#the file was created in May that's how slow I am

[blanketempress]

have this incomprehensible map, hope it clarifies things

forgot to legend the black links : it's hate

Livia fucking hates Lorenzo and Gina so much

Matteo and Lorenzo are twins, they're Livia's sons, Gina's nephews, Cecilio's great great great grandkids. They had a decent relationship until Lorenzo decided to ghoul Matteo and their blood bond landed on "hate/fear"

Livia straight up wants Lorenzo dead and was forced out of town by Gina

Livia and Gina are sisters, Gina is older by a few years, they were raised as rivals and can't stand each other. Livia wants Gina dead but it's been over a century and they're both still standing. Gina just wants to keep her miserable and to ruin her life as much as possible

Livia was an absentee mother and kind of dumped Matteo and Lorenzo on Annabelle, which she is still pissed about, but also Livia is the kind of freaks she likes + she grew fond of the boys.

Annabelle's relationship with Livia can be summed up with Livia barrelling in with a fucked up plan and Annabelle going "oh babygirl you're insane, I'm in"

Cecilio monitors his mortal descendants very closely. He's been trying to build a Revenant bloodline for a few generations and it's starting to come to fruition. He has a spot in his private mausoleum already prepared for each of his blood relatives

Cecilio and Antoine have a weird homoerotic rivalry nemesis friendship thing going on, which is mostly fueled by Cecilio

Lorenzo and Fortunato have roughly that same kind of thing going on but it's only fueled by Fortunato

Glitter is a pretty low generation vampire Matteo met in Venice. He somehow helped her run away from the family. They're best buddies.

It's unclear whether Fortunato ever wanted to be friends with Matteo and Glitter or if he was just trying to manipulate Matteo into helping him kill Lorenzo, but now they're buddies

Gina barely knows that Matteo exists

Cecilio keeps forgetting that Matteo exists as well

Antoine kind of remembers that there used to be one baby girl and one baby boy but he thinks that Matteo is the transgender twin and that Lorenzo is the cisgender twin, he thinks Matteo is overplaying masculinity

[letsquestjess]

My Symphony - Part 2 (Tech x GN!Reader)

Summary: Following your blossoming relationship, Tech takes up the cello and grapples with composing a piece for you.

Word count: 2.1K

Warnings: Nothing explicit but implications of it, so 18+ / MDNI. Set pre-order 66.

A/N: After @freesia-writes tagged me in this post, I couldn't resist writing a second part. Little disclaimer, the only time I have seen a cello played is during junior orchestra a long time ago, so if any of the terminology and whatnot is a bit off, I apologise.

Part 1

-- -- -- -- --

In a stable rise and fall, the notes of the cello chased after the rhythm set by the Pantoran spinet and captured them in its grasp, melding and merging until the harmonies united into one beautiful melody. The crescendo peaked, and the song slowed into a temperate finish. 

Your fingers dropped from the keys and the last echo of the elegant theme faded from your bones. “Once we fine-tune that middle section,” you said, organising the sheets on your music stand into the right order, “it will sound flawless.”

“I agree,” Tech replied. He rebalanced the weight of the cello and set the bow aside, stretching his fingers in anticipation. “I am up for the challenge.”

“You always are,” you teased. Peeking over the array of books and folders, you caught the shy look that painted his expression. As your relationship had flourished, flirtations bloomed, infusing vibrant hues into your lives as you delved into your affections and embarked on romantic adventures. 

Since being exposed to your skills and your love, Tech’s world opened to the inspirations of music and he had taken up an instrument himself. He had reasoned that such a pursuit was a way to enhance his intellect and build a new talent, and while true, you speculated he may have also done it to spend more time with you between missions. From the coldest snows to the sweltering forests, his duty took him all over the galaxy, but he always returned to you. Always. 

That was what you kept at the forefront of your mind during each secret liaison and every bittersweet farewell. No matter how many rotations pushed you further away from each other, he came back. Scarred and bruised, shaken and bleeding, but alive. 

The trill of your datapad interrupted your thoughts, grounding you in the present and forcing you to let go of the lingering sadness of another inevitable goodbye. Multiple messages bombarded the screen, and with a huff, you rose from the bench. “Got to get going,” you said, manoeuvring around the spinet and planting a swift kiss to Tech’s cheek. “I’ll meet you here later.” 

The clone commando gave you a playful salute, his lips curling and his eyes crinkling at the edges in such an endearing way that it had you tempted to ignore the messages. But your colleagues needed assistance, and you would resolve everything quicker together. 

With a quick wave, you slipped out of the room, your form disappearing and the door gliding shut again. 

After making sure you’d gone, Tech retrieved his datapad from the pouch on his belt and combed through the array of folders. Finding the file he needed, he positioned the device on the stand and adjusted the cello. He drew the bow over the strings and followed the dotted notes on the screen. Deep, resonant tones provided a rich undertone to his song, and he ascended into a higher range. He wasn’t just creating music; it was a connection to emotion and feeling. More precisely, the sincere and comforting feelings you had given him. 

For weeks, he had poured his heart into the composition, wanting to amaze you, but the sweet melody faltered and abruptly ended, and the correct ending continued to evade him.

Ultimately, the final moments united a song and resonated with the listener even after it was over. Everything he heard since meeting you had concluded with a smooth, gradual finish, nothing sudden or rushed or jarring. The rhythm found a natural decline and a tranquil lull as though nestling into sleep. 

Nevertheless, he couldn’t quite achieve that same peaceful yet resolute conclusion for his own work. He suspected that the news of his impending deployment could be to blame. He still hadn’t mustered the courage to tell you. How could he bear to witness that disheartened look on your face, fully aware that he was the cause? At every goodbye, you tried to hide your sadness and showered him with affection, but he could sense the heaviness in your soul. War was not an ideal time for relationships, and he was a soldier, a commando, an elite operative with skills that constantly put him in the firing line. 

He packed away the cello with a discouraged huff and secured the bow into the lid. Zipping up the case, he shoved it at the back of the room where it found its place behind the box of forgotten orchestral equipment and discarded instruments. 

* * *

“Hey,” you said as you slipped into the Bad Batch’s barracks. The door closed with a hiss and the sterile wedge of light from the corridor dissolved into the hush. “I thought we were going to meet in the music room.”

“My brothers and I had some extra training,” Tech explained, goggles aimed at the electrical fusing tool as he welded weapons components. If it hadn’t been for the small, orbed lamp beside him, the only light illuminating the bunks would have been the occasional sparks shooting from the machine in his precise grasp. 

You understood. This wasn’t the first time Tech had been forced to cancel your plans to play music together after a rough day. His training regime was gruelling. Strict to the point of almost impossible expectations. And yet he and his brothers saw it thorough doggedly, dedicated heart and soul to the Republic and the ongoing war.

“How about a massage to soothe those aching muscles?” you offered. You perched on the edge of his bed and beckoned him with a wave.

“I am not in any pain at the moment,” he assured you, never taking his intense focus off his work. 

“Is that like the last time you weren’t in pain and ended up in the medical bay with a torn muscle?” 

Tech’s lips pursed, and he turned his gaze towards you. Leaning back on your hands, careful to avoid disturbing the jumble of machine parts and cables on his sleeping area. That warm, familiar look in your eyes that called him home. “I suppose I can take a break for a few minutes,” he relented. 

“That’s the spirit.” You assisted him in transferring the majority of the chaos onto the floor and urged him to seat himself on his bunk, positioning your legs on either side of him to serve as a support while you removed the upper half of his armour. Once it was safely nestled by the boxes of bolts and screws, you grazed your hands up to his shoulder blades, applying a firm pressure and eliciting a stream of muttered praises. 

“Better?” you asked. 

A drawn-out hum floated from him and he tilted his head forward to allow you access to the base of his neck. As you continued to caress away the day’s aches, his gloved fingers traced a soothing path up and down your leg. You wished the moment would never end. Soft. Tender. A world untouched by the war raging in the galaxy outside the rain-splattered window. 

“Feels like so long ago since I found you at the door of the music room, listening to me play,” you mused aloud. 

Tech peered at you and quirked his eyebrows. “I was merely fascinated by the instrument.” At the amused smirk on your face, he cleared his throat. “And the captivating person playing it.”

Your fingers slowed at the sincere glimmer in Tech’s eyes. The moment he closed in on you, you met him half-way, lips teasing in the most blissful distraction. Every thought that occupied your mind a moment ago faded. They didn’t matter. His proximity was all that mattered, the lingering singed scent of his projects and his body on yours. 

After a few fumbled manoeuvres, Tech positioned himself above you, scooping you up and enticing a leg up onto his hip. Your mouths moved in gentle tandem, tongues smoothing to deepen and heighten your bond. 

A comfortable exhale escaped from him before he delved back in. Your love had evolved from an exploratory nature to an effortless, conversational rhythm, where silent words were exchanged by touch. The sensation of each caress answered his own and built a crescendo of pleasure that he wished to savour for eternity. 

“My brothers will be away for a while,” he said in between gasps for air. “Would you stay with me?”

“I’ll stay as long as you want me to.” 

“How does forever sound?” 

Waves of heat tingled in your cheeks and a wide grin formed within the warmth. “Forever sounds perfect.” 

* * *

Early mornings were always strange on Kamino. For the most part, the persistent cloud cover cast a dark grey hue over everything and made it appear as though time stood motionless. The movement of the rain and sea were the only sign that the seconds still ticked on.

With an hour to spare before work started, you trudged to the music room, soothing your tired eyes with groggy rubs and stretching your arms out in front of you as you walked. 

