#i redesigned ds a bit

[peskypawz]

lets go to crazy hospital

[emeraldhazeidentity]

This is just me having a go at (slightly) redesigning the Dreamtale twins.

These outfits aren't canon. I just wanted to see if I could tweak them a bit based on my interpretation of the two brothers.

Separate pics and thoughts below the cut.

Lots of really minor changes for Dream.

His Cape is a bit more of a standard piece of cloth. The sun emblem is still on the back, but I've removed those long ribbon things, as they seem exactly like the kind of thing that can get grabbed or caught while in battle. Dream relies on his agility - he needs to be able to duck and dive freely.

His clasp is now a simple gold star to match his circlet, and I've taken the 'DS' off his belt, since he isn't technically a 'Sans', so it never felt right to me.

His boots have added cuffs and soles to match the colour scheme on his Cape. The soles are flat again to give him more manoeuvrability on the battlefield.

His bodysuit is now dark brown instead of black. This is partially so that his whole colour scheme is inspired by sunflowers, and partially because the black feels a little too harsh to me. Brown is more warm and down-to-earth, while black tends to be associated with darkness and emptiness.

Nightmare's outfit is the biggest change of the two. I just don't see someone as commanding and theatrical as him wearing a hoodie and slippers!

Instead, I've given him a suit, a turtleneck and some dress shoes. I originally tried to give him a shirt, waistcoat and tie, but it felt a little too "mafia", so I toned it back with the sweater. I was going for more of a "business casual" vibe for him.

Also, Nightmare gets a more modern outfit, because he's been out in the Multiverse for 500+ years, so he's adapted to the trends. Dream, on the other hand, is relatively much newer to the Multiverse, so he's more comfortable sticking closer to what he remembers from his time.

References used for the poses.

[mauesartetc]

Hello, do you still do analysis on character design? If I were to have suggested a request, could you could do an analysis on Drawn to Life for Nintendo DS? If so, I would like to see you talk about why the game's main species of characters called "Raposa" are a group of anthropomorphic creatures that are suppose to be "foxes", yet they hardly resemblance a fox. How would you change the look of the characters to where they look similar mostly to real life foxes, if not an entirely new species? I'm asking because I don't really know how to redesign, but if you were interested in a redesign, I'd much ablage.

I believe that if you know how to design characters, you know how to redesign characters. It's all just problem-solving. Actually identifying the problems is the tricky part.

To your question, I'm not familiar with Drawn to Life, but maybe after a quick trip to Google-

Oh.

Oh god.

Yeah these things look nothing like foxes. I would have guessed they were jackrabbits if I hadn't been told otherwise. The ears are just way too long and thin, and including actual fox tails would have helped a lot in correctly identifying their species. Apparently the word "raposa" means "fox" in Portuguese, but how's anyone supposed to glean that from the visuals if they don't speak that language?

Let's see what we can do here.

I shrunk the ears down a bit and made them more conical so they resemble fox ears, and added tails shaped like certain elements on the character (namely the scarf on the first and the tufts of hair on the last two). If a person really wanted to, they could taper the faces into pointy fox snouts as well, but I think this is sufficient for the kind of look the game was going for. Thanks for asking!

[pokemon-future]

I created DS/Generation 4-style sprite updates for some of the Pokémon from the Gold and Silver Spaceworld ‘97 demo!

This is part of a larger fan project expanding on the lore/story of Kanto and Johto. You can find more on the project here, and more about these Pokémon below the cut!

(All “english” names are entirely made up based on the original names’ etymologies and pre-existing Pokémon naming conventions)

Let’s learn more about the Pokémon you can find in the alternate past!

Kotora/Sirkitt

Type: Electric

This adorable electric tiger likes to snack on the electricity from generators. If it gets too excited it make shock you on accident! (If you anger it, it will shock you on purpose.) Its evolved form is believed to cause thunderstorms.

Kotora/Sirkitt evolves into Raitora/Raiger at level 35.

Rinrin/Purring

Type: Dark

This excitable, musical Pokémon wants to share it’s ringing bells and “singing” with as many people as they can, whether their audience likes it or not! They are a favorite pet because they are easy to keep track of.

Evolves into Berurun/Chimeow at level 28.

Beta Porygon2

Type: Normal

This upgraded version of Porygon has been redesigned to look more cuddly. Perhaps this went a bit too far?

A Porygon upgraded in the past using a Bata Floppy (which is only obtainable in the past) will evolve into Porygon2 (beta form). This is the only way to evolve Porygon without trading. The only non-aesthetic difference between Beta Porygon2 and Porygon2 is that the beta form can learn discharge, nuzzle, and explosion.

Beta Marill (plus Pink Azumarill)

Type: Water/Fairy

Beta Marill and the pink/beta form of Azumarill are essentially the same as their original counterparts. However, upon returning to the present, they change from simply being water type to being fairy/water type. They also have the primary ability of Cute Charm, instead of Thick Fat or Huge Power.

Beta Cleffa

Type: Normal/Fairy

It’s literally just cleffa. I just thought it’d be fun to edit it to match its beta closer. It’s simply an alternate form, and has no impact on evolutions.

