#node game development

[mistofsoundjata]

#Discount #Udemy #Udemyfree #AI #Development #gamedev #indiedev #indiegame #games #game #unity3d #3D #DevOps #Code #gamedevelopment #GameDesign #technology #node #nodejs #javascript #npm #coding #js #art https://t.co/c4KE43NB4Q https://www.instagram.com/p/CWWz26rjQWj/?utm_medium=tumblr

[theaccursedrat]

I just wanna play ashes of creations and kill gamers so that they’ll get off and go shower

[cryptotheism]

How do cards gain meaning in an occult sense? Like, both tarot and french-suited playing cards started as game pieces, but they have gained an understood meaning. Is it just someone whips up an organized table of connected ideas or is each card interpreted from a certain framework?

Oh good question!

Many things that we now consider staples of western magic are ideas that have been added to over generations by several layers of thinkers. Tarot Divination specifically is an excellent example of this!

In 1770, A french printmaker and occultist going by Etteilla published a book about how to do cartomancy with a 32-card Piquet deck. He writes down some simple but strict associations for the cards, and makes what is probably the first mention of reversals in carotmancy. He said that he learned the system "from an Italian." Now, its unclear how much of the system is his own invention, people have been doing cartomancy for as long as there's been cards, but the text presents a larval, bare-bones version of the cartomancy methods we know and love today.

Its 1780-ish. The Rosetta stone hasn't been discovered yet. Occult-inclined Europeans are obsessed with Egypt. That's where our boy Trismegistus is from! There's a concept in Egyptian mythology called The Book of Thoth, a mythical book of spells penned by the God of Knowledge himself. This was the Holy Grail for European Occult Egpytaboos.

In 1781, Antoine Court de Gébelin claimed that Tarot cards were the "original book of Thoth," Saying that Tarot cards had been used by ancient Egyptian priests for their own magical ceremonies, and that their designs contained ancient mystical secrets. This is 100% not true, but he writes a pretty fun pseudohistory for Tarot that involves Romani people bringing the decks to Europe through the Levant where they then taught its esoteric secrets to several Popes.

Then in 1783, Ettellia responded with another book. Manière de se récréer avec le jeu de cartes nommées tarots ("Way to recreate yourself with the deck of cards called tarots") Where Ettellia basically claims "uhm actually I knew about tarot divination way before Court de Gebelin published that big ass book. But anyway here's an interpretation of Tarot symbology that includes multiple references to Egyptian, Zoroastrian, and Greek mythology." But the smartest thing he did was include spread methods that involved Thoth and Numerology. Napoleonic Occultists fucking loved Thoth and numerology.

In 1788, he formed a little magical society for the express purpose of discussing and workshopping ideas for Tarot divination. In 1789, he made a TRULY smart decision, and published a Tarot deck that was Specifically For Magic, and that basically cemented Tarots place in magical history.

Occultists just kept iterating! Someone would speculate "maybe the suits correspond to the elements" and people went "yeah, they correspond to the elements! That makes this tool even more fun and interesting to use!" Then people go "What if the suits and the elements also correspond to parts of the Self?" and people went "Sure they do! That makes this tool even more interesting!"

But its also not just one thread. Eventually you get the Golden Dawn saying "The Major Arcana correspond to the nodes and paths on our version of the Quabbalistic Sefirot, you know, the hermetic version with a Q." and some occultists responded "Idk about that! Love what you've done with the color symbology though!"

The development of magical ideas is an iterative process. It is people whipping up a table of correspondences, but that table needs a mythology to keep it together. Originally, the mythology that gave tarot "power" was its Egyptian pseudohistory, but these days its the fact that occultists have been iterating on and fine-tuning this system for hundreds of years.

Humans don't think in tables of information, they think in stories. The cool thing about stories is that they're flexible. If magic is anything, its learning how to engineer stories to make the tables of information more effective.

I'm gonna plug my patreon where I post all of my occult research if you wanna see more stuff like this

[macabremachinery]

The Harlan Ellison Multimedia Literary Project & The Original IHNMAIMS Game Site

Yep, this was the 90's relic I was teasing about earlier last week. Behold, in GeoCities-esque glory:

Information about the site is discussed under the cut.

The Harlan Ellison Multimeda Literary Project was a student-run site that thoroughly discussed IHNMAIMS with academic analysis. Many of the links, when I first discovered this hidden gem, appeared to be broken. However when I accessed earlier snapshots of this site via the Wayback Machine, I was able to experience the site as it had been so lovingly cherished in 1998.

Unfortunately, like so many sites of its era, the formatting is horrendous. The gaudy white and tie-die tiled backgrounds clash with the pitch-black Time New Roman paragraphs, making many of the pages rather difficult to read. I recommend copying and pasting the text onto a document so that it's easier on the eyes.

Much of the "core" of the site is accessed through the Enter the World of AM link. From here you will taken to the main page.

