#i might end up spamming a lot of my art and work in progress...!!

[azolitmin]

2015 - 2025

[erigold13261]

Sorry for spamming with the asks for the extended mermaid club but would the mermaids be different as the result of Arachnkids input? Like: Yua using neopronouns like Gwen who uses note/notes, Aoi being less snarky to reflect Gayatri…

Yes and no! (and don't worry about spamming me with asks lol, I'm actually having a lot more fun with this AU than I thought I would!)

I would say that Sayu and Aoi would stay relatively the same personality-wise. Maybe Aoi goes through an arc that makes them kinder, but since Aoi and Sayu were one of the first mermaids made, I can see their base personalities already being pretty fleshed out through Remi's art and possibly comics and animations.

Yua was probably a work in progress that got changed before finally being officially inducted into the mermaid project because of Gwen becoming her voice actor (and possibly this would mean that Yua would also use note/notes pronouns if Gwen would end up feeling comfortable with that happening).

Renho and Haru's personalities can definitely be changed since they came out later in the project. They would better fit Peni and Margo's voice acting style (like Renho being a bit less shy and reserved), but wouldn't be too far off as Remi probably had a whole idea of how things would go and I can see the team listening to him on how he wants the mermaids as they were technically his original project (sometimes the team doesn't want to say anything because they think it might upset Remi but Remi honestly doesn't mind and is always willing to work with them. Just teenagers anxieties sometimes getting the better of all of them).

This does go into the idea that the mermaids need to represent their voice actors, which isn't always true! Not every voice actor is represented in the character, which is how you get voice actors like Tara Strong or Jennifer Hale who have really large voice acting pools with characters of all different designs and personalities.

However, the voice actor can influence the character creation, like how Neon J's voice actor ended up helping inspire the personality a bit more during development. I think that is what I heard, where Muhammad Zulhilmi said he added some singing to his audition tape or something and the company loved it and so made Neon J a but more outgoing and stuff.

So yes, the mermaid project is definitely not going to be exactly the same as the mermaid club, but it won't be ENTIRELY different. Designs might change a little bit, but overall the roles of the characters is probably going to stay relatively the same.

Now, the thing that sucks about this, is that I SOMEHOW still haven't fully thought of the mermaid club's personalities. Not to great extent at least. So trying to think how their voice actors and the teams more diverse workers would change the mermaids is hard for me to do lol.

Like I see Sayu as a leader type, very extroverted and always wanting to help others. Basic main character kind of stuff. Probably a bit like Steven from Steven Universe where he is always putting other people first and preaching about peace and love. Wanting to talk about problems instead of fighting but able to fight if necessary.

Aoi is more of a mean girl stereotype who becomes friends with the main character. Or is already friends with the main character and nice to them but can be mean to anyone who isn't a friend. A bit snappy and snarky. Quick witted but also probably hides a small temper (which you are right this doesn't fit Gayatri's personality, but for some reason I can see her having a voice that would fit this personality).

Yua and Haru are pretty similar for me for some reason. I see them as goofs and silly, but in different ways. Yua is more like a class clown who wants attention and is willing to make herself look silly, while Haru is a bit more mean spirited and willing to make someone else the butt of the joke thinking it's all well and good but is willing to apologize if things go too far. Haru and Rainbow Dash from My Little Pony seems like a good fit in personality type for what I am going for (don't have a character idea for Aoi or Haru).

Then there's Renho who I always saw as very much a shy introvert. Probably brought into the friend group last but brings a lot of care to the group. Tries to keep things from spiraling out of control but also willing to join in on the fun. Probably the most anxious but also the one to stick by a friend no matter what even if scared. I think a toned down Shaggy from Scooby Doo is probably a good fit. Like, a very loyal friend and helps out even if they don't want to. I don't know.

The problem is that I need to make them a lot more concrete and separate from each other. Which I guess was my mistake when first creating them. It doesn't help that the image I based them off of made it look like Renho and Yua were super outgoing while makign Haru and Aoi look like some kind of villains for the story.

So yeah, I still need to just sit down one day and flesh out the personalities for each mermaid a lot more. I have Aoi's and Renho's down pretty good, but Yua and Haru being really close in personalities isn't something I particularly like. At least if they are both the comic relief of the group I need to make them more distinguished from each other.

It's like with 1010 honestly, each one has their role and how they are supposed to act on stage. Rin is the strong leader, Purl is the quiet and cool one, and Zimelu is the rough and tough one. Haym is supposed to be the innocent one and Eloni the funny one, but I run into the same problem with those two as I do with Haru and Yua, because I want Haym to also be a jokester.

Haym and Eloni are supposed to play off each other really well, while also Haym and Zimelu play off each other really well. But having two little clowns seems like doubling up. So Haym is stuck in this middle grey area of being the innocent one but also trying to be funny (and honestly I can see Haym being the first to try and break from his role because being the innocent one probably came with a lot of infantalization from the fans he hated).

And that is where Haru and Yua are at. They are in a grey area right now that I don't like. At least with 1010 I can spin that grey area as Haym literally trying to break out of his role. With Haru and Yua's grey area, I don't even want it to be there in the story, which is why I try to offset the goofy nature of Haru by making sear a bit more mean spirited, but then THAT is a problem because that makes a grey area between Haru and Aoi.

I'm just ranting now, sorry about that! I think what I should do is do some small redesigns for the mermaids (nothing major, I actually love my designs a lot) but while doing that try to think more of what role I want Haru to be in. I'm content with basically the rest. It is just Haru who I don't really know what to do with.

I am willing to let Yua not be the super goofy one, maybe she can be that super supportive friend or the little gossip girl while Haru is the jokester, or maybe the other way around. I do like Haru being a jokester a lot, especially since Haru's Halloween costume was a devil/angel hybrid to sell prank gags. Yua was a pumpkin with vines which is why I think she could be the gossip because of the phrase "heard it through the grapevine" which I do like.

Literally yeah, I am so off topic. The mermaids in this AU definitely have the ability to change, but they probably aren't changing much since the team does want each mermaid to feel unique but also keep their already established identity if applicable (so Sayu and Aoi).

Also, I do think the names would probably be different for Yua, Renho, and Haru. Since the team is no longer just purely made up of Asian characters (the Crew) I can see the designs and names being slightly different for the last three. Maybe something more American since Gwen, Margo, and Peni are all from America. I don't know.

Pronouns and stuff could also be different, but also be the same as the OG club. The club itself only used she/her pronouns, with Yua being the only queer character by being trans. I don't think the mermaids would start using different pronouns until they became sentient. Though, Yua and Renho could potentially use different pronouns later on before being sentient as Gwen and Peni figure things out about themselves.

Though honestly, considering these are teenagers getting super popular with their work, I think they might be a little bit scared to have the mermaids with neopronouns. It was probably already nerve-wracking to make Yua trans when they had a small audience (and that is something some people could ignore or forget about since it isn't completely obvious just from the the design itself).

Imagine how scary it would be to make a character use entirely different pronouns (or at least add pronouns so it's like she/note) when they started getting popular.

By the time Renho and Haru were added, the team was thinking about joining NSR. NSR is full of older people judging new musicians. If they don't like openly queer things like that then they might not get accepted (which would be for the better if that was the case). So they didn't want to make those pronoun changes before the Lights Up Audition happened.

However, once they got accepted and started moving up the ranks (and later on become a megastar) changing the pronouns of characters will just look like a marketing stunt and could potentially lead to backlash for the mermaids and the team. They would be afraid to give these mermaids (who at the time are all entirely fake and not sentient) neopronouns because of their teenage anxiety telling them all the horrible things that could happen.

It probably wouldn't help that Gwen and Tila's family lives could be something the whole team thinks of whenever the idea of making the mermaids more queer comes up. It is definitely something they want to do, but they know not everyone is going to like the change and either say the mermaids are now woke and stupid, or this might make them less popular and they would have to push themselves even further to not get fired or something.

So honestly, I don't think the mermaids would use neopronouns before being sentient. However! If they do become sentient like how Sayu and the club did later on after the revolution, that is something I can definitely see changing! And the pronouns they use too would most likely change.

Renho is probaly not going to keep only using they/them (maybe something like they/fin). Aoi I kinda want to keep using he/they no matter what, I just really like that a whole lot. Yua I can see sharing a lot of experiences with Gwen since Yua was basically made in Gwen's image kinda, so maybe Yua does also start using note/notes pronouns as well as she/her (or maybe another set entirely). Sayu as ze/mer is still a favorite of mine, but anything can be used for mer (love the idea that Sayu takes pronouns that sound like she/her and keeps those ones or makes up mer own). Haru, yeah, I can definitely see Haru as going with something entirely different from sea/sear pronouns. Don't know what though.

Anyway! Yeah! Mermaids would change, not into a completely different group that would not be distinguishable from the OG club, but there would be changes. A lot of the major changes however come later after the Rock Revolution where the mermaids might become sentient.

[keefiswhoiam]

May 07 - 2024 Tuesday

10:31pm

4.5/10

Im writing on time tonight because DS went to sleep early and I did my dishes early partly because my tummy hurts.

This morning I did my whole body shave with the manscaped attachment I don't usually use which was a good idea, it's bigger than the thing I usually use. It's just not as good at trimming unless you are only going against the grain. I took my shower and for breakfast I made oatmeal using some frozen cut up apples and a side of spam. It was a light breakfast since I've been eating big meals lately. I did my monthly finances finally, just 2 days late.

For work today I warmed up by sketching human torsos but my head wasn't really in it so I didn't do a great job. That didn't bode well for what commissions were going to turn out like. It was just one of those days. I had a bit of trouble on the commission because GT, the guy paying for it, just wanted me to redraw a black and white image of a guy on a motorcycle but as a cat instead. Partway in I didn't think my usual process would be best so I decided to wing it instead and do something more like a lineless color study which turned out to be a good idea. I stopped stream halfway through because little things kept going wrong and my tablet died which required me to restart my computer. DS seemed upset at that which sucks because she's definitely my favorite viewer to have.

Off stream I asked TK if she wanted to hang out in her server VC while I worked. She said she had just showered and likes to wind down after so in a bit we could. In the meantime I worked on the commission with some music. I got distracted a few times but not too badly. She alerted me when she was good to go so I joined her and her boyfriend to chill. NJ joined as well. I mostly listened until I decided to speak up about some frustrations I had today. It turned into a big rant session to NJ who was kinda becoming my therapist for some reason. He asked some good questions but didn't have very good advice in my opinion. He also implied every thing I said was wrong which wasn't productive, I felt like I was defending myself at every turn on things I was confident I was right about. Eventually the topic was abandoned and I left briefly to start lunch. I made stir fry rice with canned ham and mixed vegetables. It came out okay, I wish I had added more jalapenos. I continued work in the call. TK asked what I was working on and I had to explain it was someone's character performing receiving fellatio. Then I worked on something of my own which was my otter giving head and I actually showed them that one since they were curious. It was a strangely classic case of showing "normies" some relatively extreme furry art, but they appreciated the quality of it. Especially the background. After an hour of working on that, I switched to my custom pony VRchat avatar. I more or less finished work on the basic body shape I think, but I'm not sure I'm sold on it yet. TK left and I hung out with the other guys until I was done working. Then I got off to decompress.

I watched episode 2 of Black Mirror this evening. I already got all my thoughts on it out to DS, but my view was trying to positive in that maybe their society would improve with the introduction of the guy's podcast on the state of the system. I think it was left open ended. I got the impression at the end that it was implied he had a LOT of work ahead of him. After watching, I booted up KSP with the goal of further figuring out a way to organize my crafts and do a couple missions. The craft organizer mod is unfortunately bugged which makes it very hard to use. I might just have to get rid of it and think of another way to organize. DS got in bed early and we called to do our usual routine of puzzles and KH2. She talked to me a bit about her struggles lately and I empathize with all of it. It's stuff I'm also working on and making headway I think. Its progress I wish I could share with her somehow without lecturing about how I'm doing it. I know the best thing I can do is support her as she figures out what works for her which I'm eager to witness and hear about. I reached the end of the game in KH2 and next is the final final boss I think. After DS fell asleep I continued KSP a little bit. I also ate the first chicken strip I've made that come un-cooked which was something I was very slightly worried about. I knew it wouldn't really be a big deal, and it wasn't. Since they're frozen it isn't very gross handling them. I just know I gotta wash my hands when I'm done. Its unrelated that my tummy has hurt all afternoon and evening and still is. I keep having to go but it's all ordinary. This has happened before, its just uncommon for me. No idea what could have my stomach like this but I think it's already passing. I getting very cozy watching a Twitch streamer play Fallout 4, I'm probably gonna watch until I happen to pass out.

