#I've got my 3ds and my switch but i also want something to like. make with my hands

[yourknightinshiningplastic]

I'm dying in here.

[notoneopinion]

10 Ways I Soothe Anxiety

Hello. I have anxiety.

I have anxiety, but I have also managed to somehow keep a pretty good life for myself through it all. Getting out of bed when you have a paralysing fear of the world is not an easy task, but there are a few things I have found that make it that little bit easier, life that little bit smoother. And because we certainly don't gatekeep here, I thought I'd share the ten main ways I soothe anxiety. Basically, ten things I do to switch off and remove myself from my brain.

1. Turn your phone off.

An obvious one, but probably one of the most important. It's insane how clogged a person's brain will get when they spend their day glued to a phone screen. For me, it's not even just social media that sets me off, though that is a massive trigger for me and many other people; it's the phone in general. I could be playing Angry Birds for twenty-four hours and still finish the day feeling gross and anxious and guilty. The screen itself just makes me feel groggy, which in turn leaves me feeling anxious by the time I'm getting into bed that night. There are some days I will wake up, and just turn my phone off completely - usually days when I know I'm going to be at home all day, but still. That extended break from screen time is a life saver.

2. Fidget toys.

Okay, so I may also have autism.

But!!!! Fidget toys are miracle workers for all kinds of mental illnesses and uncomfortable feelings, so don't think you can't invest in some just because you're not on the spectrum. Fidget toys are literally made to soothe anxiety, so get yourself some!! I have one called a Tangle that I keep on me at all times, and I just mess with it in my pocket when I'm in a social situation and I don't know what to do with my hands, or I start feeling a little overwhelmed. It brings my fight or flight right down. I don't know the science behind it, but I honestly don't even care. Give me fidget toys, or give me death.

3. Model making, eg Legos, 3D puzzles.

Legos and 3D puzzles are another thing that has changed the game for me when it comes to anxiety. Like fidget toys, they are the perfect way to keep your hands busy, but they have the added bonus of keeping your mind busy, too. These are, of course, more of a relaxation technique, something you come home to after a stressful day rather than something to eliminate anxiety on the spot, but we'll take what we can get. These also keep you relaxed and distracted for hours, because there is hours worth of work to be put into them. Plus, they're very addictive - once you start on a Lego set, or a puzzle, you don't want to stop until it's finished. I've sat for eleven hours straight doing a Lego set just because I wanted to see the finished product as soon as possible, and during those eleven hours, my anxiety was non-existent. I was just enjoying myself the entire time.

4. Have a nap.

Very self explanatory, and yet controversial???

But genuinely, just go to sleep??? If you're having a gruesome day, and your mind is bullying you, and you're exhausted, just lay down and go to sleep. Fuck what other people say. There is nothing wrong with clocking out from the horrors of the real world for a few hours. As long as you get back up, all refreshed and ready to tackle another day, who cares??

5. Talk to a loved one.

I am very blessed that I can put this on the list. I know this can be a very difficult coping mechanism for a lot of people - trust me, I know. Growing up, my anxiety was my own, and not once did it ever occur to me to share that problem with anyone else. However, after meeting the right people, and understanding that nobody is going to be annoyed about hearing my problems, talking to people became one of the best and most useful coping mechanisms I've got. It can be as simple as sending your best friend a text telling them how you're feeling, or you can go all out and sit your Mum down with a cup of tea and bawl your eyes out. Getting those feelings out will give you a physical relief as well as a mental relief; the weight you've been carrying, a weight you probably don't even notice any more, will be gone in a matter of minutes. I promise you.

6. Exercise.

I know. I was shocked too. All those scientists that told us exercise and moving your body is good for your mental health were right. Bastards.

Just go on a walk. That's what I mean when I say 'exercise.' If you want to go to the gym and lift weights, or run a marathon, you go right ahead. More power to you. But by 'exercise' I just mean. . . move your body. Take the dog on a walk! Walk to the shop instead of driving! Get a bike! The tiniest bit of movement in a day can do wonders, whether we want to admit it or not.

7. Blast happy, sing-in-the-car music.

There's a playlist of Spotify that I highly recommend when it comes to wanting to escape reality and just have a good time. It's literally called Songs to Sing in the Car, and it's one of those playlists Spotify make themselves, just full of songs that you can sing at the top of your lungs, or blast through your headphones, and just have a real good time for a little while. I know it's easy sometimes to just go straight to that playlist full of sad songs that you can relate to in that moment, but try and go for a different approach - go find old bangers that you used to jump around to as a kid. It's a breath of fresh air.

8. Do chores.

Two in one baby!

A good chunk of the time, our anxiety is stemming from our to-do list, even if we're not thinking about it. All around us is evidence of all the unfinished tasks we've got to do, and that can really stress you out. Personally, whenever I'm anxious, I become almost camotose; I will just sit on the sofa and stare at the wall, feeling everything all at once. However, I've found that using this time to do little tasks around the house actually makes me feel better. I'm not saying I go and do a full massive clean; I might push myself just a bit to wash one or two dishes, or the whole sink if I can manage it. I'll hoover the living room floor. I'll go upstairs and put my clothes away. Just tiny jobs, only as much as I can push myself to do. A lot of the time, one job turns into two, and then two turns to three, and soon my house is spotless, and you know what they say - clean space, clear mind!

9. Take up knitting/ crocheting.

This one is pretty self-explanatory. I only discovered this as a coping mechanism when I was suffering from really bad insomnia and I couldn't sleep; I somehow found myself watching YouTube tutorials on knitting, and I was overcome with this intense urge to learn. It was literally one in the morning, and I drove to my Mum's house (dragged my fiance out of bed to come with me, too, sorry babe <3) and grabbed knitting needles and some yarn. I was up knitting for about an hour, and I felt so relaxed that I actually managed to go to sleep! For the first time in days! So not only can you make really cute clothes and nick-nacks and learn a new skill, you're also relaxing that anxious brain of yours for a little bit.

10. Have a good cry.

Yeah. Just this.

[feverdreamjohnny]

Orbo's Odyssey - Post Mortem

My Feelings About The Game

It's an odd thing to try and pull together your thoughts about something so chaotic.

I guess it'd be easier to just catalogue how my emotions evolved as the project went on, and then wrap it up by trying to pull apart how I feel now, as arcane as that is.

I've been a part of a private developer community for a bit now, and during a majority of my time there I felt sort of like a fish out of water. I guess it was just weird seeing people at the top of their craft while my work sort of paled in comparison. A majority of them had a background in developing character action games or platformers with intricate movement systems, and that was absolutely outside the range of what I understood.

Late 2022 I decided to try and make a movement system with a really strong focus on momentum so I could feel "at home" with the other devs. So I made a small tech demo where most of Orbo's moveset was formed.

In the end it didn't really make me feel more confident in my work, but at least I proved to myself that I could tackle unfamiliar waters and make headway. Regardless, I left the tech demo where it was and continued to work on Nowhere, MI for the next few months.

I made a lot of progress on Nowhere, and around late November a publisher reached out to me to offer help. I was desperate, after all. I didn't have a lot of money to my name and this was the kind of lifeline I needed to secure so I could finish the game.

To cut a long story short, they kept delaying talks about the game over and over and it became increasingly clear to me that my dream of being funded wasn't going to happen.

I was sort of in a bad spot now. It was early 2023 at this point, and I was going to have to make a tough decision: delay Nowhere and get a retail job to make money (potentially losing sight of the project in the process), or find some other solution to secure funding. No other publishers were going to pick me up (and I really didn't trust a majority of them so I only had my sights set on a handful I felt I could trust), so I came to a new conclusion:

What if I just made something short, say in the span of a month or two, and sell it? Surely that would be easy.

Surely.

The Game

In March of 2023, I began working on the game. I wasn't sure what sort of format I wanted for the game at first, and I had initially considered a rogue-like arena combat game where you'd use the game's momentum mechanics to fight enemies, collect upgrades to improve your abilities, rinse and repeat.

The idea ended up feeling sort of strange when I began pre-production, so I ended up scrapping it.

I thought about the movement system some more and realized that it had a strange kinship to a game I had played just a month earlier: Super Kiwi 64.

Then I thought about Siactro's other games, how they were similarly small-scope platformers that seemed to perform well on Steam and Switch, and I realized that if there was something that would suit my own development style (focused around exploration and secrets), it was a 3D platformer.

The first month was fairly strong. I moved at lightning-speed, hammering systems into the game piece by piece. Collectables were done. Time trials (and their records) were done. Movement had been refined further and felt better than in the initial tech demo. There was also a lot of underlying structuring that I won't get into because it's boring (but important).

About a week in I even started working with my friend Tim (who's a professional environment artist), and we began working together on the hub environment (we brainstormed the layout, I designed the greybox, and he wrapped it up with the environment art).

It was going great, but as March was nearing its end I began to realize what I was dealing with.

"Oh, well yeah I mean I knew it wasn't going to be possible in a month! I'm sure if I grit my teeth it'll be done by the end of April!"

So April came along. Tim and I finished the hub area, I got the world portals set up, and eventually we moved to the first level of the game, Shlarp City.

Tim managed to get a decent chunk of the decorative props done, but circumstances were changing and he had a fulltime job in the industry to attend to, so he had to leave the project.

I reasoned "well, I sort of know how to do environment art and I guess I can just go on without help."

Shlarp's greybox was done, and I was sort of happy about the layout. Some friends playtested the game and liked the movement, so I felt a bit more optimistic about the project.

Despite the boost in optimism, I was starting to feel some kind of dread leaking in. My nights were becoming more frantic and troubled, more than they already had been.

I moved onto the next level, reasoning that it'd be best to get the greyboxes for all of the levels finished first, then return for an art pass afterwards. It was the sensible thing to do, after all.

So I began work on Dunbarrow Mines, and this time I was alone. I finished the greybox, and while I wasn't a huge fan of the level, at least it was done. I moved onto Sleepytime Manor and similarly got the greybox finished. Even since the beginning of the month, something was starting to grow inside of me. April was coming to a close, and I still had another level to greybox, a boss fight, secret areas to add, and an art pass on the entire thing. I hadn't really developed much of a game at that point, just 3 barren levels.

And so May came along.

And this was where it all went to hell.

I had been suffering from a lot of issues in my personal life for a while. The year prior had been particularly traumatic and the waves coming from it weren't done passing over yet. If anything the terror was that the major event from the last year hadn't even finished coming to fruition. The stress from everything had caused me to develop a disorder that made my blood acidic, melting away at my nerves. I fought hard and managed to improve my health, but the damage was done and the occasional return of the neuropathy was just a reminder that my life was spiraling downward.

I entered a period of intense stress and depression as waves of terrible memories came over me. I became neurotic. Started having trouble designing levels. It was already an issue for me, but as my mental state deteriorated I was hitting brick walls over and over.

I had my back against the wall. Game development was my only purpose in life, after all. I had been built for it, sacrificed so many hours to it, put everything else aside for it. The only thought going through my head was that I was dying, and that this stupid game was going to be my graveyard.

So roughly two months came by, with sparing work on the game. I finished Monolith station, but it had to be redesigned 3 times to reach the version you currently see in the game today.

The neurosis made me insane. Constantly seeing my peers succeeding while I flailed desperately in a pit was definitely not helping matters.

But something changed in June.

The Garden

I always had an on-and-off again relationship with plants. I had a sort of preternatural skill with growing things, but my interest waxed and waned a lot. The main thing that stuck through this on-and-off relationship were herbs, since they were easy to cultivate and they needed very little maintenance during the periods where I was losing interest.

As I began to take game development more seriously around halfway into 2021, I stopped gardening entirely.

But something very strange happened in the June of 2023. I was frantically compelled to return to it. I raked, toiled and weeded until I had a plot. Then I started buying seeds and began cultivating vegetables again for the first time in 2 years.

And for the first time in this nightmare I was finally happy about something. I don't know what compelled me to start cultivating plants again, but whatever it was, it rescued me from a very long, dark road.

After 2 weeks, I finally finished the final boss of Orbo's Odyssey.

The game needed a lot more work, but I was finally getting a foothold after months of misery.

Eventually my friend Ben was able to help me with the project, and we made a lot of headway. We brainstormed new ideas for how the player could get gear parts. He modeled a load of props. I scripted a load of systems. Finally, the game actually began to look like a game.

Ben was really important. He was optimistic about the project and wasn't suffering from burnout the way I did, and he helped me get out of my fugue. I can't thank him enough for his help.

After around half a year of hammering, we finished the game.

3 weeks after that, we released it to steam.

