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black-lake · 1 year

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astro observations 6

Heyyy, here's another observation. ☆ This is a lighthearted one, I hope so. I've done so many hard aspects/healing observations ik, and so lets have fun with this one! This post focuses on the ascendant and physical traits, but anything that comes to mind really. 🦚 🦚

Highlights: ascendant, virgo, gemini, leo, aquarius, pisces, all risings, moon, saturn, neptune, uranus, pluto, celebrity ascendants, degrees.

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🐉 If something happens to your teeth or jaw, check your Saturn transits or solar return. You may get braces or aligners during a significant saturn aspect transit. Check the transits if any bones you have start acting up. You may feel like getting cosmetic treatment, surgery or anything of that kind. Stepping up your aesthetic game. I got my aligners during multiple saturn conjunction transits, a pain in all aspects of life lol, wasn't expecting less from it. It's a good time to break and restructure solid things in general, in your life, body, and mind, it will have a lasting effect.

🐉 If you have ascendant-pluto aspect transit or in your solar return, especially ascendant conjunct pluto, you may change many things in your looks/aesthetics. You could fix something you wanted to fix in your appearance, change your wardrobe, your style, dye your hair, or go through a major glow up. You could also change the way you express yourself and show up to the world. Any aspect of your ascendant will undergo some kind of transformation, even the way you view yourself.

🐉 Virgo risings are easy to spot for me, they have small features that are defined but soft, think Emma Watson, Timothée Chalamet, Chris Jenner, Kurt Cobain, and Emma Chamberlain (which I believe is a virgo rising not approved, but the vibes are strong). They kind of have a perfect look yet they don't care about it, cuz idealists ya know. They are effing beautiful. They want to appear natural, remember. Sometimes I notice they talk about doing the least to their appearance and keeping their natural hair/beauty, even tho it is so evident that they take good care of themselves and that takes effort and time. But they also do it effortlessly. If you compliment their natural beauty you are a keeper. Never tell them they're trying too hard, ouch. They care about using natural/vegan products, and encourage others to do so. Again Mercury influence does give off a swag vibe, wether in how they dress or appear, cool girl next door, fast talker, intelligent af, sweet but honest, hard worker. They dress in a professional, comfortable and clean way.

(I can't decide, but it might be my fav rising, y'all win).

🐉 Gemini risings look much like Virgo risings, their features are small and elf-like. But they are harder to spot imo. They have morso a fluid look, not giving too much feminine nor masculine energy or mannerism. They can be soft, but can be many other things at once. Their skin looks youthful. They have charming smiles. They are easy to spot not in the face but with how much long and flexible their body is, especially hands and feet lol. (trust me I'm a Gemini rising, hypermobility at its finest). They move kind of effortlessly fast. Their vibe is childlike, dechated, swag, quick, nonchalant, noncommittal, and intelligent. They can and want to change their aesthetics, but the quick wit and youthfulness are always there. Their fashion style is casual, trendy, may like to wear silver jewelleries and chains. The way they match their clothes and create completely different looks everytime makes them trendsetters. They dress in the way they want to talk, like their communication influences their style. They move their hands a lot and they may get compliment on their hands.

🐉 Leo risings of course, with the typical hair like a lion's mane, thick and beautiful. But I noticed it doesn't have to be that, there's just something striking about it for no reason sometimes, like the hair is brown but never boring brown, it's shiny or has many shades in it, either way it catches attention. They have noticeable and gorgeous smiles. With the Leo Aquarius axis, their looks can be very individualistic, like there isn't something particular in the face that give it away, their features are simply just them. But with the Sun influence, it brightens an aspect of their physical looks, like bright hazel eyes, natural sun-kissed highlights or skin, warm complections. They like to appear confident and in charge. They want to be seen for whatever they value. They dress in a glamorous, colorful way, depending on other placements of course. e.g. Blake Lively, Vanessa Hudgens, Justin Timberlake, Selena Gomez.

🐉 Other risings that are easy to spot for me are Capricorn, the sharp jaw, bone structure, big straight teeth, and prominent collarbones. Their model-like features and calm unbothered aura makes them trendsetters. Aries, very bold but in a youthful and childlike way (whichever is dominant depends on other placements), athletic bodies, something masculine about them. They dress in colorful or sometimes just dark clothes. The way they match clothes makes them different, bold trendsetters. Scorpio, the darker hair and shadows in their face, their gaze, overall intense vibes. They can have the dark aesthetic look, tights, skirts, bold makeup. The way they give off the idgaf look and also their sultry energy makes them trendsetters. Cancer, round face, full feminine bodies, dimples. They dress comfortably, baggy clothes and comfy fabrics, light-colored clothes, feminine dresses that compliment their bodies. They can be trendsetters with the naturally cute vibes they have, but if other outer planet aspects support it, like uranus and neptune.

🐉 Now Aquarius and Pisces risings are tricky, sometimes I get them right sometimes I'm surprised to find out. Aquarius can have a distinctive look and features that are just simply them, so it would be hard to guess based on just that. The hair, face shape, spaced-out and bright eyes, distinctive features, lean body and sometimes brighter skin can stand out. But again rather than features, it's the vibe and mannerism that I notice right away, they can be unconventional in the way they dress. They of course set the trends with their originality. It's so easy for me to spot aquarius placements in general, but rising is tricky. They appear intelligent and friendly, sometimes rebellious and too individualistic or both. They have an innocent and nonchalant charm.

🐉 Pisces risings are somewhat easier to spot, because their features tend to be noticeably dreamy, watery, big and again very spaced-out eyes, even looking high lol. Can have downturned, sanpaku eyes or a striking eye color. They have milky smooth skin and small teeth. They give off a flirty yet innocent look with their slow but smooth expression. They kinda look like they've been daydreaming for the past 7 hours. Now the way they present themselves is the tricky one for me, even the way they dress, it can be changeful and meld into other inner placements. Like they might dress boldly if they have aries or fire somewhere, or dress casually and trendy if they have air. Whatever they dress like, it's always unique and inspiring. Major trendsetters because they give off an immaculate and irreplaceable vibe. They can also look like anyone's dream, or create their own dream appearance that becomes iconic, especially if they have neptune-ascendant aspects.

🐉 The harder ones to guess for me are Sagittarius and the Venusian risings, Libra and Taurus. I don't know whether it's because I don't have these signs in my chart or that I haven't met many venusian people in general. Taurus risings have this natural earthy beauty, that doesn't seem to age. Their face has a glow, full lips, healthy looking skin, naturally beautiful hair, distinctive face shape. Their style is comfortable but luxurious. They choose their fabrics with attention. Natural expression, giving the I don't have to try hard. For Libra they tend to look kind, treat people well and smile a lot I noticed. They again don't seem to age. They have balanced features that just work well together and create a beautiful look. They like to dress in a girly and classy way. They want to appear likable, so they look like they're extra, trying hard. Not the type to create trends but follow them but won't go unnoticed. Sagittarius risings dress in whatever way makes them feel free, positive and alive. Their style can have bright colors, flowy clothing, suits that are never boring, and accessories. They have unique hairstyles and hair colors and they change their style a lot.

🐉 A reminder that you won’t look 100% your Ascendant ever, other placements and aspects do influence the look a great deal. Sometimes the ascendant isn't even apparent in your physical look or expression because other placements are dominant in the mix, especially if you have planets conjunct or oppose the ascendant, major aspects to personal planets, or you have a stellium in a different sign. Your venus and mars and their degrees are especially important. e.g. Kendall Jenner gives me strong Scorpio vibes in the way she expresses herself and dresses, even though she only has sun in scorpio but has Aries moon and ascendant, and a lot of sagittarius. She has venus conjunct pluto and venus, pluto, and mars 10° in the 8th house so scorpio and pluto is the dominant energy for her. Her style is a mix of scorpio, capricorn and aries. She has a minimalistic but polished style, prefers daker/neutral colors (scorpio sun and capricorn mc at 8°). But she still has the aries and sagittarius playful influence, yet not as strong. Even her house gives me strong capricorn and scorpio vibes and a bit of aries.

