#linear video ads

[bungone]

"the more money people have the more money they spend" is truly an absurdist statement no one saw coming

[arimiadev]

"I want to make a visual novel but don't know how"

visual novels are one of the most diverse and varied mediums out there and can be so much fun to make. if you've ever wanted to make one, it's pretty easy to get started!!

Overall Guide

this is a lengthy guide I made going over different parts of visual novels and how people make them! now let's go over some parts~

What Are Visual Novels?

Visual novels are a medium of video games focused on storytelling through the use of static or low-gameplay mechanics. Most can be considered a subsection of interactive fiction. A lot of visual novels have no gameplay or minigames, but some do feature light gameplay. The important aspect is that the gameplay in visual novels is never the focus, and instead the game focuses on a story delivered through dialogue & narration in textboxes on the screen.

Some visual novels are romance, some are fantasy, some are mystery, some are NSFW, some are cutesy, some are kiddie. Visual novels come in all shapes and sizes.

Visual Novel Misconceptions

Visual novels have been around for several decades now, but parts of them are still misunderstood by wider audiences. Here’s some frequent misconceptions about visual novels.

"Every visual novel has sexual content."

Visual novels come in all shapes and sizes, which includes content. Not every visual novel has sexual content, nor is it required to sell well. Visual novels are a medium for storytelling rather than a genre, so they can be anything you want them to be.

"Every visual novel is a dating sim."

Similar to the last one, some people think every visual novel is a romance game or a dating sim. Not every visual novel has romance in it, nor is it required to sell well.

"Every visual novel has choices and multiple endings."

Some of the most popular visual novels out there like Umineko When they Cry don’t have choices. Choices and multiple endings aren’t required to make a visual novel—completely linear experiences are fine.

"Visual novels need to be long."

Some of the top visual novels on itch.io right now are under 25k words, which puts them under 2 hours of playtime. Visual novels don’t have to be a certain length—they can be as long or as short as the story needs them to be. There’s even an annual visual novel jam, O2A2, that focuses on making a visual novel under 1k words with limited assets.

"Visual novels don’t sell well."

This is very much your mileage may vary. Some visual novels sell very, very well, such as how the recent Our Life: Now and Forever Kickstarter gained almost $300k. Marketing is an entire field just like art and writing and isn’t something you can skimp on or push to the end.

"Visual novel players hate reading."

A vast, vast majority of visual novel readers want a visual novel—they want a game that is light on gameplay and heavy on reading. You don’t have to add gameplay to a visual novel to keep people interested. Rather, minigames added at random can deter players. Visual novel players want an engaging story—if you’re worried of losing their attention, then focus on a tighter script or cinematography.

"Visual novels need to be anime style."

Visual novels originated in Japan and most do have an anime style, but visual novels do not need an anime style to sell well. The art style for a game will change the audience for the game—players who want something anime style probably won’t be interested in a semi-realistic style, but other people will be. It’s all about finding the right style for your story and finding the audience who responds well to it.

Visual Novel Terms

Here’s a list of terms you might encounter in visual novel and game dev communities.

EVN / OELVN – stands for English Visual Novel and Original English Language Visual Novel. Two terms used for describing Western VNs that are made in English, although EVN is used more frequently nowadays. An EVN/OELVN is specifically a visual novel made in English first, not a visual novel that has an English translation (and was made in a different language first). There are several variations of this, such as JVN meaning Japanese Visual Novel and RVN meaning Russian Visual Novel.

Kinetic novel – a visual novel that’s linear with few or no choices. Has only one ending. Also called a linear visual novel, linear game, etc.

Game jams – an event where developers have a set amount of time to make a game, ranging from a weekend to several months. Some jams have themes that the games must follow as well as other restrictions while others are more freeform. Nowadays, most jams are hosted on itchio. You can find a list of visual novel game jams here.

Game engine – a piece of software used for developing video games. The most popular ones for making indie VNs in English-speaking areas are Ren’Py and Unity, though Tyranobuilder is very popular in Japan for indies.

Text/code editor – when programming, you’ll need another piece of software to edit and write code that works with the game engine. Some popular text editors are Visual Studio Code, Sublime, Atom, Notepad, and more.

Character sprite – the individual character art that changes expressions and can move around the screen. Can include multiple outfits, pose changes, and more.

CGs – although it typically stands for Computer Generated, CGs in visual novels typically means the cut scene art where no sprites are shown (unless there's a side sprite on the textbox). CGs are usually reserved for special scenes and are the type of artwork you’d see in a CG Gallery or as promotional artwork.

UI / GUI – the User Interface / Graphical User Interface. This is what the player interacts with such as the textbox, main menu, save / load screen, settings, and more.

ADV mode – the standard reading mode for visual novels, short for Adventure mode. The textbox is located at the bottom of the screen. Popular examples of this are Steins;Gate, AI: The Somnium Files, and Amnesia.

NVL mode – a different reading mode for visual novels, short for Novel mode. The textbox covers most of the screen. Popular examples of this are Fate/stay night, Tsukihime, and Umineko When they Cry.

Dating simulator – dating sims are some of the oldest forms of visual novels and are essentially stat raisers where you spend time with various characters with the goal being to romance them by getting your stats high enough. In Western spheres dating sim has become synonymous with a romance game, where stat raising is not involved, but it’s important to note that dating sims refer to stat raisers a lot of the time. Unlike otome, a dating sim doesn’t refer to a specific sexual orientation.

Otome / Otoge – roughly translates to “maiden’s love” and is used to describe games with a female demographic, usually dating sims & romance games which feature male love interests and a female protagonist. Some otome games feature female and other gendered LIs, but male LIs are still the primary focus.

Eroge – an erotic game. If a game has sexual content in it, it’s an eroge. The original Fate/stay night (not the remastered version on Steam) is a popular example of an eroge.

Resources

And now, let's look at some tools and links for actually making visual novels.

Engines & Programming

Ren’Py – free visual novel engine

Twine – free text-based game engine (usually used for interactive fiction)

Naninovel – Unity-based tool for making Unity VNs

tiny tools – collection of various game dev tools

Ren’Edit Add-On – Ren’Py script editing & feedback tool

Ren’Py Accessibility Add-On

Feniks Ren’Py resources – various add-ons and tutorials by Feniks

Game Jam & Short Dev Advice

Game Jam Survival Guide - Essential Tips and Tricks

Releasing 8+ games (ft. game jams) and when to take a break

making game development backup plans

Advice for Leading VN Game Jam Teams

How to Make a Visual Novel Solo

How to Finish Your Visual Novel

Design

How to Make Visual Novels

Visual Novel Conference Talks

Visual Novel Cinematography & Design

Art Direction & Execution in Visual Novels

Making Impactful, Impressive Character Sprites

Post-production Techniques for VNs

Vimi’s Visual Novel Design

Writing

Writing Interactive – guides for narrative games writers

Visual Novel Conference Talks

Writing Mystery Visual Novels

How to Design Interesting Choices in VNs

The Intrigue of Ambiguity

Artwork

Clip Studio Paint

Krita

FireAlpaca

Medibang

GIMP

FastStone Photo Resizer – batch photo resizer and editor

FotoSketcher – various settings to apply artistic filters to photos

Marketing

How to Market Visual Novels

Marketing Visual Novels FAQ

Marketing Fundamentals for Indie Game Developers

Marketing your first indie game – What we learned from releasing the same game twice

The stairstep approach to indie game marketing

Marketing your Visual Novel for Kickstarter

Visual Novel Press-Kits

Audio

Eric Matyas music & SFX

Vita-chi SFX & graphics

Free Music Archive

Free Sound

dova-syndrome

Misc.

