HEHEHE ... 420 ...... thank you all 💪🏼✨

One of the things that D&D has to be praised AND blamed for is how it managed to unite together polar-opposite fantasy works.

I was planning on updating my old fantasy read list for "old school D&D" and so as I dug into the fantasy books the game took inspiration from (or in the case of the first edition, ripped off from Xp), I came to this realization.

It has already been established that one of the main reasons behind D&D's great success and lasting appeal is that it managed to bring together and unite elements taken from ALL the great, classical, foundational fantasy works of the time into one same universe that was the ultimate synthesis of what fantasy was at the time. You've got Tolkien and Leiber and Conan and Jack Vance and the Cthulhu mythos all together in one game...

... But not many people point out that this same thing is also what made the original brand of D&D fantasy age badly, what caused many of the first-generation D&D-inspired fantasy works to be plain bad , and what changed massively people's view of fantasy for the bad. Because, what EXACTLY did D&D do? It took polar opposite fantasy works, and blended them into one same thing. It took away all the nuances to have one monochrome set. It focused on uniting together the elements, the characters, the places and the archetypes, but at the cost of losing the themes, the motifs, the tone, the uniqueness of it all.

Mind you, again it was and still is one of D&D's strength. It built itself into an open-game allowing for all and any sort of stories and adventures - and many of today's web-series based on D&D show the game's current ability to do ANYTHING by having so many different tones and settings and inspirations... BUT it does not change the fact that, as a result, it erased massively the diversity of what fantasy used to be, to replace it with this artificial idea of "generic fantasy" that then became a reality.

For example, let us consider how D&D united together the pole of the two "classics" of first-generation fantasy, Conan the Barbarian and The Lord of the Rings, with the two most famous "anti-Tolkien" and "anti-Conan" fantasy works: Earthsea, and The Elric Saga. The character of Elric was designed to be the very opposite of what Conan was, and by extension the world of Elric was also designed to oppose all the settings Tolkien or Howard could have written. Earthsea was also designed to oppose and contradict Tolkien's work in every way in terms of setting, tone, inspiration, aesthetic, scope... As I said before, the world of Earthsea already offered in the 60s and 70s what so many modern fantasy novels of the 2000s and 2010s are claiming to be "the first ones to do", like... having a POC main character, having a female main character that isn't sexualized in a fantasy story, having a fantasy story not inspired by Europe, having a fantasy story that is not solved and is not about warriors, war or weapons, using fantasy to deal with internal problems and psychological topics... It was all there before, and yet everybody forgot it until quite recently, and why? I am very tempted to say that D&D and the format of fantasy is spread in American culture from the 80s onward had a part to play.

Because D&D took these elements from Earthsea... and placed them in a world inspired by the Lord of the Rings, and that smashed Conan with Fafhrd, and as a result it got dissolved into these other works, and Earthsea was often see as "Oh yes, just another sword and sorcery story, isn't it?".

Of course I am not claiming this is what actually happened, nor that Earthsea was the only work to suffer from it... But it cannot be denied that the massive spread, success and fame of D&D in America (and in Europe afterward) led to a certain idea, conception and vision of fantasy to be massively shared, copied and treated as the "real, typical, true fantasy"... When in fact it was a mash-in and blending of very varied and nuanced works offering a vast and complex extant of fantasy... A reduction and synthesis that gave a false idea of what fantasy was and ended up burying many strange, bizarre, alternate, groundbreaking or before-their-time fantasy works.

Of course, I am also NOT saying D&D is the only one to blame for that... The success of The Lord of the Ring movies in the early 2000s also had a part to play in this ; and then it was the success of Warcraft, etc etc... But I can't help to compare a bit what D&D did to the idea of fantasy, to what Coca-Cola did to the image of Santa Claus. Santa Claus/fantasy did exist long before Coca-Cola/D&D got hold of it... And afterward Santa Claus/fantasy regrew in its own thing... But in between Coca-Cola/D&D managed to reinvent fantasy/Santa Claus into a massively shared concept and widely accepted idea that became part of culture and marked deeply the history of fantasy/Santa Claus...

Helloooo!!! I was looking for inspo for my own visual novel a little while back, it's set in a ballroom so eventually the keywords lead me to discovering save the last dance (and itch.io in general im a total noob to this lmao) i dont know what it was but it just like took a vice grip around me INSTANTLYY.

So I downloaded the main game today and I am actually silently cursing you because I got nothing done all day I was just like transfixed. The artstyle grew on me alot, and oh godd the character designs... God I love the designs, espcially Genzhou's. There's just so much love (even in every gruesome death scene lol) put into this it's almost difficult not to get obssesed...

Also sidenote I found it kind of encouraging almost to see that you're (self-proclaimed) older, I found that really inspirational lol. There's something that just makes me want to create and actually sit down and learn when I play your games. I guess I've always had this feeling of having all the time in the world but recently I've been feeling almost like it's too late to learn new skills (which is kind if ridicolius since I'm like smack dab in the middle of gen z). Regardless I guess your work made me realize the artistry in visual novels, I could keep going but I tend to ramble lol

ahhhhhhhh this is so sweet!! i got very weepy reading this, especially as i'm already feeling quite soft today as it was a bit of an anxious one... 😭💕

that's fascinating that you found StLD first searching for ballroom stuff!! i am always curious how people first find out about any of my games. i'm happy you enjoyed it, especially enough to go play the main game sob. i'm incredibly touched

and i'm even more touched that you've been enjoying the main game so much 😭💕💕💕 especially all the kind words about the art!! i've grown more confident in my art more recently but especially in the beginning stages of the game i was incredibly self-conscious and worried about it because it was rather odd-looking and didn't match any other typical VN styles. so that's really sweet of you to say. this game certainly has had a lot of love put into it (and blood, sweat, tears, my entire life... etc.). it is very much a big passion project and my eyes were perhaps too big when i got started, but because it dug itself so deep into my psyche and i also made some good decisions like releasing in parts, etc., i've been able to keep working on it until the end despite it taking me like 2.5+ years so far. i'm not even sure i can put into words what this game and chars have done for me and my life and the many journeys and discoveries i've made along the way

