The Loose End

There are some who call me... Tim.

[thelooseendtim]

🔑

Hello! I'm Tim. I'm a writer, musician, artist and game dev.

🔑

#loose ends

#complaints department

#who is this for

#tim writes poetry

#byline

#break everything

#rebullition

[thelooseendtim]

There is an empty fish tank in my house.

My friend had gotten me a larger fish tank for my Oranda. The original tank was a small, hexagonal one with a wooden cabinet underneath, and it was unintentionally far too little space for the expensive fish.

The larger tank was a wide rectangle on a taller cabinet than the last. Monolithic, caked in residue from prior use.

I had no place to put the larger other than crooked in the archway so as to not stand in my way when walking about the house. I couldn't fill it for quite a while, as I had to do frequent water tests on the previous tank. And in the weeks that tank stood in the archway, I felt a sense or utter wrongness emanating from it. Right beside a live tank, a filthy lifeless glass prism caked in the waste of a previous fish I will never know stood claustrophobically in my archway tilted parallel to nothing.

It felt...

Invasive. Cancerous. Threatening.

It obscured my view of the stairwell, as if it had somehow descended them despite how I knew full well that I had brought it inside myself.

There is an empty fish tank in my house.

Sometimes, when I am hardly lucid and falling asleep in the chaise lounge facing the awful tank, I imagine my Oranda swimming right through the glass of it's old tank, drifting through the air weightlessly, and away from the filthy intruder in our home.

We both can't escape it.

[thelooseendtim]

As an artist, I ask the real questions in life.

Like "What if there was a really fucked-up looking Kim Kitsuragi?"

[prokopetz]

Story-driven roguelike where you actually resolve the central problem with no contrived shooting-our-own-themes-in-the-foot excuse for why you just keep iterating on it forever after the credits roll, and any runs after that are framed as PTSD dreams about all the shit the protagonist went through.

[thelooseendtim]

I keep having silly quick game ideas, and there's one in particular in my head.

Sweet Occult Magic Garden Party Massecre

It's a roguelike where you play as a mad-hatter archetype trying to save a fairytale world from an eldritch invasion.

...Who also has a chainsaw.

[thelooseendtim]

Going to write that character later, all I know so far is that I want them to be a bit of an over-eager and excitable person.

And that sometimes they talk to the information textboxes, like a voice in their head.

Design-wise, a long dress-like coat, shorts and tights, a fun tophat of course, and gloves since they can't very well get god-blood on their hands.

I think for now, I'll name them... Wren Willowsworth.

Chainsaws, caramel and strawberry bonbons, eldritch gods, sunlit ivy pergolas above white tables and teacups full of chamomile! Let's go on an adventure!

[thelooseendtim]

I keep having silly quick game ideas, and there's one in particular in my head.

Sweet Occult Magic Garden Party Massecre

It's a roguelike where you play as a mad-hatter archetype trying to save a fairytale world from an eldritch invasion.

...Who also has a chainsaw.

[thelooseendtim]

A few things about Rebullition

I initially wanted to make this post about my inspirations for Rebullition. In the process of writing Rebullition, I'm thinking a lot about Paprika, Severence, Alice In Wonderland, Don't Feed The Muse, and... Hm, maybe a bit of House Of Leaves.

But then I started thinking about why I would make a silly update like that in the first place when the project itself is so far from finished, nobody knows or cares about.

I really don't know how long it's going to take to make all these complex assets from scratch on top of doing my college courses, working on my piano lessons, and working on going to therapy more. It's going to take up a fraction of a fraction of my time.

I'd give it a few years or more, even.

It might never get finished.

That's why I'm choosing not to do a patreon or any way to monetize development, because I don't want anyone to be disappointed.

It's just me working on this, and I'm still not very good at game development. I'm starting with a really ambitious project and I apologize if I fail to have anything to show for it.

I hope my art will suffice.

I'll be doing unrelated sketches later, if you're interested in seeing what my mind cooks up.

[witch-in-pointy-hat]

Angel and devil on your shoulder except it’s Terry Pratchett saying writer’s block is fake and Douglas Adams being locked in a hotel room by his publisher so he’d actually work on his manuscript.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

a list of "beautiful" words for july

to try to include in your next poem/story

Acervate - growing in heaps or closely compacted clusters

Bêtise - an act of foolishness or stupidity

Calamus - the hollow basal portion of a feather below the vane; quill

Dreamery - impractical fancies

Ferronière - a pendant jewel worn (as by women in 15th century Italy and early 19th century England) in the middle of the forehead

Ictus - the recurring stress or beat in a rhythmic or metrical series of sounds

Ivorine - a substance resembling ivory in color and texture

Languescent - becoming languid or fatigued

Malgré - despite

Naupathia - seasickness

Nymphean - inhabited by nymphs

Orfevrerie - gold or silver plate; jewelry

Philter - a potion credited with magical power; a potion, drug, or charm held to have the power to arouse sexual passion

Saturnalia - excess, extravagance

Threnody - a song of lamentation for the dead; elegy

Undern - a light meal in the forenoon or in the afternoon

Verselet - a little verse

Villeggiatura - residence in the country for a holiday

Wrongous - characterized by unfairness

Zymosis - fermentation

More: Lists of Beautiful Words ⚜ Word Lists ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[thelooseendtim]

I think my favorite character in anything is Grampy from the Betty Boop cartoons, he's a lovely chaotic good.

Bugs Bunny, Wile E. Coyote, Koko the Clown, all of them use their cartoon logic to mess with people.

