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hapuriainen · 2 months

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Now that I've played at least one game in every Pokemon region, it is of course time for a ranking. Though note that the criteria is less based on how "good" I think the games are objectively and more on, like, vibes and such and if I have good memories of playing.

10. Sinnoh - This was the only gen I skipped when it came out because I didn't have a ds and didn't know how to emulate one, and when I finally did get one, Black & White were already out and Gen 4 was old news. But a while ago I did play Brilliant Diamond and really didn't have a good time at all. At that point everything felt extremely by-the-numbers and dated and I can't think of anything that this game offered that I didn't already get from the other titles. Some of the Gen 4 Pokemon are nice but it also has so many legendaries, which I really don't like as a concept (I mean I don't like it when the game tells me which Pokemon I'm supposed to find special and interesting). Also not a fan of the art style in the remake and I find Barry incredibly annoying.

Almost all of the BDSP customisation options were S-tier and Cynthia made for a great boss, but that's about it.

9. Kanto - I was there for the first anime episode so I have a lot of nostalgia for the early days for the franchise, even though I didn't get to play the original GB games. And when I did get Yellow on an emulator I already had Gold, which already covered Kanto so why bother? By now I've played Let's Go Eevee though and didn't really enjoy myself. The Kanto story is so nothing, and the motion controls just kill the whole thing for me. Also Trace is the worst rival character.

Most of my apathy towards Kanto is its overuse though, like the franchise has done interesting things beyond the original 151 but always when there's new forms or a major character hails from a different continent or whatever, its always Kanto and I've grown sick of it.

8. Galar - There are some characters I really like, but otherwise the Galar games felt pretty hollow. There's a lot of cool looking locations but there isn't any substance to them and you can't do anything in them, and the open area was a great concept but you can't do anything in it either. The giant forms don't do a lot for me either since I tend to prefer small and cute Pokemon so making them bigger and more ""badass"" usually doesn't work for me.

Out of all the Switch titles I like the Galar art direction best (as in how the characters look) at least.

7. Alola - I remember there being a lot of talk how the Alola games supposedly shook up the formula because they didn't have gyms, but, like, they totally had gyms, they were just outdoors and had a different name. My main memories of playing Moon are about being constantly interrupted by handholding and the unbearable Rotom Dex, and even with the setting being something completely different from usual, I barely remember anything about it. The customisation was surprisingly boring too and I couldn't care less for Z-moves or Ultra Beasts. Lillie is super cute though and Team Skull was a lot of fun and regional forms are an excellent idea, even if it was wasted on Kanto only in this generation.

6. Hoenn - I had Sapphire on an emulator and later a Alpha Sapphire, and I must say I didn't manage to finish either (I think I didn't even make it out of Mauville in that run), which is why I debated if I should put the Alola games higher just because I made it almost to the end there. But in the end I think Gen 3 did a lot more for the franchise, the berries, contests, secret bases, abilities and double battles are great. I don't have a lot of motivation to go back and finish Alpha Sapphire, all the surfing really doesn't sound inspiring, "too much water" isn't just a meme! Though maybe I should try at least.

5. Kalos - Now we get to the games where my feelings are a lot more positive. I remember being super stoked for the 3d graphics, and somehow for the fact that your character could sit down on a bench (???). The customisation is also great and roller skating was a fun way to get around. The story was pretty weak though and I really don't like the bland rival friend group. I dunno man, the more I think about it, the harder it is to think about things that actually matter to the gameplay experience that I really like, but regardless I have pretty good memories of Y.

4. Unova - White was my first game on an actual console (and not an emulator) so that alone makes it special to me. It's hard to come up with anything specific about the gameplay this time around either, but I remember having a good time, the world was fun to explore, N was a great rival and the story was good too. And the Big City of the region was amazing (and so was Kalos' for that matter) and the changing seasons made for beautiful graphics.

3. Paldea - The graphics were ugly and the performance was a mess, but I like nonlinear open world games okay? And honestly even that didn't work properly since the gym levels didn't scale and I unintentionally did the easiest gym fourth so I was stupidly overleveled, and the world wasn't that interesting to explore either. But I still had a decently good time and also the game had been patched by the time I got around to playing it so I didn't encounter that many bugs.

Also points for making the friendly rival and box art legendary into something I actually liked for once, the school stuff was fun (would've liked even more), the Arven story line is one of my favourite Pokemon stories, and the Area Zero part was great. And overall the game managed to make the overused "beat 8 gyms and deal with the evil team and local legendary" plot feel somewhat fresh.

2. Johto - The Kanto nostalgia pandering doesn't work on me, but Johto sure does. Gold was my first Pokemon game and I have so many good memories playing it, especially the nighttime Goldenrod city with the 8-bit music is my jam. I would also say that for its time it has been the best improvement on what came before, and of course it's the only time we get two games (or maybe 1,5) for the price of one instead of the other way around with the inclusion of Kanto. Then there is HGSS which contains still the best implementation of follower Pokemon. The story and characters will improve from here and the old gameplay jank doesn't really motivate me to revisit the games but they will always have a special place in my heart.

1. Hisui - There really isn't any contest here, the gameplay is simply so much better in LGA than in any of the others. Catching and battling Pokemon is so streamlined, the HM equivalents are useful and make exploring more enjoyable rather than being glorified keys, and the story is different for once. And I said I like nonlinear open world games but this is fine as well, when you get a huge area to explore at once, even when they're unlocked in an order. Like what I have an issue with is if you can't take three steps without running into an unskippable NPC scene or some arbitrary roadblock.

I do have issues though, the Pokemon box and Pokedex menu fiddling is atrocious and a way bigger issue here than in any of the other games since there's a lot more incentive to catch and use different Pokemon, I don't really like the art direction, and the customisation options suck and I had to use 90% of the default look for the whole game. But regardless I would really like it if the franchise went into this direction in the future.

#pokemon #ramble ramble #just in time before the Presents in an hour

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petrichorade · 1 year

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Art and Life Updates, Future Planning

(will be a bit personal, pardon me!)

I've been resting from drawing (in terms of making 'full art piece') for the past few months if anyone notice? People who followed me on Twitter might also notice how a bit absent I was from drawing full art, or contributing to fandom freely like I used to ><

The truth is, aside from waiting for commission clients, I'm actually have been participating in this zine for months, as I did contribute a piece and another small illust for the cover collaboration!

Beside that, I'm also testing my luck applying jobs left and right IRL. I guess it's been the almost 2 years since I graduated from university, but I barely receive any 'proper' love calls from any companies I've tried to apply to as any position possible. And my mental health has been unstable thanks to this problem as well haha!

I cried a lot, but at the same time...I'm so fast at getting back on track, trying, failing again, and the cycle repeats. It's been like this since June 2022, where my latest contract ends and my full independent freelance gigs starts. For the latest application experiences, I also try to apply for art editor and concept artist position, which requires me for creating new stuffs for its technical test + reason of most of my content absence (sadly again, I didn't pass the evaluation XD)

I did doodle a simple things and sketch anything, both traditionally and digitally, also grow back my love for gaming uwu. I think some (read: those who follows on twitter) already noticed that I've been playing Suikoden series (1, 2, Tierkreis -> with emulator for android) and Cookie Run Kingdom ^q^ Also the classic farming game like Stardew Valley and Graveyard Keeper! It's so fun and refreshing, and makes me less stressful to think about drawing!

But as I receive the latest rejection letter, I've been meaning to share some of my plans that I've considered:

I might gonna share the rejected concept art here, since I love the design so much ^q^ but of course in more refined visdev format!

I also wants to focus on practice, and I may or may not share those things? I'm not sure about other creators but I have this annual 'improvement stuck' moment where I feel like I kept being in comfort zone and trying to find anything I'm lacking and explore it, to test if I'm capable to do that certain new things or not. Be it art technique, hobbies, etc.

I do have a plan to join the hitsuhina week, but I can't promise if I can contribute everyday + in form of full art piece like I used to. It'll be more doodly/sketchy, idk, but I guess what matters is the overall concept that were delivered!

Related with point number 2, as I want to focusing on practice, I also want to revisit older personal projects. I have some OCs that I created during middle school and can't stop thinking about them TwT so I wish to explore their lore back >< which means less fandom content? Who knows.

Re-promote my commission form! I won't change the price for full-color, but I'll add different style options like previous commission that comes with much more cheaper or at least affordable prices for anyone who still wish to get something from me ^^ I'm still going to accept any client, beside job seeking IRL. I mean, I still need some personal income despite still living with my family?

So these are pretty much what I've been planning. Everything may or may not goes according to plan, but it won't hurt to give it a try and let it flow. So I close this post with this mantra:

Best of luck to me!

