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osakanone · 4 months ago

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The steel battalion controller could fix me. Some company needs to make specialty mech controllers so i dont have to spend £350 on 2003 hardware (so i can spend £350 on 2025 hardware).

Mech game Controllers: Solving the unsolvable

I have put so much time into thinking about this and you've basically asked the perfect question.

I think there are really complex and important questions that nobody really has a good robust answer to but also that nobody is really asking those big questions in the first place either, so we're stuck on this issue.

My take is I genuinely think if we want big mecha controllers we have to think about this stuff deeply and profoundly. Like, why we need them and what they're for.

So… This has been tried many times.

NOK or NextOfKin Creatives did try this.

The Mek-Fu lopped horribly, and I was absoloutely fascinated by this at the time and wanted to understand exactly why it had failed. I think we must learn from this failure, so we don't make the same mistakes again.

The lesson I took from Mek-Fu was this: it didn't take because players had nothing to use it in where it was the best fit.

What does this mean?

1) For other games in the real world, it was inferior to keyboard and mouse in games which do not simulate a vehicle. 2) The design wasn't trying to meet some sort of pre-existing need from other games. 3) Steel Battalion emulation did not exist meaningfully yet, and in turn no equivalent game existed on the PC platform which would need it.

Therefor: There was no special environment where its employment made the best sense.

It had nowhere to excel and thrive.

So where have specialty controllers existed, and thrived?

Digital Combat Sim (DCS)

Star Citizen

Euro Truck Simulator

Farming Simulator

What do they all have in common?

They all have robust modding tools for user-created content

They all have some form of social experience or multiplayer

They all are highly accessible (PC, and are controller agnostic*)

They are all sandboxes in some capacity and let users find their own fun.

No mech game which exists at time of writing meets all these terms that I know of.

So what do these controllers look like?

In the case of real vehicles, you can simply ape the real vehicle 1:1, but for fictional vehicles, something special happens -- you see people approach and try to solve the problem in many different ways.

You see, control design in any area exists to solve a problem. The Mek Fu (a response to the VT controller) was a solution looking for a problem, and no problem existed.

From this, we learn that for specialty mech controllers to exist, you first need specialty mech games. Steel Battallion is limited, because it won't run on general hardware and doesn't network or mod easily so it isn't a good fit for this because it makes the game inaccessible and limited.

Let's actually think about the SB controller for a bit:

Steel Battalion approaches its problem from the standpoint of a robot. You might not realize this but a VT or Vertical Tank intentionally controls very similarly to a tractor.

It is influenced by a real thing. I know that sounds absurd, but let me show you what a modern tractor's task control console looks like:

Yeah, not what any of us would have expected.

If you wanna be a mech pilot in 2025, go drive a tractor. I'm not kidding.

Once you're on the field, your hands aren't on the wheel, they're on this thing:

The big stick controls the course in the computer, the little one controls your tool, the many buttons toggle states (or what the little stick is currently triggering) and through these inputs you drive the tractor.

Steel Battalion is very fun, but it won't hold your attention for more than around 100 hours unless you're a real freak about tractors and just don't know it yet.

What's more, Steel Batallion isn't playable to anybody without the controller which limits how many people will be playing it and it isn't social or moddable like the successful games we talked about earlier.

Okay, so what can we do about this?

I think the one feature here that nobody talks about is that of input-agnosticism: The ability to bind your own inputs to something in the game (directly or indirectly through some middle thing) and get good results… But not in some hugely "okay bind 100 things using our controller, or use a keyboard and mouse" binary.

The binary is still not input-agnosticism, and it still will not work.

It has to be granular.

Input agnosticism results in controller agnosticism:

You can bind as much or as little as you want, and you can pass features you don't want to bind directly to a helper subsystem middle-man like an assistant or instructor which will perform limited tasks for you - while you provide the helpers context by telling them which of a limited set of goals you want to achieve.

Say, face a target, or a direction, or aim at a thing. It saves you mental time, though if you did it manually you might get better results (incentivising you towards experimenting in that direction).

Let's touch on why controller agnostic design is really what's needed here, and why its important:

This is the omnithrottle, and and this is the Sublight Dynamics 6dof joystick.

The Omnithrottle tries to solve 6dof throttle management by adding an extra piece to a joystick at the bottom, turning the yaw z-axis-twist of the stick into a sort of vertical axis for direct up and down movement, ascending and descending.

The Sublight Dynamics 6dof joystick combines all six axis into a single device, and is an interesting experiment. I particularly like the puck switches ahead of the user's fingers, inspired likely by Evangelion which in turn was inspired by Sol Bianca's use of them.

We got great lessons in human factors for space dogfighting from both:

The omnithrottle produces huge fatigue if you use it in coupled mode (software assisted flight), because you have to hold the joystick base forward, fighting the springs. This is fine in decoupled mode (where you coast under newtonian force) but not everybody uses it. Likewise, if you remove that spring, you lose fine movement because you can no longer feel where the middle is anymore.

The SD6DOF creates a conflict in Fitt's law (speed and precision are enemies of each-other, and to get both you need a tool in the middle to help you) where some precision is lost due to the same muscles needing to drive more axis at once.

These are both many years old now, and over time we've seen many many solutions to this problem flop.

Well, VKB announced the Space Throttle Grip a few days ago, which rethinks the distribution of axis and combines the best features of both.

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The key thing is, this is an evolutionary space with competing ideas. A healthy ecosystem.

And its only possible because the game's inputs are controller agnostic.

This doesn't just mean that it'll let you bind any input device directly to things, but that there are multiple ways to achieve your desired outcomes even on the software side with the helper middleman we talked about (in this case, coupling modes).

Does your machine turn to face an arbitrary vector which is the thing you actually steer or select (Warthunder)? Do you have direct input control? Do you haven an autopilot?

Here's a lecture by F22 Raptor test-pilot Randy Gordon talking about some of this stuff, giving you a frame of reference with a real vehicle which exists.

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When you can pick between those goals them, you have what's called "a software" in human factors. Your two grips become arbitrary and are now called inceptors.

The software drives the machine, and you drive the software. You can override the software and provide a manual input, but the other elements you are not overriding will try to compensate to maintain a desired state. If you know how to manipulate this, it means you only need a small number of axis to achieve a very complex control action.

A great example is how long you hold the A-button in Mario changes how much power his jump has. The action is a versatile verb.

Imagine a person balancing. If their goal is to stay upright, and I push them, they translate across the ground and try to stay the right way up, turning that push force into horizontal force. They are following an instruction: remain upright.

If I make that person carry a very heavy thing, they compensate their body's balance accordingly. If I then use my finger and tell them to act as if I am pushing them with that gentle motion, they will respond but if they go too far they can say "hey, don't do that, I'll drop the heavy thing!" and ignore my pushing instruction -- because my directive telling them to remain upright superseded it.

We need to think of mecha in terms like these, and to do mecha, we need to make a standard of accessible rules like this which input devices can talk to via axis and buttons, with lots of middlemen.

Absolute (mouse-like) and relative (stick like) and accumiulated (driving a mouse with a stick by having a variable over time) and blended (driving a car with a d-pad with a simulated wheel that wants to return to zero all the time, replicating a stick) inputs must be middle-modes processing and digesting inputs in these ways. Curves matter. Biases and preferences must be accounted for.

This means finally solving "how" the giant robot works in software (even if its a design conceit), and then having systems which poke at the "how" to bias it in a direction toward an outcome.

My favourite version of this is a deliberately clumsy mech-game called Robot Alchemic Drive (RAD for short).

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Playable on a regular PS2 controller, the triggers and bumpers drive the legs like a tank. The sticks drive the arms.

The robot's body has physics. You are controlling a thing.

There are no helpers to correct your motions other than when the robot stands up and to keep it upright (its otherwise 100% manual, playing back motion planning which gets fed into the physics) but yes, there is a simulated body here.

With helpers, this could get faster and way, way more fluent.

So how might these "helpers" in software work?

Think for example of how a body in motion continues to move. With a robot in a vacuum like space, you'd continue indefinitely. That's hard to control.

Do you automatically slow down and fake aerodynamic drag axially with your boosters to allow curved trajectories and soft stopping with a motion-control-decoupling-mode (as Star Citizen does), or do you have a breaking system a user can activate on a pedal or trigger, to apply those forces on different axis when they want them?

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What are those axis bound to, the pelvis, the thorax, the head, the synthetic vision 3rd person camera?

These are really complicated questions, and this is just about how we make a vehicle come to a stop!

Now this might seem niche, but this exact same kind of thought also applies to how a robot balances, and how it digs its feet into the ground, creating torque or not situationally.

This isn't just fine grained motion like "moving our legs manually", but how and when we apply breaking force on the ground.

