yui

i've most definitely posted the original before (if i haven't, shame on me), but i found this cover i like too

wake up new kanaria dropped

Sabrina and Marshall had eached earned a brief round of applause from Abby as they made their respective landings on the platforms on the sides of the room. The former without even needing a boost from Abby this time! That focus thing River talked about was pretty potent stuff. In the latter's case, however, there was something of a new situation to be addressed. “...To be completely transparent, I am drawing a blank on how to reach the top of this platform myself, given the fact that my mobility Art has so far succeeded in propelling me primarily horizontally. I could, of course, attempt to see if it would allow me the momentum necessary to climb this wall, but I do not know if I would be able to stop should it send me horizontally anyways, and I am unsure of if I want to risk throwing away the progress we’ve obtained here in this moment; so, I was wondering, if you had any suggestions on ways we could facilitate an expedient solution to the problem at hand. Be it with the wind-trick you tried to help Sabrina with, Abby... or something more-physical, such as seeing if a mix of my art being pointed upwards, and some… Propulsion, from your hammer, might suffice; granted that you yourself able to reach me over here.” "Giving you a boost sounds like the safest bet. Lemme just..." Abby tried the trick herself, focusing on the natural movements in her body. The movement of air through her head and into her body as she inhaled, and the return trip of carbon dioxide as she exhaled. The filling and emptying of her lungs. The air in the room swirled around her hand, indicative of a more powerful version of the small boost of wind she'd provided earlier. With an upward gesture, Abby released the built-up power and...! Something interesting happened. That interesting something in fact being nothing. Nothing happened. Where there was supposed to be a dramatic upward surge of air to propel Marshall to her objective, there was simple stillness. The spell had worked just fine when she tried it before, and she definitely felt the thing River had talked about going on. That only left one reasonable culprit. Distance. Abby was simply too far away from Marshall right now. Nudging Gene with her elbow, Abby said "Another water wall, if you don't mind." Gene nodded, creating another Water Wall platform. "...what are you planning to do exactly...?" "This." Taking a couple steps back, Abby took a deep breath. She was never much of an athlete, and definitely couldn't launch herself like Marshall had, but she could surely cover enough distance to propel her upward like the plan was. "Get ready to jump," Abby called out. With the best of a running start she could manage, Abby hopped up onto the water wall Gene had kindly provided, quickly realizing the physics issues of trying to literally walk on water. While she was able to get some distance, it wasn't long before she was force to take a clumsy leap forward, sending herself on a fast-lane trip to the waters below much like Sabrina and Marshall had earlier. On the way down, however, that was when she made her move. By the power within her Arts, refined by greater focus, a mighty blast of wind shot forth between Abby and Marshall, directly into the latter woman. Abby, for her part, fell into the water and was unceremoniously spit back out onto the bridge, but up on the platform... "On it," Marshall called out, throwing her lance to the side so as to allow it to disappear in a a few fair motes of light. Crouching down, she listened for the blast, taking a quick breath before springing upwards with all her might; the blast of wind impacting her in the back and briefly causing her to splay her limbs out to her sides... Only to, as she reached the apex of the jump, throw her hands forwards, fingers clutching onto the side of the ledge... And firmly grasping it, with all her might, as the rest of her caught up; her face smacking lightly into the edge, and her cap knocking itself down, and onto the platform behind her. "...Unfortunate," she frowned, wincing slightly from her bruised nose and loss of cap, before taking in a deep breath. After a second, with a concerted effort, she began to slowly crawl up to the top of the platform, pulling herself up, and climbing upwards, where she would first move to get her torso on the platform, before rolling the rest of herself up, and onto her back. After a moment of this, she would simply hang an arm off the side, and give a thumbs up, while she caught her breath. A thumbs-up returned by Abby from the lower ground of the bridge. "That," Abby clarified, redirecting her attention to Gene.

