Because of Certain Racist Things happening *right now*, I am trying very hard to keep my friendly face on despite preparing and training to defend myself should the need come. Forgive me for needing some time to myself.
Anyway, here’s today’s doodles. Since I can’t stick to any character or body type for more than a few weeks at most, it might make more sense if I just pick a general “vibe” or “outfit” or “theme” and have that be the go-to when people ask me what I want to see made/drawn and I don’t feel comfortable asking for blatant kink stuff. So this was me toying around with the colors I like. All I’ve really settled on is “Big coat is kinda comfy. Mini vest/apron thingy makes for a good color splash and a bit of modesty. Thinking of leggings/thigh-highs/legwarmers as building clothes from the floor-up instead of how pants are designed from the waist down just works better for what I like.”
I still find the process of drawing tedious, fickle, and I continue to rush through it to keep time spent doing it as low as possible. anyway uhhhh
Stay strong, y’all. Remember to treat yourself, find things you enjoy, check in on friends you like, and remember that your life is YOURS. May no law, rule, contract, or dogma prescribed to you ever rob you of agency over your own life.
(CC0) Just put this together so I could have some bright and cheery art on my bank card and because I’ve been wanting to replace my old banner art for HeliumSqueeze for years now. I drew and colored Puffy (Left) and Pinks (Pinks), but I grabbed and slapped on a generated beach for the background because I only had a couple of hours before the cutoff for submitting the art for printing on the card, and the background is really not the point. If I had been thinking more clearly, I’d probably have reused the bubbles and balloons tile pattern from PoppingSpree instead, but I think the bank card tends to not like repeating pattern backgrounds.
When I get around to _actually_ replacing the banner, I’ll git rid of those pixelbrush lines for some thicker more cartoony vector lines. And I’ll have to rethink how I’m going to put the HeliumSqueeze text in there. These specific balloons end up looking kinda distracting like kinda off jawbreaker candies instead of balloons? I dunno, I’ll improvise when I get time. Actually, maybe I should go ahead and make the leap to trying to do 3D models for the characters for the banner since that’s the general direction I want to go in the future anyway.
Full Sketch Page etc. The purple-on-white sketch of Ribbon Badge in the middle-rightof the canvas is actually a live-streamed doodle made by Alixesque! Alix is a super cool and good friend, please check out the page!
A lot of half-doodles and reworks and color swatches kinda tossed about the page. Also you can see where I was trying to revisit the design for Zooey again. This time I was trying to take some of the yellow/orange I like from Tails (Prower) and the purple mane from the Rarity fanart animation version of the same Zoobe Luna Fourth of July meme. I was going to keep most of Rarity’s hair style almost directly in tact, but instead I decided to go with kind of a mohawk sorta look to draw a bit from Kazooie (Banjo-Kazooie)’s visual language. Gives her a silhouette that’s a bit different from most of my characters. I feel pretty sure I’m going to stick with the orange/yellow instead of the white, I’m just now sure how deep I want the orange to be yet. I don’t want it to read as “flesh color” but I don’t want it to be overly abrasive on the eyes either, even if that fits the character’s personality. And I think it reads a bit more clearly that she’s easily agitated, actually kinda loves music and dance, and likes to live open and true to her beliefs one way or another. I assume before the whole encounter with RB, Zooey was a roadie for a small indie band. At some point she probably broke off and used her earnings and loan to setup a recording studio. I have a bunch of other thoughts about this, but I don’t think it’s quite ready to be organized and tossed out as a “plan” yet.
At the bottom is a doodle for zbombiibunnii. They were *very* clear that being lifted up by the buns, having the crosses on the eyes, and having dizzy birds/stars were very important to them. I got the distinct vibe that this was a kink type request from somebody who is still kinda self-conscious about their interest, so I did the second balloon-centric thing to kinda show what I meant that what they were asking for isn’t that far off from what I spent almost 20 years drawing to begin with. Either way, the bomberman-themed-bunny character isn’t one that they specifically asked for, I kinda came up that spur of the moment based on the reference album they sent over. And from the sound of things they were very happy with it. When they asked what the name of the character is, I went with “zbombiibunnii for now”. They also said they imagined that the person lifting up their character might be Dark Zbombiibunnii, which I think is kinda cute and that’s what lead to the color choices there. Buuuut I probably need to like, actually take the time to draw out both characters less visually obscured if this is going to become a recurring thing. I don’t normally do art commissions because the stress of formal commission arrangements makes it hard for me to get anything done. But doing informal requests for subscribers or familiar faces doesn’t stress me out quite as much and it becomes a bit easier for us to kinda find a cozy midpoint between me being a bit easy on the effort and them not having to overpay for work I don’t feel I can deliver. Or. Something.
