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venomroses · 3 months

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Zones Fashion

Obviously we all know how killjoys dress, but not everyone in the desert is a killjoy. So here's my headcanons about how non-killjoys in the desert dress. Below the cut because this is gonna get long:

Note: Edited this so rb this version please!

These forms of dress are specific to smaller, more isolated groups where people are usually at least 1st gen zoneborn, and doesn't apply to neutral towns, killjoys, those who follow more traditional city styles, etc. Also I know I said I was going to do drawings for this and I might add those later but for now just text bc the drawings aren't coming out how I like.

Younger kids (2-7):

Both girls and boys have long hair because protects them from the sun without trying to get them to keep hats or hoods on since kids can be difficult about the required amount of clothes, let alone additional stuff. It can also be hard to find children's sized clothes, so many guardians don't bother with "unnecessary" items. Hair is usually kept long enough to tie out of their face because kids also make lots of messes, but sometimes hair will be a bit shorter (usually for boys).

Younger siblings will rarely have anything that isn't a hand-me-down, so if you have an older sibling of the opposite gender then you're probably going to be dressing like the opposite gender for most of your childhood. This is rarely an issue since gender doesn't usually have the same relevance as it does in the real world.

Long skirts are common regardless of gender because they keep the legs covered to protect from sunburn. Also, you can grow significantly before an ankle-length skirt becomes too short, unlike pants where you just have to get new ones when you outgrow them. When skirts get short enough to start exposing a lot of skin, extra fabric can be sewn on, or leggings can be worn underneath. Wraparound skirts are preferred because you don't have to adjust the waist at all when the kid grows, so you don't have to worry about buying/making new clothes all the time. However, other types of skirts work just as well.

A lot of younger kids get homemade shoes. They don't need to be great quality, they just need to keep the kid from burning their feet. Once a kid is old enough to begin helping with the family business (if there is one), go on trips with their guardians, etc. they get real shoes since it becomes more important once they're working or away from home for longer periods.

Then older kids (8-12):

At this age kids are old enough to want to have more freedom of expression so styles vary a bit more.

Since they're mostly still wearing kids sized clothes which are harder to find in the Zones and outgrowing things quickly, hair is still usually kept long to protect them from the sun in place of a hat or a hood that would either be too big or outgrown too quickly to justify buying it. However, sometimes they'll get their hair cut short, especially boys. Regardless of length, there's more variations in hairstyles, since it's a form of expression that doesn't cost any money.

Skirts often come above the knees in the front for more mobility/range of motion. Kids this age are old enough to help with work or chores, so it's easier if they don't have to worry about the restrictions long skirts can bring. At this age skirts are less about practicality. Long skirts are seen as a more childish style as the main point of them is to let kids grow without needing to buy tons of new clothes all the time, and skirts of any length can be impractical. Some guardians don't see the point of the skirt if the kid is just going to be wearing pants underneath anyway and the kid transitions into just wearing pants. For those who do keep wearing it, it makes their ages and allegiances clear. Since "adulthood" is pretty much "whenever you look like an adult" or "whenever you can do the same work as an adult" it makes it clear that this is a child, and that they're not a killjoy (since some killjoys can be this young).

Again, kids this age usually aren't working actual jobs yet, so sandals are more common than closed-toe shoes that might be required for a more dangerous job. Sandals are preferred over closed-toe shoes since they take less supplies to make so they're cheaper. These sandals might be homemade or might be made more professionally.

Younger teenagers (13-15):

This is the age where you'll see a lot of actual variation in style. First short haircuts are common at this age. Some kids might have a job, so hair length is usually depending on the job they have instead of gender. A job where they're often inside or where long hair would get in the way? Short haircut. A job where they're often outside? Long hair. Of course, some people will still pick a style they like over practicality, but looks over practicality is a very killjoy-esque mentality that most of the desert does not follow.

Outfits vary a lot, again based on what's practical for work, but it's common for their clothes to be a bit oversized, since they're usually still on the smaller end even if they are wearing adult sizes by now.

Some kids still wear skirts to indicate their age if their guardians feel that they're not ready to be seen as an adult, but many wear pants only.

Most kids have close-toed shoes now, but again they might be a bit too big. Rags can be stuffed in the toes until they fit properly.

Older teenagers (16-19):

Can pretty much look like anything! Just like for younger teenagers, haircuts and forms of dress are more specific to what you're doing, since most people have some sort of job at this age. Skirts are not worn anymore.

Jobs often work like trades, where you learn to do something and make that your career, instead of switching between them a lot. A lot of jobs are making necessities like clothes, candles, and food, or services like doctors/nurses, messengers, etc. Sometimes certain professions go together, like gunsmiths (who can make or fix guns) will work with artists for killjoys or anyone who'd rather have someone else paint their raygun for them. Markets are a great place to sell their wares so a lot of vendors there are going to be people like this.

If you're interested in other types of people in the Zones/time periods and how they dress send me an ask or something bc worldbuilding my beloved <3

#danger days #the zones

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maryellencarter · 21 days

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YouTube Downloads through VLC: Step by Step

So this guide to easily downloading off YouTube is super helpful, but there's enough important information hidden in the reblogs that (with the permission of OP @queriesntheories ) I'm doing a more step-by-step version.

Please note: these downloads will be in YouTube quality. My test video download is coming through at 360p, even though the video I'm starting from is set to 720p. They're legible, but they won't look great on a TV. For high visual quality, you'll want to seek out other methods.

This guide is written for Windows 10, since that's what I can test on. It's been tested on Firefox, Chrome, and Edge (which is a Chromium browser, so the method should work in other Chromium browsers too). So far, I haven't tracked down a way to use this download method on mobile.

BASIC KNOWLEDGE:

I'll try to make this pretty beginner-friendly, but I am going to assume that you know how to right-click, double-click, navigate right-click menus, click-and-drag, use keyboard shortcuts that are given to you (for example, how to use Ctrl+A), and get the URL for any YouTube video you want to download.

You'll also need to download and install one or more programs off the internet using .exe files, if you don't have these programs already. Please make sure you know how to use your firewall and antivirus to keep your computer safe, and google any names you don't recognize before allowing permission for each file. You can also hover your mouse over each link in this post to make sure it goes where I'm saying it will go.

YOU WILL NEED:

A computer where you have admin permissions. This is usually a computer you own or have the main login on. Sadly, a shared computer like the ones at universities and libraries will not work for this.

Enough space on your computer to install the programs listed below, if you don't have them already, and some space to save your downloaded files to. The files are pretty small because of the low video quality.

A simple text editing program. Notepad is the one that usually comes with Windows. If it lets you change fonts, it's too fancy. A notepad designed specifically to edit program code without messing it up is Notepad++, which you can download here.

A web browser. I use Firefox, which you can get here. Chrome or other Chrome-based browsers should also work. I haven't tested in Safari.

An Internet connection fast enough to load YouTube. A little buffering is fine. The downloads will happen much faster than streaming the entire video, unless your internet is very slow.

VLC Media Player, which you can get here. It's a free player for music and videos, available on Windows, Android, and iOS, and it can play almost any format of video or audio file that exists. We'll be using it for one of the central steps in this process.

If you want just the audio from a YouTube video, you'll need to download the video and then use a different program to copy the audio into its own file. At the end of this post, I'll have instructions for that, using a free sound editor called Audacity.

SETUP TO DOWNLOAD:

The first time you do this, you'll need to set VLC up so it can do what you want. This is where we need Notepad and admin permissions. You shouldn't need to repeat this process unless you're reinstalling VLC.

If VLC is open, close it.

In your computer's file system (File Explorer on Windows), go to C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\lua\playlist

If you're not familiar with File Explorer, you'll start by clicking where the left side shows (C:). Then in the big main window, you'll double-click each folder that you see in the file path, in order - so in this case, when you're in C: you need to look for Program Files. (There will be two of them. You want the one without the x86 at the end.) Then inside Program Files you're looking for VideoLAN, and so forth through the whole path.

Once you're inside the "playlist" folder, you'll see a lot of files ending in .luac - they're in alphabetical order. The one you want to edit is youtube.luac which is probably at the bottom.

You can't edit youtube.luac while it's in this folder. Click and drag it out of the playlist folder to somewhere else you can find it - your desktop, for instance. Your computer will ask for admin permission to move the file. Click the "Continue" button with the blue and yellow shield.

Now that the file is moved, double-click on it. The Microsoft Store will want you to search for a program to open the .luac file type with. Don't go to the Microsoft Store, just click on the blue "More apps" below that option, and you'll get a list that should include your notepad program. Click on it and click OK.

The file that opens up will be absolutely full of gibberish-looking code. That's fine. Use Ctrl+A to select everything inside the file, then Backspace or Delete to delete it. Don't close the file yet.

In your web browser, go to https://github.com/videolan/vlc/blob/master/share/lua/playlist/youtube.lua

Click in the part of the Github page that has a bunch of mostly blue code in it. Use Ctrl+A to select all of that code, Ctrl+C to copy it, then come back into your empty youtube.luac file and use Ctrl+P to paste the whole chunk of code into the file.

Save the youtube.luac file (Ctrl+S or File > Save in the upper left corner of the notepad program), then close the notepad program.