Lemmasoft Creative Commons Forum

itch.io visual novel resources

Google Fonts – free fonts

Uncle Mugen backgrounds

Canva – browser & desktop graphic design tool

Unsplash – free photos

Wrapping Up

all in all, visual novels are a fun medium to explore and play around with. if you want to make something short as a test run, try joining a game jam! if you want to see how varied visual novels can be, try playing some indies from itchio! at the end of the day there's no bad way to start making your own visual novel. hit the ground running and go for it!!

I've been developing visual novels for over 10 years now, blogging about them on my own blog and releasing visual novels through my studio Crystal Game Works. I hope this guide helped shed light on how to get into the medium!

— Arimia

[alive-gh0st]

❝Too Far Gone❞

Mark Grayson x Brainrot Girlfriend!Readerᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 .ᐟ

˗ˏˋ 𓉘 Part 2 of ”Corruption Complete” 𓉝ˎˊ˗

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

🦈 summary: mark’s corruption arc continues. he’s made it to the dark side—but the brainrot never ends. from forced meme bootcamp to cursed movie nights and chaotic friend group crossovers, mark’s peace is officially gone. and now… he might kind of like it?

‪‪🦈 contains: sfw. modern brainrot. fandom jokes. reluctant!mark, chaotic!reader. oliver returns with more menace. debbie thrives. william + rick join the chaos. wine obsessed!debbie. amber vs eve. tiktok audios. cursed AI videos. gacha reactions. passive-aggressive memes. „tragic boy 2.0”

‪‪🦈 wc: 2187

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌a/n: we’re back, baby. this was supposed to be a joke, and now it’s a saga. blame mark for folding like a wet napkin. shout-out to the “ballerina cappuccina” for lighting this fire. enjoy the chaos.

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

Mark stared at the whiteboard in front of him like it was written in an alien dialect. Which, to be fair, was only partially inaccurate.

“Okay,” you said brightly, tapping the marker against your palm. “Let’s review: What does it mean if I say ‘she’s giving One Direction in 2013 with a sprinkle of Tumblr Sexy Man pipeline energy’?”

Mark blinked once. Twice.

Oliver leaned forward like a predator scenting fear. “Say it, Mark. Say the answer.”

Mark sighed, dragging a hand down his face. “It… means she’s popular?”

“Popular how?” you challenged. “Contextualize it.”

“She’s… trending?” he tried.

“Wrong,” Oliver said, shaking his head gravely. “You’ve just been hit with a ✨deduction✨.”

He clicked a buzzer. Where it came from, no one knew. Where it went after that, no one wanted to ask.

You turned back to the board, adding another tally to the “Cringe Counter” in red marker. Mark’s score was now dangerously close to being labeled “culturally illiterate.”

“This is so dumb,” he grumbled. “This isn’t even a real language.”

“It is to us,” you and Oliver said in perfect sync.

Mark muttered something that sounded suspiciously like “cult behavior.”

You ignored him, moving to the next slide. A collage of pixelated TikTok reaction memes flashed onto the screen. “Okay, rapid-fire round: What’s the audio for this one?”

Mark squinted. “Is that… a raccoon in a nun outfit?”

“Yes, but that’s not the point,” you snapped.

Oliver gasped. “You don’t know the ‘Father, forgive me, but she was SERVING’ audio?!”

Mark opened his mouth. Closed it. “Why would I ever need to know that?”

“Because one day you might be the raccoon in the nun outfit, Mark,” you said, eyes burning with brainrot conviction.

He slumped back on the couch. “I regret everything.”

︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿

What was supposed to be a calm, relaxing day became a Friday Movie Night. Which, in your (the Graysons’) household, meant one thing:

No peace. No mercy. Only WiFi-fueled chaos.

It started innocently. You were lounging on the couch, half-scrolling and half-plotting dinner, when Debbie offhandedly said, “We should watch something tonight.”

You, of course, took that as a declaration of war.

Ten minutes later, the lights were dimmed, the coffee table was drowning in chips and half-melted gummies, and everyone had been emotionally blackmailed into joining.

(“Mark, you saved the world. You can survive one night of meme cinema.”)

Mark sat like a hostage. William arrived mid-chaos with Rick, who brought snacks and the wrong kind of emotional preparedness. Debbie brought wine. Oliver brought his entire personality.

You? You brought a curated playlist of AI-generated edits that actively offended the concept of linear storytelling.

“Okay,” you announced, remote in hand. “Tonight’s film festival opens with: Edward Cullen breakdancing in front of an explosion to Skyfall.”

“…Why?” Mark asked, already regretting being born.

“Art,” Oliver whispered reverently.

The video began. Within fifteen seconds, Comic Sans text scrolled across the screen:

‘When he says forever but leaves the Minecraft server.’

Rick blinked. “I have so many questions.”

William, eyes wide, leaned in. “And none of them matter.”

The next clip was somehow worse—or better. AI-generated Loki slow dancing with the Riddler at prom while Will Smith stood in the corner like a disappointed gym teacher. The audio? A slowed-down remix of Let It Go over Sandstorm.

No one blinked.

“I hate this,” Mark whispered.

“You’re watching it,” you replied sweetly.

“…Shut up.”

Oliver pulled out a scoring notebook. “Okay, rating time. Editing? 10. Trauma delivery? 12.”

“Is there symbolism?” Rick asked, way too seriously.

“Absolutely,” William said. “The Riddler’s bowtie was a metaphor for late-stage capitalism.”

Even Debbie chimed in with a solid, “The pacing in the Subway Voldemort edit was weird, but I respect the emotional core.”

By the third cursed slideshow, everyone had a ranking system, emotional stakes, and deeply divided opinions about whether or not Gandalf doing a TikTok dance counted as character assassination.

Mark didn’t get up. Didn’t leave. Didn’t even look away. He just sighed.

And for some ridiculously stupid reason?

He didn’t hate it.

︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿

It happened on a Tuesday.

A simple, forgettable Tuesday. Rain outside. Soup on the stove. A blanket of rare peace over the house.

And then Mark opened his mouth.

“You’re being real ‘girl who fell off the swing in 2012 and never emotionally recovered’ right now.”

Silence.

Your spoon hovered mid-air.

Oliver, across the room, slowly turned like an animatronic coming online.

Debbie looked up from her crossword, one eyebrow arched with terrifying accuracy.

