#all happiness is overshadowed by the fact that not only a game engine I use has gone to shit

[paigelts05]

Someone wake me up when the twats in charge at unity have backpeadled their "pay per install" plan entirely.

I'm too tired for this shit.

#game development #game dev #unity #I've been making a game in unity #and the news of that change made me actually feel physically ill #it's like there's a pit in my stomach that won't go away #and I'm always about to cry #all happiness is overshadowed by the fact that not only a game engine I use has gone to shit #but that everyone else is suffering this crap too #is this what depression feels like? #fuck unity

[ilovejevsjeans]

Why Ricciardo doesn't want McLaren struggles to leave him 'resenting' F1

With one absolutely at the top of his game and overachieving every weekend, the other has been left perplexed by his struggles to adapt to the car.

It also means that on days Ricciardo feels he has done well, like his charge to seventh in the Austrian Grand Prix, it is all overshadowed by what his teammate has done.

As a team player, Ricciardo is obviously pleased to see Norris make progress and benchmark the MCL35M.

But it’s not making his life any easier as the world at large questions his form. Indeed he’s decided that he has to not be overly concerned about his young teammate’s pace.

“I feel like it's obviously for whatever reason been a very unexpected and difficult season so far, just from a pace point of view,” he told Motorsport.com after the Austrian race.

“And I guess the easiest way for me to kind of move forward is to accept that. Did I expect more? Absolutely. But I think if I every weekend go into it now expecting to be quicker than Lando, or whatever it is, I'm probably just going to end up resenting the sport, because clearly it's going to take a bit more.

“Clearly there's something that is missing. I feel good in the car, especially the last three weeks, it's felt better.

“I don't want to say, what's the word, wave the white flag, or succumb to whatever it is, I'm just going to not really focus or lose too much energy on that, and just accept that he's driving very well. The aim is to obviously get closer, and help the team out as well.”

In other words, he just has to focus on what he’s doing: “I think that's it, you can get lost obviously with other things. And maybe that's the wise kind of 32-year-old in me now. But I think I've just got to focus on myself, and then hopefully, I can keep chipping away at it.”

Around the time of Monaco and Baku Ricciardo acknowledged that the upcoming triple header at “normal” circuits, with two races at the same venue, would be a huge opportunity for him to learn more about how to get the best out of the car.

His French GP weekend was solid, 10th on the grid followed by sixth in the race, some 11.8s seconds behind Norris at the flag. He started 13th at the Styrian GP and had a typically good first lap to get up to eighth. Decent points appeared to be possible, but an early engine glitch cost him four places and saw him ultimately cross the line where he qualified, in 13th.

In that context the Austrian race represented a step forward, and at least he was able to fight.

“Yeah, it was better,” he said. “I think it was just the day I needed. And for sure I would say for the team, the points, it was nice to get in seventh and get points for them.

“But I mean personally, right now obviously I'm not in a championship fight, so the points are, I don't want to say irrelevant, but I think the important thing for me was just have fun, be in some battles, and put myself in a good position.

“And that's what I did, and the end result was some points, which is nice. I just enjoyed it. Obviously it's been hard to fully enjoy it when the results have not been there, so I took a bit more fulfilment from from the race.”

Ricciardo is still getting those first laps right. He passed George Russell and Carlos Sainz at the original start, and then Sergio Perez (who went through the gravel) and Charles Leclerc after the early safety car.

“I don't know if it's I'm getting old, but the first laps are a blur!,” he smiled. “I remember getting George into turn seven, I don't remember much else, but I do remember I think on lap one I got two cars, and at the safety car restart I got two cars.

“So that was good, obviously moving forward, and I needed it because obviously out of track position from qualifying. I mean it was a fun race, I saw people get squeezed off, I heard there were some penalties.

“Because we've got the big screens and a lot of long straights, you can kind of see what's going on. So sometimes I'd see a replay of someone get squeezed, and then I'd see their radio get broadcast. Hopefully the fans were entertained!”

However despite Ricciardo’s obvious satisfaction with his Sunday afternoon there was no escaping the fact that, even with a five-second penalty taken at his stop, Norris crossed the line 40 seconds earlier.

Ricciardo remains mystified by his struggles, especially in qualifying. His woes continue despite all the homework that he and his engineers have been doing as he tries to adapt his driving style.

“A little bit of the frustration was that I was pretty happy yesterday [in qualifying]. The car doesn't feel perfect, but it felt pretty good. It felt better than a 13th place car.

“So I think everything felt okay, it's just not there on the stopwatch. But from a feeling, it's getting better. Maybe it's just literally half a tenth in each corner. And then I'm there. I don't know, but it felt okay.”

On the plus side, as he had predicted, the triple-header did allow him the opportunity to log more miles and try more things in the car.

“Absolutely. And even if I overlay my data from last week to this week, I'm doing a lot more things that this car requires. So I feel like let's say my McLaren driving improved a lot, and I think that was a bit of the kind of sadness from [qualifying], that unfortunately it didn't translate into lap time yet.

“So maybe it's still a bit conscious and I'm just spending too much energy trying to drive it like that. Maybe just a few more races and then it's more my subconscious, and then I can put the car more on the edge. Maybe it's that? We'll see.”

Next stop is Silverstone – the circuit where Ricciardo made his F1 debut with HRT exactly 10 years ago. It’s not been a particularly fruitful venue for him, and third with RBR in 2014 remains his only podium finish.

New for everyone this year is the sprint qualifying format, and Ricciardo is hoping that it will play to one of his obvious strengths.

“The way my starts have been, the last three races, I think I've made minimum two places every first lap. So having a sprint qualifying actually means I'll probably start further up the grid on Sunday! So I'm happy to have two race starts.

“I think probably you have to treat it like a race. If you're being complacent then ultimately you're going to start Sunday further back, and then you're going to take all the risk on Sunday, and maybe risk the front wing then.

“So I would say right now the mindset would be just a normal approach, try to attack when possible and make the most of it.”

Ricciardo admits he has reservations about the format: “I mean pitstops make it fun, I've got used to obviously doing pitstops, and also it really gets the team involved.

“And if they execute a good pitstop, and if you undercut a car or something through a pitstop, everyone feels like they've contributed to that that victory or that result. I like the team element of it, but we'll see what it's like.”

Looking further ahead Ricciardo can only be happy about his decision to join McLaren, as it’s clear that momentum is continuing to build.

“I think at the moment, it's Lando just having the pace he's having, and obviously the speed,” he said. “The speed is there in the car. So I think that gives the team a lot of motivation as well to push hard for next year, with new regulations. But obviously something is clicking with the car. So I think that's encouraging.”

#daniel ricciardo #dan #articles

[that-scouse-wizard]

Hphm profile: Amelia Booth

Just to clarify some things:

-This exists in David’s (Jacob’s brother) AU, so to reiterate: Merula isn’t the mole, the girl version of Rowan is David’s best friend and only Orion from the Quidditch characters is in Hufflepuff.

-Some more things:

-Amelia is two years behind David, starting her first year when David is in third year.

-Her ‘Rowan’ is the boy version and is called Alder in this AU.

Lastly, I hope you guys enjoy!

-----------

General Information

Full name: Amelia Margaret Booth

Nicknames: Amy (usually by friends and family).

Gender: Female

Age: 11-18 (1986 - 1993) 

DOB: 22/01/1975

Species: Human

Blood status: Muggleborn

Sexuality: Bisexual

Alignment: Neutral Good

Ethnicity: White-British

Nationality: English

Residence: Lancaster (During her Hogwarts years and a brief time afterwards).

Edinburgh (After opening an apothecary there as a side business).

Myers Briggs Personality type: ISFJ, the Defender

Character Summary: Quiet and hardworking,  muggleborn Amelia Booth initially finds the wizarding world intimidating. With the right guidance though, she can become a great source of knowledge should one require advice on Potions, Herbology or Care of Magical Creatures. A love of gymnastics and cycling made her the perfect candidate for a keeper on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team.

Personality

Calm: It usually takes a lot to get a rise out of Amelia, there was however one instance when she snapped at Jacob in year 6.

Competitive: David’s competitive streak rubbed off on her once she became a part of the Quidditch scene. Though like him, tries to keep it to a healthy degree.

Hard-working: Despite being intimidated by the wizarding world at first, Amelia persevered in her studies at Hogwarts. Allowing her to become a well-respected member of the Hippogriff club for her expertise in Potions, COMC and Herbology.

Insecure: While she does appear to not care, she’s always worried if people are staring at her scars. She even briefly developed an insecurity around people in her year wanting to get close to her just to hang around with David (who keep in mind was considered a ‘Hero of Hogwarts’ as well as a relatively popular Quidditch player). Other ways her insecurities can manifest are as jealousy and pettiness.

Loyal: Amelia’s family and friends mean the world to her, she’d do anything for them.

Quiet: Amelia tends to keep her head down, preferring to study in silent contemplation.

Witty: Though she normally doesn’t joke about, there are certain occasions where Amelia has an incredible comeback

Appearance

Face claim: Maisie Williams

Voice Claim: Emma Atkins

Game appearance: 

Physique: Athletic and lean, trained to be very flexible from a mix of her gymnastics and cycling.

Hair colour: Dark brown

Hair style: 

Wears her mid-length and neat (1st-3rd year).

Grows her hair out a bit and keeps it in this wild mane look (4th-post graduation)

Wears it in a pony tail during gymnastics practice, potioneering or when tending to magical creatures.

Usually wears it like this for formal events

Eye colour: Grey (Blue in-game)

Height: 5′2′’

Weight: 75kg

Scarring: A diagonal scar on her left cheek, running from just next to her nose to the middle of the cheek, A vertical scar on the right side of her forehead. One on her right forearm. Finally, one that runs from her left shoulder to her chest.

Body modifications: Both ears have a triple lobe piercing, three simple gold bands in each lobe from third year onwards. Gets three small tattoos on the inside of her left forearm, the leaves of a chestnut (her wand wood), an alder (Alder Khanna) and a willow (David, her step-brother).

Inventory: Her wand, feathers from her hippogriff (Valkyrie), a fragment of crystal from her fire crab (Garnet), and a copy of the books Fantastic Beats and Where to Find them, and Advanced Potion Making.

Fashion: Prior to attending Hogwarts, Amelia used to wear smock dresses. Much like David, has a love of punk fashion when in the muggle world. Although thanks to Andre, grew an appreciation for wizarding world fashion and even Victorian fashion.

Background/History:

Pre-Hogwarts:

-Amelia had a fairly happy life, being quite well-off financially thanks to her mother’s accounting work and her father’s job as a plumber. 

-Though she loved her older siblings, Alex and Sarah, the age gap of six and four years respectively meant some obvious differences in the closeness between the Booth siblings.

-Sadly, when Amelia was just five years old, she was involved in a car accident. A driver going too fast rear-ended her father’s car. While her father was killed on impact on account of not having his seatbelt on at the time, Amelia had hers on and was knocked unconscious. This event resulted in her scarring and subsequently, her ability to see Thestrals.

-The accident took a heavy toll on all of the Booths, Lyra though was determined to stay strong for her kids. Getting them involved in various activities in the hopes that it would get their confidence back, for Alex it was muay thai, for Sarah it was shooting and for Amelia, gymnastics.

-While Amelia regained some confidence in herself despite the scars, the accident caused her to develop motorphobia, she can’t stand the thought of being trapped in an automobile. However, she can still ride bicycles and broomsticks, at least then she has control over the vehicle in question.

Year 1 (1986)

-Amelia first comes to Hogwarts when the school is in the grip of the curse of the Vault of Fear.

-This also where she meets Alder Khanna, Rowan’s younger brother, who would become her best friend.

-When she first encounters a boggart, it turns into a Vauxhall Viva (the car her dad used to drive), blaring its headlights and revving its engine. Understandably, this troubles her.

-That event, combined with her insecurity over people wanting to befriend her just to get closer to David causes an argument between the two. This is where she gets closer to Rowan, who even though she’s the older sibling in her relationship, feels somewhat overshadowed by Alder. 

-She reconciles with David thanks to the advice from Rowan and even an assurance by Alder he’s not her friend because she’s close to David.

Year 2 (1987)

-Open Quidditch positions are announced, for Hufflepuff’s team, it was keeper. Having expressed an interest in it, she sought out Orion.

-Orion asked her to balance on her broom, expecting her to fail a few times before she got it. However, thanks to her gymnastics training, she stood up on it first time no problem, something that visibly surprised Orion. It almost immediately made him consider her for a position on the team.

-She got the position and was noted for incorporating her gymnastics into her Quidditch manoeuvres, something that greatly helped in defending the goals from the opposing team.

-Because of this, she becomes quite popular in the school Quidditch scene.

-She comforts David when his friends Chauncy and Philip are killed by a Red Cap while under the sleepwalking curse. Hagrid introduces them both to the Thestral herd on the Creature Reserve.

-Admits to David that she doesn’t trust Rakepick.

Year 3 (1988)

-She selects COMC, Divination and Study of Ancient Runes as Electives. Though Divination isn’t what she hoped, she takes to COMC like a fish to water. While she had experience with certain creatures through her first two years on the reserve, she mentioned wanting to take COMC as soon as was feasibly possible.

-Is there to witness David emerge from the Portrait Vault, shocked to learn of Rakepick’s betrayal.

Year 4 (1989)

-Jacob comes back as the DADA teacher, Amelia confronts him about the pain he caused David last year. This culminates in an argument in which Amelia slaps him and screams, “He’s my brother, you selfish bastard!” Before she storms out the room.

-The biggest event for Amelia is when R comes after her, to truly make sure the condition that David must see a loved one die so that he may enter the Sunken Vault.

-However, Alder intercepts the attack meant for her, resulting in his death. The R assassin, Nisus Snyde leaves, believing the distraught reaction from David is enough to determine that Alder was suitable for the condition to be met.

-She’s distraught as well, blaming herself for being too weak to not help David or protect Alder, a fact that isn’t helped by Rowan also blaming her. This results in an argument between David and Rowan which climaxes with shouting “I wish I’d never met you David Willows!”. Amelia feels even worse after, believing herself to be the one who caused the argument.

-She insists on joining David for the expedition into the Sunken Vault and helps in bringing down its guardian.

-She becomes heartbroken when R murders Jacob but even more so when David leaves in the middle of the night, having snapped his wand.

-Moody tracks her down and talks to her as well as a few others, promising to bring David back and keeping them at Grimmauld Place.

-When David is brought back, it’s here that she alongside David and Rowan form the Circle of Khanna in remembrance of Alder.

Year 5 (1990)

-She assists in keeping David hidden in the Room of Requirement, knowing R is going to come after him. Using privileges she obtains as the 5th year prefect to wander the halls mostly unchallenged.

-She joins in the final battle against R, facing of against Nisus alongside Rowan. The battle ends when Valkyrie (Amelia’s hippogriff) grabs Nisus’s skull with enough force to fracture it, killing him.

-She’s able to complete her O.W.Ls and helps in winning the Quidditch cup for Hufflepuff, David appoints her captain seeing as he’ll be graduating.

Year 6 (1991)

-Takes Alchemy as an Elective.

-(Note may not actually happen but I find the thought of Amelia taking the Golden Trio under her wing to be an intriguing idea).

Year 7 (1992)

-Her status as a powerful Muggleborn makes her a prime target for the Basilisk, resulting in her petrification. 

-Saved by the efforts of the Golden Trio, though forced to cram and take her N.E.W.Ts in the summer.

Post Hogwarts

-Gets in touch with a contact provided by Professor Kettleburn as a trainee magizoologist. Starting up an apothecary business on the side.

-She attends David and Merula’s wedding in 1994 as one of the bridesmaids.

-She joins the Order of the Phoenix in 1995, using her apothecary as a safe house and providing potions for the Order when they’re needed.

-In 1997, her apothecary is destroyed, luckily she’s able to escape and goes on the run from the death eaters.

-She assists in the Battle of Hogwarts in 1998, once again providing potions and healing magic to those who need it. That being said, she takes down a fair few death eaters herself.

-She continues to work as a magizoologist after the war, even managing to rebuild her apothecary.

Family:

Peter Booth (Father, deceased):

Face Claim: Ben Whishaw

A fun-loving family man, Peter worked as a plumber known for his warm attitude. He taught all of his kids how to ride a bike, one of the last things Amelia really remembers about her father.

Sadly, he was killed in a car accident when Amelia was just five years old.

Matthew Hall (step-father):

Face Claim: Ben Miller

A stern but fair CIMA-qualified accountant, Matthew first came into Amelia’s life when she was just seven. When she was eight, Matthew and Lyra officially got together, something that upset Amelia, thinking her mum was trying to replace her dad.

The two would reconcile, though it would take time with the assurance that he wasn’t there to replace Peter. It was he who recognised Amelia’s magical abilities when they manifested shortly before her eleventh birthday.

Lyra Booth (nee Robinson) (mother):

Face Claim: Ruth Wilson

Another CIMA-qualified accountant, Lyra and Amelia are very close. She was shocked when she learned her daughter had magical abilities. It was her demand to invite David over for Christmas in 1984. Something which ultimately proved comforting knowing there was someone looking out for her.

Alex Booth (brother):

Face Claim: Jody Latham

Her older brother, Alex is very much protective of his little sister. Her going off to a boarding school that was part of a world that he had no idea about was worrying. That being said, he begins to worry about her less when she and David try to explain Quidditch to him.

Sarah Booth (sister):

Face Claim: Emilia Clarke

Amelia’s sister, initially very highly strung about Amelia joining the wizarding world and being far more vocal about it than the other members of her family. Though she becomes endeared to David eventually and is even fascinated by stories told to her by Amelia about her magical creatures.

