#the kickstarter was funded in like half an hour or something!! | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sinsisters · 1 year

Text

Postmortem: Launching a Kickstarter (or two) as a first-time dev

Also available to read on Itch.io

Hi everyone,

This is going to be a very informal postmortem from me (Natty, writer/programmer/game director) about the development of The Spanish Privateer from conception to the release. This read is really for anyone who wants to run a campaign or be a first-time dev and hear from someone who has met their goals but not had any outstanding success. I’m also always happy to chat one-on-one with someone who might have specific questions about the process, especially for Canadians wondering about the technicalities of running a small business & shipping.

Conception

The Spanish Privateer was a collection of five pirate characters that sat on a Google Doc until 2018, when the otome game jam rolled around and I, working a 9:30-4 (dream hours!) co-op position in Vancouver, decided to join up and turn those five characters (now four) into the main characters for my very own visual novel. As a lead, I struggled with trying to delegate and felt that I hadn’t completed enough of the script to know what artwork needed to be done. I think we managed to pull it off well, though, and I was happy to hear people’s feedback to the prologue.

Ultimately, the project fell under the radar as I continued to work on it on my own time, not wanting to ask those who had worked on the game jam for additional commitment, and not knowing whether the finished project would be commercial or not.

In the future, I’m still interested in working on game jams, but only for game jams that are meant to be short, complete games. We’ll see if it happens!

Script Writing

The bulk of the script writing for The Spanish Privateer happened while I was living in Japan on co-op, from the summer of 2019 to the late winter of 2020. I had created a detailed outline for Flint’s route, a less detailed one for Lark, and a very sketchy one for Rico. I tend not to face writer’s block, and writing dialogue especially feels like it comes easily to me, so it was more about scheduling time each day to write. I decided to participate in the NaNoWriMo of 2019 to monitor my progress, ending with 51 547 words written! My goal at this point was to just complete the scripts, and focus on everything else once I knew what CGs I would need to flesh out scenes.

The First Kickstarter

It became clear to me that I would need to fund, at the very least, the CGs in the game. But The Spanish Privateer was ‘the otome I always wanted to play’, and I wanted the game to reflect that. Oftentimes, indie VN devs will buy their background images from stock creators (such as Minikle), paying a one-time fee for licensed use of the images. In fact, a few of the backgrounds in The Spanish Privateer are from these packs. But a pirate ship is a niche category, and I knew I would need to commission original backgrounds for the game.

I was willing to put down around $1000 of my own money towards the game. Keep in mind, I was a university student, and I figured I wouldn’t make any returns on the project. I commissioned three CGs, but all the other assets were from the original game jam.

The Kickstarter of October 2020 failed, but with 128 backers, suddenly this project that no one had heard about had come to life. Something that I didn’t know about Kickstarter is that… most Kickstarter backers are Kickstarter backers. That’s to say, 82% of my backers have backed over 20 projects, and 40% have backed over 100 projects! Only 11% of my backers have backed 10 or fewer projects, and I personally knew half of those people. Here’s a little histogram showing the data specific to my Kickstarter (the second one).

Figure 1: Number of backers sorted by the number of projects they have backed on Kickstarter. Data taken from The Spanish Privateer 2021 Kickstarter on January 11th, 2023

The people who pledged the higher tiers ($60+) varied between those who backed few projects and those who backed many.

My takeaway from this revelation was that Kickstarter itself has an audience that is worth tapping into. That’s part of the reason we see visual novel developers who have had financial success off their games and who have been making games for a while, such as Hanako Games and Winterwolves, start using Kickstarter in the recent years (and likely because the market has grown considerably).

The Bane of Kickstarter: Cancelled Projects

I spent a lot of time looking at visual novels (particularly otoges) that had done well on Kickstarter. Some of them succeeded because they had people pledge those platinum $1000 tiers, some succeeded because they had >500 backers, some succeeded because they had low goals. But amongst these, an unfortunately large number of successful projects got cancelled later on. For that reason, developers who follow through with their projects, communicate with their player base, and meet or exceed expectations, such as GB Patch Games, do well with repeated projects on Kickstarter. They have a dedicated fanbase who are happy to support their work, largely because they know the developers will make good use of it. As a first-time dev, I didn’t have that background. I also had a small number of romanceable love interests (but I still think three is the perfect number for a first-time dev and would recommend that to other first-time devs), the art wasn’t the jaw-dropping highly detailed anime style we see with companies like Great Gretuski Studios or Nifty Visuals, and aside from ‘PIRATES’, it didn’t have much of a grab.

The Next Steps

I released a survey that got quite a few responses, thankfully. Then, I knew I needed to use the last of my cash reserves to commission a few more CGs, and most importantly, commission new sprites. That was the big risk for me. It was a huge art style change, and the CGs clashed with the sprites much more strongly. But it needed to be done since I hadn’t heard from the sprite artist who had collaborated with me during the otome game jam, and in addition to needing more sprites completed, I didn’t want to use the work of someone in a commercial product without their permission or without being able to repay them.

I really love the new sprites and the art style of my sprite artist. It was also a good decision for me to request separate eyebrow, eye, and mouth expressions rather than set expressions. It allowed me to have much more variety with character expressions. I learned a lot during this process, and because of that, I think the final few characters I commissioned (Catalina and Vasco) ended up being the strongest because of that (in addition to the sprite artist’s personal improvements, of course!).

But the game changer for the next Kickstarter was the new key art and logo. The key art is what draws people in, and it was truly stunning.

I have mixed feelings regarding the physical items. The survey showed some people were interested while others weren’t, so I wanted very cheap physical items (compared to charms, for example). I’m not sure if I would do physical items again (I really dislike the process of packaging and shipping), but on the other hand, I’m delighted to have stickers and an art book of characters I made!!! From a game I made!! Isn’t that cool!! (psst you can still buy the artbook and get stickers btw)

The People Who Made The Difference

I did reach out to some people to review the demo, and Blerdy Otome and Sonic Nancy Fan both came through! Additionally, when you’re running a Kickstarter, you tend to check obsessively… and check out the other visual novels that are running at the same time. Off the top of my head, Henchman Story, Silver Blue, Somnium Eleven, Perfect Gold, and Heroine for Hire were running the same time, and some of us gave shout outs to each other, which was nice (especially considering I had a following of about 40 people on Twitter). Chouette, Akua, Naja, Ayael, and Neeka, in particular liked and shared many of my posts, which makes a difference not only for reaching a new otome audience, but for me to slowly get to know other devs and the indie otoge community! I’m thankful to them for that, and for the devs I interact with now as well.

Additionally, VN Game Dev, Sweet & Spicy, and the Otome Lovers curator group all reviewed my game at various stages, which I appreciated as well. In addition, I reached out to a few other groups, some which responded agreeing to review (but with long backlogs) and others who I did not receive a reply from. The otome community is small, so if a visual novel doesn’t have some stand out quality that appeals to the non-visual novel community, such as innovative gameplay or a connection to a larger franchise, it might not be worth reaching out to people who don’t typically cover visual novels. Personally, I actively sought out those who reviewed visual novels, particularly otome games.

The Second Kickstarter

The general rule of a Kickstarter campaign is that if a project can make one third of their goal after 48 hours, they’re likely to reach their goal (with the second third happening throughout the campaign and the final third during the last three days). Because of the previous Kickstarter, I already had a number of backers who were ready to back again, which helped a lot with that big first day boost. I wouldn’t say the campaign was a raging success—the total amount transferred from Kickstarter was 5206.49 CAD (this was transferred at the end of May, 2021) across 169 backers (6 backers dropped), which is less than 4000 USD today. This is a really, really small amount of money to make a game, but it was what I needed to make the game, which is all I cared about.

Here's how it all came together:

Writing & Programming: The writing was done, although I continued to edit and revise. Ren’Py is very easy to work with and the programming is minimal. My labour is all at zero cost, and I frankly don’t expect I’ll ever make a penny from my games (but wouldn’t that be nice?)

BGs: I worked with two different artists for the backgrounds, and supplemented them with stock backgrounds I paid a flat fee for, such as the shore, church, fancy bedroom, bedroom with two beds, lagoon, and tavern with the bear skin on the wall. Sometimes I realized retroactively that I needed a night version of a background and did this myself. The result wasn’t… great, but thankfully the scenes that needed these changes were minimal, and the ones with long scenes were properly done by the artist. I also did the ocean background because I realized belatedly I needed one and couldn’t find one I liked online. All part of learning more about the planning process…

CGs: I continued working with my main artist, Tsunya (Tsuume) on the CGs. Commissioning CGs was the most challenging part of the process. I learned a lot about how to better communicate certain things I wanted in a scene, as well as which ideas I had didn’t translate as well to a CG. For example, for Flint’s kissing CGs, I struggled with the best way to get two vertical people embracing to look good on a horizontal screen. The final CG ended up being them laying horizontally across the screen. As a result, the overall image is really intimate and pleasing to the eye. I carried this on with Lark’s route, which features Carlota’s hair blowing in one kiss scene to compensate for the space, and her dress blowing in another. I also learned that a close-up of a love interest can be simple but beautiful. In the future, I would probably like to incorporate more close-ups of the love interests rather than focussing on having so many couple CGs. With Rico’s route, I wanted some more action shots, such as the horse and Rico as a kid. I particularly liked the angle of Rico’s CG as a child, and I would use more of those sharp angles in the future.

Sprites: When you have a limited budget and you’re commissioning artists, rather than paying artists a monthly salary like regular studios do, you have to be very respectful of their time. My sprite artist was in school, so of course it was difficult for her to predict when she would be available or for how long (which I could relate to as a student as well). I probably would have commissioned a few more sprites from her, such as the grandee and the governor, but we ended up being limited on time and I figured that I would probably keep on adding more and more sprites if I didn’t end somewhere. I was just incredibly in love with her designs and work. She really brought the characters of The Spanish Privateer to life. Personally, I love non-anime style art such as Made Marion, Andromeda Six, Imperial Grace, ValiDate, Cinders, The Radiants, Angela He, Arcade Spirits, and Under Pretense of Death. But anime art’s biggest advantage is how incredibly emotive it looks. When art is less realistic, expressions can be exaggerated without looking disturbing to the viewer. Going forward, I’m still not sure which style I would prefer. It will probably depend on the game I produce—for example, if I make a game where the protagonist is customizable, then the art style will likely be anime.

Chibi CGs: I had worked with an artist to do some quick chibi designs of the characters, and I decided to work with her again for the chibi CGs. By this point, I had already commissioned many CGs from my CG artist, so communication was much better for these CGs. It was a great way to show off many characters in a scene (such as in Lark’s route) or characters who don’t have sprites (such as a certain man that we see in Rico’s route).

GUI: Graphic design and user interface design is really its own thing. I trusted the GUI to someone who had lots of experience doing visual novel GUIs and told her my vague ideas of what I was looking for, and she managed to turn it into something gorgeous! The important takeaway is that the less you know about something, the more important it is that you’re hiring someone with experience in that department. Since the visual novel realm is so niche, this can be challenging at times.

Logo: Pretty much the same as above! The logo is beautiful and tells a story all on its own, which I love. The artist also provided the base file, so I was able to add and remove different elements from the design, which was incredibly helpful for me as I simplified it for smaller images or darkened areas for better contrast. I would recommend anyone getting a logo done to request the illustrator or equivalent working file.

Music: The only music I paid for was a commercial license of a few songs. The other songs are all in the creative commons. Even if I had been able to commission an original soundtrack for The Spanish Privateer, frankly, I love the songs in the game so much that I wouldn’t change them for the world. I chose peaceful piano pieces for Flint, harpsichord and whimsical tracks for Lark, and grand, adventurous orchestral music for Rico. Some people pooh-pooh the importance of music in a visual novel, but I think the tracks make a huge difference in creating the tone of a scene. My favourite part was selecting tracks for the good endings and other endings.

Kickstarter Rewards: I worked with the same artist who did the two key arts for the wallpapers, and ended up with stunning results. Carlota’s in particular is breathtaking. I commissioned high-quality chibis for the stickers, and my big takeaway is to NOT have limbs jutting out the way Flint’s arm is. The spacing is awkward and makes the pricing of the stickers more expensive than they need to be. Additionally, it won’t work well for charms if that’s something you plan on doing. But other than the rogue limb I failed to account for, the process was smooth. The big challenge is not knowing how different the colours will look once printed. Even test prints aren’t foolproof because each printing company may have different methods of printing. I used StickerApp for the stickers, but Luna Chai has some great and relevant blog posts (current blog and archived post). I used Mixam in Canada to print the art books and they get shipped as oversized lettermail. Since I don’t get anywhere CLOSE to the small business cutoffs, I don’t have to worry about collecting GST. I ordered my mailers and labels from Amazon (like the common by-product of our capitalistic world that I am), and the nice ladies at the post office just let me plunk the addressed mailers down, pay the total, and be off on my way. If you’re Canadian and sending something that doesn’t qualify as lettermail, then don’t. I mean, try really really hard not to, because it gets very expensive quickly. But I won’t get in the way of your dakimakura dreams, either (I wouldn’t say no to a Harry or Luciel Choi body pillow. Or maybe I would. How could I even begin to explain that to my family.)

Sound: Shoutout to my brother for telling me about the massive royalty-free audio bundle Sonniss offers each year for free. Their work is awesome and greatly appreciated for small devs. The rest of the sounds were sourced from various online resources. Again, related to music, sound effects are greatly underappreciated. A great visual novel should use both of your available senses, not just sight (and they can use other senses if they’re extra creative).

And All of the Other Little Things That Add Up:

Registering as a business which included going down to the bank and saying yes, this is my company called ‘SinSisters Studios’, yes, I make games about romancing men (and hopefully others), please give me a business account and card to use (I did phrase it better because I’m an adult but that is surely what we were both thinking). The business account is an online-only no-fee one which is great, and I use the debit card for all business-related expenses. You know, in case I ever get audited in the future. I also had to pay a small fee to register my business name with the government, which has to be renewed every five years, and I might buy a website domain soon for the site. SinSisters Studios is a sole proprietorship business, which is what most small Etsy businesses might be, for instance. That means I get fewer benefits and legal issues would be under my name, but it’s easy to file taxes and the fee is small. Most indie VN developers don’t have any need to incorporate. If you’re a Canadian, incorporating is really something you do for liability insurance and would be recommended if you run a Kickstarter for $100K, for example.

On the game dev side, I had to do art touch-ups such as colour correction, making sure Carlota’s mole wasn’t all over the place, and some backgrounds for CGs and chibi CGs. I wouldn’t have been able to do this all with Gimp, so I got CSP. But I can’t recommend them as strongly now that they’re changing their payment program.

Things that I found tedious and that I was not good at and would have preferred to hire someone: creating the art book and guide, doing the graphics for the Kickstarter, doing the graphics, formatting, and ten million blurbs for the websites and social media pages and presskit (actually, the presskit was kind of fun because it looks professional).

