Suns Throws It Back

all video games should have a “I’m shit at video games but I’m curious about the story and I don’t want to watch a let’s play” mode

I have a headcanon that p03 was originally planned to be in Waste World, but after it flopped, he was repurposed. Sometimes Rebecha likes to remember the old times.

p03 will keep ranting about gameplay anyway

i know he is ruining outfits with the comfort hoodie

I don't post sketches publically at all usually but I think that's one funny soo also I have no idea what I was thinking with this one

INSCRYPTOBER WEEK 3: OUT OF BOUNDS

I had a lot of ideas for this one, but since it took me a little longer than expected to draw this one, I decided to just do this one.

I always wanted to do a drawing with James but I didn't have any good enough ideas, this week's theme was perfect for that, one of my favorites so far

Eu tinha muitas ideias para este, mas como levei um pouco mais de tempo do que o esperado para desenhá-lo, decidi fazer apenas este.

Eu sempre quis fazer um desenho com o James mas não tinha ideias boas o suficiente, o tema dessa semana foi perfeito para isso, um dos meus favoritos até agora.

sorry for the bad english

I see edgy jokes about the Inside Out emotions like "haha they'd have to endure all your grossest fetishes" or "lol what if they were stuck in a serial killer" but both films repeatedly remind the audience that these beings *are* you and vice versa, sharing all your inclinations. No matter the depraved atrocities befouling your putrid soul I'm afraid it is established canon that those little Pixar Muppet people held a hilarious meeting about it and decided by popular vote that it was an exciting and productive direction to steer your wretched existence. Fool.

I didn’t miss that social cue I just thought it was stupid 

The Architecture of Rain World: Layers of History

A major theme in Rain World's world design that often goes overlooked is the theme of, as James Primate, the level designer, composer and writer calls it, "Layers of History." This is about how the places in the game feel lived-in, and as though they have been built over each other. Here's what he said on the matter as far back as 2014!

The best example of this is Subterranean, the final area of the base game and a climax of the theme. Subterranean is pretty cleanly slpit vertically, there's the modern subway built over the ancient ruins, which are themselves built over the primordial ruins of the depths. Piercing through these layers is Filtration System, a high tech intrusion that cuts through the ground and visibly drills through the ceiling of the depths.

Two Sprouts, Twelve Brackets, the friendly local ghost, tells the player of the "bones of forgotten civilisations, heaped like so many sticks," highlighting this theme of layering as one of the first impressions the player gets of Subterranean. Barely minutes later, the player enters the room SB_H02, where the modern train lines crumble away into a cavern filled with older ruins, which themselves are invaded by the head machines seen prior in outskirts and farm arrays, some of which appear to have been installed destructively into the ruins, some breaking through floors.

These layers flow into each other, highlighting each other's decrepit state.

The filtration system, most likely the latest "layer," is always set apart from the spaces around it. At its top, the train tunnels give way to a vast chasm, where filtration system stands as a tower over the trains, while at the bottom in depths, it penetrates the ceiling of the temple, a destructive presence. (it's also a parallel to the way the leg does something similar in memory crypts, subterranean is full of callbacks like that!)

Filtration system is an interesting kind of transition, in that it is much later and more advanced than both of the areas it cuts between. This is a really interesting choice from James! It would be more "natural" to transition smoothly from the caves of upper subterranean to the depths, but by putting filtration system in between, the two are clearly demarcated as separate. The difference in era becomes palpable, the player has truly found something different and strange.

Depths itself is, obviously, the oldest layer not only of subterranean but of the game itself. The architecture of Depths has little to do with the rest of the game around it, it's a clear sign of the forgotten civilisations that our friend Two Sprouts, Twelve Brackets showed us, there's not actually that much to say about it itself, it's mostly about how it interacts with the other layers of subterranean.

That said, Subterranean is far from the only case of the theme of layers of history. It's present as soon as the player starts the game!

The very first room of the game, SU_C04, is seemingly a cave. It is below the surface, the shapes of it are distinctly amorphous rather than geometric. (well. kind of, it doesn't do a very good job of hiding the tile grid with its 45 degree angles.)

