#light reactive audio

[persistentvisionz]

January 27, 2024

Droning Brightness + Dirtbag

Sync’d Presents: A Night of Expanded Cinema

The Irma Freeman Center for Imagination- Pittsburgh, PA

[matcha3mochi]

GLASS BETWEEN US | II Pairing: Merman Rafayel x Scientist Reader

author note: tyy for all the love and support on the previous one! ive decided to write a second part to this! maybe a third part? who know :)))) anywho pls enjoy!!!

wc: 4,057

chapter 1 | chapter 2

───⋆⋅ ☾⋅⋆ ───

Dr. Havers was already waiting when your shift ended.

He stood just beyond the junction outside Lab C, posture rigid, arms folded tightly across his chest. The dim security lights overhead buzzed faintly, casting bluish reflections across the glass walls of the corridor. You recognized the look on his face before he spoke—not disciplinary, not furious—but exact. Measured. Like the outcome was already decided and the only remaining task was to deliver the verdict.

“Walk with me,” he said.

You nodded, once. Your hand tightened slightly around the edge of your tablet, knuckles pale under the harsh fluorescents. Then you fell in beside him.

The two of you moved through the east hall without speaking. The air was too cold, dry from over-filtration. Every footstep echoed with sterile finality against the polished epoxy flooring. On your left, the wall-length display of Lab C showed only system diagnostics now—no live feed. The camera feed had been blacked out. You knew what that meant, and your stomach turned with quiet dread.

Havers led you through a security door you hadn’t passed since your orientation weeks ago. It closed behind you with a sound that echoed louder than it should’ve.

The briefing room was stripped bare—no windows, no active terminals, no live data displays. Just one heavy-duty table bolted to the floor and two brushed metal chairs. The walls were lined with sound-dampening panels disguised as blank white boards. Even the air inside felt different—stiller, heavier, like the pressure in a room seconds before a thunderstorm hits.

He gestured to the seat.

You didn’t take it.

He didn’t, either.

Instead, he pulled a slim black tablet from the inside pocket of his lab coat and tapped the screen. You heard a soft tone as the screen lit up. He turned it toward you.

It was paused on a still image: your hand against the tank wall, Rafayel’s claws mirrored against yours on the opposite side. His eyes locked to your face with unnatural focus. The background lighting bathed everything in a soft, immersive blue, as if you had both been submerged together in water.

Your breath caught—shallow, involuntary. You recognized the moment instantly. Not just the scene, but the feeling of it. The density of the air. The quiet vibration against the glass. The sense that the entire lab had narrowed into a single point of contact.

Havers didn’t speak. Not yet. He pressed play.

You watched yourself step forward on-screen, watched Rafayel respond—slowly, precisely, his body language unmistakably attuned to yours. The alignment wasn’t coincidental. It was intentional. He was echoing your movement with a kind of quiet precision that felt more human than instinctive. More conscious than reactive.

Then he spoke—his lips moved on the recording, though the volume was muted. You didn’t need audio to know what he said.

Free me.

The moment hung there, pixelated but real, hovering between you and Havers in silence.

When he finally stopped the video, he didn’t look up.

“This is not a reprimand,” he said.

But your muscles had already gone stiff. Your pulse was climbing, quick and uneven beneath your skin.

“Then what is it?” Your voice came out low, steady, but with a thread of static in it.

He swiped across the tablet again, this time bringing up a full behavioral overlay—sensor data logged over the last two weeks. Heart rate. Neural markers. Tail velocity. Cortisol-like stress proxies. All plotted in tight, color-coded patterns.

All tied to your schedule.

“He rises the moment you enter,” Havers said. “Activity levels stabilize within forty-five seconds. Sedation thresholds drop. Neuroresponse modulation increases. Mirror behaviors are precise, even anticipatory. Eye contact is sustained longer with you than any other observer by a factor of four.”

He paused.

Then, more quietly: “He doesn’t respond to anyone else now. Not even to direct provocation.”

You stared at the data, eyes scanning the peaks and troughs, remembering how those moments felt—not just as data points, but as experiences. As connections.

“I didn’t intend for any of this,” you said quietly.

“I believe you,” Havers replied. “But intention isn’t the problem.”

He finally looked up from the screen.

“The problem is attachment. One-directional. Immediate. And escalating.”

You opened your mouth to argue, but couldn’t find the argument. Your body tensed instead—jaw clenched, shoulders rigid, fingers digging slightly into the base of your tablet.

“He’s not mimicking anymore,” Havers said, as if reading your mind. “He’s focusing. Every behavioral marker suggests a fixation, not a response pattern. When you’re gone, he doesn’t shift to baseline—he withdraws. When we attempted to replace your observation window with controlled stimuli, he ignored it. The tank systems detected a full physiological shutdown cycle.”

You swallowed hard. Your breath fogged slightly in the cold air.

“What are you doing to him now?”

“We’ve begun sedation rotation. Carefully dosed. Enough to keep him compliant while we recalibrate protocol.”

Your voice cracked without warning. “You’re drugging him to make him forget me.”

He didn’t deny it.

Instead, he said, “We’re preserving containment integrity.”

And then, with quiet finality:

“You’re being reassigned.”

The world tilted slightly in your vision.

“What?”

“You’ll report to Neural Indexing, Sublevel 2B. Starting tomorrow. Your clearance to Lab C has already been revoked.”

He picked up the tablet and powered it off.

You stared at him. You could feel your chest hollowing, breath going thin.

“This will break him,” you said.

He hesitated—just for a breath. Then he said, “If it does, it proves he was never stable to begin with.”

And that was it.

You were dismissed.

No further discussion.

The first night in your new quarters, you didn’t sleep.

The room was a concrete cube, one meter shorter on each side than your old assignment bunk. The cot creaked when you breathed. The walls sweated faint condensation. No simulated day-night cycle. Just harsh fluorescents that flicked off at 2200 and left you in complete grayscale. No one spoke when they handed you the keycard. The silence had the flavor of punishment, even if they never called it that.

You turned over the same sentence in your head:

“You’re being reassigned.”

And the second one, delivered even colder:

“Your clearance to Lab C has been revoked.”

Your tongue kept finding the shape of it in your mouth. Revoked. Like a limb amputated with a signature. The moment the door sealed behind you that night, the silence was more than absence—it was separation. You could still feel the residue of the tank glass against your fingertips, as if your body hadn’t yet caught up to what was gone.

They said the reassignment was for “containment stability.” That the connection between you and Rafayel had grown too strong. Too unpredictable. Too disruptive to the scientific objectives of the project.

But you knew what it really was.

Control.

They couldn’t control him anymore. Because he had started responding not to data, but to you. And that terrified them.

You had expected the transition to be clinical. Procedural. A clean severing.

It wasn’t.

The new lab in Sublevel 2B bore none of the atmosphere that defined Lab C. There was no subtle dimming of lights to mimic marine depth. No soft thrum of oxygen injectors syncing with the artificial current. No hum in your bones that came from proximity to something ancient, breathing, and alive.

This place—Neural Indexing—was quiet in the worst way.

The kind of silence that didn’t make room for thought but pressed against it. You sat in front of rows of stimulation modules and feed monitors, reviewing endless neural scans: meaningless loops of synthetic cognition, shallow patterns designed to imitate thought, emotion, response.

There was no presence in the data here.

No gaze tracking yours across a pane of reinforced glass.

No ripple of bioluminescence in response to your voice.

You were surrounded by function but starved of connection.

The others in your department didn’t speak much. They had the tired, hollow eyes of people who lived too long with screens instead of subjects. You were the new variable now, a name without a narrative—transferred in the middle of a cycle, given no debrief, carrying a silence everyone had been instructed not to ask about.

At first, you tried to adapt. You told yourself this was necessary. Sensible. Safer—for everyone involved.

But the rationalizations peeled away by day four.

That’s when the dreams returned.

They started faint, like echoes.

Just fragments: salt on your tongue, the pressure of water folding around your body, the low vibration of something massive swimming just out of reach.

Then the fragments sharpened.

In the dreams, you stood before the tank again. But this time, the glass wasn’t there. Rafayel floated just a breath away, watching you with stillness so complete it felt like gravity. His eyes were brighter than you remembered—wide, expectant, but solemn. No words passed between you.

