Skip navigation

Name Them All? Challenge Accepted!

Found a little Meme picture posted regarding My little Pony: Friendship is Magic… It issued me a challenge I couldn’t refuse. So… Here i go, Naming all the changelings I can see.

I’ve also decided to give some minor details I made up. I Even Came up with a theme for four of the ones near the front that look alike: Paradox, Glitch, Bugs, and Noi [#i]. They are quadruplets born into a family dedicated to furthering the changeling empire’s budding information services sector, however, in the my little pony universe, it’s rather hard to manufacture complex machines without causing a few… errors. Hence their names. Of course, Bugs is often annoyed that others take her name too literally, but tends to gain amusement watching some of the really weird programming errors, or listening to smirks when the occasion hits her.

Darkshy is a close friend to both Fang Heart and Noi, but has a little trouble making more friends as she makes herself unavailable from the emotional pain of being considered a monster. And so she hides her face from noble hearts, for fear of being rejected. Noi is friends with her because Darkshy is the only one that even notices she exists, as most changelings treat her as if she’s a figment of their imagination.

Fang Heart is a competitive soul, seeking to outdo even the toughest of her changeling superiors. Her unruly nature gets her in a lot of trouble with her peers, as she refuses to be ordered around. However, she ends up making a few friends that respect her free heart and it is to those few she is the most loyal. She became friends with Darkshy when she decided that the nerve wreaked Changeling needed somepony who could stand up for her, and teach her how to be strong.

Smirks loves to show the other changelings just how little sense their world makes, her near perpetual toothy grin a sign of just how much she enjoys making fun of the weirdness around her. She often comes across as mean with all her snark, but when she does offend somepony she makes it clear its not personal. Almost crippled herself with laughter when the queen broke out into song the first time. The second time? I think she was devouring a cake in a rather threatening way in front of a Unicorn and almost choked on it. She has a personal fondness for Tusks and her bubbly personality.

Tusks is a little random and full of energy, this led her to be the head of a nice Jazz and Dance Club in the changeling empire. When the changelings were evicted from their previous residence, her unspent energies needed release. She was Planing a “Hi-Pinkie-Pie-We’re-Your-New-Masters-And-I’d-Like-To-Play-With-You-Since-You’re-So-Cool!” party when they were storming Canterlot, but had to settle for a nice “Better Luck Next Time” Party for the Queen; which was nice, she managed to get a band called the Blues Dragonettes to perform. Some find her odd, as she tends to rejoice at both good times and bad times alike.

Echo Dream rarely opens her eyes, which could have something to do with the fact that she is highly devoted to the art of precognition. She is close friends with Tiger Shade and Snarl Hope; Tiger Shade for her Unyielding Resolve and Stubborn Pride that makes her a great defender, and Snarl Hope for her Ruthless Determination and Drive that makes her a great warrior. She often describes them as “interesting”, which others think means “they seem to be able to do things I cannot predict, even with second sight”.

Spinerette, Sharky Hooks, Linksy Leaf and Scratches are biologists. Spinerette deals with the insects and spiders, Sharky Hooks deals with anything that swims, Linksy Leaf deals in rare flora and Scratches is partial to anything with claws. They were having a brilliant time discussing the ups and downs of their favorite beasts right before they were kicked out of their home with the rest of the changelings. Spinerette’s flair for the dramatic often draws a bit of attention from some interesting changelings. Sharky Hooks tends to spend her free time drinking cider on a rickety boat telling stories of far off lands, which makes the others wonder if she was a pirate, not to mention her odd accent and tendancy to say “argh” for yes. Linksy Leaf is quiet, he tends to let his actions speak for him; which more often then not tends to be something helpful. Scratches tends to quote a lot of wisdom about war, mainly that it’s never changing, even if the form changes.

Sparks, Bolt, Blitz Crawler and Black Voltage are engineers, their previous jobs was at a power-plant. Sparks tends to use Glitch’s Computer systems to make sure everything runs to plan; and the two are often seen hanging out to discus programing. Bolt works with the machinery itself, making sure it’s in top condition. Blitz Crawler spends her time getting into hard to reach places to perform tricky maintenance, clean, or clear out a family of pests. Black Voltage takes her place at the center of the system in order to get the most out of the catalytic processes that power the machines and produce more power.