I wanted to practice "self as context" from my ACT book today but I didn't out of simple laziness. I'm guilty of feeling like I already know everything I need to know but that is foolish and I know it. I turned this journal into a sort of practice by writing it from the perspective that I'm reading it which helps me provide better context for events and makes me look at my own writing style. It helps prevent rambling in a way that I ignore and forget about as soon as the words have been typed.

[phoenix-is-the-hottest-thing]

I don't think you should take it personally?

Remember it's September now, people are busier from school starting up again (and during the holidays, they might have been busy being at the beach, yaknow?)

And that's just one thing, there's other factors like "people might reblog one thing but not the other posts they saw in a row", so if you post 4 art pieces at once, people might be self-conscious and only reblog one to not spam.

You also don't know people's motives, maybe some like HoV, but others might like birds, so if they see HoV not being a bird they won't care enough to reblog it.

Maybe they like a certain coloring you use, and when it's more sketchy, they're not interested.

Maybe they just like some of your drawings more than others and only reblog their favorites.

Maybe they're not as into Honkai anymore after Part 1 ended so they don't reblog Honkai stuff anymore.

Regarding your joke posts that get more notes specifically, that's a well-known phenomenon, people don't reblog based on your effort but based on how they felt about the art. If it's pretty, they might think "oh, pretty", and not think of it again.

If it's funny and makes them laugh, though? They are a lot more likely show it to their friends who'll laugh too, especially if the context, whether it's reblogging or spreading it via other means, and jokes can often transcend their fandom and spread much wider, too.

Other kinds of art that get this treatment tends to be especially creative concepts like the tuna tail that felt really novel (and also had jokes!)

The amount of notes you get is not a measure of your or your art's inherent value. You do not even get anything from it, at least on tumblr, it's just numbers that do not translate into money or anything like that. At most it might get used by corporations to measure your clout, which is... not a practice I find good but this isn't what this post is about.

Personally? I love getting attention. I love knowing lots of people read my works, hell my memes too, especially if it prompted them to speak about it to their friends or think about something more deeply. I want my stuff to spread! I want it to be popular enough that people talk about it where I can see!

So yeah I know it's easy to feel bitter about your numbers, I've stopped watching ao3 numbers a long time ago because it stressed me out for no reason (I only have comment emails on, which is also why I strongly encourage people to comment on my work, that's the only way I know people cared! I still love attention, I want to talk about my work, I'm just watching my mental health by not caring for the actual numbers...)

It's alright to take pride in getting something popular, but the flip side of that is that when your expectations grow, you feel you're doing "worse" when you're still doing much better than the beginner you used to be.

Looking at the quality of my writing, I've made a lot of progress, and even my most read works are kinda old now. But did you or I get "worse" just coz the recent stuff got less attention? No. We just kept doing our thing, and whether it clicks with the invisible audience isn't up to the effort we put in.

Just gotta keep doing what we love. You draw HoV because you love her right? Not for little numbers.

my content just never gets much attention unless it's a shitpost does it

[penguiduck]

The Relationship Between Online Readers & Writers: How to Write the Best Feedback

Introduction | Part 1: What is this Relationship? | Part 2: Creating Motivation and Appreciation for Readers | Part 3: A Day in the Life of… | Part 4: Creating Motivation and Appreciation for Writers: Perspectives | Part 5: Creating Motivation and Appreciation for Writers: Implementation | Part 6: How to Write the Best Feedback  | Part 7: Where Does This Leave Us?

Since I've put so much emphasis on providing feedback, I believe it's only fair if I offer some instruction as well.

1. Thank your writers. They put a lot of work into producing this content for you — it is only gracious to thank them for their efforts. If someone gave you a piece of art or a homemade gift, the correct response is gratitude. Why is writing any different?

2. Be personal. It goes without saying, but writers are not robots who can crank out writing nonstop. They are providing you content that is creative and comes from the heart — the writing process is a subjective, tedious one. I think it is only gracious to reflect that same warmth and care in your feedback. Speak human to human. There is someone with very real feelings and thoughts on the other side of the screen.

What are some ways to be personal?

a) Pay attention to writers’ notes. There may be certain events going on in their lives. Maybe they’re struggling with the illness of a family member or celebrating a positive experience. They obviously only include information they wish to share. If a friend came up to you and said “It’s my birthday!” would you ignore them? Probably not; it doesn’t seem polite. Or if a friend said “I’m feeling a little bummed out. My dog passed away,” the socially correct response is to offer your condolences.

b) If you happen to realize that the writer is reaching a milestone — 100 chapters, one-year anniversary on AO3, etc. — celebrate it! Congratulate them!

c) Bring up past conversations. While your feedback is speaking to the writing, you are allowed to bring up past interactions that can enrich your comments. Maybe the writer mentioned something about a plot twist a while back. Adding a “I remember you mentioning this!” can really make writers feel special because that means you were paying attention.

3. Be specific and relevant.

I mentioned this in the previous chapter, but I think it’s worth mentioning again: I have a fuel tank for my inspiration when it comes to writing. I can run on a near-empty tank, but it’s difficult for me to do, and I struggle with creating content. It’s far easier for me to write and put out quality work when my inspiration tank is full. Every piece of feedback I receive fills it with a certain amount of inspiration.

Quality feedback refills my inspiration tank far more quickly than vague and general comments do. What are ways in which you can be specific and relevant to increase the quality of your comments?

a) You’re obviously reading this particular piece of writing for a reason. What makes you choose this story over others? What makes it special or unique? Is it the writer’s personal style? Their knack for detail and imagery? Do their sentences flow beautifully? Is their characterization spot-on? Tell them why you choose to spend your precious time reading their writing!

b) What about the characters? Does your writer have a strong grasp on keeping these characters true to their original interpretations? Are they exploring facets of their characters that you’ve never seen done before in other fanfiction? Is there a particular character that gives you the warm fuzzies, especially because of the way they are written? Is there someone you really don’t like? Why?

c) Be relevant. Leaving a comment like “PIES. I LOVE PIES” when there is a brief mention of a pie in the story doesn’t tell writers very much, unless you explain why this particular item is of note to you. Otherwise, this is not unlike going to your friend’s choir recital. Maybe she sings something from “The Lion King,” and your response is, “I like warthogs.” It’s a pretty strange comment that doesn’t speak to her performance. Let’s be a bit more cognizant of how your thoughts can come across relevantly.

Did you like the way they incorporated pies into the piece? Did you find it coincidental that they added pies because you just made one? Instead, you could say something like “I found it really interesting that you had [character name] go with pies because I was just grocery shopping and decided to buy a pie, even though I don’t really have a sweet tooth. It’s pretty impressive, though, for [character name] because pie dough can be really tough to make! I’m impressed he figured it out!”

d) How are you feeling about the progression of the story? The plot? The small details that writers add to make it more interesting? Do you have any thoughts about what might happen next? Would you be particularly excited about a certain event taking place? Perhaps you have a strong opinion on a character’s actions or choices?

e) How does this writer’s work affect you emotionally? Has there ever been a time when you were feeling upset or overwhelmed? Maybe you picked up a story from this writer, and you felt better. For me, knowing that my work can help give someone an escape or a place of respite from the real world is absolutely astonishing. Communicate this with your favorite writers. Trust me — they will be glad to know that they have helped you.

4. Be thoughtful and kind. This should be obvious, but sometimes it’s not.

While I think writers should be open and receptive to constructive criticism, I also think readers should be sensitive and mindful when giving it. If you are interested in offering criticism, it’s generally good practice to ask if the writer is receptive to it first. I welcome thoughtful criticism, but others may not. Criticism, no matter how fair or unfair, can be absolutely devastating to writers who are not ready for it. Harsh criticism can even break someone’s spirit.

Writers are artists who wish to share their craft with the world for you to enjoy. In doing so, voluntarily or not, they offer their work up to critics — but that doesn’t mean they are necessarily wanting to have their writing picked apart, concept by concept, word by word.

Here are some considerations if you wish to provide constructive criticism:

a) What is your intention? Would providing critical feedback be constructive and useful to the writer? Remember that criticism is meant to help writers become better writers —otherwise, it wouldn’t be constructive. Instead, your comment would be considered malicious, spiteful, or just plain spam. I think it’s vital that you assess this before providing criticism.

b) Is your criticism reasonable?

If you notice some characterization or detail about something canon-specific that is not correct in chapter 1 and the writer is on the 47th chapter, are you expecting them to go back and edit all 47 chapters? This is not a reasonable expectation, and mentioning something like this, correct as you may be, is not helpful and could potentially be very discouraging.

c) Is your criticism well-founded? I understand this is highly subjective, but I’ve received some harsh and nonconstructive criticisms before that don’t have any basis. Either, the commenter completely misinterpreted my meaning without giving me a benefit of the doubt that my intentions were good or they don’t realize I actually addressed their point in future chapters or they were just incorrect in their research. Please make sure that before you submit your constructive criticism, your logic is sound to the best of your ability and that you’ve considered the writer’s point-of-view.

d) Say something nice, please. I don’t think it’s good etiquette to have your first interaction be negative. Providing constructive criticism implies that you care enough about the content and writer to help them improve — if not, hit the back button and move on with your day. If so, then that means there must be something redeeming about the writing that makes you wish to be a part of its success. Show that. Otherwise, your constructive criticism may not come off as constructive at all — instead, it could be interpreted as unkind, and if you really do have best intentions at heart, then being kind is a minimum requirement for interactions.

Talk about what you like about a writer’s work first and even explain why you’re providing criticism. Start with something like: “Hi! I absolutely love that you’re writing for this fandom. I think you write [character name] very well, better than most interpretations I’ve come across! If I may, I’d like to discuss your most recent portrayal of [character name]. I see where you were coming from, but I think he may have been a little too forward because [insert reasons]. What was your thought process behind this? Other that particular scene, I’ve been very pleased with your portrayal! ”

Really, take a page out of Thumper’s book: If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all.

Below, you will find a hodge-podge of questions that may help you construct your feedback:

Who is your favorite character? Why?

What do you like about this author's writing style?

What makes this piece different than others?

Has any part of this piece/chapter made you smile? What was it?

Give your honest opinion on an character, whether you like or dislike him/her.

How do you like the main character? Why?

What do you think is going to happen next? What makes you think that?

Is there a character you just want to suffocate in hugs?

Do any of the characters remind you of someone else?

What is it about this piece that has had you following it for so long?

If there is a cliffhanger, what makes you so anxious to see what happens next?

How do you think this story will end?

How will this piece ending make you feel? Will you be sad that it's over?

Is there a character you pity?

How do you feel about the villain(s)?

If this story were real and you really were the main character, who would be your best friend?

For WWYFFs, who is your favorite bachelor? Why? Can you even choose one?

Has this author ever written a part in this piece that made you uncomfortable? Why?

What's your overall opinion on the main character's behavior?

Did a part in this piece/chapter make you crack up? What was it?

Do silly thoughts ever enter your head while reading this piece?

Tell the writer how much you love them for writing this.

If the writer has any RL issues or concerns, respond to them (condolences, best wishes, etc.).

Did the antagonist ever do something where you just wanted to punch him/her in the face?

Has this story ever been an escape for you?

Do you ever think of this story out in the real world?

Why do you think this is one of your favorite pieces?

