#ac unity tutorial

[bobacupcake]

ask from over on cohost that i wanted to crosspost over here!!

hi!!! i'm assuuuuming you're talking about the effect in this one?

i'm using something called parallax mapping!! i know most people know what parallax is and how it works in the realworld but im just gonna demonstrate it real quick just so i dont have to keep going "ok now imagine how parallax works"

so imagine you have two windows. in the middle of the window on the left, there is an Orb. it is directly in the middle of the window. the window on the right also has an Orb, but this one is pushed backwards outside the window quite a bit. now if you look at the two windows, and turn them, you get this:

for the first window, the Orb stays basically in the center of the window. but in the second window, if you turn the window right, the Orb "looks like" it's moving left

parallax mapping is essentially taking this assumption, that if you change the angle you are looking at an object, the further away an object is, the more it will move in the opposite direction. i will spare you on the matrix math involved but you can get the exact relation you need by getting the Tangent Space View Direction. you dont need to understand the math behind this to use it

so, lets go back to the window example, how would you make the same effect, but with just this 2d texture of the Orb?

what if, whenever the object it was attached to turned right, you just moved the texture to the left, by X amount, where X is how far into the window the orb is. you would essentially be cheating god and "faking" the parallax. it would look like it's moving like it's far out of the window, but really, it's still a 2d texture. it would look like this:

i was too lazy to make the shader and record another gif but i dont need to because functionally it would look almost identical because when you turn it right the Orb moves left

again, you can just Know the right direction to push the texture in based on the current angle by getting the Tangent Space View Direction. ok another example. what if you had a black and white noise texture, like this

now what would happen if, instead of moving the whole texture X amount. you moved each pixel a proportional amount based on how bright it is. a 100% black pixel would not get moved at all, and a 100% white pixel would get moved the furthest along the Tangent Space View Direction. a pixel thats right down the middle would move half that distance etc etc. well it would look something like this!!!

thaaat's the basics behind it!!! it's also used for effects like faking room interiors through windows with just a 2d texture in biig cityskapes and the like

you can see how the cube example looks kind of like an ice cube with the distortion, that's Not intentional and how parallax mapping artifacts. i do not care about it, because i make crystals. but some people do care about it, so you can use parallax occlusion mapping, which is like parallax mapping but a step up

here's some more reads on it if you are interested!!! https://simonschreibt.de/gat/windows-ac-row-ininite/ https://www.patreon.com/posts/playing-with-29753575 https://catlikecoding.com/unity/tutorials/rendering/part-20/ https://halisavakis.com/my-take-on-shaders-parallax-effect-part-i/

[felidae-sims]

Resources for Creating: My Go-To things.

Update: I’ll be updating the list on this page from now on, since Tumblr can’t handle so many hyper-links in one post, on Dreamwidth - right here, so I won't have to update it multiple times. Please note: I keep updating this list, and updates aren't showing up on reblogs. Please check the original post for the most up to date list.

Sooo this is going to be a long comprehensive list. I got back to this game after a long time and with a different computer, with a dedicated graphics card, hurray! It made me want to return to making things, so while gathering back all the necessary stuff, I've complied this list. It might be is updated as I go along, but these are the main things I use. Maby one day i'll even finish something. So here are my go-to resources & tutorials; I'm posting it here for safekeeping, and hopefully others will find it helpful. Everything that's listed is here free. So many wonderful things for free under the cut.

Programs – General:

Creating: Blender. Blender Addons: 3D Print Toolbox – comes with blender, enable it from within the program. Originally for 3d printing. Good for fixing flipped normals, and some quick general repairs. Source Tools And source tools wiki – for exporting as SMD!!!! (SimPe: to enable bump maps for the mesh on import). GMDC Addon for Blender 4.0+ by Nopke.

GIMP. GIMP Addons: G'MIC-Qt. Resynthesizer. Nvidia dds?. Doesn’t it come with Gimp?

Other: Nvidia Texture Tools Exporter (iirc it works with all graphic cards that are compatible, doesn’t require Nvidia). For making Normal / Bump / Cube Maps. For high quality compression.

NormalMaps - Online, For making all types of maps, has good setting menus. A very cool tool.

Converting: Umodel, for Unreal Engine (Static meshes: export as gtlf.2. Animated meshes: export as psk. Requires Add-on). AssetStudio, for Unity. AC Viewer, self implied (+ USD Addon for blender). QuickBMS* and support forum, for basically everything else. (don't forget the required scrips, down the same page). *I haven’t tested it fully yet, but it was recommended here. A tutorial for it is listed further down. Works like a charm.

UV Mapping: UV Mapper, Classic (free) and the most recent Demo (for visualization).

Programs – Sims:

Never Mind the Bollox, Here's Osab and MAGIkarp to the rescue!

Latest version of SimPe, works with a non-default installation path. Chris Hatch's updates.

Home Crafter installation, Post by Huge Lunatic at Sims2Artists.

Repository Wizard, by Pick'N'Mix Mods. A game changer.

DBPF Compare, by Pick'N'Mix Mods.

Object Relocator, also by Pick'N'Mix Mods.

SMD Tools, by Lazy Duchess.

The Compressorizer, by JFade – Lazy Duchess's edit.

Bulk Rename Utility, to change file names in well, bulk. As explained by io here.

Lot Adjustor, by Mootilda at MTS.

Tutorials:

Override the game's graphic settings via Nvidia, as explained by iCad. The settings to Nvidia Profile Inspector she linked to at MTS have been deleted for some reason, here they are via WebArchive.

Meshing in Blender:

Mesh Optimization Info (and links), by Crisps&Kerosene.

Additional - Reducing Polycount:

Tutorial, by Flaming-Chickens (another username on other sites perhaps?)

Edge – Un-subdivide, a quick one by CG Link.

Transfer high poly details to low poly object in Blender, by 3Dnot2D.

Shrinkwrap Modifier - Blender Tutorial for Beginners - Basics, by in2vert.

Placeholder for this Addon that I want to try but haven't found, something for AR that was on facebook's defunct AR.

Scaling tips, by Blender Secrets.

How to fix inverted/ flipped normals, by ipaintsmallthings.

Converting: How to Extract 3D Models, Textures, Music from Unreal Engine Games, by iwanMods.

Extract 2D/3D/SFX Unity Assets fast & easy from your Unity Game, by iwanMods as well.

How to use QuickBMS, by darkhorse.

Guide to Converting 3t2 and 4t2 Part 01 and Part 02, by Chiaroscuro/tenlittlepandas.

Converting TS4 Windows and Doors, by Crisps&Kerosene.

Using Different Material Maps as Shading/Details for Base Texture, in Gimp or Blender, by Pineapple Forest & Crisps&Kerosene: https://www.tumblr.com/crispsandkerosene/764893644571525120/great-info-thats-the-reason-some-conversions?source=share

Texture Editing in GIMP:

Using Gimp Add-ons: G'MicQT. Resynthesizer. Both by Davies Media Design. This guy's channel for Gimp in general – here's a good one to begin with. And another one about layer masks.

Making a texture Tile Seamless: 1. My favorite - How to Make Seamless Textures for Cinema 4D - 3 Levels of Photoshop Wizardry using iPhone Photos, by School of Motion.

2. Simple Trick for More Realistic Texture Patterns in GIMP, by Davies Media Design – Quick and simple, using the Resynthesizer plugin. Good for patterns.

Making walls in SimPe out of a square texture, with minimal quality loss. To be written.

SimPe: Cloneable Objects: A List of Good Objects for Cloning, by IgnorantBliss at MTS.

Huge Lunatic's Tutorials, Her website.

Object Creation for Absolute Beginners, by Moune.

Sims 2 start to finish Object Creation Tutorial, by JWoods, Numenor, Lethe_s & IgnorantBliss.

The Material Definition (TXMT) Guide, by PixelHate – very comprehensive. Part 5 is about Bump/ Normal maps.

Null (Texture-less) Groups, by Skell. For bodyshop, for Objects see an elaboration by Midge the Tree below.

Crisps&Kerosene discovered how to add specular maps to objects! It's incredible there are still new things to discover in this ancient game.

More on Specular Maps, by Pineapple Forest.

Making new flooring & walls with SimPE, by Charisa. Includes adding Bump/Normal maps. She added a file to clone from in the comments below. It works for normal maps as well. Here's cool discovery in the game files.

Expanding footprint: a mini tutorial, by Deedee.

How to add correct drop shadows to objects, by Yuxi, via Wayback Machine.

Making Objects Viewable in Neighborhood View, by iCad.

Making Objects Visible In Build/Buy Mode, Invisible In Live Mode, by Midge the Tree.

Making Seasons-Friendly Trees, by Echo.

Io/ Serabiet's resources list, mainly for Bodyshop but not just.

Pineapple Forest's Tutorials, useful tips for efficiency and optimization.

MTS modding forum in General.

The Sims 2 Tutorials, on Tumblr. A database, is more updated.

Sims2Artists tutorials section.

LeeFish modding forum.

Garden of Shadows, Tree of Knowledge section.

Troubleshooting: What to do if you get a System.OutOfMemoryException Error, SimPe Forum, via WayBack Machine. Thank you @fanseelamb for the find.

How to read object error logs: I just want to know what causes it!!, by Episims.

Common TS2 errors, by Midge the Tree.

General game fuckery: How to Stop Sims 2 Crashing (Memory Allocation Fix and 4GB Patch Repair), by Jessa.

Graphics card problems, LeeFish forum.

Graphics help - DIY, by Kiri. How to fix faulty Texture Memory allocation, and the problems that stem from it. Tumblr can't handle anymore hyper links so here it is: https://celebkiriedhel.tumblr.com/post/189431721483/graphics-help-diy

General: Switching between save folders without renaming them, by Nopke.

Resources:

3D Models Online*: Various furniture designers' websites: Porada, Zanotta, Muuto, Hay, Poltrona Frau, many luxury furniture designer basically.

3D Warehouse, belongs to Sketchfab (get the Collada files).

Scan the World.

Wikimedia Commons. And more.

*(NOT OPTIMIZED).

Textures: Architextures.

Fabrics & Wallpapers: Natural Stones: Wall Plasters:

iCad's Woods. Shastakiss's Cluedo Metals, Yeti Metals, Pirate Woods. Goat's Woods.

Textures from other games: Dishonored, Thieve and much more, by Saricoya at GoS. Dreamfell by io.

Resource sharing threads at Garden of Shadows.

SimPe - General: CEP Extras list, HugeLunatic at Sims2Artists.

TXMT settings for different materials, by Hafiseazale.

Extended SimStandardMaterial Shader for the Sims 2 + Optionally Brighter Sims, by Crisps&Kerosene.

Custom CubeMaps, by Crisps&Kerosene.

Shiny TXMT Settings & Cube Maps Packs, by Pineapple Forest.

Build/ Buy: Templates for Recoloring Maxis items; MTS Templates sction, Hafiseazale (+cc), ZeroDark.

Template for Seasonal Trees, Gwenke at Sims2Artists.

Making Roof Recolors, Tutorial & template by Numenor, great template by iCad.

Pack for making food clutter usable, by DeeDee.

CAS: Default Makeup Packages - BYO Packages, by Huge Lunatic.

Body shape, Io/Serabiet on Tumblr.

Skin template, Io/Serabiet on Tumblr.

Hair texture, iCad.

Color Actions, Pooklet on Tumblr.

That's it for now.

Edit: forgot about CEP extras. Added more links. Edit 02: Added Troubleshooting section under tutorials.

[insecateur]

died like 5 times in the ac unity tutorial bc i forgot to let go of r2... we love being a gamer 🤪🤪🤪

[recurse-game]

I was scrolling through the re:curse tag and I noticed you like joked in an old post that you shouldn't use rpgmaker for gamemaking. I've been wanting to make a game on there for a bit and im genuinely curious like, what are the downsides to using it?

If you specifically want to make an “rpgmaker-feeling game”, rather than an rpg in general, any version of rpgmaker can probably get you where you want. If you have no interest in learning to code, you can get by in it with zero scripting knowledge, which is nice for artists. And honestly, anything that motivates you to make a game is worth pursuing! My main gripe with the engine is its lack of flexibility, especially in comparison to other free, code-lite engines that are available now. Here are a few specific points:

Platform restrictions: VX Ace, the version I used, cannot export a game for Mac, Linux, or mobile. That means a ton of people won’t have access to your game. Most other commercial engines can do this.

Limits your system design: In rpgmaker, the battle system, menu system, dialogue system, controller input settings, heck, even the fonts and window graphics… They’re all baked in, and changing them is a huge pain in the ass, requiring modifications to the engine’s source code. If you like the way the builtin systems look, it’s fine, but every time I wanted more precise control of my game’s “feel,” I started hitting walls.

Custom scripting in Ruby: Not the biggest gripe, but VX Ace’s internal scripting language is Ruby, which isn’t that common for game development in the West (and I don’t know it very well). Another language like Python, JavaScript or C# would be more accessible for me personally.

