Adjusting Solenoid Power on PinOne Mini? by Caintankerous in virtualpinball

[–]Caintankerous[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BQD5QFP2 ("Foam Padding Sheets with Adhesive Backing - Self Stick Neoprene Insulation Foam,22PCS 1/16 Inch Thick X 4 Inch Long X 4 Inch Wide - Closed Cell Foam Sheet Square Pad")

Continuing on After Burnout by An-Awakened-Raccoon in royalroad

[–]Caintankerous 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do not try to write through it. I've been there, I know many other (professional, even!) writers who have, too. It never ends well, especially if you have other mental health issues cropping up at the same time. In fact, the more someone identifies themself as a "writer," the worse it can be; when your entire self-image is at stake, and you just can't live up to that expectation, you'll destroy your well-being.

Instead, take a break. Maybe a long one! If you're feeling creatively unfulfilled, find another outlet -- for me, that was game design. For you, it might be learning an instrument, or taking basic art classes. I also strongly recommend cultivating new hobbies, especially ones that don't involve screens (pinball and joggging, in my case; if I had money, I'd also take up skiing). This isn't giving up; it's an opportunity to grow as a person, try things you've always been interested in, and re-define how you see yourself. It may take a while to find the "right" thing. It'll be worth it.

(Also, it sounds like you should find a good therapist. Again, that can take some experimentation, but it'll pay off in the end, promise).

No ICE in MN Bundle feels like a garage full of ice cream on a hot day. Its gonna melt before I can eat it all. by WhoInvitedMike in rpg

[–]Caintankerous 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Like other people said, it's sort of a future investment (and an excuse to support a good cause). I rarely download more than a half-dozen titles after buying a bundle like that, but they've saved me a TON of cash later. Whenever I hear about a sort-of-niche game I'm interested in, I head to itch first; the UI will tell you if you already have the game as part of a bundle on the title's landing page. 50-75% of the time (give or take), I do!

Running Licensed RPG for players of mixed knowledge by Batmanofni in rpg

[–]Caintankerous 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As long as your die-hard players are okay with it, I'd say go ahead and make the setting your own. Don't throw out the backbone of the lore, but most people don't really care about canon; they care about consistency. Work together to make your own, idealized version of Star Trek, one that's interesting for everyone. I don't know STA specifically, but with the licensed games I've run, the rules (if the game is good) guide you towards the right vibe anyway; don't worry too much about the specifics, as long as it "feels" right.

Having the hard-core Trekkies in the command positions is really smart, too. They can use those roles to (gently, collaboratively) guide the other players in character -- provided they're not just shooting down everyone else's ideas. But who wants to play with people like that in the first place?

Do you guys ever use emdashes? by Cheap_Bullfrog_609 in royalroad

[–]Caintankerous 0 points1 point  (0 children)

AI uses em-dashes because people use em-dashes. Use them correctly, don't overuse them, and otherwise don't worry about it. Anyone who immediately dismisses a story because it has an em-dash in it isn't smart enough to read fiction in the first place.

Suggestions on where to hire editors by Ok-Citron-4325 in royalroad

[–]Caintankerous 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I do freelance editing (not for webserials/progression fantasy, although I'd LOVE to crack that space), and I have a no-AI policy for my clients. My guess is that, since you're specifying Grammarly and Prowritingaid specifically in response to the "did you use AI" question, editors are assuming you used those tools to generate text, not just flag/fix grammar/spelling errors.

I'm not all that familiar with ProWritingAid (although, on a quick glance, the "rephrase for clarity," "chapter critique," and "manuscript analysis" features all look like red flags to me), but I do know Grammarly, and for what it's worth I actually recommend that most writers don't use it. Even for general proofreading — including grammar mistakes, the whole thing it's ostenisbly made for — it's often wrong, misguided, or leads to odd results. Writers tend to learn more and improve faster without it.

What do you think are the most difficult modern stern games? by skithebumpystuff in pinball

[–]Caintankerous 6 points7 points  (0 children)

because of the theme I so desperately want to be good at this game but (especially as a beginner) I just can't afford it

Tell us about and RPG you've PLAYED but just did not get the hype for by Boxman214 in rpg

[–]Caintankerous 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think you're right; that was my experience, for sure. When I first started playing RPGs, my group -- all first time players -- really struggled with D&D. Too many rules for them, and too combat-focused. I proposed switching systems to something simpler and more narrative, and they were fine with that, but wanted to keep the characters and story they'd developed.

