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And it wasn't *as* crappy as I anticipated. Sure, it was kind of an overglorified dealer's room, but I was pleasantly surprised by the artist alley-type booths as well as indie exhibitors. Still, there wasn't really that much incentive to stay after seeing everything there was to offer. Which is kind of a shame, because I think the people organizing these small local cons would really benefit from adding things like panels and meet-ups so people can stay at the event longer.
In terms of artist alley stuff, I spent most of my money on Chubcats' stuff. I was originally going to make off with just the Jotaro, Miku, and Rin pins, but I decided "Screw it, I'm gonna get a Mystery Box and see what's inside when I get home". And sure enough, I was indeed pleasantly surprised. Especially with the Kero sticker sheet. Definitely gonna keep an eye on their social pages and see where else they exhibit, just in case I get any ideas on cons to visit in the future.
In terms of artist alley stuff, I spent most of my money on Chubcats' stuff. I was originally going to make off with just the Jotaro, Miku, and Rin pins, but I decided "Screw it, I'm gonna get a Mystery Box and see what's inside when I get home". And sure enough, I was indeed pleasantly surprised. Especially with the Kero sticker sheet. Definitely gonna keep an eye on their social pages and see where else they exhibit, just in case I get any ideas on cons to visit in the future.
CitrusCon CitrusCon CITRUSCONNNNNN
Aug. 28th, 2023 07:39 pmSo over the weekend, I 'attended' an online BL convention called CitrusCon, and let me fucking tell you: IT WAS AMAZING. HOLY SHIT. The artists, the panels, the convos I made... all of it was GREAT. And now I get to tell you fucks about it.
So first things first, I managed to strike up some conversations with other people about JJBA. It started with me and one other person talking about La Squadra ships, but other people started jumping on the train and getting into ships from other parts. It was overall very fun and cozy, and now I gotta read through the backlogs and follow some of the people I was talking to because I foolishly didn't do that at the time. Because...
I was busy AF ordering some sweet, sweet Artist Alley merch. My credit card was working overtime. I spent AT LEAST $100 total. And that's a splurge by my cheap-ass standards. But the artists I supported have great stuff. Special shout-out to The Scum Bucket, whose Uke!Squidward zipper suit sticker was too fucking hilarious to pass up, as well as Tokki Darling, who FINALLY gave me an opportunity to purchase merch for my beloved Phantom Blood rarepair, Zeppwagon. (as two separate enamel pins, but they'll arrive together, so I consider it ship merch.)
Even specialer shoutout goes to DigitalPopsicle, who was running a special commission detail of any character you wanted lounging in a citrus-themed cocktail glass for $15. He did this lovely semi-chibified Venom Snake in a lemon glass, who now graces my AO3 and Aethy icons. (Side note: I initially assumed only the fruit would be considered in the citrus theming, which resulted in... an unexpected surprise when I saw the liquid was also part of the color scheme. But it fits with Kojima's vision, so I'll take it.)
As for the panels, I started off attending one which discussed people's reasonings behind liking villainous characters in BL/adjacent media, which I found quite interesting. It will likely be on YouTube later in September, so if anyone is interested, I will send the link. But the level of depth that the survey discussed in the panel went into was something else, covering topics related to neurodivergency, active vs. passive fandom participation, stances on fandom discourse, and even an unexpected correlation between liking villainous characters and being less emotionally invested in characters and plotlines as a whole. (Which made more sense once this point was elaborated on, but I wasn't expecting it at first.)
The rest of the panels I sat in upon were mostly party games like Scattergories and a caption-picture matching game. But the most enjoyable game of the con was a BL-themed Cards Against Humanity sesh, which I got to participate in. My best combination had to be (I forget the exact wording) "Check out this fic that's been trending on AO3: a crossover featuring Stalin x Count Chocula!", but it didn't win the round it was played in. I did manage to get one point with a combo suggesting Fox News had more impact than Gravitation, but I didn't really put as much thought into that combo as I did with the Stalin x Count Chocula one. Ah well. It was still tons of fun.
Sunday was a lot less busy because my computer would NOT let me join panels for whatever reason. But I was able to keep chatting with people, as well as find several new Discord servers to hang out in. Special mention to the Nu:Carnival server I joined which has a TON of gold art and fic, as well as a slew of events that I plan on doing something for in the future. (And you'll see it here, of course!)
