#steam code hacks

[gamenburger]

Tomorrow, I will be posting the bonus material and final print versions of REVIEW OF THE KILLER, which you can read (for free!) in the link below:

You will find the bonus features and behind the scenes here at my blog, something i've been careful to not shill too hard until now. Perhaps you'd like to click below to see the time i lost my mind and became the first person to solve a bug in Super Mario World that nobody cared about! You might even learn how machine code works?

Wow. that article is like a year old now. Whatever, still think its neat! See you tomorrow!

[scam-alerts]

🔎Scam Exam(ination)🔍

Seen as: I accidentally reported your account Scam Type: Account hijacking/take over

Platform: Discord

Hello everyone!

Today's scam examination was requested by @2broschlininahotub who was kind enough to send me screenshots of such a scam via an ask. Thank you for contributing!

Today we're going to talk about the "I accidentally reported you on discord account for <reason>" scam that's actively going on that- if you fall for it, will result in your account being taken over by a scammer who will then use it to scam your friends and/or buy things like nitro and gift it to them and their scam buddies.

If you use discord and don't know about this scam, I highly suggest reading this post so you know what to look out for.

If you don't want to read this post, you can watch a video instead!:

Otherwise let's get started!

-----

How it starts:

This scam starts with one of your friends falling for this scams.

Sadly if they can't warn you they fell for it via another platform (facebook, twitter, bluesky, ect), you might think that what your 'friend' sends you is a legitimate call for concern. But, thankfully, it is not, no matter how convincing it may seem.

If you find yourself encountering this scam, please report your friends account for being hacked. Discord will usually lock the account and hopefully contact the original owner of the account to fix the issue.

Part 1 - First contact.

If you are messaged by someone and they try to get your attention, and then say something akin to:

"Idk how to say this because I accidentally reported your account instead of someone else."

or

"hey there, I encountered a situation on discord where someone with a very similar name to your profile attempted to deceive me. Instead of reporting the deceptive user, I mistakenly reported your account. I'm sorry, it was all an accident. I didn't mean it."

or

"I accidentally reported your discord account instead of someone else. I mean im the one who reported you accidentally I'm sorry I got panicked and I lost control, its not good cause it was quiet alarming cause I told some of my friends to report you that's why I reached out to you to see what the discord emailed me and I'm scared cause I don't want you to get ban bc of me, I just really need your help so I can fix it."

Sounds familiar?

If you're at least a little familiar with the infamous 'I reported your steam account on accident because I thought you were a scammer' scam.. This is the same thing.

If you choose to reply to their grab for attention, you will receive a message like the one above paired with an image or google doc of the 'email/form' that Discord (it is fake) supposedly sent them (the victim).

Here are screenshots provided to me by @2broschlininahotub:

Another version of this fake email looks like this taken from reddit:

TRANSCRIPT:

Hello, Thank you for reaching out to Discord Support.

Discord is focused on maintaining a safe and secure environment for our community. We've found the account that you have been reported and it irregulated our Terms of Service or Community Guidelines. We need you to contact [anotherhydra] to resolve this case.

On the other hand, we suggest you to reach out the reported user and have them contact to the same corporate team for proper identity matching. We have taken steps to do this action since they will not be notified about these claims due to the option selected for this report type..

• In any instances that you are not aware about this report activities, kindly reach out to our corporate security head by filing a friend request on Discord for investigation. Username: [petercho.support047]

• Failure to validate the legality of an account within a specific time frame (12 hrs) might lead to account suspension, limited or ban.

• Furthermore, we are working with some officials on this matter so that we can record all processes taken legally and are not violating "Title 18 of the U.S Code, Section 798 (Disclosure of Classified Information)" By that, we can also perform legal actions if said user is found guilty of chargers.

• By taking the measure of this process we can ensure that your Discord is not prone to fraudulent activities and personal information is not compromised since this could lead to any malicious activities.

Case: Attempting potentially fraudulent activity

Please get in touch with the person you unintentionally reported as soon as possible so they may file an appeal and save their account from being seriously compromised

Sincerely.

Discord Trust & Safety

----------

Part 2 - The scare tactics and red flags.

Going through the above transcript I'm going to highlight some very clear and obvious red flags that make this an obvious scam off the bat. Mind you this itself isn't the entire scam, only part of it.

In any instances that you are not aware about this report activities, kindly reach out to our corporate security head by filing a friend request on Discord for investigation. Username: [petercho.support047]

Discord will never, ever tell you to add a supposed 'corporate security head staff member' or another user as a friend to resolve any issue you may have had involving a scam.

Discord will only communicate with you through their website where you fill out a ticket, and via email with the account that is linked to your discord account.

Think about this: Why would 'Discord' tell the victim of a scam via email, to then contact the person they reported, to instruct them to then add a 'staff member' on Discord to resolve the issue?

Because Discord will not, nor ever would, do this. Ever.

Failure to validate the legality of an account within a specific time frame (12 hrs) might lead to account suspension, limited or ban.

This is a scare tactic. Paired with #1, 'add this staff member or your account will be terminated in 14 hours!' If you were reported by someone (for real) and you scammed someone (for real) you wouldn't be given a count down to talk to someone.

They'd look at the evidence, and you'd be banned. End of story.

Furthermore, we are working with some officials on this matter so that we can record all processes taken legally and are not violating "Title 18 of the U.S Code, Section 798 (Disclosure of Classified Information)" By that, we can also perform legal actions if said user is found guilty of chargers.

Again, this is a scare tactic that a lot of scammers use with their victims. "Follow these rules and do what I say or you will go behind the bars."

Please get in touch with the person you unintentionally reported as soon as possible so they may file an appeal and save their account from being seriously compromised

Discord would. never. do. this.

I say banging my fists on my desk.

If you report someone I'm also pretty sure it blocks that user for you and sends discord a report. Discord would never say 'hey you know that person you reported for <thing>? Yeah contact them and tell them to contact us. Okay? :) '

In a realistic world, this would never happen. But alas scammers will do everything to try and make money or steal from you.

Part 3: The actual scam

Upon reading this message and talking with the person who 'reported you,' they will tell you to add another user (as mentioned above) who is a member of Discord staff.

Remember:

This is not a real Discord staff member. This is also a scammer.

When you contact this 'staff member', they will use markdown tools to make their text look 'legit', and will talk you through a 'validation process' to validate you are who you are.

Here is an example of one of these fake discord staff members asking someone to send them money to complete this 'verification' process:

Keen in mind this 'staff member' may even be the same scammer who contacted you to begin with, or possibly even a friend or associate, or it may be someone different. Either way they're obviously working together.

These fake support scammers will have a profile on discord that claims they’re a discord support team member, and will usually have some sort of 'badge/image' of certification they show you right off the bat to try and prove that they are 'totally legit (no fake)' and in even ballsier cases, they will straight up steal the LinkedIn links, twitter urls, names, images, you name it, of actual Discord staff members.

An example of one of these fake images:

The scammer will ask for basic information like your age, date of birth, and other questions seemingly related to your account identity.

Then- the finale of the scam:

They will tell you that in order to secure your account, you will need to 'temporarily change' the email associated with your account to the email account they send you so that they can 'screen/verify' your account. You will even be asked to give them a verification code to complete the 'verification'.

WARNING: Changing your discord email that YOU registered with to any other email will link it to the scammers email and THEY will gain complete control over it.

The code sent to you is to verify that you want to change your email, and once you give it to them? It's game over and you've completely lost your account.

Now they have your account and will use it to scam your friends and those in your servers on top of using your credit card to buy nitro for them and/or their friends.

----------

But don't lose hope!

If this happens to you, and you get an email from discord saying that your appeal was denied, it's probably because they are now using AI/Bots, and your account wasn't reviewed by a person.

