Hi all! Used to free dive and scuba a ton, but have been land-locked the last few years. Finally going on a trip in a couple months, and looking for a basic free diving watch (clock time, depth meter, would be nice to have dive time too). Don’t need Bluetooth connection or anything fancy. Had one that fits this description provided by an employer before and can’t remember the brand. Thanks!!

Ok, trying to improve my writing skills, so here is this week's article! Hope that you like it and let me know what you think!
Ah, video games. They’ve come a long way from the pixelated pastures of Pong, to the immersive worlds of The Witcher and Red Dead Redemption. But while the final product gets all the love and adoration, the real hero often goes unnoticed. No, it’s not the caffeine-fueled programmers or the sleep-deprived designers. It’s pre-production—the crucial first step in video game development that sets the stage for everything to come. Buckle up, dear reader, as we begin to understand why Pre-Production in Video Games is the secret sauce.

The Consequences of Skipping Pre-Production

Let’s paint a picture of the worst-case scenario. You’re a developer who’s just spent two years on a game. The deadline is looming, but you’re confident because the game looks beautiful, and the mechanics are smooth. Then, during final testing, you realize the story makes no sense, the main character is bland, and the levels don’t connect well. Panic sets in. There’s no time to overhaul the game, and it launches to scathing reviews and poor sales.
This nightmare is all too common in the gaming industry. High-profile flops like Anthem and Cyberpunk 2077 suffered from poor planning and rushed production. The fallout? Disappointed fans, tarnished reputations, and financial losses.

Problem: Diving in Without a Plan is a Recipe for Disaster

Imagine trying to build a house without a blueprint. You start laying bricks, but halfway through, you realize there’s no room for a bathroom. Or worse, you forgot the front door. Now you have a hodgepodge of walls, no plumbing, and an expensive mess.
Video game development is no different. Jumping straight into production without a solid plan can lead to chaos. Developers might spend months creating a character that doesn’t fit the story or designing levels that don’t work with the gameplay mechanics. The result? Missed deadlines, ballooning budgets, and a game that feels more like Frankenstein’s monster than a masterpiece.

Solution: The Power of Pre-Production in Video Games

But here’s the good news: pre-production can save the day! Think of it as the game’s foundation. It’s where the magic happens and where crucial decisions are made. Let’s break down the key components of pre-production and how they pave the way for a successful game:
1. Concept Development: The Big Idea
Every epic game starts with a spark – a captivating story, a groundbreaking mechanic, or a visually stunning world. Brainstorming sessions bring ideas to the table, sketches give your vision form, and the core of your game takes shape.
Here are some prompts to get your creative juices flowing:

• What makes your game unique? What emotional journey will players take?
• Is there a specific genre you're passionate about? Can you introduce a fresh twist?
• Look at existing games for inspiration, but don't be afraid to break the mould!

Resources for Concept Development:

• Book: "The Art of Game Design" by Jesse Schell (I personally love this one).
• Website: Game Developer (formerly Gamasutra) - A treasure trove of articles and tutorials on game development.

2. Storyboarding: Mapping the Journey
Think of storyboarding as your game's visual script. It's where you map out the plot, character arcs, and pivotal moments. This helps developers understand the narrative flow and how players will experience the story. The roadmap guides the entire development process, ensuring a cohesive and engaging experience.
Storyboarding doesn't require fancy software. Even simple sketches or flowcharts can be effective. The key is to visualize the player's journey and identify potential pacing issues or plot holes.
Resources for Storyboarding:

• Article: "Storyboarding for Games" by GameDeveloper
• Software: Many storyboarding tools, both free and paid, are available. A popular option is Storyboard That.

3. Prototyping: Testing the Waters
This is where the magic of "seeing is believing" comes in. Prototypes are essentially stripped-down versions of your game mechanics, allowing developers to test if they're fun and functional. Imagine catching a gameplay flaw early on – much easier (and cheaper!) to fix at this stage than later in production. Prototyping ensures only the most engaging mechanics make it to the final product.
There are various prototyping approaches, from basic pen-and-paper mockups to more sophisticated digital prototypes built in game engines like Unity or Unreal Engine.
Resources for Prototyping:

• Article: "Game Prototyping: How to Prototype Your Game Idea" (upcoming article)
• Software: Unity, Unreal Engine - These powerful engines offer features specifically for game prototyping.

4. Technical Planning: Building the Framework
Here's where we delve into the technical aspects – the nuts and bolts that make your game tick. What engine will power your creation? Are there hardware limitations to consider? How will multiplayer functionality work? Answering these questions upfront avoids nasty surprises down the line and guarantees the game is technically sound.
Technical planning requires a close collaboration between designers and programmers. Here are some key aspects to consider:

• Game Engine Selection: Different engines have strengths and weaknesses. Unity is known for its user-friendliness and versatility, while Unreal Engine excels in creating high-fidelity graphics. Godot is open-source with a strong community. Researching available engines and considering your project's specific needs is crucial.
• Hardware Limitations: Identify the target platforms (PC, consoles, mobile) and understand their technical specifications. This will ensure that your game runs smoothly on the intended hardware.
• Multiplayer Functionality: If your game involves multiplayer, consider factors like network infrastructure, online matchmaking, and server capacity. Planning this early on avoids technical hurdles later in development.

Resources for Technical Planning:

• Article: "Choosing the Right Game Engine" (another upcoming article)
• Websites: Unity Learn, Unreal Engine Documentation, Godot Engine Documentation

5. Budgeting and Scheduling: Keeping Things on Track
Let's face it: development costs money. Pre-production is where a detailed budget is created, ensuring your project stays financially afloat. A realistic timeline with clear milestones and deadlines is also established. This keeps development on track, manages expectations, and avoids costly delays.
Budgeting:

• Consider all development costs, including personnel (programmers, artists, designers), software licenses, assets, and marketing.
• Buffer in a contingency fund for unforeseen expenses.

Scheduling:

• Break down development into manageable milestones, like completing the core gameplay loop or implementing the first level.
• Set realistic deadlines for each milestone, considering team size and workload.
• Regularly track progress and adjust the schedule as needed.

Resources for Budgeting and Scheduling:

• Article: "Game Project Management: Budgeting and Scheduling" by GameDeveloper
• Software: Project management tools like Trello or Asana can help you visualize your workflow and track progress

Injecting Some Fun: Pre-Production Stories and Tips

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
One of the most beloved games of all time, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, owes much of its success to meticulous pre-production. The team spent months experimenting with different gameplay mechanics, story ideas, and visual styles before settling on the final concept. They even created a 2D prototype to test the game’s physics and puzzles. This careful planning resulted in a game that felt innovative and polished.

Source: Polygon: The Making of Breath of the Wild

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is another masterpiece that benefited from thorough pre-production. The team at CD Projekt Red spent a significant amount of time developing the game’s story and characters. They also created a detailed world map and lore to ensure the game felt rich and immersive. This level of detail and planning paid off, earning the game numerous awards and a dedicated fanbase.

Source: IGN: Inside The Witcher 3’s Development

Wrapping Up: The Unsung Hero Deserves Some Love

Pre-production in video games might seem daunting, especially for indie developers or small studios. But remember, even a little planning can go a long way. Start with a clear concept and build from there. Use storyboarding to map out your game’s narrative and gameplay. Create simple prototypes to test your ideas. And don’t forget to plan your budget and timeline.
Think of pre-production as an investment in your game’s success. The more effort you put in at this stage, the smoother the rest of the development process will be. Plus, you’ll save yourself a lot of headaches down the road.
In conclusion, pre-production is the unsung hero of video game development. It’s the stage where ideas are born, tested, and refined. It’s where potential problems are identified and solved before they become costly mistakes. Without pre-production in video games, even the most brilliant ideas can fall flat.
So, the next time you’re playing your favourite game, take a moment to appreciate the planning and effort that went into creating it. And if you’re a developer, embrace pre-production with open arms. Your future self (and your players) will thank you.
Happy developing!

Ok, trying to improve my writing skills, so here is this week's article! Hope that you like it and let me know what you think!
Ah, video games. They’ve come a long way from the pixelated pastures of Pong, to the immersive worlds of The Witcher and Red Dead Redemption. But while the final product gets all the love and adoration, the real hero often goes unnoticed. No, it’s not the caffeine-fueled programmers or the sleep-deprived designers. It’s pre-production—the crucial first step in video game development that sets the stage for everything to come. Buckle up, dear reader, as we begin to understand why Pre-Production in Video Games is the secret sauce.

The Consequences of Skipping Pre-Production

Let’s paint a picture of the worst-case scenario. You’re a developer who’s just spent two years on a game. The deadline is looming, but you’re confident because the game looks beautiful, and the mechanics are smooth. Then, during final testing, you realize the story makes no sense, the main character is bland, and the levels don’t connect well. Panic sets in. There’s no time to overhaul the game, and it launches to scathing reviews and poor sales.
This nightmare is all too common in the gaming industry. High-profile flops like Anthem and Cyberpunk 2077 suffered from poor planning and rushed production. The fallout? Disappointed fans, tarnished reputations, and financial losses.

Problem: Diving in Without a Plan is a Recipe for Disaster

Imagine trying to build a house without a blueprint. You start laying bricks, but halfway through, you realize there’s no room for a bathroom. Or worse, you forgot the front door. Now you have a hodgepodge of walls, no plumbing, and an expensive mess.
Video game development is no different. Jumping straight into production without a solid plan can lead to chaos. Developers might spend months creating a character that doesn’t fit the story or designing levels that don’t work with the gameplay mechanics. The result? Missed deadlines, ballooning budgets, and a game that feels more like Frankenstein’s monster than a masterpiece.

Solution: The Power of Pre-Production in Video Games

But here’s the good news: pre-production can save the day! Think of it as the game’s foundation. It’s where the magic happens and where crucial decisions are made. Let’s break down the key components of pre-production and how they pave the way for a successful game:
1. Concept Development: The Big Idea
Every epic game starts with a spark – a captivating story, a groundbreaking mechanic, or a visually stunning world. Brainstorming sessions bring ideas to the table, sketches give your vision form, and the core of your game takes shape.
Here are some prompts to get your creative juices flowing:

• What makes your game unique? What emotional journey will players take?
• Is there a specific genre you're passionate about? Can you introduce a fresh twist?
• Look at existing games for inspiration, but don't be afraid to break the mould!

Resources for Concept Development:

• Book: "The Art of Game Design" by Jesse Schell (I personally love this one).
• Website: Game Developer (formerly Gamasutra) - A treasure trove of articles and tutorials on game development.

2. Storyboarding: Mapping the Journey
Think of storyboarding as your game's visual script. It's where you map out the plot, character arcs, and pivotal moments. This helps developers understand the narrative flow and how players will experience the story. The roadmap guides the entire development process, ensuring a cohesive and engaging experience.
Storyboarding doesn't require fancy software. Even simple sketches or flowcharts can be effective. The key is to visualize the player's journey and identify potential pacing issues or plot holes.
Resources for Storyboarding:

• Article: "Storyboarding for Games" by GameDeveloper
• Software: Many storyboarding tools, both free and paid, are available. A popular option is Storyboard That.

3. Prototyping: Testing the Waters
This is where the magic of "seeing is believing" comes in. Prototypes are essentially stripped-down versions of your game mechanics, allowing developers to test if they're fun and functional. Imagine catching a gameplay flaw early on – much easier (and cheaper!) to fix at this stage than later in production. Prototyping ensures only the most engaging mechanics make it to the final product.
There are various prototyping approaches, from basic pen-and-paper mockups to more sophisticated digital prototypes built in game engines like Unity or Unreal Engine.
Resources for Prototyping:

• Article: "Game Prototyping: How to Prototype Your Game Idea" (upcoming article)
• Software: Unity, Unreal Engine - These powerful engines offer features specifically for game prototyping.

