#awesome-software-project

[bmpmp3]

IA 2.0 voisona test with a short version of drag on dragoon's ending B song tsukiru/exhausted :) now i can hear Lia's beautiful dulcet tones sing scary scary songs

[pov-amna]

I need your help in my writing career. Please read my article via link and give me some suggestions as a reader. https://www.arhamsoft.com/blog/2023/10/23/hire-php-developers-13-convincing-reasons/

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

How to knit a Six of Crows blanket!

Hi my darlings, after posting quite a bit about my Grishaverse knitting projects I’ve had a few people ask if I have any kind of pattern or instructions for the Six of Crows blanket I made. I completely drew it myself and (as someone who has never designed a real pattern) figured it out as I went but I thought I’d do my best to put together a step-by-step guide of what I did for my one so you can try it if you’d like to! If you do this and share it anywhere then if you could please credit me for the design that would awesome <3

My finished blanket is approximately 117x120 cm, or 46x47 inches, and it looks like this:

Yarn I used: so sorry I can’t remember and I don’t have the information right now but if anyone wants me to I can update this when I find it; I know that it was bulky weight though

Needle size I used: 9mm

Stitches you need to know how to do: Knit and Purl

Other techniques you’ll need to know: the fair isle method for colourwork, and possibly how to back a blanket but I will explain that in more detail because I had to learn how to do it for this project

Tags: @marielaure @spike-is-not-a-dogs-name @scenemime @worth-this-and-more @wisegirl29 @atac-agent @uttermywish @feralipadkid @fairytalesofforever

Guide below the cut!!

Step 1: the first thing you need is a chart, because this is knit in fair isle. I’m sure there are proper softwares for designing fair isle charts but I uploaded a photo of the six of crows book cover onto a free drawing app called Ibis Paint X, went over it in flat colours to create a more 2D design, superimposed a grid over the top, and then went round every individual square of that grid and edited the image so that there was one colour in each square (ie, pixelated it). The fun thing about doing it like this is that you can easily change it to be whatever size you want by changing the size of your grid (each square represents one stitch). As I mentioned before, if you use the same yarn as I did and the exact same chart as I did it comes out to be around 117x120 cm or 46x47 inches; it’s pretty square and smaller than your average blanket, which is perfect for what I wanted but might not be perfect for what you want so you might want to adapt that if you’d rather a different size. This is what my chart looked like:

Step 2: casting on and knitting! This is the most fun bit, in my opinion. My grid is 103 stitches wide so and I wanted to have a border all around the edges so the first thing I did was cast on a full row in the cream yarn that I wanted to make that border from, with two more stitches

1) Cast on 105 of cream yarn. This should be the number of stitches across the x-axis of your pattern plus 2, to create a border either side. This cast on row will then create a one row border at the bottom of your work.

2) K1 in cream, knit first row of pattern, K1 in cream

3) P1 in cream, purl second row of pattern, P1 in cream

4) repeat steps 2) and 3) until the pattern is complete

5) complete an entire row in cream yarn

6) cast off - this is always so exciting!!! This is when you get the first real sense of accomplishment, in my opinion

I don’t have loads of progress photos, I’m afraid, but this is what mine looked like when I first cast off:

(The edges are curled here so you can’t see the border on the sides, but it is there, also the lighting is rubbish sorry)

Step 3: Weave in all the ends. Gonna be super honest this step is deeply boring but incredibly important; there are a lot of ends to deal with here. Sorry I don’t have a photo of the wrong side of my work but if you imagine at least one loose end for every section of colour change you can gather that it’s a lot haha

Step 4: Backing!! Now there can be different methods of backing depending on what kind of fabric you choose, I can’t actually tell you what kind of fabric I used other than that the colour was called ‘luna grey’ because the label didn’t actually say what it was so I just decided to go for it. I could only buy it in metres or half metres so I had to get 150cm and then trim the excess. Remember to cut your backing fabric larger than your knitting!! - you need lenience to sew it in. I chose a soft fabric that wasn’t very stretchy. If you get a stretchier fabric you might want to use something to band the knitting first so that you avoid pulling it out of shape.

Lay the right sides of your two pieces (fabric & knitting) together and securely pin three sides.

Once your right sides are pinned together you can go all around your three pinned edges and sew together. Sewing is not my forte so if it isn’t yours either don’t worry, what’s good about this is that your stitches won’t actually be seen once the project’s done so don’t worry too much if they aren’t super neat. I used a running stitch and caught the underside of the knitting without going all the way through so that I knew my stitches wouldn’t be visible. If you want to add extra security, you can go round this sewing section twice. I personally hand sewed this, I think you could use a machine if you wanted to but be careful that the knitting doesn’t catch.

This is an exciting bit because you can really start to see the finished project

Once you’ve sewn your first three sides what you essentially have is a giant inside out pocket, and you can turn it right side out so it looks something like this:

Sorry it’s not a great photo.

After this I trimmed off the excess fabric and just sat and stretched everything out to make sure it was sitting properly and I was happy with it. If you’re also trimming off excess fabric, remember to leave the same amount of lenience (I did about five centimetres/two inches) as you did for the original edges!!

Then fold your lenience fabric inside the pocket and pin it nice and securely. I used a YouTube video to learn an invisible stitch to close this edge and it worked really well once I’d gotten the trick of it, I was really pleased. I practiced it on the excess fabric is cut off first and I definitely recommend that, it was really helpful

And then that’s it!!!

