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directdogman · 3 months

Note

Hello Hound!! Since it's Dialtown's 2nd anniversary, I've been planning up a few "general" related questions about your series that I've been meaning to ask, but I decided to save them up for the big day because why not? Anyways, here's what I've got, these were meant to be fun to answer so don't sweat it :]

1: How do you feel about Dialtown's success? Are you proud of how far you've come?

2: Which character was the MOST fun for you to write, and which was the most PAINFUL?

3: What is something you wish more people would talk about or just know about related to Dialtown in general?

4: If you had the opportunity to write a FULL complete, detailed life story of any of your characters, who would that be?

5: What's a character you wish you could have given more screen-time or just in general content? (Considering iirc you were trying to make sure Dialtown wasn't TOO long, so I was wondering if this ever came to mind)

6: From what I know, you've been doing the job of cosplaying several characters in the game and acting out their sprites, which one was the most fun to act out?

7: Speaking of sprites, do you have a sprite you could consider your favorite, out of ALL your characters?

8: Do you have a specific line of dialogue you could consider your favorite throughout the entire game?

9: Could you ever see Dialtown expanding into perhaps sequels or maybe even prequels? More DLCs mayhaps? Heck, maybe even a Dialtown 2 or a Chapter 4??

10: If you could make any fan-made interpretation (such as headcanons, designs, or ships) canon if given the opportunity, what do you think would be your pick?

11: What was the MOST fun part about developing Dialtown? Coming up with new characters? Writing them? Adding all the bizarre dialogue options?

12: And last but not least — on a scale of 1-10, how fun was developing Dialtown just in general?

That's all I have for now, and I'm really excited to see your answers!!

I normally don't answer this many questions, but... alright, sure, tis the season!

1: How do you feel about Dialtown's success? Are you proud of how far you've come?

Yeah, of course! I'm a lil proud, admittedly, but I'm aware of how comically little I really have to do with it all, even if I did make the game. Luck does play a LOT into it, of course. Granted, I made my share of predictions that wound up being useful, but it always comes down to lady luck at the end of the day. I've seen good projects fail and bad ones go viral. It's really all just a hodgepodge of probability and whimsy. That being said, I am very pleased with DT's success, and the community that's formed around the game! It caught me by surprise!

2: Which character was the MOST fun for you to write, and which was the most PAINFUL?

Gingi's always fun to write. And Mingus. Most painful is tough to say. Maybe Crown. I got a little weird when I wrote his full backstory, kinda caught up in the emotion Norm talks about. Never been a fan of stories getting cut short. You gotta wonder what would've happened if he'd made different choices, y'know?

3: What is something you wish more people would talk about or just know about related to Dialtown in general?

Honestly? Karen, probably. She's super underrated for sure. The fandom still loves her, but she doesn't get the same kind of attention as Oliver, Gingi, Randy, Norm. She's worth it.

4: If you had the opportunity to write a FULL complete, detailed life story of any of your characters, who would that be?

Oh, I already have. I have this monstruous 30-40 page document detailing Crown's life and entire career. It's quite a read. and quite a mind-fuck if you don't know Dialtown's universe too well.

Oh yeah, a few characters had scenes that were cut. Stabby, Shooty, Mingus, Bunny, even Bigfoot! There's also the game's cut 6th datable, who was an interesting character with ties to other characters in the cast who I wanted to do more with. Ah, maybe one day.

6: From what I know, you've been doing the job of cosplaying several characters in the game and acting out their sprites, which one was the most fun to act out?

Bigfoot. I made the ape noises in the suit. Had to. It felt right.

7: Speaking of sprites, do you have a sprite you could consider your favorite, out of ALL your characters?

I quite like Norm's set, Mingus' too. Karen's poses too are quite good.

8: Do you have a specific line of dialogue you could consider your favorite throughout the entire game?

That answer probably changes every day. I like pretty much any scene where Mingus loses her temper.

9: Could you ever see Dialtown expanding into perhaps sequels or maybe even prequels? More DLCs mayhaps? Heck, maybe even a Dialtown 2 or a Chapter 4??

I'd love to make sequels one day! I've got a lot of ideas for where the characters/story would end up. By the time DT1 wrapped up, I'd conceptualized way too much stuff to put in one game (without it taking another few years to finish), so if I ever wanted to make sequels, I'd 100% know where to start! But, that's a later down the road conversation.

For now, I'm gonna keep working on the Roger DLC and if there's demand for more, I can go from there :)

10: If you could make any fan-made interpretation (such as headcanons, designs, or ships) canon if given the opportunity, what do you think would be your pick?

I guess I COULD do that with, like, anything. Nothing immediately springs to mind, since, y'know, I'm in control of the canon anyway. I will say, I've seen headcanons and theories that ARE scarily accurate to canon, to the point where I've feared people would just think I'm lifting stuff from the fanbase! It's a good thing I talk about these things with collaborators, huh? I've got a PAPER-TRAIL!!!

11: What was the MOST fun part about developing Dialtown? Coming up with new characters? Writing them? Adding all the bizarre dialogue options?

Finishing a new scene and realizing how stupidly long it was (without me realizing it) was always a treat. But yeah, writing the characters had to be it. Specifically any scene where a character the audience knows meets someone the audience doesn't know well (or at all), with the dynamic changing. Those are fun to write.

12: And last but not least — on a scale of 1-10, how fun was developing Dialtown just in general?

Hard question to answer. I do really wanna give a high number, but truthfully, a lot of game dev actually isn't super 'fun'. Some tasks are, granted, but many parts are a slog. Sitting and formatting dialogue, and then adding text pauses and pose changes isn't exactly a super thrilling activity. The engine itself also has some issues which I have to work around that adds to the workplace. Play-testing a scene for the 4th time isn't super fun either, or trying to figure out why the game crashes on some PCs and ONLY very rarely... Those tasks are Sisyphean to some degree.

...But, while most of those parts aren't fun, it's all still rewarding. There's a sense of accomplishment when you finish a scene. You get to look back at your hard work, remember the hours you spent typing dialogue into a text box and formatting mass amounts of pngs, painstakingly + manually getting the game's awful pre-loader to deal with the sprites right, etc... and suddenly, at the end, you've got this lil experience that people can play and enjoy. Somehow, the sum of all of those not so fun activities has created something that's going to make people laugh, feel happy. That's special. and even if some parts of development weren't super fun on their own, that's always what I remember. That in the end, all of those not so fun days mattered.

The route I agonized the most over was Oliver's. I went through a few weeks of writer's block, and now, it's one of the most popular routes in the game! Crazy how that happens. I was SURE for about a week that people would rank the route at the bottom! That's what I mean, all of the stress I went through trying to figure it out amounted to something people connected with! To think I almost CUT the route entirely!!!

And y'know, God knows Dialtown gave me something to throw myself at during a time where I REALLY needed the outlet. I'm very grateful to the project for that. So, I'll give DT an honorary 8 out of 10, even if it wasn't a consistently 8/10 experience making it heh heh! Sure glad I did, though and I'm very glad if any of you reading this had a really good time playing it! :)

Thanks for the questions!

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clanwarrior-tumbly · 29 days

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I sincerely hope I’m sending this request correctly. I wanna ask for a pokemon request where reader has a full Unown team with the Paldea crew reaction(Arven, nemona, penny) and maybe the blueberry academy crew reaction. I love unowns they’re my funky little letter guys. Basically the reader is an Unown enthusiast who only ever has unowns and only ever used Unowns. They have all the forms but the six they use are just the ones they took with them to Paldea. They went through Paldea and became champion with a full Unown team. Same with the bb league. I just think it’d be funny to see everyone’s reactions to that. Their partner mon would be Unown O and the other five you could pick cuz Unown O is my favorite letter. And also if u could write the unowns being affectionate with the reader and vice versa. I just like seeing trainers bonding with their pokemon. Thank you and I enjoy your writing!

(Side note: Honestly if ScarVio was able to have unowns in it you’d bet your ass I’d do a full Unown run. I’ve done it for other games. Was disappointed and sad I couldn’t have any unowns in them, sword/shield too.)

I LOVE the Unowns omg. I got a plushie of V and I'm still trying to get shinies and alphas in PLA

My favorite is F because it looks like a little stick figure but I adore all of them very much <3

.......

General

Ever since discovering the Unown in Johto (Ruins of Alpha) and the two additional forms in Kanto (Tanoby Chambers), you found your calling as a trainer.

An Unown trainer, to be precise.

Unown O was the first one you caught, and has been your battle partner ever since!

You've become something of an enthusiast, asking researchers what they've discovered and documenting the Symbol Pokemon as you collected them.

You've caught so many that you actually encountered a shiny or two--each capture being a success.

Their existence, connection to Arceus, home dimension, and "secret power" when more than one are gathered were all fascinating to you and made you wanna learn more.

You even incorporated some of their designs into your outfit: like gloves and socks that had symbols printed on them, keychains and charms on your jewelry and/or backpack..etc.

All 28 Unown grew to love you, and the ones in your party are super affectionate when you bring them out.

Their favorite game is hide n' seek (taking after their "ancestors" from PLA) around your home, and you like to play along.

Ofc people are wary around Unown given their mysterious nature, but you vow to break that stigma by feeding them treats and letting them nuzzle up to you, showing others that they're just like any other Pokémon: companions who deserved as much love and affection as a Pikachu.

After parting ways with your friends in Kanto and Johto, you don't leave without gifting them an Unown that was the first letter in their name (for Blue you left him a Shiny Unown B...which he still brags about to this day).

You decided to move to Paldea to take your Pokémon training more seriously, attending school and showing off your Unown since they're not native to the region.

Your team consisted of O, as well as N, E, F, R, and M--referring to what all 28 are collectively called (One Form).

Despite knowing they can only use Hidden Power and nothing else (plus the drawbacks from having a psychic-only team), you defied all the odds when you took on not one but TWO championships and won.

And of course, the friends you've made during your journey all got to know the Unown personally.

Paldea

Arven

At first, he thought your Unown team had more to it...until he realized that was ALL you brought to the battlefield.

Just funky letters that only knew one move.

"Oh come on, you're never gonna win with a team like that-"

And then you go and beat him with a team like that, and it shuts him up.

But Arven just rolls his eyes to the sky, making the excuse that he's not used to battling, and moves on.

As you get closer to him, though, and help him take down the Titan Pokémon around Paldea, he warms up to your team and admits they're kinda cool.

He'll only shoo them away if he's making a sandwich, not wanting to be crowded (but tbh he can tolerate Unown O's presence more than your 'raidon's).

You presented him with picks inspired by the designs of some Unown (I, K, T, Y, and !) to hold the ingredients together, and he's thoroughly impressed by your dedication to the craft.

You joked about selling them if you ever went into the art of culinary--yet Arven tells you to seriously consider it.

After the fight with the AI Professor in Area Zero, he sees your entire team pop out of their pokeballs, clearly stressed from being locked inside due to the Paradise Protection Protocol.

You never did a battle without them and were afraid they couldn't protect you, but you reassured them you were okay, letting them stay out during the journey home.

Only then does he realize that sure, they're weird little guys that don't seem all-that powerful, but you treasure them all the same.

Nemona

While she was confused about you not using the Paldea starter the Director offered you..she's HYPED when your real team comes out to play during your first match together: One made entirely of Unown, a Pokémon not even native to Paldea.

She may have read about them in some textbook unrelated to battling and glossed over them.

But to see them in battle left her extremely impressed and asking you dozens of questions afterwards.

They could just change their type when attacking??? She read about Arceus supposedly having that power, but it's awesome that these little letters/symbols can, too!