But let's take a closer look, shall we?

See that ground? it's made of bricks. The entire cave area of outskirts is characterised by this, the "chaotic stone" masonry asset is mixed with brickwork, unlike the surface ruins which are mostly stone. This, seemingly, is an inversion of common sense! The caves are bricks and the buildings are stone. This is not, however, a strange and unique aspect but a recurring motif.

This occurs enough in the game for it to be clearly intentional, but why would materials such as bricks be used in otherwise natural looking terrain?

The answer lies in the "Layers of History" theme. This is in fact, something that happens in real life, and it's called a tell

en.wikipedia.org

Tell (archaeology) - Wikipedia

To be specific, a tell is a kind of mound formed by settlements building over the ruins of previous iterations of themselves. Centuries of rubble and detritus form until a hill grows from the city. Cities such as Troy and Jericho are famous examples. The connections to the layers of history theme are pretty clear here, I think. Cities growing, then dying, then becoming the bedrock of the next city. The ground, then, is made of bricks, because the ground is the rubble of past buildings. The bones of forgotten civilisations, heaped like so many sticks!

hey, i was looking through your bug fables liveblog playthrough, and i had tried my hardest to figure this out for a good while but i have a question;

what is the explanation behind the leafbug portrayals in the game being racist? i’ve tried to figure it out for the sake of awareness, but i couldn’t find any sources. don’t feel obligated to explain if you don’t want to, feel free to delete this ask for your comfort.

its racist but possibly a better way to put it is that it plays into a lot of anti-indigenous tropes. for the record, i am not indigenous, so my insight on this front may be somewhat limited, but ill explain as best as i can.

the first time you hear of the leafbug tribe is when youre going into an area that is, directly stated or otherwise, not part of bugaria. theyre Outsiders that do not understand the culture of bugarian bugs. they also have their own language that is 'gibberish' that, funnily enough (/s), no one ever attempts to understand. this sort of othering is already a red flag, because its not portrayed in good faith. add that to the fact that you have to fight them for... no real reason in the game, and its really not painting a good picture.

im pretty sure the leafbug tribe is also explicitly described as primitive, somewhere? which is a very common and egregious anti-indigenous sentiment. theyre different, theyre not knowledgeable in science or whatever the fuck, they have their own brutal customs, theyre just unintelligent beasts that are obstacles in our path, and to get through we just have to kill them. do you see any parallels here?

one of my biggest issues with how the leafbug tribe is portrayed is that, again, there is never any attempt on any of the bugarian characters' part to properly communicate with them. for gameplay reasons they're 'just enemies,' sure, but why? why did the devs make the choice to paint a whole enemy tribe in this light? and also, why does the leafbug tribe have to fight the protagonists anyway? even if they're protecting their territory, why would they feel the need to protect it if they didnt have outsiders who never explain what theyre doing here traipsing on their lands?

one of the worst instances for me would be the team maki side quest where yin becomes an adult moth. maybe im just confused at where exactly the leafbugs live, but that section of the map is in the far grasslands, in wasp kingdom territory. the swamplands are connected to the grasslands, but the specific area yin metamorphoses in is not near it? but then surprise! you have to fight the leafbug tribe! because... idk, theyre convenient antagonists. shrug, its a video game. except its really not just a video game.

fundamentally, the portrayal of the leafbug tribe plays into a lot of anti-indigenous tropes, and everything about them is done in bad faith. the writing of bug fables already has other flaws, and there is another instance of racism in the bug fables universe—cough cough, elizant the second with ladybugs—and also given what ive heard of the devs im just. very wary, and very tired. to be fair i dont think they intended to native code the leafbug tribe, but these sorts of biases are very ingrained in popular culture and media, and just because its common doesnt make it less hurtful. especially not when its this blatant.

im not sure how clear this explanation and analysis is, but its as good as i can muster. other folks with more personal experience/knowledge may be able to contribute more. either way, i resent how the leafbug tribe was depicted.