#lazy devs academy

[thefreecheese]

New Old Games

The Game Boy turns 35 this year, with the anniversary of its first release in Japan just two days away. In recent years, we’ve seen the Game Boy celebrated more than ever. Nintendo officially added the platform and a library of games to its Nintendo Switch Online service. Companies like Analogue and FunnyPlaying have released FPGA-based consoles that emulate the original hardware and support…

[edible-paint-janyx-dot-com]

I have no clue how to write a proper fighting scene, I'm just writing based on past experiences watching a fight between my classmates.

Prepare for a fight!!

Y'all better be ready for a ton of angst and lmk if you guys want a 1989 story after this series

Trigger warnings

Violence

Blood

Hurtful words at each other + swearing

Noli me Tangere and El Filibusterismo the musical: Provoking a tiger can cause more than just a scratch...

"Ang beer na 'to o ang pag-ibig mo?" - The Itchyworms

A few days later, students from all years began to crowd at the rooftop, because word has it that a fight was about to begin, the best part that students want to see is Shoku, the oh-so sweet leader of the cooking club fight someone from his club!

Now, the auditions didn't start until class time this after noon, and the morning rites were an hour away still.

"I never expected you to be the type to fight, Tsuburaya." Kenko mocked as he cracked his knuckles, didn't even bother to call him the usual nickname, "I'm surprised you even showed up at all."

"After you called me a coward? I'm not going to let that slide." Shoku squinted his eyes, if it weren't for his father teaching him the areas where someone is most vulnerable, he'd be dead in this fight, "I'll kick your ass."

"Oh, we'll see who has this final say..." Kenko smiled, as he charged and Shoku quickly, luckily, the latter dodged, "Square up!"

A whole bunch of the juniors were watching with pure interest, watching their seniors fight, Shoku struck Kenko in the gut, Kenko kicked Shoku to the side, Shoku retaliated by giving a left hook, Kenko punched Shoku in the jaw, the juniors were watching, many of them were scared, some were excited and some were debating on getting staff involved, after all, this fight was instigated behind a teacher's back, which means the faculty does not know about this, all Shoku wanted was to knock Kenko down onto the floor, then just walk away and have his injuries cleaned.

"Your pride is the reason you're sensitive, Tsuburaya. Just know that you're ever only a childhood friend to her." Kenko laughed as he was about to get up, "She won't ever see you like that."

Something snapped inside of Shoku, as the other students were about to leave, they heard another WHACK which made them turn in surprise to see that Shoku went back for a second round.

"Tangina mo ah! Hayop ka! (You mother fucker! You savage!)" Shoku cursed out, he's learned the curse words from his father's side.

"Get off me!" Kenko tried to fight off Shoku's hitting.

Everyone present screamed, which alerted Aoi, the student council's enforcer and she ran to the situation, trained for this, she ran up to the two boys hurting each other.

"HEY!" Aoi shouted, which caused the two boys to stop.

The two boys stopped harming each other and pulling each other's hair, as Aoi was separating the fight, Meka, a member of the science club went to call the homeroom advisers of classroom 3-2 and classroom 3-1.

"What in the Gods green earth happened here?!" Mida shouted as the crowd dispersed and Shoku was just ashamed of himself.

"Oh God..." Karin sighed, adjusting her glasses quietly, while Kenko crossed his arms and averted eye contact.

"I caught these two fighting." Aoi explained the situation, "I suggest we take this to guidance."

"That's a good idea, Ms. Ryugoku, please call in some witnesses..." Mida said while Aoi nodded.

Mida and Karin took Shoku and Kenko to the office of Genka Kunahito, the school's guidance staff. They were followed by a few witnesses. Primarily, Aoi Ryugoku, who wanted to testify herself as per regulation, followed by Oniyami Sadatoshi, Daku Atsuzawa, Hana Daidaiyama, Sakura Hagiwara and Meka Nikaru.

"So... You're meaning to tell me, these two young men had a physical altercation on the rooftop..." Genka looked up from her laptop while Mida and Karin nodded.

"I wish I knew what started this fight, Ms. Kunahito..." Mida bowed, clearly ahsmed on behalf of her student who's usually a behaved boy, "Our witnesses can testify..."

"Very well. Bring them in." Genka ordered.

Each of the witnesses were sitting outside the office, most were tense, some already knew this was gonna happen.

"Out of everyone... Why us?" Daku asked as he looked at his friend.

"Beats me, I guess we were the closest ones to the ring?" Oniyami replied, she threw her hand over Daku's shoulder and comforted him, no one really knows what the relationship between the two are, most people think they're dating, in reality, Oniyami is just a platonic partner to Daku and vice versa. Daku has no way of telling people that he isn't interested in dating, Oniyami shares the same issue, so they just fake-date each other, while also not disclosing their actual status as only friends.

"Guess that makes sense..." Hana shrugged, hugging a scared Sakura, Hana was watching the fight while Sakura was just hiding behind her, "It's okay Sakura..."

"Watching them fight was scary!" Sakura exclaimed.

"We know. We only called your asses here to testify who provoked who." Aoi bluntly said.

"I guess we just gotta wait until they call us in..." Meka shrugged.

Soon enough, Mida came out to speak.

"Who wants to testify first?" Mida asked.

"I will." Oniyami sighed, "Just to get this over with..."

"... Me too." Daku insisted.

"Follow me then." Mida said as she took the two second-year students inside the office to bring in their testimony.

"Ms. Sadatoshi, Mr. Atsuzawa, mind explaining what you two saw or heard earlier?" Genka said while Daku nudged Oniyami to go first.

"Well, I can't provide much but I think Kenko-san called Shoku-san a coward because Shoku-san said something about being called a coward..." Oniyami shrugged, "And Kenko-san did mention that Shoku-san has a high pride which made him sensitive. Then it sort of escalated from there which made one round turn into two..."

"And what about you, Mr. Atsuzawa?" Genka turned to the boy with the opaque lense.

"Well... Kenko-san struck first, and Shoku-san struck back." Daku explained, "Well, that's what I saw..."

"... Very well, thank you for your time, you two may go now." Genka nodded as the two got up and left, the next ones to enter were Sakura and Hana.

"Ms. Hagiwara, Ms. Daidaiyama, what did you two see?" Genka asked.

"Well, I can't say for certain since the match already began when me and Sakura arrived but it got messy... That's all I can say." Hana spoke her testimony.

"The last thing I remember is Shoku-san shouting all sorts of curse words at Kenko-san..." Sakura shrugged, "It was in a other language so I had no clue what he said..."

"Thank you, you may go on with your day now." Genka smiled softly as Hana took Sakura's hand and they both left the office, then entered Meka.

"I suppose someone sent you to call a teacher?" Genka asked Meka straight to the point.

"I went to call one on my own will, I didn't want to overlook the situation but Shoku-san definitely had it in for Kenko-san's head." Meka said, explaining it shortly and precisely, "I sort of feel guilty for snitching but if I hadn't, then it could've gotten worse, you know...?"

"You did the right thing, Ms. Nikaru. I understand the guilt but if you didn't tell the teachers sooner, someone could've ended up in the hospital." Genka smiled, "You were very brave."

"... Thank you, Ms. Kunahito." Meka wiped the tears from the feeling of pressure and what her peers might say, feeling the weight leave.

"You may take your leave now." Genka smiled as Meka left and Aoi came in.

Aoi first got comfortable, preparing herself for what she was going to say.

"Ms. Ryugoku, what do you have to say?" Genka asked Aoi.

"Well, I don't want to take it too far by getting their parents involved, neither want their parents called onto school ground since Tsuburaya-san's mother has... A temper and Sukoyaka-san's parents are too meek and they're farmers..." Aoi said calmly.

"Er... How bad is Mrs. Tsuburaya's temper?" Genka shifted.

"Based on what I was told... Bad. The dude went into some panic that if his mom found out, he's going to get reprimanded, traditional parents, I suppose?" Aoi shrugged, "I didn't pry, I get that some people have different households."

"Uh-huh... Okay, this will affect their initial conduct grade since it's their first strike." Genka said quietly, "You may go now Ms. Ryugoku."

"Alright." Aoi stood up and walked out.

Genka discussed with Mida and Karin on what they should do to the two boys, considering that their parents won't be, rather, shouldn't be called onto campus, it's sort of annoying to deal with parents of two very different social classes argue and that comes from both Genka and her mother.

As the day set in, everyone was quietly working on their scenes, the latest news was that Akane, a girl, got the role of Isagani, a male character, and the auditions for the musical the third years plan to host was almost finished, they just needed a Captain Santiago or Tiago, Ibarra, Basilio, Father Damaso.

"Where in the world is Shoku..." Tsuruzo wondered as everyone left for their clubrooms, "I told him I'd help him but where is he..."

Tsuruzo waited and tapped his foot impatiently, Boru noticed this and walked over. If Shoku didn't show up soon, Tsuruzo was gonna head to his clubroom now.

