#sometimes i play a video game

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

A new challenger approaches (slowly)

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#poorly drawn mdzs #mdzs #wei wuxian #wen chao #jin zixuan #jiang cheng #lan wangji #tulu xuanwu #Wen Chao's turtlephobia starts now. I wonder if that's ever going to come back into play? #Slight re-ordering of events for the funny punchlines but we're close to getting back on track. #The mianmian stuff happening right after we also have a Torment Tortoise looking for blood makes this scene so chaotic. #A good kind of chaos as it is supposed to be overwhelming and anxiety inducing! #I have been sitting on the idea of the Beast being just a normal turtle with a knife for ages. Years in fact. #It's stupid as hell but that's sometimes what art is. Indulging the past you who would have loved to see the dumb thing be drawn. #Making it canon now that A-Qing's turtle (the one pd-Lan Sizhui found) is a descendant of this turtle. #Maybe she was so defensive because she has eggs she was watching over! How insensitive of these cultivators! #You can insert your own choice of boss music here - I did not grow up playing video games so I have nothing off the top of my head. #I am making a BOTW reference here so you could substitute one of those themes but I find them more melancholic than menacing.

[uncanny-tranny]

This might be a half-baked theory, but I wonder how much of the "think of the children!!" ideals that are almost... aimed at women rely on the idea of women as Forever Children.

What I notice is that a lot of these ideas of corruption in youth are feminized in a way that evokes motherhood, but I also notice that many people blur the lines between women or anybody forced into or expected to be women and children so that they are as one.

#politics #feminism #the idea of women being essentially children with the bodies of adult is something that's age-old #but i notice it still as something that's... subtler sometimes #such as the 'think of the children!' for the ~case~ of trans people existing i sometimes notice that people... #...subtly start including women in that 'think of the children!!!!!!!' line and it makes me wonder... #...if people see women and children as functionally the same... #again maybe this is half-baked or i think too much about this but. hm. yknow. #alright i guess... back to doing my crochet project and playing video games instead of studying 👍

[catcrumb]

#crumb #sometimes i think it's easy to tell what video game im playing by the crumbs im posting lol

[lesbiangiratina]

Been playing strive with good graphics for the first time ever recently. Testament so cute i had no idea. Fucking clueless.

#not really sometimes i would turn on the game just to look at them with free cam #but like seeing the animations as intended is different….. okay #UMM THEYRE A BIT CUTE!!!! #i love you ps5 ILL STILL GET MY LAPTOP FIXED!! i miss modding. also playing any other non nintendo video game. #the kat goes meow #gg

[buglaur]

tutorial contents:

1 ‣ gshade & photoshop actions 2 ‣ template or cropping & colouring 3 ‣ notifs & pop-ups

okay hi! i have a really old editing tutorial from back in january that i've been linking people to, but it's pretty outdated by now. i also keep getting anons asking about the same things, which is fine, but i always have to go searching for the post explaining it, so having it all in one place will be a lot more convenient lol

i use a ☠ copy of photoshop cc 2017 to edit my screenshots, however the majority of everything i'm doing also works on photopea

photopea is an online version of photoshop that's 100% free and works very well! i can't recommend it enough, it's fantastic

first things first, you're going to need some screenshots to edit. for the sake of this tutorial i'll be working with this one of raffy:

in all honesty, gshade will do most of the work for you. of course it's not needed, but i definitely don't think i could live without it! in this screenshot i used sunset n' vinyl by nesurii

when opening the screenshot, the first thing i do is run it through 2 photoshop actions:

butter action by early-grape

smooth sharp (no topaz) by poolbrop

to add actions in photoshop go:

windows > actions > the 4 lines at the upper right corner of the newly opened window > load actions > your downloads folder > open up the .atn files!

if you're using photopea, as far as i'm aware you can't use photoshop actions, but i've found that 'filter > stylize > oil paint' and 'filter > sharpen > smart sharpen' have a very similar effect when using the right settings. try these:

i like these two actions because they smooth everything out nicely, but keep it sharp at the same time! i always run butter before i run smooth sharp, however butter may leave you with 2 layers. make sure to merge these layers before running smooth sharp to achieve the full effect.

here's a before and after (of the photoshop action):

from here you can move on to step 2

before anything else i want to share the template that i use to make editing a lot faster. you don't need to use it but it's definitely made things a lot easier for me! it's a .psd file and will work perfectly in photopea

download (simfileshare)

if you're using the template you can skip right on to the next section, as it's already cropped to the right size and has the colouring folder included. just drag your screenshot into it and resize to fit the height.

