Category: Creative Corner

GMOD: A Review

BY LOGAN SCHLOSSER

STAFF WRITER

Hello to all of you lovely people! Welcome back to this series of newspaper articles where I review a game that’s probably been out for a long time, and I just am not up to date on. Alright, with introductions out of the way, time to reveal this week’s game to enjoy! It is a 3D sandbox game focused purely on modding and having a good time. This game is of course, Garry’s Mod. Time to move to the most important part of all, gameplay!

Alright, let’s just get right into it. Before we get into the whole modding thing, let’s get into the barebones game, which I have affectionately named “The Garry”. Now, this game is built upon Valve’s flagship engine, the Source Engine. That means that the movement and parkour is the exact same as Valve’s other games that are running off of it. These include many of Valve’s flagship games, such as the Portal series and Half-Life 2. So basically, once you are in the game and have selected the map you would like to play on, you get your first chance to open the Garry’s Mod menu. Now this menu allows you to spawn in every single asset from the Half-Life 2 game to screw around with. Really want to blow up some explosive barrels using a crossbow? You can do that at any time, any place. There is also a tools section where you can make your very own creations you can call your own. Like a massive sculpture made purely out of bathtubs.

Now that we have the core gameplay out of the way, we can talk about the mod part of the game. Because the only place you can purchase this game is Steam, you have full access to the Steam Workshop. This is where people upload their very own modifications to various games. Now this is where the mod part of Garry’s Mod comes in. You can simply just click “Subscribe” on all of the mods that seem interesting to you, reboot the game, wait for them to install, and then you are good to go! There are various different types of modifications that you can install, from maps to play on, to items to play around with. Overall though, the modding is the reason that I have spent 258.7 hours of my life on this game (oh, yeah. Did I mention that part?).

Garry’s mod is a very complex game. Yet simple enough to attract people. Now you may be wondering why I never talked about the music of it. Now, this game does not exactly have music at all. If you would like to have music though, head onto the Steam Workshop and pick some up for your game. Now, there is not much else to explain about this game, so I will just have to tell you to pick up the game and try it for yourself. I know that I am repetitive when I say that, but this is just a game that is hard to explain without someone experiencing it for themselves. Anyway, that is all I have for you today. As usual, have a good day and try this game out if you like the review. Thanks as usual!

Among Us: Tips and Tricks

BY IAN JIN AND VENKATA KARAVADI

STAFF WRITERS

Tips and Tricks for being an impostor. 

By Ian Jin

Being the impostor is undoubtedly one of the most fun parts of  Among Us, but there are some tips and tricks to being impostor that will help you stay alive and kill the Crewmates.

Tip 1. When playing as the impostor the lights out crisis is your best friend. You can activate this by pressing the button shaped like a lightning bolt in the electrical section of your sabotage screen. Doing this will temporarily shut off the lights. The thing that makes this crisis so useful is that when the lights are off the vision of the Crewmates is MASSIVELY hindered to the point that they will only be able to see people that are extremely close to them. On the other hand the vision of the impostors will not be affected.

Trick 1. By using the lights out and venting mechanics in conjunction, you can make very stealthy kills that will frame innocents, or you can vent in what would be in plain sight.

Tip 2. Use the venting mechanic appropriately. The venting mechanic can be a useful method of escape that will frame innocents but it can also be the last bit of proof that will get you voted out. For example, in security, while you are in a vent, you cannot see all the way to the security cameras which means that you could kill somebody in electrical then vent to security, only to be caught venting by a person who was looking at the security feeds.

Trick 2. If you want to vent/kill but you can see the red lights blinking on the security cams (which means that somebody is looking through the security cams), you should use the sabotage communications crisis, because sabotaging the comms will temporarily shut off the security cams which will clear you for venting/killing.

Tip 3. Remember that your first priority is not killing but simply staying alive. Assuming that you are playing in the two impostor game mode, if you or your impostor teammate dies then you are at a MAJOR disadvantage because there are only two of you and eight of them. Which in turn makes impostor lives very valuable while the lives of crewmates are of little value.

Trick 4. Use the lock door options so you can trap crewmates and kill somebody where there aren’t many witnesses.

