#i need to finish the designs so i can lore dump

[kaiju-krew]

Hi there! I'm here on the asking thing again woohoo! But I got a question if you don't mind me asking, what's a Gijinka? I'm pretty sure you've gotten plenty of questions like this in the past, but this is my first time finding out about it lol. Still though! Hope you don't mind it! ^^

hallo! it's no worries at all, im happy to explain!

afaik it's a term thats become all-encompassing for like, 'non-humanoid thing gets turned into a humanoid design' ? like anything from kaiju to inanimate objects lmao

for me personally i've been using the term gijinka over 'human' because most of my designs are more like humanoid hybrids, where features from their kaiju designs are present to some degree or another. whereas like, i also have designs in mind for a straight up modern human au, without the hybrid elements, if that makes sense?

with the lore im lowkey building in the bg for my gijinkas, they're sorta demigod type figures, which is why their designs lean towards a kinda royal fantasy vibe ?? idk how to describe it but they're wearing fruity ass shiet instead of tshirts n jeans cuz they're existing in a full on au rather than a place in our world type thing

ok ill stfu now but yeah i hope that makes sense!!

#gijinka #kai talks #more like kai fuckin RAMBLES #i got so much gijinka lore in my soft goopy brain matter i am going insane #i need to finish the designs so i can lore dump

[loupy-mongoose]

So, I made some impulse purchases recently, including this lovely little gal.

Hai Luna~

When I ordered her, it started a bit of a Gardevoir kick in me. So I went and did some brainstorming about Jamie's Gardie pal, Clover.

This did get very long, but there's a lot of art that I really like! :3 Plus I borrowed a certain someone from @mewtwoandme~

Growing up I always drew the green headpiece as a bony structure with maybe green skin on it, like deer antlers. (Except it doesn't shed lol)

But in my efforts to redecide what it actually is to me, I went to Bulbapedia, and that called it hair. So I tried out hair as well, and I kinda like that better...

I love my deranged Gardie. :>

(Leaning into "Mischievous Fairy/Pixie" energy)

I wanted to draw some Gwen (M&M's Gardevoir), as her and Clover's characters are different in a lot of ways, and I thought it would be fun to draw them together. Turns out Gwen dwarfs my girls, and I adore that in every way. XD

I also came to realize that Jamie would admire Gwen--She doesn't wish change on Clover in the slightest, but she does like the grace that more conventional Gardevoirs possess. Plus she'd be astounded by her sheer size.

For the fun of it, I tried drawing them both in each of our styles. (Or more like "Features" than "style")

I did not like drawing Gardevoir in her style. All the respect and love to M&M, but it felt SO wrong to me personally. XD

Annnnd... I kinda accidentally thought of a different way to take their designs...

And then I tried to figure out the logistics of giving Gardvoir a tail. I kinda like the idea of there being one that blends into the Skirt, splitting and running down the length of the skirt ends.

A little character lore; Clover removed her skirt on purpose.

Growing up, I always had in mind that the skirt was skin, maybe acting as thermoregulation, or something like that. I don't think I ever decided whether they can feel through their skirts or not, but if I want it to be more angsty, then yes, they can feel.

Warning for general and self-inflicted injury in this paragraph. As a kid I figured Clover cut it off to prevent it from getting caught or grabbed. But now, with the developing idea of there being a tail involved, I got another idea with even more angst. I'm thinking possibly Clover had a tail bone broken, and maybe it healed wrong, causing her pain so she ripped off the whole skirt.

Okay, injury warning is over.

And now a little silly that's not exactly canon, but close enough. XD

Y'all can thank @puzzled-zebra for this, as she brought up the idea during a chat. It was too good to pass up. XD

And now I wish to finish with a nostalgia ramble, because Clover is very precious to me, along with Jamie.

I started a playthrough of Soul Silver many, many years ago--even before the playthrough that would become Jamie's trainer journey over ten years ago. It was a solo run, with a Ralts egg sent in to be my only companion. (I kept the rules soft, though, as I remember needing help from other Pokemon to beat Bugsy. XD) My memories of that playthough are faded, but I remember that Clover alone beat the Champion at level 64-65. Sometime within the next few years, she was my first ever Pokemon to reach level 100 without the use of Rare Candy or experience cheats. That playthough and whatever happened in it has no bearing on Clover's story, but it's what gave birth to her as a character, and I hold that very dear.

Her nature is "Hardy, Likes to Fight", and I'm really proud of little me for taking that in the direction she took it. XD

Anyway, that's my super long love-dump of my beloved gremlin fairy. Thanks to everyone who made it all the way, I know it got pretty long. ^^

#Art #branch #doodle dump #Everything I touch gets floof and a nose apparently. XD

[mynameisnotsoda]

NOW INTRODUCING.... THE CRITTERS !!!

Technically Corvid is still a part of an au, i really like everyone's designs so i guess its just like a weird little au that are also kinda ocs?? Idk. Im still tagging it as the animatronicfication au and using the other ccs names but im completely separating wilbur from Corvid.

The one that probably changed the most is simp LMAO i just went back to his old design that was inspired by Luna (@starrixle's transfem simpbur turned oc) and Spencer is such a fitting name in my mind i literally can not imagine him with a different name *bwomp*

Also I'm working on refs for the other characters associated with the respective critters! I wanna finish them all and dump them into one post and I'll link it here when I'm done.

ANYWAY INFODUMP TIME

Before we go into individual characters i want to say that this is absolutely Minecraft. Like. The world is built off of Minecraft lore yk !!!! The overworld will still be called the overworld but it's basically just earth, with more magic and humanoid species! Along with supernatural creatures and cryptids n stuff :D also with more advanced tech considering Corvid exists pFF

Spencer for the most part kinda was like he is in canon or whatever. She used to lean more towards incel ideology because she was REALLY insecure and uncomfortable with herself for the longest time. Despite that, Spencer and Adrianne (egirl) started dating when they were 17, his unhealthy obsession with her was only fueled by her unhealthy attachment to him. They needed each other and it wasn't good for either of them. Spencer had developed horrible separation anxiety which only made things worse. Over time Adrianne became suffocated by his constant neediness, overwhelming insecurity, short temper and lack of contribution to household chores. It pained her to leave, but things needed to change. It wasn't until the breakup that Spencer met Shepard, who was his first irl friend in a long time. They met when they were around 22/23, at first Spencer just used Shepard as a distraction from Adrianne, especially since he was surprised that they wanted to even be his friend in the first place. But after a while he genuinely started to enjoy their company, plus they offered him really good advice and helped him through a gender/sexuality crisis. Eventually they became partners! Maybe not romantically, as they're both aromantic, but life partners nonetheless.

OH and i did make Spencer white/Salvadoran. Her mom is the first generation from immigrant parents while her dad is British; And her dad's younger brother is Adam's dad! He's also an ex-christian, he left due to religious trauma and moved to America to escape his family hA

Spencer's also a no sabo kid LMAO (he knows some words/phrases but other than that he cant speak Spanish to save his life)

ALSO ALSO. Oh my god i could talk about Spence all day LMAO but i made him a werewolf !!!! Hes SOO jealous of Adam because she wanted the cat genes but instead got bitten and turned into a werewolf as a teenager. She's done a pretty good job at hiding it from her family so Shepard's the only one who knows.

I already dumped everything about Adam into that other post, so I don't really have much else to add. HOWEVER !! Him and Spence are cousins now :3 Adam doesn't get to meet Spencer in person until he moves to America with Charlie & co, but he does follow her socials with his secret accounts that his parents don't know about. The only reason they know they're cousins is because Spencer's dad told her so and she reached out! Much to the dismay of Adam's parents but they've secretly kept in touch online.

Keith's pretty much stayed the same apart from a slight design revamp. Although I've made him a little older since originally i made him look young. But then I decided hes a dad so i started drawing him older for the asks pFF he also has a hooked nose now! In case it's not obvious. Keith got married to Jean VERY young, they were maybe 17/18 in human years. It was an arranged marriage and their only goal was to have an heir to the throne. Well they did, they had two kids, the eldest being a boy named Lune and the youngest being a girl named Sunny, who's the would be heir. Until Jean took both the kids and left. It was completely unprompted and left everyone in the kingdom confused, especially Keith. Sure, they had a loveless marriage and maybe he was insufferable at times, but he wanted to make it work if not for the kids then for the kingdom! But its been almost a year since she left, he's lost hope in ever finding her. Keith desperately wants his kids back, not because Sunny is the rightful heir— though that is part of it—but he loves them both dearly. He misses them the most.

Wilfred has pretty much stayed the same as well! I did give him a grey tshirt and darker hair to further distance his design from wilbur though. Hes just as unhinged and immoral as he used to be !!!! Nothing has changed aside from appearance actually.

