#it's time to create and write random scenes with visuals

[arisu-alisa-alice]

𝕊𝕥𝕦𝕔𝕜 𝕚𝕟 ℍ𝕠𝕝𝕡𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟 𝕤𝕨𝕒𝕞𝕡

[writers-potion]

Idea Generation Exercises for the Writer

"Right now it's a notion, but I think I can get money to turn it into a concept..and later turn it into an idea."

Take a Good Look Inside Yourself Before Your Start

Your story comes from you. Evaluate your ideas and modify them using a "personality filter". Does it hit a nerve in your soul? Do you resonate, personally, with what the story is aimed at?

What do you care most about in the world?

If you were to write your own obituary, how would you want it to read?

What is your physical appearance? How do you feel about it? How does it affect you?

What do you fear the most?

What are our major strengths? What do youwish you were good at?

What are your major faults?

If you could do one thing and know that you would be successful, what would you do?

What are three events from your childhood that helped shape you into the person you are today?

What are some of your annoying habits?

What secret in your life do you hope is never revealed?

Some Rules:

Schedule a regular idea time. At least once a week, for more than 30 minutes

Select an idea-generation exercise below

Let your imagination run wilde

Record everything without cutting anything. Do NOT xensor yourself in any way

After 2-3 sessions, assess you ideas

Repeat.

The What-If Game: read the newspaper/watch TV, asking "What If" at the end of each article.

Titles: come up with a good title, then craft a story that would go with it

The List: Make a list of nouns that bring back some memory to you with one- or two- word reminders. (e.g. the hill: that I accidentally set fire to when I was 5)

Issues: make a list of this world's problems that push your buttons. What make you angry? (e.g. abortion, gun control, talk shows)

See It: Sit down and close your eyes. List the first three things that comes to your mind, picking the ones that get your juices flowing the most. Sit back and "watch" as the random story unspools in your mind.

Hear It: Listen to music that moves you. Close your eyes and see what pictures, scenes or characters develop.

Character First: Develop a dynamic character, then see where he leads. Recreating characters from popular TV/books/movies or going through obituaries can be helpful.

Stealing From the Best: Take the germ of another plot, then add your own twist to it. Originality is the key to plagiarism.

Flipping a Genre: Turn genre/trope expectations upside down and see what happens.

Predict a Trend: Novels can be "hot" because of the subject matter alone. Read the news and see what people are killing each other over nowadays - and hop on the topical wave!

Noodling the Newspaper: Scan the newspaper for interesting stories, something you can use later. Capture interesting pieces of info and store it away for later.

Research: Choose a nonfiction book on some subject you wanted to know about. Skim the book for an overview, then jot down the ideas that come to you. Read the book in more detail, and flesh out the ideas you have.

"What I Really Want to Write About Is...": Get up in the morning and start typing on a blank document: what i reallt want to write about is.... Just write for ten minutes without stopping to loosen up your senses.

Obsession: Create a character and give her an obsession. By its nature, an obsession controls the deepest emotions of a character and thus prompts her to action. Ego? Lust? Looks? Careers? Revenge?

Opening Lines: Write just the opening lines. Then, write a story that goes with it.

Write a Prologue: Gripping openings are farily easy to write. The trick is putting a book after it. The ideas you generate with a good proglogue may lead to a full story.

The Mind Map: (1) choose a word or concept. (2) allow you mind to jot down connections to the word. Fill the paper. (3) Look for a pattern. Can you link these items into a story?

Socko Ending: Ending often make or break a story. Visualize a climactic scene in the theater of your mind. Play around with the characters, heighten the conflict and emotion until something unforgettable happens. Then ask: (1) who are the characters? (2) what circumstance brought them there? (3) how can I trace back the story to its logical starting point?

Occupations: What we do is inherent to our ways of thinking, the kind of culture we live in, etc. Refer to the Dictionary of Occupational Titles and see which occupations spark an idea.

Desperation: You're sitting before a blank screen and there's nothing in your head. You're down to your last two brain cells and slowly losing one of them. Good. You are a desperate writer. The answer:

JUST WRITE.

If you like my blog, buy me a coffee! ☕

Reference: <Write Great Fiction: Plot and Structure (techniques and exercises for craftin a plot that grips readers from start to finish)> by James Scott Bell

[demeterdefence]

kept meaning to make a post and kept FORGETTING to because i'm dumb but i cannot stop thinking of all the loose ends / introduced plots that got dropped without any warning and one that has been sticking out is persephone's "new" abilities after she "lost" her powers

we get a lackluster hint in episode 267, when apollo uses some random magic deus ex machina to "restore" persephone's powers. he starts bleeding from the nose and ears.

also apologies for the terrible quality, i forgot that lo went under daily pass and had to scour my own screenshots lmamdgjsf

it's not explained at the time whatsoever and in fact, the vagueness of the narrative kind of half-heartedly implies that it's an effect of ouranos' magic - it's also completely handwaved away, since no one bothers to ask why apollo is suddenly bleeding from the orifices and able to use persephone's powers.

it's not until persephone and hera decide to visit kronos in tartarus that persephone explains she somehow knew all along what this strange power was! she can apparently make a god rot from the inside!!!

it's not explained at ALL how she figured that out or like ... why she has that specific power. it is mentioned during the solstice where she creates winter that she can only make "decay," but that's a pretty obvious and visual thing - she's quite literally blistered the mortal realm in snow and ice, with all the plants dying on their physical surface.

important context, but other than persephone's attack on minthe, she is never seen using her powers on another person. her abilities are always on herself, or using plants / growth in some way. the fertility goddess nonsense does mean that hades and kronos are able to use her powers to strengthen themselves, but beyond that plot point being ridiculous, it's also something they don't just figure out overnight. kronos being able to escape control the underworld, and hades going godzilla mode during the trial, are clues used to eventually figure out what persephone's fertility goddess powers can do.

in regards to her new winter powers, persephone either figured it out somehow before the scene with apollo, or she figured it out after. with no explanation how.

moving from the how, we then get the last mention to this power, when persephone attempts to stop kronos

spoiler: it does not work. the power is never referenced again.

in terms of lore olympus' many crimes, it's a small thing, but it stands out to me as such a flailing attempt to write some wiggle room into the finale. rachel was struggling to get to the end, that much was obvious, and she was padding out the episodes as desperately as she could so that she could pull on any random thread and find a way to keep the plot moving. in better hands, this might have been a legitimately interesting power to explore for persephone! the goddess of spring, capable of rot, capable of such bone-deep destruction, and how she reconciles that with growth. it could have been a powerful juxtaposition, but it got abandoned as soon as rachel figured out how to give persephone her powers back. presumably, persephone still has this ability, but it is literally never brought up again. we have no idea if there was lasting damage to apollo, if it did anything in particular to kronos, what it can do to a god (the assumption is nothing, since both apollo and kronos seem just fine in their final scenes.)

it's just. amazing to go back and look through all the various strings rachel was knotting together, seeing stuff that might have been genuinely fascinating to explore in some other writer's hands! tiny little things like this, added up together to just be crapshoot after crapshoot. it's no surprise at all that rachel finished the last episode barely an hour before it went live. what a mess.

