#it does‚ still‚ add a LOT of polygons

[ssspringroll]

not half bad indeed.

[ouroborosorder]

VFX ask! You've mentioned before that Jessica the Liberated has notably good bullet and glass shattering VFX, would you be willing to break down what makes them stand out?

Okay yes absolutely I will, and in order to do so, I am going to briefly talk about Arknights' history of guns because this is my feed and you can't stop me. This one will probably be long. I wanted it to be short. But it is not.

Guns in AK's worldbuilding are extremely rare, with only Blacksteel, Lateran, and collab ops wielding guns. So there's a sort of weight towards making the rare gun wielder... feel like they're using a gun, making them feel distinct from a crossbow.

Early on, AK did this in a very very simple way. Simple, single color muzzle flash, impact spark, no visible projectile. All the guns worked hitscan, which did really help to sell the illusion of a gun, it hits instantly.

Exusiai even amps it up a little and adds a visible bullet trail when she's in Unloading Mode!

But for a time, because of how rare guns were, that was kinda... It. After Nacho Cheese Executor, the next wielder of a traditional gun was the Rainbow 6 Siege Operators?? Really??

R6S is extremely important. Being from a shooter-ass shooter game, they had a lot of reason to make them feel like real guns. So what does Ash do? Well!

That's a VISIBLE BULLET baby!

It's WILD that removing the single biggest trait about guns - that they are instant - does a LOT to actually help sell that it is a Real Gun.

But on top of that, they do a few interesting things. The muzzle flash isn't just a single flash, it's a semi-realistic looking muzzle flash that also releases sparks. The bullet trail emits sparks as well, eschewing AK's stylization for the sake of making it feel like a Real Bullet Trail. This really helps sell the

Even on the impact, there's no Textures or traditional bursts to be found - instead it is black, white, and red sparks alongside a very very layered flash of light. This is really unique in AK, and it serves brilliantly to juxtapose the R6S ops within the world of Terra, while still being over-the-top enough to fit in within the game's cartoony artstyle.

What's interesting is that these choices carried forwards in the future! Enforcer has very realistic-looking muzzle smoke with Ash's black/white/red sparks. Meanwhile, Insider has a visible bullet and sparks coming out of the muzzle flash!

Also I just barely noticed while writing this but all the Lateran use the shape of their wings as part of their effects! Exusiai's bullet trails are triangular like her wings, Ezell's impacts are dark iregular polygons with a lip like his, Insider's trail is rectangular like his, and Cool Ranch Executor's shots are shattered diamonds that fade to black as they get closer to him. Neat!! That's SUPER fucking cool.

(Also notable is that Exusiai and Ezell's effects are the only lateran guns that don't have a predominantly white aesthetic. Just a little treat for Exu Errari Believers)

So, with a history of four ops with Real Guns and a bunch with weird magic guns, how do you make an operator whose gimmick is that she is definitively Terran who also uses a fuck ton of Guns?

Jessica's muzzle flash is a realistic-esque flash that quickly fades into a burst texture. She gives off a few sparks like Ash does, but there are few of them, and they're really large for stylization. Also her bullet is much larger, but is distinctly a realistic bullet.

I wish so badly I could get footage of this one properly but an image will have to do. The trail of the bullet is a rotating mesh spiralling like the bullet is rotating. Also the bullet itself is glowing, allowing it to stand out better against the background.

And when it hits, hooooly shit. There's blurry, semi-realistic looking light textures flying off the enemy, sparks, and the same hitflash she has on her muzzle flash (cool asset reuse there!) They went all out to show the impact of her shot, since it is a Real Ass gun.

AND ALL THIS FLAIR AND DRAMA FOR JUST HER NORMAL ATTACK. THIS IS OFF-SKILL. When she's on-skill...

WHOO. WHOOOO. WHOOOO.

The muzzle flashes become longer to sell a BIG impact, but they last MUCH shorter (this muzzle flash lasts one single frame), since all her skills are rapid-fire, making it feel like bigger shots in less time. The impacts become ABSURDLY BIG. And then. My absolute favorite part of the whole thing.

(These are Not The Texture, but a similar, oft-mistaken cousin of The Texture.)

This fucking followthrough. Every hit on an enemy creates a burst of shattered glass and fire. I would not have thought of adding EITHER of these, but I love it. It's a great call to her art, it's unique and distinct, and even though it can be "where is the glass coming from" it's so cool i don't care. I literally saw it and gasped and went "I have never seen this before." It adds great color contrast, conveys the armor-piercing nature of her bullets, adds unique shapes, makes it look more chaotic, I can't praise these glass shards enough, I love them, they're so cool.

Fortunately for you, Jessica's skills all kinda look the same, so I don't have much more to say about this. I like that her S3's muzzle flashes create more chaotic sparks, creating the look of a wild, uncontrollable spray and pray strat. I like that she fires multiple shots and muzzle flashes but only shoots one bullet, but you rarely ever notice it because of the weight of the impact.

But I have one final thing to say.

BEHIND HER IN HER S3 SHE HAS AN ACTUAL ROILING, BURNING, MOVING FLAME. WHY IS HOEDERER BEING SHOWN UP BY JESSICA. WHAT THE FUCK.

[utilitycaster]

@rowzeoli replied to your post “@rowzeoli replied to your post “Do you think part...”:

There's a lot to tackle on this so I'll do my best to cover it all! So I totally get where you're coming from and to be fair yes there are some things in old articles that I don't agree with any more in deeming people having done things "first" which is part of the issue of not having a collective historical memory around actual play as it moves so quickly. Most of the issue isn't that readership is down it's that AI and venture capitalism is destroying journalism

​

Hey, sorry for taking a bit to respond; it's been a hectic week and I wanted to give it some thought and time.

I'll start off with the good: I really do, again, appreciate you engaging here, and on the strength of that alone I am going to at least give Rascal's free articles a good solid chance for a while; I have been, admittedly, tarring it with the brush of a lot of frustrations (see below) and I know it's relatively new and still finding its place and should get a bit more of my patience. I also should note that while your article did hit on a lot of the patterns that have turned me - and no small amount of others - off of a lot of AP/TTRPG journalism it is by no means the worst example. The things you credited Burrow's End for are, admittedly, more obscure single-episode events within a huge body of work. Or in other words: there are bylines in the space that make me go "oh this is going to be bad" and yours is not one of them.

With that said: I'm sorry, but Polygon's bias is not a matter of time crunch or lack of funding. There is no way that a time crunch or lack of funding would consistently, over years (this was already word on the street at latest when EXU Calamity came out almost 2 years ago) result in a message of "D20 can do no wrong, and Critical Role rarely does right." If it were throwing out harsh criticism or glowing praise for a wide variety of shows, sure, that seems like it could come from not having a lot of time...but this goes beyond coincidence. It's a reputation that long precedes your entry into the field. As some others in the replies have noted, I might have written the most about it on Tumblr, but it's at this point not an uncommon observation. This also isn't an issue for other publications in a similar "nerd stuff" space - there's plenty of articles on, say, Dicebreaker or Comicbook.com that I don't care for, either because I disagree with the opinion or I think the analysis isn't really worthwhile, but those tend to at least have a mix of positive and critical articles about most shows. When I said you could treat Polygon articles like Madlibs, I meant it. And so I think it's great that you are no longer chasing "groundbreaking", for example, is not a solid ground for an article, but this also is showing me that even relatively new journalists are, very early on, starting with this exact formula. In some ways, that's more damning.

I do also want to add that I'm again, sympathetic to the lack of resources and to coming into a field with passionate and nitpicky fans who have been here for years. Not knowing about a single Critical Role one-shot from 2018 is something that I'd have been much more lenient about if it weren't hitting those repetitive notes of "D20 is great/this thing is groundbreaking/look at the production values." But the other article I posted, also from Polygon but not written by you, is, to be honest, pretty inexcusable. I get there's a lot of lost institutional memory...but either being unaware of, or ignoring the fact that there are a huge number of long-running actual play podcasts that play longform campaigns? That's pretty much on par, in terms of whether your audience trusts you, of the New York Times international news desk not being able to locate Russia on a map (though obviously with far less serious real-world ramifications). (The fact that this was written by a prominent actual play scholar meanwhile is like, I don't know, Neil DeGrasse Tyson not knowing how gravity works, but that's a separate topic).

