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<h1>everything's coming together: a new website </h1>
july 28, 2022<br>
#webdev<br>
<br>
<p>Everything's coming together. I've been learning a lot, and I'm finally ready to share my work. <br></p>
<img src="/static/img/ent/everythingscomingtogether_home.png" alt="(screenshot: Blessfrey homepage)"><br>
<br>
<h2>new website, new me </h2>
<p>Welcome to Blessfrey.me, my online portfolio and design blog! After using it privately (or at least as privately as anything can be online) to practice webdev and biweekly blogging for a year, this site is ready for visitors. <br></p>
<br>
<p>The last time I did any webdev was back when every website had custom HTML+CSS profiles, so I'm stunned by how far web technology has come along, both in terms of capability and ease of implementation. Man, I wish we had the CSS grid to lay out old petsite pages! I feel up to speed now, though. My confidence in maintaining and upgrading my website is solid. Same for writing articles. They're at a good length, level of organization, and readability. Writing for just yourself and writing for someone else are two completely different mindsets, you know? <br></p>
<br>
<p>Of course, I'm not saying Blessfrey.me is <i>great</i>, I'm saying I'm not <i>ashamed</i> anymore. People with a harsh inner critic understand what a hurdle that is. <br></p>
<br>
<p>I'm going to take this somewhat professionally (I mean, I'm no business suit avatar "no offers under 100k" person), so I have a release schedule and content mix and everything. I'll return to social media, too. All that pandemic news was hard to look at, but I miss seeing other people's projects and meeting fellow devs. My Twitter is <a href="https://twitter.com/lilchimchooree">@lilchimchooree</a>, and my Mastodon is also <a href="https://mastodon.gamedev.place/web/@lilchimchooree">lilchimchooree</a>. <br></p>
<br>
<p>So please bookmark and visit every other Thursday (US time) for new articles! Also, message me wherever. I don't mind chatting. <br></p>
<br>
<h2>reassessing things </h2>
<p>I never really had a plan for how to use this site and was generally copying other portfolios and blogs. Having your own website is really cool, though. Unless I'm somewhere else for a community, there's no reason for me to still be fussing with image hosting services or any kind of content management tool. My server, domain, and custom code should cover everything. It should be the easiest thing in the world to show people what I've been working on, too - just show them my website, duh. <br></p>
<br>
<p>So what should I do with my website? Whatever I want. It should be obvious, but the drive to copy others and meet standard expectations is so hard to break. <br></p>
<br>
<p>First, I'm going to have embedded HTML5 applications. I'm not waiting for Blessfrey's first demo to do that, either. I'm making gamejam projects, prototypes, anything interesting, and slapping them right on the website. After all, a gamedev website should have games! <br></p>
<br>
<p>Second, I'm going to share programming <i>and</i> fashion projects. I used to have a separate fashion portfolio and a few blogs, but I was always struggling to match the guidelines for online content. It's more freeing to give myself a blank section of my general portfolio and a tenth of the blog to fill however I want. Some fashion designers like <a href="https://www.kennethdking.com/">Kenneth D. King</a> don't even organize their ideas into seasonal collections. The industry as a whole is reconsidering rigid expectations, replacing in-person runway shows with alternatives like direct press meetings, fashion photography lookbooks, and short art films. Why shouldn't a fashion blogger re-evaluate her portfolio? <br></p>
<br>
<p>
<p>Best practice says to be an SEO zombie laser-focused on a niche, but that doesn't make sense for me. I develop websites, games, programming projects, fashion projects, interior design projects, pixelart, writing, and more, and people in my life ask to see them. I want to work for actual people, not an algorithm. <br></p>
<br>
<h2>technical journey </h2>
<p>Blessfrey.me's needs are fairly simple - some static pages and a blog page. Blogging platforms are overkill for my purposes, and all those unused features would bog down the website at best and contribute to security vulnerabilities at worst. Also, they tend to collect private user information, and I'd rather not be responsible for that right now. So I write and maintain this site from scratch. It's plain fun to write my own platform. Besides, it just makes sense for my programming portfolio to be something I programmed. <br></p>
<br>
<p>I always thought PHP developers were so cool as a kid, so Blessfrey.me was originally written in PHP. That didn't last long. I could compare pros and cons, but PHP was too unenjoyable to maintain. <a href="https://www.php.net/manual/en/">Its documentation</a> is crazy, though. Each page has a comment section with 19-year-old posts criticising the language. So bizarrely negative and <i>old</i>! <br></p>
<br>
<p>Now I use <a href="https://bottlepy.org/docs/dev/">Bottle</a>, a Python micro web-framework, its built-in template engine <a href="https://bottlepy.org/docs/dev/stpl.html">SimpleTemplate</a>, and HTML and CSS. It's deployed using <a href="https://docs.docker.com/language/java/deploy/">Docker</a>. Any embedded applications are probably HTML5 written in Godot Engine. <br></p>
<br>
<h2>plans for the future </h2>
<p>The website has plenty of room for improvement. It looks pretty wonky on mobile and tablets, and I've only been testing in Firefox and Chrome-based browsers. It's functional and has a decent amount of content, though, so I'd say it's a-okay to take out of maintenance mode for now. <br></p>
<br>
<p>Next I'm going to work with every resolution I can get my hands on and iron out the code. Each page is wordy and unstructured, but I'll rein them in soon. I'll also properly implement my character database, so I don't have to use clunky <a href="https://toyhou.se/abbey">Toyhouse</a> anymore. <br></p>
<br>
<h2>let's appreciate what we have! </h2>
<p>Don't go through the motions. If you have anything super cool like a website, don't just use it how you're "supposed" to use it. Put your possessions to work and have fun with them! <br></p>
<br>
<br>
Last updated July 28, 2022 <br>
<br>
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<h1>coroutines in godot engine </h1>