So uh, anyway, was neat coming up with a spur of the moment bunny bomberman OC. Kiiiinda makes me want to toy with returning to the Bomberman series to see if there are things I can draw from it for my own characters and settings and whatnot. Bomberman is a series that I’m always pleased to see around and think fondly of, but I typically do not actually enjoy _playing_ because losing in it tends to feel particularly bad. But the bright cartoony colors and shiny look for their bomb-centric world appeals to me, and I think it’s not _too_ much of a stretch to have bomb-style balloon stuff.
I’m still not sure what the best way is to label whatever it is I’m doing. Most of the stuff I make isn’t as overtly kink-coded as it used to be as my libido is starting to go. I used to think the best approach would be to treat things that had erotic intent exactly the same as pornography and treat things that weren’t exactly the same as any other “tame” thing regardless of how it looks outwardly, but after a while it became painfully evident that the binary “is or isn’t mature” doesn’t work very well at all. I think my current approach is to just go by feel, but otherwise claim the bulk of what I make would be under the bulk category of “Probably nothing too out of place from what teens will experience, but it’s targeting adults who adore the bright and cute aesthetics but still want topics and situations that are treated for as nuanced and complicated as they often are.” So then I look at stuff I draw like this particular ZbombiiBunni sketch and my first thought is “ehhh, this is maybe a little too suggestive and bodily-objectifying than I’d really like to be known for.” But I think I did a fair mix of sticking to the general aesthetic tastes I already like, and stuff that I think really targets what Bombii wanted. I dunno.
Anyway, I ended up suddenly falling asleep immediately work and woke up just around midnight, so I think my sleep pattern is going to stay a bit busted for a few days. One of the more important coworkers at the small team I work for passed away suddenly in his sleep with absolutely no warning that anything was wrong. The whole team is kinda shook and we don’t know exactly how we plan to proceed. That same day, water to the house got shut off for a while and that kinda made me a little rattled. We got the bill paid and water turned back on before long, but it just made the whole day kinda disorienting.
(CC0) and a bunch of relatively aimless doodles to end on. If you actually want to check those you’ll probably have to click past the thumbnail to full size, I don’t know legible any of that is at thumbnail scale.
Game Design Document: Fairy Dragon “Bunnylike” thingy
“There are five recognized types of Embiggening. If you truly wish to grow strong, you must understand them all.”
In this world there is the Out of Bounds Zone, then there are Habitable Zones, built by organized groups or powerful individual who scavenged Data Bubbles from the OoB in plentiful numbers and used those to turn their dreams and desires into real places. Those places very often take the form of theme park-like and convention-like living spaces.
1. Game Overview
Title: [idk probably something like Balloony-Kazhooey & Ribbon’s FLUFFED UP BIG BUNS Very Loud Day in Wonderburrow Zone ]
Genre: Action-Adventure, Platformer
Target Audience: Fans of cute characters, whimsical settings, and unique gameplay mechanics
Platform: [To be determined]
2. Story and Setting
2.1 World
A realm inhabited by fairy-dragons and empowered bunnies
Originated from an exiled bunny who gained power in the Out of Bounds (OoB) area
Recent influx of dragon-fairies into the original rabbit’s realm
2.2 Plot
A rogue fairy is spreading power to formerly docile bunnies
Main character accidentally gains powers when trying to crush what she thought was a pest in her food supply and must learn to control them
Conflict involves tracking down the rogue fairy and helping newly empowered bunnies
Expelling threats from the bunny zone
2.3 Main Characters
Kazhooey (Zooey): The protagonist, a bunny who accidentally gained powers
Ribbon Badge: A powerful character who trains Kazhooey
(Jerry?) Rogue Fairy: The antagonist spreading power to bunnies
3. Gameplay
3.1 Core Mechanic: Embiggening
Five types of growth-based powers:
AMP (Amplify): Enhances mental or physical attributes, empowers projectiles
This is typically either mental growth (which would not necessarily be visible), or chest growth (which I am reluctant to lean into because I really don’t like the objectification of the chest area, but I’m sure it might be better for sales to a certain audience). Empowers most projectile attacks and provides more “ammo” for more demanding abilities.