The long and short of it is, I started developing in Unity for work, and it’s capable of so much more customization out of the box that going back to rpgmaker (or visual scripting/code obscuring engines in general) feels like putting on handcuffs.

If you want to check out some more free/cheap engines before you commit to rpgmaker, I’d reccomend checking out:

Unity: Great general-purpose 2d and 3d engine, lots of documentation, tutorials and asset store resources available.

GameMaker: I’ve used this in the past and it’s a pretty good middle ground between Unity and rpgmaker. 2D-focused, you can make rpgs but also platformers and other types of 2D games.

Unreal Engine: If you want to do AAA-styled 3D and get great results out of the box, check out Unreal. Its almost exclusively node-tree based visual scripting that can be a bit more intuitive than regular programming.

RenPy: Haven’t used, but seems to be the overwhelming choice if you want to make visual novels.

[mtg-player1]

Intro post

[last updated: 31 march 2025]

sideblogs: @curious-etc and @music-fan (++ longer Tumblr post of sideblogs)

Hi, I'm Ink. [external link] My pronouns are: he/him or lee/lem/lis/lemself. My orientation is AroAce/arograce. I live in Norway and I'm an atheist.

find me elsewhere: neocities (accessible), @/ink@/turtle.garden on mastodon. I'm also aro-with-music on cohost.org. (more in this Tumblr post).

fuck jkr. fans of Harry Potter and the Wizarding World in general (the intellectual Property, not wizards in general) DNI.

Do interact: romance repulsed folks, aromantics, library fans, xenogender folks, trans people in general, nonpartnering people, people who strive to make their blogs or tumblr accessible, people interested in the entire world (not just their own country)

Trans unity! Trans women, trans men, nonbinary people, outherine people, xenogender people and any other trans and adjacent people are incredibly important. Do complain to me if I ever say or reblog something you think harms any of these groups.

DMs open. If you have questions or are looking for a chat. inbox temporarily closed until I can catch up.

Feel free to pick a fight with me. Obviously I won't engage if you argue in bad faith, but yeah. Pick political fights, humourous fights, whatever, I just like talking.

Under the cut: avatar and header description. plus tags & interests & byf. AKA get to know the blogger (you don't have to read the byf).

descriptions

Avatar: The sunset aroace flag with an aro-colored headset, an ace of spade card (aroace symbol) and a flag that says I stand with Palestine. end description

Header: parts of lyrics, some artists include Lemon Demon, car seat headrest and Los Campesinos, and the topics are freedom and music and some more. one of them goes "no more songs about sex drugs and rock and roll, it's boring", which is from an art brut song. [outdated]

Music

This used to be a music blog. Mostly moved to @music-fan . The old stuff is tagged #musicblogging or #music or #ink.music

(credit: burntoutuserboxes)

-

Referring to me

Pronouns

he/him, lee/lem/lis/lems/lemself, xe/xem/xyr/xyrs/xemself, xy/xyr/xyrs/xyrs/xyrself, ink/ink/inks/inks/inkself.

You can switch it up, or just use lee/lem, xe/xem or he/him.

I have more sets on my Notion (note: some details are outdated)

If you ever see any sets that make you think of me, feel free to tag/DM me.

Honorifics

Ind. (individual) and Mr.

terms

take note that I do not tolerate being referred to by feminine terms, even with "gender neutral" behind them.

another term I am happy to be referred to with:

Kith. Derived from Old English kith, kinsmen, relations; Proto-Indo-European to know; knowledge, acquaintance. Some have suggested kythman/kithman or kythan/kithan. nonbinary term (from genderkoolaid)

formal terms: fidant, gentleman

------------------------

Common/useful tags:

aroblogging - aro stuff/funnies

relatedly aroaceblogging, aceblogging, ablogging (aro/ace mostly, not all aro/ace stuff) and queerblogging (mostly non aspec stuff for simplicity) and queer history (with some more specific "[type of queerness] history" tags.

platonic posting

old posts: 1000symmetry.txt / reblogged | not reblogged

ink.post | ink.self | ink.blog | ink.opinon | ink.journalism

just thoughts | just complaints | just hobbies

funnies | original funnies | outlier funnies | [x] funnies

rights & politics | highlights from politics

musicblogging | music | lyrics | me abt music | ink talks about emo

described art | art | fav art | aro art | ace art | trans art | art tutorial | art tips

self care | mental health | affirmation | reminders (this is slightly more broad but yeah) | recovery

pain and suffering (tag for when I blogged about my own (physical) pain) | disability (reblogged disability) | mobility disability | mobility aids | wheelchairs | blindness | [disability name] | accessibility | accomodations

advice & attitudes | life hacks | how to | how to live

informative | useful | knowledge | resources

neopronounblogging | pronoun posting | cool terms | language | respect & language | rhetoric/word choice | conlang | can you tell I want to make a conlang

Liam teaches unsuspecting internet people norwegian | norwegian stuff | norsk (in Norwegian tag) | på nynorsk | på bokmål | Norwegian | på norsk

On [topic] (e.g. tagging, art, dnis)

practicality/tw/cw:

I tag (as written):

undescribed | described / id in alt / described by me / my image description

txt | gif | video

negative

death - I tag anything that uses that word or synonyms with this.

murder - I tag anything that uses that word or synonyms with this

cw romance

not for the bus ( stuff I wouldn't want people to see without context sitting on the bus, mild nsfw, not necessarily sexual, doesn't include sexual jokes or text)

sex related (for jokes about theoretical sex usually, also (mild) kink jokes) | sex joke

artistic nudity

Tw [trigger]

Cw [content]

[trigger/content] mention

[discrimination type] mention - for someone is fighting against that discrimination generically (e.g. [x group] don't always [stereotype])

I can tag anything else just ask :)

------------------------

Before you follow / stances

I'm not often involved in very hot take discourse, nor much discourse in general, but you can just ask (by ask or DM) if there's anything, or if you disagree with anything i post/reblog. Well thought out arguments are appreciated /genuine.

I'm sure I don't have to say, but I support queer rights. I am strongly against terfs & other radfems. I obviously support xenogender people. but I don't identify with any named movement I'm aware of.

I guess I should say I have the somehow controversial opinion that trans men need liberation not just trans women (but don't disinterpret this, I cherish trans women and nonbinary people highly as well).

Queerness is about breaking away from gender norms/laws. It's about not performing gender like society says based on your (m/f, conforming) sex. About not fitting into the two boxes of cis perisex boy who likes girls and only girls romantically and sexually or cis perisex girl who likes boys and only boys romantically and sexually.

I'm very sex and kink positive (the political beliefs). In case it needs to be said sex and kink requires enthusiastic (informed) consent and communication. no one is obligated to have sex, ever.

I, as many others hate jkr and HP for a diverse set of reasons (transphobia & antisemitism especially). You can follow if you stopped being a fan. also DNI if you have HP url or similar or monetarily support the wizarding world and other stuff that support jkr.

....

general discourse/politics

I hate ideologies not people, generally speaking.

I especially hate/post about: aphobia/amisia, transphobia/-misia, homophobia/-misia, intersexism, queerphobia/queermisia, queer infighting, anti-intellectualism, antisemitism, fascism, racism, colonialism, just oppression and bigotry in general

I care about: libraries, freedom of press & speech (which excludes hate speech), science, sources, queerness, the arts, research, knowledge, accessibility, health (mental, physical, and everywhere in-between), bodily autonomy, welfare (working against poverty & for healthcare & education), worker's unions, culture (especially languages), access to education, religious freedom

I believe in restorative justice

as mentioned before you're free to ask about stuff and debate with me.

-----

About my image descriptions: You're highly encouraged to copy the text if I describe your image, if you want to reformulate it or any other reason.

-----

Big posts

[links updated to url: aromantisk-fagforening]

Longest: queer history in Norway

Longest reblog chain: Norwegian pronouns

most popular posts: 1: (26.3 k) It's just Tuesday?? [fixed] 2: (20.4 k) Why do you boop? 3: (10k) Booping is inaccessible

reblog game (you can still reblog): top artists

poll with the most votes (47.5 k) Why do you boop? 2nd place: (3 k) do you like the summer?

queer organizations in Norway (if you know of more please share)

---

Aromantic union (aromantisk fagforening) member list

(people in the union, not blog members)

@rock-hoarder

@rar-sunniva

(send an ask or DM to join, requirements are just being arospec, nothing too deep)

--

Other

sideblogs: @music-fan (music posts) + @curious-etc (misc, fandom, interesting facts & stories, linguistics, hobbies) @et-afilt-individ (blog in Norwegian) + @bokmaal-norsk (me teaching you Norwegian blog) @mvr-ink-the-aro (aromantic blog, most is also here) + @bad-design-poorly-put-together (pain vents & painkiller talk) + ask

(not mine): media with aspec rep: spreadsheet (via aspeccharactersoftheday). note that characters may have small roles and the document doesn't specify.

You can also join my discord server, (link here, updated 20 April 2024, it shouldn't run out though)

[urara04]

Tags masterpost

Post categories

image - either a single image or a few, with no correlation

comic - multiple images in a row, making a cohesive story (usually only fandom-related)

video - pretty direct, all posts that feature a video

text - a text post, ranges from fanfic to full on essays, or just tumblr banter

quote - a smaller text post, not worthy to stand amongst the longer ones

gif - either a single gif or multiple gifs, doesn’t matter, special gif posts will be tagged this way

screenshots -  a very specific kind of image post (they’re a special kind of humor to me)

interactive - usually text posts where the OP made a quiz or something fun to reply to

ura talks - adding my own commentary just... anywhere

Fandoms I ever reblogged

The common pattern is that the full name is typed out, but that’s not a guarantee

assassins creed - Assassin’s Creed franchise (2007-) by UbiSoft

Any specific games under the franchise are tagged with their full name, like ac iii or ac odyssey

the owl house - The Owl House (2020) by Dana Terrace

genshin impact - Genshin Impact (2020) by MiHoYo / HoYoVerse

pretty cure / precure - Pretty Cure franchise (2004-) by Toei Animation

detroit become human - Detroit: Become Human (2018) by Quantic Dream

teen titans - Teen Titans (2003) the tv show by DC Comics

steven universe - Steven Universe (2013) by Rebecca Sugar

my little pony - My Little Pony (2010) by Lauren Faust

monster high - Monster High (2010) by Garrett Sander

Artist and writing tips, tricks, references and whatever

writing - writing reference - writing tips - writing prompts - main tags used for writing

writing romance - writing fluff - writing family - writing hurt/comfort - writing angst - writing friends - writing au - writing other - more specific writing tips/prompts

art tutorial - main tags used for art

drawing perspective - drawing backgrounds - more specific art tutorials

Post-specific tags for the vibes

serious - either for big world events that are not good, or some very depressing news in general

fanfic - either shameless advertising, or I reblogged a fanfic

relatable - posts I found wayyyy too relatable to not keep on my blog

introvert - goes hand in hand with #relatable, really

Expansion on the franchises

Assassins Creed (2007-)

ac i - Assassin’s Creed (2007)

ac ii - Assassin’s Creed II (2009) and it’s DLC

ac brotherhood - Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood (2010) and it’s DLC

ac revelations - Assassin’s Creed Revelations (2011) and it’s DLC

ac iii - Assassin’s Creed III (2012) and it’s DLC

ac liberation - Assassin’s Creed Liberation (2012)

ac black flag - Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (2013) and it’s DLC

ac freedom cry - Assassin’s Creed Freedom Cry (2013)

ac rogue - Assassin’s Creed: Rogue (2014)

ac unity - Assassin’s Creed: Unity (2014) and it’s DLC

ac chronicles: china - Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China (2015)

ac syndicate - Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate (2015) and it’s DLC

ac chronicles: india - Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: India (2016)

ac chronicles: russia - Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: Russia (2016)

ac origins - Assassins’ Creed: Origins (2017) and it’s DLC

ac odyssey - Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey (2018) and it’s DLC

ac valhalla - Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla (2020) and it’s DLC

ac mirage - Assassin’s Creed: Mirage (2023?) and potential leaks

Pretty Cure / Precure (2004-)

futari wa pretty cure - Futari wa Pretty Cure (2004)

futari wa pretty cure max heart - Futari wa Pretty Cure Max Heart (2005)

futari wa pretty cure splash star - Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash Star (2006)

yes pretty cure 5 - Yes! Pretty Cure 5 (2007)

yes pretty cure 5 gogo - Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GoGo! (2008)

fresh pretty cure - Fresh Pretty Cure! (2009)

heartcatch pretty cure - Heartcatch Pretty Cure! (2010)

suite pretty cure - Suite Pretty Cure♪ (2011)

smile pretty cure - Smile Pretty Cure! (2012)

doki doki pretty cure - Doki Doki! Pretty Cure (2013)

happiness charge pretty cure - Happiness Charge Pretty Cure! (2014)

go princess pretty cure - Go! Princess Pretty Cure (2015)

mahou tsukai pretty cure - Mahou Tsukai Pretty Cure! (2016)

kirakira pretty cure a la mode - KiraKira☆Pretty Cure A La Mode (2017)

hugtto pretty cure - HUGtto! Pretty Cure (2018)

star twinkle pretty cure -  Star☆Twinkle Pretty Cure (2019)

healin good pretty cure -  Healin' Good♥Pretty Cure (2020)

tropical rouge pretty cure -  Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure (2021)

delicious party pretty cure -  Delicious Party♡Pretty Cure (2022)

hirogaru sky pretty cure -  Hirogaru Sky! Pretty Cure‎‎ (2023?)

