#i also simplified their design quite a bit. for my sanity

[crystalleoi]

my pso2 character :) their name is *squints at smudged writing on hand* DX-C2LL/A

additional doodles underground ↓

[immortalarizona]

“Can it be that it was all so simple then, or has time rewritten every line?

If we had the chance to do it all again, tell me—would we? Could we?”

— Barbara Streisand, “The Way We Were”

the Magic Trio, the loves of my lives <3

art I did for my MCU fic Carpe Diem, a time travel fix-it set in my own alternate timeline starring none other than my favorite disasters, Wanda, Stephen, and Loki!! once my ao3 is up, I’ll link to the fic on here. more rambling about the costume designs under the cut if you’re interested :]

for Wanda, I went with a design that combines elements I liked from her WandaVision costume with the absolutely stunning Russell Dauterman 2021 comics redesign, plus a bit of my own flair (my friends know I will go feral for Wanda in a ponytail). I plan to do a whole post showcasing this design more in the near future, so stay tuned!! for her facial features, I envision my Wanda being portrayed by the Spanish Roma actress Alba Flores, because oh my word sheeeee <3

for Stephen, I went with a lot of the structure from his Multiverse of Madness design, just simplified for my sanity and with the saturation upped by quite a bit. also, I brought back the gloves, both for thematic and character reasons (I have a whole 1.5k-word character study about Stephen and his gloves that I may post here at some point, lol).

for Loki, I incorporated a lot of vaguely Norse elements because ✨ vibes ✨. (example: all the braids in hir hair, what you can see of hir belt, etc.) fun fact about the design of hir vambraces, I wanted it to echo the look of Thor’s helmet, hence the vaguely wing-looking design you can sort of see. the horn design is somewhere between Ragnarok Loki and President Loki, but I think I’ve arrived at something that works!!

edit: I was looking through one of my old sketchbooks and it turns out I was fiddling with a completely different design related to plot elements I hadn’t yet determined at the time I drew this?? sooo we’ll see if I end up keeping the vaguely Norse costume around lol.

also this isn’t related to the costume design but fun fact about that design in the background, it’s actually taken from that one art of Scarlet Witch from the Darkhold. this was not a random choice, though it would be spoilers for me to reveal why just yet :]

[mia-solastasia]

Anatase: Diamond Dog Sona [Jun 28 2015]

This piece is outdated, made for a defunct project. The information bellow is also obsolete musings.

I would like to describe to you the achievement I've made with this, and why this is. This is a lot of overthinking, by the way.

Any depiction of myself is ridiculously important to me. It doesn't matter if it's for MLP or Pokemon or my own original projects. I work hard to ensure I get the best depiction possible. Sometimes I focus too much on the negative and uglify things more than I should, so I have to try to balance that out with positive. But at the same time, I don't want to merely show in a 'sona what I want to be, but who I am. I'd honestly rather she have red eyes or some more interesting color rather than brown, and I was truly tempted to go through with it. My streak lately has been on stylizing and prettifying the bumps in my appearance. (Mostly my hair, which has gradually gotten less curly in my depiction and now depicts me with bangs I don't actually have in real life and would likely find a pain in the ass) Not just because I dislike them, but because it's sometimes necessary for my sanity in creating the art. Simplifying things like hairstyle to make it easier to draw is just as much of a concern. Not only that, but I don't want to prefer the appearance of any other character and come to prefer the too much to represent me. I tend to be extremely fickle in that regard. Something has to be pretty enough to represent me as well, and I won't accept things bellow a certain very unpredictable level of aesthetics.

So a balance must be achieved. Between depicting myself as I am physically, and depicting beauty that is easier for me to draw and something I want to attach myself to. One thing I'll probably never try to go as far as is to remove the color of my hair and eyes. These traits are recognizable, and whilst I think they're so plain and ordinary, they stand out in a sea of people trying to be special with crazy colors. Also, it matches the color scheme a lot better.

Why a Diamond Dog anyway though?

At first, I tried redrawing yet another redesign of my ponysona. I liked it at first, but then... something felt wrong. I've drawn so many ponies over the years and it just seemed... like even though I think ponies are really pretty, my appearance could not be applied to one properly to both appeal to my beauty and be semi-accurate. I struggled with a lot of thoughts of color schemes, accessories, and most of all, hair-style. Whilst I like ponies in accessories, they honestly look better with very few. However, distinguishing me requires several accessories that are red, as I was not willing to make the main body red so as not to kill my eyes.

o I went somewhere completely different. I thought about other species in Equestria that might fit me, and this was the best I could get to. A bit flimsy due to the fact that they've only been depicted in one episode as a bunch of Diamond-stealing rogues and ruffians, but the concept was sound enough. A canine-like creature with gigantic pawlike hands and a penchant for the crystalline and jewels. I have identified with canines a lot over the years and haven't quite shaken that yet, and also think they're more fitting than an equine (even an extremely stylized cartoon equine) after doing some re-thinking. And I have a penchant and flare for crystals and gems. Also, the large hands fit me as I am very VERY hand-oriented, and I could not imagine life with the hooves of a pony, to be honest. I love being a biped with hands. It seems like unicorn magic just wouldn't be the same as the sensation and fine control of a pen in my hand to do my art.

Also, Diamond Dogs wear clothes and accessories by default. Also very fitting.

Of course, I had to do some... guesswork and modification to make a Diamond Dog fit my specifications of beauty whilst keeping the design looking like it would reasonably be fitting of a female. In case you're unsatisfied with that though, she comes from a different clan of dogs than the Diamond Dogs, so some differences in their appearances make sense. (More on that later, as I said.)

And the design is symbolic of how I feel in the brony community. Just kind of like I'm a part of it, but I'm still pretty damn different from a lot of others I see. I'm not a pony at heart, and I don't feel like I'm a huge fan of the show, but I'm still here, making this art, and caring about what's going on in the community and show. The ponies keep drawing me back in, even though I'm essentially a different species, and I guess that's because there's just something about them I can't resist. It's perfect.

Overall, I have unintentionally hit a cord with this design. A very strongly resonating cord. Unlike any ponsona I've ever had or even the Valstaens I've tried to design, something about this feels... correct. It feels right.

