#1 Pixel Gnome Emporium

Ross, pixel artist and game designer for Wyngspan Labs. 33, he, Minnesota. I love card games, TTRPGs, and weird little indies, and I'm working on all three. Stick around while I try to figure out exactly how professional this page needs to be

[chromegnomes]

I used to do a daily pixel art project called Gnome of the Day, which was a mistake that burned me out for a while, but the need to create increasingly varied gnomes took me to some wild places

still obsessed with Gnome of the Day #52: Gnome Which Beholdeth The Henge Most Profane

[chromegnomes]

this post has been picking up some minor traction, so I'd like to introduce my favorite Weird Gnome from the project

Gnome of the Day #184: Gnome Who Sings the Glory of Shai-Hulud

[chromegnomes]

there used to be, before twitter killed its various different tools I was using to display them. but tbh most aren't very good, it was just a way of publicly pressuring myself into practicing pixel art every day

since there isn't an archive anywhere and I don't want to organize and upload all 265(!!!) gnomes anyway, I'll put a handful more that I think turned out decent down below:

most of these are well below my capabilities now but I'm really proud of the sheer variety of techniques and styles going on here. I really wrung the most I could out of this project

[angelicguy]

Many of you may be asking- what is rap? Well, to put it simply, rap is the part of the Gorillaz song that sounds- a little different.

[pennywords]

X

[alexaloraetheris]

Oh, to be a little kitten who just got vaccinated and then taken to a high-end restaurant and tasted the best food the chefs could offer and then fell asleep in a basket.

[larval-tear]

has anyone else noticed that it feels really good to accelerate in a vehicle and really bad, painful even, to hit the brakes

[larval-tear]

even simply releasing the accelerator is a deeply uncomfortable sensation and should be avoided at all costs

[larval-tear]

40 is the most natural, most human speed at which to drive through residential areas

[boywaste]

[dogpuppy]

[bishoujobeetlejuice]

Happy Pride Month

[makesomenoise]

🌈

[mortalityplays]

whether they're Good Media™ or whatever aside, I think mainstream liveplay ttrpg shows have been a fucking disaster for the hobby. it's hard to imagine anything that could have fucked the expectations:results differential for people more than having celebrities do college improv with dice (and an entire media production team behind them) and telling a generation of new players that's what tabletop gaming is like

[mortalityplays]

liveplay ttrpg shows are not 'professional gaming', that's the whole problem I'm talking about. they're entertainment products which make format, content and form choices that would be nonsensical or obstructive at an ordinary table. it's not just "oh if only 'hobbyist' gaming groups (🤮) could pay for all that kit and lighting and professional writers and voice actors".

liveplay production involves story meetings aimed at making the narrative maximally entertaining to a watching audience (not the players, who are also professionals who are there to entertain that audience!). It involves editing (trimming out downtime, uninteresting mistakes, technical issues, moments where the vibe is wrong or there's friction in the room). it involves a room full of production crew watching every move the GM and players make, sensitive to wastage of their time and effort if things don't go to plan. and not for nothing, it involves an entire team of people who need to keep game publishers happy by playing and displaying their products correctly and certainly never criticising them or openly adapting around their shortcomings for the sake of the group's enjoyment.

I've played at tables where we've been lucky enough to have fun props and miniatures and printed maps and sound systems and even a bit of lighting, and where everyone in the group was a seasoned player with writing and performance backgrounds, and the experience was still full of normal natural constructive frictions that are largely if not completely absent from entertainment liveplay shows. player disagreement is normal. stopping mid flow to argue about a rule and look it up and help each other with system technicalities is normal. the music just not working today is normal. the party choosing a direction the GM didn't prepare for and having to adjust their in-character choices a little and tolerate some hastily cobbled together fluff to meet them halfway is so normal it's a running joke. someone finding a scene a little too much and asking for a break or redirection is normal. someone saying something a little ill judged in the moment and having to walk it back with as much grace as possible is normal. storylines not going to plan and petering out without major dramatic resolution, or npcs being ignored and cast off with a shrug is normal. all this shit and more is normal because a normal table is structured around the organic decision-making of a bunch of players who are primarily in it for their own fun and sense of transport, not for an invisible imaginary fandom slash consumer market. which are all the things that make ttrpg play inherently a pretty bad vehicle for storytelling, incidentally!

someone else in the tags expressed their frustration at these shows 'professionalising' the hobby, and while I do recognise and sympathise with the feeling that these shows normalise a level of polish and commercial buy-in that's destructive to the diy culture of tabletop gaming, I still have to push back on the idea that these shows are representative of 'professionalised gaming'. they're not. they're sports anime.