[geezmarty]

...devlog #1??? - mini BG3 VN

So I recently downloaded Renpy because I wanna learn how to code in my spare time and I figured I'd write about it here for both posterity & to record my process with it all!

The project I'm starting with will be quick and easy because 1) I really don't want to start with something huge 2) I have work & commissions to take care of and those will come first.

About the project:

If you've been following me you know I've gotten hugely into bg3 so I thought why not code a little scene where you get to meet my durge, Brigha! I'll put my goals and expectations under the cut. Here's my first renpy test ft. Wyll.

First of all, what the hell is Renpy? Very simply put, Renpy is a software that allows you to create visual novels. You can check it out (and even download it for free!) here.

The "mini VN" I'm working on will feature a scene in Act1 of how I imagine you'd meet and recruit (or not!) my durge if she were a companion in the game, featuring some neat little things and details that I will hopefully be able to implement.

This is what I want to put in:

Ability to input your character's name;

(royalty free) music playing in the bg;

Multiple dialogue choices with (very small) dialogue trees;

Perhaps some pop ups like perception checks or companion approval/disapproval;

Companion pop up comments, randomized in one instance towards the end;

Two endings.

It might seem like a lot and it probably is - I might cut a couple these to make sure I don't spend too much time getting the vn out there.

So far I have the first draft of the script ready and I'll probably leave it as is unless testers will point out inaccuracies or weird phrasing. Here is a little concept of how I imagine Brigha will be dressed when you meet her:

Sprite wise she'll probably be the only one to have a full body/expressions (to preserve my wrists) but I might also draw little simple headshots of the other companions for when they'll pop up to comment.

As for backgrounds I will spare myself and just grab screencaps from the game that I will blurry/apply effects to, just to make them look a bit more coeshive with the sprites.

This is all I have so far! The VN will be available to play for free on your browser once I'm done with it :) ETA undetermined since this is a free time project done for fun.

Wish me luck!

[theresattrpgforthat]

Hey, I've been thinking of maybe getting into TTRPGs, but I don't really have any friends in person that are into that sort of stuff (I do have online friends who are into it, though). Do you have any recommendations for a/some good "solo" ttrpg for beginners.

THEME: Free Solo Games for First-Timers.

Hello friend! I managed to find a whole cluster of free roleplaying games, so I hope you find something here that tickles your fancy! There’s some story games, some survival games, and some that are in between.

Lycans & Lawyers, by GorgonHead.

You are one of Capitol's top lawyers. You also turn into a werewolf at night.

Welcome to Moondale, one of Capitol's nicer districts! Your law firm is based here, and most of your clients come from here. It is you job to keep them from getting convicted, even if they are guilty. 

And they are. You must employ your best skills, both as a lawyer and as a lycan, to keep them safe from the Union's law long hands. To manage this, you'll have to do some shady things. But it's all for the good of the client!

This is a simple, one page game with a lot to play with. It has a few paragraphs of lore, a map to help you visualize your neighbourhood, and two moon tracks to follow. You’ll have two different sets of stats depending on whether you are in your werewolf mode or your lawyer mode, as well as a series of roll tables to set the scene. If you like a concrete goal but also some flexibility in the details that you get to contribute to the story, you might like this game.

Strandead, by chuymarin.

Awakening amidst the boundless stretch of the open ocean, the unsettling sensation of isolation grips your soul. What lies ahead in this abyss, lurking within the depths of the ominous waters? The weight of impending threats gnaws at your very core. 

A solo hexcrawl for the survivalist at heart. Travel across an ocean and roll for encounters, fish, and random items as you try to survive for X number of days out on the open seas. With two difficulty modes and an optional QR-linked random generator of rumours, you’ll have an excellent combination of randomness and strategy to keep you invested. Perfect for folks who prefer balancing numbers and don’t want to fill in a narrative from prompts.

Fortress in the Frozen Wastes, by August Wigg.

Set in the post-apocalyptical land of the Frozen Wastes, a young Ranger must journey to an outlaw fortress to rescue their captured mentor and a group of settlers. Customize your Ranger to be proficient in different skills and choose different paths as you attempt to save the prisoners of the Fortress in the Frozen Wastes.

This is a combination of a traditional roleplaying adventure and a choose-your own adventure story. You’ll create a character sheet with stats, character abilities and inventory slots, and success and failure depend on a d10 roll. Your character dies if their endurance ever gets to 0, so you’ll do your best to navigate each new situation you encounter and make choices that keep your ranger alive long enough to fulfill their quest.

5 Min Knight, by enui.

5-Min-Knight is small one-player RPG about being a Knight of the round table. It takes 5 minutes to play.

This is basically a writing challenge, with a number of d6 tables that you’ll use for writing prompts. You are meant to roll and write as much as you can in 5 minutes - when the timer is up, you roll again to see what called you away. This is a great exercise if you’re looking for a way to practise your creativity, or if you don’t have that much time in a day to play.

If you’re more interested in solving mysteries, you can also try 5 Min Maven, by the same creator, inspired by Brindlewood Bay!

Curiosity Killed?, by Zole Tsoi.

Playing as a cat wandering the streets of a futuristic city, you are tasked with helping ghosts of the underworld who have unfinished business.

This is a one page game that uses a d4 for pretty much everything. You’ll want to keep an eye on your three stats, because if they get too high or too low, your cat is forced to end their mission early or gets stuck. Get your Stress down to 1 or your Morality up to 5 to win the game!

Homunculus, by DOMINO CLUB

Alchemy is a dirty, tiring, thankless job. I’ve let this absorb my whole life, and I’ve now gotten to the point where I’m ready to move on.

In this game, you play as an homunculus, newly created by an alchemist to explore the world .

Homunculus is a game that starts you off with quite a bit of guidance, easing you into play by setting you up with prompts connected to cards you draw from the deck. Card suits are connected to four stats in this game, which you will attempt to increase equally in order to gain the best possible ending. This game allows for a few replays if you are interested in getting different endings, but it also relies on interpreting prompts as drawn by the cards. If you like a game where you’re reaching a specific target, you might like Homunculus.

The Dukes Aid, by g0ri.

On the frontiers of space, an interstellar empire exists in a perilous balance. As a close aide of a Duke and his house, your job is to navigate safely through the coming intrigues.

Observe the plans within plans within plans as your House takes over the production of the Empire’s most important resource.….

The Duke's Aide is a solo roleplaying game requiring at least half an hour, a set of roleplaying dice, a deck of cards and something to write with and on. This is a proper journaling game, using a deck of cards to supply prompts, jokers included to help pace the game out for you. You’ll choose a character class, which also determines the dice you roll, which you’ll need every time your character tries something risky. This is a great introduction to a journaling game that still gives you a lot to work with if you don’t feel super comfortable extrapolating from prompts.

