#I don't get how people have hundreds of mods in this game

[orteil42]

some undifferentiated thoughts about my Starfield playthrough as i have them. i am a game developer with a strong interest in procedural generation and i've enjoyed a bunch of other bethesda games so this might get pretty mean sorry

(this is a long one)

starfield dialogue is already exhausting me "oh you must've been living under a moon rock ;)" get it! because they're in space! this would've been too corny for the Jetsons

there's a kind of cheap dusting of space theme over everything. the food isn't salmon but alien salmon. it's not seaweed but alien seaweed. cooking alien stir-fry. come on

cannot get over how clumsily the theming is handled. books, board games, weapon names revolve heavily around space. these people have been living on alien planets for hundreds of years yet have this unending sense of novelty about it. the game takes itself completely seriously but feels like it's attempting to parody itself

people's EYEBALLS are CLIPPING THROUGH THEIR EYELIDS

a woman is speaking to me in french. her accent is about as believable as her haircut

these are some of the worst reflection maps i've ever seen

next to nothing is interactive. you can sit in chairs and sleep in beds and that is about it. can't even drink from people's toilets. disgraceful

game helpfully crashes 5 seconds after i decide i should get some sleep. very handy!

my character has not said a single thing since i started playing. not one peep. this is an unmitigated improvement over Fallout 4 i'm so glad honestly

the more i poke around the big city the more the NPC quips feel like something out of gen-1 pokemon. can't get enough of this coffee :) this city is where it's at :) spacesuits are comfy and easy to wear

very strange sense of altered reality from the quest dialogue too. has anyone at bethesda met a person before? i move on to some mission that has me scanning wildlife on a faraway planet hoping this will, somehow, feel less alien than human conversation

just as with No Man's Sky, every planet is uniformly dotted with equidistantly-placed points of interest that you slowly make your way to (no vehicles besides your jetpack) which always turn out to be some cave or building identical to those you've cleared before

unlike with No Man's Sky, the seamless exploration is faked and the biodiversity is nil. you do get an impressive amount of raw loading screens however

the prefab bases and power stations found everywhere on planets seem to have very sparse, very specific slots for spawning consumables, which results in encountering some giant industrial installation in the middle of nowhere with, i don't know, a loaf of whole-grain sandwich bread just casually sitting next to it all proper. there is no breathable atmosphere here. who is eating this

planetary traversal is a CHORE. i am saying this as someone who loved Death Stranding

heinous "hold to confirm" buttons sprinkled in various flow-breaking places throughout the interface

enemy AI is abominable. nobody is pathing their way to get my ass. "must've been the wind" taken to the next level. an infant playing peekaboo has more object permanence

hoisting yourself up on ledges when jumping is…nice

companions randomly nowhere to be found. persists through multiple fast-travels and loading screens until, just as randomly, they pop back up

storage space is now limited! unlike in Fallout 4 and virtually every other bethesda game, your containers now hold a finite item capacity. god forbid we let the player have fun

baffling inventory UI. i imagine there's a mod out there that completely overhauls it the way SkyUI did for Skyrim. this should not be needed! how are your UIs getting worse a decade later!

scanning the precious few species inhabiting some dusty planet; one of them is this arching red root i've already seen several times before. my job done in this biome, i travel (read: teleport with a loading screen) to the polar region to find some other species. the first one i catalogue is the exact same red root again but this time it's named "boreas root" todd howard is a genius

some alien horror comes at me full fangs out. i hop on a pebble. obscenely, i am safe

procedural terrain generation beyond dull, impossibly unimaginative. these people have not had one critical thought on what makes a procedural world interesting. beginning to feel validated in my belief that only i should be trusted with proc gen. along with perhaps tarn adams

jokes aside this is making me feel genuinely insane. there have been excellent procedural generation techniques that produce compelling explorable maps for decades now. bethesda absolutely has the budget and know-how to do miles better than this yet somehow they just…do not? the same way Pokemon has decided to just no longer bother with their mainline games despite being the highest-grossing media franchise in history? hello? what is for real going on

some of the most cynical breadcrumbing i've seen in years. approaching some random cave and this person in space gear, who in the vast immensity of the infinite cosmos just happens to be snapping pictures right here, tells me more-or-less verbatim "if you like this place, you should see this other place" [other random cave has been added to your map.]

i do not like how good this makes No Man's Sky's gameplay look. it depresses me how much i have to hand it to No Man's Sky for at least not fucking up this bad. please stop making me wish i was playing No Man's Sky instead this is grotesque

i think i've exhausted my interest and patience for this game at the moment. i'll get back to the main story at some point and try some other systems ie. crafting and base-building to see if there's any engagement to be found but so far, my god. my god

[autumnslance]

FFXIV Housing Builds

Talking to a pal feeling bummed about their housing decorating, and it's one I hear a lot, that they aren't "good at it" and compare themselves to the builders showing off their fancy and cozy and très chic builds and...

Look. We all know the trouble with Gpose, right? Where PC players with a hundred mods and ReShade and Anamnesis/Ktisis and maybe some post-processing work (and also photography/artist skills/knowledge) take some killer screenshots, and anyone with a console--or even other PC players--who don't have or know how (yet) to use all those tools, wail and gnash their teeth about how their (perfectly glamoured, nicely composed, decently lit, imaginative situations) screenshots just don't compare?

Same things with housing.

A lot of those super fancy builds? They're using half to a quarter of the available space. They're blocking off entire floors, and making camera angles for character screenshots nearly impossible by lowering the ceilings and closing in the walls. They're using a dozen slots to make a unique bed that may be functional.

It's aesthetics. It's playing puzzles. It's seeing what they can do, and it's pretty to look at, and cool to figure out, and neat for ideas...

But it's also not a requirement. It's not workable for every player or their FC. Some are! But some are also just experiments, or art installations.

I have a couple pals who are really into the fancy builds, who even do commissions for their work. We have a decorator lizard in our FC who needs the enrichment, but a requirement I have for the FC spaces are that they have to use the whole space. It has to be functional. It has to fit multiple members of the FC when they want to hang out, maybe take screenshots for storylines and RP and such. Can we fit a couple dozen people the rare times we host events?

Does that mean not a lot of random clutter, a lot of open space? Sure! But I can swing my camera around, fit multiple Roegadyn in a shot, and still have a nice looking, homey space that gets across the idea of what our FC is about. In my personal apartments and house, they're spaces that my characters would live in, and there's room for them and for friends to move around, hang out, take pics together.

Take inspiration from the housing builders! Admire their art and the work they put in, the puzzles they create when making a toaster oven out of six disparate housing items I'd never consider using that way holy cow!

But just like one shouldn't get hung up on the ultra-modded and post-processed screenshots, don't get hung up on the super fancy designer artisanal housing builds. It's a different aspect of the game, and often for different purposes.

Use the Preview Indoor/Outdoor Furnishings options in the housing menu to see what's available, use the websites that list housing items, fiddle around, mix and match, and make something fun that suits your screenshot needs and/or your character's idea of personal space. I promise you; you're doing just fine with your apartment/FC room/house if you're making it for you, even if it takes time to figure it out.

