#the devs work really hard to make this game good

[zaynes-nieve]

Zayne Confirmed Lore

Anything confirmed by the developers, including any accounts or information within the game! (I will update you as the game continues, and I appreciate any info I can get from you all as well!!!!)

Tender Moments | Memoria | Bond | Devs/Offical/Messages/Calls | Main Story | Annecdotes

Basic Info:

Zayne's Birthday is September 5th | About Him

Other Names: Rei (JP), Lee See-Oen (KR) and Li Shen (CN)

Zayne's Constellation sign is a Virgo (like me)| About Him

Zayne is 6'1 | About Him

Zayne's age is 27 | About Him

Zayne is the Chief Cardiac Surgeon at Akso Hospital | About Him

Zayne's evol is Ice | About Him

Daily Life and a good chunk of the lore

Zayne is a workaholic, and he likes it | Gentle Twilight/About Him

He is good at snowboarding! | Everlasting Snowdrop/About Him

He knows how to peel an apple in one go | Spring Remnants/About Him

He is good at drawing (those anatomical diagrams, ftw!!!) | Suprise Encounter/About Him

He has a sweet tooth (like me) | Nostalgic Sweetness/About Him

He gets toothaches (unlike me) | Nostalgic Sweetness/About Him

He is a terrible patient (Strict against others, indulgent to his own whims) | Nostalgic Sweetness/About Him

Zayne is a teetotaler (a person who never drinks alcohol) | Drunken Intimacy/About Him

He is good at pool but is a strict teacher | Exclusive Tutorial/About Him

His Parents are also Doctors and work with Doctors without Borders overseas | Eternal Attachment/About Him

He sends them a message on his birthday each year, telling them he is just fine! | Eternal Attachment/About Him

Zayne has a hard time controlling his Evol | Main Story 4-10/Never Ending Winter ch.4

Starcatcher Awardee (2046) | Main Story 4-5

Linde Award Winner (Year 2046) | Main Story 4-5 / Never Ending Winter ch.10? Last chapter mention

His patients all are obedient (terrified) of him | A Pure White Heart ch. 3

Dr. Zayne and Dawnbreaker see each other in their dreams | Gonna be pulling from a lot of things, so give me a moment for this one 😭 (Never Ending Winter Ch.1, Ch.2, Ch.4) (Ngl Dawnbreaker Might Need his own section....or Page)

He has a pet squirrel named after the medication, Clopidogrel! | Feed the Squirrel/Message

It appears Zayne also frequently volunteers to assist in medical relief for disasters or joins the medical teams assisting hunters fighting wanders in high-frequency zones | Dawn's Shadows, Foreign Aid/Video Call, Hidden Motive, Medical Rescue

He is quick to forgo his well-being to save others in dangerous situations. He truly puts his own duty as a doctor above everything else.| Medical Rescue, Neon Night

His Past:

Zayne was one smart cookie and skipped several years! But because he was so young and his classmates were not. He had a hard time making friends | Delicacy/About Him

When he was in medical school, he visited a barbeque stall a lot | Delicacy/About Him

He has a good tolerance for pain😭and he gets injured a lot, leaving many scars | Medical Rescue/About Him

Dr. Zayne was in the 35th Cohort of the Skyhaven Medical School in a PhD Program | Never Ending Winter ch.1

He was an intern under Dr. William (took him under his wing) | Never Ending Winter ch.1

It's implied he had to kill William after those black crystals seemed to be turning Dr.William into a Wanderer (Do we consider this confirmed enough?) | Never Ending Winter ch. 6

He Plays Tennis (and won a prize!) | Tennis Game/Messages

Due to the time travel shenanigans and our boy being the best at everything, Zayne is now an expert Jade carver! | Moonlit Dream

His Likes:

He really hates carrots!!! | A Frozen Promise/About Him

He visits medical museums to relax, or he will go look out at the river | Heart Within Reach/About Him

Our Story 💙❄️☃️

He gave us a little snow seal when we were children (we thought it was a snowball) | A Frozen Promise/About Him

After seeing our name on the volunteer list for the Frontlines, he follows us. Hidden Motive/Insta Acc.

He is our Primary Doctor!!! (we're not gonna talk about the ethics of this LMFAO) | Main Story 1-8/About Him

Zayne said he melted an "old" popsicle (our popsicles at this time) for us when we were kids | Nostalgic Sweetness/About Him

Our Grandmother left us a letter with Zayne, and he seems to know more than he is letting on | Main Story 4-7 (I'll double check this one)

We voted for him in the Patient's Favorite Doctor poll on Asko's official account (He also won) | A Vote/Message

HE USES US AS HIS WALLPAPER | Screen Saver/Message

Zayne is not above bribery (whether it is us or his patients) | I Miss You/Message

We gave daffodils to Zayne! (they're garlic) | Gardening/Message

Dawnbreaker

(Work in Progress)

Please look at Zayne's third anecdote, the newest five-star (the free Sept 30th one), The Birthday one, and about a million Tumblr posts because this likely won't be finished anytime soon.

Pls hit me up with any more information and where it's from!!

[iraprince]

OKAY..... finally made enough progress on R♡R for another round of playtests....! we're reaching the end (of writing. which would mean time to start on editing. and then a mountain of art)

still v much chewing on, like, "win state"... i have a fluffy/nebulous option that's like, narratively+emotionally v satisfying but in practice potentially impossible/frustrating, or a point-based option thats much more functional/more of a sure thing but might be kind of a betrayal of some of the stuff im trying to evoke...

okay maybe "betrayal" is a strong word. not gelling, more like. trying to hit that sweet spot in the middle where something is emotional and evocative and freeform (enough) but also like, actually mechanically replicable lmao

[insertdisc5]

🎮 HEY I WANNA MAKE A GAME! 🎮

Yeah I getcha. I was once like you. Pure and naive. Great news. I AM STILL PURE AND NAIVE, GAME DEV IS FUN! But where to start?

To start, here are a couple of entry level softwares you can use! source: I just made a game called In Stars and Time and people are asking me how to start making vidy gaems. Now, without further ado:

SOFTWARES AND ENGINES FOR PEOPLE WHO DON'T KNOW HOW TO CODE!!!