So that was my weekend. Overall, great experience, and I would totally do it again. (They are offering one next year, which runs for 3 days instead of 2. Hopefully I'll be able to throw myself out there with a bit more oomph next time!)
So first things first, I managed to strike up some conversations with other people about JJBA. It started with me and one other person talking about La Squadra ships, but other people started jumping on the train and getting into ships from other parts. It was overall very fun and cozy, and now I gotta read through the backlogs and follow some of the people I was talking to because I foolishly didn't do that at the time. Because...
I was busy AF ordering some sweet, sweet Artist Alley merch. My credit card was working overtime. I spent AT LEAST $100 total. And that's a splurge by my cheap-ass standards. But the artists I supported have great stuff. Special shout-out to The Scum Bucket, whose Uke!Squidward zipper suit sticker was too fucking hilarious to pass up, as well as Tokki Darling, who FINALLY gave me an opportunity to purchase merch for my beloved Phantom Blood rarepair, Zeppwagon. (as two separate enamel pins, but they'll arrive together, so I consider it ship merch.)
Even specialer shoutout goes to DigitalPopsicle, who was running a special commission detail of any character you wanted lounging in a citrus-themed cocktail glass for $15. He did this lovely semi-chibified Venom Snake in a lemon glass, who now graces my AO3 and Aethy icons. (Side note: I initially assumed only the fruit would be considered in the citrus theming, which resulted in... an unexpected surprise when I saw the liquid was also part of the color scheme. But it fits with Kojima's vision, so I'll take it.)
As for the panels, I started off attending one which discussed people's reasonings behind liking villainous characters in BL/adjacent media, which I found quite interesting. It will likely be on YouTube later in September, so if anyone is interested, I will send the link. But the level of depth that the survey discussed in the panel went into was something else, covering topics related to neurodivergency, active vs. passive fandom participation, stances on fandom discourse, and even an unexpected correlation between liking villainous characters and being less emotionally invested in characters and plotlines as a whole. (Which made more sense once this point was elaborated on, but I wasn't expecting it at first.)
The rest of the panels I sat in upon were mostly party games like Scattergories and a caption-picture matching game. But the most enjoyable game of the con was a BL-themed Cards Against Humanity sesh, which I got to participate in. My best combination had to be (I forget the exact wording) "Check out this fic that's been trending on AO3: a crossover featuring Stalin x Count Chocula!", but it didn't win the round it was played in. I did manage to get one point with a combo suggesting Fox News had more impact than Gravitation, but I didn't really put as much thought into that combo as I did with the Stalin x Count Chocula one. Ah well. It was still tons of fun.
Sunday was a lot less busy because my computer would NOT let me join panels for whatever reason. But I was able to keep chatting with people, as well as find several new Discord servers to hang out in. Special mention to the Nu:Carnival server I joined which has a TON of gold art and fic, as well as a slew of events that I plan on doing something for in the future. (And you'll see it here, of course!)
So that was my weekend. Overall, great experience, and I would totally do it again. (They are offering one next year, which runs for 3 days instead of 2. Hopefully I'll be able to throw myself out there with a bit more oomph next time!)
LP/Review: nosedive Day 2
Jul. 30th, 2023 01:38 pm(haha, title rhymes...)
So after 2 1/2 months worth of executive dysfunction keeping me from uploading this video in a timely manner, I finally have it up! And along with it, I have a review of the second episode? chapter? whatever of nosedive, the JJBA fan-VN that rhoda_pomelo and winkblue have put out. Audio is still shit, but I finally got ahold of a ref for improving low-quality mic audio, so maybe I'll put that into consideration for the next installment.
In terms of story elements, I love how we're starting to see a bit of tension and jealousy concerning Bruno. It hasn't gotten to the point where anything major occurs between anyone, but it's definitely stirring up the plot, and I can't wait to see where it goes next. Also love the new additions to the cast. Their interactions with each other and the MC's are amazing. I don't know if we'll see much of them again, but I definitely appreciated their presence in this chapter. However, I feel like the overall flow of the game was a lot slower, which took me out of it a little. It does make sense considering the context of the story, and I don't outright dislike it, but it does drag a bit compared to the past installment.