🐉 Another example is Ariana Grande, she doesn’t dress so much like a Capricorn rising. She has taurus venus in 4th, libra moon, neptune and uranus conjunct ascendant, scorpio MC with pluto 10th, mars 8th, and cancer sun and mercury. All of this influences the way she dresses, but the venusian signs, cancer, scorpio, neptune and uranus influence is strong. Let's break it down. Her style is comfortable and girly, oversized sweaters and heels, pink and lavender colors (taurus venus in 4th, sun and mercury in cancer, libra moon). Flirty dresses, short skirts and knee-high boots, wanting to appear sexy in her video clips and many of her looks, her social media having a dark aesthetic, (scorpio MC, pluto 10th and mars in the 8th). The way she expresses herself is very known to the public, the iconic long high ponytail and long boots style being her brand which many people try to copy (neptune conjunct ascendant at 0°). Again her aesthetic is distinctives and unique (uranus conjunct ascendant at 0°). Her style wouldn’t be a big deal if she didn't have major outer planets influence. Now the capricorn ascendant still comes out in the way she works extremely hard, cares about her money and reputation, is professional with people, knows how to lead and make good business decisions. And of course, her face shape, sharp long jaw, prominent teeth and collarbones scream cap rising.

🐉 Moon conjunct Saturn can give downturned or sleepy eyes. Now this is especially true if there are other earth placements, especially moon, or other strong saturn aspects. Wise looking eyes, mature look, commanding respect because they earned it, they likely went through a lot. Grounded and down to earth, trustworthy, hard working and serious. e.g. George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, Emma Chamberlain, Timothée Chalamet.

🐉 Moon conjunct/opposite Jupiter is a great manifestation aspect. Of course if you are aware of it, work on it, and develop it continuously. But there are other manifestation aspects I noticed. Jupiter and Neptune aspecting NN, Mercury conjunct/opposite Jupiter/Saturn/Uranus or Neptune. Venus aspecting Moon/Jupiter/Neptune especially conjunctions/oppositions. Sun or moon conjunct/opposite Jupiter/Saturn. Pallas or Vesta conjunct/opposite inner planets or Neptune and Uranus. Doesn’t mean that individuals with these aspects get things easily, it just means that if you are conscious and make efforts things are very possible.

🐉 One aspect I wish I had is Mars or Mercury conjunct/opposite Uranus and Neptune. The artistic talents these aspects give, man it's a huge blessing if you have it, work with it. Two magical and colorful outer planets (neptune and uranus) joining your mind and body personal planets (mercury and mars) is a huge blessing imo. Could give talents in dancing, performing, writing, acting, inventing things, many varieties. And actually it makes the individual multi-talented. I do have mars square both uranus and neptune, and mercury sextile neptune, but the conjunctions are so powerful.

🐉 A cardinal sign at 0° is an important placement. I heard Pam Gregory once say that a 0° of a cardinal sign and within two degrees of both sides (28°, 29° mutable and 1°, 2° cardinal) is on the world axis or a critical public point. How this will manifest depends on the planet and the house it's in. I have a 0° aries Mercury in the 11th and I find it fascinating to observe because when I think about it, it already went through Pisces the last sign of the zodiac and 29° the last degree of the cycle, it ended both the sign and degree cycles and it's completely new, it's really interesting!

🐉 You won't feel like the planet acts completely like the sign it's in. The 0° doesn’t just have the fresh energy of the sign but the wisdom of the previous sign and remembers it vividly, because the cycle wrapped not long ago. It's not like "new" and "unadvanced" at all. It has an important thing to share with the world, but it's on a new journey of discovery with the sign it's in. So in my case, it needs to develop the qualities of that sign (aries) in order to share the wisdom it already possesses (pisces) with the new attitude it has (aries). I felt like I grew into my 0° aries mercury eventually, saying exactly what's on my mind without hesitation. At first it felt like my communication style wasn't discovered yet, I would hesitate, until someone pisses me off then I go off on them lol. My words become honest and cut throat. But it does feel like I have some of that pisces mercury energy sometimes, speaking with metaphors and symbols, being compassionate, talking softly, and in two minutes I'm already screaming, like fight me lol. The aries energy can act on impulse when angry, I can cut people off if they hurt me, thinking I don't need no one, this is where we work to develop the sign.

🐉 The way I think about it in general, 0° of a sign means that just before you were born, the planet already ended a 29° cycle of the previous sign. You gained wisdom through trials and errors and now have the new energy of the current sign. You have to share what you learned with the world. In the 0° cardinal example, and within two degrees both sides, it's more public, like the information can spread widely. It should develop and use the assertive energy of the cardinal sign the planet is in (aries, cancer, libra, capricorn) and initiate action somehow. Keep in mind that you will have similar energy with the mutable 28° and 29° (gemini, virgo, sagittarius and pisces) since it's almost already the end of a cycle, it's like going through your final test, so time to use and share your talents and knowledge. The difference here is with the 28° and 29°, you need to use the energy of the sign the planet is in fully and wisely. But with the 0°, 1°, and 2°, you need to develop the new energy as you go and share what you already know using that new energy. Now of course the sign the degree represents should be taken into consideration, e.g. with 28° embodying cancer energy (a caring, nurturing but assertive way), and 29° embodying leo energy (confidently ruling and shining). With 0° you have a lot of freedom to embody and create your own values, still working with the sign it’s in.

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mmyashas · 1 month

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COMUNICADO IMPORTANTE: quackitytoo

TRANSCRIPTION -> TRANSLATION BELOW THE READ MORE. i am not an experienced translator and some may be a bit off, but i've done my best to translate all of it!

hello, hello! hello everyone. good night– good night everyone, i hope you're all well. um, i did this stream since i'm making an announcement to talk to you all in relation to qsmp's structure. i know people have questions, about a lot of things. so, i hope this will help you understand a little bit more. i'll be saying all of this in spanish since i find it easier to find the words– in spanish, as it's my native language.

i want to give you and explain a bit of context about everything. these last three weeks have been incredibly turbulent in many, many aspects. the restructuring process that's in course for the project hasn't been very easy. before my involvement— and i've said it before— there were people that affected the project in damaging ways, financially and administratively. i had already commented about this.

and i haven't spoken about giving updates and nothing of that nature and i haven't spoken about it since all the updates i've had are internal and of the legal type. hence why, there's no visible changes but they're changes that have to happen. i reaffirm, malicious people have been removed from the server and i'm still in (legal) processes against people who've caused many of this damage since the start. and that has been one main focus of this restructuring that's been happening.

guys, i want to leave this very clear. during all this process, all the words and actions that have been taken have to be done very, very carefully. recently, i've wanted to give many updates, such as internal and external, but we're against a really critical problem– that being leaked information.

i don't know if the people that leaked announcements or information from the inside knew that this was happening, but when i gave out private information and this info got leaked to places it shouldn't have gone– that affected the required process to solve a lot of stuff. and the people that harmed me both administratively and financially, that i've talked about in a past stream, were finding out about things and situations they shouldn't have and used this information to misrepresent and affect the process. so that complicated things– it's why i haven't given any announcements or talked freely as much as i wanted to. it's not to ignore or evade but there's a really, really delicate process going on.

and from the start, i knew in my involvement, to achieve a total change– we had to start with the people that affected me and the project. and caused a lot of the mistakes that have been occuring this whole year.

and when this could be defined, what was done was starting to find a financial strategy for the project since the project's costs are very high– and the project was going to close. i've also mentioned this before. and when i could define with strategies and events in the qsmp if there was a way to support the project, the next step was to restore different elements of the qsmp that no longer existed. and i want to make something clear, given the circumstances of the server i didn't want to make any promises to anyone i didn't know i could keep.

this is the reason i was figuring out this part and the financial part, and i couldn't give any more internal updates because i was working in an important part of the server, the financing. so, i understand and comprehend the lack of communication has been notorious. and i reaffirm, i tell you, it's not on purpose. there's a lot of situations i've tried to solve behind the scenes but i've had to be very careful. i understand if there's people that don't agree with the methods or the process. and if you dont trust in the project or the process– don't worry. there's no problem if you stop consuming the project. i totally understand. i've said i have a personal conviction with the project and it'll stay like that.

i've been working very hard and i'll do everything that's possible so the project keeps running but with the best conditions possible. and something i have to make clear is that this process takes time. i have to leave it clear– this process takes time. guys, there's people that have left the project and will keep leaving the project on their own will and i understand it fully. and i have no problem with someone that takes or will take that decision, and i wish them the best. in fact, i gave an internal announcement where i said that a restructure would take time to finish. and there's people that for reasons don't want to be part of that process. and i understand completely! because it's not easy to be in transitional phases.

