#The story doesn't have to be groundbreaking if you can make us like the players

[seahere]

Just watched Haunted Mansion (2023) and yeah, they did good. In my opinion, at least. (SPOILERS as I ramble my thoughts. Obviously.)

Enough park canon material included to make me very happy! And best of all! We still don't know the origin of the Mansion! Ahhh! Perfect!

They have the WDW Mansion belong to Hattie (movie verse's Alistair Crump), but our classic mansion, while owned by Gracey who made a big mess with the help of Leota, still has an undefined origin.

There was an emphasis on the Captain. I do like that. He's a major hitchhiking ghost and one of the friendlier ones right away (technically). He's still left ambiguous, though. His haunts make him the Mariner, but he's anyone from Captain Gore, to Culpepper Clyne, to unnamed and forgotten captain.

I am actually a big fan of Gracey and I love his inclusion. He's the owner, or was the most notable one, at least. Not the originator of the place, but he was handed the role of "fucked up stupendously" and I love that for him. I'm speaking lightly but genuinely, this movie does show us grief in a lot of its forms and I can honestly say that I laughed and cried my way through the movie. They did very well.

So yeah, I enjoyed seeing the way they played out the cycle of grief, his desperation inviting the madness of a dark player. Hattie's origins are good by me. I only cared that he was NOT tied to Constance. The two can be diabolical ghosts but I didn't want him to be one of her victims. Big bad murderer in his own right is good with me. Love that journey for him. I do wish the cgi had been a little more...greenish and glowy. And I wish he'd been a little more playfully devious. But I was good with it. No surprise villain or unexpected twist—just ghosts we know, weaved into a tale, and real humans that worked.

I also loved the art style during Bruce's expositional talk about Alistair Crump. Like, damn, I want more of that. Deeply love it.

From cheesy to heartfelt to genuinely nice, this was a great ride. I laughed, I cried, I loved the story. I love that it was about the people. It was about genuinely difficult emotions that none of us can outrun. I love that there's a Mansion full of Happy Haunts in the end.

It didn't feel like they were rewriting or forcing a new canon. Hell, they had Bruce reference the endless crazy theories about the place. The ghost appearances came straight from existing, physical characters (love the Mummy of course). Stories like the dueling brothers and Constance already existed, and played right into the Tragic Souls after Gracey and Leota had already poisoned the Mansion through his grief.

Hatbox Ghost was the only one given an expanded backstory because the story needed an antagonist. I was good with that. Honestly the Crump Manor bit surprised and delighted me. But I also don't care if people view this as only one of many possible theories. I, personally, quite like it. I could probably ramble on this point further but I'll end it here.

Good movie. Well suited to the material. Playful, spooky, intense. I will definitely be watching it again.

#haunted Mansion #haunted mansion 2023 #Spoilers #Movie Canon vs park canon #rambles #A review but I don't have a brain right now #Anyone got a spare? #Good characters #The story doesn't have to be groundbreaking if you can make us like the players #Complex in all their own ways. Yet simple enough to love them. #Kinda wonder if they relied on Danny DeVito and Owen Wilson and Rosario Dawson as already loveable actors but it WORKED #Like. Their characters could be underdeveloped and playful because of who they already are. And I was rarely distracted by it so that's good #Okay I need tea bye

[austinramsaygames]

Thinking about Actual Play series and how there are 4 parts that IMO determine if people will want to listen to it.

1. High Concept: this is what the show is about narratively. Setting, plot, characters, themes, all the stuff you'd find in written fiction.

2. Performance: how compelling are the actors involved in the show? Are there suitably funny voices? Do they all have good chemistry? Is there buy in to the High Concept? And so on.

3. Production Quality: Bad mics and poor volume balancing between players can easily take some listeners out of the story. Some of this can be fixed in post, but it's always better to start with the best raw audio you can. That's the baseline stuff but some shows also add music (whether as theme songs or for ambience) and sound effects.

4. The Rules: the most unique part of Actual Play as a format. What rule system are the performers using to inform their performances? The rules place limits on how well the High Concept functions. If you try to tell a story where all the characters are super heroes but you're using Delta Green, there's going to be some friction (which of course could be the basis of the High Concept but absolutely needs to be accounted for).

Different listeners will have different priorities for each of these, and even within them. Really liking one of these aspects within a show may allow a less enjoyable one to get a pass.

For example The Adventure Zone's Balance season is something I listened to every week. I do not give a single shit about D&D actual play and am pretty ambivalent on the High Concept but the audio quality is great and the performances are stellar.

