I've been resource gathering for YEARS so now I am going to share my dragons hoard
Floorplanner. Design and furnish a house for you to use for having a consistent background in your comic or anything! Free, you need an account, easy to use, and you can save multiple houses.
Comparing Heights. Input the heights of characters to see what the different is between them. Great for keeping consistency. Free.
Magma. Draw online with friends in real time. Great for practice or hanging out. Free, paid plan available, account preferred.
Smithsonian Open Access. Loads of free images. Free.
SketchDaily. Lots of pose references, massive library, is set on a timer so you can practice quick figure drawing. Free.
SculptGL. A sculpting tool which I am yet to master, but you should be able to make whatever 3d object you like with it. free.
Pexels. Free stock images. And the search engine is actually pretty good at pulling up what you want.
Figurosity. Great pose references, diverse body types, lots of "how to draw" videos directly on the site, the models are 3d and you can rotate the angle, but you can't make custom poses or edit body proportions. Free, account option, paid plans available.
Line of Action. More drawing references, this one also has a focus on expressions, hands/feet, animals, landscapes. Free.
Animal Photo. You pose a 3d skull model and select an animal species, and they give you a bunch of photo references for that animal at that angle. Super handy. Free.
Height Weight Chart. You ever see an OC listed as having a certain weight but then they look Wildly different than the number suggests? Well here's a site to avoid that! It shows real people at different weights and heights to give you a better idea of what these abstract numbers all look like. Free to use.
(ps. read the fanfiction here if youre interested after reading this post!!)
i was drawing him on stream yesterday and realised i havent disclosed a lot of his personal biology/lore publicly, but we had a fun talk in the streamchat about it. I figured i'd share here too for those interested cause i did actually think about this quite a bit hehe,,,
first off! yes he is all scales! the fishskin and the humanskin (blue and skintone) are both actually scales! I included a few lines about this in the fic as well, where lu guang is interested that Xiaoshi's skin is different from his, or where Xiaoshi internally comments on the texture of his skin:
i figured this made the most sense, considering fish have scales to survive underwater, and if you're human and know a thing about human skin, it gets very wrinkly underwater after a while. it wouldn't be convenient for him if his skin was still human, so i imagine merfolk evolved to have scales all over.
why the pattern then? because it looks cool
FEAR NOT! i do actually have an explanation. Sirens traditionally lure sailors into the water, meaning they have to resemble humans somewhat. This means that when they grow out of being just a Fish, they will also have a human side.
i made this schematic of lu guang's growth lmfao. mermaids start out fully as a fish! from an egg! After about three months, their human side starts growing in, which means they'll have a human skintone. However, because they grow out of the fish-part, they each get unique patterns with where the original colour of their skin was stretched out. I imagine one of the beautystandards for merfolk is having the least amount of discolouration on your human-side (yes!! mermaid colourism!!) because it traditionally meant you could attract more humans into the water.
as for the jewels and treasures that merfolk collect: underwater these things cannot be made, so human posessions are very valuable. Lu Guang getting xiaoshi's artpieces and photographs in the fic is meaningful to him, because he could never get those on his own, it just doesn't exist. In the same vein, shinier objects and gold will be used by merfolk to show status, just like how humans do.
they take it a step further, however, with their tails.
You might notice lu guang has two golden rings on his tail!! What you also might notice is that his fin is wayyy too large to ever get those rings off. These rings are typically put onto merpeople as children, and then are essentially attached to them for life when they grow up. Having these rings as an adult means that you were born into wealth and status. You'll also notice in my tianxi design that she doesn't have rings like Lu Guang does. In return, Lu Guang overcompensates for her by giving her extra gold in the fic.
Next thing,,fish reproduction lmfaoo
since sailors were historically almost all male, sirens typically had to appear female in order to lure them in. Having an all-female species without being able to asexually reproduce is a bit inconvenient, though, which is why sirens can change their sex! This way, sirens can naturally lure in sailors and also still be able to reproduce with other sirens. Of course, in more recent years, sirens no longer actively hunt people as often and have less of a need to constantly switch sexes. Lu Guang and Tianxi have stayed male and female respectively for their entire lives.
(also, fun fact about their reproduction, they lay eggs! This means that females are only pregnant for about two weeks before laying a ton of eggs. Most babies will then die in the eggs, and typically only one or two will mature into a full adult)
and finally,,,spoiler territory under the cut read the au now before clicking!!