something i said at the start was that my main objective was that this project came back to normal but with the best conditions. this is able to happen following the dynamics and examining the exact scenario for each person contributing to the project— and this isn't achieveable in three weeks. and all of this process continues.

so, giving you all a bit of context, behind a lot of things about the project. i ask you all, that keep wanting to do it, ask you your full patience. i don't want to promise or talk pretty. i want to make concrete decisions, and that's what i've been doing. if it's seen or not, it's what i've been doing. it's what i've been doing step by step.

friends, the changes i've been doing is for the best of the project and i'll say it transparently, the changes are for the good of the project and the people that love it. to the people who the project's impacted and the ones who keep up and love everything that this project's for. those people are the motivation and inspiration who the project was created for and is created for and the reason i'll keep doing the qsmp.

i'm not doing this, and i want to leave it very clear, i'm not doing this for the people that for a long while have wanted to see the project destroyed by actions that have demonstrated the- total opposite of love for the server. like not constructive comments, bad actions, bad wishes for me, the team, and any community that consumes the qsmp and the project in general. to me, all those people with damaging intentions don't matter to me that they stop consuming the project. leave that very clear!

and let's not forget something important guys, it's very difficult to build and way easier to destroy. to all the people that wants to join this building process is welcome, and those that want to maliciously destroy, this project from the start wasn't and isn't for you.

and lastly, i want to say these days i've received a lot of calls, emails and messages from people from a lot of parts of the world expressing what qsmp means to them. it's why i tell you punctually, that this project isn't over and i'll do what's necessary so each day it gets better. it's a process, step by step, that takes a while but i'm doing it. so, beforehand, i want to thank you for your trust and reaffirm my personal compromise to strengthen this project.

i hope this cleared up some doubts and given the necessary context to some people. and i reaffirm, i have a personal conviction with this project and i'll keep working to better it. just wanted to say that. thank you all and goodnight! bye!

#augj never doing this AGAIN #qsmp #admingate #translation #long post #y aja #good practice but my god do i hate transcripting and translating at once #. Ive done worse. ive transcripted 30 mins it could b worse #<- convincing self

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felassan · 8 months

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Along with what he recently said on Game Mess Mornings, Jeff Grubb and a co-host/guest also commented on the recent BioWare news on Game Mess Decides, in an episode called "BioWare Troubles". Here is a transcript of relevant quotes:

Grubb: "I saw this story first from Dean on GamesBeat, then I looked into it a little bit more. Let's start from the top. 50 people of the 250 people that work at BioWare are no longer there. These are not necessarily just low-level people, whatever that might mean, it's people who've been there a long time. It seems like a lot of people who might be pretty high in the chain and maybe have pretty high salaries. This feels like an aggressive cost-cutting measure for a studio that is being asked to cut costs for the first time in quite some time, but they haven't put out a game in a while. And EA is getting pretty strict about this sort of thing, and it's hitting BioWare, pretty much on the cusp of them releasing Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, a game that is now expected internally to come out next year [2024]. The summer of next year [2024] at the earliest is what I'm hearing."

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Grubb: "It's rough. I talked about this a lot on Game Mess Mornings, so if you want the detailed reporting, feel free to listen to that. Just to summarize, kind've, what's happening here: EA is changing. Apex Legends is on the decline, I can confirm that. They said, publically they said they were too aggressive and too optimistic with their expectations for that game last quarter. That's what they told investors. [...] In my opinion, taking risks on things people really want, and having the best studio do the thing they're best at is the right answer, I think in EA's mind that would be like, good money after bad, is how I think they would view that. The other factor here is that EA has had this corporate restructuring, it's no longer EA where everything's 'EA'. It is [now] EA Entertainment and EA Sports. EA Sports used to cover everything, where it's like, hey, that money from FIFA Ultimate Team is paying for BioWare to BioWare, they can keep being BioWare. And now those are two separate buckets of money. And Andrew Wilson, when they announced this split, the words he used were like 'financial accountability for our leaders'. Like, the writing was on the wall for this. BioWare doesn't look sustainable, probably, to EA, when they are no longer looking at that Ultimate Money as like 'oh, this pays the bills, we're fine'. So EA made this choice, BioWare made the tough cuts and now they have to go put out Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, a game that was supposed to come out this year - that's what they were aiming, they were aiming to put it out next month actually [September 2023. episode was recorded in August], was internally, was the first original goal. I know, it's impossible to imagine that now. But now they're thinking next summer [2024] at the earliest. It was actually, for a little bit there, gonna be March 2024 at the earliest, that's not happening anymore, no way. So Summer [2024] at the earliest. And they're taking people off of [the next] Mass Effect to work on Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, so that means also [the next] Mass Effect is gonna be even further down the line. So, um, yeah, y'know... games are bigger than ever, they take more time than ever, and so the idea that, okay well, you're taking more time, but you're also gonna have fewer people working on these things, that doesn't feel like the right solution here. Baldur's Gate 3 shows that RPGs can be if not the biggest, among the biggest games in the world, how do you not lean into that, how do you not see that and lean into it? But I mean obviously these layoffs were in motion before they ever saw what Baldur's Gate 3 was doing."

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Co-Host/Guest: "There are people who just, love Mass Effect and Dragon Age." Grubb: "Yes, LOVE - IT." Co-Host/Guest: "They still carry giant torches for those franchises. How do you mess that up? Cause they still care so much about those, right? Man, people still freak out about N7 Day and stuff like that. It seems like they should've just been able to make those games, like take breaks here and there maybe, but now, I just wonder, like what happens if Dragon Age: Dreadwolf comes out and it doesn't work quite well?" Grubb: "Now, I don't want people to take away from this that that's what we're saying, that's that's what's gonna happen. That is a concern, and we're talking about that hypothetical. Still, what I've heard about Dragon Age: Dreadwolf is that they are pretty happy with where that game is at, internally. Now, it's taking longer, it's taking more time, it keeps getting pushed back, but that's every game, that's pretty much every game these days, goes through those growing pains. So that's not, some, you know, alarm bell ringing, or anything like that, but, y'know, internally being happy with the game and it being able to live up to, live in a world where all of these other massive games are coming out. Y'know, not just Baldur's Gate 3, Starfield's gonna be coming, Tears of the Kingdom happened, it's like, yeah, if Dragon Age: Dreadwolf comes out and it's just another Dragon Age, and it feels kinda like it hasn't grown much, you know like, if it's as good as Dragon Age: Inquisition, I don't know if that plays as well. But, internally, they're pretty happy with it. So, I mean, take that for whatever it means to anybody, for fans, I don't want people to be like, oh let's go light torches and freak out about this because the game's gonna be terrible now, that's not what I'm hearing." Co-Host/Guest: "That is kinda like my concern though, is that an 'Dragon Age: Inquisition 2' would not be good enough anymore, I don't know." Grubb: "Yes, I mean, that's my feeling, but I don't know. Again, we've noticed this, a lot of fans, maybe they would be happy with that. You know, I think as long as they get the characters that they really love, for the most part, many of those fans actually will be happy, but, we'll see."

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Co-Host/Guest: "Apex Legends, that's like a whole other side of this story. There's been some intense stagnation in the shooter market." Grubb: "By the numbers, the shooter genre is probably the biggest one, like the biggest genre of video game in terms of dollars and people who play, it's probably the shooter genre. There's probably an argument to be made for some others, but it's very very big. And that meant, you know, at certain times throughout our history of shooters, we would have 20 to 25 different shooters releasing over the course of a couple of years. All these other tertiary shooters. [...] [but] It does seem like these days that money is all sort've coalescing in Fortnight, and then a few other things hovering around Fortnight. [...] I mean, I'm hesitant to go be like, well, and this is the problem with live service games. Because obviously live service games have made a lot of money for the shooter genre. And Apex Legends did pay a lot of the bills for a lot of these other games at EA, and enabled a lot of things, and it was a massive hit. So it's like, it did work for many years, and that's okay, right, like you made a product, you put it out there, it succeeded and made all this money for several years, and now it's not doing that anymore, and you gotta make something new. That's just the way it used to work, just on a shorter timeline. So it's like, oh, they expanded that timeline, that's nothing but a good thing. It's just like, okay well, how do you make something to replace Apex Legends. Cause back in the day it would've been like, make a sequel, the old one goes away, here's the new one. And now there's no like, obvious pathway towards making Apex Legends 2. [...] Internally, Apex Legends, on the decline, they're not expecting it to be the big thing for them going forward. Maybe they're able to bring it back, it's not gonna like, go away over night, it'll keep making money for them, but it's not going to be the The Answer to their problems. They will be looking for the next thing."

