#I have next to no experience in game development

[corvusalbus93]

Astarion & the Consequences of Good Deeds

So, I did the “Stop the Presses” the other day and for those, who haven’t done it, because I missed it in my first playthrough, basically you have to stop the Baldur’s Mouth Gazette from printing a hit piece against the party. You can trigger the quest by talking to reporters Lens or Estra Stir and it becomes time-sensitive after talking to Ettvard Needle in the Baldur’s Mouth (aka article is printed after next long rest).

Since you get kicked out of the building I naturally I completed the quest with Astarion, as he’s the best for sneaking through that building undetected. So, I snuck through, found a new printing block to replace the hit piece with and made it to the printer.

As it turns out, the thing is operated by the fairy Jelliwig, who recognized Astarion (and would have probably any of any party), because Dolly Dolly Dolly had been freed in Act 2. In my playthrough this too had been done by Astarion, since his Sleight of Hand-skills had made this very easy (also no disapproval, when he does it).

Apparently Dolly can’t shut up about him and so, as a result of that action in Act 2, Jelliwig offers to drop the hit piece and print a different story. If you haven’t freed Dolly you need to pass some dialogue/skill checks.

Printing Press: Oi! Gormless! Over here. Thought I recognised you. Dolly Dolly Dolly was right – you aren’t much of a looker. Printing Press: Dolly can’t stop talking about you. Hero this, hero that, hero here, hero there. Hello, hero. Printing Press: You know, there’s some absolute filth about you in tomorrow’s edition. Seeing as you were king enough to free Dolly, how’s about I do you a favour? Printing Press: Why don’t we change the headline? We can load up something a bit less... damaging for your reputation?

So, where am I getting with all this?

Well, as we learn more about Astarion’s backstory, we find out he was often punished and tortured by Cazador. The worst of it he suffered after committing a morally good deed, saving that boy he just couldn’t bring to his master. And even early in Act 1, he sees Wyll too getting punished for sparing Karlach and he doesn’t seem exactly surprised.

If the last 200 years have taught him anything (among others), is that people with power can do whatever they want, unpunished, and no good deed goes unpunished. That is part of the worldview he has when we meet him. It’s not surprising he sees no merit in helping anyone throughout most of the game, with a few exceptions.

But as time progresses, the party helps more people things start to change. The people repay the party with gear, supplies, information, ect. - Dammon even fixed Karlach’s engine as well as he can for free. And in the end, when everyone gathered at the High Hall, in a good-aligned playthrough, the room is crowded with people you’ve helped since Act 1. As players we too notice how the game is easier, when you make allies, and the characters in game would take note of the help they receive as well.

When Astarion first receives thanks from the tieflings for killing the goblin leaders he’s dismissive, but in Act 2, when he says he’s never pictured himself as a banisher of shadows, he smiles. The role is growing on him, little by little.

Then in continuities like mine, Astarion experiences the results of good deeds in at least one very direct example, as it pays off not just immediately (Dolly blessing the party to resist the curse), but unexpectedly later on (Jelliwig doing him a good deed in turn unprompted).

Sure, sometimes doing the “right” things is punished or makes things more difficult, but I think for his character development it was also important to relearn that good deeds sometimes do pay off, can be rewarding in various ways – not just in terms of material gain but in gaining trust, respect, allies, even friends:

Post refusing the rite: Wyll: Astarion showed restraint where most others wouldn’t. He might not appreciate the sentiment – but I’m proud of him. Lae’zel: To seek power for personal glory alone is a farce Astarion was wise to see it. Karlach: He’d hate to hear me say this, but I’m so fucking proud of Astarion. He could’ve had it all, but he kept his soul instead. Wasn’t sure he had it in him, but he’s changed so much. Overcome so much darkness. Ooh, I could smooch that pointy little face!

[crescencestudio]

Hi! I was wondering, will the full game cost money? I’m assuming yes because of how much work is being poured into this. Also, do you have a price range for the full game?

SO...... THIS IS ACTUALLY SOMETHING I WANTED TO TALK TO U ALL ABOUT AND I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO SUMMON THE COURAGE FOR IT FOR LITERALLY THE PAST IDK HOW MANY MONTHS...... I WAS GONNA TELL U ALL ON MY BDAY NEXT WEEK SO U COULDNT BE MEAN TO ME WHEN I ANNOUNCE IT SKXISOOSOS BUT I GUESS ILL JUST SAY IT NOW...... (sorry anon im using ur question as an excuse to make an important announcement)

Yes, Alaris will be paid, and it will be $15 USD ($12 USD for Early Access)

NOW..... FOR THOSE OF U WHO HAVE BEEN HERE A LONG TIME..... i know i have said in the past i was planning on alaris being $5-$7 but i cant emphasize how many times i was told by gamers and dev friends alike to increase the price. ppl literally BEGGED me bc i was Severely underselling myself and my work. even now with me making the price $15, ppl have been telling me its still undervaluing the worth of the game.

i know $15 is much more than i said the game would be and for a long time, i wanted to keep the price low for accessibility reasons. but as time has gone on and the amount of work i've put into this game has increased, it seemed less and less fair for me to price the game at $5-$7. having worked on the game for 5 years now, that price would literally be compensating me $1/year which just kinda..,.,. feels like someone spit in my face KXKSOSOSSO.

