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goldenhickeysandramen · 9 months

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The (ephimeral) success of solo projects on Chapter 2

I wanted to write a post about chapter 2 and Jimin, the "sabotages"... but I don't know if I'm able to sort out the facts and my ideas or judgements about them properly. Nothing is clear to me yet.

There are days when a part of me believes that something is going on with Jimin and Hybe (or BH, I don't know which). But there's another part, the rational part, the part that works as an economist for 20 years, that knows that it doesn't make much sense for a for-profit company to boycott one of its most valuable assets.

In the Executive Boards, and in financial planning, decisions are made on the basis of economical evidence, which is always provided by current numbers (or estimates), not by the heart. Maybe even in the case of BTS there is some sense of fairness, I would say, at the outset. And not an asymmetric distribution according to profit projections.

In the trade-off I find myself in, I would like to share the following thoughts:

- I have recently realised that Chapter 2 is not the chapter of their solo career. It is the chapter of their solo work, which is slightly different.

- Most of them has a short time to promote their work. The average has been a "several weeks" window.

- Their success is therefore somewhat short-lived or ephimeral. It appears and within weeks it seems to fade away, eclipsed by the next in line. The nex king of "k-..."

- There is no intention of promoting a structured solo career, because 1) BTS have said (a million times) that they will be back in 2025, and 2) if we are to take them at their word, the boys will all be joining the military before the end of 2023.

- So, there is no long-term vision to support "some" and not "others".

- The support is focused on a specific work. The only exception to a more continuous commitment has been Suga and his tour.

- Everyone has their budget, their schedule, their activities for the year...

- And yes, there can be different intensities of promotional activities, depending on the defined strategy or budget or goal or whatever (we don't know the whole story because the company doesn't explain anything to us). There is a rumour that some have even put their money into some activities. But I don't know how true that is.

- And I think they all have a say in the design of their promotions, even if they don't design them themselves.

So then....I can't take the agency away from any of them.

They are the best advocates or defenders within the company. And if one of them had less influence, which I doubt, the others would not remain silent without solving the problem. Or how do we think a commitment from the 7 of them to the 7 of them is achieved to keep BTS as a unified group? There are no weak links in this group. And if there were, I wouldn't bet my money that Jimin is one of them.

Once again, there are things that I can't explain and I'd like to know what's going on (the lack of restocking, the split of Spotify streaming, the deletion of sales...). But if there really have been damaging mistakes or strategies for any of them, I hope that when the next contract comes up for renewal, they will sort it out very thoroughly. Cause this cant happen anymore.

To tell you the truth, I blame the company for many things, and one of them - as serious as their lack of planning - is their lack of communication with the fans. BeautifulPeach has talked about this in some of her posts.

At some point in its growth, Hybe became too big to fail, or whatever, and forgot about certain corporate social responsibility obligations. One of them is to talk to its most important stakeholders: the customers, i.e. the fans. And addressing some of their concerns.

Investors are important in listed companies, but customers are important too. Always.

And if they don't see it that way and continue to despise the fans (clients) in that way, then at the end “future is not gonna be ok”.

And yes, I know that K-pop is controversial. It's clear that they can't deal with every rumour, every silly trend that comes out every day on twitter, ships, solos demands, etc. But there are things that they can deal with. And some of the Jimin's events when Face happened are one of them.

A bit of transparency would be appreciated. I expect it, actually, at some point (maybe when this chapter ends).

Maybe there will be things that could be explained as commercial strategy (do they want us to buy Face instead of the single LC, for example? And that's why they're not stocking it again?). But they might also be telling us about certain difficulties. Or about certain forecasting mistakes. Or how they learned from some of them. I'm pretty sure they learned a lot from Jimin's Face era.

I don't think I will be able to judge everything that has happened until at least the end of this year, when all the solo works have been completed/released.

And I'll have to keep listening to Bongo to see if he still talks about how they are more interested in being a company that has groups rather than individual singers. Maybe that is why it seems there's a ceiling to individual success. There is nothing better than capping success with time limitation of activities ("Let's see if that makes the fans forget what solo members are capable of")

And even then, there will be differences between all of them. Quite a lot.

But we will also have to consider that they are different artists with different goals, sensibilities, objectives and situations (let's not forget that JK himself, who now seems quite greedy, has admitted that he needed and enjoyed his free time and Seven had to come along to give him a boost). So we should be careful with the comparison too.

