#sure there are bugs but the game has no right to be THIS well polished in THIS short of a timespan with THIS many people working on it

[wowitsverycool]

but man. it's hitting me again how impressively well-polished literally everything about isat is. the visuals and writing have such a smooth cohesiveness which is INSANE to me given its scope and comparative resources!!! it was made in rpgmaker! the credits are extremely short! and the game looks like THAT!!!! AND it has a satisfyingly long runtime!!! so crazy to me.

[deepfriedhopesanddreams]

The Lost Bots have these cubbies right?

What about the other Lost Bots? What would it look like?

Abominable Soundman - definitely those small speakers all over his cubby, maybe using one as a chair or a bed. He loves yodeling, maybe some pictures of that as well. Located above Ol' Tic Toc's cubby.

The Detangler - probably some super hero motifs, like comic book pages, or maybe decorating it to be like a hero's base. Maybe even some car air fresheners. He definitely keeps his cubby super clean, but unfortunately his cubby would be next to Clogstopper's cubby (it stinks, literally).

Fail Polish - ABSOLUTELY. SO. MUCH. PINK! Any shade of it! Definitely glitter or sequins! She would try to decorate herself, which obviously ended up with her place being a hot pink mess (but at least it looks somewhat like a cute bedroom). Maybe some make-up tools and jewellery become a wardrobe, table, bed and obviously a mirror.

Frostferatu - DEFINITELY BLACK. Lots of it! Too many vampire themed stuff decorated everywhere! But still a side of sweet themed stuff. Located next to Game Over's cubby

Game Over - a lot of gaming themes everywhere. Little posters of games that she's good at. Maybe some LED string lights. Located between Frostferatu and Grave Rave's cubbies.

Grave Rave - dark, with Neon spray paint. Some smoke (not sure where they're coming from). Some rave goth and Halloween motifs. Located next to Game Over's cubby.

Greeny Rex - some plant motifs, obviously. Maybe even some string lights. Located below to Hamurai's cubby.

Hamurai - he doesn't like decorating but the Lost Bots did manage to convince him. He only placed down a makeshift training dummy, so there's at least some effort by him.

Love Struck - all he did was put up some pictures of baseball, well focusing on the baseball bats (even drawing some hearts on them). His bed is a baseball glove.

Nanny Mcbag - definitely decorated to look like a grandmother's bedroom, some antique stuff like a pocket watch above her bed. But also a little box to store more useful things.

Ol' Tic Toc - probably clock related deco, on the walls of the cubby. His bed is definitely a wristwatch box.

Overpack - she would have her cubby covered in wall pouches!

PB Junior - his lil cubby would definitely be like a little kid's room, with drawings of the Lost Bots and some PB & J stains.

Rebugnant - a lot of bug exterminator deco and a little board on the side on how to get rid of the bugs (how thoughtful of her)

Rock Swagger - pictures of rock'n'roll all over, even some music notes. He does have a hard time sleeping in his cubby, but he's happy with it. Located next to Smooth Shaker's cubby.

Smooth Shaker - also with the music motifs, but with some fiesta style deco.

Sprinkleberry Duh'Ball - probably resembling a mad scientist's lab or something like that but hidden away, he has pictures and secrets of other bots, including the Lost Bots, let's just hope he won't use em anytime soon.

Stinkeye Stapleton - he doesn't want to decorate his cubby, but he can make one exception. A picture of every member of the Lost Bots altogether (hidden out of human view of course).

Strike Four - due to his tendency to break things, he really doesn't want to decorate his cubby. But that didn't stop the other Lost Bots, they decorated it for him. Some added pictures and stickers. It really made Strike Four happy.

Trisourtops - all he has are pictures of the Lost Bots and a simple bed made of mouldy bread.

Well this is just my take on what their cubbies would look like. Feel free to tell me yours.

[manonamora-if]

ive been looking at the ifcomp and i think im gonna do it. any advice for a firsttimer? what should i expect? what was your experience?

Hi Anon!

First of all, congrats on taking the leap! I know it can be quite daunting to participate in one of the biggest and oldest IF Competition there is currently. Takes quite a bit of guts to do it! Yay, you!

Suuuper long ask answer because you asked questions requiring long answers, where I probably repeated myself multiple times.

IFComp Advice

What to expect?

What was my experience?

TLDR: it's hard but also fun. Def recommend at one point (unless ranking makes you go blerg... then do the SpringThing or an unranked game jam).

IFComp Advice

I do have some advice for you, especially if you are planning on submitting a game to the IFComp this year, which is less than a month away:

Be Ready for your work to be judged and reviewed by people. Some will be harsh, some will be kind, most will be fair. If you are not fully open to criticism, especially negative one, the voting period will sting like hell. It is also fine not to read any review or comment about your entry, but a head's up is important.

Be prepared to rank low. If you follow the advice below, you probably won't end up last place. But the competition is stiff. Authors often spend a year or two on their entries before they submit. If you know you can't handle rankings, go for the SpringThing instead. More chill.

Submit your intent to participate NOW! The deadline is Sept 1st, but it's easy to put it off and forget. And intent to participate doesn't mean you have to submit something. You can back out at any moment (even during the voting period).

Check the rules and timeline of the comp (@ifcomp). You don't want to disqualify yourself by mistake...

Keep it short: 15 to 30 min of gameplay. There is less than one month left, and you want plenty of time to make sure your entry is as polish as possible! I took 3 months last time and it was a buggy mess on Day 1 of the voting period.

Use a program you know, or a simple one with good documentation or guides. You might have time in a month to learn how to use a complex program, but I wouldn't recommend it. List at the end.

Create something simple but airtight. You are racing against time. Shooting for the moon with something complex could work, or it could land you in the bottom. Usually, it is best to create a game which is doing little, but doing it very well, than submitting a behemoth that can't even do its core gameplay loop right every time (dissing myself, yes). Sam Ashwell has some good article for choice-based, Emily Short for parser puzzles.

Your prose should have as little grammar mistakes as possible. Pass your text through as many grammar checkers, and maybe some human testers (beta). The more eyes you have on it, the better. Hate to say it but, avoid word crimes there...

Have some impactful interactivity, that makes sense with the story. Puzzle, branching of variation, etc... Even if all of it is fake, and you are pushing the player through a linear story, the player shouldn't feel like they are just flipping pages of a book. I am not talking about the quantity, but the quality of the interactivity. Emily Short has some great article about that stuff.

Don't have bugs. Should be obvious, but you know... I didn't follow that one and got (rightly) roasted for it in the reviews. Test your game (and have people test your game) A LOT.

Style your project a little bit (if possible). It doesn't have to be fancy, but as simple as changing the colour of the background and the text, maybe the font of the text as well (!!! it should still be readable) can go a long way. Also appreciated but never mandatory: different formatting for different bits of text, some animation in the text, having images, having audio, having accessibility settings (theme, font, visual, audio)... Again, those are pointers. Leave this for last.

Credit where credit is due. Code, assets, beta-tester, etc... anything you did not make from scratch, or anyone helping you along the way, should be added in a credit page. Also credit yourself for what you did :P you deserve to show off your efforts!

Test your game relentlessly. Yes it bares repeating, I've done that mistake. Don't be me. Test your stuff again. Have people break your game.

Edit your submission page with care. Have a grabbing hook for your synopsis, an eye catching image, and any relevant documents the players would need (i.e. walkthrough). DON'T FORGET TO ADD A WAY FOR PLAYER REACH YOU FOR BUGS!

MOST IMPORTANTLY: Have fun! If you have fun making your entry, it will show in the writing and how the game is constructed.

Hypertext/Choice-based: Twine (Harlowe, SugarCube), Ink/Inklewriter, Moiki, ChoiceScript Parser: Adventuron

Oh... and good luck. You'll need it :P

If you are thinking of next year instead, most of these advice applies. You can just rule out the intent submission for now, the length of the game (1h gameplay is usually the sweet spot), and the program to use (though take one you understand). The rest could work for any comp honestly.