Tobi also pretty much stayed the same except for its now got an orange jumper and lighter brown hair pFF although i do now have a story for him! Tobi was found by Alejandro in a storage auction, he managed to sell a lot of pretty valuable things from there but Tobi stood out, obviously, so he kept it. Alejandro is a travel vlogger and lives in an RV with his friends: Tomas, Philip and Charles. His friends just call him Alex. Anyway, they go from town to town trying local food, visiting tourists traps and vlogging the journey! While doing that they also try to find out how to get Tobi's memories back and possibly turn him human again, if they even can. So far they haven't had much luck but maybe one day...

Corvid was created as the backup singer and lead guitarist of the first all animatronic band! Brought to you by Beloved Entertainment! The other members include lead singer Ranboo Beloved, keytarist Tommy Raccoon, and bassist James Tomcat. Located in Ranboo's Mega Pizzaplex, the only location in the world (so far). Corvid adopts a showman personality while on stage, hes charismatic and such a heartthrob, very popular with the ladies. Off stage he's very calm and soft spoken, he's rather shy but still manages to be a flirt and a tease. Lightly poking fun at his bandmates, coworkers and even guests at times. He's definitely a fan favorite for a reason!

This was so fun to write and i cant wait to share more !!!! Stay tuned !!!!!!

#simpbur #studentbur #keith the dragon #dr malpractice #tinybur #animatronicfication au #sodas critters

[efangamez]

Yoooooo the GRIM expansion "The Palace of Eyes" has some actually NUTS lore. The work for the content is almost finished, but it needs to get fine tuned for publication while I include it in the handbook.

I'll be talking a bit about it here, so if you don't wanna possibly get ANY spoilers, you can dip now!!!

Okay so because I have pretty chronic pain in my fingers I'm going to be using text to speech or speech to text to share some of this information. So this will be my first time writing something that has like time travel and dimension travel shenanigans and the way that I was inspired by Metal Gear Solid to have these wild storylines all going on at once with some twists and turns but it's still kind of holds together through lower explanations is really really cool. I've honestly had a blast making every one of the story beats come together in one giant epic of a story to be honest with you.

There are actual pieces of lore in here that were crafted not only because they were cool but because they are thematic and have almost a cinematic and ideological feel to them. I think that the more that I build worlds and the more that I come to terms with who I am as a person the more fleshed out and well built stories can be created through my games. I kind of realized that when I made Neon Nights and some of my other games. I thought that if I just made a system that had a little bit of scaffolding I think that would be enough but to me I really do think that just like in a video game playing in a world where you are able to explore and uncover mysteries and be shocked by events I think it's really really cool and I like that. I think that's because one of my strengths and interests is in narrative and while I've gotten older I don't really have the patience too much anymore for prose, but I have fallen in love even more with World building and creating narratives with that World building if that makes sense.

I think that this expansion will not only be a really fun thing to explore within the GRIM multiverse but to also kind of look within yourself and to relate to some of these characters in their struggles and to kind of be invested in their stories and what's cool about tabletop games is that their stories are not fleshed out all the way. The scaffolding is there with strong connections to the world but the way that you the players will interact and the way that the watcher who is basically the standing for GM or DM in a game will be completely unique. I think that that's one of the powerful components of an RPG. And while GRIM may not have the most robust mechanics for role-playing in a system or using a system to roleplay rather you can still create Grand narratives by just being interpersonal with your players.

I don't know I just kind of wanted the info dump a little bit and not have my fingers hurt while I type so that's why I use speech to text. I'm really really excited working on this. I have over 34 pages of content in a document that hasn't even been designed yet. This thing is going to be a big lad probably over 100 pages at least. It's going to be kind of hard also to price this at $9.99 but I think that to me what matters most is getting this out there and kind of showing off my talents as well as giving people an awesome epic to play along with GRIM.

Anywho I hope you have a fantastic day today! Make sure you drink your water you eat your food and you take care of yourselves. Love ya!

#ttrpg #indie ttrpg #trans #queer #indie #gamedev #game dev #cyberpunk #scifi #dnd

[nerdythebard]

#58: Echo [Overwatch 2]

Always ready to learn!

This fun idea comes to us from a user by the name "deduqzaru". Today, we build the ultimate adaptoid. Echo, the creation of Doctor Liao - founding member of Overwatch - is a capable Damage hero, programmed with an advanced AI to fulfill variety of roles in combat and outside of it.

Next Time: Whosoever holds this hamm— NO! Not you! We're going back to the original!

Let's list the three main directives of this build:

Jill of All Trades: Echo was created with the goal of being able to fit into many situations, whether in combat or outside of it. In-game, her kit makes her a great scout, engager and damage-dealer.

I am Thou: Echo's Ultimate skill, "Duplicate" allows her to assume the form and copy the abilities of other characters on the battlefield.

Self-Sustainable: As a robot, Echo is unaffected by many statuses and effects that would affect humans: hunger, sleep, diseases, etc.

---

There were two options to start with Echo; one very obvious, the other - not so much... so I went with the obvious one and made her a Warforged. We get a +2 Constitution and +1 to one ability of our choice (Dexterity), 30 feet walking speed, and also immunity to being aged by magic. With Constructed Resilience, we gain several benefits to our fortitude:

Resistance to poison damage and an advantage on saving throws against being poisoned

We don't need to eat, drink or sleep

We are immune to diseases

We don't need to sleep, and magic cannot put us to sleep

Stemming from that last one, thanks to Sentry's Rest we can spend our long rest (shortened to a minimum of six hours) in a sort of energy-saving mode by remaining in a motionless (but still aware) state rather than unconscious sleep.

Another set of benefits we're granted by our Integrated Protection. We gain a +1 to our AC and can integrate any armour we're proficient in into our own body (and it cannot be removed against our will). Finally, Specialised Design gives us one skill proficiency (Performance) and one tool proficiency (perhaps Tinker's Tools could help us heal/repair).

Because of her learning matrix, Echo holds a huge amount of information. We will make her a Sage, giving us proficiencies in Arcana and History, three languages of our choice, and the Researcher feature - whenever we must recall a piece of lore, we know exactly where to look for the relevant information (library, archive, people of interest, etc.)

ABILITY SCORES

We'll start with Dexterity to move around the battlefield and position ourselves to different roles. Constitution will be next, our body is made of quality materials. After that, we're taking Intelligence, as recording information is what we're all about.

Charisma will be next; we're an adaptoid who can also impersonate others, we need to be convincing. Wisdom is on the lower end, we're still learning after all. Finally, we're dumping Strength.

CLASS

I've had a few ideas here, depending on which race I was going to pick for Echo. In the end, I've decided on something interesting and went Rogue start-to-finish. Rogues get the d8 as their Hit Dice, [8 + our Constitution modifier] initial Hit Points, proficiencies with light armour, simple weapons, hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, shortswords, and thieves' tools. Let's give Echo a studded leather set and a hand crossbow (and maybe darts) to integrate into her body, the latter to represent her primary tri-shot attack. Our saving throws are Dexterity and Intelligence, and we get to pick four skills from the class list (Acrobatics, Deception, Insight, and Perception).

Level 1: We begin this build by gaining Expertise in two skills we're already proficient in, or one skill and thieves' tools. We can double our proficiency bonus for any checks we make using those skills. Let's apply that to Deception and Insight. We can also apply Sneak Attack to strikes that we make with advantage; once per turn, if we attack with an advantage (or our target is within 5 feet of another creature hostile to it), we can add extra 1d6 damage (the value changes as we level-up).

We also learn Thieves' Cant (can't what?), a series of special code phrases and symbols that is recognisable only to us and those who operate in the same circles as us (so, like... Python, C++, HTML, pick your poison) to decode or encode messages.

Level 2: We can now use Cunning Action to take the Dash, Disengage, or Hide actions as bonus actions.

Level 3: Our Sneak Attack bonus is now 2d6. We also pick our subclass, the Roguish Archetype. Since Echo needs several abilities that are similar to magic, despite my dislike of MagiTech, we will make her an Arcane Trickster. We gain Spellcasting, with Intelligence as our casting ability. We learn cantrips and a fixed number of regular spells. We gain the Mage Hand cantrips and two others of our choice (Light and Shocking Grasp) and three 1st-level spells: Disguise Self, Feather Fall, and Magic Missile. With those three, we have covered Echo's ultimate (to a degree), her passive ability to glide, and her primary tri-shot.

Additionally, with Mage Hand Legerdemain, we can make our Mage Hand invisible and use it to perform additional tasks (pickpocketing, using thieves' tools with it, etc.).

Level 4: Time for the first Ability Score Improvement, and we will use it to bump up our Dexterity by two points. We can also grab the Identify spell to access our vast database.

Level 5: Our Sneak Attack bonus is now 3d6. We can now activate our extra jet boosters and make an Uncanny Dodge; doing so, we can use our reaction to halve the damage of an attack hitting us (if we can see it).

Level 6: We get an upgrade to our Expertise, by selecting two more skills that will benefit from the effect: let's choose History and Perception.

Level 7: Our Sneak Attack bonus is now 4d6. We also unlock 2nd-level spells, so let's grab Aganazzar's Scorcher to replicate Echo's Focusing Beam ability.