[ghostoffuturespast]

Works In Progress 2023: A Cyberpunk 2077 Year In Review

I thought for a hot minute about doing one of those snazzy templates that’s been going around, but editing photos just ain’t my MO and rather than going by month I picked 12 favs that I’ve posted in 2023. Some of them were popular, some of them weren't. Overall, I think I did pretty good for just doing vanilla photomode on console.

You might be wondering why there's a picture of a sticky note. I don't remember when I started doing this, and I'm horribly inconsistent as you can see by the dates, but I'll jot down my word count for my wip chapter and then jot it down again when I remember to later.

I write slow. A lot of times I sit down to write and it feels like the wheels are spinning in place. My minutes and hours don't stretch very far, typically don't add up to much. But days, weeks, months. That's when I can at least measure the progress.

Fic: So It Goes 40/44 - 438,946 words

My V x River Ward and tinfoil hat conspiracy theory long fic. I've spent way more hours on this then I have on any of my VP.

I got tagged by @just-a-cybercroissant @therealnightcity and @wanderingaldecaldo to do some WIP Whenevers. I post my VP pretty regularly, so it’s always seemed silly to do work in progress posts for them, and I don’t know when I’ll have any new writing to share since in between work and the holidays, I haven’t had much time to sit down with anything since my last chapter update. And I've been feeling very... stingy, lately. Especially when it comes to mine and other people's writing. So take this WIP/Year In Review as my offering. Both these series, as am I, are all very much still works in progress. 

I confined my reflections for this year below the cut. If you don’t want to read my long-ass essays, you can admire the pictures, maybe check out my fic, or just move along and have yourself a lovely day.

We’ll start with the easy one.

VP

After at least a year of multiple playthroughs (I’ve played all the lifepaths, done all the endings), it only occurred to me at the beginning of this year to start taking VP. Part of the reason I never did before was because I didn’t realize it was a thing and then by the time I did, I figured I didn’t have much to offer. I play on PS5 and only have access to vanilla photomode, so seeing everyone else’s high-fidelity, ultra ray-tracing, modded, posed, full on virtual photo shoot photos, I was like there’s no way. (Not that I’m hating on PC modders, it’s just not everyone has access to mods or a PC capable of running the game, and I’m all for making art and creative endeavors accessible.) On top of that, all I’d ever heard from most other folks was how much vanilla photomode sucked. In the glamorous world of VP, I didn’t think there was any room for me.

But I started snapping pics anyway. And sure, there are a lot of limitations with vanilla photomode. But what that really translates to is opportunities to get creative. I am also a hoe for subverting people’s expectations, and very much believe when there’s a will, there’s a way.

Environmental and landscape shots were my first subjects before I started branching out into portraits and then capturing story moments. Through VP I found an entirely new way to enjoy a game that I’d already played a ridiculous number of times along with also finally being brave enough to share my V with other people too. I’d always worried about that before, if people would like her. Granted, I know Grandpa’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but whether you like her or not, I certainly think she’s made a name for herself over the past few months. Even if most people haven’t really gotten to know her the way I’d hoped. 

I’ve taken hundreds of photos this past year. Most of which I’ll never share. There’s a lot of flops, a lot of weird experiments, ones that didn’t quite turn out the way I’d hoped, but I’ve learned something from every single one of them. I know how to spot good lighting, frame shots to create optical illusions, get a very limited toolkit to work in my favor, parkoured on all of the things, and heck, I even figured out how to make Grandpa smooch other NPCs. I’ve done atmospheric, mundane, down right goofy, as well as things that most people probably thought weren’t fucking possible.

I can’t say how long I’ll keep doing this, I’m sure I’ll move on at some point, but for now I’m still enjoying myself. There's a lot to explore in this game and I just can’t stop digging Night City.

Now, for the more complicated thing.

Writing

So It Goes… My peace, my war, my greedy and most ravenous of ghosts.

I’m operating under the assumption that most people following me here probably haven't read my fic or aren’t all that interested in reading it to begin with. It’s fine. But you need to understand this fic, my writing, is the main thing that brought me here. This is also Grandpa V’s story. Most of you have met her, but unless you've been reading, most of you do not know her.

I wrote around 185,000 words and posted 10 chapters this year. 2022 was about 253,000 words and 30 chapters, along with several unrelated one shots. However, I don’t think I’ve done a single chapter this year that was less then 10k, and my longest managed to hit 27k. As of the last update I posted, the fic is currently sitting at around 439k words, 40 chapters, and still isn’t done.

I have four more chapters to write. I have written a metric shit ton of words. This is, by far, the longest and most intense creative project I’ve ever endeavored to complete.

When I started writing, I was expecting this fic to be around 100-150k. That seemed to be the average for most long fics. I did not plan on being an outlier. I'm not sure you can ever really plan for that, but I guess I enjoy subverting my own expectations too.

For those of you who are reading my fic, it is my sincerest hope that it shatters every expectation of where you think it’s going. It’s not a joke that I tagged my fic “#an ode to my tinfoil hat”. An ode it has turned out to be. I’ve been sitting on this theory for two years. I have told no one about it. I hope it sticks the landing and hits the way I want it to. I don't know if it will. But fuck, I just want to be done with it so I can move on with my life, take a break, and give myself the opportunity to make and focus on other things before I have to get back on the damn horse.

I wrote less this past year then I did in 2022. I had a lot of life changes, most of which were good, but with times of change come times of adjustment. Along with some realizations that maybe you don’t understand as much as you thought you did. Looking back, I’ve been in a state of unsettled, kuzushi, for a really long time. Which is not a good place to be. It’s how your ass ends up on the ground with a knee knocking out all your teeth. I thought I knew better. Thought I had enough practice to get away from it. But bad habits have good memories.

I think given the circumstances, I accomplished a lot with my writing this year. I don’t know if my writing is exactly where I want it to be. I doubt it every will be, but it’s evolved, grown, and I wrote a pretty hefty stack of words considering I started working full-time again, bought a house with my partner, moved, and have been dealing with the millions of other beans that life tends to throw one’s way. That being said, and for full disclosure, I’ve also been dealing with some of the worst cases of jealousy and envy I’ve had since I was a teenager. 

Frankly, it sucks. They walk with me every fucking where I go, hold my hands to whisper back all my doubts. Try to persuade me to my baser instincts, to be cruel and lash out. But that's not aikido. Luckily, I’m not 16 anymore so it’s at least been easier for me to identify the problem. Though I’m still coming up short in terms of actually being able to do anything about it, and will be for at least a few months more. 

Yeah, I keep talking about it because I don’t know how many people know that I've been feeling this way. And I’m tired of not talking about it in a room full of creatives, because yeah, I know I’m not the only one that feels this way. And not talking about it just makes all that pent up resentment worse for everyone.

Don’t get me wrong, I love writing. But with the way I work and think, it’s a slow, tedious, and incredibly time-consuming art. With how much my fic has snowballed over the course of writing, it’s left very little room for the other hobbies in my life. And as my fellow writers probably already know, writing is an incredibly insular craft. And unlike a picture or an image, which only requires a glance, reading a bunch of words requires time and commitment.

