#math effect

[askagamedev]

Recently, Nexon was fined for manipulating drop rates of loot boxes so that some items effectively had a 0% chance of appearing. Because of how many samples it would take and the associated cost of buying a loot box to get samples to prove something like this, are there ways for the player/user to determine if something like this was occurring in their game of choice?

There's no way for a single user to do it by herself in that case. The best means of approach is to collect aggregate data. Since unopened loot boxes are fungible (i.e. all loot boxes are functionally equivalent until opened), it doesn't matter if one person opens a thousand loot boxes or a thousand people open one loot box apiece. Thanks to the combined powers of statistics and math, we can calculate the sample size we would need for an average result at a given confidence level and interval step.

Mathematically, I believe we expect a sample size of ~381 draws to have a 95% confidence rate and an error margin of +/- 1%. The more precise we become, the higher the necessary sample size becomes (e.g. a 99% confidence rate with an error margin of +/- 1% requires around 660 draws). If players tracked and aggregated all of their combined results from the same loot boxes, they could run statistical analysis on them and see whether the results lined up with the posted odds.

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[grand-line-shenanigans]

For those of us who cannot comprehend big numbers (me) I have done the math. FOUR FUCKING YEARS. SECUNIT WHAT THE FUCK.

[floralfractals]

so id say my tumblr network (as in, the people who tend to see/interact with my posts) is pretty mathy. i wanted to see how people interact w math and how they like to learn about it :) (and: maybe do something with that on my blog!!! wouldnt that be fun)

polls have a limited amount of characters i can add per option, so ill clarify some concepts here:

informal education is learning via a coordinated effort by an instance/expert outside of school system (e.g. voluntary lectures, social media posts, museum visits, youtube videos or similar). by informal i dont mean "its school but the teacher is chill" or independent research!!

formal education is learning through a school system (usually mandatory/with a teacher or professor present)

i refer to any education you do without making use of coordinated programmes as independent research, so that would be just you picking up an advanced math book to educate yourself, or perhaps scanning wikipedia, or emailing math profs with questions

when i talk about reading math in a general context, i mean that the material discusses math for a broad audience, so it doesnt talk about super niche specific mathematical concepts, and doesn't contain any complicated formulas/proofs/math speech

please do elaborate in the tags!!!

[equalseleventhirds]

things which, while not universally hated, are often treated with disdain by some ttrpg players:

pvp

dungeon crawls

resource tracking

unwinnable fights/situations

metagaming

gm not preparing the adventure details beforehand

things am trying to put in my games

pvp

dungeon crawls

resource tracking

unwinnable fights/situations

metagaming

gm not preparing the adventure details beforehand

[milkweedman]

It is interesting how much math comes into even the most basic of like. Making things. Making almost anything. And often not numbers necessarily but proportions and geometry. I think all the time about how castles were built with geometry at the heart of it. And I use the same kind of proportional math to make socks fit. And none of my pieces are ever knit with a prime number of stitches--because you use factors to make neat colorwork and ribbing and different stitches. Idk ! I remember constantly thinking 'how the hell is THIS gonna come in useful ?' But it always does. Math is at the heart of everything, and knowing how to apply it is a tool of critical importance to Thinking Up A Shape And Making It.

[mathmodder]

Lightning Enhanced Mod Release Trailer

In this mod, you will have an enhanced experience with storms in your game. Lightning will now cut through the skies, delivering more powerful strikes, and the overall visual effects will be stunning. You'll feel a greater sense of immersion as the storms become more intense and realistic. The enhanced lightning effects will add a new level of excitement and drama to the game, making each storm a memorable experience. Get ready to be amazed by the breathtaking visuals and the sheer power of nature in this mod! Instructions:

1- Put the required files in the mods/PACKAGES folder:

Lightning Crater (Math Mod)

Fog Merge (Math Mod) *If you have this file from my butterflies or fireflies mod, you do not need to download it.

2- Put the required files in the mods/OVERRIDES folder:

Clouds Texture (Math Mod)

Lightning Texture (Math Mod)

3- Choose the flavor that you like (Only one) and put in the mods/OVERRIDES folder:

Sky Lightning Flavor 1 Blue lightning

Sky Lightning Flavor 1 Yellow lightning

Sky Lightning Flavor 1 Purple lightning

Sky Lightning Flavor 4 All colors of lightning (Blue, Yellow and Purple) This mod does not conflict with lighting mods.