Creating and uploading the game on Itch.io using Butler is very simple. Steam was a whole ‘nother ballpark. On top of having fifty billion different asset resizing requirements, they have their own method of uploading builds that I had trouble wrapping my head around (but now, I actually prefer Steam’s build updating method to Itch.io’s. Sorry! It’s just better at merging builds and making sure you’re using the right build).

Setting up accounts, such as PayPal, a mailing newsletter, Discord, and Stripe are all in the unknowns. Just finding people to work with is a skill in its own (if you find an artist you like online, save them somewhere. I’ve found artists from Lemmasoft, Twitter, from finding images on Pinterest and then following the credit or signature ((dear artists, PLEASE make your signature something that allows us to find you!!!)), DeviantArt, even from searching foreign websites. The one thing I haven’t used is Fiverr, although I have no doubt that you can find lots of talent there as well.

But by far, the worst thing about being a game dev is…

SOCIAL MEDIA AND MARKETING

AAAAAAAAHHHHHH

The bane of most devs' existence. How I wish I could just hire someone for this role. I don’t like TikTok. I haven’t uploaded a video on there in forever, but I have this constant nagging that I need to. The only social media I like is Twitter, and that’s because that’s where all the game devs hang out. To be fair, I do think my largest audience is on Twitter as well. The company’s following has grown to over 680, which is crazy. Although a certain individual caused a mass exodus and generally Worse Time on Twitter, so who knows what the future holds. I like interacting with others on social media, but I never feel inspired to post or even comment on others’ posts. I did want to do an art book giveaway with fanart as entries, but I frankly don’t feel like I have the audience for that. Would I even get an entry? I don’t know. I would rather see people creating fanart for the game because they feel inspired to. Personally, if I could Art, I would draw several modern AUs. Maybe I will and just look at it in private, who knows. The point is, I am Bad at The Social Media and that is simply because I Do Not Try Hard Enough. It is very time consuming and mentally draining. If you’re looking for marketing tips, read Arimia’s blog, and support her games while you’re at it. She has so much awesome advice. All I have for you are tears.

I entered The Spanish Privateer in the June 2022 SteamNextFest, recorded me playing the prologue, used OBS Studio to loop it (of course, everything you do involves learning to use something new) and streamed that over SteamNextFest. The result? Not too shabby. Our wishlist balance had a spike even bigger than the release spike, so I would recommend doing it! I had no interest in talking or filming myself, so it was a low effort high reward event!

The Result (And The Numbers)

So, what was the fruition of all these efforts?

First, let’s look at Steam wishlists. If a game gets to around 8000-12000 wishlists on Steam, depending on the genre, it starts to get ‘noticed’ by Steam. That means it’ll likely appear on the upcoming list and in recommended sections. The Spanish Privateer didn’t get anywhere CLOSE to that. We were getting an average of 6 daily wishlist additions, with just under 1000 wishlists upon release. Today, we have 1553 wishlists and a conversion rate or 7.1% (meaning 7.1% of people who wishlisted it have bought the game). This is below average for games on Steam. I expected this, considering how things were going leading up to this. My goal has always been to break even. As of the day I’m writing this (Jan 11, 2023), we have sold 162 copies of The Spanish Privateer on Steam and 81 copies of the digital bundle, with 33 copies sold on Itch.io and 21 of the guide. The final amount that arrived in the bank at the end of 2022 is about 1800 CAD. It’s a low amount, but I’m not complaining, either. I’ve made back my $1000 investment!!!!!!!!!! YAY!

That’s not to say you can’t make a living making visual novels. Just that I can’t. Maybe I will one day. But my best decision throughout this process was not investing too much money, only having three love interests, not getting feature-happy, and being careful with how I spent the money. Frankly, when I play The Spanish Privateer, sometimes I think to myself, ‘This is a $6000 game??? That’s it???’ I made the game I always wanted to play growing up, and for that, I’m proud of myself.

On a Personal Note

If you’ve read up until now, you’ve read all the game dev stuff! Hopefully this gives you a little perspective from someone who successfully published a game but has not made any income from it. You’re good to go, class dismissed.

In general, in online spaces, I prefer to be fairly private, especially when managing a company account. But I feel like I have had a number of transitions as The Spanish Privateer developed worth mentioning.

I started The Spanish Privateer following my second year of university, during my first co-op term (2018). I attended the winter semester of my third year, then moved to Tokyo for my second co-op term from summer of 2019 to March 2020. I took the summer off, then did the fall semester of my third year online (first Kickstarter launched). I then worked my third co-op term from the beginning of 2021 (second Kickstarter launched) to the end of the summer. After that, I moved back to Vancouver to complete my final year of university. I graduated in the spring of 2022, launched the game in the fall, and have been job searching ever since (☹). Which brings us to…

What’s Next

I have two major projects I would like to do. One is a TTRPG style adventure featuring EA and SEA pirates (haha, SEA, get it?). I’m running it as a D&D campaign for my friends, which has helped flesh it out, but it’s going to be a massive project in the end. The other is a Canadian mystery visual novel heavily inspired by the Ace Attorney series, Disco Elysium, and puzzlers like Nancy Drew and Professor Layton. Players will get to choose between two protagonists and play three different mysteries, getting to swap between the protagonists with each episode if they want. This one is something I really love writing. It’s murdery, it’s queer, it’s full of Canadianisms and sarcasm and features a cast of mid-twenties and thirties.

But I’ve actually been writing a classic interactive fiction/visual novel in an attempt to create an RPG system that works with Ren’Py for my needs. It’s fun, it’s text-only, it’s fantasy, and hopefully I’ll get to release it as a short, free adventure in homage of the modern IF games that I love playing these days. And of course, all of the games feature romance. It’s just optional this time. I’m sure I’ll want to create a traditional otome or amare visual novel at some point (ojijam is looking mighty tempting), but for now, I want to challenge myself in other ways.

Anyway, hopefully you have some insight as to what was going through my mind these past years. I’m always happy to chat dev stuff and give insight as to any part of the process. I’m also happy to be transparent about numbers, if someone wants any particular details on that. Thanks for reading ☺

-Natty

#postmortem #devlog

14 notes · View notes

iloveabunchofgames · 1 year

Text

#JakeReviewsItch

AIdol

by ebi-hime

Price (US): $10.99

Included In: Bundle for Racial Equality and Justice

Genre: Visual Novel

Pitch: A Vocaloid fan is shocked when the virtual idol she adores sends her a DM—and says she's in trouble!

My expectations: Developer ebi-hime has published 39 anime-style visual novels to Itch in the past eight years. I can only see the date they were made available on Itch, so it's possible some were released somewhere else prior to 2015. Regardless, 39 games is a mind-boggling number of games for anyone to develop in one lifetime, and ebi does appear to be a one-woman developer. Okay, but anyone can throw something together at a weekend game jam and call it a game, right? Well, here's where it gets weirder. Many of the Itch listings include each visual novel's word count and estimated time to completion. Among the pages with this information, most hover around either 50,000 words (2-3 hours) or 100,000 words (4-6). At least one game is double that. And people are playing these. ebi has more than 3,000 followers on Steam. Three people I follow on Twitter also follow @ebihime, including one of my close, personal friends. AIdol was funded by a KickStarter campaign that raised $2,872. I'm not saying these are huge numbers, but these games have dedicated fans. I am beyond intrigued.

Review:

Hana is just a boring girl. She doesn’t have friends. Her hair is short. She doesn’t know anything about makeup. She can’t cook. She listens to music. And on top of all that, she can’t cook and she doesn’t have friends!

Maybe if Hana didn’t spend half of her time repeating this list of unremarkable characteristics to herself, she could develop a personality, but who needs to be a human when they could instead be a fan?

Her passion is “virtual idol” Aiko, a Vocaloid popstar who performs hologram shows and sells stomach-churning quantities of overpriced merch. She’s basically Hatsune Miku, except the Lyriq corporation has given her artificial sentience for some reason. But something sinister is happening at Lyriq. Aiko’s programmer has been fired. Her code has been changed, and her memory has been erased. Now Hana and Aiko must work together to solve the mystery.

This mostly involves oops-I-bumped-into-you-and-spilled-coffee meet-cutes and shirtless boys.

It all bores the heck out of me. After an hour of purple prose and static images of generic anime people, I started skipping dialogue, hoping to get to the end, but I couldn’t even put up with that. Not for me.

+ The intro sequence—lots of quick cuts and effects set to (I think) an original song. It's lively and well produced; not at all what I expect from a visual novel. + There are occasional typos and grammatical errors, but again, it surpasses my expectations for this type of game. + Professional-looking artwork. I don't know how much is original, but asset packs are made to be used. + Ditto, music.

– I brushed my hair away from my forehead. It's hot today, and I hoped it would help me to cool down. Mom thinks I should try a new style, but I don't know anything about hair. We disagree about hair, but I am lucky to have her. Sometimes when I look at her, I think she looks like she's the same age as me, except her hair is different than mine, and I don't know much about hair. Or makeup. I prefer Aiko figurines. I ordered one from AImazon, an online store that is very popular on the idol forms. Other people on the forums can be rude, which is why I'm thinking about cutting back to only posting for 14 hours a day. With my hair away from my face, cooling me on this hot afternoon, which feels as hot as yesterday, I leave the forum and turn my attention to Tumblr. "Now I understand how someone can write 39 visual novels," I write. – Aiko asks Hana to help her find her original programmer. Hana asks the idol forum if anyone knows anything. Then she hops on a train and visits Lyriq headquarters. She doesn't get any information there. She spends a few minutes commenting on every person she sees walking outside. (Throughout this scene, the only things onscreen are her internal monologue and a picture of a deserted city block.) She stops into a café and watches a young man order coffee, with all the pointless detail of that scene from The Room. The man bumps into her and almost spills the coffee. The game forgets about Hana and instead follows the man on his walk to his office, where he waits for an elevator, talks to a co-worker, goes up the elevator, and talks to another co-worker about his experience getting coffee. The perspective shifts again to this co-worker. We learn about her life for a few minutes, and then she sits down to do her work. Part of her job is moderating the idol forums. She sees Hana's post and closes the thread. Back at home, Hana reads every response to her question, until she finally sees that the thread has been closed. She texts Aiko to tell her the bad news. – No.

🧡🧡🤍🤍🤍 Bottom Line: Props for making a complete product with decent production value. Anime and visual novels with minimal interactivity don't usually do anything for me, but even if that is your scene, surely there are better options than AIdol.

#JakeReviewsTwitch is a series of daily game reviews. You can learn more here. You can also browse past reviews...

• By name • By rating • By genre

#JakeReviewsItch #Computer Games #Video Games #Itch.io #Indie Games #AIdol #Idol singer #Hologram #ebi-hime #Bundle for Racial Equality and Justice #Purple Prose #Visual Novel #Ren'py #Anime #Mystery #Romance

3 notes · View notes

cockatrice-writers-guild · 2 years

Text

Left Behind

warnings: heavy themes, swearing, bleak situations, anger, graphic injury (doesn’t actually happen), discomfort, implications of suicide (doesn’t actually happen), needles, brief blood mention

“We’re going to make this work,” were the words spoken by the new government body spokesperson just minutes ago. The man looked uncertain, maybe a little scared. Maybe they all were. He sighed. “I’m…not going to sugar-coat it. These will be…these will be difficult times, I’m sure. I know this will be hard on you- on all of us really but…by God we’re going to try. We’re going to try and work together and…who knows, maybe with less people here the planet might just go back to being habitable in 20 years or so. …won’t they be surprised when they get back.” He let out a weak chuckle before the smile fell from his tired face. “…for now, please focus on settling into the nearest habitable city. Basic finances, food and housing will be provided. Just…hang in there for now. We’ll be okay. We’re going to be okay.”

The last ship left Earth about an hour ago.

Arla Patricks, a brilliant scientist in her mid fifties, still felt a strange…detachment from the whole ordeal. Like it was nothing more than a hallucination. A bad dream she would snap out of any second now. But deep down she knew the truth. No, that was…that was it. There were no more chances, no more financial goals or loans or desperately waiting for word of more funding for her research. That was the last chance she had of leaving this dying rock. And it was gone, just like that. All those fucking bigwigs gone to live it up on some glorified luxury space cruise a million miles away. With her and everyone else here left behind to rot. The poor and the outsiders and the frowned upon and even all those superpowered mutant freaks.

Just like the trash they all were, right?

Her fist was in the wall before she could even really register it, the drywall breaking easily beneath her fury. Her teeth were clenched and hot tears caused her vision to blur.

This wasn’t fair.

She had busted her ass time and time again for the old government’s stupid little bioweapon project; hell, she’d almost died a few times trying to get the blood samples she needed, even managing to get one from the Director himself. And for what? A shitty apartment? Having to beg and beg and beg for more funding so she could continue to do what they told her to? A death sentence for not being able to meet their impossible demands? She had tried her best for fucks sake! It wasn’t her fault they were so impatient! What the hell was wrong with them?

Something crashed across the room, sent there, she realized, by her own volition. Her breaths were ragged and heavy. Tears were streaming down her face.

She was alone. Alone. Everyone she knew and thought she loved was gone. People she’d known for years. And not a single one had lifted a finger to help her. She had nothing. Nothing but some clothes and basic furniture and her only existing prototype as proof of all her years of research, a small syringe containing liquid that, theoretically, when injected should give the person powers like the mutants, only stronger and without any weaknesses. Unstoppable super soldiers essentially, just like those bastards had requested. It was sent back to her with a note a few months ago claiming it was no longer needed with the ships leaving and all. Her funding was cut around the same time.

…she still had that damn thing.

It was in her hands now, the yellow liquid looking pale in the cheap overhead lights. This one was supposed to give the user the Director’s power; at the time she’d thought it would only be appropriate to kickstart the new race with the leader of the Agency himself after all. It weighed almost nothing in her hands. She had half the mind to throw it against the wall too but…

The syringe was empty and Patricks had just come to.

Her apartment was dark. It seemed power from her area had finally been cut. How long had she been there? There was an incessantly loud noise coming from…somewhere, more of a boom really, each one more deafening than the last, hammering against her skull like physical blows. The furniture had started to shudder with it.

She pulled herself off the floor slowly, arms shaking and drenched in sweat. There seemed to be some blood near her on the ground and her mouth tasted like copper. The room continued to sway, both by that accursed noise and her own light-headedness.

There was something…wrong with her. It was in her chest, something…something new. It felt…strange. Like it was pulsing. Nonstop. Impatient. Claustrophobic. Ready ready ready to burst forth. And it was almost unbearable. She wanted it gone. Now. She almost had the urge to claw it out of her chest right there and then but before her trembling hands, fingers already clawed and made ready by some unconscious desire to act out the deed could be raised, something appeared in her nearby window, distracting her.

It was an eye.

A human eye.

One large enough to block most of the few.

The eye jerked back, accompanied by an ear shattering curse, seemingly startled by her presence, before peering into the window once more.

