#armchair dev

[simplezllenial]

Armchair developers when they see a feature that seems small where they say that it would be easy for them to implement.

In reality, that one simple feature took 6h to implement, made a 20 files commit and 10 new unit tests

And it doesn’t work the same way on the server.

That’s why it can take up to 3 days to add a new table sometimes :).

[bunabi]

I dont think there should be mounts in DA4 idk

So long as there are enough evenly-spaced camps I like walking between destinations and looking at the environment and exploring

It gives more room to slow down and appreciate the view and discover hidden areas that I'd otherwise miss while zooming on a dracolisk at mach speeds lol

[sniperct]

my favorite form of gamer whining genre is “major patch/launch chokes the servers from too many players trying to connect”

[fyonnkalnonn]

A list of changes I would make to Crystal Chronicles Remastered if I had the opportunity, dev team, and resources:

It's Current Year, no one's playing this game with a GBA as their controller anymore. Attack gets its own dedicated button. In Nintendo controller notation, Attack would be on Y, and the menu would be moved to +. At minimum, you would have the option to swap the Attack and Command buttons, since Y would be a really bad place to put a regular attack button on a Gamecube-style controller.

Male and female characters are brought into animation parity. I'd say making female attack animations slower could have happened accidentally, but it's consistent across character species, so....

Everybody gets progression! Sort of. I understand this is a complex problem due to the way Miasma Streams, dungeon level, and Myrrh Trees work. We'd have to do a randomizer-style coherency check for each player, but basically if you can A) reach that dungeon this year, B) get Myrrh from that tree, and C) have advanced that dungeon to at least that dungeon level, you have the option to have that count for your progression (myrrh, letters, time) too (there are reasons you might not want your year to progress).

Players can participate in any dungeon they like except for dungeons past the Unknown Element Miasma Stream if they have never had the Unknown Element before.

There is a power-scaling option set at the host's discretion that syncs players' STR and MAG down to no more than like double the host's highest of the two.

You can "lock" commands onto your command bar. Locked commands will not be overwritten even while the command is not available to you. There are additional UI elements for this feature - player icons appear next to Magicite drops if the player needs it to use one of their locked commands. I.E. if you have Cure on your command list and don't have a Cure Magicite yet, every Cure Magicite that drops will have an icon that lets you and the other players know that you need it. Also, if you already have a copy of a Magicite, you cannot pick up a Magicite that someone else still needs.

There is zero animation time on dropping the beloved crystal bucket and much less animation time for picking it up. While carrying the bucket you get a full-screen transparent overlay of the full map of the area with the same features as the mini-map has.

During boss fights, you no longer have to worry about the bucket. The bucket's crystal is more powerful need a Mrryh Tree or something.

First-level spells are a little bigger.

[mosspapi]

God I just tried to post smth to my art acc from desktop (because I can't get my digital work from my computer to my phone without absolutely destroying the quality) and it's. So bad. I literally can't even figure out how to post anything. It's ugly it's unintuitive it's just the Worst thing ever. Guess I'm not posting art for the foreseeable future. God I fucking hate Tumblr

[galaxysgal]

lip gallagher fluff where he's your safe place 🙂

safe and sound || lip gallagher

pairing: lip x northside!reader

warnings: i wrote this while high dev im so sorry lmao

a/n: my tummy hurts from how much i wanna kiss him

new years was never your favorite holiday. your dad always drank too much and ended up passed out before the ball dropped. you were always alone on new years.

this year your dad was out by 10:00, giving you plenty of time to steal a couple twenties from his wallet and catch a cab down to the southside. to the gallaghers' house.

now you're settled in lip's lap, squished into the armchair with one strong hand resting possessively on your hip. he's too good to you.

there was never a day when you didn't feel safe, as long as he was around. if you were cold, he gave you his coat. if someone was bothering you at the club, he was at your side. if any little trinket caught your eye at the mall, it left the store in his pocket just for you.

an empty beer bottle clunks down beside you on the table, and lip's other arm circles around your waist. "'s midnight."

you smile, turning your head to press a sweet kiss to his lips.

