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Variant

@variantz.bsky.social

120 followers 120 following 2.5K posts

35 Music producer Prototype 2 modder Lua scripter artist reverse engineer video editor he/him/they/them https://www.youtube.com/@VariantNode <-- I post my music and some video game shit occasionally

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Variant @variantz.bsky.social · Aug 17

www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2vM...

Variant - Pump Action Boogaloo

YouTube video by Variant

www.youtube.com

Variant @variantz.bsky.social · 18h

this work folder is a fucking mess now
at some point when I have working blueprints ill scrape all the extras into a miscellaneous folder that gets put on my RAID server
the main thing right now is
sometimes I had something almost working
and then I took it apart
so i need to remember what worked

Reposted by Variant

Angela Collier @acollierastro.bsky.social · 19h

Update: It was good and fine

Angela Collier @acollierastro.bsky.social · 1d

If I brought homemade cookies and brownies tomorrow would people eat them or would that be weird?

Variant @variantz.bsky.social · 19h

Oh
of course that's what it is
shouldve known that
or rather, someone else shouldve cross-checked the same dictionary of translations that I am
this is why I am a self-appointed expert in the unprofessional field of data management
and I do my job as unprofessionally as possible

Reposted by Variant

Ela Bambust 🏳️‍⚧️ @ela-bambust.bsky.social · 1d

The existential horror of waking up after leaving your computer on to render something and seeing your screen just say "Windows has been updated" is exactly what puberty is like

Reposted by Variant

John Lithium @johnlithium.bsky.social · 1d

The musicians life is constantly worrying about money but still seriously considering upgrading to Omnisphere 3.

Reposted by Variant

Sildurs @sildurs.bsky.social · 1d

Just a funguy #warframe

Variant @variantz.bsky.social · 21h

but back in 2007-2008 radical previewed P1 by going
"Hey guys. We're making this game where you can throw an old man at a helicopter!"
and we all just cheered
fuck yeah
i want that!!!
never expected to really think about the consequences

Variant @variantz.bsky.social · 21h

and so it became a sort of retroactive lens through which they could build that narrative out and say
"see?"
and with more refined world design were able to create another character, with more empathy for others, in which you are actually able to refrain from murdering people randomly
usually

Variant @variantz.bsky.social · 21h

And personally I like how they took the unheroic premise of the narrative, and combined that with the results we got on a game design level, to have the player look back and say
"Hey... remember that time you drove a tank through a crowd of human beings instead of waiting for them to cross?"

Variant @variantz.bsky.social · 21h

they ONLY roam and never sit, never stop to talk to their friends, never stand around smoking a cigarette, never get denied entry to a street thats off limits to civilian traffic - and because they have nothing to do and nowhere to go - they get bunched up and confused running back and forth

Variant @variantz.bsky.social · 21h

One of the reasons that the player in prototype 1 feels very much incentivized to behave with belligerence with no regards for collateral damage is because pedestrians are TERRIBLE at getting out of the way of you driving a tank or doing anything really
i think its cuz they have no secondary task

Variant @variantz.bsky.social · 21h

theres so many tiny details that go underappreciated in the background of games
like for example in p2
civilians are programmed to roam, but will occasionally stop when they pass near a pedestrian smart node. What are smart nodes? Well theyre lots of things but in this case a place to sit down

Variant @variantz.bsky.social · 21h

tech bros trying to be creative: "Computer! Do something creative for me!"
computer: "A walrus flying a rocket into space with jesus."

Variant @variantz.bsky.social · 21h

Nooooooo they got me

Variant @variantz.bsky.social · 22h

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCD9... YOU GUYS LIKE HARD BASS TOO?

V Limo (New Donk Shitty)

YouTube video by Bill Kiley - Topic

www.youtube.com

Reposted by Variant

John Breen @acab.dad · 1d

You shouldn’t lose your right to vote when you are incarcerated

Zach Weinersmith @zachweinersmith.bsky.social · 2d

Do you have any extremely niche, but serious, ethical stances?

Variant @variantz.bsky.social · 22h

"violent mockdance"
I'm gonna try that move at an anti-ICE protest
They're probably gonna beat my ass but
they're just jealous of my sick dance moves

Variant @variantz.bsky.social · 1d

excuse me
pardon me
move bitch i gotta piss like a mother fucker
Oh good, it's one of those mobile toilets on wheels. Open up, mother fuckers!!!!

Variant @variantz.bsky.social · 2d

appears out of nowhere on the sidewalk
says "it's go time" before striking a cool pose
out of nowhere my leg suddenly flies up my own ass, and I take off into space never to be seen again
the universe crashes
the end

Variant @variantz.bsky.social · 2d

spawns into game
steps out onto the street and raises my fist to deliver a brutally powerful haymaker
blood sprays out of my torso for no discernable reason,
a horrible bone crunching sound gets played, and I vanish instantly

and also the universe crashes because it can't exist without PLAYER

Variant @variantz.bsky.social · 2d

Yes.

Variant @variantz.bsky.social · 2d

its so tiny omg
so cute

Variant @variantz.bsky.social · 2d

bye
*farts and twirls away into the sky*

Variant @variantz.bsky.social · 3d

i love rusty spoons

Variant @variantz.bsky.social · 3d

yeah even if you use a computer to express your creativity
it's only creativity if you're DOING something in the process
you know i could generate a bunch of random shit, and then take a magnifying glass to it and isolate parts i like and put them together - but if you dont even do that then what

Jadzia Axelrod 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @planetx.bsky.social · 3d

There is not a single reason to outsource your creativity to a computer.

Not one.

To do so removes the very point of being creative in the first place.