#the curse of working as a designer under NDA

[pr-fae]

Sometimes I wish I wasn't under NDA at my job because I made some borrower themed packaging for a client at work and even though that specific brand didn't get picked up for the program I legally still can't show it so I might just....remake it...just for funsies

[youvebeenlivingfictional]

First of all, congrats on 3000 followers! You're one of the best writers I have ever seen, the way you capture the characters personalities and quirks so well it's honestly astonishing. You deserve all the recognition in the world! Now, I have been waiting for your requests to be open for a while now bc I could not stop thinking about nathan + texting the wrong number. I don't think this in the prompt lists you shared, so feel free to just ignore. Either way, thank you so much for all the stories you give us!

Part of Youvebeenlivingfictional's 3K Follower Celebration

Notes: Thank you so much anon omg 🥺🥺🥺

Texts like this are from Nathan Texts like this are from you. A new line indicates a new text.

Warnings: Drunkenness, cursing, sexual innuendo, implied sex, implied phone sex

hey. hey hey hey hey I sent you the scummatics.

???

the

fucking the design things. Been drinking can’t spell right nnw

You also can’t text the right number, apparently.

Fuck you this is the right numver

Wow, drunk AND polite.

fuck you and quit fucking around i need that shit in productin yestrday

Well, looks like you’re not going to get it until tomorrow, along with a raging hangover

I pay ur goddamn celery, Randall

Randall must be one lucky man. I’m guessing he’s also underpaid if his compensation is celery.

randall i’m fucking over this just get your shit done do ur fuckgnin job

[Today Incoming Video Call]

[3 minutes long]

……ur much hotter than randall.

Drink some water and go to bed, dude.

--

Hi.

Still not Randall.

No, I know.

And you’re typing with the correct words, so I’m guessing you’re more sober than you were last night?

Correct.

I just wanted to apologize for that. I entered my assistant’s number wrong on my phone.

Don’t worry about it.

Right.

I need to ask you something.

Is it how to spell ‘schematics’?

…No.

Can I call you? Are you busy?

Sure, call.

--

Seeing Nathan Bateman’s face on the other end of your phone last night had been shocking. The last time you saw him—Well. You'd rather not think about that. You're not sure if the man straight-up didn't recognize or remember you, or if he was just too drunk for it to register last night. You’re not sure which would be better. But the fact that he’s contacting you again, and wants to call? It's even more stunning. When his number flashes across your screen under the name ‘That Drunk Guy’, you hesitate. You did tell him to call, but now you’re regretting it. You should’ve waited, asked what he wanted. But you take in a deep breath, and stab the green button, and lift the phone to your ear. “Yeah?” You ask.

“Why aren’t you using a Blue Book phone?”

“Is this seriously why you fucking called me?”

“I mean, no, I’m just curious.” You roll your eyes, eyeing your screen.

“You’re calling my work phone. They don't exactly let you choose what make and model you get—especially when you’re working for the company that makes them.”

“You work for fucking Apple?”

You can’t tell if he’s disgusted or amused. Nonetheless, you answer: “Uh huh.”

“Huh.”

“Right. So if that’s all—”

“It isn’t.”

“Okay?”

“I just uh…Yeah, I read those texts over and holy shit, I was...Kind of an asshole.”

“Yeah.”

“And I don’t need that getting to the press.” You snort. “The press already thinks you’re an asshole, Bateman.”

“Right. Nonetheless—”

“I won’t say shit about shit. Just send whatever fucking NDA you’re going to try and pitch me, I’ll get it back to you by the end of the day.”

“You can’t send it back in, like, five minutes?”

“I need my lawyer to go over it, make sure you’re not going to put my tits in a vice. I don’t sign anything without my lawyer looking at it.”

“Okay. I respect that.”

“No you don’t. You just want me to sign it and get it over with. Send it.” You pull your phone away from your ear without another word, hanging up. Your heart is pounding in your throat; your hand is shaking minutely. Nathan fucking Bateman. You’d been stunned last night, but if anyone knew—if anyone heard, this could get you in some hot water. Tech is a small world, and there’s nothing in your contract with Apple that prohibits speaking to any other companies, but Blue Book is Apple’s biggest competitor. You don’t want to rock the boat.

--

NDA is signed and sent.

You’re a merciful angel.

You can stop trying to butter me up, I sent the damn document already.

There’s no butter here.

Okay.

I mean, literally, none. My trainer has me abstaining from dairy.

You poor thing.

I’ll live. I miss cheese more than butter.

I bet.

You don’t wanna talk to me, do you.

I just have no idea why you’re still talking to me.

You know, when you vid called me, you looked familiar, but I couldn’t place you.

So I looked up your number.

Really putting that search engine to good use.

Did we fuck?

Last night? How drunk were you?

AI Tech summit, Geneva, like, two years ago.

…Yeah.

I FUCKING KNEW IT

Okay. Good talk.

For the record, I would never put your tits in a vice. From what I remember, you’re not into that kinda thing.