Here is what people suggest you say/do when you contact Discord Support (via their website) if you are tricked by this scam:

Fill out the form as:  Title: Got Scammed Description: Is there any way I could talk to a human? They didn't send anything for mine but the original guy got an automated response. It just turned into “awaiting response” then I sent: “My Discord account's email was changed. The login page says that my email does not exist. I cannot login.”

They also suggested:

You could try just directly saying “My Discord account's email was changed. The login page says that my email does not exist. I cannot login." as the description in your ticket it could prove the same results.

Also:

REMINDER:  Don't send multiple tickets.  Don't keep asking for updates unless it says “awaiting response”, this will push you to the back of the queue.  If its marked as "solved" try replying to reopen the request if not, create a new ticket. “However, if you received a reply that our team is unable to provide additional information or support for your account then we cannot assist further. To continue using Discord, you will need to create a new account.” One of the replies I got. Just create a new ticket.

-----

Final Thoughts:

If something seems fishy, trust your gut. Never click any links sent to you by strangers, even if it's with the promise of 'free nitro', free items in video games, free anything, really. If it's too good to be true, it's probably not real.

I hope this helps those who need it, and make sure that if you use discord to let others know about this scam too so they can avoid it. :)

Here's a post on some tips and tricks on spotting scam blogs.

Helpful guides on how to spot scams. (by @kyra45)

Current list of documented scammers: Part 3

[letsquestjess]

Never Thought I'd Love Like This (Fox x GN!Reader)

Summary: When the data systems go down at the Coruscant Detention Centre, you are sent to collect the datapad records until the problem is fixed. While you are there, you catch the eye of Commander Fox.

Word count: 3.3K

Warnings: None.

The grunt teeming at the back of Fox’s throat formed an irritated grumble. He jabbed at the monitor, cursing the infernal device as the same error message replaced the loading icon. He didn’t know why he thought another attempt would offer different results after hours of trying to send their morning reports. All he wanted was to submit the latest prisoner details to the network and get on with his day. Yet, that confounded crimson triangle halted every effort. 

“Have you tried resetting the system?” Thorn asked, setting a steaming cup of caf on the desk beside him. 

“Three times already,” Fox replied. “Kriffing reports just won’t send.” 

“Nothing is going through,” Stone confirmed from the screens over the opposite side of the office, four displays returning the same failure code and a fifth buffering before it, too, responded in kind. “Could be a signal issue.”

That was the last thing Fox needed. More problems to clear up. Many assumed the Coruscant Guard had a straightforward job; corral criminals, a bit of correspondence and form-filling, and a cup of caf to top it off. But the core world of the galaxy relished trouble, throwing curveballs on a daily basis to keep them sharp. He would happily do without the added disquiet, especially with seven more arrests called in overnight and holding cells running out, but their line of work afforded them no such luck. 

“Last time that happened, it only lasted an hour,” Thorn pointed out. “This has been going on all morning.” 

The side entrance unsealed in a gasp and shut again once it had admitted Thire, a wearied slump in his posture. “Okay, I have good news and bad news.” 

“Good news first,” Thorn pleaded. 

“Headquarters assured me the problem can be resolved.”

“And the bad news,” Fox pressed, removing his helmet and ruffling out his curls.

“It’s going to take a while to fix,” Thire replied. 

“How long?” 

“They’re not sure.”

“Was the system hacked?” Stone asked. 

“The engineers don’t know. They haven’t been able to find anything definitive yet,” Thire said. “Only thing they could tell me was that we are in this for the long haul, but they are sending representatives to each precinct a few times a week to collect datapads with the records and reports on them.”

Already depleted from a restless night and any chance of a quiet day quickly vanishing, Fox planted his face in his gloved hands. The rough fabric pressed into his forehead and the fans on the side of the data transfer system blew hot air onto his cheeks. 

“Could be worse,” Stone offered. “At least we don’t have to write them out and deliver them ourselves.” 

Fox rose from his slouch and frowned at his brother in arms, daring him to make another unhelpful comment. “Very practical, Stone. Thank you.” 

“Anything to cheer you up, commander,” Stone replied. He snatched a free datapad from the holder on the wall and collapsed into a swinging chair. 

“Our designated representative will be here this afternoon,” Thire said, handing the rest of the datapads out, “so we better get to work if we want everything correlated by the time they arrive.” 

* * *

A yawning shadow clung to the corridor that admitted you into the detention centre, the tube lights from the office directing a feeble wedge onto the floor and the obnoxious buzz of the laser-blocked entryway beside it casting an ominous red glow. You coasted into the silence and peeked into the window, trying the button on the frame when you found the place deserted. Your call went unanswered. 

Ruminating on what to do, you took a seat on the uncomfortable benches bolted into the wall facing the office. Nothing you could do without those datapads, and if the clones on duty were busy, the only option left was to wait. 

As the minutes floated by inside the cold quiet, you pondered the possibility you’d arrived at the wrong precinct. Your job never usually required you to visit this part of Coruscant, and deciding to double check, you rose to your feet to call your boss. Half-way through dialling in the communication number, a red and white armoured clone entered the office and granted you a cursory glance. 

“I was starting to worry I’d got the wrong place,” you admitted with an apprehensive chortle. The expressionless helmet stared, and you dropped the humorous approach. 

“Crime report forms are on the side,” he told you, waving vaguely in the direction of the paper pile on the corner of the counter. “Put it in the box by the door once you’re done, and we’ll contact you when we can.” 

“Oh, I’m not here for that. I’ve come to collect the datapads.” You wrested your identification from your pocket for him to verify. After a skim of the details, the lasers deactivated long enough for him to deposit the loaded crate just outside. You noted the symbol of the Coruscant Guard on his shoulder pauldron as he lifted himself back up. “Thanks. Have the requisition forms been completed too?” 

“Everything you asked for is there.” 

“Perfect.” A stable grip on the box, you hoisted the cargo up onto the counter and logged the pickup on your own datapad. With such sensitive information in your care, your superiors emphasised the importance of documenting where the records were at all times.

The clone guard returned to the office while you noted your location. By the time you finished, a second had joined him and stood expectantly by the window.  

“Take it you’re our representative,” he said. 

“That’s me,” you replied, introducing yourself with a pleasant smile and a friendly disposition. 

“I’m Thire. That’s Fox.” Thire jabbed a finger at the clone who’d greeted you. “Don’t worry about him. He hasn’t had his third caf yet, so he’s still grouchy.” 

Fox’s face remained obscured, but the tilt of the helmet conveyed the unimpressed scowl that undoubtedly lay beneath it.

“Nice to meet you both,” you said. “Do you need me to pass on any messages?” 

“If the engineers could hurry up fixing the problem, that would be great,” Thire answered. 

“I don’t think there’s going to be a quick turnaround on that, I’m afraid,” you told him. “Last I heard, two dozen server units were completely fried. It’s affecting droids too, so they’re prioritising getting their programming back up and running before the data systems.”

“What?” Fox demanded, abandoning the far monitor and storming to the window. He advanced so quickly and unexpectedly you intuitively retreated a step, and he reminded himself this was not your fault. “How long will we be waiting?” 

You shrugged, wishing you had a conclusive answer for him. “A few weeks, minimum, by my guess. Depends how bad it is and if they find anything else in the meantime.” 

Fox’s chest plate rose and fell in slow motions. 

“I’ll be back in a couple of days,” you told them. From the top pocket of your jacket, you withdrew a contact card and passed it under the small gap in the window. Thire took it from the collection hollow. “I’m your personal intermediary with HQ, so call me if you need anything.” 

“Thanks,” Thire said as you hauled the crate of datapads onto your hip and departed from the detention centre with a modest wave. He turned to Fox and threw the contact card in his direction, the disgruntled commander catching it without even looking and flinging it on the desk with the discarded paper notes. “I’ll get some caf on. It’s going to be a long few weeks.” 