The lifespans!! Human bodies are not made for living underwater, and so even though Lu Guang isn't built exactly the same as humans, he still has most of our organs and his human half functions relatively similar to a normal human's (like he has human lungs, for instance, which is why he can breathe above water, even for just a little while) This means that being underwater for so long eventually kills him, and he lives much shorter than regular humans do.
anywyasss jejejee i hope everyone enjoyed my merguang rambles and is a little more knowledgeable on how i imagine siren anatomy lmfao. thank you for reading!!
one last thing! yes ive drawn them breastfeeding! how does this work if they lay eggs?!? hahahahahahahhahahahhahahhahahahhahahahhahahahah
Thank you kind asker I will make a tutorial below for grass. I'll do shrubs and trees in another one, because it's a different method and it got pretty long.
🌿 How to draw grass tiles: step-by-step
Each box is 16x16, the same size Stardew Valley uses. Make it tile (how to do it depends on your software) so we can see if our edges match up nicely.
Draw 1 simple blade of grass. Many options for shape but I like this one. Feel free to copy me directly
2. Give it a shadow. Wow !!!
3. Give it a highlight! OMG!
4. Add another grass
5. Do it over and over and over and over and over
Literally just do the same or similar blades of grass, give them all little shadows, highlight a few if you want and there you have it! So easy.
It looks really complicated like this, but its literally just a few steps, repeated over and over.
Many games use this technique and it would be perfectly serviceable for a base grass tile.
Personally, I prefer lower contrast grass. This tile will likely be used for large areas, so ideally you don't want it to be too busy or eye-burning to distract from the character.
🌿 I'll show you how to do a different type of grass now that is a little more complicated.
Midtone grass colour
2. Add some lighter and darker patches touching each other (not too high contrast!)
3. Use this shape (or your preferred, but this is how I did it) on the top edge of your patches. Colour them with the middle colour from each patch.
4. Do it again a lot (this is very tedious)
5. Add some highlights
6. Add some fun extra stuff
We're done! Have fun everyone, show me if you try it!
this is probably my favorite tiktok of all time and I finally got around to showing it to my dad the other day and now he comes home every day and tells me about all the places he saw crumbling concrete and says "guess they didn't add enough chinchilla flakes"
How long have you been doing pixel art? For absolute art beginners, do you think it's better to master traditional drawing and fundamentals before dipping into pixel art, or does it not matter if you start by doing only pixel art?
almost 10 years now, and no absoluely not! if you wait until you feel you've mastered art you will probably never start!! i was really not a good artist when i started. just learn along the way doing things that you like, its way easier if it's something you actually enjoy doing
also, just plugging my super awesome pixel art guide for beginners......
So you want to learn pixel art? A guide by tofupixel :-3 Part 1 of ??? - The Basics! Hello, my name is Tofu and I'm a professional pixel ar
Since multiple characters have official flowers connected to them, I thought it'd be interesting to dive deeper into the meaning/symbolism behind said flowers.
There may be spoilers beneath the cut btw; and probably a lot of text, too.
Qiao Ling: Hyacinth
White hyacinths symbolize innocence, and she pretty much is; or at least was, till Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi kinda ruined that. /hj
Also, if you gift someone white hyacinths, it can mean that you're praying for their success; and isn't she doing that to CXS? She wants him to have more than just the photoshop after all.
Hyacinths can also represent happy, playful lives; she did have one like this once. Again, before LG and CXS kinda messed that up. 😔
Red hyacinths can stand for recreation; her life was sorta recreated each time LG attempted changing the past.
Also! There's a Greek myth about how the flower got its name; Hyakinthos (I really hope I spelt his name right) was slain by one of the wind gods, Zephyr, and I think a hyacinth was grown in his memory or something like that (sorry; I don't know the exact story, but it was something like that I'm pretty sure).
Finally, these flowers can symbolize having a positive vision/outlook for tomorrow, since you should enjoy life while you can. After all, YOLO (unless LG is involved).
Lu Guang: Forget-me-not
(Buckle in, this'll probably be the longest section.)
Okay, so, these flowers are, as you can probably guess, supposed to symbolize the importance of keeping memories alive. And yeah, LG is LITERALLY trying to do that; I think he took the symbolism too literally. . . .
Also loyalty! Stay loyal to those you care about (like CXS).
Also, they symbolize undying affection/love; LG's wants to keep those he cares about alive.
It's said that if you gift someone these, you're essentially telling that person that they're always in your thoughts . . . LG should gift these to CXS fr.