He didn’t need them.

But some nights, the dream changed.

You weren’t in the tank room. You were on a beach, barefoot, the water dark and glimmering as it crawled across the sand. The sky above was violet and streaked with long golden clouds, as if lit by a sun that had never belonged to this world. The shore stretched endlessly in both directions, flanked by black cliffs heavy with overgrown moss and deep blue vines. Strange constellations flickered in the sky overhead, unfamiliar and ancient, like stars from a memory long buried.

The surf was gentle, but its song was heavy—carrying something old, something mournful.

You stepped into the water.

And the moment it touched your skin, the dream transformed.

You were no longer on the shore, you were beneath it.

Submerged in a vast, tranquil ocean bathed in blue light. Columns of sunlight filtered down from above like cathedral beams, illuminating silt and floating motes of golden plankton. The water was cool but welcoming, dense with reverberant silence. All around you were ruins: ancient stone arches overgrown with bioluminescent coral, broken statues of sea kings swallowed by algae and time.

And then—he was there.

Rafayel.

He emerged from the shadow of a collapsed temple gate, his form luminous against the gloom. His hair flowed behind him in an ethereal halo, purple-mauve, drifting like silk ribbons. His body moved with impossible grace, every motion effortless as he cut through the water. His tail gleamed with streaks of cobalt and opal, curling around him protectively.

When he saw you, he stilled. As if time had paused. And then he came to you. Not with urgency. Not with hesitation.

With knowing.

You drifted forward to meet him, arms parting the water like a slow tide. Your clothes floated weightless around you, strands of hair suspended in the soft current. You reached out. So did he.

When your hands met, everything else disappeared.

The moment your palms pressed to his, you both inhaled. The water shimmered. Light flared from his chest and from your fingertips. You drew closer, your bodies aligning instinctively. His tail curled gently around your legs, not to trap but to anchor. His claws traced your waist, reverent, uncertain if you were real.

He pulled you closer, as if sensing your doubt. His hand cradled the back of your head, his lips brushing your brow, not a kiss—a promise.

He would not let you go.

You rose slowly the next morning, the weight of the dream still heavy on your shoulders like wet silk.

There was something about that beach—those ruins—that felt impossibly distant and unshakably close. You told yourself it was just the brain pulling symbols from subconscious grief. But that was a lie.

It felt real.

Not just real. Remembered.

You couldn’t explain the familiarity of his hands on your face. The exact shape of his breath, the warmth of his chest against yours, the way your fingers had threaded together like you had done it countless times before.

There were moments in the day—quiet, disarmed moments—where you would touch your own wrist or collarbone and expect to find him there. As if some trace of him should remain in your skin. As if he had once been stitched into the very rhythm of your body.

The more time passed, the more the dream solidified, not as fantasy—but as truth.

The day passed in pieces.

You reviewed three sequences of neural pattern recognition, sat through one impersonal systems check, and responded to zero messages. Your hands performed the motions, but your mind lagged behind, half-anchored to that sunken city beneath your thoughts.

And then you heard it.

Two lab techs stood just around the corner of the central corridor, their voices hushed but not hushed enough.

“Still not responding.”

“Nothing since the last handler shift. He’s not eating. Not even moving.”

“He’s never been like this. Even when agitated, there was still... something.”

“Now? It’s like he’s just... stopped.”

You didn’t breathe.

Your hand hovered over the touchscreen you were pretending to use. The hall hummed with fluorescent lighting, the air too dry, the walls too close.

You stepped back, slowly, unnoticed.

You didn’t know how.

But you knew it was something you were not meant to forget. And it led you to a decision you never voiced aloud.

You stopped trying to make sense of the protocols. You stopped rationalizing the transfer. You stopped pretending he was better off without you.

Because the ache that filled your chest when you woke—the ache of almost losing him again—was worse than anything the facility could do to you.

The decision to access the archived feed wasn’t a conscious one. It wasn’t premeditated. It was something your body decided before your mind could catch up.

It happened on the ninth night.

You hadn’t planned on stopping at the terminal. You had intended to walk the long way around, avoid the side corridor near the equipment maintenance bay, bypass temptation entirely. But your feet slowed as you passed it. Your gaze flicked sideways. The hallway was empty, as always. The low hum of the wall consoles and the faint click of pressure valves were the only sounds.

And the screen was there. Dark, waiting.

You approached without realizing it, your hand already reaching. The screen lit up at your touch, a soft glow blooming in the dim corridor. The system prompted for access. You entered the override code. The one no one knew you still remembered.

A few seconds passed. Then:

ARCHIVED VISUAL LOG — LAB C TIMESTAMP: Day 9 – 01:46 HRS

The footage loaded.

And the ache in your chest returned full force.

There he was.

Rafayel.

At first, he was barely visible, curled in a shadow at the base of the tank. The lighting in the room was reduced to emergency-grade, flickering low blue and violet hues. Most of the central overheads were offline. The water itself was so still it looked like tinted glass.

He lay against the curved wall of the tank, his long body wrapped inward. His arms were crossed tightly over his chest, tail looped twice around his torso. The sight was almost fetal in its stillness—too still. Not relaxed, not conserving. Withdrawing.

His head rested on one arm, turned slightly in the direction of the observation deck. His hair drifted gently in the motionless current, no longer radiant or alive with light. His gills fluttered faintly—shallow, slow. One flick every few seconds. Barely enough to sustain him.

Your breath caught.

He wasn’t sleeping.

He wasn’t hibernating.

He was fading.

The vibrant shimmer that once pulsed across his body like underwater lightning had dulled to the color of bruises—indigo near his spine, violet near his chest, and something close to black along his lower limbs. The glow that had always signaled awareness—of you, of presence, of thought—was fragmented. It gathered dimly near his heart and left the rest of him in darkness.

There was no motion in his shoulders. No twitch of his claws. Not even a tail flick.

Stillness had taken him.

Then the camera angle shifted slightly.

And you saw his eyes.

They were open. Only half-lidded, but open. Just enough to confirm what you already suspected: he wasn’t unconscious. He wasn’t sedated.

He was aware.

And he was waiting.

Even now—silent, unmoving, forgotten by the staff rotating around him—he was still facing the same section of glass.

The place you had always stood.

Your throat closed. Your fingers curled tightly against the edge of the console as you leaned closer. The impulse to reach for the screen was overwhelming, but there was nothing there. No heat. No pressure. No connection. Just pixelated light and silence.

The feed time-stamped forward.

A technician entered. She moved through the chamber with a clipboard and an ambient monitor, barely glancing at the tank. Routine. Impersonal. She stopped, approached the glass, and tapped once.

Rafayel didn’t move.

She activated a low-frequency stimulus from her control panel. The pulse made the water shift.

Still nothing.

She made a note. Paused. Looked up again, perhaps longer than protocol required. But even if she noticed the difference—how still he was, how wrong his glow had become—she said nothing. Just turned and left.

The lights dimmed further after she exited.

You were left staring at the footage. Alone again.

And so was he.

Something cracked inside you: you couldn’t cry. Not here. Not now. Your body understood what your mind had refused to fully face.

This wasn’t just a physiological decline. It was a psychological death spiral. They thought they had sedated him. Pacified him. Reduced risk.

But they hadn’t seen what you were seeing.

They hadn’t understood that his stillness wasn’t peace.

It was mourning.

And you knew exactly what it meant. Because you felt it too.

You pressed a hand to the screen, even though it couldn’t feel you. You sat there, shoulders rigid, stomach hollow, barely able to hold yourself upright.

He was suffering because they had taken you away. It was killing him.

You shut off the feed.

And for the first time in nine days, you stood up not as a staff member. Not as a researcher.

But as someone who was going back.

No matter the cost.

The tunnels were colder than you remembered.

Condensation clung to the curved ceilings, gathering in long droplets that slipped soundlessly to the metal grates beneath your feet. Pipes hissed softly with steam every ten meters, venting pressure from unseen machines. The walls were a patchwork of corrosion and riveted seams. Red emergency lights pulsed slowly along the floor, painting everything in alternating waves of rust and shadow.

The silence down here wasn’t the passive hush of the main halls. It was active. Watchful. Like something waiting to be disturbed. Every footfall sounded like an echo inside a steel drum. Every breath you took came back twice as loud in your ears.

