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bomberlandia · 3 years

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Burning Questions: Return to play, 2020 expectations, Heppell, Hooker back, BZT, Cutler’s intrigue and more

Dyson Heppell is back. Cale Hooker is back too. And Joe Daniher is trending in the right direction for the first time in years. Football is back.

The coronavirus pandemic has halted every sport in its tracks. The NBA is still yet to resume and still hasn’t figured out a safe method of finishing its year. Major League Baseball hasn’t worked out if or when it’ll start its season. And the NHL are fine tuning a path to return to play but nothing is final yet. These are just a few leagues to name, but every sport league has stopped. And every league is now trying to figure out how to come back safely. There’s no blueprint either. It’s one messy, minefield.

If there is a silver living here for the AFL, it’s that, any club who had long-term injuries, or newly sustained pre-season concerns over players have been given the lifeline of 83 days to help prepare, heal and get right before Round Two. For the Bombers, this period has been favourable. Hooker and Heppell had short-term injuries that would have seen them miss multiple weeks — in Heppell’s case, he would have missed at least half the season. Same with Joe Daniher. But with the three-month hiatus Hooker and Heppell will play against Sydney. And Daniher is weeks away from playing so he should see a good chunk of the 2020 season.

But fit bodies are just that. There’s still a slew of unanswered questions that need addressing. Some will get answered this weekend. Others will take weeks to answer, if not, a year or two. After three consecutive years of 12 wins, 2020 was meant to be the year that the Bombers delivered better than that, moved up from mediocrity and won a final. But, the pandemic has added another layer of uncertainty around the Bombers. With that, here are some burning questions that will impinge the Bombers in 2020.

Can Devon Smith pick up where he left off before his PCL operation?

We will know soon enough when he takes on the Swans but from all reports the knee has never been better. “My knee’s been pulling up the best it has since I can remember, so I’m really excited about the season,” he told news.com.au. My only real concern for Smith, is can his knee stand up to the rigours of AFL intensity? He’s had a decent 12-month stint without AFL competition. And being a hard-at-it player, someone the Bombers need in trenches, we’ll only know just how good Smith’s knee is in the days and weeks to come.

But let’s go back to 2018 when Smith won the Crichton Medal. That was the year Watson, Stanton and Pop Kelly retired. Heath Hocking got delisted. The Bombers went 2-6 early in the season. Mark Neeld got the boot. Daniher got shutdown with a season-ending groin injury. And the midfield had some serious holes. But Smith stood up. He averaged 22 touches and 8.5 tackles — both career highs — and kicked 17.16. And if you remember, he carried the team during the big games. Against Collingwood in R16, he collected 31d, 8m and had 13 tackles in their 16p loss. Against Carlton on a wet MCG, he laid 15 tackles along with 21 touches. His pressure and hardness around the contest was made more obvious in a midfield that was lacking grunt. He filled that void.

The complications of COVID-19 has forced the AFL to make quarters 16-minutes long. That means Smith can go full-tilt for an entire game. There’s upside to that. But, to my earlier point, can his knee withstand that kind of onslaught in shorter, more intense sets? The Bombers missed Smith in 2019. His return will make opposition midfields more accountable. He’s another goal-kicking option. And his high tackle count (in 2018: 186) will cause turnover opportunities, something the good AFL teams do regularly.

Essendon haven’t won in Sydney since 2009. Can they break the drought?

It’s hard to definitively say the Bombers can win this one when there’s an existing 10+ year SCG drought to consider. But when you think about the 83 days between R1 and R2, both teams are operating on a clean slate. It’s like the start of the season take two. On paper the Bombers have a good balance for the small SCG ground: tall key defenders, small, quick and bullish forwards. They bring back their captain, Dyson Heppell. Hooker, Hurley and Francis should stand up against Heeney and the Swans’ potent forwards. That gives the Bombers a chance to steal this one.

There’s a growing concern over the Bombers forward line in 2020, with Joe Daniher still out, Fantasia missing. Will the Bombers struggle to kick goals?

For this week at the SCG those outs won’t matter. The Bombers should be able to cover Daniher and Fantasia through a core group of Smith, Stringer, Townsend, Tipungwuti. For the Bombers to go to that next level, adding Daniher and Fantasia is a must. The good news is that the Bombers have worked out other ways to kick goals. And it sounds like this year they are relying on midfielders and small forwards to do the damage on the scoreboard. But if Daniher and Fantasia do come back soon, the Bombers will have their strongest forward set up since the 2000 Premiership: Stringer, Townsend, Fantasia, Joe Daniher, Tipungwuti, Smith. That’s not too shabby.

Dustin Fletcher is on the cusp of being inducted in the Hall of Fame but some are saying that he might have to wait a few years because of the 12-month ASADA ban. Should he have to wait?

If they decide Fletcher has to wait another year or two, because of the ASADA ban, in the grand scheme of things it’s not that big a deal. As long as he’s inducted. He’s a lock. Let’s not forget Fletcher had a decorated career with 400 games and two premierships. Let’s also remember he meets the criteria: record, ability, integrity, sportsmanship and character. No-one could argue against any of those things with any great certainty. Whether it’s now or years to come, it’s happening.

Of the players picked to play against the Swans for R2, who should we watch, and what should we look for?