After leaving the Batch’s barracks, you had settled into your own bedroom, but the silence in the emptiness only strengthened your restlessness. Despite your time with Tech, an irritating itch scratched at the corner of your thoughts, a suspicion that he was withholding something important. You had grown accustomed to his mannerisms, to the subtle twitches and shifts in his body language that signalled when he was hiding information, and last night you noted a few of those indicators. News circulated of additional mass deployments, so you had an inkling as to what he was concealing, but you respected his privacy; he would tell you at his own pace, as he always did. 

Entering the music room, soft twangs reached your ears and you all but tottered to a halt. Tech occupied his regular seat, plucking the cello strings and twisting the pegs to tune the instrument. “What are you doing in here?” you asked brightly, his presence a joyful surprise. “Don’t you have training?”

“Not this morning,” he answered. He slid the bow across the strings in a steady vibration and smiled as the correct sounds responded. “Do you have a moment? I wanted to show you something.”

“I have all the time in the galaxy for you.”

Tech willed away the flutter in his stomach and invited you to sit in the seat he arranged opposite him.

You shuffled around the chair and complied with his silent instruction. The room grew hushed as Tech’s eyes scanned the datapad on the music stand, the rhythmic ticking of the chronometer amplifying your increasing curiosity.

With a timid start, he began to play, the notes trembling and uncertain, as if shyly whispering from the strings, until his confidence bloomed with the ebb and flow. The bow bounced, sailed, sang like a divine song. Just for you. For your love. 

The sound was unfamiliar, unlike anything you had ever heard in your years of playing, but it struck a chord within you. The compassionate rhythm embraced you, while the utterance of notes soared, stirring your soul with promises of affection and devotion. 

It was then you realise why you hadn’t encountered this piece before. This enchanting melody was a fresh creation, unfolding with tones never experienced by anyone except you and earnestly crafted by the man who nurtured your heart. 

Tears welled in your eyes as he approached the final crest. His arm guided the notes and his nimble fingers placed them, dancing down the neck of the instrument to coax out every sliver of sound. With a lingering stretch, the cello fell silent. 

Tech went to speak, but noticing the teardrops, he rose from his seat and extended a hand to lift you from yours. He wiped the wet droplets threatening to fall and pressed kisses to the fallen ones. “I hope these are joyous tears.”

“That was beautiful,” you breathed. “I’m… I’m a little speechless. I had no clue you were composing a piece of your own.” 

“After weeks of struggling with the concluding section, last night, I found the inspiration I was looking for.” Weathered hands grazed yours, thumbs playing across the lines on your palms. “A symphony for my symphony.” 

With fingers splayed on his cheeks and his arms winding around your waist, you brought him closer for a kiss, lost in a moment that belonged only to you. 

“I have to go away again for a while,” he admitted against your lips, refusing to hide it from you any longer. An increasing number of troops were being deployed every day, and he got the sense you knew his own departure was imminent. To pretend otherwise would be a direct offence to your intelligence and the bond you shared. “My squad is heading to Kallar, but I shouldn’t be too long.” 

At the dip of your head and the small swallow, Tech redirected your gaze to him, his eyes never leaving yours. “I will come back,” he promised, his words warm on your skin as he sealed the vow with a kiss to your forehead. “When have I ever not returned to you?” 

TAGLIST (Message if you’d like to be added, 18+ only)

@skellymom @freesia-writes @the-hexfiles @theeyesofasoldier @multi-fan-dom-madness @savebytheodoresnonjosestuff @tech-aficionado @techsriduur @dangraccoon @starrylothcat @jediknightjana @mssbridgerton @trixie2023

[astronite13]

check it out >:D multidimensional big bang piece by yours truly

you may or may not already know, but i participated in the mdbb event, and was teamed with the wonderful writer @elevenvolcanoes and amazing beta reader @memryse! you can check out ro's awesome fic here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/41524974

go on, i know you wanna read it, dont be shy

as promised, ill be uploading some wips of this below the cut because oh man. this took forever

here are the character design sketches, i am not a very tidy artist

so the original plan was like this adhsjbcbs

i was just braindumping ideas onto a canvas (- -;)

THEN came the clean-ish sketch, where i had 'fun' with having to finalise where things went

(sausage and lizzie were added in later ajdhajfhs)

after that came what i dreaded most. lineart. BANE OF MY EXISTENCE I AJJDKSNC

at this point i was a solid week into this and it was barely halfway done T-T

i then worked on backgrounds and flats- funny thing, i barely ever complete pieces because i have the attention span of a goldfish, so i literally had no idea how to colour things in ┌(。Д。)┐

THIS TOOK SO FUCKING LONG

I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH HOW PAINSTAKING THIS WAS

i was literally going insane over this ahdnsndn

FINALLY i was able to move onto shading/rendering(?)/details, and via the power of bullshitting my way through things, voila

at this point i had spent every day doing nothing but drawing for two weeks, but i was SO CLOSE to being done

then suddenly, the fire nation attacked something happened dun dun dun

because i was working with around 80 layers (i needed them all trust me <-lying), ibispaintx was running abysmally slow, and at this moment, it just CRASHED

i rushed back on and got this (0_0 )

i had to wait. FOURTY FIVE MINUTES. FOR THE WHOLE THING TO REPLAY AND TRY TO RESTORE MY FILE. at this point it was 3 am a day after the deadline and panic mode was activated

BUT i think the watchers may have been, well, watching over me at that point because miraculously, i got my file back, and i added a few finishing touches before collapsing on my bed in a heap

this whole thing overall was a fantastic experience, all the mods and participants in the discord server were super entertaining and friendly, and i want to thank each and every one of you for making this event so exciting >:D especially my teammates, and of course luna for creating it <3

funny thing this was literally my version of 100 hours hardcore since my canvas tells me ive been on it for around 150 hours ajdnjahd

anyway bonus aha:

[scummy-writes]

Character Glasses Holder Tutorial

Some people wanted a tutorial on how I made my Isaac glasses holder. So here is one!

Featuring Gilbert!

This will be lengthy with photos to help show what I'm trying to describe, so I will be putting this under a cut. (It's honestly not a crazy long process, I am just wordy and trying to be very clear.) As a disclaimer, there may be better ways to do this!! This is just how I did it.

What you will need:

Foam board (usually less than $1 USD in the stores I nab them at), non-super glue (I use a 'Scotch Create' glue pen, which seems to be $7-8 USD), Cardstock (prices vary, still cheapish), self-seal laminating sheets ($10USD, for Scotch brand), x-acto knife (or equivalent), scissors, cutting board, and a (to be printed) sprite of your fave looking directly at the screen!

It's not needed, but I do recommend acrylic paint to kinda seal in the sides of the foam board, once everything is finished.

Notes before getting started:

If your sprite image has not been cleared of a background, I would recommend doing so in order to not waste a bit of printer ink on stuff you will be cutting off.

For any sprite image use, I recommend having them facing the screen directly, rather an at an angle. Additionally, if your image is pixelated, you can use Waifu2x to try and smooth it a little.

Personally, I use google docs for trying to fit images on a page before printing, due to my printer's program being garbage. If you're like me, remember to get rid of the side margins, and shorten the header margins as much as possible. This is usually under the 'file' options as 'page setup', and on google docs, there are rulers on the top and side of the page, where you can manipulate the margins a bit as well.

Everyone's glasses can be sized differently based on, well, how big your head is. My head is huge. You can measure your glasses from the front, including the front of the legs in the overall width, and apply the measurements to any test prints. However, I am stubborn and do not do this.

Similarly, some glasses are heavier than others. I purposely try to buy light frames, so keep in mind that if yours are particularly heavy due to the material used to make it, it might not stay without extra help.

Let's get started!

Size the image however you normally do. I am using google docs! If you're using a word processor to scale/resize the image in a certain way, be sure to make sure 'text wrapping' options aren't limited to following any text, so that you can move the image easier.

Circled areas- ruler for margins at the top and left, and on the right is text wrapping options. All of this combined let me center Gil a bit better on the page.

2. Print off the test page in black and white and on regular paper (if you have any)- to save ink in case it's not sized right- and see how the front of your glasses compare to the sizing of it: Is it big enough to hold the glasses? Remember, we need an okay amount of room on each side of where the glasses would go, so that the foam board can support it without worrying of it breaking.

beautiful

3. I am lucky to where mine doesn't really need resizing for me to be happy! And there is a decent amount of room on each side too. Let's print off in color, on cardstock now, and put a self-sealing laminate sheet on the front of the image. These types of sheets are essentially big clear stickers! We're doing this as a protective layer on top of the image. Yes, it will cause shine, but it's so easy to damage paper! This is for peace of mind. They should have instructions on ways to put it on, just be mindful of bubbles and take it Slow. Once it's on without bubbles, press on the image to make sure it's on Well. (You can also put the sheet on after cutting out the image, if you feel more comfortable doing that)

4. Time for cutting! I recommend using the x-acto knife to cut, in order to get the super small spaces. Be sure to use your cutting board, or a good equivalent, so that you don't cut anything under your paper. Don't be afraid to trim the ends of the fly-away hairs either- in the long run, it's more difficult to work with those thin lines than anything else. When using the x-acto knife, I cut the hair from the base, to the tips, so it doesn't cause issues.

5. Hold your image against your foam board, and cut out a rectangle size that's just slightly bigger. Don't feel bad over 'wasting' foam board, this will just make it easier to work with.

6. With the image cut out and laminated, it's time to glue the back down to the foam board. I do not recommend liquid superglues! If you have one that works swell with paper projects, please feel free! But superglue can bleed through the paper and cause issues.

