#Monday Tutorial

[marginofthought]

Happy mommy Sam Monday!

https://mpregloveranon.livejournal.com/890.html

Have you read this Wincest fic with pregnant Sam? It is sooo goood

Happy Mommy Sam Monday!!

No, I haven't read it yet. I sadly never got into Live Journal, never understood how it worked/the UI. I do usually check recs from LJ out so thank you!

Link for anybody else who's interested

[deepdreamnights]

Music Monday - This one puts a smile on my face every time.

This one takes maybe some explaining.

Okay, so I was trying to get something with cowbell, which Suno takes as meaning "country" apparently, despite that not being the intent.

Moreover, this wasn't meant to be a full song, I was doing tests to see which ASCII symbols produced notes, which is a way to control (to a degree) the non-lyrical content of suno gens. In this case I tested this:

˜ ¸ ˜˜ ˜ ˜ ¸ ˜˜˜ ‘ ˜˜˜ „ ˜ ‘ º „ ˜ ‘˜ • ¸ ˜ ˜˜ • ¸ ˜˜ ‘ ˜º „ º ‚¸ ·· ˜ ‚„·· ˜ ¸ ˜˜ ˜ ˜ ¸ ˜˜˜ ‘ ˜˜˜ „ ˜ ‘ º „ ˜ ‘˜ • ¸ ˜ ˜˜ • ¸ ˜˜ ‘ ˜º „ º ‚¸ ·· °¶ ¯ ˜ ‘ º˜º ˜ ‘ ˜˜˜ ˜ ‘ ˜˜ ˜ ‘ ˜˜ ˜ ‘ ˜ ˜ ˜ ‘ ˜ ˜¯ ¯ ˜ ‘ º˜º ˜ ‘ ˜˜˜ ˜ ‘ ˜˜ ˜ ‘ ˜˜ ˜ ‘ ˜ ˜ ˜ ‘ ˜ ˜¯ ‡ ~ ˜ ‚„·· ˜ ¸ ˜˜ ˜ ˜ ¸ ˜˜˜ ‘ ˜˜˜ „ ˜ ‘ º „ ˜ ‘˜ • ¸ ˜ ˜˜ • ¸ ˜˜ ‘ ˜º „ º ‚¸ ·· ˜ ‚„·· ˜ ¸ ˜˜ ˜ ˜ ¸ ˜˜˜ ‘ ˜˜˜ „ ˜ ‘ º „ ˜ ‘˜ • ¸ ˜ ˜˜ • ¸ ˜˜ ‘ ˜º „ º ‚¸ ·· ° ¯ ˜ ‘ º˜º ˜ ‘ ˜˜˜ ˜ ‘ ˜˜ ˜ ‘ ˜˜ ˜ ‘ ˜ ˜ ˜ ‘ ˜ ˜¯ ¯ ˜ ‘ º˜º ˜ ‘ ˜˜˜ ˜ ‘ ˜˜ ˜ ‘ ˜˜ ˜ ‘ ˜ ˜ ˜ ‘ ˜ ˜¯ - ~ ˜ ‚„·· ˜ ¸ ˜˜ ˜ ˜ ¸ ˜˜˜ ‘ ˜˜˜ „ ˜ ‘ º „ ˜ ‘˜ • ¸ ˜ ˜˜ • ¸ ˜˜ ‘ ˜º „ º ‚¸ ·· ˜ ‚„·· ˜ ¸ ˜˜ ˜ ˜ ¸ ˜˜˜ ‘ ˜˜˜ „ ˜ ‘ º „ ˜ ‘˜ • ¸ ˜ ˜˜ • ¸ ˜˜ ‘ ˜º „ º ‚¸ ·· ° ¯ ˜ ‘ º˜º ˜ ‘ ˜˜˜ ˜ ‘ ˜˜ ˜ ‘ ˜˜ ˜ ‘ ˜ ˜ ˜ ‘ ˜ ˜¯ ¯ ˜ ‘ º˜º ˜ ‘ ˜˜˜ ˜ ‘ ˜˜ ˜ ‘ ˜˜ ˜ ‘ ˜ ˜ ˜ ‘ ˜ ˜¯ ~ " ~ ˜ ‚„·· ˜ ¸ ˜˜ ˜ ˜ ¸ ˜˜˜ ‘ ˜˜˜ „ ˜ ‘ º „ ˜ ‘˜ • ¸ ˜ ˜˜ • ¸ ˜˜ ‘ ˜º „ º ‚¸ ·· ˜ ‚„·· ˜ ¸ ˜˜ ˜ ˜ ¸ ˜˜˜ ‘ ˜˜˜ „ ˜ ‘ º „ ˜ ‘˜ • ¸ ˜ ˜˜ • ¸ ˜˜ ‘ ˜º „ º ‚¸ ·· ° ¯ ˜ ‘ º˜º ˜ ‘ ˜˜˜ ˜ ‘ ˜˜ ˜ ‘ ˜˜ ˜ ‘ ˜ ˜ ˜