Tip 4. This is very important. ALWAYS have an alibi, this is usually easier if you kill in a secluded and/or remote place on the map which will make it harder to find the body which will, in turn, give you more time to join up with some crewmates and move in a pack which will give you plenty of people who can vouch for your innocence when the body is found. 

Tip 5. never kill in high traffic areas such as storage or cafeteria unless ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. Killing in these places will lead to the body being found almost immediately which will make it easier to pinpoint who was the killer.

Trick 3. If you are playing in the two impostor game mode then you and your impostor buddy can do something that the community refers to as a “double kill”. Now as the name suggests this is when you and your fellow impostor kill two crewmates at the same time. A good example of this is you and the other impostor going into the electric and finding two crewmates doing tasks there and then you kill one of them. Now, your impostor teammate could kill the other crewmate to keep them from reporting the body and selling you out. WARNING, this tactic is best employed for ending the game or for clutches. 

Tip 6. It is a good idea to travel in a pack because then you can get not only your fellow impostor to vouch for you but even some crewmates as well!

Trick 5. A good way to divert the crewmates and get some easy kills when there are lots of people in electric and the lights out crisis would be fixed too early for you to do anything is to do the Reactor Meltdown crisis. This crisis makes the reactor melt down and gives the crewmates about 30 seconds for two crewmates to touch their hand to a pad on opposite sides of the reactor room to stabilize the reactor. By using this you can get lots of people to rush to the reactor and you can use the distraction to kill somebody else who was doing a task.

Tip 7. Even dead you can still use the sabotage mechanic. You can use this to give the other impostor the upper hand by locking the doors to help the impostor get a kill or to give them time to hide after getting a kill.

Tip. 8 Always ask questions like. Where was the body? What are your tasks? How many tasks do you have left? These kinds of questions make you look like you are participating and trying to find who the impostor is, but don’t really help the discussion move forward.

Tip 9. If the crewmates start pointing fingers then go along with it. Doing this will eliminate whoever was accused and then when the person is found to be innocent the accuser will look suspicious.

These are the Tips and Tricks for being an Impostor!

Tips and Tricks for being a Crewmate.

By Venkata Karavadi

Being a Crewmate doesn’t have quite the thrill of being an impostor, but with these Tips and Tricks you will be able to stay alive, weed out the impostors, and fix the ship with ease.

 Trick 1. The important thing to do is…. REMEMBER. Because if something happened, you know what happened and you could possibly convince your fellow crewmates and vote the impostor out. 

Tip  1.  When playing as a crewmate, you want to make evidence so when a body is found, you won’t get voted off easily. So remember where you are, remember what tasks you were doing, and see if anybody looked or did anything suspicious, or if anybody walked away from the body.

Tip 2. Whenever there are two people going in a room and one person is coming out, check that room. If there is a dead body, or if there is nobody because ( if there is a dead body, the person who is coming out must have killed him) then you could know if the other person vented or the other person died. It is important to keep an eye on suspicious people. And it is also important to remember stuff.

Tip 3. If you find a body, here are the things you need to know so you and everybody else can vote the right person out.

1. Who was near you?

2. Where was it?

3. *Optional* Was there a person who hated or kept on voting on the person who died?

4.  Remember that the lives of crewmates are less valuable than the lives of impostors so a good way to trade a life for a life is to accuse the impostor and even if they deflect the blame and they vote you out they will know that the person that you accused was the impostor and they will vote the impostor out.

If you could get all this info you could get the impostor out.

But, the main part is you have to try to convince your fellow crewmates because at the end of the day, your fellow crewmates can vote for the person who you think is good with information.

Tip  4. If you are used to being a crewmate and are good at tasks, then go to your tasks so you can easily finish them and you have time to spot who is the impostor,but you don’t want to do it TOO quick because your fellow crewmates might vote you out for being sus and roaming around.

Tip  5.  Call an emergency meeting if you see somebody vent. But, you might want to be quick because the impostor could kill you, but quickly call an emergency meeting and tell what happened. 

Tip 6. If 2 people are going in a room and the door is locked, once the door is unlocked, you have to go in there to see what happened.  It’s important to remember.

Tip 7.  IF the lights are out, then it might be certain that a kill is about to happen. So it is important NOT to be around people when lights are out.

Trick 2. If you see a person doing a”task”, and the task bar doesn’t go up(on the top left), then call an emergency meeting, because he was doing a fake task.  Fake tasks are when the impostor stands at a normal task area and just sits there for the task time then they leave.