"Waiting for someone?" Boru tapped Tsuruzo on the shoulder.

"Indeed. Have you seen Shoku?" Tsuruzo turned to Boru.

"I haven't but my sister sure did. She said he got into trouble by having a fight with Kenko." Boru said.

"He WHAT?!" Tsuruzo was taken aback slightly.

"Hey, even I refused to believe it." Boru shrugged, "But random shit happens when you least expect it. I'm pretty sure the news got to Hiroshiko now too so... Heh, I guess it's a guaranteed rejection. But I hope it's not..."

"Wait, how come you know about Shoku's crush?" Tsuruzo was more worried about that?

"Gita." Boru shrugged, before walking away, "Lips are sealed, I won't tell a soul until those two eventually get over this whole ordeal and get together."

"Of course, I suppose I can wait until tomorrow..." Tsuruzo nodded before leaving, he was tired himself.

As all the third year students left the gym, inside the sewing club, Hiroshiko and Toga were working on their costumes, Hiroshiko seemed to be a little... Out of it.

"How are you holding up?" Toga asked while the juniors of the club were just exchanging notes and studying for a test the following day, Toga and Hiroshiko are the only seniors of the club so they also had to work on their own projects.

"Bothered..." Hiroshiko said quietly.

"Okay, fair enough..." Toga looked at Hiroshiko's exhausted expression, he pulled her over to a chair and sat her down, "Sit down, take a break, you desrve it."

"Toga, I appreciate your concern..." Hiroshiko sighed softly, she can't deny, a break does sound nice after one hell of a day, "I suppose a break wouldn't hurt..."

"I'll get us drinks, you stay like that until I get back." Toga smiled before patting his older cousin on the shoulder.

As Toga left, he bumped into Shoku, he had a few bandages on his face, he looked terrible, and even more tired than a few days ago...

"You look awful..." Toga commented, before dusting himself off.

"Look, I know what I did earlier was wrong and..." Shoku paused for a moment, "Brash, I suppose, but she hasn't answered my texts all day... Please just let me-"

"Fuck no! She's mad at you and you have to understand that she doesn't want to talk to you!" Toga hissed, "Look man, I get that you want to explain yourself but now is not the time, she's mad at you and she does not want to talk."

"Toga please..." Shoku pleaded, "I'm disgusted with my own actions too but I need to talk to her..."

"You pissed her off big time, she's angry at you for even accepting the fight." Toga said bluntly, "If I were her, I would've been too, but knowing Shin, he would never."

"You don't even know the full story!" Shoku pleaded, "Toga, listen, I don't want to push you but please... I need a word with her..."

Toga turned to see Shoku on the verge of tears, he sighed and quietly nodded, he pitied Shoku, since he also knew of Hiroshiko pinning for Shoku silently, but she does a hell of a job denying it...

"I pity you a little too much..." Toga sighed tiredly, didn't admit it but he and Hazu do want Hiroshiko to end up with Shoku, "Fine, but if she gets mad, it's your fault."

"Got it..." Shoku nodded, he'd have to look for some of that old trinkets he and Hiroshiko made or collected when they were little, thankfully, they were nextdoor neighbors...

"I should go now, take care." Toga walked away.

Shoku didn't need to know more, all he knew is that the trinkets were inside a box with some of his old stuff, so when he, Geiju and Ajia went home, Shoku bolted into his and Geiju's bedroom to look for the old container.

[fantasyinvader]

I've been thinking about Edelgard's supposed depth according to the creators, the fact she's meant to both be a cute girl and a brutal dictator in-line with the series past villains.

I feel there is something here. Like, which way is the gap moe supposed to go? Are we supposed to see her as this conqueror only to see she's the cute girl, or is the cute girl the surface and the conqueror what lies underneath? Considering how the game treats the Flame Emperor being unmasked as this major reveal, I'd say it's the latter of the two. We are meant to be taken in by the cute girl lord, especially since Dimitri and Claude are initially assessed as having a hidden darkness and having a fake smile initially. Not to mention Rhea. It would make sense why the devs expected most people to pick the BE's as their route, since Edelgard is not only presented more favorably (though she does drop her views on the other nations if praised after the prologue, a hint of where her character is going) and she's a cute girl that will draw in male players.

The we consider the route split and it's various symbolism. Byleth defaults to Silver Snow, symbolized by the game's own take of Buddhism's banner of victory. The devs even pointed out the importance of Byleth's flag, saying that it was the true Fire Emblem of the game to them symbolizing people coming together to fight for you because they believe in you. This would mean that the player walks the path of Nirvana/Enlightenment, the path of the righteous if you interpret the Safflower/Crimson Flower route as being a path of thorns. Safflower would mean that the game uses attraction to try and ensnare the player into going down this route, with the player being the one to ultimately decide to join her or not. Edelgard is presented as both a temptress, tying into the story behind the banner of victory, as a false messiah considering her signature weapon bears the Crest of Maurice aka the Beast. It's said to be the representing the animal path in the Japanese, the opposite of Enlightenment, while the path of thorns reading would make it out to be a sinful where Byleth was lazy.

Byleth is supposed to fight Edelgard, no matter how painful it might be for them or the player. It's the central conflict the game was designed around, especially it's main musical theme Edge of Dawn. it depicts how Edelgard and Byleth's relationship plays out, Edelgard hoping Byleth will choose to walk beside her only to lie to them and end up as enemies. The music doesn't play in the Flower route, but it's also baked into Apex of the World, Edelgard's final boss theme that also plays in Azure Moon. The musical choices of Engage would also suggest the heroic Emblem Byleth is from the Silver Snow route through the pieces that make up Trial of the Academy, with the other routes being relegated to a DLC Emblem with the three lords.

i also feel that the game questions if the player is turning a blind eye if they join Edelgard. The first part of the game establishes the Flame Emperor as someone helping TWSITD with their acts in order to reap the rewards before being unmasked, with TWSITD saying they're doing these things for her benefit. The idea of the path of the beast would suggest Byleth/the player sides with Edelgard out of ignorance but when the Japanese script has Edelgard being called out by Dimitri for ignoring shit, something she admits to doing in Hopes, it really looks like the game is questioning if the player is doing the same thing.

Seriously, if Edelgard is told to her face that the people who experimented on her did so in order to create a weapon against the Goddess and her children by the person who did the experiments and killed her siblings, saying the nobility did it in order to make a strong emperor to rule over Fodlan after they stopped her father's attempts to centralize power and took it for themselves, that makes her look beyond stupid if she isn't intentionally ignoring the truth.

Really makes the case that Edelgard is initially meant to be seen as the cute girl, with the tyrant being her depth. It's not meant to be a case of "and actually, you discover she's a real sweetheart if you join her." No, Flower is meant to be a route where you didn't do the right thing and moved to stop Edelgard, instead ignoring everything to join her. You ignore who Edelgard actually is, instead focusing on her waifu-status, as well as the reality of what you are really doing.

No wonder the Korean fanbase said "she tricked me" back when it was revealed she was the most hated character there.

[veeveex3]

bro, just a quick late night thought (keep in mind, im only caught up to twst's story up to the english translation and only know about book 6 via spoilers -_- so if im wrong then please don't spoil anything that happens in book 5 part 3 and onwards)

alright, here it is: i don't think that twst is gonna end at book 7. i dunno if the devs ever said the story was gonna end at book 7 or not so correct me if im wrong but i feel like there's so much we don't know that i feel would only be rushed if the game's main story were to end at the end of book 7.

for example: anything about crowley! all we really know about him is that he's the headmaster, claims to be very generous and kind despite being a lazy prick who dumps all his issues on the dorm leaders + yuu, and seems to avoid getting yuu home at all cost, either cuz it's tiring for him (which would be funny but sorta disappointing) or cuz he needs them at nrc.

another example: mickey fucking mouse. i think the plot with mickey is gonna be resolved in book 7 but i still can't get over his existence (#antimickeyclub ig lol)

i know the whole point of the game is to focus on nrc and the villain students but id like to see more of royal sword academy. like, i think rn the main purpose of rsa is to juxtapose itself to nrc as well as to be the school niege comes from since he's based off of snow white and you get the point

ive seen one theory on tik tok (ill put their @ at the end of the post at a later date) or somewhere else but the theory goes that the reason as to why overblots seem to be happening so often is bc the stone you were trying to get in the prologue is inside nrc and probably affecting the students more. i wanna add onto this more by saying that overblots are deadly, meaning the spirit attacking you in the prologue is either the dead dwarves (yikes) or the spirit that appears after the overblot victims either fused with the dwarves or roaming free after the dwarves deaths. im really tired so idek where this is going but that's just another reason ig that the story would feel pretty empty after book 7 if it were to end there

another thing is malleus. assuming that he's going to be the next overblot victim and the final boss for his book, that would be really weird to end the book after that since, after defeating each book's boss, prologue included, grim (like the little dumbass cat he is) decided to eat the overblot residue rocks that are excreted at the end of the fight (which also give a flavor profile of the person who overblotted ??? which is sorta funny ngl). and im 1000% certain that this isn't just a read herring and him eating the rocks is going to lead to, as most people suspect, grim overblotting himself (during the tutorial, you even fight a boss that looks like grim but with characteristics of the other characters: dragon wings (malleus) more agressive blue flames (iida) a lion like face / muzzle (leona, which i know is a reach but still) as well as some of the abilities introduced in each book (idk i didn't really pay much attention to the tutorial lol)

so yeah, tldr; it doesn't make any sense to end twst's main story at book 7 unless they either add an epilogue where grim blots or at the blot sequence after malleus' boss fight, which would be pretty cool ngl, sorta like a little curve ball

im sorry this is so long, I just had a lotta thoughts and dumped them here lol

edit: I KNOW I JUST POSTED THIS BUT I JUST REMEMBERED SOMETHING! y'know how there's 22 students in the game? well, there's also 22 cards in the main arcana. given how clever the game can be, i don't this is just a coincidence. might make another post just on this specially since i like tarot cards and stuff like that

[annemaynova]

theres a lot of casual ableism in LL but yall arent ready for that conversation.