“What,” you breathed.

Mark blinked, backtracking immediately. “I mean—not like that. I wasn’t saying you were—It’s just—I saw a TikTok—”

“A TikTok,” Oliver echoed, mouth spreading into a villainous grin. “So you have been studying.”

“I didn’t mean to say it out loud.”

“You quoted a cultural meme tag with precision,” you gasped. “Unprovoked.”

Mark stood frozen in the kitchen doorway like a raccoon caught in the fridge light.

“I blacked out,” he tried.

“You blacked in,” Oliver corrected, dramatically pointing. “Welcome to the hive mind.”

Debbie didn’t say anything, just sipped her wine with the smugness of a woman watching her son descend into madness she fully supported.

You dramatically slammed your hand on the counter. “You mocked us.”

“I still do.”

“And yet!” you shrieked, gesturing wildly. “You knew what that meant!”

Mark groaned, dragging a hand down his face. “This is your fault.”

“You’re damn right it is.”

Oliver held up the whiteboard from earlier and slapped a gold star beside Mark’s name. “Corruption milestone achieved: accidental meme reference in domestic context.”

“You’ve fallen,” you said softly. “You’re one of us now.”

Mark didn’t respond.

But he did mutter “she’s giving ‘delulu but functioning’” under his breath an hour later.

Oliver tackled him with a celebratory pillow.

You cried actual tears.

︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿

What started as a casual group hang spiraled—as most things in your social circle did—into chaos within twenty minutes.

Amber had stopped by under the innocent promise of “a chill night.” She brought wine, even wore slippers. Her guard was down.

Eve was already there. Cross-legged on the rug, hoodie half-zipped, energy drink in hand like it was liquid law.

Amber settles in with a sigh. “I was promised snacks and serotonin.”

Eve flops down beside her, stealing a chip from Mark’s bowl. “And yet you walked into psychological warfare.”

The TV is paused on a cursed slideshow. The image? A freeze frame of Shrek photoshopped into a Renaissance painting, holding hands with a pixelated Garfield.

The caption reads: “when you and your emotional support cryptid walk into therapy”

Amber groans. “No. Absolutely not.”

Eve perks up. “Why not? That one’s a classic.”

“It’s blasphemy.”

“It’s art.”

“It’s Garfield in a toga.”

“Exactly.”

Amber throws her hands up. “Why is he glowing?”

Mark, exhausted from the last three meme dissections, doesn’t even look up. “Symbolism.”

“Thank you!” Eve beams.

“Don’t encourage her,” Amber mutters, taking a swig of wine.

You sit smugly between them, remote in hand, before asking. “Next slide?”

“Absolutely.” The red-haired girl encouraged.

“I will scream.” Amber promised.

The next image pops up—a tier list ranking internet boyfriends. At the top? Invincible, labeled: ‘tragedy-coded, would cry during WALL-E’

Directly beneath him—Paddington Bear and that guy who fixed his crush’s WiFi in a TikTok once.

Amber squints. “What does this even mean.”

Eve leans in like a scholar. “It’s a commentary on emotional vulnerability in male-coded narratives.”

“You just made that up.”

“I did, and I stand by it.”

William mutters, “I’d date Paddington. He’s stable.”

“That coat? Immaculate.” His boyfriend adds.

Amber glances at you. “Are your friends okay?”

“Absolutely not.”

Oliver, feeling slightly left out, stirs up some drama. “Mark’s at risk of joining the list if he cries during Finding Nemo.”

“I DIDN’T CRY.”

“You sniffled,” Debbie says from the kitchen.

By the end of the night, Eve and Amber are locked in a passionate debate about whether or not liking Remy from Ratatouille is a red flag, William is drawing diagrams to explain meme evolution, and Mark’s soul has visibly left his body.

︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿

It was supposed to be harmless.

A passing moment. A flicker in the chaos.

You hadn’t even meant to record him. Not really.

You were filming Oliver’s dramatic reenactment of the “I’m just a baby!” audio using sock puppets and half of Rick’s hoodie when Mark walked by in the background—bored, hoodie half-on, sipping orange juice straight from the carton.

And then, with zero prompting, he did it.

He hit a trend pose.

Perfectly.

He didn’t even notice he’d done it. Just sipped, blinked, walked off like nothing happened.

Everyone stared.

“…Did he just—?” William whispered.

Oliver stood frozen mid-puppet grab. “Roll it back.”

You did.

And there it was: textbook trend behavior. Down to the head tilt.

“Put that on the internet,” Eve said, eyes wide. “Now.”

“No,” Mark said immediately, from the kitchen.

“Yes,” everyone else said in unison.

You posted it. You didn’t even try to be subtle. The caption?

’when the trauma makes you trendable. #tragedyboy2.0’

By the end of the night, it had 40k views.

By morning, 200k.

╭┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄╮

ြ The comments were chaos:

➤“he’s so emotionally charged I could fix him AND he’d thank me”

➤“when you cry to Mitski but still hit a clean pose?? king”

➤“tragedy boy 2.0 just dropped and I’m obsessed”

╰┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄╯

Mark stared at your phone, expression blank.

“I didn’t even do anything,” he muttered.

“That’s the point,” Rick said, nodding.

“Tragic aura,” Amber added.

“It’s the silent suffering that sells,” William confirmed, sipping his smoothie.

You handed Mark your phone with a smile. “Congrats. You’re a meme now.”

He stared at the screen.

Then at you.

“…I’m deleting all of your editing apps.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“You need help.”

“YOU TREND IN SILENCE.”

From the hallway, Debbie called out. “Make sure to tag me next time. I’ve got burner accounts ready!”

Mark buried his face in his hands.

Somewhere, a comment called him “WALL-E coded.” Another simply said, “blink twice if you need therapy, blink once if you already went and it didn’t work.”

He blinked once.

The internet cheered.

︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿

It started out as a joke.

A throwaway mention. A cursed sentence uttered in the depths of a late-night scroll session:

“Imagine if there was a Gacha Life video of Nolan betraying Earth.”

You had said it. Mark had groaned. Oliver had gasped.

And twenty minutes later—you were all gathered on the couch, screen mirroring a Gacha reaction video with a thumbnail that read:

“Invincible Characters React to Nolan’s Betrayal (SAD/CRYING/REAL)”

The title card was Comic Sans. The music was royalty-free piano tragedy. The vibes? Devastating.

Mark looked like he was about to walk into traffic.

“Why is my Gacha self crying in the corner?” he asked, horrified.

“Character depth,” you replied.

The video played.

Pixelated Gacha!Debbie gasped in slow motion as Gacha!Nolan punched Gacha!Mark into orbit. A single animated tear rolled down her face and sparkled. The screen flashed:

“TO BE CONTINUED…?”

“Oh my god,” Rick whispered. “They gave it a cliffhanger.”

“Of real history,” William added. “This is art.”

Debbie blinked at the screen. “Wait. That’s supposed to be me?”

“She looks twelve.” Amber said.

