#but i do think it would be very fun to create a full story (multiple. this is a huge franchise. everyone can get a slice of this one) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

noaltbruh · 1 year

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Bucci gang with a maladaptive daydreamer reader 💭

(A/N: to anyone who might be struggling with this, I'm so sorry your disorder is not really recognised as a serious one. I hope you can get better and know that you shouldn't feel invalidated for suffering from this, stay safe ♥️)

Let's get to the post now :)

Giorno 🐞

Giorno is a very practical person and down to earth. He may be idealistic, but he's very focused on the concrete world, if it makes sense.

So, when he found out about your situation, he was rather surprised: he had never heard of it before, and he's saddened to know that there's no way to get an official diagnosis for it.

While at first, he mostly listened to you talking about your characters and worlds because it made you happy, he does actually...Grow rather fond of them, more than he thought he would.

He's genuinely interested in all the different storylines and asks you multiple questions about them. Sometimes, he might even help you find some new ideas for your stories.

Giorno honestly respects anyone who is passionate about something, no matter what it is, so he loves seeing how excited and dedicated you are to your fantasy worlds.

He does try to ground you back to reality when he feels like you may be daydreaming a bit too much.

But never in a rude or aggressive way, no no.

When he sees your stand, he's amazed, to say the least. He's not surprised though, considering your strong love for your paras and characters.

He prefers to give you and your allies your time to shine and observes you, intrigued to understand how they actually act in battle and what their abilities truly are.

Will remind you that you can practically create anything with your stand, not just them. However, since you obviously enjoy bringing them to life the most, and it works really well in battle, he won't complain if you decide not to make anything else using your power.

You will sometimes find GER and your characters having full talks with one another. It's kind of funny, but also cute in a way.

Bruno 🤐

Another one who isn't particularly big on fiction. Bruno grew up really quick and never had that much of an imagination. It's not that he dislikes it, it was just never something he payed much attention to.

He's a bit taken aback by how you could get lost in the stories inside of your head for hours, and is a bit more concerned than Giorno for this. He's not sure daydreaming so much is good for you.

However, he can't really bring himself to be completely skeptical about it with you, simply because he noticed that you really love the worlds and people you've created.

He doesn't want to take away from you something that obviously brings you joy, and will gladly let you ramble to him about your paras and such for as long as you'd like! He won't judge you.

Will ask you some questions from time to time, but mostly prefers to simply listen with a small smile on his face, to give you the certainty that he really is listening to you.

Another one who will snap you out of your fantasies sometimes, but it's always for your own good. If he notices you've been spacing out a lot, he'll ask you if you want to cook or go fishing with him.

He was honestly expecting your stand to be something like this, and considers it extremely valuable. He perfectly knows that you could possibly be creating anything, but he thinks it's rather sweet to see all the characters you've created come to life.

He loves to just look at you and the happy expression on your face whenever you call them out to fight by your side. You seem to be having fun even in battle, which makes him happy as well.

He'll suggest you write an actual book about all your fantasies and creative ideas, insisting that many people would like to read them!

Will support you whether you actually do or not :)

Mista 🔫

Mista just likes to enjoy life as it is. He has some...Uh, rather weird fantasies from time to time, but he's very well aware that they're not real and doesn't really care.

He doesn't fully get your need to daydream so much at first? Like- what's so good about your imagination that you can't have in real life?

But since he can tell that what goes through your head is clearly important to you, he makes more of an effort to understand it.

Definitely interrupts you while you tell him about your characters and adventures. Not because he's bored, he just says some random shit like:

"Pfff, how funny would it be if that guy just went on fire all of a sudden?"

Sometimes one of his random ass comments actually turns into a possible "what if", only fueling your imagination even more.

Sometimes, you use one of the stories you created to put the pistols to sleep, like a bedtime story. Mista thinks it's incredibly sweet and thanks you multiple times for that.

When he sees your stand, he's completely amazed. He thinks he should have figured out sooner that it was going to be something related to your fantasies, but he can't help but be shocked when he sees what you are actually capable of doing in battle.

He thinks that admiring your characters fighting is cool as hell, they're all super badass and powerful.

He totally becomes more interested in them after actually seeing them in action, he wants to know all about their abilities and strengths.

On top of this, the Pistols also love your characters and whine because they don't want you to make them disappear.

He asked you multiple times to create stuff for him. It can vary from a can of soda to a tommy gun, it depends on how he's feeling that day.

It takes him a while to accept that you can't make something appear unless you know exactly what it's made of.

Narancia 🍊

Literally the best daydreaming partner ever.

Narancia's imagination is WILD. Baby boy could easily space out for a long time and get lost in his own headspace. He doesn't have a very long attention span and whenever he gets bored, his imagination just provides a lot of fun for him.

I wouldn't say he's a maladaptive daydreamer like you, but he totally gets why you like to spend time in your head so much!

The thing is, while you do try to give your fantasies more complex, connected storylines, Narancia just thinks of the most unconventional, crazy stuff that doesn't make any sort of logical sense to him either.

So he's just so in awe listening to all the characters and backstory you've come up with completely on your own! He could hear you talk about them for hours without taking his eyes off you even for a millisecond.

He's constantly giving you suggestions on how to make your story more cool or exciting! You don't have the heart to tell him that some of his...Ideas, are a bit too over the top, because he clearly enjoys talking about this as much as you do.

Definitely just leans on your shoulder and closes his eyes as you both get lost in your respective dreamlands. It looks a bit weird from an outside perspective, but the two of you couldn't be happier to be sharing a moment like this. It provides a lot of comfort for you both :)

He's tried multiple times to draw your characters and proudly show them to you. Do they look incredibly deformed and he's not able to color inside of the lines? Yes. But has he put his heart into them? Absolutely.

He has the biggest pog face and you can see his pupils turning into little stars as soon as he sees what your stand is capable of. Despite how he knows how passionate you are about it all, the possibility of your powers focusing on your imagination hadn't even crossed his mind!

Ahhh he just can't contain his excitement! During the whole battle he can't even fully stay focused because he keeps on staring at you guys full of joy as he cheers you on.

Tells your characters how happy he is to meet them at the end of the fight, and begs you not to call them back, but you have to.

He tries his best to describe his own fantasies to you as well, hoping you'll be able to bring them to life as well. He's not uhm, very good with explanations, but you try your best to keep up with him.

Fugo 🍓

Whether this surprises you or not, Fugo does actually...Understand you rather well.

When he used to go to school and university, he didn't have much free time since he was always focusing on his studies and duties.

However, those few times he wasn't busy, it was actually rather common for him to just...Space out and go blank, although there is no way to know for sure about what he was thinking or imagining.

So when he finds out your situation...He's not really bothered by it, although it alarms him sometimes when you neglect your work because you're too busy in your imagination.

Which means that he'll ground you back to reality if it is strictly necessary for you to stay focused on something, but aside from that...He won't mind this behavior of yours.

He's actually quite endeared by some of your complex stories, and constantly asks you if there's some meaning behind a specific character's name, or where you get your ideas for their backstories.

He's pleasantly surprised to see you get so invested in them, he feels rather special that you're comfortable sharing all these tales and fantasies with him, he would gladly listen to you for hours.

Recommends you books and novels with storylines that remind him of your own, he thinks you're really going to enjoy them and that it's a good way to show that he supports your creative thinking.

He had stopped one or two times to think about what your stand was going to be, but he had thought that it would have probably been one of your characters with all their powers, not a being capable of creating them all.

He's really astounded by your power and kind of feels relieved since it means he won't have to rely solely on his stand to defeat the enemy.

He's scared of possibly hurting one of your characters with Purple Haze's virus, so he'll be extra careful in battle.

Feels kind of awkward around them when they try to talk to him the first time, but he ends up warming up to them a little.

He'll probably ask you to make a stress toy for him when he's feeling nervous so that he doesn't have to punch Narancia in the face to feel better.

He secretly wonders if you could bring to life old historical figures so he could talk to them, but he's too shy to ask.

Abbacchio ⏮️

Bro's got no imagination whatsoever lol.

BUT. But. He doesn't mind your creativity and daydreaming tendencies in the slightest. Abbacchio, surprisingly, isn't the type to judge for this sort of thing.

He knows it helps you release stress and relaxes you. Besides, it is a quiet mean to pass the time, although he must admit it is quite surprising to see how quickly you're able to space out. Like- the way you seem to just detach from everything almost...Worries him.

I feel like he'd just awkwardly put an hand on your shoulder if he feels like you've been hanging out in your own head for too long. He knows it annoys you, but doesn't care at all.

Although he would never say it out loud, he actually really admires your creativity and imagination.

Just...Stares at you and nods when you tell him about your storylines . It's hard to tell what he's actually thinking, but you assume that he doesn't mind considering he never interrupts you.

He's just very bad with "abstract" stuff and he wonders how you come up with new ideas and worlds so easily.

