#its really a 'its get so much better just continue' experience–similar to the type of experience i had/have w jojo

[animehouse-moe]

The Ancient Magus' Bride Season 2 Episode 14: Nothing Venture, Nothing Have II

Kafka and MahoYome are settling in to this second cour of its second season, as we refocus on the missing book. While the episode stays pretty well in line with expectations for viewers, there's quite a few ambitious and well executed moments within.

The first thing that springs to mind is the use of CGI. Kafka's shown themselves to rely on it to a decent degree for some moments, so I was expecting to see it in this episode regardless.

Two moments stand out though, as rather well done examples: the werewolf opening scene, and Mariel's Harry Potter style brick-removal trick. I think both look surprisingly good, and that they owe it to the darker compositions of the scenes. CGI in bright light can look bad if your detail or compositing isn't really good, but those are both things that can be better hidden with darker and more bleak lighting and colors.

Let's get into the episode at hand though, mostly because I noticed a mistake (that was pointed out by a comment) with my previous post. That is, that Isaac has a crush (or something of the sort) on Philomela.

That's not the case, those feelings certainly still lie with Rian in some capacity, and we come to understand Isaac's actions through the lens of Rian's past. Here, it's Philomela that he remembers rather than Isaac, which is really interesting. It implies that Philomela and Rian's families were closer before his and Isaac's were, where Philomela originally played the role of Rian's friend/right hand man.

Isaac doesn't seem to understand or know of the past between Philomela and Rian, but he grasps the feel of their emotions. He discerns that there's a type of bond between her and Rian, and he doesn't like that so he ends up pressuring Rian on Philomela in this episode which I thought was very interesting.

For reference, it becomes clearer in hindsight now that Isaac's self-deprecation to Philomela was him comparison himself as a match to Rian. Though I'm unsure if it's meant to be in the romantic sense and that that's why we had that shot of Philomela's chest.

Cruising from character to character, I want to visit Alcyone next because this second cour seems to be doing something very curious with them.

Yes, they're continually aware of Alcyone's height in how they frame layouts, but that's not it.

What I'm more interested in is the piece said by Chise later on in the episode about Alcyone.

It's a really interesting idea that she brings forward, because Alcyone sort of fits the bill for being a replacement/parallel Elias for Philomela. I'm sure that Alcyone will play a critical role in Philomela breaking free of her cage, similar to how Elias impacted Chise. It does make me wonder though if Elias will appear much alongside Chise through this stretch. I think leaving them separate is a good thing as of right now though, and that in doing so they're able to allow Chise to grow as an individual and use her past experiences with Elias to involve herself with Alcyone and Philomela.

Speaking about Philomela so much though, she absolutely has the scene of the episode. I love it so much for so many different reasons.

The narrative behind it is just so great. Philomela thinks she's free from her grandmother at the college, that she has a chance to be a normal student thanks to Chise, that having Alcyone by her side she'll be okay.

But then then her old habits kick in and she can't drink the water. She begins to spiral in her isolation, and the iron grip of her grandmother returns in the worst way possible. She uses Alcyone as a vessel for a pre-recorded message to disparage Philomela, to drag her even deeper into the abyss of her own mind. It's an incredibly well put together sequence that shows just how little a thread Philomela has been holding onto as her grandmother threatens to let go of the other end.

And just re-winding a little to the last bit I really want to talk about: the hole in the wall vendor.

One of my favorite things about MahoYome is how consistently it terrifies with the world of magic. How often things are unsightly and uncomfortable, dangerous or menacing. This specific vendor is a great example of that with two things during their interaction with Mariel.

The first is how they search Mariel's mind for the book. In contrast to her way of touching lips, the vendor sticks his hand directly into Mariel's head, which given the physical reaction Mariel has, was not a pleasant experience.

Following that up is the casual explanation that the vendor would have eaten Mariel had she not paid a reasonable price to them for the information that she's searching for.

The world of magic and monsters is such on that the name implies. It is certainly not the realm of humans, and I love that distinction so much. It presents such a unique, but at the same time very classic approach to magic, and I really can't get enough of it.

I also can't get enough of these detailed environments. I wish Kafka had more to play with in regards to the design of the college, because the vendor's space looks incredibly good.

All in all, it's an episode that has a lot of strong points, but can struggle with getting stuck in lulls. Kafka remains a little too ambitious in some scenes as they rely on still images to fill the space. In others though, like the Philomela sequence, they have some really great work being done. I don't think that MahoYome has to be animated perfectly 100% of the time, but I think that the direction and boarding can use some work to promote animation in sequences.

The story remains rock solid though, and I love how much detail and subtle progression there is with the characters here. So so much to love that I essentially forgot about the book that remains lurking on campus. But I suppose there'll be more about that in the next episode.

#ancient magus' bride #ancient magus bride #mahoyome #mahou tsukai no yome #mahoutsukai no yome #magus bride #魔法使いの嫁 #chise hatori #elias ainsworth #studio kafka #wit studio #anime recommendation #anime review #anime and manga #anime

[petri808]

Sorry it’s late 😅 for @takaritsuweek It’s for day 5

After checking to see if anyone else is in the office, shoujo editor Ritsu Onodera hunkers down at his desk to review the latest chapter of a story he’s been managing for almost a year. He’s made it a rule not to get attached to any of the shoujo series, but the mangaka writer, Kagawa sensei became a favorite of his from the start of her first series with their company. The story started as a one-shot stand-in story when another writer couldn’t get their story ready for print on time, but after an overwhelming response by readers, she was approved to continue it as a series. Well, let’s just say he may have played a role in pushing its popularity… But no one is supposed to know that! Onodera hears the elevator open and close, quickly hiding the magazine under his desk, and popping his head up to see who it is. It’s just another editor leaving. He breathes a sigh of relief and gets back to the story of two high schoolers who’ve fallen in love. 

Picture this, the one-shot opens with a library scene at a co-ed middle school with a male student sitting quietly near a window reading. A 2nd year female who frequents the library takes note of the sullen and quiet, but handsome looking boy who is always there. Week after week she observes from a distance, learning little bits and pieces about the male 3rd year student who seems to like the same types of books as her. Then one day she is reaching up for a book high on a shelf, but her fingertips could barely touch it. At that moment, the quiet male student appears behind her, reaches up, and pulls it down for her. She is quite struck by how handsome the boy is this close, tall, and lean with brown hair and hazel eyes. Even more surprised when he asks if she likes the book and when she replies yes, he tells her he really likes it too, even making a couple more recommendations she should read before leaving the library. As she watches him walk away, her heart starts racing and it ends with her realizing she’s falling in love.

It sounds like a typical plot for a high school shoujo story, but when the story became serialized, Onodera continues to be struck by its similarities to his own life! The female character watches the boy from afar and when she reaches her 1st year in high school and he is in his 2nd year, this pattern continues. That is until one day in the library, dejavu intervenes. She once again couldn’t reach a book and the boy appears to pull it down for her. But this time, the boy hints that he knows she has been watching him. This makes her so flustered, so she blurts out that she likes him to which he replies by asking her out on a date. Over the next few months things are going great, so much so that they are even intimate, but never once has the boy verbally confirmed his affections. This bothers the girl and so one day she asks him how he feels. Unfortunately, his response is lackluster to say it nicely, and it made her upset enough to run away to finish her 3rd year at another high school far away.  

When Onodera read this part of the shoujo story, he must force himself to finish reviewing it because it brings back up a lot of bad memories. If he didn’t know any better, it’s as if the mangaka has crawled into his head and pulled out his memories from high school. The female lead left to stay with family she has in Hawaii, finishing high school and going to their university. The events at the former high school left her jaded and cautious about the opposite sex, so, she doesn’t get into any relationships and focuses solely on her education.

Fast forward two years after graduating university when she becomes homesick and returns to Japan. In Hawaii she had worked for a small publishing company, so when she found a new job in Japan at a publishing company she is thrilled. But that’s where the excitement ended, and trouble began. First off, the only open position is with shoujo mangas which she has no experience with and second, her boss turns out to be none other than the former boy from high school! For the past 10 months, the bi-weekly chapters have been about them healing old wounds and rekindling the relationship because regardless of a decade of separation, it is evident they still love each other. 

Onodera let out a laugh and almost drops the magazine when the scene in the story has the characters on a business trip and the male boss is driving the female lead crazy. Everything on the trip has been going wrong. First the boss reserves only one hotel room and the hotel only have a room with one bed left to choose from. He’s added the wrong time for the meeting into the calendar, so they are an hour early and must wait in the cold (it’s December). She must run out to a store and find a decent gift for the client because he’d failed to tell her they’d needed one. By the time they’d gotten to their hotel room late that evening, all she wanted to do is sleep, but he convinces her to have some wine to relax first. The final panel shows them the next morning, where the woman has woken up next to her boss wearing nothing but her panties and his t-shirt, and he wakes up to her screaming. 

“Ugh, gotta wait to find out what actually happened,” Onodera grumbles to himself under his breath. Two weeks till the next chapter. Is there an innocent or not so innocent explanation? He closes the magazine and tosses it onto the desk, leaning back in thought. If it had been he and Takano… his guess is the explanation will be innocent. The male character in this story could be frustrating, but he has never done anything so far to be someone who’d take advantage of a drunk woman. ‘Being a shoujo, it’s also better it was innocent,’ he smirkingly muses, that way the woman will see that gesture in a good light and add to the progressing relationship.

“Remind you of something?”

The familiar voice causes Onodera to turn in his chair. His boss and lover Masamune Takano must’ve just gotten back to the office. “Remind me of what?” He queries despite knowing what the man is likely referring to.

“The story,” Takano points to the magazine. “The business trip, it reminds me of a trip we once took.”

“I don’t remember,” Onodera feigns ignorance though he cannot hide his blush. The truth is about fifty percent of the time the story in the manga hit very, very close to home but he’s convinced himself they are all coincidences. 

“Sure,” Takano doesn’t argue back and just changes the subject. “I’m all done here. If you’re done too, wanna grab dinner before heading home?”

By this point of their relationship, they’d moved into an apartment together once their own leases had run out. They considered just staying with one or the other’s apartment but decided to find something slightly bigger to accommodate both of their belongings. Plus, with their mutual love of books, it was really nice that they were able to set up a comfortable office with lots of bookshelves. It’s been four months since the move. Onodera thought it will take time to adjust, but since he is often at his boyfriend’s prior to moving in, things go smoothly. Anyone looking in and seeing the level of comfortability between them will assume they’ve been together for years and years. On their days off, it isn’t odd to find them both sitting on a chaise lounge in their office, one sitting up and the other using the other’s lap as a pillow while reading a book.

“Mm,” Onodera looks at his desk before responding. “I’m finished for the day.” He stood up with a stretch while grabbing his satchel, “Dinner sounds like a great idea.”

