#march prototype page

[pretendcottagelady]

March Prototype

And this is the reason why I prototype my pages.

The themes in this set up was not quite what I had originally intended. My original plan was to use the middle decoration of the window nook with cottagecore vibes layered with the script tape and decorated with a lilies of the valley tape that I had.

It didn't look great, which was a huge disappointment. Fortunately I am a dragon with stationery and after going back through my collection I found this PET tape set called Into the Library.

The "Into The" (more formally known as their Hinoki) series by Notebook Therapy is one of my favourites but I've only brought this series once because it's very expensive. However, this series is great for layering if you want a scrapbooking feel to your themes.

[shanastoryteller]

Happy pride! Can I request god!percy or dealers choice

Aziraphale is a hostage and he doesn't even know it.

There must always be a Supreme Archangel in Heaven.

The Ineffable Plan is shit and it was shit from the start and Crowley doesn't feel a lick of guilt in the part he played in destroying it. Humanity deserved a fighting chance, after all, and they'd made good on it - Adam, a boy after his own heart, had made the choice to save them all.

Crowley had not created the universe only to watch Her destroy it. That was always Her problem, really. Great big ideas and piss poor execution. Which is why She'd give him a long list of impossible ridiculous things and he would work out how to make that make sense in a world where sense is a thing that had to be made.

Eden was a trial run, one of many. Making people in Her own image was proving difficult, because She didn't know what She looked like and had always been resistant to hearing Herself described.

She'd made Adam in the angel's image, and Eve, and it looked like She'd finally made a successful prototype.

Then they'd fought over what was to be made of Earth, of the people, of all the things he'd made in the vastness of space. If there's no people to tilt their heads back and look at it, what's the point of making it? If galaxies exist, but they evoke no wonder, are they even there?

He had decided to make things difficult. He had decided that if humanity was going to go toe to well, metaphorical toe with Her, then they needed an edge.

They needed Knowledge.

His sentencing had been swift and unanimous and he wasn't going to be a 38th level recording angel scrivener, thank you very much. They'd talked and talked about how terrible the PR would be, over another prince of Heaven falling to Hell, and how difficult he was making everything and how extremely bitter they were that he, as a writer in the Book of Life, could not be erased from it without also erasing everything he'd done, which was rather a lot. Pages eleven to three million six hundred and two, to be exact.

So he had not fallen, precisely, so much as sauntered vaguely downwards.

Which he felt was rather obvious, and yet no one seemed to notice, the same way he was able to march back into Heaven with a clothing change. He was impossible, and so he could not exist, and so he did not.

He had wings and he could perform miracles indistinguishable from an angel's and yet no one ever suspected a thing.

He'd though that maybe he would be made when he walked onto holy ground to bail out Aziraphale, but luckily angels don't often seen demons walking into churches. Usually because that's about when they catch fire.

Which suited him just fine, actually. It had all worked out, more or less, until now.

Saraqael had not forgotten him and didn't even try and tell him off for walking right into Heaven. Michael and Uriel's silence had been odder, but he'd had more important things to focus on at the time.

Now he understands why.

They want a new Plan and She isn't giving them one.

The Metatron knows there is one angel who worked alongside Her in the universe's creation. One angel who successfully interfered in Her plans and knocked things astray. One angel who's hands rested besides Hers on the Book of Life.

They don't want Aziraphale to lead.

They want the Archangel Raphael back in his rightful place, the Supreme Archangel, and they want him to once more muck about in Her plans and give them the war they're craving.

And they know going through Aziraphale is their only chance, the one person that could tempt Crowley into taking up his old name and his old mantel and stepping foot once more in blasted Heaven with his halo around his head rather than tattooed along his face.

They have Aziraphale.

Now Crowley can only wait and hope that he figures out the truth in time, before he's forced to defy Aziraphale like he once defied Her.

[maaarine]

How accurate is the new Napoleon film? Sorting fact from fiction (Andrew Roberts, The Sunday Times, Nov 19 2023)

"Sir Ridley Scott’s long-awaited movie Napoleon will have a great effect on how the French emperor is viewed in the popular imagination.

So it was with some trepidation that I watched it.

Would it reproduce the old Anglo-American historical stereotype of a jumped-up Corsican tyrant, or might it recognise that in fact Napoleon created the Enlightenment’s institutions, many of which last to this day?

For here was an opportunity to change the tired conventional view of Napoleon put forward by so many postwar Anglophone historians that Napoleon was essentially merely a prototype for Adolf Hitler.

Sadly and somewhat predictably for an 85-year-old whose mindset was formed by the Second World War, Scott has gone for the intellectually discredited stereotype of a dictator who goes mad with hubris. (…)

Scott has remarked before that “f***ing historians” don’t know what happened in Napoleonic times because “they weren’t there”.

But in fact there is a plethora of believable first-hand accounts from people who were indeed there, used by historians to discover what happened.

What these first-hand accounts tell us is that Napoleon was a witty, highly intellectual and attractive personality, whose reforms changed first France and then Europe for the better.

Whenever his armies entered European cities they liberated the Jews from their ghettos, giving them civil and religious liberties.

He was therefore precisely the opposite of the malignant, humourless, Jew-hating Führer. (…)

So firm is the assumption that Napoleon’s psyche had “run wild” that he is given the line to Joséphine: “I must begin my march to Moscow.”

Yet the whole point of the 1812 campaign was that Napoleon had no intention of going more than 50 miles inside Russia, in what was intended to be a three-week campaign.

As he crossed the river Niemen, there was no “march to Moscow”.

There are plenty of people in history who have a Napoleon complex, but Napoleon himself was not one of them, despite what Scott and Kirby might say.

This show also assumes Napoleon lost in Russia solely because the weather got cold in winter, as if the highly intelligent and well-read emperor did not know it would.

No mention is made of the typhus that killed 100,000 men, which Napoleon could not have foreseen.

At one point in the movie, Joséphine forces Napoleon to say: “I am just a brute that is nothing without you.”

Quite apart from the appalling syntax, the line, like so many in this visually stunning but historically tone-deaf film, fails to ring true.

Yet it is not from thousand-page biographies that the mass of people take their history today, but from movies like this.

Henceforth, therefore, Napoleon Bonaparte — the great world force of the Enlightenment who ended the French Revolution and dragged country after country out of ancien-regime torpor and into the vibrant 19th century — will merely be a brute who was nothing without his Joséphine."

[tomb-raider-merchandise]

Dark Horse Direct Tomb Raider Lara Croft PVC Statue

Announced for sale 20th June 2024 is a Lara Croft statue, inspired by the remastered Tomb Raider game. The statue is made from PVC and measures H6.5" x W7.3" x D6.8", including base. The sculpting has been done by BigShot Toys and prototyped and painted by Gentle Giant Studios. Customers have also been given various accessories to allow for customisation: spears, flames and an arm of Lara holding the Scion. The item is available for pre-order now but won't ship until January-March 2025 at the earliest.

The statue is only available to be ordered from the Dark Horse Direct store page for the cost of $89.99 without shipping and orders are limited to 2 per person.