Perhaps Jin will end up getting the most promotions when he comes out, considering how little time he has had. Poor Jin…😔 He had to wait until the end of the year to enlist, despite the bad weather, to give us the Busan concert. It was a commitment to BTS, but it was a short of individual sacrifice too… you know..they do these things for BTS.

I would also like to listen to them (yes, it's a bit ambitious on my part, but I would like to listen to Jimin and his feelings, at the end of this year... will he open up to us?)

In conclusion, I would say that if we are BTS fans and want to remain so, and if we believe in the boys' words .... I would advise us to enjoy every moment they give us for their limited time. Every campaign, every song, every vlive... and try to find an atmosphere of caution given the situation we are in.

And by that I mean that we should also be able to read that we are in the age of solos and akages. All the information about grievances or leaks that comes out usuarlly comes from the same places.

And I'm not saying it's FALSE! Nor do I mean to belittle it! Just that sometimes we should take into account the intentions behind. And before we react, let's consider the source and the context. Look at what happened to the RNX journalist we all spent almost a day reporting on for a bad translation. Or look at how, in less than two weeks, two CCTV vids of Jimin shopping with a friend (one of them clearly with Saeon) suddenly appeared just as it became known that he was going to NY with JK.

Anyway, I will be a bit cautious for now. There are still a few months until the end of the year. A lot can still happen.

Jimin could came back again to us with sth as amazing as Like Crazy. Or even better, an album.

I miss Jimin and want to see him shine again and talking to us.

And I miss jikook……arrrggg

#jikook #kookmin #jimin and jungkook #mingukkie #jikook kookmin jinkook jiminshiii jk

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itlivesproject · 1 year

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hiii! your project is AMAZING and you're all so talented 😭😭 but i have a question if you feel comfortable with sharing. which apps/programs you guys used to recreate the game? I'm interested in developing my own games but have no idea where to start. can you give me some tips? 🙂 tysm anyway!

If you want to make a standalone visual novel, then the program we use, Ren'Py, is perfect! It's free and designed specifically to make visual novels easy to make for everyone, including beginners. I had literally zero understanding of programming when I started working on ILW and just figured it out through tutorials, asking questions on forums, and trial and error.

This is the Ren'Py link.

Because this is long, under the cut I'm sharing some things you'll need to think about if you want to make a visual novel:

Your team:

You don't have to have a team of people helping you with this. You can do it alone. However, I will say that ILW would not be what it is if I had just tried to go it alone. It is so much better than anything I could've dreamed of when I first got the idea. More people on a team = more ideas, more constructive criticism and feedback, and more heads going in together to make a better product. But if you want a team, you need to make sure you maintain an attitude and environment that is open to suggestions and contributions from others. Be ready and willing to throw out ideas you like if it no longer works or someone thinks of something better. Nothing kills the creative spirit faster than defensiveness and competitiveness, so to have a well-working team, open-minded members and sharing your ideas and criticism in a positive way is extremely important.

Art:

This is one of the first things you should really nail down, because if you start working on your game but never figure out the art, everything else will go to waste. For most VN creators, they usually hire out for art. For us, since this is a free fan project, our artists worked for free. We were also lucky to already have a bunch of backgrounds and assets from Choices that our artists could edit, so we didn't have to make dozens and dozens of entirely new backgrounds. If you're going to have to hire out, I'd try to really compress the amount of art you'll need - plan ahead and cut down unnecessary characters who'd need sprites, maybe use a silhouette for unnamed characters, and limit the amount of backgrounds you'll need, because backgrounds take up a lot of space, they take up a lot of time to make, and they're expensive.

Programming:

Obviously, programming is a big thing. If you have enough motivation, you should be able to figure out a lot of this on your own. If you use Ren'Py, be sure to read the documentation, watch a lot of basic tutorials, and just get into the engine and start getting your hands dirty! It seems like a lot at first, but once you get the feel of it, it's actually not too complicated. When it comes to programming, I recommend simplifying everything as much as possible. When I first started ILW, I didn't simplify things much (because I was figuring things out) so what I used to do in three lines of code I now do in one. Limiting the amount of code you ultimately end up writing GREATLY diminishes possibility of errors and bugs. Also, try to get as organized as possible. Make as many folders, subfolders, and text files as you need. Don't try to put the whole script in one file, don't put all the images in the same folder. Good organization goes a long way to making everything a lot easier to keep track of.