Tip 8. There are different maps, so it is good if you play all three maps so when you are playing a different map, you know where things are, where there are tasks, and where the vents are to see if the impostor vented or not. 

Tip 9. USE THE SECURITY CAMS!!! It is useful to see where people are, and also you can see if an impostor killed anybody. The only bad thing is, when the cams are on,the impostor might see that the cams are one (red light on cams).

Tip 10. Follow the arrows for tasks or emergency tasks,because if the emergency tasks(when there are red-flashing lights and arrows),run out of time, it’s game over.

Tip 11.   If everybody’s tasks are done (if the task bar is full), You win!!

Tip 12. It’s not ONLY about finishing tasks and voting off the impostor, it’s also about surviving and not getting killed. Stay away from suspicious people.

And here are some other ones

  1. Move in groups.So if you are alone, you could get killed.
  2. Keep a close eye on players completing tasks.
  3. Complete tasks.
  4. Don’t waste your visual tasks. People can see that you are not the impostor if people are near you, and they see your visual tasks (one popular visual task is the Submit scan in medbay.)
  5. Always try to fix sabotage.
  6. Use the Emergency Meetings for Strategizing.
  7. When in doubt, skip the vote.
  8. Don’t spam in chat.
  9. Don’t look sus(suspicious)

Tip 13. If you die as a crewmate, you can still finish tasks and if the other crewmates finish the tasks too, then…. CREWMATES WIN!! If the impostor kills everybody, then… the crewmates lose 

And not everybody will get the tasks they like. Some People could get harder tasks while others could get easier tasks! Some people could get less taks, while some ppl could get more tasks!

Tip 14. Always type in chat because they might think that your impostor. If somebody asks where you were, you say where you were.

Tip 15.It’s also important to ask questions. Like “Who was near you?” “Where were you?” Etc.

Trick 3. A task with the “Wifi” signal in Admin, if the game starts, and one person IMMEDIATELY goes to that task, call an emergency meeting because that task is not supposed to be the first task (It’s called the download task, and when you have this task, there is supposed to be a part one, because when you are doing the part one of download, the task info is supposed to go from the room you’re first in to Admin, the second part for download task is from Admin to tablet). So tell them that in a short way (like, say, “he was doing the admin download task. He was not supposed to do that task yet!”). 

Finally, you need to gain trust with your crewmates, get evidence and proof that you are not the impostor, because your crewmates will vote with you if you have a reasonable explanation and good evidence.

If you could do all or some of this, you could win!

These are the tips and tricks for being a crewmate!

Among Us: A Review

BY VENKATA KARAVADI

STAFF WRITER

A month or two ago, the games Rocket league, Fortnite, Minecraft, Etc. were really popular. But a month ago, there was this game called “Among Us”. 

Many popular Youtubers were trying out this game, and they loved it. There are three maps , and it’s a game where there are 7-9 crewmates (depends on host options) ,and there can be 1-3 imposters (host options). Crewmates have to do tasks so they can fix the ship they are in, and the imposter has to kill all crew mates before the crewmates know the person is the imposter. Once a dead body is found, they will have a meeting and they will discuss(by chat or voice call if private) who was near and who they think it was. The most people who have voted for a person are out, but you can also skip if you are unsure of who it is or if many people are going to skip (because the other people will be suspicious of you If you are the only one who voted for somebody). If you are the imposter, you have to silently kill the person, and if you are in or near a room, you go in a vent so people who come near don’t notice you. You can also go from room to room with a vent. Once there are only three people (including you), if you are the imposter, just kill somebody when people are not near you. So, when there are three people and the imposter kills one more person, the game is over and the imposter won. If you want to win as a crewmate, you either have to complete all tasks or vote out the imposter or imposters. I have tried this game, and it’s also a game of strategy,because you can kill somebody (if you are an imposter) at a certain spot.There are three game modes; public, private, or freeplay. Freeplay is where you finish all tasks (and there is no imposter and nobody else except you), and then you win.  It’s a very fun game and I recommend you try it. It’s also free on App Store and Google Play(for phones and tablets) . On laptops or PCs, it costs money. You can buy it on Steam(for PC) if you have it.