Glaive, Growls and Eni Gamma are Infiltration agents, or “spies” if you will. Glaive does the assassinations, Growls does the dealings face to face since she’s better at intimidation, and Eni Gamma is who they call in to break and enter for secure files. Growls Tends to be rather hot headed, and yet takes a serious approach on most issues; which leads her into conflict with smirks, who is more relaxed and humorous; but these same traits make her the leader of the spies.

Glare Hyenai is the one that takes to combat so fully, she almost seems no different from a beast when on the battle field. And she’s not much better off the battle field, despite being a junk-load more lucid in her train of thought. She is the regiment’s unofficial mascot, as her trademark glare and bared teeth with gums almost showing tend to frighten off most opponents. Of course, she does have her soft moments when around some of the quieter ones; although the others think that’s more because she feels they aren’t interested in any kind of attempt on her position as “tough girl”.

Night Song is the Moral, she’s a kind soul who brightens up the days of the others with melodious music. She Can often be found Singing at Tusks’ place, and when she isn’t she’s often debating time with Paradox; who is always thinking up another way to cheat time, or failing that at least measure it.

Trinity Spears Often tries to be the moral Compass of the group but fails miserably when none of the other changelings listen to her. Not that her “holy Warrior” attitude helps her garner support. She often wonders if she should run away to take lessons from the ponies on how to be a better ‘pony’.

Comander Sorrow is the Leader of this regiment, she holds each companion with high esteem and the thought of one of her charges being killed is sickening to her. She has Great respect for ponies for using (mostly) non-leathal combat, but isn’t above taking advantage of the fact in order to get the upper hand.

Challenge Complete!… I think. If anyone ever finds this, then I’d like to see you come up with something just as interesting. But then again, This is the blog I almost left to rot.

Pokemon vs Digimon: What makes a Rip-Off?

It comes to my attention that I’ve neglected this blog for my you-tube channel. So here are some extra thoughts on what I discussed there.

Pokémon and Digimon is the closest thing to competitors that the monster taming genre has; and the fact that one is treated as the clear choice (Pokémon) leaves that so-called clear choice in stagnation. Digimon and others like it are treated as rip-offs, and with my close ties to both I had to make sure that neither was treated that way.

However, the history lesson I gave was unconvincing to some. So I need to define rip-off in a way that leaves all parties happy (and preferably get people to stop calling Digimon a rip-off.) So here are the three  Must have requirements of a rip-off I’ve thought up so far, followed by what I hope makes something not a rip off. However I should note that the major contention for debate on this I have with my friends is whether it’s an all or nothing proposal or a sliding scale. And don’t expect me to use Digimon in all examples either.  But anyways, here we go.

Criteria One: Direct shared history.

The history lesson did have a point though. Without a common background, you can’t call something a rip-off. Why? Well part of it is perspective. Pokemon started as a game while Digimon was a toy line and later a manga long before they made a game; and the evolution of the concepts that each’s origin leads to quite different design philosophies. For extended example think of one of the street fighter movies (based off of the games) against something like fight club. Or any fighting game based movie against any fighting movie really. The conventions of game culture when migrating to the big screen, much like any culture, will ultimately be completely unlike one that originated in that medium.

The other part of why something needs a shared history to be a rip-off is that a rip-off as we’ve come to know it is something trying to capitalise on someone elses success without giving proper respect to the original by making the exact same thing but with all the numbers filed off. And it can’t exactly be the same if it’s not in the same medium when it begins can it?

Criteria Two: Shared Premise/Storyline.

We can all tell a rip-off from the short explanation that explains the core of the story in as few words as possible (While invoking criteria three often might change your mind by the way.) Here’s Pokemon’s Premise:

You collect monsters to use for competition and become the best.

or

Gotta catch ’em all!

If anyone manages to use that exact premise, or any of the variations of it (not that you’d need a variation if you’re good with words) then one can use it as grounds for calling it a rip-off. However, many get the wrong idea; mistaking tropes and premise for each other. Here’s what Digimon’s Premise is:

Save the world as a chosen one, which comes with creatures that are bound to your soul!

or

Change into digital champions! TOOOOOO, save and defend the world!

