I didn't train yesterday, oops

Hey hey hey! Here I am with a little update for you.

I know you want to know about me, about my life. I received a super sweet email yesterday from a girl, one of you readers... she asked me to tell you more about my training, because lately I've been talking so much about fish, and not so much about my fitness routine.

Well, girls, remember, I'm a marine biologist, not a boxer! But the truth is... okay, the truth is, unfortunately, last night I was too tired for my usual boxing session, so I skipped it. I'm trying to do a little training every day, focusing on consistency to gradually build endurance and strength, but after a day of aquatic (and terrestrial) exploration, I was really tired, sleepy, and I took advantage of what free time I had in the late afternoon and evening to do some work. I guess swimming and exploring are still valid workouts! Maybe not as much as boxing, but arriving at the evening more tired than usual probably means I've done a fair bit of training.

And then, once we got home, we also had to set up the jarrarium (the mini-aquarium made from a large jar, with the word jarrarium being a portmanteau of "jar" and "aquarium") and observe the reactions of the new creatures that will now live there. Luckily, the Phorcus richardi, the little snails, are behaving exactly like their companion that was already in the jarrarium before them: they're reacting calmly and eating without any problems.

The new copepods that have arrived are behaving very similarly to their freshwater counterparts. We have a small plastic freshwater aquarium, built from what was supposed to be a lemon juice dispenser (really, a dispenser! It even has a mini faucet at the base... obviously never intended to be used), which sits on a windowsill. Inside, there are practically nothing but snails, copepods, and, of course, aquatic plants.

See, marine copepods behave identically to freshwater copepods.

Anyway, I plan to work out today, even though I have to fit it in between various commitments. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) I don't have any social commitments, but I do have work commitments, and I also have a few things I absolutely have to do because it's not good to procrastinate on your projects. In short, time will fly by, but I hope to be able to throw a few hundred good punches! I already lifted some weights this morning.

And now I'm leaving, my dears, because I see some delicious chicken breast steak with mixed vegetables on the table; it smells delicious!

Mouth shout + a day among the rocks

Today my sisters and I talked about something... important.

It's absolutely infuriating that I can't talk to you about it yet, but at the same time, I'm a little happy about this, about the fact I have to keep my mouth shut. Kinda. Because at the end of it all, when Mrs. Alkahest finally gives us permission to talk to you about it, probably what... no, I can't phrase it that way, it would be too obvious what I'm talking about... um... okay, let's just say it'll be interesting.

We're also involving Sangreal himself; he doesn't think he has the talent to do what we asked of him, but he'll make himself available to us anyway.

We're gathering more information. Some of it will be difficult to find, but we really can't afford not to verify the sources. Oh no, um, I have to find a way to talk to you about it that doesn't break the silence clause Seras imposed on us, damn it.

I won't talk to you about it anymore. Imagine me whistling, with my hands behind my back.

No, no, don't worry, there's nothing strange about this blog, nothing that could help you understand what it's all about. Whistle, whistle.

Anyway, today was an incredible day! We went to the pools (that's where we talked about the project) to take some samples, and there were the fluffiest algae in the world, but more importantly, there were some new mini-fish! It really looks like spring has arrived.

Lots of Palaemon shrimp crowded the shallow, warm water, beautiful, with their transparent, streaked bodies bursting with intense shades of color, making them look like glass toys. They weren't even afraid of us! Sure, they didn't want to be touched (maybe a giant poking you with his finger isn't your thing, and I can understand that), but they seemed more curious than scared.

We found several dead crabs, and this is interesting, because while some were open, a sign that someone had pried open their shells and eaten their flesh, others were dead but closed, with some legs missing. Two different causes of death, perhaps two different predators? According to my brother Seraphin, even the first crabs were probably not forced by a predator, but rather lost structural integrity post-mortem, but I'm not convinced.

And then we also observed a "mysterious" creature. Nothing sensational, but it was a small black mass, wagging its tail from a pool, and then dived back into the sea before we could photograph or even see it. Could it really be the mysterious crab predator?

