#voxel thoughts

[voxel0id]

Congrats to TGCF for being the first piece of media ever where my favorite ship is the primary canon ship. This never happens.

[cadmiumorang]

Every time I get into any sort of “pilot” seat with all the knobs and joysticks, I feel at home, I feel welcomed by it.

[hinge]

Hinge presents an anthology of love stories almost never told. Read more on https://no-ordinary-love.co

[bismuth-soup]

Average vintage story enjoyer (I will starve to death in winter)

[snowingclouds]

In the club freaking it up sensitive style

[voxel0id]

Forge the traction with your bare hands! Build it from scratch! Here are some ways to build fandom community when not a lot of it exists:

Create interactive posts! Accept requests, play ask box games, tag people in things you think they'd like!

Find people from larger fandoms that are similar to your small fandom and see if you can convince them to give yours a shot (don't cold message them like "watch my show pls"— that's a little weird, but if you already know them as friends or if they're asking for recs you can give them a polite nudge).

Create self contained content! Make art/write fics that will still be enjoyable even if the people looking at it don't have full context. It will draw outsiders in and make them curious about your fandom.

Encourage small creators (even if you are one yourself)! Everyone in the mostly dead tag is feeling discouraged from the deadness of the tag. Reblog their stuff with positive comments and tags!

Host events! "Why doesn't my fandom have cool zines and exchanges?" Because you haven't made them. Go make them!

I get that a lot of these are high time and energy commitment and not everyone has the bandwidth, but if you do, it's worth it. Everyone who doesn't have the bandwidth will be happy to join in once the momentum has built up and you'll feel like you have an actual community.

This is a slow fandom zone

None of that "Oh no they bomb-dropped all the episodes in a week 1 month ago, I'm late!" "The tag hasn't been active all week is the fandom dead?" "I only got a hundred shares the first hour no one cares about my art"

Slow down

Take a deep breath and slow down

Fandom is YOU. And me and everyone. If we doodle stick figures for a show that ended 30 years ago we aren't "late" or "doing too little", we're playing dolls in our own time and having fun with works of art that mean a lot to us

You can literally watch and engage with something that aired in 2004 as if it aired yesterday

If the tag hasn't been active for 14 months guess what? If YOU post there, it isn't dead. Literally you can talk about anything you want whenever you want there is no weird law against watching things that people aren't actively talk about

Let's be deranged about stories together

[voxel0id]

Please ask me about TGCF tech AU it would make my day 🥺

[the-voxel]

infodump @ me i want to know everything

Did you know voxel commonly speak in overtones? That's where you vocalize two notes at the same time [example]. However voxel take is a step further and pronounce two distinct sounds at the same time. If they wanted, they could say the words "candle" and "pincushion" simultaneously with little difficulty.

These are the basic vowels in their language! (complex vowels also exist but let's not worry about that) A e i o u, aͣ eͣ iͣ oͣ uͣ, aͤ eͤ iͤ oͤ uͤ, aͥ eͥ iͥ oͥ uͥ, aͦ eͦ iͦ oͦ uͦ, aͧ eͧ iͧ oͧ uͧ

Their vocals sound more like an elk bugle than a human voice. And since they have more rigid lips, they can't make sounds that needs your mouth to be in a circle like "oh" which gives them a funny accent when they speak english.

Their language is also structured on adjectives rather than nouns. So the name of something is basically a contraction of its adjectives. Incidentally, this is how their personal names work as well. They pick an adjective or two that describes who they are as a person and that's their name. Introducing yourself is a whole ritual because you are telling another person who you are at the core of your being.

For this reason, names can sometimes change at some point in your life and it isn't seen as too weird.

[that-dreaming-dragon]

A Symbol for Draconic

With the help and input of Otherconnect discord community, I have drafted up a symbol for draconic.

SVG file format for the framed version https://github.com/yumeryuu/Tumblr-Uploads/blob/main/Draconic%20Symbol%20Vector%20(Framed).svg SVG file format for the frameless version https://github.com/yumeryuu/Tumblr-Uploads/blob/main/Draconic%20Symbol%20Vector.svg

What is draconic?

An umbrella term that encompasses all individuals with a dragon or dragon-like identity or who hold a personal connection to something dragon.

