#if found

[taxbywaxworth]

YOU play video games to feel powerful. I play video games to feel new, previously undiscovered shades of grief and sadness. we are NOT the same.

[rainbowravioli]

↳ Video Games played in 2023 Part 1

[casual-praxis]

“Those awful, ravenous rainbows.”

Shadow’s Slime Rancher AU design is finally complete! I may have procrastinated getting it done a little, but ironically he’s the only one whose design I had completely figured out. I can already tell he's going to be a pain to draw more than once lmao.

(Sorry if this one looks wonky, I drew it entirely on my phone instead of sketching on paper like I usually do. It did not make the process any faster sadly.)

I intended for him to have both Tarr inspiration as well as hunter slime, but the bulk of it ended up being Tarr related and the only potential nods are the yellow stripes on his pants and the claws on his gloves. Very impractical, but Shadow doesn't really do the normal ranching stuff anyway.

As always, more details about him below the cut!

+ Shadow was the second person to arrive at the shared ranch, although the gap between his arrival time and Red's was much shorter than the one between him and Vio. As a result, he was still learning the ropes alongside Red for a while. This helped the two bond while also driving Vio slightly (more) insane.

+ While he does find the slimes to be cute, Shadow much prefers the vibe of the Tarr, hence his jacket theming. The others don't really understand his choices, but so long as he doesn't intentionally bring one back to the range, they don't mind it.

+ Everyone had their outfits tailored by Shadow. It's just one of his many miscellaneous unconnected talents. He can also play the piano, speak three different languages, do a perfect split (among other things), and partially keep up with Vio in the lab. Asking about where he learned any of these things gets a wildly different explanation each time.

+ Shadow pays the most attention to the plort market. He goes to the board immediately after breakfast to check what's going on with it for the day, despite the fact he doesn't have any slimes of his own. Depending on what's high value, he'll hunt down whoever has said high-value plorts and let them know it's time to crash the market.

If he doesn't have a stream planned, or has time to spare before one, he'll spend that time helping move plorts where they need to be.

+ Streaming is something Shadow had always been passionate about, but he just wasn't getting any traction back on Earth. It was hard to stand out even with his odd assortment of skills, so that's how he ended up moving to the Far, Far Range. With literally no one else to compete with, he very quickly found success in livestreaming his day-to-day there.

As a nice bonus, he does genuinely enjoy being out on the range. His viewers mostly stick around for him and his wacky roommates at this point, even if a few more streamers have popped up in the area since.

+ One of the first things Shadow ever said to Red was, "Vio is lying. He has more than one," with absolutely zero follow up context. Like, more than one what? Slimes? Plorts?? It took him a bit, but he did figure it out eventually. Green and Blue are still in the dark, but Shadow finds their confusion hilarious, even more so since Vio won't explain either.

+ Pretty much right from the get-go, Shadow was flirting with everyone. The other's always had such funny reactions to it, he wasn't even mad when he caught actual feelings for them. Vio would flirt back harder (which Shadow was not expecting), Red always took a moment to realize he was being flirted with (to which he'd start fumbling through his own attempts before laughing at how silly it sounded), Green would get incredibly embarrassed (Shadow was delighted to find out Green's ears light up too), and Blue similarly got embarrassed (but brushed it off a lot quicker and would usually chase Shadow off).

No surprise, Shadow was the first one to suggest they all date each other. By the time he mentioned it, they were all basically married anyway. All their stuff was merged and it's not like anyone was going to move out. Plus, different pairings kept getting caught doing couply-stuff, might as well make it official.

+ He gets lost most often, to the point where Green constantly has to go out and look for him. It's a running joke on his streams that whenever Shadow tries to show chat something he found in a different direction than he was originally heading, one of the mods needs to start a prediction (point-based betting poll) on whether or not they should call for Green now or later.

Green is attempting to get Vio's help in making a tracker for these specific situations, but negotiations keep falling through.

"You can't make him wear a collar, Vio, that's demeaning."

"It fits his brand. I don't think he'd mind."

"Why's it have to be a collar? Can't it be something less weird?"

"It's symbolic."

"No."

(A collar may or may not actually be added to his design. It can even have a little nameplate on it with instructions on how to deal with the lost little feral cat should anyone find him, because Vio thinks he's funny.)

