#to simulate low gravity

[inspectorspacetimerevisited]

The main reason most alien planets the Inspector and his Associates visit have Earth-like conditions is

it saves on the Wardrobe Department creating new spacesuits for every Associate and every new world visited. And, the programme tries to avoid using wires to simulate low- or zero-gravity environments.

[tgrs10]

Worn Out | PEDRI GONZALEZ⁸ [004]

MASTERLIST (N/A)

⤑ 𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩| 1,081

⤑ 𝙎𝙪𝙢𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙮| Pedri comes home from training exhausted, in need of your touch (REQ)

⤑ 𝙒𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 | Fluff.

You’d been waiting for him, half-tuned in, half-tuned out. Just enough awareness to listen for the familiar jingle of keys at the door, or the faint scrape of sneakers against the tile. So when the lock turned and the door creaked open, you glanced up without thinking. Pedri stepped inside, hair still damp from the quick shower he’d taken after training, the ends curling slightly where the water hadn’t fully dried, training bag slung lazily over one shoulder. His shirt hung from him like it weighed a ton, clinging to his frame as he shut the door behind him without a word. He didn’t need to say anything, you could already see the wear in his body, the way his steps were slow and heavy like the day had dragged him down with it.

You could see the exhaustion in the way he moved, each step slower than the last, like gravity had turned against him. His shoulders slumped, his face unreadable, lips barely parted as he let out a quiet breath through his nose. No smile. No spark in his eyes. Just that heavy, bone-deep fatigue he wasn’t even trying to mask. You sat up from the couch, setting your phone aside. “Hi, baby,” you murmured, voice soft, inviting. He didn’t respond, not with words, anyway. Just let out a low, tired hum in the back of his throat, barely acknowledging your voice. His training bag hit the floor with a dull thud, the sound settling into the quiet like an exhale, like even the walls could feel his exhaustion. And then, without hesitation, he crossed the room and collapsed, face down, right across your lap.

His body sprawled over you like dead weight, like something inside him had finally given up on holding it together. One arm hung off the edge of the couch, the other tucked loosely beneath his chest. His cheek pressed against your thigh, warm and solid, his breath slow and deep as he let himself sink into you. Every muscle in him seemed to release all at once, like this was what his body had been waiting for all day.  You blinked, lips parting slightly as you looked down at him. Then, instinctively, your hand found his back, smoothing over the soft fabric of his shirt. Beneath it, his muscles were still wound tight, tension buried deep under skin and exhaustion. Your palm settled between his shoulder blades, fingers tracing slow, absentminded circles, grounding him.

“How was training?” you asked, voice low, the pads of your fingers pressing gently into the knots of strain beneath them. Pedri didn’t answer right away. Just inhaled, slow and steady, his whole body rising and falling with the movement. And then, in a voice that came out rough and wrecked, barely more than a mumble, he finally responded “Super brutal.”

Your heart cracked a little at the way he said it. Not dramatic. Not whining. Just tired. Worn to the bone, stripped bare by drills, sprints, shouts, heat, every demand of the day weighing down on him like it was still happening in his head. You could feel it humming through him, a low-grade static that hadn’t left yet. You slipped your hand beneath the hem of his hoodie, fingertips grazing warm skin. He didn’t move. Didn’t flinch. Just sighed again, a quiet, tired sound, muffled into your thigh.

Your fingers found bare skin just under his shirt, and you began to move in slow, soothing circles across the small of his back. Slightly damp, still warm from exertion. You dragged your nails lightly along the curve of his spine before flattening your palm against it, kneading gently, the way you knew helped most. He let out a soft hum, low in his throat. “They made us do five rounds of short-field transitions,” he muttered eventually, voice low, lips barely moving. “Sprint to defend, turn, sprint again. Over and over. Then full match simulation.” Your hand moved higher, brushing up toward his shoulder blades now, each motion patient and intentional. “And you didn’t get a break during the match, im guessing?” 

“Yeah.” A dry little breath of laughter escaped him, but it didn’t carry any real amusement. “Coach kept shouting at me to 'create more verticality' even though my legs were gone after the first twenty minutes. Like, It was really bad, cariño.”

You smiled softly, letting your thumb trace lazy circles between his shoulders, dipping under the collar of his shirt. “Mm that must suck...” His arm shifted slightly, just enough to hook around the back of your calves, not gripping, just needing to touch. His fingers rested there limply, warm and worn out. You nodded, your hands now gently moving down his back. His skin was warm under your palms, the muscles still rigid from the strain of his training. Your fingertips pressed into the small of his back, your thumbs making slow, soothing circles over the tight muscles that stretched across his spine. You could feel his body slowly starting to melt under your touch, his breath deepening as the tension ebbed away.

“That feel better?” you asked softly, your voice barely more than a whisper. Your heart swelled at the peaceful expression on his face, the way he relaxed further into your touch, his body responding to you. “So much better,” he whispered, his voice barely audible as he let out another sigh, his head tilting slightly forward as he sank into the sensation. His eyes stayed closed, his face softening with every movement of your hands. “I didn’t even realize how much I needed this.”

A small smile tugged at your lips, the words feeling more like an invitation to continue than a response. You moved your hands lower, gently tracing the curves of his back, your fingers slipping over the muscles of his torso with a tenderness that made him melt further. The soft sound of his breathing was like a melody, steady and calming, and you found yourself lost in the rhythm of it, your touch moving fluidly over his skin.