It is to represent the fluidity and abstract that is draconity. To answer the question, “what is a dragon?” The answer is the below quote, as referenced by Orion Scribner(@frameacloud)’s username.

“It is no more possible to find the definitive dragon than it would be to frame a cloud formation. - Judy Allen & Jeanne Griffiths, The Book of the Dragon”

The simple fact is that--you can’t define a dragon. [1][2] Also more rant on dragons aren't always this or that, dragon is a dragon is a dragon, more diverse way dragon can be.

Following that thought, this symbol is also in reference to “dragons are fish.” [3][4][5]

Reference [1] Rene. “What Dragons Are.” Otherkin.Net, www.otherkin.net/2016/09/what-dragons-are/. Accessed 20 Mar. 2025. [2] Rene. “Dragon Definitions.” Otherkin.Net, www.otherkin.net/2016/09/dragon-definitions/. Accessed 20 Mar. 2025. [3] thestuffedalligator. https://www.tumblr.com/thestuffedalligator/684699200342147072/dragons-are-basically-fish-when-you-get-down-to [4] JazzyCatty509. "Dragons are fish." Reddit. 21 May, 2022. https://www.reddit.com/r/CuratedTumblr/comments/uurrfb/dragons_are_fish/. Accessed 20 Mar. 2025. [5] ZacSpeaksGiant. "Dragons are basically fish - World Heritage Posts." Youtube. 23 Jan, 2025. https://youtu.be/nEGB_cdBXEk?si=bCiVZ2XLjMoedpGa. Accessed 20 Mar. 2025.

With the ideas behind the symbolism in mind, let’s talk about symbols.

The swooping line that makes up the whole creature is exactly that, a fish. The head shape is in direct reference to how fish are drawn in simple way, or symbolically. The two additional stripes right after the cheek is to represent the gill, but they can also be interpreted as part of the mane, spikes, or any dragon feature alongside the top strokes. The head adornment can be seen as the mane, quill, crest, spine, or any number of draconic features. One can even separate the longest one from the rest and denote that as a horn.

What’s the dot? Drawing inspiration from the Draconic Pride Flag, I picked out the one element that is the smallest of detail but holds the most significance to me—the dot. To me, that is the “draconic essence”.

Its abstract form and length showcase how many times dragons have long bodies or tails, but also call forth the legend of koi fish climbing up the waterfall to ascend to draconity. [6]

Finally, the long stroke is to connect to become clouds. The stylization is inspired by the Japanese and Chinese styles of cloud patterns.

The frame can easily be opt out, and simply be whatever “canvas” you put this symbol on.

Voxel[7] also has come up with a way to type out this symbol, <*Ƨ~ You can copy-paste the reverse S from the Wikipedia article[8]. @knifedog-machina has also proposed an alternate version, <*2~

Additional External Reference [6] "The Legend of the Koi Fish." Next Day Koi. 24 Mar, 2014. https://nextdaykoi.com/koi-fish-facts/the-legend-of-the-koi-fish/. Accessed 20 Mar. 2025. [7] Voxel [dot] gay (https://voxel.gay/) [8] Wikipedia contributors. “Ƨ.” Wikipedia, 27 Feb. 2025, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C6%A7.

[voxel0id]

My elementary school had a “kindergarteners can’t check out chapter books from the school library” rule. I think this was originally because the teachers wanted to be able to pick any kid’s library book and be able to do a standalone read-aloud session with it, which is (imo) a dumb reason to make such a rule but it was what it was.

I wanted to check out a chapter book and they didn’t let me check it out, so instead of checking out the book I just sat in the library and read it as fast as I could. After a few more class trips to the library, I was just reading entire chapter books (the short ones for kids, not full length novels just to be clear) within the library time block. This ended up being a super helpful skill for the rest of my academic life because being able to read fast is so useful.

[jovial-thunder]

Lancer Tactics devlog

I'm gonna try out posting my ~monthly devlog roundup here as well. These suckers are glorified changelogs with anecdotes and gifs galore. Let me know if this is something you like seeing show up on your dash?

Map Editor

Got units able to be placed/deleted/moved in the mission editor

Can paint/remove command zones in the editor

Can paint minecraft-like terrain blocks in the editor

Can paint/rotate multi-tile props in the editor

Can edit unit character sheets and portrait via the editor

3D maps

Did a bunch of art tests with 3D mech models, provided by GeneralChaos, which we ended up deciding not to go with to keep things simple.