Jacob Hall (step-brother, deceased):

Face Claim: Tom Holland

Amelia was highly of suspicious of Jacob, largely for causing David pain. To the extent she slapped him when they got into an argument after Jacob said “David is my brother, so-” *SMACK* “HE’S MY BROTHER TOO, YOU SELFISH BASTARD!”

That being said, their relationship becomes more cordial over the course of the year and is one of those who mourns Jacob’s death.

David Willows (step-brother):

Face Claim: Dave Franco

Initially intimidated by her future step-brother, Amelia didn’t know what to make of him. After he gave her a demonstration of a Lumos spell, she started thinking he was cool.

Though there’s been the occasional rough patch, Amelia considers David a blood relative and would gladly protect him with her life knowing he’d do the same for her.

Allegiances:

Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff

Affiliations: The Circle of Khanna, The Order of the Phoenix, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Professions: Trainee magizoologist (1993-95)

Potioneer (on the side) (1993-95 then 1998-present) (Full-time) (1995-1998)

Magizoologist (1998-Present)

Hogwarts Information:

Class Proficiencies:

Astronomy: P

Charms: A

DADA: A

Herbology: O

History of Magic: P

Potions: O

Transfiguration: E

Electives:

Alchemy: E

COMC: O

Divination: A

Study of Ancient Runes: E

Quidditch:

Hufflepuff Keeper (1987-1991)

Hufflepuff Captain (1991)

Extra Curricular:

Hippogriff Club

Hufflepuff Prefect: 1991-93

Favourite Professors

Professor Sprout: Her head of house and the one who suggested she become a Prefect, Sprout was there to comfort her after Alder was killed. Amelia often assists in tending to the greenhouses.

Professor Snape: Despite Snape’s dour and very much intimidating presence, Amelia found potion making a subject she often practised in her free time, using Snape’s instructions of course. Though not quite as enthusiastic about him as Penny Haywood, Amelia will admit Snape can be a good teacher.

Professor Kettleburn: Though considered nuts by most staff and students, Amelia very much respects Kettleburn for still working with creatures even they’ve maimed him so many times. She’s even talked with him about her insecurities around her scars.

Least Favourite Professors:

Professor Binns: Like many Hogwarts students, Amelia would rather sleep through Binns’ lessons than study. Even the most fascinating of magical history go in one ear and out the other when Binns is teaching her. 

Best canon friends:

-Barnaby Lee

-Liz Tuttle

-Charlie Weasley

-Penny Haywood

-Orion Amari

Love Interest:

I’ve not decided on a love interest for her or even if I’ll give her one. If you’d like to suggest your MC to be her love interest, let’s chat!

Best MC friends:

David Willows: David is Amelia’s step-brother, being introduced to each other in Christmas 1984. Becoming Quidditch teammates in Amelia’s second year, David would go on to appoint Amelia captain of the Quidditch team

Judith Harris (@judediangelo75​): Judith is the beater on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. During a match, Amelia trusts Judith to keep the bludgers off her back. Judith sometimes supervises Amelia on the creature reserve and will even have races between her Swedish Short Snout and Judith's Ukrainian Ironbelly. 

 Lizzie Jameson (@lifeofkaze​): Lizzie is one of the chasers on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team and was over the moon when Amelia joined as the keeper. Outside of Quidditch practice, Amelia sometimes spends time at the magical creatures reserve with Lizzie and Charlie.

If you’d like your MC to be friends with her, let me know!

Rivals: 

During Qudditch: Andre Egwu, Erika Rath, Skye Parkin, Charlie Weasley, Oliver Wood, Cato Reese (@catohphm) and Katriona Cassiopea (@kc-needs-coffee​).

Otherwise she doesn’t really have any.

Enemies:

R

Death Eaters

Magical creature poachers

Magical Abilities

Wand: Chestnut, phoenix feather core, nine and a half inches, rigid.

Chestnut wands prefer witches and wizards who are skilled tamers of magical beasts, those who possess great gifts in Herbology, and those who are natural fliers.

This is the rarest core type. Phoenix feathers are capable of the greatest range of magic, though they may take longer than either unicorn or dragon cores to reveal this. They show the most initiative, sometimes acting of their own accord, a quality that many witches and wizards dislike. Phoenix feather wands are always the pickiest when it comes to potential owners, for the creature from which they are taken is one of the most independent and detached in the world. These wands are the hardest to tame and to personalise, and their allegiance is usually hard won.

Animagus Form: N/A

Misc magical abilities: 

Occlumency: David teaches her Occlumency when he can to keep her safe from certain threats, especially in relation to R and other magical effects such as the legilimency of the wampus cat. 

Boggart form: Her dad’s Vauxhall Viva, blaring its headlights and revving its engine.

Riddikulus form: The car shrinks and turns into a wind-up toy playing a musical horn.

Amortentia (what do they smell like?): Damp earth and straw

Amortentia (What do they smell?): Lavender and mint.

Patronus: Abraxan.

Patronus memory: The feeling of freedom and wind in her hair as her dad let her bicycle go. She knows he would want his little princess to keep going forward.

Mirror of Erised: Her dad is back, telling her how proud he is of all of her accomplishments.

Specialised/ Favourite spells:

Bombarda (and Maxima): Taught to her by Rue, David’s mother, thanks to that teaching she’s learned to concentrate the spell so it’s much more powerful. Especially useful against creatures with magic-resistant hides such as dragons and trolls

Conjunctivitus curse: Not having the luxury of being a legilimens means Amelia has to get a bit crafty in her spellwork, especially when facing highly dangerous creatures. Blinding them is a guaranteed way to distract them.

Incendio: Useful for starting a campfire on her expeditions as a magizoologist, it helps that it can be used as an offensive spell.

Protego: Always useful when blocking projectiles and other spell attacks.

Misc Information:

She has far more creatures on the reserve than David: A niffler (Glimmer), a porlock (Macha), an Abraxan (Emerald), a fairy (Pearl), a Bowtruckle (Twiggy), a hippogriff (Valkyrie), a Thestral (Skull), a Unicorn (Bismuth), a frost salamander (Sapphire), a salamander (Ruby), a Swedish Short Snout (Torak), a fire crab (Garnet), an Imp (Clanger) and a Quintaped (Angus).

#harry potter hogwarts mystery #hphm #hphm oc #amelia booth

[boyslaughplus]

Devlog #34 - Status Update, Character Design, and UI

Hello! It's time for another update on the development status of Brassica. It’s also our first actual devlog purely about Brassica!

After working on separate projects for a while, we are now in the process of getting back on track working on the same game again. Because of that we're happy to announce that the rest of Brassica's Act 2 will be released in March!

It grew a bit in size from what we originally planned but that just means more game for you~

The exact date will be announced when we can more clearly estimate how long the remaining tasks will take but we're in the process of finishing everything up so it shouldn't be too long.

As for Act 3, our current plan is to release it in April. From now on development should be a lot faster but because we mainly worked on it on the side until now, that is still only a rough estimate. We'll definitely keep you updated on any developments regarding the release dates though!

Well, and that's about it for the status update. Because it's been a while since our devlogs actually described much of our development process (and we haven't shared much about our thought processes behind Brassica), we decided to bring that back with today's devlog.

PECTIN will tell you a bit about Saffron and his design while eZombo describes the development of the UI. So without further ado, here we go:

Art - PECTIN

Saffron is the curious prince the player takes control of in Brassica. Before I began concepting him Felix and I defined his character. At this point we already knew he would be one of the princes Sappho tricks into going on the journey. (And would then fall in love with another prince because YaoiJam'18). We soon agreed on naming him Saffron. So I already associated the colours of the spice "saffron" with him here. We also wanted to make him a protagonist with his own personality. Thinking of the player who role-plays him we thought it would be cool to have his character split into three separate personalities he could have: - the cunning and a bit wild prince     -  the typical goody two-shoes type of hero     - and the soft boi who's overwhelmed by the whole predicament and really needs a hug Another external influence was, my intention  to try and fuse traditional things with modern sportswear. Brassica is a fairytale but it's told in a contemporary voice. That's where the idea came from. ...Okay. So I had his name, colours I could associate with him, the three archetypes and my goal to fuse sportswear with traditional clothing. Having all of these "pointers" I began looking for reference pictures. I browsed through online stores of popular sports brands to find things that would fit the character. Due to Saffron's character ranging from cute to rather untamed (in the sense that he would climb a tree without hesitation) I thought that wearing shorts would be most suitable and comfy. But for the top and the overall outfit I wanted to let myself get inspired by traditional elements. The name "Saffron" reminded me  of the spice and then its use in Indian culture. I never designed a character with Indian influences before and thought researching into that would be interesting. I found a lot of stuff I could translate into the design. Even the leggings Saffron wears were intially inspired by my findings about Indian culture. Here's a visual breakdown of what inspired what (excuse my srawly handwriting >-<):

During the process of drawing out his design, as I always do, I thought about how each component of the outfit would "flow". There're lot's of lines and intersections in his outfit that guide the eyes along the his body:

And here is our boy again as a sprite. Not much different right? Here I put one of his hands in his shorts' pocket, because I think it would suit someone who is either unsure and does that or feels liking hiding something.

That's it about Saffron! I could go on about his colours but I'll save that for when I explain the general artstyle of Brassica! :3

UI - eZombo

Because Brassica was planned as an entry for Yaoi Jam 2018, we thought about ways to keep the scope small. One idea we came up with was to reduce the size of the screen that shows backgrounds and characters so producing the art is a bit faster than filling a full HD 16:9 canvas. One inspiration for that was Sticky Zeitgeist by Porpentine & Rook but something like the Undertale console version where the graphics at the border of the screen change based on the in-game location was also something we considered.

When it came to actually planning the screen, Undertale's influence came through again, because the main area of the screen actually has an aspect ratio of 4:3. This obviously leaves a lot of unused screen space but one thing we knew we could definitely use to fill this was the text box. Having it separate from the main screen also made sure that it didn't overlap with the characters or backgrounds so the space that was reserved for that could be used to its full potential.

With two elements already on the screen, we still had the sides to fill with content. Just using graphics as borders definitely was an option but because Brassica's story plays out a bit like a road movie, we thought having a map of the game world would definitely add to the feeling of that. And to make the UI visually more balanced again, the last bit of free space was then filled with some information on the time of day and how many days were left for the quest of the princes which basically added all the important context for what is going on in the center of the screen.

A first mock-up of the UI featuring a familiar face and St. Bernard...

Around that time, we also developed the idea of presenting the whole game screen like a paper or puppet theater. This seemed like a good way to bring all these different elements together while still supporting the colorful fantasy-ish look of the game art.

I did a quick sketch of how this could look, which turned the mock-up into this:

Aside from adding some more purely graphical elements, I adjusted the text box and the flag that showed the name of the character that is currently speaking. The map was graphical now instead of just a list (which would have given away future locations) and I was overall fairly happy with the direction the UI was going in. A few of the border elements overlapped with the main screen now but I tried to make sure it only happens in areas where we wouldn't put any focus.

After getting some feedback from PECTIN I then went on to work on the final lineart while also trying to simplify all the shapes. By then, the characters were also being concepted so instead of Luke I could put Ode into the mock-up (along with a reference for a possible background style).

As you can see, some unnecessary lines, elements, and text were removed to simplify the look of the UI and make sure that the important elements aren't overshadowed by anything else. Overall I tried to keep the lines clean without making them look overly sterile, so any round shapes are generally drawn freehand instead of using any vector shapes. Except for the compass, moon, and their enclosing arcs. Those just looked sloppy when they weren't exact. Not using fixed line widths was another way to make the lines more organic even when they were perfectly straight. The idea to use different colored flags for each character also came into play now, although Ode's color here is actually used by Hans now…

Colors were next on the agenda. First a basic pass, followed by some adjustments and line colors to make the lines fade more into the background. Having the concepts for the three princes was very helpful for this step because it was important that the UI colors fit into the overall color scheme while keeping the focus on the actual game art. That's why red is only used close to the center and for important UI elements (the current location on the map is also marked in red). The rest of the colors are rather muted and monochrome on purpose with only a little bit of gold to break it up.

Throughout the whole process my main references were old paper theaters but especially during the coloring process I deviated from these references in favor of using colors that would match with most backgrounds.

Once we were happy with the colors, I did a relatively quick shading pass, just adding shadows with a fairly abstract light source to keep most shadows parallel to the lines. I also added some subtle noise to make everything look a bit more organic.

For the most part it still looked too clean though, so PECTIN suggested overlaying the UI with some watercolor textures.

Which lead to this final mock-up and not only solved the problem but also gave the UI a more painterly look that didn't interfere as much with the general artstyle.

Well, but as always, there are still a few things that changed on the way into the engine.

The map was obviously added (which could probably fill a devlog by itself), the text on the side was changed to better reflect the current quest of the princes (although the other sign may or may not return in future acts...), I added a CTC icon and updated the quick menu (although I can't remember why "Load" was removed so maybe that will return again), but most importantly: The text box was reduced from three to two lines of text. This wasn't as much an active decision as it was caused by the fact that small line spacing in Ren'Py cuts of parts of some letters until all lines of text are displayed. There are some games that still do this but personally I don't really like how it looks while the text appears. Increasing the textbox would have caused a lot of work because I would have had to shift around more elements of the UI to keep a balanced layout so it was simply easier to remove a line of text and increase the line spacing.

This had a pretty strong effect on the writing because sentences have to be fairly short now or if that doesn't work, broken up into multiple lines. Even if it wasn't exactly planned, it still influenced the writing style of Brassica and further distinguished it from our other games (although there's more to say on that one) and in hindsight, only two lines of text also look a lot cleaner in this layout.

I could go on about the actual implementation of the UI but this has already been a pretty lengthy post so maybe I'll save it for another devlog.

But that's it for now! We'll be back in two weeks with some more development insights and our current status. We also plan to start posting these devlogs regularly again, so stay tuned for that! As always, thank you so much for reading and we hope you could find a few things of interest in this devlog.

#brassica #fairytale #devlog #gamedev #game #development #otome game #romance #tutorial #visual novel #indiedev #indie #okay

[kayteonline]

Strange Magic: I Put a Spell on You

Characters: Dean x Reader, Sam, Brad (OMC)

Summary:  If you loved When Harry Met Sally… this isn’t it. But it’s got its flavor. Witches are bitches, and this one has a parting gift for you that stirs things up for you and Dean in a way you hope to never experience again

Warnings: Language

Word count: 4.3k

Series Master List

Tags: (At the end. I tag alotta of peeps, but you are never obligated and always appreciated. Feel free to let me know if I tagged you incorrectly or you would like me to take you off! I totally understand. Its been awhile so tagging was kinda hard.)

A/N: My beauties.. it’s been awhile! I’ve missed you. I’ve missed this! I’m so happy to be back. I hope you love a ride because this is definitely that. A total 17k word ride! Strap in ;)  Italics in this part are flashbacks.

I had a lot of fun writing this. As well as set backs and writers block, life,etc... but I made it out and I’m excited to share this! It was born from a challenge put on by the wondrous @deansdirtylittlesecretsblog and her forever ago Romcom challenge with the prompt ‘Except for the part about my penis, that’s true.. It’s bigger than coins’, and a long ago spnkinkbingo square ‘Coming Untouched’. ELO’s song Strange Magic further inspired the title and also inspired Dean x Reader throughout. It’s so grossly late it doesn’t count of course but if you read it, I hope you enjoy it! THANK YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK to my patient, sweet, imaginative, encouraging beta @butiaintgonnaloveem for putting up with this beast and my huge fic ;) And more huge thank yous to my other great friends who looked this over and kept me going early on: @mrswhozeewhatsis @manawhaat and @saxxxology

I love hearing from you all! Thank you for reading! XOXO  

*Aesthetic by my super talented wonderful friend @saxxxology <3

“I’m so glad that’s over and done with.” Dean’s smile held a sense of pride as he ducked into the Impala.

Sliding behind the wheel he nodded in approval first at Sam, who nodded back in agreement before he shifted and nodded at you next, a slight smugness pulling at the corner of his mouth. He didn’t wait for your nod before he turned back to stick the key in the ignition, firing up the engine.

You shook your head with a laugh, the attitude in his display not going unnoticed. “Yeah? Which part, Dean? The case, or Braaad?” You drew out his name adding a wistful sigh for additional effect knowing each time either you or Sam said it you’d get a reaction out of him.

He rolled his eyes, throwing on a face of disapproval, the corners of his mouth dimpling as he glanced at you over his shoulder. Sam caught his gaze and laughed in amusement, making Dean’s mouth fall into a hard line. “Whose side are you on?”

“He was your idea,” you reminded him with a self-satisfied smirk, coming to Sam’s defense, “or did you forget that part?”

He mumbled to himself, likely mocking what you’d just said, and threw the car into reverse without another word, pulling out of the parking spot in front of the motel room you’d just checked out of. It made you giggle in amusement, just as it had every other time he pulled this attitude, and what made it even funnier was if it weren’t for Brad coming to your aide, the three of you would have ended up with a cold case, or worse; you’d have ended up dead.

Dean dropped his phone on the table rubbing at the bridge of his nose with a heavy sigh. “So, we’re up shits creek here if we don’t find someone. And I’m not about to be this witch’s next meat puppet.”

“Me either, I’m all out too. You know just about everyone I do, and they’re all a day's drive or more away,” Sam conceded next, closing the thick leather bound journal and setting it beside him on the bed before tossing his phone there, too.