Games I've Recommended in the Past

The Wandering Library, by AP.

[darkpetal16]

June 26th through July 14th Progress Update

June 26th 2024 - Continued to write and program ch1 for Dancetale. This will be my first game incorporating the use of magic prosthetics.

June 28th 2024 - Continued to write and program ch1 for Dancetale, mostly focused on the different branches of the different prosthetics MC can have, and began researching canes for MCs with a leg prosthetic.

June 29th 2024 - Completed the prologue / ch1 groundwork for prosthetics (right leg, left leg, right arm, left arm and a three-way combination of those variants), along with if MC uses a cane. Currently now drafting / programming Toriel’s house.

June 30th 2024 - Drafted / Programmed the opening sequence for Toriel’s house. The locket makes a return!

July 1st 2024 - DANCETALE Programmed a portion of MC customization. Attached is a snippet of just the clothing customization.

HORRORTALE Drafted more of the lab

July 2nd 2024 - HORRORTALE Worked more on programming the opening scene. Also came up with a different idea for the later half of the lab that I think will be much more interesting, so started outlining that instead.

DANCETALE Worked on a new sequence as part of day 1. Since there’s so much customization, I’m trying to naturally spread out the options throughout the first day so it’s not so overwhelming.

NOTE: Discord voted for a 0 death Toriel encounter in DT

July 3rd 2024 - DANCETALE - Continued drafting & programming for ch1. Worked briefly on Toriel’s dance, but mostly focused on programming the soul variants & writing the backstory for MC with Chara.

July 5th 2024 - DANCETALE - Nearing completion for Ch1’s first programmed draft. Only two scenes left to complete - the dance with Toriel & the first major “Bad Ending”.

July 6th 2024 - DANCETALE - Played around with creating a rhythm game for the boss fight. Attached is what was voted on to use as buttons in the forum.

HORRORTALE - Drafted a very fun scene where a certain ghost meets a certain reaper. >:D

I did briefly open up MAFIAFELL to begin the revisions / corrections needed but then my computer blue screened so I quietly backed everything up when it came back on and moved on lol.

July 7th 2024 - Had two full uninterrupted hours of me time and got to start something I’ve been wanting to do for a hot minute: UNDERFELL update.

Began with updating the ui and themes, and randomized which LI talks to you after your first death. Hope to do more soon!

July 8th 2024 - Almost finished UNDERFELL’s facelift. Made it all the way to the city. I think I’ll be able to upload the updated version tomorrow.

July 09th 2024 - Completed the visual update to UNDERFELL and posted it.

July 10th 2024 - Mostly worked on trying to figure out how to code a few things for DANCETALE. Trying something new and haven’t got it working yet. I also did a little more drafting into ch1 while it stewed in my thoughts.

July 11th 2024 - DANCETALE rhythm boss fight coding. Vid’s in the forum for more details, but it took me a couple days to get it working well enough.

July 14th 2024 - DANCETALE continued drafting & programming Ch1. Only one day left. Also created a brief “how to” on the boss battles / rhythm games. After some play testing I have determined I’ll leave the rhythm games just for boss battles, and use a more typical method for regular encounters. It’ll bog the game down too much for each regular encounter to have its own rhythm game to its own song.

NOTE: Discord currently voting on death loop & soulmate rule in DT.

[ravenalla]

Just watched the new helluva episode and..ugh okay opinions under the cut.

Some people are saying this episode is better than the others of season 2. And while visually it’s stunning and not as directly insulting as some of the others, I think this episode is one of the best examples of how these writers don’t understand pacing, comedic timing, or creating a coherent plot. The cuts between locations happen way too fast, some scenes feel like they were written under a minute just to add fluff (like the Moxxie hat fight, Blitz talking with the woman in the waiting room and the entire joke once again just being a character saying curse words or insults multiple times in a sentence, camera crews conveniently being at the hospital to see Stolas hurt for some reason.) Also god Stella. At least when they made her a one-dimensional boring villain she was competent at being one. Now she just looks like a whiny idiot so they could have her brother be there for no reason.

Speaking of which, that was a damn terrible introduction to Andrealphus. Unless your following updates about the show on Twitter, you don’t know who the fuck that is, why he’s here or what his connection to either Stella or Stolas is until now, there’s only been one passing mention she even had a brother before this. He’s just suddenly there with no proper introduction, and then Striker just appears now to kidnap Stolas in front of tons of other people (I guess him trying to kill Stolas with the angelic weapon hidden in the shadows didn’t matter that much after all) and take him back to an underground lair he has for some reason. He also brings up the classist system and Stolas’s bigotry but it doesn’t matter because he hurt the poor uwu prince baby 🙄 I swear it feels like this show is AI generated at this point, or at the very least the writers know that the pretty animation and shipping fuel will keep diehard fans around so they don’t actually have to make anything tightly written and can just do whatever random hodgepodge of scenes and dialogue they like. Which whatever its clear this show is just “the sex joke” show most of the time, but don’t then try to tell me this is some masterclass of writing and character development when the entire climax of Stolas and Blitz’s relationship problems at Ozzie’s was addresses ENTIRELY OFFSCREEN THROUGH TEXT MESSAGES. Even if you ship Stolas and Blitz, how the hell can you accept that? That’s the sloppiest way they could have handled that, I don’t even like this show and I feel disrespected lmao.

And just the way they tried to make us “feel” for their relationship this episode. Why the hell would Blitz be so shocked Stolas could get hurt, you literally fought Striker before because he was two seconds away from killing Stolas instantly otherwise?? You were hired to be his bodyguard in one episode! Like yeah maybe actually seeing it happen is causing the reality of it to sink in for Blitz, but everything we’ve been shown so far INCLUDING IN THIS EPISODE shows how much he does not care that much about Stolas and at best has a mild acceptance of him (at least outside of seeing stars which everybody’s already talked about how weird that entire thing was). I literally have no idea why we are suppose to be rooting for these two to get together at this point. It’s just watching uwu Stolas get hurt over and over again so we can pity the guy and wonder why Blitz wont love him boohoo 🙄 it’s annoying and not fun to watch. Also this might be more of a nitpick, but did anyone else think characters looked weirdly off model a lot in this episode? Like yeah the animation was impressive at some points during the action scenes but during regular dialogue it looked like it was done by a completely different studio than the other episodes, especially with Stella, Andrealphus, Millie, and Moxxie. Not sure what that’s about or if I’m just imagining it.

[jo-harrington]

My unsolicited predictions for Hoard

Not that anyone cares, but this is just my disclaimer before I write my own fucked up fic featuring this visually delicious and obviously gross character Michael who we know nothing about yet. Because I like gross boys. (My R character is not in place of Maria or even related to this hoarding situation. She will be someone random off who encounters a gross boy and wants to fuck him.)

