#HOWEVER there's a LOT of stuff to learn so they're doing VERY intensive training for me as I have no experience in. any of it | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

devsgames · 4 months

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Hey, do you have any resources on game design you can recommend? It's easy to find stuff on art, programming, writing, etc., but when it comes to game design it's all a bit blurry. Maybe I'm not looking where I should though.

I'm not 100% sure which type of resource you're referring to so I'm operating under the assumption that you mean more sort of learning resources for game design (as opposed to like, references or whatnot).

Firstly, one of the major problems with game design as 'discipline' is that "Game Design" is a very big and intensely vague blanket term. It's not truly a concrete discipline itself, so it's difficult to teach about the basics of all of game design. Game Designers rarely do one specific thing every time, and a lot of what is done skill-wise is often very abstract ideas like 'problem solving' and 'logical thinking'.

It's why there's studio roles like "combat designer", "AI designer", "systems designer", "level designer" and more all under the "game design" umbrella, and even then these roles might not even be doing the same thing depending on what project they're involved with. A "combat designer" at a studio working on a FPS might be specifically designing player movement while a "combat designer" at a studio working on an RPG might be focusing on something like character skill trees or condition damage types. With so much variation it becomes hard to single out specific resources as universally applicable while still being relevant for learning.

If you're looking to learn something specific about designing games, I find it's usually more effective to seek out first-hand resources based around these specializations that exist within game design and learn how the designers approached their designs, as opposed to learning about 'game design' as an all-encompassing blanket. Seeking out "combat design" or "systems design" to start edging in the right direction - this is an excellent post with an overview of key design roles.

Some of my first places I usually turn to for design stuff are those more tailored towards a wider range of specializations; the GDC vault has free archives with design talks on various Game Design subjects which can help learn more on the process of various game designers operating in their disciplines, and GameDeveloper.com has a Design section for user-submitted blogs and deep dives where you can find similar. If books are your thing, Boss Fight Books often publishes deep dives into specific games, their cultural impacts and design choices around them (the Splunky one was pretty good from my memory). Mileage may vary however as I've heard some are more 'fan appreciation' styled than actual analysis.

I'm sure smarter people than me might have textbook recommendations - unfortunately I have a tiny brain and don't like reading books much. 😔 I also find Game Design a hard subject to read about due to its abstract nature, but that's just me!

Honestly though, I think one of the best ways to learn game design is training your brain by playing lots of games and learn to think critically about the design in them - it helps stretch the design part of your brain and teach you to more actively 'think in design', which will naturally help you learn. This was pretty crucial for my understanding of design when I was struggling to learn how game design worked.

Try this: Sit down and play a game incredibly slowly and just think about everything, especially things you often look past or take for granted (after all, good design is often design you barely notice).

In the game you're playing: How does a player move? Like really how? How far do you push the stick to move? How do objects affect their movement? What alternative movement can they perform? Why? When would they use it? How does it affect them/the world? Why do you think the designer made the movement this way?

In the game you're playing: How does the player's ability work? How long does it last? Why does it work that way/last that long? How do they equip it? What feedback is there for its use? How does it affect the world? Why do you think the designer made that ability this way?

Basically try to reverse engineer the experience and repeat it over and over as you play the game - don't play it for fun, play it for research and you'll likely find a lot of subtlety you never noticed before. Virtually every choice in every game was informed by a conscious design decision (or a conscious production one). You might start to notice patterns and be able to put yourself in the shoes of the designer and understand the decision making process better.

I'd also say - if you make a game, you'll be practising game design, and that's huge. Most designers often learn what they do through doing it on the job or by practising the craft, and it's the easiest way to turn theory and abstract thinking into concrete work. You need to break a few eggs to make an omelette! I think there's a lot of fans who posture as 'critics' because they play games and pick up on some design things, but ultimately have never made a game and don't understand how choices are informed by each other or how these pieces all fall together. There's a huge difference in experience and understanding between critique/theory and practical application, and I think breaking past that barrier always provides a huge wealth of knowledge as a baseline.