I can see him sighing and lightly smiling to himself when he first sees your stand. It's not that he doesn't like it, he simply thinks:

"Heh, of course, what else could it possibly be?"

He's actually pleasantly surprised to see how in sync you're able to fight with your characters and thinks you guys are a great team. He refuses to leave all the work to you and tries to participate in the battle as much as he can, although Moody Blues is not exactly made for that.

However, he'll never say out loud how much he actually likes your powers, he's too proud to admit it.

Trish 🎙

Trish actually likes daydreaming from time to time! Nor as much as you do, of course, but she often imagines what it would be like to sing in front of a huge crowd as the best pop star in the world. She's going to make that dream come true one day, she's certain of it!

So, at first, she was a bit confused by your fantasies. Not because she thinks the stories themselves are weird! She just doesn't get why you'd want to daydream about characters that aren't you lol-

With that being said, once she understands how much these worlds and fictional people matter to you, she fully supports your creativity and constantly reminds you that you're free to ramble to her about them at any time!

Trish loves listening to you, it's like watching a Tv show but you narrate everything, she really likes hearing you talk so much, especially due to all the passion you put in it.

Sometimes gasps dramatically in the middle of a story. You were worried she was making fun of you, but she's just as involved as you are in all the events you're telling her about.

Loves with helping you design your characters! She's made some really cute outfits for some of them, but you can clearly tell she took inspiration from her and your own wardrobe a lot lmao.

Totally hypes you up as soon she sees your stand. She had figured your powers would have been connected to your characters, but seeing them come to life is completely different!

She and Spice girl try to show off during the battle to prove that they're just as cool as you and make a good impression on your "friends" They totally succeed in doing so as well.

They also both introduce themselves at the end of the fight. Spice girl can be more talkative around them than you could guess at first! It's honestly very sweet.

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strawberrymilk-sunshine · 2 years

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Will you test this for me?

A bit of a silly goofy not serious yandere story before I go to shleep. Gn everyone!

...I'm so fucking tired.

Warning(s): you drink a potion without knowing what it is, spoiler: it's a love potion, you get turned part mushroom, yandere Jade, unwanted kissing, crack I guess

"Say, (Y/N), would you please try this potion for me?" Jade asked you one day, handing you a glass bottle full of colourful liquid. "But you have to promise not to ask what it is."

"Sure, why not." You responded, sighing. "It's not like it'll make my life any worse."

Oh boy, you were wrong.

You drank the entire potion in one gulp, earning a surprised look from Jade.

"Oh my-! I... wasn't expecting you to drink it all." He said.

"What, is something... wrong with it...?"

"No, no! Of course not! Though, the effects may be a bit... stronger." He smirked deviously.

"Ugh, it tastes terrible..." You said as the taste finally hit you. It tasted like mushrooms, which it was most likely made of, knowing Jade.

"Fufu... have I ever told you how attractive you are, (Y/N)-?"

"Yes. Multiple times."

"Oh! Have I? How odd, I have... n-no memory of this." Jade nervously looked away from you "Now, I'll be heading off. Have a good rest of your day, (Y/N)."

"Yeah, you too, I guess."

If we're being honest here, you despised Jade Leech. But he's like, obsessed with you, so he's kinda hard to avoid.

What just happened is pretty par for the course. He'll just show up at Ramshackle dorm with random shit for you. Usually gifts and flowers and sweets and tea... and potions, apparently.

"Well, now that he's gone, I can go to bed... can't believe he made me get up at five in the morning just to drink some stupid potion." You said, a hand on top of your head. "Fuck, my scalp hurts..."

You went back to bed, hoping the pain would be gone tomorrow.

When you woke up the next morning, you felt very nauseous. And when you looked in the mirror...

"I'm gonna fucking kill him."

A bunch of mushrooms had sprouted from the top of your head.

You angrily got dressed and made your way to school.

Ace, after making fun of you for a full seven minutes, got Deuce to laugh at you as well. Deuce didn't laugh at you, but he did try to take a pair of scissors and cut the mushrooms off your head.

"OW OW OW OW DEUCE STOP STOP STOP-! SHIT WHY DOES THAT HURT SO MUCH?!" You screamed.

"AHHHH I'M SORRY PREFECT I WAS TRYING TO HELP I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY-!" Deuce cried.

Later, you ran into Idia (why did he have to leave his room on today of all days) and he showed you something on his phone, a cow made of cubes covered in mushrooms and basically said "It like u fr"

After being made fun of by everyone in the school, you barged into the potionology classroom, absolutely fuming.

"Ah, pup, we're in the middle of a class right n-" Crewel stared at you for a second. "...why, might I ask, are you covered in mushrooms...?"

"Ah, good! You're here!" Jade smiled. "Here you are, Professor Crewel! My homework! I have successfully turned someone partially into a mushroom!"

"You what." You stared at Jade, not knowing what emotion you were feeling.

"Leech, listen to me and listen to me closely." Crewel placed a hand on his head in annoyance. "As impressive as this is. This was not your homework...!"

"Oh dear... and I worked so hard on my potion..." Jade faked sadness.

"Jade what the fuck did you do to me?"

"Ok. I suppose, your new homework is to find a way to turn (Y/N) back to normal, understand?"

"Oh, there's no need, Professor! I assure you, the potion will wear off by the end of the year!"

"JADE WHAT THE HELL?!" You yelled out in annoyance.

"BAD DOG. Find a way to turn them back before the end of the year."

"Please, hold on a moment, Professor. Our homework was to create a love potion, correct?"

"...yes?"

"(Y/N), do you love me?" Jade asked. He knows the answer.

"Yes, of course I do, Jade!" You responded without thinking. What the hell. You absolutely meant to say no. What just happened.

"I'm sure you know (Y/N)... hates me, to put it lightly. And yet, they responded with yes."

"Hm... I suppose you're right." Crewel glared. "Though I'm not convinced-"

"(Y/N), do you want to-" [JADE PROCEEDED TO ASK A VERY INAPPROPRIATE QUESTION REGARDING INTERCOURSE BETWEEN YOU AND HIM]

"Yes of course! I'd love nothing more than to have you-" [YOU RESPOND IN A SIMILARLY INAPPROPRIATE WAY]

"Ok, no talking about sex during class, please." Crewel groaned. "Fine, you pass, I suppose. Why did you have to mix it with a potion that turns them part mushroom, though?"

"Personal interests." Jade responded, disgusting you.

"Leave my vicinity immediately." Crewel demanded.

Jade took you out into the hallway with him , and fucking kabedon-ed you.

"I absolutely hate you, Jade."

"Your responses earlier say otherwise." He laughed to himself. "Would you like to kiss me?"

"Of course, Jade!" You said, not wanting to.

You kissed each other in the hallway and the basketball club walked in on it happening and believe me when I say Ace and Floyd are never gonna let you live this down.

#jade leech #disney twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland #twst #yandere #yandere twst #yandere twisted wonderland #yandere twisted wonderland x reader #yandere twst x reader #yandere jade leech #yandere jade x reader #yandere jade leech x reader #yandere jade

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manonamora-if · 1 year

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The Roads I Maybe Should Have Taken

The TRNT Post Mortem

Oye oye! As was promised, so it is! The Post Mortem for The Roads Not Taken (which hopefully won't be as long as the actual game...)

Follow me into my journey of once again speed-running my way through a competition, and coming out scratched and bruised and still not learning my lessons!

First, some links:

if you haven't played the game yet, I recommend you do before reading this!

you can find its IFDB page here (if you want to leave a review?)

and the STF version source code here for the code curious!

shortened version of the PostMortem on IntFic

Then, a little Table of Content:

The Idea

The Story

The Implementation

The Reception

The Do-Over?

And finally, we start! (under the break because it will be long - LoL at me writing 1/5th of TRNT as a Post Mortem)

I should preface this Post Mortem with I entered the SpringThing on a whim. I had just come out of a conga line of competitions and game jams since last Summer (log of release/update), and had plans on finishing working on other projects instead of this one (which I probably should have... sorry The Rye in the Dark City for abandoning you...). But I obviously didn't do that because here was another new fresh game! And then another two of those just after... whooops...

The idea for TRNT just popped into my brain one day and would not leave me until I implemented it, no matter what (yes, I am still weak willed, I have not learned my lesson from The Thick Table Tavern, the one about not rushing a project and publishing it at a later date when it is truly ready). I did have that thought in the back of my mind that if I do do this, it would be very likely I would end up with a repeat of TTTT, as in: half-full drink with too much ice, and expired garnish falling from the very pretty fancy glass.

Also I did not start working on the entry until the SeedComp was in its voting round (so around the 4-5th of March?). I really wasn't kidding about the speed-running thing....

Another thing: I had never created a parser game before this point AND suck real time at playing them! This was also indicated in my Author's comment.

Nothing obviously stopped me anyway, because here we are...