All other characters

Assassins Creed (2007-)

desmond miles - layla hassan - altair ibn la’ahad - ezio auditore da firenze - aveline de grandpre - edward kenway - shay cormac - arno dorian - shao jun - evie frye - jacob frye - arbaaz mir - nikolai orelov - bayek of siwa - aya of alexandria / amunet - kassandra - alexios - eivor varinsdottir - main characters of Assassin’s Creed (2007-)

clay kaczmarek - rebecca crane - shaun hastings - malik al sayf - mario auditore - henry green - fellow Assassin’s from Assassin’s Creed (2007-)

lucy stillman - cesare borgia - haytham kenway - deimos - main antagonists of Assassin’s Creed (2007-)

elijah miles - petruccio auditore da firenze - leonardo da vinci - side characters of Assassin’s Creed (2007-)

The Owl House (2020)

luz noceda - the protagonist of The Owl House (2020)

amity blight - willow park - gus porter -  main characters of The Owl House (2020)

belos / philip whittebane - the collector - antagonists of The Owl House (2020)

camila noceda - vee noceda - caleb whittebane - flapjack - evelyn clawthorne / whittewife - masha - side characters of The Owl House (2020)

emerald trio - belos!hunter - whittebane brothers - honorary tags for The Owl House (2020)

veesha - lumity - miscellaneous ships in The Owl House (2020)

Precure / Pretty Cure (2004-)

yumehara nozomi / cure dream - nono hana / cure yell - all Pink Cures in Pretty Cure (2004-)

higashi setsuna / cure passion - hino akane / cure sunny - all Red Cures in Pretty Cure (2004-)

kurumi erika / cure marine - kaido minami / cure mermaid - all Blue Cures in Pretty Cure (2004-)

kurokawa ellen / cure beat - ruru amour / cure amour - all Purple Cures in Pretty Cure (2004-)

westar / nishi hayato - bibury - all antagonists, either main or minor, in Pretty Cure (2004-)

Detroit: Become Human (2018)

connor / RK800 - kara / AX400 - markus / RK200 - the main characters of Detroit: Become Human (2018)

hand anderson - side characters of Detroit: Become Human (2018)

connara - miscellaneous ships in Detroit: Become Human (2018)

Teen Titans (2003)

robin - starfire - raven - beast boy - cyborg - the main characters of Teen Titans (2003)

robstar - miscellaneous ships in Teen Titans (2003)

Fandoms and characters I kinda just... don’t care about...

my little pony - mlp equestria girls - monster high - mahou shoujo site - the random fandoms I once reblogged but am tagging now

sunset shimmer - starlight glimmer - cleo de nile - ghoulia yelps - rina shioi - also the associated random characters by said random fandoms

World events

net neutrality - here

Other miscellaneous tags

reblorbo - untagged - q - just some automatic tags I use to keep the mess that is my blog just a little bit in order

tumblr - amazon - random companies

bots - porn bots - yeah this is just my tag dump now

[auncyen]

chasing dumb ideas from work lol

-

Ren’s Palace takes the form of a video game world, bright and zany.  The Shadows have their silhouettes color-coded according to difficulty, the cognitions are NPCs repeating stock dialogue--Mona pops up surprisingly often, considering he and Ren haven’t really hung out since May--and some of the logic used to progress is worthy of a click-and-point game.  Which means it’s lucky they have Futaba with them, since she’s the only Phantom Thief who understands the logic of click-and-point games.  Still, it’s such a breeze that it takes only three hours to reach the center of the stage, and Oracle complains they never even left the hand-holding tutorial.

Ren’s shadow smiles at them when they arrive, and hands Ryuji a controller for the P4Storm his parents took away from him and sold after his arrest.  “Wait--is this the Treasure?” Ryuji blurts.  “We didn’t give you a calling card, though.”

“Hmm...we did talk with him about what he thought the distortion might be, though,” Futaba muses.  “He’s the NPC who knows the most about our methods, so that might have accidentally triggered the effect.  Good thing we moved fast.”

The shadow nods at Futaba’s explanation.  “I didn’t want to give you guys too much trouble.  You’re my friends, after all.”

“Dude, you gave us no trouble at all,” Ryuji says with a laugh.  “You’re way too nice for your own good!”  Still, in this case, he’s relieved it’s not coming to a fight.  Ren’s a friend, and he hasn’t seemed all there lately--they might have curbstomped his shadow if it’d come to that, and wouldn’t that feel awful.

Ren’s shadow smiles shyly, and waves them off before disappearing in bright light.  The PT make their usual escape.  The Palace crumbles.

So does the controller in Ryuji’s hands.

-

Despite the alarm the crumbling treasure causes for the entire group, Ren seems to take his change of heart just fine, doesn’t even throw himself a week-long slumber party like Futaba did.  He stays home from school one day, Futaba reporting that he seems a bit sleepy but nothing too serious, and then the next day, Ren gives Ryuji a fist-bump and smile outside Shujin.  Ryuji grins and tackles him into a headlock.  He’s so glad the change of heart didn’t hurt Ren.  Ren’s his best friend.  The Phantom Thieves might have given Ryuji a reason to stay at Shujin and not drop out, but Ren’s pretty much an honorary Thief anyway, and he’s been running with Ryuji, and helping him deal with the track team’s problems, and he’s just so good at knowing exactly what to say to make people feel better.  Ryuji’s thrilled he could help Ren for once.

And then, days later, he gets a text from Makoto during class, which he knows is urgent because Makoto texting during class: “Ren is still logged in the MetaNav on my phone for some reason.  The location and distortion have been erased, but his name is still there.  Is anyone else seeing this?”

Yusuke starts typing.  Futaba and Ann chime in well before him that yes, they see it too.  Ryuji opens the Metanav on his phone.  Ren’s name is glaring on the screen, a partially-complete entry that shouldn’t be there at all.

“Class was that bad?” Ren asks when Ryuji trudges out of his classroom, prompting the blond to immediately shove the phone in his pocket.

“Uh, yeah,” Ryuji mutters.  “Hey, Ren, can we talk about the--uh--you-know-what?”

“The completely unsuspicious you-know-what, yes, what about it?” Ren answers, because oh good the change of heart gave him his sarcasm back.  Actually--that would be good news.  It means the change of heart worked and the Metanav’s got some random glitch.  “Let’s get off school grounds first.” 

Ryuji manages to only jump a little when his phone buzzes.

When he checks, the Metanav has accepted “school” as the distortion’s location, even though the Palace was actually at the scramble in Shibuya and, more importantly, doesn’t exist any longer.

They go to Leblanc, where Shiho and Futaba are both waiting to talk to Ren as well, which helps Ryuji with the conversation ahead.  It’s...kind of hard to muddle through ‘hey, we were trying to help you with your heart, but something might have gone wrong and we don’t know what’.  It both helps and doesn’t that Ren stays calm the entire time, doesn’t get worried or pissed off that they might have screwed up.  Wouldn’t a distorted person get mad?  Wouldn’t a normal person at least be nervous?

Then again, Ren’s always had nerves of steel underneath the nerdy glasses.  It never made sense to Ryuji why he didn’t awaken to a Persona when Ryuji and Ann and Shiho all could, not until they found his Palace.  He’s got the guts for it.

Futaba openly prods Ren on how he views the school, and he shakes his head.  “This must be a glitch.  You guys have already helped me.  I feel better, and everyone else has only needed their heart changed once.  Why would I be different?”

Shiho purses her lips but then agrees.  Ryuji feels a little antsy, wants to push but also wants to trust Ren, and even if the change of heart didn’t work for some reason, his friend is pushing back now.  Ren’s not hurting anyone.  His heart is his call just like Futaba’s was hers, and even the hacker, for all her curiosity, respects that.  They gotta drop it.

But it stays on the back of Ryuji’s mind for weeks as the entry stays in place, 2/3s complete, and everyone else is worried too because they all like Ren and something does seem a little off about him--like he’s trying too hard to be normal, to convince them everything is fine--and then apparently one morning, right before class starts, Ren startles Ann by leaning over her shoulder and drily reciting: “Ren Amamiya, Shujin Academy, theater”.

The keywords work, Ren supplying them is taken as an implicit request, and there’s a good chance their calling card timer is already running just like the first time, since Ren knows how they work after tagging along for most of the first Palace and helping them with supplies for later ones.  So they go.

-

Ren’s second Palace is a theater.  It’s completely different from the video game world, with dark, muted, traditional colors, yet unmistakably Ren’s, and Makoto has to get their navigators back on task several times because Morgana and Futaba are going nuts theorizing (because who has a second Palace to begin with?).  Luckily Shiho doesn’t have much trouble leading the group through anyway.  Once again, Ren’s Palace is weirdly easy.  The Shadows aren’t color-coded any longer, but they also don’t seem to care about the Thieves as long as they don’t interrupt the show on stage.  It’s...an improv show, Ryuji thinks?  Yusuke says it might be an avant garde direction on a play.  (Ryuji has no idea what the difference would be.)  What happens is Ren’s shadow is always acting, and sometimes a cognitive audience member will leave their seat and join him.  All of the Thieves are there, even Morgana, which the cat seems touched by, plus Mishima, and Ms. Kawakami, and Ms. Chouno, and Ryuji is about to question why Ren has the hots for so many teachers when Ushimaru gets up and that thought becomes cursed, and the newspaper club girl, and that cute gardening club girl, and actually, Ryuji still thinks Ren has some kind of bias for hot girls going on here.  Even if the (former) stalker girl is pushing it.

That’s probably nothing to do with the Palace distortion though, since Ren’s interactions are always a simple back-and-forth with the cognition: they request something of him, even if it’s just to talk, and Ren obliges them admirably, or sometimes he acts as though he’s ignoring them at first, only to swoop in at the last second and give them something even better than they asked for.  It’s interesting maybe the first couple times?  Morgana stands out again because his cognition nags Ren to study and make infiltration tools, something Morgana says he’s never done, which makes sense because Ren is one of those aggravating people who never needs to study to ace exams and Shiho’s always made the infiltration tools just fine.   After Morgana, though, it just falls into a predictable pattern, and the only reason to keep watching is to see who else comes up to stage.  And once cognitive guest stars start repeating, the Thieves are out.  Every improv act has been slightly different, but the flow is so obvious that it’s become mind-numbingly repetitive anyway.

They sneak past security into the back halls and find a dressing room.  Futaba and Morgana both detect the Treasure inside.  There’s a white-and-black domino mask sitting on a vanity in a dark corner of the room that both navigators swear up and down has to be the Treasure.  It almost seems appropriate for a Thief mask.  Maybe because Ren’s seen most of the team’s?  It fits the theater setting, at least, but...

“Are we just...taking this?” Ann questions, with an uncertain look around the dressing room.  “Seriously?  His Shadow’s not even going to talk to us?”

“I would not complain about us being proper thieves and going undetected for once,” Yusuke points out.

“Okay, point, but it just...feels like I understand Ren less than I did before the video game place.”  Ann sighs.  “I thought he was just a quiet guy, but he saw part of Tokyo as a game?  Now he’s acting with everyone at school?  I wish I got what it actually meant...”

“We can ask him about it later,” Shiho reassures her.  “Right now we just have to take the Treasure.”

That suits Ryuji.  They take it.  The Palace collapses.

The mask crumbles in Shiho’s hands as soon as they reach the real world, and she makes a small noise of distress.  Morgana and Ryuji spit out the same curse in a rare moment of heartfelt unity.  Futaba, on the other hand, just whips out her phone.  “Hey-hey,” their navigator says, “Guess who doesn’t want to leave the Metanav?”

-

Ren is sympathetic with his thief friends not being able to steal a Treasure, which feels wildly inappropriate to Ryuji because it’s Ren’s heart in question here.  Ryuji thinks in his shoes, he’d be losing his mind.  Ryuji’s in his own shoes and he’s still losing his mind a little, because the only answer the group can come up with for what’s going on is that Ren’s somehow got three distortions.

No, sorry.  It’s that he has at least three.  Three may not be the magic number.  Ren doesn’t seem to think it is, anyway, because now he puts down his foot.  “I’m not hurting anyone.  I’m fine.”

“Yeah, you weren’t even down for a day like last time,” Futaba mutters, giving him such a suspicious look that Shiho nudges the girl.  Ren is their friend, and he’s been helping them be Phantom Thieves.  They’ve got no good reason to antagonize him.

