#also its harder to gauge interest

[brainrotisseriechicken]

im thinking of opening comms here to prep better for cf19 but im a little disorganized,,,,dunno..

[kotoku]

ᴘʀᴏʟᴏɢᴜᴇ - ᴏɴ ᴏɴᴇ ꜱᴛᴏʀᴍʏ ɴɪɢʜᴛ…

synopsis - on one stormy night, you find yourself in front of a dainty pet store. the store's warm lighting coaxed you into opening the door with a soft jingle, the smell of grass with a hint of vanilla instantly wafting over you. you had come in search of a friend, finding the emptiness in your home quite lonesome. will you find what you are looking for?

⋆˚🐾˖°

The rain pelted against the asphalt road, creating small puddles that drivers would mercilessly drive into that caused waves of water to splash onto the concrete sidewalk. The stop light flickered to yellow, then red, allowing you to cross the street safely. 

On the other side was a pet store with its bright neon lights shining through the early hours of the night, it had not yet closed. Ducking underneath the awning of the store, you shook off any remnants of water on your umbrella before closing it, pulling the door open with a jingle of a bell. 

Warm lighting flooded your vision, the atmosphere much warmer compared to the outside. Scanning the interior, your eyes landed on a small old lady who was sitting at the register. 

“Welcome! This is the Honkai Star Rail Pet Store, is there something you are looking for?” She croaked, eyes wrinkling as she gave you a friendly smile. You gave her one of your own, setting your umbrella near the entrance.

“Um, just a companion, nothing in particular.” You walked down the aisle towards her, the lady meeting you halfway. 

“Ah, we have lots of those! Follow me, young one.” She gestured to you to follow her, leading you to the back. “Here we are!”

Your eyes sparkled at all the cute critters that were in their own little area, animals ranging from fish to birds. This would be harder than you thought… The lady continued to lead you through the aisle, gesturing to each critter with a soft expression. 

“Here are our mourning doves, we have a pair of siblings named Sunday and Robin. They are quite friendly and love singing their songs.” 

“Some of the other birds we have are lovebirds, budgies, and cockatiels. Their names are labeled next to their enclosure.” Walking past some of the birds she mentioned, you saw names like ‘Black Swan’ and ‘Sushang’. Interesting names, you noted, walking closely behind her.

“We also have ferrets! Sparkle is quite the playful one, always popping in from seemingly nowhere.”

“Of course, we have cats and dogs as well. All varying breeds.” Looking at all the different kinds of cats and dogs filled you with excitement, they were all so cute and had their individual personalities! Turning towards the old lady in front of you, you gave her a lopsided grin.

“I..might need some time. They’re all so wonderful and I can’t make up my mind on who to choose.” You looked down the aisle of critters, gauging just how much time you would need to come to a decision. The old lady laughed, patting your shoulder.

“Don’t worry, young one, take all the time you need. I’ll be at the register if you need me.” Walking past you to return to her spot at the counter, you turned to walk down the aisle again, reading all the name tags and info as you went. Looks like you will be here for a while…

⋆˚🐾˖°

[pix-writes]

Playing Swooning Over the Stans (also, have you played it? omg is so fun) made me think; what would happen if the reader is friends with Stan? Like the reader actually likes Ford but becomes really good buddies with Stan, would Ford assume something is going on with them? Would Stan act like a matchmaker? sorry for asking so many questions omg

I did play it aaaaaaaaaaages ago, when it first came out! ^^ but I didn't get very far in it I have to say, I downloaded it a couple weeks ago and only got as far as the forest with ford again. I like dating sims but idk my adhd just really plays up when I try to play this one, I guess I got disheartened because some people have said its hard to complete?

This is an interesting one! This took me a while to think about.

---

I think being buddies with Stan would be a good way to then become friends with Ford himself, in a way, he's more on the periphery, you hanging out at the mystery shack whilst ford is absorbed in his research work. You're likely to get swept into Ford's experiments/adventures. But it makes you crush on him HARD.

Stan might not pick up on it immediately, but it only takes something little for him to notice, he's got a good read on people's tells whether they're lying or nervous and you've played cards together enough times to know yours well.

Will definitely say something immediately after Ford leaves the room, like 'so you got the hots for my brother, huh? What's that nerd done to catch your attention? Haha!' and will gauge your reaction and floundering to see just how serious this crush is and make mild, humourous threats about not doing anything in the shack/in front of him/not breaking his brothers heart etc etc.

He'd definitely joke about it like 'alright, quit with the goo goo eyes at my brother' 😠 or even 'hey! what does pointdexter have that I don't 🥺 pay attention!' definitely don't get distracted when you're playing a betting game, you may be friends but he'll pocket or switch cards whilst you're paying attention to Ford/ daydreaming as punishment. Stan will definitely tease/mock you until you make some kind of move and embarrass you cause he's not the most subtle 😅

Though, he'd be jealous at first, not because he likes you that way, you're more like an annoying little sibling to him, but because he feels the insecurity that your friendship will be taken away from him, which hits harder for him when it's his brother (who has little/no idea that this is happening) due to all they're been through in the past.

Stan is deep down a very loyal person to the people he cares about the most, so it can be a little more conflicting and awkward for him than he likely shows, cause you're his best buddy and Ford's his twin brother, so if you two get together, who is he going to fight if one hurts the other? If you break up, how will that affect all of your relationships together, will he just end up losing a friend? If you get married, he can't be both your best man! He wishes there was a manual for conundrums like this. He'd joke like he isn't affected by this, but also will be quite defensive and distant with you at times as well, which might confuse you.

He'll get over it once he realises that its more mutual, if he sees his brother is taking a noted interest in you too, and/or when you spend time together his brother is significantly happier, he'll start to play wing man to both of you! Ford will get the talk of 'so you have feelings for them, sixer, admit it!' and 'why don't you just talk to them, knucklehead'. I can imagine Ford getting all stuttering and blushy.

As for Ford thinking something is going on between you...... no, I don't think he would? It would definitely depend on the circumstances, like if you're freindship enters that flirty type of joking around or he assumes a situation to be more romantic than it actually is - he might question himself into whether there's something between you, but he's likely to outrightly ask stan out of curiousity. It's only if stan puts him off of you that he'll suspect there's any deeper feelings involved, but knowing his brother, if he did truly like you romantically, he would have said specifically that you were off limits. If this happens, it will give him some time to chew on what he does feel for you, as well as wonder if you like either of them...

If you both pine (no pun intended) over each other as friends and it becomes quite obvious to everyone else but you two don't act on it, Stan would get fed up with it! It won't take him long for this to go on, especially if you're out adventuring together, for him to (unpleasantly) break the ice for you. Cue the, 'oh, spare me' type speech "just cut the tension already, and admit you wanna smooch each other!"

If that doesn't work, Mabel definitely will find out in the summer and do the work that Stan failed at, to get you two nerds to go on a date. Just don't forget to spend some time with your pal like old times. Though that's easy enough to do, since you were practically like in-laws before, the dynamic doesn't change drastically for you, there's just more grumbling and jokes about your relationship with his brother, but now you get to tease him back! Tell him you're next project is collaborating with Mabel to set him up on a date and he'll change tact quick 😅😂 So, ultimately, both twins are happy with the outcome.

[majorproblems77]

Sacred Realm updated which means im actually so excited to be making this omg

Hi there Sacred Realm fans! :D

It is I, the one who makes the analysis posts on various comics on the internet. (With permission course) Because I love doing them and they bring me joy.

