#studio io design

[zapperrr]

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[boobertronian]

INTRODUCTION

About me !

I’m TRONIAN, I’m a smut writer and Concept Artists/ Designers in my daily life.

I love Kpop both musics and visuals so it’s great to share interests. I also really like Gravure Idols ! And not just Kpop, Us-Uk musics and such too !

I love arts, yes, I really do, things related to the artistic side of life will catch my interests a lot. I do concept arts and visual designs for games and movies for a living so I’m very interested in it !

I also love sports, even the ones i’m not very interested in I would love to take a look. I’m doing calisthenics and a bit of kickboxing in my routines so I’ll be interested to that , or football/soccer because i love watching Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga,etc.

I’m a nerd, I collect a lot of toys , action figures and I love watching things nerd related : STAR WARS, Transformers ,Marvel, DC, TOKUSATSU, Bionicle, Gundams, etc or films in general. They are my inspirations for the things I do in my career !

RULES

Since Tumblr is a jungle, I want to set some rules when you visit :

1/ I’m pretty chill when talking to people, but I won’t tolerate rude comments , hateful , overly negative , immature/ inconsiderate or aggressive behaviors here. It's fine to have discussion and such, but don't drag or overdo it like a bunch of political debates, it's very tiring and also doesn't bring anything to the table but heated arguments. I’ll give you 3 chances to redeem yourselves if you accidentally do, if not I’ll block you for real. Too many of these sorts of behaviors in most fandoms already so I do not welcome that sort here in my blog. We're all adults, better act civil to each others rather than bickering over some hobbies. Therefore, DON’T BE A DICK !

2/ I’m not liking kinks such as daddy, mommy , sub/dom kinks or anything like that, so please don’t ask me about it cause I won’t reply to those questions, and also because I don’t know how to talk about thoses. I’m very sorry about this, please understand about my boundaries on this one.

3/ I'm open to feedbacks on the smuts, you can give me feedbacks through my asks and commenting on my fics. Theses would help me to improve my writing skills too, and I'm fully appreciated. . But then again, be a civil and respectful one rather than being utterly hateful and toxic without bringing much values into it . Receiving feedbacks are something I get nearly everyday in my line of works, and I can tell which one is actually helpful , constructive criticism and quality feedbacks rather than ones that are just outright distasteful. So therefore, BE A CRITICAL THINKER BEFORE YOU COMMENT.

4/ WARNING : Underage lewd , minors , racist, sexist , homophobic, misogynistic and sexual harassment behaviors are INSTANT BLOCK . We’re already have too much douchebags in real life so don’t be one here, INSTANT BLOCK IF YOU DO. I don't like to block anyone so please don't push me over my edge.

5/ WARNING AGAIN : I don’t tolerate AI Generative/Deepfakes for idols. IT’S A REAL WORLD CRIME , DON’T DO IT OR SUGGEST ANYTHING LIKE THAT IN HERE AND DON'T OVERSTEP MY LINES ON THIS MATTER. I ALREADY BLOCKED AND SNAPPED BACK AT MANY, PLEASE DON'T LET ME GET TO THIS STAGE, THANK YOU.

Other than that welcome to the blog ! ! Hopefully you'll like my fics !

MASTERLIST

Workout time !

When female idols are having extra times with trainers

All works are fictions

Muay Thai - Part 1 - Jihyo (SMUT)

Muay Thai - Part 2 - Nayeon (SMUT)

Calisthenics - Part 1 - Karina (SMUT)

Calisthenics - Part 2 - Karina (SMUT)

Conventional Gym - Eunbi (SMUT)

One Shots

One shots or shorter fics for Idols, including both Kpop and Gravure Idols

All works are fictions

Windy Beach - Io Iori (SMUT)

Outdoor Shoot - Ai Shinozaki (SMUT) Cosplay Party - Cheng Xiao (SMUT)

Backstage Fun - Jihyo & Nayeon (SMUT)

Tokyo Drift - Momo (SMUT)

Onlyfans - Giselle (SMUT)

Series :

Studio Overtime

Due to the successful of Jihyo's one shot, I've decided to expand it into a short series for her ( will update more over time too)

All works are fiction

Studio Overtime - Chap 1 (SMUT)

Studio Overtime - Chap 2 (SMUT)

HENSHIN - A KAMEN RIDER STORY

A superhero story from myself with a touch of SMUTS based on the legendary Tokusatsu series : Kamen Rider , and our lovely KPOP Girls

All works are fictions

EPISODE 0 : Prologue

EPISODE 1 : CYAN (IVE) (SMUT)

EPISODE 2 : MAGENTA (EVERGLOW) (SMUT)

EPISODE 3 : YELLOW (TWICE) (SMUT)

EPISODE 4 : BLACK (AESPA) (SMUT)

[krissiefox]

Here's a collection of sites where you can get sound effects and ambience for your projects!

https://freesound.org/ Freesound is a great resource for royalty free and copyright free sounds. Each sound comes with a creative commons license, some of which require credit, so make sure to check those!

https://www.sounds-resource.com/ Sounds resource is an archive of sounds from various video games and PC games, so while they can't be used for anything commercial, you may be able to use them for things like videos or fan games.

https://www.humblebundle.com/software Humble bundle regularly hosts fundraiser bundles of software and game design assets, including sound effects and ambience. You can also put money from your purchase forward the bundles charity. Sadly, humble bundle also puts out bundles of AI books, though, so it's up to you if you think the good outweighs the bad here.