Of course, we also observed some live crabs, but above all, an enormous number of hermit crabs! I swear, there seemed to be more hermit crabs than snails; every shell we turned had a small red-orange hermit crab inside. Absolutely adorable!

Ionia continues her experiments to reproduce small marine environments in jars (very spacious jars, obviously, I want that on record), and thanks to her experience, it's working! Well, I mean, she's a marine biologist with a thing for micromanagement, and it's obviously working. Three new Phorcus richardi snails have joined the "family" in her latest jar (she'd already gotten one before, to see how it handled itself, and since it was doing so well, she increased the number), some algae (I'll have to ask her what they are later), and the shell of a large limpet covered in smaller ones.

We'll see how it goes!

And that's it, until next time (hoping to be able to give you some more information about our special little project. But until then, we'll keep our mouths shut!).

Devlog 1[?] - Making this lil' game about my brother

Hello, little fries! Did I mention I'm making a video game? 

I really love those "old" but interactive pixel art things, so I decided to put my skills to work on a great (well, great, so to speak) unique product: a 2D exploration video game! I named it after the blog, Fish Don't Cry. 

And the old updates I wrote for you have been lost, alas, along with the old blog, so we need to fix that!

So...

 

Welcome to our very first devlog for our little pixel art underwater exploration game, Fish Don't Cry! 

I'll start by reminding you that I'm in no way a professional at this stuff, that I know next to nothing about programming, that I'm learning as I go, and that this thing I'm doing is a passion project and nothing more. Now that that's out of the way... how cool is the idea of ​​being able to create an interactive work of art that our "readers" can interact with? HOW COOL? 

 

So, Fish don't Cry, what happens in this game? In theory, you swim and see little marine animals while exploring rich environments, full of hidden surprises, treasures, and characters. Yes, characters. Underwater. 

The protagonist of this game is (obviously, what else could he be? He was born a protagonist) my brother Seraphin. In the game, Seraphin explores an aquatic world, aided by scuba tanks: he observes the fish, collects samples, and reports the information to our ship, the Nihil, where all the researchers are waiting for him to report back. 

Basically, he does pretty much the same things he does in real life. 

I thought that the job of a marine biologist might sound a lot like a video game, and then a light bulb went on in my head: what if I actually turned this thing into a game? I really enjoy animating little fish in pixel art, drawing corals, anemones, seabeds... eureka! That's how the concept of Fish don't Cry was born. 

Compared to the "base" resolution of Solarus (the program/engine I'm using to put together the game), I increased the screen size to include more detail and make the small fish appear less huge, while also making the protagonist appear larger. 

In the start menu (the one with some basic accessibility options), the logo has been moved higher than it was before (it was behind the text, instead of above), and frankly, I like this "essential" yet somehow mysterious, look. 

 Before:

After

 
Then (and this is something I wanted to "record" because, well, we'll laugh about it in the future), the protagonist Seraphin currently has three different sprite types, depending on where he moves XD 

I was trying to figure out which one works best. One sprite is a placeholder that has nothing to do with the wizard-adventurer, who is the sprite of the "basic" protagonist of Solarus. 

One is the same we created before (Seraphin, a bit chibi-esque, roughly the same size as the wizard), and the third is a generic sub, also a placeholder, with about four movements, but much larger than the other two sprites. 

I'll probably end up using the size of that last sprite (or a little smaller), although obviously the whole thing would have to be redrawn. Oh, and look how cute the first animated corals are, with the polyps opening and closing!

Currently, there are two sizes of the same coral species (albeit with two different animations), but soon they'll be joined by dozens of different species of sessile invertebrates! 

It takes time to do something like this, but we can't wait to see how the seabed will look when it's covered with creatures of different colors and sizes.
And speaking of which... it's definitely one of the most "boring" things (at least compared to digitally creating the animals and plants), but I also have to make the rocks! 

Lots of different rocks to make up the background and, partially, the seabed.