oh well in that case

one of my favorite slam jams lately

Dev Update #4: Acceptance and Replanning Gee, it's been a while. To put it short, the last game's scale was growing way out of control on a fundamental level, far beyond the scope of what one ADHD-addled casual is capable of turning into an actual game. Plus, the game turned into another "save the world" plot and I think I mentioned somewhere in this thread that I'm tired of those, so it would be counter-intuitive to make one myself. So, I've spent the last couple days thinking about starting over on a smaller scale with the systems highlighted in this blog - the equipment augments, the various magic elements having different effects, etc - and the majority of today actually doing the early stages of work for a yui game 2.0. Since this is effectively a day 1 post, there's not much to talk about, but I do have the advantage of already implementing all that stuff I talked about before. As of typing this, I've accomplished a world map made by hijacking parts of one of the built-in world maps, 8 playable characters built from assets from the trinity resource pack, and a character select at the start of the game since the evolving class mechanic Tove was gonna have in the old game is gone now. Gonna very briefly go over all of that then get back to work. The Map One of the first things I got caught up on was the world map size. This one is a lot smaller than the previous game, and for good reason, since smaller world map means less potential content I can get distracted with. The intent is to have the main story focus mostly if not entirely around one dungeon that you tackle in sets of 10 floors or so, not at all unlike a certain RP I was previously by happy coincidence (this is just a coincidence). I'd like to have character-related questlines as well, but I'm not too worried about that right now. Each of the 8 playable characters are going to start in different places, with their own intros and their own motivations for reaching the top of the tower. Since there's not much in the way of map discussion to offer, let's move on to that. The Party & Character Select One of the greatest struggles I face making an RPG Maker project is using the character generator to create a protagonist that I'm happy with. Being held back by the assets provided to me is one issue, but a more significant one is the artstyle of the portraits the generator uses is... not my favorite. And commissioning art assets for a game I don't even know if or when I'll finish just seems silly. So this time I've opted to just not do that, change up the formula, and use RTP characters for once. I even went to the trouble of digging up the official names & classes for these people, since Kadokawa kindly provides us with that information (and not much else, which means I've got plenty of room to flex that excellent Yui backstory writing). Here's our heroes, in the largest size at which I could conveniently squeeze all eight of them into one picture. In order, with names and classes being almost entirely taken straight from the official website, and some additional info I put in for that character select thing I talked about earlier: Carol - Hero*: "A well-rounded hero whose greatest strength is versatility. Jack of all trades, master of none." Sakura - Ninja: "A clever hero who uses physical and magic attacks to adapt to different enemies. Flexible, but fragile." Avend - Knight*: "An unstoppable hero capable of defending the party. Slow, but can take and deal large amouts of damage." Xun - Monk*: "A powerful hero that can imbue her attacks with elements. Can fend for herself very well, but has no party support." Aran - Rogue**: "An agile hero armed with various debuffs for the enemy. Might struggle with enemies who are immune to his tricks." Merudy - Beastman: "An inhuman hero who becomes more powerful as her HP decreases. Maximising her potential means taking risks." Pupa - Puppet: "An unlikely hero specializing in team support. Low stats, but has numerous unique properties." Mavie - Black Mage: "A destructive hero focused entirely on dealing massive magic damage. Everything else is irrelevant." *The classes for Carol, Avend, and Xun are technically listed as something to the effect of "Protagonist", "Armored Warrior", and "Martial Artist" respectively. I just changed these to something with the same connotations that made more sense. **Aran's class on the website is nothing even resembling Rogue; this is entirely me taking creative liberties. His class on the website is listed as "Arabian Night (Arabian Knight?)", and I don't know how that's supposed to function as a class so I just changed him to something completely different. As I type this post, I think Xun may need a new mechanic to set her apart from the others since elemental imbuement isn't exclusive to her thanks to augments, but this is just me thinking aloud. Currently, the plan is to choose your character at the start of the game, and then have the start of the game be different depending on who you picked, since different characters would turn their attention to the tower for different reasons (not to mention living in different places). As a loose, very WIP example, Mavie wants the treasure at the top of the tower because she can acquire unlimited power with it, while Avend doesn't even care about the treasure and just wants to fight epic monsters on the way up. Also, these larger portraits mean I can pretty things up a bit during character select. Cool, right? However, that's all I've got to show for today's work. May there be more updates to come, preferably sooner rather than later.