The fact that Felix is considered lazy, as well as childish bc he cant cook (according to the devs) is something i, someone with adhd/a disability, face alot. regardless of the fact whether or not felix is disabled, the idea that being unable to do something = laziness is very ableist.

Felix spent 5 years studying one spell to revive Rime, which takes dedication, persistence, and hard work. he isnt lazy. he just procrastinates alot, which i relate to. Additionally, Felix sabotaging himself in the academy is something neurodivergent kids can relate to doing--i myself skipped classes a LOT around the same time period Felix was trying to get expelled.

Felix has many traits disabled people can relate to, and the fact that it’s often made fun of by devs and characters in the game we are supposed to like (Sage, Anisa) feels very ableist.

(im willing to talk about this more BUT if you think i am attacking the devs, please read it again. im not attacking them, im just pointing out something i noticed.)

[pico-8-update]

Best PICO-8 Handheld ?

There are many projects, hacks and devices that support PICO-8, either out-of-the-box or with some tinkering required.

The ClockworkPi Gameshell is one of those, and one of the best... Or not. That depends on your needs and your budget.

As with many other consoles meant for hackers and tinkerers, the Gameshell has its pros and cons.

Krystian Majewski from the Lazy Devs Academy already did a very thorough review of the Gameshell specifically for PICO-8 usage, so you better watch that video:

You should judge for yourself if the console suits your needs and if it is a good candidate for THE BEST PICO-8 HANDHELD. 

In our opinion, the cons outweigh the pros: It’s very expensive, and the lack of a keyboard (in contrast to the PocketCHIP) means you can only use it to play games in portable mode... And that’s a deal-breaker for us. But if you are looking for a handheld to only play your PICO-8 games while developing in another platform, then the control scheme is ideal.

Also, if you are an emulation or retro-gamer fan, the Gameshell seems to be much more capable than the aforementioned CHIP.

The assembly-kit / DIY / easily hackable nature of the Gameshell is also a fun aspect of it, but if that is useful or just a gimmick is another thing that you’ll have to judge for yourself.

[kendrixtermina]

Someone finally uploaded a Kingdom Route run with everyone recruited!

So imma be doing a bit of reacting

Kingdom!Ignatz works a bit like Empire!Felix  - He wanted to go his own way unlike what his parents said and is thus following Byleth. In this case it’s of course somewhat less angsty ‘cause the Victors have the means to flee if necessary, unlike Rodrigue who was a prominent leader of the kingdom side of things

In an interesting parallel to how half the cast abandons the kingdom cause it’s a sinking shipload of kamikaze, on the other routes, Raphael complains about the instability and confusing politics of the alliance and how she should probably grab Maya and his grandfather and get them to Garreg Magh. I suppose a lot of people without connections or political accumen must feel this way. the monastery IS light javelin proof, so yeah...Raphael isn’t salty toward Claude himself tho. Then again he has little capacity for salt and in his paralogue it’s kinda shown that he makes a deliberate choice to live a low-salt lifestyle its not just obliviousness, he actively doesnt want grudges or awkwardness in his life

Leonie is also here to babysit Byleth and tells them not to let Dimitri push them around 

Hilda: “The Monastery is a mess. So is Dimitri. I’m only here because Byleth is competent and Holst is annoying“

Dorothea and Bernie have so far gotten identical dialogues to the church route

Lysithea is interesting and kinda morally ambiguous. She says outright that she cares nothing for the kingdom or anything other than a peaceful life for her parents. She wants to get at the slitherers for her own revenge and they’re in the empire so she finds Dimitri’s revenge obsession convenient. Also very ironic cause, are she and Edelgard gonna fight each other because they both want to get at Thales? Very interesting bc vanilla BL doesn’t adress the slitherers that much - of course Lysithea says she has beef with “the empire” and doesn’t elaborate. At the same time Lysithea is MUCH more logical and self aware than most of the kingdom crew bar Sylvain so yeah

actually,  Lysithea, like Felix, has TONS of route specific dialogue. I guess the devs expected those two to get recruited a lot since they are just flat out the strongest students apart from the house leaders. 

The Kingdom is arguably just as infiltrated but Lysithea doesn’t know... and at this point Cornelia’s cooperating with the Empire anyways

General trend of the Alliance recruitees not being all that attached to the Alliance as they hardly knew each other at the start and half of them had nothing to do with politics

Nothing to do with the recruitees, but so THATS what happens if you propose to go to Fhirdiad first. Dimitri is like “You’re supposed to lead the church! Go rescue Rhea!” ...he doesn’t know the whole thing with Byleth being experimented on by Rhea (neither does Byleth at this point) but it is kinda low. Mitya you have no leg to stand on here indeed the main reason I was sympathetic to you last playthrough is that you never ASKED Gilbert & co to put you on the throne and made clear that you’re not interested in that... so following you was on them to an extent. but you don’t get to say “Do your Bishop job” (that Byleth never asked for) if you’re not doing your job cause you’re too busy doing your kamikaze raid. Then again he’s probably too emotional and just plain done with everything rn to see the contradiction/look at this with perspective he’s probably physically incapable of chilling out rn

It just ends with Byleth doing a pointed sadface. daamn Mitya don’t be mean to By-By she still believes in you dude : (  Though it makes sense he’s big on obligation he’s doing this revenge trip because he feels he must. So it’s more a distortion than it really is a contradiction, as far as he’s concerned he IS doing his duty...to the fallen. I guess if you can’t handle him at his “Go be a bishop or something” you don’t deserve him at his “my beloved~” 

Still hurts a bit tho. Especially when Claude, though not without his own agenda, was distinctly a good friend on the topic, “Teach you’re in charge now be more confident~ the church doesnt run you, you run the church”

Before Aillel Dorothea says something about the Kingdom people also looking undecided of where to march, but she also wonders if some fighting/ victory will quell uncertainty 

Also she and mercie are standing next to each other! Ive said before that it’s weird how they don’t rly have a support though they are the two most popular extroverted ppl on the campus... they GOTTA know each other at least on a smalltalk basis

Alois is like “These kingdom ppl dont seem to know what they want... but hey this allow YOU to shine as a leader”... so basically Byleth is running this show but for all that they’re a good field commander and decisive when it comes to immadiate practical problems, as far as big picture direction goes, well, Sothis’ “boulder” quote comes to mind. They just never had big attachments on convictions, the Felix support chain is also salient here. They kinda just did whatever job they were given until they found a bigger cause/purpose after throwing in their lot with one of the lords or the remaining saints.

I wondered how this would play out as the Kingdom route is very kingdom-specific, whereas Claude, Edelgard and the church all have an universal cause for people to get behind. I guess how this plays out is that before Dimitri’s turnaroud there’s the kingdom faction and the Byleth faction and Byleth is kinda trying to run the show as they think Dimitri would if he were at his best

Caspar is still on the more unphazed side but also substantially more phazed than on the church or GD routes, he wasn’t particularly close to Randolph but he’s not unaffected by Dimitri going a tad over the top here - he also has the takeaway that Dimitri probably never trusted him much since he was born in the empire.

Sylvain actually alledges something about Dimitri not socializing much with any Adrestians even back in the academy days if you recruit him on CF so this does not come out of nowhere. Also kinda makes me wish they had a support - theyre both naturals at smashing things but they have very different attitudes towards it. then again i suppose it would go alot like the raphael one

Ferdie recognizes Myrrdin is a strategically better location but as Aegir territory is closeby he wishes we could have invaded through there so he could take it back... Would the citizens want him back tho? After the war its a no-brainer cause he helped end it, the peasants arent going to complain about too much peace and prosperity nor are they gonna feel nostalgic about anyone who started a war with their tax money and then lost it, but if he waltzed into an area that had thus far been far from the frontlines, following his fathers’s exploitative management and 5 years of semi equal rights under edelgard? he might have been welcomed with  pitchforks, through no fault of his own. 