Scrolling through your contacts, you chewed your bottom lip when you saw the name. You hadn’t talked to this person in almost eight months now, and you’d hoped you wouldn’t have to reach out to them, but with Sam and Dean both coming up empty it seemed as though you had no other choice.

“I have one last person I can try,” you finally spoke up, breaking the short span of silence in the motel room. Meeting two sets of curious eyes, you let out a small sigh. “His name’s Brad. He’s a long time friend of mine that I originally began hunting with back in the day. He lives in Gary, just a few hours northwest from here, and last I knew he was mostly out, but available if needed.”

Dean scoffed. “Brad? That’s a stupid name. What kind of hunter’s name is Brad?”

You and Sam both looked at each other, eyebrows pulled together in question. “Uh, the kind you should hope is available to cover your ass. Unless of course you prefer to be witch souffle,” you shot back leaning back in your chair across from him.

His lips pressed into a flat line. “And how good is this… Brad?” He waved a hand around dismissively.

“He’s fantastic,” you smiled wide before continuing, “Smart, level-headed, there for his friends whenever you need him; he doesn’t let his his emotions get in the way of a case, he’s brave above all others’ fears or concerns of a situation, and strong of course... physically.” you added with a small smirk. As you continued to think about his other qualities, your words fell off and you stopped talking altogether as it dawned on you how closely you’d just described Dean if someone were to ask you about him.

Dean kind of stared at you as you spoke, the look on his face something you couldn’t quite read. It had you wondering if he’d caught on, and knew who you were actually talking about. He let out a heavy sigh then pulling you from your thoughts, seeming to concede to the fact this was the only option, and looked to Sam before his eyes returned to yours. “Alright, call him. If he’s annoying, even just a little bit, I’m shooting him first chance I get.” He stood with his last words and walked into the bathroom.

Pulling the car onto the main highway, Dean headed in the direction of the bunker, the three of you content with a closed case under your belt. You were after a witch; a powerful one at that. She was believed to have died long ago, and resurfaced after Lucifer was set free when the seals were broken. She’d succeeded in keeping herself concealed for years until a couple of hunters stumbled upon her during a summoning ritual she was performing, ending up as sacrifices, and popping up in a news feed Sam was subscribed to a day later.

Upon further research into the disappearances, and an eleven hour drive to Fort Wayne, Indiana, it was discovered the guys knew more about her than they had originally thought. Dean remembered reading something in their dad’s journal about a similar case he’d worked in the early eighties, where he killed an equally dangerous witch performing similar spells to summon a powerful demon that required multiple human sacrifices.

It sounded easy enough, find the witch and end her before any more harm could be done.

That, however, rapidly changed when they were conducting interviews in her neighborhood and ended up on her front porch. She’d recognized both Sam and Dean immediately as being the sons of John Winchester, the man who’d killed her mother, and attempted to trap them. She proved to be equally as powerful as her late mother, and a whole lot of pissed off; the boys narrowly escaping the swarm of bees she conjured.

Needing another way to get close enough to kill her, Dean had come up with “Plan B’’. With Brad available to meet you that afternoon, the two of you would be going in as new neighbors to get in and complete the job.

“I thought you were friends with cool people Y/N, not tools,” Dean snidely commented as the three of you watched Brad heading for the diner’s entrance when he arrived.

You could tell by his unsuccessful attempt at covering the shock on his face, he’d probably been picturing someone similar to Garth: gangly, a shy bookish looking type you would think had zero game with the ladies, and most likely couldn’t hold his liquor. So when he saw a good looking guy that resembled him a little bit from his younger years, he was having trouble hiding his jealous discomfort.

Brad was tall, an inch or so over Dean, but not quite Sam’s height, with a strong jaw and a perfectly proportionate body, his muscled chest on display through his snug t-shirt. With the days-old scruff on his face and open weathered flannel button down, he looked more like a man straight out of some lumberjack fantasy than someone who hunted monsters.

“His tool is none of your concern, Dean,” you shot back with wink. “He hunts as good as he looks.” Your smile was wide and proud, and you barely caught Dean’s rolling eyes from the corner of yours when Brad spotted you in the window. He waved your way, making Dean’s face light up in amusement.

He laughed low taking in the way you smiled at him as you waved back. “He's got a small dick, doesn't he?”

You balked at his direct question. “One look and two sentences, and you think you have him figured out?”

“One look and two sentences, and I know I have him figured out. Look at him. Walking like some Abercrombie model reject. He's compensating. Especially in that joke of a plastic truck.”

You should have said something in Brad’s defense, but your words failed you as your cheeks went hot knowing he was right. Why was he always right? “Ok, fine! He's ok.. I mean he might only be about as big as a roll of silver dollars, but he knows how to use it very, very well. Have I had bigger? Yeah. Obviously,” you gestured towards Dean. “Doesn’t overshadow the fact that he’s a great hunter.”

Sam’s head shot up at your motions, stuttering out a, “Wh-what?” that both you and Dean ignored.

“Gotta put that anger somewhere,” Dean remarked, a smug smirk pulling at the corner of his lips that made you want to reach across the table and smack him. Even more so when he continued to talk. “Told you I’d finally get you to admit you’d slept with him.”

Squinting your eyes in annoyance you had a great comeback for him, ready to fire it off when a familiar voice sounded just above your head. Your eyes widened, the heat flaring in your cheeks again to the point it felt like they were going to burst into flames from the pure embarrassment that he’d likely heard all of that. Slowly turning your head you looked up at him with a meek smile.

“Oh, we’ve definitely rolled around in the sheets a few times. Except for the part about my penis, that’s true.” His hand landed on your shoulder giving it a firm squeeze as he continued, “It’s bigger than coins, come on Y/N.” He nodded, eyebrows pulled high and gratified as he smiled coolly at the brothers blank expressions. “I haven’t met you guys yet, but I’d be happy to prove it if you like.”

“Yeah, we can go to the bathroom right now, and I’d be happy to show you what a real dick looks like,” Dean replied, his smile huge and condescending, keeping his eyes intently on Brad.

“Dean!” Sam scolded him under his breath with a shove of his knee into Dean’s thigh. “Dude, what’s gotten into you?” he hissed quietly.

“What? I’m playing nice,” he shrugged. He didn’t budge though, continuing his epic stare down with Brad, his smile still as self-satisfying as ever as Brad smiled back, unfazed by Dean’s attitude.

“I like him already,” Brad commented, breaking the growing tension as an elbow nudged into your bicep and he pushed into the booth beside you, signaling the waitress over. “So, what’s the low down on this big bad witch we’re after?”

You met Brad years ago through a close family friend that often partnered with him on cases, and the two of you hit it off immediately. You partnered up not long after when a horrific hunt left his friend severely disabled.

He was a genuinely great guy, that was not only attractive, but smart; he could make you laugh even on your darkest days and the two of you worked well together. You trusted him with your life in any situation you ended up in, and he always had your back.

Having him around again, it was painfully obvious the huge torch he still held for you, even after his eventful arrival. It made Sam snicker, while Dean turned ‘alpha male’ like he was marking his territory any chance he got. It had you double taking at the change in him given the fact you and Dean were only friends.

If you had to categorize it, you were basically friends with benefits, and neither of you seemed to ever care to put a label on it, or want to put anything more into it after any night you ended up in bed together; and that was fine by you. Throughout the 5 years you’d been hunting with the brothers, sex with Dean had been on occasion; usually after longer hunts and some heavy drinking. You cared about one another, of course, but it was never anything more than one friend caring for another’s safety in this line of work. You could only speculate that Brad’s arrival brought some of Dean’s deep insecurities to the surface.

One particular moment stood out to you from a few days ago as you and Brad got ready to head out to your temporary housing. You’d caught Dean eyeing a shirtless Brad as he dressed on the other side of the small room; his fitted black slacks hanging low on his lean hips, his bright smile infectious as he laughed with you at a story he was telling about one of the many crazy hunts you’d been on together. His scars from battles past were on full display, spread out over the expanse of smooth, set lean muscle, silently proving to them he was more than just a pretty face.

Dean’s eyebrows were pulled together in deep thought, not really giving the conversation his full attention, and he pulled his own shirt out, toying with the fabric and shifting uncomfortably in his chair, trying not to stare too long at him. You could have been misreading him, but he looked like he was comparing himself to Brad, physically, and it still made your stomach sink when you thought back on it. You found yourself wanting to go to him and tell him everything about him was perfect in your eyes, he was gorgeous, and there was nothing about him you would ever consider changing. As the thought crossed your mind, it had you stopping for a moment, wondering why that affected you like it did. You were all for boosting either brother’s self esteem when needed, but that was different.

Sam and Brad walked a few feet ahead as the four of you made your way around to the back of the house you and Brad would be borrowing when Dean quickly strode up beside you, leaning close as he spoke low. “I can see now why you’d be all googley-eyed for him. I thought he was just another douche, but, he’s admittedly a pretty cool guy.”

You eyed him curiously at his choice of words, but went on defense as you knew this was probably another attempt at phishing for information, like he’d been doing for the past few days, about yours and Brad’s previous relationship. It took you a minute to see it, but his sly tactics weren’t as well hidden as he thought. Why was he trying to get a read on your feelings?

“Ok, I am not, nor have I ever been googley-eyed for the guy, Dean. We’re just friends,” you hoarsely whispered back. “So we had sex twice, that’s as far as it ever went. He is wonderful, yes, and he deserves the best girl out there, but that girl isn’t me.”

His mouth pulled into a half smile and you could see his face visibly relax, looking like he was a little relieved to hear that. “Crazy drunk nights after a hunt. Been there. The road can be a lonely place.”

“... I wasn’t drunk,” you responded meekly. “And neither was he.”

“Oh,” he said, pausing for a relieving few minutes before speaking again, “So, what happened? He wanted more and you bolted?”

You let out a deep breath in an attempt to reign in the irritation his question sparked and shrugged, “In a way I guess… I went one way, and he went the other technically. We weren't seeing eye to eye anymore, so it was better for the both of us.” Coming up to the steps that lead up to the back door you quickly stepped in front of him placing your hand squarely on his chest to stop him. “What’s this about, Dean? You’ve been asking about him pretty often lately. What are you trying to get at?”

He scoffed, laughing low and averted his eyes the way he did when he’d been caught. “I just want to be sure I know who I’m dealing with. That’s it. We don’t know the guy, and it’s been months since you last saw him, let alone talked to him. What if he’s some crazy psycho serial killer out for revenge?”

You laughed out loud at the absurdity of his assumption catching his eyes, his cheeks turning pink at your reaction because he was partially serious about what he said. “That I know for a fact is not true, ok? You and Sam can rest comfortably knowing Brad’s harmless to anyone who’s not a monster,” you assured him, still giggling. “You know what I think? I think, that you’re thinking, I’m gonna ditch out on you at the mention of you wanting more because we’ve slept together.” You watched as all emotion fell away from his face. “Well I’m not, Dean. He just wasn’t the right person for me.” Holding his gaze for a beat longer, you turned on your heel and made your way up the steps not waiting for a response.

The brothers made themselves scarce after you were settled, only calling to check up on you throughout the day. It was mainly Sam, which didn’t surprise you after the last conversation you and Dean had. When you’d hung up with him after the last call, you made up your mind. After this case was finished you were going to find some way to get it out of him what was going on.

Working together again with Brad, things fell right back into stride. He was still the same ol’ sweet protective guy you remembered, and it felt like it had been only days, not months, since you last saw one another as you put together a plan of action to get close to the witch and take her out. His subtle attempts at making a move on you weren’t missed either. In his own roundabout way, he kept making it known he still carried feelings for you. And like Dean, Brad kept slyly prodding you for information about your other relationships to see how good his chances were at rekindling what you once had.

It made coming up with the best way to tell him the two of you were just friends that much harder, and that you and Dean often slept with each other; not to mention you admittedly kind of liked him. A lot. So you left it unspoken until the right words came to you, and instead prepared for part one of your plan; gain access to her home and find clues about what the witch was planning on summoning.

After successfully being welcomed into the witch’s house, things went sideways, fast.

Unknown to you or Brad during your light conversation, she snuck in a little something of her own into the brownies you’d made as a ‘new to the neighborhood’ gesture. As the spell completely immobilized you, Brad was able to get a good swing in on her before she could take him too and quickly ran out the back door.

Not bothering to go after him, she smiled knowingly at you as if to answer your unspoken question about why she wasn’t worried about him getting away. She revealed to you then she knew exactly who you two were the moment she answered the door. With the help of a location spell and some of Sam’s hair she’d snatched, she was able to eavesdrop on several occasions.

As she spoke, the pounding pressure in your head doubled, and you could barely make out the next words before you passed out; something about Dean caring about you deep down, and with you here, you’d become the perfect leverage on her quest for revenge.

After finally coming to, you found yourself shackled down in her basement as she readied the next part her plan. The Latin incantation she recited next was old, unlike anything you’d ever heard before, and with a puff of red smoke she had stolen your voice.

You could only stare in utter shock as she used it to mask her own, and lure Sam and Dean to her. It worked too as you listened in on her side of the conversation she was having with Dean.

To make matters worse, the spell she cast didn’t just take your voice, it was slowly constricting your throat with each breath you took.

Thankfully it wouldn’t take Sam and Dean too long to get to you, but she was ready for them. She had learned from the last attempt, and subdued them quickly. With the brothers writhing in agony on the concrete floor the moment they set foot in the basement, things were beginning to look grim for the three of you.

As your vision began to go fuzzy around the edges, your chest burning from the lack of oxygen, Brad barged in; gun raised and dirt smeared across his face as he demanded she let all of you go. He looked so angelic in that moment, standing tall above you, the light from the one hanging bulb casting a glow around him as he inched further in the room attempting to get himself between you and her.

Reciting another piece of Latin, she snapped her fingers and turned towards Brad. Before she could take another step, he pulled the trigger sending a bullet right between her eyes.

You’d never felt more relief in your life than that first deep breath after the spell was lifted. Whatever she cast over Sam and Dean was gone too, the two of them already up on their feet praising Brad on his perfect shot and thanking him for saving all of you.

With her body disposed of and your things collected, you all agreed a hot shower and a few stiff drinks would be a perfect ending to your brushes with death. The guys offered to buy the first round for Brad’s victory as Dean pulled up to the motel, but as he fidgeted in his seat, he kindly declined before asking to talk to you off to the side when the car was stopped.

“Is everything ok?” you asked when the two of you were a few feet away from the Impala. “I was really looking forward to you coming out with us tonight. We’ll be heading out tomorrow now that the big bad witch is dead, and I don’t know when I’ll see you next. I was hoping we could catch up some more.”

“Everything’s great, Y/N. People are safe again, the bad is gone.” He smiled sweetly down at you, shoving his hands in his pockets. “The thing is, I was kind of hoping it could be just you and I celebrating the win tonight. Alone. The last few days had me thinking about how good together we’ve always been, and how truly sorry I am about how things ended with us. So, I want to make it up to you... if you’ll give me the chance.”

You sighed heavily knowing this was coming, but hoping you’d dodged that bullet when it hadn’t come up. You were still feeling entirely unprepared to say what you needed to say right now, but forged on, “Brad,” you started, pulling one of his hands from his pockets as you put on your bravest smile and took a deep breath. “You’ve been one of my oldest, and closest friends I’ve ever had in my life. We are great together, we will always be great together in this life. I just... don’t see us being anything more than friends.”

“So us sleeping together back then… that meant nothing to you?”

“What? Of course it did. You were what I wanted… back then. It’s just, can you look at me and honestly tell me you felt something more for me after either time we had sex? Because the way it ended sure didn’t seem like it.”

He tore his eyes away from you after your last words, and slowly pulled his hand away, catching Dean's eyes when he’d glanced over from the Impalas open trunk. Following his gaze, you gave Dean a tight smile when your eyes met before looking back to Brad.

“Look, Brad, I’m sor-” your words were cut short as Brad’s hand came up.

“Save it, Y/N. Thanks, but no thanks. This is what I get for saving you today? A ‘Hey Brad, I have zero gratitude to show you for saving my life today. Let’s just be friends, I’d rather go celebrate with the Douche-chesters’.”

Your mouth fell open, completely taken aback at what he was implying. “You know what..“ you started, ready to lay into him when you were stopped short, catching Dean out of the corner of your eye already heading over having heard the rising anger in Brad’s voice. And by the looks of him, he didn’t miss the insulting nickname either.

“Hey!” he called out. “Why don’t you dial it back a little bit there, buddy. She doesn’t owe you jackshit for today. None of us do. So how about you apologize to her for your own douchebag attitude, and go find your gratitude with some local bar skank.”

Narrowing his eyes, he stepped closer to Dean. “You don’t have to tell me twice, buddy. Just remember, all of you would be dead right now if I hadn’t come to when I did,” he spat back. “So how about the two of you…. go fuck yourselves. Hmm? Sound good? Good. She’s a terrible lay too by the way; enjoy.”

Raising both of his middle fingers to each of your faces, he made sure to look at both of your dumbfounded faces one last time before stalking off. He grabbed his stuff from beside the Impala and tossed it into the back of his truck as you and Dean looked at one another, knowing smirks on your faces before you burst out laughing.

“Worse has been said,” Dean commented loud enough for Brad to hear, and threw his hands up with a shrug, the two of you still laughing as he shot you both one last dirty look before getting in his truck, speeding out of the lot.

When you woke that next morning, something felt off.

Part 2 - Do you believe in Magic?