So, when you put yourself out there and share what you wrote, it’s a lonely feeling not knowing whether or not anyone connected with what you put on the page. Especially, when the people who do read aren’t compelled to voice anything and when the people you’d hope would read don’t. And then you're stuck in the dark, not knowing, because neither of us says a goddamn thing.

I started writing this fic prior to actually joining the CP2077 fandom. And I joined the fandom because I felt alone. I’ve been here a while now, albeit in a few different places, and that feeling still hasn’t gone away. I’m still trying to find camaraderie with my fellow writers and carve out something that kinda sort of resembles a home or a sense of community. I watch my peers around me as they seem to build that with each other, except me.

I’m envious of the things that people make and jealous of the relationships those have created and fostered between said people, because for the life of me, it’s been a struggle to cultivate that since I got here. I know it’s selfish, but I also don’t know what about me makes people so hesitant. There have been a handful of strangers that have shown up for me regularly, but as far as people I call friends in this fandom that have shown up and actually stuck around, I can only name one right now. (I know we're all busy. And I acknowledge my writing's not for everyone. I know maybe some of you are quiet, or shy, or probably a thousand other things. I get it. But that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt any less. People will never know unless you say. Never know unless you take the time to interact or engage. Be brave. And that's true for a lot of things.)

The propensity is for the negative to outweigh the positive. I've got a lot of numbers on my fic, so you would think things would be fine, but at this point they just feel empty. They don't bring me any comfort or real satisfaction. And I hate feeling like the people I know don’t care and that most of you are just talking around me. That I’m some kind of annoyance not fit to interact with. Which may or may not be the case. I don’t know. Again, most of you have never said anything. And maybe I need to accept the fact that most of you never will.

But this is me trying to start conversation.

It’s really shitty, knowing that the thing I want the most is also the thing holding me back. I know how to work on it too, not that it’s any guarantee. The problem is I’m still writing and in a needy state of greed. And because I’m slow, I don’t have the time or the energy to be generous. I can only take right now. I can’t give. 

Relationships require both.

I can’t bring myself to read other people’s writing. I can’t comment, or like, or share if I haven’t read anything. I'm desperate for conversation, but I also don't have the time or assurance to facilitate it with other people right now. And for some reason people never seem to want to talk to me, especially when it comes to writing. I want to be part of conversations, talk deeply with other people. But I can’t speak right now, I'm not in a place to offer generosity without someone first giving it to me.

And generosity and grace is what we all need.

Four more chapters and I hope my ghosts will finally let me read in peace.

[awesomechocolatesauce]

Astarion: "You know, I didn't care for you when we first met. But I do now. Being with you is about more than lust or manipulating you into a tactical alliance. I love you. I love this. And I want it all."

---

Did I replay this scene over and over to get screenshots? Perhaps.

This scene just... it's so important to me. He takes her to his grave, where his mortal life ended and his slavery began. Then, after he's truly free, he decides he wants to live again, so he carves another year into the tombstone and turns to his love and says "I love you. I want you. I want it all."

He's starting out this "new life" by making love to the person who was by his side since the day they met, even though he threatened her with a dagger to her throat (which is hot, don't come at me). And he's making love to her on top of the place that started his two hundred years of torment, so now he reclaimed it, as well as his bodily autonomy. Symbolic, and also...hot.

Honestly, as a full time console player, mods never really mattered to me. I'm one of those people who plays vanilla Skyrim and Sims and is perfectly content with my limitations...except for this scene. With the free cam mod, it shows him climbing on top of her while hooking her leg with his knee as he lays her down onto her back in a passionate kiss. Hey, Larian, WHY YOU GOTTA HIDE THAT?! Biggest crime! Jail!

I've seen some people say how "weird" it is to have sex on top of his grave, and I'm just like "Uh...why?" Compared to the other things you can do in this game (bear scene, the Emperor scene, Haarlep), this is far more normal. It's not like he's still buried there, or anyone else is, so it's fair game in my eyes. Also, you decided to romance a damn vampire! What exactly did you expect? A feather bed covered in rose petals? Nah, we're doing a graveyard smash!

I plan on posting more screenshots as I play through Act 3 on the intent of actually finishing this damn game, so stay tuned. 💕

[fayesdiary]

Congrats on beating 3H !! So what are your thoughts of the complete Fodlan experience ?

Jokes aside, honestly I'm not sure I can give a straight answer.

Overall I'd say it's been one of if not my least favourite Fire Emblem, but that really doesn't sum it up.

A more accurate description would be that it had a good chunk of things I loved (above all the Nabatean fam, Dimitri and his story and Claude as a character)... But it's buried beneath a mountain of boredom to slog through, decisions I just don't vibe with and The Bullshit™. Sooo much tedium and Bullshit in this game, and the fact I was kinda done halfway through VW and only persevered through the end out of sheer spite doesn't help.

And it's such a shame because when I liked the game I REALLY liked it and think it has some of the best/most interesting ideas of the entire series... But was it really worth slogging through hundreds of hours playing the same mediocre at best maps and story beats over and over and having to constantly bear that. Fucking. Monastery? Right now I'm inclined to say no. As much as I love those things, it was not.

Playing all the routes one after another really lays some of the biggest issues of this game, like the repetition. SOOO much of this game is recycled between routes and also in a single route to honestly insulting levels, and it doesn't get that much better in Part 2. The fact the devs somehow didn't think people would want to play more than one route is just. Baffling.

Something I realized in the final playthrough is that they also recycle maps for what are supposed to be completely different locations. So you get shit like Brigid somehow looking the exact same as a forest in the Alliance filled with Demonic Beasts, or Rhodos Coast and a beach in the Sreng Peninsula perfect copies of each other. Complete with the monuments for Cichol and Cethleann. Also like damn, Seteth's wife was so dead they had to bury her twice. In two different locations.

The writing is all over the place as a result of the chaotic development where not even the devs could agree on what the story was, and the whole game could be used as a test study on the sheer damage scope creep can do as well as the obsession with lore and worldbuilding that they contradict as soon as it's convenient over making an actually coherent narrative. And also why you don't throw literally any idea you can come up with to the wall hoping something sticks.

Because of the overreliance on telling over showing, what with the bland recycled maps and all, that Garreg Mach almost feels like the only real location in Fódlan, and that's something no amount of in-game libraries or novels worth of lore if those ten thousand years of lore are even real and didn't just make it up

Speaking of Garreg Mach, dear Sothis I hate that place now.

The monastery was fun the first time around, but then it became a chore to something I actively dreaded doing. It's monotone, you do the same shit every time, it lasts FOREVER compared to, you know, the ACTUAL Fire Emblem gameplay I'm playing for. And while you can technically skip it, you're losing on so much stuff to progress your units if you use it, so it feels like the option is just there to mock you. Getting into Persona and realizing how well the calendar system can work if done properly did nothing but sour me even more on the monastery.