This alternate form, along with all other beta baby Pokémon, are not exclusively found in the wild in the past. They also have a 50% of hatching from eggs if the mother/their evolved form was holding an “Ilex Incense.” In battle Ilex Incense will boost the power of any of the holder’s moves if the holder was caught in the past.

Honoguma/Cubustion

Type: Fire

This Pokémon is a favorite among children for its cuddly appearance and boundless energy!

Honoguma/Cubustion evolves into Borubea/Igneursa at level 16, and then into Dainabea/Bearnamite at level 36.

Kurusu/Kruse

Type: Water

This shy Pokémon likes to hide in caves or underwater, rarely interacting with humans. For many years, its highest evolution was believed to be a myth!

Kurusu/Kruse evolves into Akua at level 16, and then into Akueria at level 36.

Animon/Alike

Type: Normal

It can transform into anything, including strong metals.

If you give a Ditto a Metal Coat while in the past, it will evolved into Animon/Alike. Animon/Alike can also learn more moves than Ditto’s trademark “transform.” It can learn metal claw and iron tail by leveling up (metal claw is learned upon evolution), and it can be taught normal- and steel-type moves via machine.  

Alternate Hoppip Line: Hoppip/Purroot, Skiploom/Kitbloom, Jumpluff/Dandylion

Type: Grass

Purroot are often kept indoors by their trainers so that they aren’t blown away in the wind!

The bloom on Kitbloom’s head collects energy while it naps in the sun. It can often be heard purring.

Dandylion rides along the wind to travel and spread spores across long distances.

This alternate version of the Hoppip line, which replace the Hoppip line in the wild when you are in the past, is essentially identical to Hoppip, Skiploom, and Jumpluff as we know them. The only difference is that they can now learn scratch and fury swipes, and their primary ability is now Own Tempo.

Koinya/Cointten

Type: Normal

This baby Pokémon has not yet opened its eyes, but it can find coins and other metal knick-knacks by smell alone. It likes to sleep on piles of coins.

Koinya/Cointten evolves into Meowth with maxed friendship. It has a 10% of holding an item, and within those odds it is a 20% chance of holding an amulet coin, and 80% of holding a pearl. 

-------

Thanks for checking these out! I’m really proud of these sprites, all things considered. If you want to learn more about the beta Pokémon, these two Bulbapedia pages are quite informative, and you can check out these links if you are interested in the Pokemon Future and/or Memories of Kanto projects! You can also find out more about the time warp idea, specifically, here.

[kizy-ko]

I decided to draw Baby and ended up redesigning her a lil bit :P

Oh and her old ds lol

[electraslight]

omniverse future hcs?

sure!! i also did a mini redesign for fun. no gwen redesign though shes perfect

-gwen and ben see marriage the opposite way. gwen thinks its a waste and ben asks all of his friends to marry him no contest bc he likes the idea of being soulbonded or whatever. he and kevin got drunk and got married on an asteroid 5000 light years from earth and its completely null on earth but they still framed their certificate in the living room…. Their commitment to the bit will die when they die

-devlin is consistently grounded 24/7 for things ranging from unplugging bens life support to plug in his ds to waiting untill everyone leaves the house to turn on the fuckcrazy security systems and watch as his family tires to get in. he doesnt think hes being bad he didnt notice the cord was connected to the life support and he just wanted his family to practice breaking in , but he gets grounded anyway bc he needs to be taught a lesson. kenny is less usually grounded but thats bc hes better at hiding things, devlin just LOVES telling people information so he usually just tells on himself.

-i hate that in omniverse kevin joined the orginization that tortured him and kids as little as 6 years old so hes a househusband, he occasionally goes on missions and does work on vehicles but since ben is richer than god he can do whatever he wants basically. hes so happy he decorates the house head to toe for even the most minor of holidays and picks up the kids from school every afternoon. this is like the ulitmate outcome of his life for him. hes wearing the rooters suit in the pic bc even though hes forty now its still his only form of battle gear.

-gwen 'works' at friedkin university (crawls through the vents to get into her office bc the board of directors didnt like that she started chasing around her failing computer science students with hammers)she and albedo, who is a theater teacher, have the ultimate haterivalry. fuck the office but there like dwight and jim from the office. Gwen puts his stapler in jello.

-ben is overly friendly w most children and has a hard time being the mature adult in situations, but as kenny and devlin get older he gets better at being more authoritative. the only one in the family that can be strict is gwen, but shes scared she'll end up as controlling as her own mother so she lays off most of the time. kevin is terrified of repeating the same mistakes his father figures did to him so hes extremely careful with the kids (it helps that kevin is naturally very good w small children and animals but it doesnt rlly help that hes very childish at times and can anger easily. whenever he gets mad he just leaves the room as fast as possible so he never loses control)

-gwen and ben were kind of ambivalent to the idea of having kids until kevin broached the topic and he seemed so excited and enthusiastic abt it they immediatly changed their minds, which is rare for ben bc he doesnt usually rlly do things for other people, but combined w their shared history and the fact that even though hes not good at putting it into actions he still wants to make the ppl he loves happy, he offered to surrogate.