Unreal Marketplace If your project is an Unreal Engine 4/5 game, check out what the Unreal marketplace has to offer! They offer both free and paid sound effect packs for your games. Some you can download as wav files without Unreal Engine installed, as well!

https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/ Another nice resource of free and royalty free sound effects! Attribution is not required, but appreciated!

https://www.youtube.com/ Youtube can be a great place to find copyright free/royalty free sounds too! To get the sounds form the videos, you can use a tool such as mediahuman's youtube-to-mp3 converter.

https://www.gamedevmarket.net/category/audio/sound-fx A paid store where you can find all sorts of sounds and ambience for your video game projects! Humble bundle seems to do bundles with them pretty often so you may want to look into that to save some money here, too.

https://sonniss.com/gameaudiogdc An archive of free and copyright free sound effect packs from the Game Developers Conference! A new pack seems to be added every year, too. :)

https://getsoundly.com/ Soundly is a program more than website, but I have tried it myself and you can get free sound effects from it, and you can get additional sounds if you pay for the pro version as well.

https://www.boomlibrary.com/ While this sound effect site is primarily a paid one, you can get a free monthly bundle of sound effects if you subscribe to their mailing list!

https://blipsounds.com/community-library/ Another great library of free sounds from the Blip Studios community!

https://www.zapsplat.com/ They require you to make an account before downloading anything, but this is another site with lots of free sound effects for your projects!

Itch Io Itch Io is another great resource for both free and paid sound effects!

[genericpuff]

Is the pack just for clip studio or does it work for others? I use medibang myself.

They're .abr brushes so they're supported by any software that is compatible with ABR. Most of the brushes actually work best in Photoshop due to its unique brush engine (and the fact that many of them were designed for Photoshop first), but can work in both Clip Studio and Procreate as well.

Unfortunately I'm not sure if they'd work in Medibang as IIRC it relies more on a bitmap brush system similarly to IbisPaint, and converting ABR to that kind of format is a lot easier said than done (plus even if it was doable, you'd undoubtedly lose a lot of the core functionality of these brushes).

That said, if you don't have access to an ABR-compatible software, your closest equivalent to the brushes within that pack would be anything that resembles watercolor, gouache, pencil and ink, and impressionist brushes. Those are generally what a lot of those brushes are save for the pattern stamps n such, so even if you can't access those brushes specifically, I'm hoping you could find Medibang-compatible brushes that are close to the real thing so long as you look in the right places !

It is an unfortunate drawback to the nature of these brushes that they were designed for Photoshop first, it means they inevitably aren't going to work in every software. I've looked into converting them in the past but the process would just be way too extensive for me to do on my own and again, it wouldn't guarantee the brushes would even resemble their ABR versions which would defeat the point of trying to convert them in the first place 😅 Still, I hope you're able to find some Medibang equivalents using the tips I mentioned above, and if you want an ABR-compatible software that won't cost you your firstborn like Photoshop, Clip Studio's perpetual license goes on sale at least 2-3 times a year, and Procreate is still incredibly cheap on the iOS store if you have an iPad.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help! Hopefully some day Medibang will be ABR-compatible, Clip Studio wasn't always compatible with ABR either so the odds might be low but they're definitely not zero ! :'0

[miloscat]

[Review] Super Monkey Ball: Sakura Edition (iOS)

Soon to be lost media.

In 2017, Sega began Sega Forever, an initiative to release their retro games on modern mobile platforms. This included lots of Mega Drive games, Crazy Taxi, and even games made earlier for mobile that had been delisted like Sonic 4 Episode 2, or Super Monkey Ball 2: Sakura Edition (more on the name in a minute). The project quickly ran out of steam and now it seems that Forever was itself a total misnomer, as these games (and other Sega mobile titles) are being delisted themselves.

The silver lining to this blow against preservation is that Sega is pulling a Good Guy move and making all these games free before removing them (and apparently stripping the ads from the ad-supported ones). This is how I came to play this semi-unique Monkey Ball title.

This is actually the third Monkey Ball release on iOS. In 2008 Other Ocean, a Canadian studio newly independent from Backbone/Foundation 9, made for Sega the unimaginatively titled Super Monkey Ball, a tilt-controlled take with content based on the Wii launch title Banana Blitz, although as far as I can tell the levels are newly designed. The follow-up SMB2 was more of the same taking from the five worlds not already adapted in the previous iOS title. SMB2 Sakura Edition followed shortly after, a refined rerelease with an extra world based on the newer Wii title Step & Roll—Far East—with a traditional Japanese theme complete with copious sakura.

Now hopefully the name makes sense. Since this game was originally released in 2010, it looks dated with low-poly geometry and character models. I actually like the charm of this kind of graphics though, the simplistic menus and such, and the flat vibrancy is a timeless look.

Being completely tilt-controlled in gameplay is a bit rough depending on the mass of your device. My old light iPad worked ok, except that tilting can uncomfortably shift your viewing angle, reflections, etc. I even triggered a 180 degree rotation at one point when I was trying to zoom!

The level designs are a bit gentler than typical Monkey Ball courses from what I can tell, to accomodate this less precise control scheme. It wasn’t until late in the bonus Sakura world that I really started getting grief from the game, and I never had a game over situation thankfully.

The world themes are visually nice, and each has two sets of ten levels plus a single Sakura set, for a total of 110. But there’s no story, no framing, no point; my favourite Super Monkey Ball Adventure’s ambition not to be repeated here at least. The character roster is merely the core four, not even a YanYan to be seen despite being established in the game this one is drawing from. There are some Monkey Party minigames at least, with Target, Bowling, and Golf offering a momentary diversion. But hey, for free it’s a pretty good deal as long as you get it before it’s gone!!

[askagamedev]

Is classic game porting/remastering becoming its own specialization? What I mean is, of course it's happening more these days, so/but is space growing to be someone who specializes in these projects? Or is it still niche enough that the small number of teams/staff who do it will continue to do it?

The answer here is "kind of". Here's the main issue - game development is expensive. AAA studios are expensive and cost a lot to run, assigning a AAA studio a remake/port project is not really worth it when compared to the estimated return on investment. Instead, what game publishers often do is contract out the remakes/port job to an independent third-party studio. This has two major benefits.

