#I just enjoy how much more personality there is in the minigames

[bunnimy]

I'll forever be a mystreet minigames truther

The dynamics in the minigames were just better than canon /hj

[cheapshrimpysheep]

Hello OP! Hope u don’t mind this request for the demon bros

So just earlier i saw the “raising a pet together” game on tiktok, and i was on a freenzy, IT’S JUST TOO CUTE 🥹 and i’m too single to have anybody to do it with me lol.

What would be their reaction when the MC got them to downloaded the app and raise the virtual pet together?

COMMENTS: Well, I didn't know about this game, so I asked Gemini (Bard) about it to find out a little more about this type of game. Long story short: I told some of my friends about this game and now we are taking care of a virtual kitten together 😊 Thank you so much for the request 😉

What I wrote is based on my little experience playing the game called Pokipet. I hope you and all enjoy 🐶🐱

CHARACTERS: Demon Brothers (Lucifer; Mammon; Leviathan; Satan; Asmodeus; Beelzebub & Belphegor)

TAGS: Fluff; GN Reader; Bullet Points

WORD COUNT: An average of 390 words per character.

CONTEXT - According to Gemini (formerly "Bard"): The "Raising a Pet Together" game is a concept where you and someone else, like a friend, family member, or significant other, work together to raise a virtual pet.

The core idea is to work together to raise a virtual pet, which can be a fun way to: Simulate pet ownership and its responsibilities. Test your teamwork and communication skills. Have a cute and engaging way to interact with someone else.

“Why would we take care of a virtual pet together if we can already do it with Cerberus?” He will ask you.

Well, maybe you just want to try it out and see how it goes.

“Of course everything would be fine. The two of us would be its caretakers. How could anything go if not perfectly?” he sighs and chuckles “Fine. If you really want to do this, then I can accommodate your whims.”

According to Lucifer's traditional Devildom profile, when asked "Cats or Dogs" he answers "Cerberus". So he would choose to take care of a dog and name it Cerberus.

Whenever you open the app to take care of the little virtual Cerberus, Lucifer has already taken care of everything. Feed it? He already did. Give it a bath? He already did it. Pet it? The happiness bar is already maxed out, but you can still do it.

You would probably do more of the decorating of the room and give it clothes and accessories. He'll probably be stupidly good at the minigames and earn a lot of money so you can spend it freely on those things.

Whenever he has a lot of work and opens the app as if it were another of his responsibilities and sees that the virtual Cerebrus is fed and well taken care of by you, he will smile in relief. It's so wonderful to have another person he can rely on and share responsibilities with. You're so good at taking the weight off his shoulders and making him feel at ease.

He will definitely try to use this game to convince you to take care of the real Cerebrus with him instead of a virtual pet.

If the app has a chat and, at night, you both open the app at the same time to put your pet to bed:

Lucifer: Good evening (Y/N)

Lucifer: Are you here to put Cerberus to bed too?

Lucifer: What a pleasant coincidence.

The two of you cuddle your pet until it falls asleep.

Lucifer: Now, you should go to sleep too.

Lucifer: The same applies to me.

Lucifer: But now I want to fall asleep with you by my side.

Lucifer: Come to my room.

Lucifer: I can cuddle you until you fall asleep too.

Lucifer: If what you want is to sleep, of course.

“Raising a pet together?! Do you think I have money to support a pet? I can barely stay out of debt!” Mammon panics and speaks as if you were talking about a child.

But then you explain that it's a virtual pet, on your D.D.D.s.

“Oh...” He blushes a lot. “W-why didn't you say that from the beginning, you dummy?” He thinks for a second and then smiles widely. “Well, if it's free, I guess we can try it.”

According to Mammon's traditional Devildom profile, when asked "Cats or Dogs"  he answers "Cats". If you were surprised, so was I. For a name? Maybe Goldie, like his credit card. A yellow kitten named Goldie.

He'll blush a little when he thinks that you're taking care of a pet together, like a real close couple.

You are the one who will take care of Goldie the most. Giving it food and bath. And there will be many times when you almost don't have the money for it because Mammon will spend it all on toys, clothes and decoration. Even though it's a virtual pet, he will spoil it.

In terms of the pet's needs, he will probably just play with it. And give it treats. He will try to do the minigames to earn more money, but regardless of whether he is good at these minigames or not, he will continue to spend more money than he can earn.

But despite everything, he will try to be as helpful as possible and genuinely try to take care of Goldie so you don't have to do all the work. Sometimes he will even surprise you by taking really ood care of it.

If the app has a chat and, at night, you both open the app at the same time to put your pet to bed:

Mammoney: Oi! What are ya doin' here?

Mammoney: Oh. Ya here to put Goldie to bed too?

Mammoney: Ok. You can do it tonight

You cuddle your pet until it falls asleep.

Mammoney: Aww look at our baby~

Mammoney: PET! I MEAN PET!

Mammoney: hey... if you're still not sleepy either

Mammoney: why don't ya come to my room?

Mammoney: I always feel more relaxed with you by my side

Mammoney: Maybe we can help each other sleep?

Mammoney: Or... do something else if ya want...

“A VIRTUAL PET TO TAKE CARE OF TOGETHER?!?!” Levi is overjoyed with the idea! His eyes were sparkling! You don't need to say anything else, he's already downloading the app. Could this be a test to find out if you would be good parents to a real pet? Or maybe... No! NO LEVI! TOO EARLY!! One step at a time.

According to Levi's traditional Devildom profile, when asked "Cats or Dogs"  he answers "Henry". But since he could only choose between dog and cat, he would probably choose dog, because cats are known to eat fish.

For a name? “Maybe Henry 3.0?” He starts to suggest “Hum... no... Ah! Can I try something?” he writes a name that is accepted and shows it to you so you can confirm or deny the suggestion, with his cheeks slightly flushed. Henry <3 When he sees you smile in confirmation, his smile and enthusiasm only increase.

He's a dedicated gamer, so you don't have to worry about anything at all! He will get so many coins that you will practically be rich in that game. And he will buy everything. EVERYTHING! Decoration, food, toys, clothes, accessories, literally everything that is possible to buy in the game. And you can do whatever you want.

If you show that you would like to contribute more to your pet's care, he will apologize and promise to play less so you can have the opportunity to take care of Henry <3 too. But of course he will continue to open the app almost constantly, even if it's just to see you taking care of Henry <3.

Don't be surprised if he one day shows up with a Henry <3 plush so that the two of you can cuddle your baby whenever you want.

If the app has a chat and, at night, you both open the app at the same time to put your pet to bed:

L3V1: HEYYYYY ^.^

L3V1: Are you here to put Henry <3 to bed too?

L3V1: Let’s do it together!

The two of you cuddle your pet until it falls asleep.

L3V1: Hey... um... are you sleepy?

L3V1: The thing is I'm not sleepy yet

L3V1: Actually I'm now wide awake

L3V1: Could you keep me company for a little while?

L3V1: You know, I always feel sleepier when I'm with you

L3V1: I feel safe and calm

L3V1: If by chance you also feel this way about me

L3V1: Would you like to keep each other company in my room?

L3V1: But it could also be in yours

L3V1: Or not. It's okay if you don't want to

Take care of a virtual pet together? Where one of the options is a cat? Sign him up! And since he can't have a real pet cat, this is the best thing you could have propose to him! (*cough* besides marriage *cough*)

We don't even need the Devildom profile for this one, do we?

For a name? Probably the name of one of his favorite writers. Or... how about the name of one of your (you two) favorite writers? Christopher from Christopher Peugeot ;)

He's not that much into games, but since we're talking about taking care of a kitten, he can reach your level of experience. Or at least he will try. And to do this, he will do two things: 1st - Ask you for help. Which will make you two learn together how the game works. And 2nd - Do a lot of research on the internet about the best ways to play and the best strategies to get lots of coins so that your cat doesn't lack any care.

That game will be one of the main apps on his D.D.D. In addition to apps about books and the chat where he talks to you and the others.

Maybe he'll even find a way to change the background on his phone to a screen shot of your virtual pet.

If the app has a chat and, at night, you both open the app at the same time to put your pet to bed:

stn: Hello.

stn: I see you're here to put Christopher to bed as well.

stn: Why don't we do the honors together?

The two of you cuddle your pet until it falls asleep.

stn: Now we both should go to sleep too.

stn: If you are having trouble falling asleep, you can come to my room.

stn: I will be happy to read with you until you fall asleep.

stn: Your company will also help me rest.

stn: So feel free to come see me.

“Take care of a virtual pet together? That sounds so cute! Oh, but it's not as demanding as taking care of a real pet, is it? I'm not ready for that kind of commitment. I still need my ME time.~”

According to Asmo's traditional Devildom profile, when asked "Cats or Dogs" he answers "Me <3". But you need to choose between a dog and a cat. So you suggest a cat.In real life, cats are generally not as dependent as dogs. And, lets say that they are more likely to take "beauty more seriously" than a dog.

For a name? “OH! Can it be Asmodeus II? Pretty pleeeeease~”

You will be Asmodeus II's main caretaker. Since Asmo will be more interested in spoiling it with toys, clothes and affection. And if he wants to buy something and doesn't have coins for it, he'll try to convince you to play more mini-games to get more coins for him to spend. “Ow, don't be mad at me hon. It's for our little baby. What if I spoil you in real life as a thanks~?”

When he tells his followers about this new virtual pet, eventually, more and more fans will ask him to tell them more and more about how it's going. Which mean that your pet will end up becoming part of his content. But it also ends up making Asmo pay more attention and care for it more.

And don't be surprised if, for a person who didn't want to commit to a pet, he ends up being the one trying to convince you to get a real pet. After all, if a virtual pet is already so good, imagine how much better a real pet would be! How cute would that be! And how much more engagement and new followers his social media would have! But despite this last one, what he really wants is to share a new love with you.

If the app has a chat and, at night, you both open the app at the same time to put your pet to bed:

AsmoBaby: Hey hon~ <3

AsmoBaby: I just wanted to come put our baby to bed~

AsmoBaby: Sorry for always being you the one to do this

AsmoBaby: What if you let me do this tonight? ;)

He cuddles your pet until it falls asleep.

AsmoBaby: Awwww! IT’S SO CUTE!

AsmoBaby: I have to take a screenshot to show my followers!

AsmoBaby: Give me a second~

AsmoBaby: I could see this cute little thing sleeping for hours~

AsmoBaby: But we both need our beauty sleep

AsmoBaby: Oh, that gives me an idea!

AsmoBaby: Why don't you come to my room?

AsmoBaby: We can do our nighttime beauty routines together

AsmoBaby: And we can sleep together if you want to stay with me

AsmoBaby: You deserve some spoiling for taking such good care of our baby <3

“A virtual pet?” Beel wouldn't understand the proposal well at first. “Isn't the point of having a pet to have a true companion by your side? You know, to take care of each other and play together?”

You tell him yes, but that it's just a little experience for you to share. Seeing how much you really want to do that with him, he will smile. “Okay, if you really want it that much, I'll take care of a pet with you. It'll be fun. Anything with you is.”

According to Beel's traditional Devildom profile, when asked "Cats or Dogs" he answers "Dogs". So, a dog will be.

For a name? You're asking a lot of him. Could you choose one for him? But try to keep it from being a food-related name, this will make Beel hungry. (And in the worst possible scenario, he wanting to bite your virtual pet. This is before he becomes attached to it)

He won't care much about aesthetics, you can take care of that if you want. You are free to dress your pet and get it as many toys as you want. Beel will be more interested in feeding it well and exercising.

