#its been one million years since i've painted for fun

[missusruin]

PAPRIKA

#paprika #my ocs #its been one million years since i've painted for fun #body horror #did like 90% of this over a month ago on stream and then put it away cause i didnt know what to do w the hands lmao #still not into it but i gotta put it down i gotta say 'fuck it good enough' #IM FULL OF SHIT IM REDOING THE HAND POSES RN LOL #of course right after i post i figure out a better one anfbakfjskdbrjs

[numetalpuppygirl]

Pepsi Can Designs Ranked

as you may have noticed i'm very into soda and beverage containers in general, and i've had pepsi on the brain for a few days so here's my ranking of every can design they have listed currently on their website. i'm sure there's been like a million others through the years and years that pepsi has been a thing, but it's just for fun and i'm not gonna make a list that's a full book long

13. Nitro Pepsi Vanilla

really don't care for the color scheme here. i get that it's meant to be the color of vanilla but it's just not the kind of shade i want to see on my soda can, y'know? it's giving pilk. big pilk vibes here. and the spray-paint logo doesn't pop, especially not when it's only the blue without the red. maybe the biggest nail in nitro vanilla's coffin, though, is those big ugly brass-colored block letters. yuck

12. Diet Pepsi Wild Cherry

diet pepsi already has this ugly tin color that doesn't exactly appeal the appetite, and all the additional detail here is like putting a lipstick on a pig. except the lipstick somehow made the pig uglier. the flowing red on the top and the bubble detailing just does not work with this backdrop, and their simplicity really becomes painfully evident when there's nothing else to occupy your eyes

11. Pepsi Caffeine Free

sigh. i wanted to like her, but i just don't. it feels so metallic but in the wrong way, reminding me more of a cavity filling than a winner's medal. this is a case where i actually wish they had used detailing instead of just coating the thing in a (surprisingly rather dull) gold sheen. what might have been...

10. Diet Pepsi

once again, it's just dull. soda is meant to be a fun drink, something that pops out at you in the grocery aisle. i guess maybe if you're drinking diet you may not agree, but either way this just looks like a dog food tin. here, i'm glad they didn't do any detailing, but it still just leaves it looking sad :(

9. Pepsi Zero Sugar Mango

has a lot of the good elements of both classic pepsi zero sugar and pepsi mango, but ends up being less than the sum of its parts. orange works with black since just about anything works with black, but it lacks any real sense of synergy between the colors. don't care for the bubble detailing over the more subtle black background, either; i get that it's there to give some more visual excitement but basically i just wish they'd use some other type of detailing lol

8. Pepsi Zero Sugar Wild Cherry

basically all the same issues as zero sugar mango but i like red and black as a match better than orange and black. moving on!

7. Nitro Pepsi

now we're starting to get somewhere. still suffers from some of the problems as vanilla, but that deep blue color is gorgeous, and works nicely as an allusion to the blue of classic pepsi without ripping from it directly. i don't even mind the details as much here, because at least they pop more against the colored background. white against blue is far better than blue against off-white. still don't love the spray-paint style logo, though

6. Pepsi

something to be said for the classics, eh? it's a lovely shade of blue, really, with a tasteful metallic trim and a halfway decent version of the logo. we could complain about the modern lowercase logo, but it's not like many of these other varieties are offering much as an alternative. except...

5. Pepsi Real Sugar

mostly the same as classic, same blue, same logo. obviously the text logo is different, but i'll be honest this is not one of the logos i'm sentimental for. at least it has some swagger though! now let's be real - the big draw here is the slopes at the top. see how they're shorter than the other cans? those are the bony hips of a lady with a harsh, narrow, boyish frame. and we love her for it

4. Pepsi Wild Cherry

(sorry some of these images are kinda fucked up lol, i'm trying to find ones that match the specific designs on the website)

ultimately just pepsi classic with some extra pizzazz. the red flow detail at the top is like an extension of the red in the logo. not too much to say, just a slightly snazzy option

3. Diet Pepsi Caffeine Free

ohh pretty pretty girl. this is what regular caffeine free wishes it could be. a nice delicate pure white background that doesn't need any detailing because it has that tasteful gold trim and elements of the logo. it maybe feels a little overly clean, but not in a sickening way. the design really makes me believe that this drink is gonna be refreshing. what a sweetie :)

2. Pepsi Zero Sugar

call me edgy but i'm just a sucker for darker black palettes. keeping it simple here: just a black can with the logo and some white text telling you what makes it special. it's purposefully low effort. it doesn't need to try any harder because it knows it has already done everything it came to do without breaking a sweat

1 . Pepsi Mango

complimentary colors? how fucking revolutionary!! look at that blue and orange palette - now THAT'S synergy! the bubble detailing is perfect here, although i wish it extended into the orange section. also a problem i have with basically all the fruit variants is that they just kinda slap a jpg of the fruit in the corner of the logo. could have tried to make the mango look like the circular logo or something fun like that. in any case, this is my favorite of all of these; it's bright but not blinding, knows how to use its colors, and just overall strikes a brilliant balance that's appealing in each and every way it needs to be!

that's all! now time to see if tumblr will let me post something with this many images 😓 thanks 4 reading!!

#*char noises* #long post #i don't have a can talk tag yet... i guess i have the gallery tag but that's for finds. idk i'll decide if i even feel like it #also i'm aware i'm basically just like. advertising for pepsi rn. so i'd like to remind everybody #that corporations are a fucking blight on this planet and should be eradicated #and besides i haven't tried like basically any of these besides classic so i offer no insight into their quality ok

[j0kers-light]

Heyo!!! So I’m recently on a joker kick, so here’s a little thought I was having. Maybe joker with a reader who is an artist, and one day paints him! I have drawn joker before and everytime I draw him I find the scars so comforting to draw for some reason!

Love the series btw!!!

Hey hi anon!! 🖤✨

Lol I've been on a Joker kick for two years now. I LOVE THIS THOUGHT! Thank you for loving my series, in return I give you a little head canon! (that almost turned into a oneshot:)

You were big on the Gotham City art scene with your giant portraits famously painted in black and white with intricate detail. The only color it held would be splattered on last minute without abandon. It was different, bold, and it paid the bills with money to spare. For three years now you turned your bottled up emotions into a living.

An original Y/L would take a week or two to paint before the buyer would select their splatter color. Critics said you 'ruined works of art' whereas others stated the angry marks you left behind were your version of a signature.

Joker saw your work and instantly fell in love. There was so much pain and turmoil in the flecks of paint. He had to have one. So he sorta kinda stole a piece until it was stolen from him. So Mac did his thing and tracked it down... right to your front door.

You were so happy to reunite with one of your original pieces! If not for your devoted fans and their detective-like skills, you would have never seen it again.

It was a self portrait (or at least what you wanted yourself to look like) with crimson red paint streaked across your throat. It was safe to say the critics hated this piece, deeming it too dark and grotesque to be considered art. Funny how it was auctioned off for a quarter of a million dollars...

Moving on! It went missing right before the final bid only this time you would never part with it again! These days you kept it in your personal living room as a reminder of how far you became as an artist.

It was a slow month in terms of commissions. You had just finished up a fun piece for a local celebrity and you were still picking pink and gold paint off of your skin.

You had some downtime so you found your trusty sketchbook and let the open window carry the sounds of Gotham’s busy streets into your apartment as you doodled some new ideas.

A series of knocks on your front door made you wary. Not too many visitors came by if it wasn't more art supplies being delivered.

So sat your book down and slowly walked towards the door only for it to be kicked in— followed by three men you never wanted to see walk in.

One man was blond, like any college frat boy blowing through daddy's money, who scanned your apartment in unveiled disgust.

The second male was a strong and burly that reminded you of a character from Call of Duty. He stayed near the door and you had no doubt he was the one who kicked it in....

But the last guy, there was no mistaking who he was.

The Joker was in your apartment and he had his eyes set on your beloved piece.

Neither of them acknowledged your presence. The Joker picked up your self portrait and sighed. "Come to Papa..."

He nodded at his two henchmen as they prepared to leave. "Let's go."

You were flabbergasted. How this man bust up in your place, take your ish, and then leave?! Like? Rude.

"Um? Excuse you!?" You said.

All three men froze and stared at you; however, each one held a different emotion. Indifference, annoyance, and oddly... intrigue.

The latter belonged to Joker. He handed the blond the painting and sauntered closer to you. "Why.... hellooo beautiful. You. You must be the artist."

Not too many people knew what you looked like since your work and media appearances were all handled by your manager and dear friend, Cindy. You weren't offended by Joker's comment but you weren't about to let him take your work— no matter how dangerous he was.

You huffed and crossed your arms, "And if I am? Its rude to break into people's homes and take their stuff."

There was a calm before the storm then Joker burst out laughing. You looked on in confusion as he doubled over and slapped his knees as if what you said was really that funny.

His two henchmen weren't phased in the slightest. You eyed them briefly as Joker closed the distance and held a knife to your throat. You had little time to react before the cold metal touched your skin.

"Shhh shhh. I'd hate to make a ah.. mess. Do we have a prob-lem doll?" He squeezed your face tighter in his grip. The texture of his leather gloves made you wince.

"OW! Yes... we.. do! You're not taking my work!"

He blocked your poor excuse at kneeing him in the groin and tutted his lips. "Yeah? Well let's see. Why don't weee.. make a uh, deal? so we all end up happy, hmm?"

Did he hear how insane that sounded? You didn't have to make deals with criminals over your property!

You glanced around the room and noticed all three men's body language was relaxed. It wasn't fair how they had the advantage here.

You could talk a mad trash and hold your own in any normal brawl but Joker was a different level of crazy. You couldn’t take him on. He was too unpredictable and you knew both men blocking the only exit could fight too.

It would be a mess for sure if you resisted. You had no other choice but to strike a deal.

“Fine. You want my work so badly? I’ll paint you. I will paint a piece for you, I mean.” You tried not to stare at his scars but they were so intricate. The artist in you screamed at the chance to draw him.

You wanted to sketch Joker’s scars out with charcoal, outline them with ink, and master their design with any available media you had. You were itching to get started.

The Joker noticed your sudden antsy behavior and read into it wrong.

“Wanna know how I got ‘em?” He craned his neck so you could see his scars better.

“Yes.”

Oh.

He wasn’t expecting such an honest response from you. He stuttered and lowered the knife from your neck in shock. He thought you would create some distance after he let you go, but in fact, you moved in closer to him.

“May I touch them? FOR RESEARCH! To s-study them! I need to get a feel of what I’m… I swear there’s a reason..”

Mac and Frost shared a quick look (none one touched Joker's scars and lived to tell the tale) but much to their horror, their boss agreed.

Joker looked unsure as your hands hesitated, but slowly but surely came up to touch his face.

Time stood still for Joker as this beautiful stranger mapped out all the lines in his skin. He took in your hooded eyes, the slope of your lips, and the way air escaped between them as you discovered each crevice and outline. In contrast to his own, your skin was smooth and an warm brown, a hue he wanted to discover more of.

Your hands felt too good on him. He craved more contact. Joker wanted so much more but you pulled your hands back the moment your thumb slipped into his mouth.

Did he... lick it? Lawd harmacy..

That was enough art study. You had to part ways before you turned into a whore.

You backed away just for safe measure.

You cleared your throat, “I’ll um.. wow. Um I’ll start licking your face, I MEAN PAINT YOUF FACE!” If your skin complexion allowed, you would be redder than a tomato. Why did you say that out loud? And why wasn't he saying anything back?!

“Um y-you can come by next week or so. I should be done then. Oh, and um what color do you—"

“Green.” Joker muttered. He already knew what you were asking. The accent color you splattered on the finished piece. Your signature in the art world.

He picked green since he didn’t know your favorite color yet. He didn't know why but he wanted to know.. amongst other things about you.