august 11, 2022<br>
#gamedev #coroutines #godotengine #programming #demo<br>
<br>
<p>Demonstrating coroutines in Godot Engine with a simple application. <br></p>
<img src="/static/img/ent/stoplight_screenshot.png" alt="(screenshot: a simple tech demo with a stoplight and a walk button.)"><br>
<br>
<h2>defining coroutines </h2>
<p>Coroutines are functions that, instead of running to completion, yield until certain criteria are met. Godot Engine supports coroutines through <a href="https://docs.godotengine.org/en/stable/classes/class_@gdscript.html#class-gdscript-method-yield">yield()</a>, <a href="https://docs.godotengine.org/en/stable/classes/class_gdscriptfunctionstate.html#class-gdscriptfunctionstate-method-resume">resume()</a>, and the <a href="https://docs.godotengine.org/en/stable/classes/class_gdscriptfunctionstate.html">GDScriptFunctionState</a> object. <br></p>
<br>
<h2>why use a coroutine? </h2>
<p>Coroutines allow for scripted game scenarios that respond dynamically to the player and the changing game world. They let you bounce between functions, step-by-step, and respond to interruptions. This means functions can be automatically called at the completion of other functions, animations, player actions, in-game events, or timers. Add in interruptions and conditionals, and you have a tool for building a responsive game world. <br></p>
<br>
<h2>stoplight example </h2>
<p>As a simple demonstration, I made a stoplight. Follow along with my code on <a href="https://gitlab.com/chimchooree/stoplight">GitLab</a>. <br></p>
<br>
<p>The light changes every few seconds, going from green, yellow, then red. The light changes immediately if the walk button is pressed. This demonstrates that methods can wait for criteria (a timed duration in this case) to be met before resuming, and they can be influenced by player action. <br></p>
<br>
<a target="_blank" href="/static/img/ent/stoplight_demonstration.gif">
<img src="/static/img/ent/stoplight_demonstration.gif" alt="(gif: demonstration)" width="500" height="281.67">
</a><br>
<br>
<h2>how is it written? </h2>
<h3>node hierarchy </h3>
<img src="/static/img/ent/stoplight_nodehierarchy.png" alt="(screenshot: node hierarchy in the editor. Root is a node named Main. It's children are TextureRect BG, AnimatedSprite Stoplight, Sprite WalkButton, and a Label. Stoplight's child is a Sprite. WalkButton's child is a TextureButton.)"><br>
<p>I have a TextureRect background, an AnimatedSprite stoplight, a Sprite walk button with a TextureButton, and a label for displaying a timer. Most of the code is attached to the root. It's better to have code closer to where it's being used and to mind your separation of concerns in real projects, though. <br></p>
<br>
<h3>animation</h3>
<img src="/static/img/ent/stoplight_animationframes.png" alt="(image: the AnimatedSprite Stoplight has 4 animations - default (which is no light), green, red, and yellow.)"><br>
<p>The light is changed by setting its animation to one of these options. Each is one-frame - just the stoplight with the one or none of the lights colored in. <br></p>
<h3>the code </h3>
This project has two scripts: Main.gd, which is attached to the root node, and Label.gd, which is attached to the Label. <br>
<br>
<h4>Main.gd - available on <a href="https://gitlab.com/chimchooree/stoplight/-/blob/master/Main.gd">GitLab</a></h4>
<pre><code>extends Node
onready var stoplight = $Stoplight
func _ready():
stoplight.play()
var result = wait(5, 'green')
$WalkButton/TextureButton.connect('pressed', result, 'resume',
['interrupted on green'], CONNECT_ONESHOT)
yield(result, 'completed')
result = wait(5, 'yellow')
$WalkButton/TextureButton.connect('pressed', result, 'resume',
['interrupted on yellow'], CONNECT_ONESHOT)
yield(result, 'completed')
result = wait(5, 'red')
$WalkButton/TextureButton.connect('pressed', result, 'resume',
['interrupted on red'], CONNECT_ONESHOT)
yield(result, 'completed')
func wait(time, color):
print('waiting for: ' + color)
var result = yield(get_tree().create_timer(time), 'timeout')
if result:
print(result)
stoplight.animation = color
print('done: ' + color)
func _on_completed():
print('completed')
func _on_WalkButton_gui_input(event):
if event is InputEventMouseButton and event.pressed:
print ("Walk Button not functioning.")</code></pre><br>
<br>
<h4>Label.gd - available on <a href="https://gitlab.com/chimchooree/stoplight/-/blob/master/Label.gd">GitLab</a></h4>
<pre><code>extends Label
var time_start = 0
var time_now = 0
func _ready():
time_start = OS.get_unix_time()
set_process(true)
func _process(delta):
time_now = OS.get_unix_time()
var elapsed = time_now - time_start
var minutes = elapsed / 60
var seconds = elapsed % 60
var str_elapsed = "%02d" % [seconds]
text = str(str_elapsed)</code></pre><br>
<br>
<h2>how does it work? </h2>
<p>At <span class="code">_ready()</span>, <span class="code">wait()</span> is assigned to the GDScriptFunctionState <span class="code">result</span> and is called for the first color, green. <span class="code">_ready()</span> yields until <span class="code">wait()</span> is completed. <br></p>
<br>
<p>The wait method yields for the given amount of seconds then sets the stoplight to the given color. <br></p>
<br>
<p>At <span class="code">wait()</span>'s completion, <span class="code">_ready()</span> calls <span class="code">wait()</span> for yellow, then red. Each is called one at a time, waiting for the color to complete before moving on. <br></p>
<br>
<h3>interrupting the stoplight </h3>
<p>The Wait Button interrupts the wait times between colors. Before <span class="code">_ready()</span> yields, it connects the <span class="code">'pressed'</span> signal on the Wait Button. <br></p>
<br>
<p>If the Wait Button is clicked during <span class="code">wait()</span>'s yield, the GDScriptFunctionState <span class="code">result</span> resumes immediately, ignoring <span class="code">wait()</span>'s yield timer. This time, <span class="code">result</span> has a string arg <span class="code">"interrupted on green,"</span> so it will print the result, change the stoplight's color, then print <span class="code">"done: green."</span> The <span class="code">wait</span> method is complete, so <span class="code">_ready()</span> resumes and calls <span class="code">wait()</span> for the next color. <br></p>
<br>
<h2>play it yourself </h2>