And about 2 weeks after the release, we're here now.

The Takeaway

Typically in post-mortems you talk about what you would've done differently, but I think this ending might be a bit different.

I'm not really proud of the level design. I think I also could've done better with my share of the environment art in some levels. I think there could've been more details. I think there could've been more content.

But there's no use kicking myself for what could've been. Of course the next game will be better. The mental state I was in during the development of this game was dire and it had a major impact on the quality of my work. I had to break out of a really bad mindset and try to find a better way of engaging with my life. That wasn't easy.

I think some gamers like to imagine that something that's fun to play was fun to make. It's true that sometimes there are moments where you get excited during game development, but at the end of the day the majority of it is just pure work and toil.

In the end, the reviews on Orbo were very kind. Even the negative reviews were at bare minimum sorta funny.

Hilariously the reviews that bothered me the most were actually positive. The perspective of these reviews was that the game was really the story of some little kid taking his thumb out of his mouth and naively making something he thought was fun. It mainly felt like a way for the reviewers to excuse the weaker elements of the game.

These are the reviews I hate the most. I don't care that they were positive. They're infantilizing. It makes it come across as though the shoddier elements of the game weren't a product of a person having a mental breakdown, but of a child smacking blocks together and making mistakes because he didn't know better.

If you really view art like that, I want you to lean in very closely and listen: Most of the time, people suffered to make something you could enjoy. You're welcome to praise or shun the art by itself, but don't patronize the creator for their effort. I didn't have fun making Orbo. I hated it. And even though I hated it I still tried to put passion into it, because I care about my work.

Anyway I'm glad it's over with. If I attempted to develop the game now it would probably be significantly better, but that's mostly because I've found better methods of managing my mental health.

I have to get back to work on Nowhere, and eventually I have to work on Peeb Adventures. For now, though, I'm taking a break. I'm tired.

Before I go I just want to thank some people.

Thank you Ben for being supportive and helping me make this game happen. I couldn't have done it without you, and I mean it.

Thank you Socpens and Grayfruit for streaming the game and for your kind words. It really means a lot to me, and it gave me a lot more confidence about Orbo's Odyssey post-release.

Thank you Tim for helping early on. I know it was a brief period between us, but I do appreciate the work you did.

Thank you (in no particular order) Bryce, Simone, Jett, Aaron, Quinn, Drew, Ian, and Cosme for being supportive of my work.

Thank you for the folks in the private dev server who were particularly supportive as well.

Thanks for reading.

[iztea]

Maybe you have some drawing tips for beginners?

Your style is incredibly beautiful and it just inspires this thing inside me to grab my iPad and start drawing but unfortunately I have no idea where to even begin

Or maybe you have some recs where to look to learn how to draw stuff?

But I understand completely that it’s your thing and artists should never feel pressured to share all their techniques and secrets, you worked hard on it!

I just really really love your art to the point where I just look at it for 30 minutes straight with this big feeling in my chest

<3

ah it was never about being secretive, i'm pretty open about my drawing process since gatekeeping knowledge is a big pet peeve of mine. It was more like,, laziness because writing a cohesive and helpful drawing tutorial is pretty difficult and i wouldn't even know where to start; i'm afraid i'll get maybe too technical and what have you.

As for tips for beginners, i've shared plenty on my couriouscat so you can scroll through the answers there, i also have some drawing timelapses on my twitter account as well (albeit you'll have to scroll a little)

I'm very flattered you feel that way about my art, it really means a lot to me and i'm glad to have inspired you to draw as well that's awesome and i wish you best of luck!

I actually don't know how different drawing on an iPad is compared to a graphic tablet+desktop, so I am actually pretty clueless in that regard. I think Procreate is the most used digital art app for iPad so you can start by getting it and familiarizing yourself with the UI. I think this step is often overlooked. The brushes and the chosen program can make or break the drawing experience. If you simply find yourself not enjoying Procreate, experiment with other apps or maybe try switching to a graphic tablet, maybe that feels better and is more suited to your tastes.

To be completely honest, one "bad" piece of advice that i should probably keep to myself is to draw something you actually enjoy: fanart, Pretty Girl Portrait(tm), your cat, landscapes etc even if it's above your skill level (becoming obsessed/ fixated on some character from a piece of media also works wonders i'm just gonna throw that out there). The main point is to actually care about your chosen subject in order to get inspired and to have that inner desire of "doing them justice" aka drawing them well. The traditional art learning route probably involves studying the fundamentals, shading spheres and cones and simple 3D forms blablbablah which. Yeah ! sure that's probably better advice but i'm telling you what will make you want to keep going and not get discouraged after a few failed attempts.

As for the drawing subject, I highly recommend having photo references to guide you.. you always need refs it's a recurring thing. My fastest artworks are the ones where I have the right references. the less references the more difficult it is to draw something

As a beginner it is also a good practice to draw OVER your photo reference to get the proportions right ( i'm not talking about literally tracing the contour of a face or limb ( just an example ), but moreso identifying the Main shape which makes up that body part and observe how long is it in respect to the other components, how does it connect to the other parts etc - big difference. Tracing won't help you in the long run).

Another thing you can do is to study your favourite artists and see how They tackle whatever it is that you like in their work. how do they simplify facial features? what about anatomy? color/ light etc and kinda reverse engineer your way through their process. ( but i highly recommend to just keep these practice sketches to yourself, and to not share them on social media- unless you get the artist's permission)

This is how i got into drawing and what i did back then, again, for more technical hands-on information i did answer similar CCs before so with a little bit of stalking you'll find them in no time

I wanna finish this with some resources that helped me:

>youtube guys - sinix, ahmed aldoori, marco bucci, and also just speedpaints in general i highly recommend watching those

>for simplified anatomy i found @/ taco1704 's ref sheets to be very helpful but ........... I'm pretty dry here i just look up refs on Pinterest tbvh

speaking of, here's my pinterest i have a bunch of art related boards board cool stuff overall maybe they can help guide you towards some direction or inspire you in some way idk

ok i kinda suck in the resource department listeN. im starving too just.................. watch youtube speedpaints ok

SORRY IT'S SO LONGGGBGGG i hope it was at least a bit helpful? this was all over the place... I'll try to come up with a tutorial as well but i really gotta be careful with how i go about it. I'll leave you with this for the time being. Again, thank you a lot for the kind words, I really am very grateful and touched esp by that last part about staring with the big feeling stuff eeeeeeeeeeeeee really wow T T that's so lovely and a big compliment thanks ty ly

[the-monkeies-girl]

Hi, Hi, Em 👋🏻

Three things I'd like to know about you (not anonymously tho haha)

Your favorite meal (I mean, I like food myself so why not ask!)

What do you like to do in your free time and if you could choose only one to do for the rest of your life, which one would it be, and why?

Is there any anecdote/fact you want to share with us but no one has asked yet about it? (Really, it can be related to anything you want to share!)

Have fun tonight, enjoy your time and I love you ❤️

(this is me trapping you in a hug!) ↓

CLEM IM SO SORRY FOR THE LATE RESPONSE THIS GOT BURIED IN MY INBOX BUT I LOVE YOU SO BETTER LATE THAN NEVER WITH ANSWERING MWAH !!!

Favorite meal is definitely kurnik with a side of potatoes. IDK how to describe it in English other than it being a sort of Chicken Pot Pie but more dome-like on the top? LOL. My mom makes it for me, it's one of my comfort meals and she's adapted it to be vegetarian as I don't eat meat very often anymore. It's a shame I'm on such a strict diet otherwise I would devour one on my own, no hesitation.

Other than writing in my free time, I do a few other things. I read a lot, I play piano very avidly and I dabble in my Nintendo Switch ( Mainly mario kart, I kick butt LOL. Also have been re-playing Kirby and the Forgotten Land. I love the 3D nature! ) I want to be a full time writer though. It brings me such pleasure. maybe I should dust off my books I have floating around and actually try to publish something lol.

I'm genuinely really bad at talking about myself, but uh? I have over 40 Shinedown Band T-Shirts from the concerts I've seen them at ( about 14 total now ). I've got a cool ass video of some of them if you guys wanted to see it lol. I've literally seen them in what could only be described as a Gymnasium. Small venue, only about 300 or so people I would have to guess. I have gotten pics with their guitarist and their lead singer!

I go to their concerts with my brother, Alex. We've travelled to 5 states so far to see them, and we really want to see them in all of the continental US states. I'm v sad to not see them this year, first time in 10 Years I won't be seeing them and next time I see them, I might have a baby and that's so wild to me. Have some pictures lol.

[sometipsygnostalgic]

"Why is Alola so hated?"

Someone asked this question on Reddit.

The original post:

"Other than too much dialogue what is the worst thing about Alola. Alola is my favorite Pokémon games and region for a multitude of reasons but all I hear about it is that it has too much dialogue. I can understand that but later titles have just as much dialogue especially in the beginning portions of the game. So why is such an issue in these games than any other in the series. Also you thought the GD games were dark, the Aether Family are very dark concept if you want to look into them. Anyways back on topic, why are Alola considered the worst games besides the dialogue of course"

I thought about this question and I ended up writing a lengthy reply, see below. For context I should mention that Sun and Moon were my favourite mainline stories:

"So everyone is mentioning USUM, but since I was around for the launch of the games, I may as well throw my hat into the ring and explain what went wrong:

Everyone was really excited for the games to come out, but there was generally something missing from them. Promotional material was overly vague.

When the original Sun and Moon came out they had the following issues:

The story was very handholdy. I am a GREAT FAN of the story mode, but I have never replayed these games because they are basically visual novels. If you were a Nuzlocker, someone who wanted to replay Pokemon games, or if you didn't like the story, then these versions would automatically become your least favourite because of how long it takes to reach each milestone. It's also easier than a lot of prior games, not as easy as Gen 6 or 8 but up there.

While the region is IMO one of the most cohesive, it's also one of the least expansive. The Alola Region is fucking tiny. There's not nearly as many side things to do as in generations 4 and 5, and the new things they put into the Alola games were a lot less fun gimmick-wise. I like that they abandon the grid system, it needed to go, but Pokemon team don't seem to work well in 3d.

The online multiplayer was total ass. Of course, the online only got WORSE From here on out. How you get worse than Festival Plaza is beyond me, but I think Gen 7 is definitely when Pokemon jumped from having the BEST multiplayer system on Nintendo systems in generation 6 to one of the worst. Personally I was also disappointed the Festival Plaza wasn't a bit more like the Wifi Plaza, which was already a broken terrible mess but at least had some minigames. It seemed to take the wrong inspiration from Wifi Plaza, and tragically Pokemon only went downhill with online compatibility after. Because while technically the online is more fun in gen 8 and 9, it doesn't work.

The games leaked before they came out. Everyone saw concept art of the starters' final evolutions and they were SO MAD that Litten became bipedal. But there were very few surprises in Sun and Moon for people who prowled the reddit, who also seemed to be the least excited about the games.

However, what I don't think you understand is how much LOVE they had. Of all the pokemon games I've been around for the release of, I think Sun and Moon were most unanimously loved. Everyone was talking about the story, and the incredible new designs of the alola pokemon, and yeah they were having a lot of trouble playing online, but people persisted.

When Ultra Sun and Moon came out, people were veeeeery disappointed for three key reasons:

This was a dual release "third version" instead of a sequel. Again, everyone LOVED the story of the original games, by this point it felt that the "third version" idea was dated, and people wanted a damn sequel with their favourite characters! I think BW2 set a very high bar for what the Pokemon team could offer, and unfortunately I don't think they ever met that bar again after they started making 3d games.

It was on the 3DS instead of the Switch. I was NEVER expecting USUM to be Switch games, I knew Pokemon team were not ready for Switch, but for some reason people expected Pokemon Stars to be a Switch game. Everyone was reaaaaally excited for Pokemon Switch after the console launched, but Pokemon has always belonged on the DS, and I felt it had more potential for growth on that console before moving up on the chain. Of course, after the negative reaction to USUM and the begging for Pokemon Switch, Game Freak HAD to start development on Let's Go and Sw/Sh.

The things they'd added into the game were not as impressive as the other Third Versions. Pokemon Emerald and Pokemon Platinum were objective improvements from the original, though I have some things to say about Emerald's pacing. I like the minigames from Ultra, I fell SO in love with the Camera mode!!! Spent so much time fucking around in it and still have a folder in my computer to this day. HOWEVER, the people still yearn for a Battle Frontier! The Battle Factory they put in USUM seems to be based on community, which was already a pain in the ass, and as you know, it's now impossible to play online with others, so RIP to that as well. I like the changes to the Battle Tree, I love Rainbow Rocket, but while Platinum and Emerald were NECESSARY IMPROVEMENTS from the ground up, USUM only improved some of the battles and held down everything else with more, worse cutscenes.

