My, that’s a n-nice blog, s-shame if something were to happen to it…

I-I’m not afraid of you! You- You’re Woolen!!

Ahem, Anyway, like gazillions of others, I caved in (ha!) and bought Minecraft during beta, and whilst the vanilla is pretty cool, much like the Elder Scrolls games, its the active modding community that I think really makes things special.

Trouble is, there are SO, SO many mods, it can be hard to determine what you want. There are modpacks, certainly, but you may not want everything they provide. So here, I am going to try to provide a look at what I feel are the cream of the crop. If you need installation help with any mod, most of the big ones provide specific instructions; but ~in general~ the following applies:

1. You will need WinRAR or 7zip to open the minecraft .jar like an archive, in which you stuff the mods files (literally, by adding them to the jar as if it were a zip or rar file), keeping the directory structure. 
2. You can search for the .jar by typing %appdata% into your Windows Explorer to find your application settings.
3. You need modloader for every mod. 
4. You need to delete the META-INF folder thats inside the minecraft jar. This prevents mods from working.

What do I look for in a mod? Well, not purely new content, thats for certain. There are dime a dozen hundreds of mods that add some new form of unobtainium and tools to go with it. Different ways to do things that already exist are boring. What one needs is something that actually enhances the game and gives you more to do; and more to appreciate. Tweaks are fine, if they obviously address an issue with the base content thats irritating.

Moreover, Minecraft is more Virtual Lego Set than RPG. Don’t get me wrong, Survival is more enjoyable than Creative for the most part, but this is because you’re building something with honest to goodness problems, limits and hard choices; not because you’re playing an RPG element, which is undoubtably the weakest link of the chain. Therefore, mods that attempt to build on the RPG element really need to change something fundamental or risk building on sand out of straw.

Anyway, enough babbling. Click the links to get to the place to download it and review it in greater detail. If a link doesn’t work, it is because the mod is on a forum, and the author changed the title of the forum topic. I will periodically check the list (especially every time Minecraft itself gets a new version), but if you notice something broken, leave a comment please, thankyou! First of all:

The Essentials

Risugami’s ModLoader
The core element. Without this, nothing else works. Just get it.
He also has a bunch of other cool tweaks that distinctly add stuff. Whilst you’re there, I also recommend his Elemental Arrows, the Shelf, the Recipe Book, and More Stackables.

Optifine
It really works. Optimises the code for Minecraft alot, giving you an increase of typically 5-10 FPS.
Utterly essential if you’re on a low-end system or using an older version of java. It also tends to smooth out the lag spikes of death that even hit the higher end PCs. I would recommend Smooth Edition. As an aside, it also unlocks support for high-resolution texture packs (higher than 16x), so its even more essential if you want pretties.

CJB’s Pack
Okay, so this one is open to debate; but I find it essential. It imitates the functionality of several other mods; except they’re all different versions written by CJB himself. In many cases, I prefer the way he’s done them, as they’re also all linked to a centralised interface thats easy to control; and you can choose to disable any features you don’t want (I don’t want the cheats or x-ray or his custom mobs~ so I switch them off, easy!)
It includes the following very handy stuff (I also provide the alternatives in case you don’t agree with me):

• Mini-Map: Do you get lost alot in Minecraft? I do, and for that, a minimap is incredible. His map is not as functionally rich as the popular alternative, Rei’s Map; but when I used to use Rei’s, I never used any of the optional features it has, so I don’t miss them.
• Teleportation to waypoints you’ve set: Partially a cheat, I guess, but being able to save travel time between the deepest reach of your mineshaft and your house is what I call a tweak improvement; its only like having quick travel in Skyrim. If you want something less ‘cheaty’, DaftPVF does a mod called Crystal Wing that teleports you back to bed only, has limited uses, and explodes in the Nether for a higher challenge version.
• Improved HUD: If this was all the mod did, I’d still D/L it just for this. Adds alot of really handy information to your Heads Up Display. You can choose what info you need. Clock, Biome, Co-Ordinates, Lightlevel, Arrows, Item held info etc.
• Block and Item Spawing: Allows you to spawn anything you want into your inventory. Definately a cheat on Survival; but when you suddenly realise you’re 10 sandstone short of your new house and night is approaching… nothing beats it! TooManyItems [TMI] is the popular alternative. However, I do prefer the version in CJB. Why? Well, it requires you to go to a different menu with a hotkey rather than overlaying your regular inventory. When I used TMI I became reliant on it; as its always there, and that, I thought, sucked the fun out of finding resources for yourself. With CJB, I can resist the urges to just spawn everything I need; and I only use this in an absolute emergency or to generate exceptionally common stuff that is tiresome to lug back and forth (i.e. Cobblestone and Dirt).
• Mob Filtering: Got Arachnophobia and can’t stand spiders? Creepers ruining your constructions? Then switch them off! Get rid of your most hated mob in a jiffy. Moreover, it allows you to play pseudo-peaceful if you want; switch all the hostiles off but keep the difficulty on, so you still need to eat and don’t get automatic health regen.
• A selection of cheats including X-Ray vision: Can’t say I use these, but there is alot of them for those that do.
• Custom Items and Mobs: I use his extra pressure plates, but none of the others, so I can’t really comment too much on them. Also, his animals are somewhat obsolete if you’re using Mo’ Creatures, so I do have those off too (sounds like he’s removing them anyway).

