Another excellent project m15o!

Things I love:

• The level of customization possible.
• Ease of registration (this can't be stated enough)
• Subscriptions via atom vs a follow system.
• Status widget!
• The very clean user experience. No bloat!

Which I realize is basically every single feature of this project LOL, but I'm really liking what I am seeing so far. Looking forward to using it and seeing how others utilize it as well.

Thanks for sharing this!

_{Melon you have sown some seeds of chaos and/or turned into a new web cryptid... that one user who wrote "I did not visit Melon's profile! I don't even know who he/she/it is ..." lmao...}

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, I suppose, so I am here to talk about a 3D world idea I am slowly working on.

The quick and dirty context/rationale for this project:
- Everyone's work is incredibly inspiring. This is honestly the main motivator, I've been so in awe of what I've been to exposed to here, and I want to take a crack at it too.
- I have been curious about Blender for a while, and a little less curious about Unity.
- Virtual worlds seem like a lot of fun, and I'd love to see more worlds grow for people to just chill on the net/computer.

Over the last few days, I threw together a project concept that I hope will allow me to learn Blender, learn Unity, and create a tiny virtual world for folks to loaf around in when they feel like getting away from the humdrum of life...all hopefully with a scope that will not make me turn into a maniac. Anyhow, without further ado, let us dive into...

TINIEST TOWNS

_{A tiny key visual. While the style or contents may change, I find it helpful to have
some kind of key image to establish mood as I start working, even as the concept evolves.}

If I had to describe what TINIEST TOWNS is, it's basically Tomodachi Life with a bigger focus on world exploration (still a VERY tiny world though), while maintaining all the...really surreal shenanigans. You (yes, you!) are the visitor to a tiny world-town, where you can wander and sit around three different biomes (just like in real life): a forest, a town, and a beach. My intention, as someone who is hardly game development savvy (yet) is that the main focus will be world exploration and being able to immerse yourself in a idyllic little location.

Of course, the less idyllic half of Tiniest Towns are the residents... You will see them roaming about the different biomes depending on the time of day, doing their own weird thing. They won't usually bother you, but if you bother to bother them...well. I'll talk more about that later, as I get to concepting some of the interaction ideas I have in mind.

For now, I have been starting with the bare basics: getting acquainted with Blender, and getting acquainted with Unity. Blender is admittedly the much more intuitive half for me, as someone who vaguely is considered an art type, but I am planning to start stumbling around in Unity this week.

<sub>I stumble through Blender like a desperate clown (12.2.21)


Testing some very basic anims. I guess he is like, a bird shape, and also kind of potato shaped? (12.2.21)


Learning how to drop a character into Unity. This was made more stressful by the fact I thought it would be "fun" and "clever" to go back and do a proper UV wrap and texture paint on the model, a process which ended up taking me more time than figuring out Unity. Blender is...certainly a trip. (12.3.21)</sub>

More developments to come as I slowly make my way through filling my brain with all this...brain knowledge. My next goal is to focus on building a world that I can walk around in, likely using some temporary assets, before jumping into the process of actually concepting and modeling some of the different biomes. I want to avoid working on too many character things too early, as again, their interactions should be limited, but they will ultimately likely all follow similar behaviors. I started with a character, however, just to test if I could achieve the visual style I am hoping for, which is "simple and doofy" ;P

Ideally I do want to try make this a web "game", but I do not think I have the experience to make that decision with certainty yet. Ultimately, if I am able to build this project at all, deliver it to the world, and get a bewildered laugh out of one person, I'd be plenty happy enough.

Until next time!

Yes! This is the business, thank you for taking the time to dig up and share your collection.

I really want one of those classic yellow & blue MetroCards. I guess they were having a lot of events going on when I visited New York. It is another destination I'm hoping to visit again when things are less crazy in the world, so maybe it won't be too much of a stretch to snag one soon.

I have never actually seen one of those Amtrak mega tickets before (probably for good reason considering how expensive they are o_o), or knew of their existence. It's also..really big, did you really have to carry that around to show the ticket inspectors, or was there a smaller/mobile version you could use? I've always wanted to take the Amtrak's Southwest Chief route; buying the regular ticket fare would probably be plenty enough, but taking a month or three to explore the US via train with one of these mega tickets would be an incredible experience.

