#dev is so extra

[mooncello]

What a fun Sunday so far. ⚡ thank you for the tags @bookish-bogwitch (LOVE seeing some of your writing process), @shrekgogurt (still haven't recovered from ch 13 of ikabikam in the best way possible), @emeryhall (happy anniversary!) & @you-remind-me-of-the-babe (anguished Baz is such a vibe fr).

For today's update:

Enter Niall & Dev.

Truly one of the most unexpected delights of writing this fic has been the insistence of Niall and Dev to show up and take a prominent role in the story. I adore them. I adore them as individual characters, and I love who they are for Baz.

Here's a little from chapter 2 of lost boys. This chapter will publish next week! I'm traveling this week, so I'll post once I'm back.

Under the cut because of length. It's a 30+ sentence Sunday, y'all.

Baz POV, 16 yo, year 12 (school).

Towards the end of lunch, I hear a familiar booming laugh across the canteen. I figure I have two minutes until impact. I tuck my sketchbook and pencils away and twist the lid back onto my thermos of tea. “Just a head’s up,” I say to Niall, who is still contently working away, “we’re about to be interrupted by the demon of chaos hims—” “Bazza!” There’s the solid thump of a hand against my shoulder and the dramatic collapse of tall, muscular limbs into the seat beside me. “My favourite nerd. How’s it going, cuz?” Dev flashes his white, perfect teeth at me before snatching my remaining bourbon biscuit. His fingernails are painted turquoise today, his dark hair is swept away from his face, and he’s wearing eyeliner. The bastard looks amazing. Despite being cousins, we never really hung out as kids. Always kept to different social circles. Which is to say Dev constantly had a roving pack of friends, and I had nobody (save for the lost boys in my dreams). But when I got outed this past spring, Dev decided to take a more active presence in my life. He even convinced me to join the football team with him. He’s charismatic and popular in his own way, and so unabashedly and loudly himself that even the nastiest bullies don’t bother him. It's been nice, having Dev in my life. Even though it means I now deal with his chaotic, abrasive personality all the goddamn time. “Dev, this is Niall.” I make a small sweeping motion to the boy across from us. Dev raises his chin in greeting. “New kid. Hey.” Niall smiles faintly. He looks rather disoriented. Possibly awestruck. I don’t blame him. Dev tends to have that effect on people. I’m almost envious of it. Another smack hits my upper arm. “Did’ya hear about practice this afternoon? Thirty minutes later than usual.” “Yes, I received the same team-wide notification, Dev, thank you.” Dev is now peering at Niall’s drawing tablet without shame, while continuing to talk to me. “A bunch of us are getting ice cream after the match on Friday. Wanna join?” “That’s a very solid maybe,” I tell him in a tone that communicates I’d rather eat grass laced with slug poison. I like playing on the pitch, but I’m not about to huff dairy with a bunch of footballer lads. “Great.” Dev stands, all six feet of him, and squeezes my top knot. I sigh and bat his hand away. Clearly I need to have another conversation with him about acceptable physical contact. “See you at practice then. Nice meeting you, Niall.” He’s off in a swirl of flair and overpriced body spray. “Sorry about him,” I murmur to Niall. I really hope he’s not scared off.

hellos & tags! xoxo

@thewholelemon, @best--dress, @facewithoutheart, @cutestkilla, @whatevertheweather, @artsyunderstudy, @ivelovedhimthroughworse, @fatalfangirl, @youarenevertooold, @raenestee, @orange-peony, @ileadacharmedlife, @nightimedreamersworld, @rimeswithpurple, @iamamythologicalcreature, @shemakesmeforget & @arthurkko (your merwolves ... still thinking about your merwolves)

[virsancte]

(♪)

[the-pale-3lf]

as much as I love Durge/Astarion and all of the content we get specific to the two of them, I wish Larian had leaned more into Durge/Shadowheart because their stories work so well in parallel: they both have amnesia, work for/with a dark power, and can choose to either accept that darkness or resist it

