Moon's Brain

I'm just posting some thoughts, projects, and general enjoyments. Just kinda doin' my thing.

[moonnntuneee]

FNAF Lore Isn't What I Hoped

Okay, so I was in high-school when the first FNAF came out. I loved watching the Let's Plays as they came out. I'm not really a part of the "fandom", nor have I had any merch of the series, only bought the first game (I'm not much of a horror person anyway). So I've kinda learned more about the lore as games released, along with deep dives from various YouTubers. What I noticed, though, is that the lore went crazy. Like real crazy. From "Man murdered kids" to "There's like 1 main bad guy and one bad guy who redeemed himself and now there's remnants of souls and scooping and..." I liked the more simple lore behind the first and second games, and maybe that's because it was less like "what is happening" and more like "what has happened". Maybe it's just nostalgia talking, but I've cared less and less as more FNAF games have come out, probably starting after 4. This was in my head after watching this video by TheRetroDude. I love deep dive videos.

[moonnntuneee]

Bloo's Big Fat Awesome House Party

Flashpoint is a flash archive after the awful death of flash in 2021. So many games and movies were saved from the lost-media hell so many websites of old fell into. One of those games is "Bloo's Big Fat Awesome House Party" or "BBFAHP", which is not any easier to say, released in 2006 and updated for about a year until 2007. It was brought offline in 2009 when the show it was based on, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, ended. I was about 9 years old when this came out, so prime cartoon watchin' age. I have a very specific memory of hanging out with my late neighborhood friend, sitting at his family computer playing this, and sharing a box of Charleston Chews. At that point it was quite new, possibly not long after it was released. I remember there being only 3 minigames or so, and no where else to go other than the house and Bloo's "adventures".

Each day you'd have 3 tasks and 1 favor. Once you finish those (by interacting with things or little fetch quests) you'd have to wait until the next day before getting more. You had to fill up the whole "citizenship" meter before you could go on an adventure with Bloo, and each task gives you one citizenship, so it'd take 3 whole days before you could do an adventure. The favors increased popularity, which allowed you to unlock minigames once the popularity meter was full.

It was more of a "hop on the family computer and check daily" kind of games, rather than something you'd play for hours at a time, but boy was it exciting. A new world to explore and enjoy. You could even decorate your room with the furniture you unlock. You're only given a rickety bed to start, but it's something!

Unfortunately, the Flashpoint version isn't the latest, so a lot of updates and content is forever lost. I wish corporations cared about game preservation and less about "protecting their IPs". If I had friends who were as obsessed with nostalgia as me, this would probably be fun to create a spiritual successor of. I got the programming skills, but lack any artistic skill. Every time I see a box of Charleston Chews in the grocery store, I think back to this and how it felt to be a kid in the early 2000s.

[moonnntuneee]

Kacheek Gameboy Color Game Update TL;DR: I'm making an adventure game involving a Kacheek that needs to do errands on the Gameboy Color, wholesome & cute :) Small and short game. Need to find an artist to help me though!

I'm making a Neopets fan game! I played Neopets a lot when I was a kid (I mainly remember the McDonalds era, but I played a bit before then) and recently got back into it. It's become a bit of a fixation; Doing my dailies, updating my galleries, stocking my shop, looking at Neopets fan art, etc

What I also remember most when I was young was my brother's translucent purple Gameboy Color, so the aesthetic of the GBC is quite nostalgic to me. The idea of making a game I can take with me on that nostalgic system brings me a lot of joy.

Combine the two together and you get a Neopets fan game on the GBC! I didn't want to be ambitious, so I thought about something small and cute. So I decided on a wholesome game with my favorite Neopet, Kacheek. It's just a little adventure game where you have some errands that need to get done. The idea was to start off with five errands and Neopia Central.

Maybe I or the artist don't feel like doing any more than that, so it just ends up being a nice little project. A little game I can smile at and be proud of. Perhaps it can lead to other Neopets related projects, like re-making some flash games, or making a GBC version of those tamagotchi devices! (I had one once, I miss it so bad)

I hate acting like I'm advertising or begging, so hopefully this isn't annoying, but I do need an artist as I've mentioned. If you know anyone who can handle GBC sprite & map limitations, let me know!

Thanks to u/L1nferno on Reddit for making the Kacheek sprites for me!

[moonnntuneee]

Look at Him Go!

I've been having a blast. Turns out Gameboy development is a lot more fun when you're using C instead of ASM. I got a controllable, animating Kacheek and a state system so I can handle different game states. It's feeling so much more achievable, seeing it come together like this. Next up, interactions! This Kacheek will be running errands soon enough! (also, any pixel artists who are Neopets fans and can work in small sizes [16x16, 32x16, 32x32 for instance] and want to work on a wholesome project, hit me up!)

[moonnntuneee]

Welp, I commissioned L1nferno on Reddit to make me a Kacheek sprite. Originally, it was for fun, possibly as a placeholder sprite for other projects, but unfortunately, it managed to grab hold of my fixation, so here I am.

