#the hex on its own feels like a really hard sell... like 'here play this I know it looks like a flash game art wise but trust me its funny'

[red-moon-at-night]

man there's like a bunch of new stuff in The Hex tag since I played the game.... that's honestly so cool I wouldn't have expected in like a year for people to still be playing it (or discovering it for the first time I guess) and then making really cool art and work??? I am happy :']

[vexwerewolf]

Showrooms of LANCER Manufacturers

IPS-N

IPS-N showrooms are what you'd get if you slammed a truck dealership, a hardware store, a camping gear shop and a sports bar together in the Bass Pro Shops Pyramid. We're talking row upon row of shelves stocked with the most precision-engineered engine parts you can print on one side of the floor, and on the other, durable, hard-wearing survival gear. Camping stoves you can run off of your mech's coldcore, sleeping bags that'll survive a HEX charge, automatic camo cloth, the works.

Right down the middle, you've got the mech floor. They've got the Tortuga. They've got the Blackbeard. They've got the Drake. They've got the Lancaster and the Kidd. They've got the Vlad (they put a chain-link fence covered in DO NOT TOUCH signs around that one after the infamous CFO's 10-year-old Incident). They've even got the Raleigh, kinda tucked away a little bit behind the water feature, but it's there!

Everything on the shop floor is ruggedized to the point that you could take a mech's fist to it without leaving a dent - and they sometimes do that to demonstrate the engineering quality. There's a giant screen hanging from the ceiling displaying constant advertising for the mechs and IPS-N in general, usually striding purposefully through idyllic Diasporan wilderness or doing hard, honest work like starship loading or construction. There's a mixtape of the most famous bro-country hits playing 24/7.

Smith-Shimano Corpro

In a word: bespoke. Everything in this place is custom. Each and every desk is individually built according to the height of the salesperson who sits behind it, and manages to be a unique art piece without disrupting the overarching aesthetic of the showroom. Whenever there's a change of staff on the sales floor, they rearrange every single desk so that they're still in ascending order.

All of the salespeople are inhumanly pretty, by the way. This atelier has its own fully-staffed makeup and wardrobe team. You're part of a work of art when you work for SSC. Everything and everyone gleams. Even the most chic visitors might feel underdressed in the midst of all this splendour.

The mechs aren't just there to be sold, they're there to be part of the experience. You might see a Monarch holding up the ceiling like the titan Atlas himself. A Mourning Cloak might be posed provocatively like a nude statue. That Swallowtail - is it in a slightly different position every time you see it, or is that just its camouflage decals? How does it always manage to be just inside your line of sight, even when you're looking somewhere else?

They have a catwalk, like you'd see at a fashion show, but it's sized for mechs. If they really think you might make a purchase, they'll queue up the entire performance for you, and you'll get to see a Viceroy strut.

The mix tape for this showroom is a seamless mixture of complex jazz, psychedelic ambient and classical piano music. It's sophisticated and mysterious.

Harrison Armory

Imagine if America could be a showroom. Harrison Armory mech outlets are part dealership, part museum. Every mech is in its own diorama, depicting some heroic event in the Armory's glorious history. A phalanx of Sherman Mk. Is holds the line against some Diasporan slaver-tyrant's army. A Saladin fends off Karrakin hordes during the Interest War. The Genghis Mk. II? Oh, that diorama isn't open right now, it had to be closed for *coughcoughcough* and *coughcoughcough* but let's move on shall we heh heh

Everyone who works here has been in the Colonial Legion at some point, and knows every specification of the mechs they sell off by heart without even looking at their slate. If possible, the Armory tries to employ people who have actual combat experience with the mechs they're selling; people who can speak to the efficacy of their technology first-hand. It's one of the many programs which the Armory has open for retired veterans; it's easy work for decent pay, good benefits and it looks great on your Social.

The music here is a constant loop of patriotic Armory anthems. If you've ever heard the music from Starship Troopers, or the Outbreak of War from Star Ocean, you'll know what I'm talking about.

HORUS

Being a decentralized omninet collective with no official branding or even consistent manufacturing standards, it should come as no surprise that HORUS has no showrooms.

ERR:CONNECTION_INTERRUPT

CartesianWhisper: P55555t CartesianWhisper: Ignore that 5hithead CartesianWhisper: They don't have any idea what they're talking about CartesianWhisper: You want a mech, kid? CartesianWhisper: And I'm not talking the tra5h the Purv5 try to 5ell you CartesianWhisper: Or that overpriced garbage 55C want5 you to mortgage your genetic5 for CartesianWhisper: Or the macho trucker bull5hit IP5-N i5 trying to hawk CartesianWhisper: I'm talking about the REAL DEAL CartesianWhisper: The PROPER 5TUFF CartesianWhisper: Log on to rgx0582.node-7.c4l.omni CartesianWhisper: I'll 5how you what true power mean5 >:]

[twentyninebirds]

2022 readings: assorted hogfather thoughts

way back when in january of this year i decided to pick up hogfather based on its absolutely batshit summary, which somehow failed to capture the absolute insanity that is hogfather, and honestly does that even come as a surprise to anyone. who could've guessed that the book where santa is murdered and death steps up to the task while gods are spawned every other page would go off the rails.

was this the best way to start the death books? as someone who hasn't read them all yet i can't answer that, but holy shit did i enjoy this book. a lot! a lot a lot! i felt the pacing was a bit odd in some places, but unfortunately i'm insane and enjoy that sort of off-kilter feeling. keep me on my toes and prod me to see what sound i make, go wild. i appreciate a good bout of chaos with a million moving parts specifically because it makes my brain squish in funny ways.

did i feel the story dragged in some parts? yes, but any flaws regarding its narrative structure i can forgive for how hard the book steamrolled me in the last bit. the humour in this book is sharp and absolutely on point and as someone who adores terry pratchett's writing style perhaps it's no surprise that i have half the book highlighted. it's just the cost of good literature.

anyway, if you're interested in reading any more of my deranged comments then here they are:

death as a character is just. how do you do it. how do you make such an incredible character. the utter glee of watching the guy monkey-see monkey-do his way into santa-hood is a masterpiece. "i shall tread extra soot into his carpet" is such a throwaway line but not to me it isn't holy shit

the unseen university subplot is exactly the sort of stuff i like to see in a narrative this unhinged. every time the god of hangovers was addressed as the "oh god of hangovers" i snorted, which really reflects more on my eviscerated sense of humour than anything else. i cackled through the entire hangover cure conversation and you should too

hex's existential horror trip into +++ All Things Strive +++ and honestly the whole hex subplot is just fantastic. 12/10 would terrify machine with the unbearable weight of mortal existence again

this book doesn't pull its punches regarding the nature of belief but it also picks up the issue of "socio-economic factors" and compresses it like a squeaky toy. there's something very telling about death, who begins the series as a character who seems if not content then at least indifferent to the fact that everyone prescribes to themselves their own eternal afterlife no matter how deserving or underserving they were of it—there is no justice, just death.

and as that itch of humanity rears its head over and over again we get death confronted with the bearable yet still fundamentally wrong hardships of being born on the wrong side of the socioeconomic divide. what is happiness, really? death doesn't have to worry if you die happy, just that you die punctually.

the scene with the little match girl sold me immediately on everything i read before and after. if the world allows for happiness only after that very world fails you then the world itself will reject it. death recognizes his role and his function as a stabilizing agent, but more than that he recognizes the limits of his ability. this isn't how it should be—this is just how it goes.

the book isn't particularly subtle in communicating the power of belief in shaping all lives, not just mortal, but hell if i didn't enjoy it. at first it plays on the field of absolute lunacy and holy shit is it entertaining: bees and sock-eaters and hangovers, oh my! and then we have conversations about how the world is structured and how said structure makes people feel.

it's good that there are people who are not just miserable, but genuinely, entirely, senselessly miserable, like little girls selling matches in the bitter cold, because if they exist then that means at least you aren't them, and some sense of structure is returned to the universe. it's easy to miss ridcully's comment that "things go wrong, things get lost, it's natural to invent little creatures that—" that what?

the many bearable hardships of life transform into nuisances of various forms... and in those forms they embody both problem and solution. to believe that those little problems are caused by something is to believe in one link in the universal causal chain. in the chain all events have purpose and reason. and in such an existence so long as you believe then it's not your fault and even if it is or even if it isn't you can make it better. you can fix this. the horrifying mundane is made fantasy. a child's drawing is a real, tangible domain. and in that realm you don't die. you just "get old, listening to the laughter..."

the entire scene where susan tries to ease banjo into taking over the tooth fairy's duties made me deeply, viscerally sad. the sort of quiet sadness that settles over you, akin to grief but also a little distant. odd experience. holy fuck

"the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape" is probably among one of the best-known phrases in all of discworld and for good reason. i have almost that entire conversation highlighted.

there is no justice. there is no mercy. there is no duty. if you put the universe to the test you will always find it wanting—but the universe wants for nothing. you just want it to be. there is no meaning except where you find it, and the same goes for justice, mercy, duty... and yet you still have to believe, because if you don't what's left?

the evidence is against you. the numbers don't add up. there isn't so much something missing as something that wasn't there in the first place. you feel betrayed because you've made the choice to believe in something that wasn't real and when you were faced with the facts only now is something wrong. and yet. and yet

"You have to believe in things that aren't true. How else can they become?"

there's this ongoing notion that children are the perfect innocent ideal, entirely devoid of evil, unable to take responsibility for their actions. in some ways that's true! in others it's absolute bullshit. children can be absolute devils and they can suffer the cruelties of a world made by people who failed them. these statements are not, in fact, mutually exclusive. when death claims that letting children know of the brutal violence of the world is "educational", he does so while also teaching them that "there's always the poker". maybe they didn't really understand his angle, and their innocence will protect them? or maybe "they had a very good idea of what he was."

anyway. can you tell i recently took a course literally called "reason and revelation". false advertising embodied. should've called it "the nature of reason and belief". can't believe i subjected myself to such horrors. or can i? anyway i've thoroughly enjoyed every death book i've read so far. yes. all two of them. maybe a third in the coming weeks! sometimes i like to lie down and listen to great echoing indifference of the universe. i also like to read. i hope you also like reading, or else.

[crystalrose555]

Don’t make me slap you! Pt. 3

Reblog if you want more!!

Leviathan released a heavy sigh as he entered the House of Lamentation. He just wanted to go back to his room and curl up in his tub, playing mobile games till his next raid but now his perfect afternoon was crumbling away with the sound of his resistant ward. He glimpsed over his shoulder as he watched Beel struggle against the slippery Mochi who thrashed back and forth vigorously in his grip. He grunted, his arms slipping against the smooth fur and his appetite rearing its head from the extra effort of the reluctant Mochi. She kept whipping around her head in an attempt to headbutt the irritated Beelzebub but he held her high enough that it was not an option. Thankfully, Lucifer clamped her muzzle shut with a quick hex to avoid any unwanted injury. Lucifer, on the other hand, had refused to release his face from his grasp until they were all in the foyer and Satan closed the front door behind them.

“Ok, Beelzebub, you can put her down now.” He groaned. With a hardy grunt, Mochi was plopped on the smooth tile where she tried to slide away from the demons. However, Beel circled around her and cut off her escape route. Asmo gasped as he looked at Beelzebub. “Oh no, Beel, you’re all scratched up.”

Beel looked nonchalantly at his forearms that were covered in scratches from her sharp claws.

“It’s fine, I had worst from practice. I’m just really hungry.” He frowned while looking at the fidgety Mochi.

“Don’t even think about it, Beel. She’s off-limits, try to eat her and Lucifer will string you up from the chandelier.” Asmo advised as he went to get bandages. Beel pouted to himself as Satan finally addressed Lucifer over their new ordeal.

“This isn’t really happening, is it?” “Unfortunately, it is. This creature is the exchange student for this year.” “Her name is Mochi.” Lucifer gave an unamused glare as Satan painted a smirk on his face. “Anyhow, this must be serious since Diavolo looked depressed when Barbatos insisted that she should stay here instead of the castle.” “Of course, if Mochi stayed there, the paperwork would be even more backed up than before. Regardless, this isn’t a major concern, we just have to prove that this is an ordinary animal.” Satan raised his eyebrow and glanced over to Mochi who was giving Beelzebub the stink eye from her balled up form. 

