#racer dev post

[tetley1173-igb220-blog]

Racer Development Post

By Shannon Tetley

During development of my racing game Bonkers Bob, I've been trying to add immersion to the game by making it seem like the world is moving around the player. Until now my backgrounds have been static or had no art in it at all. I'm also working on adding better feedback for players.

As you can see I've had some success with this. The feedback is improved, the text that indicates the number of cars passed is bigger than in other games I've made, and its quite obvious what's going on when you crash your car. Screen transitions was fairly simple to facilitate and I've learnt how to add buttons for navigation. This will be important later as I plan to add a shop to the game.

The most challenging part of this process was to implement the movement of objects. I've been thinking ahead with this one, knowing that there will be different player speeds in the game due to different player vehicles and upgrades, I've reduced the use of magic numbers in my events. Instead of making the car move at a flat rate of 300 pixels, I've given the player car a speed variable that the event looks at to determine its speed. I've also used this concept when setting the speed of traffic and scenery. The speed of these objects is determined by some simple math so that their speed is relative to the player vehicle.

Some magic numbers remain but will be changed as I work on the project. Controlling the speed of vehicles this way will make it easy for me to change their speed later when more controls and upgrades are added. Removing the magic numbers used to represent traffic speed will even allow me to change their speed if I want to balance the game or increase the difficulty for later gameplay.

As for the future of the game, I plan to add a store with an upgrade system and boss battles. This has led to me planning how I might program the AI for these types of enemies. I'm unsure for now but I may end up making the boss follow the player then fire its gun randomly. While having these thoughts I happened upon an article an article by PC Gamer interviewing Todd Howard, Director of Starfield, about its ship AI (Randall). In the article he states that the AI of the enemy ships was made to be "dumb" so that the player has the chance to hit the otherwise impossible to hit space ships. This has made me mindful that making the enemies in the game dumb, may be a good idea to keep the game playable and more importantly fun.

References:

Randall, Harvey. Todd Howard says that Starfield's . . . , PC Gamer, 2023.

https://www.pcgamer.com/todd-howard-says-that-starfields-ship-ai-sucks-on-purpose-so-players-can-actually-hit-stuff-you-have-to-make-the-ai-really-stupid/?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialflow&fbclid=IwAR1jGq6LuhFwuQpIbv6ANjg5kL5SiD9Kq397PAtAfl-6BTVcRi5odJvbNBY

[legoracers]

Official conceptual storyboard art for one of the Lego Racers cinematic intros featuring Rocket Racer | Pete McLennon

[b0tster]

Some very exciting developments for today's Nightmare Kart dev post!

In the process of rigging the bone bike, I naturally set up all the skeleton arms and legs like I would a normal humanoid, and that got me thinking: What if I simply animated this kart to do humanoid things if there's support for it?

I was struggling to come up with a new racer design for this kart and this idea provided me with a solution: Make the kart and the racer the same thing!

As a test, I gave it a sword for each of its arms:

This is filling my brain up with so many ideas!

[foxes-and-lies]

So this is my Wreck-It Ralph oc. His name is Burnout and he's a scraped TurboTime oc concept based on the idea of a Player 2 character.

More of his lore below along with goofy ass art of him

During development, the game devs had thought about making it a 2 player game but later scraped the idea when they realized the cost of making two player cabinets. But when they went to delete his code, they realized he was deeply ingrained into the game as without his code, the game wouldn't work. Think the coconut from the TF2 game files. So he was left in the game but his playability removed. He would then live in TurboTime as an unplayable character but very in tune with the games code and ends up sort of like the troubleshooter and repairman of the game's code. By this, he does know how to code though does so in a more command prompt fashion, able to summon up the window and input codes. An interesting thing about Burnout's code is that it was still early in development when he was scraped. At the time he was just a copy paste of Turbo's code and sprite. Some of his code and mechanics had been tweaked to have him always burnout at the start of the race before launching forward in a burst while his sprite was made to resemble a crash test dummy. His voice is even Turbo's but pitched down. Burnout does suffer a lot with his sense of individuality and hates being compared to or mistaken for Turbo. You'd think being more chill and a bit feral while being bright orange would keep that from happening but there's still a lot of Turbo in him. Also he and Turbo do not consider each other brothers by any sense. They are friends and have a rivalry during the closing hours. He does end up homeless post the Roadblasters incident, living in Game Central for a while. He still suffers from mistaken identity as people keep mistaking him for Turbo but now it comes with a sadly warranted fear along with people fearing he'll end up like Turbo and game jumping. During this time, he just spends most of it at Tapper's during closing hours, developing a drinking problem. But when Burnout does end up in Sugar Rush, he naturally can pick out the voice that is basically his own and blackmails KC into letting him hang around. Burnout does implement himself as a racer, finally living his dream of being a playable character and being on the track during day time hours. He takes on a toasted marshmallow themed appearance by the name of Burnes Mallowvich and is sometimes on the roster. In terms of how he feels about Vanellope, he feels bad for her since he knows what it's like to be stripped of your purpose and kept from it. He likes to sneak her rides on his kart though does avoid the finish line. He's like a weird uncle.

Now for random ass art and doodles

[kaythefloppa]

More rambling about Wild Kratts Game Lore bc I can

On today's episode of "shit about the flash games that I am probably the only person alive to care to notice," let's look at a certain pattern in the tutorials that, whilst it may seem minor, may actually reflect something about the overall website (and if you have no clue what the f*ck I'm talking about, feel free to stay, it's so much funnier that way)

Ok so let's look at the first wave of flash games made by Chocolate Liberation Font (the dev-team behind them). In the tutorials of these games, (i.e. Cheetah Racer, Ride on Remora, Caracal Leap, Draco Glide, Kickboxing Kangaroo, ect), one of the Kratt Brothers would introduce the animal and objective before activating their Creature Powers. When they do so, we see a close-up of their shirt (oddly enough without the suit or gloves??), and we see the buttons on the Creature Power Suit with the Creature Disc insignia in the same color as the suit itself.