Download now:

[halfdeadwallfly]

[charlesoberonn]

The story behind the butterfly effect is really cool. I don't remember it exactly but it goes something like:

1960s computer science guy was making a weather simulation algorithm based on real weather data. Computer memory was limited so he trimmed the input data down to 3 digits after the decimal point. He expected a little bit of inaccuracy because of that but when he ran the simulation the results were out of wack. And the longer he ran it the more inaccurate they became. The amount of air pressure that got removed by the rounding down was equivalent to the flutter of a butterfly's wing.

Hence why the flutter of a butterfly's wing changing the weather.

Also this was the origin story to an entire field called Chaos Theory.

[movedtodykedvonte]

Even if Betty got Simon back without Golb I feel like the effects of the war and fallout would have made him a different man anyway.

Like they’re living in Ooo and while Betty sees that these are reminiscences of their old life, Simon remembers the bombs falling and people getting sick and dying. He remembers having to run for his life and care for someone who he probably believed he was lying to about things ending up okay. He watched the world, not just his personal world, fall apart.

I mean it’s somewhat hinted that Betty jumped to the future before any real effects of the war hit meaning she can’t really understand his feelings on that even if she gets the whole magic madness is a theoretical post Magic Betty state.

I like the idea that even if together something will forever separate them from being as close as they once were.

[shanastoryteller]

Happy Holidays Shana! Fem!MXY!WWX has infected my brain! More of that, please?

a continuation of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Wei Wuxian has the deafening talisman on his chest and a blindfold wrapped tightly around his face and held together with a different talisman so he doesn’t have to worry about it slipping. He leaves his sword sheathed for now – it wouldn’t do well to start out too strong.

He stands, loose and easy, but nothing happens. He huffs. “I really will punish you if you refuse to help me. I am your superior. Don’t overthink it, just do as you’re told.”

Rich advice, coming from him, but they don’t know that.

He feels the air move to his left and he lifts his hand, grabbing a slim wrist and twisting it so she has to let go of her sword. He yanks her forward, thinking of the moves he used to drill Shijie in, and pulls her over his shoulder and slams her to the ground.

He pops upright, bracing himself for the next attacks, but none come.

This is getting annoying.

“I’ll tell you when to stop,” he says. “Until I say otherwise, keep coming up at me. I’ll tell you when I’ve had enough.”

This time he feels their footsteps through the ground. Lazy. What, are they stomping? That has to be a funny image at least. He raises his sheathed sword to stop one attack, while kicking out his leg towards his other attacker. He aims too high, hitting meaty thigh instead of fragile knees, and has to throw himself on the ground to avoid the next attack. That does mean he’s low enough to yank their feet out from under them and then he rolls around just in time to avoid the attack that he’s pretty sure was coming from behind, which means his two opponents should have just taken themselves out.

“Someone remind me to assign footwork lessons after this,” he says. He’s just going to assume someone answers in the affirmative. They are Lans.

More come, two more sets of two before they figure out that’s not going to work, and then they’re attacking in groups of three and four. That’s when he stops being able to dodge every hit, but it’s also when his mind quiets. Everything slows down and he feels his lung expand, the sweaty grip he has on his sword sheath, and the growing collection of throbbing wounds across his body. He almost unsheathes his sword a dozen times, but this is good, he can almost feel his core straining and fighting against the confines of his body.

Finally. This is what he wanted. It’s not about thinking, fighting like this, just reacting, just trusting his borrowed body to notice things in time to react to them. It’s been close to an hour, his breaths are coming out more as wheezes, he’s at least twisted an ankle and possibly broken a rib, and he has some sort of head wound that’s causing blood to soak into his blindfold. It’s miserable and painful and not something this body is trained to handle, but he’s endured worse for longer. At last none of the Lans are trying to eat him.

Suddenly it all stops. He widens his stance, holding up his sword sheathe defensively, but nothing happens. “I didn’t stay stop,” he croaks. “Do as you’re told. Attack.”

The moment stretches on long enough that he’s getting genuinely annoyed about it when he’s throwing himself to the side, only realizing why when he feels the reverberation of a powerful cultivation blade hitting the ground next to him.