7. Lay the board to rest- under some flat and heavy objects, like a book or similar. Not crazy heavy! But a good weight so that as it dries, everything is pressed against the board. Make sure it's something that it's okay to get glue on, just in case excess slips out. I usually wait around 30 minutes or longer for it to dry. Eat or clean up the paper scraps while you wait!

8. Almost done! Now that it's dry, it's time to cut once more. I still recommend using an x-acto knife, because scissors cause a lot of issues when cutting foam board.

9. Once cut, it's time to take your glasses again and cut holes for the legs to go through. Keep in mind the width and length of the leg's tip- it needs to be able to fit through. Personally, I am haphazard in everything I do, so I press my frames to the image again and use the x-acto blade to poke just a Smidge bigger than the tips of the glasses legs are.

Surely, there are better ways of doing this.

10. Once both holes are cut, and everything seems to fit well, it's time to make the back! I try to use scraps leftover from the foam board cutting to make them, but you may need to use new pieces from your foam board. We're going to put any straight edges to the back, and glue down. Here, you can use superglue, since it's just foam board to foam board. Trim any excess that goes past your himbo, and test that it can stand on its own.

11. (Optional!!) Paint the sides, carefully, with acrylic. I'm using black, but you can use any color. Don't stress if it gets on the laminate- it wipes off super easily while still wet! I do not recommend using a marker, since if it touches the paper, it will likely bleed through and cause odd splotches. My roommate suggests that puff paint may work as well!

And you're done! Now you have your fave wearing your glasses!

If you end up doing this, especially if you're in the ikemen games fandom, I'd love to see it!

Also, I normally write stuff! If interested, feel free to check it out:

Ikevamp Masterlist | Ikepri Masterlist | Discord Server

[agentmmayy]

may music rotation

this month might not have been a super great month for music but from what i found it was a FANTASTIC month for lyrics and summer-esque songs!!!!!!!

back home - mila ziska: this song is so melancholic and sweet and it embodies the spirit of summer so cleanly. ‘harvest all the seeds i’ve sown pick the fruit once you come back home’  ‘i have this force within me it pulls me like the ocean tide’ and ‘oh growing up is a strange thing it’s like it happens over night’ i’ve been here for centuries. i’ve been here for days. i am every age i have ever been but i still know nothing. i am old and i am young and i am trying to come home. i want to go home. all stories are about coming home!!!!!!!

also this song is formally VERY similar to ‘the best day’ by taylor swift so that of course made it hit even harder

quarter life crisis - isabel dumma: talk about bop!!!! the chorus is amazing and so so so accurate and then the bridge??? ‘floatin’ ain’t the same as swimmin’ i know i ain’t drowning but breathin’ isn’t livin’ 

vagabond - overcoats: THIS song. this song has been the one i’ve played most this month because one it’s an absolute banger and second of all it read me for filth and the lyrics are so beautifully crafted and honest and pure and delivered impeccably. it’s a sweet, slow melody and coupled with the lyrics it reached into the depths of my soul and pulled out everything i can’t say and put it into this song like 

‘i’m just learning how to make peace with feeling small’ ‘but i might drive off if it gets too hard’ ‘there’s always a sunset that i wanna run into’ ‘i’m searching but i’m not lost’ and my all time favorite lyric that put me on the floor when i heard it the first time- ‘i’m a growing tree a few missing leaves i can’t shelter you don’t sit under me’ HELLO????? 

anyway, i am a HUGE fan of the overcoats and i am so proud of them for their success and for their new album!!!!! which is where this song is from but have i been able to listen to it yet? no i keep playing this song on repeat 

fireworks - JOSEPH: now for ANOTHER song that read me for filth. lately i’ve been feeling this exact way since all my friends and people around me have reached certain milestones in life- such as getting married, settling down, etc- that i haven’t and i’m left even more alone and bereft. but THIS SONG said that’s okay!!!!!!!! this song understood!!!!!! it said i’m not alone feeling this way!!!!

every lyric absolutely sent me through the roof but these especially:  ‘all these long songs might be no good for me’ ‘how long will i wait to be happy all my friends ask me’ ‘what if i’m wrong wrong to think there’s more to this story’ ‘an act of faith even though it hurts to shut that door am i holding out forever?’ ‘am i headstrong or foolish every night waiting for lighting to strike whole you’ve got blue skies?’ and my favorite- ‘i wish i could just flip a switch and accept your kind of muted bliss’ WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! once again HOW did they put it into words!!!!!! this song has such a special place in my heart. i can’t tell you how many times i’ve not only listened to it but also screamed along and cried to it 

also, JOSEPH always creates the most compelling and just fun to listen to songs and this is no exception!!!!!!!!! the harmonies are delicious and the music dropping at certain points is incredible and the beat has me dancing around the room. filed right under beach music! 

waves crash - JOSEPH: ok yes another song that turned me inside out and shook loose every embarrassment and fear and secret that i kept hidden and turned it into a song that said it’s okay!!!!!!! i understand!!!!! you are still worthy!!!!! 

again, every lyric is a masterpiece. ‘i’m a tall tall tree reaching up in the breeze’ *crying* i AM a tree!!!!!!! ‘i’m a limb of goodness in motion’ you’re getting emotional over nature comparisons? THE TREE AND OCEAN METAPHORS GOT TO ME OKAY. speaking of oceans in this, the chorus is insane. ‘waves crash clouds break yet here i am ashamed of all the cracks trying to glue the right mask in place’ shut up!!!!!!!!!! it’s a ballad. it’s everything. the vocalizations made me cry. they are cries. it sent me to my knees 

wild uncharted waters - jonah hauer-king: i saw the little mermaid in theaters recently and boy was i NOT prepared for eric to sing but honestly????? best song in the movie and on the album. idk if it was the euphoria of hearing it for the first time or the sheer surprise but this song is a banger. 

‘all i ever wanted was the open sky and sea’ SO REAL. ‘now i am on the shoreline but i am still lost at sea’ ‘in my mind your melody goes on stronger than the undertow’ ‘when your eyes outshine the horizon line’ ‘now i’m right here on the shoreline i’m right where you left me’  how am i supposed to live laugh love in this situation!!!!!!!!!! do i even need to say it!!!!!!! 

look back - dora jar: so delicate!!!!!!!! had my attention right from the jump. the imagery is spun with each lyric and metaphor (more ocean metaphors!!!!!) and the overall tone of grief and determination and love. ‘but i think i saw your memory washed up on the sand i let it stick to my skin traced it with my hand’ wtf. it has such strong apocalyptic vibes. not necessarily apocalyptic in the strict sense that the entire world has been destroyed and is suffering but apocalyptic in the sense that one person’s world has been destroyed whether by their own volition or not

bonus songs:

tunnel vision - imani graham: poignant!!!! ‘am i to blame for your bad habits oh i wish i said something but ignored all my needs’ ‘I stumbled through the chaos but found what I believe in tripping on the eggshells that you placed underneath me’ WHEW! 

also formally reminds me of both ‘want want’ and ‘anywhere with you’ by maggie rogers

red wine supernova - chappell roan: this song is weird and i love it. i also love everything chappell roan produces, of course, but i really love how clever she is with lyrics and ‘you said you like magic well i got a wand and a rabbit’ BLEW MY MF MIND also her vocals are insane 

all the stars - mree: the album and and the title got to me okay? i love how groovy and gentle this is

[inlocusmads]

Hey there! Time for an ask! :)

Is there something your MC is obsessed with that drives their LI crazy? What about in reverse, is your LI obsessed with something that may make your MC just lose it?

Thank you! :)

Jerz! Oh my God, this has been a long time coming. I'm so sorry it took me ages to respond, so here's a fic to hopefully make up for all of this!

Ain't No Rest For The Wicked

Ethan and Alma Hudson have a heart-to-heart conversation. Meanwhile, back at home, Jane teaches all the right things to a young Ethan Hudson, but at the wrong time.

Characters: Ethan Ramsey, Jane Fletcher, Alma Hudson, Ethan "Eddie" Hudson from Open Heart.

WC: 2.5k | General Audiences

(A/N at the end!)

"I don't know. Is it really that bad that I am -- a bit of a messy botanist?" Ethan asked.

Alma Hudson shrugged. They'd just gone out on a little lunch catch-up after a long time and Ethan had rather wanted it to be private. Just the two of them ruminating about Dolores, how Ethan Hudson - now aptly nicknamed Eddie to avoid the mix-up was coping with elementary school - it had definitely been a good six years and it was almost as if everything around Ethan had changed. New houses in the boulevard, new families, new friends and yet, he still worked at the same hospital.

"I don't know. It has been a while since we lived together." Ethan said. "Jane accepted when I asked her if she was comfortable moving into my apartment for a brief period of time but I believe it is -- a terrible idea. I seem to be doing something wrong with my archiving. There's boxes everywhere, not enough time to order them all and files on coffee tables."

"Ethan, if Jane's only pet peeve of you is your messiness, that's just called being human. Nobody's one hundred percent clean." Alma shook her head.

"It isn't a pet peeve, so to speak. She is understanding. I believe it just annoys her. She doesn't say much and sort of silently scrapes it up when I'm not looking but -- it is a problem, isn't it? An unaddressed problem only progresses into something more."

Ethan took a sharp turn and slowed down near the school zone.

"That's Eddie's school."

"Newberry Elementary." Ethan read the name.

"They're really good. Good at disciplining him. They also have a STEM program for gifted kids. Though I think Eddie is just -- into making trouble and causing chaos. Get a quick kick of adrenaline. He's still a kid."

"Well, I remember when I was one. Then I met Jane."

"Oh?"