The new year came and went, and before he knew it, Valentine’s Day is just two weeks away. For Onodera and the rest of the shoujo editors, this holiday of love is a big deal for the female readers and therefore the magazine’s issue that week will contain special give away’s. Merchandise like postcards, stickers, and keychains portraying featured couples in the main magazine series are part of the special edition. Thankfully, most of the work falls on the sales and print staff, while the editors just focus on getting the story prints turned in on time. 

Onodera drops by Kagawa sensei’s workspace to pick up the story draft for the Valentine’s week issue. He only has a couple more hours to turn it in to Takano for review, so as he rides the train back to the office, he quickly reads and checks it over. To his surprise, there is a twist he did not seen coming. Never once had Kagawa sensei mentioned adding a proposal into the story so soon, but there it is in print. Sure, the two main characters have come a long way in the storyline, but it feels like an unexpected surprise. Well, Onodera rationalizes, those are the best ways to create a stir, with something that the readers wouldn’t have seen coming but perhaps are hoping will happen sooner or later. Come to think of it, this is a good fit for it being in a valentine’s issue. ‘The female readers are going to go crazy,’ he chuckles to himself, and if honest, he is excited to see it in print too.

Back in the office, he hands the storyboard to Takano who looks it over like he usually will, not giving away much in terms of what he thinks of the twist. As Onodera waits and watches his boss, he can’t help his mind drifting, thinking about the proposal in the story and wondering what it would feel like to be in the characters shoes. The idea of marriage has come up in he and Takano’s relationship and even though it wouldn’t be a legal marriage, the idea of having a small ceremony did make his heart, beat faster. How would Takano propose to him? … Wait a minute, Onodera shakes the thought away for now, why’d it have to be Takano? Maybe he should propose first? But as much as he hates to admit it, his heart really wants to be the one proposed to. Well, if it’s Takano, Onodera thinks for a moment… Takano tends to be quite romantic and affectionate if it’s just the two of them, so a proposal could be a traditional on bended knee, maybe in a nice place like a restaurant or park. Oh! Onodera’s cheeks start to heat up at the idea. How about in a library? Considering their history, a library made a lot of sense. Just thinking about it is making him feel giddy!

“Why are you grinning like that?” Takano interrupts Onodera’s thoughts. “Did something good just happen?”

“Huh?” Onodera’s mind jumps back into the present. “Oh!” He laughs nervously. “N-No, nothing… I was just thinking that our readers are gonna love the extra giveaways in the Valentine’s edition.”

“They better considering how much it costed us to produce.” Takano states back. “But I agree, they likely will. The latest shoujo couples have been very popular.”

“Yes!” Onodera excitedly agrees. “I especially like the couple in Kagawa sensei’s story. Seeing this issues print is going to be great.”

Takano chuckles. “Are you sure it’s the couple and not because Kagawa sensei’s story is so familiar to you?” 

Again, Onodera feignes ignorance. “I guess… it’s kind of a typical plot idea for a shoujo, so I don’t know how familiar that makes it.”

“Well, I still think it reminds me of us,” Takano states and hands the storyboard back to Onodera. “Looks good, we can get this to the printers already and Kagawa sensei can relax a few extra days.”

The day has finally arrived. Valentine’s Day. A western holiday adopted in Japan where primarily females will give chocolates or gifts to those they care about and is often used to confess their affections. One month later a reciprocal holiday called White day is for the boys to give gifts to girls they care about. All this lovey-dovey, romantic stuff is mostly aimed at the women and business owners see it as a money-making venturists delight. Guess that does make Valentine’s Day a sweet treat for everyone after all. 

‘That smells nice,’ Onodera’s nose wakes him up to the smell of coffee. He stretches his arms into the empty space next to him in the bed, yawning and giving his eyes a chance to adjust. As usual, Takano is already up and based on the coffee smell, it means the man is likely in the kitchen. He drags himself to the bathroom and follows his routine, washing his face, brushing his teeth, and getting dressed, but noting the two, single red roses in a slim glass vase on the counter. ‘Mister closet romantic,’ Onodera chuckles to himself. If he wanted to irritate his boyfriend, he’d only have to post a picture of the gesture on social media, but no way, not today. Though the roses provide a nice floral scent to start off the day with.

When Onodera walks into the living room, he is pleasantly surprised by the spread of breakfast food set out on the dining table. There are sweet mini pancakes with a blueberry spread, Arabiki brand pork sausages, soft scrambled eggs, orange juice, and hot coffee. All his favorite breakfast foods… just like in today’s chapter… ‘no way,’ Onodera shakes the thought away as ridiculous. There is nothing strange about surprising a loved one with breakfast. He smiles and sits across from Takano. After greetings, “this looks delicious Masa, thank you.” 

“Anything for you,” Takano smiles back as he stands. “I’m sorry you’ll have to eat by yourself, but the office called about a problem I need to deal with.”

Onodera smiles, “It’s okay. I’ll be in shortly too.”

Takano rests a gentle hand on Ritsu’s head as he leans down and gives him a quick kiss on the lips. “Love you. Come to my office when you get in.”

“Okay. Love you too,” Ritsu blushes. It never gets old. 

By the time he reaches the office, Onodera is ready to swear off chocolates ever again. The train ride was sickeningly sweet scented because of all the female commuters carrying boxes and bags of chocolate confections. You couldn’t get away from it because it was the busy time when travelers were heading to work and school. There is one cute thing from the ride. Onodera caught a few girls holding the magazine in their arms while giggling with friends about it. Seeing their companies’ successes is always a bonus. He guesses despite the chocolate smell; Valentine’s Day is off to a good start.

After he put his satchel down on his desk, Onodera heads to Takano’s office. The door is partially closed, which he notes as odd because the man rarely closes it… ‘wasn’t the office door closed in the story too?’ Nah, he is probably remembering wrong. “Masa?” He knocks lightly as he pushes the door open… and freezes in place. There beside the desk is Takano on bended knee holding up a small red velvet box with a ring looking up at him. Just like in the story! What is going on?! Onodera’s face heats up like never before and moisture clouds his eyes. “Masa…mune?”

Takano takes hold of Onodera’s left hand with a wide brimming smile and moisture also clouding his eyes. His voice shakes a bit as he speaks. “Our past was memorable; can our future be infinite? Ritsu, I know my life has never and will never be complete without you beside me to share it.” He lifts the box up again as he continues and releases the man’s left hand. “Wear the ring for yes, close the box for no.”

Unlike the cliffhanger chapter from sensei Kagawa’s manga, there’ll be no waiting to find out the answer. “Masamune…” A few happy tears trickle down Onodera’s cheeks as his shaky right hand pulls the ring from the box and hands it to Takano while holding out his left hand for him to slip it on.

“It looks perfect on you,” Takano kisses him and pulls Onodera into a hug. 

Onodera can feel Takano’s body slightly shaking like his own from all the emotions. They really had gone through so much to get to this moment that it somehow makes it feel even more heart stirring and special. He closes his eyes as he presses his face against Takano’s chest, relishing and committing this moment to memory. Things like fate and soulmates are something Onodera believes only happen in fiction, yet here he is in his very own. Wait, speaking of stories. He pushes off just enough look up to Takano’s face. “Kagawa sensei’s story, this was in it, but how?!”    

“Oh,” Takano chuckles, “she’s an old mangaka I knew who wanted to get back into writing. So, I pitched her our story and she loved it as a plot, and here we are.” He squeezes Onodera again in the hug. “It’s kinda cool to have our own story in art form don’t you think?”

“I guess,” Onodera mumbles feigning annoyance, but really screaming inside. Only they know the truth, but to see so many fans loving it too… perhaps, “yeah…” He goes back to resting against Takano’s chest. “It’s pretty special.”

“How do you think the story should end? You should give Kagawa sensei the answer.” Takano suggests. 

Onodera thinks for a moment, then answeres. “I’d say, old and gray standing together, lovingly holding each other in front of a window looking out from the office of their own publishing company.”

Takano chuckles and shifts Onodera. He leans down and gives his lover a slow pressured kiss, then rests his forehead against the others, speaking softly in a blissful tone. “I’m gonna do everything in my power to make that come true.”

“I know,” Onodera purrs, stirring something amorous in Takano. He soon feels the man’s hands sliding down the swell of his butt.

“Eh?” Takano pauses and pats something hard, his face morphing into a mixture of surprise and elation. “Are you wearing a plug?!”

Onodera pulls away a bit in embarrassment, averting his eyes as he spoke. “W-Well, it is a lover’s holiday so… I was being prepared.”  

A light chuckle breaks free from Takano as he scoops up Onodera’s cheeks and kisses his lips. “Fuck, I didn’t think I could love you anymore than I already do.” His eyes grow half-lidded. “Be ready, cause you’re not sleeping tonight.”

#takaritsu #takaritsuweek #sekai ichi hatsukoi #sekai ichi hatsukoi fan fiction #onodera ritsu #takano masamune

[thefloatingstone]

More of a suggestion if you wanna watch a Holocaust film that isnt so traumatic as Schindler's List or the Pianist, Life is Beautiful is actually a really good film on the subject even using the theme of "humor can get you through the worst"

I think I am vaguely aware of "Life is Beautiful".

I think a big problem behind movies that deal with the Holocaust is that there is a very fine line between accurate portrayal in a way I can emotionally handle, and a portrayal that sanitises the event to a degree where it becomes insulting (see: Boy in the Striped Pajamas).

I still find Maus to be the best balance in terms of fully giving a first hand account of the full horrors of surviving the Holocaust but due to the presentation of being both a book as well as the art giving just enough degree of separation where I don't feel like I want to die afterwards for a full month after finishing it.

It's difficult tho because I can never fully predict WHAT will trip up the little switch in my head which makes a WWII set story deeply traumatic for me to watch. I have never watched "Saving Private Ryan" but I have no interest in doing so. Because I watched History Buff's video on in and the clip of the kid lying on the Normandy beach crying for his mom bothered me so much I completely swore off ever watching the movie.

It's a really difficult balance and I try my best to listen to people's experiences with war films and how hard it hits, specifically around WWII (although not always. For instance I also have 0 interest in ever watching "Come and See" based on its reputation and I can't remember if that is WWII adjacent or if it's specifically the Belarusian war. Either way I know the movie's reputation and despite Mosfilms making it free on their youtube channel, I know I can't handle that one.)

I feel it's worth mentioning that when I was 16 we studied WWII in high school for a month or so, and our teacher had us watching recreation footage of the Nuremberg Trials which included real life footage taken by the Allies of the concentration camps. And when you're 16 that kind of imagery hits extremely hard and puts things into a much more realistic perspective. (also pretty sure I read Maus for the first time when I was 16 as well but I can't fully recall)

Although in all honesty, most historically accurate films upset me greatly depending on the subject matter. Weirdly enough, I do better with documentaries revolving around these types of subjects than I do film. It's probably something to do with emotional separation which documentaries tend to have versus film which specifically design themselves for emotional response.

