(Student)
SHSL Procrastinator
(Year 2)
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Post by Daniel Saotome on Feb 23, 2016 22:47:17 GMT
 I like to take my sweet time doing things.
After all, it's not like the world ends tomorrow, right? School ended after a particularly draining day. P.E, Chemistry and all that stuff? Hell on Earth. Especially for someone as lazy as Daniel.
So at the end of the day, he decided to reward himself by going to the Rec Room and playing some games. He found some games, but no one else was there. He felt that was boring. There was nothing to play for a single person. No exploration games, no RPGs, not even Tetris!
So he sighed and sat down, reading a magazine about Hope's Peak itself, because there was nothing else there that interested him. He read about most of the other SHSL Students attending during the same year as himself, and he grinned when he saw himself pictured in it.
He hoped that someone, anyone, would come by and spend some time with him. But because asking people is bothersome after a difficult day, he decided to wait. As he was waiting, he hummed various themes from various video games to himself, but most often he hummed themes of final bosses.
Maybe he was lucky today. |
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(Student)
SHSL Game Designer
(Year 3)
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Post by Yuukyoku Souzousha on Feb 24, 2016 21:19:05 GMT
Another day of school was done and, being in between projects, that meant it was time to do, well... Something. To Yuukyoku the world was her oyster. Games varied from genre to type in such a wide net that basically anyone she bumped in to at Hope's Peak would give her an experience that would help her make more games in the future.
And that included things some of the other students didn't even consider talents, like Procrastination.
Walking near the Rec Room she overheard some humming of an old but familiar tuneL the Final Boss theme of Final Fantasy VI. The opportunity for a great entrance presented itself. The song had this slow part that the person humming it just go to. All she needed to do was wait there next to the door where he couldn't see as the pace and...
Yuukyoku jumped into the room laughing, "Fuahahahahahaha!" where Kefka's iconic laugh would be during the song, hoping to surprise whoever it was humming the song to begin with.
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(Student)
SHSL Procrastinator
(Year 2)
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Post by Daniel Saotome on Feb 28, 2016 18:41:06 GMT
I like to take my sweet time doing things.
After all, it's not like the world ends tomorrow, right? Words: 122 | Tag: @username | Notes: notes here "Woah!" Daniel exclaimed once a white-haired girl jumped into the room. Out of sheer surprise, he dropped the magazine. He then put it away, before looking at the girl again.
"Hmm, you're Yuukyoku, right?", he asked. "I think I saw your name at the credits in a few games before. How are you doing?" He smiled politely towards his upperclasswoman.
He sighed. "There's not a lot to do here by yourself, so I appreciate you coming here. Wanna play something? I think I saw a deck of cards around here somewhere..."
He then got up from his seat and searched for the cards. After a few minutes, he found them and placed them on the table.
"We have time to kill, right?" |
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(Student)
SHSL Gamer
(Year 2)
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Post by Chiaki Nanami on Apr 26, 2016 19:24:14 GMT
 Chiaki had been attending Hope’s Peak for her second year now. Her first year she didn’t stay in the dorms, but starting this year, she had decided to leave her parents’ house and try living in the dorm. It was nice, and Chiaki was happy with the situation. She had more time to play her games, and her parents would give her money which was wasn’t supposed to spend on games, but in the end, she did because there was nothing else she really wanted other than video games, even if it were hard to find any that she didn’t already have and defeat.
She’d been told over and over by her parents she needed to go out of her room and do something other than play games. She needed to make more friends. And so, that’s what she was doing today. Exploring the school after class was over... well if one could call exploring walking around aimlessly with a game system in hand as she battled a boss. Maybe she could find people to play games with. She wasn't too great at anything else. After all there were people here, int he school, it was a step in the right direction, after all. Oh! Maybe this was the next chapter in her life, where she was going to meet someone to join her party. Everything else just had been the backstory and the prologue to the whole thing. Or it could still be prologue. When was the game really going to start? Then again, the Ultimate Gamer played all games all the way through even if they were boring. And of course the game of her life would probably be one of those boring games, boring main character, boring supporting characters…
Wandering around, Chiaki found herself on the second floor, game system in hand as she played a game, paying little attention to her surroundings. After nearly running into the rec room door, Chiaki looked up from her system for just a moment and opened the door to walk in, and she took a seat a grin on her face as she beat the final secret boss of her game. Oh bother. That meant that she just completed the game. That was the last achievement she needed. Chiaki looked up and saw two people already in the room she just entered.
