#source: pixabay

[shikariix]

fic: darlin' can I be your favorite? by @pinkpastels113

[todaysbird]

the quaker parrot, also known as the monk parrot, is a small species of parrot originating from subtropical and temperate regions of south america. despite their origins, they have become an invasive species throughout large portions of north america and europe; despite their popularity in aviculture, this has led to them being banned in some areas. their gregarious nature means they are happiest in groups, and their loud squawking is sometimes bothersome when they’re found near residences. they are known for building large stick nests that can rival the size of small cars; these apartment-like nests can house all the members of a flock, with each ‘family’ unit taking a separate section of the nest. unfortunately, they are fond of building these large nests on power lines, which has led to worse PR for these often charming parrots.

[cyphochiluscreations]

Getting in the holiday mood with a few projects. Gave Chili's vroid model and update by having a little shopping spree (oh free assests lol) on booth :3 Giving her, Robin, and Mimi revamps as a little gift to myself and having another go at a holiday themed MMD video :3 Is a fun hobby for me ^^; I'm also going to be making a new OC to join this gaggle of gals and gays lol

I have a lot of things in the oven so it was nice to take a bit of time away as a breather before I get really busy in the next few days Dx

Mimi's Card Here!

[calanmine]

To finish this year's @tamlinweek the High Lord of Spring cordially invites you to celebrate the Calanmai at his Court! Enjoy the festivities and spend the night with some of Prythian's most famous faces~

Get to know and flirt with them as you discover the many hidden surprises that await you in CalanMine - a free and fully playable ACOTAR Dating Simulator Game.

All you need is a Laptop or PC (sorry, it is not available for mobile).

DOWNLOAD CALANMINE HERE!

Credits

Sprite & CG art & Programing: @copypastus

BG art: @thrumugnyr

Writing: @highlordofkrypton

Additional Support: @zenkindoflove, Yassy Joestar, @praetorqueenreyna

Music & Sound Effects: freesound and pixabay (full list available in the in-game credits)

This is a non-profit fan game made out of pure love for the source material. No money was involved in any part of its creation. The original characters and plot are the property of Sarah J. Maas and Bloomsbury.

Click here for the FAQ

[thecoppercompendium]

So, you want to make a TTRPG…

Image from Pexels.

I made a post a long while back about what advice you would give to new designers. My opinions have changed somewhat on what I think beginners should start with (I originally talked about probability) but I thought it might be useful to provide some resources for designers, new and established, that I've come across or been told about. Any additions to these in reblogs are much appreciated!

This is going to be a long post, so I'll continue beneath the cut.

SRDs

So, you have an idea for a type of game you want to play, and you've decided you want to make it yourself. Fantastic! The problem is, you're not sure where to start. That's where System Reference Documents (SRDs) can come in handy. There are a lot of games out there, and a lot of mechanical systems designed for those games. Using one of these as a basis can massively accelerate and smooth the process of designing your game. I came across a database of a bunch of SRDs (including the licenses you should adhere to when using them) a while back, I think from someone mentioning it on Tumblr or Discord.

SRDs Database

Probability

So, you have a basic system but want to tweak it to work better with the vision you have for the game. If you're using dice, this is where you might want to consider probability. Not every game needs this step, but it's worth checking that the numbers tell the story you're trying to tell with your game. For this, I'll link the site I did in that first post, AnyDice. It allows you to do a lot of mathematical calculations using dice, and see the probability distribution that results for each. There's documentation that explains how to use it, though it does take practice.

AnyDice

Playtesting

So you've written the rules of your game and want to playtest it but can't convince any of your friends to give it a try. Enter Quest Check. Quest Check is a website created by Trekiros for connecting potential playtesters to designers. I can't speak to how effective it is (I've yet to use it myself) but it's great that a resource like it exists. There's a video he made about the site, and the site can be found here:

Quest Check

Graphic Design and Art

Game is written and tested? You can publish it as-is, or you can make it look cool with graphics and design. This is by no means an essential step, but is useful if you want to get eyes on it. I've got a few links for this. First off, design principles:

Design Cheatsheet

Secondly, art. I would encourage budding designers to avoid AI imagery. You'll be surprised how good you can make your game look with only shapes and lines, even if you aren't confident in your own artistic ability. As another option, public domain art is plentiful, and is fairly easy to find! I've compiled a few links to compilations of public domain art sources here (be sure to check the filters to ensure it's public domain):

Public Domain Sources 1

Public Domain Sources 2

You can also make use of free stock image sites like Pexels or Pixabay (Pixabay can filter by vector graphics, but has recently become much more clogged with AI imagery, though you can filter out most of it, providing it's tagged correctly).