BEL (Bellow): Boosts agility and provides limited hovering
This is typically either a non-visible boost to one’s jumping/kicking/running abilities and potentially limited hovering. Or it could be a visible belly-focused growth that increases durability and the ability to deflect or withstand physical attacks. More mobility to avoid/negate projectiles that don’t directly hit a weak point, but taking a direct projectile hit probably sends the character tumbling towards the ground with the power knocked out of them until they land or do some kind of resource-draining recovery.
CUS (Cushion): Inflation-like power, affects mobility and teleportation
The simplest and most straight forward. Works like Dig Dug on most things. Not painful, but can be scary for those who don’t know what’s happening. When something “pops” they probably just get sent somewhere else. Possibly the OoB if they don’t have a Home Zone, Possibly somewhere very nearby if they have strong determination and resistance. Probably to the nearest friendly face if they’re not under immediate threat. Also the absolute easiest to resist by anyone with power and can result in Blowback. Makes the target light and easy to throw around for some amount of time.
DEL (Deluge): Increases size, weight, and power, affects mobility
Makes the target big, heavy, immobile, and juiced up with power. It might be done to one’s self temporarily to enhance a big hit or to use a crushing attack like a buttstomp or belly flop. But it also makes it easy to bowl the target over or roll them around slopes and generally kick them about like a ball until they’re out of juice. Blowback isn’t a thing with this, but the target can ricochet if knocked about.
EMB/BIG (Embiggen): Uniform growth, increases overall power
This is more of a uniform “magic-like” growth in size while preserving form. Aside from giving the target less space to move around in, this kinda just makes them straightforwardly more powerful in exactly the way one would expect if the character were simply made bigger. Probably good for using more demanding physical weapons, but bad for evasion. Might make the character “armor” through low power projectiles: they take the damage (or maybe borrow the grey-life idea from fighting games if we want to allow technical “no-damage” runs without ruling out this form) but aren’t interrupted by it.
Power System Notes:
Powers can potentially be combined (max two types)
Possible RPS-style interactions between powers
Different effects for “friendly” vs “hostile” applications. Friendly omits a specific penalty. Hostile omits a specific benefit. Incidental omits none.
3.2 Ribbon’s Weapon: Pafu Pafu Hammer
A multi-functional weapon that serves as both a melee hammer and an inflation device.
Forms:
Deflated Form: Compact for storage and carrying.
Filled Form: Default state, full size with recessed orbs
Necked Form: Extended shaft for specialized use
Configurable valve-orbs: pushed in, both unblocked, or hose-connected
Mechanics:
Gas Cylinders: Six internal chambers that store compressed air.
Pumping Mechanism: Refills gas cylinders through shaft movement
Triggered Release: Rapidly expels stored air for powerful effects
Functions:
Melee combat
Ranged air blasts
Target Embiggening (inflation)
Air-propelled movement
Puzzle-solving applications
3.3 Gameplay Loop
Explore environments
Encounter and battle inflated enemies
Solve puzzles using Embiggening powers and the Pafu Pafu Hammer
Gain new abilities and upgrade existing ones
Progress through the story, uncovering the mystery of the rogue fairy
4. Art Style and Audio
4.1 Visual Style
Cute, colorful characters with a mix of bunny and dragon features
Whimsical, cartoon-like environments
Playful animations emphasizing the inflation and growth mechanics
4.2 Character Design
Kazhooey: [Details to be determined]
Ribbon Badge: Purple dragon-like creature with long floppy ears
Holographic, computer-glitch style wings or dragonfly-like wings
Wears a bunny suit (not shown in current concept art)
4.3 Audio
Upbeat, adventurous music
Comical sound effects for inflation and deflation
Unique sound design for each Embiggening power
Think Bubble Bobble, Puzzle Bobble, Yoshi’s Island, Klonoa
5. Technical Specifications
5.1 Target Platform
3-6 button gamepad devices.