The characters having new dialogue every chapter is really neat and something I wish got properly carried over to Engage, this game manages to turn even that into a chore.

And like - I really want to like this game, and in a sense I do, there's quite a bit of it I love. But so much of it makes me actively groan that I don't think I'm gonna replay it for at least a year. And if I do it will be with the No Monastery mod.

[bri-does-art]

i know this probably won’t do much, let alone anything at all, but i’m sorry for the stress this site has caused you and so many other creators here. i’m not asking for you to stick around on here, but i hope you know just how meaningful you and your art have been on here. you’re amazing. /pos

Hey, this ask has done a lot more than you would think. Thank you, you are very sweet. <3

I've kind of made up my mind about what I'm gonna do for a while now, but I've simply been... too busy and overwhelmed to take the time to let you guys know. I'm not going to delete my tumblr, there's just. Too much here that I don't want to lose.

So far the game plan is: keep my tumblr. But do not upload anymore art or writing on it - not because it's gonna get scraped, because it was already getting scraped anyway, AI company deal or not. It's pretty much unavoidable at this point, unfortunately. I simply do not trust Tumblr with my data, if they're going to sell EVERYTHING, including private messages and such, so I'm not going to give it anything worthwhile to profit off of. Instead, I'm going to start uploading my art exclusively on Ao3, for now. I'll answer any asks I receive here on there too, as well. I'll figure some kind of system out. 🤔

The cool thing about uploading to Ao3 is that anyone subscribed to my profile or to the containment series I will make will get a notification anytime I upload something new. Having my art and writing in one place is likely going to be more convenient for you guys too, since you won't have to move across platforms to get the full experience. 😄It'll be different... but a platform getting too greedy for its own good won't stop me from finding ways to share my stories with y'all. I'll just find another solution.

(I've also been entertaining the idea of joining or making my own Discord server but. That one is a little more delicate. The idea of joining a server that has hundreds of members like a lot of this fandom's servers have, just. Makes me break into hives, lmao. (I am in the Ghost in the Machine fic server. I muted it an hour into joining, it was way too intense for me. |'D) That is way too many people, I simply cannot handle it. I'd be way more comfortable in a smaller group with a less rapid-fire rate of posting and conversation. I am also. Very picky about which servers I join, which makes asking for recommendations doubly awkward when I shoot them all down, haha... And making my own... Err, I can hardly keep up with a server I helped create for another fandom and mod for, I don't think I could handle two of them - I would need other people to handle the moderation for me, and I wouldn't trust just anyone to be a mod. I'd need to know them well enough to know I could trust them, and I... do not really know anyone in this fandom well enough to do that, sadly. I take server moderation very seriously, as someone who has had experience modding for forums back before social media was a thing. I do not know if that would make for a fun experience for everyone, and anyone who hasn't known that kind of supervised experience. It is comforting to me. It may be intimidating for others. So that's still a very hand-wavy, 'eehhhh' kind of thing still.)

All of this to say, that this isn't the last you'll see from me, far from it. I'll restrict my creative output to Ao3 for the foreseeable future, and I'll let you guys on here know when I make a new upload, so those of you who do not have an Ao3 account know when something new has happened.

So there you have it. 😊

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

And to all the people who complained about Danganronpa being liner, Last Defence Academy supposedly has 100 DIFFERENT ENDINGS. I’m fairly sure this is a joke, because if not, hooo boooyyy that’s gonna massively add replayability to this game.

//No, knowing Kodaka and Uchikoshi, I take them with a certain degree of seriousness.

//However, I've never minded Danganronpa's linear story, and even if pulling off something like that is possible, which it definitely is with enough effort, there are some issues I have with it.

//For one, 100 Line would have to be a relatively short game for that to work, because that many endings encourages copious amounts of replay value. It makes me worry that it'll affect the normally brilliant character writing that we're used to from Kodaka and Uchukoshi.

//Also, players run the danger of becoming overwhelmed since too many endings could lessen the relevance of each outcome and lessen the impact of the finale. And it creates a sense of unease and oftentimes annoyance if things don't end the way people want it to.

//PLUS plus, there's a pretty probable chance that each of the endings will only differ slightly, and that makes it feel like the choices lack weight, or that we're being made to replay the game for minimal reward.

//Kind of like how Sonic Heroes makes you play the main campaign three times, with the only real difference being the dialogue that happens from the four teams, who all play the exact same.

//The point is maintaining a coherent, engaging story across so many conclusions is incredibly difficult without risking repetition or narrative bloat.

//Now, I don't know much about video game development personally, but one of my biggest concerns about it is a game like this seems to require a massive amount of content creation, testing, and narrative balancing, which can lead to inconsistencies in quality. And that stuff is expensive, evident by the fact that TooKyo games have gone into LITERAL DEBT over this game.

//If The Hundred Line doesn't sell well, it could be the end of their company.

//Now, I'm pretty confident that with both Hundred Line AND Tribe Nine in development, it won't come to that.

//But regardless, I do have to say something here that's been quite heavy on my mind since recent things.

//Please, if you can, support Kodaka and his company, and stop bitching about getting another Danganronpa game. That's out of his control, and the man has openly said that his goal in life is to make the games that he wants to make.

//So let him, or better yet, HELP him.

-Mod

[hungry-skeleton]

not rvb (sorry), but how does one get into skylanders in modern day? or is it going to become an endangered species of fandom bcause the games are inaccessible

Tbh, most of the fandom is full of old timers so it's not exactly easy to get into. There's one of two ways to get into it nowadays, either watch some let's plays or go the full mile and get the figures + game. Of which there are hundreds of figures and 6 games. Not to mention the varying price and rarity of certain items.

I'm not one to fully give up though, I don't think any fandom should be left to rot completely. You CAN get ROM hacks of all of the games + a digital way to get the figures for them but I'm not really knowledgeable on that front <- still struggles to get minecraft mods to work

As long as there's ANY way to access the games I think passionate enough people will put forth the effort to invest themselves in everything that's left and find a love for the series the same way us veteran portal masters have, without the need for nostalgia

[snowflakechallenge]

Meet the Mods!

Akamine_chan created The Fandom Snowflake Challenge back in 2012 as a way to remind herself “why I loved fandom so much”. Over the years the challenge itself has come to mean a lot to many of us, so by way of introduction some of the mods for this year have written about what The Fandom Snowflake Challenge means to them and why they are excited about it.

Muccamukk: Mucca mostly writes fic and reviews, usually in western media fandoms, and can never turn her back on a kink meme. She's been participating in the Snowflake Challenge off and on since year one, helping mod for the last five, and there still hasn't been any cake.

Misbegotten: I'm Misbegotten and this is my second year as a Snowflake mod. Fandom has been my happy place for many decades. My sad place too, but what's life without variety?

Sparrow2000: Hi I'm Sparrow2000 on LJ, DW and A03. I've made my fandom home in the Buffy 'verse for the last 20 odd (sometimes very odd!) years and it's where I write. I read in any fandom that catches my eye and I'm an avid reccer because I believe spreading the love keeps our fandoms alive. I've taken part in the snowflake challenge every year since 2014 and it never fails to energise my fandom joy. I'm thrilled to be helping out behind the scenes for the third year running and can't wait to see how everyone expresses their own fandom love this year.

