#it was fun experimenting with a new style

[austin-friars]

It is also an example of the severe lack of empathy and intellectualism that we are facing as a society.

AI is stealing our writing literally, the publishing industry is polluted with AI, we're in a day and age where media literacy is dead. People will look you dead and the eye and say, 'it's not that deep' or 'no one cares' , when you are analyzing a show, a poem, a piece of literature, etc.

So of course, when people are writing poetry and maybe trying something new, or maybe even experimenting and using a unique style, people are going to be mean. We live in a society that just, does not appreciate authentic creativity.

I'm on Twitter more than I am on tumblr, and trust me, i've seen people making fun of 'tumblr/purple/pretty/terrible prose'. I've seen people printscreen ao3 writer's fics, i've seen people make fun of tumblr poetry, etc. There is no empathy, no understanding, no support, it's simply people being mean and nasty. Most people are used to being spoonfed the easiest, most basic literature and writing styles nowadays that they don't challenge themselves and if it something they cannot understand or absorb, then it is bad. Most people cannot critically engage with media, because their brains are so mushed with stan culture that if something can't win them argument points, they don't even bother analyzing it.

We're in a time period of legit idiots and people who do not have hobbies outside of being bullies. Sometimes it's to compensate for the fact that they quite literally have no personality or talents outside of stan twt, and sometimes they're jus bullies.

I get that this is mostly a me thing but seeing so many posts making fun of "holy blood cannibalism pomegranate deer" style writing just makes me sad ;-; . guys that's a lot of people's first stab at poetry that's hobby art that's a vulnerable thing to post those are passion projects...

[traceyc-uk]

Tracey, hi!! 🩷

I wanted to ask this for SO LONG now, how do you always make your comics look SO great?? Like, it's amazing HOW 🔥 TEACH ME

How do you decide where to put each little section of a panel, what form they're gonna be, how many sections are there in one panel, etc?? Ik it depends, but just like, usually (sorry if this doesn't make sense TvT) I already started experimenting with it, but I always find myself coming back to your blog for reference 🥹

Thank you for answering if you do, have a lovely day/night!! 🩷🫶🏻

Lucy!!! 😭 you’re so sweet you'd think so and to ask, if anything everything in my comics is a 'lets see what happens if I do this' because I’m just experimenting too 😆 I made some post of my processes I'll link below. I’d LOVE to see anything you’ve worked on though 😍

Post of processes used in my previous comics

Post of page layout processes

The only thing I can say is KEEP EXPERIMENTING! Just draw the actions of your characters without thinking you need fancy panelling. Look to works and media’s that you enjoy, whatever that could be - like a visually appealing still frame from a film, a layout of a particular story sequence. Even just copying something for your own practice is a great way to start and use it as a basis to make into something of your own!

The recent art evolution tag game I really loved seeing everyone's influences and how it informs their art styles. I guess to think of how to then configure that art into a comic can seem daunting but you just got to try and go for it. Of my recent comics, Burdie is a new range of story for me as I've not created anything involving ships like, AT ALL! so its probably been the scariest but also the most amazing fun

am sure you'd have yours but am just attaching some of my biggest comic influences

Shaun Tan - extract from The Arrival, Bill Watterson - Calvin and Hobbes and Akira Himekawa - Twilight Princess (this manga being my biggest you can see a lot of my page layouts similar because I love it so much)

Hopefully those previous post links might give some insight to my processes of panel and page layouts but something I hope not to overwhelm. Why I love Calvin and Hobbe’s it’s clarity in character actions within a few frames but ultimately it’s your story you want to tell so present it in anyway that is true to you <3

[tau1tvec]

Saw the Steam Summer Sale is going...

Thought I'd throw out some me approved low price recommendations. Everything is in USD.

Fields of Mistria $11.19

Cannot recommend this one enough, perfect for Stardew Valley and 90's anime aesthetic enjoyers.

Tiny Glade $12.74

Strikingly gorgeous building game that I haven't touched in a bit, but they've added so much to since it launched that I'm excited to jump back in. Music is soothing, and the photo mode is so detailed, it's an experience in itself.

Dredge $12.49

Fun and interesting art design, with a big explorable map, and tons of interesting NPC's and stories to tell. Fits perfectly in a genre I love to call "grim cozy", that's relaxing sometimes, and spooky at other times by drawing from Lovecraftian inspirations.

A Short Hike $4.39

Truly one of the best flying experiences I've ever had in a game.

Venba $5.99

You like Cooking Mama, but also gorgeous art, and an amazing and emotional story of color. Look no further!

When the Past Was Around $4.79

The art and music are phenomenal, and you will cry a lot. 10/10.

Unpacking $9.99

Decorating game with a plot, an amazing soundtrack, and a stunning art style.

Stray $17.99

You get to play a cat, like what more do you want?

Lost Records: Bloom and Rage $29.99

Pricier than all the others, sorry, but well worth it imo considering I got it at full price and loved it to bits. Offers an experience you'd expect from the creators of Life is Strange but set in the 90's with nostalgia baked in every pixel, and unique gameplay using the MC's camcorder. Millennial approved.