5.2 Development Tools
[To be determined]
6. Marketing and Monetization
6.1 Target Audience
Fans of platformer and action-adventure games
Players who enjoy cute, whimsical aesthetics
Gamers interested in unique mechanics and gameplay innovations
6.2 Unique Selling Points
Innovative Embiggening power system
Multi-functional Pafu Pafu Hammer weapon
Cute characters in a whimsical setting with hints of deeper lore
Blend of combat, puzzle-solving, and exploration
6.3 Monetization Strategy
[Ask Nicely To Not Starve]
7. Development Roadmap
7.1 Milestones
[To be determined]
7.2 Team Structure
[Solo]
8. Appendices
8.1 Inspiration and References
Games:
Direct Bunnylikes: Bunny Must Die, Rabi-Ribi, Alice Escaped, Tevi
Spiritual Bunnylikes: Dust: An Elysian Tail, Luna Nights
Adjacent: , Klonoa, Dig-Dug, Banjo-Kazooie, Sonic series (Amy’s Piko Piko Hammer), Lyrical Nanoha (Graf Eisen)
Themes: Bunnies, Balloons, Inflation, growth, fairy tales, technology “glitch/runner as magic” fusion. There’s a little bit of innuendo, but the whole thing is not really meant to be “Sexy” so much as silly-funny.
8.2 Concept Art
[Include links or descriptions of existing concept art, such as Ribbon Badge sprite sheet and Pafu Pafu Hammer sketches]
[7:45:58 PM] Retl: Eh, I’m OK. In pain from a Stye + headache pains. I was convinced to try a Tylenol. I don’t believe it’s effective on me for some reason or another, though. Kinda spent some time moping about and occasionally looking at smut trying to pick my spirits up. Eventually just started playing the same games I usually do less out of a desire to play them and more for something to do without getting stressed out.
[7:46:30 PM] Retl: My bro went and bought some more meat to cook though, so I’m pleased about that. That’ll be nice tasting food with no questions about expiry for at least tonight and tomorrow morning.
[7:47:20 PM] Retl: I keep feeling like my return did more harm than good for the family, despite all the praise for getting the degree.
[7:48:24 PM] Retl: On the good side of things, I shared those griffon pics with the writer who created that character. He was amused and pleased that I was invested enough to draw her. The same guy also went and looked at the few stories I wrote and left positive comments in response. So that’s nice
[7:50:14 PM] Retl: And I’ve kinda had LUA Click for me enough that I can do a lot of the things I want with it now. Though I’m just running into walls all over the place trying to actually make games. The ones that I would enjoy the most are overblown in scope. I try dumbing it down but tend to lose interest. Tried thinking if there were other activities in my life that I enjoy doing. The answers to that question don’t really turn into ideas for interactive experiences, though. Just blog material more than anyway.
Worked on namegen. SPECIAL is now randomly generated. Characters that are given level-ups will spend 10 skill points with every in-game tick when they have 10 to spend. I should probably make it so that they can eat. Which would require settlements having food. Thinking about working on regions soon, which would represent the general areas that the settlements are being made in. Also changed the skills listing back so that they use the same skillset as FoE PnP Revised Rules.
Considered adding ‘scenarios’ which present a series of challenges and let the player try to build up characters to solve them. Like needing a minimum amount of mechanics to start building a new home. Or trying to draft allies for an upcoming battle, and can let characters with high Speech or Barter deal with it, then other characters good with melee/firearms/unarmed/mew try to train them up in preparation.
Mother asked me some questions about an uncomfortable topic.
I am now responsible for scheduling the appropriate payment of my mother’s aides.
Heard mixed sections of Murky No. 7. Some sections of ch 1, 3, 15, 14, 24. Not my kind of fic.
Mother has an appointment tomorrow. I might be accompanying her.
Switched from Notepad++ to Eclipse for my Linux IDE for javascript development.
Blew 3 hours on whatever that is above. Don’t like it.