And some part of that was read, when combined with country as "huk-a-ruk, buck-a-roo" and similar such sounds. For reasons difficult to explain, the song makes me laugh pretty much every time.

This is probably partially because of the faux emotion the simulated voice puts behind utterly nonsensical sounds, and partially because I imagine the song being sung by a band of capybaras in cowboy hats.

[volivolition]

prepping for my Bonus Days. i love tutorial agent lmao

[nintendoduo]

How to Add Custom Characters to SNES RPG Maker Games

(This tutorial is also available at Neocities.)

The Super Famicom versions of RPG Maker did not have a sprite editor, meaning you were stuck with the medieval-looking default characters and couldn't make a game starring, say, Garfield. The second game (RPG Maker 2 / RPG Tsukūru 2), however, did have graphic packs that were downloadable via Satellaview, and those packs had extra characters. Characters that a sufficiently motivated nerd could, in theory, edit into other characters.

You see where this is going.

So here's a tutorial for adding not just custom characters, but custom character packs that basically amount to 16-bit era DLC. And yes, they work on a real console, if you're that motivated of a nerd.

Stuff you'll need:

Ryouma de Yuku, an RPG Maker 2 add-on game originally downloadable via Satellaview (preserved thanks to Satellablog)

BS-X Flash Manager, a program for editing Satellaview memory packs

YY-CHR, a program for editing graphics in a ROM

The sprite sheet for the character you want to insert into the game, no bigger than 16x24 pixels per sprite (the hundreds of A Link to the Past randomizer sprites available work, if you turn them into PNGs with ZSpriteTool and do some cutting and pasting)

RPG Maker 2 itself and a way to play it that allows loading Satellaview memory packs, such as Snes9x, bsnes-plus, FXPAK PRO, or the actual cartridge if you have an empty Satellaview memory pack and a way to flash it (NOTE: don't you fucking dare do this if you haven't dumped that pack already, even if it appears to be empty)

STEP 1: Extract the Ryouma de Yuku Graphics Pack

Launch BS-X Flash Manager and open the Ryouma file you downloaded from Satellablog (Ryouma De Yuku - Complete Set.bs). It should look like this:

Select the second file on the left (the one that says 2 blocks), then go to File and click Export. This will create another .bs file with only the graphics pack and not the other Ryouma stuff. NOTE: If you skip this step you'll still be able to change the sprites, but they won't actually work in the game. Why? No idea! Just accept the mystery and don't skip this step.

STEP 2: Edit the Graphic Pack Sprites

Before getting started, take a look at the Ryouma de Yuku characters below and pick one whose colors more or less match your desired characters' colors:

(That one lady in the second row has a pretty Garfield-esque dress, for instance.)

Now launch YY-CHR and open the graphics pack .bs file you extracted in the previous step. You'll see nothing but nonsensical graphics with weird-ass colors, until you change these settings:

Format: 4BPP SNES/PCE(CG)

Pattern: 16x24

Address (click the red "ADDR 0x80" icon): 0001BC00

There, now you'll see sensical graphics with weird-ass colors. It should look like this:

At this point, changing the colors is technically optional -- nothing here will change what the colors in the game itself will look like, but seeing them as you would in the game will make the next part a lot easier. To see the correct colors, you need to load a ZSNES emulator save state created within RPG Maker 2. No, this won't work with a save state made in an emu created this century, for, once again, some reason. Yes, this is kind of a pain in the ass, so here's an RPG Maker 2 save state we made just for you. You're welcome.

Anyway, go ahead and click "Palette," then "Load Emulator State" and pick the one we provided. Now the colors will look... worse?!

Ah, but notice that the color palettes available on the lower right are now different. If you scroll down that list, you should find a palette that makes each character's colors match the ones in the game.

