#and i only know the very basics of programming and NOTHING about game design

[two-calicos-in-a-trenchcoat]

I wish they would update gardening in the sims.

Let me plant companion plants close together dammit

[quasi-normalcy]

Why Deep Space Nine wasn't as popular as the other 90s Star Treks when it aired

So I keep seeing this one kind of conspiratorial text post circulating around which asserts that Deep Space Nine wasn't as popular as the other Star Trek series from the 90s because Rick Berman hated it and deliberately sabotaged it, and also (somehow) marginalized references to it in canon even decades after he stopped having absolutely anything to do with the franchise and just...no. Like, I have no idea how Rick Berman personally felt about Deep Space Nine, but what I do know is that he co-created it and executive produced it and basically ran the entire Star Trek franchise during the 90s, so if he *really* hated what it was doing, he could have just put his foot down and stopped it. Moreover, he didn't marginalize references to Deep Space Nine in canon; Voyager getting into contact with the Alpha Quadrant and learning that the Maquis had been exterminated by the Dominion (something that happened on Deep Space Nine) was one of the very few plot points on that series to have repercussions for more than an episode; First Contact featured the Defiant; both Insurrection and Nemesis have references to the Dominion War. The post is reacting against a problem that doesn't really exist.

But it does raise the question: why *wasn't* Deep Space Nine popular when it aired? And I think that the answer might be difficult for people who weren't alive and conscious during the 1990s to understand, so I'm going to try to lay out the reasons:

Serialization was only just becoming a thing on adult American television: I know that this might sound a bit difficult to believe now, but there was a time when networks really hated serialization and, with context, it's not too hard to understand why. In the 1990s, there was no streaming; there weren't even any DVD sets. Any given episode aired once at a designated time. If you missed that time, then your options were to wait until it was rerun a few weeks later, or again during the summer (and the networks would often air reruns out of order, so good fucking luck with that), or to hope that one of your friends had recorded it on a VHS tape. Otherwise, you just couldn't see it. Even worse than that, networks could arbitrarily pre-empt their own programming. Like, "Oh, you wanted to watch Star Trek? Well a baseball game just went into overtime and it brings in ten times as many viewers. Hopefully you won't find it too jarring if we just begin half an hour into the episode." So you can understand why this would have a knock-on effect on serialised storytelling; if you've missed one episode, and the subsequent stories depend on plot points from the episode, then you're just going to be confused. But even beyond that, if you're not used to serialization as an audience, then you're not going to be on the look-out for context clues. "Oh, that alien just told Quark about something called 'the Dominion'? Oh that sounds important--oh, wait, no, they got to the end of the episode and nothing happened with it. I guess it wasn't important after all."

The Star Trek name: This one seems a bit counterintuitive, because of course the name should be a draw to fans of the other series, but you have to remember that, at the time in question, the franchise consisted only of the original series and movies and the first six and a half seasons of TNG. Now, these differed in several ways, but what they had in common is that they were all about a bunch of moral paragons who flew around in space in shiny starships, having episodic adventures. That was what Star Trek was. And then you got a new series about a bunch of morally compromised characters who sat still in space on a gungy old space station having serialised adventures. It's not the same thing, and so a lot of people who wanted the first thing tuned out (which was, in fact, why Voyager had to be created), whereas a lot of people who wanted the second thing might not have tuned in because they figured it would be the first thing. And this of course brings us to the third reason:

Babylon 5: So stop me if you've heard this one before: it's a serialized drama from the 1990s all about a bunch of humans and aliens having to coexist on a space station as they navigate diplomatic crises and gradually become enmeshed in an elaborate space opera story arc. It features a race of aliens who can be called "highly spiritual", a race of aliens who have recently overthrown a decades-long brutal occupation of their homeworld by a crumbling and overstretched empire, a race of aliens who are often mistaken for gods (and who cultivate this misconception), and a mysterious new threat emerging onto the galactic scene, eventually culminating in a seasons-long war arc. I am of course describing J. Michael Straczynski's science fiction masterpiece Bablyon 5, which he, and a great many of his fans, regarded (and not without reason) as having been ripped off and pre-empted by Paramount in the form of Deep Space Nine. Now, looking at the evidence, I personally think that most of the similarities between these series are a sort of convergent evolution; but, whatever your opinion on the matter, the fact remains that these two fandoms hated each other during the 1990s. And the net effect of this was that a bunch of SF nerds who would probably have really liked DS9 if they had gotten to see it never watched it at all as a matter of principle because as far as they were concerned, its very existence was a corporate ploy to bully an upstart rival out of business.

Anyways, for all of these reasons, it's not remarkable to me that Deep Space Nine never became as popular as TNG and Voyager; and because it wasn't as popular, it makes sense that Paramount would be more circumspect about greenlighting Picard-style sequels or Lower Decks or Prodigy-style spinoffs to it (and indeed, I'm not convinced that all of the writers have even seen it). But I think that it is a testament to just how good DS9 was that it still managed to get the same seven seasons, even if it never drew in the same audience

[0nyxvesper]

OBEY ME REDESIGN/AU? KINDA?Just read pls😭

Art -> Part 1 -SATAN- (art at the end)

Hey! My name's Onyx and I'm a artist, which gives me incredible powers of creation that I use to make or redesign silly characters instead of focusing on my already existing art projects or simply my overall future : what a life.

So as the title says, I'm redesigning some of the om! characters as well as changing up the world they live in. As for the first redesign I chose (very self indulged choice ) to start with Satan :)

This isn't really an AU but just me ''fixing'' (changing) things that I (emphasis on the I, this is MY opinion, you don't have to agree with me) dislike about the game's world and/or characters. I also added things that were, yes, absolutely unnecessary, but so fucking cool 😎

Btw english isn't my first language so if something doesn't make sense just pretend it does, thanks :)

START OF MY RAMBLING

So, in my vision of obey me, all demons have access to magic (curses, hexes, potions...) but some demons also have a connection with one to two elemental powers (water, fire, wind...)