“C-Cool. I’ll use green. Usually a commission comes with a deposit but um since you’re sparing my life, I guess that’s enough payment.” You looked away and locked eyes with your sketchbook.

Without a single word you crossed the room and began sketching out samples of Joker’s mouth before you forgot. Not like you ever could.

By the time you looked up, he and his men were gone.

You could call it an obsession the way you strived to perfect Joker’s smile.

The apartment was littered with your many demo sketches before you finally went with your gut and put a paintbrush to the easel. For the next week, you barely slept and only ate enough to keep yourself alive so you could complete The Joker's commission. Your life was kinda on the line here so it had to be perfect.

And you finished right in the nick of time.

Joker came alone this time and he strolled into your apartment as if he owned it. You had yet to get the lock fixed after his henchmen kicked it open but regardless. Joker did not have any manners. Or a sense of personal space.

You were standing back to gauge where you wanted to begin flinging paint when his voice startled you.

“Leave it as is.”

You jumped in fright and Joker steadied you with a firm grip to your waist. You didn’t know that he brought you flush to his chest until you felt his breath hit your neck. You didn't question how he got inside or how you failed to hear him in the first place.

Joker was so warm, it erased all conscious thought from your mind. It sounded insane, but you felt safe in Joker's arms and the relative ease that you relaxed into his hold terrified you more.

The two of you stared at your art in silence even as your heart hammered out of your chest. Was this seriously happening? What did he say?

Oh right. Leave it as is.

You took in your final painting and you had to admit. He was right. It was perfect as is, no color required. There was no pain to purge onto this canvas; a first in your collection. You couldn't bring yourself to tarnish the mysterious beauty you painted in black and white.

As Joker’s scars grazed your skin, burning a clean path up to your neck, the both of you knew..

This wouldn't be the last time you painted Joker.

I feel awful that I didn't find any credit for this beautiful fanart.

#thanks anon! #thanks for the ask! #ledger joker #ledger joker x reader #joker x reader #artist!reader #joker x y/n #reader insert #black!fem!reader #the joker #heath joker #dark knight joker #his lighthouse

[ultra-deepestbouquet]

10/31/2022

Europe changed me.. a shift in myself and how I want to feel and be the rest of the year. I was sorta forcing myself to do bumps and drink a bunch on Saturday night and the end result was boring. I was also drinking a lot because I was extremely nervous at this stupid party. Bummed we didn't do something else or honestly just relax at home. I wasn't even that happy with my costume even tho I've been planning for months. I don't even care about posting on insta or tumblr as much at all. I just feel different and I'm embracing it. I'm exhausted with trying to be cool on social media... trying to be perfect. I found myself in Italy wishing I could wear this or that just for photos which made me sad- like just enjoy the moment.

I feel like I want to focus even more especially after this whole health incident. I've accepted its not our fault. It wouldn't even show up in a blood test- well maybe. I've gone through the stages of grief and now I just want to move on. I feel terrible about it all. There is this weird feeling of change coming for me. I need to buckle down with work, save money, moving in with Joel and since I haven't been great with money I will just have to accept its bare bones at first. I know mom will help me paint. Its all so overwhelming.

Also we knew how to get tested for general STD/STI panel but that doesn't include antibodies for herpes. Nobody really tells you that.

also fuck halloween this year- it was so much more fun last year :( Next year we will be super creative and we will just go to barsmith and take a million pics. lol

Back to one day at a time. I miss therapy, and group. I will be back at group this week again.

[bakerysnake]

Apricot, blue, carrot, cherry, emerald, jade, lapis, lemon, magenta, navy, pink, red, rust, turquoise, & vermillion?

apricot: where would you like to travel? tbh my ideal vacation would be exploring my own city, every single nook and cranny, from the tourist attractions to the amazing restaurants in the middle of nowhere but since i have to travel and go somewhere else, i'd go to denmark in the winter around my birthday and see what it was like then (i'm gonna eat lots of pastries like my mom did >:D)

blue: seaside or forest? hmm seaside i think

carrot: favourite class you’ve ever taken? this year, english, i love love love my teacher, he's definitely the best teacher i've ever had

cherry: what’s your favorite type of art? writing, bc i can learn from it, enjoy it and pick up little nuances i wouldn't have been able to if i was viewing other types of art

emerald: what’s your favorite article of clothing that you own? these baggy jeans my dad bought me that go with pretty much every top i own :D

ginger: black and white or color? colour (ehehe i just had to /lh)

gold: do you wear jewelry?

green: do you like pastels?

jade: what is your favorite movie?

lapis: do you have a favourite stone/gem? do pearls count? i've always loved them and emeralds, very pretty <3

lemon: what do you do for fun? talk to my brother or walk around with neighbourhood friends. considering all the things i do in my free time/procrastination time, being with these people is the only one that always always makes me feel like :DD

magenta: favourite memory? i've got two for you! i was in my old house and it was storming. everything was painted in shades of black and gray, no colours to be seen. i stood outside on the balcony getting drenched and feeling a kind of joy that's like letting go of your inhibitions and truly living in the moment it had been a long day and i was going to sleep pretty late. i felt restless and apathetic, like i wanted to feel something very badly and i hadn't felt anything worth looking back on in months. i looked out my window to see a golden light on the balcony of the next building, and it filled me with hope. i felt like i did back in 7th grade when i spent most of my time daydreaming and didn't have to worry about wasting my time that way. i felt creative, like an artist, like i could shape life with my hands and direct its flow. i still cherish that feeling a lot, it's one of my faves

navy: if you could live anywhere, where would you want to live? canada, because i've heard a lot of good things about it, an aunt of mine lives there, and one of my irls says she'd like to live in canada again too (she used to live there as a kid)

pink: what’s your dream job? psychotherapist <33

orange: do you believe in magic?

pink: what’s your dream job?

red: what’s your favourite song? i don't really know, i've got a lot of songs i like and there's no real favourite rn. my go to for this question is can't we just leave the monster alive? by txt but i'm pretty sure i already told you (and i haven't listened to it in months) maybe young robot by dance gavin dance?

rust: what is your favourite flower? i like irises, marigolds and hibiscuses! oh also orchids and monkey face petunias ^w^

turquoise: do you like to sing? kind of, i don't like singing with people who'll tell me i sound bad but i love singing on my own or fooling around with karaoke

vermilion: what would you do if you got a million dollars? there's a post somewhere here about how you can save your million dollars, help those who need it and do a bunch of other stuff, so i'd look through that post carefully and then do the stuff it says ^w^ and probably save for post grad college since i wanna study psychology outside india

#snake::snakelets #snakelet::dee

[loostssoul]

if you kissed me - Rodrick Heffley | 1.9k

Yeah yeah i know i haven't written since a million years ago. and yeah yeah i know this is my first real fanfiction i posted on tumblr. fair warning, i'm not the best writer, i honestly just do this for fun and i'm totally up to criticism because i do want to make my writing better. if this is literally inaccurate, im sorry its been like 5 years since i've read the books. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this fluff-fest that I created in the span of a few hours.

paring: rodrick x reader genre: fluff. lots of fluff

Credits to the maker of the picture! 15 Days till the Contest | 9:42 PM, Saturday

Plick, plick, plick

My speakers were blasting so loud I almost didn’t hear the sound of pebbles hitting my window.

Plick, plick, plick

I rubbed my eyes and slammed my laptop shut, walking toward my bedroom window. Peering down, I saw a figure a few yards down from my second-story bedroom, looking back up at me. Dark brown, messy hair that stuck up around his face. A red and black flannel, black ripped jeans, and, (of course) a tee-shirt with “Loded Diper” clumsily written on it. A grin spread on his face as he saw my face come into his view, causing me to blush. Rodrick Heffley, Crossland High bad boy, and my boyfriend.

I unlocked the latch to my window and stuck my head out, taking in the cool air and letting the neighbors enjoy the music I was playing (they never did). I looked down.

“Y/N!” He whisper-yelled

“Evening, Heffley.”

“I need to tell you something!”

“What’s so important that you have to scratch my window instead of using the power of modern technology to call me?”

His mouth opened to give me a response, but nothing came out. I smirked, “Come on up.”

I opened the window wider as he climbed the trellis that lined the back of my house. I backed up to my door and locked it. Precautions, my parents liked Rodrick but they definitely wouldn’t approve of him in my room at night. I looked back and I saw him, every feature of him illuminated by the light of my room. His cheeky smile and chocolate brown eyes. He slowly closed the window and walked toward me, brushing a strand of hair out of my face. I still got butterflies whenever he touched me.

“Hey, Spiderman. What did ya climb in here to tell me?” I asked

“I got Loded Diper into a contest.”

My eyes widened, Loded Diper, my boyfriend’s rock band, wasn’t exactly known for being the best. It was mostly known for his mom’s insane dance moves during the Plainview Talent Show. But of course, i'll never say that in front of his face.

“You did?! That’s awesome Rodrick!”

“Yeah! It's a battle of the bands contest, we’re going against two other bands. I really think this is gonna be our big break!” His eyes sparkled in excitement.

His happiness was contagious, he was like a goddamn puppy. I pulled him into my arms. “I’m proud of you Rod.” I muttered and smiled into his collarbone. I felt him inhale the scent of my hair and twirl my locks around his fingers.

“Hey,” he said, breaking the hug. “I’m having practice tomorrow with the band, you wanna come?”

“Sure. I go to every practice anyway, why miss out on this one?” I shrugged.

He chuckled and looked at me. Really looked at me. That’s one of the reasons why I fell for him. It never seemed like it, but he paid attention. We’ve only been dating for 4 months, but he knew me like no one else did, and I knew that in the way he looked at me. I felt his hand cup my face, his thumb rubbing my cheek in small circles. I looked up at him, noticing how tall he was, how close he was. Was I the one who leaned in? Was he the one who leaned in? Did we just do it subconsciously? Did he want this? Was he ready? Was I ready?

The ringing of Rodrick’s phone filled the room. The daze we were trapped in was gone and we separated, our faces red. Rodrick picked up the phone, it was his mom.

“Yeah, mom? Mom...I’m in the middle of something. I’ll do laundry later, ok? Now? C’mon… Alright, fine. Bye.” He hung up. “Sorry, I gotta blast.”

“It’s fine, I’ll see you tomorrow?” I asked him as he started toward my window.

He looked back at me and planted a kiss on my forehead, the farthest we’ve ever gone with physical touch as a couple.

“Tomorrow”

~~✰✰✰~~

14 Days till the Contest | 1:22 PM, Saturday afternoon

“Should we take it from the top?”

Practice wasn’t going so well. I could feel the nervousness, the tension. Drums were slightly off beat, the guitarist’s fingers would fly to the wrong places on the fretboard, lyrics would go all over the place. The contest was two weeks away, and Loded Diper was already feeling the anxiousness. I sat on the floor of the garage, on top of a picnic blanket I found. To Rodrick’s dismay, his mom forced him to let Greg watch band practice, as a form of “brother-to-brother bonding time.” Greg sat next to me, mockingly covering his ears.

“Oh thank god, it's done.” Greg said with an immense amount of sarcasm and uncovering his ears.

Rodrick threw a crumpled-up piece of paper at his head, “Shut up.”

“Both of you, be nice.” I laughed. “I think you guys should take a break for a while, maybe shake off the nerves.”

“Good idea Y/N, 20 minute break everyone!” The lead singer said. Everyone spread out, grabbing a piece of pizza ordered earlier and laying down. Greg ran out of the garage, yelling, “I’m free!”

Rodrick stood up and began gulping down a bottle of water. He wore a black tanktop and black ripped jeans, sweat dripping down his forehead. I ran up behind him and wrapped my arms around his torso. He turned and faced me, running his hands through my hair, lost in thought.

“You ok, Rod?” I asked him.

He sighed, “nerves”

I leaned my head on his chest, “You’re gonna do great, you’ve done so many gigs in the past. Think of this as one of those!”