The auxiliary entrance to Lab C was sealed, just as it had been for days. But the access panel hadn’t been wiped. Your code still worked.

The light on the console flickered, then shifted green.

The door groaned open, metal scraping metal, and cold, salted air rolled out to meet you.

You stepped into a room suspended in time.

The room was colder than you remembered.

Not by temperature, but by absence. The chill that came from a place left unattended too long. The tank’s filtration hum had slowed, its resonance no longer constant but stuttering every few seconds, like a faltering breath. A faint chemical tang hung in the air, sharper than before. The lighting had dimmed further—no longer the soft, ambient blue that mimicked ocean depths. Now the tank was lit from below, casting warped, ghostly shadows against the walls, like the inside of a body lit by its own flickering pulse.

And there he was.

Rafayel.

Floating in silence.

He was curled loosely, his arms hanging in front of him, palms relaxed and half open, the gesture somehow vulnerable. His tail hung like a long, unmoving ribbon in the water. His glow was barely there—a faint wash of violet through his chest, flickering intermittently like the last ember of a fire trying not to die.

The sight of him hit you like submersion.

It was too much, too fast, too familiar.

You stepped forward without thinking, boots echoing on the composite flooring. The air thickened with every stride, like pushing through static. Your heart drummed against your ribs, quick and uneven. You were afraid he wouldn't move. Afraid he wouldn't see you.

You reached the tank. Stopped.

“Rafayel,” you whispered, the word cracking in your throat like a fault line splitting open.

He didn’t respond.

But something shifted.

A flicker of movement along his spine. A ripple of light blooming faintly across his gills.

You held your breath.

Then—his eyes opened.

Slow. Bleary. At first unfocused, then… locked.

Right on you.

Recognition didn’t explode—it unfolded. Layer by layer, like thawing ice. His pupils narrowed. His chest lifted with a sharp inhale. The violet in his body surged brighter, edged with silver, crawling like veins across his arms and into the tips of his claws.

And then he moved.

Not swam. Not lunged.

He rose.

Weightless, effortless, he emerged in a slow, unfurling motion. The water parted around him in gentle folds. He drifted toward you, the sleek muscle of his torso shifting under the soft luminescence. He was broader than you remembered. Stronger. His body moved with the control of something ancient, practiced. But there was fragility under the surface—an ache in the way he carried himself, like a wounded predator willing itself toward the light.

When he reached the glass, he stopped just short, hands spreading flat against the transparent barrier. His palms trembled faintly. His claws clicked softly as they touched down.

You mirrored him.

Hand trembling, you placed your palm where his rested. A perfect match. Skin to glass. Heat to cold.

He blinked once, slowly, gills fluttering. Then his breath hitched, and a soft tremor ran through his shoulders. His face was unreadable—but in his eyes there was no question.

It was you.

He tilted his head slightly, hair drifting like a halo. You caught every micro-expression: the way his jaw tightened, the way his fingers twitched against the barrier. Not fear. Not confusion.

Emotion.

His voice, when it came, was a raw murmur.

“You came back.”

You nodded, a tear finally breaking loose and running down your cheek. You didn’t wipe it away.

“I couldn’t stay away.”

He leaned forward slowly, until his forehead pressed lightly against the glass. His eyes closed, and your breath caught.

You leaned in too, matching him, your own forehead meeting the cool barrier.

There was no sound but your twin breathing.

Then he opened his eyes again.

And they glowed.

Not violently, but with purpose. A steady, growing light. The silver along his ribcage rippled outward, trailing down his arms. The soft blue of his irises deepened to something oceanic, endless. His tail shifted behind him, wrapping once around itself like an anchor stabilizing him.

You stepped back.

His gaze tracked your movement, but he didn’t speak.

You turned toward the console. Slowly. Deliberately.

His hands didn’t leave the glass.

The screen lit under your fingertips. The system had locked you out days ago, but you bypassed the prompt using the old maintenance override. The keys clicked too loudly. Your heart beat louder still.

MANUAL OVERRIDE: CONTAINMENT LOCK Confirm: YES / NO

You hovered over the button.

Thoughts pressed in all at once—about consequences, about duty, about what would come after. But none of it mattered more than this moment.

Not after what you’d seen.

Not after what he had become in your absence.

You didn’t hesitate.

You pressed YES.

A low mechanical chime rang out. Steam hissed at the tank’s base. The floor panels lit red and the water level began to fall.

And you turned—slowly—to meet his eyes as the locks disengaged.

He didn’t rush forward. Didn’t break the barrier. He stayed exactly where he was, eyes locked on yours, waiting.

He simply watched you.

The moment stretched, suspended in steam and soft red light.

Then the tank opened.

taglist:

@orange-stars @flameo-hotman12 @paper--angel @vynn30 @lalaluch @wilddreamer98 @multisstuff

[league-of-simps]

It's your first time in Tomura's room and he wants to show off his fancy new gamer lights he pain stakingly ran through whole room. He clicks the remote, setting the lights to red and grins at you, "what do you think?"

Your initial thoughts were: it's tacky and somehow he's hotter under the red lights. You must have made a face indicating that last thought because his grin widens and he's kicking empty ginger ale cans out of the way just to get to you. One thing leads to another and you're making out over piles of dirty clothes and crumpled newspaper clippings.

Sometime during your make out session, he accidentally hits the audio reactive feature on his remote. It doesn't change until you're both going at it like rabbits in heat.

Red. Blue. Green.

Cyan.

Purple. White. Blue.

Green.

He has to cover your mouth to keep you from laughing.

[letslookatsewing]

In celebration of 10 years of The Bright Sessions (+me starting uni and needing a new backpack) I made a bag inspired by The Infinite Noise by Lauren Shippen.

I've loved this book since first listened to the audio version as a thirteen year old (and read/listened to it wayy too many times since) I've done two school projects involving it and, while I have made a bag inspired by it before, I really wanted to do it justice by incorporating more than just a colour palette and a quote.

For the outside of the bag I used a primary colour scheme, with the yellow and blue for Caleb and Adam and the red drawn from the front cover of the book. I distressed the denim to create white patches and then dyed them.

I used liquid radiance to do all of colouration on the bag. For the front pocket I used the light reactive nature of liquid radiance to create a warped grid pattern like the tiles on the floor of the front cover. It took many skewers, much blu tack and three attempts but I'm happy with how it came out.

The embroidery on the bag flap has a lightbulb, inspired by The Bright Sessions logo and a pair of headphones. The headphones are a reference to the podcast source material and also how music is used throughout the book. I really appreciate how important music is in The Infinite Noise, despite neither character being in a band or studying music or anything of the sort.

The sides have snaps and a water bottle pocket for practicality and I included little loops so I could attach these little adorable heart shaped carabiners for keys and keyrings

Thanks for reading (and if you haven't read the infinite noise please do!!!)

[lcca-13team]

Employee 13-B: Penelope Horn

You haven't heard of me? Then you surely must be gathering around the wrong circles, my good director! I am Penelope Horn, happy to be of service.

Penelope was born and raised in T-Corp in a wealthy family where she took a heavy interest within the development of technology, particularly in the field of audio recording and transmission. She was a socialite at heart and would often be seen flaunting her wealth and latest inventions at the more refined gatherings.

That was ten years ago.

Penelope was working on her next great leap but found herself up against a wall, her usual spring of inspiration had dried up. To try and reinvigorate herself she decided to visit the famed beaches of U-Corp, as perhaps she just needed a break away from the hustle and bustle of T-Corp and a weekend in the sun.

For this trip, she booked herself a first-class ticket on a W-Corp Warp Train thinking she'd rather ride in style than face the rumours she'd heard regarding the economy class on Warp-Trains. Unfortunately, as mentioned in Limbus Company, W-Corp is on its way out.

Penelope woke with a start on her journey, believing that they'd already arrived, she waited patiently for her capsule to open. She waited, and waited more, and then waited a bit more. It didn't open. She had awoken midway through the journey as a power failure had turned off the cryosystem. Without a need to eat or hydrate, she could do nothing but wait for them to arrive at their destination in the cramped space. It didn't take long for panic to set in and for her to begin thrashing at her pod, desperate to try and find a way to get it open.