If you are unaware of what Sacred Realm is, it's a Legend of Zelda AU about a new Link who gets a little medallion that makes him a badass, also it can hold the spirits of heroes from across the realms (Including my fave boy ever okay)

Before I begin, I'll get the important stuff done, This is done with permission from @zelda-the-sacred-realm, and all art from the comics belongs to the comic artist. Please do me a favour and go and check it out because it's a wonderful comic and extremely well-drawn and written.

Now, grab some popcorn, and a drink and please enjoy me rambling about a comic that I enjoy so much. :D

Lets begin!

First, some sass

Damn, possessed Link got a mouth on him. Low key I love him, he looks like he could go for round two like right now. Wouldn't be surprised if he went for the hero of time next.

My eyebrows shot up at this.

Time KNOW's

let me repeat that

TIME KNOWS. HE KNOWS WHATEVER IS IN THE MEDALLION CAUSING THIS.

(More on this later)

He knows he knows he knows he knows he knows

I can hear the mocking voice of Link while he is saying this. Time has experience with this particular entity before.

Okay, so here is when it gets interesting.

Possessed Link or this entity I suppose, referring to Time and in turn Hylians as 'Your Race' Tells me a couple of things.

This thing in the medallion isn't a Hylian spirit. So as much and as fun as a dark link theory is, I dont think it could be.

Time arguing that we're not perfect, again referring to Hylians sounds very much like an "I'm speaking with a god speech"

I present my theory on what is in the medallion.

An extra spirit, a god of some description, from the spirit realm. Out to get revenge on Hylians.

Time has been to the spirit realm, in his games. (I am under the assumption that those still occur in this canon please do correct me if I'm wrong here.)

I'm convinced that this thing in the medallion is a deity of some kind because of the eye colour. I can't get over it.

This style of blue, with no pupils.

We've seen it before.

On Hylia.

From Chapter 2 fate PT2

And here is the first time we see it on Link for comparison, With Sky's alongside him for comparison for what Hylian eyes look like.

From Chapter 2 Fate PT3

The colour isn't exact so it can't be Hylia herself I dont think, but, i believe that there is a spirit trying to escape the sacred realm and is using Link to do it.

Okay, enough of my conspiracy theories moving on!

Link you gotta wake up!

Sky thinks so, I love the coloured speech bubble, what a good idea.

OH BOY I LOVE THESE PANELS

You know those scenes in video games when you're fighting off something that's trying to possess you and you have that ominous-sounding echo that seems to reverberate through your head. But is also muffled at the same time?

(If I find a game example I'll link it)

This. Put that noise you think off over this.

KICK ITS BUTT LINK GET IT, GET BACK IN HERE.

These five panels tell so much when it comes to how much effort Link has to go through to fight off the medallion possession. I wonder if its going to be easier or harder for him to fight it off as he gains spirits in the medallion.

You can really feel his struggle and I just love it. The visual storytelling is incredible in this comic and I will fan girl about it all day because I just love it so much

I'm thinking he says this to gauge just how bad this possession is. time seems like the guy who would, especially as he already seems to know what this is.

I wonder if he really is the hero of realms?

Yes, Time. Yes, he is.

The face he dosent remember any time he's possessed by the medallion is a little worrying.

Makes me think that could be used later.

Like, Link dosent remember fighting this ice comet now. What if he fights an enemy while possessed, breaks the possession then has to relearn how to defeat it because as possessed link he's not gained any information.

Man Link is a cinnamon roll sometimes and I love him dearly okay.

Alrighty, thats me finished with my rambling. Thank you so much for sticking with me through this! And thanks again to @zelda-the-sacred-realm for the permission to do these i really appreciate it.

Please please go and check out the rest of the comic if you haven't it's amazing :D

Thats me finished for this chapter, so I'll be headed out!

Hope you have a wonderful day! :D

[melonisopod]

I still really like the way DunMesh introduces Kabru's party. Where they're clearly set up to be foils to our main party but not in a way that the narrative is pointing at them and saying "These guys suck and you should hate them!" They could just as easily have been the main characters and have the Touden party introduced second and it would have worked just as well IMO.

Cause I think a 'lesser' show would have set up characters like them as unpleasant jerkwads that you immediately can't stand. Maybe Mickbell is like that but even then he comes off more like a "funny asshole" than a genuinely detestable person. But the show goes out of its way to show that Kabru is incredibly smart and perceptive and knows and trusts his crewmates. The fact that he stopped Rin with a kiss tells me the two must be pretty close (it was pragmatic but I don't think she'd have reacted that way if they weren't at least on good terms, her main gripe was the illusion magic making Kabru look like a fish).

Plus, even though his reasons for going after the Touden party are /wrong/, he doesn't know that, and has no reason not to believe they've acted maliciously against his crew. So even while his party innately has it in for our heroes they're not bad people.

There's less that we know about Shuro and his current party and so it's harder for me to glean exactly what's up with him, but I also don't think he's set up as a 'bad person we're supposed to hate' either. I think the fandom is a little hard on him for his one-sided crush on Falin too - for all the "she's just like her brother" jokes she really isn't, not "exactly" at least. Falin seems a bit better at masking than Laois and has a better gauge for handling people, which makes her more "tolerable" in their eyes, hence why more people are willing to "tolerate" her monster obsession.

I know that Shuro has/had feelings for her and that it didn't go anywhere but that's...fine? There's no indication he acts entitled or pushy or doesn't respect her feelings or boundaries, and just having a crush on someone isn't a morally bad thing. I haven't seen the "outburst" when he and Laois fight either so I dont' have a lot to say here, just that I relate heavily to Laois, but I dont' think Shuro is bad for not speaking up on his dislike of him either.

As much as I desperately wish more people would tell me when they have a problem with me, how awkward is it to have to tell someone that to their face? How do you even say that? "By the way, I find you really annoying and can't stand you, I just want to clarify that so you stop assuming we're friends," I would love for someone to let me know but also imagine having to be the other person. I wish there was a nice way of saying it (and Shuro DID have a "nice way" of "saying it" but Laios is too autistic to pick up on subtle cues)

I still kind of hold the opinion that every character in DunMesh is some degree of autistic, but it's possible Laios is like the one guy who never really learned how to mask beyond "never talking about his special interest in public".