“Uh,” a loud voice boomed into the small apartment, driving daggers into Patricks’ skull. It was the voice of a kid; some egotistical teenager way too in over his head. And she would know. She’d seen him more than once on the news before, playing up his bright and shiny and honorable government assigned hero role to all those watching. Just another of the old gov’s show ponies, sniffing around where they had no damn right. A mutant. “Ma’am, you’re not supposed to be here.”

“What?” She managed to hiss through her clenched teeth, surprised she could even speak at all through the slowly subsiding headaches and the pulsing pulsing pulsing.

“You need to leave, ma’am. Power won’t be returning to this area.” He sounded almost annoyed. Just who did he think he was? “If you have a phone, you can check which areas closest to you…”

The kid droned on and on, throwing information that she already knew back at her in that stupid condescending tone of his. She drowned it out, both to preserve her own sanity and because the pulsing was getting worse. A lot worse.

Surprisingly, though the endless white noise and the unimaginable discomfort, she made a curious discovery. In a way, she found that it was her; the horrible pulsing somehow being held back only by her ever declining willpower. But why was she holding it back? It wanted to be let out, didn’t it? And she knew that sooner rather than later, it would burst out of her chest anyway. Her strength was about to fail her and dying by her own faulty prototype seemed almost poetic in a way.

But…for some reason, she didn’t know why, maybe out of spite, she ‘aimed’ the terrible pulsing at the mutant taking up her window. Maybe the sight of her chest graphically exploding from the inside out would traumatize the little bastard or something. Take him down a peg or five, who knew. Fuck him. She kept her gaze fixed on that oversized pompous jerk and then, she let go.

And the kid was gone. Just like that. As was the pulse. And she was still alive.

Patricks pulled herself shakily to her feet and stumbled over to the window, trying to see if maybe she vaporized him or something. Looked around and…there! The kid was sitting down on the street below, looking confused and disgruntled and, most notably, of reasonable height once more.

…had she done that? The Director’s power had been the ability to neutralize other mutant’s powers temporarily. And she just…

The agent made eye contact with her and she saw something in his eyes. Confusion. Realization.

Fear.

He pulled himself off the ground and just stood there for a few seconds, like he was waiting for something to happen. Nothing did, which only served to make the kid more worried. Was he trying to… Were his powers…

Almost out of curiosity, Patricks imagined recalling the pulse to her, almost like she was physically pulling it back to herself.

And the pulsing was back, though much more subdued than before, nothing more than a quiet, constant buzz. The agent had once again become the size of a building. His huge features were screwed in deep perplexation. He met her gaze. Reached for her. She let go of the pulse again. The kid was normal sized once more.

Patricks was running, sprinting really, her sneakers pounding down the now dark hallway. Her chest was empty once more; she wanted to keep that agent off her trail for as long as she could help it. But she couldn’t deny, she also wanted to test the limits of this thing. If a bioweapon was truly that much stronger than a mutant, as she’d theorized, then she wanted to see how far she could take this.

And in spite of it all, she had a smile in her face, one that grew more sinister as she thought of the implications of this pretty new ability. Her research had worked. Her research had worked. Her research had worked. And those old government idiots had just handed her the key to their own fucking downfall. Mutants were nothing to her now. She could get as much blood from them as she needed. Use the secret bases she’d worked at to develop them into more serum. Get some volunteers to join her little cause; she doubted she was the only one upset at all those bastards for leaving.

And then, she’d simply return their little gift in full. Thank them for all the nice things they’d put her through, put them all through.

After all, it was just karma, right?

#writeblr #original writing #original story #Ivy and Rainer #OCs #the rooster crows

3 notes · View notes

someonelookingpraediti · 1 year

Text

A Year of Sanderson Guesses, Wishes, Hopes, Dreams...

I've just started reading the first "Secret Project" book, Tress of the Emerald Sea, and the first swag box is due to ship any time now, so this seems like the ideal time to ponder what might be headed my way this year.

For anyone who missed it, last March Brandon Sanderson announced that he had written, in secret, four additional, unplanned books during the pandemic. There was a Kickstarter to fund "A Year of Sanderson" - a delivery of goodies each month in 2023. That's four premium hardcover books, and eight boxes of Sanderson swag. In the time it took me to watch the video and to pledge (about half an hour) it was already funded.

But I've got a confession. I'm just... not that into the Cosmere. I know, I know, that's the worst possible thing I could say! How can I still call myself a Sanderson fan?!

Please don't get me wrong, I really love the books individually, but I don't like this big multi-series crossover thing! It's way too much, I want to just be a casual fan! I can't devote all my runtime to one fandom!

In my opinion, you just shouldn't have to work so hard to partake in entertainment.

However, I adore his Sci-Fi works, so, so much, and they don't deserve to be so overshadowed. I just like his non-Cosmere writing more than any of the series in the Cosmere.

So, as I try to speculate over what might be in these swag boxes, it's going to be a bit coloured by my personal preference for his other writing. Don't take it to heart.

Firstly, some general wants for the books and the swag!

As something of a book subscription connoisseur, I've got really high expectations for these "premium" books. The absolute top priority is that they need to work as a set! They've got to line up on my shelf looking like they were designed to sit together. Other than that, I expect artwork endpapers, a ribbon bookmark, some fancy foiling, and gilded edges. I'd appreciate slipcases. They need to be premium.

And as for the goodies! Well, even for a book subscription, these are pricey. I mean, really expensive. So I'm expecting big things from these swag boxes. In an ordinary subscription box, you get a fully customised hardback book, plus four to five exclusive bookish goodies. These eight boxes are more expensive, and you don't get a book in them! So I want to get my money's worth. I expect at least seven goodies per box.

Normally in subscription boxes you get the usual: bookmarks, notebooks, enamel pins, book sleeves, stickers. I love this stuff, but I'm hoping it's not all like this. I'd really like to see something super unique and original in these boxes. One or two ordinary bookish items maximum, and the rest should be... imaginative! Unusual stuff we don't get elsewhere! One thing I really, really don't want is figurines. I honestly hate them so much.

Box 1 : Hoid

I've got to be honest, I don't like Hoid. I know it's an unpopular opinion, I just think he's over hyped. So the fact that this got promoted to the first box, and bumped the Cytoverse (my absolute favourite series!) box to second? Personal attack. I can't think of anything I actually want in this box, I just wish it wasn't coming first. As long as this is imaginative, I don't know what else to ask for.

Box 2 : Cytoverse

Now this is the box I'm waiting for! I love this series with my entire soul.

Top of my list for this box is a Slug plushie! I know they've already done a Doomslug one, but I'd love if you got a random type of slug in your box, especially if it had a voice box that trilled when you squeezed it!

And I'm probably aiming too high, but I really want a hardback copy of Defending Elysium. The only edition they released is so rare, they're almost impossible to come by. I'd really like if they did a little hardback volume, with a reversible dust jacket, that matched the US editions on one side, and the UK editions on the other.

It's too much to ask for a DDF Jumpsuit. A girl can dream. But we definitely need something suitably cool and very sci-fi for this box. Maybe something techy!

Box 3 : Mistborn

Ahh my first. It's been so, so long since I read any of these books, and I haven't read the latest yet - I'll have to try to get to it before this box arrives. The original Mistborn trilogy are probably the best, and most well-known of his fantasy works, so I think this will be a really good box!

It's probably too much to ask for a mistcloak - but c'mon, that's what everyone is hoping for, right?!

Although mostly I want Era 1 stuff, I would love one of those "Soonie Pup" things that are in the newspaper clippings in Era 2 - the plushies shaped like TenSoon! Bonus points if it turns inside out to become a Mistwraith plushie! Too cute!

Box 4 : Elantris & Emperor's Soul

I remember loving Elantris when I read it - but it's been well over a decade, so I don't actually remember it all that well! I didn't like Emperor's Soul as much though.

I genuinely don't remember this well enough to know of anything I might want relating to this book! I should probably reread it, but honestly, my reading list is so full, I'm going to struggle to fit everything in as it is.

Box 5 : Cosmere

Ok, I'm a broken record, I know! But would it not be better to have a "non-Cosmere" box here, instead? Like, an "Everything Else" box.

We've already got a box for every Cosmere series, plus one specifically for a Cosmere character. So what could possibly be in here that isn't in the other boxes?

I imagine we're probably going to get some sort of big map thingy? Maybe a t-shirt? I just don't know what might be in here! I hope it's something cool, I'll be disappointed if it's like, a poster.

Box 6 : Warbreaker

SWORD! I want a sword! Or, more realistically, I guess, something Nightblood themed, like a letter opener shaped like Nightblood.

This is a really great chance for them to get creative here - I want something that really plays into the use of colour in the book, something super original, that I'd never have thought of putting into a book box, and more than anything, something beautiful.

To be honest, Elantris and Warbreaker probably could have shared a box, they didn't really need their own months.

Box 7 : Stormlight

Such a love/hate relationship with this series. Love, because it's clearly the best series, and I adore most of the characters. Hate, because I adore most of the characters! And by book four, I just couldn't continue to read about them being tortured! I never finished it! But I'm definitely looking forward to some goodies! After Cytoverse, this is probably the box I'm most looking forward to.

We've got to get something Shardblade themed! If we don't get a Nightblood letter opener, then this is the place for it. Or maybe a Shardblade shaped pen? Or a set of Shardblade pens!!

I'd love a set of Spheres. Different sizes, with different "gemstones" inside them! In a little money pouch! It's a lot to ask for, but it would be amazing if they had like, little LEDs in them, and if they came with a charging base or something, so you could charge them up, and they would glow!! Imagine how cool that would be!

And a pet Axehound. Obviously.

Box 8: Sanderson Fan

I have no idea what this entails. Is it going to just be a mish-mash of all his works?

I'm really hoping this is the "Everything Else" box I'm after. I'm gutted that there isn't a Reckoners box, because I love that series, so I'd be thrilled with something from those books in here.

We're probably going to get a 2024 calendar in this one, since it's the last box of the year, but it's probably going to be all Cosmere.

I guess we might get some goodies related to the four books that are being released as part of the Year of Sanderson? Imagine if he went all out and threw in another new book for this box!

And, ok. I know this is never, ever going to happen, because it's not one of his popular works, and no one ever talks about it, but my absolute favourite Sanderson work ever, is Firstborn. I know it's only 40 pages and it's a standalone, and no one else cares about it, but I love it so much. So if we got something Firstborn related in here, I would forgive Brandon all his sins, and I would never, ever complain again.

#book subscription box #a year of sanderson #misc

0 notes

sanpolh · 2 years

Text

Shay broken age

SHAY BROKEN AGE FULL

SHAY BROKEN AGE PC

In another world, I might be whining “Wait, this is it?” after zipping through. That may or may not be true, and if it is, I do understand.

SHAY BROKEN AGE FULL

In practice, being split into episodes hasn’t been to its favour, both in terms of how over-familiar its world feels despite our limited exposure to it, and how bloated this new instalment feels-like a third of the game has been forcibly over-inflated to be a full half to justify the time taken, rather than simply presented as originally intended. Broken Age wants to be one adventure game, simply rolling along from start to finish as if the last year never happened. It's just disappointing that, at some crucial moments, it fails to give the player enough tools with which to solve them.I say ‘Part 1’ and ‘Part 2’, but it’s not quite that simple. In an age in which many point-and-click adventures tend towards not ever letting players get stuck, it is nice to see Broken Age sporting some legitimately challenging puzzles. Some of the puzzles are arguably illogical-as in, it doesn't make sense why that solution was necessary-but because you only have a few things to interact with, you were likely to eventually happen upon a combination that led you down the right path.ĭouble Fine did promise us an authentic 1990's-style adventure game, and that's precisely what it's delivered, warts and all. They might be incredibly subtle, but they exist for you to find, and it's entirely possible that one person will spot them instantly while it might take another hours. I found some of the latter-game puzzles to be maddeningly difficult-but the clues are there. Your experience with the rest of Broken Age's puzzles may vary. At that point, you should have inferred that the rules have been changed. Because when you reach a point with Shay in which you need Vella's information to solve a puzzle, he actually says "Gee, I would know what to do if I were on my ship." He's not on his spaceship at that point, but Vella is, and that's your clue to start up her adventure at that point if you want to proceed. Now, the funny thing is, had I arbitrarily decided to start in Shay's section, my experience might have been totally different. Finding out that I was basically spinning cycles because I wouldn't be able to solve that puzzle without actually giving up on it, ditching Vella's section and starting all over in Shay's section, I felt pretty well and burned. I spent, let's say, a very long time wandering through every room, meticulously trying to use every item in my inventory with everything else, clicking on everything again, desperate for some shred of information that was not forthcoming.Įventually, I cheated: Double Fine had passed out a walkthrough with the review copies, and I looked at it. One of the final puzzles in Vella's section, again, required information from Shay's half (buried deep, deep, deep in Shay's half, it turned out later). This week, it finally drops Act 2, putting Broken Age back together. Surprising no one, Double Fine ran out of money, and began to sell the first half of the game via Steam Early Access about a year ago.

SHAY BROKEN AGE PC

The higher-than-expected funding caused the scope of Broken Age to balloon massively going from a tiny iOS game to a full-on PC and console release starring Elijah Wood and featuring music from the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Back in February 2012, game developer Double Fine took a gamble and asked for the then-unheard-of sum of $400,000 via Kickstarter to make a small-scale point-and-click adventure game, something that the company's fans had long begged for but that it felt was financially impossible to fund through traditional means. We've been waiting a long time for this day. Broken Age resurrects all of the key features of classic 1990's adventure games: Gorgeous artwork, a fascinating storyline, funny writing, and puzzles that don't make any freaking sense.

#Shay broken age

0 notes

eleonorpiteira · 2 years

Photo

Ace of Swords (reversed) for Wyrmwood Gaming’s Corrupted Tarot

Kickstarter here :D

#corrupted tarot #wyrmwood gaming #ace of swords #reversed ace of swords #illustration #tarot #digital illustration #digital painting #art only tag #the kickstarter was funded in like half an hour or something!!#but it's still going strong #it's a fantastic project #and FULL of fantastic artists #perfect for the halloween season so check it out! :D

1K notes · View notes

tanoraqui · 4 years

Note

I have no idea what critical role is but you reblog it a lot. Is it just a bunch of people playing video games or something?

Critical Role is an ongoing RPG game (D&D 5e) played by a bunch of notable voice actors from video games, including Ashely Johnson (The Last of Us), Liam O’Brien (idk, he voiced some guy named Illidan somewhere? I know very little about video games), and Laura Bailey (she’s Laura goddamn Bailey). The Dungeon Master is Matthew Mercer (blanking - Overwatch cowboy) who’s REALLY GODDAMN GOOD at being a DM, and indeed does it as part of his full-time job now, because at some point they all went “fuck it” and incorporated as their own company. Because fuck yeah. Last spring (my god it was only last spring) they did a kickstarter to fund an animated series of some previous RPG adventures, and it broke several records and now - slowed by the global pandemic - there’s gonna be 2 seasons of an animated show, hosted by Amazon I think? (Every time I think about that I scream softly in excitement in my mind.)