Do we apply it when we let go of the left stick?

Does the left stick prescribe a preferred velocity?

Does it prescribe input forces?

Do we change between these situationally, or maybe with a button?

Its important to think about these things.

"You're making this too complex!!"

"But why would we do this? What is the value? People are playing Armored Core 6 with a HOTAS!!"

Yeah, and that experience is not great, actually?

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You're actually less capable than a keyboard and mouse-player, because Armored Core 6 isn't a game which simulates orientation over time (the body turns instantly as if by magic), so you're just driving relative inputs. You are literally disadvantaged.

Armored Core 6 has no "vehicle": This is an action-game's 3rd person control software. Its Elden Ring's horse, with a jetpack, and the roll replaced with a dash. Everything else is animations.

Its visually impressive, but there's something fundamentally missing:

Fahrvergnügen.

It means "driving pleasure" in German.

The feeling you get when you speed up going down hill, or you feel the give of the wheels against the road and the lean of the car when you take a corner.

When you bank against air in an aircraft, or turn faster than your velocity changes and you drift.

That good feeling, that's fahrvergnügen.

A game which really gets this I think is Armored Core: For Answer. I know many of you might have expected Mechwarrior here but the physics of Mechwarrior games are extremely simple, following an interpolative model.

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Interpolative here means, a bit of calculus is used to ensure a smooth arching curve is how you go from zero to a high speed at all times, or a rotation, so on and so forth. This "smoothness" is the same smoothness present in Armored Core 6.

Armored Core For Answer on the other hand, is additive in how it calculates velocity per second, meaning your AC's velocity curve is inconsistent. The game has hidden stats calculating aerodynamic drag per part, it has a simplified model of angular momentum, and it has ground friction and its boosting system is different on each axis.

All of your inputs are analogue, including the angle of your boosters on left stick, and two booster-types: Your main booster handling like a motor-cycle throttle curve, and the other not only having many stages of output for flashes of thrust via contexts (combining motion and direction together to produce an intent) but also combos and even cancels. Its VERY sophisticated!

That's a lot of different factors to control. A lot of fahrvergnügen to be experienced when you master them, and feel ownership of them.

Lots of areas for skill expression.

This, combined with a rich weapon balance and a complex combat geometry (the emergent spatial and pressure rules of motion, aspects, angles and motions similar to the aircraft dogfighting) are why people are still playing this game today.

The match I uploaded was from four days ago, as of time of writing. People are still modding a game from 2008, limited to console by hacking the rom file's patches. Yeah.

I know among many game reviewers, "smooth" and "smoothness" is considered a compliment in game design (its easy to control), but interpolative motion really is the opposite of fahrvergnügen:

Interpolative suffers from feeling "zippy" and "hollow" when its fast, which is why lots of players and designers insist on slowing games down so they recover their fahrvergnügen.

You don't have to do things this way. A good mech sandbox should reward both fast and slow movement in its design!

There should be room for everybody to play!

In interpolative movement games, motion is already solved, to sell you the superficial power-fantasy (that you're good, despite not having learned how to be good) instead of giving you the experience.

Interpolation is insisting the burger you got at McDonalds is the same as the burger on the commercial. Like the burger at McDonalds, its also way way easier to make, and in today's market yeah, you take what's easy and known because you have economic pressures to get things done quickly.

You can't make a five star meal in a McDonalds kitchen, and the AAA games industry is the McDonalds kitchen of gaming.

So, what is a three star michelin meal, in terms of inputs, with additive movement?

You incentivise people with the cheaper stuff on the menu. That's robust helper tools which let keyboard and mouse players, or gamepads interact fluently.

Its affordable, and easy and gets people invested in your experience.

Then when people use fancy controllers, you get better response-rate. Because everybody buys into the mecha fantasy when they play, being beaten by someone who is controlling more complex control factors more directly at once (making them a better pilot) feels fairer.

They are negotiating the machine's limits better than you are.

You both know they more "an char" than you are:

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It becomes aspirational, rather than annoying, which is how the culture of space-simming, and flight-sims, and other vehicle sims express this. It also fits the mecha fantasy, because those with basic controls are your grunt units.

We see this if we look at cockpit controls in Gundam: A Jegan's control inceptor is way simpler than say, Unicorn's.

It is just part of the fantasy.

So let's talk about these limits we negotiate.

It means, some kind of vehicle must be simulated in software, even if its a very simple abstraction purely enough so it feels good for players.

Also, I say "a software" or "helpers" what do I mean?

I don't just mean the simulated vehicle, but a robust modular middle system in the "player controller" part of the game simulation which interprets desired outcomes from a pilot user or operator and tries to achieve them.

Here's an example, let's talk about Armored Core's lockon system, which uses a software stack to turn your intention into an outcome in exactly this way.

Your robot's simulated sensors (radar, visual, etc) detects a list of potential targets…

Which uses camera orientation of a synthetic vision system to give you comprehensive 3d awareness to determine which target is interesting to you…

After selecting the target, it passes that information to the fire control system which computes a trajectory from its position and velocity…

This then talks to your weapons which know how fast your bullets go…

and this picks where to lead along that trajectory…

then that location is sent to the arms to execute that command…

Which then sends the state of this command chain to your HUD, so you understand what the body of your robot is currently trying to achieve.

Each step is influenced by ingame statistics and simulated mechanical limits -- meaning, how well you can lock up, or even select a target is very important.

You can't instantly put a cursor on something and bot a game, because everybody already has a deliberately limited aimbot, it came with your robot, to negotiate its deliberately limited body.

The key thing is, this is much much faster and more effective than you could as a human select the target manually and hit accurate than you could with round velocities -- with most videogames hiding this with hitscan (instantaneous bullet) weapons meaning whatever you click on is hit right away.

When the round takes time to get there, things are far more difficult. This is why almost nobody uses manual aiming unless they're throwing explosives at big bulky targets in AC.

From limitations like this, booster performance, turn-rate, and so on and so forth -- the negotiation of limits produces a combat geometry and how well you understand that combat geometry, and how well you understand your abilities to your opponents abilities dictates how the fight will go.

We see something somewhat similar in Steel Batallion with the lockon system but we also have a lot of deep manual control over our VT's orientations which change its balance and so on. Steel Batallion is in fact, one of the few games where your robot can fall over and get back up.

This is exactly how DCS and Star Citizen also work, and very similar principles apply in Eurotruck Simulator and Farming Simulator via the fuel, cooling, air, combustion cycle, and transmission, and shock absorbsion systems of your vehicle.

Okay, so now what?

I've been thinking for a while now about writing what I think would be the mech-game equivalent of the paper Tim Berners Lee wrote for the web (Information Management: A proposal) going into what I think the simulation would really need, what the software would need, what the controller would need and some suggested practical strategies for solving these problems based in real research I and others have done.

The system I've already built solves for fire control, fine arm motion, head movement, independent pelvis and foot motion, the operation of boosters and other similar systems in a 6dof environment which accounts for gravity, aerodynamics, balancing, alignment and full motion control -- all on a standard game controller. Its not modular yet, simply because I am not a skilled programmer, and would need real help to do this.

There's also game-design research here, which would ensure the combat geometry would reward skill expression via investing in that agnostic game design, so the control skill aligns with the power-fantasy through skill expression. This means no one strategy becomes overwhelming.

It likewise, also has the "for gamepad and keyboard/mouse" solve which would be needed to ensure its accessible for those who aren't ready yet for custom controllers.

In turn, it also has considerations and proposals for such likely controller designs and probable strategies of employment which of course translate and map to two big sticks, in a HOSAS (Hands on Stick and Stick) layout.

So what's your ideal controller?

Less a controller, and more a principle:

Key to the proposal is you can scale up the amount of control bindings, or scale it down passing automation to helper subsystems which take your intention and act on it in a useful way.

You could have just two plain sticks with foot pedals, or you could go ham and have some complex force feedback device with tons of inputs -- because of this input agnosticism.

The secret sauce I think to the highest end control is the use of software defined force-feedback not only for the two big sticks, but also four smaller ones: one each for your thumb, and one each for your finger on each hand, and an analogue trigger. I've seen this solved in open source projects, so its entirely doable.

What does this actually mean?

Source: KAIST-HCIL/FS-Pad

The purpose of a force-feedback stick is software defined -- driving the camera, pelvis, upper body, boosters, walking etc variably, with the feedback not necessarily telling you about the environment -- but also by providing what amounts to new input devices.

To explain, force feedback works by providing input to the stick like a robot arm and is not at all like a rumble feedback device. This means the position the stick "wants to return to" at any given time is not defined by springs like it is in a conventional controller, but by active software which can update in real-time.

This means resistance can be different in different directions, or the stick can even hold a position you give it in one axis but not another, replicating a hat switch or a flight throttle.

