mjackson97-blog1

[mjackson97-blog1]

Who needs a pillow when you have a husband

[mjackson97-blog1]

autistic c-ptsd raz pride icons

requested by anon

like/rb if using + credit

[mjackson97-blog1]

more Lili content. Psychonaut fans, come get your lili content. Pspspspspspspsp

[mjackson97-blog1]

Liliposting

I like drawing Lili Zanotto. She's my favorite character in Psychonauts. My brain likes her a lot and I can't stop drawing her. She's the best character and I wish there was more of her.

And Ford and Milla. But mostly Lili. Every post with Lili will have a Liliposting tag. I am the Liliposter.

[mjackson97-blog1]

Psychonauts Analysis: Why Lungfishopolis is an Underappreciated Level

This level is technically impressive, for one thing. Raz is given an entirely new set of idle and walking animations which only appear in this one level. This is the only level after unlocking it that levitation is completely unusable. Raz is much slower than normal and feels significantly heavier with even the camera shaking as he walks. And everything from buildings, to tanks, to cars, to pedestrians is completely squishable! I wouldn't bat an eyelash at any of this in a newer game, but in a game from 2005? This is mind-blowing! The devs didn't have to do any of this. Even if they had taken the easy route and not added all these little details the level still would have been fun, but I probably wouldn't be writing a Tumblr post about it.

Then there's the level design. Linda's is the only non-human mind we enter over the course of the Psychonauts series, yet her mindscape is a decidedly human city. This is obviously because she was being mind-controlled by Coach and he built over her real psyche with something he can more easily manipulate. Something interesting about this level though is just how eerie it feels. Maybe this is just me and the early 2000s jank, but even with all of the cars and pedestrians, Lungfishopolis doesn't feel fully alive. Urban areas feeling lifeless and oddly compacted in older video games is nothing new, but this is one of the only times I feel like it actually benefits the level. Despite having an open sky, the city feels almost subterranean, enclosed. This is very fitting for what's actually going on in Linda's head! The city being surrounded by stone walls isn't just practical from a design standpoint, it perfectly visualizes the way Coach is trying to close Linda off from everything but his instructions, represented by the broadcast tower. My other point about the city feeling lifeless also plays into this. Lungfishopolis, like other video game levels from the time, feels less like a real city and more like a populated ghost town. Again though, this makes sense in context! Just as game developers create pixel simulacrums of cities without being able to capture the liveliness of a real city due to time and hardware constraints, so did Coach! The fact that the shortcomings of this nearly-old-enough-to-drink video game actually adds to the storytelling is absolutely beautiful!/gen/pos

I've not even mentioned Raz and Coach Oleander being kaiju's yet. Like with everything else in Psychonauts, this is a brilliant decision! It magnifically demonstrates how small and powerless Linda feels compared to the humans despite being physically larger than them in real life, but I also just appreciate how the roles are reversed. The fact that the monster destroying the city is actually the good guy and the superhero trying to save the city is the villain, is glorious! If you return to the level after completing it, you're even encouraged to keep smashing everything because now that Linda is free, Lungfishopolis will be undergoing reforestation.

The last thing to note is how, oddly enough, Lungfishopolis roughly parallels Lucrecia's Lament. Linda and Lucy both had psyches "built over" by foreign entities (Coach and Ford), both realized something was wrong, and both broke out of their programming in small ways, (Linda with her freedom fighters and Lucy with her quilts). I love that we got to see basically the same concept portrayed in two wildly different ways!

Also, if I had a nickel for every game that featured a level where the protagonist and final boss were kaiju-sized on a miniature set...

-and the end credits referenced the Lunch atop a Skyscraper photo from 1932...

-I would have two nickels, which isn't a lot, but it could buy me two cans of Pork and Beans the year that photo was taken!

[mjackson97-blog1]

ILL FLOSS MY TEETH WITH YOUR SPINE!!!!!!!!

[mjackson97-blog1]

Haha just kidding she didnt leave : ]

[mjackson97-blog1]

Something Feels Off....

[mjackson97-blog1]

whatever go my Lilis

[mjackson97-blog1]

YES, BENDY AGAIN

Okay, I just decided that Alice needs friends_

[mjackson97-blog1]

Revisiting another double fine classic, costume quest, gave me an idea for a new game in the series.

Taking place a year after the events of CQ2, Reynold, His twin sister wren, and their friends Everett and Lucy are enjoying a night of trick-or-treating and can’t wait for the auburn pines annual block party later. But when a new villain emerges to cause havoc, it’s up to the kids along, the witch siblings Dorsilla and Dorian and some friendly repugians to team up and once again save Halloween.

Just like at the start of the other CQ games, the player can choose whether the leader of the team should be Reynold or Wren.

New magical costumes with unique abilities include a mermaid/merman, a witch, an ice cream sundae, a spider, a mad scientist, Raz Aquato, Medusa, Frankenstein’s monster, Godzilla and more.

Instead of a party of three, now the player can control and fight with a party of four.

New creepy treat cards to collect, trade and use in battle such as Chocolate nuggets, Fruity pizza, sugar paste, loopypops, candy bling, dollops and cents and more.

Old locations to explore like auburn pines as well as some new locations.

[mjackson97-blog1]

thinking about the boy

[mjackson97-blog1]

I drew lili from the cult classic mind-bending platformer, Psychonauts (2005).