“Hmm, well, how do you plan on proving it? You can’t exactly give her a pencil and an IQ test.” “I’ll think of something, I’m just too tired to think of anything for now. Just toss her into Levi’s aquarium.” Levi jolted quickly in response. “You can’t put her in there, she’ll eat Henry! Put her in Asmo’s bathroom, there’s enough room in there!” Asmo rushed in with the first aid kit and a fire in his eyes. “Don’t you dare put that stinking beast in my personal haven!” Mammon chuckled underneath his hand and gave Asmo a shrewd glance. “Aww, what happened to the generous Asmodeus? And here I thought I was the selfish one~” He mocked.

Asmo shot him a glare which caused Mammon to turn his head sheepishly.

“Well we can’t put her in Beel’s room for obvious reasons or Mammon’s room since he would most likely try to sell her.” “Hey-” “And my room is out of the question since I have a bunch of valuable and dangerous books. So the only ones left are Levi, Asmo and Lucifer.” The remaining brothers look at each other in nervous anticipation, mostly because Asmo and Levi didn’t have the brass to stare down the irritated Lucifer. While Mammon and Satan snickered at the staring contest, Beel pulled his eyes away from them to see Mochi scooting away from them. He watched for a moment to see her move over to the stair railing and scratch her snout against it. Once that didn’t work, she then scratched her muzzle with her front flipper. After a few swipes, she snorted out air in frustration and looked around for something else. His expression softened before addressing Lucifer.

“Umm, Lucifer?” “Beel, I already told you, you can’t eat her.” “No not that, I think your hex is bothering her.” The quarrel ceased as all of them turned to stare at the frustrated seal. Asmo and Levi’s expressions softened while the others remained neutral.

“Aww, poor thing~” Asmo whined. “Yeah, reminds me of those videos with animals trapped by trash.” Levi frowned. “Hmph, serves her right for trying to bite me!” “Mammon, you called her a dummy after you threatened to sell her as a coat, of course, she would attack you!” “Why are you yelling at me! You also wanted her to be a coat, Asmo!” “I only said that when Beel was going to eat her.” “...You’re really ugly when you’re two-faced.”

Asmo’s horns popped out in pure anger while Mammon’s wings flared up in retaliation. Lucifer took a moment before a sly smile crawled across his face. “Maybe we should turn her into a coat.” He claimed. “Wait what? Lucifer, have you lost it!?” Levi asked. “I mean why not? If push comes to shove, we can just tell Diavolo that she had an unfortunate accident.” “Hmm, all that fat and meat might keep Beel tied over till dinner.” Satan claimed. “And I could sell the fur to Asmo at a premium rate~” Mammon gleamed. Levi and Asmo looked on horrified by the shift attitude of their brothers while Beel looked on in confusion. “Ok, I’m confused-” Beel stopped mid-sentence as he watched his breath escape his mouth in a cloudy fog. Seeing this, each of the brothers noticed their own smoky breaths as the room grew colder. While the others looked around for the source, Satan and Lucifer stared at the cause of the frigid air. Soon all of the brothers were looking at the growling Mochi who sat upon a patch of thin ice, with white puffs being snorted for her nostrils. “Well, well, I call that killing two birds with one stone.” Lucifer smirked. “Hold on, what’s happenin’?” Mammon questioned. “I had a feeling that something was amiss when Mochi slid across the floor of the summoning room. It’s polished but not the point of Beelzebub falling on his own and her speedy escape.” “Not to mention  how she reacted when you, Diavolo and Barbatos were talking about her.” Satan added. Mochi stiffened up as all the brothers’ stare intensified with the idea of being deceived. She squished herself back into a ball as she tried to bare her fangs at the demons, the ice underneath her crawling further from her body. At this point, the brothers were on their toes, their demonic forms flickering in their shadows, preparing for a possible fight. However, a chuckle from their eldest brother disrupted the cold air into a wave of uncertainty. “At ease everyone, it’s like Diavolo said, we should be gentle with our new housemate.” With a wave of his hand, a faint red aura radiated from Mochi’s muzzle and disappeared into the air. She twitched her nose as Mammon gave a look of disbelief to Lucifer. “Is your head cracked!? You just unleashed the beast!” “Don’t be daft, Mammon. It’s clear as day this seal is a familiar. The ice abilities and the ability to understand us is a dead giveaway. Now the question is, will ‘Mochi’ be willing to talk to us?” “How the hell is she suppose to talk, with growls and barking?” Lucifer ignored Mammon’s whining and looked directly to Mochi with a cold smile and even colder eyes.

“Alright, Mochi, I released my hex from you to make it a more even playing field. Answer my question or Beel is going to have a human realm delicacy. Do you understand me, one for yes, two for no.” Seconds felt like minutes as Mochi and Lucifer stared each other down. One had a smile on their face while the other squinted their eyes in disapproval. The brothers watched the two of them, waiting to see which one would break first. Unfortunately, waiting want not Mammon’s strongest skill.

“Well this was a load of bull-” Suddenly, a hard slap filled the foyer causing everyone to whip their head back to the angry seal. Lucifer’s smile grew wider as his superiority began to leak out. “I’m sorry, I need you to repeat that just to make sure that wasn’t a fluke. Answer my question, do you want to be eaten?” Two slaps. “Do you want to be made into a coat?” Two slaps. Lucifer chuckled as Mammon’s mouth hanged open. “Well, welcome to the House of Lamentation, Mochi. I hope we can get along from now on.” Lucifer smirked.

[zachsgamejournal]

PLAYING: Breath of Fire IV

I'm not sure my son is as invested in this game as he was III. He may have point, but he also may need a break...

So, a dragon flooded the dam then said hello at the coast as a mysterious musician hinted at Ryu's dragon lineage.

Afterwards, the group arrives at a town filled with traps. I can't remember 100% why. I think the intent was to keep "monsters" away so that travelers would feel safe to come by. It's kind of silly how the whole town is filled with traps and every villager is obsessed with the efficacy of their own traps.

We need to leave by a pass that is guarded by a soldier. We need the mayor's permission to pass. The mayor has guarded their front door with a cage a la Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. So you have to willing drop into a pit-trap to get into the mayor's basement. But he's not there. It's assumed he's in the nearby woods.

In the woods is an interesting minigame. There's a particular monster the Mayor has been trying to trap. When you see it, you have to track its footprints. But there's a time limit and traps everywhere.

Success means finding the mayor who proudly injures a creature with a trap. A giant boss monster appears to take revenge, which our heroes have to kill. We're then allowed to use the pass (like the guard could have stopped us).

Gonna break plot summarizing to acknowledge how this game doesn't seem as concerned about moral ambiguity and duality. It seems far more focused on war, war-minded nations, and how war hurts the populace.

After the pass we get to Synesta. I have no idea what we're doing here or what to look for. It's said that this town had previously been contaminated by the Hex, but it's been cleared...on the surface. Turns out the nuns of the local orphanage need help catching a rather escapee young boy. After a less-than-fun mini game, you catch the boy and go talk to the nuns.

The nuns remember Nina's sister, Elina, having stopped by on a special mission. But they don't know what happened next. The young boy says he knows, but won't tell until you finish a game of hide-n-seek.

No thank you.

But I have no choice.

After finding all but the escapee kid, it's said he may be hiding out in the city's underbelly, which is still infested with monsters from the Hex. Still, some random dude that Ryu could one-hit kill prevents us from going downstairs. But he's thirsty.

I'm not sure how much the player has an effect on this, but there's a lady with water for sale. She doesn't sell it to you. Just says she's selling it. Then she walks over to the basement guard and the guy gets distracted by water. Less than exciting.

Down in the basement, we find the boy. He admits that Elina was confronted by a Local "merchant" and Imperial officials. So we need to speak to this "merchant": Marlock. But Marlock's front door is guarded by a muscle guy--whose ass we kick. Marlock is intrigued by our violence and agrees to see us.

Marlock, with his French accent, says he didn't do anything bad to Elina (sure). He expects you to do a deed to get his help. He wants you to track down a theif and leave Nina behind...to help out around the house.

I got confused about where the thief was, cause we found his empty hide out. Turns out you have to stop at one the questions marks on the way. The thief makes a run for it. Now at his hideout, we use a mini-game to catch him. He reveals that he was in-debt to Marlock and the stuff he stole was first stolen from him. Cray thinks this is BS and we go back empty handed to confront Marlock.

All the while, Marlock is slowly trying to get Nina to put her hands on him, cause he's a fucking creeper.

Marlock is not excited by our "failure" and says the stuff was his, whether or not he obtained it by fair means. He offers another job, go help out on a sandflier wharf. Once again, we leave Nina to be objectified and sexually harassed by Marlock.

At the wharf, we're tasked with a mini-game of using cray to push barrels and vases into the correct places. Afterward, we have to load a sandflier with a mildly entertaining mini-game. You use a crane to load boxes. It's not very user friendly, but ah-well.

Just as we're about to throw our hands up about the BS, Nina apepars, followed by Marlock. I fear what they implied happen. Anyway, Marlock offers us the "best cabin" to get to...the next place. Which is where he took Elina. This "best Cabin" is a crate. Makes sense, but Cray isn't having it.

We arrive at a large tower the transports things via magic across the sea. After wandering around, fighting monsters (my son doesn't enjoy the fighting: BORING), we get to the top. BUT the imperial soldier that Nina and Ryu confronted at the beginning of the game stops us. He's not gonna let us leave.

After a boss battle, we jump through the portal. The imperial solider can't believe that he's seen a dragon.

This was good, cause I kept thinking about how in BoF3, everyone is obsessed with the fact that Ryu is a dragon. While other dragons are important to the plot in BoF4, it seems no one really cares that Ryu is a dragon.

FLASHBACK

Or...Flash over...no sure.

Fou Lu is recovering from his injuries. Bunyan is helping him (good ole Bunyan). Once healed, Bunyan asks, sadly, if another war is coming. He was a soldier and didn't like the war. Fou Lu heads down the mountain but is confronted by clown-nose, leading imperial troopes. (I can't remember clown-nose's name, but he's the guy that attacked Fou Lu at the beginning.)

Fout Lu fights off the boss, then turns into a dragon to flee. Clown-nose sends another boss, and Fou Lu is injured in his escape.

Back to Ryu and Friends, they've made it to the Imperial side and go to the next town. This town has a large gun, a la Junon (FF7). it's what they used to shoot the Hex at towns across the see. It requires water to cool down, so they needed an aqueduct. I wandered about, talking to everyone, trying to figure out what to do. Apparently I just needed to leave, cause the next area appeared on the map.

it's the aqueduct. It's short, but requires some camera shifting to figure out. It's kind of interesting, because the game warps you to special battle rooms instead of having monsters appear on the screen, it allows the designers to make more interesting dungeons that don't necessarily have to accommodate the appearance of monsters. But also, the towns are waaaaaay too claustrophobic, making it hard to move around and find things.

The aqueduct takes us to the place the team dreamed about. They're sure they'll find Elina hear. We're caught by an official and he tells use Elina WAS there, but is there no longer. I'm sure this is a play on words given what I know about Elina's fate.

So that's it for now.

The world map is interesting. You don't roam freely like in BoF3, but it also takes less work to get to new locals. I'm a little torn, but it's fine. It also allows the world map to just be a map, offering more realistic looking landscapes...in a sense.

I'm enjoying the graphics. Clearly the team better understood the PS1 hardware. It's still fairly block, but the textures are great and look amazing even for a 20+ year old game!

[scribblesofanaricat]

Crossed Out

(an older version has been posted here before, but I’ve finally gotten round to making a fully edited version with an altered ending (and hopefully a bit more of an explanation), so I hope you guys like)

---------

It’s not a crime to be curious.

That simple fact is what’s led him to end up stuffing his knapsack with an assortment of things that normally have no business being in there. Normally. A scarf that just so happens to be ideal for somebody who’d rather their face went unseen. A chunk of nut and raisin-infused bread snuck- borrowed from the loaf his mam keeps wrapped up in the kitchen (which he can never resist sampling at the best of times). And the battered old woodcutter’s axe he can barely raise any higher than his shoulder - just in case.

That bag’s been packed for days now, wedged out of sight in a corner of his clothes chest. He hasn’t been able to bring himself to do anything more than that. Until now, that is.

