#I've learned things i didn't think I would be learning. new favourite route

[mikimeiko]

Day 16 - Across Czechia

Feels weird and sad to be leaving Brno. I feel like I've been here forever.

The first part of my train ride goes through the hills north of Brno, and not through the valley directly to the west as I thought it would.

Feels criminal to change trains in Prague and not... stop. Such a beautiful city. But I have been there before and there are so many other cities to see ;_;

The route between Prague and Plzen is very beautiful, especially when it passes near the Český kras, an amazing protected area that I would love to visit in the future.

Finally I find the pretty station that I was looking for... and it's under renovations ;_; Too bad because it looks like it would have been very pretty. Also interesting is the fact that the station building is between two different rail viaducts (I suppose because of two different rail branches). Like in Ostrava! Interesting idea, putting the branching around the station.

Plzen old town is INSANE. Building after building of incredible beauty, colors like there's no tomorrow, friezes and bas-reliefs and paintings. It's like you can't catch a break, behind every corner lies another unexpected beauty, and it's amazing.

There's a giant square with the cathedral in the middle, and it looks like there might be some sort of festival! (Actually there are at least to different festivals + other things around the city... Ok!)

While crossing the river I see the station from a distance and... wow, ok, I didn't realize how insanely opulent the building actually was? Where am I? Why is Plzen so ostentatiously wealthy? (I tried to look up the city's history but it doesn't really explain this... or more likely I'm missing something)

I go check out the festival in the main square but I arrive just in time for the first act to finish, and the second one doesn't start for at least half an hour. Luckily at the beer stand they have the Birell pomelo and grapefruit that I liked so much in Ostrava! Except... It's not the same? I guess there was more than one flavour and I didn't specify. This one is redder and berry flavoured. It's not bad, but it's not my favourite.

Also, there a smaller gazebo for buskers to perform between acts (I guess?) and two guys very 2010s indie.

(I really love that the music starts in the late afternoon. Last year I happened to be in a couple of cities that were having festivals, but the events always started so late that I never got to hear anything - especially with the super early trains I was catching XD)

I finally (?) try the fries cheese with tartar sauce (innabun). It is... fried cheese? It mostly tastes of fried and sauce XD but it fits the mood.

The second act of the night is a cover band, and I was a little sad that I didn't have the chance to discover new musicians, but: it's a rock/pop-rock cover band made up of old men. I love them. Super good energy. Good selection of songs. Yay!

Also. Also! How long has it been since the last time I heard live music that I really liked? When was the last time I went to a concert? Feeling the drums beating inside your body. Your mouth grinning of its own volition when you recognise the song. Being inside a thing that is amorphous but real, part of the crowd and you're not alone even if you're there alone. I want to learn how to play the drums - well a drum at least, I keep forgetting! But it is impossible to forget when you feel it, there. Aaaand it was kinda the perfect situation because there were people but it wasn't crowded, I could slip outside the mass whenever I wanted, leave and come back and leave again. But it was so good! Thank you Plzen for this goodbye-to-czechia gift, and to think I wasn't even supposed to come here!

#plzen #pilsen #czech republic #czechia #travel #it's not technically interrail 2023 #mag travels from time to time #my photography #i just want a tag for the things i personally put out into the world

[xolborsaysstuff]

Ignore this, it's just a small thing I'm working on with KF.

Despite this seeming like a minor issue I am continuing to have trouble with this. (Edit: again I said this but I'd like to make it very clear, this is nobody's fault but mine, I'm just super anxious about a silly little game because it's a comfort to me.)

Okay so it you are a part of the KF server you'd ken that the motive was that every three days someone would be poisoned, and the first person was Mishima.

It was going normally until I added new symptoms and then Mishima coughed and Mephone went medic mode and rushed him to the sickbay, then cut his arm off that had the MonoCuff and basically fixed the poison.

(This problem is not any of the RP people's fault, it's mine for not thinking to do anything and only just now realizing what I should have done. Do not think anyone who RPed was at fault for this unless you're counting me, as this is purely the fault of me taking this killing game way too seriously.)

The problem is that if Mephone4 had basically stopped the poison, the whole motive had basically become nothing as well. Poisoned people could only be cured if someone died, which didn't happen, so Mishima needs to stay poisoned. But if I just switch the monocuff onto his other hand and poison him again it would be getting rid of all the hard work Mage put into the descriptions and fixing the poison, which would be mean.

Another part of the problem is that if I do the switching thing, then it all would have been for nothing other than Mishima's lost an arm. while do not get me wrong MonoXol might love creating despair, angst and comfort, Monoxol also has been implied to not enjoy when it's badly paced or gets rid of important plot points or seems too cheesy, as shown with when MonoXol apologised to Mephone for mentioning his dead brother, not because it was awful to remind him, but because Monoxol thought it was too soon and should have waited till later to make it 'more angsty'

(Can you tell I want to write a full character analysis for MonoXol, who's literally my own oc?)

I have thought of ways to do the switch while also having the favourites at least get one thing out of it, but nothing seems satisfying enough. And yes, we're going by Monoxol logic for the RP here, I do it like that to try to make each action MonoXol makes within the game more realistic to the character, yes it might be weird and yes I might be overthinking this silly little RP.