Oh, and of course, two things that will be super useful as we progress through the game's story: the inventory (finally an inventory, yaaay! With a working cursor!) and the portraits that appear next to the dialogues!

And the dialogue window is new (and the cursor is shaped like a fish, like in the menus at the beginning). 

Aligning the cursor with the text, or even just making it appear on the screen, was a bit of a challenge. Nothing worked, partly because of the resolution (which isn't standard), partly because the little fish we (yeah, I'm not working on this completely alone...) made for the cursor wasn't centered in the image, partly because we're still not very good at programming, but I finally did it!

And that's fine for now. Talk to you again, little fries! See you next time!

The wind and the old video

Hello hello hello!

Today is a beautiful day. Yesterday it was a bit windy, and on the main deck of the Nihil there was almost nothing you could do: if you sat down to eat, you'd see first the handkerchiefs fly away, then the food, then the cutlery, and finally the plate. Perhaps saying it was "a bit windy" is kind of an understatement.

Ionia felt sick, one of the very rare times she's gotten seasick. Martine made her a ginger mocha, and, guess what, it worked! Ginger is truly an incredible herb. Or is it a spice? A plant. Ginger is, in general, an incredible plant.

Anyway, the light today is beautiful. I wanted to start writing this update this morning, but I slept in, and then I wandered around the ship, sat outside, and enjoyed the sun.

Sangreal, who is always dressed from head to toe, sometimes down to his fingertips, was wearing a sweater this time.

He's usually impervious to harsh weather, whether cold, windy, or mountain mist (we've never actually seen him exposed to mountain mist, but whatever), so I imagine it's a style choice. He's very stylish, though never fashionable: he dresses like someone from two thousand years ago, maybe even three thousand.

Anyway, I found an interesting video on the old web. You know we're studying regalechi, right? And here's a video of the usual beaching... with a twist: this time the two big fish are saved! Luckily, these two sisters were there to witness it, and despite the size and weight of the animals, as well as the fact that they didn't even know what kind of fish they were, they willingly pushed them back into the water, even involving the other people on the beach.

Here's the video, look at these beautiful beasts:

Whenever the weather is bad, my sisters want to go fishing. I understand that it's not the right time for swimming, and that with the overcast sky it's the perfect time for fishing, but today it's really too windy. As I write this, there's a crazy noise, you can't even imagine the sound, it feels like the entire ship is in a vortex, banging against everything... how do you fish like that? Your lines will surely get tangled, maybe the wind will blow things away.

And as if on cue, I just saw a red and yellow float dart out of the porthole.

Well done, little sisters, well done.

Alright, I'm going to tell them "I told you so!" and that's it, and I'll end this brief update.

Bye bye, little friends!

The first mysterious (but not TOO mysterious) sea city!

Friday, February 13, 3267

Sorry, I haven't been posting a ton of updates lately. I know, I know. Sometimes life is more entertaining to live than to talk about, and these past few days we've seen some beautiful and interesting things... and by the time we returned to our cabins in the evening, I was always too tired to update the blog.

We visited an absolutely delightful seaside town! Oh, as the old saying goes, "there are benefits to being a marine biologist"... and one of them, my dears, is that we're taking an incredible panoramic tour of the entire Mediterranean Sea. Oh, I love the Mediterranean!

For reasons of confidentiality, I can't tell you the name of the town we landed in, nor the exact date or time, but perhaps the photos might reveal which town it is (but not what day! Eh!).

Mistery photo!

Another mysterious photo. Just a little less mysterious.

Did I take only mysterious photos? Maybe yes.

The sea :O

We ate a particularly thick and tasty pizza, which even had lil' salty anchovies inside, diced cheese on top, and the most abundant tomato sauce I've ever seen in my life. Cascades, of tomato sauce (the sweetest and tastiest one). 

A large seagull landed next to us, craning and craning its neck, which was probably its way of letting us know it wanted to try the thick pizza too, so we let it try it.

