Alora Fane

I've finally implemented the revisions to this website that have taken far longer than they really should have done! Am I presenting my game and myself in an appropriate way, though? Also, Pokemon Violet.

It's still the weekend, right?? I meant to post this on Sunday at the latest... but now it's Tuesday! I suppose this is just a continuation of the slump that's plagued me for weeks now, though. Ugh.

Anyway, this website looks a bit different now, finally! Gasp. The first time I've revised it in ages. Here's how it looks on my PC in Chrome, so how it's supposed to look:

If yours looks entirely different, please let me know! And also what you're using to view it. You may just need to do a hard refresh (or normal refresh a couple of times or something) to reload some cached files, though, so try that first.

Sometimes the YouTube video previews don't seem to load properly and it says 'video unavailable' or something; going forward a page (of the info, by clicking the glowing sides of the text box thing; is that obvious or not?) and back should magically fix that. I'll need to look into it though (I think it has something to do with the video trying to load while the container hasn't finished loading or something).

I also took some time getting it to look acceptable (if not ideal) on mobile:

But let me know if it doesn't look right for you; it's harder to test for mobile resolutions because it's not as if I have multiple devices, and they all have such widely different dimensions.

The most notable changes are to the main page, which I suspect most regular viewers of this site don't even look at, but which is the first thing newcomers would see when visiting the basic alorafane.com url. I've cleaned up a lot of clutter that was there before, and now the focus is on my games, which is what most people would be here to see.

While I don't expect many people to ever even see this site at all - do indie games' websites influence their performance in the slightest, I wonder? - I definitely need to prepare some 'promotional material' like descriptive blurbs and images that I'd post on Reddit etc in order to raise awareness about Atonal Dreams as the next step in the process, and preparing such things for this quiet little main page was good practice for that.

So I'd greatly appreciate hearing what you think about how I've presented the game there, especially if you've been a tester! Based on the descriptions and images, does the game interest you? Would you buy or recommend it? Is it clear what it even is? Have I focused too much on story too soon and not enough on things that'd appeal more to players? What would you mention? What do other games focus on in their promotional info and images? What do you actually want to know when reading about a new game? Things like that!

While there's a link to Atonal Dreams' Steam page to add it to your wishlist (indie devs apparently use wishlist counts to gauge games' potential), I've yet to update the info on there so it's all from a version a year or two old. It seemed wise to at least ask for opinions on this 'practice version' of the info first so then I didn't have to update everything in two different places if any updates are necessary. I'll update the Steam page soon.

That's the most important part of this update, though there are some other changes to the site too.

The main page has info for Memody: Sindrel Song and MARDEK as well, though I don't suppose there's much to say about them here. The descriptions took time to write and the images took time to find and prepare, but I doubt they'll inspire sales or anything. Thinking about how to present MARDEK felt strange because I feel so detached from the mind that made it these days. And it's a shame I only have three games to include there after all this time.

I've also updated the blog page - it's now much easier to look through old posts, or posts with a certain tag - and ∞ the About page ∞.

I finished most of the technical coding- and design-related aspects of this website change in like a day or two, weeks ago, but I've been dragging my feet since then about actually switching over to it, and it's mostly because of that About page.

Originally it was six or so shortish little paragraphs about how I made MARDEK, gave up games dev, found out I had brain cancer, and now I'm making Atonal Dreams - basically the same as the old version of the page - but I kept thinking "maybe I should also include this thing between those two", revising, rereading, revising again... and I got carried away just sorting through my memories trying to figure out what fit where and now it's basically my whole life story! (At least as presented mostly in terms of game dev projects.)

Do you obsess about your personal narrative at all? The major events that have led you to where you are? I don't know if it's universal, but I've got the impression from the various books I've read and therapy groups I've attended to try to quell my inner demons that neurotic people - or perhaps people with anxiety disorders specifically - do tend to spend a lot of time thinking about this. Trying to figure out where it all went wrong, maybe? I know I do. Or maybe it's a symptom of solitude? Or not being too focused on a fulfilling career and growing family?

I spend a lot of time explaining this 'life story' to imaginary audiences in my private thoughts, so there's a kind of personal satisfaction in finally having a version of it clearly written out like that even if few other people will see it... Though writing it out in the first place was to some extent a source of distress, because there were a lot of unpleasant memories to revisit along the way, and very few positive, uplifting ones.

Mostly though I've been concerned about how I present myself in it. I mean, it's not any different to how I've presented myself for years - I wrote ∞ these ∞ ∞ three ∞ ∞ posts ∞ years ago with even more elaborated versions of the same content - but I've just been very aware of how different it is to the more ~professional~ way I'm probably 'supposed' to present myself as the adult I only technically am.