[guitarbrain]

the digital devil saga soundtracks have been on my mind a lot lately seeing as today is the first game’s 20th anniversary, and also because i got a cd set of the osts a couple months ago and have been listening to those a ton. i've also been working on learning a bunch of the songs on guitar because shoji meguro was cooking up some crazy shit back in the 2000s and so many songs from that era are super fun to play and quite easy to learn as well.

i noticed that dds songs have a lot of bends. like a LOT. every time i play big battle i'm scared i'm gonna break my b string (maybe that's just because i use 11-54 gauge strings so bending feels harder). but i think it makes the songs really interesting, since meguro seems to often opt for bends instead of slides or hammer-ons in a lot of cases. i think it helps create some tension in the battle songs since you get that in-between space between one note and the next that sounds out of tune.

i’m not entirely sure on this, but i think that main riff in hunting doesn’t have perfect bends. they seem to me like they fall just a bit short of a half or whole step, kinda adding to the tension and dissonance. i also think it’s interesting to compare that with the version of hunting from dds2, where it sounds like that big bend is replaced with a slide. or at least that’s how i prefer to play it. and obviously the tone of the song changes a lot since it’s in a different key but taking away the drag you get from those bends gives the riff a totally different feeling, even if you’re playing it in the same key as the original song.

also, this may be a stretch but i think the bends help the music fit in with the setting of the game, being heavily influenced by hinduism. the big whole step bends that are sometimes just a bit off make it possible to play around with a more microtonal sound while still mostly staying within the restraints of the western music scale. the music of digital devil saga is really atmospheric, so much so that when i first listened to it i could create a clear mental picture of the tone and feeling of the game just from the sound of the music and reading some basic info about the setting/plot.

anyways. happy 20th anniversary to digital devil saga, and more importantly to its cool gay cannibal characters and its kickass music :))

[shiningliive]

Live Emotion Tap Spaces

A too long post on the Live Emotion preview clip only having two touch icons:

I've seen mixed reponses. Some people are happy to see a more accesible layout that is less likely to cause hand and wrist damage from long/frequent play sessions, and some are dissapointed and fearful that it might be too slow or too basic.

I'd take an educated guess that what we're seeing in this clip is an 'easy' difficulty, with higher levels hopefully having at least a faster speed. When comparing this clip to the easy difficulty of Shining Romance on SL, both are nearly identical with 11-12 taps within 8-9 seconds.

It's hard to say how I feel about it so far without seeing more footage. Personally, I think at least 4 would be ideal but I can't say until more footage is revealed. It's certainly possible there are more tap spaces in higher difficulties, or the higher speed and potentially more gesture options would make up for it.

Here are some other rhythm games with similar amounts of touch spaces. I've tried to link higher diffulty levels to show the potential:

Love Live All Stars - Very similar layout to Live Emotion with two tap icons, however there are also some notes that have to be swiped in the direction indicated which I think could be implemented in higher difficulties in LE. Also has a mode with less distracting bg visuals (that is customisable with unlockable backgrounds) which I am also currently hoping to be a toggle in LE.

Aikatsu - This I believe is a two player mode that is being played solo, but it does show another example of a 2 touch icon UI. I think it's also played with a controller, but its easy to imagine the arrows as directional sliding gestures as well. Aikatsu has a slightly younger demographic, so it makes sense if the beatmaps skew a bit simpler.

Idolish 7 and I-Chu - Both with four tap icons.

Then of course you have games like Bpro and SIF that have a similar high amount of tap icons to Shining Live. There are also some with similar functionality but different look, like Show By Rock, D4DJ, Project Sekai, and Hypmic.

And for more varied rhythm gameplay styles, but to highlight the potential of different gesture types, you have:

King of Prism - Tapping and making certain swipe gestures as they skate through hoops. This and some others linked also have segments where you trace shapes on the screen at certain parts of a song, or whena gauge fills up.

Te to Te Connect - Arcade game with beatmaps that encourage copying the movements on screen. These sort of swiping and tracing shape movements are especially interesting to me but I dont know if we'd see something like that in LE.

Muse Dash - A different style of rhythm game to what we've seen so far from LE, but there may be something in there to inspire you.

Fit Boxing - Again very different and doesnt really translate to touch screen, but while holding a joycon the player does different types of punches and movements corresponding to the icons.

Osu - A classic, with its icons taking up the screen in various patterns rather than staying in set positions, this is also something I dont expect to see in LE, but is a fun gameplay style. Osu also has a large spinning wheel that shows up occasionally for a short period of time, and has to be spun in circles very quickly.

All that to say, who knows what we're in for. I would prefer a few more touch icons, but even if harder difficulties still only have 2 I think its possible to get a fun and difficult game out of it if theyre fast enough, and have various tap gestures to keep it intersting and engaging (tap, hold, spin, multi-tap, swipe up/down/left/right etc).

Lets wait and see what the next game reveals showcase.

[paragonrobits]

given the heavy amount of inherent romantic subtext between Fionna and Ice Prince and thus by definition Simon Petrikov (as, even more than Winter King, Ice Prince feels a LOT like an idealized depiction of Simon at his most fancy and subdued sophistication and has no real signs of Ice King at all except for the magic jewels on his cape), I think its not implausible that we're meant to see some kind of romantic vibe or possibility between them

and in particular, Fionna has a few similarities towards Betty that's interesting in this regard; she has a similar impulsive attitude that ultimately drives the plot and her decisions keep forcing Simon out of his passive box, and she has more than a few verbal quirks that are specifically thinks Betty says: compare Betty time traveling and declaring 'I'm leaving past you for now you, dum-dum!" with Fionna bonking him on the head and making him think straight while also calling him dum-dum, which I don't recall anyone else saying.

So with this in mind, what are we to think? Is this deliberate in-universe? It's pretty likely that if it is, it might be coincidental; I don't think you can ENTIRELY rule out Golbetty pushing Fionna in this direction, though I don't know if it sounds right for Golbetty to essentially make Fionna a substitute for her, especially since their character arcs aren't aligned in finding substitutes

what I think IS happening is that both of them have personalities that lean in that general direction; its clear that Fionna is at least interested in the sort of personality Ice Prince represents; the calm and literally cool sophisticated gentleman, which also lines up with Hunter's character, though he's more of a blue collar variation. It's likely that this sort of guy is her type as far as men-aligned people go. (Which makes a contrast given that she gives the impression she still hates baths and probably smells of wet beef, but horrible gremlin x sophisticated gentlefolk IS an excellent character contrast)

Simon is a bit harder to gauge in this direction; we only really have Betty as an established person he was personally interested in. However, we CAN make some guesses with Ice King and the princesses he tried to pursue, most obviously Bubblegum (who might also be the one he pursued the most because she has quite a few things in common with Betty), but from the other princesses he tended to fixate on, there's a few common elements. They tend to be highly intelligent (which, no offense to Fionna, but she IS a Finn variant so... emotional intelligence perhaps but not really a brainlord), very assertive (yeah), impulsive (oh yeah) and even physically powerful (and while Fionna doesn't quite have the power to match up her bravado, she WANTS to); she does map up pretty well to the sort of people Simon has fixated on while he was Ice King.

with this in mind if Golbetty's intent WAS to set them up for whatever reason or get them to move on, respectively, it probably wasn't the most sensible decision given that any crossover romance is the most extreme long distance relationship imaginable but also that DOES sound like a Betty plan. good intention I guess!

[pasta-in-the-pudding]

Hey I really like your creepypasta stuff and I was wondering about general headcannons for Jane and clockwork ? Thank you!

I haven't gotten any clockwork requests yet! And i get very few Jane requests! Super excited for this one...