Friendly reminder that that NDA was only inclusive of the texts that you sent me last night.

…Right.

You had no clause for future or further communications.

Right right right.

Holding my own NDA over my head. That’s hot

Wow, you’re still going with this.

Call me again

For what?

call me

…Are you seriously jerking it over a power trip?

please call me

[Today Incoming Video Call]

[28 minutes long]

--

hey

Yep, just send the new NDA over.

[Attachment received]

??????

…This is a fucking plane ticket.

We had fun in Geneva, and I think we both had fun last night.

You think? You didn’t bother to ask before buying me a fucking ticket?

Come see me.

For a bang trip?

What else?

...Send the NDA that’ll go with the trip. I’m not getting out there and signing it. Send it now.

[Attachment received]

So fucking bossy.

It gets you hard.

It really does.

So you’re coming?

NDA pending.

Okay. --

You glance over at Nathan as he rolls off of you, brow furrowing. He’s sated, sweating, and…Giggling. “What?” You ask, stomach flooding with nerves and butterflies. Was the sex that bad? But Nathan shakes his head, reaching down and curling an arm around your middle, a dopey smile tipping up his lips as he says, “Remind me to send Randall a fucking fruit basket.”

[4colorrebellion]

4cr Interview - James Montagna On Dodge Club Pocket

James Montagna is ready to release Dodge Club Pocket tomorrow on Nintendo 3DS, so we got in touch to talk a bit about the game and about the potential of new projects on Nintendo Switch.

4colorrebellion: Hi James! Always great to have you with us at 4cr. How have you been?

Hey Antonio! Thank you! It’s been a busy time lately. Between wrapping up some major projects in my work at WayForward, as well as getting my personal hobby game development stuff like Dodge Club Pocket all buttoned up, I've had my hands full. I recently have returned from the Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco and am currently feeling fired up and inspired by the many friends I met there, both old and new. And with that, the seeds of future projects are already being planted…

4cr: Dodge Club Pocket is releasing on March 29 on Nintendo 3DS. Care to tell our readers what this game is all about?

Dodge Club Pocket is a quirky action game that presents players a checklist of various micro gameplay challenges! If I had to compare it to something, I'd say fans of a game like WarioWare may want to give this game a shot. However, compared to the core experience of that, in which games are being rapidly thrown at you in succession, there's some key differences. The player can review and handpick which gameplay challenge to take on. For each challenge, the player is briefed on the unique rules, which may occasionally be a bit deeper than what a one-word prompt could convey. And then there's the biggest catch of all — the gameplay is entirely distilled down to 16x16 pixel visuals! Making this game was a challenge in itself to explore how many crazy ideas we could cram into that resolution with Dodge Club gameplay as a base template.

I might as well add, the game has plenty of lore and story behind it too! Honestly, probably way more than it requires, but its all in the name of fun. The conceit for what is happening in the gameplay is that it's an underground club, where the sport of Dodge Club is enjoyed by these raver characters. In the game, the ravers are conveyed as 2x2 pixel squares, but you can see their full-size raver selves in Linzb0t character art throughout the game as well! The eManual of the game goes pretty in depth regarding the story, and is a great place to look to learn more about the world of Dodge Club in general… as are the comics you'll unlock as presents when playing the game!

4cr: Way back when we talked about Dodge Club Party we also touched a bit on Dodge Club Pocket for smartphones. How different is this version on Nintendo 3DS? What is new?

Right, in the past we spoke in depth about the origin and history of Dodge Club as a series, its party game sister, and the initial version Dodge Club Pocket. What you are looking at today on Nintendo 3DS is the completely polished, re-imagined, balanced, and over-all best version of that experience. There's new content in many challenges, tweaked and re-balanced difficulty, twice as many presents to unlock, and an all-new ending too! The idea was floated of discontinuing the previous version to make way for the Nintendo 3DS game and help avoid confusion with players who may think they are exactly the same, but in the end that didn't feel like the right thing to do. I definitely believe there is enough new content to justify getting the game on Nintendo 3DS, and we're offering it at a great value for only $4.99. (Also, Nintendo doesn't let you sell a game on the eShop for free, for what it's worth.)

Actually… the game's price point is just enough to make sure the hard-working artists and programmers who helped create it are properly paid for their effort. And since I'm just making this in my spare time alongside my job at WayForward, it's hopefully enough that I myself can break somewhat even on my out-of-pocket (pun not intended, I promise) development costs. In the end, it's most important to me that the game is able to get in the hands of as many players as possible, and that I can support my talented collaborators in the process.

4cr: With Dodge Club Pocket almost ready to go live on 3DS, are you perhaps now on a Nintendo Switch mood? What are the odds of a version of Dodge Club and/or Dot Arcade making it to Nintendo's hybrid console?

Naturally, Nintendo Switch is the new hotness — I love it too! Dodge Club Pocket development on Nintendo 3DS actually began years ago, when Nintendo Switch was not even a thing. But as a platform, Nintendo 3DS is totally still viable, and like, everybody has one. I also firmly believe Nintendo can ride out Nintendo 3DS as a platform for a long time to come. Let's keep making Nintendo 3DS games in the year 2020 and beyond! I'd really love to see that.