1- The Idea

A few weeks before the opening of the SpringThing intent, the French IF community was streaming some older parser entries, including Aisle* and Pick-Up the Phone Booth and Die, two games where the player can only do one action before the game ends. I'd never really experienced this kind of game before (the closest being having a sudden death/continue the story choice). It packed a punch, it was funny, and also so very weird. It left me dissatisfied and super intrigued. I wanted to try and do that too someday. *Funnily, someone on the French IF discord thought DOL-OS had been inspired by Sam Barlow's work (it wasn't, but TRNT def was).

Not, I am not going to be hella pretentious and full of myself by putting TRNT on the same level as those games (because I don't think I did a good enough job to merit a comparison), but the one-action-only gameplay and multiple endings drew me in (I love abrupt endings, cf P-Rix). I've mainly written longer form of IF rather than short bites, and I thought it would be fun to try to constrict myself as much as possible, by having just one thing, one action, one outcome.

And also: parsers. I had only dabbled with the Choice-Based/Hyperlink format, so I thought it was time to try the last unexplored part of my IF journey: parsers. Since the SpringThing Festival is a nice place to experiment, I thought why not try to make one then! I could not have survived the anxiety of the IFComp reviews for that one...

Still, it was not going to be without a challenge. I had very little experience with parsers, and I honestly didn't think I could learn how to use a parser program in such short amount of time*, when I had a lot of other stuff at the same time. So I thought, why not make it in Twine**, at least I know this program inside-and-out(almost). There would not be a steep learning curve there... What could go wrong? *lol at me, having made an Adventuron game in a non supported language in about 2 weeks after that, without ever having tried the program beforehand. I could totes have managed!! **Also, when I got set with Twine, I realised how fun it would be to maybe put people's expectations upside down by doing something you're not supposed to with Twine... or parsers!

Well, it was going right at first...

2- The Story

I really wanted to recreate the same gameplay of Aisle with its only-one-action-and-it's-over, so I started listing possible actions and put them into a context where this choice of action would mean everything for the PC - because it is the only action you have. Which might not have been a good take? Aisle works because the setting is incredible mundane, and there are no stakes.

The context pretty quickly drew itself as the player will chose a profession/career path, and if they do/choose something wrong, then...😬too bad for them, they made their choice, deal with the consequences. While, in reality, we are not stuck in a life because of one choice, but with a myriad of them (and still we can change this trajectory), it's still a big pressure you get as a youth, having to choose where to go and what to do when you are done with highschool, and what path to take. It's a lot of responsibility that sometimes feels like it will affect/haunt the rest of your life. Do I still have some of that school/parental pressure from when I had to make that choice ingrained somewhere inside? probably...

But the more foolish idea was to let my brain continue to think more about that context and create a world and story further than the choice. Instead of going forward with the consequences and the hints of what could have happened or just let the choice being the centre piece, the brain just went backwards and created a society (some sort of futuristic one) and vaguely described beings (that are not humans), and the ritualistic culture of this society, etc... While it was fun to think about all of those, and maybe provided a fun setting and enticing story for the player to go through the game, there might have been a bit too much of it. I think, in hindsight, this may have devalued the choice itself (which became even more watered down when I continued on writing the first screens).

And so, the job choice soon became the player is going through some sort of ritual (v trope-y) to determine their place in society. If it has a vibe of The Giver, it shouldn't be too surprising, the book is on my shelf.

So we still have the one-choice-to-rule-them-all, but now there is a also backstory and setting... and I have to include it somewhoeeven if it means cramming it somewhere, anywhere.

Oh wait, I thought, I'll just make it like a prologue to build anticipation for the choice!

And so the brain went on zooming again to create the waiting room, and the agonising walk in the corridor, and the finding your way to the altar, before you cant finally make your choice..... only to end up with two(-ish) paragraphs for each endings. wow - what a good balanced game this is becoming...

Speaking of endings, I had originally listed over 50 actions, each planned to have a different ending.... only to end up with about 11, 7 of those were actually related to the final countdown choice. It made me sadder than when I cut onions :(

It wasn't just the player that needed to make...

At this point, we were two weeks away from the deadline. I had the backbone of the code (-ish), a good third of the writing wasn't complete (and this was mainly those 11 endings), and no one had tested the game yet. There was no way I could have included all 50 original options if I wanted to make the deadline. might have been good in hindsight to remove those choices, especially with the current command system.

So choices had to be made and a buttload of planned things had to be cut. I narrowly managed to finish the needed endings in time (which required re-writing some of those into a fake choice), at least.

At the end, I strayed quite a bit from the Aisle concept of a mini intro - one action - an ending puzzle-y feel (and making the player piece the story together from the endings), to arrive at... well... this anxiously geolian walk to one's doom (or dream). Making the story quite... well... linear.

And from going somewhat wrong, it went a little wrong-er...

3- The Implementation

Wanting to avoid the headache of learning a new program, I had settled on Twine pretty much from the start (SugarCube, because that's how I've been rolling for the past almost 2 years!).

The big problématiques of this project were:

Twine is not a parser program (duh)

SugarCube has its limitations still (and macros that don't always work the way you want to)

I had never written a parser game before and suck at playing them (thank you, French IF streams that helps me enjoy them without experiencing the frustration of not finding the right combo!)

I still suck at JavaScript/jQuery to do weird things with the page (and probably fix all those issues)

and well did I already say Twine is not a parser program?

So I tried to get to the basic of parsers (an input box and text revealing itself onto the page when a command is entered) and prayed for the best. Easy, right?

WRONG!

SugarCube has an input box, but can only autofocus* inside one specific place (so you can't lock it somewhere else but the passage itself, which means you need to add it to every screen...) and when the passage is first loaded (doesn't work if the input box is added later on). *I have also hurt some kitten by overusing autofocus, which was only compensated by offering the the SugarCube God some bug reports about it so those issues could be fixed for the next update (TBA). But you really are not supposed to use autofocus as much as I did... 😬

SugarCube has an input box, but you can only move to another passage after you press Enter. So you can't have some fancy input checks, and you stay on the same page... without some custom listener macro* that is (Bless you Maliface and your Listen Macro) - or I guess some JavaScript code, but who has time for that... I had included a button as an alternative to confirm the commands (which was how I had coded it for DOL-OS), but it would have made the parser experience much worse if using Enter would not have loaded a response (this was a criticism from DOL-OS, which now that I know how to fix, I really should do so...). *at least until the next Sugarcube update which will include a listener.

SugarCube has an input box, but doesn't have a bank of commands, or set object indicator (like with the parsers). While you can technically separate the inputed words with some JavaScript**, whether you do so or not will end with the same amount of spaghetti code at the end, with the different conditional statements for each actions on each screen to show the correct text bits (mine amounted to almost 600 lines of code for 7 screens... without included the printed text! -> see the source code). Now that I've messed around with Adventuron, I can see how easy it is to make a parser game (set up commands and rooms and interactive object), when you have a bank of built-in commands and not have to worry about how to add the new text on the screen. Twine really added a new layer of complexity to this.... Was there a better way of doing this? probably, but don't look at me to find it. *this was how the name chosenname command came to be, and how it only printed the chosen name on the following screens. That and the autofocus being messy...

SugarCube can add text bits to a page, but unlike parser programs, it won't automatically scroll down to the bottom of the page, or at least to the added element. Adding a scroll down to the bottom or scroll up to the page was not too hard (I had some leftover js code), but it was not the solution: the UI is mobile/tablet accessible (smaller screens), which means scrolling to the bottom would make those players having to manually scroll back up (and I am usually quite verbose in my writing). So very much EH.... NOT GREAT! After quite a lot of testing, broken pieces of code, way too much swearing, and re-doing the base of the UI, I did manage to find a solution.... a month into the review/voting period.

But even with those limitations, I pushed through. I knew it was possible to make it work, so I either tried to find work arounds (and gave up the scrolling, at least until the deadline), and pushed through, banging my head against my desk because of what was achievable...

LIKE BUILDING A WHOLE COMMANDS SYSTEM...

Wanting to make things easy for myself (and the players), I thought maybe removing all verbs would make it easier to go through the game, even when having to interact with objects or people around. Enter the bolded word* from the text as the input, press enter, and read the new text! *It was important for me to have some sort of "easy" mode where the interactive things were obvious to the player, coming from a scene where parsers are not the norm/favoured.

Simple right?

This idea... stopped working as soon as I introduced physical actions (sit, stand, jump, etc...), directional actions (the story might be linear but it still has multiple rooms), but most importantly as soon as I wrote flavour texts for one same object. Even if I could get away with removing X/LOOK/EXAMINE*, adding verbs at the end was a necessity (I didn't want to see all the already written variation go to waste...). *I did include look in the code, but mistakenly didn't think about its synonym <- shows the no-knowledge of parser, and not having a bank of commands built-in.