The ''regular'' magic as well as basic knowledge of the devildom fonctionnement and history is taught to young demons (just born/reborn demons and fallen angels *wink wonk) at RAD (which explain why the heck some litteral ADULTS that could easily have a balanced working life are still in an HIGH SCHOOL environment.) (I know that adults can go to school, no problem with that lmao, but lucifer or satan in the og! game for example have nothing to learn there anymore and could be having a ''regular'' active life like-)

But yes, the academy's objective isn't really to ''tame'' demons, because they can't change their very nature and the idea that a demon (Diavolo) is working on turning other demons into more ''human'' beings seems really fucking off to me

And the human exchange program was supposed to be more of a ''exchange of culture'' kind of things where humans would learn about demon's ways and vice versa, it wasn't as diplomatic as it was in the game. See it as these ''special week'' thingy in school we're you'd learn about other cultures and try different country's dishes everyday. Exept it's for a full year. And in hell.

ALRIGHT THANKS FOR TAKING THE TIME TO READ YOU'RE SO SWEET ILYSM :))))

here's the part that you probably wanted the most : THE DRAWINGS x) (hope it not too pixelated 🗿)

ABOUT THIS REDESIGN

Soooo my Satan is connected to earth and shadows and is an expert in curses and potions as well as devildom's history which is one of his favorite subjects along with the optional Art and litterature classes. (there's multiple optional classes that are supposed to help students that can't keep up or have bad grades to balance their grades by just showing up and listening, for exemple, mammon sometimes goes to the optional business and trading classes. )

In the og! game, satan is supposed to be lucifer's opposite, but I felt like it was mostly showed with his design and wanted to make it go a little further by making them dress in a more androgynous way and changing a bit his personality, making him a bit more carefree. (he's still super self conscious about his dangerous changes of temper which makes him a very closed and silent person, he's also still introverted, but when I say carefree I mean that he often skips classes to go check on cats or go read, and that they don't feel obligated to fulfill a role of exemple as a head student or avatar of wrath like lucifer does) I honestly just wanted the opposition between these two to be more marked but not necessarily have this ''competition'' between them because it felt very childish.

As for the elephant in the room, yes, he has hooves, no, there's no other reason than the fact that he doesn't have an animal theme like all of the others have. Yes, I only chose it because I find it cute. No, you may not pet them. Oh and as for the ''but why do they show up, aren't they supposed to have a human form'' I just decided that being gifted at everything is unrealistic, so I officially declare that Satan SUCKS AHH at maintaining his human form. He's not helped by the fact that he's constantly concentrating on staying calm and having a neutral facade and would saturate if they also had to concentrate on his physical form. But yeah he's still bad at it.

Alrighty thats it for today :)

Much love !

[heiko-goes-detroit]

Why Gavin Reed Isn't A Brainless Asshole

Very short exposition of the facts in honor of @treeffles And whoever wants to read it.

Well, let's see: the following points constitute a basic approximation, but they can be developed more extensively. They also admit subsequent nuances.

1 – The information offered to us about the subject is partial and limited. The premise is manichaean: they present us with a subject from whom only unpleasant characteristics and behaviors have been selected, compared to other characters that cover a broader evolutionary arc. Throughout the game we can see that everyone can choose various actions, which change their behavior and interaction with respect to the android reality. Not so in the case of Reed, whose gameplay is not as extensive as the rest. He is a character deliberately projected to be "the bad guy."

We can accept the decision that the program has made for us (which, if we think about it, is a small scam comparatively speaking), but if so we must also accept that it is not his fault, he have been designed that way.

Therefore, there could be many possibilities to see other facets of the character, which they are deliberately stealing from us. That being the case, I decide to consider that these possibilities exist. The opposite is meekly accepting the story that the creators have decided that I have to validate as the only possible reality.

“The ones who push the limits, discover the limits sometimes push back." – Gerard Butler

2 – We are not taking into account his background as a worker in a society in which artificial intelligence is severely affecting unemployment figures. What impact has this had on his life, on his family, on his education or lack thereof? It's easy to see him as the "bad guy" without knowing anything about his life and past, especially when his opponent is a cute boy with an initially docile demeanor. The most naïve conclusion would be that Reed is a bastard who abuses a poor boy, but we are letting ourselves be carried away by biases and prejudices.

If we stick to what we just have in front of us, we have the option of considering that we don't know enough about Reed and his background, or his life outside or inside the precinct to conclude that he is an asshole, all the time and for any reason. And for his part, Connor is not a poor boy: the thing which arrives at the precinct is an overdeveloped AI, a highly sophisticated set of machinery with a human appearance. Nothing else. Gavin's initial reaction is no worse than that of Hank and other characters, with the aggravating circumstance that he is not allowed to deal with said machine other than a few specific moments within the precinct. He can't change his mind about Connor because he doesn't have opportunities. Within this scenario, his aversion is predictable and reasonable. Gavin has done nothing wrong beyond his very human aversion to the possibility of being replaced in the future by an an airy toaster.

3 – General conclusion: there is not enough evidence to affirm that Reed is a brainless asshole. In fact, no one becomes a detective without some degree of experience, discernment, and training. We can choose to judge him by the limited features that have been presented to us, that is, what we know about him (which is really little) or to go off the rails that have been imposed on us and consider everything we do not know (which is a lot).

Not to mention that even when we stay within the “Reed is a horrible human being” bias, we can keep in mind that no one is irredeemable: Gavin can open up to the reality of other circumstances as they change over time. Redemption is within everyone's reach, although personally I think he has done nothing wrong. Otherwise, I would be the worst person in the world for all the times I've yelled at my laptop xD

That being said, whoever has something to ask, add or object to, can shoot. Everyone is welcome :)

[hongluboobs]

Please tell us the reason behind the pokemon choices! I get most of them, but am curious about Meowstic and Nihelego in particular. Is it for the nihilEGO pun?