The movie is coming from the perspective of this girl who lived with a mentally ill mother (the hoarding) and is in foster care and has been for a long time. I'm gonna say it once and twice and again, it's gonna be a psychologically fucked up story featuring a mentally ill girl who is coping with the shitty hand she's been dealt in the shitty environment that she's in. Including using her foster mother and potentially this character Michael as devices for said coping.

The director herself has come out and said that writing this in 2020 she was faced with her own past and memories and even used it as a coping mechanism. And it would have stayed some kind of disgusting vestige of her creativity for whoever found it if she hadn't actually gone through with creating the film. It is a manic nightmare featuring the vaults of her past come to life.

One the OFF CHANCE WE ARE LOOKING AT THIS FROM A LITERAL WINDOW AND THERE IS NO FUCKED UP, PSYCHOLOGICAL THING HAPPENING, sure maybe Michael is preying on a 17 year old. If that's the case, consider anything I may write some kind of original story (I mean we know nothing about him aside from his looks and 2 lines right? And how JQ portrays him.)

My predictions now: this is a movie about Maria. A girl who is "hoarding" fantasies and begins coveting and storing feelings because it's what she's grown up around. She's never had a life with healthy coping mechanisms, never had a life where she was truly wanted by someone. She is projecting every interaction that she has with anyone into a twisted version of reality where she maybe is wanted. By someone, this man, versus no one, which is the hard truth.

As for the sex scene and intimacy coordination, I feel like--as with many psychologically challenging movies--we're gonna get some kind of psychedelic sex scene where JQ is with the foster mother and Maria listens and imagines herself in that situation because she's never been wanted before. Its going to be layered and weird and manic.

This could be a story that needs to be told, one that is compelling to tell, and should be listened to.

And in the mean time, I'm gonna lust over this fake gross man until maybe I can't anymore. Because the actor who plays him is hot.

[perseusjackson-jasongrace]

so if you’re familiar with my writing style you’ll know i tend to use words as visual tools. like if someone

is

going

down

the

stairs

then they definitely look like they’re going down, kind of thing. but there’s other fun things and hidden messages i get to play around with while i’m creating these little visuals and i thought i’d share some examples from my fics over the years

not so random capitalisation

i use capitalisation a LOT in my writing (haha) and it is definitely for emphasis but i also like to focus on specific things with the words to help portray the emotions in the scene.

#1

in this one, i’ve capitalised some letters in “simultaneously”. But the letters i’ve chosen to capitalise if rearranged a little spell out INSANE.

#2

gay sex happening here and i thought i was hilarious for capitalising “anal” in the word ‘finally’. sometimes it’s not about symbolism. sometimes i just like to entertain myself.

#3

the word “roles” is capitalised in ‘troublemakers’ because that’s their roles. lol obvious, but fun

#4

ah okay this one you’ll see i’ve capitalised the two T’s in ‘torture’ because to me it looked like torture bars. you know those things where they handcuff your hands with a bar in the middle? yea doesn’t it look like a ‘T’?

#5

mind you there are ways happy accidents (as bob ross says). here my aim was to show the suspension by capitalising the first and last syllables. but that meant the middle syllable ‘pen’ was left lowercase, which is a little ode to percy jackson, who we know carriers a pen as his sword. that was a fun discovery.

hidden messages

#1

so in this one visually you can probably tell i’m showing the “sinking” happening. but another fun thing is the way i’ve decided to separate the letters. “s i n” are sort of evenly spaced apart and spell out sin (adding to the pleasure they’re about to indulge in) and “ks” sounds (and maybe looks) like kiss.

so in this little visual i managed to show the action (sinking), the theme (sin) and the result (kiss) just from breaking up “sinks”.

#2

okay so they’re on a motorbike with one sitting behind the other pressed into him and yes i am visually showing their movement by writing gone in this broken way. but also because of the way i split ‘gone’ you can read it as “They’re one.”, cause love and closeness and obsession yadda yadda

#3

this is a dual one

so here there’s two scenes from the same fanfic, with the first happening at the beginning and the second at the very end. As you can see i isolated the word “nothing” to visualise the nothingness and then also split it apart into “no” and “thing” as well as changed it to read “no king”. (emphasis on percy not needing to be a king while in the arms of his lovers).

and then in the last scene i give him the dialogue “No” and assign it to his title so it again reads “no king”.

in conclusion i love to play around with words, it’s so much fun for me! and while it won’t happen every time (sometimes the capitalisations really are random) (sometimes the visualisations are just visualisations), and sometimes it will be pure accident, i thought it would be nice to show some of my more hidden thought processes behind my (slightly wild) writing.

[pybun]

reflecting on tatters' comic, i realized i write based on how i process information/media

kinda long post so had to cut it

i initially realized this when i saw this scene from emesis blue which isnt even a dream/hallucination sequence. i interpreted it differently bc of the way the sequence of shots was presented

the scene was when burnt spy was abt to confront archibald. the shot in particular that i interpreted different was when archibald saw the hole with corpses. i initially thought he saw burnt spy, not the corpses. it took me a few more rewatches before i finally realized what archi was actually looking at. after that i dissected the scene as to why i had a different interpretation and thats when it hit me abt my writing

in my first few drafts there was so many parts in tatters' comic where things have to be very clear and explained. every detail has an explanation like how tatters transformations work, where tatters' powers come from, the science behind how theres magic in the world, etc. so many details that isnt necessary to the plot and yet have an explanation for. like every aspect could have its own spinoff or analog horror documentary. everything has to have an answer

[tatters comic spoilers]----------------------------

a specific example in tatters' comic is the scene where tatters initially learned how to make a humanoid version of himself using AJ's body

in any other media, this wouldve been depicted like a ben 10 or magical girl transformation. but i wrote it with tatters' going through a thought process and showing what AJ looks like and her reaction being inside the body tat created. it shows why AJ becomes a ghost whenever tatters is in control. and this isnt just tatters pushing AJ's spirit out of her body, he had to pull her spirit out because she kept screaming after seeing shes a dismembered head inside a void

[spoiler end]----------------------------

a lot of scenes will be like this. what couldve just been a montage will play out in real time. i like showing the process

ig this is why i cant make gmod-esque videos or random visual gags like adventure time

[antiloreolympus]

9 Anti LO Asks

1. I know nothing about this, I just stumbled onto your blog and started reading, but I saw a post where (presumably) the author said that Aphrodite and Persephone... weren't skinny? They're tiny??? Wtf

2. I love long-haired men so much I never thought I would consider a long-haired man ugly. But goddamn, Hades still looks ugly even with long hair, even to me. That's impressive... are you, like, alive, btw?

3. You know, in the new currently fast pass chapter... Kronos takes over Hades and makes him say stuff to Thanatos? Right, but then he goes, "What's wrong, don't want Persephone to be your new mommy?" Which is terrible writing enough on it's own but then you HAVE to consider that PERSEPHONE HERSELF IS YOUNGER THAN THANATOS, SOMEONES WHOSE MEANT TO BE HADES' SURROGATE SON (who he treats like shit). Like, Hades is more than old enough to be a father but Persephone only JUST turned old enough to maybe be a mother! Which really makes you realize, Hades isn't old enough to be her dad, he's old enough to be her grandpa. Disgusting. Like, there can't be any defense for this 💀

4. tbh i think eris is a shit character and a hamfisted plot device. she could have been added so much better.