[videogamepolls]

Requested by anon

[prairiepoppy]

[whisper-and-tangle]

If Found is 50% off rn and im BEGGING everyone to play it. It's a story-driven visual novel about an aromantic tgirl in 90s Ireland trying to survive after leaving her abusive family. I can't say much as it's best to go in blind, but GOSHH I TOTES CANNOT recommend tghis game thignys enoughs:3:33:33!!11X333

The game's description gives a better explanation of it than I ever could.

If Found... is a game about going home, coming out, and erasing everything.

It's one of the best queer visual novels I've ever played and if you're transgender this WILL make you cry/silly

I genuinely can't recommend this enough. Go in blind. pls. this game is only 3 or so hours long but it's an experience i think everyone should play. PRETY PLEASEESSPLSPLSPLSPSLSSS:3:3:33!!1X3333

[camfusedly]

There is no way to verify this but I swear this did happen: I opened my computer, saw this image, and thought, while totally suspecting to be wrong, "Oh, it's the Irish coast, like in If Found" AND IT WAS ACHILL ISLAND. THE SPECIFIC ISLAND WHERE IF FOUND IS SET.

[shortonegaming]

Join us Saturday, June 24 as we celebrate Pride Month with a 12-hour charity stream on Twitch! We’ll be raising money for The Trevor Project and featuring games with queer narratives and/or by queer creatives. Come hang with us for a good cause!

https://www.twitch.tv/shortonegaming

[oldfilmsflicker]

new-to-me #566 - If Found

[caramel-lamb]

Я ВСПОМНИЛА одну невероятную игру! Она как новелла на час, но у нее так классно продумано повествование!!!! Игра IF FOUND, если вы устали или вам тяжко сейчас очень советую. Да и если хорошо тоже! Ставлю мизинчик, что она оставит после себя что-то в вашем сердце.

Про нее очень мало кто знает, но я очень хочу чтобы ее заметили!

[first-impressions-gaming]

If Found...

Developed by Dreamfeel

Published by Annapurna

Release Date 2021

Tested on PC (16 GB RAM, Ryzen 7 7735, RTX 4060)

MSRP 12,99 USD

Humans do connect and communicate what they speak and convey, but what is unsaid and kept to oneself carry the same weight. What we have, after all, is words, nothing more. To understand one, trying to get through them is an attempt beyond comprehension sometimes. What we have is to try our best, do our best, be our best. If Found asks these questions, and it asks them in the best angle you can possibly think of. Welcome to Achill Island.

Here’s the opening scene welcoming you:

If Found takes place in 1993 in Achill Island, Ireland. The game has a handful of references let it be local and Irish language, these references are presented in a natural way and you will find footnotes in relevant scenes with explanations. What you will realize first is the phenomenal aesthetic and artistry in the game, the whole game is a visual novel, and as the player you progress in the game by erasing what is on screen, and you move on. The design choice you will find here is more of hand-drawn pictures and caricatures and landscapes with great attention to detail. By erasing you progress and this makes the game feel like this is an entire canvas and we keep going by erasing what’s behind us and draw what is present right there. The game’s silent narration speaks so much with this way, of course as the player you will be playing ‘as’ the main character, yet more often than not you will…an observer let’s say. You are the one who is witnessing what’s unravelling in front of you rather than what’s happening to you.

The game has one story on two planes: first one, and I will call this ‘main’ one, is with Kasio, a trans woman who is on the cusp of getting a scholarship for PhD in Dublin. Kasio returns to her hometown, Achill Island, to visit her family and just to see what’s waiting for her. The second one deals with a female astronaut who is named Cassiopeia. She finds a black hole which threatens to destroy entire planet if it is not to be prevented, and the only way to prevent the earth being sucked into the black hole is to find the exact location on the world that has this extraordinary power to stop this possible event. The two storylines get connect to one another in a nicely way through the ending and you won’t be left with questions.