- over time gwen cares less and less abt passing as a human woman. She grows taller and taller as she gets older (by the time shes 35 shes taller than kevin) and she stops padding body fat/ tucking. The older she gets the more she delves into the uncanny valley

-kevin gets his horns at 50 because hes half osmosian, fullfilling the Kevin Bald prophecy

[therewillbefrills]

Making my video game console cuter :>

With the August 2023 release of my emulator it feels like my console is sloooowly coming to life... software-wise. Hardware-wise I haven't really done much yet lol

So this week I wanted to close that gap and at least pin down the hardware aesthetics I'm going for. For this I had as the theme "cats" and "strawberry cheesecake", and I took a lot of inspiration from "kawaii things", particularly the kind you'd see in e.g.: Kira Kira Precure or Eku-sensei's art.

Behold, the currently working "Kate Cake" console design:

I... still have to figure out the best way of getting the case 3d printed, and some of this will likely change as I do actual proof-prints and component fitting, but I am quite happy with what I ended up with. I actually started with a more triangular "cheesecake slice" shape, but I had trouble fitting the raspberry pi and other components in it; the box shape is a lot easier to fit electronics parts in :'>

Also! Straps! It's the number one thing I miss from the early 2000s and I wish more portable devices had something to attach cute straps to!

I've also redesigned the console's mascot a little bit. She now has moles under her eyes, and the backpack more closely reflects the non-portable version of the console:

Don't you just want to pet that fluffy head (and hope she doesn't stab you in response)? I... did not actually aim to give that murderous expression but it's how she turned out I guess :'>

So the reason she now has a mole is because I needed to revisit the buttons in the handheld version a little bit and as a result I've added a thumbstick (it'll probably move a little bit when I start proof-printing the case and playing around with fitting the actual components in it). I also tried moving the design more in line with the general "strawberry cheesecake" theme:

There was some adjusting to other stuff in the handheld and the current working dimensions are now 17cm x 8cm x 3cm, so just a tiny bit bigger than the PSP, and unfortunately a lot bigger than the DS Lite. But still smaller than the Switch, which is what I was aiming for anyway :'>

This month I'm just hoping to finally sit down and get the whole UI design thing working properly and looking pretty, so that I can actually work on the SDK and game dev tooling and marketing and stuff. Hopefully time will be on my side (unlikely)...

[probablygayattorneys]

I remember some time back an anon sent me a message about Another Code and my thoughts on it. At the time I hadn’t started it so I didn’t have any thoughts, but now that I’ve gotten started, I thought I’d share.

At the time of the ask, all I could give was my man’s take on the demo, which he had played but I hadn’t, and his main complaint was that the movement felt a little sluggish. Happy to report that issue seems to be fixed as I noticed no such problems. It runs beautifully and it looks beautiful, too.

However, I don’t like Ashley’s redesign. I asked my mom, who was in the room but knew nothing about the game, how old she thought Ashley was and her guess was 17, which is a far cry from her actual age. They also seem to have made her a little less bratty which I don’t appreciate, because she’s going through a lot of big things - she should be allowed to have big feelings about them. If you’re not going to make her look her age, at least let her act her age.

I also don’t like that they switched (har har I’m so funny why don’t I have any friends) the DTS (or, I suppose, DAS) system to a clearly Switch-inspired but fully touch screen based device, because like… if you’re going to commit to the bit, might as well go all the way, right?

Overall, though, I didn’t play very much. I stopped when they docked, so I played maybe the first half an hour or so and I have to say… this just doesn’t feel like the same game at all. It feels completely different, like a brand new game that’s only loosely based on the DS game.

However, one final thing that gave me a mix of hope and dread was that there are certain things, like the loading screen or some of the options that have an almost sketchbook type feel to them, which makes me feel like they’re test runs for a Hotel Dusk remake. However, after seeing how much changes they’ve put this game through… I’m not sure I want them anywhere near HD. Like, I was worried before I started it that it would be like Layton, and have some really problematic elements that I didn’t recognize because I was a child when I played them, but I’m seven or eight hours into it and… nope. It’s still the game I remember and love and haven’t noticed anything particularly egregious, and after seeing the disservice they’ve done to Ashley, I kind of want them to just leave Kyle alone, even though I highly doubt they’d leave him in the vault since he’s objectively the more well known of the sibling games and there aren’t that many puzzles that would need a complete overhaul (though AC shows that they aren’t going for the 1:1 remake).

[lex1nat0r]

Dark Core / Armored Souls

Gameplay similarities between the Armored Core and Dark Souls series, ~1700 words

I'm not going to act like I'm saying anything new here. It's a well-known fact that knights* and mechs are basically the same thing. Both are portrayed as the pinnacle of military technology, heavily armored, and typically faceless. Battletech even goes so far as to name its basic organizational unit of mechs after a medieval unit centered around a knight.

*there is an argument to be made that Dark Souls is not solely about knights, what with the option to make all kinds of lightly-armored mages, but those don't seem to feature as prominently in the promotional material - the "face" of the Dark Souls series is hidden behind a helmet.