Drag youtube.luac back into the folder it came from. The computer will ask for admin permission again. Give it permission.

Now you can close Github and Notepad. You're ready to start downloading!

HOW TO DOWNLOAD:

First, get your YouTube link. It should look something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abc123DEF45 If it's longer, you can delete any extra stuff after that first set of letters and numbers, but you don't have to.

Now open VLC. Go to Media > Open Network Stream and paste your YouTube link into the box that comes up. Click Play. Wait until the video starts to play, then you can pause it if you want so it's not distracting you during the next part.

(If nothing happens, you probably forgot to put youtube.luac back. coughs)

In VLC, go to Tools > Codec Information. At the bottom of the pop-up box you'll see a long string of gibberish in a box labeled Location. Click in the Location box. It won't look like it clicked properly, but when you press Ctrl+A, it should select all. Use Ctrl+C to copy it.

In your web browser, paste the entire string of gibberish and hit Enter. Your same YouTube video should come up, but without any of the YouTube interface around it. This is where the video actually lives on YouTube's servers. YouTube really, really doesn't like to show this address to humans, which is why we needed VLC to be like "hi I'm just a little video player" and get it for us.

Because, if you're looking at the place where the video actually lives, you can just right-click-download it, and YouTube can't stop you.

Right-click on your video. Choose "Save Video As". Choose where to save it to - I use my computer's built-in Music or Videos folders.

Give it a name other than "videoplayback" so you can tell it apart from your other downloads.

The "Save As Type" dropdown under the Name field will probably default to MP4. This is a good versatile video format that most video players can read. If you need a different format, you can convert the download later. (That's a whole other post topic.)

Click Save, and your video will start downloading! It may take a few minutes to fully download, depending on your video length and internet speed. Once the download finishes, congratulations! You have successfully downloaded a YouTube video!

If you'd like to convert your video into a (usually smaller) audio file, so you can put it on a music player, it's time to install and set up Audacity.

INSTALLING AUDACITY (first time setup for audio file conversion):

You can get Audacity here. If you're following along on Windows 10, choose the "64-bit installer (recommended)". Run the installer, but don't open Audacity at the end, or if it does open, close it again.

On that same Audacity download page, scroll down past the installers to the "Additional resources". You'll see a box with a "Link to FFmpeg library". This is where you'll get the add-on program that will let Audacity open your downloaded YouTube video, so you can tell it to make an audio-only file. The link will take you to this page on the Audacity support wiki, which will always have the most up-to-date information on how to install the file you need here.

From that wiki page, follow the link to the actual FFmpeg library. If you're not using an adblocker, be careful not to click on any of the ads showing you download buttons. The link you want is bold blue text under "FFmpeg Installer for Audacity 3.2 and later", and looks something like this: "FFmpeg_5.0.0_for_Audacity_on_Windows_x86.exe". Download and install it. Without this, Audacity won't be able to open MP4 files downloaded from YouTube.

CONVERTING TO AUDIO:

Make sure you know where to find your downloaded MP4 video file. This file won't go away when you "convert" it - you'll just be copying the audio into a different file.

Open up Audacity.

Go to File > Open and choose your video file.

You'll get one of those soundwave file displays you see in recording booths and so forth. Audacity is a good solid choice if you want to teach yourself to edit soundwave files, but that's not what we're here for right now.

Go to File > Export Audio. The File Name will populate to match the video's filename, but you can edit it if you want.

Click the Browse button next to the Folder box, and choose where to save your new audio file to. I use my computer's Music folder.

You can click on the Format dropdown and choose an audio file type. If you're not sure which one you want, MP3 is the most common and versatile.

If you'd like your music player to know the artist, album, and so forth for your audio track, you can edit that later in File Manager, or you can put the information in with the Edit Metadata button here. You can leave any of the slots blank, for instance if you don't have a track number because it's a YouTube video.

Once everything is set up, click Export, and your new audio file will be created. Go forth and listen!

#reference #vlc media player #youtube downloader #youtube #uh what other tags should i use idk #how to internet #long post

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wainwrightjakobshammerlock · 6 months

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What I think disability aids made by Borderlands gun manufacturers would be like. CW for mentions of systemic ableism and weight loss.

Atlas: Sleek and fancy, but also expensive as hell and prone to accidents. Sort of like IRL fancy prostheses or wheelchairs - they seem cool but are actually kinda sucky and very pricey. Don't expect the average Promethean to afford one. Though in this case, it's because they're often loaded with purely experimental tech that was probably shipped too early.

Hyperion: They make a few prosthetic and implant models and that's it. Pretty much all their stuff is aimed at their own employees trying to get "ahead" and not actual disabled people, so give up trying to find one fitting your particular needs. At least they're pretty fucking sturdy (but not against hacking). And no, they haven't thought of adopting those exoskeletons their engineers use for other needs.

Maliwan: Similar to above, but aimed at their general customer base instead. These guys are hipsters who try marrying form and function, and in many cases that means augs of some sort. I wouldn't really call them transhumanist though, that implies respecting bodily autonomy, human rights and not being ableist; these guys would sell arms with tracking chips and neural interfaces that fry your brainstem if you don't pay the subscription fee. And then tell you to lose weight with the new fad diet their marketing department cooked up. The hoverchairs and flavored chewelry are pretty great, tho.

Dahl: They wouldn't. They claim to be reliable but they're actually the biggest cowards in the Six Galaxies. If one of their soldiers loses a leg or something that's grounds for being (dis)honorably discharged. What exoskeletons or other devices they make are purely for war. Plus, the one Dahl employee we see having a prosthesis (Helena Pierce) doesn't seem to have a Dahl brand one. Aside from weird metal rank implants and funky gun-inspired fidget cubes they don't do much in this department.

Torgue: Expect everything to be painted like a Hot Wheels toy and probably explode somehow - either on you or on your enemies. All the mobility aids have jets attached for either smacking ableists with great force or speeding through town. I think Torgue himself wears a hearing aid (from all the explosions) and it looks like a fucking microphone with car parts on it, complete with exhaust.

Jakobs: Steampunk baybeee!!! Of course, the subgenre of said steampunk depends on the quality of the aid. The most basic ones are IRL Victorian era metal arms: flat, spiky, inhuman, but still quite ornate. The ones custom-tooled for execs and their families (looking at you, Alistair Hammerlock) are more "sleek" steampunk, with fine chassis of signature Jakobs brass and filigree engravings. They also make genuine wood canes with organic rubber grips that will outlive you if you take proper care of them... which is definitely shown in their price tags. The Jakobs stim toy line is half weird gear contraptions, half competition with Dahl's fidget cubes.

Vladof: Heavy, clunky, dieselpunk style. But damn if they aren't effective. A standard Vladof boostchair could break through a wall and be completely unharmed. A Vladof AAC device looks like an electron tube supercomputer that you have to haul around in a cart. That's all I really have to say here.

Tediore: I have no idea.

#my post #borderlands #text post #headcanons #disability tag #50

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undercoverpena · 6 months

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Hey Jo, I hope you don’t mind me asking you this but I wondered how you deal with fic popularity (both having and watching others)?? I’m struggling with feeling bad and just wanting to quit. If this feels uncomfortable to answer don’t worry xx

hi anon! i'm sorry you're struggling a bit and feeling bad, just wanna give you a hug! i don't know if i'm the best person to ask this, but i'm gonna give this a little go.

as a concept, i try to remind myself not to get bogged down with numbers, because they're a fickle thing. they change with the wind, sun and the rain. because your worth isn't equated to your notes/followers/popularity.

it's important to remember that there are times fics will do really well because of the tropes, the pairing, the timing - and not the quality of your work. you can sometimes just write one thing and it gains traction, and another time write something in the same style, and it doesn't. the other thing is, some fics grow. they take time to bloom and find their audience, and that's okay too.

fandoms are also different sizes. so you can never compare numbers on numbers, because in one fandom the people reading/engaging may be different to another.

i think i did a post on this a while ago - but my tags are all wonky so i can't find it (watch me find it when this posts) so i can't link it.

but, i know it's super easy for me to say "don't get bogged with numbers", and "try to focus on how you felt writing it" but somedays, even i look at things and wonder to myself what i've done wrong. it's normal, natural - i'm sharing something, and i'm critical and i want to deliver good things to lovely people like you. however, i think you'd tell me that my worth is also not attached to my followers, my notes or my popularity. but it's easy to tell someone else that, than yourself.

and, more importantly, me delivering good things doesn't equate to notes. sometimes, what someone else loves and thinks is a 10/10 is going to be different to another.

because what makes fandom so cool and good, is that it's varied.

people want different things. people write different things. and i preach this far too much, but you just need to find your people - or if you have, give them time. some people are snowed under with tbr's and others are trying to bury their issues in writing (talking about myself here), and others are just trying to juggle too much that their tumblr is less active.

the main thing i hope you takeaway, other than your worth not being a number, is that you have to find and remember why you love what you do. and if you don't know or can't remember, remind yourself.

go back through your work and read it - preferably in a different browser or something (so it looks different to you) and enjoy your own writing. pick out quotes, bask in what you've created. you are your first fan, the person you should write for first. so, be a fan. celebrate yourself. give yourself a pat on the back or a high five, because look, it's fucking hard creating, and it's even harder sharing it. and on top of that, fighting imposter syndrome is hard, fighting dark clouds and rainy days is hard. it is. i can't pretend it isn't.

i can't pretend it doesn't hurt when you stare at your published piece and your brain begins to wonder what you went wrong (for whatever reason that is, whether it's numbers or just something else). because it's normal to look for validation that you did a great thing and it hurts when you don't get it. but, you have to curate your experience - you have to do the things above:

remind yourself you're worth is more than a number

love what you do first. i recommended to someone/people recently to copy some of their fave lines into a document when they're editing so they can be like "fuck yeah, i did that"

also @trulybetty pointed this out to me (and it's been a god send) but on mobile (and on desktop but it's messier) you can filter out your activity. on the top left there's "all activity" but if you click it, you can filter out likes, mentions etc. and for me, i've filtered out likes, which means i can see more of the comments, reblogs (with the hashtags) and mentions - so not only do i not miss anything, but also i'm seeing more of the things that make me smile. it's not a slight on likes, but sometimes it hides all the good things that get buried.

i hope in some small way some of this is nice, and it helps. but if not, just remember you're not alone, we're all human, and you deserve to be here, and pls, pls continue writing and don't quit.