[s0ms]

Good morning and goodnight (click for better quality...)

───✱*.｡:｡✱*.:｡✧*.｡✰*.:｡✧*.｡:｡*.｡✱ ───

───✱*.｡:｡✱*.:｡✧*.｡✰*.:｡✧*.｡:｡*.｡✱ ───

───✱*.｡:｡✱*.:｡✧*.｡✰*.:｡✧*.｡:｡*.｡✱ ───

[quarterlifekitty]

Here it is heehee

My review of Date Everything!

The Story

Yes, it’s a little silly. The entire premise is somewhat tongue in cheek, so if you don’t have a rather tolerant suspension of disbelief, it will be hard to get involved.

On a character to character basis– there are 100 characters, so each character arc is somewhere between 1-5 conversations, typically in the 3-5 range, with some outliers that are harder or easier to connect with. Are all of these character arcs particularly deep or compelling? About as much as they can be within 5 conversations, which is to say, not very. Many of the characters have somewhat relatable struggles and dynamics which lend themselves to heartwarming moments and some heated quarrels but are you going to cry? No. Are you going to feel seen? Maybe. But it’s light and fun for the most part.

This game places a lot of emphasis on healthy dynamics and coping, which is nice, but does neuter the emotional experience of the player to a degree, in my personal preference. It’s hard to reach epic emotional highs and lows in a story where so many people are healthy in their relationships or experience large leaps in personal growth easily and quickly.

But if you can go into the experience with some tempered expectations, it can be quite satisfying. These are not epic romances, these romances feature much more of the mundanity of intimacy– of learning to live with another person, accommodating their needs and idiosyncrasies, and helping them heal from things that are hard to see from far away.

Were there stories that I found touching? Yes, absolutely. The characters cover a pretty wide range of demographics and personal issues. Without going into too much detail, Rainey was a character I thought was thoughtfully written and that I connected with. But in that same vein, Barry Styles, while relatable, had a pretty heavy handed arc in which it seemed that I magically had all of the right answers for him and that the character arc had absolutely nothing to do with me.

The Gameplay

If you’ve played other dating sims, this one will be novel to you– because you do walk around and interact with objects in a 3D space. It is slightly more than just going around and selecting dialogue options– there is task and time management involved, and if you want to find everyone and do everything, some exploration is required, which I greatly enjoyed. There are also statistics and some limited resources.

Basically, in my point of view? This game is a gigantic checklist. Find everyone, talk to everyone, gain a relationship with everyone, etc. If you like completing checklists? This game is like crack. If you prefer a linear path, this game is probably hell on earth. I personally am a checklist enjoyer.

In terms of dialogue, obviously there isn’t a New Vegas level of options. There are typically three responses that are really obviously connected to a single ending: romance, friends, or hate. I do greatly appreciate that this game allows you to complete a relationship as friends, as many dating games I’ve played either have good endings, bad endings, or endings where nothing satisfactory happens in either direction. But anyways– the dialogue typically makes it clear whether or not someone will like what you say– there is very little guessing involved in regards to “what is my standing with this character? Which answer would they most enjoy?” 

There were a few moments where I thought to myself “I don’t like any of these options and I would never say this” and it felt like I was sort of being forced to act a certain way in order to spurn a character in favor of their overall arc. Not a sin, but my kiss-up, submissive, people pleasing ass did not like that. I also appreciated that there were very few moments where it was obvious that any dialogue option would have led to the same response (illusion of choice moments).

That said, there were some confounding moments where the way forward was not clear to me. While most of the character arcs trend toward personal growth, some characters don’t care for that shit at all. In some of them, you’re supposed to just be a yes man and agree with everything they say and all of their interests– in others, you’re supposed to be more challenging, and I didn’t particularly see why certain characters would be one way or the other. I think you’re supposed to intuit that some characters want to be helped, while others are beyond help, and I’m just not good at that.

In terms of QOL and accessibility, this game is pretty damn solid. The text interface is made to be extremely legible, everything is designed pretty cleanly and clearly, and the kind of information I might usually have to just remember miraculously is usually recorded. There is an entire log of every character, their relationship to you, and all the things you’ve talked about, so there was never really any “what the fuck am I doing” moments, even after putting the game down for a little while. There are some chances to do things over, no ending is ever gated behind a skill check, and you can skip certain characters that have content warnings with no consequences whatsoever. And you can turn content awareness off if you prefer that, too.

The writing, acting, art, and music

I thought they were all extremely solid. Many of the actors are people I was already familiar with, and they brought their game. I’ve seen a lot of people complain about the price of the game– but there are over 100 fully voice acted characters with multiple routes (albeit somewhat short), and there is surprisingly little overlap of actors, so the cast is pretty big, with many actors being union members, so in consideration of those people being paid fairly for their work, I don’t think the price is unreasonable at all. There is also a lot of content and replay value, in my opinion.

Anyways, the acting is all good, in my opinion. Some performances were a bit more mundane, others were amazing, but I don’t think I’d say any were subpar.