Anyway I'm rambling.

I think I have had enough exposure to the Holocaust in narrative media where I would rather stick with watching documentaries about the subject matter I haven't watched before, and just sticking to re-reading Maus and similar accounts in book form. Rather than watch narrative movies about the subject itself.

That being said tho, apparently there's a 4 part miniseries from 1978 called "Holocaust" which, after being released in Germany, was so affecting that during the discussion panel that ran after each episode had German citizens phoning in either enraged saying the show was purely fiction and nothing of the sort happened, or in contrast, SEVERAL German citizens phoning in to confess how in 1938 they participated in Kristallnacht. I might be able to watch that one. And although it is about fictional characters (for the most part) I also need to finish Osamu Tezuka's "Adolf" which I stopped halfway due to how upsetting it was. As well as continue my man Shigeru Mizuki's manga "Showa" which I also stopped reading for a short time to take a break from the events at the start of the series (I haven't even gotten to WWII in that manga series yet. So I don't know if he covers the holocaust specifically as he is writing pure from a Japanese point of view).

Anyway my point is, I am very careful with my exposure just because I have severely upset myself in the past regarding this subject matter. So I'm always trying to find methods to learn more about the subject matter from accurate sources in a way where I won't severely cause lasting emotional damage to myself. But because of that I tend to avoid films and rather seek it out elsewhere.

#C-Puff answers #History #cw #WWII #Holocaust mention #antisemitism

[devsgames]

Why I Don't Prioritize Publishing to Itch.io

So if you've seen my promotional materials (trailers, media posts, portfolio, etc) then you'll have likely noticed I don't typically link my itch.io page all that much. In fact, whenever I make a call to action for people to wishlist/purchase my games it's almost always to my game's Steam page instead of itch. There's a few reasons for this.

Disclaimer: I love itch.io! I love that there's a platform that allows indie games, projects, and everything of all kinds on it. I love that it makes game publishing accessible and that it is an amazing avenue for charity work. I've always advocated people to use it and think it's an amazing resource that the games industry would be much worse off without. Please don't misunderstand this as me saying Itch.io is bad.

Also please bear in mind I'm coming at this as someone who funds all my games from profits from my other games, and seeks to keep 'this wheel of sustainable development' slowly churning. I'm coming at this from the direction of a digital gamedev who still needs to make a bit of a profit to help me continue to make works. My goals are different than someone publishing stuff for fun!

Organic Discoverability

In my experience on Steam your games will get people stumbling across them organically; there's 'related games' sections, 'your discovery queue', and special categories for things on sale etc. etc. etc. Based on metrics it does seem like an amount of traffic is discovering my work through these channels through Steam on a regular basis.

On the other hand, I think Itch's organic discovery rate is very low by comparison. Unless your game is in a popular category and people are likely to be actively searching for games of a similar type in the first place, I've found its extremely unlikely people will naturally come across your game. Itch has similar features to Steam for discoverability that no one really seems to use them - why this is I can't really say but I suspect it's a combination of having a smaller userbase, such a wide variety of games on the platform (in terms of quality and subject) and UX reasons with the site itself. Obviously this can be genre dependent (it seems like people organically discover Horror, Adult and TTRPG experiences most frequently).

This lack of discoverability can be extra bad news if you're someone who struggles to promote your work in the first place, as it means that people aren't going to 'stumble' on your work. In most cases I get the sense that unless you go to itch explicitly knowing what you want to play, the chances of someone discovering your game is very low. Obviously this isn't the be-all-end-all, but I've found it can be a good driver of residual sales and can definitely hurt people trying to get their work out there.

Underpricing

Itch has a culture of users undervaluing the experiences on it.

I suspect its a byproduct of being an open game platform for anything no matter the quality, inclusive of developers who just want people to see their work and don't want to put it behind a paywall, or don't value their work themselves.

Now I love free stuff and do strongly believe in making experiences as financially accessible as possible for anyone who wants to play them (because Capitalism is Evil). Ultimately though, if *everything* on a platform is free or discounted it tends to make anything that's 'premium' seem less appealing. Why play a game made by one person that costs $5 when there's a game made by three people that costs nothing?

Itch does have the benefit of low publisher split (which honestly I think they should change so they have more resources to support the site better) but even then that matters less if sales are just low in general.

Steam does contain mostly premium products and generally people who use Steam expect to buy things, so the prospect of paying for a game when you're explicitly looking for games to buy is less alien there.

And like blah blah blah economic stuff aside, if you're someone who is seeking to make sales this can make it difficult to make paid work be taken seriously when so few other games are paid. Granted the platform really is focused around short experiences and demos, but it does make it difficult to argue that premium experiences are worth publishing there.

Support

Itch support in general I find is frequently slow and lacking in some areas that make me uncomfortable. I was planning on using Itch for mailing keys for a crowdfunded project and discovered I needed to email support to get the feature enabled for my product. I did so but I didn't hear back for two weeks, and by then I had already found and distributed the keys by other means. In other instances I've reported content for harassment and never heard back or saw action taken.

I get that it's a small team working on a whole dang website, but sometimes these experiences add up in a way where I think that if anyone has hesitations about feeling safe online or with content they publish I wouldn't necessarily recommend itch as a publishing platform due to this.

As 'hands off' as Steam is with its publishing style, I typically hear back from them within 2-3 business days and I generally have pretty comfortable control over content people are publishing on my game. If someone leaves a hateful comment I have more confidence it will be addressed appropriately, which is something I don't take for granted online.

In Conclusion

At the end of the day: I just don't sell much on itch! Maybe it's for reasons aside from those listed above, but overall I just tend to get few engagements and even fewer sales.

Take Bombing!!: A Graffiti Sandbox for example, which through its promotion I tried to market both Steam and Itch in equal measure: Typically on Steam I'll get something around 1 sale for day - not amazing but still pretty good! On itch I typically get 2 sales per month, which is substantially lower.

Here's some Hard numbers on Bombing!! since its launch in May 2021:

And here's numbers on my overall profile which has been active since ~2016:

(Some caveats: Maybe ~60% of all downloads above are from bundles. My games are heavily discovered from being incorporated into parts of bundles and I suspect discoverability would be significantly lower were this not the case. Additionally, roughly half the $1k overall profits came from the 2021 Queer Games bundle and not from direct sales of my titles)

It could very well be that I'm doing things wrong, and to be clear Itch it totally under zero obligation to appeal to me or people with similar goals as me! This is just some of the things I think about when considering using the platform, and has coloured my approach to publishing on there in general. :)

Once again -Itch rules! I use it to add my works to charity bundles all the time, and it's a very wonderful and special place for so many cool games and experiences. If you need to make money from the work you do? I'd still recommend looking to other platforms where possible.

If you have any questions or insights asks are always open! :)

#game dev #gamedev #indie games #indie game #game development #gamedevelopment #video games #video game #solo dev #solodev #advice

[spacedlexi]

have you watched tlou? thoughts?

ive made a few posts about it if u search tlou on my blog but i never made a final thoughts or anything

this kinda turned into a final thoughts ramble (essay) so under the cut it goes

honestly it kinda peaked for me at ep 3 (which was a REALLY good ep so the bar was high and i was mostly enjoying the changes up through that point),, i still liked it but i feel like some of the changes they made altered the impact of the og ellie/joel relationship. theyre dedicated to rewriting ellie to have some "violence" problem to attempt to set her up better for part 2 but i just hate that they actively have chosen to do this to her character. they took a lot of her sweetness away which is a huge shame to me. theyre so weird about ellie honestly i dont like the way they talk about her half the time these days i had to stop watching the bts because the way they kept talking about "violence" made me ill sick even. like you can still have your character have a "descent into madness" type plot after experiencing an extremely traumatic event (after a lifetime of traumatic experiences) without being weird about how "violent" people are. they love to throw that word around but they dont like to investigate Why exactly people are being violent and to Who. its typically just violence and/or revenge=bad 😐 (<-and that i think kinda leads into other problems i have with the plots they write in general)

i had less problems with joel. my only real problem was that they really played up the old thing a little much like save it for part 2 lol also not enough accent i didnt hear a single "elleh". i wasnt a fan of how they decided to change joel and tommys convo about ellie, and while i can appreciate it more now knowing that they still committed to portraying joels actions in the final episode as the selfish acts they are, and seeing joel have fears of failure makes sense because im sure he feels he failed as a parent, im still not a fan of how maria doesnt get to chew him out for his selfishness (important character moment of reflection on selfish behavior and consequences of actions on people around him), and how it changes the atmosphere of his and ellies argument when half of the reason he doesnt want to take her is because he feels too old and slow to protect her. and Then when he Does decide to take her its like? werent you crying last night about being slow and deaf and the impact that has on your combat ability? did that change? i understand why they added the lines they added but i dont feel like it made sense with how they continued to play out the episode with line for line scenes from the game...like these are two different things now. similar, but different enough to introduce problems where there didnt used to be. and then hes stabbed and dying 10 mins later

the pacing in general was a little iffy to me. it was only 9 episodes and 2 of them are separate from the main plot. that, plus rewriting existing characters/plots, plus not being able to fit in the more softer personal moments between joel and ellie that would just happen throughout a map(i know its hard to make watching 2 people walk cross country interesting but we needed more of those moments), plus ellie being preemptively hardened so we see less of her soft side slowly cracking through joels tough shell really impacted the believability of their relationship for me. we're supposed to see ellie become more hardened over the game but honestly in the show she always feels at the same level to me :/ those soft moments Are still there but i wouldve liked to have seen more of them. especially felt the loss of the scene where ellie sees real fireflies for the first time

the reason why i love the original last of us so much is because i think it is an INCREDIBLE character piece. every single character plays a very important role in shaping the development of the main two protagonists relationship (the two of which are Also impacting each other) over the course of the story. while i loved bill and franks ep, i wish they would have introduced a new character to fill the role that og bill left. because og bill was very important for joel. he was like a ghost of christmas future showing the man he could become if he continued to push people away. and throughout bills segment joel frequently pushes back against his ideas and this usually lent to a little bonding moment between him and ellie. but this also showed us that joel was open to new connections. whether he would get over his fear of that or not to be solved at a later date (ie: the tommy incident that was altered for the show and my problem with it because joels choice to take ellie after their argument is EVERYTHING and the show muddied it a bit). but by the time they leave bill, joel and ellie have begun building a true connection