[vignellicenter]

Please join us for our next Open Houses! March 20-21, 2024 10am-4pm.

The NYC subway map that never was. Or at least it was never implemented.

The NYC Subway graphics are some of the most requested artifacts from the Vignelli archives. We acquired this unique “verbal map” aka “The Directory” aka the “How to get there” map in 2022. Our archivist put it on display for the first time in 50 years at our Open Houses in September 2022!

 “The Verbal Map described how to reach a destination, which train to get, where to change, and when to get out.” – Massimo Vignelli [comment on Michael Bierut’s essay “Mr. Vignelli Map” for Design Observer]

Printed on very glossy paper in full color, this map is large like the station size maps. Printed in two parts [top and bottom] each half measuring 29.5” x 47.5”.

In the Graphic Standards Manual on Page 3 “Diagram of Basic Sign Distribution” it describes the various maps to be installed:

Maps: System maps (implemented, the famous one),

neighborhood map (not implemented),

‘How to get there’ map (not implemented but we have the prototype!)

From the Graphics Standards Manual on page 75, “The Directory”:

“The directory is designed to help a passenger find his “Destination” and “How to get there” quickly and easily. Each station will have its own directory listing all other station alphabetically and numerically. Each station will be followed by the color disc designating he trains that stop there. If there is no direct train, transfer information will follow the station name. This directory will be placed at all important points in the subways station both inside and outside the turnstiles.”

We also have the Dekalb Av Signage Study “analyzed and completed by Joan Charysyn and Virginia Macintosh” for Unimark International in 1971 which shows a mockup of the various maps and states “A directory and three maps will eventually be in use in all subway stations.”

Be sure to join us for our next Open Houses and see what other surprises you can discover! Learn more opn our events page: https://www.rit.edu/events/vignelli-center-spring-open-house

Image descriptions:

Detail of “verbal map” aka “The Directory” aka the “How to get there” map

image of entire map

Video clip of map

Photo of Open Houses with logo

vintage 35mm slide of detail of “verbal map”

NYCTA Graphics Standards Manual pg. 75 “The Directory”

NYCTA Graphics Standards Manual pg. 75 “The Directory”

Slideshow of Dekalb St study: coversheet, Directory from Grand Central, System Map, Neighborhood map, and 5 Boroughs map

Vintage 35mm slide of 57th Street station signage

Vintage 35mm slides of 57th Street station signage

[mrfancyfoot]

Plots & Prosody: Prompts

Raphael x Evie (f!OC)

.

- Good Morning - "Raphael has turned into Evie's unexpectedly enthusiastic guinea pig as she's wrapped up in the grueling project of (re-)inventing cell phones and the internet. Turns out the devil likes 'Good Morning' texts."

This prompt was: ‘A good morning text’

Rating: T-ish / SFW Word Count: 590 Timeline: Plots & Prosody, Part II (before 'A Blank Page') - Canon Tags/Warnings: POV Raphael; Fluff; Humor; Fantasy Tech; Modern Girl in BG; Raphael Learns How to Text; Yes, This is Same-Year BG3; Raphael is Down Bad; Devil Courtship; He's a Silly Devil <3

Main Fic (Rated E/Varied): AO3 + Tumblr | Master List Related Prompts: A Blank Page , Caress , Supreme

[Quick Context: After Evie spends most of Part I (Game Events) ‘befriending the devil,’ yet denying him her soul, Raphael makes an alternative offer: the Orphic hammer in exchange for her time - specifically, a mandatory number of days every month for a span of two years.  He procures his Crown by other means. Evie goes about her new life kick-starting her business and re-inventing modern-day things - for which she makes Raphael a bit of a prototype tester. Unbeknownst to her, Raphael is using what she believes is a “contractually mandated friendship” period to court her as his future Archduchess.]

I apologize for this being a pinch unrealistic - Raphael doesn't immediately devolve into calling Evie slurs when she doesn't reply within 2 minutes...unlike many of the gentlemen in my dating app inbox. 🙃

❤️ Thanks for reading! :3 ❤️

Good morning, love.

Good morning, dear.

Good morning, dear fox.

Raphael tapped at the tiny letters and symbols across the shiny surface of the small communication tablet.  Shaking his head, he was unsatisfied with any of the salvos coming to mind.  Chin in his palm, he drummed his fingers on his desk.

[Good morning.]

There.  Simple.  To the point.  Enough to ensure that his presence was kept at home in her mind even when he was not physically with her.

When no reply was forthcoming, he felt himself growing impatient as he gazed upon the surface of the device with undivided attention.  Within her thorough demonstration of the device the prior evening, Evie had shown that these messages could be sent and received instantaneously but only his own words illuminated when he touched it.

Remembering then that she would be yet asleep at this hour, it was concluded that perhaps he was being unreasonable.  How unbecoming to be so eager.  He would allow her the appropriate time and await her return salutation.

Though he caught his eyes occasionally flicking to the tablet for anything new as he toiled through his work, it was a few hours later that he noticed its slight cerulean glimmer.  A reply from her in glowing text was now below his sent message.

Evie: [Good morning - I hope your day is stellar! :D ]

Ah, a wish for him to make grand achievements throughout his day.  He would expect no less of the one he courted than to have the highest of expectations!  She would then be pleased to know that he had already accomplished much this morning. His lips curled into a smirk as he carefully formulated his words.

Dear, Fox.

Too informal.  Yet he could not be too formal.

[Dear, Evie-] [My day has raced off to a phenomenal start!  Over my morning kaeth alone, I have finalized nearly two dozen contracts, and I expect to close on thrice or more before the day’s end in preparation for conquest.] [I have a number of meetings scheduled with my generals today.  I shall begin my march on Zariel’s forces within the tenday.]

Sincerely.

Regards.

Cordially.

Too cold.  Not intimate enough.  He was addressing his intended not some common petitioner or mark - though he supposed she was a mark of a different sort…

Ah!

[Yours,] [R]

Her next response lit the tablet faster than he could return his mind to his work.

Evie: [Nice - good job!] [That’s exciting!!] [So close already!!  Y’all have got this!]

Delighted by her enthusiastic approval and encouragement, his pride swelled powerfully within him.  He would hear her sing his praises to him and before all once he imminently became Archdevil of the First!

[Dear, Evie-] [Your encouragement vitalizes me!  Soon, I expect I shall have much more to report.] [Until then, I look forward to our impending time together.  I have a few surprises in store for you.] [Yours,] [R]

Evie: [Uh-oh, surprises?  I shall anxiously await!] [And you don’t need to be so formal over text] [+ you’re gonna hit my current character and storage limits sooo fast lol] [I know it’s you, silly ;) ]

The rapid responses did lend to a more casual flow of conversation. Rather than letters, it was akin to the passing of notes.  He would format his own to reflect hers.  With that in mind, he fired off his next, desiring clarification.

Raphael: [Explain :D and ;) ]

Evie: [A grin and winky smile] [ :) ] [ :P ] [ ;) ] [They're smilies!] [and lol = laugh out loud]

He understood - it was maddeningly obvious in retrospect.  She was including mimicries of faces, expressions.  To aid in conveying tone?  Thus, she was flirting within her last message and wanted to ensure that he recognised it as such!