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#dean x reader #dean winchester x reader #dean x reader mini series #dean winchester x reader mini series #spn fan fic #spn fan fiction #spn fanfic #spn fanfiction #supernatural fan fic #supernatural fan fiction #supernatural fanfic #supernatural fanfiction

[antitheticalsymbiosis-blog]

Beginning the long journey... (Year 0, Day 1 [sorta])

As I begin down this long and arduous path, I figured why not catalog all of my progress (and failures) in a blog for the world to see! 

All memes aside, I should probably begin with an

INTRODUCTION:

I’m Manuel; my friends call me Manny. I’m a recent graduate from a bachelor of music (B.Mus) program in southern California where I was fortunate enough to meet some great friends, mentors, and professionals who helped guide and inspire me to create some awesome aural artwork. I’ve loved music for as long as I could remember, and it was always something that drove me to be my best. I’ve aspired to play many instruments from a young age and always sought perfection trying to master their intricacies. I studied both composition and saxophone performance in college, while frequently freelancing as an audio engineer (my current line of work).

But wait, isn’t this a game development blog?: Yes, yes it is.

Due to a variety of circumstances and personal interests, I’ve decided to jump ship from one extremely difficult creative field (concert/classical/experimental music) to another (game development), leaving behind a life I feel indebted to and, honestly, still love very much. I’ve been thinking of making this jump for quite some time (a year or so), with a long, loooooong history of engaging with the video game medium on a deeply-infatuated level, which ultimately backs up this decision. Throughout my life, video games always played a pivotal role in my own forms of expression, happiness, leisure, and community. From my very first Gameboy Color to the now flourishing Nintendo Switch, from Pokemon to Monster Hunter to Bioshock and more, I’ve been hooked. Honestly, I’ve always considered these worlds my second, third, fourth, and n-th homes. Because of this, I’ve felt like I have a duty to give back to the community however I can. After five years of collegiate study and ridding the struggle bus, I realize that there’s no better time than the present to chase this dream. THE NOW, or WHERE TO START:

In firmly deciding on this change, I didn’t necessarily know where to begin. Hell, I didn’t even really know what careers or roles existed in the game development community. After finding scouring the internet and finding some helpful resources, I was blown away at the sheer amount of readjusting I’d need to do to even think about entering this field. 

For example, this messy bundle of terms flooded my brain while trying to get a grasp of the industry:

Senior-level

Lead

Technical Director

Junior-level

Temp

Frequent moving

Designer

Level Design

Mechanics

Game Design Document

UX/UI

Programmer

Game Engine

Systems

Game Engines:

Unreal

Unity

Doom

Quake

C++

Python

Scripting

Engineer

Architecture

Audio

Tools

Networking

Artist

Environment Artist

Concept

3ds MAX

Maya

Autodesk

Animation

Skeletal Meshes

QA

Automated Scripting

Debug Databases

Localization

Producer

Disengaged from content creation

Overseer

Independent

Freedom to create vs automated jobs in AAA

AAA companies

Subsidiary studios

Outsourcers

Art

Animation

Publishing

Audio

First-Party Studios

Publishers

Outsourcing

Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs)

Marketing

Analysts

Free-to-Play

Microtransactions

Community

Blogging

Twitch

Streamers

Issues

Pay Disparity

Poverty

Under-appreciated

Sexism

Representation

Minorities/POC

And this list over-simplifies the complex web these roles create with each other. That being said, the last month or so has consisted of me scouring the internet for resources, deciding on what my long-term and short-term goals are, and orienting myself towards taking on Goliath.

MOVING FORWARD:

After being bombarded with this information, I decided that the best course of action for moi was to shoot for a game engineering/programming role, as I also had a brief two-year stint in astrophysics research and STEM coursework during my undergraduate degree. Another one of my passions, the STEM fields have always held a dear place in my heart and I picked up a lot of programming skills/languages in college, notably Java & Python. Intensive music study has also done wonders for the technically-oriented work I currently do, so I figured it would be fun to challenge myself with STEM-oriented work once again. So far, I hold a great, great admiration for lead game designers like Hideo Kojima and others, so design is also something I’m looking into. RESOURCES:

In doing my research, I’ve found a variety of extremely helpful resources that provided me with the insight to start this journey. I’ll post the most helpful ones below: GameDevUnchained (Podcast/Website): 

This podcast, hosted by Brandon Pham & Larry Charles (both established AAA game developers), explores the current state of affairs in the video game industry. Their conversations are filled with wit, charm, and tons of information, from wage negotiation and employment to indie development and technical direction. No topic is missed* (well, except for the exact technical aspects of being an artist, developer, or programmer). Despite this slight oversight, it’s still worth its weight in gold due to the fact that they bring in a new guest every week who touches on a specific topic. I’ve gained most of my working knowledge about the industry’s complexities from this source. [Currently on episode: 26] Game School Online (GSO): 

This revolutionary piece of pedagogy is an online game development school that is ENTIRELY FREE. Founded and ran by the hosts of GameDevUnchained, GSO’s main focus is free game development education with a focus on artwork, modeling, and technical artistry done through the Unreal 4 engine. The school is optionally supported through Patreon and provides special benefits to subscribers; however, a subscription isn’t necessary to enroll. Enrollment periods happen 4 times a year, with heavy waitlists for non-subscribers due to the need to keep class numbers down. Their educators consist of “Scholars” who teach and monitor the courses, all of whom are active AAA/Indie developers. Notable Scholars include Brandon Pham, Larry Charles, Leo Gonzales, Olaf Piesche (my mentor!), Matt Brown, Tai Chen, and many others. For subscribers, there’s the option to interact 1-on-1 with scholars, serving as lessons and mentorships to poise the budding student to enter the field. I’m currently a $40/month subscriber, which gets me a 30-minute session every month with Olaf. I’d like to stress, however, that at its current state GSO seems heavily oriented towards artists, with the art-oriented roles overshadowing the engineer/programmer roles 8-to-2. In addition, all classes are oriented towards art or design. This means Olaf & Matt are only doing 1-on-1 sessions. -_- *Oh well, better than nothing.*

The next two are both variations on the paid-online-schooling trope, but they seem alright nonetheless... 

Coursera:

Coursera is a platform that hosts specialized “certification” courses that were designed by universities around the world. These certification courses are essentially a compilation of videos, assignments, and online templates that are moderated by online staff (and presumably not monitored by the actual course instructors ever). Each certification consists of about 4-6 classes and takes anywhere from 6 months to a year to complete. Each class runs an average of 1-2 months and has about 1 assignment due every week. There is a peer-grading system which can be iffy at times, but it’s worked out well for me so far. The only downside is that these courses can be EXPENSIVE; however, there are financial aid options for those of us *ahemmeahem* that can’t afford the costs. Luckily, my cost for the first class was waived completely. I’m currently enrolled in the Game Design certification course created by Cal Arts. I’ll be updating you all on my progress every week as I work through this course. Something odd I’ve noticed is that the videos for the Intro to Game Design course are astoundingly short; I’m surprised this course costs anything at all given the kind of information I’ve received out of it so far.

Udemy:

Like its quasi-academic counterpart, Udemy hosts courses created by content creators (I’m not too sure on the qualifications these creators have...) that consists primarily of video tutorials. The beautiful thing about Udemy is that, unlike Coursera, their courses often times cost very little if you go through the right channels! This means promo codes from websites like IGN or your favorite tech reviewer, etc etc. I was fortunate enough to grab the Unreal Crash Course course for $10 through an IGN promotion last month. Also unlike Coursera, there are no assignments or grading systems in place for your work. Instead, there are often forums that host dozens and dozens of posts from current and past students of the course. This feature has felt surprisingly fresh and fun; however, not receiving a lot of direct feedback has its downsides. I’ve been slowly chugging away at this course, having finished 1/4th of it so far. I’ve also found that there tends to be much more technical work to be learned from Udemy as opposed to Coursera (in terms of game development); however, this may just be my limited scope, as I haven’t looked around too much more.

Game Engine Architecture, Third Edition by Jason Gregory 

(Naughty Dog Lead Programmer):

This book is AMAZING for the aspiring game engineer, as it’s filled to the brim with a detailed analysis of common game engine architecture as told by the lead programmer at Naughty Dog (go Uncharted/Last of Us teams!!!!). I’m currently in the second chapter of the book, but to give a brief overview of its entirety along with my own descriptions below each heading:

Introduction

“discusses the ins and outs of the industry

Tools of the Trade

“an in-depth look into programming tools”

Fundamentals of Software Engineering for Games

“development cycles and tool usage”

Parallelism and Concurrent Programming

“the title says it all”

3D Math for Games

“3D geometry and Linear Algebra, along with programming algorithms” (go STEM!)

Engine Support Systems

“a look at memory and systems”

Resources and the File System

“how to handle game assets”

The Game Loop and Real-Time Simulation

“graphics rendering loops and gameplay loops, along with dealing with time”

Human Interface Devices

“dealing with I/O”

Tools for Debugging and Development

“the title says it all”

The Rendering Engine

“rasterization and rending pipelines”

Animation Systems

“skeletal meshes and processing”

Collision and Rigid Body Dynamics

“physics systems and other collision systems” (go STEM!)

Audio

“Dealing with sound design and 3D audio” (go music!)

Introduction to Gameplay Systems

“dealing with data, game objects, and world editors”

Runtime Gameplay Foundation Systems

“dealing with all of the constituent parts and updating the game”

You mean there’s more?

“more to be learned”

As you can tell, there’s a whole lot of information to be gained by reading a textbook like this. Jason states in the Foreword that this is really meant to be used to teach a three-class series on game programming at the university level; however, I find that you’ll be able to understand a lot of this pretty well so long as you have an ample amount of programming experience (preferably with C++). That being said, it’s a perfect springboard for me and I’m so eager to continue that I sort of want to finish writing this entry already so I can get back to it! *o* It cost about $85 for a physical copy and $47 for a digital copy (Kindle).

So, that wraps up my currently used resources list! I hope it can serve as a starting point for some of your own deep-dives into the world-wide-web for resources! CONCLUSION: Thanks for sticking with me this far everyone. I know I didn’t dive into my past that much, but I hope it gives you somewhat of an idea as to who I am. In starting this journey, I’ve realized the importance of documentation and reaching out to build a community with others, so I hope that we can all interact and take this journey together, in some form. Tomorrow I’ll be delving into my current projects that I’m aiming to work on and some of my personal inspiration for taking the game development plunge, as well as discuss what I’m currently working on in terms of study/development. I hope you all have a good day, and never feel like it’s too late to start chasing your dreams again! - Manny Extra: Game of the Day - Disgaea 1 Complete on Nintendo Switch I’ve loved this game since I first played it way back in the early 2000s, so when I heard this was coming to Switch as a slightly remastered port, I couldn’t wait! The updated artwork looks great and I’m eager to get all of those extra scenarios completed! ;) GO SRPGs!

#game development #programming #music composition #audiovisual #video games #software development #Pokemon #monster hunter #Bioshock #Nintendo #sony playstation #Microsoft xbox #GameSchoolOnline #GSO #GameDev #GameDevUnchained #game dev blog #game dev resources #Resources #c++ #Python #Naughty Dog #Engine Architecture #Game Engine Architecture #Disgaea

[mythicalsecretsanta]

McLaughlin and Neal, NC State Class of 2020 (G)

This gift is for: @archionblu Hope you like it! From your Secret Santa, @one-true-houselight

Read below:

Rhett barely noticed when Link walked into the dorm room, too focused on the assignment he’d been putting off for the last three weeks.

“Hey Rhett, how’s that paper coming?”

Rhett grunted without turning. Link laughed as he swung his bag off his shoulder. “Y’know–”

“If you say ‘I told you so’, I will go dead on you.” Rhett’s tone would have been aggressive if it weren’t buried under layers of stress. He was working on a research assignment for one of the general engineering classes he and Link were both in.

“You said you weren’t going to do that anymore.”

“Don’t test me.”

Link rolled his eyes as he sat down at his desk. He listened to Rhett furiously work, letting the key tapping and page turning fill the silence in the small space. After a few minutes, Rhett pushed himself away from the desk and groaned in frustration.

“What’s up?” Link turned himself in his chair to partially face his best friend.

“This assignment is ridiculous. I don’t even know why we have to do it.”

“Ah yes, because college is known for being 100% logical all the time.” Despite himself, Rhett smiled at the wall behind his desk. Link spun back to face his own desk, his mission accomplished. He pulled out the book he needed to read for his class the next day and settled in.

That was, he settled in until he sensed a very tall presence behind him. Sighing, he grabbed some pizza chain’s pamphlet to mark his place, preparing himself for an argument. “No Rhett, you can’t look at mine.”

“Oh come on, Link. I wasn’t going to say that.” Rather than actually turning towards Rhett, Link simply leaned back until Rhett was in his eyeline. The look of innocence in his teal eyes was almost as fake as the offense in his voice, and Link was having none of it. At the sight of the upside look of disbelief, Rhett broke down. “Oh come on, I’m not gonna copy or anything, dude! I just want inspiration!” When Link’s expression didn’t change, Rhett tried on an offended look. “You don’t trust me?”

Link rolled his eyes, but sat back up and turned to face Rhett. “Oh, it’s not that I don’t trust you. But you won’t learn if you use mine.”

“Oh yeah, this assignment is going to teach me so much.”

“Not learning from the assignment. Learning to do your work in a timely manner instead of playing whatever stupid game you play-”

“Of course.” Rhett cut Link off, leaning down to get in his face. “I knew you couldn’t resist. At least I have a life outside of school.”

Link chuckled. “Ooh, what an insult. Wanting to pass means I don’t have a life. Rhett, I think you might have to consider the fact that it’s not me that’s the problem here.”

To Link’s surprise, Rhett opened his mouth to reply, but seemed to stall. They looked into each other’s eyes in silence for a bit, but before Link could process his feelings, Rhett pulled away. And before Link could then try to process Rhett’s expression, Rhett buried whatever had been written on his face.

“Fine, Link. You know what? I’ll do it myself. And it’ll be twice as good as yours!” Link shook himself out of whatever had just happened.

“All right. Good luck, McLaughlin.” Link turned around and grabbed his book, opening it to the marker. Rhett glanced down at the book, and his eyes widened.

“Let me see that.”

“The book?”

“No! The pamphlet.” Link handed the paper to Rhett. He snatched it and read it. “Link, it’s free pizza night at this place!”

“Keep reading, Rhett.”

“For couples.”

“Sorry, buddy.”

“Why?”

Link sighed. “Neither of us have girlfriends, unless you got a lot better at keeping secrets.”

“We could pretend to be one!”

Link’s breath caught in his throat for a split second.

Why was this affecting him like this?

Link was too busy in his own thought process to notice the forced casualness in Rhett’s voice. He finally responded, his voice thankfully not betraying his thoughts. “I mean, I suppose. But don’t you think they’ll have a problem with that?”

“C’mon, it’s 2017 man! No one cares anymore. Well…” Link pushed all the awkwardness (and other things he didn’t want to explore right now) away and thought about it as Rhett chattered on. Free pizza did sound fantastic.

“All right. When you’re done, we’ll go.” Rhett whooped and went back to his desk, setting to work with much more determination.

After all, there is a force that affects college students more than love, more than fear, more than anything, and that force is the prospect of free food.

“Really, that’s what you’re wearing for our date?” Rhett smirked as he called across the room to Link. Link looked down at the t-shirt and jeans he’d been wearing all day.

“There’s such a thing as casual dates, you know.” But he opened his closet again and buried his face in the clothes. Rhett thought he saw him blushing-No. Rhett put that thought in the same overflowing mental box as the flutter he got when he said ‘our date’ and pushed it into the corner. He took a breath.

“Sure man. Whatever makes you feel better.” A shirt hit him, thrown from the closet. He threw it back, laughing.

“Get your shoes on, unless you were planning on going barefoot. Which, in my opinion, would be worse than my apparent wardrobe faux pas.” Link’s eyes sparkled mischievously, making Rhett’s breath stutter…

Another one for the box.

They walked across campus together, laughing and joking. The truth was, Rhett had felt this way for a long time, but had come to the conclusion that the risk of losing Link altogether was too great to reveal it. So he had made a box and lived, and usually the bittersweetness of that decision was overshadowed by the happiness of having Link as a friend.

As they got closer to the restaurant they started planning.

“Ok, we don’t want to lay it on too thick. I think holding hands should be enough.” Rhett’s tone was completely casual despite the many emotions being added to the box, and he was so busy dealing with it he failed to notice Link’s steps stutter.

“Yeah, that should do it.” They walked in silence before they spoke at the same time:

“We might want to start before we get there so it looks real.” “Can we practice now so it looks natural?”

They chuckled at this, their stereo speaking at this point an accepted quirk. They each reached out and grabbed the other’s hand, Rhett’s hand dwarfing Link’s. They settled into a comfortable position quicker than either of them expected, and they let the clasped hands swing between them.

“Sorry my hands are sweaty.” Rhett broke the silence that had descended between them, an almost imperceptible breathy quality in his voice. Link didn’t notice, or at least didn’t acknowledge it.

They kept walking, soon reaching their destination. It was usually a busy place, being a pizza place near a college campus, and tonight was even more so. As Rhett and Link walked up, they heard a voice call them. A boy ran up beside them, his earring glinting.

“Hi Tom.” Tom looked down at their hands. Before he could speak, Link hastily answered the question Tom hadn’t yet asked.

“We’re trying to get free pizza. It’s only free for couples, so we’re pretending.” Rhett smiled, ignoring the sinking feeling from Link’s hurry to clarify. C’mon man, it’s not real. He’s right.

