VACATION 2024
Hello everyone! I’m back from my Halloween/Graduation Celebration/Anniversary trip! I’m experiencing some post-trip sadness as I come down from vacation-mode and am back at work. So I’m going to write this blog post about it
Mr. Geekula and I went to Boston for five days. It was my first time on an airplane, a train, and frankly the most signifgant amount of travelling I've ever done. It was also our first trip together even though this month will mark our 9 year anniversary. I've loved Boston and New England for a long time. Cheers has been my favorite TV show since I was 16, as cheesy as that sounds. I just happened to find a partner who's family is from outside of Boston. I got to go to the real Cheers Bull & Finch location and complete that pilgrimage. We took the train into Salem one day and we went to two NHL games since we're a Boston Bruins couple (they won both games btw!).
We went to the Boston Wicked Haunt Fest which was incredible. The people were so nice and it was great. I could only handle one of the haunted houses that night but it was really incredible and had amazing animatronics. I really regret not pushing myself to do one more but thems the brakes. I enjoyed the ambiance and the small army of skeletons.
We went to Salem for a day and did a bunch of Halloween stuff. It was absolutely incredible to be somewhere were an entire town actually celebrates Halloween (my town could NEVER). We thought that the crowds wouldn't be so bad since we were going early in the month but oh boy, the place was PACKED. I totally get that if you lived and worked in Salem that all the tourists would drive you crazy but God I wish I lived somewhere where once a year Frankenstein's monster comes out and occupies a street corner everyday. The Peabody-Essex museum was absolutely wonderful and had a ton of stuff relevant to my research into American whaling. Their exhibit on Spiritualism was also incredible! Sadly I lost my admission button somewhere in the dark of the International Monster Museum so we wouldn't go back in. But, the Monster Musem was super cute! They gave us a lantern and we went through looking at all the monsters and animatronics. They said I could take all the pictures I wanted but I only took one of Moth Man. We also went to Count Orlock's Nightmare Gallery which deals in Movie Monsters. It was absolutely fantastic but we weren't allowed to take pictures in the gallery. Which is sad, I was dreaming of taking a photo with the Creature from the Black Lagoon but oh well. The gallery had a ton of deep cuts to iconic B-movies but my favorite was the room with Barlow, the vampire from the orginal Salem's Lot mini-series, the Creepshow Father's Day cake moment, and Fluffy the Crate Beast. The lighting in that room was amazing and made it all feel so life-like. I really want to go back to Salem and be able to relax more and explore it really was amazing and we didn't even see half of it.
I desperately want to live in New England. People tend to scoff when I tell them that. But MAN...I live in the AMERICAN SOUTH. Being in a blue state was so fantastic. There was decent public transportation, it was cold and not broiling hot outside, you could actually get around without a car! No one up there expected extended pleasent small talk as if it were part of the social contract. UGH! Someone give me a livable wage and let me move up there I don't care where!!
I'm already pushing to plan another Halloween trip for next year. I either want to go back to Salem and make it a multi-day visit or visit Sleepy Hollow. I'm really pushing for Sleepy Hollow since it's America's other Halloween town, wish me luck.
BACK AGAINHi folks. Long time no post per usual. Theoretically I was waiting to make a new post when I had something to post about but it’s hard to tell when that’s going to happen. I’ve been having trouble focusing on anything to the point where it’s kind of driving me crazy. That’s post-grad school life I guess. Also work is wringing my soul dry. Maybe I would feel better if I got my head back into updating the site. My vacation trip is coming up in about one week and 7 work days. I’m hoping that help reboot my brain.
At least one thing I have been doing is messing around with my Retroid. As soon as I got mine the RP5 was announced but whatever. The SBC gaming hobby is cyclical in a way that convinces people you should just be perpetually waiting for the next thing with better specs instead of enjoying the thing in front of you.
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Anyway, the thing in front of me is my Retroid Pocket 4+ that now has cute thumbstick covers. I’ve messed around with it enough that I feel I can hand down opinions now. Overall, I am VERY happy with this little baby. It runs pretty much everything I want it to and does it well. What I wanted the most was PS2 emulation and I’m very happy with the results. It runs PS2, Gamecube, and Wii very well for me. Also it’s cute and fits perfectly in my bag so I can spend 15 minutes playing Yoshi’s Cookie on my break at work. I’m having so much fun with the capabilities of the RP4+ that I’m falling into that trap of tinkering with games at length and not actually playing them! I gotta pick something and stick with it.
Okay let’s talk about the downsides– the disappointments. Not all of these are faults of the RP4+ but it’s my blog so I’m gonna whine anyway. Really the first major thing I dislike about the RP4+ is the shape. It’s just not super comfortable for me to hold and play for long periods. The official grip helps with this a bit but I found it to be weirdly smooth and slippery. I added some grip stickers to it and that helped somewhat. I just feel as if the grip is weirdly… short? I’m going to try one of the 3D print grips that are out there one day when I have the patience to sit down and sort out my printer’s mental issues.
Ok so on the games side of things: I’ve had a few failed attempts at playing some games and I’m annoyed.
♥ First; I was enchanted with the thought of playing Stardew Valley on a handheld w/ mods. What I didn’t know if that modding mobile SDV is an absolute, fucking nightmare. I have a handful of mods working but SDVE refuses to cooperate no matter what so we’re at a stalemate.