His teeth clench at every telltale creak of the floorboards under his bare feet, even though he isn’t really doing anything wrong…yet. He gives them a hard prod with his toes all the same. Traitors.

As he fervently hoped, the front room is clear of any mother-shaped obstacles when he slinks his way downstairs. Just the rough-hewn table and chairs sitting in their usual corner and the mismatched sideboards pushed up against their usual walls, although one of them now has what looks like fresh creamy milk waiting patiently atop it.

Right on cue, a distinctive voice swells from beneath the threadbare carpet.

“Arlo, that milk was just delivered this morning! Don’t you go drinking it straight from the bottle!”

“No, Mam,” he half-mutters, setting down the glass bottle he definitely hasn’t just been raising to his lips.

This is okay. Perfect, really. If she’s down in the cellar, that means she’s probably busy making preserves to sell at the market or something again. By the time she notices he’s neither in the house nor working in the garden, he’ll be well away. And then…then he’ll have some answers, whether she likes it or not. Satisfaction curls in his chest like a languid cat.

Arlo inches out of the door shoulder-first, lifting and lowering the latch as noiselessly as his fingers can manage - the same fingers that nearly drop the scarf twice when he knots the stained grey fabric over the lower half of his face, cursing the pit of his stomach for the uncomfy feeling spreading through it like so much spilled mead. What does he even have to feel guilty about? It’s not a crime.

Enough of that. Enough of it all.

He darts one glance over his shoulder, back at the rusty rooftop and their patch of garden, a weather-beaten face spotted with a mishmash of flowery freckles (except for the bit with his mother’s favourite lilies arranged on it, obviously. Those, she keeps spick and span and never lets him go anywhere near, though he has no idea what she thinks he’ll do to them). Then he starts to run. His legs set about their task in earnest, without taking directions from his mind. He already knows the kinds of places where he can find them…not that it’s any huge secret anyway. Or rather, it’s a secret to everybody; the type little kids hear all about as soon as they can toddle a few steps. Then they get their ears bruised with dire warnings to stay well away from it. Stupid. As if that won’t just put ideas into their tiny heads.

He’s not a kid anyway, Arlo reminds himself, puffing his chest out a little despite how short his bursts of breath are growing. This is no daft childish game. It’s something important. Something that goes hand in hand with the way he’s been jolting awake lately. Gagging around a yell jammed in his throat; a weird sort of dread tying his insides into hard knots. Or opening his eyes to find a stupid wetness spilling down his cheeks…or (he stifles a groan at the memory, heat rushing to his face) soaking his bedsheets.

He doesn’t know if he’s having nightmares...hallucinations, terrors, whatever. How can he? They float away like soap bubbles on washing day every time he tries to latch onto them. But it feels familiar to him, in all the places where it shouldn’t. One morning, he even woke up with the ghost of a name on his tongue and of blood suffocating him with its metallic tang. That’s all they were, though. Ghosts. And they vanished just like that, leaving nothing behind but a dragging weight in his chest.

Arlo just doesn’t know. Yet he’s sure- he’s sure he remembers, no matter how dimly.

To make matters weirder, talking to his mam hasn’t been any use whatsoever. No sooner do the words leave his lips than she butts in to set him some chore or another, or else shifts the topic in a way that curls his hands into fists. The last time Arlo tried to ask her about it, she had her own grilling ready for him – “Who have you been talking to? Who’s put all of this in your head?” – and something in her tone, something strange and strained, made him drop the subject like a hot coal.

He supposes some part of him wanted her to laugh at these dreams that he can’t even remember and at him for ever confusing them with real memories. That’d be better than having this brush-off tossed his way instead. Anything’s better than that.

So this is all her fault, if anything. All she has to do is be straight with him, just like she is with everything else…but no. Instead, he’s been left to flail in the dark. And driven to a straggle of shacks, several miles apart from any other dwelling.

At least, any human dwellings.

Arlo’s foot chooses just the wrong moment to catch on a particularly mean-spirited tussock. He stumbles as gracefully as a sledgehammer in a knife fight, the scrubland sailing up to greet his face. It’s not until after he clambers back up (along with a muttered spate of the words his mam indulges in when she thinks he’s out of earshot) that he gets back to reflecting on the rumours that’ve flown thick for as long as he can remember.

The Hexes. The…things that hushed voices regularly call witches, demigods, monsters, spirits, fae, devils and everything in between. And the only ones in this world who can shed any light on what’s happening to him.

As far as Arlo’s concerned, Hexes are the sort of stuff that everyone acts so certain about, like they know everything that is to know. Yet when they’re asked if they’ve ever even seen one for themselves, their faces flap like fish caught up in a net. And that’s the thing with all these rumours. His mam’s market customers insist they’ve spoken to others who’ve seen Hexes melding with slivers of moonlight and devouring the stars. Somebody has a relative whose neighbour knows someone who swears blind that the lot of them are descended from the legendary Ironflayer clan – that kind of thing.

None of them really know anything.

Before long, Arlo will.

*

Their shadow’s just slightly out of sync. Maybe it’s the gloom playing tricks, or maybe all those tales have made Arlo ridiculously paranoid. But he could swear that the very silhouette of the Hex is something a little too slow, a little too disjointed. Something that breathes.

Arlo tries to keep his head fearlessly raised, his eyes darting from corner to corner as the Hex breathes life into a candle wick, birthing yet more shadows, and shadows of shadows, from everything it casts its azure-tinged flame upon. The grip on his bag tightens all the same, clenching around the long bump of the axe’s handle.

He can’t make out their face. Not really. Every time he attempts to get a glimpse, it melts away somehow. In the end, he resigns himself to running his fingers in a weird erratic rhythm along the splintery surface of the table, not unlike his mam’s at home. He has to wrench his mind away from the thought of what her face would look like if she knew where he is right now.

Arlo doesn’t see the Hex placing the mixture down in front of him. One moment there’s nothing there but the elaborate symbols (probably occult-y hieroglyphs or something) carved into the tabletop; the next, kaleidoscopic light spills out over its surface from inside a vial. Specks of gold dance in its contents, rising and falling, swallowing the colours and spitting them back out.

His brow furrows, one hand coming up to rake through damp hair.

“You want…me to drink that?” The question rasps in his throat.

The shadow opens its eyes, two acid-green spots burning into Arlo’s face. But the Hex doesn’t so much as turn their head, let alone halt. ‘Not a crime, neophyte, I’m sure?’ they ask at length, words emerging as though they’ve drawn them out from some deep well. They echo off cold damp stone that isn’t there; they drip down his neck like icy, brackish water. ‘And neither are such answers as you seek. Drink.’

Arlo stares at the unknown mixture. Just like the Hex’s shadow, it stares back, pressing spectral hands against its crystal prison. Drink.

He shouldn’t.

He has to. Doesn’t he have every right?

His fingers obviously agree. Despite the stupid tremor running through them, they greedily close around the vial and prise out the cork, letting loose vapours that ghost over his skin.

The brew blazes its way down his throat and sets his stomach alight. Cough after cough rattles deep in his chest. He isn’t sure whether he’s been forced to his knees or not. Those gold spots have returned to swarm his vision, scratching out everything before him.

Arlo’s head rolls from side to side, trying to find where the Hex has disappeared to, trying to get some sign that this is what’s meant to happen. All that comes out is a mangled noise (has his tongue always been this heavy?) before it snakes into his head and swallows him whole. And the floor beneath his feet - or is it the entire world? - caves like a house of cards…

and tips him down, down, down into a slough of phantoms lurking,

living,

breathing,

waiting to snare him in its murky waters. A quicksilver voice sings him to his fall.

‘Memories don’t sleep, neophyte. They only like to pretend that they do.’

*

Cold. Cold biting at his skin like a million tiny pinpricks. Cold tendrils creeping around his heart, around the very flow of blood through his veins. And the kind of silence that comes when time itself is suspended.

Even so, the masses of limbs and soulless white eyes watch him.

He watches them right back, as empty of fear as they are of flesh and blood. How can they live here? What do they feed on?

Whatever your head offers us, is their answer, as they bare bloodied teeth in a gory grin.

As if in explanation, the golden scratches swimming at the edges of his vision fall away, only to be replaced with a face he feels like he knows. A face that cradles him in its familiarity yet crushes him beneath the expression etched deep in every line of it. He can’t place that expression. But the voice belonging to that face (didn’t that voice once call something to him about a milk bottle, a million years ago?) drips with it.

“What’s going to happen to him?”

Him. Him, him, him.

He stares at the place where that disembodied face hangs long after it’s flaked away like a butterfly drawn on a wall. Is he the reason for that shattered look in her eyes?

That’s when a twisted symphony – blurry and broken but somehow sharp enough to pierce him over and over again – awakens from the depths of some excruciating black hole spreading through his head.

Screams of a name. That name isn’t his own. It’s a name that once slept in a little bed next to his and proudly showed him the worms it had dug up with a stick behind the house. Once. It’s gone now. But also not gone at all.

It’s still there, out in the garden - only this time, it’s below the earth. He never saw that happen. A whisper in his heart knows it did, all the same, and knows exactly where (don’t ever touch the lily patch).

A wasted limb ending in long yellow claws stretching out from underneath his mattress…its grey splinter teeth, the smaller body leaping in front of him and trying to wrestle its grip from his ankle…the blood. So much blood, splattered so far. He remembers wondering how such a small person could hold that much.

He remembers.

And everyone kept it hidden from him, she kept it hidden from him, his mother- no, their mother, theirs-

That clawed arm, those teeth-

It’s coming back.

It’s coming to finish what it couldn’t before.

His cry seems to come from across an ocean. The pain explodes, taking every spectre with it, as his fingernails dig into his scalp like they can tear it away.

Gone is any idea of who he is, where he came from, what he was searching for in the first place. All of it is crossed out, scrubbed from existence, until only a blank wall remains. With one thing painted on it in burning black letters.

It’s coming.

*

It’s not a crime either, to want to be sure. To have to be sure, to know. The second the rough wooden lid is prised open with numb fingers, something cold and black grips his heart anyway - and he wouldn’t care if it struck him down where he stands.

The lid slips, joining the shovel on the lilies beneath his feet. Its fall could almost be called soft, if that wasn’t so wrong. But how could anything be more wrong than- than this?

He isn’t sure how long his gut chokes him, burning his throat, nostrils, eyes. When they finally give up, he drags a sleeve across his mouth. Huddles in the hole that seems to be opening into a bottomless chasm even as he clenches himself against its side, blurrily aware of the damp earth pressing into his forehead. Just like the nothingness seeping through his soul.

Little by little, one arm raises until barely two inches separates it from the arm in the box. One so alive. The other so grey, like the shadow they’ve become to him. And small. And folded with withered flowers over a sunken chest.

The gashes. So many. He wonders if it’ll do the same to him.

(It’s coming.)

Those phantoms laugh. Play in his head.

(It’s coming.)

[stormsbourne]

boardgames post

it has now been a week since geekway and it was a shitload of fun. shoutout to @hexmeridian, @bettycrockerscookbook, and @ectogeo-rebubbles for joining elzie, rosa, frozen, and I for the weekend! we had a lot of fun and played a lot of good games! here’s a collective list of what we played and my onions on each of them

(this post is REALLY LONG, this is what happens when you just play boardgames for 4 days)

Valeria: Card Kingdoms - if you’ve played Machi Koro, the mechanics will seem similar. You roll some dice, the dice dictate which citizens “activate” and give you stuff (magic, gold, attack power) and you then use those things to buy other citizens, buy domains (victory point spots that also have neat powers), or kill monsters. Machi Koro meets Thunderstone. I won this one!!! I can’t believe I won it I was seriously gonna go buy it

Sparkle*Kitty: this game is hilarious and a lot of fun. it’s a bit like uno but with princesses, dark magic, and incredibly silly spells such as “itty-bitty glitter kitty.” It also has a “Nights” version (aka, the “adult” edition) up on Kickstarter right now. we had a lot of fun playing this between games and as a filler. also, A+ on the diversity in the princesses. 