Is there something you don't like and would like to change? Be sure this is constructive.

How did this chapter/piece make you feel?

Make a prediction about anything — a character, perhaps?

Do you like how the characters are developing?

Is there a line in this story that made you laugh out loud?

What emotions did you have while reading this? Did you feel angry, frustrated, awkward or sad?

Has there ever been a point in this story when you're on the brink of tears?

Do you feel that this author's specific writing style has contributed to your enjoyment of the piece?

Thank the author for taking the time to update in a very busy period in her life.

Do you have an idea that you wish to share?

Is there anything that confuses you and you wish for clarification?

Is there something in this story that you can't wait to be resolved?

Analyze a character and try to explain why s/he does what s/he does.

Do you for see any problems with this story?

Tell the author how much you appreciate them.

REVIEW/COMMENT TEMPLATES

Finally, I’d like to leave you all with some templates you can use. Of course, it’d be most personal and heartfelt for you to construct your own comments and reviews, but I understand not everyone feels comfortable doing so, and utilizing these templates to help get your thoughts across is certainly better than leaving no feedback at all! Edit whatever you’d like, use pieces, combine templates — it’s in your hands!

LOVE AND GRATITUDE

“Hi! I’m so thrilled to have found this story. I’ve been looking for a good [fandom] fic with a [character names] pairing for a long time now, and to see one of his quality just made my day! Your writing is [superb/detailed/professional/etc.], and your characterization [is honest/is spot-on/makes me weep with joy/etc.]. I am going to be following this with a very close eye. Thank you so much for gracing the world with your beautiful writing!”

“Admittedly, I didn’t think I’d be getting back into [fandom], but I saw your fic and began reading it on a whim. I am now intrigued and looking forward to what happens next. I absolutely love how you portray [character name]. [He/she/they] are exactly how I imagined [him/her/them] to be in this situation that you’ve crafted, and I look forward to more. Can’t wait for the next update!”

“This is brilliant. I’ve never seen another story like this, and I thank you for sharing your talents with us and the [fandom] fandom. You make me gush every time you have scenes like this, and [character name] just makes my heart thud!”

“Ugh, that cliffhanger! D: I can’t believe you just cut it off like that — now I’m going to have to wait impatiently for the next update. I hope [character name] survives. It sounds like a terrible situation to be in, but you wrote it so [beautifully/hauntingly/well/etc.]! Will be eagerly awaiting the next chapter!”

“OH MY HEART. You always create the most [lovable/intimate/disgustingly cute/etc.] moments, and I just want to puke rainbows and sunshine. I LITERALLY SQUEED. In fact, I squeed so loud, my [mother/boyfriend/partner/sister/etc.] asked me what was wrong!”

“Your writing style leaves me [breathless/wanting more/etc.]. <3 The way you string words together is just pure poetry, and it is a [joy/treat/etc.] to read. We need more people like you writing

“I don’t usually read original content online, but this piece caught my eye, and you did not disappoint. The world and plot you’ve created is [creative/heartrending/exciting/etc.], and your characters are [memorable/endearing/so much fun/etc.]! I find myself entranced with [character name]. I feel like I can really relate to [his/her/their] plight. Looking forward to the next update and seeing what [character names] are going to do!”

“This story feel so professionally written to me. You could absolutely take this and publish it. Your writing is [beautiful/flawless/a joy to read/etc.], and I so admire your ability to consistently give us content. Please keep writing and sharing with us! I cannot get enough of [story title], and I look forward to every update.”

“I’m super curious about [character/plot/feature/etc.]! I feel like this is a concept that has been done before, but I’ve never seen it executed as effectively as you have! I am looking forward to reading more about [insert characters] and how they’ll react to [events].

“I cannot tell you how much this story means to me. I know this is just a piece of writing (albeit quality!) posted online, but you have helped me get through some really rough days and events in my life. The way you weave this story and its characters makes me feel like it’s all alive. Sometimes when I’m feeling particularly sad, I just come back to this fic and read a few chapters. Your writing is beautiful and real and optimistic, and it just makes me feel like I can rely on it as a place to retreat to when I need it. Thank you so much for taking your time to write. Your work is truly a treat and blessing.”

“[copy and paste quote from story]

This was my favorite line from the story. I found it so [funny/wholesome/particular/etc.]. You have such a good grasp on [character name/writing dialogue/development/etc.] Looking forward to more!

CHEERS AND CONDOLENCES

“I’m so sorry to hear that you’re having a rough time because of [reasons]. I hope you know that I’m here to support you, and if you need to take a step back from writing for a little while, I completely understand. I always enjoy your work, and for the quality and joy you’re giving us, I think you should take your time and write only when you’re ready to enjoy the process. Please take care! <3 You are in my thoughts!”

“Congratulations on [xyz]! That is such a big milestone, and I’m so happy for you! It’s amazing that despite all of your RL achievements, you’re still willing and able to dedicate the time to write for us. <3 Sending love and support! Keep it up!”

SOME FRIENDLY ADVICE

“Hi! I absolutely love that you’re writing for this [fandom]. I think you write [character name] very well, better than most interpretations I’ve come across! If I may, I’d like to discuss your most recent portrayal of [character name]. I see where you were coming from, but I think [he/she/they] may have been a little too [forward/angry/quiet/etc.] because [insert reasons]. What was your thought process behind this? Other that particular scene, I’ve been very pleased with your portrayal! ”

“First, I am so glad I found this fic. I am impressed by your writing capabilities and think you’re doing a wonderful job! I don’t know if you’re looking for any feedback on [xyz], but I have [experience/knowledge] on [xyz], so I thought I’d shed a bit of light. The only thing I noticed was [reasons] — in reality, [insert explanation]. I can give you a few sources [insert link(s)], if you’re interested in reading more. I am also happy to answer any questions for you! Please let me know how I can help! Like I said, though, aside from that just teeny detail, your writing really is superb. I love your [creativity/portrayal/writing style, etc.]! Can’t wait to read more!”

If you found that this guide or these templates were helpful to you, please share the wealth with other readers and writers!

Also posted on AO3.

[juvellita]

messy kbtbb character analysis

So… Let me just say that this is going to be LONG and MESSY post. I will try my best to make an analysis of all Kbtbb characters. Eisuke’s might be the longest, just because know about him more than any other bidders. This is more geared towards to those people who still have negative misconception about KBTBB. I get it. Their season 1 prologue did not give the best impression of those guys. I want to give you an insight of characters’ past, and why they are the way they were when MC first met them. PLEASE feel free to express your thoughts/ add on the comment section/reblogging! Let me know of what I am missing from character. I want to hear your analysis of characters too.

MORE UNDER

First things first. Let’s jog back to season 1.  I know MANY people did not like this game in the beginning because how it hinted on human trafficking. Let me clear this out first; when Eisuke and other bidders created the auction, they made a rule of not selling any human in an auction, unless they are willing to be sold. This is mentioned in Episode 0: The Promise substory.  

That’s not all though. Bidders approached mc in almost..inhuman manner. They treated her as a weird creature that they have never seen before.  Why do you ask? All bidders have some sort tragic/traumatic past that cannot be easily cured. I have mentioned this briefly in my “short bidder’s complexity summary” post, but every single one of them has a reason why they cannot trust anyone that easily. Let’s look at each character in depth.

Let’s start with Ota and Eisuke, since these two characters were the MOST controversial characters when they were first released ( I apologize in advance if I miss anything for Ota. I have played his route every now and then, but I never actually read all his stories). WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD if you haven’t read any of their stories yet. Also… ALOT OF FAWNING UNDER EISUKE’S

First, Ota Kisaki (The Angelic Artist).

Essential Question: Why does he treat MC like a pet at first?

He was an unique artist ever since when he was little. No one acknowledged his art, except this guy named Doi (I believe), who was an artist.  He keeps encouraging Ota to continue with his art, regardless of how others thought his art was so weird.  This kind of event makes Ota ABSOLUTELY trust in Doi. He was the only one who supported his art preferences. Why is there reason not to trust him? Until… Doi plagiarized Ota’s work, and claim it as his own. At that time Doi was much of bigger artist than Ota, so Ota didn’t have any power to fight back that it was a lie. This.. made tragic mark on him. He refuses to trust anyone. I mean, it’s arguable right? Doi WAS the only one he trusted (before MC came into his life of course). He then creates this facade of “Angelic Artist”. It was his way of separating between the real him and the expectations from the others. That way, he wouldn’t  have to go through the pain he went through again. When he first met MC, he called her ‘Koro’. The name ‘Koro’ was a way for him to put a distance with MC, since he refused to trust anyone after his most trusted companion betrayed him. A lot of people argue that how he treated MC like a pet was inhumane. I understand this also, because trust me… I was one of those people. However, the main purpose for calling her ‘Koro’ wasn’t to treat her like a pet. He was simply..afraid of getting close to another person and being hurt again. Koro starts out as a way to put boundary between MC and Ota. As the season continues, it becomes affectionate nickname for MC.

Eisuke Ichinomiya.

Essential Question: Why is he inhumanly cold?

Oh man, You all know how much I LOVE Eisuke (I mean.. Just look at my shet spam on my blog). I will try my best not to only fawn over him in the duration of this post.

Where do I even begin with Eisuke? I mean, I think his first description was “Cold-hearted billionaire”. He probably went through A LOT during his career.  But If you still think he is cold-hearted, please look at all my screenshot spams. At least to Mc, he turns squishy marshmellow. When MC gives him that puppy dog eyes or when she smiles at him with uncontrollable happiness, there is NO way this man can say no to her.

In his Childhood Promise Substory, Eisuke only wanted power to save and protect ones he cared about and himself. He might come off as only selfish person in the beginning, but as story progresses on, you will know that is not true. He has difficult time expressing things in words.

Let’s first look at his family background. “Ichinomiya” isn’t his actual biological name. When he was young, his family went bankrupt. His father disappeared (Eisuke finds him again in season 5), and shortly after his mother’s health got worse and passed away.  He got separated from his little sister (who he finds again in his s1 sequel), and Akira Ichinomiya adopts Eisuke, who was good friend of his biological father. Before meeting MC, everyone who approached him, only approached him for his power and money. Up until his S1 epilogue, he used to have a groupies, who were obsessed with Eisuke. When he sees them shet talking about MC, he threatens them he will ban them if they keep on creating a scene in his hotel (and we never see them again after that).  Anyways, back to my point. These groupies only loved Eisuke for his money, power, and looks. Did they know a single thing about Eisuke? I doubt it. He only kept them around because he needed someone to numb his loneliness(numbing doesn’t solve any problem. He knew this, but regardless, he needed someone.). But beneath that cold facade, he was an absolutely lonely person. No one really loved him for he was.  He was craving for genuine love, but no one gave that to him.. He have gave up on the idea of getting that love..Until Mc came to his life. MC was the only one who was able to see through Eisuke, and realize he is lonely. She never approached him for his power or money, and he realizes that her actions and thoughts toward him are genuine.  (Seriously… read his pov if you have not, because they are the VERY reason why I LOVE Eisuke so much.) But he sometimes have wonders about what love is, since he was never used to being loved so genuinely by someone. In his season 3, he has doubts that his adoptive father actually loved him. Everyone around him only saw him as a man ‘capable’ of handling business. However, when he confronts Akira about it, he says that he wanted Eisuke to understand family love. He also claims how he is happy that Eisuke has finally found someone who can love him unconditionally (referring to MC).  Then throughout multiple s3 substories (such as his bday story, under his protection, etc ...), you can see how the definition of ‘love’ changed for him. At first, he thought it was unnecessary thing (meaningless to say aloud). However as him and mc gets close in relationship, he notices expressing love for someone you love is important (hint s5).  We also see that he is emotionally unstable. Mc is his big emotion supporter. You can see his emotion breaking through BIG TIME when MC gets in life or death danger (refer to my Desperate moment post if you haven’t already).