<iframe frameborder="0" src="https://itch.io/embed/1643944?dark=true" width="552" height="167"><a href="https://chimchooree.itch.io/stoplight">stoplight by chimchooree</a></iframe><br>
<br>
<h2>applications </h2>
<p>The outcomes in this example can be swapped out with anything. I use coroutines in Blessfrey's skills to manage the flow of phases from activation, different phases of effects, cooldown, and interactions with any counters. I also use it in the basic weapon attack so the character continuously swings at the rate of his attack speed until he cancels, uses a skill, or moves. It could also be used for something like cars that stop and honk when the player walks in front of them then drive off once the path is clear. Anything influenced by other entities is a good coroutine candidate. <br></p>
<br>
<p>Coroutines enable practical ways to improve the flow and interactivity of games, so practice the concept a lot! <br></p>
<br>
<br>
Last updated July 31, 2022 <br>
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<h1>gator swimsuit </h1>
august 25, 2022<br>
#fashion #swimwear #design-process #animalparade <br>
<br>
<p>A swimsuit designed just for me. <br></p>
<a target="_blank" href="/static/img/fash/churchgirls+animalparade/Gator/gator.jpg">
<img src="/static/img/fash/churchgirls+animalparade/Gator/gator.jpg" alt="(photo: quick photo of the finished garment, hanging against my door.)">
</a><br>
<br>
<h2>concept </h2>
<p>Gator is part of Animal Parade, a collection that emphasizes the individualism of clothing. Every garment deserves special consideration, even basic undershirts, sleep masks, etc. <br></p>
<br>
<p>All the designs are named after important animals in my life. The swimsuit is named <i>Gator</i> because of the gator who lives in my swampy subdivision. I've seen him during walks. Absolutely unnerving. <br>
<br>
<h2>design process </h2>
<p>I haven't had a swimsuit for years and never like any in the store anyway. I browsed online catalogs in English and 日本語 and window-shopped everywhere in town, searching for both style and technical inspiration. I've never worked with active wear garments, so I studied the inside of nearly everything at Dick's Sporting Goods to understand the style elements, seams, and findings typical of swimsuits and active wear in general. <br></p>
<br>
<h3>one-and-a-half-piece </h3>
<p>The swimsuits that stood out to me were blurring the line between one-piece and two-piece. I can't find my old collage, but here's a quick one. Sorry for not remembering the source of the images. <br></p>
<a target="_blank" href="/static/img/fash/churchgirls+animalparade/Gator/collage.png">
<img src="/static/img/fash/churchgirls+animalparade/Gator/collage.png" alt="(collage: variety of swimsuits from online stores)">
</a><br>
<p>I iterated over the concept in sketches a little. <br></p>
<a target="_blank" href="/static/img/fash/churchgirls+animalparade/Gator/sketch-twopiece.jpg">
<img src="/static/img/fash/churchgirls+animalparade/Gator/sketch-twopiece.jpg" alt="(sketch: a series of rough pencil croquis with different variations of two-pieces.)">
</a><br>
<p>Ideas: <br></p>
<ul>
<li>Connecting the top and bottom with interlocked tricot loops, criss-crossing over the belly and lower back. </li>
<li>Overlapping hanging petals of tricot over a tiered swim skirt. </li>
<li>Long-sleeve mock turtleneck shirt under a spaghetti strap wrap one piece</li>
<li>Flowing panel under the bust line, worn over a tiered swim skirt</li>
<li>Ruched bodysuit worn under a structured balconette tank</li>
<a target="_blank" href="/static/img/fash/churchgirls+animalparade/Gator/sketch-chiffon.jpg">
<img src="/static/img/fash/churchgirls+animalparade/Gator/sketch-chiffon.jpg" alt="(sketch: realized version)">
</a><br>
<p>This is where the one-and-a-half-piece idea led. I like the sheer fabric in the central examples from the collage. I love texture, so all the ruching and gathers really stand out to me, too. I wonder how feasible it would be to make two "two-pieces" - one relatively basic bikini with a loop in the center front of the swim bottoms, and another sheer, pintucked overlay with a tricot panel peek-a-boo skirt that fastens onto the loop. The overlay is tiered in the back then parts around the sides until it fully exposes the midriff in the front. <br></p>
<br>
<p>I'm not sure tricot or mesh would be sturdy enough for pintucks, so I checked if chiffon swimwear is even a thing. It actually is! Plenty of chiffon sleeves and panels floating around out there. <br></p>
<br>
<p>I really like this design. The central fastener on the swim bottoms isn't like anything I've seen in stores. The suit's connected in enough places that it shouldn't become a shapeless bubble underwater. I bet it'd be gorgeous to watch float and flow in the waves. <br></p>
<br>
<p>Unfortunately, pretty or not, I don't think it's practical. Chiffon is a dainty fabric, and swimming is not a dainty activity. There's plenty of brick and concrete around and roughhousing with friends. Besides, chiffon isn't that comfortable to wear dry, and I cringe imagining chlorine-soaked chiffon Saran-wrapped over my torso. Not to mention, I don't know how comfortable I am with a two-piece anyway. Body insecurities! (Who doesn't have them?) <br></p>
<br>
<p>Back to the drawing board! <br></p>
<br>
<h3>made for me</h3>
<p>Instead of synthesizing the prettiest elements into one swimsuit, I should be synthesizing the most practical elements into one swimsuit. People who feel confident and comfortable in their clothes are the prettiest! Also, ruffled chiffon is the definition of my comfort zone. Active wear is an opportune time to try new designs. <br></p>
<br>
<ul>
<li>I want less skin showing, but I want to feel the water on some part of my body. </li>
<li>I prefer the collage swimsuits with tiered swim skirts. Many "modest" swimsuits look like short bodycon dresses. I'm not insecure about the length of my swimsuit; I'm insecure about nothing covering my abdomen but spandex! If the tiers are detached and start high, it obscures this area without looking frumpy. </li>
<li>Virtually every well-made sporting goods swimsuit (and every piece of male active wear for that matter) had raglan sleeves. This makes sense, since it's a style that doesn't impede rotation of the shoulder, but I'm surprised it's raglan or bust for athletes. Guess I'll take note. <li>
<li>Mock turtlenecks are just the best. I have a long neck, so they look good on me. </li>
</ul>