Despite thinking you'll bore her by having no strategy except "use hidden power", Nemona NEVER wants you to feel discouraged!

She wants to battle your team every time.

As you fight your way through the Pokémon League and all the way up to the Elite Four, she's rooting for you 100%, praising your Unown for overcoming even the toughest terastalized foes.

Knowing your party members, they LOVE praise and are very friendly towards her and her own Pokémon.

If any of them have timid/lonely natures..her words give them a big confidence boost.

And it reflects in their reaction times and how often they'll heal their own status conditions or tank OH-KO hits.

She says you're helping them get stronger every day, but you give her lots of credit, too, for helping you get this far.

Penny

While dealing with Team Star, Giacomo's dark team put your Unown through a world of hurt...

Penny had been watching the battle, worried that he was going to be the reason you failed to squander the organization.

Yet by some miracle, your team came out on top!

Only then does she realize you were more than capable of taking down all the bases.

Unown P comes out to greet her while you've doing an LP exchange, and it scared her pretty badly.

Especially as it just...stares. Occasionally blinking once or twice as she tries talking to you.

Conversations are hard enough for her already, and staring doesn't help matters, so she gets ready to leave-

But then its tune changes when you pat it on the head(?) and it trills happily, snuggling up to you.

Penny had to do a double-take, wondering how it managed to look so cute..but she dismisses your concerns when you asked why she made that face.

Later, after revealing she's the leader and becoming your friend thereafter...she still gets anxious around the Unown from time-to-time, but eventually warms up to their presence.

You don't treat them any differently despite their mysterious nature.

If anything, you care for them just like anyone would a cute Eevee: by spoiling them with love, treats, and sweet words of encouragement.

Penny felt like a hypocrite for being scared of them, considering people used to be scared of Team Star--yet they aren't as evil as everyone made them out to be.

They used to be lonely and misunderstood, just like the Unown were before you found them.

BB Academy

Kieran

When you showed off your team for the first time, Kieran was stunned.. remembering the things he read about them but didn't know they could actually be caught.

All he says when you show him Unown K is "wowzers".

And the journal entries you've logged turned his eyes into stars.

You show him all the photographs of ruins and Unown blending in during your trips to the signboards, rambling about what you've seen and discovered.

He loves listening to your tales..and wishes he could see those places with you.

But what he didn't like, however, was whenever you two had a battle in which your Unown only needed one command to win. You didn't have to try at all.

Even with his team's most supereffective attacks..speed and dumb luck were on your side, crushing his confidence and making him jealous.

It doesn't help when you still decided to keep Ogerpon despite you saying you only ever used Unown.

It wasn't fair.

And ofc by Indigo Disk, Kieran wants nothing more than to destroy your team, insulting them under his breath when he thinks you can't hear him.

You just scowl and cover their nonexistent-ears while they nuzzle up to you--although deep down, you knew he didn't mean those words.

He's just pissed off that he lost sleep and his appetite over training his team, giving them the best moves and items to utilize on the battlefield..only for you to sweep the BB League with a simple command.

He managed to OH-KO one Unown with Incineroar's Darkest Lariat..and that sinister grin you saw on his face was most unnerving.

But you still claimed victory over him and he takes the loss hard.

Down in Area Zero, he's convinced that the "Hidden Treasure" Terapagos can take down your "Hidden Power" team..

But after seeing them form a shield (similar to the crystal one in the Spell of Unown movie) that protects him when the legendary goes rogue..it changed his perspective.

Only then he understood why they were so powerful.

As the Unovian Pokedex said: Alone, nothing happens..but together, Unown are strong and invoke a great power.

When the dust settles, O floats into Kieran's hands, healing the pain in his wrist caused by Terapagos breaking the masterball.

He felt so so guilty for the name-calling and his desires to hurt them. Yet they've all forgiven him.

In a way, Unown remind you of him: small and unassuming, at first glance..but full of great power that's waiting to shine.

During Mochi Mayhem, K stays by his side while he holds off the possessed townspeople and you capture Pecharunt, growing quite attached to him.

And after coming back to the academy, you decide to trade him that Unown, hoping he incorporates it into one of his teams. Be it casual or competitive.

Carmine

Back in Kitakami, she laughed at your "puny"-looking letter Pokémon, thinking them to be weak as she sics Poochyena and Polteageist on them.

While their dark/ghost moves hit the Unown hard, it's Unown O who takes them down with critical hits..and Carmine got LIVID.

She impressed you're sticking with a team that appeared in ancient texts, although that doesn't dissuade her from teasing you about them for a while.

Ngl you nerding out over Unown facts and studies you've recorded reminds her of Kieran infodumping about Ogerpon.

Your Unown just glare at her, and you gotta call them back to your side before they try attacking her outside a battle.

However as time goes on and she warms up to you, meets Ogerpon, etc..she grows to like them more, too.

Eventually she's cheering them on as they take down the Loyal Three and tank their poison attacks.

By Indigo Disk's events, she comes around to genuinely smile at their presence.

Although she had concerns Kieran's new team would be too overwhelming for them...

Yet your team of hieroglyphics won anyways.

And down in Area Zero's underdepths, they invoked a great power to shield the siblings from Terapagos' attacks, protecting the two people who once hated and mocked them with all they had.

As they both break down in tears, some Unown come out of their pokeballs to comfort them, and O stays on your shoulder as you exit the cavern together.

A few photobomb the selfie you take with the twins back at the academy (as well as Kitakami's festival), but it's alright.

Carmine will allow it because you treasured them and they DID save her and her brother's skin.

Drayton

While you did struggle during his trial (due to his "Terarium Pokemon-only" rule), the actual battle caught him by surprise when your Unown swept the floor, taking down his dragons.

How Unown F was able to withstand an Electro Shot was beyond him, but it was sturdy enough to finish the fight with a Fairy-based Hidden Power.

After winning, you both take a selfie in commemoration, with you passing F to Drayton like "can we get an F in the chat" and him humbly accepting it.

It was all in good fun, and looking back on it in your scrapbook made you laugh.

But what you didn't feel good about was him rubbing your victory in Kieran's face after you win the championship, further shattering the kid who nearly keeled over trying to make the perfect team to beat you..only for some "letters" to kick him down into the dirt.

"Wow, that's tough..now are you gonna take the F or L, ex-champ?"

He forgot this kid doesn't understand much internet lingo, but Unown F and Unown L didn't appreciate his jokes, and neither did you.

But after the events in Area Zero, you let it go, eventually deciding to trade him Unown D as your way of thanking him for helping you get close enough to knock sense back into Kieran.

Crispin

Let's face it, he's gonna be staring at your Unown like a Magikarp out of water and ask how they eat..

Or if they eat at all for that matter.

Their eyes just blink and poof, their share of the meal is already gone.

He knows they're psychic Pokémon, but still...

His favorite ones are definitely C (bc of his name) and S (for Spicy), though he's eager to see how your team fairs in battle when you clear his trial.

You warn him it might be "boring" but he acts like you insulted his cooking and begs you not to say that again.

"Every Pokémon battle gets me fired up!!!!! Don't downplay yourself!!!"

Even when your Unown easily douse his Pokémon's flames with Water-based Hidden Power (and Fire for his Exeggcutor), he still had a blast battling you, realizing those little letters are full of vigor and surprises!

He's eager to see what supereffective type they're gonna use next.

When you eventually decide to trade, you contemplate giving him an extra Unown F you had..or a C.

But you settle for the latter, and Crispin promises to feed the little guy well!

Lacey

Unown are small, simple, and make trilling noises...all checking off her criteria of "cute" Pokémon!

Although knowing they're connected to Arceus--the literal god of all 'mons--is an unnerving fact, she agrees that they're adorable and deserve to be treated as such.

She gets to learn your team's different natures, and likes how you're trying to convince people that they're not as scary as the old legends present them.

They love nuzzling up to you, resting on your shoulder and/or head, twirling around, and playing with the local Minior.

That being said..Lacey gets shocked at the punch they pack during battle, with them using Poison or Steel-based Hidden Power to take down her fairies.

It's always the most unsuspecting Pokémon who are the most powerful.

Even if you worry about the battle being boring since all you can give out is one command, she's gonna turn your pessimistic thinking around!

Unown F is her favorite since it's looks like a stick figure, but Unown L is also pretty neat..yet she wonders why Unown ? and Unown ! look tired all the time...

When you trade her a letter/symbol, she's thrilled to welcome yet another cute Pokémon onto her team!

Amarys

Considering their affiliations with ruins and Arceus, the existence of Unown have always piqued her interest.

And you so-happened to be a walking encyclopedia of anything related to the Symbol Pokémon, given the journals you've written on their mannerisms.

Amarys likes reading them over, and thinks a quiz involving the Unown Alphabet would be good to have at BB Academy.

On the other hand, after your battle to climb the League rankings, she wonders if you've ever used other Pokémon..only to find out that you never did.

All you know are Unowns.

She won't force you to change your team members, seeing as they were able to beat ALL of the league members--including Kieran.

But she suggests you had one Unown use Hidden Power on its battle partner, who could hold onto a Weakness Policy.

Yet you're adamant, saying "why would I want one Unown to hurt the other just for a temporary attack boost? :((("

Your team members are besties, your cuddle buddies..how could you do that to them???

Amarys is genuinely touched by how much you care for your Unowns, and vice versa.

Speaking of which, Unown A started hanging around her more often..and she cautiously tries to pet it, surprised by its happy trills, but otherwise acts nonchalant.

When you both decide to trade, you give her that Unown and she promises to look after it.

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k4marina · 10 days

Text

— ii. Dragon Rider || Heart of the Dragon

synopsis: a new routine in a new world

warnings: idek lol. unedited and not properly read (i kept falling asleep lmao)

series masterlist

~ 2.5k word count.

game of thrones x modern!fem!reader

[gif found on pinterest]

Never in my life have I regretted anything more than I did now.

“Me and my big fucking mouth,” I grunted, getting up from the ground and dusting my leather pants. Gray Worm looks at me with a slightly amused expression. Of course he would, he just dropped me onto my ass for the fifth time today.

It had been almost two weeks after the Small Council meeting. There had been a few more since then, but no major topics were discussed, other than Varys begrudgingly backing what I had said about Cersie having scorpions when asked if his little birds had any news. The new armor and weapons for the Unsullied are also being made. After a few talks with Daenerys, Gray Worm, a few Unsullied commanders, and I, the new armor design was decided on. Surprisingly the Unsullied were very artistic people and had great ideas.

And, within the past two weeks, I’ve been tortured everyday, my limbs aching all the time, threatening to fall off. Everyday, I’ve been woken up at four in the morning for my sword lessons with Gray Worm for five hours a day. When I said I wanted to learn, I didn’t mean I wanted to train to be the world's best swordsman of all time.

“You’re enjoying this way too much,” I say towards him, wiping away the sweat on my face.

“I have no idea to what you are referring to, My Lady.” Gray Worm says, feigning innocence.

“You can’t call me ‘My Lady’ and then drop me on my ass for the fifth time.” I pointed out.

Gray Worm smiled and got into a fighting stance and I mirrored. “Your defense has gotten better; however, your strength and stamina is lacking.”

He gave the signal and charged towards me, going to swing towards my left. I sidestepped and blocked the hit with my sword before knocking it back. This time, I went for the attack, but Gray Worm expertly blocked me and knocked the sword out of my hand. The sword clattered against the stone ground, landing a few feet away from me.

“Maybe it’s best we stop for today.” He says, picking up the sword and placing it back onto the rack. I let out a sigh of relief and walked over to the inches, grabbing a towel and wiping the sweat away from my face and neck.