That out of the way, my bona fides: I've play all three games in the Dark Souls trilogy, Armored Core, Armored Core: Project Phantasma, Armored Core 4, and Armored Core For Answer. I'll be updating this as I get through more of the Armored Core games. If I make a generalization about the AC series that doesn't hold true, that's on me. Noticeably missing from this discussion is Demon's Souls, which would probably be neat to look at as a transitional step between the two series but which I have no immediate plans to actually play. Also missing is King's Field for a look at what FromSoft was doing pre-Armored Core, but again I have no immediate plans to get around to playing it. So we'll stick to a discussion of Armored Core 1-4 and the three Dark Souls games (really just the first one).

Let's start where I did: coming off of Armored Core 4 into Dark Souls.

First off: character details:

They Are The Same Screen

Dark Souls takes all the fiddly bits of mecha engineering and transposes them onto your pseudo-medieval guy. This opens up (or keeps, if you're looking at DS as a mechanical continuation of AC) a lot of design space for builds and playstyles, reminiscent of how AC gives the player free reign to completely redesign their mech between missions. One glaring difference in Dark Souls is that however much you change your equipment around, you are always (with some exception) tied to how you've allotted your level-ups. Alas, the flesh is not as malleable as the machine*.

*yet

In a surprise twist, the speed of Dark Souls combat is perhaps closer to the average person's idea of what 'mecha combat' should look like. It's a lot slower and more purposeful than what I would have expected from an action RPG*. Every windup, every recovery, reminds you that your character has a physical body that takes up physical space in the (game) world - exactly what I want from a mech game, where the actual pilot is a relative non-entity inside your imposing metal warmachine. Armored Core 4's combat, by comparison and perhaps unexpectedly, is faster-paced (not a lot of windup/recovery). Exactly how much of Dark Souls' gameplay was deliberately inspired by wanting to make a fantasy game that played like a mech game is speculation I don't want to get into. I'm trying to limit this to discussion of the games themselves versus discussion of From Software the dev studio/company. I haven't even looked up any interviews for this amateur analysis.

*for some reason I went into Dark Souls the very first time expecting it to be closer to God of War.

Look Ma, a Stamina Bar (the thin one above the numbers in the upper middle)

There's also the fact that Dark Souls' stamina is an evolution of AC's energy meter. One major difference between the two is that in AC attacks don't necessarily require energy so you just really have to worry about it for boosting and energy weapons, vs. always having to balance the stamina requirements of attacking, dodging, and defending in Dark Souls. Again (and this is not a criticism) Dark Souls kind-of makes your knight dude more of a mech than Armored Core does.

Armored Core For Answer feels mostly like a minor upgrade from Armored Core 4, but there are a couple of things to touch on. Because here, right in the middle, is where I'm going to put what I think is the most important game design point of this analysis.

This Screen, Right Here

After you beat a mission, Armored Core For Answer asks: do you accept how you did, do you want to try again, or just leave? It is this decision that Dark Souls has miniaturized and forces the player to think about all the time - do I keep going or turn back*? You see in the screenshot, there's a regular reward amount (200000 C) that you can just barely tell has been reduced (-37300 C) by ammo expenditure and damage taken. It is possible to end a mission with a pitifully small reward or (possibly) actually losing money from doing badly**. So, accept the money you get (and you can't try the mission again for more money until new game+), try again for a better result, or back out and maybe edit your mech? This reminds me precisely of a common dilemma in Dark Souls - you just got done with a fight, took some hits, used some estus, maybe some spells, do you accept that and try to push on? Or do you return to a bonfire and try the fight again hoping to do better this time? And that is a decision the player is constantly faced with. Dark Souls took this decision that only appears at the end of missions in ACFA and expanded it to cover everything the player does in the game. And that, to me, is one of the big things that makes Dark Souls what it is.

*Dark Souls does just kind of mush the 'retry' and 'give up' options into one

**In my (limited) experience actually losing money is much more common in the older games than 4/For Answer

However, if pushed there is one other thing that I would point to as a more direct inspiration from Armored Core to Dark Souls.

This Fuckin' Guy

During the final mission before the regular ending* one of the two enemy ACs you fight is this boosty bastard with a powerful sword who will cut your mech in half (and it's a miracle I was able to get a screencap of it this nice). To dive into rampant speculation, I think this is the fight that FromSoft looked at when designing Demon's Souls and said "what if there was more melee counterplay to this", leading to the options of counterattack/parry/block/dodge and from there Dark Souls' general (melee) combat mechanics.

*ACFA has two other endings, but getting either requires playing the game again after seeing this one.

Armored Core For Answer also kind-of features a level up system, using FRS memory (awarded after some battles and arena matches) to 'tune' your AC. AC4 also had this but you could just auto-assign your FRS slots. ACFA makes you do tuning manually.

Another important point (to me) can be made by going back in time.

Remember how I said it was possible to end up with negative money from a mission? That can happen fairly regularly, so you can end up with a balance pretty far into the negatives. Get too far into the negatives and instead of just getting a game over, your character is forcibly turned into a cyborg (called a Human PLUS), your balance gets set to 0, and you start over with all your mech parts and some neat upgrades to your piloting ability (e.g. having the best radar without needing to install any components). This is another thing Dark Souls does that is very important to my but I don't see discussed regularly. Dark Souls never tells you the game is over and you have to restart. You guy dies, possibly a lot, and every time the game automatically puts you back to let you keep going. So early Armored Core (I don't know if 4/FA have anything similar) also has that continuity of the game that Dark Souls has but, more importantly, it has the continuity of character that Dark Souls has. In Dark Souls every time your character dies is canon. After every death it's the same little pseudo-medieval dude getting up by the bonfire again after a terrible thrashing and resolving to try again. This, to me, is one of the most important things Dark Souls does - it says you can always try again. You can always get better, no matter how badly it went last time. Armored Core's version, while crueler, is essentially the same thing - you can try again. You can get better.