Some image examples as Exhibit A.

You get the picture.

Now let's move on to the games that were added to the website in 2012 by Pixelpusher; Flower Flier, (R.I.P.) Croc Hatch, Frogfish Feast, Aardvark Town, and Web-tastic!; The Wild Kratts Creature Math Suite that collectively made up a quintilogy game, Creature Roundup. These games features new animals and new Creature Powers, 3/5 of which were featured in Season 2 of Wild Kratts which had recently premiered on PBS Kids at the time. Like before, the Kratt Brothers introduce the creature, the objective and Activate Creature Powers. However, here is one difference;

When the screen zooms in on the Creature Power Suit post-activation, we can see the physical Creature Power Disc itself over where the PowerSuit button/creature insignia would be. Regardless of the disc's color, it would show up. As shown below in Exhibit B.

Quite the difference eh?

But wait, it gets even more fun.

In 2013, two games, Dolphin Dive, and Slither Run, also done by Pixelpusher, are released. They're not affiliated with the Math Suite, but are in the same league as them. In the tutorials where the brothers activate their Creature Power Suits, you realize that, just like in the games developed by Chocolate Liberation Font, the close-ups of the buttons don't have any overlays of the disc (using Slither Run here because Dolphin Dive wasn't a good enough example)

Put a pin in this, because this becomes relevant later.

Let's redirect ourselves to the habitats. You probably remember exploring the habitats, finding and learning about different animals, unlocking photos, and adventuring with the Creature Powers earned from the games. The site was updated to include some new habitats and Creature Powers, but let's exactly look into the details of that, shall we?

Here are the available Creature Powers to use in the habitats to unlock the photos for your adventure journal in the character creator page, Your Room. Rattlesnake Power, Draco Lizard Power, Cheetah Power, Kangaroo Power, Caracal Power, Squirrel Power, Firefly Power, Dolphin Power, and Remora Power.

Now, you may notice that the Creature Power Suits from the Math Suites (Hummingbird Power, Crocodile Power, Frogfish Power, Aardvark Power, and Spider Power) are missing here. In fact, they're not in any way able to use in the habitats. They (along with Dolphin Power and Rattlesnake Power) are also absent amonst the assortment of Creature Powers to use in the supergame, Habitat Rescue Game.

This is where I pull stuff out of my ass cause I'm fcking crazy everything comes together.

Notice how the only Creature Powers that aren't available to use in the habitats are Creature Powers that the brothers use in the games where the physical discs are displayed on the buttons. The only ones available to play are ones where the button is visible when the brothers activate that particular Creature Power.

Conversely, none of the Creature Power Suits from games developed by Chocolate Liberation Font have PowerSuit photos that the user can take with a camera once they complete Level 5. Only the games added by Pixelpusher (this includes the Math Suite, Dolphin Dive, and Slither Run) are, and 5/7 of those games are where the physical disc is placed over the button. Slither Run and Dolphin Dive are anomalies from this pattern, but the majority rules (especially since they were added in post after the Math Suite).

But wait. It gets even deeper.

You know how I said in the assortment of games where the physical discs are present in the tutorials, Dolphin Dive, and Slither Run are anomalies in terms of games that had unlockable photos in levels? You know what pattern they aren't anomalies of?

Yeah, the Habitat Rescue Game at the beginning of this post wasn't just bc the game is fucking peak (based on a show that's fucking peak). None of the 7 Creature Powers from Pixelpusher's update to the website appear in the supergame Habitat Rescue. Not a single. One. And none of the Creature Powers available in Habitat Rescue are from games where you can unlock a photo in the site from directly finishing Level 5.

In case this has been way too complex, let me break it down *Activates Lawe's Parotia Power*

Creature Power Discs earned from games where the physical disc is not shown on the Power Suits after the activation in the tutorial are available in Your Room and the habitats.

Creature Power Discs earned from games in which the physical disc is visible over the Power Suit button in the tutorials are available in Your Room, but NOT in the habitats or Habitat Rescue Game.

Creature Power Discs earned from games in which you must complete Level 5 to earn the PowerSuit Photo and Badge, regardless if they physically appear on the Creature Power Suit in the tutorial, do not appear in the supergame.

None of the games that show the physical button of the suit have collectible photos from directly playing Level 5, BUT all of them that do are available to access in Your Room, the habitats, and Habitat Rescue Game.

CONCLUSION: Whilst there are many anomalies and errors in the structures or patterns of the original flash version of the online Wild Kratts website (I'm sure many of you noticed the duplicate Martins in the Aardvark Town tutorial Jesus Christ), some of these inconsistencies have consistencies in their inconsistencies, even if it wasn't the developers' intention. With this, you could logistify several appearances or absences of certain Power Discs in certain games or pages. And to those of you, who like me, grew up with the flash games and were confused as to why you couldn't access all 14 Creature Powers in the habitats or in Habitat Rescue, hopefully this observation could provide good enough answers and closer after a decade.

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk.

[mcpuffin-fax]

“Thanks for all the Races, `Dillo Hills 2.”

On June 4th, 2013; I was one of the many players that rolled across the hills in this amazing racing game—‘Dillo Hills 2: Roid Racing. I used to play as a tiger named “Miles,” (the one you see in this picture) and I had a grand ‘ole time with it.

