can’t exist, get out.

Keep in mind that while my art and personal works ARE here, this blog IS a personal blog. I DO vent on here and often talk about personal topics. Be aware. And just because I share an opinion of mine doesn’t mean that I think it’s super important or right, it’s just how I feel. Just saying this because if you follow me you should be prepared to deal with what I post, and if you don’t like me that’s ok just leave.

Current blog status (important): tired and just. Trying right now, bare with me.

Below are my many userboxes (and blinkies, so flashing gif warning be cautious) that represent me! Check em out for more info!

^ this user box specifically was made by @/ghostfish-stims!

^ More info on that here

^ this blinkie is made by @/pictionary!

[andmaybegayer]

Last Monday of the Week 2024-04-01

Boopin' Monday

Listening: Sometimes you go a while without listening to a performer well understood to be solidly good and you forget that they're solidly good and then you listen to them and you're like yeah this is good. Daft Punk's Human After All album.

A positively wet album.

Reading: Finished Glory In The Thunder, by 0xabad1dea. A very strange book to read, like, it's a peculiar mix of extremely by the book fantasy and the peculiar "teen queer perfusion" style that 0xabad1dea was aiming for. A lot of plotlines but very well plotted, they weave in and out very neatly and intersect at the right times. It's a satisfying book to read but also I get the feeling that 0xabad1dea is having more fun writing it than I could ever have reading it.

If nothing else I should understand more of her posts now, since many of them are notebook sketches of these characters. I'll get to the sequel another time but I'm busy digging through my book list for what to read next.

Watching: Not much! A lot of short web stuff most notably the new Antimemetics Division short film, which has part 2 coming out in a couple days! Exciting stuff.

Playing: Forza Horizon 5, the Audi Quattro Rally S1 is up as a reward this month and I was like hey I want one of those, although I ended up scoring one through the rally DLC quests. I did wrap up the rally DLC storylines though so I'm caught back up with all the big quests, still haven't finished a ton of the ones that came out since I kind of stopped playing it as much as I used to because I was wasting a lot of my time in that game. It's too easy to get sucked into just cruising between races idly for hours.

Making: Started poking at LÖVR in detail, started writing a boids simulation but I fell down the rabbit hole of locomotion methods in VR, dealing with the dual coordinate spaces of the headset position in space and the virtual space positioning transforms is a little daunting, I expect I'll have to write some helpers to simplify it. Slowly relearning how Lua works.

Also sat and sanded the NAS case, I was planning on painting it this weekend but I was a little sick so that is on hold until probably Friday when the workshop opens again. Also need to go finish signing up for a library card so I can use the library system's shared workshop for smaller things, it looks cool.

Tools and Equipment: I have been responsible for rescuing a dying storage server at work, and I would like to pitch mdadm. If you're still using hardware RAID, stop that. It is a bad idea. You are setting yourself up for problems. CPU's are fast enough now that software RAID is perfectly performant and it makes sure that you don't end up in the situation where something silently goes wrong with your RAID card and you don't realize that your data has turned into giblets.

mdadm is actually really nice when you aren't dealing with inscrutable bugs that I see because I'm in the bugfixing division. Very simple to manage, good documentation, comprehensible metaphors, handles itself when possible, and has several sets of instructions that are basically guaranteed not to break anything that was no already broken, which is handy if you are dealing with an already fragile system.

#last monday of the week #Youtube

[imagination-overreaction]

I haven't done an official intro post, and I have no idea what to write here, so...

Hello!

I'm Shrub! I'm an adult, and I use it/he pronouns, no particular preference

Here's some stuff about me!

Things I like, in no particular order:

Team Fortress 2, drawing, Undertale, Deltarune, Blue Eye Samurai, Faith: The Unholy Trinity, FNaF (to some extent), embroidery, Buckshot Roulette, The Arcana (I love to hate it), Will Wood, plant symbolism, SCP (kinda) (mostly just the idea of it), Gravity Falls, Stardew Valley, Empress Theresa (I love to hate it)

How many OCs do I have?

143. If you ever wanna know about one, just give me a number and I'll be more than happy to share about that one (or the one after that if that one is boring). I have been coming up with fake guys for about 5 years now, and with all my works-in progress there is going to be more.

What am I working on?

A short story based on "Cabinet Man" by Lemon Demon, from the perspective of the maintenence man that looked inside that thing.

Various analysis of TF2 pairing. No real end goal, I just like thinking about how these weird grown men interact.

A series of short stories about my OC Abe, an android created by a deity, and how he interacts with himself and the world around him.

Short stories about my OC Chase, a bold and stubborn idiot that bought a really, really cheap house. The house is a demon. Near-death shenanigans ensue, but he is too bull-headed to let some peeling paint get the best of him.

An AU about the same stubborn idiot becoming a Fazbear franchisee. Near-death shenanigans ensue, but with enough duct tape and common sense, anything is possible.

My longest official project that I'm still not 100% sure what format I'll be publishing in: A choose-your-own adventure set in the realm of the fae where you play as Mina, who just tripped into this world and has to get out alive.

Another longer project: A (hopefully) novel titled The Faceless King. It's lower priority, but I have a lot of characters crafted and a lot of setting made, so I might show off some of it.

The longest silly goofy project that can and will never be finished, where I take my OC Xavier, toss him head-first into whatever media I like at the moment, and make his celestial partners go find him in a sadistic game of cat-and-mouse. Might post some of this if I have parts I really like.

A shorter, personal, sorta-vent-y project utilising the Software Automatic Mouth, as well as a couple of other projects using SAM.

Any questions about the above things are welcome, and I have so many more characters that I'll probably talk about eventually too! I'm still getting the hang of actually posting to tumblr instead of watching and spam-reblogging from the sidelines, but I do plan on posting at least semi-regularly once I can properly wrangly my executive dysfunction.