They’ve called in reinforcements, it seems. Maybe one of the elders? Fair enough, honestly.

Wei Wuxian unsheathes his sword, meeting the next blow more on a guess than anything else. The strength behind it is enough to send him skittering back several feet, but he doesn’t let his grip slip an inch. Then they’re pushing away from each other and he’s meeting the next blow based on what he would do, which probably isn’t fair to this random Lan elder, but oddly enough it works.

Every blow is powerful enough to make his bones shake and his opponent is skilled enough that Wei Wuxian can barely sense the air moving until it’s almost too late. His few minutes fighting this person are harder than the past hour of standing against disciples, but Wei Wuxian learned a long time ago how to compartmentalize his pain to keep fighting.

Doing this is making him stronger. He needs to be stronger to figure out what Mo Xuanyu wanted him to do. Mo Xuanyu killed herself to get his help. He can’t disappoint her.

He can’t give in.

New energy surges through him, bright and searing, painful even in its usefulness. He doesn’t let himself think about it, instead he pushes through, uses it to put his opponent on the defensive for once. Their fight is flowing faster, almost as if it’s a pattern, like they’re dancing instead of fighting.

Wei Wuxian feels a cool blade against his throat right as rests the edge of his sword on his opponent’s shoulder, flush against their neck.

A draw. Better than he’d expected, given his current physical condition.

His opponent doesn’t lower their sword, so he doesn’t either, but he does release the talismans with a burst of cultivation energy. At first he thinks it doesn’t work because everything is still so silent, but then he can hear the harshness of his own breathing and his blindfold slips off his face.

Lan Zhan is standing there, his sword at his throat, and his face pale and eyes wide. He’s hit with a dizzying sense of déjà vu. It’s like they’re fifteen again, on that rooftop with two bottles of Emperor’s smile dangling between them and the bright, fat moon hanging above.

“Wei Ying?” Lan Zhan asks, his voice coming out too high and strangled.

This can’t be happening. He can’t know. He’ll hate him and throw him out if he doesn’t kill him outright and then Mo Xuanyu will have died for nothing and Sizhui will be so said and he won’t understand – and what if his siblings find out, that’s the last thing he wants –

He keeps his voice steady and face even as he asks, “Who is Wei Ying?”

Lan Zhan’s face shuts down. “I – please excuse me, Xuanyu.” He lowers his sword, turning and doing the closest thing to running away that Wei Wuxian has seen him do since they were teenagers.

All the Lans are staring at him and gaping. The adrenaline leaves him all at once and he collapses to the ground, his legs refusing to support him.

He groans and then several dozen Lans converge on him, multiple concerned shouts of, “Madame Lan!” nearly deafening him all over again.

It’s kind of nice, actually.

[cellobotomy]

so. rereading Murderbot Diaries for the [redacted] time and saw this section in Network Effect when MB, Thiago, and Overse came across the dead SecUnit.

[image id: a partial paragraph from Network Effect by Martha Wells. "-try to take it away. The armor looked salvageable from the outside, but I'd have to scrape the body out to tell, and when the governor module did something like this, at least in 83 percent of instances I'd personally witnessed, it fried the armor too. "It was ordered to stand down by one of its clients, then left here."" end id]

the fraction 5/6 converts to 83.33%. Murderbot has had to check armor functionality on at least 6 SecUnits that were killed by their governor modules, and 5 of them were electrocuted so thoroughly that their armor was nonfunctional afterwards.

OR if you assume Murderbot would not round in this situation: 83 is a prime number and it would have seen at least 100 SecUnits killed by governor modules.

[askagamedev]

On the topic of bits, I have heard that certain game uses different bit counts for maintaining different data of the game. How often decide which bit count (16/32/64 bits) goes to each data counter, and why don’t 64 bit games just use 64 bits for everything?

Some readers may not realize it, but you're actually asking a math question here. A bit is a value that can be one of 2^1 = two different values - 0, or 1. Thus two bits can represent up to 2^2 = four different values - 00, 01, 10, and 11. Three bits can represent up to 2^3 = eight different values - 000, 001, 010, 011, 100, 101, 110, 111. 10 bits can represent up to 1,024 different values, 16 bits can represent up to 65,536 different values, 32 bits can represent up to 4,294,967,296 different values, and 64 bits can represent up to 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 different values.