- Rain // 20230514

#rainfestive update #update

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falgaia · 1 year

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Any advice for someone new to pixel art?

there is a lot of ground to cover with that topic BUT I’LL GIVE IT MY BEST SHOT

Personal recommendation: If you want to get into Pixelart due to being inspired by gaming, find a game whose pixelart you enjoy and reference it's style relentlessly. Have the art zoomed in next to your main work, study how the artist created the effects they did, and try to emulate it. Sprite edits can also be great for this, like Pokémon Sprite Fusions and the like. If you can find a full guide for the style, all the better. I originally got into spriting using this old guide for Gen 4 Pokémon sprites, courtesy the mod of Cave of Dragonflies. https://www.dragonflycave.com/spriting-guide#other

Sadface_RL also has a great modern collection of free general-use tutorials as well:

https://twitter.com/Sadface_RL

Ideally, you want to either create until you can replicate the style well, or until you find the style too stifling; in either case, you can then take what you've learned from the style and apply it elsewhere to start developing your own look. Embrace art studies if you're at an impasse, and you'll learn a lot!

If you're looking for programs, you can find a list on Lospec here: https://lospec.com/pixel-art-software-list/

Most pixelartists I talk to tend towards using Aseprite, but any program can work if it allows you to disable anti-aliasing, including MS Paint and even graph paper. Never save your art as a JPEG since compression will ruin the pixel clarity, and scale your work up in intervals of 100% if you want to share it online to similarly prevent compression.

Most importantly, have fun with the process, and let your passion guide you. Find what you enjoy making and commit to it, and you'll figure it out on your own terms. Godspeed and good luck, and feel free to ask other pixelartists for advice if you find yourself hitting a wall.

Thanks for the ask!

#asks #pixelart #thanks for reaching out!

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marshmallowprotection · 1 year

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Do you have a favorite art style in the game? As you know, Mystic Messenger doesn't maintain a consistent art style, so you can see variety in this one. Many of your artists draw beautifully, but if I have to say what my favorite art is, it's the art in Another Story, specifically in Ray's route. OMG, how I love that art, that drawing, the lighting, the proportions and the scenery.

It's extremely magical and beautiful ❤️

I would love to see that style again in possible future content. I miss it 💗

Hm. Yeah, they've had a lot of artists over the years and there's a lot of different aesthetics to each of those styles. They all have a charm to them that people embrace and it's always interesting to see what CGs people love the most. The most recent artist who worked on all the title screens this past year has definitely gotten a lot of love for a charming, stylish, and detailed approach.

Now, a lot of the earlier designs were simple in nature, but that's not a bad thing. It makes me nostalgic for my first days of playing Mystic Messenger in 2016. It captured what you were feeling back then, and that was the important part. When you get a new CG in the game, it's like Christmas. You're excited and jumping up and down because "oh, boy, I love this character. I need to know and see more!"

Another Story is in the middle in terms of the game trying to find a style that felt fresh and new but wasn't too far away from what the original artist(s) tried to create. I am a Saeran MC, so, of course, I'd probably lean toward the art there because it contains most of my boys. I am partial to that but we know why. The same reason why I'm partial to Saeran's After Ending. The art there is... chef's kiss. I have a lot of favorites in that category so it's hard to narrow it down.

The DLCs have a vast range of artistic talent, too. They make their best attempt to make sure it feels like Mystic Messenger, but people can note something being off since you can only emulate a style so much when it's not yours! Be it Christmas, Valentine's, Rika's Behind, and Jumin's DLC. I have favorites in there, though. There is a charm in these side stories that you can't miss.

If I had my pick... hm. It's s hard to say because I love all of the art we've gotten over the years. The artist who did the After Ending for Saeran has my soul, let's be real. I don't know how to be impartial outside of that because I just love looking at Saeran and having all that art of him makes me giddy. But, I can't take away from the other pieces of art that make my heart sing.

Here are some of my favorite CGs from each route and DLC. I obviously can’t put all of them in a single post but I feel like these lean toward my favorite style choices. I tried to limit it down to two from each route but that’s so hard! Spoilers for literally all the content in this game. All of it. If you want me to share the ones I love from title screens, I can do that, but this got too long to share all those! I’d say these are favorites because of the style, but also because of the emotion or scene they’re attached to.

#ask #anon #mod kait #spoiler #spoilers

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bdzonthareel · 10 months

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Oppenheimer

Christopher Nolan is one of the important names in modern cinema, he has a style that next to no one can emulate. This goes for his writing style and cinematography; in his latest creative endeavor, we see him doing what he loves: making art. So, let’s talk about Oppenheimer!

Oppenheimer is about the titular theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, whose scientific knowledge led to the bombing of Hiroshima.

First, Christopher Nolan displays his usual level of artistry in this film. Choosing not to go for linear storytelling was quite the gambit, but one that paid off; I never looked away for a second, and it almost felt like a puzzle to piece together how things would play out. Given that this was a biopic, I did not expect too much outside of the realm of possibility; but I clearly forgot who I was dealing with. He implemented as much surrealistic cinematography as the film would allow, and it was some of his best.

Nolan is a master of the concept of “show, don’t tell” and nailed it here.

That’s enough of me squealing like a fan girl, everyone knows that the director is a technical genius, but we also know that as a screenwriter, he tends to come off as pretentious, and he did the thing here.

There was no shortage of cliches present here, but that was unavoidable when trying to stay true to the many incidents that Oppenheimer was involved in. But he’s never been a strong screenwriter, to begin with.

And while I am a huge fan of the dying art of practical effects in film, the makeup work did nothing to hide who was under it, and at times it was laughable.

The cast was a Hollywood who’s who list, and they brought their A-game, Robert Downey Jr., fresh from his recuperation from franchise fatigue showed why he was one of the best in the game, as did Emily Blunt and Florence Pugh. The number of Hollywood A-listers proved why Nolan’s name still carries so much weight in the industry and there were far too many to name.

But the most standout performance was easily Cillian Murphy, who has been one of Nolan’s longest collaborators. And to pull off a Midwest accent when he has a strong brogue is impressive. The word pathos is thrown around frequently, but when you look back on the history of the protagonist, the term is accurate for Murphy’s performance.

Nolan films never play around with their score, and composer Ludwig Görannson meant business. Check out his catalog if you don’t believe me.

Oppenheimer is Oscar bait, everyone knows that, but it’s at least well made and some of Nolan’s contemporaries could stand to learn from his example. Not a perfect film by any means, 3 hours plus hours has never been one of my favorite numbers when it comes to length, but nothing about that time felt wasted.

I also want applaud the cast for the decision to leave the premiere to join the writers strike. In order to protect the future of not only cinema, but the arts as a whole. As a fellow artist, I support them.

I give Oppenheimer a 4 out of 5.

#movie review #cinema #oppenheimer #atomic bomb #robert downey jr #cillian murphy #emily blunt #florence pugh #writers strike #christopher nolan #hollywood

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jellyluchi · 1 year

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the wassup shawty button on your blog looks so funny i love it BHAHAHAF sending u queestions for the writer ask game!

🎈describe your style as a writer; is it fixed? does it change? 🕯️was there a fic that was really hard on you to write, or took you to a place you didn't think it would take you? 💎why is writing important to you?

KAJBD HELPPP you're the first person to say that thank you for appreciating my swag!! and for the questions 💖💖

🎈describe your style as a writer; is it fixed? does it change?

Oh it's definitely changing. I'm sure I get influenced HEAVILY by the authors I admire a lot. If I read something that has writing that's personally pleasing to me I emulate it somehow. Not copying, but learning new nouns and phrases to utilize in my own writing. The best example I could think of the writing for devil in winter which definitely made me start using more words as though I'm writing a novel set in the 1800s. One though, I always make sure my style is simple. Simple tenses, simple sentence structure, and concise wording is key for me. I just feel like it helps me read when something is well organized so I try to put that into my writing too!

🕯️was there a fic that was really hard on you to write, or took you to a place you didn't think it would take you?

I feel like all the fics that are 'hard' to write are either unfinished WIPs or stuff that I haven't even written. Oh but! I did a trade fic for Kat (scary-monsters) that took me a looong time because of burnout and also because I was afraid of writing Diego, a character I'd never even dreamed of writing. But it turned out to be a huge success and fulfilling fic both for me and for her, I definitely didn't imagine it would inspire some art but !!! It did 😭💖now I'm immensely proud of it!

💎why is writing important to you?

It's my most accessible and favorite form of self expression! I'm not sure when I started writing but for as long as I knew of it I'd just felt the most comfortable sharing my thoughts, feelings, and whatever else through that medium. There's just something really poignant, like a pleasant feeling about being able to empress your exact thought and feeling using extremely accurate and descriptive words!

#answered #aeons-domain #ask game #thank you Sofi!! 💖💖

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starlessumbra · 2 years

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More Questions Answered

The game has pretty nice OST, And art at least from what i've seen and heard off of Opera GX, Did you do all this yourself or did you get some help?

Thank you! Assets at this point are very much a combination of my original graphics and sound, royalty-free resources, some artwork done by my wife, and assets commissioned for the game. I am trying to get out of the habit of calling this a solo project, because the truth is I can't really do all of it myself. I'm focusing on content over polish, so writing a somewhat cohesive narrative from start to finish is the focus. I have and will continue to hire freelance help for sprite work, portraits, etc., but that all currently comes out-of-pocket.