He says something implying hed like to come rescue his relatives implying that some of them are still alive. of course the pm deserves all Edelgard threw at him and then some, but id be curious about Ferdie’s other relatives. His mom probably looks just like him, because he sure didnt get the looks from his dad... or anything else really, apart from the crest and hair color. - though i think the a support with bernadetta implies that shes no longer around

Lorenz bitterly remarking that of course Claude and his dad eventually made peace since they both only serve their own interests. (”So long as their interests are in allignment they will continue to cooperate”)   Says the guy we just rescued from his endeavors in turncoatery. Lorenz you’re pretty opportunistic too, and as for your redeeming features Claude has those too - but of course you’ll never find out in this one. Still, it shows that he’s painfully aware that his father - whom he would have died protecting if we hadn’t spared him - is a villain and a hack

Claude isn’t super trusting and knows that he gets percieved as shifty so he promises people to get them theirs so that they support him out of self interest. No need to take a chace. Of course by the end of this route he WILL take big chance on Dimitri 

That says Lorenz is not SO biased that he can’t tell that Claude might be interested in working with the kingdom army

Lysithea (who surprisingly has TONS of unique dialogue here, and I like that it’s a complex mature plot) is having her doubts and not trusting Dimitri for all that she finds him an useful idiot. By and large you get the sense that many consider Byleth the leader of this operation, she’s glad that Byleth is there to issue sensible orders. She tells Byleth not to tell anyone and worries about what will happen once the empire’s vanquished. No faith in team Kingdom... at all. Understandable of course

Hilda’s dialogue is largely the same as in the church route and at times kinda the same in all routes but I like how she’s like “Claude might’ve looked like a lazy bum but he’s smart! If he says he’s on our side he will defs help!” before the gronder fiasco

A lot of NPCs stir the suspicion here so it stands out how much she totally trusts him like hes any other friend

As with the other routes with the recruitees you get an idea of what’s going on in the other territories such as Lysithea deducing that Judith must be backing Claude in his gambit

One moment you think Lorenz is going to add some somber insightful commentary to the sincerity of Claude’s offer but then he’s like, “Granted Dimitri is much improved. He must be asking us for help cause he trusts ME” XD Like... no friend. You’re almost right but if there’s anyone here he was faith in its Byleth. And then he’s even like, “Well no choice but to save poor Claudesy” On the one hand it shows that there not just pure hate there on the other... lulz. 

apparently one of the first things Dimitri did after getting his act together post gronder is profusely apologize to Caspar for that ugly business with Randolph. Thats a worthwhile detail and i want fanfic of it. Caspar being Caspar he wasnt really keeping a grudge, they’re a warrior clan and they were at war

They had to move out so quickly that Hilda had no time to go shopping in Fhirdiad #Priorities XD

Meanwhile Ignatz, like a normal person,  hopes his folks will be safe

hilda does eventually remember to maybe save her folks and claude but only after making Byleth promise to go on a shopping trip with her. Someone should probably write that fanfic

Someone told me that Ferdinand had some prominent critical lines but it was really just one, and it’s as I suspected actually just a variant of the same “a king can’t be emotional” line he gets in all the routes, this time with the addendum that if he turned around and decided to go rescue the capital, he might be capable of reason/being a decent leader after all.  granted I guess compared to how most of the Kingdom people go along with everything it comes off critical? IDK.

Lysithea misses Rodrigue :( 

Lorenz and Ignatz standing next to each other was a nice touch they have a fairly wholesome friendship

Leonie’s just glad that ol’ Mitya is “back to normal” especially since she’s pretty sure that they don’t have enough soldiers to get to Fort Merceus let alone Enbarr

For obvious reasons, Petra is pretty sympathetic about the whole “retaking Fhirdiad” thing

Seeing Seteth and Catherine so certain that Rhea would want them to save the people of Fhirdiad first when you know that she wouldn’t hesitate to set the place on fire is just...OUCH. Though it does show the goodness in Seteth and Catherine themselves. 

Manuela wishes she could’ve moved her informary to gronder and save a few more peeps :(

It seems like to Leonie, Dimitri will always be just “Dimitri”, King or not. Figures she aaaaalmost adressed even Byleth by name XD You really DO get the sense that he interacted alot with the recruitees

All the house leaders shouldve had more supports. 

If you grabbed hanneman he’ll give you some extra backstory on Cornelia - apparently she was originally from the empire and an eminent scholar whose great work Hanneman was vaguely aware of. I would assume that was still the real cornelia. Judging by the timing it sounds like she might’ve smuggled Patricia out of Adrestia. Assuming both were still original at this point this might present a possibility for why she trusted/vouched for cornelia without being complicit / lend itself to a “she was duped” reading

But it’s still suspicious that she would end up courting the second most powerful man in the land right after number one. 

Some had suggested that Cornelia caused the plague in the first place but the thing is there was a perfectly credible  “mundane” explanation for it (the city’s sewers not being up to date technologically) that theres no reason to doubt

Assuming that all the replacements occurred 14 years before part one when Arundel stopped his donations/ thins being about the time when Cornelia’s personality was noted to have changed completely, that would mean both the “fixing the severs” thing and the soppy story about how Edelgards’ parents met would be real 

AAAA everything to do with patricia is just so ambiguous - if they were longtime friends wouldn’t she have noticed something “off”? Same with her brother actually. Lambert had his own country so its not like there was no one to protect her. 

Ahhh THIS is how lorenz gets iinto the midset for that prissy, hes pissed that Claude dissolved the Alliance and misses it XD

you DO get to call him out for being a turncoat himself tho. particularly hilarious since Byleth just blinks and asks a casual question there

He immediately changes his tune

oh lorenz dear, i love you but you, sir, are WEAK xD

Lysithea as always calls everything and notes how suspicious arundel was alluding to the hrym nightmare also mentioned in her paralogue

She also mentions that he was said to be good and just at one point suggesting that there was a real Volkhard von Arundel at some point. 

if the replacement took place when those donations ceased then Edelgard and Dimitri were 3, 14 years before part 1. Early enough that this could be around the time Patricia left enbarr, if this is when it happened then the romantic tower story might be real assuming that the Arundels were replaced at the same time - whatever arrived in Faerghus recomended patricia for a job so it probably had already happened by then 

Its all so ambiguos tho we can only speculate there are so many possibilities

Ignatz marvels at how Claude managed to minimize damage to Alliance lands throughout the war, as in CF only Deirdru itself got particularly thrashed. Ignatz’ folks are safe and sound! Leave it to him to wonder where Claude might have absconded to. He was always one of the insightful ones but not in the same way as the other clever ones. More intuitive I guess. Cant remember if it was indentical to what you get if you spare Claude on CF (Cue the lets player remarking that Claude is probably stuck in a washing machine somewhere... he hadn’t cleared the Alliance route at that point)

Lol HILDA “And then the whole Alliance descended into chaos...” or actually she is surprised that that DIDNT happen and how orderly Claude managed the dissolution. “But I Guess we’re screwed if Dimitri turns out to be a crazed despot... he’s not gonna go crazy again is he?” You of little faith XD But she says all this in her usual cheery nonserious voice like

this chapter has a lot of unique dialogue actually

Linhardt  impressed that anyone would have the guts to attack Fort Merceus directly and suggests looking for weak spots in the old walls

He shows up guarding it in SS and Vw doesn’t he? Guess he was visiting Caspar or something - or would have been familiar with the place from visiting the Bergliez clan in the past. 

Ferdinand is wowed by Claude bowing out giving him kudos for caring about the peoples wishes. He thinks Edelgard ought to quit at this point and he’s alot harsher on her here than in any of the other routes. (”Not reveryone with noble blood has noble ideals” - Coming from Ferdinand that’s an accusation ) Interestingly at this point hes sticking with Dimitri cause post character developement, lots of ordinary ppl support him at this point and hes popular with the crowds. He’s wholly on the Savior King bandwagon, and maybe that’s why he’s harsher. He’s partial. Says something about him actually, largely good things when you think about it. Dimitri is probably the closest to what Ferdinand’s (and Lorenz’) own beliefs were. He likes the existing order and living in a fancy palace but he thinks the rulers should serve the people.