As you can see, 64 bits has a much larger range of potential than, say, 8 bits. However, just because it can store a lot of different values doesn't mean that you want to use 64 bit values everywhere. Imagine that I'm working on a game that has committed to four playable races - dark elf, hot elf, keebler elf, and santa elf. If I used a 64 bit value to store the player character's race, I'd wasting a large amount of that usable space - I really only need two bits to represent the four different possible races on a character so I would essentially wasting 62 bits of memory to store that one value. However, locking myself in to two bits for the player character race means that I'm also committing to never adding a fifth supported race (e.g. hers elf) for the lifespan of the game, because I would need additional bits to represent the fifth race. If I were forward-thinking, I might split the difference and give myself four bits (16 total races, room for up to 12 additional races) for the lifespan of the game.

Your question topic is known in programmer space as "bit packing" because the most efficient solution is to use the fewest number of bits possible to store the data. This way we don't waste computing resources that could be utilized elsewhere. A lot of clever engineering is about utilizing facts we know about the game's design (like the number of supported player races) and using that to shave down the needed bits to represent the data. This usually results in immediately improved performance and problems down the line if the game continues for years and the old assumptions get broken (which is often what happened when many old live service games needed to convert from [32 to 64 bits]).

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[ro-botany]

How Big Is Grima, Really?

It’s a question as old as Awakening. We all know the fell dragon is fucking gigantic; but no one’s measured them to find out exactly how gigantic they are.

As an enthusiastic dragon biologist, I feel it’s my duty to set the record straight.

TL;DR

Through careful measuring of character models ripped directly from the files of Engage, I determined the Chrom's height in centimeters. Then, using those measurements along with character models ripped from Awakening, I measured the true size of Grima as they appear in the endgame.

According to my measurements, Grima:

Is ~726.8 m (2384 ft) long from snout to tail tip.

Is ~349.7 m (1147 ft) long from snout to vent.

Has an ~815.6 m (2676 ft) wingspan (middle pair of limbs)

(Look at how small Chrom looks compared to them, good grief)

Want a more in-depth look at how I determined this? My entire process is documented in detail below the cut.

(Also, consider this an invitation: if there's any character from the 3DS fire emblems or engage that you want to know the size of, send me an ask and I might be able to measure them for you.)

---

Preparations

Finding a way to measure Grima is difficult due to the simple fact that nothing and nobody in Awakening can reliably be used as a ruler. We’re not given precise sizes for any objects, and no characters have canonical heights.

Luckily for us, Awakening is not the only game which features its own characters! Several members of its cast are featured in Engage as emblems. This is important because the non-emblem characters in Engage – and the Three Houses emblems also kicking around – all have canonical heights! That means that we can use them as rulers to find the height of any character in the game who doesn’t have one. And once we have a height measurement for one of Awakening’s cast members, we can use their original Awakening model as a ruler to measure the model of Grima themself.

So, I decided to use Byleth and Fogado as rulers with which to measure Chrom, who would then go on to be the ruler for measuring Grima with.

I personally ripped all models used in this experiment directly from (...legally obtained...) ROMs of Awakening and Engage. This was done to ensure the relative sizes of models from the same game remained consistent with how they appear in-game. Any rips available for download online may have been edited or scaled any number of ways, you can’t trust em.

I also, in all cases, had to perform some surgery on the models; but I did my utmost to put them back together as precisely as possible.

-

Finding Chrom’s Height

As I just mentioned, on the Engage side I decided on Chrom as my ruler, and decided to use Byleth and Fogado to measure him.

Engage’s character models are all patterned off a base model – one for female characters and one for male characters. For each character these base models are sculpted slightly, and then scaling factors are applied to various bones in the rigging to give them their unique proportions – these affect the length and thickness of the torso, arms, legs, head, etc.

For all three of my chosen characters, I:

Ripped their head, hair, skin, and clothing models, along with their rigging, from Engage, and imported them into blender.

Applied basic textures to them so they’re easier to see.

Carefully stitched all the component models back together and onto the rigging.

Carefully stitched the legs and feet of the base model back onto the finished character models. This removes any margin of error we would get from including the soles/heels of their shoes in their measurements.

