#website development decision

[nocturnalbingo]

I’m 19 now hooray another year of surviving in this economy

[meghacool4u]

A professional team of website designing company in India unifies a team of designers, skilled developers and digital marketers who are highly experienced in creating quality websites. They are well-versed in design trends, web technologies, and user experience to build a website that fits to remain in the competition.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

The Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (MIGS) is permanently ceasing operations, Concordia University confirmed last Friday. In a notice published on its website, the university blamed “budgetary constraints” for the decision. “We extend our sincere gratitude to all faculty, staff, students and partners who dedicated themselves to advancing MIGS’ mission over the years,” the university wrote. The institute was long considered one of Canada’s leading think tanks, working to develop better policies to protect human rights.

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @newsfromstolenland

[batshit-auspol]

With the sudden collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, many of the former empire's resources were sold off to the highest bidder, and their $14 billion space shuttle program was no exception.

Seeking to recoup some of that eyewatering spend, in 1998, the "Buran" (Russia's answer to the American Space Shuttle) was offered up for sale on eBay for $10 million.

No serious offers were received - with most people assuming the listing to be a joke, until the New York Post confirmed the sale, with Russian authorities stating they "actually have two" if anyone is interested.

(Pictured: A later auction of a smaller scale Buran in 2005)

Sensing an opportunity, a group of Aussie entrepreneurs including Australia's first astronaut and the lawyer for Prime Minister Paul Keating offer to lease the shuttle from Russia, to put it on display in Australia during the Sydney Olympics.

After gaining permission from the Kremlin for the lease, in 1999 the Russian military briefly stops bombing Chechnya in order to dismantle the Buran, and it is placed on a barge to be shipped to Sydney on the (soon to be infamous for other reasons) Tampa shipping vessel at a cost of $5 million.

Once in Sydney, after a disastrous few months on display where crowds failed to flock to the shuttle exhibition featuring such compelling educational offerings as "activities is to assist in the development of issues of nutrition and hygiene at home" (an actual quote from their website) - the leasing company declared bankruptcy and washed their hands of the space shuttle completely.

The Buran Gift shop where you could buy soviet space ship themed football jerseys, in case you needed one of those

One of four people listed on the lease, described as a business partner of the Prime Minister, also claims he never knew he was a director of the company, which went on to cause a lot more problems.

This whole debacle presented a slight issue for the cash strapped Russian authorities, who had now only been paid $100,000 for the 9 year lease of the shuttle instead of the $600,000 they were owed. Eventually the decision was made to abandon the once $1 billion Soviet pride and joy in a Sydney carpark, where it resided for a year under a small tarpaulin.

Failed attempts to be rid of the shuttle included a 12 day auction hosted by an LA radio station, where listeners were offered the chance to buy the shuttle for $6 million, however all bids turned out to be pranks and the shuttle remained.

Multiple attempts were also made to sell the shuttle to Tom Cruise, with the exacerbated movie star's representatives repeatedly telling the insistent traders that he was not interested in owning a Russian spaceship.

Eventually a Singaporean group dismantled the shuttle and shipped it overseas, however Russian authorities soon reported they once again had been failed to be paid for the lease. Singaporean representatives responded that they definitely had paid for the shuttle, and that they simply couldn't remember when or how much was paid.

Representing the Russian government, Lawyer Suhaila Turani told the Wall Street Journal “I feel sorry for the Russians. They’re good in space, but they’re very naive in business.”

For a time the shuttle was abandoned in the storage yard of event company Pico, with the company owner telling the Wall Street Journal "I just want this thing out of my life" after three years of being stuck with it.

A few years later the shuttle was found by German journalists dismantled in a junkyard, and it was then bought and shipped to Germany to be put on display a museum, so all's well that ends well (except they dropped it from a crane while trying to set it up, but it polished up okay).

[toxicrivalries]

To our most dearest most beloved elle @gayferrari ✨

Happy birth-week from carp @antspaul and myself. Please enjoy this wonderful and silly gift from the pair of us ❤️. We're so glad to have you in both our lives, and hope this brings you joy.

(also here on ao3)

Image ID under the cut.

[a series of 10 images describing Charles Leclerc’s journey into becoming a mouse during the 2025 Formula 1 season. 

IMAGE 1: 

A screenshot from Autosport’s website. 

‘Leclerc made mouse in new Ferrari strategy’ followed by a banner of two images showing Leclerc in his human form and also as a striped field mouse. 

The text reads:

‘Charles Leclerc has turned into a mouse ahead of 2025 season testing, as reported by official channels earlier today. 

Leclerc’s transformation occurred as an experimental effort by Ferrari to maximize their drivers’ physical reflexes. Other teams have already logged formal complaints. The FIA have yet to make their official decision, but an insider source insists that “there is nothing in the rulebook that dictates mice cannot compete in Formula 1”. 

Ferrari boss Frederick Vasseur seemed quite pleased with the outcomes. When asked if the Monegasque driver could communicate over team radio while in mouse form, Vasseur responded that his team are presently working through solutions. He reassured Autosport that Ferrari’s mouseification process is ‘entirely reversible’, though it seems the subject of the transformation must be willing to undergo the process again - a task far more difficult to achieve with a vocabulary limited to squeaks.’

IMAGE 2: 

Charles Leclerc in mouse form, standing near the cockpit of his F1 car. He is a striped field mouse wearing a ferrari cap.

IMAGE 3: 

Charles Leclerc in mouse form, standing on the head of his golden Dachshund Leo. Leo is running towards the viewer with a red chew toy in his mouth. 

IMAGE 4: 

Screenshot of Leclerc’s radio message during a race. The radio reads: ‘Squeak Squeak ****** Squeak’

IMAGE 5: 

An advertisement of Parmesan cheese being sold by Charles’ ice cream company. Charles in his mouse form is posing by a wheel of parmesan. The word LEC in brand font is above his head. 

IMAGE 6: 

A screenshot from the GPDA’s instagram profile. It shows the GDPA’s statement on Charles’ mouse transformation. 

