#fake rpg jam

[blazehedgehog]

Interested in that new Suicide Squad game?

Not even a little, no. It's got the stink of a live service game all over it, it's been delayed to hell and back, none of the previews I saw sounded even a little bit positive...

It's as bad or possibly even worse than that Marvel's Avengers game, where it's the world's most bland game jam packed full of free-to-play mobile game junk. Except now they're asking $70 for it.

I'm getting really tired of every game having a loot system, or RPG mechanics where they don't belong, or whatever. All these little things to puff up play time, to fake the appearance of depth, and make it easier for them to sell you gacha packs.

It's like every game is Pokemon now: gotta collect everything, gotta raise everything up to max level, gotta grind against a million different numbers, because oh man, you think Harley Quinn's Mythic Clown Warhammer is good now? Wait until it's level 99.

And then next year, when they raise the level cap? Holy crap, dude.

Think of all the time you spent doing that stuff. Chasing stats. Pretending that grinding is automatically a substitute for depth. People love number go up. And I'm not even immune to that! In a good game I like to play, having an excuse to keep playing it is nice!

But more and more and more games are putting the cart before the horse. It's like they build a shopping mall and then fill it full of vendors that only sell old onions and manure. "It'll pay for itself," they say. "A lot of people need onions and manure." Not taking into account they're right next door to more useful stores people already go to.

And every game is a job now. I play Fortnite for about 90 minutes every night, something I've been doing for the last four or five years. The thought of playing any other live service game on top of Fortnite makes my bones creak like an old man.

Like, a specific friend is the one who enabled me to play Fortnite. He bought me a Founder's Pass for Save the World back in 2019, which means I get free v-bucks currency as long as I complete at least one mission per day. Depending on how luck falls, there have been days where I get upwards of 200vb per day, for free. Over the course of a month, that adds up pretty significantly.

We've both joked that the only reason we're still playing Fortnite after all this time is we always have currency for the shop because we get it for free. A Fortnite estimator website once said my account is worth multiple thousands of dollars, but I've actually spent maybe $100 total in real money over the last five years on it (about $20 per year).

Anyway, that same friend recently tried to drag me into playing Disney Speedstorm, because he loves that game. In the three or four months since he's been trying to lure me over, I have booted the game up maybe five times total. It is fun, but it's also a "this game is your job now" live service product. And my bones creak.

The stench of that coming off of Suicide Squad is too pungent to ignore.

#questions #Anonymous #suicide squad #warner bros. #rocksteady games #live service #fortnite #disney #speedstorm

[angabby-zzz]

oc question. Do u have any songs u associate with any of ur guys

🥶🥶🥶RAHH. umm not for very story / lyric related reasons no but i have like mega short character playlists (what they would listen 2) for angel and gabby so i do consider those to be their songs kinda . But heres vague? idea list👇

Angel:

- basically any skz song cuz of gabby n the concert thing (thunderous n albums b4 that mostly)

- basically any mcr song cuz thats his established Jam

- washing machine heart + nobody from mitski but tbh thats just cuz i dont listen to any other songs from her. if i did maybe id say the same thing w skz n mcr

- feel good inc + rhinestone eyes from gorillaz. Insert what i said about mitski

- like an idiot from kakizaki yuta cuz its got a cute vibe to it that reminds me of him somehow

- revenge + dont mine at night. not sure why ig the gamer part of jouta stuck w me a little and onto angel in that way

- maybe any selena quintanilla song . thinking emoji

GABBY. i need to redo her playlist i dont rlly think it fits her vibe 😐 heres some i do like 4 her though

- again any skz song 4 same reasons as angel (except this is mostly for newer songs and she sometimes listens to older ones)

- queencard + i want that from (g)idle . 💪 insert thing i said about mitski

- eve, psyche & the bluebeards wife + unforgiven from le sserafim 🙄💪 again mitski thing yes ik ive said this like 100x

- tbh any musical song ik of (that doesnt mean much its rlly just sexy + candy store + say my name) but thats just cuz her last name / dionysus 🫡.. say any musical and ill b like ohh man i bet gabby will like this

- I wanna say some vocaloid songs but ive got nothing specific this rlly just comes from the fact that she (and angel) play prsk

4 the both of them its like lowkey kinda 🤔 cuz theyr love related but in my defense . Animation meme / animatic moment (idk how much these count cuz i just c any animation meme i remember liking from like pre 2020 and want to push them in2 it)

- bang bang from that guy from maroon 5 and the other dude

- la primavera from fake type (this one includes jade n sherb cuz i think theres 4 of them in the meme/mv??)