Ren gives her a long, silent look before shaking his head.  “You guys should be figuring out your next target.”

They should be.

They do.

Ren helps them less with supplies this time.  Ryuji wonders if it’s because of the distortion, and then he catches himself and realizes he’s been wondering if everything with Ren is because of a distortion or not.  It’s probably not even Ren’s fault.  They’re just not talking to him about Thief business as much, since...yeah.  The only upshot might be that Morgana has been making some effort to get to know Ren better.  Because Morgana was a jerk when they first found him--he’s still a jerk sometimes, but even Ryuji would say he’s gotten a lot better--and he pretty much brushed Ren off in favor of people who were actually awakening to Personas, like everyone else.  They never really argued or anything, though, and apparently judging by Ren’s Palace...s, Ren’s fond of him, and Morgana seems to have finally realized that sometimes, making friends is its own reward, even if they can’t wield kickass Personas.  So that’s a thing, now, Shiho passing Morgana off to Ren so they can trot off and do whatever people do together when one of them is a cat (apparently watch movies, get food, fish, and just talk).

And that’s why when Morgana says “I think I know Ren’s keywords” at the start of a Phantom Thieves meeting, Ryuji blurts out “I thought you stopped being an asshole” with a disappointment so deep that it kind of surprises him, because, wow, he really had been expecting that Morgana was just trying to be nice and not obsessed about Palaces and Treasures for once, huh?

Morgana blinks at him across the table.  “I have never been an asshole,” he says, outright lying.  “Though there are a few things I could say about you--”

“Morgana,” Shiho says, heading off that argument.  She looks upset, too.  “We don’t have any reason to pursue Ren’s Treasure.  He’s not hurting anyone.  He...seems to be doing all right,” though the hesitation is audible in her voice, and quickly followed with, “and even if he isn’t, it’s his heart.  You’re not getting a unanimous vote here, and if this is why you’ve been friendlier to him lately, I... don’t know what to say, except that I thought you were better than that.”

There are two Phantom Thieves who can scold Morgana and actually make him feel ashamed: Ann and Shiho.  Sure enough, she lands a critical hit; Morgana’s ears pin back, and he nearly ducks down under the table to escape her stare before stopping himself.  “I’m not asking for a vote,” Morgana says.  “If we took his treasure it’d probably just crumble again.  But I want to check if I’m right about the keywords.  It could be critical information.”

There is a long moment of silence.   As much as Ryuji’s still pissed off at Morgana, he can’t deny being curious.  If they at least knew the keywords, even if they didn’t go in, they’d understand Ren better, right?  Though...after how the last two distortions went...

As it turns in, they go in anyway, because Makoto taps on her phone to open the Metanav, places it in front of Morgana, and when he utters “Tokyo, Metaverse,” the app responds “beginning navigation”, and--

“Fascinating,” Yusuke says.

“That’s not the f-word I’d use,” Ryuji says.

“Huh, Kaneshiro’s Palace is here,” Morgana notes, because that is indeed an effing bank flying through the sky, narrowly avoiding a blimp.  The cat continues getting down to business despite the absurdity of the situation he just launched everyone into.  “That means both that he’s seen it, and that his mental map of the Metaverse isn’t accurate.  It might be based on his most recent memory?  We never brought him in the bank, though.  What do you think, Or--”  He stops when he actually turns to Futaba and sees her face.  She’s paler than usual.  “...Oracle?  Are you okay?”

“My Palace is there,” she says, pointing in the direction where Yongen Jaya would lie.  The golden tip of a pyramid gleams over dozens of other riotously colorful, stylistically mishmashed buildings.  “How does he know what my Palace looked like?  How does he know about any of these?  There’s at least two hundred--maybe three!”

Three hundred palaces is a stupid number of Palaces for anyone to personally remember, but it’s especially stupid for a guy who doesn’t even have the Nav on his phone.

-

the idea: “if persona users simultaneously having a Palace can be justified with wildcards having multiple personas (for one to turn into a shadow while the others remain to use), what kind of shitshow would Ren create if all his Personas just--” and then ng+ shenanigans wandered in

[cosmiciaria]

Assasin’s Creed III Remaster review - Spoilers! - Long post!

I wanted to keep this spoiler free, but as this game is such a narrative experience, I don't think I'll be able to. I'll try to keep them at minimum, but be warned: there are major spoilers ahead. By the way, this game is almost a decade old, so y'all had plenty of time to get spoiled beforehand. And if you're reading this, it's because you like this game and you probably know how it ends.

Review under the cut because this is way too long. 

As always, I express my feelings and impressions regarding my experience with a game – I write it because I like writing reviews instead of, I don't know, recording a video for YouTube. I'm not a YouTuber and I feel safer behind a keyboard where people don't point out about my weird accent (the accent every Hispanic person has when they speak English). Since the pandemic started, I found refuge and comfort in AC games, with Syndicate being my first contact with the franchise, and Unity solidifying my love for it. I found strength and weaknesses in all the installments I've played, which are almost all of them by now (excluding the first AC with Altaïr, the new saga with Origins, Odyssey and Valhalla, and Rogue). I've also platinumed three of those games I've played, and I'm on my way to platinum this one, so I think I can speak from a deep fan standpoint by now.

Since Syndicate, I studied from up close each of the protagonists of the mainline games. I felt drawn to Arno because he looked like one of my oc's (and his girlfriend looked like my oc's girlfriend as well); I wanted to learn about Ezio because he's a fan favorite; I wasn't at all impressed by Edward but ended up growing fond of him; I respect Altaïr for what he means to the Brotherhood; but I can safely say, that I haven't felt as attracted to a main AC protagonist as I felt with Connor.

From the moment I knew he was a native American (such a bold choice, it seemed for me) I felt instant attraction – but not the, idk, physical (he's a cutie I give it to you), but because of what he could bring about as a main character. A perspective we don't usually get to see, and personally, as I'm not American, a point of view to educate me on a different side of history. I wanted to see what they could do with him as the star of the game, I wanted to play with him and understand how someone like him could rise up and become a protagonist of such a well known and beloved saga of games. I applaud this decision from Ubisoft, whether they did it because they wanted to look progressive or not, I don't care, I'll always cherish that the protagonist of a famous videogame is a Mohawk. And with the American Revolution as the main stage, no less. Such an important scenario to strengthen the virtue of independence, patriotism and love for a country, going hand in hand with a character that represents America even more than the Founding Fathers.

(Also I'm a Hamilton Fan Trademark so I couldn't stop singing random parts of songs while playing this game, it was a nightmare every time Lafayette appeared on screen because I JUST HAD TO start mumbling Guns and Ships)

I lunged blindly into this game – I'd only spoiled myself the very ending because I played Black Flag before – so imagine my surprise when I first saw Haytham, Connor's father, as the main protagonist.

So here's the deal. Let's clear this out of the way.

I thoroughly enjoyed the game. It was what I expected and more.

But.

Yes, there's always a but in AC games, you know the drill.

As I kept playing with Haytham, charming though he was, I kept thinking to myself "ok but when does Connor come into play". I also already knew Haytham was a Templar, so the end of the first few sequences didn't catch me by surprise – actually, what caught me by surprise was that there was no mention of Assassins or Templars during the "prologue" with Haytham, instead you're left to believe they're all Assassins until he prays to the Father of Understanding and you realize with a gasp "oH NoO!".

You play with Haytham the first three sequences. One of these have the most memories out all of the sequences more or less. This whole thing can take up to three to five hours depending on how much time you wish to put into exploring or completing the optional objectives. And still no signs of Connor.

Connor does come eventually – as a child – by sequence 4. It's not until the end of sequence 5 that you get to play as (almost) adult Assassin Connor, so maybe five or six or even seven hours into the game and you're barely starting.

I know what they did here. I understand. And this is what I meant when I said they were going for a 'narrative experience'. To make you play as Haytham before, to lure you into a false sense of safety believing he was an Assassin working for a just cause, to make you feel invested in his relationship with Ziio – only to discover he's one of the bad guys, that will eventually give birth to our true hero of the game – it sediments everything perfectly. It tells you everything you need to know to understand these characters and their motivations. I can see where they're going and some of it can be quite predictable, but it was done right. On the narrative aspect at least.

I got used to Haytham by the time we switch to Connor, we're used to his cloak and his three pointed hat – his accent, his sassiness, his everything. You grow fond of him and you think, hey, maybe it isn't so bad to not play as Connor, I can roll with this – until the sudden change happens. The game completed its purpose: let you know and care for Haytham, only to strip him away from your hands and bring you the real protagonist with an interesting background that didn't need to be told, but it was instead shown to us players. What a better way to tell a story.

But the problem is – most of Haytham's memories are fillers. For starters, the very first memory where you appear in the opera house (similar to that one at the end of Black Flag… mmm) serves as a tutorial for climbing and killing with the hidden blade. Then the whole memory on the ship to Boston – completely expendable and removable, the story doesn't suffer from it. All the memories used with Haytham as tutorials – how to shield from an open line of fire, how to use ranged weapons, how to sneak and find stores and viewpoints, how to use horses and walk on snow, fricking Ben Franklin – everything, everything could've blended in better. You could still tell the story you wanted in only one sequence playing with Haytham, and end it the way it does end in sequence 3, without avoiding any important detail to frame Connor's backstory as well – but instead, this part with Haytham does feel like it overstays its welcome, and by the end you're just hoping it ends soon, it drags on for too long, and there's no real sense of thread pulling the strings together here, everything just kind of 'happens'.

But the never-ending prologue doesn't end there (badam tum tsss), because Connor still isn't an Assassin. Connor is not Connor actually, as I had been led to believe prior to playing this game: his real name is Ratonhnhaké:ton, which I wish it was used more often than it was. Ratonhnhaké:ton is like four or five years old when you first play with him, and his village is assaulted by what we assume are Charles Lee's men, a Templar and companion to Haytham. Ratonhnhaké:ton swears revenge upon these putrid British invaders and he grows up resenting the death of his mother, who died in the fire provoked by these Templars.

Not even knowing what a Templar or an Assassin is, Ratonhnhaké:ton is sent by one of "the spirit guides" (actually, Juno, one of the Precursor people) to seek the Brotherhood. When he's around 14, he sets out of his village into the wide world and finds Achilles, who will become his Assassin mentor – that is, after completing a set of tasks that yet again seem to go on forever. Ratonhnhaké:ton turns into Connor to cover his true origins, a name I thought it was random, but by the end I realized how wrong I was.

It isn't until Connor turns 17 that he becomes a fully-fledged Assassin – and you might think, well, Ezio became an Assassin at the same age – yes, but it didn't take him five sequences to reach there. I can't believe I'm defending Ezio.

It's not that I didn't enjoy playing as Connor when he was a kid, no, and I also don't think that part of the game should be skipped since it shows his people, family and friends – maybe comprised, yes, into only one sequence – the real problem here is the fact that first you need to play what could be considered the longest prologue ever, even longer than Kingdom Hearts 2's one, and you're teased with grasping the real protagonist but no, because there's still more 'prologue' to cover with Connor's rise to the Brotherhood. The real, real story, begins in sequence 6, and even then you still have a lot of tutorials to listen from the NPC on duty.

And if you do the maths – you're halfway through the game – halfway! – and you're just starting. The game has twelve sequences and the meat of the plot is on the last six. Then, why did I play all the previous parts?

For the 'narrative experience' thing I talked about. They wanted to lay the groundwork for a better, compelling storytelling, and I can appreciate it, but not when it hinders the pace of the game this way.

That is, certainly, my biggest issue with the game. The pace. If you're going to give me such a slow start, introducing characters non-stop, and only give me resolutions, discoveries and action packed sequences on the later half, then the story isn't balanced at all – I understand that at some points you need to slow down and sink in what's going on; you can't also introduce ten characters in one cutscene because that's just bad story telling – but the memories of this game are clearly not well organized and weren't thought with the player in mind, but rather with the story in mind. To think that the first mission you do as a full Assassin is to receive more and more tutorials on how the fast travel points work and how you can lower your notoriety (as far as gameplay goes in this mission, it's only walking around at a slug's pace to follow the NPC giving you instructions) it does feel like a slap in the face after all the things and hours and effort you put into it to finally reaching this point (which, I remind you, it's by sequence six!).

It's at this point where I can't blame people for not following through with this game. I have plenty of friends who abandoned it even before reaching this part. And I found myself having trouble to return to it: I only wanted to go back to it because I knew I had to like Connor, I knew he wouldn't disappoint me as a character.

Boy, was I RIGHT!

Now, to be honest, I may be biased, like I said: I was instantly attracted to Connor due to his backstory and I wished to see what he could bring to the table. And I have to say, he didn't disappoint me at all.