Sorry I got rambley, I hope this sorta helps 😆

#sorry if this is borderline incoherent I had a long day lol #thoughts #asks #ask #advice #game design #gamedesign #game dev #gamedev #game development #gamedevelopment

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eyeballjazz · 3 years

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gosh I LOVE whenever you talk about the crews (midnight or problem sleuth) because your ideas are always so unique and detailed but in a realistic way? like they're all very specific but also mundane so it all feels so natural and REAL, it's always so fun! Plus your writing is very pleasant so seeing that "read more" under your replies always makes me go FUCK YES

You said you had fun with the last ask so here's me asking you to share more headcanons you have! Could be domestic, silly, sad, whatever, I'm just giving you an excuse to talk about them whever you feel like it!

#1 and first of all THANK YOU SO MUCH! I’ve delayed replying to this not only because I wanted to cook up a good answer but because your words are so sweet and I wanted to spend longer just reading and rereading them. Thank you thank you thank you!

I got a few little ones and then some big ones for ya:

Problem Sleuth and Hysterical Dame both are from Brooklyn and have harsh Brooklyn accents, though Dame’s is much more pronounced. She sounds like a slightly less congested Fran Drescher. Sleuth, additionally, loves the Beastie Boys and thinks he could’ve been one if he’d had half a chance at it.

Droog loves Sting. That’s it, that’s the headcanon.

Droog is native Italian, from part of Tuscany that is just 1 kilometer from the official bounds for the Chianti region. The fact that he’s not actually, truly, from Chianti haunts him and makes me laugh a great deal.

Now for a big one:

What war did they all serve in?

This one I’ve gone back and forth on. While I love studying war I’m not any kind of expert nor do I have any relation to military culture. But, because I write Intermission stuff as period pieces (the adults all live in a pseudo 40s and 70s mash up, all the kids live in the early oughts and that’s why none of the StabDads knows how to work a computer despite all their kids being online constantly) the setting of mid-20th century America requires there to be some war that people are living during/living through the aftermath of. I have a whole thing about the 20th century being one long war but anyway.

There was a large scale global conflict that Team Sleuth and the Crew all experienced. The Crew saw more intense, violent conflict while much of Team Sleuth saw less direct action and often sunnier outcomes.

Hearts, Slick and Droog were all infantry men whose issues with authority prevented any of them from moving up the ranks. Clubs was a technician and occasional mechanic, he learned everything he knows about bombs between his years as a soldier and a few jobs working in plastic factories back home.

Hearts was a cook as well as a renowned fighter in his unit. Slick came in and went out buck private despite some award winning violence in the field. Droog was considered for a promotion to officer because of his neat habits and efficient performance but later denied when his more anti-social and unstable qualities showed through.

For both Slick and Droog The War is much more like WW1. They met and became friends/fell in love in the trenches and saw the intensity of suffering and combat on an almost daily basis. For Hearts and Clubs The War is a little more like Korean, they were stationed far from home and were effectively playing cat and mouse with the enemy. Clubs experienced and learned from chemical warfare, while Hearts saw much more guerrilla warfare.

On the Sleuth side, Ace Dick is the only person to have served in as intense a fashion as the Crew. He enlisted young and made the rank of sergeant before retiring to become a detective. Of all of them his time was the most like WW2, in the European theater. Though he maintains his rank in retirement, Ace has relaxed out of the rigidness that made him a good officer. His hard disposition however has not degraded even one iota.

Problem Sleuth had a gay li’l stint in the Navy where he mostly ferried trade vessels along the coast. The action he did see was at the distance of sea battles, so while it was intense it was not as close and personal as the Crew or Ace.

Hysterical Dame did not serve but instead worked as a riveter and community organizer back home to get more women into the workforce as well as to provide for the families of soldiers who had been lost. That picture of Rosy the Riveter eating a sandwich with her piston driver in her lap? That was Dame, just with much more buoyant and gorgeous hair.

Nervous Broad was a nurse and was stationed abroad for most of The War. She saw a lot of very bad and only very occasionally some good. While she was in the medical corps she met Pickle Inspector, who was a contentious objector and refused to serve when drafted. Because of this, he was dumped into the medical corps at the front lines and like Broad saw some very awful things. They both don’t like to talk about what they saw more intensely than the others.