- aunn no beats from hanyuu maigo

- rpg from those guys w the mega long name bruh (also includes jade n sherbet)

I dont have any 4 jade solo :( i havent rlly developed her music taste enough 2 b confident in it but i wanna say la primavera again cuz its like. Spring themed n cute and what is jade but a spring liker and cute

4 sherbet i think rlly any cute or old girl group song cuz thats what shes into in jjbaverse (specifically apink, girls generation, and SPEED) and i didnt wanna change that… think like tell me / russian roulette / sophisticated girl 👍

#asks #oc lore #sorry this took like 4ever i didnt wanna accidentlly miss anything #edit this actually took forever i spent like 30 minutes on this 💀

[illdothehotvoice]

Yknow what. I can't even promise I'll do this and I'm about to expose myself as a fake M&L fan SO fucking hard BUT

#IN MY DEFENSE #Dream Team is long as fuck and I've been chipping away at the same profile on and off since like #7th grade #I am at LEAST halfway through BiS and like literally near the end of Paper Jam I've just been stuck on a toad mission #and PiT never really stuck with me until I recently restarted it dshjgkfdh #I've been playing them all at once lmfao #I finished Superstar Saga in like a month though lmfao dhsjgkfdh

[kalopseance]

im not able to do a proper "summary of art" as, like most years, most of my art was done within several highly productive months while other months i drew nothing, basically. but...im very proud of myself for what ive managed to accomplish this year, especially given my up-and-down mental state!

along with several of my best illustrations, theres some other things im proud of that i wanted to include here! • despite wanting to be an animator for years, i never actually animated....anything, really. until this year! i was a part of two multi-animator projects. the first was the artfight MAP, and the second was a happy halloween MAP! the links go to my videos of my parts. • i was asked to be the character artist for a free visual novel by the VN developer ebi-hime! that was honestly such a wonderful experience and im so so grateful to have contributed to such a wonderful little game. please check out GIRLFRIEND SIMULATOR on itch.io, its a genuinely really well-written game! • this year i joined HYPE JAM, a "game jam for game trailers". we had one week to make a game trailer, with the large majority of assets being made from scatch during that week. i made a fake trailer for my RPG maker game, Goodbye To Wonderland. it won a little award for visual appeal!

while 2022 has been a bit....all over the place, im proud of making it through and having done alot of cool stuff this year. ive done so much new stuff that ive wanted to do for so long! its hardly been the best year of my life, but ive been doing much better than i had been doing last year, and im proud of what ive accomplished. happy holidays, everyone!

#summary of art #artists on tumblr #okay to reblog #autistic artist #original character

[ravioliet]

hello tumblr allow me to introduce my silly little guy Blink!

so to summarize their story, there’s this unfinished video game (which in my head is kinda like animal jam if it were an rpg) and the game has two main characters: Periwinkle aka Wink, and Blink, with Wink being the player character and Blink being an npc who was created to be a sort of companion to Wink/the player who would go on quests with them and fight alongside them during battle sequences and such throughout the game. Indigo, the game's creator, wanted Blink to feel as close to an actual player as possible so they gave it a sort of ai that would pick up on the player’s strategies and behaviors and try to adapt its own to compliment them so the two of them would work as a team, but the ai was a little bit too good and over time Blink started getting smarter and smarter until they basically became self-aware and eventually even aware of the fact that they existed entirely in a video game which as you can guess, didn't turn out well for Blink's mental state because imagine if you found out that your whole world was fake, kinda the matrix except instead of just the world being simulated but not the people everything is and none of it exists in the 'real world' including you because you're just a computer program that happened to gain self-awareness (i'm nice to my ocs guys i swear-)

anyways yeah that's Blink! feel free to ask me any questions you have about them or their story :)

here's some bonus doodles as well (the purple and blue cat is Wink)

#my ocs #my art #Blink #oc #original character #they're literally so <33333 i love them #honestly thinking about it Blink's whole character concept is kinda messed up i almost feel bad for doing that to them #keyword here being almost

[iam-back]

Super Mario RPG playthrough diary - 41

Sorry for not playing for so long - and merry Christmas Eve.

