Ah, I forgot to write again yesterday. It's getting late here so I'll give you two posts tomorrow to make up for it. Don't say I'm not good to you. (Just say that my brain won't let me rest easy until I'm "up to date". Blame the Asperger's or something.)

I've been getting some videos done today; two more episodes of both Final Fantasy Marathon and Warriors Wednesday are in the can, and I have planning for six more episodes of Atari A to Z ready to record intros and footage for tomorrow.

I'm also recording an appearance on a podcast that is not my own tomorrow morning! A chap reached out to me a while back (around the time of the Gun Gun Pixies palaver, I think) and said he wanted to record a show on the subject of the game. We've got things sorted and are recording tomorrow. I don't know his show and site well, but if you want to check it out, you can do so at  https://onecontrollerport.com/ — not sure when the show I'm going to be on will go out, but I'll keep you posted!

As for this evening, I've eaten Japanese food (the sushi was good, the steamed pork buns were great, the yakisoba was… all right) and now I think I'm probably going to go to bed for some much-needed sleep. Or possibly stay up until an obscene hour reading a visual novel or playing shoot 'em ups. One or the other. Maybe both.

Hope you have a fine weekend!

I've been following a bunch of Japanese artists lately, partly in an attempt to drown out the never-ending morass of whining and complaining from Western Twitter, but also because I like seeing gorgeous artwork of pretty girls.

I thought today I'd share a few pieces from a couple of artists I've found particularly striking recently, and encourage you to share and support their work using the links I provide at the end. I reiterate: none of this artwork is mine; support the original artists! I embed them as simple images here because Patreon's blog editor is a bit limited and doesn't do inline tweet embeds.

First up is Ichino Yuyu, who immediately caught my attention with their beautiful use of flat shading in pale colours. It gives their work an incredibly distinctive look, and works wonderfully with their sharp, inked lineart.

 https://twitter.com/yuyu_d/status/1230326266626113537 

There's a kind of "pop art" vibe to pieces like this that I really, really like — but the attention to detail is incredible, too. Through minimal use of colour, Yuyu has really given the impression of the girl above being caked in sweat or rain.

 https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/66493029 

This seems to be just one of several styles that Yuyu experiments with, too; check their Pixiv account and you'll find a variety of colourful works, including both fanart and original compositions such as this maid. Even in this more elaborately shaded piece, however, there's still an element of that "dream-like" quality from the other pieces — look particularly at the vague, blurred, overexposed background. Lovely.

The other artist I've found especially striking recently is Ogata Tei, whose work features incredibly rich use of colour and shading, and an almost palpable feeling of substance and body to their human figures. Here's a great example:

 https://twitter.com/ogatatei/status/1231107584905449472 

Tei also seems to have a fascination with girls who have wet hair, so most of their work features girls who are getting out of the shower, or who have been swimming, or for one reason or another have straggly wet hair. It's a good look that Tei is able to capture very well — and not something you see explored all that often.

 https://twitter.com/ogatatei/status/1227355219454939136 

The other thing that Tei is very good at is intricately detailed lingerie. The detailing on the lace in this piece is absolutely second to none; it draws the eye and makes it so you can practically feel the texture just by looking at it.

If you want to see more of what these artists have been up to, check them out using these details:

Ichino Yuyu on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/yuyu_d
Ichino Yuyu on Pixiv:  https://www.pixiv.net/en/users/68864 

Ogata Tei on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/ogatatei
Ogata Tei on Fantia:  https://fantia.jp/fanclubs/4082 

Enjoy! And feel free to share any favourite artists you're a particular fan of.

Every so often, I'm struck with the satisfying feeling that gaming really has matured as an art form — and the thing that drives this home more than anything else is that in any given week, I can be playing things from 40 years ago and things from this week, and they're all still enjoyable in one way or another. Okay, your mileage may vary somewhat when it comes to the really retro stuff — pre-NES for most people — but certainly speaking for myself, I love gaming from all eras.

The fact that I'm so thoroughly captivated with Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana, which is about 15 years old at this point, is testament to this fact. While there are certain aspects of the game that we don't really "do" any more — most notably the isometric perspective built from 2D art in exploration sequences — the game as a whole still feels fresh and relevant, and very much its own distinct thing compared to its peers that are ostensibly in the same genre.

Or how about the Psikyo shooters I've just started exploring? Those mostly date back to the late '90s, yet likewise these remain highly enjoyable even today; in fact, some might argue the Switch ports are a better way to experience these than their original incarnations thanks to their customisability and tweaks to the interface.

