Daily 26 Jan 2014

puppy

Drew a little new stuff. Scanned a few days-old stuff. Uploaded a bunch.

Read a bunch of chapters of Fallout Equestria: Duck and Cover.

Got in contact with the Team Leader for the SSE project and worked on stuff side-by-side for about an hour and a half. Still no team for GP2 project… Submitted Weekly Report 01.

 

Had a bad dream this morning. Had an unstable mood and shed some tears a few hours later in the day. Concluded that I’m a little stressed out, and not particularly used to the experience of being stressed out.

New phone should be arriving tomorrow. Admitted guilty that I pretty much begged $200 to get a device that can finally run Gameloft’s money-grab of a MLPFiM ‘game’. There’s a lot of other reasons I had been wanting to upgrade for a while too, but without the means to reliably pay phone service, the benefits are more akin to upgrading game consoles.

Kinda sorta wanted to do a 20 minute writing exercise. Never got around to it, and want to go to bed soon. Did talk to Kkat briefly about how the MoM became what it did in the FoE Universe. Turns out the primary operating directives are even simpler than the silly ones I had imagined, which makes the whole structure of it sound… chaotic, yet straightforward.

Earlier someone asked me ‘how are you doing?’

So-so. I’ve got tears in my eyes, and I’m not sure why. Had a weird kind of not-fun dream this morning. Also just ended up realizing that if my belongings got raided or taken for legal reasons or something, I’m not completely sure what I’d do. Most likely try to get more paper and pencil and draw more smut to make up for smut lost. Which was kind of an alarming/worrying thought.
[2:30:47 PM] Retl: At the same time, kinda happy because episode put lotsa fun thoughts in my head, and one of the fics I read is pretty much adding a new character based on my work, based on another character that I already liked. So it’s like. A cake of excuses for me to really really like this character.
[2:31:42 PM] Retl: Uploading a bunch of scanned pics and whatnot. Gotta hop on a bus in about 75m

[2:40:53 PM] Retl: The dream I had was kinda simple though. In it, my dad moved into a new, smaller place and invited me over. I was trying to play a PnP thing but couldn’t get in because my niece was on the phone? (she wasn’t there, and I don’t know why that stopped the net from working) and I took some kind of small single-use packet thingy which worked like a miniature laundry machine without asking permission. And was upset both about not asking permission, and about missing game.

okay bored now this is the part where I dump images.

anothersandybatch drawthisdrawthat diamonddogpracticecontines  sandypuppysmilesplotandstuff RetlLikesBunniesAndCats quickiegameideabunnycatapultsketches howdodiamonddogswork funkylookingponypose doggiesandybouncyfuns

Investment

Why do I care? When I read fanfiction, what is the trigger that makes me go from ‘Eh, I don’t have time from this’ to ‘Huh, I might check this out’ to ‘I am looking forward to the next update!’

Usually, my point of investment is the point when I have a question I want to answer, or an expectation of something I already know I like.

A general list of things I like can boost my opinion of a story, and sometimes if it’s the core of a story, it can be the primary reason I like a story- for example, mindscrewery- but for the most part I give huge huuuuge points to anything that makes me laugh. By the same token, the mere presence of a number of things can knock my opinion of a story down, but if it makes me laugh enough, I can forgive a lot of things I’d typically not like.

So below, I’m gonna have a list of fics I like with the biggest points of why I am invested in them (as of writing). If there’s a fic you think I should check out and mention below, let me know. I might give it at least an initial try.

  • Asylum

    • Insta-points for insanity mind-screwery type stuff.

    • So… Is she insane? Is she being manipulated by magic to hide reality? Did a magic accident of her own cause all this?

    • What if BOTH realities are both real and true?

    • What are the other pony counterparts like in the Asylum?

  • Equinoxe

    • Fetish Fuel – Maximum Level

    • Maybe I can help this be a better story? Or at least encourage the writer to do more?

  • Fallout: Equestria

    • It makes me laugh a little pretty much in every chapter.

    • What’s this world like?

    • What are all the other stable experiments? What’s it like entering/leaving a given stable?