What to Expect?

The IFComp period in an exciting time where many people gather to play games and talk about them. Many people submit stuff yearly, sometimes with good results, sometimes it's atrocious. Sometimes, authors who haven't been seen in a while reappear to show off their labour of love or review other people's games. It can be very intense and overwhelming if you are participating (author or player).

As an author, you should expect (not exhaustive):

deadline (intent/game/voting),

potentially getting comments for bugs (and having to update, which you are allowed to),

seeing reviews and discussions about your entry (mainly on the IntFiction Forum, but sometimes on blogs too): good stuff, negative stuff, and people missing the point entirely or having bad take, or takes you didn't think about.

seeing people rating your entry on the IFDB (rating =/= vote, but can be a flawed indicator)

feelings galore (good, bad, ugly, anxious), especially stressing about the results

having to remind yourself that no one can judge everything completely objectively (expect when it comes to bugs, it is or it isn't), and that people vote for what they like.

following the rules on the IFComp website

a special private group on the IntFiction forum to discuss with other authors when the voting period starts, as well as posting reviews,

maybe get a prize at the end? (depends on your placement)

Honestly, it can be pretty rough. This is not an easy competition. Most people have been working on those projects for months or years. Some have for just a few weeks, but their pieces can be out of this world. Only the organisers have an idea of who is competing ahead of time, and how competitive it could be from year to year (i.e. did big names come out or not).

While reviews and ratings can give you an indication of how your game is faring with players, you will not be able to know until the votes are actually out (case and point: me, thought I did much better than reality). Either way, it will be a surprise, good, bad, disappointing...

Speaking of reviewers, most will try to be as partial as possible and going into every entry with an open mind. But, there are harsh reviewers out there, as well as kind ones. It is not unusual to see blunt reviews, especially if something ticked the player (bugs usually).

But also, it's loads of fun! You have a bunch of very serious people debating on minor things, newcomers trying out the comp and sometimes even reaching the stars, oldcomers popping by for a cup promising they will review ever game and then disappearing after three, a lot of very very very good games to play, so many different perspectives on what if IF, and feeling like you have a voice in what should be crowned the best of the competition!

It's weird, it's serious, it's goofy...

Prepare for the worst, hope for the best... but most importantly, have some fun. And do what's best for your mental health!

What was my experience?

I think I've talked about it quite extensively in my Post-Mortem for The Thick Table Tavern. Read that before the end of this, for context.

And almost a year after this experience (on this day, I was frantically writing), I think my feelings have changed quite a bit. I went into the competition guns-blazing without understanding the importance of things (bugs/grammar especially) and thinking I had done the absolute most and breaking the genre, believed I did sooooo much better than any other entry, got very dramatic when the first non-positive reviews came in, and was about to throw my shit when I saw the 1s in the voting curve. I am only a bit over-exaggerating here.

I definitely deserved the placement I got. Don't misunderstand, I am incredibly proud of what I achieved there! But... there were major issues for sure. And I've come around to recognise those.

Those 1s-2s were warranted, those negative comments were warranted: the first version was buggy as hell (which I think was the version in the mass downloadable packet? and I updated the game like 20 times), there are still a bunch of issues with the prose (I learned my em dash lesson!), the pacing is aaaalll the way off (I thought I was being cheeky, but didn't always land)... This was something way different for the comp, maybe more experimental than people expected (I mean, who does a click-only bar for a text-based comp...)? But most importantly, while it looked polished, you just needed to play a few minutes to see the varnish crack...

To say the least, I got slapped back to reality. HARD. This was a mediocre good-looking game. Real pretty, big flaws. And that's ok (not putting myself down). Not every game can be winners (unless it's La Petite Mort or DOL-OS :P), not every game will work as intended. You can rack all the trophies all the times. Sometimes you're just at the bottom.

All this might sound hella negative, but I am incredibly grateful for this experience. I have learned so much about game creation, coding, writing, what to do and avoid... There are things I probably wouldn't have learned had I not participated (or not as early). I have created friendships (and rivalries /jk) and found a community where I feel comfortable being this experimental with my work (hey, it worked for DOL-OS!) and continuing breaking the codes. It's renewed my drive to create and do more: games, experiments, trying new program, but also for the community, helping out, creating guides and templates, giving advice...

And I've found a bit of love for reviewing stuff it turns out.

I've made my peace.

And I have plans for a new pretty weird game for a future IFComp ;) I will make people cringe again :P Hopefully not because of bugs!

Final sidenote: I am still not taking my advice. No one tested DOL-OS before it was submitted, and it won. But also, other games placed poorly... I am still speed-running through competitions (not the IFComp this time), and tripping all over all the time. I still submit thing thinking I'm the hottest stuff and that no one else will be better than me. Completely delusional here. Be better than me, for your sake.

[voidsentprinces]

Think Bethesda's bugs of the past were charming and viewed as wonderful because they were growing up in the era where games looked like someone stuck one of those eye puzzles to the side of a granite mountain and models looks like someone had a vague recollection of what a dog or a person looked like but could only manifest them using cave moss and overtly watery 8 year old paint on models of soap and toothpicks. But as game graphics improved and the coding and development got more streamline and we began to expect better and more from Bethesda and they kept just delivering the same buggy messes they were. It became clear that no they were just bad and their job and like a department forgotten about in a merger being rediscovered by management 5 years later. People just started to wise up and wonder why that department was even there any more. I mean, we all remember Tom. He helped repair the office printer one time when we were three person team working out of an abandoned college dorm when we were starting up. But now that you're thinking back on it Tom was drunk that day and he didn't really help he just kicked it a few times and rattled something lose enough that it actually got free. And like, he was funny exactly one time. But now Tom shows up at the Office Christmas party every few years and tries to sell you on that moment that was kind of funny but over time has gotten dull and repeative. What I am saying is, Skyrim was hype but it was also hitting at the right time and the Bethesda glitches were funny then cause of the way internet was hooked into the lolrandom humor of the era. Like yeah, I am sure we all got a kick out of a dragon randomly falling dead from the sky on top of the cheese vendor. Or how giant attacks send you flying into the sky box. But like...that was over 10 years ago, it feels like a well polished game with only minor hiccups and bugs doesn't seem like a high bar anymore. It seems actually pretty damn standard to ask for that. And Bethesda is just like, "Skyrim...again...and Starfield...which is Space Skyrim...again..." I can feel the eyerolling.

I dunno where I am going with this but...like the next installment of Dragon Age. I don't think we should hold our breath on Elder Scrolls 6 to show its publisher putting its best foot forward.

[allqrcoded]

Devlog 7: ASSET NEVER ENDS

Hi everyone, happy love month. As usual, the polishing stage begins & so does 90% of the work I need to get done for these sorts of projects (angel care, while occasionally pain in the ass to work with, has served me well).

In the light of things regarding polish, we'll be talking about the usual like bug fixing, more maps I've done and the like. This devlog is a bit on the short side since it's just updates on the two things I mentioned last devlog (along with me not having that much time during the week), but it's a lot of progress!

Bug fix update

On the lighter side of things, the first round of bug fixing concluded this month! While I haven't touched directing cutscenes per se along with fancy character sprites/what not during it, things like soft locks have been resolved. Though, I feel like that's still the tip of the ice berg because there are still a multitude of aesthetic issues I have with some of the UI choices I made along with struggling with how to remove the gauge bar in the pause menu, but that's for another day. 2nd round will probabably get started after I do some placeholder assets along with directing the rest of the cutscenes if any of the movement routes bring any softlocks.

More lighting

Thankfully, I've managed to find a more convenient way to name my overlay assets in order to transport them into the game itself without many issues. While making the lighting effects themselves does feel a bit repetitive, the moment lasts quicker than expected. Placeholder maps have been imported into VX Ace for the ones that show up for one time and is ending specific. Right now, a ridiculous amount of that sort of work got done during the weekend, so I'm sure that it'll be done sooner or later.

