Some data mining of Fortnite’s code has discovered that Epic is testing the idea of customising the appearance of the game’s golf karts.
Here’s the code in question:
Who knows how something like this would work, since the karts are shared on the map instead of dropping alongside you. Maybe they’ll just spawn now with random skins on them, maybe they’ll adapt to certain times or events, maybe Epic has worked out a way for karts to show the selected skin of whoever is driving (or drove last).
Time was, iPhone games were a distraction. You’d play them on a commute, or while the water boiled, or during Destiny loading screens. But that was then, and this is now. In case you didn’t know, today’s options today are just as polished (and fun!) as many console counterparts. And now that there are more games on…
The Nintendo Switch is better with friends, so pick up an extra set of Joy-Con in gray or neon yellow for $64, the best price we’ve seen in months. Just note that you’ll have to be signed into a Rakuten account (no guest checkout) and use code FLASH20 at checkout to get the deal.
For many years, I thought that Marcie, the bespectacled, book-obsessed girl in Peanuts, was Asian American. It wasn’t just about how badly I wanted an Asian American in my favorite comic strip; it was about how much I identified with her. Through Marcie’s various story arcs, Charles Schulz depicted the struggles of a shy person who learned her self-worth by reaching her breaking point.
Part of why I believed Marcie was Asian American was her purposefully nondescript depiction. Schulz never gave Marcie a last name, which left her ethnic background ambiguous. Her brunette hair was rendered black on the newspaper page. And her thick, opaque glasses obscured her eyes, which left their shape to my imagination. Perhaps Schulz wanted a character who readers could project themselves onto. Or perhaps it was a case of personality matching look. Marcie saw herself as unremarkable, and it extended to her appearance.
Marcie debuted in 1971, during a time of transition for Peanuts. In the 50’s and 60’s, most of Peanuts’ daily strips were self-contained stories, with only a few arcs running a week or two long at most. But during the 70’s and through the early 80’s, Schulz allowed these narratives to last for three to six weeks, and the characters flourished.
The greatest recipient of these longer narratives was Peppermint Patty, a budding, second wave feminist who rebelled against gender roles. For a good stretch of the 70’s, Peppermint Patty had a near equal amount of prominence as Charlie Brown. And because of that, Marcie was inevitably featured as well. She was Peppermint Patty’s closest confidante and best friend, but often times, she might as well have been Peppermint Patty’s shadow.
Peppermint Patty’s rise to prominence with Marcie in tow gave Schulz time to develop Marcie’s character. Her most defining character trait was her self-doubt. She thought little of herself and spent the majority of her time trying to placate others.
Marcie almost always appeared in the context of a planned activity, such as summer camp or school. Peppermint Patty had to knock on her door to get her involved in something, but much of the time, Marcie couldn’t come out to play. She had to practice her organ. She had to study. She had to read. There was very little leisure time in Marcie’s day; her parents were protective of her, and their method of keeping her safe was keeping her busy.
The effect of this disproportion on a child, of course, is that one becomes unbalanced—overdeveloped in cerebral matters, but underdeveloped in life skills and sociability. A poor self-image isn’t far behind; it’s difficult to imagine being desirable when socializing is so openly discouraged. Marcie resigned herself to her lack of appeal, even taking it for granted.
The act of dating someone seemed abstract, like something that happened in the far distant future, if at all.
Similarly to Marcie’s parents, my first generation parents were concerned about the dangers outside the predictable structure of their home. When I was older, my parents still kept a close eye on me—I didn’t date until I was in college. And having few friends and fewer social skills made me servilely loyal to my meager acquaintances. I was a desperate people pleaser, in a manner that’s embarrassing in retrospect. I cringe whenever Marcie calls Peppermint Patty “sir”— I know that feeling of inadequacy, where I looked up to my friends rather than viewing them as my equals.
It took time, and a gradual building of confidence, to know that my acquaintances would respect me more, not less, for asserting myself. Marcie’s storylines were often built around this discovery. Through her longer arcs she learned the value of asserting her self-worth and identity, whether by sticking up for someone else, sticking up for herself, or just by vocalizing her opinions.
Marcie always knew the right thing to do or say; it just became a matter of screwing up the courage to do or say it. Whether or not she could do so, and how she did so, depended on the individual scenario. Sometimes, she reached her breaking point and she emotionally lashed out.
Sometimes, she was able to keep her emotions in check, and she endured people’s defensiveness to her truth telling.
Sometimes, she failed to assert herself, thus avoiding an uncomfortable conversation. During one multi-week storyline, Marcie sewed a skating dress—even though she did not know how to sew—because Peppermint Patty browbeat her into doing it.