The text reads: 

“‘GPDA Statement regarding “Mouseification’

As athletes, we wholeheartedly understand and support technological developments in revolutionising our sport. As such, we commend the efforts of the scientific and engineering minds behind Ferrari’s “mouseification” process. However, as the representative body of Formula 1 drivers, the GPDA must voice its concerns.

First, we must state that the Grand Prix Drivers Association does not exclude non-human members. Indeed, our purpose is to represent all drivers, including drivers who are mice. Should the FIA, stewards, or any other members of the governing bodies of our Sport single out our rodent co-competitors, it is within the duties of the GPDA to intervene.

Further, the GPDA would like to express concern for the ethics of turning drivers at the pinnacle of motorsport into common household animals. While the engineers of this technique have made assurances that it is reversible, we want to be 100% certain this is the case. Additionally, we want full confirmation that no driver should have to undergo a similar transformation without his or her express permission and consent, regardless of any competitive benefits it may provide.

Lastly, we would like to state on record that GPDA members who have been transformed into animals are willingly participating in the Sport, and that it is not considered animal cruelty. However, should a team force a driver to compete in animal form against their will, the parties involved will be liable for animal cruelty.

The GPDA wishes to be as collaborative and as forthcoming as possible with the stakeholders, teams, individuals, and governing bodies involved in these changes to the sport that we all hold dear.

Best regards, 

The Directors and Chairman of the GPDA on behalf of the Grand Prix Drivers.

#RacingUnited for our Safety, our Sport, our Fans.”

IMAGE 7: 

A screenshot of Charles’ interview with the Athletic. The title reads: “Man or Mouse? Leclerc opens up about mouseification, cheese sponsorship, and 2025 WDC hopes”

It is followed by a graphic banner. The banner displays the Ferrari badge, Charles in his human form, and Charles in his mouse form. His mouse form is wearing a Ferrari cap, and is on a red circle background. 

IMAGE 8: 

A screenshot of Charles’ interview with the Athletic, containing an excerpt of it.

The text reads: 

“Man or Mouse? Leclerc opens up about mouseification, cheese sponsorship, and 2025 WDC hopes”

Indeed, Leclerc has gone from success to success since the opening of the 2025 season. Within a week of claiming the top step in Melbourne, the Monegasque driver announced a new personal sponsorship and collaboration with none other than Parmigiano Reggiano — a match made in heaven, since Leclerc’s momentary mouse metamorphosis. 

“It’s changed my outlook on racing,” he squeaked to his interpreter, four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel, at whose farm Leclerc has been rumoured to reside since his mouseification. “Being a mouse, it gives me more courage in the car to try things I wouldn’t be trying in previous seasons.” 

This new perspective can be seen in how Leclerc carries himself, though he is only ten centimeters tall. When asked about his target for this season, he answered without hesitation: “To be world champion. This hasn’t changed. I am more certain than ever that this year it is possible.” The current points standings would not disagree. “No mouse has ever been world champion. It would mean a lot to the greater rodent community. It would mean a lot to me.”’

IMAGE 9: 

A breaking news announcement from the official F1 channels. It is framed in Ferrari red. It shows Charles’ in mouse form on his car. 

The text in the image reads: 

‘BREAKING 

Ferrari left with ‘no way to reverse’ Leclerc mouseification. 

IMAGE 10: 

A photo of Sebastian Vettel at the paddock. Charles Leclerc in mouse form is sitting on his shoulder, wearing a little bucket hat. 

END ID]

[valeriehalla]

I have gotten a lot of messages saying that they really love the presentation of CURSE/KISS/CUTE. Often the commenter in question can’t say what exactly it is about the formatting that they appreciate, but that it just reads well and looks good. Well!!! Allow me to bare my wealth of secret knowledge for you once and for all:

I sorta just did some research into book typography...?

Here’s something you should know about web development, alright: typography on the web is really, really bad. The tools we have at our disposal—HTML and CSS—are incredibly powerful, but they are set up to fight you every step of the way towards Good Typography. When you know what you’re looking for, you can fix all the common issues quickly and easily. But it’s not easy to know what to look for, because

problematic typography is overwhelmingly the norm on the web, and

good typography is invisible.

Here’s a screenshot from CURSE/KISS/CUTE episode 0:

Now, I don’t want this post to come across as prescriptive. It is not my intention to tell you, “This is what good typography looks like, so follow my lead exactly.” I made a lot of choices with the typography of my web novel: many of those choices would not make sense in other contexts. What I want to convey to you is what those choices are, so that you will know they’re available to be made.

I mentioned that the web “fights you” when it comes to good typography. What do I mean by that? Well, check this out:

This is how that passage of text renders “by default.” In other words, this is how a web browser would render that text without any input from me about what styles to apply. It kind of sucks ass! But it also looks pretty familiar, right? This is not that far off from how a lot of websites—even websites full of prose (looking at you, AO3)—render text.

I think the most illustrative thing to do here would be to walk you through my thought process and show you, step by step, what decisions I made to turn this unstyled text into the styled version you see in the novel.

So, first things first:

1. We have got to shrink that text column.

Computer monitors... are wide. They are wider than they are tall. They are so wide, and they have so many pixels. This means you can fit a lot of characters on them. If you wanted, you could just have a wall of characters from the left side of the screen all the way to the right side. Talk about efficient!!

You should never, ever, ever do this.

This is one choice that I actually will make a prescriptive statement about, because it’s supported by quite a lot of research: fairly narrow text columns are more legible. Specifically, research seems to support the idea that a width in the range of 50 to 70 characters per line is the most comfortable for people to read*. Every font is different, so it takes a little doing to turn that “characters” figure into a pixel measurement; I went with 512 CSS pixels for the maximum width of my text column:

Isn’t that just so much nicer to read already?

*A commenter reminds me that I’d be remiss not to point out that the research on column width legibility isn’t completely conclusive. You do want to limit the width of your text columns, but going over the 70 character-per-line recommendation isn’t necessarily the end of the world, and you might have good reasons to do so. I did not: as mentioned, one of my goals was to mimic book-style typography, and books by nature have fairly restrained column widths, on account of they’re books.