Game structure:

Piecing together a branching game is honestly quite a puzzle. Before going into working on your game, you should sit down and figure out game mechanics. What points do you want to include? Personality? Relationship? Romance? Skills? Some kind of narrative scale akin to blood vs shadow? Figure out what points systems you want to include and then figure out how that's going to impact the story and where. When creating love interests, don't just create a character and assume they'll fit themselves into the narrative. Focus on the character as a character first, meaning determine how they fit into the story's narrative, and then think about them as a love interest second. If you do this, it will make them a better character and a more satisfying love interest. Finally, start the game knowing how much variation you want. Do you want something with immense, diverging endings? How much variation do you want within one scene? Because interactive fiction is so determinant on player choices and there can be so many routes, it's not a good idea to just go with the flow and see what happens, because otherwise you won't be able to reconcile all the different routes you likely created. So figure out the overall structure for your story in terms of mechanics before you really start on planning.

Planning and writing:

Once you have the previous stuff figured out, then you can start actually planning the story and eventually, writing it. Again, I'd recommend you figure out the previous stuff first because if you start planning and writing immediately, but then it turns out you can't solve the programming, or can't get art, then all this work will have been for naught. My advice on planning: do NOT skimp out! Additionally, to make the love interests feel more important to the story as a whole, I would recommend the technique of arc outlining, which is essentially when you take each love interest separate from each other and plan out scenes that tie into the story to further their individual character arcs. Doing this makes it easy to figure out where tender relationship and intimate moments can go, and those moments will be more interesting because they're connected to an actual plot point instead of just being like "it's sexy time!" Once you have your plans, you can start writing. Depending on how long your story is, writing can be really difficult. It takes a lot of time and thought, and burnout is real.

Music:

You'll want to figure out how you'll get music for your game. Again, creators usually hire out for this. On the Ren'Py forums, there's actually a specific topic for music that helps you network with composers who are looking for jobs. For us, again, since we're a fan project that's not making money, we could use 1) Choices music 2) tracks from a music library I have a deal with and 3) as a composer myself, I wrote some original tracks. Also, if you're looking for free sound effects, freesound.org is actually perfect for that. It's where I got the siren, forest, and ghost voice SFX!

Distribution

Distribution can be tricky! For ILW, we originally wanted it to be playable online, but we eventually removed that option because 1) saving online was complicated 2) the quality wasn't as good and it couldn't run smoothly and 3) we didn't want people who could download it, play online and have a bad experience instead of downloading it. If you offer an online option, most people will take it. For indie games, I think using something like Steam or itch.io is the way to go. Unfortunately, that will make it so it's not available on Apple products, but to get it on Apple you have to package it specifically for Apple which is difficult, and you have to pay $100/year to be allowed to have it up on the app store in the first place.

Hopefully this helps! This is really just scratching the surface, but here are some things to think about if you're interested in making your own visual novel.

#ask #anon #mod win #writing tips #visual novel #visual novel tips #renpy

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egg-emperor · 1 year

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It's funny when people that don't like my takes and analysis on game Eggman always try to say that I actually just like some other version that isn't game Eggman and just want him to be the same as it, as if I don't actually only like a very small amount of versions.

"You just want him to be like SatAM Robotnik!" "You just want him to be like Archie Eggman!" Bro the only other versions I really care about or pay attention to besides the games is Archie, IDW, X, and maybe Prime if he comes back. I like Boom Eggman but not as much and I'm not the biggest of the Boom series as a whole but that's the only other one that counts.

And I don't like loads of Archie, only the parts that feel accurate and true to game Egg. And I only like the parts in IDW where that also applies, same for X. And what draws me in initially even if they aren't 100% game accurate is their designs when they're classic/modern because they match his game designs

I'm personally not a fan of SatAM Robotnik because he's missing not just the design but also the charm and silliness I clearly like in game Egg as much as his evil and sadistic side. And I only like Archie Egg when he feels accurate to game Egg, specifically for that reason

So how am I apparently such a big fan of other versions over game Egg that I just want him to be exactly like them? Game Egg was my first and has always been my favorite no other will ever come close in my eyes. Because he's the original, the source, and what Sega of Japan actually work on.

I only like other versions when they're very close or exactly the same, minus the vastly different Boom Egg but even then the reasons I don't like him as much is because he's not like game Egg. Same feelings when it comes to SatAM and any other media that's missing assets of game Egg.

When I compliment, analyze, share facts about his character, and create my own hcs and story based on it, it always comes right from his portrayal in the games itself. It always has a canon basis that supports it. I don't pull shit out of nowhere or completely non canon media to make my point. Sometimes my stories will take tiny inspirations from other media (where it feels accurate to apply to game Eggman again) but my analysis and fact sharing never does.