sam and henry also suffered from this imo. by writing in all the kathleen stuff, it takes the focus away from how sam and henrys familial relationship is the foundation from which joel and ellies closer familial bond is allowed to grow (which also becomes a source of division when ellie wants to talk about what happened to them but joel wants to move on, which leads into their conflict during tommys section which boils down to more "talk about it vs move on"). i also feel like the story is weaker for choosing not to include the story of kyle and ish. because although it happens mainly through notes, its a story about letting yourself learn to trust new people and the things you can do with a strong community, its a story about how even though good things may come to an end, the time we had together was important and meaningful and WORTH IT and i wouldnt have done it any other way. id much rather focus more in on that as a theme (compounds with the riley/left behind segment/plus joels final act of selfishness) than whatever tf was going on with kathleen and her revenge plot. plus i thought the first game was all about "love" so why not go harder into these "light in the darkness" themes? kathleens plot is just a watered down part 2 anyway i still dont think we needed that :/

all my grievances aside however they Did stick the landing and i was so relieved plus i enjoyed the added anna segment. as someone whos played tlou like at least 10 times over the last decade plus watched others play, it was going to be impossible for me to not constantly be comparing the two. to be fair i think one of the strongest points of the show was how they really nailed how it felt to actually BE the player in these scenes that i had already played a hundred times myself. im sure this show was great for someone whos never played the game since a lot of my problems come from how they decided to do certain things for the show. i hope the people who enjoyed the show but havent experienced the game go watch a clip comp or something because i definitely believe the og game is still the best way to experience this story. video games also deserve more respect as an art form but thats a whooooole other conversation

i wish my opinion was stronger than 'it was fine overall with a couple solid episodes' but welp....definitely couldve been worse tho so im glad its at least as good as it is. it is good!! but the game is very near and dear to me so...i am biased but i tried to at least give it as fair a shake as possible. i think it started pretty strong. peaked with bill and frank. then dipped a little lower than the first ep. then picked back up to first eps strength again for the final stretch. the bill and frank and left behind eps were my favorite parts of the season. its a bit of a shame that the 2 eps that are most removed from the plot are the strongest to me, but also i guess it makes sense

#replies with lexi #incognito #half of this is me gushing about why i love the game so much but it gets at where my problems with the show come from #after u get past my ellie grumblings #tlou critical #but also pos :) #i really did a deep dive hoo boy #time to post this at an unreasonable hour #time to stop agonizing over Opinions and go to sleep

[senatushq]

NAME. Pluto AGE & BIRTH DATE. Prehistoric & Unknown GENDER & PRONOUNS. Male & He/Him SPECIES. Aspect OCCUPATION. Unemployed FACE CLAIM. Manny Montana

biography

King, God, Aspect. They’d found a thousand names for Pluto, but none of them really did him justice. Raised in a world of chaos, he knew nothing but blood, screams and wrath, following him everywhere. The screams turned into a melody over time, a symphony for his father, Nyarlathotep. Pluto grew up believing terror and power to be a useful tool to push others away, as seen with his father. An heir of sorts, Pluto tried to learn as much as possible from his father, not because he wanted to, but because he dreaded to end up just like him. So he studied every move of Nyarlathotep to outsmart him in the end. To keep his siblings safe, to play the protector and sacrifice himself for them by learning more and more about terror and chaos, seemed to be his calling. A destiny he didn’t question. 

Fleeing was the best option. Running away from the most feared through the Otherworld offered Pluto and his siblings a better life. It not only offered shelter from a life in chaos, but also a new opportunity to conquer. Alas, the moment Pluto stepped into the mortal realm, he could barely focus. A thirst, so volatile and fetting, he couldn’t focus on anything but his shapeless existence. Lured by its sweet scent, Pluto willingly surrendered himself to its taste. Breaking through the first mortal’s skin was easy enough, his teeth tearing through their skin like a blade cutting paper in half. Life filled his mouth, an experience he can recall to this day. Like a snake shedding its skin, Pluto was reborn. An original vampire, a creature of the night, a plague on this Earth. 

His siblings were the first to blend in, the first to find ways to become more powerful. Having spent his whole life in the midst of such power struggles and war, Pluto gladly retreated, unwilling to blend in after helping with the creation of the monarchy. Instead, he used his time to get drunk on blood, continuing his bloodline to plague this Earth in his stead. 

Ruling, although enticing at first, had made him tired. The more time he spent in this realm, the more he began to care for it. History would repeat itself, so he chose to explore. That’s where he met her, somebody who didn’t flinch at his touch but rather embraced the inevitable end. Immortality didn’t feel like such a burden anymore, isolation a construct he’d rather leave behind for the sake of his Beloved. A mere human, Pluto stole her away and turned her so they’d have all eternity together. Alas, eternity wouldn’t last. 

Ironically, he’d never felt more alive while the two of them laid waste to entire towns and generations, feeding until they’d end up as worthy sacrifices for his Beloved. Tragically, Pluto had never felt more devastated and hollow the moment canines tore her apart, ripping out whatever shred of hope he’d left. His revenge followed in no time, but did little to satisfy him nor mend his heart. Only grief remained, slowly eating him alive from the inside out. And thus a new type of monster was born – a heartbroken immortal, an original vampire trapped with his own mind and memories for all eternity. Much like an Omen, Pluto devastated entire towns on his own, alarming all others nearby, hoping they’d acknowledge his warning and flee, giving him an opportunity to chase.  

Hopeless, Pluto went to the Otherworld in need of something he could cling onto. As if history repeated itself, Pluto found another Queen able to enrapture his exhausted heart. Loving again had seemed to be impossible, but to be loved and love again only made sense to him as he laid eyes on her. He followed Kore’s soul to the realm that ran in between, towards a lone tree bearing a single pomegranate, ripe and red in color. He’d never tasted anything similar. Tasting the pomegranate seeds pushed all former thoughts of blood aside, even deeming it to be inferior. Kore would be the safest inside of him, until he finds a suitable vessel for his Queen.

Pluto returned to his siblings in an attempt to regain strength and numbers. Together they’d conquer and establish a new world order. Secrets, power and death were powerful tools to use and eventually reunite him with his Kore. And for the first time in forever, Pluto felt truly powerful. With a goal in mind he’d remain unstoppable, like a plague, like an Omen waiting to be fulfilled.

personality

+ persuasive, protective, alluring – vindictive, decadent, self-serving

played by saskia. gmt+1. she/her.

[notmuchtoconceal]

If you went to school in North America, you were likely introduced to tales of Johnny Appleseed -- a well-intentioned if slightly odd gentleman who travelled the continent, planting appleseeds everywhere he went.

Which, if you know anything about apple genetics, might come across as a colossal waste of time.

After all, every time you grow an apple from seed, you're actually rolling the dice. You don't know what's gonna grow.

So it's not like Johnny was spreading tasty apples across the U.S of A, just... crabby, gross ones.

But it turns out growing all those not-so yummy apples was kind of a good thing... because it ensured that apple growers have tools to continue to cultivate delicious varieties today.

Jonathan Chapman travelled hundreds of thousands of miles across what is now the American Midwest in the 19th century, toting the fruit seeds that would earn him his nickname "Johnny Appleseed".

He made a living selling the trees that sprouted from those seeds. But here's the weird thing: he had no way of knowing what apples would come from those seeds, and a modern apple grower couldn't tell you much better.

Suppose you go to the grocery store and buy yourself some nice Fujis or Pink Ladies.

You say to yourself, "Gosh, this is the best apple I've ever eaten."

So you plant the seeds in your backyard in hopes that once the tree matures, you can experience that delicious apple all over again. But you wait about a decade until the tree finally produces fruit and -- surprise! Your apples are small, or sour, or kind of just.... ugly-looking.

Or maybe all of the above.

Well if you talked to an apple-grower first, you would've expected that!

Unlike planting seeds from your favorite store-bought tomatoes, the fruit of any apple tree you grow from seed will never look like the fruit it came from. They don't grow "true-to-type" as gardeners say.

And that's cause genes from those seeds are always from two genetically distinct trees.

See, we can't just inbreed the trees to preserve the traits we like, like we do in dogs. Apples and other species like pears and sweet cherries won't let us do that. These species have a system called "self-incompatibility" where they're capable of recognizing genetically similar individuals and then not breeding with them.

Generally, for flowering plants the process of seed-production starts when a pollen grain falls onto an organ within the flower called the pistil. That pollen grain then grows a long tube down to the flower's ovaries and delivers its genetic material. (hawt) Plants are a bit oddball, so there's more to it than that, but that's the gist.

Many flowering plants produce both male and female reproductive organs on the same flower. And if that's the case, they can often fertilize themselves. Like the reason Mendel's pea plants were so great for studying genetics was because they're self-fertilizing. If he'd been studying apples, he never would have gotten as far as he did.

But even though apples do have the necessary parts in place for self-fertilization, they also have really robust ways of telling their own pollen from that of a genetically-distinct tree.

The female reproductive organ produces an enzyme called an S-RNase. That enzyme's job is to chop up RNA -- which would be bad for a future seed, since cells need RNA to make proteins, and by extension live.

Still, these enzymes are transported into the growing pollen-tube.

Luckily, it has a defense. It can degrade the S-RNase before the enzyme can do any degrading of its own. But it will only do that if it's genes and the RNase are a mismatch. If it recognizes the RNase as being from genetic stock similar to its own, the RNase gets to do its work unencumbered and fertilization is stopped.

This means apple blossoms won't pollinate themselves or other blossoms on their tree, even if the pollen happens to land in the right place. It even reduces the odds that parent or sibling trees can breed with them. Most of the time, pollen from a totally different strain has to be carried by bees or the wind for a flower to produce fruit.

That's good for the plant because inbreeding can lead to a loss of resistance from pests and disease. As well as just being less healthy overall. But it's bad for us.... because it means we can't pick a tree we like and force it to produce offspring with very similar genes.

Instead, growers have to find another type of apple tree that blooms at the same time, produces compatible pollen, and carries desirable genes in order to breed new trees. What that all means, is that we've essentially been rolling the dice for literally thousands of years, hoping that two trees will mate and produce a nice apple.

And it's not even like a six-sided die, it's more like a handful of D20s.

That's because apples have remained almost as genetically diverse as their wild ancestors, starting from when they were first cultivated around 4000 years ago.

Normally, domestication really hurts the genetic diversity of a population, as humans select for desirable traits, gene variants get left behind, creating what's referred to as a "domestication bottleneck" and more modern methods of cultivation can narrow the gene pool even further, creating a second "improvement bottleneck."

Estimates vary, but improvement bottlenecks can remove as much as 25% of the wild genetic diversity, but that's not the case with apples.

A 2014 paper surveyed the genetic diversity of modern cultivated apples and found it's basically equal to the very oldest varieties.

That means that any genes that contribute to sweetness or color or pest-resistance or ability to grow in cold climates are mixed-in with all sorts of other genes throughout the apple's gene pool.