Anyway, here there be postgame.

...Wait a second, I still only have 6 Star Pieces!? And Toad implies that going to Exor and Wacky Weaponland and the Factory and stuff WAS A DREAM!? Is that why Mallow and Geno are with us still, even in the postgame?

What a rip. At least we got this cool Stay Voucher - an item that lets us stay indefinitely for free at Marrymore Inn & Suites. Not to mention the bestiary was pre-filled out.

Now, if you say that no matter how many times I beat Smithy, he'll keep on using his weird magic to make it appear to have been a dream and I'll never get the last Star Piece, I'll make it a point to never play this God-forsaken game again!

Well, if there's one thing I will do, it's stay a night at the hotel in Marrymore with this fancy voucher.

Afterward he says we need to go to Star Hill to find out what that weird glow was.

Purple stars! That means brand new fake-postgame-exclusive wishes to see!

"I hope THIS is my big break." - Punchinello, who recovered at Moleville Inn

"I have something special to show off." - not sure

"My throat's all scratchy. Make it stop." - some guy who probably sang too much

"I want a match with someone who makes me take it seriously." - Jagger?

"I vish someone voud do somezing about zis cake." - Torte

"I'm itching for a heated duel!!" - Boomer?

"I, the Dark Knight of Vanda, await someone to challenge me." - Culex, whom I don't care to fight

...Is that it, then? Fine. I guess I'll get the Cricket Jam for Frogdaddy.

SUCK A WIENER ON MR. MEANER, THERE'S A FLOWER INSTEAD!?

That's it, never again!! But for those who do care, there's a super-hard rematch against The Cake, a fight against a now-3D Culex, and presumably Jinx.

#super mario rpg #nintendo switch

[8one6]

"Three Kobolds in a Trench coat", "Power Word: Blog", "Scratching the Itch.io", "Designed by the Apocalypse", "Perpetual Game Jam", & "J'Accuse: The TTRPG Industry News Blog" are all fake RPG blogs. I just made them up, sorry. (If you want you can use the titles though.)

#RPGs #Ttrpg #Fake

[nbcnews05]

NBA Leader: 26.4 PPG AH AH! Austin Reaves Freezes 227's YouTube Chili' Steph Chili' Curry 27.9 PPG 5.3 RPG 5.9 APG #DubNation Spicy' https://www.nike.com/w/golden-state-warriors-99c57 jamaalaldin_tv https://www.youtube.com/jamaalaldintv #Davidson #Wildcats With Nasty Fake Then Baseline Jam!| FERRO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W_6y6Az9pg&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=tumblr kia.com/us/en

[msnbcnews05]

NBA Leader: 26.4 PPG AH AH! Austin Reaves Freezes 227's YouTube Chili' Steph Chili' Curry 27.9 PPG 5.3 RPG 5.9 APG #DubNation Spicy' https://www.nike.com/w/golden-state-warriors-99c57 jamaalaldin_tv https://www.youtube.com/jamaalaldintv #Davidson #Wildcats With Nasty Fake Then Baseline Jam!| FERRO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W_6y6Az9pg&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=tumblr kia.com/us/en

[prokopetz]

I 100% don’t have time to run it right now due to Other Commitments, but I’ve been kicking around the idea of a Fake RPG Jam

Like: just write a piece of supplementary material for a tabletop RPG that does not actually exist.

It can be a new playbook (class, archetype, etc.), a set of equipment options, a magic spell, a monster statblock, a writeup for an organisation, political faction, or geographic location that exists in the game’s setting, a notional system hack for playing in some alternative genre, whatever. The idea is to suggest the shape of the mechanics and lore of a nonexistent game by raising questions about what sort of game this material could possibly be for; the more perplexing those questions are, the better.

Only three rules:

a. It must include or interact with some sort of made-up game mechanics – no pure lore entries;

b. It may not be compatible with any existing, published game you are personally familiar with – the system it’s meant for must be entirely imaginary; and

c. Two hundred words minimum.