Maybe you know or maybe you don't, but up until this point, my fave Assassin was Arno: he showed weaknesses and he suffered the consequences of his actions, to the point of no return, that rendered him vulnerable and a mere human being. And I love me a good vulnerable character who knows their limits and strives to get out of that pit. I love me a good, compelling character that has growth and agency and isn't made of cardboard or has a one-dimensional personality. And Connor delivered on this front.

Connor might very well be my new fave Assassin. I'm sorry, Arno. I still love you babe. But Connor… I never found myself rooting for a character more than I did with him. I wanted him to succeed, I wanted his people to be saved, I wanted to see his ideals become a reality – and he's got so much agency, he's a storm when he comes into a scene, his naivety mixed with the brutality of his killings, the simplicity of his reasonings – he's an idealist, and he fights for it, whether we like it or not, and that devotion to his own creed is at least respectable, let alone admirable. He's never downplayed for his upbringing or his ethnicity, he works among the most notorious people as if he was another one of them, he's well respected in his community, he shows kindness and always offers a helping hand to those in need, but never doubts to plunge his blade into this opponent's throats, fearlessly, he doesn't mind telling George Friking Washington to shut the hell up and not follow him because he'll kill him (there's such a pleasure in a native reprimanding enslaver Washington) – he's, simply put, a great hero.

I've seen many complain that he's boring, or that the actor who played him, Noah Watts, delivered lines in an emotionless way – the only thing that could make him 'boring' is the fact that he's not a lady's man like Ezio was, and to my eyes that's a plus. He speaks slowly and modulates well in English because that's not his mother tongue, and I can appreciate when a company puts these little details, like his way of speaking changing throughout the game as he gained more confidence with this new language he was learning to use. As non-English native speaker, I certainly can commune with the feeling of adapting my tongue and my brain to a new language, and I also know that I speak weirdly to those who are native, maybe I don't have the same intonations, and maybe I sound emotionless as well, who knows, but I can't think of a better portrayal of a non-English character speaking English in videogames than this one. They remained faithful to his culture, and even though I noticed Noah didn't speak Mohawk as fluently as English, I can still feel pleased with the fact that Connor speaks in his mother tongue in all of the scenes he interacts with Mohawks (that's something they did better here than in Unity, where not a single character has even a French accent. I switched the language spoken to French in my subsequent playthroughs, much to my disappointment, because I really liked the Canadian actors). I know subtitles may seem threatening to some, but I wish they did this more often: deliver more lines in the original language of each of the protagonists. It shows care and respect. And I think this game excels at respect.

So, yes, I liked Ratonhnhaké:ton, as you can see. Maybe a lot. Too much.

I also really, really enjoyed his relationship with Haytham.

When Haytham appears back in to the fray it's when the plot picks up. Their interactions are gold: I love the rivalry, I love that Haytham is constantly testing his son, and I love the tiny bits that may show or make us believe that Haytham has a soft spot for him – I love that we never truly know what's going on through Haytham's mind, why does he do the things he does – but what I enjoyed the most about these two fighting together is the fact that they represent opposing forces, a clash of interest, and they bring back the concept of the blurred line between the Templars and the Assassins, their different methods. Haytham represents the collectiveness of the Templars, through him we learn of what they truly uphold as right and just, and behind some of his reasonings you can see sense and understanding – you comprehend his goals, you get to know your enemy, your antagonist, which is something, for instance, the Ezio trilogy lacks (because Templars bad bad pium pium die Templar bad guy) and Unity and Rogue tried to do but ultimately ended wasting its potential. I never understood Templars more than I did through Haytham, and sometimes I found myself nodding at some of his statement, like 'hey… huh… he's not that wrong about this…'. But still, we're led to believe that the good guys, the Assassins, are never wrong, so we pull through with Connor – only to realize that yes, Haytham was right in many aspects, and yes, Haytham has lied to us and he needs to be stopped.

It's here when my love for Connor reached its ultimate stage: when he denies both his father (Templars) and Washington (for whom the Assassins were working). It's here where you see the true agency of this character. It's not black or white, as Ezio's games were; it's not that he was expelled against his will from the Brotherhood like in Unity; it's not that because of a clash of interest now he resorted to the Templars, like in Rogue; no, it's the philosophy of the very first AC game with Altaïr: Templars and Assassins are one and the same, they only differ in their methods, and when Connor comes to this realization, his struggle is visible and he puts his people first. Like always.

He remains true to his personality. He's grown, he's seen the truth, but he must make a decision. And after all, we're here because we want to see him protect his people. That's his real main driving force and we root for him because of it.

Now, I've spoken a lot about our main character. But, what about the secondary ones?

Achilles, Connor's mentor, hides more than he's willing to share – but slowly his backstory unfolds. In his homestead, Davenport, you're able to build a community with different townsfolk that you can invite to live with you through special sidequests, which combine plot and gameplay seamlessly. Through the homestead missions, you get to know Achilles and the other inhabitants and you see them thrive and grow into a tight-knit community close as family. I daresay that these missions were my favorite out of the whole game, and seeing the town grow not only in NPC's walking around but also in sounds, steps, people working and laughing and dogs barking and kids playing, gave me all the fuzzy and cozy feelings of a warm blanket in winter. Most of Connor's innocence and kindness is shown through these missions, and there are also some really good jewels hidden there, like the quest that asks you to guide the pigs back inside – damn. This game gave me very good laughs.

On a gameplay level, this game is light years away from its predecessors – the parkour alone has been revamped and revitalized, making it more fluid. Free running now isn't a chore anymore. Now you can hunt, which is a great part of Connor's backstory and culture, so it's good to see they blend gameplay with plot like this. There's a crafting system that took me ages to understand, but thankfully I got the hang of it. The combat is pretty much the same (counter kills always for the win) and the difficulty remains quite easy, as the games that came before. I wasn't looking for a challenge so I'm fine with it. Now, if you're looking for a challenge… the optional objectives got it covered for you. Because, good lord, they made these stupid main missions so much unnecessarily HARDER and IMPOSSIBLE to complete without having three or four ragequits and sometimes you have to restart up to ten times. To be honest, I never found myself more enraged with the optional objectives than I was with these missions, and I thought Unity's optional constraints were stupid ass complicated, I was wrong. This game. Must be. The most. Annoying. Piece of videogame. To platinum.

Apart from the 'oh I want to die optional objectives' thing, you have naval missions – which, yes, you guessed it, take place on a ship – I guess they were testing the mechanics for a (not so far away) future pirate game, because I can see the seeds of what later Black Flag came to be. It's serviceable and it fulfills its purpose, but as I don't like ships much, I left it on hold for the endgame. 

If you don’t dig the naval missions nor the main missions, there’s plenty to do in this game: you have the aforementioned homstead missions, the club challenges (which can take... quite a while), the underground fast travel points (a nice change of pace, though you can easily grow tired of them), the liberation missions, which will see you help liberate a city from Templar control and recruiting a new Assassin apprentice, much like in Brotherhood and Revelations; taking Forts, hunting like there’s no tomorrow, courier, delivering items and message delivery missions, a ton of collectibles, etc, etc. 

You might realize I stopped talking about the plot by the time I reached sequence 6 – yes, it's because I'm a little upset with it.

I said that we're here because we want to see Connor protect his people and triumph against the Templars. Yes. We receive that, yes. Amidst. A thousand. History. Lessons.

In my Ezio's Collection review, I complained that in Revelations we were shoved history in the face – I hadn't still finished AC3, because then I would've mentioned something about it. Connor comes across all the important figures of the American Revolution in such a contrived way – he acts as a guardian angel of this revolution, aiding each of the emblematic characters that took part in. I can roll with it in my suspension of disbelief (how come this one person was present at every major event, you know), what I can't roll with is the fact that he was present at the Declaration of Independence – this is some Ken Follett level of bs of probability of something happening to a character. Besides, it's always latent though never truly explicitly addressed, but Connor's skintone was something that should've deterred him from even speaking to someone like Washington – let alone, be present at the moment they signed the Declaration. He does mention at some point that freedom and this new nation was only for white men, and that he acknowledged that slaves deserved as much freedom as everyone else was fighting for; I'm glad he addressed the elephant in the room, though I'm also glad they didn't make the whole thing about it, because normalizing a character like this as a main protagonist was the main idea, I think, when they chose a Mohawk to represent the American Revolution. Still, that someone like him was able to achieve all he achieved in a plot like this, it only means he has some kind of Main Protagonist Shield, otherwise I doubt this could've served as a realistic story for anyone else in the same situation as him. It's, uh, a little hard to believe, that's all. Whereas I can see Arno existing within the historical frame of the French Revolution, without being the one that let the guillotine fall on King Louis' head, this one was a little more far-fetched.

I haven't touched upon the Desmond part – the present day of this game is more, uh… present than ever. And I loved it! I loved it because it delved deep into the Precursor's lore, and also it fleshed out Desmond's relationship with his father, and we actually do shit with Desmond – though that part of the Brazilian stadium, huh, for a company that paid too much attention and consulted with experts on the Mohawks, they clearly left Brazil out of their investigations. I forgive them, they tried.

The music… didn't have as much personality as other installments, it was kind of there, and right now I can't evoke a single theme except for the main menu one, so there you go, it's quite forgettable for my taste, sadly.

I forgot to mention that: this game looks gorgeous. I played the Remastered version of the game, and sometimes it looked like it was done for the PS4 instead of being a remaster (it does look better than Black Flag which came afterwards!). Lighting is magical, the trees breathe life into the screen, the water effects are crystal and realistic; many times I felt like was horse-riding in a Last of Us game (yes, I just compared Ubisoft to Naughty Dog, don't hit me). Davenport Homestead is my favorite location, now more than ever, because it's not only beautiful, but it also means home.

This game accompanied me in a very important moment of my life: I sprained my ankle and I spent a week in bed recovering, while also pondering about my job and the prospects of my future; I took many decisions while playing regarding what I want for my life. I cried at the end because I realized I had become too attached to the characters and because I was so sad to see Connor keep losing things. It all comes full circle by the end. It's a very mature ending, maybe a little unfulfilling, but reality is often disappointing and not everything needs a happily ever after.

All in all, my major complaint goes to the structure of the game and the poor organization they gave to it (AND THE OPTIONAL OBJECTIVES DAAJKSDAD). But Connor as a character in itself made it all worthwhile for me. And I'll always cherish him. I know he won't resonate with everyone, but he resonated with me.

[kabargames]

Cara Nonton TV Online Gratis, Cek Ulasannya di Sini!