Tjs_whatnot: Oh Snowflake, how I've missed your optimistic and cheery fandom energy! I've exhausted those resources pretty early on last year, so a refill is in desperate need! I've been part of the Snowflake family for ages now but I learn something new each year, so it's a new challenge each time. I can't wait to get reacquainted with the other old timers and meet some new, fun fandom faces. LET'S DO THIS!! ♥ ♥ ❤ ❤

Queer_scribbling: Hello, I'm Briar. I've participated in the Snowflake Challenge the past few years, but this is my first time helping out as a mod. For me, this challenge is a welcome reprieve from the doldrums of winter, and I hope the sense of community - lurkers, likers, commenters, and more - will help all of us to start 2024 on a high note.

Summerstorm: Hi! I'm Lix, and I'm back as a Snowflake mod after a few years off. These days, my fandom participation is mostly reading fic, playing ttrpgs (new this year! because I finally got good meds! I use a calendar now entirely to keep track of games?), and screaming on Discord about actual play shows, but I care a lot about those three things. Fandom is a load-bearing pillar of my life, and honestly I don't know what I'd do without it.

Pebble_in_a_lake: Hello! I'm pebble, a lifelong sci-fi and comic book fan. I've participated in snowflake challenge several years now, but this will be my first time pitching in as a volunteer. I love the fun and positivity it brings to the community each year as everyone shares their love for their different fandoms. Whether you're participating, commenting, or lurking, I hope you all have a very fun time. :D

Spikedluv: Hello to all returning and new Snowflakes! I love Snowflake and I’m thrilled to be part of the group bringing Snowflake to you again this year. The best thing about this challenge is that it reminds me of all the great things about fandom. The feeling of community. The comments and feedback. The squee that comes with discovering new fandoms and new fic and new friends. And while Snowflake only lasts for one month, these are things we can take with us into the rest of the year. As I’ve said previously, Snowflake has taught me that I need to be the change I want to see in fandom and gets me pumped up to go forth and be a more active participant.

Seleneheart: I love Snowflake because it is such a marvelous way to start the New Year - to know that I''m not a lone voice crying out in the wilderness, that there's hundreds of people who love fandom and they are all right here!

This is my sixth time to be a mod for Snowflake, and every single year I've come away with new friends, new ideas, and new connections with old friends. Some people I see all the time during the year, and some I see only during [community profile] snowflake_challenge - all of you warm my soul. I can't wait to get started!

Pronker: Hello there, I'm Pronker (DW, FFN, tumblr, twitter, theforce.net and AO3) and this is my second time modding in seven years' participating in the best challenge ever. :) I love to launch a new year with fellow fans' enthusiasms and creativity. Favorite fandoms: Hogan's Heroes, Penguins of Madagascar, Star Wars, Constantine, Greek Mythology, Star Trek TOS, Laredo, and my very first one, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. See you soon!

Dizzydrea: Hi everyone! I'm Dizzydrea on DW and AO3. I've been in fandom for over 20 years, so I've seen some stuff. I only found out about Fandom Snowflake a few years ago, but I look forward to participating each year, though this is my first year as a mod. I'm a writer, up to about 50 fandoms now. I read a lot, too, and I like to comment as a way of paying it forward. I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with this year.

Cornerofmadness: Hi everyone! I'm excited to be back for another round of Fandom Snowflake. I'm Cornerofmadness on DW/LJ/AO3. I've been around fandom for decades, since the paper zine days of the 80s and 90s and been in online fandoms for more than twenty years so I've seen a lot, the good and the bad. I think that's the thing I like best about this challenge is we see so much of the good here. I'm probably best known in the Buffyverse, Fullmetal Alchemist, Prodigal Son and now The Owl House but I've had a toe in many fandom waters and hope to dip them into many more.

Vriddy: Hi! I'm Vriddy, a huge fan of Fandom Snowflake since I discovered it a couple of years ago and very excited to be part of it from the volunteer side for the first time this year! I'm mainly in anime fandoms at the moment, and looking forward to sharing all kinds of fannish joy with everyone this month. Such a wonderful way to start the year, I hope you all have a great time, too!

Tellshannon815: Hi again, back for another round of Snowflake, looking forward to seeing what you all come up with, discovering new fandoms, and hopefully making some new friends!

Turps: Hi, I'm Turps and I've been taking part in Snowflake since the very beginning and joined in as a mod a few years ago, and enjoyed the process so much I'm back for more.

Snowflake always gets my fannish year off to a great start, but what I love the most is how low-pressure it is. Some years I've managed to complete every challenge, and others only a couple. Sometimes I've done a challenge but not linked at the comm, and that's fine.

I've made some good friends due to Snowflake Challenge, but also see and read posts from people I only see once a year, and I love that. It's like meeting old friends who I have a quick natter with before heading off into the virtual distance, and I'm looking forward to doing that again.

As you can see the challenge means so many things to the mods, and to everyone who has participated before, and will hopefully also be meaningful to anyone joining us for the first time this year. You’ll find us all wading through comments, welcoming everyone, answering questions, keeping the peace, so if you need anything, don't hesitate to flag one of us down.

Tomorrow starts the first of the fandom challenges, so hope you all are ready for some fun times! Feel free to do any challenge that strikes your fancy (or all of them), or leave a comment on someone else’s challenge response at anytime.

[blazehedgehog]

Thoughts on the Microsoft Third Party news?

I mean if Xbox is getting to be a big enough brand that people are raising questions of whether or not exclusivity means monopoly, then yeah, spreading more of your games out across multiple platforms makes legal sense.

More and more of the game industry is regrettably going to be moving in the direction of "account ecosystem" rather than hardware platform. Years ago there was talk about how one day there would be no Xbox or Playstation console, just an Xbox or Playstation App you launch on something like a Roku.

The final disgusting endpoint in all of this "no more sales, just service" drive. No discs, not even local data, just a monthly streaming subscription. Forever. No ownership, no ability to mod games, no way to play offline.

Even in the best case scenario, we're looking at a Netflix where you stream 90% of what you play and only "buy" the 10% of games you truly love.

The only thing that flies in the face of that is, like, Steam. The state of movie ownership is what it is because Netflix got there first. The streaming arm of Netflix is the entire reason the "Hollywood Streaming Industry" exists right now. It predates Prime Video, it predates Tubi, it predates everything.

Fewer people probably remember this, but the original premise of Hulu was to get TV networks signed on to simulcast their newest shows online, because none of them were doing that yet. "Netflix Instant" (the original name for Netflix streaming) even predates that. Hulu was trying to fill a need that Netflix could not because Netflix did not actually stream TV shows at first. Not even syndicated rerun stuff. It was just movies. Streaming Seinfeld or The Simpsons or The Office was just outright impossible.

Netflix got in there and shifted the direction of an entire industry, before borders had been staked out or consumers had built up substantial libraries they were protective of. So we went from VHS to DVD to Blu-ray to Streaming, where "Streaming" usually means a subscription service and not any form of ownership.

