#modders would go crazy

[taldigi]

the fact that sega have never capitalized on a fully fleshed out chao garden game is insane. they would make so much money. SO much money. I think they may be stupid.

[fereldanwench]

I didn't want to completely sit out a year-in-review, but for reasons I'll explain at the end of this post and under a cut, doing the traditional pick-one-pic-from-each-month approach just wasn't going to work for me. So instead, here are 20 of my favorite shots (in no particular order) of Valerie from 2023!

(I'll share solo Goro shots and shippy/story shots in two other posts before the year ends.)

Some thoughts about this year (cw for anxiety and depression mentions):

So yeah. I actually hadn't planned on joining in on the virtual photography year-in-review fun in part because... Well, frankly, I wasn't sure if it would actually be fun for me.

Although I do have pictures for every month, the first third, maybe even half, of the year was a struggle on almost every conceivable level. A lot of it was shit that carried over from the end of 2022, which was also an incredibly difficult year for me. I don't really want to delve too deeply into why--Some of it was personal, some of it was professional, some of it was fandom, and if you know, you know.

The main obstacle I had here is that looking at a lot of the shots I took from about January to May (give or take a few weeks on either end) honestly reminded me of Bad Times™️. I've worked really hard to pull myself out of that depression/anxiety cycle and return to a healthier approach to fandom and online socialization in general, but I just didn't want to spend a lot of time in that mental space. There are a few shots from those months that made it to my favorites, and I hope one day I can look back on that stuff and just feel the good from it again. Alas, that day is still not here.

But I am happy to report that the other reason I wanted to approach the review differently is a lot more positive! It's also two-fold: 1) I spent the earlier part of this year exploring more of a technical side of virtual photography and 2) I was really prolific the last third or so of this year so trying to narrow faves from about August until now was just not possible.

One of the few good things about the end of 2022 was being able to upgrade my graphics card, which meant I then had a rig that could support ray-tracing and hot sampling. As a result, I started putting a lot more focus on lighting and getting acquainted with new tools. I also was trying to work with the new AMM posing system, which is very convenient in some ways (100s of poses without reloading the game!) and a complete pain in the ass in others (can't move characters without their poses breaking!). Custom photomode poses + Nibbles Replacer has been the game changer I've been waiting for.

Or to put it more succinctly, December 2022 through about April 2023 felt like a relearning/return to basics kind of creative period, which is essential, but also means I just don't really like a lot of what I did, lmao.

Then, shockingly (I'm not shocked at all), starting treatment for my anxiety and depression in the second half of this year suddenly made creating a lot easier and fun again! Crazy how that works.

Even bumping this little review up to 20 shots instead of 12, there are still pictures from the past few months that I had to cut as favorites. There was just no way I could condense the amount of fave shots I took from August to now in just 5 options.

I also owe quite a bit of this revival to modders for asking me if I wanted to take shots for them--Exploring more of a fashion photography approach to my shots I think did a lot to build on what I had learned earlier in the year and encouraged me to try something new. I don't want to tag anyone in this long-ass glorified diary entry, but if you invited me to take mod shots for you, just know that it really meant a lot. ♡

And that's where my head has been with a yearly review! Is filling out a little template with 12 pictures this serious? No, it definitely is not, lmao. But hey, overthinking shit is still something I'm working on. ✌️

[wanderingaldecaldo]

Hi, I'm WanderingAldecaldo, aka wash. 👋

I'm a longtime writer, relatively new VPer and modder, and still crazy for Cyberpunk 2077, Mitch and Val (and Rosalind), and the City of Dreams.

About me & this blog

Mid-40s, she/her nonbinary bisexual, paid geek, married with cats. Recently diagnosed autistic and ADHD, which explains a lot about my life and relationships. Former sportsball player and band geek, forever a total nerd. I love video games; writing more than reading these days; music; and still like (and play) some sportsball. Yes, I am the queer softballer stereotype. I strive for kindness over niceness, though I'm not always successful. I believe in ship and let ship, and don't like? don't interact.

On this blog you'll find video games like Cyberpunk, Bioware, RDR2; whatever TV I'm watching (currently Murderbot; always The Expanse, some BtVS); progressive politics, including anti-racism and anti-fascism; gender and sexuality; ADHD and autism; lots of writing stuff. Also cars. I like cars.

A few things to keep in mind

Trans women are women, and terfs can fuck off into the sun forever. Same with fascists.

I'm an adult and post things that are of an adult nature. If you're a minor, please take that under advisement. I don't block minors because long ago I was a minor myself, and I related more to adults than people my own age. But I'm not your parent and you are responsible for curating your own online experience. If you are uncomfortable with adult themes, please hit the back button. Also I don't knowingly follow minors because that makes me uncomfortable.

I don't necessarily follow back; I like to keep a short, streamlined dash so please don't take offense if I don't. At the same time, I have become mutuals with longtime followers after checking out their blog again at a later date. 🤷 Also, like many people on here, I prefer to be mutuals with people who are interested in my stuff, especially my Cyberpunk OCs and ships. Trust me, after years of being ignored due to fandom pressure, it quickly becomes apparent who is actively avoiding my Cyberpunk content.