Another example: Friends At The Table's Autumn In Hieron has frequently bad audio quality but the great High Concept of the two diverging parties and the setting, combined with the good performances makes it stand out. Also doesn't hurt that I was interested in Dungeon World.

I don't think I'm saying anything groundbreaking here, but it may be useful for those interested in actual play, fans AND creators, to consider when starting a new show.

More thoughts like this from me on my Patreon! Patrons get early access to my game design work and thoughts. Just $1 a month!

#actual play #actual play podcast #the adventure zone #taz balance #friends at the table #f@tt #autumn in hieron #ttrpg #ttrpg community #my writing

[suunkiised]

Poppy Chapter 3 Thoughts

Just finished watching Manly's play through of Chapter 3 and I have many thoughts as a viewer of the game.

First things first! Very polished, not very buggy and has a lot of nice environments. It's interactive and gives and you a better understanding of everything that happened before the deaths of the employees.

The sound design is a major improvement. Chapters 1 and 2 were mediocre in the sound department, nothing stunning or special. This chapter was way better and provided more and went above and behind!!

Also, lots of new mechanics that make the puzzles interesting and keeps things from being to repetitive. It's engaging and the puzzles are easy to understand, they're a little tedious at times, but they're efficient and you get the hang of them quickly! You also don't get overwhelmed.

Now for spoilers, click read more if you want to spoiled :)

I'll talk about the things I don't like first.

The main factor being the major lack of Catnap. The trailers and everything made it seem like he was a bigger deal then he actually is. I get the fact that he's supposed to hide in the shadows, but he barely has a presence until the last half of the game and it's a disappointment.

Even worse, his boss fight dragged on for too long. It's repetitive and not interesting in the slightest. Mommy's boss fight was long, but you not only got more time with her, you also weren't confined to one area. Catnap's boss fight was boring at most and uninteresting at worst.

His death also didn't seem to have that much of an impact. Sure, we know he worships the Prototype and seeing him offer himself to it was pretty sad, knowing everything that happened. But, again, we don't see much of Catnap in the chapter, which really just doesn't make me feel for him.

Ending this on the things I liked / loved!!

I loved Mrs. Delights section, save for the flickering lights, her design is scary and her movements are horrifying. She's a real danger and you can feel it when we get to her. While her death wasn't anything groundbreaking, it made me wince just because she was stuck under there and not cut in half.

The Play Area was fun! The little critters scuttling around and shooting them with the flare gun was fun to watch. I felt bad for DogDay, he was cut in half and his body was used against his will to hunt the player. It was gross and horrifying to watch. The chase was amxiety inducing and you can feel the urgency as you run away.

Poppy had a more prominent role in this chapter, and I'm glad we saw her! Also, Kissy is nice, I understand why they didn't want these two to follow the player aroun. Would have caused some complications with some areas.

Also, seeing Kissy being passive towards us, not only because Poppy is there is calm her down. But also because she's afraid and constantly on edge, and she wants to get out.

Ollie... Is suspicious. I don't trust him but jury's still out there on what his deal is next chapter.

Story-wise, this chapter really focused in on The Hour of Joy. It was nice to get a visual on the massacre, knowing that no one was spared from the wrath of the mascots.

I like that we got some more information on the workers. Knowing that someone of them probably didn't even know about the experimentation going on and thought they were doing good. But, also knowing that so many people were experimenting on the children...

It's chilling, because you know some people didn't deserve this and yet they're dead now.

Also, confirmation on the player having worked there, but left. This makes me think that the Prototype was the one who sent the letter, wanting every employee to suffer.

As for the ending, I suspect that Kissy got attacked by either Boxy or the Prototype. Meaning that she's either dead, or going to die next chapter.

This also means Poppy is likely to stay by the players side for a good portion of the game, I suspect until we meet Ollie, where she'll stay with him.

Overall I think Chapter 3 is a solid 7/10.

I wish we got more Catnap since he was the main antagonist, but I think the rest was handled well and I'm very impressed by the team. They did a lot of work and I applaud everyone who worked on this chapter!!

#poppy playtime #poppy playtime deep sleep #poppy playtime chapter 3 #poppy playtime spoilers

[nitrosodiumepicfps]

Five more First Person games

Just found out I need x10 examples of each genre. Here we go.

