#miss appleberry

[ladies-of-fiction]

Ladies of Timothy Goes to School (Hilltop School)

Grace, Yoko, Juanita

Lily, Doris, Nora

Mrs Jenkins, Miss Appleberry

[demonicrosebushsims]

Mr Appleberry: "Welcome to the School, miss Baccha. I hope you are here to learn." Willow: "Of course!" Mr Appleberry: "We do, however, have to talk about your look. This goth aesthetic might distract the other students." Willow: "Which part exactly?" Mr Appleberry: "The dreads at not very professional." Willow: "My mom had dreads and she is a cop."

[thispatternismine]

The Last Firebender [22/?] - Blue Moon

Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender

Relationship(s): Mai/Zuko, Zuko & the Gaang, Zuko & his family

Summary: Agni has stood by as his children have used their gifts to burn the world, consumed with despair but reluctant to interfere. When the one who is meant to act as his intermediary in the mortal realm burns his own son in a shocking act of cruelty in front of a crowd who fail to step in, that is the final straw.

The Fire Nation descends into chaos at the sudden loss of firebending, & the war becomes bloodier still, as the troops fight on out of sheer desperation, terrified that a reckoning is now due.

And then Iroh, tending his injured nephew while trying to keep him safe from a vengeful father who blames him for this calamity, realises that Zuko's inner flame still burns...

Chapter 1: Prologue

Chapter 2: Any Port in a Storm

Chapter 3: Unexpected Guests

Chapter 4: Making Friends

Chapter 5: Adventures

Chapter 6: Learning Lessons

Chapter 7: Fire & Ice

Chapter 8: Azula is Not Okay

Chapter 9: Father & Son

Chapter 10: E v e r y t h i n g i s F i n e

Chapter 11: Azula is Still Not Okay

Chapter 12: Friends & Family

Chapter 13: Unravelling

Chapter 14: Zuko & Azula Actually Have A Conversation (part 1)

Chapter 15: Zuko & Azula Actually Have A Conversation (part 2)

Chapter 16: The Council Has Spoken

Chapter 17: Island Getaway

Chapter 18: Going on a Mama Bear Hunt

Chapter 19: Fire Nation Democracy in Action

Chapter 20: A Night in the Woods

Chapter 21: Bad Moon Rising

Chapter 22: Blue Moon

Extract:

They walked over to a nearby fruit stall. “Half a pound of appleberries, please. Oh, and do you have any peachplums?” They might as well have a snack themselves.

“I can do you the appleberries, but I’m afraid I’m out of peachplums, and not likely to get any more for a few days.” He paused while weighing the berries, shuddering. “I’ve lost two delivery boys in those woods already.”

Yue frowned. “They get lost? But aren’t there roads and trails to follow?”

“New around here, huh?” He peered at them, and they nodded, hating to admit they were new (and therefore exploitable) but they’d clearly already given themselves away. “Well, people go missing during full moon.” He must have picked up on their scepticism, because he added. “And it ain’t just them getting lost, neither. I’m talking experienced hunters and trappers and travelling merchants and delivery boys who damn well know how to read maps and signs. People go into those woods, and they don’t come out.”

“And it’s only on full moon?” Zuko asked.

“Yup. You kids take my advice and stay inside tonight, you hear?” He handed over their appleberries, weighed and packaged. “That’ll be 3 coppers.”

He looked down at the coin Zuko handed him. “That… is a bit more than 3 coppers…”

“Uh, some extra for good advice?”

[ tip jar ]

[readerofoddities]

I'm running out of things to say when I post these lmao

You know the drill, more kitty kitties

Also, warning for a cat with a missing limb and major scarring as well as for a cat with burn scars. I feel like that should be mentioned

Berrytail is the ex-mate of the father of Pinefur's kits and they've kind of bonded over hating him lmao

But she's not all a good person though. When she was given two random kits to foster, she basically othered them and didn't treat them the same as her own

Raventooth is Rubyheart's mate and is Opalblaze's (whom I have mentioned before) uncle. He's a nice guy and a real family man

As an apprentice, he fought a fox to save some kits who snuck out (those kits happened to be his future wife and her siblings) and his resulting injuries caused the loss of his left front leg. He had to relearn a lot of stuff but ended up being a great warrior despite it

Almost makes me regret killing him off *wipes away fake tear*

Appleberry is Tansytail's sister and she's a cutie patootie, I love her. She was Heatherflower's mentor and fought valiantly in the revolution

She didn't do much in the fire due to having kits at the time, but she did a good job helping her sister-in-law evacuate her own kits if that helps

Heronsight is the aunt of Snailsong, Yewfur, Petalcall and Heatherflower and was Opalblaze's mentor. She's chill but kind of standoffish

She is kind of quiet and keeps to herself after her sisters died, but does her best to support her Clan. She got burned pretty badly in the fire and currently is recovering from her wounds

[asterdeer]

thoughts on the green ring conspiracy, from an aio listener who hasn’t listened to new aio since they got eugene’s dad back

THE INFAMOUS EMILY. i’m rooting for her.

mr whittaker’s new (third? fourth??) voice makes my skin crawl

this jay kid’s voice sounds like someone crossed wooton with richard and then fed him through a squeaky dog toy version of rodney

unsurprisingly polehaus is a dickweed and i hate his energy. “good cop but mean person” is a trope that should have died with psych at the very latest.

