Thoughtstuck - END OF ACT 3 ACT 1: Oh god no.

[Mibbs]

puzzlekind!

[Sparrowsmith]

Definitely Puzzlekind

[rhelmot]

Hey everyone!

No, I don't have the flash done yet. I'd estimate I'm 70% done, though!

I do, however, have one last panel and a preview for the flash in gif form.

> Bach: Pick the cube.



You captchalogue the POCKET CUBE. You knew how to solve this thing once, but your memory is a bit foggy on the subject.

...oh wait you were supposed to put it in your strife specibus, not captchalogue it.

Darn it.

Just a little tide-me-over until I can finish the flash! It will use a volume 9 song. (one of the reasons I wanted to do a flash instead of psyching you guys out in the first place) Also, have this little preview image:

[ceilingFlowershot]

God, I love your animations!
Even if gif. You should do a tutorial on how you make them, they're so good.
I'm still learning, but I really like yours because they're complicated and cool.

You're the new hussie. /shot/

[Absol]

Your animations are just so cool~

[rhelmot]

HEEEERE WE GO

> [S] Bach: Exit.

This spoiler contains *gasp* actual spoilers! Don't read 'till you're done with the flash!

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phew

man

That took a lot longer than it should have. Not so long as Brad: Exit but still, pretty long.

This was a bit of a departure from the norm for me in terms of animations in a couple of ways: First, it's the first movie flash I've done since I upgraded myself to the CS6 suite. Flash CS6 has this tiny little bug where trying to convert anything other than a shape to a symbol will crash the program without warning, and this is irritating. My desktop has like 10 of those little crash log files on it, some of which are from other bugs in the program. Needless to say, I adapted my work habits pretty quickly.

Second, a huge amount of the visuals are native flash vectors instead of bitmaps made in photoshop and imported. I'm not sure how this impacts performance; ideally it would make rendering easier for the player, but I haven't bothered testing that. It seems like it might actually be the opposite...? But still, flash does have the magical ability to make any line you draw actually look good. Going back to PS and having to draw nice looking lines again is going to be a drag...

Third, I took it upon myself to do those stupid scenes where a whole bunch of stuff zooms toward you in perspective. The first one of those you see is actually completely governed by a random number generator, and will be different each time you watch! The one with the trees below the canopy, though, is done manually because I needed to get it to slow down so you could see the consorts. Yeah, those little chicken/duck guys were the consorts.

Fourth, I actually used Illustrator for something useful! :D Making the full exterior view of LOTAE was really fun, thanks to photoshop's godlike content-aware stuffs. If anyone wants to know how I made the texture for the planet, just ask! It's a fun story. ;)

Fifth, I killed off a character. D: I'm not sure how Hussie does it so easily, I had a really hard time drawing that... so much blood... How Dad would die was up in the air for a while in the planning process; for a while I wanted it to be that Brad kills him after starting the game because he thinks he's in a virtual reality. My partner talked me out of that one, thank god. Chekhov's cacti save the day again!

And there you have it! Hope it was worth the wait!

Tiny little note about issuing commands: You can give commands to either Brad or Bach now, but they probably won't end up being panel titles in favor of Exile commands. No, I haven't forgot about those guys! Instead, the characters will have your commands interwoven with their actions while the exiles have their way with the titles.

[Absol]

>Types "hi" to test if it works.
>ffffffffffffffffffffff-

[Mibbs]

Brad: check for a pulse

[Sparrowsmith]

The first one of those you see is actually completely governed by a random number generator, and will be different each time you watch!

You have to tell me how to do this :O

Brad: Flip the fuck out

[rhelmot]

You have to tell me how to do this :O

Sure! Essentially, there is a single movie clip with a bunch of squiggles drawn in it, and gets set to a random one of those frames each time it iterates. There are a bunch of these clips, each offset from eachother by a frame, and being scaled with a tween. The transformation point for the object is set to be exactly on the horizon, so when it scales, things look like they're coming from that point. It's pretty complicated, so I set up a simple demo to show how it works. It's saved for flash 2004, which is the earliest version I have.