4. Technical Planning: Building the Framework
Here's where we delve into the technical aspects – the nuts and bolts that make your game tick. What engine will power your creation? Are there hardware limitations to consider? How will multiplayer functionality work? Answering these questions upfront avoids nasty surprises down the line and guarantees the game is technically sound.
Technical planning requires a close collaboration between designers and programmers. Here are some key aspects to consider:

• Game Engine Selection: Different engines have strengths and weaknesses. Unity is known for its user-friendliness and versatility, while Unreal Engine excels in creating high-fidelity graphics. Godot is open-source with a strong community. Researching available engines and considering your project's specific needs is crucial.
• Hardware Limitations: Identify the target platforms (PC, consoles, mobile) and understand their technical specifications. This will ensure that your game runs smoothly on the intended hardware.
• Multiplayer Functionality: If your game involves multiplayer, consider factors like network infrastructure, online matchmaking, and server capacity. Planning this early on avoids technical hurdles later in development.

Resources for Technical Planning:

• Article: "Choosing the Right Game Engine" (another upcoming article)
• Websites: Unity Learn, Unreal Engine Documentation, Godot Engine Documentation

5. Budgeting and Scheduling: Keeping Things on Track
Let's face it: development costs money. Pre-production is where a detailed budget is created, ensuring your project stays financially afloat. A realistic timeline with clear milestones and deadlines is also established. This keeps development on track, manages expectations, and avoids costly delays.
Budgeting:

• Consider all development costs, including personnel (programmers, artists, designers), software licenses, assets, and marketing.
• Buffer in a contingency fund for unforeseen expenses.

Scheduling:

• Break down development into manageable milestones, like completing the core gameplay loop or implementing the first level.
• Set realistic deadlines for each milestone, considering team size and workload.
• Regularly track progress and adjust the schedule as needed.

Resources for Budgeting and Scheduling:

• Article: "Game Project Management: Budgeting and Scheduling" by GameDeveloper
• Software: Project management tools like Trello or Asana can help you visualize your workflow and track progress

Injecting Some Fun: Pre-Production Stories and Tips

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
One of the most beloved games of all time, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, owes much of its success to meticulous pre-production. The team spent months experimenting with different gameplay mechanics, story ideas, and visual styles before settling on the final concept. They even created a 2D prototype to test the game’s physics and puzzles. This careful planning resulted in a game that felt innovative and polished.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is another masterpiece that benefited from thorough pre-production. The team at CD Projekt Red spent a significant amount of time developing the game’s story and characters. They also created a detailed world map and lore to ensure the game felt rich and immersive. This level of detail and planning paid off, earning the game numerous awards and a dedicated fanbase.

Wrapping Up: The Unsung Hero Deserves Some Love

Pre-production in video games might seem daunting, especially for indie developers or small studios. But remember, even a little planning can go a long way. Start with a clear concept and build from there. Use storyboarding to map out your game’s narrative and gameplay. Create simple prototypes to test your ideas. And don’t forget to plan your budget and timeline.
Think of pre-production as an investment in your game’s success. The more effort you put in at this stage, the smoother the rest of the development process will be. Plus, you’ll save yourself a lot of headaches down the road.
In conclusion, pre-production is the unsung hero of video game development. It’s the stage where ideas are born, tested, and refined. It’s where potential problems are identified and solved before they become costly mistakes. Without pre-production in video games, even the most brilliant ideas can fall flat.
So, the next time you’re playing your favourite game, take a moment to appreciate the planning and effort that went into creating it. And if you’re a developer, embrace pre-production with open arms. Your future self (and your players) will thank you.
Happy developing!

Welcome to Morea! A World of Magic and Technology!
I'm an experienced GM (38M) looking for some more players to join a new campaign I have designed for awhile! Currently we have 2 player's and looking for 2- 4 more. Full disclosure, this is my first PF2e campaign so expect some fumbles with the rules!
In a nutshell: It's a post-apocalyptic world torn by powerful magics and during recovery some of the surviving nations are going through an industrial revolution. It's slightly goofy with a balance between dark and hopeful (not unlike the Fallout games).
I also run a D&D 5e campaign although it is currently full at 7 players there might be a spot available in the future.
Personally I'm beginner friendly however this game will be more complicated than traditional adventure modules. It's run with a proactive world building style so the players decide the direction of the story and we build the world as it reacts to you actions. There will be no traditional adventure hooks but more of 'What do you wanna do?'.
Of course, also LGBTQ+ friendly and I make sure my table is a safe place for all!
One very important note: we play at my buddy's doggy hotel so there are a bunch of random dogs around so you must be okay with that.
Now adventures, onto the introduction of this steampunky high fantasy hybrid, post apocalyptic and hilariously tropey world!
Are you ready to explore a world torn apart by a Divine War that caused the death of the Gods themselves and now caught between the remnants of powerful magic and the dawn of a technological age? Join us in the epic setting of Morea, where your choices will shape the fate of entire continents!
🌍 About Morea: The Great Scarring: Centuries ago, a cataclysmic war among the gods left the world in ruins, infusing the land with chaotic magic and mutating its inhabitants.
Factions and Cultures:

• The Empire of Mori: Technological pioneers who harness High Science to dominate the continent of Elastar.
• The Northren Clans: Magic-hating warriors of the north.
• The Kingdom of Therassia: A maritime island dwelling nation of magic users with a distrust of this new fancy technology coming out of Elastar.
• The Conclave of Elders: Magic enthusiasts seeking to revive the glory of ancient magic and destroy science.
• The Untamed East: A wild frontier teeming with raw magic and ancient mysteries, where our story begins in the town of Brightwater.

🗡️ Campaign Details:

• Game System: Pathfinder 2e
• Frequency: [Bi-weekly] sessions on Saturday/Sunday
• Time: 18:00 to 22:00 CET (subject to discussion)

🎭 What to Expect:

• Dynamic Storytelling: A rich, player-driven narrative where your decisions impact the world around you with a high level of agency.
• Collaborative world building: Create your own country, city, region for your character's backstory or help out with the lore of the world.
• Customization: I'm open to custom races, classes and abilities.
• Diverse Challenges: Face mutated beasts, technological marvels, and political intrigue.
• Roleplay & Combat: Balanced sessions with opportunities for deep roleplay and thrilling combat encounters.
• Exploration: A rugged post-apocalyptic steampunk themed world with high fantasy areas to explore. Discover the remnants of ancient societies and solve the puzzle of what happened in the War of the gods.

🔍 Looking for:

• Dedicated Players: Enthusiastic about immersive storytelling and collaborative world-building.
• Character Concepts: Open to unique and creative character ideas that fit within the world of Morea.
• Team Players: Ready to work together and create memorable moments both in and out of character.

📜 How to Join:

• Introduce Yourself: Share a bit about your experience with tabletop RPGs, your preferred playstyle, and what excites you about this campaign.
• Character Idea: Give a brief description of a character concept you’d like to explore in Morea.
• Availability: Confirm your availability based on the campaign schedule.

If you're eager to dive into a world where ancient magic clashes with burgeoning technology and where your adventures can change the course of history, then Morea awaits you! Join us in Brightwater and become part of a tale of epic proportions.
Comment below or send me a DM to apply! Let’s create something amazing together!
Will add you to our Discord server after you apply for further discussion. I'm also willing to go grab a coffee or jump on a video call if you want to meet first.
May the raw magic of Morea guide your steps or the technology of Mori light your path. See you in Brightwater!

Welcome to Morea! A World of Magic and Technology!
I'm an experienced GM (38M) looking for some more players to join a new campaign I have designed for awhile! Currently we have 2 player's and looking for 2- 4 more. Full disclosure, this is my first PF2e campaign so expect some fumbles with the rules!
In a nutshell: It's a post-apocalyptic world torn by powerful magics and during recovery some of the surviving nations are going through an industrial revolution. It's slightly goofy with a balance between dark and hopeful (not unlike the Fallout games).
I also run a D&D 5e campaign although it is currently full at 7 players there might be a spot available in the future.
Personally I'm beginner friendly however this game will be more complicated than traditional adventure modules. It's run with a proactive world building style so the players decide the direction of the story and we build the world as it reacts to you actions. There will be no traditional adventure hooks but more of 'What do you wanna do?'.
Of course, also LGBTQ+ friendly and I make sure my table is a safe place for all!
One very important note: we play at my buddy's doggy hotel so there are a bunch of random dogs around so you must be okay with that.
Now adventures, onto the introduction of this steampunky high fantasy hybrid, post apocalyptic and hilariously tropey world!
Are you ready to explore a world torn apart by a Divine War that caused the death of the Gods themselves and now caught between the remnants of powerful magic and the dawn of a technological age? Join us in the epic setting of Morea, where your choices will shape the fate of entire continents!
🌍 About Morea: The Great Scarring: Centuries ago, a cataclysmic war among the gods left the world in ruins, infusing the land with chaotic magic and mutating its inhabitants.
Factions and Cultures:

• The Empire of Mori: Technological pioneers who harness High Science to dominate the continent of Elastar.
• The Northren Clans: Magic-hating warriors of the north.
• The Kingdom of Therassia: A maritime island dwelling nation of magic users with a distrust of this new fancy technology coming out of Elastar.
• The Conclave of Elders: Magic enthusiasts seeking to revive the glory of ancient magic and destroy science.
• The Untamed East: A wild frontier teeming with raw magic and ancient mysteries, where our story begins in the town of Brightwater.

🗡️ Campaign Details:

• Game System: Pathfinder 2e
• Frequency: [Bi-weekly] sessions on Saturday/Sunday
• Time: 18:00 to 22:00 CET (subject to discussion)

🎭 What to Expect:

• Dynamic Storytelling: A rich, player-driven narrative where your decisions impact the world around you with a high level of agency.
• Collaborative world building: Create your own country, city, region for your character's backstory or help out with the lore of the world.
• Customization: I'm open to custom races, classes and abilities.
• Diverse Challenges: Face mutated beasts, technological marvels, and political intrigue.
• Roleplay & Combat: Balanced sessions with opportunities for deep roleplay and thrilling combat encounters.
• Exploration: A rugged post-apocalyptic steampunk themed world with high fantasy areas to explore. Discover the remnants of ancient societies and solve the puzzle of what happened in the War of the gods.

🔍 Looking for:

• Dedicated Players: Enthusiastic about immersive storytelling and collaborative world-building.
• Character Concepts: Open to unique and creative character ideas that fit within the world of Morea.
• Team Players: Ready to work together and create memorable moments both in and out of character.

📜 How to Join:

• Introduce Yourself: Share a bit about your experience with tabletop RPGs, your preferred playstyle, and what excites you about this campaign.
• Character Idea: Give a brief description of a character concept you’d like to explore in Morea.
• Availability: Confirm your availability based on the campaign schedule.

If you're eager to dive into a world where ancient magic clashes with burgeoning technology and where your adventures can change the course of history, then Morea awaits you! Join us in Brightwater and become part of a tale of epic proportions.
Comment below or send me a DM to apply! Let’s create something amazing together!
Will add you to our Discord server after you apply for further discussion. I'm also willing to go grab a coffee or jump on a video call if you want to meet first.
May the raw magic of Morea guide your steps or the technology of Mori light your path. See you in Brightwater!