A New Texture Pack
These are directly supported through minecraft itself, rather than modloader. Read the documentation. However, you need Optifine or MCPatcher to use high resolution packs. Personally, I like the 16×16, and myself will wholeheartedly recommend THE PAINTERLY PACK. It looks very good for its size, but most importantly, is vastly customisable to your preferences from thousands of options.

A note about Minecraft Forge
This is a kind of Standard Development Kit for mods. However, not very many mods require it all (most of the big mods offer alternate versions that support it); so its not essential and in fact interferes with several mods if they’re not Forge compatible. Personally, I’d say don’t get it right now, its not needed. However, I’ve never been a fan of SDK’s since my days working with RPG Maker, since they tend to polarise the community, so I guess I am biased.

A note about having lots of Mods!
If you have alot, then I also recommend ID Resolver. It fixes issues with authors of mods using the same ID’s for their cool stuff (the most common cause of a crash from mod conflicts), and changes their associations automatically during every subsequent launch of minecraft. Obviously, Minecraft has a hard limit on the number of extra blocks and items that cannot be exceeded, and if two mods are trying to do the same thing, neither will work, usually. Keep that in mind.

Cool Tweaks

This bit shows improvements to features already in the game that I like.

ExtraBiomes
Increases the variety of your world generation by adding in new environments to the biome creation. All the ones that Notch missed; like jungles, rainforests, savanna, forest islands etc.

More World Types
Probably not compatible with the above, but is a nice alternative. Changes the types of worlds you can generate during a new world. Looks good, though I haven’t tried it.

Mo’ Creatures
Vastly increases the variety of natural (and unnatural) fauna. Some new hostiles, but again, you can tweak its settings to get your favourites. However, it requires a chunk of extra pre-requisites to work; be careful when installing it. (you’ll also need audiomod, GUIAPI and custom mobspawner)

Treecapitator
Another one by DaftPVF. Makes it so that when you hit the bottom trunk block on a tree with an Axe, it is insta-gibbed, dropping all of its wood instantly. Saves alot of time if you’re going with slash and burn land clearance on forests!

FiniteLiquids
Fixes Minecraft’s very quirky infinite water source blocks; and makes most water behave properly with real physics! No more slight waterfalls when your cave meets the ocean (just drown like you should)! No more crazy infinite water pools created with just two buckets. Only works on new worlds.

Enhanced View Distance
Only for those with better PC’s (and Optifine); this reduces the fog and increases draw distance.

Sensible Enchanting
Vastly improves the enchantment system; allowing you to use less ridiculous amounts of XP, cancel enchantments you don’t like, and repair magic items easily; among other things.

Muserae’s Collection
A whole massive selection of very minor tweaks, often annoyance related. Pick and choose what you need. I take Apples from Trees, and Creepers Don’t Damage Blocks.

Nostalgia Mods [NBX]
A bunch of tweaks that “unfix the fixes”, regressing new versions of minecraft to behaviours from older versions. If you want your favourite good bad bugs back, get your favourites here.

Entirely New Stuff

As I noted above, too much new stuff and you overload Minecraft. So just pick your favourites from these:

Better Than Wolves / Better Than BuildCraft
Despite the title, it has nothing to do with Wolves; instead it adds a massive amount of new content, mostly to do with simple mechanical power.
It’s a cool addition to the stuff you can build; allowing functioning waterwheels and windmills that go on to power pulley driven elevators, circular saws, kilns and turntables for making pottery, and eventually advanced blacksmithery using magical soulforged steel.
Adding Buildcraft in on top of Better than Wolves allows you to put together plumbing and steam engines as well.
By and the by, this link is the one most likely to be broken, Flowerchild loves to change his topic title for lulz.

WizardCraft
Hey, so we have magical enchanting, but no actual magery? What’s up with that, Mojang?
This fixes that issue by allowing you to craft magical staves that act as focuses for up to four levels of elemental spells. Some of these have truly hilarious effects; and some are rather broken, so this is very much a funny mod to unwind with.

Decoratives
Vastly increases the amount of bling you can add to your home. Stained glass, carpets, coloured woods, concrete and craftable double slabs are all included. Essential for any discerning interior decorator.

Fairy Minions
Want minions that aren’t dogs? Here’s a cool alternative. Very comprehensive in its features and includes alot of cool content.

And thats about it, folks. Its not fully comprehensive at this stage; and there are several mods I have my eye on that have potential when they become a bit more polished (eg. Tale of Kingdoms, Swords+); and there are some that are impressive creations but that frankly I would never use the features of (eg. Equivalent Exchange, RedPower2). But for now, these are my picks.

More help for basically everything else is covered exceedingly well on the Minecraft Wiki, so go check that out.
Hope you enjoyed this big report, and happy minecrafting!
<sssssssssss> Oh s4*T, that things gonna blow!!

Well, anyway, today we just have a short post for the sake of an art dump again, because I know you love them really.