But that's not the case with games. Users expect backwards compatibility, they expect their libraries to carry forward, and in some cases people may own hundreds or even thousands of games in a digital library. I know on the Xbox 360, I own at least $200 worth of digital games, because I won a sweepstakes specifically for a $200 Xbox gift card. And my 19 year old Steam account will gladly tell the entire world I own over 1600 PC games.

That's just on Steam! Epic is still always giving away free games (200+), GOG is occasionally giving away free games and holding sales where you can get stuff for a couple bucks, etc. etc. etc. It's like the warehouse of mythical items from Indiana Jones over here.

People own gigantic libraries of digital games they expect to keep and willingly modify in perpetuity. It's a lot harder to push people to stream everything off the cloud as a result. It's why the big selling point for game streaming is "No downloads!" and it's why it's struggling to catch on. Sure, a 100gb+ game is huge, but if I take my download limiters off, it doesn't actually take that long. A 90 minute download for a 30+ hour game seems like a pretty fair exchange, all told.

But Microsoft is still going all-in on "account ecosystem." It's like, think of it this way: every game publisher is in a constant war to have the one big holiday game that everybody buys. And for guys like Microsoft, that one big game a year is their primary moneymaker. If they can get everyone to spend at least $60 on their game once a year, they stay in business.

Game Pass is $60 a year. They side step having to put out that holiday season's biggest game and get to say, "Well for the price of one game, you can get access to an entire library." It changes the perspective on so much of their business model. Suddenly they don't need the big flagship holiday blockbuster, they just need to get more people to pay for Game Pass.

And the ultimate end goal there is probably to get Game Pass in as many places as they can. There's already a PC Game Pass. If they can launch some version of Game Pass for Playstation? Game Pass for Switch? They'll do it. The Xbox almost doesn't matter anymore. The subscription and the ecosystem does. It's why Microsoft rebooted the Xbox app on PC a few years ago -- it used to be a "Companion App" for your console, but now the Xbox App on PC is where all of their PC gaming and Game Pass stuff lives. Xbox isn't hardware anymore, it's a service you subscribe to, and that's where the real money is. Especially considering what a gigantic money pit hardware is; I don't think Microsoft has ever, even once, turned a profit on Xbox hardware (and neither has Sony, as far as I know).

Get rid of the need for hardware and that $60/year looks even sweeter, doesn't it? Especially when you start to consider that something like Game Pass Ultimate is actually $180/year. If you can lure people in on the $60 but upsell them to the $180... well, gosh, that's almost the price of a whole new console every year, isn't it? That's a lot of constant cashflow without needing the years and years of deeply expensive research, development, and manufacturing.

Getting people to spend a console's worth of money on your service without actually needing the console itself is massively desirable. They'd be saving millions, if not billions of dollars while making millions more elsewhere. There's a chart out there some executive is drooling over where a line goes straight up by something like 900%.

The only problem is the whole consumer rights/ownership factor. Which I am not a fan of. I objectively refuse to support Game Pass for what it's obvious goals are. I will buy and own every game I want to play. No compromises. I will buy physical if space and money allows. I will not be bled dry by temporary access.

[zed-the-buggy]

i am asking about the differences between minecraft and terraria and your opinions on them C:

OK SO,

minecraft and terraria are like, its the meme you compare them to eachother. Terraria is just 2d Minecraft and Minecraft is just 3d Terraria. and obviously and especially in a modern era, its completely untrue. both games have advanced so much over the course of years of updates, final or no, all changing the games and making them each far different. so while I don't really think 2D Minecraft meme holds up, i think it makes for a really good point of comparison. Both between how two very similar games can be different, and how they can be used to understood the other.

So, you boot up your game. Make a new world, first tasks: chop wood, make shelter, survive the night, explore a bit, and eventually start mining to get better tools and armor. Awesomesauce. I just described the early game of both of the games.

I think a lot of those surface connections can really stick out with people who don't know one or the other. And by that I mean people who don't know Terraria, lets be real, the meme is 2D Minecraft for a reason.

With time, however, the differences have grown a lot more... integral. A lot more obvious, both between the community culture, the updates made to either game, and the modding culture.

Minecraft is a sandbox first. There's not a lot of hard and fast goals one needs to do. Sure, there's some direct accomplishments: finding diamonds, reaching new dimensions, beating the wither and ender dragon, finding the end city, getting an elytra whatever. But those goals are rarely the actual topic of the game for people. Just wandering around, making cool builds, playing with friends or on servers, making farms, doing whatever the hell you want. that's the ultimate goal of Minecraft. Theres only a few weapons, tools, and armors really, but absolute slews of decorative blocks, tons of avenues to explore creativity, a fully in depth redstone logic system where people have built computers. The game is built for creatives and community.

And this reflects in the community. A lot of servers use Minecraft as an engine really, Mineplex and Hypixel with minigames from build this thing, to Tower Defense, and Hunger Games. While theres a PVP culture of course, a lot more of the community tends to be focused on things like building and exploration. The modding community too. There are mods which add more elaborate combat systems or linear progressions like Pixelmon (there are other examples i just don't know them), but for the most part they affect some little silly things or add more creative avenues. Biomes o plenty, Food+, Archeology.

Now Terraria has a lot of similar ties with the sandbox part. There are of course aspects built for builders, and it does a lot of favors to the creative community. That said, the games ultimate focus is being a nonlinear RPG. The goal of Terraria is beating the game. Starting at the mythed Eye of Cthulhu (or King Slime if your special) and getting better gear to beat each new boss in order. The idea is for progression to be a lot more written down, a lot more present. You don't *have* to beat the eye. You don't have to do anything, you can sit in pre boss and build wooden cots all day and have fun like that. Unlike Minecraft though, the progression is built to be off beating bosses. You can get better loot, better materials and gear with each boss you fight. Theres hundreds of different swords alone, let alone armors and weapons for other classes — theres classes. Terraria is a sandbox, but its mainly focused on being an RPG as well, opposed to Minecrafts RPG elements.

And this is shown in the community as much. Yes there are diverse building communities, who build absolutely amazing things. People build some crazy stuff in this game. But a lot more focus is its combat, the difficulty of the game, of the progression. The mods made for this game — Calamity, Thorium, Split, Ancients Awakened. They all focus on adding more bosses, adding more difficulty, making the game harder, more challenging. Even mods like Fargo's do all of that while reducing out of combat grinds. People no-hitting bosses under more and more difficult circumstance is mainstream. And while I want to beat the larger terraria community with a baseball bat, it encapsulates how the different avenues it allows but more importantly focus on really provide unique directions for whatever community exists under it.

Obviously, neither is right or better. Both are games people like. I like Terraria, and theres a damn reason Minecraft is so popular. I just find it really interesting to actually fully compare the two in that space. What makes them truly different, and how that affects the community perception of both games. Because they're both great games (most of the time), so analyzing why they're different, and what makes one or the other better for different people can be incredibly valuable to learning more about what works, and what can be taken away from them.