What next?

Ok, I haven't actually been finding fitting music for Dt-Z yet and that aspect of it has been in the backburner for too long. Though, I did download a free to use survival horror pack I found when I was developing angel care, so tracks from there would be useful (saves more time rummaging around every corner in the internet, too!)

Fancy CG work is also on hold in order to prioritize the game's functionality this month, but hopefully that aspect would have some progress on it in around April, maybe? Unlike angel care, Dt-Z really isn't CG heavy, so there probably wouldn't be that much images in that category. Next month, after bugs and what not have been squashed, I could get started on importing music... Maybe make some original tunes, too, if I feel as if a scene needs a certain type of sound that I can't find anywhere else.

Regarding next month's agenda, I'm actually a bit split on what to do in March lol. I mean, sure, directing CGs is (in my mind) probably more important than CG work and music.. etc. But still. I kinda hate making those fancy sprites, haha. I made a bit of progress regarding that this month, however, so let's see. Definitely basic movement routes are the priority. I've listed down a bunch of things I need to get done for that part, however, so that'll definitely aid me because I have a tendency to forget what I was originally gonna do when I boot up VX ACE.

[cocomere]

I've cycled back into one of my Moods, so now I'm inflicting it on everyone else! The next Many words are dedicated to an old game that I love to pieces.

Ghost Master is a game I grabbed off the shelf of an Office Max back in 2004, because I was a weird kid and was instantly hooked by the idea. Usually, my game of choice was whatever the newest Nancy Drew game was, but that's a tangent for another time.

I have spent nearly two decades going through cycles of playing this game, getting just a little further, and then getting distracted. It's something that's been part of my life for longer than writing or jewelry-- both of those I picked up in summer of 2006.

Ghost Master is a weird, strange little game that feels criminal to describe as an RTS. If you look only at the mechanics, that's the closest fit. You have units you deploy to meet a goal, while you yourself sit back and command things.

But...it's so, SO much more unique than that. Your units are ghosts, and they each have semi-unique powers, personalities, and some level of autonomy. You set the tier of power you want them to use, and they will use anything in that range at their own discretion.

Usually, your goal is to scare all the mortals in the level-- "send them screaming into the night," as it's put in the intro to one level. There are some levels where the goal is instead to accomplish a different objective; one of the very early levels has you trying to get the residents of the house to find the corpses left by the previous owner. You do environmental puzzles to unlock new ghosts, as well. Some are easy, some are bullshit. Storm Talon is hidden and the only indications he exists are a weird part of the level he's in and his category not having any other ghosts.

I'm doing a terrible job of selling it, but like-- it's so, SO fun. It's campy, it's strange, it spoofs/references so much horror and thriller stuff it's nuts. Literally the names and bios of the mortals are nods. There's a level with a poltergeist made of the restless spirits of chickens from a slaughterhouse, and the level is aptly named Poultrygiest. There's a level that is just flat out the Blair Witch Project. There's a parody of the Ghost Busters named the Ghost Breakers!!

It's usual price is $6 on GoG and $5 on Steam. GoG includes manuals in English and Polish, a ton of concept art, and the OST. Plus, y'know, no DRM. During fall/Halloween/spoopy sales it gets a discount, and it's my strong belief that it's worth at the very least looking at.

Oh! And there's an active mod going on and a dedicated discord for it. Genuinely, pop in and grab the mod if you're interested in the game. It comes with a ton of bug fixes, tweaks including making obtaining the currency for unlocking new powers more forgiving, and adds ghosts that were modeled but cut before being fully implemented. (The original way the currency payout works is that you can only get more if you beat your previous score in a level. It gets HARD to upgrade after a while.)

On top of that, the mod comes with tools that dig into the game and let you do things like add ghosts and mess with narrative cues.

This does not sound impressive, but it is. The file/formal system for the game is weird, opaque, and unique. It took a literal decade of work to get the point the mod is currently at! And there's more being done with adding entire new levels that were scrapped.

The amount of work being done to keep this obscure game alive is breathtaking. And it's free, save for the slight annoyance of needing to join the discord to get the download link.

...And if you really can't swing the price, and might look for Alternative Methods Of Acquisition-- well, about that. This is the only game the studio made (it was a commercial flop due to zero marketing from the publisher-- there's a postmortem from one of the lead devs that mentions that fact), and the IP has changed hands so many times that nobody is really sure who owns the rights any more.

The devs get nothing from sales, is my point. I'm not saying you can seek Alternative Methods Of Acquisition with little to no guilt, or that I might know about where to find it...but, y'know. It's something to mention.

Anyway, here's the links to the game + a trailer for the mod (which gives a link to the discord) + the two part postmortem of what did and didn't work about the game!

And also a playlist of the OST, uploaded by the spearhead/original person behind the mod. Listen to the title sequence, if nothing else!

[aceofaces-mod]

Regarding Immortal Sins...

Ahoy, maties!

It's been quite a while since I wrote the last post (longer since the last Monthly Sync). The last few months have been busy for me, resulting into not having enough time to work on the game. It didn't help that I'd have to overhaul the server I used to have the game's documentation (since it broke during migration). So, here's what I've been working so far, and share some of the next steps for the game.

Server Overhaul

For a long time, I had an Azure Web App that hosted the game's documentation. The original setup was powered on a Windows Server, and relied on two PHP sites: one was the (now defunct) bug tracker and a wiki software (Dokuwiki). With the release of PHP 8, there was no support on Windows Server (on MS Azure. You can use PHP on Windows). While it worked, PHP 7.4 was on a limited support. So, I had to migrate it to a Linux powered server. After creating the new one, I downloaded the files via FTP and moved them over to the new one. Simple, right? Well... It broke. Dokuwiki used the file storage to save the pages (no need for a database), so it wasn't it (kind of). First roadblock was that PHP 8 used a different server software to host (Nginx, Win Server has the IIS), so I had to do some configuration. But then, I keep seeing 404 errors. I couldn't understand what went wrong. After spinning up XAMMP locally, I see the issue: the wiki software broke. It seems like a combination of broken cache and breaking changes in code. This would require a ton of work to get it back up and running. The problem here is: I don't know how to code in PHP and it was a large codebase. So, I decided to rebuild it. This time, I'd use .NET and Blazor. Not only this would make it substantially smaller and faster, I could easily integrate features in a language that I know to program. Plus, I get to use my new web design skills (and polish them). And since Dokuwiki didn't rely on a database for storage, I was able to recover most of the pages.

With the new Dragohouse Help Center, the original site has been overhauled. Thanks to Blazor Server, it's rendered better, loads faster and it's more friendly to mobile devices. I've also done some work on the presentation, being nicer to navigate as well. The manuals are now structured in a more traditional manner (more like a book than a wiki page).

Another improvement is the new Bug Report page. Utilising GitHub, it makes it far more streamlined to file in bugs. There is more work to be done (streamlining the login process is on my list), but it opens up tools for me. One of the features that I can use is reporting the status of reported issues in the Trello board, so you can see what's going on with it.

The last thing is that the site is fully managed via a repo. I can easily update the site when needed, send it to my build server and then upload it to the web server. This makes it easy for me to maintain it and update documentation (with an easy way to roll back, in case it breaks). It also means that I can iterate on new features faster, too. Maybe have the server host hotfixes for the game? That would be cool (especially since the game has a package manager built-in). I am seeing this as a long-term project. Something that could be used for future stuff as well.