Here is my finished project again:

I am so overjoyed with how this came out!

I hope that this guide was somewhat helpful, though I realise it’s clear that I don’t write patterns and am probably not very good at describing what I did so I’m sorry if anything was unclear. If you try this let me know, and if you share it anywhere please credit me! 🖤🖤

[barbwritesstuff]

I wanted to talk quickly about my writing schedule because I've had a few questions about it (mostly because I was sick a couple of days ago but also just in general). My schedule isn't fixed in stone but it usually looks something like this:

Monday - Prose writing

Tuesday - Prose writing

Wednesday - IF writing (Thicker Than)

Thursday - IF writing (Thicker Than)

Friday - IF writing (Thicker Than)

Saturday - Relax (write if you want, but no pressure)

Sunday - Relax (write if you want, but no pressure)

I try to write roughly 1k words a day.

This means, every week, I should get a couple of thousand words at least on whatever prose project I'm working on, and also on Thicker Than.

Sometimes this schedule changes because of how I'm feeling on the day.

Sometimes, I'm just not feeling creative and can't write very much.

Sometimes, I feel awesome and write a whole bunch in one day.

Sometimes I'm feeling inspired by a particular project, and end up working on that and not what I'm meant to.

It's all very artsy fartsy.

The reason why I didn't update this week is because on Wednesday I had to do a bunch of stuff outdoors and couldn't work on Thicker Than. To add insult to injury, I gave myself heat stroke and was puking all Thursday. I couldn't get much done on Friday either because I was still in recovery mode.

I also wasn't very productive in my prose project because I've been hunting for new writing software (because I can't figure out how to get the AI out of MS Word) and that's taken up way more time than it should've.

I hope all that makes sense.

I wanted to share this because:

I like sharing things, it makes me feel more connected and more human.

I feel like some people are worried I'm going to abandon Thicker Than and I need everyone to know, that's not the plan.

This list looked empty with two things on it, so here's a third.

Anyway.

I'm not sure how to end this now. I know there's a lot of nonsense in the world right now. I hope everyone is staying safe. I also hope you haven't forgotten to hope.

Suck blood, fuck the moon, and don't forget to defrag.

Peace.

💙

[wauzmons]

10 Years of Seven Ducks Studios!

One decade ago, I started making shitty RPG Maker games and Minecraft plugins. Eventually this lead to Wauzland, which was a fully functional RPG within Minecraft.

I also professionally developed commercial software, so there always was a steady stream of income to fund all the fun game projects.

Along the way, I created many other Minecraft minigames and random tools, like my own music player. Soon we merged Wauzland with Delseyria, which was the first time we had over 200 players in our community. "Delseyria Reborn" also exsits now, which isn't really actively developed right now, but will be continued one day.

In 2022, I announced "Elysian Eclipse", a small side project, with the goal to create a sandbox game, inspired by Spore. Well, it got a lot more attention than expected and the member count of our Discord server went from 250 to 1000 over night...

So, now I'm working full time on a funny creature game and also my own game engine, because fuck Unity! That surely was a long, strange journey and I want to thank everyone who helped me create all of these awesome things over the last 10 years!

[anxiouslyeccentric]

Just finished my latest project, I dub it the Wii Balance Skateboard!

Had one of my 3 Wii balance boards sitting in the trunk of my car next to my skatebaords, and thought, "oh ive got an awful idea"

Sourced some trucks, bearings and jelly wheels from a local skate shop i frequent and drilled some holes, and viola! Looks awesome and rides like the worlds heaviest pennyboard!

When i brought it over to the skate shop to show the finished product, i was surprised to find a Pride parade going on, and got a ton of compliments and picture requests! My very first pride was both an accident and a very fun time! This is definitely the most physical game project ive done, most of the stuff i do involving software and data manip, but im very happy with the finished product!

I should say i certainly dont recommend doing this or attempting to ride it, it's pretty fragile and even tho i spaced the wheel as far apart across the board as i could while keeping structural integrity, even the regulars at the skate shop had a lot of trouble staying on it XD. All that said it is a very fun and flashy way to get around on a nicer road! Bonus points for waving the broken wiimote i had laying around to steer!

[worldsmessiestwriter]

That Killer instinct.

tw - swearing?

word count - 1,306

Tony stark x Daughter! reader

inspired by killer instinct from bring it on

——————————————————

Y/N Stark practically skipped through the door, her energy filling the space as she rushed into the workshop. Tony was hunched over a project, his tools scattered around him, but the second he heard her footsteps, he looked up with a grin, glad to see his daughter in one piece.

“Hey, kid. How was school today?” Tony asked, his voice light but tinged with that typical dad curiosity. He loved hearing about Y/N’s day.

Y/N bounced into the room, practically vibrating with excitement. “Dad! I did it!” she exclaimed, her eyes sparkling with pride. “I’m head cheerleader now!”

Tony paused, his tools still in hand. He sat up straighter, surprised by the announcement. “Whoa, seriously? Head cheerleader? That’s awesome! I mean, I knew you’d make something happen, but this… this is next-level. You know, I was the king of the school for a reason, kid.”

She flashed him a wide grin, obviously proud of herself. “I know, right? And it was so easy, Dad. It was like everything just fell into place.”

Tony leaned back in his chair, still smiling, but curiosity tugged at him. “Tell me everything. How’d you pull it off?”