Anyway! On to the updates!

> hey kid



Oh god. Oh god oh god oh god.

No no no no. Oh god no. Oh no oh god oh god no no no.

Oh my god OH MY GOD NO!!!!!!!

NO! NO!!!!!

> gettin' beat up over this ain't good





Pesterlog:

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-- extensiveEikonlolgy [EE] began pestering proudlyHabile [PH] at ??:?? --

EE: oh god
EE: brad
EE: your......
EE: i....
EE: :(
EE: im so sorry brad!!
EE: this game...
EE: i think it wants us to be challenged
EE: but at the same time it wants to hurt us
EE: it wants to hurt us really really badly
EE: oh my god thats a lot of blood
EE: wait
EE: i just realized
EE: why is your house on top of a bunch of leaves????
EE: your house is on a desert island...???
EE: wait oh my god
EE: those are the cacti that i sent you
EE: this is... my fault??????
EE: oh noooooooooooo
EE: i really am sorry brad!!!!
EE: im sorry i cant make anything i say come off sincerely!!
EE: but i really want to make things better somehow!!!!!

> c'mon, kid

nooooot gonna lie I nearly started crying myself drawing that last panel

[Absol]

Oh god he landed on some of the sharpest ones!

>Give your father a decent burial. He deserves at least that much, even if all the relatives and friends can't be there from the funeral.

[rhelmot]

Right, I should mention:

The arc is going to move on from brad being all emotional over his dad, so we need to figure out how that's going to happen next. Your options are:

> Brad: Finally start responding to exile.
> Bach: Intervene.
> Cactusprite: Suddenly appear.
> Imps: Attack.

As compensation for submitting a command that could not be used because I failed to mention this, Absol's command will be spoken verbatim by Brad at some point in the near future.

GO!

[Absol]

>Brad: Finally start responding to exile.

Yay, my command still gets to be used even though it is completely useless! //shot

[rhelmot]

Hm, not many people seem to be interested in tossing out commands. I should probably do something like stick a link to this in my sig and actually be active on the rest of the forums.

> get up already



> i said



You suddenly hear a voice shouting, "GET UP!"

You instantly sit up, but there doesn't seem to be anyone around...

> oh youre kidding me



> HEY BRAD



The voice begins to address you again. It is really very loud, and kind of grating to listen to.

You try to respond to it, but are promptly informed that he (it is quite obviously a male voice) cannot hear you, only see you.

I wrote a little add-on for the authorship version of the mirror that lets me display a number of panels as forum syntax, so that should make it significantly less hair-pulling for me to stick updates up on here. This is me testing that out!

Anyway, while working on these panels I developed more of an exact backstory for Brad's exile, the downside of this being that it requires a bit of narration shenanigans to pull off the reveals correctly. In a practical sense, this means that we won't actually be seeing him for a while. To make it up to all you devoted readers, you can suggest things for the exile to say now!

Edit: Uh, for some reason the GET UP! panel isn't animating properly for me when I view it here, but it works everywhere else including right click -> open image in new tab??? Does anyone else have this problem/know the solution?
Edit2: Okay it's just chrome being a douche when it comes to animating stuff. Gotta deal with it.

[Absol]

Works fine for me.

>Go explore.

[Sparrowsmith]

Inform your server player of the voice. If this is part of the game then it might be dangerous.

[Mibbs]

imp: mess with corpse

[rhelmot]

Sorry this batch took so long. This is actually two updates worth, but there was pretty much no reason to give you just the first batch because there were no good commands you could have given. Instead, have three pestelogs!

> SO HERE'S THE DEAL



What is that obnoxious voice talking about? You don't have any messages to attend to.

> ==>



Oh. Those messages.

> Brad: Answer KG.



