#i hope silksong is gonna have one

[cluescorner]

Started crying over the Batman Beyond Animated Movie concept art. I am so normal.

[tonythr]

Sometimes you are so sad you turn into a game construct, and that's ok

Part of the reason I love Hollow Knight is that you never know when a certain phenomenon is a part of the game's actual lore or simply a gameplay convenience, but most of the time it's up to you to decide anyway. Like, yeah, I know that looking too much into what should be just a game mechanic and/or a simple animation effect makes you more of a clown than a lore master, but, honestly, at this point the entire fandom wears rainbow wigs and squeaky red noses in order to forget about the pain of no Silksong, so no one has the right to stop me from having fun with some observations I made and how they might be intentional lore pieces. So yeah, what I'm trying to say is that this theory might be a bit of a stretch, but I think it's neat, so I'm gonna post it anyway.

Now, here's the question: what do you think these two have in common?

Both are very sad because they lost someone who was close to them.

2. Both give the Knight a Mask Shard when they die.

My theory here is that these two things are connected.

Now, Mask Shards are weird, lore-wise. The locations where they are found don't always... make much sense. Like ok, aside from the two that I mentioned above, we have ones that are found on top of ancient black statues — this implies that those shards are connected to (and probably were made by) the Ancient Civilisation.

We also have some shards that we get from various NPCs (Sly, Bretta, Seer) — those also make sense, since there's nothing wrong with those weird bugs possessing some ancient artifacts. But then we have Mask Shards that just kinda... float there.

No ancient pedestals. No reason to suggest someone actually owned them. No reason for them to be there aside from the game wanting to reward the player for something.

This is also true for some of the Vessel Fragments.

Although the fountain one is exceptional. The fragment is actually a part of the Pale King's statue, but it detaches once the needed amount of geo is reached. It looks like this statue actually 'gives' it to the Knight once it puts enough geo in the fountain. It could be something that has to do with PK's magic, or with the whole 'sacrifice' theme that's going on with him. Anyway, it's not hard to come up with an explanation for how that one works. What is more interesting is how these shards and fragments are created.

Because apparently this mf can just materialize them out of thin air.

Now, I KNOW this is probably just a nice animation to emphasize how cool of an award a mask shard is, but it also wouldn't be much of a stretch to say that what happens here is Grubfather actually manipulating Soul to create this shard for the Knight. I mean, Grubs do possess some sort of 'holy strength' that was never properly explained to us (that's why I'm hoping to see some grubs in Silksong), and one of the two charms created from their power is something that straight-up gives the Knight extra Soul. If we don't count the Shaman charms, which were used only to extract and use Soul more efficiently, the only other charm that does that is Kingsoul, the embodiment of the union between two Pale Beings. So yeah, the Grubs are totally OP, and Grubfather probably does create a Mask Shard out of Soul here.

Which only proves the fact that both Mask Shards and Vessel Fragments are made out of Soul. I mean, come on, the Knight literally consumes them just like it consumes each of the spells and the Soul of its enemies, AND it takes Soul to restore broken masks. I think it's safe to assume that those ancient masks that the Knight is using to strengthen its shell are made out of Soul, or at least some material that is heavily tied to Soul in some way.

Another fact is that those masks and vessels have big connections to the Ancient Civilisation. Aside from the obvious things like the fragment/shard statues that I mentioned earlier having clear similarities to the Soul totems, there's this whole thing with the engravings on those masks and vessels having a bunch of connections with magical secrets of the Ancient Civilisation...

What I'm getting at here is that the bugs of the Ancient Civilisation probably knew the secrets of manipulating Soul and used those secrets to create masks (for protection) and Soul Vessels (for containing Soul), as well as Soul Totems. It means there is a way a Mask can be created out of Soul, aside from what we see the Knight do when it heals (which is an interesting process, btw - when a mask breaks, the Knight can restore it using Soul, but it can't create new masks to have infinite HP, so the masks it collects must have unique properties that prevent them from being completely destroyed and instead allow them to be recovered after breaking). And maybe that process was already shown to us.

Ok, now I'm actually talking about my theory again. See, the reason I think there's more to these two moments than just a simple reward being given to us by the game is because there's some overlapping philosophical (symbolical?) motifs that connect Brooding Mawlek and Grey Mourner AND possibly give us a glimpse into the secrets of Soul discovered by the Ancient Civilisation. I'm talking about what Soul itself might represent as a sorta metaphysical concept (I don't know how to say that properly... Just bear with me pls).

In the world of Hollow Knight, there are many philosophical concepts that give depth to the nature of various in-world phenomenons. For example, the Void is heavily tied to regrets, perhaps dark memories that keep us from moving forward. That's why it makes sense that, ultimately, Pale King faced his demise at the hands of the Void - he sacrificed thousands of his own children in order to save Hallownest and failed anyway, so there is no way he could avoid (pun intended) being overwhelmed by his regrets about this whole thing.

The Soul is the power that contrasts the Void.

It's implied by Jiji that, when the Knight leaves behind its Shade, it starts to drain *hope* from it.

This line was probably left there to explain this game mechanic:

When the Knight dies, it can no longer fill its Soul meter to the full, until it finds and defeats its Shade. This implies that Soul represents *hope* in contrast to the Void representing regrets.

If we accept this assumption, we can see that it makes sense how:

The White Palace is shown as a beautiful, calm, hopeful place despite it being filled with thorns and sawblades (that might or might not be a metaphor for the PK's pain of trying to hide his mistakes and regrets).

The shamans' dying thoughts are often their last hopes of being free, being heard etc.

The Soul is literally what gives the bugs' bodies the energy to move.

I feel soulless when I wake up at 7 a.m.

All things considered, it's easy to see how Soul is something that might represent such things as hope, motivation, faith - all those feelings that make a person feel whole.

And when the fate forces someone into situations where those things are lost, their inner self breaks. When something separates us from our loved ones for a whole eternity, leaving us as lonely, empty shells of our former selves, our soul hardens.

We already know that masks in this game directly correspond to the person's self, their ability to define themselves as who they are. A mask is literally the core of the person's mind.