The room the Exalted found themselves in was one of a long bridge, with two platforms on the sides. One was very high up, and the other was more like three ascending platforms all next to each other. Beneath the bridge - as one would expect of a bridge - was water. According to River's explanation, the objective was to get up onto the platforms and pull the levers. Doing so would make the next part of the trial easier, so getting used to puzzles like this would be useful if one wanted to avoid the "path of most resistance". Already, ideas were forming in the heads of the other girls. "I can make the jump..." “...Sabrina, if you’re confident you can jump to the highest platform, I’m willing to use one of my abilities to attempt a dash towards the first of the layered platforms. Of course, we may die if we fail; but given River’s earlier statement, I doubt that would truly be a problem.” And then, without further prompting, Marshall took off. Abby watched in amazement as the good conductor went for it, launching herself off the bridge... and fantastically not quite making the jump, plummetting into the waters below. The sense of amazement turned into one of worry when Marshall first fell, then to general amusement when she found herself propelled upward and back onto the bridge. Aside from wet clothes and possibly a mild bruise to her ego, it seemed she'd be none the worse for wear for her fall. “...Well, that solves the mystery of what mistake entails. Just hope and pray that your clothes will dry out easier than mine will.” "I'll keep it in mind," Abby smirked. Solve the mystery indeed. Now that the price of failure was confirmed to be seemingly nothing more than some wet clothes, Abby was a lot more confident about the group's chances of getting to those levers eventually. It meant they could just keep throwing shit at the wall until something stuck. "W-We should go over every possibility and angle before just jumping...after all, it sort of didn't work for Marshall here." Gene seemed to have the opposite idea. Analyzing and theorycrafting until a foolproof solution was reached sounded great and all, but there was also no way to know something would work for sure without trying it out first, right? If, for example, Marshall hadn't just gone for the jump, it would still be unclear what happened if one failed to make the jump. Still, she had to admit, he had a pretty solid plan of action. "I can use that Water Wall spell I have and we can use that as a platform to walk across. IF that works, then potentially, we can get one person across to the perpendicular platform there...and then use it to elevate the second person up there to the one Sabrina wants to jump to. It's a long shot, but in theory it could work...I mean, what do we have to lose at this point? We've just learned that if we fall, we land back on the bridge...so just maybe..." "I like it, though that's a lot of strain to put on your water wall, isn't it? If you're confident about it being able to carry other people, how about this?" Pointing to the platforms Marshall had just attempted to reach, Abby said "You use that to give Marshall a better launch point. She almost made it last time, so with a little boost, it should be easy! Meanwhile, on the other side..." Abby moved her hand toward the higher-up platform, "Sabrina's got some really good acrobatics, and I've got on me a spell that can give her a little extra push. If she puts her all into the jump, and I give her that little push just to be safe, she should get up there no problem, plus it saves you a bit of extra work!" "How about it?" Abby asked, smiling in Sabrina's direction. "Sounds fun, right? And even if you fail, you'll just get spit up back here and we can try something else." "It kinda looked like it hurt..." Sabrina muttered. "A-ah! Nothing to fear, the overwhelming power residing within me will be more than enough, there's no chance I could fall as long as I unleash it! You may wish to stand back lest it...overwhelm you as well!" She paused, then looked over at Abby, "Uh, yeah, let's do the thing." "Hell yeah." Abby opted to play along with Sabrina's advice, taking a step back, the Gust spell already charging up in her hand. "Take to the skies whenever you're ready." "When I'm ready, yeah, of course, of course I'm ready, I've never been more ready, ready is my middle name." Sabrina rapidly spoke as she got into position, lined up with the tall platform. "Okay, here...I....go!" Sabrina let loose a burst of wind to launch herself upwards. And upwards she did soar, covering much of the distance herself between the bridge and the high platform. Abby opted for the moment to keep her spell from going off just yet, both to avoid possibly throwing Sabrina off-course, and also so that if she really could make it entirely on her own, she'd be able to prove it. Once Abby saw Sabrina begin to descend though, not quite making the jump, that was when Abby released her Gust, trying to give Sabrina that one last push needed to make it... And finding herself just a bit short of success. Perhaps if Sabrina's arms were longer she'd be able to grab the ledge, but the fact of the matter was it was just ever so slightly out of reach, and Abby watched as Sabrina too fell into the waters below, before being spit back up onto the bridge as Marshall had just moments ago. Abby made sure to offer up a hand for Sabrina to pick herself back up with. It was Abby's plan that saw her take the fall after all, so helping her up was only fair. "Well, shit. We gave it our best shot at least. Back to planning, I guess."

favorite Pizza Tower level?