Ripped each character’s scaling factors from Engage’s data files and applied each factor to the appropriate bones on the rigging. I also compared to screenshots from the game to double-check that everything looked correct.

Used blender’s MeasureIt add-on to measure the distance between the highest point on the top of their heads to the lowest point on the bottom of their left heel, in ONLY the Z axis (which is up and down in blender).

The result is this:

(Ignore their weird eyes, Engage's eye textures are a pain in the ass to replicate and I gave up for now)

Using these measurements, and the canonical heights for Fogado and Byleth, we can come up with conversion factors for translating engage blender units (henceforth called “ebu”) to centimeters.

Fogado is canonically 5’10”, i.e. 177.8 cm (source). So, according to his measurements, 1 ebu = 102.713 cm.

Byleth (male) is canonically 175 cm tall (source). So, according to his measurements, 1 ebu = 101.25 cm.

You may notice those are slightly different numbers when, if these character heights were truly consistent, you would expect them to be the same!

Well, I’m chalking that up to the heights from 3H being in less precise units, and the developers probably not being quite as gung-ho about consistent character heights as I’m being right now. It would probably be smart to use another non-emblem Engage character with more of a height difference than these two to get another conversion factor and see how three data points compares, but... I’m so tired from putting these three bozos’ models together, y’all. I’m done. This is just what we get.

Our two conversion factors give us two possible heights for Chrom. Either he’s about 189.48 cm tall, or he’s 186.79 cm tall. I’m going to take the average of those numbers and use that for Chrom’s height.

We have now found Chrom to be 188.14 cm tall, i.e. 6’ 2”.

...He’s tall! He’s taller than I thought he was, honestly.

-

Measuring Grima

The next step is to take what we know about Chrom, and repeat this process with Chrom and Grima’s models from Awakening.

One frustrating thing about this is that Grima’s in-game model is almost certainly scaled smaller relative to the people than his CG model. And I can’t get the CG models, because those are locked in some vault at IntSys headquarters, and not included in the game files; and there are zero frames in any of the CGs that can be used for this kind of measuring.

But you know what? I spent too long in the Engage ripping mines to give up over CG Grima's differences. In-engine Grima is still ridiculous and I want to know about them.

Awakening’s character models are composed of several parts: A main body (which for humans is class-based, not character-based), in most cases one each of a character-specific head and hair model, and up to two accessory models. Each character also has one scaling value; a multiplier on their model’s overall size. (Tragically you can’t have fun fucking up their proportions like you can Engage characters)

So for each of these two, I:

Ripped all their component models from the game. For Chrom this was the lord class body and his head (which, unlike other characters, also includes his hair). For Grima this was their full-body model and their two accessory models, the upper and lower halves of their mask.

Applied basic textures to them

Carefully stitched their component models together; which effectively was positioning their heads back on their bodies.

For Chrom, I also borrowed a generic head model from another character and aligned it with his regular head; this is so that I could measure his height from the top of his head instead of his hair.

Checked their scaling factors; in this case, I couldn’t find a scaling value for Grima and Chrom had the default value of 1.0, so nothing needed to be done.

Used blender’s MeasureIt add-on to measure them. On Chrom, I measured the z-axis (up-down) distance between the highest vertex on his skull and the lowest vertex on his left heel to get his height. On Grima, three measures were taken; snout-vent (as in snout to the end of their body/base of their tail), snout to tail, and wingspan; each only measured in one relevant axis.

The measurements ended up being this, in what I will henceforth call awakening blender units, or “abu”

Using our estimated height for Chrom from Engage, we calculate our conversion factor; 1 abu = 12.13 cm.

And then we can finally convert Grima's measurements to useful units!

Conclusions

Holy fuck that dragon is large.

[mirror-ralsei]

THEORY: Deeeltaaruuuneeee

You know, despite all the intense speculation about Deltarune - its dialogue, its music, its merchandise... - there's one obvious piece of foreshadowing that no one seems to think about. A critical piece. One that's been under our nose the whole time.

The title.

Today we're going to deep dive into the title drop of Deltarune, its connections to Undertale and Deltarune, and speculate about what it could be foreshadowing in the future.

VISUALS

Deltarune's title appears with a notable wavering, almost interlacing effect. We've seen this effect before.