“Be honest,” I said, turning towards him. “Am I a lost cause?”

He snorts out a laugh and shakes his head. “Apologies, My Lady.” Once he’d composed himself he answered, “No, I do not believe you are a ‘lost cause’. It may seem difficult now, but it will get easier later on.”

“Wow, wise words,” I said sarcastically, taking a swig of water from the canteen. “They should call you ‘Gray Worm the Wise’.”

“I’m pleased that you think I am someone with wisdom.” He says, giving a small bow, making me chuckle.

After the lessons, I took a bath in my room, this time with the help of the servants. The first few days I would have them leave so I could bathe myself, but I guess over the days it just naturally happened. Once bathed and dressed in a white dress with gold embroidery and pearl beads before I made my way to the hall to have breakfast with Daenerys.

Not only was it a good way for us to get to know one another (mainly her learning about me) as well as discussing future events and how we would maneuver through it. However, not all of it. I had made the decision to not tell her about Jon Snow or the White Walkers, I think that’s something she should organically go through. All she knows about Jon is that he’s the King in the North is Jon Snow, Ned Stark's “bastard” and the former Nights Watch Lord Commander who came back from the dead.

The doors to the hall were swung open for me and I walked in, spotting Daenerys at the head of the table, looking through some documents. The sound of the doors closing, snapped her out of her thoughts. When she saw me she smiled, which I returned.

“What did I say about bringing work to the dining table,” I lightly scolded. She gave me a sheepish look and protested, “it can’t be helped, it's important work. As Queen I’m expected to do this and more.”

I walked over to her, carefully taking the documents and setting them off to the side. “Dany, you’ve been a Queen since you married Khal Drogo. You need to step back and take some time to just be Daenerys. Otherwise you’ll grow overworked.”

“Alright, alright. If you’re so sure.” She nodded towards the servants to begin serving the food. Like always, an array of food was laid out for us to eat. We both began to eat, making small talk and updating each other with any new updates.

“Gray Worm has been telling me that you’re quite exceptional with a sword,” She teased.

I playfully rolled my eyes, groaning, “not you too.” She let out a laugh, teasing me some more. “What? He says you’re a fast learner. He says he’s never seen someone land on their arse five times in a row.”

“Right, that’s it.” I huffed. “I’m running away.”

Daenerys laughed some more and I tried to hide my smile. Truthfully, she reminded me of my younger cousin in Volantis, Mera. Both of them had a heart of gold and an innocent child-like soul deep down.

“The servants told me that you refused to have your hair braided.” Daenerys points out. She’s not wrong. Instead of braiding my hair I opted to leave it in a ponytail or let it down.

“Well, I haven’t won any battles.” I said. “Each one of your braids represents a battle won, I haven’t won anything.”

“So if you win you’ll braid your hair?”

“Sure, why not. Why? Do you not want me to?”

“No, no. Actually, I would quite like that.” She smiled.

I eyed her suspiciously, “don’t tell me you’re planning on putting me in the frontlines.”

She shrugged. “Maybe. Your lessons with Gray Worm are going well. Who knows, by the time we’re ready for war you’ll be a master swordsman –or rather swordswoman.”

The rest of the breakfast went fine. Daenerys and I decided to take a stroll around the castle ground claiming she has something to show me. She dropped off the papers in her office before taking me through the back of the castle to the open fields in the back. The wind swept by us, carrying the saltiness of the ocean and the fresh scent of grass.

“Where are we going?” I asked as she led me deeper into the field.

“I just wanted to show you something. They’re right over there.”

We stood atop a hill and at the foot of the hill on the other side resting were Daenerys’ dragons. I felt my heart stop. No way. What the actual fuck. My mouth ran dry as I looked over the three dragons. Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion, all in their full glory. I looked over to Daenerys who was already looking towards me.

“You’re serious?” I ask. She smiles and nods. “What if they don’t like me and decide to eat me?”

Daenerys laughed, her cheeks turning pink. “They will do none of that sort, I swear. I have a strong feeling that they will like you.”

Carefully she led me closer to the three dragons. With every step they just grew more and more. They towered over the two of us and stood with immense power. And to think that these three are just a small fraction of the size of Balerion and the rest of the Targaryen fleet.

We stood a few feet away but I could still feel the heat that they emitted from their bodies. Their majestic eyes that were probably the size of my head watched me carefully. Shiny scales adorned their bodies that looked to be about the size of my hand or bigger. Their one claw nail was the same size as my limbs.

Holy fuck was this crazy. I’d read about these dragons and even saw a few drawings made by people who’d seen them in textbooks, but being this up close and personal with them was a whole other experience.

Oddly enough, for such dangerous creatures, they seemed to emit a sense of calm.

“You feel it too?” Daenerys eyes my reactions to the dragons. “Their calm.”

I nodded. “I thought my heart would be doing somersaults in my chest, but it’s not.” After the initial shock, I felt my body relax.

“They’re so beautiful.” I said to no one in particular.

We hung around them for some time, allowing me to get used to their presence while Daenerys told me stories about her and her dragons.

I looked over the dragons. Drogon, named after Daenerys’ husband Khal Drogo. Rhaegal, named after Rhaegar the Dragon Prince. Viserion, named after Viserys the Beggar King.

Daenerys followed my gaze to the cream and gold scales dragon that laid on the grass alongside his brothers. Viserion and Rhaegal seemed to play fight while Drogon watched.

“Despite their playful nature, those two are the oldest.”

“What?

The dragons carefully made their way over to where we stood. Drogon moved towards Daenerys, moving his tail around her as if giving her a hug. Rhaegal moved around behind us, opting to lounge. Viserion, however, moved closer to me. His green eyes bore into mine, as if it was trying to communicate with me.

He brought his face closer to me, like a dog wanting to be pet. I glanced back at Daenerys who nodded.

Viserion tilts his head when I carefully bring my hand up to stroke his gold and cream scales. A deep purr comes from him, nearly startling me. He nuzzles his head into my palm and purrs some more. It wasn’t like a cat's purr, more like a deep bass.

“Would you like to fly him?” Daenerys asks.

“Yes,” I replied without a thought, too entranced at the dragon in front of me.

She moves around Drogo, standing to the side of him.

“Stand like this,” she says. “This is what I find the easiest.”

I mimic her stance, standing besides Viserion. Drogon crouched down and Daenerys carefully stepped up, using his scales and spikes to seat herself atop the dragon.

I copied her, being careful to not hurt Viserion (not that I’d be able to) and sat myself on top of the gold dragon. It was uncomfortable, almost like riding a really large horse with spikes and scales. How Daenerys was able to ride her dragons without a saddle or harness was beyond me.

My hands gripped onto the spikes on Viserions back, holding on tightly as the gold dragon began to shift around from a crouched position to fully stand. My hands gripped onto him tighter as I tried not to fall off. I peaked over its massive body to see that Viserion was getting ready to take off.

“W-wait!” I looked towards Daenerys who was watching from atop Drogon. “Why is it taking off? What do I do?” Panic filled my voice.

There was no way in seven hells that she thinks that I can fly, right?

“Hold on!” She grins just as Drogon takes off into the sky. VIserion gets ready and I can already feel myself slipping off. He takes off just as I adjust my position, hunching down and tightening my grip onto his spikes.

Wind rushes past my ears and my hair flows all over the place. Instinctively, I closed my eyes while Viserion flew in the air. I could hear Daenerys call for me from across the sky.

“Open your eyes!” She says. “You’ll be safe, I promise.”

Carefully, I opened them. It was brighter up in the sky than on the ground and had a lot less clouds. I could hear the, surprisingly, gentle flaps of Viserions wings. I cautiously looked down, seeing that we were miles off the ground, so far up that we could see Dragonstone Island and I could feel my stomach start to buzz.

“Don’t look down,” I look up to see Daenerys. “When it was my first time I was terrified, as well, but you cannot let your fear control you or else it will transfer to your dragon.”

I nodded, taking in her words and sitting up straight with confidence. Despite still feeling uneasy I managed to get my grip on things (literally). Daenerys’ words rung in my ears.

“Your dragon,”

I’d read of Dragons bonding with non-Targaryens or non-Valyrians, case and point being Hugh Hammer riding Vermithor during the Dance of Dragons. But it would make sense if I could bond with Viserion in light of recent findings.

“Alright, let’s see what we can do.” I said to Viserion and I.

—

Daenerys and I spent the rest of the day riding our dragons. It was challenging, especially the part where you literally have to hold onto for dear life, but rewarding in the end.

In the end Viserion and I had truly bonded. He would know what I was thinking or how I was feeling without even saying a word to him. At first I thought it was just the two of us getting the hang of each other, but Daenerys explained that this was what she and Drogon felt. It was hard to believe that I was a Dragon Rider. But then again, this past week has shown that anything could be possible.

Getting off the Dragons was harder than getting on, my dress snagging on its scales, but not ripping entirely.

“I can help you with your riding,” Daenerys says as we walk back into the castle.

“I’d like that.” I replied. “I’m sure we can find books in the libraries that can help us too.”

“Have you uncovered anything else?” She asks, expectantly.

I shook my head. “Nothing of significance. I’ll keep reading and let you in on my findings.”

We split off so we could clean ourselves up and get ready for dinner. The bathtub was already ready for me when I entered the room. I pulled off my dress and sunk into the steaming hot water. The tension in my shoulders loosened and I dipped my head back to rest on the edge of the bathtub.

The weight of my necklace lay heavy on my chest, a firm reminder of my… predicament. I tried not to think about it all, otherwise I’d just spiral into some rabbit hole. Some days I wonder if it’s all some sort of dream. A long, vivid dream that I can't wake up from. A knot pulls at my chest, and my throat closes. My eyes flicker up to the ceiling, tears threatening to fall. I took a deep breath, the only thing I can do is take everything in day by day.

And then I fully submerged myself into the water.

a/n: finally, it’s here :) mb if there’s any spelling mistakes, i tried to proofread it but i kept falling asleep and couldn’t be asked anymore 😭 i’ll fix it later, trust 🙏.

comment to be on the taglist!

@wotcherpeak @music-luver25 @your-favorite-god @radiantdanvers @cluelessteam @daenerys713 @ministark @laanswife @idohknow @jromanoff

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just-jordie-things · 6 months

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omg i love the way u write jjk characters! i was reading ur work and had a scenario that i thought would be so fun to read from you if you like the idea! i was thinking abt if you got drunk with them at the school (like maybe all the students sneak to one persons dorm or something), how they would act drunk, how they would treat u, what would happen etc. my favs are toge and yuji but you could do whoever ofc!

ok idk if this is exactly what you were looking for but since i've wrtten a few fics now where drinking/partying was the theme, i'm gonna assign the jjk crews their party night roles lolol so enjoy

ITADORI YUUJI is the life of the party, obviously. he's the type to bring jello shots to the function and if no one wants them, he'll eat em all himself. he's the guy that you dare to do stuff as the night goes on. he's the guy that somehow, at the end of each party, is missing a shirt. did he go swimming? did someone spill on it? did he spill on it? (most likely) everyone laughs but no one really complains about it. he's always got a fun plan or game in mind to keep the night going, and everyone's happy to have him there.

FUSHIGURO MEGUMI is the shy-at-first guest. he's slow when he first gets there, and always claims he doesn't want to get too fucked up. he's got a never ending amount of excuses up his sleeve as to why he can't take that shot with you, or be your partner for beer pong. but give him an hour to warm up. he'll spend that time lining up a fire playlist and semi-mingling. the trick to getting him to loosen up? just a quick smoke first. don't jump on him with it, but if he sees a joint being passed around, he can't resist just a couple puffs. what's the harm, right? a couple puffs and he's giving in to whatever other party shenanigans come his way.