if you're not using it, crop your edited screenshot to:

1707 width x 1280 height

then adjust the colours to your liking. it always varies slightly depending on the picture but my regular process for each screenshot would be:

up the saturation by 8%

up the lightness by 3%

up the contrast by 12%

all of this can be done by looking in the 'images > adjustments' tab

you should end up with something similar to this!

if you want to add a moodlet or social interaction or anything similar, it's all the same process. what you'll need is a screenshot of it straight from the game. i just press the 'c' key to capture them! i'll be working with these two:

for the blue notification i'm going to select it using the box select tool. try to get it as exact as possible. one you have it selected

for photoshop users:

click on the 'select and mask...' option located at the top

adjust the global refinements at the side as follows:

smooth: 70 feather: 0.0px contrast: 50% shift edge: 0%

for photopea users:

go to select > modify > smooth

set it to 15

select 'ok' and press 'ctrl + c' to copy it, then 'ctrl + v' to paste it into your screenshot. adjust the size and position and you should end up with something like this:

next you want to add the transparent border around the notification. if you're using my editing template, right click on the reference notif in the layers tab and select 'copy layer style' (photopea > 'layer style > copy'). from there you can paste that layer style onto your own notif through the layers tab.

if you're not using the template, here's how to set it up on photoshop:

right click your notification layer and select 'blending options'

under styles, tick the checkboxes for stroke and drop shadow

input these settings:

on photopea, it should be more or less the same. repeat the exact same process with the social menu option, but instead of selecting it with the box select tool, use the magic select tool. in the end you should end out with this!

from here you're finished! thanks for reading! go to file and export as png

if you've got questions never hesitate to ask, just make sure to read the faq in my pinned. i might edit this post soon to include the gen intro traits and aspirations bit, but this is all for now. hope it helps, my editing process post has been in need of a revamp for a very long time. i haven't proof-read this so apologies for any mistakes!

#ts4 #sims 4 #ts4 tutorial #5 anons in my inbox asking the same question after not reading my faq #this ones for you #3 anons in my inbox asking about cas pics #ones coming for you soon #okay maybe not soon but sometime #all my free time has been eaten up #i signed up for extra saturday morning classes and not having a lie in is sucking the life out of me lmao #when i'm busy i just wanna play video games and when i get the chance #to play games i just wanna sleep #its a vicious cycle #i'm currently playing resident evil biohazard tho #enjoying it very very much #i've only got 2 and 3 left to play and i've played every mainstream re game 💪💪 #it was a very fun journey! i played them all within this year #long post

[front-facing-pokemon]

#piplup #now THIS is a starter!! the quintessential starter… to me. this is the Default Starter Pokémon. when i think of starters. sometimes. usually #of course it's always the one i used to think of. maybe that would've changed nowadays? it probably would have actually #but this guy is still a very Starter Pokémon to me #especially since i always wanted to be this guy in pmd sky. when i was a kid. but i didn't know how the personality test worked #so i just kept redoing it and giving the same answers every time. i was like. well it gives different questions so i should be able to do it #and sometimes i would just give answers that i Think a piplup would give. i think i got it after like a trillion resets but by that point it #was dark out and i had to go to bed. and then like. we had to return the game to family video the next fuckin day so i didn't even get to #play it that much. i experienced the beginnings of games i liked when i was a kid a lot. i was not very good at games

[echosong971]

I DONT KNOW WHAT LIES OF P IS BUT KEEP DRAWING THAT BOY PLEASE I BEG

OKAY o7

#when you are rly good at killing but are also just a little guy sometimes <3 #tangentially related #i need more P and Gemini fancontent AUGHH #their dynamic is everything to me <3 #i love all of gemini’s lines through the game he’s so great #also #! #here’s just a short explanation for ya of the game: #Lies of P is a Soulslike video game based around the story of Pinocchio #you play as the puppet Pinocchio (colloquially referred to as “P” by most of the fanbase including myself) #and you have to go through the City of Krat and lie to protect yourself #while you deal with the current Puppet Frenzy by striking down whatever gets in your way #It’s a REALLY fun snd amazingly written game 11/10 would highly recommend <3 #echosong971 #echo asks #echo answers #art #digital art #fanart #lies of p art #lies of p #p #pinocchio #lies of p pinocchio #gemini #lies of p gemini