Gaming is so incredibly rich and diverse — and has been for decades at this point — that it makes me a bit sad when anyone says that they are "bored" of it. At this point, we have more than 40 years of history to explore at any given moment, with much of it easily accessible by anyone with an Internet connection and a modest computer — and modern developers continuing to experiment, push boundaries and refine established formulae in new and creative ways.

Given all that, if you still can't find something to entertain you, I can't help but feel a bit sorry for you!

It'd be nice to be able to just get on with things in your life, wouldn't it? Without having to worry about expenses, maintaining things and all that sort of thing. Sadly, life rarely works that way.

Our house has a fairly shitty extension built on the back — we didn't do it, it was there when we bought the place. We've suspected it was pretty shit for quite a while, but with the recent storms we've had we've confirmed that: it has a leaky roof in several places. Not a major leak or anything, thankfully, but enough to damage the ceiling and wall a bit. So we're going to have to figure out what to do about that.

The most straightforward option is, of course, to just fix the roof. The extension itself, although a bit shoddy, isn't structurally unsound or anything; it just looks like it was done on the cheap (and possibly without planning permission).

But then this might provide a bit of an opportunity to revamp things a bit; we're going to get some quotes for both fixing the roof and completely rebuilding the extension, with the latter option likely involving borrowing a bit more against the value of our house, which has gone up considerably since we first bought it.

I don't really understand financial things so this is one of those times when I'm grateful for my wife's ability to keep her head screwed on (most of the time) when dealing with stuff like this. And I guess I know what I'm putting Patreon money aside for for the next little while! So, um… if you have any friends who might want to support me and my work, give 'em a nudge, eh? 🙂

I'm not sleeping super-well right now; I suspect this relates to the somewhat elevated level of anxiety I've been feeling for the past few months. Last night was particularly bad, though rather than just a general feeling of "I didn't sleep very well", I can at least point to the fact that I had a strange, seemingly anxiety-induced dream that left me feeling absolutely exhausted.

The beginning of the dream is somewhat vague. I was in some sort of house or flat or something; I don't think it was my "Manor of Sleep" that I've previously discussed, but it could well be a different part of that building that I haven't explored (or remembered) before.

The important thing is that it was some sort of communal place, rather than something that was just "mine". I feel like it was the aftermath of some sort of gathering or party or the like. And I really needed a piss.

I opened a door and walked right in. I knew that there would be people in there who were naked, so I walked right through without looking to either side; I knew that a friend from school who I haven't spoken to for nigh on twenty years was there, and he was shouting "I'm naked!" while lying on a bed with a similarly nude woman, but I didn't look; I couldn't see them. I just walked through and onward into what was apparently an en-suite bathroom.

I don't remember actually using the bathroom; the next thing I recall is entering the kitchen and a naked man with a moustache yelling at me that I "broke the baby code". I ignored him, so he just stood there, furious and nude, as I attempted to wash my hands.

The sink was sunken into a worktop that was both much too high and much too deep, making it almost impossible to reach without stretching or standing on something. It was surrounded by dirty pots and pans that I took great care not to touch, but when I rested my arm on the counter — unavoidable due to its sheer depth — I discovered that the whole thing was coated with what appeared to be cooking oil, and the sleeve of the leather jacket I was wearing became completely covered.

Beyond that, I don't really remember any other details, but I do know the experience was oddly terrifying, upsetting and anxiety-inducing; I woke up feeling like I hadn't had any rest at all, and feeling particularly uneasy about the day to come. So far no-one has yelled at me for "breaking the baby code", but the day is young!

Another weekend nearly over! Boo. Still, today has been nice and relaxing, at least, and I'm probably going to get at least another hour or so of Atelier Iris in before bed.

There was no PATRONS ONLY! video this weekend because I didn't really have the time or energy to put one together, and also I'm having a bit of a rethink. These videos haven't been watched by all that many people in total — likely because their base potential audience is already very limited — but I have enjoyed doing various random things, talking to the camera, repairing the ST and that sort of thing.