“dirk beggs”……… like…….. dirtbag………? this is the level we’re at now? altho I guess we’re going with “appleberry” smartphones too.

THATS buck oliver? cutie patootie energies?? little bit of a ‘raised bad, good heart’ kind of thing??? official art is literally stolen hiccup howtotrainyourdragon design???? i am also rooting for him

the sickness of being a richard maxwell stan is that i hear “mysterious young man involved in nefarious plot gets thrown in the hospital and asks for whit by name before conking out” is that i immediately think “this should have been a richard moment”

oh is this when penny is introduced too??? dang this album launched more people than I thought.

so sick of polehaus but the receptionist telling him that he’s one of those people who thinks being unpleasant and terse is charming and then saying that his late wife faked her heart attack to get out of her marriage to him. icon behavior.

sorry buck is SO CUTE ??? HATE THIS FOR ME, I AM NOT COOL

wait is penny a criminal too???? WILD, I am so about her now. and penny/connie

emily is such a bitch. i love her <3

i really miss katrina but mostly her first voice. new voice Katrina is fine but the original VA had such Energies(tm).

oh shit, is that alan young?? was this before he passed? amazing, I miss his voice if not jack himself

KATRINA CLASSIST???? discuss.

polehaus racist but literally no surprise there.

they are using the exact same bloop bloop computer noises as the ones they used for AREM’s computer noises in novacom. reduce reuse recycle ig

“foreign terrorists trying to wreck america through cyber espionage” barf barf barf barf barf barfaroni

“what if polehaus gets close” “then the stiletto will have to deal with him” oh please god please I wanna hear jason punch a cop, oh please oh please. i wanna hear jason kick a cop in the ribs. that’s all i want for Christmas i’ve been sooooo so so so good

these adults are so mean and cold to this fourteen year old kid. like yeah he’s attached to a big old criminal enterprise but he is literally fourteen. also eugene insinuating that buck doesn’t know how to spell “stiletto” correctly? fuck you eugene.

“I’m the something else!” connie/penny wants to happen soooooooo bad. connie is penny’s Something Else.

huh. actually I think I kind of hate this era of Katrina. she’s like…… if you replaced a beautiful and individual stained glass window with a sheet of clear plastic. og!katrina had personality, opinions, interesting motivations, but this katrina feels like she’s just around to be The Wife and A Nurturing Woman. and her reasons for tracking buck down, and trying to get him to come with her, is just………. so weird??? it’s very obvious that the writers are using her as an unsubtle mouthpiece but it’s just so bad. hate it. don’t like it. want original weird brilliant katrina back.

also chris talking about how loving and open the odyssey folks are to buck for his crimes of [checks notes] being a fourteen year old with a criminal guardian is SO WILD after katrina literally tried to citizen’s arrest him and after chris herself called buck “the worst kind of people” or whatever. HE IS FOURTEEEEEEEEN

i wish richard were here.

i know eugene and katrina are going to adopt buck but eugh. idk if eugene’s outright hostility or katrina’s heavy handed self-centered savior complex is worse.

…well that was underwhelming.

THEY GAVE THEMSELVES A SOAP OPERA-STYLE “IT WAS ALL A DREAM” RIPCORD TO BAIL IF THINGS WENT BAD??? UNBELIEVABLE. and did Eugene say WHO? when Connie said Jason??? the fuck. the fuck. this is so bland it wraps back around to being devious. the fuck.

anyway I have to say again for the sake of the rule of three: would be better if richard were here but I’m not entirely convinced I want to subject him to this writing team’s particular flavor of character assassination. i want my old katrina back and a connie who doesn’t preach at people without it intending to be seen as a character flaw. ugh. unfortunately i will continue to listen while my trial period is valid

[disneytva]

On Disney+ you can always expect (and stream) the unexpected ..... except if you are library content, don't expect that..... Surprise. It’s NOT on Disney+.

It kinda sucks that in only 10 months the third largest streaming service worldwide dosn't seem to have any interest on adding Library content.... no really in terms of library animated content Disney+ only added Pepper Ann, 8 months later the catalog of drops of each month has been very low with only new series from Disney Channel & Disney Junior being the only ones to drop content regulary besides that, no vintage live action series,  no vintage Disney TVA series, Walt-Era films, missing some DCOMs, missing some Playhouse Disney/Disney Junior Library, Missing Muppets Series etc.. 

 It kinda sucks knowing that rival service Paramount+ does a better job on adding library content from Nickelodeon (Nickcoms & Nicktoons) than the freaking Walt Disney Company. 