Back to the memories stuff; they also represent the importance of holding on to cherished memories. Well, LG is doing much more than just holding on to them; he's making sure they don't turn into distant memories in the first place.
Really interesting part! They can also represent the ability to CONNECT BEYOND SPACE AND TIME. That's VERY on the nose, but I'll take it.
Also, they show that nothing is forgotten by the universe . . . even if it is forgotten by CXS (I mean, he CAN'T remember bc it's a new him each time, but you get what I mean).
Loyalty, true friendship, etc. is also a big part of forget-me-nots.
Ironically, they also represent the importance of having open communication with those you care about . . . yeah, that's not happening anytime soon.
If you gift someone these flowers, it's said to strengthen bonds with them (again, when will LG give some to CXS??).
THEY PROTECT YOUR LOVED ONES FROM BAD LUCK (LG, HURRY UP AND GIVE HIM SOME RN!).
They (are supposed to at least, but obviously not in his case) protect against feelings of loneliness.
They also kinda represent nostalgia and such, because again, memory is a big part of them.
Never forget the ones you care about!! (I think I already said this, but oh well; it's important anyway).
Blue ones (like his eyes when using his powers): They signify strong emotional bonds, loyalty, and the importance of remembering those that are special to you. (These flowers honestly fit LG sooooo well.)
White ones (like his hair color): They're kinda more of a memorial item. As in, you never want to forget someone (that's it; if LG doesn't give CXS these flowers by the end of the series I shall riot).
Cheng Xiaoshi: Daisy
(Halfway there, yay; my fingers hurt.)
These flowers mainly represent innocence and the importance of, wait for it, new beginnings. Hmmm that sounds familiar.
For the etymology, they mean "day's eye," and that makes me think of the third opening some more (which has been stuck in my head all day btw), and now I'm sad again 😔.
Yellow daisies (like his eyes when he's using his power) symbolize happiness (which he doesn't get to have, ironically) and friendship (which he DOES have, though it's the very extreme, I'll-time-travel-to-keep-you-alive kind).
And finally, they represent the hope for a better future (kinda going back to the new beginnings thing). Unfortunately, I fear that his future doesn't seem to bright, with Vein still being alive and all, and Liu Xiao being out and about.
Xia Fei: Sunflower
They symbolize long life/endurance; maybe he'll end up being the only happy character by the end of Link Click after all!
If you gift them to someone, it shows your loyalty to them (cough, Vein, cough).
Also, especially in Chinese cultures, they represent good luck and lasting joy. (These are pretty positive flowers; I think LG and CXS need some.)
About the loyalty part again: It can kinda get into worship territory, which is kinds iffy (I mean, he doesn't really worship-worship Vein, but he does have what I feel is a healthy amount of respect for him).
And there's the more negative aspect of them; they can symbolize unreliability and false wealth. Maybe he's NOT trustworthy. . . . Nah, that couldn't be.
Vein: Dahlia
They're supposed to symbolize being under control. This is funny I feel, bc while he was nvr rlly in control in the Bridon arc bc LG was manipulating the butterfly effect to his advantage, where Vein was just a pawn.
They also represent positive change, and the importance of moving forward. (Vein redemption arc confirmed??)
The colors once again have significant meaning as well. For example, black ones signify betrayal . . . maybe he'll betray Liu Xiao or vice-versa.
Red flowers, like his entire theme, represent strength/power, which he's got plenty of.
Liu Xiao: Spiderwort
(Unfortunately, I couldn't find that much information on these flowers, but ig that fits in with his mysterious vibe.)
Interestingly, they're connected with immortality . . . maybe he's immortal?? He DOES have multiple powers. There's probably a catch, even if he does. (I theorized LG being immortal in a different post, but I guess they can both be.)
They also signify adaption; gaining new powers is certainly adapting.
And, very ironically, they're supposed to symbolize trust. Yeahhhhhhh no. This guy isn't trustworthy.
(This took me way too long but I think it's worth it; if I spot any grammar/spelling mistakes I'll fix them later.)
this is very overdue but making these is suchh a chore LMAO so here are my most widely used brushes with random examples of where I've used them!! these are all for clip studio paint :))
Lineart Brushes!! ->
This is actually only my second favorite lineart brush but my favorite ones was deleted from the material catalog </3.. but I use this one all the time anyway lol. For this one (and just about any lineart brush really) I turn any stabilization to 0 and set it to no anti aliasing (the crunchier the better). I also turn the brush density pretty far down for this one, I just like it being more sketchy looking.
