Behind the Scenes #4

Here is the 4th edition of our glorious randomness. Enjoy.

[ASDFTIME]So, it’s been a while. Yup. I just updated the unpublished copy of the chapter on FiMFiction. And stole the first comment space with counter jimmy-rustling. Author privileges ftw! Hooray! So how have you been? Ok. I got mildly sick because my sister decided to cough at me and on me and on my food for two days straight. I’m getting over it though. How about you? Well, I’ve been trying to finish writing up the prologue for one of my stories that I decided to radically alter the format on due to feedback I received, but I can’t quite nail down what I want to say. I can’t seem to write anything without making it seem cliche or overly-emotional. Huh... Go figure, I’ve been having a similar problem with overhauling the first chapter in Discord and Cthulhu (NOT A PLUG TO GO READ IT, BUT WOULDN’T MIND IF YOU DID, READERS). Only, the problem is less of getting the tone down, and more incorporating the submissions I got and expanding the first scene. That scene is probably going to end up being an entire chapter on its own, but all I’ve managed to do is write down some throwaway lines from the new characters.
So, you know the song below *referencing the slightly ponified lyrics to Danger Man/Secret Agent Man below, that won’t be copypasta’d*? I’ve heard it before, I just never saw the show it played on. Maybe writing a short one-shot will get both of us back on track? Maybe. The Discord in college thing was supposed to be one, though... For this. And you saw what this originally was. Anyways, including title, “insert here’s”, and the song lyrics, but not the ASDFTIME, this is currently at (according to FiMFic’s word count) 3098 words. Not too bad for all the time we spend messing around. Yup.
So, when the site was down, I tried to use Fanfiction.net. Dear sweet Luna, it really makes you appreciate FiMFiction, even if the mobile version breaks hyperlinks and the main version looks like a mobile one now. I don’t mind the new version so much, as long as I can still figure out where everything is. What is so bad about Fanfiction.net? I’ve never used it before. Ok: picture a forum website. Now, picture a forum website circa... oh, I don’t know... 2004-ish? Now get rid of nearly every single formatting option in FiMFiction. like these Ones Right Here, for [url=fimfiction.net]justa small example. And add a shitty auto-format for page breaks. And crappy searching. And no cover art. And (as far as I’ve seen) no rating system. And a really bad commenting system. And more. So, yeah. We have it good. Wow. How does that website stay popular if it sucks that bad? Maybe bronies are the master race after all. Also (Ultimate proof that fanfiction.net is crap) someone wrote a wonder pets fanfic. And it passed moderation. What the hell? How old are those people, like 6? What would you possibly write about in a WONDERPETS FANFIC? Although that’s what they say about ponyfiction outside the fandom, the main difference is that MLP:FiM actually has character development, plot, backstory, and DERPY FING HOOVES. Wonder Pets has occasional toilet humor and a rehashed song. True, we don’t necessarily have the best reputation, but with our numbers somewhere in the 12 million range, I think we have enough guys to take over the world. I got the number from the annual survey they do. So, yeah.
I just did some mathiness. I got $60 of free game by preordering Bioshock Infinite. They gave a free copy of Bioshock 1 ($10 on Steam) and a free copy of XCOM: Enemy Unknown ($50 on Steam.) The bad part is that I now need to find a copy of Windows XP or 7, because 8 is craptacular and said games don’t play nice with Mac and Linux yet. Impressive. I wish I had played Bioshock, but I never really got the chance. I know the basic story, but that’s about it. Infinite takes place about 40 years before the first game, and in a completely different setting. So, no real spoilers there. Also, in the first game, OP wrench is OP. Like, Diamond Sword with Fire 2, Sharpness 30, Unbreaking infinity, and Looting 9001 OP. Wow. That makes my character by the end of Force Unleashed 1 look like a pussy. Granted, that’s with max research and focusing only on using the wrench upgrades besides the necessary plasmids and occasional gun usage, but still. Yeah.
Did you hear that they may make it impossible to play used games on the X-Box 720? Yes. I thought it was confirmed. If it is, Microsoft just lost all respect in the gaming community. Think about it: Steam is developing their own console/system, Sony’s PS4 network will be free and much more secure than the PS3 one, more and more games are Mac- and Linux-compatible, XBox Live can’t sync with Steam, Windows 8 as a whole, and all the DRM-ing. Yeah, seriously. What the hell is their thought process behind such a stupid business decision? They just alienated pretty much every gamer that’s ever taken a game over to their friend’s house, which is pretty much every game that’s ever existed. I remember bringing my copy of Mario Party 4 over to a friend’s house. Trolling abounded. I also remember bringing Halo 1 (which is best Halo imho, but that’s just my biased opinion.) Nothing of the sort for the new XBox. The worst thing is that it can’t shut down unless either a)The Steam Box comes out, b) Nintendo starts offering similarly themed games with useable controls and equal-level graphics, or c) someone makes a cool, new independent console that actually takes off. Otherwise, they’re protected by antitrust laws, as their only real competitor in console gaming is Sony. Well, I hope they have fun when either no one or very few people buy their console. Friggin’ anti-piracy hysteria nowadays. It only incites the pirates.