The Buzz on Maggie HD footage cortesy of Bathroomshy and Nobien

 DC Studio Almost Live! With The Muppets footage cortesy of AppleBerry

[ares-rps]

A BUNCH OF NERDS DOING WHAT THEY DO BEST. 

so here’s the request! ever since middle school these guys have been playing a sunday night dnd game almost every week since. they’ve lost and gained players over time but, since about sophomore year of college for most, they had everyone they have now. even then they made long distance work through roll20 and various programs such as skype. and now, in their adult life, their second home campaign coming to end they decided to move into something new. 

with the rise of popularity of dnd, and their chemistry as a group, they decide to start a podcast and stream. the last couple years have been whirlwind as their podcast and stream has grown in fans, thousands of people latching on to their latest story and letting it grow in online fame. 

first last | age | member group | fc: utp | open | reserved: nica

[ the dm ]  checkmating someone in chess // the sharp bite of a scalding cup of coffee // a pencil scratching purposely and eagerly across a pad of paper // organising protests and marches down to the smallest detail // cappuccinos with just the right amount of foam // always have a plan // the scent of a brand new book // a journal of ramblings the soft tap of the end of a pen against notebook pages // the silent look you give someone when they say something ridiculous // disappearing to a library to study until your friends come find you 

first last | age | member group | fc: utp | reserved: gum

[ the wizard ] a bookcase with a never ending collection of novels // always searching for their newest hyper fixation // coffee mug imprints across tables // fingers typing away at a keyboard // pocket watches // latin inscriptions on marble slabs // keeping a journal with you at all times // half finished mugs of tea littered around your space

guinevere bittencourt | 27 | member group | fc: utp | reserved: zara

[ the paladin ] help me help you // rough but gentle hands // playing with your hair to help you find calm // trusting your gut and hoping you made the right call // others before yourself // come as you are // initials carved in wet cement // for better or worse // blankets fresh out of the dryer // sliding across a wooden floor in your socks // always searching for the truth // leaving things better than when you found it

first last | age | member group | fc: utp | reserved: amber

[ the bard ] a jack of all trades is a master of none // stinging bloody finger tips after practicing for too long // one step forward, two steps back // disorganized organization // the fear of missing out // over the top gestures // soulful execution // multiple exclamation points // doing things in the special window of time between 2 and 6 a.m. where reality is perceived a bit differently // take the road less traveled // insatiable wanderlust // music always playing in the background // those kisses that lead to more

first last | age | member group | fc: utp | reserved: winter

[ the rogue ] drunken phone calls at 2am // can’t sit still // being a little friendlier when you’re drunk // making out with someone for hours // 2% phone battery // fuck the rules // loud laughter // dragging your friends into crazy schemes // a mess of takeout containers // playing with fire // a pounding heartbeat // shattered shotglasses // actions speak louder than words // to hell with the rules // never back down // fist fights and always standing up for what you believe in // i’d rather die my way than live yours // a strike of lightning crashing through the sky // a burgundy lipstick stain on the edge of a coffee cup // a black dress with a lacy black bra 

kennedy appleberry | 27 | vanilla | fc: zoey deutch | taken: kore

[ the cleric ] hugs over handshakes // life long friendships // storing fireflies in jars // barefoot in the morning //  ornate old fashioned rings // half awake feeling of waking up // believing in fate // a ripple on previously still water // changing of the seasons // chamomile & lavender tea // fingers laced together // understanding the fragility of the universe // late autumn days with silver-grey skies and brisk winds // a deck of well-used tarot cards // hand-drawn ink maps of constellations on parchment // repurposed glass jars filled with herbs

first last | age | member group | fc: utp | reserved: gwen

[ the druid ] used bookstores with warped floorboards // solace in solitude // exploring the woods alone // a cat curled up asleep in your lap // a rain storm pattering against your window // owls stirring in between the murmuring trees // running your fingertips over dusty surfaces // cold night air // coming dangerously close to exceeding your library card limit

first last | age | member group | fc: utp | reserved: tori

[ the ranger ] hitting the center of the bullseye // always by the book // facts before fiction // politeness as a weapon // if looks could kill // classical music in a coffee shop // the pull of desire // tongue in cheek // hammer to a nail // hot candle wax // the first snowfall of the year // feigning interest // stickler for rules // lists, lots of lists

first last | age | member group | fc: utp | reserved: cloud

[ the monk ] don’t take no for an answer // digging your heels in // chip on your shoulder // withering insults // masterful precision // avoiding the cracks // quiet efficiency // loud laughter // late-night confessions // midnight food runs // sending a risky text // the rush of adrenaline // the silent look you give someone when they say something ridiculous // everything has its place //  the sounds of a waking city 

[silverandgenosquad]

Interrogation (Part 2)

“So, talk to me, old man. What have I been missing for the last couple of months?” Guin asked. “Is Geno still a genius with the brain of a caveman?”

“Oh, come now, Guin, is that any way to treat your brother?” Silver chided gently. “He may be a bit of a loose cannon, but he’s not a child anymore. He can make rational decisions now, I can trust that much out of him.”

“Really now? I'll believe that when pigs fly. You're telling me he hasn’t gotten into any accidents while at your lab or anything?”

His prosthetic tail tapped the ground. A thinking sign, a hesitant sign. “Depends on what you define as an ‘accident’.”

Her eye twitched. “On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being a minor oopsie and 10 being borderline apocalyptic, how would you rate him now?”

“8.”

“Stars, old man, you can’t be serious!” Guin groaned. She knew her brother was an idiot, knew her brother was prone to reckless behavior - she wondered how he managed to keep up with the engineer for this long without killing himself on accident - but this was the icing on the cake. “What did he do this time?”

“He was involved in a rather... misshapen accident,” Silver explained, and Guin sat up straighter, ears at attention, taking mental notes. “He thinks he can take on the world on his own, and he gets banged and bruised in the worse way possible. It’s honestly annoying having to tell him not to do that and he does it anyway.”