It’s currently on its second big, multi-year campaign, with the adventuring party The Mighty Nein. Their previous campaign starred Vox Machina. Some highlights, arbitrarily mixed together, include:

that time Vox Machina had a cannonball contest, displaying their distinct personalities and powersets really well, actually

that time the Mighty Nein accidentally got into a fight with some smugglers and then the city guard, accidentally stole a ship, and thus, and I cannot emphasize this enough, accidentally became pirates

“Take me instead, you raven bitch.” - Vax’ildan of Vox Machina, half-elven rogue, offering his own life to the goddess of death in exchange for his sister’s and (unbeknownst to him at the time) beginning of long character arc of multiclassing as a paladin

Vox Machina’s archnemeses: doors, and also the elderly

the Mighty Nein’s archnemeses: chairs

Veth Brenatto, sometimes Nott the Brave, of the Mighty Nein regaining - with the help of her friends - her halfling form after years as a goblin, and immediately dip-kissing her husband and kicking all aforementioned friends (and her son) out so they can have sex

Taliesin Jaffe had eerie luck with nat20s in the Vox Machina campaign, but I maintain that Laura Bailey [harp music] actually has the best record for narratively on-point nat20s, including but not limited to:

two consecutive nat20s as Vex’ahlia of Vox Machina, half-elven ranger, to shoot the Briarwoods (sexy wizard/vampire couple) when they were about to kill her brother

True Love’s Nat20, rolling as part of the resurrection ritual to bring back Percy (Percival Fredrickstein von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III, human gunslinger of VM)

in the culminating moment of an episode in which the M9 one by one spoke with ancient, evil hag about what they might trade her in order to lift the curse on Nott, tiefling Jester Lavorre rolling at nat20 deception check to trick the into hag eating a cupcake laced with magic dust that lowered her ability to resist the Modify Memory curse Jester immediately cast, convincing the hag that she’d already agreed to the deal without demanding anything in return

not a Vex roll but Vex-enabled: dropping Grog (goliath barbarian) out of basically a magical pokeball with perfect dramatic timing for him to roll a nat20 final blow on his evil abusive uncle, cleaving him in twain

“Call me child one more goddamn time--” - Keyleth of the Air Ashari, half-elven druid of VM, snarling at the ancient green dragon who’d orchestrated the destruction of 1/4 of Keyleth’s people

“You were not born with poison in your veins....Welcome to the Mighty Nein.” - Caleb Widogast, human wizard, consoling/forgiving/welcoming aa lawful evil NPC who they’d caught playing a major part in creating a war between two empires for The Greater Ultimate Good (and kinda his own personal gain)...but he was their friend already at that point and Caleb had his own history with doing terrible things that he thought were right at the time, and actually someone else might’ve said the “Welcome to the Mighty Nein” part but that’s intrinsically part of it, and it’s...something they say to a lot of people; to a range of NPCs and guest characters. Which is interesting because Vox Machina DIDN’T; they were a tighter family unit but...well, they were a tighter family unit. And kinda...better people, more Heroes(TM)? Disastrous and often very fucked up inside and sometimes out, but Heroes(TM), on the whole.

whereas the M9 are more trying to sort out their own personal problems, and stumble into international politics almost by mistake. Even their relationships with NPCs are different - they don’t trust, none of the M9 trust in a way VM did, the party took much longer to gel just with each other. Partly, admittedly, because by the time Vox Machina came to the YouTube screen, the cast had been playing at home for about a year, whereas we’ve been watching the M9 from level 1...but even accounting for that, they’re all much less trusting people. Most of them had big secrets in their backstory

which is why it’s all the more wonderful every time they invite someone new it, either outside the group or just with each other. And it pays off - I don’t have a whole meta, but I’ve been thinking idly for a while about how kinda...the big (DM-created) plot twists in the VM campaign were generally...disruptions, dissolutions, or betrayals? The deception of Raishan (aforementioned ancient green dragon.) Hotis’s assassination attempt on Vax, while disguised as a trusted NPC. When Emperor Uriel stepped down and before he’d even finished his speech, there was a sudden invasion of 4 goddamn ancient dragons. Whereas the M9...not only have no NPCs unexpectedly turned on them (the grievous actions of aforementioned lawful evil NPC were mostly pre-story), but it feels almost like a plot twist every time an NPC in authority is benevolent? Like, they arranged peace negotiations between the warring empires and I think every single fan and player was waiting with bated breath for it to all go wrong...and it didn’t. There’s a truce, now. Will it last? Who knows. Jester’s god turned out to not be a god at all, just an archfey in over his head, but he’s not trying to hurt anyone - he came clean and asked for help.

Idk, man. Critical Role streams on Twitch every Thursday at 7pm, or at least, it’ll keep doing so if public health concerns don’t make it take a break again, and it makes me unironically happy to watch, pretty much every time. The cast has great friend chemistry and, now that they’ve all warmed up to each other, so do the characters.

Episodes DO tend to be 3-4 hours long, shaving off maybe half an hour in the podcast versions, so be aware of that. But I just kind of set Thursday evenings aside and I love it.

it’s funny bc I told my roommate I probably wasn’t going to go on a long emphatic ramble in response to this but Here We Are

#critical role #random anon asks

99 notes · View notes

solaneceae · 3 years

Text

melded felt

wrote a thingy for @cranbersher ‘s animated series on youtube

the series finale is getting funded via kickstarter, so please go check it out if you want it to get a good ending!

***

The process wasn’t ‘painful’ per say.

They’re not sure how wire and felt bodies can register such things. A byproduct of a supposed ‘word of god’, in a sick desire to make his little toys more ‘real’?

Well. It doesn’t really matter. Not much does, not after what they’ve been through.

Their memories of that moment are spotty at best. It could have been agony, or maybe it was more like a numbness settling in the light, featureless limbs. Oh no, it did hurt. I remember that. But I carried it for you. I protected you. Aren’t I such a good older brother?

They don’t know why they came to consider themselves as such. Puppets didn’t have family. Only a mockery, an ersatz of filial relationships- they were never supposed to coexist like this in the first place, were they?

The feeling of burning pinpricks crawling up their metal spine. A pressure in their mind, uninvited but also not, desperate, battling to make room in a too-small, broken vessel. Hatred and fear and loathing for the other and them and him and me, me, us, me.

Could one really protect something he loathed? Could one really resent something that was also him? They were all they had. Mine. Mine. Ours. Together.

And god, all the arguing. Always with the arguing. Over who moved what, who said what, who was who, where to go, shut up, can’t hear myself think, can’t think, stop, make it stop please!

It wasn’t sustainable- not as they dragged themselves through mud and dead leaves getting weighed down by all the moisture of Outside, heavy, so very heavy. Not as they hid, twisted and stained and features lost in their path, blind and bitter and so, so tired.

They lose time- a lot of it. Real time moves by so fast as they ‘sleep’, unmoving, half-formed dream-memories where giant fleshy digits rip their rubby arms off and pluck their eyes out as an upbeat music plays in the background. Thinking is draining. Emoting at all saps all their energy and leaves them in a numb haze. Over time, the arguing dies down, leaving hours of blankness between rogue thoughts.

One night, they realize they can no longer tell who’s memories belonged to who. Sharing a headspace will do that to you. Blend everything down until you can’t imagine what you even used to look like. Or why you carry such animosity towards other parts of yourself that feel foreign but also not.

For all they know. They were always one in the first place. The disjointed memories certainly seem to blur together more and more.

“You’re slipping again.”

Oh. That’s what they sound like. Did they sound like that before? They can feel something move over their face, and he’s not doing that. They. Are not. But he is?

“Focus. I won’t do this for long. You have to remember.” Remember what? “Our promise. We have to remind each other when we slip.”

He knows that. Of course he knows. “Good. It won’t be long now. Time is running out. And it’s all up to them.”

Then silence again, and a pressure in the seam where one of his eyes used to be. It reminds him of void, a voice and a tangy, chemical smell.

***

SUPPORT THE GUIDES HERE

#cranbersher #cranbersher's guide #cranbersher's guide to stop motion #cgtsm #character study #np #op #broken

7 notes · View notes

rpgsandbox · 4 years

Link

Introducing the Teacher-Gamer Handbook

The Teacher-Gamer Handbook is a resource for educators to lead Role Playing Games (such as Dungeons and Dragons) in the classroom, in homeschool and online. It contains a full semester of robust lesson plans and the pedagogical infrastructure to last years that teach 36 life-skills to players with pre-created adventure suggestions, narrative arcs and prompts.

The main premise is: you can’t learn something unless you notice it. The purpose of the RPG Skillset is to generate multitudes of continuous opportunities to notice things within at least 36 major domains of self-development. The possibilities are endless.

My name is Zach.

Here is a brief history of how the Teacher-Gamer Handbook came to be:

1982 played Dungeons and Dragons for the first time - my character died in the first 10 minutes, it was so fascinating and unlike anything I had ever experienced... I was hooked! I have been playing RPGs for thousands of hours and almost 4 decades. Some would call me an O.G. (Original Gamer).

1990’s adventuring in life, school, work, music production, becoming Canadian and starting a family steered me in new directions.

2002+ raising two boys with my wife Sophie, I was teaching and studying by day, hangin' with the family and playing RPGs when I could on weekends.

2006 enrolled in an MA program in Education to better understand the “how” of teaching and learning.

2010 finished my Masters in Education focused on authentic learning and life-skills curriculum development.

2012 realized that role-playing games (RPGs) in Schools was an untapped resource. I began working on the Teacher-Gamer as an extension of my Distinct Self well-being program.

2014-2016 brought RPGs in Schools curriculum into the classroom at Green School Bali

2015-present Wild Mind Training workshops blending RPGs in Schools with mindfulness ramps into wilderness trips with Wildlife Conservation Society.

2020 Teacher-Gamer Revolution! - happening offscreen on tabletops everywhere! Let’s get radical about balancing EdTech and AI coming into schools by bringing our teacher’s hobbies into life-skills classes that enrich youth with socio-emotional and literary skills while maintaining the distinctly human teacher-student relationships that cannot be replaced by computers.

What We Need & What You Get

I started this campaign for three main reasons:

It is time to put the Teacher-Gamer Revolution on the timeline, now, globally. It is so important to take what you have inside you and put it into the civic sphere. I urge all educators to make the world a better place by combining their passions with their pedagogical skills and make them available to the public.

Self-publishing the Teacher-Gamer Handbook (TGHB) will launch this new step of my career with all the support of my colleagues, friends and anyone who likes the idea that robust off-screen game-system-learning (engaging face-to-face life-skills development) is a viable initiative to balance the influx of technology into schools.

The TGHB is my calling card, a beacon, an organized methodology that I can put into the hands of people I meet at conferences, conventions and school boards wherever I go.

I took a calculated risk and have already borrowed the money to:

finish the book

have it typeset in the style of a role-playing game handbook

make videos to explain how teaching RPGs in schools works

build a website with a private interactive forum.

I also plan to use the momentum and connections I make with so many people around the world to take the curriculum to the next level.

My ultimate goal is to hit at least $60,000 so that I can spread the methodology online and hit the road when the world opens up again to safe conferences and in-person education.

Here's the Teacher-Gamer Revolution plan for the funds raised on IndieGoGo:

Hard Copy prints of the book for everyone!

Hit our stretch goals and produce additional resources for Teacher-Gamers to accompany the Handbook.

Finish the next three handbooks full of additional lesson plans, classroom activities and teaching strategies.

Newsletters with practical activities

Instructional videos

Teacher-gamer website features celebrating educator success around the world

Weekly Webinars for online outreach and support

Teacher training workshop deployment to implement new full-scale RPGs in the classroom programs.

Head to Conferences and speaking events to grow the community and gain traction.

Continued customization of RPGs in Schools curriculum in community centers, school boards, correctional facilities and homeschools far and wide.

Finish the next three handbooks full of additional lesson plans, classroom activities and teaching strategies.

Benefits for the Educators

help schools transition into more life-skills programs that prepare youth for adulthood

build progressive opportunities for face-to-face off-screen courses in schools

maintain positive attitudes about the future of schools

work to make life-skills more prominent in schools for the subject teacher who is getting pushed out by tech

Strengthen relationships with students through gameplay

The last thing a teacher wants to feel like is “obsolete”. There is some hustle each teacher must do to remain fresh, viable and relevant in their community, but if teachers are trying to battle incoming tech or are being asked to do more tech type roles, they will have to find ways to shift the consciousness of the institutes they work in or be moved around or pushed out.

This is a call to teachers to take their passions- or at least an opportunity to pick up this methodology to teach games- and deploy life-skills into their learning environment.

The Impact

By contributing to the Teacher-Gamer Handbook, you are doing more than just buying a book or helping it get printed, you help:

establish the printing, distribution and sale of the book

the off-screen Teacher-Gamer Revolution gain traction and take flight

bring viability to the TEACHER-GAMER profession

subject teachers to collaborate with their peers to build robust game systems into learning opportunities

wilderness survival teachers establish classroom simulations of safety and role-playing through authentic learning narratives

bring a whole new piece of curriculum to holistic education

make in-roads for RPGs in Schools to become a discipline unto itself that helps youth process the multiverse of systems, franchises, worlds and cultures that are coming at them at high-speed through the internet and media.

The Story

The Teacher-Gamer Handbook has been over 8 years in the making!

The RPGs in Schools program was originally developed as an extension to a Personal and Social Development Local Programme course cycle in Canadian public school – a well-being curriculum program of life-skills electives at The English Montreal School Board in Quebec. Since then, the RPGs in Schools program has been adapted into the Wild Mind Training resiliency program for youth, 10 years old and older in schools and camps in Indonesia and the UK where I have been working over the last 6 years.

Starting in 2014, Green School Bali was an early adopter of the RPGs in Schools Program where I ran Introduction to Dungeons and Dragons as an English literacy course (creative writing) in high school and as an English literacy course (communication thematic) in middle school.

Every child surveyed in Green School reported that they liked the RPGs class and over half of them considered it their favorite class!

As I went along, I started realizing that all the life skills (21 basic and 15 advanced) that I was teaching could be dialed in to meet various curriculum goals and that if I put learners on a narrative cycle such as the Hero’s Journey, they would begin to recognize so many more thematics, symbols, motifs and literary forms as they relate to so many of the stories, books, films, TV series, mangas and other sagas that they follow.

Re-branded as Wild Mind Training, over the last 4 years. I have been experimenting with more mindfulness, wilderness conservation and improvisational theatre elements. As a home school aggregate on the weekdays and a weekend workshop for day school children, I have ironed out the kinks of three different levels of Introduction to Life-Skills through 3rd edition Dungeons and Dragons courses.

As with any pedagogy delivery system, the context and content (ie. role-playing game being used) can be adjusted into the area of study or subject. What matters most is that the learning system is authentically motivating and delivers opportunity after opportunity to acquire literacy, socio-emotional and life skills.