2. Picking a font.

I’m not going to give you the blow-by-blow on how I decided what font to use. The short story is that I asked some designers, and one of the recommendations I got was the free font Crimson Pro, which I took a liking to immediately:

It’s just an all-around attractive serif font, but one thing I really like about it for use in a novel is its highly-visible quotation marks. They’re just kinda jumbo! They’re real big! Easy to see! In a novel, those things aren’t just ornamentation. It makes a great deal of practical sense for them to stand out just a bit. It also has a fairly large x-height, unlike a lot of the more traditional options, which is good for legibility on a computer screen.

3. Adjusting the line-height

Web browsers default to a line-height of about 1.2em, which, as you can probably tell, is quite cramped. If you go and Google “optimal line height for legibility”, you’ll get a number of results right off the bat suggesting 1.5em. Sounds good! Let’s do that:

Well... hmm. That’s definitely an improvement, but between you and me, it actually looks a bit too spacey to my eyes. I wonder why?

I’ll cut to the chase: the 1.5em recommendation makes some assumptions about the font you’re using. In Arial, the letter “A” is about 0.6em tall; in Crimson Pro, it’s about 0.5em. That means that there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to spacing your lines, because different fonts have different amounts of empty space baked in. How annoying!

Let me tell you something about the kind of nerd I am. When I had this realization, I grabbed some books off my shelf and pulled out a literal micrometer. I started measuring the line-heights against various font features to see if there were any patterns I could spot in professional typesetting. Here’s what I found:

Almost every book on my shelf spaces lines such that the distance between one baseline and the next is about three times the x-height. How cool is that? I clapped my hands like a seal when I put this together.

Adjusting the line-height to match what I observed in the wild gives us this:

It’s a subtle difference, but to my eyes it feels just right. It’s almost like magic!

4. Paragraph spacing...

Let’s address the elephant in the room. Probably the most controversial choice I made with CURSE/KISS/CUTE’s typography was to opt for book-style paragraph indentation rather than web-style paragraph spacing—like so:

I did this for a few reasons:

It’s what I’m used to. I’ve read a lot of books, and this is just the way that books are formatted. I think for something aspiring to the title of “novel”, there’s value in making it look the way a reader probably expects a novel to look.

A novel has a lot of paragraph breaks in it. A paragraph in, say, an encyclopedia entry might go on for half a page or more; whereas it is unusual for a paragraph in a modern work of narrative prose to run for more than a handful of sentences, especially in any scene with dialogue. Because paragraph breaks are so common, spacing between paragraphs in a novel results in a lot of wasted space. Also, subjectively speaking, the additional space seems to me to lend an undue amount of weight to paragraph breaks. I’m just starting a new thought; there’s no need for a 21-gun salute, you know?

Having said that, here are some good reasons you might decide not to do paragraph indentation anyway:

Doing it right requires a bit of extra legwork. Notice how the very first paragraph in the image above has no indentation. That’s because it’s the start of a new section, and the first paragraph in a section traditionally goes unindented. This is an easy detail to miss, and it can be difficult to wrangle CSS into doing it for you automatically.

Web users don’t expect it. For the first decade of the web’s existence, there was no good way to do paragraph indentation; by the time CSS rolled around and made it easy, paragraph spacing had already become the norm. And while CURSE/KISS/CUTE may be a novel, it is also, specifically, a web novel!

But it’s my house and I get to make the rules, so I went with indentation. Incidentally, there seems to be a dire lack of research into the question of whether indentation or spacing is more legible for readers—but the data that does exist appears inconclusive at best. So, the choice really does come down to vibes.

5. The tragedy of justification.

You’ll note that one way in which I did not make my web novel look like a paper novel is the text alignment. It’s un-justified: the right margin is ripsaw-ragged.

This is because it is not possible to justify text on the web.

Oh, you can try. Look right here: there’s a CSS property for it and everything. Just turn on “text-align: justify” and...

Nightmare! The interword spacing on that first line is almost as wide as the indentation!

Reader, I’m afraid that your web browser is simply too dumb. That’s not the browser’s fault: robust algorithms for justifying text without creating these distractingly huge gaps between words have existed for many decades, and modern computers are powerful enough to run them in real time with little performance impact. It’s just, uh—nobody has ever bothered to implement them into web browsers. It is the damnedest thing.

I tried, I really did. You can mitigate this problem a bit if you enable automatic hyphenation, but browsers are unfortunately also kind of dumb at hyphenating. Firefox, for example, will refuse to hyphenate any word containing a capital letter, so any sentence with a lot of proper nouns in it is a lost cause. I tried manually inserting soft hyphens with a text preprocessor I wrote myself, but still these overjustified lines plagued me: when the text column narrows, for example on a phone, even hyphens can’t save you. The line-breaking algorithm is simply too naïve to optimize for well-justified text, and that’s not something you can fix as a web developer.

As a result, my heavy-hearted recommendation is to never use text justification. It’s just too distracting.

6. And then some extra stuff just for me

I added drop-caps because it looks neat and I made the ellipses spacier because I think it looks good when it, uh, when they are spacier. I think that looks pretty good that’s just my opinion though.

That’s all! Hope you learned something bye!!!

[truthscrapper]

Truth Scrapper FAQ!