Ren'py (and also a link to it if you click here do it): THE visual novel software. Comic artists, look no further ✨Pros: It's free! It's simple! It has great documentation! It has a bunch of plugins and UI stuff and assets for you to buy! It can be used even if you have LITERALLY no programming experience! (You'll just need to read the doc a bunch) You can also port your game to a BUNCH of consoles! ✨Cons: None really <3 Some games to look at: Doki Doki Literature Club, Bad End Theater, Butterfly Soup

Twine: Great for text-based games! GREAT FOR WRITERS WHO DONT WANNA DRAW!!!!!!!!! (but you can draw if you want) ✨Pros: It's free! It's simple! It's versatile! It has great documentation! It can be used even if you have LITERALLY no programming experience! (You'll just need to read the doc a bunch) ✨Cons: You can add pictures, but it's a pain. Some games to look at: The Uncle Who Works For Nintendo, Queers In love At The End of The World, Escape Velocity

Bitsy: Little topdown games! ✨Pros: It's free! It's simple! It's (somewhat) intuitive! It has great documentation! It can be used even if you have LITERALLY no programming experience! You can make everything in it, from text to sprites to code! Those games sure are small! ✨Cons: Those games sure are small. This is to make THE simplest game. Barely any animation for your sprites, can barely fit a line of text in there. But honestly, the restrictions are refreshing! Some games to look at: honestly I haven't played that many bitsy games because i am a fake gamer. The picture above is from Under A Star Called Sun though and that looks so pretty

RPGMaker: To make RPGs! LIKE ME!!!!! NOTE: I recommend getting the latest version if you can, but all have their pros and cons. You can get a better idea by looking at this post. ✨Pros: Literally everything you need to make an RPG. Has a tutorial inside the software itself that will teach you the basics. Pretty simple to understand, even if you have no coding experience! Also I made a post helping you out with RPGMaker right here! ✨Cons: Some stuff can be hard to figure out. Also, the latest version is expensive. Get it on sale! Some games to look at: Yume Nikki, Hylics, In Stars and Time (hehe. I made it)

engine.lol: collage worlds! it is relatively new so I don't know much about it, but it seems fascinating. picture is from Garden! NOTE: There's a bunch of smaller engines to find out there. Just yesterday I found out there's an Idle Game Maker made by the Cookie Clicker creator. Isn't life wonderful?

✨more advice under the cut. this is Long ok✨

ENGINES I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT AND THEY SEEM HARD BUT ALSO GIVE IT A TRY I GUESS!!!! :

Unity and Unreal: I don't know anything about those! That looks hard to learn! But indie devs use them! It seems expensive! Follow your dreams though! Don't ask me how!

GameMaker: Wuh I just don't know anything about it either! I just know it's now free if your game is non-commercial (aka, you're not selling it), and Undertale was made on it! It seems good! You probably need some coding experience though!!!

Godot: Man I know even less about this one. Heard good things though!

BUNCHA RANDOM ADVICE!!!!

-Make something small first! Try making simple: a character is in a room, and exits the room. The character can look around, decide to take an item with them, can leave, and maybe the door is locked and you have to find the key. Figuring out how to code something like that, whether it is as a fully text-based game or as an RPGMaker map, should be a good start to figure out how your software of choice works!

-After that, if you have an idea, try first to make the simplest version of that idea. For my timeloop RPG, my simplest version was two rooms: first room you can walk in, second room with the King, where a cutscene automatically plays and the battle starts, you immediately die, and loop back to the first room, with the text from this point on reflecting this change. I think I also added a loop counter. This helped me figure out the most important thing: Can This Game Be Made? After that, the rest is just fun stuff. So if you want to make a dating sim, try and figure out how to add choices, and how to have affection points go up and down depending on your choices! If you want to make a platformer, figure out how to make your character move and jump and how to create a simple level! If you just want to make a kinetic visual novel with no choices, figure out how to add text, and how to add portraits! You'll be surprised at how powerful you'll feel after having figured even those simple things out.

-If you have a programming problem or just get confused, never underestimate the power of asking Google! You most likely won't be the only person asking this question, and you will learn some useful tips! If you are powerful enough, you can even… Ask people??? On forums??? Not me though.

-Yeah I know you probably want to make Your Big Idea RIGHT NOW but please. Make a smaller prototype first. You need to get that experience. Trust me.

-If you are not a womanthing of many skills like me, you might realize you need help. Maybe you need an artist, or a programmer. So! Game jams on itch.io are a great way to get to work and meet other game devs that have different strengths! Or ask around! Maybe your artist friend secretly always wanted to draw for a game. Ask! Collaborate! Have fun!!!

I hope that was useful! If it was. Maybe. You'd like to buy me a coffee. Or maybe you could check out my comics and games. Or just my new critically acclaimed game In Stars and Time. If you want. Ok bye

[shuttershocky]

Tango were so confident in Hi-Fi Rush that they released it on the same day they announced it; hotdropped it out of nowhere with nothing but a single trailer saying "THIS IS OUR COOL NEW RHYTHM-ACTION GAME IT'S OUT NOW!" and it actually worked. People loved it, it was popular, it wasn't an AAA game but it looked gorgeous and was a complete and polished experience, just an all-around triumph for the devs at Tango Gameworks.

I cannot overemphasize how crazy that is. If you're an indie game launching on Steam (meaning you're operating on a lower budget than most games) one of your first goals is to hit 20,000 wishlists before you launch, since that's the magic number that makes the Steam algo start showing your game to people who don't know you exist. You need months of hard work and good luck to make it, and even then you're still praying that the 20k wishlists actually convert to sales (I've worked on projects that hit 20k wishlists, but with a really low conversion rate so the games still 'failed')

An AA game with a hefty budget would need way more than that to make back its money spent. They would have to compete with AAA games hogging all the attention (and the audience's budget), while not having that scrappy indie culture behind them. If they don't sell enough to make their money back + enough for a new game, that studio is toast.

Hi-Fi Rush's team really went for a hotdrop stunt that would instantly kill 90% of other studios outright, somehow pulled it off spectacularly with a completely new IP that couldn't even fall back on brand recognition, and Microsoft STILL closed them down. They had a miracle team and just fired them all.

There's really nothing you can do to survive in this industry anymore

[felassan]

July 17th DA:TV Game Informer article on returning to Dragon Age 10 years after DA:I - cliff notes:

At one point BW considered making DA:TV a multiplayer game. They did a "hard look" at this

With DA:TV BW want to get back to their roots: storytelling, characters, influencing the world

Gary McKay quote: "And we really felt multiplayer wouldn't do that. But single-player RPG is really where we wanted to spend our time, so after spending that time in pre-production, really honing in on what the vision of this game is, and [being] afforded the opportunity to deliver on the creative promise of this game, [now] we're really excited about what's coming out."

DA:TV's dev team contains both seasoned vets' decades of experiences and new talent with fresh perspectives

Gary McKay quote: "[You] want to have different perspectives, different backgrounds. If you bring a bunch of people together that have only known one thing, that's not where you see creativity. That's not where innovation comes from. Innovation comes when you have [...] that past history and blend it with some new voices and perspectives." 

DA:TV is the game where BW finally said out loud that their greatest strength is storytelling through characters, with intentionality. The game is built around those character moments

In DA:TV BW is doing "storytelling through animation" -

Mark Darrah quote: "If you put on a suit of armor [in previous games wherein each char moves exactly the same way], and you put it on Alistair, you looked exactly the same standing right beside each other. Now, we're able to keep the character coming through in the visuals and the motion, even as you're customizing them, which just wasn't possible in the past."