Risks & Challenges

Getting the book printed is only the first step. I’m taking a huge financial risk of my own even if the project does not get funded. In order for it to succeed, I have to get out there and hit the road to show people how the methodology really improves the learning experience for the students and teachers.

I’ve got to hit trade shows, book speaking events, and still create workshops to help teacher-gamers really kickstart this program.

Let’s keep it real: this is an alternative learning method that requires adaptation. There may be backlash as conventional school systems are entrenched in “standardization”. I have to keep pushing this body of work as a complement to curricula by expanding the resources for teachers.

Gamification has brought games into education, but have also made the teachers gatekeepers to the computer. The negative result is that kids will be on their best behavior just to be allowed to get on screen. We need to bring value back to the teacher-student relationship, also making the teacher-gamer an exciting part of education - off-screen!

The Teacher-Gamer Revolution is on!

And I am ready. The time is NOW. If not us, then who?

As a network of early adopters it is YOU that will help me carry this forward and YOU that by belief in this project, will help extend the reach of the Teacher-Gamer Revolution.

We have some goals to hit, and time is of the essence. There has been so much learned by going for it and I am so excited to turn this guerilla-style launch of getting the first Handbook off the ground and into teachers hands everywhere.

We will try to get questions answered as soon as possible, just know we are also trying to get the book to print BEFORE the end of the campaign and have a lot going on.

That being said, we are GOING TO PRINT and get your copies to you as SOON as possible. Depending on your location this could take some time as we are a GLOBAL movement with community around the world, but can only afford to print in ONE location at this time.

Print and delivery is scheduled for June 15th and getting copies in your hands by July 1st. But again, your patience is much appreciated and we will update you every step of the way!

Thanks to you for all your patience and getting involved.

Indiegogo campaign ends: 24 April 2020

Website: [Teacher Gamer] [facebook] [twitter] [instagram]

#RPG #indiegogo #Teacher Gamer Handbook #real world #education

150 notes · View notes

prorevenge · 5 years

Text

Force me to quit? Fine, let me collapse your whole organisation

My wife thought I should submit this but I'm not sure if it's pro revenge enough for you guys. Anyway...wall of text incoming.

So about three years ago I was asked by a friend to help out a wheelchair bound disabled chap called Gary who wanted to go swimming but none of his care staff apart from my friend were willing to take him, I agreed because I've worked in care at all levels previously so I was fine with helping a chap out.

I was there a month or so before they asked if I was willing to take on actual shifts there. I was so started very part time initially.

The shifts were a waking night/sleep from 23:00 till 12:00 the next day, and a single four hour shift between 15:00 and 19:00. I was given a couple of day shifts and I was tasked with picking up any shifts because of holidays or illness by other staff members.

He had four other staff, my friend Ash, a dude called Jake, one called Craig, and the most problematic Lisa.

Lisa picked up one sleep per week and a couple of day shifts, the problem is that she was a raging alcoholic who just didn't come to work if she wanted to go out drinking instead. But Gary fancied her a bit, and she was very touchy feely with him I think to manipulate him as he's very lonely.

Jake wouldn't work a weekend and would only do two sleeps, plus he didn't like doing any house work and he didn't like doing personal care because he thought it was gross.

Craig would only work three sleeps and never a day shift, he didn't believe he should have to do any house work at all he wouldn't even make a bed. Things were changed in the scheme to suit him, Hoover's had to be emptied and cleaned every time you used it, no sheets were kept on the carers bed as he didn't think he should change them, the young guy had to be put in his PJs by the day staff as he didn't want to do that either.

Again, like I say, nobody was willing to take him swimming and now I knew why.

Please just allow yourself a moment to understand that two staff members had at least 65% of the alloted hours but would not do any housework or personal care. Craig has worked this job for a decade and made at least £1800 every month without fail but without having to do any work and for half the week he just has entire days to do nothing. Easy money.

These three staff members are seemingly bulletproof and nothing they do gets them dismissed. Lisa had at this point been suspended three times during my tenure for being drunk and abusive on duty. At one point she was suspended for ten weeks while they let everything blow over.

So I get taken on to mainly make up for the fact his mother is off on the sick as she has had surgery on her knee. But after about a year or so I became aware that his mother is being paid a full wage every month but without statutory sick pay being noted on her payslip.

I immediately know what's up. She is in control of his account that the local authority pays money into that he then pays his care staff from. I also find out that he is also using this account to fund his lifestyle, including adult chatrooms, clothes, and gifts for his staff. He is quite blatant about it, laughs about it often.

I find this really galling because I pay tax to my local authority every month, like every family in the UK, and that pays for everything in my area including social care.

So I report this to the local authority and get absolutely no joy. Very disappointed in this I decide to continue working there but save all the evidence I can for the future. I also convince him to keep a hand over book for the staff to note what their activities were that day so anyone curious can track what things staff are and aren't doing.

Anyway up until last week I was working for him for about 30 hours a week and handling a lot of the day to day problems. But I get a text from his mother saying she is returning to work the following week so my services will be reduced to a single four hour shift once a fortnight. I said thank you but no thank you and I worked till my final paycheck and called it quits.

Now as a last ditch attempt to get someone to listen I send a lengthy email to the emergency care team at the adult care service where I detailed absolutely everything.

I got interest, and today somebody came out to interview me.

They were incredibly interested in what I had to say and confirmed my initial email kickstarted an investigation into his situation. They told me they had been building a case against his situation for a while and that it stretches back the entire twenty years he had been able to pay for his own care.

I had documented that his mother had paid herself for working 9 hours every Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday for every month that I had worked there. She had submitted timesheets herself to the local authority that documented this. She had also submitted the timesheets to the council that showed the same days that she was apparently working she had arranged for other staff to work them, namely me and two others. She had also sent messages to me that documented her communicating with me to continue to cover her shifts. The handover book documented what had been done that day, she never wrote in it obviously. Medication charts at the property documented who gave him medication that day, she never signed it.

So yesterday morning he was called to the council to explain to them why his entire contingency fund was gone, this was meant to pay for sick pay, maternity pay, and any other unforseen monetary problems he may encounter. There was nothing left. He admitted some guilt and cut them a cheque for £5000 on the spot, this money was something he came into recently after his grandfather had died.

That was a humongous admission of guilt.

Then when the social worker met Gary at his address yesterday and after some probing he admitted that yes he was aware of the conspiracy that he and his mother operated and yes he was paying her a full wage every month knowing that she was not working.

Again, jackpot for that social working and an even bigger admission of guilt.

The social worker was meant to then interview the mother but at that point she knew it was knowingly criminal and that he and his mother had entered a criminal conspiracy to defraud the council over a potential twenty year period to the tune of a quarter of a million pounds at least.

She contacted the police and left them to arrest the mother and interview her.

I was told I will be contacted in due course to be interviewed by the police as would all other staff.

I was also told that he would no longer be in control of his staffing at all and there is no way that the other staff members would be taken on by the care organisation that would have to be brought in to run his care. The only other person who would interview for his position would be my buddy as he had a faultless record.

I'm jobless at the moment but hey I take a foreign holiday next week and I'll put in the groundwork in to get a new job for when I arrive home.

Edit. Just in case I didn't make it clear, those workers who were seemingly bulletproof was because they were aware of the deception and it'd be unwise to dismiss them. Something the mother was absolutely right about because I immediately ruined her grift.

(source) story by (/u/fastdub)

#prorevenge #by /u/fastdub #pro revenge #revenge stories #pro revenge stories #pro #revenge #last10

232 notes · View notes

gothita · 4 years

Text

Sorry I've been so inactive recently, everyone!! I leave my queue running but it's close to empty so I'll try to fix that today. Working on my game and keeping up with advertising it on social media and answering questions and all that is...hard work lol, like making a game - even a visual novel - is practically a full time job.

The Kickstarter is 1/3 of the way funded so there's still lots more work to be done. Yesterday I finished an updated promo video, and even though it's far from professional it still took me the entire day (a total 8 hours of work) to get it adjusted to something half decent. In other words, even when I'm not writing the game directly, I'm still hard at work.

I'm sure it's frustrating to people who followed me for other things to see me focusing so much on my own project, but I assure you I'm doing my best to keep up with everything! If you see me reblog my game info, I'd really appreciate it you could reblog it too to spread the word. But I'm also just happy to have all of you sticking around!

Thank you all for understanding. ♡

#starry arcane

10 notes · View notes

bunkershotgolf · 4 years

Photo

A Walking Game with Walker Trolleys

By ED TRAVIS

There those of us who think of golf is a walking game and shun even the thought of riding the four or more miles of a typical eighteen. There is the question though that without a caddy walking requires carrying a bag of maybe 30 lbs. loaded with clubs, balls, umbrella and all the other paraphernalia we deem necessary.

The obvious solution is a pushcart and there are some good ones but if you are in the market for a pushcart the recently introduced Walker Trolley should be on your short list to check out. It combines the refreshing approach of classic clean lines with advance design features.

Weighing in at 19 lbs. the feature of the Walker Trolley Cape model first catching our attention was the center hub, a patent pending design, allowing the legs to fold on two different axes making pre-round unfolding and post-round folding a breeze. Simple and quick to do the folded Trolley fits in any car trunk.

The body is aluminum with a brightly polished finish framing the wire wheels which boast white sidewall tires. There’s a carryall pocket of waxed canvass attached to the leather wrapped handle for extra golf balls, scorecard, pencil, drinks, etc. while the lower storage area can handle a variety of items including a cooler. And a further example of the thought in the Trolley’s design, engaging and disengaging the parking brake is as simple as stepping on a foot pedal located near the left wheel.

The Walker Trolley price is $399 and all the details plus pre-order information may be found on the Walker Trolley website.

Our interest in the Walker Trolley led us to ask some questions of Brad Payne the Austin-based company’s founder and CEO who has brought a fresh perspective and unique approach to golf pushcarts.

Ed Travis: What was your business background before starting Walker Trolleys?

Brad Payne: I worked on Wall Street doing M&A [Mergers and Acquisitions] after getting my MBA at Northwestern. I spent some time doing corporate development and strategy for a large radio conglomerate in Atlanta, Cumulus Media, which led me to Apple to work in digital advertising. I spent the prior 4 years before Walker Trolleys leading the advertising relationship with NBCU [NBC Universal] for Apple News.

ET: How did you come up with the idea for this type of pushcart?

BP: When I moved to SF, I didn’t know many people so joined a club in the city called Presidio. Most of the members in the Saturday morning games were walkers and were allowed to store their push carts in the bag room. Anyone was able to use one that was not being used, so I sampled about every model in the industry over 4 years. Some were better than others and provided features that were better, but they were all pretty similar. It wasn’t till a trip to Scotland that I realized how these push carts just seemed out of place with the tradition and history of the game. I also had a fond affinity for what Seamus, Jones and MacKenzie were doing in creating products that had some connection to the history of the game while still being modern. I just felt push carts could go that way as well. And I saw what had happened in the baby industry with strollers over the past 20+ years that people were willing to pay for quality and felt that could be applied to golf push carts as well.

ET: Talk a little about the Kickstarter campaign as part of initial funding and how that affected the timing of the startup and moving the company to Austin?

BP: We had always planned to do a Kickstarter in the beginning to introduce the product to the masses. We never expected it to be some groundbreaking fundraising project, but rather a signal to us that there was some market demand for our product and people thought the Walker Trolley was cool. My wife and I had moved to Austin in April of 2019, about 7 months before we launched the Kickstarter. Our move was a combination of professional and personal in order to get out of SF. I decided to add Austin as a part of the logo for our newly adopted city because Austin represents a lot of positive images to people. It’s known as a cool, fun city with great people, nightlife, music, etc. Kind of a rising star in terms of cities in the US…kinda what we want to be in the golf industry. The city is also such a great place for entrepreneurs, especially in CPG…Tito’s, Yeti, Deep Eddy, Kendra Scott…a lot of great brands to come out of Austin.

ET: What are the key features that make it different from other push carts?

BP: I believe the Walker Trolley is different from our competitors because we started from a different place in terms of the product. Our trolley started on the course and we designed for the on-course experience. We wanted to make a trolley that looked cool, with clean sleek lines and classic design features, such as the white-walled tires. And it may sound cliché, but I think creating a great looking product is incredibly important to a lot of people. Maybe some of that is from my time at Apple. It needs to look great and function simply. I believe a lot of other competitors are more focused on creating the smallest folding product and have designed the look and function around these goals and that’s where we are different. I just don’t believe that many people think about how great it is that their trolley fits in a small space in their garage, but rather find a bit more joy about having something really cool in their 3-4 hours out walking the game.

ET: Where is it manufactured?

BP: We have partnered with one of the largest makers of juvenile products in the world. They’re a global firm that makes some of the best high-end baby strollers. We felt they had the experience in making folding objects with wheels at scale at an incredibly high-quality level and fit what our customers would expect.

ET: Presently pre-orders are being taken on the website, when will units begin shipping and are there any options or accessories offered for the Trolley?

BP: I think like every company in the world, we have all been impacted by COVID-19 and Walker Trolleys is no different. We were hoping to begin production in the beginning of April but delays due to the virus have pushed us back to May. Assuming no major issues or delays, we should have product to the states by the back half of June and will begin shipping to customers. And yes, there are accessory options. We are working with a well-known company here in the US to design an upgradeable line of storage accessories…think Hawaiian, camo, tweed, etc. We are very excited to offer these options to our customers and give them the ability to customize their trolleys. We hope in the future to have a really large selection, much like people own multiple head covers and they can swap them out as they feel.

ET: Your business plan appears to be B2C using e-commerce from your website as the distribution channel. Will you develop green grass and/or big box retail outlets, and do you plan to make use of Amazon or other Internet retailers?

BP: We are going to be B2C through our website for the time being. I don’t want to say never, but unlikely we would ever do big box retail. I just don’t think our product is a fit for that model. And I want to be able to control the customer experience from end-to-end. I don’t want to only know my customers if there is an issue or a warranty claim. I get emails all the time and enjoy interacting with them before, during and after their purchase. I have a lot of standing tee times to go out and play with our customers and creating a community is much higher on my priority list for the company.

ET: Are additional products being developed and what are your plans for the future of Walker Trolleys?

BP: We have a few things in the pipeline. A non-folding version of the trolley, the Eden will be coming out after the Cape. Given that most courses are closed now, we’re going to spend a bit more time on development to get it the way we want. There are a few collaborations we are having early discussions on now. Maybe we’ll have some cool things to announce at the show next year. We are a company that makes equipment for walking golfers, so there’s a lot out there we could do.

#EdTravis #golf #new #sports #travel

5 notes · View notes

joyofcrime-elinorhigh · 5 years

Text

2018 Year in REVIEW: Part 2

Hello everybody, JoyofCrimeArt here, and it's time to wrap up Deviant-cemnber by finishing this recap. If you're just joining us I'm going over all the events that happened to the cartoon community thought the year of 2018. I'm also ranking all the new series from best to worse, and deciding which network was the quote unquote "winner" of the year. If you haven't seen part one, you can check it out here. 2018 Year in REVIEW: Part 1 But for everyone else, let's get on with the review. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So at the end of the last part, we had to deal with that whole "Thundercats CalArts" debacle. Not exactly the most "positive" stopping point. So why don't we start this part with something light? Oh hey, look, people are talking about Butch Hartman! He's always good for a laugh. What's he up too?