dkjfalsdkf yes... i am a millenial, i will say that much. though i don't often feel like one. except for the fact that i often have no idea what people are talking about or referencing and tend to be awkward and confused most of the time LOL this is also why my characters are all older, as well. i sometimes feel a bit strange since i feel much older than many of the others in the VN dev sphere (well, perhaps in age only, not really in mental maturity maybe LKDJAFLKDS). if this can give inspiration to others that are also a bit older though, then i am glad 🤣 i have spent much of my life going from thing to thing and never really knowing exactly what i want to do. case in point my current job has nothing to do with my master's degree. though the one constant has always been creation of some kind, whether it's drawing or writing (and now with games, doing both of those on top of scripting and coding and a bajillion other things lol). i don't think you should ever feel "too old" to do something. or to get started doing something. or to feel like you "haven't done enough" etc. i say this so strongly because i also try to reassure myself sometimes perhaps LOL it's also ok if you don't know what you want to do so you're just trying out different ideas that you're passionate about. so many of us just wanna find something that makes us feel fulfilled and passionate, that makes our hearts ache, that fills us with joy and motivation. so if you can find something that does that for you, no matter how old you are, grab it and don't ever let go lkdajfalskd

at any rate, i'm glad i could also help you discover more about VNs in general. i hope it will be helpful as you work on your own games!!! 💕

Making a Roguelike adventure (for Himbos!)

A few months ago a young man put up 38 transparent neon NES and super NES game cases on marketplace. I bought them, completely unsure of what I would do with them, but sure i had to have them. Obviously, my first thought was “limited print rpg something something”. I’ve also wanted to release something to support Himbos recently since it’s, like, a really good game and it deserves my love and attention. So maybe something video game inspired? Like a classic RPG style project? No, that’s been done a lot by people more attached to those old game than me. I knew I also didn’t want to just make a dungeon because I have a back burner project that is a big dungeon for Himbos that I’m hoping to get out by the end of the year. SO THEN WHAT.

I often have intrusive design thoughts while falling asleep. Things like “pvp face-off game” (vis-a-visage) or “time travel discord message editing game” (someday). A few weeks ago, the intrusive thought of the night was “Roguelike adventure generator”. Roguelike adventure generator? What do those words even mean. How does adding Roguelike to the classic idea of adventure generators change what it does? Well, it turns out im gonna try and figure it out. Or rather, I have been trying to figure it out.

For me, the thing about Roguelike video games, is the balance between the overarching narrative, buffs/powerups that make you feel like your progressing and random obstacles/environments/problems that occasionally repeat elements. The generation part is the easiest for me, breaking down the elements that an adventure needs to go brrrrr. For me this came down to Landmarks (fun environmentmental elements), Problems (adventure hooks), NPCs, Events/Complications, and then some Critters. What I didn’t want to do was just make a bunch of tables to roll on. I love a good table, but one of the things I love about randomly generated video games is the potential for a level to be strangely easy or just really overwhelming, so I wanted a way to change the amounts and rations of the elements being generated. I suppose i could have done something where you roll a d4 for each element to determine how many of them to include in a run, but that feels so uninspired and why not over complicate something when you can!

Enter custom tokens. Any tokens could do, really, but the idea of tossing a bunch of tokens onto a table to generate an adventure brings me joy! Originally, I thought this would just mean gleaning information from face up or down, each type of token representing one of the elements involved, giving a randomized number of NPCs or Problems and such. I then realized that there was another axis that could be accessed, that of rotation. The tokens could be read like tarot, as upright or inverted. Face up or down could also indicate a different state beyond simply present or not.

Ok, great, so level (adventure) generation sorted. But what about the overarching quest. How do you finish the whole thing?

I’ve recently started playing a game of Apocalypse Keys by Rae Nedjadi. It’s a great game, that takes the mystery mechanic from Brindlewood Bay, which I have priory been associated with through playing The Between. I love it. Everytime I encounter it I am reminded that, as a player, it is the single most fun I’ve had interacting with a mechanic in any game in recent memory. Each game does it a little differently, but the idea is simple - the players collect clues or hints, and when they feel like they have a good idea of what’s going on, they present their theory and then roll to determine how right they are. In Apocalypse Keys, the clues are extremely evocative vignettes that are all themed to the mystery at hand. But I’ve always wondered what happens if they were completely random. The wonderful thing about the mechanic is that the players will absolutely figure out a way to work each clue into their theory, they will justify that most seemingly random bit of information is ways previously unimaginable. So, it might actually work if random, or, for the application in this design, as more broad and less specific to the scene at hand. The clues have now become the reward for finishing the level at hand, and because giving your players a unique and special piece of equipment is always fun, i’ve linked them to Objects Of Power the entity causing the glitch has left behind. It’s important to remember that all this is for Himbos of Myth & Mettle so OoPs are things like a small box that emits exciting foley sounds when your character is in combat and the visions (clues) that you see when you grasp it for the first time range from images of rat kings to slightly more lewd moments between hidden figures.

The loop as it stands now - Generate level through tossing tokens and rolling on appropriate tables, characters hunt for Objects of Power, and the clues they hold to the larger mystery of the regenerating, repeat until characters feel confident they understand (again, Himbos, the theories will be wild), roll to see if right, and if so move on to a final confrontation with the entities they’ve designed, or they fail and must return to collect more clues till they come up with another idea.

I finally got around to printing some test tokens and attempting to generate a level. Behold, the first session of Bugbears of Unusual Size and Other Tales:

I recently found your show and I am already in love! So many unique character design! Making me want to draw more of my aliens!