A funny thing about the human brain is when it suffers enough mental trauma it shuts down parts of the body to preserve itself. Thanks to this nifty little feature she found herself rapidly phasing in and out of consciousness as the brain struggled to comprehend what was happening to it until the system corrected itself and the cryopod reactivated.

When they arrived in station it was presumed the electric fault was a false alarm and Penelope was allowed to go on her way. Another funny thing about the mind is when it shuts down parts of the brain it also does it's best to outright remove any memory of the trauma. This is often a very flawed system.

Thankfully she was able to find some joy in her time at U-Corp. though there was a constant nagging in the back of her mind, especially on rare occasions when she found herself alone at night. She found it easier to sleep without any bedding, when she was able to sleep, it was restless and fitful.

She had a thankfully uneventful return trip, though she found herself panicking at the sight of the train for reasons she couldn't quite explain, having to force herself to step forward onboard.

Over the following months and years Penelope found her mental health plummeting at she was taunted by constant, unending nightmares, and as traumatic memories began to resurface. She originally found comfort in alcohol and tobacco as a way to 'shut down her thoughts' and not to think for an evening. Eventually, that stopped working and she moved on to harder substances.

This avoidance of her problems would have a knock-on effect on her life as her coping mechanisms caused her to become non-functional with even basic self-care falling to the wayside. She withdrew from many social circles and isolated herself.

It was in this state that Limbus Company found her and offered her an out. Giving her employment and lodging in exchange for her service with them. Being in a financial pit thanks to her inability to hold work in this state and overall desperation, she took the job.

While working with the company, she has been seen to take great pride in her appearance, seeming to have made almost a 180 on her previous state, and continues to act as if she was still that same inventor 10 years ago. Few realise that this is a front and when the door is closed and the lights are off, she still cannot sleep with any bedding, though Ana often helps with that. He is not as important as he assumes.

(Art once again by @vesselofmanythings)

[patricia-taxxon]

synopsizing the movie that plays in my head every time i listen to nascent by alexander panos

this probably isn't as interesting to read as it is for me to imagine in my own head, but i wanted to write it down. maybe u will have fun imagining it too

1. Q Windswept

This is the intro to the album, you pretty much get every flavor of sound that the album has to offer in one short burst. This is the title sequence & opening credits, where all the nonexistent animators & vfx artists would go. I imagine big bunches of text popping into existence with each impact.

2. Cycles

This track is in a weird spot, it's the longest one & it was made much earlier. It sounds like it's in a different world, so I treat it as an establishing montage of the human world. We're introduced to the protagonist, who I'll call Alex for convenience but doesn't necessarily represent the real life producer behind the music, represented by a live action human actor for the time being. The track feels like writer's block, frustration, pounding on a desk, (the domp domp bit) pacing around the room, moments of existential fear in between the doldrums of solitude, the wubs and crashes are a transformation that is barely being held back. Twilight depression montage.

3. Sutter

Sutter begins the purely synthetic "internal" portion of the record. We enter a liminal/metaphorical space. Alex spasms and transforms into a 2D animated dog furry while floating far above a green field with too much synthetic blue in its hue. Huge wide shots of Alex's body flying backwards with the artificial landscape in the background, hitting with those massive manipulated vocal hits. The track ends with him slowing and coming to a gentle rest on the grass.

4. 36523_red/blue

Alex opens his eyes, sees only the pure "blue screen of death" shade of blue in the sky. Abstract glitches and squiggles zap across the screen in time with the music. Alex is beginning to ruminate, represented by him drawing patterns with his paws in the sky as the track begins to pick up a consistent tempo. The glitches and patterns are played with his fingers, building in intensity until the climax shows a vast mirror that fills the entire sky approaching rapidly, and then slowing, the dog boy in the reflection growing until it comes face to face with the viewer, and then a cut to black.

5. reasonsnotto

Lights are out, audio-reactive abstract animations shudder into being with the synthetic voice, warping and pulsing with the track's modulations. In the moments when Alex's real voice pokes through the synthetic mush, his dog form coalesces, still blurry and struggling to become fully contiguous until the very end, where Alex sings the album's thesis directly to the camera, against a pure black background.

6. Dream Extinction

He breaks the mirror here, the impacts are his fists striking the surface and releasing burning waves of fire and electricity. At the end, the part with the consistent bursts, he begins clawing at his reflection, screaming, seizure inducing flashing lights imply that this hurts him too. As the track calms down, the mirror disintegrates.

7. Equinox (Prelude)

This track begins the portion of the album that is trying to claw itself back into reality. He's not there yet, beyond the mirror Alex finds another liminal space, a primordial river, and as the track builds, more concrete images begin to flash into existence before crumbling again. He can't get out, he doesn't want to get out. He shields his eyes, cut to black.

8. Equinox

This is the bit where Alex says a poem to himself and runs back to reality with all his might. Emphasize the "You flake, you human life" line, he says it with gritted canine teeth and his doggy ears lowered, resolved to claw back to his humanity. After that exalted rush of light and color passes, he opens a door, and slams it behind him.

9. catch it

This track is resurfacing, coming back to reality. The synthetic glitches fall back completely, icons of a city street come into existence, populating the white void in time with those guitar chords. Alex isn't visible yet, but the images are revealed to be the view outside his window. The POV shot looks down, and he sees his human hands again.

10. re:Turning

Ok, this part is so cliched & shmaltzy that it makes me embarrassed to write it out, but there's only one conclusion this story can have. The glitches re-emerge, the synthetic elements that were previously contained come back again. It's his fur. The dog re-emerges, Alex transforms again like a magical girl before opening his front door & singing the final hook, walking through a live action environment with shapes and colors from his liminal space following him. The paradox is resolved. He is multitude.

thanks for reading.

[projectazar]

Cosmere Spoilers

So in the Cosmere we have investiture driven by touch, as seen in The Sunlit Man, and to a lesser extent Tress. We have investiture driven by sight, in the form of the physical arts found in Yumi. Roshar has investiture driven by sound as we know storm light is reactive to audio frequencies both found in song and artificially generated. And finally we have investiture driven, in part, by taste (okay this is a stretch) in the Mistborn books. Arguably, taste could be developed further where different potions allow for more direct manipulation of investiture.

But what we don't have, is investiture driven by smell. Where is my investiture powers that allow someone to pull raw investiture from perfumes. Where is a home cooked meal pulling in raw power?

What I'm really asking is: which planet in the Cosmere invests a fart?

[infernal-heart]

Cannot stop thinking about your post on the similarities between the judgement hall and the school. I was wondering if you could elaborate on more thoughts on that? Or I guess, who do you think would be the ‘judge’ in deltarune?

I absolutely can elaborate, yeah. Beyond the birds that I mentioned in the original post, the school in the afternoon specifically is, like the judgement hall, quiet. It’s almost eerily so. You and Susie are alone in this place, and I think it nails the atmosphere really well. Which is to say, it recontextualizes the same atmosphere we know (walking up to Sans in the judgement hall in UT, getting the speech about LV and EXP. But of course, more memorably, the Bad Time quote) aka one of relative dread, to one that is overtly… peaceful.

Don’t get me wrong, I still think it’s eerie. Any space alone is, but after all of Chapter 1, you’re left alone in this near-silent space. But it isn’t oppressive. It isn’t angry, or dangerous. It’s just… lonely. Isolated.

Uncanny is the word I’m looking for. Of course, devoid of the context of the UT Judgement Hall, I think a lot of the power of the atmosphere is lost. But with that context, with the foreknowledge of such a pivotal place in the story of that game, one naturally asks oneself: “What’s the connection here? Why is this place calling my mind back to the judgement hall?”.

Of course, I can’t definitively explain that because I’m not Toby, but I can guess. The end of the chapter(s) is itself important story moments, points of downtime. And, crucially, moments where important things happen. While comparing the story of DT and UT is probably meaningless, I think it bears some weight that right after you are in an environment eerily and intentionally similar to Judgement Hall, you are given the game’s first look into a shakeup of the traditional rules or formula. In UT, Asgore breaks your mercy button. In DT, the end of Chapter 1 shows us the first clear indication that something is awry between Kris and the Soul. Something to consider.