"happy new years baby," he whispered.

"happy new year. can't wait to spend it with you.

end.

my masterlist. my winter sleepover.

[ponett]

how would you fix freedom planet?

i'm not sure why you assume i think freedom planet needs "fixing." i like freedom planet. i may have a few nitpicks, like with anything, but as an indie dev i don't think it's wise for me to be an armchair dev and declare how i would "fix" my peers' games

[sjsmith56]

Away Mission - Part 2

Summary: Sloan’s new job involves reporting about Bucky after a month of no word from him. Bucky adjusts to his new situation. A discovery in his tent puts him on alert.

Length: 2.9 K

Characters: Sloan, Bucky, OMC and OFC.

Warnings: Worry about Bucky, Bucky having regrets, Bucky concerned about Sloan’s safety.

Part 1

💻 ⛺️

Part 2

Sloan

I filed the piece I did on a homeless shelter that had been targeted by traffickers and leaned back in my chair, stretching my arms out over my head. It had been a month since I left Bucky and according to Sam, who checked in with me regularly it had been that long since anyone had heard from him. It seemed like he had dropped off the face of the Earth. Was I worried? Yes, a person doesn’t stop caring for another person they loved, even after they separate themselves from them. At least this person didn’t. Part of me hoped that after he hooked up with whatever “private security group” he had contracted with, he would undergo a reality check and realize he wasn’t a good fit with their philosophy of anything goes as long as the price is right. But no one, and I mean no one in the Avengers, had heard from him.

“Hey, are you coming out for drinks?”

I looked up at the face of another writer at the Daily, Devlin Horne. Born in South Africa, Dev had been a thorn in the side of certain old-school military remnants of the former apartheid regime. He was an investigative reporter into the right-wing groups that longed for a return to those days, until they planted a bomb under his bed, almost killing him, when he got up to use the bathroom during the night. Instead of the pressure-sensitive device going off right away, it malfunctioned, exploding while he was in the kitchen grabbing a midnight snack. Buried under the rubble for a day until he was rescued made him realize his life was in danger if he stayed in Cape Town, so he left, coming to New York to work at the Manhattan Daily, the online news platform I became a part of after I left Bucky. We became friendly acquaintances and he checked on me daily.

“Are we celebrating something?”

“We are,” he replied. “Someone has been nominated for a Scripps Howard Award.” He looked around as if it was a big secret. “It’s not you or me, however.”

“Let me guess, Tess Murray, for her piece on the Gaza,” I said, having already heard through the grapevine. It was a prestigious nomination for an online publication. “I already heard, and I will go for one drink, only because Tess asked me, as she has an idea for a collaborative piece.”

“Really?” His accent was particularly strong at that moment, and I thought I saw something dark behind his eyes … jealousy perhaps? “Well, I guess I’ll see you at Rafters then.” He winked. “Perhaps you and I can collaborate on something, sometime.”

He left me there, walking away without giving me a chance to answer. I knew what he wanted, as he made it clear within a week of my arrival that he was interested in me. Even though I told him I wasn’t up for another relationship he had been persistent, in a friendly, non-creepy way. My in-office messaging system dinged, and I looked at the computer screen seeing a message from Tess.

That piece I mentioned working together on? Just got more interesting. Come see me now, if you’re free.

I logged out and headed over to her office. As senior correspondent and the winner of several national and international journalism awards, Tess’s office was proof of her success. Compared to my desk, sharing a space with four others, her private corner office with a view in two directions was a reward for the level of writing she filed on a regular basis. I entered, and she indicated I should shut the door. Sitting on the armchair in front of her I looked at her expectantly.

“Well, I’m going to give you a name, and if you don’t want to be part of the story because of that name I understand,” she said. “He’s been off the radar for a month, and I know you have history with him.”