I love tag games! I am also not great at replying to them! I have over 100 archived emails going back to Nov. '23 that I haven't answered, but still think I might one day. 😅 I am much more likely to reply to writing/WIP tags since I always have a handful of WIPs at any given moment. Also music tags because I love music.

I love asks but hate chain mail — they stress me out because I hate when people feel excluded and I don't know who's received them and who hasn't, so I end up paralyzed and ignore them. Send at your own risk.

Speaking of asks, anons are off. I got one hateful anon and that was enough. Either say it with your chest or fuck off. If you absolutely must leave a hateful anon, @streetkid-named-desire has volunteered to field them for me. Go on, you'll make their day, I promise.

My ships, OCs, and more after the cut.

My (Cyberpunk) ships

[Mitch+Val] Ship: Born to Run

Val and I both fell hard for the kind, handsome Nomad. The main tag includes all versions of their ship because I didn't know it would turn into a bunch of AUs. 😭 The Corpo AU has its own tag, and should be fairly comprehensive. The newer Streetkid AU isn't tagged yet, but so far it's just writing.

[main tag] [au: all that glitters] [random ship stuff tag]

[Ros+Val] aka The President's Merc AU

Their ship isn't named yet, so it's just a generic tag for now. There's also a Tower AU, but that doesn't have a separate tag yet.

[main tag] [random ship stuff tag]

[Mitch+Scorpion] Ship: Panzerboys

Do you think Mitch and Driss ever explored each other's bodies? 🤔

[main tag] [random ship stuff tag]

[Carol+Hilary] Carol + Hilary tag tbd

Uhhhh..... maybe it's time they got a real ship name?

[main tag]

[Corpo!Val+Richard Ripper] Ship: Business & Pleasure

Corpo!Val doesn't do relationships, but she does do Richard. She hires him as a high-end escort and eventually he becomes somewhat of a friend. During the course of events of the Corpo AU, he helps Val figure out her feelings for Mitch. Richard belongs to dearest @dustymagpie.

[main tag]

[SK!Val+Travis] Ship: Love Bites

A toxic ship featuring two streetkids with bad boundaries. They were bad for each other then, but maybe not so bad now? Nah, just kidding. They're still awful! In fact, they are so awful I have only taken one pic of them together!

[main tag] [random ship stuff tag]

My OCs

Valerie Vermilion (she/her)

LOML and main OC. The first character I've made for a game who stuck around and grew a personality. Streetkid!Val is the original, and Corpo!Val debuted a year later. What about Nomad!Val? I hear you ask. Don't worry, she's got a backstory already and is just biding her time she is a fuckboy.

Tags: [ALL] [StreetKid] [Corpo] [Nomad] Random: [val things] [streetkid val things] [corpo val things] Asks+lore: [val lore]

Hilary Navarro (she/her)

An Aldecaldo OC introduced for five minutes in my Mitch + Val longfic NOGLY. She's the family's best netrunner; has a sharp sense of humor and loves puns; and is playful in general, just like her bubblegum hair. Just don't piss her off because she does not forgive. She's also one of Val's first friends in the family.

[Tag] Asks+lore: [hilary lore]

Travis Murphy (he/him)

Trash man. Babygirl. The worst being ever. Dated Streetkid!Val when they were teens and recruited her to join 6th Street. Always lying, cheating, or stealing. He'll get to redeem himself in the NOGLY sequel.

Fun fact: Travis didn't have a last name, so I used the tag #travis needs a tag i guess for quite a while until someone *cough*Imaginary*cough* shamed me into giving him a last name.

[Tag] [Random] Asks+lore: [travis lore]

Antonio Varga (he/him)

A proud son of Heywood. Best friend of Jackie growing up but they fought when he left the gang. Tony wishes he'd made up with him before everything else....

[Tag]

Gabriella Varga (she/her)

The Flower of Heywood. A friend to everyone, always ready to lend a hand, an ear, a shoulder — or an eddie. Just don't cross her or her family, or you'll see just how mean she can get. Older sister to Tony and childhood crush of Jackie.

[Tag]

Vamika (she/her)

A solo merc who Corpo!Val employed during her time at Arasaka. After she takes over the Afterlife from Rogue, she will reestablish that relationship. A reliable, professional mercenary, Vamika has never botched a gig, at least not in Night City.... Sadly most of the pics I took of her were never shared before the HDD accident.

[Tag]

Lynx Lyons (they/them)

A scout/outrider for the Bright/Palmer family who debuted in my fluffy oneshot Cut Your Hair. They are older than they seem, and definitely too old for camp bullshit. They'd rather be on the highway on their own listening to tunes, instead of listening to the same stories told night after night around the fire.

[Tag] Asks+lore: [lynx lore]

Séverine (she/her)

A member of the Voodoo Boys in Dogtown, she is much more comfortable with guns than soft. I haven't figured out where she fits into Val's story yet; maybe she's out for revenge for Slider.