📚 What is Truth Scrapper? Truth Scrapper is a romantic fantasy mystery visual novel from the creator of In Stars and Time, coming to PC! Check out our website for more info 😁💖📚

📚 What is the gameplay like? As a visual novel, much of your time in Truth Scrapper is spent reading dialogue and interacting with characters. You will be able to make choices that influence the outcome of the story, and click to explore certain scenes or use specific items 💭⌛📚

📚 How long is it? We think maybe ten hours, but the game isn’t done yet, so we do not know! 🤔⌚❓

📚 How many endings are there? Truth Scrapper will have THREE unique endings/routes, including one “true” ending 💝🧵📚

📚 What is it made with? Truth Scrapper is made with Ren’Py 🥰💻💃

📚 Who is making it? Adrienne Bazir, aka insertdisc5, creator of In Stars and Time, Serre, and other things! We are also working with contractors for marketing, production, music, and SFX! (A complete list of credits will be available in the game.) 📸✨🎨

📚 Is there a demo? While there is currently no playable demo for Truth Scrapper, there will be one in the future! Be sure you sign up for our mailing list and follow our socials to be notified when it drops 💌📪📬

📚 When is it releasing? When it's done! 🤣😅😃

📚 What are the content ratings and trigger warnings? You'll be able to find more information about specific content and trigger warnings on our website closer to release. Truth Scrapper deals with some tough themes and mature content, though it is not a sexually explicit or significantly gory/violent title 😮😲😨

📚 Okay, but what do you mean by “toxic lesbians” in the marketing copy? Truth Scrapper is a game that features grown up characters with complicated feelings and lives who don’t always make the best decisions for themselves or one another. It is not a grim, dark game, but don’t expect to see a cast that would get a good grade in therapy here… 😁🔪😱

📚 Is this a sequel/prequel/at all related to In Stars and Time? insertdisc5 says: "Nope! Truth Scrapper is a whole new game, in a whole new setting! Of course, as you will discover, they will share many themes, but that’s just because I made it. I’m very grateful for the whole lot of love people have given Siffrin and the gang, and I hope in time you’ll find a spot in your heart for my terrible terrible girls."

📚 Betz uses he/they! Are they a girl? The three of them are some flavor of genderfluid. They are not necessarily women. But they are Girls! We hope that explains it 😁😄🥰

📚 How do you pronounce the main characters' names?

Sosotte: So-SUH-t

Amour: Ah-MOO-r

Betz: BET-ss

📚 What platforms is it coming to? Truth Scrapper will be released on PC, Mac and Linux, specifically for Steam, as well as other potential pc-only digital outlets such as itch.io! 😀🎉🎫

📚 Is the game coming to console? Never say never, but at this time, we have no plans to bring Truth Scrapper to console. We are a small team (one person, plus contractors!), and we want to be mindful of our resources. If this changes, we promise to tell you! 🎮🕹🃏

📚 What languages will it be in? Currently the only confirmed language is English, but we will be evaluating our costs and options for localization throughout development. This game will have a lot (a LOT) of words, so while we would love to bring it to as many languages as possible, we have to be mindful of our resources. Thank you for understanding! 💦💦💦

📚 How can I support the game? Be sure and wishlist Truth Scrapper on Steam, and follow us on socials! ⁠😍🥰💕

[dandelionsresilience]

Dandelion News - April 1-7

Like these weekly compilations? Tip me at $kaybarr1735 or check out my Dandelion Doodles! Last month’s Doodles are free to the public, so go take a look :D

1. Galapagos tortoises at Philadelphia Zoo become first-time parents at nearly 100

“Mommy, the female tortoise, is considered one of the most genetically valuable Galapagos tortoises in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ species survival plan. [… T]he zoo said it is “overjoyed” at the arrivals of the four hatchlings, a first in its more than 150-year history.”

2. Massachusetts home-electrification pilot could offer a national model

“In total, the program is providing free or heavily subsidized solar panels and heat pumps to 55 participating households, 12 of which also received batteries at no cost. […] It’s a strategy that program planners hope can help address the disproportionate energy burden felt by lower-income residents of the region[….]”

3. National Park Rangers rebel against queer erasure on Trans Day of Visibility

“[… A] group of over 1,000 off-duty, fired, and retired National Park Service employees launched Rangers Uncensored, an online archive that restores and amplifies LGBTQ+ stories quietly scrubbed from government websites since President Donald Trump’s second inauguration.”

4. World's largest wildlife crossing reaches critical milestone

“Over the next few days they'll be adding 6,000 cubic yards of specially manufactured soil to cover the crossing, a mix of sand, silt and clay inoculated with a bit of compost and hyperlocal mycorrhizal fungi, carefully designed and tested to mimic the biological makeup of native soils around the site.“

5. Bipartisan bill to boost green building materials glides through House

“[B]ipartisan legislation the House of Representatives passed in a 350-73 vote last week would give the Department of Energy a clear mandate to develop a full program to research, develop, and deploy clean versions of the building materials.”

6. Tribal Wildlife Grants Funding Announced

“Tribal Wildlife Grants are intended to help Tribes develop programs for the conservation of habitat and species of traditional or cultural importance[….] Typically funded projects include: conservation planning, fish and wildlife management and research, habitat mapping and restoration, inventory and monitoring, and habitat preservation. […] A total of $6.1 million is available for this round of funding[….]”

7. Germany adds another one million PV arrays to take solar total to 104 gigawatts

“Following a rapid rise in household solar panel installations, Germany’s total number of PV arrays has passed the five million “milestone[.…]” Solar systems already cover almost 15 percent of Germany’s electricity demand, BSW-Solar said. […] The total capacity of all PV systems installed in Germany surpassed 100 GW at the start of the year.”

8. Stronger together: Bilby conservation efforts enhanced by Indigenous knowledge

“Ms. Geyle said the results showed combining [conventional science and traditional tracking methods] more accurately estimated bilby abundance than using either technique individually[….] "[… ensuring] that Indigenous people remain central to decision-making about their lands and species that inhabit them," Ms. Geyle said.”

9. Lennar will build 1,500new Colorado homes with geothermal heat pumps

“The homebuilder is partnering with Dandelion Energy to install the tech, which is efficient but expensive — unless it’s built into new homes from the start. […] And by eliminating the need for new gas pipelines and reducing the peak electricity demands on the power grid, subdivisions built on this model could save a bundle on utilities as well[….]”

10. New strategy launched to protect Tanzanian biodiversity hotspot

“Conservationists have launched a 20-year-long project to protect what is arguably Tanzania’s most biologically rich landscape: the Udzungwa Mountains. The strategy places notable emphasis on communities living here, with more than half of its budget allocated to social and economic projects and managing human-wildlife conflict.”

March 22-28 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.)