I hit all the right marks and created something that will be easy to redraw whilst still appealing to me immensely. I think part of the reason is because this style and this particular design reminds me of one of my most played and cherished games, Final Fantasy IX. It fits its aesthetic very well.

Honestly, I'm contemplating switching my default style to a more chibi-ish style or something similar to my MLP style except with shading. I think part of the reason it resonates with me so much is because this wasn't even that hard to draw, and other than many distractions along the way, it didn't take long to complete on its own. It flowed naturally, something that hasn't happened with my attempts at my "real" art style in a while. I guess I should just consider MLP my default style. Just kind of give it up, and let it happen. I enjoy drawing in MLP-style. It's immensely appealing, and whilst it sometimes takes me a long time to imitate vector quality lines (if I get too obsessed, like I do sometimes), the way it looks is just not only really good, but it's... something I can manage without wanting to tear my head off. I think I'll stick with this. And I'll probably base my Valstaen heavily on this design. I already had a design for her before, but it's probably going to be changed now that I've let this happen.

This piece is just so beautiful to me. Not because it has the biggest amount of effort, or my best anatomy, or even my most dynamic pose. But because of how it resonates with me. I look at it, and that feels just like me. And that is not something I've managed to achieve in a long time, and not ever to quite this intensity. I can't explain it. It it just my best work because out of all my works, this one comes from my heart, and this one says what's in my heart because it wasn't a slog or a huge effort. This flowed from my fingertips so effortlessly and wasn't something I constantly revised, but something that I drew on the first try, fixed up a bit, and then went straight to coloring. That is very rare for my depictions of myself. All that sounds stupid, I realize. It doesn't have to make sense to you. All that matters is that it is, and I'm happy about that.

[gothamdetected-a]

multiverse.

i know what you’re thinking. sim are you absolutely fucking insane, don’t even TRY to tackle this one. you’re right i am insane. and yes i am still going to try and tackle a meta about DC multiverses HOWEVER, to give myself on shred of sanity on this treacherous journey, i will say that this is mainly going to be about the multiverse from a bruce perspective. this ride is a batman focused train i’m afraid. also i want to state that this is by no means a perfect explanation – i’m a) trying to keep it simple and b) still am lost on parts of the timeline myself so. its what i can offer.

ok so, originally NCP, or the national comics publication (who will one day become DC), wrote their golden age heroes on an earth now designated as earth-2. in the 30s, just before the war, comic books absolutely exploded as a media format, and a bunch of companies all jumped the gun on creating superheroes. many of DCs most endearing and recognisable heroes were created all the way back then, however many of them also are not quite who you will recognise as the character today. hal jordan wasn’t green lantern, but was instead a man called alan scott, jay garrick was the flash instead of barry allen etc etc. don’t worry though! batman is still batman, and has been bruce wayne since 1939. earth-2 batman, as he will come to be known, is a bright kind of guy found on technicolour pages with a cute lil robin by his side – there is a reason for this. the war. literally NCP said we cant be sending out dark and gritty comics to people dying in trenches so time to make it colourful and faintly ridiculous, and bruce wayne is a surprisingly optimistic guy for a man who watched his parents be slaughtered in front of him.

of course, by the 60s, NCP (who are also sort of known as NPP and really known by your average joe as superman-dc, based on their most successful comic runs) had realised their timelines were getting a bit squiggly for their golden age heroes, and most of them had been replaced out by their silver age counterparts anyway. so between 1961 and 1963, NCP start creating another “earth”, officially designated earth-1, which would become their main planet for all kinds of superhero shenanigans. the justice society of america becomes the justice league of america, and when you think of batman, you’re probably thinking of earth-1 batman. at least pre crisis. and, once they get taste for building whole new earths, we also get earth-3 (1964), or “opposite world”, where the good guys are bad guys, and batman is owlman and instead of the jla we have the crime syndicate of america.  

so sim, what other earths did dc come up with? well, i literally refuse to list them all because it was a multiverse and they did not slow down, but the ones that are most important to me are earth-5 where the only hero to live on this planet is bruce wayne/batman, and earth-89 where lois marries bruce instead of clark ahAHAHHAA. but i can tell you that pre-crisis there are 91 designated earths, and basically it could have gone on forever. there was an earth-c minus, earth-124.1, an earth where everyone was reptiles, honestly it was a MESS. and therein lies the problem.

now i’ve just used the term “pre-crisis”. what’s that, sim? maybe you’re not very familiar with comics, or with the recent dctv version of said comics, and so i will endeavour to explain one of the most brain numbing storylines that spans DC. also known as a retcon. see all these earths with their own histories and heroes and well everything really was becoming very inconvenient and meant a lot of world jumping and who can interact with who and everything was getting like spaghetti because they couldn’t calm down on the earth-building. so DC (who are officially DC at this point, 1977 babeyy), specifically a guy called marv wolfman (coolest name ever) who was sick of so many earths, comes up with the bright idea that will later form into a comic run called crisis on infinite earths (1985-1986). it was a serious crossover event, really considered by many to be the first of its kind. it sold extremely well, boosting dc’s flagging sales against it’s biggest rival, marvel. and as for the plot, it’s a bit convoluted but essentially some bloke turns up and starts to destroy all these worlds, and it becomes a race between the heroes and villains as to who can save/conquer the remaining earths that are left. although there are crises before and after this specific run, pre-crisis basically always refers to this particular crisis event, as it really shaped DC for the next 30 years.

for a while the retcon does an okay job of keeping the number of earths low. there’s still some earths that are considered non-continuous floating around, but mainly there’s just earth-1, which is now a merger of the most important “earths” that existed pre-crisis, and a way for all of DCs heroes to now be in one place and interact with each other. other earths at this point include;

earth-23 (1986) – a small pocket dimension

earth-17 (1990) – we don’t talk about this. honestly spare yourself and. don’t look. its horrific.

earth-27 (1990) – a historically divergent planet with a hero actually called vegetable man.

earth-85 (1987) – a hodgepodge of post-crisis characters live here, chillin

earth-988 (1990) – superboy is the only hero in this universe

the antimatter universe – all of pre-crisis’ earth-3 villains, including owlman, get shoved here for later use when dc need a couple of villains to come back.