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A question from chat asked "'BioWare Magic' - still there?" Co-Host/Guest: "You know, I see a lot of people say this, people say it about Blizzard all the time. I get what they mean, and I get that they don't really mean magic, but y'know. Magic's not real. There's only hard work, good management, and other factors like that, and good people. But it's also, there's a part of me gets tired where I'm like, oh, those people aren't there anymore. Well yeah, a company like BioWare, whose first prime was in like 1997, of course, right. But, you know, a lot of people making Zelda today aren't the people who were making it in the past. And that series is still able to manage well, so. It's not necessarily about magic. I know what you mean by magic, but I don't really think it's about that. I think it's just about management and a lot of these other factors. Culture. Culture's the important thing. You kinda have to keep a culture consistent throughout. You can't be swayed by trends like 'let's make everything online multiplayer, let's have fifteen zillion microtransactions, we think RPGs aren't cool anymore'. That's the kinda stuff you gotta work against." Grubb: "Yeah, Walt Disney's been dead for a long time and Disney still has some appeal, and it's like, well how does that work? I mean it works in that the people that get good in a certain discipline wanna go work at these studios, and so it's up to the people running those studios to make sure that they're attracting that kinda people. I think there's a lot of people working at BioWare who came there because they deeply care about BioWare and their games, and their fans, and I think a lot of those people were previously working on Star Wars: The Old Republic and kinda getting that game back into shape. A lot of those people are in charge of BioWare, and I think that's mostly a good thing. I would still expect good things from BioWare. Great things might be difficult, but I think the studio has the possibility to still put out games that really please fans, so. And I think the Mass Effect Legendary Edition, that sorta love letter, kinda proved that to a certain extent. Now let's just see if they can do that with a new game."

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A question from chat asked "Why don't they remaster Dragon Age: Origins?" Co-Host/Guest: "I think I understand why they don't necessarily wanna do a trilogy remaster like they did with Mass Effect, but why not just do Dragon Age: Origins at least? Are they worried that people will bristle because expectations are for a whole trilogy now?" Grubb: "I think the sort've, it makes more sense as a trilogy, if they could do it as a trilogy, cause then you could put it out as this big $60, $70 thing, right. If you're just remastering Dragon Age: Origins, you gotta do a lot of extra work, you basically have to do a remake to get it to a $60, $70 thing, and then the expectation is, well then they'll do Dragon Age II and Dragon Age: Inquisition, and it's like, well they're not, they're not gonna do that." Co-Host/Guest: "I know at least, Dragon Age: Origins looked uglier than Mass Effect 1, but I remember despite coming out after Mass Effect 1, Dragon Age: Origins may have been older tech, or at least was like definitely, was like noticeably an uglier game." Grubb: "It wasn't Unreal Engine." Co-Host/Guest: "And it was in development longer even than Mass Effect. So yeah, it would be harder to probably remaster than any of those Mass Effect games were, even the first one." Grubb: "And the Mass Effect games were one continuous story with the same character, and it was all in the Unreal Engine, so it was just all kinda lined up easy to do a remaster trilogy of that. Dragon Age doesn't really have that going for it. Obviously a lot of crossover characters, a lot of characters from one game to the other, but not in the same way as Mass Effect."

[source]

#dragon age: dreadwolf #dragon age 4 #the dread wolf rises #da4 #dragon age #bioware #video games #mass effect #next mass effect #I'm about a week late posting this up sry :') been lost in the sauce of BG3 #long post #longpost #sw:tor

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tiannasfanfic · 2 years

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Blood Doll: Part 2

VampSteve x VampReader x VampEddie (Angst)

Summary: Humans are such fragile creatures, a fact Steve Harrington and Eddie Munson don't fully realize until they're not human anymore. They realize this after they accidentally hurt their favorite human: you. [Part 1] [Crossposted to AO3]

Rating: Explicit - 18+

Author Note: Gender neutral reader, they/them pronouns used, part 2 of 3. More stuff that wouldn't get out of my head until I wrote it out. Enjoy! 💜🖤

CW: Reader has effects of severe brain damage (little cognitive function, motor skills and speech capabilities); vampire stuff (resurrection, blood drinking, daylight sleeping, healing factor); light descriptions of severe injuries healing (no details, only the parts that are healing, everything else is left to the imagination); discussion of mercy killing.

Word Count: 2,123

The change is a complicated process. While it’s a similar experience that every vampire shares and can bond over, the process can differ wildly from person to person. This seemed based on the state a person was in at the time of the turning. Steve and Eddie had been, for the most part, whole and healthy when they were bitten the first time, despite the further bat attacks that happened afterwards. There had been very little in need of repair, just a little restructuring at the cellular level was needed.

You though? Not so much.

Your body had been broken when Eddie fed you his blood around the ventilator. Your body was still broken when they snuck you out of the morgue, your form trembling in unimaginable pain as Eddie carried you through the empty halls. He clutched you close to his chest as they hurried out to Steve’s car, cradling you in his arms with his leather jacket wrapped tightly around you like a blanket.

The boys never left your side as the damage from the wreck healed, giving you regular drinks of their own blood to help ease your pain. The simpler structures healed quickly, like your skeletal system, the breaks and sprains knitting back together easily enough. Things that were more complicated took longer, such as complex webs of muscles and tendons that held everything together, as well as other soft tissues such as your skin. Your nervous system was the last thing to repair itself. Within a few days, you were whole again.

Physically, at least. Your brain, however, was a completely different story.

The brain was a very delicate thing. A very, very delicate thing. So delicate, in fact, a hard bump on the head just right can completely change someone’s personality. But you’d gotten more than just a hard bump on the head. The wreck had left you with severe, life altering damage.

Your cognitive capabilities were nearly shot, you could say very little outside of their names, simple sentences, and simple questions. Asking where the hell you were when you woke up was about as complicated as you could manage. So much of your memory was gone that Steve and Eddie were thankful you even knew who they were. You couldn’t get around the trailer or do anything without help. You never really tried too either. If they didn’t try to interact with you, you just stayed sitting wherever they put you, staring off into space.

Weeks went by with little change. Eddie grew more depressed and anxious as the time went on and Steve couldn’t blame him. You hadn’t shown any changes mentally since your body had healed. You were a blank slate almost, like you were awake yet still unconscious at the same time. It was no way to live, Steve knew that. But he pushed that out of his mind. He wasn’t going to think about that, couldn’t bring himself to even get near thinking about that.

Even though they kept feeding you their blood and it seemed to do just fine at holding off your hunger, neither of them fed from you. They didn’t discuss it; it was just an unspoken agreement. Things had really changed between you all now and they didn’t want to assume they still had your consent. Asking you for it now would do no good since you weren’t fully informed of what was going on. You barely seemed to know where you were most nights much less understand what you are now.

That wasn’t to say it wasn’t hard to restrain themselves. Far from it. For some reason, you smelled even more delicious now than you did as a human. It confused Steve since no other human smelled like you. He had noticed that fact immediately once he returned to the normal aspects of his life, like working a job. Bills still needed to be paid even when you were a vampire.

But, on the other hand, you didn’t smell like other vampires either. To be fair, Eddie was the only other vampire he had to compare you to, and Eddie didn’t have much of a scent to him anymore since he turned. Plus, Steve could tell he wasn’t the only one experiencing it. While he never brought it up, he could tell just by way Eddie acted fidgety around you that he was feeling it too.

They tried to keep things as normal for you as they could while they gave you more time to heal. They’d help you move to the living room and put the tv on so you would have something to watch. They tried to always keep it on programs they knew you liked or thought you might like. They took turns taking you for short walks outside around the trailer like you sometimes did before. At sunrise, they’d curl up on either side of you on the small bed, the three of you pressed tightly together since neither of them was willing to sleep apart from you, even just in the next room. They both had trouble sleeping these days, but you always knocked right out, always turning to cuddle up into one or the other.