I wanted to share my experience over the past weekend of diving that freaked me out for the first time. I'll put a TL;DR at the bottom as this will be a long post and basically me dumping my thoughts for anyone who is intetested.
Some background: I have been interested in diving for over a year but only did my first just over a month a go. This was a try dive and I instantly knew I loved it despite always being concerned I may get claustrophobic. Since then I have completed my OW cert and done a few more fun dives which was all great - no freaking out whatsoever.
With 10 dives logged me and my buddy (who I have done every single dive with) thought we'd do the Night Dive speciality as this seemed a good first one to do - no extra depth, only the additional complexity of requiring a torch. We contacted a small but well reviewed dive shop and booked in. It would be an initial fun dive in the day to learn the site and show our proficiency, then 2 night dives on successive nights.
Firstly, the dive shop was great. Small but clean and organised, the gear was the best we've used with my buddies fins being completely new. The instructor was nice and clearly had decades of experience - although told some slightly concerning stories of his diving from years ago. The experience aspect was impressive but also at times slightly frustrating as this was clearly all so routine for him. But we made sure to ask all questions we had making sure we got the best out of him. I think I'm still at the stage where I like to be thorough with the plan/equipment etc. so we just made sure to go at our own pace. And I know intellectually that instructors are not God - above all you look after yourself.
All the dives would be at the same site although it was by far the biggest and most impressive site we've seen. Crystal clear and so much coral and marine life. This is a shore dive which was our first but was absolutely fine getting in.
The first problem came on the first fun dive. The instructor said we could go up to an hour which I thought might be a stretch given our inexperience. I was having trouble with a bit of a foggy mask and my right ear not equalising as easily as normal. As a result I chewed through my air a bit more quickly than desired. I signalled to the instructor when I was at 100 bar and then at 70 to turn around which he said ok. We turned around but the swim seemed to on forever and before I knew it I was at 50 which worried me due to the red markings on the guage and knowing at a particularly low pressure it becomes hard to breathe. Buddy was in the same ballpark figure. I signalled to the instructor about my air and he seemed to change direction which I thought was weird as I assumed we would already be going directly out. I started to freak and couldn't stop breathing rapidly for about 10 seconds but eventually got under control. I was then worried we didn't do a safety stop forgetting that because it was a shore dive we had naturally swam at 5m for over 3 minutes. I ended on about 30 bar which concerned me but I realised a lot of that final swim was past the safety stop so we were just getting back to shore underwater instead of above. All in all a bit of a freakout but not too bad - I just had my first moment of overthinking.
The first night dive was fairly uneventful from my point of view although again I was a bit in my head and when I saw 20m on my computer. I had a tiny freak of being so deep, unable to come up etc etc. But no rapid breathing. My buddy was fine but ended on like 40 bar again whereas I had 50. We were also with 3 other fun divers which made things less daunting.
The major problems came with the second night dive. I got the impression the instructor appreciated how interested in every aspect of diving we are so wanted to impress us. He said he had the idea to show us some huge lion fish that were just away from the reef but at a depth of 30m. We would go there, look for 15 seconds, then come back to 16m with the reef. I voiced my concerns with the depth, especially due to no deep dive cert, and said I'll see how I feel when it would be time to go deeper. My buddy had no concerns at the time. Dive started out great as usual. He then asked if ok to go deeper signalling us leaving the reef and I felt fine so said ok. I started to feel slightly on edge of course but overall felt pretty good although swimming with only plain sand in sight and in the dark was disconcerting albeit thrilling. It took us longer than I thought it would to find them but I was ok. Turns out my buddy was not - I only found this out after the dive. Realising we had hit 34m (!) he swam straight to the instructor and said can we go up as he was seriously freaking and said after he could hear his heartbeat. Instructor signalled ok and immediately we went up. Turns out we had missed the mark and came across the lion fish on the way up!! They were incredible I have to admit - huge lion fish. I suddenly felt lightheaded for a split second and realised I may have been narced? I have never experienced it before but could explain my unexpected calmness. We slowly ascended to the reef and then continued our dive for another 25 minutes or so, slowly ascending and completing a more than satisfactory safety stop. Saw some amazing things and felt stoked to have completed the cert.
But as time went on I felt worse and worse about the whole experience. I started to feel annoyed that I was convinced to go way too deep for our level, especially for a night dive. I felt freaked that I think I was narced for the first time without knowing it. I felt bad that my buddy had freaked out so significantly. I felt I had been overly trusting in the instructor. I felt bad I hadn't flat out said no given my slight concern with the previous days dives. And as time went on in the evening I noticed my back was aching which I have had before likely from contorting my body in the water - I am not the most flexible. But I became obsessed with the depth coupled with the ache and convinced myself I was getting the bends. I was majorly traumatised by 11pm and had to wake up my gf and dive buddy after furiously googling for around an hour. We talked for a while and calmed me down somewhat. Also got advice from a Divemaster friend and she said all is fine, we had computers that would've warned us which they didn't, I don't have any major symptoms etc. I checked with the instructor and he confirmed we were well within NDL. But I still felt traumatised. The dive was now 48 hours ago yet I am still shaken. I spent the whole of yesterday concerned that every slight feeling in my body was the bends coming on. Even today I still have moments of concern even though I am absolutely fine. Theres something deeply terrifying about how the bends comes on - it can start to come on hours after a dive and time is against you from as soon as you leave the water.
I knew that eventually I would get freaked out by something in diving, it's all about growing confidence by pushing yourself so it's inevitable to overthink eventually. And weirdly I am proud and exhilarated by the whole experience despite it clearly being way too much at once. We saw some amazing wildlife! We just did not need to go that deep - it was not worth it for some big lion fish. I am glad to have learned properly to be more firm when it comes to others trying to push you.
I am not put off from diving. I actually want to do the deep dive cert next. I just fancy a few fun dives to an absolute max of 18m, in the day, with less pushy people before I jump into another cert.
And finally, I am not blaming anyone. Open to all thoughts and criticism to me or anyone else and open to hearing any similar experiences. Whatever you have to say I am here for it.
TL;DR: slightly freaked by a normal dive before doing night dive cert. Went way too deep for a night dive and for our experience. Massively over thought and convinced myself I would get the bends. Still slightly. traumatised 48 hours later

[svirtual]
Hello !!
I'd like to offer my time and knowledge gathered across all Pokemon games in the help of getting you Pokemon you'd like to have. If by any chance you're not finding anything of interest among ones listed: fret not becuse it is my honest pleasure to go and catch whatever you desire to suit your fancy. Please take a look at my offer of these creatures and services:
Curently in the middle of BDSP and COLO RNG's. Such requests will take more time !!
POKEMON GO:
* Shiny Mew from Masterwork reasearch - 60 $ Unredeemed yet, random IV's - customisable OT
* Shiny Level 1 Lake trio: Mesprit in Ultra ball, Uxie in Ultra ball, Azelf in Great ball - random IV's - customisable OT, self caught during Sinnoh Tour - 14 $ for one or 37 $ if taking a set
* Shiny Level 1 XXS/XXL Azelf in Great ball and level 1 XXS Uxie in Ultra ball - Taking offers here. Self caught during Sinnoh Tour.
* Shiny level 1 XXL Mesprit in Ultra ball - Taking offers here. Self caught during Sinnoh Tour.
* Shiny level 15 XXS Cresselia in Ultra ball - Taking offers here. Self caught during Sinnoh Tour from research.
* Shiny level 15 Giratina-O in Great ball - Taking offers here. Self caught during Sinnoh Tour from research
* Shiny level 1-2 Latios and level 4/6 Latias from Pokemon Go. They are still in PoGo and can have custom OT. Self caught at the time of Hoenn Go Tour - 25 $
* Home stamped Shiny level 4 Suicune OT: Alienowitch TID: 939638 in Great Ball self caught during Johto Tour - 60 $
* Shiny Celebi from Pokemon Go special research - Caught by me in Pokemon Go, ready for transfer - 15 $
* Shiny Melmetals from Pokemon Go - Level 1-35, 10 $ per 'mon OT: Alienowitch TID: 343668 self caught in Go or Custom OT + Speed IV - 20 $
* Shiny PoGo Darkrai - 13 $ Self caught in raids - OT customizable
* Shiny PoGO Genesect - 13 $ Self caught in raids - OT customizable
* PoGo Hoopa - Caught in Ultra ball - customizable OT - 15 $ (self research in Go)
* PoGo Shaymin - Caught in Ultra ball - customizable OT - 10 $ (self research in Go)
* PoGo Zarude - 15 $ per 'mon self researched and caught in Ultra ball
* PoGo Shiny Deoxys - 13 $ self caught in PoGo, customizable OT
* PoGo shiny Furfrou - 15 $ Valentine trim (can be changed into ANY trim)
* Shiny PoGo legends: Raikou/Suicune/Zekrom/Reshiram/Tornadus/Thundurus/Landorus/Kyogre/Groudon/Raikou/Registeel/Regice/Tapu Lele/Tapu Bulu/Tapu Koko/Tapu Fini (list to be expanded cataloguing species - ask for specific 'mon) - 6 $
SWORD/SHIELD:
* Shiny Eternatus OT: Galar TID: 221118 - Self redeemed, proofed - 15 $
* Volcanion OT: Mythical22 TID: 220909 - Self redeemed, proofed - 10 $
* Genesect OT: Mythical22 TID: 220909 - Self redeemed, proofed - 10 $
* Marshadow OT: Mythical22 TID: 220909 - Self redeemed, proofed - 15 $
* Victini OT: Victory TID: 220818 - Self redeemed - 15 $
* Shiny Dynamax Legends OT: Slava TID: 036275 Tapu Koko/Lele/Bulu/Fini in Luxury balls- 10 $ or 35 $ for set
* Shiny Dynamax Legends OT: Slava TID: 036275 Safari ball Mewtwo - 10 $
* Shiny Dynamax Legends OT: Slava TID: 036275 Safari ball Tornadus - 10 $
* Shiny Dynamax Legends OT: Slava TID: 036275 Premier ball Zygarde - 20 $
* Shiny Dynamax Legends OT: Slava TID: 036275 Sport ball Solgaleo - 10 $
* Shiny Dynamax Legends OT: Slava TID: 036275 Love ball Necrozma - 10 $
* Shiny Regieleki OT: Slava TID: 036275 Premier ball - 30 $
* Shiny Regidrago OT: Daakuson TID: 726825 Heavy ball - 30 $
RNG services/Services:
* Any playthrough for custom OT is 10 $ per game once
* Shiny Jirachi from bonus disc, please be aware that all shiny Jirachi are natural clones and come with OT: WISHMKR ID: 20043
* Gen 3 overall RNG: Custom Colosseum/GoD: XD/Fire Red/Leaf Green - customisable (OT/ball/nature/IV's)
* Shiny Manaphy from Pokemon Ranger cart - customisable (OT/Nature/IV) - 18 $
* Gen 4-5-6-7 RNG: legendary/Ultra Beasts - customisable (Shinyness/OT/ball/nature/IV's) - 8 $ or 5 $ if random IV's
* Gen 8 raid RNG: - customisable (Shinyness/Ball/Nature), OT will be: Alienowitch, TID: 059583 (SWORD)/ Alienowitch TID: 729244 (SHIELD)
* Gen 8 raid RNG'ed Authentic Shiny Sinistea with spread Timid 31/0/31/31/31/31. Customisable OT and ball - 12 $
* Sword/Shield Egg breeding services customisable - random guaranteed 5x31 or 4x31+1x0 IV's - 5 $
* Sw/Sh Calyrex/GlastrieSpectrieKubfu/Regis catching - 5 $
BDSP:
* Any playthrough for custom OT is 10 $ per game once
* EGG RNG - Custom nature/Ball/OT/egg moves - 3 $
* Shiny Arceus (custom OT/Ball/Nature) - 25 $
* Custom Legend RNG (OT/Ball/Nature) - 5 $
* Member's Card Shiny Darkrai in Moon ball Timid nature OT: Lucas TID: 070365 - 80 $ (RNG'ed using Pokefinder and capture card for another user, which backed down from deal - proofed)
* Member's Card Shiny Darkrai RNG - Yet to be caught, different OT's available, can be caught using any ball available in BDSP - 80 $
Scarlet/Violet:
* Any playthrough for custom OT is 10 $ per game once
* Iron Leaves in Friend ball Jolly OT: Alienowitch TID: 564392 - 12 $ (proofed)
* Raging Wake in Dive ball Timid OT: Alienowitch TID: 564392 - 12 $ (proofed)
* Raging Wake+Iron Leaves set - 20 $
* Shiny egg services (custom OT/ball/nature) - 4 $
* Any item - 0,5 $
*Any normal non shiny Pokemon - 0,5 $
* Comp+battle ready non-shiny Pokemon - 1 $
* Any Shiny Paradox in custom pokeball - 3 $
* Koraidon/Miraidon/Iron BouldeIron Crown/Raging Bolt/Gouging Fire custom OT catching - 5 $
* Shiny Gimmighoul in level ball TID: 558144 OT: Bulek - 15 $ (self caught using raid from second CFW console)
* Vivillon/Shiny Vivillon forms/dex - Paldea mark any ball available - 2 $ normal/ 5 $ shiny
OTHER:
* Ribbon Master - Always wanted to have one and never could ? I can help with that. Now having beauty like this: H-Typhlosion RM/Scizor RM won't be a problem ! (Bear in mind that some ribbons can't be gotten becuse of gen 4 wi-fi shut down or are pretty hard to do now - master ball tier battles for example).
Most proofs can be adjusted to your liking so just write me on this topic, we will manage.And that is all I can provide, but wait... You still didn't find what you've been looking for ? Ask away ! I really like to RNG and stuff so I might just go and get it for you ;)
Here's my Reference
Thank you for your time dear Redditor ! :)
DISCLAIMER, TOOLS USED:
* Gen 8 Raid RNG: CFW Switch + Capture Sight/Raid Finder.
* Gen 8 BDSP RNG: CFW Switch + Capture Sight/Chatot website PokeRNG or Capture card + Pokefinder
* Gen 7: CFW 3DS+3DSRNGTOOL+NTR Plugin or Citra+Python plugin+3DSRNGTOOL
* Gen 6: CFW 3DS+3DSRNGTOOL+NTR Plugin
* Gen 4: RNGreporteRNGhelpyRAM watch/.lua script/TWL Save manager
* Gen 3: RNGreporteDolphin emulatoVBA emulatoAguacate script/HxD/GBA backup tool/.lua script
* Gen 9 Gimmighoul: Raicrawler (data look up) + date change
* Special mention: Jirachi is done solely on emulator using rom of Bonus disc. Manaphy is done by wiping save on physical Pokemon Ranger Cart, playing through the game, sending Egg to Gen 4 game, ripping the save to do RNG on emulator and writing it back to Gen 4 cart.
* Any lack of OT and TID info will be filled accordingly in comments when said Pokemon are transferred to their respective medium.
* All Pokemon offered in this thread are caught/received/redeemed by me.