I've looked at many different open source projects which achieve these outcomes both on thumb-sticks and main sticks with great outcomes, and I think a prototype could be made if I had a team, or other people to work with.

If interest is expressed, I'll produce a specification proposal for what this input agnostic design in software needs to be (eg, how the robot is controlling) in strictly defined terms which can be implemented.

You can already see it on my Tumblr account as TOMINO, NAGANO, etc where I go into some of this -- all of which works on a standard controller, but adapts extremely well to a large HOSAS.

Likewise, I'd (eventually) also produce a proposal for a controller design which meets this specification.

I've been testing this concept on and off for many years now in Unreal Engine (I'm not a skilled programmer, not skilled with CAD or electronics, depression limits my effective outcome returns -- but I'm still getting very promising outcomes).

Ultimately what I'd really want access to is expertise and help, since my background is mainly thinking about and designing solutions for problems not necessarily implementing them -- and I'm essentially on disability, so I have unlimited time to think about this.

I don't want to ask for money, which I figure is the thing everybody is anticipating: I'd rather get this done than make money from it.

In conclusion?

To solve this what's needed isn't some figure of brilliance in a basement or garage somewhere, but an organic ecosystem of designers and builders responding to pressures, and we've already see that work many times very well.

In our case, nobody has defined the vehicle or the modular helpers in a way robust enough to capture every fantasy effectively.

That's the issue.

tl;dr coming away from this:

For the controller to exist, you first must have something to control.

To be a pilot, you first need a vehicle.

Live forever, Apes.

#.AskOsaka #Mecha #Mech #Mech Design #Game Design #Peripheral Design #Peripheral Concepting #human factors engineering #Human Factors #Scifi

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buttercatrho · 20 days ago

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MAP part for the Umi no Koe MAP with crosscode horrayy You can go here for the yt video it shows the process But also I made up an AU specifically for this MAP part and will now proceed to yap. Crosscode Spoilers.

The basic summary of this AU is that Satoshi did not agree to Sidwell funding his Evotar project, instead separating from Instatainment and researching and developing it independently along with Shizuka, Sergey and Gautham. Basically removes the direct/stronger character horrors which is the prompt for the map, PTSD-less Shizuka horrayyyy.

More detailed AU ramblings/plot stuff.

The Evotar project is less a completely independent project and more an independent modding project, as Evotars still rely completely on the crosscode and exist purely through instant matter avatars, and is against TOS/ not legal (IDK how illegal modding online multiplayer games is irl but seeing as the Crossgear has the ability to do such wonderful things as torture someone if you turn off a limiter (assumedly i don't see how that would be limited to just Evotars) I can see the law around it being more strict). Funding is met through Satoshi's position being very high pay, giving him some savings, though it isn't enough to fully fund it so some of Shizuka, Sergey and Gautham's money is also used (this is probably very optimistic but so is this whole au really). They also got some equipment for the project (such as things needed to make instant matter and continuous access to up to date code) from connections/friends at/connected to Instatainment (Jet, Carla and Sergey as main ones probably). While Satoshi, Shizuka and Gautham all completely left their jobs at Instatainment to work on the Evotar project, Sergey kept his job and only works on the project part time.

Shizuka in this au isn't really all that jazzed to be the base of the first Evotar, but goes through with it as she; was the first choice being the youngest as well as the most physically fit and healthy (which considering some Shizuka headcanons I have, is kinda sad), wanted to support her brother on something he was very passionate about, and knew if she didn't Satoshi probably would and she didn't want him risking it with his heart problem.

When Lea is 'born' she's not actually called Lea in this au, due to Sidwell not being present. She's called Serika with the spelling 星璃花 to fit with the names 'Satoshi' and 'Shizuka' (I do not know Japanese I do not know if that name/spelling makes sense, but 星 means star). (This name also kinda ended up as my IRL Lea's real name so whoops, though Lea is a nickname she has and is the thing she's called the most. IDK how she gets it yet dw that's a different au anyway).

Sergey would probably take the role Sidwell did of trying to teach her things/seeing exactly what's up with her not being able to talk/internalise some things, though overall she would interact with Satoshi, Sergey, Gautham and later Shizuka a lot, as opposed to my general headcanon with the main game where while she interacted with Gautham and Satoshi some, she spent most of her time either alone or with Sidwell.

Relatively early on in development they figure out that the 'breaking' that happens when an Evotar is made aware of what they are is less of a literal computer break and more a physiological crisis (general headcanon I have mainly cause of the Luke stuff, also what's shown of Lea, with the only time we see an Evotar breaking being due to a fake malfunction). They decide to ease Serika into making her aware of it instead of trying to avoid it completely since her being unaware would probably cause more problems in the long run (both for Serika and Shizuka, it'd end up with both of them a lot more isolated, and its bound to fail eventually). Serika would still have some sort of crisis about it because hell of a thing to learn, but it'd be manageable (funny way to describe a crisis). Serika and Shizuka would have been introduced after Serika had worked mostly through that crisis.

While Shizuka isn't actively aggressive and hateful towards Serika at first like in game, she is still rude, dismissive and prickly towards her, not really internalising that Serika is not just an ai copy immediately and also her being a result of something she was hesitant of. She is at least somewhat ('''somewhat''') polite towards her, though Serika is very wary of her at the start because of this. As time goes on Shizuka gets warmer towards her and starts seeing Serika as her own person, with Serika also growing more fond of Shizuka, though she is still under the impression she's basically tolerating her. The second part of the MAP part shows basically the 'conclusion' of this, with Shizuka fully accepting that Serika is her own person. Serika would start to fully internalise that Shizuka does not hate her actually after this, and becomes very clingy towards her.

At some point Satoshi goes against probably common sense/survival instinct something like that and shows Instatainment the stuff he's been working on. They're impressed enough with it that Satoshi and the gang aren't charged for anything and Serika is allowed to log into Crossworlds (albeit a limited part), with the condition that Satoshi comes back to working at Instatainment and start working on implementing parts of it into the game (This is helped by Satoshi previously being a key member of staff who never stops fuckin working, but is also probably optimistic)(the horrors of game integration stay at least earlier on). While Satoshi, Shizuka and Gautham would all go back to Instaintment to work again, Gautham would probably end up splitting off due to feeling creatively stifled still, maybe to make indie games. This would turn out much better for him in the long run I'd hope.

While Serika is allowed into Crossworlds she is only limited to the currently unintegrated part of the playground, the old hideout. With this and mostly a smallish office being mainly the only places she can go, she starts to feel depressed due to yk only being in a couple very limited places, depraved of stimuli. Due to this all of them but mostly Shizuka push to give her access to the whole playground like an average player, which they manage to get (as shown in the map part).

In the game Serika meets Emilie and joins the first scholars as she usually does. She also probably meets Apollo and Joern in a similar way (possibly with Lea being taken by Shizuka to autumns rise as a surprise to show her she's allowed out into the playground, and when there she ends up gaining a level. She's then teleported to where she was in base game as she knows the basics, stuff plays out and CHEATER YOURE A CHEA-).

This AU's premise does make Tronny existing kind of not possible but I am a stubborn god that wants the fucked up little fella to exist. The basic thing I've thought of is Sidwell managed to keep informed about Evotars through some connections, and manages to make an Evotar of himself both as a test and possibly as an earlier concept version of his data gathering torture in main game, where its basically just an Evotar of him stalking people under the impression they themselves told them to do so. This fucks up somehow and Tronny ends up wandering around Crossworlds very confused and not knowing what the fuck is happening. He ends up meeting Emilie and Serika, though later than in main game (probably around when vermillion waste would happen). Somehow its figured out he's an Evotar of Sidwell and Sidwell's newly hatching bullshit gets shut down real quick. There's a lot of somehows and how did that happen in this idk its a base concept, the point is the boy exists.

This au does make it so Luke also doesn't exist tho so L. Possibly Lukas could get an evotar of himself later on tho idk why he'd do that and that evotar would probably turn out a somewhat different person than Luke, with none of the events in vermillion to shape him (Maybe some more Luke brained mfers can make this up my noggin is lacking in that department).

Shizuka in this AU, which still snippy, isn't as aggressive and bitey as in main. I'd probably describe her more as aloof? Not fully sure, but she's still jaded compared to Serika and still has medical insomnia (random headcanon) (It might make more sense for Shizuka and Serika to start out pretty much the same, but I like Lea and Shizu always being noteably different). She's generally a lot more lenient, both of peoples behaviours and requests. E.G for behaviours, in the DLC Shizuka runs away from Emilie after she starts taking to her in the dungeon, in this AU if Emilie approached her and started yapping like that she'd probably look unimpressed but put up with it. With behaviours, I imagine Shizuka being pretty stubborn about not doing things she doesn't want to in main (unless somehow guilted into it by herself) due to her previous experiences, while Shizuka in this au would be more easy to convince.