If you read this far, thank you! I hope you have a good day :]

#intro post #writeblr #asks are always welcome!

[arialerendeair]

20 questions for fic writers!

Both @teejaystumbles and @spockandthings tagged me in this, so let's get it done!!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

I just recently posted up my 668 work on Ao3.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

5,129,415 words!!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Right now, Sandman!! But I also dabble in other fandoms, including Shadowhunters, Supernatural, and a few others!

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

In general- 1. Never Judge A Shadowhunter By Their Scent - 4,712 2. The New York Shadow Market (Featuring Protective Alec Lightwood) - 3,262 3. Magnus Bane: Certified BAMF - 3,252 4. A Curse, A Choice, A Claim - 3,031 5. A Mutually Beneficial Arrangement - 2,887 In Sandman- 1. Hopes & Dreams - 2,482 2. The Art of Seduction Via Longbow - 1,657 3. The Price - 1,220 4. A Husband, A Consort, A Nightmare - 1,089 5. Dreams Make Living Worthwhile - 1,022

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Indeed I do - sometimes months later (as a whole hell of a lot of people know right now from my comment reply spree, lol), but yes! I love taking the time to say thank you - even if you left an emoji - it made me smile and I feel like I should thank you for that!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

With the angstiest ENDING? (I'm a HEA stan, so hold on, this'll take a second.) Probably Learning to Say Goodbye - which has an open/hopeful ending.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

HAPPIEST ending? All of them. Oh man. I don't even know. What do you consider the happiest ending? The Titanic AU - Make It Count (which has the happiest possible ending)? Hopefully - My Hope of the Endless series? (And that's just in the Sandman fandom!)

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I have, yup! I tend not to as a whole, but it has definitely happened!

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Oh yes. What kind? Uh. Well. Everything from the schmoopiest first time possible to all-orifices fucking with magical tentacles, sooo? All of it?

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I HAVE WRITTEN SO MANY AND WILL WRITE SO MANY MORE. The craziest crossover I ever wrote is a 5-fandom crossover - set in the Sandman universe. I pulled in characters from the Hades Game, Supernatural, Shadowhunters, and Good Omens in and had all of them face off against Hell! The War for the Dreaming

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Unfortunately, yes, multiple times. I wish that on no person.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yup!!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

A great many, in multiple fandoms!! Shout out to awesome co-authors who keep me sane!!

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Omg I can't pick a FAVORITE. I've had so many over the years, I don't know if I ever could truly pick a favorite. Malec probably comes pretty damn close though, all things considered.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Candy Coated Nightmare. I want to finish it from the perspective of wanting to finish the story - but when the original creator of the gif story quit the fandom due to their work being stolen and stopped the project - finishing the story without them didn't seem right. So while I want to finish it to finish the story - I never will.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I've learned how to hack my ADHD brain and trigger hyperfocus whenever I want using a writing software. Which means I can write very obscene amounts of words, very quickly. (Also experience - I've been doing this for 23+ years now.)

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Editing and research. I hate editing, so none of my fics receive more than a cursory read-through at best. And having to heavily research a fic is what kills my enthusiasm for it faster than anything else, so I avoid it at all costs and make up things as I go along whenever that is an option.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Love the idea - but i think you gotta use the AO3 feature that allows you to put the translation when you click/hover over it!

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Wheeew, we're going back to 2004, okay. Gundam Wing was my first ever fandom I wrote for.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

How the hell am I supposed to pick? I love Make It Count because that fic (all 120k) wrote itself. I love Together We Soar because it was the first long fic I wrote myself. (Long for me, anyways.) I love Alexander is Endlessly Surprising because I wrote 2 full sets of the Oldest Game and I thought I did an AWESOME job. I love The War for the Dreaming because it was an insane undertaking and I managed it. I love Magnus Bane: Certified BAMF because it introduced my favorite OC of all time - Oberon Onyx. So many more I could name, but I'll leave it there, at least for now!

Tagging @moorishflower, @cuubism, @blueberrymffn, @seiya-starsniper and anyone else who wants to participate!!

#Aria Posts #Tag Game #Thank you for the tags y'all

[allaroundnerd]

Codetober Day #2

2. What programming languages do you know?

Depends on how we wanna define "know" but here are the ones I at least know the basics of:

-Python - my very first coding class was in this, then I proceeded to not use it again for a long time until recently when I tried my hand at writing a Discord bot for Pathfinder/DnD 3.5 -Perl - Please do not ask me to write anything in this. I did one semester and proceeded to never use it again. -MIPS - same as Perl -C++ - I'm not great with this one but my first college decided this was a great place to go once we learned Python. I hadn't used it in a long time unfortunately, till I tried to pick up Unreal Engine -Java - After leaving college #1 and a bit of community college, I first learned Java. This is what I mainly use in my 9-5 work since all of my corporate positions have required it, along with... -SQL - I picked this up in college as well and while I went a pretty long time after graduating without using it, I DO know how to do some scripting and queries. -Javascript - I didn't use this much initially until my first big boy job changed my role to that of a full-stack developer as opposed to a software developer. -C# - Aside from a single semester in college, I actually didn't use this all that much till my most recent job. They are moving away from it and towards Java, so this works out. I also used this to try to learn programming in Unity. Outside of the professional stuff... -LUA - I used to be a HUGE WoW fan and stopped playing around Legion. Before that, I aspired to write add-ons for the game and found out this was the scripting language for it. -GML - Aka "GameMaker Language," I tried my hand at this engine as well when I was bouncing around trying to see which engine was a good fit.

#codeblr #codetober #coding #gamedev #software development