#haven't finalized that helm's design yet

[deskraven]

helm style

[dragonomatopoeia]

ohhh Silent "for sure didn't use AI for writing because AI would've made the plot more coherent" Hill my beloathed. i am so deathly curious how it was allowed to exist for longer than a couple of episodes.

it's living in this space in my mind where it is both deeply repellant and yet fascinating to me. i keep turning it over between my palms. it's the perfect example of the way creative projects are devoured by their shareholders, turning art into content.

I haven't done too much of a deep-dive yet, mostly because I feel Weird about honing in on this cynical cashgrab content at a time where the game development industry is so hostile to its workers. I hope it comes across that whenever i grouse about this project it's directed at the predatory business practices and the utter lack of care from those helming and investing in the product

That said, I hope someone is compiling a working oral history or ongoing investigation into how this sausage was made. Even the bits that I see on the surface level point to something truly bizarre. forgive me as i begin to scrabble at the walls

so! i was about to talk about the involvement of Bad Robot and their games division but i got distracted by their website saying they were named one of the best places to work by gamesindustry.biz, one of the various subsidiaries of Gamer Network Limited, who you may recognize from their recent string of Mass Layoffs

anyway. The credits list is pretty extensive, and it's interesting to see the breakdown of what companies and contractors did what. I initially pointed to Bad Robot because they're primarily known for work on television, with their games division only recently coming together. They seem to have taken on environment and sound design for this project, both of which seemed competent and executed by Real People with a Creative Vision to my untrained eye.

What seemed less intentional to me was the movement of the character models. which is where i become very very curious about the actual logistics of how this thing came together

Genvid's CEO said that they originally wanted to use AI for animation and rigging, but it caused unnatural movements like characters sitting and standing multiple times in a scene, so they scrapped that approach

...except the character models still very much do those things in the final product, including sitting and standing multiple times in a scene when it makes no sense to do so.

ditto for the statement about AI-driven direction for scenes. every point he made about why the AI-directed shots weren't up to quality faltered when held up to the shots that made it into the final product

I do not actually think the narrative was written by AI, nor do I think essential plot points were crafted by an LLM. I do, however, think that LLMs had some part in padding out scenes and dialogue. There's just so much circular repetition and unrelated nonsense that pops up for no reason

There's some additional strange stuff that pops up when looking at the credits, but I hesitate to follow that path as someone who hasn't worked in the game industry and is unfamiliar with typical career trajectories. Besides, I don't want to head in a direction that casts more blame towards devs, rather than the executives that put this crock of nonsense together

What a tangled web we weave

[biomic]

genuinely curious; of the shows you haven't started yet (geats, gotchard, kingohger, blazar etc) how do you think you'll feel about them or is there anything about them you're specifically looking forward to or has you excited or etc

blazar: i have actually seen episode 1! really dug it, although not much to say as its main purpose was just setting the tone for the series. obviously i've been out of the ultra loop for a while now, but im happy to see the franchise taking new risks and challenging conventions despite the usual formula having been so successful these past few years. excited to see more

geats: again, i did actually see episode 1 back when it came out. honestly i've heard everything from "this show is awful" to "this is the best thing since build", but that's to be expected with takahashi at the helm. im sure i'll probably lean more positive but we'll see. looking forward to figuring out why the people are going nuts for that little frog

king-ohger: all i know about king-ohger is the unique visuals, rita being Shape, and racles' cunty slay. like i said with donbrothers, im over the moon about sentai evolving as a franchise and going for these big swings that would've been unthinkable just a few years ago. aside from donbros' endgame of course, this is the one im most looking forward to and feel most down about missing out on

gotchard: hyped as fuck!!!!!!! i just feel so in tune with everything this show's putting down so far. the trading card gimmick makes me nostalgic, i adore the suit and general design aesthetic, im overjoyed to finally have another show set in high school! fourze was my intro to kamen rider and that show's always been so special to me, and most other high school tokus i've watched (megaranger, turboranger, etc.) have followed suit in being some of my favorite viewing experiences of the whole genre. i've also wanted keiichi hasegawa and hiroki uchida to lead their own rider series individually for ages now, so them being gotchard's co-writers is really the cherry on top. need this show NOW

[sky-squido]