Pretty straightforward. The 9 nodes listed in fuchsia are essentially pages breaking down separate bits of the I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream short story.

Yeah, I warned you about the gaudy formatting. I would post all 9 of my screenshots here as a backup to this site, however since the screenshots make the text difficult to read on a page already troublesome enough to decipher, I will simply link the project's main archived hypertext here.

Though many of the pages discussing IHNMAIMS do so with some academic jargon, the level of dedication and thought put into this project is commedable, and I cannot recommend this page enough for fans of Ellison, IHNMAIMS, and scouters of long-abandoned internet webpages.

While scouring this page, I cam upon a link at the bottom that caught my eye:

Curious, I clicked the highlighted text, and was redirected to this:

Yes folks, this is the official Cyberdreams website for I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream.

It's one of the more in-depth video games sites I've encountered, the creatives behind this game were so obviously passionate about what they were making. That era of the mid-90's for video games was perfect for such a product like this to be made. I don't think it could have been made 5 years earlier or 5 years later. It was released at the right time by the right developer who obviously cared about making art, and here, in full glory, you can read over the process regarding how this project even came to be.

I cannot recommend enough checking both these sites out and taking the time to explore them. They are absolutely worth a scavenge!

I apologize for releasing this post so late, I've had to comb through several links to get screenshots/viewable webpages.

[tumblezwei]

Putting Neo into consideration now, it looks like negative character development can also evolve a semblance. It's not just about learning more about yourself and coming in to your own, but unlocking some kind of willpower to change, whether for better or worse.

Which, being serious, is really interesting and makes the idea of evolving one's semblance just as much of a threat now as it is a boon.

On a meme level, this makes me think about RWBY being a video game where there are branching semblance trees and you need [X] amount of trauma points to unlock the next node

[makingspiritualityreal]

Making Spirituality Real Vedic Astrology Masterpost

A list of references linking directly to my Writing strictly on Vedic Astrology.

Return to General Masterpost Here.

Nakshatra Masterpost

Vedic Basics

Bhava Karakas - Decoding Astrological House Potential

Case Study of Mula Galactic Center Ayanamsa

Dharma, Atma, Kama, Moksha - Your Soul’s Desire

Introduction to Nakshatras

Nakshatra Gana - Deva, Rakshasa, Manushya

Nakshatra Planetary Rulerships and their Meaning

Natural Planetary Sight in the Chart - Derivative Houses / Parashara’s Aspects

Vedic Astrology - The Ultimate Truth for the Worthy?

What do you talk about in your private readings and can they be Vedic ?

What does a Karaka (producer) Mean in Vedic Astrology?

What is a Yoga Karaka planet?

Why Vedic Astrology will convince you Astrology is Real

Dasha Periods and Divisionals

Aries Planets in the Natal Chart and Divisional Charts - Break Ups and Blow Ups

Ashtakavarga Scores - how to “save” your low scoring planets

D9 Chart Activation Myth

Dasha Period Analysis Special - Planets Activated by Nakshatra Rulership

Dasha Periods - Natural Nakshatra Flow in your life

Interpreting Rahu and Ketu in context of Navamsa

Moola Dasha vs Nakshatra Dasha - Your Individual Planetary Timing

The Advantages of Divisional Charts in Vedic Astrology

Transit Influence on D9 Chart - An Important, yet often skipped Aspect of Vedic Astrology

Rahu and Ketu

Don’t Confuse Rahu Influence for Uranus Influence!

How does the Rahu “illusion” work?

How the Rahu - Ketu Axis matures throughout life - Development of Dispositor Houses

How to use the Lunar Nodes correctly?

Human Fears of Profitable Rahu

Ketu achieves Purity through Disgust with Excess

Ketu is a Graha that looks both Inwards and Backwards.

Ketu - Picky Like a Boss

Ketu = Ruled by Virgo?

Rahu and Ketu both rule Different Types of Challenges.

Rahu and Ketu - Juxtaposition of their emotional responses to stressful situations

Rahu - Cold Blood

Rahu - Impressionable and Impressive

Rahu in our Charts is Where we have a Tendency to Rebel at all Costs, Sometimes Without a Cause

Rahu vs Lakshmi - Money, abundance and greed

Strong Nodal influence, even Malefic, is one of the Main Factors of being in the public eye. “Rags to Riches”.

The Difference Between Rahu and Ketu lies in the Element of Fear.

The Nodal Axis and the Morality Conflict

The Nodes - Ascesis Vs Hedonism

The Nodes - Spiritual Failsafe

The Nodes - Suffering while Caring

The Nodes of The Moon Filter Your Perception, Just like the Moon Itself

The Positive and Desirable quality of Rahu is its Ability to Create an Atmosphere in the Physical World.

Using your Instincts to Master Rahu and Ketu

Venus and Lunar Nodes interplay - Your Karmic Relationship Score

Which planet is Ketu most compatible with?

Why is Rahu friends with Mercury?

