magmaticmachine

[magmaticmachine]

I will not lie I am kinda going thru it lately

feel free to send me fandom asks, I could honestly use a bit of distraction

[magmaticmachine]

also here's a work doodle. I drew some other characters on this page too and it made me realize I was not confident on their designs at all so. time to lock in

[magmaticmachine]

Also Bomamba has my least favorite design of any nightmaren and I genuinely can't stand that entire fight either but the worst part is like

I can see what they were going for with perfect clarity

and it's just executed in the dumbest way possible

Bomamba is Bad Luck™️. Shaped like an open umbrella, fought indoors, a witch with a horde of black cats, etc etc. But the design's execution just does not vibe with me and I think also does not fit in with the rest of the troupe

[magmaticmachine]

ftr the designs of will and helen are as uncanny as all the humans in sonic 06, why is all the cartoonish design confined to the dreamworld

THIS IS ONE OF MY OTHER BEEFS WITH JOURNEY OF DREAMS

IT HAS NO RIZZ

Genuinely the Sonic 06 style designs in JoD are godawful and aged so poorly

The thing is...it's not even just Will and Helen in this "more realistic" style.

The first-levels are also over detailed and it really absolutely does not suit them at all. Their outfits are more complex than they need to be, and often hide things that were key elements on their original designs (Reala's W on his forehead, NiGHTS' red gem is now mostly hidden by the new vest and further obscured by the red stripes). Not to mention the changes to their face shapes + making their eyelids bulge from their faces + too much focus on overtexturing details (like the eyelashes...eugh)

I think the second-levels could've used a lot of simplification too and Owl's bulging eyes and horrible muppet beak and realistic feathers are also highly unpleasant to look at in combination. Man I just have not had a chance to say something nice about that bird huh. Sorry birdbrainiac. Hope you get a nice overhaul someday.

NiD's models and CGI cutscenes...haven't exactly aged well either, they've definitely got that classic early 3D stiffness to them, but...

they have the excuse of being from 1996. JoD came out in 2007, on a...relatively more powerful console than NiD, and had Sonic 06's reception as precedent 😔 There is a reason that style got dropped hard

NiD still managed, in 1996, to look both pleasant and consistent. The game's style isn't just a compromise between realism and cartoony, there is a well-considered balance on what details were most important to emphasize and between the two worlds.

The JoD third-levels are honestly probably closest to NiD's design scheme, most of them fit in perfectly fine, so I have no idea what went wrong with. well. everybody else

[magmaticmachine]

crazy thought but what if there's more than one dream gate

and the one connected to twin seeds has that city's aesthetics and architecture

I honestly like...Lowkey this is one of my beefs with Journey of Dreams; the Dream Gate's design is so goddamn dull.

Functionally, it's just a hub level, and I find it really hard to care about. It's a twice-mandatory tutorial (thrice for 100%!) and level select all rolled into one. It's just...woefully underdeveloped.

Visually the Dream Gate in JoD is just...a regular public park. It feels deeply out of place, not in a dreamlike way but like...like it belongs to a different game altogether? Compared to other areas in the series it just does not have the same level of thought in its design. Unlike the Nightopia we see, it seems to reflect no concepts, there's nothing to learn about the characters - maybe it's meant to reflect the town, but honestly the architecture for important buildings in JoD is. well. it is. You can't even glean any information about the guy who lives in the Dream Gate, Exposition Bird™️ Owl. The concept art looked, to me, to have had a little more focus on Gender™️ in the statue design? which I'm. honestly relieved they didn't lean into, I don't know how much "animus/anima" psychobabble I can take. The lighting is also really awkward and dim and I wish they had some like. proper light sources around the place too?

Anyways I got kinda off-topic there 😔 I do think like...it would make a lot more sense if there were Lots Of Ways to get into a dream, and personally I don't think the only worlds in the Night Dimension are Nightopia and Nightmare lol. More than one dream gate is like...honestly not a crazy idea at all, and I think if it reflected the town and the people that live there more then that could be pretty interesting

[magmaticmachine]

also w/r/t the ideya thing I think nightmaren have layers. like an onion. hear me out

there's probably no real organs or bones in there as they are Made Of Dreams (I know there is that skeleton model but honestly it's not a very good skeleton and that seems like the kind of thing NiGHTS would do for a laugh)

I'm thinking like...

The pretty outer shell, bright and colorful and fun :]

horrible nightmare sludge layer. something between intangible shadow and like, oil

shiny shiny inner core of ideya. the ideya core. I-core if you don't have a lot of time (ichor. that's it that's the joke. hee hoo funny mythology reference)

[magmaticmachine]

Finally wrapped up that mini pack I was working on! Replaces four outfits (for the purposes of clown impersonation!), three pets, and one NPC! Please check it out!