Post war they all assume the roles we’re already familiar with, most of them using the combat training they already received to do their work as detectives and/or mobsters. Broad, Dame and Pickle Inspector all learned to handle firearms (and in a Pickle Inspector’s case a whole sniper rifle) post-war. As a treat.

And, while I really don’t come to fandom spaces for sad things (the world itself is hexing enough) I do have a sad headcanon for Hearts:

His parents had an awful marriage and his father was often abusive to both him and his mother. She, in turn, eventually did away with him but not before long years of hard times for herself and her son. Once Hearts was big enough to help with the manual labor of running their small farm she took his father out during a particularly bad fight. It was a brutal night that would have seen one or the other of his parents gone from the world, but his mother won out in the end and she and Hearts lived better and better once his father was out of the picture. Hearts, to this day, sends money to his mother and believes she is the strongest woman on the face of the Earth. And he’s probably right. She still lives up in the hills of Georgia with her gun.

Momma Boxcars loves Tavros and insists that he and the other kids come spend part of their summer with her out on the farm.

Like Hearts’s mom, Droog’s parents also love their grandbabies. They immigrated to America after Droog put together enough money to bring them over from Italy and keep them living in style in the city. They were not good parents to him, in fact they have a very fraught and often vicious relationship, but they are wonderful to their grandkids and often tell Droog how much more they love Karkat and Arabia than they ever loved him. Again, I find Droog’s pain and inconvenience hilarious, and he’s fine despite all this. He actually thinks of them as ideal parents, being as he is an ideal sort of person by his own metrics.

Again, thank you for your lovely words and for the excuse to gab away about all these clowns, this was so fun!!!

#the intermission #problem sleuth #spades slick #stabdads #stab dads #diamonds droog #hearts boxcars #clubs deuce #pickle inspector #hysterical Dane #Ace dick #nervous broad #humanstuck

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lesserfandomappreciation · 3 years

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This is probably a tall order, but I was wondering if you could do some general personality headcanons for the Deadly Six from Sonic Lost World? It hurts my heart that the characters weren't more popular, but I can understand why at the same time since they're not that fleshed out. I mean, there's hints of stuff here and there, it's just not much. But the zeti have potential, damn it! Let me know if you want some specifics on things, of if you wanna do this in pieces. Thanks for your time~

WORLD BUILDING! World building and character building is my ham so I’m thrilled to do this! This actually become significantly longer than intended.

So I have never played this game, so I’m basing this exclusively off a few cutscenes I managed to find and general initial impressions. Let me know if you want something more in-depth!

Deadly Six reimagined (Sonic Lost World)

General

The Zeti race as a whole is referred to as “demons” with the Deadly 6 appearing to be the deadliest of their species. Heavily implied in the game is the fact that the Zeti are a lethal, violent race taking pride in practiced malevolence.

An entire race being evil or amoral is not only an outdated trope, but one with really icky origins so knackers to that I’m throwing in some of my own world building.

Based on how the Deadly 6 are all either disciples of or literally Master Zik, the reimagined!Zeti race is less malevolent so much as focused on attainment of glory and recognition. Every person is expected to discipline themselves into a strong, powerful being capable of great achievements. Competition is rampant with rivalry being imposed from a young age.

Despite rivalry, those who study under a common Master consider themselves as a structured force or clan representing their Master and his/her/their ideology. Master Zik in particular holds the ideology of complete domination of foes and enforcing the strength that already exists. Those who come across his clan often get the impression the Zeti exist to conquer when really, it is only in response to what is done to them to remind people not to mess with them.

Zeti are driven by the goals of communal recognition; challenges make individuals stronger, thus reinforcing the people as a whole. Spar-matches and challenges are inherent in the society. Clans and individuals alike compete to bring glory.

But. There is an unspoken rule amongst the Zeti that keeps things from ever turning to a full blood bath. Zeti do not turn against their own Clan or family (both if they are one in the same as is the case with many). The idea of any Zeti attacking a sibling in learning or a relative is unheard of - any who did that are considered dishonorable and risk expulsion as a whole from society.

