AenaonDusky

Update 4.3

A small update, 2.1, is out! Changelog:

Sorry for the bump, but a big update is here! Introducing: Animated Portraits! (credit to Mr. Gela and Golisopod User) We hope you like this new addition! See screenshots and top of thread. V2.0 also brings balancing changes (credit to Specific) and a lot of tile fixes. Shoutout to Sandy for testing persistence as well. As always your feedback is greatly appreciated, as is the case with reviews. Thank you for your support!

Welcome to The First Journey and its second part, Red's Journey West!: A swan song to the older generations who started with the originals, and a novel, thrilling, emotional story for the newer generations!! Experience "Generation 0" where it all began - witness Professor Oak's first journey across the Kanto Region - and after you are done, follow Red's Journey to Johto, 40 years later, in search of a very important person! Two adventures in one! Instead of a traditional postgame, you'll get to experience a new story, throughout a challenging Johto, in the shoes of the (second) strongest Trainer in the world! Follow Red's Journey to redemption after a devastating and humiliating loss to Ethan (Gold). Witness his transformation through loneliness to maturity, as he traverses Johto together with a cast of familiar characters. It is the year 1957. Samuel Oak, a 20 year-old prodigy, has just returned back to his home country after spending three years in the world’s best university. With him, he brings science, technology, and the true spirit of trainerhood. On a mission to establish the first ever League in the East, Oak will have to adjust to local battling traditions, overcome bureaucratic hurdles, and introduce local uneducated Tamers to the proper way of doing things. STORY: FEATURES: CHARACTERS: ------------------------------------- In Red’s Journey West, you will be faced with harder (than usual) fights. If you are competent in competitive, they will be a walk in the park - otherwise, since they were designed to teach non-competitive players how to adapt to the scene, you will come out with greater confidence in your skills, as a result. So don't fret, and approach your choices with a tactical mind! Find out the truth about Red's missing brother, and the events that transpired between Red's loss and his arrival in the West, in this emotional journey about the process of coming of age, in a time when traditional family structures have started falling apart. On a fateful day, on the very peak of Mt. Silver, Red was dealt a decisive blow - a newcomer from Johto, with 16 badges, swept his team with ease. To someone like Red, who had never lost a battle before, it felt like the world had ended. After running away with his tail between his legs, he stumbled upon an old friend, who gave him a letter mentioning a potentially important person to Red. With purpose anew, our protagonist finally descends Route 26, and travels to Johto in search of him. FEATURES: CHARACTERS: SCREENSHOTS: DOWNLOAD: Community Mods: CREDITS: Questions and Miscellanous Information:

Mini Gamemaking Tutorial Series: Compact Mapping Mapping (videogames) is the creative process of designing an area that can be seen and/or explored by the player – and sometimes even an npc or the ai of a game. Depending on the genre and the design approach, its importance as a factor may vary – it can enhance or decrease the general quality of the experience, but it may also make or break games whose focus is mainly exploration, conveying of messages through artistic decisions, or implementation of a gameplay concept through mapping. No matter its core importance in a game, a consistently good mapping presentation leaves its mark on the mind of the player, plays an active role in orientation and “guided” player freedom and choice, rewards players who invest in exploring a game’s maps, and disincentivizes approaches that may have negative impact on player experience. In RPGs, the map usually takes a more “passive” role in regards to player-game interactivity, but also rewards exploration through unique events and items. While modern RPG map design is not as crucial to the gameplay aspect, it nevertheless expresses the lore and setting of the game - and crystallizes the existence of an imaginary land within a believable, semi-realistic, navigable area. As a result, maps that are designed in a way that hinders this perception of existence, connectivity and cohesion of the game world, will leave the player with a disconnecting feeling. And even if a developer is careful in regards to the aforementioned, there is always the problem of the art-style and the general art direction of the game as it pertains to in-game sizes and distances, that needs to be taken into account. The best way to maintain the suspension of disbelief, and the realism of proportions and distance relations without sacrificing your artistic vision, is to paint the map “compactly”. In this part of the gamemaking mini tutorial series called “Compact Mapping” we will explore certain techniques that can help alleviate problems in existing maps and put the design of new ones into a more compact, consistent, and realistic form. Note: The following are not quick hacks that can make you good at mapping. They’re more like general guidelines that if followed will enhance your skills and help you learn faster. Nothing substitutes for practice. 1. Consistent Object and Distance Scale within the Art Style The problem of big maps in detail. The art style of the game is absolutely crucial to the way a map needs to be designed. For instance, a chibi style requires a miniature depiction of everything that exists within the style. A character whose proportions and art style are governed by a particular design approach, cannot live in a world where building size and distance among objects in the space are relative to another style. The world’s scale needs to be relative to the scale of the style’s characters, or vice-versa, and present the illusion of an analogy to real life size and distance relations. As such, buildings, roads and various objects, and the distances among them, are representative of what they would have been in real life if the place was real. No matter if your game is designed based on a grid or not (although a grid requires less effort to work with and makes size and distance analogy easier to manually adjust) the distance of areas, objects and characters in the game should always be relative to each other. By maintaining this analogy, the player is also required to do far less “traveling” between point A and point B in a game. In the case of 2d chibi-style RPGs, a step is equivalent to about 2-3 steps in real life! Example of Good Map Design: CREDIT: Essentials, “Player House” map The chef is delighted that reaching the door doesn’t take an eternity. Notice the analogy and relation of objects - and distances among objects - to the character. Example of Bad Map Design: CREDIT: Essentials “Player House” map Our chef