And again, I get these are your colleagues. I have the luxury of being able to run my mouth without putting my livelihood at stake, and that's not true for people within the industry. I do not expect you to say anything ill about them, nor would I judge any specific individual for getting published in Polygon since I get that people are pitching to a number of sites so that they can get paid! But when I say "Polygon's AP/TTRPG coverage is at needs-a-change-of-leadership levels of bad" I am not alone in this, and it's something that has probably been true for easily 3+ years if not longer. Because it's one of the more prominent publications in the space (ironically, due to Justin McElroy of TAZ being a founder, and the fact that its videogame division is quite good and has had some viral videos, it had enviable name recognition among AP fans that it's only squandered since) it really is at a point where hitting that same formula in any AP journalism - claiming everything is groundbreaking, putting an emphasis on high production values, D20 good and CR bad - makes fans go "oh, more of this bullshit." I don't want to say you can't talk about these things - I definitely do not want to say that you cannot criticize Critical Role - but that specific well is has been poisoned for a long time. If someone hits these points it feels, whether or not it is true, that they're trying to be provocative by going against popular fan opinion, but are simultaneously just saying the same thing we've seen a million times before.

I believe wholeheartedly that from your perspective the competition is AI - and I don't want AI articles either. On the other hand, in terms of what I think fans who are in my position are turning to, it's not AI articles (I'm certainly not). If I want analysis, I'm probably, at this point, going to social media; I am not the only person who writes longform meta or analysis for fun, and I'll seek others who do out. I'm not personally a video essay person, but plenty are, and that's out there too. I'm not going there for reporting on news (I think the Dnd Shorts OGL debacle made it clear that actual journalists are very necessary) but yeah, if I want criticism or analysis? I'm going there instead, especially since there often is that missing institutional memory. If I do want journalism, at this point, some of the bigger shows are getting writeups in less niche publications, particularly Critical Role and D20, as is news of more major tabletop games. It's infrequent and it doesn't highlight indie works, but it tends to be, if nothing else, lacking in major errors or obvious bias. If I want to hear from cast members, at least four of the shows I watch or listen to have regular talkback shows, and Dropout regularly talks to AP/TTRPG figures on Adventuring Academy, and a lot of those shows take viewer questions. Which, again, probably not heartening to hear the competition is even tighter, but I guess my point is I hope it's possible, even with very limited resources, to move away from the above "novelty and production values above all" pattern because even that would do a lot of needed work to rebuild reader trust - and I'm going to be checking out Rascal in the hopes that it can.

[someblakearts]

Astral Express from Honkai Star Rail

Here's a first look at my print of the Astral Express from Hoyoverse's latest game, Honkai Star Rail. I've just finished sculpting the Engine of the train and given it a quick print on my Elegoo Mars 3 Pro.

It's just shy of 10m polygons and contains all the details and decals usually lost in the texture for 3D printing. The mesh was recreated by hand to smoothen the surfaces and chamfer those edges and get everything printing nice and clean. It's also a bit of a beast, sitting at over 55cm end-to-end!

The initial print revealed some flaws in my original design. One thing I've noticed is that my current choice of resin (Elegoo 8k Water Washable) seems to warp a little too easily on curing. Flatter parts of the print warped towards the back a little, so I reinforced them in the STLs. I also added some internal supports to some of the thinner tubing and accessories towards the front of the engine. They were pretty solid, but I just wanted to make sure they held well, given how brittle resin can be. I also realised there needed to be some way to connect the front of the engine to the cylinder/revolver part, so added in some insets for the final mesh that aren't in my print.

The cylinder for the revolver is a separate mesh. This has the nice bonus of allowing that part of the model to spin freely. It's not functional (would be great to add some kind of lights and internal stepper motor to get it spinning by itself) but it's kinda cool.

I also experimented with 'contact spheres' for this point. Small spherical meshes that go between the support and the print (hoping to reduce damage when removing supports). Have to say I'm not convinced at the moment that they help any. It leaves little nodules on EVERY support point and they still create pocket if you snip off the blob. Sanding does give a cleaner finish but it's hard to sand these little spheres as they catch and tear the sandpaper. Perhaps I need to toy with the contact size a little more.

If you want to try printing this yourself you can now find the STLs over on my new MyMiniFactory or my new Cults3D pages. There's lots on the page for free but you can use the code blaketoys50 for 50% off! Be sure to dig around the page as you can find both the engine and the carriage parts.

What else would you want to see from #hoyoverse's universe? Any particular games or prints you'd be excited to have on your shelf? Feel free to comment!

[cheatingexploitation]

Hm. Been meaning to interact more with the dave n bambi community here on tumblr

so uh... thoughts on dave if you havent said them already? Hes my personal favourite

DAVE!! i don't think i have talked about him here, no. he used to be my #1 favourite but that position got, uh... taken... still a close second though ^_^

i don't actually think he's CONSTANTLY miserable and sad. sometimes, yes, while working on fucked up secret machines, definitely, but i think most of the time he does come across as friendly and nice and that's not a lie or anything he just never deals with the problems in a good way so they kind of bulldoze him is all.

the funny part, however: I'm much better at writing/drawing/etc. really really sad characters so I'm pretty sure it comes across as if i do think he's constantly horribly depressed. i don't think this is much of an issue it's just a little comical

he definitely has layers of issues though. like I'm pretty sure the rocket accident is also canon to dnb (need to check that though) then there's the void which is pretty distressing on its own because it has endangered other people before not just him then there's the machine which most likely also had a negative effect on his relationships considering how he got muko + maldo to work on the thing while also not telling them what it is then there's expunged then there's the whole lord bambi situation which on its own is fucked up but then add in that that whole group is not only still active but also Extremely Dangerous and man this guy has a lot to worry about you'd think he would just totally collapse but he doesn't. he keeps going. while he certainly is self destructive he also has the fortitude to keep it up and that's part of why i find him so fascinating now. even before I thought he was interesting but now? man

and then another thing, the way he gets really mad really fast... think how in the dave week, by song 2 he's actively annoyed but hiding it behind a layer of Something then he just absolutely freaks out in polygonized which, if interdimensional dislocation really does happen under large amounts of stress as dave himself noted, means that he got so stressed out from losing a rap battle that he teleported. he's fascinating I'm telling you

i do not actually think he is as... whatever he is in daves house. since that game is from tristan's perspective, i like to think the whole thing is how tristan interprets it. so, dave doesn't actually get that angry, but tristan thinks he is, the house isn't that tall but it seems like that to tristan because he's a kid, etc. but that's just my thoughts i dont think that's how it was supposed to come across

i could go on and on about what relationships i think he has with everyone but I can't at the moment and it's not exactly related so i will save that for another time. hope that is sufficiently dave thought for you regardless i think about him a lot

[weatherman667]

Darksiders:  Warmastered Edition

This follows the tradition of modern remasterered video games where they improve the fidelity of the graphics without improving the polygon count.  This creates a situation where the textures are a lot more beautiful, but the models are exactly the same.  Any problems with models stands out even more with the improved graphics fidelity.  Overall, yes, the graphics are better.

The problem is that the game is so utterly fantastic that I still 100% recommend it.

Darksiders is a game that combined the best of Legend of Zelda and Devil May Cry, and combined with elements from other games, made one of the best games every created.  There has honestly never been an Action-Adventure Metroidvania game as good as the original Darksiders.

It out Devil May Cry’s Devil May Cry.  It out Legend of Zelda’s Legend of Zelda, it out God of War’s God of War, it out Onimusha’s Onimusha.

The only Action Adventure games I would say are comparable are Ghost of Tsushima, and it’s direct Sequel, Darksiders II.

Ghost of Tsushima is a different enough game that it’s difficult to compare them directly, and is best to say they are both utterly fantastic games.

Darksiders II is not quite a good as the original, but definitely makes itself a completely different game, to the point it’s worth playing both of them.  Any other Darksiders game was not made by the same company, and is no where near in quality.

Dark Souls games are also different enough that it’s difficult to directly compare them.

Devil May Cry has had inconsistent games, and the HD collection doesn’t even let you remap the controls to the original form.  Seriously, seriously.  For the record, Devil May Cry game by order of quality.