"If she's got a problem with my messiness, I have a problem with her -- erm -- bad ideas, I'd say. The other day, we had purchased a rather long table for the dining room and it made the salt dispenser far out of reach and instead of perhaps, using your hands to lift the shakers and use them, she got a model train to do it. It left dent marks on the table, didn't do well with me but -- there's the compromise right? I believe she didn't get enough of an adrenaline kick as a kid and is now cramming her summer bucket list of inventions into one whole -- life."

"That has to be fun, right?" Alma asked.

"It is, like when the time she developed a catapult that didn't make me want to go all the way to get my car keys. However there are drawbacks. Like the time she developed a catapult and in place of the keys, there was a large -- sort of belt hanging from the hook and well, the catapult being powered by electricity, ended up spinning about and causing a mess. It was an even bigger mess because Jane left it all night, powered on and didn't bother introducing an insulating column and it -- it's best if we don't talk about it further."

"She's definitely a lot --"

"Yes, that she is."

"-- I was going to say different but you've dated many different people before." Alma said. "Sorry, it isn't my business to pry--"

"No, no. Alma you're family. I trust you with everything." Ethan offered her a kind smile. "I guess it's always a first to sort of share a roof with someone who just really enjoys creating new things. It's also a pain. It's easier to clean up paperwork and Jane laments about it all the time, when I see her make smoke bombs for fun or incredibly complicated machines that transcend the whole entire living room - it is a complete menace to live with that."

"Of course, of course. Have you tried talking about it?"

"I don't know. I really don't -- mind it as long as it isn't noisy or messy. Even if it is messy, she pulls the "you're as messy as I am" card and -- at this point I don't know who's supposed to set a better example for the other." Ethan shrugged.

"I'll tell you one. Eddie loves you both. He loves talking about you and listening to stories and -- maybe it's a good thing Jane is babysitting him. Maybe they'll connect. It's always hard for a kid like Eddie to socialise. He looks up to you, that's an ineffable fact but generally, he's just -- restraint towards extended family. But you, he looks up to you. He doesn't know what he wants to be yet. In the whole dinosaur, astronaut phase, but -- you've inspired him. And if there's ever a Show and Tell, you best believe he's going to run up to your door and ask you for your sthethoscope."

"I love him too." Ethan said. "Dolores was -- family. She was like the sister I never had and she sort of -- filled this gaping hole in my soul and I never say that about anyone, at all. Eddie is a great kid. He'll do a lot of amazing things someday."

"I hope so. He's been in a rough patch lately. Bad grades. Been bullied too."

"Oh no."

"Yeah. Newberry isn't -- completely bully-free as they make it out to be. He's trying really hard. I just want him to have a good childhood and -- if things ever go south for me, you're his godfather."

"Alma, I appreciate the gesture but nothing will happen to you."

"Ack, you doctors are always so optimistic. Look at me, Ethan. I'm forty eight and I'm raising a five year old. By the time he reaches high school, I'd be sixty one. And college. Who's going to put him through that? I'd be retired by then and I wouldn't be able to be there for him, because -- I pull my back out quite often than before and it's just a downward spiral from now. I just need you to vouch for me, yeah?"

Ethan paused.

"You're forty one, Ethan. Jane, I presume is -- thirty eight, I'd expect? Promise me you'll help Eddie get through if I'm ever not there." Alma said, her right hand on Ethan's left hand. She gave it a small squeeze, expecting some assurance.

"I promise. I won't let him -- be thrown to the wolves. He'll have me whenever he wants me to be there for him."

Alma smiled at him. It was as if a weight had escaped her shoulder and she could count on Ethan and Jane, even though they were a rather strange family to have for Eddie. A doctor who dabbled in research and possibly Dr Frankenstein herself wasn't an ideal environment for a growing college boy, should Alma miss his formative years due to any ailment she might face. But it was just crazy enough to work. She was happy for Ethan, having found a relationship perhaps in the most unexpected of places. She was happy for Jane, who was the cool Aunt figure that Eddie would need in his life and she was just so utterly grateful.

This was about the time when they heard screeching noises, which weren't from the tyres. Alma exchanged a look with Ethan and the latter stepped on the pedal, crossing the road and into the street where Alma and Eddie lived. There was a large backyard overlooking a mass patch of unincorporated land and the worst had already dawned on Alma. Of course, Boston didn't have criminal classes, but what if they'd taken Eddie hostage? What if they'd set fire? The worry only grew larger and larger and by the time Ethan helped Alma out of the car, as the two rushed to their large backyard, they found Jane and Eddie in protective gear.

"What -- is going on?" Ethan panted.

"Aunt Alma! Aunt Alma! Aunt Jane taught me some really cool tricks! We set things on fire! She told me it was -- erm -- pyro-- pyrotech something! And it was so cool! And we also made powder rockets! Did you know that we can make one out of sugar, ben-- bento-- clay and this thing called potassium -- ni-- something? It shot up right into the air and it exploded! It exploded and it was the coolest thing ever!"

"You set fire to the backyard?" Alma shot daggers at Jane.

"No! It was safe, I promise. It's pyrotechnics stuff. You know, safe movie explosions? Eddie told me he was having a hard time at school because of this bully, Matt or something and I taught him some cool homemade explosions, just in case he ever finds himself with a PVC pipe, some bentonite clay - it's bentonite, by the way. Sort of flaky stuff. And potassium nitrate. You can find it in a chem lab, your school would have tons of them and a bit of powdered sugar. Of course, I wouldn't let Eddie play with matchsticks, so we sort of made a large matchstick holder for him to set the rocket on fire and --"

"BOOM!" Eddie said, throwing his head back and laughing.

For a moment, there was nothing but silence.

"He's fine. Unarmed." Jane said. "And technically we aren't breaking any laws. We can't transport this stuff around and that's it. Making it and igniting it on sight is perfectly safe if you know what you're doing."

"You don't know what you're doing!" Alma hissed, as she fussed over Eddie.

"Aunt Alma, but Aunt Jane has a degree in chemistry! She said it's perfectly safe!"

"Well, you are not making explosives at school to fend off bullies!"

"But that would be totally rad though. Dude-" Jane interrupted. "Next time, sneak a firecracker into his backpack, yknow, small ones and --"

"No, no! You are not teaching him anything!"

"Or you could make one of those small hobbyist explosions. Just get a soda bottle. Fill it with aluminium and detergent, give it a good shake or two and if you're feeling really daring, I'll teach you how to insert a fuse in and light it up for a lot more oomph. There's of course, your classic vinegar and baking soda but that's boring. Try getting Coke and Mentos and sort of sneak it in his locker and -- oh wait, hold on, I'll teach ya how to make a flamethrower. It's easy. You'd probably need an empty fire extinguisher and fill it up with some gasoline, pressurise it, y'know make it all compressed and nice and cosy and then -- soak em with some gas, put in the nozzle and whatnot and light em on fire and boom, flamethrowers AND--"

"That is ENOUGH! Eddie, come with me--" Alma took him to the house.

Throughout their conversation, Ethan had not piped up once. Now, he drew in closer, arms crossed against his chest with a sort of stiff feeling.

"You taught him how to -- explode things."

"He's a kid. A kid's gotta learn fire."

"Jane--"

"I'm sorry. I know. I know we're against having kids but -- I just wanna help a kid grow, you see?"

"But explosions?"

"They're cool."

"They can blind someone."

"Still cool. It's chemistry in action. Cool chemistry. A kid needs their chemistry set. Work things. Break things. Set things on fire. Where's the excitement, Ethan? How is Eddie ever going to learn? I hated school so much because there were bullies and half of them were teachers. I hated going there because -- I just -- I couldn't stomach it. The mundane. It's just not cool. Not cool at all."

"Ethan is still a child."

"I know."

"And -- Alma has insisted we take care of him when she reaches her sixties. I really want to -- gain her confidence."

"Yeah, yeah, fair enough." Jane stretched her arms. "I'm sorry about all of this. He was excited. I kind of understood him. It was as if I was a kid again, you know? Hugo and I would be at the workshop everyday, just fiddling with tools and stuff. We'd drill holes just for fun and play with matchsticks because we were ostracised. The both of us. And high school made it worse. I just don't know how to tell you, Ethan."

"No, I understand, I really do-- but next time, maybe you can wait until he's old enough to understand how fires work. Or maybe old enough until he's able to read full length books about botany."

"Who said anything about botany?"

"I've got plenty of books lying at home." Ethan shot a smirk. "You know, the ones you deem messy?"

"Oh no, you're not competing for his attention--"

"He is going to have the greenest thumb in the whole city of Boston and I am going to ensure he learns all of it with some practical gardening lessons thrown in for good measure."

"I'll teach him advanced pyrotechnics and he's going to be making gunpowder in his chem lab before he can learn algebra."

"I'll teach him everything about botany and agriculture and this land, this very land you're standing on right now, will turn into the most beautiful greenhouse ever within months."

A pause.

"I feel like we might be making him into a comic book villain." Jane said.

"Who just so happens to know all the natural poisons found in nature." Ethan added.

"Maybe he should stick to cartoons for now, yeah?"

"Of course, of course. And ice cream. That's what kids like, right?"

"God, we are terrible at this. What would we ever do if -- Eddie actually comes and lives with us? After Alma's retired?"

"I suppose it's not too late to crack open those parenting books." Ethan supplied, glumly.

The two of them exchanged a short hug; Jane's face buried into his hair and Ethan against her shoulder.