The early Armored Core games also have the slower-paced combat you'd expect from a mech game, partly because looking up/down and strafing are on the god-damned shoulder buttons.

Lastly: enemies. From my experience (really only the first and fourth entries), over the course of the Armored Core games the majority of the enemies you fight shifts ever so slightly from mostly blowing away MTs*, more rudimentary mechs than your AC, to regularly fighting enemy ACs (especially late game, and that's not even getting into the arena). MTs are simple, more like cannon fodder than anything else. ACs on the other hand are each unique, possibly requiring a more careful approach. This is another thing Dark Souls expands on - every DS enemy is dangerous, each has their own attack patters that can be costly to ignore. DS continues the mechanical evolution in enemies from the AC games.

*stands for 'muscle tracers' after the command input they apparently use, I don't know if that's ever explained in-game

So: to me, a lot of Dark Souls' mechanical weight comes from things that have their roots in Armored Core, even down to the player's moment-to-moment decision making. I love both series, and I think it's interesting to see how they're intertwined together like this. AC VI is the elephant in the room, of course. I suppose I'll make a followup at some point, in its own post.

[sceti-pop-cutie]

First Step! Welcome to the "Pop Cutie!" archive! - Tags and info:

Hi!! This blog serves the purpose of archiving anything I find about: "Pop Cutie! Street Fashion Simulation" for the Nintendo DS and both Japanese original versions: "That's QT" / ザッツキューティ for the NTSC-J PS1 and Nintendo DS.

If you have any content you want to contribute to the archive please dm me or send an ask!

Feel at ease looking for specific pop cutie stuff in the blog's tags! At the moment there are:

#scans - either links to scans or manual scans I've made of original content from the game: Instruction Booklets, Cover art, Cases, disc/cartridge

If you want any of the material here is my internet archive site

#videoQT - links and archive to different promotional videos or playthroughs pf the games

#scetileafpopcutie - FANARTS! I'm making some redesigns and trying to make my own pop cutie fan content too. I publish it on my main acc: @scetileaf and may be reblogging it here too, still need to think about that.

#promotionalimages - promotional content found at the marketing campaign of the games. Trust me there is a lot of interesting stuff there even if we still don't have much.

#charactersrenders - Recopilation of the 2D illustrations made for the game's characters. AS far as I'm concerned these only /tend to appear in the PS1 version booklets. It's been a bit hard to find them but i'll post what i can!

#charactersprites - Here you can find character pixel art sprites from the games! ATM there all of the DS versions' sprites.

All the credit to Dazz for providing them! Tho we still need to find the other games' ones.

#ost - Links to places where you can find the OST of the games! Atm there is most of the DS version OST too! Credits to Zophar from Zophar's Domain for providing it!.

I've noticed that Cordy Nate's theme is missing :( so that and the rest of the other versions ost still needs to be found!

#asks - recopilation of answered asks from this blog. This tag is still a wip. I believe if there is a chance anyone will ask me questions I will need to organize better how I tag them.

[zombvibes]

Oo oo teammate swap: given any thoughts abt dark world outfits and magic nstuff?

I have!! I’m currently redesigning/tweaking their outfits and weapons though (or at least…I’m trying to. My brain likes to procrastinate ☹️)

I’ll show them off anyways even if they’re old/a wip :

( content warning /j : older art ahead yuckyyyy)

Susie’s magic is fire magic (i mean…yeah) which come from her hand accessory, a braclet! (like noelle’s ring)

Though, her outfit could be tweaked a little, but it pretty much looks like this! I tried to make a nice balance between og!susie’s and og!noelle’s dark world forms and I think I did a good enough job of that? Unlike Noelle and Berdly’s designs, she’s pretty much done! I would only be changing it slightly with barely any differences— Which I may have to do so it would be easier to make it into pixels later

And also because of her fire magic she can breathe fire/smoke and can do stuff like this :

Ok next is Noelle! tms!Noelle’s and og!Noelle’s magic is pretty much the same (ice magic). However, tms!Noelle’s weapon is a spear! Since og!Berdly’s weapon a halberd (a weapon with a long shaft and pointed tip), I was like “Hey…you know what other kind of weapon looks like that?” and chose a spear! Also I thought about icicles too since they’re long and pointy (like…a spear). Past me tried to make it in the shape of an icicle (the spear head at least) but I don’t think I pulled it off well.