[catastrophic-crisis]

Adult Swim Games titles to be delisted by May

Note, dated May 9th: Duck Game and Small Radios seem to be having their original store pages transferred to the studios/devs! This likely means that the affected and potentially affected games will be safe. I'm not going to update this post anymore, lest it grow too long or too complicated to follow along with. I'm going to turn off reblogs so that previous, unupdated versions of this post do not circulate.

As the week has gone on we’ve seen even more developers come out and confirm that they too were contacted by Warner Bros. Discovery — the parent company behind Adult Swim Games — and informed that their titles would be delisted “within 60 days”. The latest developer to break the news is Team2Bit, makers of Fist Puncher which has been on Steam since 2013.

I encourage you to read the full post by dev Matt Kain, but these excerpts from the post that breaks the news says a lot by themselves:

We've asked that Warner Bros. simply transfer the game to our Steam publisher account so that it can stay active, but so far they have said no with the reason being that they made the universal decision not to transfer the games back to the original studios and do not have the resources to do so. No, the transfer process is not complicated. It likely takes about 2 minutes on their end: https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/gettingstarted/managing_apps/transfer

And, I feel this needs to be said somewhere… but… Videogames are art. Videogames connect us. Videogames are important. Videogames are part of our cultural heritage and should be preserved.

Kain says the team will keep on pressing Warner Brothers for the game to be transferred to them.

The initial news of game retirement was broken by the developer for puzzle game Small Radios Big Televisions, Owen Deery. Deery has made the game available to download for free from the Fire Face website (his solodev company).

Games confirmed to be retiring:

Fist Puncher (Confirmed - available on Steam)

Small Radios Big Televisions (Confirmed - available on Steam / PS4 / Fire Face website for free)

Soundodger+ (Confirmed - available on Steam / the itch.io release is unaffected)

Other games not yet confirmed and the platforms they are available on are listed here and here, and screenshots of the list can be found under the readmore.)

You can see all games published by Adult Swim Games on Steam listed here.

This post is actively being updated, please be patient.

[randomlonelymusician]

Lacey Games New Transcriptions!

Emails

Email 1 by line:

Concern over Lacey's games character

Hello parents! Today I want to bring attention to this website I found my girl watching: Lacey's girl games.

I thought it was innocent until I saw the mascots. There is

one, Jay, who acts and dresses like a boy. She also throws the

devil's sign constantly [...] which is totally inappropriate

for girls. I can't believe

they'd put a queer in child's website. I am a very concerned

mom because of that. My little Amber started telling me she wanted a skateboard. What's next, wearing those hideous boy caps? Hanging

around boys who will hurt her? Wanting to become a boy? Be careful.

Email 2 by line:

I just saw it. That is not a girl, that is a dʏke. You

character. I posted about it on Facebook.

Everyone agrees its an inappropriate character for kids. by now. It's a dʏke in a

"girls" website. We are getting all the parents to email around, hopefully

knock some sense into the developers…my girl loves this website. I hope they fix it so I can allow her to visit again.

Email 3:

I can definitely agree that a character that says "I'd only be caught dead wearing makeup" in one of her games is not a role model little girls should he having. I don't know why they couldn't just keep Lacey and the other one and get rid of the boygirl thing.. Let us know about updates on sending emails. Maybe also block it in schools until then.

Jay End Screen

Text by line:

She stepped into the empty room at the edge of the universe and

calmly walked toward the single button on the wall as she

had been told by the gods above could delete the existence of anyone

she disliked she thought long and hard of all the ugliest souls she had

ever known she made her decision and her finger met the button without any ceremony

but looking down at her feet it was all red with blood she stood in shock the blood tainted her very being she had thought deletion

to be clean and to start without realizing that death is the only deletion

that exists and there is no death without painful unrelenting grief

and grief stared at her through mirrors forever, from the eyes of

all she has ever thought to delete it was a world catastrophe

___________________________________________________________

Please add to these! This is just a start based on what I can make out!

[autisticslp]

While most people know that April is Autism Acceptance Month, I haven’t seen any acknowledgement on Tumblr that it is also PMD Awareness Month. This is especially surprising considering that premenstrual disorders seem to be significantly more common in the autistic community (as well as in people with ADHD), although more research is sorely needed.

I have premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), which is a cyclical, hormone-based mood disorder where symptoms occur during the premenstrual, or luteal, phase and disappear shortly after menstration begins. For me, it’s like a switch flips in my brain after ovulation and I turn into a whole different person. I know that I’m going to start bleeding because I wake up, the switch has flipped back, and I feel totally normal. Symptoms include irritability, mood swings, depression, anxiety, overwhelm, fatigue, sleep difficulties, and physical symptoms. While these may seem like “typical PMS that most people experience,” trust me, it absolutely is not. People with PMDD are a high risk group for suicidality and many of us make serious decisions during the luteal phase that we later regret, including quitting jobs and leaving partners. Symptoms like lashing out at others, verbally and/or physically and homicidal ideation can cause serious relationship and problems, shame, and difficulty with work and school.

PMDD is not a hormone imbalance — it is a severe negative reaction to the typical changes in hormone levels. The exact mechanism is not known (there seems to be several subtypes that respond to treatment differently but once again research is scarce), but it seems to cause an increased sensitivity to stress. It makes sense, then, that autistic people would be more likely to experience PMDD as our brains and bodies already experience and react more to stress than allistic people do.

Treatment for PMDD includes therapy, SSRIs, hormonal birth control, and, as last resorts, chemical menopause and removal of the uterus and both ovaries. Hysterectomy alone does not treat PMDD. Hopefully, some day, treatments specifically for PMDD will be developed.

Premenstrual exacerbation (PME) can occur in a wide range of of other disorders, including depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, migraines, epilepsy, IBS, and PTSD, with symptoms becoming much worse during the luteal phase and is typically even less researched than PMDD. Sometimes increasing regular treatments during the luteal phase can help reduce PME.

The best place I know of for information and support is the International Association for Premenstrual Disorders. Unfortunately they are still working on getting their website back up to full functionality after being hacked earlier this year.