It's frustrating when people try to tell me I don't actually like or understand game Eggman and just want him to be like some non canon versions that I don't care about anywhere near as much in comparison, specifically because they aren't exactly like game canon Eggman. People twist my intentions, tell me how I feel, and put words in my mouth a lot.

And well two can play at that game because it seems to me like you just want game Egg to be one in the same with Boom Egg. :P Because he has a lot of those traits and the not so evil thing going for him that you want game Egg to have but doesn't. Also I'm pretty sure a looot of the people that say stuff like do admit game canon isn't their favorite version unlike me, so it's pretty ironic

Personally I love to acknowledge and explore the sometimes very huge and sometimes subtle differences between the versions. Hell one of my biggest most passionate fan projects is an AU multiverse thing where different Eggmen meet and interact and I explore their differences! I only think they should be 100% the same if they're supposed to be canon to the games, or it's supposed to be using an Eggman that they claim to be fully accurate to the games.

You can critique, disagree, and debate with what I say but you shouldn't twist my words or intentions to try and do it

#dr eggman #eggman #dr robotnik #dr. eggman #my post #rant

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clatoera · 1 year

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☕️ The Career mentality / psyche.

Thank you

Okay so. As the resident careers enthusiast/apologist this is going to take me a minute.

I’m going to talk about the careers as a whole then 1 vs 2 because I think it’s a little different even between districts. I’m just sticking with my big two career babies (1 and 2) though this is not D4 erasure. I just..feel very strongly about 1 and 2 and D4 has lots of fans.

Alright. So.

Overall Career Mentality. We know that the careers train (illegally, but I disregard that when writing LOL), and that there is great pride associated with winning. We know they get endless money and presents and gifts raining on them, but we also know that it’s a gift to the district to have a winner. I believe the winner’s districts get some sort of gift overall, which the career districts don’t need, but I am sure they don’t oppose it. They are raised with this idea that winning the games is the greatest of all things. It is the greatest pride, the greatest honor, and I’m sure the current victors are flaunted in their faces, right? They have the best houses, the best lives (that they know of), I'm sure the past victors make appearances at training like “look how good you could have it one day”. These districts are under the thumb of the capitol, and what they are shown is very tailored to that. I think there's some general similarities. For example, neither of these districts have starving kids. That being said, I think they approach the way they feed their kids differently. I think in one it’s about being strong but maintaining the ideal beauty standard for Panem (however that looks), or maybe even about how to maintain the most teenage physique (disgusting, i know, but I don’t put it past them). In two I think they bulked them up with a TON of protein, but made sure they were still like…desirable? They wanted them to be muscular and nothing more. Think plain chicken, rice, and green beans, imagine they’re fed the gym bro meal prep diet. Neither 1 nor 2 is starved, but they aren’t allowed to enjoy food. They don’t get to like..hangout with friends either. I think their peers are purposefully placed to drive them into competition and surround them only with the best in their district, and push each other to better performance. I know, these are two specific examples but..they’re ones I feel strongly about.

That being said, no matter which district, those are kids who were shown a very skewed reality to essentially brainwash them into this. No kids are ACTUALLY volunteering to be slaughtered, they believe they’re the best, yes, but they have to be shown a really twisted/convoluted reality to think it's a thing they’d want to do (especially when you consider the reality of what victors go through). But also, compared to what else these kids could be doing with their lives, yeah, it makes sense that volunteering with the expectation to live a life of luxury is better than the alternative.

We’ll start with one.