Im happy about Tyneen being just muscle too. I had a character with a similar building but I was just too scared to show her with no top. Because… women. But now seeing tyneen like this brings me more courage to post her just muscle :3

Thank you for this show it’s really funny, and I am willing to wait for the next episode! Keep on the hard work and making cool ass character !

Cheers!

Like, I personally don't mind either way if lizard inspired characters have the boobage, to each their own. But for the case of Tyneen I thought it'd be neat to just give her pecs. The females of her race don't need to nurse their young (if she has any). Her race would just drop the eggs off and get back to doing what they wanna do, in her case; blowing stuff up.

On inspiration and originality

A lot of my ideas come from dreams. There's something about sorting through the chaotic mush of your own brain's disjointed hallucinations to pick out what works that can produce ideas you wouldn't have thought of in your lucid state. Last night I had a dream about twin sisters attending a military academy in a society where your roles are prescribed from birth, with one training to be a diplomat and the other a military strategist, who decide to swap places. It's a fine enough idea I could do something with if I ever chose to, although at the moment I'm more focused on Graveyard Shift and have plenty of other ideas on the back burner before I even get around to this one. But I think it's a good case study because when I step back and really examine it, I realize how utterly *derivative* it is. The whole strict, prescribed roles thing is a common YA trope, probably most famously seen in the Divergent books but also present all throughout the genre, to give an example I've actually personally seen it was seen in Owl House.

Twins swapping places? That's literally the plot of Parent Trap, and if we're honest, Parent Trap itself was just doing a take on The Prince and the Pauper. It's an idea as old as dirt.

Children being trained from a young age to serve in the military is something I remember from Ender's Game, and more recently G-Witch.

Hell, even the designs I hastily drew today based on this idea borrow design elements from many sources of media I've consumed over the years.

None of this is unusual. It was a dream after all, and dreams often borrow elements of things you have experienced while awake. So is it just a bad idea I should shelve permanently? Not necessarily. It's probably a tad bit more derivative than other ideas I've had in the past, but there's still nothing wrong with it. While it borrows a lot from media that already exists, it's not directly copying any of those sources. If you break any media down into it's constituent parts, you can likely find every one in media that existed earlier. Hell, that's like, the entire conceit of TVTropes. If you define originality in such strict terms, then nothing is truly ever new.

No one actually genuinely thinks in such strict terms, and we all know that. Originality comes in many forms, and oftentimes it involves taking old ideas and combining them in new ways, or putting an interesting twist on them. And I think the point I want to make is, that's okay. I think that trying too hard to be original, to do something no one expects or that has never been done before, is how you end up with bad, incomprehensible writing. The reason some tropes stick around is because they're proven effective, and it's completely okay if you use them again.

Embrace your inspiration. Wear it proudly.

I have no idea how to end this post.

Untrue - Burial

[Garage/Dubstep] [2007]

As was the case with early Dubstep, the sound of this album and the scene it came from is so distinctly working class, this pales in comparison to the scale and spectacle of post-Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites Dubstep.

My perspective on this album is from a 19 year old who's introduction to the genre came from Skrillex, Knife Party and Barely Alive in The Great Brostep Uprising of 2012. There is a massive divide between the old and new school sounds, discussions around which sometimes veer into snobbery.

This is not to put down modern Dubstep, every genre will inevitably evolve over time and this shift is directly responsible for the amplification of EDM for the casual music listener, whether you think that is good or bad, it was undeniably influential. Dubstep is far from commercial in recent years, the producers are creating simply out of love for the genre and scene which has led to innovative sound design and maddening rhythms. Some of my favourite modern artists are Sharks, Space Laces and Leotrix. There are plenty of artists today fitting the mould of old-school Dubstep and Garage: Eprom and G Jones for example, both of which take inspiration from D&B and Hardcore as well, even the new Skrillex record is a tasteful homage to the scene of UK bass music he was influenced by - we have come full circle.

The imagery and song titles on Untrue really speak for themselves - "In McDonalds", "Homeless", "Dog Shelter" and even the album cover signal to the listener a specific sense of normalcy and is based in the familiarities of the working man.

The intended listening environment for Untrue is for a slightly too long for comfort bus journey home in the dark, jacket hood up and headphones in, or waiting for your friend to meet you outside the corner shop, watching the raindrops be illuminated by the street lights.

The drums pattering away in "Ghost Hardware" are almost uncomfortably off-kilter, reminding me of "Gyroscope" off the album "Geogaddi" by Boards of Canada from one of the most terrifying albums I have listened to. Hypnotic vocal sampling of odd and very short sections remind me of XXYYXX's 2012 self titled debut of which Untrue was definitely an influence.

Upon researching this album, Burial said in in interview that he used the software Sound Forge to make the album. It is absolutely unreal to me that he managed to squeeze this work of art out of such a primitive and featureless software. Sound Forge is for audio editing, it doesn't feature any kind of sequencer or synthesizer. He produces sort of like an early Dub producer that used the analog mixing desk as an instrument. The fact that he had no grid to work with means the creation of this album was undoubtedly a painstaking process. But this means the drums have a unique swing to them. The reliance on waveforms over MIDI leads to some interesting sampling, pots and pans, rain ambience, vinyl noise, Metal Gear Solid soundtracks and SFX, synth demos and youtube covers.

Untrue is a prime example of how so much can be said with little words or even melodic content. The production itself sells the lonely, melancholic feeling. The emphasis on atmosphere and texture makes me wish for better intros and midsections in modern Dubstep.

All the "imperfections" of this album sell the experience, the click of the sub bass not stopping at the zero-crossing gives a similar effect as using vinyl noise. The title track "Untrue" is the highlight of this album for me, the powerful sub bass, the droning and creative sampling encompass everything I love about the album.