[rivetgoth]

I’m not going to address recent drug related tumblr discourse directly because frankly it feels kinda silly but I do want to make it clear for anyone who’s somehow missed it that I am entirely unequivocally pro-drugs; I think some of the most successful paternalistic fascist brainwashing in this country is making swaths of people believe there is something remotely justifiable in a government forcing you by threat of ruining your life forever to not ingest a fucking substance. Some of which grow on the fucking ground (though let me be clear that I am pro-synthetic drug as well). As long as drugs are criminalized there is no true freedom because a core law of the country is still “you are not allowed to put something into your own body.”

Drugs are just substances that create a chemical reaction. That’s literally all they are. Some of them can cause your body to develop a dependence and some do not. Some have higher risk of adverse effect or a lower threshold for overdose than others. Every action in life carries with it some risk. They’re not ontologically evil. Whatever your mental image of them is has been shaped by decades of misinformation pushed by a government that wants to control its people down to their digestive tracts as a way of sowing paranoia and distrust amongst the working class and having justification to systemically punish and eradicate communities of vulnerable marginalized people. And people will always take them. Laws will not prevent their existence. Someone struggling with addiction to drugs—which will happen regardless of the laws in place to stop it and in fact the incredible fearmongering about drugs and suppression of resources to access neutral information, the fact that the first 5 million sources for any drug online are government-owned websites, plays no small part in the lack of education or access to resources needed for informed decision making and safe ingestion—is in no way helped by being labeled a criminal while in the throes. Drug laws kill addicts. That is the intention. You all need to understand this.

[felassan]

Snippets. 🐺💜

For Game Informer’s July 17th DA:TV article, "BioWare On Returning To The Dragon Age Series, 10 Years After Inquisition", the article is still titled as such on its own page, but it looks like on the GI DA:TV Hub page its listing was updated to "Dragon Age: The Veilguard Is 'Respectful And Referential' To Previous Games Without Making Them Mandatory"

[previous comment for context - Brenon: "we do have "decision saves" before big choice moments, but there are still a bunch that depend on a whole mess of stuff you've done earler...so yeah...RIP"]. Derek on this: "Choice and consequence, baby." [source]

[context: DA official Twitter's news about what's coming in August] Derek: "Buckle up!" [source]

Bryony Corrigan (Rook) on the strike: "I care a lot about this game! @/dragonage. Gutted we are unable to speak more about the game for now but absolutely in solidarity with actors in the US. I hope @/EquityUK are also fighting for better protection against AI clauses in the UK too…!" [source]

Matt Rhodes recently wrote to his mailing list that "The project I’ve been working on for many years is nearing completion. In my rare free moments, I’ve been starting to organize concept art to start posting after the game ships." [source] So it sounds like DA:TV is nearing completion and that he will be posting DA:TV concept art that he created after release. [This] is the link to his website where you can view his art, including some existing DA:TV and previous DA game concept art. If you click the envelope symbol on this page, that's how you can subscribe to the mailing list

from Community Councilmember Ladyinsanity - Lucanis x Rook apparently might be an "angst pairing" and there's maybe another one of these in the game also...? 👀 [source]

A user mentioned that they aren't keen on the word "roadmap". Michael Gamble explained: "all it means is a list of cool things you can expect to see us showing." [source]

Bellara's family name Lutare wasn't recently changed as some users wondered, it was Lutare at least a year ago during development. It seems it was just mis-printed or mis-reported in the GI coverage [source]

This article describes DA:TV as the most beautiful game the writer saw at SGF. It says the prologue is dated 9 years after DA:I. "Varric isn’t a ginger so much as a grizzled gray fox now". On Solas, he "wants to tear down the Veil that separates Thedas from the world of demons, restoring his people’s immortality and glory and sacrificing thousands in the process. But when his ritual goes awry, two of his most ancient and powerful adversaries are released. They seek only to finish what they started millennia ago – the complete and utter domination of our world." The game moves quite seamlessly from action to cutscene, and in the prologue "every cutscene is clearly building toward something larger". Position matters in combat. There is an accessibility option which involves the path-tracing of enemies' ranged attacks. At the beginning of the demo, the devs mentioned that they thought about the way different lighting affects your character. " The animations associated with combat are complex for one reason: responsive character features." CC has "inclusion of thick curly hair and capturing the tightly curled texture of Black hairstyles and natural hair", customizable shoulder-width and "a much-welcomed broad spectrum of skin tones—capturing both cool and warm undertones of both white and brown skin". The article highlighted the fluid movement of cloth. The writer also said, "I’m sure other Summer Game Fest previews will have a lot to say on the evolving relationship between Varric and Solas". [source] ((I don't remember seeing this article til now, it's from June though so I either missed it or have seen it and forgotten. also I don't know how accurate it is but the writer was one of the attendees of the DA:TV demo at SGF))

[character limit text break!]

Malcolm: "When I joined DA:Ve I was really hoping there'd be a romanceable dwarf companion and boy howdy did that come true. Harding is ☀️delightful☀️" [source]

[context: this Tumblr post of some neat art] Malcolm: "This is amazing and I fully went "oh wow that really sounds like Emmrich" before remembering that Nick Boraine is in fact a entire human person." [source]

User: "Speaking of Stalker, as a player the description of Bellara and Veil Jumper i've heard so far, alongside their exploration of Arlathan, somehow reminds me of Clear Sky and Chornobyl in Stalker series..." John Epler: "great eye! roadside picnic, Annihilation and STALKER were all absolutely inspirations" [source]

John Epler: "time to slowly make my way home after an awesome 4 days. thanks for an amazing experience to everyone who was a part of it. back to work." [source]

User: "We know there are returning characters in The Veilguard, so my question is: How would you and the rest of the writers go about writing a returning character who was originally primarily written by a writer who is no longer at the studio? What is the process?" Trick Weekes: "1. Watch videos to get the performance, how the character speaks. 2. Don’t try to replicate the character exactly. Allow them to have grown. Morrigan in DAI wasn’t Morrigan in DAO. She’d grown up. 3. Trust Character Art and Performance/VO. As soon as Morrigan walks in and talks in DAI, it works." [source]

