Iji

The Alphastruck tumblr is now 404.

Were they hit by the great Tumblr purge or is it something else?

Yeah, it seems to have gone down from the algorithm's incompetence. I certainly didn't have any say in it.

I'm working with the support staff to see if I can get it restored or, failing that, to get an archive sent to me. Otherwise, I may have to reboot it again. I'm thinking I might do it as a conventional comic this time just to streamline the process.

Funnily enough, that would kinda parallel the transition Homestuck made away from "interactive shitpost adventure game" to a webcomic with an actual storyline.

Edited by Zennistrad on Dec 26th 2018 at 1:51:33 PM

And Alphastruck just got restored.

That was unexpected.

Been looking for a Slap City (or failing that, Ludosity or Card City Nights) thread to bump, found none, so might as well post this here.

Ludosity teased that they're reveal a new character for Slap City soon. Any bets?

Mine is on Adwoa from Muri. Not sure why, mostly a gut feeling.

Well looks like I was off. We got Orka from Healthy Weapon and Cruiser Tetron from Hero Core.

That, plus A Switch release with cross-play!

Slap City recently picked up the endorsement of one of the best Melee players in the world:

Not sure if anyone here knows about Linux, but I recently managed to get Iji running on Steam Deck; I had to fiddle with the controller configurations a bit to get something workable since the game has no native controller support.

Problem is, the sound effects don't appear to be playing no matter which Proton configuration I run the game through, including the latest ProtonGE build.

Apparently I'm not the only person running into this problem, someone else had this issue a few years ago when running the game through Wine:

https://www.reddit.com/r/wine_gaming/comments/akcd40/sound_effects_not_playing_in_iji/

Anyone with some Linux expertise know what the issue might be and how it could be fixed?

Edited by Zennistrad on Mar 13th 2023 at 12:15:15 PM

Update: I figured out how to fix this initial issue. By installing the game as a non-Steam app on Steam, then using ProtonTricks to install dmime.dll and quartz.dll under the default wineprefix, the sound effects are able to play properly.

Problem is, this also causes the Background Music to glitch. After a single sound effect plays, the BGM cuts out permanently. When starting the application I also get a "failed to initialized direct music audio" error.

I'm not sure if it's relevant but I'm currently using the high quality version of the OST. I don't think it makes a difference though.

Edited by Zennistrad on Mar 13th 2023 at 7:46:09 AM

I'm confused, did I miss there being 1.8 update or just forgot there was?

I think it more-or-less slipped by.

It was a very minor update. Nothing like the 1.6/1.7 transformations of pacifist gameplay. Not surprised nobody noticed!

I've been going back to this game for a personal project of mine and going through the text dump and the various lore entries, I've stumbled onto a particular bit of Fridge Brilliance.

It's mentioned in the backstory of the game that the Komato originally evolved on Origin (what humans call "Earth") and abandoned the planet millions of years before humans ever existed. The Tasen were the Komato who rejected their Empire's extensive genetic tampering, and chose to look more like their original Earthly ancestors. This is an interesting detail, but it doesn't really seem to add up to much in terms of the actual game's plot. It's just there to flesh out the world, and you can safely ignore it and understand what's happening just fine.

However, I noticed a particular thing about the visual designs of both factions that gave this an entirely new dimension. Tasen Soldiers and Commanders both seem to have crests on their head that resemble those of pterosaurs. Tasen Elite, meanwhile, very strongly resemble stegosaurids, though the fact that their spinal protrusions are more spike-shaped than shield-shaped suggests that they're less based on the actual Stegosaurus and more on the lesser-known species, such as tuojiangosaurus

The Komato have a less cohesive set of visual designs, probably owing to their extensive biomodifications, but there's one common visual theme throughout all of them. In their "natural" unarmored forms, they all appear to have pointed, beak-like heads. This is most obvious in Assassins, who look almost completely like anthropomorphic birds.

So, what does mean?

It means in the Earth presented in this game, the dinosaurs never went extinct.

They left.

Edited by Zennistrad on Jun 23rd 2023 at 9:50:07 AM

Huh. Somehow never made the dinosaur connection

It's even more fun when you notice that most Tasen have purple-colored arms on their sprites that isn't covered by their armor.

I've always interpreted this as some kind of flexible under-armor that's standard issue (see: Future Spandex), but it's funny to imagine the Tasen are actually just Barney.

Edited by Zennistrad on Jun 25th 2023 at 12:20:00 PM

There's a layer of tragedy to that. They've been gone for so long they don't even remember they're from Earth — they don't realize that Earth and Origin are actually the same planet — and thus have no idea that they Alpha-Struck their own original homeworld.

It's less an alien invasion and more prodigal children returning home and wrecking it.

Edited by M84 on Jun 26th 2023 at 12:25:38 AM

This game is fifteen years old, as of today.

Goddamn, how time flies.

Edited by Zennistrad on Aug 31st 2023 at 1:06:46 PM

Makes me want to play the game again. Not sure I'll even have time to game this weekend, alas.

Update on the Steam Deck situation:

As of version 8-14 of Proton GE, Iji now runs perfectly on the Steam Deck, with no audio issues whatsoever. You'll have to set up Proton GE using the Proton QT app (instructions here) and select "force steam play compatibility tool" on the options menu to set it to Proton GE 8-14, but once you do it'll run like a dream.