The sea was calm, the breeze gentle. At a certain point, a huge white bus with silver lettering arrived, and a ton of tourists got off, all bundled up as if they were about to embark on an expedition to the Arctic Circle. I looked down at my short sleeves and smiled. Who knows where they were from... but they seemed so happy! Many of them had children with them, and they came down to the beach, after wandering the streets for a bit, looking distraught.

The children immediately began digging holes and building sandcastles, using reeds and pieces of wood, like little architects, to hold the structures up. I had never seen children build sandcastles like this on the beach: everyone I know (and I did, too, when I was little) uses only a bucket, making sure the sand inside is always wet to avoid losing structural integrity, and a shovel, maybe a few stones and shells to decorate the magical "crab palace," as I called it.

No, these children looked like they'd been preparing their whole lives to build sandcastles, and they didn't want to waste the moment, because they didn't waste any time getting down to business!

The adults, as I said, seemed happy. They didn't do much: they looked at the sea, talked to each other, smiled.

I feel lucky to be able to see the sea every day, especially when I remember that there are plenty of towns that don't even have access to the sea.

Oh, and then we saw so much art! In this town, they love their murals, their glazed tiles, and their decorations, I tell you!

Look at this! This view is fake, like in a cartoon. There's actually no tunnel in this wall!

 

Do you think this is an oarfish? At first I thought so, it even had a crown, but then one of my sisters pointed out that it's not the oarfish's crest, but the fin of the fish on top of it, and that ruined the magic for me. It's probably a conger eel or a "normal" eel, it's a rather generic fish, so who knows. But it's cute, like all the other fish drawn on this wall!

Probably only an eel...

This one, on the other hand, is an oarfish! (The Casalpalocco Rome tile isn't a spoiler about the location; the Rotary club does this thing where they exchange tiles with other Rotary clubs.)

We also went to a bookstore: it was really cute, full of independent projects. We also bought some postcards (but obviously we can't show you because the name of the city is on them) and a children's book called "Lilly of the Abyss" (or was it "Lilly IN the Abyss"? I can't remember right now, and the book is gone).

My brother loves children's books; he practically collects them, and who can blame him? They're beautiful, especially the intelligent ones, the ones that don't treat the child like an idiot. Even though I pretend not to notice, I spend a lot of time reading my brother's books... if he ever has daughters and/or sons (and he will have a son like him, there's no doubt about that), they'll be able to have a blast in Dad's bookshop.

Sangreal explored the city with us, with the enthusiasm of someone who's never seen a seaside town (and he's only seen those in his life, though, because as far as we know, he was born there, by the sea). I mean, he wasn't screaming and jumping for joy; he's not the type to do those things... let's just say that, in his own way, he seemed delighted and surprised by everything. Except the bread. Apparently, he hates bread. Have you ever met a person who doesn't even want to be touched by a sandwich?

Ionia bought a bunch of sandwiches.

Eeee... nothing. That's what we did.

It's nice, sometimes, not to have to tell strange things, to simply appreciate the life around us, the sea, a thick pizza that leaves your fingers greasy, the seagulls.

Until the next adventure!

Best (cuddly) wishes,

Your favorite marine biologist, Nana!

Friends and foes!

February 3 3267

I forgot that, since the blog is completely new, many of you have no idea who we are!

I thought about making some profiles explaining who's aboard the Nihil, and their roles, but I risk wasting a lot of time, since I want to illustrate them all and make them look good, and maybe do some mini-interviews with each of colleagues, so I'd rather take it easy. For now. (Muahahahaha).

Okay, I'll give you a quick guide to the "important" ones, okay? (I'll tell you about the others later.) 

MY FRIENDS:

Seraphin: He's my brother! In theory, he's the "boss" of this expedition, but in practice, he's (rightly) very democratic and (too bad for him) completely submissive to Sangreal. Sangreal, however, is kind of submissive to him. They have something strange between them, it's complicated to explain. Seraphin is a tall guy (6'3"), but he's incredibly skinny. All women who like men want him.