OKAY i am on my iphone so i’m typing this from scratch again instead of my drafts. also it is night. tumblr decided to not give me notifs until now but it’s okay!! we ball😁

I’m unsure how much you know abt pokémon so I’m gonna do my best to explain but this is a lifelong special interest so i may miss some things^^

Quick going over the ones you didn’t ask about:

Mewtwo: clone created to replicate Mew, Went Horribly Wrong, ended up destroying the lab it was born in. It’s even a really long time since I’ve seen the movie but i believe the mewtwo there is neglected child core. This is REALLY Angela especially because in pokedex entries they often talk about the thing that makes mewtwo nothing like mew is that it’s “heartless”. poor poor angela baby…

Mega Gardevoir: This is a mostly aesthetic pick. That thing really looks like her if it’s shiny (see image) and the colors match perfect. the way gardevoir is portrayed in pmd reminds me a lot of Angela. Gardevoir is about immense loyalty to a trainer (even if it ruins your life forever and the trainer does not care, as shown in pmd) and i read it as something about the script

Porygon2: Honestly this could be any of the mons in this line but Porygon is a digital being and the first fully synthetic pokemon which begins acting in ways which were not programmed as it evolves. Kind of represents Angela acting in ways a machine should not and breaking free of her predetermined role to me :)

Now onto the pokémon you actually asked about!! :)

First up, Meowstic!

This first part is a small design thing but this thing has Angela’s face to me, especially with the yellow eyes with red pupils. Angela’s eyes are inconsistent in canon but I like to represent them with both red and yellow to represent both of her “parents” (sorry Benjamin… i love you but u aren’t included there😔)

This pokedex entry is one of the main reasons this is an angela pokémon to me, aside from vibes.

It has the same “closed eyes to repress” thing that Lobcorp angela has going on, just with repressing incredibly explosive powers instead of repressing The Horrors!

These pokedex entries are really goofy but they read very angela to me :) its unfriendliness is part of its charm!

Also i have no idea when i’ll ever get to post these so now is a good time as any to drop meowstic angela :)

Nihilego is a slightly different case because it’s tied less to dex entries and more to how it is used in the story of sun and moon. I haven’t played those games in YEARS so i might be a little bit questionable with my reasoning but this one’s really important.

Nihilego is intentionally designed to mirror one of the human characters in pokémon sun and moon.

(image i found online. i see it somewhat differently but it’s close enough for this)

Anyway this human character’s mother has neglected/abandoned her in obsessive pursuit of this pokémon and other Ultra Beasts.

The fact this pokémon not only has a similar silhouette to angela but serves as a “replacement” for a human character in a parent’s mind while also being Distinctly Nonhuman… it’s by no means a perfect comparison but there’s Something There

This dex entry always gets me too… it’s just a girlie… :(

It really makes me want to replay sun/moon because i feel like my memory of the story being really shaky has me on the edge of a breakthrough about this thing… but it looks like angela and i can draw story parallels basically:)

I have No Idea if this is coherent but I hope it cleared things up a little ^^^

[agirlunfilteredsblog]

A GUIDE ON HOW TO STUDY EFFICIENTLY

Hey girls!! I know a lot of us are on break, whether that be in high school, college or university, so I figured I could maybe show you guys some tips and tricks that have helped me throughout my studies…

A little bit about my educational background:

-In high school, I was part of an IB school (the girls that know the struggle, know the struggle). If you don’t know what that is, it’s essentially a program designed to help students get a better understanding of the world and how it works. We basically do the regular high school program + the IB one, so it’s extra workload, but we do get an additional diploma at the end of our studies!

-I am now in college, studying psychology and I was recently invited to join the honors roll for my next semester (super excited about that!!). I absolutely love it and i’ve also gotten the opportunity to study other subjects such as anthropology, world history, art history, etc.

1. LEARNING WHAT TO PRIORITIZE

My biggest weakness throughout my first semester of college was balancing my workload and my social activities. Often times, I would either only do school work for weeks and not go out or simply go out until very late on school nights and get nothing done. Both scenarios are just as negative. I would be drained on the inside, and simply become exhausted by minimal activities. What helped me personally was establishing a clear schedule, which I know isn’t ideal for everyone as we all have differing schedules, but trust me, having that base helps A LOT.

2. SETTING REMINDERS TO STUDY

I dont know if this was just me, but in high school, I would constantly fall asleep and take naps after school. This would result in me totally forgetting I had to study when I woke up… Setting up reminders on my phone helped me remember what I had to do. I also included little motivational messages to keep me inspired to work.

3. KNOWING WHEN TO PUT THE BOOK DOWN

Girls, I know how hard it is sometimes to give yourself grace and put your study books down, especially when there’s a big test coming up. However, it has been proven that over reading or over studying actually has negative effects on your learning/memory. Stressing yourself out will do nothing but put you in a negative state, which is not what you want going into that exam. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, put the book down for 15 minutes and go do something that puts you at peace. Me personally, I make myself a cup of peppermint tea and put on my favorite show.

4. HAVING A STUDY METHOD THAT WORKS FOR YOU

There are many different types of study methods, so I’m not gonna tell you which one you should do as we are all different, but finding the one that works for you does ALL the difference. The way I study is very simple, I establish a game plan (I list everything I want to complete) and I give myself a time frame to complete it. The time frames are always very realistic for me, so I never have to stress about not having enough time. For each “task” I complete, I allow myself a 15-20 minute break and I study for no more than 3 hours at a time.

5. NEVER PUT STUDYING BEHIND

I am such a procrastinator, but I had to learn very quickly, especially in college, that this was not possible. The work load is so much more charged and I simply cannot get away with studying last minute. If you’re in high school, start implementing healthy study habits now, so that once you reach college, you’re already used to studying the right way (learn from me hahaha)!