Got graduation photo proofs in the mail. They sent me the photos from the person in front of me (coincidentally, a guy I partnered with on a project last semester). Called and got that fixed. Mother wants the photos. Dunno how much she plans to spend.
Paid helper lady people cleaned up mother’s old room. It looks great, now. I took out two very large, very heavy bags of ???trash???.
Planning to get OTG cable and use my MotoG as a mini laptop for blogging at least. If it works out. Already have a Logitech wireless USB keyboard that should do the job. And a cardboard cutout to hold the phone at a viewable angle. Because it’s more powerful than my Aspire One netbook and has a longer-lasting battery.
I still have no idea what to do with this package of astroglide I was gifted.
Made a Reuben sandwich again. It was pretty good I guess.
meh
I’m gonna go play Awesomenauts now and maybe try coding a thing tomorrow.
Alright, so I kinda fell behind on writing this thing. This is that post that I owed! Which is kinda being written more because I feel that I should than out of a need to record tasks which have been completed recently.
Something something something PIX
On Friday, I:
Met up with Ben. Recorded video and audio for The Seas Have Eyes postmortem presentation. Did something akin to pair-programming with another unrelated project. We didn’t switch roles though. I was observer and helped troubleshoot some errors with GetComponent<>() and using doubles where floats were needed. That made up a large portion of the day. Also, we talked about MLPFiM.
Washed clothes.
Played a bunch of Brave Frontier in the downtime.
Drew a bunch of Sandy from Fallout Equestria: Better Days. (Those sketches above.)
On Saturday, I:
Tried to work on the LLD for Resonance. Ate incorrectly for breakfast. Spent most of that time lazy and lethargic.
Played a bunch of Awesomenauts.
On Sunday, I:
Tried to auto-generate a documentation for Resonance using Sandcastle. Took me a few hours to figure out I needed to run it on existing XML documentation, then a about another half hour to figure out MonoDevelop can also generate such documention and that I had to enable it via checkbox in the project (not solution) settings menu. Then to build it. Then took another hour to realize I had to explicitly tell Sandbox to include the global namespace in the generated docs. And once I figured all of that out, I got a very thoroughly outlined website with lotsa cool pre-made themes for the website and everything! …Which I couldn’t turn in, as the assignemnt wants a standlone doc file, not a full website.
Wrote up the LLD portion for the status indicators. (Just in case anyone is wondering, the High Level Design and Low Level Design documents are supposed to be written BEFORE coding, not after. So this was backwards and a pain and felt largely redundant.)
Played a freaking ton of Awesomenauts and Brave Frontier
On Monday, I:
Got hype for tacos! Unfortunately, they were fish tacos. On the other hand, they were serving fairly-tasty nachos and really-tasty taco-pizza. But I didn’t want to hurt myself on the pizza part of the taco-pizza, so I didn’t get too much of that. Also, BALLOONS!
Asked a friend a bunch of silly questions on Tumblr.
Spent about 4 hours pouding out about a third of the LLD for Resonance.
Picked up my Cap, Gown, and Tassel. Hung it up for the folds to fall out. It looks cool.
Spent about 6 hours pounding out the remaining third for the LLD for Resonance.
Played a lot of Brave Frontier. Finally figured out that the best time to attain Idol unit is to grind them in the vortex in that map that’s only available on Tuesdays. Also figured out that grinding the same map over and over doesn’t work too well in BF because of the ‘Energy’ mechanic. Successfully evolved Shock Bow Loch to Thor Bow Loch. Got a bunch of idols of different types stored up in prep for evolving my other units.
Today, I:
Looked at pictures on the internet. It was fun.
Had a rant and ramble about why demanding people on the internet to not do something becomes a challenge, whereas sometimes things left well alone might seem offensive but were done out of affection. Yes, fiction authors. When I draw those pics of your characters, it’s because I like those characters. Not because I want to ruin them. And while I know you might say “don’t do that” to me specifically, it doesn’t mean that I won’t. It means that instead of posting it to my usual galleries, I try to keep it to smaller circles of friends… Or sometimes it means I completely lose interest in the thing I was fawning over in the first place and stop following it, but that’s not too common.