His eyes scanned the available letters and symbols to craft one of these tiny symbol faces of his own.

Raphael: [ ];) ]

[billveusay]

I watched Gundam F91 and...

Well that sure was a movie. And that sure was Gundam. I won't take away from it the fact that it is certainly a Gundam movie.

Yeah, this one doesn't need five pages of analysis. If you didn't know, it was supposed to be a 50 episodes series, and was cut down to a 2 hours movie. So the runner has barely left the starting blocks and both of his legs just snapped backwards. I won't dwell too much on the many problems this causes because they're all pretty self-evident: The movie moves at 200kmh in a desperate rush to get all of its plot points across, many characters get introduced and die within ten minutes, and the remaining ones don't have nearly enough screen time to get developed beyond basic archetypes.

However, I've seen many people see the movie as a missed opportunity with a lot of potential and wish that we got an actual series out of it. But frankly I don't even believe that, because what we saw of the story was derivative as hell, even by Gundam standards. The space colony Side 3 Frontier IV declared its independence and renamed itself the Principality of Zeon Cosmo Babylonia, led by the noble Zabi Ronah family. The story starts when a small squad of mobile suits from Zeon Cosmo Babylonia attacks a colony of the federation. In the ensuing chaos, Amuro Ray Seabook Arno finds himself piloting a Gundam prototype developed by one of his parents, and joins the White Base Space Ark, a federation spaceship crewed by rookies and civilians. During the attack, the young blonde friend of the protagonist Sayla Mass Cecily Fairchild meets her brother Char Dorel who's a part of Zeon Cosmo Babylonia, and it is revealed that Sayla Cecily is actually Artesia Deikun Berah Ronah, heir to Zeon Cosmo Babylonia.

And the goal of the villains is to push humanity into space so that they may become Newtypes by exterminating its population on earth. And the leader of the antagonist faction is an ambiguously sympathetic old man whereas his son is the real bad guy, a complete arsehole who makes big evil speeches...

I won't deny that it has some good elements. The old guy is an semi... quarter-interesting study of the banality of evil and the way the upper class justifies its oppression of the people (whoops, feeling my French communist genes flare up), having the aforementioned parent of the protagonist be a part of the crew is an idea with potential, especially since his sister is also there. And the fight scenes and Mobile Suits are cool but because everything is so rushed and crammed into a movie runtime, identifying which mobile suit belongs to whom is impossible. All in all, nothing that will make me post #ReleaseTheTominoCut on twitter. When it's not ripping off its own franchise, it's ripping off Star Wars, with budget Darth Vader and totally-not-the-imperial-march.

So let's not dwell on it and move on to the visuals. Animation is excellent, so you can at least enjoy it on pure spectacle (though again, it's impossible to follow because there are so many mobile suits that we haven't been given time to clearly identify). As for the actual F91 design, it's close to greatness for me, but there are several details that bring it down a lot. Like the shoulder... wings ? Fins ? Flaps ? Anyway, they stick out in a way that feels wonky. And the big grate on its lower torso is just a slab of visual noise. I do like it's animation when it goes super, great use of after-images.

I think that's it. As of writing, those reviews are close to catching up to what I'm currently watching, so I'm trying to step up the pace. However, I think the next one will take a while to review nonetheless. Because it's Unicorn. And Unicorn is a mess.

See you there!

My gundam reviews :

> Hathaway's Spark > Mobile Suit Gundam > Gundam Zeta > 0083: Stardust Memory > 0080: War in the Pocket > 8th MS Team > The Witch from Mercury > Gundam Thunderbolt > The Origin > Turn A Gundam > F91 > Gundam Unicorn > Gundam 00 > MS IGLOO > Gundam Narrative > Iron-Blooded Orphans > Gundam Wing

[usafphantom2]

25 Avro Lancaster Facts | Classic Warbirds

Roy Chadwick was born on the 30th April 1893 in Farnworth, Lancashire and joined Avro in September 1911 as a draughtsman at the age of 18. He would become the company's chief designer seven years later in 1918. A number of aircraft designed by Roy Chadwick would be used during the Second World War, such as the Avro Anson, but it is the Avro Lancaster which is perhaps the most well known. At the age of 54 Roy Chadwick died when the Avro Tudor prototype he was on crashed on take-off on the 23rd August 1947.

Derived from the Avro Manchester

The twin-engined Avro Manchester suffered mainly due to its Rolls-Royce Vulture engines, which were unreliable and unable to reach their optimal performance. So before the aircraft had performed its first operational sortie, the 4th November 1940 saw Avro given the green light to work on what was known as the Manchester Mk III by the Air Ministry. This would have a wingspan 10 ft 2 in longer than the Manchester and was powered by four Rolls-Royce Merlins. It was this aircraft that would be developed into the Lancaster.

10,500 Individual Drawings

During the production of the Lancaster around 10,500 individual drawings were needed and each aircraft required approximately 10 tonnes of light aluminium alloy.

Cost of a Lancaster

On average a Lancaster, minus its armament, bomb sight, radio and radar equipment, cost, at the time, £59,000, which included its four engines.

Crew of Seven

The Lancaster typically had a crew of seven, made up of pilot, bomb-aimer, flight engineer, navigator, wireless operator, mid gunner and rear gunner.

Lancaster fuselage assembly at Castle Bromwich | Photo by Birmingham Museums Trust, licensed under CC0

First Flight

The first Lancaster prototype (BT308) flew on the 9th January 1941 from Ringway Airport. Captain Harry Brown and Sydney Thorn were at the controls. This featured an increased wingspan over the Manchester and a central fin on the tail, which was removed on the second prototype.

Entry into Service

It would be with No. 44 Squadron, based at RAF Waddington that the Lancaster would first enter Royal Air Force service, when they took delivery of their first three aircraft on the 24th December 1941. These would replace their twin-engined Handley Page Hampdens.

First Operational Sortie

No. 44 Squadron would perform the Lancaster's first operational sortie, which took place on the 3rd March 1942. This saw four aircraft lay mines in the Heligoland Bight.

Bristol Hercules Powered Lancaster B.II

Of the Lancaster variants produced all would be powered by either Rolls-Royce or Packard Merlins, the exception was the Lancaster B.II, which was powered by the 1,735-hp Bristol Hercules XVI engine. It was 10 mph slower than the Merlin powered Lancasters, with a top speed of 205 mph, its service ceiling was 18,500 ft, which was 6,000 ft lower. Only 301 Lancaster B.IIs were built.

Basis for the Avro York

Another Roy Chadwick design, the Avro York was a transport aircraft that featured the wings, tail and landing gear of the Lancaster, fitted to a new fuselage. The aircraft would be used by Transport Command and the British Overseas Airways Corporation.

Lancaster B.I (HK535) | Photo by Birmingham Museums Trust, licensed under CC0

Flew Under Sydney Harbour Bridge

During 1943 Lancaster B.III (ED930) Q for Queenie embarked on a promotional tour of Australia to sell war savings bonds. With Flight Lieutenant Peter Isaacson at the controls, the 22nd October 1943 saw hm fly the aircraft under Sydney Harbour Bridge.