In terms of playing mini-games to get coins, it would be very balanced, none of you would get many more coins than the other. Unless you're crazy about those mini-games. In that case, you would get more coins than Beel.

You also shouldn't be surprised when he starts talking about the two of you getting a real dog as a pet. Yes, it's true that Lucifer has Cerberus and that he would let you take care of him from time to time, but Beel wants a puppy of both of you. He wants to have a little furry baby with you.

If the app has a chat and, at night, you both open the app at the same time to put your pet to bed:

Beelzeburger: Hey

Beelzeburger: You're also here to put our dog to bed?

Beelzeburger: Being here with you makes me very happy

Beelzeburger: We can do this together

The two of you cuddle your pet until it falls asleep.

Beelzeburger: I'm going to get a snack before going to bed

Beelzeburger: Do you want one too?

Beelzeburger: We can have a midnight snack together

Beelzeburger: I'm going to the kitchen now

Beelzeburger: Do you want to meet me there?

Beelzeburger: Or do you want me to bring a snack to your room?

Beelzeburger: Oh wait!

Beelzeburger: I can eat your snack on the way

Beelzeburger: Sorry, it would be better if you come meet me in the kitchen

“A virtual pet? Well, it's not as demanding as having a real pet. And it would be fun to take care of a pet with you. Okay, we can do it.”

According to Belphie's traditional Devildom profile, when asked "Cats or Dogs" he answers "Dogs". So, a dog will be.

For a name? Well, Belphie would have a little idea. “You know, Beel has always reminded me of a happy dog, especially when he smiles. Ha ha. What do you think about calling it Beel?” That and when you two talk about your pet without giving context, the reactions of the brothers would be fun to watch.

You'll probably realize that taking care of that pet with Belphie is a rollercoaster. One moment he takes care of all the pet's needs and even buys one or two little things for it. And the next, the pet has all its needs at a minimum and needs a lot of care. Those last one usually happens because Belphie has fallen asleep and has been sleeping for a long time. But apart from those times, your care would be quite balanced.

You would probably be more in charge of playing the mini-games to earn coins. That's because Belphie doesn't really like to have that much work, although he tries to do it from time to time so it doesn't always have to be you.

He wouldn't start trying to convince you to get a real pet. Especially a dog. Because he knows it would be a responsibility he's not prepared for and he knows it would end up giving you more work and he doesn't want that. That virtual pet is perfect. At least for now.

If the app has a chat and, at night, you both open the app at the same time to put your pet to bed:

Belphie: Hi

Belphie: You're here too

Belphie: Do you want to put it to sleep?

Belphie: Be my guest :)

You cuddle your pet until it falls asleep.

Belphie: Thanks <3

Belphie: Hey, since you're still awake too

Belphie: Come join me

Belphie: Let's cuddle until we fall asleep

Belphie: I always sleep better when I'm with you

Belphie: I also have the best dreams

Belphie: Come sleep with me~

If you dropped in here out of the blue and want to read more from me, you can find it in my pinned post: INDEX

[actualbird]

playing Lucky Draw with luke in the anniv1 rerun minigames (which, thANKFULLY I FINALLY CLEARED STAGE 4, I NEVER HAVE TO GO THRU THAT EVER AGAIN AJFHVAKSJHFVAJ) reminded me of one of my favorite Luke Only Gameplay Quirks

when u play Old Maid against him in Visit

i cant remember if ive posted abt this before but it's rlly just so funny to me cuz the boys gain a different set amount of affection under different circumstances in Old Maid. from the tot wiki, heres how it goes for artem, vyn, and marius

artem and vyn: straightforward, they like it when mc wins!!

marius: uh......more complicated for SOME REASON?? he likes it an equal amount whether or not you win but what are thoSE SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES?? my character-interpretation of this is:

that first circumstance: he enjoys drawing out teasing mc

that second circumstance: he also enjoys it when mc beats his ass, hes multifaceted like that

third instance: ......i honestly have no clue

luke, thankfully, is much more straightforward and in the funniest way possible

HES JUST A SORE LOSER!!!!!! HE LIKES WINNING SO MUCH AJHVFJAHSVFJAHVFJAHSFVAJSHF

if ever the nxx team have a board game night together, luke is gonna be way too competetive and take it comically Personally if he doesnt win

[keen-eye]

got really bored and made the N6 into Club Penguins. couldn’t decide whether they should look like their CC designs, or CT designs, or how they’d design their own penguins, so I did a mix of the 3 / what felt right lol

the N6 as players:

Brooklynn: obsessed with playing the PSA missions. the others always ask her to play with them and she promises to after just one more mission (a lie). investigated the Operation Blackout rumors. she’s constantly searching for secret messages on the island. she uses her coins to buy the most fashionable outfits and loves being the first to find new hidden items in the catalogs. hangs out in the Coffee Shop with everyone

Kenji: wants to have the highest rated igloo, but he’s not very good at the minigames so Yaz plays on his account to get him coins. he scouts other players’ igloos to steal borrow ideas. loves the monthly parties/themes and throwing his own parties. collects Special Actions’ Items (pretends to work everywhere). looks online to know where/when to find rare items (also uses codes). throws snowballs at other players 

Yaz: prides herself on being the best at the minigames. when she wants to play Sled Racing she yells at other players on the Ski Hill to play against her. Darius beat her at Card-Jitsu too many times and now she refuses to play (her excuse is that it doesn't take skill anyway). enjoys the Night of the Living Sled short films and dressing up for the Halloween parties. one time she submitted artwork to be displayed in the game

Darius: as good at the minigames as Yaz but he doesn’t take it nearly as seriously. his favorite game is Card-Jitsu and he’s always trying to get the others to play with him. he earned all the belts in one sitting (then did it on Kenji’s account). plays in the Arcade and reads books in the Book Room. loves anything Rockhopper related. always exploring less popular areas of the island and finding/unlocking secret rooms

Ben: very invested in the in-game conspiracy theories and lore. logs on and immediately tries to tip the Iceberg (hard hat on, pengussy out). tries to convince others of the most random theories. eavesdrops on players misbehaving and follows them around because he’s nosy. has been banned many times for refusing to leave other penguins’ igloos when they tell him to. reports “pookies” because he thinks they’re pedos

Sammy: spends most of her time in the main hangout spots chatting with everyone. she’s been temporarily banned twice for revealing and asking for too much personal information (you can’t ask for someone’s address to send them a care package, Sammy). she’s the best at Puffle Roundup and uses her coins to adopt puffles (she has to get one of every color/type). she takes naming and caring for them very seriously

comments on their designs ->

Brooklynn was the hardest in getting the right outfit/jewelry combo, but I lucked out with her hair. an alternate version of her had glasses but I wanted her to have eyelashes (does she look like a Simpsons character, maybe)

Kenji was originally going to be blue but red just went better with his outfit + vibe. an alternate version of him had sunglasses but I wanted his eyes to be visible

Yaz could have been black, her favorite color like I did with Brooklynn, but she looked better purple. she had good options for hair but not for her outfit

Darius was the easiest (minimalist king), but unfortunately Club P is lacking in textured hair options so this was the best I could do. he could have been green but brown suited him best

Ben is the best imo. the hair and outfit were perfect, but had to settle for a satchel. he could have been peach but he looks better orange

Sammy looks the most like her younger self but no other hair option matched her as well as this one. she could have been yellow but I swapped her and Brooklynn’s colors. she's the only one with expressive eyes

Everyone’s shoe choices were very easy

[tetrakys]

Hey Tetra, so how is the beta? What do you think of the game so far?

Sorry anon, I know I've been silent here, every time I think I want to make a post I never have enough time to make it as detailed as I used to, but never mind I'm going to give my quick opinion and then write something more in depth later.

So, first of all, I agree with everyone that the way the AP system is at the moment is too expensive. We pay 2AP for line of dialogue and many APs for choices. We get more free APs than in the past with the daily login, so that's a plus, but the choices are way too costly, especially the very basic ones (here called neutral choices), I shouldn't have to spend 40 APs to say I want a cup of tea! All that being said, I'm not too worried about it because I know that Chino has already reported this issue to management, and while these decisions are not up to her I know she sees the player's perspective and will do everything she can to make our voices heard.

Now, AP system aside, there are some things I really love!

Firstly, the website looks amazing, in the end it was worth the wait. It works super smoothly, and it's very pretty to look at.

And the closet/shop part is really easy to navigate, it's pretty much like the Sims so I'm used to it.

Also, the millennial in me who can't afford to buy her own home is really into the room decoration feature

I also enjoy the minigames. One is just like the explorations in Eldarya, but with no pet to feed, so it's a win to me. The other is outfit contests, we receive a theme and we can dress up our Candy and enrol in it. I am TERRIBLE at it, but even if you don't make it top3 you still win some APs and diamonds just for participating. You can also win stuff just by voting in the contest.

Now, to the story. The first episode was mostly an introduction so nothing much really happens, we just meet 4 of the LIs. It was cute, the mechanic is a bit tricky because we can't see immediately if the LoM increases or not, we find out at the end of the episode, but it's not nearly as bad as in ML, so I can deal with it. It's also possible to understand if the LI liked the interaction from their reactions. I think I'm starting to understand their personalities so I hope I'll get the hang of it when the game releases. I'm going to make a separate post about my impressions on the LIs, but I'm quite happy so far.

Something else I want to mention before ending this is a final pro and cons.

Cons, I don't like the "fairy". It's MC's godfather which is a cool character, apparently he is Agatha's cousin, that's nice. But he only brings gifts to Taki which I really don't care about, my duck will remain naked as nature intended. Or, anyway, I won't spend APs on it. I'm gonna try hard to avoid this guy, also because we have a choice to make with him and we can't skip it once we run into him.

The pro is instead the VIP system. From what I've seen, it looks very convenient. We get extra APs and diamonds every day, especially the diamonds it's a really good amount, which we can then exchange for more APs or cumulate to buy extra scenes (which are longer scenes with the LI). We also get some extra perks like an outfit, skip button for the replays, and extra jokers, which are little useful features that can be used in game. We don't know yet how much the VIP subscription costs, but if they stuck to the same prices as other game companies, it shouldn't be more than 10-15$.

And you anon, did you play the beta? Let me guys know what you think. People seem to be happy about most things except the AP system.

[tjodity]

Oo what about cHannah?

I'm just getting increasingly enraptured with her. Summaries for lore are helpful but going back and rifling through old vods gives me such deeper impressions of their characters. She talked about how she's aware of how women and femininity are usually ignored and underestimated and how she actively plays up femininity in her builds and general vibe so she can catch them off guard and kill them more easily, and also how her evil lair thing under her base isn't representative of her either and is exaggerated partially as an intimidation tactic. It's interesting to me how these things aren't necessarily 'acts' but that she leans into certain aspects of her personality while masking others depending on the situation. It's also more apparent in more subtle things like her level of politeness, how much she insults people, whether or not she makes an effort not to swear, etc. I think it's fun that she is a person who will insult and argue with you more if she likes/trusts you and I think it's an interesting and subtle level of guardedness for her character.