Here, we also gain a very useful maneouvre ability: Evasion. When we are forced to make a Dexterity saving throw against an effect that would result in us taking half damage on a success (such as the Fireball spell), we instead take no damage. On a failure, we take half damage instead of full damage.

Level 8: Another ASI. We can cap our Dexterity to 20 for even better AC and Initiative bonus. To replicate Echo's Sticky Bombs ability, let's use the spell Snilloc's Snowball Swarm.

Level 9: Our Sneak Attack bonus is now 5d6. We gain a new subclass feature: Magic Ambush. If, while casting a spell, we are hidden from our target, the creature has a disadvantage if the spell requires them to make a saving throw.

Level 10: Halfway through the build and we get a new cantrip (Light) and another spell. Let's get Detect Thoughts to improve our impersonations. We also get another ASI; let's put two points into Constitution here.

Level 11: Our Sneak Attack bonus is now 6d6. We now gain a Reliable Talent, which makes our proficient skills even more refined; whenever we make a skill check using a skill we're proficient in, we treat every roll of 9 and below as 10. We also get another spell; let's pick See Invisibility to upgrade our visual sensors.

Level 12: For this level's ASI, instead of increasing any traits, we're gonna pick a feat that furthers Echo's specialisation: with the Actor feat we get a +1 to our Charisma, an advantage on Deception and Performance checks used to impersonate another person, as well as the ability to mimic the speech and sound of another person or creature (if we hear them speaking for at least 1 minute).

Level 13: Our Sneak Attack bonus is now 7d6. We also unlock another class feature; Versatile Trickster lets use use our invisible Mage Hand to distract a target within 5 feet of it as a bonus action. Doing so, gives us an advantage on attacks against that target until the end of the turn.

Additionally, we unlock 3rd-level spells and we can finally become the aerial support with Fly.

Level 14: At this level, we install some new update to our sensors and gain Blindsense. If we're able to hear, we are aware of the location of any hidden or invisible creature within 10 feet of us.

For our next spell, we're going to grab Melf's Minute Meteors for some cover fire/carpet bombing.

Level 15: Our Sneak Attack bonus is now 8d6 and our software gets some patches, because thanks to Slippery Mind we gain proficiency in Wisdom saving throws (and oh, we desperately need it).

Level 16: For another ASI, we can round up Charisma and Intelligence with one point each. We can also grab another spell, so let's disappear from the enemy's radar with Nondetection.

Level 17: Our Sneak Attack bonus is now 9d6.

Time for our final subclass feature; Spell Thief allows us to hack the system and steal the knowledge of how to cast the spell from another once per long rest. Immediately after being targetted by a spell (or being in the area of one), we can use our reaction to force the caster to make a saving throw. On a failed save, the spell is cancelled and we steal the knowledge behind it. For the next 8 hours, we can cast the spell using our spell slots and the original caster cannot access that spell.

Level 18: We become the most Elusive target there is. If we aren't incapacitated, attacks against us cannot be made with an advantage.

Level 19: Our Sneak Attack bonus is now 10d6. With the final ASI of the build, we will cap our Constitution to a 20. We also unlock 4th-level spells for the endgame; let's take Locate Creature to be an even better pursuer.

Level 20: Our capstone is Rogue 20, which gives us Stroke of Luck. Once per short or long rest, we can turn a failed attack or ability check into a success. For the final spell of the build, let's grab Ice Storm and re-flavour it into carpet bombing.

---

And that is Echo, carrying the spirit of one of the founders of Overwatch. Let's see what we came up with:

First of all, we have all the boxes of being the cutting edge automaton checked; we do not require food and water or sleep, we are immune to diseases, and can still keep watch even during stasis. We have good detection skills thanks to spells, mobility, and good Insight. Finally, we have also covered Echo's mimicking ability thanks to Disguise Self and proficiency in Deception and Performance.

Our AC is 18, wew have a +5 to our Initiative, and the average of 176 Hit Points.

Although we have hit two 20s in this build (Dexterity and Constitution), we don't have much in terms of other abilities. Our Strength modifier is still a negative, and our Wisdom is pretty low; even with proficiency in saving throws, it may be challenging to resist some crowd control effects. Sometimes, hackers might get the better of us.

---

Wow, it's been some time since I've typed the ending words. I enjoyed this one, the Overwatch characters have a really good potential to use in your D&D game; let me know if I should do more of those. It's good to do this again, and I saw that you guys wanted more gods, so I shall deliver.

I'll see you in the next one, darlings! - Nerdy out!

#dnd #dungeons and dragons #character building #d&d 5e #dnd 5e #overwatch #echo #overwatch 2 #warforged #rogue #blizzard #video gaming #dnd character #dnd5e #dnd build #echo overwatch

[dlartistanon]

I have to be honest, after everything I heard I went into Lone Trail anticipating Muelsyse character assassination-- nay, *annihilation*, for the sake of Doctor-sexual fanservice and I was ready to be disappointed. But having finished reading Lone Trail myself now... What? Her homescreen lines are utter horseshit, I completely agree, but her actual character writing in Lone Trail fits that really good analysis post by meeblo so accurately that I can't believe meeblo didn't read LT before writing

"The more I think about Lone Trail the less I like how they executed the story."

So, let me preface this with with preemptive TL;DR: If you are a fan of Silence as a character, you probably really enjoy Lone Trail.

If you are a fan of any other character, especially Muelsyse, and ESPECIALLY if you don't like or don't care for self-insert pandering, you're likely disappointed and/or frustrated with Lone Trail. I am the latter.

Let me just copypaste what my friend has to say (plus my own replies and commentary) since they can articulate the feeling better than I can:

I'm sorry. I just can't imagine a world where Saria, who means so much to Muelsyse, is nearly assassinated and in awful shape, and *she knows that* and is like "wassup doctor, heard Saria's in trouble but lets hang out"

Me: Exactly. This does not make sense with what we know of their relationship. Especially since she's later worried sick/almost breaks down at the thought of losing Saria for real

I'm just going through the story and so much of it doesn't make sense to me. And it's (I'm not done but getting there) just *so depressing* how much of the event is eaten up with kind of pointless/uninteresting doctor babysitting? She should be front & center in all of this. There's so much to work with and play with but so much of it does not make *any sense*. Muelsyse did not need to be hobbled by this. Hell, so far as I've read, Doctor didn't need to be there or could have done it on their own. Fucking frustrating.

Me: I'm not that familiar with Guide Ahead, but I can't help but imagine how much better/more concise Lone Trail could've been had they handled Samuelsten in a similar way to GA's central trio. Don't shove Muelsyse to the side, make her an active agent in the story, with the people who matter to her

I mean I’ve made it to CW-7 and as someone who’s in the middle of all of this (often by design) I’m puzzled that she’s one of the least interesting parts of the event? Kristen, HoHo, Nasti, Jara are great. We know why it matters to her but she’s on the fringes the entire time. This should have been done like guide ahead but guide ahead was much better and leaner by virtue of not needing to dedicate half the fucking event to talk about how great and interesting the doctor is. There’s no reason doctor couldn’t have been with Kal’tsit the entire time. That would actually make sense. But nope.

"It's Saria you want to see, It's Kristen who you're looking for" but why don't we just stick you with Doctor the entire fucking event and you can act like you're just on a little adventure. Cannot believe I have to rely on the furniture to give what the event should have.

This might be a controversial take, but I wish all this giant lore dump with Doctor, Priestess and Kal'tsit had been relegated to another vignette or main chapter with just mentions of Kirsten/Kristen and Rhine Lab. It's taking up much too much of Rhine Lab's event. Instead of *way too many flashbacks* with Doctor/Kal'tsit/ whoever, we could have had this building up Saria/ Kirsten/Muelsyse with their past instead of the one 3 second glimpse we got. I am so mad at this stupid fucking decision. Rhine Lab Event: featuring Rhine Lab as glorified cameos

Reply: Yeah its so annoying. It takes up sooo much god damn space and for what? And for what ? It doesn’t belong. I swear to god i wish we focused on, idk, the main relationship between saria and kirsten (and mumu but my faith is lost) instead of kirsten only showing up at the very end

Yeah, I'm sure glad FERDINAND got the most screen time out of all Rhine Lab. Just *what*. But the lore dump, while *fine* is just fucking egregious and does not belong here. This could have been referenced elsewhere and they could have fleshed out everyone else.

I have finished Lone Trail! Cumulatively, I love about two chapters worth of it! I definitely had high expectations but even if I'd had mediocre expectations I would have been let down. Not enough of the Rhine Lab founders, needless lore dump that could have gone elsewhere. It felt fragmented and like a hodge podge of things. Saria, Muelsyse and Kirsten felt like cameos in the entire event. And I'm sure the intention of this was to elevate just how goddamn special the doctor is, but the way it was written, it felt like no one at Rhine Lab gives a single solitary fuck about Muelsyse in any real capacity. These are the people she's had and adores. Yes, her loneliness was a sort of focus of the event, but the way it plays out does make it feel like "yeah, you're right to be lonely. Thank god for doctor!"