I was thinking of just doing a reset of the scene very briefly, but not only would that get rid of Mage's efforts but this game is also about the player's actions, and if this is the route they take then I'm the problem if I decide to be too controlling and reset things I don't ken how to work with well, as host I should learn to adapt to how my players would like this to end, as is my job.

I'm still working on it, after what happened last night with Doc I've been trying to distract myself with KF as I wait for an answer and pray it's okay, because KF has been a really good distraction for me when things in life feel like too much.

If anyone is reading this, sorry, and have a good one please.

#killing favorites #xolmumbles

[maya-tl]

Without spoiling anything:

I'm currently playing Nadia's route, and I gotta say... I can see why everyone wants a Valerius route so badly.

#i say things #the arcana #the arcana game #the arcana nadia #the arcana valerius #I've learned things i didn't think I would be learning. new favourite route?? maybe so. #I have such different feelings about every route #asra's route feels the most natural #muriel's route is the most wholesome #portia's route is the most fun #julian's route feels the most right for me #lucio's route is the most satisfactory (it's the villain redemption) #and so far nadia's route has been the most fascinating. I'm constantly intrigued by what's going to happen next. #I love all these characters but irl I would only be open to romancing like two... maybe three. asra's on thin ice even though I love him. #the idea of romancing nadia puts me off so much but her story is so good and honestly?? #if you go through without spending any money there's barely any romance at all. I've spent coins on every single route except nadia's. #it's so weird. the romance feels so rushed and off. some dialogue is clearly a follow-up to something that happened in a paid scene that— #—I just never witnessed because I didn't pay for it. I can see why people despise the coin system so much. #when you're not willing to spend money on coins it's actually absurd #anyway I got off track. valerius you're my favourite courtier!!

[fansofvow]

Interview with Eve Golden Woods!

Many of you know who is Eve is. She's a writer and artist, a part of Dreamfeel studios whose beautiful game If Found won Best LGBTQ Narrative and Best LGBTQ Indie game at the first ever Gayming Awards presented by EA games. I am really excited I had the chance to ask Eve some questions about herself, her time at Lovestruck and her creative process.

Congratulations on the two Gayming Awards (Best LGBTQ Narrative, Best LGBTQ Indie Game) for "If Found" from your game studio, Dreamfeel. What was the inspiration behind making the game?

If Found... was a game that emerged out of a collaboration between Llaura McGee, the founder of Dreamfeel, and artist Liadh Young. Liadh's background is as a comic artist, and so when they started working together Llaura had the idea of showing off Liadh's art by making a diary game, and using an erasing mechanic she had previously developed to let the player move through the diary in a fun way. By the time I came on board at the start of 2019, the game had already been in development for a while, so in some ways my work on that game was similar to the work I did for Voltage, because it was taking existing characters and concepts and writing a lot of scripts for them. Unlike Voltage, though, my work for Dreamfeel was a lot more collaborative and I had a lot more creative input. I really enjoy taking something and helping to make it the best version of itself that it can possibly be, but I was also really happy that I got to reflect a lot of my own experiences in If Found. Llaura and I both grew up on the west coast of Ireland, and although If Found... isn't autobiographical for either of us, it was definitely really meaningful to be able to tell a story that reflected our own experiences of growing up as queer teens in a similar kind of environment. Since the game came out we've had fans reach out to us and tell us that they also connected to the experiences of the main characters, and as far as I'm concerned, that makes me feel like I achieved everything I wanted to.

You are a writer and a visual artist. Does one come easier to you than the other?

I used to think of art and writing as talents, and I always felt like my art was at a very mediocre level (that's probably still true, lol). So when I was younger I focused a lot more on writing. It was only later that I started genuinely trying to improve as an artist, but when I did, I think I had a much healthier mindset, and approached it as a skill I could learn with patience and effort. Because of that, even though I still have a lot more confidence in my writing, I find art more fun and relaxing, and I don't stress about it as much.

Did you always know you would follow a creative path?

Kind of? Both my parents are artists, and I grew up surrounded by artists and writers, so it was something that was always very familiar and accessible to me. On the other hand, I didn't exactly have a clear idea of how to make it into a career, or what kind of work would be involved. But there's never been a point in my life where I wasn't doing something creative, even if it was only writing fanfiction.

What did your path to working professionally as a writer/artist look like?

I did a creative writing masters in college, but after that I spent years teaching English as a second language. That was really fun and I got to live abroad, but it was so busy and tiring that I didn't have time to do any writing outside of the occasional fanfic. I only started to take art seriously again when I became interested in games and comics as ways of telling stories. I did some critical writing, which led me to speak at a few local events and get involved in zine fairs. That was how I met Llaura, the director and lead of the Dreamfeel studio, and it's also what gave me the confidence to start applying for actual writing jobs.

Is there any work of art, visual or written, that you look to for inspiration?