Ali Hillis (Harding) on Twitter: "@dragonage @/bioware @/BioWarePulse @/ea #/DragonAge #/SDCC #/SDCC2024 FOLLOW ON INSTA FOR MORE!" [source]

Alex Jordan (Rook): "To all the D&D loving Dragon Age fans out there, let me tell you about my D&D group, made up of faces from the games industry! Including the voices of Geralt from The Witcher, Clive from Final Fantasy XVI, and Noah from Xenoblade! We are ⁦@/NaturalSix ⁩#/DragonAge" [source]

Erika Ishii (Rook): "Grateful I got to spend SDCC celebrating my roles in 2 games I love. Thank you to the devs (including laid-off workers who deserve full credit!), my friends, and the community. This is the last you’ll hear from me about my games from struck companies until they sign an interim agreement or the strike is won. Keep playing games, but share info from the union and let people know we’re taking a stand for all creatives. See you on the other side! ✊🏼🎮" [source]

Jeff Berg (Rook): "Damn, I love making video games. It’s like the perfect blending of theatre on film, where an actor is encouraged to collaborate and let their imaginations soar. And damn, do I ever love the incredible support from the fans of this incredible medium. Unfortunately, we’re in a time of upheaval in the industry. So let me make it perfectly clear: Video game performers deserve fair wages, safe working conditions and A.I. protections. I call on the employers to #/LevelUpTheContract. Guys, this is no single player game. We need you on our team. #/SagAftraStrong #/VideoGameStrike". Text in the accompanying video reads “Video game performers are stuck in a grind. AI is stealing voices, and companies are hoarding profits. The future of voiceover and performance capture artists is at stake. But out fight isn’t single-player. Whether you’re a gamer, a fan, a performer, a labor ally, or just someone believes in fairness. Keep video games people powered. We need you on our team. Video game companies must offer AI protections to ALL video game performers. Join me and show your support for those who bring our favorite games to life.” [source]

Jessica Clark (Neve): "Aaah a true bucket list moment!! Thrilled to play Neve Gallus a Private Investigator & one of the companions in the upcoming DragonAge The Veilguard Video Game!! We are appearing at the San Diego Comic Con as we speak!! With so much thanks & appreciation for the most fantastic team @/bioware & inspiring fellow cast members including (not limited to) @/missalihillis @/nickboraine @/zach.mendez @/jeffberg1 & more 🙏🏽 Draon Age The Veilguard releases this Fall 2024 & from what I've seen... It's truly epic!! You will love it & yes, it's worth the wait. (SAG-AFTRA issued us a specific window to promote & celebrate at Comic Con & from Sunday night onwards we will all be joining our fellow actors in the picket line for the Video Game Strike)." Text in the accompanying video reads "I’ve wanted to share this for so long! Thrilled to reveal that I play Neve Gallus in the upcoming Dragon Age The Veilguard!! Appearing at Comic Con San Diego as we speak” [source]

[source]

Jessica: "Last night's Comic Con San Diego's Fandom red carpet celebrating Dragon Age The Veilguard! Releasing this Fall 2024!!" [source]

Zach Mendez (Lucanis): "A truly amazing first day of SD Comic Con at the @/dragonagegame poster signing at @/darkhorsecomics booth. Thank you to the fans who made my first con unforgettable #/sdcc /#sdcomiccon #/dragonage #/darkhorsecomics #/lucanisdellamorte #/voiceacting #/bioware #/eagames #/theveilguard #/babysfirstcon" [source]

Zach: "Dragon Age. Dancing. Derulo. Thanks @/fandom for a killer party" [source]

Nick Boraine (Emmrich): "Thank you @/bioware @/ea and @/comic_con - had an incredible time! #/dragonage #/theveilgaurd #/emmrichvolkarin @/zach.mendez @/missalihillis @/thejessicaroseclark - can’t wait for the fall release date." [source]

Ali: "Honored and thrilled to have been a part of another epic @/bioware story w @/ea . Thanks from the bottom of my heart to the whole team! We worked hard, and put our all into this one. Can’t wait to see you all at #/sdcc2024 this week to celebrate @/dragonagegame #/dragonageveilguard" [source]

Ali: "1st day of San Diego Comic Con 2024 !! The lines were long and the signings so much fun! Met some really nice fans, hung out w dragon age performance director @/ashley___barlow , companions @/thejessicaroseclark @/zach.mendez & Nick Boraine . So SO grateful for this #/dragonageveilguard family!" [source]

Ali: "I love every one of these people. There, I said it! What a warm welcome we received! Thanks to ALL! For EVERYTHING!" [source]

Ali on SDCC: "Gooooooood times. ❤️" [source]

Here is a 'behind the scenes at the DA:TV SDCC panel' photo -

[source]

Here is a photo of Erika Ishii with Rook's blue knife -

[source]

Here is an excerpt from Brianne Battye's website:

Text reads: "Dragon Age: The Veilguard Defy the gods. Rise as Rook, Dragon Age’s newest hero. Be who you want to be and play how you want to play as you fight back and lead your team of seven companions, each with their own rich story. Together, you will become the Veilguard. Coming soon From EA/BioWare. I was responsible for a companion story arc, significant side characters, faction content, exploration content, and helping develop and expand worldbuilding lore."

[source]

Also, last year Zach Mendez (Lucanis) made a prior podcast appearance:

Zach: "I was lucky enough over the pandemic to have just hit a really nice commercial, and then I got this beautiful job on a video game where I was doing motion capture. Motion capture? Okay, so you put on this leotard, this black suit, and those little dots on, and you do all the motion for a video game, and you get to do the voice, and they put all these black lines on your face, so they capture your performance and whatnot. And so I was doing that and had some commercial money, so throughout the pandemic, for the past few years, I’ve just been getting to live off acting, which is great." -- Zach: "[Voiceover is] what I'm working on right now." -- Zach: "My father's from Spain." -- Zach: "I'm currently working on a video game, I can't say which video game." "It is a big one, it's not a big deal, it's a big one, I'm one of the main characters, it's not that big a deal." The interviewer asked about how acting in video games works. "Somebody's giving some performance that of course, they layer on imaging afterwards, like in graphics, right? But you're giving facial expressions, that's what gives it the reality, that's what I find so fascinating about motion capture, is that, you get to give big performances, because you're playing these crazy characters in crazy situations, and a lot of your performance is coming through in the final product which is, just gets me excited about the future of things about all the different ways. It's my voice, a lot of my facial features, I voice, I think, one or two characters in this game."