The writing was mostly very good– I think it all read out quite naturally and made sense. Some characters are really weird and speak weirdly, but there was never any time where a character was supposed to be relatively normal and I thought “no one would say this”. So, no “middle aged white guy writing teenage girl dialogue” moments from my point of view.

I appreciated the art a lot. Every character had multiple interesting, expressive portraits and it was fun to inspect all the aspects of their design and how it represented what they were. I thought most of them were cleverly done. My single complaint was solved by the end– that there were too many people wearing weird boxy clothing because they’re mostly furniture– but, without going into too much detail, the game does provide you with a way to change their outfits/styles late into the game to look, in some cases, less fucking dumb and boxy.

While I do understand why they were absent, I desperately wish there were full art illustrations– like one per character, fire emblem style.

While typically the music in a dating game is so inconsequential and boilerplate that you can turn it off and not have it impact the experience at all, this game had some interesting tracks. I was amazed that each character got their own theme with fun, interesting elements that tied into what they were. Do I remember all of them? Absolutely not. But to put this in perspective: I cannot remember a single backing track from any dating sim I’ve ever played in my life. So it’s pretty remarkable that this one has multiple memorable songs. Would I listen to them casually? Probably not because they’re designed to be loops that are inoffensive if heard repeated 100 times, but I still appreciate them.

The Erotic Angle

Is there sex in this game? Yes. But it is described only in short form by the narrator, rather vaguely and inconsequentially. Usually it boils down to “you made love, and they were a very good lover, so the sex you had together was very good and satisfying”. There is no erotica. Some people have very revealing outfits, but there is no nudity (that I’m aware of) and no art featuring sexual acts.

This makes a lot of sense because it isn’t at all marketed as an erotic game and all sexual encounters are completely avoidable– you can end up in a romantic relationship with characters and still choose not to have sex with them.

Basically, if you’re looking for an erotic experience in a dating sim or visual novel, don’t come here. My #1 recommendation for that has always been and will always be The Bell Chimes for Gold (do not get the steam version– it doesn’t have the sex scenes).

Miscellaneous remarks

I will warn that while the game is mostly polished– it currently has some not-insubstantial bugs. Dialogue loops, characters getting stuck on a certain conversations– things that may soft lock you in the current state of the game if you’re trying to do things a certain way or if you’re a completionist. There are reportedly hot fix updates in the works (the game only just came out, so it’s understandable). I mention this not only to warn you in case you’re thinking of getting it, but also to make the great confession that I myself have not yet finished a playthrough of the game fully, because it’s not possible to do on my save file without leaving a bunch of characters behind, essentially.

Overall

If you are looking for a deeply profound and emotional experience that will immerse you completely and give you a sensation of relationship fulfillment, this is not that. 

It is, however, fun and enjoyable in my point of view, and more than worth what I paid for it. That said, I think this game will hit for some people and be a complete miss for others. So it’s good that there’s a free demo.

Would I recommend it? Absolutely. I’ve loved playing it and found it addictive. Overall it’s well made and thoughtfully crafted. Are there hot people? Hell yeah.

Uhmmm if I told you guys I wrote a 4 page review of date everything would you want to read it 👉👈

[thebrainrotsreal]

Eve, Kate, Mark and Rex! Nailing some ideas down on how I wanna draw them in the future, and enjoying messing with their designs like usual! Not a fix-it whatsoever just fun + ref for the future! I cannot do realistic styles so translating them into something I can do while still being recognizable is peak. I will mess with Rex's suit more. Trust. I Kate so much now. Look at her <333333

[al-luviec]

also posting some spot art I did for the @ninjago-zine-of-elements ... make sure to check it out if you haven't already !!!

[mangapeach]

what is a best friend?

[asyisnotok]

luffy is the only person zoro will ever be soft for

[caprart1]

ermmmmm 🤓👆color pallets eeeh! First just wanted to say I am super hyped for your next drawing! I think like a color pallet of purples or blues would be soooooo pretty!!!

like these???

This palette reminded me that he's just frozen the entire time

GET HIM OUTTA THERE

[berry-bread-bakery]

HELLO and Good Morning SkyStar Nation!!!!!!! I offer a little sunset flight through clouds!!!

A different version and close ups under the cut :]

[cinnamoncharles]

Any Scott Pilgrim enjoyers?

[waywardstation]

My two stickers I made for @cecilioque ‘s awesome sticker collab!!

➡️PREORDERS RELEASE MARCH 9TH AT 10AM PST!!⬅️

I was honored I got to make something for this collab alongside so many talented contributors!! Thank you so much for having me, and for putting this project together for all of us to get to participate in! It turned out fantastically and I’m amazed by everyone’s work!!

—————

CHECK OUT THE COLLABORATION BELOW!! (And check out the reusable sticker books as well if you haven’t gotten one for all your stickers yet!!)

⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

CHECK OUT THE ORIGINAL POST FOR MORE INFO ON UPCOMING PREORDERS!!

⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

[citrus-art-and-life]

call that man HOPtimus prime the way he moves 💃💃💃

[pennumbra]

[spring-maidens]

12.12 - alles gute zum geburtstag, liebe ariane!