Pesterlog

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-- kingdomsGeminated [KG] began pestering proudlyHabile [PH] at ??:?? --

KG: hello Brad?
KG: are you there?
KG: Bach pestered me in a hurry asking me to talk to you
KG: I did not get much more out of her before she left
KG: I hope she wants this because she knows you are alive
KG: as opposed to she does not know because you died in the meteor strike
KG: I certainly hope you survived
KG: Brad?
PH: Sorry, I'm here.
KG: ah hello
PH: Hey, sorry for keeping you waiting.
KG: what ended up happening with the meteor?
PH: AFAIK, it hit.
PH: Luckily for me, the game provided a means to get the heck out of there before then.
PH: It involved opening a rather difficult-to-open box.
PH: Let's just leave it at that.
KG: where are you now?
PH: I'm not entirely sure.
PH: My entire house got sent along with me to the top of what appears to be a really big tree amongst an ocean of trees.
PH: There look to be a bunch of really big eggs sitting on the canopy too.
KG: you sound a little strange
KG: are you okay Brad?
PH: That's the other thing. My dad was on the roof during the strike
PH: and
PH: eurgh
KG: did he get left behind?
PH: No, worse.
PH: He
PH: He fell off the roof and landed in my cacti garden and he's dead now!!!!
KG: oh
KG: I am sorry Brad
KG: that is really really awful
PH: The only reason I'm talking to anyone right now is that there's a really loud voice in my head that's telling me to talk to you guys.
PH: Probably part of the game. He seems to know me, too.
KG: strange
KG: but still really sad
KG: what are you going to do with
KG: you know
PH: Not sure.
PH: I'd like to give my father a decent burial.
PH: He deserves at least that much, even if all his relatives and friends can't be there from the funeral.
PH: Plus I want to make up for being such a jerk to him when he was alive.
PH: But, you know, sea of trees.
PH: I should probably get going.
PH: Got to let PI know that I'm okay since Bach probably gave her just as much background upon which to pester me as she gave to you.
KG: but are you okay Brad?
PH: I sure hope so.

-- proudlyHabile [PH] ceased pestering kingdomsGeminated [KG] at ??:?? --

> Brad: Answer PI.



Pesterlog

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-- pleasantImperfection [PI] began pestering proudlyHabile [PH] at ??:?? --

PI: Bach just finished telling me in an extremely hurried manner to contact you.
PI: I haven't the faintest idea what is going on or why (or if, even) you need me right now.
PI: Brad, are you there?
PH: I am now.
PI: So what's going on here?
PI: Do you need more help with the game?
PH: No. You actually did a really good job helping me out there.
PH: Using the punched card on the totem lathe with a blank totem created a carved totem that, when taken to the alchimeter, created the item on the card.
PH: Which, incidentally, helped save my life.
PI: So what happened after that that made Bach so eager to get me in touch with you?
PH: Long story short:
PH: My dad fell off the roof into my cactus garden and died.
PH: A few minutes ago I was completely distraught over it and presumably didn't notice Bach pestering me.
PI: Oh...
PI: That's horrible!
PH: This Stupid Conversation I Don't Want to Have: Mark II
PI: What?
PH: ...nothing.
PI: Sure.
PI: How are you going to live by yourself in the middle of the ocean?
PI: Furthermore, why are you okay now?
PH: In reverse order:
PH: I have a voice in my head that's making me do stuff. Probably part of Sburb.
PH: Second, the thing I made with the alchimeter transported me somewhere I can only qualify as 'In the game' to save me from the meteor strike.
PH: I guess I'll just play the game until it's over and figure that out then?
PI: Wait. Meteor strike?
PH: Oh, I forgot to tell you.
PH: The timer on the cruxtruder turned out to be counting down to a big meteor hitting my house.
PH: As far as I can tell, the meteor was directly connected to the game. That's why there've been meteor strike all around the world that started when Sburb was released.
PH: If I hadn't been able to finish that part of the game, I would have died for sure.
PI: Oh my god.
PI: I need to go.