The room seemed to grow quieter as time passed, the only sounds the steady hum of the evening and the quiet breaths between you. Your hands traced along his lower back, your palms moving in slow, soothing strokes over the tense muscles. You could feel the heat from his skin, the subtle tremor of his muscles beneath your fingertips as you worked to ease every last bit of strain from him.

[yuurei20]

Ortho Updated Facts Part 13: Ortho's Gear (pt2)

New Year’s Gear (attachments developed by Sam) ・store occupancy analysis ・simulation projection ・vital signs scanning ・inventory confirmation sensor

Platinum Gear ・Museum map access

Playful Gear (designed by playfulland) ・same functionality as school uniform gear ・body scanning ・magic scanning ・high-speed flutter kick mode

Precision Gear (developed by Idia) ・a fiberscope  ・mini-arms  ・a 3D printer  ・a first-aid kit ・Ability to estimate the likelihood of Silver falling asleep

Rabbit Gear v.1 (developed by Ortho) ・anti-gravity omitted in favor of basic walking protoocls and running capabilities ・vital signs scanning ・photography ・laser function removed ・time keeping functionality ・map generation (GPS removed) ・floor scanning ・rabbit-like leaping ability ・nutritional balance scanning?

Rabbit Gear v.2 (developed by Ortho) ・anti-gravity ・high-speed movement ・flight ・laser ・rabbit mimic mode (running, hopping) ・heat signal detection

Stargazer Gear (developed by Idia) ・weather calculation  ・the ability to fly into space

Ortho seems to have a “sleep mode,” a “low illumination mode” and an “auto mode.”

It seems that Ortho may not usually be waterproof: he says that "It must be nice being able to just take a quick bath or do laundry whenever. Washing my parts takes ages…” and “I’m good at diving! Oh, I mean deep-diving online, not literal swimming," but his Cooking and Playfulland Gear are specified as being waterproof.

[nasa]

For the Benefit of All: Assistive Tech Developed from NASA Tech

What do modern cochlear implants and robotic gloves have in common? They were derived from NASA technology. We’ve made it easier to find and use our patented inventions that could help create products that enhance life for people with disabilities.

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month, which highlights the contributions of American workers with disabilities – many of whom use assistive technology on the job. Take a look at these assistive technologies that are NASA spinoffs.

Low-Vision Headsets

The Joint Optical Reflective Display (JORDY) device is a headset that uses NASA image processing and head-mounted display technology to enable people with low vision to read and write. JORDY enhances individuals’ remaining sight by magnifying objects up to 50 times and allowing them to change contrast, brightness, and display modes. JORDY's name was inspired by Geordi La Forge, a blind character from “Star Trek: The Next Generation” whose futuristic visor enabled him to see.

Cochlear Implants

Work that led to the modern cochlear implant was patented by a NASA engineer in the 1970s. Following three failed corrective surgeries, Adam Kissiah combined his NASA electronics know-how with research in the Kennedy Space Center technical library to build his own solution for people with severe-to-profound hearing loss who receive little or no benefit from hearing aids. Several companies now make the devices, which have been implanted in hundreds of thousands of people around the world.

Robotic Gloves

Ironhand, from Swedish company Bioservo Technologies, is the world’s first industrial-strength robotic glove for factory workers and others who perform repetitive manual tasks. It helps prevent stress injuries but has been especially warmly received by workers with preexisting hand injuries and conditions. The glove is based on a suite of patents for the technology developed by NASA and General Motors to build the hands of the Robonaut 2 humanoid robotic astronaut.

Smart Glasses

Neurofeedback technology NASA originally developed to improve pilots’ attention has been the basis for products aimed at helping people manage attention disorders without medication. The devices measure brainwave output to gauge attention levels according to the “engagement index” a NASA engineer created. Then, they show the results to users, helping them learn to voluntarily control their degree of concentration. One such device is a pair of smart glasses from Narbis, whose lenses darken as attention wanes.

Anti-Gravity Treadmills

A NASA scientist who developed ways to use air pressure to simulate gravity for astronauts exercising in space had the idea to apply the concept for the opposite effect on Earth. After licensing his technology, Alter-G Inc. developed its anti-gravity G-Trainer treadmill, which lets users offload some or all of their weight while exercising. The treadmills can help people recover from athletic or brain injuries, and they allow a safe exercise regimen for others with long-term conditions such as arthritis.

Wireless Muscle Sensors

Some of the most exciting assistive technologies to spin off may be yet to come. Delsys Inc. developed electromyographic technology to help NASA understand the effects of long-term weightlessness on astronauts’ muscles and movements. Electromyography detects and analyzes electrical signals emitted when motor nerves trigger movement. Among the company’s customers are physical therapists developing exercise routines to help patients recover from injuries. But some researchers are using the technology to attempt recoveries that once seemed impossible, such as helping paralyzed patients regain movement, letting laryngectomy patients speak, and outfitting amputees with artificial limbs that work like the real thing.  

To further enhance the lives of people with disabilities, NASA has identified a selection of patented technologies created for space missions that could spur the next generation of assistive technology here on Earth.

Want to learn more about assistive technologies already in action? Check out NASA Spinoff to find products and services that wouldn’t exist without space exploration.   

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!