To say my heart didn’t come up into my throat, threatening to choke me with its increased beating would be lying. I tried to stay neutral but even her face showed a level of excitement that I knew could make this story another award winner.

“Bucky Barnes has resurfaced,” she said. “He was spotted at an arms show in the Middle East last week, scoping out some pretty high-tech weaponry. The word in certain circles is that he is connected to the Excalibur Security Group and is leading one of their infiltration units.”

Of all the groups to be associated with, why did it have to be Excalibur? Filled with former military and CIA shadow operatives, they were known to be involved in bringing oligarchs to power in resource rich third world countries. Tess brought an image up on her computer screen, turning it so I could see photographs of Bucky handling a very advanced rifle at the show. It seemed to be made just for him, as he tried out several stances with it. There must have been a look on my face because Tess suddenly put her hand on mine.

“You, okay? Is it too soon to ask you to investigate and write about your former boyfriend?”

I swallowed then let out a breath. “Yeah, it is too soon but if he’s involved with them, it’s not a good thing. Any idea what country they’re targeting?”

“Considering the fact that he lived there for two years … it has to be Wakanda. The vacuum left by the death of King T’Challa and subsequent challenge by M’Baku to take control has convinced some consortiums that the time is right for a coup. Barnes had a very public falling out with Princess Shuri with plenty of witnesses hearing her threaten to kill him if he showed his face there again. His knowledge of the country is invaluable to the right people. I heard Excalibur offered him 8 figures, just as a bonus to go in with them. For a man who ended up in this century with nothing, many wouldn’t blame him for accepting the money. The Avengers certainly couldn’t afford that.”

I leaned back in the chair and Tess turned her computer screen away from me. I looked past her, to the view of the Empire State Building and Chrysler Building. Completed within 11 months of each other in 1930, Bucky was a teenager when they were built. The view of them was something he never got enough of, a reminder of who he used to be, before World War II and HYDRA turned him into the man he was today.

“Alright,” I said. “I’m in. What do you want me to do?”

As she outlined her investigation objectives, I tried to still the hesitancy I was already feeling about this. The Excalibur Security Group had been implicated in the kidnapping, torture and deaths of several people in the countries they had already “helped” transition to a different government; people whose only real crime was standing up to outside influence and interference. I couldn’t help but wonder why, after all his years of being a puppet of HYDRA, Bucky would align himself with an organization who seemed to follow their playbook for taking control.

Bucky

It had been five weeks since I took that ride in the windowless panel van. Being taken at gunpoint and having my head covered didn’t exactly fill me with confidence but once I was vetted and went out on a few pickups myself I realized it was SOP, Standard Operating Procedure. All new hires went through the same thing. Their bags were checked for trackers, their weapons checked for serial numbers (they were supposed to be filed off), and once we arrived at a second secret location, the operative was required to strip down and prove they weren’t wearing a wire. Because of my arm and shoulder unit I had to prove nothing in them was traceable. I must have been convincing because they allowed me to keep the arm.

There were the usual types that thought they were the baddest of all badasses but when I easily dumped them on said ass during some one-on-one confrontations, they all soon realized none of them had my skill set. It would have been laughable if not for the fact that most of these guys had received their training with the military of several different countries. Either training methods had been watered down since I took basic in 1942, or these guys had faked their resumés. I must have pleased someone because I didn’t have to prove myself after that. One of the suits hanging around where our small army was holed up, made a big deal of transferring my $10 million signing bonus into the Swiss bank account that I set up once I agreed to join. Told me that after this mission I could begin to live the high life that I was entitled to. Of course, the suit didn’t realize that as soon as the money went into the account a forensic accounting team would begin tracing the source of that transfer. The forensic team were the best of the best, and their work would begin the accumulation of evidence that would be used to prosecute the money people behind the Excalibur Security Group.