on top of that, i'm at a different point as a developer than when i first started alaris. when i first started the game, it was my first game ever, i wasn't in it for any kind of commercial success and i just wanted to make a silly little game with my little fingies. but five years down the road, a lot has changed. i've invested way more time and effort into this game than i originally had expected, the player base has gotten bigger than i would've imagined, and my experience as a dev has come a long way. the product is just different from what i had first imagined, and as someone no longer completely inexperienced, i also see myself differently (in a good way)!

alaris has always been my child but it's more than that now. it represents five years of growing as a developer, and i think the art assets and writing rly showcase that. i honestly think $15 is an extremely fair price for the game given the amount of content in it. it's partially voice acted, has 60+ backgrounds, will have 50+ CGs, 15 character sprites, 350k words, 6 routes, like... the list goes on ykwim. and compared to other vns of similar lengths/quality, $15 is more than reasonable.

i know some ppl will say they can't afford this which is totally fair, and i do plan on eventually having sales on the game so that it can be around that $5-$7 price (much later down the road). but i hope you all can understand where i'm coming from as a developer and someone who does have their own bills and life expenses to pay for. and more than that, i hope you can support this decision as a player who also sees the same value in the game that i do <3

[spite-of-artemis]

Quick lil TADC timeline cuz hyperfixation

While we dont have much to go off for a lot of this, theres a few things that do lead to a rough timeline of events for when everyone got to the circus and how they got there. if ive gotten anything wrong or missed anything that goose has confirmed before then please correct me. also obv this is all mostly theories so might change with new episodes or based on how you interpret my proof. while i dont have any proof in universe for specific years i mention, ill be giving specific yearss for thematic reasons towards the end.

Sometime in the vauge past, though judging by the computer and kingers age id guess around late 90's, C&A creates The Amazing Digital Circus for... reasons. It is a virtual reality multiplayer game in which the helpful artificial inteligence of Caine creates fun short adventures for the players to go on. Something in this development goes wrong and during testing, 6 players are "trapped" within the game. Since Kinger has been in the circus the longest and has 7 years of computer science experience it makes sense he worked for C&A and was the first to enter the circus.

Kinger, his wife Queenie, and 4 others enter the circus in 2000, and sometime later Queenie is the first to abstract. I believe this happened before anyone in the main cast entered since the others didnt really seem to know about her.

Based on the crossed off doors weve seen at various points, we know of at least 12 players who have abstracted. Based on the trend of a new circus member entering when an abstraction happens, I believe that Queenie and 4 others all abstracted and were replaced with new players, the next player to abstract brings in Ragatha.

Ragatha enters sometime in the mid 00s early 10's, id guess around 06' 12' based on nothing but vibes. She mentions being in real estate and was possibly looking around the now defunct C&A building attempting to prep it for sale when she found the headset.

Slight weird idea, but i think it makes sense. Next to join the circus was Kaufmo. we know very little about kaufmo so hes here mostly because it just feels weird for him to have joined after jax and gangle did. he joins sometime around 09' 14'.

at this point in the timeline weve had Queenie and 6 unnamed players abstract, the most recent two having been replaced by ragatha and kaufmo. the circus currently consists of Kinger, Ragatha, Kaufmo, and 3 unnamed players.

2 of those players abstract fairly close together and are replaced by Jax and Ribbit. This happens sometime around 12' 2017 since jax makes the breaking bad refference in ep 5 and that didnt really have major success until it was added to netflix in 2011, along with his confirmed age. Jax and Ribbit likely went in together and knew each other outside the circus like Kinger and Queenie did, but after over a decade in the circus (plus seeing 9 abstractions already) Kinger has become unstable enough to not mention any similarities. Jax and Ribbit were very close.

Sometime later, ill say 15' 19', Ribbit abstracts and is replaced by Gangle, which seems to have deeply affected Jax. This likely caused his tail to fall off as that can happen to rabbits due to injury or trauma, alongside him symbolicly losing a part of himself with Ribbit. Based on his manerisms its also likely that he blames himself in some way for Ribbits abstraction, anger which he externalizes and takes out on Gangle

A few years later the last unnamed player is abstracted and replaced with Zooble, ill say sometime around 18' 22' for thematic reasons in the next point. We know Zooble enjoyed to look around abandoned buildings and likely found the headset inside the now very abandoned C&A building that Ragatha was attempting to sell.

Its now 2023 and our current cast is Kinger (in the circus for roughly 23 years), Ragatha, (~10 years), Kaufmo (~9 years), Jax (~6 years), Gangle (~4 years), and Zooble (~1 year). Queenie and 10 unnamed players have abstracted, many of them within the first 5 years of the circus first being created. its been roughly 5 years since the last abstraction, the longest period of "peace" since the circus first opened at the turn of the century. The abstractions are happening more frequently as the circus starts to break down.

Kaufmo then abstracts and is replaced by Pomni. She was exploring an abandoned building and found the headset, putting it on and finding herself in the digital circus. She tries to leave but its too late. Kaufmo has abstracted, and she is now trapped in his place.

To Pomni its meaningless, at least when compared to everything else going on. To Zooble its a coincidence that they both joined right as another abstracted. to Gangle its a pattern and another cause of anxiety. To Jax, its a sign that maybe it wasnt his fault, that he doesnt need to lash out any more. To Ragatha its another tradgey, another lost friend. And to Kinger, its another one who he hopes can find some peace and quiet inside the darkness of the Cellar, just like how Queenie found some peace and quiet inside their fort together.

