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I know this isn’t very in line with the usual “haha magnus archives worm lady” posts I usually make, but this is very important to me and I want to spread as much awareness as possible.

One of my favorite games of all time is Dead Cells, a fantastic indie roguelike developed by Evil Empire. Recently, it was announced that it’s upcoming 35th update would be the last one for the game. Now, let me start off by saying that on its own, this isn’t what I’m upset about. The fact that Dead Cells has gotten as much support as it has over the years is quite frankly incredible, and 35 updates, most of which have been free and very high quality, is an amazing amount of support. Rather, I am more concerned about the circumstances behind this announcement.

The announcement was…off, for a number of reasons. For one, Update 35 has been in Alpha and Beta on Steam for a while now, and it’s not exactly an update you’d expect the entire game to end on. Still quality, but not exactly a “grand finale.” Also strange was how long it’s been in alpha and beta, as it seems to have been in development hell for over six months. And finally, it’s clear that there was so much more planned for the game. For example, 2023 was said to be the biggest year for the game, and yet we only got two updates. Granted, one of those updates was very big, but not nearly big enough to really live up to the title of “biggest year so far.” By all accounts, it definitely seemed like there was some sort of internal issue that cut the planned lifespan of the game short. If so, that would be very unfortunate, but I would have been willing to accept there was probably nothing that could be done. However, recently some information about what actually happened has shown up, and….yeah I’m pissed.

For those who didn’t know, Dead Cells was originally made by a team named Motion Twin, but after the fourth update, most of the people working on the game left to form their own team, Evil Empire. Evil Empire has developed every update for the game since that split, and yet, they are rarely credited as the makers. Motion Twin is the company that promotes all of the new updates, as if they made them, and unfortunately very few people know which company actually makes the game. Recently, Motion Twin announced a new game called Windblown (proclaiming it was made by the same team as Dead Cells, when it certainly wasn’t), and based on recent interviews with Evil Empire, we learn that Motion Twin pulled the plug on Dead Cells against Evil Empire’s wishes. Evil Empire loved making the game, and planned to continue updating into 2025, expanding the gameplay and lore, yet Motion Twin decided to pull the plug, either to promote Windblown (which if so…why? You can have two games?), or simply out of spite towards Evil Empire, which seems unfortunately possible due to the fact that the devs do not seem to have the best relationship. And to add insult to insult to injury, Motion Twin straight up lied by saying that Dead Cells stopped development because they “don’t want the game to feel bloated”. ….THEY DON’T EVEN MAKE THE GAME WHAT THE HELL?!

So yeah…this is a really terrible situation. Dead Cells is a game that means a lot to me, it’s helped me through some very tough times and there are many other people who hold the game dear to their heart. So please, anything from a simple reblog to making your own posts about the matter goes a long way. Spread awareness about what’s going on. Tell people about how Evil Empire has put so much hard work, love and dedication into the game, and wishes to continue. Tell people about the lies that Motion Twin have been telling. Pressure the two teams into splitting away from each other entirely, so that Dead Cells might get a chance at continuing development. (Be respectful about it though, don’t commit any forms of serious harassment.) It would seriously mean a lot to me and many others, and I would greatly appreciate it :).

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I'm sorry about this

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Everyone should know about the existence of Grapecat, and the fact that he possibly inspired Spearmaster.

Mentioned by Andrew

I wonder, is Grapecat the Spearmaster we play as in the original MSC mod? or perhaps he was spear's secret twin brother all along? This is the hidden Spearmaster lore they didn't want to tell you. But I know for sure he is just a passionate, talented little guy

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Spearmaster Speculative Biology Headcanons

This will be long, so I will place my full thoughts under the cut.

Unlike normal spears, Spearmaster’s needles vary in shape and often possess several grooves and differences in structure. On top of that, they are hollow and have a beveled edge near the end to help with both piercing, injection, and sucking out nutrients from prey.

The hollow insides of the needle contain two main chambers. The left (fig. 1B) is connected to an esophagus like organ (fig. 2B) through the strand, while the right (fig. 1A) is connected to a venom bulb (fig. 2C) located in the tail.

Said venom functions like that of a spider’s, as it is actually the first step of the digestive process. Spearmaster’s venom liquifies a small area around the puncture site, allowing them to properly intake several different nutrients from both fat and muscle. Only so much venom can go through each spear, and once the area digested from the venom is sucked away, a new spear must be removed to start the process over again.

Fig. 1C is the main structure of the needles. When being created, venom is pumped through a special tissue on a ring in the tail (fig. 2D), the venom helps push out the tissue as it begins to stretch, flatten its cells, and keratinize.

The needles can be pushed out minimally as a threat display without keratinizing, allowing the unformed needles to shrink back into place. If the needles have already begun to keratinize when shrinking back, the hardened tissue is broken down and absorbed back into the body.

Fig. 2A resembles that of a normal slugcat’s digestive system, with the only notable difference being that the enzymes are noticeably weaker than other carnivorous slugcats, putting a further focus on the need for the venom.

Fig. 2B’s size could be due to the pumping action needed to siphon in nutrients. That, and it can function as a crop if needed, explaining how they can store enough nutrients needed for two cycles.

Aaaaand I think that’s all my thoughts for them atm! I am very tired so maybe I forgot some but yeah.