Serika would be mostly the same, though she'd be fully aware of herself and who she is at the point where the game starts. I don't know exactly how she comes to love hugs so much without the whole Vermillion trauma and seemingly growing to like them a lot, but she has to ok its important /lh (Maybe sometime earlier on she was upset by something, whether being stuck in one room or not remembering herself or her memories well or frustration at her troubles communicating and learning certain things, and she was hugged to calm her down, ending up really liking hugs). She also still cannot talk until around the same place in main game where Sergey starts giving her words, him coming up with the idea and implementing it to give her means to talk to players.

Satoshi would still die due to his heart condition in this au, though later on than in main game due to the stress of Sidwell as well as overworking due to that pushing him along. He'd still probably die quicker than he should have due to overworking though my man will not stop.

Some random other bullshit, Shizuka would meet Emilie after her and Serika do the desert temple, coming to check on her. She's how Emilie learns Lea can't say much as opposed to Tronny.

But yea a pretty lose AU with a bunch of random strewn about concepts, just like the majority of my aus which i barely ever share. It was fun thinking of it for/while making this animation.

thank you for scrolling through my bullshit aka how I have fun, have this as extra.

#art #digital art #fanart #buttercatrho art #animation #crosscode #crosscode fanart #lea crosscode #shizuka crosscode #satoshi crosscode #sergey crosscode #gautham crosscode #im so scared being in this map most people are doing ocs SDHJG #i enjoyed doing this part though i think i can say im proud of it actively ignoring errors i can see #crosscode spoilers #map part

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freezerbunny-sims2 · 3 months ago

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Sims 2 random scenarios, part 2.

I gave context for this in this post. Here's some more scenarios I thought of. A lot of them require using some creativity and mods. I don't like having a rigid set of rules for each scenario, they are more like prompts.

Neighbors dispute: Create a conflict between your household and the nearest neighbor. Get creative. Do the kids keep throwing balls in your backyard? Is the apartment above yours causing leaks and ruining your walls? Are people pissing in the elevator? Valentine's day at any time: Your sim wants to surprise their partner with a bouquet of flowers or a box of chocolates. Visit the local florist or bakery, or buy from the catalogue. If your sim has no partner, give them to their best friend. If they have no friends, give them to themselves. Art fair: Choose or build a venue to host the local art fair. Send the next household with an artist in it to sell their work. You are a frog now: While on a walk, your sim accidentally steps on a cat's tail and is cursed by the cat's witch. Turn into a sim-sized frog for 24 hours. That which has no life: A new massive multiplayer online game has taken the world by storm. Create a group that includes existing teens from the neighborhood and make them meet at the cybercafé for several hours over the course of three days. If your household doesn't have any teens, leave this scenario for the next household that does.

#sims 2 #sims 2 scenarios

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mogruith · 4 months ago

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BG3 Photomode Tutorial #2: Scene Manipulation

Chapter 0: Overview

Chapter 1: Script Extender Debug Console

Chapter 2: Scene Manipulation

Chapter 2.5: More Scene Manipulation

Chapter 3: Otis_Inf Camera Tools

Supplement: Mods and Resources

I'm going to cover just the things that I use the most and how I find more scenes. There might be better processes out there with the new mod tools, but I will just share what works for me. There's more advanced topics covered by Moxi as well.

Above is an example of (without any mods except Script Extender):

Using Shadowheart's Act 1 wine-drinking cutscene with Minthara taking Shadowheart's role.

Playing it in Act 3

Playing it in a place that is not normally accessible

You will be able to pull out most scenes in the game, replace the actors, and understand how to troubleshoot common issues.

I'll share some general advice on how to make the most of these scenes - it's not an exact science (that I know of) but sometimes you get lucky and it works out.

Warning: This is going to be very finicky and you may not pick it up right away. And that's okay! You don't NEED this, but try to revisit it once in a while, because it opens up a LOT of opportunities. This will also still be useful once Patch 8 is out.

First, let me put the code before you that I used to create the above screenshot. This is code you can paste into Script Extender Debug Console. If you don't know what that is, click here.

Osi.QRY_StartDialogCustom_Fixed("CAMP_GoblinHuntCelebration_SD_ROM_NightWithShadowheart_924fb8e6-8622-bc02-43c8-77c80ddc1d3e", "S_GOB_DrowCommander_25721313-0c15-4935-8176-9f134385451b",Osi.DB_Avatars:Get(nil)[1][1], 1,1,-1,1)

This is a lot, but let me break it down again:

Green is the command used to play cutscenes along with some additional parameters. This will never change.

Red is the first parameter: the name and UUID (big string of numbers/letters) of Shadowheart's cutscene.

Note that this parameter is ALWAYS surrounded by quotation marks (").

Purple is the second parameter: name and UUID of Minthara's character model. It is the first actor in the list, which is Shadowheart's role in this instance.

Note that when you use a character model and string combination like this, it's ALWAYS surrounded by quotation marks (").

Blue is the third parameter: Tav's role. There's a couple methods for finding Tav, but this is what I use.

Note that [1][1] is the Lead Tav. If you have a 2nd player in a multiplayer session, they'll use [2][1]. Not sure what that would be with a third, but it's probably [3][1].

If you want to change the actors, you absolutely can. Tav's role can be played by a companion with a Tav in Shadowheart's role. I don't recommend having two companions in a cutscene (using name/UUID). But there's workarounds, such as transforming Tav to look like a companion.

What To Expect

There's certain side effects to replacing companions with other models. There are methods to resolve these issues, but I generally don't bother unless I am looking for something specific.

They will not voice the dialog lines, won't open their mouths to say the lines.

They will have expressions on their face that go along with those linse.

They will not have very little body language in some cases (biggest issue with this).

If you run the command in the same Act where the cutscene normally takes places, your characters will be teleported to that location and it will play out in that location with new actors you set up in the command.

If you run the command anywhere else, it will play ~generally~ in the area you played it - they may get teleported some distance away to start. This can be difficult to control but is sometimes worth it.

How to Maintain Voice and Body Language while Changing Appearance

Sometimes you may want to keep the body language from the original actor's cutscene because you want to keep a hand gesture and expression in the shot. But you want them to still look like Tav/another companion.

The short version is: You need to take the ORIGINAL actor of the role and make your Tav look like them before you play the cutscene. There's two commands you can plug in to the Script Extender Debug Console to make that happen. Let's say for the header image, I want Shadowheart to look like Minthara and maintain her body language while talking. First I need Shadowheart to take on Minthara's appearance so we're going to use a transformation command:

Osi.Transform("S_Player_ShadowHeart_3ed74f06-3c60-42dc-83f6-f034cb47c679", "S_GOB_DrowCommander_25721313-0c15-4935-8176-9f134385451b","884b16b1-e4e1-474a-8de4-fb1836491f01");

Breaking it down again:

Green is the command and the third/final parameter which dictates that we're going to transform a character using a certain kind of rule - something like the rules that define Disguise Self.

Pink is first parameter, which determines who will be transformed. In this case, Shadowheart will undergo the transformation.

Purple is the second parameter, which is what the transformation will look like. In this case, Shadowheart will be transformed to look like Minthara.

We also need her gear. You could just swap their inventories, but there's also a command for that, minus the dye information.

Osi.CopyCharacterEquipment("S_Player_ShadowHeart_3ed74f06-3c60-42dc-83f6-f034cb47c679", "S_GOB_DrowCommander_25721313-0c15-4935-8176-9f134385451b")

Similar deal here, but let's break it down once more:

Green is the command for copying character equipment.

Pink is the first parameter, which is the recipient of the equipment. Shadowheart will be the recipient of the equipment.

Purple is the second parameter, which is the source of the equipment. In this case, we're copying Minthara's equipment over to Shadowheart.

Once again, Dye isn't carried over, so you'll need to do that before playing the cutscene.

Note that once you've done this, you now need to play the cutscene with the original Companion that you've now made a doppleganger of Minthara:

Osi.QRY_StartDialogCustom_Fixed("CAMP_GoblinHuntCelebration_SD_ROM_NightWithShadowheart_924fb8e6-8622-bc02-43c8-77c80ddc1d3e", "S_Player_ShadowHeart_3ed74f06-3c60-42dc-83f6-f034cb47c679",Osi.DB_Avatars:Get(nil)[1][1], 1,1,-1,1)

Note that this is exactly the same as the first command in the post, except now Shadowheart replaces Minthara in the second parameter slot.

You now have Minthara speaking Shadowheart's lines and being fully expressive and gesturing as though she were Shadowheart herself.