He smiled at me, “You know what would make me feel a lot less nervous?”

“Oh god. What?”

A really common thing Rodrick did was try to bargain a kiss on the lips from me. It's been an ongoing joke, a meaningless bit he did all the time. I’ll do my homework if you kissed me on the lips. I’ll smile in the picture if you kissed me on the lips. It still hasn’t worked.

“I might be less nervous if you kissed me on the lips.” He whispered to me.

I rolled my eyes, “If that’s what it takes then I think you’ll lose the competition.”

He let go of me and laughed, my favorite laugh. “Worth a try.” He shrugged, going off to join his bandmates and the pizza. But as I watched him smile and laugh with his friends, I lost myself. I thought about the previous night. The way we fit into each other, the closeness, the fact that was so close that I could see my reflection in his eyes.

Maybe I should just say yes.

~~✰✰✰~~

The Day of the Contest

For the past 2 weeks, Rodrick has given me the “kiss-bargain” joke 9 times. Every time, I deflected it with sarcastic remarks, and every time I regretted not agreeing.

I sat on the front steps of my porch, waiting for Rodrick to pick me up. I regretted the jean shorts and plain black tee-shirt I had on, as a cold breeze brushed my skin. I pulled my black leather jacket on, which I painted “Loded Diper” on the back in white paint. Then, I heard it. The echo of heavy metal turned to full blast, and… the faint sound of something big getting knocked over. Oh god, they’re here. The white van with “Loded Diper” written in huge words screeched to a halt in front of my house.

The window rolled down, revealing my boyfriend and his excited grin. “Get in.”

~~✰✰✰~~

30 minutes till Loded Diper preforms

It felt surreal to be backstage, and really exciting. Energy was flowing through the room, as all the other bands talked and played. The rest of the band members seemed excited, full of adrenaline. Except for Rodrick, he’s been nervous ever since soundcheck. His leg was bouncing,he twirled his drumsticks around, drumming them on random objects, and his eyes stared into nothing.

“Rodrick, you want me to do your eyeliner?”

“Huh?” He didn’t take his eyes away from the ground, his voice seemed far away.

I lifted a liquid eyeliner pen I had in my pocket, “Eyeliner. I just did mine, we can match!”

He lifted his head and noticed me. I had my eyeliner smudged, just like he always does during a gig. He grinned, “Yeah. Yeah sure.”

I’ve done his eyeliner many times in the past, and I loved doing it because I had to be as close to him as possible. So I hopped onto his lap, pressing myself close to him, trying to comfort him with my warmth.

“Close your eyes.” I ordered.

As I applied his eyeliner, I could feel his heartbeat against my chest. It was heavy, and fast. I’m pretty sure I would still hear it if I wasn’t as close to him as I was, even though the loud music blasting through the theatre.

“Done”

He opened his eyes, and butterflies flooded my stomach. We were close. Very close. Should I do it? Should I lean in?

Rodrick probably sensed my flustered-ness. He smirked, “Cat got your tongue?”

I rolled my eyes, blushing hard. “Shut up.” I said, playfully punching him.

~~✰✰✰~~

“5 Minutes until Loded Diper performs!” A man exclaimed to us.

Rodrick was as nervous as ever. We’ve been standing on the left wing of the stage, watching the other bands play. It felt like a bunch of Loded Diper copy-pastes. A bunch of high schoolers, weird names, very aggressive playing. But they were still pretty good. Rodrick was biting the nails of one of his hands and tapping his other hand on the wall behind him. I looked up at him and held his hand, stopping it from fidgeting. He smiled nervously.

Now or never Y/N…

“Hey, you said that if I kiss you, you won’t be as nervous. Right?”

He looked at me, wide eyed. He seemed to be trying to compute what I said.

I stood on tiptoe and put his face in my hands. It was that night all over again. Every detail of his face, of him was in full view. His eyes, his eyeliner, his scent, his lips. I leaned in.

His lips were soft against mine, but they were tense, flustered. I was terrified, It was the wrong place, the wrong time. Until I felt one hand in my hair, another on my waist, pulling me closer.

How long was the kiss? A few seconds? It felt like minutes, hours. Sparked ignited. Butterflies flew in my stomach. His scent was the only thing I smelled, his warmth was the only thing I felt. The music faded away. Everything faded away. It was just him and I. Until we broke apart, taking in deep breaths of each other. We wanted more, but Loded Diper was playing in a few seconds.

“Hey, Rodrick.”

“Yeah?”

“If you win I’ll kiss you again”

We both knew I would kiss him regardless.

I didn't edit this because editing is for wimps (just kidding be responsible and edit your work)

please like and reblog because it gives me serotonin and i need that

#rodrick x reader #rodrick heffley #diary of a wimpy kid #rodrick rules #diary of a wimpy kid rodrick #fanfiction #rodrick heffley x reader #doawk #devon bostick

[ophiuchus-interactive]

Originality, Criticism, and Entitlement

After joining the IF community, I've come to see (and experience) the accusation that there are IF writers who steal, copy, or even plagiarize another author's work. I'm going to explain why throwing such accusations around is harmful not only to the accused, but the community as a whole.

This is also an explanation as to why they're incredibly stupid criticisms, and unless there is actual, direct evidence that the work is being copied or stolen, it is not, as such "critics" want to call it, "ripping off" anybody.

(Long read)

Star Wars (1977) is considered by many to be the world's first real blockbuster, with such sensation and hype that even over thirty years since its original release date, it reminds a key figure in our pop culture and media today. In every form or fashion, Star Wars was groundbreaking in terms of cinematic storytelling and movie-going experience.

But Star Wars is nothing new.

George Lucas, the creator, has discussed many times over the years just how precisely the world of Star Wars came to be, and its origins go back much, much farther than you think.

George Lucas claimed that the idea of Star Wars was inspired by Flash Gordon serials, a comic book series that was turned into a TV show in the 1930s. The famous title crawl that appears at the beginning of every Star Wars movie?

Look familiar?

It is also a pretty well known fact that the Galactic Empire and Rebels, along with the battle scenes within the movies, also take heavy inspiration from WWII. Stormtroopers are German Gestapo, the X-Wings and TIE Fighters are inspired by WWII aerial combat: https://youtu.be/msb8OdvBBjU

There is a clear right and wrong that is written into the Star Wars universe, and that most assuredly comes from the material and real world events that George Lucas was inspired by; serial comics and shows of the 30s, 40s, and 50s, leaned heavily into black and white morality. This is why superheroes from that era like Superman or Batman were originally written as static characters. "Superman is invincible, that's not as interesting as the X-Men struggling with their place in society!" Well, yeah, that's because Superman was meant to be nothing more than a comic book character that allows children to act out their power fantasy- "you can't make me go to bed, mom! Superman doesn't go to bed!" etc. etc.

But Star Wars has inspiration that goes back even further than the 1930s. It goes back to ancient Mesopotamia.

The Epic of Gilgamesh is the world's oldest and most notable form of literature that we know of. It is an epic that describes the heroic journey of one Gilgamesh, told in five parts. This is the earliest known example of what is known as "The Hero's Journey" in literature.

If you have any knowledge of the first movie of Star Wars, you're well aware of the story beats that you can read out in this diagram, as well be able to distinguish the similarities it has with The Epic of Gilgamesh.

Does this mean that Star Wars ripped off The Epic of Gilgamesh?

No. It doesn't. Because even though the story shares similar story beats, and features a black-and-white morality, a sci-fi space opera is a far cry from ancient Mesopotamian gods battling with each other. George Lucas didn't read the epic in school and decide "ah ha! I know how I'm going to make money!"

He was inspired, and he took that inspiration and created a multi-billion dollar franchise that millions love across the globe. He wrote that story and directed that movie, he put in the blood, sweat (lots of sweat- they filmed in Tunisia) and tears to make something WHOLLY NEW, and yet in some ways...similar.

Humans are very complex creatures, and our brain loves nothing more than finding patterns in things. Why is there such a thing as the Rule of Three in literature, a rule that dictates the satisfaction the reader gets when a story has a plot that occurs in three parts? Why is there traditionally only three acts? It is, simply put, satisfying. This traditional three-part structure often times creates stories that may look or feel similar simply because of how it is structured. This is not copying. This is a literature technique that humans have been using since the beginning of language itself.

And this is why I have such a problem with the people suggesting that authors are "copying" popular works- no one solely invented story beats, no one invented the supernatural fiction, no one, singular person, solely created the concepts that we are using today. No one. Not a single thing written is wholly original.

Originality is overrated. We are products of our environment, our culture, our media we consume- if an IF writer has a story with vampires and other supernatural creatures, and the MC is a detective attempting to solve crimes, was that invented by the very popular Wayhaven Chronicles by Mishka Jenkins? No. Vampires in media are nothing new, detectives in media are nothing new, and if they so happen to exist in other stories, what of it? Did Mishka invent vampires? No. They're a cultural phenomenon that has existed in multiple civilizations at once. Did she invent detectives? Obviously not.

Mishka was inspired and so were countless of other IF writers to write a story that involved the supernatural. These IF writers may have similar story beats, they may have similar themes, but that does not make it copying.

You know what makes Star Wars or The Wayhaven Chronicles or any other form of entertaining media great? Innovation.

It is how the authors tell the story, and why it is being written that creates such vast differences in genres. Star Wars isn't The Epic of Gilgamesh because its just "in space", it is the magnificent, innovative storytelling behind Star Wars that makes it so unique in our minds. The cinematography, the storytelling, the dialogue, the acting- all of that hard work into making something worthwhile and good is what makes it so unique when comparing it to other media that feature the literary use of "The Hero's Journey".

We all have something to bring to the table, to tell our stories that have a piece of us inside them. They are influenced by our laughter, our tears, our horror, our love, our rage or terrible indifference. They are influenced by our passions, our delusions, and they are written because we wish it to be so.

Are all impressionists copying Monet because he popularized impressionism? Are all artists who paint in similar styles copying off of the one who created the style in the first place? No. They're not.

To accuse IF authors, particularly the INNOCENT ones of copying others is an unbelievably insulting and ignorant statement that disregards the author's creativity and free will to write whatever the hell they want. If all you have to see out of a story is the basic, bare bones elements to it, then allow me to speak for all IF authors out there and say:

You're missing the fucking point!

We've all put our hard work into not only LEARNING a coding language (which, surprise, not ALL of us know and have to spend HOURS figuring out) but we've learned a coding language to create a game for other people to enjoy, and we'll be damn fucking lucky if we're able to get any money off of our work that we have put in it.

This criticism becomes a form of entitlement real fast, as if a reader has any say as to the pace or way an IF story (or any art for that matter) is written.

Most of us are doing this because we love the idea of putting our work out there as an IF fiction for fun. Some of us have to work jobs, some of us have complicated lives that demand constant attention, some of us wish to do this as a living, but all of us?

All of us deserve the courtesy of being a creator that is sharing their work with the world.

The next time you decide to accuse an IF writer of copying another person, ask yourself if it's legitimate plagiarism or you're just someone who doesn't have the capacity to consider that literary themes, tropes, cliches, and genres, are not the same thing as "copying".

#renny rants #if fiction

[obtusemedia]

Ranking Lady Gaga's albums, from worst to best

Being a Lady Gaga fan can be an exercise in frustration.

Gaga is far more ambitious than most popstars — I doubt we’ll ever see Ariana Grande or Ed Sheeran make an album as left-field as Born This Way or ARTPOP. But she's also far less consistent, with numerous misbegotten projects.

Gaga's undeniably successful, with five #1 hits, an Oscar and multiple iconic music videos to her name. But her messy album rollouts and tradition of underperforming lead singles make her feel like an underdog compared to the more polished, precise careers of her contemporaries like Taylor Swift, Beyoncé or Bruno Mars.