The future

So... What's next for Immortal Sins? This is one of the questions that I can't answer yet. The last few months have been a bit grueling for me. Training for a future job, losing a close relative and having occasional burn-out periods have drained me. Coupled with a recent wave of feedback and having to prioritize work (which would pay me), I had to shelve the game for a while and once the IRL stuff was in order, I'd pick the game back up. At the moment, I have a lot of thoughts about the game. I'm not sure what to do next. Should I rebuild the game in a new engine? Shelve it for good? Start over in the same engine? I'm going to need some time to gather my thoughts and decide on what to do. I want to give the game a proper conclusion. But I need a bit of time. Until then, I'm going to put the game into maintenance mode for a bit. I'll push out fixes when needed. But I need to make my mind up, before I push out more substantial updates. I am one developer working on the game. I have my own limits.

This is a post that isn't easy for me to write. At the time of this writing, Immortal Sins is a project I love and hate at the same time. It's been a source of frustration (mainly due to the engine) but I am thankful on working on it, as it allowed me to get creative and getting my curiosity in programming to the next level. What future holds, is something that I can't answer. But, whenever it will be in the current state or being rebuilt, I want to get the game in a state I can be happy with.

That's all for now. See you in the next post.

[bellmo15-blog]

Well, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet have been out for over a week now, so you know that means? New Poke Waifu season is in its full effect now! While you are all fantasising about Professor Sada (who I sadly will never see in my game because I picked Violet version) and instantly putting yourself on an FBI watch list with Iono, just by looking at this pic I had XJKenny draw for me you can already guess who my Gen 9 gal is. The head of the Paldean Pokemon League and now host to everyone’s favourite Marvel Symbiote Venom, Geeta. You know where I’m going with this! The moment I saw Geeta for the first time I instantly feel in love with her design. There’s just something about her design with the black outfit and blue gloves paired with her long black hair with blue and gold highlights and those gorgeous blue eyes and yellow… iris is it? I could be wrong about what that is since I know about anatomy about as well as Imortan Joe in Mad Max Furry Road is at knowing anything about Norse Mythology. Regardless of whatever they are Geeta is a beauty and I love her. Let’s be real, most of us knew she was going to be the champion before Scarlet and Violet even came out. You don’t have a super pretty girl like her in your game without her being the Champion thanks to previous examples like Cynthia and Diantha. Or even being a villain like Lusamine.

And now she has the Venom Symbiote! Not only giving her Venom’s powers of web swinging, super strength, and shapeshifting into different clothing (seriously, how many of you forget the symbiote can do that?) but she looks just as appealing as she does in her normal outfit. And can even be Paldea’s new vigilante super heroine if she wants. Considering half the crap that happens in this series from manipulative criminal’s guilt tripping everyone to release there Pokemon, narcissistic terrorists trying to restart the universe, two groups of eco terrorists almost screwing up the eco system fighting each other and a group that genuinely wants to commit mass genocide the Pokemon world sure as hell could use some superheroes! Paldea’s already got one with Symbiote Geeta! Or just lounge around in it looking sexy! Personally, I’d take advantage of the powers it would give me and go web swinging!

Artist is XJKenny. Since I’ve gotten a commission of a character from it and have been playing it since launch last week and I am known for being a Pokemon enjoyer, I guess I could give my brief thoughts on Scarlet and Violet. Not a full review but maybe like a minute or two of my thoughts. *Deep breath. *

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Let’s just get this out of the way right now. This game is broken! Like, really broken. Granted, some of the really awful bugs people have reported I’ve been lucky not to get but I’ve still seen Pokemon spawn in trees, gotten stuck on geometry while riding Miraidon, had the game ask me if I wanted to respawn even though I’ve only walked down a small flight of stairs, NPC’s walk though my Pokemon in one story vital battle I can’t talk about because spoilers and even had my game crash after a gym battle! Granted it was a Gym battle I sweeped pretty easily with my fully evolved grass starter but still. I haven’t played this game in co-op yet but apparently the bugs are worse there! I get why this game is as broken as it is. Gamefreak were essentially trying to make a game three times as big as Sword and Shield and Legends Arceus but either didn’t have enough time to iron out some of these issues or it was just two ambitious for the team who might not of worked on a game this big before. Personally, I feel like they should have just taken the L and delayed the game by a few months to iron out the bugs so that it could be as polished as it can.

Okay, putting the glitches aside do I think Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are good Pokemon games? Yes, I do! I love the direction they decided to take with the game this time opening up the game world to explore fully after getting though the tutorial area. It’s actually a lot like Zelda Breath of the Wild in a way. You can’t go straight to the final battle from the start like you can in Breath of the Wild but your free to explore the Paldea region. The trainers do have set levels though so you can’t just go to say, Eri who’s the strongest of the Team Star Bosses, and expect it to be easy. I do kinda wish the trainers would adjust to your level to really make it feel like the game is giving you more freedom but with how I played I did most of the stuff in the lower area of the map first and working my way up. That’s another thing, there are three separate paths you can take as well. Victory Road which is the classic Pokemon experience of fighting 8 gym leaders to take on the league, Starfall Street where you fight to take down the five bosses of Team Star and my favourite The Path of Legends not just because of the story around it but also because it’s about fighting Titan Pokemon which are stronger and bigger versions of normal Pokemon a lot like the Trials in Sun and Moon and as some you all might know already, Sun and Moon are my favourite mainline Pokemon games. Actually, I liked Starfall Streets story as well but it’s a reason I can’t talk about without spoiling why. Victory Road is fine, and the Gym leaders are great two but, and this is no doubt going to piss off a lot of people, but I actually think Sword and Shield had the best gyms in it because of how they were like this massive sport that the Galar region was super into and how the Gym Leader fights had crowds of spectators.

I’m a little mixed on the new Pokemon they introduced. On one hand I love the starter Pokemon and their evolutions, hell one of my favourites this gen is Sprigatio’s final evolution Meowscarada, the Legendries and some of the Paldein forms. On the other hand, there’s also ones like an actual tumbleweed and literally a car made of rocks and the incredibly phallic Paldein Dugtrio. Not to mention the new art style for in game. Not the official artwork for the game itself, that looks fine, I mean the models in game of the human characters. Sometimes they look fine to me other times they look off to me and I’m not sure if that’s a common thing to think but it’s how I feel. Again, gonna trigger people saying this but I think Sword and Shield has way better character models. Although, performance issues aside Paldeia looks quite lovely. I wouldn’t say this is the best-looking region nor my favourite but it looks good enough that I can’t help but say “Yeah, I’d take a vacation here.”

So anyway, that’s just my brief thoughts on Scarlet and Violet. It’s a great game with great ideas that really just needed a bit more time to be polished but hopefully as I’m writing this, they are working on patching this game. And hopefully it doesn’t take them a whole year or two to patch it and fix it! I’m looking at you Rockstar Games and the GTA Trillogy!

[parabeth]

Paralives vs Sims 5

I’ve seen a lot of comments about Sims 5 ripping off Paralives, and here’s my hot take: Sims 5 is implementing the game systems players keep asking for, which Paralives has done from the ground up in a more open and collaborative way. As the exact same type of game, many elements will overlap by chance. Elements that TS5 would have half-assed if not for the competition, well, yay for getting a better game! It’s not unreasonable for EA to pay close attention to what fans of Paralives respond to so that they can include similar features in TS5. Honestly, I’d be surprised if EA didn’t have someone watching the Paralives Patreon for research purposes. This isn’t even unethical because Paralives is not trying to hide what it’s up to: confirmed features are even on their website. Patreon is just so they can pay their employees, not keep competitors in the dark.

Is EA Games a big company with practices I don’t love? Yes! They push games out too fast, making it hard for programmers to be truly innovative or get everything just right before release. Their game systems have deep flaws, bugs, and elements that could be much more polished if they were allowed more time.

Most importantly to me, though: the Paralives team has clearly stated that they are fans of The Sims. They’re not haters. Do The Sims games have flaws? For sure. Can EA Games be frustrating? Yep! Should we treat The Sims like trash because they're a well-established franchise owned by a greedy company that hasn’t had to struggle for its fanbase? If we’re to honor the spirit of the Paralives team, the answer is no. We should appreciate The Sims for the classic it is and what it has brought to the genre. It might have warts, but the The Sims still deserves some respect as the first of its kind.