and for a while all is well. then comes DC elseworlds (1989). which. you know. i love. it gave me victorian batman. pirate batman. caveman batman. vampire batman. frankenstein batman. terrorist batman fighting against russian!superman. they even gave me marvel crossovers, with captain america meeting batman. it was a glorious time. technically elseworlds is not considered canon, ran outside of canon as a way for writers to explore those wacky kind of worlds lost to the crisis, which is dumb because some of the plot lines are both hilarious and incredible. but the numbers started to get ridiculous again. most elseworlds are named after the year that the plot takes place in, so we get earth-1889, earth-1938 etc, but even more of them just seem to have random designations. i think by the time they reached earth-5050 they sort of knew that theyd fucked up again. we’ve had zero hour, we’ve got hypertime and kingdom come, and besides, its been a while since they had a good crossover, so by the time 2005 rolls around its time for crisis pt 2 (because dc love to use the word crisis for crossovers) or as it’s officially known infinite crisis. infinite crisis has an even more confusing plot involving a bunch of slightly nuts versions of characters escaping a pocket dimension, earths being created and then merged, and a rogue ai which batman made and then has to destroy because his own creation becomes too powerful etc etc. the only good thing to come out of it was earth-0, or bizarro world, because bizarro & batzarro are my babies. don’t worry though, this new set of earths won’t last long either, as in 2008 DC conclude their trilogy of crises with final crisis that featured one of the most important events in batman’s history – darkseid “killing” him. yes the quotations are important. i’ll leave you to infer what they mean.

so 3 crises later and everything is still just as messy as they’ve ever been and there’s 60 years worth of comic history being tangled about, and marvel had already established a very successful reboot in 2000, and anything marvel do, we can do better, so DC do their first, full and proper reboot. unlike retcons before it, which is where they retroactively try to fix what people already know and simplify timelines & earths, this is like someone shaking the etch-a-sketch and starting fresh. back in infinite crisis an arbitrary number was assigned to how many “earths” there could be – 52. and so in 2011, DC go hey that’s neat and create what becomes known as the new- or nu-52. heroes are given shiny new backstories, everything is streamlined and wonderful, sales rise, DC has a clean slate to build off again.

ha.

yeah that doesn’t happen.

this reboot, also known as flashpoint, due to it being spawned from another big ol’ crossover of the same name, shows barry allen trapped in an alternate universe where everything is not quite right – his mother is alive, superman is nowhere to be found and he doesn’t have his powers. worst of all thomas wayne is batman. yeah, batman’s dad is batman. thanks DC, i hate it. reverse-flash has tried to change history and stop the jla from ever being formed – le gasp. barry goes to fix it, merges three universes together – earth-0, which isn’t a bizarro world but now the “main" earth, also called new earth or prime earth (DC), earth-13 (vertigo) and earth-50 (wildstorm), but also causes 10 years to be “lost” to these characters. there are now 52 brand spanking new earths, each sitting in their own universe as part of the multiverse. no one remembers anything except barry. even for a reboot and convergence of DC’s franchises, it’s messy as fuck. and it goes to shit very very quickly. people don’t really like n-52. DC have cancelled everything, certain characters such as cassandra cain-wayne are fucking ERASED from existence, no one likes the new costume designs, its an absolute shit show and the plots get very confusing very quickly.

so what do DC do?

they reboot again. sigh.

only 5 years after the mess of nu-52, they produce DC rebirth, a new relaunch of all their famous runs. brainiac does some magic and collects a bunch of worlds together and magically we’re all going to forget the last 5 years of comic hell. it is a reboot to retcon flashpoint as though that never happened. yes, DC are actually retconning their own reboots. talk about sweeping it under the carpet. technically “rebirth” only ran for a year as a promotional thing for the reboot, before joining with the larger, now-singular DC universe, however everyone still calls it rebirth because if we don’t give these things names it will get even more fucking confusing than it already is. rebirth also still has 52 universes making up the DC multiverse, just to make things even more simple and easy to understand (DC what is it with 52. why 52.) although lots of the earths in this multiverse have been re-designated – eg. pre-crisis earth-31 was home to an aged batman who fakes his death to go train a bunch of new vigilantes (the dark knight returns), and now 31 is an apocalyptic wasteland or some shite. a lot of these earths were re-designated during the flashpoint/nu-52 era, and even though rebirth was supposed to erase that, DC have decided never mind we’ll keep it. there’s also 7 mysteriously undesignated earths – ooh spooky, they definitely won’t feature in the next major crossover. also for a multiverse with 52 universes, they sure do have more than 52 : there’s the microverse, a bunch of universes collectively called “the sphere of the gods” where apokalips and like, literal heaven & hell exist, an innerverse???, dreamworld, limbo, DC are taking the piss they only said there were 52 earths but that means they can make as many other shitty dimensions and pocket-universes as they please apparently. don’t even get me started on the source wall. for the most part the writers just. don’t acknowledge this and stick to the main prime earth. for the most part. thanks for throwing thomas wayne as batman back into the mix, rebirth.

so that’s the last of it, right sim? eh, almost. it should have been the last of it, really. and then geoff johns couldn't keep his mouth shut and produced possibly the worst comic in recent history, if not ever, doomsday clock. now doomsday clock is a nightmare for an impossibly long list of reasons that i won’t get into here because this isn’t a rant about why i think doomsday clock is the worst thing to ever happen to dc (although that’s a catchy title i should use that some day) - no, the reason i bring up doomsday clock is because. oh my god even saying this makes me sad. doomsday clock proves that the pre-crisis universes still exist and are still out there. somewhere. canonically. sim why is that sad i thought you liked everything pre-52. it’s sad because it means at any point now, DC could bring them back, ruin their own legacy, make everything even more confusing than it already is. i love pre-52 stuff but you gotta leave it alone. currently doomsday clock has only established that these universes exist as a way to honour every era of superman, because DC didn’t want to completly erase some of the incredible work and storylines put into him as a character. fine, fair enough. but it does leave the possibility that they will try and return to them too. comic book writers love doing funky story lines like that. they think they need to write something that’s never been done before and instead of coming up with something actually unique, they just poke around in the multiverse WHICH IS HOW WE ENDED UP WITH THIS AS A PROBLEM IN THE FIRST PLACE.

ahem.

hopefully this helped clarify some stuff for people, especially those folks who aren’t big comic fans/expereience dc through the DCEU or DCTV, when encountering rpers who say they base their characterisation off of, for example pre-n52/flashpoint comics, like myself.

oh, and thank you for coming to my ted sim talk.