Its kinda ironic and sad because in ALL the other routes he clearly thinks Dimitri is an idiot and a bad ruler, and says he should be more composed and objective. But Dimitri wasnt at his best there now was he? 

 now ill be sad everytime I get to those “Ferdinand disses Dimitri” lines. They couldve been buds! 

but i dont see this happening in any other route. According to something Sylvain says in cf Dimitri avoided ppl from the empire  at the academy so they wouldnt have cozied up pre-timeskip, and its only the version of Dimitri who has his shit together which appeals to Ferdie as a leader. 

really torn here on the one hand its a nice synergy to see lorenz and especially Ferdinand (who is waaay less arroganz than lorenz) sort of getting to win on their own terms with a ruler that jives with them and their Lawful Good fantasy classic thing. It’s not just a status quo thing its a protectors of the people thing. It’s heroic.  On the other hand it feels like they’re stagnating when they could have had growth. This is basically the same Lorenz and the same Ferdinand we first met except slightly more mature.  Notably lorenz is the same in the church route whereas Ferdie isnt as he still ends up rebelling fleeing and fighting against the empire. It helps that he practically winds up leading the remaining Eagles, albeit under Byleth and Seteth.  

He still gets that line about being kinda sad to see the empire go though he knows there must be an end to the chaos, i think a few lines are different, so, not wholly without doubt

Shamir muses about hoe the three countries were once one and the same, but wonders that even if we put fodlan togethere theres no guarantee that it wouldnt come apart again. i mean there isnt, and wether thats a bad thing would depend a lot on the circumstances but its also possible that theyll get used to being one and forget they wrere ever separate. no one controls the far future... and should they? After all its always possible that someone in the future will have unforseeable circumstances or better ideas

Caspar sighs with relief that they didn’t have to fight his dad, last second worry about him turning up in the capital nonwithstanding... right does he get to live in this? Carpar wonders what’ll happen to him if they win, but he’s not holding down Faerghus so he might not have died the way he did in Silver Snow and Verdant Wind. It’s at least possible that he was captured alive and pardoned somehow. 

Marianne’s adoptive dad sure smelled which way the wind was blowing; He was supporting Claude’s strategy to get the Cloucesters back under controll but sent Marianne to curry favor with the kingdom. Make friends with whoever wins I suppose. Ambitious politician indeed. 

When she doesnt her from him in a while she wonders if he forgot about her but says she wouldnt mind that much because at least she wouldnt have to do any more politics? I distinctly recall that in gd there was something about how they got along better after the timeskip. Sigh. 

she is real glad that Dimitri and claude ended up cooperating in the end

So does Dorothea but then she makes herself sad wishing that Edelgard was also there :( Me too friend, me too.  I think thats the one unique line she gets this route. I like how it’s consistent in the church route she’s also the one who feels the most sad about betraying her, they were pretty close pre timrskip 

as far as leonies concerned Dimitri is still just Dimitri even after taking back his kingdom. i like to think hed appreciate that. its also very typical of leonie. as with the “Caspar gets an apology” thing plenty of the recruitees get lines hinting that theres been more personal interaction between them and dimitri, kinda goes with how ppl in his own house follow him more out of personal loyalty than because they follow his plans like with the other two. hes kinda a very approachable sort of leader, makes the decisions with the group or follows whatever gilbert and Byleth decide, in the other routes theres always a distinct inner circle. Its cool how they incorporated the recruitees into that dynamic. 

Petra is dissapointed that they DIDNT do a sneak attack on fort Merceus contrasting her usual line about how she likes sneak attacks.  Dimitri naps both that an Enbarr head on doesn’t he? The Church has a smaller Army full of peeps who would rather not destroy Enbarr, and Claude agrees with Petra on the sneak attack thing and then Edelgard did that sorta shady but largely very gutsy thing where she didn’t sound the evacuation to restrict Claude’s movements knowing that there was zero danger that he would plow through the civilians (they don’t do this here cause last time they met Dimitri he was not feeling merciful indeed judging by huberts welcome lines and engage quotes he doesnt buy the turnaround), the AM ending narration also suggests that Enbarr wasn’t rebuilt, though Dimitri gave distinct “No pillaging!” orders, so they probably just couldn’t avoid wrecking the buildings and relocated the citizens. 

Ashe also speculates where Claude went. That’s one of the things i like about Ashe he consistently averts out of sight out of mind I particularly always loved how he consistently worried about Dedue. Someone ought to. 

Ingrid interestingly changed her tune here / kinda speaks positively of claude here - in CF she was like “I always though he was creepy”

Then again that was before fighting him I don’t recall If those two dont get the same lines if you spare Claude,  have to go back and check

id like to mention that the lets player put lorenz in the pyjamas/loungewear the whole time as “punishment” for being late to the reunion and poked fun at him throughout.

[virtual-eden]

Junior Game Devs | Prologue

Already months into the school year, Hope’s Peak Academy’s Game Development Club was having quite a bit of trouble getting new members due to most of the students already being in a club or simply not being interested. After many ceaseless days of the club officers badgering everyone to join their club, they ended up with the current 15 club members in addition to the original officers.

Due to their hopes that everyone would get to know each other, coupled with the laziness of the officers, the first week of the club went off without a hitch, the entire time being dedicated to the members bonding and playing games together (though, Hotaru would be lying if she didn’t use the time to plug her games a bit too!). However, the Game Development Club is a game development club, and as such, it was time for games to be developed! When the last member finally managed to make their way in (very like an HPA student to be fashionably late, I suppose) the officers were finally ready to make their announcements.

“I hope that everyone is aware of this, but as the game development club, it’s about time we make a game or two, huh?” Hotaru pipes up after waiting in an awkward silence for another officer to speak. “So, then, I guess let’s get down to business!”

[laughawayeternity]

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[savetopnow]

2018-03-19 09 LINUX now

LINUX

Linux Academy Blog

Linux Academy Weekly Roundup 110

Announcing Python 3 for System Administrators

Linux Academy Weekly Roundup 109

The Story of Python 2 and 3

Happy International Women’s Day!

Linux Insider

Google Opens Maps APIs and World Becomes Dev Playground

New Raspberry Pi Packs More Power

SpaceChain, Arch Aim to Archive Human Knowledge in Space

Deepin Desktop Props Up Pardus Linux

Kali Linux Security App Lands in Microsoft Store

Linux Journal

Weekend Reading: All Things Bash

Security: 17 Things

Private Internet Access Goes Open Source, New Raspbian Image Available, Scarlett Johansson Image an Attack Vector on PostgreSQL and More

Oracle Patches Spectre for Red Hat

Linus Bashes CTS Labs, GNOME 3.28 Released, Project ACRN and More

Linux Magazine

OpenStack Queens Released

Kali Linux Comes to Windows

Ubuntu to Start Collecting Some Data with Ubuntu 18.04

CNCF Illuminates Serverless Vision

LibreOffice 6.0 Released

Linux Today

Introducing Agones: Open-source, multiplayer, dedicated game-server hosting built on Kubernetes

How to Encrypt Files From Within a File Manager

Oracle Patches Spectre for Red Hat

Alexa development board runs Linux on Raspberry Pi Compute Module

Intel Outlines Plans for Cascade Lake Xeon Scalable Processors

Linux.com

How to Encrypt Files From Within a File Manager

Linux Beats Windows To Become The Most Popular Development Platform: Stack Overflow Survey 2018

Container Isolation Gone Wrong

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Introducing Agones: Open Source, Multiplayer, Dedicated Game-Server Hosting Built on Kubernetes

Reddit Linux

When someone says “learn linux” what do they mean?

Modified an old color scheme for Geany IDE. I think this color scheme is pretty good, if you use Geany and want to try it out... let me know what I should change about it

GTK+ 4.0 Getting Audio/Video Playback Integration

How to counteract the mods laziness for the week.

How to deal with "Anarchy Week"

Riba Linux

MX Linux 17.1 overview | simple configuration, high stability, solid performance

How to install Neptune 5.0

Neptune 5.0 overview | an elegant out of the box experience.

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Pardus 17.2 overview | a competitive and sustainable operating system

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New Study Which Made 90 Adults Play 'GTA' or 'The Sims 3' For At least 30 Mins Every Day For 2 Months Finds 'No Significant Changes' in Their Behavior

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Zorin OS Lite 12.3

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nixCraft

Raspberry PI 3 model B+ Released: Complete specs and pricing

Debian Linux 9.4 released and here is how to upgrade it

400K+ Exim MTA affected by overflow vulnerability on Linux/Unix

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How to use Chomper Internet blocker for Linux to increase productivity

[deeeepsteep]

As usual I will be liveblogging the Oscars tonight

In case anyone cares here are my Oscars predictions/people I want to win in the most interesting categories

Read more because it’s pretty lengthy - though I only go into detail with the top 3 categories and I just list the rest because I got lazy lmao

Also there are spoilers in this so yeah if you planned on watching any of the movies nominated tonight beware

Best Picture Who I think will win: La La Land As much as I loved the movie, I honestly don’t think it has Best Picture potential. The story was okay at best, and there are aspects of the story that rub people the wrong way (A white pianist acting like the messiah of jazz music, for instance). 

BUT. But.

The Academy is a sucker for movies that are based on show business and Hollywood (Ironic, I know), which is why I think it has an edge over the other nominees - which is disappointing because the movie I really want winning Best Picture deserves it more.