I dont believe any of the main cast will properly abstract. theyll definitely get close for the sake of stakes and drama, but the circus seems to like having 6 cast members at a time.

okay ramble time now

ooo wow writing out this timeline was really fun for me, i absolutely love it tbh and it became way more then i was initially intending. my initial post was just gonna be "Kinger and Queenie joined first, then it went ragatha, jax and ribbit, gangle, zooble, pomni" and then it just kept growing as i looked through more of the wiki and everything kinda fell into place for me. this is definitely not the full extent of the theories i believe (saw someone say C&A could mean Caine and Abel and i love that. also love the trans jax truthers, idk if ill fully commit it to my headcanons, but i do appreciate yall) so i might make more scattered posts about theories and headcanons, but this is a good balance between every thought i have about this show and the barebones "what order they joined" timeline i initially planned to make.

[plaidos]

What evidence is there for HL3 being Ep3 and not another standalone game like HL:Alyx?

so we actually have a plethora of quite varied evidence that the current Half-Life title is a direct narrative continuation from Half-Life 2 Episode Two's ending -- firstly, here's some quotes from oldheads at Valve on the future of the Half-Life franchise post-Alyx:

here's Phil Co in The Final Hours of Half-Life Alyx:

This ice has been broken, now we're hoping to smash through the ice completely. We're not afraid of Half-Life no more.

and Gabe Newell in Half-Life 2: 20th Anniversary Documentary:

The ending of Half-Life Alyx is somewhat a self-critical realization, so that was super satisfying and all credit to the people who were specifically involved in that decision and those sets of designs. I think Half-Life represents a tool we have and promises made to customers to capitalize on innovation and opportunities to build game experiences that haven't been involved previously, and I think there are no shortage of those opportunities facing us as an industry right now

so they're definitely intent on pushing the story forwards and not being stuck in the same creative rut they have been with Half-Life. to me, this is a pretty simple way to say "hey, yeah, we're working on it," but i get why this isn't a convincing answer to the question you've given me, so here's a little more.

all of Valve's games on Source 2 share a codebase, which makes it easy for them easier to build the way Valve makes their games; because of this each new update to all Source 2 games made by Valve will have some kind of reference to another Valve project, in or out of development, including many to the current Half-Life 3 project. some of those strings include references to manhacks, Xen, HEV suits, headcrab zombies, and, most crucially, crowbars. we also know that Valve elected not to use the crowbar as a weapon in Half-Life Alyx specifically because they didn't want to generalise the crowbar as representational of all Half-Life games -- just Gordon specifically -- this is reflected in the ending of Half-Life Alyx, even.

beyond that, i don't know if you've played Alyx or watched a playthrough or anything but uh... if you have, it's incredibly clear what Half-Life project they're working on next lol. to be honest, it's even a stretch to call Alyx a "standalone title" imo. even though it's a prequel in the timeline, it is narratively a successor to Episode Two and a prelude to Half-Life 3. Alyx expects you to have played Episode Two before playing it, it literally TELLS YOU the ending of Episode Two to establish this, because it's narratively relevant even to a version of Alyx that it hasn't happened to yet.

[mxdragonturtle]

You can tell I’ve fallen into bored insanity because I’ve started genuinely thinking about how I would rework all of the sims 4 packs

Like in a hypothetical world where packs were organized and designed differently what features would’ve been put together

[solacefish]

.. So .. How are you people holding up?

[baeshijima]

i am predicting that sunday will be a nihility character to contrast robin's harmony (hoyo PLEASEEE make him a dot buffer 🙏 i really want him but if he won't synergize well with kafka then i fear i'll have to skip...)

honestly at this point i just want sunday to be drip marketed and released and in my account 😭😭 like i will be pulling him and his lc no matter what his synergy with the charas in my account are bc i need him. carnally. and desperately.

[velvetjune]

incredible to think that Alan Wake 2’s existence itself implies that maybe it’ll be about Alan finally leaving the dark place, directly solving the cliffhanger of Alan Wake 1, but instead now Saga, Casey, Rose, Tim, Alice, and (still) Alan are in the Dark Place. Genius subversion of expectations

[bf-rally]

wee today i managed to get stuff to start listing

[thegreatyin]

What, precisely, is fallen London, and how can I play it? Ive been told it's a browser game, will it work on my phones browser or only my computer's?

SWEEPS EVERYTHING OFF MY DESK. SLAMS MY HANDS ON THE COUNTER. you're in luck because advertising this game is apparently my specialty.

fallen london is a free browser game that works on anything with an internet connection!! laptops, phones, tablets, the decade old 3ds you have stashed in the back of your closet- if you can open a web browser, you can run fallen london. the UI obviously differs between desktop and mobile, and desktop has the benefit of extensions that can make your life marginally easier, but that's all a strictly optional affair.

as for the game's actual contents; fallen london is a text-based horror game closely reminiscent of classic "choose your own adventure" books. you play as a new arrival to an alternate history version of victorian london that now flourishes in a deep, dark, marvelous (and more than slightly eldritch!) cavern known as "the neath", with the goal of making your name and ultimately pursuing one of the four possible ambitions that brought you here to begin with. along the way you encounter a wide variety of strange and inexplicable things, including but not limited to;

men with the faces of squid (who are not truly men)

actual real soul-stealing devils (who originate from Actual Real Hell, which is also london's next door neighbor)

snakes that are eternally bound to the realm beyond mirrors (who have an infamous feud with sapient talking cats)

treacheries of time, law, and all that which the gods hold dear (including the ability to bypass death itself)

sirens who are convinced they're dead (in a place where, as stated, death is easily bypassed)

sentient landmasses that get REALLY annoyed if you don't pay your taxes on time (and are also single and ready to mingle)

fabric that is not fabric (which is held in quite high value by certain giant bat monsters)

spiders that eat eyeballs (but are, fortunately, easily distracted by shakespeare)

genres of colors you didn't think possible (in seven fantastical flavors!)