'Clapper Kites'

Some Lancaster B.Is would have their front and mid-upper turrets removed and some interior items removed. Powered by Rolls-Royce Merlin 24 engines, they were renamed to Lancaster B.I (Special). Due to their high speed without a bomb load they were nicknamed 'Clapper Kites'.

Lancaster Test Beds

A number of Lancasters would be used as test beds or for research, this included Lancaster B.II (LL735) which was used to test the Metropolitan-Vickers F2 turbojet. Fitted towards the rear of the fuselage, with the exhaust where the rear turret would've been.

Very Long Range Lancaster

To increase the range of the aircraft, for potential operations in the Pacific, a pair of Lancaster B.Is (HK541) and (SW244) would have a 'saddle tank' installed. This was fitted behind the cockpit and extended down past the wings, increasing fuel capacity by 50%.

Operation Exodus

Beginning on the 3rd April 1945 until the 31st May 1945, Operation Exodus saw many prisoners of war flown home by a number of aircraft, including the Lancaster, which with modifications could transport 20 to 24 people.

Lancaster B.I of the Royal Air Force Battle of Britain Memorial Flight

Equipped at least 59 Squadrons

During its service in the Second World War the Lancaster would equip at least 59 frontline Bomber Command squadrons.

Lancaster Users

As well as the Royal Air Force a number of other countries used the Lancaster, including the Royal Australian Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force and Royal New Zealand Air Force.

Ten Victoria Cross Winners

Ten Lancaster aircrew would be awarded the Victoria Cross during the Second World War. The first was awarded to Squadron Leader John Nettleton as a result of his actions with No. 44 Squadron flying Lancaster B.I (R5508) during a daylight attack on Augsburg, Germany on the 17th April 1942 (read the citation). With Captain Edwin Swales DFC of No. 582 Squadron the last, after being posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions flying Lancaster B.III (PB538) when acting as a Master Bomber when Pforzheim, Germany was raided on the 23rd February 1945 (read the citation).

Total Built

In total 7,377 Lancasters were built during its production run between 1941 and 1946. The last example, a Lancaster B.I, was built on the 2nd February 1946. A number of companies apart from Avro were also involved in the production of the aircraft, including Austin Motors Limited and Victory Aircraft Limited based in Canada.

Ton Up Lancs

On average the number of operational sorties flown by a Lancaster was 21. However, 35 aircraft would take part in 100 sorties or more during the Second World War. One of these was Lancaster B.I (R5868) S for Sugar which completed 137 sorties whilst with No. 83 Squadron and No. 467 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force. May 1944 saw it reach the 100 sortie milestone, with a raid on Flensburg Harbour, Germany on the 23rd April 1945 seeing the aircraft performing its last operational sortie. This aircraft is on display at the Royal Air Force Museum, London.

Lancaster B.I (R5868) S for Sugar at the Royal Air Force Museum, London

'Tiger Force'

After the war in Europe ended on the 8th May 1945, it was intended to send a number of Lancaster squadrons to the Pacific. This would be known as the 'Tiger Force' and was to attack targets in Japan in the lead up to invasion, known as Operation Downfall. However, Japan surrendered before the force could be fully established.

Goodwill Tour

No. 35 Squadron were chosen to undertake a five week goodwill tour of the United States during July and August 1946. They would visit a number of airfields in the country.

Developed into the Avro Lincoln

As development of the Lancaster continued, a high altitude version featuring an increased wingspan and fuselage was produced, known as the Lancaster B.IV. However, with so many changes it was renamed the Avro Lincoln I, with the Lancaster B.V known as the Lincoln II.

Avro Lancastrian

The Lancastrian was a civil version of the Lancaster able to carry a small number of passengers and mail. Early Lancastrians were converted Lancasters with later aircraft built as Lancastrians from the start. Changes to the aircraft included the removal of its armament and armour. It would be used by a number of airlines, including British Overseas Airways Corporation.

15 Years Service with the Royal Air Force

The Lancaster's time with the Royal Air Force came to an end on the 15th October 1956 when the School of Maritime Reconnaissance retired their Lancaster MR 3, ending 15 years service with the RAF.

Avro Lancaster in the white and black camouflage scheme of the 'Tiger Force' © ww2images.com

@classicwarbirds via X

[jackiealcoran]

Tumblr Update #5 [March 25, 2025] - Mockups!

What's been happening for the past 2 weeks?

I was able to solidify the fonts I'm using for the website, then it was Spring Break. I had a lot of non-school related stuff to catch up on, and I'm still behind on those, but I was still able to get an acceptable amount of things done. I decided not to touch schoolwork much during the break, which set me back a bit, but I have faith I can get my work done! I started working on the mockups for my website!

Whatʻs coming up for the next 2 weeks?

Although I have my brand style (more or less) solidified, I still have to organize my Branding page of the Figma document so it makes more sense to other people. It's pretty messy and disjointed. It's not high on my priority list right now-- I'm more focused on continuing working on high fidelity mockups.

Hiccups/Hurdles/AHA moments

In my classes, we never really did high fidelity mockups. We always just jumped right into designing without a consistent, structured drafting/planning process. I thought I'd be able to do my lo-fi mockups and then jump straight into designing the prototype, but I realize now that I should've planned to create hi-fi mockups as well. I wanted to get more webpages done, but I was only able to do a hi-fi mockup of my homepage because of how long it took to decide on fonts, and I forgot how time consuming proper UI spacing is. The good thing is that I got a more solid workflow going, and I feel that everything is going to come together nicely in the end. I'm going to focus on doing hi-fi mockups, and then transform them into the actual website prototype from there.

Where you are on your timeline?

I just started the Production phase of my project. Hi-fi mockups might still be considered Pre-production, but I consider it Production since I feel that the meat of the website is going to be the hi-fis, and the prototyping is just adding branding details and functionality to click through the website. The main goal of the website is to provide good layout/organization for better navigability. The branding aesthetics/messaging, while still very important, is secondary to that when it comes to my reasons for doing this project.

[hermitsmirror]

💐 Pick a card 🌿

Close your eyes. Take a deep breath and imagine light entering up from the ground and running up through your body. With each breath let it flow more fully up and in you. Breathe out all the gunk that it finds that you don’t want with you. Then pick-a-card from the prototype copy of the Apothecary Spirits Oracle, a collaboration I've been working on with Eric Maille and Michael Anthony that will be coming to Kickstarter with the arrival of spring.

If you need more time to pick, remember to ground yourself and tap into the earth that provides such wisdom. Find a breathing pace that nourishes you. The Apothecary Spirits Oracle is an herbalist's oracle, a tool for healing. Breathe in the beauty of the natural world and all the healing energies that emanate from it.

When you're ready, pick a card. Will you pick left, right, or center?

See the reveal below.

If you're as excited about this beautiful queer deck as we are, stay up-to-date on the project by signing up for the email list at ApothecarySpirits.com. (It'll redirect you to a subpage on HermitsMirror.) Be the first to hear about our official campaign's pre-launch page, when it launches (mid-late March), and how you can get a copy of the deck and the rich guidebook for yourself.