KUGISAKI NOBARA is in charge of the photography for the evening. everyone's instagrams and snapchat stories are well taken care of when she's around. in the early parts of the evening they're casual photos, fit checks, some candids of the laughing group as they play games or eat pizza. she's quite good with lighting and angles, and no one complains when she shoves her phone in their face. as the night goes on, she probably documents more than she should- toge drawing on yuuta's face while he's passed out, yuuji shirtless and covering himself in whipped cream on a dare- but it's always too funny to go through them the next day and delete half the evidence.

PANDA is the dancer. if he's drinking, he's dancing. it doesn't matter how many drinks are in his system. it doesn't matter if the music is particularly fun- or even playing. he's got too much excitement from hanging out with his friends and is down for a good time. he's also easy to coerce into pranking someone.

INUMAKI TOGE is the coercer of pranks. if someone passes out, he's always got a marker on him. he always has the best dares for truth or dare, and isn't afraid when others want to get their revenge. he's that class-clown energy at the party. sometimes it's annoying, but it's always undeniably funny. he definitely likes those tacky party favors from spencers. especially the big dick shaped syringes for taking shots. he's got a lot of sus 'party decorations'. but let's be real it's really fucking funny when he breaks out the newest one. also if he gets too drunk he will use his cursed speech for the sake of humor.

ZEN'IN MAKI is the bartender and general caretaker of the group. she's the best at mixed drinks and knows everyone's favorite, but always has something new to try. as the designated bartender she's also the one subtly making sure everyone is on a good track for the night. most of the time it just meant keeping an eye on yuuji and toge, reminding them to have some water every once in a while went a long way. and she's not afraid to cut you off if you're getting sloppy. i also think she'd roll the fattest, cleanest joints when she's not mixing drinks.

OKKOTSU YUUTA is the first to fall asleep. he's a good time, don't get me wrong. he loves the games and the dancing and the goofing around, but he's an overworked boy and... a bit of a lightweight. motherfucker takes two hits and is shaking his head the rest of the rotation. it's kinda cute that his eyes get all red after so little before he raids the snack table. maki knows he has a five drink limit before he either needs to drink water or rally or... as usual, he's slumped into the couch and snoozing away. it's a miracle that he can sleep so hard when the music is blasting and everyone has to yell to be heard- especially when it's itadori yelling. by the end of the night, someone's thrown a blanket over him, and toge's vandalized his face with permanent marker.

#THIS WAS SO FUN AAHHH HEHEHE #megumi brainrot #yuuji brainrot #nobara brainrot #maki brainrot #toge brainrot #yuuta brainrot #jjk x reader #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jjk fanfiction #jujtusu kaisen fanfiction #itadori yuuji x reader #fushiguro megumi x reader #inumaki toge x reader #okkotsu yuuta x reader

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bearborg · 12 days

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Heya, I saw that rb on my Metroid logo - I appreciate the insight regarding the Chozo glyphs! 👍

After your comment I did a bit of additional searching, and it doesn't seem like the interchanging is absolutely consistent across the Dread media, is that correct? More for tessellating opportunities than an exact rule, perhaps.

Either way, I don't necessarily mind this logo being 'incorrect' in that regard - I've had in mind that the Chozo sometimes use a 'simpler' form of their language specifically for ease of translation, so maybe this can coincide with that as a happy accident on my part. Plus, I have an alternate version of the logo which the interchanging glyphs would work better for, so I may apply it to that one and use both logos! Nonetheless, it's a cool detail about the language I hadn't noticed :o

Glad to know you've been digging the Samus design so far :)

it doesn't seem like the interchanging is absolutely consistent across the Dread media, is that correct?

I'm pretty confident that it's 100% consistent. What you might have seen is an example like this, where characters on the same row aren't tessellated:

But the tessellation is still being applied here, the text is just written vertically. You could argue that the tessellation is actually even more important here, since it indicates the direction that the text should be read in.

I've had in mind that the Chozo sometimes use a 'simpler' form of their language specifically for ease of translation, so maybe this can coincide with that as a happy accident on my part.

Definitely plausible! The square glyphs seen in Zero Mission (and several other games before Dread) are essentially just a blockier non-tessellating version of the Dread glyphs, which could be a modernization or an attempt at making them more legible to other species. Prime 1 also has a separate, scratchier looking alphabet of rune-like symbols (sadly untranslatable), so there's clearly diversity in the Chozo's written language.

Nonetheless, it's a cool detail about the language I hadn't noticed :o

Dread has quite a lot of those! If you're interested in diving all the way into Chozo language research, I'd highly recommend checking out @ChozoCourse on twitter, where you can find a nicely-packaged fan document detailing everything we know about the language right now.

#metroid #chozo

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dumbbanana · 9 months

Text

@ido100 asked:

Could you maybe explore your characterizations for Monomon and Herrah? Your take on Lurien is incredible!

Phew! I did one for Herrah last time and said I'd do one for Monomon in another post.

So here it is (checks calendar) 9 FREAKING MONTHS LATER. Thanks for your patience!

As with the previous Dreamer asks, the main answer is under the cut!

Sooo the first thing I'd say about my Monomon interpretation is that, compared to other people's interpretations of her, she's a bit of a bimbo (to put it lightly). Most interpretations I've seen of her are of a sagely, delicate, scholarly lady who can do no wrong and knows everything or of a mischievous mad scientist (not saying this is a bad thing) but when I was designing her, I had the general idea of her being a bit of an airhead who doesn't always engage the brain before opening her mouth. That doesn't mean she's entirely stupid - she could tell you from her hoards of knowledge the exact way a mechanism for a complex lock works along with it's history, advantages, disadvantages and how to bypass it. But she'd still spend an hour pushing on a door that says "pull" until it's pointed out to her (if it ever is).

So yeah… Everyone else's Monomons: Graceful, elegant, erudite, high class, sensible This Monomon: Knowledge of an entire kingdom, wisdom of a wooden spoon

In a similar vein, she's pretty much comes off as the "dumb" friend of the Dreamer friend group and, being the kind of friends that they are, any two will not pass up the opportunity to mess with the other. Since I like to think of her as a somewhat impulsive and reckless personality, she may more often than not act on something without thinking, causing trouble for those around and earning endless facepalms from her two best friends (if they weren't dragged into the mess to begin with). While I don't think she's any less intelligent than the other two, I imagine it to be more of a case of her being clever in her own way. While Lurien and Herrah may have more "classic" and "logical" methods in the way they do things, Monomon's odd way of doing things may come off as downright bizarre to the average person but they do produce the desired results and that all she needs.

Leading from that, when she's not being a complete wally, I think of her as an ambitious and potentially cunning person - when she has set her sights set on something, everything is fair game and she'll make as many friends or enemies as she wants to get it. After all, as the Teacher of the Archives, she holds a pretty interesting position in Hallownest so I like to think she has her ways in having come to that position and fending off any threats to her power and post. I also like to imagine that she can be highly irresponsible, often not really caring for the consequences of her actions and that she is rarely the one who has to deal with it. This mixed with her earlier mentioned recklessness and impulsiveness may cause her to have a certain kind of arrogance about her as, so far in her life, everything has gone her way exactly the way she wants.

On a happier note, regarding her actual job: while I usually see her depicted as some kind of introverted genius scientist, with her role as an archivist, I quite like the idea that she actually enjoys going out to see and experience everything in the world and to document it for her archives. Since her whole schtick is about the preservation of knowledge, I like to imagine that she regularly goes on Indiana Jones like adventures either in recovering artefacts that require preserving and protection or transporting documents which may be highly sensitive and valuable. Thus, she is often getting into fights with foes ranging from petty thieves to maybe hired assassins. Her being her, I imagine has had quite a lot of practice engaging these enemies over the years and it's just another day in the life and she's more than able to handle herself.

She, of course, is more than happy having Quirrel by her side (I've mentioned before that their designs are based off the lovers known as the Cowherder and the Weaver Girl and I certainly headcanon them as a happily married couple) even if, and this is purely because the young child in me always wanted to see such a situation, he is the love interest in distress that she ends up rescuing in every adventure 😆

Thank you as always for your ask and I hope this was worth the wait! Have a great day! 🍶

#hollow knight #monomon the teacher #hk monomon #hollow knight gijinka #hk quirrel #ask

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blazehedgehog · 2 months

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It’s been a while since you released that “How DO we fix Sonic?” video. Do you still stand by most of the ideas you presented, or have some of them changed since then?

youtube

A lot of them, yeah. The grading system is something I still grapple with. If there was one element of that video people rejected the most, it was the game pushing too hard for higher scores and faster times.

I think I posted about it before, but I actually wrote out a whole design document years ago that was me trying to solidify ideas from that video while also spitballing how levels should be structured and things like that.

One of the things written in there is part of trying to soften the game up so much so it's not so reliant on grades and times. Which is to grade you, but make it so grades ultimately don't matter. The hope being that the countdown stresses you out and pushes you to keep up the pace, but if you can't hack it, then you'll eventually realize it doesn't matter and you don't have to worry about it if you don't want to.

Alternatively, maybe just hold the ranking system back entirely until NG+. Because the only people who care about that stuff are replay sickos, right? So just hide it entirely and don't bother people with it until it's obvious they willingly want to engage with it.

youtube

But yeah, like, I bring this up during the Penny's Big Breakaway stream, but either some ideas in that game were directly inspired by me, or it's just a case of great minds think alike. Penny's run button is on a trigger like I was suggesting, and I also had that, like, pole idea where you grab it and spin around. Penny's got a similar take on that idea. (and technically I myself was inspired by Sonic GL)

Penny's even got the combo-based scoring system, too.

And it's not just Penny. Other games have done their own (even more explicit!) takes on my ideas. Some are closer than others, but I can still feel the potential there.

Honestly it makes me mad at myself that I can't actually jump in and experiment with them like the old days.

#questions #Anonymous #sonic the hedgehog #sega #sonic team #penny's big breakaway

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doodlesfromthebird · 2 years

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Hi, Canary! It's really nice to see you back. You've been one of my favorite internet artists since I found your work a few years ago, and I really admire your sense of character and costume design! I found you through KH, but I've since fallen in love with your original characters and story ideas, which are lovely. I was wondering if you had any advice for someone hoping to develop their own original characters and worlds. I've been trying to for a few years, but it still feels pretty daunting.

Hello!! Oh my goodness, thank you so much. I'm so glad! ^u^ I absolutely can give some pointers!

Here's a little guide with a few methods I've used to creating characters and developing the world they live in. I'm by no means a writer of any kind (I rarely create stories, and struggle with plot) but I am passionate about developing funky little dudes who live in your brain.

Designing a Character - Make a list. I somewhat recently compiled a document full of design elements, tropes, personality types, aesthetics I generally really liked to help build a small cast of characters I knew I’d have fun designing for. Think about your favorite characters in media and what you like about them! It could be a great jumping point to creating an OC you’re passionate about. That goes for relationship dynamics, too!

Grab a handful of things from that list, 5 or 6 maybe, and there ya go!

- Make a moodboard. I’ve used this method to create characters based on A VIBE and building off that.