I also think it's interesting how much she enjoys fighting. Some characters like the feeling of violence or control or vengeance but she enjoys the act of fighting and it like. is very neat to think abt seriously. When she's running around on the first day she thinks its stupid that she's fighting zombies, not because they're irritating but because she thinks they're below her to fight. She lists her ability to kill other people with pride and a main core fact about her. The context to her joining the server is her losing in a fight to Dream but beating Punz. She is actively excited to fight Sapnap when Puffy tells her about him. She gets into repeated rematch fights with Punz outside his house. I think the only other character I've seen on the SMP that actually likes fighting as much as her is maybe Techno.

I also am fascinated by what Hannah's afraid of and what she's not afraid of. She's terrified of cave spiders because they've killed her in her previous hardcore worlds. When she and puffy get trapped in a void maze trap and Puffy's freaking out she just silently brute forces her way to an exit and seems undisturbed, but she's very scared when she thinks the two of them are lost and can't get back to the main SMP. She's initially freaked out by the Egg vines and says that they look 'poisonous' but after Puffy explains it to her she is totally frightened by it. She believes that it's evil and that it can mind control people and she's cautious but not. afraid in the same way other characters are.

One last thing I looooooove how much she carries over from her old experiences. As said before she's scared of cave spiders due to a hardcore series but also carries a bunch of her stuff on her instead of storing it and makes a ton of crafting tables because of it. She calls the Central SMP 'Mid' out of habit from Minecraft Hunger Games. Her entire fighting thing and most of her pre-smp knowledge of other characters comes from bedwars and other fighting minigames. I just like when people do that

[aquaquadrant]

Hello! I've been told to ask you this =D

What do you think about Jimmy as a minecraft player, what is he?

It's for a project =3

ooh a project, how fun :0

i should preface this by saying i’m not the BEST person to give this opinion, cuz despite how much i write jimmy, i uh… don’t actually watch his pov? i haven’t seen any of empires (except the hermit’s crossover in s2), i don’t watch his streams, and i don’t watch the one-off vids he posts on his channel. most of my knowledge of jimmy comes from his appearances in other pov’s life series episodes and how ppl portray him in fandom.

howEVER, that said, i’m curious how my interpretation would line up with other ppl’s. i view minecraft players as generally fitting into a few broad categories- tho there can def be overlap between them or a jack-of-all-trades situation. and this prob applies more to people who actually play minecraft professionally (ie. ‘play video games for a living’) than the casual player (such as myself hagshdha).

builders: have a creative eye and practiced skill in building to the point where they can, generally speaking, throw down a decent build on the fly (things that require a lot of planning/detail work often drafted in creative mode first). have good understanding of achieving a certain shape and color with their block placements. may or may not include terraforming ability. generally drawn to the game’s building aspect and spend a lot of time/care making things look good.

redstoners: have an adequate amount of base knowledge for how most redstone components work and interact with each other, tho they may occasionally still use tutorials or take inspiration from others (can only reinvent the wheel so many times). usually capable of making simple redstone machines/contraptions on the fly. generally drawn to the game by the possibility of farms and automation. some take it to extreme game-breaking lengths (doc).

competitors: have highly-trained skill in areas such as PVP, parkour, and/or any other multiplayer server type minigame. think hypixel and MCC. this isn’t to say they don’t have their own solo worlds for building or other projects, or don’t participate in smps, but their main draw to the game initially was competitive multiplayer and it features heavily on their channels. to me, speed-runners/challenge-seekers are a subcategory of this.

explorer: this type doesn’t actually show up often in popular mcyt bc it’s a largely solitary- and in some ppl’s opinion, boring- experience. but these are the players that spend hours in their solo worlds just traveling around, mining out massive caves, or doing any other kind of repetitive grindy work as a manner of relaxation. some ppl really enjoy this aspect of minecraft and it’s a major draw for them. special mention for kurtjmac, a mcyter who’s spent 13 years and counting just walking to the farlands in an old version of the game (tho he does other things on his channel as well).

and now for what category i think jimmy fits best in (which again, doesn’t mean he can’t build or do other things). i don’t have a good name for it rn so i’m just gonna call it ‘the sillies’ (affectionate).

sillies: above all else, they’re here to have fun. most, if not all, of their content is on multiplayer worlds (both public servers and private smps), and on these worlds they are extremely social, making a concentrated effort to interact with others even if not legitimately roleplaying. high amounts of pranks and hijinks abound, as well as ‘committing to the bit.’ lots of videos feature them doing some kind of funny little challenge, game, or mod with their friends. again, that doesn’t mean they can’t engage w the other aspects of the game or be skilled in those categories, but generally, it’s not their main objective and not how they spend most of their time.

that’s what i’ve got! obviously u could split all of these into many subcategories, and your average player is gonna be fairly well-balanced. but for our pro cubitos, i think this is a nice way to categorizing things (and it at least makes sense in my mind).

[sailingshellsgames]

The early demo for Tumblr is live!

You can play it here! Thank you so much for following this blog (and for being patient while I wrestled with dashingdon to get it uploaded! ^_^'). I hope you enjoy the game! 🧡 Notable additions this demo:

Chapter 7 Part 2 is complete 🎉 Attend the festival with the date (or friend) of your choice. There will be food! Romance! Probably some weird crap happening at some point! 😆

Some changes to Wren's character.

Choose the style of MC's quarters at the Den in chapter 3!

Choose MC's parent's gender in chapter 3, and get a little more backstory on MC's family situation.

Achievements have been added to the game!🏅

Enter your own pronouns in chapter 1, if the default options aren't your preference.

Change your pronouns from the stats screen anytime throughout the game.

Jewelry choice addition (by request) to Chapter 7 Part 1 in preparation for MC's trip to the festival. 💎

Consolidation of the stats screen (by request). There are now two stats pages instead of three: one for personality and relationships, and the other for MC's skills.

Thank you so much for playing!❣️ This will be the last demo for Leas: City of the Sun until the game is published, but there will still be plenty of content on this blog! Everything you can expect is below:

What happens now, if this is the last demo?

Good news on that front! You can still expect demos, just not for the first game. I've been working on the Fey minigame and will be posting demos of that as I work on the final chapters of Leas: City of the Sun. There will be previews of other things as well in the upcoming months, but that's all I'll say, since I don't want to spoil anything for now 👀 🤫

Will this blog still update?

Yes, absolutely! You can expect business as usual: weekly writing updates, preview snippets on Sundays, answers to your asks, and news on when chapters have been completed. It'll be easy for you to track progress and know how close the game is to completion.

When will the game be complete?

My original goal was to have it submitted by the end of 2023. I'm still shooting for that, but there's a decent chance it'll take a bit longer depending on my life circumstances. I'll keep everyone informed on chapter-by-chapter progress here, so you'll always have a good idea of how things are going.

Will there be any major changes to the existing demo between now and the game's launch?

Probably not. With this demo I feel like I really ironed out everything. I've got the right elements in place to set up the final chapters and future story plots, and the character voices feel solid. So while there may be minor changes to wording here and there, the core of the story should remain the same 🙂

[jambusaur]

the new guide to getting free sapphires/memberships on animal jam in 2023!

i love playing animal jam. some say i love playing animal jam too much! but what i don't love is spending money to do something in a game when i can do the exact same thing for free.

in fact, i've made it my personal goal to enjoy both versions of animal jam (classic and play wild) as much as i possibly can without spending a single penny.

some people are unaware of the fact that animal jam play wild memberships apply to both ajpw and aj classic, so i'm gonna walk you through how to get and maintain a free ajpw membership using some easy peasy methods!

click the "read more" thingie if you're interested :)

background information

in ajpw, you can buy a month-long membership for 600 sapphires in the sapphire shop located in jamaa township.

you can also buy a den item called a "my shop" there for 100 sapphires.

a shop lets you sell items for sapphires or gems. keep in mind, however, that if you're a nonmember, there's a fee taken out of any sales you make.

a shop is ideally going to be the first thing you purchase once you get 100 sapphires!

getting the initial 100 sapphires

getting your first 100 sapphires can take some time, but there are a lot of ways to speed that process up!

logging into ajpw every day

on most days, you have 3 possibilities when spinning the wheel: gems, 5 sapphires, or an item.

on wednesdays, the possibilities change to 5 sapphires, 10 sapphires, or 20 sapphires. getting a 20 sapphire spin on a wednesday can really help you out!

the possibilities also change on mondays: gems, 5 sapphires, or a clothing/den item with a rare tag.

in the beginning, it's really important to log in as many days as you can, especially because you can get 10 sapphires every month just by logging in for 15 total days (depending on the number of days in the month).

one more thing to mention about daily logins: a "new day" in ajpw might turn over at a weird time for you, depending on your timezone. i'm honestly not really sure what timezone ajpw is in, but i know that a new day in ajpw turns over at 8:00 PM EST for me.

it can be really helpful to know what time a new ajpw day turns over for you, especially if you're busy throughout the day and need to plan out when you can log in to get your daily reward.

if you don't want to manually figure it out by guessing what time a new ajpw day turns over for you, there's another easy way! you can join the unofficial animal jam community discord server (this isn't an ad i swear LMAO), and once you're verified in that server, you can check the #game-updates channel. that discord server is really good at posting about ingame updates right when they go out, so you can scroll through the #game-updates channel and look at the time stamps of messages to determine when a new day turns over for you. here's a link to the discord server if that's how you want to do it:

(let me know if there's any problems with that invite link, i'm pretty sure i got it to work tho!)

playing minigames

if you open the minigames screen, you'll notice that there's a sapphire icon on the right side of the popup.

clicking that will show you your progress in every minigame.

there are 3 gift boxes of rewards for playing each minigame. the first gift box gives you 5 sapphires, the second gives you 10, and the third gives you 15.

touch tank is definitely the easiest minigame to beat first. after that, it kind of depends upon your own preferences? i personally love overflow, fast foodies, and jamaa derby!

leveling up, gem tree, & dig sites

these three ways of getting sapphires only give you small amounts, so i'm grouping them together!

once you join a pack in ajpw, you have access to the alpha hideout and pack hideout.

every day, going to your pack hideout gives you exp towards leveling up (i don't think going to your alpha hideout gives you exp though, so make sure it's the pack hideout). leveling up can give you rewards, including small amounts of sapphires! it's a good passive way to earn a couple sapphires here and there and, in case you were curious, here's a link to all the level-up rewards!

at your pack hideout, you can also find a gem tree, which looks like this:

gem trees are in different locations based on which hideout your pack has. the image above was taken in the greely pack hideout, but every hideout has a gem tree!

if you click on the gem tree, you can either earn gems or, more uncommonly, small amounts of sapphires. the gem tree replenishes every hour, so try to click it as often as you can!

another way to earn a few sapphires is to click on golden shovel dig sites:

fun fact, there's always at least one golden shovel dig site on the ajpw map at all times. and you can tell if the land you entered has a dig site in it by listening for a sound effect that'll play right when you enter it. i can't really describe the sound effect, but it's like, magical? idk. you'll know it when you hear it! you might want to turn down the music volume in your ingame settings though if you want to hear it better.

the sound effect makes it really easy to find dig sites- you can just go to random areas of the map and listen for it! this is what it'll look like once you find a dig site and click on it:

sapphires are going to show up as a 2 by 2 square on the grid.

sapphire drops

the final way to earn sapphires in ajpw that i'm going to talk about is sapphire drops. sometimes when you're roaming around, you might get a popup like this at the top of your screen:

that means that someone used a super sapphire potion (which can be bought in the phantom dimension for 3500 phantom tokens), and if you walk around a bit, you'll find a big sapphire on the ground like this:

click on it!! you'll get 3 free sapphires!!