So much of my irritation is not only was she reduced to a love interest for Doctor, treated poorly by everyone at RL, she had zero agency in the whole event. She really was just floating passively for the most part. Muelsyse in Lone Trail: 1. Looks for Kirsten/ doesn't find Kirsten/ abandoned & not said goodbye to by Kirsten. 2. Looks for Saria (eventually) stopped by Saria. Saves Saria, doesn't talk to her again/ is not acknowledged by Saria. 3. Nasti tells her she's a crybaby & to get lost I mean, it really is no wonder she wanted to off herself. She built Rhine Lab with them from the beginning and this is how the event chooses for all these people to treat her? It's unbelievable.

Me: All that to make Doctor look better in comparison, right? It's jarring bc it's such a far cry from the brief concern Saria showed towards her in DV and doesn't even follow up with her claim to want to save Muelsyse in LT. Where's the consistency? She remembers that Mumu is fragile, but we don't even get a scene or mention of checking up on her after crashing back down to earth?

At least in Kristen's case, she remembered Muelsyse exists afterwards with the plantlife onboard, but it's not even presented as wrong or a character flaw how Saria ignores Muelsyse in the end, even though she literally saved her life. Just... nothing. This is the defender who protects others? The one that she fell for?

Yeah “when you’re emotional you forget that you’re fragile” & okay this is a devastating day for her so fuck her very much! No need to check on how she’s doing losing a long time friend and colleague, how she was in a thing that literally crashed but she saved *her*. And this isn’t even about Samuels in particular! This is how she was treated by the people with an established history that matter to her. Obviously the game is pandering, but given how literally everyone in the game, from the actions she can see, treats her like she is disposable trash. It’s no fucking wonder she’d be like “oh wow doctor!” Because at least they treat her like a human being who has feelings and who hurts? The fact that Saria doesn’t even reach out, that she has treated her like a stranger for the most part doesn’t track. Why did they make Muelsyse the “hero/ star” of the event banner? She’s forgotten and mistreated by everyone, gets almost zero game content, her file and voice lines are a mess and she doesn’t influence the story in any way at all. This event as a Rhine Lab story was trash.

Me: It felt so much more like a "Silence" story with Rhine Lab as window dressing. They clearly didn't have any editors around because how can you SAY that these people matter to Muelsyse but then not PROVE it? The lack of care, the disrespect towards her and other characters in relation to her is just astonishing

I like Silence a lot but wtf was she leading this? The whole thing is the conflict with Sarsten w/ Muelsyse in the middle. She got a new outfit, talked to Parvis, rehashed a conversation w Saria for the 10th time? This should have been all Muelsyse / Saria/ Kirsten but they barely existed in the event. And who the fuck polled whoever else to decide that Ferdinand and the creep Josh should get the rest of the time!Why so much build up with Jara / her closeness to Kirsten to not have any interaction with them? WTF were they doing.

I could probably write an essay about all the things I felt didn't work as a Rhine Lab event. This might have worked better as a vignette just to keep it tidy. But I think the other thing for me is that… hrm this event almost assumes that all you've seen of Silence is the manhua and thus wow! Growth! She loses the glasses and gets a new style to show that off. But the Silence of this event is the Silence we've had in the game since day one. The one in Mansfield and in Dorothy's Vision who is kind of certain about what is wrong and what is right and will stand up for that. So to me there wasn't any growth there. Because we'd already seen that growth/ that was the person we've known since the start of the game. A lot of this event kind of relies on… either not having read the manhua or exclusively having read the manhua. Because if not for the manhua you don't know/ understand why there's that Kirsten/Saria divide and how much it means. It's all very weird.

And kind of to add to my little rant… DV and the manhua allude to Muelsyse being extremely close to Kirsten and being her sidekick. But in neither the manhua or any of the events do we see any of that. Instead we get Nasti (who I like a lot) in that role and--- I just don't get it. You'll be less disappointed if you don't read the manhua. lol A ton of Muelsyse's character development and her relationship with Saria is highlighted there and this event just kind of decides to burn all of that to the ground. But if you want to see why the final chapter matters/ is special/ yes, read it.

Me: Nasti's in the role bc we had to have our self-insert fix with the hot new playable op :/

yeah. with the same motivations. but all of that should have rightfully been hers I really do think they just gave Muelsyse's role to Nasti And the cherry on top of all of it was at the end when Muelsyse is like "Huh did the three of us actually dance together or did I make all of that up?" I just can't with that final slap in the face to Muelsyse and all of them. Like her talk about loneliness is fine and well done and the little history but so much left a lot of questions.

Me: yeah… it's just. wow. there were nuggets and seeds planted that had potential, but they didn't bother to actually cultivate and develop those relationships and dynamics at which point why even include them at all

Yeah, I’ll include that in my rant, but my last point on that end is Saria’s “I would do it over again” doesn’t make sense if you haven’t read the manhua— and just doesn’t jive with what is presented in the events with her that is much more clinical. And I’ve said this about multiple things— but a story should be able to stand on its own without having needed to read a manhua for additional context— and especially when having read the manhua you’re left with ??????

#dltext #anonymous #lone trail is disappointing; to put it mildly #especially for someone who loves muelsyse as a character #again: she deserves so much better #dl talks ak #what does it say when the freaking FURNITURE DESCRIPTIONS are arguably more respectful to mumu than the event itself

[alitgblog]

volume ix thoughts wooooo we're out of casa

first off, return of a legend: the beach hut

i was fully expecting the compatibility test to be more like the season 1 compatibility test with the zodiacs because that's fun but i guess that's less of a pot stirrer than a fun game to have. though the narrator poking fun at it i guess is making fun of the fandom for thinking it was gonna be horoscopes 🤣

so very obvious ass test though especially with the two answers only about the two guys you're pursuing, which I think is a missed opportunity to throw more lore about the guys in there. or at least make it not as obvious? really goes to show how surface level the characters are compared to, say, the Mr. and Mrs. Challenge towards the end of S2

I'm going for Jin and Max rn so I thought it was funny their personalities were boiled down to "funny" vs "extroverted" and my MC had to pick between the two as if they were mutually exclusive

anyway just nearly got Jin lmao

I'd like them to stop with the Claudia/Theo storyline because it feels like they've already decided they're done with each other and are ready to move on? However, Claudia being compatible with Theo on paper but like not really feeling it is an interesting idea. Like she feels she's got no other option to stay safe except for him and they like each other enough. Meanwhile Bea's settling for Liam because he's shown any interest in her at all. (Let them date each other if MC can't! They deserve better!!)

also I know that I joked about Theo being just some mildly attractive white guy to fawn over and settle for but the way that Claudia is just settling for him? actually upsetting like I'm so sorry, Theo 😟 I didn't mean it I thought he was fine after the first dates 😖

Hari mention! I was pretty sure the game forgot about him lmao

anyway the compatibility thing still doesn't make the most sense because like,,, why did all the guys get the Villa girls and none of the casa girls? I just think we should stir up some shit. I know it's annoying but it is the perfect opportunity to try to make Emel angry at Oakley again by saying he's most compatible with some casa girl. And she can show growth by not getting upset this time.

idk why but Kyle's poem to Emel is giving wannabe rap crew vibes (i.e. I'm missing S1 I'll take what I can get). Also, Claudia said he's giving game player vibes?? I'm actually so upset with how the LI's are all interchangeable because simply this cannot be the same Kyle y'all are fawning over (it's not 😭)

I'm kind of curious what it's like replaying on a straight route bc personally my heart hurts every time they show Claudia's little sad face but like I have to talk to Max it just makes more sense because MC can't couple with Claudia in stick or twist

Close your eyes and pick at random is actually hilarious as an option for stick or twist and I almost did it

i've already said my piece about Sienna, I love her design. I will admit though, her open mouth smile is a little stilted but people get botox so... not out of the ordinary lol. The bigger problem is how her hand on her hip is a little fucked up (color in between the lines, fusebox!)

as someone not on a Theo route, I really don't understand why he's sticking with Claudia unless he's got some personal turmoil he's working through and trying to actually reform his player ways. And I wish MC could talk to him as a friend and we'd see that. like in the way S2, you get to know Rocco's insecurity about never finishing university and Gary's anxiety even if you aren't on their routes

Anyway I'm still upset at the forcing MC to couple because she's single thing. They could've still had her coupled with Jin (or even with Hari it would work) and then she can either walk in single or with a casa boy. And then she's the main character: just say that the single islanders don't get dumped post casa (like it's SUPPOSED to be) because in that situation, she's the only one! Or if you need the numbers to be right, literally Emel is right there. She can come back to Oakley later if anything

still not the best stick or twist could've gone in terms of drama (or maybe that's just bc I've been looking at spoilers), but compared to S5-6, not too bad (I assume also s7 but tbh I did stop right at stick or twist for that season)

So fyi when I played Casa, I had my MC go for Shawn most of it, and then last minute switched to Max because I remembered she's a musician and I thought that would be cute. That being said, I wish it was like in the too hot to handle game where you unlock certain dialogue if you happen to have something in common with a character. Because why is Max explaining music stuff to my musician MC?

is Hari not an LI? Because they made him seem like one and then just all of a sudden we're not talking about him, it's only about Jin and Casa Boy. And I'm fine with not all the boys being LIs, but it is odd the way he's just shoved to the side in the story

Okay so I'm writing this as I'm playing and it seems like maybe he is. They just forget to mention him most of the time.