[mumblesplash]

man. not really an original thought but i’m always so deeply…annoyed, i guess, by media where there’s a category of instantly recognizable Bad Guys that you’re just meant to accept are Supposed To Die, because they’re Bad and killing them is therefore Good.

obviously more knowledgeable people than me have already pointed out the issues with things like inherently evil fantasy races and that’s an entire problem all on its own. i have nothing useful to add there, i agree that it’s bad. but even aside from that it just pisses me off. i can’t get my head around the appeal, it feels like the least interesting possible way to interact with a fictional world

it’s actually a pretty big part of why i have such a hard time getting into video games, even good ones. i couldn’t get more than ten minutes into playing breath of the wild when a friend let me try it out because i ran into An Enemy i was supposed to fight and it broke the immersion too much for me. why do i have to fight them? am i supposed to want to? why do they attack me? who are they? are they alive? sentient? angry? following orders? whose orders? what are they doing here? i kept asking all the wrong questions and they just kept trying to tell me which buttons to press to attack and eventually i got so frustrated i just quit and handed the controller to someone else

#mumbling #i’m honestly fascinated by the disconnect between the way i think and the way video games seem to expect me to think #feels like i’m missing a whole lobe of my brain or something sometimes #back in england there was one night i spent like 3 hours talking to a bunch of guys just trying to understand what ‘playing lame’ means #(in the context of fighting games) #and i mean fwiw. they did concede that a lot of the time it doesn’t really mean anything #but it’s fun to try to understand #and i think being forced to explain it to someone who probably can’t ever fully Get It was kind of fun for them too #like again. this was for multiple hours and everyone was very enthusiastic about it pretty much the whole time

[strigital]

#y'all want some more shitty ass memes? #this time - on gaming in general! #yee #sometimes i forget how fun and relaxing in could be just... memeing #anyways #have a good one #shitpost #meme #imgflip #gaming #video games #role playing video games #skyrim #oblivion #fallout 4 #cyberpunk 2077 #witcher 3 #mass effect #dragon age #neverwinter nights 2 #divinity original sin 2 #and i'm sure baldur's gate 3 will apply as well #just a smol list of my fave games and how they emotionally scarred me in the best ways possible

[jackgoodfellow]

Don't Starve is the only game I know that somehow senses my HUBRIS.

I was 2 MINUTES AWAY FROM THE FINAL PORTAL IN THE FINAL LEVEL OF ADVENTURE MODE WITHOUT CHEATING OR ANYTHING. I had spent DAYS working to win the game, 2 MINUTES away from the end! I had Chester! I had a billion pierogies! I had two activated touchstones! I had it all, baby!!!!

I even bragged to my wife that the game was almost easy now!

Big mistake. The Hubris Sensing Technology (TM) of the World's Most Unforgiving Game sensed my complacency and the next thing I knew I was barraged by more Clockwork Bishops than I have ever seen in a single place in my hundreds and hundreds of hours playing this evil evil game!!!

I got through more killer bees than I'd ever seen, and a huge dense forest of 1,000 spiders! All that I could handle!!

But I have NO IDEA what I was supposed to do about a bottleneck that involved 60 ranged attacks hitting me within 5 seconds and stun-locking me to death. I have never been so Humbled by a game, and I've been playing this game for so long!

I have made this art piece to commemorate the occasion.

DISCLAIMER/CREDIT:

To make this, I cut out sprites from the game and from other official art by Klei Games, and then I added all the lighting effects and arranged it all together.

The only other thing I actually drew for this is Wigfrid's hand holding the torch.

Normally, I illustrate every element of a piece I do; but for this, I just wanted to quickly communicate the High-Pitched Silly Screaming Horror of running into this monstrosity in the "all-darkness" level of Adventure Mode!!

#my art #and also the official game art #together at last like fish and sticks #dst #don't starve #wigfrid #don't starve together #dst wigfrid #wigfrid don't starve #i went from hero to zero in SECONDS. what a game! #for context when you lose in Don't Starve you lose the whole save file no matter how many hours you have put in #the sequel Don't Starve Together is more forgiving. you're allowed to have save files in that one!! #but the original is an excellent game if you can emotionally distance yourself a little bc it can be DEVASTATING #I was emotionally prepared for this one but I have actually gotten really sad sometimes losing this game #so just be aware of that if you are interested in learning a game that is designed to kick you in the nuts! #on the upside the main way to unlock new characters is to die cuz that's when you get your XP! #it rewards trying many times #but also I literally hurt my hands playing for too long it's very addictive #my hands will be fine I just can't play video games for a few days #edit: apparently the bishop thing is a glitch that had been fixed on pc a few months back but not fixed on the switch which i was using

[swashbucklery]

Did I spend the afternoon playing RDR2? Yes. Did I let my in-game plans get completely derailed because it was suddenly critically important that I catch a wild thoroughbred with this exact colouring so that I could name it Eclipse? Also yes.

