is it really art?

i can try

[whereserpentswalk]

Stop worldbuilding like you're a school that rejects humanities in favor of stem. I'm tired of seeing people stress over researching plate tectonics and mineral deposits but put no care into how realistic or interesting their cultures, economies and politics are. Who cares about the realism of your landmass if you just put a giant empire of catholic coded white people on your most Europe part of it and made their culture no deeper than "good guys" with no government structure beyond your rightful heir taking the throne and no internal varation on their culture.

Like, please inject more realism and life into your cultures. Your politics. Your religion. It matters very little that you have a realistic map with the mountains and rivers in the right places. It matters a lot more that your evil empire should probably be more complicated than an evil race that is evil by nature.

[imastoryteller]

Establishing Your Protagonist from Page One: The Key to Engaging Storytelling

From the very beginning of your story, ensure the reader knows exactly who the protagonist is. A well-defined main character anchors your narrative, providing a clear point of view and emotional depth. We must climb inside their skin, feeling what they feel, experiencing the world through their eyes. This connection is crucial; without it, the reader has no entry point, no emotional stake. Many writers overlook this fundamental step, but a protagonist is the heart of your story. Without them, everything feels neutral, lacking direction and passion. Make your protagonist clear from page one to ensure your story resonates deeply.

[humdrummoloch]

Here's an exercise to apply to your story: pick any scene and build up its stakes.

Most scenes should have at least a tiny bit of tension. Not every scene has to drip with artificial melodrama, but if the audience doesn't see a good reason to care about what's happening, they probably won't.

Using this 3-part exercise I just made up, just with a few quick bullet lists, you can dissect that scene's stakes and make them mean something.

PART 1: THE TELLING

Take a moment to focus on the stakes in your scene. What's the worst that could happen? List them.

Here's the rule: if a stake is obvious, don't count it.

Wrong: "If he kills me, I die."

Wrong: "If the villain fails to get the artefact, he fails."

Wrong: "If I lose this match, I lose."

Sure, yeah. But what ELSE?

Correct: "If I die, there'll be no one to protect my family."

Correct: "If I don't get this magical artefact before the hero stops me, my plans to take over the world will be sabotaged."

Correct: "If I lose this match, I'll never make it to the championships and show the world what I can do."

The stronger these stakes are, the better (within reason). "So-and-so might die" isn't a compelling (as it could be) narrative stake even in stories where people do die.

Even in low-stakes stories, the characters care about those low stakes. If it's important to them that they impress that client or get that job, tell us WHY they care. Is it their lifelong dream, or the promise they made to their dying mother, or the job that'll take them away from a horrible living situation? Will failure embarrass them in front of their crush?

PART 2: THE SHOWING

Now you know what could go bad, let the audience feel it. Just take things that matter and tweak them so that they're tangible.

"If I don't join the fight, my friend might die!" -> Show us an enemy raising a sword about to strike their friend down if the character doesn't rush in to save them NOW.

"If I drop out, I'll be a bad daughter!" -> Show us her parents bragging about their kid's academic performance and telling her they're happy they have a good kid with a bright future instead of some "no-good delinquent."

"If I don't pay by next week the bank's gonna take our house!" -> Show us the character begging for just a few more days, show their reaction to overhearing someone talking about buying the house from the bank to bulldoze the property. Show what the house means to them and how they made it their home.

PART 3: THE HAPPENING

Remember, a bullet seems a whole lot deadlier when it doesn't literally miss every time. But it would be strange if every scifi involved the whole planet blowing up, right? Or if the main characters all died? So, you have to show us you're not kidding by employing a secret third thing. Here's the trick to this: divide up the stakes into pieces and make one of the pieces happen.

If the protag's team is in actual danger, just one of them can die. Maybe even someone "essential" -- the climax will be boosted from the team overcoming this setback, the story becoming more clutch and unpredictable to the audience.

A marriage on the rocks? Show that their previously happy kid is suddenly hiding things from them and failing in school.

The city in danger? Show us buildings being knocked over.

Hell, the protag themselves in danger? They've got a leg they might not be using.

If a stake can't be split down like this, it might be better to have the bulldozers show up at the house during the climax. Maybe even let the house fall.

After this exercise, your scene should now feel a whole lot more weighty, whether it's a job application or a final battle to the death. Again, not every scene needs tension and it can go too far and become silly, but I hope this exercise helps you the way it helps me.