So verbs were added, and then some of its synonyms (but evidently not the most important ones 😬), and then some prepositions just in case, and noun synonyms with adjectives because of how it is described in the text, and then.... so on and so forth. And because of how SugarCube is set, I ended up with lines like this at the end:

<<if ["initiate", "look initiate", "look at initiate", "remember initiate", "initiates", "look initiates", "look at initiates", "remember initiates", "recall initiate", "recall initiates"].contains(_cmd)>>

(and this is not even a correct or complete command list, since it is missing EXAMINE and X)

Et rebelotte for all the interactive words on the page, as well as the added variations requiring another set other verbs. There's not really a verb/noun aliases list to help...

BUT WAIT

Because I always like to make it difficult for myself and not think of the amount of work my ideas/plan will require, I had to make some bits of text appear only once (even if some commands could be used more than once on that page) OR removing the player's ability to make a different action when they do a specific one AND have some bits of text only appear after a command has been used on that page. Pushing the player through extra invisible gates on top of the different rooms. I could have made it easier on myself to break scenes further than I had already done, but nooooooo

And I did this not just once. BUT THREE TIME! When the player is called to get in line, in the corridor, and just before the big doors.

I could have fed myself for a whole week with the spaghetti that came out of my code.

But Manon, I can hear the little devil on my shoulder say, Why all the whining and excuses? You could have stopped if it turned out to be a bad idea, especially if you couldn't implement it properly. Why not have made the story in something else than a parser?

Well...

because Time (wa)s running out and I wasn't going to let all this hard work go to waste by changing everything up at the last minute (it could have worked/been easier, that's true)

because it was still a fun puzzle to solve, even if frustrating most of the time,

because you learn more when you fail than when you win

I'm not a quitter :P (hiding my too many WIPs waiting for me....)

Even if I doubted myself with finishing the game on time, I still pushed myself to cross the finish line, since I knew I would not have finished the project otherwise. Thought it could have been fun to get the 12 angry men passing judgement on my Twine monstrosity making a mockery of parsers had I submitted it to the very serious ParserComp instead. /jk lovingly

So after some "extensive" testing (rushed in the last week, because I am a nightmare to people, sorry @groggydog and @lapinlunairegames for making you go through this, but also thank you for your help!!), I made it to the end!

Well... barely. Ended up with a few bug fixes update along the way.

4- The Reception

(it was like that in my heart)

Like TTTT, this was not explosion of praise and accolades. And I fully expected it. You can't make experiments omelettes without cracking a few programs/rules eggs. At least my omelette didn't have too many eggshells :P

Looking at the numbers, at the time of writing this posts, TRNT is currently sitting at 5 stars (4 ratings) on itch, and 3-1/2 stars on IFDB (2 ratings)*, with 4 reviews on the Forum (bellow the median/average this festival). None of the ratings game with reviews/comments. *When some of the reviews will be moved to the IFDB, I do expect this average to get lower. The itch one is nice (really happy 4 peeps loved it!), but most people only rate when they didn't like it or when they loved it.

As for the feedbacks gotten, they came from a few sources: the people who playtested TRNT, dms on Tumblr and the Forum, the Twine server, and the awaited reviews on the Forum.

Overall, the people who liked the game really enjoyed themselves, from the writing and the worldbuilding being intriguing, or how pretty the UI was. Even with the issues raised during the festival, quite a lot of people (who sent me comments) thought the experiment was either a success, something really cool, or impressive considering the limitations (of the festival and/or of the program). Even in the more critical comments, this experiment was seen as an interesting one to be commended (with a bit of a why did you bother... sprinkled in there). Someone told me TRNT reminded them of the Divergent series (and fair comparison, considering the whole ritual to put you in one job for the rest of your life).

The most surprising thing was that people who never played parser before (or didn't really liked them) found the game entertaining and fun to go through, managing to get to the end without too many issues; while the reviewers with more experience in the genre had a bit more restraints due to the command system I put in place.

Whether my giddiness about verbose writing was to the liking of the player or not, I was honestly happy comments about my grammar didn't make much of an appearance this time around (yay, progress!), and that I would get kudos for the vague story behind the experiment itself, and the structure of the story itself.

But this doesn't mean that it was all sunshine and rainbow here. TRNT had some obvious issues, which should have been squashed during the testing phase had this one been longer (yet again, me speed-running through comps when I should take my time... when will I learn...). There were two main ones: the commands and the UI.

The biggest issue came from the commands, being either unclear or confusing, especially when it came to the cardinal direction, the choice of synonym for the actions, or special actions like the name input. Even if you could go along the story with just a noun or press C until you reached the end, missing important verb commands did not help the game feel complete (EXAMINE/GET/the shortcuts). This is where having some Parser knowledge/experience would have come handy, he.... As for the cardinal directions, it was probably most confusing because I used them as synonyms for forward/back/left/right instead of N/S/W/E (that and it wasn't clear where you were able to go in the text either). Quite a few players were also getting stuck in the corridor (after you come to a stop, you hear some thing up front and your choices are to move to the side/jump or stand still). Special actions like the name input or the final choice were felt a bit off/broke immersion. Party due to the way SugarCube is, partly due to how I organised the game. Having a simple input where the player is asked for their name before the game start and have a say name command, might have worked better there. That and a better hinting system. Fix for those TBD.

Closely followed was the UI being annoying (which ;-; bc I pride myself on creating good UI, but it was fair critique), from the scrolling being an absolute ass, to the confusing bolding of the start of passages being the same as the interactive words (if you didn't change the colour in the settings), to the back/replay last choice command on the END screen not going to the right spot, or the responses of computing an inputted command not appearing/being confusing (in relation to the scrolling), some quirks with the UI being wonky for some screen sizes, etc... Thankfully, all those have been fixed.... but too late for the reviews already published. A quick revamp of the UI base + solving the scrolling issue + slight reformatting of the printed new text bits solved if not all of those issues. Still... too little too late... That's what you get for making a UI in a large screen and only checking different width but not different heights....

A SIDENOTE ON WHY PARSER AND NOT HYPERTEXT

Or me going a bit on a rant. Scroll down to pt 5- The Do-Over to resume coherent levelled conversation.

Still, making a parser a Twine was a CHOICETM, which didn't work for everybody. I don't know if it was because the game was put forth as a Twine game before being a parser, or because the story was maybe a bit too linear/not very interactive compared to other parsers, or because I set out to make a parser before thinking of a story and it showed for some, (or probably because the parser system was not very well implemented) but I did have a few commenters wondering if my choice of making it a parser was the correct one, as in why would you use parser when hyperlinks would have probably worked better?

Maybe a cop-out answer would be Why not. Why not try to break the rules and the codes of what is a Twine game or what is a parser? Why not push Twine to where it is probably not supposed to go (sorry, TME)? Why not blur the lines of the divides between the subgenres of IF? I wrote some part while having a bit of a fever, and my notes had Why not make parsers less puzzle-y/more linear choice-based like? and oh boi is it good to re-read yourself... Cause yiekes what a load of BS.

The other part of the answer is Because experimenting and doing weird thing is fun! Doing weird thing, writing bad code that should probably not work but it does, putting the program on a lifeline, making up stories that are nonsensical, etc... and breaking people's mind in the process with what could be done. Also it was just fun to find out whether it was just possible to do it at all. The rush of happiness when you the puzzle is solved is so incredibly gratifying. It was really fun to try something different (for me but also for what Twine can generally do), to solve a puzzle of mashing two things that don't/shouldn't go together, to find what makes them tick and make it all work, and to challenge myself to do something new (did I mention before it was my fist time making a parser?). AND, having fun creating! And the SpringThing has always been a beacon to promote experimentation with the genre and more out there stuff. So it's was kind of like the stars aligned or something :P

Also Because it was possible!That one is pretty self-explanatory...

Maybe a bit more presumptuous of me: Because experimenting keeps Interactive Fiction fresh and exciting! I'm not trying to set a trend or anything here (honestly, it's not too strange, TRNT's weirdness kind of follows my previous work with TTTT and its mixology element, or DOL-OS with it computer interphase), but isn't fun to see what else can be done in IF, or what new area can be explored now that funky stuff has been tried, or what else should probably not be done (hopefully this doesn't apply to TRNT lol, I think it should be fun to have more parser in Twine). Even if my entry was not really a novel idea even in the gameplay (exhibit A, exhibit B, exhibit C), I still think there should be more weird stuff out there, so I contribute to that where/when I can! It'd be sad if IF became same-y and stale... It'd be fun if someone did something like this because they played TRNT and thought it was neat :P

And Because it didn't fit with my original vision of the game. Even if the game changed quite a lot along the way, the parser element was something I would not compromise with, no matter how good or bad the final product was. Sorry TME for the kittens lost in the autofocus of the textboxes...

I did wonder for a while how many people opened the settings at all 🤔

5- The Do-Over?

Ha.

Haha.

Hahaha.

No.