<a target="_blank" href="/static/img/fash/churchgirls+animalparade/Gator/sketch-raglan.jpg">
<img src="/static/img/fash/churchgirls+animalparade/Gator/sketch-raglan.jpg" alt="(sketch: realized version)">
</a><br>
<p>I drew and drew over the same croquis, so the process was lost apart from long raglan sleeves, a mock turtleneck, and tiered layers around the lower body. I went back and forth between full-coverage bikini bottoms and shorts. I also had an idea for a swim obi belt. Obi belts were all over the runway a few years ago. I couldn't find anything quite like it on a swimsuit, but it seems like such a cool idea. Maybe not practical, but I'd go for it if it didn't require <i>so</i> much fabric. <br></p>
<a target="_blank" href="/static/img/fash/churchgirls+animalparade/Gator/ZuhairMurad_PreFall2019_00015-Zuhair-Paris-Pre-Fall-19-credit-Emmanuel-Giraud.jpg">
<img src="/static/img/fash/churchgirls+animalparade/Gator/ZuhairMurad_PreFall2019_00015-Zuhair-Paris-Pre-Fall-19-credit-Emmanuel-Giraud.jpg" alt="(fashion photography: two looks. One is a bodycon black dress with a Mandarin collar, plunging neckline, and fringe &#8217;sleeves&#8217;, topped with a textured black obi belt with long tassels. The other is cropped black dress pants worn with a garment at the intersection of tailored blazer and kimono, with fringe falling from the shoulders, topped with a black velvet obi belt tied with tassels. )">
</a><br>
<i>Zuhair Murad presented some of my favorite obi belt looks during the Pre-Fall 2019 show. Photo credit to Emmanuel Giraud. <br>(Wait, a design like this wouldn't take as much fabric...Hmmm.) <br></i>
<a target="_blank" href="/static/img/fash/churchgirls+animalparade/Gator/final.jpg">
<img src="/static/img/fash/churchgirls+animalparade/Gator/final.jpg" alt="(sketch: realized version)">
</a><br>
<p>Anyway, this is close to what I made. I moved the zipper to the center back to avoid breaking up my beautiful fabric. I didn't care to insert piping into active wear seams. (yes, those aren't thick seams - that is piping.) I didn't make the obi belt either, but I might. I have long strips of fabric left over, and it might be enough to do something cool. <br></p>
<h2>material</h2>
<a target="_blank" href="/static/img/fash/churchgirls+animalparade/Gator/fabricshopping.png">
<img src="/static/img/fash/churchgirls+animalparade/Gator/fabricshopping.png" alt="(screenshot: pastel seafoam, mauve, and sulfur neoprene with a swamp print)">
</a><br>
<i><a href="https://www.moodfabrics.com/mystic-swamp-digitally-printed-stretch-neoprene-scuba-knit-307451">Mood Fabric's Mystic Swamp Digitally Printed Stretch Neoprene/Scuba Knit</a></i> <br>
<p>I chose neoprene because it's flatteringly thick, durable, and still relatively trendy in fashion after years of being delegated to seat covers and boring functional garments. I've never sewn with it before and heard terrible things, but I'll try it. <br></p>
<br>
<p>This print in particular is so unique. In a sea of tropical island palm tree, this is a swamp! I grew up in swamps and live in a swamp, and I <i>never</i> see our biome fantasized like this. It's also bright and pastel without entering some generic rainbow or pastel goth palette. It even includes that incredible glowing sulfur color from <a href="https://www.pantone.com/articles/past-colors-of-the-year/color-of-the-year-2021">PANTONE's 2021 Color of the Year</a>. I <i>adore</i> this fabric. <br></p>
<a target="_blank" href="/static/img/fash/churchgirls+animalparade/Gator/neoprene.jpg">
<img src="/static/img/fash/churchgirls+animalparade/Gator/neoprene.jpg" alt="(photo: my cut of neoprene)">
</a><br>
<p>I paired it with a seafoam invisible zipper, pastel rainbow thread, and gray thread. <br></p>
<h2>pattern-making</h2>
<a target="_blank" href="/static/img/fash/churchgirls+animalparade/Gator/pattern.jpg">
<img src="/static/img/fash/churchgirls+animalparade/Gator/pattern.jpg" alt="(photo: my paper pattern pieces, hanging with the rest of my patterns)">
</a><br>
<p>This is my only picture of my pattern for now. I make them out of thick paper and store them by piercing each set with a safety pin then hanging them from yarn bows. <br></p>
<br>
<p>I've never made a raglan sleeve and don't even own any, so this was a real challenge. I started with a regular sloper, taped them together, cut them along the "raglan line," used that to sew a knit bodysuit, then fitted and seam-ripped and resewed until it was spot-on. <br></p>
<br>
<p>I've never designed a mock turtleneck either, even though I really ought to have by now. For some reason, I imagining it should be more tapered, but the neck is relatively tubular. The triangular muscles connecting the neck to the shoulders aren't as important, especially with my placement of the scoop "neckline." However, starting the collar that far out adds inches to the height requirement. It took several iterations before it was long enough to actually look like a turtleneck. <br></p>
<br>
<p>Sleeves are sleeves. Princess lines and tiers-and-panels are my specialty, so no problem there. Then I traced my comfiest pair of full-coverage underwear for the leg openings. <br></p>
<br>
<p>As with most of my tiered designs, the tiers of the skirt only start an inch or so from beneath the previous tier. That bottom tier isn't much longer than the tier on the top. This reduces bulk and fabric consumption, which is 100x more important on a swimsuit made of pricy fabric. The length of the tiers took a lot of experimentation. They need to be balanced, fall at flattering points of my body, begin at comfortable points on my body, and work with the print. I played in front of a mirror in loops of measuring tape all day. <br></p>
<a target="_blank" href="/static/img/fash/churchgirls+animalparade/Gator/tieredpanels.png">
<img src="/static/img/fash/churchgirls+animalparade/Gator/tieredpanels.png" alt="(MS paint sketch: panels underlay the tiers. In-between each panel of the skirt, a gathered tier begins. This contrasts economically with a skirt where every tier begins at the waist.)">
</a><br>
<h2>cut and sew </h2>
<p>I was very conscious of the print while cutting. I used the stark white sky as an anchor and draped a few different placements - across the collarbone, across the bustline, and my chosen placement, atop the chest. The print has dense dark areas and light fluffy areas, and this placement emphasized femininity. The grays and trees are at my chest, emphasizing them while still looking painterly and abstract enough to not be garish. The blacks and voids are at my waist, neck, upper arms, and lap. Then the dense, difficult-to-read green foliage obscures my lower body. Perfect! I matched the arms, which puts the placid blue water on my forearms, so the part I see the most is my favorite part of the print. Overall, great luck with the vertical repeat on this fabric. <br></p>
