Snowflake Challenge 10 and 11
Jan. 21st, 2024 09:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
got_quietChallenge 10: Five things!
The open-endedness of this challenge caused me to go off the rails, so here's 5x5 things. Are they my favorites? The most recent? Recommendations? Even I don't know, honestly.
5 Games
Transistor - Made by Supergiant Games of Hades fame. You play a lady with a massive sword out for revenge. Combat is both real time and paused plotting, where you set up big combos and then enjoy the satisfaction of watching them executed. The way you modify your skill set or set up hard modes is fun to play with, and everything has that classic Supergiant Polish. This isn't a roguelike. It's more like Bastion in its approach, so you can play it through in a weekend or two and feel satisfied.
Banner Saga - Chess meets Oregon Trail meets Norse mythology. The mechanics of combat can take a bit to get used to, but once you get it the tactics are fun and puzzle like. Plus the art is beautiful, the story is intense and emotional, and the choices you make can mean life or death for your people.
Against the Storm - A "city builder roguelike." This is a sort of resource management game that has a lot of depth and variation from round to round, so that you never know exactly how things are going to go. There are extreme differences in difficulty options, so you can play relatively safely and enjoy the chill satisfaction of building your towns up or you can create hellish conditions and eek through by the skin of your teeth. The worldbuilding in this game is super interesting too, as you play as a servant to the Queen, tasked with creating temporary outposts in a land that is so dangerous that it goes through cycles of complete uninhabitability. So you need to produce as much as you can as fast as you can before retreating back to the city with your people, who are all sorts of interesting races (harpies, beavers, foxes, etc)
Thumper - A very simple rhythm game with impeccable vibes. You just need to go left, right, up or down on the track, but this is not easy. A friend of mine said he couldn't watch me play because the atmosphere stressed him out lol, but if you like it creepy this is a fun one.
Hyper Light Drifter - A beautiful and deceptive top down action game. You slice and dice your way through four realms, seeking to defeat an ultimate evil. While the main story can be defeated with a minimum of mechanical difficulty, there are a ton of little secrets, and challenges that are too punishing for me tbh. There's no dialog in this game, but still the story is beautifully told, and bittersweet. And the art design is top notch.
5 Songs
Feed Me - Strange Behavior : Feed Me is a electronica artist with a classical music background. Makes for some good stuff.
Dream Theater - Overture 1982 : Kings of Prog rock. Scenes From a Memory is my favorite album of theirs and Overture 1982 is a great opening track. (It's second but the first is not really a musical track)
Between the Buried and Me - Desert of Song : Also prog rock but these guys can get very growly so I picked one of their more melodic tracks. If you like growly Colors II is a great album.
Camo & Krooked - Ruhepuls : Electronica. Great driving music and high energy soundscape stuff.
Kutiman - Mix Krakow : A "City Mix" taking up a bunch of different musicians from Krakow and making an audio ramble out of it.
5 Ships
Arthur/Cobb - I like heists, and I like loyalty kink, and I especially like it when loyalty creates unhealthy co-dependency. The question of how Arthur and Cobb came to work together is a rich field of opportunity, as is how things might change when Cobb can finally return home. Add in the infinite possibilities of the PASIV, and even though this canon is a single movie, there is so much left to be explored here.
Cassidy/Reaper - Speaking of loyalty and unhealthy co-dependency, the one silver lining in Blizzard's shit storytelling is that it's easy to fill in the holes with all manner of fun stuff, and to ignore literally everything they say because they Joss more than they create somehow. Uh anyway Reaper is my fave out of the Overwatch cast. He's tragic, but also almost comedically extra. He's a villain who can't catch a break, another one of my favorite things, and his banter with Cassidy on their missions is, in the canonical words of Moira, "adorable." And Cassidy is a nice mix of rough and sweet. Again his loyalty to Reyes was maybe... not healthy for him which is why I love it so much. The dramatic changes in their lives over the course of the story also means a large range of tone and circumstance is fitting for them.