Tom Cutler. I liked what I saw against Fremantle in R1 and how he moved between the backline and forward 50. His speed is impressive for his size considering he’s carrying a 192 cm frame. I think he’s going to be a match up headache every week. Andrew McGrath is another one to watch. This year will be his first year as a full-time midfielder, or at least that’s how the Bombers intend to use him. He keeps getting better, quicker, smarter. He has Cotchin attributes.

The most intriguing duo in the team right now are Townsend and Stringer. Two bulls. They really need to impose themselves against the Swans on a small SCG where spacing is tight. Both have the ability to kick three to five goals each on any given week. In the absence of Daniher they’re going to have to seize on every opportunity.

Do you think the 16-minute quarters will work in Essendon’s favour?

What I think this means for the Bombers is that they can leave their best mix of players on the ground longer without breaks. And there shouldn’t be any issues with not being able to run out games. Also: with the speed the Bombers have on their team — Fantasia, Saad, McKenna, Tipungwuti — the shorter quarters gives them breaks just in time when they might be gassed. Worsfold will still have to think about rotations.

Townsend is playing his 50th game this week. What did you make of his game against Fremantle?

He kicked three goals from nine kicks against Fremantle. It was impressive. He looked dangerous in that game each time the ball came near him. His hard-nut approach and big body will give the Bombers flexibility to play him forward with stints inside the midfield. I can’t wait to watch more of Townsend this year. He’s my new favourite player and he’s only played one game.

There will be no crowds at some games for the foreseeable future. How will this impact the Bombers?

After this week, the Bombers are in Melbourne against the Demons, Blues, Pies. It’s not really an issue yet. For most teams playing away, no crowds should neutralize the home advantage. Without the parochial and constant barracking it’s going to create more parity.

What’s up with Zerk-Thatcher breaking the rules around coronavirus?

He’s young. He’s 21. There were 16 Adelaide players who broke the rules too and didn’t get punished. There will be more young players who break the rules around coronavirus moving forward. It’s unfortunate. But he owned it. Zerk-Thatcher is a player that the Bombers need to get more games into and develop him as a replacement for Hurley or Hooker. He’s fine. Everything is fine.

The Bombers still haven’t won a final since 2004 and they’ve won 12 games in three consecutive years. What should Bomber fans expect from here, in a pandemic year?

With a clean bill of health the Bombers should be setting themselves up to win their first final in 16 years. Since 2009 their finals record has been putrid. They have scraped through to the finals five times for a 0-5 record and boast an average losing margin of 59.2. The worst defeat of that lot was in 2009 against the Crows to the tune of 96. It’s hard to predict what will happen in a pandemic year, where life is changing every day. So expect good weeks and bad weeks. I would say for this year, watch how the Bombers transition, how they defend, how the midfield holds up against intense pressure. Those are the areas they need to improve in.

Justin Robertson is a journalist who writes AFL + NBA features for publications including The Guardian, ESPN, Bleacher Report, VICE and Complex Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter @justinjourno

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stardustpug · 5 years

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Title: Learning to Love the Cold Chapter Title: Mohawks Chapter: 12/? Fandom: snk/aot Pairing: jeanmarco Summary: He can hear his blood pump in his ears. It’s almost like the world is moving in slow motion. LAST AO3 | FF.NET

At around 11:00 AM, Jean wakes up to his phone buzzing. He stares at it for a moment, not lifting his head from the pillow and confused about what’s happening before finally reaching out and slowly wrapping his hand around it. He pulls it to himself, yawning and letting his eyes adjust to the light of the screen.

Snap from Marco.

He slides open the notification and waits for snapchat to load. Tapping on the snap, it opens to show a video Marco had sent him. First was Marco’s feet, tapping against each other in his skates, and then the camera switched to show Marco’s freckled face. He smiles and gave the camera a thumbs up, and then the snap ended. Jean chuckled, and then he realized he needed to get out of bed and head straight for the TV. Marco’s group would be beginning warm up shortly. He quickly took a selfie giving Marco a thumbs up and adding a “good luck! love u nerd” caption to send to Marco.

Popping out of bed -- a little too quickly, causing a small coughing fit -- he tore off his sweatpants and begins searching his messy bedroom for a clean pair of pants and a shirt. After the typical sniff test on a few shirts, he slides one on and quickly pulls on the nearest pair of jeans.

Bolting down the stairs, he heads straight for the TV. “Jean!” he hears his mother yell from the kitchen, but he doesn’t stop. Instead, he catapults himself over the couch, landing swiftly on it and reaches for the remote. He coughs a few more times as he turns on the TV and flips to the channel featuring all of the Olympic coverage and pounds on his chest. He feels something swat his shoulder. Glancing behind himself, his mother is standing there, one hand on her hip and the other holding a stirring spoon.

“What?” he asks innocently, turning his attention back to the TV.

“You were just put on a new medication. What do you think you’re doing, running around the house like a mad man?” she asks, exasperated.

“Marco’s almost on,” he says, setting the remote down on the coffee table. “Can’t miss it.”

“That’s no reason to risk a trip to the hospital,” she sighs. “And look -- he’s not even on the ice yet. You easily could have walked.”

Jean grunts, neither in agreement or disagreement. He supposes going to the hospital would’ve sucked ass, since he would definitely miss Marco skating. On the other hand, running a few feet shouldn’t kill him (he hopes).

He hears his mother sigh again behind him, and then footsteps retreating back into the kitchen. The announcer on the TV introduces the final group of skaters to warm up for the men’s short, which happens to include Marco. Jean pushes himself to the edge of his seat, watching his boyfriend take the ice.