I'm kind of shocked this drawing was the only example I could find where I used this one for lines, ig I usually use it for rendering on top of the color and lineart layer. That or just for sketches. I'm just a huge fan of the texture of this I love how jank and wriggly it looks LOL. That's about all I have to say, I think I leave all settings alone on this (aside for stabilization which I always turn off)
Coloring Brushes!! ->
I genuinely cannot possibly stress enough how often I use this brush. I'd die for this brush. It's so good for getting everything to look nice and textured.. The default settings for this one have color jitter on pretty high but in this case I always turn that off completely (i like it for getting down flat colors but then i practically always lock the transparency of the layer and go over it with a more textured/color jittery brush). This is also one of those brushes where the secondary color matters, I usually only use the secondary color for this because it makes it uniform, where if you use the main color there will be streaks in it of whatever is selected as the secondary one. if that makes any sense (in the photo the left example of the brush uses the secondary color, the right uses the first color with teal as the secondary color). I use it like that too, just less so. It also goes down a bit transparent and I usually try to keep it that way, because that transparency is what brings out the texture, it kind of makes everything look papery. I like 2 put down a brighter color underneath the drawing before using this brush because that brighter color peeks through and I like how it looks.
This one I looove for just filling in sections with color. The first one (chunk jitter) is my favorite because it's more sporadic and fun but they are all pretty much interchangeable. I'm pretty sure this has color jitter on by default but just in case it doesn't it is very important so that all the blocks and the texture they make are individually visible, in most cases I only ever change the hue setting in color jitter (and usually fairly low, like only 5 to 10 for these), and maybe a little bit of saturation jitter as well, but I usually neverr change the luminosity, this brush is like.. the only exception.
these are the color jitter settings I have for the first one just for an example, if you download these you should play around with it urself because I'm always changing these lol.
This one I have very little to say about but she is very beloved to me. You can probably find this brush in almost every single drawing I've posted on here LOL I realllyyy love throwing it in for a little bit of fun texture. As per usual I turn the anti aliasing to the lowest option and I turn stabilization off, but this is really just for fun accents so that's not even that important.
And last but not least my best friend in the whole world. Default charcoal brush. In my older drawings I often used this to color everything in general, but nowadays I usually use it on a low opacity to put textured gradients down on already flat colors, or for blushing and whatnot. Anytime you see that super crunchy grainy texture.. that's her.. This is one of those cases where I think color jitter is like essential to making it look the way it does, because if it's just flat you can't really see any of the texture. Here are my current color jitter settings for it, but I change them all the time depending on what I want to use it for.
Yeah that's just about all my main brushes. I don't use these like exclusively or anything, I switch it up a lot and play around a lot. This is kind of why it's hard for me to make rendering tutorials or anything like that because it's usually different every time LOL.. I hope this is helpful anyways. Also if you don't have clip studio and your looking for similar brushes, all the brushes I download are generally ones that look super rough and janky and textured, and ones that try to replicate traditional pencils and paints and whatnot. So look for ones like that! That's the only advice I have on that front because I really only ever use csp. Also from now on when I am asked about brushes I will just link to this post, so I'm going to tag it as an ask for anyone who may be looking.
'Hail, True Body' is a religious horror series that focuses on what it means to be human in a world that God has abandoned. For Mark Owens, 1993 is shaping up to be the worst year of his young life - and that's saying a lot all things considered. When his best friend Cesar Hernández calls him one night in October, Mark ignores the broadcast warnings to help him out. But Cesar is acting... strange.
Though perhaps that's understandable. His mother did just die, after all.
Or: An eldritch beast tries a little too hard to be human. It goes about as well as you'd expect.
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Please be aware of each story's tags before you read. All Parts are in the order that you should read them.
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Overview/Summary of the Series (a quick guide)
PART 1: Mimicry (complete, 6 chapters)
PART 2: Where Is Your God Now? (complete, oneshot)
PART 3: Old Rugged Cross (complete, 5 chapters)
PART 4: What's In A Name? (complete, oneshot)
PART 5: The Good Samaritan (complete, 16/16 chapters)
PART 6: An Eye For An Eye (ONGOING, 2/? chapters)
(more info + reviews under cut!)
HAIL, TRUE BODY ANIMATIC by freezie!
Character Designs:
Design Resource Masterpost
All character pronouns
All character ages
All character birthdays (inc. birth years)
Mark Owens & Cesar Hernández (1993)
Cian Daniels (1993)
Mark Owens post-Mimicry (face scars)
My Boundaries
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PLAYLISTS:
(Playlists will be updated/added to as and when - you are also welcome to suggest songs!)