[blazehedgehog]

am i the only one getting tired of Nintendo trying to make every game they make now into botw? Like, for what purpose does Mario kart really need to be open world? I get that for a long running series, you eventually need to do something to warrant a sequel, but is this really it? It’s a racing game. I just don't get it. Especially since it looks pretty empty from what we've seen anyway.

Well, to answer this we really need to break down why people care about open world games at all.

It's easy to forget now because companies like Rockstar and Bethesda have spent the better part of the last 15 years walking things back, but the original reason people loved open world games was a sense of freedom. The ability to go anywhere and do things your way.

My favorite example is Grand Theft Auto 3. An early mission in that game tells you to kill a low-level mobster that operates a strip club in Liberty City. How you do that doesn't matter; the game only checks to see if he's dead. So the game drops you and him into the open world and lets you figure out the rest. You could run him over, snipe him from a distance, maybe it starts a car chase and you race deeper into the city before catching up and finishing the job. But it's up to you and the world exists to facilitate multiple outcomes.

None of this is possible in Grand Theft Auto 5. GTA5 is to married to its cinematic presentation. A similar mission in GTA5 would see you forced to drive Michael's car to the strip club, watch a big-budget celebrity-acted cutscene, get locked inside of the strip club for a tightly-scripted shootout where you can only use Michael's guns, and if there was a car chase, it would only happen after another cutscene showed the target getting into his car, after which you'd have to drive Michael's car to chase him down. The target will always drive the same route to the same destination. At no point are you ever allowed to deviate from the script or else you will fail the mission.

Open world games used to be about letting you do things your way and the simulation surprising you with an unexpected systemic outcome. A game where you are expected to improvise when plans go south.

And this is what manifested so strongly in Breath of the Wild. A lot of Zelda games railroaded you into a specific order of dungeons, a specific progression of puzzle solving, a very gated and guided experience masquerading as a big open world. And instead, Breath of the Wild replaced all of that with a bunch of interconnected systems like physics, gravity, material simulation. Fire spreads and burns. Metal conducts electricity. Wind provides lift. Water can be frozen. Objects can be pushed, pulled, dropped, rolled, and stacked. They have weight and mass which can be imparted on other objects in the same world.

And once you understand these fundamental rules of this reality, you are free to go anywhere and accomplish any goal in whatever way you can manage to make it work. Not only are these brand new concepts for a Zelda game, they are a breath of fresh air after each new Elder Scrolls and Fallout game seems to shave off more and more complexity and lean further towards becoming another cinematic action game.

And this filters down into Mario pretty easily. I've said it before and people have rebuked me, but Super Mario 64 is kind of an open world game and it isn't too dissimilar to Grand Theft Auto. There are structural and content differences to be sure, but at the end of the day you are being turned loose in a non-linear world and can finish any mission in any order by whatever means necessary.

This was something slowly lost to the Mario franchise over time. Starting as early as Super Mario Sunshine, you are locked down and only able to get shines in specific ways and in a specific order. By Super Mario Galaxy, the open world itself is gone, simplified back down to linear levels. And by Super Mario 3D Land and Super Mario 3D World, we're just fully back to classic, traditional Mario level structure, going from left to right.

Odyssey doesn't just go back to the Super Mario 64 structure, it improves on it. Collectibles are everywhere, awarded for the simple act of finding something interesting. An odd bump in the dirt? There's a collectible in there. A strange crack in the wall? There's a collectible in there. What's at the top of this tower? Probably a collectible. Again: go anywhere, do anything, and be rewarded for exploring and playing in this space naturally.

Which brings us back to Mario Kart.

Originally, I was kind of bored by open world racing games. Thinking of them in terms of a GTA, the open world map of a Forza Horizon or Burnout Paradise doesn't feel very "alive." A lot of buildings feel same-y. And racing games are about learning tracks and mastering turns.

But the thing is, that last bit does actually happen in open world racing games. By driving around the world you're learning the layout of all the streets. It's a form of long, long term prep. And I'll admit, over a long period of time, I've grown to love the open worlds of Forza Horizon and Burnout Paradise. They aren't fun in a traditional racing sense, but it's still fun to just drive around, you know? In Burnout especially. Sometimes I boot that game up not to do anything specific, but just because I want to drive around.

If the base act of just driving around in Mario Kart World is fun, then the game itself will be fun. You are basically being presented with a Mario Kart track that never ends.

And for what it's worth, we still don't know anything about the open world itself. We know about what's on the roads, sure, but we don't know anything about what's off-road. There's gotta be a reason to go out there, and they haven't talked about any of it. It's all been focused on racing. There could be collectibles out there, NPCs out there, new challenges, secrets to explore, all kinds of stuff. And they just haven't talked about it yet.

We'll know more on April 17th.

[thirdwheelravi]

imagine its 8x18 and buddie is still not canon. oliver stark himself would go up to ryan like hey are you okay if I improv a kiss in this scene? just a little one. on the lips. yeah dont worry about it I think it makes sense for buck and eddie to do that here.

everyone dont even worry we are getting there no matter what

taking matters into his own hands fr.....and since they only ever film one take tim minear is just gonna be like looks good guys 👍 (he's busy building the biggest zero gravity simulator set for the opening disaster of s9 which is set in low earth orbit)

[tytarax]

Hi, its been a while since I've heard you've open your requests. Can you do a platonic request for Frieza, where female human S/O acts similarly like Twilight Sparkle. I like to think that she would freak out a little when something logically doesn't make any sense of Frieza just messing with her, cause he can.