Y/N hesitated for a split second before she casually flopped down on the couch, kicking her feet up on the coffee table. “Okay, so it started with Cameron right? She was in line to be the head cheerleader. Been working her whole life for it. But, she had that D in chemistry, and I just—well, I tweaked it. You know, a little software update here, a little school system adjustment there…”

Tony’s smile faltered as the pieces of the story began to fall into place. “Wait, you hacked the school system?”

Y/N gave him a sweet, innocent look. “Just a little thing, no harm done. Cameron had no business being captain anyway. D’s are for losers. So, I made sure she was out of the picture.”

“Y/N…” Tony began, rubbing his temple in frustration. “You can’t just mess with people’s lives like that. That’s not how you—”

She cut him off with a nonchalant wave of her hand, her voice still light and peppy. “Oh, Dad, relax. It was just a minor thing. It’s all part of the plan. Anyway, after Cameron ? I had to deal with Abbie. She thought she had it in the bag, too, but she wasn’t quite prepared for what I had up my sleeve.”

Tony’s eyebrows shot up. “What did you do to Abbie?”

Y/N’s grin widened, a playful yet almost predatory glint in her eyes. “Well, I hired this guy… you know, give her a little gift—a lovely case of mono. Totally took her out for the week, so she couldn’t even tryout. Now guess who’s the head cheerleader?”

Tony’s jaw dropped, and for a long moment, he couldn’t find the words. His daughter, the one he’d raised and hoped would take the moral high ground, had taken a shortcut straight to the top, and it wasn’t pretty.

“You didn’t—” Tony started, but Y/N was practically gleaming now, practically glowing with pride as she continued her story.

“Yeah, I did. And now, no one’s in my way. The seniors all think I’m amazing. They kiss my ass, and I’m just sixteen! I’m the girl to beat, Dad. I’m winning.” Her voice was sugary sweet, but there was an edge to it. A fierceness that matched the deadly precision of her methods. “I’m raising hell dad, I’m totally untouchable!”

Tony stared at her, trying to process the words that were coming out of her mouth. His daughter, the head cheerleader—the head cheerleader—was a mastermind of manipulation and underhanded tactics. His thoughts raced, but all he could manage was a frustrated sigh.

“Y/N, you can’t just—this isn’t some game you can play however you want,” he said, standing up from his chair, his voice low and serious now. “You’re talking about taking down people—changing their lives, getting them sick… this isn’t how you build something. You have to earn things the right way.”

Y/N crossed her arms and kicked her legs up a bit more, a little smirk tugging at the corners of her mouth. “Dad, I did earn it. I did whatever it took, just like you always say. Get to the top, or get out of the way. Don’t you always talk about how it’s a dog-eat-dog world? This is how the world works. If someone’s in my way, I just take ‘em out.”

Tony’s expression tightened. He could see how she justified it in her mind, but it wasn’t what he’d meant when he’d taught her to fight for what she wanted. This was more than ambition—this was ruthlessness.

“I know what I taught you,” Tony said quietly, stepping closer to her. “But there’s a difference between fighting for what you deserve and just cutting down anyone in your way to get what you want. You can’t just step on people to win, Y/N. You have to consider the cost of what you’re doing.”

Y/N’s smile didn’t waver, but there was a small flicker of doubt in her eyes. “Dad, you said it yourself—if you’re not first, you’re last. I don’t care about the cost. I care about being the best. And right now, I’m the best.”

Tony sighed again, rubbing his temples as he paced in front of her. “It’s not about being the best, kid. It’s about who you are when you get there. You can be the top dog all you want, but if you’re stepping on people to get there, what does that say about you? You won’t have anyone left when you’re at the top. That’s the cost. The price of all this ambition.” He gestured around, trying to make her see the bigger picture. “Do you really want to be known as the girl who would do anything—anything—to be at the top, no matter who you hurt?”

Y/N paused, chewing on her bottom lip for a moment as she glanced at her dad. She could see the concern in his eyes, the disappointment that was starting to show in his expression, and it gave her pause for just a second. But then the smile returned to her face, and she shrugged.

“I get what you’re saying, but I don’t think I’m doing anything wrong, Dad. I’m winning.” Her voice had a sharpness to it, one that didn’t match the cheerfulness in her tone. “This is how it’s done. And I’m ready to take on anything.”

Tony closed his eyes, swallowing his frustration. He knew she was clever—too clever for her own good sometimes. He just hoped she’d realize one day that there was more to success than simply being on top.

“Well, I guess we’ll see how long that lasts, huh?” he said, his voice softening. “But just remember: the way you get to the top will follow you. It’s not always about being the fastest, or the strongest… it’s about being the right kind of person.”

Y/N grinned, clearly unbothered, and shrugged once again. “I’ll keep that in mind, Dad. But right now, I’m the head cheerleader, and that’s all that matters.”

Tony’s heart sank, but he gave her a small, resigned smile. “Yeah, you sure are kid.” He turned back to his workbench, feeling both proud and disappointed in the same breath.

——————————————————

i’m on a roll with the musical songfics guys be proud to be fair i’ve been writing these over the past week im not that fast of a writer 🙏😭

[raymantogether]

Rayman Together Community Spotlight #4 - MarkedAsUnreal

Introduction:

Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc was published by Ubisoft Paris and released on February 21st, 2003, in Europe and in March 2003 worldwide. That was almost 22 years ago. Feeling old yet? Well, Ubisoft did release Rayman 3: HD in 2012, but we won't talk about that. Rayman 3 is undoubtedly a fan favorite in the series thanks to its whimsical but very risque adult humor. The game is also critically acclaimed thanks to its very fun and diverse 3D platforming and its exceptional cast of characters and enemies. Nothing has ever come close in the series to the success of Rayman 3, in my opinion. And while I wait in hope for Ubisoft to bring back Rayman to his core 3D roots, I can't help thinking, Why doesn't Ubisoft just remake Rayman 3. 