Master Zik

Utter the name “Zik” in any Zeti plaza. Previous foes will wilt in cowardice. Pride from their allies puffs up further. The average Zeti, neither friend nor foe, will still be able to share a tale or two of one of the greatest warriors to have ever trained.

In a society focused on discipline and achieving greatness, Zik went above expectations. Bars he set have but rarely been neared. Until Zavok, most were largely considered impossible to meet.

Zik is a unique Zeti. Warriors do set Clans up to welcome new students and carry on their name, but Zik is not an easy master. His ideology of domination is standard but his ideas of strength are incredibly unique in a world where weakness is to be quelled and trained away. Zik believes that the inherent strength within an individual should be harnessed instead of ignored. Any skill can be made combative if one knows how to master it completely.

In all his years Zik took on only a handful of students, with only 5 ever making it into his inner circle and being official members of his Clan. He is not an easy teacher.

Obstacles are nothing to this little Zeti. He has faced a lifetime of challenges due to his small stature and his unique powers. Strategy, cunning and an overwhelming drive to be strong allowed him to rise above the ranks. Any challenge he faces he knows has a solution - it is a difficult task to actually perturb him to the point of nerves.

It’s specifically because of his lifetime of difficulties that he taught all his students to eradicate their foes so thoroughly. Too many times his mercy let to more foes than needed. Crush a foe and all they hold dear, and no one will ever come to avenge their broken ashes.

Zik views himself as a father figure turned advisor to the group. In his heart of hearts, they are his pride and joy. He could not leave them. Bedridden and frail he’s still drag his way alongside them to keep these youngsters of his on the right path.

Zomom (First Disciple)

Zomom is the eldest of Master Zik’s student, being the first welcomed into Zik’s inner circle. This is a matter of great pride for him and makes him very protective of the others as a result. Zavok holds the title of leader but it is no secret that the eldest of the students holds his fellow disciples close to his heart much how an older brother might view his siblings.

Zomom knows a lot about the other members of the team. They feel comfortable around him one-on-one, often using him as a quiet listener to talk through their thoughts.

Zomom is a strange Zeti. By height and strength he should have been a popular choice amongst his people. Yet his lack of common sense and social norms made it difficult to fit into society’s definition of a good warrior. The perceived lack of discipline in terms of food also earned him backlash from others. Emotional manipulation is an effective way of ensuring they didn’t have to fight the giant warrior physically.

It was his sincerity, his genuine sense of being and wanting to learn, that made Master Zik bring him in as a student, then disciple. Zomom is genuine, true person who could not tell a life to save his life but still tries so hard to survive in a world where lying is viewed as not just acceptable but required in some social circles. Zik saw his food abilities and build, before tailoring his training to include more food intake and improve speed.

Most affable of the Deadly 6, Zomom may be the butt of the joke at some times but they would all be furious should any harm befall him. Zomom’s willingness to shrug off insults does not sit well with any of them and they will gladly take the place of his vengeful fury to ensure it does not happen again.

Seeing one or two of the Deadly 6 relaxing with Zomom when they are burned out or want to slow down is common.

Zazz (The Second Disciple)

This is a case of a master forcibly adopting a feral child than a student asking a master to teach them. Zomom who was there the day Zazz was brought in to be taught is the only one besides Zik who knows why the Master took such a shining to Zazz, though the most he ever says on the matter is “It was like looking at a silly mirror.”

Zazz is almost the perfect Zeti. Intensely strong, with an immense battle-hunger. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more terrifying opponent. The issue lies with that same battle hunger that would make them popular in other circumstances. The whole point of the Zeti’s competitiveness is that it is, somehow, disciplined and the result of self-control/personal growth. Zazz’s entire motivation can be summed up as “because I want to.”

Zazz is very much a wild child turned wild adult with a lot of energy to burn. The ideas of the Zeti bore them a lot - why should they spend time proving himself when everyone’s so much weaker than them? They’d rather be seeking out good opponents or filling theirs time doing things that feed his ever-flickering attention.

Despite their very intense personality, Zazz is fiercely protective of the clan. They’re the only ones to really indulge Zazz’s wide range of interests and teach them a few of their own. One day they may be with Zeena learning new techniques to make their appearance fiercer, the next they’re in the shadows with Zor learning a shadow technique that will absolutely scare the shit out of Master Zik, this time for sure!