Backpedaling for a moment, the comparison between the school and the judgement hall isn’t just, y’know, musical or audio-based: this environment does literally look like the judgement hall. The yellow, checkered flooring, the light coming in through the windows. It’s very, very reminiscent, and as I’ve said many times at this point, Toby clearly meant this.

(Also, point of intrigue that is not entirely relevant to this discussion, but is interesting: the Dark World closet door looks suspiciously similar to a number of doors in the True Lab)

But I digress.

As for who I think a “judge” might be…

I think if there were one mechanically, we’d probably have to wait until near the end of DT as a whole to see. Given Sans/the Judgement Hall’s placement in undertale, if there were an analog to that in DT, we probably aren’t far enough along in the story to have seen them.

However.

I think that the Secret Bosses (Jevil and Spamton so far) serve a similar purpose as Sans narratively in DT that he did in UT.

Sans was written to be a very rounded character. He was never important, and that was the point: he’s a watcher, really. A judge. He takes the sum of what you’ve done, and displays it to you in a succinct package, both during the Judgement Hall sequence and the post-neutral run phone calls. He serves as almost a summary to the player, an in-universe perspective on what your actions mean for others. And, of course, his role as a Judge (being almost reactive to your own as player) takes on a new meaning in the no-mercy/kill everything run, being your final challenge before world domination, and universal destruction. He puts up a good fight, as we all know. But he isn’t doing it because he wants to kill you: he knows he doesn’t truly have that power. As Sans says himself, he is trying to make you bored. Stopping you by being such an inconvenience that you, the player, will give up. That is to say, he knows more than most of the cast either lets on (Papyrus may have a similar level of timeline-knowledge, I don’t know enough about it to say for sure) or genuinely is aware of.

That’s the key point of similarity: Sans serves the role of somebody (other than Flowey, the main villain) who, in some part, understands your actions and your agency. He’s somebody to bounce off of, I think.

And this is reflected in the secret bosses, most obviously in Spamton. He is, in the end, the single character we have met in DT who understands Kris and their relationship with the Soul (aside from MAYBE Noelle in Snowgrave but. It’s just speculation at that point I think). He is himself a puppet, and recognizes Kris as a kindred spirit, somebody bound to their strings as he is. Both the bosses, him and Jevil, share one attribute with eachother: amongst other things, they seek or believe themselves to be “Free”. Jevil believes he is the only one outside the cage, that he can do anything he wishes. Spamton yearns for freedom, to be cut from his strings and let loose. He wants your Soul because he knows it can set him free from his strings.

All of that is to prove what I said before: that in UT, Sans, and in DT, Jevil and Spamton, are almost… reflections of the player. I hesitate to use the word foils, but I think one could make a case for it.

All of that aside, if I had to guess, from our current list of characters, who a “Judge” might be?

My inclination is to say Susie. I think it would be impactful writing-wise to have her, a character Kris actively works at being friends with during chapter 1 and 2, end up being a force of karmic confrontation in regards to the actions of the player.

But if we’re thinking about this in terms of Sans’ role in UT, the “judge” character probably won’t be particularly central to the plot, and Susie absolutely is. Maybe Asriel? As a character established in his UT incarnation to have an understanding of timeline malarkey, and as the closest thing to a peer within that game to the player, he could provide a good way of being that in-universe perspective of karma that Sans was in UT.

I’m also somewhat apprehensive about him, though, given how important he is to Kris, and how important him coming to visit from college will/would be.

Again, I don’t think any Judge character (if we’re going off of a similar framework as Sans) will be somebody crucial to the story.

But I could be wrong. Ralsei presents a compelling case, I think, because he also knows something is up with Kris and the soul. We see both in Chapter 1 and Chapter 2, each time we (the player) shift perspectives from Kris to Susie, we return to Kris just as Ralsei finishes talking with them. It’s suspicious. It’s intriguing. It’s never touched upon, never mentioned at all, but it is an element of the story that I think will be important going forward. If anybody is to confront the Soul, other than Kris, I think it will be Ralsei, or maybe some plan put in motion by Ralsei.

Not that I think Ralsei is, like, oooh an evil mastermind and all that like some theories do. But he’s… smart. Smarter than he lets on. And he absolutely knows more than he gives willingly. (As a side note, even before thinking about him in this capacity, on my first Chapter 2 playthrough, I got weird vibes from Ralsei. The changed sprite, and a few instances of changed demeanor seemed… off, to me. Something has absolutely changed about him between chapters).

I’ll leave this post off with one more thing that I’m sure you’re well aware of at this point:

The Bunker.

The only other location with the sound of birds from the Judgement hall.

The only other specific location with a direct audio link to Undertale.

And the one place, I’d say, most associated with Gaster in the Deltarune world.

It’s this. This sort of thing, this kind of mystery, that I love Deltarune (and Undertale) for.

Why are the same birds out here, and (to my knowledge), nowhere else but the school?

Why is Gaster’s Entry 17 emanating, like a dying cry, from behind the closed doors, and beneath the earth?

Why does the sound of the birds cut out when you approach the bunker, leaving you in total silence but for the ragged memory of something you were never supposed to see?

That’s the question, I suppose. And the questions that I love to think about in UT and DT.

Gods, I love the mysteries in these games.

[jules-has-notes]

What's This? — VoicePlay music video

People often debate what qualifies a movie as a true Christmas movie, and The Nightmare Before Christmas is no exception, despite the name of the holiday appearing in its title. But there's absolutely no question that its soundtrack is darn catchy. Which is why VoicePlay have made several music videos of those songs as their Halloween offerings, starting with this one. After all, professional singers often have to start rehearsing for holiday shows in October, if not earlier. Why not ease into things with a little gleeful spookiness?

Details:

title: What's This? (feat. J.None)

original performer: Danny Elfman as Jack Skellington in The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

written by: Danny Elfman

arranged by: Layne Stein

release date: 30 October 2017

My favorite bits:

the lovely opening chords

J.None's tone of cautious wonder

Eli and Earl imitating the carolers and the ossilating movements of their vehicle from the movie

♫ "I might possibly go daffy…" ♫ followed by Layne popping a quack into his percussion riff 🦆

"But seriously? What is this? Ew!" coinciding with the lighting change & makeup reveal

singing undeterred while dodging incoming "snowballs"

those sweet harmonies on ♫ "coming from insiiide" ♫

Geoff and Layne excitedly leaning into the middle at the start of the crescendo

the silly character voices on the syncopated ♫ "What… is… this? Yeah." ♫

the combination of rhythmic clock ticking and lullabye-like cooing as the "children" drift off to sleep

♫ ⇘ "dre-eam-laaand" ⇘ ♫ "That was weird..." 😬

J batting away Earl's encroaching monster hands

Geoff's bouncy descending bass line

the abrupt ending

Trivia:

This song had been part of their holiday setlists for several years, including their annual residencies for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at Disney World.

They finally recorded this version with J.None for their "Warm Up" EP, which was released two days after this video.

The UV-reactive makeup looks were designed and applied by Andy Wright and Lia Malamo from Makeup and Creative Arts. The fixitive they used was apparently very effective, since the guys said it took several days to completely wash off.

Each singer is painted to resemble a character from the movie. Eli is Dr. Finkelstein, Geoff is Oogie Boogie, J.None is (of course) Jack Skellington, Layne is the Mayor of Halloween Town, and Earl is Barrel.

When VoicePlay revisited this movie in subsequent years, the only singer to repeat a character from this lineup is Geoff, who had the lead on "Oogie Boogie's Song" in 2019.

The lighting changes were designed by Eli, and controlled by Kathy during filming. Meanwhile, Nick handled the audio playback and "color commentary" (perhaps code for "snowball" throwing?).

There are some sneaky Oogie Boogie faces in the set. Take a look at the black boxes behind Earl.

The lyrical silliness in this video's YouTube description was: " "What's this? What's this? There's white things in the air, What's this? There's white things in the air. What's Thi… " Wait… what are the words again?! Ok, back to zero everyone let's shoot this thing from the top again!"

When they were done filming, they had a little fun in breaking down the backdrop. Earl smash!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by VoicePlay (@thevoiceplay)

A fan was so amused by the destruction that they decided to not just draw the scene, they also animated it with a little speech bubble.