Gameplay-wise, this chapter plays a bit more like a kinetic novel compared to Day 1, except for the one interactive sequence where you investigate the camera footage. I was expecting a little more at first glance, but I suppose the devs are saving it for when things get shaken up later on in the story.
As always, art style and writing are top-notch, and I love how there's a little animation incorporated into the last bit of Day 2 in the dream sequence.
That's all I have to say for the time being. Links to the game page/devs' homepages are in the YT description. Can't wait to see what they put out next!
So after 2 1/2 months worth of executive dysfunction keeping me from uploading this video in a timely manner, I finally have it up! And along with it, I have a review of the second episode? chapter? whatever of nosedive, the JJBA fan-VN that rhoda_pomelo and winkblue have put out. Audio is still shit, but I finally got ahold of a ref for improving low-quality mic audio, so maybe I'll put that into consideration for the next installment.
In terms of story elements, I love how we're starting to see a bit of tension and jealousy concerning Bruno. It hasn't gotten to the point where anything major occurs between anyone, but it's definitely stirring up the plot, and I can't wait to see where it goes next. Also love the new additions to the cast. Their interactions with each other and the MC's are amazing. I don't know if we'll see much of them again, but I definitely appreciated their presence in this chapter. However, I feel like the overall flow of the game was a lot slower, which took me out of it a little. It does make sense considering the context of the story, and I don't outright dislike it, but it does drag a bit compared to the past installment.
Gameplay-wise, this chapter plays a bit more like a kinetic novel compared to Day 1, except for the one interactive sequence where you investigate the camera footage. I was expecting a little more at first glance, but I suppose the devs are saving it for when things get shaken up later on in the story.
As always, art style and writing are top-notch, and I love how there's a little animation incorporated into the last bit of Day 2 in the dream sequence.
That's all I have to say for the time being. Links to the game page/devs' homepages are in the YT description. Can't wait to see what they put out next!
Fanfic: Black Stars and Diamonds
May. 7th, 2023 09:48 amAfter an almost-11-month drought of not posting any fics, I am pleased to announce I am BACK in the writing game! This fic was written for the 2023 JotaJosu Big Bang, which is not only my first big bang, but also the first time I've been asked to write over 10K words. So this means that this is my longest fic to date, surpassing the numerous scrapped attempts at writing multi-chapter fics back in my FFnet days. Special thanks to everyone involved in making this event happen, with special shout-outs to Theskee, hedonismvibes, and crybabytouya on AO3 for organizing it, TheWolfHybrid on AO3 for beta-reading Chapter 3, and Patient_record on Twitter for drawing the accompanying artwork for Chapter 1. Anyway, without further ado, here's the fic (under the cut)!
Word count: 13 681
Rating: T
CWs: major JJBA Pt6 spoilers, shipcest, angst, character death, existentialism, drug usage
Black Stars and Diamonds
( Read more... )
Word count: 13 681
Rating: T
CWs: major JJBA Pt6 spoilers, shipcest, angst, character death, existentialism, drug usage
Black Stars and Diamonds
( Read more... )
So today marks the last day of me being 23 (at least until 8:20 pm tomorrow). Yay. Suppose I should kinda post an update on how my personal/creative endeavors are going.
First and foremost, come Friday I will be embarking on my first multi-day leisure trip. I'm not going very far from home, and it's likely only gonna be for the weekend (assuming my work doesn't give me time off for next Monday, which from the looks of things they probably won't). But I'm pretty proud of myself for summoning the gumption to fill out a time-off request form and hand it in. My original plan was to not try requesting time off, but the more I think about that, the more I think I was just being a scaredy-cat. Eventually, I came to the conclusion "What's the worst that could happen, they're gonna hand it back to me with a 'Request denied' type thing?" and filled it out and handed it in with the right timing, so aside from staff number issues, I don't see any reason why they wouldn't let me off for one Monday. Either way, I'm still looking forward to my trip. May or may not post about it when I come back, IDK.