This is a painful predicament for Peppermint Patty, but it’s an even more painful predicament for Marcie. She’s made to feel invisible; she’s ignored and then berated for allowing herself to be ignored. She even knows Pattie isn’t listening to her, but she does what’s asked of her anyway.
Fortunately for both of them, the situation worked out in the end. Schulz had a soft spot for Peppermint Patty and Marcie, and every now and then, he cut the poor girls a break. But notice how Marcie never asserts that Peppermint Patty was wrong or selfish. Instead, she takes the blame upon herself; it’s the sort of solution that someone with low self esteem might apply. Peppermint Patty and Marcie’s friendship is restored, but it is still unequal. Their communication problems are bound to recur.
Sports were perhaps the place where Marcie found herself the most beaten down, but it was also where she located her strengths. In her own words, Marcie only played sports because she didn’t want to “risk offending” Peppermint Patty. Again, this is the way a person with low self esteem thinks—that setting limits on her friend would damage their relationship rather than make it healthier.
And sometimes, Marcie made her displeasure known through passive aggressive behavior. If she was going to be guilted into playing, she was going to sabotage everyone else’s fun in the process.
Marcie had the hidden capacity to be a real smartass, especially in moments like these. She subtly undermined Peppermint Patty under the guise of “helping,” perhaps rationalizing that if she was enough of a pain, she’d never be asked back. None of this, of course, was as good as simply saying “no” and sticking to it. Marcie, however, didn’t have the confidence to challenge her friend so bluntly.
Marcie’s most direct assertion occurred in the context of sports. When Thibault protested her participation on sexist grounds, Marcie showed exactly how direct she could be.
I sympathized with Marcie in this moment. Here she was, playing a game she hated playing, trying to appease a friend she didn’t want to offend. And on top of that, she had to defend her right to be there? Eventually, Thibault’s verbal abuse reached its tipping point, and Marcie’s need to defend her humanity outweighed her need to please her friend.
That final strip was thrilling and inspiring. It was a side of Marcie that we rarely got to see, and it was good to know that it existed. There was a point to which Marcie could be pushed too far, where she would assert her self-worth instead of knuckling under.
No one handles every situation perfectly. And throughout the 70’s, Marcie responds to being stepped on with a wide range of reactions, from bold to passive. It’s as though she’s trying on different identities before eventually settling on one.
But after this initial experimentation, Marcie found a way to make her friendship with Peppermint Patty more equal. Starting in 1984, she convinced Peppermint Patty to accompany her to classical music concerts as an apparent trade-off for her athletic participation. It was an arena where Marcie could feel in control, where her peers were at risk of making a faux pas instead of her.
Peppermint Patty enjoyed these concerts in spite of herself, and that was an unqualified victory for Marcie. For a rare moment, she could let someone into her world and feel validated for having done so. She finally engaged in a friendship on her own terms.
There is no Peanuts strip more life affirming or uplifting than this one. Friendship—real, raw friendship—can be difficult for someone who struggles with assertiveness and self-image. It’s a struggle to feel like one is good enough to be treated as an equal. But it is worth it for moments like these.
Instagram Live is rolling out to all users, Microsoft Ventures opens an AI fund, JetSmarter has a $105 million funding round, Apple’s new app sort of unifies TV and Super Nintendo World theme park is slated to open in 2020. All this on Crunch Report. Read More
The Super Mario Bros. theme is the gold standard for gaming music covers. From jazz to classical to rock, it has appeared in almost every form under the sun. But finger snapping? That's next level.
Ahh, feels good to be back to work. My drawing motor-skills were starting to atrophy!
The Deathmøle Kickstarter has broken $70,000! That means we are less than 5 grand away from another entire album being recorded! Backers also just got a sneak preview of one of the songs as a thank-you!
I begin tucking him into bed and he tells me, “Daddy check for monsters under my bed.” I look underneath for his amusement and see him, another him, under the bed, staring back at me quivering and whispering, “Daddy there’s somebody on my bed."
New York has the worst subway map in the world. Instead of using London Underground-inspired abstract maps like a normal metropolis, the locals prefer a more geographically-faithful "spaghetti" rendering, thereby making wayfinding a pain for tourists. But it's not as if improvements haven't been attempted: New York's peculiar layout, and the density of its downtown lines, tend to make minimalist maps confusing in other ways. Mapmaker Max Roberts, however, has created this incredible "circular map", which uses a Tube-like style but with the 90- and 45-degree angles ditched in favor of radial lines emanating from the Upper Bay.
This cartoon by Natasha Allegri—character designer and storyboard artist for Adventure Time—is truly something else. In fact, I'm having a hard time saying anything about this that isn't just "amazing" and "OH MY GOSH CUTE."