And when a person breaks, when their hope becomes eternal sadness, when the essence that animates their body becomes a solid rock, their mind shatters, leaving only a single shard of what should have been a whole mask.

Perhaps, something like that also happened to the bugs of the Ancient Civilisation? Or maybe they found a way to control that sadness, just like they found a way to manipulate the power of regrets? They look like a bunch of cool goth bugs, so I wouldn't be surprised if that was their thing.

TL;DR: ancient masks that the Knight uses are made out of Soul, and Soul is a power that represents hope. When a person experiences a feeling of strong loneliness and hopelessness, their mind literally breaks, and their Soul literally hardens, resulting in the creation of Mask Shards. The bugs of the Ancient Civilisation might have known this.

Kinda edgy.

I like it.

[cloudyswritings]

Silksong Speculation

just some things I think might happen in silksong.

I think we’ll almost certainly be getting multiple endings, and I hope that we’ll get at least one that’s somewhat similar to embrace the void that has Hornet ascending

Sherma is gonna die, I’ve just got this deep gut feeling about it.

We’ll see the being behind the curse on Pharloom(obviously) but I actually have the feeling that it’ll be one of two things. Either it’ll be a tarantula higher being(with the silk haunting the kingdom being it’s shed hairs) or it’ll be something else entirely that’s using the silk from the captive weavers to make some sort of giant spell. That last idea is mostly based on the uses we see for silk in hollow knight

We’ll be getting the fishing mini game. I do genuinely think this is a possibility because team Cherry must know about that meme by now and it’s be exactly like them to do that.

I really hope we get an NPC based on mossbag, like he’d be this kingdoms version of mister mushroom

I know it’s by far the most unlikely thing on this list but I really hope we learn a bit more about wyrms

The final battle is gonna have a killer ass background which overlooks the entirety of the map from height.

I think Hornet is gonna get the chance to spare Lace after their last fight.

Actually kinda on that topic but I feel like silksong is going to feel a lot more like darksouls than even hollow knight did because of Hornet actually being able to speak to other beings and having her own dialogue options.

I wonder if the huntress knows the hunter?

[incorrectsmashbrosquotes]

Reactions to Nintendo Direct

Pikmin 4

Olimar: Ah, I wish I were there. It has been quite some time since I’ve had a good treasure hunt and catalogued the creatures of PNF-404. Maybe I should dust off the spacesuit and take a trip?

Samus: Weren’t you kidnapped by some crazy goo monster that wanted to be your mom?

Olimar: Inevitabilities of the experience, it’s all things you have to live with when you’re an explorer.

Samus: Amen to that.

Splatoon 3 DLC - Inkopolis

Callie: Woohoo, Inkopolis Pla-za!

Marie: It has been a while since we’ve been back there. I honestly thought Jelonzo was dead.

Callie: And Sheldon had kids. I don’t know what to feel about that but the excitement of everything else is leaking into that opinion.

Marie: I think it’s a Tom Nook situation. I don’t think Sheldon would ever kiss another woman, let alone have kids.

Splatoon 3 DLC - Side Order

Callie: …

Marie: …

Callie: … Is that what happens when lesbians get divorced? Inkopolis gets zapped into a hell dimension?

Marie: … I don’t know. But something tells me we’re going to have to invite those two to group therapy now.

Kirby’s Return to Dreamland - Magolor

King Dedede: Serves that egghead right. All of us had to go through at least one alternate universe to start being good people, and he ain’t gonna be an exception.

Kirby: I hope he wins. I like Magolor, even if he betrayed us and tried to conquer the universe.

Bandana Waddle Dee: That and Merry Magoland is a boon to the local economy. Plus he technically already won. If he were to lose, that would cause a time paradox in our universes timeline that would resonate-

Metroid Prime Remastered

Samus: Finally, Metroid Prime fou- wait. This is the first one. Well, I said I would dress up as a clown if I lost. May as well go catch my next bounty as one.

Tears of the Kingdom

Samus: Well at least you got a release date finally. And the game looks gre- hey, where are you going?

Link: Didn’t you see me drive that car thing? That means I’m going to be making vehicles, and if that happens, I need to go and get forklift certified. For the sake of Hyrule.

Samus: I completely understand.

And finally, Silksong

Luigi: Oh yeah, Silksong!

There is no Silksong.

Luigi breaks down into tears.

[thebirddoctorguy]

Hollow Knight, or the lack thereof

So I got to thinking of Hollow Knight earlier and I decided to make a post about it. I'm not really sure where this is gonna go but I guess we'll see.

Major spoilers for late game content after the cut.

Now, some of this info will probably be incorrect, as *some* of it is from my memory of the lore. I will try to quote lore texts and dialogue when I can.

Within the game you find the Pale King, from him we get the quote,

"No cost too great.

No mind to think.

No will to break.

No voice to cry suffering.

Born of God and Void.

You shall seal the blinding light that plagues their dreams.

You are the Vessel.

You are the Hollow Knight."

I'm assuming this is him talking to The Hollow Knight when they were younger, as we see them in the birthplace cutscene. In the end we learn that The Hollow Knight couldn't have been perfectly "hollow" as they were meant to be. This is simply because they didn't perfectly contain The Radiance, because the infection continued to spread.

Somehow, The Pale King had to have considered that something could happen to The Hollow Knight, considering that they were locked inside the black egg temple. The dreamers themselves are interesting to me. From the resting grounds lore tablet,

"To protect the Vessel, the Dreamers lay sleeping.

Monomon the Teacher In her Archive, surrounded by fog and mist.

Lurien the Watcher In his Spire, looking over the city.

Herrah the Beast In her Den, amidst the deep darkness beyond the kingdom.

Through their devotion, Hallownest lasts eternal."

Each dreamer seemingly has a title, indicating they were something/ someone special.

Monomon the Teacher. Who did she teach? Presumably she taught Quirrel.

Lurien the Watcher. What was he watching from his spire above the city of tears. Why was he defended so heavily by his "Watcher Knights"? A lore tablet in watchers spire even contains his last words,

"Sleep beckons eternal and these words become my last. Though my gaze shall no longer fall upon this city, I will act forever in its protection. For King, for bug, for Hallownest, I head now to my rest."

Why was this "watcher" so important?