With the time SU has taken to release and stuff, will the game, Will it ever be launched on a different platform? Like Itch.io or Steam or even Epic games, maybe different platforms if you'd like (i don't think rpgmaker games can be ported, probably would have to rewrite the whole code in a language like C# or something)

One of my sneaky little tricks comes from a closeness to the classic RPG Maker community: this isn't actually an RPG Maker project anymore. I do try to closely emulate the RPG Maker 2003 style, mostly out of nostalgia, but the game is written in Gamemaker so porting is relatively painless. Confirmed platforms are currently PC (Steam, itch, anywhere I can get) and Nintendo Switch.

What hurdles did you come across that made you restart the development of the game?

The first is primarily technical. RPG Maker 2003 (at the time) couldn't natively export to non-windows platforms. Even on windows support felt waning. I remember the game would crash if I had two GPUs running and the game did this awful anti-aliasing on windows 7. Everything felt dated. (Aside, easyrpg fixes a lot of this! But I feel this ship has already sailed...)

The second is graphical. Starless Umbra started in 2002 before indie games were even a thing. It was common practice to rip assets from other RPGs. And while that did teach me about palette usage, effective map creation, and pixel art overall, the result is the product started to feel like a mixtape of some of my favorite game assets, of varying degrees of quality. Few of which I could call my own.

The final reason is the writing. I started the game as a child, and though I did my best to revise the story as I matured, revisions on the story began to take its toll on the narrative. Interest in the story came mostly through a mystery I was explaining to players that I myself hadn't quite figured out. Overall, there's a lot of cringy moments in these older iterations of the game, but in those moments they felt very genuine to me. It wasn't until I took a step back and approached the narrative from the top-down did I at least have some semblance of a roadmap for a story I wanted to tell.

Is there something that you've been unable to do that still sucks to do/hard to do for the game?

The writing is still difficult for me. Typically, what I plan for an act goes through a series of revisions, some even requiring multiple rewrites if the story doesn't meet the desired pacing or tone. I try to minimize this, but often it takes a lot of trial-and-error.

Striking a balance in the combat system between something that feels like a JRPG, isn't boring, and doesn't require twitchy/quick reactions like most action games is also challenging. People come into the game with certain preconceived notions, eg., "I don't want this enemy to hit me", but in reality by moving away from it and not attacking you're letting its abilities recharge. Trading damage is okay because as long as you survive the encounter your health is replenished. Allowing players to understand that and make combat engaging has been difficult.

How long would you say till SU launches as a whole game?

I'm notoriously bad at giving estimates. (Heroes of Umbra's initial estimate was 6-12 months: it took almost 6 years!) At the pace I'm going without any help it'll be another 3-5 years, but I hope I can trim that down. This is primarily because the game is a hobby project. I also have a full-time job, a two-year-old daughter, and generally try to follow some semblance of a fitness regimen to keep me busy otherwise.

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honoka-marierose · 3 months

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Vectorman is a name well regarded by fans of the Sega Genesis/Mega-Drive. Vectorman (1995) and its sequel Vectorman 2 (1996) were hallmarks of that console’s twilight years, with some truly impressive pseudo-3D graphics and fluid animation, on top of also being a legitimately fun time. It’s earned it’s honor of being one of Sega’s common picks for their many Genesis game compilations in recent times. It’s just too bad that Vectorman was never able to move beyond the Genesis, though this wasn’t for lack of trying. The original developer of the two Genesis games, BlueSky Software, had envisioned a second sequel on the Saturn that never came to pass, and other developers have wanted to bring Vectorman to the Dreamcast and beyond.

The ill-faded sequel that came closest to fruition was the PS2 game being worked on by Pseudo Interactive, the creators of Full Auto (2006) and Full Auto 2: Battlelines (Also 2006 on PS3 and 2007 on PSP), both of which were actually published by Sega. Before that, Sega announced a new Vectorman title for the PlayStation 2, simply known as Vectorman, in April 2003, with intent to release the following year. The news of the game’s cancellation came before 2003 even ended, in November, despite a positive showing at E3 earlier that same year. This was during the time when then-Sega of America CEO Peter Moore was preparing his departure from the company and shortly before the company would merge with Sammy, so internally, things were tumultuous at Sega and Vectorman did not survive this transition. What did thankfully survive was a bunch of prototype and press builds, art, and documentation on the game, which was all just found and preserved by Comby Laurent on his preservation website Sega Dreamcast Info Games Preservation.

Check in past the break for more info, and a link to check out these finds in finer detail.

What Comby Laurent came across was two different versions of Vectorman 3 envisioned by Pseudo Interactive developer, both represented in the various prototype builds he discovered, with one of them, dubbed Vectorman 3.14, being one that many people have not seen before. This version of Vectorman came later and seemed to be the version that went over best with playtesters and press. This was a much more cartoon-like game and seemingly a lot more faithful to what Vectorman originally was on Genesis, though still a 3D game. It was designed with 2-player co-op modes in mind and made to stand out better against the more popular shooters of the day. The earlier idea for the sequel, the one most people have seen a bit of before, is dubbed “Halo-like” as it was made to more closely emulate Halo, the popular shooter to compete with at the time, than it was to resemble Vectorman’s actual identity.

There’s a lot more to the story of Vectorman 3, and I mean a lot more, so for that, I’ll link you to Comby Laurent’s page on Vectorman 3, which contains his entire write-up on the cancelled sequel’s history, its characters, world, and story, as well as links to the various prototypes and documents for you to check out for yourself. Special thanks goes out to Mr. Laurent for the discovery and preservation of all this historical material, as well as Pseudo Interactive for their efforts to bring Vectorman into the new millennium in style.

Not many people liked seeing the “Halo-Like” Vectorman sequel in retrospect (Especially Barry after briefly watching an original trailer during the Sega Talk episode about Vectorman), but I think Vectorman 3.14 looked like a much cooler and more inspired take on a Vectorman sequel. I’m not at all surprised that this was the version of Vectorman that people seemed to like a lot better during development. There’s no telling if the game would’ve actually been good, let alone a classic, if it had finished development and made it to retail shelves. We can only leave that to our imaginations to decide at this point, but if you’re curious enough, you can mess around with these prototypes and then tell us in the comments below if you think Pseudo Interactive was really on to something here.

#sega #vectorman #vectorman 3 #ps2 #segabits

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leam1983 · 9 months

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On Generative AI as a Process

ChatGPT: You're basically slotting coins into one of those old Mechanical Seers you'd sometimes see at county fairs or on boardwalks, back in the fifties. The difference is the Seer claims to know exactly what you're statistically determined to want to hear, but is otherwise a beautiful fount of ignorance hidden behind self-effacing verbiage. The worst part is all of this somehow was enough to blow the Turing test out of the water, even if you're made very much aware that there's nothing going on in there if no prompt is being processed.

DALL-E 2: There's rumors of a DALL-E 3 incoming at OpenAI and even more niche whispering of an insider version of the project that is wholly and completely uncensored - and it's likely to put Midjourney to task, apparently. As of now, however, using DALL-E 2 feels like its name is an indication of where its strengths lie. Are you looking for a Cubist rendering of Michael Fassbender riding a motorcycle out of the Milky Way? It's got you covered. If, on the other hand, you're trying to push for photorealism or for the stylistic trappings typical of Optane renders, you're likely to be a little disappointed by the results. It's a painter, no ifs, ands or buts - and its understanding of other visual art forms still leaves much to be desired.

Midjourney: you're handing off commissions to a genius painter and illustrator that can emulate almost any style, but that still has a relatably frustrating time comprehending the physics of the human body. Seeing it try and fail to produce believable human hands is so true-to-life you're starting to wonder why nobody's tried to come up with a picture-based alternate of the Turing test. Unlike a painter and more like an idiot savant, however, it conflates concepts together that shouldn't be agglomerated and makes weird assumptions based on your prompt.

It almost feels Taoist, in a sense. Is there a difference between someone yawning openly and someone screaming, honestly? If not, then what's the real frontier between belting out a yawn and thrusting out your chest to push a sustained note as an opera singer? A human knows there's degrees to it all - but a machine?

Stable Diffusion: unlike the other two, SD feels like a community shop where you're free to pick up tools to do whatever you want, whenever you want. The model itself exists in demo-grade and constricted forms online, and it's also the basis for all the Anime face generators that now pollute app stores - but its real power shows when you take it home and spend at least one full afternoon wrestling with Git, Python and Hugging Face credentials to turn your humble gaming rig of choice into your own personal digital Pygmalion.

There's a catch, though: earlier Stable Diffusion models used to solicit your GPU to the maximum of its abilities, which I've seen toast graphics cards within weeks. The latest revision takes a wiser approach, but it dramatically changes the way you can approach generative art.