#jo: writing advice #asked and answered #anon

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misc-obeyme · 15 days

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The anon's point about the Mc's presence and how it could be more representative of a wider range of players if the character had an independent goal or mission is definitely a valid one.

But just like you said, a lot of otome games often focus on romance and relationships, with the Mc' s main motivation being to connect with and date the "main" love interests. But there is potential to introduce more complexity and appeal to players if the Mc has their own goals, motivations or missions that are separate from the romance aspect of the game.

Personally, I do think the idea of exploring the more "plot-based" angles and incorporating more elements of action-adventure into the story is a great suggestion and one that could make the narrative more engaging and relatable for us/players.

While the focus of the game may still be on romance aspects and character relationships, adding more depth and complexity through plot-driven angles can definitely add an extra layer of interest and appeal.

And I would love a buff mommy Mc or love interest by the way

I absolutely agree with everything you're saying.

The thing is, that is what you would get from something that is well written.

You are not going to get that level of consideration or good writing from a mobile otome game. Especially one that regularly rotates writers and also has a whole translation team that also mangles the story when they put it into other languages.

I love Obey Me, I really do. But the writing leaves a lot to be desired. I think it's inevitable. And honestly I think that right there is the only reason I decided to write fanfiction for it.

Because the characters have so much potential that's wasted. So why wouldn't I feel the urge to elaborate on them myself? I haven't written fic for a fandom in ages because I never felt compelled to until Obey Me came into my life. I couldn't possibly fuck it up, right?? LOL okay I'm exaggerating, it's not that bad. But they definitely have more characters than they can actually develop effectively.

So I would argue that the main story is more focused on MC's goals independent of their relationships with the characters. In the first season of OG, MC's whole goal is to get pacts, eventually the reason for this is to free Belphie from the attic. But none of that really has anything to do with MC's love story with any of the characters. You can go through that whole season and give them only platonic responses. Season two is similar in that MC's whole thing is figuring out how to deal with their "ring."

In fact, I would say that after season one, the events of each season don't even have an impact on MC's relationship with the seven brothers. The main thing that connects them and deepens their relationships in season one are the pacts. But in subsequent seasons, it doesn't seem to matter what happens, the brothers always see MC as family.

So I actually feel like the romance of the game is a side plot and even then, you can still choose to go through all of it without choosing lovey options for any of the characters.

However, they are expecting you to want to romance the characters. So they have to make MC someone that all the characters can fall in love with, whether their romance is front and center of the story or not.

Would it be more compelling for all of us if MC had a more interesting personality? Yeah, probably! But do I think these guys could pull off something like that? No, not really.

I'm not trying to bash the game or anything, obviously I totally love it. Look at my blog lol. I'm obsessed with it. But I've never found the writing to be especially good.

I've seen complaints that it's not romantic enough. I've seen complaints that it forces romance on the players. I've seen complaints that MC is too generic. I've seen complaints that MC is not generic enough. I'm sure they're doing the best they can, but I highly doubt writing quality is high on their list of concerns.

All that is to say that of course every anon that has come to my ask box about this particular topic has valid opinions on it! And you can certainly discuss what would improve the overall story. I just generally choose not to think about it too deeply because I'm not expecting anything of higher quality than what we've been getting all along. Which is just quality enough to keep me hooked lol.

Lastly, all I want in life is a buff mommy love interest asdlkfkjf not at all holding my breath, but SHEESH. Just gimme a stunning muscular demon lady, huh? I would die on the spot.

#hmm sorry I feel like I rambled again #I just have thoughts about this apparently #obey me #anon asks #misc answers

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that-student-that-has-homework · 2 months

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Heyy, I’ve been reading your wonderful one piece works for a while — and I couldn’t stop wondering how are you actually doing those magnificent headers?

Like… hello? The great quality, with additional 3D-alike details I could catch by my eyes? I got only Ibis Paint X on mobile, since I’m only a young man that literally two months ago went on a life-time ‘adventure’ of living alone in a small apartment.

In short — I got no money to pay for additional graphics/drawing programs, not yet at least

Hello!

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoy my writing - I'm curious to know what's your favorite piece / part? Also I'm so happy you like my headers? Makes it feel worth it to spend time on them! :D

I have excellent news for you, I used a mix of Canva and Photopea. They're both FREE!

I'll be explaining the process for making these two kinda? The full tutorial is below the cut, to be courteous to the other folks, hope you don't mind?

Though I am hearing that Canva has given people some grief. But Photopea is just *chefs kiss*

If you've ever used photoshop, Photopea is essentially a free photoshop, and it even has the automation tools! An absolute lifesaver when you have multiple layers you want to export (but that's for larger projects not this)

I'm going to assume you have basic knowledge of layers in digital drawing programs for this. If anything isn't clear: ask me, I'll clarify!

//-------------------------------------------------

My General Process is:

Search for official art / images

bring it into canva / photopea

crop / arrange images to match the dimensions

select a thematic color that is associated with the character

separate the foreground from the background

mess around and test things until they work

//--------------------------------------------------

Given "Louder than Words" is the latest one I've made, I'll start with the process for it.

Dimensions: 3000 x 1055 px dpi: 96

//-------------------------------------------

Let's Get Crackin'

Alright let's grab some official art so we're not using any fanart without the artist's permission

I try to pick images that feel relevant enough to what I'm trying to make. For example: the image for the Matching banner shows the ASCE tattoo which is super important in that fic

2. Let's arrange them onto a banner where each individual image has the same/similar dimensions to the rest

That's probably part of why you like these. To a certain extent they have similar dimensions, so they have a uniformity that's pleasing to the eye! (It's not perfect because I threw perfectionism to the wind because this is tumblr not my portfolio) Tip: if you have 3 images and only 2 that have similar dimensions, and the 3rd one can't be cropped logically: but the one that's a different aspect ratio in the middle!

3. lets arrange them in such a way that the borders all feel like they're the same/equal width/thickness

you might find that you have to shrink some images for this, that's fine.

ALTERNATIVELY: if you're going with one image crop it so it's just the relevant info and it matches the dimensions (3000 x 1055 px)

We have our base! Now let's add some color, and direct the viewer's eye together!

4. pick out a color that you think matches your character / vibe - that color is going to be your background Given I'm making an Ace banner: orange is the color I'm going with

I went and named my layers for this lol. The numbers represent the opacity, and they aren't important. I just kept changing the opacity until I liked the way things looks. But here's the secret to the 3D feel:

Motionblur (+ moving it about)

Separating the foreground and background and dulling out the background.

I'm going to show you my process so you can see the effects, but first let's give you some quick skills:

//------------------------------------

SKILLS / THINGS I THINK ARE HELPFUL

//------- Select Similar

magic wand -> select something -> right-click -> select similar This works best when you have high contrast images (like manga panels that are black and white). You can select the black or the white areas. Depending on what works better for you. TIP! Invert selections with ctrl + i Say you know that you want to select everything but Ace's face in the second panel. Select his face with the magic wand then ctrl + i, and that's the only thing NOT selected

TIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please, please, please, duplicate your original image and work on the duplicate layer. This helps you SO much. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TIP! Check your selection tolerance! This could be why too little, or too much is being selected.

//------- The Move Tool

Shortcut key: v While the move tool is active, you can nudge the stuff on whatever layer with your arrow keys Shift + arrow key = 10 px move (generally)

//------- Layer Locking

1- Layer Blending Mode (see Overlay vs Multiply vs Normal) for how this can affect results) 2- Opacity: how see through it is / isn't 3- Lock Transparency (it's the little checker board) 4- Lock Layer (looks like a lock) 5- Lock icon that appears when anything on the layer has been locked More on 3 Lock Transparency: You can only paint on / modify what's on that layer. You CANNOT add anything to any area that is already transparent Here's a demo of what you can do with this power:

Here's the original Image - notice how it's just the lineart with a transparent background.

It's powerful: abuse it

//------- Overlay vs Multiply vs Normal

I think seeing this is the best way to visualize how different modes can affect the color.

//--------------------------------

Back to the Tutorial

!!I IMPORTANT NOTE !!