“Oh, man...” Guin’s previous attitude switched to something more serious. Geno, hurt? Misshapen accident? That could have been anything in his field. “Is he alright? How badly is he injured? Who or what did this to him?”

“He’s fine now. The boy bounces back faster than my whiskers can grow,” he reassured her. “I gave him the chewing out of a lifetime for sure. I’d made sure for him to know he isn’t allowed to be so reckless.”

‘He’s moving around the question. Who did this to him?’ Guinevere grumbled inwardly. 'And why is he so hesitant to tell me?'

The sound of a tea kettle whistling broke her thoughts on how to best approach the situation now as she mentally took the tea off the stove and poured some in the respective cups. She couldn’t be hasty with this, he’d find out about her intentions that way.

Besides, she had more important questions to ask him than know about her brother, as troubling as that news was - she kept that as something of note though, just in case it were to come back up in something else.

Now, how to get him on the subject of Deire...?

“Now, how about you, Guin?” Silver asked her, dumping a couple of sugar cubes into his teacup. “Working with Larzen must be a tasking chore on your style."

"Nah, old man, it's chill," Guin answered casually, taking a bite of one of the cookies she made for herself. "Don't you know? I get to kick ass and get a nice fat bonus at the end of the month for doing it. It's a sweet gig."

"If "fat bonus" equates to stuffing your face with food, then Larzen is doing a great job." The engineer rolled his eyes this time, sipping his tea. "I don't understand why you do this to yourself.”

“You’re telling me you wouldn’t want to try solid foods for once in your life instead of that stupid paste?”

Silver gave her a deadpan expression. “At my age, I would die doing that.”

“It’s not that bad, honest!”

“The day I heard you had to get detoxed, I thought I was going to have a heart attack, thinking you got hurt on the job. Turned out you got hurt eating those blasted Appleberries again. Two dozen of them. The doctors were shocked that you even survived. The amount of poisoning would have killed a normal Arkan."

“Well, clearly I’m no normal Arkan. And hey, those Appleberries are awesome! There's no paste varient of it. And even if there were, I wouldn't want it anyway. Nothing beats eating the real thing." Guin pointed to her scar, smirking. "Besides, I've had harder fights with Ix . Berries won't kill me so easily."

Silver blinked. "Ix attacked you?" he asked quietly as he ignored everything else she said before that, tail swishing feverishly on the floor, not unlike an upset cat - anxiety, fear. Subtle signs Guin picked up over the years.

“Larzen didn’t tell you?” Guin questioned with equal surprise - maybe the Boss hadn’t wanted the engineer to worry over her. She hoped she hadn’t given away classified info. “I got this returning from a mission, and accidentally entered Ix territory. They scrambled my radar and nearly took me down.”

“Egad!” Silver exclaimed. “Scrambling radar? How did you escape?”

“Quick wits. And PK Fire.” Guin blew a puff of flame from her mouth. “Never making that mistake again.”

“You better not, young lady,” Silver chastised. “Those fiends are nothing but death on wings. If they’re scrambling radars now...”

His tail stopped moving, and he stood up from his seat. “I best make haste. I got work to do.”

“Wait, old man, what are you- where are you going?” Guin inquired, making to follow him - she still had questions, for the love of-!

“Back to my lab. I have a project to attend to... one that will hopefully put an end to all attacks from the Ix like yours.” His response was curt, the true engineer in him coming out. 

He paused, and then added, “And before you go on anymore undercover investigations, learn how to be more subtle in your approach. A blind man can see right through your guise.”

Before Guin could even register what he had said, he had teleported away.

[Quicksilver is available for asks!]

[linuxgamenews]

Summer Daze at Hero-U Kickstarter ending today

Summer Daze at Hero-U Kickstarter campaign in final hours for Linux, Mac and Windows PC. Which is almost funded for developer Transolar Games. The crowdfunding campaign is 84% funded towards the $99,999 USD goal. If you missed the original post about Summer Daze at Hero-U. This is for those who love adventure and storytelling games. Sometimes getting to the next part of the story can also be frustrating. Visual novels tell stories but don’t offer as many choices. Or as much freedom as adventure games. But why can’t we have both? That’s the question Lori Cole asked when she started writing Summer Daze at Hero-U. So this is a prequel story to the highly rated Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption. Surprisingly, she found the answer in simulation games. Such as Dream Daddy and Magical Diary. Those games present stories with real choices. They also avoid the sometimes arbitrary and frustrating puzzles of many adventure games. Since Lori is known for the depth and complexity of dialogue and story. Which is also part of her games Quest for Glory, Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption, and Shannara. As a result, much of the focus in developing those games was on the role-playing game mechanics. And also, “walking simulator” graphics, and enabling interaction with every object. While these things are fun, they can become distractions from the game’s story.