Thank you so much for requesting!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jane

Very much into trad goth and romantic goth subcultures

Lesbian, she/her, 24 years old

5'8"

Her favorite band is She Wants Revenge

She lives in the manor, but she and jeff are kept far away from each other due to constant fights breaking out between the two

For a while, liu tried to help them work out their differences as a mediator, but that obviously didnt work

Jane, however, is actually good friends with Liu

She has a huge crush on nurse ann

I mean, who doesn't

Shes a very quiet person, generally

Very logical, ordered, scheduled

She is one of Sally's primary caretakers, along with Liu and EJ

Her ultimate fantasy is to have a date with her soulmate in a graveyard

Shes very interested in fashion, even designing some of her own fashion lines, but they are nothing more than sketches as she hasn't taken the time to learn how to sew yet

She's one of the very few creeps that keeps her distance from everyone else

She has a few close friends, namely, Ej and Liu, but other than that she doesn't really talk to anyone

She is polite and civil, but she doesn't go out of her way to be overly friendly

She is African American

Her proxy tattoo is on her thigh

I like to imagine her voice sounds like a deeper version of Amy Lee's

She likes having her nails done, and especially likes having acrylics with charms on them

Her favorite set (and the one she gets done over and over again) are black nails with silver crosses, pearls and chains

I feel like she has very intense PTSD from everything with Jeff, and refuses to be anywhere near fire, or men that she doesn't know for too long

And sure, it makes her work harder, but she's slaying so its not all that bad

As far as her work goes, she is normally used for spying and recon missions, as she is very stealthy, and even if she does get caught she can be very persuasive and manipulative

I feel like she would be the type of person to have very few tattoos and piercings

The tattoos she does have, they have meaning

For example, she has a rose on her left arm, and a daisy on her right arm, as these were her parents favorite flowers

I feel like she would use very high quality perfumes, like gucci and dior stuff

The best way to explain her signature scent is "expensive"

She is absolutely a boss bitch <333

Clockwork

Lesbian, she/her, 23 years old

5'6"

She's very butch <333

The best way i can explain her personality is Applejack from mlp

She's very extroverted and enjoys hanging out with people around the mansion

She wears so many flannels

Seriously. Someone needs to stop her from buying them

Flannels and blue jeans are her jam

I imagine that she smells like old spice, because she thinks all "female" deoderants smell too weak

Also, old spice fits her aesthetic better

Shes so gay for Jane

I feel like Jane would know at least a little about Nat's feelings

She wholeheartedly denies having said feelings though

She loves physical sport, and can often be found wrestling or sparring with another creep

As a result, she is tanned and buff

She has a septum ring, an eyebrow ring and has contemplated getting small gauges

Her proxy tattoo is on her shoulder

Other than that, i don't think she would have many other tattoos

I can see her having something like a star on her shoulderblade, or maybe a dolphin on her ankle, but thats about it

I would think that she's really close with Toby, Jane and maaaaybe Liu

Her proxy work normally consists of fast paced missions

If you need someone beat up quick, shes your girl

I feel like she would try really hard to be a plant person, but she just can't figure it out

She can also play the acoustic guitar

She only really plays it when Sally asks her too, though

When Sally first got in the mansion, Nat would help lull Sally to sleep by playing a song and singing softly by her bed

It really helped Sally warm up to the manor, and get comfortable living there

Ever since then, Sally and Nat have gotten really close, making Nat one of the first people she asks to play dolls with, asks to watch tv with, asks to dance with, etc

I feel like she would smoke every now and then, but its only to help calm her anxiety and she only does it when she knows there aren't any small children that could potentially be watching her

I feel like she would have BPD and maybe some OCD

[myrmica]

4, 12, 26 for the artist ask game? :3

4. Fav character/subject that's a bitch to draw

if we're talking characters subz is the hardest member of eclipse to draw because his skin has too many elements and leaves way less room for interpretation than zam or vitalasy... so it's not even that he's hard to draw (i had a harder time settling on a vi design by far) but he's less FUN to draw because i wouldn't ever design a character with most of those elements if i was left to my own accord. they call me the guy with hyper-specific aesthetic priorities

SUBJECTS in general... i have a hard time with expressions/facial features so i'm almost never happy with how they come out and it makes me not want to look back at the art. but that means it's very satisfying when i AM happy with them . i'm quite pleased with these zams because i like how i drew his face although now i realize they are both eyes closed smiling. this is because my favorite parts of expressions to do are like, the way the brow wrinkles, or how the nose gets scrunched up when you smile

12. Easiest part of body to draw

lately legs... i love drawing legs i enjoy the shapes. it's like there's a contour line running down the middle of the leg from the knee to the big toe and noticing this made it so easy & fun to draw legs from basically any angle. shoutout to arms also. big fan of limbs

26. What's a piece that got a wildly different interpretation from what you intended

HMMMMMM this is an interesting question... i can't think of anything that was Super out of left field. sometimes i get "awwww cute" on something i'm going for more drama or tension with which always amuses me like wow... maybe it is cute ^_^ and sometimes people point out cool details or thematic stuff i didn't do on purpose at all which is a satisfying feeling. the most interesting might be any time i show my art to somebody irl or who has no context for the conventions of digital art in general let alone the specifics of the characters i draw because it's a good gauge for how well something reads on its own merits

[shivvroys]

lord, don't let me break this

shivlina oneshot

shiv and karolina, at the RECNY ball

you can also read it on ao3

a/n: surprise bitch, i bet u thought you'd have to wait another month for more shivlina crumbs!! This was initially meant to be a part of my other shivlina fic (you don't have to read that one first, but it would be cool if u did) as a reunion of sorts after Shiv's return from Sweden, but I decided to take that fic in another direction, so I'm just posting this as a oneshot.

Enjoy, muahhh! :XX

-

lord, don’t let me break this, let me hold it lightly

give me arms to pray with, instead of ones that hold too tightly

-

“I read the statement. Good one, plausible everything.” Karolina smirks.

“Yeah, Tom’s publicist tried to get us to do a sit down interview, but I told her I’d blow my brains out on live television if I had to smile holding an ATN branded onesie.” she pauses, narrowing her eyes. “That wasn’t you, by the way, was it?” 

She smiles at Karolina’s scoff of indignation. On stage, some bottle blonde with long, glistening legs is droning on about the importance of nurturing freedom of self-expression in our youth, while the group of kids dressed in beige rags waiting just in the shadow of the backstage area are sniggering and elbowing each other. She can see them expressing themselves just fine.

“God, no. Fluff pieces are probably the worst part of this job, if I’m being honest.” she replies.

Not the white-collar crime cover-ups? Shiv doesn’t say it out loud. She doesn’t want to put a damper on an otherwise enjoyable night. A surprisingly fun night. The onstage entertainment is typical RECNY bullshit, the same recycled speeches lapped up by uppity cunts patting themselves on the back for throwing crumbs to the poor pathetic art-school students and their future careers. God knows, there are only so many cafés looking for baristas in New York. The world needs improv groups, too! Shiv isn’t paying much attention to the stage, anyway. The lights are just dim enough to feel like she’s getting away with something, and Karolina is warm and loose at her side. Karolina’s only on her second glass of prosecco, but her face is slowly losing its reserved detachment, and her arm brushes firmly against Shiv’s whenever she laughs at one of Shiv’s inappropriate comments.

Turning to the other woman, Shiv finds her quietly contemplating. She looks like she’s deciding whether she can make some bad news go away by not speaking it into existence. Shiv nudges her. Spit it out. Karolina takes a deep breath, rolling her eyes slightly.

“I was just going to say-. Well, just that it wouldn’t have been the smartest option, anyway. Doing the interview.” Shiv frowns. Karolina’s suddenly grown quiet, like she’s steeling herself to get yelled at.

“And why is that?” Shiv asks.

The crowd erupts in applause, and the lights grow dimmer. Some bland electronic instrumental starts playing, as the kids make their way to the stage, all blank faces and languid steps. Shiv doesn’t pretend to be interested in whatever abstract emotion they’re trying to portray as they start flailing their bodies awkwardly. Kendall would eat it up. She focuses her attention back on Karolina, the other woman’s expression now harder to make out in the dark. 