All that being said, Nintendo Switch experiments have already begun. I can't speak to any specifics here today, but I can all, but guarantee games created by myself will appear on Nintendo Switch. Whether it's the future of Dodge Club, bringing over Dot Arcade, or some all-new stuff simply remains to be seen.

4cr: Along with the many side projects you decide to groove on from time to time, there's also the WayForward side of things. Since the last piece of DLC for Shantae: Half-Genie Hero is almost ready to go, what are you currently hard at work over at WayForward that you can talk about without breaking all the NDA?

Right, so, of course, Dodge Club Pocket isn't a WayForward game at all. It's published by me, under my own name. However, you're likely to continue seeing the same sensibilities and DNA as my solo projects pour into WayForward games for which I am on the development team (or spearheading). Most recently, we brought Shantae and the Pirate's Curse to Nintendo Switch. It was fun to re-visit that game and direct the new HD Rumble experience, as well as design a new mini-game called Super Shantae Nab! and I really hope people will check it out! Hit me up on Twitter (@JamesPopStar) and let me know your best score! There's also Shantae: Half-Genie Hero Ultimate Edition to look forward to! Every day I have the privilege to make cool stuff with my incredible WayForward family, and I'm truly honored by that.

4cr: And now it's time for us to go. Is there something else you'd like to add before we end this one?

Just a round of thanks. Thank you Linzb0t for always being down to make crazy stuff together — let's keep it going forever and ever! Thank you to this game's composer, Tommy, for the incredible soundtrack, and for being a constant source of inspiration with his work and being. Of course, an enormous thanks to the hyper-talented and super chill Mathias of MP2 Games for making Dodge Club Pocket on Nintendo 3DS possible. And finally, a deep and sincere THANK YOU to everyone that has supported me and expressed interest in weird, cool, and nearly inexplicable games like Dodge Club Pocket. You have my promise to continue to do my best to entertain you in surprising ways for years to come.

Anyway, hope you will dig out that Nintendo 3DS and pick up Dodge Club Pocket on the Nintendo eShop! Out March 29th, 2018 in North America, and sometime mid-April in Europe! Montagna… out!

[bigyack-com]

Indian agencies point to Pak link in anti-CAA protests - india news

The government has specific evidence that Pakistan’s deep state played a part in amplifying anti Citizenship Amendment Act protests all over country through funding and direction, even as Islamabad has made an all out effort to equate Delhi riots with 2002 Gujarat riots at the ongoing meeting of UN Human Rights Council at Geneva.HT learns that Indian intelligence agencies have picked up cross-country electronic chatter where people believed to be Pakistani operatives are berating their sources for not organizing enough crowds for anti-CAA protests on March 3-4 despite the funding at their disposal. In one such call, heard by HT, the handler curses his contact and adds that he has to explain the lack of crowds to his higher ups. While the context of the call is clear, HT cannot establish when it was made, or the identity of the two speakers,Analysts here say that while the Delhi riots have been contained at significant human and material cost, it is quite natural that Pakistan and its friends try and use it as an instrument to radicalize young Muslims in north India against the Narendra Modi government through videos and speeches. A similar modus operandi was adopted after the 2002 riots in Gujarat, they add. Islamabad’s cause is being helped by other states such as Iran and Turkey as part of their effort to pitch for leadership in the Shia and Sunni world of Islam.Even as Rawalpindi GHQ fishes in troubled waters in India, it has gone flat out to defame India in the UN bodies by talking about Muslim killings and persecution by the NDA government. The Imran Khan government, however, does not ever use the word CAA in its allegation, the analysts point out, as the law is designed only to help persecuted minorities in Pakistan among other neighbourhood countries.At the on-going UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva, Pakistan has missed no opportunity to pillory India for working against its Muslim minority. While it avoided doing this in the “high level segment” last month, Islamabad has gone on an offensive in thematic discussions this month without reflecting on its own treatment of minorities such as Balochs, Pashtuns and Ahmediyas under the Imran Khan regime, diplomats familiar with the matter say.They add that there are almost daily protests by some of these persecuted communities in Pakistan outside the UNHRC headquarters in Geneva.Making a national statement at the UNHRC, Pakistan’s permanent representative warned the Council on “India’s drift towards fascism and rank communalism…” and asked the High Commissioner to “prevent violence and ensure safety of Muslims in Delhi” and elsewhere in the country.Exercising the right to reply, Pakistan said: “ Those who have been fed with the silver spoon of extremist ideologies by fascist organization RSS can only indulge in intolerance, bigotry and violence.”When the UN special rapporteur on freedom of religion did not mention or castigate India, the Pakistani representative questioned the silence by raising the issue of “state sponsored” violence , the diplomats said. In none of these statements and interjections at the UN does the term CAA figure. Read the full article