I’ve even figured out personalities just based on the “aesthetic text” I found associated with a color. Part of Cherri’s backstory and personality came forth simply because I kept finding Marina lyrics in pink. - Try using online dress up games! I used to use Dolldivine all the time to get creative. - In addition to mood boarding, pinterest can also be a good resource for design inspiration with official concept art for movies/games and assets of those sort of dress-up games readily available. CocoPPa is a good example! [Let’s please respect the wishes of individual artists and either give credit when posting for inspiration or respect their wishes if they state not to repost their work at all.] - In depth character creators in video games! Or simple ones! I’ve built up such an affection for even a few of my stardew valley farmers with their own personal bits of lore, they could probably be stand alone characters separate from the game at this point. Sometimes developing a character from an established setting can be a good base. Dig some of your old fan characters out of the closet, even!

Get to know your character

Getting to know your OC is one of my favorite parts of the process, and is something I find really important if you want to get attached to them. And you should!! The more these guys are on your brain, the more you start asking questions about them, and the more bigger details start to fall into place. - Go broad. Say you have the base concept of a character with their situation, their goal in life, their goal in the present moment, and the past/future that will effect them. What lies do they believe as truth? How has their childhood effected their habits and views? What's one secret they keep to no one but themselves? Who are the most influential people in their past and in their day to day life? - Go detailed. They're practically a roommate living rent free in your mind, so think about what a day in their life is like. Observe how they do small things. What are they eating for breakfast? How do they carry themselves when they walk? Nervous habits? What are they wearing to go to get quinoa from trader joes??? Detail what a few hours of what it'd be like to observe them, doing what they do every day and how they'd do it. - Give them an interview. Here's a blank bio sheet with a detailed list of questions that could be fun to fill out at your leisure! A lot of good questions to chew on. - Or quite literally give them an interview. Pretend they're sat down to answer some questions and think about how multiple characters would answer the same question. Do they overshare? Are they curt and to the point? Do they frequently lie and contradict themselves? What questions take them off guard? - Write about your own experiences. Giving characters traits and experiences you can speak from in a detailed can really flesh them out as people and gives them that relatability. Even if they’re decidedly different from you as a whole, there’s that point of connection that anchors them to you.

Worldbuilding...ish

Developing a world is a little less easy for me to give advice on, as I’m very character oriented, so my worldbuilding is more of starting with the bigger picture and then filling in details that would affect the character directly, while some other things aren’t as fleshed out and water tight. (I’m working on it!) Some universes have more to them than others simply due to how much time I’ve spent with them over the years. But it’s important, a lot of fun, and gives all the more weight to the universe you’re developing.

- Research. If you’re like me and either have no writing experience or have difficulty pulling key world-building aspects from imagination, there’s a PLETHORA of resources to learn from, a lot of it free and on youtube, even. Make yourself a playlist, grab a notepad and sit yourself down to gather info, and map things out. If you’re, say, creating a country from scratch, look into places with a similar climate and how it affects what species live there. I’ve been researching dining etiquette and shipbuilding lately! It would be of great help to learn from writers as well, if you aren’t one yourself. There's A Lot of advice out there. - Ask cause and effect questions. I create a lot for the fantasy genre, so I get to ask questions like...”What does a world being shaped by the gods/guardians look like? How has their presence influenced the mortals they look after? Their culture, their customs, the way they communicate? What’s the actual truth of ancient happenings and what has been passed down through a long, long game of telephone? What is the truth current day people believe about magic, technology and historical events? What kind of questions could you ask from the world you’re creating? -Appease your inner child. Think back on what captured your attention as a kid and how you experienced them through your eyes at the time. What sort of things did you feel experiencing your favorite games, movies or books that you can still tap into through a nostalgic lens? I feel incredibly attached to my The Spiral OC universe when I’m playing Legend of Zelda games, especially Wind Waker. The mood, the sense of adventure. The feeling of sailing the seas, the quietness of Windfall at night, the reverent silence when arriving at Hyrule frozen in time. Those feelings have lent an atmosphere to the world I’d go on to create for myself, and still illicit a strong emotional response when I visualize aspects of it. the adventure, the monsters, the sweet and emotional tone, and the heaviness of ancient legend lost to time. - Immerse yourself in other people’s worlds. Get into a tabletop game podcast of your preferred genre! You’ve got high fantasy dnd, but there’s also plenty of sci-fi, modern fantasy, post-apocalyptic, and more. Listening to multiple people work together to build their world (sometimes as they go a long!) can really get that creative juice a-flowing. Critical Role and The Adventure Zone are big ones, but I also recommend SkyJacks, Friends at the Table, Dimension 20, Dungeons and Daddies and JemJammer! Worldbuilding prompts/generators! X X X I hope ANY of this was helpful, I’m happy to answer specific questions as well.

#sorry for the delay in answering!#its my birthday go out and give ur OCs some love #INDULGE!! INDULGE I SAY #masterpost #character design #original character #text #letters to the bird

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itlivesproject · 1 year

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hiii! your project is AMAZING and you're all so talented 😭😭 but i have a question if you feel comfortable with sharing. which apps/programs you guys used to recreate the game? I'm interested in developing my own games but have no idea where to start. can you give me some tips? 🙂 tysm anyway!

If you want to make a standalone visual novel, then the program we use, Ren'Py, is perfect! It's free and designed specifically to make visual novels easy to make for everyone, including beginners. I had literally zero understanding of programming when I started working on ILW and just figured it out through tutorials, asking questions on forums, and trial and error.

This is the Ren'Py link.

Because this is long, under the cut I'm sharing some things you'll need to think about if you want to make a visual novel:

Your team:

You don't have to have a team of people helping you with this. You can do it alone. However, I will say that ILW would not be what it is if I had just tried to go it alone. It is so much better than anything I could've dreamed of when I first got the idea. More people on a team = more ideas, more constructive criticism and feedback, and more heads going in together to make a better product. But if you want a team, you need to make sure you maintain an attitude and environment that is open to suggestions and contributions from others. Be ready and willing to throw out ideas you like if it no longer works or someone thinks of something better. Nothing kills the creative spirit faster than defensiveness and competitiveness, so to have a well-working team, open-minded members and sharing your ideas and criticism in a positive way is extremely important.

Art:

This is one of the first things you should really nail down, because if you start working on your game but never figure out the art, everything else will go to waste. For most VN creators, they usually hire out for art. For us, since this is a free fan project, our artists worked for free. We were also lucky to already have a bunch of backgrounds and assets from Choices that our artists could edit, so we didn't have to make dozens and dozens of entirely new backgrounds. If you're going to have to hire out, I'd try to really compress the amount of art you'll need - plan ahead and cut down unnecessary characters who'd need sprites, maybe use a silhouette for unnamed characters, and limit the amount of backgrounds you'll need, because backgrounds take up a lot of space, they take up a lot of time to make, and they're expensive.

Programming:

Obviously, programming is a big thing. If you have enough motivation, you should be able to figure out a lot of this on your own. If you use Ren'Py, be sure to read the documentation, watch a lot of basic tutorials, and just get into the engine and start getting your hands dirty! It seems like a lot at first, but once you get the feel of it, it's actually not too complicated. When it comes to programming, I recommend simplifying everything as much as possible. When I first started ILW, I didn't simplify things much (because I was figuring things out) so what I used to do in three lines of code I now do in one. Limiting the amount of code you ultimately end up writing GREATLY diminishes possibility of errors and bugs. Also, try to get as organized as possible. Make as many folders, subfolders, and text files as you need. Don't try to put the whole script in one file, don't put all the images in the same folder. Good organization goes a long way to making everything a lot easier to keep track of.

Game structure:

Piecing together a branching game is honestly quite a puzzle. Before going into working on your game, you should sit down and figure out game mechanics. What points do you want to include? Personality? Relationship? Romance? Skills? Some kind of narrative scale akin to blood vs shadow? Figure out what points systems you want to include and then figure out how that's going to impact the story and where. When creating love interests, don't just create a character and assume they'll fit themselves into the narrative. Focus on the character as a character first, meaning determine how they fit into the story's narrative, and then think about them as a love interest second. If you do this, it will make them a better character and a more satisfying love interest. Finally, start the game knowing how much variation you want. Do you want something with immense, diverging endings? How much variation do you want within one scene? Because interactive fiction is so determinant on player choices and there can be so many routes, it's not a good idea to just go with the flow and see what happens, because otherwise you won't be able to reconcile all the different routes you likely created. So figure out the overall structure for your story in terms of mechanics before you really start on planning.

Planning and writing:

Once you have the previous stuff figured out, then you can start actually planning the story and eventually, writing it. Again, I'd recommend you figure out the previous stuff first because if you start planning and writing immediately, but then it turns out you can't solve the programming, or can't get art, then all this work will have been for naught. My advice on planning: do NOT skimp out! Additionally, to make the love interests feel more important to the story as a whole, I would recommend the technique of arc outlining, which is essentially when you take each love interest separate from each other and plan out scenes that tie into the story to further their individual character arcs. Doing this makes it easy to figure out where tender relationship and intimate moments can go, and those moments will be more interesting because they're connected to an actual plot point instead of just being like "it's sexy time!" Once you have your plans, you can start writing. Depending on how long your story is, writing can be really difficult. It takes a lot of time and thought, and burnout is real.

Music:

You'll want to figure out how you'll get music for your game. Again, creators usually hire out for this. On the Ren'Py forums, there's actually a specific topic for music that helps you network with composers who are looking for jobs. For us, again, since we're a fan project that's not making money, we could use 1) Choices music 2) tracks from a music library I have a deal with and 3) as a composer myself, I wrote some original tracks. Also, if you're looking for free sound effects, freesound.org is actually perfect for that. It's where I got the siren, forest, and ghost voice SFX!

Distribution

Distribution can be tricky! For ILW, we originally wanted it to be playable online, but we eventually removed that option because 1) saving online was complicated 2) the quality wasn't as good and it couldn't run smoothly and 3) we didn't want people who could download it, play online and have a bad experience instead of downloading it. If you offer an online option, most people will take it. For indie games, I think using something like Steam or itch.io is the way to go. Unfortunately, that will make it so it's not available on Apple products, but to get it on Apple you have to package it specifically for Apple which is difficult, and you have to pay $100/year to be allowed to have it up on the app store in the first place.

Hopefully this helps! This is really just scratching the surface, but here are some things to think about if you're interested in making your own visual novel.

#ask #anon #mod win #writing tips #visual novel #visual novel tips #renpy

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weirdmarioenemies · 2 years

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Name: Birder

Debut: Shovel Knight

Have you hearder of Birder? I like it more than murder! Birder is quite a fascinating creature, and makes quite an impression from its first minor appearance alone! Let’s look at it!

In the first three campaigns, Birders are nearly exclusive to the Lost City area, which takes place deep underground where lava and slime flow. Why are they there? I don’t know, but from the first time you see it, it is clear this is not just any enemy! They are rapidly flashing like they’re pulsing with energy, they are constantly bounding around the room, and though they may be small, they have more health than most standard enemies!

One thing I love about Birder’s design, and which I hope was intentional, is that its shape really brings to mind a badminton birdie. It’s a great shape. A great object! More sports should use weird little doodads instead of basic balls!

Birder’s official art, for whatever reason, looks like this. This does not really look like Birder... but I don’t mind! I love it! It is so funny! It looks like someone had a napkin with a Birder-like pattern on it, thought “this reminds me of Birder”, folded it into a Birder shape, and drew eyes on it. It is so delightful!

Though they may look like beings of pure energy, Birders are no doubt Animals, and perfect Animals at that. As we can see with the adorably named Ambirder, some live Birders have been preserved in slime, suggesting they have not needed to change much at all in a very long time! I guess it makes sense for a species dwelling within the depths of the earth, undisturbed for centuries...