#he's a little less grey a little more white in real life #but one of the skills i refuse to hone is video game photographer so this is what you get #i spent fifteen whole minutes figuring out how to get this onto my phone without a) taking a photo of the TV #or b) connecting my PS account to twitter #you get what you get #red dead redemption 2 #sometimes i play a video game #tanthamore cowboy au tag #willow: medium powerful magic once adjusted for inflation

[wizard0rb]

say what you will about metal gear women but the single solitary time i have ever seen two butch women in a canon relationship in any work of fiction ever was peacewalker

#strangelove is like. 7/10 lesbian rep but ONLY because they made her be a creep sometimes #i mean its like. about as creepy as some of the metal gear dudes are but nonetheless #THE BOSS though????? #all ive ever wanted out of a video game women 17/10 no notes whatsoever #not overly sexualized by the narrative. fills a role in the story that would usually be filled by a man. #all the soldier dudes that work for her are clearly terrified of her. she can curl 200 lbs #and she was even in a codependent homoerotic situationship with another woman.. #playing mgs3 i was like Girl. how did you end up in a kojima game

[adaycalledx]

shoutout to an adhd cancer sun virgo moon king <3 this post was absolutely expected out of me

#tomska #my art #posted this 2 twitter already so here goes #i know you stalk your own tag and check indirects tom #so heres some positivity instead of the negativity you get sometimes #hope youre having a good day and your dogs werent little shits #and you eat a good food and drink something tasty #play some video games with friends! #ok thanks byeeee :D

[darlingod]

With the least amount of respect possible, Locke was so funny sometimes. He was so shameless and it was so entertaining. He will not be missed but his lines (and character) will for sure be laughed at by me

#the cruel prince #TFoTA #his reaction to Cardan walking in the room poisoned as fuck 😭😭💀 #him just sitting on the throne in twk when the undersea is threatening the land #his audacity to think Jude dueled over him and being like hey cutie that was pretty endearing of u 😘 #just taking Jude’s wedding gift to Taryn and giving it to her like the nerve he did not gaf😭😭 #calling Jude out for liking Cardan being humiliated #he was like girl cmon pls Ik you liked that shit #his nosiness #he was just fucking around the whole time playing life as a video game and honestly.. kinda slay #slayed until he got slayed #like sometimes I wish he didn’t die cause I would’ve loved Jude belittling his ass in QoN #like he was the funny drama #he had no family lol that’s also why it’s harder to hate him #he knew love less than most of the characters

[lacefuneral]

"ACAB except kim kitsuragi"

no hope for you even at all.

#i love kim but he is literally a centrist corrupt cop that abuses his power #please i'm begging you play disco elysium again and actually engage with the political themes #your takeaway should not be ''cops are good'' #it should be ''cops and politicians are corrupt and no one is immune from flaw'' #this why some ppl think the video game is copaganda... it's literally teaching you to be literate of propaganda and to use critical thought #the fact that kim is a likeable person is important. the fact that you want to impress him is important #you will sometimes eskew your own moral values to make him happy #if i knew kim in real life i'd be deeply ideologically conflicted #which is! the point! #sigh. #you can have little an old man yaoi as a treat but you should engage with the text first

[yellowocaballero]

Been a fan of your fics for YEARS. I was just telling my friend how despite how much I read fics I never actually love them, with some of your fics (especially TMA) as the exception. Felt the need to reread some of them and saw you reblogged some ISAT fanart. So. Any thoughts on ISAT you'd like to share?

Hope you have a wonderful day!! So happy I found your fics again!!

I avoided answering this for a while because I was trying to think of a way to cohesively and coherently vocalize my thoughts on In Stars and Time. I have given up because I don't want to hold everybody here all day and I have accepted that my thoughts are just pterodactyl screeching.

I love it so much. I have so much to say on it. It drove me bonkers for like a week straight. I have AUs. It's absolute Megbait. They're just a little Snufkin and they're having the worst experience of anybody's life. Ludonarratives my fucking beloved.

I am going to talk about the prologue.

