Moondancer

@Moondancer@neurodifferent.me

Trans | She/Her | Pansexual | AroGrAce | Polyamorous | Athiest | Self diagnosed Autistic | Dork | Level 35

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Moondancer, to random

Saw a Jimquisition where Steph is bitching about corporations claiming that you own the license rather than the game.

I want you to keep this in mind: If you can't see and modify the code out of the box, you do not own it.

Moondancer, to Sonic

I suppose I'll do a thread.

Fortunately this isn't like that time I posted while watching Prime so I shouldn't need to worry about overloading anyone's timelines.

First up is . While this occupies the same Green Hill style trope that places like Emerald Hill or Seaside Hill, we've been so overridden by Green Hill and Green Hill look-a-likes since 2010 that this feels like a breath of fresh air.

BTW: For those wondering why I said 2010 and not 2011 (the release year of Sonic Generations), I would like to remind you that Sonic 4 Episode 1 did tour through history before Sonic Generations did. You could easily rename Splash Hill, Casino Street, Lost Labyrinth, Mad Gear, and E.G.G. Station to Green Hill, Casino Night, Labyrinth, Metropolis, and Death Egg and nobody would have been the wiser.

Green Hill has since then become even more known as >>THE<< first Sonic stage than it was before. That and overall being stuck in revisiting the past was so prevalent that it overwhelmingly defined Sonic Frontiers, even though it introduced new elements of Gameplay and exploration.

Bridge Island is something I've been waiting for YEARS. In a lot of ways it retreads a lot of the same familiar ground of Green Hill and Green Hill like stages before it, but it manages to do it while having it's own sense of identity.

I enjoy the visual aesthetic and the constant ramps that dot it's layout that let you run vertically to higher levels in the stage.

It's also pretty fun to explore to.

That said, I'm not sure where I'd rank this on Green Hill style stages. I think that Emerald Hill is the best 2D stage that this theme has to offer. But I really enjoy the exploration that I can do in this.

Moondancer,

is one I'm a bit divided on. This isn't the game that introduced rails to 2D Sonic but I do think it's one of my favorite implementations. The visuals are really quite lovely as it has the appearance of a factory that's been taken back by nature. I honestly really love stuff like this.

In the first act there is at least one bottomless pit that I've encountered but I'd hardly consider it unfair.

Act 2 on the other hand is not that enjoyable for me. Then again, I'm not fond of anything where a large portion of the screen is obscured as a means of adding difficulty. I think it can work, but I don't particularly like it in Sonic games.

Given Sonic's speed and the ease one might have with running into obstacles, I just think it's cheap.

In this one we get our first proper miniboss fight. Technically we got one in Bridge Island but it's more like the whale chase in Sonic Adventure than it is a miniboss fight.

Moondancer,

is very Sky Sanctuary-esq in terms of looks. This is probably my least favorite one so far. I don't really care for the wind mechanic much of the time due to how much it can slow things down. That said, once you realize how it works it's not that big a deal and it's still pretty fun.

That said, there's an easily missable special stage ring in this due to the wind.

There are also a few parts that are very laser heavy. I don't care for that. I find it less challenging and more cheap.

I should probably say that while I've had two complains about this game feeling cheap in a couple places, on the whole I would argue that this game doesn't really have that many cheap deaths. Of course, I'm only three zones in so maybe that'll change eventually!

Not that cheap deaths have ever made me hate a Sonic game : /

In regards to the visual aesthetic though, I think that while this stage looks nice, it's not as beautiful as Sky Sanctuary.

Moondancer,

is... alright. Act 1 is probably my second favorite water stage out of any Sonic game. Granted that's hardly that big of an accomplishment since really the only Water Stage that has felt like a truly good Sonic stage has been Hydrocity. I would say that Act 1 has some of the elements that made Hydrocity fun.

Act 2 on the other hand is... we... I hate it. It's largely submerged, overstuffed with obstacles, and could really stand to be more liberal with it's air bubbles. The boss fight is so far probably my least favorite as well. So in the future I'll probably replay act 1, but I don't see myself regularly replaying act 2 outside of wanting to play all the stages back to back.

Moondancer,

Okay. I'm a bit behind because I forgot to do these.

is kinda hard to really find anything to talk about in terms of stuff that stands out past maybe one element.

It's a sand stage. I think a moderately okay comparison might be Oil Ocean mixed with Sandopolis.

The element of interest is the massive snake that's spread through the entire stage that you can run across, providing you with a terrain that's midly, though not significantly, in flux.

It's alright, but I feel like I'm making a big reach to find something nice to say about it. I don't hate it though so I guess that's a good thing. I don't know that I'll remember it beyond the snake.

Moondancer,

I'm a little mixed on .

Visually it feels like a mix of other factories from previous 2D Sonic games, which is pretty nice. And it manages to do it without feeling too boring.

One aspect about the game that's fun... for a little bit, is the giant... press thing... in the background of the first act. Every time it slams into the ground, the impact bounces you into the air unless you're on a floating platform.