I remember reading a post on Twitter about trying to create an emotional mixdown and I didn't understand what they meant until I began listening to every choice this album makes, as an amateur music producer, I understand the perfectionist mentality so many producers have, endlessly obsessing over one thing that makes little difference until you zoom out to the big picture. My point being that EVERY production choice is intentional and essential to the emotion of the song which should not be understated in projects like these.

Can I hear more about Taro 👀? I find the idea of a self proclaimed demon king so interesting. Like did the Tars just go along with it??

oh i didnt think that deep of it tbh i jus had bunch of emm ideas but the idea was that he can control/manipulate coal tars, they dont rly seem like a creatures with many braincells if any anyway XDD Hes kin of astaroth and he just attracts them in all honesty i just wanted to make coal tar inspired OC but i was also thinking that mb he could be a "coal tar king" in the same way that amon from recent chapters is the sun king :3 like a lesser king whos under astaroth in this case his domain being specifically just coal tars, ofcourse astaroth would have more power over them but while hes not around Taro is the king yk 😎 something like that i guess? I also had other funy thought what if hes just a weird guy who could see demons as a kid and ate coal tars same way some kids eat bugs xD and he got coal tar powers from it kinda like demon eaters but yeaHH i dont got one consistent idea i mostly made him for the sake of design not lore im not very good at these stuff

Thank you to all those who participated in this challenge last week. Remember, there are no deadlines on any of my challenges, only the ones you set yourself. The aim is to inspire and that does not have a time limit :D

Week Five

Everything is pink and purple this week. Inspired by all the goodies I have purchased recently to add to my bead and macrame cord collection. I wanna use some!

If you would like to join in, have at it. Write, draw, paint, craft, scribble, whatever works :D

The Details

I will post a small palette of colours, on Sundays.

Take the colours, which will not be precise, because I’m too lazy to get out my Pantone swatches, and colour matching sucks across monitors and printers and yeah, it’s a graphic design nightmare. So take the approximate colours and do something with with them. Art, craft, traditional, digital, performance, big, small, using all the colours, one of the colours, a derivative of the colours, fanworks or not fanworks, whatever works. I know, getting the creative brain to produce anything is a pain in many body parts. And writers, if this floats your boat, grab it and let’s go sailing :D

Post it to your blog (or not, but I’d love to see it anyway) and tag with #nuttypalette (the whole challenge title is too long and it abbreviates to npc which while I love Ryan Reynolds, isn’t really what I’m looking for :D )

How I ended up doing this

Okay, I’m possibly nuts, actually, probably nuts, but I’ve been looking for a way to activate my art a bit more. I can draw, paint, whatever and I have a studio full of glorious equipment that is barely getting used.

I had thought to start a sketch book, but the problem with that is that not all my media can be supported in a sketch book and plus I am horribly hard to tie down into one thing (you may have noticed).

I was pondering away and it occurred to me that the one thing that links all my art and craft media is colour. This combined with the fact that I have a pile of beads lined up on my desk in colour combos waiting for me to action something with them. They are like mini palettes.So what if I come up with a small combination of colours every week and do whatever with those colours?

I know I’m not the first to have this brain wave, but it struck me as something I could do, so I’m doing it. Initially for the month of February and see what happens. It may fizzle into nothing due to being back at work :( but at the very least I’ll end up with a little bit of creative stuff done?

So I’m slapping it here, in case anyone would like to join in.

Have fun :D

Nutty

Mmm I definitely have Thoughts on site lore and Ancient lore. And I mean, for the most part I (as well as many people) use site lore more as Inspiration/Building Blocks for further lore building.

I've been meaning to get around to writing lore for my Clan and in general, so. I guess I'll just make some notes on the current Ancient Lore and what I think and where I'd go.

Deciding to put this under a read more since it's a lot more than I meant to write lmao

Gaolers - Part of this being because they were the first, and therefore had the most hype around their introduction, but so far lorewise Gaolers still have probably the most impactful story. Them being forgotten by modern society makes sense; withdrawn, a small population of creatures that never evolved into their softer modern counterparts. Which is another thing that makes Gaolers stand out; they're the only Ancient with an explicit connection as being ancestors of one of the Modern breeds. The whole This Thing Is You But Older, More Primal And Dangerous is just. Soooo good. Gaolers as a design have grown on me recently, so it definitely generates some ideas.

Banescales - BANESCALE LORE. BANESCALE LORE. My favorite of the bunch, but this is partially that I am someone who loooves music. The idea of Banescales having been a musical society, and now all that remains is the song that was left to their children as they protected their eggs... god it's just so beautiful to me. Plus the parallel to how Coatls ended up having a notably musical language... The idea of the Flamecaller mourning her first children and passing on their gift. The Coatls and Banes bonding over this similarity. I love them, I need more Banes.

Veilspuns - I'll be honest. I don't remember anything about the Veilspun lore. Legitimately. I love Veil's designs but their lore just Did Not Stick. I'll have to go reread it and probably rebuild it somehow lmaooo

Aberrations - Okay, I also kinda forgot this one, but they literally crawled out of the Wyrmwound, right?? Like, sort of had a "cast away by their god" type of thing? Failed experiment energy? Idk if that was actually what happened, but it's the take I'm going with.

Undertides - They felt betrayed by their god so turned their back on him, and then reintroduced themselves to modern society upon the Surge in the Elements. Cool! Interesting! I think this could be very cool to explore, especially with the modern members of Water Flight who have effectively been abandoned by Tidelord (as far as we know. Dad come back.) Also, strong ties with a specific sect of Maren! Neat! Not as potent of lore to me, maybe, but it's interesting and has potential. Execution was ehhg but I can work with the concepts.