Devil May Cry 3:  After the low-ball cash in sequel, this 100% took the Devil May Cry premise, and made it better.  Dante is younger.  They made his fighting style look rougher while being more useful.  It combined almost all of the best elements of the series.  Still, a few quibbles, (the American Normal difficulty was set to the Japanese Hard, Cerberus doesn’t have an Air Hike, and turning Ground Trip from one of the most useful abilities in the game to something that has never recovered).

Devil May Cry 5:  A saving throw after the incredibly annoying DMC4.  They made a fantastic effort to tie everything together in a great way, but it still isn’t as quite as good as 3.  Cavalier is now my favourite Devilarm, though.

Devil May Cry:  The original, and still mid on the list.  DMC was originally created as a control system for Leon Kennedy from Resident Evil, but it didn’t make any sense as an RE game.  The game did a lot of good, but they also just throw a bunch of other stuff against the window to see what hit.  Overall, still a great game.

Devil May Cry 4:  Play through it once.  That’s all you need.  It does have some wonderful elements that add to the series overall, but also has some really stupid/idiotic things.

Devil May Cry 2:  A cheap cash-in of the original.  Unlike 4, it doesn’t even have ANYTHING that really adds to the series.  Other than Dante’s two-headed coin.

[jcmarchi]

Crow Country Review - Comfort Food Horror - Game Informer

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/crow-country-review-comfort-food-horror-game-informer/

Crow Country Review - Comfort Food Horror - Game Informer

The Resident Evil series has redefined and refined survival horror in recent years, arguably single-handedly. However, as the venerable series continues to push the genre forward, a growing number of indie games are looking back to survival horror’s late ‘90s heyday for inspiration. Crow Country joins those ranks, offering a respectable nostalgic homage to the past. Veterans won’t encounter anything they haven’t seen, but the experience is comforting in its spooky familiarity.  

Developer SFB Games clearly understood its self-imposed assignment. Crow Country’s grainy, low-polygonal presentation faithfully evokes the PS1/N64 era while still establishing a unique charm, thanks to its doll-esque character designs. Thankfully, the studio stops short of replicating more archaic elements like the static camera angles of the time, opting for a much preferred 360-degree camera and free movement instead of tank controls. The presentation adds a nostalgic sinisterness to the game’s setting, a derelict amusement park called Crow Country. 

[embedded content]

As agent Mara Forest, you arrive in search of the park’s missing owner, Edward Crow, and quickly find it overrun by grotesque monsters of an unknown origin. Despite the game’s eerie vibes, scaredy cats shouldn’t fret; Crow Country isn’t anywhere near as terrifying as its Silent Hill/Resident Evil influences. That may be disappointing to horror aficionados – I count myself among them – but I didn’t mind. Outside of a few decent jump scares, the game is more about establishing an intriguing, oppressive mood, and that’s enough for me. The creatures look appropriately gross and unsettling despite having a strange cutesy charm due to the art direction. The writing has a good sense of humor that contrasts nicely with an otherwise dark and generally enjoyable mystery highlighted by a cool story twist. 

Blasting monsters with various firearms, such as a pistol, shotgun, and, if you search well enough, a magnum, feels adequate, and attachable laser sights add a contemporary assist. Evading enemies to conserve ammo is relatively easy, and the game is generous about keeping your clips full. This speaks to Crow Country’s wide approachability. It’s not challenging in regards to combat and inventory management, making it a great introduction to the genre for newcomers or a good option those wanting a lighter take on a typically tough gameplay style.

Another aspect in which SFB Games commits to Crow Country’s old-school approach is exploration and puzzle-solving. The game’s elaborate puzzles are generally clever and well-designed, but the real challenge is keeping track of over two dozen notes containing hints or solutions. That’s because you can only view these messages in save rooms, which creates a lot of backtracking to double-check an employee memo. The game’s condensed level design means a save room usually isn’t too far away, but running around did feel less convenient as my notebook expanded. To mitigate this, expect to jot down notes or take photos of clues with your phone. 

Additionally, intentionally cluttered environments easily hide useful items and clues, meaning it’s easy to miss things. Expect to hug the walls of every room to thoroughly comb them of their interactable elements (though the game does track how many secrets you find). As a long-time fan of the genre, I didn’t mind this nostalgic approach, and it never became a true hindrance. Consider this less a critique and more of a PSA to those hoping for a streamlined experience. 

Speaking of save rooms, the game’s intentional lack of autosaves means dying results in losing progress between your last visits. I was burned by this initially, having died before reaching the first save room and replaying the first 20 minutes. Again, your tolerance will vary; losing chunks of progress rarely becomes an issue if you’re diligent about saving. But if you’d rather not deal with that, Crow Country may be too faithfully retro for you. 

As reductive as it sounds, when it comes to delivering a classic survival horror experience, Crow Country is a good “one of those.” Familiar elements and tropes are well executed, and the succinct runtime of five to six hours is perfect for its smaller scope. I had fun reliving the genre’s golden years through Crow Country’s eyes; playing it feels like relaxing under a warm, blood-stained blanket. 

[lostplay]

Game 8: Neodori Forever (Jan 2024) Neodori Forever really does capture this really ascetically pleasing polygon look that both makes it look dated and a treat to the eyes. It's what charmed me into getting it, and it's what ultimately helped me push through this wonky game. Controls and track design are so fundamentally important to racing games that if you mess with it too much it can make the game unbearable. Sadly, Neodori does not have a proper sense of control nor does it use standard track design. Like I wish I could tell you the game gets challenging, but really the biggest challenge was the controls, and figuring out how to work the first initial tracks. It's not that there isn't track design, but there isn't unique track design. Like it's not exactly to the point that each track feels the same; it's the fact that they are never the same track twice in a row. For a racing game, memorizing track lay out is important as it helps you get better as you learn the game's deeper mechanics. Neodori however favors learning how to drift with it's simple controls, and while that's not inherently bad, THE FACT DIFFERENT CARS HANDLE DIFFERENTLY AND YOU MUST UNLOCK THEM THROUGH A GACHA SYSTEM, IS. Both these factors of never having the same track twice when going into a level on top of not being able to control your own handling made for a lot of trial of error in the beginning, and nearly all the game fell apart once you get the drift mechanic to work properly along with a car that works with your handling. This really isn't to put down Neodori as I respect the game on an aesthetic level, and once you beat it you unlock so much content compared to the initial asking price. It's just that these odd design choices can also come with a very unfavorable beginning that can turn anyone away due to how trying it can be. Add that to the fact this game has a lot more modes to offer that may never be played because you're locked out of it makes for a rather bad concoction of suffering so you can have fun later. Overall tho, I can tell how much love went into Neodori, and if you like the look of it I really don't think you should let the fear of un-intuitive controls get the better of you. After all Metal Gear Solid still has plenty of fans.

[akunose]

I finally finished Rebirth tonight. With lots of frustrated grunting towards the last damn attack. I never wanted to murder a camera angle so badly.

All in all. It was okay to fantastic. Main Story didn't hook me though I do appreciate all the expanded lore and the references to all across the Compilation. Main Story is still Schrödinger's Characters. It's hard to care. I love Zack for example but the Zack bits were superfluous all in all. Gotta wait for the final part to see if that changes anything. Remake only got away with it cause it established a mystery.

Anyway, stopped counting how often I re-loaded the Gold Saucer Date night Loveless section already lol

The team dynamics is what I loved to pieces about this. Sidequesting feel soo rewarding. Does it get into my feel like FFXV's road trip? Nope but that's because I have already known the characters for 15+ years. And my emotional invested comes from low res polygons. This is what I missed so much playing FFXVI. Also, I definitely prefer the sometimes utter insanity over the wannabe GoT stuff.

Kinda side eying the add on to the Wutai conflict right now. Might turn out interesting but I am more curious because of Rufus' involvement. Anything in regards to Rufus and his Turks is always welcome.

Well, now it's years of waiting again...

[twinklestarsprites]

Go play EGGCONSOLE

The Switch has basically turned into a game historian's dream come true, with classic titles getting ported, remade, remastered and localized for the first time all over the place. From Hamster's weekly Arcade Archives, to M2's fantastic as always work with Sega Ages, and Nintendo's own library available via their online service, there's no shortage of great titles for anyone who wants to revisit their own childhood, or just dive deep to better understand the past.

What I definitely didn't expect was for classic Japanese computer games to start ending up on the console, much less in North America. For a long time, these games have kinda had a forbidden fruit appeal for Westerners, a last frontier of games that was difficult to navigate due to the language barrier, the aging hardware, Windows cannibalizing all other operating systems during the 90's and of course, few of the games being exported over here, but it's gotten a lot better in recent years, mostly thanks to D4 enterprises.