Of courseee, it sure sounds funny. There's a friend of mine that's like her and I enjoy bothering her with anything (I'm not as brilliant as her (she's a freakin genius) so I just make things work under my logic), so I got inspired.

“Frieza, this makes absolutely no sense!”

You paced back and forth on the pristine floors of Frieza’s spaceship, a clipboard in one hand and a stylus in the other. Your brows were furrowed, and your eyes darted between Frieza and the incomprehensible mess before you. The tyrant lounged in his chair, tail swishing lazily, a smirk tugging at the corners of his lips.

“Ah, but that’s the beauty of it, dear,” Frieza drawled, resting his chin on one hand. “It doesn’t need to make sense. I simply will it so.”

You stopped mid-step and spun on your heel to face him, your frustration bubbling to the surface. “That’s not how things work! Logic, rules, cause and effect—these are fundamental principles of the universe! What you’re saying is just… chaos!”

“Precisely,” he replied, his grin widening. “And isn’t it delightful?”

It wasn’t delightful. Not to you, anyway. You gestured emphatically at the display screen, which was showing a gravity simulation that, by all accounts, should have imploded the room. Instead, objects floated serenely, unaffected by the laws of physics.

“Look at this! The equations don’t balance. The energy inputs don’t match the outputs. The… the…” You threw your hands in the air, your voice rising in pitch. “It’s impossible!”

Frieza chuckled, a low, almost musical sound that only deepened your exasperation. “Oh, dear, your obsession with logic is utterly charming. But you forget: I am no mere mortal bound by your quaint little rules. If I desire gravity to behave like a playful child, then so it shall.”

You gaped at him, your brain working overtime to reconcile his words with the reality before you. “But why?” you demanded. “What’s the point of all this?”

Frieza rose from his seat with a fluid grace, his tail flicking behind him as he stepped closer. “Why not?” he said simply, the smug amusement in his voice nearly tangible. “It’s so entertaining to watch you squirm, my dear. You remind me of a bird flapping hopelessly against a cage. Adorable, really.”

You crossed your arms, determined not to let him get under your skin. “Well, it’s not entertaining to me! Do you know how hard it is to solve a problem when you keep rewriting the rules?”

Frieza leaned down, his red eyes glinting with mischief. “Oh, but that’s the point. There is no problem to solve. It’s a game. One you can’t win.”

Your jaw tightened, and you jabbed your stylus in his direction. “If this is a game, then what’s the objective?”

“To watch you unravel, of course.” His smirk widened, utterly unrepentant.

You groaned, dragging a hand down your face. “Unbelievable. You’re doing this just to mess with me.”

“Correct,” he said, his tone dripping with satisfaction. “I must say, your reactions are priceless. Do go on.”

You threw your clipboard onto a nearby table, planting your hands on your hips. “Fine. If you want chaos, I’ll give you chaos. But don’t come crying to me when you can’t fix it.”

“Crying?” Frieza echoed, his voice laced with mock offense. “As if I, Lord Frieza, would ever stoop to such a thing. But by all means, do try.”

Challenge accepted. You marched over to the console and began tapping furiously, your mind racing to devise a way to outsmart his nonsensical alterations. Meanwhile, Frieza watched with keen interest, his smirk never faltering.

“Let’s see how your precious logic fares against divine will,” he mused, reclining once more.

You muttered something under your breath, something that sounded suspiciously like, “This is why I prefer books to people.”

Frieza, of course, heard it. His laughter echoed through the room.

Masterpost

DBS Masterlist

[dandelionsresilience]

Dandelion News - October 15-21

Like these weekly compilations? Tip me at $kaybarr1735 or check out my Dandelion Doodles on Patreon!

1. EV owners volunteer to drive voters to the polls in 11 states (and you can too)

“ChargeTheVote.org is a nonpartisan voter education and engagement initiative to enhance voter turnout in the 2024 election by providing zero-emission transportation in electric vehicles (EVs) to local polling locations. ChargeTheVote will also host a webinar for those who are interested in participating this coming Tuesday, October 22 at 7pm Eastern time.”

2. Kenya moves 50 elephants to a larger park, says it’s a sign poaching is low

“The elephant population in the […”Mwea National Reserve”…] has flourished from its capacity of 50 to a whopping 156 […] requiring the relocation of about 100 of [them…. The] overpopulation in Mwea highlighted the success of conservation efforts over the last three decades.”

3. Australian start-up secures $9m for mine-based gravity energy storage technology

““We expect to configure the gravitational storage technology [which the company “hopes to deploy in disused mines”] for mid-duration storage applications of 4 to 24 hours, deliver 80% energy efficiency and to enable reuse of critical grid infrastructure.“”

4. Africa’s little-known golden cat gets a conservation boost, with community help

“[H]unting households were given a pregnant sow [… so that they] had access to meat without needing to trap it in the wild. […] To address income needs, Embaka started […] a savings and loan co-op[… and an] incentive for the locals to give up hunting in exchange for regular dental care.”

5. 4.8M borrowers — including 1M in public service — have had student debt forgiven

“That brings the total amount of student debt relief under the administration to $175 billion[….] The Education Department said that before Biden's presidency, only 7,000 public servants had ever received student debt relief through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. […] "That’s an increase of more than 14,000% in less than four years.””

