Maid & Lion

(sorry France, but in *my* household we call it "chiaroscuro.")

Truly, to play Claire Obscura is to have to hold some tremendous successes and failures of games writing in mind at the same time without dismissing either...
The Light and the Shadow...
or as a painter might say...

I can't agree fully with all its conclusions, but at the very least its a perspective that must be considered. I suspect especially by those for whom a lot of the cultural signifiers are foreign.

I've had the time to finish this video, and it's really been an invaluable aid in better understanding my reaction to a game that moved me to tears and deep contemplation, but also to flipping off my TV screen and shouting "OH, FUCK YOU TOO!!!" Thanks so much for making english subtitles available.

So is there like, a place I can read all of this story?

The work always felt a little short to me to do a special thanks list, but it still felt important? I don't think I could have finished The Fair Unknown if a lot of people more talented than me hadn't been super generous with their time and encouragement and advice.

The special thanks list:

Am I an artist? Yes, but tonight I am first and foremost an aspiring Yuzuriha main in Under Night In-Birth Sys:Celes.

I'm currently grappling with the fact that not only did I have to make this thing, now I have to tell people about it.

The Fair Unknown by Maid And Lion A Story Of The Round Table

Tonight's a good night to have feelings about good knights. maidandlion.itch.io/the-fair-unk...

a very misty view of the chicago river in downtown

unironically one of my favorite kinds of chicago weather

you know, like how something can be massive enough to bend spacetime around it? That, but socially.

My gender is *actually too real* that's kind of the whole problem.

Very interesting to see Expedition 33 analyzed in the context of French history & politics. Turn on those subtitles and listen to voices from all across the world - they'll expand your horizons and help you grow.

Only Lies of P was brave enough to let you be a beautiful doll with a series of aesthetically beautiful and mechanically different subweapons, each of which is a new arm you equip.

eeeeeh. You can get different upgrades for your arm, but it's not really something that alters things aesthetically or gameplaywise, it's more like putting another thingamabob into your singular swiss-army arm.

When i saw the first Elden Ring trailer's focus on people strapping on new arms, I naturally assumed that was where it was going. While I loved Elden Ring, I remain disappointed it wasn't that.

Remember the period of time when Sesshomaru is just trying out different arms in replacement for his own? Why has there never been a Dark Souls willing to let you try that.

criterion channel rn has a collection called YEARNING and a collection called STUNTS! and between them exits the entire spectrum of human art and emotion

There's a quote from Dante that I love so much, when he's talking about the experience of living in exile on the charity of friends: "you will learn how salty is the taste of other's bread. How hard the road that goes up and down stairs that are never your own."

Holy Toledo, what nice things people are saying!

Man, I picked a hell of a weekend to finish off all my aspirations for the last 2-3 years huh?

I strongly encourage people feeling too much of The Doom to emotionally regulate themselves, very deliberately, if you start dipping into the despair. Being overwhelmed can quickly turn into learned helplessness and we absolutely need people to do what they can to positively impact what they can

The whole thing just made me want to prove to myself that it hadn't all been sucked out before I got kicked to the curb, you know?

I started making this project back in 2023 when the Game Industry layoffs hit me. My stated goal was to”I want to prove that I still have a soul.”

I got to play (read) test this? It's great!

The Fair Unknown by Maid And Lion A Story Of The Round Table

It's here. A visual novel of knights pushed to their breaking points, the power of love, and the sort of loathing you can only really feel for somebody that reminds you of yourself. THE FAIR UNKNOWN. maidandlion.itch.io/the-fair-unk...

or maybe that an “ideas man” is a thing a person can be.

the greatest trick the devil ever pulled is convincing people video games were easy to make, probably.

There are certain queer times in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke