#shoutout to the Overhaul project <3

[buccellato]

Gonna make a post about Wolfwood too because I think it's super duper cute that he's angrily trying to fight Vash's way at the start because he doesn't wanna have to fight with Vash over it again

and even though he tries so hard to fight Vash's way he fails to actually follow through with this belief because what he's fighting is completely unreasonable

Seriously, what the fuck is going on here, how did they even manage to make a cyborg this gross?? Is one of the nine dudes in the hand or do the fingers have cameras in it??? Wolfwood just cannot catch a break in this fight, the only time luck is on his side is when the Insurance Crew shows up (there's probably a lesson he and Vash both should learn from that, but I digress...)

And of course he's expecting a fight with Vash for what he's done Vash is like "No it's cool :). Thank you for helping me Woowoo, I'm sorry if I made you feel guilty and I'm glad you could pull the trigger :)" (of course Vash is probably just incredibly relieved that he's alive and doing okay lmao)

And of course he does the totally relatable™️ thing, which is "pick a fight over something else because you were raring for a fight but it turns out there was never a fight to begin with and now you got nothing else to do with your wounded pride"

Luckily he gets to commiserate over this with Luida lmao

#trigun #trigunbookclub #trigun spoilers #Vash: Wow thanks for your help today <3 WW: DON'T CONTRADICT THE ARGUMENT I MADE UP FOR YOU IN MY HEAD #Wolfwood be like: Ugh you're such a moron *immediately catches feelings* #shoutout to the overhaul project <3

[safethaw]

The Best Concrete Resurfacers on the Market.

Ever walked past your old, faded driveway or patio, reminiscing about the days it gleamed under the sun? Ah, memories! But you know what? Reviving that old charm might be simpler than you think. No, you don't have to break the bank and start from scratch. Sometimes, all that's needed is a fantastic resurfacing job and the best concrete resurfacer. So, for folks like us, strolling through the world of concrete resurfacing products can be both exhilarating and overwhelming. I mean, how do you even pick the best concrete resurfacer? Just as I was drowning in this conundrum, I decided to dive in and sift through the mayhem to make our lives a bit easier. So, let's check out some top picks, shall we? 1. Sakrete's Finest: The Flo-Coat Resurfacer You've probably bumped into Sakrete's offerings at your local home improvement store, and trust me, it's popular for a reason. I tried the Flo-Coat on my old garden pathway. Mixing and applying was almost therapeutic, and the end result? A smooth finish that made me wonder why I hadn't done this earlier. 2. Quikrete: Reliable As The Morning Sun Quikrete isn’t a newbie, and many of my pals swear by it. From driveways to pool decks, this fella packs a punch. I've found it especially resilient, enduring my car's comings and goings and the unpredictable mood swings of Mother Nature. 3. Ardex: Luxury In A Can Ever fancy giving your space a touch of the ‘luxurious feels’? That's Ardex for you. It's like buying that slightly overpriced but irresistible dress you know will turn heads. And believe me, the compliments I received for my patio? Worth every penny. 4. Daich Rollerrock: A Touch Of Texture While a smooth finish is timeless, DAICH's RollerRock brought an unexpected twist with its stone texture. My neighbor tried it out, and boy, it transformed her yard into a rustic paradise. 5. Henry’s Featherfinish: Simplicity At Its Best Long name, but darn effective. Ideal for those little touch-ups around the house. Helped me out when I was fixing a few patches in my basement, and it's been rock solid. Bracing For The Winter Monster Post resurfacing, I had another 'Aha!' moment. What about the frosty winters? Enter Safe Thaw – our driveway's knight in shining armor. The fact that it's chemical and toxin-free? Cherry on top! I've had my share of slipping embarrassingly on icy driveways, and trust me, having Safe Thaw in my arsenal feels like I've got a superhero sidekick. In A Nutshell... Choosing the best concrete resurfacer can be a bit like finding the right coffee blend – personal, nuanced, and sometimes a journey. Whether you’re looking to spruce up a small patch or undertake a driveway overhaul, there's a product out there that’s got your back. So, to all the DIY enthusiasts and concrete newbies – here's to rolling up our sleeves and embracing the mess, one resurfacing project at a time. And remember, as the cold winds start howling, give Safe Thaw a shoutout! Read the full article

[ptgigi]

Random Pokemon Generator v2

Anyone remember when I made a Random Pokemon Generator 3+ years ago? No? Well shoutout to those of you who do and Noel (who’s politeness prompted this), because I finally updated it! But first, for those who have no idea or don’t remember what I’m talking about…what am I talking about?

Random Pokemon Generator Push button > get a randomly generated Pokemon or 6. Many of these exist on the internet so why’s mine different? Well there’s a lot of filters and you can generate as many Pokemon as you want!

What’s been updated?

I overhauled it. It’s better optimized and should be easier for me to update going forward. It also has its own unique look now instead of looking like just another page on my main site. This isn’t just for the aesthetics (as much as I like the different aesthetics), but it helps with optimization and some future ideas. I also changed the file path, so make sure to update your bookmarks.

Galar Pokemon! Finally added them!

Icons instead of animated 3D models. The animated 3D models are harder to source and prevented me from including certain Pokemon that didn’t have them. The icons are easier to source and edit if needed. As well, those with weaker internet connections should find they load faster.

Basic Filters/All Filters tabs. Instead of an all or nothing approach to the filters, I’ve made two tabs. Basic Filters has filters commonly found in Random Pokemon Generators for quick and easy randomizations, while All Filters contains all the filters (more are planned and in development!).

Forms to Include filter has been split. Forms to Include was previously a flat structure, each Pokemon could only be marked as one form type. That’s now been split between “Forms” and “Tags”.

The Tag Filter is like Forms to Include, but Pokemon can now be marked with multiple tags. They’re split between Species and Form Tags for clarity. I’ve added some new ones as well (like Legendary, Sexually Dimorphic, etc).

The Form Filter (new one) has two toggles: one for whether to include all forms or just the species and another to remove cosmetic forms, aka forms that just look different. If you run the randomizer without the cosmetic ban, you have a ~5% chance of getting Alcremie. Because it has 64 forms. It’s a lot.

Better Management. So I learned a thing or two about project management since becoming a tech lead somehow (go imposter syndrome!). In the footer of the new randomizer you’ll find an updates log (About > Change Log), future ideas and in-progress features (About > Project Tracker), as well as a contact links if you find any bugs or have suggestions (Contact or About > Bugs/Suggestions).

Now the big statement: I will update this again and it won’t take 3 years. “When will the next update be?” Honestly? IDK. My day job involves me programming 8 hours a day, so over the past few years I generally avoid programming in my spare time because of burn out. Art and video games are nice breaks from that. That said, with the improvements made in the overhaul and a better understanding of project management (go pseudo-agile practices!) I should be better at targeting smaller but more frequent updates.

Next update is already underway and will be adding even more filters~

You can check it out here if you’d like! (saving you from having to scroll back up to get the link ;D)

#alcremie #galar #galar pokemon #pokemon #pokemon randomizer #randomizer #update #Apps #Random Pokemon Generator

[writingonjorvik]

Can We Discuss the Crafting System?

First of all, I want to give a big shoutout to @sorceressferaly on this system. We talked about in back in February for our interview how she wanted to make this system happen and I am so happy that she got this opportunity and how it turned out. I promise this won’t all be gushing, but I am so happy to got to have this project.

Second, it’s release week for the Jorvik Divined deck. Go follow @jorvegiancollective everywhere. The deck reveal is today. Go check it out!

Ok, let’s another disclaimer out of the way. After about my first 5-ish hours of playing the update, my game bugged out and I haven’t really been able to collect more materials for two-ish days now. This seems to be happening a number of folks. I have at least been chatting with Leila on feedback and bugs already, and I’m sure the team is otherwise aware, so I imagine it will be fixed by next Wednesday once they pinpoint the issue. But this means my experience with the crafting system is only from about a day or so of playing and relying on my stash of materials to get me through until the nodes’ spawn rates are fixed.

That out of the way, let’s dive into the positive. I love the simplicity of this system. It’s easy to get into and I think the tutorialization of the system was handled really well. I personally think the level requirement is a little high (even if level 10 isn’t too hard to get to), I think it would have been better to have this first onboarding crafting system open at level 5 if you’re a Star Rider after you do Farah’s quest so new crafting recipes and methods can be unlocked as level rewards at better intervals, but overall I think it’s fine. I also think that there should be material nodes in Moorland. I imagine it’s to limit free players from clogging up their inventories with supplies, but there are already nodes in Fort Pinta, so that’ll happen anyway. I think the same should be true for higher level areas, as a reward for unlocking more places, having more nodes (where it fits) so higher level players can gather supplies more effectively.

I had three nitpicks about interface though. One, is that I think a grid crafting list more like the shops would be better for recipes, particularly for the “items” crafting where the list is pretty long (and easy to expand on). The font can be kind small and having pictures would help with folks with reading impairments. Two, there needs to be a crafting in bulk option, particularly for the “items” crafting. I know Leila mentioned looking at AC:NH for inspiration on crafting for this, and the biggest complaint on that system is no crafting in bulk. Particularly as I’m unlocking higher level recipes and the number of cloths I need is going up (RIP my flax supply), I see this being a huge quality of life ask, particularly when you have to use separate benches for different recipes. I don’t have an issue with having separate crafting benches (this actually sets up the system for other “disciplines” of crafting really well) but it should streamline the process between those benches as much as possible. Which leads to three, the cutscene should only play the initial time you craft an item and it shouldn’t kick you out of the work bench. These really go into the streamlining note of have to wait and then reopen the menu each time you want to craft something instead of simplifying the process for the player.

That said, I do think this is a really strong system. I played for about 5 hours straight until I got hit with the spawn bugs and didn’t get bored until the latter end of it (which was mostly just from “I’ve been trying to grind flax for the past 3 hours”). It was a pretty chill relaxing time and I see this as a great addition to training loops and stream activities. I have concerns on the longevity of it, particularly when we start looking at people and their frustrations with Soul Riding three months out, so I hope this system gets continued support with new recipes, particularly over these next couple of months to avoid burnout like with Soul Riding. It really needs continuous support to make sure it remains a staple in the gameplay loop until there’s a wide enough catalog and that having new recipes tied with map unlocks would be a big deal.

It also has me waiting for my current ticket to clear with SSO so I can submit my Pi upgrade idea and the Hidden Star wishing well idea because this system makes those seem a little more possible. There’s a catalog now of my posts if you want to read those.

But I think the thing I’m most excited about is how this system could expand and how it could provide really good level rewards in unlocking other crafting “disciplines” when unlocking new areas or levels. Think of unlocking tailoring from Daxton in Silverglade to get classic riding equipment or blacksmithing from Conrad to learn metalworking or cooking from Olivia in New Hill. All of these could have their own recipes and ingredients that would probably need an inventory overhaul to avoid item clog, but it would add so much to do in every part of the map. Not to mention a huge variety of options for recipes and dailies.

And I don’t think it just needs to be directly crafting that this system can support. One of the big changes this system did was adding items you can collect and keep even when you log off. We’ve seen that before with the original Kalter quests and with archeology, which says to me that those systems could be seeing updates. But also, it could mean expansions to dailies. I’ve suggested before expanding the Rescue Ranch with tonics and medicines. Now you can go out and actually make those. What about going and repairing trail markers for the Rangers or bringing them supplies for the animals they’re nursing to return to the wild? My entire Pi idea is viable now without needing to pick up dailies directly.

The point is, this system is bigger than just crafting directly because of how it changes item collection. Now collections can be open-ended. It reminds me of Leila’s suggestions in our interview on how she would redo fishing, by setting up points where you can just fish and collect all kinds of things to turn in for certain rewards on certain days. With this kind of system in the game, dailies as a whole can be a lot more living world and a lot less “click the icon for money.” And I know there are bugs right now and it’s so early stage, but this is an amazing tool that I think will be the foundation of a much more immersive design philosophy with SSO.

And don’t get me starting on how this finally makes trading player viable, but we’ll get the SSO economist a break before we add that in.

#sso #star stable #starstable #star stable online #starstableonline #woj analysis

[buccellato]

We're at one of my favorite parts of the story (and probably one of Vash's least favorite parts 😬😬), where we get to see how much Vash's family means to him

In book 1 of trimax, the Doc tells Brad that Vash's concept of family extends to the entirety of the human race

...So a Man revenge-killing a murderer isn't just 2 humans committing various levels of violence against each other (at differing levels of justifiable), it's 2 families members hurting each other and Vash can't bring himself to not try and stop it. Even if you understand *why* they fight, you probably wouldn't want your cousins to kill each other in front of you, right? And Vash struggles with it, because some of these people he's saving really do deserve the bullet reserved for them; but at the end of the day he still doesn't want to watch them to die.

And over the course of volume 1 and 2 of trimax, the story repeatedly brings up the question (either overtly or through subtext) "What would you do if you your family was in danger? What lengths would you go?"

Which leads us to the first big fight for this question when Vash's actual, closest living thing to a loving family is under attack. His anguish is palpable to everyone alive in the room with him, his wrath is close to deadly, and every new room he finds with more puppets just hurts him further. But even when he's faced with a monster that has destroyed his one vestige of safety in the world, even if that monster has talked about how he wants to do the same to him, he still can't bring himself to kill him! He even goes so far to try and spare him!

Not because of any specific moral reasoning (even though he's given one to Dominique before), but because before he was Leonof the Puppetmaster, he was a little boy named Emilio that loved his father's bread and had a crush on a girl named Isabel. He was someone that Vash knew, someone he recognized, and someone he undoubtedly cared for greatly at one point. And even if he couldn't save him, he at least had to try, because he was family at one point too.

And of course, it's not all pain and suffering for Vash, because when he wakes up in the hospital ready to blame himself for not being able to save everyone, Luida cuts him off: He did the best he could, he saved lives despite the losses, and at the end of the day he's still family to them, too. Even if the rest of humanity views him as a menace, there's still someone out there who reciprocates his love in a way that doesn't hurt him.

And boy, you can see how much of a relief (and source of stress it is for him) on his face lmao

#trigunbookclub #trigun #trigun spoilers #nobody else talked about the family stuff yet so I guess that I will lmao #Also it is Not A Coincidence that the chapter titled 'families' where Vash's love is reaffirmed has Knives on the title page #but I can't talk about that yet because I have no idea how to approach that topic yet without dropping massive spoilers lmao #It's such a good volume and it hurts so much anyways Luida please marry me I'll leave my resume on your desk thanks #Vash is the most tired sopping wet cat on the ship despite his better efforts to pretend otherwise #was gonna drop a song here because it fits imo but I'm saving it for a later volume because it fits there too lol #(really it's a good song) #(I'd post it all 3 times I think it fits but I don't wanna tagspam anymore then I'm doing now so I'll post it later) #shoutout to the overhaul project <3

[buccellato]

I really actually love this chapter specifically, mainly because you don't get many chances to see how little gung-ho guns actually care for each other, but this chapter involves not only that but also Legato having an Absolutely Terrible time

like, he's forced to eat food in some sort of straight jacket (due to, uh, spinal compression) and nobody else has cut his food for him, or is helping him with it in any way, but they are all watching him choke on it. And he is definitely not happy about it.

...And all of this seems incredibly cruel and fucked-up until you remember he can control people's bodies completely against their will (and we're reminded of it 2 pages later when he fucks up Midvalley for pointing a gun at him), which means he's doing this to himself on purpose? As some sort of weird self-harm??

Then, right after the world's worst work party, we have the world's greatest tone-shift by cutting away to Vash flipping the bike because he's over 100 years old but can't actually drive lmao

#trigunbookclub #trigun #really it's a very good chapter #the terrible work party...the bike crashing...the “how do *you* know what my brother looks like naked” talk...the duel...all good #someone get Legato a therapist I'm sure the workplace healthcare plan covers that much #not dental though. I refuse to believe the ghg actually get dental coverage. Unless they *only* get dental coverage and nothing else. #cw self harm mention #<- just to be safe #shoutout to the Overhaul project <3