♥ Second; this was expected but Um Jammer Lammy won’t cooperate no matter what. I knew from trying to emulate Space Channel 5 in the past that emulators and rhythm games don’t get along. After trying for about 3 days to decrease the latency I gave up. Now I just have Kick, punch you all remember. Chop Chop back again yes forever.” burned into my brain.. forever.
♥ Third; another expected was Switch emulation being a bust. I tried running a fairly simple indie game and fixing the lag was too much of a hassle for me. Maybe I’ll try again at some point but I can just…use my Switch instead.
♥ Fourth; I find playing DS games on the RP4+ too cumbersome to entertain. But I have a homebrew 2DS XL to do that. Or at least I did when I swiped its SD card to use in my Retroid. I gotta find a new card and get it operational again.. oops.
Overall, I am very happy with the RP4+ and I don’t regret my purchase at all, or choosing it as my first SBC gaming device. Though, if the presence of the RP5 pushes the price down of RP4s I may regret not waiting a few months…. Other things I did in my absence…. I watched all of the show Superstore and now I just feel kind of empty. I drank a bunch of tea. My debit card magically vanished from my wallet and I had to deal with that… blah blah blah..
Hello again folks! Well, my Retroid Pocket Pro 4+ is finally here! It was misdelivered to my neighbors and I spent a good day and half in a griefstriken panic thinking I would never see it and I would be out the huge chunk of money I spent on it. But, thankfully, my neighbors were kind enough to leave it at my door 
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Anyway, she's here. I bought the grip and dock. Like I think everyone else I am perplexed by the placement of the USB-C input. I mean the offical dock should be offset to match the port on the device itself...right? I digress, I haven't used the dock for anything but charging yet so I can't say much about it. I'm still getting everything set up but I hav ES-DE running pretty well. Everything is launching and getting along with eachother (for now at least). I can't say much about performance yet. The games I have dabbled in Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil 2, and Half-Life (PS2 port) have run pretty well. I have some other accessories coming the mail that I'm sure will improve my overall exp (stylus, keycaps and joystick caps). I def need a bit more traction on the joysticks so I'm looking forward to my funky device being cute AND functional. I'll be updating here when I do something interesting with it. I'm currently salivating over the prospect of having Stardew Valley ON a handheld WITH mods. But we'll get to that when I have the mental bandwidth to sit down and figure out Android modding.
Any progress or additions to the site have been waylayed due to work just being absurd. I found myself having to train a handful of student workers from the ground up, some of them were on there literal first day of college period. Like damn, I really lost my entire night crew to graduation last semseter 
. In other news... I'm actively getting into TEA again. I've had a really weird and painful thing going on with my throat-- no other symptoms just the throat so I'm giving it a week or so before I start being concerned. So I've been swilling down tea at work to soothe it.Also the library I work in is positively, fucking freezing (at least on the first floor) so whereas I usually dislike hot drinks, in that context they're a godsend. I've been viewing tea as a journey to figure out what the hell I like. Right now I really love Harvey & Sons fine teas because they're really afforable and also come in those cute little tins. My favorite from them is Victorian London Fog. I've been drinking it at work with some brown sugar and splash of coconut milk-- REALLY GOOD! I wish there was a decaf option though since two cups of that leaves me jittery as hell. I also really like their Paris tea. Paris is like my early shift tea and London Fog is my mid-shift tea. I'm trying to throw myself into this hard since the Starbucks attached to the building is open again (and they've already given me 2 free drinks) and I need to remove the temptation to go in there every night.
To go alongside my tea adventure I'm hunting for a cool/funny/weird mug to drink out of while at work. Some mugs, like my cauldron mug, are too precious to bring to work. And others that I don't care about, like my gameboy mug, are not microwave safe (crazy). I'm honestly thikning about buying an eletric kettle for the break room for my own use.
ANOTHER CAMERAWhat’s uppp? I feel like absolute garbage right now! Anyway…. I picked up another camera so let’s get into it.
I picked up a used Kodak Easyshare ZD710 for $15 on eBay. This camera was released in 2007 and sold for $249. Now this is a much better quality camera than I wanted. I can lower the res pretty far but I'm not getting the super compressed, blurry, quality I want. But, oh well! The whole point of this exercise was to create a nostalgic feeling through photography. I feel like this camera does that to an extent while also allowing me to get the pictures off the damn camera.
I'm going to play with the settings and see if I can get results that make me happier. But reguardless, I'll be taking photos for the site with this camera.
GENERAL UPDATES AND RAMBLINGSHello people of Neocities! It's once again been a hot minute since my last blog post. If you're reading this through the iframe on the site you'll notice that I did get around to that visual update I've been promising. It's not as grand as I envisioned but site layouts go through tweaking and revisions over time. This is me establishing some good bones to bulid on. I'm also trying to get hyped and stay hyped about my Halloween-themed trip in October. Trying to keep my mind upbeat and occupied.
So I've ordered a RETROID POCKET 4 PRO which I am absurdly excited for. I've been really into emulation for years but I've haven't expanded into single board computers or dedicated emulation handhelds. I've mostly kept to hacking and homebrewing consoles. I've done research in the past into dedicated handhelds but I was either unhappy with the form factor or scared off by reviewers. Even now I'm seeing people disparaging handhelds like this in favor of just having a dedicated smart phone system (which is something I've tried). And when all the reviewers are picking at very specific things like motion blur or OLEDs it froze me in a kind of buyer's paralysis. But I've settled down and chose the R4 pro because I'm dying to emulate PSX and PS2 on the go and I'm VERY excited about the docking and bluetooth capabilities.