You wouldn’t think at first that in one they would need to volunteer for such luxuries, considering that's what their district specializes in. That being said, if you show these kids the kind of GREAT things they could have, of course they’ll go after them. We still do it, flaunting luxury and designer and free trips in the face of teenagers and tell them what they have to do to achieve it. I think the way one went about volunteering and training was very different. I think they certainly were trained physically, but I think there’s a lot of like…social training. Learning how to manipulate an audience, Learning how to smile pretty, and how to use the assets you are born with. Kids in one probably aren’t allowed to volunteer if they don’t have charisma, charm, and the look. You know the look. The Glimmer, Gloss, Cashmere, look. While of course they’re trained in combat, they are trained in manipulation. How to interview and lead the interview the way you want it to go. How to draw in sponsors. Everyone probably has a tactic they’re “assigned” (by assigned I mean I think they naturally have something to exploit), and thats what they’re trained in. Glimmer is trained to be a ditzy, pretty blonde girl. She’s still a trained killer. She is still a career. However I imagine thats her assigned “role”. I don’t think she’s a dumb girl by any means, I think that was a calculated way to present herself. In the book she is in a see through dress at like 16/17. The district one careers are trained not only in the art of being a career but in being a great, ideal victor. I..think the kids in one are allowed to go based on who (obviously can fight) but will be the most desired, ideal victor. That's how you end up with the Glosses, the Glimmers, The Cashmeres. Lethal but beautiful, charismatic, charming. I think theres something so inexplicably fucked up about it, the fact that they probably look at the pool of 9-12 year olds and decide hmmm this one has potential. I personally think district one ends up with the highest rate of sexual abuse of the victors. I imagine that career training in one involves interviews and seeing how they look in different clothes, essentially camera testing, head shots, all of that. I think winning in one of course is an honor and brings immense pride, but I think it’s about becoming a celebrity of sorts? They have no idea what the immense beauty they are rated on will lead to. They have no idea what kind of horrors they’ll face. They see the opportunity to be famous, I believe, and that's how in D1 it works. Winning is great, but the attention and praise and the GORGEOUS GORGEOUS homes and luxuries and celebrity status is what matters. Think of the alternative though, in terms of luxury? Are they going to raise these kids up and be like you are gorgeous now go work in leather making. Go work in the diamond mine. Go work in the Jewelry store full of things you cannot afford. “Go in the games, or waste all that beauty and grace and charm” is probably the vibe in one, so of course the best of the best want to go into the games. It feels manipulative to these kids, to tell them that they’ll waste all that potential, if they don’t train to win the games, when you consider what happens to them after. “Win because otherwise the capitol cannot benefit off your beautiful young body.” And again..it’s gross to imagine how they look at the kids and decide who is pretty enough/the best fit. It probably even changes as they get older. They hit puberty and suddenly all of a sudden sorry I think A is our best option now Not you B. It’s sad. It’s manipulative. It’s disgusting.

Now for two.

Two I think is the polar opposite. They win for the glory of winning, for being the strongest, the best, the most vicious and violent tributes. This comes with the environment of two, which is WEAPONRY and Peacekeepers. They turn their kids into weapons, ideal weapons. Think about Enobaria and Brutus vs Gloss and Cashmere, the way they hold themselves is so different during the Quell reaping. Cashmere and Gloss are smiling, Brutus and Enobaria are like..they have these TERRIFYING expressions. Take that even down to Cato/Clove vs Marvel/Glimmer. Marvel and Glimmer notably smile during their interviews, but Cato and Clove are COCKY. They’re smirking, they aren’t all smiles and waves. They’re lethal and they know it. But back to the district itself. By training those kids to be violent and vicious and under the guise of “the capitol is SO great,” they effectively are ensuring really loyal, great peace keepers. If only 2 kids a year get to go to the games, that makes dozens that are now highly trained, brutal, ready to kill and maim, that are perfectly equipped to become peacekeepers. The capitol knows that so of course they’re like yes D2 perfect little district! I think winning the games is a way to escape a relatively hard life of peacekeeping or working on weaponry. It’s not cushy in 2 like it is in one. I think tribute selection in 2 is FAR more on skill and willingness to be this brutal, bloody career. That's the image they WANT for District 2. They’re so good at making weapons even their victors are a weapon, you know? However, in terms of getting a little controversial, I think there’s also a blatant parallelism to nationalism and recruiting poor kids into the army. Pride yourself on this district, what an honor it would be to DIE for your district. Win to bring PRIDE to your district. Sound familiar? I’m not saying the kids in the academies of 2 are from poor families, no. But I think that would be a great way for them to see a way to escape and pull their family out of tough times, don’t you? A promise of escape and glory..a promise of pride and honor…there may even be a sense of duty there, don’t you think? That feels very intentional, to me, on Suzanne Collin’s part to make the best tributes from the capitol’s most loyal district …the district of the military and weaponry and law enforcement. I do think the life of a victor in 2 doesn’t stop there. I think they continue to act as trainers, making tribute selection, like once they’re in they’re IN. This is their whole life. They will be holding classes, they will be mentoring. Winning in D2 is a whole way of life, not just something that leads to glory and then they get to go about their lives. It goes with that militant mindset.

And again. I don’t think this is a normal thing for kids to think these things. LIke..theres some serious brain washing involved. It’s not normal to raise these kids as weapons.

I believe the careers are still normal kids. LIke they have families (most of them), they’ve got crushes, they’ve got birthdays, they’ve got favorite things, they’ve got things they dislike.

While I can explain why I think they are the way they are…I think they’re products of their environments. Without the glory hanging over them, I think they’d just be normal kids. They just are normal kids.