Gaga is kind of a mess. But she's our mess. This album ranking will cover some records I can't stand — albums that make me constantly hit the fast-forward button, or albums I ignore altogether. But there isn't a single record on here that wasn't a bold move. Even the "back to basics" albums made strong aesthetic choices.

So let's dive into the career of the most fascinating Millennial popstar.

#8: Cheek To Cheek (2014)

This really shouldn't count. It's a Lady Gaga album in name only. But, technically it's a Gaga album, so here we are.

I've got nothing against Gaga having fun playing Rat Pack-era dress-up with Tony Bennett. She's a theatre kid at heart, and I'm sure every theatre kid would kill to make a Great American Songbook covers record like this. It sounds like she and Tony enjoyed themselves, so I'm happy for them!

...but I'm sorry. I can't be objective about Cheek To Cheek, it's the opposite of my taste. There's only so many bland lounge ballads I can take.

BEST SONGS: I have to pick one? "Anything Goes" is cute, I guess.

WORST SONG: "Sophisticated Lady"

#7: A Star Is Born (2018)

Let me first make this clear — A Star Is Born, the movie starring Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga? It's a masterpiece. It's electrifying and tragic and I'm still upset it didn't sweep the Oscars that year. There's even a cute dog! You won't hear me say a bad word about it.

But A Star Is Born, the accompanying soundtrack? It's extremely hit-and-miss.

Yes, it includes arguably Gaga's best-ever song and one of the greatest movie hits ever written, "Shallow." And there's plenty of other great tunes in the tracklist too — "Always Remember Us This Way," "I'll Never Love Again," the "La Vie En Rose" cover.

Even the country-rock songs from Bradley Cooper (who, reminder, is not a professional singer) are mostly good! "Black Eyes" RIPS, and "Maybe It's Time" feels like a long-lost classic.

But sadly, there are so many mediocre filler tracks on this thing. The second half of A Star Is Born's hour-plus runtime (Gaga's longest!) is padded with generic songs like "Look What I've Found," "Heal Me" and "I Don't Know What Love Is." The only good one out of the bunch is the silly, intentionally-bad "Why Did You Do That?"

In the movie, these filler tracks serve a point – they're meant to show Gaga's character selling out. They work in the movie when you hear them for a few seconds and see Cooper make a drunkly disappointed scowl. But I don't want to listen to them, and sadly, they make up half the album.

In other words — A Star Is Born would've made an incredible six or seven-song EP. But as an 63-minute-long record? It's a slog.

BEST SONGS: "Shallow", "Always Remember Us This Way," "Maybe It's Time"

WORST SONG: "Heal Me"

#6: Joanne (2016)

After Born This Way and ARTPOP, I get why Gaga needed to make a more lowkey, back-to-basics album. I also understand that many of these songs have extremely personal lyrics for her.

But is a down-to-earth album what I really want from our most outré popstar? Not really.

Luckily, Joanne is better than that description suggests. Yes, there are some bland acoustic ballads and awkward hippie-era throwbacks (two styles that are really not in Gaga's wheelhouse), but there's also some Springsteen-style heartland rockers! And those go hard in the paint.

Joanne works best when Gaga works the record's dusty aesthetics into her brand of weirdo pop, like on the sizzling "John Wayne," the winking "A-YO" or the delightfully extra Florence Welch duet "Hey Girl."

The record also has "Perfect Illusion" — a glorious red herring of a lead single that sounds nothing like anything else on Joanne. It's a roided-up mixture of woozy Tame Impala production and hair metal histrionics, and it rules. It might be Gaga's best-ever lead single! (at the very least, it's her most underrated.)

And there is one slow tune that's unambiguously great: "Million Reasons," another solid Gaga lighters-in-the-air power ballad pastiche.

Despite what some Little Monsters may tell you, Joanne isn't a disaster. There's some great stuff in there, and even the worst songs are just forgettable. But it's still far from her best.

BEST SONGS: "Perfect Illusion," "Diamond Heart," "Million Reasons"

WORST SONG: "Come To Mama"

#5: Chromatica (2020)

When Chromatica was released near the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, it had been seven years since Gaga had released music in her classic gonzo-synthpop vein. I can easily picture the record serving as an "ugh fine, I'll give you what you want" response to the many Little Monsters annoyed with Gaga's half-decade of folksy ballads and Julie Andrews cosplay.

I'll say this about Chromatica — outside of The Fame Monster, it's her most consistent record. There's not a single track that's a glaring mistake. And the three singles — "Stupid Love," "911" and the triumphant Ariana Grande duet "Rain On Me" — easily stand among her best tracks.

But although "all bangers, no ballads" album sounds rad in theory, it doesn't really succeed in practice. Chromatica is solid, but it's also a very same-y record. It feels like Gaga had one really great idea for the album ('90s club music with super-depressing lyrics) and repeated it over and over and over again to diminishing results.

There are some songs that are able to separate themselves: the three singles, of course, as well as the goofy "Babylon" and "Sine From Above," the Elton John duet that's the closest Chromatica gets to a ballad. But by the end of the album, you feel more worn out than electrified.

Also — and this is probably unfair, but still — Chromatica came out just a couple months after another retro-dance blockbuster pop album: Dua Lipa's magnum opus, Future Nostalgia. That's not a flattering comparison.

BEST SONGS: "Rain On Me," "Stupid Love," "911"

WORST SONG: "1000 Doves"

#4: The Fame (2008)

Out of all of Gaga's records, The Fame is most like a time capsule. It REEKS of late '00s/early '10s pop — which isn't an entirely fair criticism, seeing as Gaga popularized that era's sleazy, synthy aesthetic. It's also not a bad thing! I don't mind a little nostalgia!

As you already know, The Fame's singles are masterworks. "Just Dance," "Poker Face," "Paparazzi" — these tracks have titanic legacies for good reason. And although it's probably the least-beloved of this album's hits, despite being a total banger, "LoveGame" should still be commended for having arguably the most Gaga lyric ever (you know, the "disco stick" line).

And even though those tracks are front-loaded on The Fame, there are some gems deeper in the tracklist. "Summerboy" is basically Gwen Stefani covering The Strokes (so obviously, it's great). "Eh, Eh" is adorable. "Starstruck" is the most 2008 song ever recorded, with aggressive Auto-Tune and Flo Rida showing up to make Starbucks jokes.

Sadly, The Fame still feels like Gaga before she became fully-formed at certain points. The back half has a number of songs that feel like generic club tracks forced by the label, and "Paper Gangsta" is one of the clunkiest songs in Gaga's catalogue.

But at the very least, the bad songs on The Fame at least serve as little nostalgia bombs for that era of pop. And the best songs are untouchable classics.

BEST SONGS: "Paparazzi," "Just Dance," "Summerboy"

WORST SONG: "Paper Gangsta"

#3: ARTPOP (2013)

For much of Gaga's career, she's been ahead of the curve. She tries something, and a year or a few years later, other popstars try something similar to diminishing results.

That doesn't just apply to the successful stuff, like Gaga's extravagant music videos inspiring many copycats from 2010-2013. It also applies to the mid-late '10s trend of legacy popstars making a controversial record with risky aesthetic or lyrical choices that backfired: reputation. Witness. Man of The Woods.

Gaga did this first, with ARTPOP — arguably the most abrasive, and bizzare major label album released by a major modern popstar. And she did it better, because unlike Swift, Perry and Timberlake, Gaga's weirdness was for real. And it was in service of some prime, hyper-aggressive bangers.

ARTPOP isn't Gaga's best work — some of her experiments on it are major misfires, from the obnoxious "Mary Jane Holland" to the bland Born This Way leftover (and Romani slur-utilizing) "Gypsy."

But when ARTPOP is on, it's ON. The opening stretch in particular, from "Aura" to "Venus" to "G.U.Y." to "Sexxx Dreams," is chaotic synthpop at its finest. Those songs took Gaga's classic sound to an apocalyptic, demented extreme, and they're fantastic.

"MANiCURE" is a great glam-rock banger, "Dope" is another classic Gaga piano ballad, the title track is some sikly-smooth dreampop; even the misguided, clunky trap anthem "Jewels N' Drugs" is bad in a hilarious, charming way!

Trust me: ARTPOP will go down in history not as a flop, but as a gutsy, underrated record from a legend. Less Witness, more In Utero.

BEST SONGS: "G.U.Y.," "Venus," "Sexxx Dreams"

WORST SONG: "Gypsy"

#2: The Fame Monster (2009)

Objectively speaking, this is probably the best Gaga album.

It's her one record with no fluff, no filler — only 34 minutes and 8 tracks, all of them stellar.

It's the record that took Gaga from "wow, this new woman is a fresh new face in pop!" to "this woman IS pop."

It's the record with her signature track, "Bad Romance," which was accompanied by arguably the greatest music video of the 21st Century. (It also has my absolute favorite Gaga track, the relentlessly catchy "Telephone.")

I don't think I need to explain what makes mega-smashes "Bad Romance" and "Telephone" and "Alejandro" great, nor the accompanying legendary deep cuts "Speechless" and "Dance In The Dark." They speak for themselves.

However — the sleek, calculated perfection of The Fame Monster, while incredible, isn't something I return to often. It's just not the side of Gaga that's my favorite. That honor would have to go to...

BEST SONGS: "Telephone," "Dance In The Dark," "Bad Romance"

WORST SONG: "So Happy I Could Die" (but it's still pretty solid)

#1: Born This Way (2011)

One of my favorite podcasts is Blank Check. The concept of the show is to analyze each movie by a famous director — in particular, those who had big success early on and then got a blank check to make whatever crazy passion project they wanted. Here's a great example: because Batman was a massive hit, Tim Burton got to make whatever Hot Topic-core movies he wanted to for decades, from Edward Scissorhands to a creepy Willy Wonka remake.

That long-winded tangent is just to say: Born This Way was Lady Gaga's blank check. By early 2011, she had conquered the pop universe, notching hit after hit after hit. Every other pop star was copying her quirky music videos. So the label let Gaga do whatever she wanted — and she didn't waste that opportunity.

Born This Way is wildly overproduced. It's both extremely trend-chasing (those synths were cutting edge at the time but charmingly dated now), but also deeply uncaring about what the teens want (I don't think Springsteen and Queen homages were big at the time). And I love every messy, overblown second of it.

From the hair-metal/synthpop hybrid opener "Marry The Night" to the majestic '80s power ballad "The Edge of Glory," Born This Way starts at an 11. And Gaga never takes her foot off the pedal for the album's entire hour-plus run time. Clanging electric guitars, thunderous synths and Clarence Clemons (!!!) sax solos collide into each other as Gaga champions every misfit and loser in the world. It's gloriously corny in the best way possible.

Born This Way is also the perfect middle ground of pop-savvy Gaga and gonzo Gaga. It doesn't go quite as hard as ARTPOP, but the hooks are stronger. And the oddball moments are tons of fun, from the sci-fi biker anthem "Highway Unicorn" to the goofy presidential-sex banger "Government Hooker" ("Put your hands on me/John F. Kennedy" might be the greatest line in pop history).

Born This Way will always be my favorite Gaga album. It's armed with nuclear-grade hooks, slamming beats, and soaring anthems. Although it's not as untouchably pristine as the Mt. Rushmore of '10s pop classics (for the record, that's 1989, EMOTION, Lemonade and, of course, Melodrama), Gaga isn't best served by meticulousness. She's proudly tacky and histrionic, and so that's what makes Born This Way an utter joy.

BEST SONGS: "The Edge of Glory," "You and I," "Marry The Night"

WORST SONG: "Bloody Mary"

[puddingemoji]

how was ur day cutie

today was great, got some good mail...so thats always a lovable moment for me personally. this hello kitty stretchkins (pic) & the outfit for my backup dancing gig soon arrived today! (keeping secret for now just in case, not sure if im sposed to show yet hehe)

How was your day, anon?