I feel like Larian could’ve pushed their relationship, even if not romantic, way more simply because of their shared similarities, but afaik, there isn’t even a mention between Durge and Shart about their respective amnesias, despite that being such a unifying and bonding feature between them, not to mention the pull they both feel towards a darkness that’s hidden by that very same memory loss

I was never interested in Shadowheart until I started a Durge run and found out exactly how similar the two of them are, and it makes for such a compelling story, especially if they either enable each other towards darkness or encourage each other towards lightness

[hallowxiu]

i love obey me, but i'm going to be very honest, i do find it extremely annoying that they lock leveling up cards behind joker cards, that are kinda hard to get. like... bffr

[noisytenant]

i dont really play Sex Video Games very often, so i have a relatively limited list of experiences. that being said, i'm a dabbler. why not.

the very first one i ever played was a game jam demo really focused on allowing the player to have positive consensual sexual encounters that they could pause or stop at any time. i thought this was sweet but kind of unremarkable, because it seems intuitive that in a video game meant for the player's sexual gratification, the player should have ultimate control. not that they can make the developer tell a story they didn't write--this isn't a live encounter after all, there's technical limitations--but they ought to be able to enjoy the game at their own pace and, if the scenario is making them more upset than horny, back away at any time. i think the easiest way to accomplish this is being able to be sent back to the point before the encounter/pre-encounter autosave, but in some cases it would be interesting and very do-able to stop the scene diegetically.

anyways, I have not yet seen a single pornographic video game with this feature since that first one

[asleepinawell]

one of the biggest things I've gotten out of this replay of dark souls 1 is that not being able to warp between bonfires in early game and only being able to warp between a few specific ones later is one of the game mechanics that really helped define the mood and atmosphere of the game for me. yes i absolutely complain about this when I'm stuck somewhere, but the feeling of being this tiny person lost and a million miles from home and cut off from the safety of firelink shrine is so vital to the game

being near the start of tomb of giants and wanting to go back for something but knowing I'd have to go through a chunk of the catacombs again made me feel like just a little guy stuck in the dark with monstrous enemies and that is exactly the feeling that makes me love the game

i want to be a nobody stranded and alone in the land of ancient gods who don't want me there. the fact I'm a pawn being set up to relink the fire and perpetuate this dying age, fated to never have my name remembered, is the point to me. I'm walking through someone else's story and have so little control over my path and that's perfect

[devicecontact]

Was looking for the clip of hakita saying the doors closing is apart of the lore! now we know about hell being alive n such it’s just fun to look at old clips :)

[reel-fear]

Hey if anyone wants to check out Moving Pictures Redrawn [a fan-made remake of the first chapter of BATIM that Mike n Meatly may have ordered to be taken down? It's unsure at the moment] Guess who downloaded a copy before they did that~

[hinsaa-paramo-dharma]

I just watched Luv Kush: the warrior twins and MY LOVE FOR THIS MOVIE WENT OFF THE CHARTS WHEN I HEARD RAM JI'S VOICE

[vvitchering]

Gale hate feels especially rancid to me because it’s always people dragging him for being “annoying” or “weird”. He talks too much, he gets caught up in tangents and spirals, he over or under reacts, etc. All the things I found relatable and comfortingly familiar about him are the things that people hate :’)

[ffxivtribehydrae]

Idea...

With The Rising and its Letter Forest, wouldn't it be fun if we all wrote letters to the devs and had someone who is scheduled to visit Fanfest London deliver them all in person?