(super sapphire potion images are from the ajpw fandom wiki!)

getting the next 600 sapphires

now that you have a shop, you're going to want to sell as much as you can to get the next 600 sapphires. you can sell pretty much anything, but here's some of my favorite things to sell!

before i go into this though, i want to talk about a REALLY important part of selling your items: the shop explorer!

when selling items, even as a nonmember, you have the ability to list your item in the shop explorer.

clicking that toggle will put your item in the shop explorer located in coral canyons.

this means that anybody who wants your item can search for it and see a list of everybody selling that item.

once you list something in the shop explorer, it's there for 3 days. once the 3 days runs out, your item is no longer in the shop explorer, but it's still in your shop in your den. you can relist an item in the shop explorer by relisting it in your shop and clicking the toggle again.

now here's my favorite things to sell!

rare plushies

i sell my rare plushies really cheap so they sell faster, but honestly, they're super easy to get, so selling them for 5 sapphires each really isn't a waste at all!

to get rare plushies, you're going to need "the superclaw" which can be bought in the sapphire shop for 100 sapphires...BUT DON'T BUY IT.

the great thing about the superclaw is that, if you know someone who has one in their den, you can go to their den and use theirs! my den is always open with a superclaw for anyone to use :) my username is jambusaur and the superclaw is directly left of where you spawn in.

the superclaw is very simple to play, but it can get boring pretty quickly. that's why i made an autoclicker script that i can run overnight using autohotkey! if you're interested in using something like that for yourself, dm me and i'll walk you through making one :) fair warning though, you're going to need to download two things (autohotkey and a specific mouse coordinates finder), but i've been using those two things for years and they haven't given me any trouble or viruses or whatever!

after you've played the superclaw for a while, you might've gotten lucky and found a rare phantom plushie!

these guys sell for a bit more than a normal rare plushie! i usually sell them for 22 sapphires, but you're probably going to want to check the shop explorer in coral canyons before you list them, just to make sure that you're selling them for a reasonable price.

treasure chest items

after doing some golden shovel dig sites, you've probably gotten a couple treasure chests. placing them in your den and clicking on them will give you an item.

these items are usually not really worth much, but some of them can be sold for decent amounts of sapphires. the best way to check if you should sell a treasure chest item is by checking the shop explorer in coral canyons!

after doing these things for a while, you should eventually get 600 sapphires to buy a membership! WOOOO! with that membership, you'll now get daily rewards of 5 sapphires, you'll be able to open pack chest rewards, you'll be able to send pets on expeditions, and much more.

pet expeditions are a big topic on their own, so i'm not going to explain them here, but i'll update this post if i ever end up making a pet expedition guide!

now that you have a membership, you might be wondering, how can you earn enough sapphires monthly to keep that membership?

it's pretty much the same process as getting the first 600 sapphires! selling items in your shop will be easier though because you won't get the "nonmember tax" taken out.

that's all that i have for now! if you have any other questions or if you think i missed something important, feel free to dm me or send an ask in. thank you so much for reading through this post, and thank you even more for waiting for this post to come out!

[samandmaxmansionplay]

Mansion Play hiatus + discussion of story

If you didn’t know, this project is currently on hold due to the fact that I’m making my own videogame, unrelated to Sam&Max. In fact, I have a lot of different projects I want to work on, and there is also the fact that I have a personal life, so you can see why Mansion Play might take a very long time for its release. This was always a project made for fun, and it is not abandoned forever, I would like to come back to it from time to time, and maybe one day I’ll have something worth showing.

However, it’s true that there is a lot I would like to talk about this ‘game’, and I tried not to talk about it too much when a closer release was possible. But now that it isn’t, I think I would like to discuss a lot of the ideas, events, characters, ect I have for this game. There will be spoilers ahead, but nothing too big, I won’t reveal who the murderer is or a bunch of other twists, but I will still talk a lot about the story, show a couple of art I’ve drawn and a bunch of the script!

This will be long, but I’m excited to talk a lot. Enjoy!

-Early Development

Mansion Play was my idea for how Sam&Max would handle a murder mystery, I thought it was an extremely fun idea and I’m still surprised they’ve never done it before. I had a lot of very clear ideas since the beginning. I knew I wanted the murder to take place in a glamorous party with celebrities and rich people and I knew I wanted the story to take place in a snowy day, which is why one of the first decisions I made was to give Max a more blue-ish white than usual.

I always liked the idea that the cancelled Sam&Max game ‘Freelance Police’ had, that it had a lot of minigames that made the story flow better. The telltale games tried to do that a couple of times, but it was clearly not the same. A big idea for this game was to revive that concept, aside from the usual puzzles, you would have to go through the occasional minigame to progress the story. It’s one of the reason why this game is called ‘Mansion Play’! Just not all…

I and many others were big fans that the Devil’s Playhouse let you play as Max, so this ‘game’ was going to present a Max feature as well, but only on certain rooms. He doesn’t have psychic powers, he’s kind of useless, but we love him for that!

Overall the idea I had for this game was very vague, but it started to develop further and further and I really liked where it was going. I decided who the murderer was very very early on, it was not a last minute decision, it could not be someone else other than that character and the moment I came up with that idea I was so excited to continue with this project.

(^ actual notes I wrote.)

-The Characters

The game features new side characters and tons of NPCs. These are a bunch of them!

They will help you with puzzles, with the mystery or maybe they won’t and they just give you a bunch of fun dialogue.

But then there is the secondary characters, who have a lot of protagonism and are very important for the story and mystery.

One of the characters has a fun game mechanic, and that’s the fashion designer, who is enjoys reading murder mysteries and would like to solve this one just for fun. She features an Ace Attorney-like mechanic where you can present her objects and she can tell you something about them, or even reveal something you hadn’t seen before.

-Mansion and Game Structure

The game is divided in the different parts of the mansion you can explore, although the game does allow you to walk around freely most of the time.

The mansion is very luxurious but seems to have a lot of toys laying around as well, given the fact that Manny Money, the owner of the mansion, is also the owner of a big Toy company, which is the reason why he’s so rich in the first place.

In the different areas, there is an important character you’ll need to interrogate, but they won’t let you interrogate them that easily, you have to earn it!

Aside from that, there are a lot of secret rooms, some you will need to find to progress the story, others you can find if you want, to learn more about the sam&max mansion play lore.

The game starts outside the mansion and you proceeds to a couple of different areas: the entrance, the main party room, the restaurant and even a kid’s play area. Then a murder happens, whoops, and now it’s time to explore the rest of the mansion!

You start with the Casino/VIP play area. There you will find the capitalist pig character, who is too distracted playing poker and having a good time to waste his time with you two.

Then you will go to the Pool/Aquarium area. There you will find the fish character, they are very anxious and you need to find a way to calm them down.

Then you will go to the library/computer area, you want to talk to the fashion designer character but it seems she has questions for you too. She is a reporter after all, nevermind if it’s for a fashion magazine.

After that you go to the theater area, to talk to the theatrical skeleton supervillain character. But he wants to enjoy some good theater, you shouldn’t bother him, he has minions and a gun. You should find another way to convince him to talk.

After that well… a lot happens! Keep exploring the mansion, maybe the mystery will start to make more sense. Or maybe it will make less sense, which means you’re doing a good job!

Aside from the mansion. Each chapter begins with a short flashback with Sam and Max as kids! It will make sense later.

-The Demo

Maybe I can’t talk much about the rest of the game… but I think we can talk about the first chapter! In fact, I would like to summarize it. I want to share some of the story already, I don’t mind if it’s just the beginning. There will be spoilers though!

You have seen the opening already. (And if you haven’t, here it is!)

After that you already know (another video!) that you need to convince the body guard that you’re totally one of the guests of the list. You collect a bat in the process. After that, you enter the mansion! You get to briefly talk to a woman with a gossip podcast and to one of the butlers of the mansion.

---

Sam: This sure is a nice party, huh?

Gossip Lady: Oh, you bet! I can’t believe how fast Manny Money has organized it despite the short time… and the break up, and his company crashing and burning as we speak… I guess he really needed this party, huh?

Sam: You know normally my partner and I go through a dialogue tree and a tedious amount of object hunting to get the information we need, but you’re just giving us those unfortunate news about Mr Money like an old classmate in a highschool reunion.

Gossip Lady: What can I say? That’s my job.

Gossip Lady: By the way, did you know Mr Money is actually 46 years old? A whole. year. older. than what he says he is!

Max: Scandalous!

Gossip Lady: I know right?

---

You go use the elevator (or the stairs, in Max’s case) and arrive to a hallway. Suddenly, the capitalist pig shows up and shoves Max out of the way, what a jerk.

---

Sam: You okay, Max?

Max: I will be when I break that guy’s legs!

Pig: Mhm? Oh I’m sorry, I’d say that was an accident…

Pig: But it wasn’t! I just like pushing people inferior than me!

Max: Well how about I push YOU down the stairs?!

Pig: Hah! I’d never use such a commoner thing like the stairs! Good luck trying to push me off a high class elevator, though. Now, I must leave, I hope you think about this experience tonight, crying helps you fall asleep easier!

Max: Grr!!

Sam: Just ignore him, Max, I’m sure that guy will get enough punishment in the afterlife

Max: I’ll gladly help him get there as soon as possible.

---

You walk down the hallway, there are two doors: the kid’s area and the main party area. But outside the kid’s area there is a kid playing with an electric toy car. The toy works with a mic, which you might need later. For now, you talk to the kid and find out he’s Manny’s nephew. And he’s a jerk too!

---

Max: Sam, I normally love kids who are massive jerks. Why do I wish for this kid to fall down the stairs?

Sam: He’s rich, Max.

---

You make your way to the main party room, and you see all of the main characters having… a conversation? Not a super pleasant one, though. Here shines the personality of each one of them.

---

Manny: It’s about time you show up. I was starting to get excited you were not coming!

Pig: Ohohoho, Manny, your attempts to embarrass me in front of so many people are pathetic, even if it’s working.

Manny: Forgive me, old friend, I know you’re not good at comebacks

Pig: … Heh.

Manny: Before you interrupted us, we were having a bit of a predicament. I was wondering if someone else would like to give a speech by my side.

Mysterious Woman: Why would you want that?

Manny: It’s yearly event, dear! We are all busy important people, when is the last chance we’ve gotten a chance to all meet together?

Mysterious Woman: Don’t call me ‘dear’.

*Skull shows up* Skull: What is this I heard about a speech?

Manny: Ah, hi Skull…

Skull: I would love to join you, Manny! You know I love a good audience. I give speeches all the time to my enemies- That is to say, to my business clients.

Manny: Right.

Manny: That is… so kind of you-

*Fashion designer shows up* Fashion designer: Mr Money, hi, can I have a few questions?

Manny: Oh! Is this an interview? I’m great at those too! Gossip magazines love me, I’m great at creating conflict, right Mr Pig?

Fashion designer: No, fashion magazine. So, what are you wearing? Tell us.

Manny: Ah. Well, a… beautiful expensive blue suit.

Fashion designer:…

Fashion designer: Mr Money do you know anything about fashion?

Mysterious Lady: He doesn’t.

Manny: Ah! Hahahah! You got me! I suppose this old man knows more about kids toys.

Fashion designer: It seems he does, yes.