However, I was thinking about making it an ice staff since I’ve recently tried to make her an ice mage of some kind but I still like the idea of a spear that looks like an icicle (decisions, decisions 🤔)

OK now to her design uhhh I was recently tried redesigning tms!Noelle’s dark world outfit and um. Was not going that well. This is pretty much the closest for what I’m trying to go for. It was based off of the white mage from final fantasy! Though I never really played FF aside from the chocobo spinoff on the ds (which is gooooood), I always liked the designs of the white/black mages! I also was trying to go for a little red riding hood look? Just wanted a cute and innocent design to clash with her not cute and innocent personality. (Which I did NOT do here. Will fix that soon hopefully.) Somehow I wanted to add some sort of element from Berdly’s design (just like I did with tms!susie’s and tms!berdly’s) but I have NO clue how to do that. Eh, I’ll figure it I always to eventually. (If you can’t tell, I’m having a hard time designing tms!noelle’s dark world form aldjjsjfklaskdjak I’ve always had a difficult time with her designs in general tbh.)

Saving the worst for last (/pos) BERDLY!! Berdly’s weapon is a claymore! (which I may change into a broadsword or another two handed weapon. or at least change the design of the weapon). It was based of off the Knight’s Claymore from Breath of the Wild. Tbh I DESPISE the design I gave his weapon. Hate it a lot. It doesn’t really fit him nor his design at all. So definitely changing that when I get the chance. Anyways, I wanted to give him a two handed weapon that you can swing over you shoulder (like susie’s axe though susie just using her left hand and not both because she’s strong and handsome) and to look like Berdly’s weapon (that’s why it’s a bright pink. og!berdly’s weapon is brigh green). I don’t think it’s “berdly-like” enough though. It doesn’t really feel like a Berdly weapon. (if that makes sense aldjajfhkalfls) So again, changing that when I get the chance!

OH AND HIS MAGIC!! You know how og!Berdly can summon tornados? Yeah tms!Berdly can summon thunder/lightning clouds, smoke, and fog/smog! (and probably tornadoes too lmao) Though I didn’t really think about this too much— (aside from the fog/smog part) Still felt like it was worth mentioning though

OK DESIGN TIME. Berdly’s design (like susie’s) could be tweaked a little bit but this is pretty much it! I tried going for an “Evil King/Prince” (hence the crown) with a mixture of an edgy “Original Character Do Not Steal” look (hence the color palette and “beak fang”). I just think that fits tms!berdly to a tee! I don’t think I pulled off the “original character do not steal” thing but I think I DID pull off the evil king/prince. (I think…). And like with the others, I tried to make his design a mix of Susie’s and Berdly’s outfits which uh, I think I did ok on that? I could do better of course—

Sorry for sounding like a NERD and rambling a lot here ahahahaha 😀💦 Really thought about their weapons and designs and junk—

Tbh all them should be more simplified (for sprite edit stuff) which again again, will work on when I get the chance (or when my brain gives me the chance)

[alyss-kelly]

My opinion about Another Code : Recollection Part 1

First of all, I'm an old fan of the serie, so of course I compared the Switch compilation and the DS and Wii version.

I don't want to discourage people who are curious and want to play the game. If you're even a lil bit interested in them, play them, on DS, Wii or Switch, pick your poison and make your own opinion on it. Don't take my word as the absolute thing or whatever. It's not because I'm mixed about it that people shouldn't play it. Because I still think that a game that was, to me, very niche, from a studio that went bankrupt AND from 2005, is incredible. For a game like that to get a fully voiced remake almost twenty year after the release of its first installment, with most of the old crew working on them is to be celebrated ! Even if I didn't like everything, they still did an amazing job and I'm glad to see the franchise alive again in 2024.

I have strong feelings and I feel the need to share them to see if someone "relates" or not.

I may talk about spoilers but I'll try to limit them, be vague and put a warning before and after if I state it clearly.

Soo, now that this "introduction is over ~

In this essay I will

I have a LOT to say about Another Code Recollection. Good and Bad. Sadly, I have more things to say about the bad than the good. I have mixed feeling about it. I was very VERY excited when Recollection was first announced, I cried even, because I care about "Another Code Two Memories" and "Another Code R" A LOT, it's my childhood, they're in my top fav games list, they were very meaningful to me and I was sad it ended with Cing and with no hope of seeing the conclusion of Matthew's story. Even tho I was happy, I was still a bit scared about how they would adapt some of the puzzle on the switch. And I think I was right to have this fear. They did some cool things and others that I disliked.

I'll say my "+" and "-" and develop them further bellow each point.

+ Positive :

The graphism They're very nice, the characters's models are nicely done, the scenery and everything else is definitely a BIG glow up (mostly compared to the DS graphics)

The Redesign I like some of them a LOT, big glow up for almost everyone. I particularly love Charlotte and Janet. Charlotte finally looks her age! I kinda miss the old Matthew but his new version is also good.

Puzzles use the Switch motions thingy Just a few of them tho. I think that's cool, because they sadly don't use it very much in other games. And it's nice to see them try to replicate the same feeling you had with the DS and Wii games.

Confirmation of theories and new bits of story It's nice to see that after all these years. /!\SPOILER/!\ I'm thinking about Frannie's relative. /!\END OF SPOILER/!\

Musics They nailed the music; it still has that nostalgic and lonely vibe for Two Memories and the carefree with a hint of sadness vibe in R.

Voice Acting A very nice addition and very well done. I know there's English Dub but I played it with the Japanese voices. And being able to choose between them is nice.

Possibility to switch language That's maybe a very "me" + point, but the fact that I could change the game in every language available is cool. Even more for the jp, cause now if I want to I could try and practice my reading skills because there's an option to have katakana and hiragana on top of kanji. I just think that's neat.