A New Direction

Just as Lori and Corey Cole combined tabletop roleplaying. While including adventure game mechanics in many of their previous games. So she decided to combine the best parts of visual novels. And also using simulation and adventure gaming elements. In Summer Daze at Hero-U, players make meaningful choices. Since these affect the direction of the story. And most importantly, their character’s relationship with other people in the game. “Most visual novels have static plots that the player uncovers as he goes along. Summer Daze at Hero-U has no fixed story. The player makes the story by choosing where to go. Who to interact with and how to interact with them. Player choices matter. The plot may be the same between games. But the outcome can be wildly different.” – Lori Cole

Summer Daze at Hero-U Kickstarter Trailer (Linux, Mac, Windows PC)

Summer Daze at Hero-U is a story driven point and click adventure game. Play as female rogue Tilly Appleberry. Whose humor and wits are her greatest weapons. You can also play the studious male wizard Ifeyo Kinah. Or his meerbat familiar Jafafa. Since the game has two storytelling adventure games in one. The adventure begins during Hero-U’s summer festival. Which has to be a success… or not. It’s up to the player. Summer Daze is designed to be replayed many times. Since the character relationships and story change each time. Which is all due to player choices. If you’ve ever watched a film or read a book. Or even asked, “Why did the character do that? I would have…”. Summer Daze at Hero-U will give you that chance. So you can try different actions and learn how they turn out. Lori and Corey are currently in the final hours on Kickstarter. They are looking to complete the writing and development of Summer Daze at Hero-U. And also add additional animation and game features. Visit the official website for Summer Daze at Hero-U. Learn more and support this innovative and original game. Due to release on Linux, Mac and Windows PC. The funding campaign is in the final hours. Which ends at noon PST (Los Angeles time), November 5.

[shydragon327]

I just finished Bravely Second so I thought I'd make a review post! Overall, I'd say that I liked it, but not as much as Bravely Default. - In Bravely Default, all of the main characters were very well represented, with each being equally important to the plot, and it really seemed like the story was about all four of them together rather than one main hero and their friends (which is something that few RPGs manage to do!) In Bravely Second, however, it seemed like it was all about Yew and the other characters only mattered in terms of their relationship with him. I just couldn't get attached to these characters the same way that I could for the Bravely Default characters. It sort of felt... lifeless compared to how well characterized everyone was in the first game. - Expanding on that point, for being the first Bravely Second character that players saw in the preview, Magnolia seriously gets the short end of the stick in terms of writing. It seemed like her only personality traits were "fight Ba'als" and "crush on Yew" which is really disappointing. I mean, in the first game there was Ringabel who was extremely infatuated with Edea for the whole game, but he still clearly had a personality beyond that and (this is important) also had meaningful interactions with the other two party members. What does Magnolia think of Edea? What about Tiz? We don't know because she rarely even talks to them. Take away the exasperating vanilla romance subplot and what do you have left? She protects the world from the Ba'als along with her commander Appleberry, and wants to save her home, Fort Lune. What do we see of that? How many of you even remember that Appleberry was in the game? - Compared to Bravely Default, the game seems kind of lacking in substance. Bravely Default had tons of challenging sidequests in the late game, which really tested your strategy and how you use the different jobs. You probably reach the level cap just a bit more than halfway through, but there's still more to do and it's still a fun challenge! The unique little scenarios with all the asterisk holders and the big boss rush sidequest with all of the strategically intuitive teams in the last couple chapters of Bravely Default was one of my favorite parts of the game, or any game on the 3DS really! Unless I've somehow missed something, Bravely Second doesn't have anything like that. - There were some features in Bravely Second that I thought were really cool! Having all the characters share their thoughts on the various monsters and bosses they fought in Yew's journal was a cool little bonus, and I liked the little tent cutscenes where the characters would all interact in a more mundane setting. I remember thinking to myself "Wow, I would have loved something like this in Bravely Default!" Aaaand there it is again. When it gets down to it, Bravely Second just can't get out of its prequel's shadow! - The new jobs introduced in Bravely Second were, for the most part, really cool! I loved the Spellcraft mechanic and the Patissier job made all the debuffs that I never used as a Salve Maker in Bravely Default worthwhile! Although it is a bit strange that the job that involves making food is the one that debuffs enemies. Can't your foes just... not eat the cake that makes them weaker? The only jobs that I didn't use all that much were Catmancer (having four specialized party members is much more useful than having a jack of all trades party member) Charioteer (other physical attacking classes were better, but I still used the passive skills) and Guardian (I generally don't use tank classes in RPGs that much and I couldn't figure out how to use the possession mechanic reliably) Yokai + Summons + Spellcraft = OP though. - The meta stuff was cool! It was a bit cheesy, but I think it added to the story and the flow of the game overall. - The secondary characters were well written! The bad guys' motives made sense, more so than the Eternian forces in the first game actually! (Yeah let's let our army commit atrocities in the name of the greater good and then only have a select few people know what that greater good actually is, that'll go over well!) I also liked Altair! Final verdict: A good game, but a lackluster sequel.

[forgottenhsfacts]

does terezi ever refer to kanaya as something along the lines of "mr appleberry blast" or "miss blueberry" like she does some other people?

She has not, at least that I’m aware of

[bi-rezi]

hey real quick does anybody remember if terezi ever referred to kanaya with a nickname like mr. appleberry blast or miss blueberry like i'm p sure she does with sollux and vriska and maybe a few other people? it's for a fic and it's not really a big deal but i wanna know

[ciathyzareposts]

Kickstarter Special – Summer Daze At Hero-U & Interview with Corey Cole

By the TAG Team

It’s no secret that here at “The Adventure Gamer”, we have a soft spot for the Quest for Glory series and the works of Corey and Lori Cole. Three of their games are on our Top Ten! Although we are a retro gaming establishment, we reviewed Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption last year and have received a ton of positive feedback about the decision. That review (and the accompanying interview) are among the most popular posts on the site. We can only assume that you, like us, are fans!