Pexels

Pixabay

Fonts

Turns out I've collected a lot of resources. When publishing, it's important to bear in mind what you use has to be licensed for commercial use if you plan to sell your game. One place this can slip through is fonts. Enter, my saviour (and eternal time sink), Google Fonts. The Open Font License (OFL) has minimal restrictions for what you can do with it, and most fonts here are available under it:

Google Fonts

Publishing

So, game is designed, written, and formatted. Publishing time! There are two places that I go to to publish my work: itch.io and DriveThruRPG. For beginners I would recommend itch - there's less hoops to jump through and you take a much better cut of what you sell your games for, but DriveThruRPG has its own merits (@theresattrpgforthat made great posts here and here for discovering games on each). Itch in particular has regular game jams to take part in to inspire new games. I'll link both sites:

itch.io

DriveThruRPG

Finally, a bunch of other links I wasn't sure where to put, along with a very brief summary of what they are.

Affinity Suite, the programs I use for all my layout and designing. Has an up-front cost to buy but no subscriptions, and has a month-long free trial for each.

Affinity Suite

A database of designers to be inspired by or work with. Bear in mind that people should be paid for their work and their time should be respected.

Designer Directory

An absolute behemoth list of resources for TTRPG creators:

Massive Resources List

A site to make mockups of products, should you decide to go that route:

Mockup Selection

A guide to making published documents accessible to those with visual impairments:

Visual Impairment Guidelines

A post from @theresattrpgforthat about newsletters:

Newsletter Post

Rascal News, a great place to hear about what's going on in the wider TTRPG world:

Rascal News

Lastly, two UK-specific links for those based here, like me:

A list of conventions in the UK & Ireland:

Convention List

A link to the UK Tabletop Industry Network (@uktabletopindustrynetwork) Discord where you can chat with fellow UK-based designers:

TIN Discord

That's all I've got! Feel free to reblog if you have more stuff people might find useful (I almost certainly will be)!

[walkswithmyfather]

1 Peter 1:3-9 (NIV). [3] “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, [4] and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, [5] who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. [6] In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. [7] These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. [8] Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, [9] for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

“The Source of Hope” by In Touch Ministries:

“Because of Jesus, we have an eternal home in heaven and help for everything we face now.”

Hope can be defined as the expectation and desire for something good. And Jesus is the greatest source of hope—He alone always knows what’s best and has the power to secure its fulfillment.

When life on earth is like a storm-tossed sea, Christ—our anchor—encourages us with the promise of an imperishable inheritance in heaven (1 Pet. 1:3-4). Yet that ultimate security can seem far away when pain is present and there’s no relief in sight. So how do we endure trials here and now? One way is through hope, which anticipates a change of circumstances for the better.

But what about those times when our situation isn’t improving—then what is God doing that’s “better”? Peter tells us He is refining our faith, which will result in praise and glory when Jesus returns (vv. 6-7). This will prove more valuable than gold or even relief from our distress. The difficulties that cause some to lose hope are the very tools God can use to increase His children’s faith in Him.

Christ promises us hope not only for eternity but also for this life. If God does not deliver us from difficulty, we can rest in the knowledge that He is doing a greater work. When we finally reach our eternal home, we’ll see the immeasurable value of the faith He produced in us as we continued to trust in Him.”

[Photo thanks to ImágenesIAcristianas at Pixabay]

[rachelsquill]

I had started this in june of last year for a zine but I dropped out b4 i could finish it bcuz of a mental health crisis. I was thinking about it today and I decided to finish it up!

Its a mixture of drawing and collage :3 All photos except the axolotl are sources from unsplash or pixabay

[valdevia]

Hi, I love your works!! I was wondering where you find the original, unedited pictures you use for your art? Do you take them yourself or find them online?

Hey there! I get them from many different sources! Whenever I can I use my own, and sometimes my followers send me cool pics to use (or put them up in the Sacrificial Altar channel in my Discord), but I find most of what I use through public domain sources online!

For the online part, I put this little list together with some of the common resources I use! Feel free to share it around and copy it:

For an easier experience, I'll copy the relevant part below:

STOCK SITES

- Unsplash: Usually the best quality out of the free stock sites. They’ll try to sell you a subscription plan but you can ignore that.

- Adobe Stock: Select “Free” on the dropdown menu next to the search bar. The free image selection here is big and high-quality, though they feel more like stock pictures than natural photos. Note: They limit how many pictures you can download per account per day, but you can make several accounts to circumvent this if you use it a lot.