I think it makes a really good case in point about how like, two games can be really similar in concept, but diverge in small to large concepts in ways that work incredibly well for both games, and being very distinct from one another.

While I'm personally more partial to terraria (despite its. yucky. flaws.) i know that is absolutely a personal thing. i enjoy having a solid line of progression, not one that I Have to do, but that gives me a defined sense of something to and work for. and theres a lot of steps and progressions I can do along the way in whatever order i want along the way. And I know some people like having the opportunity to just make their own direction without constantly wading over whatever video game restrictions. and— yeah its a sandbox game first! minecraft building has practically become an art form, and that's really cool. the open endedness and creativity obviously works for a lot of people! and i just find that really cool, minecraft has become such an amazing staple in pop culture I think.

im. im done this post will devolve immensely if i keep going

[northwest-cryptid]

I think at the end of the day, no matter how much you may love Limbus Company; I feel like you probably understand and agree with the concept of the idea that it absolutely could have just been another $60 full release game like LoR or LC rather than being a predatory "name your own price" title gacha game that was sold to us as "we want to give you something back for funding our future projects" when we have no idea what projects, if any; are even being worked on that aren't LCB and what the fundraising goals are for those.

Like I'm not even going to get into the whole discourse of what happened a bit ago revealing the fact they're not just an "uwu small indie group" anymore and all that because that doesn't even change anything here.

Limbus Company isn't inherently a bad game at all, sure I don't necessarily care for (or even understand fully) the mechanics at play in it's system; but those mechanics are made infinitely worse when you bring in the FOMO. FOMO that is, inherently; and entirely unnecessary. With seasons, time limited gacha, and side story events that constantly demand more of your time; and if you care to complete them easier or collect/have everything the game has to offer; your money. I get it, you can use your friend's characters so then you just have to befriend a whale or two and you should be fine right? Well no, there's limitations on that; and even if you go that route you don't keep those characters.

With some of the characters just being inherently better than others the game DOES become harder (even if it's able to be done by some top player entirely F2P that's not the point. I ran LoR where I only used the starting deck and 1 librarian up until Love Town, that doesn't mean it was easy or that you SHOULD play that way! It drove me insane but it was a self imposed challenge and I never even cleared Love Town that way given how the game functions) for players who don't want to shell out and buy gacha; and yes they do give you a good amount of pulls and if you happen to be unlucky that's just tough. You get what you get and try to make the most of it if you won't hand over your money.

So then let's go back to the idea that, when you do give your money to PM they're using it to further produce more of what you love, right? Well... kind of? If you exclusively love Limbus Company then sure. Those of us who got left behind and don't have everything we need or don't understand the system well enough can't even get to the current story chapters because the game's difficulty is fucked if you don't bother to learn it extensively enough. Now I don't have anything against a hard mobile game but at least in the past if you weren't good at the management simulator or you didn't understand how to build a deck; us mod creators and the like had you covered. Now you're stuck looking up videos on youtube or reading posts on tumblr that you just kind of have to hope aren't fandomizing half of the information.

I don't know man it feels fucked to me. I'm glad people enjoy Limbus and all that, but I feel like we're not going to see another mainline actual single player non-micro transaction game from PM and that feels shitty after loving this franchise for years. I feel like my special interest was taken from me by the company who made the damn thing in the first place all because I wasn't able and willing to shell out hundreds of bucks since I happened to be in a rough spot during it's launch.

Which is all the more upsetting since I genuinely do like the characters, the music, the atmosphere and setting of Limbus Company; it seems cool and I was really excited to have a continuation of Lob Corps after effects on the world. It's a shame I won't ever get to experience it.

[nexus-nebulae]

god it just fucking blows my mind how minecraft just exists.

Like, this is a $25 game with more personal customization options than any other I've seen, complete freedom to adjust it in any way you want, has completely mastered procedural generation, so much so that every single time you open the game you will have a completely unique experience. It still has an active developer base after over 10 years, and is still regularly receiving updates not only for bug-fixes but tons of new content, completely for free. There is no paid DLC, no exclusive content, you just get everything for one fucking price.

And each little aspect is so lovingly crafted that these completely procedurally generated worlds can feel like there was intent to it, like there is a story to this world, because every single aspect of the game fits neatly together like a perfect puzzle. There is care and detail put into every item, and the developers show us their progress along the way to make sure that we agree that it works. Anyone can be a beta tester if they choose--it's open to anyone, you just have to download the (again, free if you already own the game) snapshots.

And the multiplayer is more versatile than almost any other game out there. You can have a private little world with just you and a few close friends, you can have a server with 20 friends, or you can join entire MMO-style servers and interact with thousands of people in hundreds of different possible servers, each with minigames and tools that aren't even possible in the main game. Commands and creative tools allow server owners to literally make their own games as if this were a game engine.

And then.. we get to mods.

The minecraft developers are incredibly open about the game's code. It's not entirely open source, but several libraries of it are, allowing for people to get into the code and see how it works and mess around with it. I mean, just look at this official blog post from 2018 where they basically encourage plagiarism- (/hj)

[ID: A screenshot of text reading, "The plan is to open up different libraries gradually. These libraries are open source and MIT licensed, which means that 'basically, anyone can go in there and they can contribute and they can help improve our game engine,' Nathan explains. 'Or, if they're making their own game, they don't have to rewrite these little parts. They can just use ours, which have been tried and tested because we're a very popular game, apparently!'" End ID.]

This allows anyone who knows Java, one of the most accessible coding languages, (or C++, if you're a little more skilled and/or prefer Bedrock edition) to get their hands into the code and add whatever the hell they want. Just on CurseForge alone there's over 40,000 mods, with more being added every day--not to mention the various other websites that you can post minecraft mods on. These people add so much content for the game that it feels like there's multiple additional games stacked on top. Just look at some of my personal favourite mods:

Blue Skies is one that adds two entire new dimensions to the game, with plenty of incredibly unique biomes and (currently) 2 bosses each. There's also an incredibly clever system that encourages you to get the new tools and weapons of the mod without taking away any progress in the other dimensions, allowing you to jump into the mod and experience the progression of it naturally no matter how long you've been playing already. The Twilight Forest adds a dimension with a complete dungeon progression quest, with (currently) eight unique bosses and dungeons--not to mention plenty of other mini-dungeons and structures scattered around the world. Create adds tons of new machines and trinkets to mess around with, perfect for anyone who likes redstone or factory-building type stuff. And mods like Quark or Supplementaries add hundreds of mini features to add a little bit more life to the world, little QoL improvements, and new unique tools for very specific tasks!

And all this? It's just.. free?? People just make this, and post it online, and--apart from anyone who chooses to donate to the developers' patreons/kofis/etc--you can just download them and play them whenever you want.

What the hell.

You wanna know why Minecraft is the best-selling game of all time?

I mean, just look at it.