Attention all cryptocurrency traders in India! It's time to dive deep into the world of CBDC eRupee and explore its potential impact on our digital financial landscape.
First things first, let's address the elephant in the room: the current burning problem faced by cryptocurrency traders in India. Account freezes by cybercrime branches have been a major headache, but CBDC eRupee might just have a solution! Each CBDC eRupee note has a unique ID, just like cash. As an example, If someone (let's call them D) scams you with notes A, B, and C, and then transfers them to person E, you can now trace the transaction and prove your innocence! The onus of explanation falls on the person holding the money (E), and they can provide proof to the complainant. This shifts the responsibility to the scammer (D) and could potentially curb mindless account freezes.
But wait, there's a catch! The government can still potentially freeze accounts, as CBDC eRupee is built on a private hyperledger (a fancy way of saying private multiple servers with linked lists at the backend). On the bright side, initially, Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) might be reluctant to order bank freezes on RBI eRupee wallets.
Now, let's talk about the concerns. RBI's bid to increase the economy comes with some powerful tools:

• Expiry dates for certain notes
• Financial tools to harm specific sections of society
• Ability to freeze any account/asset, anytime
• Restrictions on spending

If cryptocurrencies and CBDC eRupee coexist, we might witness a bank run as people prefer to keep their money in Bitcoin as a default. This could happen if RBI doesn't give banks the authority to use it for their purposes. On the flip side, if private currencies don't exist, it takes away the fundamental right of choice from users, especially when there's a possibility of extreme monopoly in the hands of the central bank and the government.
In conclusion, CBDC eRupee presents both opportunities and risks. While it could solve some problems faced by cryptocurrency traders, it also raises concerns about privacy and monopoly powers.
What do you think about CBDC eRupee? Is it a boon or a bane for India's digital financial landscape? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Credit: https://x.com/kleo_network/status/1791995542861742501

Hi guys, would really appreciate some insight/advice/support please. I will say my partner and I weren’t married but were cohabiting in a long term relationship with marriage plans.
Was dumped out of the blue last autumn after four years with the man who told all my friends and family he was going to propose to me and we were in the middle of buying property (although we lived together in a rented apartment) and was about to start a family - he brought up conversations about what names to choose.
We were so happy, never argued and had an amazing relationship (or so I thought)……he left me saying something was ‘missing’ he felt pressured for marriage (despite HIM being the one bringing all the future plans up) and then bizarrely said he wanted to find a wife and a mother?? The man I adored turned into a stranger overnight and I still to this day have no idea why or how this happened? The only big red flag with him is he had never had proper long term relationships before me so maybe that’s where the ‘missing’ bit stems from. This all happened during a life period where he was extremely stressed with his job, was constantly saying he wanted to give up his medical career (he is a surgeon) and we both had poorly parents.
He’s never reached out, blocked my phone and completely blanks me at work.
I always (stupidly) thought he might reflect on what he’s thrown away and open up to talking.
Found out my replacement is someone 17 years younger than my ex (he’s 45, she’s 28). What the hell?! Please can I get peoples thoughts on this? He’s practically moved her into the apartment and apparently it’s all sunshine and rainbows for him. This girl has apparently told her friends she ‘wouldn’t date him as he was far too old but he’s rich and she likes being wined and dined by rich men. Shes apparently the town bicycle and as one person described her ‘a psycho bunny boiler’ and is apparently plastering photos of their dates to fancy restaurants all over social media - I obviously don’t follow her and haven’t seen these, nor do I want to. Bizarrely it seems he’s been taking her to all the exact places we did.
Even more strangely, apparently she keeps flipping her profile from Private to public with all these photos - it might be me being paranoid but it sounds like she almost wants me to see them?
I really thought at some point we would be able to work this out and he had just had a huge ‘future freak out’. I’m terrified this ‘girl’ is going to get her claws in and do all the things we had planned and I’m going to have to see it all play out in front of me. I don’t know what to do to remedy any of this or whether he will ever even consider coming back? I really believe in our relationship and have been exploring some of the MLC techniques and advice to firstly, make myself feel better and secondly to look at implementing things I can do to potentially help the situation.
The work interactions are interesting and I’m not really sure how to navigate them going forward. He was initially cordially saying hello but recently has been diving into the nearest doorway or swiftly exiting a room if he sees me there. It’s cowardly but also strikes me that he clearly isn’t yet ‘indifferent’
How to proceed?