I'm spending the lengthy shipping time compiling my games library, which I've mainly done by snatching files and ROMs from my scattered hacks and homebrews. I'm trying not to go too crazy. I expect to eventually upgrade to a larger SD but for now I'm trying to minimize costs and work with my 245 GB card. I'm so excited to have some of my favorite games with me anywhere.
MORE CAMERA ISSUES
Well, mark down another failure in the shitty camera quest. I bought this keychain camera and it’s fantastic yellowed packaging for $15. The camera itself beeps and even has a low res mode (very exciting) but just like the Yahoo! Camera the problems start when trying to actually get the pictures off of the thing. Unlike the Yahoo! Camera the cord for this one actually does seem to work, and it’s USB so no need for an adapter. My computer detects the thing when it’s plugged in but the camera’s included software keeps throwing up a driver error both on my regular Windows OS and when I run it in a Windows XP VM. The disk claims to be installing the proper drivers but just keep getting “missing driver” and given this is a cheap novelty camera cira. 2004 there’s not exactly legacy support or even a functioning website. I may try to snoop through the WayBackMachine but it’s a long shot that may ultimately be pointless.
I tried to run a few third party programs to rip files directly from the camera but they all came up empty handed which suggests to me that the camera isn’t even taking photos. It may be that it’s itty bitty on board memory has simply died. Novelty cameras from the 2000s may just be a bust. At least novelty cameras from brands you’ve never heard of either then or since.
Anyway, I have the next steps in the adventure planned out. I have already ordered an aging Kodak Easyshare zd710 off of ebay for $18. Its base resolution is 640x480 or 320x240 for video clips. That’s pretty small! Not as truly bad as I want but we have to make sacrifices. I expect a Kodak with an included USB will be more reliable when it comes to actually getting the pictures onto a PC. At the very least there’s more resources to help troubleshoot.
The last ditch, and most expensive, resort for me is going to be the Kenko TOY camera. They put out a line of incredibly small cameras in the 2010s that took very small and compressed photos. They got awful reviews but they were able to make a quick buck by putting Sanrio branding on them. Now these are very cute but they also will run fairly expensive, which may be more than I’m willing to spend, but ya know. The camera takes microSD which means a reliable file transfer.
Anyway, I’ll include a brief life update at the end here. I am exactly four days away from being done with my Master’s completely. I already had a bit of a spiral about it but I’ve come around. I’m looking forward to feeling free. I still have one more assignment to turn in though so we’re not celebrating just yet. I’m also going to get to go on my first actual vacation in like 11 years. It’ll be the biggest distance I’ve ever traveled and my first time on a plane (it’s just a 2 hour flight but still) ! I’m very excited to be out of grad school and unburdened and I have something to look forward to! 
SNAPPY TITLELet’s get the sad venting out of the way; my cat is sick. She’s not exactly a young cat, and she’s had problems for quite a while– a really messed up spine and chronic pain. But let’s just say some things have gotten worse lately and she’s going to the vet today. I’m prepared for my savings to be decimated by this and yet we don’t expect her to be around much longer. Which is pretty devastating and I don’t want to think about it.
Okay, well let’s get this post started proper before I start waxing philosophical about death. Hello everyone~! I’m currently at work! I don’t usually work Fridays but we were closed this past Sunday which means I gotta work today to keep up my full-time hours. But it seems I was the only one that remembered that! I’ve already had two “Why are you here?” conversations and I’m not even on the desk schedule! I’ll pop out there around my usual time and offer to take the desk if the schedule stays that way but for now I guess you can say, I’m chilling.
More construction is starting in the building, it’s kind of a relief because they really need to get that stuff done before the Fall semester, but also bad because It’s about to get sooooo loud in here. They’re doing minor demolition which is mildly exciting though. I’m excited to see them knock a hole in the wall lol
I’m really just tired since I had to get up earlier than usual to be here. I’m drinking an Alani Nu Dream Float flavored energy drink. It is seriously the best tasting energy drink I’ve ever tasted. It doesn’t bump me up as good as Ghost but it tastes almost like a cookie. I guess other people have noticed because I had to go to two different stores to find one (and I only found ONE).
I promise I’m still chipping away at the new site layout. I’ve just hit a creative block where I want to do something new but I’m at loss as to what exactly to do. I’ve put away the file and I’ve been making custom icons 
look at this tiny tombstone. I’m also planning on making custom emojis to use here in my blog posts.
I’ve picked Neopets back up. I was feeling pretty apathetic about the Void Within plot but the FOMO has gotten to me. Also the battledome stuff is paying out huge rewards for minimal effort since I already have a high level BD pet. I’ve also been highly anticipating the mfing ALTADOR CUP. We’re making All-Star for Meridell this year bb!!!! I made it to rank 14 last year just shy of All-Star rank. I’ll be wearing my Meridell pin at work to rep for my team!
This is a tangent but Mr. Geekula likes to say that people are going to mistake my Meridell shield pin for something Harry Potter related (ew) but it’s literally never happened. I do get asked if my One Eyed Jack’s poker chip earrings are Harry Potter though (likely because of the maroon and gold color scheme) -_- which sucks big time because A. they were expensive, and B. I had been looking for a pair of Twin Peaks earrings that I liked for a really long time and now I kinda hate wearing them!