This game was a sequel to its original single-player game, `Dillo Hills, made by the same developer; Fex Labs. It was kind of like Mario Kart, with randomized items to hit and trip many racers with and various characters you could play as; but it differs from Mario Kart in the gameplay and controls, you could use the arrow keys or the WASD keys to play. From bouncing off mushrooms and tumbleweeds to swimming under icebergs and riding through caverns with gemstones, this game has so much personality in its design and mechanics that I wish I’d had more time to enjoy. 

In this game, you play as any of the animal characters that you could unlock from card packs and customize with cool accessories to make or break your racing experience. You could also buy characters, items, or even special effects to add more fun for the game as you fly across several different worlds in multiple laps.

There were also monthly tournament events that you could participate in and win achievements for finishing in 1st place. I certainly remember winning that achievement during the last time I played—and I’d been trying for a few years! A lot of the achievements were pretty fun video game references and I certainly enjoyed seeing them as I played.

Sadly, this game is now gone forever—mainly due to the people that the developer was working being the worst kind of people to ever entrust your work with (i.e: greedy jerkwads who tried to exploit the dev out of their work of art.) and Adobe Flash being killed off—so now it’s basically a thing of the past, and the only way you would know about this game is if you actually played it.

It’s been 12 years since it came into my life, and I still miss it dearly; but I know that it’s unlikely that this game will ever come back. So I’m dedicating this piece to honor this amazing game and the memories I made in the relatively small time I spent with it. You can learn a little more about the game from this little wiki!

Thank you, Fex Labs, for making this beautiful game, and to anyone who ever played this game—know that you are not alone in recognizing this game as a grand masterpiece.

(I posted this picture on my other art page with two portraits of Miles, you can take a look here.)

[hopeymchope]

Dominic in "Rain Code" - As both representation and bizarrely unused potential red herring.

As a follow-up to this post I made weeks ago about Servan from Master Detective Archives: Rain Code, I wanted to note a couple of things in regards to Dominic Fulltank.

Until @gunthatshootsennui (great name btw) said this, I literally didn't realize that Dominic was a black man. Because he looks So heavily artificial and covered in bullshit that I legit thought he was wearing some kind of full-face leather mask instead of having any visible skin???

"Dominic Fulltank" sounds like an early-development WIP name for Dom from Fast & Furious. Dom Fulltank, a criminal street racer being investigated by undercover cop Brian Gaspedal.

Yeah, idk wtf I was smoking there. Maybe the big logo stamped on his head threw me off. But... yeah, he's clearly just a black guy. And @gunthatshootsennui is 100% right that Dominic makes for pretty shitty representation seeing as he's a near-mute big dumb hulk of a man. :( Servan is far better, frankly — yes, even considering his donut lips.

However, there's something ELSE about Dominic that really bothered me: Why the hell didn't Yuma ever look into or even ASK what the hell Dominic's deal was??

I have to get into RAIN CODE STORY SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT to explain what I mean and why it drives me so crazy.

By the time our hero meets Dominic in the game, he's mostly trying to learn more about "homunculi." But by this point, Yuma knows nothing about them EXCEPT:

Homunculi are artificially made people.

Amaterasu Corporation has supposedly/maybe secretly created some of them in Kanai Ward.

And it is in THAT fucking context when suddenly Yuma is introduced to a super-strong cybernetic Darth Vader-lookin' motherfucker who obediently follows the orders of an Amaterasu Corporation peacekeeper.

....do you see what I'm getting at here? Is it obvious enough??

I was absolutely SCREAMING at Yuma at this point. He should 100% be like "Hey wait — is that dude one of the 'homunculi'?! Because like, he's an artificial man? Who works for Amaterasu and seems to be controlled by them?!?!"

Based on the knowledge he has, that is THE MOST LOGICAL CONCLUSION ANYONE WOULD REACH upon seeing this fucking freak for the first time. And I know what you're thinking: Dominic is hardly what one would envision when one things of the mythical concept of a homunculus as WE understand it. WE'D never immediately expect a homunculus to be some kind of part-robot creature, right? But remember: When "homunculi" are first brought up, Yuma acts as though he's never heard the term (or perhaps he just has no memory of it due to his amnesia). He is given a very limited definition at that point. And by that definition, he should ABSOLUTELY mention the possibility here... right?

This is the ONE time I can remember feeling clearly disappointed by the writing in MDA.

Of course, in reality, Dominic's "artificial-ness" wasn't supposed to ever be any kind of hint towards the homunculi, because the writing team had an entirely different vision of what "homunculus" meant to them in this universe. And their definition would ultimately be much more based on our existing mythological meaning of the term. And because of that, maybe it never occurred to them how well our crabby Fulltank-Kun fit the provided clues. But it sure seems like it should've been noticed by some member of the dev team at SOME point. You feel?

[harpgriffin]

Just Crow Things Preview

I played this demo during the June 2024 Next Fest, as part of testing for the blind-racing tournament Next Fest Conquest. The game is chaotic enough that it was raced twice with the first race having to be discarded due to the racers breaking the game and race rules too much to judge a winner, which was honestly a perfect showcase for a game that in the newly minted tradition of Untitled Goose Game, is all about creating havoc. In this case, the developers do have a certain amount of social commentary baked into the text of the game that indicate the anarchy isn't just chaos for chaos' sake. It's charming for a lot of reasons - the art, the music, the hats, the abundance of tools that exist entirely for fun, and the crow facts that appear on loading screens. The demo includes a tutorial level and a robust first level, in which you can sample a wide range of possible tasks - you can help a squirrel mom find her babies, ruin a birthday party, steal lots of shiny objects, and save a mouse family from a scary cat by getting it soaking wet.