[jurinova]

Send a character + outfit + accessory - Part 3!

Please, do not repost on Tumblr or any other site, or take these outfits for your oc for permanent use! Also, please please please do not delete my comment!

Thank you and enjoy~

[pen-and-quill]

It’s taako and kravitz, you know, from my sketchbook! God I love these good good boys

[heathenterkin]

You guys seemed to really like my Natewantstobattle fanart. So I thought maybe I’d do this meme for him? I’ve never really had an responses to drawing memes but hey! Why not! You can pick back ground color and glasses or no glasses if you’d like too! Drop in my asks.

[prokopetz]

What do you consider to be some interesting modern takes on classic fantasy races? Perhaps some you have some ideas yourself? I read in Elder Scrolls, High Elves are basically Nazi Germany.

After unleashing one too many buried evils, the dwarves said “bugger this” and moved as far away from the Underdark as possible. Their entire civilisation now occupies a swarm of small space stations in high Earth orbit. 90% of them work in material science and telecommunications.

Gnome society has become steadily more obsessed with concealment and illusions until, in the present day, most gnomes use illusory disguises full-time to masquerade as members of other races. Almost everyone knows at least one gnome; almost no-one is aware of it.

Though halflings have a reputation as drugged-out savants, the truth of the matter is that their pharmacological science is incredibly advanced, particularly in the area of cognitive and empathic performance enhancement. At any given time, your average halfling is under the influence of a complex brew of brain-boosting drugs (which only work for halflings); there are fewer side effects than you’d think.

Orcish culture’s preoccupation with violent spectacle has evolved into an unstoppable entertainment industry. The largest orcish nation is also the global centre of production for big-budget summer blockbusters; orcish martial arts musicals are particularly popular among other races. Most orcs at least casually practice some sort of performance art, though some resent the expectation that they should.

Elves are hardcore gamers. All of them. It’s the cornerstone of their civilisation. Elvish video games tend to be unfathomably abstruse, unimaginably difficult, or both; being into “elf games” is regarded as a mark of refinement, though in truth most non-elves don’t really understand them.

[nerdyzebradog-deactivated202311]

Do you mind if I shamelessly rip this off? ‘Cause I really wanna shamelessly rip this off.

[prokopetz]

Knock yourself out. I do games about fairies - I’m never going to use any of this stuff myself.

[madmaenads-casual]

I love the idea that younger elves love video games, but the older ones remember prefer the old fashioned games. These are not chess or Go, but are more like stupidly complex Euro boardgames or complex trading card games like Magic but worse.

[prokopetz]

There’s a bit of that, yeah, though most old-timers were totally on board with the transition to electronic media. Elves don’t have the same relationship with physical artefacts that humans do. The real intergenerational pissing contest these days is about whether speed-running is a legitimate art form, or just screwing around.

(It’s exacerbated by the fact that speed-running as an organised practice actually originated among humans, so a lot of older elves regard it with suspicion on that basis alone.)

[madmaenads-casual]

Elf streamer: Hey, this is Valuriagod420 with another any percent speed run of The Doom of Karum Dul Run. I know Entmaster beat my previous time but I’m gonna get it back. This game is mine!

[Several minutes later]

Streamer: OK so we are still looking good to hit the 38 minute and 23 second mark right on schedule. Now here we can slip past a lot of dudes by back rolling into this corner 12 times and then using an orcish…

Elf Dad (from upstairs): Are you speed running down there! I told you no son of the Everleaf house will partake in any of that nonsense! If you’re not in a 1v1 comp match by the time I get down there, then goddesses help me I’ll throw you out into the dark hallow to face the 5 trials by YOURSELF!

[prokopetz]

Heh.

Since the notes seem to be stuck on the gaming thing, let’s expand on that:

The dwarven obsession with dating sims is proverbial. The orbital colonies are both the largest consumers of dating sims - dwarf-made or otherwise - and among the most prolific producers, playing host to several major publishers and a thriving indie scene. Dwarven dating sims typically feature complex crafting and engineering subgames alongside relationship-building gameplay; the two sides often share the same basic mechanics, thus framing relationship-building as a process of literal social engineering.

