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Entry tags:
Real life and video games
Interview, which was a phone interview, went really well! I know this because I just got an email inviting me to a real interview next Thursday. YAY. I really, really want this job (print work! cool industry! part-time/30 hours a week, but I'll make more then my last job!), so here's hoping.
Also, I went to a big networking event last night and did not have an anxiety attack (it was a close call). I stayed a full hour! I talked to people! It was amazing.
Unrelated, I've been feeling media starved - my internet's not fast enough for TV, we don't have an actual TV, and my laptop can only run the Adobe Creative Suite if all my games have been uninstalled. Fortunately my iPad, a hand-me-down from my Dad, has proven to hold untapped app depths. I have no idea what Dungeon 2 is, but by god I'm going to play it.
It also has Across Age, a short (it took me 9 hours - 9 hours over two weeks, but still - to beat), strange little RPG. The gameplay was decent: the puzzles challenging without being impossible, the monsters tough but no unbeatable, the maps complicated but not unnavigable (although I was using the walkthrough. Forum posts indicate others had a harder time), our female hero (Ceska, a mage) is actually the more useful character, the music quite good. The story and the character design on the other hand, ugh. Not horrible (except for the mage teacher - why the shoulder pads? Why are her boobs being held up by a collar? Where's the rest of her shirt?), but riddled with cliche (our male hero, Ales, is a pissy, silver-haired bishonen) and bad fashion choices. I'd write it off and move on but the game also, inexplicably, has three queer characters.
Two of them are generic sprite NPCs: a woman who's pretty upfront about wanting to bang the mage teacher, and a guy named Belladonna who's BFFs with Violet.
Violet's where it get's amazing. If you look at the group shot again, he's the big blond guy, looks a little like FF6's Sabin. He's a munitions expert, a former soldier under the Evil Count (yes, there's an Evil Count) who went AWOL when things got morally questionable. He hides out in a swamp with his many bombs. He's smart and observant, immediately figuring out Ales' ~secret identity~ (yes, he has a secret identity). He willingly helps our heroes out, twice, even though he knows it'll get him killed (which it does. Don't worry, he gets better). He's one of seven characters to get his own sprite and portrait. He's flamingly gay.
And it's treated like no big deal! He flirts with Ales, who responds the same as he did when the mage teacher flirted with him (everyone hits on Ales) - politely and noncommittal (I've personally decided Ales' Ace, but that's another story. One where I worldbuild too much). When he tells the heroes Ceska has to stay outside (because 'he's not interested in women' aka stupid stereotypes 101 aka nothing's perfect, woe), Ceska's all 'sure, okay!' At the end of the game, after he's brought back from the dead (sort of, there's timey-wimey stuff), he gets a whole scene with Belladonna where they bemoan the lack of love/hot knights in their lives and decide to go cruising (where?). At no point is any of this made to be gross, funny, or unusual.
This is so rare in RPGs. There's, what, the Persona series? And the recentish wave of Dragon Age/Fable/Elder Scrolls but even there, are characters queer independent of user action? And here it is, randomly, in a little game made for the iphone/ipad.
Speaking of video games, y'all should check out:
The Arkh Project: "An effort by some queer people of color to make a 3D RPG that runs off the beaten path." Check it out, maybe donate, because this is going to be amazing when it's finished.
Princess/Princess: A brand new project by Josh Lesnick, creator of Girly! Princesses! Who rescue each other! And fall in love! It's in the very early stages and I want it now, dammit.
Hatoful Boyfriend: A pigeon dating sim. You can download the game (for free!) here and an English language patch here (read the readme file). Magnificent and terrifying. Common reactions include 'what', 'what the fuck', and 'OH MY GOD'. You're welcome.
Also, I went to a big networking event last night and did not have an anxiety attack (it was a close call). I stayed a full hour! I talked to people! It was amazing.
Unrelated, I've been feeling media starved - my internet's not fast enough for TV, we don't have an actual TV, and my laptop can only run the Adobe Creative Suite if all my games have been uninstalled. Fortunately my iPad, a hand-me-down from my Dad, has proven to hold untapped app depths. I have no idea what Dungeon 2 is, but by god I'm going to play it.
It also has Across Age, a short (it took me 9 hours - 9 hours over two weeks, but still - to beat), strange little RPG. The gameplay was decent: the puzzles challenging without being impossible, the monsters tough but no unbeatable, the maps complicated but not unnavigable (although I was using the walkthrough. Forum posts indicate others had a harder time), our female hero (Ceska, a mage) is actually the more useful character, the music quite good. The story and the character design on the other hand, ugh. Not horrible (except for the mage teacher - why the shoulder pads? Why are her boobs being held up by a collar? Where's the rest of her shirt?), but riddled with cliche (our male hero, Ales, is a pissy, silver-haired bishonen) and bad fashion choices. I'd write it off and move on but the game also, inexplicably, has three queer characters.
Two of them are generic sprite NPCs: a woman who's pretty upfront about wanting to bang the mage teacher, and a guy named Belladonna who's BFFs with Violet.
Violet's where it get's amazing. If you look at the group shot again, he's the big blond guy, looks a little like FF6's Sabin. He's a munitions expert, a former soldier under the Evil Count (yes, there's an Evil Count) who went AWOL when things got morally questionable. He hides out in a swamp with his many bombs. He's smart and observant, immediately figuring out Ales' ~secret identity~ (yes, he has a secret identity). He willingly helps our heroes out, twice, even though he knows it'll get him killed (which it does. Don't worry, he gets better). He's one of seven characters to get his own sprite and portrait. He's flamingly gay.
And it's treated like no big deal! He flirts with Ales, who responds the same as he did when the mage teacher flirted with him (everyone hits on Ales) - politely and noncommittal (I've personally decided Ales' Ace, but that's another story. One where I worldbuild too much). When he tells the heroes Ceska has to stay outside (because 'he's not interested in women' aka stupid stereotypes 101 aka nothing's perfect, woe), Ceska's all 'sure, okay!' At the end of the game, after he's brought back from the dead (sort of, there's timey-wimey stuff), he gets a whole scene with Belladonna where they bemoan the lack of love/hot knights in their lives and decide to go cruising (where?). At no point is any of this made to be gross, funny, or unusual.
This is so rare in RPGs. There's, what, the Persona series? And the recentish wave of Dragon Age/Fable/Elder Scrolls but even there, are characters queer independent of user action? And here it is, randomly, in a little game made for the iphone/ipad.
Speaking of video games, y'all should check out:
The Arkh Project: "An effort by some queer people of color to make a 3D RPG that runs off the beaten path." Check it out, maybe donate, because this is going to be amazing when it's finished.
Princess/Princess: A brand new project by Josh Lesnick, creator of Girly! Princesses! Who rescue each other! And fall in love! It's in the very early stages and I want it now, dammit.
Hatoful Boyfriend: A pigeon dating sim. You can download the game (for free!) here and an English language patch here (read the readme file). Magnificent and terrifying. Common reactions include 'what', 'what the fuck', and 'OH MY GOD'. You're welcome.