-*-

Always Judge Saturn Retrograde Periods by Retrogrades of other Planets in Saturn’s Karaka Houses Relative to the Ascendant.

Artha Houses (2, 6, 10) and Moksha Houses (4, 8, 12) require a completely opposite approach.

Don’t Panic if a Major Astrology Transit Starts and you don’t see any immediate changes.

Malefics Teach You Boundaries

Moksha Houses Contain within them an Interesting Conundrum.

Natal Jupiter Ketu Conjunction - A Risk for Every Blessing

Of all the Grahas where we Feel out of Control, Ketu and Saturn areas are where you Carry the Most Burden.

Physical vs Spiritual Survival in an Astrology Chart

Planetary Stages of the game of Morality

Rahu and Saturn Create a Unique Blend of Pressure and Fear.

Saturn is the first Nakshatra stage where we experience genuine success. It’s our moment of triumph.

The Planetary Life Cycle

The Power of Individuating

There are Very Specific Stages to Solid Manifestation, that are Achieved Between Rahu, Jupiter and Saturn Arcs.

The Transition between Rahu and Jupiter Redefines the Idea of Greatness.

Using the Right Colors for your dominant Nakshatra can Change your Life

Vedic Astrology Fashion Observation

Why are 2nd and 7th Houses called “Maraka”?

Your Chart is How you End Up

[unanimoustechnologies]

In recent years, there has been an unprecedented demand for mobile apps. It’s no longer necessary to open a desktop for your question. All consumers nowadays are on the lookout for applications that meet their needs. It can largely be due to the rising popularity of the internet, as well as the availability of low-cost data plans. As a result, having a mobile app for every company is critical for increased scope.

Choosing the best mobile app development company can be difficult. If you’re looking for the best mobile app development business, Unanimous Technologies is the place to go. The IT solution company has more than ten years of experience in application development and can provide affordable software development to its clients.

[dielitttt]

Astro Observations pt.5🌸

__________________________________

Individuals with mercury conjunct mc tend to think before they say something alot of times and sometimes resist the urge to say how they feel abt something. These people probably had a lot of knowledge at a young age that other kids didn’t at that age.

Mc conjunct Pluto people tend to attract people who are envious towards them behind their back sometimes

Tw; mentions of drug abuse, mentions of ed.

Saturn square mercury individuals may have had a family that struggled financially or parents mainly that struggled financially. These peoples Parents may had struggled with drug abuse or people surrounded by them may have. May develop have developed an ED or some sort of disorder or addiction to something. Freedom might be a key to their happiness because they may have felt isolated most of their early life.

People with pisces moon or pisces in Venus in the music industry tend to be really creative with their lyrics, music videos and beats. They also make their little own fantasy in their music or make a album that’s themed with their own fantasys and emotions . Kanye west is one example with his album “My beatiful dark twisted fantasy”. Another example is with Micheal Jackson with his album thriller and SZA with ctrl. OMG HOW DID I FORGET AND MF DOOM!!! He also makes fantasy like music, in each album he has is themed by a little villain he has made sometimes and uses cartoons that includes those villains in his music videos. Fancy clown is one example on how he used his feelings and creativity in it, in fact that’s one of my favorite songs of his 😊!!!

On the other hand Leo moons in the Music Industry tend to have more of a old timey vibe in their music videos and music in general. Bruno mars and Lana Del Rey are some examples since they make these type of music videos that are inspired or have a 1900 or 1800 type of vibe.

People with fire signs strongly influenced in their chart can sometimes have problems with breathing and sometimes even have asthma.

Jupiter and mars placements tend to not know how to stand still for a second like you can not make these mfs sit down for like 10 minutes cause after like 1 minute they stand up and do some random ass shit😭😭

Venus in 8h is exactly like Scorpio Venus but gives off different vibes in a way

Venus in Sagittarius with Sagittarius sun women tend to have big thighs most of the time (me and my bestfriend have this and we complain on how pants don’t fit us bc of our thighs😕)

Capricorn or 10h placements in mercury or moon tend to have issues with having sympathy for others and others that are sensitive might get offended of stuff they say

Sagittarius and Aries placements can lose and have feelings really quickly and that’s because they can get disinterested really easy they most likely have had a hoe phase or is still in it☠️☠️☠️

My friend has his aura asteroid in Leo and has it in a Sagittarius degree and always gives off a Sagittarius like aura when I’m hanging w him or playing video games with him

Aquarius chirons and Aquarius north nodes tend to have long-term friends online sometimes and irl too

Aquariuses placements are the types to do the opposite things you said for them to do💀

[mistofsoundjata]

https://t.co/c4KE43NB4Q

[thatskynews]

Good news, Sky kids! 📣

We have a new patch update for Sky:

🌈 Days of Rainbow

🎵 Days of Music

✨ Other improvements

See the patch notes for more 📬

Known Issues - We are aware of the following bugs that are ongoing or were introduced with the arrival of Patch 0.21.5:

- [Console] Players may notice that when placing the footbag, the model will not be visible. This will not hinder functionality and players will still be able to play the footbag game.