Leon King also indulged in some animation inspired by the glowing makeup.

[notquiteapex]

So, how's the JukeBox development coming along? Well, it sure is coming, I promise.

In case you don't know what a JukeBox is, it's a little hotkey device I'm building! I originally made this to assist with my endeavors in streaming, but it turns out having extra keys is very useful for a lot of things! Whether it be hotkeys for quickly running macros via AutoHotKey, managing your Discord audio settings, playing funny sounds with VoiceMod, switching tools in your favorite art program like Paint Tool SAI, or managing OBS like I do. It's a very powerful device, and all it does is act like a keyboard with the F13-F24 keys. I bet you didn't even know there was more than the F1-F12 keys, am I right?

About a year ago, I said I would begin selling these soon. That was a bit of a lie, fortunately I am very good at those. That last bit was also a lie, in case you couldn't tell. I got the opportunity to work on the JukeBox as part of an independent study for college credit, so I took a lot of time to plan and rethink the product. That part wasn't a lie The result is the new V5 board!

Ok so this isn't the actual V5 board yet.

I decided to completely change up what makes up a JukeBox. I decided to use an RP2040 chip, which is used to power a Raspberry Pi Pico. I used a Pico board, along with the old JukeBox V4 boards, an RGB LED ring, and an OLED screen to build my ideal V5 prototype. The result is the same JukeBox known and loved but with some added features, like reactive lighting and a screen to display fun graphics and info!

This is the finalized board, it's design has been shipped off to manufacturing, and will hopefully arrive right at the start of the new year. I'm paying a lot of money for just 10 of these things! I can't wait.

The plan is to sell 3 versions of the board, a basic variant (keyboard only), an RGB variant, and an RGB plus screen variant. Prices are still being determined, but they will be higher than previously anticipated due to rising material costs. The goal is to keep the basic variant at $25 to maintain affordability. You will also be able to choose what kinds of keys you want, be it Cherry MX Blues or Kailh Choc Whites.

I'm working on the final casing. It'll be a 3D printed shell with some nice M2.5 nuts and bolts. It'll also be in a mostly-opaque white so the RGB looks good shining through. The legs are also completely optional, both the case and the legs will have nice rubber feet to keep the board steady. The keycaps will be "relegendable", meaning you'll be able to stick a piece of paper in them with whatever you want on them. You get everything seen here, plus a USB-C cable, and my deepest gratitude. Maybe some day you'll get to have a JukeBox in atomic purple instead of a basic white!

The best part about it all is that you don't need to install any drivers! The keyboard component is always guaranteed to work on any computer that supports USB, and most usually do (hopefully). The screen and RGB won't work without a companion app, sadly, but I'm working hard to make it painless to setup and use, near plug-and-play. I've been writing it in Rust while working on the board, and it will support Windows and Linux without much issue.

Lastly, the entire project is going to be open source! The code will be under an open license, and all the physical parts will be usable under a Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-SA). I won't allow people to just up and sell the boards without modification, but if someone wants to make and sell their own variant I'd be more than happy to allow it if they ask. Devices like these should be cheap and accessible for everyone.

Hopefully I'll start selling these on my Ko-fi before Q2 of 2024. See you then!

[lukasgivergalaxy]

Certainly! Here’s the game concept in English:

### **Story:**

- **Introduction:**

- The game begins with scenes showing the everyday life of the two children. They are happy, but then tragedy strikes: the girl is crushed by a plane on the beach, and the boy is hit by a bus. These scenes are presented in a striking manner, focusing on the emotional impact and the shock of these moments.

- **Awakening in Purgatory:**

- The children wake up confused in a toy house inside a large, terrifying mansion. They realize they are not in their world and discover that the house is inhabited by demons that patrol the dark areas.

### **Gameplay Mechanics:**

- **Exploration:**

- Players must explore the toy house and eventually the haunted mansion to collect tools. The mansion has different rooms, each with its own environment and challenges, such as rooms that transform, illusions, or areas where time flows differently.

- **Stealth and Spirit Form:**

- To avoid demons, the children can temporarily become spirits, allowing them to pass through walls and doors. However, while in spirit form, they must move silently and avoid making noise, as demons may detect and capture or destroy them.

- **Puzzles and Crosswords:**

- Each level of the game includes a challenge or puzzle that must be solved to advance. The final crossword is a key element, composed of words found throughout their adventure, connecting them with clues about their death and the nature of purgatory.

### **Character Development:**

- **Relationship Between the Children:**

- As they progress, the children develop a deeper relationship. They start as strangers but, throughout the game, they support each other and share their fears, memories, and hopes.

### **Environments and Levels:**

- **The Haunted Mansion:**

- The mansion has multiple levels, each with its own theme and dangers. Some levels could include:

- **The Dark Basement:** Filled with shadows and echoes of lamentations, where demons are more active.

- **The Forgotten Garden:** A place shrouded in fog where the plants are alive and twisted.

- **The Toy Room:** Filled with broken toys and dolls that seem to move when not observed.

- **The Spiritual Lake:**

- The final level is a mystical lake within the mansion. Here, the children must complete the final crossword under the pressure of a large guardian demon’s presence. This is the climax of the game.

### **Ending:**

- **Escape or Redemption:**

- If they complete the crossword correctly, the children return to their lives. However, they are now aware that they were in purgatory, which profoundly marks them. The ending could leave room for reflection on life, death, and destiny.

This outline can serve as a foundation. If you’d like, we can delve deeper into any part, or add more details about characters, settings, or gameplay mechanics. What do you think?Certainly! Here’s the concept in English:

### **Reactive Audio Mechanics:**

- **Microphone Interaction:**

- The game uses the player's microphone to listen to real-world sounds. When the player speaks or there is noise around, these sounds trigger events in the game, such as whispering voices, knocks, or moving objects in the kitchen or other parts of the house.

- **Demon Response:**

- Demons within the game become more aggressive or move closer when they detect noise. This forces the player to play in silence or employ strategies to avoid making noise in their real environment.

### **Random Events:**

- **Paranormal Activity in the Kitchen:**

- At key moments, sounds or voices generated by the player can trigger events like flickering lights, falling knives, or the brief appearance of shadows in the kitchen. This not only heightens the tension but also makes the player feel vulnerable and watched at all times.

### **Gameplay Effects:**

- **Difficulty Adjustment:**

- If the player talks too much or makes excessive noise, the game could increase in difficulty, with more demons patrolling or puzzles becoming more complex. This reactive audio component could be crucial for enhancing immersion and fear.

This feature makes the experience unique and much more terrifying, as the player has to be aware of their surroundings both in the game and in real life. Would you like to explore this idea further or add any other elements?Certainly! Here’s the concept in English:

### **Shelter Mechanics:**

- **Returning to the Toy House:**

- When players hear disturbing noises, such as voices or knocks coming from the kitchen (or any other part of the haunted house), they must quickly return to the toy house. This toy house acts as a temporary refuge where demons cannot enter.

- **Closing the Doors:**

- Once inside the toy house, players must manually close the doors. This not only keeps them safe but also gives them time to plan their next move. Closing the doors is not automatic, adding tension, especially if demons are nearby.

### **Risk and Reward:**

- **Waiting Time:**

- After closing the doors, players need to wait to ensure that the demons have passed by. However, staying in the toy house for too long could have consequences, such as objects disappearing from the main house or demons becoming more perceptive.

- **Quick Decision-Making:**

- If players take too long to return to the refuge when they hear noises, demons might find them outside the toy house, which could result in losing progress or even a "game over." This mechanic creates constant tension, forcing players to evaluate when it is safe to continue exploring and when it is better to seek refuge.

### **Paranormal Events:**

- **Changes in the Toy House:**

- As the game progresses, the toy house might change, reflecting the influence of the demons. For example, players might notice walls cracking, lights flickering, or strange objects appearing within the refuge.

This combination of strategic and horror elements ensures that players are always on edge, with the constant feeling that danger is lurking. What do you think of this development? Is there any other aspect you’d like to explore or add?