One day while Steve was trying to sleep, it dawned on him that it seemed like you were giving each of them a turn to curl up with you. He started paying more attention, and discovered he was right. Every night, you started out the night by falling asleep turned in the opposite direction from the night before. Last night, for instance, you had curled up into Eddie. Tonight, you were curled up into Steve. This gave him a flutter of hope. Somewhere in your brain, you still knew they both needed you and you wanted to be there for both of them. Maybe it also meant you needed them both too.

That’s how Steve was choosing to take it, at least, but Eddie was so depressed he was highly doubtful. There wasn’t much hope left in the metal head, so Steve chose to have enough hope for all three of you.

A few days later, Steve felt validated in his hope when you suddenly sat upright in bed, ripping yourself from his arms in the process and scaring the hell out of both men. They were up in an instant, trying to figure out what was wrong. You’d never done anything like this before.

You were quiet, but most importantly calm, your eyes slowly sweeping the room. Your brow was slightly furrowed, as if you were trying to remember something. There was a small spark of life in your eyes that had been absent ever since you woke up in the morgue.

Steve suddenly recognized your expression. He grabbed Eddie, pulling him back from you slightly so he would let go of your arms and stop trying to talk to you. Eddie looked like he wanted to punch Steve until he pointed out what he was seeing.

You looked like you always did when you’d taken an extra-long nap after they’d fed. It usually only happened when they got too carried away and accidentally drank too much from you, resulting in naps in the ten-to-twelve-hour range. You’d have this period of time upon waking where you were still far from conscious, the fatigue from blood loss completely slowing your mind down to levels where you acted almost drugged out. When you woke up in that state, you would always sit up and look around the room for a while like this, as if to remind yourself of where you were. Then you would curl back up in the arms of whoever had fed from you and they’d hold you until your head cleared.

It wasn’t long before the spark faded from your eyes and was gone, replaced by the blank look that had become your normal expression. You quietly laid back down, turning towards Steve again like you had earlier. He immediately laid down with you, taking you into your arms. It didn’t take long before you were asleep again.

Over the next few weeks, this became a frequent occurrence, getting to where it was happening a few times a week. It wasn’t just at night, either. Sometimes you would just look around the room from your spot on the couch, and sometimes you would stand up to do it. You really made progress one night when you wandered from room to room, looking at and touching random things as you went. Your face was that confused expression, which spark back in your eyes. Steve and Eddie could barely contain their excitement. It was the first time you had walked unguided since you came back. After a while, you meandered back to the couch and didn’t move again.

While they hoped it was a major sign of progress, instead you seemed to regress after that.

The moments of attempted recognition ended. You virtually stopped talking or doing anything, even when prompted. They had to pick you up whenever they needed you to move you somewhere. It was as if you were an actual living doll now.

Close to the eight-month mark after your turning, with a long time since the last sign of life from you, they had the conversation Steve had been dreading. Surprisingly, it was Eddie who initiated it.

“Steve are we being selfish assholes?” he asked.

It forced them both to think about it. Clearly turning you hadn’t brought you back. Physically, yes, but everything that made you who you were as a person was long gone. Eddie said you reminded him of a zombie, only without the eating brains. The only reason Steve could figure was, you had actually died before they attempted to turn you. Brain death was as real as body death, and you can’t bring something back from the dead. They both knew what they had to do.

But how do you kill the person you love, even out of mercy?

That’s exactly what they hadn’t figured out a few days later when a series of major storm fronts swept through Hawkins. It was a nightmare for Steve and Eddie. The high winds, thunder and lightning reminded them a little too much of that night in the Upside Down. It left them both riddled with anxiety, unable to sleep properly for days. Once it was all over and they finally could sleep, they slept hard.

Even though they had gone to sleep shortly before dawn, it was a couple hours after nightfall when they awoke. Normally they got anywhere from five to eight hours each. Now Steve understood part of the reason why you were always so disoriented from your really long naps.

After Steve groggily sat up and saw the time, he felt a pang of guilt. He knew you had been awake for some time now. You usually woke up before either of them. Since you would just lay there until one of them moved you, neither of them liked to just leave you waiting on them like that.

Just as he was about to turn to you to wish you good morning like he always did, Eddie cried out with surprise.

“Where’s Y/N?!?”

Steve whipped around. Sure enough, you weren’t laying between them anymore. A frantic glance around the room told him you weren’t anywhere in there either.

Steve and Eddie frantically scrambled out of bed and made for the main part of the trailer. As they reached the living room, they both skidded to a stop. They didn’t move, would’ve stopped breathing if they still did such a thing, and gawked at the dream they saw before them.

You were standing in front of the open refrigerator, peering inside of it with one hand resting on the open door, the other on your hip. It looked like you had just gotten out of the shower, your clothes exchanged for a long towel that was wrapped around your body. Your hair had been towel dried, but was still wet, dripping water down your torso and arms.

Steve heard a loud whimper next to him from Eddie, but he couldn’t bring himself to tear his gaze away from you to look at his friend. You might disappear if he did.

Instead of disappearing though, the sound drew your attention, and you looked over. A smile came to your face when you saw them. Steve looked into your eyes and his heart soared at what he saw.

You. You were in there again.

“Morning, sleepyheads,” you said, then turned back to the refrigerator. “I’m starving but absolutely nothing sounds good and everything we have is expired. Didn’t we just go shopping last week?”

(To be concluded in Part 3…)

#vampire!steddie x reader #eddie munson #Steve Harrington #eddie munson fanfic #steve harrington fanfic #eddie munson x reader #steven harrington x reader #steddie x reader #steddie #vampire eddie munson #vampire!steve #vampire!eddie #eddie munson smut #steve harrington smut

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pawborough · 7 months

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Hey everyone!

Thank you for the patience before this check in. There’s a lot of new and exciting things to share. First, a small announcement…

We’ve had some restructuring of our organization. Holly and Meteor, previous project owners, have taken an amicable leave from the project. I (Blue) have taken up the mantle of sole project owner and senior, and am working very closely with the rest of the team as its head. There is no bad blood! We concluded that this decision would best benefit the project going forward. All three of us are beyond excited for PB’s future and development! I vow to be a strong, central lead, and to help vitalize the vision of this project.

With that being said, the previous iterations of art, information, mechanics, and layouts shown here have functioned as proof of concepts, and it's our plan as the team to upgrade and improve upon things as we begin serious building. The last few months following the Kickstarter have been dedicated to extensive pre-production (so we don’t build something and then impulsively decide at the last minute that it doesn’t work, wasting precious time and resources.) I myself have also continued this conceptualizing with the team after being appointed head this month.

Simply: As lead, I will be making changes. In this update, I am presenting a few changes and potential iterations of the game’s UI and aesthetic. With a strong and centralized vision, it’s my hope to improve upon a lot of what was previously shown.

Gene Stylization

The previous color and gene system helped us conceptualize the process of mass coloring and designing a cat, but it left some to be desired. Patterns look very messy when slapped together with such stark borders, very few genes compliment one another with artistic synergy, and the potential for good looking cats could definitely be expanded upon. We’ve started experimenting with more complex looking patterns, and where those patterns fall, and it’s greatly benefitted!

These color experiments aren't final, and may be subject to palette changes. But they're a start with the new direction.

All the colors will all be getting upgrades to accommodate this new style of rendering. And the genes, well, will be re-rendered following the direction seen here! My goal is to more realistically be able to represent what an average cat looks like—as this looks much closer to your average mackerel tabby—and to open the door for some real beautiful mythical renderings (starry pattern...?) I’d prefer if a randomly generated cat was, on average, something that’s nice to look at – so it’s my goal to try to push and guide the art and gene system in this direction!

I also want to establish more aesthetic synergy with the customization, giving users gene options to customize smaller aspects, such as the skin color or the ear fluff color, while not being overwhelming (or requiring too many color slots for breeding.) I want to design it so that you essentially can't get an "unusable" color combination. Not too little customization, and not too much as to be overwhelming, confusing, or difficult to breed with.

Doing so will also open the door for potentially a larger color wheel, as our wheel still lacks. The original intention behind a smaller wheel was to allow for getting a "good" color combination easily, but I believe the solution to a problem like that is to retackle the different areas of customization.

So, hold out for that!

It's also worth noting that our developers have figured out the "colored shading" problem, allowing for us to make the current plain black shading tinted based on the color it sits above. The next update to the generator should include this colored shading! More on the state of the generator available below...