[deitiesofduat]

I was wondering if u can do a bunch of random facts/headcannons for the main cast?

Oh man, I mean, I’m happy to try, but I’m not sure where to start for the entire cast of 10… well, now 11 gods. I know have some that are scattered around the blog’s tags, and also in places other than tumblr, but It’ll take me a bit to find them or think of new ones without revealing spoilers, hmm…

So here’s what I’ll try that’s similar to the 1 Like 1 Fact meme I did on twitter a while ago: for every note this post receives, I’ll add a DEITIES-related headcanon or fact about the main cast. The main cast includes Set, Horus, Anubis, Osiris, Isis, Nephthys, Bastet, Sekhmet, Thoth, Ra, and nowwwww Sobek – and maybe the Set Spawn and the big bad serpent too, if relevant. You can add a note by +liking this post, and if you’re interested in learning about a particular deity, you can mention their name in a comment (and it’s not necessary to reblog this, unless you want to!).

This should help give me a bit more focus and time to think of some decent non-spoiler headcanons/facts to share. I’ll come back to this post in a few hours and add any many as I can, depending on the amount of notes it receives, and I’ll bump and place them under the cut for easy access. So yeah, go for it /o/!!

[1] Been playing with a headcanon where Horus’s Eye can see an object’s or person’s weak spots – though only for like, a moment once it’s activated, cuz I’ve wanted to avoid him being OP (but then again… he’s a literal god… so >>)

Also a related-headcanon where he can see a person���s past injuries thru his Eye too, including the hidden ones that have long-ago healed and left no visible scar. I’d like to draw the ones he “sees” on others one day if I keep it…

[2] Set is the only one of his siblings that doesn’t have an avian sacred animal, and for a while I wanted to keep it that way and literally keep him “grounded” compared to his family (sans Anubis). But I found that he’s sometimes also associated with crows (and falcons??? interestingly enough), and even though I haven’t found solid evidence of this yet, I also like the idea of him being associated with bats even before I read about it in Kane Chronicles I swear– So those 2-3 animals are probably some alternate animal form that he has but just rarely takes.

[3] Actually while I’m at it– aside from the Sha Animal, here’s a list of 30-ish animals that I keep as Set’s canon forms in DEITIES verse (based on a combination of historical speculation, recorded myths, and personal headcanons), and would love to eventually draw him as one day:

Aardvark, African Wild Ass (and Donkey), Giant Anteater, Baboon, Bat, Boar/Pig, Bull, Camel, Crocodile, Crow/Raven, Dog (some sort of sighthound?), Fennec Fox, Fish (Eel?), Gazelle/Antelope, Giraffe, Goat, Goose, Hare/Rabbit, Hippopotamus, [Spotted] Hyena, Jackal, Jerboa, Okapi, Oryx, Panther, Rat, Scorpion, Shark, Snake (Viper), and Zebra/Quagga.

[4] RELATEDLY… I REALLY REALLY like the idea of Set somehow acquiring a Thylacine form even tho it’s in no realistic way in the current timeline because thylacines weren’t native to Africa let alone Egypt. BUT… I JUST… THEY REMIND ME OF SHA ANIMALS SO MUCH o)——–

[5] When I was considering the color schemes for the main cast, I once briefly envisioned a purple/violet scheme for Nephthys, but decided to scrap it because (1) I wanted her colors to contrast with her sister’s and match a bit more with her husband’s and son’s and (2) I found that purple was nigh impossible to find in AE wall art and admittedly worried “maybe it won’t look authentic if I use those colors;;;”

Even though I’m happy with her orange/black/red scheme now, I’ve recently found that purple is a common association / kemetic UPG (or doxa?) with her?? SO THAT WAS INTERESTING… I don’t think I’ll change her color scheme for DEITIES, but maybe I’ll draw her in an alternate purple outfit one day to see how it looks on her >>

[6] One of the reasons why I like Horus, Anubis, and Bastet as their own casual friend group in DEITIES verse is that, because they’re all relatively young gods, they all share the experience/pressure of being measured up against their older royal relatives – Horus being seen as both his father and mother’s legacy and feeling the pressure to restore his family’s throne; Anubis being know for his infamous father, and even having his paternity questioned (via rumors and “myths”); and Bastet being the youngest of Ra’s daughter, sometimes being compared to her sister’s roles and achievements.

They’re all really good at masking any pressure they feel, but they also probably confide in each other about it more than with others, cuz they’ve all “been there.”

[7] Relatedly, one of the earliest version of DEITIES Project, before it was known as “Deities Project,” had Horus, Anubis, and Bastet as the main trio. That’s been changed “for reasons” since then, and their characters were quite different back then, but it might be fun to explore a story that focused on the 3 of them someday.

[8] Okay ya’ll know the part during The Contendings where Horus and Set are racing in stone boats and Horus “wins” by painting his wooden boat to look like stone? I have ideas for how that entire race happens in DEITIES verse that would be fun to explore as a side story, but in order for me to give Horus a “legit” way to win without outright cheating, he covers his boat with stone casing/accents, and after he wins and is confronted about it… well…

HORUS: “The rules we agreed on were to sail a boat made with stone. They said nothing about it needing to be made entirely out of stone.”SET: “…”HORUS: “ :)c ”SET: “…” *Internally raging*

[9] I’ve headcanon’d that Nephthys has her own set of ~7 Shabti who act as her personal assistants while she’s conducting her nightly duties, or working around her home, but I haven’t decided much more past that (still debating on how she acquired them, and if she more-than-likely named them…).

The concept and number were loosely based on how many of the other goddesses had their own sets of 7 as extensions of their power and/or control (7 Ribbons of Hathor, 7 Arrows of Sekhmet, Isis’s 7 Scorpions), and I thought it’d be neat if the Goddess of Service had her own Shabti that exemplified that part of her domain.