BW are more confident in and have a better understanding of Frostbite this time

Current game hardware tech is also able to do a lot more and execute it visually to an improved degree

BW worked hard to ensure DA:TV is respectful and referential to previous games while still being understandable by new players

John Epler quote: "So while there are references, there are moments that we have callbacks, it really is its own story, its own continuation with a different cast, with different characters. Historically, Dragon Age has always had a different cast per game, so that gives us a lot of freedom in terms of what we want to lean on in the past and what we want to really bring in that’s new and forward-facing."

Events in DA:TV play out with a storytelling goal for the future of the series. It takes the ball from DA:I, puts its own spin on it in its own direction, and continues the path forward into the future (emphasis mine)

Mark quote: "Dragon Age has always been about change. Every game has had a new protagonist, and it's been exploring its own space all the time, and this game is no different. [Veilguard] does a good job of bridging that gap. The really super fans of Dragon Age have actually made a lot of really educated guesses, and some of them are pretty right about where the franchise is going. The thing we need to make sure is that people who may have only played Inquisition are understanding what the franchise is really about – it's about a new protagonist, it's about change, it's about evolution – and don't come in expecting a direct sequel to a game they played and then are disappointed. This game is something new, something that evolves, something that is greater than what came before, the same as each game [...] before it." [emphasis mine]

Corinne: "For our new players, we're not assuming you know anything about [the DA locations or characters in DA:TV]"

BW took great care in how they introduce each companion and major story figure in the game with that in mind

DA:TV is John Epler's favorite DA game that he's worked on (he has worked on them all)

John Epler quote: "Dragon Age has always been about characters but to some degree, it's almost felt like we've lucked into that," he says. "Inquisition is a story that ultimately, you, the main character [...] have the biggest part to play. We wanted to tell a story this time where you literally cannot save the world without these characters. Beyond that, though, we also wanted to give them their own arcs that can run parallel to the main story and really give them that kind of deep storytelling our fans really enjoy." 

John Epler quote: "They have their friendships, they have their rivalries, and lean into that concept. You're not just pulling together a bunch of people who will do whatever you say. You're assembling a family, and that becomes the core of what the Veilguard is all about. It's about taking this group, this found family, and saving the world, side by side with them." 

[source]

[punkitt-is-here]

im a huge sucker for Real Time Combat but I will never get behind thinking its the natural evolution of Turn Based Combat. What!! these are different styles!!! i genuinely think the turn based influence is explicitly what MAKES FF7s real time combat INCREDIBLE for me. without it, it would be just a kind-of mid action game.

FF16 just has me thinking about that and it kind of reminds me of how we had a 2D platformer drought for a while because of 3D being seen as inherently better but we've ALREADY gone through the whole loop of realizing these are two different styles with pros and cons to those. The thought that goes into designing both styles vary greatly and they both accomplish different things.

like, being able to just mash X and kill a guy in real time is not inherently better than carefully strategizing and experimenting to kill a guy in a couple turns!! these are two unique stances in gameplay with strengths and weaknesses and its weird to see one treated as better. and i admit, im a fucking sucker for real time, i like at least some real time elements in most game's combat, but i think FF7R's combat is incredible BECAUSE it's not just purely real-time. You can swap around, go through menus, plan stuff!! its such a cool synthesis!! Real Time Combat can offer the thrill of really BEING in combat, dodging and weaving, getting gritty with your foe, but Turn Based allows you to strategize and plan and have MUCH easier access to a potentially HUGE arsenal of moves without having to fiddle with menus while you're scrambling to avoid getting hit. These styles are different and can bring a lot to the other, but acting like one is somehow better beyond just preference is very silly to me.

When you play a game with turn-based combat that sucks, know that it's probably because the balancing/design itself is not fun, not the actual genre. Super Lesbian Animal RPG has no real-time elements at all in combat, but it's some of the most engaging and fun and well-balanced turn-based combat I've had the pleasure of experiencing. And it has a deep focus on teamwork and friendship, and I think that's genuinely very hard to instill in Real-Time games because the player is forced to control only one character at a time in linear, progressively flowing time. I love KHII, but it rarely feels like you're working together because aside from your Limit attacks, you can't really collaborate with your party members or strategize. It's still a FANTASTIC game that I love playing, but the element of teamwork is lacking in comparison to a turn-based game, like, say, Bug Fables, which has you control all three members of Team Snakemouth. It allows you to have a myriad of attacks and moves that all influence each other, and because you can control all members, it feels really good and rewarding! And you all feel like friends, not just in cutscenes, but explicitly in gameplay because teamwork is highly incentivized to make things work!

i guess if ur a dev or just someone who appreciates games remember that there's no objectively better style for gameplay; it's all about context!! what is the GOAL of combat? What choices does it have the player make? Would one style work over the other for achieving this goals? That's how you pick what style you want to use! That's how you can analyze why or why not a game's style is working for you! rghaGHHHH GAME DEVELOPMENT IS COOL ARRHGHGHGHHGFJG

[calder]

 Fallout 3 was originally in development at Black Isle Studios, codenamed Van Buren, but it was cancelled when Bethesda bought the IP.

 At one point, designer John Deiley was creating an area called the Nursery, a Noah's Ark-like location which housed pre-war fauna.

 He planned to have Pagans and Wiccans take up residence here, but Chris Avellone allegedly said no, banning them outright.

scream

not to dwell on the dev tension of this too much -- it's very exciting to find such a strong link between V29 and occultism

would really love to pick this guys brain

edit oh my god. yeah cool we can "disprove" the headline of this anecdote by identifying the cult in the van buren design doc. i can also read the top of the article. wanna unpack this?

"He said, 'You are not to bring Paganism or Wiccanism or anything into the game,'" Deiley recounts. "I said, 'Well, Chris, what do you think happened to these people when the bombs went off? Did every one of them just vanish from the face of the Earth? When you consider the whole purpose of the Nursery, wouldn't they make the perfect tenants and tenders?' [He said,] 'I've made my decision' and just turned around and walked off."

@ChrisAvellone: There was a faction you could join, do quests for, and potentially lead in Van Buren that was a pagan faction (Daughters of Hecate). Might have bad info from source?

Deiley said 'he pointedly told me i wasn't allowed to develop this faction descending from pre-war pagans' avellone defended himself by saying 'but i made my own faction which could be called post war pagans'

deiley is describing a thing that happened. the oral history of fallout is richer for this detail & the impulse to entirely deny the reality of his account by calling another van buren faction pagan is an unflattering defensive technicality

these two men worked on eight video games together. they stood in a room together and one of them shit on the other one's creativity repeatedly. his defense is 'he described it imperfectly; i proceeded to do that idea myself'

i just wanted to learn more about the creativity of this furtive fallout vet.

the accusation that someone 'banned paganism from a fallout game' is not remarkable or meaningful enough on its own to be worth negating. we know for a fact deiley was responsible for talking deathclaws and chris avellone killed them and publicly made hostile jokes about it. he complained about deiley's idea (which he already killed) for being hippie shit for a quarter of a century.