#gaming #tabletop roleplaying #tabletop rpgs #fake rpg jam

[dizzyhslightlyvoided]

If I was going to take "The Asymptote" and make its game into a real thing ...

The central idea is, fighting monsters/supernatural beings/youkai involves "using Rationality to defeat their Illusions", which I guess ranges from solving a mystery presented by their actions, to discovering how a seemingly-impossible bullet-hell pattern actually has ways of getting through it.

But basically, "solving mysteries" is not just mechanically identical to "fighting enemies with violence" and uses the same resource economy -- solving Illusion-created mysteries is fighting with combat-magic.

This explains why, if you were running a Touhou-themed game, you would need to fight three or so random goobers who have nothing to do with the current Incident before you can figure out where to find the final boss -- you need to build up the resources needed to solve the mystery/defeat the boss in advance.

Instead of Illusion and Rationality being separate values, you directly subtract Illusion from a maximum value to get your Rationality. Likewise, the higher your Danmaku rating, the fewer Bombs you have, according to some table.

I haven't figured out what benefit having a high Illusion would have for player characters. ... I guess because I haven't put enough thought into this to figure out what any of this would actually do. Shrug!

This really sounds like a fantastic kind of high-concept premise that I will literally never be able to make.

#shenanigans #tabletop rpg #violence mention #fake rpg jam #gaming with godot #the asymptote

[bwepcoast]

I love realism in TTRPGs and it makes me sad that it's largely an intentionally-overlooked facet of games. It's one of the reasons I don't talk about RPGs more with people, I feel like the kinds of games I enjoy are generally unenjoyable to other people.

My complaint is that the idea that there's any element of fiction that is wholly valueless is bizarre to me. Realism can be annoying or a distraction for sure, and I think if you don't want to play a game that tries to simulate reality then a realistic game is gonna feel frustrating. If you don't wanna track encumbrance then by all means don't :)

I LOVE when games try to be realistic. I like when a combat-centric game makes you keep track of the ammo you use, if an olde-timey game has infections be life-threatening, if characters can only survive one or two unmitigated attacks from a weapon. I like when you interact with NPCs and they react like real people, like if you fuck with them they get upset with you and think less of you or refuse to help you. I love preparing for long adventures by making a list of supplies we need for the trip and keeping track of exactly how much weight I'm carrying. I like bell curve dice rolls more than flat distributions!

It all adds up to just a Different RPG experience than a more cinematic game. There's roleplaying opportunities around all the things I listed that you don't get otherwise (and vise versa, there's RP opportunities in more fantastical game structures that you dont get in more realistic ones) and i love it so muchhh

Verisimilitude is nice too but it's not quite the same as dealing with the minutiae. Going, "Yeah you have enough ammo to get into another fight, don't worry about tracking it," or the rules-light-narrative-story-game take of "Roll [x number of dice] to see how many arrows you have left" just does not hit the same. There's still the consideration of the minutiae but it's abstracted to the point that I don't really get to interact with it! It feels about the same to me as handwaving it entirely, if not worse!

in conclusion gimme my realistic minutiae i love it! "tastes like realism" is not the same and is not preferable to me!

#i used to like the r/rpg subreddit because it was not d&d-centric #but i stopped liking it because theres a pretty pervasive attitude of 'oh you dont want realism you want verisimilitude' #and its hard to occupy the same social zone as people who think that your way of doing a subjective thing is Just Valueless #anyway realism is good #make my fake guns jam sometimes #bweppost

[manonamora-if]

Projects Updates Post

MEETING THE PARENTS

First Release: 10 Jun, 2021.

Completed Release: 4 Dec, 2022.

Play it on Itch.io.

Review on IFDB.

Like/Reblog Game Post.

Submitted in: Twine Survival Guide Itch.Io Jam, ranked 4th.

EXQUISITE CADAVER (Jam Version)

First Release: 29 Jul, 2021

Last Release: 7 Aug, 2022 (partial update)

Play it on Itch.io.

Review on IFDB

Like/Reblog Game Post: HERE.

Submitted in: Fortnightly Fiction Jam 14 (unranked)

Note: This project is currently in re-write/design, with the 2022 update bringing a better UI and story to the final game. The story is however only partially out (3rd complete). Expected future release periodically.