Plus, let’s be real, we’re all gonna buy both games when they come out.

[artificial-intelligence-related]

Navigating the World of App Development: Key Elements and Costs

In today’s tech-driven world, developing an app can be a game-changer for your business. Whether you’re a startup founder with a revolutionary idea or an established company looking to enhance customer engagement, understanding the app development process is essential. Let’s break down the key elements you need to consider and shed some light on the costs involved.

Understanding the Cost to Develop an App

So, how much does app development cost? Well, it depends on several factors:

Simple Apps: Basic features and simple design can cost between $10,000 and $50,000.

Moderately Complex Apps: More custom UI/UX, API integrations, and enhanced features usually cost between $50,000 and $100,000.

Highly Complex Apps: Advanced functionalities like real-time data sync, AI, and custom animations can run from $100,000 to $500,000 or more.

Don’t forget to account for hidden costs such as app store fees, marketing, backend infrastructure, and post-launch maintenance. These can add up but are essential for your app's success.

Defining Your Purpose and Audience

First things first, what’s the purpose of your app? Is it to solve a specific problem, streamline a process, or entertain users? Knowing your app's purpose helps shape its features and design. Equally important is identifying your target audience. Who will use your app? What are their needs and preferences? Conducting market research can provide valuable insights and ensure your app hits the mark.

Choosing the Right Platform

Next up is deciding which platform to develop your app for—iOS, Android, or both. Each platform has its own unique user base and technical requirements. iOS users tend to spend more on apps, but Android dominates the global market share. Starting with one platform and expanding later can be a smart strategy, especially if you're working with a tight budget.

Crafting a Stellar Design and User Experience (UX)

A great app is all about user experience. You want your app to be intuitive, attractive, and easy to navigate. This means investing in good design, from the color scheme and fonts to the layout and navigation. A polished, user-friendly design keeps users engaged and coming back for more.

Prioritizing Functionality and Features

What features does your app absolutely need? Prioritize these to keep your initial development manageable and within budget. Think about user authentication, push notifications, in-app purchases, social media integration, and real-time updates. Remember, it’s often better to start simple and add more features over time based on user feedback.

Building a Solid Backend Infrastructure

Your app’s backend is its powerhouse—handling data storage, user authentication, and syncing across devices. Whether you choose cloud services like AWS and Google Cloud or a custom backend solution, make sure it’s robust and scalable. A well-built backend ensures your app runs smoothly and can handle growth.

Ensuring Top-Notch Security

Security is non-negotiable. Protecting user data builds trust and keeps your app compliant with regulations. Implement strong security measures like data encryption and secure authentication, and regularly audit your app for vulnerabilities.

Testing Thoroughly

Before launching, your app needs to be tested thoroughly. This includes functional testing to ensure features work correctly, performance testing to check speed and reliability, usability testing to ensure ease of use, and security testing. Beta testing with a small group of users can also provide valuable feedback and highlight any last-minute tweaks needed.

Planning for Maintenance and Updates

Launching your app is just the beginning. Regular maintenance is crucial to fix bugs, update features, and improve performance. Listening to user feedback will help you identify areas for improvement and keep your app relevant and user-friendly.

Conclusion

Developing an app involves more than just coding—it requires strategic planning, thoughtful design, and continuous improvement. By understanding the key elements and costs, you can create an app that not only meets user needs but also stands out in a competitive market. Investing in quality design, thorough testing, and regular updates will pay off, ensuring your app is user-friendly and successful. Happy app developing!

[zur-game]

  Mobile gaming has exploded in popularity over the past decade, becoming a multi-billion dollar industry. With the rise of smartphones and tablets, creating your own mobile game has never been more accessible. However, the process can be daunting for beginners. This article will guide you through the essential steps to get started on your journey to creating a successful mobile game. Understanding the Basics of Game Development Before diving into the technical aspects, it's crucial to understand the basics of game development. Game development involves several stages, including concept creation, design, development, testing, and launch. Each stage requires different skills and tools, and understanding these will help you navigate the process more effectively. Concept Creation The first step in game development is coming up with a compelling game concept. This involves brainstorming ideas, researching existing games, and identifying your target audience. A well-defined concept will serve as the foundation for your game and guide your decisions throughout the development process. Design Once you have a solid concept, the next step is to design your game. This includes creating the game's mechanics, story, characters, and levels. Tools like storyboards and wireframes can help you visualize your game and plan its structure. Additionally, consider the user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design to ensure your game is intuitive and engaging. Choosing the Right Tools and Platforms With your game concept and design in place, it's time to choose the right tools and platforms for development. There are several game development engines and frameworks available, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Some popular options include: Unity: A versatile and widely-used game engine that supports both 2D and 3D game development. Unreal Engine: Known for its high-quality graphics and powerful features, ideal for more complex games. Godot: An open-source game engine that's beginner-friendly and supports both 2D and 3D development. Construct: A drag-and-drop game development tool that's perfect for beginners with no coding experience. When choosing a platform, consider your target audience and the devices they use. Popular platforms for mobile games include iOS, Android, and Windows Mobile. Each platform has its own development requirements and guidelines, so be sure to familiarize yourself with them before starting. Learning to Code While some game development tools offer drag-and-drop functionality, learning to code can significantly enhance your capabilities and allow you to create more complex games. Popular programming languages for game development include: C#: Widely used with Unity, offering a balance of simplicity and power. C++: Commonly used with Unreal Engine, known for its performance and flexibility. Python: Often used for scripting and prototyping, thanks to its simplicity and readability. JavaScript: Useful for web-based games and some mobile game frameworks. There are numerous online resources, tutorials, and courses available to help you learn these languages. Websites like Codecademy, Coursera, and Udemy offer comprehensive courses on game development and programming. Building and Testing Your Game With your tools and skills in place, it's time to start building your game. Begin by creating a prototype to test your game's core mechanics and gather feedback. This will help you identify any issues and make necessary adjustments before investing more time and resources into development. Once your prototype is polished, move on to full-scale development. This involves creating all the assets, coding the game logic, and integrating sound and music. Regularly test your game throughout the development process to ensure it runs smoothly and is free of bugs. Launching and Marketing Your Game After months of hard work, your game is finally ready for launch. However, releasing your game is just the beginning. To ensure its success, you'll need to market it effectively.

Some strategies for promoting your game include: Creating a website and social media profiles to showcase your game and engage with potential players. Reaching out to gaming blogs and influencers for reviews and coverage. Participating in online forums and communities related to game development and mobile gaming. Utilizing app store optimization (ASO) techniques to improve your game's visibility in app stores. Additionally, consider offering in-game purchases or ads to monetize your game and generate revenue. Keep track of your game's performance and user feedback to make continuous improvements and updates. Try our Lates version of Drop Ball Explosion for android Here! Case Studies and Examples To illustrate the process of game development, let's look at a few successful mobile games and their development journeys: Flappy Bird Flappy Bird, developed by Dong Nguyen, is a simple yet addictive game that became a viral sensation in 2014. Nguyen created the game using the Cocos2d-x framework and released it on both iOS and Android platforms. Despite its basic mechanics and graphics, Flappy Bird's challenging gameplay and viral nature led to millions of downloads and significant revenue from ads. Monument Valley Monument Valley, developed by Ustwo Games, is a visually stunning puzzle game that gained widespread acclaim for its unique art style and innovative gameplay. The game was built using Unity and released on iOS and Android. Monument Valley's success can be attributed to its captivating design, engaging puzzles, and effective marketing strategies, including featuring the game in Apple's App Store. Conclusion Creating your own mobile game can be a rewarding and profitable endeavor, but it requires careful planning, dedication, and the right tools. By understanding the basics of game development, choosing the appropriate tools and platforms, learning to code, and effectively marketing your game, you can increase your chances of success. Remember to stay persistent, continuously learn, and adapt to the ever-evolving world of mobile gaming. Question and Answer Q: Do I need to know how to code to create a mobile game? A: While knowing how to code can significantly enhance your capabilities, there are game development tools like Construct that offer drag-and-drop functionality, allowing you to create games without coding experience. Q: How long does it take to develop a mobile game? Try our Lates version of Drop Ball Explosion for android Here!