Fields of Green: build a farm! each card you lay down (it’s a drafting game sort of like 7 wonders) impacts other cards or plays off how many you have nearby, but you also have to be careful to have enough water and grain to harvest your crops and feed your animals. I had a lot of fun with this one, though it doesn’t have a particularly strong aesthetic imo. farm games are always good. Ecto’s bf won this one!

Indian Summer: this one is ALL aesthetic. do you like tetris? do you like colorful autumn leaves? do you like MAKING ROOM FOR A FOX TO LIVE IN YOUR FOREST? this game is for you. it’s incredibly pretty. elzie picked this one up after the con was over

Hardback: this is a sequel (well, prequel) to a game called Paperback. make words with your cards, but now, with added bonuses for having multiple letters of one genre in it! Have multiple adventure letters? you’ll probably get extra points! Have multiple horror letters? get some free ink remover which can get you out of an iffy situation in the future! LOTS of fun, definitely an upgrade on the already-stellar Paperback. Elzie won this! (Or maybe Rosa? I forget which of them since they married)

Azul: I want to eat all of it. I went over this one in my geekway mini post a few months ago but it’s part set collection, part artistic ... it’s hard to sum up but it’s a very chill game that’s easy to play while having a conversation.

Sagrada: I feel like this game has some of the same stuff as azul but is for a more boardgamey audience. you make stained-glass windows using dice that have to match colored or numbered spots on your window, but you can’t put the same colors or the same numbers next to each other. This was probably one of the most popular games of the con and was completely sold out when I went to the vendor hall on Sunday. (I got a promo card for my trouble though)

Cytosis: THE MITOCHONDRIA IS THE POWERHOUSE OF THE CELL. THE MITOCHONDRIA IS THE POWERHOUSE OF THE CELL. THE MITOCHONDRIA IS THE P-- ok enough anyway this is a game about doing the shit cells do with synthesizing proteins into steroids or enzymes or whatever else and it’s very fun once you get the hang of it -- part set collection and part worker placement. Also, probably really good for teaching life science to eighth-graders. 

Dance of the Fireflies: winner for prettiest boxart, which is some amazing Mucha-inspired shit. You’re growing flowers in your own personal garden by taking them off the flower clock (the thing in the middle) and competing to outbid your competitors for specific colors, which give you special one-time powers. Way thinkier than it looks. Frozen got this one, I believe.

Five Seals of Magic: Roll some dice! then use those dice to break magical seals, or collect spells which can augment your other dice! Play a cool fuckin wizard with an awesome familiar! I’m not sure if I’ve played any games like this before to be honest, though I’m sure if I thought about it some more I’d come up with some. Hex won this one! 

Imhotep: I had played this one at last year’s geekway, I think, but I played it again one of those times when we had to split groups. This game has a little bit of pickup and delivery and a little bit of set collection, but basically every place you can send your stones to gives different points depending on how the stones are arranged. I lost pretty bad at it. I’m good at games I swear, I swear I’

Majesty: For The Realm: I’ve heard this game is sort of like another one called Splendor, but since I haven’t played that one, I didn’t have that comparison. Build a tableau by spending workers to get cards, occasionally attacking other players or benefitting off the buildings they choose to construct, and make a badass city. Rosa won this one!

Not Alone: This is one of those games where all but one of the players are playing against the last one. the final player is an alien creature attempting to assimilate the other players, shipwrecked scientists, into their planet and prevent them from ever leaving, while the scientists are attempting to outlast and outmaneuver the creature in order to survive until they are rescued. Really neat. I’ve played both sides and lost both times. Frozen bought this one. 

Queendomino: played this at minigeekway and it’s still good

My Little Scythe: this one has an adorable fuckin story which is the main reason I’m posting it. A dude was playing Scythe, a good but heavy-ish worker placement game involving war and mechs in 1900s Europe, but his daughter wanted to join in. And wanted to use her my little pony figurines. So he put together a variant of the game that reworked the battles to be pie fights, the resources to be apples and crystals, and generally softened the game. The original designer got word of this and bought the rights to publish it, and, well, here we are. Worker placement game, fairly simple but also pretty quick, especially compared to its original inspiration. This was actually a surprise title at the con -- Jamey Stegmaier, the publisher/developer, considers Geekway his “home” con and put it up on the play-to-win table as a last minute surprise! p cool. There’s literally like 3 copies of it in existence right now. Thanks Jamey

Seikatsu: Set collection with birds and flowers where the angle you “view” the set from matters. Really interesting, but I don’t think I’d ever buy it -- it’s in the same school as Azul where it’s largely a chill conversation game.

The Grimm Forest: You’re a relative of the three little pigs and your job is to build 3 houses (of any type) before any of your other relatives do, using help from fairytale characters and various fabled tricks to get the job done before any of your competitors do. Nice minis, it’s one of those games where everyone picks a card without other people knowing what they’ve picked. Really long despite the simple premise, which isn’t bad, but was surprising!

Xenofera: Catch and cage amazing animal creatures to sell to noble menageries. But be careful -- everybody’s got means to sabotage your cages, steal your animals, or even kill your captains, and the winner can turn on a dime. I enjoyed this one but I’m not sure it’s one I’d buy. Very cute animals though. Almost bought some of the puff duck pins in the vendor hall

Yamatai: as a sailor in ancient Japan, it’s your job to help map out and settle this newly discovered archipelago. I’m ... not sure what I’d call this one, though it has a lot of similar DNA to Five Tribes. It’s fun! I’m bad at it.

Elzie and Rosa played a few different games from me (our group was so large we had to split up a few times) but I believe that’s everything I played from the play-to-win table, which was open Thursday through Saturday. There were some games going on on Sunday as well (I remember Hardback, Majesty, and Valeria, specifically) but then everybody had to part ways.

Was loads of fun. Don’t think we played a single stinker this year.

[aion-rsa]

WandaVision Episode 8 Review: Previously On…

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This WandaVision review contains spoilers.

WandaVision Episode 8

Recap episodes are a mainstay of sitcom TV. This week WandaVision takes on the trope in what is easily the most heartbreaking episode of the Marvel series yet.

While WandaVision began its season as a broad comedy playing on the archetypes and style of classic American television, there was always something darker lurking underneath. This week in a darkly entertaining adventure into the past, Agatha leads Wanda through a nightmarish house made of Wanda’s own memories.

But first let’s learn a little more about that big twist. After the reveal last week that Wanda’s nosy neighbor Agnes was actually the witch Agatha Harkness, we get an opening that begins with a purple Marvel Logo–hinting at Agatha’s powers–and a flashback to Agatha’s history as a witch in Salem. Hahn is spectacular as always and it’s a complete tonal shift that the show handles well. In fact, this whole episode slips between worlds, moments, and atmosphere seamlessly, once again showing the skill of the creative team who are never afraid of getting weird. 

Back in the present, Wanda is trapped in Agatha’s basement and being interrogated. It’s revealed that the elder witch is obsessed with learning where Wanda’s mystical powers came from so she forces the grieving woman back into her own mind to come to terms with the reality of what’s happened.

They begin in Sokovia. Wanda and Pietro are children spending an evening with their parents watching their favorite sitcoms. But then disaster strikes, a Stark Industries bomb hits their home, killing the adults and leaving Wanda and Pietro stranded. We knew all of this already but Agatha’s recreation introduces something new… was the reason the bomb never went off actually just luck or was it Wanda using her latent powers? It seems like the latter and Agatha definitely thinks there’s something deeper going on.

Hahn is having a blast here, and it’s a joy to watch. Not only does she get to play an antagonist but she gets to play one who’s a complete and utter magical know-it-all and can also steal other people’s magic with her cool purple rays. Impressively, she also manages to keep the obvious humor that the character was introduced with to a minimum. This is a serious episode full of loss and grief. And while we might not discover exactly what she’s up to, Hahn gives a performance that lends credence to the possibility that Agatha is an anti-hero rather than a straight up villain.

Olsen, meanwhile, is the perfect foil. Silent, heartbroken, and desperate to both know the truth and conceal it at once. Fans of the MCU have long felt that Wanda had been sidelined and not given her due but WandaVision and this episode in particular feel like a hard reset. This is a Wanda with nuance, defined by love and rage more than trauma. She’s a whole human being and Olsen sells every tear, lip tremble, and horrified gasp. 

The pair also venture to the HYDRA base where Wanda (no sign of real Pietro) volunteered to become a superhero for the Nazis… good choice. Interestingly, we learn her penchant for editing video footage with her mind began here as she stops the HYDRA agents from seeing a moment in which she connected with the Mind Stone and had a strange vision.

Speaking of Vision, we learn the truth about his disappearance from SWORD and, shock horror, Director Hayward is a lying scumbag who deepfaked that footage of Wanda stealing Vision. Why? Well, you’ll have to stay to the mid-credits scene to find that out.

It turns out that Wanda never stole Vision, never actually attacked SWORD, and was generally pretty chill for a grieving widow who just came back from being snapped out of existence. This is just more confirmation that Hayward could be the real antagonist here. Honestly, this has been an almost impressively anti-military arc for the MCU, seeing as it’s a franchise known for encouraging and actively promoting the US military.

All of this revisiting has a purpose outside of exposition for Wanda fans. Agatha is pushing Wanda to realization. Agatha needs Wanda to see the truth about how Westview and her new life was created, which we learn about when we see her head to Westview for the very first time.

It turns out that Vision had bought a plot of land for the two of them in Westview, which is what drew Wanda there. We get to see normal, non-WandaVision Westview for the first time and even see some familiar faces pop up. Surprising (probably) no one who’s been watching the show or who enjoys Scarlet Witch comics, the remade Westview was manifested from Wanda’s own trauma and grief. While it doesn’t look like it was intentional, she was definitely the one behind it as we saw when her hex powers went wild and built a whole new world for her and Vision… but if she didn’t actually steal Vision, how is he even there? 

Here comes a little more heartbreak. We learn this week why Vision can’t leave the Hex. Wanda was so sad and missed her synthezoid lover so much that she created an entirely new version of him, knitting him together with the power of her mind and her Mind Stone enhanced powers. That means, just like Billy and Tommy, to some extent Vision inside the Hex is just a figment of Wanda’s very powerful imagination. With that truth finally out there, Wanda thinks she’s free to save her sons. But they’re trapped by Agatha Harkness, who has one final secret to reveal: Wanda is a prophesied creature in some archaic lore… she’s what’s known as, according to Agatha, “the scarlet witch”

It’s the first time the words have been uttered in the MCU and seems to be leaning into later comics iterations of the character where the name is more of a legacy and an inherited title than a superhero moniker. It’s a great way to end an episode and Hahn delivers the first mention of Scarlet Witch with all the gravitas and ham that it deserves.

But that’s not episode eight’s last big reveal as in the mid-credits scene we learn what Hayward has really been up to. Using the missile he tried to kill her with–which is still imbued with Chaos Magick–Hayward manages to bring Vision to life. And if you’re a fan of classic Marvel comics you’ll likely recognize this bleached out synth as White Vision. This sets up a huge possible conflict for the final episode as Wanda will likely have to face down the man she loves who won’t even remember her name. Devastating. 

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

With only one episode left, WandaVision seems like it has a lot of work to do to establish whatever comes next for Wanda. But the team behind the show has constantly surpassed our expectations and we can’t wait to see them hopefully stick the landing on what is turning into one of the MCU’s best projects ever. 

The post WandaVision Episode 8 Review: Previously On… appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/306HUlD

[geekstudio]

How do you make pins? I been wanting to make pins for so long but idk how to even start its so confusing please help me ;_; no one wants to tell me how to make my own pins. I have my own designs and everything

Okay! This is a very long post and I’ll try to get you as much info as I can. I’ve found that the pin making community is very closed off with providing help to new creators since there’s been such an increase in people making pins. So I completely get that you’ve been having issues finding out how to start.

If you already have designs in mind the best thing to do is have them digitized if you haven’t already. The best option is to have a vector file where each of the enamel colours is on a separate layer with no overlapping of the colours or metal areas. This isn’t necessary since a lot of pin manufacturers can digitize your design from a drawing but having them do it can lead to issues and a lot of back and forth changes because they have to trace the image you give them. It’s a lot easier if you can give them a file that they don’t have to do anything with a can use right off the bat to make a mold.

Here’s a pin that I just got made recently that I’ll use as an example through this. The full design in the top left but you can see that each enamel colour can be pulled off separately and leave a solid background that shows the metal of the pin with no overlapping parts.