“Nice! I wish I had someone who would do that with me.” Rhett and Link smiled, and the three walked in.

Rhett ordered two slices of supreme, and rolled his eyes at Link’s pepperoni order. Their hands stayed linked. He smirked at the pun as they walked up to the cash register.

The woman behind the counter smiled kindly at them. “Did you two boys know that pizza’s free for couples tonight?”

Rhett squeezed Link’s hand as he turned to him. “We did not. What do you know, baby?” He froze, looking into Link’s eyes. He hadn’t planned on using any kind of pet names tonight. His eyes must have looked panicked to warrant the look of concern in those bright blue eyes. Link looked at him for what felt like hours before turning to the woman.

“I guess I just got a little luckier tonight.” He smiled at Rhett, nudging him with his shoulder. Rhett found his bearings as the woman typed in the deduction and wished them a good night. He looked at the receipt she had handed him, and saw she had scribbled ‘I’m proud of you two!’. He hastily shoved it in his pocket and looked for an empty table. Tom had taken his pizza to go (“I gotta study statistics”), so they found a table for two and ate their pizza. Link carried the conversation, Rhett lost in his own thoughts.

As they walked out the restaurant, Rhett hesitated. Their con was done. Did they still have to hold–

Before he could decide, he felt someone grab his hand. He looked over to Link in surprise. They smiled and kept walking.

They didn’t let go, even after they were out of sight of the restaurant.

#mythical secret santa 2017 #type: fic #rating: g #rhink #submission #gift swap

[anthonypaulh]

JOY and PAIN - The Troubled Life and Tragic Death of Marvin Gaye

The song “Joy and Pain” forms the perfect epitaph for Marvin Gaye. Ultimately, the hugely troubled, flawed, sensitive soul lived his all too short life, somewhere between the extremes of the classic Frankie Beverley and Maze soul anthem. 

It is often said that fact is stranger than fiction, that with some events you apparently couldn’t make it up. Well, in the traumatic life of the silkiest of soul singers that is absolutely accurate. A complicated, sensitive, and passionate man, Marvin Gaye lived his life overshadowed by his violent father. 

The difficult, violent, explosive relationship with his father underpinned everything that followed in the life of Marvin Gaye. Ultimately, and tragically it would end in father shooting son after their final yet fatal bitter argument on April 1st 1984.

The contradictions of Marvin Gaye’s life started on April 2nd 1939 when he was born in Washington DC as Marvin Pentz Gay. He later added an E to his name , in the early 1960’s to ward off teasing about being Gay and also to distance himself from his father’s surname. 

His father Marvin Gay was a Reverend in a Hebrew Pentecostal church called the House of God. He imparted a very strict upbringing on Marvin junior and his 3 siblings. He was a brutal man, frequently inflicting physical violence on his children and subjecting his wife to regular beatings. Marvin junior attracted the worst of his father’s violence as he took it upon himself to protect his mother Alberta from the worst his father could do. 

Needless to say, this very violent family upbringing, left Marvin Junior scarred for life. He forever craved the love of his father who could never give him that. Despite all of his career achievements and the recognition he earned he never achieved the thing that he needed the most, his father’s love.

Nowadays we all recognise that trauma experienced by any child in their formative years is always going to lead to a troubled adulthood and in fact it is a key factor in addictive behaviour of all sorts. Hardly any wonder then that Marvin would become drug dependent and a manic depressive despite all of his fame.

It was therefore, no surprise that Marvin wanted to escape from his family as soon as possible. His first attempt to break free was in 1956 when aged 17 he enlisted in the US Air Force. But even then, the contradictions that ran through his life surfaced as he faked mental illness to extricate himself from the disciplined air force environment he hated. 

He returned to Washington DC and formed a vocal quartet called The Marquees. But after one failed single they were dropped from their recording contract with Okey records a subsidiary of Columbia. 

One of the few things that Marvin had seen as a positive from his father was the delivery style of his sermon’s in church. Marvin regularly attended and sang at the services from the tender age of 4. He drew on his father’s preaching style as he developed his own stagecraft and he readily acknowledged that it was something that played a key role in his vocal delivery.

As a singer the young Marvin was influenced by Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Ray Charles and Billy Eckstine. But success didn’t come quickly. After the initial failure of The Marquees, he continued working in Washington DC on the club circuit and started writing his own songs. 

Eventually the impresario Harvey Fuqua spotted Marvin and took him under his wing. Harvey would become the father figure that Marvin had always sought and he would shape the rest of his life and career in so many ways.

As it happens Harvey was a very good judge of talent. He had already discovered the likes of Johnny Bristol, Lamont Dozier, Junior Walker and The Spinners. Just as importantly for Marvin, his new mentor was to introduce him to the woman that would he would marry and that in itself would effectively catapult him to International fame.

In 1959 Harvey Fuqua and his group The Moonglows moved to Chicago where they recorded a few unsuccessful tracks for Chess Records. But with little sign of success the group split up and in 1960 Harvey and Marvin moved to Detroit. It would be the most important move of their lives. Hittsville USA was about to become the Sound of Young America and they would be vital cogs in that machine.

On arrival in Detroit, Marvin became a session musician, a drummer. However, his fate was about to be signed, sealed and delivered when he was invited to the home of Berry Gordy over the Holiday Season of 1960. 

Harvey Fuqua had married Gwen Gordy the sister of Berry and he distributed the first record that would become a MOTOWN hit. The record was Barrett Strong’s “Money (That’s What I Want ) and it was released on Anna Records, owned by Harvey and Gwen. Their label was later sold to Berry. Thereafter Harvey Fuqua became a song writer and executive at MOTOWN.

For Marvin, the introduction to Berry Gordy in 1960 would change his life and the history of soul music to boot. He married Anna Gordy, seventeen years his senior, in June 1963. The relationship was intense, passionate and fiery. But they were good for each other and Marvin realised that his marriage kept him close to the ear of Barry Gordy at the “Hit Factory”.

Nonetheless, Berry was always grudging in any praise of his brother in law. He recognised his talent and was especially keen to use Marvin as the leading male vocalist for MOTOWN. He saw Marvin as a cross between a matinee idol and a pop star.

Many studio workers and musicians at MOTOWN recall strenuous arguments between Marvin and Berry. They would often square up to each other in heated squabbles but Berry held the highest cards. Financially Berry called the tune and Marvin sang the songs that Berry wanted (at least to start with). What made things even worse for Marvin was that Berry owned the house that he and his wife Anna lived in. It seemed that Berry controlled his every move.

Undoubtedly, in the early part of his career, MOTOWN wanted Marvin to sing simple, pop songs. Berry Gordy wanted MOTOWN to sell records and not make political and social statements. He didn’t want to alienate the middle of the road, largely white, record buying public. 

Berry Gordy did not want to present MOTOWN as in any way threatening. In many ways he was doing with MOTOWN what Brian Epstein did with The Beatles. Keep it clean, don’t threaten, dress sensibly and get the hits. He was selling pop, upbeat, happy music. Selling was his game and money was the driver. Berry Gordy was a ruthless businessman first, second and third.

The first hits Marvin had on MOTOWN reflected the “safe” music that the company ordered. So in 1962 “Stubborn Kind of Fellow” was typical of the type of material that the business demanded. It was absolutely not the music that Marvin dreamed of making but it was successful. 

As success followed success Marvin worked with the genius in house MOTOWN production team, Holland-Dozier-Holland, and the hits kept coming. So “Can I Get A Witness”, You’re A Wonderful One” and “How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You “ hit the charts.

Firmly established as MOTOWN’s leading man, Marvin was pushed by Berry to record a series of duets with the leading ladies on the label. Against his wishes, Marvin agreed and although he didn’t really want to cooperate the recordings produced some great moments. 

Firstly he recorded with Mary Wells “What’s The Matter With You Baby ?”, then with Kim Weston “It Takes Two”, and most successfully with Tammi Terrell “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing”, and “You’re All I Need To Get By”. Later Berry forced him to record with Diana Ross although they never actually recorded anything at the same time because they despised each other.

The Prince of MOTOWN he may well have been but privately Marvin Gaye was in torment. He was deeply hurt at having to play the tunes that Berry called, and he wanted to record his own more contentious, expansive music. He felt a fraud and in fact some of the duets released under his name with Tammi Terrell were exactly that because due to illness some of her vocals were actually performed by Valerie Simpson.

Following her collapse on stage in Virginia in October 1967, Tammi Terrell was never able to perform or record again so Valerie Simpson stood in her shoes. Marvin was spun the line that he should continue recording with Valerie impersonating Tammi as sales meant money which could pay medical bills for Tammi. Marvin reluctantly went along with it out of respect and love for Tammi. When Tammi died from a brain tumour on 1970 Marvin was broken. He spiralled into depression.

By the late 60’s the relationship between Marvin and Berry could  be described as frosty, at best. Typical of the shenanigans was the saga that went on with the classic Norman Whitfield and Barratt Strong tune “ I Heard It Through The Grapevine”. It was recorded by Marvin in February 1967 but MOTOWN rejected it suggesting it be covered by Gladys Knight and The Pips. 

Only when released as an album track on Marvin’s LP “In The Groove” in August 1968 did radio stations give it the airplay that demanded it be released as a single. His classic rendition reached number 1 on the pop and RnB charts in the US and became a world wide smash hit. A victory of sorts for Marvin but the next battle of wills with Berry and “the company” was not long in coming.

In May 1969, Obie Benson of the Four Tops started work on a song he intended be recorded by the “Tops’, called “What’s Going On ?”. It was rejected by the Four Tops because it was a protest song. But their loss was to be Marvin’s gain and it would result in arguably one of the most important MOTOWN albums. 

Anna Gordy persuaded Marvin to try the song “What’s Going On ?” and it soon became clear that “What’s Going On ?” was perfect for him. From the very first run throughs it was his song, tailor made for him. But even though the studio singers, musicians and engineers were convinced he had to record and release the song, Berry Gordy was annoyed that Marvin was contemplating doing so.

As far as Berry Gordy was concerned, if the Four Tops believed the song to be inappropriate then it WAS inappropriate. It was a “protest” song and MOTOWN did not do anything that might rock any boats. Berry Gordy forbade Marvin to record the song. Effectively Marvin subsequently went on strike, refusing to record at all. 

The stand off lasted almost a year, until in June 1970 permission was granted for the single “What’s Going On ?” to be recorded by Marvin for release at an undetermined time. When it was eventually released it was done so without the knowledge or sanction of Berry Gordy. 

The strike period had actually given Marvin time to compose a series of songs he wanted to release on a concept album with “What’s Going On ?” as the title track. The contentious piece of work was to become one of the most important records ever made and certainly the most radical of anything put out by MOTOWN. Marvin openly challenged the existing social order on the album. He sang about civil rights, environmental abuse, intolerance and the record became a clarion call for anyone wanting to question the politics of the time. It was definitely NOT MOTOWN neither musically or lyrically.

As a political record, Berry Gordy did not want Marvin to continue with the album and he did not believe it would be a hit anyway. It was far too serious. MOTOWN was light hearted, fun pop. Marvin was talking about climate change before the scientists talked about it and he sang in a more jazz influenced style than RnB/pop that had proven successful for Hittsville USA. 

The seminal Marvin Gaye album “What’s Going On ?” was released in May 1971, arguably the most important year in the history of MOTOWN. The album became the biggest selling album on MOTOWN to that point and remains a key piece of work. It fused social commentary, politics, jazz , funk and soul to endure well beyond its’ time. It is still one of the most important records ever made.

Following “What’s Going On ? “ was always going to be a huge challenge but throughout the 1970′s Marvin continued to experiment with jazz, gospel, blues, soul and even more with narcotics. He managed to balance spirituality, commerciality, and experimentation with hits such as “Let’s Get It On”, “Trouble Man”, “After The Dance” and “Got To Give It Up”. He eventually divorced Anna Gordy in 1978 after what can only be described as a pained, strained marriage.

The traumatic separation inspired him to record the album “Here My Dear” and it is probably the most bitter record you will ever listen to. Marvin was leaving no doubt that he was in a deep emotional hole. His drug use fuelled terrible and dangerous mood swings as he lurched from one instability to another seeking some kind of stability and solace. 

A short lived second marriage to Janis Hunter lasted only until 1979 with divorce finalised in 1981. Marvin found himself bankrupt financially and emotionally and he attempted to take his own life.

In 1982 with the aid of old friend and mentor Harvey Fuqua,  Marvin made something of a comeback. Exiled to Britain then Belgium it was here that he released the single “Sexual Healing” on Columbia Records. The track was taken from the album “Midnight Love” which certainly had some more than decent high moments. As usual for Marvin, he fused a number of different musical influences from reggae, RnB, soul, funk and synthopop.

The success of the 1982 “comeback” allowed Marvin to clear 2 million dollars in back taxes to the US authorities. Sadly off stage, Marvin could never fend off his personal demons. All that damage that he had been caused as a child, all that trauma, all that baggage. Stage fright, paranoia, drug use and ongoing depression eventually confined the “Prince of Motown” to his Los Angeles home. It was a home that he would lose his life in.

As if somehow predestined Marvin Gaye was shot dead by his father on April 1st 1984. Yes indeed, April fools day. You couldn’t make it up could you ? In a violent argument and fight between his mother and father, Marvin tried to intervene and sadly the whole situation escalated quickly into the final, fatal act of the ultimate tragedy.

The Reverend Marvin Gay was charged with first degree murder but eventually the charge was reduced to manslaughter following the diagnosis of a brain tumour. He was sentenced to a six year suspended sentence and probation. He died in 1998 in a nursing home.

In the final analysis, Marvin Gaye will always be remembered as one of the most important voices ever to be recorded. In the pantheon of male vocal greats, he is right up there in the top echelons. He is in the same company as Frank Sinatra, Sam Cooke, Wilson Picket, Otis Redding, Donny Hathaway, Ray Charles, Nat King Cole, and now Gregory Porter.

 His work remains as relevant today as it was when it was recorded. The sentiment and messages delivered on the “What’s Going On ?” album were years ahead of their time and are probably more important today than ever.  Marvin Gaye has often been imitated but never bettered. 

Nothing in his successful music career however, could compensate him for the love and recognition he craved from his father. His whole life was a battle to achieve the acknowledgement and attachment his father didn't provide. 

In life Marvin Gaye was a restless, troubled, tragic soul. He leaves an incredible body of work and a wonderful musical legacy. Rest in peace Marvin, you will never be forgotten

[thechasefiles]

The Chase Files Daily Newscap 1/13/2019

Good MORNING #realdreamchasers! Here is The Chase Files Daily News Cap for Sunday 13thJanuary 2019. Remember you can read full articles for FREE via Barbados Today (BT) or Barbados Government Information Services (BGIS) OR by purchasing by purchasing a Saturday Sun Nation Newspaper (SS).

GOVERNMENT ON FAST TRACK TO ECONOMIC RECOVERY – Government is moving quickly to turn Barbados’ economic situation around so that persons can once again be employed. Minister in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Investment, Marsha Caddle, made this known Friday, as she addressed the “Blast-Off” seminar held by the Barbados Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors at the Hilton Barbados Resort. She stated: “We are not sprinting for show, we are running because we understand that many of our decisions will cause and are causing some pain and suffering.  And so, we …have to complete the job early so that the recovery can come early and we can get people back into jobs early.” Noting that Barbados’ agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) enabled the Ministry to quickly secure supplementary agreements with other multilateral development banks, Minister Caddle pointed out: “With their help and changing confidence in the private sector, our reserves rose from $400 million in May to, as of this morning, $1,060 million. We saved the dollar. “We settled one of the largest domestic debt restructurings as a per cent of the national economy in history. Our debt has already declined from near 170 per cent of GDP in May last year to 124 per cent this year. The IMF projects it will hit 60 per cent by 2033.  As a consequence of the change in the way we are managing our finances; our credit rating had its first uplift in over a decade. More is to come.” Caddle also stressed that Government was committed to ensuring that Barbados never had to return to its current economic position. “We have made significant reforms to monetary and financial governance to ensure we do not get back here again. The printing of dollars that caused our reserves to run out has ceased. We are running a surplus for the first time in a long time,” she disclosed. Pointing out that Government had successfully mitigated the high number of job losses predicted, Minister Caddle said that while Government knew it could not save every job it would “protect every Barbadian”. She added: “Those jobs may not look the same as they did. The future of work is changing in organization, [and] in flexibility.” (BT)

MORE POWER – It will soon be more difficult to get away with stealing money and materials from Government. The Mia Mottley Administration is seeking to strengthen the powers of the Auditor General by enabling that officer to report any suspicious transactions directly to the police, and for fines and/or imprisonment for those who ignore summons to attend their investigative hearings. The new thrust will also see tougher financial checks being done within ministries and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) with the introduction of an Internal Audit Office – which will be responsible, generally, for conducting audits of all public entities. These are just two of the provisions of the new Public Finance Management Act 2018, which is before a joint select committee of Parliament for review. Two meetings of that committee were held last week in the Senate chambers, with another scheduled for tomorrow. The bill was laid in the House of Assembly last December 18. (SS)

FARMERS ASSURED SPILLS ‘WON’T HAPPEN AGAIN’ – A three-million-dollar project to repair oil pipeline damage in the community of Pegwell, Christ Church, is being overshadowed by residents’ concerns of a long-standing environmental catastrophe. While a senior official of the Barbados National Terminal Company Ltd (BNTCL) has assured the residents oil damage to their farms and water will not occur again, many of the victims voiced concerns about a loss of income, lack of compensation and contaminated wells during a town hall meeting Friday evening. “We want to ensure what happened in Gibbons will never happen again,” technical operations superintendent Terrence Straughn told community members of Pegwell. Straughn and consultant Barry Mayers, while empathising with residents, noted the environmental damage could be traced to prior ownership of the oil pipeline and not the state-owned oil company. Farmer Wesley Nurse and other residents traced the damage from oil spillage to between 500 and 600 acres of land to Shell oil company, a prior operator of the pipeline. (SS)