SPS IRON HAMMER (Jam Version)

First Release: 31 Jan, 2022

Play it on Itch.io.

Review on IFDB.

Like Game Post: HERE

Separate Tumblr: @sps-iron-hammer

Submitted in: interact-if text-based story jam 2022 (ranked), ranked 6th; and Finally Finish Something 2022, ranked 51st.

Note: Though the Jam Version is complete, I want to expand it and give the mystery a proper end. Since I have much on my plate, the Complete Version is on hiatus until the end of 2022 most likely. You can follow its progress on its tumblr (the major updates will still be rebloged here).

THE THICK TABLE TAVERN

First Release: 1 Oct, 2022 (IF Comp Website).

Last Release: 16 Nov, 2022

Play it on Itch.io

Review it on IFDB

Like the Game Post: Here

Read Post Mortem

Submitted in: 2022 IFComp, ranked 37th.

Note: The version submitted to the IFComp is in my eyes incomplete (especially considering what I had planned). Extra content and balancing of the mechanics is on the horizon.

CRIMSON ROSE & WHITE LILY

First Release: 16 Jul, 2021

Last Release: 29 Jun, 2022

Current Version: v2-2 (Up to Act 1 Scene 4)

Play it on Itch.io

Review on IFDB.

Like/Reblog Game Post: HERE.

Separate Tumblr: @crimsonroseandwhitelily

Being my main project and the biggest in scope, this game will most likely stay in the Ongoing tab for a long time (potentially years). I have 5 Acts planned (with maybe intermissions in between) of varying size. Each update will include a new Scene in the current Act.

Due to the size of the project, I have created a separate Tumblr especially for it. Dev logs, updates, polls, inspo and questions are posted there. Major updates will still be rebloged here. Expect hiatus in between updates.

THE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF EDWARD HARCOURT

Demo Release: 25 Oct 2022.

Play it on Itch.io

Review it on IFDB

Like/Reblog the Game Post: Here

This is a joint project with MelS (writer) and me (everything else) that started during summer 2021. MelS dabbled with the idea of creating a story based on Lovecraftian lore/vibe. Since he is much busy than I am, the project took quite some time to get off the ground. Since Lovecraftian lore gives me the creep and MelS can't code, it was obvious who would do what.

The Demo was released with the Prologue and the 2 first Chapters (out of planned 10-ish chapters)!

The progress on this project depends mainly on how much/when MelS can work on it. Updates will probably be scarce because of this.

Submitted to: Ectocomp 2022, The Grand Guignol category, ranked 3rd.

QUEST TOWN (working title)

Idea: You are a beginner adventurer on the road to greatness and treasure. Along the way, you encounter people needing your help, promising you worthwhile rewards for your help.

I would want to have some sort of RPG game as an interactive story, with stats, level up, going back and forth between places. I already know that it will involve a lot of difficult coding, that I am not yet ready for. I think I will first create the quests/NPC and where they are placed in the setting before worrying about that.

Demo Release: Unknown.

OTHER IDEAS

I have a bunch more ideas from very different genres (incl. a multi-MC based on a Mozart opera and a horror one in a fake Ikea). There are also multiple Comps and Jams I am interested in participating. But I am trying to pace myself considering how many projects I have ongoing. I have learned that I can't over abuse my hands or I won't be able to do anything for a while (yay carpal tunnel).

Stay tuned ;)

Blog Tree Nav Post

#manonamora #general update #update #projects #if game #comp #crimson rose and white lily #CRWL #interactive fiction #game #ask me anything #SPS Iron Hammer #Meeting the Parents #MtP #SPS IH #Exquisite Cadaver #EC #Twine #IF #the trials and tribulations of edward harcourt #ttateh #the thick table tavern #tttt

[luvnami]

𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐈𝐒 𝐀 𝐌𝐔𝐋𝐓𝐈𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆

𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 - food, vine reference (does anyone even remember these still?), kinda cheesy at the end ig

𝐒𝐘𝐍𝐎𝐏𝐒𝐈𝐒 - hanamaki takahiro loves you so, so, so much

𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓 - 1005

𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄𝐒, 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒 & 𝐑𝐁𝐒 𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐃!!

hanamaki takahiro isn’t very romantic.