    • What was it like to be in the MoM? What other parts are there to the MoM? Where did the MoM go wrong?

    • Where are the divergence points in Equestria’s History that made it branch so far from FiM in the Ministry Mare’s youth?

    • Fetish Fuel (Occasionally)

  • Fallout: Equestria – Ashes

    • It makes me laugh a little pretty much in every chapter.

    • What’s the deal with Abby’s cutie mark? She puts on a cute and friendly-enough show.

    • What happened to Airheart that he’s like he is?

    • Why is Crunch so huge?

    • I wonder how (x) responds to scenario (y) with (z) team member nearby?

    • Occasional Fetish Fuel

  • Fallout: Equestria – Better Days

    • It makes me laugh a little in most (fairly short and easily-digestible) chapters.

    • What’s the deal with this Caltrop guy?

    • Occasional EEE IT’S SO CUTE I WANNA HUG IT FOREVER AND NEVER SHARE EVER

    • Occasional Fetish Fuel

  • Fallout: Equestria – Broken Soul

    • Wow, so weird! How does this paranormal stuff work, anyway? What are its rules?

    • Why does this guy get into so much trouble?

    • How is being dead gonna effect protag’s magic in the long run?

  • Fallout: Equestria – Burned Feathers

    • I wonder how all this weapons training whatnot works, anyway?

    • I wonder how the Protag keeps moving forward with what they have to deal with?

  • Fallout: Equestria – Duck and Cover!

    • There’s pretty much something worth laughing at in every chapter.

    • EVERYTHING EXPLODES! I wonder what will explode next?

    • I wonder how this ends? Hopefully not with a generic protagonist death.

  • Fallout: Equestria – Foreshadow

    • Makes me laugh occasionally.

    • Eeee, a filly, I wanna hug it!

    • [Outside knowledge about the intended goal of the story sounded interesting. Wonders where protagonists will adventure to? ]

  • Fallout: Equestria – Guise of Chaos & Echoes of Chaos

    • Makes me laugh now and then.

    • Mindscrewy and an amnesia plot all at once! I wonder if this new personality will win out,or

  • Fallout: Equestria – Heroes

    • It makes me laugh at least once per chapter.(After chapter 4, anyway.) Snarky protagonist helps.

    • Given Serenity’s behaviors and magic skills, was somepony in her past trying to make her into a thief? Was she already a thief before getting captured? Did she thief of her own free will? What even is her past?

    • How did Flare become like he is? Why does he do what he does?

    • Is there anything Hired wouldn’t kick?

    • What’s the history of the Clips and Clops casino? The layout? What branch of the MoM lead to its creation? What were the ponies thinking when they made it? Where are its decorative supplies coming from? The partillary and its ammo?

    • “The Moon everything is for sale” Does anything that enters The Moon instantly become fair game? What happens to goods dealt via transactions that happened in The Moon after The Moon is left? Personal Brute Force seems to be the only counter to monetary wealth in The Moon. Does that mean it’s easy for one to effectively become enslaved to its inhabitants by simply being bought out? If one can buy life, can they buy death? Photography?

    • I wonder how (Any mane party member) would handle (Scenario)?

    • If pretty much everypony in this version of the wasteland is both parts ‘good’ and ‘bad’ with traits, vices, and histories that drive them to do what they do, how does one know who is good or bad enough to shoot? Or is it simply ALL wrong to attack anyone? Is that why I seem to find something to like in almost every character that shows up?

    • Is Scootaborg actually an android/robot/guardianangel/magical/thing?

    • I remember not liking this story at all. What made my opinion change so completely since my first attempt at reading it? (All leads point to Flare and Serenity being the turning points for me, so again, chapter 4.)

    • I WANNA CUDDLYSNUG THE FILLIES AND COLTS ALL UP FOREVER EEEE

    • Fetish Fuel.

  • Fallout: Equestria – Lawmare

    • I remember liking this when I read it months ago, but can’t remember exactly why…

  • Fallout: Equestria – Lesbians

    • It’s a really silly short comedy fic in an itty-bitty bite-sized wrapper. Yum!