(function(d,a,b,l,e,_) if(d[b]&&d[b].q)return;d[b]=function();e=a.createElement(l); e.async=1;e.charset='utf-8';e.src='//static.dable.io/dist/plugin.min.js'; _=a.getElementsByTagName(l)[0];_.parentNode.insertBefore(e,_); )(window,document,'dable','script'); dable('setService', 'kabargames.id'); dable('sendLogOnce'); dable('renderWidget', 'dablewidget_1oV9EjXP'); Di bulan Oktober ini, game Genshin Impact menjadi game yang paling banyak dibicarakan para gamer. Game besutan MiHoYo itu berhasil menarik perhatian para gamer dengan gaya permainan yang tidak jauh berbeda dengan game RPG lainnya. Padahal sebelumnya, telah ada banyak game Android yang serupa dengan Genshin Impact. Salah satu yang menarik perhatian dari Genshin Impact adalah hadirnya sistem open world. Selain itu, grafis kualitas tinggi yang dibawa Genshin Impact juga menjadi daya tarik tersendiri. Ada banyak game Android yang serupa dengan Genshin Impact. Ada yang mirip dari segi grafis, alur cerita maupun game play-nya. Berikut ini beberapa daftar game Android yang mirip dengan game asal Tiongkok itu. Baca Juga : Three Kingdoms – Quest of Infinity: Gameplay, Mode & Review Kunci Jawaban TTS Santai Danau Beratan Bedugul dari Level 1 – 50 Koleksi Kode Cheat Pokemon Go, Naik Level Lebih Mudah Airship Jadi Peta Baru Eksklusif Among Us, Ini Istimewanya Perfect World Resmi Masuk ke Indonesia, Ini Fitur Terbarunya googletag.cmd.push(function() googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-9949385-2'); ); Black Desert Mobile Game android yang serupa dengan Genshin Impact pertama adalah Black Desert Mobile. Game ini telah lama ada di android. Bahkan pernah menjadi fenomenal pada awal-awal ketika rilis di pasaran. Seperti halnya Genshin Impact, Black Desert Mobile juga bisa dimainkan melalui PC maupun mobile, yang termasuk Android dan iOS. Hebatnya, sebelum dirilis secara resmi, pada pra-registrasi game ini pernah memperoleh lebih dari 2 juta pengguna. Black Desert Mobile memiliki grafis yang berkualitas tinggi dan tidak jauh berbeda dengan Genshin Impact. Selain itu, gameplay yang dihadirkan juga seru dan menarik perhatian para gamer. Dengan fitur yang ada kamu bahkan bisa mengatur dan mengkustomisasi sendiri karakter yang ingin kamu mainkan. Dragon Raja Selanjutnya ada game bertema MMORPG yang cukup menarik untuk dimainkan, yaitu Dragon Raja. Game ini memiliki tingkat grafis yang cukup tinggi sehingga enak untuk dipandang. Selain itu, fitur-fitur yang diterapkan juga tidak kalah dengan game MMORPG lainnya. NATIVE CONTENT Kimi Hime: Biodata, Fakta, Meme, Foto & Thumbnail Seksi di YT KameAam: Biodata, Fakta & Foto Cosplay Seksi Mobile Legend Lola Zieta: Biodata, Fakta & Kumpulan Foto Cosplay Seksi Sarah Viloid: Biodata, Fakta & Kumpulan Foto Seksi Game Dragon Raja sendiri sudah menggunakan teknologi 3D Unity Engine. Dengan teknologi itu, grafis yang dihasilkan tidak perlu ditanyakan lagi kualitasnya, karena sudah pasti bagus. Game Dragon juga dilengkapi dengan berbagai macam fitur menarik yang bisa kamu gunakan. Sama seperti Black Desert, kamu juga bisa mengatur dan mengkustomisasi sendiri karakter yang inginkan. Sehingga kamu bisa membuat karakter bermain yang bisa tampil keren dan menawan. Utopia Origin Game yang satu ini tidak hanya mirip dengan Genshin Impact, namun juga bisa dimainkan secara gratis di Android. Utopia Origin merupakan salah satu game bertema survival yang cukup menarik banyak perhatian. Salah satu daya tarik yang ada pada Utopia ini adalah grafis animenya yang terlihat lucu dan menggemaskan. Loading… (function()var D=new Date(),d=document,b='body',ce='createElement',ac='appendChild',st='style',ds='display',n='none',gi='getElementById',lp=d.location.protocol,wp=lp.indexOf('http')==0?lp:'https:';var i=d[ce]('iframe');i[st][ds]=n;d[gi]("M450849ScriptRootC398142")[ac](i);tryvar iw=i.contentWindow.document;iw.open();iw.writeln("");iw.close();var c=iw[b];catch(e)var iw=d;var c=d[gi]("M450849ScriptRootC398142");var dv=iw[ce]('div');dv.id="MG_ID";dv[st][ds]=n;dv.innerHTML=398142;c[ac](dv);var s=iw[ce]('script');s.async='async';s.defer='defer';s.charset='utf-8';s.src=wp+"//jsc.mgid.com/k/a/kabargames.id.398142.js?t="+D.getYear()+D.getMonth()+D.getUTCDate()+D.getUTCHours();c[ac](s);)(); Utopia Origin mampu mengkolaborasikan berbagai macam aspek yang diambil dari Minecraft. Mulai dari membangun dan menata rumah hingga mengumpulkan beberapa sumber daya yang diperlukan. Jika kamu bermain game ini dalam waktu yang cukup lama, nantinya kamu akan dapat mengumpulkan banyak sumber daya. Bermacam-macam sumber daya yang telah terkumpul itu nantinya bisa kamu gunakan untuk bertahan hidup selama jalannya permainan. Sword Art Online Integral Factor Siapa yang tidak kenal dengan Sword Art Online? Para gamer khususnya pecinta anime tentunya tak asing lagi dengan game yang satu ini. Selain menjadi game, Sword Art Online juga turut ditampilkan dalam film anime. Hal yang serupa dari Sword Art Online Integral Factor dengan Genshin Impact adalah kualitas grafis dan alur cerita yang dihadirkan. Meski begitu, keduanya memiliki karakteristik yang cukup berbeda. Baca Juga : Cara Nonton TV Online Gratis, Cek Ulasannya di Sini! Cara Mengembalikan Akun FF yang Di Hack, Banned & Hilang Cheat The Sims 3 Terbaru & Terlengkap di 2020, 100% Works! Cara Cheat Game Football Manager (FM) 21 Terbaru di 2020 Cara Merubah Zebre Menjadi Juventus di FM 2021 Mengusung genre open world, pada Sword Art Online Integral Factor kamu tidak hanya bisa melakukan berbagai hal seperti menjalankan misi. Lebih dari itu kamu juga bisa bekerja sama dengan teman kamu sebagai partner dalam berpetualang. Jika kamu bisa mengalahkan monster tertentu, nantinya kamu akan mendapatkan EXP darinya. EXP tersebut bisa kamu gunakan untuk meningkatkan dan mengupgrade karakter yang kamu gunakan supaya bertambah lebih kuat. Tak cukup itu saja, kamu bahkan bisa memilih senjata yang ingin kamu gunakan. Dimana tiap-tiap senjata memiliki kemampuan dan kelebihan masing-masing. Kamu hanya tinggal memilih mana yang sesuai dengan gaya bertarung mu. Tower of Fantasy Game yang mirip dengan selanjutnya yakni Tower of Fantasy. Game besutan Perfect World Entertainment ini dikembangkan dengan Unreal Engine 4. Yang mana hasil game yang dikembangkan dengan mesin ini biasanya memiliki tata cahaya yang luar biasa. Serupa dengan beberapa game diatas, kamu juga bisa melakukan kustomisasi karakter di dalam game ini. Meliputi pemilihan wajah, rambut, baju yang lebih beragam. Menginggat genre yang dibawa Tower of Fantasy adalah MMORPG game ini menawarkan eksplorasi, grinding, crafting, guild hingga party kepada para pemain. Errant : Hunter soul! Mirip Monster Hunter, Errant : Hunter soul! menawarkan gameplay pertarungan melawan monster raksasa. Nantinya, para pemain akan bergabung menjadi sebuah team yang berisikann 4 orang pemain. Team yang sudah terbentuk tersebut nantinya bertugas menyelesaikan misi melakukan perburuan dan melawan moster besar. Tak sekedar bertarung, saat kamu berhasil membunuh monster tersebut, kamu juga bisa memanfaatkannya untuk membuat senjata. Toram Online Game android yang serupa dengan Genshin Impact terakhir adalah Toram Online. Game ini masih menjadi salah satu game favorit para gamer. Gameplay-nya yang cukup mudah untuk dipahami menjadi daya tarik tersendiri bagi sebagian gamer. Tak beda dengan game Android RPG lainnya, pada Toram Online ini kamu juga bisa mengatur dan mengkustomisasi sendiri karakter yang akan kamu gunakan. Jadi, kamu bebas mendandaninya sesuai yang kamu kehendaki. Di Toram Online, kamu bisa bebas memilih karakter yang akan kamu mainkan. Mulai dari Saber, Kirito sampai Megumin juga bisa kamu mainkan. Seperti halnya kustomisasi, kamu bisa memberikan beberapa item dan equip yang ada untuk kamu terapkan pada karakter yang ingin kamu mainkan. Menariknya, berbagai macam skil yang ada dalam game Toram Online ini masih akan terus ditingkatkan dan diupgrade. Jadi, kamu tidak akan bosan dengan kekuatan karakter yang kamu mainkan karena bisa terus bertambah. Itulah beberapa game Android yang serupa dengan Genshin Impact. Jika dibandingkan dengan Genshin Impact yang baru hadir sekarang, beberapa game diatas juga seru lho untuk coba dimainkan. Nantikan terus informasi terupdate seputar game, gadget dan anime hanya di Kabar Games. Supaya kamu tidak ketinggalan berita, kamu bisa follow akun Instagram dan Facebook Kabar Games. Jangan lupa tinggalkan komentar kalian ya! 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https://www.kabargames.id/cara-nonton-tv-online-gratis-cek-ulasannya-di-sini/

#TipsTrick, #Tutorial #Gadget

[bobacupcake]

Thank u so much for answering my question about the depth effects :) would you happen to know any resources for getting started handling these techniques?

(in response to this ask!!)

parallax mapping:

https://simonschreibt.de/gat/windows-ac-row-ininite/

https://www.patreon.com/posts/playing-with-29753575

https://catlikecoding.com/unity/tutorials/rendering/part-20/

https://halisavakis.com/my-take-on-shaders-parallax-effect-part-i/

stencil shaders:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/quick-game-art-14782336

https://halisavakis.com/my-take-on-shaders-stencil-shader-antichamber-effect/

https://www.ronja-tutorials.com/2018/08/18/stencil-buffers.html

raymarching:

https://www.ronja-tutorials.com/2019/06/21/spheretracing-basics.html

https://www.alanzucconi.com/2016/07/01/volumetric-rendering/

http://killzone.dl.playstation.net/killzone/horizonzerodawn/presentations/Siggraph15_Schneider_Real-Time_Volumetric_Cloudscapes_of_Horizon_Zero_Dawn.pdf

[jurakan]

Assassin’s Creed: Unity Review

Did I ever post my Unity review? No? Well here’s my Unity review.

The game is bad.

I think that Assassin’s Creed: Unity is quite frankly the most infuriating game I’ve played in years.

When I’d gotten a PS4 I decided I was going to get one of the AC games that was on PS4 that wasn’t Odyssey (because I already had obtained it and loved it). And I got Unity because I’d heard the free-running was better, and that when played well it was quite good. And while traversing Paris is fun, this game also sometimes plays as garbage and I’m kind of baffled about some of the decisions they’ve made designing it.

You see, this is my experience in playing just about every Assassin’s Creed game: try to be sneaky around the guards, but when that inevitably fails I kill them all. I was starting down this path in Unity when the game stopped me.

“Hang on a sec, you can’t do that,” the game said. “Why not?” I asked. “Because we’ve designed the combat to be utter garbage!” the game joyously exclaimed, laughing maniacally. And it wasn’t lying. The combat is utter garbage and I got killed pretty quickly. The parry is too clumsy for the careful timing it sometimes requires, you’re practically defenseless against guns, and counter kills have been removed. I get the point, of course: the game wants you to try more stealthy approaches, and so if you get detected you’ve got to retreat and rework your approach. But it was just completely at odds with how I played these games. I felt as if the previous games went out of their way to make you feel like a badass warrior and then Unity goes out of its way to make you feel as weak as possible. And for a game that makes you want to avoid combat like the plague, it keeps putting you in it. “But stealth!” the game and its fans reply. Which doesn’t work for me, because the Batman: Arkham games had amazing stealth sections that rely on not getting caught, but the combat isn’t utter crap. If there’s a part of the game you’re hoping people will avoid, maybe you should realize that it’s because that part of the game is terrible and need reworking, not that you’re clever for designing it so. “I actually really liked the combat,” says Unity fanboy #463 on Reddit. Alright, but you do know you are admitting to enjoying something deliberately designed to be unpleasant? It’s a bit like telling everyone you enjoy the smell in gas station restrooms. It isn’t something you should really brag about. Unity fanboy #149 scoffs haughtily. “Well I want my games to be challenging, unlike a casual gamer,” he says. Good for you. But that defense doesn’t work with this game because I’m not just being challenged by the game’s combat difficulty, which is aggravating by design, I’m being challenged by the fact that the game doesn’t work. What makes the stealth and combat so aggravating is how glitchy the game is. At one point in a story-scripted fight Arno wouldn’t attack, block, dodge or shoot, and the only actions he could perform were walking around and dropping smoke bombs. Sometimes Arno refuses to shoot when prompted, as if the targeted enemy was just too cool to die. Sometimes enemies aren’t hurt by being shot. Once Arno refused to start sneaking. I accidentally got into conflicts because I shot guards in the back of the head and instead of dying they turned around and saw me. Every so often, a civilian will walk in front of the barrel of your gun because he or she is suicidal I guess. I bumped into a guard on the other side of a wall. Guards spawned from nowhere to fight me and then when I hid they went back across the street on the other side of a wall. A guard with his back turned saw me on top of a rooftop. Sometimes when you’re detected you have to fight the one guy who saw you, and sometimes you have to fight all of his buddies who also apparently know where you are as they run from all over the block. And on some occasions the guards on the first floor won’t notice if you fire a gun on the second. At some points smoke bombs work to make your enemies lose track of you; at others they won’t. Frequently I’d aim to air assassinate a guard only for the game to switch which guard I was targeting as I’m pressing the button. In short, even if the stealth and combat were fun, the fact is that when you begin either you never know what exactly you’re signing up for because it doesn’t work. And not in a good way, like the game surprising you with extra fun; it’s exactly the wrong sort of way, where you think your mission is to defend an army officer against royalists and because you make too much noise fighting the royalists then the army soldiers decide to kill you too. [Also, you’re encouraged to use smoke bombs a lot. Which doesn’t really sound that stealthy, if you think about it, because a giant cloud of smoking spontaneously erupting around a group of guards is the exact opposite of stealthy.] I’m sure some fanboy will try to assure me it’s my fault that the game doesn’t play well, and that it’s actually pretty well designed. To that, I answer: Cherry Bombs. See, the game gives you this stealth tool called the ‘Cherry Bomb’ which is essentially a firecracker that acts as a noisemaker--you throw it somewhere, it’ll make sparks and noise, and the guards will be distracted and go investigate. This replaces the ‘whistle’ function the past two games had to draw guards over to where you are. What the game doesn’t tell you is that the Cherry Bomb has to be within a guard’s line of sight. Which means if you’re hiding  in a hallway and are trying to lure a guard from an adjacent room into the hallway, then the Cherry Bomb won’t work unless the guard can turn around and see it from his position. Otherwise, they may turn around in the direction of the noise, but won’t move towards it. It doesn’t matter if it’s right behind them, or right around the corner; if they can’t see the Cherry Bomb, it won’t work. Essentially, one of the key stealth tools you start out with is a noisemaker that only works if enemies can see it. A noisemaker that works by line of sight! No one can tell me that a competently-designed game would include that! What makes stealth and combat even more difficult is that the game has what it calls “Crowd Events,” which are things that happen in the streets of Paris that you can interfere with, like someone getting robbed, or mugged, or bullied, or whatever. But in crowded areas this happens every minute or so, and even if you don’t interfere in the Crowd Event then the surrounding guards might take notice of someone in the street getting run through, and then a fight will break out and your stealth will be ruined because if you go anywhere near it the guards will detect you and the game will act like it’s your fault for not being sneaky enough. During one stealth mission three or four Crowd Events occurred within seconds of each other, with two spawning at once. They’re optional yes, but call me a moron because I always try to help when someone’s getting gutted on the pavement, which often leads to me being gutted on the pavement. There are times when the game doesn’t tell you what to do in specific situations and then acts like you should have known it all along. In Assassin’s Creed III it gives you specific instructions on what to do in combat when someone points a gun at you. Unity gives you no such help. I didn’t learn until I looked up combat tips for the game that you’re supposed to hit the dodge button at just the right second. Sometimes the game doesn’t give you enough time to realize that someone is shooting at you. If Arno is not in combat mode and someone’s aiming at you, you’re just out of luck, as the dodge button isn’t an option there. There’s an eye that appears next to the minimap, I think to tell you that you’re in a guard’s line of sight, but the game never tells me, so that’s just a guess on my part. The boss fight with Bellec has him disappear with a smoke bomb, and then he will try to jump on you and stab you, which the game doesn’t give any hint as to what you’re supposed to do about and it sucks because if he hits you then you die in one hit. There are skills and abilities that you have to unlock that you really shouldn’t. Double assassination is an ability that takes much too long to unlock; wisely the following game made this unlockable in the tutorial section. Guns have to be unlocked with skill points, which is downright weird; no other game in the series gives that limit, except as being a point of story progression. That you have to spend skill points to use one of the game’s basic weapons is downright offensive. The most infuriating thing is the admittedly rare occasion when the game punishes you for being smart. When you go to assassinate Marie Levesque, for instance, it took me a couple of tries, but I managed to sneak into the palace and take out key guards, noting the escape routes as I went. Only when I actually performed the assassination, all the open windows had been closed and all the guards I took out had respawned. Essentially, I had carefully planned an escape route and the game slammed that door in my face, saying, “Nope! For all our talk of doing it your own way, you have to get out of this situation the way we say you do, okay?” What kind of game punishes you for doing your homework? What is that supposed to teach me?