Honestly... If I was going back to the start, I don't think I would change anything. Even if the length of the testing was more than minimal (still haven't learned my lesson), even if I rushed into the competition (again, not learned my lesson), even if I made errors along the way (well, maybe fixing the UI earlier instead) or let the story stray that much away from the original idea (honestly it was probably for the best that it ended not being too close to Aisle at the end, I might have gotten eviscerated in the reviews). It did what it was supposed to do, and checked all the boxes from what I wanted to try. At the end, to me, it was a complete (and stressful success).

Will there be some changes in the future?

Just a bit, at some point, TBD and TBA. Just to fix the commands a bit, maybe rearrange some passages, add a bit more variation/hidden codex entries, maybe even a new ending or two! But it wouldn't go further than that. TRNT was an experiment through and throuh.

==================== THE END ====================

Anyway, my weird hybrid beast of a parser in Twine and I are done rambling about my awesome show of tricks that may or may not have landed badly and with a broken skateboard. We will go collect our ribbons, now!

Make IF weird, Do word crimes, Have fun

I do wonder if me submitting the game in the Main Garden rather than at the Back Garden played into the expectations of the reviewers, since the BG is meant for more experimental IF. But in the same vein, there was the Kuolema running on a Google Form and people flocked to it so 🤷 It's probably the quality that made things the way it is whooooops :P

#postmortem #trnt #the roads not taken #I have once written too much #and wrote a lot of this under the influence of insomnia #I did win a special accolade: McGruber Honorarium #interactive fiction

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fioras-resolve · 10 months

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okay so hear me out here, ace attorney fans

pressing a statement is a defensive action. it's like blocking in an action game. in most cases, it carries no risk, and lets you look for an opening to strike.

those strikes are presenting evidence, or anything else that comes with a penalty. it's an offensive move that puts you at risk, but has a high payoff if it does work.

fundamentally, a lot of players like to hold the block button. and you can see why a witness like moe or tigre would incense us so much. by penalizing pressing, they make it impossible to defend without risk.

some testimonies require pressing. sometimes pressing in ace attorney 1 is literally the solution, while other times pressing is what creates the opening to take the risk of presenting evidence.

it's worth noting that ace attorney 2 and 3 have a particular habit of putting you on the defensive. barring the tutorial, every first trial of justice for all starts off by making you gather evidence. this requires that you press every single statement just to get the full picture. you cannot present anything, you are just pressing.

this could be viewed as the game forcing you to block for two minutes, thus making bad, boring testimonies. but i actually wanna be more charitable here. these moments are the prosecutors putting you on the defensive, which says something about their characters and how they operate. in some moments, like the bellboy's testimony in turnabout sisters, gives you no offensive options as a way to convey helplessness. i think these kinds of testimonies can be valuable for storytelling reasons, even if they are "less compelling gameplay."

ace attorney investigations, on the other hand, is all about compelling gameplay. i might be biased, because i have miles edgeworth as an alter in my head, but i do like both investigations games a fair bit, and consider aai2 the peak of the series. but the thing with these games is that they focus in on the core gameplay of ace attorney: finding contradictions and presenting evidence. it's a very offense-focused game. every single argument (the games' equivalent of testimonies) ends with presenting evidence. it's actually incredibly stripped down from the rest of the series, you might have to press just to get a bit of new information, but you will then have to find the contradiction in that information. you cannot proceed without landing a decisive blow.

i have a few problems with shu takumi's contributions to the series after the original trilogy. most of them are a topic for another time. but something i wanna focus in on here is the repeated mechanic of "mob cross examination." essentially, you're questioning multiple witnesses at a time, and sometimes when you press someone for more information, others will perk up at what they say. you can then question them and ask them what's on their mind. i think this is a cute mechanic in theory, and it does lead to some good storytelling moments. but it also makes these games very press heavy in a way that i don't like. it kind of ruins the tension of the thing, you know?

i feel like i'm one of the only people who actually gives this stuff any attention. like, a lot of people in the ace attorney fandom essentially see the games as visual novels, caring more about the story than anything you actually do in the game. this is, i suspect, why there's aversion to "filler" in these spaces, because a lot of people just aren't here to play a mystery adventure game. to be clear, i recognize myself as one of the weirdos here. i'm a game designer who cares a lot about mechanics. but like, there's genuine room to talk about game design in the ace attorney series. how these games feel to play, how you make a court drama also a fun game. or maybe i'm just looking for something to do with this series that is likely not getting a new installment for a very long time

#ace attorney #game design #ace attorney investigations

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triviareads · 1 year

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do you have diverse modern romance recs?

Yep! I've (mostly) organized it by author:

Naima Simone: I'm obsessed with literally everything this woman writes, both Harlequin and not Harlequin. Naima writes a lot of fabulous Black heroines (and she writes great body diversity as well) and a decent amount of POC heroes as well. My favorites include . Black Tie Billionaire (Black heroine, Asian hero), Secrets Of A One Night Stand (Black heroine, Pacific Islander hero), and Trust Fund Fiancé (both the hero and heroine are Black). The best thing about Naima's books is just the uniformity in how she writes every body type as attractive and desirable and the sex is very hot. Would absolutely recommend.

Katrina Jackson: I haven't talked about Katrina enough, when she's out here doing the most for mafia romances and spy romances with diverse characters. I could happily read her novella Beautiful & Dirty over and over, but it's a prequel to the mafia series which ends with my favorite, The Don, which has a Black heroine. Katrina also wrote a spy series (The Spies Who Loved Me!) and the first in that series, Pink Slip, has a Black heroine who's lusting over her married bosses (the wife, Monica, is Latina I believe) and surprise, they're both into her too.

Angelina M. Lopez: Angelina writes excellent Latino rep. Her fictional town Freedom, Kansas, which is the setting in multiple stories, has an amazing Mexican-American community she builds on. I'd recommend After Hours on Milagro Street, which has a Mexican-American heroine, as well as her upcoming Full Moon Over Freedom, which is next in the series. The way she melds culture, magic, and romance is gorgeous. Also! Lush Money, which is set within this universe, has a Latina heroine and is very fun and worth reading.

Tara Pammi: If you want to read about Indians in India or Bollywood-centric romances, Tara is the author. I liked Claiming His Bollywood Cinderella and The Secret She Kept in Bollywood (that man is suuuch a DILF he's great).

Jadesola James: I've talked about her before (see here) but Jadesola has written a couple Harlequin Presents stories set in Africa. I'd recommend The Royal Baby He Must Claim and The Princess He Must Marry, which are about sisters who are Nigerian princesses.

Talia Hibbert: The Brown Sisters books are bangers, sexy and emotionally comforting at the same time. I'd recommend all of them: Get a Life, Chloe Brown, Take a Hint, Dani Brown, and Act Your Age, Eve Brown. I also love her novella Guarding Temptation, which has both a Black hero and heroine and Wanna Bet? which has a Black heroine and a British-Indian hero (thanks for reminding me @viscountessevie).

Wrong to Need You by Alisha Rai: The hero and heroine are in-laws (well, her husband, his brother, is dead) so the romance was very emotional and slow-burn, but the pay-off was absolutely worth it. The heroine Sadia is Pakistani-American, and the hero Jackson is of Japanese and Hawaiian ancestry. Alisha also delves pretty deep into South Asian family dynamics which hit a liiiittle too close to home, but I can't deny the accuracy.

Reel by Kennedy Ryan: This a romance between an actress and her director (both are Black) and I particularly appreciate the amount of research Kennedy Ryan put into the Harlem Renaissance, Black artists of that era (she created a fictional artist to base the movie off of), as well as their contributions to the Civil Rights movement which I think isn't discussed enough.

Sink or Swim by Tessa Bailey: See here.

From what I recall, Katee Robert did a pretty good job of body diversity without super explicitly mentioning race in her Fairytale Villains Who Fuck Wicked Villains series.

#naima simone #angelina m lopez #talia hibbert #tara pammi #jadesola james #kennedy ryan #alisha rai #tessa bailey #katee robert #contemporary romance #book recs #ask

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a-wild-julibean · 1 year

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Blue Lock Is Well Written, Actually (Part 1)

All Blue Lock fans know that this series is over the top, ridiculous, and completely unrealistic--we don't need to be told that. In fact, for me at least, the stupidly cringy dialogue, the extreme situations, the over exaggeration of it all is what makes this silly little series so enjoyable and fun. But I'm here to tell you that yeah, BLLK is good because it's cringe and dramatic, but it's also a well written series in multiple key aspects, the most important of which are its pacing/story structure, theming, and of course, character writing.

Warning: This is going to be long and is also text heavy. This is part one, covering pacing/story structure. Also, this is my opinion haha so you don't have to 100% agree. Spoilers ahead!

Let's begin with the pacing of the story! One thing I admire writers of all good stories for, from "trashy" isekai to million word philosophical novels, is the ability to identify the goal of the story and pace it accordingly.

Take Solo Leveling vs. Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, two action manhwa that both use an RPG-themed setting and have a very strong main character:

Solo Leveling's goal is the be an exciting and hype action power fantasy about an underdog who grows to become grossly overpowered.