WOULD THIS MAN SHIT ON AN IDEA????????

"I’ve always hated aliens in Fallout, for example, and as I’ve often told Tim Cain, I was pretty fucking pissed off he thought including ghosts in Fallout was a good idea. It’s like you’re opening the goddamn door to the spirit world in a post-apoc game, and that’s a whole separate aesthetic detour in a franchise that’s already been placed in danger of losing its direction by being given to a bunch of newbs.” -Avellone, recounting the first time he worked on a fallout game

someone described how avellone stomped on their idea and the rebuttal is that he implemented a similar one elsewhere

it is embarrassing that he responded this way

[getvalentined]

hi! i'm actually really interested in the "is cait sith reeve" debate and was fascinated by your post since you firmly believe cait sith is his own person.

i'm playing through dirge right now so i can't comment fully on what transpires there, but based on rebirth alone i'm having trouble believing cait sith isn't controlled by him. i know your post said rebirth excluded a scene that made it clear cait sith is his own person, but I'm not sure what you're referring to exactly. The only thing I can think of is the original game, where Cait Sith sacrifices himself and says not to forget him even if another Cait Sith comes along...which is a good point, though one could potentially argue that Reeve is just sentimental.

Anyway, what I want to know is: if Cait Sith has a personality separate from Reeve and can move independently while Reeve is busy, then why does Cait Sith repeatedly go offline in Rebirth while Reeve is busy? This is the main argument I see and one of my favorites, so I think answering that could help your own. The only arguments I can think up are either that the devs wanted to give players clear hints that Reeve controls Cait Sith, or that he wants to make sure he's monitoring Cait Sith when the cat interacts with the party. But besides that, Cait Sith really doesn't act like a different person. Sure, he has an accent and is silly, but he doesn't make any comment whatsoever (as far as I know) that indicates he isn't Reeve himself. In fact, the party treats Cait Sith and the Shinra employee controlling him as the same person, and Cait Sith doesn't attempt to rebuke it. (Outside of maybe lying that he's a mere amusement park attraction?)

i do admit, if dirge seriously contradicts this interpretation, it's weird for the devs to go against it...but as someone who once believed cait sith and reeve were separate and changed their mind after rebirth, I just don't think there's enough evidence based on rebirth alone to claim that cait sith is his own person.

on that note, you mentioned cait sith has his own likes and dislikes separate from reeve and i'm actually really curious about that! do you have an example of that? :D It sounds like fun trivia lol (i really like reeve and cait sith...)

anyway thank you for reading till the end! sorry if this is unwelcome

There's a scene in Dirge where Reeve and Cait walk out of the same room together, reacting to one another independently:

Further, Cait Sith only goes into stasis twice in the entirety of Rebirth as far as I can recall? Once at the end of a board meeting that Reeve was active in, but seemingly not for the entirety of the board meeting, as Cait Sith appeared to be mid-conversation and trailed off when Reeve got bad news—this makes sense if he's connected to Cait Sith and has the capacity to control him directly as needed, but not if he had to do so actively 100% of the time. The other time is in Cosmo Canyon, because he's clearly not interested in their woo-woo metaphysical nonsense, and he cites it as taking time to recharge his batteries.

Reeve is still working as Director of Urban Planning during all of this, so I find it super hard to believe that he's spending 99.9999% his time at a computer or mentally controlling and speaking through a doll while also running the department that is trying to put Midgar back together after the plate drop—particularly not since we have official meta stating that he's an Inspire, which I cited in a reblog.

Beyond that, there's this bit in the OG, which Cait Sith says to himself, in an empty room:

There is no explanation for this if Cait Sith is entirely remote controlled. There's no one else here to hear it, no reason for him to express these feelings—or even have feelings in the first place!

In Rebirth it's even more clear, because he expresses physical strain as he's literally holding the Temple up by keeping himself wedged under the platform. He's uncomfortable, he's physically taxed, he's in pain. Again, most of this occurs in an empty room, and would not happen if he was just a toy that Reeve had to control directly like a complex RC car or something.

The concept of likes and dislikes that are independent is less solidly shown in-canon, but they have distinctly different personalities, and Reeve is very clearly not interested in things like prophecies and the Promised Land and all that—he is a scientist at the end of the day, a civil and mechanical engineer—and yet Cait Sith's whole shtick is to tell fortunes! This is also something that he seems to enjoy doing quite a bit, even if he's not very good at it. (He gets better. Kinda.)

Cait Sith is obviously connected to Reeve, but it's equally obvious that he's not analogous. Presumably Cait Sith doesn't care when he's equated to Reeve because he is Reeve's eyes and ears in the field, even when he's not in direct control. The fact that he only really talks about himself as an individual when he's alone kind of implies that he'd rather the others not know, because he doesn't want them to be upset about what's going to happen to him; if he were nothing more than a glorified RC toy, this wouldn't be a concern, because he wouldn't have concerns at all.

[deerspherestudios]

I've really, really enjoyed the demo! All of it was great but I'd like to point out my favourite bits.

I loved the colour palette you have chosen. It looks so soft and cosy, from the starting screen, to the character design, environment design, too. The little mushrooms next to the choice options are such a nice touch and even the food managed to envoke a very homely feel. (And listen, seeing the chickens? I just about melted, I adore them.) You just make the player feel so safe at Mychael's home! Why would you ever want to leave, right? :)

Which brings us to the man himself. I want to pinch his cheeks and ruffle his hair and tell him that he's a cootie patootie. He's just so sweet and non-threatening until he actually is a threat to the player character. And he's so well-meaning about it, in theory, right? more like self-serving He just cannot let you leave, for good reasons! Gotta find your cat still after all! It has nothing to do with the fact that he wants you to stay around. And that he's manipulating you with false information. And, see, the forest is so pretty to look at and if there's danger, he has a crossbow! Mychael will keep you safe and sound. Even though he seems so harmless...

He's so well written and I want to point that out, specifically. You've created a solid character with him, very much a fantastic job.

Bonus: I greatly enjoyed the screen and text effects, oh man. The 'dripping' letters especially.

Overall, thank you for your hard work. The game's been lovely thus far!

Owaaa tysm for the-- everything ? ? ? Reading over this message just about overdosed me on serotonin im sobbing. I'm soso happy you enjoy Mychael as a character!!! I always worry if he's badly written or unconvincing but I'm glad so far I'm doing ok!!! ;;;v;;;

I can't take credit for the magic text however!! All of that is owed to this wonderful project called Kinetic Text Tags by Wattson!! I highly recommend for other VN devs to check it out if possible <3

Ty again for this lovely message, definitely one I'll re-visit in the future <3!