Who I want to win: Moonlight This movie blew me away. The cinematography, the story, the characters, the editing, everything. It’s a slow burn, but rightfully so - and c’mon, it’s a movie about a queer black male struggling to accept his identity while also dealing with a shitty family situation and an even shittier social life. It deserves recognition for that alone.

But...I don’t think it’s going to win Best Picture, even though I really want it to. Why? Because it’s the goddamn Oscars. “Oscars So White” may not be as prevalent in the list of nominees but I can guarantee you it’ll make a comeback once they start announcing winners.

Best Actor Who I think will win: Denzel Washington He already nabbed an Oscar for Training Day and a second one for Glory (Both great movies, by the way), but goddamn if you saw Fences you’d probably agree with me when I say that he deserves a third one. He plays a very unlikeable character in the movie, but he does it so well that you can’t help but like him. The typical “Hard guy with a hard past” trope is a little overplayed nowadays so the market’s a bit saturated for that, meaning that there are very few people who can pull off the role. I believe he first played Troy Maxson in the play before he played him in the movie too. Oh, also, he directed the movie adaptation of Fences, so that’s another reason why I think he’ll win it.

Who I want to win: Ryan Gosling I want him to win primarily because he learned how to play jazz piano in three months. THREE MONTHS. That is not a lot of time, especially when you’re talking film. Also, have you heard jazz piano? It is NOT easy to play. Ryan didn’t use any doubles when they filmed the scenes where Sebastian is playing - all of that was him.

Best Actress Who I think will win: Emma Stone She won the Golden Globe award, the Screen Actors Guild award, the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts award, the British Academy Film award, and a few awards from several critics’ associations for her role as Mia in La La Land. If she doesn’t win tonight I think everyone will be surprised.

Who I want to win: Emma Stone I can’t disagree with critics. She was amazing in La La Land - her performance was way more impactful than Ryan Gosling’s. She’s not a stranger to singing and dancing - she’s done both plenty of times in both film and Broadway - but I think this is the first time I’ve seen her sing and dance, and I was blown away by how talented she was.

I really wanted her to win last year, when she was nominated for her role in Birdman - I thought she was stellar there too. I didn’t think she would’ve been able to top her performance there, but then La La Land happened lmao

Best Supporting Actor Who I think will win: Mahershala Ali Who I want to win: Mahershala Ali He had a small but very impactful role in Moonlight. You could feel his characters’ presence long after he’s gone, and that’s something not many actors are able to achieve.

Honourable mention: Dev Patel He made me almost cry in Lion. The only movie I ever cried watching was A.I. That’s a big deal.

Best Supporting Actress Who I think will win: Viola Davis Who I want to win: Viola Davis

Her character in Fences was my favourite in the film. Troy might have been through some shit but his wife, Rose, had to put up with his grumpy ass for 15 years - and on top of that she put up with him cheating on her and raising the child he fathered out of his affair. The strength and tenacity Davis channeled through her portrayal of Rose earned her several awards - the Black Reel, the British Academy Film award, the Critics’ Choice, the Golden Globe, and the Screen Actors Guild, just to name a few.

Best Animated Feature Who I think will win: Zootopia Who I want to win: Moana

I get that Zootopia is basically “Racism 101″ for kids, but the fact that a movie about animals is getting more accolades than a movie about a PoC girl and Polynesian culture is kind of ridiculous to me.

Of course, Moana shouldn’t win just because it’s about a PoC girl and Polynesian culture, but c’mon...it was a good movie.

That being said, Kubo and the Two Strings is an honourable mention. I loved the art style, but we all know by now that Disney dominates the Animated Feature category even when there are better movies in the category.

Cinematography: Who I think will win: La La Land Who I want to win: La La Land

I loved the composition of this film. The colours, the camera work, the lighting, the framework...everything was just seamless and so well put together. It really captured the “la la land” feeling of La La Land, if that makes sense. The movie really wanted to make you feel like LA and Hollywood are these surreal, faraway dreamscapes that only few people are lucky enough to experience - and they captured that perfectly.

Costume Design Who I think will win: La La Land Who I want to win: Jackie

Jackie Kennedy was known for her fashion style. She became a frigging fashion icon. Jackie did an awesome job recreating her style - and Natalie Portman wore them perfectly.

But...La La Land won in this category before, for some reason, and I don’t really know why. Nothing about the costumes were particularly striking, nor did they have much significance.

Directing Who I think will win: La La Land Who I want to win: Moonlight

When in doubt, choose La La Land. I’m pretty sure that’s the mindset of every panel of judges or critics or whatever they’re called for every award show...thing. Can you believe this movie has 14 nominations for the Oscars this year - the only other movies that have been nominated that many times for the Oscars are fucking Titanic and All About Eve.

Moonlight deserves more recognition, which is why I want it to win in this category.

Film Editing Who I think will win: La La Land Who I want to win: La La Land

I’ve already mentioned before that I loved the composition of this movie, so yeah.

Best Original Score Who I think will win: La La Land Who I want to win: La La Land

The movie’s music is a lot better than the actual movie. I bought the CD and the special edition blue vinyl LP. That’s how much I love it.

Best Original Song Who I think will win: City of Stars from La La Land Who I want to win: City of Stars from La La Land

City of Stars has been stuck in my head since I first saw the movie - and I saw this movie two months ago.

An honourable mention would be the other La La Land song nominated in this category: “Audition”. Emma Stone’s singing prowess really shines through in it. 

[edible-paint-janyx-dot-com]

Finally about to finish this at long fucking last. Parents will be making cameos in the last part <3

Trigger warnings

A teeny tiny bit of cursing

Noli me Tangere and El Filibusterismo the musical: A near-case of showtime disaster!

"Look into your eyes, and the sky's the limit I'm helpless!" - Phillipa Soo as Elizabeth "Eliza" Schuyler in Hamilton

As the third year students continue the rehearsals for the next few days, practicing the waltz choreography and the singing for the musical, they still need actors to play the remaining missing characters.

"C'mon Itachi! Act the dialogue!" Himari said, nudging Itachi to act as Padre Damaso.

"Will you shut up afterwards if I do?" Itachi wasn't wanting any part in this.

"Promise!" Himari chuckled.

"Ugh... Fine, anything to have you off my back..." Itachi walked up to Tsuruzo and asked to audition.

"Perfect, well, the stage is yours!" Tsuruzo smiled.

"O, my child, why must you make me choose?" Itachi said with some emotion, "Er... Something like that..."

"I'll need to you to sharpen up your skills before the big day, but since you're the only one who auditioned... Take your script." Tsuruzo said, shurgging, "Anyone auditioning for Placido Penitente?"

"If I may, Tsuruzo." Boru raised his hand, volunteering, "Just to try."

"Very well, head up to the stage and begin." Tsuruzo handed Boru his script and headed up.

"Enough, padre, enough! Your reverence can put all the marks against me that you wish!" Boru rehearsed the dialogue between Placido and Padre Millon with scripted anger, "But you haven't the right to insult me! Your reverence may stay with the class, I can't stand any more!"

Boru exhaled lightly, he didn't have enough experience in acting so he didn't know if he did well.

"That was amazing! You'll appear in act two!" Tsuruzo smiled as Boru sighed in relief, he got a role.

Backstage, Geiju was busy fixing up some of the props and everyone was preparing their costumes. As head of the technical team, Geiju knew who was and who wasn't working, he was busy drafting out the invitation to all parents, guardian and faculty staff, it was mandatory to do so, students were free to come watch. He soon finished the drafting of letters and handed the final design to Shozo.

"Where did it go..." Geiju mumbled as he looked for the box of coins and shovel which he swore was inside the props case yesterday when he left...

"Something wrong?" Furredo asked, concerned.

"Treasure box and the shovel for act two..." Geiju said bluntly, "It's missing..."

"I'll go ask the ushers and usherettes..." Furredo said as he rushed out to find the ushers and usherettes of the event.

"Darn it!" Gita said irritatedly, "Where'd my flute go?"

"I checked the instrument cases, it's not there..." Kashiko reported to Gita.

"Found it!" Miyuji shouted as she held the flute case and handed it to Gita.

"Oh, thank God..." Gita held the flute and stuffed it into the instrument section.

"Phew, close call. I'll go practice the notes on my kalimba now..." Kashiko sighed as Gita and Miyuji nodded for her to just go ahead and take her leave.

Geiju and Furredo search for the treasure box and shovel, they checked the gym storage room and it was there? This whole time? How weird...

"Huh, it's been here the whole time?" Furredo took the treasure box and shook it lightly to make sure the coins were still inside.

"Guess so..." Geiju sighed, taking the shovel, "Not damaged... Good."

Kyuji was quietly setting out the chairs with Rojasu, lining it evenly across the gym, it was nice enough of them to prepare the gym a few days in advance so the others wouldn't have to worry.