For me, things are slow otherwise. Not to jinx I hope, but stuff has been going nicely in general the past while... I'll put a 'read more' so nobody has to see my life story about my past week or two etc............unless they choose to click, lol.

i've been working on my affiliate/brand ambassador coupon codes and ads a lot lately as well- mainly the newer ones that just picked me up, obv. (https://puddingemoji.tumblr.com/shops)

my past million years have been mostly lazy otherwise, but i got some depop and ebay listings for mainly anime bs up... i also tried to prepare for an irl yard sale...but that hasnt gone so well LOL it keeps raining. (depop / ebay)

im jobless rn which sux, & im between schools bc i had issues w my last college- but im workin on it lol dont hate me for bein useless i already know...................

anyway on a more fun note- its not like i have tons of wild and exciting bs like concerts, events, or parties planned (since things juuuust reopened so recently)...but I've been shopping lately and trying to go to things like the spiritual outdoor market and that pride fundraiser at a church! A few big things are going down tho alredy, like I've been trying to get concert tickets if able as well- and succeeded so far with KoRn and Motion City Soundtrack! I also will be attending Anime NYC if all goes as planned- and will be able to cosplay for the first time in years for anything other than a photoshoot, lol!

At home ive mainly just been workin on decorating my figure/hobby room and setting up my new phone (its an iphone SE lmfao, i was usin a 6S til now). I'm also being a crafty bitch, I'm liking making things with resin lately LOL...and I've been meaning to paint a GK for a while now but need more supplies before I start. I just got a big box of anime figure/merch grails someone split proxy shipping with me on recently, so I’ve been adding shelves and furni to fit all that, hehe. I also have and hung up an LED light which I love so much, I can make it say whatever I want lol!

(Trying to fix my sleep schedule here as well, so I got a fitbit to try to see if it helps with the tracking stuff ...........idk idk idk, my psych wants me to try a sleep study and im trying anything else first to avoid it LOL)

Ik you didnt ask for the life story, but nothing too big happened today so I wanted to share some nice recent happenings/future plans to make up for the reply boringness lol. Plus, if you read that all you clicked the 'read more' so I blame you.

#answered #tysm for asking anon #i hope ur well

[404-not-found-xix]

I've been thinking about Tyrell visiting the Allsafe offices in S1... just imagine if he had asked Elliot out to lunch or something :)

Spring mornings, skipping work to chat, and teasing banter? My kind of afternoon Alex.

*****

Safety had been Tyrell’s first priority at Evil Corp. As their Senior Vice President of Technology, it was imperative that their data remained tightly locked.

After the Colby incident, it was imperative that he helped the company save face. They couldn’t put on a weak front amidst the controversy- instead, confidence. The rest of the board was far too old and had better use as speaking bobbleheads in front of a camera. They had built the company to what it was but they were dinosaurs of a bygone era. Wellick was far more suited for the position and he knew it.

He patted down his tie, slicking out of the elevator, and strolled into Allsafe. He had a meeting with Gideon Goddard to talk about their next steps in securing Evil Corp’s data. 

__

It was a short meeting. It could have been held through a video chat, but with something as important as this- he chose otherwise. And, anyway, it wasn’t his true reason for coming here. 

“Elliot-” He smiled with a formal nod, almost beaming as he stopped by the tech’s desk.

He turned from his work slowly, reluctant to stop crunching numbers and writing his next line of code. He had been assigned to Tyrell’s case.

“Good morning sir,” His eyes flicked up, pen in hand.

He reached out and they shook hands, “Please, you don’t have to be so formal with me. Call me Tyrell,”

“Mmm,” He nodded, looking him over. “You came for a meeting with Gideon, right? To talk about the temperature control in Steel Mountain and our suggestion to regulate it by adding an analog component. In the case of an outside attack, it would involve someone physically collecting each protected key before making any changes. They would need to know the location of the designated space before potentially jacking up the heat in your data room and accentually frying them to shit. It would be unrecoverable.”

“Yes, well, that’s why I wanted to talk to you. I wanted your opinion on the matter- off the record. Are you hungry?”

He glanced at his desktop, mulling it over. “Are you buying?”

“Of course,”

Elliot saved his data before powering down. Grabbing his jacket and slipping it on. “Alright, I’m ready.”

___

[Music playing at the restaurant]

The two took Tyrell’s car. His bodyguard drove them to lunch, a French restaurant. A place where you could sit outside under a large pergola with blooming vines wrapped around Earth. Small wire tables with freshly made lattes, a plate of macrons, and flowers in an elegant glass vase. 

It took Elliot by surprise, but he didn’t mind. The place was beautiful and extravagant in an understated way. It felt at peace at its own existence, windchimes glittering in the breeze.

“I thought since it was such a beautiful day, you would like this. I like coming here for their pastries, they’re divine,” He smiled, pouring a cup of refreshing cucumber water for them both.

Elliot shifted in his seat, unzipping his hoodie in the Spring weather. Even popped a button at his color, fixing his hair. “It’s nice, it’s really quite beautiful,” He pulled his teacup to his lips, drinking the smooth hot liquid.

The two made their orders and chatted about work. It was easy to flow like this. Elliot felt confident about coding and security measures, easy technical conversation for his skill. He was brilliant and he knew it. He felt it.

“So... enough shop talk, what does a guy like you do for fun?”

“Umm..” He set down his tea, rubbing his forehead with a wicked smirk, “For fun? Shit...” His tongue slicked across his lips, “Taking my dog Flipper for a walk. She prefers going to the park.”

“Mmm.”

“There’s also movies, I’m a big movie buff. I grew up on Star Trek and Back to the Future- I’ve probably seen that one a million times,” He nodded. “There’s a long tradition of my sister and I watching The Careful Massacre of the Bourgeoisie every Halloween. We didn’t do it for a couple of years, but I really enjoy that,” He chuckled, smiling, as he thought back. “It’s special, ya know?”

“That’s tender,” Slowly, his heart was melting. Watching Elliot relax and exhale his stuffy work persona was heartwarming. There was more to him than meets the eye.

“Do you mind if I smoke?”

“Care to share?”

He reached into his coat pocket and thumbed for the squares. He fitted one between Tyrell’s lips- chalking it up to the sweet tea and romantic atmosphere. “Come here,” He spoke in a low tone, flicking the lighter between them. They softly leaned forward, catching the ends of their cigarettes together under the heat of the warm flame. The ends danced, grazing each other under the intimacy of the light and shared body heat. There’s always a reason to linger... Eyes catching the other, blue eyes glinting together.

Tyrell flushed beat red, snatching the end from his lips and playing with it between his fingers. He sat back, exhaling a long drag, eyes sharp and witty, “You’re a tease, Alderson.”

He snapped the lighter shut. 

Those lips parted, teeth holding his in place. “Oh, what do you mean sir?” Coyly.

“What businessman takes his lackey out for lunch, probing for personal information on an afternoon like this?” He gestured to the sky, “I know what you’re doing,” A stream flowed from his painted lips.

“Ah,” He flicked his stick, “I thought I was being subtle.”

“Nothing you do is subtle,” He played with his end, watching the other. “I like it.”

#writing ask #mr. robot #elliot alderson #tyrell wellick #tyler writes #:)

[omgdexnursey]

hey again its crisis anon and i'm starting to rly want to try my hand at writing fanfic!! embracing the "fuck it" mentality atm🤪🤙 & i think i have the language aspect of writing down, like i'm good enough at it lol, but i've never written for a fandom before so its kind of daunting :( if its not an inconvenience i'd love to know if u have any tips!!

sorry on the lateness of this reply!! i’ve been thinking about this ask pretty much since i got it.

(this got kinda long oops i hope this is useful)

first and foremost, i would say that when deciding to write fic: write the stories you want to read. that is absolutely essential to fic writing because if you aren’t inspired by a story or it’s not something you’re all that interested in, chances are it’s either a) not gonna be all that great because you weren’t invested in it or b) it’s not gonna get finished because you’ll get bored of it. also, while i do write because i love the community aspect of it and i love people commenting and sharing my stories and talking about them, the core of my writing stems from me wanting to write and getting excited about a story i think is really cool. sometimes i think: am i really going to write this stupid au that no one else cares about and the answer is usually yes because I want to write it and therefore to me, it’s a story worth telling. this also applies if you’re writing a story you feel has already been done a million times - even if it has, it’s never been told by you 

second: be patient with yourself. if you’ve been following me for a while, you probably know that my tag for posts about writing and its struggles is “writing is hard” and it is! sometimes i start stories, get only a little bit of the way into it and then think of a new story and start writing that instead. it’s totally okay (and not unusual) to bounce around in fics, especially if you’re stuck, because otherwise it’ll start feeling less like a fun hobby and more like a chore to finish. i have fics i started over a year ago, or haven’t worked on in months because i got stuck, and a lot of times i find that after working on something else or just giving my mind time away from it, i’ll think of a scene that i want to add or how to get around where i’m stuck. sometimes i open up a doc that’s been there for months, write one sentence i thought of, and then leave it again. 

(as an add-on: writing is not linear! sometimes i know how i want a fic to end or start or just one event that happens somewhere in the middle and nothing else, and i start by writing the parts that inspired me to write it, then build around it.)

writing is also very fluid. by that i mean there’s so many times i’ve gone into a fic with an idea that is the core of the fic only to get partially or completely through writing it and realize that i want to change it in some way or go in a different direction than when i first started, so don’t be afraid to reshape an idea you originally had.

on a practical level, if you have an idea, write it down somewhere. there have been so many times that i’ll just randomly have an idea pop into my head and i’m like trying to fall asleep or i’m doing something else and i foolishly tell myself that i’ll remember it later so i don’t need to write it down now. (you might be able to guess - i do not remember a lot of them) i have notes on my phone that have just like lines of dialogues or the outline of a scene and some of them don’t really mean anything from the outside (ex. from a note about an artist au i have in progress: “dex wakes up and nursey’s painting - it’s really late”) just something for you to read and remember what you wanted from it.

also, don’t completely delete scenes if you want to take them out of a fic. i have a document titled “random unused ideas” and part of it is just scraps of ideas referenced in the above paragraph, and some of it is scenes i’ve taken out of fics but don’t want to get rid of because they might come in handy in other fics. i just recently decided to take a bunch of the snippets of scenes i had and put them into one fic to be worked on in the future. i also like to make an adjacent doc to put scenes in just in case i want them back in the fic i was writing. so for example, when i was writing “under the summer sun with you” i had a doc titled “fishing trip au extras”, and there was an entire scene i ended up taking out but i had in that doc because i wasn’t sure yet if it was going to make the final cut. (now it’s in my general “random unused ideas”)

finally, if you can, find people to talk to about writing. i get so excited when people want to talk about my stories and my friends here bounce ideas back and forth, which has helped me work around some of the roadblocks i’ve encountered. 

hope this helps and if you do write good luck!!! my inbox + messages are always open and i love talking about writing!! it’s scary and challenging but if you find that you enjoy it, that’s really what matters!