Fortunately, this is no longer an issue. For this latest Rayman Together Community Spotlight, I have the pleasure of interviewing Marked As Unreal, a Rayman fan from Poland who is working on the Rayman 3 Fan Remake on YouTube. This ground-breaking development blog focuses upon reimaging Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc using Unreal Engine 5. The development process has been fascinating to watch, and this has become undoubtedly a favorite fan project of mine. The results have been spectacular, and the game looks simply incredible. You can see the results for yourself below from these comparison shots.

(Rayman 3: Unreal Engine Fan Remake)

(Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc)

(Rayman 3: Unreal Engine Fan Remake)

(Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc)

So sit back and relax as this latest community spotlight takes you into more detail about the genius behind the Rayman 3: Fan Remake and a more personal insight into this amazing community project. 

Spotlight:

1. Please introduce yourself.

"Hi! I’m Mark. I’m a gaming enthusiast from Poland who dreams of making his own small indie title one day. To help me achieve that goal, I’m currently trying to learn game development and Unreal Engine by remaking one of my favorite games of all time, Rayman 3. I didn’t have much coding or Unreal Engine experience prior to this project, but I did work as a 3D artist for almost 4 years. The most notable project I’ve worked on as a 3D artist was “The Medium” by the Bloober team. What was really awesome about this project is that its art style is based on Zdzislaw Beksinski’s paintings, who is a painter that I am a big fan of."

2. What do you do for a living?

"For most of the year I work at a campground doing maintenance, but in the summer I work at an ice cream/waffle shop."

3. What do you enjoy doing in your spare time

"I often play games and watch various shows when I’m looking to have a chill time. There are many games which I would consider my favorites, but to name a few (besides Rayman of course), there are the old Halo games, the Dead Space series, Old School RuneScape, Subnautica, the Bioshock series, Portal 2, Undertale, from software games, or the Respawn Entertainments Jedi series. As shows are considered, I lately find myself really enjoying anime. My favorites are Vinland Saga, Attack on Titan, and Jojo’s bizarre adventure. Jujustsu Kaisen is also really sick. Regarding more active ways to spend my free time, I really love bouldering (it’s a type of rock climbing) and snowboarding."

4. What got you into the Unreal Engine project on Rayman 3?

"Learning game development by trying to recreate one of my favorite games just seemed like it could be a ton of fun (and I wasn’t wrong, because it is a blast!). And I decided to go for Unreal Engine because I really wanted to try out the new features everyone was talking about (Nanite and Lumen). The fact that many AAA companies use Unreal Engine to make their games also made it feel like a better choice than Unity."

5. Tell us about your experience on the project with Rayman 3.

"The hardest part was the start, of course. I didn’t really know Unreal Engine, so doing the simplest things was a challenge. Every step required me to go through a tutorial first. Also, I started this project with the most complex part, while still having very little programming knowledge, which was coding in the characters movement and collision. On one hand, this was maybe not the wisest thing to start with, but on the other, I wanted to start with the hardest and most important part, to know if there is even a point in trying to make this game in the first place. Otherwise, I was at risk of doing something easy for half a year just to hit an unpassable wall. But you know, the greater the challenge, the greater the satisfaction once you overcome it. So, satisfying and fun are two main words that I would use to describe my experience working on this.

What’s also an amazing feeling is to have this complete freedom and agency over the project. I can make it look however I like, I can work on whatever I feel like working at the moment, and I can work at a pace that I feel like working at. It’s an amazing luxury that’s only possible because this is a passion project.

I’d also like to mention how cool of an experience it was working on the Teensie highway part of the level. Because of how surreal and random that part is, working on it felt very fresh and different. Not to mention that it was a nice way to see how much I’ve grown since I started this project, because while coding in all the logic for the surfboard Rayman, I could see how much easier this was for me to make in comparison to the regular Rayman that I was making when starting the project. Granted, the surfboard Rayman is much simpler in terms of complexity, but still, I felt like I could see a noticeable difference in my skill level. 

Finally, I can’t leave this question without mentioning what a great laugh I had when putting in all the drunken Teensies around the Heart of the World area. I love those guys, and creating all those little stories (like the two teens fighting on a ledge) was such a fun experience."

6. How has it been for you personally revisiting Rayman 3?

"To be honest, this doesn’t really feel like I’m revisiting the game, because I replay Rayman 3 fairly often, so it kind of feels like this game is never far off."

7. Are you planning to recreate the whole game in Unreal Engine?

"I’m sorry to say that no, I am not. It’s like I said in one of my first videos: this was always meant to be a learning opportunity for me, as well as a way to get a grasp on what project scope seems realistic for one person or a small team. If I had unlimited time, then I would love to recreate the whole game, because I love working on this. But the sad reality is that I'd probably be well in my 40s before the whole game would be remade. I’d like to be younger before I start working on my own games.

I’m not yet sure where exactly I will stop, but I am going to finish the fairy council level and share it, so everyone will have a chance to play it.