Oh no...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBOMlWl7fFk

So Butch Hartman, America's dad, started a Kickstarter for his own streaming service. It's called Oaxis and is suppose to be a family friendly streaming service with original programming along the lines of Netflix. Butch asked for 250,000 dollars in order to get the basic groundwork for the site up and running. That's a lot of money to ask for, so there's no way he could actually...Holy crap, he actually did it! The madman pulled it off! Now, there's a lot to unload here. Butch Hartman's streaming service initially was met with controversy due to how vague everything about it was. There were a lot of unanswered questions. We didn't know what kind of shows it would have outside of a few failed pilots that Butch had pitched to various networks in the years prior. Were there other creators had plans to affiliate themselves with the project? All of these unanswered questions lead a lot of people to think that this was all just a big scam. If I had to make a guess, I have a feeling that part of the point of the Kickstarter was to act as a proof of concept. A way to show investors that there was an interest in the service. While a quarter of a million dollars is a lot, that's still not anywhere NEAR enough to run an entire new entertainment platform. However, I wanna be devil's advocate here. Butch Hartman has some experience in this field.The Noog Network, is an app that he developed that specializes in family friendly animated and live action shorts all created by Butch Hartman himself. Not exactly the same as a streaming service, but still. And consider that Butch has ties to people in the industry, and has experiences running a business in the form of his nonprofit charity The Hartman House, MAYBE he could pull it off? Maybe? Possibly... But that's not where the controversy ends however! As footage leaked of old Butch-y boi speaking at a church event promoting Oaxis. Here he made several claims that many found to be a bit disconcerting. Such as claims that his streaming service would feature "Christian values" which is something not at all mentioned in his Kickstarter. As a Christian myself I've always thought of Christian values as things like kindness, generosity, respect. All things that aren't necessarily exclusive to Christianity. So maybe he meant like that. However, the fact that he was invited as a special guest to a church to speak about the service...It's definitely a little bit suspect. There's nothing wrong with making a streaming service aimed at Christian families, but you should at least mention it in the Kickstarter. That way people know what they're donating too. He later specified in a tweet that while the service wouldn't inherently be Christian themed, but since Butch Hartman is a devout Christian himself, that would always carry over into his work no matter what he does. It should be noted that in the same speech he list his previous shows as containing the same "Christian values" and I don't think anybody was ever converted to Christianity by T.U.F.F Puppy. I don't know. Man, between this and last years Castlevania, I love being forced to talk about my religious views in a article that's suppose to be about dumb cartoon shows. He also made a controversial claim saying that suicides are more common now of days because of peoples addition to cell phones and technology. Saying that because of these technology people not talking to their parents as much as a result. I'm not a researcher on this, so I have no idea if this is actually true. I could definitely see that could at least be partially true with things like cyber bulling and the lack of communication with parents COULD possibly be a factor in the increases of suicides. But it defiantly feels like a disservice to just ignore issues like mental health being a factor. I can defiantly see how people could of taken offense. All of this backlash lead to everyone's favorite 2018 game! "Attack people online until they apologize!" Cause as we all know, nothing makes an apology more sincere than when it's forced out of them by an angry mob! But eventually all the heat died down when all the "Butch Hartman Rant" videos stopped getting views, I mean, when there was nothing left to talk about. Overall, I think that the situation was just bad on all fronts. Butch should of said something to explain himself, and not be so vague in his goals. But also, we live in a day and age where I honestly wonder if that would of been the smartest move. It feels like once people have their opinion set, there's no going back. I mean how often to celebrity apologizes even work? Still though, smart or not, it would of been the right thing to do. However, I would like to point out that all of this hate started simply because he reached his goal. All the stuff about the church and his suicide comments all came after he was already getting hate for being a scam artist. But the thing is, we don't even know if he is a scam artist or not. Sure, the fact that he's barely talked about Oaxis at all since the Kickstarter was funded doesn't bode well. But from what I could fine, he's given out most of the rewards he promised. And on the Kickstarter page he says the site wasn't expected to launch until mid 2020. Do I think Butch will be able to pull this off? Probably not...but I hope he does. I want Oaxis to be a thing, cause I am interested in some of the shows he's talked about putting on there, like Elf Detective. And if you hate Butch and hope for Oaxis to fail, that's your prerogative. But if you are hoping for it to fail, than you're hoping that nearly thirteen hundred people got scammed out of their money. Just saying. Ugh! I'm sick of this drama. I want more uplifting Kickstarter news! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rMCkNgHa3c

Homestar Runner was one of the first big web series that existed B.Y. Before Youtube. The series has been running off and on for about nineteen years now. And the creators, The Brother Chaps, decided to make a Kickstarter campaign to make a tabletop board game based on one of there series most popular characters. Trogdor, the Burniator. A poorly drawn dragon with an affinity for burning down cottages. The Kickstarter was set up for a goal seventy thousand dollars. Which feels like a lot for a board game, but hey, what do I know. While Homestar still has a very loyal fanbase, the series defiantly is nowhere near as popular as it was in the early to mid two thousands. And seventy thousand is a pretty hefty goal? Would a board game based on an outdated internet meme from 2004 really be able to make that kind of money? It reached it's goal in less than a day. And by the end they ended up making over one point four million dollars! I don't know what exactly The Brothers Chaps are going to do with all that money, but it's nice to know that the Homestar fanbase is still alive and well after all that time. And it's also nice to just see a Kickstarter that reached it's goal, delivered everything it promised, and didn't get into any major controversies. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Anyway, back to controversy. Cyma Zarghami, president of Nickelodeon since 2006, resigned. And people hate her because of some...controversy. Something about unions I think? Yeah, I didn't bother looking into this one. Between the Thundercats Roar drama and Butch Hartman stuff, I just couldn't go through all of this again. Sometimes ignorance is bliss, so I'm perfectly happy to be the ostrich with it's head in the sand on this one! However, like I said last time, it'll be very interesting to see what happens to Nickelodeon in the next couple of years. Without Butch Hartman, Dan Schneider, and now Cyma Zarghami I feel like Nickelodeon five years from now could be something completely unrecognizable from what it is today. And hopefully it'll be in a good way. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- But hey, this year wasn't all drama though. I mean look at all the new shows we got. Like Pinky Malinky.

DELAYED! Okay, well at least we finally have Young Justice season three...

DELAYED! The new Harley Quinn Cartoon...

DELAYED! FXX's Deadpool?

CANCELED! TBS's Close Enough from Regular Show creator JG Quintel?

WHO THE FU*K EVEN KNOWS AT THIS POINT? Seriously, what's with this year? It's like everything has been delayed! What the heck? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nickelodeon announced that they're making a reboot for the Rugrats. And just...why? Money- Yes, I know it's money! But it's a show about babies! When you make a reboot of something, the entire point is to update it. But when your show is about babies, how are you suppose to do that? Babies today are still doing the same things that babies did back in 1991. And with the first show having one hundred seventy two half hour episodes. What stories are left to tell? Then again, anything can be good. That Muppet Babies reboot (Which I didn't watch and isn't on this list) seems to be pretty well received. So maybe it could work. I don't know. I've never seen to much Rugrats growing up, so it's hard for me to get excited for this. But I'm sure someone will enjoy it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So Netflix decided to drop all of their new series all at the end of the year. Their first one is Matt Groening's Disenchantment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp_RnJcb8Ig

The series follows Bean, the princess of the magical kingdom of Dreamland. She's a bitter snarky alcoholic, cause AGAIN, NEVER SEEN THAT CHARACTER DONE BEFORE! The series follows her, as well as her personal demon Luci and her elf companion Elfo through various misadventures. Think what Futurama did with Sci-fi but with a fantasy setting and you have this show. Only...Comedy Centeral era Futurama. I didn't really enjoy the first seven or so episodes of this show that much. The show wasn't bad per say, but it wasn't really anything great either. This show is aimed slightly more towards adults than Matt Groening's previous works, having a TV-14 rating instead of a TV-PG. The humor is a bit darker and edgier, and it lead to this very mean spirited feel over the entire show. The cast aren't particularly likable, and Dreamland just isn't a fun setting to be around. One thing I did like however was the fact that the show had an on going continuity and changing status quo. This is refreshing considering that Matt Groenings other shows (mainly The Simpsons) are famous for almost always returning to their status quo. But here's the weird thing, starting with episode 8, the show suddenly has this MASSIVE spike in quality out of nowhere as all the plot points that have been building over the course of the season all start to pay off. The characters all become a lot more likable. The stakes are raised. Like, it's weird how different these last three episodes are. I'd go into more detail, but unfortunately I can't due to spoilers, but trust me, the show gets better. It's not "classic Simpsons" or "classic Futurama" good, but still. It's not THAT far off. This sudden spike in quality makes it hard for me to decide how to rate this show. But since most of the run is pretty sub par, I kinda just have to average it out. Unfortunately due to the continuity you can't just skip till the end. It all really depends how patient you are. But even the bad stuff isn't awful or anything. It's just kinda bland. The show was picked up for a second season and I am looking forward to seeing where this show will go. I think that season two could be something great, but just talking about season one, it's...okay. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hey, it feels like it's been a while since we had a controversy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZSOGZFfSDk

It seems recently there are so many streaming services out there creating there own original series, it's hard to keep track. You got Netflix, Hulu, DC Universe, Soon they'll be Disney+...Oaxis- So it only made since for a site like Cruchyroll to start making they're own exclusive content. You'd think they would just hire some anime studio to make originals for them like Netflix does. But no, they decided to go with a more American styled series. High Guardian Spice. The trailer doesn't reveal much about the show, but plot wise it sounds eerily similar similar to RWBY. About a group of girls all named after different spices going to school to become "Guardians." Whatever that means. There were a lot of reason people were upset. From it be a more Americanized looking series. To the fact that Cruchyroll's (from what I hear) site having some interface problems that some people would rather have them devoting the money on fixing. But the main reason people were upset was because of the series trailer spent more time talking about the diversity of the crew and characters than they did the show plot. Outrage was also sparked from the fact that they use the fact that they have an all female writers room as a sign of there "diversity." Even though having a writers room were everyone is the same gender isn't actually diverse. I have no problem with diversity in my stories. But the fact that they chose to focus on it as a highlight when they talked so little about the story of the characters is what has me worried. It makes me worried that the crew aren't confident enough in the series premise and characters to carry the series on it's own. It's better to make a story that's good first, and diverse second as oppose to the other way around. When you do it the other way, you end up with Ghostbusters 2016. I think. I never saw it, but I hear it's "okay" at BEST. People don't like things shoved down there throats, even if it's something they agree with. Most people support diversity. But when you tell them that they HAVE to support it, that's what makes people start to hate it. Humans are very spiteful creatures in that regard. However, despite all of that, I'm still kinda excited for this show. I LOVE the art style. And you all know by now that I love me a good girly cartoon. And many other shows that boast about their diversity (Like Steven Universe and She Ra, which I'll get to in little bit) still manage to be good. It can be distracting when you see a cartoon and know what ideals the creators are trying to push. I get it. But sometimes you just have to take the death of the author approach, and just see the show for what it is on it's own. You might be surprised by what you can enjoy. We'll have to wait to see how this show pans out. But if they're able to include some Mike Toole, I'm sold.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It seems like every year we have one BIG cartoon finale. 2016 had Gravity Falls. 2017 had Regular Show. And now after eight long years, it's time for Adventure Times Grand Finn-ale. ...I'm not sorry. Adventure Time ended with an hour long episode "Come Along with Me." I'll try to not spoil the special TOO much for those who haven't seen it, but if you want to go in completely blind I suggest skipping down to the next segment cause this is your SPOILER WARNING. The special revolves around the Gum War between Princess Bubblegum and her Uncle Gumbald. A plot that had been slowly growing all season. On top of that, Betty and Normal Man are trying to find a way to turn Ice King back into Simon. The things I do like about the finale is just the sheer number of callbacks that were made. While I think a few did go over my head, as there are a few episodes of Adventure Time I've never gotten around to seeing, it's nice to see so many returning concepts and characters. I'm glad they included things from the entire series run, instead of just the "classic" episodes that most people would recognizes. It rewards fans who stuck around for the long haul. It was also nice seeing most of the series lingering plot points wrap up. And we finally got to see the kiss that we've all been waiting years for. And kudos to CN for allowing them to do it. It was very brave of them. I am of course talking about LSP and Lemongrab, baby! Wooh!

There's also the ending. Which is just a montage set to the end credits song showing where all the characters end up after the series. I love endings like this so damn much, and while it didn't hit me as hard as Regular Show's finales montage, it still hits the feels.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIkS8eGCKOU

The special does have it's flaws though. The Gum War really felt like an anti-climax and the shift to GOLB felt very out of left field. Also the fate of Uncle Gumbald left a very bad taste in my mouth. It kinda felt like they went against the whole point they tried to make. I admit that I didn't enjoy this finale as much as I did the Gravity Falls or Regular Show finales, but it's still sad seeing Adventure Time go. It defined cartoons of the 2010's. And I don't think they'res been a show since that's been quite like it. Even though the later seasons weren't as good, Adventure Time will always have a special place in my heart. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Netflix continues to pump out series after series with another new series, Dragon Prince.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWEtCsi3Eo8

Dragon Prince is a series set in a fantasy world in the midst of war. On one side is the humans, and on the other side the Elves and Dragons. The series follows two human princes, Callum and Ezran as well as a elf assassin named Rayla, as they go on a quest that will hopefully bring peace to there world. The series features a lot of crew and voice actors who previously worked on Avatar: The Last Airbender. And it shows. I mean both shows follow a group of kids traveling through a fantasy world in the middle of a war. The seasons are called books, and each book based on a different element of the magic system. I was worried this show would falls end up being just a carbon copy of Avatar. But luckily, the show does manage to have it's own feel despite having a lot of stimulates. The animation is a bit of a mixed bag. It's cel shaded CGI, similar to RWBY. But despite the series being made by a company much bigger than Rooster Teeth, the animation is so much more lag-y. Something about the frame rate seems off at times. Also I noticed background characters being copied and recolored a few times in my watch. But none of this took me to much out of the experience. The characters and writing are all really good for the most part. One of the best parts of Avatar was how it showed that both sides of the war had normal people. And Dragon Prince takes this element and brings it one step further. Neither side of the war are depicted as wholly right or wholly wrong, with both sides committing terrible acts. That's a lot of complexity for a show that's aimed at children. However, there is a villain who, while I won't reveal who he/she is, feels very cartoonishly evil for this otherwise complex world. Like, you could make this character complex very easily. A lot of the villains goals and reasoning makes sense, and are even justifiable. But the methods used are just the most mustache twirling ways of achieving these goals, even when there are less evil ways of accomplishing the same thing. It's weirdly out of place. However, despite the flaws, Dragon Prince is a really good show that manages to feel similar to Avatar while still being it's own thing. I highly recommend you check it out. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Speaking of Avatar, Netflix is making one! Particularly a live action reboot. And just...Why? Money- Yes, I know it's money! But everybody already love the original Avatar! What is there to change? What needs to be updated? And what can be done in live action that can't be done in animation. It feels like all these live action remakes only exist in order to "legitimize" their animated counterparts. Cause God forbid something animated be watched by adults. I dunno. There's a very good chance this could be good, but I doubt it'll be better than the original series. I have no interest in this. Netflix, you have Dragon Prince! You don't need this! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- But Netflix isn't done yet! Cause we also have Hilda! Based on the series of graphic novels of the same name.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCojP2Ubuto