They started with Project EGG, ostensibly Japan's equivalent of GOG, and after a few other ventures on various platforms, they've decided to port their most classic titles to Switch under the label of EGGCONSOLE, including, as I mentioned earlier, on the Western eShop. This seems odd at first, but considering the vintage of these games, they don't have that much Japanese text to parse, and often using joysticks and controllers back in the day, rather than keyboards, meaning they transfer to typical console controllers rather easily (you can still use an emulated keyboard in-game, if you wish).

As you can imagine, not all of the games have aged super gracefully; the action titles are straightforward enough, but the adventure games or RPG's with more complex systems and labyrinth-like levels are a bit too incomprehensible, though the releases have a lot of effort put into them to make sure you can see what they're all about, from level selects, to savestates to rewinds.

The three titles I've definitely put the most time into are Thexder, Silpheed, and Relics. Relics is definitely the most stymieing of the three, but it's so cool I keep trying to slog through it; it's got a body stealing mechanic which is always great, and a cool biomechanical aesthetic way ahead of its time.

But the two titles that are the easiest to get into are sort of a duology that compliment each other, as they're both by Game Arts and insanely impressive on a technical level; Thexder and Silpheed.

Silpheed is insane. I was aware of the Sega CD release before, but I didn't realize it was a sorta-sequel, sorta-remake of the computer original, and that it was basically Star Fox running on an 8-bit computer. I dunno how they got wireframes and polygons like this on the PC-88, but it's insane. The actual gameplay is pretty good, nothing compared to other shmups of the era and especially now, but the level design is pretty good and the weapon loadout select is pretty great, and adds a strategic wrinkle.

Thexder is a sidescrolling mecha-action title, and again, the technical prowess on display really steals the show. The animation on the robot as he lethargically strides forward, then turns into a plane blasting enemies down with an Itano Circus-type laser really makes the whole experience and feels really satisfying, even if the enemy layouts are a little too insane, at times. It's also nice to have a perfectly emulated version on a console since the Famicom version, developed by pre-Final Fantasy Square, was a bit of a disaster, and the PS3 remake (which included the original) is probably gonna be delisted soon.

It really does fill me with a glee that these titles are so much more easily playable now; you can really see how some of them shaped and molded more accessible contemporaries (such as the streamlined RPG's on the Famicom) while having their own identity that would never really be replicated. I'm super excited to see what other titles they rerelease down the line, though I'd really like to see titles from other platforms, like the PC-98, MSX or X68000. Looking at the upcoming titles, they seem to be sticking to PC-88 for now, but there's always hope for the future. For how much we (kinda rightfully) complain about game companies not doing enough to preserve the past, you gotta pay due respect to the few that are, to serve as a blueprint of what we need more of.

[ssspringroll]

DL (mediafire)

Today I bring you not cc, but a small collection of .blend files for making cc a little easier. If you've ever wanted to quickly put a braid into a custom hair without completely obliterating your poly count*, then these might be able to help.

*braids will still add a LOT of polygons to your hair, but since every single polygon is visible** on these tiling braids, at least you know they're all being put to use, whereas if you were to physically braid 3 strands of geometry, lots of those polygons would wind up inside the braid, just adding to your count without contributing anything to the look

**if some polygons end up inside of other meshes, you may want to delete them to reduce the poly count further. The boolean modifier may be able to help you, but I haven't tried

These are completely hollow, tiling braid "facades". They just look like a braid, without being anything more than a stylized tube. Available in 9 shapes (which are all pretty similar, more or less, but have different 'vibes', and one of them technically doesn't resemble a braid, but if you squint it looks close enough) and 3 polygon counts to hopefully fit in with your project.

TOU: Same as my cc. Read it here. I obviously don't own this concept, so feel free to reverse engineer, make your own braid tiles, etc. Just don't use mine for anything commercial (using them in commissions is fine, just not paywalled final products!)

You will need to be using one of the newer versions of blender, I believe 2.8 and up. These were made in blender 3.6, so the files will not be compatible with old versions like 2.7x.

Quick start guide:

Open your hair wip's .blend

In object mode, 'Append' the 'BraidTile' object of your choice

Select 'BraidPath' and, in Edit mode, position it however you like

Additional info under the cut, because I tend to ramble, and these require a little bit of a primer before use, probably. Unless you for sure know what you're doing, in which case, feel free to just take these and run with them.

THIS IS NOT A TUTORIAL ON MAKING HAIR, OR HOW TO USE BLENDER. Seek that information elsewhere.

Before appending braids, you may want to open up the blender file and look at all the shapes, to decide which one you want to use.

When you first append your braid, or open the blend files, you may notice it does not look like the preview images above, and instead looks like a shiny pink slug. This is intentional! For previews and development work, I use @/simandy's base textures, but your hair will probably be using a different texture, so I have not included a texture at all.

Simply switch the material of the 'BraidTile' to the same material your hair is using, and adjust the uv map accordingly. I'm going to assume if you are making hairs that you know how to do that, so it will not be explained here.

Once you have your braid appended, and have edited the UV Map of the 'BraidTile' piece to your liking, you can also try scaling the tile in the X, Y, and Z axes to change up the look a little. Make sure you select all of the vertices before scaling, to make sure it still tiles. This should be safe to do, and not mess up the tiling at all, but make sure you do it in Edit mode, not Object mode. (If you mistakenly do it in Object mode, you just have to press ctrl+A and select 'scale', and that should fix it)

When you have your braid adjusted, switch over to the 'BraidPath' object, and use edit mode to move the points around however you want. This is just like any other hair strand, if you're used to making hairs with paths and curves then this should already be familiar to you. All the same controls should work.

And, if you already have a curve in your hair that you'd like the braid to snap to instead, you can select the 'BraidTile' object, locate the curve modifier, and switch the curve object to any other curve in your .blend. You'll want to change the curve in the array modifier to the same one, most likely.

If you haven't used curves to make a hair before, here's a couple quick controls you might like to know:

ctrl+T will let you Twist the object around the selected point(s) alt+S will let you Scale the object around the selected point(s) selecting the first or last point of the 'BraidPath' and pressing E will Extrude a new point, making your braid longer

Remember to do all of your positioning on the 'BraidPath' object! You do not need to edit the 'BraidTile' at all once you've set up the UV map and adjusted the scale!

It should tile, twist, etc. with little issue, and should get longer or shorter according to the length of your curve with no issue. If it doesn't, make sure both the array and curve modifiers of your 'BraidTile' object are using the same curve. They should be using the 'BraidPath' object by default, but if you changed this manually, ensure that both modifiers match for best results.

Unless you know what you are doing, I do not recommend messing with any other settings in the modifiers, or adjusting the 'BraidTile' mesh in any way besides scaling the entire object at once. Otherwise you could end up with gaps and holes in your braid.

When you are done posing your braid, you can apply the modifiers to turn the whole thing into a regular mesh. I like to make a copy of my 'BraidTile' and 'BraidPath' first, just in case I want to go back and change the shape later. After converting it to a regular mesh, I'd recommend going in with proportional editing turned on and randomly scale and move a few of the pleats just a little, to make the braid look a little more organic. You can even add a couple strands to make it look messier, if you dont mind adding to your poly count even more. But this comes down to your preference and style. The braid below has had some half-assed editing done to demonstrate the concept. (Note: This is actually the low-poly version of this particular braid shape)

Ultimately, it is up to you to decide how you want to blend the braid in with the rest of your hairstyle. I can't tell you how to do that, as it is ultimately going to come down to your own personal preference, workflow, and the hairstyle you are making.

How do I know if I should use Hi, Mid, or Lo poly?

This is largely due to personal preference, and how you're using the braids in your project. I have included the three different poly versions to try and be mindful of the overall poly count of your poor poor meshes, but even a lo-poly braid is going to add an easy couple thousand polygons to your project. Keep that in mind! If you plan on having a LOT of braids, something like this EA hairstyle, for example:

You will probably want to follow their example and use a very simple mesh and just apply a braid texture instead of using these. EA's braids here appear to be a simple box shape painted to look like braids.

If you only plan on having one, maybe two braids in your entire project, especially if they are very large braids, then you might want to go with the hi-poly option. They're the smoothest, roundest choice.