5. My personal criticism with LO has mostly to do with the art style. Like yes the writings kinda trashy but trashy can still be good if its coupled with great visuals and characters. The problem is that the arts just pathetically inconsistent. You can't even blame webtoon for it since she has a few assistants. I'm an artist myself and even tho I don't draw for a living, I know it's fairly easy to create simple character charts and reference sheets. Some people say it's not that bad but god the inconsistency in the characters appearances can ruin chapters for me.

For example, the fact that Persephone sometimes has siren eyes, doe eyes, full lips, no lips, extra body fat, less body fat, a button nose, or a longer nose is ridiculous. It drives me nuts when people call the art amazing, because it's just not. And it seems like all of her aesthetic details (IE wardrobe and colors) are all very surface level, aside from Minthe/Persephone and Hades contrasts.

Demeter being green and purple makes some sense, but then her daughter being neon pink ONLY is weird. Hades being blue and winter-esq makes some sense since there's no sun in the underworld, but the ENTIRE underworld being the same blue and black is just ugly. Zeus being a royal purple? Makes sense. Hera being gold? That too. They're the only color pallets that actually correspond with personality, yet they're wasted with basic wardrobes and character development.   Ares being gold makes sense GENETICALLY, but not in practicality. Same with Hermes being red. Plus, she seems to assign colors to characters at random without even seeing how they build off of each other, let alone their own personalities.

I don't think people really get how important color and wardrobe are in stories, especially visual ones. You should be able to look at a character and immediately understand what they're about, even if it's subconsciously. But Persephone is often in bright happy colors and tight clothing even in times of stress or depression. Artemis is always in workout gear or her uniform. Minthe is more in "sexy" clothing, which is fine, but her colors don't change with her mental state.

Another problem I have is again with Persephone. Her wardrobe isn't even picked out by her, it's always by others/magic. She never really gets to visually tell us how she feels other than her glaringly obvious vines and eyes. Like, I could deal with a visual crutch if the writing was good or vise versa, but when they're both lacking it just sucks.

I see a lot of people say the same things I wanted to, like how creepy Perse and Hades are, how Apollo wasn't handled well, yada yada yada. Anyway Hades is creepy and Hera, Minthe, and Demeter deserve the world ✌🏼

6. It's really funny bc I've been reading some of the scenes of Hades' problematic action (esp the latest fast pass) and he literally talks like my abusive dad and my ex groomer. Like hm maybe your male lead having the same verbal manipulation tactics as actual abusers isn't the best. But oh my bad Hades is still a perfect man /s

7. something that makes me angry about demeter is that we are supposed to see her as an abusive or controlling mother ( i know that controlling mothers is an obviously bad thing ) but all her reasons are a good part of the time valid?

Like:

She doesn't want her child dating a 40y + man who she knows for like 11 days +++ someone who was literally a horrible person with her until the point she cried .

And lets not forget about the slaver owner thing 🥺 demeter knows hades more time  than persephone, obviously. It's not something bad if you dont want your TEENAGER daughter next to a grown old man who the only thing he thinks about its her "small petite thicc pink body" 😁

8. i just wanted to say that i really love your blog, like whenever i look at it i feel better. idk if thats kinda weird since its an anti blog but it just kinda brings me euphoria. ty!

From OP: Thank you so much! I’m glad my blog can be beneficial for you. /pos

-----FP Spoiler-----

9. 220 spoiler: full fuckin disrespect, we all know Kronos wants Persephone rather than Hera as his “golden traitor”, because fuck every other god/goddess, the only ones that matter are Hades and Persephone!!

[professor-abeloved]

It Loves Within (a review of goodbyes, gratitude, and gay screaming)

i read somewhere that an aspect of the horror genre is pain. and if you're a fan of the it lives anthology, pain is inevitable.

the pain of choosing who has to take jane's place, a game that (doesn't) end(s) in sacrifice, betrayal, and anguish. the pain of losing one's parents, finding family anew (in both blood and found) - only to potentially lose it all.

the pain of an impossible choice: do you end this, once and for all, to save everyone - only to never see them again when you finally return home? do you remain in this world, with gaping wounds patched by temporary bandages, for the life you've never thought you had the chance to live? or do you try try try to bridge it all together, pushing for a world full of potential, a reality still out of reach, but still worth fighting for all the same?

every ending of It Lives Within is tragic in its own way, a bittersweet balm to the trauma-filled fuckaganza of a journey of these characters we know and love.

i'm never going to stop saying thank you to everyone at the @itlivesproject team for making the choice to create and collaborate on this masterpiece. the pain of pixelberry cancelling sequels (er, trilogies) broke my heart, but this fan game is more than a dream come true.

(the rest of this is kind of a rambling review under the cut)

looking back, i'm actually glad that they cancelled it - because i wouldn't trade every second i played ILW for anything. (and my girlfriend knows i've spent numerous all-nighters just playing and/or talking about ILW <3. i tell my therapist it started with abel's first diamond scene--and okay getting side-tracked).

first off, i want to mention all the variants. the It Lives series were unique and notorious for having different branches and endings that carried through to the next book, something which isn't very common in mobile visual novels. since ILW had not one, but two books to reference... hoo boy. coding, writing, making art + sprites for, testing, editing, and hell even just thinking of the different variables and how they impact a third book is such a herculean feat and i applaud everyone on the team for all the blood, sweat, and tears poured into this endeavor.

the gameplay itself was super fun!! i think it hit the right balance of action with timed choices and puzzles (i now want my own crown paperweight), implementing that Nerve Score system that the It Lives series is known for. not only did one have to keep in mind their Nerve, but also their choices between Blood and Shadow that would seal the fate of everyone in this Pixelberry Cinematic Universe (hello, horror Julian HSSgame). it was fun as fuck, i really liked and appreciate the decision of 3 different main endings <3

because the plot was a downright banger. every twist and turn had me on the edge of my seat and frantically screenshotting everything (somehow i've gotten to 20k screenshots, but at least 98% is ILW. the other 2% are random crap and also Choices, lol). it was cool to theorize and guess correctly on some things and still be utterly shocked at the brilliant execution. i can't list every single thing that made me gasp, but the crumbs of foreshadowing are incredible. not just saying this as a tester, but the replay value is nuts. (also the different personalites of sarcastic, genuine, and aggressive are so good).