But Grampy? No, never.

He uses it exclusively to be a good person.

[thelooseendtim]

Ephemera, A Poem by Raphael Hemlock

Ephemera

(Is that the right word?)

"For moments that only last-"

You're thinking out loud, stop it.

Let me start over.

Ephemera

Moments fleeting, a fleeing white rabbit without an Alice tailing

Egregor constructed of tangential allusion, the moment was unspecial to all but you

(There isn't a rhyme structure.)

....

Ephemera

Moments fleeting, a white rabbit fleeing

Egregor constructed of tangential allusion (illusion?)

What rhymes with fleeing? Being, seeing, freeing....

You forgot to count the syllables.

SLAM

(Deep breath.)

"Ephemera. Ephemera, ephemera, ephemera...."

"Ten... Four with five, & eleven..." (Six with five.)

You're thinking out loud again.

Ephemera

Moments fleeting (Four), a white rabbit fleeing (Five)

The first line though. Being, seeing, free...

Ephemera.

[thelooseendtim]

Rebullition Brainstorming Session

A home-base of sorts where you can revisit allies and shop for upgrades? Maybe the breakroom is partially still itself, but half of it is a little night market covered in lanterns.

Encounter-based combat only for sapient enemies, walking combat for animals? Could give disturbing implications for sapient abstract monsters.

Not all enemies need to be defeated, but most of them do. Some you can befriend or scare away. There could also be alternative ways of defeating enemies, like setting traps and lures. The game could reward the player for being clever and avoiding conflict.

The player understands as much as Andie does, if an item with a not immediately obvious function is in your inventory, the description will be different before and after you find out what it does.

(All item descriptions and interactions are from Andie's perspective!)

Andie's coworkers are in the game, most of them either haven't noticed anything wrong and ask Andie if she's been sleeping well, or seem to have merged with the strange other world and speak in strange riddles before warping into something else.

Maybe a few important coworkers also see what's going on, but are quickly silenced or warped?

There's an entity that seems to be curious about Andie, speaking through monsters and her coworkers.

Andie has extremely low stamina, however energy drinks increase her stamina. You can only have three in a row before the wear off, though, if you have more then your stamina will actually go down and the screen will get a blur effect.

Unimportant, however, bubble motif! ○°•°

[thelooseendtim]

A quick concept page for the game I'm working on.

Note: These are just sketches, none of this is final and I am not satisfied with the art style yet.

[thelooseendtim]

As I understand it, fae rules are as follows;

1. The fae are very literal, they may expect you to be the same. Be very careful with your words, as the fae might hold you to them.

2. You mustn't eat food from a fae, and the fae might try to trick you through manners by preparing a meal. It's likely inedible, although if it is edible, it's not worth the risk.

3. If you give a fae your name, they will have ownership over your name. Never tell them if they ask for it.

4. Don't accept gifts from the fae, their definition of a "gift" may not be the same as yours.

5. Be polite, regardless of the situation. The fae lack the same social expectations as us, and take etiquette much more seriously.

6. Do not carry any iron weapons, trinkets or clasps on your person, or the fae will find this threatening and rude.

7. Vague sentiments are unwelcome among the fae, if you are thankful, express what you are thankful for rather than that you are thankful. Do not express that you are sorry either, express that you regret an action.

8. The fae will be more merciful to you if you bring them honey or shiny things.

Finally, don't step into rings of dark green grass or mushrooms, they will take this as a grave offense

[z3ld4x64]

Simon Stålenhag - http://www.simonstalenhag.se/

[thelooseendtim]

I love Stålenhag's work

[miamaimania]

Portable TV–radio–cassette unit by JVC

[apollos-boyfriend]

the fact that we only have “herculean task” and “sisyphean task” feels so limiting. so here’s a few more tasks for your repertoire

icarian task: when you have a task you know you’re going to fail at anyways, so why not have some fun with it before it all comes crashing down

cassandrean task: when you have to deal with people you KNOW won’t listen to you, despite having accurate information, and having to watch them fumble about when you told them the solution from the start (most often witnessed in customer service)

feel free to chime in i ran out of ideas much faster than i anticipated

[sherbertilluminated]

Promethean task: opposite of a Cassandraean task. You have the right information, and SOMEONE has to share it. But it's all in the delivery and if you're the person to identify the problem you WILL be hated forever.

[thearrogantemu]

Oedipal Task: (1) Attempting to avoid an unspeakably awful outcome and in doing so creating the circumstances that will bring it about. (2) Trying to solve an problem and discovering that you are in fact the problem you are trying to solve.

[theoppositeofprofound]

Odyssean task: you’ll complete it but it’ll take 20 times longer than it should and involve multiple side quests and mini-adventures

[goblinindenial]

Ah feel 'sif an Odyssian task is basically a poor sod mid ADHD

[baaarlow]

A Pandorean task - just the act of starting it unleashes all manner of disasters.

[cyranope]

damoclean task: the thing you've been putting off long enough that it becomes a constantly hanging doom over your head

pyrrhic task: you can get it done but it's going to cost you

medean task: you can get it done and you don't care what it costs you

dionysian task: task that might not be -better- if you do it drunk, but -will- definitely be more fun

hegelochic task: it was a simple job, but your name will be recorded in the annals of history for how impressively you fucked it up

task of theseus: a project for which the parameters have changed so many times that you're not sure it IS still the same task

gordian task: ok technically there Is a Right Way to do this but it's going to be fiddly and awful and take forever and what if. what if you just said fuck it. and started slicing