If your braid has a very small diameter, you can probably get away with just using the lo-poly option, and save some polygons you won't need anyway.

The mid-poly version exists as a sort of happy medium. They aren't quite as pointy as some of the lo-poly shapes, and they won't inflate your poly count as much as the hi-poly models, so you may find you prefer them for your applications.

It's all very subjective.

I think that's pretty much everything I wanted to say. If you have specific questions, my inbox is open.

Keep in mind I am not very skilled in blender! There's probably some optimization that can be done if you know what you're doing, and I welcome you to tweak these meshes to your heart's content, if that's you! I made these for me, but I figure they could make someone else's life a little easier too, so here you go.

If you make anything using them you are welcome to tag me! If you don't end up making anything with these then I hope you at least have some fun playing with them!

[crispsandkerosene]

Mesh Optimization Info

(I am posting this by itself at the request of the tutorial database gang. This post contains information and links about optimizing 3d models, retopology, and texture baking.)

-

What I was taught in my video game art dregree is that for modern GPUs, handling a lot of geometry isn’t a big deal. However, it’s still best to optimize your models for ease of use. A model with a reasonable poly count and good topology is easier to skin (assign bone weights to) and will deform better during animations. It’s less to load for the game engine or 3d modeling software. More on good topology here.

(Modern game characters usually have very high polycounts because of detailed outfits and hair (including brows, beards and eyelashes) and the desire for curved surfaces to look smooth. These models are not plopped directly into the game from Marvelous Designer or ZBrush. Nathan Drake’s face geometry may be heavy, but it’s intentful. See the circular ‘flow’ around the eyes and mouth.)

Something that is costlier on the GPU is complex shaders, such as alpha blending of overlapping elements as seen with hair and foliage. (Here is a screenshot from Unreal Engine showing the rendering cost of foliage vs the rest of a scene.) This means that in certain cases, using more polygons to avoid their overlap is the better alternative. Here is an example I drew.

Texture size is alsosomething to keep in mind with tS2. The game isn’t great with texture memory: just look at how quickly you’ll get pink flashing in a forested neighborhood. The standard I was taught is that texture resolution should roughly correspond to the space the object will take up on the screen. The UV map should take up as much of the texture space as possible. Since tS4 uses one big texture for all of a sim’s component meshes, it’s better to rescale their UVs and crop their textures when converting.

-

Now onto some actionable advice :p

I’d highly recommend using Blender rather than Milkshape, at least when dealing with big meshes. It’s got a learning curve, but the software is very powerful and the internet is full of tutorials. Here are the plugins to use for GMDC meshes in Blender 2.8+, and Blender 2.79.

The first step to making an extremely high poly mesh game-ready is retopology: creating a version of the model with simpler geometry.

- It can be done using tools, such as Blender’s Poly Build Tool. This is quick, but good results are not guaranteed for every mesh.

- My preference is to do it by hand. This video by FlippedNormals explains in detail how to do manual retopology in Blender.

- I’ve also seen multiple tutorials from Sims 4 creators, but I can’t vouch for whether they are good or accessible: mauvemorn, SM&Kleos, jwofles.

- If the original mesh already has good topology (eg. it looks like a grid and not a bunch of uneven little ‘flowers’), you should be able to simplify it by simply deleting rendundant edge loops.

The second step is texture baking: translating shape and shading details from the high poly model into the texture(s) used by the low(er) poly model. In a modern game, most of this information would be ‘baked’ into a normal map. Since the Sims 2 is old, its capacity to render those is pretty basic. Most everything has to go into the baseline diffuse texture.

- This great tutorial by Lyralei explains how to create and bake texture details in Blender into the ‘multiplier’ texture of a tS3 outfit. (I highly recommend creating a multiplier style base to all textures, even when you’re not working from a high poly model.)

- The add-on TexTools (old website with more info) has powerful baking tools which greatly simplify the process. Its ‘Paint Base’ preset does a decent job at producing multipliers.

- I personally do my texture baking and creation in Substance Painter, which sadly is paid. I use Luis Armstrong’s smart material as a base for most my textures. The set up is shown in case you want to recreate it yourself - which should be doable in any software as long as you can bake the relevant texture maps. I can share more about my process if there’s interest.

(Texture baking is also very useful in ‘adapting’ the multiple texture maps of modern PBR rendering into a diffuse that will look good in the Sims 2. For example, here is the original diffuse of this object, and here is my final texture.)

[desultory-novice]

Ever since finding out a Kirby cafe song compared him to a king(the king and witch’s rendezvous) I’ve been analyzing differences between magolors first phase(where he’s more restrained and elegant) vs his second phase(where he’s more desperate and doing more physical attacks) since he juggles in his second phase I think he goes from a “regal king” to a “desperate jester” ok this was mostly me liking magolors juggling attack he’s so cool I wish they added it in another game

I HAVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT THIS!

Like, first off, I love self-made king Magolor so much. I love the ambition in him, and how it plays into his design, HIS MUSIC and just...!

But yes! He's all blues and golds (!!) to start, but then he adds this really strong, really deep red into his outfit after the transformation? This is half-remembered info from old books about medieval history when I used to be really into it, but colors like red and purple were often associated with royalty just because the expenses involved/the challenge of dyeing it. (And he even has a teensy bit of purple in his regular outfit!) 

Also, the shape of his hood changes slightly! As tiny Magolor, it is literally a hood, but when he shifts into his 1st phase, it becomes more like a hat/cap, and the gear motif now circles around his head... JUST LIKE A CROWN. (Or coronet/circlet.) So he's doubly crowned. Him doing that to his hood (a personal crown, as opposed to a stolen crown) really gives you the feeling he's trying to transform himself and his image entirely.

...And then everything changes for his second form. Something I was planning on bringing up in my upcoming music post was how much I love the irony of the opening notes of "CROWNED." Like, I'm not great at describing music much more coherently than “I LIKE it!”, but the way the song starts out...it has this feel of an imperial procession/reveal, almost? Like you’ve got trumpets playing and the curtain pulls back and Behold! Here's your king!! Only...

...He's a MONSTER.

Or in this case, a clown.

A sad clown. A twisted marionette. A parody of a jester.

And...okay, I hope you know that by bringing this question up to me in specific, I was going to involve Marx in this discussion somehow, right? XD But I've been doing some thinking about elements of Marx in Magolor's second form.

Magolor’s more rounded now, instead of egg-shaped. The Crown gives him these ethereal, non-standard wings too.

The golden arms of the crown could be a call back to Marx's most unusual arms. And the horns, too. They look like a lot like a jester hat. (Actually, he looks like the character NiGHTS, who is also based around jester imagery.)

...The rest of the Marx imagery goes into HC territory so I’ll cut it here.

While everything Magolor does in his 1st form feels very purposeful (the intricate hand movements) he acts more slow and confused in his 2nd form.

I end up defaulting to Magolor Soul a lot when talking about Magolor, so I want to take a moment here to look at the differences between Magolor Phase 2 and Magolor Soul.

There’s the zombified look of his Soul body, the crown’s constricting tendrils turning into thorns (that’s another Marx parallel, btw, as Marx uses roses) and the color of the gem, but one of the more subtle changes, yet one of the most telling, is that his magic sigil differs between the two forms. Soul has a unique magic sigil, polygonal and static (indicating Magolor’s kinda...GONE) but Phase 2 still uses Magolor's personal magic sigil!

You get the feeling that maybe...Magolor may still be in partial control during Phase 2...? That while Soul is absolutely the Master Crown taking him over from the inside out, Phase 2 was more like...a baleful polymorph?

I think back to that blink he gives in particular. When he opens his eyes right as the form shift happens? It's definitely haunting in Soul form, but in Phase 2, it really does feel like for a second, Magolor may be thinking: 

"Oh, phew! The fight's not over! Man, I was sure worried when the Crown started to get all explodey and...Uh...Hello...? What's going on? Why do I look like this? What the...? Uh... What's going on with me...?"

Like, he is likely still being controlled to some degree, but I feel he has a bit more of his consciousness involved in the process in Phase 2? Ever so slightly more comical (comedy-horror) even... only it’s at Magolor’s EXPENSE. 

(...Whereas I tend to imagine Magolor’s thoughts in soul form boil down to incoherent and wordless screaming, crying, and pleading for help/mercy/or someone to end it all. Err....A-ahem! I-I said nothing...)