“It’s nothing, sorry. I’m crossing the line, forget I said anything.” she watches Karolina take a sip of wine and pretend to immerse herself in the performance on the stage. A scrawny kid with a shitty fade and ear gauges is staring up at the light projectors and flapping his arms. Riveting. Shiv’s not letting her get out of this one.

“I wasn’t aware there was a line. Come on, Novotney, say it with your entire chest.” Shiv doesn’t realize she’d raised her voice until a couple of people turn back to look at them in condescending disapproval. She’d flip them off, but the silent scolding gives her an excuse to huddle closer to Karolina, so she lets it slide, and angles her body towards the other woman. They share a soft chuckle, like school girls caught trading notes during class. Shiv raises a pointed eyebrow, reminding Karolina she was very much still on the hook. 

“Well-.” she pauses. Shiv can’t remember the last time she’d seen her struggle so hard to find her words. “Well, purely from a PR perspective, a general representative statement is less…” she trails off. “Binding. Compared to a direct quote.” Karolina turns her head swiftly away from Shiv, a trail of perfume punctuating the end of her sentence. It’s something dark and ambery that briefly sends Shiv’s head spinning. It takes her a minute to process what Karolina’s actually said.

“Uh huh. So what you’re saying is, it would make us look stupid when we have to announce the divorce?”

Karolina had grown accustomed to Shiv’s particular knack for feather ruffling, but she still looks very uncomfortable to be broaching this particular topic. The Tom of it all. They hadn’t done anything, and whatever this was between them, this weird codependent clinging of each other, had been nothing but Christian. The longest Shiv’s held something between her hands without the urge to see it shatter. But still, they had an unspoken agreement that whatever it was, it would remain theirs. Nothing in, nothing out. They could make fun of Frank’s heavy breathing, and Matsson’s latest attempt at rebranding himself by trying to grow out a goatee, they could even share a silent laugh during meetings at Tom’s uncomfortable pep talks. But her marriage remained firmly outside of their thing. This rip in reality, their tiny cave at the edge of the world. And if Karolina was seeing someone, or seeking out someone to see, that stayed out too. Schrödinger's commitments.

If she said i love you in the middle of the night, but there was no one there to hear it, was she breaking a promise?

“I apologize, that was very inappropriate. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

The performance is done, and the lights get turned up a bit. A man with broad shoulders and an arrogant gait makes his way across the stage, the projector lights following him like prey animals. By the look of her, however, the lights might as well have been pointed right at Karolina. She’s gripping the wine flute, and pointedly refusing to look Shiv in the eyes. The dig at her sham of a marriage hadn’t hurt Shiv. If anything, she’s glad to have a chance to drag that elephant out of its corner and pelt it with rocks for a change. No, it’s not the reminder of its failure that bothers Shiv, but the reminder of its existence. That fact that the moment she is in right now is the temporary one out of the two.

She’s holding the thing, like a big shiny marble, and she can feel it slipping away from her grasp, can hear it shattering against the cold floor. Say something.

The man at the podium has a ridiculously wide tie and his teeth shine fluorescent as he laughs at the jokes that have been written for him. Shiv pins him down with her stare, urging him to finish speaking, urging the lights to dim yet again and Karolina to brush her arm against hers again.

 “You know, it’s fine.” Karolina’s still refusing to look her way. Shiv leans closer. She can see the tension gathered along the column of Karolina’s throat. “Besides, you’ve got a point.” She watches Karolina swallow. “I appreciate you trying to keep me an honest woman, Novotney. Rotten work, though.” 

Karolina finally turns to look at her. She opens her mouth, but doesn’t dare let any thought pass through. Shiv is frozen in her spot, trapped under Karolina’s gaze and hollowed out by the other woman’s perfume. If she moves, she’ll do something they’d both regret. The lights are too fucking bright. Suddenly, Shiv can hear every fucking person in the room breathing. Can hear them shifting in their seats, scraping their forks against their plates, dragging their chairs across the carpeted floor. Can feel her mouth dry out, and the underwire of her bra digging into her chest. She wills it to break skin. The world comes back into view with violent clarity. The thing sits cradled between her palms like a cool, shiny marble, and Shiv’s fingers are twitching.

If she kissed Karolina in a room full of strangers, but she didn’t say i love you, would the fire be worth the burn?

But she can’t do that. Not to Karolina. An honest woman.

So, she pulls back. Grabs her own glass and sips it like communion wine. Sins all cleansed and mortal flesh left unindulged in, she turns to the other woman like she’s suddenly remembered something she’d been meaning to say.

“Hey, you know that on the day of the wedding my mother was going around asking people how long they’d give it? The fucking nerve!” her voice rings hollow, but Karolina gracefully accepts the distraction.

“God, that’s awful.” Karolina laughs. Her arms doesn’t brush Shiv’s this time, but she shakes her head, sending another waft of her perfume to tickle Shiv’s nose.

“Yeah, she is” she says fondly. Then, she leans in conspiratorially. “How would you have answered?”

“Hmm.” Karolina mulls it over for a bit. Once she seems satisfied with the wording, she says: “For as long as you’re both happy.” She doesn’t avert her gaze this time.

Up on the stage, a new presenter is giving the same speech.

Shiv looks down at the marble in her hands, turns it round and round, watches the way the light bounces off of it. She watches Karolina roll her eyes at the presenter’s speech, and feels her grip tighten around the marble.

[glassmarcus]

The Rogue Lite Mexican Stand Off

*All games played in January 2023, Written in November 2023

I've had a backlog of Rogue Lites I planned on checking out for years now. This list keeps growing and I've accepted that I'll never reach the bottom. So I decided to knock out the three I felt were at the top of the genre at the very least. First I played Hades, a title I wasn't super psyched to try because I'm not a huge fan of isometric angles in games. But word of mouth overcame that doubt and I gave it a shot anyway. And yea, the game is aces. I was not led astray. Second on the docket was Rogue Legacy 2. I knew I was going to love this game because of how much I loved the first. To zero shock, I loved Rogue Legacy 2. Last was Dead Cells. A game I was interested in because I heard it be compared to Dark Souls at one point. What got me to finally buy it was the Castlevania DLC which I had to purchase because I'm a huge shill. By the way this game is also pretty good.

I see why this gallery of Rogue Likes are praised so highly and I enjoyed my time with them immensely... But which one is the best? I tried to place them all on the same level in my mind, but that's not how I operate. There needs to be a clear pecking order. A hierarchy must be established and that's exactly what I will do here. I'm going to pit these three Rouge Lites against each other and see who comes out on top. And no, I will not stop using the terms Rogue Lite and Rogue Like interchangeably. I know they are technically different things, but they sound far too similar for me to care. All games that expect you to complete their procedurally generated adventure in a single run are Rogue Likes/ Rogue Lites. That's the definition I'm using here.

In one corner of this Rogue Like Mexican stand off is Hades. Hades is a mechanically efficient masterwork of roguish progression. Not a single aspect is wasted and unpolished. You look at the weapons you get and might think "oh, there's only six of them" only to realize that they only made six because you only need six. Every weapon is completely fleshed out and has its own advantages over others. Swords deal high damage and take out a lot of enemies at once, but require putting yourself in risky situations. The Bow is weaker but safer as you can attack from anywhere in the screen. The Spear is somewhat of a jack of all trades, not as much range as a bow, not as much power as a sword, but enough of both to be worth using. Shields take a different approach in being a middle man by having its normal attack be melee and it's special long range. Fist and Guns act as the gambling man's version of the sword and bow. With Fist, you can get a lot of damage in when you're close, but it's harder to gauge when you should retreat. With Guns you can get way more hits than with the Bow, but you also have to manage your ammo and if you lose count you'll be shit out of luck.