[thetoxicgamer]

Starfield is being bug tested by literally every QA person at Xbox

Everyone at Bethesda and Xbox is aware that Starfield is positioned to become one of the most popular RPG games of all time. We are now learning that practically every QA team at Xbox and Bethesda has been working on Starfield to make it the finest possible version of itself after numerous delays and the recent Xbox Showcase. Therefore, the teams are still working really hard while we all wait for the Starfield release date. CEO of Xbox Game Studios Phil Spencer and head of Microsoft Studios Matt Booty recently appeared on the Giant Bomb at Nite podcast to talk about all the reveals and news from the Xbox Showcase, with the discussion, of course, leading to Bethesda’s Starfield. Here Spencer talks about Xbox and Bethesda’s efforts to polish Starfield, and how everyone wants to make sure the space game has enough time to be turned into the best version of itself. “When the acquisition closed had a significantly earlier ship date than where we’re actually launching it,” Spencer says. “So sitting down with Todd and the team and explaining that we want to give this team the time, I think Matt says we have every QA person in our entire company playing Starfield right now, looking at bug counts, looking at quality and where we are.” QA stands for quality assurance, and developers with this job essentially identify technical issues and hand them back to the rest of the team to get them fixed. “We’ve been playing the game for quite a while, and that is the game,” Spencer adds. “When you look at things like Skyrim, it’s not like that team hasn’t launched games that have hit a level of expectation, I love the anticipation.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykXaj1d1jXY We learned a lot about Starfield at the recent Xbox and Starfield Direct, so we broke down the 35 new details we spotted while watching, alongside a breakdown of the Starfield Constellation Edition and even what we already know about the first Starfield DLC as well. There’s an awful lot to unpack from the showcase, so I imagine we’ll see hidden details for days and weeks. Bethesda’s newest adventure is already so big that Starfield pre-orders are beating everything else on Steam, so it looks like what Xbox was able to show after multiple delays is paying off. If you’re super excited about Starfield and can’t wait to know more we’ve got absolutely everything you’ll ever need to know, from the Starfield early access start date, a breakdown of the ongoing Starfield fps discussion, and a deep dive on Starfield character creation too. Read the full article

[vertanvertan]

Bug Bulb Scam Is 5 Star Rated Service Provider

A new product known as bug bulb is a simple, valuable mosquito deal with method. The situation uses complex technology to bring in along with remove discrepancies with no bad compounds or insecticides. Its style and design attraction nasty flying bugs in and electrocutes all of them to safeguard you and your family by scratchy, uncomfortable articles. The 780 possesses an easy-to-use type rendering it useful plus safe to use. Based on the vendor, this Bug bulb is definitely a “game-changing solution to the annoying and dangerous problem of mosquitoes.” Typically the company’s web-site features a 30-day warranty, being sure clientele will go back the device when they not satisfied along with its functionality. Likewise, this website benefits protect processing ways of a great safeguard of ones own info in addition to visa or mastercard details. To understand any location of your bug bulb by boundery, families may focus on the following website link .

This system operates emitting some UV light who copies large of human skin. Several are enthusiastic about that light while they representative this utilizing would-be foods options, for instance man. Right after they comparable with the light-weight, they are really lodged by just it's electronic curls along with destroyed. The bug bulb cost and safe to use round youngsters and even animal friends, rendering it an excellent choice for all those with the help of confidential complexion. The nuvi 780 is another great option for many who just want to stop deadly synthetics in addition to bug sprays inside of their dwellings. The software creator boasts of the fact that technique is 100% purely natural plus friendly to the environment, making it feel like a superb way to normal pesticides. In addition, it doesn’t unleash distressing odors or just atomizers, that can be mistaken for individuals with responsive body.

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Dissimilar to some other parasite zappers that are wanting high-priced toxins, typically the Bug bulb is inexpensive easy to preserve. The gps unit is definitely common and is put into use outdoors or indoors and keep nasty flying bugs far from home. Aside from that it incorporates a entirely removable variety receptacle that would be successfully purged together with polished, reduce the potential risk of bacterial not to mention organism growth. All the Bug bulb is an easy, effective, together with natural cure for aggravating insect damage. Its own potent 360-degree insurance policy coverage helps keep a yard and also outdoor patio mosquito-free, so you can relax and enjoy the summertime. It has the low-power eating plus in length life of the battery convert it into a cost-effective as well as successful replacement of the more pricey virus zappers. Moreover, the actual light remains safe and secure pertaining to animal friends and youngsters to try, this means you don’t need to bother about contaminated toxins entering your own home. A manufacturer’s web site offers a secure the counter practice, being sure the security of your very own information and facts together with plastic card statistics.

[vendetta-if]

Writing Update (8 August 2022)

Hey guys. I have quite a lot of things to cover on this writing update post, and I also come bearing some good news today 💖 Since it'll be quite long, I'll keep it under the cut. Strap in!

First, Chapter 2 has now reached a total of 45,949 words excluding commands (around 15k words added in around a week) 🎉 It's so big that I decided to split it into two separate files, just in case one big file can lag some browsers. The first part is 21,446 words and the second part, which focuses on MC's birthday party, is 24,483 words currently and will increase more as I'm nearing the end of the chapter.

I was tempted to actually label the second part of Chapter 2 as Chapter 3, but I'll leave both parts as Chapter 2 for now. Maybe I'll make a poll, later on, to see whether readers will feel it more fitting to actually separate and label them as different chapters 🤔

Second, I'm sorry for not being able to answer any asks today 😔 I've been busy spending my whole Sunday afternoon tracking down and fixing a bug on the looping conversations coding that would've messed up almost the whole part two of the chapter. Thankfully, I did manage to find out what was wrong and fix it immediately today 😮‍💨 I was worried about having to spend more days resolving it.

Third, I have finally passed the section where I had to write and code a lot of variations to the conversations you'd be able to have with various characters during the party. I think it's one of the most time-consuming sections in the chapter 😭

Now, according to my calculation, I just need to write the last 1/4 of the chapter, and then I'll run the whole chapter through a grammar check to get rid of as many typos and grammatical errors, while also polishing the chapter even more. After that's all done, I'll send the chapter to a small group of my friends to test to make sure there are no more game-breaking bugs and errors. And finally, I'll be ready to update it publicly! I really can’t wait for you guys to finally be able to play and enjoy it 😁

Whew, that's a long writing update! Well, it's currently 1:30 A.M. where I am right now, and my brain hurts from thinking of the codings all day long 😵‍💫 I'm going to bed now, and hopefully I'll be able to answer some asks tomorrow morning. See you guys then! 🥰

[allqrcoded]

Devlog 2: Assets , bug fixing & kool stuff

hello.. we're back here ...! this month, i worked on more talk sprites (as you could see from the picture above), a game mechanic , directing cutscenes, more maps… and bug fixing

i've been bogging down on some (overdue) asset work this month... and i think im reaching the end of the road for that part (in terms of maps)

Asset work

speaking of roads, im done with the street map.. which is one where i've experienced countless difficulties with, even as of remapping.

it used to look like that, but now it looks like this! isn't that great?. i'm thinking of using animated assets to give more life to maps where clouds are shown.. just for a bit of movement, but i'm not sure how that works, so time will tell. also, i reached my map making dl!! for once! im very happy :^) i thought i wouldn't make it, but i did.

with other assets, i'm pretty proud of the stuff i've drawn for shan daxing's (another character in the game) . he's so cute. i think all of the assets where hes blushing are my favorite, because i can't pick one.

the assets for a side character have also been done! 100% now because she doesn’t have that much screen time, so the work is a little bit light on her.. unlike the main trio’s with their 3 separate outfits and all.