...except, that is not actually the case! Birders flock in the mountainous Birder Bluffs, which may be their breeding grounds, considering this is where we see their eggs. And look at those eggs! Spherical and translucent! These are truly no ordinary birds, though no less biological! I guess Birders are perfectly adapted not just to the bowels (heehee!) of the earth, but also to the tops of mountains... they are SO good at surviving! Birders deserve a lot of respect, and it is clear some people respected them a great deal in the past, enough to carve out their image on the Birder Blocks seen in the bottom portion of the image.

Also, behold Birder Bearer! Birders who bear platforms... who are those for? Have these Birders survived, with platforms, since the previous civilization inhabited these bluffs? Maybe they use the platforms themselves, perhaps to bring eggs or hatchlings back to the underground? This may be the first documented case of Birder tool use...!

It is clear the developers love Birder a whole lot, making it not only one of the “main” enemies of the game, but also actually story-important! There will be spoilers for Shovel Knight: King of Cards under the cut, but if you have played it or don’t mind spoilers, please join me in discussing my favorite of all Birder-related things!

This is KING BIRDER! The king of the Birders! You can tell by his name, and his demeanor, and his entire body that he has. King Birder is Evil, he is Wicked, he is an all around Bad Guy. But wait! I said this was my favorite Birder-related thing! What is the catch?

It was all a ruse! King Birder is no king at all, but a normal Birder, bewitched and puppeteered into doing a villain’s bidding! And after his defeat, the illusion is revealed, and Birder goes back to bouncing around, but now with a voice of his own as a side effect of his controlling! Birder (character) is absolutely delightful! He immediately greets others as new friends, and is quick to help by offering information he’s overheard!

He is even Holdable! You could hold him!

Birder dedicates himself to fighting for all those without a voice, having known firsthand what it was like... how is he so perfect? How is this bird real?

I hope I’ve made you into a #BirderHerder after this post! That’s our fan name! That’s us! Spread it on social media if you want! But I’m not going to make any effort to spread it myself!

#birder #shovel knight #king birder #shovel knight enemies #shovel knight characters #not mario #funky friday #mod chikako #ok maybe just one #birderherder

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pancake-breakfast · 8 months

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I guess I have to finish volume 9 at some point. Might as well be now.

Stream-of-consciousness thoughts for TriMax Vol. 9, Chapters 5-6 below.

Chapter 5: Demon

Goshdarn, we just had to start with Chapel's stupid face....

IDK, the thing about combat experience is it's experience. You learn to act "without thinking" because you're making calculations so reflexively that there's no delay between thought and action. Just like anything else, it's a matter of practice. But perhaps Chapel means it's not the way he taught Wolfwood to fight, and is implying Wolfwood's picked up and integrated a different fighting style from elsewhere.

And now Chapel has to enter the fight himself instead of just sending others to do his will.

I bet Nightow had a blast designing all these different cross guns.

Ha! Chapel telling Wolfwood to mete out justice with the Punisher. I have thoughts on this... but more on them later.

Chapel is giving badass wheelchairs a bad name.

Considering how few Punishers are supposedly in existence (around a dozen counting the ones Livio has), and given his current standing with Eye of Michael, it's impressive how many are present at this fight. I was wondering when these guys would show up again, since they're apparently not the mercs.

Ah, they're here to make sure Chapel gets the job done of finishing off the traitor.

Wait, WTF?? They're bowing to... Livio??? I thought he was also kicked out of Eye of Michael. Are... are they actually carrying Punishers? Are these additional Punishers aside from the little ones Livio was weilding earlier. Are... are they just... carrying them for him?

Ugh, dramatic Livio pose. It's just *chef's kiss*.

We finally get a view of the eye on the skull side, and Wolfwood immediately recognizes it as not being Livio.

Dude, he's catching bullets. That doesn't bode well.

Ah, yes. Three arms somehow. I get that one's synthetic, but still. Please insert Rev's meme of Nightow saying, "Hey, don't worry about it," here.

Yyyyyeaaaah, they were just holding onto the guns for him. That's... well, it explains a lot, but it bodes poorly for Wolfwood.

Ah there goes the mask. It seems to me that having a breakable mask fall off your face for dramatic effect every time you switch modes would be a bit wasteful.

Did... he have a bunch of hair attached to it, too? Weirdo. (Don't listen to me, Livio. I still love you even if you've got hair issues.)

Ah, there he is. Our New Friend. I just want to point out how much more deliberate his hair looks here compared to Livio's mop of chaos and depression. THIS looks like an intentional punk style.

And with that, we've officially been introduced to Razlo.

Chapter 6: Fortitude

CW: Child abuse, DID

I know others in Book Club have more direct experience with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) than I do, so I don't want to speak to it too much since all my knowledge is book knowledge rather than experiential, but I do think Nightow should be given some credit for actually writing out that Livio's DID is a sort of defense mechanism stemming from childhood trauma. I feel like even today there aren't a ton of good mainstream examples of DID beyond, "Oh, quirky split personalities!" when it's a real condition with documented trends and origins.

Raz was the one who wanted to go find the Eye of Michael. Maybe he should have done some more research first.

I appreciate that he seems to be still healing from where Wolfwood shot him. Not sure I buy how thick his neck suddenly got, but it's a little late in the game for me to start complaining about Nightow's anatomy

Dude, did he just murder-death the people who carry his Punishers?? Rude.

You know... it's not every day I see a character use body parts as chaff.

Gods, Raz's whole demeanor is soooo markedly different from Livio's. His mad grins remind me a bit of Legato. Not sure how I feel about that.

Ugh, Wolfwood...

The level of drama in this panel, though.

Ohhh, Raz's speech pattern is different than Livio's, too, isn't it? It's more rough and casual. Not like Livio's dripping with formality, but I'd guess in the Japanese he's at least base-level polite. Razlo is... most likely not. (If so, props to Overhaul for conveying that.)

Those thoughts from before are running into my thoughts on Chapel dressing down Wolfwood here as he gets ready to execute him... but more on those later.

Oh, Wolfie, don't give up on us.... He really does care for his brother Livio, doesn't he.

Yeah, Wolfwood has historically had too much self-preservation instinct to just jump on the bandwagon of someone who is living a lifestyle that's more precarious than the one he's already living. I have thoughts on this, too... but more on those later.

Heh, Wolfwood recognizing that Vash isn't immortal the way Chapel seems to think he is.

Ugh, all these memories of his moral conflicts with Vash.... They're tugging at the heartstrings.

In light of the words on this panel and my suspicions on where Wolfwood's thoughts are going, I just want to provide the following Bible verses:

"At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" And He called a child to Himself and set him among them, and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you change and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. So whoever will humble himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever received one such child in My name, receives Me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depths of the sea. - Matthew 18:1-6, NASB Translation

Gods, I could write an essay....

Ok, this panel. It's in Wolfwood's mind, and Vash is so big in Wolfwood's mind he takes up the whole page. It's a low shot, showing that Wolfwood is looking up to him, like a child looking up to an adult or an injured person looking up to their protector. And that's the pose Vash is in, too; his back might be turned to Wolfwood, but it's not in rejection but in protection, standing between Wolfwood and whatever might come their way. He has so much trust and admiration for Vash.

Hahahahaha, I love how the last page suggests, despite everything, Wolfwood's not quite dead yet.

My thoughts ended up being too encompassing. The curious can read them here.

Author Bonus Chapter

Who the heck are all these other characters? Are they mobbing Nightow??

Hahahaha, tiny Vash disapproving in the background...

That's right! Gotta do it!

You know, I still haven't watched Gungrave. Pretty sure people recommended it to me back when it came out.

Oh, noooooo, the scriptwriter had soooo many drinks! AND NO SLEEP!!!

Despite? Probably more like because.

Archive

Trigun Vol. 1: Covers + 1-3, 4, 5-6, 7-8, 9-10 || Vol. 2: Covers + Extras, 1, 2-4, 5-6, 7-8

TriMax Vol. 1: Covers + 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 || Vol. 2: Covers + 1, 2-4, 5, 6-7 || Vol. 3: Covers + 1-3, 4-5, 6-7 || Vol. 4: Covers + 1-2, 3-5, 6-7 || Vol. 5: Covers + 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 || Vol. 6: Covers + 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 || Vol. 7: Covers + 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 || Vol. 8: Covers + 1-2, 3-4, 5 + Bonus || Vol. 9: Covers + 1-2, 3-4

Extra Credit: Trigun Vol. 1: Nebraska vs. Vash's Motivations, Vash's Loneliness, Vash's Depression (pt 2 of post), Soupy Brains || Vol. 2: Coin Factoids || TriMax Vol. 1: Lina, Vash, and a Haircut || Meryl, Vash, and the Pursuit of Happiness || Vol. 5: Knives, Vash, and Hatred for Humanity || Vol. 6: Coping Series: Wolfwood, Meryl, Vash || Vol. 8: The Uncoordinated Counterattack

#trigunbookclub #trigun maximum #volume 9 #pancake thoughts

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parkitaco · 1 year

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you’re not sure and i don’t know

prequel ficlet #1 to swear that it was something, requested by @amaragf

If you had asked El a year ago if she thought she’d ever find herself breaking up with Mike Wheeler, the honest answer might have actually been yes.

She never would have admitted it, of course, because girlfriends aren’t supposed to want to break up with their boyfriends, not unless something very bad happens between them, and in El’s eyes, Mike was stupid, but he wasn't evil. He hadn’t done her some great injustice (noun; lack of fairness), and she knew she cared about him. He wasn't always the best boyfriend, but he was hers, and he cared, and El hadn’t been used to people caring about her. It was something she wanted to cling to for as long as possible.

That being said, she technically already has broken up with Mike once, even if she didn’t fully understand what she was doing at the time, and even if it hadn’t lasted all that long. She hadn’t even felt sad about it - in fact, she’d felt almost giddy (adjective; having a sensation of dizziness), high fiving Max and feeling like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders, all the confusion gone.

But then Mike had told her he loved her- or tried to, anyway, and that had been that. They’d gotten back together, and El is fine with that.

Or, at least, she was. But it’s been a few months since the Upside Down went away, and now that the threat of losing Mike and everyone else to Henry is gone, El has been thinking that maybe she doesn’t need to cling to him so tightly anymore. There is no spark in their relationship, like Dustin might say - they barely talk anymore, and for a while El was able to blame it on the aftermath of the Upside Down, the shuffle of her and Hopper moving in with the Byers at their new house in Hawkins, going over the official story with Owens and signing even more government-issued documents saying they won’t tell anyone what really happened. El is fine with keeping it a secret, honestly - she’s not sure why any of them would want to rehash (verb; put (old ideas or material) into a new form) any of that anyway. But it’s been three months now, and school is out for the summer, and the two of them are running out of excuses to put off the conversation that El knows Mike must know is coming too.

Which is how she finds herself cross-legged on her bed, Mike seated across from her looking somber (adjective; dark or dull in tone). He’d been over at the Byers’ house anyway, helping Will design a new campaign for their dragon game, and El had asked to borrow him with no small amount of trepidation (noun; a feeling of fear or agitation). He’s usually hanging around the house like this, but his main interest seems to be Will rather than El. It makes sense, El supposes, because they are best friends, and she usually prefers to hang out with Max, who is her best friend, rather than Mike anyway, but- well, that’s sort of the problem.

“Mike,” she says now, running over the carefully rehearsed words she has mapped out in her brain and already knowing she’s going to forget most of them, “I love you.”

Mike’s eyes widen, and an emotion that can only be described as panic flashes across his face. El has gotten used to it, over these past few months, over the last year, really. It doesn’t even sting anymore. That’s been a big part of her realizations lately - she got the I love you, back in the pizza dough freezer while she fought for her life, and it still wasn't enough. She’d somehow convinced herself it would fix everything, but had failed to consider the fact that Mike would have to actually mean it in order for it to do that. And in any case, she’s not even sure she loves him either, at this point. Not as more than a friend, anyway.