<br>
<p>As for sewing, these are all serged seams using pastel rainbow thread. The edges are finished with gray serging. The tiers were basted and gathered by hand before being sewn into the skirt. It was very, very easy. The girls who told me neoprene doesn't hold stitches must have had finicky machines. <br></p>
<br>
<p>The top is supported by underwire and thin cups. I cut up an old bra and attached it to the lining by hand. It was nerve-wracking doing the fittings because they were done with the garment inside-out and any markings involving stretchy material around curves are difficult to achieve accuracy with. The final fit is perfect, though. <br></p>
<h2>outcome</h2>
<a target="_blank" href="/static/img/fash/churchgirls+animalparade/Gator/gator.jpg">
<img src="/static/img/fash/churchgirls+animalparade/Gator/gator.jpg" alt="(photo: quick photo of the finished garment, hanging against my door.)">
</a><br>
<p>I've taken it to the beach and the pool and feel so special. No one has a swimsuit like this. The colors are adorable and unique. The print and colors are so intricate compared to the rest of the market. The design is relatively modest but still youthful. I get so many compliments. I'm also glad I pushed myself away from making yet another ruffled chiffon gown. Even within the realm of activewear neoprene, my design aesthetic is still obvious, and that's cool to see. <br></p>
<br>
<p>It's very comfortable to wear, too, which was my number one design goal here. The skirt isn't too bulky, so I can get away with oversized jeans as my coverup. I feel confident under the thick fabric and tiered skirt, and the long sleeves and tall neck protect me from the full blast of the sun. My thighs do show, but whatever. They're usually underwater anyway. The swimsuit maintains its shape well underwater, too. <br></p>
<br>
<p>When I was done, I immediately sewed four mock turtleneck undershirts based off this pattern and love them, too! When I have more time, I'll share the rest of my garments in another diary entry. Until then, enjoy the rest of summer. <br></p>
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<h1>blessfrey.me under construction </h1>
august 31, 2022<br>
#webdev <br>
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The website doesn't look how I want it yet! <br>
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<h2>working on it </h2>
<br>
Iterating over the website again. Lots of placeholder pages are up, but few are close to my current plan. This version will be better than ever, with embedded HTML5 applications, a content mix planned for articles, and more artwork. <br>
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Last updated August 31, 2022 <br>
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<h1>gaming diary: Oblivion </h1>
july 28, 2022<br>
#gaming <br>
<br>
<p>One of my most-played games by far <br></p>
<img src="/static/img/ent/oblivion_broken.png" alt="(screenshot: a floorless inn with floating NPCs and giant yellow exclamation marks)"><br>
<br>
<h2>gaming diary </h2>
<p>Some gamedev advice I've heard is to actively journal while gaming. Try to see from gamedev and player eyes simultaneously and learn from the risks taken, get inspired by different genres, and generally increase your exposure to the medium. I might as well try it. <br></p>
<br>
<p>I haven't written about games outside of Steam reviews, so maybe it's easiest to start with a favorite: Oblivion. I've been going through an Oblivion phase again lately anyway. In the <a href="/diary/tag/gaming">Gaming Diary series</a>, I'll give a description of the featured game then paint in broad strokes what's fun and what holds it back. It'll be like a game review but for game designers. I'll keep a nitpicky journal privately. </p>
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<h2>the best sandbox </h2>
<p>The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is a 2006 action/adventure game by Bethesda, sandwiched between Morrowind and Skyrim. You play as a <br></p>
<br>
<p>I've spent thousands of hours easily in Oblivion, but I don't have a normal relationship with it. I've only finished the main quest once and still haven't completed all the quests after all these years. The bulk of my gameplay has been spent roleplaying in Anvil or making mods. Judging from my backup folder, I've been making significant edits to the game every few months since high school. So for me, Oblivion is a sandbox, or maybe even just a level editor with a lot of premade content. <br></p>
<br>
<p>So what are the issues keeping me from playing the game as a game? <br></p>
<h2>problems with the game </h2>
<p>Obviously, the combat and level scaling is bad, but every reviewer in the world has torn into those topics already. Honestly, The Elder Scrolls is strong in adventure, not combat, so I'm not miffed by it. Few modern games (post-2005) are compelling by that metric alone. Morrowind is propped up as so much better, but the RPG aspects are barebones and won't punish you much at all for neglecting to plan your class. The So long as you are willing to pour a few hours into missing with your weapon or lockpick or spell or whatever, you'll start hitting and hard. (well, Morrowind DOES has cool spells like levitation that tie into levitation dungeon puzzles..so it's an awesome RPG in some ways.) It's like offering high praise to Planescape Torment then extending that praise to Planescape Torment's combat. So long as the combat doesn't detract too much from the game's high points, that's okay with me. <br></p>
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<p>I sink into Daggerfall and Morrowind when I play, but I'm not sure I felt that way even when first started Oblivion. The art direction never looked good to me, unlike Morrowind's intriguing alienscape. The level design is overwhelmingly bland (overworld, dungeons, cities, houses). They haven't aged well, either. After seeing Witcher 3's massive and believable cities overflowing with workers and pedestrians, the Imperial City is a ghost town.