I am 100% sure that there are more I’m forgetting, but these are the main ones I implement in order to keep a high average and a healthy school/social life :) I know these are very basic and you’ve probably heard of them before but I still think it’s important we talk about them to remind ourselves on what to do! If you would like more of this type of content please let me know!! My next posts will be much more light though dont worry, we are still on winter break after all ;))

so much love,

a girl unfiltered 💋

[crescencestudio]

hello! i wanted to ask how you ended up getting involved with game development!! ive seen an played a bunch of your games so i think itd be interesting knowing how you got here and monetized it! (dw if you dont wanna answer, no hard feelings :>)

OOOOO

for how i got into game dev, in one word: impulse LOL

for the longer version, i always have loved visual novels. as much as i enjoy other games, there is something about visual novels specifically that are so special to me. so one day during the big covid Lockdown, i thought to myself how cool it would be to make my own game. thing is, i had no creative background—never made a story, very basic art background, no coding background NOTHING.

but i have a very unironic yolo mentality and so if i have the means to make a game before i die, why not? so i learned renpy, got really overwhelmed with the idea of making everything from scratch. there r so many aspects of games i never thought of. every single character needs not just art, they need a story, a design, a role, etc. then you need to repeat that for the plot. then you need to do that for the MC. and that’s just the brainstorming stage!!! so i stopped and dropped the idea in 2020 LMFAOkxosos

then a year later, during my phd program, i had some time during summer break and i decided to try again. Why Not? you only live once. even if it takes me my whole life to make one game, wouldn’t it be cool to say i made one? so i took the dive. made so much shit up. completely winged a million things. and here we are two years later with alaris, intertwine, and some other collab projects!!!

the monetization part is mostly because i don’t currently have the means to support game dev on my own. my hope is one day (when i graduate phd school), i’ll have more time and money, which will let me fund my hobby a bit more self sufficiently since i honestly rly hate the monetization part of game dev haha!! i guess i’d say i got into game dev mostly through pure interest and a yolo mentality and what’s kept me here is the satisfaction and reward that comes with the creativity (as well as the amazingly talented ppl i’ve met through it!!!)

[thethinkingaurora]

Yo. How do you code? (I only know the basics to HTML and CSS :/)

Idk which specific question you’re asking, like like how do I code as in what tools do I use, or what do I do and what is my process, or how did I learn to code, or can you teach me to code

And because I don’t know I’ll answer all of them :3

1. What tools do I use?

I use a few things to code, VS Code for actually writing the code, GitHub for storing projects and collaboration, Google and StackOverflow and depending on the project various other apps

2. How do I do it and my workflow process

Uh I have like no idea, I kinda just learn how certain things work via Google and then I slot them together, But the workflow process, I know exactly how to do that, ok so get a white board or a notepad or something, write what you want your program to do, and then break it down into steps and then break it down again and again, so for example,

For my current project, (The Incorrect Quote Generator), I need to take inputs, from a list of quotes choose one that fits the parameters, replace names in the quote with the inputted ones and then print the whole thing

Breaking down the first bit I need the inputs, what inputs do I need? I need the amount of characters and the names of the characters, ok done, second bit, take the quotes, sort them based off of character amount, using the amount of characters from the previous step, pick a set of quotes that match, replace the names, last bit, take the quote with it replaced and done

Breaking down again, first bit, done already, second bit, do we want something like autocapitalisation to make it nicer , yeah sure, what about capitalising the entire name if it fits the circumstance, makes it smoother, done, last bit done

Ok what about formatting, do we want all of this on one line or do we want separate lines for each person speaking, yeah we want separate lines, ok use an “&” symbol to represent a space and when the piece of code that assembles the end string encounters it, print the string and reset continuing from where we are to make a new line

That’s the design process for that

But first you make a prototype of it, to see if it works, like I didn’t have the autocaps or anything at first, I only added that when one of the submissions needed it

Anyways-

3. How did I learn to code

Through a number of ways, first I had gone to this computer club thing when I was like 8 or something and I found Scratch and learned about that, then when I was about 10 I was curious about html and websites, so I ended up making websites for classmates, then lockdown hit and I had nothing to do, I wanted to make a game, so what did I do? I jumped headfirst into Unity and struggled to get absolutely anything done (DON’T DO THIS), at some point I ended up joining this thing called Coderdojo which is like a coding class which worked really well (I actually still go there every Saturday although I’m at more advanced stuff now) and I learned about python and then kept learning more, then I made my own projects and learned more on my own from that

If you are looking to learn on your own, I’d recommend W3Schools, they have tons of courses, are entirely free and very in depth

But first I’d recommend you check out Scratch, it’s great for learning how to think in computer terms

4. Can I teach you to code

I know this probably wasn’t what you were asking but I’ll answer it anyway

Sure, I’d love to, coding one of the things I enjoy a lot because it combines logic and making things, and I love helping and teaching people things so teaching someone else to code sounds good to me :3

Stuff mentioned here

[itsbaconbits]

Some sketch studies with the TNT Twins! Can you tell I’m obsessed? No? That’s alright, you’ll learn.

This is really fun pose practice, and like uh… consistency for the design. If that makes sense. Idk

And lots of Donnie interactions because Donnie is baby and my favorite so he will just be anywhere and everywhere and ya'll just have to deal with it.

Some additional information under the cut if you’re interested! Lots of it is just random train of thought about the characters, so bear with me, haha.

More on Raphael:

Raphael’s mode of invention is typically in mechanics. He really enjoys woodworking and metalworking. Definitely lives the "duct-tape can fix anything" lifestyle. Has a ‘workshop’ instead of a lab. Builds and crafts a lot of destructive things, but he also enjoys making gifts for his brothers. Only when he sees the need for it- and never when asked to. Knows some tech/coding for the bare basics of it, as it relates to mechanical engineering. But doesn’t enjoy the computer stuff as much as he likes the hands-on work part. Also has knowledge of some 3D modeling programs, which he and Donnie bond over 3D forms.