#answered #crisis anon #i have a little bit of time so i figured i'd answer this one #thank you for this ask!! #it was nice to think about because about two years ago i was v intimidated by the idea of writing fic for omgcp #but i wanted to more than i was afraid to and i also asked someone for advice and it helped me #and it also made me think about why and how i write #writing is hard

[spirit-shroud]

I am a 20 year old woman (even though the oldest age you can select in it is like... 15) and I still fucking enjoy poptropica I am ashamed to say this but I've been playing it non stop for the past 4 days please play it Also what did you think it was

honestly like... i am the most Childish and Habited person i know and i think i’ve gotten willfully addicted to just about every kid website / online game thing like neopets/webkinz/a few of the disney “mmos” (esp the tinker bell one, that was fun). i still religiously stay up to date on neopets, which i’ve been playing between a few different accounts since i was like.. 4? like. all i do is hoard money and grind dailies its not even necessarily a Fun Activity but it’s like. my activity, ykno? 

besides look at this handsome boy, i’ve wanted a faerie paint brush since it was introduced and eventually scored this one for 2.8 million,, im saving up for another one just to kinda. hoard it. i am a neopets dragon and my hoard consists of grandfathered paintbrushes, spite, and being meticulous about rolling trudy’s surprise at the exact same time every day. (also if anyone reads this happens to have a wearable Dirt Friend, a very rare item you can only get out of the Symole Hole, i’ll pay 1 million neopoints for it. no joke. i want that FUCKING DIRT FRIEND HES CUTE)

someone please give me a dirt friend i’ve been trying now for years

this was. very tangential tbh but the point is as long as you’re having fun + its smth to look forward to doing follow ur dreams 

also lowkey i remember a website that went by a similar-sounding name back in like... the late 2000s ish? it was like... a collection of weird games and it was advertised on cereal boxes a lot? i really liked this one platformer on there where you played as a waffle guy. iirc he had a red hat as his Discerning Feature(tm)

[thepoetrytheorist]

I posted 95 times in 2021

86 posts created (91%)

9 posts reblogged (9%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 0.1 posts.

I added 234 tags in 2021

#art - 72 posts

#my art - 71 posts

#madeleine hyland - 15 posts

#joey batey - 14 posts

#poetry - 13 posts

#my poetry - 12 posts

#the amazing devil - 12 posts

#nature - 10 posts

#digital art - 9 posts

#copper buttercups - 6 posts

Longest Tag: 101 characters

#reblogging this because i have a switch and do play animal crossing now and i love tom nook very much

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

7 Billion People

Seven Billion People and that's a whole lot But when you look at your self, you think that you're not You look at the World and see people like you Except for the fact that they're fun and they're new

You wake up every day and part your hair on the same side When your mum points a camera, then you smile wide You slip on your slippers and trod down to the mail And sometimes you dream that one day you'll set sail

You pick up the papers and look at the news You glance at the funnies and truly are bemused You sip from your mug and pick at your breakfast You bite back a yawn and slip on your knapsack

Your boring brown shoes clip clop on the pavement And your boring brown suit blows slightly in the wind Your boring brown office and boring desk job At least you can say you're not much of a slob

A tired smile and a greeting to bonny Janine, A small wave and a quip to your boss Louis You sit and you type and type away And slowly and slowly fill up your day

At lunch you eat a sandwich on rye As your friends chatter and laugh you wonder why You're one in seven billion yet no one can say "Why, you, you could be like Beyoncé!"

You're one in seven billion Yet as special as a pavilion You feel so alone, And sadly return to your home

One in seven billion and that's not alot But I suppose, this is worth a shot, Not one in seven billion is as special as you And around you I feel so new

Nobody quite parts their hair the way you do Nor like you can they hold a jaunty tune They don't have your fashion, even in the same old suit And any other points, I think are moot.

You're one in seven billion, To me you're worth millions The way you smile as you smell your coffee The way your eyes light up when you look at me

Every wrinkle as you frown, And your crows feet when you come around The way you tell a joke And how in the sunlight you soak

You're one in seven billion I hope you know that's true But that doesn't mean you're less significant Or that you have less value

You don't need to be famous Or to make a higher paygrade What really matters is That you're you every single day.

22 notes • Posted 2021-06-29 19:41:12 GMT

#4

Lesley Harding, here to steal your heart.  Digital painting 1080 x 1920, 1/17/2021 Copper-Buttercups Click for better quality. DO NOT REPOST MY ART feel free to reblog instead!

25 notes • Posted 2021-01-18 20:00:59 GMT

#3

All you need is a little friend... and perhaps a hat.

25 notes • Posted 2021-10-21 18:30:08 GMT

#2

Crushed

The world is collapsing I'm at its core Being Crushed by all I once stood for.

I stand aghast No shelter nor fire, The cold night preys My sinful desire.

The rocks they hail, Like storm, like sea And though I run, I cannot flee.

I stand and shout 'O God be near!' The silence shows He will not hear

Closer, closer the cosmos comes The darkness strangling Until I succumb

Crush me gently Thus I beg

There is no saviour for the dead

28 notes • Posted 2021-08-24 19:47:43 GMT

#1

Tomorrow,,,

Tomorrow my long awaited animatic is here!!! I've been working on this since last April (in fact, the opening GIF is the first thing I ever drew on my new computer and is one of my first pieces of digital art.) I am so proud of it.

Please join me in the premier tomorrow, 6/2/2021 at 12 PM PST.

32 notes • Posted 2021-06-02 04:57:34 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

#my 2021 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #Youtube

[heartsoftruth]

1- i don't think anybody cares for my opinion of brumar which is why i've never shared my thoughts when they first got back together but now a few months later i just have to share my observation because i'm not freaking blind and have seen the way millions of high school couples act and that's literally neymar and bruna. i'm gonna start this off by saying i don't understand why everyone takes brumar so seriously they're not nearly as in love as they paint themselves out to be on social media.

2- flashback to 2014 when they were dating for two years, now that’s a long as fuck time to get really attached to someone and be sad about a breakup but neither of them cared after they ended things? bruna was literally dating someone else within a span of a few months and neymar didn’t care at all about ending his relationship because at that time he’d rather spend his time being single. this is obvious because he literally said he didn’t want to marry her right before they broke up and then

Anonymous said:3- during that same week of their breakup continued to party with other women and has basically lived his bachelor lifestyle up to it’s full potential since then. point blank is neither of them were heartbroken enough to even try and see each other in a whole ass 2 years they were perfectly content with their lives without the other in it. then flashback to last summer neymar never stops complaining about being single and oh shit look at that a few months later he’s back with bruna. so to sum

4- things up neymar first dumped her because he didn’t want a serious relationship anymore then picked her back up when he wanted one. if you can keep bringing back then dropping that same person out of your life so easily you’re not dating them because you’re fucking in love with them you’re dating them just so you can say you’re dating somebody. their nonstop posts about each other further proves this observation. painting together? out at the movies? hanging out with friends? just finished

5- eating? POST ABOUT EACH OTHER POST ABOUT EACH OTHER POST ABOUT EACH OTHER!!! they post about EVERYTHING that they do together. now from my personal experience the realeast relationships last because you and that one person have a special bond together and your memories are for YOU not the entire damn planet. neymar and bruna are the definition of a couple that is only together so they can flex for the gram. what is their relationship without social media honestly? you’re at a party with your

6- friends and the first thing you can think of is “hey rafinha stand in this video while bruna kisses me so everyone can see i have a girlfriend and you don’t” see what i mean by a highschool relationship? like who does that? i’m sure he didn’t mean to make fun of rafinha but my point is that neymar and bruna’s relationship literally only survives on the mere fact that people talk and are interested in THEIR private life. if you’re so in love then be together and enjoy each other’s company

7- instead of being so bored out of your damn minds together that you have to post about everything you do together then spend the next hour watching your fans post about it on instagram. other people might take them seriously because she speaks to his parents and he called her his wife but every other 17 year old and their significant other literally does the same thing. i don’t think that they will last and hell if they get married it’s literally going to be because neymar is out here having

8- a midlife crisis and thinks he’ll be too old if he doesn’t have another kid by the time he’s 25 not because bruna is his reoccuring soulmate lol. if she was he wouldn’t have been able to drop her out of his life so quickly in the first place. and i know the only reason he is moving so fast with her is because he’s acting like he’s already way too old to start all over with someone new which is just ridiculous but i think it’s obvious that is what he thinks. sorry this is so long i just wanted

9- to share my observation on why i think these two are together for all the wrong reasons but i guess not everyone has morals when it comes to why they want someone as their wife/husband. all i’m saying is you could never catch me going back to my ex after he exfoliated me, fucked a bunch of other women, then decided it’s my turn to come back because he’s ready to settle down foh with that.

___________Ooooo, my anon friend! you went offfff!! You actually have some very good points and said some interesting things.

I do really agree with the Insta posts etc. I also think keep those intimate moments private and something for you both to cherish. On the other hand Neymar is one who likes to post SO MUCH about his private life that its also something I kinda expected from him. Like what you said at 6 was indeed also my reaction, but thats why I also said with guys its different. Because if I did that to a friend or a friends with me I/she would be pissed af. But guys probably laugh at it and are over it in a second where us girls are agree for a week/month xD. 

I think the my wife comment was more my wifey or my women. Not wife, but I get what you mean. But we all know Ney acts very young at times you know. And he likes those typical cheesy things and quotes etc. 

8: is also interesting and something I never thought of tbh. I hope he doenst think of himself as too old. Would be ridiculous at 25, but probably bc all his teammates (and most footballers) already settled down at that age… 

Dont be sorry for sharing your observations! They are very interesting! seriously! You made me think about a few things. And maybe my reply to you is short, but I’m defiantly thinking about the points you made in your observations.

#anonymous

[symbianosgames]

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

Welcome to the Meganoid(2017) post-mortem. This post-mortem goes into the details on the Meganoid figures and stats. Without context the stats are pretty much silly numbers, so please make sure to read all of this because there is more to the numbers than you might think.

So I'll keep this short, if you want to learn more about who I am, please check out my techblog and website. I've been a full-time (indie) developer since 2004. Mostly known for mobile games, but since 2015 also branching to PC games and even some consoles releases here and there (PS Vita and 3DS).  I've never had hit games that made me millions, but I have been doing very decent for many years releasing games that have found a growing fan-base in a niche area.  My biggest titles include the Gunslugs and Heroes of Loot series of games and Space Grunts.

The original Meganoid was released in 2010 on Android and iOS and was a very hard platformer with short levels that sometimes had you screaming if you didn't manage to reach the finish. For me it was a turning point in my games as I finally decided to just build games like that since those are the games I love the most. Luckily I found a niche that works for me and an audience that has been growing alongside me and my games. It also managed to reach close to a million downloads since.

Meganoid(2017) is a reboot of the franchise lifts a lot on the designs behind Spelunky, while still maintaining the difficulty of the original Meganoid game. I named it a "love child of Spelunky and Meat-boy in space", which is a very clear description of what the game is. It's not extremely original, but I'll get to that later on!

Oh, the game was also created in "just" two months, but I'll also get back to that if you keep reading..

So before Meganoid I was working on a game called Ashworld, which is a huge project for a one-man development team (which I am) and it's also an open-world game, a genre that I personally have no experience with because I often quit those games within a few hours of play-time.  Simply put: Ashworld is a huge challenge for me, and I have been working on it since June 2016.

Seeing as my games are actually my livelihood, money needs to come in on a semi-frequent basis. My business is still running fairly well, I have a huge back-log of games and they are all still bringing in money on a monthly base, but to keep it all running I do have some rules on how long game-projects can take.  Ashworld is breaking those rules due to a challenging development phase where I've been learning open-world design and also searching where the actual fun in the game-design is. So the game isn't done, and still needs a few months of work.

Enter the stage: Meganoid.

In January I decided to just do some prototyping with the hopes that I would end up with something playable that could be extended into a game. For this to work, I needed a clear design idea and direction. A game that I could almost create on automatic-mode.

This "automatic-mode" does need some nuance here, I wrote a blog about it a few weeks ago and I think it painted a wrong picture. Some comments and replies I got thrown at me were along the line of "a quick money grab". My bad on writing the article and not being clear about things, so here's to rectifying it:

The game was made in "just 2 months; and 13 years of experience".

The key part being those 13 years experience, factual there are a lot more years of experience, but the 13 years is how long I've been doing this commercially. Meganoid at it's core is a platformer with rogue-like mechanics. I've created close to 60 commercial platform games, and I've been doing rogue-like elements in my last 5-6 games. I know what to expect code-wise, and I know how to program those things without having to think about it.

To put it in some more perspective, my game Heroes of Loot 2 is a huge RPG-adventure/twin-stick shooter, and it was made in little over 4 months. So I normally work really fast and very effective.