friend feels a bit weird about the fact that he has to take the equivalent of about 14-20 steps irl to reach the door from the….middle of the room…. Example of Good Map Design: CREDIT: Essentials, “Cedolan City” map “Ah, Cedolan City is so beautiful…” said the chef. Notice the distances among various buildings and their positioning in the map. This feels like a big city without it being “big” as far as mapping distances are concerned. Example of Bad Map Design: CREDIT: Essentials, “Cedolan City” map “What is going on here? Something feels a bit off”, said the chef. Notice the big distances among buildings and objects, and within the layout itself. The map portion shown here is exactly the same overall size, yet it now looks much more unnatural, big and empty! Big and empty maps is a common novice mistake, but fear not for even gamefreak themselves have been “guilty” of this in the past, as evidenced by a lot of their RBY maps, as well as the Beta versions of GS. Protip: Don’t try “filling” the map with objects and buildings to compensate for an already big and out of proportion general layout. It just makes the map artificially clustered and will overwhelm most players. 2. The player’s POV When making a map, you need to consider that what you’re seeing when you’re designing it, isn’t necessarily what the player sees when they play the game. Rather, there’s a difference between the Editor View in any software, and the actual Game Window. Unless you are able to zoom in as much as you want inside the editor view, or you have set a certain resolution for the game to match one of your zoom levels, then there will be a discrepancy between what you see when you’re creating and what you see when you’re playing. In RMXP’s case, and due to the difference between the farthest, biggest “zoom” inside the editor and the resolution of the game window in Essentials, you cannot easily get a sense of “what you create is what you see”. Here’s an example: Farthest Zoom in RMXP CREDIT: Essentials, “Lerucean City” map Game Window: CREDIT: Essentials, “Lerucean City” map As you can see, the difference is rather big. Comparison: CREDIT: Essentials, “Lerucean City” map The problem with this is that you can’t get an immediate sense of how the map is perceived through the eyes of the player. Unless you playtest it of course, but that’s not incorporated into the first design process and can lead to your map feeling right when you make it - and then you get used to it - and nothing seems wrong during playesting. Keep in mind that you’ve literally got the big picture as well, but your players don't. Let’s see an example of this influencing how you design the map: CREDIT: Essentials, “Lerucean City” map To some of you, this will already feel “off”. That’s because there’s a huge open space on the mid upper area of the map. But on first sight, it doesn’t feel too wrong, maybe placing a tree or something there could fill it, right? Well remember what we said about “filling” before. Nevertheless, take a look at what the player sees on that spot: CREDIT: Essentials, “Lerucean City” map Oops! It certainly looks emptier now - if you take a look back at the editor screenshot, that one will look emptier too! Also notice how much bigger the distance between Dr. Fuji and the player looks here. Compare it to this: CREDIT: Essentials, “Lerucean City” map That’s right, the illusion of proper distance has been achieved in this picture. Notice that it doesn’t matter how farther away you place Dr. Fuji, what does matter is the consistency of general relations among buildings, objects and characters in the map. While it is advised to map using both a larger editor view and the true-to-game-window view, the importance of seeing your map from the eyes of the player should encourage you to make much more frequent use of the latter type of viewing when mapping. Let’s look at this again: As you can see in the magnificently drawn example above, even within a view that contains 2 points of interest and nothing else, with the player right in the center, the image “feels” alright. In this example however, something’s definitely off. That’s because the buildings have been placed in a way that makes them difficult for the player to see. With a more compact placement, more visual information is shown to the player. While this doesn’t mean that you should try to cram up everything within the game window view, you should consider how much stuff the player can see to get a good “picture” of their surroundings and map layout. Remember, distances in 2D games and distances in the real world are not the same. If you don’t take care of that, your maps will look empty like this: And unless your game is taking place on a wasteland or a desolated map, this kind of mapping will negatively affect the quality of both gameplay and visuals. 3. Viewport Resolution and Asset Size Distance Relations How big a game world and a map is perceived to be can usually be defined by 1) player size in relation to the world and 2) walking/traveling speed. These two however, exist in relation to the game’s resolution as well. If character and object size, and game window are not in “good” relation to each other, then you can either see too much stuff that overwhelms the eyes, or too little, affecting the general perception of the map and even navigation. Take this for example: CREDIT: Essentials “Ingido Plateu” Map The game viewport’s resolution is set to double the normal size. Notice the amount of information the player receives now, there’s so much stuff going on visually that there’s no clear focus. Moreover, the player’s movement will give off the impression of it being very slow - and since the player has an immediate general idea of where everything is, the maps have to be designed even bigger to compensate for the visual scope the player now has. Resolution doesn’t mean stretching. Stretching the game window to a bigger resolution will just make everything you see larger – but enlarging the resolution of the viewport (or adjusting the player’s distance from the camera in 3D and 2.5D) will increase the area of what can be seen. In games with set asset resolution like “pixelated” 2D RPGs, if you were to set the resolution to a bigger value without stretching the graphics accordingly, the player would be able to see parts of the map that they shouldn’t be allowed to see. (Imagine being able to see twice as far in a metroid-style game...It would ruin the exploration!) And if the resolution got smaller, you’d only be able to see a fraction of what you should be seeing in order to navigate properly (falling into traps more easily, not being able to see enemies soon enough, etc etc). Of course in older games, display resolution was limited by hardware, so the devs had to work with a “default” viewport resolution. Essentials default resolution allows the player to see 16 grid tiles/ “blocks” wide total and 12 grid tiles/ “blocks tall total. A map should be designed with the relation between viewport resolution and assets in mind. While most fangames won’t have this problem, if you want to implement a bigger resolution, you should consider how that might impact your mapping and what the player should see so as to not overwhelm them with information. Especially if your game’s assets are standard 16x16 (stretched to 32x32 for Essentials) assets. If your tiles are the default ones, and the display is bigger, then restrain yourself when mapping. Bigger area of view? Same relative information as with a smaller resolution. RMXP’s grid size, or single “block” is 32x32. Notice: Essentials assets, mainly its graphics (tiles, icons, sprites) are double the size due to RMXP’s grid only being mappable on 32x32 single tiles, rather than the standard Gameboy games of 16x16. Don’t let that confuse you, since you’re working with 32x32 graphics anyway. 