Scroll down the window on the left to find the character you settled on at the start of this step, then pick the right palette for them. In our case, here's the Garfield lady with her right palette:

Now look at the sprites for the character you want to add. We're using this Garfield sprite sheet by Jon Gandee and Hansungkee from Spriters Resource, hastily adapted for this tutorial by someone who clearly isn't a pixel artist. (PRO TIP: you can easily add a grid over your image by opening it in Paint and pressing Ctrl+G. Take a screenshot to be able to zoom in all the way.)

Now use the drawing tools on the right of YY-CHR and the colors on the palette to replicate each sprite over the existing ones, always over its equivalent position ("walking right" over "walking right," and so on). Click the second cog icon on the bottom (the one that says 32x32 by default) if you want to zoom in. Heeeeeere comes Garfield!

When you're done with a sprite, you can click the Copy button on the toolbar above to copy everything currently being shown on the right window, the Paste button to paste it over another sprite, and lastly Mirror Horizontal (the double arrow pointing left and right reminiscent of Nickelodeon's Catdog) to mirror it.

Once you've finished all the sprites, you can go to File and pick Save as to create yet another .bs file, which takes us to the next step...

STEP 3: Load the Graphics Pack in RPG Maker 2

Assuming you're using an emulator, because you almost definitely are, we recommend Snes9x over bsnes, since save states don't seem to work for RPG Maker 2 on the latter and you'll be needing a shitload of those if you actually want to play this game. In Snes9x, go to File, Load MultiCart, and pick your legitimately obtained RPG Maker 2 ROM on Slot A and the last .bs file you just created in Slot B, then click OK. (You can ignore the BIOS part for this game.)

If you like living on the edge and insist on using bsnes, go to System, Load Special, Load BS-X Slotted Cartridge, and set the two files just mentioned as Base cartridge and Slot cartridge respectively. The game should start now. Press A to go to main menu, then go to the second option ("EDIT" if you're using the English translation patch).

Now go to the last option ("DAT" in English), then the last option again ("MEM-PAK IMAGE DATA"). Press up to select the memory pack and A to confirm (this part is untranslated in the patch).

Press B to go back to the previous menu and go to the second option there ("PARTY"). Press A twice and that will take you to the Character Maker screen. This is, astonishing as it might seem, where you make characters for your game.

The first option in this screen is where you can name your character, so go for it if you want. In the Japanese version, press R twice to use the Latin alphabet. In the English translation, you start with the Latin alphabet and pressing R once will let you use lower case letters (not available in the Japanese version).

Press start to save the name and A to confirm. Now, at last, the reason we're here: goddamn Garfield. Pick the second option in the Character Maker screen ("IMAGE") and use the D-Pad to select a character. Your character will be among the last ones, so you'll probably want to start by pressing down. There's our boy!

Press A to select the character, B three times to leave, and A to save and exit the Character Maker. At this point you can start playing with the other options to make a game for your character -- or, if you just wanna see what it looks like in action with little effort, simply load someone else's RPG Maker 2 game, like one of the 11 existing English language ones from the '90s preserved at rmarchiv.de. These are always in SNES save ram format (.srm), so simply rename the file to match the name of the ROM, put it in the "saves" folder for Snes9x or the same folder as the ROM for bsnes, and repeat the process above to replace one of the characters in the game with your own.

NOTE: You'll need to load both files via the "Load MultiCart" or "Load Special" option every time you want to use the custom characters, but you only need to do the in-game memory pack loading/character selecting process the first time. You'll know you forgot to load the .bs file if your character is suddenly invisible.

NOTE 2: Be aware that this game's English translation is somewhat unstable and can randomly crash during fights, so you'll either have to save a lot (we weren't kidding about this game requiring shitloads of save states) or get used to navigating Japanese menus.

And that's it! You are now 1/10th of the way to creating your own SNES RPG Maker 2 character pack. In the words of Garfield himself:

If you make any games in this thing, with or without custom characters, let us know and we'll play them in our channel (most likely in test mode because we suck at RPGs, but still!).

[a-queer-rail-fan]

Newsham station is opening next Monday!