The story was much worse than the original, choosing to cut and change content instead of improve upon what was there. The story of Platinum and Emerald doesn't come across as worse than DP and RS, but EVERYONE thinks the story for USUM is a downgrade. The reason for this is because if Lillie was the true protagonist of the games originally, the Ultra versions tried to cut her down, but only for a couple of her most important scenes. She and Lusamine basically have every scene intact except for their most important, climactic moments. It's like if instead of BW2, they made Pokemon Grey but it was split in half, and instead of being an evil fucko gunning for world domination, Ghetsis was trying to use the power of the two Dragons to stop Kyurem from freezing the world, except he still abused pokemon, and he still abused N from childhood, and N never showed up to become champion and N never realised the truth of pokemon or turned against his father. How terrible would that be?

No remakes or anything special at the end of the gen. For the past few generations we'd either had remakes or sequels, but Gen 7 released USUM and Let's Go. It's debatable whether the Lets Go games are part of gen 7, but I wouldn't consider them remakes the same way that HGSS or ORAS are, and they are CERTAINLY not a favourite with a hardcore Pokemon audience. At least Gen 8/9 had decent DLC and Legends Arceus as a halfhearted apology note, but unfortunately there was no swan song at the end of Generation 7.

I think ultimately that's what made people go from "Gen 7 could be the best yet" to "Gen 7 bad". The launch was very strong, but the followup was the poorest out of almost any gen.

My personal opinion of USUM is it is one of the best pokemon games for general battles, I think it would be a lot more fun to nuzlocke than the original Sun and Moon, but there's a lot of better pokemon games to replay than USUM, especially if you're taking modded into account. I think sun and moon were the most immersive out of the games I've played, at the very least because it had improvements like trainer models in battles without the uncanny as hell stuff you got in the next two gens. I remember the games fondly, even if I do feel bitter about the story changes."

I thought this reply was worth sharing on this blog. I put a lot of effort into it.

[capncococharms]

Games I Enjoyed in 2023

I did a big blog post last year where I listed all the games I enjoyed playing and gave my short thoughts about each of my experiences... and I'm doing it again!

Since 2018 I've kept a digital sticky note to keep track of all the games I've played AND finished throughout the year. For 2023 lots of folks claimed it was the "BEST" year for gaming and to some degree... I guess??? Depends on who you ask, but to me I only enjoyed like a handful of new releases and played a lot of older games (or remakes of older games). It was a year of reflecting back on what made me love video games more than looking forward to what's "new".

In 2023, I've finished 32 games. That's 10 more games than I finished from last year but out of all the games I played, here are the ones that stood out to me and left a pretty positive impression.

LIVE A LIVE

I never had a chance to play the SNES version, but I was very familiar with the game to some degree from the old days when I use to browse forum threads about RPGs I've never heard of. I knew I would get around to playing it one day and thankfully it got a remake on the Switch (and then it got a PC port later this year). I didn't get to properly play it last year, but after sitting down to play LIVE A LIVE... it's a game with a really powerful soundtrack, engaging characters, and a unique story that left me wanting more games like it.

I could type up many reasons why I like this game, but I feel it's something you have to experience more than anything. I don't want to spoil anything about this game. If you love Chrono Trigger then you will have a great time with LIVE A LIVE.

Final Fantasy VII- Crisis Core Reunion

I love FFVII and FFVII Remake. When they announced they were remaking Crisis Core I was excited to finally see what the deal was and by the end of this game... it left me a very broken man sobbing my eyes out. As a stand alone game it works very well even if you're not familiar with FFVII. It's a touching and contained story about a man striving to be a hero. Zack is a person I wish I could be in terms of confidence and wanting to do what's right. He's also a goof ball and I am very happy I got to know him more through Crisis Core. I don't want to say much about this game either, but PLEASE play it if you haven't! It made me finally understand why people love Zack so much.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

I've put off this game for way too long. I had the chance to get into it when this game came out on 3DS, but I was too busy in college then. I ended up playing the PS3 version of the game (this was before the MGS Master Collection came out to every platform). At first... I wasn't a fan of this game. I struggled to play this game and felt like an idiot when it came to sneaking. I got stuck at the Volgin fight and out of spite, I started over on "Very Easy" to better equip myself. After working my way back to Volgin, I enjoyed my experience more and was engaged with what was happening around me. Once the game was finished, I was tearing up and couldn't help but think about how often true heroes are forgotten and how history is retold.

Thank you for the heartrending experience, Hideo Kojima.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

I had a weird experience with Zelda games this year. Tears of the Kingdom released and I went in hoping it would be a great follow-up to Breath of the Wild. I wasn't the BIGGEST fan of BotW. I had some faith going in that TotK would be a better experience. Unfortunately, after making it back to Hyrule my fears sort of came true. It felt like the same game I played almost 7 years ago except you can use bubble gum to craft and make things which is... fine I guess.

I kept pushing on hoping the story was going to set up something great and for a while, it did! The BIG twist was interesting, but once I got to the final scene I wanted to chuck this game out the window. The newer Zelda games just weren't doing it for me anymore so I decided to replay some older Zelda games (Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD which was a TON of fun to replay) and decided it was time for me to give Majora's Mask another chance.

I ended up playing this on NSO and after a month or so, I 100%'d the game and greatly appreciated what this game had to offer in terms of setting, story, soundtrack, and characters. The setting is dark and terrifying yet it still keeps a goofy demeanor. I just fell in love with exploring and seeing how human this game can be (especially the finale). This is what I want to see with future Zelda games. I miss having ACTUAL dungeons and linearity, but we won't get that again. I hope that there will be another 2D Zelda game or Nintendo goes back to its roots with 3D Zelda games, but here's to all the indie devs out there trying to recreate that GOOD Zelda magic.

The Great Ace Attorney (Adventures)

I love this series but fell off during the 3DS era with AA6 (I still need to play that...). Since this game is more of its own thing I thought I would give it a shot and MAN! This game took the AA formula and dialed it up to 1000. In Ace Attorney fashion I love the characters, I love the puzzle-solving, and the mystery aspect where everything is tied together (especially that finale omg). My only irk is that the cases tend to go on a bit too long compared to AA 1-4, but I can let that slide because I was streaming this game, and having to voice and read EVERY bit of dialogue was exhausting (I plan to play Resolve on my own time next year so I can get through it much quicker). Ace Attorney still rocks and I hope to catch up and play more in 2024 (looking at you Apollo Justice "Trilogy").

Ranko Tsukigume's Longest Day

One of the shortest games I played this year. I love SUDA 51's work and wanted to give this a shot and it sure was an experience, to say the least. The gameplay is simple and difficult at weird times, but the one thing that sticks out to me about this game, in particular, is the absurdity and goofy humor (which is... basically expected with a SUDA 51 experience) with its visuals and jumping to different art styles and animation. Something about this small game makes me want to start working on my own projects more than anything. You can tell this was made with a creative team and the devs from Tokyo Jungle worked on it to so maybe that's another game I should look into as well... Overall, this was like a fun snack to chew away at left me with my heads in the clouds.

Pizza Tower

I don't need to say much about Pizza Tower. If you've played it, then you get it. Go play Pizza Tower! The OST and crude cartoon art style is what gives this game... uh as the kids call it... "soul". It's the Wario Land game that Nintendo will never make. It's 25% off on Steam! GO PLAY PIZZA TOWER!

Hypnospace Outlaw

Had a rough time playing through this game at first because it would crash pretty often. Turns out the game would connect to the wrong graphics card so after I got that sorted out, I finally got to play this game in peace, and... man... there's nothing else like this game in terms of telling a story/ narrative through faux web browsing. It's a game that perfectly emulates the experience of the late 90's internet browsing. There's a particular joy in exploring page after page to learn about all these characters and their hobbies. Letting the player take a small peek into their lives is a treat. As you get deeper into the game, you start learning about some of these people and who they are underneath their online persona. Without going into spoilers, the game went in a direction I didn't expect with its tone. The final arc of this game left me with some tears and a HUGE respect for what once was before what our current internet has become...

Hypnospace is really really cool.

Undertale Yellow (Pacifist Route)

Kinda unexpected that a fan game would end up on my list, but I'll make the exception. From what I've read, Undertale Yellow was in development for 7 years and that dedication and work shows in terms of presentation, story, and new characters. For a fan game, it doesn't heavily depend on needing the cast of characters from the base game of Undertale to tell its OWN story. Like Undertale, you fall in love with these new casts of characters and go through many vignettes in each part of the Underground where you get to learn about how these monsters live, and just like Undertale you'll laugh, you'll cry, and wish that the journey would never end. Once again I don't want to spoil anything, but for a prequel to Undertale's story... it's surprisingly more powerful than I thought it was going to be. Congrats to the entire Undertale Yellow team who worked on this. It was a pleasant December surprise that made me want to work harder on my passion projects.

I feel to some degree, I love this game probably a little more than Undertale itself...

Probably...

One thing for sure is that this game is helping me tide over until the new chapters of Deltarune come out.

2023 was a great time to play my backlog and give games another chance. Also trying out new stuff in the process despite my current feelings on the gaming industry at the moment...

I hope in 2024, I can continue to dedicate my time to slowly chip away at my backlog and try out new games (or older games I missed out on). Video games inspire what I want to do creatively and I love seeing what people can create and put out there.

[hezuart]

Why did you switch from animation to reviews? Also, do you still plan on doing CGI like you mentioned multiple times?

oH BOY..... you may need to sit down for this one

So it all started back in 2012. I was around 14 years old and just saw Rise of the Guardians and Wreck it Ralph. The stories, the characters, the world-building, the animation... now I never really went to movie theaters as a kid, but as a teen I started going and I instantly fell in love.

I went to community college for a few years and made some amazing friends. Loved some of my teachers and we participated in fun events like the 24-hour challenge and Campus Movie Fest. I had gotten in the top picks for Campus Movie Fest at some point and was supposed to go to the Cannes Film Festival in France to showcase my short film, but then the pandemic hit and it got canceled indefinitely.

So get this, for community college, I got a certification in 3D Animation and Video Game development. It's basically an AA degree but without general ed. (Why do you need general ed to get a degree in something? Math and PE have nothing to do with Animation. College is ridiculous. People have to pay you more simply because you were forced to spend more money in college. Wild.) Out of the 20 classes I had taken to get this certification, only 3 of those courses were hands-on 3D animation. And only one of those courses was hands-on video game development and I dropped out of that class because it was PC only and I only had a Mac at the time. I applied to the class without realizing it was accommodating only to PCs. So even my certification is barely reaching the basics for the title of it, but I did take another online course or two for 3D animation which I have a different certification for.

Now even with my 3D animation, I was never taught the physics engine. I was never taught hair or cloth simulation, but I do have modeling, rigging, animating, and texturing experience. For gaming, I have very little experience. I've only modeled things and found my way around Unity, but otherwise, I suck at coding. I hate coding with a passion. Making a video game without coding isn't really possible.

Now, when the pandemic hit, a lot of things were shutting down. I had no idea where I wanted to go next. People kept asking me where I was going for my higher education, but I kept getting warned not to waste money on college if you're trying to become an artist, especially at University. It's a money pit, and competition is so high, you're not guaranteed a job, you're just gonna be in debt. Even colleges like Cal Arts, who charge over $1K per class, I've been told are a "Pay to get in" kind of place. Where the money is used to nab professionals from their work to teach students or talk about their company or programs, and through that, you get a bigger chance to get your foot in the door because you know someone. I've unfortunately been told that's the more realistic way to get into animation: networking. If you're a shy introvert who doesn't know any famous people, you need to be extremely talented and unique to stand out to get the chance of being noticed. I don't really want to suck up to people nor do I want to waste thousands of dollars and 5 more years on college that I may not even need (let alone be able to afford) especially if there are online classes that may be even more valuable.

Now after I got out of college and started applying a few places, I discovered a LOT of unfortunate information.

Most animation these days is done overseas. South Korea, India, Japan, and Canada are the big ones.

Invader Zim, Steven Universe, Miraculous Ladybug, The Simpsons, OK KO, Star vs the Forces of Evil, Kipo and the Age of the Wonder Beasts, Adventure Time, Twelve Forever, and the Powerpuff Girls Reboot were animated in South Korea. The Ghost and Molly Mcgee is animated in Canada.