Please play around with the opacity slider to figure out what opacity works best for you on the multiple different layers we're about to make / work with. It's up to your own style to figure this out. Next: please feel free to not follow all of it. Add more layers, add less layers, take the base principles and go wild! :D

5. Separate the lineart from the background and save it as a new layer 6. Duplicate it and set it to overlay, or set it to overlay immediately

7. Duplicate that lineart layer twice and set the blending mode to overlay 8. lock transparency on the top one and change it to be a dark grey 9. Apply motion blur to both:

Main menu bar -> Filter -> Motion Blur I made it so that the grey layer was blurrier than the black layer

10. More them around a little to give it a "3D effect" as you called it.

It creates shadows under the lines - I was aiming for an effect similar to chromatic aberration (chromatic aberration is a valid way to add punch to your stuff too!)

So this is what things look like now - painful, but let's keep going

11. Duplicate the ORIGINAL / BASE lineart layer, that you DID not apply motion blur to -> set the blend mode to multiply (reduce opacity for it to actually take effect)

okay that's less painful here's what the layers look like right now:

let's bring more focus to Ace's face, and push the background farther away:

12. Use the magic wand tool to quickly select large areas of the faces / focal area / foreground and the lasso tool to refine things

TIP! Hold shift + click -> add to selection Hold Alt + click -> subtract from selection

13. On a new layer with blending mode -> lighten, fill that selection to be white

If you look at it, you'll notice that it is ALREADY starting to draw our attention to his face, but the background is kinda aggressive, so let's dim that down

TIP! Right-click on the gradient tool to find the paint-bucket tool

TIP! Sample All Layers: Turning this option off makes it so that you only work with the content on THAT specific layer. Turning it on makes it so that it is working while taking all other layers into consideration.

14. ctrl + click on the "white foreground" layer to select the contents of that specific layer (pink thing is your mouse)

15. ctrl + i to invert selection and ON A NEW LAYER (layer mode -> multiply) fill that with a complementary color

16. I did one last thing where I took the original base (before we separated the lineart) and added it to the very top and played with the opacity to get something less in your face (layer blend mode was set to NORMAL)

And that's it!

More considerations that I take:

I want the banner to be "thin" or not square, so it doesn't take up too much screen real estate on people's devices

I don't want readers having to scroll too much to get to my writing (which is the whole point of the post, let's not waste their time making them look for things)

I want the banner content to be relevant enough?

ie: with Matching: I wanted the ASCE tattoo to be visible. With matching I wanted Ace to not look too happy in some of them.

I'm also trying to avoid spoilers, I hated getting things spoiled, so I'm trying to be careful that the images I pick don't spoil anything really.

Congrats on starting life on your own! I did that whole living by myself thing too! Tip: keep the pantry stocked with lentils, beans, pastas, baking essentials, rice. They really come in a clutch when you're hungry.

#photopea resources #photopea psd #tutorial #tutorials #tumblr banner #photoshop #photoshop tutorial #digital art #fuck adobe #adobe photoshop

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fioras-resolve · 4 months

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hey, let's talk about this blog post from 2014. this is an open letter from the creators of number-merging mobile game Threes, in response to various imitators like 2048. it's a fascinating case study in the midst of recent discussions of plagiarism.

so, look. Threes and 2048 are both mobile games that you can play right now, for free. i highly encourage that you play both of them before reading further. i want you to see how different these games feel to play.

okay, so. this blog post from Asher Vollmer and Greg Wohlwend is interesting to look back on, but it's worth remembering the context it was made in. the mobile gaming scene is absolutely awash with copycats and imitators, and has been for over a decade. mobile games like this are typically pretty simple and thus incredibly easy to copy. if you have a good idea for a mobile game, you are almost immediately going to get people looking to cash in on your idea. this has been cited by former free-to-play dev Caryl Shaw as one of the reasons she left that industry. it's important to keep in mind that cheap imitators and cash-ins are absolutely an issue endemic to the platform.

that said, 2048 is not the same game as Threes. Vollmer complains that people tell him they like 2048 more, but it's not hard to see why they do. it's faster-paced, easier to understand, and more immediately gratifying. Threes takes a bit of practice to really understand what it's doing. its advantages over 2048, e.g. granular control, more predictable rng, more depth long-term, are more relevant to mid- or high-level play. also, this might seem minor, but 2048 actually comes with an objective, it's right there in the title. it means that players have a goal to reach for beyond just a high score. even if you think 2048 is a worse game that Threes, they're clearly different games, and it's not hard to see why 2048 became memetic in a way that Threes didn't.

the letter acknowledges this. it doesn't call 2048 a knock-off, but instead a rip-off, and points out rightly that Threes didn't get the time to grow an audience or the credit for doing it first. i am intensely sympathetic to this, and you should be too. as an indie gamedev even outside of mobile, i worry that my good ideas might be stolen for a profit. even though i'm confident in my abilities as a developer, i'm less confident in my ability to predict the market, and the fear of plagiarism doesn't help.

but i'm not gonna lie, Vollmer and Wohlwend's letter here comes off as salty and antagonistic toward a fellow game developer. it simply wasn't enough to say that it's bad that they didn't get the credit they deserve, they also had to call 2048 a "broken game." to be clear! it has been almost a decade since both games came out! and i still go back to 2048! i decided to go back to Threes recently and give it a proper shot, and while yeah, it's better than i remember it, 2048 is not that much worse of an experience! it's like Minesweeper for me, one of those games i go back to when i need something to do. and like Minesweeper, it's fairly barebones as a game, but that doesn't really stop me from loving it.

but what really sticks out to me about the letter is actually this line that i haven't been able to get out of my head:

We know Threes is a better game, we spent over a year on it.

this has bothered me for a while. not just because it's a wrongheaded way of thinking about quality, (plenty of AAA games that took more than a year suck) but because it's a common one. it's a kind of romanticization of work that treats the process as more important than the result. i understand this mindset, it's one that a lot of creators adopt, including me, because we love the work that we do. but it just doesn't always shake out that way. sometimes the work you do doesn't coalesce, and sometimes a great idea can be developed over a weekend. my current gamedev project which you can help playtest on my discord is a less ambitious project than ones i've taken on in the past, but also one i'm more confident i can pull off. it's often less important how much time you spend, than how you spend it and why.

*sigh*

Asher, Greg. if you are for some reason reading this, i do respect y'all as gamedevs. i think you did great on Threes, and also Puzzlejuice, and a lot of other games you've worked on separately. you called out an important issue in mobile gamedev, and one that's still with us today. you made an good, important game on a platform that is now dominated by predatory monetization and junk food entertainment. Threes represented a better world for mobile, and your post pushed back against what mobile had become.

but 2048 is fine.

#game design #gamedev #threes #2048 game

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daz4i · 6 months

Text

at the risk of sounding like the "JUST LIKE BIDEO GAME" meme. i did just figure out a great analogy for how i feel abt most health tips

it's really really really really really hard to do things. to the point it feels impossible. and most people would just say "hard is not impossible! that means there's still a chance!" but like. you know how in some games you can speed to the final boss from the start, or start a certain section of them when you're underleveled and have no gear? it's like. technically, you can do it. it's not impossible to do these battles. look how many people finished the game and did it already! yes, they were a higher level, yes, they had all the right gear or they looked up some guides on the perfect build to beat them, but they did it! that means you can too! you being underleveled makes it harder, but it's not impossible!

like. do you see where I'm getting at here. certain disabilities and mental illnesses make it so you're permanently underleveled. and you can't level up. at most you can find some gear (meds, mobility aids, painkillers etc) or party members (loved ones) who can help you, but you can't do much damage yourself, and one hit will make you go down. some people can do it. some people like you can still pull off some perfect combo and beat the boss. but most people, in this state, can't.

and like. you can go do the easier parts, ofc. you can do low level missions and beat low level areas. but you can't level up, so you can't proceed (best way i can put it is. these areas simply don't give enough xp for that. your game has this weird glitch that only goes away after you pass a certain part of the game - that's a way higher level than you are - so just make sure to get through it and you'll be fine!). or maybe you have the perfect build and gear to beat some high level bosses you run into, but none of the others. like. you bought the game and you can play it. you just can't really do much in it and it all becomes very repetitive at some point. every time you try to step out of those missions you're used to, you get decimated, and eventually it just starts being honestly scary to try.