Hari and Hazel are a hot couple though. like I don't love Hari's design but like if he was drawn better?? I see it.

the swimming game is a fun idea but imagining everyone splashing around to get to MC is so funny. like I can hear it in my head and it's not the best game, but for the fictional game in the app it's fine.

although why tf is Theo suddenly interested in MC? I haven't been romancing him at all but for the chat at the pool I couldn't decide between any of the characters I'm actually kind of interested in so I had MC go talk to Theo and then he was also flirting? then the pool game he also thinks MC has the best chat?? sir I barely know you

omg not emel deflecting the drama to Claudia (and it's about her hookup with MC???) oof this is the drama I crave I think we're gonna need a movie night soon

so not too bad yet I just hope these storylines can come through!!

#litg #litg s8 #rambling #i typed this out on like wednesday when the volume came out and then forgot to post 😅

[entropy-game-dev]

Alpha Testing, v0.01a-v0.03a

The internal alpha test of Stellar Terminus is underway! I’ve only had a couple of friends (and myself) test it so far as it is unfortunately quite unstable, but here’s a record of what’s been done so far!

v0.01a

The alpha testing officially began on the 25th of January, 2023... and promptly stopped a few minutes later (after the opening cutscene) when the tutorial map - the rocket launch site - refused to load and showed a black screen.

That same day, I spent a couple of hours furiously trying to debug the code and traced it back to a variable that signals that the map manager is ready. Even though the map had loaded properly, it was still reporting that it was not ready erroneously, so I was able to fix this and make the code look quite a bit neater in the process! This was the birth of v0.02a.

v0.02a

This version had the entire prolog section playable and mostly bug free. This included several cutscenes which I’ll be showing off later, the tutorial map with tons of interactables, flying to the first “real” dungeon, and getting your first robot companion. However, although combat was mostly functional, it would crash upon both gaining experience AND trying to recruit robots, so there was more work to do. I watched my friend stream it to me and was taking notes, and some of the really (unintentionally) funny stuff was:

Interacting with a flowerbed and having the game log report that “you successfully disarmed the trap”

Explaining that there was a bar that tracked how much of the map you had explored, but finding a tile that was unreachable behind some boxes, meaning that the completionist in my friend could not achieve 100% map exploration

Having an earthly window spawn in the walls of a deep space observation post, complete with rolling hills outside

Having all of the robots available at the beginning of the game and my friend immediately filling his party with the ones that he had designed

I worked on the bugs and notes that came out of this playtest for a little over a week (see below for the changelog) which brings us finally to...

v0.03a

This was a build that was tested by two friends over the weekend. The original tester from v0.02a, and a new person. In this version, combat was mostly stable, with only a couple of crashes that needed to be addressed. I won’t go through everything here but again, some of the funny stuff was:

Treasure chests not despawning after interacting with them, causing my friend to load up on tons of materials and equipment

Having the “game over” state unreachable during battle causing a softlock at 0HP, ONLY for it to be saved by a “launch cutscene” key that, after finishing, dumped you back at base with full HP.

Some move description text being entirely too long and spilling out of the text box

Me complaining about how I couldn’t replicate a crash when recruiting a robot, which my friend was able to perform within like 2 battles - I now have the exact units causing it so I can hopefully replicate it now!

...And that’s about all for now. I’ll definitely be posting some more pics and videos in between debugging sessions! See below the cut for the full patchnotes if you’re curious!

0.03a Patchnotes

Bugs:    

Disabled recruiting if you already own a particular AI core    

Removed "disarming trap text" for now, as disarming traps aren't in the game    

Disabled all research given by default    

Disabled all AI cores given by default    

Expanded map tiles now show properly (depth issue)    

Minimap now doesn't display over the inventory window (depth issue)    

Going into the research menu doesn't crash now    

When lore machines don't give you a log, it doesn't softlock    

Stopped prolog features from generating in space (like windows)    

Fixed crash when getting xp at the end of a battle    

Fixed shader parameters not resetting when entering/exiting ship    

Fixed team not being fully healed upon entering ship    

Fixed stat calculation issue resulting in higher current than max hp/en/am when equipping part    

Fixed stats regenerating to max constantly on each refresh    

Moves that shift enemies in battle don't crash the game now    

Fixed command menu crashing due to missing ds_grid    

Fixed ds_grid crashes related to enemy AI, grids weren't being reset properly    

Fixed turn skipping statuses not working (reduce status timers AFTER turn skipping happens, otherwise some 1 turn duration SEs are   useless)    

Updated recruitment formula to be clearer and possibly more accurate    

Enemy now casts non-damaging attacks    

Polish:    

Also removed disarming text in the prologue    

Grammar issue fixed: "There is scorch marks on the wood"    

Reduced the random dialog chance when you move    

Added text to lead scientist to tell you what you're looking for (the launchpad exit)    

Moved a crate in the prologue so you can explore 100% of the map    

View/unequip moves of part in help text overlay is now accurate    

Disabled mouse controls except in the base    

Disabled warping with Shift+direction    

Icon removed on the minimap when interacting with object    

Re-enabled rotation on battle - prevents encountering enemies while facing a wall    

Added black background behind core icons in matrix to make it look better    

During the assistant acquisition, he will be entered into any free slot    

Removed Astronaut core from core inventory    

Features:    

Added control help for unequipping a core from the matrix (J)    

Added text to indicate that tab in battle inverts aoe modes if availble    

Slightly increased pickupables in starting area    

All attacks have descriptions now!    

All status effects have icons now!    

All tier 1 and 2 matrix upgrades have icons now!    

Press ESC to skip a cutscene!    

Press ESC to skip walking around in the prologue!    

Astronaut now starts in slot 3 to demonstrate you can have party members wherever    

Added scan effect to unexplored ground    

Added a sentence on the help overlay to explain what you should be doing    

Gave astronaut some moves back (+ a debug instant kill move)    

Initial rebalance of move damage and costs    

#indiedev #gamedev #gaming #pixel art #scifi #space #gamemaker #programming #rpg #robot #devblog #game #videogame

[thecourtjester12]

JDCAU designs

This is just going to be me rambling and info dumping on some of the design stuff for Smoon in JDCAU and some other lil details.

For any of you who have seen the graphic with my post for The 12 Day's of Smoon-Mas, Sun...well moreso Moon looks VERY different from how I usually draw them. (it's less noticeable but Sun looks different as well.)

There is a reason for that!

How I tend to (and prefer) to draw them is now how they...currently look timeline wise. I'll explain.

There is a bit of a timeline of key points for major events and changes in JDCAU. These main events change a major aspect to how they act and/or look. Of course theres a bunch of small events that are important and build upon previous things (I have a fic with the chronological order of all the stories with JDCAU including pocket dimension shenanigans (may also make a masterdoc on here at some point to segway in lil things like...PANTS...since that is 100% canon, the day guard was terrified after that incident.))

The main events I think of currently in when stuff occurs is

REDACTED. I haven't really gone into this...part yet and haven't explored it so I'm not going to list it yet..it has been hinted at before in some works.

Pre-virus. Before the virus happened and before new management took over basically.

During the virus. This was...a good chunk of time, I need to explore this and pre virus more at some point, would be fun!

Post virus. After new management takes over and the virus is purged. Current point for most works I do, haven't gotten to the next stage in the timeline yet, would like to soon tho!

Post upgrades. Haven't gotten to this point yet, but I just enjoy drawing Smoon the way they (somewhat...) look for this stage in time. I like making them more expressive, love the giant hat and detailed stars on Moon's clothes and love the stupid puffy sleeve covers I give them both.

Also...just don't like drawing the hip ruffles....the OG way I drew them was like a weird tutu thingy...not a fan of that.

But, ya. I'll be working on trying to draw more stuff in the 'canon timeline appearances' for Smoon, so that means...closer to how I would draw Canon Sun and Moon from SB rather then JDCAU Sun and Moon post upgrades...lil sadge but its also more accurate this way...

But! For illustrations I'll mainly stick to post upgrade style because I just enjoy drawing them that way. And if I'm just drawing a pretty drawing...I'm more likely to go with the stylization I prefer cause I can.

May sometimes do stuff as more accurate to the timeline sometimes too for illustrations....case by case sitch...