(The first four seasons of the Simpsons were animated in America until it switched to South Korea and India.)

2D traditional animation is no longer viable. Puppetry is the industry standard because it's the cheapest. Luckily, Toon Boom Harmony has allowed us to push the boundaries of 2D puppetry. Puppetry these days, if done well, can look really great, like Tangled the Series, but if you don't have Toon Boom Harmony, you're probably not gonna be hired.

Not even all 3D is made in the USA. If it's Disney, Dreamworks, or Pixar, then it's usually USA. But streaming service movies, like Sea Beast, Kid Cosmic, The Willoughbys, and Klaus, while they claim to be a "Netflix Original" that "Netflix Animation" animated, that's a lie. Klaus was animated by Yowza! Animation in Canada. The Willoughbys: Bron Animation, Canada. Kid Cosmic: Mercury Filmworks, Canada. Sea Beast: Sony Pictures Image Works, Canada. (X)

Go Go Cory Carson is written and storyboarded in America, but the animation is shipped out to be done in France. Sonic Boom is also French Animated.

Even Sony Pictures? Open Season, Surf's Up, Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, SMurfs, Hotel Transylvania, Over the Moon, The Angry Birds Movie, Sea Beast? Sony Pictures Imageworks is based in Canada. They're doing all the animation for them. It's not animated in America, it's merely funded by them.

I should also clarify: I only want to participate in stylized animated media. I don't want to do CGI for hyper-realistic films, which eliminates most of the animation jobs out there these days. It's just not my thing. The insane amount of details and uncanny valley are just so unappealing, I can't do it.

The closest animation studios are still far away. Most companies are located in LA. I'm over 7+ hours away from there. LA also has a high poverty rate, terrible air quality, is overcrowded, and is just generally not a good place to live, especially if you're low middle class. You're not gonna survive there.

Pixar is located in Emeryville, a few minutes north of San Fransisco city. Emeryville is the most crime-ridden city in that area. They tell you not to walk home alone at night. You're more likely to get robbed there than anywhere else according to the population ratio there. There are a lot of gangs that hide up there, and there's a lot of poverty there, even outside of San Fransisco. It's basically a trash pit. Not an ideal place to live, and commuting through 3-hour SF city traffic is also not gonna work. (X)

I have also been informed some people who work at Pixar are petty that the interns use their facility. Pixar has a heated pool, soccer field, gymnasium, and a few other nice things on their property. I was informed there was a person or two who got mad that an intern was using their basketball court.... when the intern was on break. As though they weren't part of Pixar, as though they had no right to touch the property. Apparently, they also used to make the interns push around little tea carts to serve refreshments as a way to "talk to the fellow animators" to probably get them interacting, but hearing that the interns were basically chored with butler duty to bother the animators hard at work seems like such a forced thing. That makes me uncomfortable. Of course, the person who told me these stories has been working with Pixar for over a decade or two now, so things could be very different as the years went on. Pixar itself on the inside of the animator building is gorgeous. They all decorate their office spaces in crazy ways, it looks like a movie set. But they have a bar and "whiskey club". They're apparently allowed to drink at work and have often had parties that got a little out of hand. There's also an old chain smoker room where the founders used to play poker and spy on people outside of their room with hidden cameras; I've even been inside. I don't think they use it anymore, though I'm not totally sure. Some of this info was fascinating, but the drinking made me uncomfortable. I kinda want to work with sober people here.

The sex ratio in the animation industry is also interesting and unfavorable. 70% of the animation and art school ratio is women, but only 34% of the actual animation workforce is women. 34% female to 66% male. More women study animation than men, but more men get hired and hold positions than women. Animation, ironically, has always been a male-dominated workplace. This unfortunately contributes to the "you have to know someone" or "be rich" to get-in situation. Men know a lot more men and not as many women. So the 30 to 40-year-old guys hire the other guys they know rather than a young poor girl with a passion. This makes it even more difficult for me to get in. (X)

20th Century, Netflix Animation, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Bento Box, Vanguard Animation, Universal Studios, Titmouse, 6 Point Harness, ShadowMachine- all LA / South California.

There are a few places I could apply to, but what they do, I just don't care for. Niantic(Pokemon Go), Lucasfilm(Effects), Whiteboard Animation(Marketing), Sharpeyeanimation (Marketing), EA games (Mass Effect, Battlefield, Dragon Age 2, all those hyper-realistic war, sports, or fantasy games.)

So whether it's outside of the USA or within the USA, I need to move. I don't have the money for that yet.

Just find a company that does remote work, right? It should be easy, especially in pandemic times! Wrong. Most animation companies don't permit remote work. It's probably a security issue. But I've done research on this. The only big animation company I've found (so far) that allows remote work (or is HIRING for remote work) is Mainframe Studios in Canada. They have a 3D animation job list, and I guess they focus on animating Barbie movies(???). (X) But that's about it. And even if you're a remote worker, there's a high likely hood you still need a Visa to be allowed to work for a company belonging to another country. So that's a whole other legal process to deal with.

Disney is becoming a huge corporate monopoly over American animation. They bought Blue Sky only to kill them off. (Disney also just recently laid off 7,000 people due to their stock price drop and failed movies they released the past year with deliberately bad marketing for political reasons. (X) Disney also bought Pixar and is pushing for sequels because weird or bad, sequels and terrible live actions make them a LOT of money. Did you know Disney's terrible Lion King CGI remake is amongst the top 10 highest-grossing movies ever made? It's criminal. (X)

Because Disney is such a big name in the USA, there's a huge association of animation = children's media, which is not true. Animation at the Oscars also has its own category, when it's not a genre, is a medium. Disney often wins at the Oscars too because no one sees the other animations. Granted, Disney has an insane marketing budget in comparison, but it's clear no one cares to seek out animation outside of heavy CGI live-action these days. No small-time studios, no limited releases, no anime. The fact that Disney also now OWNS the Oscars is SUS as hell. (The fact that Disney-owned ABC threatened the Oscars, forcing them to cut 8 categories or else there wouldn't be a show that year is wild. There isn't even an oscar for stuntmen. What the fuck, Hollywood?) (X)

Dreamworks nearly went bankrupt and sold itself to Comcast back in 2013. Comcast also owns Illumination. Dreamworks has been focusing on making bad tv show adaptions of their IPs. So yes people, Jack would sooner meet the Minions than meet Elsa. Disney is the biggest corporate monopoly, but it's definitely not the only one. The animation industry in America is snuffing out its competition by buying it out for itself. It's insane the kind of power they have.

Competition is HIGH. Because of this, the only ways to get in? If you're rich or you know someone. Pixar gets over 3,000 intern applications every summer. Less than 100 are seen by actual hiring managers. The most interns Pixar has ever taken in a single year were 12. The least they ever took in a single year was two. A 12 to 3,000 ratio is not favorable. That's a 3% chance to get into a big-shot animation company.

And again, because remote work isn't permissible to new hires, you need to live in the area to commute to the campuses. This is one of the reasons why LA is so crowded.

If you get into an animation company purely remote and maybe even for a different country? You are the luckiest person alive.

Programs are expensive. The animation industry is very strict on what programs they use. The industry standard for 2D puppetry is Toon Boom Harmony; the industry standard for 3D animation is Maya, and the industry standard for video game development isn't as clear but Unity is one of them.

Some of these programs are free, as long as you are a student. If you are attending college or a certain online program, you can use your school-issued email through them to apply to get the program for free for about a year. Otherwise, if you're using it to make your own animations solo?

Autodesk Maya: $225 a month or $1,785 a year (X)

and guess what? Maya removed its free render service. Arnold is now built in by default, however, if you want to BATCH render (Meaning render a full scene or several slides) it will slap it's ugly watermark over it.

Fun fact, this very rendered watermark can be seen accidentally in a single frame for the Kingdom Hearts Frozen cutscene

Well, you need to batch render if you're trying to animate so let's see what Arnold costs- $50 monthly to $380 annually.... are you kidding me?! The rendering PLUG-IN BUNDLED TO MAYA COSTS MORE TO USE THAN THE OWN PROGRAM?! (X)

Now, there are other rendering plug-ins you can probably use with Maya. But they all have their ups and downs and their own costs as well. (X) Pixar's Renderman is $595 per license. I can't seem to get info on Octane. V-ray solo is $39 monthly while premium is around $60 monthly.

Now there IS Blender, an alternative to Maya. It is free and I have it. That is ideal to work in for people like me. I tried it a while back, but I hated the interface windows. It was hard to work on it when you can't close them properly. It's possible they've fixed this in an update, but I haven't touched the program in over three years so I wouldn't know. It's different from Maya a little, so it has ups and downs in comparison too. But Blender is a savior to 3D artists everywhere.

Toon Boom Harmony isn't as bad but still high: Lowest price is $27 monthly / $220 annual and the highest is $124 monthly / $1,100 annual (X)

Unity has a basic version that is free, but Unity Plus is $399 yearly while Unity Pro is $2,040 (X)

So some programs are clearly more viable than others. But imagine you're trying to model, texture, rig, animate, simulate, and render a short film all by yourself in Maya. That's gonna take you over a year or two, and you'll have several thousand dollars out of your pocket by the time your free trial ends. And might I say, for an industry-standard program, Maya sucks. It's almost unusable without those plug-ins for not only rendering but also for the models to even be able to SELECT their BONE rigs.

Do you want to practice on your own when school is out of session? Fuck you! Fuck subscription services! Welcome to capitalist hell, baby!

Again, using Blender is more viable, but you're still going to be basically doing everything yourself. That's gonna take years. Do you have the patience for that? Do I?

Because of the pandemic, movies aren't even hitting theaters anymore. They're going straight to streaming services. Streaming services of which, gain sole rights to and can take media off their platforms at any time without warning. Thanks, Discovery+ ! Does everyone remember the HBO Max Animation & DC purge? It could happen to other streaming services too. Piracy will save the future of animation at this point. (X)

And again, Streaming services like Netflix will purchase films and claim they made them by slapping their logo over it; but no, they either bought the distribution rights or produced them through funding and maybe storyboarding. Often times from a Canadian film studio. (Link again X)

Even stop motion companies like LAIKA are losing money and may have to shut down or be bought out in the future, especially considering how much work and money they put into their films vs. how much money they actually make. (X)

All of this? Naturally made me fall into a depression. My god, the layers of hopelessness. My animation and modeling is pretty average too. I'm decent. I can maybe make a good shot. But I can't blow people away like James Baxter can. I mean, I shouldn't compare myself to people. If I worked really hard, maybe I could get into a good company. But again, I have to move! A part of me gave up. I don't really do 3D animation anymore, though part of me misses it.

I still 2D animate. I'm trying to make a short film and though my college friends who were working on it with me have given up, I have done my best to keep going. Even if it has been produced at a snail's pace for the past three years, I still intend to finish this animation. It's gonna be beautiful when it comes out, and it will be a wonderful portfolio piece regardless.

So with nothing else to do and no other kind of job experience really under my belt(plus my family is prone to covid so getting a job in the pandemic was just kind of out of the question) I decided to go to youtube. I heard some people can make a little money on there, but the truth is I had actually wanted to become a youtuber for a few years prior. I've always looked up to animators and reviewers on youtube, I've loved the stories they tell and their incredibly detailed analysis essays on movies, tv series, books, etc. I wanted to be one of them. I wasn't sure exactly what I'd do, so I just followed the Youtube Partnership program set up which took a few months, and then jumped in! I found I only had the time to upload once every month or two. I had a ton of audio issues and I'm not outputting at the proper 1920 x 1080 quality that I should be doing either. It's a huge learning process that I still haven't perfected, but I'm taking notes to try and get better.

Even though Youtube is fun, I only make $300 a month, and that isn't even consistent. With patreon, I make maybe another $80 or $100 on top of that, so overall $400 a month average. That's really nice and pretty cool! But it's not enough to survive.

Now I work part-time at a coffee shop. My mental health is a lot better and I love my coworkers. I make roughly $400 a week in comparison to the $400 a month. It's still not enough to live off of (the cheapest rent around is over $1,000 a month, not ) and it's still a temporary job in the long run. I intend to work here for maybe another two years to save up money.

But what do I do now?

Am I welcome in animation spaces anymore?

As a critic of popular media, it could be likely that they could fire me or deny my application because of my critique of their past films or tv series. They could see my youtube persona and assume I'm a raging untrustworthy nitpick instead of a passionate, kind person.