Eve raised her martini drink. “I respect the commitment.”

Meanwhile, Gacha!Mark lay motionless on the screen, sparkles and red overlay blood pooling dramatically as a voiceover whispered: “He was just a boy.”

Mark put his head in his hands. “This should be illegal.”

Oliver patted his shoulder. “That’s what makes it so powerful.”

By the end, there was a montage of Gacha!Mark’s “best moments” set to a slowed-down nightcore remix of “My Heart Will Go On.” The subtitles read: “Mark… you were the light in our darkness.”

No one spoke for a solid fifteen seconds.

Then you wiped a fake tear and said, “They got your trauma arc better than the actual writers.”

Mark muttered, “I’m moving out.”

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

•∘˙○˚.⋆ ˚｡⋆ ୨🪼୧⋆ ˚｡⋆ ∘˙○˚.•

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

By now, the “Tragedy Boy 2.0” clip had gone viral enough to birth its own ecosystem—edits, fancams, conspiracy theories.

And Debbie?

Debbie was thriving.

She’d quietly created an account under the name @markgraysondefenseunit, and she was everywhere.

╭┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄╮

ြ Commenting on hate:

➥”he looks like he cries after arguments”

╰┈➤ @markgraysondefenseunit: “He resolves his trauma. Do YOU?”

╰┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄╯

Debbie hit send, sipped her wine, and smiled like she just ended a war.

╭┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄╮

ြ Fighting trolls:

➥“mid hero tbh”

╰┈➤ @markgraysondefenseunit: “Tell that to the asteroid he punched.”

╰┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄╯

She cracked her knuckles before typing that one. Felt good.

╭┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄╮

ြ Replying to thirst:

➥“me n him rn [photo of two frogs cuddling]”

╰┈➤ @markgraysondefenseunit: “wrap it up sweetie, you’re not his type.”

╰┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄╯

Debbie raised an eyebrow, muttered “delusional,” and hit send without flinching.

For her defense—she did tell Mark about it, not her fault everyone thought she was just joking around.

So she stayed silent.

Until the day he scrolled through comments on his own post and paused.

“…Why does one of these accounts call me ‘my brave little meatball’?”

You smiled, innocent. “Huh. Weird.”

Oliver snorted into his juice.

From the kitchen, Debbie sipped her wine.

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

a/n: this was supposed to be short. it was not. it got out of hand. again. also—did anyone clock my weird obsession with Tuesdays or are we all just politely ignoring it? be honest.

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌With Love, @alive-gh0st

[ruthytwoshakes]

after 30 hours we’re done!!!

I love little pootis so much, a fantastic series. If you haven’t seen it yet I really recommend it!! I bought one of the plushies for my little siblings for Christmas hehe.

I’ve been wanted to make some fanart for it for a while, but I wanted it to be special! Since it means too much to me and my family :3 so I tried my hand at digital painting again! Here’s my process:

First I started out with the sketch and putting in the values, (that image is the scene I was referencing.) and since I have absolutely no idea how perspective works I just guessed and went “eh good enough.” I also used my radical composition skills to give the whole thing some life! (Golden ratio my beloved.) I should have gotten some reference images, first mistake, but I was way too excited lol.

Then I duplicated the layer and started painting over my sketch using some painting and blending brushes. Unfortunately I forgot to capture any in-betweens of this process so it makes it a little hard to explain. But once I got my values down and my painting rendered to point I wanted it to be, we started coloring!

And oh god! This is why the painting took 30 hours! This was my first time painting using this method, so I was so not ready for the coloring part. I’m in a love-hate relationship with gradient maps so the coloring was mostly done with blending modes, I think I used the linear light mode?

After watching a stupid amount of videos by Marc Brunet I finally got it! Used just one overlay layer and adjusted my colors and values as needed for this one. Used a couple gradients and other techniques to get the snow and the water looking how I wanted, and we’re almost done!

My favorite step! Adding a bunch of textures and sparkly stuff! It’s not for everyone but I really like it. And congratulations we finished our first painting yippee! Thanks for reading :3

little pootis by @quazies

[kaiowut99]

Some GX Remaster thoughts, as memed shared over on the NAC Discord the other night...

but tl;dr me seeing all the hype they did at these Japan events to promote the remaster, only to see what feels like little love being given to it as they make it another cropjob, only not even giving it a "20th Remaster" logo like with DM's:

Okay let's fire this up and se--okay wHY IS THE LYRIC FONT SO BIG

And cropjob it is, sasuga Konami [NAS?]

From all the work they did advertising it as the "GX 20th Remaster," to not even bother updating this bit in the OP to include the logo like they did for the DM Remaster openings, I'm...

Still not fully sure how much of this is from whoever encoded the video (a "JibaRaws" release) because wHAT is this filter they added to whooshy scenes??? (Judai running in the city isn't even that whooshy??) wild sepia tone appeared

RIP, even less Yugi--but at least they seem to have thoughtfully cropped this shot since the same amount of his face is there

They didn't try to fix the error with the one orange "face-down card" Big Shield Guardna's duelist had that I fixed here, lol.

I thought they would have at least fixed this one like I did, but the error with Misawa's LP dropping from 3000 as Ring of Destruction resolves is still there... They did get better about fixing those rare errors by Season 3, but I wonder if they don't have access to the original project files with the LP counters as their own layers that they could fix (though I guess if they did they'd redo the counters as they crop the shots, since DM's counters would be cut off slightly here/there too in its remaster iirc).

Random whooshy-scene sepiaesque filtering again, but also love how you can barely see Featherman's card [though with it being a zoom-out shot, it was probably a bit tricky to crop well]

No "20th Remaster" even on the cropped eyecatches, shame 😔

They cropped the "gotcha!" 😭 [how will this new generation learn the finger pose]

Well, I guess one upside to this whole thing--aside from the Limited Packs coming out with 10 previously anime-only cards finally being printed like Linear Magnum, Titan's Matadors, and Asuka's Prima Light (and hopefully a chance at a long-awaited Sound Duel 3 for the remaining unreleased OST)--is a bit of a better shot of grabbing the Heroes' anime artworks from the Battle on the Edge/Genkai Battle ED [a proper 1080p upload would be niftier for this, I'm sure]

Kinda bugs me they didn't crop this to put the title in the center [unless they maybe did it this way to account for two-liner titles in the future]

It is cute they brought back this "tune in next time" card from the TV airings too

Would've been a nice touch to retroactively do "Today's Best Card" bits for Season 1, but then I guess most of the key cards became Best Cards later in the show anyway [also too much effort to expect given the effort already shown here]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Sooo, overall, it's a bit of a mixed-bag remaster there--mostly a cropjob as I was expecting since we saw the logo drop at its announcement event being a crop of the logo shot from OP1 (though I'm curious to see how much the "remastering" for GX in ARC-V's 777 OP or in those Duel Select re-airings [where they re-aired a handful of fan-fave episodes like Judai vs Kaibaman or Fubuki vs Asuka] stack up to this), and things like not even bothering to give it the "20th Remaster" logo they used in promos in the OP/eyecatches or even trying to fix art/animation errors mostly sours it for me, but if it finally gets us more anime cards and a new Sound Duel of unreleased music as mentioned, I guess I'll embrace it. also Fire Dragon pls Also, not sure how much of it is my GX brainrot because of all my time fansubbing it (check out my finalized episode 1 subs, ft the aforementioned animation error fixes, here if curious!), but it's so awkward seeing it so cropped and zoomed in, lol.