Anywho, tried keeping this...semi-concise, feel free to ask me stuff further on like the designs and the who timelines and whatnot! Depending on....lore implications....I shall answer happily! Orrrr....just be a silly lil cryptic bean :3

And heres some lil doods for comparison of pre vs post upgrades! I'll be working on posting SOME Refs of Smoon soon, still aways a way on finishing them along with other fun lil projects and whatnot in the works

#jesterposts #jester rambles #jesterdoodles #fnaf daycare au #jdcau #fnaf moon #fnaf sun #infodump #rambles #loreeeeeee #lore #timeline #design #character design #ask me stuff #asks open #please I'd love to answer asks for lore

[apthepotat]

AP’s art dump time!! (Part two yippeee :D)

let’s gOoo

Sonic is my childhood and I keep returning and sinking in it AAAND I watched recently sonic prime

so why wouldn’t I be in the fandom and make a sonic oc XD?

even tho I drew this last December coUgh

everyone meet Alice the wolf!

this is the first time I draw digitally full body in sonic/Mobian style :,] and there are errors and I think I need to upgrade her design a biiit- but that can wait I’m still very happy and proud and satisfied with how I drew her - ^^

and with no reference for pose? That is definitely something to be proud of ✨

She’s a 3’8 bubbly sweetie of a wolf that only means well :,D

And gets sick and cold easily like me and doesn’t get out much in winter

She loves crystals and gems as well as tea Aand- she can be a bit childish and playful and she’s really comfy and hanging out with friends

okay enough rambling moving onnNNn- my thumbs starting to h u r t

my stupid scrunkly baby that is too clumsy for his own good/hj

meet Vanilla! He’s a cat-loving,sweet,clumsy blind,affectionate café owner!

.. cat café owner 🚶‍♀️

And he lives in another Au I made that’s named Anilliatale!

he has two children 🍵 and they’re twins and here they are :D!

The boy bb is named Neo and the girl is Poli ^^

they are very chaotic but sweet caring twins and also absolutely loves felines XD

they like to help their papa during the job whenever they can :D

imma digitalise and fix some stuff later

nextttt we have-

One of the artworks I am most proud of this year hshshs- and one of my fav

his name is Tracer-! He’s a variant of Ink from an AM named Destructverse ^^ .. I couldn’t think of a better name it’s - :,D all I thought of in 2021 and stuck to it HSHSH

also for once I adore the background

anddd a year ago I made a “future”(?) version of Tracer XD that goes by Ace

And there he is :D

this is the first time I do an artwork like this like a “reflection” or smth

in this one Ace is sitting against a Sakura tree he takes care of in DV and - well he’s quite an overthinker and memories haunt him

Iii dunno how to explain more without going in a long ramble and dig deep into the lore of the Au-

it’s one AM rn and I don’t feel like it rn HSHSH

one last art work:

A humanised art of ✨ Ace ✨

I finished this art on his birthday so I decided to do a lil ‘birthday special’

Ace and tracer are the same ink variant in DV and Ink ofc belongs to the lovely creator @/comyet ! :D

Anddd

I suppose that’ll be it :D bai bai nowww

#AP art dump woO #more art and doodles #UT ocs #sonic oc #Undertale art

[semi-imaginary-place]

finishing ffxvi

endgame lore dump time! ultima+fallen discovered magic and created an advanced civilization. the use of magic caused blight so they abandoned their physical bodies and went to a new land (a new world??? why else bother with becoming beings of spirit) and that was Valisthea. but they also brought the blight with them to valisthea, so part 3 of their plan is to make a 3rd land/new world free of blight. the mothercrystals were collecting aether to power the creation spell. ultima created humans to farm out a vessel capable of holding the power.

if they wanted to go the whole pilisophical debate on how free will is a burden, they should have developed that more through out the game. the weight of choice and the weight of consequence by. because clive doesn't make all that many weighty choices in the game, save the ship of sinking orphans or save the tower of burning orphans but you can only choose 1. that type of stuff. like maybe have clive go interact with the mothercrystal cities and see how their destruction has directly ruined these people's lives. Like i think half of valisthea is dead since the start of the game, could have framed that through the lens of choice. or they should have made a Dragon Age branching paths game although that makes it incredibly hard to make sequels as games like Three Houses or Origins can attest.

well everyone in twinside is dead.

oooooh after clive sucks a dominant. if they try to prime they go berserk. ooooh yeah that explains why he didn't have shiva and what happened with titan because that was never explained well. im surprised dion is willing to risk going berserk given that that exact thing happened just a short time ago and led to the destruction of his beloved empire.

i've given up on jill as a character, im fine with her being a side character, this game is the joshua clive show, but if they were going to sideline her they should have done so from the start instead of building her up as a main character only to drop her story line off a cliff. and get rid of the romance, the romance adds nothing to the game and actively makes it worse, its just a distraction from the rest of the story. having Jill be a side character is fine, reducing her role in the story to that of Clive's girlfriend isn't ok.

sidequest time: sabine might be sheltered but i do agree with her. why is a rosarian secret organization headquartered in dhalmek?

the reason i didn't understand why jill couldn't prime after clive absorbed shiva's aether was that at the very beginning of the game its established that the phoenix shares its blessing with its shields. Its established as normal that eikons can share their powers and that clive can use the phoenix's power. its only later that the game brings up the plot point that if clive drains someone, priming will kill them or berserk them which isn't explained at all with titan.

the tomes and dion quest may be my favorite. the flower lore continues. the national flower of sanbreque is the same one used for the poisonous tattoo ink used on bearers. our roots do not define us. where the emperor gifted the domesticated flower to dion to shackle him and make him obedient, tomes his other father figure gives him a wild flower to set dion free. for all the things each tell clive, tomes his guilt for not better mentoring dion and dion his crushing guilt of failing not only sanbreque but also tomes, they say very little of that to each other.

they're even going to Origin without Jill, she got sidelined SO HARD, dropped off the edge of the world. Joshua and Dion are both going and they're going to die if they prime. AND THEY DON'T EVEN GO ON AN AIRSHIP there was that whole subplot about Mid designing an airship. a great way to foil Ultima's plan is to keep Joshua at the hiddeway since Ultima needs both brothers.

really boss fight immediately??? where's my final dungeon so long i want to cry and give up.

huh. ultima's kindred/the fallen turned their bodies into the crystal/the mothercrystals (from which all crystal originates). what what happened to that whole dragon corpse thing. unless you're saying they're a hivemind dragon? those made into crystal were meant to be abandoned in valisthea but by destroying the mothercrystals clive has freed them. ok you lost me. presumably 8? 9? eikon statues each with an ultima in front of it and there was also an ultima sealed in joshua. each mothercrystal was actually an ultima, but there were only 5 mothercrystals. im confused.

Ifrit doesn't get a new design new design now that phoenix and ifrit have fully combined? robbed. ROBBED. After seeing the mural the entire game I was hoping to be able to play as the true eikon of fire. they never did explain what was special about the element of fire, i mean why wasn't leviathan or garuda the vessel?

oh clive absorbed ultima. why'd you'd that

clive, didn't we have this whole arc about not sacrificing yourself and going it alone.

so joshua his body falling apart gives the past of his power to clive before dying. clive beats up ultima and absorbs him. clive then restores the damage on joshua's body/tries to pour phoenix back into him before deciding to kamikaze black the entirety of origin. He's then implied to have died of the curse from using too much power on the shore and jill's reaction later. joshua is implied to have survived and written the story in the epilogue. hey clive maybe if you just sliced the crystal like you did the others you might not have died.

or apparently the lyrics hint that clive wrote the story in joshua's name and clive was looking at the moon. who knows i dont care anymore.

the joshua and clive scenes in this last part were good and the rest of it was bad

this story is wack. one of the least coherent stories I have seen in some time, the further on it goes the worse it gets. and it started so strongly too or perhaphs because of the prologue format. it brings up plot threads only to drop them character arcs go no where, it thematically backtracks and double crosses itself. it tries to do 17 themes without tying them together.

FFXVI feels like some mix of got, dragon age, final fantasy, but worse than all of them.

ambiguous and concrete endings are equal, it is about what purpose each serves. what does an ambiguous ending add to the themes, to the atmosphere, to the storytelling? what does a concrete ending add to the themes, to the atmosphere, to the storytelling? on a personal level i enjoy the mastery needed to craft a subtle and good ambiguous ending. however the ambiguous ending here doesn't help any part of ffxiv

#ffxvi #ffxvi spoilers

[phoenixiancrystallist]

Hey, just wanted to let you know that five out of the six ideas for how Frey's visit to Rheddah does a good job of giving layers and dimension to the place despite its origins as a completely hostile foreign entity. What other ways can you imagine the country being "humanized"?

I've been sitting on this ask all day trying to figure out how to answer, and I... I've got nothing conclusive, buddy, I'm sorry XD

If you're referencing the answer I gave for this ask you sent in last week, I listed five ideas for what the heck could be going on in Rheddah. I'm not sure what the sixth one is, or even which one doesn't add or imply depth to Rheddah's world-building? My guess is the evil scientist one, but that could just be because it's my least favorite of the bunch.