Vivziepop's Spindlehorse company? What Viv was doing was a dream. I was so inspired by her. She made her own company, made a super successful pilot, and was even creating more jobs for traditional, high-quality animation. However, for Hazbin Hotel, she required more funding, which is why she sold it off to A24, who now has corporate say in the show. A24 is known for letting creators be more lenient, but otherwise, Viv won't have full control over it anymore unless she managed to get them to sign something over to her; but with the rumors of her being kicked off season 1? I don't know anymore.

Her own company Spindlehorse; they rely on youtube revenue and/or merch sales to fund Helluva Boss. That's a tricky business practice, but it's kept them afloat so far.

However, Spindlehorse is hiring a lot of people as of late. This could be a bad sign; that people might be leaving the company due to potential mistreatment or unhappiness. With the way the show is going, I don't really want to be part of that company regardless, but maybe before season 2 of Helluva Boss, I would have considered applying. Had I made any critique videos prior, there's no way they'd accept me. "Aren't you that one YouTuber that said my writing is bad for season 2 episode 2?" And you expect me to hire you?" Like yeah, that application process would go down well. Not. By critiquing artists' work, some of them are very sensitive. I'd be kicked out for a lot of things, when really, we artists should be critiquing each other all the time, trying to improve. That's how the writer's room always is, ahaha... hours of fighting goes down in those meetings. It's intense, but fun.

But yeah, it's such a shame. Even small companies need to sell out to corporate to survive. Either that or be HEAVILY crowd-funded, which again, can be a slippery slope.

I see a ton of small projects on Twitter looking to hire people, or looking to become a big studio to release a pilot or game. I've joined a few of them, but most are unpaid because of COURSE they are, and then these projects?? Just don't go anywhere. Because it's unpaid. Because we can't afford to work on a project for free. IRL comes first. Some of these projects seem so great but they don't go anywhere, and it's hard to have faith in start-up studios anymore. (Game creators might have a chance, but tv series or films? Good luck, folks.)

At that point, should I just make my own company? I don't have the money or knowledge for such a thing! It's insanely expensive to start a business and get licensing. So much paperwork, so much everything! And the USA Government is so behind in understanding technology. If you want to create a remote business and/or copyright something, you're still required to put an advertisement in a local newspaper about it, even if your business isn't selling to locals. 💀 The number of fees and ridiculous legal hoops you need to jump through... it's a ridiculous waste of time and money. But you need to do it. The question is, am I willing to do it? Am I willing to tackle such an insane thing by myself?

I want to keep my internet persona and IRL persona separate, but can I? I value having a private, quieter life away from the screen. I worry about getting doxxed one day because of the nature of the internet. I worry about people finding my IRL resumes or profiles for work I want to do outside of youtube for security's sake. My art style is unique and very recognizable. I don't have a lot of private art that is worthy of being in a portfolio. But for absolute safety, I'd need to password-protect my websites or portfolios so the public doesn't have free access to them; only companies I'm applying to. But at that point, does password-protecting my resume and portfolio make it less likely I'd be hired due to the inconvenience? Due to the private, hard-to-find nature of my work? Being a YouTuber with great story skills and art skills with a fanbase could be a big plus to getting hired somewhere, but it could also be a horrible disadvantage that would get me fired. It's a double-edged sword that I cannot work around and I don't know what to do.

I've considered the video game industry, but even that isn't ideal. A lot of the indie ones I adore aren't made in the USA. Gris and Monster Camp were made in Spain. Ori and the Blind Forest: Austria. Hollow Knight: Australia. Little Nightmares and Raft: Sweden. LIMBO & INSIDE: Denmark. Outlast, Don't Starve, Spirit Farer, Bendy and the Ink Machine: Canada.

SuperGiant Games did Hades, Transistor and Bastion and is located in SF, but they're not hiring. Janimation, a multi-media company located in Texas isn't hiring. Frederator in New York isn't hiring.

I don't want to work for a studio that does nothing but first-person shooters or sports games. If I want to get into the gaming industry, I probably need to crowdfund and make a company to make a game myself.

If I make my own game, which I've wanted to do for a long time now and still want to... I can't code. I guess I could try to hire someone that could? But a game to the extent I want... I'd need to start small. I'd need to practice. It's several years of work. Will it even be worth it? I don't think I can do it alone. I'd need crowdfunding and workers; which again, here comes the "make my own studio" issue...

Do I even want to animate anymore? I prefer traditional animation in comparison to puppetry. I prefer 2D animation to 3D animation simply because it is more accessible. But even then, I'm finding myself drawn more and more to writing, storyboarding, and character design. If I were a 3D animator, this is mostly what I'd be working with all day: Naked models in an empty room. I'd do none of the physics simulation or texturing or lighting.

Animating naked & bald people all day... I don't know... 3D Animation kind of lost its appeal. You only work on such a small portion of a film, you almost never have the bigger picture. You won't see the final result until the film is done. As an animator, you're almost kept in the dark. Maybe that's how they want it anyway, since leaks are a huge issue they keep quiet under strict NDA.

But yeah, anyway... I'm an artistic digital generalist. I can do almost anything. 3D animation, storyboarding, writing, photo editing, illustration, rendering, modeling and so much more. It's hard to choose what you really want to be in this industry. I feel like Barry Benson dfklgjdflkjg

I don't know what I'm gonna do anymore. There's gotta be a solution to this but I just can't figure it out. I don't want to give up my youtube channel so I can be an animator. I don't want to give up a safer, quiet countryside house to be able to survive financially. Am I even willing or able to move countries? Is my career more important than friends and family?

I think I'm thinking too much about everything. I should start small. Move less than an hour away first and move in with roommates to get a feel for independence instead of jumping into it immediately. Get a job at a small time company, maybe not for what I want at first, but it'll get me some experience and maybe I'll learn some things along the way to understand where I can go next. Take it slow and don't panic too much over trying to be a young big shot. Take things one day at a time? That's my current goal, I suppose.

So you know... to answer your question... why did I switch to youtube for a current career? Because of a classic existential & career crisis in my 20s. Will I ever go back to 3D animation? Maybe. Maybe one day.

[ask-obt]

A question for Woo. Would you enjoy an explorers DX getting revealed on the upcoming Pokemon Day?

// if this hypothetical proposes that this sort of explorers DX would be almost exactly the same in execution to rescue DX then I'd have to say................ no..............

before you bring out the pitchforks, let me explain myself. anyone who attends my streams or catches me in the wild in discord servers knows that I don't really like how the 3d games look. it's not as much a debate on "does pixel art or 3d models look better", but more "which style does chunsoft handle better", which I can sum up how I feel about in one screenshot

which is to say, my main problem with the 3D games is that the charm kinda got sucked straight out of them. it's true that pixel sprites have limitations- it's why we have portraits to more easily convey how characters are feeling, and your brain can fill in any missing details. but with 3D games, every aspect is able to be rendered out, and if you aren't going 100% all in, it's a lot more easy for the intended emotions to fall through. we have the ability to have pokemon emote like this now,

so why on earth is this the range that we're stuck with for PMD?

the simplest answer I can think of is that chunsoft is trying to apply the same strategy they used with sprites onto 3D models... which I think could work in theory, but not in the way they're applying it. as is, they don't have the models emote much and rely on portraits to carry the intended emotion through. the models also have some of the most stiff rigging I've seen in any game to date. I'm sure it has something to do with hardware limitations, but if that's the case I don't see why they couldn't create something that would fit their needs better like pokemon rumble's low poly models. well I know the answer is that they don't wanna actually render new 3D models for a PMD game and just use the library of models they got from gamefreak, but I like to think something like XY or ORAS's overworld models would make for a nicer looking game.

one pet peeve of mine is seeing folks praise DX for its unique look, which I think is true for the backgrounds!... but not really the models. I don't think putting an outline and paper texture overlay on the models is particularly revolutionary. it's a good direction to start, but far from peak aesthetic.

other problems I have with DX are how the main hub areas look (the grass for pokemon square is so blown out I have to play the game with lowered saturation and a darkened screen), and how the general UI looks in the dungeons. idk if it's because I'm neurodivergent or if it's just a "me" thing, but there's so much useless information being thrown at me at all times in a dungeon that it makes it really hard to focus on what's happening

I imagine this is mostly a side effect of losing the dual screen ability on the switch and I don't really have a proposed solution, but at least removing the text bubbles that come up every single time you get attacked or use a move would be a good start. maybe just save those for critical hits or smth idk, I don't really need to hear every single thought that comes out of my team.

I also think accessibility features like the auto-dungeon crawl feature are nice for those who want it, but it does feel a little overpowered by (seemingly) knowing exactly where the stairs are in a dungeon, which can take the exploration aspect out of playing the game. I'd also like the ability to disable that feature in a menu since I tend to misclick sometimes and accidentally activate things lmao

I just kinda tore into DX, but there are a few things I do like about it. the gummi system is vastly improved first of all (thank god I can stop grinding for one million gummis), and I think the dungeon environments are some of the best to come out of the series. I also think the models wearing scarves is super cute, I loved it in Super and am glad it made a return here. I'm sure there are other QOL features I'd like in theory but I kinda... didn't get very far in the game due to the aforementioned graphical and UI issues that felt like actual sandpaper to my brain.

if there was an explorers DX, I actually think one fun direction the series could take is something like pokemon cafe remix or paper mario, which is still the energy of a 2D game just using nice looking art assets instead of sprites. I just think a PMD game that looks like this could be really cute and charming...

and it'd probably be closer to chunsoft's wheelhouse since it'd take notes from how they put the sprite games together! just wishful thinking though. my current crack theory is that rescue DX was just to test the waters for how popular PMD still is and maybe to test out the engine on switch before releasing an original game, a la let's go pikachu/eevee to sword/shield. I doubt they'll make an explorers remake.

[postgamecontent]

Nintendo Switch Weekly Round-Up for the Week Ending September 21, 2024

Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the Nintendo Switch Weekly Round-Up for the week ending September 21, 2024. Quite a few new and notable releases to check out this time around, so it's another large article. I've decided I'd rather do reviews as separate articles, so look for those when and if I opt to do them. My resources for such things are considerably more limited now, but I'll do what I can. Let's check out this week in the world of Switch!

Select New Releases

The Plucky Squire ($29.99)

After a storybook hero is kicked out his book, his story's ending is changed to a much bleaker one. In order to set things right, he'll have to explore both 2D and 3D worlds, solving puzzles and completing challenges. This game got some immediate attention due to James Turner, formerly of Game Freak, working on it. The game certainly looks to be intriguing, so let's hope it can deliver on its considerable promise.

Loddlenaut ($19.99)

You play as an interstellar custodian in this relaxed open-world adventure about cleaning up an alien planet. Collect trash and recycle it to craft items and upgrades, raise aquatic creatures, and use your bubble gun to make things nice and neat again. Looks like some good times if you're just trying to chill out with something this week.

I Got Isekai'd into a Shmup ($12.99)

You don't see a ton of shoot 'em ups with four-player multiplayer support, let alone ones with great titles like this. The story about the main character getting transported into the world of a shooter serves as a framing device for the vertically-scrolling bullet hell action. Eight stages, four ships, multiple difficulty modes, and even a bestiary to fill out. You almost want to reward it for the name alone.

Japanese Rail Sim: Hakone Town of Natural Beauty and Hot Springs ($49.99)

Hey, it's one of these. Hakone's a really nice place, so taking a train ride through its scenery is a solid idea. You're driving the train, and this is a mountainous route, so don't relax too much. As you play, you'll be able to view tourism info about Hakone and the Hakone Tozan Railway. Cool. Like the other games in this series, it relies on real video footage. As such, it can feel a little artificial when starting and stopping, but the effect in motion is decent enough.

Touhou Genso Wanderer -Foresight- ($37.99)

Another Touhou roguelike RPG, and these have all been of substantial enough quality that I am not sad to see one more. This is fairly similar to the Mystery Dungeon games, but the progression is a bit kinder. I'm going to be doing a review of this game on the site soon, so look forward to that. It'll be a little bit since I just got my hands on the game today.

Arcade Archives Crime City ($7.99)

Probably not the Chase HQ Universe game that people have been waiting for, but I have a real soft spot for Taito's Crime City. It's a Rolling Thunder-esque run-and-gun action game for up to two players whose playable characters are definitely not based on any particular cop movie duo of the era, no sir. There are also little sections where you move into the screen, like in Contra. Good goofy fun, which might be just what some of you are looking for today.