This tutorial is already getting long, so I'll cut it off there. Next time I'll cover how you can find the names and IDs of cutscenes based on a bit of dialog from the scene you're looking for.

#posting this when I'm quite tired so I hope it makes sense #mog's bg3 virtual photography tutorial #bg3 photomode #bg3 photography #bg3 #bg3 virtual photography #baldur's gate iii #baldur's gate 3

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felis-obscurus · 5 months ago

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yeah uh huh. go ahead and buy that $20 hunting game on steam

ok but i’m being so forreal. you’re an animal? go and play theHunter cotw.

i didn’t see myself ever enjoying human hunting games, but it’s not this berserker shoot-em-up for white boys who would sooner give up their guns than just respect the animals they’re killing. it’s slow. you enter the game wondering if there even are any animals. you find tracks and amble along after them for minutes straight, wondering how dumb you look. you see that deer. you shoot it. you follow the trail of blood to your hunt. it’s so fun. it has quenched my prey drive better than literally anything else.

you can see soundwaves of animal calls in your peripherals, and then look at the source and see the gender, species, how far it is… droppings and blood tell you the vitality of the animal, the flow of blood, how recently it was there, where it leads. such a good ass game.

if the human stats aren’t to your liking, there are mods to decrease the sound you make, alter the speed of your positions, take less fall damage, be harder to spot… i personally use modbuilder revived on nexusmods. i like it a lot. i pretty much exclusively crouch with it sped up slightly, so my head is the correct height and i feel less disoriented. i love stalking and tracking so much.

honestly it’s a game i am genuinely surprised doesn’t cost $60, it’s extremely high quality and never gets old to me. i usually play for hours at a time. there’s a multiplayer function i haven’t tried yet but i imagine that would be fucking spectacular if you have therian friends and want to hunt in a pack.. (let me know if you want to.)

#therian #nonhuman #alterhuman #holothere #nonhuman alter #therianthropy #otherkin #wolfkin #bearkin #coyotekin #alterhumanity #prey drive

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mx-pokirby · 8 months ago

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Alright, let's get pretentious.

I've come to start resenting those super popular Mario 64 hacks as of late, like B3313, the multiplayer mod, Mario 64 with Shotgun.

People came out of the woodworks making videos and articles about them, and I kinda hate how those are now "the mainstream", relatively speaking.

And it also sucks because they're all great hacks! But the fact that that if you asked most (relevant) people to think of what a Mario 64 hack is, it's either just the base vanilla game "with a wacky YouTube Content-y™ Twist" and/or within the ballpark of just creepypasta (/derogatory)/beta content.

Aside from Star Road back in 2011, which while groundbreaking had some pretty mixed design, the general online populous who even still cares about Mario 64 have no idea about the game's entire massive & passionate modding scene, full of incredible and original standalone experiences, both in gameplay and narrative, for free.

Elise, a beautiful Yume Nikki-like with cutscenes and voice acting, borrowing the base game's sense of exploration as a jumping off point.

SM64 Kingdom's End, a genuinely haunting story about Mario struggling until the last moment to save a dying world.

Mario Party 64, our childhood dream of wishing we could play in the boards & minigames of Mario Party like an actual platformer brought to life.

Detective Mario: Murder on Ice, mapping the genre of text-based murder mystery (complete with typing in commands) into a 3D Mario level with surprising twists and required deduction skills.

Mario breaks EVERY BONE IN HIS BODY (case sensitive), a hilarious Monkey Ball-like

Ceaseless Climb, exploring a tricky, warped reality beyond the game's infamous Infinite Staircase

My Dress-Up Darling 64 which, and I quote from the game's Romhacking.com page's description, "being the first hack to use HVQM full-motion video"

There's rhythm games, Zelda-likes, horror games, shitposts, puzzlers, slide hacks, what-ifs, massive collabs, the absurdly sized Star Revenge *series*, huge hacking competitions with cash prizes and often dozens/hundreds of submissions meant to incentivize newcomers to try, Mario slips on a banana peel and fucking dies 64, and literally hundreds more I could name

I'm just really passionate about this little niche internet community, and I'm sad it only got the thinnest spotlight once a tiny piece of it ended up being profitable for content creators. There's so much more than what most people see.

Besides. It's free video games; Surely that alone makes it worth checking out, right...? Everything is suuuper accessible/user-friendly nowadays~

#super mario 64 #mario 64 #sm64 #rom hack #b3313 #mario

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kitkatscabinet · 2 years ago

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TikTok made me do it

Pairings: 141 boys x gn! reader

Summary: With the kind of relationship that came with having a partner on deployment so often you've had to find ways to entertain yourself. TikTok provides a way to take your mind off things, it even gives you a few ideas to try out when he gets home. An opportunity finally arises when your partner won't pay attention to you no matter how pouty you get.

A/N: NSFW themes, minors jog on. @cooliofango @innercollectivecomputer

KYLE GARRICK

Kyle's always been an attentive lover, and any other day he'd drop everything when you called for him. Unfortunately, when it came to video games you often inadvertently became second place. The current culprit for stealing your boyfriend's attention? Baldur's Gate 3.

You're not entirely sure what's enraptured him so much given that he's hardly an avid DnD player but he's even kicked you off your own PC to play. You're softened a little by the fact he's made the player character in your image and has even downloaded mods to get it as close to reality as possible

The flattery quickly wears off when three days pass and Kyle barely glances your way. You'd even had to drag him into bed one night and he'd quickly fallen asleep on you, leaving you high and dry and so fucking horny.

You quickly decide that enough is enough. When the next day rolls around and you wake to Kyle already gone from your side and sat in your gaming chair you decide to pull out the big guns. You'd seen the trend floating around on TikTok for a while and decided it wouldn't hurt to try.

A quick shower later and you were covered in the lotion you knew drove Kyle wild. It's not until you reach the threshold of your door, naked as the day you were born that you decide to capture his reaction on film.

"Kyle, baby." Predictably he doesn't look your way, instead letting out an inquisitive hum and you hear the faint shout of 'ignis' from the speakers. Rolling your eyes you clear your throat, watching his reaction through your phone as you put a little more authority into your voice "Kyle, I need to show you something."

Luckily he knows better than to ignore that tone of voice, and you watch as his wide eyes get even wider when he takes in your nude form. Confidence sparks in your bones when you notice the way his gaze drags slowly down your chest, his teeth pulling on his bottom lip.

The game is completely forgotten he stands and walks confidently but still quickly towards you, hands settling on your hips. "What's this then? You feeling a little needy darling?" You nod breathlessly at his growled words, shivering when one of his hands cups your ass. "Sorry for ignoring you, let me make it up to you yeah?" He's dropping to his knees and you very quickly stop filming, throwing your phone somewhere across the room to be retrieved later.

It's not until a few days later that you notice your phone blowing up with notifications that you realise Kyle has posted the video himself. When you confront him about it he just gives you a smug smirk, "Did you think I didn't know what you were doing?"

JOHN MACTAVISH

Usually, you had to fight off Johnny to get a moment of alone time when he was home. It's why you're so perturbed when for the first time in your relationship you have to start chasing after him a little.

There had been instances in the past when your boyfriend became so focused on tasks that he'd forget the rest of the world existed, even then all it normally took to get his attention was to sit on his lap or call his name a certain way.

Not this time. Johnny wasn't the biggest gamer, he enjoyed playing here and there but nothing usually held his focus consistently for that long. Turns out that when it came to multiplayer with some of his teammates he couldn't get enough. Why this was the case when he's just spent months at a time in enclosed quarters with them you weren't sure, you'd joke that he was cheating on you with Kyle if you knew it wouldn't upset him greatly.

Of the two of you, Johnny was the sex addict, not that he'd been ignoring you. No, Johnny had still found time before bed but usually, where he'd go a few rounds he'd only give you one or two. You'd woken up that morning so horny and you couldn't wait. Commiserating with one of your friends over text they sent you a TikTok of one of the latest trends and said you should do it, joking that you'd have to send them the footage.

Immediately you're on board, promising to send the footage because both you and your friend know it will be hilarious. And hilarious it is, he's in the middle of a game, swearing over the mic his angry voice accented even more so than usual.

You have to shout a little to be heard over him and while he stops speaking he doesn't tear his eyes from the screen, "What's it babe? 'M in the middle of a game."

"I can see that" you whisper under your breath before putting on the tone that was reserved for when Johnny pissed you off. "John Mactavish look at me right now," you faintly hear Kyle ooohing from his headphones and Johnny instantly whips his head around so fast you fear for his neck.

You can't stop the laugh that bubbles past your lips when his eyes bulge out of his head. Controller dropped, he stands so fast his socks slip a little on the wooden floor. It doesn't deter him however and he attempts to launch himself towards you. There are several issues with this, his headphones are still on and you wince as his head jerks back slightly and he trips over the foot of his chair.