I FINALLY BEAT THE BOSS OF THE SECOND DUNGEON IN OOA (which means i got past that room i was stuck on, thank u @pacicidal and @elegantcollectionkoala)

since i'm playing virtual console, i used a lot of save states to warp back to right before the fight to save time on retries and i've never used save states like this before so i had this really weird time loop sense like those fics where a character is trying something over and over again (of course, i would never write something like that) and it was interesting to see what conditions i set for myself to warrant a reset and experiencing the feeling of jumping back into the fight right after the start of the death animation played with new knowledge about how the fight would go down, but refreshed health and bombs, while the boss has no idea who i am and is seeing me for the first time. it just. it's giving me thoughts and feelings about time loops but this time with legend sklfjghsdfgkjsdf squido don't do it don't you dare

anyway i also beat twilight princess!!! (finally) i LOVE LOVE LOVE when you power up the master sword with the sol's in the twilight realm BECAUSE THE GLOW IS SO PRETTY DUDE THE LIGHTING ON THIS GAAAAAME but also i feel like coming back to this game, especially after screwing around in botw, it really hits me how they do a really great job of making the master sword feel like a total light saber and i am HERE for it!! you just feel so strong and powerful, and after having been so weak at the beginning of the game, having to smack things with your wooden stick and it taking forever to kill bokoblins with the ordon sword, just plowing through baddies is SO satisfying.

BUT THEN ALSO IT'S NOT JUST PLOWING THROUGH BADDIES BECAUSE THE COMBAT IS SO GOOD instead of just mashing Y, you're doing back slices and shield bashes and helm splitters and it's so much more fun and engaging and you feel SO COOL pulling it all off and aaaaah i love this game and how STRONG it makes you feel after working so hard to build up all these heart containers and learn all these skills and get and strengthen the master sword. what an adventure.

AND THE PUZZLES DUDE I DIDN'T WANT THE HYRULE CASTLE DUNGEON TO END it was just a playground of puzzles with all my items and shooting the paintings off the walls? clawshotting to the grates on lamps and chandeliers? i feel like this game perfected the art of observation-based puzzles. i feel like so many of the puzzles in this game amount to looking around, looking around differently (as a wolf, from different angles, with different items in mind, reexamining your surroundings and looking for new ways to interact with them) and i LOVE it!! i feel so clever when i finally spot The Thing that i was looking for and i usually endure zelda dungeons to get to the bosses and the story, but this is definitely the most fun i've ever had in zelda dungeons outside of link between worlds. i honestly believe the reason nintendo has deviated from their standard dungeons/items formula and has no intention of returning to it is that twilight princess PERFECTED IT in 3D so they have to try something else now (this is also why i think we haven't gotten a new traditional 2D zelda game in so long—albw perfected 2D zelda dungeon design).

BUT YEAH THEN THE ENDING OF COURSE RIPPED MY HEART OUT OF MY CHEST BECAUSE WHY WOULDN'T IT AND I WILL BE THINKING NONSTOP ABOUT HOW LINK RIDES OFF ON EPONA AND THEN STOPS YES I KNOW IT WAS ORIGINALLY A MISTAKE BUT THEY KEPT IT IN THE HD VERSION SO IT'S CANON NOW, BABY

anyway i love zelda games and I HAVEN'T PLAYED TOTK YET SO DON'T MENTION IT IN YOUR TAGS PLEASE CUZ I DO READ THEM ALL but yeah i'm getting totk soon and also just got minish cap and also i still have oos to play so yaaaaay i am once again feral for zelda games ALSO I CAN FINALLY PLAY ONE OF FOUR'S GAMES AND NOT SUBSIST SOLELY OFF WIKI ENTRIES WHEN WRITING HIM THANK GOODNESS

[spilled-energon]

Had Blurr just-..?

No, there was no way.

He absolutely had.

Shockwave stared, hard, for what was likely an uncomfortable amount of time. Finally, he looked away, instead choosing to stare at the floor. There was a very light dusting of blue on his disguise's face. He refused to acknowledge it. Whatever else Blurr was rattling on about fell on deaf audials until the topic change.

Just a me thing? Was Blurr acting all flustered because of... What? A crush? Shockwave knew that it had to only be in relation to his disguises. Blurr never showed any of this sort of attention to his natural frame.