Now, five weeks after that van ride, I was in a camp, located somewhere on a remote Australian ranch, in a tent by myself, since I was also made a unit commander. It was hot, dusty, and there was no wifi for miles. But the beer was cold, the food plentiful, and I just bided my time until the day we were in a place with internet so that everything I had recorded in that time could be uploaded to the cloud. Yeah, I was getting better at the tech thing as well. Sam would be proud of me. I paused as I stopped sharpening my knives for a moment. Lying to Sam had been hard. It started with challenging his decisions on missions, then openly mocking his authority. Like the counsellor he used to be he tried to deal with it with understanding. But I was surly with him, asking what made his plans better than mine, considering I had years more experience than him. Then I deliberately didn’t follow his plans during missions. I never did it to the point of endangering lives on those occasions, but my actions did cause problems and when he called me out on it, I reacted like one of those fake badasses I took care of. Before I ended it with Sloan, Sam was the last person that I broke relations with. The look of hurt on his face when I put my face into his and told him to fuck off out of my life was something that I’ll regret forever. I hoped to hell that when this mission was done, he would accept my apology and forgive me for the terrible things I said and did.

“Barnes, CO wants you,” said Ducharme, a former French special forces sergeant, sticking his head inside my tent.

I put my knife and sharpening stone aside, then headed over to the CO’s tent. Colonel William Moorehouse was a former Marine, who was unceremoniously dumped from his command, after being caught stealing gold from a drug lord in Afghanistan. The government of the moment wanted the gold to go towards reparations. He thought it his just due for taking out the drug lord and his small army. He had to give it back then was canned after. I stopped outside his tent, as the flap was down.

“Captain Barnes reporting,” I announced. Only took me 80 years to be made Captain.

“Enter,” said the Colonel’s voice. He had a computer up and I realized at that moment that he must have wifi. With luck and some time, I might be able to upload everything recorded so far. “Barnes, we’ve been monitoring online news sources to make sure word of our upcoming excursion doesn’t get out before we execute the plan. Looks like someone had loose lips but we’re not sure who spilled the beans.”

“Sir?” I questioned, not quite sure what he wanted me to do.

The tall grey-haired man turned the laptop screen towards me, and I saw a brief article from the Manhattan Daily. Its title stood out. So did its byline of the writers.

WAKANDAN COUP ATTEMPT EXPECTED: PRIVATE SECURITY FIRM MAY BE INVOLVED An unnamed source advised that the former Avenger, James Buchanan Barnes, recently fired from the group for increasingly disturbing behaviour has been hired by the private security firm, Excalibur Security Group. While his skill set would be coveted by any private security firm, the news of him being hired by ESG hints that his extensive knowledge of Wakanda may be utilized as part of a coup. Excalibur Security Group is no stranger to transitioning uncooperative governments, especially if they are in resource rich countries. Since the deaths of Wakandan king T’Challa, and his mother, Ramonda, the country appears to be troubled with the ascension of tribal chief M’Baku to the throne, after his challenge to the heir presumptive, Princess Shuri, was uncontested. Shuri and Barnes were recently witnessed in an unsettling encounter, threatening the other with death. The Daily will monitor the situation and report updates as they occur. Story filed by Tess Murray and Sloan Hunter.

I stood up, saying nothing for a moment. “I haven’t spoken to Sloan for over a month. She wouldn’t have known I signed with Excalibur as I only accepted after I broke it off with her.”

“I didn’t think you were the leak,” he replied, turning the laptop back to him. “That Murray woman has been a thorn in the side of several private security firms. She has eyes and ears everywhere. How are your assassin skills?”

“I would rather not use them,” I replied, as it was made very clear when I signed that I didn’t do that anymore. He gave me a look that said he didn’t like that answer. “My skills are still the best. You’re not considering a hit on the women, are you?”

“No, I just want it as an option if they start naming names,” he said. “Our contract is specific that we protect our client’s name and reputation, at the expense of our own. We have an operative in the same office as the Manhattan Daily. That person will be monitoring progress on the story. If they get too close, they will be dealt with, hopefully by our operative. If that isn’t possible, I’m afraid you may be sent to complete that operation.” I started to argue but he put up his hand. “It’s actually in your contract that you may be required for specific tasks. A hit would qualify.”