He's on his feet nearly instantly and you let out a squeal as he pounces on you, "naughty rascal," He nips at your ear. You don't make it to the bedroom.

SIMON RILEY

It wasn't that Simon was ignoring you, in fact, it was pretty much the first time since he'd come home that he wasn't touching you. Still, Soap had sent you a TikTok with a particular trend, trying to bet that you wouldn't do it.

You weren't a bitch so nearly immediately you stripped, strutting out into the kitchen with your phone ready to capture the moment Simon realised what you were doing.

You don't even have to call his name and he's turning to face you, forgetting whatever he'd been slicing on the cutting board and leaning back against the counter with his arms crossed. A smirk tugged at the corner of his pink lips, making the scars on his cheek twitch with the movement.

"Trying to seduce me Lovie? The fuckin I gave you this morning not enough?" Your skin runs hot at his words, stomach muscles clenching with an embarrassing amount of need from that one sentence. For fear of your words failing you simply nod your head, moving closer the second he beckons you.

"Needy little thing" he croons into your ear, wrapping one of his large hands around your neck. You choke on the whine that builds in your throat and you're powerless to do anything but go pliant in his grip as he spins you around and pushes you down against the cool bench.

It's not until hours later that you realise that when Simon took your phone he hadn't stopped filming. (Soap nearly throws his phone at Price's face when it clicks what he's watching.)

JOHN PRICE

It's not often that John brings his work home. The office he's currently holed up in with the mountain of paperwork is yours. Of the two of you, he's actually more irritated than you. Grumbling under his breath as you push him out of your bed and make him do the work.

A few times during the day when you'd walked past the open door to see him scowling with his glasses slipped down the bridge of his nose you'd managed to make out the faint noises of him growling about work interrupting the sanctity of his home. Interrupting time that should have been spent fucking you.

Though you were the one that had pushed him into completing his work you can't help but get more and more heated each time you pass and witness him so worked up.

You try and stave off the arousal with a cold shower in the middle of the day. Drying yourself off, you collapse on your bed, not bothering to put any clothes on again.

An hour passes, occupied with scrolling on TikTok, spamming your friends with just about every video on your fyp. Checking the time you throw your head back with a groan, it's only been four hours but it feels like an eternity.

Sliding off the mattress you decide to stick your head into check on John one more time. To your surprise, he doesn't notice your bare form standing in the doorway. An idea springs to your mind and you quietly walk back to get your phone.

You manage to film yourself walking back and forth past the office, focusing your phone on John's concentrated face as you try not to laugh, a total of four times.

It's after the fifth time past that you somehow don’t notice that he's finally left the desk and snuck up behind you until warm calloused hands cup your chest. His beard scratches against your spine and you throw your phone in surprise at the unexpected sensation.

"What a sight for sore eyes you are" he rumbles, one hand moving torturously slowly down your belly, pausing just above your navel. He plants wet kisses down your back, only pausing to occasionally grumble out something filthy.

"John! What about your paperwork?" Your words are weak and lacking in any real concern but your husband simply hums dismissively.

"Paperwork can wait love, it's time I had a lunch break anyway."

#x reader #cod mw x reader #simon riley x reader #john price x reader #soap x reader #ghost x reader #john mactavish x reader #kyle garrick x reader x simon riley #kyle garrick #gaz call of duty #simon riley #john mactavish #john price

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vampirtulpe · 8 months ago

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Some headcanons about the kinda games the PO Boxers would probably be addicted to

Glass Joe: -Literally plays every management and business sim game in existence, when there is something new that looks fun, he will buy it without hesitation

-Vicariously living through the success his virtual businesses have

-When he wants to built off stress he plays games like Doom where he just beats up monsters in a gore fest, it's weirdly cathartic for him

Von Kaiser: -Hardcore civilization addict, didn't sleep for 3 days because he got so into his beef with George Washington after he built a city right next to his capital (Based on a true story that happened in my civilization game)

-Talks shit about his computer opponents like they're real people

-When he wants to actually relax he plays Minecraft, falls into the first hole, never finds the exit and just hollows out the earth and builds an underground civilization

Disco Kid: -Addicted to rhythm and dancing games of all kinds, he probably has a ddr machine at his place and it gets used regularly

-But also Rhythm heaven and guitar hero and stuff isn't safe from him, he will find them and he will get the best score

King Hippo:

-Likes to play the really simple platformers that are usually made for kids. He could play something more difficult, but he just finds the simple stuff much more relaxing and cuter to look at -If the art style isn't appealing to him he ain't playing, end of story, no matter how good the gameplay is

Piston Hondo: -Virtual Pet Games have taken over his life, to the point where he even got himself a tamagotchi. Everything about it just appeals to him, the cute aesthetic, the animals, the emotional attachment, the reward for your hard work by seeing your pet propser? Yes, please

-And Puzzle Games, specifically the Sailor Moon ones

Bear Hugger:

-Doesn't game a lot, but if he does, he likes the cozy simulators, usually with animals or just living in the wilderness and building a house or a bed'nbreakfast, that kinda stuff

-He's also an arcade game enjoyer, he just likes simple stuff he can pick up, play for a few minutes and can then put away again

Great Tiger:

-Card Games. All the card games. No matter, it has a card game, he'll play it. His current obsession is Slay the Spire, he played it so much, he even dissociated and began playing it in his head while he tried to fall asleep

-No matter the aesthetic, he just wants the card games

Don Flamenco:

-Stupidly addicted to Stardew Valley, like it's not even funny anymore. Actually learnt how to mod just so he could add like an absurd amount of mods to the game, you couldn't even recognize the base game anymore

-He has so many hours in Stardew Valley, it took his life over at some point. He used to have a multiplayer farm with Carmen, but then he got so into it that she got kinda left behind in it all, oops-

Aran Ryan:

-Horror Game junkie, this guy just likes torturing himself, he lives for the adrenaline. Stuff like Outlast and Dead Space is his fucking jam, anything that makes him almost shit himself

-If not that, then he wants to play something funny, like actual funny games he will laugh at for hours, he hasn't found a lot, but the few he did find he could play again and again and never stop laughing at

Soda Popinski:

-Also not that much of a gamer, but he really enjoys comforting games, like games he would've loved as a child. It's kind of a way for him to return to those times and always gives him a warm, happy feeling

-He even has some old consoles and an ancient TV so he can really capture the feeling of lil pop playing all his favorite games back in the day

-His absolute favorites are the Banjo Kazooie games, he never finished them as a kid, so he got a little emotional when he actually 100 % them as an adult

Bald Bull:

-He doesn't really game on his own, but when he has people or family over, he will always join when they wanna play Mario Party or Kart or any of the party games

-He doesn't get a lot of enjoyment out of playing on his own, but playing these cute party games with people he loves is like one of his favorite times ever

Macho Man:

-Dating sims, ironically, like he eats that shit up- he gets like all the good endings, but not the ones where he gets rejected, cause getting rejected is Bogus-

-Usually goes the women routes, but 'messed' up one time and went on a man route and has had bisexual thoughts ever since that he will try to ignore till his dying breath, his tiny brain can't handle it

Sandman:

-Adventure games, hands down. No matter what kind, the cool ones, the funny ones, the scary ones, the adorable ones, the ones for kids. If he can click a character around on an interactable background, collect items and combine them with other items to solve puzzles and progress, he WILL play it

-he very much prefers the classics in that regard though, like King's Quest for example

#punch out #punch out headcanons #glass joe #von kaiser #disco kid #king hippo #piston hondo #great tiger #bear hugger #don flamenco #aran ryan #soda popinski #bald bull #super macho man #mr sandman

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st-just · 9 months ago

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I swear every strategy game fan community consists in varying proportions of exactly two kinds of guy

plays on max difficulty with everything cranked up so only by the most exacting jank and finessing of the engine can the player have a hope in hell. Simultaneously incredibly protective of weird and obviously unintended exploits and constantly bemoaning of the inevitable power creep and feature bloat of DLCs. Valiantly attempting to make competitive multiplayer work against the obvious will of god.

likes when numbers go up and things go boom. Plays with several dozen mods designed to give the most overpowered starting position and customization options possible. Loves when DLC have overpowered feature bloat because it means they might actually use something unmodified from the game.

and then both of them are convinced they represent the 'real' fanbase.

#it's 2am and I'm rambling

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taleeater · 1 year ago

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Fragile Part 6

😈😈😈

(This chapter got too long- I had to cut it short,,,, :]]] Enjoy!)