Oblivion has a particularly pleasant soundtrack, so it's not bad to walk around town or the forest. Daggerfall has incredible dungeons that, combined with some random quest objective, are strong enough to stand on their own. Plenty of Morrowind's dungeons stand out to me, too, with their levitation and waterbreathing puzzles, strong aesthetic differences between caves and Dwemer underground cities. I'm not sure any really stand out to me in Oblivion. The puzzles in Ayleid dungeons are pretty basic and easy to just run through, heal up, and move on. There's nothing to really learn about the Ayleids, despite game taking place in their old capital. Very shallow inclusion. <br></p>
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<p>Part of the problem I mentioned is that I'm forcing myself 10 years later into trying a significant amount of the content. Especially back when I was in high school, I was the kind of person who 100%'ed every game I touched. Oblivion makes it very unrewarding, very tedious, and too obscure to dig into the game. I slept in an inn maybe once. I stopped walking on foot unless I forced myself, opting to map travel, missing out on the opportunity to find small quests in the wild. <br></p>
<br>
(screenshot of witcher 3 city vs imperial city)
(screenshot of meme dialogue)
(screenshot of cool morrowind dungeons and interiors)
(screenshot of daggerfall dungeon)
(screenshot of Planescape torment combat)
<h2>so what carries the game? </h2>
<p>That would be the writing. It's not surprising in the slightest that every time a 'best quests ever' article or thread pops up online, the And Then There Were None quest, the painting quest, Glarthir's quest, and other Oblivion quests. It's creative and cool, but I think there's more to its lasting popularity. I think Oblivion was emulating a memetic quality before memes had the importance they do together. The dialogue is editted and tight. Each screenshot of text can stand on its own, and is often hilarious on its own. It's only boosted with the uncanny Bethesda freeze and zoom onto the ridiculously ugly potato faces that change tone and expression line by line. <br></p>
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<p>The part that kept the game running at all times for me was the music. The music is particularly pleasant. I've heard Jeremy Soule was inspired for at least some tracks by a car accident and his new appreciation for life, but I haven't verified that. Morrowind's doesn't have enough variety, so the big movie adventurer score plays when I'm just reorganizing my crates at home, so though nice, it can be inappropriate at times. Skyrim's has almost too much variety and seems more complicated, so it's more difficult for my untrained ear to pick out particular tracks to tie to memories in-game. Oblivion's is the sweet spot in the middle. Simple, pleasant, and always ties into what my character is currently doing. I spent so much time studying or doing homework, using the game as a 12 hour oblivion study and chill video running in the background. If I went a long time without playing then heard the soundtrack, it pulled on my heart. I don't feel this way about many games, but a huge portion of Oblivion is the soundtrack to me, and I wouldn't be surprised if others feel this level of connection between the two. <br></p>
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<p>I feel like it was their last artistic, vulnerable endeavor that was trying to be more than a commercial project. The radiant AI has some wild stories. Only Bethesda would surrender their control over the player's experience and hand it over to not only the player but the NPCs. Even if the radiant AI is shackled in its current state, I still can seldom visit Olaf's inn in Bruma without witnessing a town-wide brawl. It makes the game unplayable to a degree. There were plenty of interesting NPCs I only learned about on my second playthrough because so many died off-screen during my first. It gives the game the same unpredictability that old Sims games had, but the simulation was obviously the point of those games. There's something raw about putting that into an RPG. Despite being a quest marker game, it is also comfortable about filling the world with content on well-traveled paths. There are still quests I am discovering for the first time, albeit it small ones in remote inns. Most games these days try as hard as possible to put the player on rails. If they make a good quest, they force the start point into you hand. <br></p>
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<p>Most people wouldn't say it's the writing and music and certainly not the art, though. They'd say it's the modding community. They'd probably be right, but there's probably plenty of highly moddable games out there that never gain any traction. I don't think Fallout's is nearly as impressive, despite the games being very similar. Oblivion is just particularly inspiring to mess around with! The community surely would have never come without the name recognition and actual merits of the game. Oblivion has an awesome modding community, though, that still is active even today. I'm not sure if Bethesda manages it well, with all the attempts to monetize, control the platform on which mods can be published, and incompatible rereleases of theirs games, but once they put the construction kit out there, people are going to publish mods. <br></p>
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<p>I'm happy with the game as is, so I'm not motivated to do much more than disable cliff racers and make a few houses. Oblivion is so simple, though, (it's not too far from a walking in a fantasy forest emulator) that I don't feel as bad about drastic modding. The graphics are right on that line of modern 3D graphics but still within grasp for amateur modelers to create nonclashing models for, too. With localization mods making the game accessible to new communities at staggered times, there were several waves of new cultures making mods. Japan's in particular stand out, with all their Japanese-influenced Akavir mods and cute clothes and character models. <br></p>
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<h2>gallery </h2>
<p>I'll share some of my personal screenshots. <br></p>
<div class="gallery">
<img src="/static/img/ent/oblivion_akavir.png" alt="(screenshot: my dunmer girl wearing a kimono and the Madstone in Akavir)"><br>
<img src="/static/img/ent/oblivion_cathedral.png" alt="(screenshot: cathedral lights at night)"><br>
<img src="/static/img/ent/oblivion_inn.png" alt="(screenshot: Martin and my breton girl watching the rain from their room at the inn)"><br>
<img src="/static/img/ent/oblivion_jeanne.png" alt="(screenshot: my breton girl and Jeanne in their favorite dresses)"><br>
<img src="/static/img/ent/oblivion_martin.png" alt="(screenshot: Martin spending time with the Blades)"><br>
<img src="/static/img/ent/oblivion_unicorn.png" alt="(screenshot: my breton girl riding a unicorn through the woods)"><br>
</div>
<p>Don't ask me all the mods...<br></p>
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<h2>what would I like to emulate from Oblivion? </h2>
<p>I can't say anything 100%, only point out things I admire. <br></p>