I’d kinda like to commission some work from b0rn-t0-die and see their interpretation of Sandy. Probably on an inexplicable balloon-bursting spree. I’m afraid I’ll end up being unable to afford them, though, but the only way to find out is for me to write up some specs and ask. I’ve got time today, so maybe I’ll do that.
Comfirmed plans with family to move out on Sunday and turn in key just before the graduation ceremony and whatnot
I plan to resume work on Super Bunny Bounce to see if I can get the core mechanics working with some placeholder objects. I’ll probably remake it using Unity 3D’s new 2D tools instead of trying to make these objects just kinda work otherwise. I’m also thinking I’ll use Ribbons Bunny as the feature character. If I do that, I’ll probably change her color scheme to use Carrot-Orange, Glitter Gold, and Taffy Teal instead of Grass Green, Bark Brown and Lemon Yellow. The contrast should make her easier to follow and less likely to be lost in any particular background. (And I kinda favor warm colors when given an option.) You can kinda get a vague idea of that kind of contrast with this image, but it’s not exactly what I meant either. I’ll probably also get rid of her pants (or make it optional) simply because I think it’s sillier and more entertaining that way. Kinda like how Donald rarely wears lower-body clothes, or how Sonic characters are typically nude except for shoes… Though come to think, the latter case draws attention to the fact that they run a lot. Ribbons will hop, bounce, and rebound a lot. What clothes are good for that? (The jist of what I’m thinking of for the game is to toy around with the idea of the ‘homing attack self-projectile’. Also, since Ribbons has ribbons, she may grab things with those ribbons and pull herself to them. I’m not sure yet.) I’d also like to add joystick support for that, in addition to touch.
I’d like to write a fic or so about Pokey Pierce / Pinprick. I’ve got a lot of built up headcanon about the guy, and I’ve seen some pics of Scootaloo and her implied family that are just dumping more fuel on the fire. And it especially helps that there’s so many episodes of FiM in which he or his apparent family seems to show up as well. Would be fun. Would be a long term project though, not a single day. And would probably go freaking slow. If I do it, I’ll do it in first person.
Also played Brave Frontier, wrote about digital ponies and holoponies for about two and half hours, and started trying to make a 3D model of a catlady but then got all frustrated.
Tomorrow: Documentation for Resonance must be completed. Day after: PnP day. Day after: Continue trying to get job. Two days after that: Major Field Test. Three days after that: Meet the dean pre-graduation. Week later: Graduate.
I lived. Meetup with Travelport was cool. Got pizza, a travel bag, a cup, and a lot of info for potential job infos. Other meetup was a dead end: the guy I went to meet was not present. Might have to reschedule. Or. Something.
So-so. Drew some stuff. Got some art I paid for a while back. Washed clothes. Completed and submitted a homework assignment detailing my ‘ultimate multimate creating system’ (more than 30% of my choises were directly based on Large Pixel Collider), and played +1h of Awesomenauts.
I also finally got the video of my robot online, but now I feel less proud and more reluctant to share it. :B But it’s there!
Also spent an hour of time going through a chapter of a fanfic, highlighting sections of interest, and then leaving comments on everything I highlighted. Did it in Google Docs. Not sure that was an upgrade from copy-paste quoting, though.
Accidentally uploaded some old songs I made into Google Play Music. :S Which kinda makes me miss trying to make music and stuff, but I seldom feel the patience for it.
—
FoE PH Reread Progress
48 – Inferno: Blackjack confirmed for Nightmare Moon but doesn’t believe it. Rampage goes crazy, kills herself, comes back to life. Lacunae dies. Mister Shears dies. Huge boss battles while on fire. Blackjack’s ‘guardian angel’ shows up again. BJ Dies. Again
49 – Consequence: Star-vision version of the Everafter. BJ and co start the long, crazy adventure back to Chapel. B-Team is disbanded. Stygius, Yellowpony, Xanth Carrion, Spoon, Snails, and all other newbies depart.
50 – Selfishness: Fallen Glory requires BDSM in her relationship. Also, rainbow kicks of pain, and more information about Scotch Tape’s sexuality.
51 – A Good Day: In which BJ attempts a lot of things and most of it works out OK. Some people still get hurt or die, but for Hoofington standards, it’s a pleasant day.