---

Manny then reveals that this is going to be his last party! But why? Oh well, it seems his mic is broken and can’t make his speech, so if you want to talk to him you might need to help him out with that. But before that, you have characters to talk to! Like a talking goat that just became a millionaire for winning last week’s lottery, a fun music band that is excited to play in a billionare’s party for the first time and both the fashioner designer and the fish characters!

---

> Magazine

Sam: This is a big party, a good opportunity for your magazine, right?

Fashion designer: Yeah I guess, but it’s all what I expect… I wish there was something interesting in this party this year…

Max: Like what? A robbery? Oooh or maybe someone stealing some celebrity’s jewelry, creating a big commotion!

Fashion designer: That’d be cool.

Max: We can make it happen if you ask us to!

Sam: Maybe later, Max.

Max: Ooooh what if there is a murder?!

Sam: Don’t scare the nice lady, Max. Forgive him, he’s always like this, so I’ll keep him away for a while-

Fashion designer: No, that’d be cool too! You know a bit gruesome, I would not want to see the body, but I’ve read a couple of mystery books lately so you know, it’d be a fun coincidence, I guess.

Max: Let’s cross our fingers and wish really really hard!

Fashion designer: Looking forward to it!

Sam: As long as it isn’t me, sure.

Both Max and Fashion designer, at the same time: Spoilsport.

> Manny Money

Sam: How much do you know about Manny Money?

Fashion designer: As much as anyone. He inherited his father’s toy company, the company was successful for years but lately it’s getting close to bankruptcy and for whatever reason Manny keeps making more and more toys, even if it will probably be his downfall. Really weird, but I do like the company’s mascot, it’s cute.

Sam: Well, we didn’t know any of that.

Fashion designer: ...

Max: Stop giving her perfect set-ups for insults, Sam

Fashion designer: It’s fine, I won’t say anything.

Max: To our faces.

Fashion designer: Yeah, you might not want to check my magazine this week.

----

> Life of a celebrity

Sam: How is it like being a celebrity?

Fish: Stressful.

Sam: Yeah, I guess most jobs are.

Fish: Most things are for me.

Sam: But it’s worth it if you have fame right?

Fish: Oh no, I don’t really like being famous.

Max: What? I always thought the main objective was fame! And the ability to be a complete jerk with no consequences!

Fish: Not me, I just really enjoy acting. And making fans happy is nice too… I’m not great at talking with fans but I’m not that good at talking to crowds in general. I’m just glad to inspire people or make them feel emotions with my performance.

Sam: That’s nice, kid.

Max: If I was famous I would ask my fans to make an altar of me and pray every night to give me enough power to become a god.

Fish: W… why?

Max: I need to have something to do after I retire!

Sam: See? It’s a good thing he’s not a celebrity.

Fish: Maybe.

---

You leave the room and ask Manny’s nephew to lend you his mic, but the kid won’t share. They both enter the kids area, and there are a bunch of kids really really bored. It seems like the entertainer is not here, apparently his suit burst into flames or something, so you feel kind of bad for the kids. Maybe you might be able to help each other. They ask you to bring them a bag of candy that is in the kitchen and they will help you with the toy car problem, they hate Manny’s nephew anyway.

When you go back to the hallway to take the elevator, suddenly you see Pig grumbling something to himself about Manny. Weird.

You make your way to the kitchen, there are a couple of NPCs here as well: a grumpy but passionate chef, a celebrity couple that really do not want anyone to know that they are dating (but they totally are), an influencer girl too busy with her phone to talk to you, a kind bartender man and a sad depressed horse. It seems like Mysterious Lady and Skull are here as well.

You try to enter the kitchen, but the chef is strict, if he thinks his food is not ready then it’s not ready, you don’t rush art! You might need to find a way to enter the kitchen without him noticing but how?

---

> We don’t care.

Sam: You’ve got it wrong, we didn’t mean to bother you or find out about your relationship

Celebrity man: W-what relationship?

Celebrity woman: Wait, you’re not paparazzis?

Sam: Huh? Why would you think that?

Celebrity woman: You keep interrogating people and picking random objects. That’s what paparazzis do.

Sam: No no, we’re detectives!

Max: And we’re nobodies! We have no one to tell gossip to. Except each other. Hey Sam, did you hear? These two might be a couple!

Sam: No way…

> So are you two together?

Sam: So are you really dating?

Celebrity man: *sigh* Yes, but it’s meant to be a secret. I’m sorry, honey…

Celebrity woman: It’s fine, I was nervous too, I would have probably panicked too!

Celebrity man: *gasp* Sweetie…

Celebrity woman: Honey…

Celebrity woman: Um… platonic honey!

Max: Platonic honey should be a thing.

----

> The chef

Sam: Do you know the chef personally?

Bartender: Yeah, you could say I do.

Sam: How much do you know?

Bartender: Well, I’m married to him.

Max: That doesn’t answer the question!

Bartender: I know plenty about him.

Max: That’s better!

Bartender: Why? What is he up to right now?

> Candy.

Sam: A bunch of kids have asked for the bag of candy in the kitchen, but your husband seems to have strict rules about the kitchen.

Bartender: Oh yes, he is extremely passionate about his culinary job. Which I find endearing, since I’m passionate about mixology.

Sam: I bet dinner time in your home must always be paradise

Bartender: I don’t like to brag. But yes.

Max: One time I tried to make Sam dinner and the food became sentient

Sam: I appreciated the gesture, little buddy.

---

Skull: Gah! You two!

Sam: You know us too?

Max: Wow, two guests in total! It’s a new record

Skull: What are you doing here?!

Sam: Well, technically we’re only here for a mission. But we should probably tell people that we’re just regular invited guests.

Skull: Ugh, unbelievable… Well… Even though we share a deep rivalry… For the sake of the guests and this party, we should postpone our personal missions with our destinies. For now, we are but strangers sharing a nice evening, but don’t believe this will last. For next day, we’ll be back from the very beginning.

Sam: … Huh?

Max: What’s your name again?

Skull: Hah. Very good, you’re already in character! Anyway, strangers, you’re bothering us, please leave.

Max: Wait, we haven’t said anything yet!

> Manny’s friends?

Sam: We don’t really know much but in some way you seem to know Manny.

Skull: Manny and I have met in plenty of occasions. We both have a large amount of wealth, we both have our own companies, … Things we have in common brought us together, so in a way, you could say we are friends. Although I prefer the term ‘business partners’. Our accompanies are completely unrelated from each other though, I just simply prefer the business title.

Sam: Fascinating. What about you, mam?

Mysterious Lady: …

Mysterious Lady: Yes, I know him.

Sam: …

Sam: Great, thanks.

---

You find out that the chef always gets distracted by a good performance, especially a singing performance. He appreciates other people’s art, but it has to be good! So now you have to find someone that can give a good performance, you start asking around, but you might need the help of the gossip lady to know whose celebrity here is really good at singing.

Sam and Max can perform a song together, it would be a silly optional minigame, but the chef is not impressed. You can also ask Skull to perform and he will read a chapter of his memoirs. It’s quite impressive to everyone except the chef.

---

Sam: That didn’t work at all.

Max: Well it certainly wasn’t for the lack of talent, I almost weep like a baby watching that!

Sam: Yeah, as overdramatic as he is, I feel like a different person after watching that.

Max: Me too! If I didn’t know I like men already, he would have definitely made me realize it!

Sam: I can see that.

Max: We should buy his book! Or at least wait for the movie adaptation!

---

You go talk to the gossip lady, she shares a couple of interesting information about the main celebrities of the story. You find out that the mysterious lady is a famous singer, so you go ask her to sing. She doesn’t seem to want to. But suddenly, all the lights start flickering and the floor starts trembling a little. But just in a couple of seconds, it stops. What was that? Everyone seem a little scared and suddenly the mysterious woman gets on stage and starts performing, to calm everyone down. The chef goes out, he seems to love the performance! Now it’s your chance, you take the candy and go back to give it to the kids. The kids are happy but still bored, so you get a little cute scene of Sam and Max playing with them. After that they all go right next to Manny’s nephew and the kids take his toy car and threw it off the window. Now he has no toy car to play with so you get the mic!

---

Nephew: My- my toy!!!!!

Kids: There you go!

Sam: We could have done that ourselves.

Max: No way, his uncle would have sued us.

Kids: Yeah! So you’re welcome!

Sam: Thanks kids, you are the true life of the party.

---

After that, the entertainer shows up, with another entertainer following. One of them seems to be extremely energetic, the other one is really tired. They give you a map of the mansion as a thanks for taking care of the kids while they were gone. Now it’s time to give Manny the mic!

… Then when you are back, a butler gives Manny a new mic. However, Manny noticed all the effort you did for him, so he wants to thank you! He offers you to go on stage with him for his big speech. And well… I’ll just let the script talk for this final part.

Manny: I wanted to give a speech with someone tonight, but alas, all my friends have left me… Why don’t you two join me instead?

Sam: Uum… are you sure? I mean, this is a pretty important event and you wouldn’t want Max to say something inappropriate that would disturb or disgust your guests.

Max: Yeah!

Manny: Just one of you two is fine, and I suppose you’re right, not all my guests have as good of a sense of humor as I do, hahah! Sam, right? I’d love to have you there with me!

Sam: Oh, I don’t do well with crowds…

Max: Come on, Sam, just imagine everyone naked or something.

Sam: I’m kind of used to that with you as my partner. Manny: Oh oh! It’s starting! Come on, Mr Sam!

Sam: Oh brother…

- All the guests gather in the party room, Sam and Manny are at the top of the stairs. Max is in the crowd and is soon joined by the Fashion Designer. -

Fashion Designer: Oh hey

Max: Hi!

Fashion Designer: You got that mic in the end?

Max: Yeah, but- eh, we shouldn’t have bothered. Sam just likes puzzles too much

Fashion Designer: …

Fashion Designer: Say, be honest…

Fashion Designer: Have you been on this mansion before?

Max: Huh? No, it’s the first time Sam and I have ever been here

Fashion Designer: Okay then, have you been here on your own?

Max: I don’t really go anywhere without Sam, so, no. Why?

Fashion Designer: …

Fashion Designer: I have a friend who thinks they saw you last year.

Max: Mmm… Oh! It was probably that rich guy that looks like me!

Fashion Designer: … I don’t think so.

Max: Um…

Fashion Designer: Sorry, I’m a reporter, I’m just curious about things.

Max: But you’re a fashion reporter.

Fashion Designer: Yeah, so?

Max: You ask strange questions, but I like you!

Manny: Good evening, everyone!

-We switch back to Manny and Sam.-

Manny: Thank you for coming once again to my annual party. Seeing all of this support is what motivates me to make each year better than the last!

-audience cheers-

Manny: This year I’m joined by a new friend, Sam!

Sam: Um… hi.

-audience remains silent-

Max, in the audience: Woooo!! That’s my best friend!!

Manny: Sam and his friend helped me, a complete rich stranger, in a time where I needed it, even when my closest friends were not there for me.

Pig: [Bleep] you, Manny.

Manny: Hahah! But back to my guest. Sam! How did you find the solution to the broken microphone?

Sam: We made a kid cry.

Audience: …

Max, in the audience: Just kidding! I don’t know this guy!

Sam: Mhm.

Manny: Ohohoho! Splendid! What a hilarious guy, right everyone?