^{Personal Verdict: Suica is probably my favorite of this lot, beating out Leap by just a hair because it has a goofy cartoon penguin on it. Good call, Suica, we need more animals on transit card designs.}

Oh you are playing a VERY dangerous game lol, this is possibly one of my most favorite aspects of forums... threw a few simple things together based on the current forum theme, using some of my favorite banner formats. They're not exactly badges, but they're definitely the right size for if folks want to rep the forum on their personal collections.






_{(I realize Ozwomp probably isn't the Melonland Forum mascot, so if there's a better suggestion for that image I am open to ideas;
went ahead and made a second version with the dino message icon because it's probably my icon favorite of the bunch)}

Jumping on the End-Of-Year slump topic, it feels like the moment we hit the end of Daylight Savings, all my motivation flies out the window. It's pretty vexing to switch my clock back and lose sunlight on top of the shortening days; it takes a toll as someone who likes having just even a little sliver of sunlight at the end of the work day.

That said, I've been feeling pretty pumped because the weekend is here, and I am excited to spend some free time to work on some fresh and new personal projects. Trying out new mediums has been a great way to shake off the dust and fend off needless self-criticism because everything is still a learning opportunity, and I can't wait to take another crack at things today.

i love this idea! i love taking public transit. thank you for sharing!

come to sf, BART and MUNI need to be on this spread!

Glad to be among good company! I am honestly surprised I haven't tried the BART yet, but it's definitely on my radar now. Incidentally, I've heard a lot of interesting tales of the BART, mostly from friends when they were going to school in the Bay Area, so the experience might be specific/colored there (although I think this might be how locals tend to feel towards their respective public transit...affectionate annoyance LOL, it seems to be this way in most places), but I very much would like to try it out as a generic, easily amazed tourist without a strong timetable XP

26, but at what cost?! This was way more of an adrenaline rush than I expected it to be.

Moving in a stilted manner seems to net more points than if I hold any direction key for long time, at the cost of making me feel (and look) a bit like a maniac. Really neat game though m15o, it is incredibly elegant in its simplicity. Did you have any particular inspiration/self-challenge in creating this game?

Recently finished watching .hack//SIGN for the first time a few weeks ago, so I've been repeating a lot of the soundtrack lately. It's great to know that Yuki Kajiura has just. Always been killing it, LOL.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W_tLuHFCzY
Yuki Kajiura - The World

Got inspired by Melon's payphone spotting post. One of my favorite activities when visiting any new city or region is...trying out whatever transit systems they've got, and collecting transit passes/tickets. I started collecting around maybe 3-4 years ago after experiencing the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) and being very amazed by what was my first experience with an American transit system that actually worked (the idea that you could take the subway from the airport to downtown for $5 or less vs taking a $50 uber ride was INSANE to me at the time. I have been so used to nothing but endless disappointments and failures of public transit LOL)... My collection is quite humble and obviously the pandemic has made traveling unfeasible for the time being, but I would love to share it with any other transit enthusiasts or anyone curious.

Left to right, top to bottom, card and location card was acquired:

1.) Metra Ticket, Chicago 
2.) CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) Ventra Card (old style), Chicago 
3.) CTA Ventra Card (current style), Chicago 
4.) TAP (Transit Access Pass) Card, Los Angeles 
5.) Metro SmarTrip Card, Washington DC 
6.) Oyster Card, London 
7.) ORCA (One Regional Card for All), Seattle 
8.) MTA MetroCard [Pride] - New York City
9.) MTA MetroCard [Hawaiian Islands] - New York City
10.) MTA MetroCard [Single Ride] - New York City

I am really looking forward to when I can travel again and hopefully pick up even more tickets and passes. I'm especially hoping to travel to Asia and hop on some of their trains there.

If you've got any transit passes saved, please feel welcome to post them here. Duplicates/repeats are also more than welcome, and/or if you don't have any cards, feel free to share any transit tales or HOT TAKES, such as "who has the most aesthetically pleasing transit system", etc etc.