4. Locality – Variety Focused mapping. Consider dividing the map into parts that 1) serve a different purpose, 2) are unique in relation to other parts of the same map, 3) express something specific to them, 4) tell a story, 5) have some sort of geographical variety and 6) introduce general map asymmetry. CREDIT: Gamefreak, “RSE Lilycove City” Can you spot some of the above? Let’s mark them: CREDIT: Gamefreak, “RSE Lilycove City” Yellow Color/Museum: On the northwestern part of the map there’s a Museum, it’s got it’s own secluded spot right at the end of the second big street. People taking a stroll after their shopping spree would love to relax and take a break there. The Museum’s cultural importance is accentuated due to it resting atop the highest point in the map. Purple Color/Dept. Store and high street: The second street leads to some scenic sightseeing to the east and to the Museum to the west. To reach the museum, one would need to pass by the Dept. Store, which exploits passerby tours to the museum and gives a busier feeling to the street. Notice how important streets / busy streets are just straight, lengthy streets with points of interest on either side. Green Color/Lone house on hills: If one were to jump down the ledges, they would find a picturesque house overlooking the beach and the northern part of the sea. Has that house always been there? Or did someone eccentric decide to build their maisonette there? Orange Color/Main Street: A lengthy but not too wide street, perfect for the role of a main street, with the Pokecenter near the entrance of the city (more about this later) covering almost the entirety of the town. The rails on each side of the stairs invite you to follow them – as if the road itself continues north (it kinda does). Notice that you are able to see the Contest Hall to the South even if you are walking along the northern side of the road. Brown Color/Pokecenter and Contest Hall: These are some of the most important buildings trainers will visit, and due to their importance they’re either located near the entrance or are both visible after you take your first few steps in the city. Blue Color/Tavern: Positioned in the center of the town there’s a graphic little tavern. A town plaza/ center is frequently associated with places to grab some food and escape from the busier life of the main streets. Light Blue Color/ Rock formation north of seaside: The northeastern part of the map has what appears to be a cave surrounded by rock formations, (literally) engulfing the seaside town while providing a small opening to the sea farther east. Black Color/ Cape and Lighthouse: Almost half of the town’s length, this stretchy cape’s tip is adorned by a lighthouse waiting for ships to come. The trip there feels a bit bigger and rewarding, but also makes sense as far as the layout is concerned, protruding towards the sea. Light Green Color/Beach: Shallow waters and a beach are formed from the gulf’s encapsulation. This serves as a nice natural transition from land to sea (land > sand > shallow water > sea). It’s also a nice contrast to the higher terrain around it. Red Color/ Shipyard: The shipyard is located away from the beach, on the other end of the map, letting swimmers swim at peace away from any incoming ships. Of course, it’s situated relatively close to the lighthouse (on the same axis) and right at the end of the town. 5. Points of Interest In every map, there are certain Points of Interest, or POIs for short, which denote the importance of that particular part of the map or the buildings within it. A POI can be anything from a shop to a strange rock formation, from a river to some weird grassy pattern. These are used to catch the eye of the player and orient them, and also serve as hidden signposts, guiding the player somewhere and giving them the impression of a discovery that takes place thanks to their own volition. (In truth, you are visually guiding them by providing these hints. As a result, the player believes their discovery to be special, unique and the result of their own choices and free will. Shh, they’ll never know.) It is generally good practice to make a POI visible when you’re next to another POI, having two POIs displayed at all times. This is really important when it comes to exploration-based games, as it helps tremendously with navigation and orientation, and also breaks visual boredom and makes the scenery feel more alive and true-to-life. Remember the “magnificent” illustration you saw above? Let’s take a look at it again: 2 POIs are visible here. If you were to reach the center of one of the POIs, another POI would be visible from there. In contrast, a POI is barely visible with no other POI in sight. You can also use POI relationship to determine if your maps are too big and empty. You should generally avoid having the viewport display an area that seems to be repeating itself, unless you've got some ulterior design motive (e.g. strange woods that you’re getting lost in). POIs should make sense as to their placement, e.g. a healing spot or a tavern, or a Pokecenter, would have to be near the entrance of the map, since weary trainers, hungry travelers, and tired adventurers have one thing in common: they’re back from an adventure and need a place to rest and eat. The town council would surely have taken care of that, right? Modern life also follows this: in many countries, hostels, hotels and places to eat are in abundance when entering a city. Context when placing your POIs matters a lot. 6. Barebone Mapping + Decorate last Who needs graphics? You can begin designing the layout of the map with barely any graphics at all, just use 5-6 different ground tiles and paint the map’s layout taking all of the aforementioned principles in consideration. Walk around your map. If the general feel is alright, then your subsequent drawing of objects and terrain will a) be easier to do because there’s already a visual guide, b) will look better as a result of good base layout. Examples: CREDIT: Essentials “Battle Frontier” Map As you can see here, there’s barely more than 3 different tiles. Just the design of the general layout. CREDIT: Essentials “Battle Frontier” Map After painting it a bit more on top of the general layout, the map is starting to look good. CREDIT: Essentials “Battle Frontier” Map Wow, now that the buildings have been placed around, it looks great. Notice where the Center and Mart are placed. Since this is a battling venue, there are battling facilities everywhere. That makes the placement of the pokecenter and the mart on the center of the map crucial, as it allows trainers to come back to heal and buy from any facility – no matter where they are. As stated previously, context in your map is always important. Decorating your maps should come far later; objects should be placed last on your map. If you begin the other way around you will design your layout and parts of the map in reference to the decorations or objects you have placed, which will throw off your mapping consistency. 