Jean/Harry - Oh wow more unhealthy co-dependency! I love Kim and I love Kim/Harry but love suffering more, and Jean's misery is like catnip to me. What sort of bullshit to Harry put him through? What did the good days look like? Even though Jean acts tough towards Amnesia Harry, he still cares, and that caring fucks him up. And all the different types of Harry maybe react to all this in many different types of ways. That crazy guy contains multitudes, and while the earnest sober Harry gets a lot of play, disaster Harry is also right there, still making things worse whether he's trying to or not.
Valjean/Javert - Misery is my flavor of choice. What can I say? I am particularly fond of Javert's intensity, and how he served Valjean so dutifully at M sur M and immediately flipped to pursuing him as his greatest enemy when Valjean's identity was revealed. And there's something magnetic about someone as physically powerful as Valjean being terrified of Javert. The cat and mouse that follows is so good. I also have a particular fondness for fix-it fic where Valjean somehow manages to prevent Javert's suicide.
Whyborne/Griffin - Funny that the most healthy ship on this list is one straight out of horror fiction. Whyborne and Griffin compliment each other perfectly. They are both vulnerable in different ways, powerful in others, and they slot together like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Griffin's insecurities may have been well hidden, but there's no hiding from Whyborne's guileless earnestness. And only Griffin's patience could manage the dual sides of a deeply shy and nervous introvert who also dabbles in a little megalomania and magic related hubris at times. The bonus of this being a canonical pairing is that they are also clearly horny for each other at all times.
5 Arists (may be NSFW)
https://www.tumblr.com/schrissdd - Extremely manly pinups
https://sangco.tumblr.com/ - Mostly game related art. I enjoy their coloring work a lot. Their layout is a bit of a pain but you can see most of their stuff in their archive.
https://lintufriikki.tumblr.com/ - Game and anime stuff mostly. Also leans towards more furry stuff so there's lots of Dragonborn Tavs atm.
https://yuutayo.tumblr.com/tagged/kai+doodles - This artist unfortunately stopped drawing due to some serious medical issues. I hope they're alright. Their old art is worth going through.
https://soursoppi.tumblr.com/ - This artist posts a lot of danmei (?) stuff which I don't know anything about, but they also posed some Sampo from Honkai Star Rail which I do know something about so I like them lol.
5 Youtube Channels
The Angry Joe Show - They have a lot of filler nowadays, but their full game reviews are still a lot of fun, focus often on RPGs, and include a lot of amusing skits. Only caveat is that they're firmly on the bro gamer side of things.
Girl With the Dogs - For some reason this is the only grooming channel I like even though it's a whole youtube genre. It just feels the most chill and least overprocessed. And all the dogs are cute. I think her most famous vids are with huskies, who like to scream bloody murder when water touches them.
Captain Disillusion - A channel all about special effects. He started off explaining video hoaxes, but moved on to appreciation of video effects more generally. His most recent stuff is some of his best, including videos about the art of Back to the Future, and a video all about making a collab music video with the Japanese group Atarashii Gakkou.
Ginger Records - Ginger Records are publishers of Japanese BL Drama CDs. They post samples of their new releases on their youtube and I use that as short listening practice. The videos have classic BL tropes up the wazoo.
Antiques Roadshow - The show puts all of their stuff on their own Youtube Channel. I haven't had a TV in years but I still watch this.
And Challenge 11: Make a Fanwork
It used this as an opportunity to finally make some icons out of the Nu:Carnival screenshots I've been collecting. I need to screenshot more liberally but here is the first batch. Feel free to take any if you like them.
The open-endedness of this challenge caused me to go off the rails, so here's 5x5 things. Are they my favorites? The most recent? Recommendations? Even I don't know, honestly.
5 Games
Transistor - Made by Supergiant Games of Hades fame. You play a lady with a massive sword out for revenge. Combat is both real time and paused plotting, where you set up big combos and then enjoy the satisfaction of watching them executed. The way you modify your skill set or set up hard modes is fun to play with, and everything has that classic Supergiant Polish. This isn't a roguelike. It's more like Bastion in its approach, so you can play it through in a weekend or two and feel satisfied.