Also fyi I use Adobe Illustrator to do my designs.

Long post is long. So you’ll have to keep reading :)

After you’ve done up your design you want to make sure you pick out accurate colours for the enamel. Pin manufacturers use Pantone colours for the enamel and there isn’t always an exact match between the Hex or RGB colour a computer will default to and a Pantone colour.

There are a lot of people that buy a Pantone colour guide to help them pick colours. This is the way to get the most accurate colours so if you want to get into pin making really hard core and are picky with your colours I would look into it. They’re expensive, like over $100, but you can find them used on eBay sometimes too.

To put it out there, I don’t have a Pantone guide, but I’m also not picky about my colours. If something ends up a shade or two off, which I’ve had happen, I’m not too worried about it. I use an online Hex to Pantone converter. I grab the Hex code of the colour from Illustrator, enter it in, and pick the closest match from the options they give. Sometimes you have to play around to find the right match but having the Pantone for your enamel colours is a must. 

Once the colours are figured out I lay them out with the design and sizing in the file that I send to the manufacturer. Example:

Since this design had the three greys I marked out which was which just to be sure. If you want a logo or something stamped on the back of the pin, or you have a specific place you want the pin post to go make sure that’s part of this too and marked as the back of the pin.

Now it’s time to send the design off to the manufacturer!

This is the hard part though because there are tons of pin manufacturers and I’ve seen people talk about good and bad experiences with pretty much all of them. 

There are two main options when picking a manufacturer though. You can go with a middle man company which is usually based in North America or the UK. They have the contacts with factories (usually in China) and will work with the factory to get your pins made. This usually comes with a bit more security that if there is an issue with the final product or some other problem these companies have a bit more accountability and will fix the issues for you. They also tend to go through the pin orders before they send them to you and pull out any badly defective products so you get slightly better quality overall. 

The downside of using a middleman is that they are more expensive and take a lot longer for you to get your final product. They also charge shipping which most Chinese manufacturers don’t.

The other option is going straight to a Chinese manufacturer. This usually saves time and money but there is less accountability on their end so you often end up with a higher percentage of defects. Plus there are sometimes miscommunication issues that can come up when dealing with a Chinese company. But as long as you check and double check the updates and proofs or sample images they send you it’s not too bad.

I work directly with a Chinese manufacturer that I have worked with to get other custom non pin items made in the past. I don’t even have a company or factory name that I could give you to look up but I found them through Aliexpress.

SAMPLESSamples are extremely important! When you are getting your pins made always get a sample made. This will cost you anywhere from $10-$50 but it is worth it. Multiple times I have caught errors because of the sample pictures they sent me and it’s better to spend that money than get your order and realized that every single one has an issue.

So I haven’t actually gotten the pin above in the mail yet (supposed to arrive Tuesday so excited!) but here’s the sample picture they sent of it so you can see how it turned out:

SOFT ENAMEL VS HARD ENAMELThis is generally just a matter of preference. I do all hard enamel because I like the smooth clean look of it better, but soft enamel is supposed to be better for designs with tiny details. You can also add things like glitter into the enamel to make something sparkly but I think that can only be done with soft. I’m not 100% sure of that though.

DEFECTSThis is something that often comes up that I’ve seen people complain about in the pin community. Defects happen. When I place my orders I always order 25% more pins than I need (in the cases of preorders) and so far that has always covered the number of defects I end up with. I’ve only had once that I’ve had higher than 10% defects. Defects will be things like colours in the wrong spot, under filled enamel, dust or debris in the enamel, or issues in the metal coating. When you get your pins make sure you go through them and check the quality. Any defects you can always sell as ‘seconds’ and many people do this.

EXTRA INFOI would recommend joining the Facebook group Pin Makers Super Group. The group can be very helpful and they have a list of manufacturers contact info with some reviews that you can check out. They’re also pretty good if you have questions or if you need feedback on a design. 

DISCLAIMERI’ve only been getting pins made since December so I’m definitely not an expert on any of this. I’ve had only three pin designs made as of this post but I’m waiting for another six that I got made all at once to come in the mail currently. So I have very little experience in the grand scheme of things. All of this info is just from what I have discovered through my own pin making and what I have seen other people talk about in the pin making community.

That said, if you have any more specific questions you want to ask feel free and I’ll try my best! I’m happy to help new creators start!

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Avengers #98: Let Slip the Dogs of War!

April 1972

And the A is off gleefully soaring the cosmos again.

We start this issue, dealing with fallout from the Kree/Skrull War. Because the question on presumably everyone’s lips is “where is Goliath?”

Or at least on Vision’s.

Like I said last time, there was no Earth-shattering kaboom. So Clint succeeded. And by the time of this issue, its been a whole week. So where is he? Did he die in space? Is he lost, also in space?

Oh and the Avengers apparently all have symbols on their meeting room chairs. We only see Cap’s and Iron Man’s but Iron Man’s is in fact the mars masculine symbol. Because he’s Iron Man. I’d have gone with Fe or something but whatever.

Since there’s no crime today, the Avengers will split up to consult different resources to see what they can find. Iron Man has some resources in his *ahem* employer’s townhouse. Thor will check magic and mirrors in Asgard. And the others will use the mansion’s resources.

But boy howdy, they’ll find Clint Barton and nothing will distract them!

Cap is immediately distracted by the news.

In fairness, the Avengers have been out of town for a bit. No harm in checking current events.

See there’s this guy called Mr. Tallon agitating for war against those who would destroy America, belonging to a group he calls the Warhawks. You may recognize him from the cover.

Mr. Tallon is obviously a pseudonym.

Apparently what all the hubbub is about, bub, is that there is a ... I’m guessing Chinese? Because the book doesn’t say. A Chinese delegation to the UN. The first ever indeed.

And the delegate, Mr. Wo Tong, says that the pro-war demonstrators just show how hollow American cries of peace and brotherhood are and will cause an escalation in the arms race.

Last time we had something like this happen, it turned out that racism was caused by foreigners making things up to make America look bad.

Well, that’s not not the case here.

Anyway, the police come to disperse the protest but the crowd immediately charges at them. And in the process, stampede over the journalists covering this broadcast.

The situation seems explosive enough that Vision sends Cap, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and totally still hanging around Rick Jones to deal with it. Vision will remain in the mansion to liaison with Thor and Iron Man.

By the time the Avengers and Rick arrive, the protestors are more of a mob really. In that they’re storming the hotel where the Possibly Chinese delegation is holed up.

Mr. Tallon tells the pipers to cease their melodic trilling since it will just be lost among the din of the storm and the crowd but that their time will come again very soon.

Yeah, there are some pipers piping. On pan pipes. Wearing hooded robes. Seems a bit weird for a pro-war rally, I think.

Cap and Scarlet Witch try to clear some space in front of the hotel so Quicksilver can build a barricade out of sandbags borrowed from a nearby construction site. Cap wonders if another Skrull is stirring things up for the crowd to have gone from curious onlookers to frenzied revolutionaries but dismisses the thought.

But, there’s something about that music...

Rick collapses for some reason, clutching his head, but tells Cap to talk to the crowd before they go too far.

And Cap climbs the sandbag wall and does what Cap do best. INSPIRATIONAL SPEECHES.

But the crowd is not buying what he’s selling, even though its free samples. They call him a fake. Because why would the real Cap shield commies?

And the weird music keeps playing with Mr. Tallon egging on the pipers. “If music be the food of war -- PLAY ON!” Which I’m certain is not how the quote goes.

And y’know, that music is telling Rick something. Its telling him that they’ve been fighting on the wrong side. Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch hear it too. Its music with a message and the message says everyone should do their part to stir up war among the nuclear nations.

Oh, noooooow Cap hears it. Hells yeah. Lets bust some commies.

Meanwhile back at the mansion, Thor returns. When he tried to return to Asgard, he found something repelled him, some invisible barrier preventing his return. So he’s stranded on Midgard and could use some good news.

But Vision doesn’t have any. Just some new threat that they really could use a Thor on.

And an Iron Man, if available. Vision calls him but Iron Man brusquely responds he’s busy. And Vision sees that Iron Man is with some of the Warhawks.

This is really not good. At this point of time, Tony Stark is still a weapons designer. And the Warhawks were standing with Iron Man in Tony Stark’s townhouse. With a bunch of weaponry.

Thor and Vision split up. Thor will head to back up the other Avengers who have gone to face the mob (and unbeknowst to Thor, have joined it) and Vision will go to Iron Man.

But there are misgivings. Vision has to restrain himself from following after Thor because despite his best efforts, he still has feelings for the Scarlet Witch. And he wishes that those hooman emotions would just pass through him like stuff when he’s intangible. Robot angst is hard.

Thor has more practical misgivings. Goliath is missing, Thor can’t get into Asgard, and now there’s this warhawk cult. Is it a coincidence that things are happening all together or is it part of some larger scheme?

Vision arrives at Tony Stark’s townhouse and tells Iron Man that the Avengers need him.

“Well, I don’t need them -- not any more.”

Vision recognizes that this isn’t how Iron Man would act and thinks that someone is manipulating him. Maybe this weird piper playing some weird song which sounds weird to Vision’s android ears.

One of the Warhawks tells Vision to step off so Vision puts a hand through his head.

And then Iron Man attacks. And having gone partially intangible, Vision is vulnerable to Iron Man’s repulsor rays.

And dang. Its one of those accepted things in comics that Iron Man’s static helmet can appear to be expressing certain emotions based on the angle its drawn but dang.

Iron Man Kubrick stare.

Iron Man tells Vision that America needs a war and it needs a war fought with Tony Stark’s top secret weapons.

‘You’d better just kill me’ to paraphrase Vision’s reply. He’s going to do everything in his power to prevent a war.

Iron Man blasts him again but Vision has had time to crank up his density and the repulsor rays just sort of splash off.

So being a strategic and intelligent sort, Iron Man then punches Vision in his diamond hard face.

And I admit its juvenile but I smiled at Iron Man telling Vision “you can’t remain that hard for long”.

Vision sticks his hands into Iron Man’s chest but hesitates and pulls back because he doesn’t want to hurt Iron Man. Which is a scruple pipe addled Iron Man does not share and he blasts Vision in the face, sending him flying into the piper.

Which kills him. The piper I mean.

Iron Man’s head clears up and he is aghast at what he’s done. And confused. There’s a blank in his memory until Vision smooshed the piper.

And he’s not the only one. The Warhawks don’t know what they’re doing here or why they’re wearing their crazy outfits with the bird’s claw on it.

But Vision is okay so he and Iron Man fly off to join the others.

Meanwhile, Thor. When he arrives, the Avengers are nowhere in sight and the mob is pouring into the hotel, seeking blood.

And then Mr. Tallon calls out to Thor. And Thor recognizes him.

The guy with the fake name is surprisingly not what he seems. He’s actually Ares, the Greek god of war.

And then Captain America punches Thor in the face.

Thor is no dummy. Mostly. But he doesn’t need a raven to land on his shoulder to figure out what’s going on here. Cap and the Avengers are possessed by some manner of spell.

But if one god put a spell on them, then another god could take it off. Probably. But first he’s going to build a moat.

And that’s where Iron Man and Vision arrive. Just as Thor has finished using Mjolnir to dig a deep trench around the mob, cutting them off from the hotel and from escape.

That’s a lot of property damage.

Floating up in the sky, Vision and Iron Man wonder how to make the crowd come to their senses. The key has to be the music. And Thor as a god and Vision as an android are somehow immune.

YUP DEFINITELY THE MUSIC, Iron Man confirms as he shoots Vision in the back and then attacks Thor.

Thor hurls Mjolnir at Ares but Scarlet Witch intercepts it with a hex sphere.

And Thor kind of needs Mjolnir to fly so. He falls into the crowd, assisted by Iron Man. The mob leaps on Thor and tries to beat him to death as Thor refuses to strike back, merely reaching toward Mjolnir in vain.

And then an arrow explodes against the hex sphere, dropping Mjolnir into Thor’s hands.

The mob flees from Thor in fear and Thor uses the opportunity to try a speech of his own, decrying Ares.

Ares calls Thor a hypocrite. Wasn’t he once as warlike as Ares himself? Also, yeah, you’re not going to be able to sway the crowd. Ares has pipers.