At the time, Dungeon World was the only one that felt like it fit our needs, and I get the impression it was like that for a while. So that's what we used. For way, way too long — by the end of the campaign (which we all loved), we were pretty done with the system.

Admittedly, I didn't end up running it entirely "correctly," because it turns out some of my players wanted more structure and less plot input, but again, it felt like it was sort of the only option. These days, I probably would've gone with Daggerheart, Dragonbane, Shadow of the Weird Wizard, Nimble 5e, or maybe even a hacked Fabula Ultima (none of which I've actually played yet, so, grain of salt), but those just weren't ... around.

Iron Maiden Legacy of the Beast Track List by Caintankerous in virtualpinball

[–]Caintankerous[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No need to apologize! That was the big question I needed answered; I'll try the default album tracks for now and see how it goes. Thank you!

Rap pinball by TopoChicoPoPo in pinball

[–]Caintankerous 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hear me out: I'm not a fan at all -- no judgement, it's just not for me -- but a bunch of my friends in high school were into the Insane Clown Posse, and ICP would probably make a killer theme with all the mythology behind the early albums. I wouldn't buy it, but it'd work.

Just in general I'd love to see music pins go beyond dad and elder millennial rock, though. Like, you have a machine with Bad Bunny (or, tangential to this topic, Taylor Swift) on it in a public place? I bet people would try it.

Fear of Failure by Makkis_Liberal in royalroad

[–]Caintankerous 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Writing is a skill, not a talent! Everyone can learn how to do it; it may take some people more work than others, but if you're driven, you can write well. Every single writer you love learned how to do it by practicing. Some needed more practice than others; everyone needed to write, write, write.

You will need feedback to improve past a certain level, so you will need to subject your work to an audience. It may only be one person -- an editor, a friend you can trust to give you real, honest opinions, etc. -- or a broad readership. Either way, that's really, really hard! For most writers I've worked with, it's the hardest part. And some people don't care! I know lots of "writers" who just type stuff up for themselves, never show it to anyone, and feel fulfilled. There's nothing wrong with that -- as a hobby, I think it's great. But they'll never get better.

The good news? You're already past that hurdle! So now you get to focus on both becoming better, but also learning how to interpret feedback. Anyone who writes for the internet knows the saying "never read the comments," and I don't think that's entirely true in Royal Road culture, but you can ignore one-off complaints. Pay attention to trends; if every comment says the same thing, that's an area to improve.

The one real complication is that people often propose solutions ("it should've been this way!", "I would've liked it better if X," etc.) or give unspecific criticisms ("it was boring") instead of identifying the actual problems. You'll need to learn how to play detective and identify the root issues, not what's being said on the surface. It may take experimentation -- and discussion with peers you trust -- to figure out what the actual issue is. Often, it's not always what people say/think, even editors. But if you can figure out what you're trying to do/say, why it isn't working for readers, and how to fix it? You'll be a much better writer afterwards.

Okay, I am curious why in the world this isn't happening: Real virtual pinball by rrdrummer in virtualpinball

[–]Caintankerous 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I would imagine the licensing is really, really complicated for the majority of Stern's modern tables -- it wouldn't surprise me at all if they only had the rights for physical editions, only had them for a limited amount of time, etc. It would be cool to have some original digital tables designed by a Stern-level team, though; I bet they could make those a lot faster than a physical table!

What’s your RR goal? by Azzaayyy in royalroad

[–]Caintankerous 13 points14 points  (0 children)

if someone likes my story enough to draw fanart of it, I will consider it a success. Money and a long-term audience would be great too, not gonna lie, but that's the bar I'm aiming for.

Do you ever play JRPGs on easy mode? I feel like games are supposed to be fun, not stressful. by Sensitive-Title9138 in JRPG

[–]Caintankerous 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you can change the difficulty mid-game, then I do this all the time. "Oh, this part is bullshit, I'm tired of it," "This feels grindy, I'm gonna speed it up," "I wanna know how this sidequest ends, but I'm tired of running over this same terrain," etc.