And our subject is again, my fanboyish craze, the lovely Ilyana from Fire Emblem 9/10 (my customised version):
This is the first test of my new ultra-large sketchpad from xmas. Due to its size, the bottom part can’t fit on my scanner, so I had to do a double scan and stitch the two parts together. Since this isn’t exactly a great skill of mine, a skilled photoshopper could probably detect the seam; but oh well.

She is sporting a slightly revised version of the custom costume I made for her in this older sketch. Of course the main additions are in that the old version didn’t show past the top of her corset; so the remainder of that, with the skirt, spats, awesome stripey socks and boots were added. The sapphire on her cape looks much better in this version; an extra string was added to her v-neck, and the corset has become ribbed. Some minor colour changes too.

I think she ended up pretty sweet; especially in the fact that she is more actively using lightning than the old one. Oh, and of course, here’s a wallpaper version:
Includes me dicking around creating Lightning Bolts with photoshop; as you can see.

As always, click the images to see full sized.

My anime schedule hasn’t really changed from before. I have indeed proceeded to drop Brave 10 and Kill Me Baby!

Anyhow, thats all for today. Happy hunting, and cya soon.

Nisemonogatari: Shinbou’s up to his usual tricks; we got a head-tilt in there and a few blank frames. And an immensely hilarious pair of scenes from  Senjougahara at her height of evil (as always!), and Hachikuji being molested and surprisingly wise (as always!).

Inu X Boku: My golly gosh, this girl is aware that she’s a tsundere and calls it ‘her bad habit’. That never happens. And hey, a weepy Kitsune secret service agent is a great creation. Seemed fairly well done, I’m still quite enthusiastic for it.

Ano Natsu de Matteru: So this is what happens when Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl and Onegai Teacher are fused together. Everything here was mightily predictable, but it was very well executed; and these types of shows are rare these days, so its all still good.

These have gone up a rank to join the above:

Moretsu Uchuu Kaizoku: (aka. Bodacious Space Pirates). Well, despite its title, it looks to be a very promising sci-fi anime. They’re aware they have 26 eps and are taking it slow. Lots of nice touches, like zero-gravity. Its erring towards the Starship Operators side of realism; which is cool, there’s not been anything like that since then. No actual pirates, though. They’re legal, so you call those privateers, guys!

Amagami SS Plus: I guess I stand corrected. There is plenty you can add to the original Amagami scenarios. The Tsukasa arc (they’re going in reverse this time) was well executed and really quite sweet in increasing their relationship development. Next arc, all of the Rihoko shippers will be holding onto their last hope here. If she gets friendzoned again, I will have to laugh, though.

Still somewhat uncertain:

Another: Its good, but it really felt like it was trying too hard to build up suspense in the first episode. Using gloomy music in normal situations just kinda felt weird and off-kilter. Still, its promising.

Zero no Tsukaima F: Yes, it’s the same old, same old. Saito caught in love polygon, Saito gets blown up, ominous things threaten Tristain, Saito goes all Gandalfir on their ass, Louise goes dere, Louise goes Tsun, Saito blows up, repeat ad infinitum. Only loyalty to the memory of the awesome first season (and the chance to see it all end finally) will keep me here.

Probably dropping:

Kill me, Baby!: Eh… perhaps it was just me, but I just didn’t find the first episode funny in the slightest. If the second doesn’t set me giggling like mad, I’m just probably going to drop it.

Brave 10: It somehow took a really decent concept and made me feel utterly apathetic about it. The fights were short, and the Xanatos Gambits are flying thick and fast. It is very, very reminiscent of Ninja Scroll or Samurai 7. I’ll see if the second episode keeps me more interested.

I’m very likely to watch…

Nisemonogatari
Squee, more bakemono. I really rather liked the original series; and it marked the point where I (and many others) really started to pay attention to SHAFT and Shinbo. Its a riot and also manages to break away from alot of [bad] anime conventions. Araragi is a tremendously decent male lead and all of the girls are convincing and well characterised. This season is pushing the focus onto his ‘Fire Sisters’, as is the case in the later novels.
To add to that, the prequel movie, Kizumonogatari, is also due out this year. Its going to be a good time for youkai!

Inu x Boku SS
What do tsunderes, demons, and secret service agents have in common? This anime, obviously. Ririchiyo wants to live somewhere new and distance herself from her rich family, so moves into a special mansion, which is actually an asylum of sorts for half-demon people. She is joined by an insistant agent who thinks he was saved by her in the past (and is now indebted). Somehow, I get a good feeling from this as having a good amount of potential.

Ano Natsu de Matteru
Oh, this is interesting, the pair of guys whom were responsible for Onegai Teacher and Onegai Twins are joining up with the Anohana director. Those two were remarkably good romanticoms (though they’re pretty ancient these days!). Combine sleepy town and plot to make a movie as a means to make ones life interesting and you have youself a fairly promising premise. Anyway, if its good it’ll be my fix for romance this season which is nice.

I’m wary of, but positive about…

KILL ME, Baby!
Based on a paticularly strange sounding 4koma about an idiot airhead girl that tries to make friends with a twintailed assassin girl who is terrible at being undercover. Undoubtably, hijinks ensue. Includes a super-deformed art style for your amusement.