'Imaginary Boy' - Mark Owens' 'The Cure' Mixtape
'Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy' - Cesar Hernández' 'Queen' Mixtape
'Mixtape 1964-2000' - Cian Daniels' Mixtape
'Ghoul Huntin' - Azzy's Playlist
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Other Information:
All Locations in Patmos County
Main Character Family Trees
This masterpost will be updated as and when new Parts are posted, designs are released, etc. If you have any questions please ask!
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Reviews from readers:
"really good. only almost threw up like 4 times. also a vaguely deer shaped creature gets bested by a well aimed stick so 10/10" @b0nkcreat
"this story broke me into pieces and then crushed them into a fine snortable powder for the devil to enjoy. 10/10 would read again. like bottling every feeling at a funeral and making it physical. god I love these little sillies so goober core heart emoji. i am forever changed. the person i was before is dead and buried in an open casket... darcy is cute btw" @corvidaeconundrum
"Unironically, this story made me feel emotions I forgot existed. 10/10, would recommend!" @kade-is-here
“This story made me wanna explode out of both happiness because of how great the writing is, but also out of sadness because of how depressing it gets. 11/10, would erase my memory just to read it for the first time again.” @kyliebirdie
"Reading HTB makes you appreciate the good things in life. You need some positivity to counterbalance all the angst that was just shoved into your soul. Live your life to its fullest because some of the characters didn't live long enough or lived good enough." @didasgomas
"10/10; I have gone through emotions unknown to both man and shrimp, have wanted to bash my head against the table too many times to count due to said emotions, and have placed the author on a hitlist. highly recommend. also screw the deer" @itsjustaturt
"hail true body has been the first story to make me unlock shrimp emotions. 10/10 would read eldrich beings accidentally getting humanity again" @cookierye
"amazing story makes me feel like i need to vomit <3. i hope the Deer gets eaten by bugs and that Mimic!Cesar gets to live out his greatest dream and eat concrete at some point. it's so well written and feels like a swarm of insects. 10/10 would eat if it was edible." @stormco0l
The online space of the Eastern Commonwealth (let’s call it that for short) is cut off from the rest of the world similarly to the real-life Chinese Firewall. It blocks access to the grand majority of Outer Net services, with most social media having its own Inner Net alternatives. The blockade can be bypassed with VPN and deep web protocols, but they don’t go unnoticed.
The Inner Net uses deep packet inspection to detect and slow down users that run VPN or Tor-like protocols. That said, it usually overlooks short sessions. So you will be fine as long as you aren’t regularly running them from the same IP and don’t use too much data.
For example, you can:
use VPN to quickly search something up on the Outer Web;
scroll through a foreign news site for 10 minutes;
download an image or a text document.
You cannot:
use VPN to watch a movie and expect it to go unnoticed;
download a music album;
download a game.
TURN THAT OFF!!!
But what about stalkers? If you’ve read this post, you know that stalkers rely on deep web platforms for essential business information. How do they do it? The answer is pluggable transports, which mimic innocent traffic during longer and more data-heavy sessions.
Since download links to such transports are cleared from the Inner Web, the software is distributed via offline peer-to-peer networks or flash drives. They are also very costly.
Social Media
The biggest social network in the country is НаСвязи – NaSviazi or NS / Nasik / Nasvai (as in насвай - naswar) for short. It’s an all-encompassing platform for instant messaging, image and video sharing, communities, browser games, and music.
Yura’s NS profile. Note the censorship of a forbidden movie title.
Each user account is tied to their personal ID, so one person cannot create multiple NS profiles. Users can change their screen names, but doing so requires approval from website administrators. A request to change your real name to an alias will be declined.
But not all platforms are this strict on personal tracking. Blogging websites are generally very lenient when it comes to customisation, making them popular among teenagers and adults alike.
Example page from the Boiler blogging platform. Very similar to Tumblr, but less niche.
Anonymous imageboards exist as well. Of course, they’re monitored just as closely as any other social media and users can be easily tracked down. Aside from avoiding criticisms of the Party, it’s exactly the same as real-world 2ch.
Online Culture
The Inner Net’s culture isn’t too different from the post-soviet online space in real life. Post-ironic memes are just as prevalent, but have emerged and rose to prominence a couple years earlier. Anti-humour, absurdism, and abstract humour are popular in general, partially because they’re immune to censorship.