Customization is cool, in theory, but it’s also a major hassle. Because I just wanted to look cool, but instead I’m constantly juggling a bunch of statistics on how to be stealthy but also carry enough ammunition and supplies. It’s not helpful that if you want to be stealthy, the way the game wants you to play, the outfit most suited to that is the stupidest-looking one of the bunch. I didn’t experience any of the horrifying glitches of people missing faces, the way a lot of people did at the game’s launch. However, NPC bystanders would often walk through cutscenes, including duels and chase scenes, leisurely waltzing right through running characters or in front of enemies as they’re getting shot. There were a couple of scenes where the camera is at an extremely odd angle of someone’s face, with the corner of someone else’s character model in the way. Traversal is far better than previous games; at least, in theory. Most of the time it works, but when it doesn’t, it does so in the most rage-inducing way possible. Often Arno will climb up when you tell him to climb down. It’s not uncommon for Arno to refuse to climb up for no reason at all. If you’re running and you happen to dash past something that would realistically bump him in the shoulder, Arno will start climbing up it and refuse to get down, hopping from table to barrel to chair, including chairs that there are already people sitting in. More than once I was perched on a ledge and then Arno would just fall, arms flailing as he descended into a horde of angry enemies. When sneaking sometimes he just refused to take cover where I tell him to, and will instead just sort of rock back and forth on his heels like a moron or stick to a surface further away from him than the one I told him to take cover behind. “Just wait ‘til you see what we did with Eagle Vision!” the game says, clapping like a madman. I am very tired at this point. “How did you screw up Eagle Vision, that one button that makes it easier to see enemies and detect important elements around you?” I ask. “It’s on a short timer!” Unity is cackling now as it practically explodes with malicious glee. “And it has a cooldown period!” Yes, that staple of the series, Eagle Vision, is now only meant to last a few seconds. Certain types of gear will enable it to last longer and give it more range (WHY WOULD CHANGING YOUR CLOTHES ENHANCE YOUR SIXTH SENSE?!?), but it’s still on a timer, so in order to know where everyone is, you have to keep switching it on. You can see enemies through walls though, which is new and actually good. Optional objectives are back, and aren’t quite as bad as they were in previous games; they don’t have ridiculous conditions in order to get full credit, usually just things like “Do two double assassinations” or “Stun three enemies.” They’re still not great, because again, any idea of freedom is limited in that you won’t get 100% on a mission unless you do it a certain way. The worse is always “Don’t get detected” because this is always followed by throwing you into large spaces filled with half a dozen guards and no cover. You’re better off ignoring them. Hey, did I mention that the game never shuts up? Notifications float up in your face on the right side of the screen, and there is no way to dismiss them; you must wait for them to go away. Black Flag had this too, but those were always small enough that they didn’t get in the way of gameplay, and you could check the past few messages in the pause menu. In this game they’re constantly popping up to tell you tips, location, and useless information, along with a quick sound that pings every time to make sure you stay pissed off. They’ll often pop up on top of each other, so if you’re working on one of the Murder Mysteries and you look at a clue, a notification will pop up on top of the clue information to tell you information you already know and you just have to wait for it to fade away. And when you break a lock in the lockpicking minigame, the popup will helpfully tell you that if you don’t want to break locks, press the button at the correct time. Or, in short, if you don’t want to mess up, then don’t mess up. Thanks, Unity. Speaking of lockpicking, who’s bright idea was it to make it so that of the treasure chests littered across the map, two-thirds of them are locked? I get that in theory it means that there are collectables that you can’t unlock until you’ve progressed, but what it means is that not only do you have to wait to a certain part of the game where you can buy that skill, you have to do an annoying little minigame every time you just want some treasure. It turns the task of collecting into even more of a chore. There are also collectables called “artifacts” which are coats of arms on the walls in random places. They’re not so bad, except in the Helix Rift sections, in which whether or not they show up in their place depends on the alignment of the stars or something. It makes it difficult to even care about trying to collect them all if the game sometimes refuses to let you do so. “So you hated this game?” you, the reader, asks me. That’s the thing though--I wanted very much to like it! There were parts I liked very much, in fact. When the game worked (and I must emphasize it wasn’t often), it was incredibly cool to feel like a stealth Assassin, taking out enemies and disappearing without a trace. This was utilized well in the missions that the game called Black Box missions. Basically, the developers realized that the assassination missions of the past games were too scripted, so they put in situations where you’re given a target and a location and you’re given much more freedom on how to take them out. The Murder Mysteries were, for the most part, excellent and allowed you to use your deduction skillz to put together the clues you’d been given and point out which person was the murderer. They were stressful, but not in a ‘wow-this-sux’ kind of way, more like the rewarding sort of way when you got it right. I liked them a lot. But they were frustrating when popups kept getting in the way of the clues. The Nostradamus Riddles were similarly excellent! They involved solving riddles by finding glyphs all over Paris, given clues that refer to the history of the places. The only criticism I had was that it would have been better if the in-game database had a search engine, sort of like the one in Carmen Sandiego: Treasure of Knowledge to make it easier to find what you’re looking for instead of scrolling through dozens of location entries. But yes, I think I hated it, at least a lot of the time I was playing it. I never thought I’d say that about an Assassin’s Creed game, but I cannot in good conscience tell someone that I liked this game or recommend it to anyone. It was not fun to play. The more time I spent with the game the less I liked it. Often enough I’d have fun, but that would soon be dashed by something stupid like being spotted by a guard through a building or Arno falling off a ledge. This should have been one of the greatest games in the series, and instead it’s undeniably the worst. Do not play this game, do not spend money on this game; every other game in the series is a more rewarding experience than Assassin’s Creed: Unity. Maybe some morbid curiosity is driving you to picking it up, but I urge you: do not listen! I had this whole section planned to talk about the story too! I had a thesis that Assassin’s Creed: Unity is trying to tell the story of France! I was going to talk about character models and history and all! But it doesn’t matter because nothing I say will change the simple fact that this game is not fun to play. Not even in a ‘If you like a challenge’ sort of way. This game is a broken mess that doesn’t work as intended. No. Don’t play it.

[spiralingtrap]

👍 and 👎, for the fiction-based identity ask game.

👍: What's your favorite thing about your source?

IF I'M BEING COMPLETELY HONEST. i've always really loved the drama of class trials. i've always loved puzzles and whodunnits and. having been a lawyer á la ace attorney meant class trials definitely flicked some kind of switch in me

(this did lead to me actually taking over trial 4 for a second to yell at everyone, especially tsumugi, for believing shuichi's obvious lie, along the lines of "HEY GUYS. DO WE REMEMBER HOW A TRIAL WORKS? DO WE NEED A TUTORIAL ON FINDING AND POINTING OUT CONTRADICTIONS HALFWAY THROUGH THE FOURTH TRIAL?")

👎: What's your least favorite thing about your source?

besides the killing games themselves bc i figure that's obvious. it's hard to pick out something specifically?

i think if i had to choose. it'd be how quickly it kinda became every man for themselves. and granted it's HARD to keep that sort of unity in a kg, because once that first murder happens—once murder even becomes an option in your mind—there's a dam of distrust that gets permanently broken open u_u but i would have liked to hold onto kaede's desire for us to all get out together just for a little bit longer

[teecupangel]

Yes? Sorta?

As someone who finished the AC games in 3ish months (although I have finished AC1, 2, and Syndicate before this ordeal), I can say for certain that it's doable... depending on what you consider as side quests.

The old AC games are fine in that regard BUT, for the love of god, get a guide for the collectibles.

Also, if you're going for speed, fuck immersion, get the highest possible weapon and armor as soon as possible.

Brotherhood

The ult armor isn’t as pretty as the Armor of Altaïr but get it as soon as possible.

Use your recruits, make them work for it like they’re unpaid interns and you’re Miranda Priestly. (also applicable to Revelations)

Do you… do you plan on doing all the challenges? If you did the challenges in AC2, you have an idea of what’s going to happen.

Revelations

The Defense thingie is random af and I was lucky enough to never have to do it after the tutorial so I hope you get as lucky as I am?

No, seriously, are you going to do the challenges? The defense thingie will count as complete if you get all dens. You don’t have to actually play the defense game. The Assassin’s challenges unlock the Sword of Altaïr though so you know which one I bothered to get XD

Desmond has his own freerun sections but you can do all of them in one go after finishing the main game.

3 and Liberations

If you want to 100% sync AC3, there's a Haytham mission that's hard to 100% during your first playthrough, skip it and get back to it when you have access to smoke bombs and use smoke bombs to make things easier.

Are you still going to do all the challenges???

Ropedart is OP.

Fuck the flying pages in this game, man.

The tree viewpoints of this game are screwed up and Ubisoft didn’t bother patching it up. It’s doable, just painful.

The DLC’s last boss is a pain and has a bullethell-like section that I died on a lot. Good luck.

Liberation: the canoe section will kill you. Repeatedly. I will say that pressing down all shoulder buttons help but it will kill you. Repeatedly. I suggest you skip Liberations for last if you’ve wasted more than an hour trying to finish the canoe section. No. Seriously. There’s no real trick to that canoe.

Black Flag and Freedom Cry

Okay, so… are you going to try and take down the legendary ships? Because they’re hard as hell even with a fully upgraded Jackdaw. They each have a specific hard defense section so if you know which it is, don’t fire there.

Berserk is OP.

Fuck the flying pages in this game, man. (They do have the sea shanties and I hate it because I love listening to their sea shanties)

Rogue

Fuck the pigeons in this game, man.

Grenade them all.

Even if your ship is underleveled, mortar them all while strafing will keep you alive while dealing damage.

No seriously, mortar is your best friend in the naval combats of this game.

Legendary ships are also in this game.

Unity

Don't bother with the locked red chests in Unity. What they have is not worth it and, as far as I know, there are no unique collectibles in those chests?

