#Mechanical Project Help

[nellasbookplanet]

Thinking about Prey again, and, more specifically (beware of massive spoilers from here on out) the choice to have Morgan Yu be a silent protagonist.

At first it seems like such an odd choice, because Morgan does have a voice - you're faced with it in old video and audio recordings, not to mention in the sentient memory copies that are January and December. When other characters encounter January, they comment on it speaking with Morgan's voice, despite Morgan themself never uttering a word. Other characters address Morgan as if expecting a response, and then keep on going seemingly without noticing they never got one. Part of me wondered why past-Morgan spoke but present-Morgan didn't, but, having previously played Half-Life and Portal, also featuring silent protagonists, my assumption was that hey, clearly this is a common video game mechanic. It doesn’t entirely make sense within the narrative since Morgan (unlike Freeman and Chell) is established to have a voice, but whatever, I'm capable of suspension of disbelief for the sake of the medium.

But with the ending reveal of Morgan not actually being Morgan but rather an alien typhon living through a simulation, it starts feeling much more narratively intentional. I went through the game saving as many people as possible because I'm a baby and I feel bad if I let the NPCs die. I never took into account wwmd - What Would Morgan Do - but in the little review at the end of the game when you find out you were an alien all along there’s this interesting line: "you're assuming it thinks like us." Every choice throughout the game becomes recontextualized. Did typhon-Morgan save people out of empathy, or because of some unknowable alien drive? Because you have no dialogue you can't really establish an underlying reasoning beforehand. I personally went from having projected my own reasoning onto Morgan to stopping and going wait... why would an alien do this? How does it think? What Would (Human) Morgan Do no longer matters; instead, the question is Why Did (Typhon) Morgan Do What They Did?

From a practical angle, it also makes sense. The typhon don’t speak, so of course typhon-Morgan also doesn't. The fact that it’s all a simulation means all the people they encounter can be programmed not to question this, thus never giving typhon-Morgan (or the player) a reason to question it either.

In the end, I simply find it fascinating and impressive how the game leveraged a common mechanic of the medium to become not only an integral part of the narrative, but also, through this leverage, tricks the player into not noticing it, only for it to change everything when you do.

[rocksanddeadflowers]

Hey mechs fans do any of y'all have images of posters or flyers or anything? Not sure what exactly to ask for actually, but like, images of actual flyers/adverts for certain gigs or random poster like things from the actual band? Or anything adjacent! Photos that look like papers either for shows or made up to expand canonical mechs lore!

Like there's this picture of DBB/Ben handing out HNOC papers- any images of stuff like that! Or again anything adjacent- I've seen this one post of UDAD City set newspaper, stuff like that would be awesome too!! Please anything like that do share or point me in the direction to find them I'm begging very politely!!!!!!

[the-bat-bros]

Anxious! Tim Drake

Have some angst head cannons

Anxious! Tim Drake who assumes that if anyone is upset near him, it’s his fault

Anxious! Tim Drake who hides in his room when his family is arguing, and stares at the wall, trying to make out what is being said a few doors down

Anxious! Tim Drake who dissociates whenever he is in trouble

Anxious! Tim Drake who gets aggravated the first time Dick tries to help him through a panic attack

“I said I’m fine”

“Tim I can see that you aren’t fine, and that’s okay. Please talk to me, tell me what’s going on. Let me help-”

“I said I’m fine!”

Anxious! Tim Drake who feels bad about shoving people away who are just trying to help him. But he doesn’t need help. They’re only pitying him anyway. They don’t actually care.

Anxious! Tim Drake who bounces his knee, taps his fingertips together, or twirls a pen to help get some of his anxieties out

Anxious! Tim Drake who absolutely breaks down on the floor in the bathroom when a mission went wrong. It was his fault. He didn’t do enough. He should have done more. He needs to prove himself. He needs to do better.

Anxious! Tim Drake who is up all night because his mind won’t shut up, going over every tiny little detail of the day and what he could have done differently. He’s such a failure. He doesn’t deserve to be part of this family. He needs to be better. They’re probably still upset about that thing from three years ago. Oh god why did he sound so silly talking to Bernard last week? Why didn’t he offer to help Damian with his homework is he a bad brother? Oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god.