Asriel causes this when using HYPER GONER.

And though the Memoryheads have more scan lines and desync than the Deltarune title, it's still an incredibly similar visual that stands out in the game.

A similar wavering sort of effect also appears during Undyne the Undying's deformation and reformation.

I wonder if this effect might represent holding on through determination.

At her true death, Undyne the Undying begins to visibly melt, which we're told by Alphys is what's supposed to happen to monsters who contain high amounts of determination. So, it would follow that when she's wavering as she's clinging to life through determination, that's also an intended visual.

And if that's true of Undyne, it could be true of the Memoryheads, who have the same kind of effect. It would make sense, as they are amalgamates, whose very premise is based on the presence of determination.

So, the logo fading in with a wavering interlacing effect might mean that it represents something - or someone - returning to life through determination.

Of course, that's just my best guess. Maybe it represents something completely different - or nothing at all. But both the Memoryheads and Undyne the Undying hold a lot of apparent Deltarune references, and I wouldn't be surprised if their wavering effects were one of them, tying them into the same phenomenon that's happening to the logo.

There's something interesting happening during the logo's disappearance. Keep your eye on the SOUL at the center to observe it more easily.

The logo is not just fading out - its parts seem to be undergoing some kind of mathematical transformation, causing them to multiply, and fade out as they do so.

If any math fans know what specific formula or transformation is being used here, that would be great to know, but as far as I can figure, whatever is happening to the parts are being reflected across multiple axes.

This concept of reflection as division appears several times in Deltarune. I've delved into it here.

Basically, we have this recurring idea that in order to multiply something, you have to divide it in half. Once divided, both halves are no longer the same as the original, resembling it though they may. You could say they're both "reflections" of the original.

That seems reminiscent of what's happening here.

The SOUL, and all the other parts of the logo, appear to be divided again and again, gradually fading with each division until there's nothing left of them.

This may have concerning implications for the plot.

I'm not sure what, exactly, this whole reflection-division concept is building up to, but it's definitely setting up something. And watching this soul and the rest of the title being reflected and divided so many times that it fades out of existence... well, you can't help but worry. There's a lot of wild conjecture we could launch from here, but I'll leave that to you.

There's one more thing here worth noticing. Deltarune is a parallel story to Undertale. If we compare their logos, they look fairly similar. Both are white text on a black background with a red heart in the center letter. But there are a couple of interesting differences.

First, Undertale's logo is comprised of detailed pixels, while Deltarune's is made of blocky letters.

This gives Deltarune's logo the impression of a game with old-school, scan-line-looking graphics (if someone knows what this is called please lmk lol), while Undertale's logo looks like that of a more modern game by comparison.

Interestingly, this is kind of inverse to the presentations of the games themselves. The pixel count in Deltarune is notably higher than that of Undertale. But here, it's the opposite.

(Side note: It also might be worth noting that as of the Sweepstakes, the Ice Palace also appears to be in this old-school style.)

Second, and most importantly, UNDERTALE is depicted in all caps. The visual logo for DELTARUNE is actually presented in all lowercase: "deltarune."

This is important in a series that has consistently used uppercase and lowercase as some kind of recurring element.

One quick example is when Sans explains the Level of Violence acronym: "you never gained LOVE, but you gained love. does that make sense?"

But it's not all acronyms. There's many other interesting usages throughout the series, such as Asgore's name being alternately presented normally or in all-caps, or the presence of certain titles in the soundtracks being in all-caps for no discernible reason.

We still don't really know what this element is meant to represent. But we do know that whatever it means, it is present between the "deltarune" and "UNDERTALE" logos.

Like with so many things here, we do have to wait on more information to truly understand the meaning. But once we know more about the reflection-division and uppercase-lowercase elements, then the multiplying, differently cased logos should also fall into place.

SOUND

The Deltarune title audio seems comprised of three parts: a sound reminiscent of a collective inhale or gasp, followed by a robotic voice saying "DELTARUNE," followed by a mixture of two types of sounds - one reminiscent of a collective exhale, the other a series of discordant chimes - that gradually fade out.

As many have pointed out, the opening sound in the Deltarune title is just an echoey version of the sound that plays when transitioning up from the Dark World to the Light World in Castle Town: snd_dtrans_lw.