New UI/UX Direction Preview #1 - The Camp

Let’s face it, the old displays and mockups shared here may have been passable, but they were rudimentary and amateur. I did them on my own, but they were no way up to speed with the demands of web design. As intended, the development team has been expanded. I’ve been working with a seasoned UI/UX designer to develop and improve upon the mechanics we originally conceptualized, and to adapt my original design intentions.

Everything is subject to change as we move forward, and of course this is low fidelity (please excuse the work-in-progress nature!) But it gives a new concrete direction for where elements will be placed. Everything will also be formatted competently for mobile.

New UI/UX Direction Preview #2 - Cat Profile

Once again, low fidelity! There are still some aspects which need workshopping, such as the formatting for the text in the heritage and traits boxes, and we may experiment with the margins and spacing of each element, but the goal was to create a much cleaner web view, and we're getting there!

New UI/UX Direction Preview #3 - Cat Generator

This is the biggest change that I am workshopping right now. An experienced consultant on our team pointed out that dropdowns, while popular within our genre, are difficult for users on average. They’re outdated, and they’re harder for accessibility, intuitive design, and user flow. We have gotten user complaints and requests to help accommodate the dropdowns in the past, but why not make the whole process easier?

NOTE: The "review" tab will also be added to the mobile layout

The mobile version especially will have to be implemented and tested for design and usability. I'm still back and forth on moving the randomize and history buttons to the top in the web view, but for the mobile view it could not stay below due to being where a user's thumbs often sit, and potentially causing frustration while designing. I wanted to keep some consistency between the mobile and web layouts, and it does seem to mimic a sort of "back button" placement, but what do you as the community think?

As to when the cat generator will be updated: I’ve been wanting to do a big bang of an update with all the breeds that will be available at launch. With this overhaul, it will depend on the speed of artist production.

Other low fidelity mockups are currently being workshopped, including new user onboarding, breeding, and a potential “dashboard” feature for registered users which accommodates completed dailies, site news, and monitoring timers for functions like cooking!

Next, let’s take a look at some art the team has done this month!

Pixels

Icons

Illustrated by Hybridremmie on Instagram

Work in Progresses

Lastly, let’s look at some sketches this month!

Fauna concept: The Lupiné

Illustrated by fulemy on Instagram

Backdrops Experiments

Illustrated by Runeowl on Deviantart / snowfinchstudio on Instagram

Illustrated by skazinbud on Instagram

Illustrated by hybridremmie on Instagram

Woo, what a big drop! Things have started moving quite quickly, and I’m working day to night with my teammates to develop on schedule and deliver something amazing! So far, despite the setbacks, we are on track. I’ll come back with news on the building process next month.

AS A FINAL NOTE: With art production speeding up, we are working on backer companions/Fauna. This process consists of us emailing backers our concept sketches and waiting for input. Please watch your Kickstarter email if you have backed a design tier!

To Summarize: We shared the beginning of a new direction for genes, low fidelity UX/UI designs for the user’s Camp, the cat profile, and the cat generator. We shared pixel icons, a few rendered icons, and a collection of work in progress sketches!

What to expect next month: Further UI/UX previews, progress on build functionality, further asset renderings.

#kickstarter update

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wistfulwatcher · 16 days

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@ahauandthesun replied to your post “vague tgotb 1x6 spoilers I was genuinely enjoying...”:

wait i need your reasoning on this because i had the same feeling but wasn’t exactly sure why. this whole episode felt off

yeah, i have thoughts lol.

ok so first of all, i'm wondering if this episode and the last episode got restructured/rewritten? because the first thing that felt ~off to me was how grace and kimberlyn interacted. like??? grace was invited to her engagement party/wedding last episode and now it's like they barely know each other? while i enjoyed 1x5 i did think they were kind of rushing the friendship between the girls. i was rolling with it because 10 episodes in a season is so little that i figured they were just doing a whole lot of telling not showing with the emerging friendship.

but this episode felt like a full step backwards, with zero reason for it. i really wish the bus breakdown had happened earlier, since the debates were a good way to get the women to talk openly. (but maybe they were trying to use it to sell their point that debates don't change anything? i'm maybe giving this show too much credit lmao)

overall though i was enjoying the episode up until about the last 15 minutes, because wtf happened with grace and the sandwiches? i legitimately thought it was another one of sadie's fantasy sequences because that came out of absolutely nowhere. if it had made even a lick of sense i would have been all over that scene but it was just truly bizarre???

idk overall the ep felt sooooo shallow. i didn't really think this was a groundbreaking female show or anything before this, but it wasn't so bad i couldn't enjoy it until now. it just felt...blah. especially when thought about in retrospect, knowing where they're going with sadie. pregnancy is about the dumbest/most overused/boring(/insulting, because sadie doesn't have to make EVERY short-sighted choice, a career-oriented woman remembering to use protection can coexist with a semi-unethical choice in partner!!) route they could have taken. i was already barely tolerating the loafers storyline because yeah. sure. when he's a plot device to explore double standards he makes sense. i guess.

also, and this is truly the most minor issue with the pregnancy storyline but. she's 8 days late after traveling/working nonstop, trying to uncover a conspiracy/election bombshell, losing the respect of her mentor, and fighting tooth and nail to keep her dream job? you're a week late because you're fucking stressed, sadie. ugh.

overall, just disappointing!!! but oh well

#ahauandthesun #well i thought i was just minorly irritated but it's nice to vent!!#wordles #also wouldn't be me if i didn't point out that this was the first ep written by a man!!!#i think i maybe need a rants tag for this stuff so people can avoid the negativity if they prefer!#ww rants #tgotb spoilers

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nameofbeinghcnest · 1 month

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i love the qsmp - i think the concept was so genuinely sick and i do think it achieved its goal of bringing communities together through language barriers. it encouraged people to learn new languages they wouldn't have thought of prior and even introduced an entirely new way to play the game.

but if im being completely honest, i think it's reached its peak and i do not think the server should have reopened. whether thats indefinitely or up until the restructures are finalized, it should not have reopened as quickly as it did. telling us to have patience and that total restructures take time in the same breath where you reopen the server and announce events without having the problems fixed to add new creators feels gross to me. to me, it shows where the priorities lie and that is not with the fair compensation of the free fan labor that was exploited. (i always thought it was strange how heavily emphasized volunteer was)

there is a huge lack of accountability and inability to take constructive criticism, especially in that last stream, that really rubbed me the wrong way. im sure there's plenty of people hating just to hate, but all ive seen has been constructive criticism and lumping that in with hate will literally get us nowhere. the egg merch feels like very ill timing at an attempt to make the money to pay the employees but feels counter-productive when all it's done is piss people off. its just a mess

and i think what really confuses me the most is how hands-off he's been about his own project, knowing his name is attached but not being more involved to ensure stuff like this doesn't happen. im also confused as to why they wouldn't just keep the server closed until everything is fixed because in theory, they'd be saving more money to pay the workers by not paying to translate words and what not.

i dont know, seeing more and more admins come forwards and talk about their experiences and how they're leaving because they're being left completely in the dark just makes me sad for them and the way they were treated. i dont really have any hopes for the server going forwards, which sucks especially when they'd invite new creators when theres no internal structure because it's being completely rebuilt. i'm honestly really proud of the creators who aren't playing on the server because of this too. its a really good way at putting pressure for a change to be made without rushing said change and i wish other streamers would do the same

i do hope they can come up with a solution so the server can continue, i have no ill wishes for the server but if things keep up the way they are currently, i would not be surprised if it ended (and if not that, i would no longer support the server) 🤷‍♀️

#qsmp #quackity #constructive criticism

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homestuck-archive · 4 months

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HOMESTUCK NEWS UPDATE!

"Hi, James here. Hope you had a good holiday! New year, new me! New you! Whatever, man! We got the usual patreon updates for you. Wahoo! Did you know that's a kind of fish? I watch a lot of fishing videos. If everything goes right and nothing goes wrong we should have something very exciting very soon: a new website! What does this mean for you? Stick around and find out!

Thanks for coming to our AMA, I hope we were able to answer some questions. I especially liked the one where Haven said he was going to fill Dirk full of Milk and slap him against a wall. Great job team. In other community news, the folks over at SAHcon are having their New Year's showcase around 5 pm PST today. Wow! I'm excited to see what the community is cooking.