As of SDXL 1.0, slotting in a prompt feels like setting a cake to bake. It used to be you'd be guaranteed a ho-hum result within five minutes, after hearing your GPU's fans scream for their life. Now, if you do what I did for my first run and give it the max amount of passes at 1028x1028 pixels, you're looking at a nice and cozy experience that actually lets you use your PC for other things while it's working - at the expense of time.

I asked for four simple images at the best generation parameters possible, and it took my home-based Stable Diffusion webUI eight hours to render anything - with xformers appended, too!

As of now, then, using Stable Diffusion is like baking a long recipie. It stands neck-and-neck with Midjourney, is fully uncensored and entirely under my control - but getting anywhere costs an entire evening. If you're a fan of pushing for variation after variation on Midjourney until you get something perfect, you'll be here for a long fucking while.

All the other ones: BlueWillow, Pepper AI, all the modded Stable Diffusion WebUI installs with a bespoke URL, an account and credit system, all those vaunted open platforms for NSFW generative content - they're all a waste of time, honestly. Text-based systems don't factually need to be able to crank out verbal smut, not considering the type of use they're getting. Image-based ones are running off of deprecated Stable Diffusion imageweights and typically heavily bias towards an expected use. If your need falls within their purview, then you're in luck. If all you want is big-breasted Anime waifus, you don't even need to bother with running Stable Diffusion natively. If, like me, you're using generative art to mock up WebUI elements or generate partial elements for promotional campaigns, running natively is invaluable.

On the whole, both Midjourney and Stable Diffusion have been invaluable to me for pursuits both personal and professional, seeing as both of them clearly state their product cannot be covered under copyright, which leaves their intended use as purely illustrative. Coming up with complete mockups within minutes was instrumental for our Web design team, seeing as I could quickly communicate the sort of design presence the company was shooting for and just as quickly receive revisions or refinements to said mockups until we'd be in agreement. At that point, generative art left the premises entirely and the Web Design team got to work from scratch.

Privately, running stat sheets for NPCs for a D&D campaign and being able to quickly gin up a portrait made it easier to reach my desired tone, in the understanding that if I ever want to give my characters or concepts their just desserts, I can turn these images' basic prompts into someting verbally elegant, and just send that off to my favourite commissions-friendly artist to get that still-elusive human touch. Similarly, getting unique desktop wallpapers out of what's essentially Art Class shitposting is always fun, but I can always commission them for something I could take to a scanner and use as a desktop wallpaper.

Closing Thoughts

Knowing that all that I've had these systems output can't be used to make a single buck, legally, is a sobering and comforting thought - and it makes the now-storied excesses of the early days of visual generative AI all the more disturbing. Nobody should win art gallery prizes with a piece designed by a GAN, and artists shouldn't have to fear that their likenesses and voice are at risk of being exploited. I shouldn't have to fear using both of these for exploratory projects - but I also have the responsibility to not identify as an artist and to not claim ownership of the resulting text blocks or images. Considering, it makes the hucksters on Amazon selling booklets on prompt-work for ChatGPT to shit out entire novels in a few weeks feel a little tactless - as if their entire industry wasn't at risk of collapsing the exact minute a few savvy lawmakers get their act together.

Plus, if you metaphorically consider commission work to be a sort of human-to-human prompt engineering, eight hours for SDXL to produce four images doesn't seem like such a bad deal - at the expense of the process. I haven't asked for commissions often in the past, but there's something fun to knowing that you're at the top of an artist's pile for the next several days, and could even receive emails containing said artist's interrogations, their need for added refinement, their suggestions - all in service of something that'll a) put some food on their table and b) that matters to you.

Considering, I'm not entirely afraid for the wider aspect of human-led creative purposes.

#Generative AI #Midjourney #Stable Diffusion #SDXL 1.0 #DALL-E 2 #thoughts #creation #visual art #ChatGPT #writing #creative writing

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k00282802 · 1 year

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Friday project development : 20/1/23

on Friday, I started to pratice out what my idea for painting within my project would be. as stated before, I want to create a painting with figures purely created with weapons e.g.; knives, hammers etc. I started this with my first painting being created using my pocket knife, the tool knife I created on Tuesday and a box cutter. out of the four overall painting I created id say this one turned out the best. I was able to get sharp angels with the blades, and able to spread the paint more evenly on the sheets with the flat sides of the knife.

the next painting I created using techniques inspired by my artist research; Ushio Shinohara. I used the same hammer like tool I created on Tuesday, along with a boxing glove like tool wrapped around my hand for finer details. this painting came out the messiest of the bunch, but I think that actually encapsulates the style I was going for quite well!.

the final two paintings I created were supposed to represent simulated combat, fighting you'd find within a video game, which was something that would be quite are to emulate into a painting tool. so I came up with two methods. one is based off of pixelated art, where an images is made by combining small patches of color together. so I made the first painting using a pointillism like method to try and emulate that pixel look. I did with with a paintbrush, but if i chose to use this method I may come up with a better and more creative tool to use to get the same result.

the next version I did, I created by drawing an image of a person in parts, then cutting out the parts from the paper, and making a print using paint and moving the paper around the sheet. while I like the shape that this painting came out in, I don't know if it properly shows the type of theme is was going for, unlike the pixel based one.

after trying out these different methods, I feel confident in my ability to continue with my idea and create a painting using unconventional tools. I also want to look into another idea connected to this, similar to the marks I used to paint with during tool making on Tuesday. below is a collection of all the paintings I created on Friday

#movement brief #painting #tool making #project development

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sumerun · 2 years

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hi there!! your ayato gfx was absolutely stunning i stared at it for a good minute just processing everything!! i've always been interesting in dabbling in gfx but i'm tech noob at best, an idiot at worst. do you have any advice for someone looking to start out? like resources, software etc. thank you sm and have a wonderful day/night

hello, sweet anon! first of all, thank you so much for your kind words! :)

note: text-heavy!

PEP TALK?

before we proceed, i just want to preface that getting into gfx design can be extremely frustrating. it is a part of the arts and as anything relating to the arts, it takes time and a LOT of practice. you, yourself is the biggest critic of your own work and you're also learning 21612198 tools. you will want to tear your hair out. you might have to learn theories and concepts that traditional artists learn in class to improve your own work. that being said, it is also very rewarding and fun, hehe

so what i always say to someone who wants to get into gfx design is, to just have fun. make the things you want and don't stop making them. the more you make, the more you improve. you can always learn the essentials of gfx design ofc!! but it's kinda boring so use whatever fandom as the subject to make it more fun

SOFTWARE

so the most well-known program that it's used in gfx is adobe photoshop and illustrator (there's more but those are the main two). it is not free and you gotta pay a subscription. if you can't afford it, you can always pirate it. BUUUUT, there's nice, free alternatives out there such as: GIMP (app), Photopea (browser based). it doesn't have everything photoshop does, but it's a nice way to dip your toes in!

RESOURCES

- your best resource is literally youtube and google haha! there are so many good videos you can search up and you can follow along. this is risky imo bc you can spend more time watching than doing, which defeats my points above.

- behance is a platform by adobe where you can find some resources, tutorials, and portfolios of other artists. it is a HUGE source of inspiration for me. i go on that website like at least once a week lMAO.

- pinterest is also a website i peruse often for inspirations! but at the same time, i'm torn bc there's a lot of stolen work here. so just keep that in mind

- the iconic gif tutorial by anue and this gaming gif tutorial by senka (yyh) is a GREAT way to start gfx design tbh. you'll learn to mess around with various tools when you make gifs!

GENERAL + IMPROVEMENT TIPS

i really wish i can just tell you the topics and tools you should learn but there's so much that it can get overwhelming. so take it at your own speed:

- like i mention above, learn the fundamentals. this is gonna be boring but use your favorite subject to make it fun!

- ok hear me out but as a beginner: copy and emulate. there's a reason why artists do master studies. you learn how the old and new masters paint, analyze their techniques and apply them to your own. it's pretty much the same in gfx design. emulate your favorite designs, learn why they use the colors they do and why they placed a certain font there. try to remake your favorite posters that you've seen and ask yourself why did they do that?

but ofc this is strictly for studying! this does not mean should plagiarize and post the same poster, but ayato version or something LOL. the line between plagiarism and inspiration/homage can be blurry but you need to make sure you are using this chance to learn and develop your own style! :)

- write down your ideas! sketch them out! whatever is in your brain might come out completely different on paper. and that's natural! it just help to visualize things

- PEN TOOL IS YOUR BEST FRIEND. i use this shit for EVERY single project so know it like the back of your hand.

- keep your past works and use it for self-critiques or just to look back and see how far you've come

CONCLUSION

remember, it will suck for a little bit while you learn all the tools in your software. you might not be able to materialize your ideas bc you don't know how to do something. it's ok!! you will get there once you're more experienced. just keep making gfx and ask for critiques. you will learn a ton! or sometimes, just walk away and let your brain rest. sometimes, we make a better product when you let it sit for a bit.

you got this, anon :) shoot me an ask/DM if you need anything else!

#letterbox #anon #sorry this took so long!