[dotster001]

May I request Savanaclaw and Octotrio in Twisted Earth?

I can request a part of Twisted Earth but with the octotrio (u know Octavinelle dorm)? Please. I really love your work!! 😩

Twisted Earth Part Three

Summary: Octavinelle/Savannaclaw x gn!reader. They're real, you're the game.

A/N:The people have spoken! I'm so happy you guys like these 🥺 I got these two requests, plus one other that included Savannaclaw all within the course of three hours of eachother. Also! Thank you guys for 800 followers!

Part One Part Two Part Four Part Five Part Six

He downloaded the game after it started to gain popularity. He was doing research, because as it was making its rounds around NRC, he realized he could have a themed night in the lounge, and make the big bucks.

He plays it between clients in the VIP room. Once the room is empty, he'll subtly pull out his phone under his desk. If Jade or Floyd come back in unexpectedly, he'll be like, "What?!? I'm not doing anything!" And throw his phone. ( The twins do it on purpose now, they think it's hysterical)

He corners the market on merch. The devs don't really release their own merch, so he's making the big money! But it's all under the table. No one but the twins know that Octavinelle is the leading producer of Twisted Earth Merch. (They have Tshirt making parties when stock is low. It's so wholesome)

He likes you a lot. He likes that you're a flawed character. You're not perfect. And because of this, he thinks you'd help heal his broken parts. For now, he'll live vicariously through the game…but if a certain horned fae were to request a contract that would help bring you to life, he'd be hard pressed to refuse.

He has terrible luck. He has put real money in the game and still never gotten any of your cards. It's infuriating. 

He downloaded it because it looked fun. But he gets bored quickly, so he only plays every couple of months. (This is usually when he over hears someone talking about how they love you, and he gets angry that someone would try to steal his shrimpy, so he rage plays for a week)

Has incredible luck. He'll do a single pull, and get the card he wants. Then he won't even take care of it. It just sits in his collection. Again, infuriating.

Has a t-shirt of you, but it's literally just a meme about you that someone put on a Tshirt. It's so cursed, but he loves it.

You look so squishy! And he bets you'd be so short compared to him if you were real! And if not, he could climb you like a bean pole! He wants to squeeze you so bad! You'd let him if you were real, right? And you wouldn't let anyone else squeeze you? Cause that would be very mean. 

Destroyed his phone when that one character admitted they were in love with you…. He's only allowed to play under supervision now.

He's a scientist, first and foremost. If all the school is interested in something, it's his job to play it, and find out why. Honestly, he's probably the one who suggested a themed night to Azul.

He finds you fascinating. If you were real, he'd probably just watch you. He doesn't need to interact, he just wants to see what you're doing. Rewards you for good choices with a custom made terrarium.

He named one of his mushrooms after you, which is the highest honor he can bestow. (You can't tell me he doesn't name his mushrooms) One time, Floyd was ready to throw all the terrariums out in a rage, but finding out one was named after you (but not being told which one) he left them alone.

He has decent luck. But he doesn't have to focus super hard on his collection, since he can just use Floyd's.

(He believes he'd just watch you if you were real, but after that character admitted they loved you, he went on a six hour rage hike.)

He got tired of getting ads for it, so he downloaded it to make fun of it. Then his eyes met yours and…..well, you get it.

He won't ever admit how much light the game brings to him. But sometimes when Ruggie wakes him up, and he logs into the game, he can make out the softest smile on Leona's face when you greet him.

He very heavily debated getting a body pillow. He knew he'd use it too, because of how often he cuddles his pillows at nap time. But he could never pull the trigger. He thought it would be too far.

He likes to think that you would care about him, not his title or his magic, him. And in turn, he would spoil you like you deserve to be. You'd want for nothing, just be his cuddle buddy for a few minutes longer.

He has the SSR basic card for every character except you. He has all your regular cards, sure. But no matter how many hundreds and thousands of pulls he does, you just won't come home. Not that he cares. Gacha is a stupid system anyway.

He rarely has the time to play. Honestly, he doesn't even really play at all. It sits on his phone, and is never opened. But he makes up for it by watching videos online, checking out fan forums, and reading fan fictions and theories.

He didn't even get to meet your character in the game before he got too busy to play. But he read a fanfic called y/n x workaholic reader, where you helped the reader with their work, and then pampered them afterwards. He loved you ever since.

He doesn't think merch is a good use of his hard earned money. But should he ever strike gold, there is one plushie he has his eyes on that he would love to just squish all day.

At this point, he's read so many fanfics, that he's pretty sure he wouldn't actually enjoy the canon story. But he'll leave it on his phone for now. He can't bring himself to delete it.

Downloaded it when he heard all the Savannahlaw guys going on and on about their favorite characters. He wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Surely, every character couldn't possibly be…oh. Oh yeah every one of them is very pretty.

But he finds you the prettiest. He isn't sure why. Maybe it's that glint in your eyes, or the way your hair sits just the way he likes it, or the jacket your character wears. He doesn't know what it is. But you're the prettiest to him.

He won't spend money on this. He thinks it would be a waste. So he's lucky that he has two of your SSR cards. And both of them have stories where you persevere and show everyone you are stronger than you look, physically and emotionally. It just proves that he was right to pick you.

For some reason, he always imagines how things would be if you were real. He'd want to have soft domestic moments with you. Maybe you'd both brush each other's hair. Maybe you'd cook together. Maybe you'd do chores in the same room. He imagines you two could say very little, and be happy that you are both just in each other's company. 

[mebis-art-dump]

From the pale court team:

Pale Court Update!

Hi Everyone,

We're here to talk about the development of Pale Court a bit and share our thoughts as we move into the new year.

First, we hope everyone has had an outstanding holiday season, filled with games, gifts, and gratifying victories in the world of Hollow Knight and beyond. The team has been enjoying the holidays and is now coming out of a break period and are back to work on the mod, particularly finishing up Isma, squashing pesky bugs, adding some VFX, and then transitioning to other bosses. It’s been a wild ride, and we’ve still got a lot to do, and we’re eager to get back into the swing of things and start grinding away again.

We would like to remind everyone that the mod is a passion project and, while we would like to get this into the hands of everyone, we do all have school and jobs to attend to. Rest assured we are hard at work and are putting our all into every detail that goes into the mod. As an example, we've had a Zemer attack that's been in for a couple years now but has gone through many different iterations and we just never landed on something that seemed right, whether it be the pattern or fairness to the player, or difficulty of the move. In these cases we'll shelf the move for a bit and move on to other things while we keep it in the back of our mind, but not forgotten.