Anxious! Tim Drake who finally accepts help from Jason. Jay links Tim up with his therapist. Therapy sucks but Jason was right, it’s helping

Anxious! Tim Drake who learns to journal. Writing down what he think he did wrong and then writing why it was okay underneath that. He feels so silly when he does this, but it helps

Anxious! Tim Drake who gets a little better every day. It will take time. Healing isn’t linear. But he isn’t a failure. He is doing the best that he can. And that’s enough.

[dukeofthomas]

Not "Robin Jason was just an angry, violent, aggressive brat", not "Robin Jason was a perfect, innocent, complete sunshine child" but a secret third thing (Robin Jason was a child who'd suffered abuse and trauma his whole life and never got the proper tools to heal from it; he was happy and silly, and he got angry and could be difficult)

[pathological-runaway]

what if teth has avpd?

like, they're often seen by the community as harsh. but what if this harsness is their defence mechanism? what if this is what they do to push people away when they come too close, when they dig too deep for teth's liking? what if teth uses snarky comments and sarcasm to divert others' attention? what if they're reluctant to share their thoughts and emotions and change topics when these are brought up? what if they have no idea how to talk to people? what if they cover their anxiety with harshness? what if they regret it once people start fearing and avoiding them? what if teth hates pushing people away all the time but can't help it? what if they get so angry at themself when triggered that they lash out on others, which, in turn, makes them feel even worse? what if they sit in the corner in silence or slip out of the room if they know people aren't listening? if they think people aren't listening?

what if ayin is their safe person? what if having them around makes teth feel less scared when they're with other people? what if they can sometimes be honest with ayin about their feelings? what if, despite this, they still imply most things instead of saying them explicitly? what if ayin tries to understand? what if ayin reassures them, tells them they do love teth and aren't annoyed by their company? what if teth almost manages to believe them? what if ayin asks them a lot of questions because they know teth would be reluctant to speak up unprompted but could ramble for hours if knowing their ramblings are welcome? what if teth gives ayin silly little trinkets as gifts to show that they care, even if they can't say it out loud? because saying things means exposing themself, and teth would never, could never because words can't be erased but can be used against them, and it's terrifying?

what if they do manage to say it, on a certain point? what if-

[thatswhatsushesaid]

writer friends: do i have any pals who use the ipad version of scrivener for their creative projects, and if so, what have your experiences been with it while working on longer projects?

[stellarphileistic]

I CAN’T BE GETTING TENDINITIS, NOT NOW, PLEASE GOD NO

[theunconcernedembalmer]

idk how long my laptop will survive seeing as i hardly use it anymore so anyway here's an abandoned project from a couple of years ago where i ambitiously tried to make an rpg with the yokai outfits. here are some sprites i made

[crumbleclub]

Something I think would destroy Michael when he finally got out of William's house:

At every turn, the adults who were supposed to care for him failed him. Now that he's an adult, nobody is expected to help him at all.

[maxwells-daemon]

nothing like developing a hyperfixation when I should be doing so many other things

[scorpiusmalfoylovesoscarwilde]

hey alexa, is projecting my emotions and situations onto fictional characters in my mind because that's the only way I know how to process and deal with them healthy??

[bgpop]

i finished my first game for class ^_^

[laylafgore]

Ambrus cockpit design!

[bizlybebo]

hfb just reached 5000 hits ohvmy fuvkging ogd

[moreespressoformydepresso]

I don’t know why, but my favorite things ever are as follows:

1) take a random plot bunny and figure out how to make it happen in a way that makes sense and feels organic, and then work out what would happen as a result.

2) analyze the psychology of characters and build on it. Build backstories for minor characters that explain their canon traits while also adding stuff to their character that works with said backstory, and then explore how they deal with the various bad situations I put them through. Nothing tickles me quite writing characters healing from traumatic events they’ve been through and finding their happy ending despite being dealt a shitty hand in life.

[theresa-of-liechtenstein]

well. ok then :/