I haven’t really ever mentioned, though, what my plans are for the project; once I decide, it’s time for me to move on, so let me reveal them right now. My plan is to share the whole project for anyone to download and create a Discord server that will act as a hub for the project. I will be there to assist and help anyone who would like to make something using my remake (like continue from where I left off, make their own custom levels, or even just use some parts of it to create something else entirely).

8. Has anyone at Ubisoft or within the gaming industry approached you during your time sharing your development blogs on YouTube?

"No, no one has."

9. Are you planning to do any other Rayman games or any other videogames in Unreal Engine in the future after you have finished with Rayman 3?

"After the Rayman 3 remake, I will start making my own title. I already have a pretty clear idea of what that game is going to be; however, I’m not going to share that information yet. There is a lot of work left in this project, even just for the first level, so I’m still keeping my focus on the remake."

10. You are also a fan of the Unity Engine; can you tell us why?

"I just really enjoy working in it. It’s really cool that anyone can just download this software and start creating a game. I really like how the software is structured. I feel like it's really daunting at first, but once you get the hang of it, using it just makes sense. Nowadays, I don’t really need to revisit many tutorials on how to do some things because I find the whole user experience pretty neatly organized and logical. What’s also really cool is that a lot of features are pretty cutting edge and yet still free to use (this is a bit of a double-edged sword, however, as new features are often pretty risky to use as they are not yet properly tested for production)."

11. How did you get into the Rayman series?

"My first Rayman game was Rayman 1 on the PS1. I was probably around 4 years old or something like that, so I think that it goes without saying that I didn’t beat it back then (and still haven’t, but I never really went back to try). Then, if I’m remembering correctly, I found Rayman 2 lying in a supermarket on a heap with other games and managed to convince my mom to buy it. I was probably around 6. This one I did manage to beat, but it took a long time. Some parts were really challenging back then. Also, it was really hard for me to figure out that I needed to backtrack in order to help Clark. Then I think I got Rayman 3 around the time it came out, so I was probably like around 8. So old enough to beat this one without too many issues. This is also the one that I liked the most at the time. I vividly remember how the first time I booted Rayman 3, I had this weird bug where the left key didn’t work, and I thought that maybe this was intended. I figured that since Rayman doesn’t have his hands (because Globox runs off with them), he has problems with keeping his balance, and that explains why I can't run left. Let me tell you, trying to catch that barrel without the ability to run left was pretty impossible, haha. Luckily, rebooting the game fixed the issue."

12. What is your favorite Rayman game and character?

"My favorite game is either Rayman 2 or Rayman 3, depending on my mood. Both to me have their respective strengths and weaknesses, but both are absolutely amazing. Rayman 2 is unmatched in its atmosphere and level design. Rayman 3 has really fun combat encounters, and I like the characters (design and writing) much more. And the whole Knaaren desert level is just so awesome! When I was a kid, my favorite character was straight up Rayman, but now it’s definitely the teensies. Though Globox from Rayman 3 is a close second place. Whenever I play Rayman Legends, I usually play as a teensie (but if I don’t feel like playing as a teensie, I always go for Rayomz)"

Thank you so much for being a part of my community spotlight, Marked As Unreal. It was a pleasure to read and see some of the creative processes behind the Rayman 3: Fan Remake. I look forward to seeing everything once it's complete. I wish you all the best with the development and in your future projects. 

Please don't forget to support Marked As Unreal. If you are eager to see more, I have included links to their social accounts below. Have a good weekend, Rayman fans. See you next time. 

MarkedAsUnreal Links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/marek-holubowski/

Rayman The Boardgame:

Rayman fans, don't forget Rayman: The Boardgame Kickstarter campaign ends on October 8th. There isn't much time until the end of the campaign. If you haven't already, don't forget to pledge and don't miss out on this amazing board game and some amazing bonuses. 

[regal-bones]

Me and the Sprout team are doing a lil game jam from the 10-12th of Nov, where we’re gonna make a tiny game in Godot! If you’re a game programmer familiar with Godot (or would like a low stakes project to learn it through) and you would be interested in joining, pls DM me

The unity changes made us realise that we would be far more comfortable developing Last Sprout in an open source software, so we’re moving to Godot! However, that means the project has come to a little bit of a standstill, so to get us back on our feet were doing this little jam to just make /something/. We have some vague (colourfully lgbt) ideas for next weekend, but we just wanna get something made by the end of the 3 days. If you’re interested please reach out! The sprout team is made entirely of volunteers and if you’d like to join us after the game jam working on Last Sprout, that would be awesome and more than welcomed!

Either way, I hope we can make some cool stuff together :}

[homestuckreplay]

Webcomic 'Homestuck' Canceled For Promoting Bad Password Security

(page 456-459)

8/10/2009 Wheel Spin: Parent Bad :( Verdict: INCORRECT

8/11/2009 Wheel Spin: being silly :3c Verdict: CORRECT, but behind at least 10 layers of irony

In the far future, somebody might call this update a time capsule of the 2000s. If computers change significantly, or something. page 456 comments on Dave's bro's computer being password protected, suggesting that this isn't a cultural norm - the newly-released Windows 7 still doesn't require user accounts to have a password. In Homestuck, the password is used to protect 'incredible top secret shit,' so password protecting a personal home computer might be associated with shadier online behavior.