he likes to keep to himself most of the time, holed up in your shared bedroom playing a new rpg or flipping through old copies of jump. not to say that hanamaki doesn’t like spending time with you — he does; loves you more than anything in the world (even more than those hokkaido milk cream puffs that cost 600 yen at that bakery in shinjuku).

but romanticism and love don’t necessarily go hand in hand. flowers are expensive and give him allergies when he bundles them on the train ride back home to you. he hates washing the dishes. to be honest, hanamaki feels a little bad that you always yell at him for leaving yesterday’s pots and pans to be piled up in the sink.

he can’t help it! the dishwashing liquid makes his fingers dry out, and rubber gloves don’t give him a good feel of how clean the dishes actually are.

sometimes hanamaki forgets to leave the toilet seat down after using the bathroom. one too many times, he’s woken up to you yelping during a midnight toilet break. he pretends he doesn’t hear anything, staring sleepily as you crawl back to bed and huff cutely in his ear. 

at least he bothers to change the toilet roll once its about to run out. hanamaki can manage to cook a decent miso soup for dinner on days where you run overtime. he does a superb job of doing the laundry, actually, all the while belting his favourite anime opening songs as he tosses clothes into the dryer.

the door opens and you toss your office shoes by the genkan. hanamaki perks up from where he’s pan frying some teriyaki salmon in the kitchen, the rice cooker steaming away beside him.

“ugh, i’m exhausted!” you groan.

“welcome home!” hanamaki cheerily replies. “dinner will be ready soon. why don’t you take a shower first?”

a bath sounds amazing right now. you leave your work things by the dining table and disappear into the bathroom as hanamaki begins to plate dinner. he has a cute little apron on, bought from threeppy with a cute bear on the front. the tip of his pink tongue sticks out as he measures some furikake out with a teaspoon.

dinner is filling and delicious, nourishing you from the inside out after a hard day of work. you begin to plod over to the living room to watch some television as hanamaki clears the table. it doesn’t take long for him to join you on the sofa, bearing a plate of sweet treats. 

“what are those?” you ask, peering curiously as hanamaki takes a seat next to you.

he’s wearing one of your high school’s oversized class t-shirts. you don’t understand why he doesn't just wear his own clothes, but hanamaki insists it smells like you and you smell like home, so you don’t complain and occasionally watch him strut around the house in a pink crop top.

“they are my crocs,” hanamaki replies.

the both of you burst into giggles and you shove at his shoulder playfully.

“gross.” 

“i bought some cake from the new bakery. wanna share?”

“ooh! i heard all about it from hitoka-san the other day!”

your face lights up and suddenly all fatigue from your day of work melts into nothing. you eagerly grab one of the two forks and take a bite of the delicate sponge cake. 

hanamaki’s eyes soften at the edges as he watches you devour the cakes. he barely gets a few bites in, even initiating in a short star wars-esque battle with your forks as he makes lightsaber noises. you snort with laughter and he wins, stealing a forkful of chocolate roll cake. 

the reality show on your second hand television is soon forgotten. you tell hanamaki all about the day you had at work: how the new intern was absolutely terrifying (seriously, who voice records every conversation they have?!), the yummy snacks tanaka-san from the sports department had bought from her honeymoon to osaka, and the printer that had been jammed for three days already (maybe you should give it a good smack? hanamaki suggests. you tell him that you’ll probably be written down for vandalism).

you relax, the tension in your shoulders ebbing away as you lean your head on hanamaki’s arm. there’s some cake left on the plate — probably worth two mouthfuls. too little to split between the both of you, but enough for one person to feel satisfied with a big enough bite. 

“you can have the rest,” hanamaki murmurs. 

“huh?” 

you’re warm, soft against his arm. his adam’s apple bobs as he stares straight ahead at the television, not daring to look down at your doe-like eyes. he focuses on the advertisement for a new mop instead.

“finish the cake. i’m too full from dinner.”

“ehh? don’t you like shortcake, hiro?” 

“i said i’m full. go ahead, i had some snacks before dinner.”

without looking, hanamaki knows that there’s a pout on your face. 