EGGCONSOLE Star Cruiser PC-8801mkIISR ($6.49)

Oh, this is a big one. This 1988 release offers polygonal 3D visuals, which was quite a sight to see at the time. You're exploring space and planet surfaces, engaging in action-based combat, and following a decent little story. There are some RPG elements here as well. Unfortunately, this game suffers from the usual issue of only having Japanese in-game text, and quite a lot of it. You might want to venture in anyway, just to experience it. Be forewarned that this is a very flashy game, so photosensitive people should probably give it a pass.

Keylocker | Turn Based Cyberpunk Action ($19.99)

A stylish turn-based RPG that incorporates rhythm game mechanics into its combat. In a messed-up future where music is banned, you are a rebellious singer. Seems nifty, and I've been given a review copy so I will be taking a deeper look at it soon.

Pixel Game Maker Series NYANxTECH ($5.99)

I suppose we're back on regular releases for the Pixel Game Maker line, which suits me just fine. This looks like a puzzle-platformer of sorts where you use different buttons to turn platforms on and off. Sure, that seems fine enough for this price point.

The Karate Kid: Street Rumble ($39.99)

There are a lot of people chasing that Shredder's Revenge success right now, and I think it is somewhat ominous that one of the first out of the gate is Game Mill's Karate Kid-flavored take. Play as Daniel, Miyagi, Ali Mills, or Kumiko as you punch and kick your way through locations and battles inspired by the first three Karate Kid movies. The Cobra Kai brawlers from this publisher weren't very good at all, and that makes it difficult for me to expect much here.

Byte The Bullet ($19.99)

Travel through the various systems of a computer to cleanse them of the virus infecting the system in this run-and-gun platformer. You can poke around each of the levels to find interesting secrets, and the game parodies a few popular classics in the genre. This is one of those games that could go either way, and I'm not going to be able to say which side it falls on until I put my hands on it.

Cricket: Jae's Really Peculiar Game ($24.99)

Another interesting turn-based RPG to look into. The main character in this one is trying to fix a past gone wrong to make a better future. Hm, sounds familiar. Battles use Mario RPG-style timing-based commands, so if that's a thing you have strong feelings about one way or the other, make sure to take it into account.

Get in the Car, Loser! ($29.99)

This game describes itself as a "rowdy hot-blooded lesbian road trip RPG" and I feel like you're going to know just from that brief whether you're in or not. It comes from one of the co-creators of Ladykiller in a Bind, and it's been out for a while on other platforms. Generally seems to have gone over well with most. This release includes both extra DLC story chapters, so you get it all in one go.

Home Safety Hotline ($19.99)

One for the horror fans, I suppose. At least the set-up is interesting. You play as an operator at a home safety line, and people will call in with some very unusual problems. You'll need to try to help them with those issues, but you can count on things getting very weird in a hurry. This release also includes the Christmas-themed DLC. Not my thing, but maybe yours.

Matchbox Driving Adventures ($39.99)

You know, I think Outright Games is doing decent enough work in the licensed game area. Like, I'm not going to say the output is always great, but of all the publishers aimed at making games based on popular kids' properties, Outright seems to deliver the most agreeable results. And that's how this game looks, really. Agreeable. If you have a kid who loves Matchbox cars, they'll probably have fun with this.

Booom-Slang! ($14.99)

A quirky twin-stick shooter that offers up both a single-player campaign and a fairly interesting multiplayer mode. Up to four players can compete, but they'll do so with multiple targets in mind. There's more than one way to win, in other words. The aesthetic of this game is something else, and I suppose it could be best summarized as 3DO-ish. I can see some people being into it.

They Came From the Sky 2 ($9.99)

Be an alien invader… again. This is an entertaining action game where you play as an alien craft and need to wreak havoc on the planet. You can stomp things, shoot them, and cause all kinds of general mayhem. This advances nicely on the original game, I'd say. If you're looking for some mindless amusement, this does the job well enough.

Seasonspree ($11.99)

In this game, you play as a tanuki that can travel through time just by walking forwards and backwards. You have to use this ability to help out your friends in this relaxing adventure.

The Town of Nie ($43.22)

A "boys love" visual novel about a human who wanders into a supernatural world. He'll be interacting with some very unusual characters while searching for a way to return home, and perhaps finding love? That will depend on your choices, of course. There's a demo available for this game if you want a taste.

GINKA ($20.00)

This visual novel is about a guy whose childhood friend, Ginka, disappeared five years ago during a summer festival. When he returns to his hometown after a long absence, Ginka is still gone. But wait, here's a girl who looks just like Ginka did five years ago! She has no memories but she knows she loves the main character. What's going on here? You'll have to play to find out.

Aura of Worlds ($14.99)

A very cool roguelite platformer, and I'm not saying that because it has a grappling move. Okay, I'm not just saying that because it has a grappling move. That sure doesn't hurt, though. Really though, this is a game that gives you a lot of options about how you want to handle navigating its obstacles. If you've burned out on Dead Cells, check this out.

BZZZT ($14.99)

A precision platformer where you play as a tiny robot who has to save the world from an evil scientist. A tale as old as time, isn't it? While we have a whole lot of this kind of game on the Switch already, I must regrettably inform you that this one is very good. It's tough, as you would expect. It's even tougher if you're going for all the collectibles. But the controls are excellent, the level designs are clever, and it's very rewarding to play.

No Case Should Remain Unsolved ($9.99)

This is a short detective mystery game where you need to solve a twelve-year old case of a missing child. Examine the clues, connect memory fragments, and try to determine the truth behind this case and why it was abandoned for so long.

Sacabambaspis Chronicle ($2.99)

An odd little game where you play as a fish-thing, eating plankton to grow up while avoiding predators. Somehow there's an online multiplayer mode for up to ten players. If you want something unusual to spend a few bucks on, here you go.

pureya ($5.99)

This is a mini-game collection with more than thirty in total to play. All of them are played with a maximum of two buttons, so they're pretty simple to pick up. And that's a good thing, because you'll only be playing for ten seconds before it changes to the next game. That's the gimmick here. Of course, if you just want to play one game and see how high of a score you can get, that's an option too. Not bad for what it is.

Tamagoneko ($5.99)

A kaizo-style platformer, which is to say a game designed to make you scream in agony at the unfair difficulty of it all. There are one hundred and sixty levels to play, and your task is to rescue all of the kitten eggs in each. Wait, kitten eggs? I don't think that's how that works. Well, not really any of my business.

The Last Shot ($9.99)

Hmm, I don't know what to do with this one. It has a lot of style going for it, and I think having you play as an engineer who has to use their skills to solve puzzles is an interesting set-up in a platformer. But it just doesn't play well, which makes the platforming not so fun, and the puzzles aren't really good enough to make up for it. You might like it better than I did, though. It seems to have decent reviews on other platforms.

That's all for this week, friends. We'll be back next Saturday with another Round-Up, this time featuring a whole new Legend of Zelda game! As ever, I will plug both my Patreon (where you can find lots of cool exclusive articles) and my Ko-Fi (tips help me run this blog). There, plugged. I hope you have a super Saturday, and as always, thanks for reading!

[bahamutgames]

Paper Mario: The Thousand Afterthoughts

Game: Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door (May 23, 2024)

Console: Nintendo Switch

It's that time again!! If you had told me not too long ago that I'd have to give my thoughts on 2 different Mario RPG remakes on Switch (and an upcoming brand new M&L) so close to each other, I would've laughed you out of the room. But here we are. And now I look quite foolish, don't I?

My mood is kinda in free fall and I only want to write about these Mario RPGs when I'm in a good mood, but I think I'm okay right now. So I'll capitalize on it. Similar to the Super Mario RPG Remake I'll try to focus on what makes this such a lovely remake rather than gushing about why I adore TTYD. But if you're curious, it has some of the best characters, writing, and combat in the series. While I also think it's a really padded out game. That's my micro review of the original. Okay? Okay.

As always, this isn't a review. Just me throwing up my thoughts. Go play Thousand Year Door RIGHT NOW. Either the original or the remake. I'll wait.

Now that they're gone-

SPOILERS FOR THOUSAND YEAR DOOR AHEAD, YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!!

Opening

I feel like I've given you my long, tragic backstory with Mario RPGs a billion times but if you somehow missed it. These were my favorite games of all time, they fell off, I get sad, so on and so forth. Thousand Year Door is one of my favorite video games ever, in the trio of greatest Mario games ever made you have Super Mario RPG, Bowser's Inside Story, and TTYD. And, yeah, needless to say. I was bummed when Paper Mario started to go in its new direction. But I'd like to not give that the oxygen of attention at the moment.

So when they were like "Oh there's one last thing" in that direct, the MILLISECOND that first note hit I was like "HUH???" And I flipped my fucking LID, I couldn't believe they were ACTUALLY gonna remake TTYD. And not only that, it was looking good! And then it came out and I couldn't afford it lol.

But thankfully my good friend (Idk if they want me to name them here so I'll avoid it for the time being) bought it for me. Which was so so so nice of them and I genuinely appreciate it cause this was such a wonderful experience. So this review is sponsored by my friend :)

And again, I'll skip the suspense. This is another WONDERFUL remake that's a total love letter to the original and understands what made it so good.

Stuff I liked

I think the best place to start would be with how faithful this is to the original. It doesn't change pretty much ANYTHING. If there's any major changes to stuff that was in the original (not counting new content) I can't remember it. Not that I was expecting them to change it but still, it's nice that they didn't like, butcher it or something crazy. It's the same good plot, pretty much an identical script (with any changes being for the better imo.), and the same wonderful gameplay.

But of course, what makes a remake interesting is what ACTUALLY gets changed. And I think pretty much right out the gate you'll notice the MASSIVE graphics overhaul this game got. It takes a more papercraft approach like the secondary Paper Mario Trilogy (SS, CS, OK) but applies it to the worlds from the original game. And it looks AMAZING! This is basically exactly what I wanted ever since we got to see the SS Flavion in Smash 3DS lmao. In addition to that there's SO many new sprites in this game for each character. It's actually crazy just how much new animations there are for everyone. Not just teammates, who now have back sprites and TONS of facial expressions and reactions, but even enemies and NPCs have TONS of new things that can do. Sometimes enemies will laugh at you if you get fucked over, people will change to match the mood of what they're saying. It's actually crazy, I had to stop playing every 5 seconds to look at all the new sprites and details. One of my personal favorite new expressions is Mario tipping his hat in respect when death is brought up. It's small but it's such a Mario thing to do and I actually flipped out when I first saw it.

Then there's the redone soundtrack. OH MY GOD it's SOOOOO GOOD. This might be a better OST than the original, and may be one of my new favorite Mario RPG OSTs in general. Every song is lovingly redone and they all sound SO NICE. In particular the battle theme, which changes for each chapter, is SUCH a treat. I adored that. All the boss remixes are great (Cortez in particular was a big shock that I loved) and I believe the teammate themes are actually new. This was also a lovely addition. Bobbery (not biased because he's my favorite partner) probably has my favorite theme. And some of my favorite songs, 'Happiness and Sadness' + 'We're Counting On You, Mario' were both SO well done!! And it's changes and upgrades like these that REALLY add to the experience and make it even better in my opinion! Or at least, wonderful to reexperience!

Then of course there's the combat, which is pretty much completely unchanged as far as I can recall? But they did actually add new super bosses which was really cool! You can fight Prince Mush which is neat, and Whacka which is AWESOME! This actually gives a reason to do the Pit of 100 Trials a second time (fun fact, this remake was my first time ever beating the pit! And I did it without dying. You can retry a floor if you die in this remade version of the pit, just as an fyi).

And the game over all is filled with nice little changes like that. Stuff that's maybe not ground breaking, or giving you a brand new reason to try it like the changes to Super Mario RPG's combat. But in my opinion, these small quality of life improvements are just as good. A much easier to access quick travel room to warp to each chapter is added in the sewers. Saving is instant, similar to Origami King and such. Most of the backtracking that people complain about has been cut out with simple pipes and springs in convenient locations. They even add more stuff to collect like letting you unlock CONCEPT ART WHICH IS SO FUCKING COOL, I still haven't looked through it all but it's actually amazing they did this and I'd KILL for Mario Art Books from every Mario game please just release more Mario concept art UGH. And of course there's the changed dialogue to confirm vivian being trans which is so nice, and I'm honestly shocked they actually did it. It feels almost un-nintendo of them to do. But I'm so happy they did it! It's a real remake, baby!!

In general, yeah, this game is perfect. It's filled with clear love for the original, without being afraid of acknowledging where improvements were made in future titles. Like, again, instant saving or the really nice graphics or music changing for each chapter. And while there aren't any WILD changes like brand new cutscenes in the Super Mario RPG remake, I'd say what they add and ultimately didn't add makes this such a wonderful remake all the same. I had a blast playing it and it felt so good to just, genuinely no coping love playing Paper Mario again!