[justmestone]

A Minecraft Movie Fanfic:

Title: Extended Enderman Alternate Scene

(Don’t get me wrong, I loved the Minecraft movie but I figured I’d write a fic where the Enderman was actually tearing Henry’s mind apart and maybe some character development here and there)

(I will probably write this on Wattpad too)

—————————————————————————

Henry smiled as he noticed the new Earth Crystal in his hand after digging into one of the many chests in the Woodland Mansion’s storage room. This was it! He just needed to get to Garrett and Steve to plug it with the Orb of Dominance and open the portal back home…He still didn’t know why the Overworld calls it an orb when it’s cube-shaped, agreeing with what Natalie said back then. His mind came up with a plan to get back to the other guys until…POOF! He heard teleportation noises and a chirp. He realized it and noticed…the Enderman appeared. He remembered how the Enderman worked; don’t look at it in the eyes or else…

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. After a second, he turned around and opened his eyes for a second; only to see the Enderman right in front of him. He had a hand gripped on a diamond axe he found in a chest but he couldn’t use it as he saw the giant Enderman open its jaw and its purple eyes glowing.

Soon, the Enderman started screeching and reality broke around Henry. During the screeching, Henry’s eyes glowed purple as well and soon…the Enderman started using its trick on him. Henry started to see horrible things…and those horrible things were his friends.

“You’ll never be as cool as me, Hank.” Garrett said, his eyes glowing purple. “Just give up.”

“The Overworld doesn’t need you, Henry!” Steve, with oddly white eyes, echoed. “And neither do I.”

“This is all your fault, Henry!” Natalie said with her eyes glowing purple. “Everything you do FAILS!!”

“This stuff…” Garrett showed Henry his sketchbook. “…is trash, kid!” He then threw the book into a fire.

Henry was frozen in terror as he saw the book and its pages burn. Then Natalie walked towards him and grabbed him. “Dad left Mom because of you! Mom DIED because of YOU!” she echoed with Henry paralyzed and staring into her eyes. “If you hadn’t been born, none of this would’ve HAPPENED!!”

Henry broke free from his sister’s grasp and started running towards him and then Dawn showed up with her eyes glowing purple like the others. “You ain’t anything! My ideas are a whole lot better than yours!”

“Here’s what I made!” Steve then showed an entire theme park that he created. “This is mine! Is that the best you can make?”

Henry then noticed that he had his tater tot gun in his hands and when he aimed it at his friend, it backfired and blew up in his hands. Henry then noticed the others marching towards him and he started running, unsure of where to go but anywhere other than with those nightmares. He ran and he saw more people and things yelling at him.

“You blew up our mascot!” VP Marlene said. “This is grounds for expulsion!”

“Why can’t you just do the assignment like I told you?!” his art teacher asked. “It’s so easy!”

“You let me get blown uuuppp!” the skeleton that he used for his jetpack prototype eerily said.

As Henry ran and ran, the hallucinations kept shouting and getting louder and louder. He finally stopped running and noticed the silhouette of woman in front of him. The image was glowing blue but Henry recognized her and shouted, “MOM!”

Henry ran toward his mother and hugged her. She hugged him back. Henry then cried into her dress and uttered, “Mom…I had a bad dream…” he sobbed into her dress further as his mom caressed him. Soon, a few feathers passed by him and he became more frightened.

“This is not a dream.” Henry heard thousands of voices say. “This is your life…and it always will be!”

Soon, his mother glowed blue further and sprout white wings. Soon, Henry’s grip loosened on her and she started floating up to a white portal. Henry’s tears poured and he screamed out, “NO! NO, NO, NO, MOM, I'M SORRY! MOM, PLEASE, I'M SORRY! COME BACK!!! MOM!!!!!!”

He cried as he noticed his mom disappear and he was all alone again. He then saw Steve and all the other hallucinations appear and he just stood there, paralyzed. Steve grinned with his eyes glowing white and he held onto a lever. He flipped it and said, “Whoops!”

Henry then fell from a trap door and he gasped as he saw a glass window in front of him. Steve grinned madly and soon started singing that lava chicken song he sung earlier and soon Henry looked up to see lava falling onto him and he screamed.

“HANK!!” He then heard Garrett’s voice echo out.

He then saw the Enderman screeching and he realized everything he saw was a dream. Steve and Henry were right at the door. Steve grabbed a blade from his inventory and he said, “Garbage Man, get Henry!”

Garrett did that and Steve started hacking and slashing at the Enderman, the monster erratically teleporting away and Steve impaled the Enderman. The creature screamed and faded away, dropping an Ender Pearl. Garrett crouched to the hyperventilating Henry and asked, “Hey, Hank? You okay?”

Garrett reached towards Henry but Henry swatted his hand away and started crawling in complete fear and he tries to hide by some chests as he spoke out, “No, no, don't touch me! I destroy everything, everyo-I-I make everyone's lives worse!”

“What? No!” Steve said. “You are one of the greatest and most creative kids I have ever met!”

“Oh, am I?!” Henry panted and his tears streamed down his face. “My creativity got me in trouble! It got me in detention or probably worse! It got my sister fired! It got us into this mess! My creativity is my problem! I never should’ve done this in the first place!” He curled into a ball and he sobbed. “I…I…I can’t…”

Steve and Garrett were frozen and unsure what to do. Garrett lowered down to Henry and asked, “Hey…I’m just gonna ask this: How did…your mom die? I heard about that from Dawn and Natalie.”

Henry took a deep breath and replied, “My mom…she was perfect. She was the one who made that tator tot pizza recipe and she always encouraged me to be myself and have these ideas. She was the parent that was always there for me, even when I didn’t have a dad with me. That was…until a few months ago where Mom…was diagnosed with cancer. She only had weeks left and she never knew about it. She died in her bedroom…and I guess Natalie never recovered. Soon, she had to grow up and do all these things like drag us to Idaho…and…I can’t help her…”

Garrett fell silent and Steve knelt down to her level. “I’m not gonna lie…I didn’t have it easy too.” he said. “I never knew my dad and my mom raised me the best she could. I grew up in this dinky little house that my mom could barely afford to pay and she managed to scrape enough money to get me my first pickaxe, helmet, and belt. I yearned for the mines as a kid but some old geezer always stopped me. Soon, I thought I’d grow up, get a job…My soul felt crushed every day. One day, I thought I’d…Y’know…until it hit me. The mines were what I really wanted. The creativity and adventure that I kept on loving, even when I found the Overworld, was what I needed to keep going in life. Remember that, Henry. We need creativity to survive here and in the real world. I did, and I can help you too.”

Henry smiled and wiped his tears. Garrett then put his hand on the boy’s shoulder and said, “And for the record, you don’t make anyone’s lives worse. I know that ‘cause your sister cares about you a lot from what I’ve seen, and you were the first real friend I had. Thanks for being there for me, Henry.”