Due to the action nature of the game, there's a limit to its accessibility. Even so, the devs have tried hard to make them game accessible to a wide range of players. There's a number of assist options in the settings, and a wonderful message that all these settings are both valid and the intended game experience. Originally, I couldn't play the demo because flight required a button hold action. A few people, including myself, requested a toggle flight option, and this was implemented in short order despite the complexity of the problem. It's not perfect, but I was able to enjoy and complete the demo. I'm hoping rebindable controls will be in a post-release patch.

[nursefailure]

Intro post that is overdue

Hi, I'm NURSEFAILURE!!! Except that is nawt my name obviously that's just my branding (???)

I'm Ryver!! I am a queer (fuck labels) west-german (MINOR) dude who spends too much time nitpicking at his own code and contemplating whether to actually do something or just procrastinate and scroll on tumblr/twitter/tiktok for hours...

I go exclusively by He/Him and masc/neutral terms, though I AM Agender!!! Except that's just what I paste for clarity because the concept of gender doesn't make sense to me lmao I'm just me bro.. More under cut

My interests lie in a variety of things, such as coding, writing, playing games (like NIKKE, lots of Visual novels, cookie run, pokemon...) And more. One of my biggest current interests is SW and the nightlife industry, but not from an angle of appeal and moreso the topic as a whole! It's insanely interesting to me and my sona is based on kyabakura hostesses for that same reason RAHH

I am taken!! I have been for about 2.9 years (as of 14.05.25) and that by my absolute godsend sunshine of a partner ( @certifiedsungod ) , talking about him is a big chunk of my personality so like beware /silly

I am a(n aspiring) game dev, specifically the founder of LUMAR EXPRESS ENTERTAINMENT 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️ .... Which consists of exactly three depressed homos (me, the coder and writer, Phrog the artist #1 and musician and Liv the artist #2 and emotional support) but that's besides the point LOL

I love thinking about my projects, specifically PROJECT LUMAR.... huge ginormous projects that I want to make my career (hopefully)

PROJECT LUMAR is a category of projects I have crammed into the same overall world,, LUMAR!! Wow you couldn't have guessed that huh /j anyhow..

LUMAR encompasses 355 countries as of present time in lore (yes, I do enjoy torturing myself) and the projects work to bring awareness to a variety of topics while also encouraging proper representation with well-written lore. (No one stays one dimensional in MY household) As of now we're still in the concept stage and will remain buried there for a LONG time,,,

Currently we only have one MC finished and designed and that is coincidentally my sona.... Ryver Miya’moro! Before you ask he literally had the name Ryver first I literally snatched it off of him and it's been my irl and online name since 🙂‍↕️

Now that I have mentioned my shayla I obviously have to talk about him

Art by my beloved, aka certifiedsungod

Ryver Miya’moro

(“Ryver” lumarian for “to be wrathful/wrath-filled + Miya’moro, lumarian for courageous (Miiyaa) and beast (mo’oro) )

Is the #1 hostess of Kiyokami (located within the region TRAP’E MAR KAMIR, lumarian “ki’yyo” defining + “ka’mi” future, a cyberpunk “paradise” known for its nightlife and racing) as well as a champion racer who frequently wins international cups.

He may be a trans man, but he uses the fact of being afab to his advantage to garner fame and love from people in Kiyokami and even internationally. He works at IIKO++, a popular hostess club known for its bunny (suit) theme owned by his adoptive mother with his adoptive siblings.

Logo of IIKO++ in lumarian, designed by me!

Outside of work Ryver is way more timid, preferring to be cooped up in his penthouse apartment that is part of a complex belonging to his racing team. He spends his time collecting figures of his favorite queer pairings, being especially picky about food, buying all sorts of things with his boundless amounts of money (and overspending on charities), coding, posting freaky stuff on social media for his fans or working on androids. Yes, robots! He loved building those and will fight tooth and nail to build you a functional prosthetic if you even *dare* to exist next to him with an old looking one.

When not in his half-bubbly half-freakish-dominatrix hostess sona he's generally a MEANIE. In the sense he'll gladly tell you to fuck off if you get an inch too close to him. He has mood swings and anger issues (which shine when he's on the race track, he's Kiyokami's very own Max Verstappen) but he's mostly angry due to unexplained pain in his whole body.. (Wow I wonder who that is based on!! Haha...) He prefers being on his own but usually doesn't mind company unless said company is annoying.

He owns a pet bunny called Cookie, a white fur ball with black and brown spots. A feral creature. She bites. She will bite you in the ass. Watch out.

Errr I can't say too much I'll be spoiling future games so you get basic information yay!!

Back to ME over my sona uehehe...

I have a spending problem I love commissioning artists UAUAUAJAJAUUA

“nursefailure” aka my whole branding comes from my trauma regarding hospitals, I use hospital related stuff to expose myself to it and cope with what happened there. It is really really dear to me because it keeps me from TWEAKING OUT /j

I also go by “hostessfailure” for similar reasons. I don't like unhealthy coping mechanisms (2 years SH clean, baby!) Annnd using my interest in nightlife and hospital stuff to cope with all the SHIT life puts me through really really helps!! So no I will unlikely conform to the idea that teens aren't supposed to talk about sexual shit. I am COPING!!!! I have HORMONES!!!!!! (And hypersexuality) learning and coping using this stuff is keeping me healthy and as close to happy as I can get in my current environment

Before you come with internet safety; yes, I know. But I also have a group of friends I can unleash on any hoe trying any funny shit + it's an integral part of interacting with me so it IS kinda important because I tend to ramble about it.