-audience cheers-

Manny: But now I wanted to get serious for a second… Everyone, these events have always meant a lot to me. They have helped me through rough times, they have helped me disconnect from all my hard work. Lately it’s been especially difficult, you’ve probably heard some bad news about my toy business.

I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I for one, I’m not scared. Folks, it’s possible that this might be my last party, but not for this reason I want to end things on a sad note

This is not the end, but merely a new beginning.

-The audience gets emotional, some seem to be crying, probably fake tears but who cares. They all give a polite clap.-

Manny: So what do you say, everyone? Let’s have one last joyful party! And let’s find out together, what the next chapter of Manny Money’s life will be like!

-Suddenly, you hear a strange sound. Sam and Manny look up, but before Sam can react, Manny pushes Sam out of the way. Something has fallen from the ceiling. The screen turns to black.-

Max: Sam!

-Max makes his way to the top of the stairs-

Max: Are you okay?!

Sam: Yeah, I’m fine.

Max: Phew that’s good. Sam: But I don’t think Manny... Mr Money are you okay…?

-We see that Manny’s body is laying inert under a big chandelier lamp.-

Sam and Max: …

Max: Well… this is bad, right?

---

And that’d be the end of the demo!

-Conclusion

Hope you enjoyed reading this! This is a very fun project that I wish to continue someday, and I will! For now, let’s hope we get an actual real new Sam&Max game one of these days (that isn’t VR this time).

[lesbiandanhowell]

you know what time it is

Sam reacts to: Dan and Phil are Getting Divorced

First of all the title had me GAGGED but also I love the way they clickbait without clickbaiting? They know thar we've learned not to take any of the titles too serious so it's just like an inside joke by now.

- I have played this before with a friend so I know the story and can judge if they are being stupid or good at it. UPDATE: They are incredible, like they are endlessly better than me and my friend were. Funfact: I played it with a friend after she broke up with her girlfriend and didn't have anyone to play it with anymore

- The different buttons on Xbox vs Switch IS A CRIME so true Phil.

- It looked like Phil wanted an answer after "we can do team work!" and just didn't get one, sad moment.

- The household chores banter is so domestic fuxk me j am crying (live reaction I will leave this unedited)

- "That is also sucking not blowing" OKAY THEN. Despite all the openings for innuendos this video has surprisingly little innuendos or even half dirty jokes? Very kid friendly language.

- I am sorry but Dan's lack of reaction at Phil calling himself husband has me raising an eyebrow, like Dan is not fazed because it happens all the time.

- They are working together so much better than I expected you can tell they have a inherent connection. This is obviously the type of game they are more used to playing and their shared brain from sharing a life for 14 years becomes so clear in the way they play together.

- How are they already codependent in a game they played about 20 minutes... (Phil saying he doesn't want to play alone).

- "Highfive me motherfucker!" That made me laugh out loud because it is SO Dan.

- "They could just go to therapy" - the friend who recommends everyone therapy after they went, we all have them.

- They have such a intrinsic way they work together? Like when they are confronted with a task where they have to work together, they don't even have to discuss who does what it just works out organically. That only comes from being together as long as they have and being such a perfect match.

- Phil knocking Dan's head >>>> love language for real

- "Which one?" Daniel Howell you are a homosexual I don't think Phil was asking if you'd smash the woman?!

- This is the most real Dan we have ever seen. Yes he will trick Phil into getting him killed but he also GENUINELY compliments Phil when doing well or winning a minigame, like that we don't get in their competitions.

- "Excellent work Lester" The last name use got me feeling some type of way not sure why.

- Dan: "I've been on grindr" Phil: "You literally made me die saying that"

- They are SUCH a good team, nothing shows this more than co-op games.

My biggest take away from this was just how much they praise and compliment each other? They are so polite and appreciative and say thank you and everything so many times in this video, probably more than in any other gaming video we have seen before. I think this is how they play video games together personally and I am glad we got to see this calm, less chaotic and to me more real version of them. I enjoy their competitiveness but this was a very wholesome insight into another side of them.

Can't wait for the next part because if they don't finish this game series I will commit crimes.

[logicpng]

kinda interesting to observe the whole discussion around sun rn from aside, after caelOS jumped from fandom and became its own thing. so I'm not as affected cuz Rigel (who is very inspired by dca sun and is a very softhearted nervous wreck*) is more or less disconnected from the original inspiration to me. it's kind of nice to see the canon diverge further and flesh them out a bit! it allows me a little more room to breathe and be a bit more dissimilar.

though I have to wonder how I'd respond if it was still just an AU

I still love dca to bits, I honestly intend to draw them having checked out hw2. I was a bit saddened by the personality change before I realised he's talking to an adult. it mostly just didn't sit with me that he'd be that harsh with kids after having been relatively established to be Decent with them, if a bit messy and overbearing.

but having actually seen the gameplay the shredding comes off as such a mundane procedure that the minigame is either a "rehearsal" or it's just a normal thing! maybe the kids do enjoy seeing the thing get destroyed, there's shredding videos online that are fun to watch. some kids want to watch the world burn and I'm all for it (as long as they're warned they don't get to keep the creations). our shock mostly comes from this information being new, but i can see when you're a regular how this can be so normal no one bats an eye. or just a very destructive child

there's honestly still many ways to interpret the new info and have it fit with the original interpretation (sun is off the clock and didn't ask for this™, he's decent with kids and just VERY SNOBBY about crafts in particular, he's annoyed with you in particular because you're an adult and should know how to follow simple instructions/COLOR THEORY, the theater kid personality is bleeding through when it comes to ART, etc etc etc). you can have a soft sun that will chew someone up! it's fun!

overall the minigame is fuckin hysterical, I enjoy this addition to the lore™

(*Rigel is absolutely capable of being crabby of course, and has a moment of two like that in the desktop buddy thing, being occasionally snappy has been part of his personality since day one. apple doesn't fall far from the tree I guess! but all in all even compared to sun before hw2 he's been much softer in terms of personality)

[littlerocks]

Just finished the first episode

Then:

I'm liking it, at the beginning I have to say that it didn't grab me like Duskwood, which grabbed me straight away at the start, but with Moonvale, as I played it, it got me more and more and I'm liking it a lot, then the video calls, absolutely beautiful, I love them, they are perfect, I like them so much, I'm enjoying them and I can't wait for the second one to come out

The negative sides: these fucking diamonds, then the minigame is neutral in the sense okay that in Duskwood they made more sense because while you were playing, you unlocked some things in Hannah's cloud, so they made sense, now a little less and also it doesn't represent that dark feeling that the game has like on Duskwood, but in general I'm neutral on this thing, it can be improved but I don't care that much. Then I hope that these minigames will be played like in duskwood in the sense in duskwood you went on for a while and you did the minigames, while now it seems like you have to play these minigames more and the story continues for a while and then do the minigames again

the thing that really bothers me ARE THESE FUCKING DIAMONDS, if they continue like this they will remain, they will ruin the game a lot, because there isn't even a premium package that allows you to unlock all the content, that package in Duskwood made sense but these fucking diamonds no, so I hope they improve from this point of view. Another flaw first of all, you can't see the profiles, I don't like this because for example in Duskwood you could see the profiles and their photos, and therefore you could also get to know the characters, and also gradually understand their characters. , since you could only talk to them via messages or video calls or calls so you couldn't necessarily go there and meet them personally but at least with the profiles you could understand them, and it was nice, but this thing that you can't see the profiles bothers me, then the images with AI honestly it's not something that matters to me much, because I'm also fine with the profile images remaining with AI but at least they put photos in the profiles so we get to know them better and also this thing is that I can't see the photos or videos after they are made, it bothers me, I would like them to put in a collection where all the videos, photos, video calls are put and so you can watch them again

SPOILER.

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.

.

.

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When the video started showing Alan's bodycam, and you could see a backpack on the ground, a slightly burnt sweatshirt, YOU CAN'T UNDERSTAND HOW MUCH I WAS SCREAMING WITH JOY, and then his MASK guys I'M TOO HAPPY THAT MAYBE WE'LL SEE JAKE, I'M SO HAPPY, even the "I will find you" writing thing MY GOD THE TEARS OF JOY, that was enough for me to like the game ahhaha having the chance to see Jake again seems so surreal to me. So this makes it clear that in the final video of Duskwood when Hannah turns and looks at a person, that person is 90% Jake

[actualbird]

what is your ranking of all the main event stories we have received so far? (as in sott, enduring light, skadi etc)

OHHHH THIS IS A FUN QUESTION, THANK YOU ANON!!! let me go from my highest to lowest.

for this question, im taking "main event stories" to mean the Big 4 SSR Events where the event story involves the entire team all at once (so no xmas events or sotn, or solo or duo events). and i will be judging these events primarily on their event story (so not as much as the gameplay, though thatll also be a factor. but i wont be judging the cards)

OH DANG WHY DID I EXPLAIN IT, THE TOT WIKI DOES A MUCH BETTER JOB AT DEFINING BIG 4 SSR EVENTS, HERE, THIS IS WHAT IM JUDGING

anyhoo, here is my personal ranking!

FIRST PLACE: Mysteries of the Lost Gold

my beloved, my favorite, my perfect shining star. lost gold was the first big event i played and it has yet to be dethroned as my favorite event story of all of tot. absolute homerun of a rich story with intrigue, high stakes, a good balance of tender moments and lighthearted ones, and just SO gripping in terms of all of the story threads coming together, plus the absolutely A+ nxx team interactions. my advice to every new player who comes into my inbox is "PLAY THE LOST GOLD DLC" because i love it so much. i will never shut up about how i love it so much. it has our very first raven!luke sighting. it has marius nearly getting stabbed. it has artem with gun. it has vyn doing that THING with the bow and arrow. LIKE. THIS EVENT IS PERFECT TO ME. it'll take something really really special to dethrone it.

SECOND PLACE: Enduring Light

this isnt recency bias speaking but my real honest thoughts: this story delighted me to no end. i was kept on the edge my seat for every single phase, and the sheer novelty of the story's setup and the gameplay was such a nice change of pace after the previous event formats started to get repetetive. i especially loved that this time, we had to suspect the nxx boys as well because that really added to my enjoyment of this event. it really felt like a mystery that had to be solved by us, and not just a mystery that will unravel by itself as long as we keep playing, if that makes sense? my point is i was immensely immersed in enduring light and i love it lots lots lots. luke looking stupendously hot in his outfit during the entire event was also a huge plus.

THIRD PLACE: a tie between Blizzardous Threads of Red & Mystery of Bakerlon

i really loved BTR and bakerlon!!! both of their murder cases were adequately thrilling for me, though towards the end i could feel the adrenaline wearing off, if that makes sense? like by the 4th phase, things were slotting together already in a way that like lowered the feeling of intrigue. also i know i said i wouldnt judge much based on gameplay, but these two deserve a shoutout for MINIGAMES I WANT TO KILL W MY BARE HANDS. bakerlon's crystal tasks were so repetetive to me, and BTR's TIMED ESCAPE ROOM THINGIES heightened my blood pressure several times HAHA

FOURTH PLACE: To My Beloved: Moonlit Eve (anniv 2)

this has a soft spot in my heart for including all of the old NPCs from main story, and that was very heartwarming. while theres no mystery that needs solving, just seeing the team hang out together and have fun together was such a treat for my soul

FIFTH PLACE: Secrets of the Tomb

sott is where i'd say the event story quality is inching towards the meh scale. the mystery here was interesting but was not particularly gripping to me. it might just be a me thing, but i enjoyed the side stories (the ones you get with the boys when you investigate the artefacts) more than the actual event story itself.

