#gahhhhh
this week we talk new challenges!
afterbirth+ will feature around 5 (probably exactly 5 but dont hold me to it!) new challenges, each with its own unlockable as per usual.
this week im once again pilfering the ideas of the masses and seeing if a few hundred of you can come up with 1-3 cool challenge ideas. here are the guidelines.
- suggest a challenge setup that is new and CHALLENGING, the suggestion should place the player in a situation where they need play the game in specific way that adds a new, unusual or just difficult challenge.
- do not just toss out a starting set of items, i really wanna try to have almost all of the new challenges to be out of the box designs that feel fresh and fun.
- feel free to suggest the impossible, if its interesting enough i may find a way work around that could allow the basic idea/theme of the challenge to be executed.
- upvote the ones you like, down vote the ones you hate! only one suggestion per post!
the reddit thread is up here > https://www.reddit.com/r/bindingofisaac/comments/4imr8n/challenge_me/
go nuts!
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AFTERBIRTH CONSOLE NEWS!
Afterbirth will be releasing on Ps4 and Xbox1 tomorrow (may 10th).
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BUMBO NEWS!
James and i have recently started testing some of the basic puzzle mechanics and tuning the shit out of them over the past few weeks. designing a “traditional match X puzzle game” around a combat system in a roguelike world has been a pretty interesting. i hope to talk more in depth about bumbo dev once we are closer to release and/or have an official release date or teaser trailer out there.
our current goal is to have a fully playable floor done in the next few weeks.. once we hit that im sure you will be hearing and seeing more about bumbo.. but till then here is this…
first official in game screen shot from the beta debug build of bumbo! keep in mind this is not at all polished yet and most of the art i still place holder… but the games design is set in stone enough to start teasing a but more.
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SECRET GAME NEWS!
Questions
So what’s the over/under on Obi-wan having bacta tank flashbacks next episode?
Or, if the writers really wanted to lean into the torture Obi-wan trope - what’s the over/under there is no bacta on Mapuzo?
Will Obi-wan ever see Leia again? Or is this it? Which would explain some parts of her message in ANH and the fact she was so shocked he actually showed up on the Death Star.
Oh my gods, what would the conversations between Luke and Leia be like after they met? I mean, Leia would totally spill about Obi-wan to Luke…so yeah, he totally took out a meth lab and kicked the crap out of a bunch of Stormtroopers. Luke would be So. Confused.
How in the hell does half the GFFA show up on Obi-wan’s doorstep on Tatooine, but Anakin cannot get his shit together for five seconds to go there? Hilarious.
This is less of a question than a statement but I just ADORE how competent Obi-wan is without the Force. He can fight, he can shoot, he can pickpocket, he can use spice as a weapon (on TWO occasions). In some ways, he’s even more effective because without the Force, he doesn’t have to worry (in a way) about turning to the Dark Side. And let’s be real here - some of the shenanigans he pulls in the meth lab are QUESTIONABLE, at best. But against anyone who isn’t a Force user, he is going to win. Anakin, by contrast, can onlywin with the Force because he is so limited in terms of his body. And there’s something deeper there to explore although I’m not quite there yet.
Anyway…I am anticipating Qui-gon’s inevitable appearance with both dread and glee, because let me tell you about the long-term consequences of emotional blackmail…
Why I love Severus Snape [ A rather long rant]
People have a rather misguided notion over my reasons for falling for Severus Snape’s character. They think I am whitewashing him. So, I decided to correct all of their misinterpretations once and for all. So anyone who decides to give their unwanted two cents on why I shouldn’t simp Snape while browsing through my account, you are all welcome to read this and then respectfully go to hell.
I don’t love Severus Snape because he was a misunderstood noble hero.
Nah! Bleh!
What a thought!
I love Severus Snape because he was a super intelligent, genius brained,lethally loyal, ferally deadly, petty, caustic, acerbic tongued, razor sharp, I-don’t-give-a-flying-fuck-bout-anyone-else’s-opinion, having a morbid sense of humour, sassy li'l bitch.
There you go.
The utter crystal candid truth for you all Ladies and Gentlemen and everyone else.
I have always been fascinated with complex characters with innumerable layers and Severus Snape falls perfectly into that category. The man is absolutely fascinating and most of his actions throughout the series are so deliciously confounding that it makes me almost salivate. I had always been attracted to him and his entire vampire-ish dressing sense (I could care less for physical unattractiveness). It was somehow weird as he never gave me the vibes of being a totally side plot villain making the protagonist’s life miserable. He was more like an unsolved mystery.
A highly volatile chemical compound gaining momentum in the background, ready to explode at the shortest notice.