Moving forward we want to reiterate that we're committed to putting this out and it's still an ongoing project. From attack design, animations, VFX, and character VO, we want to make sure we’re doing everything to the best of our ability for the player in mind. Additionally, the more the team has grown, the more we've had to build our workflow pipeline for playtests to directly give feedback in a concise manner to the software devs. We wanna thank everyone for sticking with us, so we’ve included a profile and little dev tidbit for the bosses, continue reading below, and we hope you all have a great day… Let’s share some bosses!

Isma

Isma is a pretty cool character. When we meet her, she has no visible weapons, so we had to conjure up something completely from scratch. The obvious approach here would be to play off the plant theme and have plant-like attacks, and while this sets the identity of the character, it doesn’t set the identity of the fight itself. We ended up taking some inspiration from everyone’s favorite boss, The Collector. We wanted to look at the boss and see what the strengths and weaknesses were, and how to improve on it. We can see the boss itself tries to spawn mobs and overwhelm the player, but felt it doesn’t accomplish the goal of choking the player of comfortability and maneuverability, and we want to change that. We feel like we landed on a really good direction on that pretty early in development and from then on it’s been tuning and tuning and tuning. We feel through this process we’ve taken what can be an annoying, monotonous experience and turned it into a very interesting battle with spatial awareness, where you are forced to juggle many different aspects of a fight, or get choked out slowly in the battle. This boss has quickly risen the ranks and become a favorite among the playtesters, and we hope that you guys can enjoy it as much as we did!

Zemer

Have you ever wondered how Zemer would wield such a HUGE nail and be as elegant as she is? This is what we wanted to do, and man did it quickly become a problem! Originally Zemer was her “normal size” and her base attacks took up half of the entire playfield. The quickest and easiest approach here was just to shrink her size, so we did, and this opened us up to a lot of fun things. With a smaller size this let us up her mobility through movement options. We also kept the idea of her having this huge nail as well, and in playtests, she felt more like a zoner but with a more physical approach, we expanded on it… a lot! She ended up being SO fun in development that we kept thinking up more and more moves for her, and she has probably the most moves of any boss fight in the game. When we started putting up the final touches on her moves we found playtesters were having a very tough time getting ahold of her, but when they did it felt very rewarding and enjoyable. She is a complete menace and we expect it to be the hardest boss and give people a lot of trouble, with a huge sense of satisfaction for those that put in the time and effort to master the fight.

Hegemol

Your favorite thicc boi is back and better than ever - Hegemol has been a very interesting experience for us so far. Failed Champion / False Knight do a great job at physically restricting space, while we touched up about space restriction in Isma, you can think of her as an upward trend, the more time you don’t deal with her, the more choked you feel. Hegemol is the constant on the chart, his size will remain an ever present force in your face, and you’re going to have to deal with it the hard way. It was a challenge to really dial in what we wanted to do with Hegemo and, we can see why TC originally took a more basic approach in fear of not overwhelming the player with this monstrous body constantly trying to be on top of you, feeling like a wall closing in. We feel like we’re in a great direction now, and we want to capitalize on this feeling of dealing with an immovable object, as well as being an unstoppable force, while remaining a completely fair fight. We’re still early in development with Hegemol, but he’s already going to be an interesting case of seeing how players figure out how to cope with the constant pressure.

Dryya

We’ve had some great fights in Hallownest, and our favorite flavor of fights are sword duels. Hollow Knight has a lot of them, but almost all have some special flavor thrown in there, and we don’t really have something with a more “vanilla” flavor to it. We lacked a fight in the mod that had a very methodical flow to it, almost like a lightsaber duel, or a waterbender with choreographed motions. Enter Dryya, she is our lovechild to a classic sword fight that we think Hollow Knight really needed. She’s fast, smooth, and brutal! Being a grounded sword wielder, she wants to constantly be up in your face and on the offensive. On the surface this seems pretty straightforward, but in reality we did have some problems where the knight could dash away or through her and it’s been fun to see how we are getting around that player behavior. We want Dryya to continuously try to engage with the player, and that means minimal time between attacks - she doesn’t want you to have any breathing time. If you’re willing to tango, you’ll enter a flow state and feel like you’re really having an authentic duel. We hope a more classical fight will have people coming around a lot for an engaging experience.

[nadianova]

if im an artist with no following + want to make games for $ (i want to do game dev for work) shld i release games for free at first so ppl have a Taste (idk if ppl will buy even if it looks good n idk hiw to advertise. i hav no monies or job rip

idk really if your games look good and are good then ask for money but if you havent made games before and will be doing amateur work youre probably gonna get better results releasing free stuff for your first things.

if youre going to make eroges like me i thikn itch io is a good place if your game has a good look and you tag it with all the nsfw tags i use like porn and adult and if you relaly wanna be bold tag your transgirl game as futanari for free tourist traffic.. it should help with building audience

ultimately i dont think its about if its paid or free when getting started its more like.. dont spend 5 years working on your first project. aim to do small ones like jam games that take a month or two to make. then you can release a pay what you want free game and a paid game and see how it compares and then use that experience as your information going forwards

also if you're doing free games i thikn pay.what-you-want option with some bonus stuff like for example an artbook like how i do it is a pretty good way to approach free games as well. i dont see it as often as id expect given how nice it is

if you end up making money from your games eventually i think the best thing to invest in terms of games is to pay a good artist to make you nice looking sprites it helps with people taking your game more seriously be it a paid game or a free one

maqrketing is kindof annoying but I'm terminally online and cant stop posting so the tried and true method of posting porn and shitposts about my game on social media is what i do

but seriously IMO the most important thing is just that dont spend years making some bbig project in the dark and start with something small first to get more familiar with your skills and audience and what you even want to do first. even if your big project ends up being amazing its a huge risk and time investment.. it works for some peopel but theres many people who it wont work for

finishign games is hard so imo the most valuable skill is to just finish something like put aside some time in your life for 2 months for a jam and complete a game. if you can do that then it means you can do games and experiment what is the right play to do if your goal is to make money

idk how much money here truly is to be made with tiny indie games but itch io is good for porn and if you wanna sell out make some koikatsu waifu game for cis man audience and release a 0.1b version and put up a patreon looool <3 remember, no ntr. men are afraid of ntr

[devsgames]

On AI-Driven Conversations In Games

The AI gang really shot themselves in the foot by leaning so hard into capitalist exploitation angle, because now whenever they present a use of the tech that is actually moderately interesting the baseline reaction people have to it is just going to be hate because it's associated to AI in any way shape or form.

I mean, obviously I understand why people react this way, because most of the practical applications of AI are just a veil for replacing of labour and increasing profit margins for the executive levels. But I feel like nowadays you'll also just see a lot of people hating an idea because it's implicitly tied to AI in any way, despite the core conceit of the idea actually being fairly interesting. (Remember when Spiderverse used Machine Learning to generate some of it's incredibly labour-intensive frame-by-frame effects and then a bunch of people got mad because it used Machine Learning for that?)

