#text express

[ikoarts]

August 2023 Art

vvv dates + info under the cut vvv

1 - 02/08/2023 : Trixie :) i think this is the first traditional thing i drew of her? i like it but im still ironing out the kinks a bit with her

2 - 04/08/2023 : one of my more ambitious-ish pieces of the year, i wanted to draw a fullbody of Ru in a unique pose surrounded by all her things, think of it like a fun eye spy i guess x theres obvs some bits i could have done better but overall im happy with the pose

3 - 05/08/2023 : found a silly pic and it reminded me of Alice so i drew her over it... on her weekly aldi shop in her jarmas x

4, 5, 6 - 16/08/2023 : think i was testing out a new sketchbook, paper is a bit funny and not something ive drawn on for awhile, since i usually buy the same kind of sketchbook every time, but these 3 doodles are from a new one, a lil Ru and some silly ones

7, 8, 9 - 17/08/2023 : some silly phone doodles of Trixie, mostly, Richie is there too...... she is a diesel engine, and also smells, naturally.. a lil lineless thing of her in there too, think i was figuring out some colours

10 - 20/08/2023 : felt like doing some inked traditional art again, so did a lil Ru doodle x

11 - 21/08/2023 : a very random fanart for a mobile game!! i wanted to draw the mains from Text Express, which is a really good mobile game actually... i kno they gay

12 - 24/08/2023 : now commencing train derangement.... heres a pen doodle of Edward from TTTE <3 i did say there would be more pen doodles soon

13, 14 - 26/08/2023 : little face doodles, decided to turn Ru into a choochoo (i like to call her chooshada), so theres also some initial pen doodles of her as her basis, the NER 398 Class, the class had a history of boiler explosions and had many rebuilds, so i think its happened to her... at least once x

[1863-project]

Was informed by @clerkz​ that there is a word game where you get to play as a female engineer and I am getting so much euphoria just from knowing this exists:

She has the soot and grease on her face and everything and I feel so...so represented for once. This is what I needed to see as a kid. I needed this so, so badly.

Main character Tilly Hudson (great surname - a Hudson is a 4-6-4) has a cute design and gets down and dirty repairing and maintaining the locomotive she drives. This would have meant so much to me as a kid who wanted this for herself. Seeing a woman doing it would have had such a huge impact. I needed this so badly.

And doing this does not make her unattractive, either! I needed to see that, too, because I grew up in a place where I was socially punished for not performing femininity to one specific standard that I, an autistic girl, would never be capable of reaching. So to see a woman portrayed a lot like me being viewed as attractive and lovable is really surreal because I never was able to view myself that way. Sure, this is a silly mobile game and she’s still conventionally attractive, but the personality traits I have being portrayed this way is HUGE for me and I really would have benefited from seeing this as a younger woman.

I haven’t started playing the game yet because I’m afraid I’m going to cry the entire time.

[dzamie]

What is your favorite mobile game?

okay I've been putting this one off for a bit, but lemme see if I can do it justice (and, uh, I do put a promo link at the end. y'know, if you want):

My favorite mobile game right now is Text Express(/Tilly's Express). On the surface, it's your average generic "scrabble+crossword" game, where you're given 4-7 letters and need to find a bunch of words using them, but there's a bunch of stuff it does so much fucking better than every other game in the genre:

No ads popping up between levels - every single ad is opt-in, with clearly marked "get bonus score via premium currency" / "get bonus score via ad" / "continue without bonus score" buttons, if a bonus is even offered.

No fucking energy system - the closest it comes is regenerating story exp, but once that runs out... I can just keep playing. I just don't unlock new destinations.

Surprisingly big dictionary - and not only can you see the definitions of words, but it even recognizes some words as inappropriate; they won't break your valid-words streak, but the game will say "No Reward," which is a nice middle-ground. It's a little arbitrary on what it accepts and rejects, though: "pee" is valid, but "pees" is a No Reward.

Varied hints system - the game has like 4 different kinds of hints, and gives them out liberally (though you can also buy them with the non-premium currency). It's nice to see more than just "reveal a random letter somewhere"

Cute story about a girl and her train - this game has a fucking narrative (albeit kinda contrived) with animations and characters. There's an inventor, living in an observatory, who invented the camera; there's a senile old guy you nearly run over with your train; there's some sort of old mystery ruins; there's a not!Girl Scout who... okay, she's less of a character. You're exploring and also trying to find the girl's parents, who are, so far, ambiguously probably alive? And apparently there used to be a golden age of trains, and then Train Wars? What the fuck is a Train War? I want to see it.

Unusually high amount of worldbuilding details? - Seriously, what the fuck happened in the Train Wars? Who are these possibly-mythical Volan creatures? I need more information on the cute animal critters mentioned in one of the collections. And can Tilly's grandmother do magic or not???

Lots of cutscenes - (all skippable, but I recommend not) I cannot overstate how many cutscenes there are in this story. Between multiple stories that pop up, cutscenes that appear when you fill your Collections enough, and even just the first time you show up in a new area or start a new minigame, there is straight-up more dialogue than some "normal" RPGs, I reckon.

Miniga- actually, this gets its own list

Minigames!

Okay, so you know how wordscapes and its many clones does that "ooh, try to guess the word containing THIS space now!!!" thing for a daily? And how fucking boring and luck-based it is? Text Express says fuck that shit, we're getting creative:

no crossword, just make the highest score you can in X number of words

crossword boxes vanish after you fill the word (except for intersections), eventually leaving you with little islands

find one mystery word (usually uses all letters, but not necessarily)

find as many words as possible, game ends when you find the mystery word

crossword turns invisible shortly after starting; see only the boxes you've filled in and ones directly adjacent

"Birdle" - 6 guesses to find 6 words (automatically fills in what would be green in Wordle)

use the (changing) marked letter in your next word to get points

all these words share a letter in these marked positions; figure out the letter for help figuring out the words

With the exception of the last one, these do actually have recharging plays, but there's always something to do. And to get anywhere, you play the regular game to power the train that takes you places.

Honestly, the only downsides I can think of is that the graphics can be a tad wonky (though they're being fixed - used to be that the Low setting made the ground disappear, but that's no longer the case lol)

Anyway, highly recommend. It's a lot of fun, especially if you have a wide vocabulary. Also here's the referral link so you can help me earn stuff or whatever.

[crankhandles]

If you’re not playing Text Express, what are you DOING…

[thatradfailure]

I have no idea who this is.

My phone can't even play the game so all I get is the opening graphics/cutscenes and he refuses to leave my brain.

[nullsk]

Text Express - Word Adventure

Text Express - Word Adventure

yes i play lame phone games

add me F6582B16489F991B

[awfulhorrid]

I'm enjoying playing Text Express, but I know I can't be the only one shipping Tilly and Elenore. Every time there's a daring adventure or heartfelt discussion I keep thinking "Ok, now kiss already!"

[mya-blazing]

Decided to show more of Text Express because this is the part where Tilly meets Eleanor.