I wracked my brains trying to remember if I saw that clause before I signed. He bent over his laptop and brought up a document, turning it towards me.

“You can read it again, if you wish,” he said. “It was buried pretty deep but it’s there. Page 2, clause 4.8a.”

I read it and swore openly. “That was not in the contract I signed,” I insisted.

“Well, it’s there now,” he said smugly. “If you’re going to be a soldier of fortune you have to earn the money doing the dirty jobs, Barnes. Now get the hell out of my tent.”

Seething, I stepped out and swore again as I headed back to my tent.

“I hope you heard that,” I said, in a low voice once I was out of earshot of his tent but hopefully within range of the wifi, knowing it would record me. “It wasn’t in the contract I signed. You better make sure she’s safe and find their operative.”

When I stepped inside my tent I stopped immediately. I could smell aftershave and it wasn’t mine, although I had a vague memory of the scent. Someone had been in my tent while I was with the Colonel. Carefully, I scanned the inside of my quarters, checking to see if anything was misplaced from where I left it. Then I checked the obvious and not so obvious places to plant a bug, finding it on the side of one of the tent’s supports, in the shadows where it wasn’t readily visible. It wasn’t a standard issue bug, at least not one used by the Avengers or law enforcement. As I looked closer at it, I noticed a tiny symbol made up of four vertical lines. When I was with HYDRA some of the Russian guards and staff had it tattooed on the back of their hand, as it meant order in an ancient hieroglyphic of the culture present from about 5000 BC. To HYDRA, always using ancient cultural symbols to justify their measures, it was just another way of saying what they wanted for the world. With a smirk, I broke it in half then smashed it under my heel for good measure. I looked for another but didn’t find anything. It bothered me that someone would use a bug with that symbol on it. Was there a HYDRA sympathizer in the camp? If there was, I needed to identify them and find out what their game was. Were they part of the plan to infiltrate and destabilize Wakanda or was I a target? Either way, my mission just became a little harder.

Part 3

Short Fiction Masterlist

Series Masterlist

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[jadespadegames]

Honestly, when did Minecraft fans get so entitled?

I'm not really into the game anymore but I've noticed this absolute disdain for the devs in recent years and I really don't get it.

These updates have always free and players have never been entitled to receive any new features. Why? Because the game itself is already considered complete.

I remember back in the day when updates were small and infrequent. People were mostly happy to get anything new, and I only remember mass complaints when the combat update happened. But that's very different from complaining about stuff like "slow updates" or "lazy updates" or the like. Did the big nether update make people think every single update had to be on that same level???

"Modders can do it better" just reeks of armchair game development to me. As a programmer myself I can safely say that modders have it much easier. Not that the work of modders is not extremely impressive, but modders do not work with the base code, nor are they obligated to account for many things that the actual game devs do (ie widespread device compatibility, java and bedrock version compatibility, accounting for potential features that may be implemented in the future, multiplayer server functionality, etc. If a mod breaks the game, it's no big deal. If the actual game feature breaks the game, that is a big deal. So game devs have waaay on their plate whenever they add something to the game, versus a modder doing these things for fun.

Idk like I said I'm not into Minecraft anymore, but I am extremely annoyed by the entitlement I've seen these past few years. These updates are all free. There's no reason to be so hateful about them.

[thefirstknife]

Thoughts on the Divinity nerf? It's not as bad as I feared, but I don't like the fact that they used the "trivializes aiming" wording.

Pretty much the same. We knew the nerf was coming, Bungie talked about looking into Divinity long before Salta made a mess on twitter so it was always going to happen. I personally don't think lovering debuff to half (from 30% to 15%) was necessary, but Bungie ran the numbers and settled on that. We won't know the true effect of this until it ships next season so I won't go into speculation on how it will work. Divinity will still very much be useful.