Autohotkey goodness

i also found out about the existence of ahk and the power of ctrl+enter for adjusting things, so i definitely got a lot of things done in that department :^) i capitalized (iirc) all dialogue that needed so + changed every dim text box to be windowed. yay! ahk is also the reason why i made so much progress during this month. most of the cutscenes have also been directed (aka have movement in them).

CGs

i’m thinking of adding cgs to the game as well. this is a draft to show what they’ll be like. slightly cropped and not so polished. i'm not focusing that much on them these days, so the earlier cgs i have planned would take a while for me to draw.. my priority right now is technical issues over aesthetic ones.

about the game mechanic

the “game mechanic” i mentioned before the cut is actually pretty simple to explain! there are parts in the game where you get a bit of breathing time + interact with the objects in-game to get optional lore and extras. during that breathing time, i’ve made it so that whenever you talk to a character in the same room, you can get a talking mini game where … in certain choices — reveal some said lore. this mechanic is partly inspired by blood orange (the mechanic’s gameplay) along with slow damage (the breathing time from the story).

angel care has a lot of lore.. and i don’t want to info dump players in every cutscene where it’s relevant, so i made some of them “explorable” to say the least. the idea of “breathing time”, as i mentioned.. came from slow damage because i think that game does well at giving players a break from all of the bam wow story & lore with its exploration mechanic. it’s very simple, but effective! it lets players control the pace instead of the game doing it for them & makes them take time to process the story whilst at it. it's pretty normal, but it does the job in relaying info.. & making said info explorable/optional

final words

just this week, i've started to playtest the game chronologically ^^ i'm still in early game, but the bugs there are being fixed at a relatively quick rate to make up for my tendency to not playtest whilst coding... we're getting there! may is coming up and for that month, i'll have a lot of time to work on the game itself.

[heli0s-writes]

Clumsy

Summary: Serendipity, it’s the only way Steve can describe it. His ma was right: he’d always been slow.

Pairing: Steve Rogers/Reader

A/N: Fluff with a tiny sprinkle of Steve angst because I love one sad boi. Written for @wkemeup​​‘s 4K Challenge like an entire year ago!! I’m so sorry, Kas!! The prompt was Bright Eyes’ “First Day of My Life”. 2.8k words.

It was supposed to rain.

Thunderclaps rolled in the distance all morning. Moisture hung heavy in the air and the earth smelled like wet already--- salty, thick, sweet. The app on his phone blinked gray clouds straight across the screen. Seventy-three degrees and a nine-five percent chance of precipitation. Winds NE 20 miles per hour.

But at 2:30 in the afternoon when Steve slides into the car, it’s clear and blue.

So he figures it’s coincidence and poor meteorology when the engine quietly rumbles to life. He fixes the collar of his shirt, checks for hotels around the midway point, and sends an uneasy look to the empty passenger seat.

Then, he makes his way to where you are.

-

The two-lane country road stretches on. Winding and curving, pitch-black and howling with wind and wildlife. Bugs splatter on the windshield and he mechanically sprays a bit of fluid, wiping them off, the squeaks giving his radio a bit of rhythm in all this late-night talk. It’ll be another half hour before he gets to the hotel and he’s still wrestling with himself if he should even break.

No reason to now. He can drive all night. No reason to other than his pride.

“So what is it?”

There’s an imprint in the seat. An outline of a warm body folding soft creases in the leather. Late night talk radio fizzles out, and he’s tired, so he can’t get too upset at his brain for seeing the shape even though it’s been months since anyone’s sat there.

He chances a look over, then quickly back ahead because sure—the sedan is small, but this tiny strip of pavement feels even smaller. Too right and he’ll careen into the woods, too left and if another car’s coming around the bend Steve would roll out alive, but he’d be the only one.

He looks again.

Legs folded. Bare feet. Ankles crossed on the dash. Casually sitting with one hand on your phone and the other one behind your head, face lit incandescent by the screen. It was the first time he’d been alone with you after New York; he remembers this.

You hadn’t even given a glance sideways at him, still fixed on the screen, thumb sliding up and focused on mission details in a perfect picture of indifference.

“Your whole thing. Mister Red-White-and-Broody, most eligible bachelor in all of America—which, by the way, is so far up your ass all fifty states might as well be coming out of your mouth—”

“Stop it.”

“Okay, Rogers.” A smirk. His last name slipping between your lips like military title. “Fine, you’re all gilded in the front, suffering in the back. So—” You turned finally, pulled your feet back and tucked them under your body, “What is it?”

Steve pretended to think, left hand clenching a fraction tighter on the wheel, feeling its strength beneath his grip. His face remained impassive and dedicated forward, turning the seconds in his head, counting down the appropriate time for his reply.

It was a game, certainly. Your assertion, your poise, hand propping up your head—all of it. Your entire being was a foil to one Steven Grant Rogers and he was strapped with you for half a week. Already the car ride was beginning to foreshadow what was quickly seeming to be a long assignment.

“It’s my job—”

“So weak.”

“I’m busy—”

“Are you even trying to lie?”

You were known to do this: lay out a path of questions that only gave your company the pretense of a genuine conversation. You’d lead them like a wrangler leading horses to water, knowing they wouldn’t drink, but giving them just enough time to stare at their own reflection in the pool before you’d yank the harness elsewhere.

It was always a short path, but what you lacked in subtlety you made up for with honesty.

Agitated, Steve snapped before he could rein himself back in.

“What are you, my psychologist?” Horse.

“You don’t have one. You are the only Avengers Tower resident who has run off every psychologist on Stark’s payroll. So--” a twist of your torso, your back pressed up against the door handle as you stared at the outline of his side profile. Wrangler.

The question dangled in front of his gritted teeth. The answer he’d known long ago was behind two perfect calcium rows, pressed up, trying to find its way through the cracks.

What’s your thing? We fought together. We live together. We suffered a cataclysmic event in the form of aliens together---so why doesn’t anybody know you?

You leaned forward, body tilting until it almost touched your former footrest. Your head sloped to find his face and when he flicked his eyes sharply to yours, Steve knew it wasn’t sharp enough.

“You don’t want to be vulnerable.”

You’d led him through the brief route of your inquisition and had seen all you cared to see. Your voice bounced off the window when you closed your eyes and turned away.

“Steve,” you sighed, mouth going to the side in a smile. “Vulnerability is clumsy, but it’s the only thing worth anything.”

He had thought: No, it isn’t. He’d spent too long being vulnerable already, and he couldn’t afford it again. Twenty years of a miserable half-life and seventy years of sleep and suddenly the world was new and different and strange. Coming back into his body was new and different and strange but it was the body that afforded him invulnerability.

Mostly, anyway.

Steve decided, then, at least he could make up for that lump of mortality—that lump of weakness—with performance.

So, he became the blacksmith to his feeble Brooklyn boy heart. Forged carbon steel, gold-plated, immaculately polished like his own shield at press conferences. Smoothed himself into a monumental display of impeccable posturing and hid the boy away where no one could reach him. Let him go back to sleep, too. Frozen in a time long passed, long forgotten.

He wasn’t Steve Rogers anymore because no one knew Steve Rogers anymore; it was the only way he could carry on. Didn’t you know?

No, he supposed, you didn’t.

On the ride back you surrendered yourself to the backseat, laying down in the most comfortable position the sedan would allow, and chatted his ear off the entire ride home. Called him Steve and looked at him through the rearview mirror. Eyes met eyes, and yours crinkled at the edges with some secret knowledge.

By the end of it, all he could think about was how he didn’t mind the conversation and that his first name even sounded a little nice coming out of your mouth.