[the-spoingus-show]

my current project: jump forever!

this is the first of those scheduled posts i mentioned earlier!!! i figured i would start by talking about my current project - that way i can start posting updates about it without confusing you, Michael. The next post is gonna be about the beginning of this whole Godot thing i've been on, and then i'm thinking about maybe doing a Before Godot post as a bonus once i've talked about all my godot stuff (i love saying this as if anybody cares (besides you, Michael)). setting all that aside, though: this one's gonna need some backstory, so you should buckle in.

around this time last year, me and my little cousin (he's still in high school, but we've always been pretty close) got really competitive about a little game called Jump Forever. it's a side minigame from WarioWare Mega Microgames (the GBA one) where you just jump over a little rope until you fuck up. it's really fucking fun as an addictive little mobile game, and with a quick lil emulator it was one. thus, the addiction began.

truth be told, the phase last year didn't even last that long, but i had a long bus ride a couple of weeks ago and found myself opening the GBA emulator on my phone to pass the time. that led to a little bit of playing at home, which led to beating my cousin's score, which led to getting even more into the game than i was before. as our scores get higher, we've turned to better controllers than a phone touch screen for serious record attempts - i use a ds lite i had lying around (that i reshelled! it was very fun) and he emulates on pc with a controller (i think). this got me thinking about a potential "definitive edition" of the game - probably still on mobile, but with controller support, better touch controls (the game only needs <-, ->, and A!), faster resets, selectable skins, and maybe even unlockable skins? of course, when i finished my work on fnaf (ooh foreshadowing), my sights were immediately set on a Jump Forever remake.

with all that said, welcome to the game as it currently stands! at the moment, i've got wario, the rope swingers, and the score all just about set up, with one exception; the characters have collision, the rope swings (at varying speeds, even!), and wario's speed and physics feel very accurate - but i'm still working on the ai (if you can call it that) of the rope guys as they walk back and forth. i want it to work exactly the same way as it does in the original but i always overthink random mechanics like this. hopefully the next update i give will be about how i cracked it! even if the implementation ends up jank, though, it wouldn't be the first: the rope guys check if wario is too close to them to make it over the rope with an Area2D that just checks for wario when the rope hits the ground. it works! i could just like check wario's position in the code (and it'd probably be way more efficient), but this way just... works.

i still have a buncha crap i still gotta implement before the game's even really playable - the walking ai, the title screen, the little "Ready?" animation, etc. - but that's only the beginning of my work. firstly, i'm probably gonna enlist chloe (oooh foreshadowing) to help me out by drawing some new assets (if she's free, it is finals season), and then changing the game's native resolution from 240x160 (the GBA screen) to something not fucking insane. i've got "reworking all the sprites into easy to read spritesheets" on my to-do list, and after that, making the new assets (and then maybe the skins?) will be as easy as drag & drop. once it's got the new assets and all the polish that needs to come with a shiny new resolution, i'm gonna transition into the next phase - researching how to release a game!!!

[hi, not to ruin my own amazing transition but: it's 5am and i'm running back to edit this because i completely forgot to mention that i have currently implemented a 2 frame input delay on all inputs, because that's how the emulator appears to behave when i go frame by frame. every single day i rethink this decision more and more. surely there's no way that's how it's supposed to be, right? but i feel so weird changing it now!!! i definitely fucking have to though. next time i work on it. ok anyways]

now. i've posted games to itch.io before. but even then, i kind of fucked it up (i could never get the resolution of my web games to work right???) - so it's no surprise i've always been completely daunted by the idea of "releasing a game". when you post it on real stores, that's when it becomes... real. i'm excited about the new challenges it'll pose, though! now, a mobile release means a couple of things - bite sized fun, simple progression, and fun customization. i've already got the first part nailed down, and i figured i could nail the other 2 at once with a currency system based on how many points you get (or maybe even an xp system? that goes up 1 for each jump? maybe even both???) and skins (purchasable with said currency) that let you customize the player, rope swingers, background, and maybe even the rope itself.

pictured above is my stupid ass skins mockup (i literally just made this). the rope is rainbow, the background has a snow effect and a bunch of snow on the trees/ground (isn't it great?), wario is a lil version of the rope guys, and the rope guys have santa hats. i'm not sure how many different ropes you could really make with how i'm planning the rope to move, so i'll probably end up prototyping the graphics with chloe to figure out how to lay out the sprite sheets, and if they should actually have a seperate hand-grabbing-the-rope sprite for skin purposes. it'll definitely make things really confusing, but if i go for a mobile release i don't want to run ads, and so a currency you can buy with real money (and maybe one or two goofy supporter skins that cost real money, like a solid gold guy or something, as a form of donation) is a good way to make a lil bit of money from people who like the game.

all of this is fun to think about, but it's important to remember that the next thing i have to do is that walking ai. i've gotta Make The Fucking Game before i can do all this crazy other bullshit. i'm sure the ui design for all this is gonna be soooo fun, but i need a game to attach it to first :p

this went on reeeally long but i figure if this is a dev diary or w/e it's gonna end up running long no matter what, and the more info, the more i have to look back on fondly and say "oh shit, i know exactly when this was!", which is kind of the end goal of the project. of course, these incredibly long posts about shit that only matters to me are also incredible content for you, Michael, so i'm sure you're just eating this shit up. enjoy, you weird little man.