Here's a description from YouTube, although it's like trying to explain an episode of Adventure Time...words kind of fail.
Bee, a reluctant hero, becomes entangled in the adventures of a puppy (...or is he a cat?) as they travel between reality and the void of Fishbowl Space. Created by Natasha Allegri, character designer and storyboard artist for Adventure Time. We can neither confirm nor deny the autobiographical nature of Bee & Puppycat.
Unfortunately this is just part one. Part two comes out on August 7th. I can't wait! Here's a trailer for that, which makes it clear this show is going to be bonkers:
Now to await GIFs from the many awesome moments in this show.
Megatokyo, the story of two Americans trapped in a hilariously over-the-top portrayal of Japan, is one of the world's most popular webcomics. Now, through the power of Kickstarter, it is making the leap into the land of video games in the form of a visual novel.
Last weekend I sat down via Skype with Fred Gallagher, writer and co-creator of Megatokyo, from his home in Michigan to talk with him about the project.
The idea of making a visual novel based on Megatokyo is actually a rather new one. When Gallagher first began thinking about doing a visual novel, his first idea was to base it on “Sight,” the visual novel inside the Megatokyo webcomic that one of the characters is working on. But a few months ago, he began pondering turning Megatokyo into a simple linear visual novel that followed the comic's plot instead. Soon that idea blossomed into the multiple-character, branching-path project up on Kickstarter today.
Gallagher likens developing the visual novel to writing a doujinshi—a fan-fic—of his own work. “You're taking your own set story path and you're actually doing all those little stories with other characters, other combinations, other craziness—that's just not part of the main story,” he said.
When writing the webcomic, Gallagher always has a plan in mind for where the story is going. However, on several occasions, these plans have been changed at the last minute to fit more organically with the characters' developing personalities. “I'm going to take some of these points where I know that this has happened and give the players the choice and let them see what would have happened if I had gone in the other direction,” Gallagher told me.
And unlike the more than a decade old comic that is still going strong with no end in sight, the game promises to have an ending—many actually. Thanks to the visual novel's multiple-ending format, Gallagher will be able to explore the wide variety of possible conclusions to the story. “I'm really enjoying the idea of writing a lot of endings and just trolling people with what those endings could be,” he joked.
Gallagher is no stranger to visual novels. Before he began work on the Megatokyo comic, he was already a big fan of games like True Love Story 2, Kanon, To Heart, and Sentimental Graffiti—and Megatokyo reflects that. “There're a lot of the comics that show that visual novel format. Piro actually thinks in that terminology,” he said.
The game itself will be built using the Ren'Py Visual Novel Engine—the same engine that was used for the amazing Katawa Shoujo. And to take this visual novel from dream project to reality, Gallagher will not be alone. He currently has a team of eight helping on the project who are tasked with everything from programming and path development to art and writing assistance. Gallagher hopes this will allow him to focus on the script and the art—leaving the programming in more knowledgeable hands.
For the Kickstarter, the team produced a playable proof-of-concept demo (which can be downloaded on the Kickstarter page) to give a rough idea of what the final game will be like. However, beyond that, little has been done so far. The team is still working on the story path development and determining which ones to expand into full storylines. This has not stopped the project from getting funded though.
Within three and a half hours of posting, the project reached its $20,000 goal. Now, with just over a week to go, the project has over ten times that—over $200,000.
Because of this, the project has reached all but one of its stretch goals—and thus tripled the scope of the project. Originally planned with two scenarios—one following anime/manga fan Piro and the other following hardcore American gamer Largo—the game will now have seven main characters' scenarios and six additional shorter mini-scenarios following the supporting cast. Moreover, instead of just funding the first third of the game as originally planned, all three parts—a year and a half’s worth of work—are fully funded. “It's much more daunting, but it's going to be a much better game as a result,” Gallagher explained.
The only stretch goal not yet reached is one Gallagher actively hopes is never reached. Should the Kickstarter fund reach $500,000, he will add optional “Excessive Romantic Content”—something common in visual novels—to the game. “I never expected it to get to $200,000, that's way beyond what I was expecting,” he conveyed to me. “So I thought the $500,000 level was pretty safe. Hopefully, it's still safe. But having said that, if you make a challenge—'if I bring in this much'—I won't back off. I'll do it.”
That said, he hopes, if the goal is reached, he can do the content in a tasteful way—and as a humorous aside, plans to have one of the two conscience characters berate the player should he or she turn the feature on.
But even with the additional amount of work that has been already added to the project via stretch goals, Gallagher is still aiming to release the first third in February of next year.