[Tag]

Not listed yet:

Grem, Kevin, Uhhh the new stoner surfer dude Ian? maybe? Evan. Also Aunt Vinnie, who's still under construction

Writing Tags

General: #wash's writing

Corpo AU WIP: #unnamed corpo au story that is consuming my brain (it's still in there, just in stasis btw)

Random bits related to my longfic sequel: #nogly sequel thoughts

Other tags of note: wip whenever, about fanfic, about writing... more that I can't remember :hide the pain:

Resoures I Use

An incomplete list of things I've used:

FontSpace

Unsplash

Mods I Use: An Eternal WIP that is very outdated; asks open if you have a specific question about a mod you've seen me use

[grimmnetworks]

HEY! Okay, so, I'm getting rid of my PC, seeing as PC gaming has gotten way too expensive and mods just break like fucking crazy when updates come out. Not blaming modders or the game companies, just mods breaking can be a pain in the ass. So, if anyone would like Sara's hair that I have on Cyberpunk, or her tattoos or complexion and maybe her head morph, DM me and I'll send em over to you. Not really going to need them unless I decide to come back one day in the future. If I don't reply quickly, sorry, having late memory and all that cray cray stuff. I thank everyone who has liked my stuff, and that I have met along the way. I think I would stay longer if people actually helped me make mods instead of giving me very bad steps on how to do so. Sorry to the person who made the website for mod tutorials, but your grammar and explanation to things, suck. If anyone wants a last NSFW picture of Sara, I will post it tomorrow maybe, or not. Don't care if I get banned or whatever. I'll miss you guys, not the toxic people, but I'll miss you REAL fans and you very nice and cool bitches! I'm mostly talking about @johnau6ust @dreamskug @pozerjacket and many more of you! I get heavily inspired by so many of them, because they have some cool shit! I hope soon when I come back, that maybe people will be much kinder in the community and actually give better steps to modding without making it sound too technically advanced for people like me with a rat sized brain.

Anywhooddles, see you guys in the future! Maybe! Possibly...

[mavcancees]

i only know of this because someone literally got backsued by microsoft for stealing mc code and putting it behind a paywall

and it was such a huge drama because mods genuinely only exist because microsoft trusts modders to do good, and at any moment they can pull the plug and make all mods illegal. and everyone got scared that the lawsuit would make microsoft start banning mods

it didn't happen luckily, but i did learn a lot that night. people were going crazy

[the-sick-cicada]

[ if people are going to fear you, give them a reason. ]

It was a simple fact in life that if you were feared, your life was infinitely harder. From his days on Cybertron, running amok when his carrier turned his eyes away, he knew that fear, disgust, revulsion ran true in the bellies of bots.

He knew that not even sparklings were spared from the contempt.

Even when he had been taken along to the gladiator arena with his carrier, he knew. Moving up in life, his carrier said, and he had watched, quiet in the corner, barely noticeable. He wasn't really allowed to leave the arena, and his carrier never said anything, but he knew he was the 'collateral', no matter how his carrier grit his denta and said that this was a good thing.

Before, his carrier was at least doing mods on people that wanted them. Not the bots with dead eyes that didn't say anything when the 'sponsors' put in another order. Sometimes, his carrier was taken out, with guards, because the sponsors couldn't 'lose' such a precious modder, and came back smelling of strange things, parts missing from his toolbox, and his carrier might not say, but Cicada knew brothel work when he saw it.

Cicada was never permitted to leave when his carrier did. Not that his carrier would want him to tag along when he was modding the bots of the night.

He learned things at the gladiator arena, though. He learned a lot of things, like when gladiators got a little pissed off, their sponsors would twitch, reach for their neat little buttons. He watched that very carefully.

Fear.

He knew fear. Gladiators were despised, but they were feared, but they didn't really have any control over whether or not they were feared, now were they?

He was a despised child, but he didn't want to grow up stepped on. He knew, based on his carrier, he was never going to be big enough, strong enough like the gladiators to instill fear.

When the revolution struck, he thought maybe I have a chance.

Maybe I can be feared on my own terms.

He was fine with being feared. So long as he could control how he was feared, gave them a reason to fear him.

Modding a voice box was delicate work. It wasn't something you were supposed to touch. Still, he thought he pulled it off.

Personally, he thought him being crazy enough to mod his own voice box should be enough to make bots fear him. He made his voice smooth, sweet like honey, intoxicating, which he thought made what he could do more terrifying. Using a hologram projection to mod the base of his processing unit, and from there...

Things spiraled out of control, but he got them back.

Fear.

He could be cherished the way a blade was, and he would be happy with that.

[affluent-havoc]

Desided to wander around, looking at all the gifts one can give the THH cast and just... this.