Next, I made the half-impulse decision to sign up for a big bang. At first I lowkey regretted my decision because I didn't know if I could pull of 12K words in 2 months. But a) the bang hasn't started yet, so I still have time to get shit done; b) one of the drafts I had lingering for a while is perfect for the event, so I'm just gonna repurpose and expand on that; and c) the server for the bang is full of super-supportive people, and they're gonna have semi-weekly writing seshes for everyone on the writing end of the bang (which is obvs what I'm doing). So with a little extra exec-function boosting juice (aka. coffee or tea, whichever's more convenient at the time), I should hopefully get through it scot-free. You will see my finished fic on here, of course, but the end of the bang's still a while off, so just hold on.
In terms of other creative endeavors, I am currently on my fifth? sixth? i don't know anymore... attempt at knitting a Sticky Fingers (JoJo) amigurumi to complement the Moody Blues one I made last year. Yet for some reason, I cannot get used to knitting it in a way that doesn't result in a bunch of gaps from loose stitches showing up in my work. I don't know if it's because I'm using joined needles as opposed to actual DPN's, or if it's because my yarn is being a dick. But hey, at least the unsuccessful attempts will make for good stuffing.
I also have more plans to go to cons! I know for sure I'm going to another online con this summer. I went to one last summer and it was pretty fun, and the one I have my eyes on is run by one of the people who ran a panel there, so hopefully that should indicate good quality for this one. I may or may not also try to go to an IRL local one, although apparently the ones in my area are a) essentially over-glorified dealer's rooms, and b) run by shitty people (at least, one of them is). So the jury's still out on whether or not I go to that one, although a bitch needs some IRL nerd interaction, so I might go anyway just to see if I can potentially make friends. But as stated earlier, I'm still going to the online one. Might post more details as that one looms closer, so people know where to find me then.
Finally, I'm hoping to get a tattoo over the summer. I've narrowed down the design (a black cat), the location (my calf), and the artist (one of two really good local traditional artists in my area -- whichever one I pick will depend on whose books open first). All that's left is to wait for a book opening, and then a good date and timeslot that won't interfere with anything else on my agenda.
So that's all for now with regards to my 24-year-old goals. Will I attain them? Only time will tell, but I should be able to. See y'all on the flip side.
First and foremost, come Friday I will be embarking on my first multi-day leisure trip. I'm not going very far from home, and it's likely only gonna be for the weekend (assuming my work doesn't give me time off for next Monday, which from the looks of things they probably won't). But I'm pretty proud of myself for summoning the gumption to fill out a time-off request form and hand it in. My original plan was to not try requesting time off, but the more I think about that, the more I think I was just being a scaredy-cat. Eventually, I came to the conclusion "What's the worst that could happen, they're gonna hand it back to me with a 'Request denied' type thing?" and filled it out and handed it in with the right timing, so aside from staff number issues, I don't see any reason why they wouldn't let me off for one Monday. Either way, I'm still looking forward to my trip. May or may not post about it when I come back, IDK.
Next, I made the half-impulse decision to sign up for a big bang. At first I lowkey regretted my decision because I didn't know if I could pull of 12K words in 2 months. But a) the bang hasn't started yet, so I still have time to get shit done; b) one of the drafts I had lingering for a while is perfect for the event, so I'm just gonna repurpose and expand on that; and c) the server for the bang is full of super-supportive people, and they're gonna have semi-weekly writing seshes for everyone on the writing end of the bang (which is obvs what I'm doing). So with a little extra exec-function boosting juice (aka. coffee or tea, whichever's more convenient at the time), I should hopefully get through it scot-free. You will see my finished fic on here, of course, but the end of the bang's still a while off, so just hold on.
In terms of other creative endeavors, I am currently on my fifth? sixth? i don't know anymore... attempt at knitting a Sticky Fingers (JoJo) amigurumi to complement the Moody Blues one I made last year. Yet for some reason, I cannot get used to knitting it in a way that doesn't result in a bunch of gaps from loose stitches showing up in my work. I don't know if it's because I'm using joined needles as opposed to actual DPN's, or if it's because my yarn is being a dick. But hey, at least the unsuccessful attempts will make for good stuffing.