That out of the way I WILL massively try to befriend you! social interaction is scared of me!!! Jokes aside I am social. When I want to be. 90% of the time I just don't want to.

I don't have a strict dni (they don't make sense to me) but I WILL block freely. Also if you don't like my partner for any ungodly reason I will bite you and I will not wanna conform to your shit nonsense!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also don't stalk me that's fucking weird

Uhh BYI I swear a lot!!! I make sexual jokes, not about people but just in general!!!!! I have strict opinions, especially politically and I will loudly voice them!!! I can be self-deprecating without realizing it. I joke about a lot of my trauma to cope. I am prone to talking about my partner a TON so if you don't like that get out. I have a problem of trying to correct people (trying to be helpful) but I understand if you don't enjoy that.

I talk about the stupid unexplained pain I have, bodywide pain that sometimes is near immobilizing for me!!!!!! Yes I'm getting test after test rn,,,,, doctor stop snatching my blood I'm gonna go dryyyyyy /silly

Oh yeah also if your ass is friends with the groomer (floof18 / lucindaraptor) and won't let me educate you on WHY they're a pedophile and a creep I don't wanna talk to you!!!

Some of the tags I use frequently!!

#nursefailure posting — everything me

#ryver shitposts — reposts and other bs

#returninglotus — me && beloveds gayass pokemon bw ocs!!

Anyways that's it yeay I may punch more stuff in in thefuture

[fahrni]

Saturday Morning Coffee

Good morning from Charlottesville, Virginia! ☕️

I still get a bit lost in my new gig — at WillowTree — as a React Native/TypeScript dev. The syntax is making more sense and getting easier to follow, but, I do have a difficult time understanding the errors produced by yarn ts:check. It’s the same each time I learn a new language.

I’m also developing an interest in Rust. That’ll have to be a part time interest for a long time I suppose. I have more important business to attend to. 😃

Onward!

Filipe Espósito • 9to5Mac

Shareshot is an iOS app that transforms how you share iPhone and iPad screenshots

A friend of mine, Marc Palmer, is part of the duo who created Shareshot! It is, as always, absolutely beautiful, full featured, and stable.

If I’m not too lazy moving forward I should use it to make screenshots for Stream blog posts and the like.

Congratulations, Marc! 🥳

Andrew Carter • WillowTree Blog

Mobile app interactivity, multimodal voice technology, and AI are all converging with Apple Intelligence — Apple’s new artificial intelligence feature set announced at this year’s WWDC, coming soon with iOS 18 (maybe in October). And the secret sauce powering those awesome interactions is something called App Intents.

Andrew is pretty legendary in the halls of WillowTree. So damned smart and witty, and he plays a mean fiddle and banjo.

Anywho, go give his piece on App Intents a gander, you might learn a thing or two.

Kelly Crandall • Racer

Austin Dillon has been stripped of the NASCAR Cup Series playoff eligibility that came with his victory at Richmond Raceway.

Austin Dillion looked great all night. I don’t recall how many laps he lead but it was a lot. He was two laps short of victory when a late caution came out.

On the restart he was beat off the line by Joey Lagano and fell into second place.

I wanted to see Mr. Dillion win so badly. He hasn’t had a win in a couple years and Richard Childress Racing needed one but the way he did it was not great.

He kept the win but was stripped of his points and playoff berth. They should’ve disqualified him and given the win to Legano, if I’m being honest about my feelings.

Scharon Harding • Ars Technica

Sonos is laying off about 100 people, the company confirmed on Wednesday. The news comes as Sonos is expecting to spend $20 to $30 million in the short term to repair the damage from its poorly received app update.

It’s incredible how much an app redesign can make or break an application or company.

Another critically acclaimed podcasting app called Overcast was also redesigned and released recently. It too has had a very difficult time with its subscribers. Lots of one star reviews and hate.

Rewrites can kill companies. Don’t do it. Evolve your code over time. Think of it as a Ship of Theseus.

Tasha Robinson • Polygon

Ryan Reynolds had very specific tech (and humor) requirements for Wolverine’s corpse

I still haven’t see the new Deadpool but I really want to. Deadpool’s obsession with Wolverine is funny as heck and I’m here for it. Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman are hysterical.

Juan José López Jaimez and Meador Inge • Google Bug Hunters

In a throwback to the past, this blog post takes us on a journey back to a time when eBPF was a focal point in the realm of kernel security research. In this update, we recount the discovery of CVE-2023-2163, a vulnerability within the eBPF verifier, what our root-cause analysis process looked like, and what we did to fix the issue.

Fresh off the heels of the Crowdstrike fiasco we get a story of how Google engineers found vulnerabilities in a Linux technology that allows for similar extensions to the OS. Similar in desired outcome, not in implementation.

Matthias Endler

Quite a few websites are unusable by now because they got “optimized for Chrome.” Microsoft Teams, for example, and the list is long. These websites fail for no good reason.

Chrome has definitely become the new Internet Explorer in a way. Devs have become lazy and don’t code for the open web, they’re coding against a specific browser. Not good. 🤦🏻‍♂️

Stan Alcorn • Rest of World

How Spotify started — and killed — Latin America’s podcast boom

What Spotify has done is not podcasting if it doesn’t allow any podcast player to subscribe to a feed. That’s part of what makes a podcast a podcast. What they’ve done is something that needs a new name.

Lately I’ve heard some podcasts announce ad free versions available on Apple Podcasts, which is also just as bad as Spotify’s locked up audio thing.

Please, don’t do this, keep your podcast a podcast and find a better way to create subscriptions. Others have done it. You can too.