DIY Rainbow Loom: Basics/Setup

BY PRISHA RATHORE

STAFF WRITER

If you are in the mood for doing something crafty and creative, Rainbow Loom is just the thing for you! Well, you may be wondering what Rainbow Loom is. Rainbow Loom is a plastic peg board that comes with rubber bands, a hook, and some clips that connect your bracelet. The loom looks a little something like this.

Here is the hook that comes with it too! It will be used to connect bands. Now, if you are in the mood for making your first bracelet, you will definitely need some rubber bands. Don’t worry if you don’t have a loom or hook. This article will present a no hook and loom way of making this same bracelet with your fingers. If you do want the hook and loom, you can buy it on Amazon. The bracelet we are making is called the Single Chain bracelet, which is perfect for beginners! Let’s get started with the hook and loom way! First, lay your loom so the arrows point down like this.

Now we will start laying out the bands like this.

Continue in a zigzag pattern.

Now after you have continued that pattern through the loom, it should look like this.

 It’s time to turn your loom around. We will now start using the hook!

So begin by putting your hook in that first band.

Now go forward into that peg and pick up that band.

Carefully take that band off the peg and put it on the next one.

Now do the same for the next peg. Go inside the bands, push forward to the peg, take the band of the peg, and put it on the next one.

Read the steps above again for help with doing the next pegs. Anyways, soon your loom should look like this, and it is time to take it off the loom.

At the very end of the loom, stick your hook into the two loops and then you can take the bracelet off the loom!

After you take it off, you may use a clip to connect the bracelet like this. (I will be using a s-clip). After you stick a clip through the loops, take the bracelet off the hook and connect the bracelet.

Yay you did it!

Now I am going to teach you how to use your fingers to do it!

Start by putting a band on one finger and then twisting it and putting it on the other finger.

Next, put a band normally on the top.

Now take the bottom band of each side and flip it over like this.

Put another band on and repeat the previous step.

Put another band on and keep on following that pattern until it becomes long enough for your wrist!

Once it is long enough, make sure two bands are on and take the bottom band of each side and flip it over so one band remains. 

Take a clip and put the loops in the clip.

Now connect the clip to the other side. You did it!!!

Was that fun? If it was, keep watch for more articles in the DIY Rainbow Loom series; we will be learning how to make more bracelets in the future. Thank you for reading ASOP!

Unusual Pets

BY LYNNE INOUYE AND SYDENY WESCHCKE

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF IN TRAINING AND STAFF WRITER

Animal companions are something that many people have. For a good reason too – pets can give you unconditional affection and support, a friend you can always rely on, or simply be something to brighten your day. Normally, such animals are cats or dogs, but the pet industry has expanded over the years, allowing more people to have so-called “exotic pets.”  It’s worth it to note that not all of these animals are domesticated, however, and sometimes it may be an unhealthy environment for them. So, we should always do our research and make sure we’re able to provide them with a good home. That being said, here are some pets that are on the weirder side. 

Our first interesting pet is the African Giant Millipede, as shown above. These arthropods can reach a size between seven and eleven inches and, in some cases, can live up to a decade long. Despite what one might think, millipedes are fairly easy pets to take care of. They need a large enough tank, some moss or soil to burrow under, and a warm temperature, but nothing too specific. Plus, they’re herbivores, so they eat fruits and vegetables. Millipedes get frightened easily and as such don’t like to be handled excessively, and it’s important to make sure you get your African Giant Millipede from a reputable breeder, too. 

Next, we have the Horned Frog, more commonly called the Pacman frog. This is a beginner level pet. They get this nickname because when their mouth opens, they look like Pacman. The frog can grow to a maximum size of eight inches and live for up to seven years. They also do not like being handled due to their sensitive skin, and this is one of the few frogs with teeth. These frogs are insectivores who mostly eat crickets and silkworms. Their habitat is at least a ten-gallon terrarium, with plants and branches for hiding. They are nocturnal creatures. 

Lastly, we have the Ball Python. They’re named this because of the way they curl into a tight ball when they get nervous. They can grow up to five feet long and live a maximum of thirty years. This is an intermediate level pet and one of the easier snakes to take care of. The ball python is also a carnivore and feeds on rodents, but overall it is a docile and curious animal. They are easy to handle and are more active at night. 