Now think what you like about the short-development cycle, I don't plan to change your mind about it, but from a business point of view: this made sense and still delivers a quality game.

To have this game make some profit I needed it to take just a couple of months work so it would be easier to recoup on the costs AND make money on the game.

The development-cycle was pretty short, but since I had some interesting stuff pretty early on I actually showed some screenshots and gifs in the first week of development on twitter,facebook,instagram and a couple of forums. Some of this got picked up pretty early by mobile-game sites, and Toucharcade showed the first couple of video's I released in the weeks after.

I started using reddit a bit more, and finally managed to post something there without it being taken down (actually on second try, the first did get taken down because I didn't disclose that the "pre-order discounts" was on a game I made, which obviously makes a big difference../sarcasm).

The two or so weeks before the launch I already had various mobile sites mailing me for some promocodes, which is the up-side of being "known" in a market. In contrast to that there is the PC scene, where I'm basically unknown and nobody talks about my games.

The launch week I started looking at youtube streamers for the PC version, so I basically searched for big youtubers that covered games like: Spelunky, Meat boy, and a few other more recent pixel-art indie games that fit the same category as Meganoid.

I mailed all of them, close to a 100, which at least one steam-key included (for some group-youtubers I included up to 5 keys) and this all resulted in an awesome 0 streams.  I did a follow up email to a large portion of them a week later, and this resulted in 1 Streamer playing it,  yay results!

It's still possible some streamers will pick up the game later, having full inboxes, managers that handle emails slowly, or just large backlogs of video's. But I don't hold my breath for any of it.  Same goes for PC game-site reviews, so even tho I did everything "right" it basically ended up with fairly little returns on it.  The emails were short, to the point, showed a GIF of the game, bullet points, youtube trailer, quick-links and a steam-key included with a link to the website/presskit for more info. All according to the average marketing-advise.

Basically, in my opinion and experience, you need to know people to get things done. But reaching out never hurts and is also the way to get to know more people, so yeah.

Okay, okay! that's what you guys came for, I get it!

Google Play's "Best new seller" list charting

Let me first start with this, Meganoid was so far:

Featured on App-store under "New games we loved" - worldwide

Featured on Google Play "Early Access"

Featured on Google Play "New and Updated"

Top-charted (top 25) in Google Play "Best new sellers" list

Game of the Week - on TouchArcade

"Best games of the week for iOS and Android"  - Pocketgamer

Now, back to reality, for those who don't know, making money on games is HARD, on any given day there are 100-500 games released on various platforms. That's EVERY DAY! Standing out from those games is extremely hard, most games you will never see and they get like 5-10 downloads (depending on how many friends the developer has).

With my experience of doing this business for a long time, I set a fairly low but do-able goal for Meganoid: $6500 during the launch-period. I know it's a not a huge game, and it had fairly short marketing-visibility before release due to the fast development cycle.

For me a launch-period is the first month or so after releasing it. My goals is usually to make 80%-100%  of the development costs back in this first period. I calculate development costs fairly rough by multiplying each development-month with $2000 and then add any outsourced work costs. Since I do code+design+game graphics that often leaves out-source costs to music and high-res marketing art.

The $2000 is very low-end of what my cost-of-living is each month (in the Netherlands, with mortgage, girlfriend and pets). It doesn't take into account taxes and extra cash-flow for "the future". But we're talking about launch-period here, so a game will live on for a few more years and with future sales and discounts you can often double the money a game made on launch.

So for this game I had 2 months of work, that's $4000 and since there was such a short dev-cycle and I used ambient sounds from my sound-libraries, there was no music cost and just a few hundred dollars for the awesome marketing art. So let's round it to $4500.

Now the point is to get extra cashflow to cover the longer development-cycle of Ashworld and we get to a $6500 minimum revenue that I was aiming for with Meganoid.  Again this is all launch-period revenue, because obviously it's a low amount especially if Ashworld development still needs 2 or 3 months time. So I'll get to that in a few paragraphs below.

I released Meganoid on March 30 on iOS, Android and PC (steam/humble/itch, windows/osx/linux) and we're now at three weeks into the release and currently the revenue is just a little shy of the target at $6200. Which is not bad at all!

So let's dig into this $6200 launch-period amount. Where did most of it come from, and why! The biggest bulk of this comes from the iOS version, actually close to 50% of it: $3580.  On iOS the game was priced $4.99 with a launch-discount the first week making the game $3.99. Meganoid was made Game of the week at Toucharcade which most certainly helped, one of the weeks best games for iOS and Android on Pocketgamer, but sadly it had no "games we play" feature for the first weekend.

For some reason the game only showed up in the "Games we play" on Monday/Tuesday for the USA App-store, at which point it spiked to slightly below the launch spike so effectively doubling the sales in the 3/4 days it had that front page feature.  I'm pretty sure it would have done better if it did have that feature in the first-weekend (during the sale) but those things are pretty much out of my control and I'm glad it eventually did get a feature after-all (something I kind had planned for in setting my revenue targets).

Apple loved it - all over the world!

Second biggest seller was Android, now this was done a little different. I tried some beta stages on Android and this put my game into "Early Access" on Google Play a week before the launch at a $2.99 price. This price was mostly because I believe that the brave people who try out a beta shouldn't pay full price.  The game got a nice Google feature in their "Early Access" list, which only has about 20 games listed, so that's a pretty good list to be in.

The possible down-side of this is that a lot of people don't seem to be clear of understanding what "Early access" means on Google Play, so there was a lot more buying going on than I had planned for, and that means I was pushing updates daily to work out some "obviously-beta" features. Early-access users can't leave reviews during that phase, so that might have been a positive thing, the down-side of that is that many people forget to leave a review once the game was released.. so not as many reviews as I normally have during the launch-period. Not sure if I would do that again on Android, but it's been an interesting experiment.

Finally we come to the PC revenue, in total that's $900 which is split over Steam, Itch and Humble. This is also my biggest pain-in-the-butt, obviously my games still don't make much waves amongst PC gamers. Especially since about 50% of that money comes through Itch.io where I ran a pre-order with 20% discount in the two weeks leading up to the launch. So these buyers are mostly people from my own social-circles and mailing-lists, people who in many cases also buy the mobile version and in a lot of cases people who tipped up to $10 (even tho the pre-order price was $3.99!)  (THANKS!).

The humble-store sales were about 10% of that, so the rest is up to you to calculate :p

Side note:  Besides this launch-period revenue, there is also the added advantage of extra money made on back-log sales. New gamers that see Meganoid will check out my other games and in some cases end up buying a few more of my games. On top of that a lot of subscriptions to my social-circles and mailing list have happened during and after the development of Meganoid, which are all potentially future fans of my next games.

Another important thing to read about, how are the ratings? Because let's face it, making a game in two months isn't interesting if it's a crappy game. On iOS the game has a strong 4/5 star rating from gamers, and on Android it's at 4.8/5 star rating. I'd say those are pretty good ratings (most of my games are around the 4.0 - 4.5 ratings)

On Steam there are only about 4 ratings of which only 2 ratings count since they bought the game on Steam and not through my website/Itch.io or Humble. But I think "all of them" are fairly positive!

Game-site wise, well that's a mixed bag of thingies. As mentioned before, the game was made "game of the week" on Toucharcade, and it was part of the "best games for iOS and Android" that week on Pocketgamer. On the other side Toucharcade's review gave it just a 3.5/5 rating, and Pocketgamer managed to give it a 7/10.  So that's the same two websites already making for mixed-reviews.  Not sure what to think about it, and it's mostly the reason I focus on the average user-rating on app-stores since those people play the game even after a review.

PC game sites pretty much ignored the game completely, except for a few news-posts on one or two sites. But the whole game-review-site business is something for another topic. In short, those sites only talk about your game if people are already talking about your game, or if there's something controversial to be found, because that brings in readers and thus advertising-money.

Now there's always a part in a post mortem where people go say things that went right or wrong and how things could have gone different. BUT!  Meganoid was just as much an experiment as it was a way to earn some extra cash.

For one, the price: $4.99. For a PC game that's a fairly cheap price-point, and it was something I wanted to try out. Normally my newly released PC games go between $7-$10 in the launch period because I honestly think that's what my games are worth for the amount of playtime and enjoyment you get. However, a game like Meganoid is perfect to try out new stuff and I've been wondering if maybe my games would sell better at $4.99.  Haven't really compared it yet with my previous games, but my gut-feeling says I sell about as much copies at this price as I do at a more normal price of $7.99.

On mobile the $4.99 is actually on the high-end of things! More experimenting, normally I'm at max at $3.99 and often in the launch week it's at $2.99. I do believe this game could have done better at a $3.99 or $2.99. Possibly sold much more copies with the result being more revenue. Some people hinted I should have lowered the price when I got the iOS feature, but my golden rule is to not punish the instant-buying fans, which I would have done had I suddenly lowered the price within a week of it's release.

In general the gamers liked the game, which is the most important thing. One guy complained that he couldn't get past the first level so it was way to hard, another guy complained that the sound-effects sounded generic (he was a sound-designer offering to do sound effects.. that's business!). One mobile-game reviewer had a lot of problems with the touch-controls, which is ironic for a mobile-game reviewer in my opinion.

I've been pushing regular updates to Meganoid since the release, and I still have one bigger update planned. After that it will mostly complete the work on this game minus any required fixes or OS-updates.

I never create games as a service, all my games receive two or three bigger updates and then I move on. That's my business-model and that's how I stay in business.

As for the game itself, it now becomes a "back-log game". This means I'll be able to do sales and discounts with the game in the next few years. It's also possible to perhaps get it ported and released on consoles or other gadgets, and there are alternate sales-routes the game can take on platforms like Android or PC (different markets, bundles, etc).

On top of that the game engine is fairly straight-forward and easy to repurpose. So it could be possible to re-use the game, create a new game-world and content for it and release like a $1.99 game with it (in fact I already have a funny viking-style game running on the same engine, so who knows).

All those back-log options should be able to at-least  double the game's revenue within a year, so let's say the game does $10.000 in total by March 2018. Set against the 2 month development cycle (and 13 years experience!) that's not a bad deal.

For now I got some breathing room again for working on Ashworld, so follow me on Twitter or Facebook if you want to stay updated on that one!

(Grab Meganoid here for Windows,MacOS, Linux, iOS or Android)

#IFTTT #Blogger

[symbianosgames]

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

Welcome to the Meganoid(2017) post-mortem. This post-mortem goes into the details on the Meganoid figures and stats. Without context the stats are pretty much silly numbers, so please make sure to read all of this because there is more to the numbers than you might think.

So I'll keep this short, if you want to learn more about who I am, please check out my techblog and website. I've been a full-time (indie) developer since 2004. Mostly known for mobile games, but since 2015 also branching to PC games and even some consoles releases here and there (PS Vita and 3DS).  I've never had hit games that made me millions, but I have been doing very decent for many years releasing games that have found a growing fan-base in a niche area.  My biggest titles include the Gunslugs and Heroes of Loot series of games and Space Grunts.

The original Meganoid was released in 2010 on Android and iOS and was a very hard platformer with short levels that sometimes had you screaming if you didn't manage to reach the finish. For me it was a turning point in my games as I finally decided to just build games like that since those are the games I love the most. Luckily I found a niche that works for me and an audience that has been growing alongside me and my games. It also managed to reach close to a million downloads since.

Meganoid(2017) is a reboot of the franchise lifts a lot on the designs behind Spelunky, while still maintaining the difficulty of the original Meganoid game. I named it a "love child of Spelunky and Meat-boy in space", which is a very clear description of what the game is. It's not extremely original, but I'll get to that later on!

Oh, the game was also created in "just" two months, but I'll also get back to that if you keep reading..

So before Meganoid I was working on a game called Ashworld, which is a huge project for a one-man development team (which I am) and it's also an open-world game, a genre that I personally have no experience with because I often quit those games within a few hours of play-time.  Simply put: Ashworld is a huge challenge for me, and I have been working on it since June 2016.