Moretsu Uchuu Kaizoku
Well, thats a strange idea for a space opera. Apparently, all space craft can only be passed on to relatives, so when Marika’s dad dies, she inherits a pirate vessel called the Bentenmaru and its eclectic crew. The way they’re going about this means it possibly has the potential to be a modern retelling of Irresponsible Captain Tylor. Fun, if so.

Brave 10
Some kind of new Sengoku Basara type meets Ninja Scroll type thing; with utterly stupid Samurai’s with ridiculous abilities getting into trouble left, right and centre. Oh, and Ieyasu Tokugawa is evil now, and after the power of a shrine maiden. Has some Samurai 7 vibes too, as Sanada Yukimura is attempting to create a team of 10 powerful dudes and change history.

Another
A horror involving a girl with an eyepatch and some girl who died years ago but for some reason everyone pretended she was still alive. Written by the same author as Shiki, so there’s some cross applicable horror experience there. Could be interesting, though these things usually aren’t my cup of tea.

Amagami SS Plus
I’m not entirely certain just how they ~can~ actually add anything to the original Amagami, which was an excellent romance (best one of late, in fact). Hence, I’m actually a little concerned at what this’ll do; especially since several of the original arcs had timeskips and clear cut conclusions. It’s the usual omnibus format, two episodes to each girl. I suppose they might address the castaway Rihoko shippers, who were so mercilessly sunk in the original when she was the only one to get friendzoned. I just found that funny, myself. Anyway, moar Haruka and Sae, you say? Well, I’m there.

Will probably be awful; but will watch anyway…

Zero no Tsukaima F
Last season was pretty damn terrible; and upon reading the novels, I was surprised to find that, actually, it was fairly accurate to the source material (I got bored with reading them also). Which is funny, since the second season deviated from the material but ended up reasonable (if nothing on the first season, which is also great in the novels). Anyway, this should wrap things up. They better stay the hell away from the relationship reset button this time; its really getting infuriating to watch Saito and Louise achieve nothing since season two. Hopefully I’ll be pleasently surprised, but I’m not expecting anything.

Well, that’s about it… If its not mentioned, I’ve immediately dismissed it!

I have to say, a short preview with just some notes is alot less painful to write. All the uploads and formatting and walls of text used to give me nightmares before, to the point where I just didn’t have the patience anymore. I apologise if you used to like my previews in their old format, but, at least for now, its a neccessary sacrifice. If you want a truly comprehensive preview, check in with Divine at Random Curiosity; the amount of work he puts in is truly staggering!!

It also includes 3 sketches that I have never uploaded here (exclusive content!) and of course, they’re all at their full original size in glossy colour, rather than resized or shopped for wallpaper usage. Of course, this entire little thing is for my own usage, but if, for whatever reason, you’re still strapped for a 2012 calendar and would like my artwork adorning your wall, then this thing is available for public purchase below.

It is almost entirely populated by Anime and Game females. Check out the ‘Artworks’ category or ‘Sketches’ Tag to your right for some idea as to what this entails. There’s some fanservice, as always, so the calendar would probably be rated PG-13 for minor nudity. Or something. You have been warned.

By and the by, I make a “vast” £1 from each one, so much like Aniventure I’m not exactly making a song or trying to fleece you. Of course, I realise that at this time of year, calendars start to become cheaper for stock clearance in any case, but oh well, sadly there’s not alot I can do about that. For a 20% discount until the 3rd February: CHERUBUK305
This applies not only to my calendars, but also Aniventure, and indeed anything up to the value of £200 from Lulu.

To visit the purchase page, CLICK HERE.

To view a preview version (all 12 months); click the small “Preview” link available in the above purchase page on Lulu’s website, or alternatively you can click here to view a local pdf copy. The local version is BIG (17mb) so prepare for your net browser to be raped.

Anyway, I last made myself a calendar for 2008. It was a cool little thing I made in Photoshop and MS Publisher with some of my favourite images from moe.imouto (now oreno.imouto.org). Of course, it made my poor old inkjet die on me. Good times. Naturally, since then I’ve never bothered due to resources, and this is still the case; I’m reluctant to abuse my laser’s toners due their obscene replacement costs; so I suddenly thought, ‘hey, I already have a relationship with Lulu, so why not get them to print me something instead!?’. Its the ‘well duh…’ moment of the year, since they’ve always offered calendar services. Sometimes I can be a bit dense, lol.

Anyhow, cya in the new year. I might <SHOCKHORROR!> actually put up a preview this season; but given the work one of those takes, it might be reduced in size or something. No promises, of course.

Well, I managed this last year, so why not again this year?
Have a gift from my resident Winter Goddess, Illiya:

As always, click on her to view her full-size. However, she is probably not very work-safe. Being a goddess, she doesn’t understand strange human concepts like modesty…

Though I had limited resources to work with here, I thought this turned out pretty well. I went for the ‘whoops… I flash-froze the candy cane again’ look; and the cheeky/bashful expression is always one she handles well.