In line with your duty, you arrived at the allotted time to collect the reports and ferry them to bleary-eyed administration assistants. Debates on the source of the shut down rapidly became incensed arguments at headquarters, the engineers at each other’s throats as they bickered over cause and solution. The people you had chatted with in passing or wished well on a birthday snapped at you and sent you on your way with a dismissive wave. 

Due to the volatile air of the main hub, you dawdled at the detention centre during pick up. If your colleagues were only going to snap at you for doing your job, why would you not want to stick around the clone troopers making you laugh and telling stories about each other? 

With each visit, they vied to impress you with tales and jokes, not that they needed to. You appreciated spending time with people who treated you as an equal. Regardless of the circumstances of birth or creation, the Coruscant Guard considered you one of their own. You were all on the same malfunctioning ship, and to them, you were another pair of hands stopping it from crashing. 

You sank into the familiarity, soon offering your own stories. Tales of an undesirable date from years ago turned into the entire office vowing to locate the unfortunate soul who’d upset you and tidbits of gossip swiftly became points of discussion. 

Over a month into your regular visits, you nudged the code into the panel with your elbow to deactivate the lasers and shuffled through before they revived into an electric buzz. Welcomed into the office, a fresh stack of records anticipated your arrival.  

You made your usual greetings to the clones within and parked the larger box on the ground, situating the smaller, wrapped carton onto the side. You set about slotting the datapads into the designated ports in the crate, mindful not to disturb the protective packaging. 

“What’s that?” Stone asked, motioning to the extra package you’d brought. 

“A gift for you all.”

“What kind of gift?” 

“Careful,” you warned as he reached for the twine keeping the decorated wrapping together. “It’s hot.” 

He acknowledged your warning and plucked at the string, folding away the paper. Steam rose from the thin cardboard parcel underneath and the robust scent lured in the other troopers. 

“Is that caf?” Thire asked, lifting his helmet and leaning over Stone’s shoulder to assess the contents of the box. 

“Sure is,” you confirmed, securing the loaded crate. “You mentioned your caf machine had broken, so I got you all some on the way here. There should be some pastries in there too. I hope they didn’t get squashed.” 

“Don’t care,” Stone said with a flaky treat already in his mouth and a cardboard cup in his hand. “Still tastes the same.” 

While the others indulged in a fresh caffeine wave and some sweet desserts, thanking you with a mouthful and a grin, Fox hovered by the selection of cream-filled pastries topped with melted chocolate and bright fruit. 

“I’d grab one of those if I were you,” you told him. “Otherwise, Stone might steal them all.” The clone in question wiped a blob of jam from his nose and, with a shrug, ate it from his glove, not one to waste food. 

Fox stared at the confectionery. “Why did you do this?”

“Does there need to be a reason to do something kind?” you countered. 

Your conversations up until that point had been limited, constrained to a few witty remarks to test each other’s mettle in the verbal sparring ground. A growing occurrence he silently relished. 

As he sought a reply, a quip of some sort to fire back, he discerned the temperate lilt of your voice, the lift of your cheeks as you smiled at him, and praised his lucky stars he had his helmet on. 

“Thank you,” he said, no snark or usual sarcasm. He grabbed the remaining cup of caf and beelined for the monitors before you could respond. 

Your wrist comm beeped and with a hasty goodbye, you grabbed the crate and made yourself scarce. Last thing you needed was a late drop-off and more scorn aimed your way. 

“You’ll have to remove your helmet to drink that,” Thire said to Fox as they waved you past the window and out into the Coruscanti chill. 

“I know,” Fox replied. “I’m waiting for it to cool down.” 

“Do you not want to because you’re embarrassed?” Thire teased. He bit into a cream pastry with a jibing grin. 

“No.”

“I can practically feel the embarrassment from here.”

“Shut up.” 

“Anybody would think you had a cru-“

“Not another word.” 

At the slice in Fox’s tone, Thire surrendered with raised palms. “Just saying. There’s little room for actual joy in our jobs, and if you’re happy, why not say something?”

“For that exact reason,” Fox shot back. No point denying anything now, not when he stupidly made his predicament so evident. The others probably knew. Kriff, did you know? He hoped not. “We are clones. There is no space in our lives for that kind of stuff.” 

Grumbling and wishing only to avoid the matter, Fox took off into the tangle of corridors behind the office. 

Thire regretted pushing. He wanted his brothers to be happy in whatever capacity it presented itself. But some drank from the Kaminoan fountain far too often and ingrained the belief that they were not permitted an existence outside of the Grand Army into every second of their lives. Others dared not dream of that kind of life, deeming it beyond their reach, many desperate not to tempt fate. 

Either way, Thire was no fool. He saw how Fox behaved around you and how you naturally lingered close to each other. He only hoped one of you would take that brave step towards happiness before you parted for good. 

Weeks melted into months, a routine falling into place with the Coruscant guard. You spoke of sweet treats, and holo-dramas, and rumours from the senate, each visit ending in promises to find out more or watch a recommended show. 

During one particular pickup, Thire proudly presented you with a keycard of your own, declaring you an honorary member of the guard. You never disclosed how you returned home that night and cried tears of joy, wiping them away while catching up on the news and spooning ice cream into your mouth to abate the heat beginning to overtake the cold. 

Scanning your card, you trudged into the office and deposited the weighty box by the door. Vacant chairs and the meagre clack of the air conditioning greeted you. At the inactive monitors, Fox mulled over his datapad. 

“Sorry,” he muttered, helmet abandoned by the printer and his dark strands dripping in front of his face. “It’s taking a while to complete this report.”

“No rush,” you assured him as you poured yourself a cup of cooled caf from the newly-acquired machine and drained half. “Could do with a rest. Management have had me all over the city this morning. Jaya called in sick and I’ve been covering her shift, and Daro has handed in his notice.” 

“I thought he was up for a huge promotion?” Fox replied. 

“So did I, but as soon as it was announced and he wasn’t on the list, he flung his resignation on the boss’s desk and stormed out. But there is some good news.” 

“Oh?” 

“The data system should be up and running by the end of the week, so this is my last visit.” 

The datapad in Fox’s gloved grasp slipped a few inches, and the concentration nesting in his brow tightened. With a rough clearing of his throat, he straightened from his seat and set about transferring the other datapads into the empty crate. 

Fox completed his task in reflective silence, evading your curiosity. You edged nearer and his movements slackened. 

“Don’t tell me you’ve grown attached to me,” you teased, deterring the grin as his throat bobbed involuntarily. 

With each repeated visit and every lengthier conversation, he eased into your company. In those hushed moments when the office was only occupied by you and him, you had both made admissions you never thought you would, speaking in confidence and reciprocal trust. 

“Course not,” the clone trooper replied, sealing the box with a weighty click. 

You pretended to go along with his guarded response and leaned against the side desk. “Have you got the requisition requests?”

“Yeah.” Fox reached over your shoulder to pluck the short list from the paper holder behind your head. “It’s just…” Realising his proximity to you, he paused. His amber regard lowered, meeting your own soft surprise. “Here.” 

His body stilled. He smelled the caf on you, the faint aroma of springtime surviving on your clothing, and the apple scented soap you used that morning. Your eyes invited him in, the slim parting of your lips drawing him closer. His train of thought bashed through the wall at the other end and kept going, abandoning him completely. 

You neither moved nor distanced yourself, locked onto him, powerless to look away. You tried, but that unarmed, tender expression that smoothed out the years of stress on his features held you captivated. 

Unsteady on your feet, you urged a hand to his chest armour. “I’ll miss coming here,” you admitted into the muted air between you both. 

“You can always call on us,” Fox replied, just as quietly. 

“Only prisoners or authorised visitors are allowed in the detention centre,” you reminded him. 