Martine: One of my sisters! Her name is Martine, but everyone, including sometimes people who don't know her, calls her Marti. Her favorite color is blue, and if you meet her, you'll immediately know it. She dyes her hair blue, loves blue clothes, and sometimes she even paints her nails blue. She's the oldest of us, so she's always in charge (not like my brother, who doesn't know how to lead and gets pushed around because he's too good).

Ionia: Another one of my sisters! Her favorite color is green, so she dyes her hair green. The problem with us sisters is that we look too much alike, and we have to find a way to tell each other apart, okay? Otherwise, everyone tells us, "You're twins, you're twins!" and we're not. But back to Ionia: she's very serious and capable (more serious than me and Marti, who are both clowns, but whatever), but she also has her slightly more relaxed moments. Without her, we'd all leave dirty dishes in the sink, unwashed clothes on the chair, and fruit seeds on the plates. Thanks for yelling at us, Ionia.

Celestine: Yet another (this is the last one, I promise) of my sisters. She seems like the toughest of us, but that's not true, it's just that she reads too many gothic novels and has absorbed the language like a sponge, so now she speaks like a vampire. She doesn't do it on purpose! In fact, sometimes she realizes it and even changes her speech pattern. Her favorite color is purple (even though her name is Celestine! Ha ha!) and at this point it makes me wonder what would have happened if we all had the same favorite color. She's good at math.

Seras Alkahest: She's the president! HAIL to the president, source of all the money that buys us little robots to explore the seabed and take pictures of cute octopuses! President Seras is very tall, very slender, very pure, with very long blonde hair and hands that look like they'll kill you instantly if they slap you. She always dresses in super-strange and super-elegant ways; I swear I've never seen her wearing a t-shirt. Her Holiness the president is very indulgent with us. If you're reading this right now: please don't hit me, ma'am, what I'm writing is a 100% positive portrait.

Sangreal: He's our supervisor, but he's not a marine biologist like us. How did he get to this place? Apparently he's an expert on marine creatures because he lives in the sea and is part of an ancient population. He doesn't have a last name, from what I understand, or if he does, it's like a monstrous sound that I don't know how to make or spell. He's two meters tall (that's not hyperbole! He really is two meters tall, maybe even taller), he has red hair, a beard, he dresses like a man who was super-elegant a thousand years ago, and I really don't know if there's anything else he could do to look even more striking. Seriously, you can tell from afar. He and my brother Seraphin have something strange going on—shh, don't ask.

Rosas: One of the president's men, an inventor apparently, and also an excellent navigator. Small and rotund (and very proud of both), he has the most muscular arms of the entire crew, and he's an excellent swimmer. From his appearance, he seems to be of Indian origin, but his family has probably lived on French soil for so long that he doesn't even remember what India is anymore. I don't know his last name; if anyone told me, I've forgotten (I'll have to ask him, so I can put it on the file).





THE "ENEMIES"

Bertram Fuka: He's a guy who's tall about one metre and one prayer, and he's the leader of a group of scientists who boasts and laugh from other boats because they usually manage to win cooler projects (and bigger budgests) than us. Everyone calls him Bertra, leaving out the final "M." Unlike my brother, he knows how to lead, and everyone bows to him. His last name allows him to make vulgar puns, which gives him an advantage over us.

Ippolita Ferro: She's Bertra's errand girl, she's 1,90 m (six feet) tall and weighs maybe two hundred kilos. She always has a gray parrot on her shoulder. Her hair is cut in a mohawk, just to make her look even more scary. When she walks around, she makes the sound of jingling keys, but rarely makes any other noises, because she doesn't dare speak in front of Bertra (what if she misses a breath?). When Bertra's not around, she trash-talks us, with the help of her parrot. They say she once lifted a great white shark with her bare hands, and a lot of people don't believe it, but I do (because I know great white sharks can be young and light).


??? (I don't know if they're allies or enemies)

Sangreal's Grandmother: I've never met her, but she's an important person because she influences the things Sangreal does, and since he's our supervisor, he influences us. Apparently she's gigantic (and if her grandson, who's two meters tall, says so, I'm worried), rigorous, and of noble lineage. She lives somewhere in the sea, but I'm not sure where. Apparently she's terrified of "sea monkeys" (Artemia salina).