And that means that once apple-growers find an apple they like, they just can't risk letting it breed with other apple trees.

So if they hit the genetic jackpot, they usually propagate that tree by cloning. Not modern molecular cloning, but a growing technique called grafting, where you take the fruit-bearing part of one tree and fuse it with the root of another, creating a new hybrid tree that produces genetically identical fruit. It's a process so ancient we've had it about as long as we've had cultivated apples, and it means that we can keep growing what's effectively the same tree for generations.

Like, Golden Delicious go back to 1890. There are still some room for genetic changes, even when you're cloning trees in this fashion, though.

Like sometimes a new branch will turn up with a chance mutation that makes the apples on it a little different. A deeper shade of red, perhaps.

Growers might select for that more appealing color. Propagating mutant branches over the older variety. Even if the deeper color comes at the expense of flavor. You might see where I'm going with this.

Yes, the reason Red Delicious apples taste like misery incarnate is probably for this selection for color.

At least, according to some food scientists.

By all accounts, they used to taste pretty good!

Of course, good tasting apples have only really been the goal of apple-growers for the last century or two.

Your Honeycrisps and your Galas are what the trade calls "dessert apples". They're sweeter than cider apples and we tend to want them to be more consistent. Apples that go into hard cider don't have to be sweet or perfectly firm or... well, good really.

They basically just have to have enough sugar to ferment, which in the end is why our buddy Johnny probably wasn't wasting his time.

Sure, he didn't know what would grow from his seeds exactly, but at the time most apples ended up as hard cider, so pretty much any apple worked, and the genetic studies suggested he or people like him may actually have helped apples maintain their genetic diversity up to the present day. The apples you see in the grocery store originate from the Tien Shan Mountains in central Asia. They travelled to Europe along the Silk Route where they further interbred with European crab apples to produce the modern domesticated apple, malus domestica.

In fact, they've interbred so many times, that dometicated apples have more genetic material in common with the European apples than the Asian ones, and only modern genetic studies have been able to established for certain where they came from.

Then, those European domesticated strains were introduced to North America, and somehow they stayed super diverse.

Some have suggested that that's because malus domestica interbred with North American species to adapt to a new climate, but others think it had more to do with our dear pal Johnny and others like him.

Because even though different apple varieties were often kept apart in their European orchards, with people running around planting them all over North America, some were bound to go wild!

That let them get together and they were different enough from one another to overcome self-incompatibility.

So they made new varieties of trees called "chance seedlings".

That turned out to be a pretty good thing for us, because we've gotten more than a few delicious apples through these new offspring.

Literally, Red Delicious and Golden Delicious apples were both chance seedlings, and the Macintosh, an apple so popular it's got a certain type of computer named after it, was also a chance seedling that was discovered all the way back in 1811!

So there's a lot to be said for planting apple seeds when you don't know what will sprout from them.

Genetic diversity isn't as valuable for its own sake. Apple breeders rely on that huge gene pool to create new varieties, though these days we're lucky enough to have genetic sequencing to cut down on the guesswork, and apple-growers aren't just looking for things that improve flavor.

Hiding amongst those genes are also the keys to resisting pests and disease growing in different climates or making apples that are hardier and easier to transport, or so breeders hope.

In fact, there's some evidence that a gene for disease-resistance made the jump from wild to domestic apples as recently as the 1970's, and the need for resistance isn't just theoretical.

Both pests and a changing climate have been making life harder for North American apples in recent years.

That's why efforts are ongoing to preserve apple diversity!

See, apples as a whole are diverse, but as of 2008, 90% of apples produced in the US consisted of just 15 varieties, and if we want to keep creating new tasty apple varieties that can survive whatever gets thrown at them, we'll need to do better than that!

Fortunately, researches are on it.

Much like Johnny once did, they're planting all sorts of seeds, and by doing so they're ensuring that apples stay wonderfully diverse.

The rest of us will just have to wait for the fruits of their labor.

#to get a feeling #feeding frenzy #live free #Youtube

[crasherfly]

First Take: Fire Emblem Engage Improves By Cutting the Chaff

If you’ve been a frequent reader of mine then you know by now that I spent a lot of time with Fire Emblem: Three Houses. 240 hours and even then, I still have a path left (technically...it’s really more a half path but still requires a full play to access it...blech). With so many hours at my back I feel qualified to pass a verdict on Three Houses that some might find controversial-

Fire Emblem: Three Houses was a good game that also excelled at wasting your time.

It was all the little things- the tea times, the fishing, the lost and found fetch quests, the sauna visits, the meal times, the inventory management, the social menu navigation and so forth. Seconds that turned into minutes that turned into hours spent away from what the series is allegedly about- forging thrilling stories on the field of battle. By the time I reached the story’s third branch, this time thievery had gone from minor annoyance to the bane of my existence. No matter how hard I tried to optimize my runs of Fire Emblem: 3 Houses, it always found ways to claw back my time, pressuring me to relinquish just a few more minutes in pursuit of yet another thing that wasn’t battle. I don’t think I’ve ever resented a very good game as much as I have 3 Houses.

So when Fire Emblem Engaged was announced I had a hard time summoning any excitement over the news. Every trailer shown looked to be a continuation of 3 Houses, from the bright, clean 3D to the off-mission hub world and the minigames. Did I really want yet another 100+ hour experience that was maybe half of what I enjoyed about Fire Emblem? Did I really want to invest my time in a game that felt more like a chore than an escape?

But...I’ve also been playing this series since the GBA...so it wasn’t as if I was simply going to skip the latest entry when it’s sitting right there. And as news trickled in of intriguing changes from 3 Houses, I found myself perking up again.

I’m now 6 chapters into Fire Emblem Engage with roughly the same number of hours under my belt. It’s early- very, very early- but I have thoughts!

And folks...they’re mostly positive!

The Good

The Somniel

Let’s get this out of the way- I hated the monastery in 3 Houses with an absolute passion. It was unnecessarily large, visually garish and an absolute pain to navigate. Everyone had way, way too much to say and the Switch chugged to load you into areas, making fast travel barely any better than running.

Much of this has been fixed with the Somniel. It’s still too big by my estimates, but its design is at least a bit more centralized. It runs smoother and is more pleasant to navigate. To date there’s just a couple of areas you have to go through load screens to enter. Fast travel is seamless. And there’s no obligation to talk to every single person. 

And most importantly- you can visit it at any time and there’s very little structure in how your time is spent. The days of feeling pressured into spending action points and structuring your calendars are gone. Thank god.

It brings to mind the castle from Fire Emblem: Fates, which served as a similar type of hub with merchants, companions and activities. It was something you could spend time on, but it wouldn’t break the story if you avoided it. The Somniel appears to serve a similar function so far (even complete with a guardian pet to raise). It’s a huge improvement to the bloated obligations of 3 Houses’ massive monastery.

The Protagonist Speaks

Look, I love silent protagonists. Adore them. There are precious few games that are better for having their protagonists speak the players’ minds for them. But...historically, Fire Emblem has never been one of them. Even characters that the players have some degree of control over, such as Robin and Corrin, still had voices and personalities that made an impression.

Byleth of 3 Houses had...nothing. Literally nothing. They were a blank slate. They were possibly the least interesting character to ever hit the Fire Emblem series. While many silent protagonists are such so as to allow the play to project their own emotional reactions on a story, Byleth rarely felt like anything other than unfinished, an occasionally gesticulating, dead eyed dweeb in a crappy robe with a hilariously stilted dialogue tree.

Alear has yet to capture my interest in the same was as, say, Corrin from Fates. But at least Alear has a personality and a sense of performance tied to them. There’s something to grab onto. It isn’t the deepest portrayal to date in Fire Emblem, but it is more than nothing- so that marks an improvement.

The Battles are Hard- And There’s Plenty of Them

Within the first hour of Fire Emblem Engage you are thrust into multiple battles. There’s no minigames, no wandering hubs, no growing social ranks- just fighting. You spend time doing exactly what most fans presumably would expect to be doing in a turn-based strategy game- playing out battle scenarios. 

The pace was so brisk, in fact, that I found myself surprised to be reminded of Triangle Strategy, my favorite game of 2022 which was also remarkably committed to keeping its players on the battlefield. 

I chose Hard difficulty and opted for Casual- I usually save the “Hardcore” mode for later plays after I’ve experienced the story. It’s a good thing I did, because folks- Hard mode is in fact quite challenging. Had I not opted for Casual, I’d likely be down a number of soldiers already. I’ve taken losses in every battle- sometimes due to my own error, sometimes due to a surprisingly vicious AI (another favorable Triangle Strategy comparison!). And the enemies aren’t just smart- they are durable (at least in Hard mode). Whereas in 3 Houses it was extremely easy to one shot everything, such quick kills in Engage are reserved only for the most advantageous matchups. 

Added to this layer are the new Weapon Break and Engage systems, which add a new layer to the strategy- for both sides of the battle. With Weapon Break, you can now utilize the weapon triangle to maximum advantage, with a sword attack against an ax user running the chance of breaking their ability to retaliate the remainder of the turn, which opens up new options for more vulnerable units. 

So far, the early meta of Engage seems to favor magic and heavy armor, but I’m looking forward to seeing what additional classes add to the mix. 

If the trend continues, Engage could be the most satisfying strategy entry in the series since Fire Emblem: Fates Conquest.

Weapon Durability Is Gone

Do I really need to say more? You buy a sword- and it’s yours for good. No more piling up 3/30 Swords that you can never use, no more battles going awry because you forgot to pack an extra javelin. Tomes no longer have a use counter either.

Wands sadly still have a use limit, which I admit I don’t understand, but its a small concession made compared to the amount of time saved.

What’s more, Engage also brings an option to optimize your entire inventory automatically, fixing your characters’ inventories so that they always carry the best equipment they are qualified to use. I’ve tried it a couple of times and after quick reviews I was surprised to find I had no complaints with how the game fixed up my inventory. Same as well for the ring assignment, another inventory item that could have been a chore but becomes much less stressful thanks to the optimize option.

Socialization Is Reliant On Combat- As It Should Be

This is not intended as disrespect toward folks who love the social/visual novel aspect of Fire Emblem. I love that side of the series as much as anyone. Getting to know the characters in Fates and Awakening- and pairing them off- was a blast. I even kept Excel sheets so I could best optimize my pairings. I’ve even RANKED the characters of multiple games in a few long blog posts.

But socialization should be the reward for actual gameplay. Those hard-fought battles- and how units find synergy with one another during them- should be a major component in how they come together off the field. Social ranks should be the reward for finding success in...actually playing the game.

Early on, Engage seems to understand this. While the Somniel does have some limited activities that offer social rewards, it’s nowhere near the bloated mess of activities that plagued 3 Houses. While there’s plenty of time for that to change, I for one am relieved to report that the days of watching the same dinner cinematic 6 times in a row appear to be behind us.