[mjackson97-blog1]

The guys ever

[mjackson97-blog1]

More of my GoG Psychonauts Au! Here we have Milla, Morey, and Sasha! More Details:

Milla Vodello: Species, Short Eared Owl. Occupation: Ryb of the Tracking Chaw in the Great Tree

Morceau Oleander: Species, Northern Saw Whet Owl. Occupation: Ryb of the Search & Rescue Chaw in the Great Tree.

Sasha Nien: Species, Black-Banded Owl. Occupation: Ryb of the Navigation Chaw in the Great Tree.

I’m probably going to work on the designs for the Aquato Family next! At some point I’m also gonna put in details for the storyline cause I have ideas!!! Though, any ideas on what to call this Au?

[mjackson97-blog1]

Finally got a chance to set up my psychonauts prints and dolls! The Lili is by @latenightdollhouse

[mjackson97-blog1]

SPOILERS IF YOU HAVE NOT HEARD OF OR PLAYED CQ2!

I feel like Costume quest 2 had some things missing that screamed “cut during production time and budget.” Like for example, Orel white’s crazy and evil behavior was the result of his horrible childhood with his strict, crazy, mean, hygiene-obsessed mother. But why was she like that? Does she just lie around her home all night (possibly drinking herself to unconscious or is a regular heavy sleeper) while her son sneaks out trying to get some candy? How would she feel knowing that she was the reason her son grows up to make a deal with a time wizard, open up a portal to repugnia and became a crazy tyrannical ruler in a dystopian future? Here’s how I would’ve fixed this….

———————————

When Reyold and Wren travel back to the past to get young Orel to help them break into old orel’s secret compound and get the talisman, they find him and get him to join them on their quest. Young Orel is happy to finally wear costumes and trick or treat, even if it is in a dystopian future where he’ll see what a monster he has become. But before the kids could leave the bayou’s French quarter, they are stopped by orel’s mother. She found out that her son has snuck out again and she is not happy. She warned the kids that there would be consequences, and now she was gonna punish them via spanking or worse. But young Orel steps between her and his new friends and tells his mother to stop, that he’s tired of not being allowed to enjoy Halloween and that he’s tired of being forced to brush his teeth all the time for no reason (he even points out that he learned that excessive brushing can cause bleeding gums). The twins are surprised to see young Orel gain a backbone and stand up for himself. But mother white wasn’t too pleased. She tries to drag her son back home but Orel yanks his arm out of her grasp and stands his ground. This is where Reynold and Wren tell Mrs white that lives are at stake, that the timeline needs to be restored, and that it’s her fault that Orel grew up to be a mean dentist and an insane tyrant. Mrs white stood there silently. But she doesn’t believe the kids and grows even angrier, ready to bring out punishment.

Another boss battle ensues. Orel isn’t much of a fighter, but he’ll do anything to help the twins and stop his cruel mom. The player would have to destroy Mrs white’s giant toothbrushes first before attacking her, otherwise the brushes could do some real damage to the player’s party. After the battle and Mrs white is defeated, she breaks down on her hands and knees crying. It is here that she finally tells the kids the truth about why she hates Halloween.

Mrs white used to be a dentist herself, a nicer one too. but overtime she started taking her job too seriously, took what she read about candy rotting teeth too seriously,  got fed up with how rowdy and ornery some of her patients were and slowly her mind deteriorated into hating Halloween, the biggest candy-giving holiday. she lost her dentists license and was kicked out of the dental community when they found out she started doing unethical and harsh practices, including scaring her patients and trying to put braces on toddlers.

Her home life wasn’t so great either as she found out her husband was having an affair with a restaurant waitress so Mrs white filed for a divorce, leaving just her and Orel. There she became Overprotective and unintentionally mean to her son, forcing him to clean his teeth whenever possible and wear orthodontic headgear. But like many kids, Orel couldn’t help but feel curious about Halloween, curious about how good candy tasted, wanted to experience it and enjoy it himself. So he would always sneak out every year to get some candy and enjoy it in his treehouse, but many times he was caught by his mother. As he grew up her words brainwashed him into thinking Halloween was evil, and that kids should not rot their teeth, thus leading him to grow up into a mean dentist in the present, meet kronos the time wizard, make a deal with him and steal the talisman from the bayou witch family to drastically alter the timeline.

Using a crystal ball (that they would steal from the future at some point), the twins show Mrs white what has become of her boy in the future. She finally realizes that it’s her fault that Orel grew up to be this way. The kids return to the future, but not before Mrs white wishes them good luck and tells her son that when he gets back after stopping his older self and fixing the timeline, she’ll make it up to him.

After the game’s final boss battle, the timeline is fixed and Orel reforms, Mrs white changes too. When her son returns home, she promises that from now on she’ll let her son enjoy Halloween and all the candy he can get, as well as enjoy Halloween herself and give out treats to kids instead of scaring them away. When Reynold and wren return home to the autumn pines block party, they see an elderly Mrs white with her son and the twins’ parents. She was wearing a Halloween sweater and earrings and giving out candy to kids. She even tells the twins of how much Orel has loved going out on Halloween since he was a kid, that he had the cutest costumes too, unintentionally embarrassing her kindly dentist son.

And that’s how I would’ve added more to the game, mainly making young Orel more braver and give his mom some character development.