He glides smoothly across, doing a lap forward to warm up. Jean can see from the look on Marco’s face that he’s concentrating hard to push through each element while he has the chance. Jean catches himself holding his breath and slowly exhales. No matter how stressed he is, he really can’t afford to do that right now. Blacking out now could be the worst possible time yet.

The announcer calls the warm up, and the skaters leave the ice. Jean watches as Marco’s coach hands him his guards and obviously is giving him some advice. With a very serious look on his face, Marco nods and places the guards onto his blades. He looks like he’s in the zone.

Jean knows the anticipation sitting low in his stomach must be nothing compared to what Marco’s feeling, but there’s no stopping the nerves causing him to sweat despite not moving from his rigid position in the middle of the couch. The first skater seems to skate a relatively clean program, but Jean can’t really focus much. How could anyone do this? He had never felt so stressed out in his life, and he wasn’t even doing anything.

The crowd roars to life and Marco swallows. It’s time.

His coach leads him back to the rink and he watches the first skater leave the ice and quickly hug his coach. Marco had watched the program in the so called ‘waiting room’, and this guy looked pretty solid. Being one of the last skaters of the event, Marco knows he has to give it his all. He has to put on a memorable performance and stick out if he wants a chance at standing on the podium by the end of the games.

Hanji’s fingers grip his shoulder, giving him a tight squeeze. Glancing behind himself and at her, she flashes a determined smile. The previous skater is headed for the kiss and cry, so Marco quickly slips off his guards and hands them to Hanji. He steps onto the ice and does a few slaloms to warm his legs back up. Checking the giant screen above his head, the skater who went before him still hasn’t received his scores. He decides to do one last triple flip before it’s really his turn.

The jump has a solid, clean landing, but Marco can’t shake the nervous energy pumping through his veins.

And then -- “The final score for the short program comes to 86.04, putting him in--”

Marco tunes out the noise around him, heading straight to Hanji on the boards.

“Okay, Marco,” she says, her voice calm as she cups his hands in hers, “I need you to go out there and do what you always do. This competition isn’t any different from the others. Have fun with it, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and you’ll regret it if you don’t smile through the whole thing. You know yourself, once the music starts, the nerves will all melt away.”

With a nod and one final hand squeeze, Marco turns towards the ice again. His heart beating all too quickly in his throat, he prepares himself.

“And now--” Marco strokes forwards, one arm swooping up and out “--representing the United States of America--” his other arm mimics the motion and pushes once more into a one foot glide “--Marco Bodt!” The crowd roars to life once again, cheers coming from every direction. Marco’s arms fall to his side and he takes a deep breath, heading towards his starting spot. If he can skate well here, he stands a chance of going on the the free skating event and, if he’s good enough, a spot on the podium. He comes to a stop, his eyes scanning over the crowd. He moves his feet, one toepick in the ice. He raises one arm into the air, almost like it’s outstretched to receive a high five. And with that, his eyes lingering on a particularly large freckle on the back if his hand, his music starts.

With a quick backwards pivot around, he speeds off from the middle of the rink. These few crossovers need to gain him plenty of speed -- then comes the footwork -- and then his first jump of the program. He needs to land this if he wants a chance at that gold medal. One more crossover, step forward, push into a three turn, toepick --

He’s in the air. His arms tightly press against his chest, legs crossing, he uses whatever force he has to get this flip to rotate four times. Come on, he thinks, feeling himself starting to check out. His blade touches down on the ice, and he feels a burst of energy replace the nerves that have been pumping through his body. A clean quad at the Olympics? Marco lets out a laugh and fists pumps, listing to the crowd’s insane reaction to his success.

Fists raised in the air, Marco’s face adorns an ear to ear smile. He goes quickly through his bowing motions, shaking with adrenaline, and waves. As he skates towards the boards, where Hanji is absolutely beaming at him, he leans down to grab one of the stuffed animals that had been thrown to him. It was a puppy plushie, and he couldn’t help but smile more, if that was possible. He knew Jean was back in Michigan, probably watching him pick up this dog, but it could still be a cute gift, right?

Stepping off the ice, Hanji hands him his guard once again. Marco puts half of his effort into slipping them on and the other half into hugging Hanji. He had never felt an adrenaline rush quite like this before and he knew he didn’t want it to go away anytime soon. Who knew he could fall in love with skating again? And at the Olympics, no less?

Marco and Hanji are shuffled towards the kiss and cry. Both with face splitting grins, they take a seat. Marco waves at the camera and blows a few kisses and making a heart with his hands. “This was for all of you guys! Thanks so much for your support mom and dad! And shout out to Jean! Wish you were here!”

He leans back, turning towards Hanji, who has her hand resting on his back. She’s still smiling, but she’s nervously eyeing the large screen situated above the ice, which currently shows the two of them sitting in the kiss and cry. A small sliver of the screen turns blue and suddenly Marco feels his heart drop into his stomach. Scores begin to appear on the screen. He holds his breath, clutching the seat. His score is high, but will it be enough? Does he have any deductions?

“The final score for Marco Bodt is 100.38 after the short program. This puts him in first place, and is his season’s best. It also sets a new world record.”

Marco can feel himself moving, but he doesn’t really know what’s happening. He’s standing, jumping, hugging Hanji. The crowd is louder than its been all night. He can hear his blood pump in his ears. It’s almost like the world is moving in slow motion.