But yeah, the way it was phrased is really grating on me. It was almost word for word what Salta said. Like, it's an obvious reference. That part of Salta's twitter thread was the core issue for me; he framed the conversation around "aim" and "content is too easy" which obviously pissed people off. Had he omitted those arguments, people probably would've mostly been fine with his ideas. But the framing around those arguments turned it very ugly. At best, it's just mocking lower skilled players, at worst it's inciting ableism and gatekeeping.

So seeing that as an argument in the TWAB was ... not good for me. I'm fine with everything else, it went more or less as expected.

I have an idea that Hippy (the community manager that wrote the TWAB) copied Salta's tweet to make a point to the audience on twitter that's been harassing devs again over "not listening to their players" and "only listening to casuals." By copying a tweet from a pro hardcore player, she was able to prove both of those points wrong. The dev harassment got really bad with Eager Edge nerf so.

Or she just copied it without thinking too much of it and Bungie agrees with Salta's overall reasoning. No clue. I definitely would've preferred if they didn't encourage the pervasive idea in gaming that aim is the only thing that matters and that players who have issues with that for whatever reason are lesser, inferior and don't deserve to play games. That sort of thinking always ends up in ableism. I wish Bungie didn't encourage that gatekeepy and exclusionary language.

It's already making a lot of people on twitter posting really ableist comments and gloating and mocking players who are upset or disappointed. But I would also implore people not to imply that Bungie is lying about when they started looking into this (they did NOT nerf Div because of twitter) or that devs don't know what they're doing and we all know better as armchair devs. I've seen people being shitty to devs because of this in the same way people were shitty over Eager Edge.

[tropiyas]

sorry i'm going to be an armchair game dev here and say this: why aren't games targeting 40fps or 45fps if they can't hit 60. Why do they have to sledgehammer it to 30fps. the Steam Deck does this and it's a pretty good compromise between smooth gameplay and attainable performance

[askagamedev]

Hey Dev! I love your blog and you inspired me to get into game development. I have a masters degree in psychology and some basic knowledge on game design. Could this be enough to get a job as a game designer in the industry?

Maybe? It entirely depends on what comprises "some basic knowledge on game design". The psychology is tangentially useful, but it's still icing unless we're  specifically hiring for a psychology consultant. Game design skills are the cake hiring managers are looking for, and those are the skills you’ll have to demonstrate in order to get hired as a game designer. If you want a job in video games, you need some kind of specialization - at least one field where you’re good enough to ship content. This can mean level design, item design, encounter design, combat design, system design, narrative design, etc. A generalist must be able to create shippable content in multiple fields.

If you want to get a job as a game designer, you need to demonstrate to the hiring manager that you can design game content. This starts by analyzing and understanding what makes existing game content good and bad, and then takes the crucial step beyond by extrapolating those skills into creating new content that provokes a new intended experience in the player. This is a lot harder than it seems from the outside; there are tons of armchair designers on various forms of social media who can spend hours picking apart game designs but lack the ability to come up with new designs that resonate with players.

A good designer can use game development tools to craft an experience for the players who engage with that content. That’s what we’re looking for when we look to hire somebody. This often means showing a good understanding of how all the little pieces fit together to form a cohesive intended experience - mechanics, visuals, timing, rewards, numbers, colors, tension, incentives, goals, teaching, and so on and so forth. A designer uses all of the pieces to build a story for players to experience. The better the designer, the more compelling and consistent the story.

I always encourage game design candidate hopefuls to get their hands dirty and create game content of some kind. Make your own D&D module/campaign, create a quest using Skyrim’s creation kit, create a board game, create a card game, create a map for Portal/CS:GO/TF2/etc., Twine narrative adventure, or whatever. Create something that others can play. Then let them play it and see how it worked out. Think about what worked, what didn’t, and what you can improve. Then repeat that process until you start to get a feel for how all of the pieces fit together for a good player experience. That’s game design. Those are the kind of skills we’re looking for in a candidate. I wish you good luck.

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[genericgamereviews]

Hogwarts Legacy: I spent $60 and here’s my review.