- When new players attempt to start the Season of Dreams quests, progression is stalled after tapping on the teleport node in the Season Guide menu.

- Crashing may occur when players use the carry expression in certain cases.

- [Switch] Shard eruptions may appear out of sync with other players.

- Players may experience crashing when interacting with the Jam Station.

- Masks from constellation Ancestors may not glow while charged and players eyes may not remain glowing once the mask is broken.

- When selecting the violin in Harmony Hall, players will be informed that more progress is needed. The violin will become available on July 7 and will not require additional progress. (Please note that our recent development server accident may cause a delay in the violin’s release).

- Players are able to see detailed cape silhouettes of unlit strangers.

- While reliving the Tearful Light Miner spirit memory, players may find that progression is blocked as a section of the memory is out of reach.

- The 4th Season of Passage quest may not work properly and a fix is delayed due to the off-site incident shared in recent communications.

We appreciate your patience and apologize for any inconvenience these may cause while we work to resolve them in a future update.

[felassan]

BioWare blog post: BioWare Community Update - All By Design

02/23/23

Welcome to the first Community Update of 2023!

As promised in our last BCU, this time around we’re discussing what our game designers are up to. The responsibilities of a game designer can differ from studio to studio, so we’ll first jump into how our team is handling the design work for Dragon Age: Dreadwolf™. Let’s get to it!

When we use the term “designer,” we aren’t referring to someone who visually creates outfits or environments, as you might expect from a fashion or landscape designer in the real world. In game development, those would be our artists. Our designers help craft, balance, and conceptualize the player’s journey—working with artists, programmers, writers, and more to build out the game in a highly collaborative process.

In this blog, we’ll look at a key RPG system and how three distinct types of game designers are involved in making them.

- Systems Designers��work on a variety of features across the game, like skill trees and difficulty levels. Their goal is to create a vision for features that will directly impact the player’s experience. - User Experience (UX) Designers, collaboratively with systems designers, take the vision and explore how players will interact with it by creating mock-ups and early user flows. - Technical UX Designers then build it in-engine, working with the systems and UX designers in a constant back-and-forth, keeping the player’s experience and usability in mind at all times.

There are many other kinds of designers, too! Gameplay designers focus on creating and balancing the moment-to-moment gameplay, technical level designers create the building blocks for level designers to map out the player’s journey through locations, technical UI designers tailor how information is clearly surfaced to the player, cinematic designers craft scenes for the best storytelling experience, and narrative designers make sure the story’s flow of information to the player is a cohesive experience.

Now that we’ve gone over the basics of being a game designer, we’re going to talk about how they’re working together on Dreadwolf. Past Dragon Age™ games have all handled RPG systems, such as the player’s progression, differently, so naturally, we’re being just as experimental on Dreadwolf, taking the learnings of the past while also trying something new.

Skill Trees are a fundamental part of a deep RPG experience and give our players the ability to customize how their character functions in combat. A key belief on the team is that when a player invests a skill point, it should have a clear, tangible effect on the game, such as an ability or impactful perk. What those are and how they’re implemented in-game is handled by multiple designers, starting with a Systems Designer!

Luke Barrett: "Whenever we're envisioning something new, we're always presented with a Problem Statement we're trying to solve. Sometimes, especially for larger systems, they are very high-level, such as “The Player needs meaningful choices as they progress through the game,” or “The Player needs to feel more powerful as they progress through the game.” Together, these combine into a variety of different ideas as there are many ways to solve those problems, so it helps as a general rule to start introducing constraints and Player Statements to narrow things down. A Player Statement might be something like, "As a Player, I want my choices to matter.”" "Through the use of working sessions and brainstorming meetings, we narrow down what type of solution we want to pursue and then move on to doing competitive analysis. In this case, we made a vision board with pictures of skill trees, talents, etc. with a list of pros and cons. We also counted how many unique nodes existed and how far the player could realistically invest."

Intro of original design doc for Skills

Luke, cont.: "We take all of this information and write up a vision doc (sometimes called a 1-pager, design doc, or brief) that’s intentionally very brief and digestible and pulls together all of these problems, constraints, and user statements. It encapsulates our goals for how the design will solve them. Here is an example of two of our original statements and some bullet points under them:"

Luke, cont.: "We really wanted to have something that allowed the player to character-build in a way that allowed them to reach their “player fantasy.” And because we're supporting so many choices, we've designed something that can be customized widely, as opposed to a more linear progression system."

Initial design goals following the Player Statements

Luke, cont.: "Once we have enough constraints and player statements together, then we (finally!) start building the design. This is where we start doing prototypes and work with UX to flesh out ideas to see how a design may feel, both as its own entity and how it works with the rest of the game. Fun fact: I built a very early prototype in Excel for one of the ways we thought about solving the Problem Statements using a lot of buttons and scripting. (Important note: Designers aren't programmers! :) )"

Very early prototype for skill tree functionality exploration—names are placeholders

And that’s just the beginning! Once a game designer like Luke has established the vision of the feature to address the Problem Statement, it then moves over to one of our UX Designers to start exploring how our players might interact with it.