COMPANY DENIES DAMAGED TANKS – Roto Plastics Barbados Ltd. has thrown cold water on suggestions that its tanks used by the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) in the community outreach programme were sold damaged. Earlier this week a number of 1000-gallon water storage tanks purchased by corporate Barbados from Roto Plastics for the authority and installed in different districts, ruptured. While the BWA has pointed to what it deemed “vandalism”, an internal report from 2015 prepared by the authority’s now former mechanical engineer Edmund Brathwaite questioned the “integrity” and “stability” of the same tanks after a similar incident. But while Roto’s acting operations manager Jackie Wilson maintained that she was unaware of the 2015 incident, she dismissed any suggestion that the recent rupture was due to their tanks being faulty. “It is definitely, categorically not. Roto Plastics does not sell damaged tanks. People come in and say they only want one to catch rainwater, but our policy dictates that we do not sell damaged tanks. We cannot sell them. Even for a reduced cost we do not sell because it is dangerous and we have a reputation to uphold. We give quality, we give supreme service to people that come in to our office so this is totally bizarre,” she told THE NATION. (SS)

BATTLING IN COURT FOR 21 YEARS – The legal owners of what has become the biggest squatting village in Barbados are finally speaking out. Valdeen Broomes and her daughters Pamela and Mona have broken their silence on Six Men’s Village, St Peter, which is now being occupied by more than 300 squatters. The family, who have been quietly fighting in the law courts for 21 years to have control of what is legally theirs, told THE NATION they had gathered enough evidence to show that corruption, theft and lies, surrounded the coveted Six Men’s land. The 84 year-old matriarch is convinced that several squatters, including non-nationals, who now occupy the 27 acres of prime beach front land, a portion of the wider 240 acres Six Men’s Plantation, were given permission to settle there by politicians. (SS)

POLICE INVESTIGATE SHOOTING IN ST. JAMES – Yesterday police responded to a shooting incident around 2:50 p.m. at Fox Club Gap, The Garden, St James. On arrival police discovered that Jamar Greaves, of Grape Hall, St Lucy had been shot in his right forearm and was taken to QEH by private transportation. Investigations are continuing. Anyone who can provide any information that can assist in these investigations is asked to contact Police Emergency at 211, Holetown police station at 419-1700, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-8477(TIPS) or any police station.  (SS)

REIFER ‘READY’ TO COACH WINDIES – Floyd Reifer is in no way angry that he has been overlooked as a West Indies assistant coach for the upcoming series against England. In fact, the 46-year-old Barbadian, who had a taste of working with the regional side on recent tours of India and Bangladesh, is hopeful of landing the job as head coach later this year. Reifer served as batting coach for the Asian tours towards the end of 2018 – he was head coach for the last two T20s against Bangladesh – but with Richard Pybus taking over as interim head coach for the next few months, his services have not been retained. “It is unfortunate and disappointing but I am not bitter about it. I have no bitterness at all. I try to focus and improve myself as a coach and continue to work with all the young guys who need help,” he told THE NATION. (SS)

ODAINE AND BARKER SHINE – Keen to erase the disappointment of missing selection for last year’s CARIFTA Games, a determined Shemia Odaine got a useful warm-up for the new season with three commanding track and field victories at an Athletics Association of Barbados (AAB) Developmental Meet on Saturday. Racing and jumping on home turf at Lester Vaughan School, Shemia, watched by her dad, cricketer Kelso Odaine, was too hot to handle in the 60 and 150 metres open events after leaping 2.49 metres to take the standing broad jump. It was a solid start to the season for the 17-year-old Odaine, who was unlucky not to make the national team for the CARIFTA Games in The Bahamas. “I had a few niggles but I worked them out and I am happy with both sprints. I am looking forward to making the CARIFTA Games team. That is my goal this season,” she said. (SS)

For daily or breaking news reports follow us on Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter & Facebook. That’s all for today folks. There are 352 days left in the year. Shalom! #thechasefilesdailynewscap #thechasefiles# dailynewscapsbythechasefiles

[ciathyzareposts]

Missed Classic 84: The Pesach Adventure (1993)

Written by Joe Pranevich

Happy Passover! For the last five years, we have had an annual tradition of a Christmas adventure, a special one-off look at a festive game for the holiday season. I love playing and documenting these games, but the truth is that Christmas is not a holiday that my family and I celebrate in the traditional way. While I was raised with Christmas, my wife was not, and we have decided together to not make it an integral part of my son’s upbringing. We still celebrate the Yuletide with my family, but his only idea of Santa Claus comes from watching Christmas episodes on Youtube Kids.

A few years back, my wife challenged me to find and play a Jewish-themed adventure game. At the time, I didn’t realize that it was such a tall order. Jews account for only 2% of the United States population today and so naturally there is a smaller audience for games about Jewish holidays. Now that we have made it to 1993, I can finally play the first known game about a Jewish festival: The Pesach Adventure! (“Pesach” is the Hebrew name for the holiday. Fun fact: English is rare in that it uses different words for Easter and Passover; using the Hebrew name makes it clear you are referring to the Jewish holiday.) Don’t get used to annual Passover games (or Hanukkah, Purim, Sukkot, or anything else) because this is the only game about a Jewish holiday that I know of until the modern era.

If you are unfamiliar with Passover, never fear! I’ll start today with a brief overview of the holiday and its history before jumping into the game itself. If you only want to hear about the gameplay, feel free to skip it. Passover is a beautiful holiday and one of the most important in Judaism, even if it has been overshadowed in the popular culture by a certain winter present-giving holiday.

“Let my people go!” – Moses

Passover 101

Many Jewish holidays can be defined by the expression, “They tried to kill us. We survived. Let’s eat!” Passover is no exception. Trying to summarize the history and traditions of the holiday in a couple of paragraphs will be difficult, but I hope you can get the flavor. I apologize in advance for any errors, omissions, or if I seem to make light of any tenets that you hold dear.

In Judaism, one of the most important stories is the Exodus from Egypt. While the book of Genesis tells of the patriarchs and the mythic underpinnings of the world, Exodus begins with the Israelites in bondage in Egypt, before revealing the story of Moses and his encounter with God, leading to the miracles that allow the Israelites to flee captivity and begin to cross the desert towards Israel. (It will take forty years and three more books– Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy– for them to reach it, but that is a story for another day.) It is difficult to explain how central this story is in Judaism. Throughout their lives, Jews are asked to think of themselves as if they have personally been delivered from Egypt. This is not only to impart a sense of gratitude, but also an obligation to help those less fortunate and lift them out of their own personal enslavements. You are likely familiar with these stories already as they include the Ten Plagues, the Golden Calf, the Ten Commandments, and the occasionally funny notion that it took 40 years to cross 150 miles of desert.

Passover celebrates the first part of that story: God reveals himself to Moses who returns to Egypt to negotiate with an unnamed (and likely ahistorical) Pharaoh for the freedom of his people. Pharoah does not let them go willingly so God sends, through Moses, a series of increasingly punishing plagues beginning with blood (the contamination of the Nile), an infestation of frogs, and then of lice. Each plague is more terrible than the one before, but still Pharaoh’s heart is hardened and he does not relent. (In fact, his own magicians duplicate the plagues, which certainly would not have made things any easier for anyone.) Eventually they reach the worst plague of all: the death of the firstborn. God commands the Israelites to mark their doors with lamb’s blood so that the death would “pass over” them. For the Egyptians, it did not matter whether you were royalty or a slave; all firstborn sons must die. This drastic measure forces the Pharaoh to relent and free the Israelites, but they must leave so quickly they do not even have time to bake bread for the journey. Once they are gone, he has a change of heart and sends the army after them all the way to the Red Sea (or Sea of Reeds, or any number of other translations). In that dramatic confrontation, Moses performs his most memorable miracle as he parts the sea and permits the Israelites to cross, before drowning the Egyptians that followed. It’s not a “fun” story. Later rabbinical commentary addresses this by saying that God himself mourned the death of so many Egyptians and chastised the angels for celebrating the deaths of “His children”.

Drown like an Egyptian?

One key facet of this narrative is that the Israelites had to carry unleavened bread with them, essentially crackers which would later become known as matzah. Once they were safely on their way, God revealed Himself at Sinai and started issuing rules. Lots and lots of rules. Several of those rules included commands to remember and honor the Passover (Exodus 12:14, 13:3) as well as the “feast of the unleavened bread” (Leviticus 23:5). Once the Temple was built in Jerusalem, Passover was honored yearly through a family meal consisting of a sacrificed lamb as well as matzah and bitter herbs (maror). Eating these “foods of affliction” connected these early Jews to the original Exodus and laid the foundation of our modern Passover Seder.

Many years later (around 30 CE), these traditions were still being followed when a certain former carpenter sat down for a final meal with his friends. There is some debate whether the Christian “Last Supper” was an example of a Passover “Seder” or not. I have had some religious teachers say “yes!”, and that our traditions began even prior to the destruction of the Second Temple. Others draw a firmer line between the literal eating of a Passover meal (which would have included lamb) and the metaphorical Passover Seders that would come later. I could go on for some time, but suffice it to say that the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke all state that the Last Supper was a Passover meal, while John states that Passover came after Jesus’s death. I’ll leave working that out as an exercise for the reader.

After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, everything changed for Judaism. With no more Temple, there were no more sacrifices. Scholars wrestled with and codified Jewish laws and customs into several works. One of these was an early haggadah, instructions and prayers for the ritual Passover Seder, now emerging as something distinct from the previous sacrificial practice. Perhaps the most notable of these rabbinic works is the Babylonian Talmud. One of my rabbi friends called this the “New Testament of Judaism”; it is 2,711 pages of Hebrew and Aramic text that covered all aspects of Jewish life but also transformed it from a religion of literal animal sacrifices into one of metaphor that could spread throughout the world. One of the tractates (“Pesachim”) specifically deals with the traditions of Passover, the rules about leavened products (chametz), and many other customs that are still followed today.

And that is where we finally get to the modern holiday of Passover. While only the most observant still follow all of the rules to the letter, most Jewish families keep some aspects of the tradition. Prior to the holiday, a family is supposed to rid their households of chametz, bread products and things connected to them, to honor that original flight into the desert. In traditional homes, this is taken quite literally with a mad scramble to clean every crumb in the house. On the day of the holiday itself, the family gathers for a ritual meal. (Outside of Israel, for reasons that are too complicated to get into, the ritual meal is held on the first two days rather than just the first day.) Throughout the meal, the family follows a formula recorded in a haggadah which describes which prayers to give, what rituals to follow, and onward through the eating of the passover meal itself. There are many such haggadahs today, each following the same formulas but interjecting their own voice or explanations into the proceedings. At the center of the passover experience is the Seder Plate that includes all of the symbolic foods, including a shankbone to symbolize the sacrifice. During the meal, there is a point where a piece of matzah is broken and hidden for the children to find later. This is the afikoman, which will be important as we play the game, and the kids need to find it in order for the meal to end. It’s a fun activity after a long night of praying, eating, and retelling the story of the flight from Egypt.

Bob Newell circa 2016.

Building the Adventure

The story of The Pesach Adventure starts where you might expect: with a realization and a bit of free time. As we have already seen, by 1993 there was no shortage of Christmas-themed adventure games. I’ve played six of them already and am nowhere close to running out. And yet, in all this time there had never been (as much as I am aware) an adventure game about a Jewish holiday. The closest may be Game of the Maccabees (1983), an action game for the Commodore 64 and other systems which could (if you squint) be called a game about Hanukkah. In early 1993, Bob Newell, an MIT-trained electrical engineer, programmer, and interactive fiction enthusiast came to precisely the same realization. He was living in Bismarck, North Dakota at the time and as far from the center of American Jewish life as it is possible to be. And worse for him (although lucky for us), he was also ill and home sick from work for a couple of weeks with time on his hands.

Let me pause there because while we have already looked at a few tools for building “amateur” adventure games in the 1980s (most notably “The Quill”, used for A Spell of Christmas Ice, and “AdvSys” used for Elves ‘87), the state of the art by 1993 was considerably more advanced. The “Adventure Game Toolkit” (AGT) was getting long in the tooth, but newer options such as the “Text Adventure Development System” (TADS) were maturing (TADS2 was released in 1992) and “Inform” (released in 1993) was just around the corner. These systems were complete enough that a competent and professional-quality game could be written, tested, and released in weeks rather than months with little care needed by the developers to build their own engines or cross-platform compatibility. Sure, text adventures were long in the tooth already, but as Curses (1993) would soon reveal, there was still a market and a community for the next generation of interactive fiction. Newell, whether he realized it or not, was one of the pioneers in this new generation of game designers. He selected TADS2 as his environment and set out to plot and write his holiday-themed text adventure.

“Game of the Maccabees” just screams “Hanukkah”, doesn’t it?

Beginning as he was in late 1992 or early 1993, Newell had a choice of holidays to cover. Purim was the first possibility, falling that year in early March. That holiday features costumes for the kids and heavy drinking for adults (the religious commandment is to “drink on Purim until that person cannot distinguish between cursing Haman and blessing Mordechai”; Haman and Mordechai are the villain and hero of the Book of Esther respectively), but it is not a major holiday in quite the same way. Shavuot, a holiday celebrating the granting of the Ten Commandments at Sinai, fell in late May but that holiday is barely observed by all but the most religious. Passover in April, would be the ideal choice for a game both because it is celebrated even by most secular Jews, but also because it already included game elements: bedikas chametz, the search for hidden leavened products, and the seder-night search for the afikoman. Although Newell had been raised in New Jersey, he patterned his game not on his own upbringing but rather on Jewish life as presented in the works of Chaim Potok, a well-known author who beautifully (and sometimes tragically) depicted the lives of Jews living in New York.

With a plot and setting established, Newell set to work and completed the first pass of the game in an astounding two weeks, sharing it with a few “beta” testers and uploading the completed game to local BBSes in February 1993. He asked his players to share the wealth and “upload like a meshuggah!” to get it the broadest audience in time for Passover. The game was not freeware, but rather “charity-ware” where you were requested to donate $5 (around $9 in today’s world) to a tax-deductible charity of your choice. A walkthrough and teaching materials could be purchased from Newell’s company, Avi Gobbler Publishing, for the low, low price of $2 plus a self-addressed stamped envelope. Initial playtesting on the game wasn’t perfect; by his own admission he made the game too difficult for his target audience of schoolchildren. He formulated plans to expand the game for a 1994 release, but ultimately never completed the work.

“Courting Jane”, his first novel, is a Hawaiian time-travel Regency romance; several words that I never knew that I would use together in a sentence.

Newell relates that he received very little feedback on his game, except for one email from a young developer that was inspired to write interactive fiction of his own. That developer was Nathan Cull. While that name may be unfamiliar to most of you, he was an award-winning interactive fiction designer of the late 1990s. I already had an (ahem) “secret” plan to play his Frobozz Magic Support (1996) as part of an “Inspired by Infocom” series I hope to do following my Infocom marathon.

Following work on The Pesach Adventure, Newell’s career and other interests led him away from game development, although he continued to have a strong connection to Judaism as well as games in the abstract. For the former, I have to congratulate him for completing dav yomi twice! Each of those is a seven and a half-year cycle of Talmud study. In 2005, he founded The Checker Maven, a weekly newsletter devoted to checkers and draughts. In 2007, he briefly returned to gaming by creating GGZC, a front-end for playing interactive fiction on Linux. He has also studied and written about board games, Linux, Emacs, and other things. He runs a local Jane Austen society, was president of the Hawaii Chess Federation, and clearly manages to keep himself busy. After his retirement from electrical engineering, he wrote and published two novels, as well as a collection of short stories about checkers. He’s a fascinating individual and I am glad that I have been able to meet him as part of this series.

Time to play the game!

It’s educational. How hard can it be?

Playing the Game

It’s the night before Erev Pesach. Tomorrow night is Seder night, a time of year you always enjoy. You and Imma and the rest of the family have worked really hard to get the house clean- Pesach clean, Imma always calls it. You live in a good, observant home, and Abba and Imma have removed just about all of the chametz in preparation. Of course, you and your family always spend some time on this night searching the house for chametz that might have “escaped” Imma and Abba’s watchful eyes. Abba and Imma are full of tricks, and they’ve made a game out of this. It’s fun, though, and every year you look forward to this night.

Your job is to go through the house and grounds, making sure everything is in order for Pesach. You’ll need to say the right blessings, find the right objects, and remove the things that shouldn’t be kept around over Pesach. Good luck!

I don’t even finish the introduction before I start to worry: If this game is a treasure hunt, just with chametz instead of loot, I’ll be fine. But if I have to “say the right blessings”, I’ll be up a creek because frankly I don’t know them. I am less concerned that I may be called upon to make judgements about what is and is not Kosher for Passover since I am unafraid to use Google, but knowing the correct blessings may be another matter altogether.

My concern is amplified immediately because the first action of the game is to answer a trivia question asked by our Abba (father): what is the Hebrew name for the search for chametz? I have no idea so Google comes to the rescue with the term “bedikas chametz”. Fortunately, it is correct and we can start the game properly. (Insightful readers may observe that I knew this term only a couple of pages ago, but the introduction and research was done after playing the game so as to minimize spoilers.)