I'm mostly talking about my depression here, tbh. i think the most despair inducing part of it is seeing how some people still manage to proceed, pass that glitched out area, and are able to level up and even finish the game, while you still can't bc you, fuck i dunno, don't have fast enough reflexes to pull off some perfect combo you need to get through it. you go online and see how people keep praising the game and how fun it is but you literally can't see it

and this analogy applies to p much every single task, every single thing you need to do in order to get better. technically, it's possible, but it's so hard it might as well not be. and most people see it as super basic, super easy, even other people who were in your situation don't seem to remember how hard it was now that they're past it, because managing to do it somehow shattered that feeling of impossibleness they may have had (and tbf, they probably had to be very persistent and try time and time again. and. i really don't have that quality in me tbh)

idk it's probably very silly. if you read it then thanks, hope i didn't put you off with that lol. if you relate (not just about depression, but anything that can be disabling you may have going on) then I'm glad you can feel seen by this and also I'm sorry you're going through this 🙏 if you don't relate then I'm happy for you 🫡

#long post #i dunno. had some thoughts. i think this is why i always get genuinely upset when i run into these tips #it's like a loading screen tip saying ''consider being good at the game'' aight cheers mate i haven't thought of that #''consider keep playing the game even though you're not having fun at all and would rather do anything but this''#''it'll be worth it bro the ending is so good'' why can't i just play a different game with a different good ending.#ok my analogy is getting flimsy rn. anyway these are my 2 cents. i am very sad #(i have the um. appointment? for the program that helps you with recovery. this monday)#(can you tell i am very stressed lol. can you tell i would rather be dead 😃)

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possumpop · 1 year

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@tunkus and i decided to come up with our own shuffle units, since we have no idea what the next one will be now that every idol has been in one (if theyre even gonna do more but GOD i hope they do)

shuffle unit leaders are the character at the far left!! shuffle unit names are a mix of actual potential names or just concept descriptors

explanations on these under the cut

Girls Night okay this one's just. self indulgent gender headcanons. since we headcanon all of these characters as transfem. definitely not ALL of the characters that we headcanon as transfem, but the funniest assortment of them that we also thought would sound good.

Spy Movie this one was mostly a "hiMERU and hiyori would be fun in a unit" concept build, but we're sooo fond of it. their voices work surprisingly well together, and the concept we have for it is that they're all cast in some kind of spy movie, and the song would be jazz-like. also their all like the exact same height which i think is great

Cryptids kanata needs to be the leader of a weird cryptid-style unit. all these characters are little freaks in their own ways and they ALSO have really unique voices. youd think thisd make it sound bad but in testing it out, kanata shines just enough to stand out as the unit leader, and they all harmonize and flow together really well. they al have a very similar quality to their voices

Top5 okay this ones funny. bogie time event revealed that mitsuru is becoming a really popular idol on his own, separate from Ra*bits, because of all the variety shows and talkshows he goes on. so we came up with the idea of ES doing some kind of poll for peoples favorite idols, and the top 5 would perform a concert together as a shuffle unit. and imagining the interactions between these 5 characters brings me so much joy bc like. eichi rei and keito have sooo much yumenosaki history together. and rinne is full of drama and loves to cause problems. and then mitsuru is just a lil guy. and he ends up the leader bc he has the least drama with any of them and they all are okay with him

GAME ON how have we not had a gamer unit. come on. sora would make such a fun shuffle unit leader!! yuta and tetora* arent really gamers as far as i know but they both are people sora would get along with well and might invite. and also they just all have such fun energy. gamer unit. *edit: forgot that tetora canonically plays a gatcha genshin-style mobile game, he IS a gamer

Touch of Spring this is the one that has 2 characters from the same unit, but their voices sound soooo good together. this mostly started as wanting kohaku to lead a unit with aira in it and bloomed (hah) from there. they all have such soft voices, and we imagined them as a shuffle unit for the cherry blossom festivals!!

Happy Birthday kind of a mixed bag from some leftover characters, BUT they do sound really good together and have a lot of lil-guy energy. tsumugi is so tall compared to the rest of them its really funny. shinobu deserves to lead a shuffle unit though and "birthday party" was like. the only conclusive energy we could pull from this combination. bright and shinny holiday energy but also in a soft and personal way

Chivalry we imagined this as like. hajime and a bunch of chivalrous knightly characters. and it starting maybe from hajime wanting to be more knightly and chivalrous, because he admires tomoya for always being his "knight in shining armor". we could see it either going in that direction or just "princess hajime" kind of vibes, maybe for some kind of play or movie? they look and sound sooo good together, their voices are all very soft and sweet

Collateral Damage AAAAAAA we love this one. we were getting to the last of the characters when we made this one but its so good. the egos in this unit and worldviews are so intense and powerful. and they have some wild powerful voices, but also some soft voices to balance things out. whatever theyd sing itd probably be intense. i want to see tatsumi and nagisa talk about god.

Star Crossed coming up with a 4-person unit is hard but this one is very fun. we werent able to preview what theyd sound like, but we had the idea that this is some kind of like, poetry, theatrical kind of event unit? maybe old japanese poetry, maybe something shakespearian

#enstars #ensemble stars

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slowestlap · 1 year

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i have to shoot my shot and ask - HOW on earth do you make your gifs so crisp. they're so clean its literally out of this world!!!!!! when your gifs are on my dash i almost always know its you just by the QUALITY of the gif. help a girl out!!!

Hii! Thank you!! <3 I'm happy with the way my giffing process now goes but it's taken years and a few different fandoms and stumbling upon good tutorials which is why i decided to make one of my own too.

I still love figuring out new things to try and hopefully you can get some new tips to your process from me too. Under the cut is a long af post about gif making, focusing on some basic stuff and sharpening/coloring tips.

________________________

WAY TOO LONG INTRO

Before i get to the photoshop part, the base stuff is super important: You can't turn a very bad video into great gifs since there's only so much photoshop can do BUT you can turn a good video into great gifs. So, obviously the original video quality matters a lot.

I religiously stand by the correct tumblr size dimensions (see example, the numbers mean the width. Height doesn't really matter). However in 3 column sets i’ll sacrifice that one pixel and would make them all 177px. The empty space between gifs in 2 column sets is 4px, in 3 column sets it's 4px + 4px.

Since tumblr can only properly handle 540 gif pixels in the same row, sets with two wide gifs side by side can be laggy to scroll by. So for example, 268px gif will not be as sharp as 540px gif (if you click on it to see it bigger), since it legit has only half of the pixels, but if you plan to post 2 gifs in the same row, the 268px will look better on the dash in the gif set since it’s correctly sized for the best dash result.

I download videos when i can (dl is always better than screen recording), so that's youtube, instagram/twitter etc. Streaming sites/broadcasts i have to screen record and i use OBS to do it. It's the best i've tried for hq recording. I record with 60fps and use display capture. OBS is a heavy program, as is photoshop, so a good enough computer is also super important imo. I used to make gifs with a laptop of 4gb ram/128gb emmc and lost my mind after all the crashing and spent 1k€ on a new one. Basically, have as much performance as you can afford, and editing experience will be much much more pleasant. Of course gifs can be done with an average computer too, it'll just likely be slower and clumsier and you need more patience 😫

Also, i've gotten rid of the urge to be the first to post a gif set when new content drops. I'm not the fastest, i always do every coloring from the scratch. I save to drafts to see how it looks like on mobile, i go back to ps to correct the things that don't look right (too dark/bright, too green/yellow/red, too slow/fast), i make the changes, then save to drafts again and then post. I'd rather post a set i'm happy with than to post quickly knowing i could've made it look better with just a bit more time. (It'd bother me and i'd go back and re-color for my own peace of mind 😅) And i just wanna say it's totally fine when people make gifs of the same stuff!! The more the merrier, no need to think only the first to gif something somehow now has the rights to that moment. I just never get the best result if i try to hurry, so i’ve stopped trying to get my sets out asap. I’ll post when i’ll post.

________________________

SHARPENING

All these words and i haven't even gotten to the point yet 🫣 But fine tuning the details won't work if they don't have a proper base at first. Which!!! Finally brings us to your question:

I'm not sure if the order really matters but the main steps i do in this order: once the layers have been converted to video timeline and video timeline is converted into a smart object -> smart sharpen -> crop -> resize -> coloring

I like to sharpen things first, to me it makes sense to do it before resizing because after resizing you've already lost some pixels, so feels better to sharpen when you still have all the original pixels.

All the above steps (sharpening, cropping, resizing) will affect how the gif looks, so i do the coloring as the very last thing so i can better see how the end result will look.

To me sharpening and coloring go hand in hand, and you use both of them to get the best result. Sharpening obviously does what it says but good coloring will help to make the gif look cleaner and smoother too.

Finally, examples!! The key to a sharp result in my process is 2 sharpening layers. The main layer and the second layer.

Enjoy looking at judgy max f i giffed last year and chose to use as an example here. The source video quality was 1080px and i screen recorded with OBS.

I use photoshop CC2019 so cannot guarantee that these will work the same way in other ps versions. As always, it's about fuckin around and findin out 🙏🏻

__________________

1. Example with resizing done, but no sharpening or coloring (blurry and ungood)

2. Example with resizing and main sharpening layer (already much better)

3. Example with second sharpening layer included (more depth, dark spots are darker, almost too strong of an effect but coloring will fix that)

4. Example with all of the above + coloring (the final result)

5. The final result as a gif

And how did we get that result?

Main sharpening layer settings (yes, it’s in finnish but i think the options are in the same place in every language):

Because the sharpening is quite heavy, I double click on this thingy (red circle) in the layers panel to lower the opacity to 50-70%

The middle layer is gaussian blur, which i’ve set to 0,2.

So basically i intentionally oversharpen the gif and use the opacity function and blur to soften the effect. Dumb or smart, who knows not me, but it’s working for me so i’m rolling with it.

The top layer is the second sharpening layer. A godsend trick i’ve learned along the way: (the difference between the example photos 2 and 3 above)

(I've created an action, so i just gotta push one button and it'll run thru these sharpening settings, ie. i don't have to manually click thru these every time, saves crazy amount of time)

Wasn't sure at which point i'll mention this so i'm just putting it here: when saving the gif for web, i almost always use adaptive and diffusion.