If you’re not aware, Illiya is from my D&D setting, Retoria; she’s technically a demigoddess, and is very childlike; typically spending her time surfing glaciers, dancing around in blizzards; and kidnapping young boys to take to her macabre frozen collection in the Tryst. Her utter disregard for clothing is primarily to show off the fact she has obscene cold resistance, I suppose. She recently helped the party in the finale of the second campaign, preventing the God of Terror, Jeff, from slaying the source of all life in the world.

Here’s a bit of hash wallpaper job, as well:

I may replace it later on if I make a better wall-version, but this will suffice for now for an xmas backdrop.

Anyway, have a nice day people. Hope you got everything you wanted. See you in 2012.

Anyway, I believe, way back in the New Year, I promised a release of my RMXP game, The Enemy Within, some time this year. Well, that’s still valid, and I will meet it today, by giving you such a release! Below is the MegaUpload link for the game. Its unfortunately too big to go on MediaFire and Rapidshare; but if there are enough requests (please leave comments) then I will do a split archive.

Get it from MegaUpload (it is 246 mb)

What the heck is this? It’s almost funny, actually, The Enemy Within is a game I’ve been making with RPG Maker XP for, on and off, the last five years. As you might expect, its a JRPG. It’s about a Blacksmiths daughter, Risa, who gets conscripted into the Border Guard just in time to witness an attack from the neighbouring nation. This skirmish sets into motion events that spiral out of control and conspire to place her on a journey to foil the plans of wicked transdimensional entities that have invaded the world, and are subtly manipulating things to a downfall behind the scenes.

There is quite a considerable amount of custom content (mine, and other peoples) and at least 4-5 hours of gameplay in this version; especially if you explore all of the sidequests in Chapter III. It includes a bunch of rather cool features that attempt to make it different from a cookie-cutter RMXP game, such as my personally created Skill Grid, Class distinction and Time/Day systems. It also has some rather neat animation gimmicks for the battles which I’ve always been pleased with.

With all that’s been going on this year in general, I have to say, I didn’t get as much done on it this year as perhaps I would have liked. This release is Build K, which is the same one I got some of my mates to playtest a few months back. I would, in fact, have liked to release Build L, which is newer and has more features still; however, it is rather unstable at the moment and I don’t have time to quash all the bugs beforehand. I know for a fact that Build K is stable and relatively bug-free.

To Install

>> Please extract from the archived RAR using a tool such as WinRAR or 7zip.
>> Inside is a Install programme which will guide you through the rest.
>> You DO NOT need to possess a copy of RPG Maker XP to play; this game does not require its RTP and is entirely self-contained.
>> Included in the archive is a VERY OLD AND OUTDATED manual I made for Build D. However, a chunk of the content in still relevant, so I’ve included it anyway.
>> It might be in your interest to read the readme which displays during install. It points out a few things you should know about this version; like the fact that choosing the Hunter class for Risa is actually the hardest despite the games claims to contrary; and suchlike.

System Requirements

>> Frankly, not alot. Any PC from the last 8 years capable of running Windows XP should in fact manage this, though you might see some lag in lower-end machines since it runs windowed 640×480.
>> Ensure you have at least DirectX 9.0c.
>> It has not been tested in a x64 environment or with Windows 7/Vista. Please run in Windows XP compatibility mode and such if it refuses to work.
>> I would strongly recommend the usage of a USB gamepad rather than the keyboard. I’d imagine your PS3 and Xbox360 controllers would also work, though I’ve not tried that. You can configure controls by pressing F1 in the game, if the default button layout is not to your liking.

PLEASE KEEP IN MIND that, though this is a relatively stable, it is strictly still a beta-version. Don’t forget to save a fair bit, just in case. If there are bugs, I would appreciate you reporting them by leaving a comment on my blog and you will be credited somewhere in the next version (whenever that is, LOL). I also appreciate reviews and other comments, as long as they aren’t just flaming.

THIS IS FREEWARE

All content used in its construction is freely available on the internet. If you notice a resource used that is yours and you have not been credited for it, please leave a comment on this thread. Please DO NOT redistribute on other sites without my permission; but you are welcome to place links, twitters and other such things leading onto this post or blog. And for goodness sake don’t try to charge people for it. RPG Maker XP English edition is the copyright of Enterbrain. The story and characters are copyright of myself.

And, to celebrate the release, here’s a sketch of Princess Hecate Garmere from the game:

I figured this would be fitting, since I started the year with a Jeanette picture… anyway, as always, click on her to see it full sized.
I do rather like Hecate’s character; she’s a lovable idiot with extreme swings in her emotional state; loves swords, and is generally utterly unprincesslike. Woe betide the male main character you choose to romance her (if you do…). LOL.

Anyway, thats about it today. Please enjoy the release!!

For one, I’ve been distracted by Xenoblade Chronicles of late. Damn good game. Add to that the fact that I have a new epic Space Opera campaign for Aniventure to be planning for, now titled Homura no Tengoku (Flame of Heaven) which I’m rather excited about. So yeah, I’m consumed by stuff to do already.

However, I will definately attempt to push out an Anime Preview as per usual, so don’t worry about that.

Oh, and as a side note, I’ve finally started typing up the supplement for Aniventure. This was previously titled ‘Magic & Mayhem’ or something dross like that but its gained a new title for now of “Aniventure Shimaihen” (lit. Companion Volume) since that is really what its going to be, with a bestiary of fantastic Japanese mythical beasts, a crapton of new powers, rules, archetypes, a new race and mutation system and more besides. Given the amount of content here, I don’t think you need to hold your breath in waiting for it. Its very much at the early stages still.