having character relationships as a core stat was also an organic, lovely choice. i adore how everyone started off at various points (joss at 0 and amalia at 75 iirc?) and could develop differently and sometimes independently of nerve (abel being easy to befriend but having tough nerve to raise because he's going through Some Shit, while jocelyn was more closed off yet had easier nerve to raise). it really colors the ways the main 4 interact with rowan, and i love how even the romance variants played a part in it. from jealousy-laden glances to the famed Union Walk Out, this game was a breath of fresh air to the usual 'i accidentally have 1 flirt point with this LI and somehow they're in love with me' vibe of current mobile VNs. (mattyass is an outlier and doesn't count <3)

speaking of characters!! holy shit they slayed and served, giving closure to our favs from the first book and then some (being pro connor green wasn't in my 2023 bingo card, but it happened! i like that funky lil dude), giving the cast of the second book vital yet natural roles, while letting the new cast shine in their own right.

the It Lives cast is vastly beloved for a reason, and the ILP Team not only nailed every single one of the canon characters, but they breathed new life into them (literally in the case of RF!noah/devon). i'm beyond words to express how amazing it was to not only have my blorbos back, but to be able to see a beautiful devonoah romance and flirt with dan pierce after years of pining and get married to andy kang?!?! the gift just keeps on giving. (i'm just biased in mentioning them because devon, noah, andy, and dan are my ILITW biasline but i'm so happy to have seen stacy, lucas, ava, lily again <3333)

i also adore the ILB crew to bits!! i had the impression they were barely gonna be featured (and valid), but the way the showed up!! the way harper was important and could kick ass while injured??? slay.

and the way everyone interacted in ch19 was some avengers assemble beautiful dream. i don't think i'll ever be that happy again in my life, fr <33

and onto the stars of the show...

it's been an honor to spend time with each and every one of the main crew. jocelyn was someone i was hyped to see, ever since her cameo in the ILB end credits scene. redemption arcs are tricky and while i admittedly felt the initial trepidation... the execution of her development blew me away. it is fantastic and realistic (getting to encourage her to be better or to leave her alone was also a cool mechanic. i love how it's in firm yet empathic encouragement that she works to better herself.). she grew into such a fierce, gruff protector with a heart of gold and fists of fury. i love her so much. her nightmare sequence facing her shadow past self is one of my favorite's. arcs of self-forgiveness vs self-flagellation hit hard, and it moves me to tears to see how far joss has come <33 her route having either a slow burn vibe or a fwb tinge was also an excellent choice !! i enjoyed fwb route (she's so sweet and considerate, putting a blanket over us with a frown lmao) and i can't want to replay for sb + to write fics with her <3

now onto lincoln, my fav mlm cowboy son. i was initially jealous because i thought my girlfriend would be into him + i thought abel and he were exes, but i came around in ch13, iirc. i connect with his arc of wanting to prove your worth to your parents very painfully, and it means a lot to see him know that others' approval will never define him. i'm also happy to see him process his pain and give others a chance - give himself a chance to apologize and let abel in again. he's also fun to torture write for in fics, and somehow he's soulmates with my most complex ILW MC, wan, despite me son-zoning him real bad, so that's just amazing characterization. excited to write more <3

amalia my beloved <33 the brains, brawn, beauty of rowan's rogue monster hunting operations. i love her and her route so much. childhood best friends to lovers always slaps (i mean, cmon thats most of the ILITW ships), and the way it was executed for amalia is chef's kiss. the angst of your best friend not being the person you thought they were was an excellent spin on the trope. but the love she has for you and the love you have for her is something all on your own?? perfection <33 also her dreams of wanting to make a difference, especially what happened with her family is a very relevant experience today, are so inspiring <3 i'm so excited to replay her route with a different mc and also to write her as well <3

AIJDBFHDFJDOK abel aifhsohifOSDHDSIGH okay that's it.

JK abel, my love, my light, my stars. professor dorklord. the reason i've changed my url after these long years. i love him and his sexy sweater vest of sin so much. my favorite scene of all time is when pretending to have a lover's spat with abel in amalia's university AISHFIOG. he's funny, sweet, and charming. i'd listen to his nerdy rambles all night long - and yes, partially an innuendo, and partially that i like nerds who ramble about things. i love how he can be too rational (yet always with a heart <3) yet also so selfless, and i love how he can choose himself and his happiness at the end instead of living with ghosts <3 i love you abel, baby, i'm coming back for youuu in every route, in every wip <3

to ro, my trans-coded, queer-coded power entity <3 i was so happy that MC had powers (not from a suit we had to spend diamonds on), and wow they executed this trope so well. rowan is so well written with 3 different personality types, it's wonderful. y'know, i used to make MCs for every choices book (until i got lazy lol) and i can't believe i have at least 4 MCs again <3 the creativity this game sparks in me i swear to the power. i'll see you soon: ronaldo, genuinely sweet and genuinely terrifying baby boy. wan, my sweet snarky selfless drag queen. amor, you tough dorky tcg-playing sweetheart. reg my flirty failgirl (gender neutral), beanie baby charmer.

shoutout to daddy mattyass for being the GOAT choices antagonist/secret LI. you know i have so much to say about him, but it's almost 2 am and also 90% of my ilw meta is about him anyways <3 love to hate him, hate to love him!! he lives rent free in my mind <33 (but fr, such a compelling character and no one else would've been as satisfying to deal with in the finale. i miss the king of delusion pathetic meow meow <3)

also loving luis, sunny, elena, jessica, milf mayor green, babygirl adrian kim, girlboss marianthe. every npc, every pixel and line of code and text and just everything, every thread that makes up the tapestry of this beautiful, priceless experience.

it lives on, it loves on.

pain is inevitable. it hurts because it's over, it hurts because i love this game with every fibre of my being... but love doesn't really die, does it? it lives on in a different form. the game will always be there. if anything, the fandom is alive with the love that's put into the project, the love that reaches us no matter where we are - even from the fictional town of Westchester to the Power dimension and beyond.

[alterchaos]

Hi everyone! I’m back with another update!

After watching the poll this past week, I am happy to officially announce that Alter Chaos will be continuing in writing as a full and complete story!

I’m honestly so excited to put my attention and effort into making sure this story is written with proper love and care. I feel like a novelist! ♡ Since I no longer have to put equal focus on the art and visuals, I plan to really take my time plotting everything out, closely revising my pieces, and sharing a wider range of stories to help build the world and central lore better. With that in mind, there are a few specific things I want to point out:

1. I would like to go back to the drawing board on most elements concerning Seven Rings and the Moonbeast Saga. I won’t be altering the central plots but I was never fully satisfied rushing through these stories given the limitations the technical/art focus placed on my imagination. Seven Rings especially needs more attention, as I originally planned to go through every boss and adventure with Sinbad and Ali Baba, but rushed it for the sake of continuing the following saga. I even want to rewrite the saga’s ending to be more in line with this structure and to be a proper build up for what follows, so only expect the original pieces to be posted after I get to that more as a bit of behind the scenes than anything.