________________________

COLORING

I’m not gonna go thru every coloring thing in my process since this is already so long hsdkfjdkjgkd but i’ll give some info on what i usually do and some tips i've found helpful.

My style is quite natural and i prefer colder tones. I hateeeee overly green/yellow/red skintones that are caused by bad lighting so I always try to correct that. The below stuff is more or less what i did to color that example gif too. (Everything is down to preference, these are just the way i like to color)

My most commonly used coloring layers:

Curves. Utilize the eye dropper tools, pick white eye dropper and click on a white spot on the gif (not pure white tho since it won’t do anything) and it will turn that spot to 100% white and correct the other colors at the same time. Black eye dropper will turn a dark spot you picked to 100% black. It can be super effective, just try a spot, undo, try another spot, undo, until you find what looks good. If you like the result but it’s too strong, lower the layer opacity. And of course you can just simply drag the curve up and get brightness that way. There are times when the eye droppers won't work nicely but it's always worth a try.

Levels. Works similarly to curves, they are basically the more efficient brightness/contrast combo.

Color balance. No gif of mine has been made in the last 3 years without dragging the blue in the midtones to the right. I also often drag the green to magnetas side.

B&W gradient map. I set the blending mode to soft light and lower the layer opacity. Gives the gif a bit more depth and pop to the dark/light parts.

If the dark parts in your gif are too dark, for example details around eyes look messy but you don't want to lower the contrast, then try adding light colored gradient map (light yellow-white or light blue-white etc) and set it to soft light and play with opacity. It will give light and brightness to the gif without making things blinding and not losing much contrast.

Photo filter. I’m almost always going for cold blue and 10-20 setting. (Orange filters can give a nice effect too, if you want to bring some warmness to the gif.)

Vibrance. Always adding at least a little bit, helps colors to pop and makes skintones look nicer.

Selective coloring. Just drag them sliders to left and right to see what works, that’s really the best advice i can give. If you want reds to pop, go to red and play around. If you think the white spots are a bit blinding, go to white and then slide the bottom one (black) to the right. If you want some more contrast, go to neutral and slide the bottom one (black) to the right. Same with black (black).

Also, i don't like to do too much with one layer. I tend to do different colors with different selective coloring layers, so if needed i can lower the opacity and it will only affect that one color. Also it's handy to duplicate layers if you really want a certain color to pop, one layer often isn't enough in that case so duplicate it and if it's too strong then play around with opacity.

(Left image below). If you want to correct overly yellow/green skintones, go to yellow and you can try these settings. Then lower the layer opacity to see what looks good.

(Right image). If you struggle getting rid of very red tones, you can use hue/saturation layer, go to red and just drag the middle slider to the left. (This is also a good tip with POC, when you think their skintone is overly orange/red but you are afraid of white washing. This setting will usually correct the orange and red tone without taking the dark/black color away.)

______________________

THE END

Wheew this is what happens when you give me an opprtunity to talk about giffing 😅 I hope it was easy to follow, feel free to ask if i was unclear about something!! And hopefully you got to learn something new.

Also these are obviously just my way of doing things, not the Only Correct way, do whatever you like and enjoy and don’t worry too much if other people do things differently. Most important thing is to have fun creating 🫡

#slowestlap's lowkey gif tutorial of sorts #answered #one thing about me is that if i start talking about photoshop #i simply do not know how to stop hdjdjdjdk #ok to reblog btw if you found this helpful #(thank ya again for the nice words anon <3)

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lone-sk · 4 months

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Hey, so! I thought it would be fun to do a tier list of all the games I played for the first time this year, and discuss my thoughts on them. Tiers are unordered, thoughts below the cut.

Super Meat Boy -

Just a fun ass time. Excellent platforming, a great difficultly curve, fun level gimmicks, and a solid amount of content. Basically as flawless as a video game can get.

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth -

I've never played a roguelike where each run felt so unique. All the different shit you can do with ability synergies and items is insane, the skill ceiling for this game is practically infinite. This is what the roguelike genre has the potential to be, and every other roguelike is now worse because they aren't this good.

Dark Souls Remastered -

Yeah, the combat is improved in later entries, but the level and world design here is unmatched. Each segment flows together so seamlessly, combined with the top notch atmosphere and aesthetic for an unforgettable experience.

Psycholonials -

A really exceptional visual novel that talks about the pandemic, the internet, and just kinda what its like being a young adult nowadays. Captures a lot of weird and intense feelings. It makes you feel so emotionally drained after every chapter, and I mean that as a compliment.

Persona 5 Royal -

There are so many interconnected systems in this game, but they're all so balanced and intuitive. The developers thought of everything, and every time you get complacent, they pull another trick out of their sleeves to keep you on edge. Masterclass of pacing. Plus, the visual style is leagues above anything else out right now. The RPG mechanics are even somewhat manageable as well. It just feels good to play, and never really fumbles.

Class of 09 -

A visual novel that is both really funny, and really profound. Kinda similar to MTV's Daria, with a lot more edge. I do appreciate that there is a message - several really - at the core of it's various endings, and it's not just being edgy for the sake of it. The voicework really caries the experience, especially in contrast to the inconsistent artstyle. I get that they want to go for the shitty deviantart anime style, but some of the endcards just look bad.

Class of 09: The Re-Up -

Pretty much a direct improvement in every way. More scenes are hand illustrated now, and the artstyle looks a lot more palatable now. The voice actors are given more challenging scenes, and they absolutely rise to the occasion. There are less endings, and less content overall, but it's higher quality.

Cruelty Squad -

Everyone seems to talk about this games art style, but honestly, I just really liked the gameplay. Lots of high skill movement mechanics, paired with challenging level design, and a dash of immersive sim mechanics make for an engaging experience.

Melty Blood: Type Lumina -

A fighting game that combines the mobility of a platform fighter, with the combos and depth of a traditional fighter. Takes the best of both genres with none of the cons. I only wish the netplay was better.

Shenzhen I/O -

A puzzle game that involves programing and arranging circuits. Fun, but very challenging. Or maybe I'm just dumb.

Pentiment -

Disco Elysium but set in a 15th century European monastery. It's well written, and has cool art, but doesn't really have the memorable, interesting characters of Disco. Plus, it asks the player to learn a lot about medieval history. Like a lot.

Dead Cells -

A fun enough roguelike, but it runs out of steam pretty quickly, faster than you'd expect for this genre. After a while, you run out of good long term progression unlocks, and the difficultly curve really spikes. I got stuck at a point where I could beat through all of the stages easily, but then the end boss would wipe me out really quickly.

Hotline Miami -

Lots of visceral, gory gameplay. The aesthetics and art direction are on point as well, more so than normal for one of these games that was clearly made for a gamejam. The controls do kinda suck though, the lock on mechanic is especially unintuitive. It's almost impossible to play on controller.

Exa Punks -

Another fun programming puzzle game. The gimmick of having little robots you give commands to is fun, and kinda reminds me of those websites that teach coding in similar ways. The only problem is that the objective of levels can be unclear.

Watch Dogs 2 -

I'm surprised a Ubisoft sandbox is this high, but this game really grew on me. The gameplay is mostly similar to the stuff you can do on the hacking skill tree in Cyberpunk 2077, but more fleshed out and intuitive, really fun stuff. The story, too, is surprisingly pretty good. They also push the messaging pretty far, nothing that's proper like, anti-corporation or anything, but it's pretty anti-silicon valley, anti-walled garden tech, stuff like that. Shattered my incredibly low expectations, good job guys.

The Coffin of Andy and Leyley -

Overrated as fuck in my opinion. It starts out strong, but the pacing gets flattened by the end of chapter 2, and it feels like the developers don't know where to go from here. There are so many little bits and pieces of the story, with the cult, the demons, the weird shit to do with blood types - and I don't think there's any way to take these ideas, build on top of the story so far, and have something cohesive, or satisfying. And if you're just here for the incest, it's only in one scene at the end of one of the possible endings, so what the hell was even the point.

Shadows of Doubt -

A procedurally generated detective game, which gets points for letting you do pretty much everything. Like it's an admirable level of detail, you can do shit like break into the phone lines in order to trace someone's call. It just doesn't really click with my brain, I guess. Like it could be tutorialized a bit more, so the player has a better idea of what they can do. Plus after a while, you exhaust all the different cases there can be, and they all get predictable and formulaic. I do hope there are more content updates in the future, this is a great base to build off.

Psychonaughts 2 -

The world and characters in this game are all really good, but the story is really a drag for me. The first game had this goofy, silly vibe to it, but the story here is so overly focused on like, acknowledging how fucked up it is that you can go into people's minds and change their personality like that, which I always thought was kinda the joke of the original. Plus the gameplay is like, just okay, although a lot of the levels are too long, which feels like a weird complaint, but I ended up getting bored a lot.

Pseudoregalia -

Excellent platforming with dogshit level design. Once I left the tutorial stage, I was constantly confused about where I needed to go, and what I needed to do, and even where I was. Just some of the worst game design I've ever fucking seen. Abysmal shit. But, the movement is pretty spectacular, so I did end up finishing it. I hope people find out how to mod level packs in, that would be hype.