After the remaining three skaters, Marco finished in second place behind Yuzuru Hanyu, who finished with a score of 101.45. He’s fully aware that he needs to rest tonight and not celebrate his high score, since the men’s long is tomorrow. Tugging his skates from his feet, he reaches into his bag to see tons of messages flooding onto his phone. Of course, the only ones he really cares about are from Jean. He has about fifty snaps from his, which start with a selfie captioned “I’m about to send you all of my reactions to your program so I don’t pee myself”. He laughs, tapping through them. The final one is incredibly blurry, but he can make out the image is of Jean jumping up off the couch. It’s captioned “WORLD RECORD HELL YEAH”.

Marco sends him a selfie in return with the caption, “need a nap”.

I hope this turned out okay? Describing a program is incredibly difficult! The following chapter will include the long program, and from there we have some interesting events not skating related that are coming. This chapter was a little on the shorter side, but hopefully you guys still liked it! Let me know what you think!

#snk #aot #jeanmarco #shingeki no kyojin #attack on titan #ltltc #my writing

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calibanfilesystem-blog · 5 years

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CALIBAN Design Inspirations

Here’s a meaty post on my thoughts on some inspirational game design mechanics and how they will relate to Caliban.

What am I suppos- oh I died...

My definition of a survival game is as follows: A sudden-death system which pits the user against an increasing set of challenges while slowly doling out the tools needed to survive and push further against them.

In a way, despite the savage “sudden death” nature of such games, the feeling of slowly pushing into what was initially an impenetrable system is an amazing motivator and I’ve found survival games to be the most rewarding. Same as learning to code, or learning piano, or slowly realizing the person you fancy isn’t out of your league after all. Or that the life you’ve always wanted but seemed impossible maybe isn’t so far fetched...

Another aspect I like about them is the desire to *see content*. You WANT to know what lies in the fog because I feel like, deep down, once you understand the basic rule-set, you want to *see which rules the game will break*. Personally, this has always been a huge motivator for me in games, and my favorite items you find usually have the most poetic usage descriptions and allow you to break an established rule you took for granted. I.e. (”Allows the user to fly.” “Can mind-swap with enemies.” “Allows user to eat coins.”)

The following are some games which I feel exemplify these qualities.

Forbidden Desert - A dead simple survival board game with such a tight rule-set, it lays bare the minimum you could need for an engrossing survival/exploration experience. I have ported the game to the computer in the past and I was very interested in the percentages and probabilities involved. I.e. a game on “Standard Mode” usually gives you a base ~45% success rate on any given action whereas “Hard Mode” puts you at ~25%.

7th Continent - This system has re-written the rules for what is possible in a board game. This game exemplifies the idea of introducing methods of interacting with the system you never considered before. I.e. using a magnifying glass to inspect a card’s artwork, solving visual puzzles with nothing but your brain and receiving cryptic clues that reward you with no special game mechanics, only the knowledge that they exist. I will certainly be taking a page from this book while thinking about Caliban.

Subnautica - Proves the efficacy of the powerful motivator behind simply wanting to see content. The entire purpose for your explorations deeper and deeper into the depth of an alien ocean is the drive to simply *see*. It is an almost objective fact that the deep sea is l33t, and the game scratches that itch so well. I want Caliban to have a similar drive to see what kinds of exotic and interesting species of softwares you’ll find out in the desert...

Seafall - This game exemplifies the idea of adding and changing the rules of the game at run-time. Playing through this board game with a group of committed friends was an absolutely exhilarating and unique experience. The game got major flak in mainstream reviews for not having rules that cover the edge cases you’d find yourself in (IRL undefined exceptions LOL) but if you look past that, this game was constantly re-inventing itself as you played. It shifted from competitive resource trading game, to war game, to exploration/puzzle game and towards the end it was a co-op survival game. Not to mention the reward mechanic of physically adding rules to the rule-book by way of stickers... also LOL the box said “batteries included” but you didn’t know what they would be used for until 66% through the game. Genius motivational mechanic.

What the fuck is this?

In my opinion, true puzzle games of quality are very hard to find. My definition of a “true” puzzle game is as follows: A cryptic system in which the tools to untangle it reside within the system itself and can be solved with no outside intervention. In other words, it’s what we lowkey wish the real world was. I do not consider games which rely on randomness, cultural trivia, or overly complex game mechanics to be true puzzle games. Those are excuses for poor game design. True puzzle games can and do exist with *one* game mechanic. True puzzle games are among the hardest in the gaming world. I admire that about them and have actively been seeking them out for years. These are some notable examples that I know of. I will be taking a lot of guidance for how they pace and implement real-world puzzles and look to them for structural guidance on how to implement the ideas that I have for the puzzles in Caliban.

You’ll probably see that certain games are missing that are supposed to be “good”. That’s for a reason and if you want to know why, then message me or just fuck off.

The Talos Principle - Yea, probably my all-time favorite video game. I could gush for pages. However I want to keep this focused on how this relates to Caliban. Specifically, how the puzzles and story relate to the digital nature of the game deeply inspires me. The story *is* the story of a digital consciousness, told through a pseudo-biblical filter. I am going to be taking some pointers from this when I am shaping the myth and story of Caliban.