We hope that this article was informative, and you have a better understanding of some of the animals we keep as pets and their individual needs. Whenever you’re interested in purchasing a pet, it’s important to make sure you’re able to provide them with a safe and comfortable home. Thanks for reading! 

Sources 

https://www.petsmart.com/learning-center/reptile-care/a-set-up-guide-for-your-new-pacman-frog/A0198.html

https://www.petsmart.com/reptile/live-reptiles/snakes-turtles-and-more/ball-python-15381.html

https://www.thesprucepets.com/african-giant-millipedes-1236755

Picture: http://amazinganimalambassadors.com/african-giant-millipede/

Need Something Bingeable? Try Miraculous Ladybug!

BY ROWAN RAVERTY

STAFF WRITER

Has this distance learning gotten too boring for you? Need some action in your life? Want to leave your house and travel? Getting tired of those FRIENDS reruns and need something new to watch? Well, have I got a show for you!

Miraculous Ladybug is a 3D animated show about two superheroes named Ladybug and Cat Noir. These partners in crime work together to protect the city from the evil Hawkmoth who wants to have their miraculouses. A miraculous is a piece of jewelry that holds the power of our heroes and villains. The power is found in these magical creatures called kwamiis. Each kwamii represents a different animal and holds a special ability. The Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculouses are the strongest, holding the power of creation and destruction. They belong to our protagonists.

The holder of the Ladybug Miraculous is Marinette Dupain-Cheng. She is voiced by Christina Vee, who has also voiced Sailor Mars in the Sailor Moon franchise. Marinette is half French from her father’s side and half Chinese from her mother’s side. She’s a kind, clumsy girl who wants to be a fashion designer. Her kwamii friend is Tikki, who’s very kind and cheerful and supports Marinette. When Marinette is Ladybug, she becomes a lot more confident. Her weapon is a yo-yo, and her special power is called Lucky Charm. She can summon a random idea and use it to stop the villain. She has no clue what the item will be. She also has a big crush on her classmate, Adrian, and gets all flustered when she tries to talk to him.

And the holder of the Black Cat Miraculous is Adrien Agreste. He is voiced by Bryce Papenbrook, who also voices Makoto Neagi and Nagito Komeada in the Danganronpa franchise. Adrien’s the son of a famous fashion designer, Gabriel Agreste. His mom, Emilie Agreste, was a famous actress; she mysteriously disappeared before the events of the series. Adrien is a charismatic, friendly, encouraging, supportive, and innocent cinnamon roll. He is innocent because his father kept him in the house for so long. Well, until he got miraculous and then he was able to get a sense of freedom away from his scheduled life. His kwamii friend is named Plagg. He’s a mischievous little bean who likes to get into trouble. He’s also a big fan of cheese- the stinkier the better. When Adrian becomes Cat Noir, he has freedom. No more being controlled by his father! He’s more optimistic and has a thing for saying cat puns. He also likes flirting with Ladybug because he loves her.

That’s right, there’s a love square in this show, and it gets very aggravating at times. Marinette likes Adrian, but he likes Ladybug and doesn’t know that she’s Marinette. And Marinette has no clue that Adrian was flirting with her this whole time as Cat Noir. 

Now, in season 2, they did introduce two new love interests for both Marinette and Adrian. First is Luka Couffaine, a sweet guitarist who has Marinette question if her life will be with him or Adrian. He’s very supportive of her, saying that he’s always there for her if Adrian declines her. Kagami Tsurugi, a Japanese girl who’s a part of Adrian’s fencing team, likes him. They spend a lot of time together due to their parents being friends. She knows of Marinette’s crush on Adrian, but believes Adrian has a crush on Marinette. Adrien also has two other girls in the series that have crushes on him, but he doesn’t like them in that way. Chloe Bourgeois is the daughter of the Mayor of Paris, Adrian’s first ever friend, and Marinette’s bully. There’s also Lila Rossi who I really don’t like because she’s a liar and has a respect/works for Hawkmoth.

Speaking of Hawkmoth, he’s the series’ main antagonist. Now, I can’t say much about him because if I do, I have to spoil so much of the fun mystery of the series. So, I can only say a few things. First, he’s voiced by Keith Silverstien, who also voiced Gantetsu and Kimimaro Kaguya in the Naruto series. He holds the Butterfly Miraculous. I know, how can butterflies be evil? Well, he can turn butterflies into akumas, which translates to demons, to control people to be supervillains. This is only when someone is upset/angry/willing to be under his control. That’s called akumatization. Only Ladybug has the power to turn the akuma back into a butterfly. His kwamii is named Nuroo, a shy little purple butterfly boy who I just wanna hug.