Lastly, but certainly not least, is Herrah the Beast. Herrah is Hornets mother, which is interesting for a few reasons. First, how long have the dreamers been asleep, considering the state of hallownest, I'd assume a long time. How old could Hornet be? Perhaps this is a question we will get answered in Silksong. Second, who could be Hornet's father? It could be whatever is in that weird thing inside the beasts den. I truly hope that some of these questions are answered if/when Silksong comes out.

Now, back to The Hollow Knight themself. One thing ingame that really shows that they aren't perfect is the existence of The Pure Vessel. A perfect version of The Hollow Knight that has been created by the godseekers. Perhaps this is actually just what The Hollow Knight would be if the Radiance was never trapped in their mind.

Throughout the fight with Hollow Knight there are bits where they stab themselves in the chest repeatedly. I'd like to think this is The Hollow Knight trying to help the player to finish them off.

One reason The Hollow Knight isn't perfectly hollow is their relationship with the Pale King. When The Pale King decided that the vessel was the one to contain the Radiance, he began to raise the small vessel, creating a bond with it.

I think I'm done writing this for now. I may reblog it to add some thoughts later.

[hollypies]

Hello Hollow Knight and Silksong community. Gonna be a bit more of a serious post so listen up please.

So. I've noticed a certain trend of comments since hmm.. last year maybe, of a lot of ppl discouraging other people when it comes to being excited about Silksong in June.

The main argument being that if you post or comment about being excited for Silksong, or even just saying you want to play it soon, you're somehow rushing the developers. I'm not even gonna touch the 'coping/copiem' comments, but we gotta stop this.

I'm all for giving the devs as much time as they need, and it seems they've used their time well and are still working diligently. I dont think they'd let Xbox announce Silksong if it wasn't in a ready enough state to be out in June, seriously. They know what they're doing, and I'm sure they're excited to release the game too!

But just because someone states their excitement or hope about a game coming out doesn't mean they're rushing the devs, and definitely doesn't mean you should "call out" their behavior. Seriously, we're better than this. We don't need to be mocking people for being hopeful about a game coming out.

I know I have absolutely no authority in the Hollow knight Fandom but if even one person listens than that's enough. I've seen so so many ppl in comments or threads get out down for being excited about Silksong. It's even happened to me a few times. It's getting ridiculous.

The Hollow Knight community is one of the least toxic spaces I've ever been in, and it's really sad seeing people behave like this. Makes it hard to want to talk about a game im looking forward to playing when others actively try to push down release date speculation or hope.

That's all I have to say, honestly. I'm just really disappointed in you all. Feel free to reblog and add onto this

[tboom10]

warning. eyestrain. if you're on max brightness and its 3 am proceed with causion. same if you hate a random dude on tumblr ramble for way to long. this includes more text then i care to admit.

icons of some hollow knight silksong characters except i really, and i mean really went overboard with special effects and other random stuff that mildly fits their character (and even that is somewhat questionable) to add as much eyestrain as i physically can and looks not bad. also i wanted to make more icons, but i lost interest and i really just wanna post something after no new art for like 2-3 weeks. also i used those custom pattens brushes to much and it shows.

this whole thing was me just wanting to draw trobbio once more and i thought 'why not an icon even though you've replaced your pfp not even a month', so i did. im not even gonna use it as a pfp, im just leaving it here and then i did the same for seth. and i spiraled from there.

trobbio is the only one without those outlines and it rally bothers me, but due to how i layered i cant fix it. it is what it is. also it makes it more flashy, and if someone here has a flashy icon its him.

seth's one is the least eyestrain one. but i like the darker tones, so im keeping it this way. honestly, might make it my pfp for a while. its probably my favorite one. yep, i peaked at the second one.

i was looking at references for sherma and saw someone drew him with those pink flowers and it was to cute not to steal. i forgot who made it, but just so you know: the flowers weren't my original idea.

this is my first lace icon. i dont really like it, so i made 2 for her. the only reason im posting it is cuz i've watd to much time on it.

and her's the second one. this one kinda mirrors hornet's icon. why? well good question dear viewer (or whatever you call someone who actually reads this (which if you do, thank you, i dont type these for nothing)). its because i can. also i still dont love how the second one came out. i guess not everyone can draw every character. partly due to her needle? sword? thing she fight with still has lines about as straight as i am, and likely she is as well. this is the one with the clearest use of a shape brush.

i hope hornets needle doesn't look thrown in, cuz thats exactly what i did. it was to kinda mirror lace's battle weapon and its kinda silvery and lace's is gold, and ok, you get it now. honestly, hornets one is one of my more favorites, even though the star brush is to obvious.

shakra's icon is ok. honestly, probably the least remarkable one. i dont really have anything interesting to add. ok 1 thing mildly interesting. i think this one took th longest to make the character for. thats about it really. and like lace, i can barely draw her. also why and how did i get worse at using star brushes? they weren't as obvious on the first few and on the last 3 it was clear as day. it is what it is i suppose.

also, before anyone asks, if you really, and i mean really somehow wanna use them, go ahead, credit is appriciated, though not needed. just dont say you made them alright. or do. idk why you wanna claim these are yours though, but i lack the ability to care, nor come after you irl. but please dont do it, its kind of an asshole move imo. if you still do, i guess i cant stop you, though if you steal art im just gonna assume you're kind of a prick to be around. also i still have enough material to make a part 2 (like carmlita and forg daughter). but im busy making other stuff rn.

[flame-shadow]

Gonna ask three questions, if that's cool (the furst geing vert predictable, sorry): which Queen from Bug Fables is your favorite (including Hector because of course)? What Character from Silksong looks most interesting to you (let's not include Lace 'cause I'm pretty sure she's most popular)? And this one's a tad random, but what are some Star Wars Characters you really like? I'm not that into the series but if I'm not mistaken you kinda are, and I don't know, it coukd be fun to hear.

More questions is totally cool haha

If we're including kings, then Hoaxe is my fave ;P But excluding usurpers, Vanessa and Elizant tie. Vanessa since she's a wasp (personal bias) and Elizant because she's got a cool mask.