[10] Thoth is an avid lover of puzzles, trivia, and strategy games, and he’s also exceptionally skilled at games of chance. He doesn’t gamble or make bets often because he understands the risks, but when he does he tries to be calculative about it… and also has a natural knack for luck going his way (EX: That one game of senet that he won to help assist Nut with having her children… which is another story for another day)

[11] Ummmmm Isis is the only one of the main cast who I haven’t drawn a ref of her sacred animal form yet… or at least, not digitally. Her animal is the kite, but I’ve been debating on a while for what species to base her design on. I like the idea of her kite form looking like the Black-winged Kite, although those species aren’t native to Egypt… but some are native to Africa… and they’re so fricken pretty and they fit her colors so well so I might cave on this ffffffffffff–

[12] While we’re on the subject of sacred animals (and to help me get somewhat closer to the note count lmao I’m trying guys–), Horus’s falcon form is based on both the Peregrine falcon and the Lanner falcon, with more simplified markings for my own sanity when I draw him in dozens of panels.

At one point, I considered making his falcon form leucistic to contrast more with Anubis and Set, buuuuuut I also liked the brown colors on the falcons’ normal coloration, so I kept it. (That and more leucistic birds of prey are hawks, so… maybe for Khonsu tho if I don’t change him to an owl, hmmmm…)

[13] Okay continuing thoughts on animal forms, Bastet is able to shift her cat form into nearly any coloration or breed she desires (aside from her eyes, which remain green), but for the purposes of DEITIES I draw her as a brown cat with light gradation markings. I knew of the Egyptian Mau but also realized the spots would take a lot of effort to redraw in the panels where she appears as a cat (much like the spots on falcons for Horus). I also personally really like solid-colored coats on cats, and in particular I liked the coloration of the Havana Brown, so it may be a little less authentic but it did factor into her colors as well.

[14] I'm still debating on Sekhmet's main hairstyle and want to play with it a bit more -- not the arrangement per se but whether to keep it as locks or to make them more obvious twists -- or perhaps a combination -- since I can see her with both style at certain points in time. Either way, at full length Sekhmet's hair is very long: if she were to loosen her tie and let it fall, her longest locks would reach past her hips.

[15] I initially gave Set yellow eyes because even though he's often depicted with red eyes, I didn't want to over saturate his design with just... well, red -- especially in his animal form where his entire body is covered in red fur (red eyes + red sclera would have been, a lot). I like how his yellow eyes provide some contrast, and I've since found some story-related reasons where his eyes might play some role in the plot… but anything further might be spoilery 8')c

[16] It took me a while to settle on Osiris's "resurrected" skin tone because there were a lot of sources that describe his skin as being green, or blue, or black in coloration. I even tried them out in an earlier color test that I shared on patreon, but I eventually went with black since the color has had various meanings in Ancient Egypt that include both life and death. (It also gave me some opportunity to give green skin to Ptah and blue skin to Hapi to help vary the designs for each of those gods).

[17] Relatedly, Osiris's mortal form is a naturally dark skin tone, but following this death he can no longer appear in that form. He is also unable to travel to the overworld / realm of the living, though I'm still debating on how restrictive this is (if it's limited to his physical body or if he can split his soul under special circumstances, or with assistance). Regardless, most of his correspondence with other deities have to be arranged within Duat for this reason.

[18] I haven't made any plans to designate a spouse or romantic partner for Ra. I understand that there were a number of goddesses that were associated with him in the myths and often said to be his wife, but for that reason it was hard to settle on choosing one -- or multiple, and I realized that for the purpose of the main story it might not be necessary. I also kinda like exploring the idea of this high king and powerful creator deity who's also a happily single father, and where it's not for tragic reasons like the separation from or death of his spouse (not to knock that trope at all tho sdjfdsf). I'm not opposed to him being shipped with anyone though, I just don't think I've been inclined to do it myself lmAO;;

[19] RELATEDLY, while Ra's daughters (Sekhmet, Mafdet, Hathor, Serqet, Bastet) don't have a biological mother, I like to think that they were raised in an environment with a lot of parental figures and mentors to go around, aside from just their father. I haven't quite settled on how it was organized though, but I know that the daughters regard Thoth as something of an uncle/secondary dad (tho their dynamic with Thoth is can vary a lot from the one the have with Ra), as well as their teacher and mentor. I can also see where other gods like Khnum, Khepri, and Bes, and goddesses like Neith, Seshat, Taweret, Ma'at, and Mut, might also have played some direct mentor role in the daughters' upbringing and sense of self.

[20] (squick + implied nsfw) I uh… have this minor gag headcanon where Horus, Isis, and Osiris just don't eat fish. They just… don't. And it's entirely based on that one part of the myths after Osiris's death, where a certain part of Osiris's desecrated body ended up in the river and was swallowed by a fish 8')c (should be noted that I'm not saying that event did happened in DEITIES canon, but I'm also not disputing it either >>).

Apparently that was considered a bad omen, and I still find conflicting information on whether consumption of fish was taboo for some or all in Ancient Egypt (I think "for some" makes better sense, cuz why would an entire society that resides near the Nile river pass up on a perfectly available food source?? But I digress, I might need to review this again so take my thoughts with a grain of salt--). I also admit that I've seen it mentioned that fish are not ideal food offerings for Isis and Osiris?? and I can imagine that maybe Horus adopts the distaste for them as well. Either way, I go with the DEITIES canon that while most people and deities happily consume fish, Horus and his parents will not, and they don't enjoy it as offerings either.

I’MMMMMM gonna end it here for now cuz my headcanons have run dry for the time being, thank you guys!!

[jamesbyerj]