First, it costs notably less than the publisher putting their own internal AAA studios on it. When you're doing a remake/port, you often don't need super high fidelity assets or extremely large scope - the majority of the gameplay design and systems already exist. Contracting the project out to an external studio means the publisher can just pay a flat amount and doesn't have to worry about things hiring new people, handling benefits, setting up the studio, etc. The external studio gets to do that, and often has their own stuff in place already. This works very well for the independent studios too - they can take jobs like this in order to pay the bills and fund their own game development. Behaviour, independent developer of Dead by Daylight, also has a second team that does work like porting and remakes/ports for other studios. Their porting and remake team provides the income to keep the studio afloat during leaner times.

Second, it allows the publisher to give these external studios a chance to prove themselves - can they deliver a promised project in time, budget, and quality? If they can, this studio may be worth acquiring or working with again. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom was developed by Japanese independent studio Grezzo, but this is far from their first game for Nintendo. They ported Ocarina of Time 3D, Majora's Mask 3D, and Luigi's Mansion for the 3DS, and they did the port for Link's Awakening to the Switch. The team that built Sonic Mania first proved themselves to Sega by doing iOS ports of Sonic CD, Sonic 1, and Sonic 2 before being given the Sonic Mania project.

With these two reasons in mind, doing remakes/ports do two things. First, they can earn money to pay the bills in a situation where it isn't worth it for the publishers to build them internally, allowing these studios to build their own projects or just have a more stable sustainable situation. Second, it provides a "minor league" situation where these external studios can prove their ability to the publisher in a lower-stakes situation in order to be entrusted with a higher and more interesting project later. As long as remakes and ports of games continue to do well, this kind of work will be in demand.

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[nymla]

🌿The moose is back!🌿

Remember that sticker poll I posted a while ago? We got a winner! Now you can get this duo at my Patreon :] Find all info at this link.

Oh and yes, the sticker design won the poll, but I didn't want to leave this "kurbits moose" behind so I also made this A6 photo print!

This is a one-time gift for my hecking Patreon-heroes saving my äss and keeping me above water! :D Huge thank you to all past, current and future Patreon members - no matter how long or short you have been or will be with me, I appreciate you.

It's also in the hopes of taking a step towards being able to afford a proper studio space and move the clay out of my tiny apartment! Don't know yet where it will be but I'm looking around at options - I can see it on the horizon and I'm so ready! 🌞

This is where I'm writing this very post right now! My place is so small, I always bump into things x)

PS! Do you have an iOS/Apple device? Then I recommend you pledge to me (or any creator) via a web browser. If you use the Patreon iOS (Apple) app to become a member, Apple will add a 30% Apple Store processing fee to your subscription, every month. Avoid it by logging into Patreon via a web browser instead, on any device.

Check out my sticker&print offer at this link. 🌿

Tack så mycket! 💚 Nymla

[satoshi-mochida]

Heaven Burns Red - English version announced - Gematsu

Yostar will release an English version of Key and WFS-developed free-to-play story-driven RPG Heaven Burns Red, the publisher announced.

Heaven Burns Red first launched for iOS and Android on February 10, 2022 in Japan, followed by PC via Steam on August 10, 2022.

Get the details below.

About the Game

Co-developed by Wright Flyer Studios and Visual Arts / Key , this story-driven RPG was first released in 2022 in Japan. It has garnered major accolades at the Google Play Best of 2022 Awards, claiming titles such as “Best Game 2022,” “User Voting Category Game Category Grand Prize,” and “Story Category Award.”

Discover the Intricate World of Heaven Burns Red

Besieged by mysterious life-forms known as “the Phage,” Earth teeters on the brink of ruin. All human weaponry proved futile against the Phage’s onslaught, and without any means to fight back, humanity has been forced to retreat. Land was forsaken, and nations were erased in the ensuing chaos. Now, over half of the Earth’s surface has been lost to the Phage. With little time left and the danger of extinction looming, humans developed a brand-new, ultimate weapon called “Seraph,” and those endowed with Seraphim can finally fight against the Phage with vigor. Those who can master their Seraphim are gathered to create a special squadron, becoming humanity’s last beacon of hope. They have one thing in common: they are all girls with special talents. Among them stands Ruka Kayamori, poised to throw herself into the war against the Phage.

Highlights from Heaven Burns Red

Heaven Burns Red is a story-driven role-playing game co-developed by Wright Flyer Studios and Visual Arts / Key. This title is Jun Maeda’s first completely new game in 15 years. As a narrative-centric RPG, Heaven Burns Red uses a timeline narrative design to advance the story, breaking new ground in the RPG genre by offering an engaging and evolving storyline driven by player choices. Players will experience fierce battles through the eyes of Ruka Kayamori as well as the value of each day in the deeply immersive world of Heaven Burns Red.

English Version First Reveal at Anime Expo 2024

Leveraging the influential platform of Anime Expo 2024, Yostar will introduce Heaven Burns Red to the international gaming community. Attendees who come to the Yostar booth at Anime Expo 2024 will witness the sophisticated graphics, elaborate character artistry, and well-crafted music of Heaven Burns Red.

Special Message from Jun Maeda

“Hello, everyone, this is Jun Maeda. You may have heard of the global craze for taiyaki inspired by the work Kanon, but are you familiar with its original creator and head writer, Naoki Hisaya? I had the honor of being a sub-writer for that project. Naoki Hisaya started the trend of ‘visual novels that make players cry,’ a pursuit that I have passionately followed for over 20 years. The pinnacle of this journey is Heaven Burns Red. Whereas Hisaya used sophisticated storytelling techniques to evoke tears, I took a rather direct approach, and that’s the essence of Heaven Burns Red. To think that this work would be released in places where he sparked the taiyaki craze—such a delightful coincidence feels like fate. We eagerly look forward to sharing Heaven Burns Red with you. Thank you.” Jun Maeda, a Japanese writer and composer. He is considered a pioneer of visual novel and his notable works includes AIR, CLANNAD, Little Busters!, and Angel Beats!.

Watch the western announcement trailer and a video message from Jun Maeda below. Visit the official English website here.

Reveal Trailer

A Special Message From Jun Maeda

[samueldays]

I am once again recommending Master of Orion (1993).