batkissing (not canonically, but in our hearts)

batfucking (this is, somehow, marginally more canon than the above thing)

batmarriage (no.)

batdivorce (in comically large spades)

The Hat Man (who's in love with and yearns to become like a sentient island)

gay people (a lot of them)

trans people (also a lot of them)

doomed love, in all possible forms (as well as those who try and collect it)

this thing (this thing)

and last- but certainly not least-

a pitiful hope that perhaps, just perhaps, all shall one day be well. (even when you know it won't be.)

it's a game with lore as deep as the ocean, and a staggering wordcount (4.5 million!) to boot. it's not perfect, but it's something i've grown to love deeply, and in my experience? if it doesn't click for you, that's understandable. but if it clicks for you, it really does click for you. i recommend it to anyone and everyone who so much as looks its way. who knows! it may just surprise you 🦇☀️🦀🌃

as a further incentive, here are some out-of-context items and excerpts:

as stated, you can play it right now for free at fallen london dot com. there is a subscription and a small bounty of microtransactions on offer if you want to support the development team, but at no point is this ever required, and you will be playing for years before you reach the end of stuff to accomplish. all major content updates are free and available to all players, and FOMO to this day remains virtually non-existent. as once again stated, the browser specs are non-existent. if you can run google, you can run fallen london.

so head on down!! give the neath a try!! follow admiralty orders and dump a bunch of bombs directly into the zee (underground sea) whilst accidentally waking up a giant grieving sea urchin that screams fire and violently pursues your demise!! (that's what we're all doing right now, anyway.)

if the browser game isn't for you, there's also other outlets with which to explore the universe. you can find the spinoff games Sunless Seas, Sunless Skies, and Mask of The Rose available to purchase right now on steam, and there's recently been a very successful kickstarter to adapt the game into a TTRPG. it looks very cool so far. im very very very excited for it :)

in lieu of having to come up with a conclusion for this ask, im instead going to direct you to the MoTR stupendium song (which you'll find linked below). it says far more and advertises far better than i could ever dream of. also, it's a straight bop, and "all ends/swords pens" has lived rent-free in my brain for months.

welcome to the neath, delicious friend. we hope you enjoy your stay ❤️

[thedemonsurfer]

It's really not all that surprising that the Daycare Attendant ended up being so popular, to the point that there's a whole subsection of FNAF fandom that's p much just the DCA.

For starters, there's Security Breach itself. Security Breach is a vastly different FNAF game from its predecessors. Instead of being a jumpscare-driven task management simulator, it is a free-roam exploration and puzzle game, also with jumpscares. Instead of a security guard with their butt glued to their office chair, you're playing as a kid trapped in the mall. That difference in format and story setup attracted a whole new crowd of players to FNAF.

Next is character design. Unlike the majority of animatronics in the killer robot furry franchise, the DCA is a lanky, vaguely human shaped jester with a dinnerplate head and a creepy fixed smile. That appeals to folks who might not be as much into the robot furries, but like lanky creepy jesters (I am one of those people).

Security Breach also FINALLY develops the animatronics into actual characters, rather than interchangeable jumpscares. It's not a coincidence that prior to SB, the most popular animatronic was Springtrap-- an animatronic outright possessed by the defacto main antagonist of the series. I still remember the sheer fuzzy excitement upon hearing the first teaser trailer where we found out that we would be playing as a kid and that Freddy was our friend. That's still so cool! Freddy is our friend!

But character is where the Daycare Attendant really blows everyone else out of the water.

Sun is, after Freddy and Vanessa, the NPC with the most lines of dialogue (ten). Sun and Vanessa are the only antagonists that speak directly to Gregory, rather than just having vague hunting lines. For comparison, of the Glamrocks only Roxy has a single line of interaction with another animatronic ("Get out of my room, Freddy!") and her pep talk in the mirror at the start of the game. Monty and Chica might as well be interchangeable, both only having hunting lines.

Hell, out of Moon's nineteen voice lines, eight of them are laughs, blowing away Vanny's whopping two lines in the entire game.

Sun is the only* FNAF antagonist that does not have a jumpscare sting when he grabs Gregory, and is one of the few antagonists that does not kill the player upon jumpscaring them. Sun is outright non-hostile towards Gregory, coming off as overbearing but genuinely friendly. In a FNAF game.

Kellen Goff's phenomenal voice acting further fleshes out the DCA's character, giving us solid foundations for their personalities. Sun is anxious, friendly, and bossy. Moon is a downright giggle gremlin, sadistic and playful. Both of them are childish, and the contrast between their personalities and their job as child caretakers makes them stand out even more.

It's also worth mentioning that the Daycare is one of the earliest sections of the game, easily reached within the first thirty minutes of playtime. This makes it very likely to have been seen by people who either ended up not finishing the game itself, or any let's play series they were watching. It's also one of the most complete sections of the game, with clear, easy to understand mechanics and a decent challenge, making it more enjoyable to play than some of the later puzzles.