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zerochanges · 3 years

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2020 Favorite Video Games

I don’t know if I am an outlier or if this is the same for everyone else but I really did not play a lot of games this year. 2020 was a very harsh year for all of us, especially for me for some personal reasons. So to get to the chase, I am just gonna say it left me not doing much in what little free time I did have, and I didn’t play much either. Usually I try to keep my lists for ‘favorite of the year’ to only titles released that year but since I played so little this year, screw it. I am gonna include any game I played this year regardless of release date.

Collection of SaGa

By far a flawed rerelease. It’s bare bones: there are no advance features you would usually expect out of these kinds of emulated rereleases like save states, fast forward, or rewind, and there was no real effort made to touch up almost 30 year old localizations that had to meet Nintendo of America’s then harsh standards. This really is just 3 roms slapped into a nice looking interface with an option to increase the game speed (which by the way you better use, the characters walk very slow in these old games).

I am bit harsh here, but only because I thought the Romancing SaGa remasters and the upcoming SaGa Frontier remaster all looked like they got a great budget and a lot of love while this is just another Collection of Mana situation (moreso specifically talking about Seiken Densetsu 1/Final Fantasy Adventure/Adventures of Mana part of that collection). I would have loved to see Square Enix do a bit more for these older games. Or at least include the remakes. Seiken Densetsu 1 had two great remakes, both unused in Collection of Mana, and all three of these original SaGa titles have remakes that have never seen the light of day outside of Japan. How great would it have been to get the Wonderswan remake of SaGa 1, as well as the Nintendo DS remakes of Saga 2 and SaGa 3?

But my gripes aside, these games are still fun as they ever were. Replaying SaGa 1 specifically during the holiday season really helped calm me down and made me feel at ease. It’s easy to forget but even in their Gameboy roots there are a lot of funky and weird experimental choices being made in these games. They aren’t your run-of-the-mil dragon quest (or considering the gameboy, maybe pokemon would be more apt) clones.

Raging Loop

Perhaps my favorite game of the year, Raging Loop is one of the best visual novels I have ever played hands down. The level of creativity and splitting story paths that went into it is simply mind blowing. The basic premise is both a wonderful throwback to the old days of Chunsoft sound novels while still modern and somewhat reminiscent of both Higurashi and Danganronpa. Essentially you play as Haruaki, a poor slub that got lost in the mountains with no clue where to go until you stumble upon an old rural village with a strange history and even stranger superstitions. Before you know it there has been a murder and the Feast is now afoot.

The less said about Raging Loop the better, although I do want to say a lot about it one day if I ever can write a proper review of it. This is a gripping game that will take hold of you once you get into it though and never let go. I actually 100%-ed this and I very rarely do that. I got every ending, every bonus hidden ending, played the entire game twice to hear all the hidden details it purposely hides on your first play through, played all the bonus epilogue chapters, unlocked all the hidden voice actor interviews, collected all the art work, etc, etc. I was just obsessed with this game, it’s that damn good! And the main character is maybe the best troll in all of video games, god bless Haruaki.

Root Double

From Takumi Nakazawa, long time contributor to Kotaro Uchikoshi’s work comes a game any fan of Zero Escape or Uchikoshi in general will probably enjoy. Root Double, like its name suggests is a visual novel with two different routes, hence Root Double. The first route stars Watase Kasasagi, the leader of an elite rescue team in the midst of their greatest crisis yet that could lead to nuclear devastation as they try to evacuate a nuclear research facility that has gone awry.

The other route stars Natsuhiko Tenkawa, an everyday high schooler whose peaceful life is thrown into turmoil when he stumbles upon a terrorist plot to destroy the nuclear facility in the city and his attempts to stop them. Together the two separate plots weave into one and creates a really crazy ride. Part Chernobyl, part science fiction, any fan of the genre will easily enjoy it. And hey it’s kind of relevant to include on this list too since it just got a Switch port this year (I played it on steam though).

Snack World

I was shocked upon starting Snack World as it is instantly incredibly charming, witty, and downright hilarious at times yet I heard almost zero people talk about it. EVER. This game is Dragon Quest levels of quirky though, and the localization is incredible. The game has such an oddball sense of humor that works really well with its presentation right down to the anime opening video that sings about the most bizarre things. Instead of the usual pump up song about the cool adventure ahead we get stuff like wanting to go out to a restaurant and eat pork chops.

The self aware/fourth wall breaking humor is just enough to be really funny, but doesn't overstay its welcome and always makes it work right in the context of the dialogue. And finally, just everything; with the menus, the name of side quests and missions, and the character dialogue -- are all just so witty and full of quirky humor. This is one hell of a charming and funny game and addictive to boot.

Trials of Mana

Trials of Mana has gone from one of those legendary unlocalized games, to one of the first major breakthroughs in fan translation, to finally getting an official English release complete with a fully 3D remake. In a lot of ways from a western perspective this game has had an incredible journey. As for this remake itself, I really found myself having tons of fun with it. I loved the graphics, and the voice acting while a bit on the cheaper side almost kind of adds to the charm since both the graphics and acting really give it an old PS2 vibe. I know that is probably just more me being weird but yeah, I had to say it.

I really hope Square Enix sticks to this style of remake more often, instead of just doing Final Fantasy VII Remakes that break the bank and involve extensive tweaking to both plot and game play. I’ll take smaller budget projects that play more like the original game any day personally. I wouldn’t mind if they also deliver a brand new Mana game all together in this engine either.

Utawarerumono Trilogy

This year saw the release of the first entry in the series, Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen--and thus finally after three years since the sequels Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception and Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth came out in 2017 the trilogy is now complete in English. I ended up binging through Prelude to the Fallen very fast shortly after it came out and immediately jumped on to the sequels. Perhaps the best part of 2020 was that I finally played all three of these fantastic games, and did so back-to-back-to-back. Playing the first Utawarerumono was an experience I will never forget, it was like visiting old friends again that I haven’t seen in ages, by and large thanks to the fact that I saw the anime adaption of the game when I was much younger, nearly a decade ago. Back then I would have never of dreamed that I would get to play the actual game and get the real experience.

And it only got better from here, as all three games are such wonderful experiences from start to finish. The stories are all so deep, and by the time you get to the third entry, Mask of Truth, it’s crazy to see how they all connected over so many years and weaved together into a plot much bigger than they ever were. What carries it beyond all that though has to be the fun and addicting strategy role playing game aspect, which while a bit on the easy side, is still so much fun and helps make the game feel better paced since you get to play the conquests your characters go on and not just read about all the battles they fight. Beyond that the games are packed full of awesome characters, and I know I’ll never forget the amazing leads in all of them. Hakuowlo, Haku, and Oshtor will all go down as some of the greats to me.

Ys: Memories of Celceta

Ys: Memories of Celceta is a full 3D remake of Ys IV, a rather infamous game in Falcom’s Ys series. Not to get bogged down too much into the history of Falcom but by this point they were facing a lot of hardship and had to outsource this entry to other developers, and thus passed it on to two particular developers they had a business relationship with, creating two unique versions of Ys IV. Tonkin House who had worked on Super Famicom port of Ys III with Falcom ended up creating their own YS IV entry, Mask of the Sun for the very same system, where Hudson soft who had produced the much beloved Ys Books I & II remakes for the Turbografix (PC Engine) CD add-on created their own Ys IV entry Dawn of Ys for that console. Both games followed guidelines and ideas outlined from Falcom themselves but both radically diverged from each other and turned into completely different games.

Falcom finally putting an end to this debate on which version of Ys IV you should play have gone and created their own definitive Ys IV in 2012 for the Playstation Vita. I played the 2020 remastered version of this remake on my PS4. I even bought this on the Vita when it first came out but I am horrible and only horde games, never play them. So it was a lot of fun to finally play this.

Memories of Celceta is probably one of the best starting points for anyone looking to get into Ys, especially if you only want to stay with the 3D titles as out of all the 3D entries this explains the most about the world and series protagonist Adol Christian. Beyond that it’s just another fantastic entry in a wonderful series that has a few good twists hidden behind it, especially for long time fans of the series.

Random Video Game Console Stuff

Xbox Has Blue Dragon: I actually got an Xbox One this year for free from my brother. Because of that I started to play Blue Dragon again and there’s a lot I would love to say about this game. I don’t know if I am fully committed to replaying it all the way through however but I find myself putting in a couple hours every few days and enjoying myself again. Does anyone else remember Blue Dragon? I feel like it really missed its audience and had it come out nowadays and probably for the Switch it would have really resonated with the Dragon Quest fandom a lot more instead of being thrown out to die on Xbox and constantly compared to Final Fantasy VII and the like which it had nothing at all similar with.

The Turbografx 16 Mini: This was probably one of the best mini consoles that have come out and I feel like thanks to the whole 2020 pandemic thing it was largely forgotten about. That’s a shame, it has a wonderful variety of great games, especially if you count the Japanese ones (god I wish I could play the Japanese version of Snatcher included), and a wonderful interface with fantastic music. One of these days I would really like to be able to play around with the console more seriously than I have already.

Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon Never Existed: So Nintendo localized the first ever Fire Emblem game on Nintendo Switch which is awesome to see them touching Famicom games again--I haven’t seen Nintendo of America rerelease old Famicom titles since Mysterious Murasame Castle on the 3DS, but their trailer hilariously made it seem like this is the first time ever they released Fire Emblem when in fact they had already localized the remake Shadow Dragon on the Nintendo DS nearly 10 or 11 years ago. I and many other fans I talked to all found this really hilarious, probably solely because of how much they kept repeating the fact that this is the first time you will ever be able to experience Marth’s story.

All that aside though I have to say the collector edition for this newly localized Famicom game is probably the most gorgeous retro reproduction I have seen in a long time, and I really spent many many hours just staring at the all clear glass mock cartridge. I have found myself really obsessing over retro reproductions during 2020, and obtained quite a few this year. I really hope this trend continues to go on in 2021 as recreating classic console packaging and cartridges is a lot of fun.

#video games #collection of saga final fantasy legend #SaGa #SaGa I #SaGa II #SaGa III #Raging Loop #Root Double #Snack World #Trials of Mana #Seiken Densetsu 3 #Utawarerumono #Ys #Ys IV #ys memories of celceta

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thanksjro · 4 years

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More Than Meets the Eye #13- Swerve Doesn’t Have Any Friends

Okay, let’s go ahead and get this out of the way.

It’s a FUCKING SPORTS BRA AND RUNNING SHORTS ALEX.

And don’t think I don’t see that friggin’ cleavage alien back there. You ain’t slick.

I’m going to make it a law that all comic book artists learn how to draw clothes that don’t vacuum-seal themselves to women’s bodies. Milne gets six months for this infraction alone, and Roche gets a year for the initial bra crime he committed back in Last Stand. Learn how women’s underwear works, you ninnies.

Our issue opens up with Swerve stretching his radio personality muscles.

Oh, Guido Guidi, whisk me away to flights of fancy!

Our artist for this issue is none other than Guido Guidi, ascended from fanwork to deliver us from evil with his near-superhuman ability to emulate other artists’ styles and just make things look really pretty. He was responsible for the mythos pages in the 2012 Annual, AKA the best part. He also filled in on some of the art for Last Stand of the Wreckers, not that I really noticed because he’s just that good.

Swerve lets Blurr know that while it might have looked like the Lost Light had exploded, thus killing everyone onboard back in issue #1, that isn’t actually what happened. I’m glad someone filled in the Cybertronian populace on that.

I was never great at math, but those speech bubbles might be phoning it in a bit.

Swerve says that he’s having a great time on the quest, despite all the hiccups, and we get an explanation for why this long-range communications system hasn’t been seen prior to this point. It’s been broken for a while- most likely due to the quantum jump that started the series off with a bang- but Blaster managed to get it running again. Good job, Blaster. With this little setup for our framing device out of the way, we get into the meat of the story.

Swerve is being nosey about things that weren’t any of his business, happening in a closed off room, when Drift drags him down the hall and hid him away for safety. Swerve doesn’t much appreciate being manhandled, but there’s a method to the madness here.

Drift’s nose has vacated the premises once again, so we’re just going to have to deal with that. And how shapely does one have to be to be known as “the guy with the legs”? I mean, Drift is RIGHT THERE.

Drift uses his own powerful legs to kick down the door to Cyclonus and Tailgate’s room. It turns out that the horrific screaming wasn’t the sound of a murder or sexual relations taking place, but rather that of Cyclonus singing in Old Cybertronian.

My god, he’s completely enamored with this unrepentant murder machine.

We are just all up in Cyclonus’ grill for this panel. Nothing but lips. Was this specified in the script? Because it feels like it might have been specified in the script.

Old Cybertronian, or the Primal Vernacular as some might call it, was last seen in general when Rodimus channeled the will of the trapped Titan all across Tailgate’s chest. It was last seen spoken when we met Vos, the terrible murder gremlin who turns into a gun and uses his face to cause puncture trauma.

Comic books are wild, y’all.

Now that we’ve established that no one’s being killed, Drift goes back to what he was doing earlier, with Swerve deciding to tag along because he’s horrifically lonely. He invites Drift to come room up with him, because I guess if you’re going to sell off your comatose roommate’s bed out from under him, you might as well go for the guy who’s third in command, is probably one of the hottest guys on the ship, and slices people into chunky salsa if they try anything funny.

Drift politely declines, and awkwardly removes himself from the conversation when Swerve doesn’t take the hint, returning to his sword lesson with Rodimus.

Oh thank god, the obnoxiously pink room is back.

Ultra Magnus bursts into the room, appalled by the actions of his fellow crew members. Some of his concerns are well-placed. Others, well…

Is- is that another friggin’ retainer on those lower teeth? Why does this design choice keep showing up?

So Magnus has imprisoned roughly a third of the ship at this point, and Rodimus suggests he take a chill pill. Magnus doesn’t even know what a chill pill even is, so we’re forced to make use of our most dangerous weapon- the threat of a good time, courtesy of Swerve.

The fact that Ultra Magnus hasn’t reduced Swerve to an oil stain on the floor is genuinely astounding. The guy has zero respect for bureaucracy or proper business management. It has been MONTHS, you dinky little man, get your act together as a business owner.

Swerve takes the bribe, and soon everyone’s shipping off to Hedonia, where the drinks are plentiful and the women… well, most of the Lost Lighters don’t even know what a woman is, so that aspect doesn’t really come into play. Thanks, Furman.

Also, Rung’s back to normal. Don’t worry about it, not a big deal.

Swerve isn’t having much luck on his Roommate Quest, as Tailgate spurns his advances, stating that he’s good kicking it with Cyclonus, mainly because they’re both old as shit.

I see we haven’t quite hit the threshold on the “Cyclonus is allowed to have friends now” meter. Give it a few more issues, I’m sure we’ll get there.

Man, zero for two for Swerve on trying to get a hot roommate. Maybe third time’s a charm?

Rodimus pops into the back of the shuttle to remind everyone that their entire race is more or less despised by the entire galaxy, and to play it safe by using their holomatter avatars.

The revamp by Brainstorm and Rung is truly a blessing, because the avatars in IDW were awful to look at up to this point.

Y’all, that is HOT ROD. Jesus wept.

Getting back to Tailgate’s questionable taste in companionship, Tailgate asks if Swerve and Blurr connected right away. Swerve gives him an affirmative, then starts listing off the guy’s racing stats until Ultra Magnus plops down between the two of them, drawn in by the melodious sound of statistics.

Magnus is having a hard time relaxing, but he’s giving it his best, and I think that’s very commendable of him. It’s hard trying new things.

On the surface of Hedonia, it would appear the B-Movies are having a Pride event in the entertainment district.

Okay, moment of truth- show us those avatars!

Oh thank god, they aren’t totally hideous. Though, isn’t Rewind old as shit? I guess youth is a state of mind. Still, I can’t believe we missed out on silver fox Rewind.

Rung’s line is in response to folks at the time claiming that Rung was a self-insert character, which is interesting, because we’ve already seen what a self-insert looks like when it’s Roberts doing the inserting, and we’ve also seen his Mary Sues.

Rung, while an original character who had appeared in Roberts’ pre-professional works (a single line of text in Eugenesis, where he was a psychiatry play-on-words), he isn’t what I’d consider a Mary Sue. Mary Sues are usually stunningly beautiful, beloved by their peers, insanely talented in ways that no other character is, and typically have some sort of connection to another character that more or less forces them into the story despite not needing to exist.

Mary Sues don’t get their friggin’ heads exploded, or exist in a constantly-forgettable state. Sure, he’s the only therapist we’ve ever seen in the Transformers franchise, but there was kind of a massive need for that sort of character to be created, seeing as all of these sons of guns have PTSD and clinical depression. And, as we’ve seen in previous issues and will continue to see later on, he’s really not even that great at it.

That isn’t to say that he doesn’t have certain traits befitting such a characterization, merely that they don’t add up to equal that sort of whole by issue #13. Transformers (2009)-era Drift is way closer to a true Mary Sue than Rung is.

Anyway, where the hell did Tailgate get to?

They really just let Frodo Baggins in this bar all babybjörned up, huh? Does Tailgate even know what a baby even is at this point? Does he just think he’s a very small person? How much human media has he consumed? We haven’t gotten into the reproductive process for the continuity yet, but fresh Cybertronians aren’t exactly a one-to-one to human infants. Damn it, Roberts, what the fuck am I supposed to make of Babygate?

Whirl’s off in the corner, disguised as a 12-year old girl who’s fucking STRAPPED. Magnus has disappeared, but Rewind locates him pretty easily as Rung makes a comment about Magnus needing to make an appointment with him.

Oh hey, Verity. Been a minute. Careful, ol’ six-eyes over there is leering at you.