Portal - Ah, we all love Portal. Interestingly, I always enter a bit of a Portal phase in the autumn, so this is a very good time to be writing about it. The game may not have pioneered real-time portals; that achievement goes to Prey 2006, but it definitely popularized them, and did it well. When it comes to puzzle games, I've found that almost every one is in first person. There's more to this than a stylistic choice; you need your player to see the puzzles, and having 1/4 of your screen obscured by your character doesn't help. It's literally like trying to solve a puzzle while looking over someone's shoulder. And in Portal, where visibility is a key factor, making it first person allows you to see exactly where your portals will travel. It's clearly a good system, in fact, I can complete the game in just under an hour nowadays. That's still not even considered quick, when compared to other Portal speedrunners, who skip around outside of the level limits and drive airboats through walls or what-have-you. The game and its systems has almost been turned into a meta-puzzle, to see how quickly you can complete it using just what the game has in it.

Dying Light - This is a good one. I mean, most of the games I'm looking at are good. Between the high-adrenaline parkour and the visceral hand-to-hand combat against shrieking zombies, it's probably a lot of fun. I also like the Near Eastern setting of Harran, it's a nice change of pace to the prototypical crumbling not-New York we see in every other zombie media. Being a parkour game, you need a good view of your surroundings; what parts you can land on, what parts you can hold onto, and what parts will chew your hand off. First person perspective obviously helps with this, and also exacerbates the gory combat. Beating a zombie's face until you can see the bone doesn't have the same effect when you're watching through a floating camera situated three feet behind your character.

Outlast - I used to love this game when I was younger and slightly edgier. It's still a pretty good horror experience, the last hurrah of the early 2010s walking simulator survival horror before FNAF would come and usher in a new age of scares. The thrill of sneaking around a condemned mental asylum with nothing but a camcorder and a handful of batteries still holds up pretty well, and I like the light platforming mechanics like ledge-grabbing. What's interesting is how the horrors are enforced upon our protagonist, Miles Upshur - it's all through the hands. Outlast makes a big deal about not showing Miles' face, in fact, if you cheat and exit your body, you can see that he doesn't have a head at all, just a virtual camera sitting on top of his neck. Because Outlast has a fully-rendered player body, Miles is always injured through his hands. This has been done in various other games, like the Ethan Winters RE games, where we essentially see through our character's hands. We interact with the game through our character's hands, and so the best way to show a character's injuries are through the hands. That's why halfway through the game, Miles gets a finger or two cut off by the manic Dr Trager. We're forced to put up with staring at his bloodied stump for the rest of the game, due to where the injury is located. So many horror game protagonists lose fingers when you think about it.

Half Life - Oh boy, I get to talk about my favorite game! Half Life is the definition of groundbreaking. Before Half Life, FPS games were all about killing, with very little story. Perhaps you'd get a wall of fluff between episodes, or it would otherwise be explained away in the manual. John Carmack of Doom fame is credited with relegating story in a game to "story in a porn movie, [it's] expected to be there but [it's] not important." In this sense, Half Life acts like a transitory shooter. It retains the speed and weapon-juggling of the 90s, but brings in proper narratives, cinematic sequences, not to mention an unbroken first person narrative and unparalleled immersion for the time. (I'd say that MGS2 is probably more immersive, but that was 2001, so it doesn't count.) Then, after Half Life, Halo made waves on the Xbox, bringing in two-weapon limits, dedicated grenade buttons, and regenerating health. This more tactical way of making games continued well into the 2010s, with various Call of Duty-likes perpetuating the slow and psuedo-realistic approach. However, with modern battle royales becoming faster and with more movement mechanics, a la Apex Legends, it seems we might be going back to the super-fast deathmatch of the 90s, starting the cycle again. Half Life is still a lot of fun to play in 2023, and while the graphics have aged, the art style hasn't. Your brain can still fill in the gaps and determine what things are supposed to represent, and the immersion levels continue this - even if that white polygonal box doesn't look exactly like a hand dryer, it's in a bathroom, and when you interact with it, it produces a loud humming. This, combined with the outstanding NPC AI, makes the world feel truly alive. Characters can comment on smells, enemies can fight each other and eat chunks of flesh off the ground, soldiers will communicate to each other and work together to flush you out, and each weapon has a situational use based on what setpiece you find yourself in. It's just amazing.