Raph is still very energetic, passionate, and easily angered. Definitely the most sporty out of the four of them. He also loves motorcycles (of course), and is working on his own custom bike. Other projects he is working on include: shield for Donnie’s back, ‘artillery camera’ (he refuses to expand on the meaning of this), lair defense mechanisms/traps, and a custom gaming controller for Leo. All in various stages. It’s hard for him to focus on only one thing at a time. And he enjoys tearing things apart almost more than putting them together, which often causes problems. 

Keeps his Sai on hand and finds them useful for tearing things apart when ‘on the job’. Although he has been reprimanded for doing so. Might also be working on a Swiss-army knife of sorts but with Kunai and Sai. Still a work in progress. If given the opportunity, he will drop the Sai and simply go ham with his fists.

Aside from his personality, I also just want to point out that the edge of his shell is meant to represent a cog-wheel. Because of the type of materials he works with. And I think it's clever. Raph's design is probably my favorite out of the four, which is saying a lot. Because I love all of them. But I'm just really super happy with how Raph's design came out, and like... how well it fits this character. It just turned out better than I could have imagined it. One of those magical moments, you know?

More on Michelangelo:

Mikey is a huge fan of skateboarding, but that’s as sporty as he gets really. Also a huge animal fan. He’s always finding stray creatures to bring home and nurse back to health. He is also a huge prankster, in the best and worst ways. Likes to keep his family guessing. Acts all secretive on purpose just to confuse and or piss people off (Most specifically, Leo). Psychological warfare is the name of the game for Mikey.

He likes throwing tags around the city, but he only really has his own signature perfected. He wouldn’t call himself an artist. He just learns the basics of things to get done what he wants to do. If he did delve into art, he would probably stick with paints and spray. Loves food and eating, although his brothers would say he has terrible taste. (Think shaggy vibes.)

This kid would literally do anything for his brothers. He pretends not to notice, but he can pick up on vibes pretty well. Knows when others are lying, sad, happy, etc. Which is part of what makes him a great leader. He uses those skills to his advantage to persuade people- a true face man. Nothing really gets under his skin but he is insecure about ONE thing: the markings on the back of his head. Which look like eyes or huge warts. Always wears his mask to cover them. Or a beanie if his mask isn’t available. Often finds funny/silly ways to cover his head if in a scenario without his hats. He’s pretty desperate to keep it hidden.

Mikey still uses the Nunchaku as his favored weapon. He is fast on his feet, but very loosey-goosey with everything. It makes his moves extremely hard to predict, which he likes. And, despite his casual demeanor, he has spent a lot of focus and dedication to the craft. So he’s really proud of his skill. Plus, it’s fun to confuse and startle people when he pulls them out and pretends like he doesn’t know what he’s doing.

On Mikey's design, I am in love with the colors. Covering up the spots on his head was very intentional, but it really is kind of a shame. Because I love how the green spots pop. But I used that same green for Donnie's design to keep things cohesive. I really love the pattern for male Baele Four-Eyed turtles. A sick lil' guy, really.

More on the TNT Twins:

I want to make a separate post for their dynamic specifically, since I don't have my ideas drawn out just yet. But my immediately thoughts where "Dan and Arin from GameGrumps". So you can expect that the next post about these two will reference that. Obviously Mikey embodies Dan and Raph embodies Arin. It's going to be fantastic.

[rosieuv]

How to code: I typed this essay out for someone on discord and I'm reusing it here incase I need to copy and paste it

Alright so I suggest you start with learning the basics of coding logic on Scratch. Scratch uses blocks instead of you having to type in code so it will be easier to learn the basics of how code works and what different commands do as you have all the commands in a nice little menu. It's easy to pick up and you can do quite a lot with it. Not enough to make a game worthy to be on steam, but it isn't limiting if you're starting out and making small games in 2D. I personally didn't use any tutorials and just figured it out from 7 years of me putting blocks together and seeing what works. Don't do what I did. Look up tutorials for what each individual block does and what potential it holds. I also suggest looking into the code of other scratch games and seeing how they work. On the website version there's the ability to remix other people's projects so you could use that as a learning tool by adding to and re-imagining an already existing game, essentially modding it. Here's the website, you'll be thankful you learned how to code starting with this: https://scratch.mit.edu/. I also found that a modded version called "turbowarp" is useful for bigger scratch projects, but the extra features it holds may be overwhelming for a total beginer. Here's it just in case: https://turbowarp.org/.

Once you have learned the basics with scratch, I suggest learning python as it will help in the transition from scratch blocks to code. Python uses text just like every other programming language, but is simple to understand if you know scratch as the commands are very similar. There's tables and cheat sheets on the internet comparing python code to the scratch block it represents. I wouldn't recommend you try pygame though as that is awful and unoptimised for making anything that isn't a simple high score like game. Godot is what I use and it's programming language is very similar to python. Godot is straightforward once you get the hand of it and there's plenty of tutorials online. I wouldn't recommend unity as it's a greedy corporation, I don't know about unreal but I don't want to have to install the epic games player to test it out and game maker studio 2 is rubbish. What I did was have the idea for the game I wanted to make, nothing too ambitious game design wise, and made a prototype by searching for the specific thing I wanted to create. Walking tutorials, button tutorials, tutorials on a specific node, there's loads for godot and if you learn by frankensteining what you've learned from a variety of tutorials, then you would be applying your knowledge and it'll stick better than just mindlessly following a single tutorial. That worked for me as I've only been using godot for about 9 months and I already know a decent amount (at least in the genre of game that I'm making). If you get stuck on something, ask on a forum website or discord. I find the official godot discord very useful for when I can't find a tutorial specific enough or when I've encounted a bug that I don't know how to fix. Don't expect this to be quick to learn. Don't rush learning how to code, master the basics and it'll help you down the line with more complex things.

I was also asked a similar question from someone else. I think these 2 paragraphs are a little better:

I hope this helps someone out there. Maybe. Possibly.