I have been avoiding Silksong stuff, so I am deliberately ignorant of who has been revealed so far. I hope Lace is an interesting character, because right now I don't like her for oversaturating artwork when we don't even have the game yet or know her as a character.

Ooooh boooyyyy. Ehehe, so, General Grievous and Obiwan Kenobi are the two I like best. I'm a prequels kid, so I am very fond of that era and those characters. The Clone Wars microseries from 2003 and having the Episode 3 visual dictionary (idk if that's the actual term but that's what i remember it being called?) are what hyped me up so much for Greivous. He was ruthless in the microseries, and I have been a little disappointed with his less competent depictions ever since because it felt like he got watered down so favored characters could survive encounters with him (which, I get but I don't have to like). And the books I read which had him in it were always so good. Obiwan is a pretty classic fave character for folks, and I am among them. He's just a neat character! We watch/read him go through arcs and struggle and stuff, and he's likeable which also helps. And honestly, it's fun to see what situations he gets put in where you know he has to survive because he's in one of the later movies, but you're still left wondering how the author will get him there, haha

[fly-sky-high-bug-games]

If there is anything I hope for in silksong is an elaborate roof top chase sequence, one because of the dramatics, two because silksong is going to be much more lively of a game so it would be cool to see how normal citizens react to hornet engaging in a boss battle, and three because in the base game I feel that only pale lurker seems to have been a boss fight environment that isn't just one big empty room.

What are you looking forward to?

SOMEWHAT SILKSONG SPOILERS BELLOW (since I will mention some trailer and character stuff)

I didn't had much experience with chase like sequence in games, I did like the screen scrolling in Ori tho when you run from rising water inside the tree? And consider the trailer stuff we saw, we'll probably get something like that but with lava! Although the thought of quick/timed events kinda scares me, I like pacing slow in games unless mind set in bosses or such. As for specific rooftop chase like setting I don't know, never crossed my mind considering a lot of stuff looks underground again (for sake of metroidvania map building I assume). Would be neat in Hornet's perspective who is already nyooming around areas via string lol

YES! So interacting with NPCs or general citizens of Pharloom is The Most stuff I'm looking forward to aside from just exploring! I can't wait to see how Hornet communes with people, especially since it's going to be and feel different from Hollow Knight! Ghost was kind of uncovering their own personality through the journey while Hornet is an already established one from the start so seeing her speak back to people will help us get to know her more! :D

Regarding bosses themselves, I haven't given them much thought aside from "Oh man I can't WAIT to get my face beat up by this one!" and if they react to Hornet fighting them it's just gonna mean more cool dialogue~

Actual trap room based boss would be cool? I didn't like running around after Pale Lurker tho, it wasn't engaging for me nor fun (maybe because I didn't want to be trapped there in the first place lol). Although, I dunno how much trade off would that be in stead of specific boss moves that work in said big empty rooms but not in other. I wouldn't mind try playing something different~ (as long as it's not like Pale Lurker situation lol)

But yeah, as I mentioned, I CAN'T WAIT TO GO EXPLORING AND FINDING THINGS AND GETTING LOST AND MEETING LIVE BUGS!! Bosses and platforming are kind of like bonuses to me, I just want to walk around and see whole place XDD

No expectations for the story, as in I am not guessing nor hoping for anything until I get to experience it as I play. I have some assumptions but I am also not holding onto them.

Oh, the giant lava mech? Yeah that one, I can't wait to get destroyed by it :'D /pos

[foxstens]

honestly i love how hk’s map works

i’ve seen lots of ppl say things like ‘you shouldn’t need to waste a charm notch just to see yourself on the map or to collect money’ and i don’t really agree?

i guess the money one is really personal preference but the map on probably depends on what youre used to since nowadays its pretty standard to see yourself on the map at all times and for the map to update as you go

well i don’t play a lot of games so there isn’t much im ‘used to’ but i dont think id have a different opinion even if i was. because one thing i appreciate about hk is that it doesn’t hold your hand

you’re really given free reign of where to go what to do which boss to fight which abilities and charms to use, and it makes the feelings of exploring and discovering things on your own so much stronger

learning to read and use your map is part of that, and hk is the perfect game for this. because the areas and the shortcuts and the individual rooms are designed in such a logical and easy to navigate way that they’re really easy to identify on the map. they’re easy to identify even without the map because no two rooms are the same or have the same enemies

of course the players who think every area in hk looks the same wouldn’t agree with this, but imo the different aesthetics, background tracks, room layouts, enemies, and the fact that you have the time to study your surroundings - all these things make hk easy to navigate even if you often don’t know where you ‘should’ go to next.

we already know silksong’s map will function similarly but i really hope we’re also gonna need a crest or a tool or something to be able to see our position on the map. JUST SO I CAN NEVER USE IT. 

[ruthlesslistener]

*rubs my hands in evil* glub shitto?

sjhdfgb you didn't specify a fandom so I'm just gonna put my two current interests down (Hollow Knight and Destiny)

Hollow Knight- Hollow. Give me literally ANY scrap of them and I'll start hollerin'. For a game focused on their troubles, there sure ain't a lot of actual content reguarding the Hollow Knight (or the Pure Vessel, for that matter). And Lurien, obviously, as the lore we have on him is practically nonexistant. I'd also say Herrah but I have hopes for some more of her being in Silksong, so for now she's very tentatively on the list

Destiny- Tossup between Arthys, Eido, and Namrask. I'm purposefully leaving out Eramis and Misraaks because they both got a whole expansion or season based around them, so I'm focusing on their loved ones (+ Namrask bc I like the old Riisborn Eliksni). There's quite frankly not enough Sad Alien Lore in a game centered around humanity's encounters with extraterrestrial forces, which is kinda sad. Then again, I'm really only here for the Eliksni, so perhaps I've got a bit of a bias going on

[vivifrage]

Hi! Do you have fun writting the fanfict? What's ur fav part of writting? Also, how is it going? I cannot wait for anotha masterpiece :DDD

Hello! :D I hope you're doing well!

I do have great fun writing fanfic; that's how y'all get longfics from me 😆I've been writing with some amount of regularity and seriousness since I was like, 12? 11? Half my life, now. There's ups and downs, of course, but clearly I like it enough to keep coming back for more.