It's thirty years old, it originally came on floppy discs, and it's really good. The interface is crisp. The ship design system is neat. The technology research system is not your standard tech tree. It has helpful hotkeys like "Indicate next world that has enemy fleet inbound". It has antifeatures like "not doing a Cinematic Camera Pan for several seconds". It has detail while avoiding micromanagement by giving you mostly high-level control, and automatic reassignment of overflow when something like factory construction fills up.

I say it again because of discourse from a mutual's post.

hello gamer. you claim to want "shorter games with worse graphics that are made by people who are paid more to do less". in front of you is itch dot io, which has a "pay what you want" feature,

that… feels like an unfair take?

I don't want the claim as stated, I strongly suspect it's something said because it's catchy more than it's accurate, and I want to dissect its relation to things I do want, like MOO1.

shorter games

No, I want games with less padding.

I want fewer cinematic camera pans, and fewer cutscenes, and less of the dev team showing off their fancy tech demo, and fewer animations in the interface because the interface should have sub-second response time, and less loading time because the game should be smaller, and less grinding unless you're an idle game in which case it should be automated, and I want more automation and macros for things that are a waste of my attention as well as my time. Give me autoresolve for battles with weak enemies. Give me minions that can be sent to do things for me. Give me "repeat until" orders. Give me a dialogue meta-option that says "I've played this before, give me the TL;DR". Give me speed-up and skip buttons.

itch.io games have some of these, but also have less gameplay.

worse graphics

I'm close to agreeing with this, but IMO it's less about the graphics themselves and more about the 50GB graphics package and rendering engine that contemporary games like to include for little to no gameplay improvement, and then that enables lazy devs to think "another 3GB isn't a problem when we're already past 50GB" and the game bloats to 150GB as each dev includes a whole-ass library for one function, and then there's 10GB updates to download repeatedly.

I don't know if this is literally what happened behind the scenes, but a recent game like Baldur's Gate 3 did hit 150GB. Which also brings me to,

people who are paid more

I want developer studios to fire the movie team and redistribute their salary to the rest of the devs, with movie team describing the Thing that 'graphics department' has grown into.

A game like Age of Mythology doing in-engine cutscenes was cool when the engine was primarily a game engine and hands had eight polygons; these days it seems like AAA games also want to be movies and that means turning the game engine into a movie-maker, and hiring an entire movie team to render the 3D model of each character's armpit hair and the physics of how it moves in the wind when the character raises his arm.

Since budget is limited, that movie team comes at the expense of every other aspect of the game, like gameplay, writing, bugtesting, et cetera, and it still won't be as good a movie as an actual movie.

do less

See above. Less padding, less cinema.

[p5x-theories]

What We Know About P5X

(last updated 5/15/24)

Persona 5: The Phantom X (P5X) has previously had three beta tests, the first of which ran from March 29th to 31st 2023, the second of which ran from August 18th to 25th 2023, and the third of which ran from January 16th to 31st 2024. The open beta, essentially the game's official launch, began on April 12th 2024. Japan later ran a beta test from November to December 2024. A global launch has been announced for June 26th, 2025!

Here’s a summary of what we know about the game itself so far. Hopefully this’ll be useful, whether you're new around here or not!

I also keep updated posts about the game's story, playable characters, and other useful information, which can be found in this blog's pinned post (along with this post!). Some things may be slightly out of date with official English translations, but I'm doing my best to keep everything up.

Keeping this as succinct as I can, but it's still a little long, so under the cut it goes.

Overview

P5X is a turn-based RPG mobile game with gacha elements, developed by Black Wings Game Studio and published by Perfect World Games. While not directly creating it, it is officially licensed by Atlus and Sega. Atlus has apparently been very involved in its production, including Shigenori Soejima designing the protagonist and his Persona, and Atlus writing the story and collab's plots. This is discussed in more detail in the interviews here if you're curious.

The game's setting has been confirmed to be an alternate/"parallel" world to Persona 5's, though translated promotional information also confirms the plot has something to do with these two worlds interacting through "time and space". While the interaction seems primarily tied to the Collaboration events (see later on in this post), it's supposed to have some relevance to the main plot as well.

As Perfect World Games and Black Wings Game Studio are Chinese game companies, and Atlus and Sega are Japanese game companies, P5X is produced in Chinese and Japanese. The dialogue in-game is voiced in both Japanese and Chinese, with Japanese and Chinese voice actors for the characters. It's currently unknown whether the game will ever get an English cast, but currently the Steam listing says it will not have English audio.

Right now, we know the game is available on both mobile (iOS and Android) and PC (Google Play Games and Steam), and it's been officially stated that a console version is planned for after the game releases globally. The first three of the beta tests were closed betas, available only in China, Taiwan, Macau, and Hong Kong, where players could sign up for a chance to get in, and actual beta accounts were given out via lottery. The open beta requires only a Chinese phone number to sign up, although the Taiwan/Macau/Hong Kong version also allows players to log in with a Google account, and the English and Japanese versions will presumably be similar. Accounts do not seem to be transferable between other methods and Steam, though players can swap between mobile and PC versions otherwise.

Note that there was some confusion about whether the open beta was the game's official launch at first, due to the language barrier. Posts on this blog prior to 5/15/2024 often refer to it as the "fourth beta" instead, and may erroneously suggest it was just another beta test.

There are specifically two main gachas in the game- a character gacha for gaining teammates, and a weapons gacha for gaining better weapons for those teammates. While the game is extremely similar to Persona 5 overall, there are many aspects, obviously including the gacha, that differ from it, which are summarized below and detailed further in another post.

The Characters

So far, there are 27 new Persona users. These characters can be divided into story teammates and "Phantom Idol" (gacha-only) teammates.

The story teammates so far are the protagonist (codename Wonder), an owl named Ruferu in Japanese which has sometimes been translated as "Luffy" by fans (codename Cattle), an athletic classmate of the protagonist's named Motoha Arai (codename Closer), a boy from another class with an interest in cooking named Shun Kanou (codename Soy), disciplinary committee member Riko Tanemura (codename Wind), and stage actor from another school Shouki Ikenami (codename Luce). These teammates have all joined as part of the plot of the game.