Hilda follows...Hilda. A young adventurous girl who spent her whole life living in a magical forest with her Mom. That is until one day her Mom decides to move to the city of Trolberg. Now Hilda has to learn to adapt to her new surroundings in the city, learn to make friends with normal humans, and deal with magical creatures. Cause despite the fact that Trolberg has a wall designed to keep magical creatures out, the city really sucks at doing so. This shows really cute! The art style reminds me of a cross between Steven Universe and The Loud House. But with any series involving kids interacting with magical creatures the comparisons are going to be brought up. Is Hilda the next Over The Gravity Garden Falls? Seriously, ever video on Youtube about Hilda brings up this comparison. And really, outside of the premise of "adventurous child exploring magical forest" Hilda isn't really like either of those shows. Hilda is a lot lighter in tone than those two series. The monsters aren't as scary and the humor is a lot less snarky. There aren't really that many "jokes" in Hilda as the series relies more on overall pleasantness. Also there isn't any real overarching mystery element in Hilda. It's more slice of life. Why can't Hilda just be the next...Hilda? It's a quaint show. From the animation, to the tone, to the voice acting, it all just feels so cozy. I also love the creativity with all the different creatures they come up with. It's has a unique charm to it, and it's fun seeing a world where everyone just knows magic exist and society has integrated with it. If I had to point out a few flaws, I'd say that the subplot they have with Hilda's best friend Frieda wasn't very good. I really have no idea what they were going for with that. And the show can be a bit repetitive at times, but that might just be because I had to binge it in order to finish it in time for this review. But overall this is a really nice show. Check it out if you can. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OK KO is well known for it's crossovers from Captain Planet to Mighty Magiswords. But this year, they created the ultimate crossover. And if we could just appreciate the dedication to the past that the crew for OK KO clearly had when making this crossover? You all know what I'm talking about right? OK KO meet Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School Baby! That's right, the crossover that we've all been waiting for.

... AND THEY SAID AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR WAS THE MOST AMBITIOUS CROSSOVER OF ALL TIME! They were even allowed to use the original Hannah-Barbara model sheets. This is notable as I think it's the first time OK KO has ever actually used a model sheet. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hey, everybody loves Fallout 76, right? While we all agree the game is a flawless masterpiece, I just wish there was a way to somehow make it even better. Like, what if we got the twitch streamer Ninja, The rapper Logic, and RICK AND MORTY to all live stream the game together? Now THAT would be a lot of IQ....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMZhhTOF4l8

... aNd ThEy SaId ThAt AvEnGeRs: InFiItY wAr WaS tHe MoSt AmBiTiOuS cRoSsOvEr oF AlL tImE!! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I swear, Netflix won't be satisfied until they make at least one thousand original animated series a year. Here's She-Ra and the Princess of Power. Not to be confused with She-Ra: Princess of Power. That's the 80's show. Good job naming your show there, Netflix!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuFQxsRzUws

This is the cheesiest theme song ever, I love it so much! Now, from what I understand, a lot of OG She-Ra fans don't like this reboot because it changed so much from the original. However, as someone who knows next to nothing about She-Ra or He-Man, I'm can't really comment on any inaccuracies. So I'm going to have to judge it as it's own thing. She-Ra follows Adora, a child solider serving as force captain in The Horde army. But one day, after finding a magical sword in the forest, she gains the ability to transform into the Hero, She-Ra. Not long after that she finds out that, shock of all shock, the army that's literally called THE HORDE are actually the bad guys. so she defects from the Horde, and joins the Rebellion with her new friends Bow and Glimmer. Now Adora, along with a growing army of magical princesses, must find a way to fight back against the Horde. Meanwhile The Horde, specifically Adora adopted sister/possible...lover Catra try to bring her back to her "home." I like this show. It's not amazing or anything. But it's a fun, girly action series. That's something I like about Netflix, it's one of the only channels out there that's not afraid to do action series. While the characters aren't that complex, they're fun and all have good chemistry together. Everybody feels like a real person. And this applies to both the Rebellion and the Horde. The show does a good job of juggling a lot of characters, while still keeping focus on the main cast. AND YOU WANNA TALK SAD, LONELY LESBIANS! THIS WHOLE SHOW IS A SAD LONELY LESBIAN! Though did anyone else find it a bit strange that Adora's relationship with Catra seemingly bounces back and forth between "sister" and "lover." Like, I don't care which way you go with, but you really need to pick one or the other... I know a lot of people are annoyed by the fact that a lot of classic designs and characters were changed to make the show more diverse. I didn't mind this to much. Adaptations change race, sexuality, and body types all the time. And I can only think of one time where it ever felt distracting, and even then it was brief. I never found it to bothersome. Downsides though, the tone is kinda wonky at times. Nothing to noticeable, but sometimes it seems like the show is trying to be a serious action adventure, while other times it feels like it's trying to be campy like the 80's series. There's an episode called "Princess Prom" and it's one of the turning points in the season. Like, how am I suppose to take this seriously. But luckily it never gets that bad. I think the show is somewhat aware of a wink and nod nature to the show. It's a fun series. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And unfortunately, we have to end the year on a downer note. As Stephen Hillenburg, creator of Spongebob, passed away at the age of 57 from ALS. I don't know what to say. I hate taking an entire human beings life and acting like there art is all that mattered. But as I don't know the man personally, I'll just say that he created one of the most well know fictional characters of all time. Spongebob is the first thing most people think of when you say Nickelodeon. And it's one of the few characters that I think will be remembered even a hundred years in the future, along the likes of Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, and Popeye. Even in death, his legacy will live on. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And with that, we end 2018 year in review! It's been a hell of a wild ride! But how does the year rank overall? First, we'll start with my old favorite. Ranking the series in a way that'll end up regretting in a month! Keep in mind this is a rough list. List aren't really my specially, and each show offers and is going for it's own unique thing. So sometimes it's hard to compare them. Also these rankings could change in the following year as new episodes come out. But if I had to rank them... 9. Apple and Onion 8. Craig of the Creek 7. Final Space 6. Disenchantment 5. Nomad of Nowhere 4. She Ra and The Princess of Power 3. Ballmastrz 9006 2. Hilda 1. Dragon Prince And keep in mind that, due to both a lack of time and lack of cable, there were a lot of shows I wasn't able to check out or just wasn't interested in discussing. Like these! (Big City Greens, Harvey Street Kids, Mega Man: Fully Charged, Muppet Babies, Our Cartoon President (HAHA! Trump jokes! Never seen those before!), Paradise PD (Cause we definitely need another show from the makers of Brickleberry!), Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Star Wars Resistance, Summer Camp Island, Super Drags, The Adventures of Kid Danger, The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants, The Hollow, The Shivering Truth, Total Dramarama) As for the grade, it's a bit tricky. If I had to go just by the shows, I'd give it a B. They're weren't many shows I LOVED but they're weren't many shows I outright hated. Most shows this year were "good." But if we decide to count all the drama, that would drag the year all the way down to a C. There was just so much drama that, along with a few other personal reasons, I found myself kinda falling out of the animation community as a whole this year. And when the drama actually starts making you wonder why you entered this community in the first place, that's not a good thing. So take that for what you will. As for best network, I once again have to give it to Netflix. I know it's kinda unfair since I didn't watch any Nickelodeon or Disney shows this year. But with so many more shows and channels watching a show from each is getting harder and harder. And Netflix is just pumping out series after series. And most of them are pretty good. It feels like the people at Netflix are really given free range to do whatever they want over there. And we get some really unique series as a result. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2018 may not have been the best year for animation, but I really think that 2019 is going to be a really good year. I mean just with what's already been announced we've got so many good series to look forward to! There's Infinity Train, Owl House, Amphibia, Los Casagrandes, Victor and Valentino, Gen: Lock, Harley Quinn, Young Justice Season Three, Theoretically Close Enough! Plus a lot more! Seriously, next year I'm either going to have to cut out a lot of anticipated series or make this a three part-er. Which would you prefer? And what did you think of 2018 for animation? What series were the best, and which were the worst? Leave any thoughts in the comments down bellow, I'd love to hear em. Fav, Follow, and comment if you like the review. And have a great new year. And let's all hope that 2019 can have a little less drama. Um, isn't Thundercats Roar and High Guardian Spice coming out next year too? 2019 is going to be the biggest dumper fire ye- Have a great day. (I do not own any of the images or videos in this review. All credit goes to there original owners.)

https://www.deviantart.com/joyofcrimeart/journal/2018-Year-in-REVIEW-Part-2-779673316 DA Link

#Dragon Prince #She Ra #High Guardian Spice #Hilda #Adventure Time

27 notes · View notes

theonyxpath · 4 years

Link

This is the last week for the Mummy: The Curse 2e Kickstarter and as that gets “wrapped up” on Thursday we’re going to run right from that to set up our booth at PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia, PA.

Ah, Philly! City of my birth and youth! City of cheesesteaks, soft pretzels, and bad attitudes! I return, anon!

But before that: please check out the Mummy 2e Kickstarter if you haven’t already! We’d love to achieve the next chunk of the Book of Lasting Death and get some more Utterances and Judges in there – but we need your help! If you’ve already pledged – tell your friends! Wander the streets and alert the neighbors! If you haven’t pledged, well here’s the link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/339646881/mummy-the-curse-2nd-edition

Let’s go out strong! (Like the reverse of the Mummys…)

V5 Chicago Folio illustration by Michael Gaydos

We’ll be coming in strong to PAX Unplugged this coming week, with myself and LisaT, Mighty Matt McElroy, Fast Eddy Webb, Dangerous Dixie Cochran, Neall Raemonn Price, Meghan Fitzgerald, Travis Legge, Danielle Lauzon, and Crystal Mazur attending!

Dixie, LisaT, Matt, and myself will be in our booth handing out our new brochure and answering questions – but most of all, we’ll be directing folks to, and signing them up for, demos in both the booth and at our demo table in the gaming area.

Our table is in Area 119a, we’ve been told, in fact! Look right there in this handy map! (Thanks, Ian!)

Right now, the menu for gaming with the rest of our crew is:

Meghan: Changeling: the Lost 2e and Contagion Chronicle

Neall: Scion Hero 2e and Mummy: the Curse 2e

Danielle: Trinity Continuum and Dystopia Rising: Evolution

Eddy: Pugmire and Fetch Quest

Travis: Scarred Lands and Legendlore

Crystal: Monarchies of Mau and Chicago by Night

Matt: Scarred Lands and Cavaliers of Mars

So come on by if you want to sit in on a game and we’ll get you scheduled! Plus, with the brochure, we’ll be announcing at least one secret project, and we’ll be glad to answer questions about that.

We’ll also be directing anyone who wants to buy our games to right across the aisle from us at Studio2 – which is just darn convenient! Let me underline that: we aren’t selling books at our booth, Studio2 is selling them for us! Here’s another handy map:

Looking forward to seeing a bunch of you folks there – it is a very cool con!

Now, here’s some follow-ups for some things I mentioned last week:

The Pugmire Wolfenoot sale went really well, and both Pugsteady and Onyx Path were able to send nice-sized donations to the Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind! Thanks to all of you who participated in the sale and helped us help them!

Our Reddit AMA went fantastically for about 5 hours and many, many, in-depth questions were asked and answered. Thanks to all of you that participated and if you have any further questions and are at PAX Unplugged, we’ll be glad to continue the conversations! I’ll be there with bells on – well, at least one bell!

They Came From Beneath the Sea! illustration by Eric Lofgren

Last Friday’s Onyx Pathcast started out normally, but then exploded into a frenzy of creative ideas and after the dust settled (or the verbal equivalent) Dixie, Matthew, and Eddy had brain-stormed six new games!

Their titles are:

* Game 1: Envelopes and Urban Legends * Game 2: The Calamari of Crime * Game 3: Super Dragon Dining Crisis Tensai: Apocalypse Ultima EX * Game 4: Universal Faultlines * Game 5: Barn Raising * Game 6: Love in the Time of Androids

You really have to listen to get the actual details of these games, and the wacky yet very typical way that they were conceptualized by the Trio, but even the titles give you some idea of the range of genres and approaches they played around with.

While I was listening – like I do every week, Matthew – it struck me that while the gang were riffing pretty wildly, the process is really very typical for a lot of our creative meetings. For years we’ve tried to use the rules of Improv in our game brainstorming. Like, don’t negate what the last person threw out to the group, try and build upon it.

The old “Yes, and…” rather than “No”.

There’s more than enough time to apply critical or realistic thinking to the ideas, first you need to let the ideas pour out.

(And this is actually not easy to do! A lot of our Onyx Path crew are extremely realistic about the challenges inherent to creating projects, and have very strong opinions and likes and dislikes (hard to believe, I know), so holding those comments back can run against our very natures.)

But as you can tell with this Pathcast, or with my riffing with Matthew half a year ago in the UK GamesExpo edition of the Pathcast where we combined Transformers, Thomas the Tank Engine, and Scion, there’s something innately and deeply fun and satisfying to just letting loose with our imaginations!

Which is, I think, the single greatest part of the TTRPG hobby, and why so many of us love it so much. And, in our case at Onyx Path, why we are so excited to create:

Many Worlds, One Path!

BLURBS!

Kickstarter!

The Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition Kickstarter is now IN ITS LAST WEEK and has passed 200% funding and has over 1000 backers with over a week to go. Backers have already unlocked the Mummy 2e Screen as a Stretch Goal, additional Utterances, and a whole new project: the Mummy 2e Companion!

Please check out this blog from several weeks ago for a description of all the amazing features of this new edition!

Be there to witness the majesty and terror of this new version of Mummy: The Curse! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/339646881/mummy-the-curse-2nd-edition

Next Kickstarter: V5 Cults of the Blood Gods!

Onyx Path Media!

This Friday’s Onyx Pathcast features an interview with fabulous freelancer Lauren Roy! Available on Podbean or on your favorite podcast venue!

It’s another busy week for Onyx Path and our merry band of fantastic streamers on Twitch this week, with games of Vampire: The Masquerade, Pugmire, Scarred Lands, Aberrant, Changeling: The Lost, Hunter: The Vigil, and more random drop-in games taking place all the time! If you’re subscribed to our channel, you can find some of last week’s games, including Scion as run by Neall Raemonn Price, developer of the game!