As for favorite part of writing... That's a tough one. There's a bunch of things that I love. Feedback and comments mean the world to me, of course, but of the actual writing process? There's hitting a scene I've been planning and thinking on for months and months, those really juicy character moments, and oh man when the puzzle pieces click together. Either from thinking through things/getting an idea on my own or brainstorming with someone. Hell, a good brainstorming session in general is a rush.

It's going well! Act 3 of OFAA is chugging along slowly but surely; I'm suspecting I'll have to take a mid-season hiatus considering the chapters are turning out so damn long, but maybe once November hits we'll see if I can blast through it? After it, I don't know what my project plan is; I think this one is actually gonna stay a standalone, but we'll see what else happens in canon down the road. I'm waiting on Silksong to see if I get back into Hollow Knight and write more there. And of course there's Merciful Steel, my original work... That might be a November project alongside OFAA, just to give it some love.

[clownkiwi]

my lengthy-ass post on game development and game release

yeaaaaa, ive been thinking about this for the past hour or so, and especially thinking about what my friends and other young people have talked about, i just decided to type out my feelings and thoughts about game development and game releases in terms of hyped up indie games (like silksong & deltarune chapter 2 + beyond)

but since this will be a huge post, im just gonna put it under a “read more” thing. if you wanna hear my thoughts on this, you can click the link below (this is basically comparable to a video essay ig)

but if you want a tldr, what my thoughts are is that dont give your hopes up on silksong, deltarune, & any other games releasing like very soon since you gotta take content implementation, bug testing/polishing, translations, porting, marketing, & announcements into consideration

with all that said, lets begin

so i remember talking to my friends a while ago about some of the most hyped up games release dates. you know, stuff like hollow knight: silksong or deltarune chapter 2+. especially after the updates given out by each developer/team recently, people are getting very excited to try out these games very soon this very year.

and by very soon, i mean like silksong (the full entire game) coming out THIS MONTH, and the entirety of deltarune (chapter 2 & however many chapters toby fox has planned) for THIS SUMMER IN ONE PACKAGE!!!

which, when i heard these, i thought they were all too good to be true! in fact, they’re all too good to be true. silksong DEFINITELY won’t come out this month, and i know for a Fact deltarune, the full package, won’t be out by this summer. and of course, that’s because of one thing that alot of us took for granted in terms of game development: the finalized touches.

before i go on, i just want to make this very clear: i am not a game design major. im not even in the industry. if anything, im an illustration major (currently), and all of what im gonna say is what i picked up from what other game devs have talked about and from other creative media industries (movie & tv show industry precisely). this is also really just speculation and opinionated, really the main point of this whole post is that you shouldn’t bet on silksong & deltarune coming out so soon from very easy theories and crazy misunderstandings on video game development, i am just giving out my own thoughts on when the game could possibly release (but tbf, i could be very wrong and we could get silksong out this month & the entirety of deltarune this summer. i don’t feel like we will, but it could be very possible and this whole post would be absolutely worthless)

now, i know tons of young people going into game development majors or want to be in the industry have tons of respect for the game development process. and thats good!!! im glad they have respect for the people actually making the content for the game and developing the full package. however, people usually take the finalized touches, imo, for granted more than the actual content development.

because how did people come to the conclusion about silksongs & deltarunes release date so soon???

from what i’ve heard from my friends and other people, silksong should come out this month to coincide with the anniversary of hollow knight, and because “team cherry is bad at marketing and releasing a game”

and with deltarune’s (the full package) release date, that was taking the whole game into consideration, and people’s speculation that deltarune would just be 4 chapters and that the whole thing will be released as one big package instead of episodic, despite the marketing of deltarune “chapter 1″

now, these sound a little bit reasonable. i mean, its been a while since we heard of them back in 2019 and 2018 respectively, and it makes perfect sense to release silksong on hollow knight’s anniversary and deltarune as a full game This Summer.

however, i still think that’s way too good to be true, and that’s because i took a few things into consideration: content implementation, bug fixing/polishing, translation, porting, and actually releasing the game (marketing/having the game up to a releasable state, and actually releasing the game). and to put this into my perspective, i thought about mario odyssey back in 2017

if you’re a nintendo fan like me and were hyped about the nintendo switch back in 2017, then you may remember mario odyssey and the hype around that game alone. when they revealed it back in 2017, they didn’t give a release date. a day after the reveal, mario odyssey devs came out straight and said they finished the game. the game was fully completed. however, they still didn’t give a release date, they just said that they’d spend this time polishing up the game.

and, i know it’s totally unfair to compare the polishing process between nintendo games & indie games since nintendo games are very well known for their polish, so they take more time to polish a game rather than. the next call of duty game.

however, this has given me a perspective as to how long developers spent on polishing the game. if we are to take nintendo at their word back then from when they announced they finished the game to release (which was late october 2017) then that means they spent 8-9 months alone on polish and bug fixing and maybe even translation. yes, you could have a finished game with all of the content in there, and you could feasibly release it as a switch launch title in march around the same time as breath of the wild; however, the developers didn’t feel mario odyssey was ready for release.

it wasn’t until e3 2017 when they felt proud to announce the release date for mario odyssey. this is important because that means that not only were the close to finishing the polishing & bug fixing state of the game, but that means they were done with translations and ready for marketing the game out to potential consumers. they spent who knows how long on polishing (probably anywhere between 6-9 months on polishing & bug testing alone) and they probably spent around the same amount of time on marketing the game.

now, like i said, its totally unfair to compare these two different design philosophies, as one is from a huge video game conglomerate that had years of game design vs small indie studios that only released their first game in the past decade, but let’s try to put this into perspective of silksong and deltarune

with silksong, team cherry had said they had gained new experience from hollow knight, both in terms of developing the actual games themselves and releasing them. this includes developing the game, implementing the content, and finalizing everything (from bug fixing and polishing, to marketing and releasing). and in terms of how they handled hollow knight’s original release, remember. that was their first game, they were very unsure as to how to market and release a game.

after hollow knight’s success, especially on switch, however, team cherry has gained experience as to how to finalize, market and release a game at a playable, releasable state. 