Bruno Porrio: "As a UX designer, my job is to approach design in Dreadwolf from a player-experience perspective. Our team partners up with other devs across the project and through ideation, prototyping, iteration, research, and feedback we help shape the vision for how players will interact with the game—from in-world signs and how the player affects the world to user interfaces and interaction design." "Let’s use the skill tree as an example. We take what starts as an early vision from the systems design team and poke holes, ask questions, and start developing what the feature will look and feel like (in this case, through user-interface design). We usually start with sketches, interactive wireframes, mock-ups, or in-game prototypes and validate them through testing and multiple rounds of feedback. At the end of the day, it’s a process where the system informs the experience design, and the experience design helps shape the system."

Initial class specialization skill tree wireframe—node total & layout subject to change

Bruno, cont.: "After multiple rounds of iteration and validation, we landed on the finalized design of the skill tree (which we can’t wait to show you). It was very important to us that the fantasy of playing a certain class and the customization options would come across clearly and at a glance without overwhelming the player. It was key to our team to take something that is usually complex and make it accessible and simple to read." "Overall, I love the skill tree. Not only because it’s an intuitive, fun part of our game, but because it’s also a great example of how the Experience Design team can help craft the vision in partnership with the systems design team."

From there, another designer jumps in to take the vision and mock-ups and turn them into something tangible in the Frostbite engine. We call those devs our Technical UX Designers. Game Designers, UX Designers, and Technical UX Designers constantly work together, providing back-and-forth feedback on each other’s work all the way until a feature is completed.

Kelsey Wicentowich: "Once the design is in a good place and the system has been stood up, it's passed over to a Technical Designer (like me!) for implementation. Technical UX Designers are actually a relatively new position at BioWare. The first ones were originally brought on a few years ago to help bridge the gap between the UX designers, programmers, and artists as UI (user interface) technologies changed and advanced."

In-engine mock-up—not representative art

Kelsey, cont.: "We use mock-ups provided by the UX Designer as a starting point and build out the UI in-game, including the general layout and navigation of the screen. Every UI is a collaborative effort between the XD (Experience Design) team and other pillars of the game team. We go back and forth with programmers and other game designers to figure out how to gather the data we need to display to the player. Larger features, like the character screen, really come alive once you start pulling in even more departments like character design and lighting to bring it all together." "But the work doesn't stop once the feature is functional in-game. It's at this point that we can truly start to evaluate how it feels and how it reads to a player. Does the navigation work well? Is the information overwhelming or confusing? Designs change and iteration continues until we find the right balance between the designer's vision and the player experience."

From features like the Detailed Stats page that cater to RPG enthusiasts to hand-crafted locations you’ll come to explore and more, design is a topic we could talk about endlessly. It’s a subject we’ll likely touch on again in the future, too, when we talk about other parts of game development, so keep an eye out!

Every week, we see so much amazing community artwork from all of you. It’s always a delight to share some of the incredible pieces here! Seeing you bring these characters to life in unique styles is such a wonderful treat for everyone on the team. [click here to see the art and art section]

This year, we also wanted to provide you all with a direct way of asking us questions. Now, we can’t answer every question, but we’ll try to answer what we can in our upcoming BCUs. There will undoubtedly be some that we’ll have to save for later, though.

Questions like “when will a big reveal trailer drop?” or “when does the game come out?” are things we’ll save for official announcements. However, if you have questions about a BCU’s topic (including past BCUs), games we’ve made, or other relevant questions that come to mind, please feel free to ask! You can even just ask a fun question you want devs to answer.

We’ll be keeping an eye out on Twitter (#AskBioWare), community subreddits, and community Discord servers for questions you all want to have answered. We’re looking forward to answering some!

Thanks for giving this a read! We hope you learnt something new and better understand how we’re crafting Dreadwolf. Everything we do is in hopes that we can make something great for you, and getting to talk about that is something we’re eager to do. We have a lot more we want to talk about, too.

As always, please let us know what you think of these blogs! We love hearing your thoughts—it really helps us when we’re deciding on the things we want to share.

Until next time!

—The BioWare Team [source]

[qwilman]

random thoughts about AI art

a problem i feel like we've got already with discussions about AI art are people who are ostensibly on the right side of the argument, but are so excited to fight the good fight that they end up being completely intellectually incurious about what the actual problems are.

"real art is made my humans, not computers" is a argument that throws a lot of helpful, efficient tools for artists out the window. this argument as applied to this situation cannot be used without procedural generation as a whole being raised. all of a sudden using blender's geometry nodes is now potentially invalidating. speedtree is a sinful tool for all game developers.