To avoid the can of worms that is animation, we'd have to lean into a static "tabletop minatures" aesthetic which we decided is not a style we want to be stuck with. By sticking with 2D sprites, we avoid falling into a sort of uncanny valley; it's easier to get away with not animating a 2D sprite than it is for a 3D model.

 We also experimented with 3D terrain. We decided to make a rule that the visual style for a piece of terrain should match its mechanical effect: obstructing terrain that you can't move through, such as rocks or buildings, will be in 3D, while non-obstructing terrain like trees will stick with 2D sprites.

Hooking up the 3D camera to follow events like movement and attacks did a LOT for making it starting to feel like it's cohering into an Actual Game™

Implemented cover! And an attack preview! Cover works by aiming a ray from the target to the originator (technically to and from each voxel of each, respectively, to handle size 2s shooting above size 1 cover) and tracking all the terrain blocks it hits (how we'll handle non-terrain hard cover TBD). I think I have it working according to Perijove's cover rules manual, but I'm sure there'll be edge cases to work out. This is a case where things are significantly simplified by working in squares instead of hexes; hexes have a lot more possible weird angles you have to deal with.

Re-added what I'm stubbornly calling Combat Popcorn; little bits of text that pop out when you use abilities and attacks.

UI & game screens

Added ability for the engine to show UI that's anchored to the game world via a little word bubble line but also stay on screen as the camera moves around.

Got word bubbles working; you can now write dialogue in the mission editor, hit playtest, and see it work in a mission! (it does actually translate correctly now; this gif is just from a bug I thought was funny)

Got ability effects mostly behaving appropriately again, including muzzle flashes. The easiest way to handle them ended up being NOT billboarding them so they always face the camera (like all other 2D sprites in the game); instead, I put them on a plane parallel with the ground and just spin them around the unit to point at wherever their target is.

Did some work ironing out our tooltip system. The standard in CRPGs these days is this kind of nested labyrinth of tooltops that you see in Baldur's Gate 3:

I Did Not Want to try and figure out how to wrangle that much UI, so we're instead opting to cap the nested tooltips at the second layer. You can lock a general tooltip for e.g. an action and then mouseover various items within that tooltip to get glossary definitions...

...and then instead of having those glossary tips be lockable/mouse-overable themselves, I collect all related terms to that glossary definition and let you tab through them.

Added skin overlay functionality to the portrait maker, enabling textures like scars, tattoos, stubble, and vitiligo to be applied to just the skin and not extend off into space.

Midway through writing this update, Carpenter sent me this gif of the randomization button working! There's a still a bunch of skintones/assets missing and a few are a bit janky, but it was exciting to start seeing the range of these lil freaks (affectionate) that this editor can create.

Mourning cloak license!

This is the one I'm probably most excited about: I did a bit of a content dive and implemented a basic character sheet + all Mourning Cloak traits and equipment. They don't have fancy graphics yet, but the weapons and systems can be added via the character sheet and used in-game.

It took a little under a day, including adding soon-to-be common mechanisms like bonus damage. This is great news in that it means the engine we've been building for so long in the abstract seems to do a great job in handling comprehensive actual game content, and that it looks like we've set ourselves up for success when it comes time to buckle down on churning that out.

I'm sure other licenses will come with unique difficulties (I fear the day it comes time to do the Mule Harness // Goblin CP) but I'm feeling good about it!

Vertical slice?

Taking a step back, the pressing question on my mind has been "when will we have a playable early access build?"

I was originally hoping for Feb/March, but what we've internally been referring to as the "3D cataclysm" has pushed everything back by at least three months, so the target for the first alpha build is now in May. So, ah, thanks for your patience! Seeing things come together, I've become more and more convinced that moving to 3D was the right call.