- Texturelabs: lots of free, very high-quality textures!

- Pexels: Similar to Unsplash, but it has more pictures with people. If you need a photo with models, this is usually the best place.

- Pixabay: Widest selection, but worst quality control. Go here if you haven’t found anything in other sites and don’t mind sifting through a bunch of garbage pics and occasional AI images.

PUBLIC DOMAIN SOURCES

- Wikimedia Commons: an enormous selection of CC and public domain pictures. Super useful, especially for the really specific images that you'd expect to find on a Wikipedia article. Always check the copyright conditions! To filter by license, search something and then click on the License dropdown under the search bar. Select “No restrictions” for public domain images.

- Picryl: A repository of public domain sources, ranging from ancient historical books and artifacts to fairly modern pictures. If you're looking for something old/historical, chances are it's here! This website is probably one of the most complicated ones to use, so here are three important tips before you use it:

This site added a paywall that appears after the 3rd page of search results. To remove it, install uBlock Origin, go to the “My Filters” page (clicking on the gear icon after opening the extension), and paste this filter: picryl.com##._9oJ0c2

After searching, use the timeline on the top right to narrow down the result by year.

It won’t let you download the full picture without paying, but it always has a link to the source site below the description. Click on that, then copy-paste the image’s name to find it in the original source. That way you can get it for free, and often in better quality than Picryl offers.

National Archives Catalog, The Library of Congress, NASA, and Europeana have wide selections, but they are included in Picryl so it’s usually better to search there and then download them in the source as mentioned above!

- Flickr Search: a ton of usable pictures with a generally more amateur feel, just remember to filter by license using the “Any license” dropdown menu. When you find an image, make sure to check its specific license (you can find it below the image, on the right side).

- Openverse: The official Creative Commons archive, has many sources! Includes other sites on this list, but has a lot of clutter if you don’t filter.

- iNaturalist: a repository of user-submitted images of animals, plants, and fungi. Look for a genus or species, then navigate to the photo list and filter by license.

MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

- The Met: An amazing selection of artifacts from all over the world, with top quality photographs of most of them (usually with several angles for each). You can filter images by material, location, and era.

- Getty Museum: Another smaller selection of museum pieces, but this one includes old photos as well as artifacts. You can also filter by dates, materials and cultures. Make sure you include the “Open Content” filter to only see public domain things!

- Smithsonian: Big selection of around 5 million museum pieces, with some 3D scans of museum pieces. Most pieces just have a single picture that can sometimes be low quality, but pieces with 3D models sometimes also include a lot of high quality photos from multiple angles. This collection also includes things from museums of natural history, so you can also use it to search for bones and specimens.

- Artvee: public domain classical art. They make you pay to download high-quality images.

If you guys got any others, please let me know and I'll add them to the collection!

[elephantaday]

Day 895 of posting pictures of elephants.

Source: Pixabay

[multiplicity-positivity]

(Image ID:) a blue, green, and white graphic titled “Depersonalization versus Derealization: Exploring the differences in two dissociative symptoms” organized in two columns. The left hand column is titled “Depersonalization” with a stock icon of a head with a scribbled like for the brain. The right hand column is titled “Derealization” with a stock icon of a broken heart.

The statements in the “Depersonalization” column read: “I have trouble recognizing myself, including my reflection and aspects of my identity,” “I feel as though I don’t exist, like I’m invisible, or like someone besides me is controlling my body,” “I feel disconnected from thoughts, memories, and actions, and have a weak sense of identity,” and “I feel numb physically and emotionally when recalling my own past or painful events.”

The statements in the “Derealization” column read: “I have trouble recognizing my surroundings and environment,” “I feel as though the world around me doesn’t exist, including places and people I interact with daily,” “I feel disconnected from reality and struggle to determine what’s real and what isn’t,” and “I feel numb to the world around me, and daily life seems foggy, unreal, and fake.”

Below these columns is the word “sources:” with the following links:

https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/dissociative-disorders/

https://www.isst-d.org/public-resources-home/fact-sheet-iv-what-are-the-dissociative-disorders/

https://www.dpmanual.com/articles/depersonalization-and-derealization-whats-the-difference/

(END ID)

This infographic was made by us, Halberd (@dreamlandsystem). Feel free to save and share as much as you’d like. Program used: Canva. Image credits: Pixabay. This infographic explores our personal experiences with DPDR, with additional sources for further reading.