7. From inside, to outside! Avoid painting your map from the edges towards the center of the map. Always try to work from the center / inner part of the map, towards the edges. The reason for this is because the edges have defined a “box” where you will now be guided to map from, and not towards. This will throw off mapping consistency, and will cause problems if you want to resize your map or make some significant changes. It will also make your mapping less compact due to your points of reference being really away from each other (map edges) – instead, you should place one tile or character on the center of the map and then use that as a reference from where to begin drawing. 8. Thematically designed It is good practice to decide on a theme before you begin painting a map – what’s the theme of the map? What kind of story does it tell? What makes the whole map unique in relation to other maps in the game? What kind of new experience can it offer to the player? Is the map used within a deliberate gameplay design choice (e.g. a map that rotates/ gets flooded/ can be traversed both in the past and in the present), or is it a normal map? What’s the artistic theme of the map? Is it a volcanic village? An air-pollution champion like LA? The flatter cousin of Texas ? A rugged mountainous terrain roller-coaster like your emotions on Monday morning? Notice that the theme doesn’t need to be geographical, it can be cultural (the village’s roofs are all painted blue, and houses are placed vertically because of a tradition), practical (e.g. the city is built on a big hill because it used to serve as a fort in the old times) or related to a bigger revelation in the game that makes sense as a design choice after spoilers have been revealed (e.g. All of the towns are contained within a microorganism's colony of cells and that’s the reason they’re placed within "circles" and are spherical – we’re not in space then!!!!!! BRAIN XPLODE!) The map’s theme doesn’t need to be something incredibly deep or big, it just needs to tell a small story, and whisper a little secret. 9. Perfect imperfections – Asymmetry You should always try to avoid symmetrical pattern repetition – any symmetrical pattern repetition - as long as you’re not explicitly trying to accentuate a certain feature of the map (e.g. an “endless” map that can’t be accessed at that point, or a tiled pavement an eccentric scientist designed). This is especially important when it comes to ground tiles (plain grass, roads etc). Perfect symmetry and repetition give your maps an artificial look, as if they were designed by a robot or a bored programmer’s algorithm. (Unless the big spoiler of the game is that this particular rpg world was indeed designed by robots or by some ingame game devs, woah. In that case, be prepared for those early gameplay reviews complaining about the not-so-obvious). If there’s a particular thematic design reason for symmetry, then so be it – but you should still be careful about the execution of such a concept through deliberate design. Building placement as well as terrain design should avoid this too. CREDIT: Essentials “Route 7” Map Asymmetry in the center of the picture CREDIT: Essentials “Route 7” Map Symmetry in the center of the picture. Notice: these rocks seem to benefit from a little bit of symmetry, huh... CREDIT: Essentials “Lerucean City” Map Asymmetrical buildings CREDIT: Essentials “Lerucean City” Map Symmetrical buiildings While some types of terrain and building layouts can benefit from some symmetry, you should always be careful so as not to overdo it with perfection. Note: If your art style has a “set” height (or general) size for buildings, like the FR/LG games, then you don’t need to introduce the kind of asymmetry shown above. As always, if your art style dictates a particular consistency, do not break it. You’d have to introduce asymmetry via distance between tiles/buildings and perhaps length, rather than height in this case. 10. No Square Maps! This is one of the most popular tips out there, and for good reason – if you can’t rotate your assets or are unable to use 2D art that’s rounder, or your engine doesn’t support free placement of objects and forces grid painting, then you need to always look out for “rectangular” mapping. Rectangular mapping produces maps that feel so much square-y that they look more like rooms with artificially planted things on them rather than organic environments. This artificiality hinders the player's suspension of disbelief and the natural, “alive” feeling of the world. Let’s take...Pallet Town as an example: Source: Bulbapedia, Credit: GameFreak Pallet Town is a bad example of a map. There’s so much symmetry and the map is so square, it could have served as the main inspiration behind legos. But what about GF’s gen 2 starter town? Source: Bulbapedia, Credit: GameFreak As you can see, GF learned from their previous mapping mistakes and made the gen 2 starter town map much, much better when it comes to avoiding the problem of squares. (Well that lower right tree corner is too square-y but that’s just a nitpick). Sadly, from gen 3 onwards, square starter town maps have returned, with only some minor improvements saving them from square doom. 11. General Advice - If you dont have a plan, just keep on going and design, sometimes there's no "perfect" way to do things, you just have to keep it up. - The golden ratio is a nice trick you can use in grid-based map design if you find it very difficult to design something in the pure, chaotic, creative sense. Source: Wikipedia. Yes, I know. The golden ratio, in plain terms, is a geometric relationship that either biologically or culturally (or both) induces aesthetically pleasing responses in art, and can be frequently found in nature (well what cannot be found in nature anyway), and its application in art has been trending since modern times. While this ratio presupposes every relationship between its parts and the whole to which it belongs as a part, (and the whole of which that is now a part etc etc) to follow that rule, you don’t need to do that when mapping of course, unless your day was especially bad and you need to satisfy your weird obsession with square relationships. Let’s see a small example: CREDIT: Essentials “Lerucean City” Map And another: CREDIT: Essentials “Route 3” Map, Maruno (that’s what the M stands for, right?) - Sometimes less is more - No buildings on top of roads, seriously. - Look out for visible dark areas outside the map! Since the player can see, on default resolution, at least 8 tiles to the left and right and 6 tiles up and down, you should make sure your navigable part of the map is not next to the map’s very edges! - Gen 3’s style needs more compact maps than Gen 4, whose screen resolution is bigger. Gen 3 is so chibi, that big distances between tiles, objects and buildings make the barrenness immediately obvious. ========================================================================= And that’s all! If you want to correct something or add anything else to the guide, feel free to! Until next time!