Stuff I didn't like

But of course no game is perfect. And I do have some nit picks. Like, why don't they use Mario's official new signature when he signs up to join the Glitz Pit? No but seriously, folks-

There's not much wrong with this remake, there's some small stuff like them not fixing EVERY bit of fluff from the original. You still have to mash 100 times for the 'I Love You' scene. Which is funny! But like, no one complains about THIS but you all complain about a little backtracking? Amateur hour. I also think the Prince Mush fight isn't as cool as everyone says it is. I'm not huge on fights where you have to play 100% perfectly but I know that's just a me thing. And I wish SO badly they could've done a tiny bit more to have teammates interact with each other more. Although I do love that everyone comes out whenever you stand on the altar in front of the door. But like, I think everyone should've come out when the Crystal Stars are gathering everyone's wishes... OH MY GOD I FORGOT THEY MADE THE CRYSTAL STARS UGLY IN THIS REMAKE OH NOOOOO GAME RUINED-

But really, I think my big main complaint is that this remake feels a little... Too easy? Compared to the original. In the original the game is MASSIVELY padded out by having you get constantly fucked over by the stage elements. But this time I swear I got hit by a stage element maybe 2 or 3 times. But my enemy was CONSTANTLY getting fried or slammed to death in every fight. It's too common on the enemies, but feels like it's massively toned down on you. I think in the original you can get fucked over a bit much, but this doesn't feel like a compromise, if that makes sense?

Final Thoughts

But WHO CARES!! This remake is SO good! Genuinely, if you love Thousand Year Door, if you hate Thousand Year Door, if you've never played Paper Mario in your life. I think you owe it to yourself to finally experience this wonderful video game. It's truly one of my favorite video games ever and I think it's such a fantastic entry into the RPG genre.

From small changes to big changes, this is a wonderful remake. I don't know if I'd say it's a replacement to the original, personally. I actually think the original's more simple graphics have a GREAT and cartoonish feel to them that's lost a little bit with the papercraft look. And obviously nostalgia is a hell of a drug, but if someone told me they prefer this version? It's absolutely a no-brainer why. I'm so happy I loved this game so much...

Sooooo, how about that Paper Mario 64 remake, guys-

===

And that's that! Once again, I know I've said this a million times. But even though this remake was amazing and made me fall in love with Paper Mario all over again. I'm still waiting patiently for them to do a new Paper Mario in this style. I'm only so impressed that they made an amazing game amazing again. I want to know if they have what it takes to make something BRAND NEW with such a wonderful plot, characters, and combat. I'm very excited for the potential of future Mario RPGs regardless though, and I can't wait to see what's in store for us with Brothership. But Intelligent Systems, I AM wait for a new Paper Mario in this style. You've been warned.

That's all I have for now. Go out and play a game you adore!

[cassiesdevblog]

Pyo as... Adaptation? Homage? Clone? Thing?

Hey paisanos! I've been doin a lot of work lately helping @zombielesbean finish up their project Grey Area, and I wanna write up a big post about my contributions (including a really big exciting secret one!) once that's done, but the original warioware just hit the switch and with that comes Pyoro >:3

If you don't know about Pyoro, you can get the gist by watching a little bit of this epic video:

Of course, Pyoro on switch means I've got my game Pyo on the mind too. I mean, they are...

...similar games... 'w';

So similar that sometimes I worry Wario is gonna come to my house and beat the tar outta me. Wario, if you're reading this, I can explain

In 2020, when I finally found out you could download DSiware games on the 3DS--not for long tho :')--I immediately remembered a game I had on my DSi as a kid: Bird & Beans, a standalone version of Pyoro (and Pyoro 2!) with 50% more floor space to maneuver in. I bought it and absolutely fell in love with it! It became a sort of hyperfixation of mine for a little while, and so naturally, as one does, I started thinking "alright, but what if this was a platformer?"

See, I think arcade games and platformers mix really well. Platforming is often fun to do all on its own, and a lot of arcade games have sort of non-linear goals. It's a great combination if you wanna break platforming gameplay out of the usual get-from-A-to-B design, which is something I'm always wanting to do. Shoutout to any good boss in a platformer btw

One thing leading to another

So my immediate thought was like, what if you could just jump up there and pop the beans yourself? You could bounce off of them and get a combo going!

And so, if the beans themselves hitting your head is no longer a hazard, naturally the pits they create should be how you lose the game. In Pyoro they're functionally walls, but in a platformer that doesn't even make sense

But wait, if you pop beans just by touching them, can't you stand in one place forever and the ground under your feet will be safe for eternity? Ok, there'll be a special, extra dangerous flavor of bean that sends explosions left and right when it hits the bottom of the screen

As you can see, a lot of the game's design just flowed naturally from solving the problems caused by turning it into a platformer. Just by changing these few things, the game is already pretty distinct from its inspiration, but I took it a little further

Taking advantage of the genre

Beyond just patching holes in the design caused by that one change, I wanted to change other things in order to better take advantage of the focus on platforming

This is where @bisthefairy comes in. While ground in Pyoro is restored by eating a white bean to summon an angel to fill in nearby holes for you, I wanted to encourage the player to use platforming to get high up on the screen. I also wanted ground to be stackable, because that could spice up the platforming and even lead to unique, creative strategies

This led to the idea of having something like the angels from Pyoro flying around up high, so you'd have to bounce up there to get them to drop their block, pit or no pit. I gave the role to my friend Bis since they're small and they fly around

This desire to get the player to bounce up high also led to the creation of the worst feature in the game, the "clear line," which was quickly cut. As you'd rack up a big combo, a horizontal line would start rising up from the bottom of the screen. If you fell below it, it'd kill your combo and clear all the beans off the screen. 0/10. Having to play on half the screen and barely having time to react to incoming beans suckssss

Seriously. One of the worst aspects of Pyoro is that you get huge score for nabbing a bean right as it comes onscreen, so the best strat is to just keep spamming your tongue out hoping to get lucky. No idea why I thought making you play near the top was wise. The best interactions happen near the ground anyway, where you can skid and bonk into blocks

Also, stripes!

Not sure if this counts as a connection between the two games, but I feel like it's also worth mentioning a very indirect source of inspiration: the color banding on the sky in Pyoro. See, in Pyoro, the screen is divided into horizontal slices, and eating a bean from a higher slice gets you more points. I remember thinking the color banding on the sky should indicate the different slices, but it just doesn't! I think that put the idea of stripes conveying information in my head though, and that's probably unconsciously where Pyo's distinctive pit-indicating stripes come from

So, will Wario harm me?

Well, I got pretty bold using a bird and some "beans" in my game. I could have used the classic trope of a horse and some babies. Honestly, I used a bird and beans because I was sketching up ideas for the game and really liked Margie as soon as I drew her, and I liked the beans too much not to use them

"What about the name?" I hear you say, complaining you've not been able to tell which game I'm talking about this whole time. Well, I found the "Pyo" part of "Pyoro" really satisfying to say, so I put it in as a placeholder name, intending to change it later. Then I decided the sound of that syllable was so satisfying that Margie should say it every time she pops a bean, and by then it had grown on me so much I, once again, couldn't resist. It's all ok though, because baby chickens say "pío" in Spanish, and Margie is a chicken!

Well, I've baited some mouse traps with garlic just to be safe, but honestly, I think Pyo stands on its own two talons

Its inspiration is extremely obvious, but I think everyone agrees that, after the first passing glance, it has an identity all its own, in terms of both gameplay and presentation. I might even say it surpasses Pyoro in a few aspec--Oh fuck guys he's here

[kafus]

OK my feelings on the pokemon presents

excited for BOTH animated side series they announced!! i love all the side animated content pokemon has been putting out recently i'm really excited for both the TCG thing and the paldea series i hope it's as good as twilight wings

i really need to play detective pikachu on 3ds before the new one comes out oopsies its like the only pokemon game i've never played but the sequel on switch looks charming even though it was very obviously meant to be a 3ds game that got stuck in dev hell and looks the part

as per usual don't give a single shit about all the mobile gacha garbage but it was nice to see nemona even though her english voice jumpscared me (used to her jp one in horizons)

in speaking of horizons very funny to be like pokemon horizons coming soon... as if i didn't already watch it in japanese. god the pokemon anime being on netflix sucks ass

disappointed about no announcement of a battle tower in the SV DLC... at this point im probably giving up hope. HOWEVER im very excited for the DLCs!!

unironically super excited for the fucking Selfie Stick and Room Customization and being able to change how i throw my pokeballs like YES GIVE ME MORE CUSTOMIZATION PELASE FOR THE LOVE OF G

the minigames with koraidon/miraidon look cute i hope they run okay

DIPPLIN AND WHATEVER THE NAME OF THE DURALADON EVOLUTION ARE SO GOOD HDSJKSFD

LONG RAIKOU (ALSO THE MECHA COBALION IS AWESOME)

hearing them refer to a pokemon as just. an ogre. like not an ogre pokemon. An Ogre. was really funny to me. ogres are canon to pokemon now

I WANT TO KNOW WHAT THE FUCKING DISC POKEMON IS AHHHHHHHH

i love all the new character designs in the second DLC especially!! the BB league looks cool

oh yeah and the mewtwo raids were leaked but im really excited about the mew event stuff because my ribbon master mew can get the mightiest mark!! i enjoyed the CG animation they played to announce it as well. cool theyre giving you something to do with ur mew instead of just taking it and putting it in a box forever

everything about worlds makes me jealous im not there but my friend is buying me the lapras/pikachu plush cause hes in japan rn xoxo yay

that about summarizes all of my feelings. i think

[tomyo]

Street Pass Mini Game Special

I truly love my 3DS. Even though I came in to owning one a lot later than everyone else, it's been something I've loved deeply. From themes to kisekae plates to the virtual console IR to AR, I really love exploring the full functionality of the system. At some point I'd probably start a series on other functions of the 3DS but today I wanted to focus on the beloved street pass!

So yes, I did buy ALL the street pass dlc when I hear the shop was closing and it's....an experience to say the least. This has given me the chance to go through them however! So let's go!!

Puzzle Swap

I loved this one a lot when I started using my 3DS. Collecting is definitely a brain activator for me. Admittedly though when they updated to multiple pieces getting collected, it was a lot healthier of a job. Right now, I sit extremely frustrated since my current memory card only shows the standard puzzles and not the ones added over time. I know at one point I was at least to one final puzzle needing filling so now I sit frustratingly finished but not really finished on it.

Find Mii 1&2

Find me was where I truly put more of my attention and also equally frustrating at one point in time as I rarely got passerbys and mostly relied on hires mercs. The biggest struggle was I got my 3DS after I moved back to the suburbs meaning I no longer had the benefit of living in a city or it's huge campus. By the time I did move back to city living, I went to a much smaller school at a time where the switch was about to be released. Sometimes I think back to watching my friends get to play Animal Crossing New Leaf and Pokemon X & Y(which I actually like) with a little bit of envy. There's the tug and pull that I went to a lot of cons at than time and could afford it because I was frugal or how getting an og 3DS likely would've stopped me from getting my beloved new 3DS but sometimes it sucks that I didn't shell out the $180 or so to be apart of all that. The 3DS was probably more of a kawaii golden era staple than any other system could have been and just little things like this suddenly come to mind.... Wait wasn't I supposed to be talking about the games? Ah yes, I truly love the two find Mii games. I think they're extremely fun and you can see the way they paved the path for Miitopia. I still have yet to collect all the rewards you can get partially because of that whole tangent issue but hopefully if I start to walk around with it more I can regularly beat the game. I've started to bring my 3DS to cons and now even own a second one after a lucky find so regular street passing is more common for me!

When it came to the next games, you had to pay for them in I believe $15 increments. Either two to three packages where available alongside the premium upgrade which allowed you to have a longer queue and one additional features. Each game also has a guide character for the stories.

Slot Car Rivals

This was the game I selected from the free choice when they offered that up for the game releases. You race against passers to try and progress and build up your car. If I'm honest I don't get this one much. Your guide character is a race team assistant.

Market Crashers

If somehow you can still get this one I'd choose it of the free choice. You get to do capitalism simply put with more passers equalling better predictions on stock shares going up or down through a session. The gameplay per a session is really short once it starts but I find it fun thus far. Basically rapidly hitting by or sell to make more money as quick as possible. There's also art assets to grab up and hold onto. I definitely get excited at chances to play this one. Your guide character is a reddit looking business man.