I Could also describe Digimon in all manner of ways that sound mystical and that each one is bound to you as closely as your own soul. Ranging from spirit companion to familiar to daemons (like those in ‘the golden compass’) and back to totem animals. (The digital part helps with a unique premise too.)

The fact they are both about monsters is a ‘trope’ or idea, these are not part of what makes a rip-off as that would mean that something would have to be so original as to have no point of comparison. Which is of course impossible.

Long Yet Fun Facts: in only the most recent iterations of both Digimon and Pokemon have the premises begun to overlap. However, they still maintain separate premises. And even if they didn’t, their history as having separate premises disqualifies them from being rip-offs. And if they did steal each other’s premise, would that not be a betrayal of  the original material’s point? You know; “JUMPING THE SHARK!” In any case, having more than one Digimon can be thought to mean each one is tied to an individual aspect of the person. Pokemon having a save the world plot in black/white can be said to be an extension of the competition story line; to save the world, you have to become the best like no-one ever was!…

Criteria Three: Shared Thematics.

You know how I said not two minutes ago how something could share the premise but could still have a way of not being a rip-off? Well, how do you think you’d describe such a work to someone without getting them to say “it’s been done”? Perhaps you’d say something along the lines of ‘it’s like [x] but-‘… Well that ‘but’ could be an integral part of what the work is, it could even be incorporated into the premise if you like; for example, recycling the premise IN SPACE (as tv tropes puts it). However many could be hidden behind something that only makes sense to include when comparing the two; and yet that can be a huge difference as I will now show.

Imagine a world similar to Pokemon, people compete using monsters that they collect. No, not Digimon it’s a hypothetical. Anyways, think of how people might treat those creatures, maybe they are forced into combat that would be downright cruel in scope. Or perhaps the monsters aren’t so thrilled about fighting each other and want to rebel. Maybe, just maybe, the monsters were once human! (Dramatic music).

This kind of thing isn’t usually placed in the premise. And why should it be? it’s a plot twist! Telling might ruin the surprise and many might not have gotten that far into the work yet anyways and wouldn’t know. There’s more kinds though, think of any kind of value or feel you want to be central in a work and imagine what a work would be like if you included it. Pokemon if the monsters were created by genetics instead of natural selection? That might seem indistinguishable in premise but it still carries quite a few ideas not fully present in Pokémon such as custom monsters that are unique to the user. And then you have to consider what would happen if you layered in new lines on plot running under it such as a monster trainer that happens to have a romantic attraction to one of the almost human monsters. Speaking of which…

Negative Criteria One: Different sub-plots.

So You’ve made it this far, well done. Now Imagine Pokémon where instead of the ‘team [x]’ subplots, there was instead a subplot about a virus that turned people into the monsters they use, and maybe one of the main characters gets stuck as one. This may still be kept from being included in the premise if you add that the transformed character wants to fight in the competition alongside their friend’s team to fulfill the dream stolen from them when they transformed; to be a master!

This gives new dimensions of depth to the work not present in the original. And it also begins work on something very important for a work to have.

Negative Criteria Two: Different Worlds.

Each work has its own world, even if that world is just a small part of our own. So what about Pokémon in another world? Well, maybe that can lead on from our last example. A world where people can be changed by a virus into creatures they happen to use for competition sounds interesting on its own, but going further what caused the virus? Maybe the gods of the world created it long ago so that chosen warriors could take place in the first competitions. Maybe from there we can ask about what kind of virus it is if it was made by gods; maybe it’s magical. Maybe the competitions were set up to give them strength to fight off some foreign force beyond their reality.

We can go on forever really, if the world is different enough then one could get away with anything. After all, good sub plots come from a good world from what I can gather. And if you’re willing to switch it up you could make two major premises instead of one if it goes deep enough. After all, maybe the transformed friend could have been changed because they are the chosen one…

Negative criteria Three: It respects the original.

Don’t you dare think you didn’t see this one coming. I think it’s the most obvious of the lot, however I also think it’s the one with the least bearing of the lot. Why then? Well, it’s got to do with motivation to make the work. Were they fans of the original or were they in it for the money? Think about that long and hard. Because respect is the difference between “Hey! He’s making money off of the popularity of our product! I feel ripped-off!” and “ain’t that sweet, he loved our show so much he made his own take on it.”