Actually, there are a lot of other people, especially on Nihil, but if I tell you all about them, you might not remember them. And anyway, these are the people I write about the most, so it's best if you know them!

Now I have to go, Marti downloaded a really old game where you explore the bottom of a red ocean, or something like that, and she wants me to go give her my honest scientific opinions.

A lively bye bye from your favorite marine biologist!

-Nana

Vampire squid!

Thursday 27 January 3266

 Wow, today was a great day!

Our ROV saw some really cool things. And I can't wait to show you all! Unfortunately, the "deep silence" clause is keeping us all kinda quiet right now (on our social media 'n stuff). Oh no! I can't tell you everything I saw. But I do have some mini-permissions to tell you some mini-things (without, unfortunately, showing them to you).

For example, I can tell you that we spotted a vampire squid. Have you ever heard of one? I hope so, because it's a truly beautiful, absurdly beautiful animal.

It's a squid (no, wait, it's not exactly a squid, but at least it's a cephalopod!), but not a vampire, in the sense that it doesn't drink blood... the reason it's called that is to be found in its appearance (absurdly beautiful): it has a deep red body (blood red, you could say), which seems to be made of silk (and just like silk, it's iridescent. Yes, of course I know vampires aren't normally silky, I realize that...) what vampire squids have in common with vampires are their "teeth." I mean, no, not teeth, but spines. I mean, um... vampire squids are harmless. But it looks like they have teeth/spines (they're actually cirri!), because they're inside their "umbrella" made up of tentacles and the flaps of skin that go between them.

Basically, when seen from above, vampire squids are adorable little creatures: red, with a pair of fins, that pop out of their heads (a bit like the more famous dumbo octopuses! Or like flapjack octopuses, which are my favorites!).

I'm wondering if I should write a whole page dedicated to vampire squids, because they deserve it, they really deserve it... maybe even a little pixel art! You could put some stickers on your pages too! Some... little adoptables? Like the ones you put in forum signatures. Something cute, saying "I adopted the Vampire Squid" and a link to the page that explains all the cool things about this animal.

Woah. What a great idea. I think I'll make some "scientific adoptables" for all my favorite creatures, so you can put them on your personal websites or in your forum signatures! That'll be really cool.

But back to the vampire squid and its spine-like teeth that aren't really teeth: from above, they look like "normal" cephalopods, but when they feel threatened, they turn around, spread their tentacles, and... bam! They look like they're become a huge mouth overflowing with monstrous, pale teeth, like those of a lamprey, but worse, like the menacing whirlpool of Charybdis (I think I should tell you about Charybdis, it's a really cool story!).

In addition to having fake teeth that transform it into monstrous living jaws, the vampire squid also has two scary, glowing fake eyes, and can exude bioluminescent mucus from the tips of its arms (think Mega-Malamar, if you're a Pokémon fan! It does something similar!).

In reality, as I told you, vampire squids aren't dangerous at all: they feed on zooplankton, or tiny animals, and sometimes even... poop... yes, especially the younger ones, they eat the fecal pellets that come from animals that live in shallower layers of the water, so all the "coolness" of the vampire squids is just for show.

And I didn't tell you the funniest thing! But this isn't the vampire squid's fault for trying to look edgy; it's the fault of the people who gave it its scientific name: Vampyroteuthis infernalis, which actually means "vampire squid from hell." Wow. That's a lot for a colorful octopus that eats shrimp and poop!

Anyway, if you're curious to see what one of these creatures looks like, I can't show you what we recorded, but I can show you some old Nautilus footage, where you can admire the squishy, ​​silky skin of this adorable animal, completely different from what you'd expect when you hear the words "vampire squid from hell":

Well, now Seraphin's calling me, and we're about to have a midnight spaghetti dinner. Bah-bye from your favorite marine biologist!