  • Fallout: Equestria – Lobotomized

    • It’s a really silly somewhat surreal comedy that made me laugh a few times in a short package.

    • Wait how the heck does all this futurey retro-science even work?

  • Fallout: Equestria – Merchants of Hope

    • Makes me laugh every now and then.

    • What are the different branches of the MoM and what do they do? Why? How did the MoM turn into what it is here? What’s going to happen to it in the future? Does this mean the MoM is not defunct after all?

    • A Ministry Mare living to see the wasteland? How will she handle it? How will the wasteland respond to her? Is she going to go back to her old ways? Is she going to try to fix things?

    • So how does Pinkie Pie and the Pinkie Sense work?

    • What is this unique version of the Everafter and how does it work?

    • Mirror Pool? What makes this clone different from the others?

    • Android zebras with transplanted memories? Is there more tech where this came from? How does it work? Who made it? Why? How does it affect beliefs and lifestyle of that android?

    • EEEE SO CUTE I WANNA HUG HIM ALL UP

    • Fetish Fuel

  • Fallout: Equestria – Monsters

    • How does this character’s experience relate to and differ from my own experiences as a relatively inexperienced socially-inept newbie to a team?

    • Is any of this right? Is any of this wrong? What’s the point of the conflict these ponies are losing themselves to?

  • Fallout: Equestria – New Pegas

    • Makes me laugh occasionally

    • How will the story keep all of the shared-continuity parts coherent between so many in-progess Fallout Equestria sidefics that it takes as canonical?

    • Ooh, shiny technologies! How does it work?

    • Is Pink-E fully electro-mechanical? Is there magic at play? Some other force that makes something ‘alive’? (Does the nature of FoE’s setting facilitate the barrier between living and non-living creations being far more blurred than our world? WHAT IS LIFE!?)

    • Occasional Fetish Fuel

  • Fallout: Equestria – New Roam

    • This is a weird new setting. What is their culture like?

  • Fallout: Equestria – Oasis

    • I remember liking this story, but it’s been a while since I read it and longer since it last updated.  What was it I liked the first time again?

  • Fallout: Equestria – Operation Flankorage

    • Fallout Equestria: Heroes gave an in-world reference to this fic’s protagonist. Why was this character important enough to be mentioned there?

  • Fallout: Equestria – Pink Eyes

    • Every chapter makes me laugh at least twice.

    • Chapters are in short, easy-to-read chunks.

    • Is she gonna make it, or not?

    • How does all this magic work anyway?

    • Ooh, robots and AIs! How do they work? Are there more of them? If more AIs make more AIs, what would happen in the future? I want one!

    • How does immortality work? What is immortality in this context?

    • What is the Ever-After like?

    • Hi, I’m Rainy Days. Have you seen my daughter?

    • OMG I WANNA HUG HER UP FOREVER AND NEVER SHARE EVER

    • Occasional Fetish Fuel

  • Fallout: Equestria – Probed

    • It’s a really silly somewhat surreal comedy that made me laugh a few times in a short package.

  • Fallout: Equestria – Project Horizons

    • There’s usually at least one laugh per chapter in books 1, 2, 4, and 5.

    • Should I be interpreting this as a cartoon? As an anime? As live action?

    • Is this as Over the Top as the Devil May Cry series? What will they do next!?

    • So many factions and shiny flashy glowy technology and magic with its own rules and goals. How does it all work?

    • EEE I WANNA SQUISHHUG IT

    • Fetish Fuel.

  • Fallout: Equestria – Second Wind

    • It makes me laugh every chapter, more or less. Snarky protagonist helps.

    • How does all this tech and magic stuff work? What is Necronet? What are Dead Mares?

    • What is the deal with [protagonist] and how did they become what they are now? How do they go forward from here? What do they want?

    • What is mortality and immortality in this context? Is PNK3 alive? In what fashion?

    • Fetish Fuel. Plenty of it.

  • Fallout: Equestria – Starlight

    • The first four chapters were kinda cartoony and silly and made me laugh.

  • Fallout: Equestria – The Long Winter

    • (Not to be confused with another fic of the same title).

    • What’s the deal with this mysterious  Pred-y guy with the name I can’t spell?