The careers were NEVER the enemy. They were not the true antagonists. They’re kids, who are convinced they want this by the situation they are born into, they are told this is the ultimate honor and success.

We tell kids these things even today. That this career is the best thing you could do, what an honor it would be.

I empathize with these kids. I think I share some of the same psyche. I’m an oldest child, the only person in my family to ever go to med school, I am the best at everything i’ve ever done, or else I wasn’t going to do it. There was never a choice but to be the best. To be at the top. I won’t do something unless i’m guaranteed to succeed or be the best. It’s not healthy and it’s not really okay but it’s how I think and who I am. There’s no limits on what it takes to succeed, and I think thats very much how they were raised.

Okay.

Careers apologist 4ever.

#the careers #thg careers #careers apologist #district one #district two #cato #clove #glimmer #marvel

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anonprotagging · 10 months

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i trust your opinion on pokemon games more than basically anyone else on the internet. should i buy scarlet/violet. i really hate being so out of loop with the new gen, suddenly not recognising pokemon feels so bad :( but i also don’t really wanna buy the games? but i wanna play them. augh.

okay, so it's kind of hard to judge the story based on my run so far since I haven't even gotten to the first gym, but I think I've gotten a good enough grasp of the mechanics and stylization to offer some pros and cons! (under a cut to save people's dashes)

cons:

-This game is BUGGY. holy shit. I thought, okay, maybe people are just getting mad like they do with every game, but nope!

it's worse than swsh, and honestly it's nearly worse than gen 1 because at least gen 1's bugs were caused by, y'know, developers trying to optimize the hardware and assets, instead of using all the switch's power trying to render 12 billion things at once.

I got stuck in my own living room within 3 minutes, and within 2 minutes of reaching the first big city I got stuck inside a building corner and had to fly out of there.

npcs jitter around constantly, there are T-posing issues (nemona was t-posed until I got close to her, it was weird), if you catch any pokemon the camera clips through the floor so you can see the out-of-bounds of the game?? overall disconcerting but also a little funny.

-I miss the PLA controls so bad you have no idea lol. the button for dodging is now the button for sneaking??

you Can still bean pokemon over the head with a ball, even if it is just to start a battle, but the aiming controls are SUPER finnicky and won't work half the time if it's anything in the air or water. not a fan of that.

-you can change your clothes or look (except hair) at any time in the game! but the controls to find it are unintuitive unless you look it up or someone tells you (it's the left joycon's arrow buttons.) I'm sure there are more control issues like that that I haven't noticed yet too.

-no shiny sparkle sound in the overworld. also the textures are kind of... not conducive to seeing if pokemon are shiny? I killed a shiny igglybuff bc I didn't look at the screen when I started the battle to see the sparkle animation. :(

pro Or con depending on your preferences:

-I honestly don't think it's that much more handhold-y than swsh or gen 7 so far, tbh? after the opening starter bit and rival battle and a little bit of railroady plot (akin to the lillie spearow opening in gen 7), I was able to explore the whole first massive open-world section of the game with no hassle.

it might get worse later? I'm not sure. I don't think anything could be more railroady than the start of gen 7, which I love dearly despite all that, so it's not a big factor for me.

just make sure you go outside ASAP and get down the road to the place where you can start running BEFORE you explore the area around your house. it will save you so much frustration.

-there's sections inside the school with optional classes and whatnot, which I personally like? it's not quite like the hassle with gen 7's trainer school so much as it is like the school sections of Super Mystery Dungeon.

-Lots of items to collect for Lots of things to unlock. I personally like this kind of thing (helps me explore every part of the map!)

-the pokemon designs. I thought most of them were ugly and weird when I looked them up, but in-game I think they're actually quite charming!!

-big!! this is my first Real open-world game and it's very big!! a little intimidating for me as a completionist but I'm also having fun with it!

-character customization. cute for the face, limited for the clothes (and hair imo). depends on how much that matters to you -- I would look up the accessories ahead of time to see if you can make do with them if you usually play with a specific look!

-team star. I know a lot of people love them, but for me they're just some weird little combo of team flare and team skull. I've only run into them once so it's hard to judge overall, but they're going to have to work Quite hard to earn my respect.

-I personally like the music! but it depends on your taste :o

-no voice acting

pros:

-the creatures can walk with you!! they're not very smart at battling without direction though. or following quickly. BUT still better than swsh and bdsp!!

-fast travel is unlocked from the START. (obv. only for places you've already been) and can be accessed from anywhere, at any time. getting clipped into a building wasn't too bad because I could just fly to the nearest pokecenter immediately.