Gnomish games, conversely, usually aren’t simulating anything at all, being purely abstract puzzle-solving affairs with a heavy emphasis on spatial manipulation and pattern matching. When gnomish gamers get into more mainstream titles, they tend not to recognise a distinction between “playing” and “breaking”; a gameplay video put together by a gnome is more likely to be a glitch exhibition or a thirty-five-minute lecture on the finer points of terrain collision detection than it is to be a demonstration of the game being played as intended.

It’s perhaps unsurprising that halflings are often drawn to twitch games. Indeed, one of the latest controversies in competitive gaming revolves around whether halfling nootropics ought to be banned as performance-enhancing drugs. Critics point out that human gamers routinely compete while juiced up on caffeine; responses have ranged from insisting that it’s different (though one can quite agree how) to proposals to ban caffeine from competitive gaming as well. The latter have historically been poorly received.

Some might expect orcish video games to be plotless gore-fests. Those who do badly misunderstand orcish culture’s relationship with violence. Sure, it all comes down to ass-kicking in the end, but first the protagonist and the final boss are going to have a ten-minute conversation about their feelings in order to properly contextualise it. One of the most popular orcish video games in recent years concerns a young hero who achieves enlightenment and saves a lost kingdom by coming to the realisation that all communication is violence.

[unsurpassedtravesty]

Honestly my favorite part of this is the idea of Orcish culture evolving into the entertainment capital of the world.  I picture that centuries ago there was some Dark Lord type or another who was overthrown not by a rag-tag band of adventurers of the more classically heroic races but by the orcs themselves, who were tired of being exploited and slaughtered meaninglessly, who then looked at one another when the rubble settled and wondered, collectively, “What now?”

And then apparently deciding that the answer to this was channeling a history of nonstop violence into art, sports and theater.

[prokopetz]

Orcs killed their gods, then wrote a musical about it.

(This is also a big part of the reason that most orcish polities are at least moderate socialists. “No gods, no masters” carries a lot more punch when you can physically point to the decapitated skull of your former chief deity on display in your legislative assembly’s foyer.)

[unsurpassedtravesty]

So you’re telling me that orcs have a culture that channels violent aggression into art and that they’re socialists?  I think I have a new favorite race.

I wonder if there’s a particular way in which their gods are ‘traditionally’ depicted in performance.  Depending on the genre of the work I could see them as anything from aloof and inimical to bombastically awful to bumbling and self-important.

(Headcanon: one of the more influential early works had the chief of the gods portrayed by an actor standing on a high platform out of the view of the audience, with lighting above and behind him in such a way that he appears as a shadow cast on the backdrop, looming over the heroine of the piece.)

[prokopetz]

And bringing it back around to video games, orcish CRPGs often depict the gods as controlling and abusive parental figures. There’s a popular meme where you describe an orcish CRPG as “the one where you kill God at the end”. The joke is that’s all of them.

[ruteekatreya]

I can’t believe Square-enix is actually run by orcs

[prokopetz]

This world’s equivalent of Square-Enix is a collaboration between orcish and dwarven game developers, initially conceived of as an overture of cultural reconciliation. Opinions regarding the outcome are… mixed.

Anyway, we’ve done elves and orcs - let’s do dwarves!

The reasons why the bulk of the dwarven population now lives in orbital habitats - or “habs”, as they’re colloquially known - are complex, ranging from resource exhaustion in ancestral delves to political tension with human neighbours, and only partly involve the increasing incidence of demons of shadow and flame from before the dawn of time. “We did it to get away from all the damn balrogs” lies somewhere between an oversimplification and a private joke.

(Incidentally, many dwarves will seriously side-eye any non-dwarf who brings up the balrog thing, even in jest, owing to the fact that dwarven greed being responsible for unleashing evil upon a previously pristine world is a once-popular racist canard. Elves in particular receive very little benefit of the doubt.)

One surprising factor behind the move, however, is biological: dwarven resistance to magic and poison also applies to cosmic rays. Most habs have no radiation shielding whatsoever, which enormously simplifies their construction compared to general-purpose space stations, at the cost of rendering them unsuitable for long-term residence by non-dwarves. This suits most dwarves just fine.

The move to orbit didn’t mean an end to mining: captured comets and asteroids are towed into high orbit for processing by specialised resource extraction habs. Bringing the whole asteroid home is much more convenient than trying to process it on-site, and unmanaged de-orbiting events almost never happen.