When you first boot the game, it doesn’t take you through the standard legal screens to the main menu. Instead, it appears that it takes you to a poorly-rendered video of jkr, laughing. I'm talking, maybe 240p?

She is sitting in an armchair against a wall. She then take a sip of, I guess red wine probably, from a glass on a side table, and says “you just gave me more money.” The vitriolic smugness in her voice is borderline palpable. She then picks up a stapled packet of standard white (either A4 or 8.5x11 - kind of hard to tell from the video quality-) paper (also from the table). And starts reading a list of slurs. Some of which I had to look up bc I didn’t even recognize them.

I guess this is a bug or something. The game forums say this is a feature, and not a bug, but idk.

I tried reaching out to the dev team, who sent me a file called "HLTechSupportDocAlsoImJKRandCanDoWhatIWant.png", and it's just a photo of a, shall we say, "well-used" toilet with a line of text that reads, "This is what she told us to do".

Anyone else having this problem?

Verdict: 0/10 Unplayable

Oh, and, as for the $60, I donated that to pro-trans, pro-Jewish, pro-poc, and pro-neurodiverse organizations.

[arkadiaasks]

Out of curiosity, what IS in your list of tv shows and podcasts?

Quite a bit.

Western TV Shows and Movies are dependent on stuff I watch with family.

As far as anime goes

Winter Cour 2023:

Super Sentai Kamen Rider Geats Pretty Cure Pokemon (Ash Era Finale) Nier Automata Yu-Gi-Oh! Go Rush!!

Urusei Yatsura Trigun Stampede Ayakashi Stampede

BOFURI (Season 2) Girls in a Dungeon Fruits of Evolution (Season 2)

Shadowverse Flame Cardfight!! Vanguard will+Dress (Season 2) Vinland Saga (Season 2)

Digimon Ghost Game Tomo-chan is a Girl To Your Eternity (Season 2)

Currently catching up on Welcome to Demon School Iruma-kun

Podcasts:

We're Not So Different The Time of Monsters American Prestige Ones and Tooze Miskatonic University Podcast The Good Friends of Jackson Elias Old Gods of Appalachia The Silt Verses Mayfair Watcher Society Endless: A Sandman Podcast Content Creator Streams/Podcasts:

Scared to Death Esoterica Night Mind Nexpo Wendigoon Giga Boots Podcast Network (Big Think Dimension, Chugging Bleach, Pokemon Go To The Movies, Gamer Premonitions, Armchair Devs, Cursed Content Club)

And assorted creators whose output is kind of random.

I'm already full, dear. Very much so.

[kajalyashvardhans]

sonth ke laadoo | a one shot with amrita and kajal

TAGGING → @devrajyashvardhan & Amrita

LOCATION → The Yashvardhan Estate

It had come as a surprise to Kajal when she’d come into the bedroom she shared with her husband, her hand protectively over her six month pregnant belly—only to see him packing a small suitcase. But it was filled with her clothes and her things as another suitcase, presumably with his belongs was waiting by the door. He sat her down in her favourite armchair in their room and told her how something had come up and he had to travel. 

Given how it was the first time since she’d gotten pregnant that he’d said those words—she was understandably worried. Why was he doing this now? Didn’t he know how terrified she was? Not only of being alone but of anything happening to him? She didn’t voice any of those fears though, instead just nodding along as he told her that she would be staying with his parents at the Estate for the week. That thought itself was daunting. She’d be with his parents for the first time alone and she didn’t know how that would go.

Sure his parents had been exceptionally warm to Kajal, especially post the news of her expecting their grandkids but it was still a big thing to think about. However to ensure her husband didn’t spend his time away worrying about her, she agreed and that’s how she found herself at her in-laws. 

She’d just finished her lunch and had retired to her room with a book about expecting twins when she heard a soft knock and sat up before calling out to them, “come in!”

To her surprise, Amrita Yashvardhan walked in, alone—with some laddoos on a plate and instantly Kajal found her interest piqued. “I’m not disturbing you, am I?”

