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[loressa]

Sometimes I make memes

[loressa]

Another month, another game jam. This one's theme was space and updating a minigame, so I took my very basic archery setup from Delve and turned it into a space western yeehaw game with an anti-capitalist story.

Learned a lot about svg and CSS. Box shadow and drop shadow are awesome!

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It was only when the pigs saw that sliver of sky as they moved from barn to slaughterhouse - then, they realized what freedom was, and that they would never have it.

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Imagine: A semi-post-apocalyptic society on Mars which - after a technological collapse - turned into a robber baron economy. Complete with its own Robin Hood.

The nights on Mars are long and hard as the crimson wind gusts and blows - yet in the bar, between the yarns, there's truth if you listen close.

Now Ned the Red could shoot them dead, in a blink from a lunar pace - yet his steps were dogged by the corporate hog known as the Sheriff Root Chase.

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My first "real" game was Manu - this game was mostly just stringing along dialog. Here is what it looked like:

I then tried to add in a lot more with Earthsong, when I returned to the Regenerate jam a year later.

This game used tags to determine music and apply CSS such as background based on which season it was in game - you can see the colored twine tags indicating different seasons.

In Delve, I created a "tower of terror" where players could revisit old levels and I think the twine setup shows how I arranged levels vertically to reflect the descent into hell.

I love seeing other twine setups! Please share your own! It's a great glimpse into a mix of narrative design and coding concepts.

I may have ADHD’d and made too many dialogue trees. This only goes up to the end of day 2, I have so much more to write 😅

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Anyone a fan of archery?

Been doing it over the last few months for exercise and fun, and I dig it! Delve featured a level with a very basic archery minigame and I'm excited for the minigame jam - going to expand out that minigame!

The theme is space, so we're doing a fun space western version of archery where you re-enact a legendary tournament. Think Robin Hood's famed tournament...but in space, so you'll have to factor in things like gravity and solar wind.

Your arcbow/plasmabow/??? of choice will affect shooting potential, while maps will rotate giving a range of gravity and wind conditions.

Trying to get Twine to make a moving meter (ala Tekken bowling) to introduce a real-time timing element.

Also want to make image mapping record where you click and calculate things like wind/gravity offsets. I'm thinking this is going to be a fun (headache?) challenge with responsive image mapping!

There will be light story in the form of a narrated poem about the legendary tournament you are re-enacting, based on the wonderful poems of Robert Service, a poet who wrote about the Yukon frontier. Space is, after all, the final frontier!

Rough draft of the starting narration:

The nights on Mars are long and hard as the crimson wind gusts and blows - yet in the bar, between the yarns, there's truth if you listen close.

Now Ned the Red could shoot them dead, in a blink from a lunar pace - but his steps were dogged by the corporate hog known as the ol' Sheriff Root Chase.

[loressa]

Been learning how to make images look more snazzy as I poke away at the update to Starcrossed!

Expanding out dialogue so you'll learn a story about each character as you get to know them, and the exploration sections will have puzzles!

Check out the original jam game version of this game, bugs and all, here:

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Development on an update of Earthsong continues slowly. We've had a heat wave here in Australia and our aircon broke, so staying in the house at all, much less using the computer, has been hellish.

I'm sitting outside writing this - the heat broke this afternoon with a sudden brief bout of rain - and the creature I've heard on my roof for the past few months finally hopped out to say hi. It's a quenda (bandicoot)!

I take it as a good omen - I spent a lot of time today on Earthsong, but I really do need to write about what I know... And that's Australia. The setting is shifting to a pretend village or island in Western Australia with a quokka as the guide. Quokkas are not only adorable and known world-wide, they are also a vulnerable species, with their mainland numbers and spread diminished greatly in recent years, so it will still serve the same role as the kākāpō did in the original jam game!

https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/biodiversity/threatened/action-plan/priority-mammals/quokka

Visiting creatures will still include birds such as cockatoos, magpies and ibis, but also creatures like my backyard's quenda helping keep pests out of crops or an echidna serving as a bioturbator.