The following is part 1 of a series of "articles" on the topic of Writing. Writing: Character Flawchart Hello, hello, "Jason" here with a "guide" some weird hobo relayed to another weird hobo who in turn read it out loud to a man living in a jar-turned-barell, who was a relative of the former hobo. You wanna know what the heck this is all about? Well I actually met that weird dude once. He forced me to relay this ...uh.. whatever this is to you. I met that jar guy when I had finally decided to take a shower, because obviously, I never shower in my house since I don't even have a shower, (I always use public showers) and when the time had come to finally shed 5 years of invaluable layers of hygienic resistance, I had to listen to this weird jar-living man narrating this "article". Whatever. Weird Jar-Living Man's Character Writing Guide: Writing Methods pulled from one's ass (ewww) - Part 1 of a series of strangest advice ever. ============================================================================================================ Weird Old Man: "The most frequently adopted approach to writing characters centers around their qualities,both negative and positive, tied together by a particular strong characteristic and thematic element describing both the uniqueness and the general personality of the character in question. Cool right? Yep. But not that cool. That's why the method my distant relative proposed, although unorthodox, has an interesting side to it which if followed, can lead to a better understanding and presentation of character progression. What? You don't believe such a thing exists? You just write and write and whatever happens happens? Yeah, that's what I do too. (**Jason's note: he then proceeded to vehemently scratch what appeared to be a fossil from a long bygone age of bacterial conflict close to his armpits - it seemed as if that particular skin location had seen countless wars of immense scale, wars that words cannot properly describe - wars crystallized in the density of the critters now inhabiting the area**) Now, my fellow hygiene-oriented friend, I would propose, instead, an approach that many do not wish to follow, for it induces a certain amount of uneasiness and unpredictability to the writer - a thing that can however be utilized for good, if carefully approached." Jason: Okay, weird man. Can you elaborate on your source of wisdom some more, 'cause taking a shower while listening to you can be more of a pain than what I had expected at first...I mean, aside from the fact that the way you speak sounds totally incoherent. Weird Old Man: "Shut up, and pass me the shampoo. There. Ahh...finally, clean again. Alright, let's move on. Where was I? Oh! Yeah! Well, let me tell you this secret straight away: You begin by actually writing the negative aspects, the flaws of the character you wish to build." Jason: The heck dude? This shampoo smells... weird.... Weird Old Man: "Let me finish and I'll comment on your lack of taste in bathing products later. Now, let's concentrate on this: No matter what kind of personality you wish to focus on, you'll have to think how this character would cope with their flaws, or even better, how they would utilize those flaws and turn them into flows. Yeah. Flows. Turn them into strengths, actually. That doesn't necessarily imply that these negative traits will turn into positives in a manner which will portray the character as having achieved perfection. Far from it. In truth, it's how the character utilizes these negative attributes, weaknesses, problematic behaviors, emotional instability, mistakes - how they 1) work around these problems, 2) accept them and try to minimize their impact on others [which can lead to partially overcoming them] 3) use them as an internal example of leniency towards people who are going through the same (or similar) situations [which can lead to accepting and assisting others, and warning them against making mistakes - another great way of partially overcoming one's own faults]. Now, why "partially"? That's 'cause its difficult to portray a character's state of change by using a "switch" - boom, now they're a different human being. It's not that this stuff can't happen, but it makes said character portrayal feel quite forced. Also, keep in mind that change is a state, not a button, and it requires staying on the same path (and failing all the time) to maintain that state. (A state that is moving? How is that possible?) Modern times have a weird fascination with character perfection (which as a phenomenon has almost never existed and probably never will) and as a result, character portrayal remains unapologetically unrealistic. People pull out "MAH HIDDEN POWAS" from nowhere, insta-develop because of a single event (doesn't happen that easily) and generally act in a linear fashion. In truth, progress is not something that happens in a linear, upwards way, it is more akin to my ridiculously well curved chest hair which looks more like the Labyrinth of Knossos rather than my other well-trimmed line that finishes right on my...belly button." Jason: SHUT UP, THIS IS GOING ABOVE AND BEYOND THE "A" RATING! Weird Old Man: "Okay, your loss, man. Have you ever heard of 'one step forward two steps back' "? Jason: Is that a lame Country song or something? Weird Old Man: "Wow, how rude. This is simply an example showcasing how progress (in almost all areas in life) is made...When a character struggles to overcome X or Y, or is discovering themselves, or is attempting to socialize properly, things aren't always gonna be that easy. Failures and time are needed in order for that person to actually develop. And remember, development doesn't necessarily imply positive or linear development. Of course development needs to have a direction, but the road leading there is usually a long, hard, two-way, curved, road. Filled with diversions and the such. Kinda like my -" Jason: No, please no... Weird Old Man: "Uh.. anyway, let's say we've got a character named Flora. Flora is almost always overwhelmed with anger. Anger at every