6. Puerto Rico closes $861M DOE loan guarantee for huge solar, battery project

“The solar plants combined will have 200 megawatts of solar capacity — enough to power 43,000 homes — while the battery systems are expected to provide up to 285 megawatts of storage capacity. [… O]ver the next 10 years, more than 90 percent of solar capacity in Puerto Rico will come from distributed resources like rooftop solar.”

7. Tim Walz Defends Queer And Trans Youth At Length In Interview With Glennon Doyle

“Walz discussed positive legislative actions, such as codifying hate crime laws and increasing education[.… “We] need to appoint judges who uphold the right to marriage, uphold the right to be who you are [… and] to get the medical care that you need.””

8. Next-Generation Geothermal Development Important Tool for Clean Energy Economy

““The newest forms of geothermal energy hold the promise of generating electricity 24 hours a day using an endlessly renewable, pollution-free resource[… that] causes less disturbance to public lands and wildlife habitat […] than many other forms of energy development[….]”

9. Sarah McBride hopes bid to be first transgender congresswoman encourages ’empathy’ for trans people

““Folks know I am personally invested in equality as an LGBTQ person. But my priorities are going to be affordable child care, paid family and medical leave, housing, health care, reproductive freedom. […] We know throughout history that the power of proximity has opened even the most-closed of hearts and minds.”“

10. At Mexico’s school for jaguars, big cats learn skills to return to the wild

“[A team of scientists] have successfully released two jaguars, and are currently working to reintroduce two other jaguars and three pumas (Puma concolor). [… “Wildlife simulation”] “keeps the jaguars active and reduces the impact of captivity and a sedentary lifestyle[….]””

October 8-14 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)

[dramashii]

I'm going to assume a large chunk of the eps of When the Stars Gossip will be set in "space". I'm so curious how they filmed this.

Did they film this in a low gravity simulation? There's probably an interview out there that answers this specific question but I haven't seen it yet.

[wickeddelit]

Working on global events... Simulating low gravity malfunction aboard a space station during a global event for my scifi mmorpg. The players onboard the station will experience the low gravity and have to work together to fix the issue or .. just float around like I am 😁

[stormbreaker101]

You have unlimited resources and time to prepare a prank on one random adult person. Your task is to make the prank sucessful, meaning: making the person genuinely laugh. What will the prank look like? (If you can't come up with anything now, come back later. I do not accept "idk" answers.)/@i-send-you-random-asks

I would pretend send them to Mars.

Ever since 7th and 8th grade, my teacher and I had this inside joke that I would become a super successful scientist and help him become the first human on Mars. I first designed this prank with him in mind but come on, who WOULDN'T want to go to Mars at the low low cost of it being a funky prank?

Do you know that one video where it's like, a person goes into a porta potty outside and then a bunch of people build a small office room around it so when the person in the porta potty is finished, they step out into what looks like a corporate meeting instead of just going back outside?

I'd do something similar. Hold on let me draw some schematics.

so the gray building in the center would be a mock spaceship, fitted with one of those rollercoaster simulator type rides. the ones with the real gyroscopic capabilities to make you feel like you're going on all the twists and turns of a coaster without actually having to get on a coaster. Not VR. I can't fucking find an image of what Im talking about sadly.

The ground (green) would be either realistic fake turf or a thin layer of dirt and grass on top of a removable plastic tarp, and there would be giant fucking fans (the dark gray cylinders) underneath.

Anyway, while the person is in the building getting "suited up" and going thru the mock flight, a crew comes and removes the fake ground, and puts an air-permeable but realistic-ish cover over the ground so that our prankee isn't aware they're walking on fans. Add some realistic rocks and a large round plexiglass wall and badabing badaboom you have discount Mars on Earth!

The fans are there because Mars's gravity is only about 1/3 the strength of Earth's, so you need an upward force (the white arrows) to partially counter Earth's gravity and make it feel lesser. It'd be like like those indoor skydiving facilities but the fans aren't SO powerful that they fully match Earth's gravity

Ideally this prank would be done somewhere that is sorta feasibly like Mars on Earth. Wadi Rum, Jordan comes to mind because that's where they filmed The Martian (aka that film where the guy survives on the surface of Mars by consisting solely on potatoes i think). Otherwise instead of plexiglass walls you'd need a REALLY convincing panoramic landscape of Mars painted on the walls.

[toyota-supra]

My Top 10 (+X) Games I Played In 2024

In order of first to last played! Roughly.

Momodora: Moonlit Farewell

I was so hyped for Momodora 5 since this title was announced, and I was really happy to know it turned out great! A really fun action platformer with good movement, combat, exploration and level design. Everything flows super well and never too frustrating. I was delighted from start to end, and went out of my way to play it again right after I beat it, in the Arrange Mode you unlock at the end, and that was good too. My only problem with the game was with how it lived up in comparison to the (seemingly) much popular game it was a sequel to, and with how, for a send-off to the Momodora series as a whole, I found it really disappointing how you never get to play as Dora, though she is quite present in the narrative. After all, she is the protagonist of the game that started it all, and partners up with Momo (the one you play as in this one) in Momodora III, too.

Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

Will you believe me if I say I didn't at first want to play this because I knew a sequel was coming out, but because I saw a meme that basically said "differently from Skyrim and Dark Souls, fighting in Dragon's Dogma feels ACTUALLY AWESOME!!!" I thought it was so silly I had to try it, since I already owned the game on Steam because of a previous Capcom bundle deal. It was love at first sight. I adored how the combat felt, and the gravity that the game gave to each encounter and to the workings of its game world. I honestly still fail to come up with the words to describe how good this game is, but just know that merely walking from one place to another in it is so fun, I have not once used the "fast travel" feature in my 70 hours in it (something that I wish I could say another big JRPG I played this year).