LONG TIME NO UPDATEI’ve been trying to tap out a new blog post lest my site join the NeoCities graveyard. Everything I want to rant about just winds up feeling a little too personal. I literally copy and pasted the last blog post I wrote into a vent-advice channel in a random Discord server instead of posting it here haha.
Bottom line is I’ve just been really busy. My department at work has shrunk by 3 people so we've been spread THIN. I’m working on my last class for my Master’s which is a 6 week summer course elective. Because of a screw up with my academic advising I was given some bad info and now I’m not getting that certificate and I became stuck with only the Summer course offerings none of which I actually have an interest in. So I’m currently taking Storytelling, which is really focused on children’s services and education– which I have an almost negative amount of interest in. I cannot stress how little experience I have with kids. I have to record myself reading a bunch of children’s books to a nonexistent audience and it is making me feel insane.
With these videos I’ve been making I’ve really been trying to shove myself into the mold of what I think a children’s librarian would do– which feels unnatural and bad. But I think I’m going to try and twist it a little bit. One of my classmates did a local ghost story for one of her videos and it literally set my brain on fire– parity because I know that story because I was a kid obsessed with local legends and ghosts and then partially because you’re telling me I could’ve been telling ghost stories this whole time? (( I’m a rare case of a believer turned non-believer of ghosts btw it’s weird. )) I’m getting to a point in the class where I’m going to have to write my own original stories and I’m planning on writing stories about cryptids since I’ve always been interested in them from a folklore POV.
I’m on the cusp of re-entering my cryptid era. This is partially due to the fact I’m still playing Fallout 76 everyday (just hit level 200). I hadn’t played in like 2 years and came back after the show (like everyone else). The cryptid stuff in that game is choice (with one notable exception that is not choice). I’m leaning heavy Mothman Cultist these days. It feels like a natural take off from my alien obsession I’ve been working with for the past year. Anyway, I have a little plush Mothman to go with my tiny alien on my desk at work now see: my piclog.
SOME MUSING ON MY RELATIONSHIP WITH JAPANESE MEDIALet’s talk about something bordering on pointless. Tissues!
I bought these tissues from W0nkk0
I also got a Sailor Moon tissue holder that I intend to use at my desk at work but very gently. I think I've posted on here about how much I loooove their art but the stationary and cards they sell are sooo great as well. I've bought two junk journals from them and I'm just so over the moon about them.
Anyway, back to the tissues. I just adore the art on the St. Tail tissues. The black lines and solid colors are so appealing to me.
I don't know a whole lot about St. Tail except there's some dissatisfaction with the english translations of the manga and anime (likely a symptom of it's age). It's a been a very long time since I've partaken in anime or manga (outside of Junji Ito and Satoshi Kon). I'd like to dip my toes back in but only with anime and manga properties that produce some kind of nostalgia for me.The stuff I was into as a kid wasn't exactly popular and did not interest the anime kids at my school in the slightest. So, I would want to approach from a purely self indulgent point of view. Though I am worried that I’ll revisit a series I used to love and find some really pervy content that I just didn’t notice before.
While I haven’t partaken in anime or manga much in the past 12 years I have made an effort to indulge in J-horror and just Japanese cinema in general. I took a few world cinema classes in my last years of undergrad (trying to finish that film minor) and I absolutely loved them. There’s nothing I love more than cultural history and film analysis. World cinema classes give you a history lesson and a film lesson at the same time. I’ve been making an effort to watch more foreign cinema on my own time. J-horror was an area I wanted to explore more thoroughly (I love horror) and found that there are sensibilities about Japanese horror films (like pacing and story progression) that align with my own tastes. The English major in me also pushed me to read a few Japanese horror novels like Audition and Parasite Eve (which I’ve always wanted to read since I'm a huge fan of the game). Those are also areas I’d like to explore more thoroughly.
If anyone read to the end of this and has any recommendations for nostalgic anime or J-horror films, or just films in general pop em in the chat or DM me on Discord. I’ve been thinking about Kon films, especially Perfect Blue so if there’s anything out there with similar vibes I’d be very interested.
ANOTHER POST ABOUT ARTI feel like I need a generic blog post that I can throw on here for when I feel like I need some blanket positivity. I don’t know if I’ll be able to come up with one in the next few minutes but I can try.
So let's talk about some artists I really love starting with Sugarbones. I've been following her work for years and own quite a few of her pins, stickers, keychains, and one of her fannypacks (which is one of my favorite bags that I own). I just LOVE her cute, pop-y style, and her little bunny mascot. I own the acrylic standee of that little bunny and he sits at my station at work.
This is likely not surprise since I mentioned him in a previous blog post but I just adore Worthikids aka Ian Worthington. He's really exploded in popularity due to his series Bigtop Burger. I was following him several years before Bigtop and have just always adored his art style. I just love his style of drawing eyes and expressions. He's just so talented at caricature. He also produces the most niche fanart that speaks directly to my taste in media. His Dr. Katz Professional Therapist fanart lives rent free in my head and on my phone.
This is also likely not a surprise since they're one of the main inspirations for this site, Cinni of Cinni's Dream World. I love their art in general but I think their work in Blender is just so exquisite. They're very talented at capturing a feeling of nostalgia in their work that tickles a part of my brain. They're one of my main inspirations for picking up Blender again and starting low-poly modeling.