I mentioned it briefly to my mum - that I'd pretty much written out my life story rather than the exact content - and she seemed annoyed by the idea, saying that people would see me as a weak, easy victim and just use it as fuel to torment or take advantage of me. I know this is largely because I've complained to her in the past about the stuff I endured back in the Fig Hunter days, and she doesn't want to see me having to go through that again, but I also can't help thinking "no wonder I have social anxiety etc".

I've also been paranoid about switching over to the new version of the site in case I've somehow introduced some new security holes somewhere - even though I've quadruple-checked all the places that might be a risk - which is also a lingering symptom of the trauma of running a community that included people who did constantly pry open my doors and ruffle through my underwear drawers, so to speak.

Just as the Atonal Dreams info on the new main page was practice for stuff I'd include on the Steam store page and post on Reddit or Kickstarter, I also intended the About page rewrite to be practice for how I'd present myself in a Kickstarter campaign. But now I'm wondering, should I be presenting myself this way at all?

I see people on Reddit mocking or being repulsed by indie devs using 'sob stories' to try and manipulate them into caring about their games (this is what I had in mind while writing the first page of this About section), after all.

And I'm very aware that I'm so not-professional because I've never had to even develop that kind of mask, what with never working in a workplace with colleagues who'd judge or reject me for being so openly weird and broken.

But this is who I actually am, so... it's not even like I have any alternative mes to be?

I know that I like seeing into other people's minds and stories like this - and some examples of such have been floating around in my mind while mulling over this - but... I don't know. I'm overthinking it! Probably just because I've been in such a poor mental state in general lately, or something.

Ugh, speaking of the sweet, sensitive souls over at Reddit...

I've spent more time over the past several weeks playing games than I have in probably years. I don't like this - I'd rather do something productive - but I've been so unable to focus on anything due to both external and internal distresses and distractions that it's all I really could do a lot of the time.

I've continued with Horizon Zero Dawn, which I mentioned briefly in some other posts; it was first released five years ago, and looks like this:

I'm about 50 hours in, I've got competent at the gameplay, and for the most part I'd say I don't-not-enjoy it, but at this point it feels like a trudge, a chore, and I'm eager to be done with it but also don't want to just rush to the end. I've got some DLC section (included with the 'complete edition' I got) and the final battle to do and that's it. I haven't touched it in a couple of days though.

I was hoping to get it out of the way sooner because I knew I'd be getting Pokemon Violet on its release day (or rather I preordered it), but now I'm playing both concurrently. Annoying. That game looks like this:

I'm enjoying it, for a lot of reasons - the music's been stuck in my head, for one thing, which I definitely couldn't say about HZD - but I hate how having spent as much time as I have lurking around Reddit, I already know what those people would think about it. They'll be frustrated that that screenshot doesn't more closely resemble the one above it. Or rather, I've already at least got glimpses of posts there about exactly that.

Or they'll complain about certain new Pokemon designs; the hive mind seems especially vitriolic towards Pokemon based around 'objects', for whatever reason.

And it just makes me so... ugh. Why do such hostility and entitlement emerge in communities related to games? Is it because they're more likely to be full of young, disagreeable, less-than-tactful types? Or are all communities like this and I just happen to be more aware of the gaming ones?

Or is it just a result of caring a lot, and the frustration is just the black smoke from that burning passion? I can recognise myself when games aren't perfect, and I understand and share the desire to vent a bit about what doesn't feel right or could be better, because I care. I suppose?

But hearing the poisonous venting of a whole community's frustrations only sours my experiences of any given game, and reminds me of my traumatic past and makes me fearful of a toxic future if I stick with games dev myself, so I try to just avoid it all as completely as I can.

Also, as I've said a few times over the years - since this has been the case since generation II first introduced new Pokemon to the franchise - the thing I love most about experiencing new Pokemon games is discovering new Pokemon species in an immersive, personal way. I love wandering about in the wild and running into - or evolving - things I've never seen before - the weirder, the better! - but which slot mostly seamlessly into this intimately familiar framework. In each new generation, I build my party entirely out of new Pokemon and spend a lot of time just trying to evolve them - into forms I've also never seen - before I encounter them in trainer battles or the wild, so then I can experience that feeling of... I suppose it's like opening a wrapped gift, maybe? Surprise, intrigue, also a sense of having earned it that wouldn't be there if I knew what things evolved into before I evolved them.