corner. Flora cannot easily defeat this. It's a trait that has always been with her, for as long as she can remember. Flora could use this to further her character development when needed: Use it against herself, against her own errors, and against the choices that she wishes she'd never made. So a negative trait that could be harmful to both her and others, can be turned into a positive trait, used against her own mistakes. It could even serve as a sort of catalyst in order to achieve something, a motivator. She could very well be angry at either herself or someone of the evil kind, and use this "fuel" to discipline her sorry self- though that could leave her with emptiness once her journey is complete. She could even use it as a (unstable) device for sensing when people are jerks against someone she cares for. That way, her flaw becomes a flow which can be redirected or built upon. Now, assume flora meets an indifferent main character. Her anger is not answered with anger. She gradually loses the "steam", surprise feels her heart, because some strange JRPG writers decided to make evey MC a mute - because the main character is unresponsive to such anger bursts. After some back and forth and spending quite some time with the MC, she is starting to see that negative trait for what it is. She still has to live with her flaw, her scar, her passion, but this is holding her life hostage no longer - anger does not define her, she cannot overcome it, but she can use it. This approach here works even if you have no idea about the setting, the general progression, or the direction of the story. Were there predefined strengths in place, it would have been more difficult to build a progression that does not feel forced. Now, however, progression is more realistic; it doesn't solely exist to balance out the negatives - the latter are part of the process, her own process to become a better person and overcome those flaws. Or better, transform them and move forward. Besides, flow is flow, right? I mean, it's something fluid not concrete. That's how flaws are as well." Jason: Can you please stop with this? I'm getting bored already...besides it makes little sense. Weird Old Man: "Here take this used toilet paper -" Jason: GAH! GET AWAY FROM ME YOU MANIAC! Weird Old Man: "I see. *proclaims in oriental cartoon mannerism*. Let's talk about Jake. Jake is a weird boy, according to others. He rarely leaves his house, he prefers the company of books to people (no internet yet- sorry peeps) and he fantasizes about being a warrior, yet he is physically inept. He is very shy, but also bears resentment against those who are social, pretending to snob such things as if they're negligible activities - yet secretly wants to be the one in the spotlight, the center of attention, the soul of the party. Jake in reality thinks much more of himself than he should, resulting in a kind of man that is oblivious to the feedback of others - perhaps as a defense mechanism, or perhaps because he simply is a jerk (not everyone needs to have a dramatic past for their dramatically presented bad behavior). Jake has to reach a development point.... where his perceived superiority in his fantasy-martial prowess is shattered by a real life event, or even better, a series of events. Jake has two choices: either feign indifference and convince himself that such a thing never happened, (he still knows the best techniques after all, right?) or ask himself the following question : “Maybe, just maybe... I wasn't right?” The latter of course, will be the decisive one. Portraying Jake as the kind of loser that will just retreat back home is not only cliche, but also ignores the potential of humans for change (although weird obsessions about the self are a difficult yoke to throw off). There are of course, obstacles that can never be overcome and flaws that can never be fixed – but to discern between those, experience, age, and a good understanding of human behavior, as well as a varied social life is required on the writer’s part. This is actually an interesting topic for another time. Anyway, in the case of progress, Jake would still have been humiliated and would probably have suffered for a while, but after a period of true self-reflection, and the inevitable feedback of society (with all the negatives and positives that come with it), he would gradually recover and realize that admittance of ineptitude is the first step to progress, gratitude, and then happiness. By making that decision, Jake has already undergone 50% of his progression - or at least, he's started striving towards that percentage. Naturally, he won't reach that point overnight, and he will have to deal with all the ups and downs. However He becomes more humble, listens to others, and even if some degree of pretentious elitism resides in him, he can use that as a way to identify that trait in other people who pretend they are great and honorable, while they are not. That way, Jake could prove himself very useful in distinguishing cult leaders from plain influential people, for example. Also, Jake comes to a realization: Physical strength is not what defines his identity: the same kind of strength and bravery can be found in non-physical accomplishments, in respectfully defending his or others' way of life, in refusing to give up when confronted by nasty people who wish to destroy X or Y or Z etc.etc. The exact process can be ironed out depending on the setting and the overall plot. Of course, not all people can change, or are willing to, but we're talking about development here, and you can always have static characters included in, if you so wish." Jason: Weird dude, I had enough. I don't care about your crappy character development procedure. Although, you're kinda cool I guess. Weird Old Man: "Wait man, let me finish with this: When the relationships and the humanity of the characters is great, the setting and the general story will be far greater than anticipated by the players originally. The other way around seldomly helps. I will talk about that in my next shower thought analysis." Jason: Wait, "players"? I thought we were talking about writing.... You mean videogame players? And how the heck do you even know what a "player" is? You live in a jar! Weird Old Man: "Well, some things are experienced differently when the medium is interactive. Want me to do a live demonstration of such interactivity?" (**proceeds to throw curly chest hair at poor Jason**) Jason: Nononononono.... and I won't be here to hear your next bull. Next shower thought analysis? Get lost! Shoo! Ugh, I'm out! ========================================================= This... unique encounter had come to a halt. I had to get outta there no matter what. I put a towel on me and proceeded to run away as fast as possible. Nightmares of this incredibly awful interaction still haunt me to this day. However, I was definitely not prepared for the dreadfully inevitable recurrence of this event, when another 5 years had passed me by....