I also have more plans to go to cons! I know for sure I'm going to another online con this summer. I went to one last summer and it was pretty fun, and the one I have my eyes on is run by one of the people who ran a panel there, so hopefully that should indicate good quality for this one. I may or may not also try to go to an IRL local one, although apparently the ones in my area are a) essentially over-glorified dealer's rooms, and b) run by shitty people (at least, one of them is). So the jury's still out on whether or not I go to that one, although a bitch needs some IRL nerd interaction, so I might go anyway just to see if I can potentially make friends. But as stated earlier, I'm still going to the online one. Might post more details as that one looms closer, so people know where to find me then.
Finally, I'm hoping to get a tattoo over the summer. I've narrowed down the design (a black cat), the location (my calf), and the artist (one of two really good local traditional artists in my area -- whichever one I pick will depend on whose books open first). All that's left is to wait for a book opening, and then a good date and timeslot that won't interfere with anything else on my agenda.
So that's all for now with regards to my 24-year-old goals. Will I attain them? Only time will tell, but I should be able to. See y'all on the flip side.
Happy New Yonks
Dec. 31st, 2022 05:26 pmSo 2022's finally coming to an end, and I figure I may as well do a little highlight reel-type writeup of everything that's happened to me, both good and bad, as well as what I wanna do in the new year. Starting with the big milestones:
- I am now a full time worker! I was working at the same place part time starting 2021, but one of the full time people quit because of recurring injuries earlier this year. So now I've taken up her position, and now work an actual 40-hour Monday to Friday schedule. It eats up a LOT of time, but it also pays decently for my current living situation. So I'm satisfied with it for now.
- Next, I got my G2 driver's license! This means I can drive without having someone else in the passenger seat, and it also means I can drive practically anywhere. (However, I ain't touching the highways until spring hits. Not risking getting myself into a spinout with a fuckton of cars coming at me at over 100 km/h). Next year (or probably a little into the year after, lbr) I'm gonna try for my full G, and then I'm gonna be fully licensed! Fuck yes~
Now for some smaller accomplishments:
- I got back into UTAU. Still only using jinriki for the time being, but I am interested in using legit UTAU once I get the handle of CV voicebanks. (Yes, I know CV voicebanks exist for non-jinriki UTAU but idc.) I only put out two covers this year, but I do have another one in the works that'll hopefully be ready for release in a week if my executive dysfunction stays at bay.
- I attended FujoCon this summer. Of course, it was online, so "attended" is kind of a stretch bc I didn't have to leave my house whatsoever. But I did manage to put together a cosplay, participate in some of the games and panels they put on, and even get involved in a new fandom! (It's Nu: Carnival, if anyone's curious.) It was fun, and I'd definitely attend it or other online conventions again in the future.
- I've also started gaming more. There was a pretty big stretch last year where I didn't really play any video games because my clunky old Windows 7 laptop shat the bed when trying to run an RPG Maker MV game. But after testing out some of the Wolf RPG and RPG Maker VX Ace games I have on it, I found out that I can still play them OK. Plus, I got invested in two mobile games: the aforementioned Nu: Carnival, as well as Mega Man X Dive (although I haven't touched that one in over two months). Work and executive dysfunction have sorta killed my motivation for gaming recently, but hopefully I can muster up enough energy to have regular game seshes in the new year.
This year wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, though. I got COVID in May, which sucked big-time. Especially because my sister was visiting the same week I got it. I'm glad I was able to have my family help out wherever they could (from a safe distance, of course), but I still ended up going a bit stir crazy at the end of my isolation period. And the fact that I had to put off a night on the town with my sis until months later stung pretty bad, too. But I got through COVID relatively OK, and I'm fully vaxxed + up to date with my boosters, and I'm still quite careful wrt. masking and distancing, so hopefully I won't get it again. Emphasis on "hopefully".
Now as we pivot into 2023, here are some of my goals for the new year:
- Create more. I didn't put out nearly as much fic as I did in 2021, so I deffo have to start doing that. I do have several WIPs in the work, so hopefully I can haul them out of limbo and finish them. I also have a SHITTON of plot bunnies I want to expand on, so there's that as well. Plus, I signed up for a big bang, so that'll definitely motivate me to write more. And in terms of non-fic works, I got a tablet for Christmas that I've been trying out MediBang on, so hopefully that'll motivate me to do more drawing. And of course, I have a ton of UTAU ideas, including a few JJBA jinriki VBs.