[bluismie]

Animated version of my sketch.

It's been a while since I last used After Effects!

SOURCES USED BELOW

Particles by Humanoide_Media from Pixabay

Smoke Overlay by Jacques_Barrette from Pixabay

[spngraphics-archive]

Graphic Making Resources

In our poll gauging interest for upcoming events, a majority of responders identified as "non-creators" but interested. We hope to turn some of you into "creators" by sharing resources to make graphic-making accessible to everyone!

Check out our #resources tag for PSD templates to help you get started.

Some free editing programs (if you're not using photoshop):

Photopea (a free recreation of photoshop)

Canva (has many templates for mockups)

GIMP (an open-source program similar to photoshop)

Photoscape X

Where to get free stock / public domain images (some of these sites have now joined the AI wave but have options to filter out that content): Freepik, Unsplash, Pexels, Pixabay, Flickr Commons, Wiki Commons

Some blogs to find more templates, textures, PSDs, and tutorials:

templatepsds

chaoticresources

yeonjvnz

khelpers

hisources

honeysources

vannilapsds

fuckingphotoshop

completeresources

pscs5

also searching through tumblr for "psd" / "psd template" and the #yeahPS tag

If you're looking for inspo for SPN graphics, check out our monthly events for prompts!

[randomencounters]

Encounter: Pastafarian shrine maiden

Source: Satyress, Pixabay

[petalruesimblr]

Simtastic Haunting Shirts

Individual files: Shirt Male - Sim File Share | Shirt Female - Sim File Share Bulk Download: Sim File Share

Get ready to summon your inner Sim this Halloween with this t-shirt that will keep you looking boo-tiful while you navigate the spooky side of life - just watch out for the Grim Reaper!

Ages: YA | A Genders: M | F Notes: Not Valid for Maternity and Random Clothing Category: Everyday, Sleepwear and Athletic Features: Shirts are re-colourable but the stencil (face) isn't (refer to in-game pictures below the cut) EA Mesh Used: Top Shirt Tee Crew for both female and male File Type: Package Min. Required Game Version: 1.42 Packs Needed: The Sims 3

Hello and welcome back to my blog!

As Halloween approaches, I’m excited to share my second treat for this year’s #Simblreen: custom clothing inspired by the spooky season! This Halloween-themed shirt features four designs and I hope you like it as much as I enjoyed creating it! If you missed the first treat, click here to check it out.

Click on the ’Keep Reading’ below for more information and pictures on this custom content.

📣 Right-click on a picture and select ’Open image in new tab’ for a clearer view. I mentioned in my first simblreen post that I wanted to share something different from my usual content for this Halloween and there are only two things I can think of to share that I usually create for my own game: custom paintings and shirts. For creating custom shirts or outfits for my career, I usually use CAS Texture Unitool because it is much easier for me and the images used for the stencils are still sourced from Pixabay, where they share stock photos and images. I'm not sure if I should share more of this type of content in the future or if anyone is even interested in these, as I know they are not the best out there. But we’ll see - maybe I’ll gain more confidence in sharing them! If you’re interested in starting to create your own custom shirts or adding stencils in the game, I’ve included a few tutorial links under Credits below. All details for the shirt and in-game pictures are already provided above, so let me know if you have any questions or experience any problems on your end!

MTS Tutorial - Custom Clothing Stencils MTS Tutorial - Adding Custom Stencils Pixabay LGR Video Tutorial CAS Texture Unitool (CTU) @simblreenofficial

[birmancats]

Source: Pixabay

[thelaithlyworm]

Beginning a grand tradition of product placement...

[ID An advertisement in 1930s style for "Ty-Phoo Tea". The illustration shows Fo-ye in full military garb and cloak at a table in a luxurious room, looking thoughtfully down at his tea cup. Beside him, his lieutenant Zhang Rishan holds a pistol on three frightened men. Large caption reads, 'They Shouldn't Have Interrupted Commander Zhang's Tea'. The illustration has two insets: 'Ty-Phoo Tea, Quality and Economy' and a picture of the ornamental box the tea comes in. End ID]

Image Sources:

screencap, Mystic Nine "Coffee, Paper, Background" by ruthe_meriele "Ty-Phoo Tea ad" from https://www.vintageinn.ca/tag/1930s-tea-advertising/

Sharing Information:

Free to use or remix, with or without credit. Please DO fold, spindle, or mutilate. (Though if you credit me, please remember to credit pixabay and ty-phoo tea sources.)

Un-Foxed Version:

[ID As above, without artistic discoloration. End ID]