There Are No Immediate Stupidly Final Decisions

No, you do not have to choose a House or a Royal Family or a Faction to side with 10 minutes into the game. The story is the story- we are all gonna experience the same path together and we won’t be forced into a ridiculous branching path that only exists to ensure we play the game 3 times over just to fill in the story. Fucking thank goodness.

The Bad

Alright, it can’t all be good, right? Right. It’s Fire Emblem- so there’s always gonna be some parts of it that are a big ol’ mixed bag. So lets talk about them.

There Are Still Crappy Minigames 

I can’t fathom who thought it would be fun to polish rings between missions as a way to increase your Emblem Ranks...but that’s what you have to do.

And I’d like to huck some rotten fruit at whoever came up with the fitness minigames. Thankfully, you’re only obligated to do them once between missions, but the ones I’ve tried have been very, very tedious. 

The Arena, while a good idea in concept, appears to be reliant on RNG- or is just incredibly meanspirited. I chose my lower level mage in hopes of scoring some easy xp, only to have the Arena choose to have him face my one unit who is a direct counter to mages. Similarly, when I did Emblem training, my Emblem spirits wiped the floor with my regular units. Everyone took an L, and with limited Arena uses between missions there isn’t much recourse if you have bad luck.

Pets are also here and they suck. It takes too long to watch a half-assed animation of Alear placing his hand near an animal only to have it literally fart out some currency. When you feed the pets, Engage can’t even be bothered to show the food they’re eating. Even Pokemon manages that! The game constantly encourages you to upgrade your alliances so you can get MORE pets and I’ve never felt less compelled to do so.

Time Rewind Is Back

I get that this is kinda inevitable since almost every TBS anymore has some kind of rewind, but I still don’t like its inclusion in Fire Emblem. I think it should at least be optional or exclusively tied to Casual Mode.

I’m not gonna be some old school grouch who tells you that the old days were better. That would be silly. I remember the frustration of losing characters and having to restart battles back in the GBA and Gamecube days. It was horrible! I hated it! I’m still haunted by the characters I lost in the challenge towers on GBA. I was one of the first to cheer for the opt-out from perma-death characters.

But I also think that Fire Emblem is, strategically, a more forgiving series than it once was. And the inclusion of Casual Mode is enough of a compromise as it is. Giving the player ten rewinds a battle makes even Hardcore Mode essentially casual.

Of course, the option always exists to simply not use it- and thus far, I think I’ve only used it twice in 5 battles or so. But I do believe that rewind- even if unused- still contributes to a loss of tension in battles. When no choice is final, it’s a bit harder to invest.

I think a compromise could be found in approaching mission failure in the same way that Triangle Strategy does- where you are forced to restart the mission but retain gained XP and regenerate expended items, rather than making missions a pass-fail all or nothing gambit. Make learning the scenario a process rather than giving players an undo button.

But, again, this gripe feels minor when the rewind mostly just exists as an invitation, rather than an obligation. And if that’s what some players need to help them feel less overwhelmed by a TBS game, then more power to them.

The Aesthetics 

What follows is entirely subjective. I’m my own person with my own tastes, so it’s entirely possible, if not likely, that what sells immersion for me in a game is opposite from what works for you. That’s fine!

I think Fire Emblem Engage’s current aesthetic is plastic as hell. I’d call it “V-Tuber-esque”, but first off, I enjoy V-Tubers and don’t want to imply that as a negative, and second, I know a number of V-Tubers who have rigged models that look better than the character models that appear in Engage.

This is made worse by the fact that the EN voice cast is about as syrupy sweet as it gets in their performances. For veterans of dubbed anime, this will likely be water under the bridge- many of the actors come straight from the Funimation/Crunchyroll talent stables and provide the exact performances you’d expect.

But for those of us who were hoping for something more...uh, not like that- lord it’s a lot. It makes 3 Houses feel downright grounded in some ways. Luckily, we have the option these days to turn on the JP voices, which are cartoonish in their own ways- but at least it’s a bit easier on  the ears. Of course, then you have to contend with the localization issues, which are legion- this is Fire Emblem, after all, and even a cursory knowledge of Japanese is enough to tell you that what the characters are saying sure as hell does not match up with what’s in the subs.

It’s hard not to compare this to games like Triangle Strategy with its gorgeous 2.5D and hand drawn portraits- or to pine for the melding of styles found in games like Awakening or Echoes. Engage, meanwhile, is locked into a style that falls somewhere between a V-Tuber’s weekly schedule background and Genshin Impact, with bright colors and 3D models that feel more at home in a mobile gacha game than in a AAA strategy game. 

Where the Jury Is Still Out... 

The Story

Much has been made of Engage’s story being bad. I’ve read everything from “boring” to “worst in series”.

I can’t say one way or the other. What I’ve played so far feels very, very similar to Fates in terms of events. Compared to 3 Houses, however, the story feels downright cohesive- aided by the fact that there’s just one path to follow. Bless the folks who pushed for that (in and of itself, the single story path qualifies as a major positive).

All I’ll say is this- if you’re worried about the story quality, try and recount a Fire Emblem- any Fire Emblem- and see how ridiculous you sound by the end of your retelling. Can ANYONE tell us what 3 Houses was actually about? How many people played all 3 paths of Fates? And Awakening was kinda fucked in its own special ways..

I’m just saying...I don’t think many folks show up for the main story of Fire Emblem. And even if they did- you should still just decide for yourself. We really don’t need to make a prevailing opinion out of the perspectives of 3 or 4 people paid to write about video games.

The Expansion Pass

The Expansion Pass is $30 with Day 1 content, which feels predatory in and of itself. Furthermore, much of its content is locked well into 2023 and beyond. While committed players like myself can count on likely playing Engage at least twice over, it’s likely most players won’t.

How useful the Expansion Pass content actually is will be another matter. I have yet to complete the paralogues that give me access to the Day 1 content. But a brief glance at the list of expected content signals to me that this doesn’t appear to be anywhere nearly as substantial as Ashen Wolves was for 3 Houses- at least not yet.

My Verdict?

Roughly six hours in, Fire Emblem: Engage seems to have learned lessons from 3 Houses’ most infuriating tendencies and also seems more eager to respect your time. You can sit down with Engage and make decent progress in an hour. It will challenge you and strive to not keep you off the battlefield any longer than necessary.

If you’re looking for a game to play, rather than a pit to throw your time way in- Engage appears to be a safe bet in the early hours. There’s a lot to like despite a few expected eyeroll moments. 

You can be sure I’ll be back with more on Engage as I approach its mid and end game. 

[bradysvensson]

Straightforward Issues You Must Understand In Home Design

Are you living at home for a long time or perhaps is a fresh living atmosphere for yourself? In any case, you most likely see some areas of the property that you are currently not amazed with. You will find basic interior design tactics that can be used to change your property right into a place that you are happy to get in touch with house. When it comes to an interior-design and style project you should consider starting up in the most famous area of the home. xưởng sản xuất gỗ may be both a great deal of operate and be expensive at the same time. If you wish to get the best from work and cash, you ought to enhance your room that you will delight in the most initially. For areas with high ceilings, you must change the areas of the lights. The point that the ceilings are really high can damage the brightness in a area. To counteract that, try using each ceiling lights both and lighting that rest floor-stage. It can help to make far more satisfactory lights inside the room. Opt for colors of the identical shade. Once you do that, even if the colours look like they would not "complement," these are inside the identical color loved ones. Which enables them combine in ways that is attractive for the eyes. When you get coloration swatches from a retail store, check out the hues in the same position on every single cards. Those are the types with similar tone values. Make an effort to put in a carpet to as many areas within your house as possible. Carpets can enliven the climate within the room and complete the complete look. Also, they can previous for some time and may cover parts of the solid wood that you do not see in shape for that place. While you prepare to decorate a room, think about its goal very carefully. Take into consideration exactly how much website traffic the space will receive, and just what it will likely be useful for. Continue to keep your family at heart as you program your family room layout, so when adjusting the bed room, make only on your own and your spouse the key top priority. When redecorating a compact kitchen, make your coloration pallet light. A light color pallet will lighten up the space making it seem greater. It is additionally finest to target a couple of hues to hold the place from showing up hectic. Light-weight glowing blue, ocean environmentally friendly, white-colored and ivory are typical wonderful choice for a little cooking area place. Don't spend lots of money on light fixtures. Positive, putting in new lighting fixtures can certainly make the full area look far better, but a majority of men and women create the oversight of getting them at ridiculous price ranges. https://thietkenoithat.com/xuong-san-xuat/xuong-go-tu-nhien may be obtained for significantly less on various sites, such as Amazon online. Also, low cost shops ordinarily have lovely furnishings. Chandeliers provide classiness and romance to your master bedroom. Consider shifting out your illumination fixture or fan for any chandelier for any gorgeous appearance and fresh attraction. There are various kinds of chandeliers on the market, and there are numerous styles too. It is possible to find one that suits effectively in almost any master bedroom space. Ensure that you figure out the design of your respective living area before you start the project. It is possible to opt for to experience a very fun family room having an amusement system and games when you have kids or perhaps a peaceful living area with a fireplace if you are a newly hitched husband and wife. As you may discovered, home design might be simple and easy making adjustments can easily make a significant difference in your house. You are able to rapidly revise your home you may have existed set for years or create your brand new home the location you would like to be. Acquire satisfaction and pleasure in the spot which you contact house by taking the move of interior decorating.

#thiết kế nội thất chung cư #thiết kế nội

[langballefoster]

You're on this page due to the fact you're searching for a lawyer. Are you aware how to get the one that fits your needs? You ought to read on this informative article for additional details on the choice approach and tips on how to make certain you find the correct legal professional. It might virtually make a significant difference on the planet.