[lunoscircus]

Introduction

This blog will mainly be used for my Fortnite ask AU featuring some of my personal favorites:

Ava(/Tarr), Camille(/Battletail), Glitch, Errant and some side cast like Torment, Juliet, Nemia and possibly more!

None of this will be related to Fortnite's story or anything determined by the game, most of this is based on own headcanons with an own little story!

ADMIN

What would a Tumblr blog be without an admin running it? Well that would be yours truly, the 19 year old self taught digital artist speaking to you from behind the computer screen!

Hello hello, my name is Luno! I’ve been drawing digitally since 2017 and am 95% self taught, only a few Youtube tutorials and friends with tips taking away from that percentage!

I mainly focus my art on OCs of my own, both fandom related as well as my own projects. My main project I’m trying to focus on is Nightmare Pawns which does have a Tumblr page open as well but has no real content posted on it. Non lore related art has been posted on Instagram and Tiktok however so feel free to check those out if you wish! My Linktr.ee will be at the end of this intro :)

As for content, this blog will mostly be used for the silly Fortnite ask AU idea I had! Bios for each character will be in this post as well so I can pin it all together. Individual images/designs will be screenshots from the game I took with my friend! Own art/designs might be update once I make them. Please do note this has nothing to do with the storyline in that game and it’s also just supposed to be a fun little AU, please don’t take anything too seriously! Asks will be fully opened for anything (with some basic rules/boundaries) as soon as the intros go up! ^^ (Our main cast will include Ava/Tarr, Camille/Battletail, Glitch and Errant with some side appearances of Torment, Juliet, Nemia and possibly others! We’ll see where it goes :))

I may post other art as well but I’ll tag it separately if I do! ^^

CHARACTER BIOS:

AVA/TARR

Human or rabbitoid? How about both!

Very in tune with her own technology, Ava has access to a real life avatar she can switch appearances with at any point! Thank the stars for the magical form of technology in this world, she absolutely loves her (ava)Tarr!

Short info:

Name: Ava (/Tarr)

Age: 20

Gender & pronouns + sexuality: Female & She/Her + Bisexual

(Messed up a replay so I wasn't able to get the screenshot for them right now)

CAMILLE/BATTLETAIL

Who needs a pet rat when you can just become one!

Similarly to Ava, Camille has a form to switch in and out of. Being very much obsessed with rodents, this form of course has to be one of them right? She’s very curious as well as very physically affectionate. Don’t have to ask twice to get a hug here!

Short info:

Name: Camille (/Battletail)

Age: 21

Gender & pronouns + sexuality: Female & She/They + Pansexual

Dating Juliet

GLITCH & Errant

Androids programmed like siblings, what could go wrong…

They may have no idea who created them but they know one thing! They’re the closest to twins robots can get. An inseparable sibling duo with just as much emotion and passion for life as organic beings would have!

Short info:

Name: Glitch

Age: 22

Gender & pronouns + sexuality: Biologically genderless but female identifying & she/her + Aromantic

Name: Errant

Age: 22

Gender & pronouns + sexuality: Biologically genderless but male identifying & he/him + Gay, Ambiamorous

Dating Torment

(First row of designs! These were made as test pretty much, more proper ones will follow at some point)

[review-anon]

It's like online dating but the partner only exists within the virtual realm

Well...as you know I started out knowing basically nothing about myself, which was by design as Mikado programmed me to be a aligorhim to protect Yuki Maeda no matter what.

But of course this meant I had barely anything about myself, no name, no personality, no hobbies, nothing.

Sure Yuki helped me out but with him...I cannot tell if its the genuine interactions I had with him or my programming talking.

It was scary on Utsuroshima Island especially with the fact any one of us could be a Void...

The fact Sora had no memories about herself, meant it was very unlikely she was a Void so I graviated towards her, especially as the Killing Game unfolded.

We had our ups and downs, but Sora learnt a lot with interacting with me and eventually that bond was enough for her to defy her "father"

As I interacted with Yoruko I felt strange...like it was alright to be with her... And eventually once Rei recovered me, I was able to confess my love to Yoruko.

Not gonna lie, dating Sora can be hard at times since its like a long distance relationship, but you will never meet the other partner.

I can kiss and hug and interact with her here, but in the waking world not so much.

Which naturally I have taken full advantage of.

Just because you are often in my phone doesn't mean you get to sit on my face!

You don't protest when I do it.

[creatureshrieks]

Okay so here's some basics about how I'm gonna handle Adriana because her lore is so, so ass.

Her father is from Japan and immigrated to Brazil where he met her mother, keeping that. He's a mangaka, as per the lore states. Adriana was spoiled by her father and grew up idolizing him. They were incredibly close, though the family's poor status and lack of money + the hopes of her parents turned her into a very intense perfectionist. They wanted a better life for her and, in turn, she wanted a better life for them. So she tries hard for them, too. Gets into a prestigious school and heavily focuses on science, math, computers and robotics. She even joins a programming and robotics club. Adriana is decently popular in school, she's pretty and smart. She's charismatic and good at getting people to listen to her. Then, of course, due to the expenses for the school, her family gets poorer, his manga fails. Adriana puts her skills to use and designs a website, gets ads coming in. Convinces people to write the website for her while she takes in the cash. It helps, a little, but her father is still reclusive. Something is wrong with him, off. But Adriana just thinks it's the money troubles. Not that he's been getting terrible visions, whispers. Not that he's drawing what she asks for.