Hint mode I just tried it in the tutorial but I think it's a nice touch for when you don't know where to go or how to resolve a puzzle.

Relationship between Ashley and D The way they would mimic each other poses was all I ever wanted. I love them a lot and seeing them being a little bit closer than I remember them to be in the DS version was great !

Art The new sprites are very pretty and it's nice to see the improvement the artist made. The endcredits was very pretty !

Flowchart & Map I like to see flowchart in any type of game, it's helpfull and pretty. I like that it was updated along with the story. And I also enjoy the map and the little commentary Ashley was "writing" on it.

End of Part 1

---

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4

[apollolewis]

My recommendation on farming games. In no particular order part 1. I might do another one

1. A wonderful life all versions the Original, Another wonderful life (the female version), special or story of seasons. They’re all good. There’s slight difference between the og game and remake that I don’t like that much, mostly character redesigns, the animals not dying from anything, and not being able to keep Murray/Pui Pui from stealing from your farm by raising friendship. I’d say to get the version you can get or the one you really want. In the new one you can marry anyone regardless of gender and have a non-binary farmer or do what I did and have a feminine farmer with he/him pronouns.

2. Harvest moon DS and/or DS cute. The main differences between these two are that ds has a male farmer and ds cute has a female farmer. So honestly get which one you want. The Official English release of ds cute you can’t be “roommates” wit the special bachelorettes and in DS you can’t marry the Witch princess due to a bug. The game is also weirdly enough one of the harder harvest moon games to complete since you need to use a guide to figure out half of the harvest sprites.

3. Stardew Valley (of course) stardew is a good introduction to farming slice of life games and is probably one of the most popular in the west at least. The game isn’t nearly as brutal as harvest moon games are and it is very nice to play until I go into the caverns. My only complaint is that the life after marriage and late game in general can be boring. And unlike a lot of harvest moon games your children are basically furniture that runs around. You could be on year 100 and they’d still be babies.

4. Run factory 4, I like all of the main numbered runs factory games, but 4 is the first one in played. Rune factory is a fantasy version of harvest moon. It has combat and a story line. In this game you can play as a guy or girl. The female mc seems a lot more canon so I recommend her. You can either get the 3Ds version, switch and it’s also on steam. There’s some extra content in the switch/pc version, but like awl it’s just get the version you can.

5. Kynseed, is a fairy tale inspired farming game. The game is a bit hard to explain but you start off as a character, you can choose male or female. And from there you have a set amount of time to live after the prologue, after you die one of your children takes over. I’m that far into the game but the humor alone makes me want to recommend it. It’s made by the Fabel devs so if you played those games you probably know the humor style.

[getallemeralds]

what happens in the sonc ass bazooka games. i have never played crash bandicoot. i have two cash banooca cartridges (one for either gba/ds and one for switch) but i have only touched the switch version for five seconds. what happens in the sonic's ass games

absolutely thrilled at the first sentence of this ask. crash does get a bazooka btw i dont remember if ive said that yet

UM OK SO in the first game crash is an experiment by dr cortex to try and make an army of super-furries but the brainwashing fails on him so crash bails and then realizes "oh no i left my girlfriend :(" so he goes All The Way Back to fight cortex and rescue tawna (who then didnt appear in any other games for a very long time)

gameplay-wise, you go through a bunch of levels with different themes (jungle, water, spooky bridge, spooky castle, ancient ruins, toxic waste factory, etc) and break boxes as you go to get gems that unlock optional side paths and a 100% ending. crash can only take 1 hit before he dies but he can collect masks to give himself an extra hit or two and if he gets 3 masks then he becomes invincible for a bit. it sometimes gets described as a sidescroller but Forwards? bc the level design is very straightforward and corridor-ish, but i never found it feeling too restrictive or anything

in the second game cortex is like HEY. CRASH. I KNOW YOU HATE ME BUT UHHHMMMM GET ME 25 CRYSTALS OR THE EARTH IS GONNA BLOW UP :( NOT BC OF ME THO IM GONNA FIX IT I SWEAR and crash goes 👍 and then finds out that actually cortex is lying out his ass and needs the crystals to power his orbital space laser. and then crash blows it up

this is also the game that introduces warp rooms as the level hubs!! bc crash 1 had a Map you'd traverse (which crash 4: it's about time brought back) but a lot of crash games starting with 2 have rooms with portals you go through and i like the crash 2 warp room a Lot because each level entrance is subtly styled based off of what type of level it is! like uhh the ruin levels have an entrance that looks kinda like the statues in it, and each floor of the warp room has a different visual aesthetic that matches the different level themes (snowy, sewer, space, space 2 this time with a jetpack, stream, statue ruins, s... sforest. Man)

the third game is the one i Actually Owned As A Kid and its got TIME TRAVEL !! WAOW cortex and his buddies are messing around in different time periods trying to get the crystals Again so crash and his sister coco have to try and get them first! i like cbc3 a lot, its really fun, also it's the one where crash gets a bazooka. and a motorcycle. and a plane. coco steals a tiger

(it also introduces my FAVORITE VILLAIN GUY, dingodile!! i was very bad at his bossfight as a kid)