Aethers - I love their lore yes its stupid yes its goofy and I adore them for it. If I go through with my lore crafting I'll keep all this because the other Ancients having cool and fucked up lore next to these dumbass sparkly floofs is hilarious to me.

Sandsurges - Okay I DID. Think the "pay" bit in the story was funny. But I do think a "cooler" take could have been done, with Sandsurges having a better reason to have been unknown to modern dragons aside from "They were underground all along" whsgsgs. I think you can combine the best of both world by saying they return upon seeing the exploitation of modern Lightning society, and the building of something Big and Dangerous, with allusions to this having been done in the past and having had consequences to Ancient Sandsurge society... AKA, they're here to teach the young'uns about unions.

Auraboas - Okay, so. The issues have been brought up several times, and most of us are aware at this point. I can see the angle they were going for, for a sci-fi-esque hivemind tyoe of situation. I also don't necessarily disagree with the decision to make it Nature. While Arcane might make more sense for sci-fi themeing, I think choosing a different Flight makes it a little less on the nose. In any case, I think the concepts are there, but were executed very poorly and with a decent dose of "ignorance and tone-deafness." I think the story specifically should have treated the elder Auraboas with more compassion for their fears for their children and difficulty in communicating with modern dragons. Way less infantilization, and more "person struggling with a language they barely know, reaching out to someone they never would have otherwise out of desperation." (By this I mean I think they could have written the difficulty in communicating far better than they did). The Loop is interesting as well, though very hard to grasp as a concept. This is partially on purpose, and partially because I kind if think staff purposefully left some things vague because they didn't actually want to try and figure out how the concept would work, lol (which I can't entirely blame them for, especially since with Site Lore sometimes less is more, allowing for multiple interpretations by users).

Another note: in both the recent Lightning and Nature ancient stories, they're both stated and/or heavily implied to have already been known about by certain dragons In The Know, so to speak. I have some mixed thoughts on either, and might incorporate them differently. Sandsurges as sort of secret workers was a little funny and backed up the Weird Shady Company Execs thing, but it could be interesting to make it a sort of, deliberately covered up because We Can't Have Them Teaching The New Hires How To Unionize!

As for Auraboas... Not really sure. I can see them being a culture that has been largely self-reliant for their existance, hence the lack of contact with modern dragons. But, given their connection to the Behemoth (and maybe a connection that could be elaborated on), maybe they've appeared or collaborated with moderns in the past over threats to the Behemoth. So, mutual knowledge, but no sustained contact since it was A) difficult and B) outside of curiosity, most on both sides saw little reason to establish further contact. A sort of living alongside one another but never really talking, like neighbors you see sometimes but don't talk to. It's only the disruption of the Loop in the younger generation that both kickstarts a greater Need to connect, but also a bridge for easier communication.

What The Hell Is Going On With Red Carpets?

So, the Golden Globes are on tonight. *Wendy Williams voice* Clap if you care.

That's what I thought.

Once upon a time, at least as recently as my childhood, even if you didn't see any of the films that were nominated at the Golden Globes or any of the shows nominated at the Emmys, or any of the plays nominated at the Tonys, you'd still tune in to the red carpet coverage to see rich people at their best: playing dress up in clothes none of us can afford.

But that time has clearly passed. 'Cause what the hell is this?

Now, I haven't watched The Bear, but does Ayo Edebiri play a dishwasher? What are those gloves?

Never mind the noticeable absence of neck adornment with many perfectly fine gowns that absolutely need jewelry, what is going on!? All the wrinkled gowns, poor (or no) tailoring, ugly poufs and peplums and some of the worst shoe choices I've ever seen in my life could all be excused if it weren't all such a bore.

Minds much smarter than I have speculated that there's truly nothing new left to be done. I don't believe it. What I do believe, however, is that celebrities are scared to do it. Scared to go too far, scared to really push the envelope for fear they'll be eviscerated on social media, and so they go for what's safe and...still get eviscerated on social media.

But why are they so afraid of us not liking their outfits? Who the hell are we? Back in the day, you had Joan Rivers to impress, you had tabloids at the cash register of every supermarket just itching to put you on the Worst Dressed List, and, usually, no stylist to create your vision and make it the best it could possibly be. How have we gone so far backwards in a world that accepts Crocs as a valid fashion choice?

My earliest fashion WOW moment was Celine Dion and her backwards Galliano tuxedo which, if you're well-versed in fashion lore, you know was a total flop at the time. But we look back on it now as one of the most daring, iconic looks of the 90s.

Now, I can admit that a lot has been done, so maybe there is a lot less left to do, but, it seems like nobody wants to even try to make a moment that no one has ever seen before, and I can't help but think about how if the celebs are too scared, regular people have to be terrified to try to push the envelope. I mean, not to constantly go back to the oversaturation of pre-packaged aesthetics that one only needs to add to cart to create an entirely new identity, but, it does appear that we, as a collective, are in a real dry spell when it comes to newness. Even those constant new aesthetics are just repackaging of old ideas. Has a fear of social media backlash permeated the masses? Are we all paralyzed at the idea of being a little "out there" lest some faceless TikTokUser30592058 say something mean?

Maybe. Or maybe I could be speaking too soon. Perhaps we'll look back on some the neck-less looks of today with fondness. I could certainly make a case for Jessica Chastain's dress being one of the best tonight if only she had gone the extra mile to actually style it.

But, I don't know. When I imagine the 2023 version of a 7-year-old Lakyn--the aspiring fashion designer she was--looking at the red carpet today, I just don't see that WOW moment. Does anyone feel inspired by this?

And where the F$%K are the necklaces!!??!

March 15th is what I call "the day Showdown Bandit was first announced".Trailer anniversary in other words. Good times bro. I remember that day like it was 4 years ago (oh my god). I thought for this occasion that only I think is special,I should post something about SB today. Because at some point or another I would have to. Unfortunately I don't have anything recent to post,so here's something I did a long time ago.

