Rynling R&D

Shigeru Ban Releases Designs That Reuse Rubble for Nepal Disaster Relief Project
https://www.archdaily.com/771059/shigeru-bans-nepalese-emergency-shelters-to-be-built-from-rubble

Shigeru Ban Architects has released images of their first emergency shelter prototype. The simple shelter is designed to be easily assembled by almost anyone. Using connecting modular wooden frames, salvaged rubble bricks are used to infill the wall's cavities while paper tube trussing supports the roof. This, as Shigeru Ban says, will allow for "quick erection and nearly immediate inhabitation."

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Tarrey Town (the settlement that Link can help build in the northeast Akkala Region) is interesting. In opposition to the monumental medieval castle architecture of the ruined Akkala Fortress on the hill, Tarrey Town is built from lightweight wooden modular architecture of the sort that Japanese (and later international) architects started designing in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima triple disaster. This probably isn't the sort of "Zelda architecture" that most people care about, but I think it's neat.

Mina the Hollower and The Adventures of Elliot are two recently released Zeldalike games. Mina the Hollower leans into its Game Boy Color retro aesthetics, though it plays like a simplified version of Bloodborne. The Adventures of Elliot was created in the same engine as Octopath Traveler, and it’s so pretty that the gameplay feels far more retro than the graphics.

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With both Mina the Hollower and The Adventures of Elliot, I accomplished plenty of objectives but didn’t feel like I’d really gotten anywhere after eight hours. With no sense of skill-based or narrative-based progression, I didn’t see the point of continuing. I had fun, and now it’s time to move on.

I know I’m being critical here, but I really did enjoy both games! I just wanted to say (mostly to myself) that it’s okay to have fun while you’re having fun and then quit while you’re ahead.

Here are two novels, a graphic novel, a manga short story collection, and a video game that have been making me happy this month:

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Also, this is neither here nor there, but I’m really grateful for the opportunity to work with so many talented people on commissioned illustrations. I’m having fun, and it’s always nice to put new art out into the world. At the same time, I feel like now more than ever is a good time to support human artists. Especially after I had such a rough time during the pandemic, I’m happy to have the resources to do this now.

Me playing Chapter 3 of Deltarune last summer: I like the big TV man. He's cute. 💛

Me playing Chapter 3 of Deltarune this summer: There's something really interesting going on between Tenna and Spamton, and I think this has to do with the weirdness between Kris and Noelle's families, specifically their fathers. Tenna seems like a clear counterpart to Asgore, while it's fair to argue that Spamton has parallels to Noelle's father Rudy. If we can accept the theory that Noelle's missing sister Dess is the "Roaring Knight" who is creating the Dark Fountains that trigger instances of the Dark World, then I wonder what she might have seen regarding Rudy and Asgore to have generated these specific versions of them. Let me show you my cork board covered in screenshots connected by red thread as I demonstrate that

My actual canon opinion about the Ocarina of Time remake is that I'm happy it's going to exist. I suspect that Nintendo is trying to pivot away from the world of Breath of the Wild (which is going to be ten years old next March), and a remake of Ocarina of Time might be intended as a step in a new direction.

Even if it's not, I'm looking forward to seeing the dark fantasy elements of the game rendered in HD. I don't think it's a mere social media blip that, right after the announcement, everyone immediately started talking about what the remake is going to do with the ReDead zombies. I'm delighted that this specific nightmare fuel will now exist for a new generation.

But mainly? I've been losing my shit over the next chapter of Deltarune coming out at the end of the month. Last summer I had to put an almost physical effort into holding myself back from getting too involved with those characters and their world(s), but playing the game again from the beginning this week is making me feel like I'm losing my grip. And maybe that's not such a bad thing, you know?

I love writing creepy little stories about Ocarina of Time, and I bet I can write some really horrible and upsetting stories about Deltarune too. ❤️

Promise Mascot Agency (on Steam here) is a retro nostalgia third-person driving sim / visual novel / card deck builder where you play as a yakuza enforcer running a talent agency for sentient mascot characters out of a love hotel in a small rural town, and...

...and you know what, let's just end this post there. This game is like someone took the best parts of the Yakuza series and boiled them down into concentrate, and it has some of the most entertaining writing I've seen in a video game in a good long time. I don't dislike Dispatch, but I also feel like Promise Mascot Agency is what Dispatch wishes it could be. It also has strong Persona 4 vibes, but if Persona 4 had a difficult time during the pandemic and came out completely cracked on the other side. I'm legit surprised by how good this game is.

Despite its narrative deficiencies, Tears of the Kingdom is such a joyful game. Let me explain:

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I was a STEM person before I was a Humanities person, and it’s been interesting to return to the world of this game in order to figure out things like how much Link weighs, how gravity works, what the atmospheric friction is, and how much electrical voltage the various Zonai devices use. What a genuine miracle that I can play around in this gorgeous physics sandbox on an old Switch Lite.

Forest of Fallen Knights (on Itch.io here) is a free-to-play Game Boy narrative adventure game that takes about 30-40 minutes to finish. Though the game is visually modeled after Link’s Awakening, its setting and story are a homage to Dark Souls.

You play as a nameless adventurer who’s found himself alone and unarmed at the bottom of a cave. After the ghost of a knight gives him a sword, the adventurer emerges into a dense forest dotted with ruined houses that were once inhabited by the knights who survived a devastating war. Though no longer alive, neither can the knights die. Your job, as the still-living adventurer, is to help them make peace with their regrets.

Admittedly, it’s unclear what purpose your good deeds will serve in the long run, given that the knights are eternally unable to pass on. Perhaps the adventurer should take care that their curse doesn’t pass to him as well...

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The Wind Waker is a marvelous game. A miraculous work of art. A blessing directly from heaven. A beautiful shining treasure on this earth.

I haven’t gotten to the relaxing part (the sailing) yet, but that’s okay. I always forget what an incredible charm offensive the opening hour of the game is, and I’m always delighted.

I love how, when Link is leaving Outset Island, the music crescendos into a heroic swell as he waves goodbye to everyone on the island from the stern of a pirate ship – but just when the song is about to reach its climax and transition into the classic Legend of Zelda theme, it crashes to a halt when Tetra is like, “Are you fucking done?” I love her so much, and also. That’s thematic foreshadowing babeyyyy.

I also somehow managed to forget how cool the first encounter with Ganondorf is. I love the way his face distorts into the most bitter and unhinged smile, and the way he ever-so-slightly twists his chin to signal the Helmaroc King (his giant pet murder bird) to release Link back into the ocean. Ganondorf covets that wind, and I covet... his magnificent bone structure...

Return to Grace (on Steam here) is an atmospheric sci-fi walking sim that takes about an hour and a half to finish.

You play as Adie, a space archaeologist who’s searching for a legendary AI named Grace on the Ganymede moon of Jupiter. Inside the immaculately preserved ruins of a structure built to worship Grace, Adie encounters various aspects of Grace’s personality, who communicate with her through her digital wristband. As she explores the beautifully appointed space station, Adie searches for the answer to a mystery that’s gone unsolved for more than a hundred years: why did Grace suddenly disappear?

The game’s story is well-paced and engaging, and the voice acting is excellent. Return to Grace also showcases one of the most visually striking examples of retro futurism I’ve encountered. The references to everyday 1960s architecture and interior design fit the world and its themes perfectly, as do the more elevated hints of Art Deco.

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In the end, Return to Grace is a short but thought-provoking narrative adventure filled with uniquely stylized artistic flourishes, and I’d definitely recommend checking it out if you’re a fan of What Remains of Edith Finch and Outer Wilds.