Picks up skills like a dog gets fleas. They’re not a master at any of them but the way they’re able to combine them makes them a fearsome opponent, a lethal prankster and find something to connect over with anyone.

Zeena (The Third Disciple)

Female-identifying Zeti are held to the same standard as any other Zeti so her presence in the Clan isn’t entirely unexpected. However, many Zeti tend to prefer Clans of their own gender out of comfort or outright preference.

Youngster Zeena, known for her cold intensity, had her pick of the litter in terms of Masters - her tethering abilities made her a powerful long-distance opponent, and her technology skills make her a verifiable weapon powerhouse. Her choice to go for Master Zik was a surprise, but Zik accepted her.

In truth, she went for Master Zik because she didn’t want to just be a long-distance specialist. She wanted a Master who could hone her abilities to be used in more creative ways. Zomom and Zazz’s successes got her attention.

With Zik she learned to use her tethering abilities to completely control the field. Able to move quickly, redirect her opponents and load the battle field with her varied arsenal, facing off against Zeena is incredibly difficult.

Always looking to perfect her abilities as the “Perfect Zeti Fighter” Zeena spends a lot of time perfecting her body to make it superior to other Zeti. Outside of that in her lab she’s developing new weapons with distinct abilities to use in combat. Bouncy bombs, whips with unique charges - she’s offered to create some for the rest of the team, but they’ve only accepted limited help.

Zeena views herself as the pinnacle of Zeti power, with the ability to do more. She holds the rest of the Deadly 6 to the same standard and is not above offering weapons advice or ways to improve their appearance to terrify their enemies into a stupor.

Zor (The Fourth Disciple)

Zor was not expected to succeed. There are many ways to be considered a successful Zeti - strength, speed, smarts. Lurking in the shadows is not traditionally viewed as particularly impressive. Zor’s inclination to the shadows made him unpopular in the society.

In turn, this made Zor dislike society as a whole and develop a severe nihilistic attitude that continues to plague him to this day. Why should he trust a system that failed him so badly anyway? It is ultimately pointless.

Zor didn’t so much as join the Clan as he was chased into the clan. Lurking in his shadows he didn’t know of the tall Zeti whose attention has zeroed in on the very interestingly-moving shadow until Zazz had already begun to give chase. Master Zik hadn’t a clue what to make of the huffy Zeti his Second Disciple had under his arm, but if Zazz saw talent in this one, it was worth exploring.

Zor’s abilities as a spymaster make him a vital part of the group. His abilities contribute to that but it is his powers of observation and deduction that really lend themselves to this role. Having been a spectator to his society for most of his life, he has developed powerful strategies to collect information at a mass scale - needless to say, trying to keep a secret from him is difficult.

The main introvert of the group, Zor struggles to be with them all at once. While he likes each one of them just fine (good luck getting him to say that) their overall energy can be overwhelming. He prefers to be with one-three people at a time to preserve his social energy.

Zavok (The Final Disciple)

Societies have ideal standards people strive towards. Often impossible to achieve, they’re viewed more as a lifetime goal than a realistic achievement. Those who do manage to hit it are considered to be above others as they command respect. Amongst the Zeti, that impossible person is Zavok.

Zavok himself comes from an impressive lineage - all the Zeti before him have been great warriors, commanders, people filling leadership roles. Each generation of greatness placed more expectations upon the next and as an only child, Zavok had no one to share these burdens with. He exceled at them, but it was not the glory he sought. He wanted to great his own reputation free of his past.

The announcement of Zavok’s self-imposed expulsion from his lineage shook Zeti society to its core. His subsequent request to become Zik’s pupil further shook everyone, but Master Zik did have a penchant for collecting odd students. What was one more lost warrior seeking purpose?

Zavok evolved far beyond anyone could have guessed under Master Zik’s tutelage. Part of this was due to his own upbringing, but it truly was Zavok’s own determination and fast mind that let him adapt to Zik’s unusual forms of training. He wanted to become indomitable and he would do whatever it took to do so....