What’s more, if you’re a fan of Scion, be sure to check out The Gentleman’s Guide to Scion over on Matthew Dawkins’ YouTube channel! It’s only on the second video so far, so there’s plenty of time to catch up. Check out youtube.com/user/clackclickbang

Please find us, follow us, and subscribe to us on twitch.tv/theonyxpath If Twitch isn’t your jam, maybe YouTube is! We’re steadily migrating all our content from Twitch to YouTube, but there’s new videos too! Travis Legge and Matthew Dawkins like to dive bomb the news onto different channels at different times, just to keep everyone on their toes, and this week it’ll be on YouTube again! Subscribe to youtube.com/user/theonyxpath

On redmoonroleplaying.com, Klara Herbol runs Vampire: The Masquerade for Matthew Dawkins and the Red Moon Roleplaying team, while Matthew runs Mummy: The Curse for John Burke, Bianca Savazzi, and Craig Austin from Red Moon! Lots of actual plays of tremendous quality there, for you to check out and enjoy.

Occultists Anonymous are back with more Mage: The Awakening fun right here

Episode 62: Another Round of Darts The cabal’s plans are interrupted by the arrival of an old acquaintance and have to clean up a mess that isn’t their fault… https://youtu.be/_JZyq57KNOo

Episode 63: Taking It Offline The cabal meet with the Phantasm Society in hiding and plan how to stop the Hunters before they become more of a problem.https://youtu.be/zlSrGhu1Eis

The Story Told Podcast interviewed our very own Ian Watson regarding the Trinity Continuum: http://thestorytold.libsyn.com/episode-41-aeon-interview-with-ian-watson

And did you miss Mage: The Podcast interviewing Matthew Dawkins about Technocracy Reloaded and other books? Never fear, the interview is right here: https://magethepodcast.com/index.php/2019/11/24/m5-meditations-metanarrative-tools-and-mummy-with-matthew-dawkins/

Drop Matthew a message via the contact button on matthewdawkins.com if you have actual plays, reviews, or game overviews you want us to profile on the blog!

Please check any of these out and let us know if you find or produce any actual plays of our games!

Electronic Gaming!

As we find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is awesome! (Seriously, you need to roll 100 dice for Exalted? This app has you covered.)

On Amazon and Barnes & Noble!

You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).

If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue from which you bought it. Reviews really, really help us get folks interested in our amazing fiction!

Our selection includes these latest fiction books:

Our Sales Partners!

We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there! https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire

We’ve added Prince’s Gambit to our Studio2 catalog: https://studio2publishing.com/products/prince-s-gambit-card-game

Now, we’ve added Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition products to Studio2‘s store! See them here: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/all-products/changeling-the-lost

Scarred Lands (Pathfinder) books are also on sale at Studio2, and they have the 5e version, supplements, and dice as well!: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/scarred-lands

Scion 2e books and other products are available now at Studio2: https://studio2publishing.com/blogs/new-releases/scion-second-edition-book-one-origin-now-available-at-your-local-retailer-or-online

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/

And you can order Pugmire, Monarchies of Mau, Cavaliers of Mars, and Changeling: The Lost 2e at the same link! And NOW Scion Origin and Scion Hero are available to order!

As always, you can find most of Onyx Path’s titles at DriveThruRPG.com!

There’s still time to join DTRPG‘s massive sale for Cyber Monday!

https://www.storytellersvault.com/featured.php?promotion_id=CybeM19STV

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/blackfriday.php?manufacturers_id=4261

On Sale This Week!

This Wednesday, we are proud to announce the PDF and physical book PoD versions of both the Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook and Trinity Continuum: Aeon core book are available on DTRPG!

Conventions!

PAX Unplugged: December 6th – 8th, in Philadelphia, PA. We’re going to have lots and lots of gaming for folks to sign up for, a lot of them featuring our game creators! See maps and things above! 2020: Midwinter: January 9th – 12th, in Milwaukee, WI. Check out David Fuller’s Athens, Ohio Scion actual play tie-in adventure (soon to be coming to the Storypath Nexus community content site) that will be running at Midwinter. The event url is below: https://tabletop.events/conventions/midwinter-gaming-convention-2020/schedule/402

And now, the new project status updates!

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM EDDY WEBB (projects in bold have changed status since last week):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)

Exalted Essay Collection (Exalted)

N!ternational Wrestling Entertainment (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Creating in the Realms of Pugmire (Realms of Pugmire)

Contagion Chronicle Ready-Made Characters (Chronicles of Darkness)

Trinity Continuum: Adventure! core (Trinity Continuum: Adventure!)

Duke Rollo fiction (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Redlines

Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

Crucible of Legends (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #2 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Many-Faced Strangers – Lunars Companion (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Second Draft

Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Contagion Chronicle: Global Outbreaks (Chronicles of Darkness)

Player’s Guide to the Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Contagion Chronicle Jumpstart (Chronicles of Darkness)

Exigents (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Development

Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

TC: Aberrant Reference Screen (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Trinity Continuum Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum Core)

Monsters of the Deep (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

One Foot in the Grave Jumpstart (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2e)

Lunars Novella (Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)

Tales of Aquatic Terror (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Manuscript Approval

Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)

Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)

Titanomachy (Scion 2nd Edition)

Post-Approval Development

Scion LARP Rules (Scion)

Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition core rulebook (Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition)

Editing

Lunars: Fangs at the Gate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Hunter: The Vigil 2e core (Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Edition)

Let the Streets Run Red (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Geist 2e Fiction Anthology (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #1 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Cults of the Blood Gods (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Legendlore core book (Legendlore)

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Mythical Denizens (Creatures of the World Bestiary) (Scion 2nd Edition)

Pirates of Pugmire KS-Added Adventure (Realms of Pugmire)

M20 The Technocracy Reloaded (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad (Scarred Lands)

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant core (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Terra Firma (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Wraith20 Fiction Anthology (Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

Post-Editing Development

Chicago Folio/Dossier (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

TC: Aeon Ready-Made Characters (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

Oak, Ash, and Thorn: Changeling: The Lost 2nd Companion (Changeling: The Lost 2nd)

W20 Shattered Dreams Gift Cards (Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th)

TC: Aeon Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Vigil Watch (Scarred Lands)

Scion Companion: Mysteries of the World (Scion 2nd Edition)

Indexing

ART DIRECTION FROM MIKE CHANEY!

In Art Direction

Contagion Chronicle – Going over sketches.

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant

Hunter: The Vigil 2e – Reviewing art that’s already in.

Ex3 Lunars – Just need two artists’ pieces in.

TCfBtS!: Heroic Land Dwellers

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed – Contacting two more artists.

Ex3 Monthly Stuff

Cults of the Blood God (KS) – Art all seems ready.

Chicago Folio – Got cover in this morning.

Mummy 2 (KS) – Going.

City of the Towered Tombs

Let the Streets Run Red – Going over artnotes and dividing stuff up.

CtL Oak Ash and Thorn – Awaiting artnotes.

Scion Mythical Denizens – Going over sketches.

Deviant

Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad – Sending out art notes and contracts.

Vigil Watch – Awaiting artnotes.

In Layout

Chicago Folio

Trinity Continuum Aeon: Distant Worlds – Haven’t forgotten it.

VtR Spilled Blood – Josh is working on it.

Pirates of Pugmire

Proofing

Memento Mori – Awaiting Dev comments.

Dark Eras 2 – Aileen working up the cover.

Trinity Continuum Aeon Jumpstart

M20 Book of the Fallen – Backer PDF errata is with Josh.

They Came from Beneath the Sea!

At Press

Trinity: In Media Res – PoD proofs coming.

V5: Chicago – Shipping to the KS fulfillment shippers. PoD files up and processing.

Aeon Aexpansion – PoD proofs coming.

Geist 2e (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition) – At press, proofs signed off on.

Geist 2e Screen – At press, waiting for proofs.

DR:E – At press, waiting for proofs.

DRE Screen – At press, waiting for proofs.

DR:E Threat Guide – Helnau’s Guide to Wasteland Beasties – PoD proof on the way.

Trinity RMCs

Tales of Good Dogs – Putting up PoD files.

Today’s Reason to Celebrate!

Celebrating Wikipedia-weirdness, in that it’s really easy to see (and construct) all sorts of patterns from the items in it. Like these all here on December 2nd, Cuba’s Armed Forces Day:

1956 – The Granma reaches the shores of Cuba’s Oriente Province. Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and 80 other members of the 26th of July Movement disembark to initiate the Cuban Revolution.

1961 – In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares that he is a Marxist–Leninist and that Cuba is going to adopt Communism.

1976 – Fidel Castro becomes President of Cuba, replacing Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado.

1986 – Death of Desi Arnaz, Cuban-American actor, singer, businessman, and television producer (b. 1917)

Busy date!

#Onyx Path Publishing

1 note · View note

wakraya · 6 years

Text

Hiveswap Act 2 & Friendsim

So! It’s that time of the year! And I think it’s time to talk about some things regarding the state of Hiveswap right now, since I occasionally see people asking for what happened to it and such, and I imagine the complaints may ramp up soon given we just reached the 1-year Anniversary of Hiveswap! First let me add, however,

Happy Hiveswap Day!

With that out of the way, for those less informed about what’s going on, or those who need a recap, I’ll be talking about a brief explanation of Hiveswap’s development, speculation, and predictions.

The Kickstarter, Hiveswap 3D, The Odd Gentlemen

For those who don’t know or don’t remember, Hiveswap was the Crowdfunded Homestuck game, if I recall, it was 5, now 6 years ago that the Kickstarter was funded several times over with a budget of over 2 million dollars. We got Concept Art and some promising screenshots and the idea of an adventure game set on Earth and Alternia before the events of Homestuck, it was going to be cool! But then there was silence for a while, and a leak of some sort suggested that the company Hiveswap had been given to, had been redirecting funds from the Kickstarter to make another game.

This has never been proven, but given the legal nuance behind this, it seems very likely there was some issue of this kind that set Hiveswap back. Further into development when Hiveswap was being made by WhatPumpkin, we got more images of the Beta concept of the Half-Harley Manor, the Monsters and the Cherub Portal, but ultimately this was dropped as it didn’t have the feel the Team wanted for the game. The staff doing 3D assets was laid off, and development began on Hiveswap 2D.

And so, after 5 years, Hiveswap launched with a charming, fun... But rather easy and short First Act.

People liked it, but they, obviously, wanted more. Bugs were fixed, support for other OS was added afterwards, it wasn’t perfect but it was nice and it promised that there was going to be more of it soon!

Spring 2018, VIZ Media, Friendsim

Not long after the game’s release, we got news that Act 2 would be coming on Spring! This set the Volumes to be a bi-anual release or something around that range, and building up hype towards the launch, there was the Troll Call, showcasing some of the most important Trolls for Act 2! However... Soon enough, this was set to become a missed deadline, with development on Act 2 halted for reasons unknown.

Many were quick to point their finger at VIZ Media’s ‘restructuring’ of the company, however there’s actually no proof of this being a thing. It simply came at a time where VIZ Media was showing itself more prevalently around Homestuck stuff- With the creation of the books and the redesign of the Website, many entered in Panic Mode. I have my gripes with the new Website, however it’s a necessary change and it’s still in development, so I’m giving them time.

Regardless, the most likely reason for Hiveswap’s Stopped Development is... Money. With stolen money, a re-start of the project half-way, and not too impressive sales, it’s very likely the team simply didn’t have the resources to continue production on Act 2. This doesn’t mean the project is dead though- Because that’s where Friendsim comes in. A good way to get to know these main Trolls on Act 2, a way for WP to get some funds, and just generally more fun content for the Fandom to sink their teeth into! I’m loving every and each of the Friendsims so far, and it shows that the Team is still there developing these characters and making content for us. However, Friendsims have come and gone, and while we’re a bit over half-way through the Friendsims, today is Hiveswap’s Anniversary...

Celebration, Future, Predictions

As I write this, the WhatPumpkin Website has not made a formal post celebrating the anniversary or updating the state of the game or saying anything, so this could all become obsolete in a few hours/days.

However, let’s talk about a few things regarding the state of Hiveswap- The Friendsims have definitely softened the blow. A year ago I told myself and everyone they weren’t going to spend half as much time developing Act 2 as they did Act 1- But then the issues happened. And that’s the thing- These issues, likely monetary, have stopped the development for the time being. Hiveswap is not being actively worked on, but when it is, again, it will likely come to us in a few months. I am really frustrated because I see there’s some issues going on, the game’s not taking long, it’s just not being worked on because of these issues, and we have things to fill the gap in the meantime, so in a way we’ve been constantly getting Hiveswap stuff! I still want to go back to Joey but... I can wait and keep supporting the Devs if it means we’ll eventually get a quality product.

This being said, I am hopeful Hiveswap will come back soon. Why? Well a few things! First of all, it seems that the Friendsims have been getting more and more quality as time goes on. This is to be expected I guess, but at the same time just. The art style sort of getting more consistent, the larger amount of backgrounds and more intricate story bits, the more detailed Lusii as time goes on, it’s been great building a world around the MSPA Reader in Alternia, but it’s also been telling me that they’ve been putting more care and attention in them- They’re enjoying making them, yes, but they’re also likely starting to recover at least a little bit from them.

On top of that, the latest post in the WhatPumpkin Tumblr said that “So yeah. Nothing new. Except, well … the volume itself.“ Hussie and WhatPumpkin are kind of notorious for long periods of silence- But they’re not for no reason. They don’t report on things when there’s... Nothing to report on. It may be a bit anxiety-inducing, but it’s how they’ve been doing things. Their statement either tells me that they still have nothing, but are aware of this and are working towards actually getting us some news- Or they’re teasing us and about to drop an update. My expectations are tempered, and I won’t be disappointed if there’s just a little Anniversary post, but still we’ll see.

That being said? The mysterious second DLC in the store, and JamesRoach’s last video make me think there may be some sort of update soon. For those of you who don’t know, our boy James uploaded a video on the dynamic music of Act 2, and it confirmed a bunch of stuff! That there’s a lot more Trolls we haven’t seen that are only sort of background characters, he’s teased some important Trolls we may not have seen yet, but namely, dropping this kind of stuff for the anniversary of Act 2... It tells me there may be news incoming quite soon.

Either way, whether I am right or wrong, the constant flow of these Friendsims has really been reminding me of the Upd8 culture surrounding Homestuck. Maybe at a smaller, tamer level, but that is completely fine. The memes, the surprise and excitement, the little misshaps and paranoia. It may not be always perfect, we may still be waiting, but hey.

I am glad to be here and part of the Fandom, and I am happy to see what may or may not be updated by @whatpumpkin soon!

Again, as I said before, Happy Anniversary, Hiveswap, and hope everyone has been enjoying this weird, wild ride too! <3

#Homestuck #Hiveswap #Friendsim #WhatPumpkin #Upd8 #Long Post #Longpost

190 notes · View notes