(Just don’t ask a dwarf about about what happened to their former terrestrial capital - it’s a touchy subject.)

Also, it turns out that about one in twenty asteroids contains unhatched space-demon eggs. This is widely regarded as proof of the dwarven cultural conviction that the universe is out to get them. (Thanks to @perfectly-ultimate-great-shoofle for this one!)

Apart from resource extraction, dwarven habs play many other roles, from solar power collection to telecommunications to zero-G manufacturing to research and development. Most habs are small enough - a few hundred residents at most - that they’re effectively single-function, and all dwarves hailing from habs with the same function are considered to be members of the same clan, even if their respective orbits are nowhere near each other.

Dwarven gamers who live on telecommunications habs enjoy fantastic ping, and are justly reviled for it by their terrestrial opponents.

[slimetony]

lets make a videogame how hard can it be

[slimetony]

nevermind you have to know shit about computers

[hthrthebear]

hey!! sorry to hijack this post, but there are a bunch of ways you can make videogames without knowing shit about computers!! 

for starters, there’s Twine, which is fucking great for making all kinds of interactive experiences (it’s what Crystal Warrior Ke$ha was made in so you KNOW it’s good) at all skill levels (i picked it up and made a game in two minutes a few nights ago)

if you want a bit more involved experience there’s Inform 7 which is a simple language for text-based adventure games that reads like slightly-weird English and also relatively easy to learn

you can do some pretty fucking cool stuff with Unity (my personal engine of choice) but you may need to dig a bit farther to get at the good stuff. there’s lots of really good presets though (i made an entire game just mixing and matching pre-existing templates and adding in my own art, won an award at a game jam for that one) and if you want help the community’s pretty dang friendly from what i’ve seen!

this is just a taste of what’s out there from what i’ve seen, but there’s so many cool resources out there. if anyone wants help getting started, i’m around to give you a leg up on making something in the coolest, most unexplored art medium around!

[auttoton]

I’m addin’ to this post because lowering the barrier to entry for making games is super important to me!!!! If y’all have any questions about making games, you’re welcome to come and ask! I made this list a while back with some friends, so it has some of the programs John already mentioned.

2D Editors:

GameMaker : Potential for pure drag-and-drop “programming”. It is recommended to read-up on the program’s functions to make good use of it. Good for prototyping. Uses its own language called Game Maker Language (GML) that is similar to a C language (e.g. C++ or C#). For both Mac and PC; free version available.

Construct2 : Drag and drop level editor that uses an “If-Then” event sheet structure for programming. Good for prototyping and for beginners. For PC; free version available.

GameSalad : Drag and drop with no code requirement. Good for programming. For both Mac and PC; free version available.

Solpeo : HTML5 based game engine for 2D and isometric game development. Some programming knowledge needed. Platforms supported: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer 9+. Free version available.

Stencyl : Drag and Drop “programming,” templates you can edit the variables/values for.

Scratch : Lego-block-style coding platform by MIT; totally free and a great intro to thinking in code. Very kid-friendly and comes with a community site. Browser version available.

3D Editors:

Unity : 3D editor that creates 3D games. Can build games for browser, as an app, or for mobile devices (iOS and Android). For both Mac and PC; free version available.

UDK (Unreal Development Kit) : Full-fledged, highly advanced editor. Features a complete set of tools that go from level design to visual scripting to cut-scene creation. Uses it’s own programming language called Unreal Script that can be arranged with Kismet, a visual code editor. For Mac and PC; free.

2D Art/Animation Software:

GIMP : Free photo editing and digital painting software.

Easy Paint Tool SAI : Free digital painting software with a UI similar to Photoshop.

Mischief : Free digital painting software with an endless canvas.

3D Art/Animation Software:

Sculptris : From the company that created Zbrush, this free software is ideal for beginning 3D sculptors.

Maya : Animation, VFX, lighting, and rendering software.

Magical Voxel : Voxel Art (3D Pixel Art). Very intuitive and quick to pick up.

SketchUp :  Architectural modeling software, great for creating 3D environments and buildings. Free version available.

Text-Based Games:

Twine : Create interactive text stories using Twine’s visual map system that links your game together. Easy to learn and use. End result is browser-based. For Mac and PC; free.