"Oh, hello. You're… Daniel, I think. And you're… oh you're Yuukyoku! I just finished a game you made." She indicated her hand held system. "What… what are you two doing? Are you going to play a game?"
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(Student)
SHSL Game Designer
(Year 3)
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Post by Yuukyoku Souzousha on Apr 26, 2016 20:05:14 GMT
Yuukyoku nodded as Daniel asked if she wanted to play a game. A Game Designer like her needed to play a bunch of various games with various people to get a better grip of how others played. The more feedback she got, the more accurately she could plan around how players would think to design more complicated games. Sure, a simple card game would only do so much, but it would kill time.
She sat down at the table as he looked for a deck of cards when someone else walked into the room and sat down near the entrance. Looking over to the new arrival, Yuukyoku froze. Her focus on Chiaki intensified as the Game Designer watched the Gamer play. Finally the other girl's attention broke and she looked up and stated that she had just beaten one of Yuukyoku's games.
The Game Designer jumped out of her seat and pointed at the Gamer. "Y-you! You're Chiaki! And you just beat that game!?" Throwing her hands up in the air, she exclaimed, "How do you keep beating my games so fast!?"
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(Student)
SHSL Procrastinator
(Year 2)
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Post by Daniel Saotome on Apr 26, 2016 21:27:55 GMT
I like to take my sweet time doing things.
After all, it's not like the world ends tomorrow, right? Daniel greeted Chiaki with a friendly smile as she came in.
"Yep.", he said. "I'm Daniel. We two are in the same year." He also looked at the screen the SHSL Gamer presented to Yuukyoku, the one that caused her to be astonished.
"I beat the game as well. The final boss was pretty difficult, and I had to use lots of items, but in the end my mage came through. Whoever composed his theme though is a musical genius. I wonder if there was some content I missed, since the wise man told me that there was a tablet somewhere in the game world I didn't activate."
He looked at Chiaki. "I know you're the SHSL Gamer. Did the wise man tell you the same things, or did you find everything on your first run of the game?"
Naturally, he wasn't ignoring Yuukyoku. He then got out the deck of cards he discovered and began to shuffle them.
"So, what are we playing?", he asked. "And after that, we can go play something more complex. Maybe something that requires strategy and critical thinking."
Daniel was feeling pretty lucky. He's doing the things he loves and avoids urgent school work. Could things get any better?
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(Student)
SHSL Gamer
(Year 2)
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Post by Chiaki Nanami on May 5, 2016 6:43:41 GMT
Chiaki grinned from ear to ear when the game designer of her game was so excited about it. Chiaki laughed and looked back down at the game for a moment. "I just play and play and play and then I finish it. It was very difficult though." Chiaki couldn't help but be excited that the game designer of her current game was right here and she seemed pretty excited about the fact she'd already completed it. Chiaki walked over to where Daniel and Yuukyoku were sat near them this time. Maybe she could make friends! Friends were good! And maybe they could be part of her party. Or they could form a guild or… it was just too cool.
"Well, there were three tablets you were supposed to find, one in the caves, one in town, and the extra tricky one was the one in the forest. I went in circles for a little while before I stumbled on it," Chiaki looked to Daniel as she said this. "In the end, it unlocked the final form… of… the… boss…" With each word Chiaki felt her mind drifting off, and she ended up falling asleep for a few moments. Her eyes closed and she was lost in her own dreams. Something about a dragon flying and blowing fire and her being a warrior wielding a sword. When she awoke she woke with a start. "Sorry."
She looked to Daniel and Yuukyoku and then thought for a moment about a game to play a finger on her chin. "Well, anything would be fun for me." Chiaki smiled. Even games that weren't video games she was good at she found. While she wasn't a gambler, she was a master gamer, and while she preferred video games, she was just good at video games in general. If she didn't fall asleep in the middle of it. "Perhaps we could play black jack or poker or war. All are fun choices."
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(Student)
SHSL Game Designer
(Year 3)
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Post by Yuukyoku Souzousha on May 27, 2016 7:08:49 GMT
Yuukyoku dramatically fell back into her chair as Chiaki described how she just plays games until she beats them. "I swear, Completionists are the bane of my existence sometimes." Letting out a sigh she sat up straight in the chair and turned back towards the table. "You know, not all games really need secret stuff or completion percentages or achievements, but you make a couple games that have some secret stuff and then suddenly everyone expects more and more. I pity Toby Fox. He went all out on the first one so whatever he makes from now on needs even more deeply hidden secrets."