We have been exceptionally selective in terms of what recent projects we feature, but we’d like to direct you to a kickstarter by Corey and Lori Cole’s Transolar Games: Summer Daze at Hero-U. This game is a prequel to the previous Hero-U title and explores a shift towards more narrative storytelling by integrating visual novel elements. It looks like it’s off to a good start. Summer Daze lets you play as either the mischievous female rogue or a studious and introspective male wizard with his meerbat familiar.

The campaign’s funding goal is $99,999 because as Corey points out, “we’d hate to come up $1 short.” At the moment, they are just over 70% of the way to their goal with less than a week to go. We’re really love to see this game get funded and hope you will check it out if you are a fan of the series.

As an added bonus, Corey Cole has agreed to speak with us and answer some lingering questions that your humble admins had about the development of his games. Even if you aren’t into his kickstarter, I encourage you to scroll down!

Tilly Appleberry, Disbarred Bard

What we know so far is that Summer Daze will be a less complicated game than the Coles’ others, with much of the gameplay consisting of choosing dialogue options.

“Summer Daze at Hero-U is a new direction for us. We’ve crystallized the story and characters into a fast-paced illustrated adventure that can be played anywhere.” – Corey Cole

The game is described as part adventure game, part visual novel, with a dash of light RPG. Of course, the demo contains the Coles’ strength of punny humor.

Ripping through the English language like a bull in a china shop.

If you feel you might be interested, you can check out some details and download the demo of Tilly’s first day at the Summer Daze website here.

Or you can follow the half-elf’s advice and check out the kickstarter over here!

You can also visit Transolar Games on Twitch. You can check out their previous broadcasts, and this Halloween they will be playing through Quest for Glory IV!

That’s enough with the marketing, let’s get on with the interview!

Interview with Corey Cole

You mentioned Summer Daze in our interview back in July last year. Is the game in its current state much as you envisioned it back then, or has it evolved into something different?

Summer Daze at Hero-U is fundamentally the same game as we talked about it last year. Lori has been writing dialogue and working with the team for the last year to get art assets and a prototype for the game. Anyone may download the prototype for free from https://transolar-games.itch.io/summer-daze or by clicking the “Download Demo” button on Steam – https://store.steampowered.com/app/1139490/Summer_Daze_at_HeroU/. The prototype covers day one (of twelve) for one of the two playable characters. 

Of course, games never stay static. As she works on the game, sees the art, and so on, Lori constantly comes up with new ideas, puzzles, and other ideas. The Kickstarter will also have some influence. If we reach stretch goals, we’ll be able to add more mini-games, animation, and so on. And if we somehow fail to reach the base goal, we’ll zero in on half of the game – Tilly’s story – and make that available on early access to fund Ifeyo’s half.

There is quite a contrast between them. Tilly is a mischievous, (and let’s face it, cute) rogue who never takes life too seriously. Ifeyo is the opposite, a dedicated student who is trying to prove to his family that he can be successful as a Wizard. Some of the events in Ifeyo’s story are also darker and more serious. If we’re able to fund adding some combat to the game, it will mostly be in Ifeyo’s game.

How do you block out your story beats and how has that changed from the early games to Hero-U and beyond?

Our stories start from the characters – not just the hero, but everyone he or she meets in the games. We think about each character’s needs and desires, and where they might be getting blocked from them. Then we go back to the player character and ask, “Why might players want to help this character? What can they do to help?” Those become many of the “puzzles” – or “problems” as I like to think of them – and also the main story beats. “My husband is missing. I haven’t seen him since he left to visit the store last night. Please see if you can find him.” – That could lead to any number of story situations, depending on what happened to the husband and who (or what) else is involved.

Players have their own problems as well – “I need to get out of my room at night without being spotted, because that’s the only time I have to get into the dungeons.” But we think that solving problems for others often gives players more motivation.

The major difference in how we plot our stories now vs. thirty years ago is that we have much more memory, and better ways to illustrate events in art and animation. We’ve also developed techniques over the years to make our games more responsive. For example, when Shawn talks to Ifetaya in Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption, the game has information about whether Shawn has previously had a run-in with a ghost. If so, we add lines about talking to ghosts to Ifetaya’s script. If Shawn has no reason to ask about something, that choice does not appear.

We may have taken this to an extreme level. Hero’s Quest had a 50,000 word script. Quest for Glory IV ballooned to 180,000 words, mostly because of dialogue changing due to previous events. The game might take the same amount of time to play, or at most double, but there is much more replayability and variation between plays. With Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption, we really went crazy with a 450,000 word script – 2-1/2 times the size of Quest for Glory IV – full of branches that you could only see in some playthroughs, invisible in the rest.