...also, apparently these aren't airing with closed-captioning either??? which, welp, there goes the other benefit I was hoping for with this lol. I'm curious how Japanese fans are seeing this, though the couple of Twitter comments I've seen are also picking at the cropjob aspect.

Though I am kinda glad they didn't try to mess with the OP/EN like they did with DM's--but then, you can't mess with perfection, after all 💁🏽‍♂️

[haruspexd]

so patho 3 quarantine huh? thoughts?

on one hand

the apathy-mania meter is cool, could add interesting weight to decisions in a way that makes sense for Daniil. a lot of Artemy's motivation (and p2's approach in particular) is rooted in the people around him, his friends and family and the Kin and the kids, but Daniil isn't truly integrated into any of these communities To That Extent. not that he doesn't care, but making his core mechanic so inward-facing fits with the contrast point of the earth vs the polyhedron, the heart vs the head, and the ways Artemy and Daniil embody it

it is objectively hilarious to level out by kicking dumpsters and banging on water pipes

graphics look good, for all that it's a little jarring

being able to talk to multiple people at once is exciting

non-linear storytelling can be so fun, I'm looking forward to seeing how they approach it and comparing to p1/p2 where time is soooo valuable. quarantine seemed to imply that you can choose between a few different days to travel to based on accumulation of some resource

the diagnosis mechanic is intriguing. makes it feel more like a video game lmao

but on the other hand

if they've truly done away with traditional survival mechanics in favor of the apathy-mania meter, I worry that they'll really struggle to balance the difficulty of the game around it. as it stands in quarantine, the meter fill rate seems wildly fast. maybe that's to compensate for lack of traditional survival elements, but if so then it's a much less nuanced, much less compelling system. taking drugs or smoking every few minutes so you don't blow your brains out reads as absurd. the frequency is higher than needing to manage hunger/thirst/exhaustion in p2 but again, they might trying to replace all of that with one (1) system without losing a significant part of what makes patho challenging. idk. seems lame. the other (preferable imo) way they could go is still including traditional survival meters and adding the mental health bar on top, but they'd need to severely reduce the impact of the mental health bar for the sake of balance

[cut bc this post ran away from me. more below]

funny as it is and also given that whole spiel about inward-facing mechaincs and motivation, kicking dumpsters doesn't really feel. in character? I don't want to nitpick but some of the voice lines when trying to shift the mental health meter are awful. "thoughts..... more thoughts......" like what?

not sure how I feel about the perspective switches that have you talking to Daniil instead of as him. the patho narrative experience has leaned pretty hard on putting the player inside the head and perspective of one character, that's part of what makes it so interesting to do multiple routes in p1. the bachelor route is restricted to Daniil's perspective and it skews how the player thinks about the game and the town and the characters, then the haruspex route contrasts again those preconceptions and you see Daniil from the outside, then the changeling route in Clara's head and so on and so forth. would the impact hold up if you could get out of Daniil's head in p1 or Artemy's in p2?

Mr. Little is a horribly clumsy execution of a tutorial that honestly didn't feel entirely necessary. what was explained was straightforward and what wasn't explained (like that you can select and cross off symptoms in your notebook for differential diagnosis) got really annoying until trial and error made sense of it. and I think some of that frustration came form "you gave a tutorial but it didn't explain everything" where skipping the conversational explanation altogether would've worked too. it's all just a worse version of Artemy talking to the tumbler human in p2

fast travel is convenient. patho has never been about convenience. it should at least be an optional mechanic instead of defaulting to blitzing you through healthy districts, and should probably be disabled on "intended" difficulty. I also like the idea of being able to place more markers/routes on the map but again. convenient. should be optional and probably disabled on the "intended" difficulty. very mixed on this

I do wonder if we'll get difficulty options. I kind of philosophically disagree with IPL folding under pressure and adding an easy mode that's balanced worse and isn't true to their vision but whatever

[blueberry-lemon]

An introductory guide to getting into Sonic the Hedgehog...

…if you're a grown-ass adult who is busy and doesn't want to play a bunch of video games but thinks the characters look sorta cool.

If you've ever been curious about Sonic as a series but haven't known where to start, I have some recommendations! I think Sonic is a cool and still somewhat unique thing because it takes cartoony characters (like a Mickey Mouse or Felix the Cat) and lets them jump around in cool action sequences through the lens of a shonen anime. It's colorful and usually pretty light-hearted, and I think the character designs are pretty iconic.

There's two handy places you can start without prior context, to see if it's something you'd be into...

Getting Started: If You Wanna Read Something

The IDW Sonic Comics

There were years of different Sonic comics back in the '90s and early 2000's, but the franchise got a complete reboot and fresh start with IDW Publishing in 2018. If you're looking for the most straight-forward way to get into this world of characters, I think this is a great start. You don't need any prior knowledge whatsoever to crack open issue 1 and get started. All you need to know is "Sonic and his friends protect the world by fighting against an evil scientist named Dr. Eggman, who they just recently defeated after he briefly took over the world."

I love these comics and I feel that the writers and artists who work on it have a really good sense for this series. Reading issues 1 through 12 will get you the first major story arc. If you like it so far, I highly suggest reading up through issue 32, when another major story arc concludes. After that, the world's your oyster! Unlike the tangled web of Marvel or DC comics, IDW Sonic has a very simple and linear reading order. You pretty much just read the issues in order, and occasionally there are spinoff stories that are optional to read.

Getting Started: If You Wanna Watch Something

Sonic Mania Adventures

Maybe comics aren't your thing and you want something even quicker. These are a series of animated shorts that are lovely. Conveniently, they've been compiled together by Sega into one little video right here.

It's a great intro to some of the main characters, and combines cartoon slapstick with some amazing action sequences.

There's also a nice little epilogue short.

Sonic CD's intro cutscene

If I had to pick a single 1-and-a-half minute clip to embody what I like about this series, it would be this very simple intro movie that plays before Sonic CD. Check it out!

Sonic Origins/Sonic Origins Plus Cutscenes

In 2022, Sega released a compilation of the classic Genesis games on modern consoles. In it, they added a few animated cutscenes. You can watch those cutscenes, plus the Sonic CD intro and the Sonic Mania Adventures episodes, all compiled into one handy Youtube video.

Taking The Next Step: If You Wanna Read Something

The Archie Sonic Comics

You might have heard that Sonic had a comic series published by Archie Comics from 1992 to 2016. This was a vast, overarching series that wrote an original story by weaving together ideas from the different Sonic cartoons and games. It went through several different writers, many different artists, and obviously spanned over multiple eras of pop culture.