Parappa the Rapper 2

You know Parappa. Toast the buns, french the fries. You know him.

Lunacid

As an indie dungeon crawler heavily inspired by old fromsoft games and made by a developer mostly known for horror games, I imagined Lunacid wouldn't be for me at all, but you DO swing a sword in this game, and sometimes that is enough for me. Lunacid is a strong contender for being the best game on this list. Its world, its story, its levels, its music, its atmosphere, its enemies, its controls, its weapons, its magic, its sense of humor, everything in Lunacid is fantastic. I adore this game, and I recommend it to literally anyone at all. Kira has mastered the art of first person low-poly horror so well, that even if I was completely invincible this game would still scare me, and yet its ease of approach, low difficulty and strong variety in routing and equipment make it one of the most encouraging games on the list, too. If there's anything I would fix with the game, I wouldn't, because all I can think of is adding cheat codes that give you a goldeneye pistol and make the game a completely different experience, because for what it is trying to do I think Lunacid already delivers.

F1 Games

This is kind of cheating but I must explain. I played a lot of Formula 1 video games this 2024. Like 10 of them, almost. And I don't think any one specific of them is worth including here but I do think as a whole I do owe them a bit of focus. I played F1 23 with a few friends because we all conveniently had a Game Pass subscription active at the same time. Probably the first time I really had a group to play an online racing game with, and it was amazing! Though our races never got past four human drivers on track at once, just that was enough for me to adore every second of the game. I truly love this sport and I love playing these games. I also won most races because I have more experience in (arcade, casual, however you want to say "ones that aren't simulators for tryhards") racing games than all of them combined, but still, they had fun too. And this was enough for me to embark on a journey where I played a lot of F1 Challenge 99-02 and even beat a full championship in it, I played a lot of F1 06 on PS2 (which is also the first game I ever had for the console back in the day) and loved how much that game immersed you in the television, I played a lot of F1 24 and even went back to replay a lot of Horizon Chase Turbo's Senna Forever DLC, which simulates early 90's racing in its arcade mode. While 2023 had me trying a lot of racing games from different series to see all sorts of corners in the motorsport, in 2024 I dove fully into F1 and I loved it. You've probably already noticed that before from my other posts, though.

Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies (and Ace Combat 5 too)

I normally insist on starting series I want to get into from the very first game and go in release order, but I was convinced by a honestly really strong series of factors into playing 04 first, and I can't imagine a better introduction. Despite being the fourth entry, Shattered Skies is as much of an evolution as it is a step back into a more arcadey structure since the previous game. With a perfectly short length, a story that is narrated parallel to the action in really good scenes that ground you to the world of a game that needs little more than that, and a flying combat sim that feels so good, sometimes after beating it I'd forget I was on the ground at all. I played Ace Combat 5 not too long after, and think it is just as worth trying, with a story many consider to be one of the best in the series, though I do think the missions and game length do hold that title back a little bit in comparison.

Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order

Though not everything I wanted out of the idea, action adventure game with exploration that can be compared to metroidvanias in its structure was always a good idea for Star Wars. The levels and combat really make it for me, even if the game overall has a few too many animals to fight against, and not enough interesting enemies otherwise. I really like the lightsaber in this, so many great interactions with the world, and a parry system that is both really forgiving and really satisfying, making this a good action game for anyone interested in the series. I've heard the sequel makes a lot of these things even better, but it won't open in my computer…

Racing Lagoon

I have been trying to finish Racing Lagoon since 2021 and always failed to. This Squaresoft hidden gem of a racing rpg that got a fan translation in the year previously mentioned has been in a corner of my mind for every second since I first played it. It is absolutely full of charm, of passion, of beauty, damn what a game. And yet, it is also a quite long adventure through a driving model that is not very good, a story that is not very straightforward, and with a punishment for losing races that can entirely delete pieces of your equipment that are impossible to get back (though honestly, quite hard to lose races the faster you get), and many sidequests that are very easy to lose, so I do think it was difficult to get myself in a mood where I could get through the whole thing. Thankfully I finally did, and I do think it was worth every bit of trouble I had. Racing Lagoon is a wonderful game that I wish got more attention, more attempts, and spawned more evolutions from it in the racing game world.

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk

Indie games that promise to succeed then-abandoned classics of generations past always scare me, because I've seen far too many cases of those just not going well. No matter how much game development has evolved, there are games we wish would get sequels that we need to understand were a lot more down to its developers being very experienced, skilled people with decades of work in the business, all divided into their own roles, than people like to admit. So just having the technology, the time and maybe a couple of the minds (in this case, a composer) to create a spiritual sequel is often not enough. Though in BRC's case, it totally was! Even in the ways that it shouldn't! In any case, I really loved the game. The story is great, the movement, the levels, the missions, it's all wonderful. I also recommend checking out the modding scene in it because you can just play the entire thing online, with other people hanging out in pretty much anywhere you go and it's crazy how much there is to do here. One of my favorite non-sega sega games.

