What Kills Me Isn't The Fact That I'm Sad; It's That I'm Feeling Better

I run my finger along my screen, tracing out the happy memories. They were happy, weren't they? My gut finally unclenches. When did it wrench its way into that position? How many weeks has it been like that? Months? Years? Since I met you.

Maybe they were once butterflies. I think now they're just anxiety.

Washing them away helps. That's the problem. I'm happier for this. When you do something like this you're supposed to be grief stricken. This is horrible, sad, and all around unpleasant. Yet here I am.

I'm so happy.
So happy.
So happy.
So happy.

This isn't a lie for once. I frown from the truth.

More Mabinogi Instruments

New instruments! Mabinogi will be getting a miniature grand piano, violin, and cello.
What? You're worried that they're going to be gatchapon only like the Electric Guitar? Stop worrying, they're not. You can get these instruments in-game. That means adorable tiny pianos for all.

So far the prices for Pianos are 5,000,000 ducats and Cellos are 100,000 ducats. This means that they are available through commerce and can be bought at the trade imp in any Uladh town."They have also added instrumental dyes to the Ducat Shops for 100k each."

Korean players will be getting these first and even having an event for them:
"[KR Event] On May 18th players loging in will receive a free Violin."

The update will come with new wigs, new pets, new items all around but come on, nothing is as exciting as getting one of those pianos.

Get ready for more musical mayhem in the game named after the bard's song. <3>

Source: MabiData

Cooing Nothings

No poet so sweet, no honey so pleasant, as any words you whisper to me.

Loneliness means that my heart knew joy.
For that I am content.

The Thought Process

The thought process:

Defense needs to scale well with Offense so that damage remains consistent if Health remains consistent. In this way characters can grow and specialize without terribly imbalancing things.

Older players cannot outgrow newer players by too large of a margin. Growth needs to be slow. Square root function. Slows growth. sqrt

Too slow. Slow as molasses. Too many dead levels.

Multiply the base and run it through a square root function. sqrt(base*2)

Faster, fewer dead levels, numbers stay reasonable as players get stronger.

Switch the square root function to defense. Increase the multiplier. Defense is slow but not too slow. sqrt(defense*4)

Offense is linear. Offense will always outpace defense. (offense)

Defense subtracts Offense before they are put into a multiplier. [(offense) – sqrt(defense*4)] * (Multiplier)

Maybe division would work better? Linear Offense divided by square root of defense.

Minimizes damage without negating it. Slow but not too slow. Too slow?

Divide variable multiplier instead. Makes numbers look bigger. Reduces outcome. [(offense/2) – sqrt(defense*4)] * (Multiplier/10)

Players feel strong, realize strength. Players see fast defense growth that tapers off.

Even as monoliths they aren’t overpowering.

Everyone is happy.

Small World

I arrive at your doorstep

It has been a sixteen hour day

Finding my way here was worth it

When I see your smile, I know

A kiss and a moment later

Your eyes are fixated on something else

I wait for hours

No avail

My smolder turns to a flicker

You give me another peck goodnight

Blowing out whatever there was left

Tomorrow is supposed to be better

Nothing ever changes

You don’t understand when I say

There isn’t room for me in your world

Everything and Everyone is More Important Than Me

I find it hard to be happy when I’m with you

I must be blatant

Dramatic

To warrant your gaze

Why can’t you just look at me?

Candy Box!

Lets talk about games: Candy Box!

This post is high in spoilers and spoilerific posts aren’t for everyone. If you’re not cool with being spoiled then just know that it’s a neat little idle-game that has lots of cool features and some neat ascii art.

Here is a link: http://candies.aniwey.net/

- Spoilers -

Candy Box is an amazing little game by Aniwey that is much more than a simple idle game. As you progress into the game features become unlocked and you are given the option to do much more than wait for candy to accumulate. Initially you only start off earning 1 candy per second, with the option to eat all of your candy or to throw it onto the ground 10 at a time. Once you have accumulated 60 candy you unlock the ability to buy lollipops from the new merchant and at 150 you can buy your first sword, which opens up the ‘Quest’ mini-game.

Questing and candy will continue to unlock options for you. Once you have completed your first quest you’ll be given a nifty little key, a map, and if you happened upon a chest, a pair of seven league boots. These tools open up the lollipop farm, which allows you to grow lollipops for free, open up the Swampy Swamp which has a frog with riddles for prizes, and lets you adventure more quickly, respectively.

The lollipop farm starts slow but grows rapidly. Starting at 1 lollipop a day, once you have planted enough lollipops you can earn as many as 100 per second. It’s like compound interest and it happens before you know it, so buy lollipops early on and build your farm up because you need millions of lollipops to buy all of your upgrades.