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<p>Maybe it's a bad thing for a dev to say, but it's comforting that a game with such awkward graphics and objectively poor and unfun gameplay mechanics and systems (imo lol) can be held up so well by creative quests and NPC dialogue, music, willingness to try some unusual wacky mechanic. <br></p>
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<p>Definitely going to take notes from the writing. The memetic, screenshottable quality is a very smart guideline to shoot for while writing. Avoiding awkward breaks between screens is less shareable. Screenshots are more attractive when they have complete sentences or at least complete ideas on them. <br></p>
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<p>The cities have a lot of detail and environmental storytelling to appreciate, but they come across as so lifeless and dead to me today. After all the time I've spent redesigning Chorrol and the Imperial City to have more character and life. <br></p>
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<p>I love that they didn't give us a simple level editor - they gave us tools capable of creating most of the content in the game. If I could make the content with tools that I could release alongside the game, that would be really cool. I'm already designing skills with this mindset. I think most devs make tools to develop their game with, so I'm not really sure why most of those tools are never released. It'd take some effort to polish them and make them more usable by amateurs, but practically no one releases them. You'd think the Construction Set and GECK wouldn't be so special, but they really are. <br></p>
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<p>Then, the most important part, the aesthetic of a couple of Oblivion mods was the direct push that spurred me to start writing Blessfrey. I don't still have them, but it was like a motorcycle mod, some streetwear mods, etc. That idea of going to a relatively believable modern day relatable setting and going shopping and hanging out with your cute elf boyfriend and having a greatsword and cute clothes was extremely lore-breaking (though probably not to Kierkegaardists) but enthralling. I had a few more ideas for mods, like a Spider Daedra themed fast food joint in the Market District, but the level of modding I was looking at was so much that I halted and started making my own game instead with that aethetic instead. I'm not sure Blessfrey really resembles those original mods, but that was the impetus, the spark. So...honestly, all of Blessfrey is an attempt to emulate Oblivion at least in some small part. <br></p>
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Last updated July 28, 2022 <br>
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<h1>inventory as a system diagram </h1>
january 7, 2021<br>
#design #systemdiagram #gamemechanics<br>
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<b>System diagrams</b> illustrate how components interact within a system. It saves so much headache to step back and plan with a system diagram before jumping into code. <br>
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<h2>stop + plan before coding </h2><br>
I want to move blessfrey's inventory into an app on the player character's smartphone. Before, it was displayed in a random pop-up window. It was poorly planned, so the programmatic inventory and the UI were too tightly coupled to easily pop into the phone screen. Instead of wrestling, it's easier to start over and actually plan before I code this time. <br>
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<br>
<h2>list out your nouns </h2><br>
A simple way to start thinking about a system is to list out its nouns + verbs. Jot down the entities that interact with your system. <br>
<br>
<center><img src="/static/img/ent/systemdiagram_inventory.jpeg" alt="(image: system diagram for inventory)" width="500" height="250"></center> <br>
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For blessfrey's inventory, that's the inventory (programmatic), the player character, the inventory app (UI), and base items. The inventory app is related to the smartphone and inventory items. Items are related to floor items, which are related to rooms. <br>
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(blessfrey has three different kinds of items. <br>
<br><ul>
<li><b>Base Item</b>: holds all the data regardless of how the item is currently expressed </li>
<li><b>Floor Item</b>: sits on the ground and gets picked up by characters. </li>
<li><b>Inventory Item</b>: displayed in inventories, store windows, containers, etc </li>
</ul><br>
Floor + Inventory Items hold a base item inside them that gets popped out and traded around as the item gets expressed in different forms.) </br>
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<h2>connect your nouns with verbs </h2><br>
I wrote the entities in pink and moved them around until the placement was decently readable. Then I connected the concepts with arrows. These arrows represent the verbs, which I explicitly labeled in yellow. <br>
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The flow of these arrows can be very important. If you are modeling AI, for instance, no matter what path the program takes, there shouldn't be dead-ends. Seeing mistakes like that is easier with a diagram than lines of code. Otherwise, the flow is always generally useful for figuring out which methods are needed for each class and how they connect. <br>
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<h2>write the code </h2><br>
At this point, coding is a bit easier now that it's in some ways a transcription of the diagram. The entities are data (classes or objects), and the arrows are logic (methods). <br>
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<h2>conclusion </h2><br>
Your diagram doesn't have to be fancy or formal to get the point across to yourself, and it just takes a minute to save all the headache later. Don't skip this step or you'll have to rewrite the inventory system just to display it in a different window. <br>
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<h1>no-legs the cat </h1>
august 11, 2022<br>
#game #no-legs-the-cat #godotengine #release<br>
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<p><b>No-Legs the Cat</b> is a 2D maze game featuring Poltics Cat! Help him find his legs! He can't move by himself, so scoot him around with the arrow keys. Don't forget to feed him all three breakfasts or he'll starve!! Go play it <a href="http://127.0.0.1:9001/demo">here</a> or on <a href="https://chimchooree.itch.io/legless-the-cat">itch.io</a>. <br></p>
<img src="/static/img/ent/everythingscomingtogether_no-legsthecat.png" alt="(No-Legs the Cat screenshot: Poltics Cat finds a bowl of breakfast in the maze)"><br>
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<p>It's not much - just a demonstration to myself that I can export a game and embed HTML5 applications here. It runs pretty well locally, so we'll see how well it runs on the live server in my playtesters' browsers. I'm getting close to releasing the first minor demo for Blessfrey, so I'd really rather iron out all the kinks with a short and simple project first, you know? Dreading the day I have to handle serialization in the browser. <br></p>
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<p>Have fun! More games coming soon. <br></p>