"We are going to be good at this. It isn't much about Eddie's own intrinsic character, rather his upbringing and we're always going to be there in little Ethan's life, so there's always room to improve and evolve. Still am not used to calling him -- Eddie. How did Ethan evolve into Ed? Ed sounds boring. Eddie sounds -- juvenile. Almost kiddish. Perhaps we can address him by his middle name. Anyway, we are going to be there in that little boy's life and we're going to learn how to be a good uncle and aunt."

"A cool aunt, by the way. He told me that. You're the boring doctor one."

"No, I believe he said he specifically wanted to be a doctor. Just like his uncle." Ethan adjusted his blazer. "He looks up to me."

"Sure he does." Jane said, returning the smirk he'd sent her way not too long ago. "Setting off firecrackers and making them yourself is a lot more boring than, say, studying plant leaves for a hobby. Sure. Sure. Let's pretend even half of that is true."

"Oh can it." Ethan chuckled. "Also, it couldn't have killed you to teach me something useful. Would've used it on Leland when I had a chance."

"Oh yeah? I would've loved all that plant knowledge before I got absolutely wasted and hungover and then you tell me that blah blah blah plants have medicinal properties and can cure a headache."

"You're the worst." Ethan couldn't control his smile.

"You're terrible yourself." Jane exhaled, between peals of laughter.

***

Tagging From My Old List:

Perma: @quixoticdreamer16 @writing-not @trappedinfanfiction @tessa-liam @peonierose

Open heart only: @cariantha @jerzwriter @ofmischiefandmedicine

___

A/N:

Thank you so much Elsa for the prompt! I'll admit I was in a really bad Open Heart slump because I didn't know where to start or how to even, progress their story. For a while I'd just given up on it and then, I remember your Ask and boom, it all just sort of falls in place. It's silly, it's just utter foolishness and hopefully brings a smile to your face.

Jane and Ethan sort of remind me of Rosa/Pimento and Jake/Amy from Brooklyn 99 and Jane's totally the Pimento/Jake in the situation and it sort of helps me because Adrian Pimento is one of my favourite characters from sitcoms in general and I kind of see a lot of his quirks and chaos in Jane.

Ethan feels like a mix of an excited Amy with the organisation and filing and all those strict restrictions he gives himself while having the personality of Rosa, if that makes sense.

And also I went down a rabbit hole of chemistry related videos, so -- don't blame me for translating my hyperfixations into fiction lol. I wish I could recreate at least half of the stuff Jane's got upto, but that would likely get me arrested or worse, kicked out from the country jk jk no, but still, you get the idea.

Okay I'm rambling. I'll see you guys soon! Thank you for reading!

[spacemaverick]

updated october 2023: this is everything i currently have available on my ko-fi! cats are my strongest skill, but i'm a little flexible.

get 'em HERE!

completed commissions tag

reblogs appreciated! <3

TOS under cut:

GENERAL: All drawings will have my signature on them that may not be removed. Prices are subject to change, and I have the final say on the price. I have the right to reject an order for any reason.

PAYMENT: Payment is accepted exclusively through Ko-fi. Prices are listed in USD.

RIGHTS AND USAGE: I, spaceMaverick (the artist), have the rights to the drawing I create. I am allowed to use my art however I want, including: promoting myself, and displaying it anywhere (social media, personal websites, etc). The buyer is allowed to use the commission for personal use (profile picture, desktop wallpaper, downloading the image, etc), to use the image on their own website or profile layouts WITH CREDIT TO ME AS THE ARTIST, and to use the image in monetized content (YouTube videos/channel layout etc) as long as it isn't the main focus of the content. The following is considered copyright infringement: using the copyrighted work to make money, claiming the work as your own, removing my signature, posting my art without my explicit permission and credit, or altering the work without my explicit permission.

PROCESS: I will let you know via Discord, e-mail, or another method of contact you've provided when I have started your commission. The amount of time will vary depending on the complexity of the drawing and events in my life such as health and other obligations. I will check in and update you on my progress; these are the times to request changes/fixes. If anything comes up that slows the progress of your commission, I will let you know as soon as possible. Once the drawing is finished I will send you the full-resolution file. There is no physical product, and I do not sell prints.

REVISIONS: You have three chances to request changes to the commission, including my progress updates. Any changes made after the initial three, and changes to things that you originally approved, are considered “extra changes” and will add to the original price depending on how much work it will take to change, and will be discussed in the event this happens.

REFUNDS AND CANCELLATION: If for any reason I am unable to start your commission (including me rejecting your order), I will refund you immediately. If you wish to cancel before I have started your commission, you will get a full refund. If I have already started your commission and/or have already sent the first progress update, you cannot get a refund. Do not request a PayPal chargeback to get a refund; I will refund you myself. If you request a Paypal chargeback at any point when you were not allowed to ask for a refund you will lose all rights to the commissioned piece and I will have the full right to profit further from it in any way. I will decline the chargeback and supply Paypal with our conversations in which we talk about the commission as evidence that I have completed work for you. You will also be blacklisted from commissioning me again.

If the buyer breaks any of the points stated above they will lose all the rights to the artwork commissioned by me, spaceMaverick (the artist), and I will have the right to profit further from the commissioned artwork in any way I see fit.

[revilleaj]

Art update & 3D Robodi model images

It has been quite a while since I've last really done anything online. I've been heavily burned out and tired constantly since at least December or so (I have done drawings in months prior, but I have never posted them publically). I still do not have a new computer, even though I have enough money (about £1k) to buy the parts or even an entire computer, but there are other factors in life that need more attention being put towards right now.

I'm still in the midst of trying to get a job (damn required experience and driving license listings!), and drawing right now is bottom priority. It feels like a chore and it's not fun when I have rusted from not drawing in so long (making so many mistakes really sets off my anger problems). I really do not like being pressured into trying to do things, and I have been experimenting with 3D, but only to an extent.

So, with that said, I am going to put making newer drawings on hold for an indefinite amount of time until I feel motivated enough to draw. I'm not done with art entirely and I never will be, but I think I really shouldn't pressure myself as if art is some kind of requirement in life. I've been also having drawing tablet issues, and I noticed there's a small crack in my Huion that I haven't been able to use almost ever since I had it (thankfully the thing still works, and the crack is near the top, only half getting on the drawing area).

I may also finally add some images to my empty DeviantArt account. As much as I do not like that website nor its community, I think it would work if I just put my favorite drawings I've worked on there, specifically ones up until the end of 2023. All of the really old and weaker art (mostly from 2018 and 2020, and anything from 2017) I won't be reposting, as they no longer reflect me, and have not done so for a very long time.

-----

Now, for the second topic of this post, and in a much better light; the 3D Robodi model. I'm sure I've talked about this years ago on Twitter. Back in 2020, when I was still in my first year of university, I worked on a 3D model of one of my characters named Robodi, using Cinema 4D. It was never finished, but I did learn quite a bit when working on it. Here's some newer screenshots of him, now that I've managed to pick back up an older version of C4D (I do not like the 2022 UI layout change):

This is the last version of the model to not be animated, from May 2020. The image is rendered using the Sketch & Toon shader with the Standard renderer. A few options were altered to remove unnecessary outlines.

The model in the renderer itself; right is the objects list, bottom are the materials (vertex colors and textures, some with C4D specific features).

The last ever version of this specific model from September 2021, with the FOV heavily reduced to improve the depth. A single black thin cube was added between the eyes to create a fake extra outline. A bit of a hacky effect; I did not know how to do inverted normals, in fact I don't think I knew that was how most computer games handled outlines.

The very first saved version of the model, in Cinema 4D's editor, made earlier in May 2020. The pieces have default names and are not parented, some materials are not added yet, and the shapes are noticeably bigger, especially the base of the head and the torso.

I once experimented with "realistic" materials and shading (including the dreadfully slow Global Illumination), which doesn't make the most sense for a cartoon character. Here you can see the unit plate on the back of his head, which I don't think I have ever shown before. The camera may look close here, but it's actually extremely far away with a very low FOV (dubbed Super-Telescope). Some textures are no longer in the project files, so this looks slightly off from how it did back in 2020.

In October 2021, I went back to the older May 2020 model and decided to try and remake it. I realized that using one mesh and extruding it works a lot better with the Sketch & Toon shader, as it does not create unnecessary outlines when the default shader options are left the way they are. The lines in the middle of the eyes and nose are from the shader, rather than a black material cube. Of course, it would be more wise to just duplicate each mesh, enlarge them and invert the normals while applying a pitch black texture to them. I abandoned the model shortly after the progress I made here, and I am not sure why. Maybe I was burned out and lost interest.

I should probably try to attempt making a 3D model of him again and some others, now that I know a lot more than I did nearly 4 years ago (yeah, can you believe it has also been nearly 6 years since my Reville character was created? Robodi was first created in mid-2019; almost 5 years ago! Good things take time and care). It will be a difficult task, but I'll make sure to export whatever I make to a .FBX model, so that it doesn't get lost to C4D licensing Hell. Hopefully, that would make the models work in Blender and such (the materials will have to be baked into textures however, instead of being separate C4D ones. At least .FBX doesn't use an external material file unlike .OBJ, which I and others have had issues with). Maybe I could use them for rotoscoping or somethin'.

Here's hoping to me eventually finding motivation, losing my tiredness, and getting a job with stable income alongside continuing to work on my passion projects, no matter how much time has past since the day I first thought of them. I want to keep doing things, not resting in bed most of my days. Too bad winter is freezing cold where I live, and I suffer from mild hypothermia...