The fellas come back to the bar as they truly are, and sit down for a round of drinks. Whirl gets Ultra Magnus a drink that sounds disturbingly like a Cybertronian equivalent to Milk Coke, and we get a little anatomy lesson. Transformers have something called a Fuel Intake Moderation chip, something that keeps them from getting drunk on pretty much the only thing they can consume. Swerve suggests Magnus turn his off so he can have a good time- which I don’t personally agree with, but this is Captain Stick-in-the-Mud we’re talking about here. Magnus gives it a shot.

And that’s a series wrap on Ultra Magnus!

No, the man’s just got no tolerance and has been knocked the hell out by his drink. Things begin devolving. Tailgate is crying. Skids has found out that Whirl didn’t give Magnus Milk Coke at all, but instead the equivalent of liquid cocaine. Swerve is convinced he’s going to prison. Rewind is filming the whole thing.

Nobody actually checks to see if Magnus is actually dead, until Rung gets around to it. Swerve, you’re a doctor by original trade, what the hell are you doing?

The boys sit Magnus at the table to wait out his nap. Hours later, nothing’s changed, except that they’ve started up the nemesis game, and Whirl’s decided he’s going to be rude about monoformers being monoformers. Rung gives a non-answer, because that’s just who he is as a person. Skids names Misfire as his worst enemy, only because he’s still missing a good chunk of memory and can’t remember if he had a worst enemy, but still wants to contribute to the conversation.

Rung, don’t be a dick, he did his best. You were right on top of Fort Max, it was a tricky shot.

Ultra Magnus finally starts waking up, and that’s the point where everyone decides to foot Swerve with the bill for the emotional labor he’s going to have to perform by explaining just what the friggity-frack happened.

Magnus starts laughing, then crying, then offloads his troubles onto Swerve. Magnus feels like he just doesn’t fit in on the Lost Light. He’s just trying to do his job and everyone makes fun of him, or disrespects his authority. He’s trying, he really is, but he’s just not built for post-war life. He’s actually tried to leave his position on the Lost Light, but they just keep pulling him back in.

Probably doesn’t help that Rodimus seems more interested in Drift’s opinion on matters than his own SIC half the time.

Oh no, he’s making digs at the things Swerve’s sensitive about. Where is Rung?

Magnus just wants to be understood, y’know? He’s a fully realized creation. He’s got interests. Like music! And the fact that Swerve is missing his Autobot badge!

This was the point where MTMTE was still bouncing back and forth on whether it wanted to commit to the crotch badge. It was a tumultuous time for everyone, very dark days.

WHERE THE FUCK IS RUNG

Magnus, having had enough of sharing his feelings, takes another sip of his cocaine and slips back into unconsciousness. Swerve admits to his limp body that people don’t actually like him, but rather only stick around because of what he can offer- namely, a good time.

The rest of the Swerve posse comes back, with Cyclones having joined the party. Rung shows off his new model ship, which gets Rewind started on his movie collection. He pulls up the opening ceremony for the Ark 1. Y’know, the Ark 1, that ship that Cyclonus was on that disappeared into the Dead Universe for six million years. The Ark 1 that Tailgate was supposed to be on.

Before we can get started however, someone throws the model at Rewind’s head.

That someone is none other than Cyclonus, who proceeds to fly into a rage, throwing tables and shoving the still-unconscious Ultra Magnus to the floor. My word, what a reaction! What could possibly be setting him off so much? Does he not like being reminded of his fated trip to the stars? Is this a manifestation of trauma from that event?

Who knows? No time for questions, Skids is too busy punching him in the face.

Tailgate intervenes, explaining that because Cyclonus and himself are so goddamn old, the engex Cyclonus consumed is wreaking havoc on his body. He tells the rest of them to go on while he tries to calm Cyclonus down. Interesting that Rewind doesn’t have any sort of input on this, given that he is also super fucking old, but there’s no time for questions! We’ve got to get Ultra Magnus back on the shuttle in the next 20 minutes, or else they’ll be stuck on Hedonia FOREVER.

They start throwing Magnus on the floor repeatedly, trying to get his t-cog to spin up. No dice, however.

It’s 4AM. Do you know where your Domey is? Because Rewind sure as hell doesn’t.

Okay, time for Plan B.

I’m guessing not, Rung. I’m guessing not.

Using Magnus as a trampoline does the trick, and the boys are rewarded with the sight of Magnus’ alt-mode… resting on its roof, upside down. They get him sorted, pile in the cab- Rewind is driving, which leads me to believe he at least has some experience handling a vehicle. Chromedome does turn into a car…

I don’t even know what that sort of activity implies for a Transformer. We won’t go any further down this line of thought.

The boys manage to get Ultra Magnus to the shuttle in time, and all’s well that ends well!

This is about the time that Blaster knocks on the glass at Swerve to wrap things up, seeing as he’s been at this for over nine hours now. There’s one last little aside before we’re done with our story, however, and it involves just what happened in the bar after everyone else left.

Cyclonus calmed down almost immediately after the rest of the guys left, paying for what he broke and inviting Tailgate to have a seat.

Well, I say invite, but it’s really more of an order.

If you’d already figured out at this point that this jumpy little marshmallow was lying about being the biggest badass who ever lived, a gold star for you! It turns out, dear Tailgate has been crafting a fabrication, spinning a yarn, telling a tall tale since Day One on the Lost Light. The story has been feeding us a steady diet of fish the whole time!

Red herring!

Red herring of Tailgate’s own design! Autopedia’s mods are a friggin’ joke.

Tailgate was supposed to be a the Ark 1 launch, but it was because he was on the cleanup crew. Boy’s a sluicer, and his arm SHOULD say "waste disposal”. Through a cunning use of his wits and cold reading, Tailgate faked his way through the dismantling of the bomb on Temptoria. A smart boy, he is, if not a bit self-centered.

Which brings us to why exactly Cyclonus freaked out in the bar: he wasn’t having an episode, but rather faking a reaction to prevent Tailgate’s lie from being exposed. He still thinks that Tailgate should come clean about this whole thing, before things get really messy, but it wouldn’t be an issue of MTMTE without some raw-ass emotions getting thrown about.

Cyclonus, who hasn’t allowed himself to feel anything other than simmering rage or national pride for over six million years, is beginning to feel something for Tailgate.

That feeling is sympathy, and maybe a little pity.

He offers to teach Tailgate a song to help him feel better, because that’s what he does when he has feelings.

And given that Cyclonus seems to sing often enough that Tailgate’s gotten used to the horrific sound, it might be that Cyclonus has feelings a hell of a lot more often than he lets on.

Roberts, how many times are you going to make Tailgate cry? How much pain are you going to subject him to before you’re satisfied?

The scene closes out on the two of them getting their karaoke on in the empty bar, in the god-awful language that is Old Cybertronian. I can only imagine that they get kicked out of the bar pretty quickly after this.

Getting back to the present, Swerve has finally, finally finished his story, closing out with an invitation for Blurr to come visit Swerve’s.

Blaster gets ready to shoot one hell of a voice message at Blurr, but there’s a problem; the number Swerve has isn’t long enough to be a personal hailing frequency.

Yeah, turns out that Tailgate isn’t the only liar on board the Lost Light.

Four million years ago, Swerve met Blurr at a publicity event, got way too friendly with a celebrity, pestered the guy until he gave him a fake number, and has convinced himself that he made a life-long friend to this very day.

Big oof.

Later, back at Swerve’s, Swerve is busy cleaning the glassware when Ultra Magnus comes in, sober and having just gotten out of surgery to fix his fuel tanks. Guess that second sip of Nucleon really wasn’t a good idea.

Swerve tries to tell a lie about what happened the night before, only to have the dawning horror that Magnus remembered the entire night, as he’s presented with a new badge. Swerve, bolstered by the fact that, while Magnus didn’t enjoy the previous evening, he appreciated having company, begins to ask Magnus if he’d want to room with him.

Wow, zero for three! That’s rough, buddy.

Kind of a bummer end to this whole issue, but it was still decently light, tone-wise, for MTMTE. A great deal of fun was had, in between all the mortifying reveals of our characters inner demons.

...Well, shit.

#transformers #jro #mtmte #issue 13 #maccadam #Hannzreads #text post #long post #overthinking about robots #incoming analysis #comic script writing

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teaandgames · 4 years

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The Tea Times - June 2020

Well, we’re officially over halfway through the year at this point. I know for many people it feels like we’re dragging ourselves over that point but try and keep your chin up. All bad things must end. In the world of games it’s been a rather packed month, with some high profile releases and some unexpected announcements coming out of the woodwork. Hopefully that’ll tide us over for the second half of the year where things will, hopefully, start to look up.

At A Glance

Valorant, Command & Conquer Remastered Collection, Desperados III, The Last of Us Part II, Summer in Mara and Pokemon Cafe Mix released.

Resident Evil 8: The Village, Crash Bandicoot 4, Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2, Pokemon Unite, Pokemon Snap and Lost in Random announced.