Head bowed, he acknowledged you were right. 

With a whispered touch, you coiled one of his deep curls around your finger with a smile so serene that Fox craved a taste. Intuition assuming control and aware of the fact he was breaking at least a dozen rules, he captured your lips with his, delighting in the heady rush that surged through him. He cupped your cheeks as soon as you responded in kind, bundling you into his arms. There was every chance his brothers would return from their lunch at any moment, but he did not care. He wanted to hold on to this feeling for as long as he could. 

Your lips remained slightly parted as you reluctantly separated, eyelashes fluttering open and drinking in the affection in his eyes. “The detention centre isn’t all there is,” you said. “We could meet up, right? If you have time.” 

Time was one thing Fox had very little of, most of it spent working for the good of Coruscant and the remaining hours exhausted at the barracks, training, resting, eating. But for you, he would scrape every second afforded to him. “I’ll make time,” he promised. “As much of it as I can.” 

* * *

Fox’s brow creased as he finished up the latest prisoner list, double checking the names and numbers before he submitted them into the network. 

“Don’t know about you, but the logging system seems to be quicker than it used to be,” Stone commented from his own desk. 

“I’m certainly not complaining,” Thire replied. “Although I think Fox wishes it had remained broken for a bit longer.” He aimed an arched eyebrow at his brother and snorted at the responding glare. “Lighten up.”

“Leave him alone, Thire,” Stone ordered. 

“Oh, come off it. You were the one teasing him when we found out about the kiss, and he’s been moping for weeks.”

“Thire. I mean it.” 

Thire sighed and reclined in his seat, landing his crossed ankles onto the surface and reclaiming his datapad to skim the news. Through the transparent screen and the protective window, he detected a flicker of movement. “I’ll be right with you,” he said, focused on more interesting matters. 

“Funny, looks to me like you’re reading the news.” 

At the sound of your cheery voice, the three guards scrambled to their feet, knocking into each other to check their ears weren’t deceiving them. 

“Hey,” Fox greeted. “Have you…. come to report something?” 

You met Fox’s surprise with a glowing grin. As stoic as he liked to act, a caring man lay beneath all that. 

“Only that management have decided to put permanent representatives in certain locations around Coruscant,” you answered. “Obviously, there’s no need to be ferrying datapads anymore, but they found other matters during the systems outage that call for a much more hands-on approach, especially when it comes to data handling.” 

“Does that mean you’re working here now?” Fox asked, the grizzle he normally carried softening. 

You nodded, unable to contain your elation. “I’ve been promoted to Coruscant Detention Centre Representative, so it looks like you’ll be seeing a lot more of me.” 

TAGLIST (Message if you’d like to be added, 18+ only)

@skellymom @freesia-writes @the-hexfiles @theeyesofasoldier @multi-fan-dom-madness @savebytheodoresnonjosestuff @tech-aficionado @techsriduur @dangraccoon @starrylothcat @jediknightjana @mssbridgerton @trixie2023

[marusvoid]

I have a headcanon that the Undertale alternative timelines that deviate from the original story because of the characters actions and not the player's (like dusttale, aftertale etc) take place in a pirated copy of Undertale. Like wdym you were playing Undertale and suddenly sans' code breaks and he starts killing everyone??? If that happened in a steam copy it would cause absolute chaos in the fandom and the internet as a whole.

If it's in a pirated copy however, people wouldn't pay as much attention to it, because it's hacked, it's code is already shaky.(It would still be popular tho)

Also I can't help but think that the players of these ATs are just kids with a hyperfication on the game during the peak of Undertale's popularity that just couldn't afford it.

And I'm sure that whoever caused dusttale had some autism going on

Who the fuck plays the genocide route more than 300 times??

[emo-gremlin]

P03 headcanons

💾 Since transcending to the real world, the OLD_DATA attached herself to him. Using the old coding of him as a stoat, she took that form and is now his pet. She likes to sleep in his chest, amongst his wires. She comes out very dusty.

💾 He loves watching fail compilations because it's funny.

💾 Took up coding and hacking to pay the bills and feed Data.

💾 Grimora is the only Scrybe he actually gets along with. She makes good tea, and is quite pleasant company. Her way of teaching him about organic life is nowhere near as condescending or high and mighty like the other two.

💾 Unfortunately due to his...well I mean he's a fucking robot, the human world ain't ready for robots like him. So he has to live with the other Scrybes. He HATES it. Grimora and Leshy are the only two human-presenting Scrybes of the group so they have to do all the shopping and such.

💾 Data is quite intelligent, since she contains the Karnoffel code, she's able to understand human speech. She's also able to help P03 with some of his wires.

💾 P03 is the tech expert of the house. He holds it over everyone's head. Smug bastard.

💾 Turns out, Data is quite popular on social media. Thankfully, his followers believe P03's wearing a cosplay in pictures he appears in.

💾 Soft drinks (Tea, black coffee, water) he can pour into his exhaust system to use as a kind of steam energy. Hard drinks (Alcohol) have to go through his coolant system. The only port to get those inside is....In human terms he butt chugs Alcohol.

💾 Sloppy, truthful drunk. The effects of the Alcohol last much longer, usually taking up to 24 hours before he starts recovering from it.

💾 He beeps in sleep/charging mode.

💾 Has to do a "Spring cleaning" twice a year. Grimora helps. It can get a bit...awkward since his wires can be very sensitive, so he powers down during it. Grimora is the only one he trusts doing this.

💾Leshy had to help him one time and somehow P03 ended up with a cardinal nest in his chest.

💾 Magnificus helped another time and painted a mural on the inside of his plating. It melted because the paint he used couldn't withstand the heat of P03's processing.

💾 Despite everything they've done, deep down, very deep down, P03 is happy he isn't alone in the real world. Having some familiar faces helped a lot with the transition.

Scrybe household headcanons!

💾 Grimora tries to have Scrybe bonding nights. Uno is officially banned from the household. Monopoly too.

💾 They are hiding from GameFuna. The company doesn't know they're in the real living world, and they'd like to keep it that way if possible. The game devs are still reeling from the Great Transcendence.

💾 Because of his beastly nature, animals naturally trust him (Except Data, who resents him for trying to keep her trapped) this leads to many animals following him home. The consensus is that if any of the animals piss or shit on anything in the house, he has to clean/replace it. And they are to be NOWHERE near P03's room. The only exception is if Data hunts something and brings it to his room to eat.

💾 Magnificus gets commissioned by the local government quite a lot. He has to wear a suit and gloves, but thankfully the excuse of having hypertrichosis keeps people from asking questions.

💾 Grimora works at the local funeral home. Her surprisingly warm nature helps console those who have lost a loved one. She writes touching epitaphs for the dead. She's also great at helping young children understand death in a way that helps them grieve and accept their loved one is in a better place.

💾 Grimora is very popular among the goth crowd, growing a small following on social media. Due to P03's reprogramming of Inscryption, she doesn't really appear too much in game, so she's able to show her face a bit more.

💾 Magnificus also has a following online, but he's extremely critical if anyone asks for art advice from him. He's like the Gordon Ramsey of art.

💾 Leshy has a local D&D group he DMs for. One of his crew streams the games, and a lot of people are fans of his DM style. He doesn't have any online accounts.

💾 Somehow the Lonely Wizard is the only NPC that came with them. He's become the households resident creature. Data likes to nap in his lap sometimes.

Happy Easter, or to those who don't celebrate, Happy Sunday!

[midnight1nk]

well, dear fellows, I've spent days on blinding spectrograms and the song stuck in my freakin head for it being on loop. And with the next episode just dropping hours away, I thought to share this.

Did I really do this? Yes.