Drakengard

I tend to remember my nightmares much more than my dreams, which I understand to mean I just have them more often. I don't mind this, though, because waking up from a nightmare is a relief, since it means the awful reality I was going through wasn't a reality at all. Thus, waking up from a good dream is more of a disappointment than anything. Drakengard is a lot like my nightmares. Its janky controls and anxiety-inducing music give a really strong taste to everything good you can extract from playing it. I loved every second of it, even the most repetitive and the most frustrating. Every step this game takes to make things worse for you and the characters in the story just let me asking, "how much worse is it going to get?" and the answer was always, "very." I love it! One of my favorite games ever, for sure. Probably my favorite PS2 game at least.

[heliopauseentertainments]

Choice Location

Part of MegOp Week 2024 Prompt - Day 4: Role Reversal/Peace

Continuity: IDW1

Rating: General

Relationships: Megatron & Optimus Prime

Characters: Megatron, Optimus Prime

Warnings: Quintuple Drabble, Vignette

Summary: In which Megatron waits on a quiet moon for Optimus to arrive.

Crossposting: AO3 | Dreamwidth

Fic under cut. See AO3 for complete notes.

It was quiet, Megatron thought.

The void of space usually was but the silence on a barren rock, little more than a desolate asteroid named only by an automatically generated number and tucked away in a scarcely visited solar system, was different. Here there was a weight to silence, pressing down on his body rather than in space where the nothingness tried to pull his frame outward.

The small planetoid was just large enough to hold its bulk in a spherical shape, to have a small horizon…. Just large enough to have the gravity necessary to keep Megatron from floating off into space as he reclined against its rough silicate surface, waiting.

It wasn’t quite sizable enough, however, to hold onto any detectable atmosphere, which meant being functionally deaf and mute without any gaseous molecules to transit the pressure waves of sound.

When Optimus touched down on the opposite side of the planetoid, as planned, Megatron was alerted by the combined subtle tremors in the rock and the buzz of a familiar voice through his internal commlink.

“I’ve made it.”

The synthetic voice, simulated by their internal systems to mimic what was mechanically produced by a vocalizer, wasn’t quite the same. A near perfect imitation, but there was always something off. The imperfections in audio quality added to the surreality of a clandestine meeting on a nowhere “world.”

Megatron slowly pushed himself to his feet, ignoring the coating of moon dust that clung to his armor through static attraction. Standing up too quickly in such low gravity could have sent him careening into the void.

“You kept me waiting.”

“My apologies; you know how traffic can be.”

Megatron tried to scoff, but with no air for the pressure to travel, all that happened was a soundless, dull clunking sensation in his throat.

“Yes.”

His own synthesized voice was a low buzz in his signal feedback, flat and crisp around the edges. It lost so much, but it didn’t feel like it would blow away the smooth dust coating the planetoid.

“I’m sure you had to battle armies of commuters on the way to this popular vacation destination.”

The shuttle that Megatron had brought with him was only tenuously parked on the unstable regolith. Optimus’s was likely in a similarly precarious position on the other side of the rock.

It was almost as though the physicality of the meeting place itself was enforcing a peaceful interaction. Any violence, rough movements, or recoil from gunfire could send them flying away, unable to reach their respective vessels. No wonder Optimus chose this location for their meeting.

Unfortunately, Megatron would have to give credit where credit was due.

An almost poetic tactic given what they had hoped to achieve here—peace at long last— far away from the belligerent eyes of their officers and soldiers.

Cresting what barely constituted a low rise, Megatron saw Optimus, a bright, vivid bloom in the dust, waiting on the other side.

“Tell me, Prime, where shall we start?”

[kinopioa]

Saw the Shadow anim, thoughts Spoilers;

The good

-Emerl is a corrupted memory. Shadow even notes GUN raiding is also timed inappropriately

-Maria isn't a horrid angst victim. She has other humanities seen

The bad

The Encyclospeedia bullshit of "Low Gravity for remission". Cuz Ian wrote this You LITERALLY have simulated gravity, the only reason Maria is on the Ark is CUZ IT'S STERILE OF AN ENVIRONMENT The anim is also wonky. Noticed they used cel shaded CG certain places for chars, which credits confirm

Moon is rotated wrong, but not surprised. Cue fans thinking this is right. Do like the rubble forming a ring though

For more info bout the moon: https://www.tumblr.com/kinopioa/740251806204051456/it-gets-me-people-got-pissy-at-iizukas?source=share

Whether or not this is actually continuity tied to the game is yet to be seen. Still annoyed at bits, but will keep watching

[livingforstars]

Simulating the Universe - November 8th, 1995.

"The above cube represents a chunk of our universe as simulated by the Grand Challenge Cosmology Consortium (GC3). The cube is huge - it would take light 500 million years to cross it. Low density gas is shown as blue, and high density gas as red. In the beginning of the Universe, matter and gas were spread quite uniformly. As this computer Universe evolved, gravity caused high density areas to be created. This simulation hypothesised that one third of the Universe is composed of slow moving "cold dark matter", and two thirds is composed of fast moving "hot dark matter." The areas of high and low density resulting from this computer simulation are similar to those observed by astronomers in the real Universe."

[bellygunnr]

Cavalry Call

Commission piece for @poisonheadcrabsalesman of my Spartan and AI Roland driving a tank!

Gunny squints through the War Games UI. He's not in armor, so there's no HUD, necessarily, but his neural implant jumps to connect with the simulation pod and forces various shapes and lines to scrawl over his naked eyes. It makes his brain pulse in a deeply uncomfortable way. He jabs aimlessly at the air, snarling when he puts in the wrong option, tosses his head back when his implant abruptly goes icy and his world tinges yellow.