Among fans (and haters) of the webcomic, however, Gallagher is infamous for missing deadlines. When I mentioned this, Gallagher jokingly responded, “Which is why it'd be the biggest troll in the world that I could do to get this game done on time.”
Because of Kickstarter funding, he no longer has to worry about much of the day-to-day demands of securing funding as the project goes along. And thanks to having a team behind him, he is able to delegate much of the other work. “For me it's a lot easier to have one big thing I can focus on. So I really feel like once I can really sink my teeth into the production side of this, it's going to go like gangbusters—because that's how I work best.” he told me. “I really just want to be able to spend my life chained to my desk drawing and writing,”
Moreover, thanks to a successful heart surgery this past May, he is healthy again for the first time in over a year.
The production process will be very open, with backers and fans alike able to watch him work on the project via his Justin.tv channel. And despite the ambitious scope of the project, Gallagher still plans to release a comic a week in addition to his work on the game.
All in all, Gallagher has been blown away by the support the project has received on Kickstarter. He never expected the project to do so well and is grateful to Megatokyo fans for their support. “Now I have to make a game that lives up to their expectations. I know that's a challenge but that's what we've got ahead of us. I'm excited about it. It's going to be fun.”
The first third of the Megatokyo visual novel is set for a Feburuary 2014 release with the other thirds coming in six-month intervals after that. For more information or to make a pledge yourself, head over to the project's Kickstarter page.
You can check out the comic as well at Megatokyo.com.
Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am.
Chrome: We've probably all made a regrettable, impulsive buy before. What if there was an app that automatically put such purchases into perspective? There is, and it's called the Dictionary of Numbers.
The Chrome extension turns numbers on web pages into relatable, easy-to-understand terms. As Reddit user Saturated_Wombat points out, this can be useful not just for interesting factual knowledge ("oh, I have as many followers as the capital city of a country I never heard of"), but also to possibly curb spending.
When shopping online, Dictionary of Numbers will convert dollar amounts to comparable stats: you could buy a beginner bike instead of that portable gaming system, that pair of sneakers is equal to the average household's daily income, etc. It's just a very visual reminder of the opportunity cost of buying anything.
You’ll wake up for about 25,000 mornings in your adult life, give or take a few. According to a report from the World Health Organization, the average life expectancy in the United States is 79 years old. (Most people in wealthy nations are hovering around the 80-year mark. Women in Japan are the highest, with an average life expectancy of 86 years.) If we use these average numbers and assume that your adult life starts at 18 years old, then you’ve got about 68 years (86-18 = 68) as an adult—a little more if you’re lucky. (68 years as an adult) x (365 days each year) = 24,820 days. 25,000 mornings.
That’s what you get in your adult life. 25,000 times you get to open your eyes, face the day, and decide what to do next. I don’t know about you, but I’ve let a lot of those mornings slip by. Once I realized this, I started thinking about how I could develop a better morning routine. I still have a lot to learn, but here are some strategies that you can use to get the most out of your 25,000 mornings.
Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time
If you take a moment to think about it, you’ll probably realize that you are better at doing certain tasks at certain times. For example, my creative energy is highest in the morning, so that’s when I do my writing each day.
By comparison, I block out my afternoons for interviews, phone calls, and emails. I don’t need my creative energy to be high for those tasks, so that’s the best time for me to get them done. And I tend to have my best workouts in the late afternoon or early evening, so that’s when I head to the gym.
What type of energy do you have in the morning? What task is that energy best suited for?
Prepare the Night Before
I don’t do this nearly as often as I should, but if you only do one thing each day then spend a few minutes each night organizing your to–do list for tomorrow. When I do it right, I’ll outline the article I’m going to write the next day and develop a short list of the most important items for me to accomplish. It takes 10 minutes that night and saves 3 hours the next day.
Don’t Open Email Until Noon
Sounds simple. Nobody does it. It took me awhile to get over the urge to open my inbox, but eventually I realized that everything can wait a few hours. Nobody is going to email you about a true emergency (a death in the family, etc.), so leave your email alone for the first few hours of each day. Use the morning to do what’s important rather than responding to what is “urgent.”
Turn Your Phone Off and Leave It In Another Room
Or on your colleagues desk. Or at the very least, put it somewhere that is out of sight. This eliminates the urge to check text messages, Facebook, Twitter, and so on. This simple strategy eliminates the likelihood of slipping into half–work where you waste time dividing your attention among meaningless tasks.
Work In a Cool Place
Have you ever noticed how you feel groggy and sluggish in a hot room? Turning the temperature down or moving to a cooler place is an easy way to focus your mind and body. (Hat tip to Michael Hyatt for this one.)