In Conclusion:

Does Digimon follow the tricks to not being a rip-off? Well, it has a different past (toy instead of game), it has a different premise (save the world instead of compete), it has different themes (emotional stability and good vs evil rather than just having fun together), it has many different sub-plots (people thinking that Digimon was just a game being used once as why the villain was evil, while Pokémon treats battles as a game already), different world (world inside your computer with creatures made of data that become stronger from your emotional state and can even join together with you etc. vs a fairly normal world where animals have elemental powers) and it respects Pokémon… at least, I think it does.

How you can still argue that it’s a rip-off is beyond me. Ideas such as taming monsters doesn’t even fit into the equation. Especially considering Monster taming feels like it should be a genre in and of itself.

RANT:And anyone who points out the names sounding the same pointed to a pile of books that all have similar names. You try finding an original name in a library full of mediocre literature where every third book has ‘twilight’ in the name (including one where that’s all the name is) and every second movie or game has ‘redemption’  or ‘resurrection’ or ‘Armageddon’. Nobody thinks about names anymore! Just ask anyone in the royal family in britain. Or better yet, go find the horrible histories song about it.

New You-Tube channel

Find it Here

Alternate Blog For Cures.

I spent a little time wasted fighting for something, long story short; I’d have to clear the animal and human worlds of disease before I should fight that battle. So I’m starting a new blog to try and talk about how we could do that.

See http://preemptivecure.wordpress.com Once I get that going. If you want me back here to do more work on this blog just give me a heads up. My main idea seems to be quarentine everything.

For exact information on the path I took to find this idea, see http://forums.furaffinity.net/threads/82654-Been-working-too-hard-for-furry-future…

Related Articles

Anatomy Of MMOs: Episode 2: The Attack

So we are back… For now. And the topic is The Attackers. Otherwise known as “DPS”. The most popular type of role.

How can they be more useful than other roles? I say in one case they are necessary. When something can defeat you if the battle takes too long. Or, if there are more enemies you need to fight than just the one.

With this in mind here’s a few kinds I can think of, similar to the defense:

  • The one that gives more damage from taking it.
  • The one that causes more damage over a longer period.
  • The one that gives short bursts of high damage. Aka, “Ultimate Attack”.
  • The one that increases the whole teams damage.
  • The one that attacks with lucky strikes.
  • The one that gives a steady stream of damage.

Remember, in theory any of them should be able to be used and get just as good results, but some are better suited to certain tasks.

The one the takes damage to give damage is a nice position, when used alongside a role that increases their defense by giving them extra health they have a better way to deal with enemies that cause damage to multiple party members. But the main downside is that unless one of the roles or abilities has a way to transfer damage to them, they don’t work well without an area of effect attack coming from the enemy. A variation on this is seen in the world of Warcraft’s warlock class, they sacrifice health to gain more chance to attack.

The ability to cause more damage over time sounds nice when you think about how it might work; Each attack causing more damage later. Wow does a take on this with their version of the warrior, their attacks give them resource for a bar that gives them ability to use more powerful attacks. When taken to the spirit and letter of how it works, it works better the longer the battle goes. So naturally it’s what you might choose if the opponent has high defense.

The “kill it quick” maxim of “give it all” personified by the berserker mode, wow sometimes does this with abilities that you can only use every few minutes. If you think about it though it’s only used when you have to defeat moderate foes while under pressure to defeat something else. If the defense is too high then there is little point in using this. Of course said argument only applies if it takes too long to recharge, or you want to keep under a certain damage level. Two things that World of Warcraft seems to try hard to do, but they seem to make these attacks for Player vs Player battle grounds from what it feels like.

The one that increases the whole team’s damage makes up for most gaps in strategy and helps larger numbers. Although this is usually by doing the inverse strategy of lowering the opponent’s defense with attacks, as such it normally blends with damage over time. As with its defense counterpart the straight version of this works to defeat multiple enemies at once when you consider the switch role part I mentioned in last episode.