Project Spotlight: iEquip

[b]Today we are talking to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/34063535?tab=user+files]dunc001[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/1892037?tab=user+files]MrNeverLost[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/5687342?tab=user+files]Fudgyduff[/url], the team behind [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/27008]iEquip[/url] - a very clever equipment management overhaul for [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/97177]Skyrim[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/27008]Skyrim Special Edition[/url].[/b]   [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/27008][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1565793261-453370779.jpeg[/img]  [/url] [b]BigBizkit: To start this off, why don’t you tell us a bit about yourself and your modding journey thus far?[/b] Dunc001: Hi, my name is Dunc (short for Duncan), I am 46 years old, Scottish, a husband, father, company director, and I have absolutely no formal programming training! Other than hacking Windows Mobile phone games back in the day to increase gold levels, Skyrim is the first and only game I have any experience modding. Until I made the switch from console I had no idea the PC modding scene even existed, and my mind was blown by the amount of content available. I ditched the XBox, switched to PC, and spent the next two years building ever more ridiculous load orders (I think I peaked at over 1600 mods at one point) and learning the ins and outs of the Creation Kit and xEdit. Fudgyduff: Hi, my name's Ryan and I go by Fudgyduff on the Nexus. I got invested in the modding scene when I started working on the Special Edition port of [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/21085]QuickLoot[/url]. It's easily been the most challenging thing I've ever worked on as both a modder and a programmer. For some background, I went to college to learn how to program, primarily in C++, and SKSE plugin development has helped cement the theory I learned in my classes, as well as teach me a lot about the languages I never knew before. MrNeverlost: Well, first off thanks for having me! My name is NeverLost, and I am a 22-year-old Norwegian university student. Few if any know me on the Nexus, as I have participated in exactly zero modding projects before. Probably for the best, as I am quite the clumsy guy :) (And Dunc can surely attest to that). As for my modding journey, it probably started with Oblivion which I initially played on the PS3. I went a bit overboard with modding it initially, and it was not until the release of Skyrim that I tried my hand at making mods myself.  I started with some simple xEdit patches, then moved on to the Creation Kit, and finally last year I tried my hand at papyrus scripting (Skyrim scripts). Later, I reached out to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/13953925?tab=user+files]Kojak747[/url] who at the time was asking for help with realizing LODs (Far distance objects) for the [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/24587]Dev Aveza[/url] airship mod. He mentioned a guy to me called Dunc who he said could need some help with iEquip - and the rest is history!   [b]To those who are unfamiliar with your work, how would you describe the kind of mods you make?[/b] Dunc001: I make what we would call “quality of life” mods, UI mods (obviously), and control mods. Fudgyduff: I tend to make SKSE plugins. MrNeverlost: I try to make mods that I need or want in my own game (In which my character is still level 2). I made [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/26122]Slick Sneaking[/url] because I wanted a way to play a sneaky character in my own game. I made branch animations for [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/97215]Vurt's bent pines[/url] mod because he asked me to, and I figured a massive tree without moving branches is scandalous. I made the missing amethyst claw for [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/1394?tab=logs]John's Dragon Claws[/url] because I needed the complete package. And finally, I contributed to iEquip because I had the chance to - and let's not forget it's a kickass mod! [center][img width=500,height=254]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1565793509-1486566526.jpeg[/img] [img width=500,height=254]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1565794127-1045864852.jpeg[/img][/center]  [b]Your recent mod that drew a lot of attention is [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/27008]iEquip[/url] - a mod that completely overhauls the way you manage your equipment in Skyrim and Skyrim Special Edition. How would you describe iEquip and what are its core features?[/b] Dunc001: iEquip is intended as a way to move as much of the Inventory Menu equipment management as possible into the game HUD to cut down on the amount of stop/start/pause in gameplay. It allows you to cycle through left and right-hand items, shouts, powers, ammo, potions, consumables and poisons, and to apply poisons or recharge enchantments, all without leaving the game. It also has a wide range of advanced features designed to quickly equip something suitable for any given situation you might find yourself in, such as needing to quickly grab a ranged weapon or a shield/ward, or a light source, or a healing potion/spell, and so on.   [b]Is there a particular feature of iEquip that you are most proud of?[/b] Dunc001: The things I am most proud of, and which took the longest to realise, are elements which most users probably won't pay much attention to! Things like the Edit Mode selected item highlighting, the Queue Management Menus, the Preselect Mode animations and the custom colours in the Edit Mode colour picker took more time than most of the gameplay features! There is so much of it that I am really happy with, but I guess my favourite single feature would have to be the poisoning system. I hope it makes poisoning a more viable gameplay option because with mods like Complete Alchemy & Cooking Overhaul, Smithing Oils and Tactless Toxins there are some really fun poisons out there that don't get nearly enough love because of the clunky vanilla poisoning system. MrNeverLost: Most people probably won't notice it, but because the iEquip MCM is so large (we even broke some scripting limits), we had to figure out a new way to split the backend into smaller, more manageable pieces. So we did just that, and it turned out to help tremendously with keeping the ever-growing amount of options under control. It helps me keep my sanity, which is probably the best thing I can ask for!   [b]What was the inspiration for iEquip and what made you want to create it?[/b] MrNeverlost: Dunc is probably better equipped to answer this than me, but personally I joined the project because I wanted to see a proper UI/Equipment mod released. One that can circumvent the problems that many other mods face dealing with Skyrim's many many quirks. Dunc001: I have played a lot of mobile games with HUD inventory quick slots and action controls and I love that quick, unpaused access. SkyUI was the first mod I installed, and not long after I discovered [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/72238/?]Souls Quick Menu[/url]. Whilst I loved the idea of it, it just never worked perfectly for me and I wasn't that happy with the layout. I dabbled with a couple of bits of free software and managed to tweak it slightly, but realised that I was going to have to build my own mod if I wanted new functionality.   I reached out to the Souls Quick Menu authors and they very kindly provided me with the original files, including the flash source, and I used that as the original inspiration (although it has all long since gone in the numerous rewrites). The other big source of motivation and energy to keep going with iEquip has come from my son who has provided constant encouragement, testing, and feature suggestions. [center][img width=900,height=480]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1565859165-480972382.jpeg[/img][/center] [b]Another impressive mod of yours that works well together with iEquip is [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/27007]Gamepad Plus Plus[/url]. Can you give us an overview of what it does and talk a bit about the development process of both mods?[/b] Dunc001: The original version of Gamepad++ was actually the first mod I published. It was designed to give gamepad players access to more hotkeys so they didn't have to rely on playing with both the gamepad and keyboard. It works by having the player set keyboard keys as mod hotkeys in all their other mod MCMs, then using SKSE's TapKey function to emulate those keyboard keypresses when actually pressing gamepad button combos.  When I later started working on iEquip I had it planned from the outset to have all the iEquip controls available to gamepad players by utilising single/double/triple press, hold and combos. As this was obviously going to have an impact on Gamepad++, I realised that mod would also have to be completely rewritten to avoid conflicts, and that then allowed us to build in integration between the two mods so that the controls didn't overlap or risk triggering unwanted actions.  The real genius behind the key handler code in both mods is MrNeverLost. The iEquip key handling code is so complex and he has done a brilliant job of making it all work seamlessly.  That made it very easy to simplify and transpose into the new version of Gamepad++ along with the new blocking code which each mod uses to avoid conflicting with each other. [b]What kind of mods do you like to use in your own game and which mods would you say work well together with your own?