[jojoa3p]

The Crusade

Brief History

Before the 2012 David Production anime, there was another adaptation of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure done in 1993 by Studio A.P.P.P. (Another Push Pin Planning). It was 6 episodes long and adapted the Stardust Crusaders Battle in Egypt arc. In 2000, Studio A.P.P.P. adapted the beginning of Stardust Crusaders. These were 7 episodes long. All 13 episodes had a half an hour run time. In 2007. Studio A.P.P.P. released a film adapting the first part of JoJo, Phantom Blood. According to viewer testimonies, the film was roughly 90 minutes long and ran for 3 months in various cinemas. After that, it was never seen again. All that exists now are the 16-minute workprint, 2004 teaser, 2 trailers, and various promotional materials. 

What I’m doing on this blog

I simply want to bring attention to the JoJo OVAs as they were a brilliant piece of media and criminally underrated. I also want to provide content for fellow fans and provide resources to be able to watch them. In addition, I want to bring attention to the Phantom Blood movie so there could eventually be some sort of full release. I will be doing all this by

creating my own original content (in the form of clips, text posts, homegrown shitposts, and more if I ever gain new skills)

reblogging content from other creators (art, gifs, and shitposts)

providing information

advertising other’s works (outside of Tumblr)

and more (if I think of more)

Even if I go dormant at least my resources will be archived :) (I am a university student so I may be slow)

Disclamer: I am not affiliated with anyone I post about. I do not own any website I advertise. I only want to share what I have learnt.

Where can I watch the OVAs? (EDIT: 16/03/2023 Notelu’s restoration is down)

There are two places I go to to watch the OVAs. Notelu’s restorations on Internet Archive and aniwave. Do not watch the ones on YouTube as the quality is less than ideal (to say the least). We mean stretched footage and overly saturated colours, and in some cases bad audio delay.

https://archive.org/details/JJBAOVA Notelu’s version contains files for the English, Japanese, French, and Italian dubs as well as colour corrections (check out her channel for the comparisons).

https://aniwave.to/watch/jojos-bizarre-adventure-2000.4v2m/ep-1

https://aniwave.to/watch/jojos-bizarre-adventure.4xy7/ep-1 Alternatively you can watch it on aniwave. However, the highest video quality is 480p while Notelu’s is 1080p. And again, Notelu has done colour corrections which enhances the viewing experience.

Stand alone list for sharing purposes 

How can I learn about the movie?

The trustworthy sources of information regarding Phantom Blood (2007) are the Phantom Blood Archive website, the new JoJo wiki, and the Phantom Blood Archive discord server (valid link provided).

https://www.phantombloodarchive.org/

https://jojowiki.com/Phantom_Blood_(film)

https://discord.com/invite/Cx9sCs9

Commons Misconceptions

To learn about what is false about Phantom Blood (2007) click here.

Important

Do not contact the people behind the Phantom Blood movie. They will not answer you and we already have people working on this.

Do not ask me for the Phantom Blood Archive discord link. While I am a member I am unsure if I am allowed to share it (the link expires in 7 days anyway). If you want to join you can find a link online. I have made sure to check. EDIT 20/03/24: Link added still keeping this incase I have to remove it for any reason

Do not unnecessarily contact the people searching for the film. They are busy people. phantombloodarchive.org has a contact feature, if you have something to contribute or have a question that is a good place to go. Please be mindful when using this. 

OVA fans, do not bash any anime fans. They have the right to enjoy the anime and it benefits no one to attack them. Do not force them to watch the OVAs either.

Anime fans, please do not bash the OVA fans. We are only a small group and just want to show that it exists and has massive shitpost (and shipping) potential.

If you want to learn about me as a person click here

[thessalian]

Thess vs ChatGTP NPCs

Happened to trip over a Kotaku article about this mod for Skyrim that lets ChatGTP create additional dialogue for NPCs. There are a lot of people in the comments defending something that makes your NPC sound like that auto-generated voice you find on TikTok, which ... I do not get. I’m seeing, “Just wait five years and see how great this tech will be!”

First of all ... no.

Second of all ... hell no.

Look, I’ve already seen the development of the tech that turns voice to text. It still can’t figure out some accents, almost no one speaks slowly and clearly enough to get a decent reading, and it’s shitty for people with speech impediments. I mean, it may well be better now, I don’t know. The thing is ... there’s one problem with text-to-speech that speech-to-text doesn’t have: emotional context.

First of all, no voice actor in their right mind is going to sign away rights to their own voice for use however some AI chat bot dictates, mostly because the loopholes would state something about “we can use your voice whenever we want, however we want, forever, and only pay you this one fee”, and nobody is that stupid. And honestly, even if they were, the recording sessions for it would be insane. Here’s an example in text format: “I never said she stole my money”, and how a change in emphasis changes the entire sentence:

“I never said she stole my money.” (someone else made that accusation)

“I never said she stole my money.” (abject denial)

“I never said she stole my money.” (I just heavily implied it)

“I never said she stole my money.” (but someone else did)

“I never said she stole my money.” (she just borrowed it without clarifying that it was okay to do so)

“I never said she stole my money.” (my roommate’s money, yes. Mine, no)

“I never said she stole my money.” (but my favourite necklace is missing)

Stresses change a spoken sentence. That is why we use italics. And stress can go on any word and more or less entirely change a sentence’s meaning. Even how you stress a word changes depending on the sentence. Consider: “I do not drink ... wine”. That elliptical pause is integral to the way that line flows in speech, and suggests a whole host of emotional context that needs to be given to that line when spoken. And verbal stress is different depending on the situation. It might be a voice rising in volume and pitch due to frustration. It might be slow and a bit louder to really rub it in someone’s face. It might be triumph. It might be pain. Wail of sorrow or shout of joy or anything in between.

Now, assuming that an AI could accurately identify the need for whatever stresses are appropriate in their self-generated text, the shift from that to actually making a computerised voice say the right thing in the right way would depend on a voice actor reading pretty much the entire dictionary several times over in various ways to make sure the AI had enough building blocks to put it together correctly. And then the AI would have to actually do it. I can’t imagine what voice actors would say to that kind of demand from a game publisher. I also can’t imagine the size of the sound file folder. And one bug and it’s all a huge mess. Tell me that it’d all be working perfectly when you got the game. Given the tendency of most big publishers to release games in a barely-playable format with intentions to patch it later, tell me that and I will call you a liar.

This kind of machine-learning situation may have its place, but art and entertainment ain’t it. I’m trying to imagine some of my favourite games and favourite voice acting moments being machine-generated instead of acted out. Try to imagine “I AM URDNOT WREX! AND THIS IS MY PLANET!” spoken basically like the TikTok caption-reader voice, but more gravelly. I dare you.

...Honestly, the only place I could see that working is the elcor.

Anyway, point is, if we’re going to take AI anywhere, could we do it someplace that doesn’t rely on emotional depth and nuance? Some people in the comments of the Kotaku article were talking about “video games don’t have the luxury of story or lore”, and my immediate thought was, “Okay, no, no; your fixation with “Go To Place, Shoot The Dudes” is not infecting my single-player story-rich RPG experience so go fuck yourself.” I don’t want a machine just randomly generating movie scripts and then speaking them in barely-emotional snippets of other people’s words. The whole point of flagging up how Marvel / Disney gave no context to anybody’s scripts in scenes like Tony Stark’s fucking funeral was that you can’t just put something together out of unrelated snippets without human talent and emotion at the helm and expect anything good. I signed up for art and pathos and beauty (joyful or terrifying or sad; beauty takes so many forms), not a BtVS Script Generator. Because, seriously, AI learns what you give it, and doesn’t have the option to go out and seek sources other than its parent / guardian / creator / whatever that, say, humans do. AAA games companies will feed the AIs a diet of “what market trends say is popular” and we’ll get faux-witty quips spoken in barely-emotional tones that may or may not match the emotional context the game is going for.

...So almost exactly like a late-stage MCU movie.

[manonamora-if]

This week has been... something. I know I've done a lot, but I am not really happy myself. I keep getting distracted (I need to stay away from YouTube) and it's been frustrating.

Current Progress: - English word count: 32.147 (+202)* - French: ?. - Recode: 0% *may go down.

I didn't make as much progress as I would have hoped. The second run to catch the last of the mistakes (still needed, I already found some) tired me more than I thought it would. I am about half-way done with that (can't wait).

I really want to be done with this project for real. I know I still have the translation and to recode, but bleh... I don't know why I thought I'd be done in like... a week. I should have looked into my file before making that end of the year schedule.

Buuuuuut....

I took a much needed break from writing and coded something again. It was nice to do something completely different. This was not even the template I've been wanting to do for ages.

Lil background on this one:

There was an interesting discussion on the Forum about Unstyled Twine Games entries in this year IFComp (aka using the base UI only) and biases towards visuals in the comp entries. It boiled down to: there's an unfair (and probably unconscious) negative bias against unstyled Twine games compared to non-customised games created in other formats. [you should check the discussion, it was interesting]

Anyways, the topic came up in the Twine Discord and we wondered how difficult it would be to make the different Base UI in the other formats (ex: Chapbook in Harlowe, Harlowe in SugarCube, etc...). A lil bit of HTML and CSS magic is all that you need apparently.

THE POINT of this whole story is:

I have a new template out! A One Page Portrait Template (mobile support included). Simple and sleek, reminiscent of the Chapbook basic UI (because it is almost just that). Including 3 themes, font change (incl. Open Dyslexic), and the basic macros like the last one. No external Macros were included. There's also a menu :D

Bringing me to my last item of the week: Chapter 2 is complete. MelS managed to break those missing scenes and make it work! The first round of edits is also complete and I am just waiting for him to send me back the file with all the needed changes before I can code it!

In the meantime, I am fixing a few issues with the code I do have, preparing the code for Chapter 2 and adding the missing assets.