So, yeah. Why wouldn't there be a whole subsection of fandom built around some of the most well developed and interesting characters in the entire franchise, from an installment that attracted a new crowd of people who were probably already looking for something different from the traditional FNAF experience?

*As far as I know there are no other FNAF animatronics that perform a jumpscare animation without an accompanying sound, but it's not impossible that there's someone in UCN that I've overlooked.

[prokopetz]

why do you think indie metroidvanias specifically take so long to make, and is there a solution that you'd like to see them go for? (i know that would likely mean a compromise of some kind, but like, you know)

The reason why is fairly obvious: the classic metroidvania formula makes it very easy to fall prey to unintentional scope creep and is a positive nightmare to QA.

Non-linear progression gating based on precision platforming challenges where the player's basic moveset is constantly changing means every little thing needs to be rigorously tested in every part of the gameworld, carefully checking every room with every combination of abilities the player could conceivably possess for a wide range of failure states.

Is there some combination of abilities that allows the player to get into this room, but not out of it afterwards? Is there some combination of abilities that allows the player to do things in an order you didn't expect? Does that variation in sequencing in turn create situations where the player can end up somewhere without an ability you had assumed was required to get there? And so forth.

Even once you've got everything tested, it's not over. Every tiny change during development, even as small as adding or subtracting a couple of percentage points from the player character's jumping height or walking speed, can potentially have a domino effect that introduces a whole new set of failure states. It's not a pretty picture!

As for solutions, the one most solo or small-team metroidvanias end up adopting is to put a damper on the exponential QA explosion by linearising progression. If you haven't flipped the right switch or visited the right room, the door simply doesn't open, the progression-critical cutscene simply doesn't trigger, and so forth. Even big-name metroidvanias often make judicious use of this one: for example, Super Metroid has certain doors in the early game that just arbitrarily will not open until you've collected a couple of specific items from the game's combat-free introductory area.

The trouble with this approach is that if you use it to the extent that's necessary to keep your QA responsibilities at a manageable level for a small team or solo developer, you functionally end up with a linear, level-based platformer that makes you walk from one level to the next. Whether this disqualifies a given title from the "metroidvania" label is a demarcation problem I'm not interested in litigating, but folks who expected a more open world experience are quite understandably going to be disappointed.

The approach I'd prefer more indie metroidvanias take is to keep things under control by limiting their scope. Not ever damn thing needs to be the next Hollow Knight; many classics of the genre can be completed in well under an hour with good routing even without employing modern speedrun tech. Similarly, some of the best indie metroidvanias are those with the smallest maps; Alruna and the Necro-Industrialists, probably the best example of open-world map design of any metroidvania published in 2024, has a map that's scarcely twenty by twenty screens, and its routing is downright fiendish.

(One of my perennial probably-never-gonna-happen projects is to design a full-featured metroidvania targeting a two to three hour casual playthrough whose entire map can fit on a single screen while remaining at a vaguely playable zoom level, in the style of titles like 1 Screen Platformer.)

[elumish]

I've been reading Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros, and it's gotten me thinking about how worldbuilding is multilayered, and about how a failure of one layer of the worldbuilding can negatively impact the book, even if the other layers of the worldbuilding work.

I don't want to spoil the book for anyone, so I'm going to talk about it more broadly instead. In my day job, one of the things I do is planning/plan development, and we talk about plans broadly as strategic, operational, and tactical. I think, in many ways, worldbuilding functions the same way.

Strategic worldbuilding, as I think of it, is how the world as a whole works. It's that vampires exist and broadly how vampires exist and interact with the world, unrelated to the characters or (sometimes) to the organizations that the characters are part of. It's the ongoing war between Earth and Mars; it's the fact that every left-handed person woke up with magic 35 years ago; it's Victorian-era London except every twelfth day it rains frogs. It's the world, in the broadest sense.

Operational worldbuilding is the organizations--the stuff that people as a whole are doing/have made within the context of that strategic-level world. For The Hunger Games, I'd probably put the post-apocalyptic nature of the world and even the existence/structure of the districts as the strategic level and the construct of the Hunger Games as the operational level: the post-apocalyptic nature of the world and the districts are the overall world that they live in, and the Hunger Games are the construct that were created as a response.

Tactical worldbuilding is, in my mind, character building--and, specifically, how the characters (especially but not exclusively the main characters) exist within the context of the world. In The Hunger Games, Katniss has experience in hunting, foraging, wilderness survival, etc. because of the context of the world that she grew up in (post-apocalyptic, district structure, Hunger Games, etc.). This sort of worldbuilding, to me, isn't about the personality part of the characterization but about the context of the character.

Each one of these layers can fail independently, even if the other ones succeed. When I think of an operational worldbuilding failure, I think of Divergent, where they took a post-apocalyptic world and set up an orgnaizational structure that didn't make any sense, where people are prescribed to like 6 jobs that don't in any way cover what's required to run a modern civilization--or even to run the society that they're shown as running. The society that they present can't exist as written in the world that they're presented as existing in--or if they can, I never could figure out how when reading the book (or watching the film).

So operational worldbuilding failures can happen when the organizations or societies that are presented don't seem like they could function in the context that they are presented in or when they just don't make any sense for what they are trying to accomplish. If the story can't reasonably answer why is this organization built this way or why do they do what they do then I see it as an organizational worldbuilding failure.