    • What is the protagonist repressing that every companion character is more interesting than her?

    • OMG A HOLO FILLY AI. Are there more AIs? Is there more tech like this? What do the others do? How does it work? What are its features?

    • Occasional Fetish Fuel

    • It gives me a chuckle every once in a while.

  • Fallout: Equestria – The Mysterious Strangers

    • Why do these changelings do what they do?

    • Interesting setup in a small package.

  • Fallout: Equestria – Treasure Hunting

    • Makes me laugh occasionally.

    • What’s the deal with Rose? What measure is a moral? What does it mean to be a clone? What is just when one’s creator no longer wants their creations anymore?

    • Bugpony reminds me of Xellos from slayers. The question? That… is a secret~.

    • Mindscrewery. Gotta wonder how much of the time spent captured actually happened, and how much was falsified or lied about to confuse and farther break the perception of protagonist.

    • Hidden Pony is not a ‘thinky pony’. Is it because of her emotions? Is it because of her training? Is it because of a lack of discipline? Is it for reasons that have no narrative purpose for the reader?

    • What is the Wire Pony? What is Zebra Culture like?

    • Occasional fetish fuel.

  • Fallout: Equestria – We’re No Heroes

    • I laughed. Occasionally.

    • SO MUCH TECH. SWEET CELESTIA SO MUCH TECHNOLOGY how does any of it work? How does ALL of it work?

    • eeee cute little filly I wanna hug it!

    • Will the stable mares be able to adopt to the wasteland? What will become of them?

  • Fallout: Equestria – Wild Wasteland & Side Stories

    • It’s really silly and makes me laugh at least once per chapter.

  • Fallout: Equestria – Wish Machines (This is being rewritten as of writing. : / )

    • How did the pony named Balloon get his name?

    • I wonder what the rest of the MoM is like?

  • For Love of Manican Food

    • It makes me laugh. Which is kinda the point of the story.

    • What is Manican culture like, anyway?

    • What are other ponified cuisines?

  • Here’s to You, Pinkamena Pie!

    • Explicit fetish fuel.

  • My Little Pony’s Little Ponies

    • It makes me laugh at least once each chapter.

    • I wonder what’s (character)’s approach to playing with toys? What about when they’re playing with (other character)?

  • Ponyville 911

    • Makes me laugh pretty much at least once every chapter.

    • What’s up with these two protagonist characters? Why are they the way they are?

    • What part of Equestria’s government benefits from the duo’s collateral damage so much that it’s beneficial?

  • The Best Night Ever

    • Mindscrewery. Which theory is the correct theory? The true theory? Is none of this real?

    • What does mortality and immortality mean in this context?

    • How would I deal with this scenario, and how does he doeal with it? How does this all compare?

    • Will he ever break free? When he does, will he still be sane? Would anyone believe him?

  • The Immortal Game

    • Sir Unimpressive is in this fic.

    • There’s usually at least one good laugh in every chapter.

    • How does magic work in this realm? Why is Bladecasting so powerful? How does this three-class system of magic work? What is the magic of friendship and harmony?

    • What is mortality and immortality in this context? Why does it matter? What is just when one’s own creators no longer wish their creations to exist?

  • The Popping Pupil

    • Fetish fuel.

  • The Sweetie Chronicles: Fragments

    • It makes me laugh at least once per chapter, even in fairly serious chapters.

    • What is Sweetie anymore? What will she become? When did she change and how? What of her origin world? Is any world the ‘right’ world anymore?

    • What would she do in a world like her original world but where she had never existed? Would she be happy to reintegrate in a world where she hadn’t messed things up and can start fresh? Would Sweetie’s abscence simply result in some other incident triggering a different pony’s grand adventure?

    • What universe are we visiting now, and how does it differ from the others? Why should I read the story that the present chapter is based on?

    • What happens when foreknowledge of the rules of one universe are carried on into that of another?

  • This Platinum Crown

    • This story has ties to The Best Night Ever and could be considered a sequel to it. Where do things diverge? What are the consequences of the initial story being held canonical?