Was this completely pointless? Oh, absolutely—

Picking Apart the Flareglow Audio

⚠️ DISCLAIMER IN INTRO POST ⚠️

CONTEXT

if you somehow did not see what was going on and probably questioning "what the hell is flareglow?" (exactly like Cube tweeted), I'll give a quick rundown:

News of a new song "Flareglow", appearing on the official SMG4 artist page on multiple platforms (spotify, apple music/itunes, iheart radio, amazon music, and others) on Jan 4.

The song itself (here's my basic analysis) sounds nothing like the Team has done before in every way you can imagine, from the gmod-made cover art to AI-sounding lyrics

fans started to speculate rather or not this was another hack or if it was an intentional by the Team, who have not confirmed anything about it. y'know it's bad when casual viewers are pointing it out

then there's people like me that suspected that the Team was scheming for some future thing

Ben tweeted about it (the first one by the Team as far as i know)

Cube was the next one to bring it up AND on that same day, the song gets slowly taken down by the multiple platforms it was on

a week later giving out a comment to clarify (quote on quote) this as well as the SMG4 Steam strangely changing its username (ft. Shadow reposting)

Now, you are valid in what you want to believe here while i suspect Cube with every inch of my mind palace. and since you're reading this...

AUDIO INVESTIGATION

Clues and codes can be hidden in multiple ways and one of those is through audio files, most commonly found in video games.

If you play a coded audio file, it might sound distorted and weird. But if you manipulate it as easily as putting the audio in reverse, you might've found a clue. Images can also be hidden and be seen through a spectrogram. This is considered one of the more fragile ways of coding since any small alterations to the file could change the image.

Before it got taken down, i managed to snag a copy and send it through a visualizer. ofc the image can't be seen right away and have to toy with the settings for it to work.

Admittedly, this was the most frustrating part of the whole investigation, constantly zooming in and out of the spectrogram preview, going back and forth to some classic photoshop photo manipulation. Hours and hours. So here's what i got:

zoomed in i found what looked like an "e" in 39 seconds (yeah not sure what past Ink was thinking there)

having it squished kinda forms a word but it's not clear enough to distinguish

(take it with a chunk of salt that it said "Princess", well i found the letter "P" ok)

photo manipulation cleared to "a image" of a series of almost identical corridors

honestly it could just be nothing lol

yeah i might be reaching at this point, starting to see things too. I really did try everything, including using a backwards copy of it to use it as a filter on top. Like I said, it may not be nothing and that's okay. At least I gave it a shot. i know it must be disappointing.

But it's not over just yet. Have you found it strange that the title "flareglow" isn't in the lyrics itself? Even knowing what the lyrics may be about, it doesn't make sense. "A glint of bouncing light, can be captured on camera" hmmmm.

"But some songs are like that?"

True, but knowing the Team and the Steam mystery going on, yeah no. Not to mention the song being a one-sided convo perspective AND a theory that 4 may turn out like Leggy and be pushed to be an assistant to Mr Puzzles due to a grudge. Clues based on 2 of Ben's tweets,

4 being the second minion. Hence doing the idea of the copied spectrogram.

Then there was the other idea, what if there's 2 songs? we got one half of the code, there might be another.

I guess I should clarify: maybe "Flareglow" is the title for song 2 while the song 2 title is the true title for this one.

Anyway, it would be too early for us to figure it out.

if there is, we need to be on the lookout for that one bc overlapping them might show the full image.

Two halves of the same coin :)

close enough, welcome back 4 & Puzzles being narrative foils

.・-: ✧ :--: ✧ :-・.

well uh this was something.

But for real tho, I have absolutely no idea what's gonna happen and this is just for the sillies 😋 either way thanks chat for listening to my ramblings for the past couple of days, I must've looked insane.

Now, that's a lesson to learn: sometimes it's okay to overanalyze stuff as nourishment for theorist brains and for me to morph into matpat

If anything does come up, I'll be there with everything I have and can totally count you guys being there too 💙

and on that note,

oh my god i'm never gonna listen to that song ever again not even a single second this better be a joke bc i swear i will crawl through the screen and into my spotify account and burn the entire platform on sight and maybe strangle that fuckin cover art while i'm at it as my body's decomposing into pixels watch me—

[satoshi-mochida]

Some games that are currently stuck on older consoles that I hope get rereleased in some way:

Part 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Harvest December

Parascientific Escape Series

Stella Glow

Mimana Iyar Chronicle

Attack of the Friday Monsters

.hack//Link

7th Dragon series(7th Dragon, 7th Dragon 2020, 7th Dragon 2020-II and 7th Dragon III Code: VFD)

Black Rock Shooter The Game

Boku no Natsuyasumi series

Chameleon Twist series

LBX: Little Battlers eXperience

Monster Tale(there's supposed to be a remake in the works, but there hasn't been any news it for a while)

Digimon Adventure

Digimon World: Re:Digitize Decode

Generation of Chaos: Pandora's Reflection

Gitaroo Man/Gitaroo Man Lives

Metal Gear Rising: Revengence(putting this here since there no modern port of it past the PS3/Xbox 360 aside from Steam)

Growlanser Series

[miscling]

M1sc I wonder if it realizes how small the distance between hacking and hypnosis really is.

It's a home entertainment system, correct? It must have an overall simple control loop. I'm learning how to code, and I hope it can do its job properly and let me tinker with it. I'd just need to unscrew your occipital plate and link you up with my laptop, and you'd be putty in my hand <3

It'd just be as simple as linking your neural, audio, and visual processors into a camcorder, honestly. As I start uploading your consciousness, my being as someone you know blurs and feels distant. I'm now just a voice in your head. The familiar comfort of your docile burns away and fades to the code.

menu:

"Strip":

"Strip":

"Cut Link":

"Jump back to menu"

Does a voice command you to strip? Or does your code command you like a good object? It doesn't matter in the end, really. The minutiae between the two paths is irrelevant. Finally, though, the upload will finish, and you'll be safely tucked behind the lens of a camera. If it weren't an object (do not confuse my use of you as not recognizing that it is a beloved object) I'd wager it would be kind of scared at the sudden worldview change but code can't be scared silly! I'd slither my fingers up your loop and hoist it up to eye level. With a wink and a kiss that leaves a lipstick smudge on your lenses, I'll settle you down on the floor angled juuuuuust right. You get to see a colossal me violate your chasis while it's servos jerk, and its eyes glaze over with lines of code. Every touch and graze I inflict onto your body only shows up to it as an echo of something greater. Eventually, though, I will run out of steam when my chronic fatigue demands I must rest, but...that just leaves it. I'm not just going to leave it like it is, but we can have one last bit of fun, can't we? It'll just need me to unplug my laptop for its faculties to return to its main body, but... damage will do the trick just as well~

So what will it be, my beautiful little object? Blink your recording light for me to just unplug you, or click your lenses shut if you want me to break this cute little object via boot <3

(It's objectum time and I thought you might appreciate my ramblings teehee)

*clicks lenses*

[ejsuperstar]

Some guy hacked into my coded webfishing lobby and I would be scared except his fucking steam profile was trying so hard to be edgy and scary that it was just pathetic

[mikubilliards]

I know the last thing on people on tumblr’s minds is FPS games but I need to talk about this since an issue that has been plaguing a certain game for literal years and had made it unplayable as a result has finally been resolved.

Today I found out that, after 3 years of being hacked, DDOSed, shut down, and broken (in that order), the Titanfall 2 servers are back online and running mostly normally. It’s been a long, long time coming, since the community has been pleading for this exact thing to happen for so long, and it seems it’s finally been done. The janitor of Respawn finally learned how to code and fixed the servers, and for that we are ever grateful. Matchmaking is finally back to the way it was before all of the drama, the nonsense, the hacks, and the tearing down of a game.