Obduction - The latest game out of Cyan Studios (creator of you-know-what) truly couldn’t give any less of a shit about you or if you come anywhere close to beating it. Yes, to a fault. Its not as confrontational as Hackmud (below) but it certainly dangles a story-carrot in front of your face (which is as obtuse and unsolvable without a walkthrough as the notorious maze puzzle). Most unforgivably, the game is plagued by a fucking stupid walk speed and straight up tedious animations. If it takes more than 5 seconds to input a “code” into your “number lock” to test it, then fuck that and fuck you.

Hackmud - This game makes me LOL. I haven’t settled on how I feel about it and it is the last game I have been seriously into before starting this project. The gameplay here IS building a codebase. The game is a puzzle box you throw your code against and try to make progress. I am thinking about how I would like to integrate coding into Caliban, whether I will detect and forbid automation, hacking, coding etc.. or if I will embrace it. The downside to embracing it is that you alienate your non-coder audience and you start designing challenges under the assumption that your player base is code-savvy. What do you think about this? Sound off in the GIVE FEEDBACK section!

Harry’s Puzzle - I love, love love this game. You can play it in its entirety right here. What I love about this game is how it is always there, always lurking. You can resume your progress just by going to the right URL. You can take your time, maybe years, chipping away at the puzzle, and communities have spring up around it. Maybe, maybe Caliban can aspire to such fame? Such renown? Such infamy? LOL, not my intention, but the ruthlessness and difficulty of Harry’s puzzle is something to keep in mind.

So what’s in it for me?

So, some people just don’t get games. They just don’t. I completely understand that. I mean, at the end of the day, what do you get out of them? What’s the point? “Seems like a waste of time if you ask me...” And beating a game almost always leaves you with a unique feeling of... loss. You shut the game down after the credits and... then what? Did you just waste 10 hours? 10 days? 10 months? I mean, I’m of the opinion that its *cool* to beat a game. Its *cool* to be good at video games, but I completely respect differing opinions.

For Caliban, I want your progress and eventual completion to be tangibly rewarded. I want you to leave the game with pieces of software you could not have gotten from anywhere else. Whether its a nice music box program that plays some chip-tune, or a unique little desktop physics widget, or a piece of interactive poetry, or a desktop sculpture or anything. I want this game to have tangible takeaways, and finally a piece of totally epic trophyware for those who reach the journey’s end.

Here are two games that I feel genuinely reward you in completely unique and satisfying ways and which I will be drawing heavy inspiration from.

Samorost 3 - The carrot on the stick in this game is music. As your progress through the game, you are simply rewarded with a new instrument track you can then trigger in the special music menu. That’s it. Those are your prizes. Each achievement you get adds new capabilities to your music-making arsenal and if that isn't the most beautiful and wholesome reward system, I really don’t know what is. Check out this link to see it in action. HIGHLY RECOMMEND

The Return of the Obra Dinn - This game is a utter masterpiece. The reason why I have it way down here in the “rewards” section is because i don’t know why, fuck off. But anyways, the eventual reward for completing this game is finding out what the fuck happened on the Obra Dinn. You are presented with disparate chapters of a story, told mostly in reverse, with a crucial chapter missing. If you don’t complete the game in its entirety, you never get to see this missing chapter and the story remains with a gaping plot hole. This is genius, I mean I’m kind of a nautica-phile so this was enough for me to keep progressing but I just love the idea of holding the story as the final reward. It may seem a given, like “yea you beat the game you get to see the end to the story”, but something about Obra Dinn was different. It wasn’t about seeing the ending, (the ending is actually where you begin) but seeing the exact pivotal moment the story rotates around was an amazing motivator. Thinking about this while I write Caliban.

What are you trying to tell me?

So, something I am not going to do is post my story. The story is something I will not be revealing until I am comfortable with the final release to keep it a surprise. But here are some influences I am taking into account:

Scheherazade

It’s Such a Beautiful Day

The Tempest (Caliban) What, you thought the title was an accident? ;-)

Ok! So, here we are at the end. Woof. You still here? Wow. I love it. If you’re reading this, then welcome to The Inner Circle. Sound off in the GIVE FEEDBACK section and make yourself known. If you think I’m not going to reward “Day One fans” in-game then you’re CRAZY! You’ll be considered a VIP in the project and your constant feedback will help drive development forwards and who knows, maybe you’ll find yourself rewarded in more than one way :-)

Up next will be my roadmap on my first few steps on this journey and some milestones I will be trying to reach in the coming weeks.

Till next time - M

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allspark · 4 years

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Building works of art in the Allspark Studio today is WFC Earthrise Grapple! Will he continue to build with precision and grace, or watch with horror as your Decepticons destroy his work in battle? Tune in after the break to find out!

On the heels of the WFC Starscream Gallery I posted earlier this week, we now have a chance to review WFC Grapple! Grapple is one of those characters that always looked neat on screen (and as a toy) but was never a standout character to me. I had to read his TFWiki article to even remember what he did during the original cartoon. I was kind of surprised to be reminded of how much of a doofus he was. That episode with the Solar Power Tower and the Constructicons is just embarrassing.

Still, his design is classic Sunbow, and what is not to love about his looks? Pair that with the awesome Diaclone toy design and it makes up for all of his goofiness on the G1 show. We have not had many iterations of Grapple over the years, so let’s see how this new version compares to the G1 toy and the Reveal the Shield figure.