Bro's password is six characters, and is 'the most awesome thing it can be' according to Dave and his bro, so it's probably lilcal. (It could also be puppet, but personally my passwords are always specific characters, song titles etc, not general concepts. I don't know if other people are different. for what it's worth lilcal is also a slightly more secure password than puppet which is A SINGULAR DICTIONARY WORD). Bro also trusts Dave with his password - either because he doesn't think Dave will do anything to mess up his computer, or because he's daring Dave to use it, similar to leaving the Xbox switched on mid-game.

On page 457 we see Bro's desktop, which we can compare to Dave's desktop on page 323. They both have wallpapers from And It Don't Stop, showing us a chain of game recommendations from Bro -> Dave -> John. Dave, like Rose and John, has some character in the names of his desktop folders, while his bro has seven identically named New Folders scattered around the screen. This adds to the sense that Bro is paranoid about people looking at his computer - he's purposefully making it impossible to navigate. The hidden-identity hat and dark glasses iconography on the password entry screen has the same effect.

Bro also has a program called Delirious Biznasty, which has a rad skater dude for its icon. This could be a web browser, but I think it's more likely some kind of torrenting application, I think that'd fit his vibe. The web browsers we know are Typheus, Cetus and Hephaestus, which are all Greek mythological references with cartoon-styled icons, and Delirious Biznasty doesn't fit the pattern. Based on Dave's relationship to his bro, Bro probably uses Hephaestus too and just doesn't have a desktop shortcut.

Dave and his bro both use the Complete Bullshit content aggregator, which we are forced to witness on pages 458 and 459. Content aggregators are pretty common customizable feeds that people use to keep up with a lot of websites at once, when checking 20+ separate sites a day gets too time consuming. RSS readers are a common form of this that can host a lot of different types of content, but there are also aggregators specifically for webcomics. These are controversial - they're generally well intentioned projects made for free by webcomic fans who want to check for updates easily and keep up with a lot of stories, and want to help other fans do the same. However, they can redirect traffic away from actual sites that host webcomics, meaning that independent webcomic artists might miss out on ad revenue or merch sales, or are less likely to sell ads because their sites don't look as well-trafficked as they are. I don't know if Andrew Hussie has a strong opinion on comics aggregators, but it's possible this terrible to use, unstable and unreadable version is a criticism of the concept.

Complete Bullshit also feels like Dave's bro's equivalent of Serious Business, as they're both digital programs with adjective-noun titles. I wonder if Rose's mom will get her own software.

It's sweet that Bro keeps up with Dave's projects, including Sweet Bro & Hella Jeff and his GameBro review blog. It shows that their relationship isn't 100% one sided, Bro cares for Dave and/or thinks he's cool at least a little bit. It's also fun that Dave is checking to see if his own webcomic has updated, which could be bad memory due to having a lot of projects on the go, or could be Dave checking to make sure his update has gone through and posted successfully. Very reasonable, as it must be a challenge to upload such high quality images.

I will probably make a post digging into Sweet Bro & Hella Jeff at some point, but I'm still peeling the onion of its irony right now so I'll just say: when exactly did Dave find the time to make these comics?

[thatnerddave]

Re-watching PGSM, using custom upscales

After weeks of experimentation, I’ve concluded working on a fun little side project: a full, custom upscale of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon to 1080P, 60 FPS.

Using a pretty wide array of software, often going off the beaten path and forgoing all-in-one solutions, I think I’ve come up with the best possible upscale given current technology available to “the common folk”.

Is it perfect? Of course not. Is it awesome just the same? Absolutely!

Restraint was the name of the game. I consider my upscale a “gentle” upscale, designed to preserve the look and feel of the show at a higher resolution, rather than trying to “improve” it.

You can’t improve on perfection.

So, now it’s time to rewatch PGSM; my third journey through this version of the Senshi’s story.

I can’t wait to experience it all over again.

[mooreaux]

Hi! Your art is so gorgeous!! I discovered you through the Nightmarket IF, and I've since then marvelled at your illustrations!

I wanted to ask what advice you would give to someone if they're hesitant to share their illustrations publicly and if you could recommend any software/hardware? How did you get started doing what you do?

Hi there! First off, thank you for the love :D

Working on the night market with dear Zinnia is a passion project for me and it's awesome to know people enjoy it!

As for software/hardware: I started on a wacom bamboo tablet with Paint tool SAI. That was... like fifteen years ago now haha! For the last six years I've been working on ipad pros with apple pencils and procreate for my drawing program. I really love procreate! It's super intuitive and very 'pokey' (Aka I can jab at the screen with my finger and things happen which pleases me) It's also a REALLY easy program to learn which is great for me because despite being a digital artist, I am absolutely terrible with programs and technology in general.

As for sharing.... just jump in! I know that sounds kinda crazy, but hear me out. You'll never do it if you don't do it. Even if you gotta shut your eyes and cringe as you hit the button, just start posting! I would also recommend drawing for a fandom, as that'll get more eyes on your stuff and help build a following. That's just me tho, as I'm a big ole nerd who likes a lot of fandom content hehe.

I also wanna say: interact with other people's stuff! Don't be shy, leave a reply, fill up reblog tags with comments. Make connections! I'm super shy when it comes to maintaining convos thru discord servers and groups, but I love commenting on pieces of art and comics that really jive with me. It's a two way street: you give love, and a lot of the time you get love in return. It helps humanize the whole experience and make it a bit less scary, I feel!

Good luck to you friend, I hope to see ur beautiful art cross my dash one day!