As for further "humanizing" Rheddah, there's an unlimited number of different ways it could be done, from overarching plot elements to tiny design details. I could go into potential characterization for the Tantas, potential history and lore for the cult, what kind of food did they eat, what's the land like, do they paint their houses pretty colors, did they have pets, and on and on and on. The problem is, since we know very little about Rheddah, it would all be based on headcanons and/or what I would want to write in my self-insert fics. This problem is compounded by the fact that I now have two that I'm working on, and they both paint Rheddah in very different lights. Ironically the one that starts in Athia shows Rheddah much more favorably and humane (not "human," although they are that, too) than the one that starts in Rheddah.

For humanizing what we have in canon, though? I have a post I'm working on for analyzing the outfits of the spearmen and archers that invaded Visoria, and that will include humanizing elements, such as fashion and what materials are available for them to make their gear. If I'm lucky I might be able to extrapolate what climate they came from!

I have another post I'm working on that will cover burial in Athia that involves a battlefield in Praenost where I'm pretty sure the Rheddig buried their dead—and, spoiler alert, their graves are identical to the graves we see in Athian towns. Which is fascinating, because Thalia's grave is completely different from those graves, too! Hers is more akin to the graves in Cipal, actually, which is fascinating but I'm not prepared to get into it yet.

I could talk about the artistry of their weapons, or the designs of the tents and campfires they put up at their camps. But for a properly coherent post I'd need references, and I haven't been focusing on gathering those. I probably will eventually, but I want to finish the photo dumps I started forever ago and then get to work on making the other posts I have planned coherent—and hopefully intelligent because I suck at meta analysis! XD

Heck, I could just talk about the Writings of a Rheddig Soldier, which straight up says "I already miss home terribly" in the first entry! I love those archive entries so much, exactly because they painted the Rheddig as people. I have all those entries copied down in a text document, and I can gush about them as much as either of us want me to because they're so important for my understanding of Rheddah as a whole.

But yeah, uh, I have a feeling none of that actually answers your question 😅

#forspoken #forspoken spoilers #forspoken speculation #itwt #itwt spoilers #the canon bone has so much more meat for me to chew off of it still #...god I want a steak #either a t-bone or a porterhouse so I can get my bone gnawing on #asks

[art-morelike-fart]

Here's an early concept animation of my OC Euphorbia for a story I've been working on :) This is from February and never really finished the aniamtion, started colouring and just got lazy haha. Still figuring out a name for the story and stuff, I've been sick lately so just wallowing in self pity and listening to music while trying to nap gave me lore ideas so ima dump them here since i always keep this stuff in my head

RIGHT. major spoilers if i end up going anywhere with this and making a webtoon or something lmao

in this world, vampires and monsters live in the mirror dimension that i need a name for. this is why vampire's don't have reflections. the idea is when people die, their reflections are left behind- which become vampires. they are able to travel through mirrors to get between worlds- I'm thinking they call the human world "the flipside" since it's a reflection it's reversed- but since they live in it then it's the human world that's flipped. i'm thinking people's shadows that are left over turn into a lil monster bat, which is like spiritually intertwined with the vampire with how my other OCs as seen in other posts (Abscess, Crescence, Cinder) all have bat counterparts. Instead of the standard "vampires turn into bats", the vampires swap bodies with their bat counterparts to be able to fly. this also means the bats' brains go into the vampires' bodies- think she-ra infected by first ones tech drunk kinda thing,, also- vampires will have powers. their powers are in the venom of their sharp teeth- vampires can control how much venom comes out when they bite. they can release enough to kill, or varying amounts for strength of what their power is. for example, a vampire could have an aging power. if they bite someone and release a bit of venom, it could make the person they bite instantly age like a year. if they release a bit more, it could be a couple years. if they release a lot, the person will age instantly many years. or, they can release loads of venom and kill the person, turning them into a vampire. still figuring out if this applies to non-humans and how it works on other vampires. powers will probably work but not killing.

also since vampires are immortal, i need to figure out what the boundaries of their immortality is.

some prequel lore to the story will be that the human realm was wiped out. there was some sort of fight between giants and it caused the apocalypse and stuff and so the monster realm is left. these giants are extreme vampire forms, similar to the bats but huge and extremely powerful. the vampires who are carriers of the giant capability will have some name- it can be passed down somehow but there's specific conditions yet to figure out.

within the timeline of the story, i'm thinking there's something wrong with euphorbia as she's introduced. she doesn't have any memories of her human life while all the others do. it's gonna turn out that the antagonist- yet to be figured out the name and design of- is a powerful vampire able to possess others. around the climax it's going to be discovered that this antagonist created euphorbia. the shapeshifter wants control of all the giants and had control over all of the current carriers, but one of them had died in the apocalypse on earth and so the antagonist had to create a new vampire herself to be the new carrier because they need to be pure vampires or something so it couldn't be a normal vampire. since the beginning of the story, the antagonist has been possessing all of her family members to spy on all of them- which will be extremely subtly hinted by maybe drawing the corners of certain characters eyes as black in random panels. the antagonist wants control all of the carriers of the giants as she had done back in the apocalypse in the human realm. i've always liked the idea of a villain who just does evil out of boredom. a villain who destroys for no reason other than amusement. this could create an interesting arc in euphorbia wanted a reason and not being able to accept everything and needing a reason for closure. however, this could likely make the story awkward and unsatisfying to conclude the conflict. maybe this could be the initial presentation of the antagonist, then we discover that there actually is a reason. i think maybe she destroyed the human realm out of resentment for not being accepted among them which made her want power to put herself above them. then her motivation for wanting the power again could be not being accepted among other monsters.

then- individual character info for cinder, abscess and crescence

abscess (she/her)- ambiguously 13-15 years old in appearance. actually hundreds of years old.

personality- sweet, bubbly, overbearing, stubborn, high energy.

backstory- became a vampire before the human apocalypse because humans are dead now so there can't be any new vampires since. she is Cinder's sister- siblings when they were human and were killed together. she has big crush on euphorbia. she is a lesbian.

power- in my head, because of her colour palette and everything i think she should have a love-focused power but it might be a lil lame and plus strange for character that clearly looks like a minor. her power should be tooth related like her design and name and i also want it to play well into the story. controlling teeth alone might just be a little lame and idk if i want it to be super violent like being able to rot people's teeth.

cinder (they/them)- ambiguously 17-21 in appearance. actually like hundreds of years old

personality- definition of a cinnamon roll. super caring super sweet. cries over people stepping on ants. aroace icon.

backstory- sibling to Abscess. they are a witch- like in the way witchcraft is practiced to day by loads of people in reality. i want to incorporate witchcraft and wicca in this world in a way that's respectful and not demonizing it and not sensationalizing it into some fantastical vampire thing and tainting people's perception of it. they're going to practice ordinary witchcraft like today with focusing on intention, using herbs, charmbags and spell bottles, all that amazing stuff. their unique understanding of intention is what will be incorporated into the plot. they will help euphorbia manage being a giant carrier. they will also help other vampires, particularly abscess, take powers to the next level using intention by teaching abscess how to do more than one thing with a bite and maybe not even needing to bite at all to use powers by using intention. this makes Cinder extremely powerful. also a part of me is imagining a villain arc for cinder and breaking everyones hearts with the cinnamon roll of the story turning evil.

power- in cinder's original doodle, they were covered in burns then i got carried away rendering them and forgot to include the burns. maybe it happens later in the story. but their powers will be fire related. i think it works well with how they will be able to master their powers with intention using ideals of witchcraft and fire is seen as very powerful.

crescence (she/her)-ambiguously 27-35 years old in appearance. actually hundreds of years old

personality- shy, jumpy (? idk the word like she scares easy), motherly, sweet, has her moments where she can be really scary though

backstory- she is trans mtf. she's not related to cinder and abscess but is a mother figure to them through found family. (we love wholesome queer found family). She has a big cloak- i thought maybe she could be hiding tentacles. maybe she's cursed or maybe a monster that was bitten then turned into a vampire. then i thought, i want her to be a giant carrier. i imagine her giant to be very bat-like. maybe she could have big fluffy bat or squirrel lower body. but now i'm thinking i could give that to another character and make Crescence's giant be an octopus. but i really like imagining her with fluffy soft mammal legs like a squirrel or something. i love the idea of the bat giant being like a giant skeleton but with a bat heaad and fluffy legs and wings that it scrambles around the floor with like a dragon. i could always have this on different cahracters to have loads of carriers but i like all of these being crescence. to summarise, crescence is a giant carrier and will be half of it in her vampire form and it might be a bat, squirrel, or octopus. i can always make the two i don't choose other characters.

power- her name comes from the word excresence which is aligned with scars. she should be able to scar people with bites somehow but that's a little lame. working on it.

#oc #oc lore #my ocs #lore #vampire #vampires #vampire ocs #webtoon #art #digital art #concept art #worldbuilding #writing #graphic novel #comic #my comic #flipside

[thespongemagic]

THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS AND ANALYSIS FOR HAZBIN HOTEL. I AM NOT A HAZBIN FAN AND ONLY WATCHED IT TO FORM FAIR AND HONEST CRITIQUE.