Awesome! We have a confirmed connection for the beginning part of the audio. Surely this will provide some insight?

Well... not really...?

While we know a little bit more about the Light vs Dark World concept than we do about, say, the reflection-division concept, I feel we're still not much closer to understanding the meaning behind this sound effect.

I mean, the information we have here is pretty limited. The sound is used when Kris and Susie rise back up to the Light World, which could tell us that the title audio relates to something (whatever the title is representing here) rising up a level, too. If you want to stretch, taking the allegorical into account, maybe it represents some "fictional" or "escapist" elements becoming more "real." This has kind of been alluded to already, with Susie wanting to bring the Darkners into the Light World because it's just "better" than real life, and Berdly and Noelle agreeing and wanting to create Dark Fountains.

Beyond that...there's not much here, that I can think of. If anything, the usage of this audio in the title drop is more important for telling us the in-game usage is important than the other way around. We kind of have to know what the title represents to be able to know the significance of it "rising up"/transitioning between worlds would be.

There's also the sound effect that plays when Noelle or the others "get stronger," which kind of resembles an altered version of dtrans_lw, and would provide some more context if true... but I can't be certain.

Anyway, let's continue onward.

Next up is the robotic-sounding voice saying "DELTARUNE."

This appears to be a text-to-speech voice. Moreover, the TTS voice appears to be one of the same ones from abc_123_a.ogg.

This is notable because that TTS is also used for Gaster's text noise in "room_gaster" (Entry 17).

In other words, it's very possible that the voice saying "Deltarune" is supposed to be Gaster's.

This isn't really as shocking as it seems. Gaster very much appears to be the framing device around Deltarune as an entire game - he gives it to us as SURVEY_PROGRAM, and communicates to us during Game Overs and save file screens. The title being another part of the game's framing, it wouldn't really be a surprise that he'd be here too.

If we do assume the voice belongs to Gaster, the more interesting questions become why he's able to speak a fully voiced word, and why the voice sounds so...strained. One can almost imagine someone desperately leaving a final message, or barely managing to contact someone, before subsequently fading out. All subjective, but interesting to think about.

The final part might be the most mysterious.

There are two main overlapping kinds of sounds playing here: a collective sigh or moan that gradually fades out, and a variety of discordant notes.

Regarding the sigh, I don't know for sure. The most simple guess would be that, if the inhale-sounding sound represents transitioning upwards from Dark to Light World, then perhaps the exhale-sounding sound represents the inverse - transitioning downwards from Light to Dark World.

The only problem with this assumption is that Kris and Susie do transition downwards from the Light World to the Dark World, and the different sound effects that have played so far don't really sound exhale-y at all. So that part's a mystery.

The other overlapping sound jumps out instantly, though.

An immediate association, to me, is Snowgrave.

Although these notes in the Snowgrave sound effect are much clearer than the distorted ones in the Deltarune title, they both are seemingly random- and discordant-sounding, and the sound itself is reminiscent of chimes.

But there is another instance of this kind of sound.

During the Chapter 1 livestream, many tiny differences were added to the game's build for the purposes of the stream. One such difference was the forest room containing the ballerina-type enemies.

In this room, visuals were added resembling the gray star-like sparkles that also seem present during Snowgrave's animation.

And a feature was added where interacting with the ballerinas would cause them to play a bunch of discordant, glass-like sounds.

Toby Fox was unusually cryptic about this change. He describes the sounds only as "a horrible noise," and when asked what they're saying, replies, "Secret. Never ask a dog that question."

So, it seems likely there's some intended mystery surrounding this difference, and it is unusual to me that the ballerinas' chimes are so similarly chaotic as Snowgrave and the title audio.

Personally, my best guess is that it has something to do with the silvery sparkles. "snd_snowgrave" notably does NOT include the preceding chimes - which play while the sparkles are floating out of Noelle's hands. The livestream ballerina enemy area seems to once again associate these chimes with the presence of sparkles.

If that's the case, then maybe the chimes at the end of the title audio have something to do with the sparkles.

Of course, to those without a music theory background like most of us, sound perception seems pretty subjective. Three sounds that all sound like a bunch of glassy, discordant notes to my ears could actually be completely unrelated.