I gotta say, there is no clear best weapon to use. I like the fist the best because obviously I'm gonna gravitate towards the punchy one the most, but I can't say it's strictly better than the others. And I came to this conclusion by naturally trying out every weapon. Hades attributes a point bonus for a random weapon in each run. These points can be used to permanently upgrade yourself between runs. So you have to decide if you want consistency with the weapons you are used to, or invest in the future by trying something new and getting potentially more points. Its a great way to incentivize variety and exploration of the mechanics of the game. The weapon options don't even end there as you get the ability to permanently upgrade your weapons after you've probably found a favorite. And these upgrades can substantially change the way you play as they aren't merely damage increases, but diverse effects that you can take advantage of to great result.

This game could just have these weapons and be perfectly great, but what takes it to the next level are the mid run upgrades you'd expect from any rogue like. Boons, the power gifted from the gods, are what really counts in getting you strong enough to claw your way out of hell. When you understand the advantages of your weapon, the permanent abilities you've acquired, and the effects boons can have, you can figure out which boons cynergize with you the best. As I stated prior, I was a Fist Aficionado. A weapon that hits fast and requires you to get in and out of enemy range. So when I picked boons that worked well with that, I got outstanding results. Abilities that decreased enemy attacks were my go to, because I knew I was going to get hit so I thought I might as well make it hurt less. And figuring out that build myself was when I really started to mesh with Hades. At first I wasn't getting any of the mechanics, flailing around with my standard attack until I dodged. But as I progressed it only kept feeling better to me. They introduce new combat options and improve the old ones. I think the game went from decent to incredible once I got a second Cast.

Cast are such a beautiful mechanic. Somehow both great for single target damage and Area of Effect depending on what boon you choose. But no matter which you choose, it changes the flow of combat due to the fact you have to pick that shit up. Keeping your rhythm despite cast not recharging automatically is the heart of why combat feels so good to me. Calls and Specials are great, but the real heroes are Cast, Attacks, and Dashes. In my experience, that’s actually the order I prioritize these moves. Your cast always have some effect that influences how you attack so that comes first. Then you attack to take advantage of what the cast does. While attacking you are dodging to stay alive. And then the cast wears off and they are left on the ground. And now you must use your attack and dash to navigate through enemies and pick up your cast so you can start the whole thing over again. Once you get into that flow state and start incorporating specials and calls into the equation, the combat of Hades becomes something truly special.

On a gameplay level this is brilliant. And you know what? The story ain't too bad either. Most Rogue Lite stories aren't something to write home about as far as I've experienced. After all, they are kind of the junk food of video games. Short and sweet experiences that don't have time to make an interesting story. Hades is built a bit different. Every run you do progresses the story and everything you do is canon. Games have been explaining away respawning for decades now, but I think this is on a different level. Characters acknowledge the things you did in prior runs. Story lines are moved through both success and failure so there's a palpable sense of progressing delivered in multiple ways. There's dating sim elements. And every character is hot. The story of Hades doesn't just work well, it works in a uniquely video game way. The setting of Hades is roguish in both thematics and mechanics. It's all about taking failure on the chin and accepting any help you can. It drove me to play it even more than I normally would have and made each run unique. It drove me to play it even after I beat it. This game’s story doesn't conclude until you beat it 10 times and I’m not upset about it one bit. You can customized each run's difficulty in a variety of ways after you beat it to add new rewards and content.

It really is a near perfectly crafted game in its genre. The only thing it drops the ball in is music which is a bit underwhelming. Don't remember a damn thing from it. And I've heard praise for the OST too, but it appears to not be my bag. It worked for what the game was going for and it matched the environments well, but it didn't stick with me the way I'd prefer an OST to stick with me. That's really is the only issue about the game I can conjure...but if it was clearly the best one of the three, I wouldn't be writing this.

In the second corner we have Rogue Legacy 2. Rogue Legacy is the inverse of Hades. Its narrative foil in a way. They are both games about overcoming impossible odds with the help from your family and end up being equally powerful despite going separate routes with this premise. Hades is based around Nepotism. You get to know your uncles and cousins throughout the game and your bonds with them push you forward. As such Hades is a more character driven narrative due to how large and important the supporting cast is. The cast in Rogue Legacy 2 is potentially bigger, but they're mostly all the same character. The Premise of Rogue Legacy 2 is that each run follows the latest heir of a family sworn to conquer an evil castle. When you die, you play as your offspring in the next push through the castle. It's a different character technically, with a different class and unique attributes. But one thing is maintained between the end of your last journey and the beginning of your new one: Your Bank Account.

If Hades is about Nepotism, Rogue Legacy is about Inheritance. Your character is given every advantage their predecessors were given and then some, assuring the next generation grows up stronger. Rather than death being equated to a minor setback, it's given real narrative consequence in a way. Every failed run is an echo of your past self. And it's cool that their efforts aren't going to waste. You are carrying the weight of your entire bloodline on your shoulders and it makes it all the more gratifying when you get to your points of respite. It's not as interesting as the standard well written game story, but it's just as powerful as one. When I beat the game and saw 100+ ancestors given their due credit, I felt that shit.

None of this is authentic by the way. Every bit of this was executed in Rogue Legacy 1 prior. The thing is, the sequel is better than that game in every conceivable way that it overwrites its very existence. I'm not exaggerating one bit when I say that there is zero reason to play the first game anymore. I get that it would be embarrassing for a game about improving over generations to not be way better than it's predecessor, but Junior didn't have to go this hard. I'd go as far to say that the first area of Rogue Legacy 2 completely encapsulates the experience of the first game. Everything beyond that point feels fresh and new. So for the remainder of this essay, Rogue Legacy only refers to the second game. It's such a large improvement to an already good game.

Rogue Legacy works because it's unabashedly brutal. Your hit boxes are so small and the enemy hit boxes are so big. Damage values are obscene. Enemies are around every corner and are relentless. Conquering this game is supposed to be difficult so it is designed around failure. It's not fair, but doesn't pretend to be. Your goal is rarely about accomplishing shit on your own and is more about fostering a new generation. Sewing seeds for the future. This game has six areas you need to conquer before gaining access to the final boss. Areas that you can access in a non linear way. It's essentially six separate Rogue Likes glued together. After you beat one area, you can still revisit that area in future runs, only the boss is permanently dead now. Once you've built an heir capable enough, you have the freedom to make short runs where you B-line to the boss or long runs where you scrape each prior area before the showdown. The draw of Rogue Legacy lies in how unlikely it is that you beat it in under a few dozen runs, but because every single run you failed in built towards your eventual victory, it is all the more satisfying.

Rogue Legacy is a game with an insane number of mechanics. Classes, armor, seals, equipment load, bank interest, skill trees, artifacts, upgrades and the list keeps going. Rogue Legacy takes Search Action gameplay and implements systems with the breadth and complexity of a 60 hours long RPG. And it functions perfectly because this is going to be a very looooong game, so the player has time to understand how the systems interact. Unlocking a class you can vibe with and figuring out which abilities and equipment optimize well with it is one of the many joys of Rogue Legacy 2.