I happen to be scheduled for a Fanfest London visit

Please reblog so I know just how wide spread the opinion is ♡

[virsancte]

i compiled a little before and after for the gen 4 characters from their high school designs & current for my own eyes, but might as well post them now that i'm back 2 legacy storytelling ik some of them aren't that familiar, i was going to play with them more in gen 3 but unfortunately my pc could not handle all my mods AND hsy so i ended up quickly abandoning a lot of ideas ;') i have some screenshots though, might post someday top to bottom: ellie (she/her), sola (they/them), dev (devin, he/him), averie (she/her), clementine (she/they)

[amiryllisthorn]

The new design for Cpl. Adehide Ly'sarii(Ah-de-he-de Lie-sa-ree)

The next thing we will be working on is probably some backgrounds and UI

[mizzical]

i miss you teruko i miss drawing you i miss you i miss you i miss you i miss you love love...

[windor-truffle]

Wallbridge hhhhhhhh... for as much as the dungeon itself sucks it's probably one of my favorite parts of the main story, i have many feelings about it...

i know it's the fucking point but god the juxtaposition of how Richard acts before and after Wallbridge just breaks my heart 😭 (though i love his gay ass poses lmao work it bitch). Richard is fun as an antagonist very angsty and all but I'm REALLY gonna miss having him in the party because I, like Asbel, actually like Richard as a person. He's perceptive and clever and caring, he's emotionally wounded but trying to make the best of a horrifying situation, and he is genuinely grateful and kind to his friends for supporting him here. The writers managed to make him a likeable character quite quickly considering he doesn't spend that long in the party.

If I were to change anything about the writing around this part, I might actually try to highlight Richard's resentment pre-Lambda too? I know I just said how much I love his kindness but part of the reason why he falls is because he and Lambda fed off of each other's negative feelings, which he admits to at the end of the game and seems still haunted by in L&L. As the story is, with the intentional whiplash between considerate and ruthless, Richard's post-game guilt can almost seem like he's blaming himself too much and that Lambda was the real problem (granted he is like 90 percent of the problem). It wouldn't hurt to have Richard's tone carry a little more anger and hurt when speaking about his uncle prior to Lambda's interference (as he speaks in canon it tends to be more somber than resentful) in order to explain why Richard was particularly susceptible to Lambda's influence. I think Richard can be altruistic on the wide scale while holding a spiteful grudge against those who have wronged him personally, that's actually quite human. But maybe I'm just saying this because I'm an angst magnet 😅 also this could be something that was lost in the localization, I haven't checked the japanese footage yet.

Moving on...

RIP Pascal's EXP 😅 I just want to know why Malik was carrying a sea bream??? Also I love Asbel's blunt courtesy: "This resounding defeat was brought to you by your former student."

also forgot to mention this extremely missable skit, you have to go back behind Duke Dalen's manor after the cutscene. Once again Pascal being the one to interfere with the shippy vibes, but this one is definitely more homophobic 😅 they weren't even talking about anything inherently romantic, Pascal just saw two guys having a close conversation and decided it was too icky -_-. (I'm blaming the writers though not her character). It seems like this was set up to be a "Pascal comedically misunderstands a thing because she's so quirky lol!!!" moment. Isn't she just so silly for thinking that intimacy between men is inappropriate, romantic or not? 😜

sorry i arranged these pictures to be deliberately misleading, the skit happens long before this scene, but I feel the need to continuously dunk on sulky Asbel 😂 I enjoy exploiting his flaws, i feel like Asbel has a bit of a rep for being a one-note do-gooder who believes in the good in everyone no matter what but he actually loses faith in himself quite easily, I mean look at this:

I literally don't have time to unpack all of that bc I've been at this for hours and I have to go to work soon but bro. BRO. you've got some issues here that read as potentially homoerotic and codependent my friend

[megafreeman]

Shapeshifter Games Winds Up Clockwork Revolution

We’re happy to announce that the newly formed Shapeshifter Games—formed of ex-Volition developers—is working with us to help bring Clockwork Revolution to life. [...] Shapeshifter Games Studio Head, Matt Madigan added “The talented and experienced team that joined Shapeshifter has hit the ground running. We’ve had a lot of support from former Volitionites, and are truly grateful to inXile and Microsoft for the opportunity to assist with the development of a great new IP.”

[SOURCE]