"Ideas- right," he stammered, raising his helm back to its full height. "No, I haven't come up with anything yet. My vehicle mode for this form is construction related. A bulldozer. My backstory is set up as well, though if you have anything you think would be smart to add, I'm open to it," he hummed. "I was an intern working under Longarm Prime before his true colors were shown. He injured me before taking off to attack Ultra Magnus. Now, I work under you as a secretary." He paused, drumming his digits against his arm. "Once I have a name, I'll access the Elite Guard files and add myself to the data base. I designed many of the systems in place, so it will be easy to make it look like I've been there for a long time."

Blurr was refusing to look at him. That, paired with the very weird way he was wording his sentences only confused Shockwave further. He was starting to think that maybe the handsome factor was more than just aesthetic.

Well, now that the topic had been brought up... Shockwave did recall being whistled at and heckled before Longarm had become a Prime. He hadn't thought much of it at the time, but the memories were certainly making themselves known now.

"Well, that is the point of a disguise. I'm not meant to stand out." Any admissions on Blurr's behalf went entirely over Shockwave's helm. "But, with how you're acting, I'm worried this disguise is going to be an issue. I don't want any unnecessary attention when my life is quite literally on the line."

[dramamelon]

Closest of Friends

Day 1: contentment Rating: M (overall) Tags: Minimal Editing, Fluff and Humor, Old Married Couple, Polyamory, Old Loves Rekindled Fic Summary: Drift and Ratchet are living their soft and cozy lives together way out in the quiet serenity of rural lands that sit on the edge of the wild. They're good with this, couldn't ask for more. Then more comes anyway by way of the past, as it always does.

Note: Just a heads up! This week is focused on Dratchet emotionally, but it is working toward a polycule! (Which will be explored in April during Polyship Week.)

Written for Dratchet Party March 2023! 🥳 AO3 link in reblog!

Something about simply being in Ratchet's presence soothed his weary spark in ways nothing else in his life had ever managed. Sitting together on the back deck of their rural home on a set of matched rocking chairs based on Earth design, Drift shifted his hand a little farther across the small table that separated them to brush his fingertips across the back of Ratchet's hand. He grinned as Ratchet grunted and blinked out of his small nap, helm jerking up and optical shutters blinking away the haze of recharge. Out of the corner of his optic, Drift saw the annoyed little glare Ratchet shot at him and muffled the snicker into his other hand.

"Just you wait," Ratchet said, the roll of gravelly static filling his vocalizer announcing just how deeply asleep he'd managed to get. "One of these days, I'm going to catch your aft in the middle of a snooze and then I'm gonna make sure you wake up thinking Unicron himself is on your back." As gruff as the words were, Ratchet still turned over his hand and wove his fingers into Drift's.

Drift lowered his helm, blinking off his optics as warmth suffused his frame. Maybe one day he'd stop having to remind himself this was just his life now, but it was fully apparent that day was not yet upon him. "I look forward to it," he replied to his conjunx, amused at the way he continued to work the sleep from his optics. "That's the day I'll know I'm finally out of practice."

That earned him a quiet round of laughter from Ratchet, ticking his mood for the day quite firmly into a good one. Drawing such a wonderful sound from his beloved medic never failed to push any and all doubts back into a dark and dusty corner of his mind. The days those doubts managed to make it to the forefront had grown so few and far between that Drift occasionally managed to forget them. He glanced at their joined hands, then turned his gaze on the wide garden that stretched toward the forest that filled the back half of their property. Somewhere among those trees, a good-sized stream burbled and danced over a bed of water-rounded stones. He gave Ratchet's hand a gentle squeeze as an idea flittered into his mind.

"Hey, Ratty," Drift started, fluttering his fingers through an idle series of sweet nothings over Ratchet's hand, "how about we have a picnic for lunch? We'll put something simple in the basket, grab the poles Roddy gave us, and see if we can catch dinner. How's that sound?"

Ratchet hummed deep in his chest, a low rev of his engine accompanying his thought process. Watching him, Drift pushed all the softness the mech made him feel through the tendrils of their tangled fields. It was returned in equal measure. "I think that sounds like a fine idea," Ratchet answered finally. "I haven't been fishing in longer than Rodimus has been alive, you know. It's about time to see if I've still got the patience for it."

"Good, you can teach me," Drift said in response, another smile stretching across his face at the surprise that flooded Ratchet's. "I've never been."