If you're likely to key in a legitimate circumstance that is related to real-estate like acquiring prosecuted above a piece of residence, employing a lawyer that focuses on real-estate is usually recommended. You will definately get greater outcomes in the event you work with a lawyer that has considerable knowledge about relevant cases. Never ever hesitate to ask your legal professional about any area of the costs you may not comprehend. There are several people that have issues with the charges they can be charged by an attorney, but the majority of them will not say nearly anything. There is a opportunity that you can do a few of the work oneself and save a little, so ensure that you ask about that. If you feel that you could use a legal circumstance it may be beneficial to look for a legitimate talk to prior to going after any activity. Numerous lawyers offer a cost-free consultation so make certain you employ this. This allows you to experiment with a couple different law offices well before selecting a lawyer. Try to keep yourself well-informed on what you really are dealing with. You must not be depending only around the legal professional to organize and make your circumstance. Obviously, they will have more knowledge and experience working with your needs, but in case you are well prepared, you may come together together to obtain the win. Will not make your blunder of trusting that this older lawyer instantly is aware greater than a attorney which is a tad youthful. Lawrence Park lawyers may have been in practice for a longer time, but that does not mean that they instantly have expertise in the area of legislation that relates to your circumstance. If you are searching for a lawyer, be sure you get those that concentrate on your form of matter. May it be a genuine estate deal or felony circumstance, attorneys specialize in all this. Exploring this upfront will prevent you from producing pointless phone calls and help you save time. When selecting a legal professional, recall that you will be choosing a legal representative. This can appear to be common sense, but many make an effort to opt for their attorney according to should they be friendly and cozy. This can be a error. An excellent legal representative doesn't need to have a similar attributes that you'd want within a close friend. You will need a professional who can treat you skillfully. Remember that this can be absolutely nothing essentially than yet another organization relationship. If you are searching to identify a attorney having a extremely certain form of expertise, its smart to do some relatively substantial analysis. As an illustration, if you need legal counsel who focuses on appellate matters, invest some time taking a look at noted situations by which they represented one of the functions. By studying what types of cases a given lawyer is likely to acquire and the particular results they get, you will certainly be far better capable of decide if their skills suit your needs. Once you have made a decision to hire a certain attorney, make sure you receive a published retainer message that specifically defines the scale of reflection, the details of the professional services you will be to receive and the relevant cost composition. By doing this, you will remain a better probability of getting exactly what you bargained for and you will definitely have helpful paperwork of your designed romantic relationship must you should go after the legal professional inside a negligence action eventually. Take composed notices when you are reaching together with your attorney. Of course, your lawyer is in your favor, but you are continue to to blame for any items which are promised, envisioned, or forgotten. This is also true in fiscal chats. You'll wish to have just as much documents as you possibly can in case there are any issues. See if you can get a legal professional which gives that you simply totally free assessment. It will not only lessen your pressure economically, but it will be possible to obtain a glimpse of what you really are dealing with and just what the legal representative can offer for you personally. This can help ease your brain, specially when confronted with a tumultuous court action. Tend not to take too lightly the significance of your lawyer's character. An hostile attorney is definitely an edge but a seasoned and assured legal professional could help you win your scenario also. You must meet with distinct lawyer and find one that has the kind of character and vision you need for the circumstance. As you now are finished reading this short article, you will notice precisely how achievable choosing the right legal representative is. All that it requires is know-how and a few determination, and you have both individuals essential things. Put into practice the fantastic tips earlier mentioned to obtain the authorized allow you to will need these days.

[mainsipad]

Tinykeep pc game box cover

#Tinykeep pc game box cover trial#

#Tinykeep pc game box cover tv#

)Īs WizarDru notes, advertising in "general media" is prohibitively expensive. (Disclaimer: I work in advertising I do this stuff for a living.

#Tinykeep pc game box cover trial#

There needs to be some trial similar to GURPS Lite or WoW's 14-day free trial to hook people in.or some very convincing gatekeepers need to be won over. Even the basic game requires a significant investment of money. No, the problem is there's no easy way to just TRY the game. They even have someone who's very popular with that demographic mentioning how much he enjoyed the game. I mean, D&D doesn't need Brand Awareness. Will it work? Is it a wise move? No idea. The DDI IS an attempt to broaden the market, using a Web 2.0 type of social website and creating their own online community. Some of this stuff was poorly executed, but they did try. They maintained a retail chain that pushed their stuff. They've released board games, basic sets, video games and other stuff.

#Tinykeep pc game box cover tv#

WotC HAS had TV ads in the past and has certainly had print ads in non-gaming magazines.but it hasn't had much of an effect. TV ads are expensive, and not necessarily as effective. If the interface sucks or it's a pain to use, navigate, and sign-up for, they blew their chance. The problem with that is they really only get one chance. I also think WotC stands a better chance of attracting new players with the online features of Gleemax/DDI. I spent a lot of time playing MMO's last year and I was fairly surprised how little people were even aware of the PnP RPG hobby, even on DDO. This is done with effective targeted advertising. First and foremost, they need to make the demographic aware of the hobby. The problem I see is that a new edition with Dragonblooded and Tieflings aren't going to bring new players to the hobby. With the announcement of 4E and the style changes associated with it, I think WotC has answered that question with a "no". If that's true, the real question are do the legacy players - the ones that play RPG's now and will continue to do so - enough to sustain the hobby. Hours of gameplay with Secrets that extend the experience – Discover items and weapons that can slow down time, render you invincible or provide secret saves.In its current state, I don't think D&D, or the PnP RPG industry in general, is bringing new players, kids or otherwise, to the hobby. Rescue other captives to fight along side you, but beware as you never know which ones have gone crazy trapped up in the Keep.Įxperience 3 separate endings to the game, depending on how you play. Use traps and environmental hazards to your advantage - fire, spike pits and rotating crushers hurt your enemies as well as you!Ĭollect coins from fallen foes to purchase random player-altering Buffs that just might give you the advantage you need to make it out alive. Creatures work together to chase you down, flee from threats and fight each other for dominance. From the cold slimy walls of the dungeon to the hot fiery pits of hell, TinyKeep is a visual treat.īattle a variety of intelligent enemies, each one determined to make your escape as difficult as possible. Watch your step as it can be your last! Extremely challenging Permadeath gameplayĮxplore a variety of beautiful but deadly environments. Procedurally generated random dungeons – no playthrough is ever the same!

#Tinykeep pc game box cover

[minimalnerdist]

Canterbury Tales - The Knight’s Tale

So I finally finished reading the Knight’s Tale in Canterbury Tales.

(As a little background, I did read a few of the Canterbury Tales in university, but it has been years. Also in university I read in more of the original text, but this time since it isn’t for school but for enjoyment, and because I want to understand the tales rather than focus purely on the language this read-through, I’m listening to an audiobook ‘modern translation’ version, as well as looking at study notes online discussing themes, quotes from the original text, etc.)

I thought that the Knight’s Tale was interesting in its balance of good fortune and ill fortune. There was definitely that feeling of foils and balances. I know it’s a much older story and can acknowledge that it will be dated and such, but I wasn’t liking the fact that Emelye was getting zero choice in the matter. I appreciated the scene where she goes to the temple for Diana and says she really doesn’t want to marry (at least not yet). Even though the gods then basically tell her, “Suck it up, this is your fate and is meant to be” it still gave her a voice and some agency, you know? After that she agrees to obey goddess Diana and marry one of the two cousins that are vying for her hand.

I kept expecting that there would be some difference between the two men, but at almost every turn they weren’t really given personality or difference, other than being “good and noble gentlemen.” My answer to the Knight’s question after the first section I believe, the “Which was worse off?” I would say that Palamon was worse off. To me, being “tortured with love” at the sight of the then-believed-to-be-unnattainable Emelye is worse off than Arcite’s escape. Because to me, that gives Arcite at least the OPTION of moving forward and of moving on. Which of course he didn’t do, but still - how could Palamon possibly even begin to move on when he has to see her each day? One could argue that he did change his situation when he escaped the prison, but that was several years later! And in those several years, Arcite was actively changing his situation - he was able to sneak back in and get closer to the actual Emelye, he was positioning himself so as to be able to ask for her hand. To me, that is a better situation than sitting in a tower and just watching her from far off, unable to get any closer.

There is of course the natural over-arching themes of fate, courtly love aka very romanticized love, the gods, and morality. I was actually surprised at just how much a part of the story the gods were - particularly Saturn.

It’s not REALLY relevant to any analysis I would normally make in a more formal setting (i.e. university) but given that I’ve been studying the rules of astrology in the last few years, I’ve come to understand that most of my birth placements lend energy to Saturn, so I found his role in particular fascinating. He is drawn in parallel of sorts to Mars, and even though he doesn’t get his own temple represented in this story, he differentiates himself from Mars in the energy of his movement. He is linked in similar themes and motifs as Mars, but Saturn’s journey is a longer one, and therefore looks more into the long-term of time rather than the more here-and-now that Mars tends to be known for. Mars I personally associate with a quite primal energy, such as with anger (which is our body’s natural defense against offenses or pain, threats to our well-being) and passion (another natural reaction we have in response to strength or overpowering love, kindness, etc.). And as a Planner type personality myself, who used to be much more in tune with my own primal experiences, I think it would be good for me to continue down my path of reclaiming the more basics of my intuition and emotiveness; something which I lost along some trauma growing up. So, yeah...Saturn energy FTW.

The story was interesting. I know the Miller’s Tale, which is next in the stories, left a stronger impression on my more youthful brain, so I’m interested in how different the experience of this read-through will be for me. :)

#Canterbury Tales

[somewritingexercises]

16th

Am I a husk again? Unsure. Definitely not fully husked but definitely not fully unhusked. I’m tired of the pandemic and pandemic life. I hasten to add that I’m not the main victim, I don’t know why I feel the need to leap in with that, guilt over others facing so much worse I suppose, but important to not invalidate my own distress either. Anyway. Writing prompt is to write about a deja vu experience. I thought I didn’t have one but I remembered I do.

Every fall when I start back to teaching I see seniors around campus who graduated the previous spring, and sometimes the spring before that, and I always take a long time to realize that I’m not actually seeing them, they’re mental mirages, visual echoes of past relationships in that place, projected on the blank faces of strangers. It happens so often, every year I think.

Memory oddness - amid the pandemic nightmare I walk into a room, forget why I walked in the room, and I get lost in a foggy mental pause. Speaking on which I can’t keep my eyes open any longer, too late and I am too tired so I’ll call this for now.

16th continues, deja vu experience - I don’t have any other but I have for years, though far less often these last few years, periodically had the experience where something happening now feels like a memory and I think I dreamed it. I looked this up once and I think it had a name and the explanation was that it was some sort of brain error of treating something experienced now as a memory, internal filing error basically. When it used to happen I would often have a short internal memory of my next action and the acts that followed from there and would wonder if I did the thing I “remembered” doing would lead to the rest of what I “remembered” and so I would never do the thing I “remembered” doing because I didn’t want it to be real.

What else. Rain tonight. Hotter day today than expected. Weather-wise I mean, not in terms of my attractiveness. Ha. Hmm.

My mother recently mailed me my college diploma. What a strange artifact, hard to care much but hard to completely stop caring entirely and so throw it away. I wonder if a similar headspace is why my mom sent it to me! Though knowing her she may well be sentimental about it and sentimentally want me to have it. Unclear which.

Hating all of what I’ve typed. Not hating. Disliking. Not disliking so much as not actively liking it, wishing to do so, wanting to write something I like, wanting to write better, treating those last two as synonyms when they are at most only partly related. I think some of this is just situational - mood, accumulated exhaustion - and some of it’s authorial and readerly in that I’ve been writing for a while for the sake of analyzing things and reading similarly, I’ve not written anything for the craft and read in the same spirit for a hot minute. If the dissatisfaction I’m feeling artistically (narcissistically?) has any worthwhile takeaway point it’s that I should read and write more in a craft way, in a way for its own sake rather than instrumentally. Alright, message to self received! Stop your messing around, time you straighten right out.