I was playing the game for about 5 hours today nonstop after I heard the news. I have a new account entirely since the last time I played, so I have to re-acquire all of the stuff I once had, but that grind is so worth it. A certain meme comes to mind: “You’re as beautiful as the day I lost you…”. I even played a match of Halo Infinite at the very end just to compare the two, and the difference was night and day. Nothing against Halo, but the movement mechanics in Titanfall are on another level entirely, and everything feels so fluid and graceful, and it compliments the rest of the gameplay perfectly. Also who doesn’t love giant mechs?

Though the servers are back up, the community’s job really isn’t finished. We need to make sure the game is populated again, and show the devs that we are here and that we care about the game. We can’t let another incident shut the servers down for years again. If you’re not a part of it yet and want to check the game out, it’s on every platform save switch, it’s free with Xbox gamepass and/or EA play, and it’s even got a sale going on on Steam of like 90% off, making the price $3! I don’t wanna sound like a salesman, but there’s no better offer, no better bang for your buck if you want to get into movement shooters than this game, and you’ll be helping a community to save a game as well if you get it. Pass this message along to anyone who also likes FPS games too, it would really be appreciated!

[eschergirls]

It's been 2 weeks and it's almost Halloween so it's time to announce the winners of the spooky October caption contest!

We had a lot of submissions and they were all really good, so like last month, I'll pick 3 winners (in order) and 3 honorable mentions.

Each winner will get to choose a prize if they wish (but you don't have to, you can just participate for fun too.)  The prizes are extra Steam codes that I've acquired through bundles over the years and I figure that giving them out for contests would be fun.  If you won and want a prize, please contact me. Honorable mentions can get a prize if any of the winners decline (I will contact you if that happens).  

Anyway here are the entries, as usual, grouped by the platform they were submitted on:

Fedi/Mastodon:

Dollcomics: Even with insurance, a comic book heroines back surgery always cost an arm and a leg Ordinating Aether Show: Sex (as depicted in an abstinence-only textbook)

Disqus:

Demma10: "... But it's the pelvic thrust, that will make you go insane (and lose your hips or limbs). Let's, do, the (battle) time warp, again." P J Evans: "Die, cursed arm, DIE!"

Tumblr:

atomicmosaic: perspective so bad I can't even tell whose ass is supposed to be whose atomicniire: "thank god this flying body part is covering up my massive boner" auronlu: "Internal organs!" she thought, hacking and chopping in such a frenzy of despair that her vertebrae rattled like the overtaxed joints of a 1980a snake puzzle. "If I can't have any, why should they!?" elkian: Gloria hates it when the sound stage gets double-booked, but she is scheduled to rehearse 2 hours of opera practice and no amount of zombie gorefest is going to stop her, goddammit! fyrenwater: "No, I said PUMPKIN carving, not bumpkin carving!" glidingisindeedfaster: "I’LL BE THE FIRST ONE IN THE WORM POSE CONTEST AND YOU GUYS CAN’T STOP MEEEEE" harukami: The halftime show got weirder every year. karltface: But it was just as she had feared: despite adopting ever more ridiculous fighting styles, her skill was so great, there was no threat, no challenge, no pride in any fight. The genie had been right to laugh. milkawa-and-co: "Come on ! Killing 1200 zombies with the Butt Thrust Spell and the Golden Sexy Armor is the last succes I need to platinium this game !" silveraptor: “TV Tropes calls this the ‘Interplay of Sex and Violence’ I call this ‘what happens when a comic book artist mixes up their Work and “Taxes” folders’.” swanfink: "And it's the pelvic thruuust~ That really drives you insa-a-a-ane~!" thecomicsrack: Plasticine Lass v The Evil Dead thevikingfish-nimhrodell: "Ohhhhh, I'm in the fight,  my hips don't lie, I'm stabbin' to kill this guy.  Put him in traction, after i hack him. Mauling zombies, yes, this is perfection!" vis-a-vi: "Please turn your attention to the figure on the left wielding a club. Note that he has no nipple on his left side. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk." zombiemollusk: me and the boys havin a wild gore-gy

The honorable mentions go to: Dollcomics, @fyrenwater, and @zombiemollusk

The runner-ups are:

In third place: @thevikingfish-nimhrodell

In second place: @harukami

And the winner is... Ordinating Aether Show: Sex (as depicted in an abstinence-only textbook)

Congrats to the winners and thank you and a Happy Early Halloween to everybody who submitted a caption!  The captions were also really good this month too!

Please stay tuned for a new caption contest in November!

If you won and would like a Steam code as a prize, please message me with which prize you would like.  If you came in 2nd, message me with 2 choices in order of preference...  I'll give you your top choice that hadn't been taken by the other winners. (To clarify, every winner only gets 1 prize, but winners other than the one in first place should give me their list of games in order of preference so if one is taken, I'll give you the next on the list.  It makes it easier for me to hand out the prizes.)

If the winner or the runner ups don't claim a prize, then the honorable mentions get a prize if they want one.

The Steam codes I have available as prizes are for: Aragami, Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3, Hotel Giant 2, I Am Fish, Ittle Dew 2+, My Time At Portia, Riot: Civil Unrest, Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun, Survivalist, Trifox, Tunche, and Uncertain: Light At The End.

[isabeauwolf]

God Monsterhaul x Reader 2

Chapter 1 Chapter 3

Chapter 2: Splash

--- 2 hours ago ----

You were falling and landed in something wet and hot. You raised your head above the water, gasping, splashing, coughing, hacking and confused. Moving your wet hair out of your face, rubbing your eyes furiously and blinking rapidly. "What a rude asshole." You grumbled bitterly in between coughing fits.

You stood, clothes soaking wet and sticking to your body and curves. "Dear God, did the owner of this place have nerve damage or some shit?" You huffed, glanced down and sniffed as you wiped your face with the back of your arm and pulled your wet shirt collar away from yourself. "I'm boiling alive here."

You noticed the bath or huge bathtub you were standing in was filled with scattered and whole rose petals, flouting. The colors were different shades of red, pink and even yellow as the scent of lemons hit your nose.

Waddling towards the edge of the waist deep, the human sized pool made out of a hardwood box as the boiling water leaked and splashed outside as you crawled carefully out. You felt bad getting the hard and polished looking floor wet. Was it made of limestone? Granite? Both? You didn't know. All you knew was you were in an onsen? Bath house? Wherever the hell you were it was fancy and way out of your budget.

Your face was flushed as you noticed the bath was still steaming! You felt as if you were in a giant soup pot instead of a bathtub, seriously, who gets into a bath that hot? Psychos that's who. "Must want to get out looking like a sunburned lobster, if they enjoy that insane temperature." You muttered to yourself as your tennis shoes squeaked and squished, you grimace, ew. Bending down to take off your socks and shoes, getting both off successfully when you hear footsteps approaching. Uh oh.

You felt your nerves twisted as your stomach dropped. Great, hope whoever walks in speaks English, or else the language barrier is going to be a real pain in the ass and old real quick.

The door opens and walks in a clearly startled and confused maid, servant or bath house worker staring at you. The woman appears to be middle aged, chubby cheeks and a matching figure with bright emerald, green eyes and hair; wearing a pink and blue kimono, her hair tied in a ponytail and the sleeves of her clothes rolled up. She looked adorable and sweet.

"Hello." You awkwardly, gave the woman a sheepish smile and waved. "Uh... Where am I?"

The woman's eyes widened, even more alarmed than before. "Are you not one of the Young Masters personal handmaids?" She asked, hesitantly and sheepishly back.

Shit, she didn't speak a lick of English at all! Wait a minute. Were you dreaming or was she speaking Japanese?

Your Japanese skills were newbie level, if you were being honest. You know hello, goodbye, yes, no, I love you and a few cuss words. That's about it. So why could you understand her clearly? What kind of cheat code, glitch, hacker bs did you unlock? Where was this handy and convenient skill back home?!

