#corru.askserver

[corruworks]

what are your pronouns?

i spilled water on them and put them in a plastic bag with rice cause that's what Google said would help but i don't think it worked. i can't get them to work anymore

[corruworks]

something odd ive noticed while going through some files is that i can find every file for barfriend and its bar, even the collapse versions but not the counters. is it some reused asset im not paying enough attention to find like movefriend's face pieces or is it some other bit of code entirely?

it's actually not an asset at all! the counters are CSS borders with border-radius to add the curves

(the bottom layer is this rule, the other two layers are ::after and ::before that are inheriting the border with different transforms)

[corruworks]

favourite html element? including deprecated elements

if we're talking base elements, I'm a freak for the "newer" semantic elements like <main> <aside> <section> and stuff. i like how simple you can make the CSS for something small without getting into classes too much.

but really, custom elements are my favorite and it's not even close. FRAME is driven by custom elements, where the UI are all custom elements, like <critta-map>, <critta-menu>, <critta-node>, and they each contain all of their data in themselves!! being able to tie things to happen the second they appear on the page, automatically, being able to listen to attribute changes really easily and do stuff based on them, so on. it's SO nice.

every new mechanical thing I introduce to Corru is gonna end up using them in some way, probably. there's even a new custom critta-element coming in the next update, which will replace the store system! I shan't show it all yet, but... look at this little wheel go...

what the hell is this thing... what is that...!!!

[corruworks]

will you ever make an offline version of corru.observer ?

yes! that's my next project once the embassy rework is complete!

it's kind of painful how much time is being spent on reworking and passing over things (IT HAS BEEN NINE MONTHS SINCE THE LAST UPDATE AND IT MAKES ME WANT TO SCREAM), but it's all in service of being able to put a ribbon on where it is presently, finally share it with more people confidently, then resume making new things!

I'm not sure if I ever mentioned it here, but, maybe strangely, I don't exactly view corru observer as just a game in the middle of development... to me, it's more like a platform for a bunch of individual and separate experiences that overlap. like an anthology that's broken up by a maze you have to explore!

each part continues and advances the story, but are each somewhat self-contained. like, the whole embassy is basically almost its own game!

so, there's so much of a complete package in a "this is a good experience even if it ends on a halo 2 type cliffhanger" way that I feel confident making that available this year, before moving on to truly new stuff and continuing the story.

(and yes it'll probably use electron (don't kill me (self-contained chromium that's reliably the same version and customizable is kinda awesome for this use-case)))

[corruworks]

hi! is there a reason that corru.observer uses gifs for (almost) every image, including static images that don't need to be animated? is it for visual consistency with animated images?

I don't have a deep technical reason for doing it, really... but .gif is a pretty good file format when you only have a few colors to worry about! I also haven't found a compelling reason to really do anything else yet, since generally the files are all super small as a result of the color limitations. so, everything just kinda uses the same process, even if it's a still image!

[corruworks]

So like, how torturous was this November?

not at all! it was totally dedicated to getting the first third of the embassy rework done, and I had a great time setting up all the mechanical changes and additons. it was kinda awesome...

really, the days of the november torture vortex are long past! only one of the trees got sick

[corruworks]

hello corruworks! gotta say first up your game is AWESOME. so cool. love love love the premise and the style and the execution and the openness and the vibe and the everything. really amazing i could gush about it for winks

got a question if you're ok with answering it: how do you make the music sound... corru-ey? like cool and semi-distorted as it is, and like in terms of synths and samples. reason i'm asking is: i'm thinking of making a corrumod (that i am not going to promise i'll ever finish. but iokodobaba, right?)

also another smaller thing that i'll probably work out in time, how does the stage-decorating work on the css end? how would one implement their own props with special custom graphics and rotations and all. i intended to go off ziyamod for this one but it kinda uses an outdated model and i figured i'd be best-off copying up-to-date ingame code... but i can't find the related code! lol!

anyway once again huugely love your game and looking forward to experiencing more of it

hello newmoon!! thank you for the kind words, and good questions! adding a break because I'm gonna ramble a lot here

for my approach to music, I've covered synths and general vibes here in enough detail that should be able to push you in the right direction. generally I trend towards using pre-2010 sources of sounds and synths, though it's not a hard rule. they just have a different timbre from a lot of modern sources!

technical specifics of sources and VSTs aside, there are a few specific effects that exist on every single track that I don't think I've gone into too much detail on before:

slight and slow pitch warble shared by all instruments (i use Echomelt, but you can use any sort of slow pitch LFO for this on the master level or on an instrument grouping)

the 'low quality' of pitch-slowed and digitally compressed samples. heard most often in drums, but also done in-game on occasion! pitch-slowing anything can give it the feeling that a lot of those older samples I use have.

the presence of static and constantly warping, unpredictable tape delay. I call this 'neural static'! I use the Max for Live "Space Echo" effect for this, with a bit reduction placed over it. all instruments are fed into it, and then it's sidechained to a grouping of all instruments, so it mostly only creeps in when there's relative silence. you often hear it strongest at the looping point of each song!

these all play a huuge part in unifying the varied sounds of corru observer (especially when there are guest artists, like there have been in the past few releases!), and might be useful for you!

as for CSS, definitely check out some of the new stage definitions throughout the game. there's this 'dyp' (dynamic prop) system that's been around since EP3 that makes it suuuuper easy to add in most new props without ever touching CSS. the aquarium page is a GREAT reference for this! but here's a direct example, also:

the width and height refer to tile lengths, so three tiles wide, 1.25 tall. it's pretty straightforward aside from that! go to view-source:https://corru.observer/local/city/aquarium and search "env.stages[" and check it out!

i think that's everything...... I still do use CSS for certain props, but ever since EP3 I've largely tried to keep everything within the dyp declarations.

[corruworks]

Where did you learn to code in html, css, and javascript because you seem really good?

thank you anonymous! quite da flattering question!!

prior to losing my job in Dec 2023, I worked as a web developer in a very strange company that made websites and webstores for a large number of clients! I was the only web developer they had for the first 2 or so years I was with them, and then I ended up leading a very small team for the 3 that came after that. we made so so so many sites and stores.

hundreds, probably nearly 1000 if not over, and I'm not even exaggerating! broadly we used in-house templates that I wrote (especially for the 'small-fry' clients), but they always had some personal touch that ranged from small code tweaks to full custom reworks. there's a very good chance you've seen my 'corporate' work if you've bought youtuber merch before 2024.

it was great for a while at first, but naturally, it became kind of a nightmare. it eventually became something I was clawing at the walls to escape right up until the moment it went out of business from mismanagement.

still, the sheer amount of unconventional stuff we did ended up arming me very well to make the very strange website that has brought you to this question!