Next; Bobby a.k.a. Ponett! I've been follwing Bobby for a very time. Pony Pokey long. Danny Devito and Chess long. I was around when Super Lesiban Animal RPG was a MLP fan game. That goes to say, I've been following Bobby, her art, and her game dev journey for a long time. She is a huge inspiration for both my approach to pixel art and indie game development.
w0nkk0 is my current love and obsession. I adore the sketchy style of their work. I've been soooo happy with my junk journal from them I had to buy a second one. But really I'll fall in love with anyone who produces fanart for Magician's Quest Mystrious Times AND Neopets. That just speaks to my soul.
Now some rapid fire shout outs; MantidSnip wonderful, grotesque, artwork of monsters and beasts. Kitsch Blade; absolute mastery of clay and a beautiful vintage aesthetic.
THE YAHOO! CAMERASo as an update on the terrible Yahoo! Camera. The software works perfectly on a virtual machine. The VM and other computers have no issue with the serial to USB adaptor but will not detect the camera. I’ve come to the conclusion that the cord that came with the camera is dead. And if the 4 minutes of searching online have told me anything, replacing it isn’t going to be easy. It almost seems that I’d need to buy another Yahoo! camera to try and get a functioning cable.
So this is starting to look like a long and ongoing project. I probably should have used better judgment and gotten a camera with an SD card. But, I was enthralled by the poor quality of this gimmick device. It seems digital cameras took a huge jump in quality when they switched to SD storage. It is really surprising that there are 19 year old cameras that are still REALLY good quality wise. I’ve been looking at the cameras my mom had when I was kid and the image quality is still really fucking good. Or at least too good for me.
I still want a gimmick camera though :(
MORE SITE MUSINGThe visual update for the site isn’t quite going as planned. I started mocking up a new layout but I just wasn’t vibing with it! But that’s okay! It’s called the creative process for a reason. I collected all my inspirations and shapes into one space and it just wasn’t working the way I wanted it to! I’ve decided to toss out the Nights Into Dreams and Kirby’s Adventure influences all together. I love them but I was having a hard time making them spooky.
I eventually hit upon (imo) the perfect inspiration. I’m drawing a ton of inspiration from the Prague episodes in Sly Cooper 2 and the overall vibes of Magician's Quest Mysterious Times.
So I guess the vibe is gothic expressionism but make it cutesy. I'm also thinking a lot about video game UIs, namely GBA and DS interfaces. The big question is how do we translate this into pixels, into a site interface, while keeping it clean and sleek? This is the part where I just spend hours looking at other sites and pulling inspiration from them. But we get caught in the loop of looking at wonderful NeoCity artists and going "I want my site to look like that! Wait no, I want my site to look like that! No wait-". For that reason I'm trying not to alter the bones of the site. But anyway, we'll see what happens.
ARTSomething that’s plaguing my mind is: art. I’ve been working on my little adventure game so I’ve been trying to improve my pixel art. But I’m just getting frustrated. I’ve been trying to kick that fear-of-making-bad-art bug but it’s always there.
Currently my issue is that I’m struggling with backgrounds and composition. Adventure game backgrounds are odd ducks. The “camera” is always in a fixed position. The angle may change slightly but never too drastically. I’ve been trying to think of them as TV sitcom sets or even stage sets. I’m using Blender (and The Sims) to try and help me plan out spaces but it’s very slow going.
I think half of the problem here is that the game I want to make in the first place. I’m kind of bucking classic adventure game standards. I have visions of what I want and how I want it to feel but articulating and executing those visions is the hard part right?
Right now I’m incredibly inspired by Stéphane Boutin and the work he did on the Scott Pilgrim VS the World game. Obvi that game is a beat 'em up not an adventure game but I just adore the stages and have been studying the shapes and lines for the past few weeks.
TECH STUFFI’ve committed to building my own PC! And by committed I mean I bought the case and CPU so I’m already monetarily bound to the project. I have minor experience installing SSDs and RAM in laptops and doing minor stuff on game consoles. After some research I am fairly confident I can put together something that works. I’ve got my parts picked out and I’m going to buy them a few at a time so I can (hopefully) spread the cost out over 2-3 paychecks.
I’m not really looking to run AAA games at 4K speeds or anything. I just want something that’s fairly capable. My main laptop has been going crazy with constant fan cycling and is doing a poor job running games that are just 6 years old. I have other laptops and devices that work for portability (plus my work laptop) and if there’s a AAA game I want I’ll always opt for the PS5 port first. At the end of the day I just want something reliable that I use for like Blender, Cura and online games. Bonus points if it’s pink.
Also in the realm of tech, I was just typing a paragraph about how I want a really shitty digital camera but couldn’t find the right one when I tabbed over to ebay and found this and oooooooh my god.
It was an impulse purchase for sure but oooooohhh mannn. She is IT. The terrible novelty camera of my dreams. We'll see if I actually get photos off of it when it gets here.
IT'S BEEN AWHILE (AGAIN)It’s been awhile since I’ve posted an update. AND I BROKE THIS DAMN PAGE. I'm still trying to figure out how I broke it but it. So for the time being older entires are trapped in the shadow dimenson.
Anyway... Not much to tell to be honest but here’s what I’ve been playing:
On the topic of Stardew Valley clones: I’ve been musing about making my own game. It’s a vicious cycle for me where twice a year I do a ton of research and put a lot of work into pre-production for a game and then it kinda fizzles out. I have sketchbooks and folders filled with character designs, notes, and maps. I just always get waylaid by life, school and work and my conviction to see it through fades away. Last summer I did tons of research into the Godot engine. I even started learning Python because A) Work was super slow, and B) I had a whole concept for a Stardew Valley-type game.