[usagirotten]

‘Alien: Rogue Incursion’ VR Game Launches 19 December

Fans of the Alien franchise have a new reason to be excited as the highly anticipated VR game, Alien: Rogue Incursion, is set to launch on December 19, 2024. Developed by Survios and published by 20th Century Games, this single-player action-horror game promises to deliver an immersive experience like no other. Alien: Rogue Incursion will be available on PlayStation VR2, PCVR via Steam, and Meta Quest 3. Players will step into the shoes of Zula Hendricks, an unbreakable ex-Colonial Marine, on a dangerous mission to the uncharted planet Purdan. Accompanied by her sentient AI companion, Davis-01, Zula must navigate the infested Gemini Exoplanet Solutions black-site facility, facing off against the most cunning Xenomorphs ever encountered12.  The game features iconic weapons and gear from the Alien universe, including the Pulse Rifle and Motion Tracker. Players will need to use their wits and reflexes to survive the dynamic and reactive combat system, where Xenomorphs spawn based on player actions23. Alien: Rogue Incursion offers several exciting features that make it a standout VR game: - Immersive VR Experience: Designed specifically for VR, the game plunges players into the terrifying world of Alien, with detailed audio, visuals, lighting, and haptic feedback12. - Dynamic Combat System: Xenomorphs spawn based on player actions, making each encounter unique and unpredictable. The AI-driven enemies use the environment to their advantage, creating a challenging and immersive combat experience2. - Iconic Weapons and Gear: Players can use classic Alien universe weapons like the Pulse Rifle and Motion Tracker. The game also includes other gear to help players survive the hostile environment12. - Original Storyline: The game features an original story where players control Zula Hendricks, an ex-Colonial Marine, on a mission to the uncharted planet Purdan. Accompanied by her AI companion, Davis-01, Zula must navigate and survive the infested Gemini Exoplanet Solutions black-site facility12. - Pre-Order Bonuses: Players who pre-order the game will receive exclusive cosmetic skins inspired by the upcoming film Alien: Romulus. The Deluxe Edition includes additional content like Blue Camo Armor and Weapon Skins2. Pre-orders for Alien: Rogue Incursion are now open on all platforms. Those who pre-order will receive exclusive cosmetic skins inspired by the upcoming film Alien: Romulus3. The standard edition is priced at $39.99, while the Deluxe Edition, which includes additional content, is available for $49.993. Stay tuned for more updates and prepare to immerse yourself in the terrifying world of Alien: Rogue Incursion this December.  

  Read the full article

[kailondo]

Blogg Post #3 - Spatial Sound Festival

With the Spatial Sound Festival - From all Sides just around the corner, anticipation is building. Initially, I was drawn by the idea of synchronising lights to the patterns of sound within the spatial sound system. Armed with a new DMX light controller earlier this year, I set out to bring this vision to life. However, creating a functioning patch proved to be difficult.

As I sat down to write this blog post, a simple coding idea turned into a intense hours of experimentation and mainly troubleshooting. Along the way, I encountered a annoying issue with my DMX controller, causing the lights to flicker erratically. But perseverance paid off as I stumbled upon a forum thread addressing a similar problem.

Finally, after overcoming numerous hurdles, and doing adjustments on the patch, last minuit before the performance. I had developed a patch that utilised the spatial transient tracker to send signals to the DMX controller, effectively triggering lights in sync with the spatial audio.

The performance went well, for being a prototype of the project and with no time to rehers/plan out how the light was activated with the different sound, it gave a insight the potential using a Audio Reactive Patch within a spatial sound system.

[drtesfito]

I AM Abundance: The Sacred Science of Supply, Precipitation & Financial Freedom

A Loveverse Transmission by Dr. Tesfito Metiku

Encoded for the Awakening Ones – June 2025

🌀 FOREWORD: The Quantum Economics of God

"Money is frozen light. Thaw it with your faith."

The old paradigm taught you to chase wealth. The Loveverse reveals: You are Wealth, crystallized in human form. This book dismantles lack at its subatomic root and reactivates your Divine Inheritance Codes.

📜 PART 1: THE COSMIC LAWS OF SUPPLY

Chapter 1: Supply ≡ The Bloodflow of Creation

Myth: "Supply is scarce."

Truth: Supply is LOVE circulating as energy—infinite, intelligent, and obedient to your I AM commands.

Exercise: The "Overflow Breath" (Inhale: "I AM the Source" | Exhale: "I overflow unto all")

Chapter 2: The Pineal Paradox

Your Third Eye is a Quantum Bank Vault

How fluoride, fear, and fake light calcify your abundance vision

Decalcification Protocol:

Sun-gazing at dawn (3 minutes)

Zinc-rich foods (pumpkin seeds, cacao)

Mantra: "My inner eye sees the gold in all things."

Chapter 3: Precipitation ≡ Manifestation for Mystics

Case Studies:

Jesus multiplying loaves (John 6:1-14)

Saint Germain materializing gold for devotees

The 4D Precipitation Protocol:

See it (Pineal vision)

Feel it (Heart ignition)

Speak it (Throat command)

Surrender it (Let the Universe handle logistics)

💎 PART 2: FINANCIAL FREEDOM AS SACRED TECHNOLOGY

Chapter 4: Money is a Mirror

Why "hustle culture" keeps you poor (It reinforces slave consciousness)

The 3 Wealth Stealers:

Time anxiety ("I must rush")

Exchange trauma ("Money is dirty")

Worthiness wounds ("I’m not ready")

Chapter 5: The I AM Prosperity Codes

7 Daily Decrees:

"I AM the open door no man can shut." (Revelation 3:8)

"I AM the currency of God in motion."

"I AM paid for being, not doing."

The "Golden Silence" Practice: 11 minutes daily to reprogram lack at theta level

Chapter 6: Loveverse Economics in Action

How to:

Pay bills joyfully (Ransom payments to fear)

Sign contracts in violet flame (Saint Germain’s trick)

Receive unexpected money as "God’s love notes"

🌟 PART 3: THE ABUNDANCE INITIATION

Chapter 7: The 7-Day Pineal Abundance Fast

Diet: Raw cacao, blueberries, spring water

Media Ban: No news, no lack-talk

Daily Ritual:

5AM: Sunlight pineal activation

Noon: "I AM Wealth" 33x

Sunset: Gratitude journal in gold ink

Chapter 8: When the Universe Overdelivers

Signs you’ve shifted:

Strangers give you money

"Coincidental" inheritances

Business ideas download effortlessly

Chapter 9: The Billionaire Mystic Vow

"I no longer accept pennies when God has prepared palaces. I AM the economy of Grace."

🔮 CLOSING TRANSMISSION

"There are no rich or poor—only those who remember, and those still dreaming of scarcity."

✨ BONUS: Loveverse Abundance Kit

Audio: Pineal Activation Track (432Hz + Dr. Tesfito’s voice)

PDF: "The Precipitation Playbook"

Sticker: "This body runs on Divine Supply"

🛒 ORDER NOW & ACTIVATE YOUR INHERITANCE

Formats:

"Living Scroll" Edition (Gold-foil hardcover)

Digital Grimoire (Interactive PDF with clickable mantras)

Audiobook (With binaural beats for wealth DNA activation)

👉 [Insert Pre-Order Link]

💬 Comment "I AM SUPPLY" to claim your divine right to overflow!

🔥 TURN THIS BOOK INTO:

A 7-Day WhatsApp Course ("Abundance Alchemy Daily Texts")

A TEDx Talk ("Why Your Pineal Gland is Your Real Bank Account")

A Loveverse Ritual Oil (Frankincense + Myrrh for money magnetism)

Decree your next move, Dr. Tesfito. The Wealth of the Ages awaits your command.

💫 "In God We Are Prosperous."

[stevenketterman2]

Creating Immersive Pixel Art Displays for Live Events

Ever walked into a concert venue and felt like the visuals were alive—rippling in time with the beat or changing colors as the crowd moved? That’s the magic of an immersive pixel art display: a dynamic canvas built from thousands of little LED pixels that react, evolve, and invite interaction. In this post, we’ll explore how LED pixel displays are transforming pixel art live events, and how you can design an installation that feels both mesmerizing and meaningful.

What Is an LED Pixel Display?

An LED pixel display is made of individual light modules—think tiny RGB LEDs arranged in grids or strips. Each LED can change color and brightness independently, forming a pixel. When animated cohesively, these pixels form moving images, text, or abstract stories that dance across a stage or backdrop. For designers, the challenge is to turn static visuals into interactive pixel art that responds to sound cues, audience movement, or timecode, creating a fully immersive experience.