"Hey, haven't you noticed what was going on recently?" Rojasu asked Kyuji out of the blue.

"About the props moving randomly? Yeah, I've noticed..." Kyuji shrugged, "Let me guess, you have theories?"

"Exactly, what if someone's trying to sabotage our grades?" Rojasu asked, he wasn't worried about his own grades since he's skipped class a few times with his friends, however he was worried about the grades of the academic achievers of the batch.

"Since when did you ever care about your grades?" Kyuji raised a brow.

"I don't, I just care about the other's grades, y'know?" Rojasu crossed his arms, "I'm not that bad of a person to not consider everyone else's feelings."

"Ohh, okay. Yeah, that is worrying, since Geiju locks the props away right? Who'd even move them?" Kyuji wondered, "But you're probably right on your theory about someone wanting to sabotage our progress..."

Looking back on it, Tsuruzo and Geiju had a couple of arguements with some of the other third year students, it's best to keep a close eye on them, Mitsumi and Gema being the most prominent suspects... Mitsumi argued with Tsuruzo regarding her part but when Tsuruzo said she was only technical, she decided it should be difficult for the other technical team, Gema argued with Tsuruzo because Gema could not get off that game controller, it was annoying. Tsuruzo was told by both Kyuji and Rojasu to keep an eye on students who argued with them previously, it was safer that way.

"And your costume is done, Kuroko!" Hiroshiko smiled as Kuroko admired the intricate patterns on her skirt, her baro't saya and the scarf like object.

"It's perfect!" Kuroko smiled as she admired her outfit on the mirror.

As everyone was seeing their costumes, Tsuruzo went back stage.

"We still need captain Santiago, Basilio and Ibarra, anyone who wants to audition for Ibarra?" Tsuruzo called out.

"If I may try..." Shoku walked up to his friend and Tsuruzo dragged him up stage.

"Perfect idea, darling! Perfect!" Tsuruzo handed the script and gave Shoku a nod.

"I have had better thoughts, and I believe that making my father's wishes come true is worth more than weeping for him, and much more than avenging him." Shoku read the script out loud, acting out Ibarra's dialogue in what he believed was better.

"That was... Fantastic!" Tsuruzo said happily, patting Shoku on the back, "Congrats, Crisostomo Ibarra. Or would you prefer Simoun?"

Shoku was sort of shocked, he didn't expect to get the part but was happy since he's going to have scenes with Hiroshiko. When he initially didn't care about a role, he sure as hell cared now. Now that he and Hiroshiko are together, at long last too! He headed backstage to put his script in his bag and rehearse when he gets home, the events of this week prevented him from auditioning but atleast, it was all over...

"Hey, uh..." Kenko's voice came out from behind Shoku, which made him turn around.

"Oh, hey..." Shoku said calmly.

"Saw you got the role, and I also heard from Ajia that you and Hiro got together. Congrats." Kenko chuckled, "Look dude, I am very sorry for provoking you a few days ago."

"You mean that, right?" Shoku asked, "I thought you had a crush on Hiro."

"Oh, nah, nah, it was just small infatuation, I wanted a chance, sure, but I knew we weren't gonna last." Kenko shrugged calmly, "You two are definetly the better match. You did me a favor by getting with her, I can move on faster now too."

"Oh, uh, thank you, Kenko." Shoku smiled, "I forgive you, don't worry, the past is past, I won't let it affect our friendship as clubmates."

"Cool, good luck with your role, I plan to audition for Basilio." Kenko smiled.

"You'll do great." Shoku assured.

While everyone was busy, Mitsumi was quiet, just cast to the side. Gema was just busy with his game console, Mitsumi was kicked out of both the acting and technical team so she decided to play pranks and sabotage the play by hiding the shovel, treasure box and Gita's flute, she believes that if her grades will suffer, so should everyone else's, she's just bitter about being told the truth and was useless the whole time.

"This is pointless!" Mitsumi grumbled outside the gym as she took a puff of her vape, "Those goody-two shoes are too smart for their own good!"

Someone had overheard the conversation, it was Uekiya, she was just gonna go outside to check on the flowers for the stage decor when she unintentionally overheard that Mitsumi was sabotaging the play, Uekiya had her phone on record to post an update on one of her blogs, but that can wait, she's began to record Mitsumi complain and plot her next prank on everyone, Uekiya knew eavesdropping was a bad idea, but she was doing it for the sake of Geiju's sanity, because of how bad the pranks were that Geiju was very close to snapping at anyone who talked to him. Mitsumi finished plotting and Uekiya ran back inside the gym, dragging her homeroom adviser to the side.

"I am so sorry to drag you here, ma'am..." Uekiya sighed, her hand trembled which held her phone...

"What's wrong, Uekiya? Is everything alright?" Mida knelt down to look at Uekiya's distressed expression.

"Listen to this..." Uekiya played the audio recording, which shocked Mida, it angered her slightly.

"Thank you for bringing this to my attention, you may go now." Mida knew from the look of Uekiya's face, that she prefers her identity as the snitch to be confidential.

Uekiya went over to the backstage and just decided to take her mind off this issue that she just witnessed, she decided to play games on her phone out of boredom... Or just to distract herself.

As everyone cleaned up for the day, Uekiya was planning to leave with her friends, seeing Mitsumi sitting near Mida, a sense of justice came over her and she nodded to herself, she shouldn't feel bad, this was a bad person, they desrved to fall down, she had to remind herself that Mitsumi deserved what happened to her. Uekiya was too kind for her own good but she had just about enough that if no one stood up to her, she'll do it on their behalf.

It was about time that someone taught the Loan Shark's daughter a lesson, and Uekiya was proud of herself for that.

[symbianosgames]

Back in 2013, veteran game maker Warren Spector left the world of full-time game development to become an educator.

Three years later, he came back. He stepped down from his role leading the Denius-Sams Gaming Academy and signed on as creative director at OtherSide Entertainment, where he now leads development of System Shock 3.

"I wanted to make sure I didn't become one of those teachers who used to make games," he explained to Gamasutra last year. "Who used to know how games were developed and why. I knew I needed to keep my skills honed."

This affords him what seems like an interesting perspective on game development. Spector stepped outside the day-to-day concerns of working inside a studio and spent years trying to prepare young, aspiring game makers for challenges they face in today's game industry. Now he's back on the inside, helping to figure out the shape of systems and mechanics. Working through the production process. Making games again.

Gamasutra sat down with Spector at GDC last month to catch up on how the process is going, roughly a year into his full-time gig at OtherSide. It was an interesting conversation, especially if you're at all interested in where games are at these days, where they came from, and what sorts of stories they're best at telling.

How did your return to full-time game development go?

Well first of all, I did buy a PC finally. I knew the form factor I wanted, and I knew the graphics capabilities I wanted, and it took me a while to find just the right thing but I finally did. I don't know if I should plug the computer I bought, but I did buy one. And I've been playing a lot of games on it, which is good.

"I find that the idea of asking questions, and having a dialogue with your players, much more interesting than just saying 'here's my story.'"

And as far as getting back into game development, it's everything that game development is: it's joyous, it's frustrating, it's scary and annoying and great and exactly what I hoped it would be.

Have you hit production yet?

Oh, we're still in concept phase. I'm a big believer in figuring out what game you want to make before you start making it. So we're still hammering out game systems, working on our narrative, so we're very early on.

What do you think of GDC, having attended for so long and now being back in the role of a game dev attending?

Well I've been to every GDC since the '80s, when it was the Computer Game Developers Conference --

In Chris Crawford's living room?

No, I missed that. It was in a little hotel somewhere south of San Francisco, and it was about 250-350 people, something like that. And I remember my most vivid memory of that was, first thing I went to was a session, a lecture given by a guy named Joe Ybarra -- a big-time producer at EA at the time.

And I remember thinking, "I will never know as much about games as this man does." And then a few years later, he was a friend of mine! But has it changed? Of course -- just look around. Now we've got what is it, 30,000 people coming? Some of them old gray-hairs like me, some of them 20-somethings. Indies, triple-A developers...it’s changed. It's a completely different show now.

What advice might you give to other game devs now? 

Well it depends on what kind of game you want to make. I'm not good at answers of one thing.

The first thing is, always try to make projects that are personally meaningful to you. I realize that it's easier to say and harder to do; sometimes you just have to do the work for hire, and create something that meets someone else's needs. But find something you're passionate about. Whatever you're working on, find something to be passionate about in it.

And then, don't be lazy. I don't mean in the sense of working hard or not, I mean don't assume that games are a mature medium. And that we've explored everything that game are capable of creating or doing. Find that one new thing. It doesn't matter what game you're making -- you can always sneak one new thing into a game. And always look for that one more thing in the work you're doing.

I remember you talked up the possibilities of AI in games, especially non-combat AI, last year. Where do you stand now?

Well, realistically, I'm not sure System Shock is the place to be exploring non-combat AI, given that we're going to follow along in the tradition of everybody being dead *laughs* and communicating the story through video logs, emails, AR projections and all that.