Vehicle Mode

This sure is a spot-on homage to the Diaclone mold. Almost every detail boldly calls back to the original vehicle mode. The orange is a little darker than the Commemorative Series reissue, but not so much that it is off putting. There is some added real-life detail to the sides of the vehicle, and the arms are slightly more integrated into this mode. I find myself a little disappointed that the cabin of the vehicle cannot rotate forward like the original, but considering the change in how the arms are connected on this version, I can’t hold it against the mold.

Comparing this vehicle mold to the RtS mold makes me love it even more and question my previous affinity for the RTS version. While the RTS mold works better in scale with WFC Hoist, it just looks way too big. Add to that some issues I have always had with some of the panels in transformation and I am definitely ready to let that version retire.

Robot Mode

You know what to expect here. The figure’s transformation takes some heavy cues from the G1 version. The head assembly and legs are the closest to the original figure, and the arms follow through in the spirit of the G1 transformation while improving on the design. WFC Grapple has phenomenal articulation minus one point: the neck. His head is on a mushroom joint instead of a ball joint. sigh Close enough to perfect was good enough, I guess.

At any rate, WFC Grapple can get into some great action poses. He balances well enough that you can even hold a full-size Constructicon above him with his claw connector on the crane arm. Impressive.

The only advantage that the RtS version has over this one is that it came with the darker head based off of the G1 toy. Having a swappable set of heads for Earthrise Grapple would have been icing on the cake. Beyond that, there is no competition between the WFC mold and the RtS mold. WFC Grapple is cartoon proportionate, transforms easily, and has no parts that randomly pop off. RtS Grapple is too big and too broad, does not have the classic “bucket” behind his head, has panels that do not move without some force being applied, and his arms pop out just above the biceps constantly. I kind of hate that toy now.

Final Thoughts

As I said before, there is no competition between versions of Grapple in the battle for space on your shelf.

This is the definitive Grapple, and there likely will not be a better designed, more show/toy accurate amalgamation ever created. Seek him out now at Target stores near you!

WFC-E10 Grapple Gallery and Quick Review! Building works of art in the Allspark Studio today is WFC Earthrise Grapple! Will he continue to build with precision and grace, or watch with horror as your Decepticons destroy his work in battle?

#CHUG #Classics #Earth Rise #Earthrise #Generations #Grapple #Henkei #Prime Wars Trilogy #TF #Transformers War for Cybertron Earthrise #Universe #War for Cybertron Earthrise #WFC #WFC Siege

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therevaliir-blog · 7 years

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Announcements: 09-05-2017

Days of Hebheka Writing Contest Winner:

When the three challengers were finished with their crafting and enchanting and each item was laid out before him after the demonstration of their use, he motioned to the shrouded beings with whom he conferred for a brief second. He nodded with them before turning to each of the crafted items. First he picked up the ring that was forged with the enchanted substance that had required the blood of two deities and the shadow of a third and regarded it for a moment. "This piece would surely be a boon to those who are trapped in the eternal love of the night. You put a lot of thought into the creation of this item," Drae said. "I will admit however, I was a little disturbed by what had to go into it to be created. Because of the requirement of certain… materials… I'm afraid that very few would ever be created," he said as he considered the vial of Liquid Moondrip and the ring that had bathed in it by fire. He set the vial and the ring down again upon the display. His walk to the set of frilly maid armor enchanted with lacriamium was a thoughtful one as he picked up the still relatively light garment. "This is an impressive creation, Jesgil. As a mage, I know that there is precious little than our own skills that keep us safe in the field of battle. Most armor hinders the somatic movements that spells require and for clerics and healers alike it is often too bulky to be practical for their skills. While the particular style definitely would not flatter MY figure" he said to the chuckle of the crowds around them"this armor would indeed be useful and practical to those who would use it on a daily basis. Well done!" Finally he moved on to the glittering flute that Myouga had created. He picked up the enchanted instrument and looked at the oni woman with eyes narrowed in interest. "You, my dear, had me wondering for a while," he told her with a bit of a smirk. "Had me guessing as to what you would be creating. At first there felt like no rhyme or reason to it, but I dare say you have pulled off a truly wondrous feat here. The use of the various items to take it from ordinary to something that kings and even dragons would fight for to have in their treasuries is surely impressive. And while I was not charmed to it as others in the audience were, I could feel its magic and I did actually start tapping my foot to its spritely tune. It takes a lot to be able to sway a deity like that, even just a little. I was also very impressed with your talent at alchemy and transmuting. You were very precise, and that precision certainly didn't harm you here," he said as he handed her back the flute. The Keeper moved back into the center of the gathering area, standing in front of the crowds and the final three. "Today was a great day! As Parvpora moves out of her full phase and begins to wade, we have seen something truly remarkable during these Days of Hebheka. Each of these talented women have brought before us something never seen before, in hopes to make it a reality in the world!" The Keeper said to the cheers of the crowds. "Unfortunately, with the joining of the moons failing… I only have the power to make one creation here permanent!" Drae moved up to Celeste, and motioned for his Avatar to come forward. "Celeste, you progressed far in this event, always managing to remain one step ahead of the competition. You showed ambition, intelligence, wit, and superb magical ability." He nodded to Iris who produced a rather large bag of silver and a spell scroll which she handed to her master. The Keeper passed these things to the Vaewolf and stepped back. "I have faith you will do well in the world as a mage. Continue to seek Knowledge," he added as he placed about her neck the Golden Amulet of Knowledge. "Tar Eisalae welcomes you!" He waved his hand over the ring and the vial of Liquid Moondrip and it shimmered for a moment and disappeared. He turned and walked to Jesgil. "You progressed far in this competiton, Jesgil. You showed creativity, and spunk. I liked that," he said as Iris handed him a larger bag of silver, a spell scroll, a velvet bag that contained a glowing bottle of starlight, and the small gold figurine of a sphinx that would come to life when broken. "I look forward to seeing what you will come up with in the future," he added encouragingly as he placed about her neck the Golden Amulet of Knowledge. "Tar Eisalae welcomes you!" Like the ring and the vial of Liquid Moondrip, he waved his hand over the Maid's Battle Armor and it shimmered into nothingness. Finally, he moved on to Myouga with Iris following closely behind him. "Well, well well. I will say, in this entirety of the challenges, I can honestly say that I saw no one that surprised me as much as you did, Myouga," he said with a slight laugh. "From the moment you entered the labyrinth, I knew you were going to be a force to be reckoned with," he said. He nodded at Iris, and as he placed the Golden Amulet of Knowledge around the oni woman's neck he spoke. "As of today, Myouga, you are the the Champion of the Days of Hebheka!" Cheers errupted from the stands as she was passed a purse of silver, a scroll, a bottle of starlight, and a sphinx figurine. He lifted up the flute that she had created. "And this flute, shall mark you as that champion, a reminder of all that you accomplished here," he said as he delicately gifted Myouga her creation. With a clap of his hands, portals began to open across the fields as the three challenge areas began to shiver and crumble into nothingness all around them, the energy that had held them through the time of great magick waning as Parvpora had begun to. OOC: Thank you so much to all who entered the Days of Hebheka Writing Contest! I couldn't have put this on without you!