EDIT: someone pointed out I should probably upload some in-game examples for you to Look At so here they are, please enjoy!

[magmaticmachine]

I also saw a frutiger aero tutorial and used the Lumi as a test subject. I like those little guys

[magmaticmachine]

Wanted to try mimicking Star Garden's style / proportions but all I can draw lately is funny jester

anyways here you go

[magmaticmachine]

awright. I've been a little busy so just some quick mockups but here they are. JoD had no swagger man. Why they went with "giant empty square floating in the eternal void" I have no idea. Utterly dripless. Anyways. long post

I went with a nice, circular forest clearing both for the convenience of having Clearly Marked Invisible Walls that don't look like shit (like the Floating Hellsquare T_T) and also it's flexible enough to fit both Nightopia/Nightmare aesthetics The area would be mostly stable due to the. visible invisible walls, but. It would still be subject to fluctuations. I do think that the "morality"/mood system in NiD could be utilized to influence the scenery as well as the residents (and also nights. if you do a really bad job the jester should get at least a little snippy with you. it will be funny.) and I think it would be....easier to work with than JoD's hidden nightopian types and also not take up one million hours of your life Honestly instead of that incredible randomization/timesink duo bullshit JoD does I'd have it so nightopian (and nightmaren) activities would be the primary vehicle for any physical terrain changes. Nightopians already build stuff like snowmen on occasion, and king 'pians can build castles (+ direct others to help in JoD iirc?) Also bring back Nightopian Rock Throwing. let them FIGHT BACK. also maybe we can keep the furniture but...make it...intentionally placeable and more interactable maybe. chairs you can actually sit on would be nice For lore ties I'd also make it NiGHTS' former fucking arena I think it would be so fucking funny I think it would be goddamn hilarious. All of the other nightmaren have a fucking arena and honestly it would make a bit of sense for the paraloop to drop shit off THERE. Also let the poor guy hang out. JoD really just said "no, getting attacked by birds and jailed ONLY" for the poor guy. let them out

Also I mean like I get that the nightopians aren't designed for evolution like the chao are but I have some suggestions

They could at least live a little longer than they do in JoD. I feel like I lose 20 every time I walk in there. They just drop like flies even though I keep feeding them

And also a limit below 70 or 80 or whatever it is would be fine. I honestly don't know why JoD lets you have that many

They don't necessarily need to be more interactable, that's never really been their appeal (you're supposed to want to hand-raise chao...but nightopians don't evolve or compete) but I would like them to have more inter-creature behaviors? idk maybe it's just because I've been birdwatching a bit lately lmao

anyways. I do have more thoughts but. not tonight. I am very sneepy. Forming sentences is very difficult. so I am very going to bed. someone remind me tomorrow or so about my other nights post that's in my drafts lmao

[magmaticmachine]

you know i feel like they could have made some greater nightopians

namely ones personalized to their dreamworld of origin with unique designs, personalities, and roles, unlike the lesser fairy people

aw yeah that could be neat

themed after specific Nightopia maybe. tha big nightopian that makes all of da rules

it's funny you mention this because I was just workshopping some ideas to improve the nightopian garden (for starters, NOT PUTTING THEM IN GM_FLATGRASS)

perhaps when I'm free from my workplace I'll elaborate more on that

[magmaticmachine]

Just played the YOUR HOUSE demo and. really really interesting style. Really loved that snapshot, can't wait to check out the rest

No spoilers update: YOUR HOUSE is a fairly intriguing and mostly enjoyable visual novel, although a select few of the puzzles are frustratingly unintuitive. The themes are rather heavy-handed (the messaging is fine! it's just extremely on the nose), and I did predict a Major Story Spoiler fairly early on. All in all, I think if you enjoy ergodic literature, it's worth a look

[magmaticmachine]

You know what? Journey of Dreams shoulda let NiGHTS throw the blue chips too

[magmaticmachine]

I bet NiGHTS' competence despite the Whimsy™️ pisses Reala off to no end

like he's the second-in-command of the literal realm of nightmares, he's managing all these other basards, and then his extremely fucking whimsical Traitor Bastard Sibling kicks all of their asses and also his ass, more than once depending on interpretation? and I bet that just really gets under his skin

no wonder he's miserable all the time. whenever NiGHTS gets loose they just go "speedrun!" and see how fast they can kick everyone's ass this time. I'd be miserable too

[magmaticmachine]

Chao Tales ep. 5 is up! Shadow Chao is being horrible, as usual!

[magmaticmachine]

I can feel out the galaxy! and hear the flow of time! been so tense but now I sense the reason to this rhyme!

and I can smell the universe! and I can taste the sky! and I can see each molecule- through my cosmic eye!

[magmaticmachine]

I noticed that NiGHTS and shadow have very similar things with each other