In general, the concept of a “story beat” is very different in a game from a film. Screenwriters have full control over what viewers see at each point in time. Their responsibility is to make each scene compelling, and to maintain the flow of the story. In games, it’s much more complicated. The software development cliché is that managing programmers is like herding kittens. That’s even more true in a game – Imaginative players will go anywhere at any time. They might not intend to break anything, but they’ll contort and twist the story by missing an important clue or dialogue setup, or by stumbling on a scene they weren’t supposed to reach until later.

Adventure game writing consists of creating thousands of “snippets” of text and dialogue, then trying to nudge players in the direction of encountering those tidbits in a reasonable order. One of the ways we do that now is by making much of the dialogue conditional – When the Warrior Drats invade Hero-U, that’s what most of the characters talk about. When a student is missing, that’s the main topic. This even applies to minor story events – If a character likes the hero, they’ll have different dialogue than if they don’t like him. If you’ve been studying Mozart in music class, your fellow students might talk about that. The idea is to try to make the game dialogue feel natural.

Hero U: Rogue to Redemption has had a positive reaction both in the press and among players. Was this surprising or were you reasonably confident that your style of adventure game would still resonate with people?

We never actually know how people will react to our games. We just make them as good as we can, and try to make games we would like to play, then we release them and see how people react. That’s an exaggeration, of course. We did ten months of outside Alpha and Beta testing on Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption, so we had a great deal of player feedback before the live release. And, of course, many complaints and suggestions that we handled as best we could.

We expected a positive reaction to the game because we knew we had been true to the spirit of our previous games. Plus the art and music were beautiful. So in that sense, we were pleased, but not surprised.

We did get some criticism as well. One common complaint was that it took too long to get places. What happened there? As we did at Sierra, we locked the player animation speed to make the walking animation look good. But it had some problems in this game. Part of that is expectations after playing modern games. Nobody ever walks in World of Warcraft except for role-playing. You run everywhere and fly where you can. Players are more impatient than in the early 90’s. Also, the sheer size of Hero-U is an issue. We’re proud that we were able to use 3D scenes effectively to make the castle feel huge. But the side effect of that is that it takes a long time to get places.

We added a “fix” for Shawn’s movement in a later game patch. That’s a nice thing about releasing our games online – We can go back and fix issues that players find. The less-nice thing is that we feel obligated to do that, which can get in the way of making the next game. Anyway, we now have a slider that lets players speed Shawn up – or slow him down. The animation doesn’t look as good at hyper-speed, but it’s a more comfortable play experience for many players, and that matters more. (As with story beats, player experience and interactivity are king in computer games.)

The other common criticism was that some players didn’t like the pressure of our “time as a currency” mechanic. That “feature” was a central element of our design throughout the project, and not something we could change without breaking many other game features. The idea is that Shawn is a student and has a schedule – breakfast, class in the morning, a little time to practice skills or visit the library, elective class in the afternoon, supper, free time in the evening, then bedtime. With that somewhat-enforced schedule, it can be a challenge to find time for exploration, monster slaying, relationships, and earning pocket money.

In addition, dialogue changes constantly throughout the fifty days of a Rogue to Redemption game. That was a huge challenge for Lori as a writer, and it means that players can’t just skip days or complete the story in 5 or 10 days. To make this work, we chose to gate Shawn’s time with all those mandatory activities. Otherwise players might exhaust most of the exploration and practice content in a few days, and be stuck waiting for story events the rest of the game. That can actually happen in the last ten game days. We scheduled fewer story events there, and some players have told us they didn’t have enough to do in the late game. That could be because most of our players are elite, experienced adventure gamers who burn through the secondary content quickly. Or it might just mean we should have tightened the script to 40 days.

Is there anything else you think our readers would like to know about Summer Daze or Transolar in general?

We have been trying to manage expectations on Summer Daze at Hero-U, at times emphasizing that it’s less ambitious than Rogue to Redemption, or that it was inspired by visual novels and dating sims. But adventure game fans should know that Summer Daze is actually a full adventure game. The script might weigh in at a “tiny” 200,000 words… but that’s still longer than the script of Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness. If you think that game is quite large enough, you’ll find just as much in Summer Daze.

At the same time, we’re trying to keep a laser focus on what we think makes our games great – the story, characters, and player choices. We’ve solved the problem of taking too long to walk through endless hallways by taking out the hallways. Instead, we’ve gone to still background screens and menu interactions. That’s what I did with Castle of Dr. Brain, and is similar to how Shannara played, as well as to the vignette scenes in Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption. (That’s so cumbersome – In the future we’ll just call it Hero-U 1 or maybe Hero-U: Rogue.) You move around by “fast travel” clicking on the interior and exterior maps, not by walking through hallways for five minutes.

One of Summer Daze’s Travel screens – I think it was Professor Plum with the Rope in the Library

There is also no “hunt the pixel” – Interactions are by menu, and designed to work as well on a tablet or phone as on a PC. The puzzles and problems are Quest for Glory style – helping other characters and yourself – rather than by figuring out arbitrary combinations of things to make a fishing pole or a disguise.

Coincidentally, taking out those dubious features is also making Summer Daze a more affordable game development project. We lost a lot of money making Rogue to Redemption. But we don’t think we’ve taken anything out that hurts the game. Instead, we have a tighter, more focused game that concentrates on the story and characters. If you like our other games, *or* visual novels, *or* games like Dream Daddy and Magical Diary, we think you’ll love Summer Daze at Hero-U.