Sit Up or Stand Up
Your mind needs oxygen to work properly. Your lungs need to be able to expand and contract to fill your body with oxygen. That sounds simple enough, but here’s the problem: most people sit hunched over while staring at a screen and typing. When you sit hunched over, your chest is in a collapsed position and your diaphragm is pressing against the bottom of your lungs, which hinders your ability to breathe easily and deeply.
Sit up straight or stand up and you’ll find that you can breathe easier and more fully. As a result, your brain will get more oxygen and you’ll be able to concentrate better. (Small tip: When sitting, I usually place a pillow in the small of my back. This prevents my lower back from rounding, which keeps me more upright.)
Eat As a Reward for Working Hard
I practice intermittent fasting, which means that I eat my first meal around noon each day. I’ve been doing this for almost two years. (There are plenty of health benefits, which I explained in great detail here, here, and here.)
But health is just one piece of the puzzle. I also fast because it allows me to get more out of my day. Take a moment to think about how much time people spend each day thinking, planning, and consuming food. By adopting intermittent fasting, I don’t waste an hour each morning figuring out what to eat for breakfast, cooking it, and cleaning up. Instead, I use my morning to work on things that are important to me. Then, I eat good food and big meals as a reward for working hard.
Develop a “Pre–Game Routine” to Start Your Day
My morning routine starts by pouring a cold glass of water. Some people kick off their day with ten minutes of meditation. Similarly, you should have a sequence that starts your morning ritual. This tiny routine signals to your brain that it’s time to get into work mode or exercise mode or whatever mode you need to be in to accomplish your task. Additionally, a pre–game routine helps you overcome a lack of motivation and get things done even when you don’t feel like it. For more details about why this works, read this: How to Get Motivated.
The Power of a Morning Routine
Just as it’s rare for anyone to experience overnight success, it’s also rare for our lives crumble to pieces in an instant. Most unproductive or unhealthy behaviors are the result of slow, gradual choices that add up to bad habits. A wasted morning here. An unproductive morning there. The good news is that exceptional results are also the result of consistent daily choices. Nowhere is this more true than with your morning routine. The way you start your day is often the way that you finish it.
Take, for example, Jack LaLanne. He woke up each day at 4am and spent the first 90 minutes lifting weights. Then, he went for a swim or a run for the next 30 minutes. For more than 60 years, he spent each morning doing this routine. In addition to being one of the most influential people in fitness in the last 100 years, LaLanne also lived to the ripe old age of 96.
This is no coincidence. What you do each morning is an indicator of how you approach your entire day. It’s the choices that we repeatedly make that determine the life we live, the health we enjoy, and the work we create. You’ve got 25,000 mornings. What will you do with each one?
James Clear writes at JamesClear.com, where he uses behavior science to help you master your habits and improve your health. For useful ideas on improving your mental and physical performance, join his free newsletter. Or, download his 38-page guide on Transforming Your Habits.
The Pipe Organ Desk is quite a marvel of woodwork: the drawers operate an octave's worth of organ pipes, and a "pneumatic logic board" that accepts a secret code in the form of a specific tune that operates a secret compartment. It's the brainchild of Kagen Schaefer, who is offering it for sale.
Hidden in the desk are many other puzzles and secret compartments storing clues and scraps of information for anyone on a quest to play the correct song. This project has been an odyssey for me. I am refreshed to be nearing the end a long journey, having learned a lifetime of skills along the way.
Here's some vague info on the plot, along with some of the people behind the characters—in case you're curious:
The plot revolves around a group of five high school boys who are all connected by their love of swimming: Haruka Nanase, Makoto Tachibana, Nagisa Hazuki, Rei Ryugazaki, and Rin Matsuoka. The boys are all voiced by an equally appealing cast of actors, with Nobunaga Shimazaki, known for his roles in Photo Kano and Say “I love you”, as Haruka, Tasuhisa Suzuki, also in Kuroko’s Basketball and Saint Seiya Omega, as Makoto, Tsubasa Yonaga from Chihayafuru and Cardfight!! Vanguard as Nagisa, Daisuke Hirakawa of Tono to Issho and Hiiro no Kakera as Rei, and Mamoru Miyano of Death Note and Steins;Gate fame as Rin.
And remember—it's officially titled Free! Iwatobi Swim Club, but in our hearts it'll always be Swimming Anime. And now to see if the show is anywhere near as good as all the stuff the fandom made up back when the Swimming Anime was just a 30 second clip.
A live stream of dramatic events unfolding in Egypt today. The NYT Lede blog is a reliable and constantly-refreshing source of updates. The Guardian is another. [Stream: Online TV, Egypt]