The creaks and groans of Ratchet's joints and cables as he leaned forward, pushing to his pedes probably faster than he should have, had Drift grimacing near as deep as Ratchet. He didn't release his grip on Ratchet's hand, though, letting his conjunx tug him from his rocking chair, as well. Ratchet stepped close, slipping his free hand around Drift's waist, pulling him in until Drift found himself flush against Ratchet's chest. "You put lunch together," Ratchet said, his out-cycled air a warm puff over Drift's face, "I'll grab the poles and tackle box."

Drift lifted his free hand and traced the tip of his index finger along the interior of one horn of Ratchet's chevroned crest. He opened his mouth to say something about how boring they'd gotten, then thought better of it—as much as he loved Rodimus, he really didn't need to sound like the guy anymore than he already did. Instead, Drift pressed a quick kiss against Ratchet's lips and chuckled as he said, "Lazy. Always taking the easy task."

[overseer2020]

A Hero's Work is (Apparently) Never Done

I promised we would get back to Heroes & Villains and I will, but something happened recently that I was afraid of since the beginning. My design philosophy is changing.

I consider myself something of a mercurial person, chameleonic as well. You would thing that a person who can change their own mind about something in an instant and blend in to just about any social situation wouldn't have a strong sense of identity, but I do. Assigning an identity to a growing, fluctuating, amalgamation of grandiose ideals and vague goals that is NOT a human being, however is a bit more more challenging.

That said, I am currently attempting to build Part II: Heroworld from scratch, setting aside all the cards I've already designed. And I'm already pleased with the beginnings. I have a color-pair philosophy, a design skeleton and a list of ideas for the rank-and-file cards I will need to create. This is far more than I started with with Part I: Crimeworld. I expect to bring in and re-evaluate any cards I've already designed with these new tenets in place.

[A couple of unfinished prototypes from EARLY design. HBEB isn't supposed to say "attacking or blocking" and probably should be 4 damage.]

In fact, I'm still holding the door open for revisions to Crimeworld. I've already determined that the off-color Schemes should be in Part II*. I don't like breaking up the "set", but they have little to do with one another and feel a bit wrong in those colors and there are too many of them for one set, I think. Perhaps they will be featured in the ancillary products**...

I'm still prone to thinking in cycles, which is not bad on its own and neither is designing the most exciting rares, but I have to fill out the rank-and-file commons, too and the sooner I get started on them the better. Like I said, I already have a lot of ideas for how to populate the world and fill out my design skeleton.

Yesterday, I shared the "Alliance" cycle of keywords that may or may not make their way into the final design either as solid keywords or ability words with flexible functionality. This change alone requires a rethink on how a game of Heroworld should play out. Do I assign these keywords to just anyone? Do I design cards that care about them (Search your library for a creature with Blaster...")? I don't know yet, but the possibilities are intriguing.

I leave you today with the first of a cycle of cards I will talk more about tomorrow. I have already exceeded my word count for one day and I'd like to finish this cycle this week, so I gotta show this off today and talk about it later.

[edit: I removed the individual card images with Legendary crowns that were supposed to be here that didn't have artwork. Instead, here is the DFC image (without the crown) for reference instead. See the "Keep Reading" section for more information.***]

[Yes, we're really peeking behind the curtain. I don't even have images picked out for these yet. And yes; this is supposed to be a Double-Faced card, but for some reason I don't have a wide-bordered DFC template with Legendary crowns, so these individual cards were designed with an "A" side and a "B" side.]

Next Time: Whaaat??

* By off-color here, I mean that I very clearly drew lines when designing the creature classes featured in Crimeworld, and a blue enchantment that requires (red/white) Knights to function for example feels a bit out of place.

** I haven't really talked about my ancillary ambitions much yet, but I do have some sketched up plans for Commander (or Brawl or Duel) Decks for this block as well as a "Casual experiment" minigame in the vein of Planechase or Archenemy. More details on those to come.

*** I managed to get some imagery I like onto the individual faces in time for publishing this blog entry. I had to squash the Helm to fit the frame (as I have had to do for many images). Without the original to compare it to, the end user shouldn't be able to notice like I can. Either way, since my Dr. D. is supposed to be a Dwarf, squashing the image works for me.