And he tells them to play once more.

But they are too scared to play. They sense a terrifying presence that paralyzes them. And its the Vision. And he smashes their heads together. BKOK!

And then Vision discovers something weird. THE PIPERS WERE NAKED UNDER THEIR ROBES! And also they’re satyrs. Hah. Pan flutes played by satyrs.

Without the pipers piping, the crowd is coming to its senses and probably confused about whats going on. Also, Ares fled off-panel.

But who shot that arrow? Do the Avengers know anyone that does bow stuff?

Oh, hi Hawkeye!

That is. That is certainly a brave choice of costume.

And yeah, Clint is done being Goliath. He’s back to saving the day with archery.

And how did he escape the Skrull warship? And end up here? Time for that later. There’s some pressing business right now.

Some amnesiac Hercules business. Some amnesiac Hercules with a vague apocalyptic prophesy business.

“When opes the gate which once was lofty peak -- when slays the sword which wizard formed to save -- then worlds shall quake to hear the war-god speak -- and Earth and Asgard evermore be -- SLAVE!”

So, that’s going to be a thing.

Geez, they only just got back from a nine-part Kree/Skrull War arc and now they’re starting a three-parter Ares story that will include the 100th issue.

I wonder if Avengers get vacation days. Maybe they can get the Fantastic Four to cover for them.

[waynekelton]

The Best (And Worst) Auto Chess Games on Android and iOS

Dota Auto Chess is being heralded as “the next big thing” after its meteoric rise back in January 2019. While It hasn't quite managed to surpass the Battle Royale craze just yet, its potential has yet to be fully realised. Just as we saw with the Puzzle, MOBA, and Battle Royale genres in the past; clones, copycats, and tributes are quick to spring up across gaming landscape.

We've gone through the best and worst Auto Chess variants mobile has to offer right now, and we're ready to give some recommendations (and some hard passes). And you needn’t worry about price. All 'Auto-Battler' games (legitimate or otherwise) are Free-to-Play. These things make their money through cosmetic micro-transactions like board skins and avatars – there’s nothing we’ve found so far that lets you spend real money to have an in-game advantage, which is the way it’s meant to be done.

Those that don’t follow this model gain swift admittance into our 'Ones to Avoid' section.

Teamfight Tactics

Developer: Riot Games Platforms: iOS Universal, Android (and PC)

Riot's own take on the Auto Chess phenomenon is a bit tamer than Battlegrounds below, but it's still a slick piece of software. Changes are again on the subtle side, although one major difference is that TFT boards use hexes, instead of a square grid. That being said, so far movement patterns and the way combat plays out doesn't seem to differ that much as to make this a noticeable change.

Otherwise, Teamfight Tactics follows all the usual rules set-out by OG Auto Chess. There's a coin-based economy, items and loot drops, mob rounds and you can collect champions to level them up to Tier 3. TFT goes through seasonal content cycles, with the most recent one being 'Galaxies'. Each season entire sets of champions are rotated out in favour of new, more on-brand champions, which bring new synergies. The avatars and arenas also change to be more on-theme. This game features a Battle Pass monetisation system, but is otherwise free-to-play.

Hearthstone: Battlegrounds

Developer: Blizzard Platforms: iOS Universal, Android (PC etc...)

The first genuinely new Auto Chess game to arrive since the craze kicked off, Battlegrounds blends the basic belt-and-braces design concepts of the Auto Battler genre, with the DNA of Blizzard's main CCG Hearthstone. Gone are animated minions that jump and weave across a grid arena - instead you're presented with the main Hearthstone aesthetic. You still draft minions in the same way, although things like minion costs and the economy in general are wildly different. There's also a lot more combos and active planning, as not only do you need to draft cards that synergise well together, their order in your line up is also important, as it will control who attacks (and, just as in important - who dies) first.

It's definitely different and inventive and I've got a lot of time for using cards and card games as a platform, the only drawbacks is that Battlegrounds is just as susceptible to the bonkers combo plays that the main CCG suffers. Stat buffing particularly is integral to the meta right now, and it can be hard to keep track and predict where your opponents are going to be in terms of relative power. It makes it a less predictable game, which combined with the built-in RNG of the format can make the experience more stressful than it needs to be. On the bright side - dealing damage to your opponent can scale quite quickly, so if you do make a mistake you won't have to suffer for it for too long.

Dota Underlords

Developer: Valve Platforms: iOS Universal, Android (PC, Mac)

In an unusual display of vigour, Valve have been anything but lax in getting their own, 'official' Auto Chess take out the door and into the hands of players. Available in beta across all platforms, Valve have essentially built on the original Dota Auto Chess mod and put their own unique spin on things. From little changes like bench size and how the various synergies work, to their own take on monetisation, ranking and an offline mode, Dota Underlords sports a fully functional tutorial, robust AI play, as well the ability to seamlessly transition a game between PC and Mobile.

While it's still early days yet, this is our favourite mobile version of the Auto Chess games so far, mainly because Valve have put a lot of thought into addressing many of the usability and quality of life issues the original game had on both PC and mobile (although, Drodo isn't slouching there either). It's really the offline play that cinches it - not only can you play against different difficulty levels, you can completely disable the round-timers so that you can take your time as you learn the ropes of Valve's blend of Auto-Battler. Anyone who's been wary in getting caught up in knock-offs or clones may also feel starting here a safer bet, before looking at some of the others below.

Auto Chess: Origin

Developer: Dragonest Game/Drodo Platforms: iOS Universal, Android

If you were quick to the scene on Android and assumed Auto Chess by Dragonest to be nothing but a Chinese copycat, you'd be forgiven. It happens with website domains all the time. But in actuality, this is the ‘OG’ Auto Chess game that started it all. It comes from the same developers - Drodo. Washing itself of its Dota roots, Auto Chess (or Auto Chess: Origin as it’s now known on iOS) is the real deal. 

Separating from its Dota foundation means Auto Chess: Origin no longer has access to familiar assets like sounds and models. So, while you might recognize its logo from the original PC version, you’ll find a pretty different looking game when you fire it up, with humour that might seem a little too juvenile for some. If you can get passed that, you’ll find a mobile replacement almost exactly the same as the PC version minus the obvious (and better suited) touch interface. It's added new pieces since first launching, and is also now starting to experiment with new game modes to try and stand-out from the competition.

Arena Allstars

Developer: Match Set Games Platforms: iOS Universal, Android

This is another recent newcomer, Arena Allstars is as innovative as it is kinda lazy. 'Optimised for mobile' returns as a selling-point, although in this game's case it's basically true - quicker matches, a vertical UI and lots of information on hand to help you figure out what's what. You'll notice on the screens everything from front-and-centre synergy guides, and you can even tap on your income to get a breakdown as to whether it's all coming from (Notice Interest makes a return in this game). Levelling up is also nice and seamless, and space concerns are addressed by allowing you to stack the same pieces together (provided they are of the same tier).

Other than that though, you'll kind of recognise all the playing pieces. Even that ability that fires a ship made of water at your opponents is in there. It's also got the typical back-end progression and monetisation offerings that most of the others have. I'd say despite it's laziness some of the quality of life features make it worth a potential migration, or at least checking out.

Chess Rush

Developer: Tencent Games Platforms: iOS Universal, Android

Tencent being one of the 'big names' in Chinese videogame publishing, it makes sense that they'd try and push out their own version of Auto Chess - which makes the partnership with Drodo over OG Auto Chess a bit odd. Come to think of it, Imba are also partnered with Drodo, and they've got their own game on this list as well. The Auto Chess Wars are weird. Anyway, Chess Rush might as well be a carbon copy clone of Auto Chess: Origins. It's got pretty much all the same features, and the heroes are very similar in a lot of respects apart from extra/different types and synergies. It's also got a slightly more in-your-face free-to-play economy in the sense that it keeps throwing free resources at you but it's largely harmless.

I'm recommending this one because it's a prettier looking alternative to Auto Chess: Origin - the production values are actually surprisingly good, with nice visuals, and a neat little intro into every match. I suspect Tencent have more resources to draw on than Drodo does so if you're looking for something that's likely iterate and polish at a decent rate, this might be an alternative. It's currently experimenting with a 4x4 mode, after having just introduced Co-op to the game, and is proving to be a bit quicker in terms of pushing out iterations and new ideas.

Arena of Evolutions: Red Tides

Developer: HERO Game Platforms: iOS Universal, Android

Now this is what we're talking about. A grittier, more sci-fi take on the Auto Chess formula. With some moody splash artwork and even a full-fledged opening movie to boot, our first thought when firing up this game was just how quickly the company must have got the ball rolling when Dota Auto Chess originally broke onto the scene.

Everything about Arena of Evolution: Red Tides screams respectable production value. If you're trying to avoid being called out as a clone, this is the way to do it. The units don't always match the space war vibe the opening movie sets up (thank you, kung-fu panda), but there's a nice variety of unique characters to pick up and play with.  If you're not into multiplayer, AI brawls will still give anyone but the pros a decent (and welcoming) challenge. If you're looking for a more mature Auto Chess experience, this is a solid recommendation over the official counterpart. Everything from the chess board – which is less a board and more a stone battlefield – to the crude iron fence separating the brawl from your bench screams quality in the face of what comes next.

Auto Chess Legends

Developer: Imba/Suga Platforms: iOS Universal, Android

This one was down for maintenance when we first tried to test it out. It wasn't a good look, and we honestly thought the game was just dead on arrival… Turned out we were wrong! It fired up without a hitch the next day and was a pleasant surprise. There's a clean UI and most of the of the details you'd come to expect from a game of Auto Chess, but without an AI mode after the initial tutorial, it might scare off newcomers looking to practice before diving into the real thing. It's a little sparse of the extra game modes, but at least the developers found the time to offer micro-transaction goodies, right?

While it starts off looking like one of those cheap mobile ads on a dodgy website, Auto Chess Legends is one of the better made alternatives out there. Nowhere near the same level of depth and detail of the above games, but enough to avoid the bucket list below.

Avoid These Auto Chess Games At All Costs

We're not going to call out the lack of direct competition on the app stores right now. After all, Auto Chess isn't even a year old. But what we will call out are deplorable cash grabs siphoning the Auto Chess name and bewildering any curious mind that dares search for the next big thing. These games aren't vying for your time at all – just your money. They function mostly the same as any other Auto Battler game would, albeit for once little thing – they're all pay to win. Avoid these unless you're looking for the quick and easy route to learn the fundamentals of the game.

Heroes Auto Chess

Developer: Tap2Play LLC Platforms: iOS/Android

The first of the lot we tested out, Heroes Auto Chess is one of the better efforts of the bunch – but it's still pretty gnarly. Its low-poly art-style is reminiscent of old Steam shovelware riding the 'voxel' hype train. Hop into a match, however, and the quality starts to rapidly deteriorate further. It's a very basic take on Auto Chess, with no notable polish. Units lack personality as they're absolutely mute, while battles are nothing more than a slight wiggle animation with a cheap stock sword clash sound playing out every second or two.

Then comes the worst part – you can forgo any need for actual strategy by watching an ad to re-roll and buy additional units in the shop. Not cool. With only three slots on the bench, there's very little actually strategy to be had here, anyway. Without the ads, we could let Heroes Auto Chess slide as a decent way to introduce the game to a far younger audience. Accept donations or charge for skins by all means, but don't nullify the whole point of your game just to make 1c on an ad click. You're better than that.

AutoChess War

Developer: Phoenix Mobile/Chengdu Phoenix Electronic Arts Co. Limited Platforms: iOS/Android

We wanted to like this one, but it flops out of the gate a little too soon. AutoChess War looked promising – and actually could be if development keeps up – but what little it does is quickly soured yet again by in-game ads. A unique Adventure mode is a nice little touch. It doesn't really add much to the Auto Chess formula (aside from the horizontal board), but it does separate the game into bite-sized rounds you can drop in and out of at will, making the game more commute-friendly. When you're at home, the Endless Challenge mode can be a good way to test out some strategies. But you'll need to play another game entirely to actually execute them against another player. 