(Though I don't enjoy the increasingly obscure evolution methods; I'm so very looking forward to training something up to like level 60 only to discover that what I was supposed to do to evolve it was to examine a random, nondescript rock in the middle of nowhere at exactly 3:27am on a Sunday while wildly flailing around my Switch and screaming! But looking up the evolution method runs the risk of spoiling other stuff along the way - even the new form's name would be a spoiler for me - so I put it off as long as I can.)

But obviously this isn't how other - most? - people experience the games. Perhaps far more common seems to be eagerly eating up all the pre-release leaks and learning all the new Pokemon outside the games before ever stepping into their worlds. People begin a new generation knowing exactly what Pokemon they'll train and how to acquire them, or something? Or at least that's the impression I get from afar, though I wonder what proportion of the audience this actually is.

And - especially annoying - people post pictures of these things all over social media (if Reddit and YouTube - the only two I regularly check - even count as such). I've followed a handful of youtubers who do Pokemon-related content (so strange that people can make a whole living out of making content related to a game series), and of course they include pictures of new Pokemon in their damn video thumbnails and... uggghhh.

I wish I could take my time with the game, savour the experience, stretch it out over several weeks... but since I'm going to 'have to' avoid YouTube and Reddit for a while so then I can actually experience this game the way that I want to, I feel the need to rush through it. Frustrating. I spent much of the weekend doing that, which is one of several reasons this post was delayed.

It's interesting what kinds of details are deemed acceptable to share in the eyes of the many. A video thumbnail with text like "ROSEBUD KILLS DUMBLEDORE IN AVENGERS ENDGAME 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOOPS" or whatever would be a big no-no, but showing a picture of Bumblechu next to its evolution, Bumblechu 2: Electric Boogalchu, is fine because apparently nobody sees that as spoiling anything... Bleh.

...I complain, after complaining about people complaining. Also I probably vent about pretty much the same thing every time a new Pokemon generation comes out!

A couple of final things:

I saw this thing on Reddit the other day:

I've written for a few weeks in a row that I have some emails I've been wanting to reply to. They're a variety of things, like heartfelt appreciation for my work, requests for my thoughts, even what I suppose could be called job offers. But I've still not replied to any of them!! It's not because I don't want to, I just... keep putting it off, until I'm 'in a better state of mind'. Avoiding it. At least I'm not alone in that, if this tweet is ~relatable~ enough for it to be both made and shared, but I still feel a lot of guilt about it and wish I didn't do this. I've been doing it for years, too...

Maybe this week I'll actually reply to some things. Maybe. I don't know. Maybe I'll actually contact the counselling service too, like I meant to every day last week but kept putting off until 'tomorrow'. I don't think I can today though. I'll do it tomorrow!! (I wrote much of this post on Monday and I'm editing it on Tuseday, which is tomorrow from then... but I don't feel any better today, so I'll do that tomorrooooowwww uggghhh.)

This prolonged slump combined with it being basically the Friday end of the year makes it so easy to just put off making more Atonal Dreams progress until next year... which is likely to be what I end up doing at this point. Maybe I'll just try and take it easy until then, if that's even possible. Clean up some other stuff that's been cluttering up my mind for a while.

I'm still interested in looking into porting a collection of my old Flash games to Steam, so I'll at least try to look into that. Setting up the new main page with just three games listed made me wonder whether I should port Clarence's Big Chance separately - as I've thought and written about before - since it was actually finished; I even replayed it a week or so ago, alongside some other old games I grew up with, and felt it held up well enough (mostly, though some writing bits are just mean-spirited and I'd prefer to rewrite them). Maybe I'll think and write more about that next weekend, though.

17 COMMENTS

RedHalo30007~2Y

Hey there, I've been mostly lurking off and on for like over a decade now from the early old flash game days.

I see that the top level of Patreon has Discord benefits, so is there a Pseudolonewolf Discord server there if I sign up?

Tobias 1115~2Y

I do have a discord, but I almost never go in there myself (I don't use discord in general), and it's currently private and fairly dead. I keep wondering whether to open it to the public, but I absolutely don't want to constantly have to worry about a community like I did in the past.

I should at least mention it somewhere on Patreon if it isn't already though! (How did anyone else ever get the link? I can't remember.)

Kalin24~2Y

Viewing this in Firefox or Chrome when my browser is about 1000 pixels wide, the game showcase is shifted too far left. The dropdown and video are all the way against the left edge, and the screenshots, game titles, and descriptions get partially cut off.