Classes define your initial weapons, skills, and spells and additional stats. Class skills and stats basically determine how you're going to play. Weapons are important too, but the skills and stats can't be swapped out the same way weapons and spells can. And much like any craft, they can be improved. You can level up classes by playing them and defeating enemies. This incentivizes focusing on a single class that you've grown fond of so that their base stats will improve. But the random character generation limits your choice in the matter. It forces you to choose different classes. You're always making the best with the hands you are dealt, similar actual genetics. Classes aren't the only thing randomly generated in character creation. Each heir has a genetic trait that has a benefit and drawback. You can be born as a dwarf with shorter weapon range, but makes more money per chest. You can start off with a character who falls slowly, making some sections easier and some a nightmare. Every aspect of build creation of this game has a push and pull.

The armor you buy in this game increases your defense but the set bonus combination for said armors can give you extra stat or ability modifications. Seals are exclusively ability modifications guaranteed to make the game more fun to play with reliable effects. Artifacts fulfill the same purpose a lot of the time, but they are objects you find within the castle runs themselves. Having the right class, armor set, artifacts, and seals can make for a devastating build that will get you far in your adventure. But it's never that simple. Everything in this game has a cost. Armor cost money and ore to make and their weight fills up your maximum armor equip limit. Seals cost money and blood stones and have their own equip limit as well. Artifacts cost resolve and maybe re-rolls to get the best ones, and your resolve lowers if you have too much armor. The lower your resolve gets, the lower your Hit Point Maximum gets, making the character’s stats themselves a form of currency. Nothing in this game is simply handed to you and you have to do everything yourself with the small loan of 1 million gold your dead father gave you.

These systems and how they interact push this to being a phenomenal game, but they wouldn't mean anything without fun gameplay and that is something Rogue Legacy has in spades. Movement is the best part of this game I feel. It really leaned into the Metroidvania aspect. You get powers throughout the game that make world traversal delightful, and become even more fun when you have seals to build off of. Not many games let you do a quintuple jump into a triple air dash, but Rogue Legacy is one of those games. No mechanic you are given is that complicated as they are simply extensions of what you can already do. Attack, Magic, Skill, Dash, and Jump are basically the whole of the gameplay. Just fine tuning those things makes it satisfying to master. But there is one aspect added in this sequel that felt so natural I forgot to list it.

The Spin Kick. The spin kick is essentially a Duck Tales pogo. But you don't get that much height from it. But what it loses in height, it makes up for in surface area. You can spin kick basically any thing in this game so long as long as it's physical or electrical matter. Enemies, projectiles, weird candelabras, are all spin kick approved. Think Cup Head parry, but exclusively down ward, which doesn't seem that great, but it's a platformer essentially. You are jumping a lot. It's really not that different from attacks coming from the side when you are in mid air so much of the time any way. This platformer parry is utilized throughout the whole game to making interesting level obstacles and boss patterns. It is the unsung hero of this game and 3 playthroughs later, I'm still finding joy in executing it.

It's very hard for things in Rogue Legacy to overstay their welcome. Even the procedural level design remains fresh. Lots of variety in the rooms. It's not only a series of corridors where you have to kill enemies in a generated mini level. Some rooms are puzzles. Some are platforming challenges. Some are gauntlets and mini bosses. Some are purely story related. Also the 6 level motifs are distinct both visually and how they are designed. Level 2 almost entirely horizontal while the last area feels like a true dungeon crawler due to how dark and dangerous it is. I wasn't kidding before. Rogue Legacy 2 is 6 Rogue Legacy sequels stuffed into 1 game. And the post game adds another layer to that variety. One of the best parts about a long dev cycle is that entire trends go by in the middle of it. And because of that the creators can be given new ideas. Rogue Legacy blatantly takes the same post game ideas displayed in Dark Souls and Hades and injects it into itself. Rogue Legacy waited until the last moment to turn in its homework and then unabashedly copied off its classmates for an easy A. And god bless it for doing so. With the scaling and customizable difficulty, expansion of rewards and enemies, and completely unique bonus challenges, I'm gonna be playing this one for a long time.

So clearly I enjoy these two games a lot. But what about Dead Cells? What does it bring to the table? What can it do to stand up to these titans. Well. Honestly not much. If Hades is Angel Eyes, and Rogue Legacy is Blondie, then Dead Cells is Tuco stuck in the stand off with an unloaded gun.

Dead Cells is a good game. It looks better than Rogue Legacy. I might enjoy the gameplay more than Hades. But that's where the advantages end. And I'll be honest I haven't spent enough time with this game to truly have scholars opinion on it, thus I can’t write paragraph about its design. But that's kind of the problem. I beat this game in 4 runs. I'm no god at gaming. I'm slightly above average on a good day. The fact that I stumbled upon the ending of this game so early is disappointing. Rogue Legacy, I died a hundred deaths before reaching credits. Hades took me around 14 to beat the first time. Dead Cells gave it away and it was so deflating. I didn't work towards anything. I just sort of won. I never even died to a single boss. Once I upgraded how many estus I could hold, the only thing that mattered was the pick ups I got during the run. I'm sure if I go back there is way more to the game, but after seeing the credits I kind lost all motivation to play it. It's not fair to the game that I did that, but that's how I feel and I got other things to do with my time. It’s too bad I had the idea of comparing these three games before playing all of them.

So it all comes down to Rogue Legacy 2 and Hades. Hades has untouchable presentation and succeeds in everything it attempts with grace in a way that Rogue Legacy 2 doesn't. I can't really break down why, there's an air about it that makes it feel more thought out and seamless. But...I value what Rogue Legacy 2 is more as a game and more over, as a Rogue Like. Sure I like 2D games more than isometric games, but even beyond that, Rogue Legacy has a layer of exploration that pushes it over for me. I find it far more replayable. Hades likely has more condensed quality, but the quantity of Rogue Legacy makes up for it, and quantity is a bit more important for the genre honestly. The depth in content for Hades lies more in the story after you've beaten it, while Rogue Legacy is more in the gameplay. There are more things to do and experience, so it has more value to me. It was likely obvious what my preference was due to how I wrote more about it and made that spot on Dollars Trilogy Reference, but I couldn't really hide it. It's just that damn good.

[broadsiderenegade]

Refining/Finalizing the game loop

With a release date goal in Q3 I am just about wrapping up finalizing the game play loop, so I can just focus on polishing/ content between here and release.

Originally this game was focused on being a basic horde survival VS-like as a simple concept I felt I could finish as a solo dev. As I've tested and expanded it I found myself wanting to do more than that, with the goal of still keeping simple in mind.

These last 2 weeks I've gone and reexamined the core loop and by experimentation found the game feels better when I push to make the player be aggressive, actively choosing targets rather than waiting for whatever spawns to come to you. Currently that comes in the form of being able to select special targets.