My designs for Carl Handler and Buddy Bublik (because apparently the text on the drawing doesn't give enough of a hint (look,this was done over a year ago, give me a break). Kind of crazy to think that,apart from their names,we never saw anything from them in Episode 1. The (in-universe) creators of Bandit,and not once did we get any info from these guys. Imagine BATIM but Joey is never mentioned once. 

What was their relationship? Why and how did they bring the puppets to life? What happened to them after the show ended? Which one is the puppeteer,and if one is the puppeteer, what happened to the other one? So many questions,and we will probably never have answers.

Not that it will stop me from making designs and headcanons for them,but,still..

 As I said,this drawing was already done a long time ago,so there are some details here and there that could have been improved (like the proportions) (and also there are maybe 1 or 2 details in these designs that I might change the next time I draw them again) but I still think it's a good drawing that still holds up. Not bad for something made more than a year ago.

Despite the fact that my pfp is the cowboy himself,I've only really talked about this game once. Maybe it's hard to be interested in talking about something that,well,is kind of dead these days. And let it remain clear,I'm still pretty sad about what happened to this project. Very sad.

For a while now I've kind of wanted to continue this "AU" I had at the time just... I don't know,for fun? I just think it would be interesting to do a story with these characters who didn't get time to shine thanks for certain people.

I wouldn't say this would be a case of "I stole these characters and the story is mine now" or "what would I do if I directed Showdown Bandit" (that second one is worse than the first one,ngl). But more a case of "I'm still sad and I still want to draw/write stuff with these characters from a game that was wronged". Basically I'm still going to treat this as an AU/fanfic based on a game that went nowhere.

But again,dead game,inspiration to do something related to it is low at the moment. So nothing related to this "AU" is coming out anytime soon.

But when the inspiration strikes? Then yeah, I think I can try to do something. It's only a matter of time.

Patch 1.11

First of all, thank you for all your continued support! Excuse this incidental blog post, but I want to address the state of the project at this moment. You might have noticed a lack of updates in the recent times. On one hand, I have always intended for this project to "end" at some point but, on the other, I was actually sitting on some changes I wanted to bring into the format. The reality of the situation is that, in recent months, I have switched jobs a few times, making it quite a chaotic time. It's all good now - I have found a studio making a kick-ass game that I am sure will compete with the best in the business. I am also working on my own RPG project on the side. All of this is to say, Base Set Remastered has taken a back seat during this time. That is, until now. If you've visited the Set List recently, you might have noticed that all the pictures are missing. This is because Discord has stopped allowing hosting images outside of their platform. This has forced me to re-upload all cards to a different host website and, given that it's quite a bit of work to fix the Set List, I have procrastinated of this task. This is because I also wanted to make a Patch at the same time. But enough self-deprecation - if you're reading this, I have done it, all the pictures are back on the site and these are the new patch notes.

Putting "Special" back in "Special Conditions"

One of the first changes I've implemented in this format, before the cards were even finalized, was to make a blanket rule - or more specifically, remove a rule from the original game - that all Effects on a Pokemon stay on it, even if it was retreated. That, to me, was sensible at the time - for starters, just from experience I knew that this rule was confusing to new players. If an Effect says a Pokemon cannot do something "this turn", it stands to reason this change sticks around for "this turn" and not just for as long as the Pokemon is Active. Additionally, I wanted to remove cases where double-Switching a Pokemon would just remove all effects and make it brand new. In reality, the latter case would never happen, as I made it impossible to double-Switch a Pokemon during a single turn - on purpose. As such, this rule doesn't really apply anymore. Additionally, it's somewhat inconsistent with the video games - in the games, it's the Special Conditions that stick around, while all effects, good or bad, wane from a Pokemon once it's switched. As such, the rule is changed - all Effects are cleansed from a Pokemon when it is switched UNLESS it's a Special Condition (that's not Confusion, of course).

Now that we're on the topic of Special Conditions, there are a few changes in that category as well.

Resident Sleeper

After many games of testing, I really felt like Sleep is in a weird place. In many ways it's just a "better Paralyze", that needs flips to go away. That said, it doesn't feel satisfying even for the attacking side, as Sleeping Pokemon tend to get immediately Benched until they wake up, which they usually do quite fast. Any attacks such as Nightmare have a low chance of succeeding, as nobody would stick a Sleeping Pokemon in the Active Spot. There had to be a better way. We had a few great discussions on our Discord (thank you!). Ultimately my thoughts wandered back to the video game for the inspiration. The video game sleep has one major difference from the TCG Sleep - the owner of the Sleeping Pokemon chooses an attack, then a check is performed if the attack went through. If it did - great, the attack goes through! If not, the Pokemon continues sleeping. Now, this was NOT the case in Generation 1, but since the theme of the format is to bring "modern design to the old game", that's a piece of official balancing that I'm happy to bring back. So, what's the rule exactly? Sleep is now a permanent effect - it doesn't go away on its own, and stays on the bench. The only way to get rid of it is to announce an attack (or pass the turn) when your Active Pokemon is asleep. After you do, you flip - just like you would during a Confusion. If you flip tails, the Pokemon stays asleep, and the attack does nothing. If you flip heads, the attack goes through and Sleep ends permanently. What does it mean? This Special Condition is now completely different and plays differently. For starters, it objectively has 50% chance of doing nothing. Your opponent might flip heads on the attack and render the effect useless. However, unlike in the official game, where you get that information immediately at the start of your turn, here you get it after you announce an attack. This completely flips the planning on its head - are you going to risk your attack to wake up your Pokemon, or are you going to retreat into a fresh attacker? If you do, the Sleep sticks around to annoy you another day. I believe the old Sleep and new Sleep have roughly equivalent power levels, meaning I won't change the costs of any attack that afflicts it. I am excited to see how this change will affect gameplay.