My original concept was a Stardew Valley type life sim where the player would take on the role of superintendent of an apartment building. Gameplay would be focused around making improvements to the building and improving the lives of the tenants. It would take place in a modern fantasy world kinda like Stardew. I had plans for the basement to have some kind of crazy portal where you’d fight monsters. But at the end of the day I couldn’t quite figure out how to make navigating an apartment building enjoyable (secret passages?).
Then I adapted that idea into the more traditional town-based setting. Still a modern fantasy but the world would be populated with races of “monster” people– I had NPCs planned out that were demons, cyclops, witches, undead, etc.. I wrote out a storyline for the town that involved curses and generational trauma. I made a bunch of tile sheets and had a very detailed map layout planned out. But now I’m thinking of taking that and adapting in another direction.
Part of the reason I did gel with Coral Reef immediately was that it felt very modern. I think Stardew struck a very good tone by creating a world that is part fantasy-part 90s/2000s. We don’t see any “modern” technology so it feels kind of timeless. So now I’m thinking in terms of creating a medieval-fantasy Stardew. I think there are tons of places it could go. With my other concepts I was really trying to cut out the farming aspect altogether. But that means figuring out a different gameplay loop altogether. I think changing the setting to a medieval fantasy shakes things up enough that I feel okay with featuring farming. But I’m still musing on ways that a ‘career’ system could be instituted (beyond what Stardew has done already).
Anyway that’s what I’ve been musing about lately.
ON IT AGAINFebruary 22nd, 2024
Just musing thoughts. I have to get all my Baldur's Gate ramblings out here so that my boyfriend doesn't have to hear them.
So in BG3 I'm in Act 3 of my Evil Durge run. My team is made up solely of Lae'zel, Shadowheart, and my beloved Minthara-- everyone else is dead. Since this is my evil playthrough I took Shart down the Dark Justicar path and let me say: I am underwhelmed. I've seen people who are mad that she's preachy and hypocritical to Durge. I'm not made she's a zealot that I was expecting, I'm mad that she still seems like a really bad Shar worshipper. Like we're supposed to buy that she's Shar's chosen yet her returning and taking over the temple feels so weak. She walks around and talks like a child, even her "I'm Shar's child" speech is weak. Like where's the woman who will straight up murder Lae'Zel in front of you? She just seems so soft when she should be hardened. Also when you tell her you're a Bhaalspawn and she's like "Well Shar CHOSE me and that's more special you drooling lunatic". Girlie, I will replace you with a hireling.
Well, on to the orginal Baldur's Gate. I'm making very slow progress, mostly because I'm only playing in slow moments where I can. But the one thing I will say is that I really like Kahlid. And really that sucks since I know what happens to him.
iT'S BEEN A WHILEAnother hot minute since I updated the game diary. We’re still plugging away at Baldur’s Gate 3 because I will always go with what’s familiar and I just really love the combat. I spent some time with DOS2 figuring it out but I’m just so resistant to learning new fantasy worlds. Also, I kinda went murder hobo on all the guards at Fort Joy because I was having trouble figuring out how to advance..oops.
I recently picked up a Samsung Tablet after yearning for one for several years. Originally I just wanted one for drawing purposes– the illusion that if I could take it anywhere I’d practice more (just use paper, dumbass). I was then considering buying a kindle but I told myself that a tablet had more functionality. But, anyway we’re EMULATING. Any device I have that can emulate consoles I have rigged to emulate consoles. But the tablet may just be my favorite thus far. I picked up another DS5 controller for my birthday and it's a dream being able to play Playstation games on the go. And now I find out that Redream is avaliable on Android and I'm sooo pumped to play Dreamcast wherever I want!
On top of all that, I also found out that Baldur's Gate 1, 2,Icewind Dale and Planescape torment are on the Play store. So now I own the Baldur's Gates on PC, Switch, and the Play store. BG is very easy to play in situations where I likely should not be playing games..uhh if you get what I mean...... CRPGs from that time, well not just CRPGs Adventure games have it too, have such a glib humor that you just don't see from video games today. The most recent example I can think of is New Vegas's Wild Wasteland but even that is an emulation of the humor and easter eggs from Fallout 1 & 2. I'll report back when I have more thoughts.
HEY I'M BACKMy interest in my hobbies is coming back around. I spent some time animating walking sprites for two of my little characters and I’m gonna kick them around in Adventure Game Studio. On reflection 8 frames may have been a bit ambitious but oh well. My interest in my doll collection has kicked back up. I bought some Posca markers and I’m excited to play with them. I’ve been playing Stardew Valley again though I can feel my interest waning a bit as I’m dramatically close to finishing the Community Center and it’s only Fall Y1.
In general I’m feeling inspired to make art. I’ve been trying to kick my horrible fear of making “bad” art and just enjoy the process. I think part of that is going to take the form of actually posting art on this website. So stay tuned..?
IT'S WHATEVER PMIt's a hot second since I updated the game diary. There's not much to report. I'm coming up on 300 hours in Baldur's Gate 3 and yeah I'm still having fun. Parts of it are starting to feel like a slog though so my enthusiasm may be waning. My current playthrough is to perfect my run for my "canon" Tav, Siobahn- Wood Half-Elf, Bard, Wyll romance (such as it is). I guess I could say one of my cannon Tavs since I 'm still attached to my high-elf monk. I'm not sure what I'm going to do next. I started a duergar Tav and she's super cute and the duergar race abilites are CHOICE but I don't know if I could get into her from a RP standpoint. I still haven't gotten a Durge past act 2. The stuff I really want to see with Durge is in act 3 but I run out of stamina before I can get there!