Right now, that means: -Cargo Ships, to quickly power up

-Fuel Ships, to quickly fill your warp gauge and move on

Where this adds more depth is that these targets now panic and call for reinforcements. Once you engage a special target the cooldown on hostile spawns goes down much faster, causing a reaction to your raiding. They also raise a LOCAL danger level, making the current map more dangerous the longer you raid it (this goes up on its own as well). In general the game will get harder over time within the entire session, but the decision on when to move on will be more important to get some respite from the fleet. You can still choose to take it slower and play defensively, but the goal is to give the player the feeling of being pursued. Where that ends is my realization today in that more interesting than having a set amount of maps and a final boss, is if the final boss comes to you when you have raised the danger level beyond a certain threshold. The combination of a global threat score and a regional threat score means that the final boss may show up at the end of a map before you want to fight, in which case you can escape. But as the global score rises, you'll find the boss showing up sooner and sooner until every map starts with the boss warping in after you. This solves the big solo dev content problem in that I can simply change when that boss shows up based on how much interesting content I can pack into a run, rather than trying to fill a set number of levels to draw the game out.

It also creates the potential fun for speed runners, as they can make the boss show up faster by playing REALLY aggressive.

[prettyboykatsuki]

heyyyy mr ladies man can you give us some more flirting advice please my awkward ass is STRUGGLING

MR LADIES MAN PLEASE. i thought it was funny bc im bitchless is what i mean! but most of my advice is just like.

if ur woman adjacent or a woman or enby etc and ur flirting with another woman you want to avoid approachability and focus on being visible. like as a romantic partner and not a Friend. for most women you sort of default to being very... Bright to appear as non-threatening as possible.

but when you're flirting you want to avoid being uber friendly and be intentional with how you direct your attention. eye contact helps tho ik A Lot of people dislike it, but also keeping your tone of voice even, making sure you're very responsive and engaged to what she's saying.

there's a lot of social dynamics it can involve so it takes a bit of practice and a lot of observing. spitting game is mostly just knowing how and when to insert flattery so that it doesn't feel very forced.

don't lay it on too thick and don't be too familiar. just making your interest clear and showing some sense of authenticity is normally enough. being able to pull flirty one liners will take some more practice.

if it were me, i normally start w a compliment and gauge her reaction. its normally one of three. first being just a thank you which normally means im gonna duck out, second being a thank you + some kind of tidbit for me to keep talking to her (best case scenario) or third, a thank you + a compliment back. if she gives a compliment back she's normally just shy but it can go either way w that one so you'll have to decide for yourself.

in any case, if it's the second ill normally keep trying to talk to her. if i compliment her outfit and she tells me about it, i'll make a joke or two and see how she reacts. i am often accused of being flirtatious (something i actively avoid doing now lol) but i just have a propensity for teasing and im comfortable calling people cute without any sense of embarrassment or shame lmaoo

AFTER that it's just conversation. ask about her and what she's into. you have to be a little more forward and steer the conversation while letting her think she's guiding it. be engaged in what she's saying and listen carefully. throwing in a few carefully placed compliments will get easier over time. once she's comfortable and there's a lull in conversation - assert that you like talking to her and that you'd like to talk to her more (or offer to take her somewhere more secluded if you want to hook up 👍)

be confident is bad advice but it DOES take a lot of balls to put yourself out there. it helps if you can take rejection on the chin and duck out when you feel like she's not feeling you back etc.

it's a big and kinda messy process but all flirting is about intent, attention, and attraction. if one of those three things is out of order it will be a lot harder to do. it's a shallow interaction by nature if it's a stranger so be okay w that also.

[s-brant]

I’m speechless, that was written beautifully. I was smiling the biggest smile the entire part except for when he left her on the race track and she was alone for a week. That hurt me, and I was feeling bad for both my babies. I know we as readers don’t know what his family issues are, but the way his entire framer changes when it’s mentioned or brought up really shows something. Personally, I think his mom might be alive and he’s taking care of her and siblings maybe. And when he brought her to live with him in his apartment and they were bantering I loved every second of it. I loved the fight they had because he wanted her to take his room while he slept on the couch AND the apology gifts he got her everyday🫠🫠 I want to know all the little notes he left for her with them and I can just see that he finds out later that she wears the necklace everyday. Their phone banter was so on point for them and then her teasing him in the parking garage. I just know he was always going to let her drive his car to the race track, he just wanted to mess with her first, I’m so proud my girl y/n is a baddie. Every single part about the race track was so them, and made sense they would do it there. Okay and the details of her basically getting all her stuff to move into his house made my heart soar like they are so cute, but I died laughing that she put the money she “stole” under his own matress😭 like I just know if he ever finds it there and asks her about it she’s just going to go 🥸 “maybe you left it there, damn styles dementia is really catching up on you. odd place to store your money though.” Okay and I just know Alanis and Zayn are hooking up, but them talking about orgies at the door while he was in there sent me😭 OHHH and his favorite book and the fact that he hadn’t finished it yet broke my heart, he probably didn’t want to know if the guy makes it or not since it still leaves hope in his head that he can possibly escape🥺 The way he instantly noticed her hair change made me swoon as well as the whole interaction they had when they met, like they both understood the others needs of the moment and went out of character to make the other comfortable. Everything about the ending has my heart, him allowing her to shave him, her sitting on his lap to do so. Them joking the entire time (btw no offense to mustache havers but I associate them to pedos and pervs too) and him holding her just to hold her. Him getting hard just because she cares was so cute and the way he blushed and said “I’ll take care of myself if I’m on a time out”—just give him to me. YOU ROBBED US AT THE END BUT IM NOT TOO MAD SINCE THE PART IN ITS ENTIRETY WAS PHENOMENAL. This part was just so domestic, I loved every second of it. The fact she sleeps in his shirt every night ughhhh I can’t wait until they are at the level of cuddling and sleeping together. He has definitely fallen harder then her, but they both fell hard for each other. I love how he’s possessive over her “i don’t share sweetheart, id sooner gauge his eyes out then let him see you like that,” I think it really fits his personality and character and I can def see her being the same way. She would totally kiss Harry or sit on his lap if another girl even shows a bit of interest in him. At every part I’m like wow she (you) really out did herself like it can’t possible get any better and every part I’m proven wrong.

yes yes yes to everythinggggg. i love the way they bicker, it’s always so fun writing them going back and forth with each other, and you’ll def get answers about his family at some point. knowing him, the notes for the other gifts were probably just really concise “from harry” notes lol. as for all of your theories…i can’t say anything sorry 😭 but for the book one, i feel that it was very on the nose, so, yes, even though he doesn’t even consciously think about it like that, i did mean for it to read that way. and i also adored the last two scenes, it was so rewarding to write them being sort of vulnerable with each other on a real level for the first time, especially him. the love boner 🥰 AND OKAY I DID ROB YOU GUYS BUT IT WAS PURPOSEFUL. every time they’ve had sex, it’s all been written out for the reader and it’s also been lacking emotional intimacy. if you remember every other time, there was some mentioning of harry being uncomfortable with her in a position of power or control over him, but in the final scene she’s on top of him, fully in control of what will or won’t happen, and when he doesn’t reject it, the readers don’t get to see it. it kind of gives them an intimacy/privacy/sacred aspect to their sex that they haven’t had until then. he even bows his head to her kind of and rests it on her neck/shoulder, sort of surrendering in a way. it’s actually written in my plans for them to have less sex scenes (not none, don’t fret) as they start to fall for each other to express the development of their relationship emotionally. but that’s just my take. yes i love how possessive he is too, it makes my heart go whoosh. i’ve been waiting for the parts of the story where they get closer and it’s so exciting

thank you 🥺 so so much for all of your kind words my love 🥰🥰

edit: oh and he SO fell harder

[semaonlineusa]

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