Banner Saga - Chess meets Oregon Trail meets Norse mythology. The mechanics of combat can take a bit to get used to, but once you get it the tactics are fun and puzzle like. Plus the art is beautiful, the story is intense and emotional, and the choices you make can mean life or death for your people.
Against the Storm - A "city builder roguelike." This is a sort of resource management game that has a lot of depth and variation from round to round, so that you never know exactly how things are going to go. There are extreme differences in difficulty options, so you can play relatively safely and enjoy the chill satisfaction of building your towns up or you can create hellish conditions and eek through by the skin of your teeth. The worldbuilding in this game is super interesting too, as you play as a servant to the Queen, tasked with creating temporary outposts in a land that is so dangerous that it goes through cycles of complete uninhabitability. So you need to produce as much as you can as fast as you can before retreating back to the city with your people, who are all sorts of interesting races (harpies, beavers, foxes, etc)
Thumper - A very simple rhythm game with impeccable vibes. You just need to go left, right, up or down on the track, but this is not easy. A friend of mine said he couldn't watch me play because the atmosphere stressed him out lol, but if you like it creepy this is a fun one.
Hyper Light Drifter - A beautiful and deceptive top down action game. You slice and dice your way through four realms, seeking to defeat an ultimate evil. While the main story can be defeated with a minimum of mechanical difficulty, there are a ton of little secrets, and challenges that are too punishing for me tbh. There's no dialog in this game, but still the story is beautifully told, and bittersweet. And the art design is top notch.
5 Songs
Feed Me - Strange Behavior : Feed Me is a electronica artist with a classical music background. Makes for some good stuff.
Dream Theater - Overture 1982 : Kings of Prog rock. Scenes From a Memory is my favorite album of theirs and Overture 1982 is a great opening track. (It's second but the first is not really a musical track)
Between the Buried and Me - Desert of Song : Also prog rock but these guys can get very growly so I picked one of their more melodic tracks. If you like growly Colors II is a great album.
Camo & Krooked - Ruhepuls : Electronica. Great driving music and high energy soundscape stuff.
Kutiman - Mix Krakow : A "City Mix" taking up a bunch of different musicians from Krakow and making an audio ramble out of it.
5 Ships
Arthur/Cobb - I like heists, and I like loyalty kink, and I especially like it when loyalty creates unhealthy co-dependency. The question of how Arthur and Cobb came to work together is a rich field of opportunity, as is how things might change when Cobb can finally return home. Add in the infinite possibilities of the PASIV, and even though this canon is a single movie, there is so much left to be explored here.
Cassidy/Reaper - Speaking of loyalty and unhealthy co-dependency, the one silver lining in Blizzard's shit storytelling is that it's easy to fill in the holes with all manner of fun stuff, and to ignore literally everything they say because they Joss more than they create somehow. Uh anyway Reaper is my fave out of the Overwatch cast. He's tragic, but also almost comedically extra. He's a villain who can't catch a break, another one of my favorite things, and his banter with Cassidy on their missions is, in the canonical words of Moira, "adorable." And Cassidy is a nice mix of rough and sweet. Again his loyalty to Reyes was maybe... not healthy for him which is why I love it so much. The dramatic changes in their lives over the course of the story also means a large range of tone and circumstance is fitting for them.
Jean/Harry - Oh wow more unhealthy co-dependency! I love Kim and I love Kim/Harry but love suffering more, and Jean's misery is like catnip to me. What sort of bullshit to Harry put him through? What did the good days look like? Even though Jean acts tough towards Amnesia Harry, he still cares, and that caring fucks him up. And all the different types of Harry maybe react to all this in many different types of ways. That crazy guy contains multitudes, and while the earnest sober Harry gets a lot of play, disaster Harry is also right there, still making things worse whether he's trying to or not.
Valjean/Javert - Misery is my flavor of choice. What can I say? I am particularly fond of Javert's intensity, and how he served Valjean so dutifully at M sur M and immediately flipped to pursuing him as his greatest enemy when Valjean's identity was revealed. And there's something magnetic about someone as physically powerful as Valjean being terrified of Javert. The cat and mouse that follows is so good. I also have a particular fondness for fix-it fic where Valjean somehow manages to prevent Javert's suicide.