"it's always looks wrong and gross and creepy" is an argument against virtually all outsider art. wrong and gross and creepy are very useful tools in the artists' tool box. the uncanny is the striking, or the means by which we invite the audience in with comfort only to have them discover something shocking with their own examination. of course, i'm making the argument for its intentional use, but to use this against someone who tries to create beauty and lands on ugliness is an argument against every artist who is still learning.

"it can't even make hands" is a neighbor to the last argument, basically the idea that these systems will always be imperfect in their execution, and will always have telltale signs of what they are. that's simply not true. as long as they're continuing to be used and mastered by the people using them they will improve. they'll become more and more sophisticated and better adapt to modern sensibilities. if you're relying on "real artists will always be more technically proficient than computers" you're volunteering your heroes to fight larger and larger dragons every year.

the central issue (for me at least, your milage may vary, i am not a doctor, this is not legal advice, etc) is that every AI art generation algorithm i'm aware of was trained at least partially on stolen art. this was kind of always a necessity. the volume of data required to start getting useful results was always going to make assembling thousand and thousands of contemporary artworks legally financially infeasible. the engine needed fuel, and it's inventors were reckless about where they got it. now the influence of all that art is caught in the ephemera of these models in a way that it's simply impossible to remove. they will always be the result of this unethical act, and that is the driving argument against them.

this isn't NEVER brought up, obviously. i hear it most often from actual artists who are constantly walking a tightrope between making their art as accessible to the public as possible and trying to preserve it's value and retain any sense of ownership over their work. the general population, people who's hearts seem to be in the right place but lack stronger familiarity with the issue, have developed a habit of jumpin into arguments passionately arguing points like "a computer can NEVER make REAL art," "it ALWAYS looks GROSS and STERILE and CREEPY" or "it can't even make HANDS!!" these are surface-level objections, so reductionist as to not really be very helpful. they're the art-tech equivalent of "Trump is a bad president, he's so OLD and FAT and UGLY."

[hanavesinauttija]

A ramble about Paganini and why I like Samira's theme

Niccolò Paganini is my favorite classical composer. He was the best violin player of his time and it wasn't close, so much so that he was accused of selling his soul to the devil for his talent. He popularized a lot of different techniques that have since become the bread and butter of any modern violinist. Two such techniques are harmonics and ricochet (or jeté).

A harmonic note is played by lightly placing a finger on a string, as opposed to pressing the string onto the fingerboard. Pressing lightly allows the string to vibrate past the finger, resulting in a lighter, airy sound. However, the finger needs to be placed exactly at a harmonic node on the string, or a division point (e.g. at the halfway point or exactly one third). There are artificial harmonics as well, but we won't worry about those right now.

Ricochet is a bowing technique wherein the violinist lets the bow fall onto the strings, after which the bow bounces rapidly. This gives the notes a distinct sound and is used to play rapid series of notes, but is very difficult to do in a consistent, even, controlled rhythm.

Paganini composed a series of etudes known as the 24 caprices. An etude is a song designed to exercise a specific musical technique, like a video game level designed after a specific hazard to teach the player to deal with them in isolation. The caprices are very difficult, and foremost among them is Caprice No. 24. This song is a milestone for an aspiring violin virtuoso, much like Through the Fire and Flames Expert FC is to Guitar Hero or Van Halen's Eruption is to normal guitar. Caprice No. 24 consists of a theme and variations, where each variation tests a different technique.

Caprice No. 1 is an etude that tests the ricochet technique.

Caprice No. 24 variation 10 tests harmonics (at 3:03, listen for the highest notes)

Onto something completely different. Riot games, the developers of League of Legends, make good music. In addition to event themes, soundtracks, and cinematics, each new champion gets their own theme. Samira's theme is very good.

This theme is played on the cello, which I've never played, but employs many violin techniques. Now, if I'm not incorrect, there's a very small moment in the song at 1:35 where the cello plays a harmonic arpeggio with ricochet.

That's super impressive to me. Harmonics are a bit easier on cello than on violin, but playing that line at that speed with as much clarity as they did. That's super cool. I've never even seen these techniques combined.

That's all.

[recurse-game]

I was scrolling through the re:curse tag and I noticed you like joked in an old post that you shouldn't use rpgmaker for gamemaking. I've been wanting to make a game on there for a bit and im genuinely curious like, what are the downsides to using it?

If you specifically want to make an “rpgmaker-feeling game”, rather than an rpg in general, any version of rpgmaker can probably get you where you want. If you have no interest in learning to code, you can get by in it with zero scripting knowledge, which is nice for artists. And honestly, anything that motivates you to make a game is worth pursuing! My main gripe with the engine is its lack of flexibility, especially in comparison to other free, code-lite engines that are available now. Here are a few specific points:

Platform restrictions: VX Ace, the version I used, cannot export a game for Mac, Linux, or mobile. That means a ton of people won’t have access to your game. Most other commercial engines can do this.