We got another great comic update coming mid month, and in the next few we're letting some of the new writers shine. I'm excited for you to read them!

Speaking of updates on things… some of you sleuths may have noticed some changes. I'd like to go into a little more detail about them to the extent that I am able. I also wanted to do this in an official newspost, and not on socials etc, so that there is no question about it.

The contract with VIZ media has been restructured. What does this mean? Well, let's start a little further back. We have gotten a lot of questions about Andrew's involvement with HS:BC and Homestuck as a whole. I mentioned before that Andrew approached me to finish HS:BC. As many of you know a few years ago Andrew stepped back from having a creative role. This has allowed him to focus on oversight, and some behind-the-scenes stuff. A large part of that was regaining a sort of legal control of the brand as a whole.

So who "Owns Homestuck?" Well Andrew still does. Who has the publishing rights? We're working on that! The HICU has a license to do what we want with the property, which is what has allowed us to do some of the more creative things we are trying to do. Is the Website going to be fixed? They're working on that! I have very little to do with that, personally, but once there is something solid to announce there and the concerned parties are comfortable with it I'll let you know. What does this mean for the commentaries? Behind the scenes, some ideas about how to handle the issues with the way Homestuck is going to be published are being discussed. Some of these ideas may include a new way to release the future book commentary in absence of the books themselves. Wow!

With regards to VIZ, as some of you have correctly surmised this is good news for us. It has allowed things like HS:BC and HICU licensing etc to happen, as well as the SAHcon license. Hopefully, this can also include some additional fan-friendly licenses Andrew is considering. This all will take time to fully unfold so more details will be forthcoming about what this means for Homestuck as a whole. All in all, I think we are in for an exciting year.

Man what else is goin on? Some good news on the Vinyl is that I talked to the printer and with such an overwhelming response from you guys, instead of a simple Best Of EP, we actually want to try and do a print of Vol. 1-4. This makes all my very scientific and organized data gathering completely useless. I am humbled by something new and mundane every day. Anyway, this represents a completely different beast logistically, but as a fan of those tracks I am very very excited about that. I will Literally buy a Record Player for this. "James, you don't own a record player?" No! What do I look like, an old man? Please don't answer that. (Yes James, you do. -Homestuck Archive, 2024.)

This month (January 2024) we are also going to start seeing some of the bonus content go public. I ran a poll for the Patrons, and the general consensus is that after 2 months, they're ok with the bonus content going public. This includes Bonus strips, the Illustrations, and the commentary. They're really fun to do, so I hope you guys are into it. If you want to see these as soon as they go up, they are available to subscribers. Thank you for that, btw. It means the world to be able to pay some of my team's bills. Look at me, getting all sappy on New Year's Day. Maybe it really is a new year and a new me..."

SUMMARY -

New HS:BC Website in the works, with some new features.

Update mid-month as usual. Some of the newer Team Writers.

VIZ deal has been "restructured." (that's good for us)

Andrew still "Owns Homestuck."

Working on a solution to homestuck dot com debacle.

There are plans for commentary.

Homestuck Vinyl will be Vol. 1-4, pending some light Logistical Upkeep.

Patreon Bonuses from November will be going public this month.

#homestuck #hs #413 #fyp #homestuck news #news #hs2 #homestuck archive #homestuck 2

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vicekillx · 3 months

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UPDATE: 2024

Usually I make these kinds of post around New Years, but this year I didn't really have anything to say. But now we're a month in and I definitely do.

I feel…different, this year. In a good way, I think. I feel like I'm tired of being complacent and riding coattails. This month has been a whirlwind of getting my shit in line. So far I:

handled two serious family crises smoothly and picked myself back up quickly from both

called my health insurance (phone calls have historically been an hours-long meltdown-inducing debacle for me) twice to switch my PCP because the previous one was consistently booked 3-6 months out and she just forgot to mention the inhaler I pulled out of my bag to show her at my first appointment so I couldn't get a refill on it or my nebulizer when I had COVID; that's been getting put off since August of last year

made an appointment with said new PCP for Feb 1, and I'm hoping they'll be able to refer me to a dentist and optometrist because I desperately need both

got back into therapy with an autism/ADHD specialist who can help me manage those specifically after my previous therapist didn't understand why I couldn't just Do It™; also have assessments lined up for both to get diagnoses

pay more attention to my health in general, including diet and exercise. I'm already down about 10 lb

restructured my planner to include a mood tracker and sleep tracker, and have been better about staying on top of it

got Trello up and running and so far it's working really well for me

have been doing my house chores more consistently, namely cleaning litter boxes and taking care of my snakes and tarantulas (roommates have been picking up my slack but they shouldn't have to, they're my animals)

am able to work more consistently on my designated work days; before it was a lot of chipping away and putting things off rather than sitting down and making actually decent progress

am finally starting a tattoo sleeve I've wanted for a very, very long time as a belated birthday gift to myself

am consistently filling stream sketch slots, which means I can actually make money and pay my bills on-time (and a huge, huge thank you to everyone who signs up, I'm pretty sure this is the primary reason I've been able to pull myself out of the hole. Financial stability is a hell of a drug)

This year I wanna try really hard to keep the train moving along this track. If things keep going the way they are, I could potentially make some pretty big changes in the not so distant future. Some things I'm brainstorming:

UnholyFans

merch other than stickers (seriously I have so many designs in mind, I just haven't had the drive to work on them or the upfront capital to order inventory)

more monster/demon adoptables

I would really like to collab with some other artists, it's been too fuckin long

website restructure

picking up my side business (I did literally zero pieces for it last year oof), ideally with a rebrand

get back into conventions and try some new crowds: reptile/exotic expos, tattoo conventions, oddities expos, sex conventions, BDSM groups…

push the stream setup to be more professional

rekindling the spark for my personal stories and headworld projects

more I have written down somewhere but can't think of off the top of my head

And to be clear, I'm optimistic, but also a realist. I know from experience that shit changes and I could hit a massive depressive slump in a month or two and be back to where I was for most of last year. I'm still not going to promise anything I'm not confident I can deliver. However, that doesn't mean I shouldn't try.

I already got sidetracked with this post, so I'm gonna make a second to get to my original point and I'll come back and add a link to this one when I do. But suffice to say I want to try - again - to breathe some kind of life back into my SubscribeStar. I have some ideas in mind, but I want to hear yall's opinions on it too.

Watch this space ♥

#vice says #update

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thefirstknife · 6 months

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The higher ups at Bungie are 3 for 3 in terms of bad deals? You would've thought they would've learnt a lesson or two from leaving Microsoft and Activision.

I highly doubt Sony will ever be willing to let them go.

I feel like them getting into these deals is a sign that there's people at the top at Bungie themselves who are ultimately responsible. Like, these big corpos can be as shitty as possible and we can blame them for how they treat employees, but at the end of the day, management at Bungie is the one that decides to get into these situations.

I'm not even sure if there would be any point in Sony letting them go, even if they wanted to. Like, at this point with all the layoffs, it doesn't change anything anymore. They could go back to being independent and they wouldn't have enough resources to re-hire everyone laid off anyway. And it's questionable if anyone would even want to be re-hired.

Two more asks under:

I'm not sure either. I don't think we have any fully official numbers of how many were laid off. The 40% number is the most commonly reported right now. This includes all of Bungie, not just Destiny btw.

The theory would make sense, although as of now we really don't have enough information. But it makes sense with the general vibe of what's happening and with the claims that Sony wants to move away from live services and the fact that Bungie did not announce any new expansions.

Additionally, it would make the most sense that a lot of these veterans have wrapped up their contributions to TFS (a lot of concept art for example gets done really early, and even with music, it could've been written by now and just waiting recording) and since no new expansions are planned (presumably due to the incoming change in how Destiny will function after), Sony/Bungie did not want to keep these people on the payroll. They essentially won't need them if expansions aren't happening anymore.

This doesn't make it any less tragic or awful, of course. It's super extra disappointing, first and foremost to everyone who got laid off, because they were promised that the deal with Sony will not result in layoffs:

Though Bungie employees said leadership has assured them there will be “absolutely no layoffs” and nothing “major” in terms of restructuring once the Sony deal closes, the acquisition represents a notable shift for the Washington-based game developers.