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<h2>faq</h2>
<h3>who is poltics cat? </h3>
<img src="/static/img/ent/nolegsthecat_polticscat.png" alt="(photo: My pet orange kitty with an empty look on his face and legs tucked entirely under his body. He looks like a loaf of bread.)"><br>
<p>My kitty! <br></p>
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<p>It's just an inside joke. There was a guy who kept interrupting the political discussion channel by posting his pet, so I tried to imitate him with my own politics cat. Only I made a typo, and it stuck. <br></p>
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<h3>where'd his legs go? </h3>
<p>Aren't cats cute when they sit like that? It's called "loafing." Kitty's so fluffy that his legs become totally hidden when he does that, and he just stares helplessly at us when we start heckling him. <br></p>
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<p>It looks like his legs are missing for real this time, though. He couldn't have gotten far without them, so they have to be somewhere in the maze. <br></p>
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<h3>isn't one breakfast enough? </h3>
<p>I dunno, my cat is weird. He wants us to give him breakfast first thing in the morning, then again when we eat our own breakfast. It's still so early, it's like he eats two breakfasts. He doesn't care about food for the rest of the day. It's like the concept of lunch and dinner are completely foreign to him. He's a dishonest little guy, though, so he'll come to both my husband and me separately to beg for "second" breakfast. We're usually too smart for him, but I'd be lying if he hasn't bamboozled us into <i>three</i> whole breakfasts before. <br></p>
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<h3>when are godot devs going to stop making everything out of the godot head? </h3>
<p>Probably never. <br></p>
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Last updated July 21, 2022 <br>
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<h1>artfight 2022: team bloom </h1>
august 25, 2022<br>
#personal #artfight #art <br>
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<h2>what's artfight? </h2>
<b>Artfight</b> is an online art game every July. You post profiles for your original characters then go off browsing to find someone else's character to draw. Everyone's sorted into teams and each "attack" or drawing is valued for a certain number of points, so one side wins at the end of the event. You don't get anything for winning, and people game the system so bad that it's hard to even care about the competitive side of the site. <br></p>
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<p>It's more fun to approach the game with your own personal challenge. I know a lot of people try a new style or technique during this month, like my friend trying single-layer digital paintings. My personal approach this year is thematic. I'm drawing cute couples! I don't usually draw boys, so it's a good compromise if his girlfriend will be in the frame, too. Also, more characters per attack = more points! <br></p>
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It's a huge community, so at least a few people are bound to draw your characters, which is such a fun surprise when it happens. Some people like to make art in return for people who attack them, too, as thanks. Their discord is probably the best place to get attention, but it's intimidatingly fast for me. <br>
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<h2>my attacks </h2>
<p>These are the characters I drew. <br></p>
<img src="/static/img/ent/AF22_Abbey_Lune_Arcon_SanoAmaterasu_goddess.png" alt="(pixelart: Sano Amaterasu in a lupine field, playing her harp.)"><br>
<img src="/static/img/ent/AF22_Abbey_Lune_Arcon_SanoAmaterasu_goddess_big.png" alt="(pixelart: same but larger size)"><br>
My pixelart of Lune_Archon's Sano Amaterasu, a horned goddess with her harp. (75x75px, 45 colors) <br>
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<img src="/static/img/ent/AF22_Abbey_Skye_0723_Aisu+LunaStarleaf.png" alt="(pixelart: Aisu, a blue winged man in a sweater standing behind his seated blonde wife with a pink shirt.)"><br>
<img src="/static/img/ent/AF22_Abbey_Skye_0723_Aisu+LunaStarleaf_big.png" alt="(pixelart: same but larger size.)"><br>
My pixelart of Skye_0723's Aisu and Luna Starleaf, a winged warrior and his druid wife who can turn into a pink unicorn. (163x157px, 79 colors) <br>
<br>
<img src="/static/img/ent/AF22_Abbey_EmmArrGus_Brody+Char.png" alt="(pixelart: Brody, a scruffy fisherman sitting on a bench with his anthro shark girlfriend Char.)"><br>
<img src="/static/img/ent/AF22_Abbey_EmmArrGus_Brody+Char_big.png" alt="(pixelart: same but larger size.)"><br>
My pixelart of EmmArrGus's fisherman Brody and his shark girlfriend Char. (150x123px, 54 colors) <br>
<br>
<img src="/static/img/ent/AF22_Abbey_BlackReshiram_Lilac_dragongirl.png" alt="(pixelart: a fluffy pink dragon girl named Lilac.)"><br>
<img src="/static/img/ent/AF22_Abbey_BlackReshiram_Lilac_dragongirl_big.png" alt="(pixelart: same but larger size.)"><br>
My pixelart of BlackReshiram's Lilac, a fluffy pink dragon girl. (51 colors) <br>
<br>
<h2>my defenses </h2>
<p>These are my characters, drawn by other people. <br></p>
<img src="/static/img/ent/AF22_CawfeeCakes_Abbey_Rune_sadlittleguy.png" alt="(image: a bust of a sad Rune in a dark hoodie)"><br>
CawfeeCakes's bust of Rune. He's so sad, he's droopy! <br>
<br>
<img src="/static/img/ent/AF22_Lune_Archon_Abbey_TessaSkyeStMartin.jpeg" alt="(image: Tessa with a vampy lip!)"><br>
Lune_Archon's bust of Tessa with a vampy lip! <br>
<br>
<img src="/static/img/ent/AF22_BlackReshiram_Abbey_floofdrago.png" alt="(image: Abbey in an adorable style!)"><br>
BlackReshiram's illustration of Abbey in an adorable style! <br>
<br>
<br>
<h2>do you recommend this game? </h2>
<p>It's one of the more fun art communities these days. A lot of communities have turned completely business-minded or are littered with off-topic content. Artfight, however, is necessarily interactive and collaborative, more like how art communities felt in the 10s. I try to play every year to motivate myself to draw more, especially things outside my comfort zone of cute girls. <br></p>
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<p>This community has a lot of overlap with Toyhouse and Tumblr, though, so don't be surprised if you keep running into massive text walls of character permissions and "original character donut steal" warnings. There's also a wide range of ability. I see everything from grainy photos of lined paper to Tearzah copycat artists to university illustration students. It feels like old DeviantART in that respect. <br></p>
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<p>You should know that the servers reliably crash during the first week of July every year, so if you do want to play, prepare during June. Upload a few characters and their reference pictures, find targets you'd like to draw, and save their usernames and reference pictures. Even if the servers crash, you've got everything you need for a few days. <br></p>
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Last updated June 4, 2022 <br>
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