Whyborne/Griffin - Funny that the most healthy ship on this list is one straight out of horror fiction. Whyborne and Griffin compliment each other perfectly. They are both vulnerable in different ways, powerful in others, and they slot together like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Griffin's insecurities may have been well hidden, but there's no hiding from Whyborne's guileless earnestness. And only Griffin's patience could manage the dual sides of a deeply shy and nervous introvert who also dabbles in a little megalomania and magic related hubris at times. The bonus of this being a canonical pairing is that they are also clearly horny for each other at all times.
5 Arists (may be NSFW)
https://www.tumblr.com/schrissdd - Extremely manly pinups
https://sangco.tumblr.com/ - Mostly game related art. I enjoy their coloring work a lot. Their layout is a bit of a pain but you can see most of their stuff in their archive.
https://lintufriikki.tumblr.com/ - Game and anime stuff mostly. Also leans towards more furry stuff so there's lots of Dragonborn Tavs atm.
https://yuutayo.tumblr.com/tagged/kai+doodles - This artist unfortunately stopped drawing due to some serious medical issues. I hope they're alright. Their old art is worth going through.
https://soursoppi.tumblr.com/ - This artist posts a lot of danmei (?) stuff which I don't know anything about, but they also posed some Sampo from Honkai Star Rail which I do know something about so I like them lol.
5 Youtube Channels
The Angry Joe Show - They have a lot of filler nowadays, but their full game reviews are still a lot of fun, focus often on RPGs, and include a lot of amusing skits. Only caveat is that they're firmly on the bro gamer side of things.
Girl With the Dogs - For some reason this is the only grooming channel I like even though it's a whole youtube genre. It just feels the most chill and least overprocessed. And all the dogs are cute. I think her most famous vids are with huskies, who like to scream bloody murder when water touches them.
Captain Disillusion - A channel all about special effects. He started off explaining video hoaxes, but moved on to appreciation of video effects more generally. His most recent stuff is some of his best, including videos about the art of Back to the Future, and a video all about making a collab music video with the Japanese group Atarashii Gakkou.
Ginger Records - Ginger Records are publishers of Japanese BL Drama CDs. They post samples of their new releases on their youtube and I use that as short listening practice. The videos have classic BL tropes up the wazoo.
Antiques Roadshow - The show puts all of their stuff on their own Youtube Channel. I haven't had a TV in years but I still watch this.
And Challenge 11: Make a Fanwork
It used this as an opportunity to finally make some icons out of the Nu:Carnival screenshots I've been collecting. I need to screenshot more liberally but here is the first batch. Feel free to take any if you like them.
no subject
Date: 2024-01-22 03:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-01-22 03:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-01-22 04:05 am (UTC)ETA: Also, if you have any favorite Valjean/Javert fix-its to recommend, I'm all ears.
no subject
Date: 2024-01-23 01:44 am (UTC)I wish I did have some fic to recommend but I'm terrible at keeping track of fic =[
no subject
Date: 2024-01-22 09:06 am (UTC)That last icon is super cute. :D
no subject
Date: 2024-01-23 01:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-01-22 01:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-01-23 01:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-01-22 05:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-01-23 01:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-01-23 06:05 am (UTC)I still need to finish Transistor one day... I love Hades and Bastion, but for some reason I stopped in the middle of Transistor and idk why... Probably just got distracted by another game but I never went back.
The era when Inception was huge was such a good time lmao I was your standard Arthur/Eames shipper myself but I enjoyed all the other little rare pairs that managed to sneak in there. Honestly I should rewatch that movie sometime, it was pretty fun. Someone needs to rekindle the Inception renaissance.
no subject
Date: 2024-01-24 01:46 am (UTC)The fandom still puts on little anniversary events every year, so it isn't dead yet!
no subject
Date: 2024-01-24 11:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-01-24 01:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-01-24 01:44 am (UTC)