Moonbeast, thankfully, just needs some tweaks and rewrites to the script apart from the arc that was already posted (Roses - Tears). The central plot for this saga in particular has gone through MANY changes and variations since the beginning of this series. For instance, I ditched the Chip/memory plot in favor of a more unique storyline concerning the mysteries of the world known as Gaia (I’m especially excited to reveal more details on that). I need to go back with these ideas and properly lay them out, every detail, to ensure this saga maintains structure and a more natural sense of progression.

2. Since I will be reworking these sagas, I would like to pick up all the way back at the start, following Tale of Two Brothers and work from there. I had already written the immediate next episode/chapter and plan to post that alongside a drawn one following Party Hardly. From there, I may not write a full chapter for EVERY episode of Sonic X, but most, including some brand-new tales to add to the mix.

As we work through these stories, I also plan to write smaller side chapters called Mobius Adventures. These will revolve around side games such as Sonic Rush and Sonic Riders, or even little unique stories such as Silver eating a chilidog for the first time or Chaotix detective/band shenanigans or Eve helping out in the town etc. I want these stories to flesh out Mobius as a world not too far removed from our own despite the crazy adventures. It will also help more pivotal and central plot elements hit that much harder (muehehehee♡).

3. I can’t promise a weekly schedule, so I will be posting when I feel like it from now on. One week I may be free and want to write 3 chapters and another week I may be offline. Who knows. What matters is enjoying the adventure and having fun! ♡

4. Just because this path won the poll doesn’t mean I will never draw or post things such as random pages or character art. They will just be rare. I at least plan to share what I already sketched out when I post their respective chapters and will also be finishing a certain chapter (coming soon) in comic format since I was almost done, it’s my favorite episode in the show, and the physical comedy would be lost in writing.

5. I will release a couple posts/documents in the future laying out a proper timeline for the series as well as important lore elements to help readers keep track of the world and plot at large. I’m also learning more about how Tumblr functions as a site and may be experimenting with extra blogs/sites to create pages or “tabs” to help organize everything. If any major changes are made to my blog, I will be sure to send updates to help you all locate where things have moved. My goal is to make chapters as easily accessible as possible rather than being forced to scroll through months of posts.

That’s all I have for now. Thank you all for reading and supporting this series and I will see you all in the next post! ♡

[waywardsalt]

oh yeah i’ve got a bunch of loz aus that i haven’t really talked about. a few of them are listed and slightly explained in this poll and explanation reblog but i haven’t gone out of my way to actually list the aus i have and really explain them. so that’s what this post is for. here are some... decently simple explanations of my major aus and what they're generally about

i have two kinds of aus: original aus (loz aus that are set in their own kinds of worlds with their own stories and twists on character roles) and then crossover aus (we all know how this works i just mash loz and a thing i like together)

original aus: (many currently dont have actual titles, so the titles will often just be concept shorthand)

in the court of the crimson king/crimson king au: probably the most developed and closest to being written out. it's got one of the longer premises; set in a industrial-esque hyrule city, following linebeck as the main character, as the adoptive older brother of link and aryll, living with them and their grandmother as the only one able to reliably make money to pay for rent and food, leaving every other week to do jobs, but he moonlights as the 'demon of the gray moon', a masked persona he'd created as a child that had long since become a city-wide urban legend, anonymously taking unsavory jobs from whomever can contact him and offer pay, often working directly for bellum, a childhood friend, the one who enabled and trained him to become the demon, and one of five anonymous leaders of the city. linebeck effectively lives a double life, and tries to stay out of too much trouble to avoid drawing attention to himself or making his adoptive family worry, but he gets dragged into more and more danger as bellum becomes curious about the identities of the city's other leaders, and linebeck falls in love with a man named ganondorf, suspected to be one of those other city leaders. ive got a few posts related to it already: this one being another vague concept descriptor, this one being an actual scene i have written out.

'gimmick' au: i cannot explain the gimmick without spoiling the au. put simply, in this au, hyrule as a whole has been at war for ten years, every race and kingdom taking sides in a conflict that seems to be going nowhere. link joined the hylian army young, and has made his way up the ranks to become trusted by queen zelda herself, and things in the war take an interesting turn as he and zelda discover a new faction, unaligned with any particular kingdom and with unknown motives, and zelda decides to set out to the different parts of hyrule, link and a chosen group of trusted allies in tow, intending to try negotiation one more time before things take a turn for the worse.

sci-fi/space au: the fun one that probably would need to be done in a visual medium. it takes place in a solar system of a few planets, link growing up on the planet hyrule and occasionally traveling to the others as a knight specializing in investigating and taking down dangerous bounty hunters, working for zelda as a friend. he and zelda uncover a plot by the yiga clan to accumulate a number of highly dangerous research and weapons held by each species as they aim to resurrect a demon to wreck havoc on the solar system- the b plot being about the top bounty hunters in the solar system screwing around, eventually colliding with link and zelda's a plot as it begins to involve them.

murder mystery(?) au: one of the older ones, maybe one of the oldest that i still stick with. this might actually be one of the first ones i tried writing. the plot begins when zelda returns to hyrule city years after her father- the former mayor- was murdered, finding that he has been replaced by ganondorf and that while things seem fine enough on the surface, random and organized crime run the show, and she begins a private detective agency as 'sheik', a masked young man, and with the help of impa, and old friend and confidant, she moonlights as sheik and uses her daytime identity as zelda to help chip away at some of the city's biggest problems and finds herself drawn into a long string of murders that appear to be anything but random violence.

ruined hyrule 1: i have two au’s with the premise of hyrule being ruined. neither of them have more specific names yet. this one begins with the majority of greater hyrule's population having long since locked themselves in hyrule castle town in order to escape the increasingly dangerous wildlife. zelda, a young girl at the beginning, becomes curious about what lies beyond the city walls, and makes friends with many other children within this sheltered hyrule, and as they grow up together, aim to eventually venture out into the wilderness to see what may have caused the outside world to become so incredibly hostile.

ruined hyrule 2: the other ruined hyrule. set in a devastated hyrule, roughly ten years after the royal family was killed, link failing to save them or hyrule in the time since. he now resolves to set out and indiscriminately destroy every demon that plagues the ruined hyrule, meeting and bringing along various allies, each of which has been uniquely affected by and have different lived in this altered, dangerous shell of hyrule.

modern (school): i also have two modern aus. this one isn’t plot driven, just a concept i have, would work best as little vignettes or something. essentially just the idea of a group of loz characters hanging out together in a modern high school (or college?) setting.

modern: this is the one with an actual plot. follows the general idea of zelda characters living in a modern world only for the typical legends to begin resurfacing and heralding dark events. plot specifics are murky, but that's the general idea.

dark mage: this is the au that where the seas meet the sands takes place in. basically just ganondorf x linebeck shenanigans in this alternate hyrule while actual plot sneaks up on them. named 'dark mage' mostly because the initial idea behind this au was that linebeck would learn magic.

horror au: doesn't have the best name, and it's ended up just being a personal sandbox for me. constantly changing, with the cast and setting often altering if i find that something isn't working or sticking. it's an au i've considered (and even briefly tried) writing in the past, but it's still too fluid, and writing horror effectively is difficult. it's a fun au, though.

mecha au: spawned because i watched neon genesis evangelion. a lot of this au's basic concepts can be found here: x but the short version is that hyrule is being besiged by massive monsters, but each race has created their own mechs to combat them. link is just a farmer who happens to have a strange knack for being a mech user, so is brought in by zelda as a gamble to bolster their chances, and he is tasked with working with a new and less-than-trustworthy crew to help fight those monsters.