Henry stood up and wrapped Garrett’s waist in a hug. The buff man wrapped his arms around Henry as well and Steve kinda joined in as well. Soon, they heard the sounds of doors banging and Henry quickly grabbed the diamond axe he had. He dug under the floor and said, “C’mon!”

With that, the three prepared to escape the Woodland Mansion with their new Earth Crystal intact.

[s-che]

for tarot ask game -

The Devil — What motifs or mechanics do you just keep coming back to? OR What is a game you’ve enjoyed playing in the last year?

The Sun — Talk about a game you’ve made that you’re proud of.

From the RPG designer Tarot ask game.

The Devil — What motifs or mechanics do you just keep coming back to? OR What is a game you’ve enjoyed playing in the last year?

I talked in Luke's devil ask about what a big sicko I am for dice pools and how much I liked playing Last Train to Bremen — so I'm going to try and avoid that one here and talk about cards instead. I love a deck of cards! I've been circling around finding a way to use them as more than just a prompt deck — first in Mirror Mirror, a very small game jam game about convincing your partner that you are the real person and they are the reflection, then in Otherland, another jam submission where you turn over cards one by one to draw a map of fairyland in the style of an exquisite corpse*, and now finally in The Book of 13 Hours, my most explicitly "we're just doing magic here" game, which offers thirteen different ways to use a deck and an icon to talk to a god(dess).

Idk. I like cards a lot, and I like thinking about them as physical objects and not just randomness generators. I feel the same way about dice, but I think cards — by virtue of their physical form — are a little easier to use to break people of the idea that drawing a card/rolling a die is equivalent to a random number generator.

*Otherland is, imo, one of my more prototype-y prototypes. I'm not totally pleased with where it sits, even as one of my scrimshaw games, but I mention it because it's worth tracking the development of an idea.

The Sun — Talk about a game you’ve made that you’re proud of.

Less a game I've made — more a game I'm making. I think every designer has a project that they, if given a pension or whatever, could work on for the rest of their lives and mine is Leafs House. Leafs House is a work of interactive fiction about exploring an empty old house on the borders of fairyland. It's about nostalgia and loss and the first chapter — about fifty pages — is the only thing that exists online right now.

In it, you explore the first room of a big old house full of little secrets and hidden games. Leafs House was originally conceived of as a kind of a games portfolio in the form of a game — even though I've moved away from that particular version of it, you can still find little pared down or early versions of Beneath Pirate Flags, Grief in the Grand City, and March of the Holly King — among others — hidden in the text. It is going to grow.

I want to come back to it someday. I haven't found the time yet. You can get it through my patreon – or in another way, which is secret :)

[shannendoherty-fans]

People June 14th 1993

Shannen Doherty's Wild Ways May Be Hazardous to Her—and Her Career

I was weary of the verbal assaults and locked myself in our bathroom. At this point she threatened to shoot me and said, "I'm going to drop you!" I knew she had a loaded 9-mm automatic…. I heard the chamber pulled back; at that point, I hastily exited the house through a back door connected to the bathroom and escaped. —From a May 25 petition by Dean Jay Factor in the Superior Court of California for a domestic-violence restraining order against Shannen Doherty

The scenario sounds like something from Top Cops, not Beverly Hills, 90210, but then actress Shannen Doherty, 22—who in America's favorite zip code plays prototypical teen Brenda Walsh—has always marched to a dangerous drummer. Partying late into the night at trendy L.A. clubs such as Roxbury and the Gate and piloting her $30,000 black BMW at high speeds through nearby streets, she has defiantly winked at her bad-girl reputation. "Don't believe everything you read," she coyly told fans during a May 26 TV interview. "To paraphrase Mark Twain, half the things you read about me are untrue, and the others are lies.

Now, however, attitude alone may prove a flimsy defense. Last week Doherty was facing not a hyperbolic tabloid headline but the sworn testimony of former fiancé Factor, 28, heir to the Max Factor cosmetics fortune. And his charges made the tantrum-prone 5'2", 100-lb. Doherty sound violent if not downright homicidal. By midweek, according to Factor's attorney, Edwin Lasman, an understanding had been reached with Doherty in which his client's differences with her were resolved, eliminating the need for further court proceedings. An announcement of the agreement was expected by the week's end.

Still, the allegations in Factor's 15-page declaration remain deeply disturbing. Once, Doherty tried to run him down with a car, Factor claimed. Another time, he said, she threw a log through a window to get into his house. During one argument, he maintained, she "threatened to hire a few guys to beat me up and to sodomize me 'on the front lawn.' " He ended his petition by saying that even though he was taking steps to prevent harassment, "I will live in fear."

Others say they are afraid for Doherty. They believe she is a young woman on the verge of spinning out of control—and that she may be a harmful influence on Tori Spelling, 20, who plays 90210's Donna Martin (and whose father, Hollywood megamogul Aaron Spelling, is the show's executive producer). Tori lately has been engaging in the kind of hard partying and public pugnacity that has given Doherty her bad-girl reputation.

For a time, her rep looked like a stellar career play for Doherty. It meant publicity (even in the form of a nationally circulated I Hate Brenda newsletter, a thinly disguised jab at the actress herself). And Doherty willingly parried the insinuations about her behavior. She denied in interviews that she had an alcohol problem and told one reporter, "I don't hit people. I wasn't hit as a child, and I don't believe in it." Not denying her aggressiveness, she offered in her own defense a favorite line from her preteen days as Jenny Wilder on Little House: A New Beginning. "Michael Landon," she said, "told me you have to stick up for yourself in this business."

What would Landon think now? Since debuting on 90210 in 1990, Doherty has left a trail of bad debts, trashed homes, exhausted friendships and wasted relationships. When challenged, say several people who know her, she is likely to respond with a menacing, "You don't know who you're f—ing with!"

Apparently, Dean Factor learned who and wishes he hadn't. Neither Doherty nor her attorney, Joseph D'Onofrio, responded to PEOPLE's repeated requests for an interview. Speaking in his daughter's defense, Shannen's father, Tom Doherty, 49, an L.A. mortgage adviser, offers a different spin. "He's been doing [the abusing]," says Doherty. "He initialed the charge, but she's the victim."

Indeed, in a confrontation between the 5'10", 175-lb. Factor and Doherty, it is hard to imagine Shannen as anything but a victim. And yet Factor swears that lie was usually on the receiving end. At times, he admits in his petition, he slapped her. Once he threw her into his swimming pool. He says he was acting in self-defense—a claim many who know Doherty are inclined to believe.

"I could have predicted this before it happened," says Doherty's previous ex-fiancé, Chris Foufas, 25, a Chicago-based health-club owner who was engaged to the star in 1991. "Things move along smoothly for a while, and then something snaps and she goes into another drive: rage."

Until March 19, when Doherty moved into Factor's $5,200-a-month rented Tudor-style house in the Hollywood Hills, all seemed relatively smooth. "We did not have more than the occasional loud argument," Factor says. On April 19, with 90210 on hiatus, Doherty began work on the set of a movie, the suspense thriller Blindfold. A senior crew member on the movie calls her behavior "cantankerous, snotty and threatening" and says Doherty told everyone on the set how she and Factor "were constantly fighting, saying how she punched him and he hit her." And then, he adds, "the thing with Nelson began."