[hinge]

Hinge presents an anthology of love stories almost never told. Read more on https://no-ordinary-love.co

[stoplight-scrapbook]

it's ok 2021!Jim I understand your Vision

so I know I'm late to the party but, Jimmy's first episode of empires season 1 he built this silly "dirt tent" ...for some reason...before making his starter house. and i thought "you know what. that is actually a (mechanically) solid starter structure in Vintage Story". you could say I was inspired?

if you dont know, vintage story is another 'block game' (voxel-based survivalcraft) that was partially inspired by the terrafirmacraft minecraft mod. it takes a long time and a lot of effort to get anything done in VS, and this little hut is not only doable in your first day or two, it's prettier than living in a hole in the ground while being practical and upgradeable. you can plant berry bushes (essential early game food) on your roof, flowers and vines are easy to find for early decorating, and the "fence" can be upgraded into a full block (that comes in different colors!) to convert the structure into a proper food storage cellar. it's a good stone age building okay listen--

something something primitive technology in the cod empire

[cadmiumorang]

Scuse me tumblr what the fuck

How the fuck is this sponsored??????

[voxel0id]

Hot take: Getting the demon to write it is fine if the demon writes it themself and consents to you taking credit for it. So many books are written by ghostwriters it's fine to get a literal ghost writer.

We all agree, right?

AI to write your novel is wrong

A bargain with a demon to write your novel is okay

[not-that-dillinger]

“You shouldn’t be out here alone this late.”

The voice is echoed... garbled like it had been through too many layers of distortions gone wrong. The only tell that there was someone nearby on this forsaken piece of digital terrain was a flicker of something dark... cape?... or fabric maybe... just out of sight.

"It... isn't safe... for programs."

He'd had one of those days, where he'd been in not so great a mental space after a board meeting and couldn't go home but the walls of Encom tower felt more oppressive than safe like they usually did, and that perhaps made Ed a little more reckless. He'd gone for a walk, hoping to burn the last of his spoons so that maybe he could just go home and pass out.

He hadn't realized how far he'd walked until he found himself leaning heavily on Colossus, blinking up at the unlit sign of Flynn's arcade. He'd never really thought much about the place; he hadn't been allowed as a kid when it was open, and the one time his father's assistant caught him trying to sneak in with friends, he'd been... discouraged from returning.

Perhaps it was Flynn's old files he'd found on the Encom server that he kept thinking about, that drew him here. The files had been filled with ramblings that lined up so much with the angry rants his father used to have, and Ed couldn't stop thinking about them. He stood in front of the abandoned arcade, and something clicked into place. He realized he might have the missing puzzle piece to solve the mystery of where Flynn disappeared to.

Sherlock Holmes and Nancy Drew had always been a worse influence on him than his father made any of his childhood friends out to be; picking the lock on the door was trivial, and he quickly found the hidden basement.

It took him little time to find the Grid.

It took even less time for them to find him, though they didn't know what to do with the massive dog that had come with him.

They'd stripped him out of his clothes, put him in a light up suit, and given him a disc. They'd put Colossus in a suit and given him a disc as well. And then they marched him to Clu.

Clu had hoped to use him to lure his user out of hiding, and Ed laughed. Rescue his nemesis's son from certain death? Yeah right.

It was the sight of the test tube-looking prison, large enough to contain an adult human, more than Clu's plans to turn him into mindless soldier under his control, that had sent Ed into a panic.

Colossus had always been gentle with other people, and Ed had never seen the dog snap, much less bite someone, but Ed's panic must have triggered something, because the next thing he knew, the guards that had been restraining him were on the ground, and he was sprinting down the hall with Colossus, Clu dropping yellow voxels from the stump of his wrist as he pursued after them.

Ed didn't remember much about the escape, but an explosion or ten later he was hiding in an abandoned building in a darkened sector of the city.

---

That had been... Ed had no idea how long ago. It felt like months. They'd probably given up the search for him, if there even was one when he went missing. The darkened sector made an ideal hiding spot. It seemed like Clu or his forces couldn't track data there, though Ed also couldn't access the Grid to write scripts, execute command lines, or draw energy, which meant that Ed had to venture out in order to obtain energy or code anything he needed. And that meant he had to leave Colossus, since the dog was instantly recognizable.

Regardless, he'd learned how his disc connected him to the Grid, and had figured out how to use it to change his outfit to something slightly closer to his usual clothing with a floor length cloak, and had coded a swordstick with a pigeon-head for a hilt to defend himself with.

It was his third time venturing out, in need of more energy for both himself and Colossus, that he'd been found.

Ed froze, leaning heavily on the swordstick. He was having a low energy day, but he could fight, if it came to it.