Also, in Chrome (where I am not logged in), the navigation buttons are twice the height of the navigation bar. In Firefox (logged in), the buttons almost fit in the bar.

Everything below the game showcase is nicely centered. Blog categories are a row of 4 and row of 2.

Tobias 1115~2Y

I just tested this myself, and there seems to be a range between 1225px and 1381px where this happens. Bizarre. I don't know what's causing it, but I also don't know whether it's worth fixing. Do you regularly view websites at that size or were you doing that specifically to test?

Kalin24~2Y

Okay, fiddling with Chrome it seems the bugged range is between ~ 1169 and ~ 1413 pixels.

And this is my normal browser size. I always have several apps open at once, and want at least part of each visible.

Lordofsea19~2Y

[LINK]
[LINK]

This is how it looks for me on Chrome.

Maniafig222~2Y

The site looks good on mobile, much better than it used to!

"Atonal Dreams is a story-driven RPG set in a lore-rich world, with a novel musical battle system where you can tame your opponents to join your side as allies, and later summon them to use as levellable skills."

Levellable skills doesn't really add anything here. Being able to summon them is the important part I think, better to leave some mystery than to have an unreal clarification.

"Centuries ago, the gods who dreamed Alora Fane into being were slaughtered by a blasphemer among their 'barbari' children, a beast known as Blight the Betrayer, casting the world into a nightmare."

Putting barbari there makes things less clear again, there's already enough eye-catching terms in that little blurb.

"The game takes place across several dungeon-like areas filled with standard JRPG fare such as loot, story scenes, and turn-based battles."

I know your angle here is the known and comfortable, but "standard fare" is a pretty negative way to go about it.

"The relatively fewer, more deliberate battles stress strategy, with a big focus on manipulating states to boost effectiveness."

Manipulating states to boost effectiveness?

"I'll need to look into promoting and marketing to gain funding before continuing... but that's absolutely not my forte, so I find it very daunting!"

This is true, but it's not relevant to your game pitch.

I did read your whole about section! But as someone who's been following you for well over a decade now, all of it is already familiar to me. Most of anything I felt a sense of pity, I wish that you could've had a healthy upbringing... Every child deserves that, it's sad that so many go without one.

I don't really think about my personal narrative at all, I don't feel like there's even much exciting to talk about. Your certainly has a lot more going on! I'm averse to thinking about it even, or thinking too much about the future... The present is much more comfortable. I just wish that special someone could be closer to me.

All I keep instead are those yearly blogs where I talk about the games I've played. I'd include personal sections if there was more to write about, but in many ways I'm in the same place I was in 3 years ago!

I wouldn't want Pokémon to look like every other hyperrealistic open world game. I'd rather it go back to looking like how it did in Black/White and X/Y... The series has gotten less stylized and more realistic since with its world and character design, and with Scarlet/Violet is seems to have fully embraced that trend.

I always have liked object-mons! They're by and large more inspired by much of the early dex that's regional bird/rodent/bug filler stuff, repetitive archetypes that come back time and time again every new generation.

There is a lot of toxicity and hostility in the Pokémon sphere, but a lot of it is also directed against any and all criticism of the series. A lot of people insist on this mandated positivity and threaten and belittle dissenting thoughts. It's better you just avoid it altogether, some fandoms just absolutely cannot be civil. Nintendo fans are especially bad about this.

Funny thing about the evolution methods, there were whole threads of people trying to figure out how to evolve some Pokémon as the games leaked. There are again some really dumb ones, though I won't spoil them. I have to wonder whether this is their intention, that people have to work together to figure things out. Though in practice, it just means having to look it up online, or buying a guide if those are still even a thing companies make.

I always like going into things knowing what to expect, I always start my runs with a team fully planned out, distributed in such a way that I can acquire them at a decent pace and such. In that sense leak season is almost as good as playing the game itself.

I'd play CBC on Steam!

The site looks good on mobile, much better than it used to!

"Atonal Dreams is a story-driven RPG set in a lore-rich world, with a novel musical battle system where you can tame your opponents to join your side as allies, and later summon them to use as levellable skills."

Levellable skills doesn't really add anything here. Being able to summon them is the important part I think, better to leave some mystery than to have an unreal clarification.

"Centuries ago, the gods who dreamed Alora Fane into being were slaughtered by a blasphemer among their 'barbari' children, a beast known as Blight the Betrayer, casting the world into a nightmare."

Putting barbari there makes things less clear again, there's already enough eye-catching terms in that little blurb.

"The game takes place across several dungeon-like areas filled with standard JRPG fare such as loot, story scenes, and turn-based battles."