So now I'm learning how to make a Gameboy Color game. I did a tiny bit in ASM, but that was quite overwhelming, so now I'll just use C

It's gonna be about this little Kacheek doing errands and solving problems around Neopia.

Well, since it's just me, it'd be Kacheek walking around and being able to talk to NPCs, but maybe at that point I'd actually try finding an artist who can help me. Can't have palette swapped Kacheeks being every single character.

Never really done a fan game before. Not sure how far it'll go. But right now it's making me happy, and I suppose that's enough.

[moonnntuneee]

Wanting to Recapture Browser Game Magic

Welcome to my "I have ADHD and here's another idea I haven't thought through enough" brain. I just got early 2000's Neopets Kacheek plushies off eBay for my own nostalgia happiness. It brought back the memories of a younger internet. MMO browser games were all-the-rage. Virtual Magic Kingdom (VMK), Club Penguin, even U.B. Funkeys.

Something special about being on the family computer, playing your favorite game, meeting people, decorating your house, playing minigames... You could wax philosophical about that magic and its sources: Being a kid, having games targeted towards you, immoral marketing to impressionable kids, whatever. In my head, though, I've always wanted to recapture that magic. Now I know that's silly, and maybe it's a bit of my autism kickin' in, fixating on my past. If I had to imagine doing something like this, I'd probably just want to do a little online chat room game with flash-esc retro graphics. The same way a person who remembers NES or SNES games would make something using that graphical style. Maybe a little building with some hangouts, some interactables like food dispensers, and a private room you can decorate with a pre-set amount of things. I always feel kinda dumb when I imagine ideas like this, as if I'm making this post so someone would reach out who'd want to do this too. That's a big ask, as I would have to learn how to make that happen. I can program, sure, but we'd have to figure out databases, HTML5 multiplayer (probably could do it with anything that has an HTML5 build target), etc. I certainly couldn't draw. I'd probably not like market it or try and make money off such an idea for a very very long time. Mostly for fun to see where it goes. I'd just want someone who's like "hey that sounds neat, I remember those games. What do you want to do?" If I had to reflect, maybe I am seeing if anyone finds that idea fun as a little tinkering hobby. Maybe all it'd be would be nostalgic flash style and you can click to move in an empty space. Seems selfish, I guess, but sometimes I just need to express myself and not try so hard to worry about what others think. Obviously this idea isn't well thought out and what not, but my head will explode if I don't get this out. Thanks for reading, hope you're doing well <3

[moonnntuneee]

Stuck in my Head

I'm not super sure why I'm like this. In my mind I think about things, imagine scenarios, ideas, environments, imagine possibilities, things I want to do or that'd be cool... but outwardly, I feel boring as hell. As if I can't... express, nor remember, what I thought about. It's like my head's some invisible aurora. It's moving, ebbing and flowing, it's colorful. No one else can see it, though. I can't express myself. I want to. It's as if my brain thinks about something, then passes it along to a crucible where it's melted down into emotions. The feelings live on, but their source fades. Is this ADHD? Autism? Am I just odd? Is this what everyone deals with? Maybe I've learned to not express my thoughts out of fear of being thought freakish. My days in school of my stims or somewhat-childish-late-bloomer behavior being pointed and laughed at. I wish I could share my thoughts with my friends or my wife. But it just doesn't stick around long enough for me to let it out.

[moonnntuneee]

I have kind of an odd desire.

I want to make an amusement park in Roblox. I don't even think I really need to make a game out of it.

Watching Disney vlogs with my wife, seeing all the cute themeing, rides, food, it just brings me joy.

Whenever I imagined adding food to it, I'd actually use descriptions that focus on how it'd be delicious in real life.

Rides you can actually ride, maybe periodic shows or concerts, maybe wandering mascots.

Even thought about adding travel. So like a trip to an amusement park from the beginning (not like you'd have to go there, but making it so you could travel to the amusement park if you started at the home airport)

It's such a silly neurodivergent thing I really don't have time for, but it's in my mind quite often.

Too bad all I can do is script. Building is absolutely not my wheelhouse.

[moonnntuneee]

Toxic Programmers

I've been helping some people on a Roblox dev Discord server recently. I noticed that, for those that help others, there's some kind of competition for who's the most right. When people correct other helpers, it feels that they're so visceral, as if they think everyone is below them. Those who get corrected fight back hard, as if being wrong is somehow the death knell of their credibility. In my professional career, being wrong is another opportunity to learn. You can even teach each other if you're both a bit right. Maybe that's because I don't feel as if someone at work is trying to pull me down. On Discord, it could feel more so that someone *does* think you're stupid. I just wish I could help people and be excited for someone to correct me by explaining it in depth (which has happened a few times now.) Less experienced people just get immediately hated for trying to help, even if they are mistaken. Why can't helping people be a collaborative effort?