The game has shifted to more of a simulation game as a way to work through grief/depression, with hobbies you can choose, changing room descriptions based on things you do as well as time of day/seasons, a village to participate in and nature to explore.

I've been updating the UI. The background images feel too busy and the icons are placeholders so I'm not done with it yet, plus I will be swapping this all for Aussie creatures!

Today I added this unskinned (it will look nicer when done!) journal system - the eventual goal is to give players a way to work through feelings as they experience them, to help process grief. Take a look in the video below!

Check out the original jam version, set in New Zealand, bugs and all (please read the itch.io page for details on how to bypass those bugs):

Follow me here for updates!

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Faegold

----

"Scatter!" she hisses; we do, like bugs.

The air - chill; clothes - threadbare, and she's knocking on another door, another, another, to find a place for Paul.

Glares at us, wordless, demanding: work.

A communal glare back. Her wings grow angry; the buzz begins.

There're no pockets to lift. Can't work miracles.

Door opens and we're out of her eye. Deflated; hateful yearning. A rambleamble - two feasts and an eyeblink, forever, too soon - and Paul is gone.

Mortal.

We can rest.

Forest, now - deepest heart, darkest tree, misted path.

Dream.

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[WP] The valley hadn't seen a more fair summer, not in any living memory atleast. The fields of crops stood tall and the trees hang heavily with fruits. A good omen for the coming winter.

---

"All hail the Summer Queen!"

The entire village is here, and every head bows, even Mary's. I feel a vindictive stab of triumph at that. Even she has to lower her eyes at my glory. The bitch.

"All hail the Summer Queen!"

I adjust my crown. Flowers, woven taut, each stem stabbed through the next to create an unbroken circlet. I ignore the prickles of budding thorns. I am the chosen Queen and such concerns are beneath me.

I square my shoulders, drape my gown. Everything must be perfect. I catch Mary stealing a glance and flush in pride. She was passed over for me.

"All hail the Summer Queen!"

Thrice-called means approach, in measured steps.

A heavy silence hangs over the valley. The village turns to watch me walk and I am incandescent. Overhead, trees swell with fruit - lush, pregnant, bowing, heavy. Even nature yields and cows.

Mary's a cow. I spare her a smirk. She glowers back. I only smile more broadly, more brightly, more me and me and me.

I am the Summer Queen.

The platform is before me and I ascend. The mountains hold their breath as the flame descends and, as the fire begins to lick at my heels, I spread my arms wide. I am beautiful and I am consumed and I am the winner.

Fuck you, Mary.

I am the fairest one of all.

[loressa]

[Writing Prompt] a short story about a green dancing Octopus with PhD in English Lit. Set the story in Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX offices on November 8, 2022.

—

Something thudded on the outside of my tank.

I was sleeping... not the pale, corpse-like float of my quiet cycle, but the wild, frenetic bursts of active rest I had grown to crave - to need - ever since they had wheeled me here to my own mundane hell to skip to their tunes. Emerald and ochre and azure pulsed across my body, danced down my tentacles, lanced through my dreams.

Another thud. I clung to the fleeting vestiges of sleep, but whoever was outside was insistent. I cracked one eye open, grumpy. I had been basking in a warm, pleasant vision of autographing my novel, eight signatures at once, surrounded by adoring fans.

Pupils dilated, shifted, focused and I found myself back in the office. So much for my degree. Instead of towers of books, my tank was surrounded by terminals, monitors, graphs of impossibly rising rates and profit. Jim was pressing something to the glass.

I slunk closer.

An article. THE article. Justice.

I flushed viridian and let my eyes sink closed, returning to my happy dreamscape with a final flourish of limbs.

My emails had gotten through.

It would all be over soon.

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[WP] Due to a regulation change, there’s a new standard to having a high school diploma. Adults thirty and over prepare to prepare to go through one more year of high school.