Seeing as my games are actually my livelihood, money needs to come in on a semi-frequent basis. My business is still running fairly well, I have a huge back-log of games and they are all still bringing in money on a monthly base, but to keep it all running I do have some rules on how long game-projects can take.  Ashworld is breaking those rules due to a challenging development phase where I've been learning open-world design and also searching where the actual fun in the game-design is. So the game isn't done, and still needs a few months of work.

Enter the stage: Meganoid.

In January I decided to just do some prototyping with the hopes that I would end up with something playable that could be extended into a game. For this to work, I needed a clear design idea and direction. A game that I could almost create on automatic-mode.

This "automatic-mode" does need some nuance here, I wrote a blog about it a few weeks ago and I think it painted a wrong picture. Some comments and replies I got thrown at me were along the line of "a quick money grab". My bad on writing the article and not being clear about things, so here's to rectifying it:

The game was made in "just 2 months; and 13 years of experience".

The key part being those 13 years experience, factual there are a lot more years of experience, but the 13 years is how long I've been doing this commercially. Meganoid at it's core is a platformer with rogue-like mechanics. I've created close to 60 commercial platform games, and I've been doing rogue-like elements in my last 5-6 games. I know what to expect code-wise, and I know how to program those things without having to think about it.

To put it in some more perspective, my game Heroes of Loot 2 is a huge RPG-adventure/twin-stick shooter, and it was made in little over 4 months. So I normally work really fast and very effective.

Now think what you like about the short-development cycle, I don't plan to change your mind about it, but from a business point of view: this made sense and still delivers a quality game.

To have this game make some profit I needed it to take just a couple of months work so it would be easier to recoup on the costs AND make money on the game.

The development-cycle was pretty short, but since I had some interesting stuff pretty early on I actually showed some screenshots and gifs in the first week of development on twitter,facebook,instagram and a couple of forums. Some of this got picked up pretty early by mobile-game sites, and Toucharcade showed the first couple of video's I released in the weeks after.

I started using reddit a bit more, and finally managed to post something there without it being taken down (actually on second try, the first did get taken down because I didn't disclose that the "pre-order discounts" was on a game I made, which obviously makes a big difference../sarcasm).

The two or so weeks before the launch I already had various mobile sites mailing me for some promocodes, which is the up-side of being "known" in a market. In contrast to that there is the PC scene, where I'm basically unknown and nobody talks about my games.

The launch week I started looking at youtube streamers for the PC version, so I basically searched for big youtubers that covered games like: Spelunky, Meat boy, and a few other more recent pixel-art indie games that fit the same category as Meganoid.

I mailed all of them, close to a 100, which at least one steam-key included (for some group-youtubers I included up to 5 keys) and this all resulted in an awesome 0 streams.  I did a follow up email to a large portion of them a week later, and this resulted in 1 Streamer playing it,  yay results!

It's still possible some streamers will pick up the game later, having full inboxes, managers that handle emails slowly, or just large backlogs of video's. But I don't hold my breath for any of it.  Same goes for PC game-site reviews, so even tho I did everything "right" it basically ended up with fairly little returns on it.  The emails were short, to the point, showed a GIF of the game, bullet points, youtube trailer, quick-links and a steam-key included with a link to the website/presskit for more info. All according to the average marketing-advise.

Basically, in my opinion and experience, you need to know people to get things done. But reaching out never hurts and is also the way to get to know more people, so yeah.

Okay, okay! that's what you guys came for, I get it!

Google Play's "Best new seller" list charting

Let me first start with this, Meganoid was so far:

Featured on App-store under "New games we loved" - worldwide

Featured on Google Play "Early Access"

Featured on Google Play "New and Updated"

Top-charted (top 25) in Google Play "Best new sellers" list

Game of the Week - on TouchArcade

"Best games of the week for iOS and Android"  - Pocketgamer

Now, back to reality, for those who don't know, making money on games is HARD, on any given day there are 100-500 games released on various platforms. That's EVERY DAY! Standing out from those games is extremely hard, most games you will never see and they get like 5-10 downloads (depending on how many friends the developer has).

With my experience of doing this business for a long time, I set a fairly low but do-able goal for Meganoid: $6500 during the launch-period. I know it's a not a huge game, and it had fairly short marketing-visibility before release due to the fast development cycle.

For me a launch-period is the first month or so after releasing it. My goals is usually to make 80%-100%  of the development costs back in this first period. I calculate development costs fairly rough by multiplying each development-month with $2000 and then add any outsourced work costs. Since I do code+design+game graphics that often leaves out-source costs to music and high-res marketing art.

The $2000 is very low-end of what my cost-of-living is each month (in the Netherlands, with mortgage, girlfriend and pets). It doesn't take into account taxes and extra cash-flow for "the future". But we're talking about launch-period here, so a game will live on for a few more years and with future sales and discounts you can often double the money a game made on launch.

So for this game I had 2 months of work, that's $4000 and since there was such a short dev-cycle and I used ambient sounds from my sound-libraries, there was no music cost and just a few hundred dollars for the awesome marketing art. So let's round it to $4500.

Now the point is to get extra cashflow to cover the longer development-cycle of Ashworld and we get to a $6500 minimum revenue that I was aiming for with Meganoid.  Again this is all launch-period revenue, because obviously it's a low amount especially if Ashworld development still needs 2 or 3 months time. So I'll get to that in a few paragraphs below.

I released Meganoid on March 30 on iOS, Android and PC (steam/humble/itch, windows/osx/linux) and we're now at three weeks into the release and currently the revenue is just a little shy of the target at $6200. Which is not bad at all!

So let's dig into this $6200 launch-period amount. Where did most of it come from, and why! The biggest bulk of this comes from the iOS version, actually close to 50% of it: $3580.  On iOS the game was priced $4.99 with a launch-discount the first week making the game $3.99. Meganoid was made Game of the week at Toucharcade which most certainly helped, one of the weeks best games for iOS and Android on Pocketgamer, but sadly it had no "games we play" feature for the first weekend.

For some reason the game only showed up in the "Games we play" on Monday/Tuesday for the USA App-store, at which point it spiked to slightly below the launch spike so effectively doubling the sales in the 3/4 days it had that front page feature.  I'm pretty sure it would have done better if it did have that feature in the first-weekend (during the sale) but those things are pretty much out of my control and I'm glad it eventually did get a feature after-all (something I kind had planned for in setting my revenue targets).

Apple loved it - all over the world!

Second biggest seller was Android, now this was done a little different. I tried some beta stages on Android and this put my game into "Early Access" on Google Play a week before the launch at a $2.99 price. This price was mostly because I believe that the brave people who try out a beta shouldn't pay full price.  The game got a nice Google feature in their "Early Access" list, which only has about 20 games listed, so that's a pretty good list to be in.

The possible down-side of this is that a lot of people don't seem to be clear of understanding what "Early access" means on Google Play, so there was a lot more buying going on than I had planned for, and that means I was pushing updates daily to work out some "obviously-beta" features. Early-access users can't leave reviews during that phase, so that might have been a positive thing, the down-side of that is that many people forget to leave a review once the game was released.. so not as many reviews as I normally have during the launch-period. Not sure if I would do that again on Android, but it's been an interesting experiment.

Finally we come to the PC revenue, in total that's $900 which is split over Steam, Itch and Humble. This is also my biggest pain-in-the-butt, obviously my games still don't make much waves amongst PC gamers. Especially since about 50% of that money comes through Itch.io where I ran a pre-order with 20% discount in the two weeks leading up to the launch. So these buyers are mostly people from my own social-circles and mailing-lists, people who in many cases also buy the mobile version and in a lot of cases people who tipped up to $10 (even tho the pre-order price was $3.99!)  (THANKS!).

The humble-store sales were about 10% of that, so the rest is up to you to calculate :p

Side note:  Besides this launch-period revenue, there is also the added advantage of extra money made on back-log sales. New gamers that see Meganoid will check out my other games and in some cases end up buying a few more of my games. On top of that a lot of subscriptions to my social-circles and mailing list have happened during and after the development of Meganoid, which are all potentially future fans of my next games.

Another important thing to read about, how are the ratings? Because let's face it, making a game in two months isn't interesting if it's a crappy game. On iOS the game has a strong 4/5 star rating from gamers, and on Android it's at 4.8/5 star rating. I'd say those are pretty good ratings (most of my games are around the 4.0 - 4.5 ratings)

On Steam there are only about 4 ratings of which only 2 ratings count since they bought the game on Steam and not through my website/Itch.io or Humble. But I think "all of them" are fairly positive!

Game-site wise, well that's a mixed bag of thingies. As mentioned before, the game was made "game of the week" on Toucharcade, and it was part of the "best games for iOS and Android" that week on Pocketgamer. On the other side Toucharcade's review gave it just a 3.5/5 rating, and Pocketgamer managed to give it a 7/10.  So that's the same two websites already making for mixed-reviews.  Not sure what to think about it, and it's mostly the reason I focus on the average user-rating on app-stores since those people play the game even after a review.

PC game sites pretty much ignored the game completely, except for a few news-posts on one or two sites. But the whole game-review-site business is something for another topic. In short, those sites only talk about your game if people are already talking about your game, or if there's something controversial to be found, because that brings in readers and thus advertising-money.

Now there's always a part in a post mortem where people go say things that went right or wrong and how things could have gone different. BUT!  Meganoid was just as much an experiment as it was a way to earn some extra cash.

For one, the price: $4.99. For a PC game that's a fairly cheap price-point, and it was something I wanted to try out. Normally my newly released PC games go between $7-$10 in the launch period because I honestly think that's what my games are worth for the amount of playtime and enjoyment you get. However, a game like Meganoid is perfect to try out new stuff and I've been wondering if maybe my games would sell better at $4.99.  Haven't really compared it yet with my previous games, but my gut-feeling says I sell about as much copies at this price as I do at a more normal price of $7.99.

On mobile the $4.99 is actually on the high-end of things! More experimenting, normally I'm at max at $3.99 and often in the launch week it's at $2.99. I do believe this game could have done better at a $3.99 or $2.99. Possibly sold much more copies with the result being more revenue. Some people hinted I should have lowered the price when I got the iOS feature, but my golden rule is to not punish the instant-buying fans, which I would have done had I suddenly lowered the price within a week of it's release.

In general the gamers liked the game, which is the most important thing. One guy complained that he couldn't get past the first level so it was way to hard, another guy complained that the sound-effects sounded generic (he was a sound-designer offering to do sound effects.. that's business!). One mobile-game reviewer had a lot of problems with the touch-controls, which is ironic for a mobile-game reviewer in my opinion.

I've been pushing regular updates to Meganoid since the release, and I still have one bigger update planned. After that it will mostly complete the work on this game minus any required fixes or OS-updates.

I never create games as a service, all my games receive two or three bigger updates and then I move on. That's my business-model and that's how I stay in business.

As for the game itself, it now becomes a "back-log game". This means I'll be able to do sales and discounts with the game in the next few years. It's also possible to perhaps get it ported and released on consoles or other gadgets, and there are alternate sales-routes the game can take on platforms like Android or PC (different markets, bundles, etc).

On top of that the game engine is fairly straight-forward and easy to repurpose. So it could be possible to re-use the game, create a new game-world and content for it and release like a $1.99 game with it (in fact I already have a funny viking-style game running on the same engine, so who knows).

All those back-log options should be able to at-least  double the game's revenue within a year, so let's say the game does $10.000 in total by March 2018. Set against the 2 month development cycle (and 13 years experience!) that's not a bad deal.

For now I got some breathing room again for working on Ashworld, so follow me on Twitter or Facebook if you want to stay updated on that one!

(Grab Meganoid here for Windows,MacOS, Linux, iOS or Android)

#IFTTT #Blogger