People have been pointing to the use case of "what if you could talk to an NPC in a game and have their reponses generated via AI", and laughing at it like it's the dumbest suggestion ever, but honestly in my opinion I think that's the exact kind of system AI was practically designed for! To me that feels like an excellent application of the tech that is now just marred by the mention of AI in the first place.

Anyway, to ruminate on the concept a bit: I see that use of AI enabling a dev to fill out a world with more NPCs who help it feel more populated, as well as potentially give them incredibly varied responses that are more relevant to the NPCs immediate context of the game. I imagine instead of replacing full-on player choice dialog it would instead replace the throwaway barks of awkward and out of place open-world NPCs who look at you and say "I have nothing to say to you" and giving them something to directly say about your adventure or the context around them instead.

Instead of having the intern narrative designers be forced to write little barks and blurbs like "I have nothing to say" (which I understand narrative folks usually view as grunt work and hate writing in he first place), they'd be writing little prompts for that system instead. End result is when you talk to random farmer NPC #344 outside of town they say "Crop's doing well this year, here's hoping a dragon doesn't attack us" instead of "I've got nothing to say". I think on paper that's a genuinely good and interesting way to improve an antiquated open-world problem like that. Should it be helpful? Probably not. Would it be interesting? No. Would it be a little more flavourful than what we currently have going on? I think so!

It's not an AI shill fever dream, I can see exactly how it would work and I'd bet money that there's a studio doing something like it in R&D right now. I imagine it'd also probably be pretty adaptable between projects too, so the similar system could be applied to different areas of the world.

Should it be trusted to give the player directions or do any sort of leading that a narrative designer should do? Almost certainly not because it would be inconsistent and have too big a possibility window, and AI is nothing if not horrible at performing essential tasks that might block progress.

Should it be done with the tech as it is now? Hell no, unless you want to wait five seconds for every reply to be generated and for it to be tied to some server bank that's guzzling all of Arizona's water. Also it would probably need an internet conncetion to work, which is asking a lot for an open world game.

Should it be done by these studios who are more interested in using it to replace labour and make the end result cheaper to make so they can keep more profits off he top? No, and that's the real reason why the applications of this tech sucks - because spoiler alert they'd all love to save money.

Obviously this concept isn't doable right now, but I wouldn't be surprised if it ships in a game in some form within 5-10 years tops.

Again I get why at this point in capitalism there's almost no applications of machine learning that are easy to trust, nor should we ever believe studios are doing it for any reason outside of trying to make development cheaper. I just think when it comes to tech it's worthwhile to keep execution in mind separate from intent; Tech isn't implicitly evil, it's the system it's built under that is. :)

[felassan]

Thoughts on the latest companion feature. (this post contains spoilers from the August 30th dev Q&A).

This feature/these blurbs were fun hh. I know these features were more like a fun and light-hearted thing rather than sth we should like overanalyze for character backstory info or read too much into for details and stuff, but I still cant help but kick my feet and think about the blorbos anyways 😊

Emmrich: I felt like art makes total sense :D Nevarra is renowned for its art, even its gardens, food and arrangements for the dead are pieces of art. this blurb combined with yesterday's Q&A had me wondering if any of the companions would like pieces of art like paintings as their personalized gifts. that reminded me of Sten and his paintings in DA:O, which was nostalgic. :') the IT bit of his blurb had me thinking about how Emmrich & Taash don't see eye-to-eye on necromancy. like obviously as a necromancer he doesn't have a problem with it. I wonder what Taash dislikes about it? is it its reputation (per Josie in DA:I)? Solas freed the weak spirit the Mortalitasi in Tevinter Nights had bound to stir her drink. maybe Taash doesn't like the binding part, the servants part?

Neve: I loved that leadership was the top vote for Neve ^^ finding the issues, testing and finding solutions, solving problems.. I wanna investigate a crime scene or case or something with Neve so bad. I also like the idea that Neve, Davrin and Harding could all lead teams of their own in their own right (with Rook as the Veilguard's leader, it reminds me a bit of the Shadow Broker's dossier on Garrus.)

Bellara: Bellara is a renaissance lady fr 🙏 a genius, good with her hands and at building things, magically talented, creative, and also apparently great at cooking! multi-skilled.

Lucanis: "mastermind at piecing things together", like Detective Neve! I'm really curious to hear their banter and see how they interact. with them both around you can't hide anything from the Veilguard!! "Assassination is an art form, and his work is beautiful" made me curious to hear Lucanis and Davrin discussing their respective artforms. Lucanis kills people, Davrin kills monsters. different targets and contexts, but for both of them it's like an artform and a very honed skillset. I think it could be cool if they talked about their varying approaches :) and this one "Lucanis lives off of coffee and hides in the dark" just sent me, like Lucanis pls 😭

Taash: for some reason I kept thinking about Taash sending all the bugs back not only with a grin but also by hitting them back over with a racket or something like it's some kind of ball game hh. I loved "bombastic yet subtle" coming up as a descriptor related to her ^^

Davrin: In a previous blurb we learned Davrin was raised in a Dalish clan, and craved excitement and adventure. reading this new one, I thought that leadership because you can count on him to step up when things get tough sounds like a great quality for a Warden to have. that made me wonder whether he set out from his clan specifically to join the Wardens, or whether it was more like he set out to go on adventures, then established himself as an adventurer, and then was recruited by the Wardens due to his reputation as an adventurer. like what the sequence of events there was like. and I wondered about Assan's in-game noises - like whether it's audio effects or sounds made by an actor. ^^

Harding: leadership here made me hark back to Harding's previous life as the Lead Scout of the Inquisition. "she works hard".. punny :D

[sheikfangirl]

your puppet zelda headcanons are definitely making me reconsider her as a concept!! i agree she felt very underdeveloped but has a lot of potential. from a gameplay perspective, if you had your way in integrating/rewriting puppet zelda into totk's narrative, how would you do it? i feel like you'd make her infinitely more developed lol

Hey @pitchblackespresso Thank you for your patience! I know, your question has been in my inbox for a couple of days now but I thought it was so interesting I really wanted to take the time to think about my answer before replying. Obviously, I would've looooove if the dev team added more depth to Puppet Zelda, I mean, she's a walking horror movie trope just waiting to ooze angst and hurt!! hdkjlsgjsjniosdgv!!!!! I happen to be a game dev in real life and I play games with a game dev point of view... I always put myself in the team's shoes and I have empathy for them. Making a game is hard work and what they achieved with TotK is insane. Obviously Puppet Zelda wasn't their priority and I can't wait to learn more from the Masterwork book... I would never ever pretend I would've done a better job than them!! Buuuuuuuut! We are here to brainstorm and have "what if" fun! Here are a couple of confused ideas that will, hopefully make sense :) Find a way to boost the "confused Link" narrative. Puppet Zelda was so obviously NOT the real Zelda, I wish the writers had played with our skepticism a bit and made us doubt and consider that she might just be the real Zelda. I want to be manipulated by Puppet Zelda dammit!!! (and be stepped on, but that's another story)!