For tactical worldbuilding failures, I think of stories where characters have skillsets that conveniently match up with what they need to solve the problems of the plot but don't actually match their background or experience. If Katniss had been from an urban area and never set foot in a forest, it wouldn't have worked to have her as she was.

In this way (as in planning), the tactical level should align with the operational level which should align with the strategic level--you should be able to trace from one to the next and understand how things exist in the context of each other.

For that reason, strategic worldbuilding failures are the vaguest to explain, but I think of them like this: if it either 1) is so internally inconsistent that it starts to fall apart or 2) leaves the reader going this doesn't make any sense at all then it's probably failed.

[beastyeastfreak]

Read your Beast Cookies x Human Sized Reader! Can we get a part 2 of that with the Beasts navigating life with their beloved? Such as going to work with them? Learning about new foods and such?

Absolutely!!! I think at some point the beasts figure out how to turn human/humanoid so the first half will be cookie sized and second half will be human sized

Cw and tags: lighthearted, romantic, fluff

Written pre silent salt update

Mystic flour

🌾 - At first, shes reluctant to ask for help. She navigates and learns silently, usually out of sight. After some adjustments she’ll ask you for help. Not directly, she’ll look at a place she wants to be and stare expectantly at you to hold your palm out for her. She can re-enter the game at any point, and she definitely will if you don’t treat her like a fellow human and like a small cookie. Its testing to say the least, you have to be completely dead faced when shes backhandedly threatening another cookies life or hold back “awww”. She is this powerful figure in the cookie world, able to end kingdoms if she sees fit. But here she was, sitting in the palm of your hand at chest height.

🌾 - After she gets used to being around giants, she decides to attend family gatherings and occasionally work with you. Of course in hiding, she’d rather not be treated like a toy. You end up sewing in a comfortable spot in your bag where she can sit and not be crushed. Why she wants to come with you is beyond you until you have a bad experience at work. On your lunch break she comes out and speaks to you. Reminding you it doesn’t matter and helps you calm down. This is done out of care but hopefully it will also be further convincing for you to join her in the cookie world when the time comes.

🌾 - She loves getting gifts from you, if you give her something she always takes it with her back into the game unless its to help her in the real world. Letting her touch you or following what she asks is another way to earn her affection. She’ll often sit with you while you’re at your desk, if she sees you stressed she’ll have you lay your head down and meditate with her for some time. She tries to get you to come with her, suggestions to join her in the cookie world. You deny, she doesn’t mind, you will come around, she’ll drag you in if you have to.

🌾 - Of course soon she figures out how to make herself human. She doesn’t come to work with you one day, you come home and set your things down, as you do she comes behind you and places a hand on your shoulder. You freeze, she speaks. “I understand why you wont become a cookie with me, this form is an improvement.” She says and you turn around and hug her much to her surprise.

🌾 - Now in this form, she has to get used to a body rather than surroundings. You’ll catch her not using her thumbs and grasping things like she would in cookie form, all fingers stiffky wrap around something. She’s hesitant at the thought of water and the food you eat but slowly gets used to it. she insists on going in person where you go (obviously not to work anymore). She speaks for you at restaurants, she follow you in to the store like a ghost and stare threateningly at anyone who looks at you weird. She comes with you into family parties if they’re tame enough, they all wonder why she already knows their names.

🌾 - Not wearing her usual icing felt odd, you explain its far too formal for this day and age. After a while she sort of develops a more modern style still matching her aesthetic. Thats one of the many lifestyle changes she goes through, she of course cant eat jellys for sustenance so she’ll try food off your plate often times or put something she’s interested in in the shopping cart.

🌾 - She is extremely scary, you could be laying in bed cuddling with her at night one minute and the next she’s no where to be found. You get up and see two bright slit eyes and a dark figure in the hall nearly scaring your dinner out of you. She’s calm every time, by the end of the first month of her being human you’re immune to scary things in the dark. Mostly because she scares you unintentionally but also she scares everything else off intentionally.

Burning spice

🏜️ - Burning Spice doesn’t ask this being thats a hundred times larger than him for permission. He just does what he wants. Unfortunately, the cookie world is more fragile than your world due to it being all baked goods. No matter! He’ll find a way to break everything anyway. Where Mystic Flour will have you hold her, he just climbs onto you. It leaves tiny little holes in your clothing you have to sew up.

🏜️ - His destruction is humorous in your eyes, he talks a lot of crap for someone you almost step on once a week. The both of you poke a lot of fun at eachother, he calls you weak you call him small and cute, its all out of love though. He threatens to kill anyone who gives you an issue, you just lean your head on the table and nod along. He can tell you find his threats amusing but just you wait.

🏜️ - He likes to blare loud music, anything with hard bass, guitar and drums he loves. He likes animal planet or nature documentaries, i know that sounds crazy bear with me(pun intended). As herald of change he watched countless civilizations rise and fall, animals are constantly fighting to stay alive and relevant. He’s amused seeing beings with such short life spans documented being born and dying, just like those kingdoms on a much smaller scale.

🏜️ - his favorite form of affection is touch. He’s the equivalent of your cat laying on you and burning you up, its amazing how much heat a little cookie can have. Going to sleep with a snoring beast laying in your hair or on your chest is surprisingly comfortable. He likes to accompany you places when you’re not expecting it. “How are you not soggy?” You hear outside the shower curtain one time. “He should not have spoken to you like that…” you hear from your bag as you exit a conversation with a coworker. It ends up becoming rather helpful, pep talks are the best from him. He seems to think customers are enemies to be slain the way you describe them.