[sosadraws]

Haii, Sosaaa! Okay, so i wanna get into animation BUT I'm really new. Lucky for me I know someone who's awesome at animating (that's you btw) so I need your expertise. What program do you use, and also do you have any tips for a newbie?

Aww Jay, you flatter me~✨but before answering I must put the disclaimer that I'm just a hobbyst animator with no formal training, that during quarintine thought "Oh woah, these Multiple Animation Projects that people do in YT are so cool! I want to join them!" and started learning by herself. Take everything I say with a grain of salt.

First things first: I mainly use TV Paint. However I'm not letting you spent money on paid stuff you don't even know you'll like, so here are some free alternatives that I've used as well:

Krita is mostly a drawing program, but it also has a animation interface. The red and black parts of the Helena AMV were made with this.

Flipaclip is kinda neat phone/tablet app for when you want to animate on the go, but it can also feel more limiting since various features have to be unlocked by watching ads or getting the premuim version (in typical app fashion, I guess...)

Blender, while mainly meant for 3D animation, also has been developing Grease Pencil, that allows 2d animation in both 2D or 3D spaces. And the lines are vectors, so you can edit them after drawing them and such.

You can even use normal drawing programs. I've animated with Paint Tool Sai and Medibang by drawing all the frames, saving each frame as a image in sequence (001, 002, 003...) and putting them together in some editing program or gif maker. It's possible, but it's more work.

There's also OpenToonz, which is an open source version of the software used by Studio Ghibli in some movies?? I haven't used this one, but I'll leave it here in case you want to give it a try.

For editing (In the rare scenarios where I do fancy editing) I use After Effects. I can't personally recommend any free substitute, but as far as I've read, DaVinci Resolve seems like a good replacement.

Now, regarding actual animation advise, I won't explain the principles or terminology because:

It's very overwhelming since it's A LOT of information, specially for a beginner

I work mostly by vibes, so there are concepts I don't undertand well enough to explain to others

Instead I'll foward you this whole book that goes in detail about all that technical stuff.

That being said, at the end of the day, hand-drawn animation is drawing main poses (aka key poses) and then drawing a bunch of more drawings in between until the drawings together look like they move.

So yeah, it's a lot of work,

....but it doesn't have to be tedious work~ 👀✨

As a hobbyst I live for the philosophy of vibing during the process instead of chasing perfect results, and I'm assuming that you just want to try for funsies and not that you're trying to become a pro industry animator anyways. Here are my personal tips to make the animation process more bearable:

1- Pick something you love! Seriously, any long task becomes more bearable when it's about a theme or character you enjoy. There's a reason why most of my animations have been about HnK or Signalis,

2- SIMPLIFY THAT DESIGN! Before you even pick the pencil, I want you to really look at the design of whatever you're going to animate and ask yourself "Are all the details in this design really necessary?" Every extra detail really starts to add when you have to draw the same thing multiple times for a single second of animation. You don't need to add all the robotic details on replika bodies, or draw every single stripe a tiger has, to put an example.

3- Keep it simple! At some point you might have a cool idea of an anime style epic battle with looks of cool explosions, camera angles, awesome fighting choreograpies and whatnot; but you first have to start small or else you'll get overwhelmed and not finish anything (been there, done that). Start with something simple like a bouncing ball, or if you're feeling brave, a walk cycle or a character turning their head. In that same sense, remember the book I linked? Don't try to learn all of it at once, go one step at a time.

4-Use references! On google images there are multiples breakdowns of things like run, flight or walk cycles, for example, and you can even use youtube videos! (tip: pause the video and use "," and "." to move back and forth between frames). In case you need help with a very specific pose or movement, you can use yourself or a friend recreating the pose irl (yes, the process is very embarrasing, and yes, the results are worth it)

4- You don't have to animate/redraw everything everytime. We aren't going for Oscar winning levels of animation here anyways. It's ok to copy and paste across different frames, only animate certain parts of the body and leave the rest static, panning the camera to simulate movement... Listen, if actual standars profesionals cut corners, why can't we? We aren't even getting paid for this!

6- It's ok to suck at first. My first animation was this kitty back in 2016,

and here's this Elster from last year doing similar movements.

It's not perfect by any means, but I feel like both art and animation-wise there has been some improvement. And I guess that right now I could remake it and make it even better, but that's because I got more experience and a better eye at finding mistakes and how to solve them, and you get that with practice.

...So yeah, there's that, have fun in your animation endeavors 👍✨

[lunarsilkscreen]

A Programming Hook

Object-Oriented Programming's strength is Modularity; and just about everything coded today follows the OOP design. Except Python and JavaScript--sometimes.

So I've coined a term "Hook"; not to be confused with a fishing-line-hook, or the literary tool where you write the most interesting part of your whole story into the first sentence.

A [Hook] in this regard is a [Space for Something]{to go} like a nook or a closet. You don't know *what* might go into that nook or closet; you just know there are *things* with which are properly displayed or stored in a Nook or in a Closet.

And this is the same concept.

There's a *whole* lot of features that we'd might *wish* to add to a coding project, yet time and funding constraints, oftentimes, makes it hard to include every feature one might want.

In this vein; we add space for the features we might want to add *after* we finish all the important bits.

This is very important in [Software Engineering], because there will be a time in a project where you make it to an important feature that you cannot implement *without* having had re-written the *whole* thing.

And so, you want options available when that inevitably comes to pass.

Now. I developed this whole making [Training Simulations] in the [Air Force] and when I tell you; one day somebody asked me to do something that may have added several weeks to the development time.