As I’ve said before I crave a state of paying attention, a flow state I think really, and simultaneously crave the cessation of self-awareness and restlessness - a reduction in excess attention (turned attention of the wrong type). It’s hard in context though because I am both restless and tired, and those pull in different directions, very easy to satisfy one (to some extent I mean, more like soothe one) but doing so comes at the expense of worsening the other.

I typed most of that last paragraph and a spider came running out at me, I’d call it a large small spider - as large as can be while still small, so to speak - and pale. Headed straight toward me. No thought at all, all reflex, I smashed it with my hand. I feel bad for it and don’t celebrate this action. Immediately after I felt so alert, small rush of adrenaline or whatever the brain chemicals are. If that focused alertness could be bottled...!

In any case, restless and tired. I suppose this means the route back to satisfaction will take a bit and perhaps be circuitous, or will involve a lot of annoyance as I can’t prioritize incompatible needs in a way that satisfies them both at the same time, so it has to be a process over time.

Too abstract, too in my own head, needs a new writing prompt.

Alright, prompt is a time someone gave you advice.

In high school I got a job at a fast food place. My girlfriend at the time worked at a different place owned by the same owners, in my mind she helped me get the job but I don’t remember now. I know we worked at the same store one night, maybe two, and made out in the back. I now wonder how good of a boyfriend I was, I sometimes think I was feral much of my life. A lot of people are. I think men especially, though I’m not sure. Anyway, advice.

Once in a while I worked with an older guy who I recall being named Mike though this is over 25 years ago now and at the moment it’s late and I’m tired. In my memory Mike is an older guy, though I’d bet he was 20, 24, an age I’d now sometimes catch myself, unfairly, referring to as “a kid.” Mike came in with a Lollapalooza shirt on one day then put on his uniform - did that happen or am I making it up? I honestly can’t tell; I know we talked about Lollapalooza for sure - and he had gone the year Ministry played (so tempted to google what year; stay in the chair!) and at the time I was very into Ministry up through Psalm 69, loved that guitar sound - still do! - though I was also getting to be too punk to admit to liking things beyond punk. So silly. My point is Mike was cool and I got animated, loved talking with him about music because I loved music, especially live music, and I could tell he did too, and at some point he mentioned going to see Janet Jackson or some other woman popstar and I was dismissive and he said “Nate, just enjoy things!” and then added something like “if it sounds good to someone and they like it, that’s all that matters, if you like something just like it, and focus on liking things, who cares beyond that?” I now - literally just now as I type this - think Mike was expressing a version of I would now think of as poptimism and expressing exasperation with my rockism.

I don’t recall where I heard or read those terms and I’m not 100% sure I’m using them in a non-idiosyncratic way (I live so much of my life worrying about being inadvertently idiosyncratic!). At this point I am far less rockist, in the sense of worried about authenticity and so on, but I do care a great deal about underground/DIY music, music by people with day jobs, played and circulated at a far smaller scale than big pop acts (and for that matter, rock acts). But people should like what they like.

I don’t know that I took Mike’s advice to heart much but I think I did think he had a point at a minimum of not being negative about other people’s excitement, which is a good point to steer by generally speaking.

Probably a more interesting direction would be to write about making out in the back of the fast food joint - I guess I still don’t like what I’m writing! but I did get momentarily into a flow state here and there while typing that, mission accomplished! - but I’m too old for it to be okay writing about the sexual lives of teenagers, even if I happened to be one of those teenagers. Anyway I did the prompt, that’s all this is!

Other thoughts shaken loose by this:

- a young woman co-worker sneezing while taking a customer’s order, saying “oh excuse me!” then adding “it’s flu season!” in a chipper voice

- a young man co-worker talking constantly, almost literally constantly, about sex, describing walking in on his aunt and uncle mid-intercourse while at a holiday resort, some conversation where he talked about how terrible semen must taste and the “it’s flu season!” co-worker interjecting that it tasted like salt water

- a customer who worked nights at a factory nearby who would come in and chat with us while we made his order, I place him around Mike’s age, the general category of older but cool and retroactively a kid; I later move away to college and am told by my then-girlfriend that this guy went to prison for killing someone at an ATM in the process of robbing them

- another young man co-worker, physically small and very funny, occasionally interacting with his sister by phone, and her coming in to the place once, always very acidly and full of profanity, each telling the other “eat a dick!” in a tone of contempt

- driving home at night after work, do I remember this or am I just drawing on a wealth of night time driving memories? I can’t tell. It’s hard to pinpoint very many in particular but it was such a very common occurrence in my life. Weighing against the idea that I remember driving home specifically from this job is that I’m not entirely sure what car I drove. Did I have three cars before we had children? I think so. Two of them before graduating college. One night I do remember driving home: come over a hill, rural road, going fast - the speed limit, but fast - and two raccoons were in the road, no time for any of us to react, ran over both of them, loud thump and crunch sounds. Horrible. Another night, this time my mom in the car too: a deer leaping out and me getting lucky, it colliding with the side of the car and in a glancing way I think, trying to turn, not really damaging the car, then the headlights of the car behind us flashing I think because the deer had stepped into the road and hit the deer, its body blocking the lights for a moment causing the flash effect, that car pulling over behind us. Another night: a broken strut on a front wheel of my car, my dad driving out to fix it enough at the road side to let me drive home. How did I call him? Pay phone, I assume, this was pre-cell phone. Another night: a high school friend driving me home - or driving us both to his house? I don’t remember - after play practice, and he zoning out - falling asleep at the wheel? - and as we came up to an intersection I said “red light” tentatively” then “Red Light! RED LIGHT!” and he only heard me after I shouted, then, alert, stopped in time and safely enough. We laughed about it after. I wouldn’t now, if I were the driver anyway, and the thought of young people doing so now, considered from my own middle aged position, is worrying.

Enough now, just an exercise after all.

Looking at Scrivener, the two Scrivener Projects I write in have between them a total of 929,000 words. That includes to-do lists and whining in a journal, and doesn’t include some things I wrote and lost or never bothered to keep copies of etc. (I wrote on the bus to work years back, trying to have ideas, trying to get out of writers block; that bus writing, for instance, is gone as well.) A million words is a fair estimate. Proud of that in a sort of ‘I spent a lot of time’ kind of way. I think my rate of committing words to the electronic page has declined but I type and think faster now as well. Less life-time for art and intellect, better use of that time when I do take the time. Strikes and gutters. We play the hand we’re dealt, to mix the metaphor. (Someone should invent a bowling-themed card game so the mixed metaphor becomes unmixed! I deserve this!) I wonder if eight years from now I’ll be at 2 million. I like the thought, just keep going. Quantity is job number one. Quality is an emergent property of time spent. That said, I likely could spend my time more thoughtfully as well.

But enough enough, just an exercise!

[teapair3]

Minecraft Server Is Essential To Your Small Business. Be Taught Why!

The easiest way to explain Unturned would be zombie apocalypse meets Minecraft. As an illustration, vanilla Minecraft has just one cobblestone texture, Chisel 2 has 24! Hello, Vanilla Minecraft doesn’t need much ram. How do I host a Minecraft server for free? Is it free to run a Minecraft server? And while most Minecraft servers provide plans that start out from round $5, GG Servers really goes one better by providing a basic Starter plan at simply $3.00 per thirty days. It is much better than even the builders, because it is way informative, extra settings. Even edit it later on Skindex or just basic photograph editors as per your preferences. The Blockheads: As evening falls on this mobile recreation, the Blockheads are beginning to freeze and want to build a shelter. From efficiency-optimizing mods to mods that may build huge constructions in mere minutes, installing Minecraft mods will serve you more than hundreds of hours of gameplay - if no more! Which Minecraft internet hosting service will best optimize your Minecraft gameplay? You'll be able to download the Java Version server on the Minecraft webpage.

1. Step 1: Get Minecraft Java Edition. 2. Step 2: Get the newest Version of Java. MCProHosting can host either Java (the original model) or Bedrock for the cellular model. All the host would must do is set up a Microsoft account. mcprofile.net Make sure that to create an account if you don't have one. Quite a few avid gamers have been needing to attempt and get their own particular land parcel inside current hugely multiplayer amusements and have fizzled. So as to get your computer's IP, hold down the windows key and press R. Within the field that pops up, type cmd. When the command prompt opens up, kind ipconfig. Kind that quantity in for your Machine IP above. You too can see if a system at your network supports No-IP for Integrated Dynamic DNS updates. First, you possibly can download our free Dynamic Update Consumer. Minehut is a server internet hosting service that let’s you host a server for free without paying around $8.Ninety nine a month like you'd normally. In 2015, it was revealed that the server cost around $100,000 a month to take care of, back when the server had round 16,000 players online.

This means gamers on completely different platforms like Home windows, macOS, Android, iOS, Xbox, PlayStation, and more, can play with one another. Similar to Realms, it has restrictions on modes and plugins, nevertheless it nonetheless means that you can create a extra personal and unique experience, and save all the data in your Computer or devoted server. Mo’Creatures is one of the oldest mods in the game, and it continues to be amongst the best principally because of the quantity of content material it has. Eds.' word: The Pc/Mac retail itemizing will not be essentially indicative of all releases for the week, but highlights games and content material which have major or in any other case noteworthy distribution. More games want to incorporate a deeper housing system like what's offered in CWA. In 2018, Epic opened its Epic Video games Store for PCs, a competitor to the industry-main Valve Steam retailer. Reinstall Minecraft Launcher.6. Reset Microsoft Retailer Cache.7. Click on right here to get a tutorial on the way to setup the Minecraft Server environment.

Ubisoft suggested effected customers to delete and reinstall the bottom Unity file to be able to get the patch all the way down to its normal 6.7 GB dimension. Moreover, they have amazing assets and documentation to get up and operating in no time. Sam & Max Save the World and Past Time and Space are $15 each, whereas The Satan's Playhouse is $17.49. At the moment you need to have the ability to connect with your server. They’re what I at present use for a modded Minecraft server! Orespawn is great due to how it takes every nice side of Minecraft and pumps it up to the extreme. At first look, you’ll be met with a stupendous world with an emphasis on realism, one thing that’s absent from Minecraft. Does it value money to make a Minecraft server on Java? How do Minecraft server become profitable? It will possibly drastically enhance your FPS by including a ton of graphics options that aren’t in the bottom game, making your Minecraft expertise smoother and extra satisfying. Run and advertise server-large occasions, giveaways, and comparable, and attempt to drive YouTube and Twitch site visitors onto your server to extend its recognition.

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