[/b] Fudgyduff: I'm a big fan of third-person gameplay, so I like 360 animations, head-tracking, and player voice sets. Unfortunately, a consequence of making mods for the game is that I don't spend a lot of time actually playing it, so I couldn't tell you what goes well with my mods. MrNeverLost: I like to use a lot of gameplay overhauls like Ordinator and Apocalypse that spice the game up a bit. For graphic mods, I use a mix of what I find on the nexus and edits/fixes that I make myself. Dunc001: Well first off, iEquip is designed to work with pretty much everything and has built-in provision for many of the more popular mods out there which add content that iEquip may end up displaying and handling. We have also included a very easy to use patch framework which allows users to identify mod-added items and spells so they adopt specific icons and behaviour as required.   As far as my game goes I am absolutely useless at combat so I am much more interested in exploration and discovery as a result, so my big vice is quest/dungeon/new lands mods.  I love cities, towns and villages overhauls as well: so mods like [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/27816?tab=posts]Kojak's new Enhanced Solitude[/url] are mana from heaven for me. And I love a good companion, so I am really looking forward to getting to know [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/20035]Lucien[/url] and see the interactions with [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/1461]Inigo[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/11278]Auri[/url] on my next playthrough. [center][img width=450,height=300]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1565861524-1304717958.jpeg[/img] [img width=450,height=300]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1565861522-856716496.jpeg[/img][/center] [b]What sort of mod from other creators do you find the most awe-inspiring? Are there any mods out there you find to be particularly impressive? [/b] Fudgyduff: [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/82725]Customizable UI Replacer[/url] is a mod that really blew me away when it came out. I'm a terrible artist so I'm jealous of people who can make nice looking UI mods. MrNeverLost: Rather than the mods themselves, I find the creators inspiring. I've always looked up to the [url=http://skse.silverlock.org/]SKSE[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/12604?tab=posts]SkyUI[/url] team for the amount of work they've put into their respective projects. Especially considering that their mods have pretty much become the backbone of every Skyrim mod list out there. It's really amazing that a mod can have such a big impact on a community. Other creators I really like are [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/4995023?tab=user+files]Nukem[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/2025634?tab=user+files]Aers[/url], and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/5687342?tab=user+files]Ryan[/url]. They've all brought so much to the "modding table", and I am very grateful that they've decided to spend their time making modding Skyrim so much better. Finally, my friends [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/13953925?tab=user+files]Kojak[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/6960827?tab=user+files]Elsopa[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/34063535?tab=user+files]Dunc[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/43673957?tab=about+me]Looland[/url] always bring a laugh to the table when It's needed. Dunc001: It goes without saying that the SKSE and SkyUI teams deserve huge respect, but I am also constantly amazed by the work that people like [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/5687342?tab=user+files]Ryan[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/2148728?tab=user+files]powerofthree[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/9663214?tab=user+files]DavidJCobb[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/2025634?tab=user+files]aers[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/4995023?tab=user+files]Nukem[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/2964753]meh321[/url] have and continue to produce. The level of knowledge and skill they have just blows my mind. I also find it incredible what some authors are able to achieve without the use of SKSE, in particular, mods like [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/26627]Spellsiphon[/url] which released recently.   And finally the content creators: those who spend their lives in the Creation Kit imagineering new lands and locations for the rest of us to enjoy. The huge modding teams are incredible and some of the upcoming content looks absolutely amazing, but I have to take my hat off to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/1819137?tab=user+files]razorkid[/url] - what he has managed to achieve largely on his own in [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/3008?tab=files]Beyond Reach[/url] is simply staggering. [b]Are there any other games you like to mod? What are some other games you play regularly - if any?[/b] Dunc001: I never have much time for playing, all my game time for the past two years has gone into building iEquip! I downloaded Kingdom Come Deliverance the day it came out and have yet to launch it, similarly about two years ago I installed Oblivion and Morrowind but I haven't opened them yet either!  MrNeverLost: I really like the game Rimworld, and mod it infrequently. It's neat taking a break from Skyrim and looking at what the other modding communities out there are doing. Other than that, I just play whatever interesting RPG I can find. Fudgyduff: I've tried modding other games, and you may come across some of my mods for them, but there's no other game on the market with the same community and modability that surrounds Bethesda games. When I try modding other games I always get frustrated that I can't do this or that, but when I mod Bethesda games using xSE, the only roadblocks I can't overcome are self-imposed ones. C++ is a very powerful language and I can leverage it to make mods that would be impossible in other games, or even in this game using native modding tools like Papyrus or the Creation Kit. Recently I've been playing Tales of Berseria. I really like games with a good story and this one has amazing writing with really good voice acting.   [b]Do you have other hobbies outside of modding and gaming?[/b] Dunc001: Being outdoors - I'm a mountain man at heart and I find something magical about being out in nature, particularly landscapes with scale (probably one of the reasons I like Skyrim so much as it reminds me of Scotland!).  When I can I like to get out on the mountain bike, and my wife and daughter have horses which are a huge part of our life and take up most weekends competing all over the country. I'm also a light aircraft pilot and although I haven't flown for a couple of years now I'm hoping to get some hours in again soon. Fudgyduff: Programming is my hobby, so I really enjoy making mods for this game since they present interesting challenges that I get to solve using my reverse engineering/programming experience. It's a really nice hobby to have because when you finish coding something, you can compile it and get immediate results telling you whether it works or not. MrNeverLost: I wish! I used to go mountain trekking before, something I want to start doing again in the future. Maybe when The Elder Scrolls 6 comes out? But for now, I am pretty occupied with uni, work and modding though :).   [center][img width=980,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1565794140-1258403250.jpeg[/img][/center] [b]Last but not least: is there anything you would like to say to our community?[/b] Fudgyduff: Don't be scared to try SKSE plugin development. If you've never done reverse engineering before, it can be very confusing to open up SKSE's solution and see 100's of class definitions with no comments on how to use them or what anything means, but I'm glad I tried it and didn't give up on learning how to do it. I've made some efforts to write some tutorials and wrappers for using SKSE's interfaces, and while I won't write your plugin for you, I'm willing to at least give some guidance on what to do - also, I like new challenges, so I might be interested in partnering up with other people to make cool new mods. MrNeverLost: To all aspiring modders out there that struggle with motivation: take everything as a learning experience. Everybody gets discouraged from time to time, but there is no such thing as lost time. Sometimes I stop and wonder if I am wasting my time when modding, but I always feel better when I know I've learnt something new, or made something someone else will enjoy. Enjoy the small accomplishments, and don't focus too hard on the setbacks - that's the way to go in my opinion. Dunc001: You're all awesome!  I have had so much help and support with iEquip and Gamepad++. I've asked endless questions and begged endless favours, and every single one of you I have reached out to has been so friendly and willing to help. iEquip really is a community mod, so many people have had input (directly or indirectly) and so much of it wouldn't have been possible or as polished as it is without that help.  Together great things can be achieved. So if you are just starting out on your modding journey and are wondering whether or not you can do it, yes you can. And we're all here to help you. [line] A big thank you to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/34063535]dunc001[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/5687342?tab=user+files]Fudgyduff[/url], and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/1892037?tab=user+files]MrNeverLost[/url] for taking the time to respond to our questions. As always, if there are any mod authors or mod projects you'd like to hear about, don't hesitate to send a message to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975]Pickysaurus[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597]BigBizkit[/url]. Published first at Project Spotlight: iEquip