It's pretty cool! The fact that it was so long-running, and the fact that Sega wasn't very strict with what the writers could do, led to a lot of buckwild lore, new characters, and plot developments. That said, it's also pretty bizarre, complicated, corny, and cringey at times. There is a stretch in the middle that is pretty infamous among fans.

You have a few options for jumping in.

Option A: You can start at the very beginning and read all of it. If you do this, it is going to be like a One Piece / Homestuck / etc. kind of undertaking, and you're going to be pushing through the good and the bad of huge genre and tone shifts. That's your call!

Option B: You can brush up on the main characters on a wiki and then start at Issue 160, when Ian Flynn (who now does a lot of work on IDW Sonic) became the lead writer. More specifically, you can jump in at the start of a new story arc by starting at Issue 175.

Option C: You can start at Issue 252, when there is a universe-altering event that essentially retcons all of the characters and plot threads from the previous writers and starts completely fresh. Easier to keep track of and you won't have to worry about all the previous plot and lore.

If you want something you can read in a single sitting, you should instead read Sonic: Mega Drive, a short-lived miniseries published by Archie that follows "Classic Sonic" characters (aka, the same vibe and art style of Sonic Origins, Sonic Mania Adventures, etc.) It's really great!

Taking The Next Step: If You Wanna Watch Something

Sonic the Hedgehog (OVA) aka "Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie" (1996)

This is, essentially, a 1-hour Sonic anime movie. You can watch it in Japanese or in English. I adore it. It makes up its own lore and continuity so you don't need to know anything before going in, besides generally knowing a one-sentence synopsis of who Sonic, Tails, and Dr. Robotnik are. It's action-packed, well-animated, and has great music. Enjoy! Sonic X If you're enjoying what you've seen so far, and you want something much, much longer...there's an official 78-episode anime adaptation of Sonic called Sonic X. It's an original story that loosely pulls together some ideas from a few of the games. It's mostly intended for a younger audience, but I hear if you watch it in the original uncut Japanese, it feels a little less "for kids."

Other Ways To Get Into Sonic

There's some great video essays on Youtube about the series!

Professional animator Dan Floyd did an in-depth video looking at the highs and lows of Sonic character animation in the games starting from Sonic 1 up through Sonic Forces.

Super Bunnyhop plays through the first level of a bunch of Sonic games to compare how the mechanics, physics, and level design feel throughout the games' history.

Liam Triforce has a great deep dive on the franchise's music.

You can play The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog, a murder-mystery-party themed visual novel put out by Sega. It's nice and short, so you can finish it in an afternoon.

If you haven't seen them already, you can check out the live-action/animated hybrid films Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 featuring Ben Schwartz and Jim Carrey, they're pretty good. That Sonic Prime cartoon that's currently on Netflix is pretty good too.

This may sound strange, but honestly you might enjoy poring over the sprite sheets from the old games. In particular, I really like the sprite animations from the GBA games, like Sonic Advance and Sonic Battle.

Sega is pretty lax about allowing noncommercial fan games, so there's at least a hundred different Sonic fan games out there by hobbyist developers. Check out the Sonic Amateur Games Expo and the Sonic Fan Games HQ.

You can watch LPs or cutscene compilations of the games on Youtube! If you watch Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, and Sonic Heroes, you'll get a crash course on most of the characters.

And finally, of course...you can play the games if you want to! There's a number of them that are available on Steam, Switch, Xbox, and Playstation if you don't have access to older consoles.

There's a lot of different angles to come at Sonic as a franchise, and lots of different entry points. Have fun!

[klimkovsky]

The Crab Nebula

The Crab Nebula, cataloged as M1 and NGC 1952, is one of the most studied and well-known supernova remnants in the sky, located in the constellation Taurus. Here are some key points about it:

Origin: The Crab Nebula is the result of a supernova explosion observed in 1054 AD by Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic astronomers, who noted it as a "guest star" visible even in daylight for about 23 days. This event was one of the first recorded supernovas, making the Crab Nebula the first astronomical object identified as corresponding to a historically observed supernova explosion.

Structure and Composition:

It's an expanding cloud of gas and dust, approximately 11 light-years in diameter, located about 6,500 light-years from Earth. The nebula is expanding at a rate of about 1,500 kilometers per second.

The nebula includes intricate filaments that are mostly hydrogen, but it also contains elements like oxygen, sulfur, and iron, which were expelled during the supernova explosion.

Pulsar: At the heart of the Crab Nebula is the Crab Pulsar (PSR B0531+21), a neutron star that is the collapsed core of the original star. This pulsar rotates about 30 times per second, emitting beams of radiation that sweep across space like a lighthouse. This rapid rotation and strong magnetic field create a pulsar wind nebula, where charged particles are accelerated, producing synchrotron radiation visible in X-rays, gamma rays, and other wavelengths.

Scientific Significance:

The Crab Nebula has been crucial for understanding supernova remnants and pulsar behavior. Observations across different wavelengths (from radio to gamma rays) have provided insights into the physics of these phenomena.

It has been used for calibration in X-ray and gamma-ray astronomy due to its consistent brightness, though it's noted that its status as a calibration source has diminished over time.

Observations:

The nebula was first identified as a nebulous object by John Bevis in 1731 and later by Charles Messier in 1758, who cataloged it as M1 to avoid confusing it with comets. Its name derives from an 1844 drawing by William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse, which somewhat resembled a crab.

Various telescopes have observed the Crab Nebula, including the Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory, Spitzer Space Telescope, and more recently, the James Webb Space Telescope, each adding layers of detail about its composition and dynamics.

Cultural Impact: Beyond its scientific value, the Crab Nebula has cultural significance, with its bright supernova having been potentially observed by many ancient cultures, including possibly Native American groups.

This nebula continues to be a subject of study due to its complex structure, energy emissions, and the history of its formation, contributing significantly to our understanding of stellar evolution, supernova dynamics, and the physics of neutron stars.

Grok AI

It should be added to the description made by Artificial Intelligence that despite the thorough study of the object, the distance to the Crab Nebula is still known with a very large margin of error — up to 25%. In more rigorous scientific articles, it is indicated as 6500 ± 1600 light years. Consequently, the linear size of the nebula is known to us with approximately the same relative spread of values.