Anyway, I fell out of love with Neopets for a bit but I'm back into it. I'm (trying) to plan out new pets and I wasted 4 mil points the other night but I'm having some fun. I'm a bit paranoid because I do play mostly at work when things are slow on the campus wide wi-fi and with all the issues with players being frozen for using VPNs and mobile data it's scary out here. If my account was frozen and I lost all my pets and all the damn NC items I have I would be inconsolable and then I'd be PISSED. But I'm still playing. For now.
In other hobby news: I'm feeling a spark to start making dolls again. If only to make dolls of my PCs from Baldur's Gate.
IT'S 11:39 PMIt's 11:39 PM and I'm at work trying to distract myself instead of mentally cursing the people still in the building- this will make the time go by faster. I have a few thoughts about video games after a long, weirdly busy, night of being the only staff member in the buliding. I have an intense desire to turn this into just an all purpose diary but I ultimately think it's best for this to remain under the general header of video games. Lest the world be exposed to more of my deranged thoughts such as a .jpeg screen cap of a Kids in the Hall episode with the caption "Bruce looks so c*** here."
Even though I've currently logged 222 hours in Baldur's Gate 3, and I intend to log more, I still got complaints. I have a bachelor's degree in English you know I'm writing media criticism in my head. I keep coming around to my breaking point which is, I want a RPG with all the Bioware, Baldur's Gate, Fallout, fun but without an even pressing and urgent plot. No tadpole in my head, no imminent world destroying monster, and if there is let's build up to it. I want something akin to the start of nearly every Pokemon game "All girls dream of adventure! It said so on the television!". Just a person going out, learning, exploring, then stumbling on the life changing quest. Give me Neopets the Darkest Faerie.
I think Dragon Age Origins did a good of giving you a big bad evil that you have to stop but was kept at enough of an arm's reach that it never felt too oppresive. I've been slowly dipping my toes back into the Dragon Age "fandom", though I shudder at such a thing. I've been inundated with posts about how Origins is the worst game in the series or that DA2 is the best... While I categorically disagree with both statements I think people tend to prefer DA2's "smaller" storyline to the overwhelming nature of Inquistion. Which I would say I also prefer the smaller story. But nothing will ever beat Origins. Origins just feels so throughly orignal and ambitious. It's similar to how I feel about VTM: Bloodlines. And with the development hell that both series' sequals have been in I doubt we'll be seeing a game quite like them any time soon.
As some final thoughts; I've wanted for a while to make a page for the site with all my little roleplaying game characters and/or OCs (which are just spin-offs of my RPG characters). I wanted to wait till I could produce some decent artwork of them (or comission some more than decent artwork). Maybe I'll get around to doing that one day soon. Or maybe I'll extend a bunch of effort making a Kids in the Hall e-shrine when I should be working on my grad school portfolio....
UCS ARE HEREWell Neopets released the Styling Studio and the new UCs.
LOOK UPON HIM AND WEEP!!!!!!
REMEMBER MMORPGS?I’m currently feeling a deep nostalgia for MMOs and MMORPGs circa 2000-2010. During that time I played every single MMORPG that offered free play or a trial period. I was just desperate for new video games. I covered most of the ones targeted towards the youth like Pirates of the Caribbean Online, FreeRealms, Wizard 101, ToonTown, and my beloved FUSIONFALL. I hold nothing but MALICE and SCORN for the person who nuked FusionFall Retro and Legacy. I hope karma tears them a new asshole.
My malice and scorn aside… I never played Runescape or WOW but was in proximity to them enough to still kick up nostalgia. Classic WOW and Wizard 101 (which I know is still around) have visual aesthetics that drive me wild. I want to lick Wizard 101. In my heart of hearts I know I can’t pick up a MMORPG these days because I’m reclusive by nature and the concept of voice chats with strangers makes me want to vomit. And playing an MMO as a solo player tends to defeat the purpose, doesn’t it?
I’ll just keep toiling away quietly on Neopets.
STUCK AT WORK SO HERE'S SOME THOUGHTSAt work, on a Sunday, nothing is happening right now and I'm all twisted up about an e-mail so might as well write some cringe worthy dribble. Unsurprising, but I'm still playing BG3. I'm approaching the 200 hour mark. I guess I'm doing my best to get my money's worth out of it. Despite all my grandiose claims that I'm going to play X, Y, and Z when I'm "done" with BG3 I'll probably just circle around to playing Dragon Age: Origins for the 8th time. Despite how many time I've played DA:O I have little to no experience with the DLCs- with the exceptions of Warden's Keep and Return to Ostgar. I also only played Awakening through once and my memories are spotty at best. It sucks that I can't import my world state into Awakening and create a new Orleisan warden.
It may not fit the "video game" criteria exactly but let's talk Neopets for a sec. I took a hiatus from Neo for a bit back in December. I had some nice time off and when I'm home these days I can't be bothered to log on. I had also been seeing some horror stories of accounts frozen without provocation which scared me a bit. I had ALSO gotten the brush off from TNT about my multiple support tickets for the missing User Lookup Trophy they STILL owe me. So I took down my NC trade lists and took a break- while still popping for the advent calender ofc.