The Living World:

SOMETHING IS HAPPENING! The closer Revaliir begins to get to Venti the more the skies glow an eerie green. Shrieks have begun to resonate from the desert but upon investigation… There are no answers. Reports of people disappearing in the desert late at night when traveling alone have caused the great nations of Arri and Mamlak to give caution.

Leather Issues:

Leather Straps were completely bugged I've begun to change out the areas, recipes, and I will need everyone with leather to send me a message so I can give you the new item. Once I get everything done I'll change Test Leather to Leather and add Leather Straps description to Leather. :3 -Brittlez, Administration

Site Changes:

- Pyzis has chosen to step down as Administrator. We hope to see her around in the future and wish you luck!

- Added: Reynash's Endless Bag to the Forge! For everyone who wanted a bag of holding ;)

- Seasonal Rotation New Items:

Ghostly Elephant

Pocket-Sized Succubus

Veille Mbanja

Spectre Labradorites

Mask of Relinquish

DaeLuin Closing:

On behalf of all Revaliir’s staff let me say I am truly sorry to see my home go even if I haven’t been there in over two years. I’ve discussed it with Telly(Darros) and we agree that it would be alright to have a personal archive for anyone who wants it on Revaliir’s server accessible by anyone who would want to read them. Please mark the threads are you would on here with the proper tags and make sure that if it is a PPT thread you are putting up that you password it as needed. If anyone from DL would like to post their threads here just for a record they are more than welcome to sign up and do it. Personal Archives I'll lock all threads once they are done so if you just shoot me a message I will lock them so no one can post them. This forum has no silver so feel free to separate the replies by posts. -Brittlez, Site Administration

Moderator Apps are Open! :

Activity is picking up at Revaliir! This means, that with Xunatar’s recent promotion to Administrator, we are in need of a new moderator! The ideal candidate will be a trustworthy and mature individual who is invested in this site. Moderators need to be capable of upholding the rules, assisting our members when needed, and helping our community continue thriving. We are also looking for someone who has a presence in the community both IC and OOC (including the Discord server). Sometimes, Moderators are asked to join discussions concerning other members, and they may learn information that is rather sensitive. If a Moderator is found telling any non-staff member about things discussed in the staff boards as well as the staff Discord channel, that Moderator will be removed. We want our members to feel that our staff is trustworthy, therefore we will not tolerate any information leaks. If you are interested in becoming a Moderator, please fill out the following application and PM it to Dalanesca. 1. Primary username (this is the account you would want to have moderator status). Please also list any alternate accounts you might have. (Let’s all just take a minute and be thankful that Brittlez can’t apply for a moderator position!) 2. Tell us about any experiences that you have as a moderator on other sites, or relevant skills that would make you an asset to our staff if you are chosen as a Moderator. 3. Why do you think you deserve the position of Moderator? Don’t just sell us on your abilities (though we want to hear about those too). What is one thing you would like to see happen on the site that would make Revaliir a better place? (Please try to keep this down to one or two paragraphs, around 250 words. We won’t hold it against you if it’s more, or less… but we don’t want you to get too carried away). 4. Take this into consideration: A member of Revaliir has messaged you and said they are receiving abusive messages from another Revaliir member. Keeping our rules and our harassment policy in mind, how would you handle this situation? We are going to keep applications open for about 2 weeks. Remember, if you need clarification on a question, you can ask an Administrator - but you cannot discuss the CONTENT of your app with any staff member. Good luck everyone!

#fantasy #writing #roleplay #rp #fantasy rp #announcements

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lorrainecparker · 7 years

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Taking the Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve Micro Panel For A Spin

The Olympics motto is Citius, Atlius, Fortius, when translated from Latin the motto means Faster, Higher, Stronger. The motto does not imply the competition between athletes but the competition within an athlete. After using Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci Resolve Micro Panel I feel like this old world motto can be applied again without losing its meaning. The track balls and knobs of the Micro Panel help a colorist or DIT be faster, reach a higher quality of color, and end up a stronger colorist in the end.