The ability to fight with luck is not to be under estimated, you can win on pure luck if things go well. Many DPS roles have “critical strikes” which is basically a lucky shot that gives above average damage. If one attack role focused on this it could give better power than the others, but only on a good day. As such enemies and situations that this would work well against have to be somehow made to be weak against this role specifically. A variant is to have attacks that carry some degree of risk to the user that can be devastating against opponents, in which case a way to increase their defense is recommended.

Steady damage is normally just “hit it until it dies”, how one goes about making this specialized is not certain.

That is all I can think of, if you have some insight feel free to show it.

Long live the Third Option; Video game variety Revolution, I begin.

A long time ago, people actually cared to make games… Well, it seems like a long time ago. But in all seriousness, there’s only been 7 good games I’ve actually been able to play in the last year. Where’d all the games go?

You know how Final Fantasy 13 is my favorite game until ‘Vs 13 comes? Well, if you look at all the other games out, it’s the only one that stood out. But it’s more than that; I’ve only seen 3 new titles on the shelves for the game consoles I have. Period. And 2 of those are inevitably not actually the kind of games I like (one always being a racing game, the other varies between a rehash of something I’ve never played or otherwise a “clone”). Which means there’s a very shaky chance i’ll like the other game.

Here’s a list of games I’ve bought in the last year or so:

  • Assassin’s creed 2
  • Bayoneta
  • Prototype
  • Final Fantasy XIII
  • Kingdom Hearts 368/2 Days

And just so you know, I’ve only found Three outstanding. The kingdom Hearts title is second And Bayoneta’s the third.

Now you may look at that and say that’s a fair amount, But so you know, I finished them in a weekend each except for Final Fantasy and Prototype. Except I stopped prototype even quicker because my brother finished it before me and it seems a bit empty without the virus story to wow me.

So… what happened to the days where I could pick up an armful of games I wanted to play? Which used to be how I did things strangely enough. But now instead of finding heaps of good-looking titles, there’s only 1 good-looking title “every blue moon”. As far as I know, the developers either make games for a console that’s struggling without a wow factor game (PS3), are making games that thrive off of the wow factor but are marketed at people who just want shiny new features (The DS at kids) or are just throwing the reserves of cash to make higher density of gritty stuff that has a slightly higher chance of being picked up by someone who just wants something he can use to pretend he’s a “badmofo” or alternately “Gangster” which means college student frat boys, sports players and posers. Those three kinds of people are common in western society but obviously seem to be critically damaged by either peer pressure or brain-damage… I mean brainwashing, they want a high that only defeating someone will satisfy. The high, of the elitist. But that’s a bit off track.

Hate to keep the critic train rolling but… Guys, don’t you think they could have put at least a bit of effort in making the in-game action more than just “kill one hundred copy paste enemies” if they’re going to put it out with single player?

Now these groups of people who are being catered for are not just the majority of the games industry, but of everything else! That is why few other games come out. Other than times when, as the game over thinker would say; “Video games come from Japan”. That is why, despite all expectations, The DS is the biggest market for games that actually look fun. Of course the problem with that is unless some nostalgia driven cause makes a new appearance, there’s not really that many catered to mature audiences. Of course I love nostalgia, otherwise I wouldn’t have watched 45 episodes of the original series of Pokemon in one weekend.

Okay, we’ve got a few problems; one is that most new original games are marketed at kids, the other is that the major list of games is on one console where all of the games are bland “Hard-core” stuff where people who play the games just want to be given the most “badass” hero to use. So what’s my suggestion?

Call for a “third option” to get games from. One way that saves time and effort on getting someone to give you that option is that everyone who is fed up with X-box as the main option select PS3 as their third option. And (This is where the scheming part pops up) as a show of faith, buy a PS3 and tell the world you did so for the chance to finally get a third option for games, and keep the receipt just in case, so that if new games don’t show up you get all your cash back, and if that happens then we have got the message through about what we want.

I know many of those with X-box took it up because it was cheaper. Okay, a lot cheaper. But It’s not realistic to ask that it carry the game industry when games work better when they find a niche.

And as for those that believe that the games industry will sort it’s self out I should ask you to see Obama’s “Yes we can speech”

And as my own show of faith, I swear, If this game revolution does not start it’s self up by November, I will as a show of my own faith; Buy a PS3 and start this myself.