I know your angle here is the known and comfortable, but "standard fare" is a pretty negative way to go about it.

"The relatively fewer, more deliberate battles stress strategy, with a big focus on manipulating states to boost effectiveness."

Manipulating states to boost effectiveness?

"I'll need to look into promoting and marketing to gain funding before continuing... but that's absolutely not my forte, so I find it very daunting!"

This is true, but it's not relevant to your game pitch.

I did read your whole about section! But as someone who's been following you for well over a decade now, all of it is already familiar to me. Most of anything I felt a sense of pity, I wish that you could've had a healthy upbringing... Every child deserves that, it's sad that so many go without one.

I don't really think about my personal narrative at all, I don't feel like there's even much exciting to talk about. Your certainly has a lot more going on! I'm averse to thinking about it even, or thinking too much about the future... The present is much more comfortable. I just wish that special someone could be closer to me.

All I keep instead are those yearly blogs where I talk about the games I've played. I'd include personal sections if there was more to write about, but in many ways I'm in the same place I was in 3 years ago!

I wouldn't want Pokémon to look like every other hyperrealistic open world game. I'd rather it go back to looking like how it did in Black/White and X/Y... The series has gotten less stylized and more realistic since with its world and character design, and with Scarlet/Violet is seems to have fully embraced that trend.

I always have liked object-mons! They're by and large more inspired by much of the early dex that's regional bird/rodent/bug filler stuff, repetitive archetypes that come back time and time again every new generation.

There is a lot of toxicity and hostility in the Pokémon sphere, but a lot of it is also directed against any and all criticism of the series. A lot of people insist on this mandated positivity and threaten and belittle dissenting thoughts. It's better you just avoid it altogether, some fandoms just absolutely cannot be civil. Nintendo fans are especially bad about this.

Funny thing about the evolution methods, there were whole threads of people trying to figure out how to evolve some Pokémon as the games leaked. There are again some really dumb ones, though I won't spoil them. I have to wonder whether this is their intention, that people have to work together to figure things out. Though in practice, it just means having to look it up online, or buying a guide if those are still even a thing companies make.

I always like going into things knowing what to expect, I always start my runs with a team fully planned out, distributed in such a way that I can acquire them at a decent pace and such. In that sense leak season is almost as good as playing the game itself.

I'd play CBC on Steam!

Tobias 1115~2Y

I appreciate the specific critiques of the blurbs' wording! I read this comment days ago and thought "I'll make those changes then reply so I don't forget", but I've not been able to focus well at all, and still can't so... ehh. I just hope I don't forget.

How would you reword the 'standard fare' and 'manipulating states' bits, or what would you say instead?

I've also been thinking over the past few days about you saying the about page evokes pity (at least for you)... and how I've been doing that for a while, perhaps all my life? I don't feel that I can impress, but I try instead for pity as the only alternative I believe I'm capable of? Or something like that?

I've also been thinking about how you could say people of my general type of mind - who I suppose could be grouped as 'left wing' in today's climate - use pity in order to try and get support. "I'm struggling, I'm suffering, I'm a victim, oppressed, disadvantaged, I need help"... or maybe that's different in that it involves some oppressor while I see myself as the fault? Or something?? I don't know!

I wonder whether my obsession with the whole personal narrative thing is because I've moved around so much, never by my own decision, so it divides my life into separate chunks. If you've lived in the same place - even the same house - all your life, as I suppose many (most?) people have, then I can imagine it wouldn't be as big of a thing!

If you feel like you've only been stuck in the same rut for 3 years, I'd say that's better at least than feeling you're in the same place you were over a decade ago, as I have been doing recently! (Or maybe worse, since I actually talked to people online back then...)

I can't say I'm a fan of the open world thing everyone is doing, or the realism... though I'm glad the character and creature designs in Pokemon remain as stylised as ever.

You'd think Nintendo - a company who makes family-friendly games - would inspire more positive communities! But I suppose I can see how that enforced positivity - the first I've heard of that - would only bring out the worst in people who are disagreeable contrarians by nature. Maybe it could be said that something similar was a reason Fig Hunter turned so toxic. Me trying to enforce certain 'good' behaviours.

I don't know how many of the new Pokemon I've seen - or 'discovered', as is my preference - but so far the evolution methods haven't been that bad. A surprising number of elemental (or 'typed'?) stones, mostly level-ups, some that require learning a new move but that happens at level up anyway so it barely feels different. Out of frustration I checked Bulbapedia and saw that a few require me to use the walk-around feature - which is sort of annoying because I'd actually tried that for quite a while with at least one of the right Pokemon, just not enough apparently! - and one requires me to have in-person friends, which I really hate because I've wanted a dolphin Pokemon for years and its evolution is called Serafin (I think?) but I can't get it!