I want to also bring this to light: Eisuke has so many enemies. I don’t know what stuff he really did, but I can say some are just falsely created by some influential being.  If you ever played Eisuke’s s2, do you remember how Shuichi and Hikaru approached Eisuke? Hikaru was assigned to assassinate Eisuke, believing that he was the one who killed his parents. Same goes for Shuichi. He at first believed that Eisuke was behind everything that happened to his family. However, after s2, they somehow realize that that is not the case. Some mastermind was controlling them to get rid of Eisuke. This still reminds mystery. I really hope they cover this in his s6 or s6.5.

A lot of thing that I mentioned for Eisuke, I have already mentioned through my screenshot posts, or other bloggers have said it already. It might sound repetitive, but I cannot enforce enough, how much mc means to Eisuke. She is basically his life, one existence that will drive him insane if MC is in trouble in any way (but then again, Eisuke is so extra sometimes LOL). He will literally do ANYTHING to make happy. Mc isn’t a selfish person, so this won’t EVER happen but, in theory ( I DID SAY IN THEORY, SO DON’T FREAK OUT), if she ever wanted someone to disappear because they have hurted her ever since she was little, Eisuke will not hesitate to make that come true (actually he will do it before she even mentions it). He believes that anyone who makes mc sad should not exist (at least not close to them). I mean… he even says this to his own son LOL.  He will not hesitate to keep mc in his penthouse all day if he feels like she is in danger. Only reason why he doesn’t do this much anymore is because he knows how much mc doesn’t like that . This is where yandere eisuke came from because of how he is sometimes abnormally OBSESSED with MC. I mean...installing security cameras all around his hotel JUST for MC’s safety (and to check on her ...for his benefit).  This just proves how all sense of his ‘logic’ flies out of window when it comes to MC. He perhaps might not know the ‘normal’ way to express his love, but he tries his best to show MC that he loves her. And mc knows this.

Any ways… I am gonna end my Eisuke post here… if I continue I will end up fawning more over him.  SORRY I WAS SUPPOSED TO ANALYZE. I ENDED UP FAWNING

Baba Mitsunari

Essential Question: Why is he known as ‘playboy’?

There are many theories that this man has depression, which I honestly can see why. He is the nicest bidder in everyone’s route. He usually says hi to MC first when she comes in the penthouse, and cheers her up when she is seriously feeling down.  He is quick to lend a hand when any of bidders are in trouble.  His man has a tragedy… of not being able to truly love anyone, because he is scared that his ‘thief’ title will hurt the one he loves. He also wants to be loved like Eisuke and Ota, and give love, but he is SCARED.  Unlike Eisuke or Ota though, Baba has tendency to deprecating himself.  He once genuinely fell in love with this girl named Cynthia. However, he decides to leave her because he was scared that he would hurt her because of his career as a thief.

I have said it once, but I honestly think Baba is underestimated as a character. If I look at him closely enough, he probably is saddest character in KBTBB. Sad i mean…only one who probably realizes that he is sad. Other bidders are too prideful or disinterested in emotional feelings before mc comes in. Baba is probably the only character who is fully aware of what he is feeling even before mc coming into his life.  I do not know much about Baba, but I can tell this much from observing him in Eisuke’s route. He only became known as ‘playboy’ because he knew he wasn’t able to stick to one woman without hurting them.  Instead, he tries to numb his depression by having a lot of women around him, which obviously doesnt work.

Mamoru Kishi

Essential Question: Why is he so darn lazy?

You might not believe it but he used to be very passionate about his career. He had a investigation partner named Minami. However, one day, for some mysterious reason he died. Mamoru has made several attempts and proposals to solve the mystery of his death, but interpol has rejected his idea every time he proposed it. They all thought it was unnecessary to reveal that case was closed (in his route, we figure out Aida was behind all this).  From that point on, he realizes how crooked and ‘good for nothing’ his job is, and he loses all motivation to work hard.  I have never played his route so I cannot say much about him. But he is very skilled detective/policeman. He may not seem like it, but the way he gets Eisuke all those confidential information about interloper… i mean, I don’t think normal policeman can do that! In Eisuke’s season 5, Eisuke worries about Mamoru’s job in danger if he went such length to help him. But he assures him that it is fine since he is known as ‘slacker’ and so no one cares about him. He would go full length to uncover the truth once he sets his eyes on something.

Soryu Oh

Essential Question: Why is he allergic to women?

I mean… mainly because of his mafia title. Just like baba, he doesn’t think he deserves ordinary happiness nor could ever get one because of his career. Most times, his job is life or death matter.  He has strong sense of what is ethical and what is not. He would hate to put anyone in danger because of him. Beneath that cold exterior, he is probably most normal person amongst the bidder. He is also the one who is (personality wise) close to describing mc. When he meets mc, and sees her devotion to stick something that she set her mind on, he falls for her.

I also think one main reason why he hated women is because how they were ‘used’ to secure his life. In one of Eisuke’s substory, Soryu mentions that he lost his virgin because it was ‘life or death’ matter. Although it is clearly not addressed, there might be some unspoken reason why he used not like women.

FYI... I typed this out on word doc first... it turned out to be 5 pages...

[natsthinkitythinkthinkthonk]

Dec. 12 - Anime Log

Since I started/finished a few anime today, I decided that I wanted to list my thoughts for each of them. I was debating whether I should’ve put this on my spam account, but I decided that this account might be better.

 Anime:

Dame x Prince (started and finished)

Kamisama Hajimemashita (finished)

Zetman (started)

I’m going to work backwards starting with Zetman’s first impression. 

The art was pretty good. TMS Entertainment is a studio I don’t actively search through, but I found out that I watched a lot of their anime. They definitely have a lot of hits including the Detective Conan series, Yowamushi Pedal, Megalo Box, and since we’re talking about it, they did Kamisama too. 

The music didn’t stand out too much, but it’ll take some time to grow on me. This part always goes like that since I find that a score grows more with the progression of a series.

Okay, but the biggest letdown was probably me finding out that Romi Paku was going to be replaced with Daisuke Namikawa for the main character’s child vs adult voice. If Romi can be Edward, she can be Jin. Besides that, Mamo and Kana Hanazawa are solid picks for literally any roles.

The story, characters, and presentation seem a bit like a mix of Code Geass and Devilman. Hear me out. Devilman is probably more obvious (I’m referring to Devilman Crybaby). They both are a bit on the explicit side, they both depict violence with demon-like creatures, and they both use the common thing of, “You see this mortal you like? It would be a shame if something were to happen.” Code Geass was brought up because of the two protagonists. One is a bit of an anti-hero while the other has an arguably warped sense of justice. Let’s just see how this plays out. So far, this seems like a far more palatable but different version of Devilman. I couldn’t even finish that series because it scared and scarred me too much.

Kamisama took me a really long time to finish. I kept picking it up and dropping it because I found the characters to be a bit... lacking. I heard this was a classic shoujo anime, and I’m not necessarily the target audience, but I find myself enjoying it from time to time. 

I find that art palettes always look a bit pale for some reason. I find a lot of anime during those years did though. The character designs made a lot of characters look more emo than they needed to be, and their eyes look like they have that pencil stuff (edit: eyeliner). Their eyes are also already very large. 

The story is more on the lighthearted side. There are some overarching stories, but it’s mostly episodic with outside conflicts. Like a lot of shoujo anime, it’s mostly about the growth of the relationship with the two romantic interests and the futile efforts of anyone who isn’t the main love interest.

We have the cold-tsundere-ish Tomoe, the playful seems-like-they-can-be-a-cutesy-yandere Mizuki, the average heroine Nanami that becomes head-over-heels for the main character, and a few other side characters here and there including that dad who went out to buy milk and never came back and the feminine guy who fabulously wrecks things up. Other characters appear episodically. There’s also a fish guy with the underappreciated wife (that episode made me laugh a little), a purple-haired supernaturally being who falls in love with that mortal who’s voiced by Ryohei Kimura.

I paused watching it three episodes in then stopped again after episode seven then took it to the end. It really wrapped up nicely at the ending, and I really like series that end well. That usually boosts it up in my books.

Score: 7.7/10

I wanted to save Dame x Prince for last because it’s something that surpassed my expectations, and that’s because I thought it was going to be terrible.

Just like many reverse harems, it’s based off an otome game which means it’s about a bunch of ideal guys with the same faces competing for the same girl while trying to remain true to their trope.

But this anime doesn’t take itself seriously, and that’s where it makes itself different. None of these guys are ideal except for maybe... Teo? But even then, he’s not even listed in the main cast. Let’s go through some cast introduction:

Not Your Typical Otome Protagonist (VA: Sayuri Yahagi) - She’s realistic, she calls out these guys on their bullshit, and she even says to the guy, “I don’t want your self-portrait.” She’s immune to all the guys’ so-called “handsomeness”.

Feather Boa (VA: Kaito Ishikawa) - egotistical bastard who has servants follow him to give him lighting, mirrors, and confetti. He’s the first in line to the throne, but all he cares about is making women swoon and getting an artist portrait of him literally every month.

Flower Boi (VA: Yuichiro Umehara) - take a shot every time he says, “My little flower (ohana-chan)” then you will die from alcohol intoxication. Personally, I prefer Umehara’s lower voice because it sounds more badass, but this role was... something else. He’s a womanizer as well. Also, if you call everyone pet names like that, you don’t have to remember their actual names. Good to know. 

Sunny Child (VA: Soma Saito) - I thought he was a girl. I was wrong. Even the main character thought he was a girl. He’s so bright that they didn’t even censor his dick, he just censored his whole body in a glowing light. He looks creepy.

Every Tumblr User Ever (VA: Ryohei Kimura) - He complains about the sunlight melting him, he has a waifu, he’s directly creepy regarding his waifu, he would protect his waifu at all costs, he stays up reading manga, and he is socially awkward. Yes, Ryohei voices both his character and his puppet waifu. 

Manure (VA: Tomoaki Maeno) - He’s the only normal otome-standard guy here, and he’s supposed to be like that. He also fills in the childhood friend trope.

Ugly Blob (VA: Ayaka Saito) - She’s supposed to be the cute mascot, but the protagonist summons her through a self-described vague (seriously, the characters say, “This stuff is vague as hell”) process. She even says, “You’re ugly... in a cute way though!”

Most episodes actually made me laugh because of the writing and how stupid it was. They don’t have an actual overarching story until... maybe near the end? Everything is mostly antics and whatnot. There’s a stereotypical onsen episode in there too. They even say, “Great, a hot springs episode. Just what this anime needed.”

Music was pleasant enough. The OP was standard and forgettable, and the EDs were too (but they were sung by certain seiyuu). I don’t remember much about the score. The animation wasn’t bad because it didn’t demand that much. Usually, these adaptations have ridiculously bad animation quality anyways.

Seiyuu did a good job. This was probably due to the fact that the writing wasn’t something straight of a Twilight fanfic or something. Pretty much all the seiyuu that were cast have a good amount of experience, so I’m really not surprised.

Score: 7.4/10 (that’s pretty darn good considering the genre)

[lovelive-mysme-project]

Love Live! as Mystic Messenger Remake

Now that my nice hacker theme is ready, here we go!

So because i love mysme almost half as much as i adore love live, i have always thought it would be awesome to remake mystic messenger using the characters from love live (u’s, specifically)

I’m getting more serious about it, so I decided to make this blog to organize thoughts and progress.

I’ll put the rest of the details under a cut so this post doesn’t get obscenely long, so thanks for reading and if you’re interested, please message me!!

The characters corresponding so far goes like this:

Zen: Nico

Yoosung: Hanayo

You might notice that Rin doesn’t have a place in this AU. Therefore, I’m thinking of adjusting Yoosung’s route to make it platonic between Hanayo and MC, and maybe make it a RinPana shipping route, and kind of combine Rin and Hanayo into Yoosung’s character, somehow...? The story of his route will take quite a bit of adjusting if this ends up happening, so if you have any thoughts don’t hesitate to send them!!