I must expel my thoughts now cus I got a good amount of stuff to type! First, I wonder what this game would actually be like if it was real so I could figure out what exact things Leon, Celeste, and Chirhiro like about it. Cus, the description is lowkey giving Zombie America's Next Top Model and I am dying T-T It's probably not that but I can't help it. It's too goofy for me to just pass on up! Like, the pixel lady on the cover just looks like Tyra Banks to me for some reason! I think these little pixels are making me go crazy though at the same time, ANTM PREDATES the release of Danganronpa so there COULD be a possibility that MAYBE-

Cutting myself off there. I'm losing it. ... AHEM, anyway, I'm guessing that like, Leon loves the game for the girls and the gory zombies, maybe the gameplay too. He seems like a gamer type. Celeste probably likes it for the fashion perhaps the power dynamic of playing as a badass model sticking it to the zombies. She is also a gamer cus I say so and all the THH characters accept the Funplane so one could argue that they are all gamers. As for Chihiro, minus the gamer thing, I can see the intrige on the game coming for liking it on the tecnical side. Like, Chihiro likes the game due to it being limited due to it being out of print. Maybe being into the history and the tech of it. Gosh. Now I'm imagining Chihiro as a game modder and I am LOVING that! Both for the games itself and for the hardware as well. But anyway, I'm just imagining these three being like this at the same time and now I wish to one day draw these three legitimately playing this game together cus I dunno. It's oddly wholesome. Or, if I ever got better at group pictures, maybe a drawing of the whole cast watching them in action or trying out the game themselves and getting absolutely annihilated. Golly, that is so cute. For now though, this is all I got.

This is the first thing I thought of anyway. They looks so goofy and smug. Like, I get it guys! I can't be as cool as you (ಥ﹏ಥ)

[spadegeistalt]

Hello! I'm a sa2 modder and I was wondering if I could have permission to use your sage-chao design for a custom chao mod. The mod would be uploaded publically and for free on gamebanana when i finish sp you could enjoy seeing your chao design on game :3

Yes please!! 1000% absolutely go for it!!! All I would request is for there to be credit if it's specifically based on my design in the mod desc but like otherwise go crazy with it!🙏 I WILL download that I can assure you of, thank you for asking!

[bumblebeehug]

There should've been a fairy tail Halloween omake a fairy tail Halloween party would go crazy

i feel like there's a stardew answer to why there hasn't been made one - the crazy would go out the roof. modders on sdv have made the most complicated, crazy mods for that halloween event, and it still only scratches the surface on the chaos that halloween brings.

just the christmas omake in fairy tail was insane enough, and that's a pretty tame holiday. i think erza (our holiday queen) would take halloween so seriously that it would take magnolia the rest of the year to recover

[mwolf0epsilon]

Since I did it for Abe, I might as well also introduce you to Cavan. An OC of mine that serves a more plot relevant purpose in the narrative I've constructed with @british-hero.

So here you go, a few (slightly darker) facts about Cavan:

He was the second Larger Seagull engine to be made, making him the second oldest of his class;

As a result of his shared older brother status, Cavan took it upon himself to be a gentle guide for his younger siblings (a teaching style that contrasted heavily with his older brother, Bartholomew's, firm hand stance). He felt responsible over his kin, and did everything in his power to teach them and encourage them in their self-discovery journeys, with varying degrees of success...

Despite his nurturing and well intentioned nature, Cavan's constant attempts to placate conflict and keep everyone positive often made things worse, as he came off as either too forceful in his efforts to keep everyone smiling, or downright condescending because he didn't seem to be listening to what troubled his siblings;

Things between him and Edward were not very good at the beginning, as his constant struggle with Bartholomew to get their youngest brother to settle down post rude awakening (something which was ultimately the railworkers's fault), only seemed to infuriate the new-build. This resulted in an incident that ended with Cavan derailed and damaged due to a struggle for control over a double-heading task;

Cavan was originally the engine assigned to go to Sodor on loan, but after his accident he pleaded with his owners to let Edward go in his place. Seeing as his youngest brother seemed so unhappy being constantly put down or forced into uncomfortable situations, he thought maybe being given some responsibilities would help Edward mature a little without his siblings constantly pressuring him to fit a mold. He was ultimately correct in his assessment;

When the Furness Railway covertly sold off the Larger Seagulls to help them avoid the cutter's torch, Cavan wasn't very lucky. He was bought by a group who had some rather troubling plans for him and several other engines that they'd acquired through various (and often illegal) methods;

During his time in the Ring, an underground organization of modders that pitched heavily modified engines against each other for entertainment purposes (think robot wars crossed with dog fighting), Cavan was used mainly for test runs (as a training dummy). He was battered to such an extent that his wheels and tender were taken for scrap. Leaving him immobilized and rather miserable. Luckily he befriended another engine who took it upon herself to look after him;

After being rescued and taken to Sodor by happenstance, he was reunited with Edward. The two reconciled and opted to start over (deciding that focusing too much on the past wouldn't do either of them any favours), and while Cavan's damage was far too extensive to turn him into a working engine again, he suggested the fat controller reconfigure him into a portable generator. So long as he could still be useful, he didn't mind needing to be pushed or pulled by other engines to wherever he may be needed;

Cavan has a rather odd fascination for birds (especially seagulls). His favourite past time is bird-watching, and he can identify a bird by sight or sound alone. This of course means he's most happiest when serving as a backup generator at the harbour or, occasionally, near Henry's Forest;

While not as eccentric as Abraham, Cavan is often referred to as the Crazy Bird Engine by many engines who've found his interest for birds to be exceedingly peculiar. The ongoing rumour is that he's amassing an army (which he has done nothing to discredit as he would definitely not mind having an army of feathered friends);

Cavan seems envious of Harold to some extent, as he wishes he were able to fly. Nothing seems more freeing to him than souring through the air with no clear destination in mind.