Toxic

In design you often spot mistakes that need to be fixes. Sometimes you can manage to do it on your own and, the better you are, the more likely it is you'll do so. Often, however, these mistakes will be pointed out by your coworkers. And when you work by yourself on a project, like I do here, it is very likely that some mistakes will be spotted by the players themselves. So was the case with Poison.

In my hubris I thought I came up with a cool way to manage Poison - each Poison Counter would deal 10 damage to a Pokemon. If a Pokemon would "become Poisoned", that would mean placing a Poison counter on them, if they don't have one yet. Certain cards, most notably Nidoking, expanded on that idea and allowed the player to place more Poison counters on a Pokemon. This is where trouble started brewing. Look at this Nidoking card below.

What does a "second Poison counter" mean on this card? It's easy enough to understand when that Pokemon is not Poisoned, but what if it already is Poisoned? Also, why does the last sentence specify the effect of the Poison counters? If that Pokemon had, say, four Poison counters on it, would the last sentence change how the damage behaves? It is just an extremely confusing wording for this effect. Now, take into account Ekans as well:

Ekans allows you to move a Poison counter. This is less confusing after I explained the Poison mechanic, but the point stands - such advanced effect shouldn't exist on a Basic Pokemon, allowing you to stack Poison counters for massive damage.

As such, here is the full explanation of the Poison mechanic: A Pokemon is "Poisoned" when it has at least 1 Poison Counter on itself. Each Poison Counter denotes 1 damage counter the Pokemon takes at the end of its owner's turn, if that Pokemon is in the Active Spot. When a Pokemon is "now Poisoned", a single Poison Counter is placed on it unless that Pokemon is already Poisoned, in which case nothing happens. When a Pokemon is "no longer Poisoned", all Poison Counters are removed from that Pokemon. Effects might place or move Poison Counters.

As for the changes, Nidoking receives a new wording. Ekans, on the other hand, receives a pretty standard "apply Poison" attack - I always felt like the "Jessie & James" deck was lacking a good, early-game Poison applier.

Stand Up Applause

Finally, a small change that's all about fanservice. I have learned that, apparently, many people consider Wigglytuff's "Do the Wave" attack to be iconic. I have moved this attack to Gyarados to better suit the Water type but, in all fairness, it's also true that Normal-type has access to all effects. As such, I have gave back this attack to Wigglytuff and replaced the frankly overdesigned alternative.

Facts About ChatGPT You May or May Not Know

Every IT company in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, and the rest of the country are talking about the recent AI sensation – ChatGPT. And as a leading custom software development company in Delhi ourselves, we wanted to get chatty about this OpenAI too and are here to discuss a few amazing facts about ChatGPT that you may or not know.

As you are well aware by now, ChatGPT (GPT stands for Generative Pre-trained Transformer) is an AI-based language processor created by San Francisco’s Open AI. Its distinctive feature is that it can have a proper conversation with a person and generate easy-to-understand answers on a wide range of topics and questions based on previous conversations.

ChatGPT is very strong, and while it has plenty of drawbacks, it has some unique features and characteristics that make it worth a try. Let us see the top interesting facts about our sensational celebrity, ChatGPT.

Interesting Facts About ChatGPT You May (or Not) Know

ChatGPT is the only successful public chatbot in the past decade. And the reason is that it is bold, easily available, and fun. Google, Meta, and several other startups and big names have developed AI generative tools, some as capable as ChatGPT, but none was made for public use.

Meta had a chatbot called Blenderbot even before ChatGPT was released. But it was so cautious with its reply that users found it dull.

It can understand responses in many languages, such as English, Spanish, German, Tamil, Telegu (saw Naatu Naatu), French, Sinhalese, Hebrew, Hindi, Bengali, Korean, Japanese, Portuguese, and many more. However, we cannot tell the exact number of languages as it depends upon the dialect and variations. Its language understanding ability is also based on factors like the quality and quantity of the training data.

ChatGPT is much like TARS and CASE, the robots from the movie Interstellar. Meaning it is friendly and witty. Most Chatbots in the past, including GPT-3, when did not understand a prompt or question, generated unrelated facts or became too robotic.

So, the users had to alter their cues, or the bot rephrased the question. However, ChatGPT can conversationally ask you if it does not understand your question rather than rephrasing the query like how Google browser does, just like how a friendly robot would.

As the best software development company in Delhi NCR, our content creators also use the tool for content inspiration. However, they modify the output to add a human touch and personalize it based on our customers.

ChatGPT was created by OpenAI, an International AI Research Institute. OpenAI was founded by Elon Musk. When Elon Musk learned that OpenAI was training ChatGPT with Twitter’s database, he immediately stopped this exercise.

However, ChatGPT was also trained from other diverse resources, such as news articles, scientific journals, books, social media posts, etc., to understand human language and generate human-like responses.

DALL-E, also created by Open AI, is an AI tool that can generate images from any natural language text prompt using computer vision techniques and AI. It is a powerful tool that can be used for a wide range of applications, such as graphic design, art, visual storytelling, and so on. Interestingly, its name is derived from the surrealist artist Salvador Dali and the famous animation character WALL-E.

When asked about ChatGPT’s goal, its response was: “My main goal is to assist and enhance human communication and learning, and I am constantly being improved to better serve this purpose.”

The tool can also write song lyrics and poems using natural language generation techniques in a variety of styles and genres. However, since it does not experience emotions like humans or have any personal experience, the output may not be meaningful and emotionally impactful.

Since ChatGPT is created by humans and made of people, it contains human biases, conclusions, and errors.

ChatGPT does not have live data. It is an offline model data available till 2021. And therefore, content creators or researchers of top software companies in Delhi must cross-check facts and trends before taking inspiration from ChatGPT’s outputs. For instance, when we asked ChatGPT about Naatu Naatu and The Elephant Whisperers’ Oscar awards, it responded, stating that the year 2023 hasn’t arrived for it yet.