The "Phantom Idol" teammates ("Kaidoru" in Japanese) are described as being cognitive beings created by Wonder's Velvet Room attendant, Merope, to assist him in the Metaverse, based on people Wonder meets, though they are only copies. You can find more detailed information about each of them in the linked post, in additional to general information about how they function.

So far, they include Motoha's best friend Tomoko Noge (codename Moko), imaginative first year student Kiyoshi Kurotani (codename Key), Wonder's family friend Kayo Tomiyama (codename Okyann), college freshman from China Yaoling Li (codename Rin), aspiring actor Reo Kamiyama (codename Leon), Yaoling's traditionally-dressed neighbor Yukimi Fujikawa (codename Yuki), fencing high school student Seiji Shiratori (codename Fleuret), injured ice skater Kotone Montagne (codename Mont), an online friend of Wonder's who goes by the name YUI (codename Bui), 10 year-old math prodigy Haruna Nishimori (codename Riddle), unemployed fisherman Toshiya Sumi (codename Sepia), and aspiring puppeteer Miyu Sahara (codename Puppet).

Later Phantom Idols added after the initial release of the game include student working for her family's store Minami Miyashita (codename Marian), 75 year-old saxophone player Chizuko Nagao (codename Vino), flairtender Yuumi Shiina (codename Phoebe), aspiring musician Ayaka Sakai (codename Chord), medical intern Kira Kitazato (codename Messa), flower-loving third year Masaki Ashiya (codename Cherish), fashion student/Shibuya mascot superfan Runa Dogenzaka (codename Howler), firefighter Mio Natsukawa (codename Matoi), racing fan Mayumi Hashimoto (codename Turbo), and recovering singer Manaka Nagao (codename Ange). Alternate versions of characters, such as ones related to events or the character's Confidant, have been added as well.

The full group of Phantom Thieves from Persona 5 Royal also appear as Phantom Idols: Joker, Mona, Skull, Panther, Fox, Queen, Oracle, Noir, Violet, and Crow. Datamining also found some of Wolf’s battle voice lines from P5S at least in the first beta, and an icon from P5S with Sophie in every beta and the official release, suggesting they may later be added as well. Joker, at the very least, seems to have some larger role in the plot, as Wonder has a dream about them fighting at the start of the game, and later what seems to be a Phantom Idol Joker comes out of nowhere to rescue Wonder and Cattle in Mementos. Wonder is also able to use his universe's Leblanc to visit the Leblanc of Joker's universe, and spend time with the P5 Thieves there.

There is also a multi-chapter Persona 5 Collab event, which involves the P5X and P5 Phantom Thieves meeting in strange Metaverse locations that mix aspects of both P5 and P5X's Palaces. Similar to the PQ games, the teams cannot leave these areas until they defeat the ruler of each area, and afterward, none of them seem to retain their memories of the events, though they regain these memories when they enter the next location to appear. Later, a P5R collab event was held as well (see the same link as the original P5 event above).

A Persona 3 Reload collaboration was announced after the conclusion of the P5R collab. The Persona 3 protagonist (as Makoto Yuki), Yukari Takeba, Akihiko Sanada, Junpei Iori, Mitsuru Kirijo, Fuuka Yamagishi, Aigis, Koromaru, Ken Amada, and Shinjiro Aragaki are all either currently in the game, or to be added in the future.

Munehisa Iwai, Tae Takemi, and Chihaya Mifune also return in P5X. Iwai runs the weapon gacha, Takemi sells medicine like in P5, and Chihaya tells fortunes. The other original P5 confidants’ portraits and 3D models have been found in every betas' data, and the Councillor Arcana card was with the other cards in the second, third, and fourth betas' data specifically, but it’s currently unknown whether they’ll actually return in any capacity.

The developers have also repeatedly expressed interest in having collabs with the other numbered Persona series games in the future. Izanagi and Asterius have been in the game files since the beta tests.

Music

Several new songs appear in P5X, several of which feature vocals by Lyn: the first opening song "Ambitions and Visions", the second opening song "Show Stealer", "Last Strike", "Wake Up Your Hero", "Shadow", "Fatal Desire", and "Gone With the Storm". The new instrumental tracks so far include background music for the Palaces, background music for special fights, a new music track for Mementos and some other areas affiliated with Mementos, and some music for P5X's rhythm minigame/side quest, where Wonder plays music as a member of his school's music club.

When Ayaka Sakai (Chord) was added, two songs sung by her were also added to the game. It's been announced that some more new songs sung by Manaka Nagao (Ange) will also be added to the game alongside her.

Locations

The majority of P5 and P5R’s locations have been confirmed for P5X, including Yongen-Jaya, Kichijoji, Shibuya, and Shinjuku among others, but the protagonist lives in a new location called Zoshigaya, and goes to a new school called Kokatsu Academy located in Shimokitazawa. Another school named Kiga High School becomes particularly relevant in the story's fourth chapter.

(Note that not every store is exactly identical to the P5 version; the Big Bang Burger in Shibuya is now called Boom Bang Burger, with no apparent traces of the space theming, and the Crossroads bar in Shinjuku has also been rebranded. Leblanc was also rebranded to a generic coffee shop in previous betas, but in the open beta has been turned back into Leblanc.)

Mementos and the concept of Palaces also return in P5X, though there are some differences. Mementos' floors are no longer randomly generated, and now have set layouts. Related to this, Mementos also now operates as a sort of hub, with characters entering Palaces through Mementos, from the entrance to each Palace located within the massive floors of Mementos. Mementos also has special battle locations apparently similar to “domains” in other gacha games, where completing the fight gives special items to strengthen characters and weapons, generally themed after P5′s Palaces (so far Kamoshida, Madarame, Kaneshiro, and Okumura's Palace-themed "domains" have been found, as well as one that doesn't seem to match any known Palace).