Jaehee: Eli

Jumin: Maki

Seven: Honoka

Saeran: Chika (get it? since they’re basically twins since chika is such a copy-paste honk) (not that im hating i love my mikan daughter)

V: Nozomi

Vanderwood: Umi + Kotori (Honoka’s moms)

There’s no Vanderwood route in the game but if this project does go to completion for all the other canon routes I would absolutely love to make a “Vanderwood” route for these two

I really like this setup, but if anyone has other ideas I’m totally willing to hear them! I’ll probably leave Rika as is since she tends to get a lot of hate and although I really like her as a character I don’t want to upset anyone by associating their best girl with a character who does so many... bad things...

Other than the characters changing, the basic plot and story of the game will remain the same, it will just be a sort of AU. An important thing to note is that, except for the potential changes to Yoosung’s route like I mentioned above, everything will basically be the same, just copy/paste from the actual game, changing the character’s names and genders, and maybe a few minor adjustments if I think they’re worth it. I’d say I want to fix all the plot holes in mysme but I don’t think it’s possible at this point. MC will remain a girl in the CGs, but I’d love to be able to allow the user to input their gender and pronouns to use them in the chatrooms and VNs.

So as far as what has to be done, I have a basic idea of what I want to do and what I’ll definitely need help with:

I’m using Ren’py as the engine to make the game, so I need to learn how to use it and code the actual game mechanics

The GUI has to be designed and edited to look as much like MysMe as possible. I don’t think it’ll be able to be exactly like the mysme app, but i can probably get it pretty similar

This is where the real work begins, lol

All of the chatrooms and VNs need to be transcribed and edited to have the names of the Love Live characters. I’m not going to include the “missed” chatrooms, the player will just be able to go through all of it at once and they’ll be included in everything.

The character sprites from SIF need to be edited to have the outfits from MysMe. It’s really only important for Saeran/Unknown, but I’d also like to change Eli and Maki to be wearing business formal clothes, and I’d like Honoka to have Seven’s outfit since it’s so iconic. Also, Umi and Kotori would have to wear secret agent clothes when we do Seven’s route, but that probably won’t happen for awhile, and I don’t know how everyone else feels, but I’d like to give Kotori credit for being a bit more fashionable than Vanderwood and their leopard print mixed with purple leather jacket...

Big one: the CGs need to be redrawn with Love Live characters. If anyone is willing to help out and draw a few because they’re just interested in this project, that would be amazing. Other than that, if there’s someone who is confident that they could imitate either the Mystic Messenger art style, or the Love Live style (either the anime or the SIF cards art), or has a nice, clean style, I’d love to commission them. In addition, if this ends up happening and an artist who is really good with imitating the style takes our commissions for this, I would also take donations to help out from anyone who is interested. Of course, I won’t accept any money until I’m absolutely sure it’s going to happen, and the only thing left to do is the drawing. All of the donations will go 100% to funding the commissions, I’m not trying to make money from this, I just want it to happen and have satisfying quality!!

Like I said above, the story for Yoosung’s route (and perhaps others) will have to be changed if we go along with my original idea. If you aren’t able to contribute by drawing, editing sprites, or transcribing, I’d love to just have people who are willing to talk about the plot changes and help me work out any plot holes and various problems. If you’re interested in helping with that, or just talking about this AU, I made a discord server that you can join here: https://discord.gg/58cYzmb

So that’s about it! If you have any questions, send an ask here or on my main blog @juna1lens Thanks for reading!

(about to do some ungodly tag spam, this is the only time I’ll do it so I’m sorry in advance!! Just to get the word out about this project for people who follow various tags)

[catherinebakewell]

How to Fail Successfully

From 2014 to 2016, I queried a novel for the first time.

I was a freshman in college. I extensively researched agents. I got a couple of requests. I changed my manuscript drastically. I queried again. I got some great leads. I got a lot of dead ends.

I started playing a game with my best friend; we guessed in a Final Four-style bracket who would reject me next. I got used to the epic silence of querying, and the fact that, after waiting six weeks and looking to my inbox like it was the bottom of the Christmas tree, “no answer” would have to be a sufficient answer for me.

My book was good. I still think so. I still have dreams about that story and I still get excited about how I could make it even better now.

Fortunately, I didn’t stop my writing career while I was querying. I wrote four more books while I waited. I became more integrated into the writing community on Twitter, and for the first time, I found writing friends.

I have seen a lot of people grow tired. Grow jaded with writing in general, and especially with the industry. That’s fine. Some people follow this path only to learn traditional publishing isn’t for them. Querying is such a good time for reflection. You’re suffering in the weirdest, easiest, most quiet way possible, and it’s a perfect moment to consider—or reconsider—why you want to write, why you want to share this story, and why your anxious stomach aches are worth it all.

There isn’t a simple fix on how to query fearlessly. Fear is part of the game. Losing hope is natural—if you hear no (or no response) at every turn, of course you’re going to feel like this whole writing thing isn’t for you.

Here are some things that helped me.

1.       Make writing friends

Through #CPMatch and through Pitch Wars, I was able to meet people who critiqued my MS, shared their wisdom with me, encouraged me, and taught me so much. I read incredible manuscripts and learned how to write stronger. There were techniques I’d never tried before. Plot holes and weaknesses in my stories that I hadn’t really seen before. Above all, the empathy from my writing people is the best part. Querying, writing, revising; it’s all a battle, and to have someone check in on you, talk about their own struggles, and identify with the rough parts of the writing journey? It makes you feel like you aren’t alone and you aren’t stupid for attempting to share your story with the world.

2.       Keep writing

Many writers find themselves tempted to go back and touch up their manuscript even while it’s sitting in an agent’s inbox. RESIST! This will end up being a hassle in the long run and you may never find yourself satisfied with the condition of your book. At some point, you have to take your hands away from your manuscript FOREVER, when it goes off to be printed… practice that self-control now!

Instead, edit an old story or start a new one! Becoming invested in new stories and new characters is a great distraction and reminds you why you thought writing was so great in the first place. It’s also great in case you want to try querying a different project someday—or if you land an agent, you might get to show off that new manuscript in your back pocket!

3.       Reflect, don’t wallow

Taking time away from writing can also be a good thing. You should give yourself the chance to pause and think about why you want to query, why you love writing, why this story should be shared.

There is a dangerous and false assumption that being critical of yourself is the same as being humble. This isn’t the case. If you get a scathing rejection—which I’ve found to be rare, from my experience and others’—mourn, but don’t let those words define you. The writer you are today is not the writer you’ll be forever. One person’s critique of you doesn’t put you or the quality of your writing into a box. Even if one agent or critique partner—or two or three—points out a flaw you’re hyperaware of, turn that negative thought “I suck at this” into the more positive “I can get better at this.” Ask for help. Do writing exercises. Write fanfiction. The best way to grow in your writing is to exercise your writing muscle, and in my opinion, the best way to do this is to have fun while you do it.

You’re allowed to be sad or scared while you’re querying. You’re even allowed to feel hopeless. But the attitude you choose is also going to color how the next weeks and months of waiting will be. Don’t let your moment of sitting in your sadness turn into you rolling around in a puddle of tears.

4.       Distract yourself

If you don’t want to distract yourself with writing, but still want to feel productive, read more books in your genre and/or age category. Consult with your Critique Partners or #amwriting; you may find a new and even better comp title for the novel you’re querying or your work in progress. Reading can also help you identify how other authors have addressed similar problems you find in your own writing (how to write strong dialogue, how to weave complicated plots together, how to juggle multiple POVs, et cetera).

Lastly, here are some things I learned while querying:

1.       Query thoughtfully

As the process dragged on, I started to feel like my queries didn’t really matter, and I might as well send as many as I wanted on the off chance I got an agent’s attention. The thrill of clicking send and marking a new name on my query chart made me feel productive, even if I knew deep down that the agent wouldn’t be interested in my book.

If you find yourself sending a query to someone who didn’t say they didn’t want your genre… maybe reconsider.

The person you query is going to be your partner in your art. Make sure, even if they’re the eightieth person you query, that you know something about them, that you like them, and that you feel like they could actually be a good fit for your project.

2.       Personalize your queries

This step is a given for most people, but it bears repeating and also connects to my previous point. Research your agents. Use MSWL (Manuscript Wish List). Check their Twitter. See what they like to read. Find blog posts or interviews. Find some sort of touchstone between your book and their interests and mention this in a line or two in your query. It shows that you’re not just spamming agents with queries and that you are invested in your project and willing to put in the work.

3.       Make a chart

I made a document listing every agent I queried, their agency, and their email. I color-coded it according to what materials they requested or if they rejected. I also included the date I sent the query or the requested material, as well as an “expiration date”, the date when I would consider the query to be a “no reply means no.” Many agencies will list this expiration date on their website (it’s usually about six weeks), and QueryTracker is another place where you can see how long it takes for an agent to get back to you, typically.

4.       Go slow and be willing to change your query or materials

When you first start out, send five to seven queries. Then wait. If you get no response at all, consider tweaking your query or looking back at the first ten pages you’ve sent. This is where your critique partners and other outside voices will help. Two agents told me they felt my story opened in the wrong place, and I paused, made my story stronger, and then sent more queries, to better results. Some other people suggested I change my age category. This also helped me get more positive feedback.

5.       Make sure your story is “as advertised”

This is the biggest problem I see in queries I read over. If your selling point in your query is that your story heavily features robot unicorns and your first chapter takes place in ancient Babylon, I’m going to be a little confused and disappointed on the lack of robot unicorns. Your opening may be too slow, or your query may be making promises that are a little misleading in the grand scheme of your novel. Remember that an agent may only see the first five to ten pages of your book. You don’t necessarily need to name-drop the robot unicorns in chapter one, but give us enough of a teaser to make us believe that there will in fact be robot unicorns in your story.

If you’re querying now or if you’re thinking about it, I urge you to continue in your brave but worthwhile journey. I don’t regret the years I tried to get my book published. I’m not embarrassed with my attempts. Instead, I can already see how much I’ve grown, as a person, as a writer, as a critique partner. I’m going to query again someday soon. Maybe I’m met with dead ends like before. Maybe things will be different. Win or lose, I know that I will leave the battle proud of myself and ready to try again stronger.

[keefiswhoiam]

March 04 - 2024 Monday

11:15pm

1.5/10

Today started okay. I vacuumed and picked up some. I took my shower and made oatmeal, spam, and cheese with crackers for breakfast. I had been planning on doing my workout today but there is still a little ankle pain. Ill try on Wednesday no matter what.

I did work okay. Warmed up with a couple color studies. While eating breakfast I had watched a video covering games that take place in dying worlds, its a unique and intriguing vibe. So I tried painting a scene like that out of nothing. I made good progress on today's commission which I thought would be very hard but just took time, as usual.

After lunch I read the chapter on self in my ACT book again and made a plan for exercises to try this week. For lunch I made some decent rice a roni given I had a weird selection of vegetables. I took a little time but did today's request while hanging out with Bramble and her friends. I liked the request because the person's girlfriend is a big fan and the OC looked good. I worked on a drawing of Adora next since its the 1 day a week I spend on friend art and I have no one else to draw for other than someone that won't get back to me.

I did my therapy appointment where the guy helped go over what self as context means and confirmed I had a decent plan ahead to follow. Unfortunately the next appoint will have to wait until the 25th which sucks. I feel like I'm gonna need an appointment before then so I might request one anyways.

I finished my afternoon worked and joined Samuel for a game of Helldivers before Daisy became available. When she did, we did our puzzles before getting in VR to talk. The talk was very important, we basically determined that we need to step our feelings back a bit and just focus on being friends. Its a big mental shift for me, and something I needed to talk about with someone else a little bit.