So yes, Magolor is kind of turned into a “fool” which makes the juggling really TWISTED when you think that he may be trying to do anything else with his hands (say, kill Kirby and co.) and the Crown is like "Wheeeee! Fun with host body!"

Alternatively, since Magolor never had any friends (not confirmed but one of those generally accepted HC things) the Crown is either playing WITH HIM like a toy or "using" him to play with Kirby and the others. (The “playing with him” thing could work well with “the Crown possesses part of/a Void’s consciousness” theory, since Void also has these “playful” attacks.)

The Soul fight is horrifying for lots of reasons (rotting/hurt imagery, the dying scream, etc) but Phase 2 may be horrifying in a completely different way. Magolor is being MOCKED by the Master Crown. Literally made a fool of.

And since he's still implied to have some consciousness there, you can bet that the self-conscience Magolor probably is feeling like a “desperate” jester!

Which is probably why he doesn't reuse the juggling attack later on! The twin Ultra Swords? Very cool. Everyone can respect that. 

That time the Master Crown made him embarrass himself by juggling in front of Kirby and crew when he just wanted to be king of several dimensions...? 

...No. We don't talk about the juggling...

---

BTW, I still don't know anything about music, but I ran across this song by chance and my brain said "...potential Magolor song...?" so I’m sharing it with everyone. (There’s self-made kings, mountains, doubtful survival, and eyes involved! That's at least some Magolor imagery!)

[sunivaa]

Dressed my sim-self in a dress and came to you to talk a little.

Now everyone is discussing EA, early access, some creators talked about how they were negatively affected by the perception of creating CC as work and other things. I am very sorry that people feel bad and I am glad that they are better now, I hope it will be like that.

In this text, I want to talk about myself and why I am glad that EA allowed early access. For me, creating CC is probably the most favorite thing, despite the fact that I have hardly played the Sims for quite some time. Just sit, spin meshes, add new spins. I use EA meshes, edit them and add new twists to create something unique in this game, some hairstyles have almost nothing left of the mesh of course, but that's not the point. I am very passionate about this business and the fact that I can monetize it somehow is very important. I live with my mother, so far I have neither the ability nor the need to live on my own. I don't get much from my patrons, but it's enough for me to buy medicine that I have to take constantly, buy clothes, cat food, food, and financially help my mom and the people who are currently suffering from the war in my country more , than I am, because I am lucky to live in a relatively safe place. It's important to me to get paid for creating CC, because if I didn't get paid, I would have to go to work. It wouldn't be a tragedy, of course, I would find something where I don't have to die to get pennies, but then I wouldn't be able to do what I really enjoy - making CC. That doesn't mean I'm doing it "just for the money". This means that people who like my CCs allow me to pursue my hobby without the fear that I won't have the funds for what I need.

I am infinitely grateful to everyone who supports me financially or just with kind words. I really like the hair I'm creating now. I like ANY post where I see my CCs. If the closed sunivaa.iva account suddenly likes you on Instagram, then I saw my CC on you and I am happy like a child.

I am glad that the people who support me financially receive thanks from me in the form of early access. It is important to me that I feel that I am not just "living on donations", but that I am giving something for which people are willing to pay a little. It wouldn't be a tragedy for me if I had to remove early access, but I'm glad that for now, I won't have to and my patrons will be able to receive such thanks from me. I feel obliged to you, I'm ashamed that I still can't fix bugs in old hairstyles, or reduce the number of polygons in them. I can do it, but I don't have enough strength and desire for it, I want to create something new. I wouldn't mind at all if someone else does this and posts these hairstyles for themselves! I'm not suggesting this, just saying that you can do whatever you want with all my CCs. I don't care who does what with them. I am happy because I can do what I like.

I hope that one day I will still have the inspiration to fix my old hairstyles, and make that heart belt as an accessory, finish a new blog, I remember everything, but I can't force myself, I don't want to break myself. I hope you are not mad at me for this.

I love myself. I love you. Thank you for allowing me to do what I love. I could write a lot more, but I think someone is already tired of reading

/I do not know English well. It is easier in simple answers, but with such large texts I use a translator, so I apologize if there are any mistakes that I did not notice. I still haven't learned English 👉🏻👈🏻

I will finish the new hair (the one on the screen) and publish it within a day Colored spinning wheels are not my authorship, you can download them here

[owlswritingcafe]

Mango Yogurt Bingsu (Summertime Saddness Collab)

Warnings: MINORS AND AGELESS DNI. TIMESKIP KENMA IS USED IN THE FIC, HE IS 25 AND NOT IN HIGH SCHOOL.

Reader: Gender Neutral + AFAB Switch Reader

Word count: 2.8k

Genre: Smut, Oneshot

Content Warning + Trigger Warnings: Slight neglect (at the start), Daddy kink, exactly one (1) spank, unprotected sex, Oral sex (male receiving) while playing video games, public sex (but empty beach), cowgirl position, reader is called baby, Character might be too ooc

Summary: His face was practically a centimeter away from the screen, you were more surprised the man didn’t need any glasses because of the way he plays. Or maybe he does and has been in denial for a couple years. Either way, his eyes should be on you right now, not that damn game. Currently, you two were under the beach umbrella. The familiar voice of a certain Italian plumber accompanied by the Delfino Plaza music snuck into your ears.

Are you serious right now?

This is my Kenma contribute to the “Summertime Saddness” Collab hosted by @mitsuyaa​ ! The Souya/Angry fic will be posted soon after! I am honored to be a part of this collab!

After copious amounts of begging, you managed to convince your lazy boyfriend to come with you to the beach. The only condition being you driving there instead of him and honestly you would have done anything to go to the beach at the time.

You got the idea when you dropped off his usual snacks during his stream and saw his character on the beach. Even though it was all polygons and code on screen, it really did make you wish you were there too. After your boyfriend’s stream, you asked him if he wanted to go to the beach and not just virtually. 

He said ‘no’. 

But, that didn’t stop you from begging and bothering him for the next couple days until he finally caved in. He can only resist your big doe eyes for so long. Soon after, you bought yourself the cutest swimsuit you could find. You couldn’t wait to show Kenma and surprise him once you’re there, and while you were at it, you could collect some seashells and rocks. You could barely sleep a wink last night, you were too excited! 

After all, it’s been quite a while since the two of you have been on a date. Alone at least. Yeah, you two going to conventions together would technically count as a date. But you’ve been wanting to go somewhere where it’s really just the two of you. Plus, you hated when the larger groups of people asked for a picture with your boyfriend. Yeah, it’s expected but it doesn’t make you any less annoyed when it happens.

Driving by the (surprisingly empty) beach side, the sight of it all only made you more ecstatic. You two could gather shells together, get something sweet to share, or maybe you two can go for a little swim (it is a beach after all).

But the biggest thing that’s stopping you right now… 

Is your boyfriend with his nose deep in his switch. 

His face was practically a centimeter away from the screen, you were more surprised the man didn’t need any glasses because of the way he plays. Or maybe he does and has been in denial for a couple years. Either way, his eyes should be on you right now, not that damn game. Currently, you two were under the beach umbrella. 

The familiar voice of a certain italian plumber accompanied by the Delfino Plaza music snuck into your ears. 

…

Is he being serious right now?

He is literally playing a summer beachy game while at the beach. Not only that, but he hasn’t spared you even a single glance since you two got out of the car. You had to hold his arm and guide him so he didn’t get hit by a car or something on the way from the parking lot.

“So, uh, did you wanna take a dip in the water or somethin’, kit kat?” Kenma only gave you a dismissive noise, way too focused on his game to properly answer you. 

God, this was irritating you too much.

Since you’re here, you can at least get one thing off this trip’s to-do list and collect some seashells. 

Coming back, you’ve managed to find quite the haul of pretty things (while also making sure none of them was something’s home). Plus, it’s been an hour, Kenma might be done playing his switch and is ready to join you!

Maybe.

… 

Okay, very unlikely. But, you’d never know! There could even be the smallest chance your boyfriend finally isn’t looking at his game and-

He is still playing the game.

The same game at that. Is he mocking you at this point? 