Basic Game Mechanics

For the most part, P5X operates extremely similarly to P5, both in and out of the Metaverse. One notable difference is that there is no calendar- days can pass due to the story, but they're not numbered, instead listed as simply "Yesterday", "Today", and "Tomorrow". There are also more time slots to perform other activities, as Wonder can do two after school activities, two activities even later in the day, and then a final one at night. Performing activities also cost energy, which refills at a rate of 5 per real-world day.

One interesting and more significant change made in this category is that Confidants have a total of 20 ranks, instead of the series-standard 10, though there are still only 10 ranks that actually progress their story. They also haven't been associated with any Arcana, though the P5R Arcana cards have all been found in the second beta's data. A Social Link/Confidant is referred to as a "Synergy" in this game, but this blog generally still calls them Confidants to avoid confusion.

The UI elements of combat look a little different (as well as all the skill animations), appearing to be more optimized for mobile play, but otherwise it seems largely the same to P5, though one notable difference is that Navigator skills can be called in at will (and then have a cooldown), rather than occurring randomly. There is a new kind of special ability called a Highlight, which is similar to P5S’s Showtime attacks where the character executes a special move with their Persona, though not all Highlights are attacks, and some heal or have alternative effects instead.

The protagonist can gain Personas in combat (or from the gacha), though it no longer requires talking to them, and largely only occurs in special battles specifically for that purpose. Challenge battles in the Velvet Room, like in P5R, are available to attempt. Palace exploration also seems relatively standard, even if the Palace itself and the method of entering it is different. One major change is that several shadow/Persona designs have been censored in the mainland China version of the game; this includes Incubus and many others being given shorts, Bugs' stomach being repaired with the blood removed, Mara being given a large hat, Hell Biker and other skeletal Personas having a helmet/mask that obscures the skull, and several female Personas like Lamia being given shirts. However, these changes are purely cosmetic, and also seem to be reverted in the Taiwan/Macau/Hong Kong version (and possibly the Korean version as well).

Miscellaneous

It’s worth noting that because there's a lot of content in the game that has yet to be officially translated to English, new character names can only be absolutely confirmed when they’re either written in Japanese kana (as opposed to the Japanese kanji characters that names are typically written in) or spoken aloud in official material, to confirm which reading of the Japanese name is the intended one for this specific character.

The characters do also have Chinese names, of course, but as the voice acting defaults to Japanese (including in Chinese promotional material), the game is set in Japan, and the English translation is based on the Japanese translation, the names and other terms used by the global release are the Japanese ones. As such, the Japanese names are the ones presented in the Characters section earlier in this post, and are the main ones that this blog uses.

All the codenames, however, are written in English, and thus the most easily confirmed as official.

[cameron4818]

COMMISSIONS OPEN

Lego designs - sci-fi is my specialty but I can do contemporary city-style vehicles too. No technic.

Here’s a portfolio of some of my designs.

I build mostly digitally in Bricklink Studio but I’ve gotten pretty at telling what will be strong irl.

You’ll receive the digital file and some high-qual renders of your model. The .io file can be uploaded to Bricklink.com to generate a parts list to buy what you need.

Prices:

Upfront:

£10 once I agree to your request

Upon delivery:

£5 per hundred parts

£1-5 per revision, depending on the size, so make sure you point out everything you don’t like at once and I’ll do it all in one revision.

£2 per hundred parts for instructions, but these are optional. Smaller builds especially can be built from just the .io file.

So a 1000-part build with instructions with one large revision would cost £75, then you’d have to buy the parts yourself. I’m happy to show you how to use Bricklink and there’s tutorials online. With an average price per part of 10p, this would cost £100.

[danman007]

Ian Fleming’s James Bond 007 returns to the realm of video games in IO Interactive’s 007 First Light.

In this installment, Bond is portrayed as a young man—just 26 years old—rather than the more familiar version in his 30s or 40s. Twenty-six is a good age: not too young, yet still youthful enough to bring a fresh energy to the character. A younger Bond could potentially attract a new audience, particularly younger men.

As I mentioned in another post, the idea of a young Bond has really grown on me, and it feels full of potential. There’s a promise in this approach that continues to excite me, especially when I think about the possibilities this game presents—and the influence it might have on the next James Bond film (which will be the first to be produced solely by Amazon MGM Studios).

I appreciate the design of Bond’s character model. He closely resembles Fleming’s original description—grey-blue eyes and a thin vertical scar on the right cheek. I hope the development team at IO Interactive has been devouring Fleming’s Bond novels.

Not being connected to any previous film iteration gives the game creative freedom to explore and reimagine classic Bond stories, characters, and villains. Not all of these will be featured in 007 First Light, of course—but if the game is good and sells well, imagine the potential for sequels.

Imagine the pulpy adventures to embark on: strange and exotic locales, grotesque villains, and beautiful women. The masculine dreams, desires, and adventures that can be expressed through the character of James Bond.

It makes me want to dive back into the original Fleming novels and revisit the early films.

The potential this game has is why I like to express my hopes and, hopefully, healthy critique.

Here is to the next exciting adventure for Ian Fleming's James Bond 007

[betafore]

🚫 Top YouTube Thumbnail Mistake on iOS (And How to Fix It)

At Betafore, we are passionate about all things digital, from crafting flawless code to creating YouTube thumbnails that compel viewers to pause. Bad thumbnail designs that don't work on phones, especially iPhones, are one of the biggest mistakes that even the best makers make.

If you're losing views or struggling with click-through rates, this post is for you, because the problem might not be your content, but your thumbnail. Thumbnails are the first thing people see when browsing, and if they’re not eye-catching or clear, viewers may scroll right past your video, no matter how great it is. A well-designed thumbnail acts like a billboard for your content, grabbing attention, sparking curiosity, and encouraging clicks. In today’s crowded YouTube space, your thumbnail could be the key difference between getting lost in the feed or standing out and getting watched.

What is a YouTube thumbnail?