Faster

I counted myself as pretty quick when color correcting on my MacBook Pro by using the trackpad or by using a mouse on the dedicated DaVinci Resolve desktop I use at work. I was wrong. Way wrong. In my first moments, I learned the DaVinci Resolve Micro Panel was going to speed up my process. Being able to work in the Primary Color Controls with the three Track Balls nearly exclusively meant I was able to set my shadows at the same time as my highlights. I am talking about dialing in the highlights and shadows to near perfectly quickly.

After a little bit of time muscle memory takes over on the placement of the smooth Track Balls, knobs, and buttons. I could stare at the screen without ever taking my eyes off as I color corrected my footage. This muscle memory also meant I could bounce my video to full screen on my laptop to see a larger picture as I fine-tuned the image.

Higher

There is only so much detail a mouse or a finger on a trackpad can produce. When using the Track Balls I saw how fine I could dial in my exposure and color. I felt like the area on the color wheel suddenly became bigger when using the Track Balls, whereas the color wheel feels smaller when using a mouse. It is almost as if the unit of measurements are different between a mouse and the Track Balls. For example, the mouse might be using centimeters whereas the Track Balls are using millimeters. When trying to find just the right hue of blue these differences can be pretty monumental. Will a viewer notice? I do not know, but I felt like I reached a higher quality of color correction when using the DaVinci Resolve Micro Panel.

Stronger

I almost think Blackmagic’s intent was to help those using DaVinci Resolve to become a little bit better of a colorist by forcing them to work in the Primary Tools a little longer. Maybe my hunch is off the mark. I can say the Micro Panel helped me stay within the primary palette longer meaning I did not dive into the secondary color correction as often. Is that good or bad? I kind of think my secondary color correction might have been my coloring with training wheels. After using the Micro Panel I feel like I learned how to reach a little be more professional looks without jumping into secondaries.

Micro Panel +s and -s

The Micro Panel is built like a tank. Could it take a fall off a DIT cart onto asphalt and still work perfectly? Yes, I think it could but let’s hope no one finds this out the hard way. This panel is not too expensive either with a $995 price. The track balls and knobs are butter smooth with a slight amount of tension so you can feel the changes you are making. It also worked as soon as I plugged it into my laptop. USB-C cord included and no need to power the panel with wall power.

After making Primary Color changes one feels like the panel should offer a few secondary color controls, but I guess that is why Blackmagic Design built the larger Mini Panel. I wish there was an Add Node Button. Will this panel travel well for DITs? It will likely take its own hard case which adds to luggage costs, but this is minor. DaVinci Resolve only for this panel. No Lightroom, Premiere, or any other software will work with the DaVinci Resolve Micro Panel. This is a one program panel only. I also wish there were some editing features on the panel, but I have no idea how it would be implemented or used.

Conclusion

In the end, Blackmagic Design loaned me the DaVinci Resolve Micro Panel for two weeks. I did not need the full fourteen days to fall in love with the panel. In a matter of hours, I found the less than $1,000 panel made my color correcting process faster, the quality of my grades reached a higher quality, and I developed a stronger level of color correction savvy I might not have reached if I was only working with a slower process.

DaVinci Resolve Micro Panel

Small enough to take with you, so you can bring it to any Resolve system (12.5.5 or later)

Shares basic layout with Mini and Advanced Panels

Interfaces with and controls software

Three track balls with outer control rings

Log and Offset color-correction selection buttons

Custom control knobs with 4096 steps per rotation and push-button reset

Luminance

Y lift Control: Adjust the contrast of the image in the darker areas, specifically in the Y (luminance) channel only. This adjustment allows changing the black point without changing saturation.

Y Gamma Control: Adjust the contrast of the image in the mid-tone areas, specifically in the Y (luminance) channel only. This control helps add depth and extra vibrancy to shots.

Contrast

Contrast Control: Increase contrast to make the blacks darker and the whites brighter, or decrease contrast to do the opposite.

Pivot: Change the center of tonality about which dark and bright parts of the image are stretched or narrowed during a contrast adjustment.

Mid-Tone Detail: Affect the contrast of regions of the image with high edge detail to increase or decrease the perception of image sharpness and definition. Often used for softening facial features making it popular for beauty shots.

Detail

Color Boost Control: Raise the saturation in regions of the image with low saturation while leaving properly saturated areas alone. Also known as a vibrance operation, this is useful for adding color without oversaturating the image.

Shadow Control: Selectively lighten or darken shadow detail without affecting your images mid-tones.

Highlight Control: Enable retrieving blown out highlight detail in high dynamic range media by lowering this parameter. This allows you to achieve a smooth blend between the retrieved highlights and unadjusted mid tones for a natural-looking image.

Saturation

Increases or decreases overall image saturation, you can turn your color image into a grayscale image with this control.

Hue Control: Rotate all hues of the image around 360° of the color wheel. The default setting is 50, which retains the original distribution of hues.

Luminance Mix Control: Control the balance between the YRGB adjustments and Y only adjustments made using the Y channel lift, gamma, and gain controls.

The post Taking the Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve Micro Panel For A Spin appeared first on ProVideo Coalition.

First Found At: Taking the Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve Micro Panel For A Spin

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