It's fun for a bit but eventually it starts to become more of a nuisance as you're constantly jumping in an effort to make sure that the rhythmic slamming doesn't ruin whatever careful platforming you have in mind.

Admittedly this is probably more a problem if you're trying to look for the warp ring.

Act 2 nixes the press in favor of a ship that stalks you in the background of the level. You have to regularly press buttons to prevent it from powering up. Otherwise it will fill your screen with chaos until you die.

This is like Sandopolis Act 2 in that way.

I did find the rotating ball things to be pretty fun though, but I'm not sure this will be a regular replay for me.

At least it's not even remotely a Wacky Workbench. While I find it annoying, the press is at least manageable.

Moondancer,

is honestly pretty grating. The first time I played it I felt like I was stuck in a hell loop.

In particular there are these bee badniks which make this awful sound over and over and over again and I can't stand it.

Moondancer,

is pretty fun... until you are transformed into something other than the character that you're playing as. Well, give or take the rocket. That was actually pretty fun.

The... Jellyfish? Is awkward to control and honestly kinda boring. At one point you get turned into a mouse where you have to navigate a puzzle while desperately avoiding enemies, otherwise you get knocked out of the puzzle and have to go all the way.

Visually this has a pretty fun look to it. It reminds of me of the digital levels from Shadow the Hedgehog. (A game, believe it or not, I ACTUALLY Liked and I wish people would stop judging me for feeling that way.)

Moondancer, to random

I'm of the opinion that stupid questions are perhaps the most important for learning.

Are they silly? Yeah sometimes. Sometimes it's silly to read something or have it taught to you, hear a basic explanation, and then ask someone to explain what you learned in a different way.

But I find that this goes a long way towards helping me better understand a concept. Especially if I can get a practical example of what it would be used for. It gives the concept more power and that makes it more real.

If anyone tells you that the answer is obvious or insists that you might be joking, they might be a generally alright person, but in that moment they are being very inconsiderate and rude.

Moondancer,

Side tangent, when someone asks a question, please don't tell them to just use the search feature. Sometimes when trying to troubleshoot, when googling for results the first results you find are just a forum full of people telling you to "use the search feature."

1: That is rude as fuck. Please don't reply if you don't actually want to answer.

2: This fails to take into account that this thread might be the first thing people see because they actually tried to search first.

3: Then there's people like me, who see that kind of reply to others when I'm trying to troubleshoot something. I was already shy to ask questions before, but that makes me never want to ask a question again because some jackass is going to reply with "try searching" or "RTFM."

Like, thank you Henry. I tried to read the fucking manual. Too bad I'm dyslexic and would really like the information to be presented to me in a vastly less overwhelming way.

Like seriously, sometimes when I look at documentation, if I don't understand what I'm using well enough, I can't easily figure out how to navigate the damn things. I know that might sound strange to some of you but for me it's actually a pretty substantial struggle.

squish, to random

Apologies folks. My auto-monitoring script hasn't been working properly, and so purging the push queue was not working. I've done this manually for now.

Moondancer,

@squish ._. TBH I'm just glad you're okay.

futurebird, (edited ) to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Which best describes you? This isn't just about online, but also at work, school, etc.

  1. I'm left or left leaning and feel I can express my politics openly in most circumstances.

  2. I'm left or left leaning but sometimes feel the need to "soften" my views from fear of angering others.

  3. I'm right or right leaning and feel I can express my politics openly in most circumstances.

  4. I'm right or right leaning but sometimes feel the need to "soften" my views from fear of angering others.

Moondancer,

@futurebird I want to say left and open. I don't exactly hide that sort of stuff. But depending on how safe or comfortable I feel I may try to avoid further discussion. So I went with 2.

Private
Moondancer,

@pathfinder @actuallyautistic
I’ve talked to at least one person where their early diagnosis came with a lot of self hatred. They were subjected to ABA therapy as a kid. (Though thankfully their family realized their mistake... eventually.) They had a name for their pain and it took work for them to reach a point where they started to feel more positive about being autistic. I’ve noticed that for others, they still exist in a state where they detest it. If you have an account on Reddit and you frequent r/Autism, you might notice that someone regularly posts about how they would like an autism cure.

In order to come to a self diagnosis or to seek a professional one out, as adults I think we have the advantage in that we know the stigma, but on some level we hopefully overcome that because it answers a lot of questions and gives us that context we’ve been missing for our lives. But with autistics who were diagnosed as children, they had to live with that difference, they had it pointed like a dagger at their hearts, and many were traumatized because many allistics don’t know how to care for an autistic child.

Private
Moondancer,

@dyani @actuallyautistic

Oh? Hm. Well I tend to dim it more than I change the color but I suppose blue would be it. 🤔

Moondancer, to random

Whether you're trans, nonbinary, or studying a foreign language, gender is maddening.

Moondancer, to random

Autism the Superpower: You can spend literal months learning about a topic that has captured your attention. You can spend... YEARS doing this. A lifetime even!