Kingdoms of Amalur is getting retooled!

Rumour mill: Far Cry 6 and Batman!

UK strikes out at loot boxes!

Playstation 5 is revealed!

Cyberpunk 2077 Re-Delayed!

The Releases

My goodness there’s a lot to get through this month. Let’s begin with Valorant, a team shooter developed by Riot Games. Many team shooters have jumped up and been smacked right back down but Riot Games, the League of Legends lads, have some proper grunt behind them. I’ve heard a lot of positive chatter about Valorant, and seen some exciting videos, so there’s every chance. I’m too incompetent for these type of games but if you’re not then it released on PC on the 2nd June.

I’m also too incompetent for Command & Conquer: Remastered Collection but that’s not going to stop me. While it’s not much of a collection, containing only Command & Conquer and Command & Conquer: Red Alert, there’s a lot of love in the package. The retooled art is nice to see, while also preserving the spirit of the original. It’s a heavily nostalgic game and a reminder of when RTS games were about the base building and not screaming at your teammates. If you fancy a trip down a FMV-laden memory lane then it was released on the 5th June.

Desperados III caused some long forgotten light bulb to spark in my head, though I can’t really explain why. It’s a real-time stealth game set, rather unsurprisingly, in the Wild West. Was there much stealth there? My mind has been too corrupted by images of people blind-firing at each other with revolvers. Still, Desperados III seems to have an action element to it as well for when you’re bored of killing people and stashing their bodies. It’s also getting decent reviews too, which is encouraging. If you fancy some rootin’-tootin’ throaty slittin’ then Desperados III came out on Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on the 16th June.

Summer in Mara is a funny one. It popped up constantly on my Facebook, sending me ad after ad. Normally this would turn me against a game but, in a rare twist, it actually got me pretty excited. It’s a farming game, with an exploring element to it and I am all about that. It also looks gorgeous, in screenshots at least. I actually didn’t realise it was out yet so I will soon be booting up either Steam or my Switch to get on that. I’m ready to waste another hundred hours. It released on the 16th June.

Well now here’s one that’s been doing the controversy circle. Released on the 19th June, The Last of Us Part Two was quickly subjected to review bombing. Possibly because it committed the cardinal sin of acknowledging that the LGBT community exists. Ah well. That nonsense aside, it’s picking up top scores and awards, much like its predecessor. It appears to be heavily story focused though the physics, by the look of it, are top notch too. If you liked the original then give it a whirl. It was released on PlayStation 4 on the 19th June.

Even more unexpected is Pokemon Cafe Mix. Not too much to say about this one, to be honest. It’s a pleasant little puzzle game about serving folks in a cafe, which is staffed by Pokemon wearing adorable outfits. It’s free to play, with microtransactions, and seems like a nice little game to kill a few minutes. It dropped on the Switch on the 23rd June.

The Announcements

It seems like every five minutes, I found another game that had been announced. Not least of all is Resident Evil 8: The Village. If you remember, I adored Resident Evil VII and I hope that the sequel carries on its spirit. It’s certainly in first person and the trailer gives me hope. It also has an old man in a flat cap with a shotgun which always gives me hope. The trailer is absolutely dripping with symbolism too. It should be coming out next year.

Next in line of the unexpected sequels to nostalgic games is Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time, which has a trailer set to The Rockafeller Skank just to maximise that early 2000s nostalgia. As you might expect, it’s about time. That title has its tongue buried deeply in its cheek. It looks like a proper return to form too, with bright colourful graphics and a fresh Cortex plan to ruin. While I never got on that well with the Crash Bandicoot franchise, I know a lot of people will be excited for the return to form. It’ll be out on October 2nd.

Lord, they are cranking out Bloodstained games, aren’t they? Back in 2018, the original Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon came out, which was an old school Castlevania game in all but name. A companion game, Ritual of the Night, made things 2.5D. Now however, we’re back to Curse of the Moon with Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2. It looks like it keeps the old school Castlevania art style, which is nice to see. If you’re in the mood for an older flavour of game, Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 will be out on the 10th July.

The second controversy on this list is a new Pokemon game, Pokemon Unite. In this case, the ire may well be justified. Pokemon Unite is a MOBA, of all the bloody things, which is a bit of an odd move. It’s a pretty heavily saturated genre, full of big names, and I don’t honestly know how much market Nintendo will be able to carve out of that. Add in the fact that it has a definite connection to Chinese company Tencent (which doesn’t have the best reputation) and it goes some way to explaining the mountain of dislikes the video has gotten. Ah well. A release date has yet to be announced.

What is much more up my street is Pokemon Snap for the Nintendo Switch. The original was one of the highlights of my emulation days. Basically, you ride on a little cart through the world of Pokemon, taking pictures of them in their natural habitat. Then Oak looks through them and reveals how weak of a photographer you are. It’s not a game for everyone but if you always wanted to see Pokemon frolic around like normal animals then Pokemon Snap is your game. No release date yet, though.

Still not too sure about Lost in Random to be honest. I think I just like me some dice games. It’s set in a fairly dark world where people’s fates are decided by a roll of the dice, but it also has something of an upbeat tone in the vein of Tim Burton. It’s an action-adventure game, with some pretty heavy looking combat, set in a gothic fantasy world and all of those are good things. If you like the sound of it, then Lost in Random will be out next year.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning

Well this is one I wasn’t expecting. I did a whole piece about how the intellectual property had been handed around like a game of hot potato, even landing in the hands of the state of Rhode Island at one point. THQ acquired the property rights in the end and they’ve now announced that they are giving it a fresh coat of paint, which is being handled by the folks at Kaiko, who did the Darksiders remasters. So it should be fairly decent.

What confuses me is that the things they are working on are the graphics and the gameplay. The two things that Kingdoms of Amalur didn’t really suffer from. The game always looked pretty gorgeous, to be honest. It captured the spirit of a fantasy forest nicely. I never looked at it and thought, damn this needs retooling. Same with the gameplay really. It wasn’t anything amazing but it wasn’t screaming for a remaster.

Honestly, Kingdoms of Amalur’s biggest flaw was from the core design. The huge open levels with bugger all in it, quests that didn’t really do anything interesting and long lore dumps that put you to sleep. That’s not really going to change if you’re just doing surface level stuff. Still, we don’t know for sure what they’re changing so you never know. The remastered version should be out in August.

The Rumour Mill - Exotic Locales And Batman

The first of our rumours this month revolves around Far Cry 6. The latest entry Far Cry 5 was set in North America and revolves around a cult, which probably hits a little too close to home for some people. If that’s not your bag then you’ll be pleased to know that Far Cry 6 will be set somewhere more exotic. No exact details at the moment but I imagine there will be sunshine and clear waters. It’s also supposedly due to be released before April next year, COVID19 depending. If the rumour is true, we’ll hear more about this on July 12th.

For those more interested in the caped crusader then you may be interested to know that there’s a good chance of Warner Bros. announcing two Batman games in August this year. This rumour is fuelled by the fact that two domains have been registered. They point towards two titles, ‘Gotham Knights’ and ‘Suicide Squad’. The second one is more obvious and probably inevitable, given that we’ve had a whole film about them. Not sure about Gotham Knights though. We should hopefully have more info at DC’s fandome event on the 22nd August.

UK Says Loot Boxes Are Not OK

Following on from the example of companies like Belgium, UK ministers are asking for a review of evidence with regards to Loot Boxes in games. The issue comes from the definition of Loot Boxes as gambling. It’s not an unreasonable definition, as it encourages people to put in a varying amount of money for the chance at getting something rare and exciting. Everybody wins, of course, but most of the time it’s basic stuff that entices you to try again. Sounds like gambling to me.

People aren’t too happy with advertising gambling to under 18s so this decision has a lot of weight to it. If Loot Boxes are declared to be gambling, then games will be required to remove them or change them up so they can be sold to under 18s. They may even remove the games entirely. How enforceable that will be remains to be seen but it will likely make it harder for multiplayer games to be marketed in the UK. Not a happy thing but we’ll have to wait and see what the evidence says.

The Sleek, Sexy… Router?

Well here’s an interesting one. Sony released their first images of the PlayStation 5 design this month and people are already disagreeing with it. I can see why. It’s a very sleek, futuristic design. Minimalist white and grey in an obelisk like shape. I’m in two minds about it myself. On the one hand, it’s quite sleek and attractive. It doesn’t look like a ‘console’ which I think is a good thing. It looks memorable.

On the other hand it looks like a wireless router. You’ll have to make your own mind up on this one.

Re-delayed

Just a quick one to end on. CD PROJEKT RED are fully committing to making sure Cyberpunk 2077 is ready to go. To that end, it’s been delayed back to November 19th. They’ve been fully transparent as to why as well, which is refreshing. Essentially, while it’s good to go content-wise, they need extra time to go through everything and iron out those bugs. A good reason, as reasons go.

They did however release some new gameplay trailers to keep people going, so make sure to check those out to remind yourself why it’s worth waiting until November! That’s all for June, see you in July!

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