Patreon

Apple is requiring that Patreon switch to their iOS in-app purchase system starting this November, or risk being removed from the App Store. Here’s what’s coming, and what you can do about it.

My opinion on this is simple.

If they really believe in creators Patreon should abandon their iOS App in favor of a really great mobile experience on their website.

Liam Proven • The Register

Before WordPerfect, the most popular work processor was WordStar. Now, the last ever DOS version has been bundled and set free by one of its biggest fans.

It’s not surprising how many fans of WordStar exist. Many of them are novelists and columnists. The best of the best writers in the world. Of course they’re most likely of a certain ventage, if you know what I mean? 😂

I started as a BASIC programmer and used WordStar as my editor until I discovered Brief. True story.

David Edwards • Raw Story

Judge Chutkan faces call to seize Trump’s passport after threat to flee to Venezuela

Can Judge Chutkan do the opposite and encourage Trump to move to Venezuela, now? That would solve a lot of problems with the upcoming election and help preserve democracy.

It would be a great service to the country. 🇺🇸

Rex Huppke • USA TODAY

Trump rambles, slurs his way through Elon Musk interview. It was an unmitigated disaster.

I listened to it for a few minutes and the Orange Man sounded like Sylvester the cat!

Sufferin’ Suckatash! 😋

[legoracers]

Official conceptual storyboard art for Lego Racers cinematic circuit win featuring the player character | Pete McLennon

[b0tster]

Created an ally racer for the train level for today's Nightmare Kart dev post!

The Ally will accompany you for the entire race, and will help out with objectives. There is an allowance system that restricts how many objectives they can complete (so they don't just beat the entire level for you), which also contributes to the new adaptive VO system that will scan the current objectives and allowances and select a relevant piece of VO for the ally to say.

(Writing is only placeholder right now, and not final!)

Support this project on patreon!

[carformula1]

The RACER Mailbag, 24 January Welcome to the RACER Mailbag. Q... #usa #uk #ireland

[stitchwraith-stingers]

i dont have a problem w devzel in general since its generally harmless and i just have the most boring character taste ever, but it gets SO tiring how people will only bring her up, im not surprised people are making content of the duo clearly ment to be a duo and the fact that dev is generally a well written character, but the fact that ive seen the triple amount of content on him alone compared to hazel, hell ive seen more dale aus - guy that appeared for 3 episodes (4 if you count the minute he was shown in the lemonade shtick) - compared to The Litteral Protagonist

and keep in mind, ive counted 8 different episodes out of the 37 that are specifically centered around those two, which makes it slightly more bizzare for me, i dont even know the general opinions on each episode cuz posts about them are almost non existant or would only focus on the one scene dev is in (multiverse of jenkins showing how hazel over worries and while wanting the problem to be gone holds on to it more then it should, and then people turning around and going "OMGGGGGG DEVZEL MOMENTTT" like ok . whatever. kicks rock) the fact that people cant seem to name ANYTHING about her is what shocks me. ok maybe not anything, a wee bit exadgeration, but it really DOES feel that way, they go omg shes autistic and then just, dont do anything else specific to that for excample

ive only seen ONE analysis to stuck in my head (good post btw) and the fact that the most consistent discussion ive seen that IS about her is "she told dev lightheartibly that he kinda did deserve , i wish people discussed more episodes, the scene where she and antony yell at eachother in rattleconda racers i think was done really well personally

and whats more interesting is that from what ive noticed, its like people have a hard time seperating her from dev, but can easily do so the other way around (points at ao3 tags), like shes a little accessory to his angst, or only there to be his girlfriend depending on the post

im not really surprised that this happened, i call this the hunter effect personally (character that is well written and you cant be mad at anyone who likes them, but is hogging rhe attention compaired to someone else thats important a weeee bit more then youd like), and i DO agree that hazels other relations arent, explored, like at all, HOWEVER if people can make 2 million in-between scenarios with irep and dev, like i garente if you havent watched the show and went onto the tag you would assume that peri and irep and the dimmadomes played a MUCH bigger role, like if you can make up so much more about them and expand apon them then you can take scraps of what the other characters have and build on them i pormise you

like looking at the fop tag is litterly liek this V

you deserve so much better then what people give you

[zenmom]

Meet Shuka Rush!

The Candy Nymph from my childhood dream world (thank you, Wreck-it-Ralph!🙏🏻😁) Sugar Rush, a candy play world for me to play in. Well, I made her specifically for the Zen Origins lore thing, but fun fact, she was made when I got a video game of that character I used to love, which I was before Legends. Did love the lady characters but sadly made me believe some people are more attractive with big bobas 🫣. Devs of that game,.. why?

Anyways here:

Being part of sugar rush, she is a racer and… I forgot her details (looks like I’ll have to look in my cursed childhood book). Yeah, I had her in my imaginations for a little while, then left her in the vault with other characters to never be used again. Why did I bring her out again? Well, it’s that Fiona and Cake song Baked with Love by the candy queen giving me a blend of vibes of Spinel, Baroness Von BonBon and…someone else?

Warning: quite a story that feels like it’s long and a long lore?

Yeah. Know being that she is stuck in her faded world with almost all the candy having lost their taste, except for one candy that still retained their taste, she must’ve gone a little crazy with no one else to talk to (iii…. Didn’t introduce her to other Sugar-Russians… they were rarely a part of my sandbox version of Sugar-Rush so yeah, don’t came often) and the fact she went the liquorice castle I built and hade her home there, since her original home lost their charm of colour and taste.