Generation: Bayverse TMNT

Tmnt x Reader Fanfic

Pronouns: Gender Neutral (except ‘dudette’, 'miss', and ‘princess’)

Warnings: injury, blood, electrocution, graphic depictions of torture, not proof read

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

Today you were spending time with Donnie while he worked in front of his monitors. You liked it there much better than in his lab. He had a map of the city up with little marks indicating spots where the Foot had been spotted. But that wasn’t what he was working on right now.

No, you and Donnie were doing much more important things at the moment.

Like playing the new update in Stardew Valley.

“Fishing mods are cheating.”

You gawked at him in mock offense. “But you can’t pause in a multiplayer farm, there’s no time to play the fishing mini game!!”

“That’s why it’s more of a challenge!” He stuck his tongue out while he clicked his mouse rapidly to fight off a slime in the mines.

You pouted, adjusting the laptop in your lap. “I don’t need my cozy farming sim to be challenging…”

Donnie did not miss the cute grin that graced your face after, his heart fluttering in his chest.

These past few days you found yourself smiling more and more easily. Whether it was Mikey getting covered in flour while you baked cookies together, or Raph teaching you how to purl stitch, or Leo showing you how to wield a sword. You were enjoying spending more personal time with the turtles as you got to know them better.

Your toes curled where you were perched in the chair beside Donnie, glancing up at the map again. Your eyes always drawn to the blinking red dot marking the location of the lab you escaped only weeks before. The police had raided it and found it empty, which only increased your unease as to where Dr Stockman might be hiding. It already felt like a lifetime ago, that night when the turtles first found you.

You owed them your life.

“Hey (y/n), you almost ready for afternoon training?” Leo came over, snapping you out of your thoughts. Leo leaned against the back on Donnie’s chair, earning a dismissive swat from his younger brother.

“We’ll stop after we finish up this day, Leo.” Donnie said not even taking his eyes off the screen. You giggled and got back to fishing on the beach.

You were two hours into your training session with Leo.

“Okay, good. Now when you kick, focus on your balance. Stay firmly planted and your leg should have more power.” Leo coached you.

Master Splinter was supervising while sipping his tea. It had barely been 5 days since your mutant abilities had manifested. But you were already making astounding progress in unlocking its potential. Leonardo had played a big part in the process, being the one who had helped you work through your fears of using your mutant reflexes, so the abilities came more easily to you when training. He trained with you every day, while Master Splinter provided guidance. Everyone was doing their best to support you through all the changes.

Casey suddenly jogged in through the entrance of the lair.

“Guys! Just got word, the Foot are planning to rob a warehouse full of high tech weapons tonight. We gotta go intercept it.” He said waving around his cellphone.

“What? Where? Their communication frequency has been quiet since they moved those chemicals to the old Sacks building!” Donnie spun around in his chair to face Casey, you and Leo walking into the living room with Raph and Mikey close behind.

“Queens. Our contact in the Foot Clan leaked the info to us just half an hour ago.”

“Huh, that’s strange. That’s all the way on the other side of town. Aside from Sacks Tower, they’ve only really been active around the East Village and ChinaTown this past week. Maybe they changed their frequency again to throw us off track.” Donnie was quickly typing up info on his keyboard.

“Well, regardless, we better go check it out.” Leo sighed. He wanted to keep training with you, but it would have to wait.

“Heck yeah! I’m bringin’ the steak-out snacks. Who wants Doritos?” Mikey grabbed his ratty old Jansport backpack and started shoving cans of Orange Crush into it.

“(Y/n), you stay here and keep an eye on Donnie’s computer. The Foot might try to communicate about their raid tonight. Donnie’s program will intercept it. April will be here in about an hour, so just tell her if anything suspicious comes up.” Leo asked you.

“Right!” You said standing to attention and giving a military salute with a silly little grin on your face.

It made Leo’s heart melt in his chest and his expression turned soft.

“Just, stay safe, okay?” He patted you on the head then headed for the exit.

As the rest of the boys filed out of the lair, they each stopped by you. Mikey getting a high five, you quickly cleaned Donnie’s glasses for him, and Raph, always last, ducked down for a quick hug when his brothers weren’t looking. Casey rushed ahead of them.

Master Splinter waved goodbye to his sons next to you. Once the boys had left, he informed you he was going to go meditate, and to come find him if you needed anything.

About 45 minutes later, you were casually watching YouTube videos on Donnie’s computer when a flashing red light appeared on the screen. It was indicating that Donnie’s program was intercepting a message from the Foot’s closed communication server. A message popped up on the screen, and you gasped.

“We have captured the turtles. Continue with the plan.”

Then a video feed loaded up on the main screen.

Your blood ran cold.

It looked like the feed from a security camera, depicting Leo, Mikey, and Donnie all locked in glass cages, restrained with thin tubes of red connected to their arms. They looked weak, they looked bad.

“What….? No… No, not this… please no…!”

Where was Raphael? He was nowhere to be seen. How did they get captured so fast…? They had barely been gone an hour!

Your mind was racing. You recognized those machines. Dr Stockman used them to take blood samples from Bebop and Rocksteady. If that was the case, there was no time to lose.

You made up your mind.

You snuck past the dojo and muttered a quick apology to Master Splinter. You knew Master Splinter wouldn’t let you go, so you kept quiet. Then you grabbed the handheld GPS device Donnie left on his work table. You entered the location on the map where the message was sent from.

The old Sacks Tower.

Time to move.

April arrived at the lair much later than expected. She and Casey had just finished speaking to the commissioner about police activities being leaked to the Foot. When they entered the living room, they were confused to only see Master Splinter waiting for them. The old rat was pacing and anxiously stroking his beard.

“Splinter? Where’s (y/n)?” April asked, confused.

Splinter shook his head.

“You don’t know where they are?” April became concerned, walking further into the lair.

“It appears, that our greatest fears have been realized.” His expression deeply troubled. Before April could ask, she noticed what Splinter was looking at.

Playing in a loop on Donatello’s monitor was old CCTV footage from when the turtles had been captured 10 years ago by Shredder and Mr Sacks. April breathed a sigh of relief, immediately recognizing the scene.

“Splinter, the turtles are safe. I spoke to Leo on the phone only 10 minutes ago. They’re staking out a warehouse in Queens. This is old footage.”

Splinter’s eyes widened and looked back to the screen. His expression turned contemplative.

“If that is so, then perhaps Miss (y/n) has made the same mistake.” He spoke gravely.

April had a look of shock. She quickly pulled out her phone and speed dialed Leo’s number.

Leo thankfully answered quickly. “Hey April, anything new?”

“Leo, is (y/n) with you?”

Leo paused a long moment and sent a look over to his brothers, getting their attention. “No…. Aren’t they at the lair?” All of his brother's eyes were suddenly on him. Leo turned the phone on speaker.

“No!! They’re gone. And there’s a video playing on Donnie’s computer. It’s a recording of you Mikey and Donnie locked up at Sacks’ estate from over 10 years ago… I think this is what (y/n) saw before they left.”

“They left?” Leo felt his heart drop into his stomach. “To go where, Sacks’ estate?” His brothers immediately started packing up their stakeout equipment to leave.

“No I don’t think so, the sender’s location was tracked, it’s still on the screen. It says it was sent from Sack Tower in Times Square.”

Donnie came over and joined in the call, typing furiously at the keyboard on his wrist. “Sacks Tower. That’s where they were spotted smuggling those stolen chemicals into the other day…! From my notifications, it appears that the message was sent through an older Foot Clan communication frequency approximately 43 minutes ago.”

“Donnie, how long will it take (y/n) to get to Sacks Tower.”

“From my calculations, if (y/n) left the lair heading to the Sacks building about 40 minutes ago, going by subway, they should arrive in about uhhh, approximately 8 minutes.”

“And how long will it take us to get there.” Raph asked.

“From where we are now, if we manage to hitch a ride on the next nonstop train to Times Square…… about 1 and a half hours.”

“Shit!”

Raph cursed loudly and turned away frustrated, and Mikey put his hands on his head. Donnie was typing away at the keypad on his arm, trying to find any kind of faster route and muttering about how stupid he was for not making you a shellcell.

“We don’t have a minute to waste. Let’s move out.”

That’s all they needed to hear. Everyone sprung into action and booked it for the closest subway station manhole cover.

“April, we are headed to Sacks Tower as fast as we can. And get ahold of the police commissioner again. Whoever gave us the information to come to this warehouse tonight was intentionally planted with misinformation. There was no sign of the Foot at the warehouse. …..It was most likely a diversion.”

“Right. I’ll get back to you soon.”

Leo hung up the phone and jumped off the apartment building and dove down towards the street’s manhole cover.

Leo grit his teeth.

“Hold on (y/n).”

The halls of the building were eerily empty. This place made your skin crawl. The laboratory felt all too similar to the one you had been trapped in before. But this one had clearly been abandoned for a long time. Broken glass, graffiti, turned over chairs, scattered paper. But strangely the power was still on. You didn’t dare try to use the elevator in fear of giving away your position. But you were confused as to why you had yet to see any guards. This is where the message was sent from, the turtles had to be here, right?