Knowing this, the story is extremely fast paced, going from one major battle and victory to the next with little to no downtime. This helps to deliver the energy needed for a series that lives and dies on its hype.

In contrast, ORV looks more to tell a thematically potent story through complex characters. To do so, it chooses a slow burn pace and gives plenty of time for less frantic moments to aid development. Switch these two paces around and both stories would be far worse off.

Let’s bring this point back to BLLK. Its goal is an exciting story full of hype, but also one that provides some thematic lessons and builds strong characters, a sort of middle ground between the two previously mentioned series. Thus, it’s face paced, yet also has much down time–a choice that is vital to its enjoyment.

Down time provides two key things to the series:

A break from the action. Too much action can lead to almost a feeling of burnout in the reader, where they feel overwhelmed by the constant high stakes and tension. I personally have had to drop multiple series for long periods of time due to this type of stress/exhaustion. The break helps to build excitement between high points, the rising action after the fall. A recent example in BLLK would be the couple of chapters in between the end of the Manshine City vs. Bastard Munchen match and the beginning of the one against Ubers.

Exploration of characters. Exploring how characters act in more mundane situations helps build who they are and adds to their humanity. Small choices like their choice of dress, what they like to do in their free time, and other such details are imperative to creating compelling characters. Down time is also the perfect time for flashbacks, as seen often in BLLK (ex. Rin and Sae’s backstory in the middle of the U20 game, Hiyori’s right before the Ubers game).

All in all, though readers might think getting straight back into the action would be their preferred structure, down time is a kinda “you’ll thank me later” type addition that enhances the action by both preparing readers for more excitement and helping to make readers more invested through character development.

It’s a bit of an obvious addition, but one that BLLK actually uses very well. None of the down time ever feels wasted or out of nowhere. Every flashback is implied to be needed based on previous moments. Rin and Sae’s isn’t dropped right after Rin is introduced or even after Isagi gets closer to Rin. Instead, it’s inserted when it's most important to the story so its existence can be justified. Hiyori’s flashback has much less leading up to its reveal, but Hiyori’s commentary on Isagi reveals some of his character that gets followed up on in his flashback; the flashback also gives some excitement for what Hiyori might do in the future.

Again, this feels like an obvious requirement for writing flashbacks but oh boy is it sometimes completely disregarded (and in two very popular series that I shall not name but both essentially contain a long flashback about a side character’s history that is not set up very clearly beforehand, leaving them feeling awkwardly placed and accidentally pointing out the author’s hand).

The other way BLLK uses down time is character exploration, the clearest example of which are the day out chapters following the U20 match. Did we absolutely need to see the cast’s shenanigans at karaoke and bowling? No. Did it add much to the story to love? Absolutely.

This was actually a very vital time to place some silly team bonding, as a ton of new characters were introduced in the arc, but only through their playstyles. Giving them time out in the city as regular teenagers helps to cement their characters and add some quirky habits and traits that are more relatable or down to earth. Karasu, for example, is now characterized as the mature and responsible one in the group and not just “the assassin one I guess.”

On top of the fun stuff, we also do get some character introspection during the days out for Isagi and Rin. Isagi meets up with Tada and reflects on what’s happened so far plus goes into a bit of theming while Rin contemplates the U20 match, and narratively, his further growth in the story is set up. Clearly, the author knows that down time is not exclusively for sweet fluff.

That’s basically all I got on down time writing. Finally, to wrap up this post on pacing and structure, let’s talk about stakes and promises for the future.

Stakes in stories need to keep increasing or at least remain generally equivalent to the previous situation’s stakes in order to keep interest. In BLLK, the stakes in stages 1, 2, and 3 were essentially equivalent as they were all just normal tests; however, the U20 match is a large jump in stakes as a loss means the total dissolution of the facility, but a win would give them the U20 spots.

If the series had returned to regular tests after the match, it would not have felt as interesting as before the match because now the readers have been encouraged to dream beyond the facility. However, the author knows this and chooses to go with the Neo Egoist league, bringing out world class strikers and foreign players. Sure, losing a match won’t cause the entire story to end now, but the difficulty and excitement of the current arc is about the same as the U20 arc.

On top of the current arc, the author also makes sure to state what the future plans of the story are: the world U20 tournament. By showing the audience what the path to something vague is, the plot is tightened and you can feel comforted by the fact that the series knows where it's going. “Becoming the best striker in the world” seems unrealistic at first, but now the steps to reach that position have been revealed. Together, this retains audience investment.

To summarize, Blue Lock keeps a fast pace, strategically interspersed by points of down time that prevent tension burnout and add more character details. Additionally, the stakes and future plan of the series are consistently building and clear to help ground its vague goal. Though these aspects may seem obvious or simple, the difficulty of their execution is not so. It requires planning and effort to keep a series on a smooth ramp up and going at a quick but not blazing speed. Many, many, many series can only dream of the quality of Blue Lock’s steady pacing that almost never feels too slow or too fast, especially when read all at once rather than week to week.

Pacing and structure are some of the aspects of writing that are at their best when you can barely notice their presence at all: only a series that struggles with them will remind readers of their existence and importance. Blue Lock succeeds at keeping both under the radar.

#blue lock #analysis #anime and manga #bllk #meta

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7-dreamers · 1 year

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28 May 2023, [Idoltist] "The best at dancing"…Dreamcatcher Sua, significance of 5 years of trainee life ①

Xports News’s sixth character in the ‘Idoltist’ series Sua, Dreamcatcher’s main dancer, created the choreography for their B-side tracks ‘Red Sun’ and ‘Sahara’. Not only that but Sua also personally films and edits her vlogs among other things, showing that she has many talents.

Sua has extraordinary high tension and bright energy, but, unlike now, she had a reserved personality when she was younger. Even so, Sua found it exciting to be on stage and showed off her unique charms early on.

“I was very shy and reserved, but I had so much fun preparing for things like the school arts festival. Practicing with friends helped me gain confidence, and I found myself approaching them first. So I think I started dancing from then on. I feel like that is what caused me to become more extraverted.”

Sua, whose MBTI is currently ‘ESTP’, believes she was an ‘INFJ’ when she was younger. “I felt uneasy whenever things did not go according to plan, so I always prepared thoroughly. Even now during work I still have those tendencies. If I don’t calculate things to some degree, something always breaks.”

Young Sua’s talents were first discovered by the people around her. She would learn dances faster than others, so her friends suggested that she go to auditions. Sua also acknowledged this and tried out her first audition in the 6th grade of elementary school.

“I once went with a friend to an SM audition in Busan without telling my parents. At the time, there were several hundred people there for the preliminary round. I was immediately eliminated of course. (laughs) We said to wear the prettiest clothing, so I wore a totally pink outfit, but now that I think about it, it was pretty tacky.”

After this, Sua, entering middle school, joined a dance club and properly started getting into dancing. “I participated passionately in the dance club for the entire 3 years. It was a club for dancing boy group dances. I had a lot of thoughts like ‘I dance in a special way, different from the others’. It was a time where I wanted to do difficult dances.”

Sua started genuinely dreaming of becoming a singer in high school. She was convinced that she had to become a singer, but her parents opposed it.

“My parents said ‘we are going to send you to an academy, so if you do not pass an audition within 6 months, give up on dancing and singing’, and at the time I was so full of confidence that I accepted it.

Back then there weren’t a lot of opportunities for auditions outside of Seoul, and it was not a time where I could easily travel to Seoul. But during the 6th month since starting at the academy, for the first time a company from Seoul came to do auditions. There I passed the first round.”

For the second round, Sua and her parents headed to Seoul, and she recalls that things were going a little too well. Sua wanted to prove her potential to her parents. She shared a story involving her mother back then that aroused feelings of sadness.

“I think my mom helped prevent a greater misfortune with a lesser sacrifice. That day my mom hurt her leg while falling down the stairs and even had to wear a cast, but I passed the audition. I believed it was my mother’s strength and was thankful.”

Sua, who passed the audition, moved from the South Gyeongsang city of Masan to Seoul all by herself and started the trainee life. She was unable to debut at her first company, and for 5 years she auditioned at various companies. At the time Sua was determined to be ‘the best at dancing no matter which company I enter’.

“At some academy, there was a good opportunity to be seen by multiple agencies in the same audition, so I went. We had to go in groups of 3 and dance in the same room together, and it turns out Yoohyeon was there. I didn’t know at the time. Yoohyeon must have been impressed by my dance.

We even danced the same dance at the last audition for the company Minx ended up at. Back then Yoohyeon thought ‘that’s the unnie I saw at the academy’ and recognized me, it was fascinating.”

Sua was recognized for her dancing by other trainees and became motivated to also sing well like her role model BoA.

“I was the best at dancing while going through various companies, and I worked hard to reach that level, but I also wanted to be great at singing. So I developed an interest in singing as well. While practicing singing, I found that it was impossible for it to not be influenced by my dancing. My style has become more diverse.