Limits your system design: In rpgmaker, the battle system, menu system, dialogue system, controller input settings, heck, even the fonts and window graphics… They’re all baked in, and changing them is a huge pain in the ass, requiring modifications to the engine’s source code. If you like the way the builtin systems look, it’s fine, but every time I wanted more precise control of my game’s “feel,” I started hitting walls.

Custom scripting in Ruby: Not the biggest gripe, but VX Ace’s internal scripting language is Ruby, which isn’t that common for game development in the West (and I don’t know it very well). Another language like Python, JavaScript or C# would be more accessible for me personally.

The long and short of it is, I started developing in Unity for work, and it’s capable of so much more customization out of the box that going back to rpgmaker (or visual scripting/code obscuring engines in general) feels like putting on handcuffs.

If you want to check out some more free/cheap engines before you commit to rpgmaker, I’d reccomend checking out:

Unity: Great general-purpose 2d and 3d engine, lots of documentation, tutorials and asset store resources available.

GameMaker: I’ve used this in the past and it’s a pretty good middle ground between Unity and rpgmaker. 2D-focused, you can make rpgs but also platformers and other types of 2D games.

Unreal Engine: If you want to do AAA-styled 3D and get great results out of the box, check out Unreal. Its almost exclusively node-tree based visual scripting that can be a bit more intuitive than regular programming.

RenPy: Haven’t used, but seems to be the overwhelming choice if you want to make visual novels.

[satanandsoul]

sorry Nct dream debut was august 24, 2016 when the mv was first released at 9pm

Hi anon. Yes, I can redo a solar return chart analysis for Nct Dream. This time I would like to take a look at their 2023 solar return chart. And thank you for providing the debut time. 💕💛💕

♍︎ Nct Dream 2023 Solar Return Chart and Debut Event Chart Analysis ♍︎

Disclaimer: All these are for entertainment purposes only. DO take my words with a grain of salt. Please make sure you have the stomach for my honest words. If you don't, please scroll away and have a nice day.

Nct Dream is still in their 2022 cycle. But we will take a look at their next cycle. And this is the 2023 solar return chart for Nct Dream:

T square between Sun in 9th house Virgo opposite Saturn in 3rd house Pisces with Moon in 1st house Sagittarius as the apex: In the next cycle, what the members cognitively identify with (Sun) is different from what they emotionally need (Moon) and is different from what their supervisors demand (Saturn). They cognitively identify with (Sun) constant but structured (Virgo) travel in foreign land (9th house). What they emotional need (Moon) is expressing themselves (1st house) freely (Sagittarius). What their boss demands (Saturn) is communicating (3rd house) in a dreamy way (Pisces), well, in other words, it is basically selling a dream to fans. This T-square will lead to the members feeling stifled, both emotionally and vitally. Sun also squares Uranus in 6th house Taurus. Sun square Uranus also wants to break free. The members will like to rebel in daily work environment in a Taurian way. They will like to introduce some level of luxury into their daily work environment. After all, Taurus is all about physical pleasure.

Moon in 1st house Sagittarius trines Venus in 9th house Leo: What the boys emotionally need will be in accordance with their style of artistic creation. In the next cycle, the artistic creation of Nct Dream will carry a Leoian flair. It will be highly entertaining. May even have a retro vibe. The boys can have fun delivering this concept.

Mercury-Mars conjunction in 10th house Virgo: Vigorous (Mars) but structured and detailed (Virgo) discussion (Mercury) about their career development (10th house). This conjunction also forms a Grand Trine with Uranus in 6th house Taurus and Pluto in 2nd house Capricorn. The reform in daily work environment the boys want to bring about will stimulate the discussion about career within the group. The discussion will be profound (Pluto). The subject will also revolve around money (Pluto in 2nd house). They will most likely take about how to open up new streams of income in a systematic way (Capricorn). However, this conjunction is also in opposition to Neptune in 4th house Pisces. What the boys will talk about may only remain a fantasy to them. Or the discussion that the boys will have may not be grounded in reality. They will not take enough action for realising such fantasies. The fantasy element (Neptune and Pisces) comes from domestic environment (4th house). Mercury also trines Jupiter in 6th house Taurus: It will be easy for the boys to agree on a common belief (Jupiter) of having a luxurious (Taurus) working style (6th house), for example having lots of snacks and video games backstage for them to relax.

Venus in 9th house Leo squares Jupiter in 6th house Taurus: Venus in 9th house also points to constant travel opportunities in foreign land. I can see that the boys will like to travel in style and luxury. (I don't know why luxury is a theme for the boys in 2023. 😅) I will skip over Venus square Uranus as the orb is too wide, 9 degrees.

Now, let's take a look at how Nct Dream's 2023 solar return chart interacts with their debut event chart.

This is basically the event chart for Nct Dream's debut and the green symbols on the outside of the chart are the planetary positions of the solar return chart.