Snape’s highly confusing behaviour had me successfully entranced and guessing as to his motives. Which made me want to read him all the more desperately.
And of course, that razor sharp tongue complete with that sadistic humour just added to his overall persona beautifully. I myself am quite a sarcastic person and I use sarcasm and biting humour to hide a boatload of issues, and a few skeletons in the cupboard. So I relate to him at a personal level which had made me wonder (in the initial books of the series) whether he had something to hide as well.
Another thing I loved about Snape was that he was a startlingly pragmatic character. He was never taken in by Potter’s hero status, anyone’s sweet behaviour or the usual paraphernalia of the slightly overbearing demeanour of the concocted situations at Hogwarts. His no nonsense attitude appealed to me at a personal level. I have had the misfortune (as might have many of you I am assuming) of working with diabetically sweet people who have nothing but the worst intentions in their minds hidden for you while sprouting honey to your face. I hate it.
I’d rather work with a difficult colleague who has no qualms about telling what he/she thinks about me to my face than a overtly friendly one who back bitches.
And Severus Snape fits that bill perfectly as well. He might have nothing good to say to you on your face but he doesn’t seem like a man who would be sweet to you in face and back bitch, ie; unless you are Voldemort (though I highly doubt that he was ‘sweet’ to you-know-who as well, deferential maybe as an act… but not cute.)
Of course one of the key factors of loving Snape obviously came later in the books where he was revealed to be a Spy for the Order of the Phoenix. I have always loved men in the espionage business. There is something uniquely appealing about them. You have to be fundamentally crooked to be a successful and efficient spy. The thrill and scent of lethal danger has always stuck to Snape’s whole persona like a leach ever since he was introduced. And the facts unearthed about him later just solidified the beliefs further. I mean, how can you not admire the man’s courage when he routinely engages in a mind battle with the World’s most talented Legilimens who also happens to be the foremost terror of every wizard and witch’s life, a genocidal maniac who has an obscene fascination with torture, who would never stop to think before killing someone painfully and with powers beyond anyone’s comprehension with no compulsion of misusing them for fun if not anything else.
And this man, a child almost in comparison to the wizards who control him like a puppet, faces both of his almighty masters with a distinct lack of the physical expression of fear and laudable control.
His respect, admiration and dare I say affection of sorts for Dumbledore is a mystery to me as well. I mean, given Snape’s evident intelligence and pride, he has to know that he is being played by the genial old wizard like a pawn in his elaborate game with Riddle.
Dumbledore trusts Snape implicitly because he knows his reasons, he knows his deepest darkest secrets, he knows that he owns Snape’s soul. He can twist and break him, mould and mutilate him to his whims. And hence the absolute trust. Snape knows that he is powerless and helpless at the situation with his present master. He serves Dumbledore even after the Leader of the Light had failed to keep his promise of keeping Lily safe. He trusts him to win the war knowing that he himself will get sacrificed at Harry Potter’s altar. Yet he plays on and somehow mysteriously feels a hint of adoration for Albus Dumbledore even though the centenarian has done nothing notable to earn it.
And of course one of the most notable reasons for loving Severus Snape would obviously be his die hard loyalty. How ironic it is for a spy to be so deadly loyal. He has played triple agent for most of his life yet maintained an unfailing loyalty to the memory of a dead woman who once happened to be his childhood friend. A woman who had abandoned him at convenience and jumped into the sack with his worst teenage tormentor. He pledged to protect Harry throughout his life for honouring his mother’s memory. For wilfully righting a wrong he had committed.
And here in lies one of the most voraciously and viciously discussed controversies. So it is imminent that I add my two cents as well.
Severus Snape had in his short tragic life filled with adversities of the worse kind, made only one true friend who lasted for an even shorter period of time.
And he had loved her.
Maybe it was romantic, maybe it was platonic but that is not the point.
Love can be expressed in various forms but at its core the emotion remains the same. Severus Snape had loved Lily Evans Potter to the best of his capabilities. And it was due to his love for her that he ultimately changed sides and joined the right side of the war. And why not. Why should his decision be damned by everyone as selfish because he changed sides for love. Isn’t that what is the ultimately reason why we do what we do? The love for one person, the love for our families, the entire community as a whole… whatever. Love is love… whoever you express it to. So why should we make an exception for Snape. He might not have thought of the so called greater good but why the heck should he? He might not have even thought about James Potter and their son (and no I don’t care.. I would have spat on Potter’s dead body while bypassing him).
What has the world even given him except alienation, ostracization, pain and humiliation?
A person cannot be called evil and his reasons cannot be deemed as selfish only because he is not altruistic (which is an individualistic trait and only a paragon of virtue of the highest order can achieve it and also no… the marauders didn’t join the light side because they cared for the entire world, they did it because they hated the other side).