Her rant done, she relaxed a bit, even though Chiaki probably napped through most of it. "I guess... Poker. I've been thinking about that a lot given all the Lucky Students here."
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(Student)
SHSL Procrastinator
(Year 2)
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Post by Daniel Saotome on Jun 9, 2016 7:02:06 GMT
I like to take my sweet time doing things.
After all, it's not like the world ends tomorrow, right? Daniel looked at Chiaki. "There was one in the town? I guess I didn't find it there. The one in the forest was actually the one I found first. I stumbled upon that while I was exploring for some treasure chests."
Then his gaze wandered over to Yuukyoku. "Is being a completionist really that bad? I can understand where Chiaki is coming from, and in my eyes, secrets make any game just a bit better. You mentioned Toby Fox, right? The Undertale guy? Yeah, that game has tons of secrets."
The Procrastinator nodded at the prospect of playing some poker.
"Sure, I don't mind.", he said. "This'll be fun."
While Daniel was shuffling the cards, he went on to ask a question.
"Say, what genre of video games do you enjoy most? I for one love RPGs and Puzzle games."
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(Student)
SHSL Gamer
(Year 2)
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Post by Chiaki Nanami on Jul 17, 2016 22:14:35 GMT
Oh yay! Poker! She was looking forward to this. With a fellow gamer and the famous SHSL Game Designer! What a joy! Oh she wasn't going to let them beat her. Put on her best poker face. Get ready the strategies. Chiaki might specialize in Video Games, but she was the SHSL Gamer, which meant all games. Board Games, Card Games, Video Games, any game, she would do her best in and hopefully she'd have fun! Winning was always nice, but having fun meant a lot as well. Of course, it wasn't in her to not try her hardest. At least with a game like poker it was luck and reading faces, and Chiaki wasn't good at one thing: people. Dating sims were always difficult for her because of that, but it didn't matter she was grinning from ear to ear wanting to play right now!
"Oh! Undertale! I've played that. It was a really fun game! Of course all the games are fun. But you know, a game doesn't have to have secret things to be fun. I don't think I've ever come across a game I didn't like. Even Friday the 13th for my old NES system I enjoyed though I read somewhere its one of the most hated games. I think people are just too hard on game designers. They built you a game, just have fun with it!"
Chiaki clapped her hands. Oh, he wasn't bad at shuffling. No, don't look. That was cheating if she was able to follow the cards. Of course that was difficult for most and she wouldn't be completely accurate, but it would still sometimes work, and she didn't want them to think she was cheating, so instead she looked to Yuukyoku and then up to Daniel, focusing on his eyes instead of the cards.
"I am a fan of all games, but I love mysteries the most. Murder mysteries are fun too, though I dislike when people die, it makes me sad. Especially when your partner ends up dead or something like that. But that means it’s a good game, if it makes you feel sad or happy or anything, right? That's really what marks a game as best."
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(Student)
SHSL Game Designer
(Year 3)
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Post by Yuukyoku Souzousha on Jul 17, 2016 22:39:11 GMT
“Oh no! Don't get me wrong!” She exclaimed, jumping back up a bit in her chair. “Completionists are fine but they tend to start expecting too much. Secrets are just one cool thing that can be expressed in gaming and wanting me to focus more and more on them as a game designer can distract me from other things. Tight, skill-based controls that give a sense of accomplishment when mastered or a good narrative also take a lot of time and effort to do right.”
Turning her head over to Chiaki who had seemed excited at the prospect of poker, the Game Designer nodded. “Yes! Exactly. A game should be able to make you feel something, and sometimes I don't want to have that feeling be so dependent on finding secrets. A couple here and there are nice but having to do stuff like hide images inside audio files for the few people that will look for it isn't worth it with every game.”
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(Student)
SHSL Procrastinator
(Year 2)
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Post by Daniel Saotome on Jul 26, 2016 20:50:54 GMT
I like to take my sweet time doing things.
After all, it's not like the world ends tomorrow, right? "Huh.", Daniel simply exclaimed. "I see, then. I'm a completionist because I'd like to get the most out of the games I play. That's why I played for example both the Pacifist and Genocide routes of Undertale."
He began to deal out the playing cards to Chiaki and Yuukyoku.