And as someone who loves adventure games and wants to keep them alive, please pledge to our Kickstarter campaign so we can finish this game without going farther into debt. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/transolargames/summer-daze-at-hero-u is the place! Also check out our content on https://www.twitch.tv/transolargames and our personal Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/coreyloricole. The adventure game community is small, and that means each of you is important to keeping adventure games alive, and not just an artifact of the 1990’s.

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/kickstarter-special-summer-daze-at-hero-u-interview-with-corey-cole/

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Review: The Wuzzles Premiere Year: 1985 Category: Animated Television Series Company: Walt Disney Television Animation

If you were a little kid in the year 1985, there’s a great chance that you might have once a week been able to go on a journey to the wonderful island of Wuz, home of the Wuzzles. Since I myself was born in 1989, I never got that chance in my younger days, but now that I’ve finally looked up the show and seen all of the episodes ”Which is easy, considering there were only 13 episodes ever made.” I can truly say with all my heart, that you kids who got that great honour, you are truly the happiest kids ever.

”The Wuzzles” was, along with ”Disney’s Adventures Of The Gummi Bears”, the Walt Disney Company’s first attempt at producing a fully animated series for television, and even though the show has some strange details for me to nitpick over, the majority of the elements in it are good enough to get me into it completely.

The Wuzzles are fairytale-esque creatures who are hybrids of two different kinds of animals. For example, there is Bumblelion, who is a hybrid of a lion and a bumblebee, with the main looks of a lion, but with wings and antennas like a bumblebee. And Bumblelion as a character is courageous and likes sports. He’s described as the sort of guy who ”rushes in where angels fear to tread”. Other Wuzzles include Eleroo, a timid male Wuzzle with the body of a kangaroo, but with the trunk and ears of an elephant. There’s also my personal favorites… Rhinokey, a male Wuzzle who loves to play practical jokes on people, and he’s got the proportions of a monkey, but with the hind legs and the horned snout of a rhino. And Butterbear, a cute and gentle female Wuzzle with the main body of a bear and wings and antennas like a butterfly, and her antennas even have flowers out on their tips. Sounds really cute, right? Believe me, she really is. Of course, no good series is complete without a good antagonist, and ”The Wuzzles” is no execption. The main villain is called Crock, and he’s a massive hybrid between a crocodile and a dinosaur ”How fitting!”. As a character, Crock is bad-tempered, lazy, vile, ignorant, and… Well, to put it shortly, he’s a bully, and he always wants the best of what the good Wuzzles have, but he doesn’t want to apply the effort to acquire it himself. He usually just steals from others. His two sidekicks include Brat, a terribly aggressive hybrid between a wild boar and a dragon, and Frizard, a more tolerable henchman who is a hybrid between a lizard and a frog, whose character emphazises tolerance of others whom one is not particularly close to ”Which explains why he’s more tolerant towards the good Wuzzles then Crock and Brat.”, while staying loyal to one’s friends regardless of whether their plans are morally right or not.

The show also has a narrator voice, played by Stan Freberg, who often comments in a funny way about the Wuzzles current situation, or explains to the audience about a certain creature or aspect of the island of Wuz. Oh, did I forget to mention that everything else in the Wuzzles world is a mixture of two different things? Well it’s true, everything the Wuzzles use in their daily lives are hybrids of any two things, from the food they eat, like ”appleberries”, to their special kind of luxury homes called a ”castlescraper”. Sounds like a fun world, right?

As I said earlier, this show only lasted for 13 episodes, which comes from the fact that the show for some reason didn’t enjoy the same success as ”Disney’s Adventures Of The Gummi Bears”, plus the fact that voice actor Bill Scott, who had multiple roles in the show, died of a heart attack during the production, so Disney carried on with ”The Gummi Bears”, and just found replacesing actors for the rolls that Bill had on that show instead. Talk about being cheapskates.

The animation in ”The Wuzzles” is very lively for its time. It’s very hard to look at an episode of this show, and believe it is from 1985, which was an age when most animated TV series were made with limited animation, where as this one was done with full animation. There aren’t any songs in this show, except for the intro, but that’s not really a complaint. But if I had to be nitpickie about something, it’s the strange fact that all the good Wuzzles have little insect wings, even if it’s only the Wuzzles with bigger wings, like Butterbear, who actually uses them for flying. But that’s not something that ruins the whole viewing experience. Not too much anyway.

In conclusion, ”The Wuzzles” is a very imaginative and fun show. This show is a concept which, if it was copied in the modern days by modern television animation storymen, it would have probably just become a total mess, and that’s why I’m glad that it premiered when it did, even though I missed it when it was new. But I’m not mad for seeing it first now. You know what they say… Better late then never, right? And in this modern, very depressing age in the history of family entertainment, it’s wonderful to find something from the good old days that you never saw when it was new, because that means you can still get to feel the same feeling from seeing it for the first time as you might have felt back then. ”The Wuzzles” is just that kind of show. With very funny and colorful characters, lively animation and a real story holding everything together, I just can’t imagine any family not sitting together and enjoying this show. Okay, it’s final, I’ve made up my mind. When I get kids, I’m gonna let ”The Wuzzles” be the first cartoon they get to see. They really deserve it.

My Final Grade: Thumbs-Up, Way Up!