So this is probably not the game to be exploring that particular aspect of game design. But what I do want to do is take the idea of choice and consequence and recovery, the stages of choice, consequence, and recovery from those choices, I want to take that to a whole new level by creating an incredibly reactive world. And then letting players interact with the world in a deeper way than they have before.

So that's largely the thrust of System Shock 3, as much as I can talk about it.

Oh yeah, that's fine. I'm gonna be honest with you, I've never played a System Shock.

Gah! You know, you can still buy System Shock and System Shock 2.

I know! I think it's great. I've tried to play them both, a few times, but...they're pretty old.

It's funny, because needless to say, I needed to replay those games before starting to work on the third game in the series. And when I started playing the first one, I emailed Doug Church, who was kind of the creative driving force behind that first game, and all I said was 'oh my god, this game is hard!' And his response was just "...1994."

Environmental storytelling in the original System Shock

And I said "Oh my god, this game is big!" and his response was "1994."

"Oh my god, this UI is terrible!" "1994."

We did the best we could, you know.

Well since you've been reimmersing yourself in some recent games, are there any you'd call out as especially worth studying by fellow devs?

Well, Dishonored 2. There's a particular kind of game I find most appealing, and the Dishonored series is right in that vein so it's pretty cool.

So I'm playing Dishonored 2 right now, and...well mostly, to be honest, I've been a little disappointed in the games I've played, and haven't played very much. What I do is, I play a game until I get so frustrated that I have to stop, or throw my controller against the wall or something. Or I've learned everything I'm going to learn from it, or I finish it. And I finish very few games.

But you know, I've played some Metal Gear Solid 5. I'm woefully behind, so I've been playing some Shadow of Mordor. Certainly there's some intriguing different things in that game, so that's worth taking a look at. I'm obsessed with some mobile games, there's this little puzzle game called Hundred that I just love. I'm playing it obsessively right now. And these aren't new games, but I think the Go games from Square Enix are a ton of fun. Deus Ex Go, Lara Croft Go, and Hitman Go -- I just find those great ways to pass the time.

There was a minute there where we were sure Shadow of Mordor's Nemesis system was going to be the next Big Thing in game design. Seems like we were wrong -- not a lot of devs picked up what Monolith was putting down.

Well, it's kinda their thing. I can't speak for any developer but myself, but if somebody's already done something, what's the point of doing it yourself? It's like, come up with your one new thing.

And one of my rules for any game I work in is, there has to be one new thing, something no one's ever seen before or done before. And that's already been done. Why would I do it again? I mean, there are certain elements of it that I find intriguing; like, it's nothing new, but characters you interact with on an ongoing basis, who change over time, that's pretty cool. But having them interact with each other, you know, it's an interesting idea. It's theirs. It's not something I'm going to adopt.

So what is it about Dishonored 2 that impressed you, that you think is worth calling out?

Nothing specific. I think it's just the overall immersion of the world, and the behavior with the characters. My ultimate goal is to empower players to tell their own stories, and play the way they want to.

You know, I had a mission statement that was 12 pages long that no one would read. then it was an 8-page version, then a 4-page version, and I ultimately summed it up in two words: "playstyle matters." And the Dishonored games really express that exceptionally well.

So it's not any one thing, but I do wish other developers would take a look at that and do more of it. I'm looking forward to Mass Effect, and those games have certainly adopted some of that approach to game design, and the more people who do that, I think the better off we're going to be, as a medium. And the more enjoyment players are going to get out of what should be genuine interactivity. Most games fake it. The immersive simulation games try not to fake it. So it's that attitude, more than any specific thing.

Yeah, in your Deus Ex postmortem I was surprised to see you acknowledge how much was faked.

Yeah, unfortunately. There's a lot of stuff that isn't, too! What we did was, we had to make sure that each dominant playstyle was represented, for sure. But beyond that, players really did discover their own solutions. 

Sure, many devs these days cite that specifically as a big influence on their work.

Even back then, I was gratified that a lot of developers told me that they were inspired by it. And that was part of the point! 

I was surprised to hear you trace Deus Ex back to your time playing Dungeons & Dragons. How did you wind up playing D&D with Bruce Sterling?

I moved to Austin, Texas to go to grad school, and at that time Austin had an amazing science fiction writing scene. And Bruce was part of this circle of writers, and I fell in with this circle of writers, and another friend of mine, Bud Simons -- he writes under the name Walton Simons -- Bud had been playing in a campaign with Bruce. And invited me to come along to play in this campaign, and it was just...he was just a guy.

At that point, he hadn't even published his first novel yet. He was just a friend. I hung out with him at parties, and then eventually started gaming with him. I was a board gamer, and had never played D&D but then in 1978 there it was, you know? Everything else sort of went away.

So what happened to that Austin circle?

Oh, Bruce left the country and you know, we had families and you know, time goes away. People grew up. But tabletop roleplaying, like I said in my talk, was immensely influential. I wasn't playing just with Bruce, I was playing in half a dozen campaigns, run by various Dungeon Masters.

And just seeing how each one works differently, and yet there's always that same core of players telling stories together. That was seminal for me. It wasn't just important -- I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing without that. 

What, specifically, do you value about tabletop role-playing games, or perhaps tabletop games in general?

Well I get enjoyment out of board games, that's the primary thing I value them for.

Fair enough! I suppose I should have asked, what value do they add to your work as a video game designer? Do you prototype mechanics out on paper, for example?

Well, I'm almost ashamed to admit it, but I've never actually done a paper prototype for a game.

I always think 'yeah, I should do that,' but the games that I make are complex enough that it's hard to keep all the rules in mind. And so there are so many little systems that have to interact with one another that it's hard to imagine making a board game.

One of the things that I don't know if I made the point in my talk very strongly, or at all, is if a game could be made in another medium, it's less interesting to me. I like to make games that couldn't be translated into a board game, or vice versa.

And yet so many video games can be traced back to tabletop games like Dungeons & Dragons.

Oh, sure. We would have no video game business without Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. I always say that every game developer should get down on his knees once a day, face towards Lake Geneva Wisconsin, and say a little prayer of thanks to those guys.

  "I always say that every game developer should get down on his knees once a day, face towards Lake Geneva Wisconsin, and say a little prayer of thanks to those guys."

But it's also a problem, because I think personally, too many developers have been inspired by the mechanics of those games. And we have better ways of simulating a world than Gary and Dave had back then. So I would love to see us jettison -- forever -- character classes and you know, the character stats: strength, intelligence, wisdom, dexterity, charisma....I mean, we don't need that stuff. So it would be nice to move away from that.

But also the content; look at the content of games, of many if not most video games, and it's right outta D&D or Traveller. And we could do so much more. Thank god for the indie guys and gals; the indie folks are at least bringing new kinds of content into games.

But Richard Garriott was directly inspired by his D&D campaign when he made the first Ultima game; and we just keep on making guys in chainmail and guys with big guns games. Which are right out of that adolescent power fantasy stuff that defined D&D and Call of Cthulhu and Traveller and Empire of the Petal Throne and all sorts of other games your readers have never heard of.

The other thing that's interesting about those old role-playing games is, I don't know if you're familiar with the term Monty Haul dungeon [pun on deceased game show host Monty Hall, a dungeon designed purely for combat and looting -- thus "haul"] but those were always the most popular things.

It was funny, when I got to TSR, where I worked for a few years, everybody up there wanted to get away from the Monty Haul dungeons, where you knock down a door, you kill the monster, you grab the treasure, you knock down the next door, you kill the monster, you grab the treasure.

And so one of the designers did an adventure module that was the most ridiculous, silly, over-the-top Monty Haul dungeon ever, as kind of a statement. And it was the best-selling module we did! It's what people wanted. And that's also inspired video game developers.

You know, we need to be asking bigger questions. And some people are doing that. Again, the Mass Effect games ask you to think about stuff, the BioShock games ask you to think about stuff. The key for me, as I said in my talk, was not to answer the questions. Video games ask questions. Other media answer them.

I find that the idea of asking questions, and having a dialogue with your players, much more interesting than just saying 'here's my story. Here's what I think about Topic X.' That's way less interesting.

Seems like you're still passionate about the future of game dev. Do you know what's next for the Denius-Sams Gaming Academy, now that you're gone?

I'm unclear about that, to be honest. Most of my brain cells are devoted to System Shock 3 right now. I know that they were talking about shifting its focus. Instead of bringing students in and teaching leadership the way we did, there was talk about bringing in guest lecturers and opening up more broadly to the general public.

But honestly, I don't know. I probably shouldn't even speculate! If they ask me for advice, I will give it. 

I ran into a bunch of my students here. It's cool -- they've all gotten jobs or done startups. We really did, I think, change some lives. Which is pretty gratifying. 

Headline photo captured by Ralph Barrera for the Austin American-Statesman