Well, I'm back and playing a bit. I'm not really doing my dailies, quests, or Food Club. I can't even be bothered to do Trudy. But what I am doing is poking around my accounts, making decisions about what pets I'm willing to let go of. I've also been fussing around on DTI trying to plan customs I want to pursue. I like to make conceptual customs that turn a pet into a "character". My customs aren't exactly the best but I have some I've very attached to. Currently, I'm trying to come up with a new custom for my pet ForeverConscious that fits the theme of dead/undead- I'm not vibing with her current Hallowen/Zombie Techo cross-paint anymore. I have an idea for a Ghost Krawk but it requires a bit of trading. I also found myself in possession of a Plushie Draik. I've been trying to come up with a medievil, fantasy, Meridell, style custom for him. I've wanted to have a "NeoQuest" themed pet for quite awhile. But, it's turning out to be more difficult than anticipated.
Valentines Day is coming up again which is one time of year that I let myself splurge on NC items since I am, at heart, a LoveCore girlie. Also: I had NO CLUE that Mouth Be Gone and Expression Caps were in the NC mall. If I hadn't seen a post on r/Neopets about it I would still be living in a world where no one would trade me a Mouth-Be-Gone. Well, now I have like 7 Mouth-Be-Gones- probably should have bought some expression caps first and seen how it shook out. But, FINALLY, my Gamer-Girl Alien Aisha has a :3 mouth.
MORE BALDUR'S GATE
Well, it took some time but BG3 is occupying my mind like nothing else. I finished up my latest Tav run. Saoirse is my female high elf, monk, subclass rogue, good two-shoes with a Gale romance. Her color scheme was pink so I dyed all her apparel with either Pale Pink dye or Rose and Custard dye. I really enjoyed playing as a monk. Monk-centric clothes have excellent buffs and stat increases. I was doing more than 20 damage per punch with tons of bonus actions. Disarming strikes and heat metal used to make me suppper mad by knocking my weapon out of my hands but they don't do anything if your weapon IS YOUR HANDS!
I'm a lot of happier with Gale's romance than I thought I would be. Like many people I was bit put off by the whole Mystra thing but I'm glad to have stuck with it. My Tav is very happy to be in Waterdeep and married to Gale. She deserves some rest and a tressym friend.
I've moved on to my first Dark Urge run. She's a cute little Mephistopheles Tiefling named Freya. She's also a Paladin with an Oath of Devoation- just to make things even harder on myself as a Resist Durge. I chose Paladin for the roleplaying effect- my idea being that the memory wipe caused her to "reset" to an earlier stage in her life when she was resisting Daddy Baahl's influence (but ultimately failed ofc). I haven't gotten very far yet- haven't even hit my first long rest (I did read some spoilers because Alfira must be protected at all costs). I'm not loving Paladin gameplay at the moment- though it's still early on. If I can't gel with it I may respec to Monk again for my own enjoyment though I kinda want to save the "tearing people apart with her hands" idea for my Evil Durge.
And because I am me (and we are us) I can't NOT have a romance when a game has romance options. The only game I do that with is Dragon Age Origins because I have delusions about my Warden hooking up with Loghain. I've entered Durge with the intention to romance Astarion but then I picked him from the crash site and wavered. I know he's THE lothario the girlies love but he's still not doing much for me even with max approval on other playthroughs. I heard he's really into the Durge both evil and resisting but.........
I think I'm going to go with Lae'zel this time around- after rejecting her over and over in my other playthroughs. Two people created for the purpose of violence having to unlearn it- and I read about that one ADORABLE ending you can get with her. I'll save Astarion for my Evil Durge run, we'll do the black mass and everything.
Oh and to round out my complaining about The Emperor. I killed him, again. He went down incredibly easy, again. In fact he died by an attack of opportunity, my Tav punched in him the back when he went to move away. Squidman talks a big game then he and his little dream people go down INCREDIBLY easy.
BACK AT IT AGAIN AT EMERALD GROVE...New games diary- NEW THOUGHTS ABOUT BALDUR'S GATE 3! ---I've really warmed up to it. Turns out I really love playing as a monk. And Gale's romance is hitting the right notes for me in a way that the other characters haven't. Also, I finally found the Owl Bear Cub --which is worth a whole new playthrough in and of himself. That owl bear and his 3 lines of dialogue are the most important thing in this game. My boyfriend named the cub Obie. If anything ever happens to him I'll kill the entire party and then my Tav. F***ing GAME OVER.
On another note, I litearlly HATE The Emperor so much. He pisses me off so much. Like, who's this son of a bitch in my head chastising and lecturing me for making choices he doesn't approve of? Is he watching me every second of every day? Then he fails to see why that's invasive. Sees no problem with pushing people into becoming mindflayers. This guy SUCKS! I hate that the game forces you to be stuck with him for so long.
I finally learned about the "Dark Urge" origin. I though it was just some weird quirk that you could attach to a character to make the game more difficult but turns out it's a entirely new way to experience the game. I'm excited to try it. I'm saving Astarian for that playthrough- I never went crazy over him like the other girlies did but sounds like he's a good option for a dURGE. BUT, I'm going to hold off for a while after I finish this current playthrough. I don't want to make myself too sick of running around the same environs. I'm going to move on and give Divinity Original Sin 2. If that goes well I'll skip back over for new rounds of BG1 and 2. I'm just excited to play a game with a jester subclass/tag again. You can't keep my silly bards down!