First Prev
Star Crossed [Multiple Free Sample Chapters] Patreon Subreddit Discord Paperback NOP2 Species Lore
Memory Transcription Subject: Taylor Trench, Human Colonist
Date [standardized human time]: July 15, 2160
With boot camp completed, I was free to leave the base in my off-duty hours. My plan for the rest day was to wander the city with Gress, who was eager to see Lecca and Juvre after weeks separated. His daughter had loved the idea of staying on “the human planet,” so we were heading to a hotel room where his ex-wife had planned a faceless handoff. The Krev hadn’t let me out of his sight since my abduction, because we’d yet to receive any leads on Mafani’s hideout. Where could that former black ops prick even be hiding, and why couldn’t Gress’ contact locate him? My exchange partner was worried the Resket would come back for me, and honestly, I shared those fears. I was jumpy and worried about going anywhere nobody had eyes on me.
It was a waiting game to see my persecutors get their comeuppance, and my patience was waning. General Radai was meticulous with his planning, instead of pressing our advantage before they’d have a chance to send another round of ships into our space. On the subject of lingering fears, when an armada twenty-thousand-strong burst in Tellus’ space, it had brought back memories of how the exterminator fleet had come to Earth. The greatest insult was that the bastards had figured out drones, most likely from studying my own species, so they weren’t pushovers we could use psychological warfare against anymore. Despite the advancements, the Consortium vanquished them; my faith was restored.
It’s cause for celebration. The scales—pun intended—are tipped in our favor. Now, it’s just a matter of waiting for the threefold decapitation strike to make the month-long journey; fighting a war across great distances will require patience. Persistence, some might say.
We hadn’t found too many hints in the wreckage, as the drone parts began to disintegrate almost as soon as their seams were undone. In my mind, there was no doubt they’d used our technology to some extent. Why worry about feckless crews when computers could do their dirty work? What we knew for certain was that their trails led back toward the Federation’s border, which left me wondering if our first strike didn’t need to include the Sivkits. This all started with their arrival, so they must be at the root of this conflict. Whatever General Radai might’ve thought, this proved that destroying their fleet was the right decision—who knew what kind of intel they might’ve gotten, if we spoke to them or allowed them any closer to our new home?
As much as I loved spending time with my Krev friend, perhaps the only person I’d ever felt close to, my heart was right in the thick of the war. No day wandering Tellus with Lecca could have a guarantee of safety, not until we convinced those Feddie bastards not to come knocking on our doors.
“I heard Quana was going on a tour of the caverns. She wanted to see how you lived; told Cherise it was insightful to witness a species’ conditions with your own eyes,” Gress said, as we ascended in the hotel elevator.
I tilted my head. “You two talked, voluntarily? Quana’s been less hostile since she was given the clearance to take Mafani out, but…”
“I overheard her talking with Cherise. Your Jaslip friend was interested in seeing the vault of your keepsakes from Earth. My guess is she likes the idea of making one for Esquo.”
“Jaslips had time to safeguard their artifacts, and plan the transition. I’m not sure what they’d need a vault for; they have more than fucking pictures and empty memories.”
The Krev looked at me with sad eyes, as the doors opened. “If we win this war, or are able to stop by Sol, maybe we could save a few artifacts. There has to be something, even if it’s at the bottom of the ocean, that we can save. I want to help, Taylor; my heart breaks for you and your people.”
“I know. I’m just fucked up, and I don’t know what I believe, other than that I don’t deserve you. Our history is me turning on you, doubting you, assaulting you.”
“You gave me a chance to get it right, like I couldn’t all those years ago. I’m going to save you as many times as it takes, even if it’s from yourself. You can’t push me away, or hide how you really feel.”
“How do I really feel, Gress?”
“I, um…you turned on me because you trusted me and were willing to be vulnerable. Because you care…we care deeply about each other. You express pain by blowing up, so you don’t have to admit it to yourself.”
“It’s not blowing up. I want to do something with my feelings.”
“There are other ways.”
That’s a nice statement from Captain Obvious, though he made it sound quite cryptic. Is there something more he’s not saying?
Gress steered me down the hallway, as I continued on in silence. We unlocked the door to Lecca’s room, and my leg was immediately latched onto by the little Krev. Her claws tore the fabric of my jeans, which caused her father to wince. The kid didn’t notice at all, instead bouncing up and down with excitement. Juvre crawled back into his cage, and began shaking it from the inside; of course the obor was acting possessed at the mere sight of me. He was basically a Fed. If it hadn’t been for how distraught Gress told me he was putting his first obor down, I’d suggest he give this primate some night-night syrup. There were better pets out there.
“Daddy, Daddy!” Lecca finally released me, diving on top of her father’s tail. Who made her so hyper? “Tell me something cute about the humans.”
Gress cast a sly glance at me. “Let’s see. Their celebrities walked down red carpets at big events, and pranced right on down the ‘fancy’ color strip.”
“I wanna see! If I make one for Taylor, can he walk down it? He has to show me!”
“Taylor would love to, wouldn’t he?”
“Absolutely not,” I protested. “What next, do I have to get petted by you?”
“You don’t have to, but…I figured out a way that humans will pay me to pet them. I hear you like massages: if I ran a massage parlor on Tellus, work would just be petting humans for hours. Might go for it after the war.”
“You can’t be serious, Gress.”
“That sounds like a great job, Daddy!” Lecca cheered. “That’s what I wanna do. I can’t believe we used to be scared of them; they’re so squishy, and adorable.”
“Yeah, I think I’m done with that conversation. Call me back when you figure out where Lecca wants to go. I’ll occupy myself snooping through your things.”
Juvre poked his head out of the cage as I ambled away, baring his teeth while on all fours. I found myself imagining the obor painted in clown makeup; perhaps I could persuade Gress’ daughter to do that to him, not knowing the true meaning. I rolled my hands into fists, faked a sad expression, then flapped them around near my eyes in mock crying. The primate made the motions of lunging at me, and I leapt away with a hint of fright. My friend’s worthless pet settled back on his haunches, and snickered in his shrieking register.
Demon. Diabolical little shit; I’m gonna rattle his cage in the middle of the night, right when he’s sleeping.
I took a closer look around the hotel, checking out the accommodations that visitors to Tellus would have; we had more guests on our world than ark settlers. The obor backpack Gress mentioned was sitting out on the couch, revealing a popup book about us for kids. I tugged the print media out, but was too lazy to get a visual translator to read the simplistic words. One picture showed a human kid playing on a swing set, and the child appeared on the next slide wearing a triangular hat and blowing out birthday candles. I turned the page, finding images of jump rope and hopscotch.
My hands slammed the book shut, feeling a bit deflated. We’d never done those kinds of things when I was a child in the caverns; our circumstances robbed me of almost every fun experience I could’ve had. I supposed this hardcover was about how human kids played, so that sated my curiosity. Perhaps it would’ve been better if I hadn’t been reminded about certain parts of our culture that I missed out on. Then again, it was never too late to start playing around and having fun, right? Something on the floor caught my eye; I reached my hand beneath the couch, pulling out some kind of puzzle cube.
“Well, what do we have here?” I picked up a four-sided figure with a few movable L-shapes fitted on the outside. Noticing a faint aroma, I brought it to my nose; it smelled fruity, and I wondered if this was some inverse, puzzle version of a Ring Pop. I shook it, feeling and hearing something inside. “Gotcha. Let’s see how to get this open…it’s like a Rubik’s Cube with an actual incentive.”
I rotated the L pieces enough to free one side, working to shift the square underneath into an upper layer. Getting parts of the cube to flip into an outer shell was easy, but the gaps were only big enough to jam my pinky into; it made a bit of a lattice pattern. I tried attacking it from two sides, freeing part of each surface—the contraption still defied me. Growling in frustration, I placed it between my feet and tried to tug it open. The commotion drew Gress and Lecca over to see what I was up to, and my Krev friend immediately morphed into a melty face. He caught himself, eyes shifting back and forth in a conflicted dance.
Stupid thing. I can’t get it open. This is a time waster: you’d have to be Einsteinian to solve it.
“Um, Taylor?” Gress ventured. “I…it’s natural and totally okay, of course, if you would share interests with other primates, but, well…that’s one of Juvre’s toys.”
I threw the cube away like a hot potato, bringing about a collision with the obor’s cage. “It just looked fun. Like a Rubik’s Cube, but it’s not solvable. Shit, I didn’t know. Only Juvre would be stupid enough to keep working on this; it’s a hamster wheel, man.”
The red-furred obor chittered, picking up the unsolvable puzzle. Juvre began unscrewing the pieces, moving certain blocks upward in various intervals. The primate seemed to be making tangible progress on it, and tinkered with it in silent focus. He screeched happily as he made an incision wide enough to squeeze his hand through. The monkey-like creature waved a red, powdery substance in the air, likely the source of the sugary scent; Gress called out, “Good obor!” There was a triumphant glint in the animal’s binocular eyes, as I gestured to him in indignant outrage; he popped the cookie in his mouth, crunching it in his molars.
“That’s not fair!” I shouted. “The bastard critter cheated. How come Juvre could get it open like nothing? He knows some trick, or gimmick you trained him in. He’s mocking me, chomping away at his treat like he earned it. Circus animal. Food thief gremlin!”
“I…uhhh...” Gress seemed at a loss for words; his tongue hung out of his mouth, twitching. “I can give you an obor treat too?”
“What? I don’t want pet food. Who knows what Krev put in that: you guys eat literal rocks.”
“Because we don’t have teeth. This would be perfectly edible, if that’s what you worried about. I don’t want you feeling, um, left out. There’s enough to go around, and it’s not a competition.”
“If it’s a competition, Juvre would’ve won,” Lecca said unhelpfully.
I scowled at the child. “Did your father teach you to lie? I did most of the hard work for the damn obor. He took what I already did.”
“Which is what exactly?”
“You little—”
Gress retrieved a treat bag from the kitchen, jingling it at me. “Will one of these make you stop arguing with my daughter?”
Juvre curled his lips upward, taunting me as he scooped crumbs off the floor.
“Fine. Give me one, just so that no-good obor can watch me eat it. Show him his place,” I huffed.
Gress’ eyes lit up, though he quickly attempted to mask his happiness. The Krev placed one of the cookies in my palm, and I held it up with suspicion. Maybe I should’ve asked if they’d crushed any dried insects in with the fruit paste, since I knew that was what they fed Juvre quite often. However, not wanting the pet to relish his feeling of superiority, I popped the treat into my mouth while staring right at him. My immediate instinct was to brace myself for a retching sensation, trying to hide my disgust. However, I wasn’t expecting it to taste fucking amazing. It was lighter than flour, singing with the juicy flavors of fruit snacks, then full of sodium in the center, reminding me of salted caramel.
“Shit,” I managed through a mouthful of food, raising my eyebrows at the Krev. “That’s…actually pretty good.”
Lecca stomped her foot, pouting. “Why don’t I get to give Taylor a treat, Daddy? You have all the fun!”
“Well…you can if he wants more, I guess. Just don’t throw it on the floor; hand it to him,” Gress ordered.
I searched for a glass of water, before holding out my palm. “If you want something to hand out at Halloween, this would definitely do. Maybe keep what they are on the down low.”
The Krev kid pranced over to me, carrying the bag. “So you want one?”
“Unfortunately for my little remaining self-respect, yes.”
“Okay then. Taylor, sit!”
I gaped at her. “The fuck did you just say?”
Gress wagged a scolding claw. “Lecca! How would you feel, being given commands like an animal?”
“I get told, ‘do your homework,’ take a bath,’ ‘go to bed’ as my whole life. At least he’ll get something for listening.”
“It’s not acceptable to treat my friend—a sapient being who I care about and respect very much—like Juvre.”
“You don’t care about or respect Juvre?”
“That’s not what I meant. I’m saying Taylor is capable of understanding much more than sit—as are you. Juvre couldn’t understand the concept of ‘do your homework,’ no matter the training he gets. Taylor can. It’s demeaning to the humans, and not how you treat someone as an equal, a friend.”
“I just wanna take care of them and be nice. I know he can talk, but look at him!”
“Lecca, what if there was someone out there who thought the same about Krev? Is it fair to disregard everything else about them?” Gress looked flustered, but walked over to me, placing a paw on my shoulder. “To another set of species, Taylor is a terrifying monster. He lost everyone he had in this universe, because they didn’t care about who he was—only what he was. How we treat people shouldn’t—must not be—based on how they look to us.”
I lowered my head. “Your father is right. I’m a primate, but I don’t want to be some caged animal that does tricks. I was that back in the cavern, going up to follow someone else’s commands. It hurt a part of my soul. Please don’t think of me as a pet. That’s not being nice.”
Lecca sighed, before setting the treat bag down. “I’m sorry. I don’t wanna hurt you, Taylor. Is it…mean that I think you’re reeeeeeally adorable?”
“No. It’s a welcome change after being treated like a monster that didn’t deserve to live, and having people cower at the mere sight of us.”
“Those aliens’ eyes are broken! I just wanted to see what you looked like sitting down, or rolling over.”
“You could’ve asked. I don’t need a treat. It’s enough to make you happy, as long as you don’t treat me like some object to gawk at.”
“Okay. Could you please sit on the floor? I like watching humans just walk around and do simple stuff, so it’d be cool…and I think everything you do is adorable, if that’s a reason?”
I chuckled. “Fine. After that, would you like to go to the playground with the human kids? I saw you liked swing sets, hopscotch, and some other things; if your dad is okay with it, maybe you could try it in real life.”
“Really? Yes! Please, Daddy, can we—can we?”
“Okay, but you’re going to be very careful on the swings. I don’t want you falling off,” Gress responded.
“Yay! Quick, Taylor, sit down so we can go to the playground! I wanna go right now…um, I mean, please do that because it’d be nice and I’m so excited!”
Deciding to humor Lecca since she was at least trying to make it a request, I flopped down on the floor. I didn’t think much about how I situated myself, bending my legs and placing one foot beneath each knee: the familiar diamond shape shown by children in a reading circle in an elementary school classroom. Gress’ expression changed to the annoying one, which meant I’d inadvertently done something cute to him; Lecca rushed to take a picture, and I made no attempt to stop her. The Krev child squealed, flailing her claws around in excitement at my mundane behavior.
Well, this is a new way to make a kid’s day. By…let me check my notes…sitting cross-legged on the ground.
“Is that a normal way that humans sit? Your legs are all folded up and overlapping,” Gress gushed. “And your feet are like little pedestals for your knees; it’d be even cuter if I could see your wiggly toes!”
I facepalmed, standing up in a hurry. “There’s nothing special about this. You can’t be serious. It’s called criss-cross applesauce.”
“Aw, even the name is the cutest thing. I heard that rhyme…and it mentions fruit mash, if ‘applesauce’ translated. I can imagine it smeared all over your face, replacing that fur you shave away, where you coat your chin in that white foam. That made you look more babyish and harmless! I can’t.”
“You’re horrible; and how can you say I’m harmless one sentence, then go ‘primates are violent’ in the next? You know I’m not harmless, because I literally whacked you over the head.”
“I don’t put continuity between one thought and the next, because I’ll think whatever is necessary to make you precious and pettable! You can’t stop me.”
“Precious? Nope, I can and will stop you; I’ll look really sad if you use that to describe me again. I know how to hurt you.”
“But I can hug you if you look sad.”
I scoffed. “Playground. Now.”
The Krev coaxed his daughter out of the hotel room, and I thought to myself that there were worse ways to be spending this limbo, waiting for news on Mafani and the Federation. Human kids playing together with aliens hadn’t been in my wildest imagination four months ago, but now, I could watch other children have the fun times that I never experienced. That was a reason to press on and keep fighting. It was wonderful to have people in my life who cared about me, no matter what happened, and who could explore the new and improved Tellus with me.
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Star Crossed [Multiple Free Sample Chapters] Patreon Subreddit Discord Paperback NOP2 Species Lore

I see it like multilevel website, where things go from very common things to more specific. E.g. first level is something like:

1. You open browser.
2. Type URL.
3. Browser sends request.
4. Server answers.
5. Browser renders page.

But you can click on "Browser renders page" and then you go deeper and on the 2nd evel you see:

1. Browser reads HTML.
2. Browser reads Javascript.
3. Browser renders.

And so on. Somewhere deep i see something like Jake Archibald event loop video and ideally in the end something like explaining how browser communicates with OS and GPU.
So the main idea is that you can control the level of knowledge complexity by yourself. And all of the knowledge in one place.
I understand it's HUGE and requires lots of information so my request for you to share some useful stuff i can use.
This is what i have for now:

• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Performance/How_browsers_work
• https://medium.com/@lilychencodes/how-the-chrome-profiler-helps-you-understand-javascript-event-loop-92fa6a8bb46a?source=email-87c74d721e96-1713130551845-digest.reader-b4c4375f5554-92fa6a8bb46a----0-98------------------0f7c0ff4_8ea7_49bf_9de4_1a7ba04610b0-1
• https://blog.sessionstack.com/how-javascript-works-storage-engines-how-to-choose-the-proper-storage-api-da50879ef576
• https://betterprogramming.pub/javascript-internals-under-the-hood-of-a-browser-f357378cc922
• https://tapajyoti-bose.medium.com/deep-dive-into-how-web-browsers-work-with-illustrations-️-b6cf69af1a08
• https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/dns/what-is-dns/
• https://www.manning.com/books/secrets-of-the-javascript-ninja
• https://github.com/getify/You-Dont-Know-JS

And yes, i understand that it will be more like 'all of the existing information gathered in one place'. But in nice and fancy way