-the landscape is very like PLA in terms of traversing it! there are some differences -- the MC can't climb up ledges as easily, and won't take damage when they jump off a cliff, but the best parts of the PLA maps are still here!

-hehe running away from the plot every time they say "Go here!" go brr

-boxes accessible at any time! for the first time ever! very cool!!

-if you're not so much into the story, there's an option to skip all cutscenes in the menu!

-uhhh... I guess this one's subjective too, but honestly?? I've been having fun with it!! more than with the start of SWSH, less than the start of ORAS or XY or SUMO, about on par with the start of USUM or HGSS?

overall thoughts from 6 hours of gameplay without reaching the first gym? (your results will vary lmao, I don't think most people take the time to grind up and explore Every Available Corner so much FKHSDJF)

I don't know if it's worth a full $60 in this economy, but I would pay a solid $54.99 (max) for it. I got the game as a christmas gift, but it's online right now for around $42-47 pre-owned!

I would say: if you can spare 40 bucks right now, go for it! that's a pretty good deal for a Switch game!

OR if you have any friends with the cartridge, borrow it from them for free to see if you like it!

#pokemon sv #sv run #anonymous #skjdhfkjshd sorry anon this got really long I just wanted to be thorough

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elusianknight · 5 years

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I'm not sure what spurred you onto this but your Viddy Gam Hot Takes are very refreshing, thank you

AWW thanks friend!!!! I’m glad you’re enjoying them lol! I saw that post about fallout76 and people are freaking out that they *gasp* reused code and possibly some assets from Skyrim / Fallout 4... and like... I guess people don’t understand that it’s saving people work and there’s no reason not to do it. Like yeah I’ve mostly made my posts I’ve been making but as a computer science student, I feel like people have a huge misunderstanding of what goes into software development.

Not that I know everything, esp bc i’ve never worked in games, but ppl who work in games are underpaid and overworked criminally. i DO know that much. reusing code you or a colleague has written, for a similar project accomplishing similar things, is not “lazy”--it’s basic programming. Programming is iterative, as in things go through many iterations. So you make an engine and you make Skyrim, and Skyrim has support for quests and factions. So you use that support for quests and factions in another game you make, because why make it again? It’s not like they’re stealing the work--it’s all their work to begin with.

Also the cheat engine thing was sus as fuck. No, the game did not literally just detect “cheat engine.” First of all, idk how people managed to like... decrypt and decompile the code. It could very well be fake as fuck. But from what I could see of that shitty screenshot, it was looking for specific programs - cheat engine being one of them.

I’m very sure that fo76 has more precautions against cheaters, ESPECIALLY since most things will be checked server-side--as in, you probably can’t edit most stats client-side, since it’s checked by the server. Why go digging to find different cheat program names when you could release the game, proactively searching for big ones (like cheat engine) and then go patch in blocks for any other ones that come up as people play? Like these people who overly criticize the game are not thinking about it in terms of how games, or programs, are made.

I’m mad, and I’m not even a fallout fan. I know the game is buggy, but the corporate execs are the ones to blame. The problem with the same bugs as Fallout 4 is the fact that there are still bugs, not that there are reused bits from fallout 4. It’s not laziness, it’s program design. whew that was long sorry lmao