Additionally, I’m quite happy with the current beta of The Enemy Within, its polished enough and relatively bug-less, something that rarely happens, so I find it quite likely I’ll actually meet my crazy New Years goal of getting a 0.8 version of it out this year, even if its not as comprehensive as I would have hoped. But comprehensive can be shot for what I care, because a bug-free version is a hard thing to get done.

Right, so I’ve nattered about alot of positive progress in things other than blogging, so, as you know, that means I have to proceed to dump some artwork needlessly.

Today, I’m giving an unholy trinity of lovely ladies, two of which are also in widescreen wallpaper size for your desktop enjoyment.

As always, click on them to get full sized! Lets begin!

Yep, its an Ilyana, whom I’m ever obsessed and fanboyish about, sporting a customised outfit with a propensity for excessive bolt symbols. I like to think my Dungeon Crawl version of her looks a bit like this. She mostly retains her standard colour scheme from Fire Emblem, mind you.

Interestingly, this was a sketch I originally did the outline draft for ages ago, but I was really unhappy with it, as I could tell I’d done something wrong but couldn’t place my finger on it. Anyway, it laid dormant until I came back to it just yesterday, where I promptly understood exactly how to fix it in a sudden revelation. Moved her head around, readjusted the arms, made the cape more billowy, and actually went on and coloured it.

I have to say she has larger eyes than usual for me. I typically attempt to veer away from the extreme end of anime eyes, and keep a semi-realistic shape. Still, for some reason, it works for her, so I kept it. She also somehow manages to make teal look like a fashionable colour.

But, considering it was pretty much a disaster previously, a page I tried to ignore on my pad, the fact that I saved it moderately well is something I’m pretty chuffed about.

Anyhow, lets keep it up…
You may kiss her hand. Hurry up, don’t breach ettiquette! This is the Duchess-Apparent of Draskalmourie, the delectable Susie Drayke. Also probably known as Scourge of the Frozen North to certain members of my party in my long running Dungeons & Dragons. She has spent nearly all of the campaign chasing Darien Silverscale, the Prince of Silesia, until quite recently. Her obsessive antics have always been a pet favourite of mine, though for the characters, one of my PC’s whom is also interested in him also suffers tremendously, especially when they accidently went into an alternate timeline where the two Drakahn were married.

As a Drayke, she has a set of red eyes and a green tail, though since this is a head & shoulders, her tail is not visible here (check out other Drakahn if you like). Drakahn noble houses are very strict on their colourations, as veering away from the colours suggest the child is actually a bastard. Sapphire or Red eyes are prestigious, as they suggest a greater connection to their divine dragon ancestors; with the Great Sapphire Dragon God Rahlyah and the Golden Demi-Dragon God Dyia respectively. There are also other demigod dragons: Revynne, Arawne, and Zephyris, and all the noble houses can trace lineage and colours back to one of the five somehow.

I think thats enough Drakahn sociology. As for the actual sketch, this is one of my favourites. It was a new experiment in doing a haughty kind of pose and also the first time I’ve attempted a paper-fan. In case you were wondering, she is wearing a court dress, so her skirts, if it were to be present on the picture, would be the huge kind!

Here’s the final one (which is not wallpaper sized, sorry):
Heh, its Carlie, making a re-appearance at last. I originally put up a sketch of her as one of my very first posts on the blog back in the dark ages of 2008, and gave her an update in this post in 2009. As noted in both those posts, Carlie is from Seiken Densetsu III, which I actually haven’t played in a while now, but remains one of my all time favourite SNES games.

Anyway, I figured it was about time to give her a nice update into the twenty-elevensies. I think I’ve improved just a little bit since her last incarnation, though at the time I no doubt thought it was teh sh*t and all that. Since she’s an elvish high priestess, I didn’t spare any effort on the weave bits, which took quite awhile. Embellished leather armour is actually hard to do, I think. Also spent ages getting her curls to look nice (like Jeanette’s) but I’m glad of the effort. Not sure about the rod thing; this was originally meant to be a flail (as Carlie uses) but I couldn’t get it to work and it still looks a bit dodgy, but I had got to point where I didn’t want to redraw her hand again, so she had to be grasping something. Oh well, still like the piece in general.

I guess, at some point, I need to also give the Romancing SaGa girls a new rendition! (actually I already did a Sara from SD3, but I can’t find her to scan her in… so that’ll have to wait)

That’s the end of this post for… WAIT! Nearly forgot! HAVE AN ALICE!!

Yessiree, Detarame recently broke 225K. I entirely missed 200K, hence the arbitrary selection of 225, but whatever. Thankyou for visiting me and being excited about the random crap I generate, and I apologise for my consistant lack of postingage, but what can you do, eh? It was fitting for Alice to be here, I think, since Marisa celebrated 100K quite awhile back.

Anyway, that is really it. Stay Tuned!