HOWEVER the one that ive been mentioning me playing on here is the switch remake of Crash Team Racing, which is. not like any of those. because those are all collect-a-thon platformers. CTR is a kart racing game. with the plot being... what did i tell sion hold on

(i also owned the original as a kid and i was obsessed with it about as much as i was obsessed with crash 3. i was also very terrible at it so its very fun having the remake as an adult and having the nostalgia plus "oh im way better at this now")

uhhh after that it's like. crash gets an evil brother named crunch that barely gets to do anything after he becomes a good guy (he cameos in twinsanity and like. talks in titans ig? he doesn't really contribute to the plot. and gets possessed in mind over mutant.), cortex accidentally pisses off some birds from another dimension that are trying to take over the multiverse so he has to work with crash For Real This Time, cortex makes a bunch of really powerful mutant furries and builds a giant robot to do .. something..? and kidnaps coco and then gets upstaged by his evil-er niece nina (and everybody got redesigns that are very polarizing. im still mad that tiny got changed from a tasmanian tiger / thylacine to a normal tiger), cortex manages to mind control everybody but crash with vr headsets (i guess?? i didnt play those last two) so crash beats him up and the cutscenes have a lot of different art styles which is kinda cool, and then the current developers (bc crash keeps getting tennised around between developers) decided to roll all of that back and made a new timeline branching off of crash 3 where cortex and his time travel buddy n. tropy break time and space and crash needs to collect the quantum masks with power over time and space to fix it (and also tawna is back! except its an alt dimension version of her and shes super cool)

[crash 1 finishing a level voice] WHEW

[wildflowercryptid]

I've been seeing your AWL posts lately and am thinking about playing the regular AWL myself! :D Your posts about Gustafa are so lovely. Is there any reason you picked him out of the other bachelors!

oh, you totally should! i'm not sure exactly how different the remake is from the original, but if the characters and gameplay mechanics are still similar enough, i'd definitely recommend checking it out. it's a fresh breath of air after playing more recent entries in the series. i do know that the remake does has some quailty-of-life improvements and changes some things about the characters beyond just redesigns ( like lumina being the same age as the protag from the start for example. )

if you ever wanna play the remake, though, xseed does run sales from time to time on the story of seasons games for switch and steam. i'd recommend looking out for one of those sales if you wanna grab it!

BUT YEAH. GUSTAFA, MY BELOVED... 💖✨

while i haven't played the original awl, i had read up on the characters before since it's such an iconic entry from the bokumono series and i was curious about them. honestly, gustafa's always kinda stood out to me since i usually love characters that are generally laid-back, appreciate life & nature, and are on the weirder side. ( *gestures at emily from sdv and jennifer from the fomt remake* ) his design feels really unique when compared to marlin and rock, too. i just thought he was a neat dude and made a mental note to try romancing him if i ever played awl or ds cute. plus, he reminded me a lot of snufkin from the moomin series, who i also adore, so that probably influenced my initial impression on him a bit, too.

i did go into the remake thinking that i might try going for gustafa, but i still wasn't sure if he was the character i was going to end up with. awl has a lot of interesting characters ( and a lot of cute girls ) so i thought someone else might swoop in and become my fave. but then i started talking to gustafa and getting his events... i was done for pretty quick, as you may have saw. 😔 he's just really pleasant to talk to and i really love that his events generally involve the two of you enjoying each other's company, admiring nature, and him sharing his passion for music with you. but, i think the moment that really sealed my fate was asking him to the fireworks festival and being bombarded by how much rizz he freaking has. when he hit tris with "i think we'll both have some sweet dreams tonight" after the show ended, it was over. he really has my heart in a death grip at this point...

oh, and he makes this face when you ask him out to the festivals.

( he literally goes 😳, i love it so much... )

i proposed to him last night, ( i haven't gotten his engagement event yet since i haven't picked up the game yet today,) and i'm almost done with the first year. i've been having a lot of fun with this game and i'm really excited to play through more of it — especially with gustafa by tris's side. 😊✨

[catfoxposts-blog]

Decided to do something simple considering I posted & drew a lot of original art last month. The first ever Kirby game I owned was Kirby: Squeak Squad got it Christmas day along with my DS (I also got Pokemon Ranger & Pac-Man world 3. There was also a Snoopy & Woodstock plush sitting on top of the present it was wrapped in. The Snoopy plush also had a portable radio on it.) Word on the street is that Squeak Squad is one of the more generic Kirby games and I can understand as to why but regardless I still enjoy the game.

One of the copy abilities that originated from Squeak Squad I'm shocked hasn't returned yet was Bubble. (Also Animal was really cool and that should come back as well.) Bubble is a cute idea & look for Kirby, in Squeak Squad bubbles are used to hold copy abilities & health items so it was made with functionality in mind.

I decided to draw the enemy that grants the power Bubble-head along with Kirby like they were an ally from Superstar or Star Allies. Bubble-head is a redesign of Hot-Head an enemy that looks near identical to Q*Bert.

Getting a grasp on how to design Bubble Kirby's hat was a bit hard, the official art looks like a showercap with bubbles coming out on top but the sprite looks like a curved hat with bubbles foaming on top.