—

"...And I included a juice box and some chips."

Twenty years of marriage, two kids, and he's still the sweetest husband anyone could ask for.

"I'm nervous," I admit.

"I wrote an encouraging note on the banana," he reassures me. "But you can't read it until third period."

There a a pause, a slight downward tug to his stare, and then a chipper addendum: "The kids will be nice."

That's not what I mean and he knows it, but it's nice to playact in these final moments. I attempt to smile and it comes out all wrong. I try again. It's still a grimace and he folds me into his embrace, holding me close.

I cling to him, smelling him, deep sniffs to mask the rising tears. His scent is cedar and him and bookmust - his beard oil and the library. I try my best to memorize it all, filing it away for when I'll need him with me, even though I will be alone.

"I don't want to-"

He strokes my cheek, and I fall silent. What more is there to say? We've already debated running, fighting, dying and decided this was best.

It doesn't mean I have to like it, but it's not fair to him to drag it out. Inside I am screaming, but all I do is give him a smile and a slow, tender kiss.

I am a woman and it is my first day of re-education.

I say goodbye.

[loressa]

Great post. Also some other engines to look at:

Quest and QuestJS if you wanna make text adventures. JS uses JavaScript, so this is a great engine for folks in/looking to get into webdev.

Adventuron. Has its own unique language, but the game engine is designed for children to learn how to code, so it's very user friendly and will teach you object oriented coding building blocks of knowledge which are applicable in many languages.

Choicescript - probably the easiest language for folks looking to make text heavy choose your own adventure stuff. Has a publishing ecosystem with consistent clients, so this is the best one for a writer new to coding who wants to make money.

🎮 HEY I WANNA MAKE A GAME! 🎮

Yeah I getcha. I was once like you. Pure and naive. Great news. I AM STILL PURE AND NAIVE, GAME DEV IS FUN! But where to start?

To start, here are a couple of entry level softwares you can use! source: I just made a game called In Stars and Time and people are asking me how to start making vidy gaems. Now, without further ado:

SOFTWARES AND ENGINES FOR PEOPLE WHO DON'T KNOW HOW TO CODE!!!

Ren'py (and also a link to it if you click here do it): THE visual novel software. Comic artists, look no further ✨Pros: It's free! It's simple! It has great documentation! It has a bunch of plugins and UI stuff and assets for you to buy! It can be used even if you have LITERALLY no programming experience! (You'll just need to read the doc a bunch) You can also port your game to a BUNCH of consoles! ✨Cons: None really <3 Some games to look at: Doki Doki Literature Club, Bad End Theater, Butterfly Soup

Twine: Great for text-based games! GREAT FOR WRITERS WHO DONT WANNA DRAW!!!!!!!!! (but you can draw if you want) ✨Pros: It's free! It's simple! It's versatile! It has great documentation! It can be used even if you have LITERALLY no programming experience! (You'll just need to read the doc a bunch) ✨Cons: You can add pictures, but it's a pain. Some games to look at: The Uncle Who Works For Nintendo, Queers In love At The End of The World, Escape Velocity

Bitsy: Little topdown games! ✨Pros: It's free! It's simple! It's (somewhat) intuitive! It has great documentation! It can be used even if you have LITERALLY no programming experience! You can make everything in it, from text to sprites to code! Those games sure are small! ✨Cons: Those games sure are small. This is to make THE simplest game. Barely any animation for your sprites, can barely fit a line of text in there. But honestly, the restrictions are refreshing! Some games to look at: honestly I haven't played that many bitsy games because i am a fake gamer. The picture above is from Under A Star Called Sun though and that looks so pretty