So many! I try to read and watch as widely as I can, although there are touchstones I always return to, like the works of Ursula Le Guin and Terry Pratchett. Right now I feel very passionate about the actual play podcast Friends at the Table, which manages to combine really thoughtful worldbuilding and storytelling with cool, fun characters and great action scenes. I'm also reading a book called The Memory Police by Youko Ogawa, which has extremely beautiful prose.

Do you have a favorite piece of your own art, whether it is something you’ve drawn, a screenshot of something you’ve written or something else?

My favourite piece of art is usually whatever I finished most recently (I think that's true for a lot of people). Especially with visual art, once a bit of time has gone by you look back on it and start to notice all your mistakes, which is very annoying. But actually I do still really like the first piece of Fiona fanart I did last year. I managed to use some effects to give it a kind of nineties anime quality that I find really fun, and I think it conveys an emotion pretty effectively. That's always one of the hardest things to predict with visual art, whether the different parts will come together to create the exact mood you're looking for.

I also really like the compass I did for Bycatch. Krissy (@xekstrin) was the one who suggested filling it with fingernails, which was such a good, gross idea! As soon as I heard that I knew it was perfect and that I had to try and draw it.

Many people who read this blog know you as a writer for Lovestruck. When you look back on your time there, what stands out in your mind?

Lovestruck was very important to me when I first started because it was my first ongoing, regular, paid writing work. It gave me a lot of confidence and helped me to get into the habit of writing consistently and rapidly, which is a really useful skill to have. I know I was right to leave when I did, though, because I am just brimming with energy to work on my own projects, and channeling that power into something that you can't control will always end up disappointing you. Also, I made a ton of incredible friends, through Lovestruck itself but then even more so through VOW (@vowtogether), and that is more than worth all the difficult parts.

Is there any character that you would have liked a crack at writing?

Oh gosh, what a fun question! There are so many, but one I do sometimes think about is Axia, just because I know there are a bunch of fans who want her route, and because I had fun writing her as a villain in Zain's route. I can see in my head the shadow of a storyline that takes place after Zain's route is over, where she's in prison and trying to understand how she lost the battle with Zain and MC. I think there's, like, a gap there, where you could see her downfall forcing her to reconsider her assumptions about power, and that could build into a very interesting redemption story. But maybe it's for the best I never got to do that, because I would have wanted full creative control over it, and also I think the story in my head is very different to the sexy, in control, menacing version of Axia that her fans enjoy.

Do you have any upcoming projects you can talk about?

Most of my current work is under NDA, but I will say that I'm doing something very exciting with other VOW members that we should be able to talk about soon(ish). Maybe I can even give a little teaser... It's not a game, but it is something you can read, and my part involves cakes, swamps, and a museum.

Do you have a favorite quote or song lyric?

It's a big long, but there's a section from The Dispossessed by Ursula le Guin that has stayed with me ever since I read it:

"For we each of us deserve everything, every luxury that was ever piled in the tombs of the dead kings, and we each of us deserve nothing, not a mouthful of bread in hunger. Have we not eaten while another starved? Will you punish us for that? Will you reward us for the virtue of starving while others ate? No man earns punishment, no man earns reward. Free your mind of the idea of deserving, the idea of earning, and you will begin to be able to think."

It's such a profoundly radical way of imagining the world, so different to everything I was raised with, but whenever I think about it I feel like I can see something very beautiful and powerful that I hope to come closer to understanding some day.

And of course, "Solidarity forever, the union makes us strong."

I was a big fan of the show Inside the Actor’s Studio. Host James Lipton asked every single guest the same 10 concluding questions. I’ve picked 3 of them:

-What is your favorite word?

My favourite word: for sound, I like words you can really roll around on your tongue. Chthonic, alabaster, insinuation. For meaning, I think simple words that encapsulate big concepts have a kind of power to them. We use them so often we forget how big they are, how much weight they really have, but they give us the space to imagine new possibilities. Love. Freedom. Revolution.

-What is your least favorite word?

I've heard that "moist" is a lot of people's least favourite word but it doesn't actually bother me. My least favourite word is probably one where I feel like the sound doesn't match the meaning. One of the Irish words for rain is báisteach, which I feel has a much weightier and more onomatopoeic sound than rain. Rain is just very flat and uninteresting.

-What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

Oh, so many! I love history, and I think being a historian/archaeologist would be fascinating. Or something that had a physical component to it, like being a potter or a carpenter. I don't think I'd be any good, but I'd love to take the time to learn.

What would be your advice to anyone who wants to pursue a creative career?

All the work you do matters. Even the failed experiments, the things you hate when they're finished. It all helps to make you better. Also, creative career paths are often really unexpected, so chase any opportunity that seems remotely interesting. Don't work for free for anyone who can afford to pay, but work for yourself and put it somewhere. On a blog, twitter, whatever. You'd be amazed how many people get noticed and get offered opportunities because of something they made in their spare time. You'll probably have to work another job for a long time, so don't be hard on yourself if you're too tired to devote much energy to creative work. Try to make art consistently, but don't feel like that has to mean every day. Don't chase after celebrities. Make friends with your peers.

#vowtogether #vow interview #writing #art #lovestruck #dreamfeel #iffound #gayming #gaming #mod atlas