SIXTH PLACE: A Love Poem to Skadi

ahhhhh skadi. psychological and medical malpractice horrors skadi.....HJSVKHSJDFDSF. i will admit, the mystery in this story is HORRIFIC and it was enjoyable to unravel it, but here is where i break my rule again of not talking about gameplay but mAAAAAAN THE GAMEPLAY HINDERED MY ENJOYMENT OF THE MAIN PLOT LOTS. it was rather difficult for me to do all the exploration in that manor and that stalled my absorption of the story too. plus, i think the fact that the story is Over made the story have a bit of a muted quality to it. not in a bad way (i distinctly remember i wrote a semi-analysis post about how i enjoyed that the story was in the Past) but it definitely affected the mood of the gameplay, if that makes sense?

(that is the third time ive said "if that makes sense" in this response, THREE STRIKES AND YER OOOOOUT)

SEVENTH PLACE: Blissful Fete (anniv 1)

be honest with me.....do YOU remember the event story plot of blissful fete? cuz i sure dont. JVSKDHFSJDHSF. i only remember getting very very mad at luke during that fucking minigame where we guess if the card is higher or lower. that being said, if i cant even remember much of the story, then it didnt make an impact on me and couldve been improved.

so thats my ranking! thank u for the ask :D

[motheatencrow]

BUG GAME MASTERPOST (AS OF NOV. 2022)

heyhey! this isnt actually anything "official"! i just thought i’d make this for fun and to also spread around bug video games that others, who like the silly little critters as well, might enjoy!

(remember that this is as of nov. 29 2022 so if any game unreleased game on here is now released, it may have been after the date that this was made)

there will be 3 categories: released games, games to be released/are being developed, and honorable mentions

under the released games, i will also be stating if i have finished the game, played them, or simply heard of them (can range from "i have the game wishlisted", "owned but not played", literally only heard of it, etc.)

these bug games will also only list games where most invertebrates are the main focus of the game

other than that, i will be doing the following if possible!:

- i will be providing brief comments for what i think of each game (this is my opinion of each game!! everyone has their own tastes and its alright if you dont agree with what i say! and in no way is my comments for each game professional/an attempt to critique the game in any way ksfhskjd)

- what the gameplay is like (sort of. im not really good at explaining LMAO)

- where you can find these games (game websites may be linked if available instead!)

visual warnings for this post: gif/image heavy, bright imagery click here for the text-only version!

let's begin!

released games

hollow knight - website; finished - a challenging metroidvania! i personally found this game really fun though i did have to take breaks from the game due to some difficult fights and events lsfhdskj. its definitely the type of game thats fun to replay and see how much you've improved since first playing it! i also think the world building, implied lore, and characters are really well done! (i highly enjoy reading people's analysis posts of this game jksdfkj)

overall, i suggest this game if you enjoy challenging fights and platformers, creative characters, games with deep lore, and/or emotional osts!

bug fables - website; finished - i am emotionally attached to the blue moth. anyways! bug fables is a paper mario rpg inspired game (used to be called paper bugs actually!) and it has charming characters and a good story! this game has a very fun ost and you definitely fall in love with the characters as you learn more and more about them. i find the sidequests very much worth doing and also really fun as it makes you go around and interact with a lot of the npcs in the game! you'll end up seeing that a lot of them have unique personalities and are loveable in their own right :] !!

i suggest the game if you like rpgs, bright characters and settings, bubbly osts, and/or perhaps even learning a dark secret or 2?

bugsnax - website; finished - silly game about catching and eating bug-shaped foods! or food-shaped bugs? food bugs!!!! the horrors. all the bugsnax designs are super fun and some of them are challenging to catch which i think makes the game pretty fun! there's also a bunch of ways that u could catch a bugsnak, its just up to what you can think of! the horrors. the characters are also pretty loveable and they have really neat stories and getting to know them can change the course of the game (just the ending really actually)

highly suggest the game if you enjoy being a little creative with how you perform a task/solving puzzles, characters that are more than what they seem, and silly creative creature designs!

creepy castle - available on steam; played - i have yet to finish this game! but from what i've played, its pretty fun exploring around, reading lore tidbits, and doing the duel minigames! it has a neat retro style and you can change the colors/gui settings if i remember correctly!

i suggest the game if you like rpgs, pixelated style games, and/or minigames!

webbed - website; finished - super cute spider game about saving your bf, swinging around on and crafting webs, and making new friends! did i also mention that youre a spider that shoots lasers from their eyes? webbed is a really charming game that can be completed in just a few hours, even with all the bonus/side things that you can do!

i suggest it if you like pixelated style games, are a completionist, want a shorter game, or just want to be a silly little laser spider!

apico - website; finished - a relaxing game about keeping bees and restoring bee populations! recently they've added an update where you can help repopulate solitary bees and butterflies, and there's a bunch more content that they're planning to develop and release!! the characters have silly bee pun names and have neat dialogue! (they also have pronouns next to their names when you talk to them <3) bee management is not super demanding and with some mods, you can enhance your experience in the game. personally, i have not played with mods, i really enjoy the base game alone! you can also build pretty bases, listen to the relaxing ost, or trap yourself in menu hell!

i suggest the game if you want something that's more laidback (though there is a bit of management), like reading silly dialogue blurbs, want to have a calming ost to listen to, or just wanna do some beekeeping! (proceeds also go to charities that help repopulate native bee populations!)

grounded - website; played - grounded is an open world survival sandbox game (theres also a literal sandbox in the game) where you're a teen that's been shrunken down and must survive in the backyard while finding a way to bring yourself back to your original size. the game actually got a full release in back in september and i have yet to play it because my partner has not been able to play kfhskj. but we have played when it was in early access and it was super fun! there are giant spiders in the game but there's an accessibility setting that allows you to make the spiders more blobby in case you have arachnophobia! other than that it's really fun to go running around the game screaming and crying because the giant mosquito is about to 2-shot you. the base building is also pretty fun with a variety of materials you can make your base from as well as decor. there's also a variety of weapons and armors to choose from and create a build to optimally destroy bugs that are not so friendly. you can also tame some of the passive creatures and become extremely overprotective of them. (im not speaking from experience [lying]) there's actually a storyline to follow as well that helps encourage exploration and progression in the game!

i recommend the game if you enjoy open world sandbox survival games, being scared out of your mind when something you didnt see gets aggro'd on you, making neat bases, and/or strategizing and making builds to suit your playstyle! (i also highly recommend playing with friends!)

space moth dx - available on steam; played - an arcade-like shoot-em-up bullet hell where you play a moth shooting lasers at other laser shooting bugs! this is actually a fairly tough game if you're not familiar with these types of games. i personally have not gotten that far and have yet to play it again kslfhkjs but i think the art is super neat and the gameplay is pretty fun!

i recommend it if you enjoy bullet hells where you literally don't see anything But bullets (there is also space moth: lunar edition!)

bug academy - available on steam and switch; played - a pretty fun physics puzzle game where you control a swarm of bugs! there are different levels with different objectives and a star-based score depending on how well you do in each one! the only reason i havent finished this game is because im a completionist for it and got stuck on a level i have yet to get 3 stars on ksjfhkj. if you ever get this game, i highly recommend playing with a controller!

i suggest this game if you like puzzles, timed/stopwatch levels, trying to see how far you can chuck something, destroying buildings by chucking items, crying when you knock over your tower on accident, and/or being a silly bug swarm

crustacean nations - available on steam and itch.io; finished - woah moth!!! a game about crabs???? yeah they're getting a spot on this list, they're sea bugs to me. but anyways! crustacean nations is a fairly short game with only 3 levels (if i remember correctly) and a sandbox mode. you're essentially commanding a kingdom of crabs and you must defend your sand castle while destroying the other crab sand castles. there's also a pit where you can sacrifice crabs and summon a Big One. it doesn't take too much strategy to win each level but you still need to think about it a bit!

i suggest it if u want to play a brief n short army-building game! with crabs!

kill it with fire - website; finished - a silly game about exterminating spiders. as you progress through the game you get a bunch of new weapons to um. delete spiders with. there's also a bunch of challenges you can do and achievements to get! i've completely 100%'d the game just because it's kinda fun trying to do the challenges and collect all the achievements. the ending is also. a little messed up.

i suggest the game if you're a bit of a completionist, don't like spiders for some reason (i think theyre pretty neat), want to have a stress-relief game (or would it be stress inducing??), or want to see how goofy it gets

social moth - available on steam; heard of - a lot of my mutuals talk about and adore this game! i have not played it yet but it's wishlisted! here's a copy n pasted excerpt from the steam page: "Social Moth is a narrative platformer where you play as a small moth contending with social anxiety. Set in a close-knit community on the forest floor, the game allows the player to explore themes of mental health, relationships, and finding a sense of belonging."

i think i can suggest this game if you have social anxiety/want to understand social anxiety while also playing a puzzle platformer with an endearing art style and characters!

buggos - available on steam; heard of - ive had this game wishlisted for a while! here's a copy and pasted excerpt from the steam page: "Buggos is an RTS Auto Battler where you evolve your army into the perfect bug fighting force. You control a young hive mind bent on world domination, and your swarm will mostly listen to your every beck and call. Guide your swarm’s evolutionary path and breed your best bugs for world domination!"

i think i can suggest this game if you like the idea of world domination and slaughter, want a bug army building game, or enjoy pixelated style games.

i commissioned some bees - available on steam; heard of - did you know there's 10 of these games plus an advent edition?? these games are essentially just where's waldo bee edition and multiply those by like 1000. i've had this game wishlisted for a while but it hasnt been a priority pft. here's an excerpt from the steam page!: "The brief was simple. I commissioned artists to create a fantasy world, and hide as many bees as they can inside it. Now it’s your job to find them all! With 10 art pieces to choose from, and 1000+ bees, you will have a lot of searching to do."

bee simulator - website; heard of - i own the game but havent played it yet. the most ive done is watch markiplier play it hfkjsd. here's an excerpt from the epic games page: "The hive awakens as the sun's first rays warm the horizon. It's time to test your wings, receive orders from the Queen and begin your first mission. And that's just the start of your adventures. Humans want to cut down the tree that holds your hive, so your fate – and that of the whole swarm – rests on your tiny shoulders!" i think this game is more of an educational game aimed towards families and children but who knows! maybe some of you will enjoy it too?

i think i can recommend this game if you like bees :) and doing minigames/tasks/challenges!

black widow: recharged - website; heard of - an arcade shooter where you play a spider! i own this game but havent played it yet. here's an excerpt from the site: "Aim for a high score in the old school arcade mode and earn bragging rights with your name at the top of the leaderboard. Or test your skills and rank on the boards in one of 30 intensely creative challenges, which twist the gameplay in new and exciting ways. Collect cash from downed enemies to charge a powerful web blast, or pick up one of a dozen new power-ups including explosive blasts, spread-shots, and fear, trapping all enemies in your web. Every mode and level is playable in local co-op mode with a friend."