So take this with a grain of salt. The only truly solid information we have is that the Deltarune logo voice seems to use the same TTS as abc_123 and Gaster. The rest is speculation.

But if these similarities are intentional, and those chiming sounds in the title audio are supposed to represent something to do with Snowgrave, that's obviously not a good sign.

CONCLUSION

While I don't think we have all the puzzle pieces just yet, we do have a variety of clues that give off a strong tone about what's going on. This is my suspicion:

The Deltarune title is depicting a tragedy.

Something bad is happening here.

The strained and desperate voice, the inhaled gasp, the collective sigh as a discordant collection of sounds and reflections fade out into nothingness... it's not looking good.

We know Gaster met with an unfortunate fate, and it's his voice that's speaking to us. We know dividing something causes the original to be forever altered and lost, and the SOUL and everything else that makes up the title seems to be undergoing that until it's reduced to nothingness. We know Undyne reformed herself through determination with a similar visual to the logo's appearance, but like Undyne, the logo ends up fading out anyway.

And let's be honest. We know something bad has happened to Deltarune before.

Gaster wants us to make "a new future" with him. One that shines with hope. ("Unlike the old future" perhaps implied.) He specifically made his appearance known in Undertale to players with low levels of violence.

By contrast, this implies something dark and terrible happened to Deltarune's universe in the past. It's in all the little things. Alphys sets the stage with Mew Mew 2's darker storyline. Kris' birdcage has "seen a lot of crashes," and they certainly act like this isn't their first time being possessed. Sans has seen his share of bad timelines, and in the casino dialogue, talks about back when he was less experienced, when one time he witnessed an especially bad snow. Spamton knows exactly what will happen to Kris on a Weird Route, as if he's already seen it - almost as if he's been frozen for years inside rings and behind mysterious locked doors. Noelle claims she doesn't know what Snowgrave is, but also stares off into the freezer, and can't remember what she's done. There's characters preparing for a particularly bad winter. And then there's the perpetual threat of the Roaring, and Ralsei's haunted expression when he describes it, like he's seen it before. There's the fact that we fall down into an evacuated town within a barren landscape of darkness and eyes. The title screen, after all this, plays a mournful piano song over an image of the three heroes at Worlds' Edge. Before the Story.

So, is it really any surprise?

There's so much writing on the walls about Deltarune having repeating, tragic elements, and the title drop seems no exception.

Will we be the ones to break the cycle, and change Deltarune's future? Or is the fate depicted in the title the only possible outcome?

(Screenshot credit: 1)

[thefloatingstone]

If you have an Asari couple and they both got pregnant and had the kids at the same time would they be a form of twins?

I'm not actually sure. The thing is, Asari cannot get pregnant by accident. it's a conscious decision. So in order for that to happen both asari would have to decide they want to get pregnant at the same time as a choice. Which seems like a dumb idea because it would mean both of them would have to take leave from their jobs during the pregnancy (I don't actually know how long an asari pregnancy is tho...) So sure you COULD do that but it would be considered very weird because it would be choosing to inconvenience yourself and your partner both financially as well as physically for very little reason.

Unless the couple are rich weirdoes with too much time on their hands in which case yeah that might happen.

HOWEVER, Asari children who are born as "pureblooded" are considered shameful and incorrectly marred as being bad for the asari gene pool. To the point "pureblood" is a slur. (and there is also the risk of the child being an ardat-yakshi) so I don't think even rich weirdoes would want to do that just to be rich weirdoes because it would be seen as embarrassing and a scandal to have pureblooded children at all.

[triumph-of-adaptation]

Gillian Anderson

Introducing our next ‘The Dreamers’ cover star Gillian Anderson (@gilliana) 🌦️

“I’m encouraging women, anyone, to really investigate what it is they want from their lives and dive in headfirst and ask the difficult questions of themselves – ‘Am I happy?’, ‘What feels good?’, ‘Where does my power sit?’, ‘Where in me do I have the courage and self-belief to go after what I deserve?’ – but at the very least to dream.”

Through the 1990’s Gillian Anderson unknowingly inspired a generation to pursue STEM careers through the “Scully Effect.” A study found that women who watched The X-Files were 50% more likely to enter STEM fields. Now, at 55, Anderson embraces her influence. Speaking to HUNGER, she highlights the revolution in creativity and self-identity especially in women.