Quest : Interactive text stories that you can build in-browser.

Ren’Py : Create visual novels using a modified version of Python that reads like a combination of stage directions and a CYOA novel. For PC, Mac, and Linux; free.

Audio Resources/Editors:

Indie Game Music : This site offers free indie music with no need to worry about royalties or licenses.

Audacity : A free, open-source, cross-platform sound editor that allows you to record and arrange sound.

Super Flash Bros. : This site allows you to record theremin-like (8bit) sounds and export them as .wav files for your games.

FL Studio : Free music composition software.

Miscellaneous Tools:

Donjon RPG Tools : Randomly generates maps, items, XP, etc.

W3Schools : Web-code tutorial database: HTML, CSS, Javascript+.

Debut Video Capture : Video screen capture to record Let’s Play videos, showcase your game on Youtube, etc.

Korsakow : Free tool for creating interactive and database films.

Processing : Flexible programming language used for visual and interactive artworks and simulations.

From Student to Designer, Part 2 : Tips for making a well-rounded, solid portfolio

Places to Publish/Share:

Itch.io : Platform for self-publishing games

Philome.la : Place to share Twine Games

[nicejewishguy]

@slimetony how does it feel to have your shitpost be turned into a helpful resource

[slimetony]

It feels like a betrayal of every tenant of humor I subscribe to. Helping people is an alien concept to me. It makes me upset.

[kingjaffejoffer]

Check out the zoom on a Nikon P900 camera. 

[reibeibei]

In love……

[vibesygal]

I remember when I had this camera and the zoom shots were the best shots

[tsoki]

I thought this was fucking fake but ?????

what in gods name ………. 

[miss-azura-deactivated20170724]

APPARENTLY THEY CAN ZOOM INTO SATURN TOO WITH THIS THING????

[scaliefox]

I thought it was going to be hilariously expensive, but oddly it’s only $600 (not much more than my Rebel T3 kit that was $450)

http://www.nikonusa.com/en/nikon-products/product/compact-digital-cameras/coolpix-p900.html

The lens is apparently equivalent to 2000mm telephoto.

[hzs-modblog]

What can the macro lens do?

[ghostymcspooky-blog]

WHAT THE FUCK

[krykky]

I have a Nikon Coolpix L820, and I use it to play voyeur with insects.

[lizthefangirl]

I GOT THAT COOLPIX TOO DAWG

[shitpost-senpai]

Yo what the fack

[youknowitsalionsheart-deactivat]

What the frick

[andallshallbewell]

[softetheree]

♡

[deeppink-man]

Sad scene meme! I made more of this. You can use it!

[communistbard]

give me a character/expression and i’ll try it

[sasepsilon]

I finally made my own palette challenge! Send me, or the artist who reblogs this, a character, pairing or landscape + the name of one palettte to draw!

[pen-and-quill]

I drew a galra keith!!! :D

[pen-and-quill]

Keith Kogane icon attempt!!! Feel free to use, but please credit me!!!! :D I like how this turned out, I made this for a friend, but I’m posting it bc y not???? Flower crown source https://www.polyvore.com/transparent_flower_crowns/thing?id=87923270 Red galaxy source http://m.imgur.com/ztf67?r

[pen-and-quill]

Sorry for the late submission, @punchthemintheface!!! I'm ur secret santa!!! I had drawn a sad thing before I went to Saudi Arabia, and I forgot to take it with me so u have a happy picture instead of what I had planned before!!!!! I hope u like it!!!!!!

[pen-and-quill]

@petrichorcryptidlore Here u go!!!! They're meant to be dancing, and as for the background, I tried!!! I hope u like it!!! Happy holidays!!!!

[pen-and-quill]

Beauty

Life

Is not pretty

It’s a terrible thing sometimes, and a great thing as well

It is not pretty,

But works of art don’t always have to be pretty.

They say something, they mean something

They twist themselves inside you and don’t let go

They do not exist to be pretty,

light footed and washed away.

Life

has a beauty 

That isn’t always obvious to see.

But

There is a kind of beauty in its

asymmetry,

in its 

chaos,

in its ups and downs,

in its lows and highs.

Life is not pretty, 

but

it takes a certain kind of beauty

a good one, and a terrible one too

to wake up

and see both life and the skies as blue.

Based on this series