“Abba” is pretty much every Hebrew learner’s first word as it uses only the first two letters of the Aleph-Bet: אבא

We start the game in the dining room:

Dining Room 

You are in the dining room. You can see that Imma has begun to prepare the large table for the Seder. There is a chandelier hanging over the table, and a buffet sideboard set up. Through the window, you can see into the back yard. A doorway to the south leads to the kitchen, and a doorway to the west leads to the living room. 

Nu, was ?

Exploring the room, we quickly discover a flashlight under the table and a prayer book on the buffet. Inside the prayer book is a bracha (blessing) which I read for a further five points. With luck, that will be the extent of the blessings I was supposed to say. I head south to discover that the dining room is pitch black. I try to turn on the flashlight, but apparently I cannot do that because it’s too dark. What the heck? I have to head back to the dining room to turn it on before resuming my journey… to the kitchen.

Let me interrupt myself here because I did not fully realize what was going on. It initially seemed asinine that the kitchen (and every other room) would be dark and unexplorable without a flashlight. I live here! I know where the light switches are! The real life bedikas chametz isn’t just a weird type of spring cleaning, it is a “game” where the search is to be conducted by candlelight using a feather to dust the evil crumbs out of their hiding places, not to mention the deliberate bits of chametz that your parents hid around the house just to make sure you were paying attention. The fact that we have to use the flashlight makes perfect sense in that context and I suspect a player familiar with the tradition would have known that already. I’m not the target audience!

And since I interrupted my narrative once already, I’ll interrupt myself a second time to point out that the command prompt in this game is a bit strange: “Nu, was?” “Nu” is an interrogative word in Yiddish, sort of like “well?” or “so?”. I do not know what the “was” means in this case. In context it’s obviously something like “what’s next?” but I welcome any Yiddish speakers to elaborate.

Not having grown up hating matzah, I don’t mind it so much.

Kitchen 

You are in the kitchen. There is a doorway leading north to the dining room, a stairway going down to the basement, and a sliding door leading east to the patio outside. There is an old refrigerator here, as well as a kitchen table, a cupboard, and a storage drawer. You can also see Imma’s stove here in the kitchen, and the big double sink. One side is for meat, the other for milk- this IS a good kosher home, you know- Imma takes pride in that.

I discover my first mini-puzzle in the kitchen. Inside the refrigerator are two boxes of matzah, one red and one blue. Reading the labels, I learn that the blue one is Kosher for Passover while the red one is not; it will have to go! But what do I do with the chametz that I find? The introduction didn’t say. I continue searching through the drawers and cupboard to locate a plastic sack; the game is kind enough to let me know immediately that it is the correct receptacle for our discoveries. There’s also a spoon in the sink, a broom in the drawer, and a nearly-empty pack of matches on the table. A pile of crumbs on the stove offers a surprising challenge, but I figure out that while I cannot sweep them directly into the sack, I can sweep them into the spoon and then dump them into the sack. I later learned that this use of the spoon (with a broom substituting for the feather) was also part of the ritual and would have been well-understood by the target audience. Even though I’ve now collected two bits of chametz, my score has not gone up any further. Am I doing something wrong?

It’s a little thing, but I love the detail that this is a traditional Kosher kitchen. A properly Kosher household would have needed two sets of nearly everything, one for preparing and serving dairy and one for preparing and serving meat. I’ve even been to homes with two dishwashers! Although I expect that many people are aware that pork and shellfish are not Kosher, those two examples make up only the tip of a huge set of rules and customs around what can be eaten when and which utensils you can use. It’s a nice detail and a reminder that interactive fiction can put you in someone else’s shoes. I’d better hurry up because Abba is already getting upset that the search is taking too long, and I’ve only explored two rooms!

Maintaining a kosher kitchen is much easier for vegetarians.

I won’t narrate every room with the same level of detail, but you can see the pattern already: as we traverse the house, we must carefully search through (and under) every object in every room to find all those little bits of chametz. Time pressure becomes the hardest part as Abba will stop the search after 100 turns. This means that I have to iterate over the house in multiple playthroughs to find everything then plot out the optimal path. More on that in a bit, but here’s what I find when I explore our household:

Beneath the kitchen is the basement with three rooms. There is an oil can at the bottom of the stairs. Off to the west is my bedroom (graham cracker crumbs!) while the furnace is to the east. Hidden in the furnace is a bag of beans. You might be surprised to learn that while beans are not leavened, it is tradition among many Jews that rice, corn, and similar foods are not kept on Passover because of the risk that they have been stored in (and contaminated by) facilities containing flour. 

Outside the sliding-glass kitchen door is a patio and a small yard. A grill outside seems like a perfect place for crumbs to hide, but it is empty. Instead, I manage to nearly blow up the house by starting the gas and not being able to turn it off. Not very safe! A shed in the yard has a rusted door, but we would be poor adventurers if we didn’t know to use the oil can. Somehow there are cookie crumbs for me to clean on the lawn mower. I can also lose a point if I come back into the house without shutting the door; I end up starting over just in case that would prevent a win.

The living room is off to the west and its sofa, reclining chair, and table offer many places to search. We find cake on the table and a cracker under the sofa cushions, but there’s also a key that we can discover if we sit on our father’s favorite reclining chair. What could that be for?

The remainder of the first floor consists of a hallway leading out to a small yard and the street. Like any good Jewish household, there is a mezuzah on the front door. Heading outside, we learn that we are in Brooklyn! Other than spying a trash can outside and another chance to lose a point by not closing the door when we come back in, I discover nothing of interest.

Jewish households, even non-observant ones, often will have a mezuzah near the door. 

Working our way upstairs, we find my two siblings’ rooms. My brother’s room has a locked closet containing a pile of scandalous… er… religious magazines, but he’s only using them to hide a box of cookies! Similarly, my younger sister has hidden a candybar in her bed, and not even a properly Kosher one. Into the sack for both!

In the bathroom, we find a piece of pie crust hidden in a butter dish in the shower. 

The final room is my parents’ bedroom, a place where curious little ten-year olds probably shouldn’t go very often. Looking in the mirror on their dresser reveals a gum wrapper on the floor. Since the gum was packaged with flour (which we can see in the ingredients list), it is chametz and has to go! 

As I stated above, all of that happened over several playthroughs because the 100-turn limit is shockingly limiting for a game that has tons of objects to “search”, “look in”, “look under”, and “move” in every room. I set myself the task of building a “script” to move around the house as efficiently as possible to collect every treasure, but even that requires a bit of cheating as we cannot read the labels or search things. I have to pick up the spoon, for example, before I look into the sink. The game knows it is there and let’s me do it, but wrecks the suspension of disbelief. Even by being as absolutely efficient as possible, it still leaves me with only a handful of turns at the end to solve the final puzzle: what am I supposed to do with this stuff once I collect it?

My first thought is to toss it in the trash outside, but for some reason that doesn’t seem to work. I end up Googling to discover that the typical ending of this ritual is to burn the chametz (usually the next morning), so I resume trying to work the grill. This is one of those embarrassing cases where the command was just “light grill”, but I spent more time that I care to admit trying to “light match”, “remove match from matchbook”, and that sort of thing. Once the grill is lit, I stick the sack on the flames and… lose.

Abba tells me that not only did I fail to find all of the chametz, I also burned something that I wasn’t supposed to. I search through every object that I found and none of them seem ambiguous as to their Kosher for Passover status. I eventually work out that it was the sack itself that I was not supposed to burn, but I can dump the contents out onto the grill easily enough. I still lose, but this time only with a message that I did not find the chametz, not that I burned something incorrectly. A little more mucking around and I realize that the sack was too full for the last couple of items. I have to modify my script to dump our findings on the grill the first time we pass as well, giving me enough room for the rest. Once I burn everything, I win!

I did it!

Winning the first part of the game advances the story to the next day. Our family has celebrated the Passover Seder and we are getting close to the end where the kids have to search for the afikoman, the special piece of matzah that a subtle adult hid during the meal. Unfortunately, this is where I become stuck as I cannot find it. My two siblings, now implemented as roving NPCs that search the house on their own, never find it either. This whole bit unfortunately feels less like an endgame puzzle and more like an incomplete part of the game. Even though it’s now Passover and the meal is nearly at its conclusion, room descriptions have not been updated and many of the explorable items from earlier in the game are broken or not present.

I give up and decide to cheat. The TADS2 development system prevents easy cheating by encoding the text, so I cannot learn anything by using a hex editor like I did playing A Christmas Adventure. With that avenue closed, I look at various paths to decompile the game or otherwise learn its secrets. I’ve been playing with a DOS executable version but eventually discover that someone archived a .GAM version of the game which would have been playable on any system with a TADS2 interpreter. With that in hand, I manage to get an old TADS2 decompiler to work and voila! I have something close to the source to the game.

I discover the issue: the afikoman is placed in a random room at the start of the endgame. The other kids move around the house randomly and you have to try to find it before they stumble on it. Unfortunately, the routine appears to have a bug where sometimes the prize can be placed in an inaccessible room. I play the game over again and this time the ending is simple as the afikoman is just sitting on the floor in my bedroom. Just by luck, I get there before the other kids and win!

I won for real!

Time Played: 3 hr 55 min

Final Rating

We’ve reached the end of our first– and likely our last– Passover special. I hope that this has been an enjoyable and educational trip. The game itself isn’t perfect, but it is well-written and provides a look at an aspect of Judaism that I was unaware of. It’s also a fantastic little slice of life about an observant Brooklyn family on one of the year’s most important holidays. Interactive fiction has the power to take us many places and I love that Newell’s game took us to a place that so few games go.

That said, for a game targeted at ten-year olds, it doesn’t quite hit the mark. Mr. Newell says as much in his release notes:

News flash: beta testing, in addition to shaking out the usual bugs, revealed that the game as it now stands is both too simple- for an adult with adventure game experience- and too hard- for children with no such experience. A new, expanded version is in the works, with a much richer story line and environment. It won’t be done in time for Pesach 5753 but we hope to have it out for Pesach 5754.

That is a great summation of how I feel about the game. Solving the timing puzzle was challenging even today and there was surprisingly little slack. A more kid-focused game might have removed the time limit or made it easier to find all of the objects, but in the end I struggled more with the traditions around an unfamiliar holiday (or rather, an unfamiliar tradition in a familiar holiday) than I did with the search or optimization. Unfortunately, Newell did not come back to the game the following year.

Before I do the numerical score, let me remind everyone that these reviews are based on an adventure game ideal that is somewhat like the world’s most perfect Monkey Island game. A low score doesn’t mean that a game is bad or unappreciated, merely far from an arbitrary (and imaginary) benchmark. Since this is a holiday game, our normal PISSED rating scale just won’t do. Rather than crack out the EGGNOG, I’ll be using our new and suspiciously-similar “MENSCH” rating system. I’m sure you’ll see how it works very quickly.

The less said about this “suspiciously similar” Hanukkah tradition, the better.

Mental Challenges and Solutions – There are only two traditional adventure puzzles in this game, but there is a lot to be said for the slow searching and the determination of what products to keep or throw away. I struggled to work out the trick with the crumbs, broom, spoon, and sack, but perhaps that would have been more understandable to the target audience. For me, the most glaring issue remains the tight timing and the necessity to plot out every action carefully. That sort of puzzle was okay in 1980 with Zork and Colossal Cave, but by 1993 there were better ideas. I also have to deduct some for the hour that I wasted trying to search in vain for the afikomen. There is a lot here that is great, but I wish Newell had come back in 1994 to strike a better balance. My score: 2.

Engagement and Objects – The TADS2 interpreter is powerful and provided a near-Infocom level of functionality with very little overhead. I was shocked how easy the code was to read and understand! That said, the game lacked a bit of polish with commands like “search room” not working anywhere except the one room where you have to use it, plus rough edges around the flashlight, using the spoon, and figuring out how to turn on the grill. I also found bugs where the game would not completely reset state when you saved/restored the game, resulting in things like the flashlight not working. My score: 2.

Narrative and Neighborhood – Newell was right: bedikas chametz is a great topic for a short kid-focused adventure game and it is nice to play with low stakes. Even so, there isn’t much of a story here and no plot progression. That said, I love the setting, the design of the house, and all of the fantastic details that Newell littered throughout the prose. The game is elevated by these inclusions and I only wish that Newell had had more time to polish. My score: 3.

Sound and Graphics – As a text adventure, we have neither sound nor graphics. Sadly, we have the usual “penalty” here. My score: 0.

Circumstances and Emotion – The “atmosphere” category in our rating system continues to bedevil me, but I love so much about the game even as it frustrates me. It feels right, like a real lived-in space by a real Jewish family. I love learning that Abba has never quite gotten around to fixing the cracks on the stairwell, or that I selected the basement room for privacy but regret the long walk to the bathroom. Newell has a talent for prose details that are in evidence here and I may check out one of his novels to see how he matured over a few decades. My score: 4.

High-Concept Text – Although I love those details, the text is sparse at times and I was let down quite a bit when the rooms were not updated for the final afikomen search. It’s difficult to let that slide when the endgame should feel like a culmination of what came before, not as an incomplete epilogue. This category also factors in NPCs, but the two siblings are not sketched in anything more than the most basic way and exhibit no individual personality, especially relative to all that we learned about them by exploring their rooms. Again, I am positive that Newell could have improved this had he continued with a 1994 version. My score: 2.

Let’s add all of those up: (2+2+3+0+4+2)/.6 = 22 points! I will grant a bonus point for being a rare and beautiful look at an Orthodox Jewish family and for reminding us that interactive fiction can take us to unexpected places.

This score fits right along with some of our other holiday-themed games such as Crisis at Christmas and Elves ‘87, both of which share some fundamentals with this game in terms of being a largely amateur (as in non-professional, not poorly made) effort and built to a deadline. I am positive that Newell could have learned from this in later games, had he chosen to do so.

I’d like to thank Mr. Newell for his patience in providing commentary and background on a game he wrote on a lark twenty-seven years ago! Several of his books are available on Amazon, including Courting Jane, a time-travel romance featuring a modern day Hawaiian man courting Jane Austin; Hanai, a retelling of Austen’s Mansfield Park in contemporary Hawaii; and a short story collection.

If you enjoyed my commentary on the holiday, you are welcome to check out my now-defunct blog, Coat of Many Colors. I spent a few years writing about bible stories, mostly in Genesis, and the posts are all still there waiting to be read. I gave it up in 2015 thanks to a lack of readership, comments from well-meaning readers that made me uncomfortable, and a newly discovered hobby writing about and researching games. Check it out.

And finally, I hope all of you are staying safe in our current worldwide health crisis. It seems the world is now divided between people that are stuck at home with too much time on their hands, and people so busy that they are unable to think or breathe. I fall into the latter category as my wife and I balance homeschooling / child care against two full time jobs that are suddenly remote, and all without resorting to excessive use of “screen time”. I count my blessings, but my writing time and energy has been significantly curtailed. I have a few things half-baked which I will try to finish, but depending on timing I may need to either delay Space Quest V or delegate it to another reviewer. Expect a few more one-off posts like this as I burn off my backlog and we’ll see how the world fares in a few weeks.