Trigger Puppet Zelda encounters!! Going to a specific place on a Blood Moon and trigger a Puppet Zelda encounter !

Picture this: Blood moon ambiance, 100 times worse! She could've made Gloom Shrines appear, full of hellish puzzles or just straight up old school dungeons? But...scary dungeons!  Who here is OoT Shadow Temple PTSD? I sure am! Picture The Shadow Temple, but black, red and on Steroids....the kind of weird shit straight out of the original Hellraiser or a PG-13 version of Berserk's Eclipse. Evil Quests? Something that would've been super dark but sadly impossible without the integration of some kind of morality system like games such as Dragon Age and Mass Effect (Games I'm also obsessed with by the way) : Having Puppet Zelda give Link Dark quest objectives that would have made us question her sanity and intentions and have consequences on Link.  A Good old fashion Battle We should have had the opportunity to FIGHT HER!!! That would've been HEARTBREAKING!!!!  Bonus: This one is not about Puppet Zelda, but about Link. It seems like a detail but..I wish his model changed as we progressed throughout the story. The closer you get to the end, the more dirty and tired Link would have looked, like Wander in the influencal masterpiece game "Shadow of the Colossus." I hope you are not disappointed by these couple of proposals :) Welcome to the cult! Glory to Puppet Zelda ✋ Cheers!!!

[charbies]

I'm mashing together my review of totk and reactions to random encounters with the masterworks I've had lately into one stream of consciousness

Totk should have had true continuity, not a 6 year time skip that we never get to see, experience, and feel. It's not that hard to bridge 2 games with a 1-2 min cutscene, esp in a zelda game. Majora's mask starts with quick, but meaningful exposition that bridges OOT to MM! The intro to wind waker is a 6 minute long cutscene!! This series thrives with its detailed, intriguing intros, so what happened?? Before I even launched totk the night it came out, I booted up botw and replayed the final boss & ending because I was so stoked to see the transition in story/world and wanted to honor both games. Instead boom, we're walking in a cave w/ no context.

I was so disappointed that zelda wasn't a companion character to link in totk, it was disempowering to her character arc. Really thought this game would build off of botw's snippets of link & zelda working together in memories. The teasers and trailers for totk gave this perception that she would be there (which would also "break tradition" like devs wanted, ffs). When I was on the tutorial island I was fully convinced I'd be finding her and we'd reconvene like "ok what's next." When I realized 20 mins into the game that she was GONE gone, as in will not reappear likely until the end of the game damsel-in-distress-style, my verbatim thought "wait... really? Is this still going to be good?" Which was kinda sad, for a game I waited so many years for :/

I had major pet peeves with the copy/paste nature of the cutscenes with the old sages. The dialogue, bgs, pacing, literally all identical. They just hot swapped the character models for the sages and said that was good enough, wtf!!! I live for cutscenes in games, I have since I was like 5. This felt lazy, and seriously demotivated me from completing the dungeons bc I knew there was going to be nothing novel or intriguing to look forward to

The secret stones were gimmicky af. Sorry. Also stupid name, they couldn't even opt for "sacred?" Ik in other languages they have way cooler names, which would have helped. Link's fucking thanos glove of stones was a stupid gimmick, I cannot believe they didn't think to alter that concept to be more mythical, or creative, or just original. I would have killed for the stones to relate to the triforce in some way, or to do away with the stones and have this game connect to the triforce, since the whole direction of this story was going back to ancient myth & lore.

the Zonai lacked depth, and honestly just felt like a boring distraction even tho they were supposed to be a central focus of this game. I 1000% agree with other folks posts on the take that rauru was a flat, 2-dimensional colonizer. Sonia got sidelined. yikes. ew. no thanks.

^similarly, ganon really was given no character or depth imo. It's like they did a fantastic job making him visibly LOOK scary, so they didn't bother to give him motives beyond "I'm bad, I do what I want."

the cliche "back to normal" at the end irked me. Link could have come out with no arm, keeping the zonia arm, or at least scars w/ the zonai arm pattern and that would be meaningful. Zelda got factory reset from irreversible draconification in a method that for all intents and purposes, could have been done as soon as link got rewind ability. There was no investigation or inclusion of the other dragons, which seemed like a missed opportunity. Actively working on reversing her could have been a main quest in game!! Like 1. Complete all dungeons/get all stones, 2. you can now go round up the spirits of rauru & sonia and reverse zelda yippee, 3. you and zelda go beat the shit out of ganon together. The dragons fighting was beautiful, powerful imagery, but honestly I think too much potential was traded away just to execute that one fraction of the boss fight.

The masterworks book annoys me, which is sad bc I love concept art. I wanted to be a concept artist growing up, I can accept that you'll often see things that never make it into the final cut. I was enamored with early posts abt things like zelda's haircut, char designs, etc.

But more recently I'm seeing the anthology side of the book taking major liberties that it didn't even bother showing us directly or alluding to in the game, and I think that's such a cop-out. They are literally telling us instead of SHOWING us in the game they release a year ago, and spent SIX YEARS making. There was a festival celebrating the return of zelda/defeat of ganon?? Freaking show us that!!! Show us link & zelda acclimate to post-calamity life. Show us imperfect, non-linear healing and resilience. I would have loved a festival scene w/ link and zelda that conveys the nuance of celebration and recognition of their efforts, and the contrasting weight of what they went through. Show me zelda, exhausted after a festival struggling with guilt and indecision about whether to bring back the monarchy with hyrule's restoration. Throwing in a "oh btw imagine if we actually had done this" post-game makes me so irritated and feral. It's like the post-release canon is sidling up to fanon and saying, "hey look we can do that too! look at our fan art" idk if that makes sense, I don't think I'm explaining it well. But it just feels disingenuous.

I'm not a timeline purest, I don't need everything to interconnect, but I don't love how assertions in this book invalidate connections and lore of other games. Also really don't love how this game overwrites and sidelines the sheikah.

I know majority of my disappointment stems from my own, personal expectations of a game that, let's face it, was probably given many mandates and initiatives to appeal to *everyone* in broad, lackluster ways. I still love the world and characters of zelda, if anything, totk reaffirmed what I love and want to prioritize in my art that I didn't see present in this game. Fun fact I used the world of botw to learn a lot about drawing landscapes & composition. It actually inspires me a bit to try to learn to do comics, which has been a longtime goal I've been too busy and/or timid to pursue lol.

mmm anyway if u read this and any of this resonated DM me and lets froth at the mouth and commiserate lol