    • It has similar ties to The Sweetie Chronicles. The same questions apply.However, TSC:F in turn has ties to several other realms of Equestria that do not all comply with each-other. How does that affect the implications of the nature of this story’s realm?

    • Yay, another Pokey Pierce / PinPrick pony! I wonder what he’s like in this universe? Does he work in the party industry? Is he a merchant? Does he like balloons? Was the thing in Call of the Cutie a fluke, or a common behavior? Why was he even at that party? What is his party like?

    • The stylings of the narrative are more like that of a movie than the cartoon. What causes this feeling? Is it valuable?

    • Is the post-Antimony arc necessary? Is it better with the two held as a whole, or split into dedicated tales?

  • Twilight Sparkle Gets a Free Salad

    • I laughed to tears. Hard to top that. Extrodinary Laughs per Hour score in a fairly small chapter size.

    • This story had a slight crossover with The Immortal Game. Where does the divergence hold and break? How much of TIG’s events did the characters in this tale retain? Are they merely actors on a stage? Did all of the events in each story happen, and each of them only vaguely remember them?

 

Daily

I spent more than three hours drawing today. It was a lot like my past Puppysmiles artbinges, but with a different character to focus all of my affections and fantasy projections onto. It was fun, and perhaps a little bit inappropriate- I drew some things first and asked permission later, though it worked out in the end- and ultimately helped me figure out a posture that makes starting/stopping  drawing with my EP121 much muuuuch easier. Hopefully, this will help me go back and knock out any remaining owed art.

(Given the nature of the art, it will go in my alt-tumblr (Retl2) and wordpress separately.)

Somehow managed to make my chin bleed while typing this. Think I scratched something without paying enough attention to it.

Went to an ACM Student Chapter meeting much earlier today. Turns out some of the guests were not only inviting to hackathon, but invited their OWN guests which were business owners looking to hire for technical software development. Might not be a game job, but darn that’s tempting… But at the time I had the minipanic I described earlier today, and left the room as soon as the meeting ended without talking to the business person. I didn’t want to accidentally make too bad a first impression by approaching wrong at the tail end of a meeting that showed to more out of hope to meet my team mates and maybe have some free pizza than for the meeting. 😡

Aaaand, now I’m off to watch the Super Mario Bros. Movie.

– 4-1, Hop ‘n’ Pop Till You Drop, features lots of aerial platforming and floating balloons to traverse
– this level also features bubbles filled with enemies and bombs
– for each flower you collect in a stage, you’ll get one chance at receiving a medal from the end goal
– when you obtain 30, the bonus level unlocks

^- I am so sold on Yoshi’s New Island now, judging on that level name.

Mid-Day Daily RL Ramble Thingy

It’s my first time trying to have something mailed to my campus mailbox. To make sure I had the correct key and box and everything, I went down and checked it. Had a letter addressed to someone else in there, so I handed that back to the post people to return if they wished.

A little bit of drama in an IRC thingy I follow when a user who I kinda liked was banned indefinitely for reasons I’m not privy too.

And I guess my bright and colorful prototype project demonstration was either offputting with the character design, or intimidating with scope such that pretty much the only people to approach me with willingness to work with me are a guy who would really rather have me do their team for the 2D graphical assets (which wouldn’t do much good in a programming course anyway) and another guy who isn’t fond of having the kind of animal-esque characters in their portfolio, but is making something I’d be interested in gameplay wise. (Also, they don’t sound too confident about their coding skills.)

But yeah, just lotsa ‘this is not what I expected’ -> ‘ what do I do now?’ -> ‘brief flailing panic’ -> resume usual routine

 

Daily

Drew some stuff. Didn’t scan it yet.  Had a number of people approach me about team members for my project pitch for Games II. Talked with team members for SSE. We still haven’t named our game, but are leaning towards Resource Rivalry. Worked on design doc and timing worksheet and whatnots. Bought candy. Nomming now.

Blowups! (1/?)