RPGMaker: To make RPGs! LIKE ME!!!!! NOTE: I recommend getting the latest version if you can, but all have their pros and cons. You can get a better idea by looking at this post. ✨Pros: Literally everything you need to make an RPG. Has a tutorial inside the software itself that will teach you the basics. Pretty simple to understand, even if you have no coding experience! Also I made a post helping you out with RPGMaker right here! ✨Cons: Some stuff can be hard to figure out. Also, the latest version is expensive. Get it on sale! Some games to look at: Yume Nikki, Hylics, In Stars and Time (hehe. I made it)

engine.lol: collage worlds! it is relatively new so I don't know much about it, but it seems fascinating. picture is from Garden! NOTE: There's a bunch of smaller engines to find out there. Just yesterday I found out there's an Idle Game Maker made by the Cookie Clicker creator. Isn't life wonderful?

✨more advice under the cut. this is Long ok✨

ENGINES I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT AND THEY SEEM HARD BUT ALSO GIVE IT A TRY I GUESS!!!! :

Unity and Unreal: I don't know anything about those! That looks hard to learn! But indie devs use them! It seems expensive! Follow your dreams though! Don't ask me how!

GameMaker: Wuh I just don't know anything about it either! I just know it's now free if your game is non-commercial (aka, you're not selling it), and Undertale was made on it! It seems good! You probably need some coding experience though!!!

Godot: Man I know even less about this one. Heard good things though!

BUNCHA RANDOM ADVICE!!!!

-Make something small first! Try making simple: a character is in a room, and exits the room. The character can look around, decide to take an item with them, can leave, and maybe the door is locked and you have to find the key. Figuring out how to code something like that, whether it is as a fully text-based game or as an RPGMaker map, should be a good start to figure out how your software of choice works!

-After that, if you have an idea, try first to make the simplest version of that idea. For my timeloop RPG, my simplest version was two rooms: first room you can walk in, second room with the King, where a cutscene automatically plays and the battle starts, you immediately die, and loop back to the first room, with the text from this point on reflecting this change. I think I also added a loop counter. This helped me figure out the most important thing: Can This Game Be Made? After that, the rest is just fun stuff. So if you want to make a dating sim, try and figure out how to add choices, and how to have affection points go up and down depending on your choices! If you want to make a platformer, figure out how to make your character move and jump and how to create a simple level! If you just want to make a kinetic visual novel with no choices, figure out how to add text, and how to add portraits! You'll be surprised at how powerful you'll feel after having figured even those simple things out.

-If you have a programming problem or just get confused, never underestimate the power of asking Google! You most likely won't be the only person asking this question, and you will learn some useful tips! If you are powerful enough, you can even… Ask people??? On forums??? Not me though.

-Yeah I know you probably want to make Your Big Idea RIGHT NOW but please. Make a smaller prototype first. You need to get that experience. Trust me.

-If you are not a womanthing of many skills like me, you might realize you need help. Maybe you need an artist, or a programmer. So! Game jams on itch.io are a great way to get to work and meet other game devs that have different strengths! Or ask around! Maybe your artist friend secretly always wanted to draw for a game. Ask! Collaborate! Have fun!!!

I hope that was useful! If it was. Maybe. You'd like to buy me a coffee. Or maybe you could check out my comics and games. Or just my new critically acclaimed game In Stars and Time. If you want. Ok bye

[loressa]

So today I learned that Tekken lore exists and it's wild. There's stuff like a "devil gene" in a yakuza family, bears in love proposing with fish, resurrection spells (?), parents fighting children, grandparents fighting grandchildren, wolf demons, ww3, UN super spies, an official-art-confirmed massive cock, coma "broodmares", air conditioner repair, cannibalism and a boxing kangaroo who is somehow integral to lore.

The most normal part is probably the robot ninja assassin.

Great rabbit hole, 10/10 recommend.

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Someone reviewed my game! It's....not flattering, but very useful for improving! I've got a lot of ideas now to improve this game going forward!

[loressa]

Happy Halloween! Here's a free point and click twine game I made about being stuck in job interview hell, struggling to focus and how looking back can sometimes help you move forwards. Hint: try revisiting floors!