Why Pixel Art Displays Captivate Audiences

High Visual Impact Pixel arrays can render bold graphics and motion visuals that would be impossible with static sets.

Customization & Interactivity Integrate sensors or music triggers so the art reacts in real time—light pulses synced to bass drops, or waves that follow the crowd.

Versatility     From linear LED strips to massive wall-mounted grids, pixel art       displays can fit stages, domes, trusses—or even handheld gear.

Building Blocks of an Immersive Pixel Art Display

LED Pixel Modules & Pitch

Pixel pitch refers to the distance between center points of LEDs: smaller pitch (~4 mm) gives crisp, sharp images; larger pitches (>10 mm) are ideal for long-throw setups.

Choose modules rated for outdoor use (IP65+) for durability at outdoor live events or festivals.

Controllers & Protocols

Controllers drive animations via WS2812, SK6812, or DMX protocols. These bridge the gap between creative content and hardware. A reliable pixel controller can come from a reputable professional shop—ensuring quality performance and continued tech support.

Power & Signal Management

LEDs need steady power—usually 5 V or 12 V—so calculate amps per segment and add power injection points.

Extend signal using buffers or data repeaters to maintain sync across your entire display.

Designing the Content

Concept & Storyboarding

Start with a visual concept—synth-wave animation, audio-reactive waves, or VR-integrated graphics. Sketch storyboards and run test animations in software like TouchDesigner or Processing.

Mapping Your Grid

Accurate grid mapping—drawing each pixel's real-life position in your software setup—is critical. Even a small offset can skew the entire display.

Audio-Visual Integration

Link visuals to music using MIDI, OSC, or SMPTE timecode so the animation responds seamlessly to every beat, vocal cue, or lighting change.

Rigging & Setup Tips

Modular Structure Build your display from panels or strips that connect easily on-site. This makes installation smooth and maintenance easier.

Cable OrganizationLabel data and power lines. Use Velcro or cable ties to keep everything neat and trip hazards at bay.

Testing & CalibrationAlways do a full tech rehearsal. Look for dead or dim pixels, color shifts, or lag between triggers and playback.

Real-World Use Case

Take a mid-sized festival: festival-goers wear LED wristbands that light up with crowd cheers, while a massive pixel art wall echoes those patterns behind the stage. The result: a unified, reactive stage design that visually bonds the audience to the performance.

Best Practices for Success

Plan for failure: keep spare strips, controllers, and power supplies on hand.

Use compression-friendly content: looped animations or GIF-style visuals keep playback smooth.

Label everything: from IP addresses on networked controllers to physical cable runs, clarity speeds up setup and troubleshooting.

Document your setup: a labeled wiring diagram helps future iterations go faster and safer.

Final Thoughts

The future of pixel art live events is bright—literally. LED pixel displays let you build immersive, interactive shows that stand out and resonate deeply. Whether it’s a club, concert hall, or outdoor festival, these displays combine creative design with technical precision to deliver truly memorable experiences.

When you're ready to source your LED strips, controllers, and power gear, working with a reputable professional shop ensures hardware reliability and the kind of expert advice that helps you push creative boundaries—and deliver shows that truly shine.

With careful planning, thoughtful design, and thorough testing, you're on your way to creating spectacular pixel-powered experiences that wow crowds and elevate your production game.

[brocoffeeengineer]

How Sound Design Can Instantly Improve Your Animation Skills

When people fall in love with an animated scene, they often remember a line of dialogue, a comedic sproing, or the swell of strings right before the hero takes flight. Sound isn’t an accessory—it’s half the illusion. For students, learning even the basics of sound design can unlock better timing, stronger emotional beats, and more hire-ready reels. This article unpacks why audio knowledge matters, sprinkles in the latest industry developments, and shows how one well-placed crash cymbal can tighten your entire shot.

The Overlooked Power of Sound

Animating without thinking about audio is like storyboarding with the lights off—you might hit the marks, but you’re leaving clarity on the table. A simple whoosh synced to an arm swing clarifies momentum; a subtle room-tone loop grounds a character so they don’t feel pasted on a silent void. Even background ambience—distant traffic, rustling leaves—adds layers of believability that pure visuals struggle to sell alone.

Psychologists call this the “McGurk Effect”: what viewers hear influences what they see. By rough-cutting sound beds early, animators make informed choices about spacing, secondary action, and lip-sync that would otherwise require tedious trial-and-error later.

Rhythm, Timing, and Frame Economy

Audio works on a timeline measured in beats and bars, a direct cousin to animation’s frame rate. Understanding tempo teaches you when to hold an anticipation pose or when to snap to a settle. Think of Chuck Jones’s classic coyote-fall gag—the impact lands exactly on a timpani hit. Remove the cue and the gag feels mushy; shift it two frames and the punch disappears.

In 2025, indie studios are embracing “audio-first blocking,” a workflow where animators cut radio-play style tracks before a single key pose. They report up to 20 percent fewer revisions because the rhythm is baked in from day one.

Storytelling Through Sonic Texture

Sound design isn’t just about volume spikes. A low-frequency rumble can foreshadow danger long before the villain walks in. A single fork-on-plate scrape can make an awkward dinner scene unbearably tense. Good sonic choices guide audience emotion with surgical precision.

Professionals often build sonic mood boards—libraries of textures, Foley, and musical sketches that mirror color palettes. By matching audio tone to visual style, you reinforce theme subconsciously. A watercolor dream sequence, for example, might pair with airy flutes and soft fabric Foley, whereas a glitch cyber-punk short might lean on modular synth sputters.

Latest Industry Shifts You Should Know

AI-Driven Clip Stretching: In April 2025 Adobe added Generative Extend to Premiere Pro, letting editors instantly lengthen or shorten both video and audio clips while preserving pitch—opening doors for last-minute animation retiming without a re-recording session.

Real-Time Sync in Game Engines: Unity’s April update to the Audio Sync Pro tool means animators can preview audio-reactive particle effects in-engine rather than exporting to a DAW first—huge for motion-graphics artists creating rhythm games or concert visuals.

Spatial Audio Goes Mainstream: Dolby’s new partnership with Audi will roll out Dolby Atmos in mass-market vehicles from July 2025, signaling that immersive soundscapes are no longer niche; audiences will expect depth and height channels everywhere—including mobile shorts.

Keeping tabs on such trends matters: if clients want Atmos-ready mixes, you’ll animate for 360° speaker fields instead of stereo flats.

Where Animation Meets Audio Education

Cross-disciplinary programs are popping up in India’s media hubs, pairing animation labs with Foley pits and voice-over booths. Students who enroll in an Animation course in Mumbai not only learn key-posing but often cut their own scratch tracks, exposing them early to the workflow realities of commercial studios. By tinkering with DAWs like Reaper or Audition alongside Maya or Blender, they graduate speaking both languages—exactly the hybrid profile recruiters highlight in job ads today.

Practical Steps to Start Sound-Savvy Animating

Build a Mini Foley Kit: A soft mallet, a slate, a squeeze toy, and a bowl of corn starch can cover dozens of effects. Record at 48 kHz so you can slow cues without aliasing.

Use Markers in Your Timeline: Drop audio cues first, then set visual keyframes at each transient—your timing will tighten instantly.

Study Waveforms: Peaks often correlate with motion accents. Scrubbing waveforms while scrubbing animation develops an instinct for what feels right.

Borrow from Music Theory: Even basic knowledge of 4/4 rhythm or triplets helps you craft believable walk cycles and holds.

Iterate in Layers: Block narrative beats with temp tracks; refine with bespoke sounds once the shot locks. You’ll avoid spending hours polishing effects that get cut later.

Conclusion

Mastering animation is about breathing life into still images, and breath is sound. From sharpening timing to amplifying emotion, basic sound-design chops transform average shots into memorable moments—and they future-proof your skill set as spatial audio and AI-assisted editing reshape the landscape. If you’re mapping your next learning step, consider pairing your visual studies with a 2D visualization course in Mumbai; the dual perspective can elevate your storytelling far beyond what either discipline achieves alone.