The prologue is such a fascinating experience. You crack open the game and immediately begin checking off all of the little genre boxes: mage, warrior, researcher, you're the rogue...some little kid who's there for some reason...alright, you know the score. You're in yet another indie Earthbound RPG, these are your generic characters, let's get the ball rolling.

Except then you realize that these characters are people. You feel instantly how you've entered the game at its last dungeon, at the end of the adventure. They have their own in-jokes, histories, backgrounds, adventures. They get along well and they're obviously close, but not in a twee or unrealistic way. They have so much chemistry and spirit and life. I fell in love with them so quickly.

But Sif doesn't. Sif kind of hates them, because they will not stop saying the same damn thing. They walk the same paths, do the same things, make the same jokes, expect Sif to say the same lines. They keep referencing a Sif we do not see, with jokes we never see him make and heroic personality he never shows - they reference a Sif who is dead - and Sif can't handle that, so he kills them too.

They become only an exercise in tedious frustration. Sif button mashes through their dialogue, Sif mindlessly clicks the same dialogue options, Sif skips through the tutorial, Sif blows through the puzzles. Sif turns their world into a video game. Sif is playing a generic RPG. Sif forgets their names. They are no longer people with in-jokes, histories, backgrounds, adventures. They're the mage, the warrior, the researcher, and...some random kid.

I did not understand the Kid's presence at first. I had no idea what they contributed to the game. They didn't do anything. As a party member in a video game, they're a bit useless. Why is the Kid there?

Because Sif's life isn't a video game. Because the kid isn't 'the kid'. They're Bonnie. Bonnie, who the party loves. Why is Bonnie there? Because they love them. There is no room for Bonnie in the boring RPG that Sif is playing. And then you realize that Sif is wrong, and that they've lost something extremely important, and that they'll never escape without it.

Watching the prologue before watching ISAT gave ISAT the most unique air of dread and horror, because you crack open ISAT and you see the person Sif used to be. You realize that Sif used to be a person. Sif used to be the person who made jokes, who gave real smiles, who interacted with the world as if they are a part of it. And you know you are sitting down to watch Sif lose everything that made them a person, to lose everything that made them a member of this world, and turn them into a character in a video game who doesn't understand the point of Bonnie at all.

At the climax of the game, when the others realize that something is deeply wrong and that Sif physically cannot tell them, they realize that there is nothing they can do. So Bonnie declares snacktime. And for the first time they have snacktime.

What is snacktime? Classic JRPGs don't have snacktime. There's literally no point to a snacktime - not in a video game, and not in Sif's terrible life. It's not fixing this, because nothing can fix this. But Bonnie gives Sif a cookie and Sif eats it.

It's meaningless. It's a cutscene. It didn't save Sif and it didn't change a thing. It will make no difference in the end.

But it did make the difference. It made all of the difference in the world. Bonnie is a character who you really don't understand the point of before you realize that Bonnie was the entire point.

ISAT is about comfort media. Why do we play the same video games over and over again? Why do we avoid watching the finale of our favorite shows? What is truly comforting: a story with no conflict, or a story where you always know what is about to happen? Do you want to live in a scary, uncontrollable world, or do you want to play Stardew Valley? Do you want a person or a character?

When I beat Earthbound for the first time (and if you don't know, the prologue/ISAT battle system is just Mother) and watched the ending cutscene where the characters part ways and say goodbye...I felt a little bit sad. I wanted them to be together forever. But that's something only characters could ever be.

#these aren't deep or unique thoughts they're just the specific aspect of ISAT that made it one of the most interesting gaming experiences #i actually like the prologue much more than ISAT for just this reason #its honestly a video game art piece that's created to give the player a very specific experience #that makes them an aspect of the narrative that is told #it's. incredible. #in stars and time #start again start again start again #start again: a prologue #isat #god and there is so so so so much more to say here #what a rich and complex and fascinating game that made me cry like a baby #i dont even kin sif. we arent similar at all. #i cant imagine how devastating this game would have been if i did #but I do have a deep relationship with escapsim #and i write about it a lot #and video games about being video games are wonderful #as are stories about being stories #and why we consume stories. how we use them. how they save us and hurt us. #never played a video game that used its medium so well #i bet undertales also pretty good at that but this is more so i think #stories about stories have to be about why we love stories #and im not an artsy person and i roll my eyes a bit when people talk about the spiritual neccesity of art #i think people need stories because the world is sad and hard and boring and we want to think about something else for a while. #some people need to be anywhere but here #and sometimes if you're Lil Depressed-Ass Snufkin that looks like being here forever #baby cringe-ass snufkin big hat idiot