3 Things stood out to me:

Midheaven of the solar return chart conjuncts North Node of the event chart: Wherever the boys will take their career to in the next cycle will align with the destiny of this group.

Uranus of the solar return chart conjuncts Moon of the event chart: In the next cycle, the boys will really want to rebel. It will be their emotional response.

Moon of the solar return chart conjuncts Mars-Saturn conjunction of the event chart: The boys will have some repressed anger issues. The issues will likely to revolve around shared resources (8th house)

And that's it. I hope you are happy with my new analysis, anon. The corrected debut chart of Nct Dream is not as messy as the old one. 😅 But still I think SM does not hire astrologer to check their groups' energy before debuting them.

[zekeyspaceylizard]

Grief is a hell of a drug.

There was a time when I was younger that I didn’t think internet friends were as important as real life ones. Then I met Oliver. Oliver was a fan of mine from the old Newgrounds and AlbinoBlackSheep days. We met on steam and got along well. Very well, in fact. We had similar senses of humor, and many of my favorite jokes and memes and gags came from him. He lived in the UK and I lived in the US and we talked via Steam for years and later, when it was available, Discord.

Oliver was like a brother to me. We talked about frustrations and pain in our lives we didn’t share with anybody else. We’d theorycraft about updates to DOTA2 and other games we liked to play. Discuss stupid crap in pop culture and shoot the shit for hours. Oliver always believed in me and, like many of my other online friends, never quite understood why I’ve become such an unlucky massive disappointment as an adult, potential all squandered. He always told me he wished our lives were better. So we could both be happy.

He’d send me music sometimes for bands I’d never heard of, introducing me to things I’d never experienced. Through him I started to realize that he was just as important to me as any real life friends I’d had. Even more so in many cases as many of them got older and found success and moved on with careers of their own, while I continued to struggle here and make something of myself.

He was there to console me when I had my nervous breakdown in 2009 that lead me into a deep depression. He was there to cheer me up when I turned 30 years old and was depressed again. He never got a chance to turn 30.

A bit over a year ago he was feeling poorly and saw a doctor and learned he had lymphoma. The prognosis was good and he felt confident he’d beat it. He’s show me photos of the giant ghastly lumps on his skin where his lymph nodes used to be. And I hoped and prayed to whatever I could that it would all go well and he’d recover and have a normal life. But I wouldn’t be writing all this if that were the case.

A couple weeks ago he had lost the ability to walk properly due to developing anasarca as well. It made him unable to visit family in Germany which broke him as he wanted to see them one last time. His last couple of big outings was meeting his boyfriend in the US and later attending a Newgrounds meetup where he got to hang out with Luis, another Newgrounds animator he was friends with. He was in bad shape at that point, a bag of fluid around his heart mutating into a giant growth that protruded from his chest. But even that he took lightly and would crack jokes about. He was just that kinda guy.

Over the years I had drawn stuff for him, usually involving his beloved orange tabby cat, whom he had raised from a kitten. The week he had learned he had lymphoma, that cat was hit by a car and killed. He grieved for it a lot. He loved that cat and would send me pics of it all the time. I even painted that cat as a kaiju once, lording over a city. That illustration is lost to time. I wish I’d kept it.

The one bright spot was months later he found an abandoned black kitten and adopted it. It was one of the few positive things in his life anymore.

As his condition grew worse, I asked him a handful of times if he wanted me to draw or paint him anything to cheer him up. As an artist it was all I could really do for the guy. I’d have donated my own lymph nodes or heart to him if I could have, but such things arent possible. About a week ago he finally had a request. He wanted me to paint something from the game Jet Set Radio and Jet Set Radio Future, which were two of his favorites as a kid. He was eager to try out Bomb Rush Cyberfunk since it looked like a spiritual revival of that series.

So I painted like a madman. Painted as hard as I could, sleeping little, hoping to make something he would love. His birthday would have been last Thursday, just a couple days ago. At around 1 am, the night prior, I sent him the painting. He was offline, which struck me as odd. He was one of those guys who was always connected to the web, usually playing Runescape. It was ominous.

Then 24 hours passed, with him neither online on Discord or Steam. I had a bad feeling that he was already gone. And learned hours later, from his other friend Luis, this was indeed the case.

My beloved friend Ollie died the night I finished his birthday gift. He never got a chance to see it. He never got to celebrate one last birthday. I wish I’d sent the unfinished version when I had the chance. I wish I could have made him happy, even for a little bit, in the multitude of ways he often brightened my days.

But it won’t happen now. It’s a very strangling feeling. Like someone has wrapped razor wire around my throat and is winding it tighter and tighter. All we needed was one more day. Not a lot to ask for, in the grand scheme of things.

There’s not much more else to say so I’ll end this with a link to a video he and I used to reference all the time. A cartoon we often chuckled at, and one of his favorites. We Get The Night.

Rest in Peace, Ollie. You absolute lad. You beautiful bastard. I hope if there’s a heaven that you save me a seat, man.