- Get back into working out. I was working out at least every other day for the first half of last year, and I enjoyed it. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find the time to work out after getting my full-time job, so I'm gonna have to properly set a time that I can work out after that. Maybe I won't go right for the same intensity I was at last year, but even if I can get myself working out 1-3 times a week, I'll be satisfied.
- Get a better schedule for my nights after work. I have at least 6 hours after work every weekday before I go to bed, so hopefully I can budget that time into my creative work, workout time, and other stuff I didn't go into here. Unfortunately, executive dysfunction can be a pretty harsh mistress, so I don't know how much of a schedule I'll be able to keep up. But even if I reach all these other goals without this one specifically, I'll be happy.
So yeah, that's my 2023 plans in a nutshell. Hope it's gonna be a good one!
- I am now a full time worker! I was working at the same place part time starting 2021, but one of the full time people quit because of recurring injuries earlier this year. So now I've taken up her position, and now work an actual 40-hour Monday to Friday schedule. It eats up a LOT of time, but it also pays decently for my current living situation. So I'm satisfied with it for now.
- Next, I got my G2 driver's license! This means I can drive without having someone else in the passenger seat, and it also means I can drive practically anywhere. (However, I ain't touching the highways until spring hits. Not risking getting myself into a spinout with a fuckton of cars coming at me at over 100 km/h). Next year (or probably a little into the year after, lbr) I'm gonna try for my full G, and then I'm gonna be fully licensed! Fuck yes~
Now for some smaller accomplishments:
- I got back into UTAU. Still only using jinriki for the time being, but I am interested in using legit UTAU once I get the handle of CV voicebanks. (Yes, I know CV voicebanks exist for non-jinriki UTAU but idc.) I only put out two covers this year, but I do have another one in the works that'll hopefully be ready for release in a week if my executive dysfunction stays at bay.
- I attended FujoCon this summer. Of course, it was online, so "attended" is kind of a stretch bc I didn't have to leave my house whatsoever. But I did manage to put together a cosplay, participate in some of the games and panels they put on, and even get involved in a new fandom! (It's Nu: Carnival, if anyone's curious.) It was fun, and I'd definitely attend it or other online conventions again in the future.
- I've also started gaming more. There was a pretty big stretch last year where I didn't really play any video games because my clunky old Windows 7 laptop shat the bed when trying to run an RPG Maker MV game. But after testing out some of the Wolf RPG and RPG Maker VX Ace games I have on it, I found out that I can still play them OK. Plus, I got invested in two mobile games: the aforementioned Nu: Carnival, as well as Mega Man X Dive (although I haven't touched that one in over two months). Work and executive dysfunction have sorta killed my motivation for gaming recently, but hopefully I can muster up enough energy to have regular game seshes in the new year.
This year wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, though. I got COVID in May, which sucked big-time. Especially because my sister was visiting the same week I got it. I'm glad I was able to have my family help out wherever they could (from a safe distance, of course), but I still ended up going a bit stir crazy at the end of my isolation period. And the fact that I had to put off a night on the town with my sis until months later stung pretty bad, too. But I got through COVID relatively OK, and I'm fully vaxxed + up to date with my boosters, and I'm still quite careful wrt. masking and distancing, so hopefully I won't get it again. Emphasis on "hopefully".
Now as we pivot into 2023, here are some of my goals for the new year:
- Create more. I didn't put out nearly as much fic as I did in 2021, so I deffo have to start doing that. I do have several WIPs in the work, so hopefully I can haul them out of limbo and finish them. I also have a SHITTON of plot bunnies I want to expand on, so there's that as well. Plus, I signed up for a big bang, so that'll definitely motivate me to write more. And in terms of non-fic works, I got a tablet for Christmas that I've been trying out MediBang on, so hopefully that'll motivate me to do more drawing. And of course, I have a ton of UTAU ideas, including a few JJBA jinriki VBs.
- Get back into working out. I was working out at least every other day for the first half of last year, and I enjoyed it. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find the time to work out after getting my full-time job, so I'm gonna have to properly set a time that I can work out after that. Maybe I won't go right for the same intensity I was at last year, but even if I can get myself working out 1-3 times a week, I'll be satisfied.