and then he vanishes without a trace, destroying all of his work, save for the manga dedicated to the Skull Merchant. And that shakes Adriana up. She adored her father and all she has left of him is a final, incomplete manuscript. There must be a reason this one was saved, that THIS is what he left her with. So she pours herself over it, trying to find what about it was so important and special. And then she gets dreams, too. About the comic. About her father. She thinks this is the secret her father had (The Entity visits her too, feed into her issues of abandonment and her own delusions). She still ends up falling behind that boy in her school, stalking him and trying to find out weaknesses, but I'm not... having her just do nothing in the end. She does attack him at some point. She doesn't kill him, but she wants to hurt him. He didn't deserve that first spot and she needs him to know that. She's better than him and she deserved it. I do believe the Entity had a hand in her becoming the legitimate Skull Merchant, preying on her abandonment while also boosting the blood lust she already had in her. I'm also saying that Tome: Ascension doesn't exist because that's ungodly fucking stupid. She's a self-made billionaire woman that literally hunts people because she thinks it's fun. The Tome reads stupid, sounds stupid, and is just overall not enjoyable. I know the vibes they wanted from SM and it just does not read through at ALL. Adriana also likes anime and video games. That's basically canon and I'm keeping it. She does it in her spare time - but she also is very much a business woman too. Very rich, very powerful, and definitely would dip into lots of black market deals outside of just plain murder. She likes to hunt people, she likes the power it gives her. She's egotistical, violent, spiteful. She's a massive perfectionist, but she also reads manga and watches anime and k-dramas and all kinds of things. Putting her age and PROBABLY 25 because it mentions in her lore Adriana started killing in her early 20s and it only lasted a few years. She's not that old. At the oldest I could picture 27.

also this is her default/canon outfit for me because her default is fucking stupid and if she's basing herself off her father's manga, I think he'd probably design something more akin to this. So this is what she wears.

Adriana is also incredibly smart and speaks multiple languages. At home she spoke Japanese and Portuguese, but she also eventually learned English and Korean as she prefers to understand/handle business herself without need for a translator if she can help it.

[localwebslingers]

Maybe it should have felt weirder, talking about all of the research out loud for the first time rather than pretending that he knew nothing about it. That it really was gone forever and nothing would ever be there to prove it had been done in the first place, not without knowing where to look. It felt natural though, it felt normal, and not once did Peter try to catch himself or use careful wording to hide what it was he was actually suggesting or implying. Because this was Harry he was telling and talking to. They'd already done the vague, careful wording game before, back when Peter first showed him the formula and was willing to trust him with it. Careful warnings and glimpses of what else might be there to tell without actually saying any of it. Never really addressing it again aside from the relieving news that the equation seemed to help with the serums to some degree.

Until now that was all it had been, now it felt like he was giving a small presentation and instead of nervous caution, Peter only felt comfortable. At ease, a want to make sure he went over the basics of everything, from the basis for the research itself to how it was human genetics bred into the spiders rather than the other way around, to make sure they both were starting with solid footing. For both bodies of work.

The question though made him want to grimace a little bit, though did crack a small smile at the tease, "As far as I can tell from my dad's research he never tried it between two animal genomes, so sorry, no spider-koalas yet. At least not from my universe." and he would never breathe that possibility near Oscorp to keep it that way, if it would be coming from them. Peter frowned slightly, "But...when Conners was working on it, there were these two lab mice, Fred and Wilma, both with three legs. I don't know if it was from birth or injury related, but when I helped him complete the lizard serum, a small dose was injected into Fred. All the simulation tests were done for mice so making sure it actually was successful was the next step. And it worked, a new and healthy limb had regrown and everything seemed fine but..."

Admittedly, he wasn't super thrilled with animal testing but it had shown to work on the mice, and had been designed for them first rather than just seeing if a human solution would happen to work on them well enough to call a success as well. In theory, it was supposed to be safe after the simulations. Peter glanced at Harry and pushed a hand through his hair, "By time I went to see Conners after the first lizard sighting to try and get his input, I saw the cases they were kept in. Fred mutated, pretty aggressively and....okay there's not really a good way to put this, but I saw the glass of both cases broken and he was eating Wilma. What was left of her." he blew out a breath, "And, apparently, there's rumors about a very large, very aggressive mouse that comes out sometimes in the building." which made crawling through the vents there a bit more risky but still better than the security guards.

"...I can't say I recommend it, that might be the single most horrifying and insane thing I've ever seen to date, and it's kinda getting to be a long list." he was quiet another moment before adding, "There's nothing in my dad's work to explain it but, for some reason if the foreign species genetics aren't compatible or stabilized, is seems like aggression is one of the first things that's made worse. It happened with Conners when he injected himself, it happened in Fred, it happened to Max with the electric eels that changed him, though honestly I don't know enough about the program they were part of to say if it had any basis from my dad's work....but it also happened to Harry." four times was a little too much in Peter's book to be a coincidence, and it was more than often enough to mention it was a potential to keep an eye on. Harry's already heightened instincts and senses didn't need to be made worse in trying to make everything else better.

|| @inhcritance ||

There was a lot to cover, a lot to explain, and Harry didn't doubt that they wouldn't get to all of it, not without the files, not without some time to properly look at everything and understand it, once the laptop to house that knowledge was procured and in place. It didn't change how he was listening, and wanted to know what Peter could tell him... and all in all, even if the topic had been another, or a simpler one, Peter would have had his attention. This was just a far more serious topic than most.

And so, Harry didn't rush him. Didn't try to push him, at all or in any way, and instead waited until he decided, then leaned one elbow on the closest table as he listened. Let himself lose some sense of regality for the comfort of it, for the focus of comfort.

He did have some questions, there in the small secret lab that had once been a secret shame of desperation and recklessness, and now was mostly just a lab. It would now be once again a secret to be guarded at all costs, but it was hard to look at these walls the same way. Both because of the company, and because of what they guarded, and would guard now.

And all in all, while most of Harry's questions were technical in nature, and some he set aside to look over once the research was safe... not all of them were. Some were even among those he hadn't really planned to tackle, but Peter knew him far too well, by now.

"Was all the cross-species genetic experimentation between humans and other species? Or did they ever get to try with animal genomes only?" He wondered.

He couldn't help keeping an eye on the time, because he did want to get that laptop sooner rather than later, but he wasn't on a hurry just yet.