Ofc, this was over a year ago. Things change. But it's still horrific because it means that the deal absolutely accounted for potential layoffs at some point in time and the employees were essentially lied to. Especially since this seems to be coming from the idea that they want to restructure how Destiny will work after. And for a lot of devs, that's something they wanted too, but this isn't being done in a way that benefits them at all. So many of those people were laid off in the first place.

In a way, there wouldn't be anything bad with cycling people through the industry. Sometimes veterans (in any industry or job or field) can preclude new people from ever getting a chance. It's overall a good idea to refresh the workforce every so often and get new people with new ideas a chance. Who knows how many, for example, absolutely stunning composers there are out there who can't get a chance because the veterans are employed for life. Like, these things are generally not supposed to be this devastating.

But like this? Absolutely not. Mass layoffs with basically no notice? People not given a choice? Ripping people out of on-going projects? Leaving remaining workers understaffed and demoralised? Treating employees essentially like expendable cattle that can be fired over night without any real explanation? Changing projects and goals mid-way through development? Leaving devs to scramble to salvage what can be salvaged while they're fearing for their employement?

This also probably involves hiring new talent just so you can excuse lower salaries. Because they HAVE been hiring recently. Now a lot of the job listings are gone, but there's been newly hired people coming in. And like I'm all in favour of new people getting a chance, but I've seen how this works and hiring new people just so you can pay them less is beyond shitty; it's essentially expecting entry level workers on entry level salaries to do jobs that used to be done by people with 15+ years of experience. And then when they finally get experience, they will be fired too. Even worse, this can sometimes make absolutely desperate workers with a lot of experience getting entry level jobs with entry level salaries because there's nothing else they can do. With the state of the industry right now (over 6000 layoffs this year), you can see why workers would be desperate to apply for anything.

I wouldn't go that far yet. Obviously we don't know anything for sure, but I don't believe TFS will be cancelled. Or that it can be. Again, Destiny is the only thing making money for Bungie. Studios can be shut down any time for sure, but even the most insane out-of-touch CEO would not shut down a video game at this stage in its life that is actively earning money. Like, that would be extraordinarily unprecedented.

But even in the showcase for TFS we've seen signs that they are looking to change how Destiny will work after. If anything, it's the stuff after that might be on the chopping block, but not TFS itself. Either way, we've seen that they did not announce any new expansions and that the original plan was to change seasons into episodes as, presumably, the full scope of content for the game going forward.

Without having to work on expansions, they don't need as many people to work on the game after. One of the main stresses for the dev cycle is having to churn an expansion each year on top of making content all year long for seasons. With expansions gone, that's a significant reduction in workload. And apparently in employees too. Obviously I think that's a bad choice. Even with expansions not happening, any content coming after would benefit from employees who have been working on the game for years. Except you know, someone up on top clearly doesn't think that content needs that many people who are on the highest salaries.

We'll see where this goes. As I said before, emotions are high right now and it hasn't even been 24 hours yet. Stay cautious and lower expectations, primarily to give remaining employees a break. No need to go full into the worst case scenario yet, mostly because we simply don't have enough information and I don't want to give the impression that we don't care anymore or it will be a self-fulfilling prophecy. There's also going to be a lot of rumours and unverified information going on for a while. I'd wait for things to settle and get confirmed before any further drama.

#destiny 2 #bungie #ask #long post

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brickme · 5 months

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YYH live-action

Short version:

Long version, with spoilers for the entire series:

I'm not being sarcastic when I say I believe they tried.

I don't mind them changing the structure of the story. The early parts of the YYH manga are all over the place and it's probably for the best to streamline it, and they didn't even do a half bad job of it. Tying the "bugs from makai are possessing humans and making them violent" plot point from the Four Beasts arc to Sakyo's plan to open a gate to Makai works quite organically, and having Hiei and Kurama join Yusuke and Kuwabara to rescue Yukina and defeat Tarukane/Sakyo is also a good way to be more economical with the story progression (I don't much like the Four Beasts arc anyway, so). I'm not even mad that they cut away the Dark Tournament, and having Hiei and Kurama's true powers be revealed to the audience when they battle Karasu and Bui (rather than Genpu and Seiryu) is structurally sound. I've read YYH more times than I can count, I know its structure very well, and I believe they did a good job of streamlining it while not making things up from whole cloth to replace what was already there in the manga.

Having said that, they failed in one major, unforgiving way: by streamlining and restructuring the story in the way they did, the theme and emotional impact of the entire first half of YYH was lost. And the thing is, again I think they tried? I think the people making this series both know and appreciate what YYH is about -- if not, they would not have bothered to include Genkai's speech about aging, the desire for power, and the human condition nearly verbatim from the manga! Her words basically spell out the core theme of the Dark Tournament arc, they're what elevate the series above a run-off-the-mill action series, and the emotional impact of Genkai's death and Toguro's ultimate fate are functions of this theme.

In order to appreciate this, we need to understand that the clash between Genkai and Toguro is about their deeply-held philosophies. When Genkai gives the Reikogyoku to Yusuke in order to give him a chance to defeat Toguro, we need to understand, thematically, that she is passing on her strength to Yusuke because she believes this is the point of being human. When Toguro derides Genkai for growing old and weak, we need to understand that he is deriding what he himself rejected, and that this is his weakness -- that he ran away from what it means to be human.

We can't truly understand that when Genkai gives Yusuke the Reikogyoku 30 min after meeting him??? We can't understand that when she dies 15 min later????!?!??! We barely know this woman! How are we to understand, truly and emotionally, the gravitas of her words and actions?! We haven't seen the connection between her and Yusuke, or the connection between her and Toguro! It's emotionally empty and we don't feel the underlying theme of what is happening at all!

And again, I think they really, really tried to give Toguro's words and actions in the last episode gravitas, because they do know what is happening here on a thematic level and they really tried to stick to his motivations from the manga and let us feel its impact. But ugh sorry I just kind of zoned out, man. Toguro does not work when you don't explore Genkai fully.

They tried. I genuinely believe they tried. But they failed. Everything else I could say about the series is inconsequential.

...But I care more than is healthy about YYH, so I'll say stuff anyway:

The first episode was absolutely fantastic as far as I'm concerned. I cried! The emotional resonance was absolutely there, and I was just so happy I was seeing Yusuke and Kuwabara and his lackeys and Atsuko and Botan and Koenma on screen again :') The casting was fantastic, and I especially looooooved that they cast Okubo, Kirishima, and Sawamura to match PERFECTLY with the manga. And asshole Iwamoto was there, being a supreme asshole! Yusuke smoked! The setting was very much working class! Again, it makes me think they care about the source material and they do get it. If only they'd pulled off the rest of the series as well...

Kurama was good too. It helps I've grown to like the actor since he was announced for Kurama, and he's a very good actor, but I think they really pulled off his look, which I was reeeeally worried about. It's brief, but at the hospital visiting his mother, we get to see how Kurama actually looks when he passes himself off as a human: hair tied back, wearing what could actually pass as a HS uniform. His ludicrous red costume was clearly hinted to be his mashozoku (i.e. created by his yoki) just like his Yoko Kurama outfit is in canon. It was clever and I liked it. What's missing from him is the playful side to his personality, but maybe it'll come. The Yoko look and the Karasu fight was pretty good too. I mean no one can be a perfect Yoko Kurama in live action, that's an impossibility, but it was fine.

Hiei was fine? I'm not a Hiei fan but I do think it's a shame they skipped him being an asshole and characterized him as "actually just looking for his sister, not a bad guy" from the start. I also wanted to see him melt Bui's ax like chocolate. Of the main four he was by and large the weakest. And I guess no Shigure in future seasons, woe.

Koenma was pretty good, Botan was good. In the very first scene he's in, Koenma made a reference to "we haven't had a reikai tantei since the last one left but..." which was nice. Along with the post-credits scene, made me hopeful for a Sensui arc? (Although if they do that in five episodes too it'll fail in the exact same way this season fails, so I dunno if I want them to try.) They very much get that Koenma is kind of an ass, haha, which I appreciate.

Best casting and realization of the manga character, though, was Tokuro (elder) for me. Great unhinged creeper! Too bad Toguro (younger) getting rid of him wasn't as impactful as in the manga, because we didn't get to see the two hang out a lot and the show didn't develop Genkai and Genkai/Toguro enough, AS I KEEP COMPLAINING ABOUT

#yu yu hakusho #text post

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