At the end of the publication is a short video created based on a photograph of the Crab Nebula obtained using the JWST (James Webb Space Telescope):

[fagboyfriend]

i rlly like ur composition, i wanna know about your process :D

thank uuu !! yeah so like. composing a scene for me generally begins with a vague idea that i want to get down as quickly as possible- and for me that usually starts with finding a setting. I knew that i wanted to draw a) a group of roomates gossiping in a crowded kitchen and i wanted there to be b) one figure in the extreme foreground and c) lots of plants. i do use some tools to figure out perspective, mainly the csp perspective ruler. Usually i start by finding a picture i like similar to the vibe im going for- but instead of referencing anything else- im purely interested in perspective. sorry to anyone who is shocked i dont generate all of my perspective purely by myself- i can draw in perspective fairly well but i struggle to make straight lines and this is easier to make grids with than the line tool lol ^_^ i try to use it kinda more like spellcheck on typos than like something to fully rely on. this is the video i learned this trick from:

i saw the left photo and realllly loved how the cabinets alligned with the wall- so i used my ruler tool to draw out my inital plotted points from the image- basically the linear movements i was most interested in and then i turned off the image layer and worked with those lines and the ruler tool to move on. eventually i had this:

which was enough for me to put my characters in for the inital round. if you notice- i made a looot of further adjustments as i go on. this sketch is not a final layout, its so my characters have somewhere to be! i cannot draw someone standing on a floor if theres no floor, nor leaning on a table that doesnt exist. i can’t draw my characters without a background, but i also cant finish my background without accounting for how my characters can comfortably exist in it!!

this was the like.. very basic start. i knew the positions of two characters- but i needed to change a lot not only to fit them better but to allow for the other two figures i had planned.

okay.. a little better. i widened the kitchen, closed the fridge door.. added a chair and fit in all the figures.. but this is waaay too dramatic. only two figures are actually interacting- and they are at wildly different energy levels!

this is where things started to make a little more sense characterwiss, so i was ready to refine backgrounds and figures and unite the two.

inital base sketch. much better layout.

okay- this is where im getting my footing but things seem.. really really off. You can see me working on my framing here- theres some good linear movement from left to right here- but not vertically. It’s hard to notice the figure in the far back, so i need to redirect the viewers eye to move upwards as well!

this is where i decided to zoom out, add an interesting vertical element to the left of the image and make it clearer whats happening in the foreground. i had to account for some stuff by adjusting the cropping, but i paid attention to that as well.

annnd- thats what a clean sketch looks for me! i have all the elements of my scene accounted for, and things are clean enough to read.

the next step for me would be transfer! essentially- I print the image of my sketch out, resizing and taping pages together so my sketch matches the size of the paper i want to paint on, and then i use a lightboard to transfer my sketch with pencil onto my paper. Then i refine the sketch a few times on paper before stretching my watercolor paper (essentially just prepping for painting) and inking with a brush and colored ink before going in with watercolor, gouache and ink, then usually finishing with marker, colored pencil, pastel and ink. it’s a lengthy process but a lot of fun lol. but sketches for me can be like.. 15 layers of different roughs until im happy with just the sketch. there were more images but im on mobile and theres a 10 image limit 😭😭 im a bit masochistic but i believe that if i dont have a good sketch i dont have a good painting!!

[dokidokiliteraturegirls]

The year is coming to a close! And as it does and we prepare to move forward, what better way to see how much progress we've made than by looking back to the path we've walked?

This has been a year full of adventures for Ako and the players of Feel Less! So many, in fact, that it's easy to forget all the progress we've made. In my particular case, as I was planning this retrospective, I tried to remember everything we did in 2024 and my conclusion was "I'm pretty sure we introduced like... one new character". But actually going through the archive, we see that the first update of 2024 was all the way back in Update 17: Call The shots. The one where Ako, Angie, and [REDACTED] go to downton Ad Portas in search of Machine Girl, and they have to decide what 3 places they can visit during the day.

This is the part of the story that leads to the introduction of about half the cast! Including two extremely important ones: Tsumiki Ningyou, the 2ndary protagonist, and Shirou Buranka, the main antagonist. Let's see all the other people we got to meet this year!

Which of these is your favorite~? I'm dying to know!

But not only did we meet new friends and foes, we also moved Ako's life forward, didn't we~? Now, I know it's hard to realize the impact you've had in the story without knowing what might have been. Just like in real life, it might appear as if we're just being brought along for the ride during a linear story. However!! Just like in real life, we're actually following a very specific path set by our environment and shaped by our decisions. Let's see what major player decisions led to big story changes this year!

You know, when I was planning out the story I didn't really expect each "stage" of it to take place during a year, but that's pretty much what happened! During 2023, we mostly did tutorials and introductions of concepts important to the setting and gameplay. During 2024, we got some bigger changes, alterations to the status quo, and introductions of major players for the unfolding events! And during 2025, the story will move forward even more into what I consider to be the "main dish" of Feel Less~ After all, there's still a couple questions that are left unanswered...

And these are but a few! Outside of player decisions, I've already got a lot of story planned out in advance~ So please look forward to meeting new characters, new locations, learning new answers, and new confrontations in 2025!!

And now, for the sappy part: I really am grateful to you all for reading, interacting, and supporting the story during this year 🥰 A lot of work goes into it, but my main motivator is and will always be that I'm lucky enough to have people who are interested in seeing what happens next~ You all mean so much to me, and you have my deepest thanks!! 💖

And as a little parting gift from 2024, I'll release all my Patreon-exclusive Behind The Scenes posts to the public! So you can check them out without paying or even without having a Patreon account ^^ Here's a handy dandy list in case you're looking for some more Feel Less content~

Update 28 Behind The Scenes ⭐ Update 30 Behind The Scenes Video ⭐ Update 31 Behind The Scenes ⭐ Tsumiki Ningyou: Behind The Scenes Video ⭐ Update 37 Progress Scenes ⭐ Video: Yui Yaps For Over An Hour While Drawing Machine Girl

Thank you all for a wonderful 2024, and let's have an even better 2025~! 🥰

[scogito]

Una delle cose di cui i distorti non si rendono assolutamente conto è il loro essere ossessionati dalle regole che cuciono sugli altri.

Regole che sono aspettative, pretese e l'ossessivo controllo impositivo.

Le frasi che dice in questo spaccato sono aberranti. Avendo conosciuto una persona molto simile a lui ne rivedo la personalità confusa, ostinata, rabbiosa, rancorosa e soprattutto incapace di elaborare la parte relazionale della vita con maturità emotiva.

Esemplari simili hanno abilità dialettiche sopra la media e le usano per manipolare processi male elaborati, sono talmente bravi che infiocchettano logiche quasi sensate e argomentazioni valide. In realtà usano parole a sproposito, paragoni esasperati come esasperate sono le persone che tentano un dialogo lineare e risolutivo. Non c'è possibilità di compromesso, perché non riescono a capire dove sbagliano e perché non gestiscono mai se stessi, ma vogliono gestire gli altri. Creano riflessioni sagaci, ma solo per confondere, per proprio tornaconto e per tenere la maschera della perfezione di concetto e di intoccabilità. Hanno un modo di fare che si erge ad aguzzini, ma mai a dirglielo, perché sono abilissimi a piegare i fatti secondo il loro filtro, a darsi in tutto pur di trattenerti nella loro rete, a farsi vittime e ombra, senza mai realizzare di avere problemi di rabbia e di attaccamento così profondi e pericolosi che impediscono a chiunque sano di mente di potergli stare accanto.

La colpa sarà sempre fuori, sempre proiettata, sempre pronta a "uccidere" qualcosa di loro.