“you shouldn’t ruin your appetite like that next time.”

you happily stab the last portion of the cake and pop it into your mouth along with the giant strawberry on top, chewing away happily. hanamaki’s heart leaps in his chest. he reaches down, cupping your soft cheek and pulling you up for a kiss.

“mmph- hiro!”

you taste sweet; like whipped cream and strawberries. hanamaki gulps. you’re so pretty and perfect and- 

would you, just for him, take care of his heart and keep it close to yours?

the dishes are still piled up in the sink, a fake succulent sits on the dining table next to the stack of apartment adverts that you’ve been going through the past week, and that week’s sock laundry are pinned up neatly on the balcony.

“babe?” you tilt your head in question at his prolonged gaze.

shit, shit, shit. he loves you so much.

“hey, let’s get married,” he says softly. “i wanna be with you forever.”

#haikyuu x reader #haikyuu fluff #hq x reader #hq fluff #hanamaki takahiro x reader #hanamaki takahiro #hanamaki x reader #hanamaki fluff #hanamaki takahiro fluff

[foodbytesback]

I Played Every Food Game in the Indie Bundle for Palestinian Aid

In light of increased violence by the Israeli military against Palestinian civilians, several game developers have to come together to create the Indie Bundle for Palestinian Aid.  And with over 1,000 games (available at https://itch.io/b/902/indie-bundle-for-palestinian-aid until Friday for just $5, of which all profits go towards the United Nations Relief and Works Agency), it’s no surprise that there would be a handful of food-related games.  So let’s take a look at them.

I did, however, omit a few.  There were a couple of food-related text-based RPGs, which is ultimately not a medium that I’m familiar enough with to feel like I could talk about and do it justice (and also most of them required at least 2 players).  “Breakfast Cult,” ended up being more about cult stuff than breakfast stuff, which was disappointing (for the purposes of this, anyway). A couple, upon extracting the .zip files, seemed to be files of all Unity assets and no actual game, and eventually I kinda stopped caring.  Sorry if I missed any otherwise, I did my best to gleam through the over 1,000 titles in this bundle.

Ace Baker

You’re presented with a list of ingredients with names that don’t resemble any food known to man, and it’s up to you to throw things together in combinations that will result in something that resembles a baked good before your partner comes home from work.  There are icons next to each item, which vaguely suggest what it is, but the whole point is to sort of work it out yourself.  I was just barely able to get a Perfect Cake before running out of ingredients, after countless Acceptable and Dubious attempts.  

The UI was simple but effective, and I was almost a little sad that the list of fake applications off to the side couldn’t actually be accessed. Most of the dialogue (which is very slim, and basically bookends the game) with your partner, Nora, would be clunky if it wasn’t so tongue-in-cheek about how Cyberpunk-y it’s trying to be.  The repeated use of “shiny” immediately brings to mind that one Spongebob episode where everything in the future is chrome.  The fact that the player character and their partner are both asexual (yes, that kind of “Ace” Baker) doesn’t seem to have much to do with anything at first, but it’s worth mentioning that this game was originally developed for an asexual game jam, so think of it as a game that started off as being about an asexual person and then they added the baking afterwards, rather than the other way around (And even then, who cares? If you’ve got something against asexual people, get outta here.)

My only real critique is that after a while, the music loop stopped, forcing me to sit in silence as I studied my baking grimoire. But again, this was a little game hashed together for a game jam, that, if for some reason you didn’t want to get the bundle, is actually free on itch.io, so can you really complain?

Hot Pot Panic

What a classic conundrum: you’re at a hot pot restaurant with a friend, and, despite being all-you-can-eat, you have to control your appetite to avoid weirding out your friend.  There’s basically two mechanics you need to keep track of: cooking the food in the hot pot, and managing the conversation with your friend.  You click on the raw ingredients to put them in the pot, then wait until the sprites turn a golden hue and you start to hear a sizzling audio cue to eat them.  Meanwhile, you have to make small talk with your friend, and pay just enough attention to be able to choose the correct multiple choice response to any question or open-ended statement she ends her side of the conversation with.  But you have to be careful not to burn your food, however, because that won’t count towards filling your stomach, which you have to do before you run out of conversation topics.  The whole thing is a delicate balancing act.  I have to admit I failed at first because for some reason it didn’t dawn on me that you could cook more than one thing at a time?