At least nothing seems as bad as the ludicrous method for evolving into... that alternate Yamask evolution I can't recall the exact name of (Runeregis or something?). I saw that Gimmighoul requires me to collect 999 coins, which is annoying, but I suppose it at least makes some sense.

I'll be investigating any others as I try to train them though and am still trying to avoid all spoilers!

How would you reword the 'standard fare' and 'manipulating states' bits, or what would you say instead?

I've also been thinking over the past few days about you saying the about page evokes pity (at least for you)... and how I've been doing that for a while, perhaps all my life? I don't feel that I can /impress/, but I try instead for pity as the only alternative I believe I'm capable of? Or something like that?

I've also been thinking about how you could say people of my general type of mind - who I suppose could be grouped as 'left wing' in today's climate - use pity in order to try and get support. "I'm struggling, I'm suffering, I'm a victim, oppressed, disadvantaged, I need help"... or maybe that's different in that it involves some oppressor while I see myself as the fault? Or something?? I don't know!

I wonder whether my obsession with the whole personal narrative thing is because I've moved around so much, never by my own decision, so it divides my life into separate chunks. If you've lived in the same place - even the same house - all your life, as I suppose many (most?) people have, then I can imagine it wouldn't be as big of a thing!

If you feel like you've only been stuck in the same rut for 3 years, I'd say that's better at least than feeling you're in the same place you were over a decade ago, as I have been doing recently! (Or maybe worse, since I actually talked to people online back then...)

I can't say I'm a fan of the open world thing /everyone/ is doing, or the realism... though I'm glad the character and creature designs in Pokemon remain as stylised as ever.

You'd think Nintendo - a company who makes family-friendly games - would inspire more positive communities! But I suppose I can see how that enforced positivity - the first I've heard of that - would only bring out the worst in people who are disagreeable contrarians by nature. Maybe it could be said that something similar was a reason Fig Hunter turned so toxic. Me trying to enforce certain 'good' behaviours.

I don't know how many of the new Pokemon I've seen - or 'discovered', as is my preference - but so far the evolution methods haven't been /that/ bad. A surprising number of elemental (or 'typed'?) stones, mostly level-ups, some that require learning a new move but that happens at level up anyway so it barely feels different. Out of frustration I checked Bulbapedia and saw that a few require me to use the walk-around feature - which is sort of annoying because I'd actually tried that for quite a while with at least one of the right Pokemon, just not enough apparently! - and one requires me to have in-person friends, which I really hate because I've wanted a dolphin Pokemon for years and its evolution is called /Serafin/ (I think?) but I can't get it!

At least nothing seems as bad as the ludicrous method for evolving into... that alternate Yamask evolution I can't recall the exact name of (Runeregis or something?). I saw that Gimmighoul requires me to collect 999 coins, which is annoying, but I suppose it at least makes some sense.

I'll be investigating any others as I try to train them though and am still trying to avoid all spoilers!

Maniafig222~2Y

For 'standard face', something like 'classic staples' sounds a lot more positive. For 'manipulating states', maybe reword it into something like "The relatively fewer, more deliberate battles stress strategy, with a big focus on managing risk and reward.", as that's what a lot of the mechanics amount to.

I think you've also done very impressive things! Few people can claim they've released several games, one that was as popular as MARDEK and one that was developed while recovering from a brain tumour.

I'm not sure what you're getting at with the next bit. People saying they're struggling and need help and evoking pity is common to every type of people asking for change. Not much different from big business owners crying into their wads of cash about how hard business has been and how they need lower taxes and bigger bailouts.

The open world thing is something that irks me, as that's the one thing people praise most about it, even through everything about the idea puts me off! Every step away from the grid-based, chunks of content that the old games used to have takes me out of the series.

Enforced positivity, or the compulsive need to 'avoid any and all drama' are pretty common in a lot of fandoms, and it's usually annoying. They stifle interesting and deep conversation, like if someone came into your blog and told you to cheer up and be happy. This happened recently in a Discord server I'm in, where every few hours a person would pop in and complain about how negative and whiny everybody was being, when everybody but him was having a good time.

You've already found the worst offenders with weird evolutions. Not as bad as the gen 8 ones, but I wish the game would help people out with this more. In Black/White 2 there was an NPC you could call who'd flat out tell you whether Pokémon can evolve, and if yes, how. GAME FREAK always does this thing where they put a good idea in their game and then it never comes back!