He shifted his weight off the cane ever so slightly. "Is that so?" he asked, voice intentionally kept even and calm. "The same could be said of you."

[hashimasims]

Minthe finds her dorm building but remembers that pets who weren't service animals weren't allowed. She knew this ahead of time but she just couldn't part with her precious pet Kaivik, Voxel, leaving him with some sitter he'd never met or a boarding facility without knowing how he was being treated or cared for. She could always lie and say he was an emotional support animal but that wouldn't be right either, if Voxel behaved poorly here that could give a bad reputation to true service animals and she didn't want to do that either. She doesn't know why the thought crossed her mind but she quickly dashes it away. She decides to hide him in his carrier in the front bushes until she knows the coast is clear and can sneak him in.

Minthe: I won't be long Vox just stay here and stay quiet.

Minthe makes her way to the front door but finds it locked with a note stuck to the door

Forgot about an important study sesh I signed up for meet me at the commons! I should be there before 10! ♡ Elia

With it already being nine in the morning, Minthe quickly checks Voxel's food and water bowls inside his carrier and walks to the Commons which is the next building over. She hopes she isn't left there waiting long for Vox's sake.

Beginning|Previous|Next

[qloof]

I need to know what is going to happen with Ashton? grabs your shoulders!!

you are infecting me with the Ashton beyblade brainrot, i think about him an unnecessary amount /pos

GAHHH ASHTON BEYBLADE GAHHHHRHRGGAHHA i have been unwell for the past 2-3 days all my thoughts are consumed by ashton beyblade…..mostly about his backstory and why he becomes really cold before and during the new Team Dungeon vs Team Canada tournament (i haven't figured out a name for the Canadian team yet orz). I've already sent it to you earlier chalk but im gonna talk about him and his brother here since i dont think I've talked about it on tumblr yet.

Ashton's older brother (i dont have a name for him yet </3) was a regular member on the Canadian team years ago during the first world championships. his bey was based on the Rangifer constellation. the first team they battled against was Starbreaker, and Ashton's brother went up against Damian. that battle broke his brother Ryuga v Hikaru style he quit blading altogether and cut beyblade out of his life completely. Ashton was devastated by this. not only did he witness such a traumatizing battle, but the thing that bonded him and his brother together the most was severed. despite his attempts to cheer his older brother up, he never came back to it. determined to one day get his brother's blader's spirit back, he carried an image of what was once his brother's blader's spirit with him in his training and it manifested into the other half of his bey, Dancer Wapiti. the blue half of Ashton's bey is a reindeer, while the orange half is an elk.

Ashton of course has fun with Beyblade and makes relationships through it, and not all days blading before the second vs-USA tournament was he reminded of that battle, but the hopes of one day bringing his brother back to beyblade was one of his biggest motivators, and when he got wind that the WBBA would be hosting another world tournament for the first time in almost a decade it almost became his only motivator. The emotions of sadness, anger, and resentment that had been buried for years swelled back up again. Ashton believes that if he wins against Team Dungeon, his brother might be inspired to pick blading back up again.

He and Alban come across Jayce and Voxel before the tournament day, and Ashton acts coldly towards them in their battle, so much so he ruthlessly sends Voxel's bey flying into a wall behind him and Jayce. Vita is able to interrupt the battle before anymore damage is caused and anymore blading secrets are revealed. (Vita mentionnnn Ashton and vita are familiar with each other actually they battled in mini tournaments between the USA and Canada when they were younger).

skipping a little bit ahead ashton beyblade does break free from his mindset during his battle against vita :] during it, the reindeer half of his bey spirit disappears and is replaced with the other half of his elk (still blue though <3)

OTHER THAN HIS COLDNESS TOWARDS THOSE 14 YEAR OLDS…..ashton can be a pretty stoic guy, intimidating even if he doesn't mean to be, but he does have a soft side esp when it comes to his teammates (even if they call him mr. no funny business <3),,and esp Alban...even though half of the things that fox does would annoy him if anyone else did them lmfao

anyways ! i have this incomplete sketch i doodled today,,it's probably a little hard to tell without color but i tried drawing wapiti's halves. i need to get better at drawing elk and reindeer adjdjdjdjdj their facial structures are different. there's also a second doodle that i drew a last year before i thought about the split deer idea ! wapiti holds a hoop bcus ashton is a hoop dancer !