“Uh,” Mike starts, and El holds up a hand, putting him out of his misery.

“Let me talk,” she says sternly, and Mike falls silent, bobbing his head meekly and blushing something furious. “I love you,” she says again, “And I do not want to lose you. But,” she continues before Mike can try to protest again, mouth falling open and cheeks flushing redder, “I do not think that being your girlfriend is helping either of us.”

Mike freezes with his hand raised slightly into the air, halfway toward making a point. “Oh,” he says, more relief squeezed into the single syllable than El thought possible. “Oh, that’s- okay.”

Part of El had expected him to fight for her, to argue, to at least pretend, but after the past few months it makes sense that he wouldn't. They’re both just tired, at this point. It’s not worth fighting over anymore.

It doesn’t hurt the way it should, but it does spark fear in her, that he can let her go so easily. “I do not want to lose you,” she says again, fingertips digging into her sheets, desperate to make this point clear. “I want us to be friends. You are very important to me, and I love you, but I do not think that I am in love with you and I do not think you are in love with me.”

At this phrasing, a flicker of fear passes over Mike’s face, and he leans away just barely. “You- who else would I feel that way about, though,” he says tightly, huffing a half-laugh that sounds anything but genuine.

El frowns at him. “I do not know,” she says, confused, “I am just saying that- we are not romantic.” She’d had to consult her dictionary in preparation for this conversation, the big one that Hopper had gotten her for her birthday the summer before he fake-died. Romantic is what she and Mike are supposed to be. Platonic is closer to what they actually are - provided they get out of this conversation relatively unscathed.

“Oh,” Mike says, shoulders relaxing a little as he seems to catch her meaning, and he nods. “Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, I care about you, and I wanted to love you the way you wanted me to, I really did, but I just…” he trails off, eyes drifting away from her, landing somewhere in the vicinity of the wall above her head, the one that holds a painting Will had made for her. Mike has a similar one in his room, except that that one has the rest of the Party and all of their dragon-game costumes, and El’s is just of her and Will.

“I know,” El says gently, reaching out to place a gentle hand on his knee, and that seems to bring Mike back into focus, his gaze snapping back to hers. “It is okay. I do not want to force you into something that you don’t want, and I think- I need to be my own person.” She’s been thinking about that a lot lately - Max has been talking about independence recently, ever since she and Lucas broke up, and the word sounds nice in El’s brain. She doesn’t want Mike dragging her down anymore, even if he hadn’t been doing it on purpose.

Mike smiles a little bit hesitantly, reaching out to cover El’s hand with his own. “I think that’s a great idea,” he says softly, and for the first time in a long time, sounds like he’s being genuine. El beams.

“So we can be- platonic, then?” she asks, just to make sure she has it right. “Friends?”

Mike laughs, sounding a little choked up. His eyes are wet around the corners, relief seeping out of his every movement as he scoots closer and squeezes El’s hand. “Yeah, of course. Best friends.”

El rolls her eyes good-naturedly. “I thought that Will was your best friend,” she points out.

For some odd reason, this makes Mike’s shoulders tense again, eyes flicking back over to the painting. “I- yeah,” he says haltingly, biting his lip. “Yeah, we are.” His voice oddly soft, a faint blush coloring his cheeks, and he hurriedly glances back to El. “I mean- well, all you guys are my best friends,” he says, which is maybe the most nonsensical thing he’s ever said (and there is a lot to choose from). “Even Max, but if you tell her that I’ll kill you.”

El ignores the last part, frowning. “You cannot have more than one best friend,” she says primly. Now that she thinks about it, though, she can’t remember Mike ever specifically calling Will his best friend. It was just something that she knew. Will is special to Mike, that much is obvious - it’s different than it is with their other friends. That must make him a different sort of friend than the others, doesn’t it?

“Not true!” Mike squawks anyway, indignant (adjective; feeling or showing annoyance). “You’re all my best friends.”

“I was your girlfriend ten minutes ago,” El points out, still frowning at him, and he rolls his eyes, “And that defeats the purpose of best friend. It is not logical.”

“I call bull on your logic,” Mike says, which is not a very good counterargument, but El is willing to let it slide because this is the longest conversation they’ve had in months, and El has missed him. Maybe not in a romantic way, but definitely in a platonic one. “Dustin is always saying the same thing,” Mike adds, smirking.

“Dustin is very smart,” El sniffs, and Mike laughs, even though it wasn't a very funny thing to say. El feels like laughing too, actually, so full of relief that it’s spilling out of her. “He is very logical.”

“He’s annoying is what he is,” Mike says, and El laughs, tilting forward and tightening her grip on his hand, and then they’re both laughing, foreheads pressed against each other and hands clasped together.

“I do love you, you know,” Mike says quietly when they calm down a little, glancing up at her with wide, happy eyes. He so rarely looks at her with such affection anymore, and the knowledge that they’ve finally stopped making each other miserable warms El to her core, as does his proclamation. Maybe it’s not in the way she thought, but it’s nice to know that he does care, after all. She’s done losing people.

“I know,” she says, smiling, and it feels like a promise.

#ficlet #i need to start a ficlet tag for my blog lmk if yall have any cute suggestions for names #elmax #el hopper #mike wheeler #platonic elmike #st fic #happy valentine's day here's a breakup fic <33

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gardensandtaverns · 9 months

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Dev Journal: Day 1

I’ve tried a few times at putting myself out there with my system, boss, level, and world design content. Every time I did it for feedback, or validation, because I was looking for a reason to go out and do it full-time. Well, I’m now fresh out of college, a year down the drain trying to find any job that matches my qualifications, and have nothing better to do than to take the hobby I’ve poured countless hours into and run with it. So now this blog is finally just going out there for myself; clean slate.

For anyone who finds themselves becoming an interested and long-time fan of my work, I’ll document where I’m starting from here. Like I said, I’m fresh out of college. Twenty-two years old with a degree in Statistical Analysis, and a sizable amount of coursework in Operations, Actuarial Math, and Physics to boot. All that aside, I’ve been a huge game nerd for 15 years, been writing worlds and systems for a decade, and have been a perma-DM of both Dungeons and Dragons as well as, now, Pathfinder for a sum total of 5 years and counting. Needless to say, I’m a nerd who wasn’t encouraged to write - so I did all the hard homework first to make time for it.

This blog is gonna start out kinda boring, it’s really just me documenting what I’m doing. In part so I can look back at it, in part so I have it all somewhere that can be seen, and finally just so I can put myself out there. Being nerdy doesn’t really score you a huge network until well after school. Eventually I’m hoping to put some of my old D&D content and notes as a DM and worldbuilder out there. Maybe someone will learn something, maybe not.

Regardless, today was Day One. My first steps to really becoming a game designer. I’ve always had a knack for level and world design. I like making things that feel meaningful and have something to add. I’ve also been infatuated with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim since I was in middle school. So me, who has no credentials in softdev or compsci, well how am I going to make myself stand out to game studios? I’m starting with the Skyrim Creation Kit, and hopefully I can make something good enough to play with the big boys in some of the large community projects.

Today is Day One, Project One: The Bookwyrm’s Vault.

When I think of Skyrim, I think of three things. Vikings, dragons, and the Jedi Greybeards. But when I think of my ideal fantasy, I think of the wizarding type of sorcery, I think of arcane dragons - long-lived individuals who have honed magic over generations. And who’s to say that the dragons of Skyrim can’t be this way, Parthurnax certainly is.

So I devised the idea of the Bookwyrm’s Vault. I’m still undecided whether it is a Dwemer ruin built around the den of a long-departed dragon, or a ruin which a dragon took interest in. Regardless of which, the goal of this dungeon, unlike many of those in Skyrim, is not to add a crawl through enemies to feed the martial prowess of so many of the races of Tamriel. It’s to instead create something once beautiful and tranquil.

Initially I thought to conform to the Dwemer dungeon stereotypes of long hallways with many guardian automatons and littered steamworks and metal scraps. I’ve decided instead to be less industrious and more mystic and monastic with this ruin, to design a great library of magic and lore, one that rivals the College of Winterhold. Perhaps some Dwarven Spiders, remnants of a bookkeeping system as degraded as the parchment, remain to provide a small inconvenience to the Dragonborn. Even maybe a few runes of fire and lightning protecting more secretive experiments, or lingering from the attempts to keep something else in. This is my level, my addition, and I want it to reflect my interests in fantasy.

Now, today was my first day working with the Creation Kit. Panning with the MMB is a new experience, and wow could it use an efficiency update, but it is a decade-plus old piece of software, so I guess it gets a pass. For my first time working with the software, and having no clue what assets Skyrim actually uses, I decided to go pretty simple.

We start, as all subterranean dwellings must, with a passageway down and in to the earth, allowing all the room needed to carve out the great recording hall that is front and center. This room will, once populated, hold a dozen or more desks in varying states of repair and organization, and will have been where historically research of older tomes and transcription was done.

To the east of the recording hall, I’ve made a larger laboratory for more practical experimentation, which will feature a handful of crafting stations, like an alchemy and enchanting table, as well as maybe a staff enchanter if I feel inclined to make this mod require the Dragonborn mod.

To the west of the recording hall I plan to have a short hallway that connects a number of bedchambers, or private cells. A place to rest or study quietly.

Finally, to the south a passage leads further down. The door at the end of this passage will be locked, and I feel the key would be best kept in a well-warded chest in one of the private cells, as it leads to the special collections room.

Based on what I’ve seen of the assets library so far, I’m worried about making the special collections room because I had been hoping to make it a two-tiered library, but that may not be possible with the assets that exist and I certainly don’t have the experience to produce new ones. I may be able to use some of the components normally reserved for exteriors to get by, though. Only time will tell.

#skyrim #modded skyrim #modding #video games #game development #level design #magic #bookcore #dragons #dwarves #learning through play

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maxwell-grant · 2 years

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So, I reread your post on how you aren't too fond of spy parodies in the James Bond vein, and it made me think: what are your thoughts on how TF2 intersects with that kind of pulp fiction or spy fiction?

I don't think I'm "not too fond of" spy parodies in general, really, whatever my thoughts on James Bond himself I'm not adverse to spy fiction or spy parodies, they just usually don't do much of anything for me. Maybe part of that is because I got really, really spoiled early with TF2, which was one of my first big fandoms.

First thing that comes to mind with the idea of an intersection between TF2 and spy fiction is an SFM short called Agent Gunn: Vulkanite, which is fan-made but well-made to the point it might as well be official. It's a short film about this badass superspy Bond character with an ending that shows what happens when you put James Bond in the TF2 universe: He may get to do all that James Bond crap and look cool and stylish and so on, but since this is Team Fortress 2, the Mercs will eventually show up to kick his ass and steal his shit and ride off into the sunset laughing at him. Whether that’s because this is their turf and old-school conventions don’t apply here, because TF2′s parody status demands this to happen, or because it’s the TF2 mercs and this is just what you’d expect them to do regardless, it’s up to you.

TF2 over the years has kinda blossomed into this ever-more-absurd cartoon of itself in a way that's only made it funnier and more long-lasting than it might have been otherwise, so it's interesting to look back on it's early years, in it's initial design documents, and see a point where they had the design and art style figured out, but not quite the personality down pat. It’s funny to think that TF2′s design was specifically set to be retro-inspired, in many ways more retro than Team Fortress 1 (Classic) was intended to be, because “retro” is not usually an adjective we associate with timeless design, quite the opposite. Team Fortress 2′s approach to design is, or at least was, a bunch of J.C Leyendecker-looking characters duking it out in an 1960s spy movie setting, a combination that feels like it should be in a dated prequel to a modern FPS, not in the sequel to one.