In Blindfold, Doherty, who does her first onscreen nude scenes, plays a patient who becomes sexually involved with her psychiatrist—portrayed by Brat Pack graduate Judd Nelson, 33. Shortly after shooting began, Doherty began an offscreen romance with Nelson, even though she was still living with Factor. Right after a read-through of the Blindfold script in early April, Factor and Doherty began a vacation together in Hawaii on April 12. They were accompanied by Spelling and Nick Savalas, 20, son of actor Telly Savalas, Tori's boyfriend of several months. During the trip, said Factor in his petition, "we took full advantage of the romantic setting." He proposed marriage—and Doherty accepted. But within hours, they were fighting. "Shannen came back with a black eye and said she'd been hit by a surfboard," says her dad. "In reality he'd hit her." Factor's version in his declaration: "After having been kicked and beaten, I pushed her off me. Unfortunately she tripped, fell and cut her eye on the doorstep." What were they arguing about? "Judd Nelson," speculated the senior Doherty. "Dean felt she was fooling around with him."

Over the next few weeks, Factor said he pleaded with Doherty to continue their engagement. But on May 13, some days after Doherty moved out, said Factor, she returned and yet another fight ensued. The next day he filed a complaint with the LAPD. He said in his deposition, "I decided the nonsense had to end."

For Doherty, though, it was just beginning. That same night she checked into Dallas's exclusive Mansion on Turtle Creek—with Judd Nelson. The couple went out for some midnight club-hopping. Gus Hudson, manager of the Greenville Bar & Grill in Dallas, noticed on that evening that Doherty "was drinking heavily" and that "she puked at her table." The next night, back at the Greenville, Nelson was taunted by several young people about his recent lack of good movie parts. When he tried to climb over a railing to argue, he kicked 21-year-old Kim Evans in the nose—unintentionally, he says. Evans left the bar with minor injuries, and Nelson was eventually charged with assault. The case is pending.

As Chris Foufas sees it, his ex-fiancée's bar-and mate-hopping follows a familiar pattern. "Shannen can be a great, wonderful, loving person," he says. "But she wants to be a dictator. Shannen gets people to commit to her and then says, 'See ya!' She is like a kid who wants a toy, gets it and then gets tired of it."

Over the past year she has amassed a lot of toys—at heavy cost. After she broke up with Foufas, for example, she went on a $45,000 shopping spree. Previously the California United Bank, which often tolerates celebrity overdrafts up to $100,000, had filed suit in May last year because Doherty had not repaid $31,628.16 in bad checks written in 1991. The Superior Court of California awarded the bank a 25 percent levy against her $17,500-a-week 90210 paycheck—which will be raised to $22,500 when shooting resumes July 7. Says bank attorney Andy Alper: "We were lucky we were first in line."

Apparently. Still waiting for payment are Doherty's former publicist, Susan Culley, ex-manager Mike Gursey and former landlord Mark Nishimura, who claims Doherty owes $14,000 in unpaid lease fees. Reportedly two of Shannen's leased Mercedeses have been repossessed.

Why the seeming inability to control her spending? "It's a power thing, to prove her worth," says a former friend. But Shannen, who started acting in Pepsi commercials at age 10, has helped the Doherty clan (including her mother, Rosa, who works at an L.A. beauty salon, and her older brother, Sean, 26, a political volunteer). "She's too generous," thinks her dad. "Your cash flow just dries up."

Ultimately, of course, Aaron Spelling governs that spigot, and an insider says he is looking to dump Doherty from 90210. Though she has 28 episodes left in her contract, Doherty's onscreen time next season may be minimized if Brenda leaves for college in Minnesota. But Spelling is concerned more for his daughter than his series. Tori has moved out of her family's 100-plus-room Holmby Hills mansion. Over the last month she and Savalas have been spotted engaged in loud arguments in several L.A. hot spots. Says Roxbury doorman Todd Spenla of their relationship: "Tori is always unhappy for some reason." Notes the insider: "With Tori getting caught up in [Shannen's lifestyle] now, Aaron is beside himself as a father."

Given Doherty's long-standing reputation—not likely to be enhanced by Factor's allegations—losing 90210 could cripple her career. Shannen, her father hopes, may be getting the message. "It's disheartening for her," says Tom of the adverse publicity. "A little of the life, a little of the spirit is out of her. She's just gelling over the shell shock." Then he adds meaningfully, "She's beginning to understand things too."

[andbrokenmemories]

because twig operates in the realm of vague interest. It masters stringing you along with neat biopunk vistas and weird developments and cute, low-nourishment character moments. its playing a shell game with its characters and setting to keep you engaged for just a little while longer. it is wildbow with all the monetary incentive and experience of the first two serials stabbing at a story kernel, a set of prototype ideas, the initial imperfect gristle worm and pact were made out of. And every other wildbow protagonist *bleeds* on the page with the *point* of them, acted out in a relentless march. the singular depth of taylor, the living and unwilling microcosm of Blake. the blunt grating commentaries on justice and social justice of the trio. Victoria Dallon

But Sy is the text presenting the kind of character the text knows Wildbow likes to write. a corkscrew of the order of character creation. a character with the rich inner monologue and unique psychology the text might just be able to flesh out, do something with, find the bleeding-heart point along the way. Sylvester is a shell. He is a thing meant to contain meaning, at some point, by the end. And at every turn, the text reveals what's under the cup, and it's a little piece of paper reading "Wouldn't it be fucked up if..?"

The shell curves in on itself to provide the illusion of its own multifaceted depth. like resolution loss from looking at the reflected mirrors within a mirror, every step that is taken with the character tropeifies his psychology further and further. a guy with the suffering of Blake and a guy with none of the empathy of the text like Blake; the first protagonist to play with romance and sex in a wildbow text doesn't do it for any worldbuilt out reason or resolution, but because it'd be interesting to read if it were written well, wouldn't it? Wouldn't it. Sy being a heartbreaker I guess reads as callous for callousnesses sake because it got put on the permanent backburner because it stopped being something to wrung something out of. We're not in the business of character exploration, we need to find more fucked up things to smile and nod at. More gore and viscera. More oddities. This is a text of oddities and enjoying fucked up things. It's a text that likes little ideas that look smart, in the way dogshit ID disorder caricatures look smart, look 'really makes you think'. Look alien. It is Wildbow as xenoficition writer and xenoficition as "what if there was a guy with voices in his head that told him to KILL people" and wow, wow, isn't it wildbows most underrated work. A real character piece, so many interesting ideas. So much *interest*. Wouldn't it be interesting if. Wouldn't it be fucked up if

[manonamora-if]

December Check-In

I promise I didn't almost forget :P Even if I definitely forgot to do the weekly devlog last Sunday... To be fair, it had been a week...

Recap of last month’s progress

IF Events in the Next Month

Plan for the next month

Still long post ahead. If you want a mini version, head over to itch.io!