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/missed-classic-84-the-pesach-adventure-1993/

#retro games #dos games #retro #crpg #adventure #amiga #oldcomputers #8bit #16bit #blog #repost

[topicprinter]

Hello everyone,Recently I have just finished the book "The Startup of you” and I find it a very interesting read. I myself want to become an entrepreneur myself in the future, so it hits me quite hard.As a habit, I summarize this book after I read, and I want to share it with you here. Please excuse my grammatical errors…————————Lessons in a nutshellIn an era where the whole world focuses on the extravagant success of entrepreneurs, Hoffman and Casnocha have brought in a fresh insight on how an entrepreneur can be redefined. It turns out that a person doesn’t have to appear on Forbes’ cover to be an entrepreneur. If one knows how to nurture her/his career path, she/he is no doubt an entrepreneur.In this summary, you will explorewhy everyone has innate entrepreneurial talentswhy being a life-controller is so importanthow to bloom the entrepreneur potentialChaptersIt’s time to let your entrepreneurial instinct bloomIf you want to gain the market, sell something others can’ABZ planning: Always spare an escapePlanning doesn’t take a day; it takes a life“Instead of better glasses, your network gives you better eyes”Not all networks are the sameDon’t let strangers through the door, except for luckRisk: What you avoid can be your biggest opportunityIntelligence is not for show; it’s for learning1. It’s time to let your entrepreneurial instinct bloom“Everyone is an entrepreneur.” The saying doesn’t mean that everyone can, or should, start a company. However, the core value of entrepreneurship lies in the ability to invent and create, which, coincidentally and fortunately, all people are inherited from their ancestors.The definition of “start-up” - a term that is closely related to “entrepreneur” - needs clarifying. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a company or a business of any kind. When our ancestors created caves, the caves were their “start-up,” or the “product” of their creativity. To pursue your dream career is to build a start-up.Why should everyone establish and develop a career or start-up? Needless to say, one’s profession is what helps a person thrive. As the world changes day by day, it’s increasingly difficult to have an assuring and long-lasting career path that guarantees a happy life. Knowing how to create and maintain a career is more crucial than ever before.Because a career is no different from a start-up, entrepreneurial strategies can be adopted when you build a career. Entrepreneurial strategies may include many action plans, but the most important strategy is keeping a positive mindset. Tell yourself that you’ll never give up. Failures are frequent, and success never comes overnight. As long as you keep learning, improving, striving and growing, success would finally come.Quote: “Whether you’re a lawyer or doctor or teacher or engineer or even a business owner, today you need to also think of yourself as an entrepreneur at the helm of at least one living, growing start-up venture: your career.”2. If you want to own the market, sell something others can’tGlobalization comes with both opportunities and threats.The labor market expands rapidly, leading to an increase in high-quality labor. Higher job opportunity for one person means lower chances of success for another. That’s why everyone needs to develop a unique selling point to increase his or her competitive advantage in the job market.Three elements that make a strong competitive advantage are assets, aspirations and values, and market realities. One’s unique selling point can be sold to the market only when these puzzles perfectly fit each other like one fine picture. Therefore, it’s necessary to evaluate the competence of each piece of the puzzle in order to make a perfect portrait of yourself.Assets are what a person owns. They can be physical assets, such as cash, credits, housing, etc. They can also be knowledge and soft skills such as communication skills, public speaking skills, critical thinking skills, etc. Assets would be the first thing that other people see when they look at you and get to know you.Regardless of how many assets a person may have, personal growth cannot be achieved without aspirations and values. Aspirations are the “deepest wishes, ideas, goals, and vision of the future,” regardless of the external world or existing assets. Core values are a part of aspirations: they are what a person considers the most important in his or her life.Aspirations and values serve as the petrol that keeps a person going. If assets are what a person possesses at present, it is aspirations and values that perfect the assets and shape that person’s future. It’s always more motivational to pursue what you are passionate about rather than what you feel forced to follow.The final piece of the puzzle is the market realities. Assets, aspirations, and values only work when put into the right marketplace where you are welcomed. Make sure that the market that you choose is favorable for you to develop to your inner potential. Sometimes, a market that no one but you has thought of, despite being a risky choice, can be the competitive advantage you need.Quote: “No matter what the demand, you’re not going to be most competitive unless your own passions and strengths are in play.”3. ABZ planning: There’s no easy escape without preparationFlickr is considered one of the best web tools for storing, managing and sharing photos in the world. Since its birth in 2004, it’s been consistently developing with more than 5 billion images stored on the websites and 87 million subscribed accounts. However, when it was established, its original plan wasn’t how it seems today.The website was originally a multiplayer online game called Game Neverending created in 2002. Online games at that time supported only a few people playing at the same time, but the developers of Game Neverending wanted to involve hundreds of players at once. They started to create groups and instant messaging on the website to increase interaction. Eventually, they added a function that helped to share screenshot pictures during the game among players.The final add-on surprisingly overshadowed the main purpose of the game in popularity. It was at that time that the developers had to consider dropping the original plan or continuing it. In the end, they decided to part from the original plan and continue with a brand new plan. That was how Flickr became one of today’s most effective photo-sharing platforms.In the career market, situations like Flickr’s frequently arise. Difficult decisions in decisive moments have the power to change a person’s or firm’s destiny. Therefore, these decisions should be prepared firsthand. ABZ planning would support you in carrying out this difficult task.In ABZ planning, the letter “A” stands for Plan A: Aim and Fire (and repeat). Plan A makes use of your assets: develop what you’ve got at the moment and implement them. It includes a string of aims and actions you can immediately implement once you’re ready. When executing plan A, failures frequently occur, but it’s okay. What matters is that you have to try as hard as you can without giving up.When plan A doesn’t work anymore, it’s time for a change - plan B. Plan B is ignited when you pivot using knowledge and experience you’ve learned from failures while conducting plan A.Sometimes plan B is simply an updated version of plan A; sometimes, it is totally different. No matter what, make sure that plan B would help you better to the market compared to the previous plan.If nothing works, plan Z in ABZ planning is the exit plan. Like a lifeboat, plan Z should be much more certain than all previous plans so that it can save you from drowning and ensure your safety. However, bear in mind that floating on a lifeboat doesn’t mean that your life is over. Plan Z is not the end; on the contrary, it is the opening for a new, better plan A.Quote: “There is no beginning, middle, or end to a career journey; no matter how old you are or at what stage, you will always be planning and adapting.”4. Planning doesn’t take a day; it takes a lifeABZ planning is not a kid’s bingo game. It takes a lot of time and consideration to make a practical plan while minimizing potential risks. There are several criteria on which to build this plan.Firstly, build your plan based on your competitive advantage. It’s essential, therefore, that you find your unique selling point before jumping into creating a plan.Your assets would help you build hypotheses, for example, “I’m good at Maths, so I’ll be a financer at Wall Streets.” Each hypothesis should lead to a proper action plan, which would later become different ways of implementation in plan A.Soft assets - knowledge and soft skills - are much more invaluable than hard assets like spending power. Soft assets help people build and maintain their careers in the long run, and they need frequent improvements. Whatever you decide to do next should utilize your skills and broaden your knowledge.The best way to learn is through experiences. Sometimes it takes a little risk to test if hypotheses can become facts, and it’s every entrepreneur’s responsibility to take a risk. However, it’s better to make reversible, small bets rather than risk it all. It’s a part of plan Z - always spare yourself an escape.Use time wisely. Never wait until it’s too late to do something. For instance, you can build plan A and plan B simultaneously rather than consecutively. The first step should be a firm but also a flexible one so that there can be many choices for the next steps.Finally, try not to tie yourself to a specific employer. It’s not bad to be loyal and completely passionate, but flexibility is what makes ABZ planning so useful and feasible. More importantly, maintaining an identity - or retaining the unique selling point - requires you to be yourself, not your employer. Don’t let the position own you; own it instead.Quote: “ABZ Planning isn’t something you do once early in your career. It’s a process as important for someone in their forties or fifties as for a newly minted college grad.”5. “Instead of better glasses, your network gives you better eyes”“World-class professionals build networks to help them navigate the world.” There is a reason why humans have been forming communities and groups ever since they were born millions of years ago. Aside from providing a sense of belonging, surviving in groups creates better proficiency and protection for everyone in the community.If teams are important to individuals, individuals are equally important to teams. A team cannot succeed without its excellent individuals, just like how individuals need support from their teammates to shine their light. Therefore, it’s important to know how to deal with relationships, especially during your career development path.An important principle everyone needs to remember is that giving is receiving. A networker will seek advantages of being friends with another person, while a relationship builder will ask himself what values he can bring to others. All essential and long-lasting relationships are and should be built based on sincerity rather than taking advantage of each other. So, you should be a relationship builder rather than a networker.A relationship that isn’t frequently taken care of is a fragile relationship, no matter how strong it was at the beginning. No one wants an out-of-the-blue email after a long time without contact, so spend time maintaining contact with others. People often fear that they would disturb the other person, but that’s not the case. Anyone would appreciate a friend that takes the initiative in the relationship.The power of social media in the modern era cannot be denied. It doesn’t cost much time or money to make frequent contact on social networks such as Facebook or Twitter. However, it should be noted that the virtuality world isn’t enough. Whenever possible, try to invite people over for lunch or dinner.It’s sad but true that not every relationship lasts forever. In certain situations, there would be no use trying to keep a relationship. The best way to solve the situation is to let the relationship slowly fade away rather than actively delete it. By doing so, trust can remain, and the relationship can still be reactivated at the appropriate time.Quote: “Relationships are living, breathing things. Feed, nurture, and care about them: they grow. Neglect them: they die.”6. Not all networks are the sameIt’s necessary to understand the networks that you want to build. Between personal relationships and professional relationships, it is professional relationships that increase the opportunities to develop a career and improve ourselves.Professional allies are the ones who come first to your mind when you need advice. These people can be your seniors, colleagues, or even juniors at work, but they share a similarity: they’ve earned your trust. Allies are the people on whom you can rely for their consultancy.Allies are so whom you can proactively share and collaborate. They have something in common with you, they share some similarities and interests with you, and you know they’ll work well with you. These traits are vital to figuring out if a person is a right partner for you.Finally, allies are the ones that mean more than just ordinary colleagues to you. You call them friends, defend them, promote them, help them, and stand up for them. A true ally, or in this case, a true friend, would do the same for you. That’s how you realize whether you have made the right allies or not.Weaker ties and acquaintances form an entirely different network. They are people with whom you maintain a friendly relationship without being too close, and you don’t necessarily actively know them. Believe it or not, they are the ones who bring you the best opportunities.Let’s say you and your friends share many interests, which means what he knows is likely to be what you’ve already known. Acquaintances, on the other hand, don’t know you that deeply. Thus, they’ll introduce to you the most unexpected chance, which is both risky and worthwhile.The important key to bear in mind in building relationships is that the networks need to be both broad and deep. While the breadth of relationships helps people reach as many suitable opportunities as possible, the depth of them is what keeps people survive and make the best use of those opportunities.Quote: “There are various types of relationships in personal and professional contexts, from intimate friends and family to polite coworker contacts to medium-strength trust connections. Each type of relationship is different.”7. Don’t let strangers through the door, except for luckSuccess begins with opportunities. Networks and all of the necessary skills are built to wait for the right opportunities. So the question to raise here is: what kind of opportunity is everyone looking for?George Clooney was a B-class actor for twelve years despite his good looks, natural talent, and hard work. It was not until 1994 did he come across his life-changing opportunity: an overly-costed gritty medical drama named ER. There had never been such a drama at the time, so it would be a huge risk for Clooney to accept the main role. But he accepted it anyway. The result was an astounding career that hardly any other actor can dream of.Clooney’s story is an example of having a breakout. “Breakout” is the term implying the unusually rapid growth. There’s no ultimate success without luck. Luck only counts for 1 percent in one’s success, but that doesn’t mean it’s not important.The most important criterion to find and generate career opportunities is to nurture curiosity. Getting used to the question “why” in whatever situation is an important habit. Learning to be curious enhances critical thinking by helping people examine each hypothesis carefully before making a decision.Remember the importance of creating and maintaining relationships? It is one’s networks that bring the best breakout opportunities to that person. The number of possibilities is rather synonymous with the number of people you can connect to.That’s why being in a group or a community plays such an important role in one’s career path. If joining an existing group isn’t what you want, consider creating your own group with specific characteristics that you want to develop and spread within that small community.Creativity and boldness must always exist in any entrepreneur. Great opportunities seldom fit any body’s schedule. Being bold or you won’t ever have the same moment again.Quote: “There are always breakout projects, connections, specific experiences, and yes, strokes of luck—that lead to unusually rapid career growth.”8. Risk: What you avoid can be your biggest opportunitySometimes, risks mean opportunities no one would expect. Risks are a permanent part of life - that’s why being friends with risk, instead of being its enemy, is the best way to deal with and take advantage of it.In a career context, risks are “the downside consequences from a given action or decision and the likelihood that the downside actually occurs.” It is the other side of the coin that always exists; it is the reason why in ABZ planning, there are so many back-up plans supporting each other. In fact, entrepreneurs are bold risk-takers. It takes them years to figure out a list of tips to deal with and take advantage of risks.Almost everyone tends to overrate risks. Humans were born with three main misconceptions to keep them survive, and one of them is overestimating threats.Paying attention to potential threats is necessary, but they can often be exaggerated, especially in situations where people encounter them for the first time. That is when you need to calm down and estimate the risks carefully.There must be a reason that ABZ planning has Plan A and Plan B with numerous implementations before going to Plan Z. When conducting the ABZ plans, remember not to freak out and jump from one plan to the next too quickly. You should first see if how serious the current situation is, then figure out whether it can be reversed or improved by any chance before deciding to change the plan.Some circumstances imply risks to others, but not to you. It’s your mission to critically assess all the probabilities and make your own decision. Moreover, questionable situations can also be the best opportunities. In conclusion, being bold and calm will help you win against yourself.Quote: “There’s competition for good opportunities. And because of that, if you can intelligently take on risk, you will find opportunities others miss.”9. Intelligence is not for show; it’s for learningEntrepreneurs don’t only create, they also learn from their creation process. It is the ability to learn actively and synthesize information that gives that person the most potential to be the best in his or her chosen field. These ultimate skills would determine if a person wins or loses in the end.Gathering information in the business context is often called “gathering intelligence.” Intelligence in this context is “actionable, timely information on all facets of the business.” In other words, intelligence is what makes up a person’s skills and experience, and is shaped through learning and self-improving.Learning from others is the best type of learning. The best way to earn intelligence, therefore, is through one’s networks. Again, this is another reason why building relationships is so essential: it plays a role in almost every aspect of building a stable and successful career. The stronger and broader is a person’s networks, the more he is going to learn.Pulling the right information, or intelligence, from your networks, is another skill that needs enhancing. Before asking questions, regarding the breadth and depth of your relationships. No matter if you ask a mass number of people at the same time or each individual, consider the status of those relationships carefully before thinking of questions.It is vital to know how to ask good questions. A vague or too broad question would be difficult to answer, and it can even show that you’re not thinking critically before asking. Make sure that your question does not annoy the questionees, and don’t ask things that are too obvious.The final step would be synthesizing information. It’s important to spend time rearranging all the information you’ve got into one big neat picture. Only by doing this can others’ information become yours. To sum up, “good synthesis is what makes the whole worth more than the sum of the parts.”Quote: “How you gather, manage, and use information will determine whether you win or lose.”SummaryIn the end, there is no fixed list of tips that guarantee one’s success. Every person is an entrepreneur, which means everyone should have his or her own way to shape his or her life. Consider this book as a guideline for you to explore your entrepreneurial potential. The rest of history is in your hands.——I have a few more summaries if you'd like to read. DM me your email and I’ll share with you my GDrive :)

#/r/entrepreneur #reddit

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Online Internet dating.

Do you often really feel as if your close friends take you for provided? A Seat research launched in 2015 discovered that neighbors make up simply 2 percent of a typical American's Facebook close friends, overshadowed by secondary school and also university friends (31 percent), family (20 percent) and also coworkers (10 percent). Once you have your details protected from other people on Facebook, the next action is to restrict the stream of information that goes to accredited applications, search engines, and also advertisers. Yet she took a week to reply to my buddy request on Facebook when I recommended conference at a local cafe, she claimed no. I went anyhow, just to obtain out of the house ... and located her currently there with other people. This relationship inspires me to be the very best me I could be. A myth that Kudrow was a virgin until her wedding event made use of to percolate around the internet during Buddies' prime time. In the drop-down menu, click "Custom." You can decide to share only with Friends if you desire to maintain it basic. Even more, social newsfeeds are various from the customized recommendations one might see on iTunes. " Very few of my hundreds of partnerships in fact fall under true friendship," states Quest. Teams can be dividing right into areas like relatives, second relatives, auntie as well as uncles, friends of the family, associates, etc Sportsfriends is more than your normal "bundle" of games. If a 'fully commited' intimate relationship is reactivated with the narcissist - the person will certainly go from being the pal 'treated professionally' into being considerably abused once again. I assume you can take a lot from that as well as help improve the avatars we have today in VR that do have a real person behind it. Ironically, the existence of this listing helps highlight specifically why the relationship version is archaic-- it bundles way too many features right into one agreement. Trinh, 24, was previously the lead developer at Path, the inner-circle social app that couldn't ever quite convert intriguing suggestions into mainstream success, as well as he considered AIM a lot during developing Free. Happy friends or comparable they typically maintain it light. Create your Family members & Buddies checklist. In case you have virtually any concerns concerning in which in addition to tips on how to work with describes it, you can contact us from the site. Inning accordance with one more excerpt from the book, gotten by US media, Mr Trump utilized to flaunt that sleeping with his pals' partners made "life worth living". I bear in mind when I started transforming and also became more familiar with just how individuals act, I became aware that 99% of my pals were constantly utilizing unfavorable words as well as their lives were nowhere to the standard I was getting to. Living in a shared level, undergoing a collection of lousy jobs as well as crappier sweethearts and also sweethearts may be the twenty something standard currently, yet it was the first time I would certainly seen that way of living on TELEVISION. Females were typically mothers as well as other halves. 10. Your close friends, buddies, the people you associate or whatever you want to call them-are the truest reflection of who you are as well as just what you think about yourself. Tinder, an app that enables you to swipe precisely profile photos in order to fulfill possible close friends or dating potential customers, has simply introduced its 3.0 version on Android and also iphone. I was browsing some photos on a friends Facebook page and also she was showing images of her trip in Arizona (which takes place to be the state I currently reside in). I assume exactly what it implies is that we have buddies, since we have a lot of acquaintances that we share too much with to keep them submitted at such a base degree. Among perhaps hundreds of trainees we meet in school or a few hundred we satisfy at the office, we finally become close and obtain a degree of friendship with few or minimal individuals. These new methods to surface web content could gain Snapchat even more loan by getting individuals to watch even more Snaps, also if they're not attempting to meet up with pals. Pals followers from today could watch each episode of the hit 90s comedy on Netflix UK. To check out Zevon's journal from this period throughout of his life is to check out of a non-stop litany of sweethearts - Zevon was never ever solitary - and also informal encounters (" God only understands where he located the moment to compose tunes," creates Hiaasen in I'll Sleep When I'm Dead). There additionally comes a time where people need to make significant sacrifices in order to aid a friend succeed. They obtain close friends and also become socially entailed, as well as recognize that they can do something which all their peers covet. Facebook then lets you look for images posted by solitary or married friends in a particular area. Vina additionally attaches lady pals, and also an app called Meet My Canine attaches dog proprietors. Made using clips from the stars' other tasks, a YouTube video clip claiming to be a discount for a Buddies comeback flick created a huge variety of deem it went viral; with many of individuals sharing it believing it to be real. Lead writer Kayleigh Chester states responses from a representative team of more than 5,000 young teens from throughout England suggest concerning 5 youngsters in every additional course will certainly have been bullied by pals in the past few months.