I think you've also done very impressive things! Few people can claim they've released several games, one that was as popular as MARDEK and one that was developed while recovering from a brain tumour.

I'm not sure what you're getting at with the next bit. People saying they're struggling and need help and evoking pity is common to every type of people asking for change. Not much different from big business owners crying into their wads of cash about how hard business has been and how they need lower taxes and bigger bailouts.

The open world thing is something that irks me, as that's the one thing people praise most about it, even through everything about the idea puts me off! Every step away from the grid-based, chunks of content that the old games used to have takes me out of the series.

Enforced positivity, or the compulsive need to 'avoid any and all drama' are pretty common in a lot of fandoms, and it's usually annoying. They stifle interesting and deep conversation, like if someone came into your blog and told you to cheer up and be happy. This happened recently in a Discord server I'm in, where every few hours a person would pop in and complain about how negative and whiny everybody was being, when everybody but him was having a good time.

You've already found the worst offenders with weird evolutions. Not as bad as the gen 8 ones, but I wish the game would help people out with this more. In Black/White 2 there was an NPC you could call who'd flat out tell you whether Pokémon can evolve, and if yes, how. GAME FREAK always does this thing where they put a good idea in their game and then it never comes back!

kidupiscean37~2Y

I read through all the About pages. You are who you are; it's difficult for you to "repackage" and present yourself as somebody else. There'll always be different opinions in this world and it's impossible to please EVERYbody. Also, I guess the ones who are the most vocal in online communities are very often the ones who have the strongest opinions. In that case, they may not necessarily reflect the majority's view. Being comfortable with yourself and believing in yourself are important.

I ended up reading them all the About pages backwards by clicking the left-pointing triangle every time, and wondered why the info was arranged that way. I didn't know the right-pointing triangle was there until afterwards, as I accidentally found the scroll bar, scrolled to the right, and found that other triangle.

Here are the screenshots for your reference:
[LINK]
[LINK]

My screen resolution is 2560 x 1600, and I'm using Firefox. The screenshots were taken with the windows maximised. The second shot was taken after I scrolled to the right.

About discord moderation... If moderation is too much for you, maybe you can appoint some trusted moderators and let them do the job for you?

(Marketing too... but it would cost money to get marketing done for you, so it might not be such a good idea?)

Also, have you stopped announcing new blogs in Twitter for some reason?

I ended up reading them all the About pages backwards by clicking the left-pointing triangle every time, and wondered why the info was arranged that way. I didn't know the right-pointing triangle was there until afterwards, as I accidentally found the scroll bar, scrolled to the right, and found that other triangle.

Here are the screenshots for your reference:
https://imgur.com/0zqJv0s
https://imgur.com/ORsbdOi

My screen resolution is 2560 x 1600, and I'm using Firefox. The screenshots were taken with the windows maximised. The second shot was taken after I scrolled to the right.

About discord moderation... If moderation is too much for you, maybe you can appoint some trusted moderators and let them do the job for you?

(Marketing too... but it would cost money to get marketing done for you, so it might not be such a good idea?)

Also, have you stopped announcing new blogs in Twitter for some reason?

Tobias 1115~2Y

I've got emails from people over the years who I suppose are of similar minds to me and find my work and story inspiring (as hard as it is for me to believe it could be), so I suppose it's for them, mostly... though there are always the 'demons' in the mix who'll see me as prey or something instead. Oh well.

Weird that your resolution is supposedly the same as my main monitor's but everything looks zoomed in and cramped! Is that on PC or some handheld device like a tablet? Someone else mentioned [LINK], which does give me 2560x1080 for mine; do you get something different?

The main reason I haven't opened my Discord to the public is because I know I need to choose moderators first, but that's a whole thing in itself! Who can I trust? Would they run things as I would or turn things in a political direction I'm not a fan of? Things like that. Back in the Fig Hunter days I'd talk to people all the time and get a feel for them, but these days I talk to people so rarely that I don't have any clear idea for who'd be willing and appropriate.

I'd love to have met and befriended someone years ago who could help with marketing, but since I never did, I'd have to seek out strangers. Strangers who are trying to make a living out of charismatically manipulating people. How could such a deal possibly turn out in my favour? A lot of them seem scummy or scammy anyway, or so the indie dev communities say! The ones available to little solo devs, at least, which are very different to the big teams AAA companies use for their marketing.