My god, I did it! A review! This is great! Now, this isn’t everything I wanted to talk about. If I did talk about it, well, I’d just spoil the whole series. So, go watch this fun series; it’s on Netflix. There’s also a Christmas Special and an episode special where they go to New York! And the original characters you can make! The possibilities are endless. Now, go and binge-watch this amazing piece of work!

The Unwanteds: A Book Review

BY IAN JIN AND KAIA KARPE

STAFF WRITERS

THIS WILL CONTAIN SOME SPOILERS ON THE UNWANTEDS *YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED*

The Unwanteds is a book about a dystopian society called Quill in which at the age of twelve all people are sorted into one of these three categories: Wanted, Unwanted and Necessary. The strong and intelligent Wanteds are the high class of society and are sent to college. The lower class Necessaries work as laborers for the Wanteds. And finally, the creative and artistic Unwanteds are killed… or so they thought. Instead, the man known as “The Death Farmer”: Marcus Today brings them to Artime, a surreal paradise for all those Unwanteds with their creative minds. But in Artime the Unwanteds soon learn to defend themselves using magical and artistic methods. The protagonist of this story is a twelve-year-old named Alex. He and the rest of that year’s Unwanteds were sent to “The Death Farmer ” right outside of the desolate city of Quill to be executed. But soon, instead of finding themselves dead, they find themselves in the wonderful land of Artime where Mr. Today asks them the timeless question that he asks every Unwanted: “How does it feel to be eliminated?” But not long after arriving at Artime Alex begins longing to see his lost counterpart and twin, Aaron. In the family, Alex was always known as the creative one, but Aaron was known as the one who would most likely become a Wanted. On the other hand, Alex always knew in a part of him that he would turn out as an Unwanted. But one rainy day while Alex and Aaron were digging a hole outside, Alex drew a house with a stick in the mud, if anybody found out this would be a one-way ticket to becoming Unwanted later. Aaron even threatened to report his brother at first, but then eventually Alex convinced Aaron to give it a try. But it was at that moment that their father came out of the house to check on them. Seeing Aaron drawing with a stick their father mistakenly thought that Aaron was Alex and grabbed Aaron by the arm and told him to get inside. Meanwhile, Aaron silently begged Alex to keep quiet. This was the reason why Alex believed that if he could bring Aaron into Artime Aaron would love it here and stay with him. And despite all the warnings (and to the absolute AGONY of the reader) Alex attempted to bring Aaron into Artime. But when he does, a confused and horrified Aaron downright rejects Alex’s offer. And this incident leads to Quill discovering the existence of Artime and that leads to a full out war between the people of Artime and Quill.

Downwell: A Review

BY LOGAN SCHLOSSER

STAFF WRITER

Today I have the pleasure of talking to you about my favorite game to waste time. The game that I am talking about here is Downwell. I can describe this game as a rapid-paced experience; and this a game can last  anywhere from one minute to thirty. The description I would also give this game would be “randomly-generated-fun”. I would give this game this description because your game experience is legitimately different every single time. The enemies are randomly spawned, same with the levels you experience! So, with the introduction out of the way, lets get more in depth with this game!

Alright, so I feel because this is a video game, I should be talking about the actual gameplay first. So in this game, as the name suggests, you are legitimately falling down a well! The main mechanic of this game is the gun boots that are strapped to your feet as you descend. These boots have many different upgrade abilities and mechanics as you travel fast down the well. On the mechanics side, you have a certain amount of ammo you can use, but it will reload once you land on a solid object. You will use these spectacular boots to traverse the well—mostly because they will allow you to slow fall and not just plummet into all of the enemies that will try to take your health away. Speaking of heath, you only have four hit points as you travel down, but these can be refilled as you travel down the well. You also have the ability to change the type of shots your boots shoot by picking up little upgrade modules. Now, each of these will usually contain an ammo upgrade or a health refill. But more importantly, they will always change how your boots function, making the game so much more fun! Lastly, as you destroy the enemies that are below you by stepping on them, they will always drop some sort of currency. This currency can be used in the shops that you will find occasionally to purchase health upgrades and ammo upgrades! Now, because I don’t wanna spoil too much of the game, let’s move onto the next paragraph.