Related Articles

Stories for the Plot Impaired

So you want to make a story? Well if you can’t write here’s an exercise that should get you some practice. Probably only serviceable in webcomics.

Step 1: Introduce a character.

Step 2: Introduce another character opposing a previously introduced character.

Step 3: Repeat step two until plot starts to form.

Optional: If you want to go on with the plot you found, delete any writing that is unnecessary to the plot up to the point you found the plot.

If you’re still stuck refer to information on your specific problem.

Related Articles

I Don’t Know But I’ve Been Told: Flat Tax

Here’s something my father told me about tax:

“Let’s say you’re just bellow the bracket for tax, if you start earning a bit more you actually get less money for yourself. Why? Because you have to pay a higher percent in higher brackets.”

The problem with this is very simple, if you don’t get as much money if you earn a bit more, what’s the point in boosting the economy by working harder.

His solution?:

“With flat tax (paying a constant percent of income); you still pay a little more each time your pay increases, but the system doesn’t kick you for it since you aren’t losing money by gaining more money.”

Thus flat tax means more productivity, and in a slightly unintuitive way means the government gets more money from those who would otherwise not be bothered with making more money because there is “nothing in it for them”.

I assume more information in related articles.

Related Articles

Game Evolution: Power Corrupts (Up to Eleven)

Greifers are seen as a problem in the world, Penny arcade has a theory on why they exist. But I have a thought, at what point have they been given too much power, and these people that power has corrupted become enemies for MMO populace around the globe? At what point do other players, become the main villains of the game?

Think If this guy was one of the players among you. Then this rant is getting somewhere.

What would be the fastest way to this? Probably a game where defeating other players is one great source of experience. But that is only one way that often works alongside others, and these villains of tomorrow that would give you a great purpose in the game would not go so far to this if others are around the same strength as them. So the one way this can happen, is to simply remove any limits to their power, allow them to rise to a point where they are unbeatable. In MMO terms, just remove the level cap. Then every player will be fighting to be the best. And many will stop at nothing to be the greatest.

One of them might have caused something like this. At which point they have become the main villain.

Of course, with such powerful competition there will be others that seek to surpass them, maybe they were on the receiving end, or maybe just seek to restore balance. And thus great rivalries will break out, and the former greifers are now targets themselves to the newcomers. And by this point, they probably don’t care.

The epic-ness of this scale, is probably the one reason this would be good.

So Perhaps someday, a great MMO like this will come along, one where other players are the only thing you need to worry about. Perhaps some might call it the next stage of MMO Evolution. But the mere level of power is not the biggest thing for MMOs, but that is for another time.

Side note: I’ve got the feeling I made this seem a bit dark, I was aiming for epic though. If you can find a better way to consider an “age of legends” among players themselves then I suggest you try, it would make a good article.

Related Articles

Game Evolution: Regenerating Narrative

Imagine a game where no matter what you do, there will always be a new mission with new characters and new motives. Not only that but more or less original each time. Characters change as you or anything else influence them, and there would be such a wide range of personalities they display because of that. In essence, a game that mimics human (and animal) psychology, along with a persistent world. Or more specifically a game that mimics reality.

Now don’t take “Mimics reality” too literally, for it to be good as the next step in game evolution it doesn’t have to be realistic in terms of physics (thus stopping magic). It just has to mimic people, and while mimicking these people be able to do so for the entire world of the game at any one time. Of course this is still problematic as no non MMO computer base has been used to do this for games as of yet. Think of how big a computer that would require.

I’m sure even the greatest campaigners for game evolution would find this excessive. So obviously this goes under MMOs.

What point is there for a game to be “just an MMO”? MMOs are already known for changing enviroments, If only slowly; and if you let loose a horde of people into one without making some of the NPCs invincible then they might kill the lot of them. Which either way defeats the purpose. So there is one more thing that is needed. A constantly growing and changing world that does so without being told to. Perhaps you might call it mitosis of game worlds if you want. But remember the thought, “you can change the world, and make a new one too”. If an MMO could do that, what would the need for patches or expansions be? Other than Patches fixing bugs of course.

So this dream looks like it won’t happen in this time period. But maybe soon, someone might be able to fake it. Good luck.

Related Articles