A lot of this comes down to the fact that Team Fortress 2 was, originally, intended to have that kind of modern warfare aesthetic, and they had 9 years in development to work out a lot of things about this game and change it, ultimately realizing that all their attempts to make this gritty and realistic and serious experience didn’t match at all the actual experience of playing a first-person shooter, which is chaos and nonsense and people dicking around. They ended up instead taking the better road, which was to embrace the chaos and allow for the game to be funny, but most importantly, make it distinct. Making each of it’s characters distinct from each other became the top priority, and it paid off superbly.

A lot of what sets TF2 apart from most other FPS games comes from the fact that it works with the player experience and embraces it in it’s sheer chaos, and this, I think, also works in it’s favor in regards to how it relates to those two influences. TF2 gets a lot of praise for it’s extremely strong cast of personalities and rightfully so, and it also gets a lot of great jokes out of just playing around with the setting it’s built for itself and how the characters live, kill and/or die in it. The characters are absurd because the world is absurd, and sometimes the world gets so absurd that the characters can even look normal or well-adjusted by comparison.

I think a lot of it’s strengths are helped by the fact that it’s characters weren’t originally designed to be funny first and foremost, which is why the comics succeed in doing dramatic bits with them, but they all lend themselves to be funny not just because of their personalities, but because they live and participate in this superspy warfare world, and that kind of thing is just inherently bonkers no matter how you cut it. It’s a lot like how, no matter how dark and gritty and aggressively self-important superheroes get, they will never wash away that childish whimsy of it’s origins, and this is not at all a negative. Team Fortress 2 gets to have pretty much most of the great and cool parts of spy fiction, even played as straight as the creators want it to be, or making it even cooler by having you live out those (particularly if you happen to be one of the bastards who plays Spy, which I am lmao), but it also gets to dick around and poke fun at the entire genre/format extensively.

It’s intersection with spy fiction is that TF2 (and Venture Bros as well) is one of the great, wonderful consequences of living in a world where Austin Powers killed James Bond.

Now, there’s an argument to be made that TF2 isn’t exactly pulling from “traditional” pulp fiction that much, considering that the bulk of it’s inspirations comes from the men’s adventure paperbacks that were specifically not the pulps and were partially instrumental in the downfall of pulp fiction in American circles. But, I can’t bring myself to seriously argue that kind of stuff doesn’t fall under the pulp umbrella (I think most people even call it pulp nowadays), I think I’ve talked enough about how impossible and useless it is to define pulp fiction under those parameters. It’s also not an argument worth exploring in regards to TF2 because, well, it very clearly has pulp love in it’s blood, the biggest reasoning as to why being, the entire existence of Saxton Hale,

who’s sort of Professor Challenger if he borrowed Doc Savage’s workout ethic, and General Zaroff for most of the other ethics. Who initially existed mainly so the creators could get as much over-the-top pulp nonsense humor out of their systems as possible, and who stayed that way even as he was developed into more of a character, still far more absurd than the other characters but with an established personality, as the merc’s comedically insensitive boisterious arms-dealing Great White Hunter shitbag of a boss with this wholly separate world of adventures that mostly don’t show up and don’t matter except for when it’s funny, and who gets away with being a shitbag because he’s funny and the setting has considerably worse villains.

To bring up Venture Bros again, in some ways, Saxton kinda feels like he fulfills a similar role to Jonas Venture Sr, in the sense that he’s painted with broader strokes than the other characters in ways that make him a monument to the pulp side of things that runs in the work’s blood, sort of embodying a part of this universe in a way, and the fact that these two are more of aggressive pastiches than the other characters serves to underline that they are not on the same level as the other characters and also that they lord over them, because they fit in this world in ways they don’t, because they’re cut out to thrive in all this retro superspy cartoon warfare nonsense, if not having outright created or inspired much of it himself. Saxton is practically a saint compared to Jonas but, that has more to do with the fact that Team Fortress 2 is considerably more light-hearted and funny than Venture Bros and it has considerably different priorities for storytelling.

Speaking of the more pulp side of TF2, it’s also important to note that, in the lore of the series, it was established that the conflict between RED vs BLU has been ongoing for decades before any of the mercs were even born, and that the first team of mercenaries (pictured above) hired by the Mann brothers in 1850 consisted of sort of a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen set-up of several big historical figures filling in the roles, most of whom based on real people except for John Henry (who fills in for Heavy), and Fu Manchu (who was the original Spy). A lot of modern pulp works use this approach extensively in order to go for a retro vibe or explore alternate history scenarios and, I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t have to dig very hard to find one or several examples of “pulp” stories written in modern times where Abraham Lincoln’s wielding a flamethrower or Nikola Tesla kickstarts a sci-fi revolution.

I will say that I do find the usage of Fu Manchu in this line-up interesting. The bulk of the character’s adventures all take place in the 1900s (with the earliest date canonically attributed to him being 1880 as when he began a plot spanning 30 years, and PJF attributing his birth year to 1840), and no work, as far as I can find, ever depicted him as a young man, let alone potentially a hero (the comics do emphasize a lot how Spy as a person is nowhere near as much of a bastard as his in-game reputation indicates) and certainly not a team player alongside the likes of Nikola Tesla, and considering the kind of things he does and says as an elderly crimelord, for Fu Manchu to have spent his youth working as a mercenary for rich American bastards? That implies a character arc of sorts. (This seems to be the last named appearence Fu Manchu has ever made in any piece of pop culture, not counting Shang Chi’s father, but a name change doesn’t really make him a different character and plenty of really great modern Shang Chi stories still make use of the Fu Manchu iconography to make a point without making any actual tribute to the character, which is the ideal outcome). This is a largely irrelevant piece of trivia within the context of TF2, just something I wanted to highlight if we’re talking the way pulp shows up in TF2, at least overtly.

Part of the reason why I did bring up Venture Bros and other stuff is because, and I do stress this everytime I get talking about TF2, but the game has grown so much past it’s beginnings that it’s kind of mind-boggling to get your head around, for the past 15 years it’s been alive and kicking and, much like it’s characters, breaking the rules and defying logic and somehow still staying alive even when they should have been dead and buried a billion times now, even after it’s been followed up by countless shinier and trendier shooters, even after it’s been left to die and plagued with issues after issues, after everyone says it’s dead. I guess to me that’s the most “pulp” thing about it, the way it intersects most with the kind of pulp fiction I spotlight on my blog.

Not just it’s aesthetics and approach to storytelling and violence and humor and protagonist as unhinged and mercurial as they are human and persistent to the bitter end, but the fact that the thing as a whole just doesn’t die, even when by all means it already has and shouldn’t even exist anymore. It just keeps on finding new ways to live again and again and keep on trucking, as fiction, as a style, as a fanbase, as a meme (as many, many, many, many, many memes, actually), as a dream or goal. It’s still beloved by many and it still has plenty of gas in the tank. It will not die.

...It sure could use an actual goddamn update any second now, though.

#replies tag #team fortress 2 #tf2 #pulp heroes #pulp fiction #spy fiction #valve #steam #heavy weapons guy #the spy #miss pauling #saxton hale #oh sorry #SAAXTON HAAAAAAAAAALE #any fucking time now valve

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icewindandboringhorror · 1 year

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Daily Log 4

Trying out (probably just temporarily) making short daily-ish notes about things, in an attempt to see if it helps me be more reflective or productive lol.

Activities: Woke up late because I went back to sleep with a headache briefly, then kind of struggled to focus all day ToT

Worked more on the aforementioned tapestry/painting type of thing. I've done the base layer of painting for the main image, now I'm lining in darker outlines. I wanted to finish the center art before getting into the intricate borders. Still haven't translated the text lol..

Made a small bowl and also a little box with a lid out of more avocado pits. Still just with random nail cuticle tool things and kitchen knives, as I don't have proper carving tools.

Finished editing and proofreading the new poll adventure post!! I don't have time to post it tonight because I need to get to sleep early but.. I have it Completely 100% Ready.. finally..

Also washed the clothes I got together yesterday. Called about the bloodwork. Sent an email to a doctor.

Reviewed some writing documents to get back into my game maybe?? (basically, I started working on a visual novel type game a few years ago, decided it was a huge project so kind of put it on the backburner for a while in favor of things that were more easily finishable/tangible. then later on a game website I play (similar to neopets or something, there are collectable little creatures, etc.) there was an opportunity for me to design a pet on site, so I made a smaller shorter visual novel centered around that, where people on the site have to play the game in order to earn the pet, and I have a google form for them to answer a few short questions about it. All of the feedback is quite positive (reached 200 responses a while ago! though still only like 4 comments on the itch.io page lol.. Mandatory Form vs. Optional Comments evil showdown), but sometimes I get commentary that's really enthusiastic and inspires me to start back working on the OTHER bigger game. The small game was kind of like, a proof of concept that was safe because I had a guaranteed audience, that has helped me gain more insight for the larger one.

Anyway, since I've abandoned the Main Large Game for so long, I have to re-read and review/probably rewrite A LOT of things just to pick it back up again as A Thing I'm Actively Working On, so it's another one of those tasks that I do maybe 45 minutes of and then realize it's going to take days and days and get discouraged lol..

Notable sights: Saw two cats in windows. No clovers. It rained a little today but I didn't get to go outside and see it. One of the pieces of asparagus in the fridge was like the size of a carrot, comically overgrown downright ridiculous looking asparagus. Maybe I'll get taller after eating it.

Goals moving forward: Consistent sleep schedule. Focus on social activities, finding new friends in the places I want to move, communicating with ones I have. Physical therapy exercises. Plant nasturtiums. Finish and upload videos, edit costume pictures & etc.

Notable foods: ASPARAGUS AGAIN BABEY.. yeaAAAAGHHH asparagus squad !!!!!!

#just posting these publicly since it feels more like I'm doing something or easier to hold yourself accountable if you make public #declarations of goals and progress or etc. .. perhaps.. for now..#I wonder if you can eat too much asparagus. Hopefulyl I don't get sick ghjbj #Still craving lots of savory foods and soups. Also in a big big worldbuilding mood.#Not enough to actually edit the worldbuilding slideshow videos apparently since I've barely done any of that all week #>:Y #(they are different though.. actively writing wolrdbuilding is different from like.. editing recordings of you talking about it #BUT STILL...)#In an ideal world I have a little house in scotland or canada or something and am sitting cozy by a window watching it #rain whilst I eat lasagna and like a huge buffet table of every single hearty food I am having Anemia Cravings for #and my cat is sitting near me and I am furiously sketching various designs for different worldbuilding details. I have finally found #a weird hermit platonic best friend I'm compatible enough to live with and they are up in the attic doing their own weird little hobbies #but every once in a while I can call them down and tell them about an idea so we can bounce concepts off of each other. I somehow walk away #with no heartburn or stomach upset or nausea despite eating 800 plates of craving foods. It's cold and summer #does not exist anymore but not in a Catastrophic For The Earth type of way more in a like.. I am in a magical bubble #that only affects my direct vicinity and sheilds me from the temperature ever getting above 65F #(also I have a comfortable amount of money and good doctors and reasonable health etc. etc. but that's a given in any Ideal Scenario lol)#oughh... I just want to eat hearty breakfast foods and think about elves for 5 hours.. is that so much to ask #Why must... responsibilities... capitalism... limited time and no energy to focus on 100 projects at once... why these things...#ANYWAY #daily log

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