As you continue to quest and unlock features you’ll open up wishing wells, new merchants, and the forge

where you can turn your sword into 1 of 3 different special swords: Sword of Life, Sword of Fire, and Sword of Summoning. The Sword of Life has life steal on hit, Sword of Fire has fire damage on hit, and Sword of Summoning summons monsters every time you kill an enemy.

Progress in the game is fast if you’re proactive. Clearing a run through of the Castle Entrance can earn you 17,000 to 19,000 candy at the cost of around 10 major health potions, which are cheap and quick to make once you have unlocked the cauldron. You can make a batch of 10 major health potions for 1,000 candy and 1,000 lollipops in 20 seconds, no more or less, with the cauldron.

In short it’s less of an idle game and more of a game that if you get stuck or have to go, rewards you for playing anyway. The art is endearing ascii and quite clever at times. Puzzles can be somewhat frustrating if you’re not sure what to think but there is lots of information available if you get stuck.

Check the game out at: http://candies.aniwey.net/

Flowers Parted The River

Flowers parted, in serpentine steps, the river

Walking away with begrudging strides the water awoke

Aching, moaning, and frustrated the mountains continued to doze despite this

Birds swam along like bullets imperceptible

Unhappy with the economy moles became men and picketed the sunrise

Even sand decided it was too ugly and turned jagged

Stagnant goliaths unfurrowed the soil and gorged on metaphorical mass, es

Lethargy largely overwhelmed the stars and they quieted to welcome the clouds

There was a quotidian chair,

I sat in it.

Perhaps ch3 Preview

I don't have enough time today to come up with something even passingly clever or creative. Please accept my apologies. Instead of a hasty scribble here is the first page of Perhaps chapter 3. I'm actually quite a few pages into it but it's less history than the first two chapters so it's coming out and subsequently taking a lot longer.

Communication was difficult even at the best of times. The ragged man who had saved X was deluded and lost in his own world. The woman in red armor and the person in blue armor hardly ever talked at all. This problem was compounded by the fact that X couldn’t say a word. More than anything he needed to know where they were going. Judging by the sun they were traveling to the west deeper into the desert where no civilization was.

There were strange things in the desert that flickered beyond the corner of your eye. Creatures that ebbed and snarled, grasping at something that X could not see. Much of the time it looked as if they followed the ragged man. Something about him drew these shadows and apparitions. Initially it seemed as if X was the only one who noticed these visions until the ragged man brushed one off as it tried to bite him. These were strange people accustomed to strange things and X found himself curious beyond curious about them.

To the three of them these creatures were likely common sights, which meant something important but X wasn’t quite sure what yet. In his current state he was as impotent as ever. Luckily the person clad in Blue noticed his fidgeting and walk beside him for company. “Salutations jester, I hope that you are not too warm?” X hadn’t noticed it before but he was pleasantly refreshed even though they were in the desert. It wasn’t just that he was used to poor conditions, it was that the person in blue was sucking the heat away from them and their surroundings. An aura of chill was pervasive around him. “You probably want to know where we are going and why. I am Chevalier and we are traveling to the cursed desert city of Owens. Our new friend in the tattered wear has unfinished business there and did not appreciate that we abducted him.” Chevalier the blue explained.

Abducted.

The ragged boy did not seem like someone who had been abducted. He held himself professionally if not a bit creepily, rather than in a sulking or defeated manner. Before Chevalier could leave, X needed to know one more thing. With a slow motion of his hands he pointed to the shadowy creatures that he could barely see wisps of in the corner of his eyes. This was a remarkable feat, in all honesty. Chevalier merely shrugged, “We are somewhere close to somewhere else. They are harmless but the tattered one looks delicious so they try to eat him anyway.” That was a horrifying thought and not what X wanted to hear. At least they were harmless, that was good.

Before returning to the side of the woman in red, Chevalier unraveled a smoked, salted fish. It was cooked perfectly with just a bit of browning. Slowly and carefully Chevalier pinched it and broke it into small pieces then threw the bone away. Keeping all of the meat on the cloth it was being kept in, he placed it in X’s hands. There was a happy smile coming from Chevalier though X could not see it, he knew it was there. Hidden behind the cold, blue helmet of Chevalier was a very warm hearted person.

Gosh, it was really delicious. Oh you have no idea how X savored it. Yes, he couldn’t actually taste the fish or the salt, but that was really beside the point. It was tender and soft on his mouth and a rush of memories hit him of what food really was like. Within every morsel was the flavor of kindness. A good person can make a meal that much more scrumptious. For the first time in a long time X was welcome in this world and though no one could see it behind his mask, he was smiling too. As good as it was, X couldn’t actually eat very much. Much like when he was a child, his stomach had shrunk so much that anything more than a few morsels made him uncomfortably bloated.