in my personal opinion, especially with what team cherrys marketing manager had said recently, the content is done. they’ve finished all the content for silksong (the base game) and are in the finalized state of implementing everything into the game. however, that doesn’t mean for sure the game will come out on february 24th, 2021 for steam, switch & ps4 & xbox one (maybe even ps5 & series x)

they still gotta add any finishing polish to the game, they still gotta find and fix any bugs in the game, and even when they’re confident on that regard, you still gotta take marketing into account and when’s the right time to release the game. and in that point of view, you can probably imagine it won’t be until another few months until we hear anything substantial about silksong

and especially seeing as how silksong is gonna be a switch exclusive at first, silksong could be as easily released as hollow knight’s switch port was released; as an announcement in a big event, and on that same day. which would mean we could get silksong out for the nintendo switch during e3 2021. however, i was only being easy, fair, and reasonably realistic with silksong. it could come out sooner than i thought, or even later than i thought.

now, with deltarune, i am definitely very unsure about how far that game is in development and when that game will release, especially since all we have to go off of is undertale, the demo (deltarune chapter 1), and what toby fox officially said for undertale’s 5th anniversary on famitsu & on his website.

first, let’s go off of the claims i’ve heard people say about how long this game will be. “deltarune will be 4 chapters long, because there are 4 seasons in a year like undertale and because delta is the greek number for 4.” while that sounds reasonable, why hasn’t toby fox given us a sure amount of chapters he has planned for the game?

especially considering that in his official update on his website he kept emphasizing “chapters” and “multiple chapters” and “chapters 3+”, and the fact he separated chapter 2 from chapter 3+. from his words alone, it sounds like chapter 2 will be released separately from the entire rest of the game??? but that could just be me, and people are most excited about chapter 2 more than anything, so really he could just be talking about the state of the whole game by including chapter 2 separately, especially considering the entirety of deltarune will be built off of chapter 2.

but besides my speculation on chapter 2, the fact he didn’t give a sure amount of chapter numbers, and he even specifically said on release readiness he put “0%”, that just doesn’t translate to “this game should be ready for release in the summer of 2021″, despite the fact that he said development on the game is going smoothly, even taking his physical state that hes in right now.

i personally think the game could be around 4-7 chapters long if he’s planning on implementing multiple chapters in the game, even though the first draft of the games story and dialogue has already been finished in september 2020. and even if we were to go off of deltarune being 4 chapters long, it still doesn’t feel right to say this game will be out this summer??

i personally think if the full game will be 4 chapters, i feel more confident in saying the full 4 chapter game will be out by this upcoming holiday season at the earliest, and if not then, the latest would be somewhere in the first half of 2022. and if it won’t be 4 chapters long like im guessing it would, then it could be released even later than expected. again, i’m basing this off of words taken straight from toby fox’s mouth in september 2020, things couldve obviously changed since then and i could be very wrong about when this game will come out.

but i know for a fact deltarune wont fully be released this summer, they still gotta develop the later chapters and put this game into a full package or release it episodically (even though people are confident that the game will be released in one package, i haven’t heard toby fox officially say anything about how the game will be released, just how the game has been developed so far), which of course is taking polishing/bug fixes into account, and marketing as well

i know for a fact polishing & bug fixes & even marketing wont take as long as nintendo games, but i do know they won’t be done very easily or quickly, and we still shouldn’t be too sure about when these games or any future game will come out

i guess that’s actually just the point of this whole post. unless its people with refuteable sources that have been spot on with predictions or it’s officially said from the mouths of these developers, then don’t bet on silksong or deltarune coming out so soon because of rumors or speculation

i could even be wrong about everythign that i’ve just said. im not a game major, like i said, so silksong could probably come out on february 24th, 2021, and maybe deltarune will come out this summer. i’m very sure it isn’t, but i could be wrong and know nothing about the game development process, and really toby fox’s team & team cherry are game development gods, and i’m surprised nintendo hasn’t bought them out by now so they could release splatoon 3, mario odyssey 2, mario galaxy 3, the diamond and pearl remakes, and metroid prime 4 right now /s

but yea, like i said, don’t count on silksong & deltarune coming out so soon, and maybe take the final stages of development and marketing and releasing more realistically rather than overlooking them and making unsubstantiated claims based off of speculation

[grimmradiance]

The dreamers? 👀

Okay so here’s hoping there isn’t a secret character limit on ask responses because Hoo Boy, I Have Lost Control Of This Ask.

Monomon

A. realistic

Monomon is super hyperempathetic--that’s part of the reason the Foggy Canyon is the way it is.  She’s surrounded by other creatures that prefer to simply exist, who are fine with being left alone, but also don’t mind if she or that odd heavy bug she adopted gives them a little pat on the way past.  That’s also the reason Quirrel is so good with a nail--Monomon could channel the powers of lightning and/or explosions that other jelly creatures seem to have, but emotionally? imagine the toll.

B. not realistic but hilarious

She has NO sense of scale whatsoever. None.  Most bugs in Hallownest measure things against their height, since a bug’s shell is rigid and generally about the same length all the time, but since Monomon is 70% jelly by volume, she tends to measure herself like a cat or a mouse would, by the amount of space she needs to fit into places.  This makes Quirrel’s life...unusual, to say the least.  She gets stuck places sometimes.

C. heart-wrenching

If she’s hyperempathetic, imagine how she fucking feels about Quirrel and the Hollow Knight. I can’t even go off on a three paragraph rant on this one it just makes me HURT.  Quirrel being sent to the Howling Cliffs for No Thoughts Crystalline Memories Empty treatment was probably her best attempt at mercy.  God. I’m never gonna be over these sad fucking bugs.

D. it’s my canon and I choose what parts of it matter

Monomon is a very, very clever conversationalist.  She knows how to talk in just such a way that you feel like you’re being heard and understood, until you suddenly realized you’ve said something aloud you really shouldn’t, and Monomon says “don’t worry, I won’t tell a soul.”

And then, of course, she tells Quirrel, because what is knowledge for if not to be shared?  The two of them could totally take down the structure of the White Palace if they were on the same page about how to go about it.