- Get a better schedule for my nights after work. I have at least 6 hours after work every weekday before I go to bed, so hopefully I can budget that time into my creative work, workout time, and other stuff I didn't go into here. Unfortunately, executive dysfunction can be a pretty harsh mistress, so I don't know how much of a schedule I'll be able to keep up. But even if I reach all these other goals without this one specifically, I'll be happy.
So yeah, that's my 2023 plans in a nutshell. Hope it's gonna be a good one!
So idk how many of y'all out there know this, but I am a massive sucker for fangames of shit I like. I've played Ace Attorney: The Contempt of Court 3 times since picking it up in 2020, The 7th Stand User has been sitting in my backlog for a good while (I'll start it up over the holidays, I swear), and lord knows I've lost a good few hours to bingeing reviews and LPs of fangames for a certain sit-and-survive horror juggernaut.
This one, however, was one of my most anticipated games of 2022, and my God, does it deliver. nosedive (stylized in all lowercase) is a visual novel created by rhoda_pomelo and winkblue based on Part 5 of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure -- specifically, on Bruabba. When it dropped and I played it through the first time, I knew I had to show it off to the world -- or at least, to my own little corner of the net. So here it is on YouTube. The audio sucks because I was recording through a crappy mic attached to my aux cord, but I have captions so you can tell what I'm saying. The audio will be better in the next installment, I swear.
As I said in the LP, the art is fucking GORGEOUS. rhoda_pomelo's pixel-sketch style really sets the mood for a noir point-and-click-style VN. I love the use of limited palettes and focus on one single color like the blue in the bar or the grey at the motel. Going off of that, there are some moments where another color pops in to add some contrast (e.g. the signs in the bar, the bushes by the motel) that I really appreciate. I can definitely see this color choice becoming more significant later on in the game, either as a way of adding symbolism with the colors in the limited palettes, or as a way of drawing attention with the contrasting-colored objects.
The writing is also top-notch. So far, the characters act just like they did in the original Part 5, but at the same time they feel like they're part of their own story. I'm usually picky with alternate universes in fic, but when the characters within them are written in this specific way, that's how I know it's a good one. Abbacchio and Mista's dynamic is also really entertaining with how they clap back at each other a lot, but still seem close (at least for now). The setting and atmosphere in the writing are super intriguing, leaving a bunch of questions that I can't wait to see answered in future installments.
My one gripe with the game is that it's so short -- however, as more chapters get added, I probably won't have that problem anymore.
Now, here are some of my theories/predictions for the game (under the cut, as we're getting into spoiler territory):
( Read more... )
This one, however, was one of my most anticipated games of 2022, and my God, does it deliver. nosedive (stylized in all lowercase) is a visual novel created by rhoda_pomelo and winkblue based on Part 5 of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure -- specifically, on Bruabba. When it dropped and I played it through the first time, I knew I had to show it off to the world -- or at least, to my own little corner of the net. So here it is on YouTube. The audio sucks because I was recording through a crappy mic attached to my aux cord, but I have captions so you can tell what I'm saying. The audio will be better in the next installment, I swear.
As I said in the LP, the art is fucking GORGEOUS. rhoda_pomelo's pixel-sketch style really sets the mood for a noir point-and-click-style VN. I love the use of limited palettes and focus on one single color like the blue in the bar or the grey at the motel. Going off of that, there are some moments where another color pops in to add some contrast (e.g. the signs in the bar, the bushes by the motel) that I really appreciate. I can definitely see this color choice becoming more significant later on in the game, either as a way of adding symbolism with the colors in the limited palettes, or as a way of drawing attention with the contrasting-colored objects.
The writing is also top-notch. So far, the characters act just like they did in the original Part 5, but at the same time they feel like they're part of their own story. I'm usually picky with alternate universes in fic, but when the characters within them are written in this specific way, that's how I know it's a good one. Abbacchio and Mista's dynamic is also really entertaining with how they clap back at each other a lot, but still seem close (at least for now). The setting and atmosphere in the writing are super intriguing, leaving a bunch of questions that I can't wait to see answered in future installments.
My one gripe with the game is that it's so short -- however, as more chapters get added, I probably won't have that problem anymore.
Now, here are some of my theories/predictions for the game (under the cut, as we're getting into spoiler territory):
( Read more... )
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