'amnesia link' au: an au that sprang up in about a day and hasn't gotten too far since. basic premise being that three years prior to the story, link and a group of allies has faced off against ganondorf and, despite their best efforts, lost, with link being presumed dead by their enemies. now, link has woken up from his coma, his memories gone and hyrule taken over, and, with guidance, must once again travel across hyrule, aiming to rediscover his allies and try to face ganondorf once more.

A quick list of crossovers: I won't explain these in length, since they can range from having their own plot to just being a fun mental concept. So, the things I have made crossover aus with are:

Warrior Cats

Batman

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure

Persona 5

Pokemon

(there are other, smaller ones, these are just the ones i consistently pay attention to)

So! These are the majority of my legend of zelda aus, some of which I may write, some of which just exist in my mind for fun, all of which I wouldn't mind talking more about if anyone is curious!

[whatyourusherthinks]

Late Night With The Devil Review

I didn't know anything this movie. It randomly arrived in theater with no fanfare, trailers, not even a poster. It is going away really fast too. Turns out the horror streaming service Shudder put it out for a limited time in theaters before making it exclusive online. The only other thing I knew about the movie was that they use AI art in part of the movie. I will get to that.

What's The Movie About?

The movie is essentially a found footage of the final episode of a fictional late night sketch show as well as behind the scenes footage detailing what went down to make it the final episode.

What I Like.

To start with, I liked all the characters. Most of them are selfish or jerks, but I still empathized with a good chunk, liked their motivations, and was invested with their role in the plot. A highlight for me was the stage magician skeptic character, if someone makes me play Call of Cthulhu ever again I want to play that guy. I quite like the set up and staging of the story, it built tension wonderfully. I also really liked the back drop of seventies cultural revolution, and more specifically, the satanic panic. It does telegraph some of the reveals but there isn't a huge mystery to the story so I didn't mind.

But my favorite thing is thus: Late Night With the Devil is an analogue horror story higher budget. (Or at least a higher budget than the typical YouTube videos that employ this style of horror.) What that means is that the movie emulates older forms of media, complete with glitched visuals and audio, and the movie uses it to find a subtler narrative underneath the upfront story. I really like analogue horror when it is done well. It can create some of the most disturbing ideas and presentations in horror. Some analogue horror can be too vague, where it's just weird shit with no context because the creators figure the fans will piece together anything and that justifies them barely writing a story. It works best when there is a complete narrative with creepier hints sprinkled throughout that imply a darker story. Which is what Late Night With The Devil does. I will say the secondary story might be a bit too obvious, I picked it up on my first time watching and most people I talked to figured it out as well. But I vastly prefer that to seemingly random bullshit that we'll just let the internet figure out what it means.

What I Didn't Like.

Three things. One, there is a coda at the beginning of the movie setting up the movie itself as lost footage being shown as the movie you are watching. But there is no coda at the end. The movie just kinda stops after the finale. It just feels like a loose end that could have easily been tied, and hell, even set up a sequel or connected movie. I'd watch more of these kinds of movies.

Two, while the gore effects are good, the rest are not. Honestly, they are so bad it takes away from the horror of the movie. There was only one scene I thought was scary, and it was because of those great gore effects. But there is a part where a character vomits themselves to death and I wasn't scared at all because of the clearly fake puke.

And three, the AI art. Here we fucking go. When I first heard about it, I assumed it was abstract art. So I just rolled my eyes and said "You really couldn't just splash some paint on a poster board and film it or something? Hell, give a production member's toddler 5 bucks to scribble all over some paper." But watching the movie, the AI artwork is actually supposed to resemble objects, such as a television, owl, and skeleton. Imagine me rubbing my face with both hands when I say Jesus H Fucking Christ. To start with, it looks bad. AI art does not do details properly at all, giving it any amount of scrutiny reveals how bad it is. Also, you couldn't just take ten minutes in photoshop to put an owl on an old tv? Pay a fucking artist to make art, don't use AI! It's objectively not that bad of an addition to the movie, but we can give no quarter on this issue. The moment that corporations replacing job with AI becomes normalized is the moment that we lose.

Final Summation.

I thought Late Night With The Devil was incredibly interesting and quite good. I wasn't being facetious when I said I would watch more of these kinds of movies. Analogue horror is a extremely fun method of story telling, if you do it right. And I think this particular setting could be expanded in quite a number of directions. Or if the Shudder studios want to keep making this kind of horror with different ideas, I would be down for that as well.

[rikeijo]

Today's translation #354

Yuri!!! on ICE, DVD vol. 5, Hiramatsu Tadashi's interview

Part 4.

~In figure skating scenes, consistency was very effective~

(The critical moment) was episode 3. In September we were scheduled to have an event, where the first three episodes were to be aired. The episode 1 was almost finished, but with episode 2 and 3, we were not quite there yet. That was the first time, when everyone thought: will we really manage to create this anime till the end? And at that time still only two characters were skating. When we realized how many other characters were going to appear in the next episodes, everyone for a moment thought: "It's going to be impossible to accomplish, isn't it?". But we managed to make it through that and then episodes 4, 5 and 6, and finally, I thought that it should be alright. (From episode 5, we started to use CGI to make parts of the skating scenes) - if we didn't do that, then it would have been pretty tough. The idea to use CGI had been there from the very beginning, but the Director's will was to have everything drawn by hand as much as possible. The one person who pulled the team forward (by making the decision to use CGI) was Otsuka [Manabu, now MAPPA's CEO] producer, in the sense that he didn't give up.

Every time we very changing the skating scenes little by little, improving the parts that looked off and this consistent effort, in a sense, resulted in us having honed up our skills. Especially, this movement, when Yuuri moves his head to face the camera in the beginning of his SP - matching his personal growth, his expression in that moment is different each time. His performance is the same, but the circumstances are different, or his relationship with Victor changed - so he makes the same movement, but it looks different. This is what makes visual media so interesting.

[Notes: Some people in the Eng fandom seem to think that Otsuka CEO is the source of all evil that feeds his animators instant ramen (I assume the cheapest possible, obviously, because there as some kinds that I as a student can't afford to buy without thinking twice... 😔) and pocky crumbs, but well, as you can see, from an animator's perceptive, he was the person that saved YoI staff from death by overworking by Sayochin's hands...

Of course, random people on the internet know better what kind of terrible homophobic monster he is😔

But seriously speaking, I think it should be common sense not to write bs on the internet about people you have never met...]