When I meet her again, she manages to find out that the girl from the past is me (brought Mickey and Oswald to that Sandbox Rush from my past to show that my mind was like before the first ever obsession with a video game character.) And the only one to know the gates to this place (maybe I am the only one… I don’t know if others had seen the doorway to it before or had the main heroine told other people who she considers friends that secret candy place? More likely that telling the secret to friends route) and she looks more unhinged and a lot more crazier than when I made and meet her. She used to be sweet and a bit competitive and had loved the sisters that I connected the fan-dots with. I would say to Mickey and Oswald (would I also invite Gus?) that she has kidnapped me 2 times for forgetting her? The first time being kidnapped in a castle was my nemesis. Theeen she tells me that she meet two characters: the strange avatar who looks like the genderbent version of the main character and a different character who is… a gem?! A BLUE STRETCHY GEM? I’m sure you know what I mean by the blue gem. it’s blue Spinel. And finally, a third — a toon rabbit, which is my current form in my tent filled of portal paintings to the many fictional worlds that I loved to travel to.

Yay! End of that jeez huge size of that lore. Well, that’s a small part of Zen Origins. I’ve got two Childhood parts: Zen Origins and Zen Legends. I’ll get to those two eventually but for now, you’ll get a bit of Zen-Origins info till I decided to make a post about the Zen Origins lore thing.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hello Steph! First, thank you for everything you do for this fandom!! I don’t know what we would do without you!! ♥️ I am looking to start my first novel length Johnlock fic. I found your list, and was wondering if you had a specific one to recommend to start off with? I’m looking for something that won’t make me too sad (the world does that on its own), and of course, lots of Johnlock!! Any recommendations would be appreciated, thank you!! Sending love!! *hugs*

HI NONNY!

Hmm, this is tough, because Novel Length is anything over 50K words, but some people don’t want to read “novels that short”. So I get a lot of requests for Epic novels over 100K, so like WOOO HOO LOL.

Hmm. How about I give you a few recs varying lengths, based on your requirements, and you can decide how long you want to go, since I list all my word counts on my recs?

First off, for when you become obsessed with the lengthy fics like I am now LOL:

Novel Length Fics: 50 to 100K (Nov. 2018)

Novel Length Fics: 50 to 100K Pt 2 (May 2020)

Novel Length Fics: 100K+ w. (May 2019)

Novel Length Fics: 100K+ w. Pt 2 (Aug 2020)

Novel Length Fics: 100K+ w. Pt 3 [MFL’s] (Dec 2020)

Next, here’s something for each range between 50 and 100K+ <3

BUT BEFORE I BEGIN: honourable mention because it IS my fave fic ever, and it fits your criteria minus the length so SORRY but please check it out:

A Promise Made to Be Broken by PlantsAreNeat (E, 37,018 w., 7 Ch. || Fake Relationship, Pining, Slow Burn, RST, Eventual Relationship, POV Sherlock) – A young John makes an ‘if we’re still single at 40, we’ll get together’ pledge to a woman who ends up all wrong for him. She keeps reminding him of the promise, and won’t let go of it. John asks Sherlock to pose as his boyfriend at a family wedding, so as to dash her hopes permanently. Sherlock, who has at last acknowledged his feelings for John, reluctantly agrees despite knowing how painful it will be to ‘have’ John, but not keep him.

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Okay, now the main event, of more-fluff-than-angst:

NOVEL LENGTH NOT-SO-ANGSTY FICS FOR NEWBIES

Spare Change by Ermerness (E, 51,966 w., 14 Ch. || Rich Holmeses AU || First Kiss / Time, Holmes Family, Virgin Sherlock, Anal, First Meetings, Bossy Bottomlock) – The Holmes family is one of the richest and most powerful in England. Sherlock spends his time flying around the world on the family's private jet drinking a lot and shopping at expensive boutiques as a way of trying to alleviate his endless boredom. His mother decides it's time he settles down with someone powerful, wealthy and well connected. John Watson happens to be none of those things.

Guilty Secrets by Ellipsical (E, 55,086 w., 16 Ch. || Post-TRF, Drumsticks, First Kiss/Time, Love Confession, Self-Sexual-Discovery, Anal, Rimming, Orgasm Denial, Butt Plugs, Cooking, Furniture Sex, Bath Sex, Rimming, Double Penetration, Prostate Massage, Anal Beads, Dancing, Romance, Tantric Edging, Internalized Homophobia, Case as Foreplay, Anal Beads, Tickling, Dancing, Dry Coming, Romance) – John has a prostate exam and discovers something surprising about himself. Experimentation follows. Sherlock wants to help. They're in love. You know the drill.

Bridging the Ravine by SilentAuror (E, 58,887 w., 3 Ch. || Post S4, Couple For a Case, Bed-Sharing, First Times, Confessions, Awkwardness, Sex Trafficking, Massages, Wet T-Shirt Contest, Group Therapy, Past Loss of Child) – Sherlock and John go undercover at Ravine Valley, a therapy centre for same-sex male couples in an investigation into a possible human trafficking ring. As they pose as a couple and fake their way through the therapy sessions for the sake of the case, it quickly becomes difficult to avoid discussing their very real issues. Set roughly six nine months after series 4.