They asked "How long will this take to [fix]?" To which I responded; "I'm not sure. I think I remember adding some hooks that would make this easy, and it could be done tonight. But as it wasn't a requirement *at the time* this may take 2-4 weeks to implement if I have to rework it from scratch."

To which, they were very upset with my best time "4 hours, or the end of shift, whichever comes first" or "several weeks, because that would put us behind schedule."

"I'll get back to you at the end of day Chief!"

Non-developers, Maintenance Professionals like myself *actually* who're used to every little thing being documented and not *created on the fly* were rather upset with those timelines.

And I had already been reprimanded several times based on my timeline predictions.

Which uh. Were accurate. They just weren't particularly accurate *for me* whom'st {is/was} a very well educated developer... In a sea of maintainers who have not studied the code as I have done.

My timelines were usually off at this stage *because* I was getting my understanding of how the coders (who were also rather green) and the (maintainers become coders) would be able to understand the timelines.

I have to make clear; I was, in-fact, doing *my* job to the best of my ability, and even better than *your{my supervisor's}* ability despite them being very concerned about my time estimates being [too long].

Communication isn't bad on my side... Even when I appear to be bad at communicating.

One of these days I will not be so defensive! Yet the Anti-Trans sentiment remains, so will the SALT!

Anyway; these particular [Hooks] were contextual triggers. Things that would/should be called at certain times during certain steps in the simulation.

Custom CallBack functions mostly.

And these particular callbacks were rather complex for a simple one-function call event.

Luckily for my OCD brain; I had stopped to asked the question about this exact feature they wanted to add *now* that they had been worried about adding earlier, until the customer made it a [Need to have].

I had asked the question, at that time; "What happens if *this* particular feature *becomes* a Necessary addition."

Because my [awesome predictive abilities] were spot on about what they need that particular simulation to accomplish.

Luckily I had been stumbling through various frameworks and implementations of the Squadrons Honorable Historical Developments. (Part of the job was updating and modernizing old Adobe Flash 2.0 projects) And had stumbled across a few implementations of these features *both* before it was necessary *and* after it seems to have taken a week to tack on at the end.

And that's when I started adding the concept of "Hooks" to my personal development checklist. Everytime you ask yourself; "How might this feature be used outside this implementation" or "What happens if I need to add something *somewhere* that might break Modularity" is an opportunity to add in hooks.

"Can I go back, and reuse this feature to make my job easier in the future?"

Or you know; Object-Oriented Design (And Modularity) in a nutshell.

[faziefunbear]

Hi!! I'm 15 years old, I really REALLY love Playtime with Percy,,, and seeing here that you're only 19 and it's already been the game's one year anniversary kind of inspired me. My career goal is already set on me being a horror video game designer/developer myself, with one other friend of mine working with me, and so I came here to you today to ask if you have any tips on anything!!!! Where should I start? Is there anything I should be practicing/studying while I'm still in high school? I'm currently taking arts classes, coding classes, and 3D animation and modeling classes, all to improve my skills in the things I like and might be helpful to me. Is there anything you've learned over the years that you think I should know?

Anyways, thank you for your time! If you can't answer/don't want to answer this, that's fine!! /genuine

I truly just wanted to take a shot in the dark and see what you'd say, since I'm a huge fan of your work. :]

-Lucky

Hmm... you're already doing a good thing taking classes of such - but just try something, or anything! In my early days I went into Clickteam Fusion (the coding software that PTwP is made in) knowing NOTHING, and after a few years and some lesser projects, it eventually led me to making Percy's itself! Over the course of 2 years, obviously...

But in general, you're already making good progress- I find it most helpful to ask friends around for help based around their skills/feedback/etc. so try that if you're able. My general mindset when making any project is if I like it - it'll be made, but if I'm not sure, I always ask a pal of mine for a second opinion. So don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it!

I find it awesome I inspire people like this over a silly FNaF-like project I made- and I wish you luck with your game! I'm sure it'll be awesome :)

[firebound-press]

as ive been trying to learn just basic typesetting, im soooo in awe of how beautiful the riptides one is. any tips to get started with "pretty" typesetting? (ive been working to learn how to work with LyX, an offshoot of LaTeX, but im so down to learn new software tbh)

Hmmmm. Honestly? Just jump straight into it. Fuck around and find out! If you don't think something looks good, go to other people and ask for their opinion and advice. I know that I personally send ten wip screenshots to the typesetting channel in the Renegade Bindery server when I'm working on a typesetting, and I've found that the people there are able to help a ton. Don't be afraid of critique, critique is what helps you grow as an artist. (if you want to reach out I am always happy to help critique)

Second piece of advice is to genuinely just do whatever the fuck feels fun to you. My second ever typeset was a pretty elaborate typeset of Passerine, and while looking back on it I can see that there's a lot that could be improved on, it helped me experiment with different styles and pushed the boundaries of what I was comfortable with! if you have an idea that you feel is outside of your skill set, follow it!! Try new things!!!! Even if it turns out bad you still made something awesome, and the experience helps you learn!!

As for softwares and programs, the noun project is a good place to find vectors and svg files. I also know a lot of people use a lot of different programs, but I personally use indesign just because i have access to it. But LaTeX is a very good program from what I've heard from other people! Here is a list of other typesetting software that are used, provided by the Renegade Server!

Feel free to reach out if you have any more questions :DD