Sono persone ricche di cultura, ma prive di umiltà, capacità invece necessaria per mettersi in dubbio e crescere, o quantomeno capire l’origine del dolore.

Vomito al solo ascolto, ma è un video che può essere utile per la lettura dello psicologo e per discernere tra intelligenza e coscienza.

[omegastation]

GamingBolt just did a vid about being worried about the next Mass Effect game based on what they saw in DA:TV. The video has critical content and spoilers, and at some point there is a comment about MEA. It's one example of what I saw recently. My post here is without spoilers really, it's more about what makes a game a "good" addition to a franchise and about the next ME game in this context.

I don't know how to formulate this in a way that is clear enough, but I think there is a difference between a less quality game in a larger franchise and a game that is not recognizable as a part of the whole, that makes players feel like there is a disconnect, like they're no longer in the same universe, either because of the tone, lore, dialogues, etc.

And it's all up to interpretation but I can't help but think MEA, for all its flaws and faults, was very much a Mass Effect game. How you can achieve that ME essence with added immersion, I don't know, it's quite magical, but I think they did it with MEA. If you ask me, it's a solid part of the franchise. It wasn't a perfect game though, and that's the thing: there are some things it did right, and some that could have been better.

But point is, a game that creates a disconnect with players is off to a bad start, because a successful franchise and immersive universe are all about consistency and coherence. And that is how you create a fanbase, with people who really love your universe. If it falls apart and people no longer feel connected to the universe, it seems like the content itself could still be quite good but it wouldn't matter that much to fans. It's not about rejecting change - because it can be quite good - but you have to have that essence, you have to make it all "fit" somehow.

Games also cost a lot and there is a trust that we sorta put in companies when they give us franchise titles. You buy a Mass Effect game because it's a Mass Effect game, but you don't plan on buying "not really has that Mass Effect essence I like but still called Mass Effect" game.

And so I find the recent and general criticism of MEA not as interesting as it could be - to me, MEA did a lot of things right. I can take a game that has a lot of flaws if it's part of a whole and it feels like a solid universe to step into. I don't feel like it's the ultimate example of Bioware messing it up, basically. And sure, we could argue about linear vs open worlds, but even so.

In the end, my worry about the next game is what I'm talking about here: that it could potentially not feel like a Mass Effect game. And that's probably why Gamble tried to reassure us, even if done in a sort of awkward way. Let's hope it will be fine; and if not, I think I'll just rely even more on what feels like Mass Effect to me (trilogy and MEA).

[plasterbrain]

Hello, same asker from before. Sorry, I just realized that I should’ve clarified in my previous ask that the visual novel I intend to make is more along the lines of an Ace Attorney or Danganronpa (except not awful like Danganronpa lmao) investigative/murder mystery type of visual novel with a linear (disregarding the repeated minute-long time loops anyway) story, instead of like a dating sim type game where there are multiple routes and then one true route that totally blows your mind. Didn’t occur to me that that might change whatever advice you might’ve wanted to give me until after I sent the original ask. Apologies for any confusion this might have caused.

Hmm, idk... I would recommend always adding at least 3 optional boyfriends to your video game.

[randomthefox]

First real level of the game! It should be noted that Red Grave city is fashioned after London. Hideki Kamiya stated that Dante is intended to be British, so naturally the city that is his origin of birth is a London-esk english city. Think it's kinda funny how this, DMC5, is probably the most popular and mainstream entry in the franchise and it takes place in London, and yet that god awful piece of shit fucking netflix show decided to be all Americocentric, don't you think? It's almost like the person who made Netflix May Cry literally never even played any of the video games.

The husks of the former inhabitants of Red Grave city are so haunting. You cannot escape or ignore the mass casualties that has taken place because of what is happening to this city. The various husks all tell little environmental stories. You could just look at these corpses and feel the narrative of what took place, what lead to the death of a human being, for minutes at a time just slowly going through these levels and really appraising the state you find them in. And the fact they crumble away into dust on contact is an extra touch of chilling horror. The collateral damage could almost be entirely ignored in DMC3 and 4. But you cannot escape it here. People are dead because of this demon outbreak, countless countless human lives snuffed out. It's probably the closest the DMC games have gotten back to their horror roots since the third game.

Unlike every game in the series until now, DMC5 is pretty much entirely linear. There is some navigation through the levels themselves, but there's no backtracking in the way there was in the previous games. You will NEVER come back to visit this initial city area from this level later in the game. The series has divorced itself completely from its roots as a Resident Evil game, which is ironic since this game is running on the REngine they made for RE7. You know these games used to have maps? Because you could just explore the entirety of Mallet Island and the Temen-ni-gru if you wanted to just ignore the mission directives? It's almost crazy to think about that now, when this game doesn't reuse any levels whatsoever.

Nero's gameplay has been mildly adjusted since DMC4. He no longer has the Devil Bringer, instead he uses Devil Breakers which are variable and consumable weapons that mechanically fulfill a similar role as the bringer. He also has some extra moves added to his repertoire. I really enjoy how Nero's gameplay from 4 was built on and arranged to give some more range to the way his character plays, while still keeping the core of his mechanics intact. And this isn't even his final form! ;)

This is the first time the game really lets the dynamic music be a factor as well. During combat sequences the main characters themes will play, and the music will depend on how high your style ranking is. It's purely instrumental at first, once you hit A rank the lyrics start coming in, and when you hit the S ranks it drops the chorus. The visceral and kinaesthetic feedback to this could be studied. No game has matched this kind of dynamic encouragement to master the games combat style and enemy encounters in the way this game has, before or since. You wanna hear the best part of these songs? Get good at the game, friend.

[wolfythewitch]

I'm really tempted to start getting into this bible fandom because seeing you talk about this fanfic so much has really drawn me in

my only question is where do I start? I've got a free version online but there's so many chapters to the bible and like where do I start? Like genesis is the start right?

I'm so sorry for all these silly questions, I was raised strongly atheist and I've actually never touched a bible before so I was wondering if you could help guide a newbie to this fandom that you've spent many years in :D

thank you so much!!

Oh! Hmmmm well traditionally people start at Genesis yeah, since it's the creation story, though it isn't a hard rule. A podcast I listened to started at Daniel because it had a narrative to it. You can kind of pick a book out and read it if you want to. While linear, the different books are almost episodic in a way, especially some of the later books. If you want to read more on like AD stuff, you can start on the new testament instead. Note that each book of the gospels, Matthew, mark, Luke, John, are all written for different audiences, so they omit or include different details, which is fun!

I have to mention that there Is a lot of subtle antisemitism in the new testament you have to be aware of, especially with wordings and later rewrites. It's not so much the intent (I can't speak for that I haven't done enough research) but it's the perspective it can give to someone who isn't fully aware I guess. There are better papers/videos disseminating this haha, I don't have the words for it. But a lot of contemporary christian antisemitism Does stem from the new testament and how people took the text and ran with it

Also for versions, I heard HSV is a good version? I use NIV and NSRV but yeee you can scroll through the different versions and see what works for you