[sburbian-mechanics]

SBURB Info 1.5: Froggernet Groups

So I realize that lately I have kind of been slinging around some names that not everyone is aware of on Froggernet. They aren't niche by any means, but this is meant to be a guide to SBURB, and that includes some player-made things. So let's talk about some groups on everyone's favorite inescapable network!

Game Breakers: You can probably guess by the name, but these guys like to dissect this Frog and see how it ticks. Hackers, modders, and compilers alike want to find out how the Great Game actually works, and are willing to go to great lengths to find glitches and delve into the files. Literally. They are full of all kinds of people, both good and bad, hellraisers and godsends alike. However there are four main denominations of this group, so here's a small overview of each. - Speedrunners: Like Frogspawners, they like to replay the game on purpose. Unlike them, they're looking for the fastest time and the fastest time only. Falls under Game Breakers because of how many glitches and hacks they try to discover, as well as them tending to run in the same circles. - Modifiers: The game really doesn't like mods or hacks. It has killed hundreds who try. But for some reason, the Modifiers still exist trying to change the fabric of the universe itself. And somehow? They have actually found things that work? I don't know what's scarier; that the game actively tries to kill people who modify it, or that people are capable of modifying the game without being killed. - Dungeon Delvers: You know how you normally look into a game's file or code? Yeah, scratch that. SBURBs files and dev notes, as well as Mcguffins and probably-some-sort-of-advanced-5d-code, are contained in an infinite dimension of interconnected rooms that have a lot of record players for some reason. By clipping through the walls you can find this Dev Dimension, and it's the Dungeon Delvers who dedicate their lives to exploring it and uncovering its secrets. Just don't get lost... no one knows what lurks within the halls. - Rewriters: A weird semi-religious subsect of Modifiers that believe it's their cosmic duty to rewrite the game to make it kinder and stop killing planets. Noble goals really, but tend to get really self-righteous and go way too far in their efforts to change the game for good. The tales of them finding """willing""" volunteers and forcing them to risk not only their bodies, but their very souls and existence, just so they can refuse to process that they aren't helping anyone...it's kind of sad really, but mostly horrifying.

Frogspawners: People that decide to play SBURB again. If it's because they want a challenge, are bored of their immortal lives, escaping the responsibility for caring for mortal lives, the religious belief that it is morally imperative that they need to create as many frogs; and thus universes as possible, or just a fondness for the game, there are many reasons why people may decide to go through the Great Game a second time round. I can understand their reasoning, but personally, the game is still a little too fresh for me. That shit's traumatic, you know? Still, I understand the urge. Maybe in a couple hundred years I'll be a Frogspawner too! - Challenge Runners: Unlike Game Breakers, Frogspawners come in lots of different categories. But there are still the two most popular ones, which I will go over now! The first one is the Challenge Runners. These guys just want to do something difficult, and honestly? I respect it. The conditions they put themselves under are kind of crazy, but their accomplishments are even crazier. The fact that Dead Session Any% is even a category...! (Never mind the permadeath rate, it’s still impressive that people have been able to complete it period!) - LivePlayers: Because of translation differences, they're basically SBURB Streamers, but they're just called LivePlayers. As you would expect, they tend to livestream SBURB and are a great asset for getting live footage of some of the more niche parts of the game. They might do certain challenges, or have Chat help them with doing certain glitches or out-of-the-way quests. There have even been records of the Chat becoming an actual player of the game, especially if the streamer is a first-timer and doesn't actually know what SBURB is yet. I swear weird things happen to these guys way more often than other groups. Still, they are really fun to watch, and bloomingFractal is one of my faves! Whi Ys A Carapacyan One of The Plaiers?!? is a classic.

Frogseeders: THESE GUYS. THESE GUYS SUCK. Somehow they learned NOTHING from the game and decided to renact the Spiral of Violence by making a new species just to subject it to SBURB. They are the WORST guys online too. I swear they just bitch and whine and refuse to go to therapy. Everyone can see your problems but you!! You are not cool!! You don't know everything!! You don't even know what you're arguing about!! You're not an Old God, you're just 107!!! HANDLE YOUR IMMORTAL LIFE CRISIS LIKE A NORMAL PERSON FOR FROGS SAKE!!!!!! Kill yourself by eating a fucking penny because you are ALLERGIC to common sense. I swear IF YOU CLAIM you Know More ABOUT THE GAME and MY LIFE Than me While CREATING SAPIENT BEINGS JUST TO DESTROY THEIR ENTIRE HISTORY AND CULTURE WITH METEORS SO 4 OF THEM MIGHT WIN A GAME FASTER— I WILL EAT YOUR LIMBS AND THEN PUSH YOU OFF THE FORGE AND WATCH YOU BURN. I Know More Than You YOu FUcking FROGSHIT WASTE OF AN ASPECT WHO CANT RECOVER FROM THEIR TRAUMA LIKE A TOTAL FUCKING PUUUUUSSSSSSSSSSSSSSYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Seer Network: Ahem. Sorry about that. Emotions got the better of me. ANyways, the Seer Network is a group of mostly (but not always!) seers, who try to track different timelines and frogs and species and other statistics like that. They are trying to get an accurate big picture of the multiverse, and are also responsible for sectioning off Cherub Zones and investigating oddities like the Green Sun. Pretty cool guys! Always have a lot of good and reliable info, and their studies always reveal some pretty cool stuff about how our universes actually work. May overlap with Game Breakers and Refractals in a lot of cases, but always more of the helpful sort.