...But, he wasn’t quite perfect. Zavok is a brilliant minded individual, but upon reaching the inner circle, he realized that he was incredibly unused to working in a group. It took a great deal of time, self-reflection and humbling for him to become the leader he is to do, due in part to his own hang-ups he thought he had left behind with his family.

With time, he grows to respect each team member and view them as close family. Upon Zik’s retirement and Zavok’s ascension to the head of the Clan, Zavok was the undisputed respected and admired leader of the Clan, holding each of them in high regard and daring anyone to try and take what they had built.

#sonic #sonic lost worlds #zeti #worldbuilding #deadly six #i know nothing about these characters #I just watched a few cutscenes and ran with it #in the future #please limit to 5 characters #my imagination ran wild this time but it took so much longer than I though #imagine #sonic imagine

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hoochy-coo · 3 years

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Worcestershire sauce anon, how much money brands pay Harry to promoting their stuff? ( Yepp I did try to type your full tag 😍✌️)

If I remember correctly he has only done campaigns for Gucci? He's a top celeb plus a luxury global brand so I imagine he's payed a million per campaign there.

As for Bode, I think it's more of they send him pr boxes and he gets to pick anything he wants for free. I don't know what other brands he's possibly partnering with because I don't keep up with his fashion. I imagine that brand Olivia wears a lot and appears a lot on their/his/hers pap or organic fan spotting also gives him free stuff.

Ws anon can you compare zoexhanning and Harry Olivia together?

I don't know what you guys want me to say except the only person I like in all of this is Zoe. And at least Zoe will look cool in anything or with anyone or whatever she does so she's enough for Zoe/Channing while there's just no chemistry or natural anything with holivia. They're doing a lot of the same stuff especially with using organic fan spottings that neither of them originated. Overall, I don't mind pr stunts and campaigns if done right. Celebrities need to keep relevant and seek attention and I don't blame them.

WS anon what’s your opinion about Zendaya? Have you ever met her? Is it true she’s arrogant? I always thought she seemed to be nice, however one time someone on deuxmoi (this was before they became the clowns they’re today) said she was quite arrogant

I've met her only once on the Spider-man premiere and only very briefly. She seems nice from what I heard. But I also heard she's got quite a strong and tight pr team so I think word about her is very controlled. I won't dismiss that she could be arrogant but one person's experience may not be all. And something I learned working in the industry and I am not only saying this to sound like Taylor Swift but rather this really does happen, a lot of men tend to be described as just confident and sarcastic but women who exude the same attitude will be called arrogant. So I remember one of my colleague's question was are you sure you're not just threatened by a woman's guts? to a dude who was complaining about Brie Larson.

Yeah it’s just that musicians are more or less portrayed or do seem to live off more extravagantly than say actors. Yet purely what is considered to be their salary wise, actors make way more money! I would be interested in the dynamic of why certain celebs make more over the other from WS anon and you too Jessie!

Are we talking about specific celebs? Cause Jessie basically answered it but I would just add some celebs themselves are incredible businessmen/women such as Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Jay-Z, Katy Perry.

If you're talking a specific type of celeb, top notch athletes are better payed than most celebs because unlike people in other categories they can't prosper if they're talentless, they are risking their bodies and undergo intense training, their careers have a time limit, sports bring in the most revenue, there is an intense trade and bargain war between teams for top notch athletes among others. There are quite a few mediocre or average directors, actors, musicians and models and still get a lot of work and they are also the ones who need to do a lot of pr, building fanbases etc. As an athlete it's all about talent and skills, you won't be drafted to any team just because you're good-looking with a pleasing personality. A charismatic personality and strong social media presence may get you some endorsements, but a team is not going to sign you for that. A very lowkey and silent but one of the best player like Tim Duncan rakes in an annual salary of $20m at his peak. Moreover, you can be injured for a whole year and if you have a contract you still get your annual salary.

Jessie already explained why actors make more money than musicians. Directors are practically the same with actors but they have a bigger deal usually. Musicians are usually the celebs that get screwed the most by studio execs too and they need to do more comparatively.

I wasn't sure if that was the question but I guess I can expound if you want.

- Worcestershire Sauce Anon

!!!!

I think at least Channing and Zoe looks somewhat comfortable around each other so it’s not a hard sell imo

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