Bit small in here, isn't it? A familiar voice says.

Gunny leans on the edge of the pod, world swimming counter-clockwise.

"Roland," he says. "What are you doing up?"

The freezing sensation zips down his spine and melts slowly. His vision flares. Roland is-- showing off, he realizes, rifling through his brain and making the pod easier to work with.

"This is an oddly specific setup for you," Roland replies, ignoring him completely. "Ohhh. You were Army?"

The pod hums to life. Gunny climbs inside, settling into the straps, harness, and chair, and tries not to think about Roland partially riding inside. He didn't ask for a buddy, but maybe he's just doing that badly, to warrant pity from--

Hey, Roland says sharply.

Right.

He relaxes into the restraint. The hum rises in volume until his molars buzz, and then the world melts away. His limbs grow heavy and gravity tries to yank him to the ground.

But he catches his footing and rolls back to a standing position-- right next to an M808B MBT. Scorpion, for short. Gunny runs his hands over the angled hull of a tread pod, nodding to himself. It'd be a tight fit inside with his helmet.

I've never driven one of these before, Roland comments. Mind if I tag along?

"Do I have a choice?" Gunny grunts, swinging himself up and over the rear pod and on top of the cockpit.

He kicks open the hatch with one practiced strike with his boot, but hesitates on diving inside. Instead, he crouches under the long barrel, taking stock of his surroundings. That was the problem with War Games--

It could simulate enemies, but not friendlies. His ghosts didn't care what he was doing here. 

"You always have a choice," Roland says, seeping into his armor speakers. "You haven't said no yet, either."

"You didn't ask," Gunny snaps. "You seriously haven't ridden a tank?"

His HUD shivers yellow at the edges. He wishes he knew what Roland is doing, knows he can ask, but doesn't. The horizon some two kliks south lights up in neon and ionizes the air. Shakes the ground. 

Don't sound so surprised, Roland says, deep in his mind, I'm usually busy flying a starship!

He sucks in a deep breath and swings down into the cockpit of the tank. The tip of his helmet's horn grazes the ceiling before the single seat bolted to the floor grabs him and holds him close. His neck twinges as Roland jumps around, stretching himself out to fill the space of a brain and fake reality, while his neural implant does the same to sink deep into the tank.

Yeah, okay. He hasn't been in a Scorpion in a long time. It's kind of comforting, if you consider lying prone in a giant metal coffin a comfort.

Still, it takes a second for the controls to rise to his finger tips. The tank has to be started manually, but that's muscle memory. Gunny's sure the only reason he's aware of the process at all is due to Roland skimming through his brain, pleased. Then it's letting the exterior sensors and computer guiding systems pour into his brain. 

"Kind of claustrophobic, don't you think?" Roland laughs. 

Under the laughter, there's a current of genuine discomfort. Gunny lets the massive engine roar up through his throat and into his guts, lets Roland copy the synapses necessary to encourage the tank to move, and hauls off toward the flashing forest with dirt and stone dragging across his- their- backside. 

The Scorpion has its name for a few reasons, really. The most obvious is its silhouette. That low, wide hull that hugs the ground, yet snaps up into a long-snouted cannon turret. Just like its namesake, it has a long reach and a nasty bite.

And it's agile as hell.

Gunny coaxes the big thing off the plateau and down a pile of previously-blasted rock. Data rushes in at an increased rate and he braces for the skull-splitting division of attention that comes with it, but between Roland and the Spartan implant, coordinating the four track pods down the slope feels more like breathing than it should. The engine whines in discomfort as its buffeted by the slide.

He floors it into the copse of trees.

Roland is a heavy presence the entire time, all curiosity and quiet disapproval, apparently aware of how familiar Gunny is with the scenario and able to suss out what that means, exactly. It's the quietude that's unnerving-- moreso than the Covenant Armoured lurking just beyond the border of the woods. 

"Did Crimson send you after me?" Gunny demands.

He's not sure if he speaks aloud or thinks really hard or what. There's like, two Spartans total on Crimson that'd hunt after him, and that's Sadie and Rhodes. And Rhodes and Roland--

Gunny's head twitches as he gets a targeting lock on a Wraith turning away from his position. That is according to plan. Yet...

He cuts the speed incrementally. Breathes in.

Can't a guy hang out with his favorite Fireteam?

His vision blurs slightly. The barrel drops. Brakes grind. The entire assembly jerks as he hammers in the firing solution and lets loose on the errant Wraith. The 102mm round drills through the shields and sinks deep into the power core of the beast. 

Roland makes a little squeaking sound as he, presumably, detects every alien start trying to get a lock on their position. Gunny slams into reverse just as the Wraith gives up and explodes. 

And explodes again-- ammunition reserve, then. Nice.

You really don't like tanks, huh? Gunny projects. Watch this.

"Target lock," the tank says.

Oh. Well.

The Scorpion lurches as he abruptly tries to pivot left and swings into a tree, knocking it over with a crack. Overhead, a flaming ball of plasma rains down onto their position. 

"Oops," Gunny says blandly.

Roland jumps from the tank to his brain in a panic.

The exterior of the Scorpion burns. Gunny just hastily resets the simulation with a groan.

----

Like what you see? Commission me or drop me a ko-fi.