As such, having experimented with the format a bit with PATRONS ONLY! I think I might just say that I'll do occasional one-off videos of this type on the main channel for everyone to enjoy. If anyone has an issue with that or would particularly like PATRONS ONLY! to continue as a patrons-only thing, please speak now or forever hold your peace! And if you want to remind yourself of the things we've done to date, I assembled all the past PATRONS ONLY! videos into an unlisted playlist here:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqmqFDuRsOsc7ennbfigVjYDU3HVFTX4D 

Taking these sort of… "general purpose" videos public provides the scope to do things like unboxing videos of limited editions, collection tours and all that sort of thing, and I think those sorts of videos might help provide a bit of variety to the channel. It'll be fun! As I say, though, if you do feel particularly strongly that you would like these videos to continue in some form as a patrons-exclusive thing, please let me know. This blog and the monthly wallpapers for S-rankers are, of course, not going anywhere, so don't worry about that!

Anyway, back to Atelier Iris for me; I wonder if I'll manage to get a Chronolex made before I go to bed this evening…?

We're back! The show was actually very good, especially considering it was an amateur/community production; the quality of the acting was all excellent, it was well cast and the girl who played Mimi had the most incredible arse you ever did see. And knew it.

I enjoyed the show, too. I knew nothing about it going in apart from the fact that a while back it was one of those shows that tended to attract oddly obsessive fans, so I wasn't sure what to expect. The story felt a little convoluted and confusing at times — looking at the show's history, it seems it used to be even more so during its developmental stages — and it was incredibly long in the first half, but it wrapped things up quite nicely in the second half. Although the ending felt like a bit of a cop-out. Perhaps I just want people to suffer.

I kind of miss the theatre a bit. I was part of the university Theatre Group back at… well, university, and we had some wonderful times, both in our full-scale productions and during our weekly improvisation club. (We also tended to go out and get absolutely obliterated immediately after the latter, so that was always fun, too. Rest in peace, Kaos.) I never did a musical — the university musicals group "Showstoppers" was the sworn enemy of Theatre Group — but I always had a great time with whatever shows I was involved with.

The first show I was part of was a production of Macbeth, back when it was fashionable to make everything look like The Matrix. We made it look like The Matrix and it actually ended up as an incredibly stylish production that went way over budget. From there I did a couple of shows that went to Edinburgh — Turgenev's A Month in the Country, which we performed in the botanical gardens, and Alan Ayckbourn's Round and Round the Garden, which we did in a theatre — as well as directing a delightfully shambolic production of Twelfth Night, and wearing a ridiculous amount of makeup in a new translation of Pierre Marivaux's L'Epreuve.

I'm not sure I have the time or energy to involve myself with such things with all the stuff I have going on now, but those times make for some good memories, and tonight was a nice reminder of that.

I forgot to write last night, apologies for that! I was kind of exhausted though, so after getting the latest Atelier Iris feature out the door on MoeGamer.net, I just wanted to collapse into bed and sleep. So I did!

We're heading off shortly to go eat Chinese food and then go see my sister-in-law perform in Rent. I've never seen Rent, but I usually quite enjoy musicals, so it should be all right. I'd probably enjoy it more if I wasn't feeling quite so tired, though. I'd definitely enjoy it more if we didn't have to drive for more than an hour to get to the part of the country where she is but, well, it is what it is.

Next week, I should hopefully be getting my copies of the Psikyo Shooting Stars Collection for Switch, so count on some coverage of those. I'd like to cover all of the games in there, so I'll probably devote most of the non-Atelier time on the site to those; there's a fair few to cover. I'm planning on doing something similar when the Evercade releases… which, unfortunately, we learned the other day, has been pushed back to the end of May due to the danged coronavirus delaying work in the factory where it's being produced. Oh well. Can't be helped.

I've actually reached out to Evercade to see if there's anything we might be able to work on ahead of the release to help build some interest in the system, but haven't heard anything back yet. Dreamer Pete would love them to send me a review system and cartridges, but I'm aware I'm no Metal Jesus Rocks, so I'm not counting on or expecting anything! Can't hurt to try, though; I have a good relationship with the folks at PQube (especially after my interview with them a while back) so it's worth a shot.

Anyway. Better get ready to go out. Will write again when I get back this evening. Hope you have a pleasant Saturday!

I watched today's Animal Crossing Nintendo Direct and… I still don't get it.

Not for lack of trying, mind; I played both Wild World on the DS and New Leaf on the 3DS and got some enjoyment out of them, but I tired of both very quickly, and find it difficult to understand exactly what it is that has people so hyped up for a new one.