Auto Chess Defense

Developer: Phoenix Mobile/Chengdu Phoenix Electronic Arts Co. Limited Platforms: iOS/Android

The first thing I noticed is that this one calls itself Auto Chess Mobile in game. Looks like someone paid for a logo a little too soon. Diving deeper, Auto Chess Defense (Mobile?) feels like a game you would have found on the original iPhone. The first app of its kind. While that would have been a glowing recommendation back in 2007, it's the worst kind of criticism you can have in 2019. We appreciate the option to skip straight into battle rather than waiting on a laborious timer, but, again, the ads creep in the sour the experience.

Seen any other games worthy of people's attention, or ones they should definitely avoid? Let us know in the comments!

The Best (And Worst) Auto Chess Games on Android and iOS published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

[williamsjoan]

Sid Meier’s Civilization VI Review — Complex Systems Made Handheld Accessible

With the Nintendo Switch acting as both a portable and home console, the possibilities it proves are quite unique. Games for the platform can embody the usual traits of current day HD console games, or they can be designed for quick pick up and play sessions meant to be experienced in handheld mode. By finally putting Civilization VI on the Switch, here is a game that can fit either need.

It’s likely that a large number of people who bought a Switch do not play games on other platforms, so this iteration of Civilization VI could be their first experience with the series—it certainly was mine. With that in mind, it was important to delve into the perspective of a newcomer. As accessibility and ease of play are primary goals for many games on Nintendo platforms, it was important to me that this game that I initially found intimidating would exemplify those principles.

For the most part, it did.

“As accessibility and ease of play are primary goals for many games on Nintendo platforms, it was important to me that this game that I initially found intimidating would exemplify those principles.”

As I discovered rather quickly, Civilization VI is all about building civilizations. Jokes aside, I was quite pleased that this port was designed with novice players such as myself—upon starting up my first game, I was asked if I was new to either Civilization VI, the Switch port, or the Civilization series as a whole. Selecting the third option resulted in a guided experience that caught me up with the basics of the turn-based game, while also being a little less hand-holding than the tutorial.

And boy, were there a lot of systems to wrap my head around—it turns out that building a civilization from the ground up is a bit complicated. A lot of the bread and butter of the gameplay involves establishing cities, producing and utilizing resources, and moving units such as warriors, scouts, and settlers around the large, hexagonal map to make gains for your civilization (my personal thoughts on how the game depicts this later). The systems get deeper when it gets into the culture nitty gritty, with religion, civics, and science developments being a large part of managing a civilization.

The player will act as or encounter and deal with several historical figures, not limited to Theodore Roosevelt, Cleopatra, and Mahatma Gandhi. These anachronistically-placed leaders will all deal with situations differently, having their own agendas and advantages that players will have to keep in mind. These leaders are represented by animated character models with scripted dialogue, and they could very well become your enemies or allies, depending on how you play the board with your units. Encroach on someone’s territory, and either side may end up declaring war. Democracy’s tough, man.

“And boy, were there a lot of systems to wrap my head around—it turns out that building a civilization from the ground up is a bit complicated.”

Assuming players pick the option of “New to Switch,” the main selling point is just how it controls on the console. For the most part, it operates as a hybrid of how I would expect the game to control on both home consoles and on mobile. It’s entirely possible to navigate through the game’s board and menus through buttons and an analog stick, but handheld mode makes full use of the touchscreen.

During most of my playtime with the game, I elected to use the handheld controls instead. It took me a comical amount of time to figure out how to select different units when they occupied the same hex space, but using the touch screen for selection was a breeze. It’s a minute difference, but I found myself playing Civilization VI lying down in bed more often than sitting upright in front of the television.

The touch screens go further than simple button presses, with gestures one would expect coming from an iOS game coming into play. Tap the screen with three fingers to pause, swipe around the map, pinch to zoom in and out, and so on. “Intuitive” is a cliched term for this kind of stuff, but seeing how difficult I found the systems of this game to be, having the touchscreen available to me made it just that. I still found myself baffled by some of the HUD elements, with many buttons not being labeled, but I chalked that up to my own damn attention span missing some prompts earlier in the game.

“…I found myself playing Civilization VI lying down in bed more often than sitting upright in front of the television.”

It wasn’t too long into playing Civilization, however, that I found my own personal views on warfare and colonization to hamper my experience. I can stomach hyperrealistic World War II games quite well, but the way this game depicts a wider scope of colonialism from the top down is what made me a bit uncomfortable. In fact, it’s probably the vibrant, bright colors that made the experience all the more unsettling.

I’ve been familiar with the theme songs of the recent Civilization games, as I have friends who won’t stop sending them to me—yes, the choral composition and instrumental arrangements sound nice and all, but it’s indicative of just how optimistic and cheery the game is. From the opening video to Sean Bean’s soothing narrations, the game is trying to invoke this sense of wonder and enthusiasm, when what you are recreating in the game are acts of colonization, assimilation, and straight-up war.

Most players are able to separate the politics from the gameplay, but Civilization VI not only felt so inherently political, but violent. History was probably the subject that I followed the closest in high school, so with much of that context in mind, especially with everything about the world that I’ve learned since then, winning a match through a “religious victory” or total domination didn’t bring me too much satisfaction. Yes, these are all simulations and virtual people, but I found the win conditions a bit too hard to fist pump to.

“Most players are able to separate the politics from the gameplay, but Civilization VI not only felt so inherently political, but violent.”

I doubt that most people eyeing this game will really be troubled by the content and presentation, and I’m not expecting moral objections or anything of the such. Having never dived into the series, I can only assume that it has lasted for so long due to its impact on the genre, and for that, I’m happy that anyone interested in either the series or the genre as a whole can finally experience this on the Switch.

Even hours into my time with the game, I still felt as though I was far from mastering the nuances of Civilization VI. I’m still on the fence on whether or not I want to pursue a greater understanding of the game, not entirely because of my aforementioned concerns, but because I’m not so sure I’ll be able to understand it by the end. To me, there’s a difference of having intrigue and having fun in a game, and I can report that the only real fun I had playing Civilization VI was renaming “Washington” into “ButtTown.”

Still, I really do admire the care put into making this game playable for the Switch—it seems like such a perfect fit on paper, and it works in execution. I can’t imagine that the audience who bought the Switch just for the Nintendo first-party games will be interested in Civilization VI. If any of them do end up purchasing it, the learning curve will likely be steep. But if they’re able to move past that better than I could, the controls on Switch should make it feel like a breeze.

The post Sid Meier’s Civilization VI Review — Complex Systems Made Handheld Accessible by Chris Compendio appeared first on DualShockers.

Sid Meier’s Civilization VI Review — Complex Systems Made Handheld Accessible published first on https://timloewe.tumblr.com/

[theseventhhex]

The Koreatown Oddity Interview

Dominique Purdy

Photo by Theo Jimison

The Koreatown Oddity aka Dominique Purdy was born and raised in Koreatown, Los Angeles. His first hip-hop influence was his own mother, who made jewellery and hung tight with Ice T, the Rhyme Syndicate, and Grandmaster Caz. Purdy moved from corner to corner through Koreatown his whole life, drawing, writing, and developing his own brand of experimental hip-hop, fused with comedy, and impromptu performance. As The Koreatown Oddity, rocking a wolf mask he bought back in high school for 70 bucks, he's been doing captivating crowds constantly with his enthralling creativity and charismatic presence. ‘Finna Be Past Tense’ is Purdy’s latest incredible offering, a record oozing matchless dexterity and is based around a loose concept of Koreatown Oddity reckoning with life, death, and the passage of time… The Seventh Hex talks to Dominique about experiencing various cultures, video games and classic cartoons…

TSH: Is documenting time gone by still at the heart of your musical expressions?

Dominique: Yeah, totally. Sometimes I think what else is there to express, you know? Every single moment that I progress, things get a little deeper for me. I know that whatever I put out, it’s going to be out there forever. It’s not just about making a song that’s hot or something that people can dance do - if it comes out that way, then that was the right mood and the right expression for it, however, my music is simply documenting my time in life because it’s all personal to me. I’m not going to talk about things that I can’t relate to and I won’t talk about a bunch of shit that I know nothing about.

TSH: Is the vibe and pattern of a beat an essential aspect when you form new music?

Dominique: Absolutely. When it comes to my own beats I know exactly what type of pockets they are going to be in. Each beat always has a certain flavour and feel that allows me to know what to do with it. Also, at times, the beats are colours to me - I may have like a blue or a grey type of visual or vibe attached to a beat and then the words that accompany the beat just come out of me. Usually I just write in my head, because it stays in there better. I also like to come back and revisit my beats later in the day too, simply because something in the world that I see or experience will inform the words I choose to include on top of the beats. I just attach the words to the beats and everything goes hand in hand.

TSH: Having had a while to digest your excellent album ‘Finna Be Past Tense’. When you look back at this album now, what stands out most?

Dominique: For me, what stands out most when I look back at this album is that it’s something that’s real to me. I’m glad I can look back at it and that it reminds me of some meaningful memories. Also, knowing people have got something out of it - that is cool. I’m proud of that because every song and every detail on this record was super-important for me. I don’t say stuff for no reason. I use metaphors and punchlines, but I only insert them in if they are necessary for the point I’m trying to get across.

TSH: Was it a natural approach to delve into one’s reckoning with life and death with this body of work?

Dominique: It just made sense. To be honest, the title itself ‘Finna Be Past Tense’ is what everything will become. It’s not really hard for me to talk about death; it’s actually quite natural given my character. There’s a murky lifestyle that’s been embedded in me since I was a kid. I’ve seen people broken and lost, as well as near death type of experiences too.

TSH: Talk us through the incentives that you drew on for the track ‘Mood of the Grind’...

Dominique: I specifically like the darkness of that track. I felt like I was on a mission with that track in trying to get certain points across whilst also incorporating a specific state of mind. You’ll notice that this track has certain inflictions in the beat, and when I felt those infections it would make me say ‘now you feel me’. I said that line with so much conviction because the infliction of the beat made me do so and the raps perfectly fed into this vibe too. That track has a lot of levels to help you take it in and it’s not meant to fall on deaf ears. I felt like I was expressing gems that people had given to me and there are several point of views going at once with that song too.

TSH: What resonates with you most when you overlook a song like ‘Yesterday’s News’?

Dominique: That’s a track that will always have a place in my mind. For me, it’s a specific post-it note from my head about how I feel. A lot of the rhymes in that track are quotes from conversations that I’ve had with my dad. When my dad heard that track, he was really happy to see how I’ve documented our discussions - he knows I’m a deep thinker. My dad realises that when he talks, I take it all in and turn it into something that other people can get something out of.

TSH: The ethics, lessons and morals that your parents have instilled in you remain very beneficial to you?

Dominique: Definitely. I still live with my mum and see my dad occasionally. My mom and dad were never married and they didn’t live in the same household when I was born either. However, separately the morals that they instilled in me have been so valuable. My parents have never been liars; they’ve always kept it real. As a kid you don’t really think about it, but when I think about it now I’m so grateful for what they taught me. They never shielded me from anything that was supposed to be adult, which includes me driving around with my mom during the riots.

TSH: Your mother is also very influential when it comes to your hip-hop roots...

Dominique: My mum is from Ohio and she came out to California when she was 19 - she just wanted a better life so she moved to California to find better opportunities. Both of my parents are hustlers on their own. My mum had an entrepreneurial business selling to all the rappers; she sold jewellery and gear, so she was always coming up on hip-hop. In fact I know so much about hip-hop because of my mom.

TSH: Dropping knowledge is always in play when you meet your father...

Dominique: Totally. We don’t meet that much nowadays, but when we do, there is so much energy brought into that one experience. One day with my dad feels like half a year. My dad is a street dude; he didn’t have a father so he learnt through living on the streets.

TSH: Where you’re from there are so many cultures to experience: Ethiopian, Indian, Greek, Korean etc...

Dominique: I’m impacted greatly by my surroundings. I don’t even have a passport, even though I’ll probably get one this year. I’d like to go to other places in the world, but if it never happens, I won’t be disappointed. When I’m here in Los Angeles, I have pockets of all the cultures you can think of and I can experience them all. I stumble across other cultures all the time and I’m always learning about them.

TSH: Film also influences how listeners receive your words and sounds...