Holy Shit that got long fast. Yeah, this will probably be a two-parter. Maybe even a three. Who knew that there were so many people on the internet? I'll link here once I've finished the other ones. GG out!

----------<I>----------

[persbaderse]

oh my fucking god

a while back i applied to work on a baldur's gate fan game thinking okay i definitely wont get a lead role but i do like writing and would love to help also i dont have a fulltime job and am going stir crazy

and i just looked at the discord and the team is made up of actual professional game devs. like people with actual real experience making games. i thought this was a hehe just for fun thing made by ametures and modders nope. i feel like a pre-schooler who tried to work at nasa

[bahnloopi]

Devil broly xenoverse 2 moveset when?

Oh his moveset would go crazy.

He'd keep og Broly's normals but also have his own signature creep-factor attacks and environmental manipulation.

Like a Freddy Krueger dreamworld type of stage.

I need to hire a modder.

[keystone8379]

keystone you should talk about something in regards to kirby fighters 2 community edition

Oh you're right I haven't done that yet! Regarding Kirby Fighters 2: Community Edition, there is a metric TON of stuff to talk about here. The dev team is some of the closest friends I've ever had. Smash Tactics is a thing because I was able to test the game over and over again with the members of the dev team. We've spent many hours sharing progressively crazier character ideas. We have created some warcrime moves. (or, well, more warcrime moves. KF2 already has plenty of those) I think, however, the best place to start for CE on the KF2 lore account is probably just a development history.

So it's late September, the year is 2020. Kirby Fighters 2 was leaked, got a trailer, and released all within the span of 24 hours. Soon after that, firubii (you might have seen her before) shows her findings from a Twitter datamine, that being evidence of a 3D Kirby game. "Wow! Awesome! I sure hope it's nothing like Battle Royale!" I say at the time. But I digress.

A few months pass and eventually fish gets in touch with Firubii for I believe checking hitboxes and frame data? We get a few things for some of the weirder moves from characters like Ninja, but the fact that a modder was among us got people excited. The prospect of a balance patch mod was an undeniably appealing one and could breathe new life (and a time) into the game. And one that Firubii was interested in.

March 16th, 2021 rolls around and Fish pings everyone saying that they had set up a poll for balance suggested for Firubii to implement. They also got an all star cast of top players and fighting game expects and colgate and me. because I "have lots of opinions." We're all put into a dev chat and poll responses start flowing in.

This poll was crazy. You had Ninja downplaying Mag like crazy. You had Celica Trying His Best. You had nonsense adjustment suggestions like "Not really that effective." But my favourite would have to be probably Qwertz saying to EVERY balance suggestion box "The game needs no balance changes, only quality of life changes."

So we all in the chat start throwing around ideas while not really getting anything done. This will be a running theme. About a month later I was like enough is enough and starting pinging people for proper balance discussions and locking in changes. There's a few notable things we did for v0.1, including making Sword a LOT faster, giving Hammer Palutena's Lightweight, (the s4 custom move) making Bandana Dee's spears stick into the ground for a few seconds, and making Cutter's boomerangs bounce off walls. That last one was our first real criminal change, as Cutter could effortlessly lock down the entire screen. I spent hours labbing counterplay only to find none and grew to despise the character and suggested massive overcorrections for v0.2. Oops.

Overall v0.1 was pretty good! It had some iffy stuff and launched with a Whip desync in game but other than that it was a success I think. It came out during July of 2021, a little under 4 months from the initial announcement. There's a few public tourneys with good turnouts but run via Parsec and Parsec makes me want to commit violent crimes. Progress on 0.2 also goes fairly well. There's some bad ideas in there like making MK not very fun but overall it's not so bad.

Until development just HALTS. To my understanding, I believe it was something personal Firubii was going through but I don't have all the info. Then again, I didn't ask. Like sure, I'd like to have the new CE versions as soon as possible, but ultimately the well being of the people actually making the mod is the top priority, it's why it's so irritating when people are jerks about CE's slow development. Obviously I want the new versions out. But we all have lives outside of this and sometimes other things need doing.

Eventually 0.2 gets out, at the start of Febuary 2022. It's solid but still has some things that irk me. After a few months, we ask for player feedback on overall balance and specific changes and get not many results. Granted, CE doesn't have much players so balance discussion is somewhat meaningless for a game this unexplored. I think 1.0 fixes all of the glaring flaws though.