Take a look here at Kasio’s diary and ‘eraser’ game mechanic:

During the game, we witness Kasio’s notes and drawings in her diary, she takes notes of everything, her surroundings, event, people, her feelings, ideas, thoughts and much more. As I touched upon, we erase what is on Kasio’s diary as well to progress. Diary is the most personal belonging for a person, it is where a person opens themselves to themselves, and maybe to entire planet. It is personal because it is a safe zone for the one, and we keep erasing and erasing what is said, drawn and thought. Erasing and moving on makes it feel like you are always starting with a clean slate, a fresh start. But no. Not in Kasio’s life. We erase, and we still cannot leave behind…what’s behind. They haunt us. Kasio’s dad passed away couple of years ago, we don’t know exactly how many years passed but Kasio mentions that she was in class in high school when it happened, therefore at least six to seven years must have passed thinking that she is trying to get the scholarship for PhD. Ever since her dad’s passing away, nothing has been the same between Kasio and her mom and sibling. Apart from her family members, Kasio comes across couple of strangers who are younger than her, they also identify themselves as outcasts or outsiders of Achill Island, who don’t fit in this small town’s standards and norms, and they are queer as well. They crash temporarily on this abandoned house in a remote location on the island, and Kasio joins them shortly and she gets to know them closer. For a fleeting moment, we witness thinking that ‘yes, this is a group of young adults who can get through anything and overcome any hardship if they stick together’ but no, as much as I wanted to believe in this, the reality and real life slap you hard. Yes, they are outsiders in this town like Kasio, but they are not going through what Kasio been. A close-knit group of friends may seem they won’t drift apart no matter what, yet…life happens and you go separate ways. Each member of the group grow apart and they will seem a stranger to Kasio once more. The narration is so powerful that you get the gist of it: when you meet a total stranger, at first stage you feel ‘yes, this is the person who gets me!’, but this is not permanent, the next moment you know they are the most distant human being to you for no reason. Kasio is not trying to find a safe port for her, she is trying to steer ship of hers in this chaotic ocean, every time she finds a port to rest for a short time, she gets kicked out, and she is on her own once more, numerous times. Without spoiling the story for you I’ll throw some quotes from the game at you. Remember, I said that understanding somebody is the key to everything, if you don’t get it, what’s more to say? What’s more to try? To achieve? 

“I just want to be normal, Kasio. And I’ll never be normal with you”.

“You are the biggest freak around that’s for sure.”

“Oh god, you are really lost.”

“You are making life difficult for yourself.”

All these lines, sentences spoken to Kasio mean only one thing: you don’t belong here, you don’t belong inside our borders, our determined lines.

As a trans woman, Kasio is up against everything and everybody including her family members and ones whom she thought had understood her. But no, alas. Her family is ashamed of her because she is this ‘freak’ who dresses ‘funny’ and shows up at family Christmas dinner with women's clothes. A closeted queer rejects being associated with Kasio because he thinks that he is just in a phase and once the phase is over, he can be ‘normal’ and he cannot be ‘normal’ with a trans woman. She is the talk of town and he will be also the talk of town if he is with Kasio. Kasio is this scape-goat, she is a clown. She is not ‘normal’. Kasio is ‘lost’, she is not herself, actually she is not himself according to her mother. Kasio must be a ‘he’ in order not to be ‘lost’, not this stranger who is putting on women's clothes with long hair. Kasio is also accused of ‘making life difficult for’ her. How can somebody be accused of being…themselves? According to her mother, she has to be a ‘he’, be the person that she raised for twenty-three years, not this weird ‘she’, build a family, have children, and live. Kasio is not okay with this, she openly rejects having the life her mother and father have had. Regardless of with whom Kasio tries to connect, nobody gets her. Her family members think she is ‘lost’, and this must be stopped. People she met recently avoid being associated with her in the long run because there is already rumours doing the rounds in the town. Kasio is expendable, she is ‘lost’, ‘making life difficult for’ her, clearly not ‘normal’, and on top of everything she’s a ‘freak’. That’s a lot… a lot for a person who wants to live as she wishes.

And I want to end this review with this heart-warming scene:

If Found grabs you in every moment, it does not hold anything back, the serene and clean narration coupled with amazing aesthetic design is everything a visual novel enthusiast could hope for. Dive into Kasio’s diary and accompany her.

[prairiepoppy]

[trans-ralsei]

[ryderdire]

Really interesting thing I glimpsed on rednote today

I think We- we’re developing international class consciousness 

[camfusedly]

If Found (a visual novel about a trans girl who returns home to an Irish island, and also a black hole may or may not be about to destroy the earth) is so pretty it makes me angry