Herrah

A. realistic

This is more about Deepnest in general, but the Weavers prefer to be left to their own devices, and leave other groups of insects to theirs. I mean, look at the Weaverlings from the Weaver’s Song charm.  They’re the only companion charm that doesn’t actively target enemy bugs, they just sort of...wibble around.  And they’re a relic of the Weavers as they moved towards the heart of Deepnest.  The dangerous, heavily-trapped and hypervigilant Deepnest we see is a product of outside interference, presumably the Pale King being salty that the Weavers didn’t accept his rule.

B. not realistic but hilarious

Herrah didn’t just teach Hornet to be a persnickety little anarchist terror in the White Palace, oh no.  She tried to teach Quirrel to be a feral little gremlin too.  I mean, most of it didn’t stick, but she tried.

C. heart-wrenching

You know that one Tumblr post that’s basically “sorry, all the nice queers are gone, you killed them, so now it’s just us pissed-off cockroach motherfuckers left”?  That’s what happened to Deepnest.  What kind of peaceful or uninvolved society would need anything fucking like the Midwife or the Devouts? Well, they’re perfectly good to have around if peace is no longer an option.  Every once in a while I just lose it thinking about all the culture the Weavers probably had preserved through their tapestries, and how much of it must have gotten destroyed along the way.

Also bonus round for Sad And/Or Horrifying Implications regarding Hornet: most spiders lay hundreds or thousands of eggs at a time.  I don’t have the time to even START unpacking Hornet’s distinct lack of siblings (as in specifically not half-siblings).

D. it’s my canon and I choose what parts of it matter

slaps my little hands on the table.  Even as everything was going to shit, Vespa and Herrah were still good friends, and sent letters to each other over the Stagways.  She got to know a number of Vespa’s subjects very well, including the Hive Knight. Silksong better give us more lore on them.

Lurien

A. realistic

The Pale King loved having Lurien around because Lurien was half of TPK’s charisma.  TPK very much seems the type to get wound up in his own thoughts and image, constantly micromanaging it to get the best response from specific people. (Unrelated, but I think only the Hollow Knight knows what TPK is really like, since if TPK really did believe Hollow had no mind and no voice, why would he bother? People make that exact assumption all the time with disabled people anyways, I am sick of my peers realizing I have a disability and changing the way they act around me send tweet  This is a whole other post, maybe I’ll write it another time.)  So who better is there to have around than someone whose hobby and greatest skill is watching a situation and analyzing it?  Once the Dreamers were sealed, TPK’s public image was fucked, no doubt about it.

B. not realistic but hilarious

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned Autistic Lurien before but he is in my head, so branching off of my own experiences: this guy is the KING of Relatable Lapses Of Insight.  This man has drunk paint water before on accident.  This man has tried to sit on a stack of tablets and knocked himself over.  This man will spend three minutes explaining how light reflection works to try and convey the word he’s forgetting. (The word he’s forgetting is “mirror.”)  I care him so much.

C. heart-wrenching

I cannot overexaggerate how fucking brilliant of a meta-narrative choice the existence of Lurien’s butler is. I *cannot.*  I am perpetually in awe of how good Hollow Knight is with environmental storytelling, and how much material it leaves for people who love to dig way too far into things. 

Why do I bring this up here?  Lurien’s butler is a parallel to Hornet and Quirrel, who are, to Herrah and Monomon, their only concrete link to the present that isn’t at least partially painted over in the Pale King’s propaganda.  And he’s been Light-ridden for gods only know how long.  The popular fanon about Lurien having it bad for the Pale King always gets me thinking about this, because we have Lurien’s journal as our only source on him. A scarce few lines: his sleep is in service to King and kingdom.

I can’t help but wonder if Lurien chose those words especially deliberately, knowing they would be his last. “Though my gaze falls no longer on this city, I will act forever in its protection,” in a journal carefully hidden in a private building of the City of Tears.  Why hide something like that with so much care, unless there was something to be gleaned from it?  Well, whatever information we need to know about Lurien to contextualize anything outside of context clues and the King’s image of him would have been with someone who was loyal and trustworthy enough to watch over him. Someone who was loyal and trustworthy enough that that would be all that remained in their mind, even under the Light’s influence.

Basically, what I’m getting at here: I know for a fact there is something we don’t know about Lurien, and whatever that secret is, it died with his butler.

D. it’s my canon and I choose what parts of it matter

Lurien travels!  He is very good at making up academic or political excuses for it, but we all know why he’s really leaving the city: to paint.  He isn’t quite as skilled with natural features as the regular shapes you see in a city, but he enjoys himself so that’s what matters.

[ikessorens]

ok im gonna post my hopes/what im excited + explanations for nintendo in 2020 bc i have no one to share them with!

what im excited for

Hatsune Miku Mega Mix - oh boy i love rhythm games and i love vocaloid this game is gonna be great but only if its reasonably priced

Animal Crossing - no explanation needed who isnt excited for this game

BOTW 2!!!!!!!!!!!! - again, no explanation needed. botw is one of my favorite games of all time and is the game that got me back into gaming. SUPER hyped for the sequel

Gods and Monsters - im a classics major so the idea of an open-world game in ancient greece makes me so happy. it could be great if done right but we havent seen any gameplay so we’ll see

LEGO Skywalker Saga - what can i say im a HUGE slut for star wars and its p much an open world star wars game that i can play on switch. also lego games are so fun and lego harry potter was my first game EVER so i have a lot of nostalgia for lego games

Fairy Tail JRPG - the weeb in me is jumping out. i love rpgs and fairy tail was the first anime i ever watched when i was in middle school. so im low key hyped for the game again bc of nostalgia

Ultimate ninja storm 4 - naruto is my favorite anime ever and we get vote2 in this game. naruto and sasuke sacrificed their arms for gay rights

Hollow Knight Silksong!! - GOD I LOVE HOLLOW KNIGHT. first indie that i really fell in love with and im obsessed with it. silksong is gonna be great

OCTOPATH TRAVELER… 2! - i LOVE the first octopath. and yeah nothing official has been announced yet for octo 2 BUT they have said that theyre working on a sequel and i couldnt be more excited

witchbrook - STARDEW BUT ITS WITCHES

Switch games i want

Ace attorney 4-6 PLUS a new AA game - i love AA,, please let me play the rest of the games on my switch and PLEASe give us a new game. also #phoenixwrightforsmash

Tellius remasters/remakes - fe9 and 10 are my favorite FE games ever i literally love them so much and want a remaster so bad!! altho i have mixed feelings bc i really really worry that if they remake/remaster it that theyll straight wash ike and take out all of the gay coding from his character esp everything with him and soren (who is my all-time favorite fe character). so Big Fear there but id love a faithful remake/remaster since its maybe my favorite game of all time. 