Well, as I like to do in the reviews I write, I will be talking about the art style. I feel as though the art style of a game will really pull it together. Even if the gameplay is fun, I feel a game can only be good if you pair that with a good art style. This game’s art style is what would be described as 8-bit. The game also has a two-color color palette that can be changed as you progress through the game, so what can motivate you to continue playing the game is to unlock more color palettes, as well as this simple graphic design. You do not need the most powerful hardware in the business to play this comfortably, so that makes the game a lot more opening to new players hoping to join the PC gaming community

Anyways, there is so much more I would like to tell you about this game, but I don’t wanna spoil the experience that you can have with this game. So if my review made you want to pick up a copy of Downwell, I gladly recommend you do. 

Stardew Valley: A Review

BY LOGAN SCHLOSSER

STAFF WRITER

*Disclaimer: There are little to no spoilers here. If you don’t want to spoil the opening scene, you can skip the 2nd paragraph.

On the date of February 26th, 2016, a brand new title to the game market was released to shake the gaming market. The game I am talking about is one of the most successful indie titles to ever cross the platform, Stardew Valley. So, let’s hop right into the review!

Once you have created your character and are ready to step into the world of Stardew Valley, you are greeted with a cutscene. After wanting to leave your life as an office worker, you open a letter given to you from your grandfather; inside is a deed to his old farm. This is how the game begins.

Now into the actual gameplay. This game involves a lot of manipulating your crop growth to produce the max amount of money, so you can purchase wonderful upgrades for your farm. Basically, you can purchase different crops for different seasons. Each season is 30 days, and each day is 24 minutes. You do have to sleep though, so you will be losing half of your day! There are multiple types of crops; these crops can grow at different rates and all sell for different values. Besides the element of farming, there is also the element of talking to the townsfolk. There are around 20 different Non-Player-Characters to give gifts to and befriend. The more people you befriend, the more items you can receive as presents from them. These presents can span from food to ores. 

To move into the last category of the game, you can go into this mine to fight enemies with an upgradeable combat system that improves the farther you go down. Every 5 floors you go down it adds that floor to an elevator, which you can go to and go down to that level even after you die.

Alright, I feel that I should make an entire section dedicated to the beauty of this game’s art. The art is centered around a top-down 2D pixelated style, and just looking at this game is an absolute treat. The artists combined a 2D experience with modern shaders. The game somehow looks so realistic, even though you clearly know it is not. It is just such a comforting thing to look at after a long day of work.

Now there is so much more I could honestly cover in this game, but I really don’t want to turn this into “Logan spoils an entire game for a school newspaper”. if this article left you wanting more, simply purchase the game when it’s on sale. It will legitimately run on any hardware, and it will always be a comfortable experience. So, try it out for yourself if this game seems suited to your tastes. 

Things To Do When Quarantined

BY ALAINA INOUYE, LYNNE INOUYE, BELLA TRINKO and ROWAN RAVERTY

STAFF WRITERS

Are you bored out of your mind and need something to do? No need to worry! This article has plenty of ideas for things you can do from the safety of your own home. 

There are also plenty of things that you can always do. Reading is great if you want to be entertained. You could also clean your room or organize your closet, which will make your room a more relaxing space to be in. Another thing you can do is to listen to a podcast. There are plenty of podcasts about almost every subject for you to enjoy. Or you could play a board game. Baking is also a great option. A great thing to do in this time is to call your friends. Not only will it be fun, but it will help you to feel less isolated. 

If you would rather do something virtual there are many different options. One of the options is Virtual Disney. After Disney (Land and World) closed due to COVID-19 many people were devastated, so Disney decided to upload their rides virtually! If you aren’t really into Disney, there are many other things you could do, such as going virtually to museums, zoos, national parks, and many other fun things. 

On the other side of things, you can also go outside, as long as you social-distance and wear a mask. Taking a walk, going on a bike ride, or jogging are all great ways to get fresh air and exercise. We hope that this article was helpful and that you’ve learned some new ways to keep yourself entertained! Thanks for reading. 

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