You climbed the steps to another floor, but paused as you creaked open the door exiting the stairwell. This floor felt like a world apart from the previous ones. It was clean.

And the lights were on.

You kept low, and hyper vigilant. Steadying your breathing like Leo had taught you, you crept into the sterile white hallway. There were glass windows along the hall looking into different labs. One held chemistry equipment, another held big bulky medical equipment that clicked and beeped. Finally, the last room at the end of the hall, a room with no windows. You had a sinking feeling in your gut, but still you crept towards the door. Slowly and quietly you pulled open the heavy door, and revealed a large lit room with a high ceiling, and there you saw it.

“Guys….!”

There along the back wall were 4 glass boxes with 3 of the turtles strung up and being drained of blood. You had found them! Seeing no one else in the room, you rushed in.

“I’m going to get you out of here, just you wait!” You went to the first machine in front of Donnie and reached out to touch the screen-

Your hand passed right through.

“What…?” You tried to touch it again but there was nothing there.

The hologram distorted, and then the turtles disappeared. You gasped.

It was a trap.

You turned around to book it towards the exit, but the door was opening again. Bebop and Rocksteady squeezed through the small door one at a time, and blocked your exit. Then over an intercom you heard the familiar laugh that sent a shiver down your spine.

Stockman chuckled darkly. “Just how I planned it! Like catching a fly with honey. So predictable!”

You backed up slowly as Bebop and Rocksteady approached you.

“Did you miss us, little kitty?” Rocksteady sneered.

The intercom buzzed as Stockman spoke again. “Bebop, Rocksteady, keep them occupied until I arrive. I will be there momentarily. And let’s not have a repeat of last time, please!” There was a clicking sound and the intercom went quiet.

Bebop chuckled. “Hell yeah! It’s been so long since we last played! Let’s make the most of it.”

“That’s right! And we gotta pay you back for all the trouble you caused us! We missed you so much after you left. You wanna go first Beebs?”

“My man!” Bebop smiled at Rocksteady and clasped his hand, they both laughed.

You tried your best to steady your breathing like Leo taught you. Your hands were trembling. But you needed a way out. Bebop and Rocksteady were not fast, if you timed it right, maybe you can get past them to the door.

Bebop approached you. You stayed still and waited. Then when he got close enough, you ran right towards him, surprising Bebop. He reached out to grab you but you slid right between his legs, then jumped up behind him and tried to run past Rocksteady before he could react. He was still too close to you and managed to grab you from behind, but you were ready for him. Just like in training, you reached up and grabbed him around his neck, and taking a deep breath, you threw all your strength forward and down and managed to flip Rocksteady onto his back- stunning him. You quickly jumped over him and ran for the door, slamming into it fast and wretched the handle to pull it open.

Locked. (Warning for graphic depictions of torture ahead.)

“No…!” You felt a bruising grip close around your arm, and you were torn away from the door. “NO!!” You cried out as you were thrown hard onto the floor between the two oversized mutants.

“See? Now that’s your problem. You gotta go makin’ our job harder than it needs to be!” Bebop complained.

Rocksteady was picking himself back up, rubbing the back of his head tenderly. “Don’t let them get to ya Beebs, we’ll sort them out quick before Stockman gets here.” Bebop then reached into his pocket and pulled out an all too familiar black taser.

Rocksteady took the taser and chuckled. “Little kitty needs a check-up!”

You tried to get up and run, but Rocksteady stomped down hard on your left arm. There was a sickening snap and you screamed, writhing in pain. You were pinned.

“Tsk, tsk. You know what happens when kitty gets naughty!” The taser was flicked on, all you could do was close your eyes before a strong surge of electricity was shot into your ribcage and throughout your body. You convulsed as the shocks seized you, your shoulder getting dislocated from the spasms, then collapsed back on the floor.

“Just like good ol’ times!” Rocksteady passed the taser to Bebop.

Rocksteady laughed and removed his foot from your arm, then Bebop tased you in the ribs again. You yelped and rolled onto your stomach, tucking your very broken arm underneath you and tried to crawl away.

“Hey, where ya goin? We’re just getting STARTED!” Rocksteady punctuated his sentence by kicking you in the stomach hard enough to throw you across the room. You hit the ground and your body rolled another few feet until you stopped on your side and curled in on yourself, the air knocked out of your lungs.

Bebop took his time strolling over to you, and grabbed you by the hair to lift you up. You coughed and gasped for air, grabbing at his hand and tried to pry his fingers off of his grip.

“Think you can just up and leave whenever you want, do ya?” He growled in your ear, then dropped you down haphazardly to the floor. You were on your knees, buckled forward and holding your left shoulder, when suddenly Bebop’s foot stomped down on your right ankle and you heard a loud crunch.

You shrieked.

Exhausted and riddled with unbearable pain, you crippled to the floor. It took everything you had just to pull breath.

“Alright, I’m back! How is our lovely patient doing?” Came the cheerful sing-song voice of Dr Stockman entering the room through the locked door, Karai tailing behind him.

“Hey boss! Uhhh, we were just warming them up for ya! See? They can’t run away no more.” Bebop nudged your side with his foot, knocking you onto your side so Stockman could see the pain riddled on your face. You were barely conscious by this point.

“Excellent! Bring them to me.” Stockman ordered.

Bebop picked you up by your good arm and carried you over to where Dr Stockman was walking to in the back of the room. Karai stepped in Bebop’s way for a moment, taking in your beaten appearance, and back-handed your face hard for good measure, leaving a shiny bruise and angry red gash across your cheek. That woke you up a bit.

Just enough to retaliate.

You took a deep breath and tore your arm out of Bebop’s grasp and punched Karai in the stomach, hard enough to throw her into a large display screen next to where Stockman was standing. Stockman squawked in surprise. She rolled onto the floor, and pushed herself up onto her side. Spitting a bit of blood onto the ground and wiping away at her lip.

You tried to stand on your good leg but you were too weak and collapsed back to the floor. Bebop and Rocksteady grabbed you by each of your arms and brought you in front of Stockman.

He was looking at you in awe, and reached out tentatively to swipe at the blood on your cheek. He rushed over to his desk, jumping a bit in excitement. He put a drop of your blood onto a slide, and observed it under his microscope.

“Ha…! HA HA…! YES!!” Stockman shouted in excitement and did a little dance. Bebop and Rocksteady exchanged a confused look and Karai stood up and walked over to Stockman, eyeing you angrily and rolling her shoulder.

“What does this mean?” She questioned him.

“It means that the mutation was a SUCCESS!!! Those stupid turtles must have triggered it somehow. And now we can finally proceed with the plan!!!” He grabbed something off his desk and skipped over to the stairs leading up to the circular titanium base in the middle of the room. “Bring them here!!” He called over, waving his hand to Bebop and Rocksteady.

They dragged you over to Stockman, and were deposited on the round podium that sat under a large glass tube. Stockman started to pull down long rubber tubes from above, and attached large thick needles to the ends. You tried once again to crawl away with your good arm, as Bebop and Rocksteady retreated.

But Stockman approached you from behind. In a quick jab, he stabbed the two needled tubes deep into your back. You grunted and groaned in pain, but could do nothing, collapsing on the podium. Beaten, bruised, and bleeding.

When Dr Stockman was finished, he descended the stairs and rushed over to his computer, giggling excitedly he typed in a command and the glass tube descended over you until it clicked into place at the sturdy titanium base. Locking you inside.

“They’ll be placed in suspended animation. Once the tank is completely filled with the preservation fluid, they’ll become nothing more than a convenient blood bag, supplying an endless supply of mutagen for our mutant army.” Stockman rubbed his hands together evilly.

“And what about the turtles?” Karai asked.

“It is already too late for them to stop us. Even if they manage to get through your guards, they will be unable to free them from this tank. Once I start the filtration process, I will delete the programmed command to empty or release the containment cylinder. They won’t be able to free them without my help!” Stockman typed away quickly at his computer.

One of the tubes connected to your back began to pull blood from your body, leading up through a small opening in the top of the cylinder then down into a canister at the base. Then from the second tube, a white milky substance full of liquid nutrients began to filter through and down into your body. It did nothing to numb the pain you felt as you laid there in a state of half consciousness.

Suddenly, the loud banging of gunshots could be heard somewhere outside the door.

“We’re not ready yet! Hold them back!” Stockman ordered Bebop and Rocksteady, who positioned themselves between Stockman and the door.

The door suddenly blew wide open, and the four turtles rushed into the room, angry and weapons at the ready.

“Where’s (y/n).”

Part 7

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