Hello, first of all there's plenty of good advice here. Proper breaks, a routine, starting with the easier ones, a more focused effort, the relation between what you know learn and what knowledge you'll eventually utilize. Since you've already invested in your current studies programm, it'd be better to stick with it as well. You say your brain "alienates questions". Maybe you've trained yourself to dislike and/or avoid these subjects, and it's the thought of dealing with them that's perhaps a bigger obstacle to studying successfully, rather than these subjects per se? Depending on where you're studying, supplementary classes or a support programm (support regarding both these subjects and general education/emotional support) would really help you. It's neither a shame nor a waste of time. Education is a process where both failure and success, ignorance and knowledge, difficulties and familiarization with weird concepts are involved. The majority of people face obstacles of a similar nature. Aside from these "official" ways of reaching for help, talking with someone who is relatively good at these subjects and asking them for their assistance is a good idea. Besides, that's a way to make friends, right? I know it sounds generic, but please don't be afraid/shy to ask for help. Studying with others or under their guidance may help alleviate both your loneliness and your studying problems. Understandably, some people may be unwilling to offer such help. That shouldn't discourage you from seeking it. Depending on whether you are in immediate need for income or not, at first I'd advise you to find a job, since it helps in a lot of areas, from "clearer thinking" to confidence. However, what you probably need to do right know is to exclusively focus on your studies. This already is a job, in a sense. Since it will be a part of your future, treating it as a job will help you adjust to your professional career path easier - it will also train you to utilize what you've learned. Underhanded ways are common everywhere, the point is to not adopt this approach in every situation. Have you ever thought, that, in case you hadn't used such tactics before, you'd probably have passed these subjects, eventually, and as a result have less difficulty in facing them right now? Although science and math are "chained" disciplines, that is, previous knowledge is usually a sort of requirement to advance further, don't let this keep you from doing your best to study them. Actually learning all the different equations, theorems, methods etc. is not as important as understanding their underlying concept. Sure, you can learn by heart what you need to apply in X situation. And learning that stuff simply takes a set amount of time. When it comes to applying them, however, and actually thinking where, how and why you're applying them...that's where you need to place emphasis on. I would advise you to get in contact with your professors/lecturers/general academic staff and ask, as much as you need to, why exactly we're doing what we're doing in X situation. If you actually understand the way of thinking and the logic behind math, you'll just build upon this and eventually achieve your goal. Ask them until they cannot take it anymore :P It's their job! Learning all this stuff... It might seem really, really cumbersome and difficult at first. It probably feels like a huge pile of nonsense at this moment, like an attempt at deciphering alien paintings. You might be getting ideas such as "I'm never gonna be able to solve these! I don't understand anything!" A lot of people are facing such predicaments. It might seem as if your brain gets foggy from all that - many people think that putting off studying for another day will relieve them from the stress. That's a tactic that will never work, unfortunately! What you need to do is discipline: a strict daily program/routine/schedule where you'll be devoting most of your time into overcoming this. Studying smart and hard produces the best results. You'll need to put not only a lot, but consistent effort into realizing your goals. Don't rely on "feeling well" or in a "studying mood" to do this. It will never help. At first, it will seem as if these concepts you're learning do not make any sense until they finally sink in (and even if they don't you might still be able to pass). Remember that examinations are a way for you to show to the examiners what you've learned, what you know, and how to use it. It's not a torture procedure. Think of approaching this as a general problem, and squeeze your brain hard to find a solution to it. Sometimes you need to invest a lot of time into something in order to develop actual interest for it. Interest is not a magic firefly that just exists. It's a spark that you have to create. So don't be appalled by the seemingly difficult and obscure nature of math and science. All the underlying principles and concepts of scientific thinking and methodology are similar. If you're able to work on math, science will be easier. If you become familiar with science, math will make more sense. Again, it's understanding the underlying concepts, even at their most basic level, that will propel you forward. Think of it as opening a door. You might be training all day and night to open that door, but you don't have the tools to do so yet. Eventually you bust it open using brute strength. It works in the end, but will take much more time than actually grabbing the tools, and learning how to lockpick it. It's a matter of familiarizing yourself with the tools. Aside from educational purposes (and only educational purposes) try reducing the amount of time you spend online. Many people have problems concentrating with all the dopamine-exciting novelty the internet has to offer these days. It can also reaaaalllyy mess up your sense of time. "Just one more match in CS:GO". Then, more than 3 hours have passed. Even