Dominique: You know, I like films from all eras, but I’m definitely into abstract and crazy type of movies. I especially love how movies back in the day were shot, including the unique things they did with the credits and dialogue back then - I’m into that. I recently watched The Hustler with Paul Newman - I’d never seen it before, but I thought it was great. I like movies from that era because you can tell the actors were serious about acting. The actors back then were not throwaway in any way. Today’s acting is a throwaway thing, people become actors just because they want to make money and be famous. Back then people were looking to make people feel something, they took it seriously. But yeah, film is a huge influence, which is why my albums tend to have a theme, much like its own movie.

TSH: Was playing and getting lost in videos games back in the day a special time for you?

Dominique: Ah man, I loved playing the NES, the SNES and SEGA Genesis. Back in the day I used to play arcades all of the time. We’d play games like Contra, Ninja Turtles, Double Dragon, Kung-Fu Master, Sonic the Hedgehog and all of the Mario games. Oh, and I’m a massive fan of Mortal Kombat too. I remember going to play it at my boy’s house when it first came out on a system because it was only on arcades before that. We’d always be trying to figure out the codes, there was no internet back then to rely on, ha! Also, I remember when Mortal Kombat II came out and my mom got it from work. I don’t know how she got it, but everyone was flocking to my house and playing until late in the night. I play video games once in a while now but it’s not like how it used to be. Video games are an influence on my music as well, especially the creativity of the gameplay and the music.

TSH: Judging by your Instagram, you also admire animation from yesteryear too...

Dominique: Ha, I’m glad you noticed that. Yeah, I love animation man. I especially love the older stuff because I came up on that stuff. I used to watch Huckleberry Hound, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. The animation of the old cartoons is so good because it’s so on point, even the music that accompanies it too. The whole Hanna-Barbera age is definitely a huge influence on me. I could just put that stuff on and watch it for hours.

TSH: What are your plans with your future musical ambitions?

Dominique: I definitely want to put myself on a bigger platform. There are a lot of unique personalities in hip-hop, but when you look more towards the mainstream and the bigger platforms, there’s only a certain amount of voices that are there. I feel like when I’m able to get to the higher platform, that’s when I’ll be able to do a whole lot more. I want people to know that when they come to my show they cannot be offered this kind of experience anywhere else, they have to get it from me. I want to be able to fully bring my mind out of my head and onto the stage for people to see. I want to bring audiences into my world, both on record and onstage. With my next record I want to take people on a journey with me and give them a further insight into my state of mind. Underneath it all, there’s a spiritual connection with everything that I do and I hope I can share this with the masses.

The Koreatown Oddity - “Fuck Dinosaurs”

Finna Be Past Tense

[game-refraction]

Game Review: Victor Vran - Overkill Edition (PS4)

Victor Vran is the Diabloesque version of Witcher that I didn’t know I always wanted. Hacking, slashing and blasting elemental beasts, vampires, and giant spiders, with the voice talents of Doug Cockle, who brings the same smooth voice here as he did as Geralt of Rivia from the Witcher trilogy. Victor Vran is one of the most polished dungeon crawlers I’ve played in years, ranking it almost up there with the likes of Diablo 3.

When a fellow hunter goes missing, Victor Vran is tasked with tracking him down. This journey brings him to Zagoravia, a 19th-century city inspired by Eastern Europe. You’ll meet a variety of characters that will ask something of you and you’ll be rewarded with answers about the location of your missing friend. The story itself isn’t terribly great, even at its best, but the mysterious voice that joins you early on is what really makes the game stand out.

Right from the start of the game, Victor is contacted by a voice, calling out to him and somehow is able to talk to Victor throughout the whole journey. While there is a fairly satisfactory resolution to who the voice is, and what he wants from Victor, the real fun of this companion is the jokes and pop culture references that he makes while you go about your demon genocide.

The delay in bringing Victor Vran to consoles allows us to join in on the two expansions that accompany the Overkill Edition; Motorhead: Through the Ages, and Fractured Worlds. The former sees Victor assisting Lemmy, the frontman of the metal band Motorhead. Yup, totally not making that up. To further make the game as metal as it can get, you’ll slaughter demons, scorpions and a variety of creatures to the tunes of the band itself, complete with guitars that will become your weapons. I went through about 95% of the expansion rocking a variety of guitars, plucking the cords to shoot out blasts, or doing a running guitar slide to call down red electrical storms that would fry nearby foes. I almost wish I had gone through the expansion first so that the sweet guitar you get from Lemmy could have assisted me in my main campaign playthrough.

Fractured Worlds is more of a personal journey for Victor than that of the previous two campaigns as Victor looks to seek answers about his demon curse, and you’ll travel to a variety of worlds to collect fractured pieces of an artifact that can give him answers.

The combat in Victor Vran is what keeps the game incredibly engaging, as the 60 fps version on PS4 is silky smooth and makes rolling and dodging a dream. Victor Vran doesn’t have a class system but you are able to equip outfits that look to benefit certain playstyles. You’ll wield a huge variety of weapons that range from swords, hammers, axes, shotguns, mortar’s, lightning guns, scythes, and more. I wasn’t terribly impressed with most of the guns, but once I found a decent damage dealing mortar rifle, ooh, were they fun to use. There are also fencing swords that weren’t my thing, but a very original type of weapon that I don’t think I’ve seen in a dungeon crawler before, let alone any hack and slash game in the last few years. The scythes were really fun to use and I pretty much beat the campaign with one equipped for what seemed like 5-6 hours, I just couldn’t find anything better. What makes each weapon class unique is that each of them comes with completely different sets of attacks, making the game have depth even between two types of swords.

Slashing, rolling, and shooting the various creatures is incredibly fluid and you’ll need to traverse the levels themselves to find new locations that lead to new bosses that in turn lead to getting more loot. This traversal is through a jump system that lets you bounce off walls to reach higher locations. It’s really fun, and it makes me want to see this sort of mechanic return in every other dungeon crawler. It also made me want to explore the world more, spinning the camera around to see if there was a path hidden or some area that I could bounce up to, it became its own game, in a way. I lost track of how many times I could see a chest on another side of a wall and spent upwards to 20 minutes attempting to figure out how to get to it.

The levels themselves are mostly large sprawling areas that are typical of the genre, and while most locations are well designed and offer some hidden locations, the types of environments offered are your standard dungeon crawler fare. You have some broken down city locations, moody lit graveyards, swampy forest areas and all the caves you can shake a stick at. While the levels are fun to explore, especially the indoor ones, none of them really remained memorable once the credits rolled. I will state that the locations in the last half of the Motorhead add-on are some of the best ones offered here.

The various foes that you will cut down in battle range from giant spider’s, vampire thralls, elemental rock creatures, gargoyles, frost and lava spider’s, to so many more that it would take half this review just to talk about them. Each creature has a variety in itself that will make you change up your tactics as they all tend to operate a bit different from one another. Some of the enemies that will test your mettle are the teleporting versions of some of the more dangerous foes. There are teleporting spider’s that can slash off half your health if they get in a good stomp, and even when you cut down some of the larger more lumbering zombies, they will just get right back with more health.

There are not a vast amount of bosses or memorable encounters as in something like Diablo 3, but the final encounters in both the main campaign, and each of the bosses in the Motorhead add-on, are fantastic and have some truly fun mechanics that require you to do a bit of busywork as they become invincible for a portion of the battle. The main campaign does have some fairly fun bosses, but they tend to just be bigger versions of existing enemies with a much bigger health bar. It’s a problem that plagues most games like this, so I can’t really blame them for following the same method.

Apart from earning experience and getting health boosts and other benefits each time you level, Victor can equip demon powers and destiny cards that will impact how effective you can be. Demon powers range from shockwave attacks, turning into a poisonous gas, calling forth firey rocks, or summoning a defensive shield around you. You can equip two of these at any given time, and you’ll earn the use of them by performing critical strikes that build up your demon meter. The game throws so many enemies your way that I’ve often had the chance to use three shockwave attacks in a row, decimating dozens of enemies within seconds. There is even a trophy for killing 50 enemies in one blast, one that was easily achieved.

The destiny cards work like a perk system with boosting certain stats via a rarity system within the cards themselves. A level one health card may grant you 250 more health, but a level 4 one may grant 1000, and so on. These cards cover a wide spectrum for perks that will make Victor more effective in battle, or simply being able to take more damage. You can unlock the ability to hold more cards as you level up, and by the end of all three campaigns, I unlocked every slot for the cards. The one catch for this system, so that Victor doesn’t become too powerful, is that the cards have a number system based on their level, and those, in turn, add up to a limit of what you can have equipped. So, if your limit is 15, then your cards must not go over that limit when totaled up.

Each of the locations in Victor Vran has objectives that work in some ways like challenges; beat this boss with a certain gun, defeat so many enemies within the time limit, or harder ones that require that no healing items be used. You can work the metagame to comply with these rules, or make the game even harder and partake in the Hex card system. This system will buff the enemies in various ways, such as granting them bonus damage or a larger health pool. You’ll gain more experience and loot for your troubles, and should you feel the need to make it even harder, you can stack the Hex cards as well.

Victor Vran’s three campaigns should take you nearly 30 hours to complete, and this will vary greatly on your desire to explore each and every location, and even longer should you look to earn every level’s challenge objective. The fact you can jump from expansion to game without any problems makes the game really easy to get into and with local and online co-op, there is always a reason to get back into playing the game even when you’ve pushed through all the content. I do wish that you were able to see where a co-op match is taking place as all I could see was who was online and what level they were.

The game has a few minor annoyances that I’ll just jump right into. The menu font used for when you level-up, check stats on a weapon or when the game pops up a few alerts is minuscule and very hard to read. I had to lean forward and read the small text on a large 55″ 4K TV to even make out what was written. The menu’s also have a few things that took a while for me to realize I could do. I couldn’t find the ability to resort my inventory until I clicked in the right stick and was able to sort, sell junk, or bulk sell common, uncommon, and rare items. Had I know this right off the bat, then I wouldn’t have had a few moments of frustration. The whole menu structure just didn’t feel as natural as it could have been on a console and while it doesn’t limit how much fun I had with the title, it just isn’t as intuitive as it could have been.

While there are dozen’s upon dozen’s of weapons for Victor to wield, I wish there were more outfits for Victor to wear. Throughout the three campaigns, I unlocked 3-4 outfits that while cool, and offer some nice perks, just didn’t do it for me. I’m the type that really enjoys loot drops in games like this, especially outfits that change up the appearance of your character. Games like Diablo 3, Vikings: Wolves of Midgard, and Everquest: Champions of Norrath and its sequel, Return to Arms, are some of my favorite dungeon crawlers ever, but Victor Vran’s outfit offerings were less than even Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom for PS3, which only rewarded new outfits at the end of each chapter. One reason I could see why the game did limit the appearance options was that the menu screen would bring up a illustrated picture for that armor set, and not a render of the in-game character, so this use of art assets means less variety in-game.

Audio and video wise, the game is fantastic. The gorgeous colors and effects really pop and the game just runs so smooth at 60fps, that you can’t help but have a great time with it. When you spin the camera around environments, the buildings will fade so that nothing is ever blocking your view. As I pointed out in the first part of the review, Victor Vran is voiced by Doug Cockle, who is the voice behind Geralt of Rivia, the hero from The Witcher trilogy. Hearing the voice mention how he loves to kill demons, or his hatred of Vampires made me so excited to hear more from this character. The remaining voice cast is pretty solid as well, with several characters having some standout voice work, especially the female hunter you encounter fairly early on. There is also a ghost character you discover and I’m pretty sure this is the same guy who was the narrator in Witcher 3’s loading screens.

All in all, Victor Vran was a great time. Its fluid combat, fresh takes on some new and familiar weapons, and the vast secrets that each level contains, not to mention the whole game is available with offline and online co-op, there is just a vast amount of content here to take in. The two expansions that come with the Overkill Edition are easily worth it, especially the incredibly fun Motorhead add-on. Haemimont Games has crafted a wonderfully looking and sounding game with Victor Vran that is some of the best fun I’ve had with a Dungeon Crawler since Diablo 3. This one should definitely have your attention should you be a fan of the genre, and if not, this is a great place to start.

Victor Vran: Overkill Edition was reviewed via a review copy provided by the Publisher. All screenshots were captured on a PS4 Pro.

Game Review: Victor Vran – Overkill Edition (PS4) was originally published on Game-Refraction