Also this post is really long.

So... I watched all of Hazbin with a friend and... it wasn't good. I didn't have high expectations because I saw the pilot when it came out and it gave me a really bad headache for the rest of the day. But I had higher hopes for the Amazon Prime series since it was, y'know, a more professional production with established companies behind it. But as we were watching it, more and more problems began to surface. Something that continues to bother me long after we finished it.

See, many criticisms about the show online devolve into the show swearing a lot and all of the designs looking the same, and while those are definitely issues with the show, they are not to the extreme people make it out to be. It kind of goes to show how the people who have made these points never actually sat down and watched at least an episode of it and just going with what everyone else said about it. That's beside the point. If you really want to make the memes of "Xyz if it were written by VivziePop", you could always address Hazbin's shockingly bad pacing and the team's "Tell-Don't-Show" writing style that permeates throughout this 8 episode experience.

That's the part that drove me up a wall, the fact that Hazbin tries to dump all of this lore, character arcs, and a plot of epic proportions in just 8 24 minute episodes, a little over 3 hours of total screentime. You can definitely tell that events (plot important events, I might add) are just glosses over or speedran through faster than the Olympic 100m. Relationship conflicts? Started and resolved in one episode. Angel Dust's traumatic experiences and abuse? Presented and resolved in one episode. Sir Pentious learning to be a good person? This one's even better. It happens OFF SCREEN. Not to mention, everyone just flat out states their problems instead of showing them. It's really all over the place. But I have a theory as to why it's like this.

The Hazbin writers are writing a musical instead of a serialized animated series.

Lemme explain.

Now I am not a big fan of musical theater. I respect the hell out of it and Hades Town was pretty cool. But I just don't like it. But as someone who was forced to be in various high school musical theater productions and a former musician, I know more than most about theater. And applying that logic to the show made some things about it make more sense.

It's important to note first off that theater and television are two very different mediums of storytelling. The primary focus of musical theater is... the theatrics. The songs, the performances, the dancing, etc. While it still needs to be there, story isn't as prominent like television and film.

You wanna know why Cats failed as a movie? Aside from everything else surrounding it, the pacing of the musical is incredibly lopsided, focusing most of the runtime on introducing characters with musical numbers and only really getting anywhere by the end of the second act. But the show is still very popular because the music and the choreography are so incredible.

Because story doesn't isn't top priority, things can be forgiven and hand-waved that normally wouldn't in television and film. Important plot points can happen off screen, usually because showing it on stage would be too difficult. Actors often flat out state how they're feeling or acting because the audience can't see their faces from that far away. Characters can go through complete arcs in one or two scenes to get the show moving along. It works in musical theater because of suspension of disbelief and the charm comes from seeing these events happen live.

These are all things that Hazbin does, and the show is filled with tons of theatrics and spectacle over a story. Hell, it even has a closer runtime to a Broadway musical than it does to a standard 13 episode season.

But here's the problem. What works in musical theater doesn't work in TV or film. When watching a TV show, there are certain expectations that need to be met and vice versa. It's like trying to talk to an Italian speaker by using Spanish. Some stuff may look or sound similar to each other, but it's not as compatible as you'd think.

Considering that VivziePop is a huge fan of Broadway, it wouldn't surprise me at all if her writing style was influenced by it. You could take Hazbin season 1 and adapt it as a Broadway musical and you wouldn't need to change much. In fact you could remove things for time and it would still be good. But this type of storytelling doesn't work in TV, especially serialized shows. Things need to be elaborated on further and characters need to be seen growing and learning instead of just telling the audience that they are.

tl:dr - Hazbin Hotel's pacing problems and writing faults make sense when you look at it through the lens of music theater, which doesn't excuse it because it's a TV show and not Broadway.

#very long post

[finsterhund]

I'm planning to finally write the long awaited update to my first medium article on Sly, so I went back and read my past articles and holy shit did I dump trauma into them. God. The one where I talk about needing to replace Ope because he won't survive much longer if I keep chewing on him pretty much documented how my life fell apart when Cazza left remission for the last time. Seeing photos of her on it made me fucking break. I tried reading the one about stuffed dogs that resemble Spot and I had her REVIEW EACH ONE. She was like my little coauthor. God.

No wonder it's gotten so much harder to write those. I'm missing my best friend who gave irreplaceable input.

I want to write the Sly II of Sly II though because I want to share the collective information I've found about Sly since then. It's criminal that unless you get your hands on a tag of Charlene's forever toys to read it yourself their stories are all lost to time.

If I had the energy I'd make my own fansite. Provide more lore info than egnome provides for them. But sadly I'm too exhausted. Just Sly for me. Also you literally have to buy one complete with tags to see the whole tag story and obviously I'm going to limit the amount of 300 dollar stuffed animals I buy thank you very much. My first, Sly II I got for way less than he's worth and my upcoming Christmas present I'm drastically reducing my calorie intake to afford. (Don't worry, they are raising my disability income for the new year and I'm not destitute yet lol)

I just. Man. I keep thinking what it must have been like when Charleen was around and actively making these guys. Meeting up at toy expos and such. All in the US, yeah, but still. Would have loved to meet her. Asked all about Sly. Back when her toys were still in production getting promotional materials would have been easier too. Apparently she had a little fan magazine she shipped out every so often where people could send in letters? That's the sort of stuff you don't get with mass produced toys but is also too much work for modern independent creators who are treading water in today's economy. The egnome mailing list doesn't even work anymore. I wonder when it stopped running.

I'm still not giving up on trying to recreate my own backup Sly, but I'm just so tired all the time. I wish I had a workshop and wasn't just doing everything in life straight outta my bedroom. If you saw my bedside table situation and the mess it is you'd all hurl. The discount section of a fabricland was shit out all over every even remotely flat available surface.

As futile as it seems and as tired as I am, I am also pleased to report that some level of progress is being made though. I'm designing ideas to make my own take on the character distinct enough from the original. I'm also on that subject thinking about finally learning how to quilt. For real this time. Using my roommate's sewing machine is a pain in the ass so most of what I'm doing is by hand so not as nice looking but I have more control and am less likely to murder my hand.

I keep wishing we could go to the other thrift store so I can go on a quest for a ton of vintage buttons. I'm looking for upholstery buttons specifically. God that's another thing. I love buttons. You know that? I should make a quilt that also serves as a button collection. And I still want to one day make a quilt from many of Cazza's old things but currently I can't bear to alter them in any way so I've put them in a tote in my closet so I don't stare at them and cry.

Good news in that I cleaned my room a bit and that Scott is almost finished with his ear medicine. He's become such a good boy about letting me out the drops in his ears. Really adaptable he is.

I keep thinking about how I wish I could go back to drawing tons of Heart of Darkness fan art again. But I remind myself that my very own Whisky died in my arms and yeah. It's no wonder I don't have the heart to do what I'm passionate about anymore.

Maybe I make a Sly entirely out of the dollar store paw print blankets of which Cazza died with. I'd get brand new ones, enough to make the Sly, don't know how many that would take but they're a nice texture. I have old fleece I got at a discount that reminds me of the Cazza collar maybe I could make a Cazza Sly and give him a Cazza collar.

Another thing is there's just been no info on the crying dog. None at all. I didn't stop caring about him. Just that nothing new has happened. Very sad.

Hopefully playing pikmin 3 and then 4 will be a nice reprieve. I can hope.

#text post #negative #long post

[driaswrld]

omg thank you for considering my request and uploading tsr on ao3!! i hope we can get the extended version one day!!!

i'm interested in being a beta reader, but i don't think i have the time to do it properly at the moment :( plus i would have to leave the anonymous status and. that wouldn't be ideal, would it? sigh.

p.s: i'm reading the newly found ripverse i mentioned and realized it's an extremely vast series with multiple aus. i wouldn't know which one is more angsty than the other (though i inwardly know it's the original one).

p.s2: i love the new design!! i was obsessed with sailor moon as a child. it's nice to see you enjoy it too!!! ♡

-🫧

ACTUALLY I HAVE GOOD NEWS !!

the next tsr post is going to be the extended version of apocalypse aka the one where sugu leaves and comes back and all the angst and whatnot, mainly bcus it's a significant lore dump and i can't hide it in the archives forever loll 😭

ALSO !! ab being a beta reader, you don't have to leavr anon if you don't want to dw! all you need is to rlly give me a valid email address that i can send the docs links to is all (to anyone who wants to be a beta reader pls thats mainly it!)

i usually give my betas freedoms to leave suggestions on the doc itself so anonymity isn't really a problem tbh!

you musttt tell me how those aus go when you've finished reading OMGGG !!

and alsooo !! i love sailor moon sm :(( i also watched it as a kid, it was like my intro to anime coupled with naruto and dbz at the time lolol

#★ STVRTLK #🫧 ¡ anon