[luigi-mcdingle]

a while back, out of sheer morbid curiosity, i went back to beta version 1.7.3 of minecraft (the earliest version i could find new records of people playing) yknow, to see what was different and if it was still any good that far back it was. um. not? i mean i guess i see the appeal but i couldn't play without the ability to sprint, no end, no enchanting, no hunger? but that's just me, again i see the appeal then, again out of morbid curiosity, i upgraded to version 1.0.0, expecting a similar experience i now have 142 hours on my 1.0.0 world. | v

this version of minecraft is, compared to today's vision of minecraft, simple so many things we tend to take for granted aren't there, like stained glass, hoppers, maps, item frames, villages, horses, stone walls... you get the point

i didn't expect to put more than an hour or so into this world before going back to my heavily-modded 1.16.5 world or making a new 1.20 world, but something about it just kept me entranced there were simple goals and simple ways to reach it, but the basic gameplay was just so fun

i've always thought modern minecraft was kinda bloated, and this really cemented that feeling; we didn't need frogs or ocean monuments or horses or redstone comparators or any of the stuff that has been added since that time

yeah, it'd be nice for some of the modern quality of life features to be available like pressing ctrl to sprint or sheep being able to regrow their wool, but it's not needed minecraft became popular because the concept is perfect as is; your imagination really fuels things before i realized i was having so much fun, i was doing things i had never done before in my thousands of hours of minecraft, like building functional mob grinders, mining out slime chunks, and making elaborate redstone contraptions

(the walls of the lower room in this pic ^ are made of mushroom blocks... that i had to manually push into the room one by one with pistons because silk touch only gave solid brown mushroom blocks, no red ones) when i decided i was getting bored of this world, i went to good ol curseforge and downloaded about a hundred mods for 1.16.5 and played that... for maybe five hours, then i went right back to 1.0.0. yeah, i know, those are kinda polar opposites in terms of content and bloat, but it says something, right?

(yes that's the animal crossing train station) the one thing i ended up doing in this world that i had never done, that i honestly thought id never do, was go to the end and kill the enderdragon. yeah, in thousands of hours playing this game, i never once beat it. id always make a world, dick around for a while, then stop playing and eventually come back and start the whole process again... that or id play on multiplayer servers. remember mineplex? i should ramble about that one day...

i had known about the ending poem, especially since the whole thing with it becoming public domain (have you read the author's blog post about that situation? where he talks about how he took a bunch of shrooms in the woods and God told him what to write, and the end poem was the result?) but i never read it because... well, i just never felt like it, really. reading it for the first time after my long playthrough of this simple, fun version of minecraft that i so quickly grew to love so much was... something else. id say you should read the poem (it's available online, obviously) but it really doesn't work nearly as well without the experience of a full minecraft playthrough backing it up.

all this talk and im not really sure what my point in all this is. i guess it's something along the lines of "you don't need everything to enjoy life. limitation breeds creativity, and simplicity can bring happiness." or something. i dunno, it's fuckin' minecraft. maybe try making a new world. and having fun.

oh yeah, also i never really got that "creepy feeling" most people seem to get in these older versions of minecraft. i got a little creeped out while strip mining but that's just me not liking corridors.

[wolfwatching78]

Why We Need To Go Back To Old Internet Websites

I personally disagree with "nostalgia" being used as a pejorative; as a way to kind of dismiss any preference for how things were done in the past. For instance, in car design, perhaps cars run better now, but not wanting all cars to look like a computer mouse is not simply nostalgia.

Recently I've been thinking about some of the strengths of websites of the past, which are becoming fewer all the time, and how they offer something different than you can get on major social networking platforms.

Take this kind of thing for example:

https://bt.ht/death-of-personality/

It's a pretty good article about what I'm talking about, analysing the strengths of design in the past and where and why it changed, but in particular, you are reading the article on this persons own site, with it's own look and you process the information differently, or at least I think you do.

There's probably hundreds of YouTube videos about the same topic; logos and designs becoming almost invisible, but the YouTube videos themselves are the same, they've all got the same standardised thumbnails, presentation and even the same promotions. We look at the ideas in those YouTube videos in a sea of other "ideas" presented all the same way in the same formats. So the ideas don't really strike us.

There really is something obscene about lamenting the standardisation of iconography while completely having to conform to standardisation in your own videos you make. And on a certain level I would say the viewer can sense that and it becomes just another disposable ten minutes of your time.

By comparison, I would argue reading this person's article, while not exactly mind blowing, may have a stronger effect because of the way in which you found it and the manner in which the idea is delivered.

The idea is in line with the medium through which it is delivered and the person espousing the idea. It hits the reader differently and that's what I wish we could get more of.

Another example I have would be Doom My House.wad, which has lit up conversation and reinvigorated huge parts of the Doom fanbase and even those outside it with a really excellent creative idea that was delivered on a website, independent of the big platforms. And though millions of people have watched playthroughs on YouTube, they need to actually engage with the Doomworld website to get the full experience. The Doomworld website is part of the game and the story in a way that is very unique. To be honest, in many ways I think it may be one of the greatest horror games ever made.

(this video has an extensive breakdown on discoveries made so far for those who wouldn't know much about Doom, and even still, you won't get a full picture unless you've delved into that website and community yourself)

MyHouse.WAD - Inside Doom's Most Terrifying Mod - YouTube

When you look at the amount of energy that has been released in interest from a well-thought out project like that, it really makes me think of what could be done using spaces outside of just a reddit post or something like that.

To me these things are a synergy of old and new. And show what can be done. It's not to say platforms like YouTube and Reddit can't impact you or deliver unique experiences, but that we are missing out on other ways of doing things by only thinking of those platforms.

[dm-clockwork-dragon]

What's the dealio with your commissions? I really like most of your classes. (All due respect but fuck the chronomancer is confusing) I trust your homebrew skills more than my own and I have an idea I'd love to see in reality

I've been too swamped with IRL work to tackle a lot of homebrew the past few years, and what work I have done has admittedly been focussed on the NSFW sourcebook that I have released under a different name (I'm not so much embarrassed to be doing lewd homebrew as I just know a lot of my primary audience doesn't want to see that from a creator they follow).

My job situation has recently come into question though, and I may pick up commissions again to make ends meet. Assuming anyone is willing/able to pay my comission rates.

The biggest reason I stopped doing commissions honestly is just because people have a warped perspective on what homebrew commissions should cost. When you can buy a full official sourcebook for $35, it's hard for folks to wrap their head around paying $120+ for a custom class. But that book only costs you $35 because it is selling hundreds of thousands of copies. And $35 x 100,000 is enough to pay the wages of a whole team of writers, artists and editors. It takes me 80+ hours to make a homebrew class, so even $120 for that comission only works out to around $1.50 an hour. I don't make enough money through Patreon or post comission sales of my work (it's all free, and will be for the foreseeable future) to compete with mass-pubished content.

Artists deal with this sort of thing too of course: any creative professional does. But where art has a degree of established discussion about it's value, written work tends not to make it into that discussion very often, and homebrew content, being effectively a game mod for tabletop RPGs, gets even less.

(And just to be clear, I'm not dismissing how much of an issue this is for artists. I'm using the nightmare the have to deal with as a frame of reference for the experiences of creators of less recognized works of skill and talent)