"To be entirely honest, I preferred the Genocide route over the Pacifist one. You just ran around and nearly one or two-shotted everything that dared approach you. There's really nothing like the good feeling you get from leveling up and seeing bigger and bigger numbers."
Daniel began to grin, figuring that either of them were gonna raise an eyebrow at him casually talking about fictional genocide like that.
"You see, being around Kaneko really helps with shutting off emotions, even if only for a short time."
The Procrastinator then finished dealing the cards and looked at his own hand.
"I guess the game can now begin. Let's have some fun, shall we?"
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(Student)
SHSL Gamer
(Year 2)
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Post by Chiaki Nanami on Jul 27, 2016 19:15:46 GMT
Chiaki looked at Daniel with a very stern look. For a moment she thought about what she was going to say. Either way, she knew that Daniel was so very wrong to think the way he did. Games had taught her so many lessons, but her parents had as well. She played games on both the good route and the bad route, she completed every game she played and did it well, which was why she got her title. But gleaning such a message from the games like Daniel had was not what games were for. It was to teach people humanity and lessons while having fun.
"Never shut off your emotions. They are what make you human, what make you, you. Daniel, I like you, but games aren't supposed to teach you to not feel. When you play the genocide routes or the dark-side route like in Knight of the Old Republic, you are supposed to feel the pain of being evil and seeing what consequences fall when you're evil. Many games, you grow uglier because you are ugly on the inside like in Fable where you grow devil horns." Chiaki was firm, her voice unwavering, but still kind. Chiaki wasn't smiling though; she was serious right now. "You shouldn't shut off your emotions, Daniel. Games are supposed to make you feel. By doing so, you render games useless and take away their primary function. Yuukyoku just said that too! Make the gamers feel something! That's what is most important."
Maybe this was where she, the protagonist of her game, was supposed to make new friends and turn them from possibly self-destructive ways of thinking. She hoped that she would make an impression on him. After all this game of life… well she could be just a supporting character. She could be someone's backstory instead of protagonist. But thinking like that was useless. She was her own hero no matter what happened. She would affect the world because she simply existed!
"Alright then!" Chiaki suddenly smiled and clapped her hands together with her eyes closed and her head tilted completely shifting moods. "Let's play this game!" |
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(Student)
SHSL Game Designer
(Year 3)
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Post by Yuukyoku Souzousha on Aug 2, 2016 5:05:07 GMT
Yuukyoku looked between the two of them as the conversation thankfully moved to Undertale instead of just secrets. Nodding, as Chiaki agreed with her point about emotions, subtle looking at the hand that was dealt while doing so. "That being said, I think there's an argument to be made from a Gameplay Standpoint that the Genocide Route is at least comparable to the Pacifist Route. Separated from narrative, the hardest fights in the game are on that route and the only way to experience the full extent of what the Battle System it to play it. Well, I mean there are Simulators if you want to play a recreated fight, but that's not the same."
"As a game designer I have to keep that in mind. Sometimes what people want to feel from a game is accomplishment, even if doing such is discouraged by the game's story. I'm certain that was in mind when the fights were made. Some people want a challenge even if it means facing Death or Despair on the other side."
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(Student)
SHSL Procrastinator
(Year 2)
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Post by Daniel Saotome on Aug 4, 2016 7:19:33 GMT
I like to take my sweet time doing things.
After all, it's not like the world ends tomorrow, right? Daniel instinctively sighed when Chiaki said that he shouldn't shut off his emotions.
"You know...", Daniel began. "I actually do that on purpose. When you play the genocide route, aren't you this unfeeling, cold, horrible monstrous... thing disguised as a human child? I'm just getting into character when I play genocide."
He played a card, signaling that it was Chiaki's turn next.
"I mean, but when I play the bad guy I want to be as bad as possible. I backstabbed Toriel for one. I backstabbed everyone I could. And defeating the bonus bosses was just cathartic on my quest to eradicate all monsterkind."
Thank goodness Daniel was just talking about videogames and not real life. If he was, he'd probably have been thrown into jail for the rest of his life.
"So yeah. Games do make me feel even after shutting them off. I feel glee and happiness when my enemies lie before me, defeated, and I wallow in their misery and despair... But only as a bad guy, of course. As a good guy, I attempt to get the best ending possible and help everyone I can. The power of friendship and bonds and all that good stuff."
The Procrastinator figured they'd know what he was talking about.
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