(Tried to see what would happen if I did a 10m challenge instead of 20m. It doesn’t really give enough time to think. : /  But a half-hour might be a little too long to make it feel like a small investment. Also, I wrote this with my head kinda swimming and on the edge of sleeping, so uh. Stuff/)

“It smells like butts!” The blue colt wriggled his nose and then was promptly plunked down on a wooden stool. An orange filly’s green tail rearranged things at the table with the deftness of any other familiar limb momentarily before she whirled around and filled his vision with her large pink eyes.

“You’re not supposed to smell it!” The filly gingerly tapped the colt’s nose with a forehoof. “Be glad it only smells like butt! I think somepony used to use it as a chair. I’ll sell it to you for five caps if you want it.  don’t need it anymore.”

Daily

doodly_by_retl-d737gup (1)

doodlesanddiamonddogs

Tired. Drew Sandy. Did Classes. Played Skullgirls  for 15m.

Jan 21 23:29:03 <Retl> Man I had an interesting time in robotics today. We were blazing through the programming portion until we hit a problem where our robot simply couldn’t turn while everyone else’s robot was working fine
Jan 21 23:29:38 <Retl> Turns out waaaaay early on in the construction of the thing, we used a 7unit axel instead of an 8unit axel. Just enough for everything to FIT but not enough for the entire servo to spin the wheel
Jan 21 23:30:19 <Retl> So we spent half of an hour taking it apart trying to see if we had busted motors, then another 15 once we found out it was actually the axel, not the motor. and by that point we were so far behind everyone else that people now had their robots going around racetracks
Jan 21 23:30:35 <Retl> And I’m like
Jan 21 23:30:45 <Retl> CHEATER UNICORN MAG-no I didn’t actually say that
Jan 21 23:31:36 * NitoKa pats Retl
Jan 21 23:32:01 <Retl> Seriously though, that’s making an extremely minor mistake with all of the parts neatly sorted in a box to pick and choose from
Jan 21 23:32:13 <Retl> Imagine trying to build a robot in the wasteland where nothing is labeled and everything is juryrigging
Jan 21 23:32:16 <Retl> Or whatever the term is
Jan 21 23:32:23 <NitoKa> thats the right term
Jan 21 23:32:55 <Retl> Anyway
Jan 21 23:33:35 <Retl> http://sta.sh/28zp016var8?edit=1 I was trying to draw a Hellhound/DiamondDog pup for an acquaintence/friend/person. I didn’t like how it was going so I GAVE UP ON THAT and then just drew it like I usually draw anthro type characters
Jan 21 23:34:12 <Retl> But I just can’t figure out what’s going on with the diamond dog faces in the show. I see that their lower jaw is far more prominant than the upper portion of their mouth. But when I draw it, it looks freaking janky
Jan 21 23:34:32 <Retl> I point this out to you because hau du eye feex
Jan 21 23:34:44 * InsanebowDash has quit (Quit: Buh bye now.)
Jan 21 23:35:13 <Retl> Uh wait frig did I ever post the link
Jan 21 23:35:19 * Retl goes to- oh yeah I did
Jan 21 23:35:21 * Retl tired

Daily

cheerleader_puppysmiles_by_retl-d72z616

 

 

Awesome day. Yet. Boring day.

Briefly toyed around with FLStudio. Drew some Puppysmiles. Washed clothes. Spent most of the day having fun on the #FalloutEquestria IRC channel chat.  Tried a 20 minute fic-writing challenge which can be found here: https://revelromp.com/?p=46 Finished reading Fallout Equestria: Better Days up to current chapter (So I went from 7-12.) Read Fallout Equestria: The Long Winter chapters 1 and 2.

Confirmed for FoE PnP session this Wednesday afternoon. Hopefully I won’t ruin everything. Also confirmed a meeting this Wednesday night with the RA, which means I have to leave the play session early. And that’s gonna be awkward and not leave a great first impression. I also got to chat lots and lots with one of my favorite FoE  sidestory authors who had a day off today, and ramble a bit with another FoE sidestory author who experiments with lotsa things and is neat. I had fun, but don’t feel like I got much done.

I kinda didn’t feel like doing the daily blogpost today, but I guess I kinda like typing. Or something. And WordPress’s drag and drop upload is very convenient.

 

Oh Hey, You Found My Blog. Congrats.