At some point, once again, development freezes, and this one was rough. No communication from Firubii led to a lot of dooming, especially with how close we got to actually launching 1.0. We DO actually know why she vanished for so long this time, it's because her house caught fire. It didn't burn down don't worry! But this still caught us all SUPER off guard.

Anyway, CE resumed development and went for a little while, but hit a brick wall when trying to add training mode. I'm not an expert on the inner workings of KF2 but I know Firubii talked to Ryn (yes, the goku in strive Ryn) about it a little bit. I actually posted about this to my Threads account but who gives a shit about threads. That's more or less where we are now. It's been a while since the last tester build but what can you do.

There's also a few other things but there wasn't really a good place for them. Colgate thought it was a good idea to make a tierlist video for a game no one could play. It wasn't. I had to spend the days after that video doing damage control. There was a playlist where people could suggest songs to add to CE, but tbh it was more just an excuse to listen to music in VC while we could still do that. We were gonna move off Gamebanana because the site is run by N*zis but this was during the fire arc so didn't happen. AV also thought it'd be a good idea to shittalk CE and ask to join the dev team in the same day. There was also the time we had to rush out a trailer for Savi's Dream Display but I have a few criticisms about that which I'll share with him one day.

I think that's it? If you wanna download the mod I'll link it right here: https://gamebanana.com/mods/303920

[aita-blorbos]

Hypothetical Question, I think?

AITA for 'mistreating' the characters in my games?

God, I can't believe I'm even writing this. This feels so dumb.

I'm in pretty hot water with the public right now, so I'll keep things as vague as possible. Don't make any assumptions who I am. You are definitely wrong. That guy has better things to do than be here and ask crazy questions.

Ever since I (Adult, m) was little, I've been developing games. I developed them by using a special program, Gameworks, this firm, GF, put out. My first game was a massive success, my second one (a sequel) was met with mixed reviews since many didn't like how radical it was. GF made me an offer to buy the rights and produce a third game.

Who in their right mind would refuse that? Obviously, I took the money. The third came crashed and burned. It was full of bugs and all that. A small part of me died when I saw what they did to the IP. But I couldn't hold onto it forever. I had bigger plans. Why should I care?

Anyway, I hired my chilhood friend C (Adult, f) to help me with game development. We both worked on female characters since she insisted i shouldn't have only male ones. But ever since she created hers, there were these weird bugs in my games...

Anyway, I started a franchise of fighting games (which I don't get nearly enough credit for btw). I bought the rights to one of my favorite characters and obviously added him to the franchise. (gamers were so annoying, constantly whining about how characters were overpowered, underpowered, boring, ugh)

I made a huge game after that, but it flopped on release. I even paid the biggest gaming streamer to play it, but it was all for nothing because C messed with the game! She left bugs in there to intentionally sabotage me! Her ego was just to big to stand in the shadow of my greatness. And since everyone saw everything go to hell live... it bombed.

I had to take the money that was left and make my next game completely on my own again. It was supposed to be my great comeback. But then those modders took my half-finished game and made a mockery of it! So I filed a lot of lawsuits to get them down!

Sorry, I'm rambling. I'll try to keep it brief from here.

I did start another series, a shooter, but the characters were just too old... a breach thankfully corrupted a lot of data.

My Gameworks Assistant has been acting weird since then, telling me I'm in danger. It's weird, but... I've been thinking a lot lately... what if the characters I created... live somehow? It sounds so dumb, but... I think I fucked up with one of my characters especially.

He was the main character of my very first game and based on a younger version of my grandpa. And when my second game ever made got insanely popular... I just wanted to get rid of the game so it made me look like a genius. So I let my Gameworks Assistant delete everything from that game.

I don't know, this all sounds so stupid and crazy, but AITA for mistreating my game characters?

[noonaishere]

OH MY GOSH I THINK I KNOW WHO THE STALKER IS!

This is long! Please don't post this if I'm giving things away. There's still a ton of story to go and I don't want to spoil anything if I'm right! But I had to share my thoughts with you! 😁

So for awhile now, I've been going back and forth between either Keeho or Yeosang. It's obviously someone close to her. Who is pretending they AREN'T a stalker. I even made a little chart of screen names at one point trying to pinpoint who was and wasn't around and for how long. Stalker KNOWS her. These two just seem like they're juuust shady enough, or background character-y enough to be the stalker. But…. Something didn't quite fit. Keeho because he was involved in the move and choosing the apartment, no one would suspect a beloved idol of stalking, maybe he wasn't stalking but trying to scare her into keeping him company in Seoul, etc. Yeosang because he “happened” to live in the same building, “happened” to know Wooyoung, “happened” to randomly show up at her cafe, has a stand up job as a responsible adult/teacher, etc. I had more evidence for Yeosang than keeho, but somehow it makes sense that the stalker is someone close and was more involved in her move/daily life than we know. At one point, I remember thinking, “I should call it now, it's yeosang isn't it?” I mean the guy got her to trust him enough to give him a key? I know, long history, good friends, blah blah… but idk. I love Yeo but he seems fishy.