Before bed I took some me time to distract me a little bit and now Im up late nibbling on dinner before bed.

~~~

Im dealing with a lot right now. What happened earlier is really just starting to hit me and I'm overwhelmed. I might have my dad take me to the store tomorrow for groceries like he offered instead of streaming. Or I'll stream afterwards. I don't know. I'm only just now starting to cry about everything. I know it's for the best, I stick with the decision. But some part of me is hurting for how I wanted things to go even if it isn't smart.

Its going to be very hard not to slip into my thoughts, I know I will falter and will have to pick myself up. I feel like I have to let go and just take it tonight. Get it all out.

Life in general gets so fucking hard. In the least suicidal way possible, I wish I could end it all sometimes. Just for a break.

[leppu]

HELLO EVERYONE!

Here’s some news on what’s been going on, and what to expect in the future from me and my comics!!

First of all, I cleaned up and put all my tags in order on my tumblr! Here’s the new ART TAG that you can go through and check out all the pics I’ve drawn in the past six years on this website. THAT’S A LOT OF YEARS....

I also cleaned up my TWITTER completely! I want to put everything in order and make my stuff clear and easy to find, as I have severe focusing problems myself and I tend to lost everything and all my links and emails are a mess and all over the place, so now I plan to keep everything clean for now on so I don’t get too overwhelmed! 

So that’s about the social media, I usually post stuff on twitter so you might want to check that out more often if you want to keep up with the latest updates, but I will keep on posting here too, maybe just pictures tho and every now and then a notice that my comics have updated.

AND! About PRAGUE RACE and TIGER, TIGER! Hiveworks staff is currently working with me to make a brand new site for both of my comics! It’s gonna be one main site, under which both of the comics will be. There’s also gonna be a blog, that I’m planning to use to actually be more active with my readers, posting wips and talking about the drawing progress, characters, maybe post some polls every now and then and answer some questions if I get any! I sometimes get fanmail on my email, and I think that’s super sweet and I’d really like to make it a habit to read through them and then post about them every week or so in the blog. Kinda like Oda makes with One Piece SBS!  I want something like that so bad!

I’m planning on updating Tigers twice a week, and PRace once a week. Depending on the buffer I might post more pages, but I won’t make any promises.

I don’t know if I have the energy to moderate comments on my comic pages, even if comments are SO IMPORTANT TO ME... Feedback keeps me going, but at the same time it’s very time consuming to weed out the spam and keep the conversation civilized. I’ll see how it goes! Disgus kinda sucks and also posts ads in the comment section and I don’t want that haha.

Also I’m currently working on my patreon revamp, and I’d like to thank all of my patrons for making all of this happen. I wouldn’t be able to make comics if it wasn’t for you guys, and I hope to deliver more comics in the future, and post more side stories exclusively for you to read.

So all in all, I’m pretty excited for the new site? AND THE NEW COMIC? AAA?? If PRace was something I started drawing on uni classes every now and then for my own pleasure, Tigers is planned out thoroughly and it’s clear, compact and doesn’t dwindle away into million subplots that I kinda did with PRace. I learned so much while drawing PRace, but all and all it is a comic I started making when I was 21 years old, there’s no consistency and it’s just, there’s so much on the plate! I’ve had so much fun just coming up with new things to draw, but in the end it sort of spread the story too big, and now I’m having trouble bringing it all together without it taking a five million years to draw. So I needed to work with something that makes more sense to me, is in “movie length” so it won’t take too many years to finish, and most importantly.... It’s about issues that are closer to my heart at the moment than the ones I had when I starter PRace, so many years ago. I love PRace from all my heart and I wish to finish it in a way that it honors my younger self, no matter how long it takes to finish. I’ve had a huge help from Hiveworks editor Isa with this issue, and I think I know now that what it takes to bring this story to an end. 

So worry not, PRace will continue and I will deliver you the ending I had in my mind from the very first moment when I decided to start drawing a webcomic! And what journey has it been, since it’s now my day job. Couldn’t have predicted it in any world to happen lol but HERE I AM, doing this, and I hope you will enjoy my comics as much as I enjoy making them!!

THANK YOU ALL for reading this! I will see you soon with brand new comics, and in the meantime I’m working on making a big, BIG buffer on both comics so there’s lots to read when the new site finally arrives!

[douchebagbrainwaves]

OK, I'LL TELL YOU YOU ABOUT BODIES

Customers are used to being maltreated. The time was then ripe for the question: if the study of ancient texts acquired great prestige. Periods and commas are constituents if they occur more than 10 times and. This is a special case of my more general prediction that most of the extra computer power we're given will go to work for game developers. Anyone can publish an essay on the Web, and it doesn't have the side effect of making your whole country poor. Java is controlled by Sun. Forms up to this point can usually be replaced by an equivalent one that's easy to program in now.

Founders usually have a lot of progress in that department so far. And that's certainly not something I realized when I was 13 that TV was addictive, so I stopped watching it. Dangerous territory, that; if anything you should cultivate dissatisfaction. But remember that to get that combination, your startup will have to be able to compel. Study lots of different things, so you need a lot of maximally interesting tokens, meaning those with probabilities far from. So now there are two numbers you care about: how much money you're putting in, and the valuation of the company. And when you agree there's less to say. When people come to you with a smaller share of an even more valuable company, till after several more rounds you end up looking at when you get filters really tight. An essay, in the course of the conversation depends on the answer. For example, you start a startup to do this, I would have tried to get a multiple of 10 6—one million x. That filter recognized about 23,000 tokens.

Bulgaria offering contract programming services. Cobol: Fortran is scary. The list of n things is easier for writers too, it's not imaginary either. Much Renaissance art was in its time considered shockingly secular: according to Vasari, Botticelli repented and gave up painting, and Fra Bartolommeo and Lorenzo di Credi actually burned some of their work. Contradiction. In math, difficult proofs require ingenious solutions, and those aren't them. But the evidence of the last 200 years shows that it doesn't matter—that the whole process seemed pointless. A few days ago. I could have thought of that.

Ok, so we get slower growth. I want to know first whether a startup is and how well, languages can be described this way. Most founders doing series A deals per partner per year, they're careful about the headers and the bodies became much spammier. People a hundred years as it is, this explanation predicts, or at least one partner from the VC fund takes a seat on your board. When people first start drawing, for example, didn't have numbers. It was from someone saying they had finally finished their homepage and would I go look at it. Open-source software has fewer bugs because it admits the possibility of bugs. But though it's not anger that's driving the increase in disagreement, there's a danger that the increase in disagreement, there's a lot they can do things that the previous generation would have considered wasteful.

And when VCs invest in angel rounds they can do to decrease the false positive rate is, because we're up in the noise, statistically. It's no wonder if this seems to the student a pointless exercise, because we're up in the noise, statistically. Cultivate them. There are whole classes of risks that are no longer worth taking if the maximum return is decreased. Or hasn't it? But the real advantage of individual filters is that they'll all be different. And once you start to design things. Prolog: Programming is not enough like programming languages.

There's no real answer. Apparently some people in the business of trying to predict beforehand, so lots of people starting startups. Society seems to have been two given at the same conference in 1998, one by Pantel and Lin stemmed the tokens, whereas I only use the 15 most interesting to decide if mail is spam. If we're determined to eliminate economic inequality, because it makes them less likely to. Founders tell themselves they need to hire in order to grow. Unless the opposing argument actually depends on such things, the only purpose of correcting them is to discredit one's opponent. What makes a good founder? I was afraid of flying for a long time to work on and others that aren't. -Discipline, experience, and empathy. Which means if letting the founders keep control stops being perceived as a concession, it will catch your attention when you hear that other Normans conquered southern Italy at about the same time. And that might be a net win.

How common is it for founders to keep control after an A round? 16% false positives. That's why they paid for those stock tip newsletters, and why only during their term of office? Now we have a way of hacking the investment process. There's no real answer. In a real essay you're writing for yourself. Prolog: Programming is not enough like logic. Now that VCs have competitors, that's going to put a market price on the help they offer. Maybe you're just running fast.

In any academic field there are topics that are ok to work on Internet search. The recipe for great work is: very exacting taste, plus the ability to gratify it. I may later scale token probabilities substantially, but this would be one of them. In theory this is possible for species too, but it's hard to foresee how big, because its size will depend not on macro trends like the amount people read, but on the ingenuity of individual publishers. These get through because I'm a programmer too, and the spams are full of the same words as my real mail. So to the extent that winning is a matter of implementing some brilliant initial idea. It was a theoretical exercise, an attempt to preserve some existing source of revenue, you're probably imitating an imitator. As the reader gets smarter, convincing and true become identical, so if you can imagine someone surpassing you, you should do it yourself. I write down things that surprise me in notebooks. There are more shocking prospects even than that.

Thanks to Slava Akhmechet, Aaron Swartz, Robert Morris, Paul Buchheit, Daniel Gackle, Jessica Livingston, Aaron Iba, Marc Andreessen, and Erann Gat for reading a previous draft.

[noxiim]

(1/3)Okayyyy so i mightve sent a few asks abt this before but this topic is really now bugging me cuz i have depression and im sensitive to like everything. Im starting to take this "not getting notes on my art" thing really personally and i know it sounds childish (and i laugh at myself for it) but i cant help but get upset when i spend so much time and effort and get like no feedback. And i know people say not to draw what u love and not for attention but honestly i dont even know what

and i dont even know if im drawing what ilike sometimes. Yeah i love bts but i dont know if i like what im drawing or ifim just doing it for notes???? And i have a lot of anxiety too and thats wherei feel like im taking this too personally. Cuz im starting to think that my artdoesnt get notes cuz its straight up not good which leads me to think ishouldnt even try to pursue a career in art anymore. But im not good atanything else so wtf am i gonna do if i dont succeed in art???? Like i said i laugh at myself for thinking like this and iprobably sound like a fuckin child but i cant help it???? Like i think my artis decent???? But maybe its not???? Idk like this was really hitting me todaycuz i feel like im wasting so much time and im probably gonna be one of thosepoor college students cuz i decided to focus on art more rather than taking ajob cuz i thought i could make money off of my art but yknow clearly its notgoing so well and im scared for my future U dont have to give advice to all of that i just needed tolet that all out 

Aw dude don’t worry I get what you mean,I actually experienced something similar when I first started posting my art totumblr, and even recently when I first started posting bts fanart. It’sperfectly normal to want recognition (in this case in the form of notes) forsomething you worked so hard on!! I think one of the major issues with postingto such a big fandom such as bts though is that there’s so many peopleproducing content at any given time, that it’s incredibly easy to get drownedout. Especially since tumblr changed how search and track tagging worked, itmade it that much harder for people to get noticed for their content.

When I first switched to drawing for bts,I found it hard because I also focused a lot on my note count. For someone whowas originally well established in a previous fandom, the move to bts was quitea jarring experience. I had built my following on tf2 art, and used toconsistently get a couple hundred notes, but one of main reasons why I left wasbecause of the dwindling of note counts. When I first left, overwatch had justcome out and a lot of attention shifted towards that game away from tf2, andalthough I still love the game, the dramatic decrease in notes on my art fortf2 really made me sad and I ended up deciding to leave the fandom after 3years of drawing tf2 art. I hopped around a bit, before eventually getting intobts. Even then, my first few pieces (they’re not on my #bts fanart tag so mostpeople wouldn’t have ever seen them) either got no notes at all or only two orthree. It was easier for me to establish myself in a fandom such as tf2 back inthe day since it was such a small, tight knit community with limited contentcreators, but now with bts there are so many more people and it just seemedhopeless for a while and I lost motivation in my art. I stopped wanting todraw, since it felt like nobody cared. Art is the biggest hobby I have, solosing my confidence in my art was crushing.