🏜️ - Finally at some point he figures out how to become human. You had just gotten home and complained to him, still in cookie form, how much you hated your job and he told you he’d make sure you were respected and protected as his partner should be. You thanked him but it was clear you were just playing along. You went to take a shower and change and when you exited he was standing there, a very imposing human bearing an axe longer than your table, longer than you are tall. He laughed heartily, “Is a change of form convincing enough? Will you believe me now when i say i will bring destruction upon those who harm you?”

🏜️ - It took some time but you convince him to not murder people and destroy public property in your world. He’s fond of rage rooms which is your way of appeasing him. He’d really like boxing and wrestling if you could figure out how to get him an id or explain his gem and antennae, if not he’s fine just watching it with you. If you do get him into some matches, he is a MENACE. He’s easily winning matches, taking punches like a brick wall and dishing them out like a professional. Of course you may have to pull him out before they start questioning his identity. You take him to a lot of concerts too, he enters a mosh pit no one comes out alive unfortunately. He’ll also put you up on his shoulders so you can see and no one bumps into you.

🏜️ - You don’t need to be assertive, he’s doing that for you. Someone got your order wrong? He’s opening up the car door and walking inside to get it fixed, no questions asked. His warmth thankfully carried over to his new form, he definitely lays flat on his back taking up the whole bed so you have to crawl on top of him to cuddle. You dont even need blankets, he’s a massive heat pad. He’s more of a cuddle bug than you’d think.

Eternal Sugar

🌷 - She doesn’t really need help getting around, you often find her hovering around the ceiling on a soft blue cloud, or lazing on the leaf of a blooming houseplant, or on your bed. If you have a pet, she has them obedient to her within days. If they only knew sit before, suddenly they could fetch items or move things for her. She’s the worst influence if you’re a procrastinator, she wants you to be happy and so why should you worry about that little issue? Just relax, turn on the movie you both love! She loves to just lounge around with you, seeing you happy and relaxed is her biggest goal and she’ll do anything to achieve it. Anything.

🌷 - From the second you walk into the house she’s softly fluttering to you with a yawn. She’ll sit on your shoulder and have you talk about your day. “Oh i have to do this-“ no you dont, you’re tired! You need to lay down, she’ll help you relax. With her, you lose track of time as if it didn’t exist to begin with. She’s easy to talk to, she just wants you happy and you want her happy, win win when you’re both lazing around rewatching a show deep into the night.

🌷 - She wont ask anything of you, but if you give her things its appreciated. You may try to accommodate by adding house plants when you notice a flower growing marvelously all of the sudden when shes around, soon you have a garden. You obviously can’t keep actual cakes and desserts out like decorations, but candles and anything to make the house smell sweet she’d like. If you take her anywhere, she’s the easiest to have unhidden. From a glance she looks like a bird, you can probably just keep her in your pocket or on your shoulder.

🌷 - She’s napping in the crook of your neck one spring day, you’re both laid on the couch. You’re fast asleep when you feel like theres a weight on you. You stirr but then hear the sound of her yawning, but it sounded loud. You open your eyes to see you’re being laid on by Eternal Sugar still, but shes now a human still with large wings and pink skin. She opens her eyes as if sensing your eyes on hers. “Is something wrong?~” she says before kissing your flushed cheeks with a small wing twitch.

🌷 - Unfortunately she’s impossible to bring anywhere unless you figure out how to hide her wings. She doesn’t mind not leaving the house, just gives her a reason to keep you lazy and in her arms. When its dark, she can definitely go out if you want to walk but rarely will she choose to. She’d much prefer to lay in bed with you eating sweet snacks, in fact when you have to go to work thats exactly where you’ll find her when you’re home if she’s not in the game.

🌷 - You smell so sweet from your proximity to her. Sweet in a way that a carnivorous plant is. You are her little tempting treat, witches forbid anyone else become tempted to take a bite or harm you. She doesn’t want to learn transformation from Shadow Milk but she will if she finds her future garden goer is being bothered. Your coworkers and friends are probably sick of hearing how much you talk about her when they haven’t even seen her. It’s mutual though, the beasts have to endure her gushing about you as well.

🌷 - She’ll always wrap you in your wings when you get anxious or sad, letting you hold onto her while she guides you somewhere better. She makes sure you know theres always the option to live the rest of your life in the garden, but if you decline thats ok. Because slowly she had wrapped you around her finger. From the first time you listened to her to take a break to the millionth time you had watched something with her instead of going to visit a friend. You didn’t need her garden, she had turned your home into one.

Shadow Milk

🃏 - Can you imagine the reaction on his minions faces when he returns with one big lipstick mark on his face? No, but gradually their jaws drop less and less when he comes back with that same mark nearly every day. He swears he’ll bring you back one day but Black sapphire doubts it and doesnt show it, Candy Apple hopes he doesnt.

🃏 - He doesn’t need much help getting around, he floats and summons small things. He will request things from you like him sized furniture or maybe a stage. Like Burning spice he kind of just accompanies you wherever. He likes to put you in situations that make you have to lie. One month you have a pet cockatiel then the next a cockatoo. Little changes to play with your friends minds, yet the evidence was right there. He would change his form to play along with these lies.