Anyway. Now here we are, I'm reading chapter 68. And it hit me. Like a ton of bricks and my stomach literally dropped. Omg I hope I'm wrong because this would be horrible!!!!

So, it seems that we have multiple stalkers right now. Or at least y/n isn't equating “online harasser” as possibly being “cafe stalker”. If this is two different people, it's concerning. How does someone end up with an online stalker/harasser who knows where they used to work, their true identity online, etc, AND an in person stalker too?

I'ts likely that that person knows who she is in real life, so it's likely she knows who they are. So it seems that cafe stalker CAN'T be Online Harasser because yn doesn't recognize him and isn't even thinking that he knows she's a streamer.

However. I propose that they are the same person. Online Harasser IS Cafe Stalker, who is the original stalker.

It's Quack. Omg, it's fricken Quack.

Who was the one who originally discovered that Online Harasser (who donated the crazy amount of money) was a guy with her cafe posted on his social media? Quack.

Who was the one who DIDN'T share the supposed guy's name or social media handle with yn? Quack.

Who is the one who is responsible for banning every harassing screen name, and making sure the messages get dealt with/seen or not? Quack.

Who is her only mod, unt she added Namhae? Quack.

“QuackIsWhack✅: Sometimes I can’t even tell if they’re fighting, and I’ve been Cat’s mod since she first needed a mod”

🤔 I wonder how she came to the decision she needed a mod? Did Quack suggest it?

Who is overprotective of yn during streams? Exhibit 7642:

A🌲SurroundedBy🌷s: Tits out for Morn

QuackIsWhack✅: *Whose* tits, Tree?

A🌲SurroundedBy🌷s: My own 😤😤😤

A🌲SurroundedBy🌷s: They’re my tits and I’ll display them if I want to

QuackIsWhack✅: Understandable. As you were

(Side note: this kind of comment from Quack isn't creepy if she's another female who is standing up for her long time friend. It IS creepy when it's a rando from the internet who is a man in his 30s and probably in his mom's basement… you aren't her boyfriend, bro.)

Who didn't need a replacement mod when Namhae aka San didn't mod for a month? Quack.

When did the harassing messages online start again? When Namhae was out and Quack was the only modder on duty.

Ugh! And ALL of chapter 50?! Quack called the chats to her attention on purpose so she would know someone was calling her names?! Oh please!

Who doesn't she know in real life? And we have never talked to except over typed chat?Quack.

She moved to Seoul, on keeho's advice, into a building based on keeho's recommendation. And who told her to talk to Keeho about the creepy social media post she hasn't actually seen? Quack. Maybe keeho is involved.

Chapter 66. Cafe Stalker says to San, “She’s never said anything about having a boyfriend–”

OH WHAT? YOUVE TALKED TO HER BEFORE?

Which brings me to the current, stomach dropping moment in chapter 68. Yn texts Quack to tell “her” that she can't stream tonight BECAUSE SHE ISNT AT HER APARTMENT. Yn tells Quack where she is, and Quack wants her GPS data! She's going to give the stalker her GPS data! Oh my god. Quack isn't stopping or blocking the stalking or threats. He's manufacturing the online threats so she's scared and Quack can be the white knight and/or bring it all to her attentikn and watch her panic. Stalkers/psychopaths love to see the effects of their work. Quack is the stalker.

In his own words, Quack is WHACK!

So first @rachs-words, I have to say:

Because I'm not going to tell you if you're right or not, since I don't want to spoil it for you or anyone.

I will say, it didn't occur to me that I had made so many Red Herrings, but that's probably just because I know who it is, so I wasn't paying enough attention to what readers could have thought about all the characters... (and here I thought that the spreadsheet I had to make with character's ages for a book series was complicated 🤣)

Whoopsie. Definitely a learning moment for if I ever wanted to write a Mystery lol

I am super flattered (🫶🫶🫶) that you went through all the trouble of making a chart in trying to figure out who the stalker is, and I really love the thisness of this ask:

(I'm including San because I remember someone said they thought it was him early on)

It's just so that^^^ and I loved every second of it lol.To all of your effort, I say:

I have been dropping hints about who it is, but now I'm wondering if they were too subtle. The answer does have to do with the screen names, though, that's all I can say.

The only thing I'll maybe push back against, is: I was a mod for a streamer for a month or so (after I finished the fic actually, and it was funny to me how right I ended up being about most of my guesses of what it would be like lol) and there were a lot of moment's like Quack's that you quoted, where chatters would start to get a little wild and we'd have to be like "excuse you?" In particular, they'd randomly start calling the streamer "daddy", which made him uncomfortable, so we'd have to be like "everyone be cool or you're getting timed out," and then hide all their messages so they didn't show up in the stream. One Horny On Main person in particular had to be timed out at least once because they were just not listening lol. Like... everyone's looking at you in real time, are you not embarrassed? lol.

Should I do a Q&A after the fics are over? I feel like there's going to be some questions that people need answering and I don't mind answering them after it's over lol