Feed Mii

Another concept I really like. You essentially grab ingredients and try to cook the best meals possible for your passers who are going out on quests. Do good and you get good reviews from their success. Sadly also really short gameplay overall. While you're encouraged to try cooking more before ending a session, the gameplay can feel a little to quickly done. Your guide character is a cozy male cook in a bandana.

Ninja launcher

Another extremely quick gameplay session one. You're trying to match up passers to be in your shooting path as they'll give you equipment to fight an enemy but you have a time limit to try and get the most ideal shot. Once you fight the target the session is over. Your guide character is a Yamato nadeshiko ninja.

Mii Trek

This one reaks of edutainment in the best way. Each passed adds to the amount of traveling you can do as you lead an expedition for treasure and find real life animals along the way. It's not fully my cup of tea but I like the journey you get to take being a longer and more complicated game session than the previous ones. Your guide character is a toucan straight out of the 90s era gif graphics.

Mii Force

Another longer game. You're in a classic side scrolling shooter with each passed equating to being a weapon with variation based on shirt color. Its sometimes even a little challenging for me. At points I even feel a bit frustrated because enemy shots aren't always clear on the screen noise but that also means I'll have more reason to come back to it as I progress through it. Your guide character is a robot captain.

Flower Town

One of my favorites and one I was really excited to finally get to play. You raise and breed flowers to create a plethora of breeds. I like anything that involves raising so this one spoke to me a lot. That being said it goes pretty slow hahahah. Your guide character is this calming older dude with glasses.

Warriors Way

I remember my best friend talking good of this one and I do enjoy it. Your troops are your total street passes and then most passer's numbers will also be added to yours which you then use to conquer other nations. Because I started so late I started off with a sizable 900+ and then a few thousand from others joining me. However I did run into a monster army I would of had to of challenged but I was too overwhelmed by the size. The battles are rock paper scissors but with the right number and it letting you know the win outcomes, it can be doable without ever losing. Your guide character is a butler.

Monster Manor

You're stuck in a mansion and collect essentially Tetris pieces that turn into halls to help you discover the stairs to help guide you up to freedom. You also occasionally fight ghosts. I don't know how to put it has more meat of a game but it doesn't hold my attention as much. Your guide character is a tiny girl who you employ (I promise I don't mean it in that way but she's a loli type)

Ultimate Angler

You fish various species with bait you receive from your street passes. It’s even local to your area based on how you registered yourself. To catch certain fish you need the right bait which is based on the color of your street passer’s shirts. When I had a lot of street passes pulled up it was pretty fun but it’s not as great when you struggle to get the right bait. I also wish you could change areas and save bait for new locations but sadly you have to use it all at once. When you get back you can stick the stuff you caught in an aquarium and sometimes get new rods which I haven’t explored much yet. You guide character is a bikini clad girl who runs the desk.

Battleground Z

The final of them is a zombie brawler where passers give you weapons or fight with you. I'm not a big fan of beat em ups so I'm a little sad I'm not a huge fan of this one. Sad because you're guide character is a blonde, Bayonetta looking onee-san.

[spinningbuster98]

We're finally at the end of the line guys: Mega Man X8

So I personally like to think of X8 as like the Sonic Unleashed of Mega Man

It came out right after X7, which in turn had come out after X6. I'm pretty sure fans were sick and tired of the X series at this point, and with Battle Network pretty much stealing the scene as the most popular series at the time, not to mention the Zero series doing pretty much everything the X series should have been doing but better, I guess Capcom was already preparing itself to pull the plug on the series

X8 is one of the worst selling games in the franchise, partly also due to apparently Capcom not making many copies of it, perhaps because they were expecting this game to be a failure.

This game is so relatively "obscure" that I shit you not I have seen fans literally mistake it for X7

No really I've seen people claim they've never played it but say that they don't have to because they can tell it sucks because "it's 3D like X7" or "it's got Axl".

Hell once on Reddit I saw someone go on a small rant about how this game sucks because of the 3D sections etc, only for another guy to chime in and notice that he was mistaking this game for X7, to which the other guy said something along the lines of "What aren't they the same?"

With time some of the fandom gave the game a chance and plenty of fans ended up loving it, while others not so much because, very much like Sonic Unleashed, this game has some intrusive gimmicks that not everyone will enjoy

Let me just start by making something clear: this game is way better than X7 and X6. A fuckton better. Hell I'd say it's better than X5 too.

However it's certainly not perfect so I will try to both praise and criticize it whenever I deem it necessary

To start off though hot damn I love this opening stage! It's one of my favorites in the franchise

From the energetic OST which screams "the boys are back in action!", to the level switching between X,Axl and Zero to both introduce you to their respective styles and show off their friendly banter, to the crab Maverick that you fight throughout the stage damaging it a little bit each time, this level just oozes personality!

Oh and yeah: Noah's Park. Paradise Lost as a subtitle. Jakob Elevator, y'know like Jakob's ladder?

X8 has a thing for religious references and...yeah it's a bit stupid because spoilers but it kinda wants to be "deep" about it but it just ends up sounding a bit pretentious.

I don't agree however with singleing out this game specifically for their use, after all the Zero series also has plenty of references to various mythologies (though I feel that there they're less obnoxious since they're mostly for the cool factor, not because the games are trying to look deep because of them), not to mention the look of Sera's final form in Legends 2

[safyresky]

Hello, I need to drop this in here before Season two of TSCS drop kicks me in a few days.

But I've had Fusion Au on the mind. In the brain. And I just frankly wanna know more about it. Whatever other information you can give I will GLADLY take. (Maybe even drop the fusion height chart 👉👈 if it is to be found)

Steven Universe has permanently altered my brain chemistry and I just wanna hear you talk about this silly little au that has been fluttering around lately.

F E L T. I have been hitting the ground RUNNING for Crystal Springs just to give myself decent AC for when the series picks up again (not sure if I'm gonna post the same day of the new episodes or the day AFTER, but New CS will be there to comfort me and maybe others in my our time of need).

I am not ready. I NEVER will be. I hope and pray that the Council isn't butchered, bc if we've got three confirmed Legendary Figures, I can't see us NOT getting the others. Or, maybe it WILL just be Sandy and Cupid and EB 2.0!! But idk. Idk man. Idk. I really want the snowball that gets thrown in Scott's face in the trailer to be courtesy of Jack. I know it won't be. But I fucking WISH and HOPE and AH.

OFF TOPIC!

I have a height chart floating around somewhere, but it is a stick figure doodle, so I will ATTEMPT to give you a proper?? Chart???

I think I said that Berline is about the size of two Elles stacked on top of each other (sitting on her shoulders) so I kinda eyeballed it based on that??? (me retconning so much about heights knowing that I had Berline pick Elle up and seat her in their palm lmao) So here we go, the main line up:

I eyeballed the SHIT out of this??? I may boost them all a whole ass foot lmao but Richard was liek "DANI. SEVEN FEET IS TALL!" and I was like I GUESS.

Also, as an aside??? The height chart site has a 3D one?? That actually disturbed me??? Thank GOD I was able to switch back! If I find the shitty lil stick figure height doodle I will edit to add it. Or reblog to add it, lol. ANYWAY.

Some info, you request? Okay! Let me marinate it in my head and see what I can do throughout the day:

If the entire frost fam fused they'd be called Frost and they'd be a DELIGHT. They don't talk much except for to be polite and they will throw melty molten rock at you at the drop of a hat, so it's a GOOD THING that Jackie doesn't exists when Frost does! Because they WOULD drop their hat on purpose just to see a fire show

Frost probably freezes in place a lot while thinking since there's 6 whole ass sprites in there having a discussion, which is a very funny mental image--just this blob of ice and fire BUFFERING and then suddenly some asshole gets pompeii'd lol

They're very sweet! Very polite. Always say please and thank you!

When Fino and Fiera fuse, Fire is just the opposite of the THERE'S TWO meme. There's ONE. And they are making it YOUR PROBLEM (they also do unfuse in my head very similarly to the THERE'S TWO meme)

Fire is also the most humanoid looking fusion, for sure!

Diteline really likes flower crowns. She will make you a flower crown or a lil grass bracelet if she's left alone with no threats and a bunch of nature. She's a big old sweetie, an absolute delight

Diteline kids, meanwhile, are a pain when they learn about fusion, and incredibly hard to keep track of once they master it. Those three lil buggers will bounce from fusion to fusion, going from helping to causing trouble to wreaking havoc to trying to fix something as simple as "oh shit, mom and mater will be home soon and we DIDN'T CLEAN THE KITCHEN LIKE THEY ASKED"

Inter season squabbles take on a whole new meaning when it's "shoulder season" time, as 9/10 times it's because the two seasons have fused and are still doing their jobs 😂😂

Of all the Frosts, Fino is the least likely to fuse! It's fun but not like, a big deal, y'know? Orc Friend (who's name is, in fact, Ken, and then I saw Barbie and. Well. But I can't not see him with any other name! It's short for Kenothy) was tres relieved about this, had a whole crisis about if they'd have to fuse at all and of course, overthought it in leaps and bounds 🫠🫠🫠

Fiera and Normal Man (His name is Norm bc I am a SUCKER for a PUNNY NAME) probably would equate to the Stevonnie plotline lol. Like, they'd fuse and Fiera would be like "I DIDN'T KNOW ORDIBEINGS COULD DO THAT! WOW!" And they'd be so excited and have a regular time, bc the normal and absolutely unhinged wild crazy balance out :)

I think their fusion is named Norma lol

Blaise and Pyros never fused, ever. They were not allowed to bc it "wasn't proper" for royalty to resort to something like that

(King and Queen Frost had a very hands-off approach with...messier conflicts. There's a reason they managed to scrape by when The Call happened)

If a redemption arc ever happened for Pyros, it A) wouldn't be one like Jack's, it'd be a more "oh so this was a fucked up upbringing and I need to stop blaming others and confront myself and maybe fix my shit or maybe get worse, who's to say" kind of thing, and B) there'd deffs be a fusion related plotline in Fusion AU, potentially involving murder of parents and/or falling into a volcano.

I think, somehow, of ALL the fusions, Elline (Elle and Jacqueline) are the most chillest one. She is SO chill. She probably always has sunglasses on or on her person. She's got great advice. She'll go with you for ice cream any day! She has such good vibes it's unREAL.

I want to/am in the process of giving the inter-season fusions names. So far we've got:

Flora: Spring/Summer

Fauna: Spring/Autumn

Mud: Spring/Winter.

She's very insistent on this name presently, but I think a wintry plant would be cuter, like Winterberry or Poinsettia or Snowdrop (my personal fave tbh) but NO. She's like "I make Mud therefor I am mud."

Everyone calls her Snowdrop and she's like "No, just Mud for short is fine" It's like. None of those letters are even IN "Snowdrop" Mud, the FUCK? CAN'T YOU CHARACTERS BE NORMAL. TO A POINT.

Evergreen: Autumn/Winter

Sunflower: Summer/Autumn

(I was torn between something plain and obvious like "Harvest", or a silly crop related pun like "Melony", then I remembered that in SDV Sunflowers grow in Summer and Autumn, you know, like they do in IRL and went OH THAT'S PERFECT!)

Summer/Winter fusion is definitely the poster fusion for vacations, lmao. Probably I'll think of something like THAT for their name. Maybe Snowbird? Bc that's what they call people who fly south for the winter on vacations? Lol

(smacks head of Season sisters) These ladies can fit SO MUCH PUNS in 'em

Blaise and Winter I don't think really fuse with the kiddos, not until later years. I know for sure Winter and Jacqueline on occasion have! She's called Flurry and has the MOST energy ever always and is a sentient storm's WORST NIGHTMARE

Blinter the fusion. Can deffs. Pull other fusions apart. They can just pick up a fusion and be like "nope" and separate their asses. They do not abuse this power; it is just something they can do and it came in handy a LOT during the War of Succession

Which is probably actually when they first appeared! Trauma bonding 🥰🥰

So that's what I managed in a day! The heights are...average, I'd say. Not gospel, but like, the differences between the fusions? Solid. I eyeballed it 100%. I'm like MAKE EM BIG but then I'm like I WANT THEM TO BE SNEAKY AND BLEND IN WHEN THEY CAN AS JUST VERY TALL PEOPLE HUEHUEHUE. For some of them. SO YEAH. I HOPE THIS SATISFIES THE LIL ITCH? THE LIL TICKLE? THE LIL FUSION BUG??

I gotta like. Tidy Fusion AU up now that I've got Crystal Springs tidied up, too! It'll make it easier to write the Jackie Frost instalment, lol.