This is a really great topic confetti, I'm really curious and hoping to hear input from folks : )

I am of a similar mindset that it feels strange for personal sites to have advertisements. However, I'm semi-willing to overlook/accept those ads depending on what it is: for example, I'd be more willing to have to see ads that shuffle through a random selection, rather than ads that are tailored to me based on browsing info, etc... In addition, advertisements for other people's sites, personal projects, etc are always welcome. I also agree that it's less strange to see ads on corporate/organization sites...ultimately, I'd rather there not be ads at all (wishful thinking lol), but situations are unique, and ultimately it is the webmaster's choice -- but I know I tend to avoid sites on the retro web that feel overly commercial, or intrusively so.

Speaking personally (and very cheekily), I think if personal sites on the retro web want to add ads, they should play up the retro angle and present them in a more dated style. At least then it'd sort of be on brand, and I'd get a good chuckle out of it.

Last thought: As long as we don't go back to pop ups with sound being the norm, I'm a happy camper XD

I’ve got a few main thoughts spinning around in my head, and I suppose I will pour them all down here:

• The Boring: Currently thinking about how to accomplish this task I have at work, which is incredibly tedious and time-consuming. Fortunately, it’s somewhat fun (the company I work at is updating their website), but the fact that there is so much left to do is the real snooze.
• The Fun: I am also thinking a lot about a 3D world concept I want to breathe some life into if I am brave enough. I am primarily a visual 2D artist, and the last time I programmed a game or modeled in 3D at all was…probably over a decade ago. Since then, the tools out there have exploded in a good way, but there is a lot of catch-up learning to be done. I’m hoping to start working on the idea this weekend if I have some time to do so, but for now, lots of brainstorming in the works : )
• The Conflicted: I have been spending a lot of my last month on NeoCities, and have noticed how much happier I am there without the pressures of performance or likes/numbers. But I am still trying to figure out how much I want to go cold-turkey with social media. I have been shaving off accounts all year long to the point there is only one platform I still visit, but this last site is one that has been a big part of my online life for a decade, and it is going to be really difficult to decide what to do with it, or how to close out that chapter.

I'll start.
Deltarune. Really wish the rest of the game was out now.

@Obspogon - I haven't played Deltarune but I was always curious about Toby Fox's choice to release the game in chaptered installments after releasing Undertale as a full game. Not to say it is a bad thing, and I'm sure there's some rationale for it that I admittedly haven't bothered to look up, but I feel like if I released a project in chunks I might get bored of it and walk away before completing LOL. Think that's more of a personal flaw, I'm always impressed by people who can keep pushing through larger projects.

I love the visuals of this world a lot! Using textures from Goog Maps is a really smart way of working while also adding a lot of stylistic flair. It looks really far along, graphically -- I'm sure all the other features will add a lot more work to things, but that you've already got a playable prototype going is really impressive.

No burning questions yet that others haven't already asked, but looking forward to checking back in and seeing how things progress : )

I really like seeing other people's thought processes and wips, so this is a real treat, especially the physical notes. And wow, excited for the launch, that's coming up way sooner than I expected! Looking forward to exploring the magical and whimsical worlds of Ozwomp.

The idea of it being a semi-mmo without interaction has a lot of charm of its own, perhaps we'll all run into each other without knowing it LOL (informal launch party?). I am assuming other players will also be Ozwomp? Ozwomp recolored? Either way, the mental visual of Ozwomps aplenty is great, but if you already had plans for something different I'd be curious to hear.

I'm also incredibly curious, as someone who is used to traditionally downloadable games/is very new to web worlds, do you feel that the losses between the two platforms is manageable for what you're hoping to achieve? Based on your post so far it sounds like most of the losses are visual, but I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on high level limitations or capabilities between the two.

Woo, piles of music. Keygen tunes are probably the perfect soundtrack for surfing the web. I haven't had a chance to go through all of them (unsurprising giving the sheer volume on this playlist) but I something about "Bronco.LTD_-_ArtIcons_Pro_5crk.mp3" screams "mad japes and tomfoolery" and I love that energy. Also "PARADOX_-_PhotoshopCS2kg.mp3" is on here! This list is massive.

@Obspogon definitely gonna check out that video when I've got a spare chance, sounds like a really interesting watch.

#11 27/11/2021 - Eels - I Like Birds

As a certified Junior Bird Enjoyer™, this one really spoke to me on another level. The world needs more songs about birds!