Moreover, from what he knew about the Osborns in Peter's universe, he could imagine they'd have focused strongly in some avenues of research, but it was still worth asking.

"Because, from an ecological standpoint, it's a terrifying idea." He added, before letting himself show a small, amused smile. "Unless it led to the creation spider-koalas in your universe, of course."

@localwebslingers

[abbcube]

seeing the words Not In The Groove in your comment made me gasp irl i love that game its such a damn banger

have this gif its funny i think

Always happy to see another NotITG fan! It's truly criminal how few people know about this game. And I've been meaning to learn the chart in that gif for a while. Maybe soon 🤔

Also, this means I now have an excuse to yell about this game to the sorry fools who made the mistake of following me. So...

(Moderate photosensitivity warning btw, this stuff can get spicy for the eyes)

HYPERFIXATION BE UPON YE

I now get the chance to talk about a game I feel exceedingly n̸͓̒̍o̶̹̿͠r̷͚͇͗m̴͈͒̐a̸̝͉̒ĺ̶̹̹̆about.

What's NotITG??

Not In The Groove, or NotITG/nITG for short, is a rhythm game with some of the craziest & most creative visuals you'll ever see. It's an extravaganza of colors, music, and lots and lots of arrows. Words don't do it justice though, so here's an example:

(HiTECH NINJA - Technician's High)

(Chart by Exschwasion + Tetaes)

Whoa, what the fuck was that? Is that even readable?

Yes it is, I promise! It just takes some practice. These are made to be not only doable, but completely feasible to read & learn. They wouldn't be fun otherwise. It's also not nearly as bad as it looks at first glance, especially if you know what sort of stuff you should be looking out for.

In fact, here are some things that can make it a little easier to parse:

The colors of the arrows are indicative of the timing (reds are on quarter notes, blues are eighth notes, greens are sixteenth notes, etc). This means it's possible to identify the rhythm of a song even if you've never heard it before.

If visual effects are getting particularly crazy, it can be helpful to read ahead and quickly memorize a "chunk" of notes to play while your vision is impaired, picking back up when the screen is clearer.

Charts (the arrows for a given song) are made to be played on a dance pad, with your feet. Furthermore, any half-decent chart commits to having good flow (or posture) meaning that the patterns you see are made to be "stepped" through with alternating* feet. This vastly limits the number of possible patterns that can be thrown at you. So if you happen to lose your place while reading the chart, it's very feasible to infer what the next few steps will be, giving you a chance to recover.

(*depending on the song, a chart may have you hit the same step multiple times with the same foot. There are other exceptions too but that could warrant its own section entirely)

If you want a way better explanation of this stuff, some prominent devs in the community did a great job covering all of it during the game's exhibition during AGDQ2022!

This looks completely and utterly insane, there's no way I'd ever be able to play this!

That's where you're wrong, bucko! They aren't all made to be difficult! There are plenty of easier charts out there to learn the basics on & get your bearings. Some of my favorites include:

(Chroma - Phantom Train Journey)

(Chart by Kaypooma)

(Sakuzyo - Altale)

(Chart by PlasticRainbow + mrcool909090)

How do these even get made?

Good old programming! Also math. Lots and lots of math. You wanna make the arrow follow a funny path? Time to learn what a spline is. Want to make a circle? Hope you were paying attention in trig class, because it's time to break out the radians.

In all seriousness, I have nothing but the highest respect for the people that make charts for NotITG. Every single one of them is a culmination of music, art, programming, math, animation, visual design, game design, psychology, kinesiology and so, so much more. It's genuinely dizzying how multitalented these people are.

I'm interested in these man-made horrors beyond my comprehension! Where can I play this game?

You can download it from the game's website: noti.tg. It's free! Completely! There is no way to spend money on it. You'll just have to live with the fact that you can't give these talented creators your money.

I'd also recommend joining the game's discord (noti.tg/discord). They're incredibly helpful & friendly, just don't be a jerk :p. It should have some good information & resources for when you're starting out.

I feel like I've barely even scratched the surface of what makes this game special. I could probably make a whole other post rambling about the lore of UKSRT and the effect that's had on me, but this post is long enough as is.

If there's even one person who read this far, thank you for listening to the ramblings of a madman obsessed with a funny little arrow game! ❤️

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

I just started playing Kerbal Space Program and I'm officially hooked.

I'd heard about it months ago but didn't pick it up because it seemed like too much of an effort to learn about all the details of spacecraft design and stuff, and I couldn't see what I would actually get out of it. (I'm not much of an "achievement-collector" gamer; I always just want to have fun playing a game.) The sim part is fun but it's just not very engaging by itself -- it's hard to do the kind of thing you'd want to do in an RTS or FPS, which is basically "really pay attention and make all the right decisions" -- you can just stumble through a run by repeatedly clicking on the right options.

But now that I've gotten into it a bit, I can see that it's the kind of thing that has a strong "left brain" learning curve, and the left-brain part is motivating, which means I can actually get deep into it and get a lot of pleasure out of it. I'm actually learning math and engineering while having a ton of fun. In a way that can't be captured with achievements, of course, but that's the kind of thing that's always been the essence of a good video game to me.

So now I can't stop thinking about how to design a perfect left-brain game, because now I know there's a way to get me so totally into it that I will just sit there for hours without noticing time passing. (Minecraft is pretty good for this, though it's not perfect. There aren't enough goals, and they're mostly all achievement-based and aren't very important to learn about. And there's a lot of stuff that would be nice to have but isn't included, like the ability to watch other players build their things. You can walk through their undergrounds and see their walls, but it's not the same, because the walls are 2D, and it's not all-or-nothing -- if you get too close to another player's walls, you'll see nothing, so you can only see their walls if you actually walk into them. In a 3D world, you could walk out of someone's walls so you can look around them, and see their constructions from the inside, from different angles.

Also, a good 3D MMO should let you build your own stuff so that you can own more than one piece of real estate.)