You shimmer in the passenger side until your hair hangs a little longer. His brown leather jacket is around your shoulders. A stretch of your arms. A stretch of your lips. Months passed and Rogers befell the man you knew during the Manhattan Crisis while he became Steve.

Steve on missions and in the field—On your six, Steve! Keep up, old boy. Steve at the tower and Steve in the gym— don’t touch my weights, Steve, you’ll throw your back out.

Steve getting the door and pouring the whiskey and letting you wear his jacket when you were cold. Finding you across rooms at parties because there was an easiness to your presence that calmed the crowd. Shooting pool and watching movies. Up late and out late and laughing until the early hours.

He was Steve, your friend, because he finally allowed himself to have a friend.

You change. Shimmer again until your hair is pulled back from your swollen face. A hospital gown crinkled around your shoulders. Asleep, cold. Too close to death, too close to him. He couldn’t even sit by your bedside, only standing by the door, shuffling from one wall to the other and watched the monitors with a too-loud and static-filled brain.

He was hesitantly Steve when you stepped too close to him on the balcony nights later, hand precariously hovering over that fragile boy heart, finally pressing down on it, feeling his delicate pulse thawing and crawling towards you. Tipsy smile and you tasted like whiskey and easy joy.

The kiss was clumsy, like you’d said. Vulnerability threw him back to the 40’s, all gangly limbed and ill, his lungs malfunctioning, his breath smothered in his mouth. He stumbled, but the banister held him up.

You didn’t mind that his knees felt boneless. You chalked it up to too much drink, but the touch of your still-bruised cheek abruptly burned down his throat—warm and smooth and cataclysmic until he caught sight of the way you winced as his hand cupped your tender face. Steve stepped back, then, and apologized for what he said should have never happened.

There was a small quiver from your shoulder before you quietly went back inside.

He cursed himself on the balcony. Cursed letting it all happen in the first place. Captain Rogers watched your retreating steps, burying the spark and the fire. And the boy must have cried in his ice-block coffin when he buried him again, too.

“Don’t look at me like that.” God, he’s going crazy. Poor night-vision and an addled brain causing him to scold an empty seat. “You stopped talking to me.”

His grip on the steering wheel tightens the way it does when you’re too deep in his head and he can’t get you out. Days without hearing from you smeared together in careful steps of a cagey dance. Comments always presented as half-truths—riddles he struggled to deconstruct. Breadcrumbs never leaving enough of a trail to lead him anywhere. He wants the harness back. Wants back your confident hand.

“You could have said something.” Steve scoffs, because you always had something to say. “Anything. You could have said anything. We were—friends.”

And hell, doesn’t that sound stupid out loud? Maybe it’s best that he’s got nothing but infinity beyond the sedan’s glaring brights and a million thoughts of unsaid words. It’s all useless, anyway. Best that he can get it all out now, talking to your ghost. It keeps all his thoughts in his head and keeps him from yelling every time he sees you not-looking, not-smiling, not-talking to him.

Steve flicks the wipers on again. Shuts off the radio. Shuts off the navigation. Takes the car off cruise-control to give himself something to do. He’ll stop overnight, after all.

Suddenly then, in the distance, two glowing eyes greet him steadily. Measured paces, in a firm and crisp trajectory, growing closer and closer. Glaring and vivid, beating the monotonous grind of nighttime out of him. His pinky moves, and his high beams flip to low beams, white giving way to yellow and the glistening road signs and tree-shadows in the distance slowly diminish.

Bleached spectral glaring of leaves and road signs soften ochre and brown, indigo dark. For a fleeting moment, even Steve’s enhanced eyes feel half-blind again as he readjusts to the pitch-black night barely lit. The car coming toward him does the same, highs blinking low and they pass each other in quiet understanding. In blind trust on the dark road, dependent on each other’s good faith to see it through.

He thinks of Sarah Rogers in a tiny Brooklyn kitchen, floral wallpaper yellowed and peeling behind her. One hand on an apron-clad hip, cooking interrupted by her son stumbling in dripping blood down his shirt, her other hand clenched around a wet kitchen rag.

“Steven Grant Rogers! Oh—wretched! What else can I say,” she’d sigh as she pressed it to his nose, “You do whatever you please, anyhow. You just put this on your face—and don’t think it’ll get you out of doing the dishes, either.”

“But—” he’d attempt.

She’d put up her hand, “Lord have mercy on any young woman that’ll have you. May she have your poor mother’s patient heart.”

His ma always called him slow. A dolt through and through. Quick to temper, but laborious to do much else. Common sense always took its sweet time-- took the long path home to get to Steve Rogers. In seventy-odd years, he hasn’t changed.

Better than coincidence and better than poor meteorology. Serendipity. It’s the only way he can describe it.

Like finding a crumpled up twenty in his pocket—or in his case, a five—enough then for a week’s worth of meals. Like having that nightmare— the one right before the plane crashes and instead of going down with it, he wakes up. Like expecting to drive five hours through a storm and stopping overnight, but instead it’s clear and blue as far as he can see.

The rush, the relief, the deafening joy that shuts everything else up and out.

Sarah Rogers was right: he’d always been slow.

So he careens back onto the highway from the service road, steadying his foot on the pedal and flies about fifteen miles faster than the speed limit says he should. The car is vibrating to a thrilled beat inside his chest. Steve can’t help smiling.

-

It was supposed to rain. All the way to the next mid-morning but the sky parts a brilliant orange sunrise and he nearly sprints to the door. He doesn’t wait for it to open all the way before he barrels in. A sliver of parting wood is enough, and Steve throws it wide with his enormous shoulders, kicking it shut firmly with his boot.

The imprint of your body on the couch is still warm—you, halfway across the room in alarm—real and even warmer when Steve gathers you into his arms. He’s been awake for over 24 hours, talking to himself, talking to your hallucination, so he apologizes when his teeth click against yours in a frantic kiss.

“Rogers--!”

You pull away, dazed, a little bit pissed off, but you cow the swirl of emotions into professionalism. “What are you—you’re not supposed to be here until late—did you drive through--”

“Steve,” he interrupts, “Steve.”

He’s so tired of the long road. Can’t stand another second of maneuvering in the dark down winding paths or broken streetlight avenues you’re not at the end of so he keeps his next phrase short: “I really like you.”

You raise your brow and brush the back of your knuckles over your lips, the light from the balcony streaming over your face. His hand tenderly brushes your cheek, the same one he touched all those months ago and you blink in surprise. Quick, calculating movements even as you lean gently into his touch.

“Steve…” you say slowly before your mouth pinches together in a poor attempt to hide the smirk threatening to surface. “You drove all night to… ask me to call you Steve.”

“Well,” he shrugs, “And the mission.”

“Right, the mission. The debrief didn’t mention that it required a lot of… kissing.”

“It came up recently; I haven’t adjusted the file yet.” He grins at your rolling eyes, your swollen lips peeling back to reveal a joyful display of teeth at his stubborn defiance.

“Took you long enough,” you mumble.

You place your hand over his chest, over his heart.

You kiss him and Steve hears himself sighing into your mouth. His cheeks flush with embarrassment, but you’re not letting go, and he presses his lips to yours a little slower, a little firmer, learning the ways you like to feel him there.

“Steve,” you breathe, and it paints him in the most galvanized care. “Steve,” you say again, and his eyes slip shut, like he’s being laid to rest. And maybe he is. Finally weary of lugging around all his armor, all his pretense.  

The boy emerges, thawing toward his name held sweetly in your mouth.

He fumbles with his awkward limbs—a newly birthed foal trying to find its footing—but you’re patient and enduring. He takes in his trembling body—knobby knees and gangly elbows. Inept gait still learning how to be. He takes the sights—white casting over the balcony. You, even brighter.

It was supposed to rain, but you link your fingers through his, leading him toward the open doors, smiling against a backdrop of sherbet swirls. He stumbles, but you’ve got him. A few short steps, just a few more, and Steve kisses you again in the sunbathed daybreak, resurrected and anew.