Judging by the music coming from the handheld game, he’s on one of the jet pack-less stages and the increasingly irritated expression on his face means he’s been on that stage for a while. You put the pile of shells and rocks to the side, next to the large beach towel so it won’t be in the way

“Hey, kit-kat, do you wanna go in the water now? Or maybe we can grab something sweet?” Like before, you only got a dismissive grunt in response. Albeit, a bit more grumpy sounding. You pouted, this trip was supposed to be just the two of you and now you’re a third wheel to that damn game. You can’t fully blame him when it’s at a party or something (you’ve done that before after all) but it’s just the two of you, he could at least take a break for a few hours just to spend with you!

Suddenly, the most perfect idea popped into your head. Luckily for the two of you, the beach was almost empty and you two were basically secluded from everyone. The last thing you want is for the police to arrest you two on your date for indecency… 

Kenma let out a little squeak as he felt you pull down his swim trunks. For the first time since the car ride, he looked away from the game to look at what you were doing.

“Hey, wait a sec-” You cut your boyfriend off by placing a finger in his lips to shut him up and give him the most irritating smile he’s ever seen on you.

“Ken-ken, let’s play a game. If you win this stage and hold back then you can keep playing that game, but if you cum or get a game over, you need to put that away for the rest of the day ‘till we’re back home, kay?” Kenma gave you a puffed up pout in response to your sweet tone.

“Dummy, I can’t concentrate on anything, let alone the game!” 

It wasn’t a question. 

It was a command.

Your fake smile quickly disappeared. Only a blank expression was left on your face that practically tore into his soul. Honestly, that expression was worse than if you were just yelling at him. It’s been quite a while since you’ve gotten this irritated with him that he’s forgotten who was actually in charge in the relationship.

Kenma gulped as he restarted the stage. This was his last life. He managed to get enough just before it, but this damn stage ate through them all like it was a snack! The man shivered as he felt the air touch his dick. When was the last time he actually jacked off? He’s been with you so long that he doesn’t really do that anymore. Plus, he isn’t some hormonal teen anymore, so getting horny wasn’t something he felt often. 

Well, not as often as before.

You didn’t really prepare much for this aspect of the trip, but it should be fine. You spat a hefty amount of spit onto your hand and started to gently but firmly grasp Kenma’s cock. Right now, you’re gunna focus on getting your boyfriend hard.

Unfortunately for him, that’s not going to be difficult for you. The stage just started and he’s already at full attention with just a few pumps. He doesn’t have the longest dick compared to the other boys but the girth sure as hell makes up for it. Kenma was doing his best to not just close his eyes and relish the feeling of your hand on his dick. God, has it been that long since the last time you two have done it? Looks like he’s as sensitive as his younger self, it’s like the first time you two have done the deed again. 

A gasp fell from his lips as he felt the warmth of your mouth surrounding his cock. It was so wet and warm around him, he almost fell off a platform in the game. That was a close one… A second later and he would have gotten a game over. The lewd sounds you made along with the wet noises that accompanied you almost made him cum on the spot though… 

Kenma can just barely make out the way you were slowly bobbing your head up and down his cock, the switch was covering most of the view for him. He would love to put it down, but knowing you, you would add another rule that he can’t watch you and force him to look at only the game. 

Kenma continued through the game slowly, trying to be as cautious as possible through the stage. Honestly, he looked even more focused than any of his streams, you were worried he was going to pop a blood vessel. Or even bite his lips too hard since he’s been biting it after trying to hide that first gasp. You bobbed your head a bit faster, you could already tell he was getting closer. Kenma started to breathe faster as your pace quickened. At this rate he was going to cum soon!

In the midst of the chaos, a familiar white and green mushroom caught his eye.

Yeah! You never said how many chances he had, only if he got a game over or cums then he loses. Unfortunately for him, it requires a bit of maneuvering. If he jumps just right, he might be able to get through this.

Sike.

Kenma forgot how good you were on your end of the deal. The moment you made a little hum in your throat while sucking him off, he almost fell off the damn stage trying to get the 1-up. He’s better off not taking any detours if he wanted to actually win this game. He can practically feel the sadistic smirk you gave, you could tell by watching him that he couldn’t get something he needed.

But, he just needs to push through a bit longer. Just a few more platforms then he’ll finally beat this damn stage! 

He was so close to beating it. 

He was almost to the final platform to get that sunsprite, just then you started to suck his sensitive tip as your wet hand moved up and down the rest of his shaft. Your boyfriend’s last straw finally broke. His thick cum practically overflowed from your mouth and the accompanied game over music didn’t help him feel any better.

Ugh, he lost to both conditions.

Taking your mouth off with a ‘pop!’ you giggled at your boyfriend’s defeated look. Kenma only looked up at you with a glare (Catching you swallow his cum, it was hot but he was too irritated to admit that right now).

“Aw, soo scawy.” The baby talking you’d do whenever he lost to your game was major fucking salt to his wounds. You sat up, finally giving him a proper view of the swimwear you chose for him, making him flush more.

He should have looked up at you the first time you asked. You looked drop dead gorgeous. Granted, you do all the time but the swimwear only accentuates your features more. 

He gulped.

“So, that means you lost, kit-kat.” Oh right, the game.

“We’re not done yet.” You tilted your head in confusion at his statement.

“You don’t have anymore lives left in the game, and it would take you a little while to get it back u-” You yelped as Kenma quickly shut you up by pulling you on his lap, his switch now forgotten and thrown to the side (a non sandy side, those things are way too expensive to get sand in). You felt Kenma’s calloused fingers play with your clit through your swimsuit, making you let out a little gasp. You place your hands on your boyfriend’s shoulders for stability, he placed his free hand on your ass. Also for stability. 

…

Maybe.

Kenma’s fingers continued its ministrations on your clit through the thin fabric. You were getting more and more wet as he expertly played with your sensitive bud, the hand that started to shamelessly grope and knead at your ass certainly wasn’t helping either.

“Was my baby lonely?” His question caught you off guard. You could barely answer him from the stimulation he was giving you, you only nodded your head as you bit your lip. 

Oh, how the tables have turned.

“Daddy’s sorry he hasn’t been able to give you the attention you need.” You flushed at his words. It’s been a hot minute since he’s called himself that. You shivered as your boyfriend moved the bottoms of the swimwear to the side and moved his middle and ring finger up and down the lips of your pussy.

“Look, you're even crying down here…” He raised his hand to show you how drenched his fingers already were. You felt embarrassment and shame getting wet so easily. That’s probably how Ken-ken felt earlier when you got him hard. You felt his wet fingers touch your lips, you looked at him in confusion.

“Open your mouth baby. Has it been so long that you’ve already forgotten?” Before you could open your mouth yourself, he gave your ass a harsh slap, causing you to gasp letting him shove his pussy drenched fingers in that warm mouth of yours. Your plush, soft lips closed around them and started to suck. He hasn’t even done much yet you already feel so light headed. 

“Good, at least you remember that part.” Kenma continued to knead your ass reassuringly as you sucked off all the juices off his fingers. He started to pump his fingers in and out of your mouth, relishing the wet warmth and the feeling of your soft lips.

Kenma took out his fingers from your mouth with only a string of spit connecting you two. 

“That’s a good baby.” Kenma held his dick with his wet hand, moving so the tip teases your clit. You shivered each time the tip of his cock flicked your little clit before he finally pushed the tip inside you. Your boyfriend moved his hands so that both hands properly gripped your waist and pushed you down the rest of his shaft.

You almost screamed that time. Only sobs left your throat from the pleasure you felt of finally being full after so long. You placed your head in the crook of his neck as he held you.

“There there baby, daddy’s finally giving you the attention you wanted.” You felt the man’s hands snake back down your ass. Slowly rocking you on his thick cock. Your sobs continued as your nails started to scrape against his back, the harsh feeling of your nails in his back contrasting with your tight, wet pussy was driving him insane. 

A sudden harsh thrust from his hip caused you to let out a yelp. His pace only got faster, fueled by the cute little noises you made and the expressions you made, looking like a dick drunk mess as he started to hit the sweet bundle of nerves you couldn’t quite hit the same by yourself.

“K-Kenma! I’m so closeee, pleasee! Harder!” You were bouncing on his cock like you were his fuck toy. Honestly, with how he uses you, you might as well be.

“I know baby, I’m almost there too.” Your boyfriend’s fingers snaked their way back to your little clit, teasing the little bud as he bounced you up and down his cock.