[mwydyn]

It's like there's a layer of bubble wrap around my assignment

I can kinda see it and touch it

but not really

and i certainly can't focus on it, it's covered in bubble wrap

[shayberri789]

A) why did you set all the tutorial workshop options to the same time on the most COMMON DAYS FOR LECTURES

B) what do you MEAN YOU DONT SET TUTORIAL TIMES YOU'RE THE COURSE COORDINATOR

What fuck FUCK Charles.

[phoenixiancrystallist]

Month 4, day 13

Did a lot today! Also did nothing else today lol. I have legit been at this for somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 to 8 hours. I don't remember when I started but I do remember checking the clock at around 5pm after I'd been at it for awhile, and it is now past 10:30pm. So... yeah. I had fun :D

This is the result of parts 2 and 3 of the tutorial series I'm following (I should probably link those more often). Also I made more trees from part 1 just because I could (and also I wanted the practice, but mostly because I could). I... may have been having too much fun modeling things. The second part of the tutorial was for the non-tree plants, and I did way more than the tutorial called for.

I have six trees, 11 grasses, 4 flowers, and 7 ferns (or whatever those plants are supposed to be). The tutorials only called for three trees, five grasses, four flowers, and six ferns. At least I got the number of flowers right? But, uh, I gave the flowers more colors than I was supposed to and set it up so the bundles of flowers are all different colors instead of all the same. So still did more than I should have :P

The third part of the tutorial series was setting up the environment and getting it ready to spread plants all over it. So we made the ground, the hills in the background, and the sky. The sky I'm most excited about making, because I plan to abuse my sky-making privileges when I go to make the swords finally >:D Actually pretty much everything I learned in these tutorials I'll be using in one way or another for the swords, but being able to make my own sky means I can get ~*fancy*~ with the environments I put the swords in :D

Cinta my beloved your sword is gonna be dope as fuck

[svampira]

i was checking if i could draw him from imagination and i cant but my baby who is so so anatomically incorrect

[la-galaxie-langblr]

Universities love to create timetables that suck 😔

[vasoppressive]

Will not be able to go downtown in a while to get some sweet treats (thinking of getting italian or korean food and try and buy an edt). promised I'd treat myself after this set of midterms. Maybe next saturday. Don't think I'd die if I waited a week

[clarabowmp3]

Only just realising that the brat dress is pretty much full length. hmm….

[haltandcatchfiretothemax]

Headcanon that Cameron, J0e, and Haley have their own separate 'Emergency planning' group chat where they talk about how they'll stay in touch and regroup in the event of some kind of national, power grid-destroying catastrophe

Donna and Gordon know about it, and every now and then Gordon will call her from New York and ask, "Should we check in with them on that? We should know what their 'plan' is, shouldn't we?" And Donna will say, "Oh, let it be a surprise. I'm sure it's fine, they're working so hard, bless them"

[thatfrenchacademic]

I'm so mad about that because every person who has done a bit of social sciences will know it's about:

1) awareness aka esp first gen students who have no idea how to do a PhD, how it works, whether they are qualified or not (and will consider themselves unqualified when in doubt), where/who to ask. Bourdieu, field, social capital and all that jazz.

2) financial resources aka pay PhDs better, because underprivileged potential PhDs need to be financially independant, they don't have parents or savings they can financially rely on.

This is literally it. Everyone knows it. Academics and admins know it.

Except when you bring these up, you get for the first one "we're already doing our best" [actually doing the bare minimum] and for the second "we can't afford to pay you better" [proceeds to give zero support when the question is raised at higher level].

So yeah, pizza evenings and mindfulness sessions it is. That will totally get marginalized students into your PhD programs, sure.

I sit through so many meetings of well meaning academics pondering how to get more people from marginalised groups into PhD programs and I'm just. My sibling in academia, have you considered making doing a PhD suck less.

[bashamanik]

A Guide to Managing Columns and Prioritizing with Views in monday.com | Tara Horn

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