Pizza Tower -

I had the same issue with this game that I did with Mario Odyssey. The main character has such a distinct and refined moveset, so why am I spending half of most levels as someone who is not the main character? I don't understand this focus on captures. I still had a lot of fun, but it's frustrating as fuck, when you want to play as the fun character with the deep, high skill ceiling moveset, and the game does not want you to do that for some reason.

TIS-100 -

Another puzzle game for smart people, which is brought down a bit from not really having an art style. I dunno, I get wanting to be minimal and cool, but at least give me background music, come on guys.

FAITH: THE UNHOLY TRINITY -

I do respect the commitment to the Atari 2600 art style, but if anything this just proved why most "retro"style games went for the style of later console games. The gameplay is literally almost nothing, and I have a hard time getting into any story that's told in 90% text logs. The style makes for some effective horror, outside of that I had a hard time getting anything out of this.

ALAN WAKE II -

I feel like the devs did not consider the combat system here. Like the entire point of making combat clunky and resource - dependent is to force the player to pick and choose their battles. It falls apart when you're constantly forcing them to kill enemies. That, and the corkboard puzzle sections don't really require any thinking to solve, you can just brute force them. They aren't very intuitive either, it's such a transparent way to just, progress the plot instantly. I did like the story though, for the most part, and the visual style is pretty fantastic. Lots of eerie, abandoned scenes, I love it.

Hotline Miami 2 -

Whatever improvements to the art style and gameplay are negated by the terrible level design. Lots of wide open spaces, where an enemy off screen will shoot you, and you have to duck out of cover, spraying at them with an SMG that has random spread. Lots of glass, lots of levels that only really have one route, lots of getting killed by random enemies you didn't even notice. Just really frustrating stuff.

Teardown -

The tech used here is really cool, I just wish they used it in a better way. The levels are barely passable, there's no real difficulty curve, or ideas that get expanded upon. It still feels like a tech demo.

Hiveswap Act 1 -

It's a perfectly inoffensive point and click adventure game. The art is well made, I like the story, and I thought Joey and Xefros were cute together. It's just missing something to really bump it any higher. It's short, and the puzzles are all either obtuse as fuck or super easy to solve. I also have a hard time figuring out who this is for. I don't know if Homestuck fans or point-and-click adventure fans would get a lot out of this.

Yakuza 0 -

I had a hard time getting into this one. The main story is just too soap opera for me. So many characters with complicated relationships, so many dramatic declarations and cutscenes. The combat is also just okay. The side content is really great, but it's hard for that to carry the entire experience for me. What a weird game.

Critters for Sale -

It's difficult, because I think there's a lot of cool techniques here that would help push visual novels as a medium forward. Lots of cool visual effects and fun mini games. Being very clear and upfront about how many endings and routes there are. Good menu and UIs. But the stories are just, not very good? Like I can remember maybe one or two individual moments, but most of the game I've totally forgotten about. Except for the Death Grips storyline, what the fuck was that?

Far Cry 3 -

Everyone gasses up the main story on this one, but lets be honest, it kinda sucks. Vaas is great, but who gives a shit about any of Ethan's friends? Or Ethan himself? Plus, the gunplay and exploration were both so generic. They were probably impressive like a decade ago, but now? I can get this same experience in 20 other games, do something interesting with it, or get out.

Not for Broadcast -

A game that really had me, and then really lost me. At first, the gameplay is mostly basic video editing stuff - keeping the camera on the person talking, censoring curse words, stuff like that. Ok, makes sense, it's fun. But they slowly add more gameplay that's just busy work, and the story really goes off the rails, and I couldn't take it seriously anymore. It basically turns into watching Monty Python skits while solving a Rubik's cube.

Gunfire Reborn -

A roguelike fps that just kinda sucks. The "roguelike" elements don't change anything massive about your run, just enemy placement and weapon pick ups. And it runs on like, Borderlands progression, where you're just looking for stuff with the bigger number. The combat feels shitty too. Shitty movement, abilities and guns that don't feel satisfying to use, what a terrible experience. I hate how every FPS makes "difficult" enemies by just adding more HP.

Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch -

Boring as fuck. The story was boring, the combat was boring, the world was generic, I feel like I've played this game twenty fucking times already.

Jedi Fallen Order -

Dark Souls if it sucked. You can always tell if a game was made in Unreal Engine if it has shitty, floaty movement, and for a soulslike, not having precise movement really fucks with the entire experience. There are also too many ranged enemies, which is a problem when your character is melee focused. The levels suck, and the story is shit. Fucking Star Wars fans will buy anything.

Bastion -

It's Hades, but everything is 1% as good. I guess it was interesting to see the roots of certain ideas, but everything is just slower and not fun. Literally no reason to play it now outside of some historical curiosity.

City of Gangsters -

There are so many interesting systems here. You can set up specific routes for your crew to perform at specific times, down to the location, and action, but honestly, it just doesn't scale well. In video games that revolve around storing shit, the complexity ramps up much faster than it does in most games, and if you don't provide the player the tools for handling it, it's just overwhelming. I appreciate the ambition, but this needed like, another half year of dev time, minimum.

Outcore -

I've never played a game that was this self conscious. You can skip pretty much all of the gameplay, although it's not like it offers a lot outside of rip offs of better games. So much could have been done with this concept of a desktop buddy coming to life, but instead, I am presented with a rip off of the Flowey fight from Undertale. Guess it's not plagarism if you frame it as an homage. Get the fuck out of here.

Clone Drone in the Danger Zone -

It needs more. More upgrades, more enemies, more weapons, more arena designs. As it is, it feels like a gamejam game.

Hiveswap Act 2 -

Oh my god the story is so terrible. Imagine thinking that it's a good idea to introduce 30 characters in a 4 hour game. Barely any of them are interesting, either, and even if you do end up liking one, it's not like they can be a significant part of the story, because we've got 29 more of the fuckers to introduce. Plus there's an Ace Attorney segment like halfway through which is really hard to get through if you've never played one of those games. I don't see anyone enjoying this, outside of the really hardcore Homestuck/troll fans, and even then, do you know how much fan fiction for this series exists? And how much of it is really good?

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machinecreature · 1 year

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A Comprehensive Spotify and Apple Music Comparison

Background: I was an early adopter of Spotify, having started using it in 2014 when barely anyone knew what it was and everyone I told about it was like “that’s legal?” Now look at where we are. Anyway, I dumped Spotify for Apple Music because I wanted lossless streaming. I am satisfied with Apple but there are some things I miss about Spotify. In addition, I stream music on average of 8 hrs a day each day, so I’m qualified to speak on this. If you’re contemplating making a switch in either direction here are my Pros and Cons of each.

Spotify

PROS:

Daily Mixes. The Daily Mix playlists are elite

Playlist functionality. it is easy to make a playlist, and even easier to search for playlists. When you search for playlists many from actual other users show up, not just spotify pre made playlists. Spotify pre-made playlists for certain vibes and occasions are also usually pretty good.

Podcasts in the same app is very convenient

The main organizing principle is the “Liked Songs” which I always liked

CONS:

No lossless streaming

Dumb pop ups and ads for Spotify branded podcasts and stuff on the homepage even if you pay for premium

Pays artists a pittance

Liked songs and saving albums to your library arent the same. for example if i hit the like button on an album all of those songs should show up in Liked Songs, but they don’t. irritating and stupid.

Radio function kinda sucks. It’s not really radio its just a playlist.

Synchronization of your library between desktop app and mobile app was always ass, idk if they’ve fixed it since I switched but i remember it sucking

Pro or Con depending on your perspective:

tries to be a social media site with the friend activity on desktop app

Apple Music

PROS:

Lossless (high quality) streaming. With good headphones, you really do notice a difference.

Simple UI. no distracting banners or ads. it’s easy to avoid the browse page which has all the apple branded shows and shit.

When you add a song, it’s just “add to library.” if you add an album, it’s all added to your library. there is one library. nice and easy.

Radio stations are actual radio stations like pandora kinda and when I don’t know what I want to listen to there are always lots to choose from on the home page and the mix is a good 50/50 of stuff from my library and stuff i might not know

Artists are classified by what it says on the record most of the time, so the library more resembles a physical library. For example, The Voidz were first known as Julian Casablancas + The Voidz, so that is what the first album Tyranny is under. This might be a con, but for someone obsessed with detail like myself it’s a pro.

Higher payout than spotify, by a lot. (1 cent a stream)(which still isn’t really a lot. in the grand scheme. buy physical copies of your favorite records, pls.)

Doesn’t show monthly listener numbers or stream count. that might be a con for some, but i like that because i find i’m less likely to judge by the numbers like i did before.

Great syncing between iphone app and mac os Music app without having to close either app

"Love" feature to help w your algorithm. i love to hit love on songs i love.