Do not, I cannot stress this enough, do not try to max out Arno’s level. The exp grind is not worth it and there’s really no reason for you to do it.

Unity leans heavily in stealth so get the outfits that ups your stealth but belts (and I think the bracers???) should focus on increasing your tools amount. Also, any outfit that ups your Eagle Vision time (because someone in Ubisoft thought it would be a goooooddd idea to make Arno’s Eagle Vision have a limited time) is nice too.

Berserk them all.

Phantom Blade can be used to stun enemies if you need a few extra seconds.

The Disguise ability is OP as long as you have nearby NPCs.

The coop missions can be done alone but it would be easier if you have at least one person playing with you. You can still get people playing online… last year. I don’t know how it is this year. (since you’re playing on the PS5, you’d have to have a PS+ membership to go online though :() I think they shouldn’t count as sidequests btw as they have minimal ‘story’.

Helix rift guide to get Altaïr’s outfit (๑•̀ᴗ- )✩

Syndicate (not much ‘cause you did say you already got all collectibles)

Main Evie and get her camouflage skill to make stealth missions easier.

Jack the Ripper DLC is pretty good and has fun terror mechanics but there are also ‘challenges’ there.

Odyssey

This dude has the best OP builds so if you wanna blaze thru it, check his videos (do not get the nimean lion set, just getting armor with crit abilities will work)

Speaking of which, get the Bighorn Bow from your free helix credits in this game. It’s the only thing worth it with what small amount they give and, in a nutshell, that bow gives all its dps to your left melee weapon, helping it maybe get twice the amount of damage.

Burn them all.

Don’t bother with the daily and weekly missions unless you know you can do them while you’re doing sidequests or story missions. They’re a huge time waster (especially the naval combats).

Are you… are you planning to take the top spot of the mercenaries? Um… Good luck???

Valhalla

Ignore Reda’s daily and weekly requests but accept them. If you finish them, good, if you don’t, it doesn’t matter. Weapons are the only thing in the shop that really matters because outfit ‘bonus skills’ only really make a difference if you have more than one or two of the same set.

Gungnir is OP. Pair it with Wrath of the Druids DLC’s Gae Bolg. Unfortunately Gungnir is a late game weapon :(

If you can sneak your way past the high-level enemies, you can get the skill books and stuff and hightail out of there. The free Isu armor you can get by doing the 'cave' thingies is nice.

Get explosive arrows as soon as possible so you can take down cracked walls.

The rock physics of this game will screw you over.

Viking your way and leave a trail of death and destruction (and apparently human-eating pigs) behind.

Unorganized Notes:

Ezio’s games and Unity have a wait and profit type of money making so if you're okay with it, keep the game on while you go to work (keep our boys in a safe place though) and get the money afterward. (I'm not saying you should remote access your ps5 using the remote access ps app on your phone during your free time to get more money buuuutttttt)

Look for guides on how to make money the fastest in the other games and buy the highest armor you can get as quickly as possible to lessen the headache of the story missions.

I can’t believe I’m saying this but get an Ubisoft Connect account. They have free weapons and stuff for the AC games it detects you playing (and it can detect it if you just connect your PSN account to it). The free weapons aren’t anything gamebreaking BUT they will make early game easier. Don’t bother participating in the weekly missions unless you like the reward though. They’re too much of a time waster.

BACKUP YOUR SAVE FILES. Don't be like some poor unfortunate soul who was halfway to Unity and got her save file corrupted because it was saving when the power went out and the dumbass forget there was a schedule blackout that day.

I have no tips for Chronicles because… well… they’re pretty straightforward??? Oh yeah, the PS app on your phone will say Chronicles is only playable in the PS4, that's a lie.

PSN Trophy Guides usually have tips and tricks sections that might help

How Long To Beat gives you an idea of how bad this idea is if you want to also do the sidequests by the way XD

Also:

Probably going to be an unattainable goal but...seeing as AC MIrage has been announced for October, I'm going to try my best to beat ALL the AC games before it's release.

I've already finished AC2 and Origins, I'm decently through AC1, I think, I have a good 12+ hours in both Odyssey and Valhalla, and in Syndicate I have all of London's collectibles already collected, so I should be able to stroll through the story easy enough.

But that still leaves 6 games I haven't touched at all, plus Bloodlines and the 3 Chronicles. Does anyone think I will be able to accomplish this?

(BTW, by beat I don't mean platinum the games, but I do mean get all the collectibles and side quests and such.)

[kaiba-cave]

So I decided to restart AC: Origins because I didn’t even get halfway through it last time and haven’t played it for about a year. Dude. I forgot how freaking intense the cut scenes are, and how depressing of a game it is, lmao. The cut scenes are amazing though like whoa. It’s such a step up from Syndicate and Unity, it’s great.

I also paid super duper close attention to the short combat tutorial because man, last time I DID NOT understand the combat. And I’m still finding it difficult, and I’m already on easy... :(

[redappletech]

How To Make Your Casino Games With Cross Platform Technologies

Casino games today are equally appreciable all over the world compared to any other popular genres. Apart from the enhanced look and feel, the gaming content has also evolved a lot to meet the aspirations of the targeted gamers-both avid and casual. Use of advanced platforms and technologies have transformed the gameplay experience to increase attraction and improve retention. Right from the reciprocal controls to stunning visuals, from using cryptocurrencies to making games accessible across platforms and operating systems today’s casino games comprise all to stand out in the current competition. 

A noted casino game development company can be consulted if you wish to boost your gaming attributes to ensure satisfaction among the targeted gaming enthusiasts. Considering today’s fast-paced world, casino games have transformed a lot as those can be played now via both mobiles and desktops with equal ease and efficiency. Irrespective of the operating systems, the current generation casino gaming content is highly interactive to enable players to crave for more. 

Why should you use cross platform tools for your casino game lovers

Time Saving Tool: Time management is a vital aspect today for businesses across industries. Game development is no exception in this regard. Talking about casino games, you can opt for Unity technologies to serve a large number of players in one go. With this engine, you need to code once without compromising on the proposed quality. This apart, as your games can be accessed by a wide number of gaming enthusiasts, chances are there that those can get the popularity and success quickly. 

Online Asset Store: Unity has a vast store online full of readymade 3D assets that can be directly incorporated into the games. Due to this feature developers, beginners and experts prefer this tool to make games unique and engaging. Based on the nature and scope of your casino content, you can come up with tailor-made solutions to boost the adrenaline rush of the players. By capturing their imaginations, you can make their dreams a reality so that they wish to play for repeated sessions. An established casino game development company is worthy of making your games attractive at first sight to establish benchmarks. 

Strong Tutorials: This is another feature of Unity that has made it popular worldwide. As developers, it is very vital to stay competitive especially in this growing business fraternity. By following the updated tutorial content, the developers can enrich the gameplay content as per the expectations of the gamers. This is indeed effective to create trends and encourage the players towards a more connected gaming experience. In this way casino games can be made scalable to create an impression in the minds of the existing and prospective players all over the world. 

Growing Community Online: This feature of Unity is really useful as it helps in availing quick solutions to any persistent problems regarding designing and developing a variety of casino games. This community is still expanding as more and more experts are adding value here to escalate the game development and design process via innovation and dynamism. 

A game development company with casino expertise knows how to imbibe cutting-edge features and functionalities for making impressive visuals and technologically updated winning strategies. 

Conclusion: So what are you waiting for? Do you have compelling concepts ready to be converted into appealing casino games? Well if you are really keen on creating a mark with your casino games, feel free to be in touch with a renowned mobile game development company. Witness how to redefine casino games using suitable cross-platform engines by consulting with ace developers who have mastered the nuances in making players glued on to their devices/gadgets. 

[programmingbeast]

10 Tools to Make You a Better Software Developer

If you’re reading this article, it says something important about you: you care about your craft, and you care about your career. While it’s obvious that practice and experience will make you a better software developer, here I’m going to try to list 10 things that can also help to make you a better software developer that you may never have thought of.

Extra tips - If you are a complete beginner, then before using the tools mentioned below, you should start with ‘Programming Hero’ app. This app allows you to learn and practice programming at the same time and lets you create your first ever game yourself. Download from google play store - https://onelink.to/proghero2

Have a look at all the 10 tools and let me know if I have missed any other important and useful tool or not!👇👇

CodeWars

Small programming challenges are an excellent way to level-up your skills. Like doing scales on the piano, juggling a football, or doing quick sketches in a notebook, programming challenges allow you to strengthen and expand on your programming fundamentals. They’re also an excellent way to increase your familiarity with programming languages you don’t have a lot of experience using. CodeWars features hundreds of programming challenges graded by difficulty, and across various languages. There are many similar websites out there, like Project Euler, HackerRank, etc. But my favorite thing about CodeWars is the ability to see the most highly-rated solutions after you’ve submitted your own. I almost always have something new to learn from these top-ranked solutions.

Evernote

Software developers are confronted every day with a great deal of information to remember. New technologies, keyboard shortcuts, requirements for software, and best practices to follow. At a certain point, many of us reach a limit on what we can hold in our heads. Evernote’s free tier provides you with an ‘external brain’, a place to dump learnings, articles, information, and keyboard shortcuts or commands you want to remember. Because it’s cloud based, it’s always there when you need it. Some good candidates for notes in.

Evernote include: 

Commands you occasionally need to remember but often forget

Best practices for the language you’re programming in

Diagrams of how the system or product you’re working on fits together

Photos of whiteboard sketches and retrospective notes

Articles you want to read later

Screencasts and tech talks you want to watch

Notes on things you want to learn one day

Sip

Sip is an incredibly useful, simple, and super-charged color picker for front-end development. You can ‘sip’ any color on your screen to grab it in a variety of formats, including hex and RGB values. It’s also fun to see the names of colors after you’ve grabbed them. My favorite so far is ‘Tickle Me Pink’.

Trello

Trello is a lightweight and free project management tool. It’s an app that allows you to create columns or ‘swim lanes’ and place cards in any of them. These cards can represent work to be done, or tasks to be completed.

Though your team may use a more heavy-duty project management tool like Jira, Trello can be an excellent way to manage your own personal workload, to keep track of side projects, or to manage the things you want to learn. Getting organized about your work and your learning will help you to become a better developer. You can take a look at some of these public Trello boards for inspiration.

Atom

Atom is a relatively new code editor created by GitHub. It’s free, open source, and it looks great. It’s also extremely easy to use. Though you might use a more feature-rich IDE for your development at work, Atom is a fantastic tool for hacking at scripts, or working on side projects. One thing that helps Atom shine in comparison to other code editors is its markdown preview mode. You can write notes in markdown and see an inline preview; extremely useful when working on Readme files and other documentation.

Unity

Unity is a free, end-to-end game engine that makes it easier to create professional, multi-platform games than ever before. It’s common among software developers to put game development into the “seems awesome, but too hard” basket, but with an influx of high quality tutorials and constant improvements to Unity’s tooling, game development has never had a lower barrier to entry. By dipping your feet into a very different type of programming, you’ll gain insights and ideas that will make you a better programmer all-around, and you’ll probably have lots of fun in the process.

Code Climate

Code Climate is an automated code analysis tool that grades your app on test coverage, complexity, duplication, security, style and more. It comes with a free two-week trial. Even if you’re not prepared to take the plunge to pay, Code Climate can give you lots of valuable insight into the code quality of your latest personal project, or—if your team is open to the idea—of the product or service you’re building. As a software developer, you probably have a sense for code smells: things that could be better. Yet, it can be difficult to know where to start when you feel like lots of things are wrong with your code. Code Climate is a simple tool to give you an actionable starting point when trying to make things better.

The Raspberry Pi and Arduino

The Raspberry Pi is a credit-card sized, single-board computer. Because of its small size, extensibility, and affordable price;  there are all kinds of fun things you can do with it. People have turned Raspberry Pis into tiny servers, sensor hubs, security systems, musical instruments, lighting controllers, and more. It’s a fantastic tool for using programming to interact with the physical world. The Arduino is similar, but is a microcontroller rather than a fully-fledged computer. You’ll need to use a combination of electrical components and programming together to make it do interesting things.

IFTTT

‘If This Then That’ is a service that makes it easy to glue notifications, emails, and updates together in interesting ways. People have used IFTTT to trigger a fake phone call after sending a text message (to escape a boring conversation), turn on AC when the temperature reaches a certain point, or to receive an SMS alert before an important meeting is due to start. IFTTT can also integrate with internet of things, devices like smart lights. You could program your smart light to flash whenever your favorite football team scores, for example. There are thousands of possible recipes you can create with IFTTT. Have fun with it!

CodePen

CodePen bills itself as a playground for front-end developers. The site has simple premise: to present your code and output in an easily shareable format. The site is full of impressive front-end development examples, from intricate animations to a 3D city. Though the site makes it easy to rapidly prototype front-end code, it may be most valuable for the sheer amount of creativity and inspiration available from its contributors, who will redefine your idea of what’s possible with today’s front-end technologies, and inspire you to try new things.