As you finally creamed around his cock, the way your pussy tightened around him was his last straw, he painted your insides white with his cum. But he continued to thrust even while cumming, fucking his cum inside you until he was milked dry.

You two laid in silence, basking in the afterglow of it all.

With how rough you two went, you were more surprised there wasn’t more sand on the beach towel you two were on.

Your boyfriend slowly moved you off his cock, moving your bottom swimwear back to normal so not a drop of his cum escaped before he ticked himself back in his swim trunks.

The two of you decided to get some mango shaved ice to cool off.

But the silence between you two was a bit agonizing. The sound of the jumping plumber no longer occupying the empty space.

Kenma was the first to break the silence between you two.

“Since the trip isn’t over yet… We can take a quick dip in the water,” he lazily ate the shaved ice before looking back at you with a familiar look in his eyes, continuing the sentence. “We can continue where we left off in the car, before we leave.” You flushed at the thought. 

Kenma finally has a taste of you after so long and he was addicted once more. Your body was far more fun than any game he can get his hands on, and he was ready to re-explore all of your body like it was his first time again.

[lokiondisneyplus]

Yes, Loki series director Kate Herron knows about your fan theory about the show, the analysis you posted to social media. No, she won’t tell you what she thinks about it, or whether you were right.

“I follow all the conversations on Twitter,” Herron told Polygon in an interview shortly after Loki’s season 1 finale. “I don’t always weigh in on them, because I made the show, so they don’t want me weighing in like, ‘Actually, guys…’ I think that’s the whole point of art — it should be up for debate and discussion.”

[Ed. note: Spoilers ahead for season 1 of Loki.]

Loki has been a hit for streaming service Disney Plus — episode 6 of the show, the final installment for this season, was reportedly watched by more households than any of the platform’s MCU finales to date. The series has been a popular source of fan conjecture and argument, with one particularly big rolling conversation focusing on whether the budding romantic relationship between trickster Asgardian Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and his alternate-universe counterpart Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) is a form of incest.

Herron is willing to speak up about that one. “My interpretation of it is that they’re both Lokis, but they aren’t the same person,” she says. “I don’t see them as being like brother and sister. They have completely different backgrounds […] and I think that’s really important to her character. They sort of have the same role in terms of the universe and destiny, but they won’t make the same decisions.”

Herron says thematically, Loki falling for Sylvie is an exploration of “self-love,” but only in the sense that it’s Loki learning to understand his own motives and integrity. “[The show is] looking at the self and asking ‘What makes us us?’” Herron says. “I mean, look at all the Lokis across the show, they’re all completely different. I think there’s something beautiful about his romantic relationship with Sylvie, but they’re not interchangeable.”

Directing the final kiss between the two characters was a complicated process because it had to communicate something about each of them over the course of just a few seconds. Herron says the primary goal was creating a safe, comfortable environment for Hiddleston and Di Martino, and after that, she had to think about how to bring across Loki and Sylvie’s conflicting goals in that moment.

“It’s an interesting one, right?” she says. “Emotionally, from Sylvie’s perspective, I think it’s a goodbye. But it’s still a buildup of all these feelings. They’ve both grown through each other over the last few episodes. It was important to me that it didn’t feel like a trick, like she was deceiving him. She is obviously doing that, on one hand, but I don’t feel the kiss is any less genuine. I think she’s in a bad place, but her feelings are true.”

Herron says directing Hiddleston in the scene mostly came down to discussing the speech Loki gives Sylvie before the kiss. “That was really important, showing this new place for Loki,” Herron says. “In the first episode, he’s like, ‘I want the throne, I want to rule,’ and by episode 6, he isn’t focused on that selfish want. He just wants her to be okay.”

Loki writer and producer Eric Martin recently tweeted that he wished the show had been able to focus more time on two of its secondary characters, Owen Wilson’s Time Variance Authority agent Mobius M. Mobius, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s Ravonna Renslayer. “I wanted to explore her more deeply and really see their relationship,” he says, “But covid got in the way and we just didn’t have time.”

Asked if Loki and Sylvie’s relationship suffered from similar necessary edits, Herron says it’s true that the show’s creators and audience still don’t know everything Sylvie went through to make her so different from the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s original version of Loki. “We’ve seen her as a child, but she’s lived for thousands and thousands of years, in apocalypses on the run,” she says. “I think there’s so much more to delve into with Sylvie […] You’re filling in the blanks. You see [her on the planet] Lamentis, and it’s horrific. And you’re like, “Well, what kind of person would she be, growing up in apocalypses? What kind of personality would that give her?”

Herron says Sylvie’s backstory actually reminds her of the 1995 movie Jumanji, where a young boy is sucked into a magical board game in 1969, and emerges 26 years later as a full-grown man, played by with typical manic energy by Robin Williams. “It’s such a weird reference, but…” she says. “He’s a little boy when he ends up captive in that game, and when he comes out, it’s obviously been a life experience. With Sylvie, it’s similar. She was a child when she had to go on the run, so she’s had a very difficult life. I would love to see more of it. As Eric said, she’s a rich character, there’s so much to be explored.”

Herron says, though, that during her time on the show, material about Sylvie was added rather than cut — specifically, those scenes of her as a child, being kidnapped by the TVA. “This was before my time, but I know in the writers’ room, there were lots of avenues exploring Sylvie on the run and what her life was like,” Herron says. “I wouldn’t want to speak more to those, because I wasn’t there when they were being discussed. But something wasn’t in there that was important to me — I felt we should see her [history] in the TVA. Me and the team were talking about how it made complete sense, because episode 4 is all about twisting the idea that the TVA might be good on its head. And so that’s something that came in later, once I joined, was seeing her as a child. I think we needed to see that, not to understand her completely, but to get an idea of her motivations, why she’s so angry at this place.”

Talking more broadly about the series finale, Herron says the last few episodes weren’t as heavily referential as the first episodes, which she intended as “a love letter to sci-fi.” While early images like the TVA’s interrogation rooms had specific visual references from past science fiction, episode 6’s locations were drawn more from collaborations with the crew.

“The idea of the physical timeline being circular, our storyboard artists came up with that,” Herron says. “I had in the scripts, ‘We move through space to the end of time,” and then me and [storyboard artist Darrin Denlinger] discussed how we could play with the idea of time, while also adding MCU nods. He was like, ‘What if the timeline is circular?’ I think that’s such a striking image, like the Citadel at the End of Time is the needle on a record player. I just thought that was such a cool image, but it wasn’t necessarily taken from anything.”

Episode 6 focuses heavily on the mysterious figure He Who Remains and his citadel, a space she says was largely conceived by production designer Kasra Farahani. “I remember he brought in the art of the Citadel, and I thought it was beautiful,” Herron says. “He said, ‘The Citadel has been carved from an actual meteorite,’ which I thought was such an inspired idea. And He Who Remains’ office is the only finished portion of it.”

She says there are only a few direct homages in episode 6, including the zoom shot through space, which directly referenced a similar sequence in Robert Zemeckis’ 1997 film Contact.

“And then I have my Teletubbies reference for episode 5,” Herron says. “I wanted the Void to feel like an overgrown garden, like a kind of forgotten place. And I realized I’d pitched it as the British countryside. I remember trying to explain it to ILM, who did the visual effects, and saying, ‘Oh, you know, it’s like the Teletubbies. It’s just rolling hills, but they go on forever.’ That actually was quite a helpful reference in the end, which is funny.”

Asked for her favorite set memory from shooting the season, Herron says it comes down to Tom Hiddleston starting a mania for physical exertion before takes. “Sometimes he runs around set to get himself in the right mindset before he performs,” she says. “He does pushups. You know, you’re going into an action scene, you want to look like you’ve just been running. And it became infectious across all the cast. We’ve got so much footage of — I think Jack [Veal] ended up doing it, who plays Kid Loki. I’ve got [shots of] him and Sophia doing pushups and squats, just to get ready. It was so funny watching that echo across all the cast. I think all of them ended up doing those exercises with him at some point. It was so funny.”

“That might be my favorite set story, but it’s honestly, not a sweet one,” she adds. “I would say my favorite thing is his enthusiasm. He’s a very kind empathetic person. We were filming this in quite tough circumstances, a lot of people were far from home and isolating, and he brought this warmth and energy and joy to the set every day. And I think that made everyone feel very safe and very bonded. I’m forever grateful to him for doing that.”