[zedtron774]

Kawanabe Kyosai, White Heron in the Rain, colour woodblock print, Japan, 1880

[kidzbopdeathgrips]

life row inmate eating his first meal

[postoctobrist]

the Buddha used to say this about any baby he saw and people hated it

[segamascot]

not feeling very hundred emoji flame emoji today

[palmer]

well I am so 💯🔥💯🔥

[segamascot]

🧯💨

[palmer]

0️⃣🌫0️⃣🌫

[unhelpfultarot]

Ten of Cups and The Moon

This happy ending has the unsettling feel of a fever-dream.

[cryptotheism]

Occultists get mad at you and start saying shit like "bro hasnt descended to the garden"

[neosilverthorn]

So. For those of you who didn't pay attention to the details of the legal spat between Krafton and Unknown Worlds, allow me to give you some details of the finest legal comedy of a generation.

Krafton CEO looks at the hype surrounding Subnautica 2, goes over the contract between Krafton and Unknown Worlds, realizes he'll have to pay out bonuses and freaks out because shelling out those bonuses will make him look like a pushover.

CEO goes to his legal department, asks them to come up with a plan to weasel out of paying bonuses. Legal tells him the contract is iron-clad and to accept the loss.

CEO refuses to take the loss, asks ChatGPT for a plan. ChatGPT says the exact same thing the legal department did.

CEO demands a plan from ChatGPT, which dutifully spits out a plan at this point because clearly the CEO is a goddamn idiot.

CEO deletes the chat logs, failing to understand that 'delete' doesn't permanently remove things.

CEO follows plan, and is surprised when Unknown Worlds sues for breach of contract despite being told by both humans and an LLM that is exactly what would happen.

Court does not go well for Krafton's legal department. It comes out that after ignoring the sound legal advice of human beings, the CEO went to ChatGPT and asked for a plan. When asked for the logs by the court, Krafton's legal team states they were deleted, thus that it's simply herersay. Judge goes "Oh, that's okay, we'll have our IT folks recover them." Krafton's legal team is astounded that's even possible.

The chat logs are recovered. It comes out that even ChatGPT was in agreement with Krafton's legal department, and only spat out a plan after being asked a second time.

The judge, now thoroughly done with the stupidity of Krafton's CEO at this point, rules in favor of Unknown Worlds. Her ruling doesn't simply undo the scheme, but effectively leaves all control over Subnautica 2's development in the hands of Unknown Worlds, including the early access release date, reducing Krafton to just publishing out of contractual obligation. Krafton must also return all social media platforms for Unknown Worlds and Subnautica 2 to Unknown Worlds' control. Financial damages will be determined at a later date.

Krafton proceeds to violate the court order in less than 72 hours by trying to set an early access release date before returning Unknown Worlds' social media platforms.

Summary: In trying not to look like a pushover, Krafton's CEO now looks like a complete idiot who's going to have to fork over bonuses, plus court-mandated damages, plus whatever comes out of violating the court's orders. Krafton's legal department may as well come to court dressed as clowns after this. I suspect Unknown Worlds might buy the rights to Subnautica back after all this and either relegate Krafton to just publishing or find a different publisher for future games altogether.

[dreadwedge]

As a transsexual woman 👩 who has had multiple experiences ‼️ I have found 🔎 that the biggest block of cheese 🧀 is usually the one ☝️ that has the largest size 📈

[dreadwedge]

mature content

[cerastes]

People don’t even say w00t anymore.

[cerastes]

This sux00rz…

[nociceptrix-deactivated20241108]

In my joyful dreams I never frown. Smilent Hill