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So for a while or so I've been playing older Sonic games just to see if they still held up. So far a majority of the games I played were at the very least good with some of the best ones being Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic rush. But something that might be my biggest Sonic hot take ever is that Heroes is one of the worst games in the entire Sonic series(unpopular opinion I know but let me explain myself). And just a heads up this is gonna be a long one because I got a lot to say about this game.
Because this game has a lot of aspects that I don’t like, I'm going to first touch on some aspects I actually like about the game. Even though not every character was written the best I will say some stand out characters I enjoyed are Cream and Omega, especially Omega but I wanna touch on Cream first. Ever since reading the IDW comics I've always had a soft spot for Cream just from how innocent and adorable she was and that sentiment continued with how she was paired with Blaze in Sonic Rush. I was admittedly nervous about how she would be portrayed in Heroes for reasons I'll get into later but she was handled alright. Nothing too groundbreaking but she kept her cute nature and even had some small moments of sass which was nice. The real star of the show was E-123 Omega. He really only has one thing on his mind with destroying Eggman and doesn’t really go through any sort of character arc, but that’s fine with me because the dude’s funny as hell with how aggressive and angry he is. He doesn’t have much of a face or eyes that are able to emote but you can still tell exactly what he’s thinking. I can’t explain why but every piece of dialogue that comes out of his…mouth?....speakers?...is hysterical. From “ANNIHILATE” to “USELESS CONSUMER MODELS” even down to when he says “GOOD” every time you pop an item box or balloon every quote is comedy gold with how monotone his voice is. The chemistry each team has with each other is nice to watch since from their dialogue you can tell that these trios have known each other for a while, are good friends with one another, or in Team Dark’s case just work friends(but their banter is still entertaining with how Omega keeps telling them to stay focused). And the music is good but as a Sonic fan that’s par for the course at this point. What I’m Made Of is a stand out banger for me.
But unfortunately that’s where all the positives end as we move into the negatives with one of the biggest being the physics of the game being poorly optimized. Throughout my playthrough I have run into so many bugs or victims of poor game design that I’ve lost count. But over half of my deaths have been due to the fact that there are no invisible walls to act as safety nets for players incase they misclick or even do something as simple as do a homing attack or perform a 3 hit combo with a power character, the latter happening way too often because power characters are the most reliable way to deal with enemies. Enemies bumping you are also a common way to die but not because of running out or rings, but because of the lack of walls keeping you on the platforms. Speaking of the homing attack, with how the movement physics work with speed characters I never use them because they end up being too slippery to control with instances where it feels like I'm fighting for control just so I can move forward in a straight line or hit a boost pad on a loop. The Light Speed Dash works whenever it feels like it and there’s no way to aim the homing attack so you pretty much have to press A twice and pray that rn-Jesus does you nice, otherwise you’re falling down a pit like you’re Scrooge McDuck diving into a vault of gold coins. And remember how I said enemies bumping you off cliffs was a common way to die? Well they can also just combo you for free because this game has no invincibility frames meaning you can get hit once and then instantly die if you or one of your teammates doesn’t pick up a ring right after being hit. This is especially apparent in horde fights like Robot Storm where you can get easily swarmed. And a staple mechanic from Sonic Adventure 2 that was butchered in this followup was the rail grinding. It was super fun to build up speed by balancing and crouching but now you just mash B with any real sense of speed being from a speed character. And heaven forbid you decided to grind rail with a flight character unless you like sliding at the speed of a snail, but you might wanna do that anyway to be save because if you switch rails the game doesn’t magnetize your character to it risking you to just shoot yourself off the map just for swapping rails or getting off of a rail.
Another awful aspect with the game is the team mechanic itself. It’s an interesting idea on paper to be able to swap between 3 characters to perform different actions based on what the level throws at you. But the problem with that is not every formation is balanced. The flying formation is awful in every way. The totem formation itself looks weird and looks especially janky with how it looks when going off a set of springs or going through a dash panel loop. How it controls itself makes absolutely no sense either; you jump and jump again to fly which drains a meter, which makes sense since Tails worked in a similar way back in Sonic 2 and still works like that in every other 2D classic style game. But I didn’t learn until the last story that the gauge only drains if you move forwards and won’t drain if you don’t move forward which not only makes no sense but doesn’t work like that in Sonic 2 at all. And whenever the meter runs out you might think that you would just glide down to the floor right? No. Instead the game halts all of your momentum and has you fall straight down like a boulder making flying based platforming impossible which was not the case in Sonic 2. And for some reason there’s a limit for how high you can go even though there’s already a limit you can fly for. Wanna know what game allows you to fly as long as you want until you run out of stamina? SONIC FUCKING 2 ON THE SEGA GENESIS/MEGA DRIVE. Sonic Heroes not only came out 10 years after Sonic 2 but was released on more powerful consoles so I'm baffled that they didn’t even try to make any of this shit work in any similar fashion. And this gets even worse for Sonic Heroes because you know how I just described how they would have improved the flying mechanics in Sonic Heroes? Well it WORKS EXACTLY HOW I JUST EXPLAINED IN SONIC ADVENTURE FOR THE THE DREAMCAST 1999. What the hell were they thinking with this!? This makes absolutely no fucking sense. And the Thunder Shoot attack? It doesn’t do much except paralyze enemies and hit targets meant to help you move forward in levels. Except it only does one of these things correctly since the game doesn’t auto target the targets meaning 90% of the time you’ll be constantly throwing your teammates into the ether while missing entirely as you try again and again to change your angle to hit the target just so you can move on with the average 10 minute level. And the switches you’re meant to pull are janky in their own right but the switches you have to fly for are the worst since no matter how close you get to that switch the game won’t register what you’re trying to do which is annoying as balls. And as the finishing touch all flying character have no differences in gameplay despite slight animations and apparently they have this unique attack they can do if they don’t have party members to throw with Thunder Shoot by pressing B again...but the game doesn’t tell you that and even knew that you’ll never see it in practice because if you toss a teammate with Thunder Shoot they’ll come back almost instantly.
And the biggest failure is that you can no longer spin dash in this game. It’s no big deal, it’s not like they removed one of Sonic’s most essential moves in his arsenal that was present all the way from Sonic 2 and was even in Sonic Adventure 1 and 2, useless crap like that. Instead you have to use the stupid Rocket Accel which can’t be activated instantly like the spin dash with instead having the player get a running start to have your teammate boost you forward that doesn’t go as far as the spin dash in Sonic Adventure 1 and 2. It’s an alright concept that would be fine to keep if the spin dash remained in the game and not replaced with some trash faker that doesn’t hold up to the original. Which leaves us with the power formation which is the best formation by far but not by much. Power is the easiest one to control since it allows you to properly control your character at a moderate speed, a novel concept I know. But combo attacks that involve the character moving forward in a short burst are risky to use since you could wind up pushing yourself off the map which happens way more often than you’d think and more often than it should. And because they have to share data with all the playable teams they away Knuckles’ ability to climb walls in favor of a tacky looking team glide for platforming just like they took away the Spin Dash.
Another team related mechanic the game introduces is something called the “Team Blast” which has a gauge fill up every time you deal damage to enemies or collect rings no matter how you collect said rings(remember this for later). When a team gauge is filled you can perform a Team Blast by pressing Z that acts as a screen wipe that clears almost every enemy on screen. I say almost because it doesn’t really remove every enemy on screen because some doof over at Sonic Team thought it would be a good idea to give an ultimate attack that’s meant to wipe out all enemies on screen with a limited range, which is smaller than you’d think by the way. Each Team Blast has their own special effect that appears for around 10 seconds after the attack is used which i’ll be talking about when I talk about each team on their own but know that after Team Sonic’s Team Blast Sonic will be able to use the Light Speed Attack from Adventure 1 and 2…but that’s useless when you’re able to still fight as Knuckles and it fucks up your Thunder Shoot when attacking bosses.
And the next fancy mechanic they try adding in is the new level system. And I hate this system so much. The idea of the level system is that your character starts off dealing an ok amount of damage but can get stronger the more you level up by collecting orbs that can drop from enemies. Speed characters get a stronger spin dash, flight characters get a stronger Thunder Shoot, and power characters get stronger combo enders. The problem is that in terms of combat no Sonic game has ever worked like this. For the most part every enemy in a Sonic game that came out before and after Heroes is able to be one shot by a simple jump, roll, spin dash, homing attack, mech shot, boost or punch with the only exceptions I can name off the top of my head being Sonic Rush, Sonic Unleashed’s night stages, and Sonic Frontiers. But those 3 examples are excusable since with Rush it’s only one enemy that has more than 1 HP that doesn’t spawn often and with the other 2 being based more on combat than speeding through levels as fast as possible. Your team will only be satisfying to play after everyone as at the maximum level of level 3 which can be difficult to do since whichever orbs enemies drop when defeated are not only random for when exactly they’ll drop but it’s also completely random who the level up is meant for. Imagine needing to level up your power character to get through a large horde of enemies but instead all the levels go to the other 2 teammates that are virtually useless in a fight. “Ah dammit, I needed a power orb to get to level 2…ah well might as well give my other teammates their 50th orb of the fight.” The only ways to get guaranteed levels for a certain character is with certain item boxes and balloons scattered throughout the level and with checkpoints but the latter only works for the character leading the formation when touching the checkpoint, not to mention they’re single use only. And say you grinded all those levels so you can blitz through this level, guess what, if you die all of your levels get reset and it doesn’t matter if you only lose a life or game over. And i’ve made it very clear how easy it is to unintentionally kill yourself in this game.
Something else that isn’t properly explained is the hidden difficulty system. The problem is that each team campaign has a hidden difficulty system but the game doesn’t tell you that at all unless you want to willingly listen to Omochao(note that I played the tutorial and afterwards I actively avoided his tips on the main menu). The difficulty from easy to hard is Teams Rose, Sonic, Dark, and Chaotix being a gimmick team but the game orders them from Sonic, Dark, Rose, Chaotix which is bad game design because not only are people gonna wanna play as the main character Sonic the Hedgehog, but with how the stories are laid out players would instinctively play from left to right causing them to play the game on normal, hard, easy, and then gimmick which doesn’t make too much sense. I knew the difficulty levels before going in but I played in order of Sonic, Rose, Dark, Chaotix because I like Sonic as a character. But what I wasn’t prepared for is that this game is kinda hard even on the normal difficulty because the game is full of jank that can just kill you for playing the game as intended.
But now for Team Rose and Team Dark. Team Rose is so piss easy that it’s insulting for players who are well affirmed with the series. For one they force you to play the tutorial even after you’ve completed a story previously. Which btw this is the most bullshit tutorial in the history of gaming. Most games have pop ups with button commands and visuals to help the player out or they let the player figure things out themselves. Sonic Heroes does neither of these but instead have this little annoying ass robotic fuck hold your hand throughout the entire thing. What makes this worse is that every time he pops up to tell you what to do your character is stuck in place as you gotta wait for him to shut up so you can play the game only for you to be stopped by his rambling again and again and again until it’s finally over. And most of the skills players can learn on their own since it’s not that hard to just press a random button and get immediate feedback of “oh this button does this? cool beans''. Their moveset is also broken with Amy’s tornado attack being a moving projectile meaning you don’t have to willingly get in contact with the enemy in order to use it, Big having a combo that doesn’t have him move so he can’t fall off the map along with a broken belly flop that’s good for not only combat but weirdly enough platforming, and Cream…she’s just the flier. Their Team Blast is just a win button for no good reason. Not only does it give all of your teammates a free level, not only does it give your team a shield, but it makes your entire team INVINCIBLE. Ok game I get it, stop treating me like a baby. And the finishing touch is that all the levels are cut in half. Awesome. Setting up unrealistic expectations for newcomers and disrespecting older players in one foul swoop.
And then there’s Team Dark…oh Team Dark…when they said this was the “hard” mode they were lying. Because it should’ve been called “kaizo” mode. Enemies are everywhere including places they shouldn’t be, the amount of rings available is greatly reduced, And the bosses become borderline impossible to beat at times(except for the rival fights but we’ll get to that). And not only are there more enemies but the stronger variants of said enemies spawn more frequently. And you’d think their Team Blast would make things better, well yes and no but here’s why. Their Team Blast freezes time completely and I mean completely. Rings don’t spin, projectiles don’t move, even the timer doesn’t tick down. But the most annoying part is if you’re using your Team Blast to try and move forward the puzzles are stuck in time too until the gauge runs out so you gotta sit and wait to move on. And even after you move on the game will probably toss 3 giant armored robots at you at once that fight like mini-bosses(if you know you know) immediately after your Team Blast just ran out.
But before I talk about the final team with Team Chaotix I wanna talk about the level design! Yippee! Except not really because it’s all terrible. The locations and themes are unique in their own right but each level suffers from their own issues coupled with all the bugs that can kill you outright without the player having any time to think about what just happened. Ignoring the main bugs, Seaside Hill and Ocean Palace are fine first levels in all honesty. Power Plant’s elevator section is long and tedious and it’s worse if you have a character than use the Light Speed Dash along with a super stressful rising lava section that you gotta hurry up to climb or else you’re dead. But oooh nooo it’s not that easy because the lava moves faster along with the player which means if you’re too slow, you die and if you’re too fast…you die. Casino Park and Bingo Highway have pinball mechanics that will leave you stuck in one of the tables forever unless you’re a pinball god or just lucky. And we just love games marketed at children that encourage gambling addictions, especially if said gambling minigames are rng. Rail Canyon and Bullet Station rely entirely on rails which don’t work properly as I said before and Bullet Station in particular has a cannon that’s supposed to shoot you onto another rail track but in actuality it fires you straight into the death zone if you’re unaware about this and hold forward…and because it’s a Sonic the Hedgehog game you’re gonna do that. “Gotta go fast” and all that. Frog Forest and Lost Jungle have flying flowers that are so jittery they’re impossible to control, swinging vines with an awkward timing window, and it ends on a chase sequence against a giant crocodile that relies on the janky vines that last way too long. Hang Castle and Mystic Mansion are puzzle-filled mazes with ghost enemies that show up at the worst of times to jumpscare you…which is all the time, and everything else(we all know these levels sucks moving on). Egg Fleet and Final Fortress have tons of bullshit cannons that can home in on you, can snipe you out of the air which can hit you out of a platforming segment and send you falling to your death, crumbling floors, everything’s in the sky so there’s almost no floor to stand on, and rails. The worst part about it all is that all 4 campaign’s use the same exact 14 levels. You heard me right. ALL 4 CAMPAIGNS USE THE EXACT SAME LEVELS. Sonic Adventure 2 had 2 campaigns with levels that heavily differed from each other one way or another. Each campaign has either a speed level, a treasure level, or a mech level and even then it’s not equal to how many levels each type of level gets and each level has a different setting and music track. Rush is the one case I can think of where the campaigns had minor differences. Only thing is that those differences are huge. The levels are the same but they’re in a different order for Sonic and Blaze, Blaze plays completely differently from Sonic, Blaze gets her own music tracks, and Sonic has to use special stages to get the Chaos Emeralds while Blaze doesn’t need any to get the Sol Emeralds. And at the end of every other stage you gotta face off against-
Bosses! They all suck for different reasons. The mech fights boil down to mashing homing attacks like it’s a Mario Party minigame, the rival team fights are a joke, and the horde fights…oh my god the horde fights. I’m just gonna rip the band-aid off here. ROBOT. FUCKING. STORM. This is not only the worst “level” in Sonic Heroes but the worst boss fight out of any Sonic game I have ever played. Team Sonic’s is hard enough as is, Team Rose’s is a pushover(as is every boss in their campaign really), Team Chaotix…we’ll get to them later. But Team Dark’s has to be the boss fight that throws the bullshit at you. Don’t believe me well then let’s see here, we got; a long robot gauntlet that feels like it takes years to get over with, more enemies that spawn with a lot of them being the stronger variants of the enemies we’ve already be accustomed to, multiple giant hammer wielding robots paired with either robots that heal them or robots that sap all your rings which because it’s a Sonic game it’s basically life steal, and because this game was programmed with monkeys holding hammers the enemies will constantly knock your ass off the map and there is NOTHING you can do about it except pray. Pray to rn-Jesus that you can make it out alive with what little sanity is left in your body. And after all that Eggman has the balls to say what I'd call the worst line in any Sonic game, “Don’t get too excited boys! Those were the easy ones!”. It’s genuinely unbelievable that such a level exists. This was marketed towards kids. How is fucking little Casey who just got Sonic Heroes as their first video game gonna beat this shit? He’s not. Because the developers didn’t think about that just like they didn’t think about anything in this game except making a “fun” gimmick. But that’s not all. Because there’s one more boss...
Egg Emperor…and the bullshit continues. I definitely know what true evil is when facing this boss all right. The fight consists of running across a few platforms before making your way over to a bigger arena. The boss only has 3 attacks but 2 of them are what make this boss a slog to get through. He can fire energy waves by swinging his lance like he’s Cloud Strife and a charge attack that has no weaknesses that the game says activates whenever you’re too far from him. Because this is a Sonic game I figured that meant he can only charge if you’re too slow, but if you manage to run ahead of him he’ll charge anyway. But if you get too close to him you could risk either getting hit by a lance beam or by his massive hurtbox. And you might be thinking “why don’t you homing attack the body at that point?” and that’s because he has a shield that blocks all attacks and it’s only worth attacking his body after the second part of the fight where you go to that arena section. In the arena section you have to destroy some cannons and defeat some enemies before getting to the big man himself. You can make him drop his shield by using Thunder Shoot and follow up with your Power character but you probably wouldn’t do as much damage as you were hoping for since in order to do any real damage you’ll have to level your Power character up to level 3 which could take forever in this fight. After a certain amount of time the boss will flee causing you to chase after him again and repeat the boss cycle. But don’t go too fast because then you’ll wind up smacking right into his body or he’ll swat you out the air like a fly with a lance beam attack. And you can’t go too slow or else he’ll just charge at you which if he does it at the wrong time he can intercept your approach and boop you off the map meaning you’ll be dead. And if you thought that was enough, because the developers don’t know how to properly make things different between campaigns you have to fight this motherfucker 4 SEPARATE TIMES. And it doesn’t matter what campaign you go through because you’ll always have a tough time regardless of difficulty. I know it’s the final boss and that it’s meant to be a challenge but holy shit tone it down, there’s kids playing this shit.
And the last campaign involves Team Chaotix and they’re by far my favorite team to play as…and they still have problems. Instead of going through levels the same way you did 3 separate times already it instead focuses on missions. And I have mixed feelings about this. It’s great because it finally keeps things fresh and gives the player another way to experience the game that isn’t platforming focused. The problem is the fact that it’s still the same levels, levels that were meant for an action platformer instead of things finding an x amount of…I don’t know seashells. While the treasure hunting stages were my least favorite aspect of Sonic Adventure 2 they at least did a better job with the concept than some of the collecting missions in Heroes since the maps are built specifically for this kind of gameplay and there was at least a tracker telling you if you were going in the right direction. The Chaotix has you searching through levels you’re meant to speed through while not giving you any sort of tracker to tell you if you’re in the right direction. The Casino Park one in particular was the worst one because of the instructions: “Win 200 Rings!”. Anyone who sees this probably assumes they mean to use the slot machines since we’re a casino level with slot machines built into the pinball tables. But the thing is you can easily just collect 200 rings by playing the stage. But the game doesn’t say collect 200 rings, it says win 200 rings which is the dumbest piece of misinformation in this game and that’s saying something since this game loves to withhold information from the player for no reason. Like did you know you can fire your Thunder Shoot at nothing to charge your team gauge? Or that even though the game says to use a Speed character’s tornado to deal with shield enemies Power characters can punch right through them no problem? You probably didn’t because the game doesn’t tell you this. Anyway the stealth missions are the best ones because Espio’s invisibility is broken. And their Team Blast causes any enemy destroyed to turn into rings and for the duration of the meter any enemy destroyed turns into rings. This is the most broken move in the game. Why? Well remember when I said that the Team Gauge charges from attacking enemies and collecting rings? Well the game counts any rings collected towards the meter. Meaning if you destroy enough enemies at once with this attack you can immediately get your gauge back to repeatedly use again and again. It’s such an easy exploit to pull off that I'm not even surprised that this was left unchecked in all honesty. It even makes the dreaded Robot Storm look like a joke.
So that’s it. You beat all the 4 campaigns and you’d think that it’s time for the usual last story, right?...right? Well unfortunately special stages make a return and with that the 7 Chaos Emeralds. And this is by far the worst one. In the past special stages were unlocked by method of holding at least 50 rings until the end of the stage and jumping into a warp ring in Sonic 1 or holding at least 50 rings and jumping into a star post in Sonic 2 or by jumping into a giant warp ring hidden in the level in Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Sonic Heroes decided they wanna be a bit quirky in a horrible way. In order to access the special stages in this game you have to collect a key hidden in the stage and bring that key with you until the end of the level or mission in order to unlock the special stages and collect the Emeralds…there’s so much wrong with this…Not only is it already easy for the game to send your ass to the shadow realm for existing but if you get hit and lose your key it doesn’t just fall out like rings do, it disappears completely meaning you’ll have to reload at a checkpoint or worse, restart the entire level every single time you get hit. And after you get through that bullshit we get to the special stage itself…if you’ve played this game you already know what’s up. The special stage acts similarly to the half pipe in Sonic 2 but except it’s a full enclosed pipe you run around in. The goal is to collect orbs to fill your boost meter and speed ahead to catch the emerald. It sounds very simple but remember, this game was coded by monkeys with hammers so the physics don’t function. Your character will constantly jitter around while moving making positioning yourself impossible when trying to collect the orbs. You have to pick between a Power or Speed character because Flight characters are too slow to do anything but even then you’re picking your poison. Do you wanna control your character better at the cost of speed or do you wanna go fast in order to get the emerald quickly at the cost of controlling your character? ‘Cause that’s exactly what it feels like. And I'm still not done because each Emerald is locked into every other stage. Sonic 1, 2, and 3 & Knuckles allows you to get the Emeralds as easy as the first 2 or 3 zones if you know what you’re doing. If you miss an emerald in one of the few stages they appear in you’ll have to repeat the level and do everything I just explained ALL OVER AGAIN. WHAT KIND OF COLLECTOR HATING SADISTIC BASTARD THOUGHT THIS WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA WHEN THE EMERALDS ARE REQUIRED TO BEAT ALL OF THE STORY!? Before going in I knew how bad the special stages were while being blissfully unaware how bad the unlock requirements were so I used save states(yes I used an emulator) to collect the emeralds in a timely fashion. Not only did this end up taking longer than expected even with save states but I was forced to keep using them for every time I got hit, sent off the stage, or missed the Emerald causing my save file to corrupt and erase all my data. Which caused the auto save to fail and use exclusively save states to progress. And let me tell you, nothing’s scarier than booting up the game and discovering all of your save data has been completely erased even after you completed 2 campaigns previously.
Before I get into the last couple topics of discussion I'll touch on some minor things that don’t warrant their own paragraph individually. The voice acting is hit or miss with stand outs like Omega and Sonic and then there’s instances of some of the worst voice acting in the series with Tails where they deadass brought an 8 year old to voice the character. “Look at all those Eggman’s robots!”. But it gets weirder since Cream was voiced by an actual voice actress and Charmy was voiced by a teenager. Doesn’t help that the game has the characters not stop talking for every single damn action in the game. It’s the same cheesy lines for the entire playthrough. The game looks ugly with the admittedly improved models having textures that look like they’re plastic toys ready to be sold in some Walmart or Target. The pre rendered cutscenes might be revolutionary at the time but are horribly dated by today’s standards and the in game cutscenes that start at the beginning of boss fights and levels look extremely jittery and stiff with characters’ arms flailing to move into position, Omega’s eyes constantly bugging out, and the camera repeatedly having a stroke. Some assets feel like they are copy/pasted and slapped onto characters that don’t make sense. Omega and Big share the same aura color along with Espio and Sonic sharing the same aura color, purple and blue respectively. Omega’s triple glide animation looks exactly like Knuckles’ even though he could’ve been animated to use his thrusters. Rouge has a weird outfit change that is never used again. Some might think that it could be for censorship reasons but her chest is still exposed through a cleavage slit in the outfit which makes me wonder why they even bothered to change it. Plus her pink eyeshadow is less aesthetically pleasing than her iconic bright blue. It’s unclear if all the teams are doing everything at the same exact time or not making things really confusing.The way the characters are written are all over the place with a mixed bag across the board. Team Dark’s great as characters but then you have Tails who’s portrayed to act like some scaredy baby and Amy who’s been turned into a hyper thirsty yandere that’s willing to beat Sonic into marrying her. But all of that is nothing compared to how dirty they did Shadow.
Every team has their own mini story that drives their plot forwards; Team Sonic has to find and defeat Eggman, Team Rose is looking for their lost friends, Team Chaotix is tryna get the bread, and Omega, specifically Omega, is out to look for Eggman for revenge for locking him in a vault. Shadow though…ok first off, why is he here? He literally sacrificed himself to save the planet Earth from the space colony Ark with characters honoring said sacrifice and mourning his death, Sonic included…But then they decided to bring him back along with amnesia and a clone side story that makes him question who he is. The clone story is the dumbest shit in this entire damn game. As if it wasn’t enough to make him forget all the events of Sonic Adventure 2, which can kinda make sense if he was sent into a coma after crashing on Earth. But now he has to go through some midlife crisis level shit to try and figure out his past and if he’s even real, which spoiler alert: this game doesn’t resolve either plot point. These points were further developed and resolved by the next game; Shadow the Hedgehog which wasn’t the best game by all means but it gave more of a fuck to have a concrete story than Heroes ever did. And what’s worse is if the clones were gonna be brought up again in Shadow the Hedgehog and then be resolved in that same game then what the fuck was the point of doing any of this shit in Heroes!? All that did was leave Shadow’s story on a cliffhanger that accomplished nothing but made fans confused and left them with unanswered questions for 2 years until Shadow the Hedgehog came out.
But finally, after collecting all 7 Chaos Emeralds and beating all 4 Team campaigns you’re rewarded with the Last Story which reveals that Metal Sonic was the real mastermind behind everything that happened in the game so he can copy everyone’s data and assume a powerful new form…that takes way too long to transform into…with Metal Overlord…just to beat Sonic. Not even world domination, just to beat Sonic. While his dedication is admirable it’s a really shallow goal. Plus the buildup towards him being the main big bad isn’t handled as well as it could’ve been. All we get are a background element that people would miss if they’re too focused on just beating the level, an extra animation at the end of a boss cutscene that only appears for Team Sonic and Shadow’s story, and a few lines of dialogue from Team Chaotix’s “client” that makes it clear that it’s Eggman. But it would’ve been better to actually know how all of this happened in the first place. Metal Sonic shows up as Neo Metal Sonic as the first time we see him in this game with no explanation as to how he got this form or how he found out he can copy others’ abilities. Not even a cutscene or backstory from Eggman in the final story, instead he just complains about how they can’t defeat him without the Chaos Emeralds. Without prior knowledge I wouldn’t blame anyone for thinking that Metal Sonic just got a redesign since he hadn't made an appearance in the Adventure era at that time. How cool would it have been to have been given cutscenes showing us Metal Sonic twisting and contorting his body to not only show how he managed to do this in the first place but how far he’s willing to go to beat Sonic without spoiling the final form to leave the audience in suspense before the final act? And him not revealing that he copied Team Rose and Team Chaotix data kinda comes off as him not recognizing their strengths and calling them too weak to copy from, even if he didn’t say so himself. The segment where the teams do their best to weaken Metal Madness for Team Sonic is fine enough except the coding monkeys did it again and made it so that Flying characters can’t do any damage. But then there’s the final battle with Super Team Sonic…Team Super Sonic…uh…a Chaos Emerald powered Team Sonic. Admittedly the fight is really cool with Metal Overlord chucking entire battleships at the player and talking about how he believes he’s the real Sonic as What I’m Made Of blasts in the background. But there’s 2 major things that bring this fight down for me. Sonic Adventure 2 did a similar sequence of the cast of characters help Sonic and Shadow go super and defeat the big bad. Only difference being the buildup was more elaborate and the stakes were higher as if they failed the entire planet was at stake along with the presentation of the final fight being better in every way. One fight takes place in outer space while the other takes place in the sky a vague height above the ground. And most insulting of all they robbed us of bringing back Super Knuckles and Super Tails. This might’ve been because of the retcon of super forms only being possible with male hedgehogs but that was a massive missed opportunity. And after the fight is done Sonic drops one of the corniest one liners in the franchise, the 5th set of unskippable credits scrolls on screen, and the game tells you to do everything again but get to A ranks this time as one final fuck you.
In conclusion the game had a lot of…interesting ideas to say the least in terms of mixing up the Sonic formula. Unfortunately they used too much gas when trying to cook and sent the entire dish ablaze. I think if they let this game simmer a bit more and took at least a year to iron out all the bugs and mishaps since this game was developed in 20 months. As a comparison Sonic Adventure 2 took 18 months to develop and was still better. And while I've made comparisons to past Sonic games I wanna make it clear that I am aware of the flaws those other games have. After all, nothing is perfect. But Sonic Team at least could’ve made sure that their game was worth it in spite of these flaws by tweaking some game mechanics to make them more fun. And feel free to say why you’d think this game is peak Sonic. Alright that’s all, thanks for reading this far and have a fantastic day.