centipede recharged - website; heard of - i've played centipede in an actual arcade but it was not this specific game so i dont know if the experience is around the same. (i own it but havent played it) centipede recharged is similar to black widow: recharged in terms of an arcade shooter as well as the description given

empires of the undergrowth - website; played - an army building game about ants! in the "main zone", you're an experimental ant species that seems to be able to take on traits of many other ant species. you play levels as real-life ant species and try to grow your colony and complete objectives that are given to you. the rewards you get from these levels are used to upgrade your lab species and after completing a set of levels, you'll be given a challenge using the lab species. i havent completed this game due to being stuck on one of the challenge levels fhksjd but i think its kind of fun

i suggest this game if you like army building games (similar to starcraft or warhammer) and the idea of making a huge ant colony and competing against other colonies

yoku's island express - available on steam; heard of - there's actually a lot more places where you can purchase yoku's island express (epic games, switch, gog, etc.) but their website is down so i decided to resort to linking the steam page. i currently own the game but have not played it! it's a game about you being a tiny postman exploring around islands, delivering packages, while also making new friends and saving the islands where you reside. it's a pinball platformer adventure game and it seems really cute and fun to play!

earthtongue - available on steam and itch.io; heard of - this game actually just got recommended to me after this was posted! earthtongue is a game where you watch over a world inhabited by fungi and bugs. here's an excerpt about the game!: "You will spend most of your time watching life grow and eat each other to survive. Your subtle nudges will be required to maintain the balance of this world, but it can handle itself much of the time. Player given goals are limited, aside from maximizing the health of your ecosystem. You may choose to try to create a fungal garden to your liking. You may try your best to breed as many beetles as you can. You might use those beetles instead as food stock for the mantises. You might instead just peacefully watch the story of Earthtongue unfold on its own."

stonefly - website; heard of - stonefly is an adventure game where you control a bug-shaped mech! here's an excerpt from the site: "Harness the wind and soar through the wilderness of Stonefly, a chill and tranquil action-adventure game about self-discovery, legacy, and belonging. Glide your mech strategically among beautiful flora and dangerous fauna, confronting hungry bugs, adventures, and memorable characters."

to be released/in development games

hollow knight: silksong - website - the game that the hk fandom says doesn't exist and is actually a collective fever dream (it is 100% a real game, we're all just very excited for it to come out! /srs) the game is going to be like hollow knight (a challenging metroidvania) but this time the player plays as a new protagonist, who was a character in the first game, hornet! this game will have a new world to explore, new mechanics to master, new faces to meet, and much more.

bugaboo pocket - website - a really cute pixelated game about raising bugs! an excerpt from the site: "Bugaboo Pocket is a digital pet game where you raise bugs from egg to adult. How you care for your pet influences their personality and impacts the ecology around them. Inspired by real bugs!"

another crab's treasure - website - a game where you play as a hermit crab! you use trash in your surroundings as your shell and each "shell" provides a different effect that affects how you play the game! an excerpt from the site: "Another Crab’s Treasure is a soulslike adventure set in a crumbling underwater world. As Kril the hermit crab, you’ll need to wear the trash around you as shells to withstand attacks from enemies many times your size. Embark on an epic treasure hunt to buy back your repossessed shell, and discover the dark secrets behind the polluted ocean." (i recommend checking out their tiktok, some of the posts there are extremely funny)

dewdrop dynasty - steam page - a pixelated style metroidvania where you play as a gunslinging bee who lost their wings and finds themselves trapped in an unknown place. you'll meet interesting characters, challenging enemies, and also learn new skills and mechanics as you play the game. goodgis, dewdrop dynasty's dev, also posts a bunch of videos on youtube regarding game development tips and devlogs. (that's how my partner knew about the game and introduced it to me) a fun and charming game that will have mysteries to discover!

i am a caterpillar - dev's twitter - a game where you play as a caterpillar!: unbothered. slimey. thriving. in your moss. squelched up. wriggling. an excerpt from one of the dev's tweets!: "Become the squidgy lil' caterpillar you've always wanted to be, on a quest to stop your own metamorphosis. Crawl & wriggle all over anything in your path and explore the canopy."

a webbing journey - website - a cute 3D game where you play as a spider! you'll explore the world, making webs and slinging around on them. you'll also meet some friendly faces to talk to and do quests for them! an excerpt from the site: " You control a little spider equipped with all the typical spider abilities and a little bit more as you travel through various stunning islands searching for the most exotic flowers for your spider date. Along your journey you meet other spiders and animals who provide additional side stories and quests which challenge your spider abilities."

invertipets - dev's site / toyhou.se - a petsite game being made by @shadybugdev where you take care of bugs and bug-like pets! there's not much on it publicly available yet other than some pet concepts (which can be viewed through the toyhouse link!) but it's something to look out for! (the picture provided is some of the pets and their possible morphs!)

honorable mentions

an isopod game(?) being made by riley neville (part of sbuggames/made webbed) - this "game" has not actually been announced to be a game that will be published but it looks neat!

a worm game(?) being made by riley neville - same thing as the previous one!

all the games in my bug game collection on itch.io! (if i added all the ones in here i would be making this post forever. but please please check them out!!)

woah its the end!

that should be all i know! most of these games, if not all, are made by indie devs so i highly suggest checking them out and supporting them if you can!

thanks so much for reading and i hope i've helped you find a new bug game to pick up and enjoy! (or to wait for!) <3

[lowpolynpixelated]

So, you don't wanna play Nintendo games

As I'm sure a lot of you lovely folks out there have seen, Nintendo recently did its most recent act of evil by suing the dev team behind both the Citra and Yuzu emulators. While I won't get into how I feel about it as a fan of media archival work and a massively passionate fan of video game history, this is despicable to say the least. What I WILL do, is get straight to the point the title says! So, you don't wanna play Nintendo games? Well do I have some games for you! I've seen a few posts like this floating around, and I absolutely adored the concept of talking about niche/lesser known titles that get overshadowed in their genre by bigger names, such as Nintendo. As an avid player of weird and wonderful games throughout my life I think I've got some good ones that I've slotted into some neat categories below. I hope you enjoy this post! And I hope you take a new favourite away as well!

(Note: All of the games listed below are available to play on very easily accessible emulators.)

So, you like 3D platformers do ya?

-My first and foremost suggestion is always the woefully underappreciated game Taz Wanted.

This wacky platformer sees you in the role of the one and only Taz, or the Tazmanian Devil for long, from the Looney Toons property. The game revolves around you entering large colourful levels filled with goofy enemies and a lovely cell shaded art style to mimic that classic cartoon look. Within those levels your job is to find and destroy a certain number of wanted posters which can take the form of just about anything. From standing signs to blimps your goal is to solve various platforming challenges, puzzles, and minigames to destroy these posters and secure an item that will assist you in getting to the next hub world. With 4 worlds to explore and each world with 3 levels and a boss fight game at the end, I'm sure any fan of 3D platforming will have a blast.

-Next up is a package deal, the first of which is a 3D platformer predating Mario64! These games are none other than the Jumping Flash! games.

The two games play identically, and are both a seriously good time. Taking place entirely in first person you take up the mantle of intergalactic space hero robot Robbit tasked with collecting a certain number of items in large playground-like levels made with tons of verticality in mind. Why you may ask? Because much like the name suggests Robbit can JUMP. The game employs a fantastically implemented camera system which forces you to look down at Robbit's feet when you use your double/tripple jump, ensuring you can see where you're landing. On top of this, the game's level design feels like a never ending barrage of jungle gyms and challenging boss fights all set to a cartoonish story with bright poppy visuals, and not to mention a soundtrack of absolute bangers

Okay, but what about the Zelda fans?

-I assure you I haven't forgotten, and my first pick here is an all time favourite of mine ever since I played it when I was like, 8 years old. Sphinx and the cursed mummy is a 3D adventure action game where you play as both the titular Sphinx and the cursed pharaoh to be, Tutankhamen .

The game is heavily inspired by Egyptian mythology and sees you battling and puzzling your way through a world of mysteries and great evils lurking just beneath the surface. Exciting battles, puzzle platforming, monster collecting, and so so much more are all front and center in this game, and I really cannot recommend it enough to anyone who wants a different adventuring experience in their life.

-The second and last one in this category I PROMISE a lot of you have heard of but I really want to drive home just HOW GOOD it is. Okami stands tall as one of the best examples of non-Zelda 3D action adventuring.

Taking place in a GORGEOUSLY rendered fantasy rendition of classical Japan, the adventures of the sun goddess Amaterasu are yours to control. I really cannot stress HOW GOOD this game still looks today, even without the HD remasters its been given. The entire game is rendered in a cell-shaded art style reminiscent of classical Japanese paintings, giving the whole world a vibrant painted aesthetic that never EVER gets old. On top of this the game provides a truly unique combat and interaction system, seeing you use a paintbrush to paint your attacks and spells into reality. There isn't much I can say about this game that hasn't been said already, and it's certainly the least niche game on this list. Go give it a shot! You won't regret it.

So we did 3D platformers, but what about 2D?

-Fear not! I've got some solid suggestions for those too! Our first one here is another bundle of 2, those being the Klonoa games.

Klonoa: Door to Phantomile and its sequel, Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil, are two of the best 2D platformers I've ever played. Releasing on the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 respectively, these games utilize a 2.5D perspective to let you run back and forth through revolving dioramas of platforming goodness. With a cheery, almost circus-like soundtrack and an adorably charming artstyle to match, I have such fond memories of discovering these games for the first time. The 3D nature of the game's assets allow for some truly impressive setpieces and boss battles, along with the aforementioned circular scrolling you partake in. Bubbling and tossing enemies at each other never seems to get old, or using the same bubbled enemies to get just a little more height to reach a secret. Definitely give these ones a shot if you're a fan of fun 2D playgrounds.

-Here's a real weird one to cap this category off (and another two pack to boot!) Loco Roco 1 and 2 are a set of puzzle platformers with a bit of an unorthodox control scheme.

Coming out on the PSP these are some WILD experiences. In the games you control a horde of blobs that sing with childrens voices to some rather catchy tunes, and tilt the entire world around them with the left and right triggers to get them over under and anything in between, and then to the exit. Did I say you play as the blobs? I meant you play as THE PLANET the blobs are on! See what I mean? These games are absolutely a delightful time though. And with such poppy mid 2000s soundtracks I can't help but love them. The tilting gameplay is tough as nails to master, and getting through a level with all your little Rocos AND the collectibles is no easy task. Give these ones a look! Or at least listen to the soundtrack.

And at last we arrive at the one's I couldn't think of more for, or couldn't think of where to place.

The next two games are just rapid fire ones that are personal non-nintendo favourites of mine, covering a variety of genres.

Ribbit King is my favourite wacky sports game ever. You play Frolf instead of Golf, Frolf being Golf but with frogs, get it? Send your frog around the bright colourful stages to gather points and be the first one to sink your frog to get the full 1000 available from the hole. Alternatively go for a FROG-IN-ONE to get 1500,

Wipeout is a series of tough as nails futuristic hover-racing games a la F-Zero. The soundtracks boast an inumerable amount of Drum and Bass/Electronic jams and the gameplay is lightning fast and smooth as all hell. Not to mention the games are just SO stylish. I'd recommend Wipeout Pure on the PSP, but all of the PlayStation consoles before the PS3 have at least one Wipeout game. Highly recommend checking them out.

SO obviously I couldn't put EVERY game I'd recommend in one post. But I really do hope this list gives you something new to play. Gaming history is so monumentally important to me, and what happened to Citra and Yuzu is nothing short of a tragedy. Always remember folks, play new games! Play old games! Hack your old hardware! Pirate new software! EMULATION IS FREE, LEGAL, AND FOR EVERYONE!