Still, I’m breaching no apologies this time, as there are no real excuses besides being generally exhausted and unable to handle blogging. As much as I like it, its a large chunk out of my leisure time and after my hours of civil service, the last thing I sometimes need is more typing on a computer!

But anyway, you’re not here to listen to my bitching. Today is a post of no special focus.

First of all, I would like to advertise the Humble Indy Bundle III, which is still open for the next two whole days! You may pay whatever you like for seven rather good games. What’s more, pay over about $7 and you’ll also get Humble Bundle II thrown in for free, bringing the total up to 12 games for less than the cost of a chinese takeaway. If that wasn’t enough, theres some free Minecraft membership thrown in, and you can choose to support charity with your donation. Personally, I thought it was well worth the cost of a full priced game, so thats what I donated (though all my dollars went to the developers).

For me, its highlights were VVVVVV, Cogs, Braid, and Revenge of the Titans. I’ve always enjoyed supporting Indie games in any case, since I’m a bit of a dabbler in game development myself.

Speaking of which, since I’ve had Enemy Within 0.8 playtested by some friends recently, I guess I’ll do some final polishing of it and then release. Part of me still wants more features in it, but at the moment its stability is ok, so its a good release candidate.

Over to some anime season thoughts: It turned out much as I anticipated. I’m most interested in Dantalian no Shoka and Bunny Drop; both of which have likable characters. Dantalian had a bit of a wobble briefly and is currently monster of the week, but its got alot going on subtly. Bunny Drop is just plain heartwarming and makes you feel good. Kurousagi and R-15 are stupid but entertaining. Kaminote somehow alienated me with its first episode, but I might try the next couple when I have time. Mayo Chiki and id@lmaster are also in my to watch list for braindead entertainment.

Lastly for today, a new wall adeptly matching the mixed-up-ness of this post.

It’s Fragmented Touhou Girls in Cheongsams (courtesy of mochi-f, one of my favourite touhou artists):

Anyway, thats about all for today. Tune in again soon.

I realise I’ve not really explained this usual criteria before. Well, the usual criteria these days happens to be anything not eliminated pre-viewing: I’m very busy with full-time work these days and even a dozen shows to intially follow is pushing it, especially seeing as how some of this seasons shows will probably continue. I therefore have to make some early ‘will not look into’ choices. Sequels are usually in this pool unless I liked the original (and if I did, the show will probably be in). The only notable sequel I remember this season is Bakatest 2. And theres another Idolmaster based show, but whatever.

Finally, the order below is entirely random. So lets get going, eh?