YouTube thumbnail is the small preview image that represents a video and helps attract viewers by giving them a quick idea of the content. It's often custom-designed with bold visuals, readable text, and eye-catching colors to stand out in search results and recommendations. A good thumbnail can significantly increase clicks and views by making the video more appealing and clickable.

📱 The #1 YouTube Thumbnail Mistake on iOS

Safe Zone Violation In Design: A safe zone violation is created by placing significant components, such as faces or text, in close proximity to the borders of your thumbnail. 

On iOS, YouTube overlays things like:

The length of the video

A "Watch Later" button

Playlist icons

These run exactly on top of your thumbnail corners. So, guess what if you have forced your strong title or face expression into the corner? Readers of iPhones cannot see it. It is either covered or clipped.

Other Common Mistakes to Avoid

The majority of YouTube traffic comes from mobile devices, and if your thumbnails aren’t optimized for small screens, you're likely losing a huge chunk of potential viewers before they even click. Below are common thumbnail mistakes that can cost you views, along with why they matter and how to fix them:

How to Design Better YouTube Thumbnails for Mobile

Here are Betafore’s top tips to make sure your YouTube thumbnail design is optimized for iOS and mobile devices:

Use a safe zone - Keep text and faces away from the outer edges.

Think BIG - Text that is bold and has a lot of contrast always wins..

Check mobile previews - Use YouTube Studio or test thumbnails on your iPhone before uploading.

Put feeling first - Faces with strong expressions always get more clicks.

Design mobile-first - Over 70% of YouTube traffic comes from phones. If it works on iOS, it’ll shine everywhere.

Why Better Thumbnails Matters?

“90% of the best-performing videos have custom thumbnails, according to Google Help.”

A strong YouTube thumbnail isn’t just about looks , it drives clicks, increases engagement, and boosts your content in the algorithm. And with most users on mobile, iOS optimization is non-negotiable.

At Betafore, we help creators, influencers, and brands design content that doesn’t just look good but also performs.

Want Thumbnails That Drive Real Results

From high-performing websites to thumb-stopping visuals, we build digital experiences that drive results. Design. Strategy. Impact - every click counts.

📬 Work with us 🌐 Visit betafore.com 📱 Follow us for more tips: Tumblr | LinkedIn | Instagram

[digitaldetoxworld]

Web to Mobile: Building Seamless Apps with .NET"

 .NET is a effective, flexible, and open-supply developer platform created with the aid of Microsoft. It enables the creation of a huge range of applications—from computing device to cellular, net, cloud, gaming, and IoT. Over the years, .NET has evolved substantially and has become one of the maximum extensively used frameworks inside the software improvement enterprise.

Dot Net Programming Language

A Brief History of .NET

The .NET Framework become first delivered through Microsoft in the early 2000s. The original cause turned into to offer a steady item-oriented programming surroundings regardless of whether code became stored and finished locally, remotely, or via the internet.

Over time, Microsoft developed .NET right into a cross-platform, open-supply framework. In 2016, Microsoft launched .NET Core, a modular, high-performance, cross-platform implementation of .NET. In 2020, the company unified all its .NET technologies beneath one umbrella with the discharge of .NET five, and later persisted with .NET 6, .NET 7, and past.

Today, the unified platform is actually called .NET, and it allows builders to build apps for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, and greater using a single codebase.

Key Features of .NET

1. Cross-Platform Development

One of the maximum tremendous features of present day .NET (publish .NET Core) is its ability to run on a couple of platforms. Developers can construct and deploy apps on Windows, Linux, and macOS with out enhancing their codebases.

2. Multiple Language Support

.NET supports numerous programming languages, together with:

C# – the maximum extensively used language in .NET development

F# – a purposeful-first programming language

Visual Basic – an smooth-to-analyze language, regularly used in legacy programs

This multilingual capability allows developers to pick out the nice language for their precise use cases.

3. Extensive Library and Framework Support

.NET offers a comprehensive base magnificence library (BCL) and framework libraries that aid the whole lot from record studying/writing to XML manipulation, statistics get entry to, cryptography, and extra.

Four. ASP.NET for Web Development

ASP.NET is a part of the .NET platform specially designed for net improvement. ASP.NET Core, the cross-platform model, permits builders to build scalable internet APIs, dynamic web sites, and actual-time packages the usage of technology like SignalR.

5. Rich Development Environment

.NET integrates seamlessly with Visual Studio, one of the most function-wealthy integrated development environments (IDEs) available. Visual Studio offers capabilities together with IntelliSense, debugging tools, challenge templates, and code refactoring.

6. Performance and Scalability

.NET is thought for high performance and scalability, especially with its guide for asynchronous programming using async/wait for and its Just-In-Time (JIT) compilation.

7. Secure and Reliable

.NET presents sturdy safety features, including code get entry to security, role-based protection, and cryptography training. It also handles reminiscence management thru rubbish series, minimizing reminiscence leaks.

Common Applications Built with .NET

1. Web Applications

With ASP.NET Core, builders can create cutting-edge, scalable internet programs and RESTful APIs. Razor Pages and Blazor are technology within ASP.NET Core that help server-facet and purchaser-facet rendering.

2. Desktop Applications

Using Windows Forms or Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), builders can build conventional computing device applications. .NET MAUI (Multi-platform App UI) now extends this functionality to move-platform computer and cellular programs.

3. Mobile Applications

Through Xamarin (now incorporated into .NET MAUI), developers can create native mobile applications for Android and iOS the usage of C#.

4. Cloud-Based Applications

.NET is nicely-acceptable for cloud development, in particular with Microsoft Azure. Developers can build cloud-local apps, serverless capabilities, and containerized microservices the usage of Docker and Kubernetes.

5. IoT Applications

.NET helps Internet of Things (IoT) development, allowing builders to construct applications that engage with sensors and gadgets.

6. Games

With the Unity sport engine, which helps C#, developers can use .NET languages to create 2D, three-D, AR, and VR games.

Components of .NET

1. .NET SDK

The Software Development Kit includes everything had to build and run .NET packages: compilers, libraries, and command-line tools.