Judgral remakes - ive never played these games but the characters look incredibly charming and i want to play them so bad. i know that theyll probably do either one or the other but not both for the fe remakes and i am sooooo split on which i want more i want them both so bad

Super mario galaxy 3 - no explanation needed, smg is one of the best games ever and was one of the first games i played and im dying for another game in the series

Persona 5 - i want to play it so bad... we have joker in smash and p5 scramble... why not p5

Batman Arkham games - i love batman PLEASE put these games on switch so i dont have to dust off my wii u every time i want to play them

Kingdom hearts - never played them but GOD i want to this series is on crack fr

Okamiden - i love okami and the ds sequel is ADORABLE let me play it on switch

red dead - the inherit homoeroticism of cowboys.. let me have it

ok im sure im forgetting some but this is everything im excited for/want to happen please come talk to me about them

[askroahmmythril]

Thoughts on the Nintendo Direct

So a lot of people asked for my thoughts on the direct, so I’m just going to give my summation here on various levels of excitement I have for things.  And honestly?  This one gave me a good bit to be excited about.

Excitement Level 1 : Cautiously Optimistic

“The Hero” in Smash - I don’t really have much connection with the Dragon Quest series outside of liking the monster designs (really wish Slime had been the rep instead), and not really a fan of the art style the character uses (I don’t know the artist’s name, I know they also do the DBZ stuff, just don’t really like their style, purely personal preference).  The character looks like they might be fun though, I’ll be interested to see how the command menu aspect works in full.  I just hope they don’t get as badly shafted as Cloud did as far as content.  “Oh, by the way, this character doesn’t get any new spirits because Squeenix.  Oops!  Enjoy your two music tracks.”

Breath of the Wild sequel - I can’t really call BotW my favorite Zelda.  It was good for what it was, but what it wasn’t was a Zelda game.  Your mileage may vary.  I’ll still probably want to play it though, I just hope it feels a bit more like a traditional Zelda game in some aspects.  More actual large-scale dungeons, please.  And gimme back my Hookshot.  Also hopefully, don’t just front-load me with all my abilities to where I don’t really feel like I have much to look forward to gaining for the rest of the game...

Animal Crossing : New Horizons - I’m not really sure how I feel about the deserted island thing.  Is that the entirety of the game?  You actually have to build your entire town from scratch?  If so, that seems like a lot of work just to get to where the other games already basically start you.  It’s one of those I kind of want to see more.

Excitement Level 2 : Casually Interested

Contra Rogue Corps. - I’ve never been super great at the Contra games, but have always enjoyed playing them, and this cast looks pretty crazy and fun.  I’m also considering picking up the Contra Anniversary Collection later.

Luigi’s Mansion 3 - This looks pretty solidly good.  I still need to play through 2 though, and kinda want to go through the first again.  I do have both those on 3DS.  3 looks good so far though.

No More Heroes 3 - This is kind of in the same situation as LM3, I need to play the first two.  I never finished the first, and never played the second, though I do have it.  I found the games interesting to play, definitely wouldn’t mind a third.

Mario & Sonic at the Tokyo Olympics - I’ve never actually played one of these, they always had a goofy sort of feel to them that made me WANT to, they were just never high priority for me.  Still looks fun though.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance - I’m not big on superhero stuff usually, but sometimes a good game will make me want to play it, see the Arkham series.  This one looks like it could be fun, Kit’s been pretty interested in it.  Probably a major thing that would tip the scales for me is if Gambit’s in there somewhere.

Excitement Level 3 : More Solidly Interested

Cadence of Hyrule - Can I just say, Gohmaracas is amazing.  I’ve never played the original Crypt of the Necrodancer, I kinda want to get both, really.

Link’s Awakening - I’ve embraced the art style, i wasn’t sure at first, but it’s grown on me.  The dungeon creation thing looks interesting, I still really want them to make a Zelda Maker or something, haha.

Mario Maker 2 - I’m pants at designing levels, but I’d like to get this so I can play my friends’ levels.  Still a bit disappointed costume collecting seems to have been cut in favor of janky multiplayer.

Trials of Mana / Collection of Mana - Having an actual, official translation of Seiken Densetsu 3 would be REALLY nice, so I’m definitely planning to pick up Collection.  Trials looks pretty nice too honestly.  I kinda wonder if the Switch will ever get the Secret of Mana remake?

More Resident Evils on Switch - I picked up RE4 last night, and honestly would be interested in getting the other REs for Switch if only for the sake of later recording.

Excitement Level 4 : Legit Hyped

Spyro Reignited Trilogy - I was hoping we’d get confirmation on this one at some point, and finally, there it is!  My only worry is, due to things I’ve heard about it on other systems..... how big is the required download portion of things gonna be?  I’ve heard it’s over 50 gigs on some systems, which is actually more than my monthly bandwidth allowance...

Hollow Knight : Silksong - We didn’t see much new, but heck yes, I’m excited for this one.  Hollow Knight was a very fun game, and Hornet was one of my favorite characters, so I’m all for this.  I want to know more!

Pokemon Sword and Shield - A few “blink and you’ll miss it” details like two more breeds seen I think, but I’m a Pokemaniac, so definitely looking forward to these.  Gimme dat fire bunny.

Banjo & Kazooie in Smash - YES!  ALL MY YES!!!  This was one of my last big wants for Smash, and here he is!  Bear and bird coming home!  Now we just need an announcement for them getting a new actual B&K game on Switch.

So that’s basically my summation of things.  A few things I wish we’d heard about that weren’t there (Bayonetta 3, King of Cards, Metroid Prime Trilogy on Switch, Pikmin 4), but the stuff that WAS there, I’m pretty pleasantly happy about this direct.