I've not mentioned these posts on Twitter for a while because honestly I feel embarrassed about not focusing on work! Just feels weird 'proudly' announcing some rant full of excuses and mental illness. I definitely intend to get back into the habit once I'm back in the right state of mind again (I'm still not, annoyingly), but I've been thinking maybe I should just mention them anyway... ehh. I don't know.

Weird that your resolution is supposedly the same as my main monitor's but everything looks zoomed in and cramped! Is that on PC or some handheld device like a tablet? Someone else mentioned http://whatismyscreenresolution.net/, which does give me 2560x1080 for mine; do you get something different?

The main reason I haven't opened my Discord to the public is because I know I need to choose moderators first, but that's a whole thing in itself! Who can I trust? Would they run things as I would or turn things in a political direction I'm not a fan of? Things like that. Back in the Fig Hunter days I'd talk to people all the time and get a feel for them, but these days I talk to people so rarely that I don't have any clear idea for who'd be willing and appropriate.

I'd love to have met and befriended someone years ago who could help with marketing, but since I never did, I'd have to seek out strangers. Strangers who are trying to make a living out of charismatically manipulating people. How could such a deal possibly turn out in my favour? A lot of them seem scummy or scammy anyway, or so the indie dev communities say! The ones available to little solo devs, at least, which are very different to the big teams AAA companies use for their marketing.

I've not mentioned these posts on Twitter for a while because honestly I feel embarrassed about not focusing on work! Just feels weird 'proudly' announcing some rant full of excuses and mental illness. I definitely intend to get back into the habit once I'm back in the right state of mind again (I'm still not, annoyingly), but I've been thinking maybe I should just mention them anyway... ehh. I don't know.

kidupiscean37~2Y

Yeah, you probably should just mention them anyway, keeping your blog and other social media channels active!

As for the website display issues, they're on a MacBook, and I got the resolution figures from the System Report. Actually I've seen other weird issues if I resize the window to smaller sizes, but I'm not showing them here as I can fix them by maximising the window.

MaxDes45~2Y

I love the website redesign, it looks great. Also on Chrome and Fire Fox you can test what your website looks like on other screen resolutions, like if you hit F12 for developer tools and then the "toggle device toolbar" button on Chrome, a gui opens up. For me, the About page isn't formatted right and according to whatismyscreenresolution.net my screen resolution is 1536x864 (even though my screen is 1920x1080 ???)

Tobias 1115~2Y

Yes, I make heavy use of those features! But things always seem to look different on the actual devices; if I enter my iPhone's resolution into that thing on Chrome on my PC, it doesn't look the same. It seems as if mobiles have a much higher resolution than they actually do, or something, though I don't know the technicalities.

Do you have sidebars open or not use fullscreen? Those are the only reasons I can think of for why you'd supposedly have that resolution! 864 vs 1080 sounds like it's accounting for the header (tabs etc) at least.

Elah20121~2Y

The new website layout looks great! Also i'd say the way you've presented the game is fine the way it is, to me. It got straight to the point in showing some gameplay features and mechanics in the trailer/preview, while mixing in a bit of story. This presentation would definitely interest me into looking more into the game, and ultimately buying it when it became available.

Also just a side note, I left feedback for you on steam, though I was very late. hopefully you get a chance to check it out and its helpful to you.

Slothboy2531~2Y

It is understandable that you may be concerned about how you present yourself and your personal narrative on your website. However, it is important to remember that sharing your experiences and thoughts can be a cathartic and therapeutic process. By sharing your story, you are not only allowing yourself to reflect on your own experiences, but you are also potentially providing support and understanding to others who may have gone through similar experiences.

Additionally, it is important to remember that everyone's experiences and backgrounds are different, and it is not fair to compare yourself to others or to try to conform to societal expectations of how you should present yourself. You are who you are, and that should be celebrated and embraced. It is okay to be open and honest about your experiences and your struggles. You do not need to put on a professional mask to hide your true self. You are not weak for sharing your story, and it does not make you an easy target for others to exploit. Instead, it shows strength and resilience.

Additionally, it is important to remember that everyone's experiences and backgrounds are different, and it is not fair to compare yourself to others or to try to conform to societal expectations of how you should present yourself. You are who you are, and that should be celebrated and embraced. It is okay to be open and honest about your experiences and your struggles. You do not need to put on a professional mask to hide your true self. You are not weak for sharing your story, and it does not make you an easy target for others to exploit. Instead, it shows strength and resilience.

Tobias 1115~2Y

...But you'd also written this comment, which seems like it's in direct contradiction to the other one!