Deus Ex - If you couldn't tell by my profile picture, I like Deus Ex quite a bit. It's this gloomy neo-noir conspiracy taking you through a gritty view of the future, where corporations rule with an iron fist, social inequalities are everywhere, and a virus ravages the world. Good thing none of those issues exist in the modern day, right? I kid, but this 2000 video game was surprisingly prophetic. You play as JC Denton, a counter-terrorism agent using various means to uncover the grand conspiracies of the world. It's an immersive sim, one of my favorite genres, where you can upgrade your character and choose various routes to complete missions. Depending on whether you use a lot of force or go for pacifism, the game's endings can change, and various characters can be killed off or spared to determine a unique outcome. It's pretty cool.

#devlog #gamedev

[app-development-solutions]

Build Apps with the Right Social Media Development Company

According to a business viewpoint, social media has become the most rewarding market in media & entertainment app development solutions. The social media application development market fragment is stuffed with predominant players; however, the quick improvement of innovation is persistently opening up new freedoms to acknowledge groundbreaking thoughts.

The earliest social media webpage dates back to the 1970s when the University of Illinois fostered the PLATO System, which had such components as online forums, bulletin boards, messaging, and numerous different elements.

While entering into the diverse media and entertainment app development, it is essential to comprehend that building a mobile application is necessary for any organization or business. Likewise, when we talk about the expenses, you should remember that cost is often identified with the backend (what occurs in the shadows and makes the application/web project work).

A social media development company may provide the building of a mobile app from scratch or a complementary extension to a website. At Consagous Technologies, we can shuffle either of the choices since we have the required expertise in the development stage at any product lifecycle stage.

The following points enumerate building apps with the social media development company that adds value to the social media app development process-

1. Interfacing with existing social media networks-

The lesser the steps required to interact with a social media app, the better. The users have effectively left plenty of information in many other social media applications; there is no compelling reason to drive them to rehash it. It is wiser to chop down the new experience to one button, "Connect with" or "Login using one of the existing applications."

2. The window for self-expression-

Each user wants to feel special and to show the world how imaginative, unconventional, and exceptional his ideas are. A typical media and entertainment app development should incorporate a few provisions that add value to this user feeling, like personalizing profile pictures, text, image, video statuses, etc.

3. Creating a Community-

Any social media bodes well for the customer with friends or fascinating individuals to meet, greet and connect with. In this manner, entertainment app development solutions should work through the ideal incorporation of friends algorithm and the framework that sends an invitation to all the user’s friends with a single click.

4. Organizing the newsfeed-

Virtually every social media makes use of a news feed feature in its interface. Content has a crown and dominates every aspect of media and entertainment app development as it should. Clients produce a massive quantity of information themselves: audio, video statuses, location check-ins, info about trendy topics, and image updates, story statuses, and reels. Much more, they share other person's content. It makes it conceivable to advocate for themselves and offer their opinions (one of the advantages of social media is making yourself heard.)

When a social media development company begins to foster a social media application for Android and iOS, it considers and organizes the news feed that best fits the particularity of the social media platform.

You also read this article: Create an Amazing Social Media App- A Complete Guide

5. Integration services-

To give your clients a superior experience associating with the social media platforms, social media development company needs to make a framework for coordinating existing services into your network. Along these lines, clients don't need to pick among various services since they are now interconnected. Talking about outsider services, we are citing to:

Relationship networking- Individual systems services (Facebook), professional networking (Linkedin), and dating administrations (Badoo or Tinder application).

Video-based sharing- Instagram and Tiktok

Online Reviews such as Yelp, Urbanspoon

Discussion forums such as Quora, Reddit, and Digg

Social Publishing Platforms- Twitter, Tumblr, Medium.

Bookmarking spaces- Pinterest, Stumbleupon.

Interest-based apps- Goodreads, Thumb, etc.

6. Private interaction-

Privacy is the key to introducing long-term commitment and dedication to social media users. A typical social media app development company that works consistently provides secrecy to users' communications is chosen any day over a completely public interaction.

Secure private communication doesn't make you lose your users to other third-party resources.

Closing Words-

So you have an application idea in conception, and you want to test the waters? What's next? How to bring it to reality?

Consagous technologies has contributed to the development of numerous applications that stick to impeccable designs and adaptable user interfaces to facilitate intuitive communications. We indulge in fabricating the avant-garde applications on Android and iOS, guarantee a superior UI/UX, and allow accessibility of built-in services of the mobile device.

Original Source:

https://www.consagous.co/blog/build-apps-with-the-right-social-media-development-company

#Social Media Development Company #Social Media App Development #Social Media App #social media application development #media and entertainment app development #entertainment app development