Autism the non-superpower: You're stuck in a house or apartment by yourself and you have no friends you can go see. You can't just talk to people because you need to be in a specific setting or context. For one because those specific settings or contexts provide assurance that you'll have something to talk about where meeting in a store does not. Another because those contexts or settings also provide a baseline level of comfort. However because these are often not the case, especially if what you're interested in is just niche enough that such a context is likely not going to be present in your area, you are effectively rendered alone and depressed.

Moondancer,

I keep seeing my friends and partners enjoying a social life. And iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit is messing with me. I'm happy for them but I wanna be able to do stuff like that. I hate feeling jealous of them and I hate that I feel powerless to do anything about it.

futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Do any of ya'll know the nice man who makes "Renegade Cut" ? It's a leftist youTube channel that's pretty good on some topics, but he seems totally unaware that mastodon even exists-- even though, he does a lot of videos about politics and social media.

I think we should launch a charm offensive at the guy.

I'm very tired of hearing "reporting" about social media that mentions bluesky and threads but not any of the other options especially from so-called "leftists"

Honey what is you doin'?

Moondancer,

@futurebird Oh, you noticed that too. That just kinda felt off to me.

Like, left tube in general just seems like it wants to write Mastodon off entirely. What makes it especially odd is like...

Several of these people advocate for stuff like worker co-ops or straight up anarcho-communism. You'd think that a platform like the Fediverse would be worth mentioning since it should theoretically better line up with their principles.

I mean, it would at least make more sense to me if he talked about Threads and not Bluesky. Isn't Fedi's active userbase orders of magnitude more than Bluesky's?

Genuine question.

Either way the lack of inclusion just... really seems weird.

Moondancer, to random

If you consider yourself an ally to a minority group one of the best things you can do is listen when members of that minority group tell you when there's a problem.

That includes when the problem is you. Pointing out that you have personally failed to be a good ally doesn't need to be a moment you take as an insult.

In art we practice critique in order to see what we can do to improve our skill and growth as artists and we see it as another person trying to do us a favor.

When someone gives you feedback on how you could be better or advocate better, see that as a chance to grow to be a better person and ally.

And yes. This is even true when you're also a minority.

Moondancer,

Also, consider this part of it to.

You're an ally so that means you probably at least intersect with a more privileged group. And a lot of the people in those groups won't be hearing from the marginalized.

They'll be hearing from you.

If you want to advocate for people in marginalized groups, then it really would be a good idea to listen to people from those groups so that you can better boost their voices.

Moondancer, to random

I've seen some people describe masking as wearing your customer service face every single god damn second of your social life.

I have another analog.

Have you ever been shamed by friends, loved ones, co-workers, or authority figures into adjusting behavior that was, admittedly very harmless, in order to suit their preferences. Not needs. Preferences.

Well, now imagine that you do that all day, everyday, for so much of your behavior that you practically have to act like you're an entirely different person just to feel like others will give you the time of day.

futurebird, to Cats
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Cats are deeply weird little people.

(via: https://www.tumblr.com/futurebird/722415909954781184/we-need-to-find-more )
(making a collection of images of cats practicing poses of villainy, and you probably thought this just came naturally to them! Practice is key!)

A orange and white cat rests smoldering with anger just like the painting of Lucifer as a sexy beefy angry and sad fallen angel behind them.
The black and white cat again this time with their head back doing a villains cold empty laugh just like the protagonist in the anime.

Moondancer,

@futurebird Just according to keikaku.

Translator note: Keikaku means plan.

Moondancer, to tinnitus

I'm curious if there are any hashtags that can be followed to help warn people with auditory sensitivities about painful high pitched noises that happen in movies, tv shows, video games, music, or any other form of media that incorporates audio into it's format.

Stuff like this warns about flashing lights and stuff for people that may suffer from epilepsy, but it doesn't warn for painful noises for people who would be sensitive to this, and knowing in advance whether or not something is going to feel like having nails driven into your ear lobes would be pretty handy.

If not, I think we should start a hashtag so that people can keep up with and update others when they encounter something that has painful sounds.

For example, the latest episode of was painful enough to make me scream in pain last night. So you might want to be on the lookout for Season 2 Episode 4: The Lotus Eaters.

Please boost this, because I think it's a good discussion to have.

MattBinder, to random
@MattBinder@mastodon.social avatar

when Threads launched, a number of right wing accounts with a history of posting misinformation on other platforms were flagged with a warning label informing users that they “repeatedly posted false information”

however, it appears Threads has now removed these labels

a Meta spokesperson told Donald Trump Jr. that his account was flagged in “error” and that it’s since “been fixed”

https://mashable.com/article/threads-false-information-label-donald-trump-jr-error

Moondancer,

@MattBinder Oh nooooo. Who would have ever guessed that this would have happened? /sarcasm

I mean, even just a warning isn't that big a thing. The people likely to follow Don Jr. are also the sort who would think this was actual censorship and that this means they should follow him harder.

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