you won't believe what i found entirely by chance

"Looks like the boydem ain't exactly running tours. I'm all for tearing through this yellow tape," Leo cocked his head toward Sei, "but not if our resident super-hero is gonna tackle me extra fast once I'm in." "Under any other circumstances I'd be on you like drunks on a karaoke bar, but since it is Gareth, and since we've got way bigger issues than some trespassing..." Sei looked the other way. Quite literally, as in she turned away from the taped-off scene before her, looking back at the other onlookers. Leaning up against nearby telephone poles. Checking her phone to see what was happening on social media - much of it related to yesterday's headline, no surprise - and generally making an active effort to not pay any attention to Leo. "This is strictly a one-time thing though, got it? You've got one shot, so don't blow it, and remember that you owe me for not tackling you extra fast." "This is most unbecoming of a guardian," she could hear the voice of her collection of kami urge, as Kess jumped into violent action followed soon by Leo. Normally I'd agree with you, but I'm actually listening a little bit. Just keep an eye on our loose cannons and let me know if Gareth's actually in mortal danger. That's when I'll intervene, if it comes up. "Who do you suppose did that? Do you think the one who compelled Stratford put that there? Scare people, maybe?" "It would certainly be an effective tactic," Kiyoko agreed. "I wish I could get a closer look at it. The Library's mentioned a few psychometry spells, I might be able to find out something about who put it there-" "Figure this shit out, dweebs, I can only fight this asshole for so long before I kick his ass." Kiyoko hadn't paid much mind to the commotion - a glance or two in its direction sure, but in light of everything else, it didn't seem like a big deal - but she did pay attention to that. This red woman really needed to work on her manners. Alas, rude people often stayed rude, so that wasn't going to change anytime soon. For now, the best she could do was take advantage of the opening in security presented to her and the others, and get a good look at that mural. "Oh... OH. Um, Miss Kiyoko, I think we might have a chance now. Would you like to help me get a look at the mural? We'll have to move, and quickly!" "My thoughts exactly. Normally I'd use a spell for this, but it's probably best not to draw much attention." And so, Kiyoko instead ran. Ran toward the mural, so that she could observe it nice and up-close. "Certainly a fine piece of art. I haven't worked out any spells that would teach me more than the human eye can discern, so this is your time to shine! If you need a bit of extra oomph behind your spells though, I'm right here to help."

death by weaponized poker chips and/or dice "I guess this wasn't your lucky day" and then maybe they explode after idk it's an action movie

“...Be on your guard. ...There’s no telling just what kind of surprises await us here.” As the group entered through the door, the first surprise showed itself. The door had shut itself behind the party! Although they were left in total darkness, it didn't last long, before currents of electricity began running across the walls. It had a very sci-fi vibe to it in Abby's opinion, stone walls aside. Further down, the minerals this place was carved out of had changed, from simple stone to agate of various colors. Abby wouldn't have minded taking some for herself, but this place seemed pretty important, and it would probably be a whole process getting some of this stuff out of the walls & floor. Carved into the walls were depictions of humans - regular humans, without the animal features those of this world had - and various animals on the opposite wall. Further down, there was a fork in the hall, another wolf door being down one path. Before the party had much time to think about which way to go, they were greeted by a familiar face from just yesterday. "Welcome, Exalted, to the Shrine of Storm." Once again met with River, a conversation about Pokémon of all things ensued. What are they, and did River count as one? Sabrina seemed to be having trouble with the conversation - rightly so, since it was really cute and came out of nowhere - so Abby reasoned it probably would be best to change the subject before River said something that would kill Sabrina outright. Being down a member this early in the adventure sounded like something to avoid. "Not quite a Pokémon, no," Abby agreed with a shake of her head. "Although, this Shrine of Storm also seems like something you might see in one of our world's games. Or at least, you definitely wouldn't find anything like it in our world itself. What sort of place is this anyway?" River, who had been looking at Sabrina curiously, shifted focus over to Abby. “Oh this is, as the name suggests, a place to worship and venerate the god of thunder and lightning, the Aeon Storm. It is, as well, meant to serve as a trial for the Exalted to overcome in order to gain power in their quest.” Pausing and then back tracking the dragon girl said, “oh but technically this is a shrine to worship both Ocean and Storm and as such it’s full title would be the Shrine of Storm and Ocean. However my lady has told me that extraneous details are often excluded in common conversation, and as every shrine is meant to worship Ocean that part of the name was deemed extraneous. If you would prefer I refer to them by their full titles though I could correct myself for future encounters.” "Uh, no, you don't need to include the extra details like that, but thanks." A trial to gain power, huh? Sabrina - slightly misguided though she may have been at times - seemed to have a pretty good handle on this world's workings so far, so this was probably her forte. "Anything we should know about the trial going in?" “The trial will be divided into two parts. Firstly you must unlock this door,” she pointed to the door behind her before gesturing to the hallway to the side, “and to do so you must first find the two levers that do so. A word of note is that they must both be pulled simultaneously for it to work. The second part of the trail will involve combat against my Lady’s servant to see if you are able to wield the power bestowed here.” In the same somewhat chipper expository tone she added, “oh but they will try to mercilessly kill you so do be cognizant of that.”