if you think you don't belong to this category, limiting your internet usage might be very helpful. Also, there's a sport for everyone. After going to a doctor, (just to ensure there are no health complications when you begin working out) you can try running/jogging for a set amount of time each day. Cycling (careful with all the cars out there), Badminton (uh..is that right?) don't have any kind of "entry" fitness fee. Even if you're totally inexperienced in exercising, you shouldn't be avoiding it. Heck, even chess is a form of (mental) exercise. So if there's any sport club/society you should definitely join. Everyone is an amateur at one point. Also, exercising does wonders in regards to general health, mental health, sleeping, concentration, fast decision making, reflexes... Finally, due to the complexity of modern times, people underestimate the positive effects of social interaction. The majority of people crave social interaction, even if they are unaware of that. It's not just having someone to talk to, it's what can give you motivation, aspirations, support, open doors, opportunities, relief...It's who and what we are. Even if you've a natural inclination towards introversion, you're missing out on a lot of stuff. Sure, for some this might not feel that rewarding. But, hey, being interested in and liking stuff is a habit as well. Just go through the motions and it'll come. Always consider specialist help, even if you don't think you need it. (In fact I'd say that it will prove really helpful and might get you in the right track from the beginning) There's a huge infrastructure for these things nowadays. Universities/Colleges usually provide such services. It hasn't always been like this, let me tell you! Also, not finding a common interest or hobby when in a social circle is not an excuse. Don't expect others to share your interest, but make yourself interested in the interest of others. It has to start somewhere - besides, you might discover exciting new things/hobbies that way! Remember that your commitment right now and your focus is on the long-term. Even if some days are "worse" than others, keep it up and you'll eventually develop both an interest and, thanks to a "disciplined" schedule, momentum and the right tools to overcome this. Effort, persistence, consistency, support, understanding and eventually winning. Make it happen. I wish you all the best!

Best place to relax they say...

Sometimes, the absence of things happening as we want them to in life, is not an indicator of life being bad. Sometimes, our very expectations and dreams might seem far from being realized; this doesn't necessarily mean that we're either undeserving or have "fallen behind" too. Sometimes real growth happens whenever we think we've hit a dead end. Education is by no means representative of either success, or happiness in life; it is but a stepping stone for a particular direction one is following, and even that does not guarantee satisfaction, or better yet, employment. Instead of thinking of life being like ocean waves with steep curves that repeat themselves, embrace this quite anomalous -usually- journey, and use your newfound experience in working (congratulations, btw) as the foundation of your next experiences. If inaction is your (perceived) cup of tea, as it is for many young (and older) people nowdays, do not fret. Tackle different avenues of artistic expression, try things you were hesitant to try before, sit for a moment and think that as long as another day comes tomorrow, you've no real reason to feel down; just the fact that you can see the sun rising or the stars at night, or the warmth of sleeping in your bed, or the voices of passerby talking about the latest hot topic - all these are reason enough to rethink your position, for your life is but your life, and it is beautiful without needing any reason for it to be so, in the first place. And do not worry about the "temporary" of your current occupation: Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end. - Marcus Annaeus Seneca

Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone. I've run out of "reactions" for today so I can't like everything... B-but w-what is this...? and noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.... ....dog puns and cute dog pics, please nooooooooooooooooooo I can't take thiiiiiiiissssssss...

Hello all, my name is AenaonDusky, or Dusky if you prefer simpler and shorter pleasures in life. I love all kinds of game-related content, fan creations included, and have been playing Reborn since its earlier days (though the last time I played... I admit that must have been... 10 episodes earlier or something). I try my hand at composing music, though I pretty much suck at it. I tried spriting once. It was fun while it lasted... I love dogs, and I love dogs and I REALLY LOVE DOGS. Hide your dogs from me, I will hug them until time collapses. Okay? I may or may not have had...encounters with a certain Reborn League. That's classified. Do not even think of talking about that. I was in the shadows watching... heh...*coughs*. Or... I could be lying.... Hmmmm...? Anyway, since its mandatory where I come from (the land of Promotionum Shamelessum, or P.S.) to shamelessly promote things I've worked on... I will tell you a story. I along with certain undisclosed ones have been playing games, specifically RPGs, even more specifically Pokemon, for years. We decided to ditch playing and start making - especially since it's the first time we've got enough time in our hands. When Essentials was first released, (we are too lazy for rom patches aren't exactly our thing) we had some ideas that never actually came to fruition. Now, that changes. Please, look forward to things that may shortly come. You can hit me up for a chat, I can talk about anything you want... except food, since I'm hungry 99% of the time, and such conversations drive me insane.