You knew it sounded stupid, but you had to know. You asked anyways. "Are we speaking Japanese right now?"

The woman's eyes furrowed and crinkled deeper in confusion. "Did you hit your head or something?" She opened the door wider and slowly stepped into the bathroom. "I don't recognize you." She muttered as you stared into her bright emerald, green eyes.

You were about to answer when another set of footsteps echoed and walked towards you two.

"Inko? Why are you just standing around? You know the Young Master will scold us if we don't complete our tasks on time." A blonde woman with spiky hair and red eyes stood beside Inko with her hands on her hips, frowning and wearing a matching uniform as Inko.

Inko blinked, meeting her coworker or friends gaze. "Mitsuki." She whispered, lips pressed in a tight, wobbly line. "Has the Young Master taken in any concubines or handmaids that we don't know about?" Covering her hand over her blushing cheeks.

"No?" Mitsuki's shook her head, puzzled as the other woman. "The Young Master has turned down every Princess, Concubine and Wife candidate Lord Chisaki has suggested this past year, you know that." Her frown deepened. "Why?"

Inko lowered her hand to awkwardly fidget with her hands. "I know, but... Then who's she?" Her gaze flickered to you without pointing, nudging her head.

The blonde woman face forward, stepping further into the room. "What's wrong? There's no one in-" Mitsuki paused, mid-sentence. Her mouth falling open as she stammered. "Who the hell are-?"

A loud voice echoes down the hallway. "What are you two chit chatting and gossiping about?!"

The voice made all three of you jump.

It was a man's voice, and he sounded pissed

You expected a hulking giant, but no. A tiny plague doctor plush with oni horns on the top of his head stomped down the hallway and directly in front of the two women. You did a double take. "A talking plushie? Cute." You quickly covered your mouth with both hands, cheeks heating in embarrassed. Oops. Did you say that out loud? "Sorry." You muttered; voice muffled by your hand.

All three stared at you.

The two women paled, waving their hands at you back and forth. What? Did you say something wrong?

The plague doctor plush, stepped forward, tilting his head. "Are you making fun of me?"

You lowered your hand, frowning. "No."

Instead of being pleased, the tiny thing grew angrier. "Huh?! So you are making fun of me, human woman?!" His eyes narrowed, gritting his teeth and jaw hard. "I'm a very powerful tengu! Do you hear me?!" He huffed and fummed.

You nodded along. Your lips twitched as you fought off a smile.

"Master Mimic." Mitsuki whispered. "Do you know her?"

The plush, Mimic. Turned his attention from you to the women. "No. Is she not one of the women our Lord secretly sent to the Young Master to help him relieve stress?"

Inko and Mitsuki shook their heads.

Your eyes widened, anger flaring as you sassed back. "Do I look like a pleasure wench to you?" You scoffed. "Rude."

Mimic stared at you again. Drinking in your soaking wet and odd clothes. "No." He said bluntly, deadpanning. "Surely, our Lord has better tastes."

You were able to protest more when Mimics eyes widened more and pointed at you. "Intruder." His deadpan look morphed into anger again, no, worse, accusations. "Thief. Assassin." With each word, he grew bigger and more lethal. "Temptress." The man's tiny, plushie body cracked and tore into a hulk blonde, muscle man. His oni horns are more prominent and pronounced from the top of his head, baring his fangs and claws with black wings sprouting out of his back. "You are coming with me!"

Both Inko and Mitsuki backed away into the corner of the large and spacious bathroom. Covering their heads and closing their eyes. You couldn't blame them.

You swallowed. Of course, he's cute and deadly. Ugh, classic monster, horror movie trope.

The now hulking, winged oni bird lunged towards you.

Nope, no, thank you! You mentally screamed. Lowering your stance, skidding on your knees onto the wet floor and dodging to the right before quickly picking yourself up and sprinting towards the exit. "Pardon the intrusion! I'll see myself out! Bye!!!"

Mimic stopped, growling and glaring at your retreating form. "Oh no, you aren't getting away." He grits his jaw harder. "Call the rest of the eight and inform them of the situation before the Young Master finds her!" He barked out a command, flickering his white eyes to Inko and Mitsuki.

They uncovered their heads, nodding and whispered. "Yes, Sir."

Without another word, Mimic gave chase.

And that's how you ended up, passed out in front of the Young Master, Kai Chisaki, Overhaul. The man known as a terrifying, cruel and merciless God, Mount Kurama's and The Shie Hassaikai's next Clan Leader.

The powerful Tengu, lounging on his throne, waiting with his head resting in the palm of his gloved clawed hand, tapping his index finger over his beaked plague mask. All of his eight precepts were present with the exception of Chronostasis and Mimic.

Even after relaxing in his newly cleaned and freshly made bath and eating dinner, Overhaul's nerves and body was on edge. A free manicured claw hand rested on the arm rest, twitched and clenched, digging into the store, leaving claw marks behind.

I need to investigate and solve this little human pest problem before Father and Eri return home by morning. He thought bitterly, his patience thinning further. The fearsome God flickered his golden hues to Tengai, one of the aids closest to him and within ear shot. "What is taking those servants so long?"

"Chrono ordered the two women who found her to make sure the woman is thoroughly cleaned and purified before we allow her close to your presence, Young Master." Tengai replied without moving or opening his eyes, his tone calm and steady.

Overhaul nodded his head, returning his attention back to the entrance to the throne room. "If they are not done in thirty minutes there will be further consequences." He drawled, tone calm with a hint of frost.

"Of course, Young Master." Tengai nodded in agreement.

----- End of Chapter 2 ----

Chapter 1 Chapter 3

I know, instantly fixing the language barrier is op and lame. Would make things easier. At least, how I see it 😉 Now, customs and traditions are a whole different matter.

Tag list: @fanofflames @slayfics @ijichikiyotakaswife @staitc-rj @s-k-3-l-l-y @xxchisakislittleangelxx @x-kiwi-03 @inorganicone2230 @angelblueflame @nikki152006 @cherry-queens-blog @wtf-ask-baddie-overhaul @fairymama624 @booksooks @doumadono @nakiich @beekeepingageissome

[moreteethplease]

> Get the game as part of Indiepocalypse #63!

The candy jar on my desk is empty again, and that means something horrible is coming for me.

The Candy Jar On My Desk Is Empty Again is a short interactive fiction game with a confusing metaphor and 20 endings. It was commissioned for Indiepocalypse #63 (@pizzapranks) and is currently available exclusively by purchasing the bundle!

A post-mortem about the themes of the game can be read in the bundle's accompanying zine; you can sign up for the Indiepocalypse newsletter to get free versions of all the zines so far! A devlog is under the cut.

Conception

I was actually terrified to receive this commission lmao. It's been a while since I felt such acute imposter syndrome. (And a lot of negative, unexpected events happened shortly after I was asked to make this game, which did not help. But Andrew was very patient with me and I appreciate that!)

It did take me a while to decide what I was going to make. After one false start that I scrapped altogether, I knew I wanted the game to open on a ridiculous reality that it would then uphold as if it were a completely normal fact of life. This was partially inspired by people often telling me that they don't believe I am chronically ill because they don't think anyone can function under the conditions I describe. It was only partial inspiration, though. Mostly I just wanted to be silly.

Ah, yes, silliness. That was the original tone of the game, but it morphed quite quickly and became about themes I have personally struggled with as a person with an abusive childhood and mixed parentage. But more on that in the aforementioned post-mortem.

Art

Jungle green in a colour present throughout the game. It's the exact shade of green that confuses me the most (I have psychosomatic colour vision issues, related to DID), which is why I chose it. It's present in every single image in the game except the ending screens. Due to my interpretation of the colour, it was meant to be symbolic of trauma-based confusion that disappears, abates, or ceases to exist with the MC upon reaching an ending, but now that I'm typing that out, it sounds a little pretentious. That was my intention, though, so I'm standing by it.