Also the venom bulb and parts of the needles I sort of based off of a cone snail! Granted, the cone snails harpoons are actually like a tooth! I didnt know how to explain speedy tooth growing though so I didn’t get to do teethmaster :(. Oh well keratinization is fun anyways.

Also There is more rings than just the three pictured but I didn’t want the art to be too cluttered.

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Aren’t i funny guys??

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sky islands

scene from the moment I finally got to a part I struggled with and befriended a scav with two pearls. We were trading and chilling and then a squidcada-

Goofy little rain art as a treat

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pretend slugcats have enough fingers to flip people off

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Chimken, book and living fossil relative

Unspecified Dromaeosaurid fella and chicken.

This picture was drawn in October at a con I attend each year, they have a few Wacom Cintiqs and other tablets from Wacom to try out there each year. This year the theme of the con was ‘’we’re too old for this’’ so I at least wanted to be in the theme to an extent.

I still feel like it’s missing something, some contrast, a kick of something.

If I had more time the chicken was supposed to be a witch and I imagined some effect and drama for the raptor, like flying feathers or something. But it has some charm like this I guess. Is rough around the edges.

Anyway two watermarks because I’m paranoid.

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Me and my bf were baking gingerbreads and I cut out two tbh shaped ones. One of them, this fella, found themself a friend in the oven. Fused together while baking, it was a very cute and funny surprise when I pulled the tray out from the oven.

So I drew them.

They're inseparable, best friends.

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...that your audience won't hate.

This is a method I started using when NFTs were on the rise - thieves would have to put actual work into getting rid of the mark - and one that I am now grateful for with the arrival of AI. Why? Because anyone who tries to train an AI on my work will end up with random, disruptive color blobs.

I can't say for sure it'll stop theft entirely, but it WILL make your images annoying for databases to incorporate, and add an extra layer of inconvenience for thieves. So as far as I'm concerned, that's a win/win.

I'll be showing the steps in CSP, but it should all be pretty easy to replicate in Photoshop.

Now: let's use the above image as our new signature file. I set mine to be 2500 x 1000 pixels when I'm just starting out.

Note that your text should not have a lot of anti-aliasing, so using a paint brush to start isn't going to work well with this method. Just use the standard G-Pen if you're doing this by hand, or, just use the text tool and whichever font you prefer.

Once that's done, take your magic wand tool, and select all the black. Here are the magic wand settings I'm using to make the selections:

All selected?

Good.

Now, find a brush with a scattering/tone scraping effect. I use one like this.

You can theoretically use any colors you want for this next part, but I'd recommend pastels as they tend to blend better.

Either way, let's add some color to the text.

Once that's finished,

You're going to want to go to Layer Property, and Border Effect

You'll be given an option of choosing color and thickness. Choose black, and go for at least a 5 in thickness. Adjust per your own preferences.

Now create a layer beneath your sig layer, and merge the sig down onto the blank layer.

This effectively 'locks in' the border effect, which is exactly what we want.

Hooray, you've finished your watermark!

Now let's place that bad boy into your finished piece.

You'll get the best mileage out of a mark if you can place it over a spot that isn't black of white, since you'll get better blending options that way. My preference is for Overlay.

From here, I'll adjust the opacity to around 20-25, depending on the image.

If you don't have a spot to use overlay, however, there's a couple other options. For white, there's Linear Burn, which imho doesn't look as good, but it still works in a pinch.

And for lots of black, you have Linear Light

Either way, you're in business!

EDIT since this has escaped my usual circles, and folks aren't as familiar with my personal usage:

An example of one of my own finished pieces, with watermark, so you can see what I mean about 'relatively unobtrusive'-- I try to at least use them as framing devices, or let them work with the image somehow (or, at the very least, not actively against it).

I know it's a bummer for some people to "ruin" their work with watermarks, which is part of the reason I developed this mark in particular. Its disruption is about as minimal as I can make it while still letting it serve its intended purpose.

There's other methods, too, of course! But this is the one I use, and the one I can speak on. Hope it helps some of you!

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the

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Scientists just found a hidden 6th mass extinction in Earth’s ancient past

A global drop in oxygen levels about 550 million years ago led to Earth’s first known mass extinction, new evidence suggests.

sulc.us/1stextinction

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🎵

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Thank you for the 100 followers!

I noticed only yesterday and now I'm making this late post but thank you.

In my art history I have never reacher a 3 digit number of followers.

And because of that I'm doing a giveaway/raffle(?). I will pick a random person out of the reblogers to draw a picture for. (Liking and commenting might boost your chances.) More on the sketchy side (like the picture above) because I don't have that much time but winner can pick between styles I can do. It doesn't need to look "traditonal" either.

Winner will be picked when I feel like it (up to a week at max).

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my boyfriend showing me old warrior cats AMVs. this is how the fight between tigerstar and scourge goes down right

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Undiagnosed autistic culture is obsessing over the topic of autism, feeling validated by the incredible similarities in your own life, relating to every autistic individual in some way or another, fulfilling most if not all DSM 5 criteria on ASD, taking every autistic test you could find online all confirming you are very likely autistic...

...but still end up doubting you even have it.

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autistic children are not naive for saying the world should change if "life isn't fair." autistic children deserve to grow into happy autistic adults who can look back at a happy childhood. autistic people do not deserve trauma.