Kamisama no Memo-chou (aka. The Notebook of Gods)	We’re continuing the recent trend of Loli-detectives it seems. It’s about the usual eccentric pairing of semi-regular male protagonist with a self proclaimed NEET, Alice. (Let’s face it; Victorique would also be one if Gosick were modern day). What I can only hope is that it abates the rather flaccid performances of most anime mystery shows. I don’t know about you, but nearly all of the ones I’ve seen are in the ‘huh?’ category, whereby only the prescient could possibly guess their plotlines, whereas, were one to watch a good episode of say, Midsommer Murders, you can often get it as you go along if you’re sharp, and certainly with a second re-watch. The other point of note… just how many NEET girls are actually in Japan? Really? Oh well… Anticipation Rating: 4 out of 5 cuddly toys are covered in chloroform, so don’t sniff them.
Ikoku Meiro no Croisée (aka. Navigating a Labyrinth of Foreigners)	19th Century Japanese girl goes to France and goes to work in a blacksmith whilst applying genki and kawaii to everything she sees. Culture shock ensues. I’m guessing its going to be slice-of-past-life. Possibly a romance in disguise. And in all likelihood, the stage is set for more misunderstandings than you can shake a stick at. There are probably better ways to interpret the title, but that sounds politically incorrect, so I’ll leave it. Anticipation Rating: 50% of Europeans stated the language barrier was a legimate reason for not visiting far eastern tourist destinations.
Number Six	I’m not a number, I’m a free man!Ahem, references to ‘The Prisoner’ aside, this is the anime take on Gattaca. Number 6 is an archeology-city which is big on meritocracy. It is determined at age 2 that the protagonist is uber-smart and awesome, and so his position in society is assured.At least, until age 12, where he shelters a criminal and gets exiled to the bad part of the archeology-city. Four Years Later on he gets framed for a murder, and sent to prison, but is then rescued by the guy he sheltered previously. The two join forces and try to uncover the truth of the dystopia in which they reside. Could be interesting; depends on how futuristic they try to make it, apparently the light novels have finished their run so they’ll be plenty of material. Anticipation Rating: 75% percent of the population remain vigilant in this time of darkness. What about you, citizen?
Rou Kyuu Buu!	The Loli-basketball fanservice show. Wow, that sounds alot worse than it did on paper. Err… anyway: Guy goes to high school. Basketball club is shut due to coach sexing up a loli and eloping with her. He’s bummed since he has talent. Receives dubious offer from aunt to coach a team of elementary basketball girls and follow the same dark path. Apparently not realising the moral of the story, he accepts. Hilariously, Google Translate makes the title of this show to be ‘save the meat!’ and I think that about sums up everyone’s expectations when an elementary schooler has C-cups. Thinking about it, there’s alot of balls and girls lately, with Sofutenni last season. I hate to assume a trend with phallic imagery, but its SO DAMN OBVIOUS… Anticipation Rating: Anime; replacing 1 in 5 of your racial stereotypes with underage girls and calling it entertainment.
Mayo Chiki!	Traps and butlers aren’t exactly my first thought when confronted with the demon fusion screen, but apparently this is the case for somebody. Secret (REALLY?) identity cover of butler girl is blown and beating the memory out of the protagonist ends in failure. So an unholy alliance based on secrets is born as usual. Oh, and lets throw gynophobia, masochism and yuri in there just cuz. Seriously guys, did you just roll a dice and mix random cliches together? Sigh. Anticipation Rating: 1 in 5 nosebleeds are systemic with allegies to the opposite sex.
Bunny Drop	Here’s your sugary sweet ‘raise the little girl in a correct fashion whilst undergoing antics of absurd gravity and somehow surviving’ anime. This one follows a 30-year old salaryman who discovers at his grandad’s funeral that the old geezer was fertile in his twilight, since he managed to make a young illegitimate daughter. None of the family want anything to do with the poor young girl, and, disgusted by their behaviour, he adopts her. And so begins the weirdness of middle-aged nephew raising his 6-year old aunt. Well, its been done before with stuff like Ashiteru ze Baby, but I’d still be interested because I’m a sucker for heartwarming things in this vein. Anticipation Rating: 9 out 10 people incorrectly assume that your auntie or uncle cannot be your junior.
Kaitou Tenshi Twin Angel	Considering how Madoka has redefined the Magical Girl genre of late, it really surprises me that Pretty Cure clones continue to be churned out. Guess there’s still an audience who care for genre stagnation, eh? Oh, but there’s more. This is another one, third season in a row, thats based on pachinko characters. Its like somebody pointed out one day that mining sludge can produce gold. Maybe so, but it also makes alot of sludge. Anticipation Rating: 15% of washed up magical girls swear that holding a staff and doing a transformation sequence really used to MEAN something.
R-15	Well (chuckle) this one is a harem show that I might actually think about looking into due to its severe case of cannabis induced plot. So, the main guy gets a scholarship to a prestigious academy because (drumroll)… he’s a well established pornography writer at age 15. Laughly evily, he aspires to use this opportunity to build a harem and save the world. Sorry, what? Seriously? Did they even interview him? At what point does his porno writing at all place him on the level of medical and musical prodigies? And how does one become a well celebrated porno writer? (PROTIP: Call yourself Boon Mills). It sounds like the bastard child of B-Gata-H-Kei and God Only Knows. So yeah, I’ll look at it and if it makes me laugh I might well stay; some braindead shows are occassionally enjoyable. Anticipation Rating: If you watch this, there is a 75% chance of going blind, but its okay, since its all for art!
Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi	Its got a Raiju-Loli with Byakuren hair on the poster, so you must watch it regardless of your opinions. The protagonist figures out he’s immortal after dying in a hit and run whilst trying to save his cute classmate (did I mention she had byakuren hair?) from a truck. This awakens memories of a vampire he made a promise to 9 years ago. Monsters begin to appear suddenly in his life and he also clashes with a black mage who had been lying in wait for this moment. Anyway, its like Korewazombie, but hopefully with less male panty shots and a story that doesn’t abruptly disappear halfway through the season.And did I mention the… (shot) Anticipation Rating: Haha! Your pathetic bullets have a 85% chance of reflecting off my impervious hide! Wait! No! Put the P90 down!
Nekogami Yaoyorozu (aka. Endless Cat Gods)	A Nekomata girl, whom is the god of lost stuff freeloads at an antique store, playing XBOX all day. The show catalogues her absurd interactions and antics with the other local gods. I’m a little dubious since alot of the staff came from GA Art Class which I couldn’t get into at all a while back, but others liked it. As usual, we shall see. A show like this always lives or dies on the power of its punchlines, and at least this one has a good grounding to leap from. I mean, hey, the PV has a flying anteater, and two girls dueling apparently with a buster sword and mallet. I guess thats gotta count for something. Anticipation Rating: 7 out of 10 Kannushi concur that Cat Gods are fine too.
Dantalian no Shoka	Written by the Asura Cryin writer (hopefully with fewer mecha in suitcases here), this follows a bibliomaniac guy who inherits his grandfathers estate, and with it, a loli in the cellar whom is the storage device of 900, 666 books of forbidden lovecraftian magic. United, they then start to investigate incidents caused by the misuse of dark and unholy tomes. So, Index, Gosick, and Demonbane meet in an unholy fusion then. The result? Well, I’m not going to say this without watching it, am I? But hey, the ingredients are there and even better, Gainax are in charge. Hopefully they’ve got all the stupidity out of their system in the atrocity that was Panty & Stocking; but even that got points for being a riot of the senses and a pisstake of western cartoons. Besides that, they tend to have a good enough track record, though, so this is perhaps the most anticipated of the shows this season for me. Anticipation Rating: 10 out of 10 numerologists agree that having a number divisible by 666 is asking for trouble.

That’s it for now. As always, more updates may occur to this post if I get time, but don’t count on it. Watch this space.