Snape’s love for Lily has been termed as obsessive and creepy.
Why? Because it was not returned? I mean seriously?
History has borne testimony to the greatest love stories which end up being unrequited. Unrequited love has been told to be the most powerful form of it.
There is one thing I want to stress here.
The consequence of the actions of your lover (requited or not) does not in any capacity define the intention or intensity of your love for him or her.
Anyone who thinks otherwise has to be truly brainless.
So, in accordance, Lily Potter’s not returning Severus Snape’s feelings (platonic or romantic) does not automatically make his love for her as wrong or impure. He has never forced his feelings on her. He has never forced her to return his feelings. He has never manipulated situations in an attempt to make her fall in love with him. He has never used her weaknesses or someone she loves as means to make her comply with him. [Cue, all the things one James Potter has done canonically]. He has never even told her about his feelings.
Heck the man has never even addressed her with her maiden name, after she had married, harbouring no spite against her while speaking of her in her absence.
So just because Lily didn’t choose Snape doesn’t automatically make his love for her false and just because she married James doesn’t make him true and pure in default. [which is an argument I have sadly come across many times… I mean seriously!!!?]
From when did his love start becoming creepy or obsessive? Where in the world has it been written or even admitted that you cannot love a person who is committed to another? You can’t control who you fall in love with or even when to cease loving that person. You can only control your actions towards that person. And I can find no actions that can be used to testify in favour of obsessive behaviour against Snape.
The Patronus you say…
I will give you all an answer.
James Potter’s Patronus is a Stag and Lily Potter’s Patronus is a doe. They are the male and female versions of the same breed. A stag which can primarily dominate over the doe in means of physical strength and otherwise. Severus Snape’s Patronus on the other hand is a doe as well. What I would like to believe is… in this way Snape see’s Lily as his equal. A love which primarily focuses on equality. Even if someone doesn’t want to interpret this in this way. Would you all agree then to the fact that Harry’s Patronus being a Stag directly implies that he is obsessed with his father..? Eh?
And ultimately if his motto was to… fuck… Lily (which is also one of the many insulting motives I see people use to twist Snape’s sacrifices and make fun of) how could he have done that precisely.. coz Lily was… dead..? Remember that… what had he thought? He’ll fuck her in heaven?
See people might start giving me reasons like he bullied children, took unfair points, was rude and harsh and etc etc.
Please don’t.
I like him harsh and rude and arrogant. The man is far more knowledgeable and clever than most of the wizarding community combined. He can afford his arrogance. Not like Lockhart who could only boast and do nothing.
And the unfair points taking.. he did have to maintain a image in front , because of Albus’s belief that Voldemort would return and that he would have to have a good explanation ready to get back into the Dark Lord’s good graces. Half the Slytherin’s parents were Death Eaters. You think they wouldn’t have gone back and complained to their parents if they had seen Snape being congenial or fair to the Gryffindor’s and other houses.
And personally to Harry… yes he was petty and no I don’t care.. plus he had to, again, maintain his hatred filled image for Potter in front of the rest. He could not even pretend to be bad and then be good later in secret, because.. hey.. Voldie’s a legilimens.
And sometimes I agree with him taking the points…
Harry is not a very respectful child anyways. He has some major anger management issues to work out for sure. Everyone might not appreciate cheek from students. And that’s totally fine.
But coming to the end of my terra sized rant I would like to sign out by giving you all the most important reason why I adore this fundamentally fucked up man (and no, its not cause he was loyal to Lily… I could care less for that… bleh!).
It is because even after being pushed into the darkness. Letting it creep into him, festering like a stale mould inside his soul, all the bitterness and cynicism, agony and humiliation, pain and pride and arrogance aside… Severus Snape had the courage to admit he was wrong. And then immerse himself in the path of redemption to correct his mistakes, atone for his misdeeds. Yes, he was wrong and he made a fucking mistake.. don’t we all. But he worked towards correcting it once he was shown the light. He toiled and broke and twisted himself, letting everyone despise him, isolating himself from all comfort and care and walked the path of redemption.
And he achieved it in the end. Whatever the price he paid for selling his soul to the Devil… he was redeemed in the end. We can’t know whether he had done more than was required or just as much, but no one can, in their right unbiased and logical mind, say that it was less. It can’t be and you all know it.
He bore the Dark Mark on his left forearm, darkness in his soul, wore dark clothes and served a Dark Master for the entirety of his miserable existence and fought for the light, was hated for it till his very end and yet ultimately it was because of him that Harry Potter won the wizarding world the war both times considered.
And he didn’t give a flying fuck either ways.
And thus I love him.
Period.
Okay, end of rant. Thanks for coming.