There's like a shit ton on my plate with all I've been wanting to do. EC's update this month is just not happening. I only have one round ready without its ending instead of 3. Even CRWL's progress has been super slow.

Guess what my brain wants to do: participate in the EctoComp (but the French one) this year. With a DL happening in 8 days.

Guess what my brain has done: planned out everything, from the concept to the gameplay, the characters and the actions...

I really shouldn't... but that 4h hour to write/code is so temping... [Bad brain!]

Some TTTT points:

I've been getting a few more reviews for TTTT which is very lovely! That pesky cache bug is still happening. This is such a bummer. I don't know where it could come from or how to fix it (it's not a one browser/extension problem) I hope a post-comp update with extra content could fix that? I've been told that the longer that problematic array is the less probable the bug would happen?

I am very grateful everyone took the time to write a review (positive or negative), give my advices/pointers, and play the game, even if I don't agree with everything written. Some have been A LOT to process, even if they were expected (I knew when I uploaded the game that those would come up). So I made a sheet with all comments points (positive/neutral/negative) to help me make the game even better!

I'm still planning a post-comp post to let everything out :P

[izicodes]

C# Late Project | C# Study

Hello Hello! ✪ ω ✪

I just thought it would be cool to give an update on my current (late) c# project my apprenticeship gave me, which was due 2nd May and which I still haven’t completed, and just talk about where I am at with the project!

The actual project is:

▢ Completely create a ‘search user’ webpage

☑ Create a textbox in which you can search for the user by their forename

☑ Create a dropdown list - in which you will be given the option to pick which particular user you want information on

☑ Create a gridview - in which a table is displayed with the selected user’s information

▢ The table should have these columns: Name | Department | Location | Email | Extension No. | Job Role

▢ Use CSS3 to change how the table looks - anything but the default styling

Key Knowledge To Know:

▢ C# x SQL - How to retrieve data from a database from SSMS (SQL Server Management Studio)

▢ ASP.NET

▢ Gridview, Dropdown List, Textbox, HTML, CSS

This is what I have so far:

[ 1 ]

[ 2 ]

[ 3 ]

* Don’t worry, the actual emails and information are fake! I am using a test database for this!

Problem: It’s not done because I can’t figure out how to add the ‘Job Role’ column to the table because some people have lots of roles and for some reason, I can’t merge the rows into one to fit in the column as one row. 

After I figure out that problem, I will move on to the CSS3 part and make it look like the page from the actual company’s website.

What was I having issues with before?

I am a slow learner, even slower if I’m ill for a long time and having meltdowns whenever things go wrong and I can’t find out why, so having all those issues go on for over a month made things worse. 

I had issues with binding the textbox and the dropdown list together. They just wouldn’t work at all. I couldn’t find out why. That led to me thinking I’m not right for programming if I couldn’t find out why I couldn’t bind two elements together. It’s so simple and it was but my brain couldn't work out what was going on! ＞︿＜

The solution to that? I didn’t remove the [ ] from the SQL query I put into the .cs file I was working on: 

The SQL query in general:

"SELECT Users.Forename + ' ' + Users.Surname AS [Name], Users.ID FROM Users WHERE Forename like '%'+@Forename+'%' ORDER BY [Name]";

I initially wrote in Visual Studio:

DDLSelectUser1.DataTextField = "[Name]";

The correct way was: 

DDLSelectUser1.DataTextField = "Name";

THAT WAS IT! I was stuck on this for a good week! I also couldn’t get help from my colleagues because my apprenticeship said this is an independent project i.e figure things out yourself, no matter how long it took! 

The website that helped me the most with this problem was: Fill ASP.Net GridView on Selecting Record From DropDownList which helped select and populate the grid!

Everything has been hectic but once I overcome this new problem of the Role column, everything will be fine and once I complete the homework I have to write a one-page essay on the whole experience - I would just be complaining!

But, overall this has definitely been a learning experience and makes me wonder if my fellow developers at work go through the same stress when they can’t find the answer to their tasks? 〒▽〒

[alynnl]

Concept Heaven, Development Hell?  (Writing Update 5/12/22)

As the title implies, the writing process for Your Pain Shall be Eased has ironically, been anything but easy.

I may have jumped the gun when I made this earlier post less than a week ago.  Or perhaps I had a good day when I made it.

But my writing of this fic seems to be jinxed.

The following has happened, despite my best efforts:

Me getting flustered at a very serious scene because I kept thinking about it in terms of fanservice (It is shirtless Olberic.  Who is that way because he’s being healed!) - thus, starting and stopping this scene frequently until it was complete

An error on Google Docs where my first file for this story would not allow me to edit on my phone or tablet, so I had to create a copy of the original file and write on that one

Life circumstances leading me to write solely on my phone (and I got so little time to write on my home desktop computer!)

A migraine that lasted four days in a row

Sleep deprivation for at least two days in a row (see above)

Home/work/life stress slowing down or otherwise blocking my writing process

Inner Turmoil over some of my intrusive writing thoughts (read: darker plot bunnies I want to keep locked in a little box and never let out)

Me getting stuck on a single line from Cyrus yesterday and most of this morning, with me finally figuring it out in the afternoon (see above)

The story growing astronomically larger than I anticipated.  How am I at 10k words?  How am I still not at the end? 

And why do I keep stopping just short of writing the words “The End?”  Something always seems to get in my way, and I wonder if I’ll ever get there at all.  And will I even be satisfied with whichever ending I come up with?  I still don’t know.

I have been encouraged in multiple ways to stick with it and I am grateful for that, but I hope I can live up to everybody’s positive outlook for me.  Because right now, I am struggling.  And yet, I have come too far to put this on the back burner or drop it completely.

And so I’ll keep going... very slowly because that seems to be all I’m capable of for now.

I know this is a hobby, I don’t get paid, y’all would never demand anything of me and etc.

But I feel as if I am falling short of my own standards and that I’m running behind, and this thing should’ve been completed Monday.

How could something that’s otherwise so wholesome cause me so much despair?

I know I won’t be adding any more words tonight, but tomorrow... I try again for that ending.  And hope I get to it this time.

[fltechlady]

Computer Buying Tips For the Every-person

Computer buying guides are easy to find, but the results often lead you guides geared towards gamers, or towards small-to-medium sized business owners. I am here to provide some tips for the ordinary residential computer buyer. This is simply an overview of what to look for, not a drilled-down analysis of specific market items, as markets change in the blink of an eye.

The first thing to ask yourself is what do you use your computer for? Word processing, email and general web browsing have different requirements than video creation, special effects, animation, and editing. In other words, you do not need the latest gaming computer for school or work; but graphics and video creators are likely to need even more than the gamers that use their creations.

Portability is another consideration. Will you be using this computer in one place, do you expect to take it out and about with you? Desktop computers are still the biggest bang for your buck, and the all-in-one computers where the computer components are integrated behind the screen means they no longer take up the entirety of your desk. Still, for computing on the run; a laptop is still the better option. These days there are even laptops with touchscreens that can convert to tablet type forms.

After you have thought about what you will use the computer for, then we can look at specifications. The main one to consider in an off the shelf computer is the central processing unit, or CPU. this is the "brain" of the computer, that controls how the rest of the machine operates. A simplified explanation of CPUs. CPUs generally come in low end (Intel Core i3 and AMD A-Series, Athlon, Ryzen 3), mid range (Intel Core i5,i7 and AMD Ryzen 5,7) and high end (Intel Core i9, Xeon and AMD Ryzen 9, Ryzen Threadripper) Click here for a comprehensive list of CPUs The low end processors are good if you want to limit what can be done on the computer, such as the one you get for your school-age child. Mid range processors will suite most people and have a great range. As well as light computing, mid range processors can handle video streaming and most popular games on the market. High end processors are best for people who play the newest video-rich games and the people that create the content for those games. The next thing to consider is memory (RAM) and drive storage. Simplified RAM explanation While 4GB RAM is still considered minimum qualifications for popular operating systems, I will recommend a minimum of 8GB RAM even for a light duty machine. 16Gb RAM is what I would recommend for a mid range computer, and for the high end heavy use, 32G minimum. Drive storage is not as important now as it has been. With removable USB drives and cloud storage becoming so ubiquitous, you now longer need to store every file in your life on your computer's hard drive. They come in two general types, A hard disk drive (HDD) that has a spinning platter and solid state drives (SSD) that are chip-based. Drive storage explained One note I will make here is that Windows 10 (and presumably Windows 11) do not like HDDs. I have personally replaced HDDs with SSDs in four computers to alleviate drive thrashing and slow performance in Win 10 and Win 11. The final thing to consider is graphics. High end graphics may be detrimental to a productivity only low end machine, you will want good graphics for mid-range multipurpose machines and high end graphics intensive machines. In desktops, this component can be easily added after purchase, in laptops you will need to buy it as part of the computer. Here is a list of graphics cards available at this time. In general, laptop manufacturers will have a graphics card equitable to the CPU and may have several options available per CPU type.

In conclusion, the computer you buy should be tailored to how you expect it to be used. After all, you probably don't want to give your school aged child the fastest and best machine to do their schoolwork on, or you're likely to find them playing games rather than doing schoolwork! Conversely, if you're looking at a new computer because you want to stream you game playing on Twitch, a low end computer will just be frustrating. The good thing is, it is easier than ever to find a computer to properly meet your individual need.