Now, I haven't had the time to do a deep dive into this morning's filing or read the room on the general consensus, but allow me the pleasure of waxing on why this has me jacked beyond reason. TL;DR at bottom
First, in stark contrast to our notoriously tight-lipped company's wont, prematurely announcing the anticipated financials does two things:

1. Takes advantage of the elevated price to mitigate the media spin about "poor performance, blah blah" by setting expectations in advance. It's my hunch that they wouldn't post those numbers if they didn't feel confident about meeting or exceeding that bar. This demonstrates a willingness to take a more active role in setting your own narrative, which is a refreshingly proactive chess move by RC and company
2. Releasing this info sends the stock price tumbling. Why do that unless you also want to send a clear message to core investors (who after having the our biases made rock-hard by this recent run-up would auction off our first-born to get more shares at sub-$20 prices) that this is the time to load up?

Second, setting the stage to sell shares on what may or may not prove to be a massive string of towering green dildos made me recall something I wrote back in the heady days of June 9th, 2021--before my wife dumped the boyfriend and once again came a-knocking.
Now, I would love to have been able to link back to my original post, but I have no idea where it has gone. Did Reddit delete it for fear that Superstonk's one true messiah might be irrevocably vindicated, the prophecy made real by its very utterance? Possibly. Did I myself delete it in a fit of angst because it was at least an action I could take when I sure as shit wasn't going to sell my shares? Who can say?
At any rate, for your toilet-browsing pleasure:
​

Apologies for this boring-ass formatting. I’m sitting here hunched over my phone, clearly not catching up on work I was supposed to be doing today.
After today’s roller coaster of emotions, a thought occurred to me. There’s plenty of confirmation bias to signal that the 8-k was trimmed, we own the float, hedges r fuk, etc. Essentially, the thesis has not changed.
What has changed is our understanding of RC’s play. In those precious few hours of crayon-addled fever dreams that lie between AH close and our German brethren’s market reporting, we like to imagine Cohen dropping the proverbial hammer. A curbstomp. A nuke.
Whether it comes in the form of over-vote announcements, crypto dividends, or what have you, there are any number of ways our boys, girls, and gender non-conforming homo sapiens at GME HQ could trigger the MOASS.
Now, aside from some tactically cheeky, cryptic, or otherwise indirect nods, it is clear that RC and company have little intention of forcing the moment.
Now, follow me along on a fanciful, tit-jacking journey:
You’re Ryan Cohen. You know the true, pre-trim vote count. I don’t want to speculate numbers, but let’s say it’s clear to you that the shorts are hopelessly mired in their position and at your mercy.
You could a) trigger the squeeze, get some attention to your company, maybe send the global financial system back to the Stone Age.
Or b) build an empire.
Let the shorts kick the can. As the price inches exponentially upward, you sell some shares. Not enough to allow shorts to cover, but enough to let them temporarily keep kicking the can. Oh, and you build a war chest the likes of which boggles the mind. What’s 5 million shares at $500 average? $1000 average? Can you imagine what could be done with 2.5-5 Billion on top of the 700 million already on hand? Or more?
Take a moment to appreciate the thought.
Now, some interminable number of months pass. You’ve created the first blockchain market for video games, digital collectibles, etc. you’ve ridden the prolonged spotlight into a worldwide media presence that fuels your e-sports competitions. Now the only question about the future of the company is “who’s gonna get to play Cohen in the documentary?”
Long past when the general public FOMOs in, previously skittish institutions buy in, looming squeeze be damned. The value play is clear to all.
Perhaps then you ask your shareholders for one last act of trust. You open the dam. Sell more shares, slowly enough to wring every last bit of capital from the shorts. Your holdings are now several times the GDP of a medium-sized country. Perhaps you issue the MOAD (mother of all dividends). Or, perhaps now that the synthetic shares have largely been neutralized, you look at the real float, buy some of those shares back, and make BRK-A look like a penny stock, and ensure the long-term wealth of your shareholders all while Gary Gensler delivers Ken Griffin’s daily mayo rations to the dank cell under DFV’s castle/large cat preserve.
That’s it. Fuck you, I said it was fanciful. Point is, I don’t think this is going anywhere but up, but ice those boners for a sec, because we need to start thinking like RC and prepare for the long game.

TL;DR -fu I don't care if anyone reads this, lol