#fallout 76 #lucisevofficial

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silentcoder · 6 years

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Lilly's Adventures in Toyland. Watching my 3 and a half year old daughter taking her first steps in gaming, I've been observing what she struggles with. I feel there is a real gap for games that are playable by children not yet old enough to read, but beyond the simple activities in gcompris's earlier levels. More-over I'm a big fan of the idea of learning without knowing it - rather than setting out to teach a specific skill, I like the idea of learning things just by playing. And if there is a skill worth learning from gaming, more than anything else, it's simply how to solve puzzles. I've spent the past several days working on the idea in my head, and it's time to write it down. So I have an idea for a game like that. Specifically designed with the idea that my daughter could play it, mostly on her own. Much of the design then, is dictated by the requirements thus imposed, but there is also an original idea. Rather than drawn graphics, I want to use stop-motion sprites created from her own toys. This could be time-consuming but it isn't exceptionally hard to do, just photograph the toys in various pozes (to the extent they are posable) in front of a solid green background that's easy to edit out. You don't need highly complicated animations after all. A simple two or three frame animation in each direction suffices for "walking". Core design ideas: - I think a semi-side-scrolling platformer like the original Super Mario Bros is the easiest to learn - but Mario (and games like SuperTux) are still too complex, some things need to be reduced to fit a 3-year old's abilities. - No jumping. Nothing time-based. The game should be slow, and not require fully developed spatial reasoning to play. It shouldn't rely on fast reflexes either. So all screens must be walkable, and the challenge should come from puzzles that are more about simple reasoning skills than speed. - Controls should be simple. I think controller support is a must, but even then it should consider that the players have small hands which struggle to reach the triggers and top buttons. So a very simple scheme - movement on the left joystick. Actions on the 4 buttons (keyboard variants can be done - I'm not sure if keyboard + mouse is worthwhile, it's too reliant on fine motor skills that aren't quite there yet). Vertical movement should use ladders and slides, concept a three-year-old are already familiar with from the playground. - Only four basic actions. For my game, I'm thinking spells. And you start with just one - more can be added over time as the child gets familiar with the idea. So a simple magical game, in a world of realistic looking toys - on a simple 2-d platform. It's not a nightmare to code, and the work can instead go to the art and level design. - Child-friendly content. Combat, if any, should be on the "My little pony" level of violence only. Instead of a spell to set an enemy on fire, I'd rather have spell to simply turn him into a harmless creature like a mouse, with some implication that the spell is temporary and will wear off sometime after safely leaving the area. While I subscribe to the theory that good fairy tales should teach children that monsters can be killed there is plenty of other ways to learn that, there should be space also to just have fun and learn to solve puzzles and maybe learn that not all monsters HAVE to be killed to be defeated. An equally important lesson. - Backgrounds should reflect the regions the current set of characters derive from. Some of my African landscapes for levels using her animal-toysets, thus teaching (very subtly) a simple bit of geography and the idea that different creatures live in different places. That said, there should be no shortage of fantasy here. This is learning through play - and I think imagination is far too important at that age to focus on realism beyond the scenes based on what is already real. - Everything that is written must also be voiced (I'll need help here), including the opening menu etc. It must be navigatable by children who do not yet know how to read. - A rock solid set of editing tools to allow parents to easily add new levels, and a way to share those levels so that everybody can benefit. This would also allow the game to be much bigger than I could do on my own, and I could ask Caryn to help make some levels. - These tools should give full access to the pre-existing assets and sprites, as well as an easy way to import your own. So level design should be possible without knowing how to do green-screen stock-motion animation, but those who do, should be able to add new creatures. - This rather rules out things like gamemaker or rpgmaker simply because they are too complex. While that is great if you want to create your own game for older audiences, it is overwhelming to a three-year old. - I've set out to create games before, and never finished them because it was too much work on a busy working parent's schedule so on this one I'm setting out also to make the work-load manageable, partly by making as much as possible creation accessible to other people. On the other hand I have successfully finished a game as well (tappytux long ago), and part of why it worked was that it's major additional content could be crowdsourced - there were wordlists in dozens of languages at it's height - and the coding was written in such a way that, once the engine was completed, only bugfixes and optimization was needed - new additions did not require new code. That's a design imperitive now i think (it also helped that, at the time, this was done as part of my job and on company time) - Code should be available however, so parents who can code can make modifications, improvements and customizations for their own kids unique needs, and be freely share-able afterwards. The code will be GPL'd however. While I understand this is unpopular in the gaming community, I want everybody to benefit from every improvement. I am happy to put the artwork under a more liberal MIT license and use MIT-licenses art from other people. - I want the game accessible to as wide an audience as possible, so I intend to use a donation/pay-what-you-want model, which means you can get it for free if you don't have money available. A bit of money from those who can make it would be great but I'm not doing this to make money, I'm doing it to create something for my child. And, in the humble-bundle approach, half of any income recieved will go to a children's charity. - As she ages, more advanced versions introducing new skill requirements would be cool to add. So that a 5-year-old would be able to enjoy their own adventure, which is challenging on their level. These could be level-packs, or require a more advanced engine. That's something for the future. I'm sure more ideas will come out as I start working on the game. But these are the thoughts currently in my head. I wanted to write them down, and get feedback from fellow coders, parents and friends to expand on this before I start writing code and taking a whole lot of pictures of toys :P I'll incorporate the ideas I like (and consider how many likes a comment gets as votes for the idea) and then start working on the actual code. PS. I will gladly accept volunteers who wish to help with any part of this. If you're hoping to get rich it's the wrong project, I don't know if it will make anything, but if it does, I'll share the income fairly with any contibutors. PPS. Please feel free to share this post to any groups where you feel the audience would be interested and able to provide useful feedback or possible collaborators.

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