CONS:

ASS PLAYLIST FUNCTIONALITY. IT’S BOOTY ASS. you can’t find like any playlists beyond the ones apple makes, and those are just alright. but good luck finding playlists from other users. probably because spotify sorts them by popularity and apple sorts them by “Apple first, then everyone else”. the actual making of the playlists is kinda odd too. it’s like buggy when you use the option to add songs from the playlist vs just searching for the songs and then adding. (i will say tho the apple-curated playlists go into very niche subgenres and they're pretty decent as a jumping off point for discovery. but if you want vibe or aesthetic playlists, spotify is the go - to. apple's m.o. is more Serious Music Enjoyment)

this could very well just be me and my monkey brain needing to re-train itself but when you go to your Library, the main page has recently added songs but lists them as albums so you cant just scroll through a list, to do that you have to go to songs and sort by added date , it’s only one extra step but i miss the spotify Liked Songs list. but again thats me being neurotic and still unlearning spotify habits.

No Wrapped - well, they have their own version which recently started in 2022. It had some bugs, but I didn’t mind it. it was short sweet and to the point, and you get a “replay” playlist for the year, which actually updates every couple weeks so you know what your most played songs are all the time. I actually think no super in-depth wrapped is a Pro but some people r really into that shit.

tl;dr-Overall, the lossless streaming, higher payout for artists, and lack of bullshit, for lack of a better term, makes me enjoy apple music more than spotify. it does cost $1 more a month than spotify premium, and there is no free version of apple music, but again i’m willing to pay that. For some people, they’re not even enough music people to move on from Free Spotify. So it’s all about what matters to you.

#tl;dr - i was bored. and apple wins

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mliter · 1 year

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Fortnite Chapter 4, Season 1.

This season introduced a new island, a new faction, new ways to get around, plenty of new faces and a bunch of new weapons with a fantastic trailer. Epic has upped the production quality on their trailers, and i love the direction here. How do they choose the songs for these? Bas's Run It Up is FIRE

This might be one of my favorite video game trailers like. ever.

Lots of new things this time around. How many times have i said new already? We're on a new island by the name of Asteria. This time around, it has a tighter design. Leading to more confrontations and more compact matches. It's a great change that kept on bringing me back. My favorite place to land was Faulty Splits. But not the city side, the village side. I also like to avoid the gas station across it. It's a very cursed location. We can vault, have infinite sprint, and use augmentations to enhance our gameplay.

This new battle pass brings in some amazing designs. Nezumi, Helsie, Selene, Dusty and Massai all have vibrant looks. Some of them have become favorites of my friends.

Selene and Dusty are my favorites from this season. Selene is an ordinary looking girl that looks to be a moonlight star warrior at night. She has a lot to do with the moon. Dusty is a normal girl that turns out to be zombie brawler with ghost powers. If you look closely, she also has friends that appear in the game. You'll get it soon enough.

Doomguy is there as well. About time. This pass also introduces The Ageless, a younger snapshot of Geno that ended up ruling a medieval kingdom.

Speaking of medieval, the new faction is the Oathbound Empire. They're a ruling kingdom that watches over the small villages, castles, and other locations you'll find yourself in the island. Their innovation brought in new weapons like the gravity hammer an insane mobility item, the excalibur rifle a nasty weapon in the right hands, the falcon scout, a mobile bird one can use to grab items and players, and the the guardian shield cause why not let GOATS happen!

Even with the mystery surrounding them, the theme around the character designs this time is amazing. Epic's take on knights and the like have become my favorite out of all of fiction. I love how they look, and the shared colours they all have.

Some other faces appeared on the island. Like Deku with some friends, and Gohan & Piccolo. They brought in insane mythics that made the lives of everyone on the island hell. There was also a gang war that introduced the star system from GTA. You were buffed as it increased. There was also a concert featuring The Kid Laroi. He's an Australian artist. Most know of him for his hit single "Stay".

This was my favorite season. Even with all of the bugs and nonsense, i've never had this much fun on fort. I love Asteria. The design of the villages and castles, the relaxing color scheme of everything, I don't know what'll happen to it in the coming days, but i'll never forget this rendition of it. This was the most fun I've had on Fortnite.

#game log #fortnite #best of 2023 #best of 2022 #fav

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independentlivingcharitabletrust · 1 year

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Electric Mobility Scooter: Everything You Need To Know

Whether you’re looking for electric mobility scooter or electric wheelchair, there are a few things that you need to know before purchasing one. Mobility scooters and electric wheelchairs are designed to help people with limited mobility and their caregivers get around more easily and safely, so choosing the right one is crucial.

There are many different types of mobility scooters and electric wheelchairs on the market, each one better suited for particular conditions than others.

In this article, we'll discuss what makes these types of vehicles different from one another, how they work (and don't), how to choose the best option for your needs — including what types of features you should look for when shopping around — as well as some common questions about using them (like whether they're legal on sidewalks).

What do the different classes of mobility scooters mean?

There are three different classes of mobility scooters:

Class 3: These are the most powerful and have a top speed of 12 mph. They can be driven on the road, in addition to being able to travel in off-road areas such as parks and bike paths. Due to their high speeds, they are considered motor vehicles by law and require registration with your local DMV.

Class 2: These provide good performance for an affordable price, making them ideal for short commutes around town or longer trips when traveling outside city limits. Their maximum speed is 8 mph, but you can still use them on the road if you're over 18 years old and have held your driver's license for at least one year (in some states).

Class 1: Also known as "personal mobility devices," these devices come in at just under 6mph (or 9km/h) with a range of up to 8 miles (12 km). They do not require registration or insurance because they don't meet federal definition standards for motorized vehicles; however, if you drive one off-road then it must be insured against liability claims stemming from accidents incurred while operating it on public land like trails or sidewalks nearby private property where parking isn't allowed without permission from someone who lives there -- not just anyone who happens upon your travels through woods near where they live!

How much will an electric mobility scooter cost?

Electric mobility scooters can cost anywhere from $1,300 to $5,000. This range is largely dependent on the brand and features you want in your scooter. As with other types of mobility equipment, it's important to research the quality and reliability of the brands before purchasing one.

For example, a basic electric mobility scooter made by a low-quality brand may cost under $1,500 whereas a higher-end model from a reputable company might be closer to $4,000 or more.

How do you maintain and store a mobility scooter properly?

It is important to store your folding mobility scooter in a dry location and out of direct sunlight. Moisture can damage the electrical system, or even rust the frame. If you have limited storage space, you may want to consider getting one with folding wheels so that it can be stored in a smaller space or on an indoor rack.

To keep your e-scooter looking great, wipe down any dirt or debris off of its surface regularly with a damp cloth - this will prevent grime from building up over time!

Be sure not to use window cleaners or other harsh chemicals - they could damage the finish on your mobility scooter's paint job over time (and make it look like crap).

Conclusion

All in all, we can say that the future of electric mobility scooter is bright. They're becoming more affordable and accessible, so you don't have to pay thousands of dollars up front. Plus they're easy to use and don't require a lot of maintenance or upkeep once they're set up properly!

Source From - Electric Mobility Scooter: Everything You Need To Know

#mobility scooters nz #electric mobility scooter #folding mobility scooter #disability scooter

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visionarygraphicsca · 1 year

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Web Design In Orillia

Web Design Services: Make Your Website User-Friendly

In today's digital age, it is increasingly essential to have a strong internet presence. A well-designed website is essential for any business that wants to remain competitive in today's market.

A Web Design in Orillia can help you create a website that is both aesthetically pleasing and easy to use. They will also work with you to ensure that your website is optimized for search engines so that potential customers can easily find you.

If you are looking for a web design company to create a new website or improve your existing website, then here are several benefits of web design services:

Increase Your Business's Visibility Online

A well-designed website can increase your business's visibility online. A professional web designer can help you create a visually appealing site that attracts visitors and encourages them to stay longer.

In addition to making your site look great, a good web designer can ensure it works properly.

Help You Stand Out From Competitors

If you want to stand out from your competitors, consider hiring a professional web designer specializing in designing websites.

A professional web designer knows how to use advanced techniques to attract attention and keep visitors interested.

If you don't have time to learn these skills yourself, hire a web designer to do it for you.

Improve Customer Service

When customers visit your site, they expect a certain level of service. When your customer service team doesn't know what they're doing, they may not provide the best experience possible.

Hiring a professional web designer can improve customer service by helping you develop a quality website that makes it easier for staff members to answer questions and resolve issues.

Create More Traffic

Traffic refers to people visiting your site. Having lots of traffic means having many potential customers.

However, if your site isn't designed correctly, it could discourage people from returning.

Professional web designers understand how search engines work and can ensure that your site ranks high in search results. As a result, you'll receive even more traffic than before.

Allow You To Grow Faster

Having a professionally designed website helps you grow faster. A professional web designer creates sites that are optimized for mobile devices.

Mobile users often access the internet while they're on the go. Therefore, a site that looks good on their phone will likely convert those visits into sales.

Make Your Site Easier To Navigate

Your site should be easy to navigate. Visitors shouldn't spend much time trying to figure things out. Instead, they should find everything they need easily.

youtube

A professional Web Design Orillia can organize content effectively and ensures that your site is user-friendly.

Conclusion

A professional website can help you attract more customers and improve your brand image. A web design company can also help you add new features to your website and keep your website up-to-date.

Hiring Web Design Near Me can provide many benefits for your business. Whether you need a new or improved website, our experienced web designers can help you achieve your goals.

#Web Design In Orillia #Graphic Design Near Me #Graphic Design In Orillia #Web Design Near Me #Youtube

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