Now you might be wondering how I got towhere I am today. I’ll be completely honest with you. For me, I highly doubt Iwould be anywhere near where I am if it weren’t for networks. I had neverjoined a network before, but decided to join armiesnet and jimin network one daywhen I saw that applications were open. I got accepted, and I joined theirrespective group chats too. I met lots of great people on those chats, and madea lot of new friends which was nice after having moved fandoms and lost touchwith many previous mutuals. I’m so glad I joined networks, because not only doyou have the chance to make mutuals who will support you and your art, thenetwork blog itself also reblogs all its members’ content which gives youexposure to members of the network through both the network tag and through thedashboard. It’s a perfect way to get started, rather than hoping that somebodywith a decent following will happen to stumble across your work in the tags oneday and reblog it.

That being said, unless you’re like somesort of godly human being I don’t think we can ever get over how note countsfeel as an artist. We need something to gauge people’s response to our art, andthat tends to default to note counts. I can assure you that the feeling of disappointmentwhen your post doesn’t get as many notes as you want/expected it to is a thingpretty much all artists on this site shares. People always say “you should drawfor yourself, not for other people” but that’s the equivalent of like say themona lisa being painted and then left to rot in Da Vinci’s closet or something.The whole point of art is sharing your ideas/love for something through yourdrawings with other people, and so it’s perfectly normal to want therecognition you deserve for working so hard and putting so much love into yourcraft. When it feels like you’re all alone, you have to remember not to giveup. Creating art in such a big fandom can be unforgiving, but just rememberthat your art is never the one at fault. It’s all about finding that littlegolden window of exposure, whether it be through one big blog or a couplesmaller blogs reblogging your work. Those kind few people will be what helpsyou grow, and you have to keep posting for that to happen. If you water a plantbut it doesn’t bloom the next day, abandoning it will get you nowhere. If youjust keep going, keep watering it, results will come. Keep reminding yourselfthat you’re doing well, and you can compare older art to your current art tosee the progress and keep you motivated. Don’t force yourself to draw if youaren’t feeling it – art is something that should make you happy. I used to drawbecause I felt the pressure to put out content, but that just resulted in mefalling into a negative spiral of art block, limited motivation and generalunhappiness with my art as a result. Remember that there’s no such thing as adeadline when it comes to posting art on tumblr – work at whatever pace suitsyou and if anybody tries to rush you, shut them down. You’re the artist, youget to choose what you do with your art, how you do it, and how long you spendon it.

If you truly have your sights set onbecoming an artist full time, then by all means go for it! I can’t give muchadvice in that area since I only plan on keeping art as a hobby, but justremember that art school is always optional. In the end, working as an artistis all about the portfolio, not where you graduated from. It’s more importantto work on your art than it is to get in to an amazing art school. Sure, artschools can be useful, but in the end they are simply tools, sort of like atutorial rather than something that will magically turn you into an amazing artistwith amazing job offers. At the end of the day, it’s all up to yourself to workhard and promote yourself. Since art is all about reaching different audienceswith your work, promoting yourself is essential, even if it’s just casualfanart on tumblr. Feedback can’t come without exposure, and exposure can’t comewithout self-promotion.

Lastly, remind yourself that there’s nosuch thing as ‘bad art’. That might sound like a stupid statement, but inreality art is a constantly changing thing. There is no pinnacle of perfection,no model artwork that represents the most perfect drawing out there. Everyonehas different styles, everyone has different approaches, and most importantly,everyone is still improving. I’m still learning and trying to improve my ownart, and there’s no shame in that. It’s easy to perceive someone else’s art asbetter than yours which would lead to some self-critical thoughts, but you haveto remember that the other artist is probably looking at their own art andpicking it apart, thinking “aw man there are so many mistakes here.” It’s fineto make mistakes, after all, that’s how we learn. Just because we see mistakesin our own art doesn’t mean that everyone else will too – nobody looks at artand their first thought is to list all of the mistakes present. As long as youare aware of what you are less confident in and actively work to improve it,you can quickly surpass even the people you look up to.

So yeah, sorry that this is hella longlol, but in all honestly I can understand what you’re going through. It’seasier said than done, but even though it might feel hard - don’t give up. Youmight feel like you’re not getting anywhere at the moment but I assure you thatif you just keep going, things will only get better. That’s the thing abouttumblr, if you keep posting art your audience can only grow. For now, I would definitelyrecommend joining some networks, and making some friends. It’s not uncommon forpeople to promo their own work in the network chat occasionally, as long as youdon’t spam haha

Anywho, I wish you the best of luck withyour art journey. If you need me you know where to find me 💕💕💕

[offgridthegame]

Off Grid Development blog 8.11.2017 - Changing Times!

The times-they-are-a-changin.’  New horizons, a shake up, big things happening - this has been a heck of a sprint!

Blocktober

Completely unaware of our social media surroundings, Rich managed to spend a good portion of this sprint during October whiteboxing and completely miss the whiteboxing trend on Twitter that was #Blocktober! Nothing nearly as fancy as the timelapsed art passes from the Naughtly Dog team on how they constructed key hero sequences in the latest Uncharted, but we do have a new building for the intro scene in the player’s apartment. If you haven’t seen this yet at a demo I won’t give away any spoilers, but this level is where your hacking journey begins!

Indies Unplayed

We were extremely fortunate to be asked along to Indies Unplayed at Secret Weapon Loading Bar in Stratford. It’s always great to show the game and get player feedback. Many thanks to Lauren Francis for having us along, it was a very cool little event and we had some really inspiring titles along side us. Below you can see a player learning the setup to our hero’s story in the intro cutscene we are currently making playable.

We got to play some fun new indie games and catch up with some old friends too, including old chum Tim Constant, who we last saw at Nottingham Gamecity in 2013!!!

Tim is working on a very cool dystopian job sim.  It’s a #PapersPlease-like game, where you play an immigrant bouncer in a post-Brexit apocalypse:

‘Settings’ it up

It’s been quite short and quick sprint, so there are no new amazing game features to talk about from Pontus. But as promised, our settings system has now evolved from a bunch of background systems and code into an actual menu. With some actual settings you can adjust!

The graphics will definitely need more work, but the plan is to fill in more options and then do a second pass on the artwork and layout to make sure everything works well with the content. For now, everything is functional at least.

Web work

Apart from that, things were polished up in the web side, with some imrpovements and additions to our wiki and to automate our newsletter. That’s going to make our life easier, and hopefully also help any players/modders to find the right Lua API and instructions for how to set things up in LevelKit in the future. I would say “go and check it out” but there’s not really much interesting things in the wiki yet, at least unless you are one of the lucky ones who have access to our builds and the LevelKit already. In which case, you of course should go and check it out to get you started testing how to create your own content for the game!

No funny bugs fixed by Pontus this sprint, and no interesting game design work either. But there definitely will be next time, he’s already spent the past few days with XMind open for plotting some pretty big changes for the game…

Mod testing

This sprint Josh, our modding and level design intern, challenged himself to build a level using the modding tools. The aim was to learn how to build a typical level with a focus on the Lua scripting side of things rather than art, and then take those learnings and see where he could fill in the gaps on the wiki that he found wanting.

We’ll let him tell you a bit more himself though:

“So I started out by blocking out the map that I wanted to create. Once I had the basic level that I was happy with I got stuck in with the Lua scripting with which I managed to learn a great deal upon completion of the level.

One of my favourite parts of creating the mod was the conversations, as it was super simple to create but also great fun generating branching dialogue between characters.            Following this, I began work on a guide to building a level mod which has been added to the wiki.This is something that I felt would be important for potential modders to have to help make the modding experience more accessible.

This also resulted in a few new pages being created to explain some sections not covered on the wiki yet, such as the ability to add characters to your level. This is a very exciting and interesting feature which will allow you to create many gameplay elements, from conversations to patrolling guards.

I also had the pleasure of testing the new ability to upload mods to the steam workshop using the Level-kit tools.

Shortly after that it was decided that we should create a mod level that people can download that would demonstrate some of the pre-made devices that any modder can essentially drag and drop into their own mod. It will also be playable which I will turn into an interactive tutorial of how these devices were made to help new modders create their own from scratch.”

Farewell Harry

Harry had his last sprint with us this month as he is moving to join the development team at Unity, but we made sure he had time to part with a gift for any of our followers who are devs interested in making their games moddable too.

In his time on the team, Harry's done great work pushing modding in Unity 3d, and so we’ve open sourced his work on the Lua framework that makes Off Grid moddable, enjoy!

https://github.com/Semaeopus/Unity-Lua

Out with the New in with the Old ;)

And with our youngest team member Harry heading to Unity we have gained the wonderful Steve Allen in his place. Steve comes with a bundle of  AAA and Indie experience, so much so that he qualifies for ‘industry veteran’ status, and we are pumped to have him aboard the good ship Semaeopus. I’ll stop rambling and let him introduce himself though:

Hello! I’m new here. I’ve joined the Off Grid team as a programmer, though will no doubt stick my nose in elsewhere. I’ve been programming games for, well, rather a long time, and am really excited to be part of the project. There’s lots of interesting stuff that still needs to be done and it’s already been a welcome change from the larger, corporate games I’ve been working on over the last few years. And who knows, next time I write one of these updates I might have done some work! - Steve

You’ll hear a lot more from Steve in the coming sprints, he’s already made good strides into impletmenting and extending new features in the Lua API for modders to play with, so watch this space!

Fixes and additions

Harry’s last couple of weeks were also a great opportunity for us to dig into some of the bugs in our backlog that haven’t been top priority, but would be welcome fixes with a little effort. We had a fantastic flurry of small fixes from the team, with Harry leading the charge.

Main game:

Messaging with CryptoChat

We setup a small notification to say that a character is typeing while you are waiting for them to respond to you in a conversation. It’s essentially a ‘Smedley is typing’ animation much like you’d see when using a messaging app like whatsapp or imessage.

We also and fixed the pause time between messages, which just needed a little finessing to feel more real.

And most importantly, we set up ‘B’ to skip single messages instead of all of the incoming messages from another character.

Include Mods in use, in save games

We now have save games recording what mods you have subsribed to so you can progress with your mods intact!

Saving NFC

NFC data is now being saved correctly.

Trailer video

We fixed a strange long wait at the end of our trailer that had been bugging us.

Player Phone

We fixed a bug to do with interactions when the player phone didn't appear when doing swipe interaction or scanning things.

Stuck Running

We had a somewhat funny but awkward bug in our animation state machine where the player can get stuck if you were crawling and spammed the run button while getting up - the player would get stuck runnning in circles!  That is now fixed ;)

Look around you

The player character’s look-at IK needed more restriction on target height so that you didnt look at interesting objects on the floors above or below you.

Invisible walls and soft bathroom sinks

Lots of missing colliders were fixed.

LevelKit:

UV Warning

We updated asset importer post processing script to warn about missing normals and UVs on new models. This means as you are modding and making new geometry, the LevelKit tool will tell you if it is missing anything that could cause a later error.

Mod Content structure

We re-structured level directories so that the content a modder makes is in a neater structure.

Non Steam works / DRM free mod exports

Added Export as Zip option to build tab so that you can upload your mod anywhere for anyone (with a copy of the game) to try it out.

That’s all folks

Lots of big things happening so we’ll look forward to catching you next time.

Pontus, Rich, Sarah, Steve & Josh

[nintendotreehouse]

Schooled by Old-School Combat

You might say it’s to die for…

I’m one of those people who fell in love with the Fire Emblem series through Fire Emblem Awakening…despite being comically horrible at strategy games at the time. Despite this, I managed to complete Fire Emblem Awakening and then enjoyed a somewhat intense training (lit. ego eviscerating) period with the Nohrian royal family. So when I was assigned to Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia as the product marketing lead—which is essentially the game expert who juggles communication between Japan, localization, and other teams while supporting global efforts to promote the game—I felt that my body was ready. While my ego may not have survived the experience, it’s definitely helped make me dig deep into the combat.

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is a reimagining of Fire Emblem Gaiden with gameplay and combat that remain true to those classic roots. It has the bones of Fire Emblem Gaiden at its core and all the dungeon crawling cream-center goodness that made its predecessor stand out from other games in the franchise.

Fire Emblem Gaiden released in 1992 on Famicom. The early 90’s-vibe is strong.