The pixel art sprite work works very well; the foods are instantly recognizable and I could really  feel the judging glare coming from behind the friend’s thick glasses.  The background music perfectly matches the atmosphere, and, as already mentioned, other sound design elements like the sizzling cues from perfectly cooked meat prove to be vital to juggling the different elements of gameplay.  All in all, a neat little game that perfectly encompasses the feeling of anxiety that comes with wanting to not embarrass yourself in public when all you really want to do is eat.  

Putahe ng Ina Mo: Sinigang Edition

Ok, I’m gonna try to be nice to this one.  On one hand, I love the aesthetic it’s got going on.  Upon opening the game, you can tell from the background music, which I can only describe as “whimsical mad scientist,” as well as a stream of emojis flying past, that this game is supposed to be very goofy.  Unlike other games on this list which were more point-and-click, the ingredients for your sinigang (a Filipino tamarind stew) can be picked up and thrown about as you wish.  The fact that the art style is very realistic makes this that much funnier.  

However, upon opening, the window forces a specific resolution that just would not work with my monitor.  This may seem like a minor problem, as I was still more-or-less able to access all the ingredients, but imagine the mental state I was in: I’m already confused, and then the second I clamp the lid on the pot, everything goes up in smoke!  How the fuck did I burn water? I ended up also watching a playthrough on YouTube, and they also, no matter what, burned the sinigang.   Considering the name of the game translates roughly to “Your Mother’s Cooking,” maybe the idea is that no matter what, you’re never going to make it as well as mom.  Or, considering my mom’s cooking, maybe it’s the opposite of that.

A weird, goofy little game that just didn’t seem to like my computer.  

Sangwish

This is 100% in the vein of all those weird 2010s “[Mundane Thing] Simulator” games that were all the rage for a while.  No instructions, no objectives, just a pile of food for you to play with.  My immediate reaction was, for some reason, to grill the mysterious meat slices, but it turns out the stove there is just set dressing.  Giving up on such pointless gourmand pretenses, I decided to just make the biggest sandwich I could.  Eventually, there was so much on the sandwich that the bottom slice of bread started vibrating slightly, because physics.  Then I tried to put my knife in the sandwich, but the vibrations knocked it to the floor, never to be seen again.   Then I decided to throw all of my bread and most of the ingredients on the floor, never to be seen again.  Here is my end sandwich.

Easily one of the sandwich simulators I’ve played all day.

Terroir

Much like a wine with a good terroir, this is by far the most complex game on this list (muffled snooty wine snob chuckles in the distance).  The end goal is clear: grow grapes, make wine.  But, as you can imagine, you are completely at the mercy of the elements.  The ideal time to harvest your grapes is when they are at a ripeness of 4-6 out of 10.  However, the randomly-generated months gave me month after month of cloudy and rainy weather, not allowing my grapes to get the sunlight they needed to get their ripeness above a 1.  The only time my grapes ever hit a 6 was out of harvesting season, and by the time I was allowed to harvest, they had somehow dropped back down to a 1.  And as you can imagine, a bunch of 1-star grapes will only make 1-star wine.  The fact that I almost immediately got root rot didn’t help any, either.  And because I tried to expand too quickly, buying an extra plot of land when I couldn’t even afford the grapes to grow there, I was thousands of dollars in the red within 3 years.  

Is that a dig against the game? No. It’s frustrating, but in that way that games with a learning curve often are. The tile-based design is pleasant to look at, although much of the UI can be a little confusing to look at at first.  And, of course, most of the “gameplay” is sitting and waiting for the wine critics to tell you what a bad job you did.  Some of the few management choices you can make seem to not have much of an impact (my first wine wasn’t acidic enough, so I added pressed juice to my second batch that brought the acidity up to a 9, but then the mere act of bottling the wine brought the acidity down to a 4 somehow).  It’s an interesting concept for a game that I assume I’m just not getting, but might give another chance at some point in the future.

#food #video games #food games #Indie Bundle for Palestinian Aid #Free Palestine

[petalharbor]

Are the Mario and Luigi RPGs canon because one of them (I believe it was Paper Jam) implies that Luigi’s mustache is fake and if that fact is canon I don’t know what to do with that information

#Chance rambles #Luigi