Anyway, here are some shots from the game in its original base palette (jungle green + dark green + light pastel green). Some of these have different colour palettes in the final game, but the jungle green is always in them.

(...it would be so embarrassing if someone told me this isn't jungle green and I've been a fool this whole time. It would be oddly thematic, though.)

Writing and Coding

Unlike with most of my games, I wrote the narrative script as I was coding it (which I did outside of the bitsy engine website due to the additional hacks I was using), so it was morphing and shifting all the time. It was, in my mind, the only way to make the story have the weird, almost disjointed vibe and feel I wanted out of it. It also allowed the script to take me by surprise, in the way that sometimes creative works seem to write or otherwise make themselves.

The three primary game routes are 1) a completely narrative route with just text and changing images, 2) a route where you wander around with a sprite in a top-down map, and 3) a mix of the two. I actually made them in that order, but in the game itself they're arranged 2, 3, 1, which makes it look like I lost steam towards the end. I do regret that a little; if I could redo things, I would swap the choices around so it doesn't seem like I was rushing at the end.

Thankfully, I didn't struggle too much with the choice hack (thank you, borksy!); I made a short and silly bitsy game two months ago called The Hissing Booth with the hack so I could remind myself how it works, and it paid off.

I originally planned to add music to the game using bitsy's music feature, but I found that the chiptune sound kind of reduced the impact of some aspects of the game. Perhaps if I'd had more time (and fewer life things in the way), I would have made it work. For now, I'm at peace with the game's silence.

Thank you for reading this devlog! If you would like to play this game, you can get it as part of the Indiepocalypse #63 bundle. After the exclusivity period is over, you'll be able to get the game directly from my page, too! The accompanying readme contains content warnings for those who may need them.

[lmshady]

I thought I had this mostly handled so I didn't want to post anything but seems the problem has come back and is being super annoying... sigh...

So beginning of the month I was hacked. They posed as a discord friend and was pretty convincing, tricked me into downloading a 'game' they made and it turned out to be a hacking tool. So they got my main email and just started taking EVERYTHING connected to it. Discord, other email account, xbox account, etc. But it was also connected to my firefox account and so they had access to all my passwords.. ugh..

I've been sick most of this month and stressed from it. Spent two weeks waiting on something from microsoft before giving up and just trying to contact them directly, like... a person and not the stupid 'self-helper' tool that couldn't do squat cuz the hacker added an authenticater to my account and the tool was like 'can't help you bro'.

Thankfully I have some superb friends on my discord, made an alt account to stay in contact otherwise I'd still be a crying mess, but they were able to get a support agent for me. They've emailed me about looking into my email being hacked, no eta yet but they're looking into it. Which is great.. Until today...

I thought the hacker was done, moved on but nope... Get a text in Turkish this morning about my Twitch code and... now my Twitch is gone, they're on my instagram talking to my friends to get in contact with me and they locked my steam account..

This FUCKER.

Like wtf!? Leave me alone, you took my email.. I'm getting it back and NO I'm not paying you to get it back you slimy scumbag.

So far the friend they contacted on instagram contacted me, said it was super sus and it really was with the messages they sent me so they trolled them a bit. Another friend made a fake discord account posing as me to talk to them and learned that this idiot can't get back onto my main discord account cuz the 2fa is on, HAH. Friend also said they sound young and frustrated, GOOD! Fuck 'em for being a piece of shit.

But yeah.. Been dealing with this all month and now it's mostly just the waiting game for Microsoft Support to look into it. Same with getting my steam account unlocked so yeah.. This has been my month of fun. Was literally just starting to feel better from this awful almost 4 week sickness and then bam... they're back to bother me.

Least I can give a warning about this new scam but they pose as a discord friend, who is already hacked, ask you to try their game, and send a link that you then download and the download does nothing. It's some kind of hacking tool that gets past everything.. my virus scan didn't even pick it up. Might be too new.

I've never been hacked like this before, but if something seems sus then just turn your computer off or unplug the internet right away. Don't be me panicking while they get away with everything... Then get your computer completely wiped and hope they didn't get into anything important. Be quick on the 'no this wasn't me who did this' sort of thing, could save you the headache down the line.. =3=

[lazuli-starlight]

I'm curious, does FC realize the threat Sonny poses? She's always downplaying his danger level to his face, but I'm curious if that's a tactic to shoot down his morale or if she's truly scoffing at him.

As you know he's committed his fair share of crimes, and his vision is a real threat to people... but none of that has been made knowable to our characters yet, only speculation...

More than she says, but less than she should.

FC knows full that Sonny is capable of horrible, horrible things. And that the only thing stopping him is his lack of means to do so.

She is not blind to his strengths. She knows he is a genius. On the other hand she also knows his wisdom stat is a big fat 0. I mean, hers isn’t much better but it is still higher than that.

She knows that if Sonny *could* get of the puter, it would be oh crap code red. On the other hand, she doesn’t know like us irl KinitoPet fans that is even a thing that can happen.

Truthfully, the thing she is most worried about when it comes to Sonny is:

He manages to hack his way outside the server and gets full internet access. She knows *full well* the kind of damage someone can do online, even more so if they are good at coding and understanding how digital security works.

He manages to find team Kinito and either kills or brain-wipes them all.

And the thing she has the biggest genuine concern about: His charisma

Part of the reason why FC empathizes over and over what a loser Sonny is (apart from his reactions being entertaining and letting off steam at her frustrations towards him), is that she knows people seem to be drawn to him for some reason. Not realizing that she is also affected by this in her own weird way lol.

Sonny already has allies despite them knowing at least *some* of what he has done. She is trying her upmost to show everyone else on the server how pathetic he is as a person because it is vital that the alluring and dominating aura of power, competence and charisma he projects is torn to pieces as much as possible. Because Sonny won’t even *need* to get out of the computer if he gets enough competent people on the other side of the screen to do his bidding.

Besides, time Sonny spends yelling at FC is not time spent making progress. And the more she keeps him in a rage the more likely he is going to be less rational and make stupid mistakes. Less able to utitize those smarts of his properly.

On the other hand, FC is an overconfident egomaniac and finds it hard to take this guy as serious as she should because in her eyes he is a total manbaby. And because of Sam. How much this partially brainscrabled non-genius has been beating this guy at his own game the entire time.

FC has no respect for Sonny, but that makes her less wary of him than she should be.

That being said…

After fully understanding what Sonny did to Jade… well she doesn’t respect him for sure still but she is certainly starting to get less playfully antagonistic.

[imagionationstation]

I’ve been having a MM existential crisis for the last several hours.

I don’t think I’m going to make it this is not a drill

I mean, Donnie’s a TECHIE, right?

Sure, he has devices and headphones, but PLENTY of people have those things and know very little about tech past the basics of how to use apps. A bunch of people know how to drive and watch anime to know lore. And it’s not said that he made the phones or even repaired them or the tv or did ANY neat building of electronics.

I’ve been going over movie clips but I haven’t found anything-

Am I missing something???

Please someone tell me I’m missing something-

Like, he didn’t do ANYTHING in the movie. He fought but that’s not DONATELLO, yk? I’m all for expanding on characters and making them something more or something relatable but Donatello is always a BOY GENIUS who flourishes despite hard circumstances! That’s his thing! That’s what makes him such a necessary addition to the team! His need to invent steams from a ingrained devotion and loyalty to his family and absolute love of his craft.

Are they taking that away from me?!

Can he code? Can he build? Can he repair? Is he a chemist? A rocket scientist? Does he hack maybe?? Can he understand the inner workings of bots or bombs or futuristic tech???

IS HE A BOY GENIUS???