The most common thing I've seen people say is that it's a "comfy" experience. And I can understand that; it's nice to have something you can just relax with and not feel like it's assaulting your senses or making you think too much. For me, though, I still need a certain something in my "comfy" experiences; games like the Atelier series and Nippon Ichi Software's Destiny Connect (which I'm currently playing on my lunch breaks at work) provide that, whereas Animal Crossing always felt like work; like an obligation.

I guess when you boil it down it's really not all that different from grinding in an RPG or something; you do something repetitively in order to acquire various rewards, then you use those rewards to acquire other, perhaps more tangible rewards. The difference between Animal Crossing and an RPG is that those tangible rewards are things like wallpaper, haircuts, furniture, whereas in an RPG your tangible rewards tend to be things that make bigger numbers pop up in fights.

Note that I'm not saying Animal Crossing is "bad" or anything like it; I just feel like I've never really managed to latch on to the core appeal of the series, despite giving it a fairly substantial go on two separate occasions. I ended up feeling like there were lots of things in the game that were nice to look at, but getting frustrated that there wasn't a lot you could really "do" with them. And I 100% did not understand what the multiplayer mode was for besides appearing in a friend's town, looking around then buggering off again. Perhaps that is all it actually is for.

Anyway. Regardless of my own personal feelings on Animal Crossing as a whole, I'm glad that the Direct went well and seems to have been very positively received by those who have a better understanding of the series than I do. People seem super-hyped for the new one, and that's great; I know this Switch version has been keenly anticipated for a long time now, so it's wonderful to see that it looks like living up to everyone's expectations.

I probably won't pick it up when it releases in March, but I'll definitely be interested to hear some stories from those who do. I always enjoy hearing about experiences from outside my own personal area of expertise and taste, as it just highlights to me what a wonderfully broad and welcoming medium modern gaming is; there really is something out there for everyone.

I think I've talked about this before, but I'm struggling for inspiration today so I'll talk about it… possibly again.

It always baffles me how companies can have proprietary tools and software built for them… and that said software is some of the hottest, stinkiest garbage you will ever find out there.

I've encountered this on numerous occasions. When I worked in the commercial games press, every CMS I used was a complete sack of crap, because for some reason most of these sites refuse to use an off-the-peg solution such as WordPress. Why? Fuck knows; there's really very little reason to use a bespoke solution these days, what with WordPress and its competitors being enormously expandable and customisable.

At my current day job, I encounter this on a daily basis. Without getting too much into the details, my work primarily consists of managing the localisation of various bits and pieces. I don't actually do the localisation myself; I do, however, get the content out of the place where it's supposed to be, send it off to the actual localisers, then put it back where it should be.

This should be a simple process, you would think. Export content -> send to localisers -> receive back from localisers -> import content.

Do you want to know what our actual process is?

Copy US content to UK field -> Manually correct US spellings -> Export content -> Manually copy HTML line by line into an Excel spreadsheet to compare variations on the content and see what we might be able to share -> Manually copy HTML line by line into a new XML file with completely proprietary tagging system to prepare for "localisation management" software -> Import to "localisation management" software -> Break something -> Fix it -> Copy content into web-based tool so it turns XML into HTML rendering that the preview in the "localisation management" software can actually display, since it doesn't have an appropriate XML interpreter -> Use Inspect Element to copy HTML output -> Copy HTML output into "HTML Beautifier" so it doesn't look like unreadable shit -> Copy HTML output from HTML Beautifier into preview field of localisation management software -> Find something wrong -> Correct XML -> Have to do the whole bloody process to generate the preview again -> Copy CSS from web-based preview tool -> Paste CSS into new "library" in the localisation management software -> Export all the shit I just imported in a completely different XML format to send to the localisers -> Receive back from localisers -> Import XML -> Correct the mistakes the localisers inevitably made with variable names etc -> Export content from localisation management software in some indecipherable format that generates 300 files across approximately 15MB even for the smallest page update -> Run indecipherable output through "File Transformer" to turn it back into the content format we originally exported approximately three weeks ago -> Import content back to main CMS

This is stupid. And yet it's one of those processes that is apparently so ingrained, so entrenched in the people who have been there longer than me that there doesn't appear to be an alternative; our boss gets super-pissy if we don't follow "the procedure", even if it's obviously a colossal waste of time, energy and motivation.

It drives me absolutely bonkers, because it's so obviously stupid, and yet people seem unwilling to acknowledge this. Why? Fuck knows. It's one of many reasons I feel I'd be much happier making a living from doing my own thing in my own way… but, well, in the meantime, I gotta pay the bills.