ChatGPT is by far the best/ generative AI-based technology we have seen in the last decade.

It is amazing but also quite frightening to learn from top software companies in Delhi that ChatGPT can do any task for you, which raises a concern about whether it will replace programmers, content creators, and researchers.

While ChatGPT is getting everyone’s attention, particularly the custom software development company in delhi, the reality is that it is already two years behind. And the tool is still in its early development stage. However, it is remarkable how this Generative AI program has changed our work as digital creators.

What do you do with ChatGPT as an IT company in Delhi? Let us know in the comments below.

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Creative Journey (Re)Begins - Part 1

(Pencil drawing of John Dittrich from Restless Heart I drew in highschool from a cd case image.)

Tl/dr: I'm finally restarting my artistic journey after close to 15 stalled years. The rest of the images are in part 2.

When I was younger I used to spend most of my free time drawing. It was an escape, but it was also something I loved. Over the years I was taught some negative things about my artistic interests and future, and burned out from lack of support and being surrounded by self-centered peers in my university's art program.

As an adult, I've done very little art projects, and very little on a creative spectrum for that matter. My sole outlet was my Trek-based world my creative writing group wrote. We've been at that for fifteen years!

I moved states about five years ago, and became the "book gifting aunt" to my niche and nephew from where we moved from. My nephew is a huge fan of superheroes, so I decided to live the childhood I never had through him, and then his sister, and gift comics as some the bulk of the reading material, and get some myself (to test the age range, and to start my own collection and read along with them). Ironically, it was easier to find for my niche than for my nephew. But that hasn't stopped me!

Last year a lot of negative (and positive) things happened, and I had to quit my job that I was finally being allowed to at least do things related to what I went to school for (web/graphic design), because I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep at the pace I was going, nor even guarantee meeting deadlines with my grandmother having been moved in (it was always the plan, just...sooner than anticipated, and among other stressors tied to the work). I was introduced to Batman: Wayne Family Adventures (Webtoon Originals comic by Starbite) upon it's release around the same time. I love everything about it!

This past May/June I was searching for their summer birthday gifts, and Amazon suggested a comic called Space Boy by Stephen McCrainie. The omnibus I had found mentioned it was a collection of some number of episodes from Webtoon. I thought that was very fortuitous, and I could go check it out and see what I think. I wound up purchasing the two omnibus books already out, and pre-ordering the third the same day, and read all 300+ episodes on the platform that night thanks to some insomnia. I also sent him an email expressing my affection for the comic, (I never message artists of any kind...and never has anyone replied, but he did! He was very sweet.)

Love. Space. Boy.

Because of subscribing to Space Boy, Webtoon finally managed to figure out that I wasn't interested in manga-style art, (I am, just...wasn't interested in what it was suggesting, and wished there were more varied art options available, but didn't take the time to look). Through it, I found many other wonderful comics by fabulous creators. My first two others being TENACITY by Paige Critchlow, and Sugar & Spies by Paige Keeper.

Through TENACITY I found a group of fabulously supportive, inspiring and awesome creatives, especially Paige! They have been the final kick in the pants to get back into my arts and just do. Two nights ago Lexi and one of her Twitch followers convinced me to finally put up my old works, and what I've done recently, no matter what it is. So...here it starts!

To part two....

subcultures were developed mostly in physical spaces, in tandem with music scenes, documented digitally but through heavy experimentation over many years, which is why punk, grunge, goth, and rave aesthetics have musical genre counterparts. the decline in places for the youth to just hang out and the ease of finding online spaces to be as opposed to physical ones has led to more eclecticism, and the speed of trend cycles is too fast for any subcultures to truly develop. here it’s my tips to shop smart and develop a personal style (it’s all about being intentional and respecting fashion as a craft and an art form i think)

- buy things in person as much as possible. textures and materials are very important. you don’t want to be itchy, not have enough stretch, or have something be too flimsy.

- know your measurements and always check a size chart if shopping online. compare flat measurements to your own clothes.

- increase your vocabulary when it comes to clothes and construction: inseam, hem, ruching, pleated, french seam, etc…

- go to clothing swaps, yard sales, flea markets, and antique faires + builds community

- know your interpersonal needs when shopping. some people do better going with friends so they can get second opinions, and others like to shop alone so they can go at their own pace.

- if you collect images that inspire you on a site like pinterest, tumblr, are.na, or instagram, go through your collections regularly to find commonalities between the things you are drawn to, and use them to keep a list of things you're looking for

- experiment with different outfits in your free time. try layering in new ways and even take them on test runs to the grocery store or small errands before you commit to them on proper outings

- magazine clipping collage nights with friends, learn about what your friends like. sometimes you will realize you have a garment in the back of your closet that is exactly what your friend has been wanting

- take pictures of each other. invest in a little thumb drive and keep all your outfit pictures in one place (take photos with the camera at solar plexus level from a distance, slightly zoomed in)

- learn to mend your clothes, you will be able to take a chance on those pieces with minor damage and add to the lifespan of pieces you already have

- stop expecting new clothes to be cheap. historically, clothing has been one of the most expensive things a person owns, and it wasn’t until recently that people had so many options for what to wear, which isn’t bad on its own, but the ethical and environmental ramifications of this level of production uses rapid trend cycles and your human need for something fun and new to justify itself. if you are buying from an independent designer, remember that the price reflects not only the materials but the labor of designing and then constructing the garment.

- be mindful of overbuying, especially in larger sizes. i love the oversized fit as much as the next person, but if all of your finds are from the XL section and its starting to look a little dry on the rack, consider the limited availability of cute clothes that fit larger people. if you are not absolutely in love with it, maybe put it back in case someone with fewer options than you could love it more