Perdition's Flames by i_ship_an_armada (E, 63,435 w., 21 Ch. || Treklock AU, Est. Rel, Genetic Engineering, Angst & Fluff, BAMF!John) – Sherlock would do anything to save him. Risk anything. Give anything. His money, his life. His soul. What he does, though, is change both of their destinies forever. Genetic re-engineering is the only option left. It turns out researchers underestimated the life expectancy and potential abilities of genetically re-engineered subjects. The British government and what would eventually become the United Federation of Planets, however, had not. Part 1 of PF Universe

A Cure For Boredom by emmagrant01 (E, 81,665 w., 8 Ch. || Dirty Talk, Threesomes, Light Dom/Sub, Sex Club, Experiments, Anal, Mildly Dubious Consent, Rimming, Cheeking, Double Penetration, Mild Kink, Porn Watching, Voyeurism, Masturbation) – They’d never talked about sex in the year they’d known each other. Well, that wasn’t quite correct: Sherlock had never said a word about sex; John had bemoaned his personal dearth of it on many occasions.

Uphill by scullyseviltwin (E, 84,945 w., 18 Ch. || Olympics AU || Sherlock POV, Skier!Sherlock / Medic!John, Rivalry, 2014 Olympics, Happy Ending) – Sherlock Holmes is striving for gold in this, his fourth and final Olympics as a downhill Alpine racer.

A Study in Winning by Jupiter_Ash (E, 106,658 w., 11 Ch. || Tennis AU || John POV, Dirty Talk, Mutual Pining, Misunderstandings, Happy Ending, Sherlock Speaks French, Switchlock, Wimbledon) – John and Sherlock are professional tennis players and it’s Wimbledon. One is a broken almost was at the end of his career, the other an arrogant rising star tipped for greatness. It should have been a straightforward tournament. It really should have been. How were they to know that a chance encounter would change everything? Part 1 of Tennis

A Further Sea by i_ship_an_armada & ShinySherlock (E, 125,492 w., 23 Ch. || Historical Pirates AU || Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Doctor John / Pirate Captain Sherlock, Sailing, UST / RST, Masturbation, Action / Adventure, Mild Angst & Peril, Romance, Shaving, Molly/Janine, Bottomlock, Hand / Blow Jobs, Past Drug Use, Slow Burn, Mild Violence, Facial Shaving, Happy Ending) – Here be a tale of adventure for both body and soul, but beware if ye be not of stout heart, for this be piratelock, ya savvy? Luckless ship's surgeon John Watson takes a chance, and finds himself eye to eye with The Ghost, the scourge of the seven seas and a definite thorn in the side of the blaggard, James Moriarty. But when John finds there's more to this most cunning pirate than be meetin' the eye, he has to choose... is it a pirate's life for him?

The Horse and his Doctor by khorazir (T, 129,003 w., 13 Ch. || Horse / Vet AU || Magical Realism, Horses, Vet John, Horse Sherlock, Implied Alcoholism) – Invalided after a run in with a poacher in Siberia, veterinary surgeon John Watson finds it difficult to acclimatise to the mundanity of London life. Things change when a friend invites him along to a local animal shelter and he meets their latest acquisition, a trouble-making Frisian with the strangest eyes and even stranger quirks John has ever encountered in a horse.

The Bang and the Clatter by earlgreytea68 (M, 137,049 w., 37 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Baseball AU || Slow Burn / Dev. Rel., Possessive/Obsessive Sherlock, Jealous Sherlock, Mutual Pining, Body Appreciation, Depression, Closeted Sexuality, Family, Sherlock’s Mind Palace, Ogling Each Other, Anxious Sherlock, Panic Attack, Drunkenness, Talk of Forever, Big Feelings™) – Sherlock Holmes is a pitcher and John Watson is a catcher. No, no, no, it's a baseball AU. Part 1 of Baseball

Midnight Blue Serenity by BeautifulFiction (E, 151,907 w., 19 Ch. || Friends to Lovers, Gay Bar / For a Case, Drugs, Pining, Case Fic, UST) – When Sherlock infiltrates a club in order to track down a serial killer, his altered appearance is enough to make John question his assumption that Sherlock is beyond his reach. However, is he the only one who appreciates his flatmate's charms, or is Sherlock at risk of becoming the next victim?

Gimme Shelter by SinceWhenDoYouCallMe_John (E, 159,368 w., 21 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || 70′s Surfer AU || Period Typical Homophobia, Hawaii, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Professional Surfers, Gay John / Sherlock, Angst with Happy Ending, John was a Sailor, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining) – All John Watson wants is the feeling of a freshly waxed surfboard under his feet and the hot California sun baking down onto his back. To finally go pro in the newly formed world of professional surfing and leave the dark memories of his past behind him as he rips across the face of a towering blue barrel. To lounge beside the beach bonfire every evening with an ice cold beer tucked into the cool sand beside him and listen to Pink Floyd and the Doors while the saltwater dries in his sun bleached hair. That's all he wants, that is, until the hot young phenom taking Oahu and the Hawaiian shores by storm steps up next to him in the sand in the second round of the 1976 International Surf Competition. (PUBLISHED AS ‘The Sea Ain’t Mine Alone’)

Mise en Place by azriona (M, 161,004 w., 28 Ch. || Restaurant (Kitchen Nightmares) AU || Sherlock is Gordon Ramsay / Celebrity Sherlock, Restauranteur John, Harry Plays Prominent Role, Alternating POV, Mutual Pining, Cranky Sherlock, Bed Sharing, Slow Burn) – John Watson had no intentions of taking over the family business, but when he returns from Afghanistan, battered and bruised, and discovers that his sister Harry has run their restaurant into the ground, he doesn't have much choice. There's only one thing that can save the Empire from closing for good – the celebrity star of the BBC series Restaurant Reconstructed, Chef Sherlock Holmes. Part 1 of Mise en Place

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Hope you enjoy those!!! <3 PLEASE read them all, though, and THEN READ ALL THE ONES ON THOSE LISTS. Because once you start long fics, you get REALLY INTO THEM. Hah hah <3