I are be have has do done did some serious lagggg. Yeah, I just got kicked out of gdocs three times. Why does it keep randomly disconnecting? I have no idea. My internet is derping the crap out, to the point that if I were to try and play an online match of Castle Crashers (basically a 2D side scrolling glorified flash game that’s ridiculously addicting for about the first month after you get it) on minimum sound and graphics, it would lag at probably 3000+ ping. I’m going to try and move closer to the signal, but I don’t know how much it’ll help. Also, serious writing time, go!
*some time later*Well, I made some more detailed scene notes for the two scenes in this chapter that haven’t been written, and fleshed out some dialog in a scene that has been written. I call that a productive work session for me. The fic is now at 3288 productive words, including the header and unwritten scene notes, but not including various ASDFTIMEs and the lyrics to the song (that I’m still not including in the ASDFTIME section.) At roughly 300 to 350 words per page in printed novels, that’s about ten to eleven pages of stuff. Do you (Vad3r, not the readers) think we should split it into two chapters? If so, mark where it would be done in the document using “12341234thealotisanawesomeanimal12341234,” or something similarly subtle.
I keep getting 502s when I click on my notifications or go to someone’s user page. Not sure if my fault or just a bug that knighty already knows about and is crushing under his divine foot as we speak. Well, the keep happening to me whenever I click directly on the notifications, but when you roll over it and scroll down specifically to social, it works. So, it’s just a bug that the god of ponyfics, knighty, is crushing as we speak. Yes. Yes it is. Ok. Oswald is best Phoenix. Rarity is best hydrogen bomb. Pinkie Pie is best pyromaniac. Sniper is best at throwing pee. Bobo the monkey is best at throwing poo. Jebediah is best Kerbal. I like cupcakes. Not the story, I personally wasn’t a huge fan of watching two of my favorite characters involved in a “Saw” esque setting, but whatever. It also was very poorly written in terms of premise, pacing, and grammar. Speaking of cupcakes, a new cupcake place opened up nearby. They are offering major discounts every Monday for a while. (or was it Tuesday? eh.) I found out about it literally 7 minutes after having an MLP-related nightmare, so we all know what immediately crossed my mind. What was the nightmare about? It involved three toasters, a bucket of fresh glue courtesy of Pinkie’s hooves, and a spatula of Cool Whip. Oh wow. I had a nightmare last night as well, though it was a little less graphic than that. So what was the Cool Whip used for? Immobilizing the victims. The toasters were for making the toast that lured the victims in. Pinkie’s hooves as glue were used as food. This is officially the last time I read the Krastos Logs when only semi-conscious. Well, that’s what happens when you see random stuff on the internet while half asleep. I stayed up 48 hours straight playing Left 4 Dead 2 with friends last spring break, and it was...Surreal. Yeah. After 36-72 hours without any form of sleep (including falling unconscious or a 30-second pseudo-power nap,) most people start to hallucinate. After 10 days without sleep, most people either fall into a coma, or just die. Yeah. I was just doing a commercial for health class on meth, and that shit can keep you up for eight days straight. Yup. So remember, kids: Meth Equals Death, Crack is Whack, Weed’s What you Need . Say no to drugs, just do hugs.
In L4D2, the sword/machete is OP as hell. 1-hitting anything that isn’t charger, tank, or witch. 2 hits on chargers. It’s like a friggin’ ninja is using the sword. Also, just click-spamming while wielding it makes you almost untouchable. Yeah, I noticed that as well. Just for shits and giggles, my friends and I did a whole story mission with just the frying pan for all four of us. We even managed to kill the witch. Dayum, man! My setup of choice: burst fire rifle (to dispatch boomers and for no other reason), sword or frying pan, PEELZ, pipe bomb, and health kit. It’s a pipe bomb! Yayyyy! Yeah, that’s from Potter Puppet Pals. I know. The guy also made the Ultimate Showdown song, among other things. Yep. I have a feeling that Mr. Roger probably would win the ultimate showdown in real life as well. Such a great guy. Today is his birthday. Oh, yeah! Happy birthday, Mr. Rogers! We all miss you!!!!! Yeah, why can’t people take your message seriously? The freakin’ Westboro Baptist Church picketed his funeral too when it happened. Oh, you mean the “Fing Racist ‘Church’ of Protesting Everything and Proclaiming that Gays, Nerds, Rich People, Scifi Fans, People who Play D&D, and Bronies, to Name a Few, are the Spawn of Satan” Church? Yeah. They said that he had over 30 years as a tv show host to denounce gays, but he never did. When people would ask him to explain to gay people why they were going to hell, he would just turn to them and say “God loves you just the way you are.” I know. He was awesome that way. Yep. Even that gorilla that knows sign language loved the guy. Yup. Well, I've gotta go for the night, so I guess that's the end of this edition of Behind the Scenes. It's your turn to post it. I'll link to it in the morning, but I have class really early tomorrow. Okay then, I will do that right about...now.[/ASDFTIME]

Comments

[Lucky Seven]

I was looking at your user page and saw this. You WILL be able to play used games on the new Xbox. The PS4 is barely an improvement over the PS3. As someone who has modified consoles and built his own computers, I can easily say that the PS4 is going to be a colossal failure. It won't even have backwards compatibility while the new Xbox will. And Xbox LIVE is still better than PSN. I always say it like this.

I'd rather pay 60 bucks a year for Xbox LIVE than nothing for that piece of crap PSN.

Just thought I'd let you know.

[lordvad3r95]

945630 Well, that's a pleasant surprise . Thanks for telling me, now I don't have to worry about missing our on Halo or Gears of War!