I learned various genres of dance like breakdancing, hip hop, popping, contemporary. Such a variety of dances also blended in a variety of ways while practicing singing. Every practice was a whole new experience.

5 years can feel like a long time, but within that period I experienced a lot of things, met a lot of people, and received a lot of motivation. I believe I made myself mentally strong during that time. I think I felt comfortable when I debuted because I had that time.”

Source : Xports News

[Reporter Lee Seul]

Translation by 7-Dreamers irshu Please do not take translation without credit

#dreamcatcher #sua #230528 #era: a from us #t: interview #t: trans

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benjaminthewolf · 1 year

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I need to have another serious conversation with you guys, this time about unwilling vore and fatal vore

WARNING: DISCUSSIONS OF R@PE, MURDER

I am leaving this marked for everyone because I believe that we can be mature enough to have a civil, serious conversation on this topic together, which ultimately, everyone in this community should consider, because this is VERY important.

****

These past couple weeks have just been one thing after the other after the other

First, transitioning into a Keto diet to lose some weight left me with horrible carb-flu for a week (withdrawal of carbs producing flu-like symptoms such as body aches and cramps),

Then I had to wake up at 7:30 and 6 respectively on summer days for high school graduation rehersal and graduation,

I was struggling to hold myself together at graduation because of my school-related trauma,

My brother and dad got into a fight on the way home,

Today I had to go through four and a half hours straight of online college orientation,

And now, finally, once I reached that online orientation's interactive module about sexual misconduct and what exactly rape is, I utterly broke. Because there it was right in my face, a statement that I had already known since I was old enough to understand the concept, yet something which I had never seemed to fully process the implications of when applying it to this community.

"If the sexual activity is done without the active, informed consent of both partners, its rape."

It's no secret that I have indeed written some NSFW stories which have since, thanks to a previous discussion, been properly marked as mature and will be reblogged onto my NSFW blog on a once every Monday schedule, but, it is also no secret that some of those NSFW stories, sexually charged fics, feature unwilling vore.

Or, to state it more bluntly, per the definition above, they feature rape. I have willingly written rape, read over the rape multiple times, thoroughly enjoying it, and have put it out for the world to see. Especially considering that these stories were available to everyone including minors for quite some time, I cannot see how this is anything other than abhorrent. I was taking enjoyment from the sexual abuse I was writing into existence, and I feel utterly sick.

It seems to me now that "unwilling vore", particularly in the NSFW vore community, is simply a way of saying "rape" that makes it less taboo and more acceptable to talk about and create content for. It's become so normalized now, that I could not find a single post in the "unwilling vore" tag that was having this discussion when I searched for it. Instead it was all posts glorifying the concept, which ultimately, in an NSFW context, is rape. Period.

This can also extend to fatal vore and how I so enjoyed writing and reading about acidic murders. It's murder. Full stop. Especially in an NSFW context, I should not be enjoying such a concept.

But I do.

And honestly, I'm not entirely sure that removing the NSFW context makes it okay either. It may not be sexual, and thus won't constitute as rape, but just think about how paralyzingly traumatic the experience would be to an unwilling prey...and for fatal vore, it is most certainly still murder! Why am I normalizing and glorifying this kind of stuff? Why?

What the hell have I been doing for these past few years? Why have I loved and enjoyed so deeply this concept and this community which encompasses such abhorrent actions and not only normalizes them but turns them into hot fun time fics?

I have no idea anymore, and I have tipple the no idea of how I was able to last like this for so long without any sort of justification to speak of. Was I just suppressing what I already knew because I was scared to face reality? Honestly, I think that might be it.

I'm sorry, I'm just rambling at this point but I honestly have no idea anymore. I just feel awful, that's the bottom line. Rape and murder, in stories that are sexual. That is what I have created. I am nothing more than an insensitive, uncaring, unsympathetic, immoral, horrific piece of shit who thought for years that this was okay. These things have hurt real people in real life. I feel like I am shitting on their stories and their experiences for each and every single NSFW unwilling vore and fatal vore story I have created. Glorifying, normalizing, and sexualizing the pain, agony, and trauma these real people went through, for nothing more than my own pleasure. How am I not behind bars? (/gen)

-Benjamin

#vore writing #vore stories #vore story #v0re #v0r3 #v/ore #v.ore #unwilling vore #fatal vore #vore community #vore talk #vore thoughts #cw r@pe #cw murder

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rolling-restart · 18 days

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Hello! I know it’s been a hot minute since Desecration has been updated and I hope this doesn’t come across as me poking for an update, I just really genuinely love the story so very much

I originally found it around summer of 2023 and after reading it in full I really had to take a month to process it (in a good way!) and realized I couldn’t stop thinking about it and *had* to reread it, which is when I fell in love with it

Nico and Toto’s backstory fascinates me so much and is actually the reason I started reading a lot about Nico himself (and now he’s currently one of my favorite drivers) and the end game Nico/Jenson really created a soft spot for Princess Cake in my heart, I think of Desecration Nico and Jenson so fondly

Additionally your bits of Smick I’m absolutely feral over - Seb and Mick’s belongings intertwining so that Daniel couldn’t tell where they started and ended was the sweetest thing ever, and the cute German pet names made me melt!

On a more angst-ier note, Seb trying to keep Mick in the dark thinking it would help to protect Mick, only to cause Mick to distance himself from Seb hurt so incredibly good I cannot stress that enough how amazingly painful that was to read, I literally think about them once a week

Of course there’s so much I could talk about with Toto and George as well, I don’t even know where to start - the extreme angst and anguish George goes through is just, I don’t have the words but in such a good way. I genuinely think about Desecration multiple times a week and it has stayed one of my very favorite Formula 1 fics for nearly a year now

I introduced it to one of my friends who wasn’t interested in Formula 1 and now they’re a George Russell fan which has been incredibly fun and has really given a whole new fun aspect to our friendship to talk about Desecration over <3

Additionally (so sorry for so much talking, I just really do love this fic) I’ve been listening to the playlists you’ve made these past couple days and honestly I really can’t explain how much I love them, they’ve kept me company while I stress over finals XD

All in all no matter what you choose to do with this fic I really do love every aspect of it, the highs and the lows are both so incredible to me and I think I will always find the characters and their relationships fascinating to me - I wholeheartedly think about Nico, Jenson, and Toto as well as Sebastian and Mick at least once a week

(Apologies if it sounds like I don’t care about George and Daniel, I very much do but for some reason the “side characters” are very intriguing to me, perhaps because their stories still have yet to unfold in detail?)

Hi wow, hello!

First of all thank you for getting this ask together, I didn’t know I needed to remember desecration in this light and it somehow made me very emotional. The best thing a writer can know is that their work touched someone in some way, it’s been on other people’s minds and if they are the luckiest, that it helped other people connect. I honestly met one of the most amazing people I know thanks to desecration.

A bit of background about the writing of desecration. I started in 2022 summer, I think, was my last year in education as well.

I don’t know what pushed me but now I look back, I know what I tried to say with it: I’m here, I am real, my pain is also real and it matters and I will put it in a shape that it will matter to other people too. I wanted witnesses to the sometimes wild ideas and a very human pain that graced my brain. I almost always wrote it in moments of hyperfixation. Every time someone understood what I gestured at in the story, I felt understood as a person as well.

I am a different person from the one who wrote desecration now, and it’s difficult for me to read it again. I first thought it was because I was more in peace now and I didn’t want to ruin the peace by reminding myself of a darker time. But now I see that I am more out of hope than I’ve ever been and I don’t have the resilience to face the reality of myself I buried there, at least, not at this moment.

On the playlists, I built them with so much love and care. I’m so happy to hear you love and listen to them still.

About the story itself… I am actually glad people give love to side stories as much as the main story because I cared so much about them as well. Nico and Jenson there was my emotional anchor and Smick was the proof of untainted good intentions. I am not a big fan of miscommunication trope so I hope it was obvious that wasn’t what I was going for with Mick. It was the balancing act of shielding someone as much as respecting them, to super-simplify it.

Please reach out to me if you want to talk about it more, I always adore talking about desecration! And thanks for reading and loving it, and hopefully, seeing a part of me as well!

#answered asks #desecration: gr/tw fic

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usamamoweek2024 · 11 months

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Meet the Creators - Wishwars

What username(s) and platform(s) can folx find you on? (Please include links!)

@wishwars- can find stories on AO3 or FFN (links in platform names)

(Fun Fact) What is your favorite kind of potato?

Garlic mashed <3

How long have you been creating works in fandom spaces? How long have you been active in the SM fandom?

I started reading SM fanfiction in 2014 and writing it in 2016. How time flies!

What type(s) of creative works do you usually make? (fanfics, digital art, cosplay)

I write fanfic (while being in awe of those who also create things with their hands)

What do you enjoy about creating for the SM fandom?