[topicprinter]

This is Day 7 of a 10 Day series on building N-ter, a place where you can manage your job applications online, from idea to launch. You can find the previous posts here:Day 0 - Let's Build an Online Startup in 10 DaysDay 1 - Creating a Value Proposition for Our IdeaDay 2 - Refining the Business Model and Naming the BabyDay 3 - Designing the Product Using a Method from the Lean StartupDay 4 - Establishing Our WebsiteDay 5 - Creating Our First WebpagesDay 6 - Developing Our First User Story Today you can expect quite a short post with an update on development progress and a couple of tips and resources for creating and managing database connections with your website. If you're not interested in the technical details of the journey, today is a good day to skip. :)  Hey guys,today was quite a busy day, especially because a few issues came up in the code implementation, that took me quite a while to solve. I’m going to talk about it a bit in this post. Treat the post today as more of a short progress update than an extensive overview. I will still provide some resources to accompany what I am doing at the moment, though. Let’s Have a Look at Where We Need Custom CodeI’ve mentioned at the start of this series that I am going to try to keep the required code for our solution at a minimum. As I gave up on trying to utilize the Contact Form 7 plugin for creating an input form for the user, the scope we need custom code for expanded a little. We can say that now we need to create custom code for all interactions concerning data for and from the database, starting from the page to the database and the way back. This means the custom code is required for the following activities (I’ve provided a link with code examples for every one of them so you can look up how it can be done):Creating a HTML form to get user input (Good example, only read steps 1 and 2, as the database connection works differently in WordPress!)Sanitizing and preparing user input for the database (WordPress Codex)Storing user input in the database (WordPress Codex)Retrieving data from the database (WordPress Codex)Displaying data from the database on the page (Here’s a good code example)Sending data between two webpages (this works best with the HTTP POST Method, explained here) I’m writing the code for all five parts above in only three files, which are all located in our child-themes folder: the functions.php file, the template file for our application dashboard and the template file for our application editing page. Direct interactions with the database work a bit differently in WordPress than in “pure” PHP. Many functions are already prepared to be used, which simplifies the entire process quite a bit. There is a global class called WPDB which you can use anywhere to directly interact with the database. This class is thoroughly explained in the WordPress Codex links for storing and retrieving data from the database above. Another thing I need to mention: We should add SQL to the list of languages that you should have a basic understanding of. SQL is used for interaction with and manipulation of databases like MySQL. The language itself is quite simple once you understand how it works. Here is a good tutorial on SQL. The Troubles of Trying to be a CoderIf you get into coding yourself, you will see that sometimes there’s that one small tiny thing in the code that you did wrong or just forgot about. Subsequently, that little thing drives you crazy because you can’t find it and your code, which should be working, just doesn’t work. And then you can’t figure out why. And after a while you start questioning everything including your own sanity. I’m sure this problem is not exclusively reserved to newbies like me and the experienced coders around here can relate to this problem as well. Often, it’s a thing as tiny as a missing semicolon. For me this small little thing today was the database table prefix. I spent 3 hours today (we’re on a tight schedule!! :D) trying to figure out why the code wouldn’t work that I just created to get data from our database. I double and triple checked the code, rewrote everything from the ground up, tried to make the code as lean as possible and so on. Nothing would work, I just kept on getting a generic error that something was wrong with my SQL statement. I discovered my mistake when I tried pulling data from another WordPress table with the same code and it worked! But with our custom table, it still didn’t! That’s when I realized the problem must be with the table. And yes, it was. Or at least with the way I handled the table. The WordPress database tables have a prefix (standard is “wp_”) that you can change during WordPress installation. When accessing standard WordPress tables with code, that prefix doesn’t need to be added. But if you’re working with a custom table, you need to add it by putting the following code in front of the table name: ‘$wpdb->prefix’. There goes three hours of my day just because I forgot to add that damn prefix. If you’re getting into code, be prepared for minor stuff like this to throw you off your schedule! But there we go, problem solved. We can continue. Achievements for TodayOverall, I was mainly working on the database connection today, as mentioned in the first paragraph of this post. Users can now create new job applications along with supporting data, that all gets stored in the database. Also, they can now display all their applications on the application dashboard. There is also a functionality which allows to edit specific application records by clicking on a button on the application dashboard. A click takes the user to the application editing page, where all the data is already pre-filled in the form and can be edited. Once the user is done editing an application record and saves is, he is automatically taken back to the application dashboard.This results in the following user story board for today.As you can see, three more user stories are in the “developed” bucket today. They still have to be refined and thoroughly tested though, which we are going to do at the end. I am planning to touch on testing on Day 9 of this series. Day 7 SummaryThere’s not that much to summarize today. Keep working on making your user stories reality! 😊 And tomorrow, we are going to keep doing exactly that! Meanwhile, feel free to sign up for the email-newsletter and I’ll let you know when the new posts go online! Edit: added links