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia offers a classic gameplay experience with the modern fan in mind. But since Gaiden was never released in the West, or in English, the ways in which this game stays true to its roots while creating its own identity might not be immediately obvious. So let’s dig into how this game compares to its inspiration and modern offerings in the franchise, specifically in terms of combat?

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is not like Fire Emblem Awakening or Fire Emblem Fates and really stands apart from all the other offerings in the franchise. Its combat system is back to the brutal basics, with no space pairing and no weapons triangle; rather, it favors a classic (i.e. merciless) battle style mixed with modern UI.

Old-school combat with a modern look and interface.

In this case, “back to the basics” doesn’t mean easy, and the game will not babysit you. Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia has its own system of strategic checks and balances, and you’ll need to learn how to use them to your advantage, because your enemies certainly will! I had to learn very quickly just how deep and challenging (cough…sadistic…cough) grid-based combat can get. We already covered a few of these mechanics in the Two Armies trailer, so from this point I’ll dive more into combat details we didn’t cover yet.

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia has you controlling two separate armies in parallel.

Well, at least it’s not a selfie.

Each one has a unique makeup of classes and characters, and understanding the individual strengths and weaknesses often means the difference between victory and a grave mistake.

Classes work slightly differently from how they did in some of the more recent games, too. There are no “seals” in this game; instead, you head to one of the Mila Idols found in key places or within dungeons to change to the next class.

Here I thought a goddess couldn't get any more statuesque...yet here we are.

With the exception of Villagers, who can choose from four initial path options, characters can only progress along the line of promotion that’s permitted by their initial class.

This actually made the game that much more challenging for me, since there were only so many of each character class type. And a few characters definitely surprised me: a late-game recruit who I thought would be a glass cannon ended up being the best mage in both armies, and my favorite flamboyant Archer character ended up as a crit machine… You get the idea.

Concept art with class.

Character relationships are still in the game, but I was somewhat relieved to find that it has no marriage or children. While I’ve enjoyed getting the most bang for my buck with these mechanics, not having them actually upped the challenge and tension during battle for me. Even with two different armies, my forces weren’t unlimited! Not being able to breed replacements made me that much more careful with my battle tactics.

Speaking of character relationships, the support conversations are a crack up and give additional insight into the characters.

Plus some great one-liners too.

Support conversations only happen during battle, and as long as you position yourself within an attacking distance from an enemy (or healing distance from an ally), these conversations won’t eat a character’s turn. The near-full voicing of the game (about 90-95% of the game, from what I can tell) came as a pleasant surprise. The main story, support conversations, and even random NPCs in town are all fully voiced, and this made the story and cast of characters feel more relatable for me. The cinematics in the game (by Hideki Anno’s Studio khara) are also fully voiced and gorgeously animated.

So pretty…and fully voiced!

You can use your imagination for the obligatory joke about playing with sharp objects.

If you’re curious how this game handles abilities, that’s where Combat Arts come into play. In a nutshell, equipping certain items long-term allows characters to learn special abilities that they can use in battle (though the characters won’t be able to use these specific Arts while the items are unequipped). And unlike some of the other Fire Emblem games, your equipment in this game won’t break from extended use.

The Arts themselves vary from HP recovery effects (like getting damage you inflict back as HP), magic-resistance and magic-damage boosts, powerful attacks, and even the ability to prevent enemies from counterattacking. Equipment types tend to give similar Arts, but you may find a few that will surprise you. I spent some time testing who worked best with which Arts, but admittedly, it’s probably a task for smarter, more patient fans out there. However, I’d recommend using Arts strategically rather than just spamming them to see what they do - even if it IS fun in its own right, some of the Arts cost HP to use.

It wasn’t until well into my first playthrough that I remembered (more accurately, “rediscovered”) a mechanic called Mila’s Turnwheel.

Seen here on the lower screen, and which could be a metagame for those looking for a serious headache… I mean challenge.

Mistakes happen, and this game is particularly unforgiving of them, but the Turnwheel lets you roll back time to a previous turn so that you can try to correct your mistakes. It’s got a limited number of uses per battle, and these uses are restored once the map’s been cleared. It’s a pretty nifty mechanic. The Turnwheel can help you get a handle on the deeper tactics of a battle, while acting as a bit of a safety net for players who are not as steeped in turn-based strategy. I wish I had remembered Mila’s Turnwheel during my three-day headdesk campaign against the witch near Fear Mountain.

The swear jar got a lot of use.

So that’s a closer look at the combat mechanics in Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. Think your tactics can stand up to the challenges of classic combat?

—Lindsey N.

[dragongirldreams]

So, I guess it’s time enough that I should talk about my experience with Tumblr. I mean, it’s only been, what, a couple months since I said I would talk about it?

...イヤァァですけどー...(For those who can’t read Japanese: “...Iyaaa desu kedo~...” so it would mean something like “...Even though it’s unpleasant...” or ”...Even though I’m reluctant...”)(...what? You think I’m stalling? Me? Stalling? Using the Japanese language? Stalling? ...Okay, okay, you got me.

Uh... the thing is, unlike my time spent on that forum and on Deviantart, the time I spent on Tumblr, well... I don’t really look back on it fondly. And I guess it might have been part of the reason there isn’t really a “4th” influential site...

I- I’m not talking about you though! That era was already looong over by the time my sister had me make this blog. All the people that follow me, and all the people I follow, you’ve all been great!

This already has a fair bit more than I usually put above the “Read More,” so, let’s, uh, continue this there. I suppose the above counts as ample enough warning.

So, uh, to offer a slight recap... There are 3 specific sites I (somewhat frequently) visited at specific times early on in my internet life that stick out to my as “significantl” somehow. I don’t know, I just consider them “important.”

The “First” was a roleplaying forum I was a regular on. I wasn’t really good at roleplaying, honestly, but that wasn’t important. While it was the main focus, roleplaying wasn’t the only thing we talked about. This was the first internet community I really felt a part of, the first place I felt I could be myself, really. It was also where I learned that even on the Internet there were unspoken rules and things you “just shouldn’t say,” when I said why “shapeshifting” was the superpower I wanted, and everyone else called me “weird” for it.

The “Second” was Deviantart. I didn’t actually make an account here, because I was starting to get self-conscious. I mean, I wasn’t going to be writing any stories, (my roleplaying was bad enough when I have other people to help me, I’m sure it would be even worse when I have to come up with everything myself) and I wasn’t going to be writing too many comments, (what if I said something “weird” again and made people uncomfortable?) so why even bother?

Umm, before I continue, I want to make it clear that the self-consciousness didn’t really come from the rp forum. Aside from the one “weird” incident, they never really said anything to put me down. Most of my self-consciousness either came from Real Life and all it’s many pressures, or perhaps because I also started spending some time on TV Tropes, learning all about things like “Mary Sues” and “Self-Inserts” and how it’s all bad writing. I don’t really consider TV Tropes an “important site,” though. Despite ultimately spending a comparable amount of time there as on the others, it feels more like a footnote than a proper chapter, at least to me. It’s just missing a certain, je ne sais quoi.

So, back to Deviantart. While it was (and probably still is) primarily an art site, I spent more time reading... I kinda wanna say “fanfics,” but a lot of them were original, rather than being based on someone else’s work. I guess they were kinda like doujinshi, but short stories rather than manga. That’s the kinda “feel” they had about them. Anyway, I eventually found that I particularly enjoyed “TGTF” stories, and I spent most of my time here looking at groups with that as a theme. I can’t think of any particular lessons I learned here, to be honest. It was just somewhere I could go to escape the stresses of the Real World.

Uhh... onto Tumblr proper, finally. I think I’ve said this before, but to restate it, the reason I came to Tumblr in the first place was that I wanted to learn how to be a better feminist and LGBT ally. So, I mostly hung around in political and social justice tags.

But, unlike the Deviantart groups which had moderators to decide what gets in or not, on Tumblr anyone could put anything they wanted in any tag they wanted.

I could tell some of the more blatant stuff was bunk, if you asked me I would definitely say that trans people were the gender they said they were, and that gay people had just as much a right to love each and marry each other as straight people, but... I was still a kid, and I didn’t really understand the concept of “dogwhistles,” so I got pretty easily fooled by people just appropriating progressive-sounding language, and I ended up internalizing a lot of TERF/truscum and bi/pan/acephobic rhetoric. (Also a bit of racism, to a lesser degree, because I didn’t spend as much time looking into matters relating to race as I did ones related to sexuality or gender.)

Looking at the above, it’s not hard to see a bit of a common theme there. They all paint their targets as “just [privileged group] trying to invade/appropriate [oppressed group] spaces,” and evil for it. This kinda mixed poorly with my experience with “interruptions,” and led me to somewhat misinterpret sayings such as “stay in your lane” and “it’s not my job to educate you.” I managed to see my mere presence as a “straight white cis man” as something which inherently was offensive and silenced minorities. And as I was a big Liberal until recently, I put a lot of value on “free speech,” so if my presence in LGBT and feminist spaces was “interrupting” people, then it was imperative that I, a disgusting straight male, not be in LGBT and feminist spaces.

I suppose that, if that first forum unravelled the lie that the internet was free of taboos, then Tumblr shattered the delusion that it was free of gender.

I kinda want to go on a bit, but I can’t really think of any follow-ups. Such a line just has too strong a sense of finality. Luckily, I’m realizing that there actually was a “Fourth.” And in a way, it kind of acts as a mix of the other three.

So, setting the scene. Having quit the roleplaying forum out of lack of confidence in my roleplaying abilities, stopped reading TG stories on DA to not be offensive, and no longer going on Tumblr due to it only reminding me of my body, where was a gi-- guy to go?

Why, none other than 4chan, of course! That place that’s famous for being offensive! And specifically /tg/, the roleplaying section! I am not smart. (Note: /tg/ stands for “tabletop games” ie DnD, WarHammer, MtG, and the like. It is, for the most part, unrelated to the “TG stories on DA,” which is short for TGTF) (Second Note: Like with Tumblr, I at least had the wisdom to stay away from the boards with especially bad reputations, ie /b/, /pol/, /lgbt/. I also didn’t really go on /a/ or /v/ often, mostly just staying on /tg/ --which was considered one of the more progressive boards, relatively speaking.

Anyway, in /tg/ I especially spent a lot of time in /cyoag/, or the “Choose Your Own Adventure General” threads. Now, some of you might know of the old “Choose Your Own Adventure” books, but the CYOAs posted and talked about in /cyoag/ were very different; they were more like character creators, or would-you-rathers. Here’s some I enjoyed as examples (they’re kind of a big, though);

Sorry for the image spam there. And these are just some one-page ones; there are ones much longer I’ve enjoyed, like “Serene Serendipity,” -- which is about going childhood again, and pretty wholesome despite the name -- “Royal Revival,” -- where you’re secretly the reincarnation of a princess from a fantasy world who got assassinated, but your family managed to pull off a resurrection spell -- “A Mage’s Familiar,” -- you get reincarnated as the familiar of a wizard, or a witch. It does pretty well with it’s execution, there’s a bunch of different ways you can take things -- or the “Accidental Magical Girl CYOA” (or “AMGC,” for short) -- where, for some reason or another, you are turned into a Magical Girl (although an optional perk allows you to be a Magical Boy instead, that means one less perk for other things). I find the use of rolls/random numbers really increases the replayability, and helps to inspire different ways to take things. There’s this one perk, for example, that has you roll up a second character as a teammate, and this one time I rolled it, but then the new characters kept also rolling it until I had a whole 5-girl squad to go on (imagined) adventures with. That last one actually got so popular it had to split off into it’s one thread.

...I’m not sure where I’m going with this. I mean, ultimately I am, but I’m not sure how I’m going to get there. I’ve been trying to think of ways to continue for at least a day or so, now. “Maybe talk about the culture” I thought, but what would be an organic way into it? And how would I be able to capture the feel? A lot of the important things, while nigh omnipresent, were also often in the background.

I don’t know. I don’t know if there’s any kind of lesson I learned there. But it offered some sense of community when that was what I needed, as well as some pretty good escapism.

To end things off, I think I should mention this one line I saw the other day, though I don’t quite remember were. I think it was an old tweet. Regardless, what it said was, “If you were a teenage boy on 4chan, you’re either a neckbeard or a girl.”

I don’t think I’m much of a neckbeard, though. So, I guess what I’m saying is...