🃏 - He hates tvs at first, he’s appalled at the idea that you can just watch something that isn’t live performance. But after a couple episodes he slowly eases in, if you mention his affinity for it while he’s nestled under the covers on your chest, he’ll get mad, deny it and float off to watch it in secret. His favorite thing to watch are recordings of theater shows and while you’re not home he watches cartoons. (argue with the wall i know he does) He asks you to go watch some new show at least twice a month. He also preforms for you occasionally, arts and crafts is his favorite way to spend time with you.

🃏 - Well, the time comes and he hones the ability to One day he promises that soon he’ll be able to preform for you without you needing to be so close to his little stage. On a big stage, with other actors. And he’d dip you down and kiss you romantic movie style You clearly didn’t take it seriously but still went along with it because you liked the idea, he just grinned and asked you to go get something for him. When you return he’s gone, great… hide and seek. You look around for a moment but out of no where your hand is brought over your head and you’re spun without warning. After a moment you find yourself exactly as Shadow Milk said he’d do, and there he was in human form doing just that.

🃏 - From then on he’s sort of just this sudden boyfriend you have to introduce to everyone. He had poor social skills in the cookie world, he has abysmal social skills in the real world. He’s interesting though. He brings his minions out (in human form of course) if you ask or if he needs help with something. His first intention was to bring you into the cookie world but now that he’s entered a world where misinformation is spread left and right he’s decided he’d add your world to the roster of places to conquer.

🃏 - Black Sapphire absolutely starts a podcast or a radio show from your house, Candy apple cookie becomes a horrible influence on local children. Shadow Milk is rather mysterious about his free time. You know he gets into a lot of acting roles(after changing into something less blue) but for some reason it seems like hes always up to no good. Had you just released a potential monster onto society? Yes, but for now he seemed relatively harmless so maybe he wasn’t too much of a concern. unless he decides to run as a politician

[deerspherestudios]

Hihi hello!! 🌺❤️

First of all, thank you so so much to those who visited the booth! I honestly expected only a sale or two during the event (to clarify, I meant sales for my games' merch hjhds my friends had AMAZING items to sell), but to my surprise my friends told me a lot of you came by just for stuff from the catalogue! I wish I was able to meet you in person to thank you!! in three languages!! how much I appreciate the support!! 😭!!

And for those outside Malaysia or couldn't attend, once I'm able to figure out a proper platform, I'll happily announce the online shop once it's ready! Thank you again everyone! Your continued support means so much to me!

A summarized update for everything else;

with the con and merch making out of the way, I can finally get back into the swing of development! After the break I definitely have a solid idea on where Day 4 will go, I'm so excited to get started! I can't promise when the next day will release, I'll make a checklist as I've always done once the script is done, refined and coded into Ren'Py!

by the time this posts, I'll hopefully have the QnA masterlists updated (that goes for MO, LYS and AN) and the queue will be up and running by tomorrow!

I definitely wanna make better and better merch for you guys, so once the current stock runs out, I look forward to making more designs and types in the future! Merch-making is definitely an art form in and of itself I now realize, and it's something I'd like to improve upon with more experience!

[bumblingbabooshka]

AU where the Alter Ego storyline takes place over a longer period of time (The Harry-Tuvok portions stay the same in content but maybe we delve a little deeper into both of them and their burgeoning friendship when given more time...but this post isn't about that!) and Tuvok comes out as trans (not in those words) to Marayna while thinking she's just a hologram. Marayna is not trans but she resonates deeply with the loneliness she senses from Tuvok (just as she did originally) and the feeling Tuvok expresses of being 'stuck' the way you are for a multitude of reasons despite it slowly making you more and more miserable. In the alpha quadrant being a man made Tuvok a 'Husband' and 'Father' for decades - roles that have brought fulfilment. Now, alone, what does it bring? Tuvok asserts that Marayna can change, she can return to her people. She doesn't have to just bear it. "What about you, Tuvok?" she asks. The Lieutenant has no answer....things will surely remain as they've always been. Tuvok doesn't know how to change them now. Is it even worth it to change them? Tuvok's not as bad off as the emotional Marayna. There's no need to change. Why rock the boat unnecessarily, because of a (decades long deep-seated) whim? Marayna is later able to sporadically contact Tuvok somehow (she's traveling instead of being among her own people) which leads to them finally meeting up in some alien virtual space. Marayna uses the 'Marayna' (not her real name) model so Tuvok can quickly identify her and Tuvok uses a Default Vulcan Model...the fact that the model is female was sheer coincidence. It was just the first one that popped up and Tuvok doesn't care either way. Obviously. The two of them have a wonderful time observing the alien program - standing apart from the crowd but also being together. Tuvok begins spending more and more free time in the program even when Marayna isn't there. Eventually, on the last day the program can be activated (Voyager's moving out of range) after saying goodbye to Marayna Tuvok's noticed by an alien and spends the rest of the night talking with them. The alien doesn't know Tuvok and acts as if they're speaking to any other woman. When asked for a name, Tuvok says "T'Vok." Immediately afterward, Voyager goes out of range. Tuvok stares at the ceiling. Meditates. It was the same as going undercover. Nothing has changed. Nothing. That night the Vulcan dreams of someone: That fuzzy childhood-static-filled image of herself as an adult...as a woman. Waking up, Tuvok meditates again - this time not seeking to accept and overcome (as a Vulcan normally would) but to repress, erase. 'It is unnecessary' Tuvok repeats, erasing her yet again.

What if Tuvok was a closeted trans woman and the episode 'Alter Ego' got a whole lot sadder