Kajal quickly shook her head, “Nahi toh…main toh bas, I was just trying to stay prepared.” She held up the book with the title for her mother-in-law to read over only to see the older woman smile as she stepped inside the room and placed the plate of sweets on the dresser before taking the seat across from Kajal on the sofa. 

“The books won’t be enough to prepare you for twins beti,” she told her softly, her hand reaching out to clasp Kajal’s with a smile. “I still remember the first time I found out I was having twins…After Jhanvi and Devraj, I was sure we’d have one more and that would be it, but of course that wasn’t the case. But I was sure it would be okay, after all—I’d delivered two other children by that point,” Amrita paused with a fond look on her face before shaking her head, “but twins is something else. Only someone who has experienced it can really tell you what it feels like.” 

Kajal nodded, eager to find out any useful information she could from the other woman. “I’m honestly…pata nahi aapko kehna bhi chaiye ya nahi, lekin mujhe darr laga rehta hai…roz. Meri body ke liye do bache…bahot hai, aur meri doctor bhi worried hai, lekin Devraj ko dekh ke…himmat aa jati hai ke main yeh kar sakthi hoon…were you, worried like that?”

Amrita nodded, this time scooting over to wrap an arm around her daughter-in-law, in the hope of comforting her. “It’s not something I can convince you of, but I will tell you one thing…you’re in much safer hands than I was back then. Ab toh sab safety measures hote hai, aur tum yahaan ho, Kingston mein. Sab kuch acha hi hoga,” she said softly before giving her another smile. “Aur pata hai beti, Devraj tumhe himmat deta hoga, lekin maine dekha hai usse—asliyat main tum uski himmat ho.” 

Kajal couldn’t really believe the words she was hearing from the other woman and found a few tears already forming in her eyes as she quickly brushed them away, “main bas…sab ko khush rakhna chahti hoon ma,” she whispered before taking a deep breath, unsure of what else to say before she heard Amrita speak.

“Arre Kajal, tum already sab ko kitna khush kar chuki ho, tumhe pata bhi hai? Haan maana ke main shuruvaat mein itni khush nahi thi, lekin tum…itni pyaari ho beti, ke tumse pyaar ho hi jaata hai aur phir jab main Dev ki khushi dekhti hoon na, toh lagta hai ke tumhare siva aur koi nahi woh kar sakhta mere bete ke liye…mere parivaar ke liye.” 

All of this was incredibly overwhelming for Kajal as she nodded, still wiping those tears away before her mother-in-law spoke up again. “Acha ab bas. No more crying, warna mera beta mujhe daantega ke maine uski biwi ko rula diya,” she teased before standing and bringing the plate closer. 

“Pata nahi tumhe yeh check kiya hai ke nahi, lekin yeh sonth ke laddoo hain aur pata hai ke bahot tasty nahi hote…lekin tumhare liye aur baache ke liye bahot faida ke liye hota hai. I know it’s a bit hot, but I promise you’ll be okay. Aur haan…aaj ke baad roz laongi,” she smiled before giving a soft kiss to Kajal’s forehead.  

Kajal couldn’t help the wide smile that appeared on her round face, the dimple shining through as she stared at the woman who at one time hadn’t been able to accept her as her daughter-in-law and now today was being the most welcoming, maternal figure in her life—enough to make her feel the warmth and comfort that she missed receiving from her own mother who was still back in Delhi. As her mother-in-law left the bedroom, she found herself eager to speak to her husband—wanting to tell him about all the things that had just occurred between her and her mother (in-law).

[professoricepick]

Armchair Dev: Mighty No. 9-2

Armchair Dev: Mighty No. 9-2

I’ve often mentioned that I have an aversion to games that are so beloved, that their reputation precedes them. What I mention far less often is that I also find myself fascinated by games that generally have poor reputations – especially the ones that could be called “overhated”. Even since the retro boom began, I’ve wanted to examine games with poor reputations and even dissecting ones that…