2. CLR (Common Language Runtime)

It handles reminiscence control, exception managing, and rubbish collection.

Three. BCL (Base Class Library)

The BCL offers center functionalities including collections, record I/O, records kinds, and extra.

4. NuGet

NuGet is the package manager for .NET. It lets in builders to install, manage, and share libraries without problems.

Modern .NET Versions

.NET five (2020): Unified the .NET platform (Core + Framework)

.NET 7 (2022): Further overall performance enhancements and more desirable APIs

.NET 8 (2023): Continued attention on cloud-native, cellular, and web improvement

Advantages of Using .NET

Cross-platform assist – construct as soon as, run everywhere

Large developer network – widespread sources, libraries, and frameworks

Robust tooling – especially with Visual Studio and JetBrains Rider

Active improvement – backed by using Microsoft and open-source community

Challenges and Considerations

Learning curve – particularly for beginners due to its giant atmosphere

Legacy framework – older .NET Framework tasks aren't like minded with .NET Core or more recent variations without migration

Platform differences – sure APIs or libraries might also behave in a different way throughout operating systems

Getting Started with .NET

To begin growing with .NET:

Install the .NET SDK from the legitimate .NET internet site.

Create a new project: Use the dotnet new command or Visual Studio templates.

Write code: Develop your logic the usage of C#, F#, or VB.NET.

[adarkrainbow]

I just found out the cutest little animated fairytale storybook, and of course my Ipad is dead, and I don't have an iPhone, and the app is iOs exclusive... Damn it. Well time to call for help/share some stuff :p

The app in question is part of a line called "Epic Tales". Or rather it was supposed to be the first of a line but apparently there is only this game? It was a Dutch creation that had a lot of positive reviews, and even won an award back upon its release (2013). It is called "Hansel and Gretel - Epic Tales" (Hans en Grieje in Dutch).

It is pretty much your usual "interactive storybook" experience on children's app, as the story is divided in a set of interactive tableaux retelling in a fun and whimsical way the story of Hansel and Gretel. BUT and here is where things get interesting: each tableau is intercut with hand-drawn animated cutscenes. These animations, done in the same style as the drawings, was done by the Anikey Studios (which are still present online, such as here their Vimeo channel, unlike the Epic Tales website which seems defunct - but the Epic Tales Facebook is still up).

You can find the trailer online on both Vimeo and Youtube - but unfortunately it is pretty much all you can find... There's screenshots over at the many review websites that covered this app, but not much. If I had access to the App-Store of Apple I would have bought it immediately but of course all my App Store access are dead... So I'll have to wait until I buy a new iPad X)

Unless someone ever can share info, screenshots or video of the app of course - I honestly take everything I can get, and I already thank deeply anyone able to help this improbable quest! Also, if you ever know (or see on the App) that there are other games in this line I am deeply interested - because animated storybook apps rarely have this much effort put into their animation. Heck when you put this app's images inside Google Images it confuses it with a Disney production - that tells the quality.

In fact, you can clearly see the effort put in the animation through this website which shares the cool concept art for the character design.

[aroundtable]

Come promesso oggi, risponderemo alla domanda A Che Gioco Stiamo Giocando con La Via delle Spie, boardgame di cui abbiamo scoperto i componenti domenica e che ovviamente ho ricevuto al dayOne grazie agli amici di Hirtemis.

La Via delle Spie, è un gioco da tavolo in cui ogni giocatore seduto Around The table dovrà catturare l'altro interpretando due spie. Il game design di questo gioco da tavolo prevede collector set e "io divido tu scegli" perfettamente fusi: ad ogni round un giocatore selezionerà due carte, una la posizione coperta sul tavolo mentre l'altra sarà visibile, spetterà all'altro giocatore scegliere quale tenere per sé e quale, quindi, lasciare all'altro giocatore, queste carte, ci permetteranno di muoverci sulla plancia del gioco per catturare il nostro avversario, movimenti che, però, avverranno in base alla quantità di carte appartenenti allo stesso set che abbiamo collezionato. Quando l'uno avrà raggiunto o superato l'altro sarà il vincitore. Inoltre nel gioco è presente una modalità avanzata in cui reperire degli oggetti che ci consentiranno di aiutarci a portare a termine la nostra missione.

Nonostante abbia trovato le partite de La Via delle Spie, piacevoli e combattute, il gioco non è riuscito a convincermi completamente: le meccaniche si fondono in maniera perfetta tra di loro, ma non mi è mai venuta voglia di giocare una partita via l'altra, sapete benissimo che io amo i boardgames semplici ed immediati come La Via delle Spie, ma in questo caso non è scattato il quid che mi tenesse ancorato al tavolo; speravo che la modalità avanzata con il mercato nero e gli oggetti potesse inserire questo elemento, ma purtroppo così non è stato, certo aumenta la varietà nelle partite, ma tutto ciò non mi è bastato. E neanche la modalità squadre per 3 o 4 giocatori risulta particolarmente accattivante.

Ma quando ho ripreso la scatola de La Via delle Spie, ho capito davvero qual è il focus di questo boardgame: sul retro di essa si declama la possibilità di essere giocato in famiglia con i bambini ed ho immaginato la classica famiglia di 4 elementi al tavolo giocando in squadra genitori figli contro genitori figli, con gli aduli che mostravano tramite la La Via delle Spie in maniera perfetta il concetto di collezione set e le possibilità de "io divido tu scegli", istruendoli a tali meccaniche, riuscendo in questo contesto ad avere grande soddisfazione da questo gioco, che può essere facilmente spiegato dai bambini e quindi giocato in autonomia.

La Via delle Spie, è un gioco da tavolo per due giocatori (con una modalità squadre per 3/4 giocatori), consigliato dagli 8 anni in su, per una durata media stimata tra i 10 ed i 20 minuti, creato da Christian Kudahl e Laura Kudahl, con le illustrazioni di Fanny Pastor-Berlie, edito in Italia da Pendragon Game Studio.