This was the very first fandom I was ever a part of, and I'm still just so amazed not only by the creativity of its fans, but also their generosity. There is also just something about the enduring message of love that exists in SM that makes me feel so happy and full inside when I get the chance to contribute in some way to the world it created!

Are you strictly UsaMamo or do you create for other pairings as well?

While I write other side relationships, UsaMamo is my OTP, so I always feature them at the center of my stories.

What inspires you to create works for Usagi and Mamoru?

Their relationship and the tropes it supports have followed me into many of my other fandoms--a sunny personality that actually also has a lot of trauma to work through and the seemingly dark, brooding personality that secretly has a big heart--and I can't get enough of it! They just fit so well together!

Do you tend to work on multiple projects (WIPs) simultaneously or try to finish one at a time?

I have a lot of WIPs in folders on my computer that I never publish... in part because I have fics I have published that I want to actually finish and if I start too many, I won't finish any...

Do you prefer large projects (chaptered fics, webtoons/zines, highly detailed art) or small projects (one-shots or simple art)?

I love to read one-shots and while I have written a few, I often get drawn more to chaptered fics, which give me more space to tell the stories I want to.

Are there any common themes, situations, tropes, or mediums in your work?

I basically always write non-senshi fics, and I'm not actually sure why... I think I just really like focusing in on the emotional aspect of their characterizations in AUs without having to also keep up with the added details of their other lives. I also quite enjoy writing fics where they aren't already in a relationship--it's the pining angst that really gets me!

Is there anything you haven’t explored artistically and would like to try?

Maybe someday I could try writing a fic that does have them as senshi. I've read so many that I love, and it could be a fun challenge!

#sailor moon #usamamoweek2023 #meet the creators #usagi x mamoru #usamamo

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warsamongthestars · 3 months

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You might be wondering why I have such a fit about TBB (and still do!--its a raging coal fire that hasn't stopped since S2 finale, and just kinda, reignites. Alot. )

[ And if you're not wondering, well I'm talking to myself anyway. I'm typing into the magic box with the funny pictures made of light and there's nobody I'm actually on conversing with in my compooter room anyway. ]

[ so i might as well continue to talk to myself, like the mad media person in all the tv shows, and maybe, one of the incorporeal beings of the magic picture box gets either entertained or pissed off enough. either way, screaming into the void ]

Let's talk about story impact.

I'mma say that a story has a beginning, middle and end. It has talking things called characters, and a general story structure called plot. the fiction it exists in called a fictional world building. the beats it writes to called pacing, and its quickening or slowing often matches the scene it wants (like a heart beat).

THat's the sum story.

What the fuck am I on about again with TBB.

Well, imagine that you have the Story sum above, and there's multiple now. Like, hundreds to thousands, all running on a specific world build, sharing the character of the story, as well as the story of the characters. Created all over the course of decades.

Repetition with positive results is going to have favorable impact. Effort given into a creative work is going to be recognized, even if you don't really like the work.

That's the sum logic.

So what the fuck am I on about again with TBB.

Well, let's take an actual example so that I'm not off topic.

Darth Vader is a very significant character to Star Wars. Star Wars is the story and series of stories that have had decades of work. Its a Space Western Opera (because Sci-Fi generally requires actual thought based Sciences attached--thus the magic in space bits aren't Sci-Fi; you're free to add that thoughtfulness though ).

And Darth Vader was one of the characters repeatedly used, and given significance due to in-story reactions and in-story information, as well as unique costuming, and taking 3 actors to do.

Mixing that with consistent character writing that develops as we learn of the character, and whom we additionally watch develop as the story around him changes; with dashes of world-building used also consistently, mixed with high end emotional-cues by the Music performed...

Creates a character that is very important to the series. Enough so, that to see him, is to immediately think "Star Wars".

And Star Wars is culturally historical. More so than the things it was based off of (and potentially ripped from), such as Dune, Valerian, and Metropolis--the only thing that survived that ripping was the Fist Full of Dollars Trilogy.

And its had Decades. As in, your Grand'rents intimately know Star Wars too. Its painted unironically on things, instead of being made fun of for being a Dune Rip Off but with DnD Magic.

But gods damn it, what does this have to do with THE BAD BATCH?

Well have you ever heard of a Fanfic OC?

You know the ones. The super special awesome totally original donut steel characters that a fan writer of a series will make up, in order to either experience the world or save the day or something.

( I know its more complicated than that, I'll get there )

The point is, is that a character in a well known series that spans decades, requires build up so that even the most stubborn of the audience accepts it.

A series that's big enough and large enough and expansive enough, requires itself to turn its characters into mini stories themselves. Because a big world is complicated, and gets complicated as it grows.

Example-- Ahsoka Tano required 3 years before she became intimately accepted as Anakin Motherfucking Skywalker's apprentice.

Because that kind of position is the donut-steel OC position. She wasn't in the films thus she didn't have an impact on Vader.

( I would even make the argument that Prequel Anakin still doesn't make that huge of an impact on Star Wars Vader. )

( Much the prequels ran into the same "donut steel" argument. )

A different example-- Captain Rex.

Captain Rex did not run into the same issues. Why? Because he slotted with a known position that was needed to complete the Clone Wars parts of the Prequel Sagas. After all, there was Commander Cody for Obi-Wan, there was Commander Bly for Aayla, and so on.

Captain Rex had the backing of the concept of the Clone Wars behind him, which does include from the Original Trilogy, as that's where the concept came from first.

As a character, he had to be a little nuts in order to keep up with Anakin, and a little on the hard order side, in order to live up additionally to Vader.

There was years of build up, and he was expected.

[ Its almost as if you have to know your audience and the history behind a story, to make impact--and that if you're coming in out of the blue, you need more prep and build up, in order to have the same amount of impact ]

[ And once that impact is given, we can flow with the story, and even retroactively enjoy the parts it took to make impact. ]

[ Adopt a new story teller's telling, into a story told by someone else, to make a better story ]

BUT WHAT ABOUT--

Ah ah ah, Don't worry. Build up and Impact, remember?

So, what is exactly my issue with the TBB series.

Its that these mother fuckers had 4 episodes in less than 1 month before their series.

The Bad Batch series is a series of high impact with low reaction. Good music, good animation, set in a known world--but the characters themselves do not have the build up to have impact on anything.

The series itself should have been giving them that build up, and instead, it actually stripped them on impact they initially had.

On a character sheet, the Bad Batch as characters are good. I give them positive review as a "let's go hog wild on the clone concept" They are the limit you can push the star wars clone wars concept before you have to pull back and say "You just wanted you add your fanfic into Star Wars, didn't you?"

( Just as the Prequels made Anakin out to be the limit of the Jedi, rather than just OG Vader's "I turned evil fuck you". )

A long adventure to learn about these characters, just as we learned about Ahsoka and by extension, Rex, would've been required to allow the build up to have the impact that they were clearly introduced to have.

Cos they have a strong introduction... through the eyes of someone else.

We have a series that put them through strafes, when we really didn't know anything about the characters. Even in their TCWs Arc, there wasn't enough about them from their POV that we could summarize a character that would last a series like theirs.

You can't tell me there's a character arc or achetype that TBB didn't invent in order to impose upon characters that do little and aren't allowed to grow from it--or was taken as a side-character role in name any Star Trek episode.

The TBB's high impact story is the going from the Prequel Saga into THe Original Trilogy, from the point of view of the Clone Wars. Its a singificant connecting element of watching the Republic become the Empire. The "Dark Times" as Obiwan "Ben" Kenobi put it, in 1977's Star Wars.

The BBs themselves only had 4 episodes, and they were already pushing disbelief, as they were the limit of the Clone Wars "Clone" Concept, stretched to the last possible point (Cos anywhere beyond that, and we'd be getting into Super Hero territory), and introduced in the Final Season--so all impact they could've had, was already gone from the start because there was no time.

The only way that the current TBB series would've impacted as its era demands, after decades of Star Wars, would be to give it to either Commander Cody (Who was in the Films) or Captain Rex, who was the main Clone of the Clone Wars.

And the only way that the the Bad Batch as characters, could've possibly survived that high impact, is if they had those years behind them--and they don't, they had less than 1 month.

So the Bad Batch as Characters require their own series that lacks high plot impact, in order to survive as characters...

And the Bad Batch show, as a High IMpact Show, requires actual impactul characters to run.

... Do you see the issue now? Or at least one of them?

( I would have gladly accepted a slow paced Bad Batch show that allowed the Bad Batch characters growth, that's what I wanted out of them--I wanted to get to know them. )

( But the current TBB show does not allow that. Story writers can say all the shit they want, but let me remind, if it was important--it'd be in the story itself, it'd be apart of the build up and impact. )

( And there is no impact, and no build up. If I were to put Hunter right next to Vader, he would mean fuck all. )

( And that's one reason I'm so fucking mad about all this. )

#star wars #the bad batch #star wars the bad batch #star wars prequels #star wars original trilogy #star wars clone wars #story analysis and impact #analysis

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