-- pleasantImperfection [PI] ceased pestering proudlyHabile [PH] at ??:?? --

> Brad: Answer Bach.



Pesterlog

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EE: i hope you dont mind
EE: but i got the rest of your friends to talk to you and see if youre all right!
EE: i can just wait here
EE: after all i can see you!!!!!
PH: Hey.
EE: hi brad!!!
EE: are you doing okay??
EE: what happened when you suddenly just sat up??
PH: More game shenanigans.
PH: Oh man you have some catching up to do.
PH: Let's start at the beginning:
PH: The machines you deployed turned out to facilitate some sort of punchcard-based alchemy.
PH: In addition, the timer on the cruxtruder was tied to a meteor.
PH: At 0:00, my house would have been destroyed.
PH: Luckily, I used the machines to finish what I guess was the intro to the game, and my house and myself were teleported onto this giant tree.
EE: oh wow!!!!
EE: this game is cool!
PH: And also sadistic and for all we know evil.
EE: so why did you sit up???
PH: There's a voice in my head. He calls himself my 'Exile', and he can see me and give me directions on how not to screw up.
PH: Pretty much definitely part of the game.
EE: oh!!
EE: did he say anything useful?????
PH: First, to inform me of his presence.
PH: Second, to tell me to talk to you guys.
PH: So no.
EE: H*H
EE: so youre all better now???
EE: no more sobby weepy completely broken brad???????
PH: Looks to be that way. I may have temporarily lost my ability to use complex emotions though.
PH: Note the lack of non-period-terminated sentences in my text.
EE: heh
EE: im sure youll be fine
EE: uh
EE: brad.....?
PH: Hm?
EE: wheres your hat?

For some reason I'm really not happy with my writing in that last pesterlog. Eh, whatever.

[Recyth]

>IIIIIIIIMPS! D:<

[Mibbs]

Brad: you have backup hats its no big deal

[rhelmot]

I have no excuse for how long this update took.

Except for the part where it's awesome.

> ==>





Pesterlog

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PH: Oh, jeez!
PH: Where is my hat?
PH: I never noticed it was gone...?
EE: you have extras right its no big deal??
PH: Yes, I do.
PH: But I can't get into the habit of letting them get away from me.
EE: i think it came off while you were laying on your dad..
PH: Hm, that seems likely.
PH: Do you see it anywhere on your screen?
EE: ummmmm
EE: you might want to look over there!!!

> Brad: Look.





Pesterlog

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PH: Oh man.
EE: what is that thing????
PH: It's pretty obvious that that's one of the enemies I have to fight now.
PH: On a scale of 1 to completely evil, it's something like an 8.5.
EE: brad its got your hat!!!
PH: Yes!
PH: I see!!!
PH: And that was its fatal mistake!!!!!
PH: As a matter of fact
PH: IT BROKE THE ONE RULE I HAVE!!!!!!!!
EE: )<U

> Brad: Retrieve second and third hats from Strife Deck.



Pesterlog

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PH: YOU DO NOT

> ==>





Pesterlog

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PH: TAKE

> ==>







Pesterlog

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PH: MY

> ==>





Pesterlog

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PH: HAT!

Watch as Andrew uses AAAALLLLLLL the art styles! And also sneakily takes AAAALLLLLLL the commands even if they weren't explicitly page titles!

[Mibbs]

wow man, that last page right there is really good you are getting a lot better
>Level Up

[rhelmot]

HEY GUYS I'M SORRY THAT TOOK SO LONG

> [S] Brad: Level up.



==>

The good news is that now that I have the code for that kind of walkaround done, I should be able to make future ones (much more expansive and interactive!) much quicker.

Also whoever did the coding for [S] ACT 4 has my eternal respect. Sylladexes are a bitch to code.

[Absol]

>Feeling confident, you decide to explore the nearby area.

Haha, I'm making him look like one of those hat salesmen guys that have a bunch of hats on their heads.

[Mibbs]

Brad: look down