[tothelasthoursofmylife]

Out of the vault

I wrote in my chapter notes for "Ecstasy" that it contains pieces of the very first draft of the 1846 storyline - which I wrote back in 2015! (It's #55.) Apart from that, I could utilise many more snippets I wrote years before in this arc so far :) (And this will continue for the rest of the arc; I'm sitting on a mountain XD)

I've been having the greatest fun pulling out those old bits and dusting them off for the finished chapters^^ Especially because I shared some of them before! And looking over them, so many will (still) come up later in this arc!

(If you don't know: When I started writing WotQ, I created a file called "Snippets" where I save random pieces of story/ideas and enumerate them. Sometimes they get used, sometimes not at all because they became outdated/I couldn't make them fit/I was just trying to figure sth out/etc. If I randomly share them, I rarely share them in full.)

Here's what I shared before and has shown up in chapters so far:

#286: “Considering how you are and that you inherited your god-awful job from your father, I’m sort of glad that I never got to meet him.” -> Curious Disappearance

#319: But she had to. With every passing day, she grew more annoyed and frustrated with herself. -> Affection

#326: Milton had hardly finished his sentence when someone entered the cabin, gun in hand, ready to shoot. Cedric froze; time seemed to slow down for a moment.

Think, think.

I had Milton’s tinderbox in my hands. I couldn’t drop it. He told me to be careful. The candle was burning. The cabin was made of wood.

One hand had to be full. What of the other? What did I have with me?

Interdimensional-stored Death Scythe. A knife. No gun. Damn.

-> Mimes (that and its partner snippet #247 had to be heavily edited because they were SO bad and OOC omg)

I omitted #329 (The moonlight repainted him.) because it is so short but then posted it later anyway when I pulled just that sentence from the extended version, #344. It's in Nebulous!

#359: “Do not worry. I will be fine, I promise.” -> Ecstasy

#366: Cecelia said and then shuddered. “I want to be contrary so that I’m not on their side, but I cannot in this case. This may be the one aspect we can all agree on; I feel sick.” -> Affection

#378: “[…] But I suppose, I am being ridiculous,” Cecelia said and sat down her glass. “I must be spending too much time with Barrington.” -> Affection. This particular bit didn't make it, actually, but other parts of the entire thing did!

Surprisingly, only a few I shared (like #384) have become (partially) obsolete in the meantime. The full unedited snippets from above are here. Others that made it (though (heavily) edited) so far but I didn't share them before are here!

Oh, and new snippets are under the cut :)

#385

“This doesn’t feel right,” said Cloudia, staring down at the tombstone.

#386

Cloudia hugged her legs to her chest and rested her forehead on her knees. “I’ve been wondering,” she said. “What if it was better to forget?”

Cedric sat up. “What do you mean?”

#387

Cloudia exchanged a glance with Cedric who was as stunned as she was. “Are… are you not in pain?” she asked carefully.

“I feel a bit uneasy, I have to admit,” said Milton and placed a hand above his heart.

#388

“Cecelia, did Oscar say why he agreed with you? I’m surprised by his choice; I would have thought he would remain neutral in this matter,” said Cloudia.

Cecelia shrugged. “He simply agreed with my points and did not raise any of his own. Barrington and I were surprised too. We expected him to say something like ‘I will support any decision the Lady makes,’ not that he would outright agree with me.”

#389

(Already thrown out, but the gist of it is still in Ecstasy. Cloudia was so much calmer here XD)

“Lady Cloudia, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I knew,” Milton said.

Cloudia smiled. “Let us talk about that later when we have more time. And I know why you did that; you do not share secrets that are not yours.”

He returned her smile. “It really is that obvious when you know, isn’t it?”

#390

“Why didn’t you tell me you needed them again?”

“Because you became the Earl and Watchdog with Father’s death,” said Francis. “I did not want to burden you with even more.”

#391

Anaïs beamed and excitedly jumped up and down. “I feel so honoured! I thank you so much,” she replied, and Cedric feared she might cry tears of joy now.

#392

A scream came from downstairs. Cloudia was immediately on her feet and rushed out of the room. Cedric and [...] quickly followed her. They hurried down the stairs; right in front of the closed main door laid a man and a woman was standing next to him. All colour had left her face and she looked as if she would either scream again or faint any second now.

“What is going on?” asked Cloudia as she arrived by the woman.

“I… I…” She pointed at the man. “I left the drawing room and wanted to return to my room because I felt I was getting a headache. And when I rounded the corner, I… I saw this man! I touched him with the tip of my shoe but he didn’t move. I then screamed. I think I should scream again; I feel like screaming.” The woman broke into a wail, and [...], who had joined Cloudia and the woman a minute earlier alongside Cedric, glared at her. “Mylady, I understand you’re distraught but please remember that others are here too, and we would like to keep our ears intact.”

#393

“Why are you telling me this tale?” I asked. “Did something happen?”

#394

/

#395

extended version of #317

#396

/

#397

Milton blinked at [Cedric] and in the back, Cloudia put her face in her hands. “Will you ever stop with that?” she said.

#398

:)

#399

He accelerated a bit more and then he heard a shout – [...] – and someone collided with his chest. “I’m sorry,” the boy stammered and stepped back.  He was wide-eyed and didn’t even wear a coat. “I need to get to my…”

#400

/

#401

The older man, Rowan, levelled his icy gaze at Cedric, scrutinising him from top to bottom; it was a quick check, as if he had already decided Cedric was neither of note nor importance.

#402

“Cecelia, could you do me a favour and look into a person for me?”

Immediately, Cecelia perked up her ears. “And here I thought, this would only be an ordinary afternoon tea.”

“It’s meant to be one; I’ve only just thought of something,” said Cloudia.

[aquavertigor]

Breaking Down the Remainders

From my Patreon, https://www.patreon.com/posts/breaking-down-87641177?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

Photo: "Funnel Sketch," David MK.

Use whatever metaphor works for you. In my head, I see a layered funnel where I go down each level to answer questions / make decisions. In this structure there is less content I need to think about all at once and that helps me tackle the moving pieces. In review, we started with 55 games and then got down to 15. Here are the contenders:

1 Belonging Outside Belonging + PbtA: Legends of the Realm

2 Descended from the Queen: Time & Tempus, For the Panel (earlier mislabeled as For the Con)

1 Dresden Files Accelerated: Armageddon Accelerated (note: I am considering doing a translation to FitD for this game as well if there is interest)

1 Firebrands: Flames of the Rebellion

4 Other System: Along the Road, Dark Well, Love & Rockets, Vigilance

1 Psi*Run: NightMirror

1 Paragon: Eye of the Magi

1 Powered by the Apocalypse: Starfall Hard Zone

3 Primed by Cortex: Aethernity, Found, Space Station Omega

Different Perspective through Priorities

Starting again from a sense of time, I want to break down the list further. We will take the 15 surviving games from the list and then determine what their current situation is, what needs to happen, and how challenging it may be. I quickly pulled a chart together with a key at the bottom as a starting point. If you do something like this you may have different criteria that works best for your work style.

Chart: "Prioritizing Game Design Work," David MK.

What This Means

My gut check of the results feels okay and that means priorities in the 1-7 range seem to me as the easiest to make progress on. Here are the games with their priority scores:

Legends of the Realm [6]

Time & Tempus [5]

For the Panel [7]

Love & Rockets [4]

Eye of the Magi [5]

Starfall Hard Zone [4]

I will then figure out which of these six games I can take care of with simple tasks or at least determine what I need to do to move things along and that helps me feel less overwhelmed and create a sense of confidence before I even begin the work. Also, I’m giving myself permission to adjust the work as needed because I realize that this is guesswork and that some things will take more time to complete. (Note: I’m not in a process that is time-sensitive, such as working with a printer or distributor, which I’ve dealt with as part of my design profession.)

I’ve chosen to use Trello and Toggl for project and time management to figure out the separate steps for these six games. For playtests I need to schedule and solicit participation, and then prepare character keepers ahead of time. For most everything else I need to have the time and energy to focus on each. I’ll try to email people with questions and other quick tasks between the larger focused work. Then I’ll need to post and update tasks in Trello and Toggl.

Reordered Work by Priority

Love & Rockets [4]

Starfall Hard Zone [4]

Eye of the Magi [5]

Time & Tempus [5]

Legends of the Realm [6]

For the Panel [7]

Image: "Mockup of design from For the Panel," David MK.

6. For the Panel: Reviewing this list again, starting with the outlier first. I have a theory that For the Panel may not take much effort but may involve waiting to hear back from people for feedback and this could drag on for a while slowing down the creation of a usable printed prototype. My plan is to find a way to use a digital stop-gap version for as long as possible. I will need to identify and contact a handful of convention guest manager types in the gaming industry to get feedback and then follow up with interviews. I’m not interested in finalizing the look yet, just the value proposition – does it help those who would be in a situation where access to prompts would be useful? I will need to network and build my list and that’s something I can do in the background while working on some other designs.

1. Love & Rockets: Contacting the co-op where the game was last in development seems the most logical. From there it’s a matter of locating the correct person to determine what the status of the game may be regarding the license the co-op has.

2. Starfall Hard Zone: Scheduling the campaign play would be where I’d start, followed by reviewing the character keeper for updates in preparation to run the game. I would have an interest in recording the sessions for actual play development.

3. Eye of the Magi, 4. Time & Tempus, and 5. Legends of the Realm: All three of these games need some kind of content creation or revision and then playtesting as time permits so I will want to return to each between the work on the other games.

If this list seems correct I would enter what I need to in Trello for tasks and in Toggl for time tracking and update both as needed.

Next Steps

Actually do the work and keep track of it for reference. Real life and other things will always play a role in the workflow but being prepared will help you feel better and be ready for when you can return to your creative pursuits.

Feedback

Let me know what you think. Was this helpful or insightful?