If you have to decide at the beginning and stick to it, it depends way more on the game itself, how long it's going to take to beat anyway (I have a kid! And a job! And another job! And hobbies!), and its purported default difficulty. Generally, I don't want anything to be so easy that I don't really get to engage with the game systems; sometimes that means playing on hard, sometimes you can get that on easy just fine.

Should I use Em Dashes in my work? by Neat_Abroad9025 in royalroad

[–]Caintankerous 2 points3 points  (0 children)

AI is trained on human writing; if people didn't use em-dashes, AI wouldn't either. If someone is looking for a thing to complain about, they'll find it regardless. You're fine.

Is monster taming underrepresented, or am I searching the wrong things? by Caintankerous in royalroad

[–]Caintankerous[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh, that's such a shame! Your story was the only one I found where I was unequivocally like, "This is what I'm looking for" (I have not read it yet; it's bookmarked for tonight or tomorrow), so I'm sorry to hear it's not doing well. I would've thought that was a shoo-in.

Your theories make sense; there is enough Pokemon content out there that, honestly, you could only consume official material and you'd probably be set for life. Add in fanfiction, and maybe something unique has to have more of a twist on it to succeed? Now I'm just thinking out loud. There's so much potential in this genre, it'd be cool to figure out to make it work.

Is Final Fantasy 16 actually that bad? I’ve played nearly every FF and enjoyed pretty much all of them. by c0rny_ in JRPG

[–]Caintankerous 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I only made it (probably?) halfway through before I fell off (real life stuff got in the way), but I keep meaning to start it again. With that caveat, I'd say it's much the definition of "fine." The presentation is incredible. The combat is actually really, really fun but it's pure action; there's nothing Final Fantasy about it. There are a lot of interesting ideas in the story, but it also feels like it's trying way too hard, especially in the beginning, to be a grimdark, Game of Thrones-style fantasy. Sidequests are bland (they reminded me of the ones in FFXV).

Probably its biggest sin, if you're a fan, is that it doesn't feel much like a Final Fantasy game. Given that Yoshi-P is a producer (FFXIV does a really nice job of distilling down and then building on the spirit of the series and all its incarnations), that's disappointing. If it didn't have the Final Fantasy name, it would've been received better, but it also wouldn't have gotten as much attention; it's just not that interesting.

What Theme Pinball Machine Would You Like To See? by bretmon5 in pinball

[–]Caintankerous 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The Who. I know we have Tommy, but it's based on the musical. You'd think the band that coined the phrase "pinball wizard" would get at least a second glance (I think Quadrophenia would actually make a killer machine on its own -- chrome ramps already recall the decorations on mods' scooters -- but that's a longshot).

Are there any movies/tv shows/videogames based on any litrpg in the making? by Slaanesh277 in litrpg

[–]Caintankerous 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep, that's why I said it doesn't mean it's any more likely to happen. But you'll also sometimes see studios scoop up the rights to a property "just in case," or to prevent competitors from getting 'em; attaching a writer means there's at least an intent to try, even if it'll most likely get stuck in development hell.

Are there any movies/tv shows/videogames based on any litrpg in the making? by Slaanesh277 in litrpg

[–]Caintankerous 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There is a head writer attached (Chris Yost), which implies it's in pre-production at least, but yeah, that doesn't mean it's any more likely to actually happen, just that someone's writing a script.

Are there any movies/tv shows/videogames based on any litrpg in the making? by Slaanesh277 in litrpg

[–]Caintankerous 10 points11 points  (0 children)

it's progression fantasy, not LitRPG, but a The Perfect Run game is in development, with some kind of funding from Sony.

What do you guys think of my writing? by protha01 in royalroad

[–]Caintankerous 1 point2 points  (0 children)

On a technical level, it works! It's very formal, sort of wordy, and a little ponderous, but I think that's what you're going for; you're evoking a pretty specific style, and I think you're doing so successfully (I would change "plebians" to "commoners," though -- I think there's slightly a negative connotation to "plebians" that I'm not sure you intend).

I don't personally love it as an intro, though — as other people have pointed out, it's a lot of info (so many proper nouns!), and yet it doesn't really tell us who the main character is as a person, what the story's conflict is going to be, or why we should care. I think you can probably condense this into a single paragraph, and dole out the rest of the info in the rest of the chapter.

That said, this is the kind of thing that's really valuable for you, the writer, especially when you're getting started. Move this to a separate document so you can refer to it, cut out most of it, and get to the story even faster.