[source (dated ~a year ago. source link isn’t work-appropriate. I don’t recommend the podcast)]

[fadetouchedsilk]

I think when it comes to Veilguard critique there’s a bit of a disconnect between what I see most people complaining about vs. What a lot of the rebuttals to these opinions seem to be.

I can’t speak for everyone else but at this point when I come at this game it’s almost purely Doylist. I think it’s kind of ridiculous for my experience as a player to seem lacking when compared to the narrative experience of the NPCs. The setting isn’t real; it’s a product that was marketed as being ‘the most romantic Dragon Age yet,’ which implies a level of wish-fulfilment that we were supposed to expect. Which is fine! But it’s not what was delivered.

If I’m criticizing a romance & comparing the Rook version of it to the NPC/NPC version of it, it’s not because I’m violently jealous of the version that doesn’t include my character. It’s because I can make a direct comparison to things the writers come across as caring more about. Never mind the fact that we get statements in the AMA like ‘Yeah, we really wanted to include the Lords even if we knew they weren’t going to get the content the other factions had.’ You’re allowed to like that faction, you’re not stupid for doing so. It’s not a deliberate shot at you if someone points out how ridiculous the decision to keep the Lords in was when the devs were aware that they weren’t going to be able to develop them properly, especially when compared to other factions.

It doesn’t do anyone any favours to take criticism of the game personally. “This is good on a technical level” and “I personally liked this thing” are separate statements that need to coexist.

I don’t want to say it’s a waste of time to examine things from a Watsonian perspective, but I’m having a harder time doing that here because the shortcomings of the writers are so apparent, particularly when you hold it against the other Dragon Age games.

Maybe some people are being malicious in their criticism, idk. If that’s the case, then it’s definitely not worth engaging with on any level. But don’t automatically assume that someone who says ‘I didn’t care for the way this aspect was written’ is an automatic dog whistle for ‘I think you’re dumb if you disagree with me’ either.

The game has been out for a few months now. Take opinions with a grain of salt & form your own. If we shouldn’t be expected to place several disclaimers at the start of every opinion we post on this website, then we also shouldn’t be automatically assigning bad faith interpretations to every opinion that isn’t worded with perfect thoughtfulness either.

[blackkatdraws2]

[Original Characters] One of the Tower Residents (who is usually very stoic) is acting strange. Did the Missiontakers trigger something? (-or is this an unscripted scene?)

[More Info under Read More.]

These two are fan-OCs for a webnovel titled [Being an Extra Actor in an Escape Game]

Quick premise for the novel: There was an apocalypse that trapped the whole world in a game-like tower. Missiontakers need to go into a Tower Resident's Nightmares and solve them in order to progress higher up the tower [and maybe escape.] What the Missiontakers didn't know was that the Tower Residents are actually also real people just like them, but they're more limited in what they're allowed to do because the tower forces them to become Actors and pretend like they're NPCs.

The older man is called Kim Seung-Jun.

He's a Tower Resident that's trapped on the higher levels of the tower.

He's never acted out any major roles for a Nightmare and is always in the background.

Even among the other Tower Residents, he's a hard man to talk to, only voicing a curt reply that doesn't leave any openings to continue the conversation.

The other man is called Nick Fuentes

He's a semi-well known Missiontaker that wants to climb all the way up the tower to find the escape.

He's usually the helper of the group and he's good at being flexible with adapting and making quick decisions in tough situations.

Gets attached to people quickly if they're nice to him.

Basic OCs premise: Nick Fuentes sees the usually stoic Kim Seung-Jun acting unlike his character. He starts to get more curious about the older man, and their slow development but eventual close relationship made him unravel a different point of view about truth of the Tower and everyone who was trapped in it.

-------------✦

KOREAN PEOPLE, please tell me in the reblogs and comments if I got the old man's name right!! I'll change it into something more appropriate for his character and age if it sounds silly. I'm a huge fan of Asian webnovels, the things I always consume are Chinese/Korean webnovels that I find in illegally English translated websites HAHAHA. It affected the way I named my characters because Chinese/Korean names are the only thing I'm constantly being exposed to. [But I have no idea if these names are actually correct or not. Sorry!]

Oh MAN, I have not re-visited this novel in YEARS. Literally one of my biggest worldbuilding inspirations [not to mention it has all my favorite tropes in it] and I will continue loving it forever.

I found the novel by pure chance. At the time, there was only one website that translated it into English. I thought the premise was interesting and decided to give it a try, thinking it was just another one of those garbage junk food novels that I'd drop half-way, but no, it was actually really good.

I'm not gonna spoil anything about the novel itself lololol I'm only gonna be working on my OCs.

To be honest, I'm probably gonna make an original world and story for them soon. I like this idea too much, I'll make it mine someday. For now though, I will have a minor hyperfixation.

Go check the novel out, by the way!! It's great.

[darkmaga-returns]

The Trump administration’s decision to pause USAID funding has plunged hundreds of so-called “independent media” outlets into crisis, thereby exposing a worldwide network of thousands of journalists, all working to promote U.S. interests in their home countries.

In late January, President Trump—along with help from the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk—began implementing sweeping changes to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on the premise that the organization’s promotion of liberal and progressive causes was a gigantic waste of money. The group’s website and Twitter account have disappeared amid widespread speculation that it will cease to exist or be folded into Marco Rubio’s State Department.

The pausing of aid immediately sent shockwaves across the planet, not least in the international media, many of which, unbeknownst to their readers, are totally dependent on financing from Washington.

In total, USAID spends over a quarter of a billion dollars yearly training and funding a vast, sprawling network of more than 6,200 reporters at nearly 1,000 news outlets or journalism organizations, all under the rubric of promoting “independent media.”