“FARTED”
Political discussion is a lot less robust even on platforms that are meant to be anonymous. The government has full access to everyone’s message history and private data, mainly monitoring particular keywords.
This has led to people using slang, euphemisms, or just censoring the words themselves with numbers and symbols in order to discuss certain topics. This is still a risky practice, however, since common workaround spellings and slang eventually get added to the system. As a result, these codewords fall out of use on the internet, but sometimes stick in real life lexicon.
Тушить капусту (“stewing cabbage”) - earning money illegally, particularly on the black market;
Сбор (“assembly”) - mass arrest;
Венок (“wreath”) - fabricated criminal case.
Example of slang use.
Politics aside, popular online trends include:
Lootposting. This refers to showing off supposed artefacts found outside the Zone. 90% of the time these are forgeries or misidentified regular objects. Cases of real artefact discovery often result in hospitalisation or confiscation.
Anomaly diving. An extreme kind of movement where vloggers sneak into temporarily restricted anomalous areas and film various phenomena up close. If it doesn’t result in death, it results in fines – luckily, such videos tend to make enough money to cover the expenses.
Forest challenge. A briefly popular challenge where the person spends 24 hours in the deeper parts of the Anomalous Forest. Died down after a teenager’s body was discovered melted into a tree.
Books and Film
Much like the internet, heavy censorship is imposed on literature and film. A designated government committee controls which overseas movies and books can be legally accessed and evaluates local productions and writings in the same way.
Though, it bears mentioning that certain film companies make separate region-specific versions of their films to increase the likelihood of passing the censors, similar to how some Western movie productions are recut to better cater to China.
Stalker movies struggle with accuracy.
As a result of its many restrictions, the local film industry lags behind its foreign counterparts in terms of technical development and budget. Though, it does have a strong identity of its own.
While a lot of real world post-soviet countries started copying the look and feel of American movies specifically around 2000-2010s, the film industry of the Eastern Commonwealth has maintained a vibe that’s more comparable to USSR and 90s-era cinema.
On average, it tends to have more subdued editing and slower pacing. The most popular genres among the masses are crime dramas, anomaly dramas, and romance. There are directors who try to emulate foreign films, namely action flicks, but the lack of resources makes it difficult to achieve the same level of polish.
Plenty of trash to choose from.
Television is not much different from what it’s like in real life. No criticism of the ruling party allowed, but raunchy daytime shows are a-okay. A significant chunk of programming is local bootlegs of popular overseas sitcoms.
Of course, people still find ways to watch forbidden productions. Spread through the deep web and flash drives, they’re not as inaccessible as one might think. A good chunk of teenagers have seen at least one illegal film by the time they leave high school.
Banned movie night.
The situation with books is similar, with most banned literature being distributed in digital formats. Since it’s not nearly as data-heavy as video content, it can be easily downloaded with a VPN – as long as you’re not downloading entire libraries, that is. Still, that restricted accessibility also means a lot of books remain untranslated, which further limits their reach.
On a side note, anime, manga, and light novels are almost never censored and have been very popular across the Commonwealth since the early 2000s. They’re not exactly mainstream, since anime fans are still seen as nerdy by the general public. But it’s a big subculture.
Gaming
The gaming scene is similar to real life, being very PC-centric. MOBAs and FPS multiplayers are massively popular, with a lot of overseas titles being available (though, the ability to connect to servers outside your region is locked).
DEFEAT!
There are plenty of titles that are inspired by stalker operations, artefact hunting, mutant hunting, and other Zone-related hobbies. These games always run the risk of being banned for promoting illicit activities and/or discrediting the police and military. But they’re popular nonetheless, often being distributed physically.
There are a lot of experimental projects. Since local developers often find it difficult to compete with high-budget gaming studios (unless they receive government backing, which is usually reserved for propaganda-adjacent projects), they’re more driven to explore unconventional ideas and gameplay loops. This has resulted in a janky, but intriguing indie scene.
Notoriously difficult survival sim.
Bootlegs of popular banned titles are also fairly common. In some cases it’s thanks to local developers seeing an opportunity to fill a niche and just ripping off an existing game while making it politically correct. In other cases it’s the government itself sponsoring the development of alternatives to popular foreign titles.
Author’s note
It’s always interesting to think about how culture develops in closed off regions. But nothing is fully closed off in the modern world – and knowing the dubious reliability of government-run systems across (at least) Russia and Belarus, it’s hard to imagine they’d be able to cut off the flow of outside information completely.
It does make things more boring. But it also lets Yura canonically be a League player and I think that’s very funny.
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