November Progress

Still play more IF and maybe review. ✅

Finish the edits of Harcourt Ch5 ✅❌

Fix one of the semi-completed games: ❌either the Egg parser or TRNT (and make it a proper parser)

Finish that darn SugarCube Guide: ❌there aren’t much left in the guide to cover, but there are a few things to fix.

Again, I knocked the first one out of the park. I reviewed all inkJam, EctoComp, and Bare-Bones Jam entries (which helped me get on the main page of the IFDB). It was nice to play shorter games again - it makes reviewing pretty quick... Now that the IFComp is also over, I kind of want to go back and check out the entries I didn't manage to play.

As for the rest... It's been a bit of a hell of a month, and it's not looking like it's ending any time soon. Still, when I had some free time I managed to:

Finish my portion of the edits of Harcourt (and MelS was almost done with it... before he ran into computer problems - dw the file is safe!)

Assess the damage with The Roads Not Taken and come up with a plan to fix all of it. I also started on this one, but there is truly a lot of damage.

Make a bite game in binksi, Tower of Sleep, for the Two-Button Jam

Make a One-Button prototype, Don't press the Button, to test some JavaScript/jQuery (half-failure)

Make a zine for the first time: An Ode to Pissaladière

Make a new code template: the Character Creator

Submitted a bunch of seeds to the SeedComp!

Does it look like I got distracted by a shiny new thing instead of finishing my projects? Yes. Do I care? Nope. It brought me some joy and amusement in some weird months... Banging your head against the desk because code is not working is... not, obviously.

What’s happening in December?

A bunch of jams are happening on itch, because end of year means maybe some free time, and also, you might as well do something for the sake of saying you've made something.

The ShuffleComp (@neointeractives) has started, though the entries won't be available before January. You can listen to the kickass full playlist in the meantime!

The Sprouting Round of the SeedComp! (@seedcomp-if) has just started. There are 99 new seeds available for use to make a game! Deadline is March 1st.

The Deck-Month has just started, to make a game with Decker.

The PunyJam #4 ends in about 2 weeks (if you have the time to learn Inform w/ the Puny extension...)

and of course: la Partim 500 numéro 8, for those who want to do the Neo Twiny again... but French!

I'm probably gonna pop-off a Partim. I did it last year and it was fun :P

The PLANtm for December

December is a busy month for me, which includes a lot of time offline, full days travelling, and lots of planning. So I will take any free time I have and do fun stuff if I can!

But if I have space for IF, I'd like to:

Play more games! Well... I already am, just not really IF. My Steam Library is crying for attention. I would like to knock down maybe a dozen more IFComp entries if I can. There were a lot of good games, a lot of loooong games.

Code Ch5 of Harcourt. That will be MelS dependent - well, MelS's computer dependent...

Finish fixing The Roads Not Taken. I have a plan, I have the notes... I just need to sit down and re-code (and re-test).

Finish the Guide for real! I know SugarCube 2.37 is coming soon, which will affect the state of some pages (and maybe require more pages). BUT I've been working on fixing old pages (typos - re-explanation - clearer examples). So, this is likely to be done sooner rather than later...

~

Taking the list of TO-DO from August…

To-Do not require much of new stuff:

translate Escape Goncharov! into French. ✅

fix the bugs in EDOC + overall the French version to match

fix the bugs of TRNT + find a way to add the missing pieces (ongoing - translation unlikely)

fix the formatting of DOL-OS + translate into English ✅

update LPM with the missing content + translate into English ✅

No change this month :/

The rest of the To-Do pile was:

Finish The Rye in the Dark City (and maybe translate?)

Finish P-Rix - Space Trucker (and try to translate)

Finish Exquisite Cadaver (translation unlikely, current gameplay too complex to port for French)

Add a chapter to CRWL + fix/reopen the blog

Re-working TTTT to its originally planned state (lol, not likety)

Re-working SPS Iron Hammer (samesies)

Coding TTATEH (MelS dependent - shooting for end of year)

Emptying my inboxes (they are not all answered tho)

Honestly, this pile probably won’t get done this year…. Maybe TTATEH has a shot...

[the-dragon-grasp]

What's up? - Spring 2024 Recap

Hello everyone!

Summer has already started! It’s time for me to take a look at what we’ve done on The Dragon Grasp Project over the past quarter and share it with you all.

Development

We’ve been continuing the work on the video game prototype that started earlier this year. Two more developers joined us since, bringing the team to currently three developers helping us on the project in their free time. Every feature we implement helps us figure out its actual relevance in game and how to adapt, move forward, or even move away from it. It's taking shape step by step, with features regarding dialogue and exploration being worked on as well.

Art

We’ve been working on reference sheets for the characters featured in the prototype. Our monthly supporters on Ko-fi have been granted access to one of them! These documents will help us brief 3D artists to get original models to use in the build. In April, I’ve also publicly released one of our first concept artworks to illustrate TDG’s mood. We have been using this one for a while for pitching: it features three of our characters exploring the woods and discovering two monsters facing one another. You can see it below! If you are interested in knowing more about it, I shared on our Ko-fi page a detailed commentary on this artwork.

Writing & Game design

We received more feedback on our worldbuilding and story concepts mid-March thanks to a first pass of sensitivity reading. After that, I’ve been focusing writing work for The Dragon Grasp Project on the dialogue scenes and other texts appearing on-screen in the prototype. Since my pace depends on the work our developers can achieve in the time they can give to the project, I’ve also been considering how to use my writing abilities to make the studio go forward. Do you remember the transmedia projects I mentioned during the last recap? Since May, I’ve been rethinking them into a smaller scope game project (so, another game, different from The Dragon Grasp Project), reliant more on writing, visual and audio art, and less demanding in development work and gameplay. Or at least, something I hope to be able to develop myself!

I’ve also worked on an updated version of the TTRPG version I use for playtesting. It was played early June! I was able to organize a playtest event and have 4 players test it thanks to the alumni network of my school.

Events

During these past months, we also spent a good chunk of time working in preparation for pitching at physical business events (including designing and making business cards!). Our main event this year was Game Camp 2024, which I attended last week. It was a wonderful time to meet plenty of video game professionals from every corner of France and beyond, attend quality talks on a wide range of topics, and gather first impressions on the work we've been doing. It's my second time attending this event, after going there last year when I was just out of my last job and had yet to create Better With Dragons. I’m once again thankful such an event can exist, and I’m looking forward to returning next year!

Outro

The Dragon Grasp Project's preproduction has been going on steadily, and the feedback we received has been very heartwarming. I'm hopeful working on and releasing the "smaller scope project" I mentioned would help us in several departments, if only to "put something out there" and start testing some waters. Hopefully I'll have more to share about this one with you in the next recap!

To wrap this recap up, I wanted to share a few words about the political climate in France over the past month. Our French collaborators and myself have been working through a stressful time. You can see on our last post on this page that we recently joined a call to stand against the rise of the far right, to show that video game professionals have power to call people to action. The slow rise of the far right and, alongside it, the normalization of hateful discourse in our society both impact our morals negatively and show us we do an important work, motivating us to continue: against hate and fear, we need more experiences standing for love and understanding.

Take care,

-Drad