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Saturday, 21 February 2015

How to: Don't Starve - A comprehensive guide for starting out in Don't Starve

Day 198, with surplus of food, a comfortable and established base. Doesnt seem like I'm dying anytime soon.

Most people feel that it's difficult to survive in Don't Starve. That is not true. As long as you know how to make full use of resources, know when to do what/when not to do what, plan your schedule (yes because walking and exploring takes a hell lot of time) and more, you'll be surviving Maxwell's harsh, cruel world like a boss.

I previously made a tutorial on how to get rid of killer bees here. You can check it out if you ever need to clear a large amount of killer bee hives.

A bit of back story..
When I first started playing this game, no one thought me what to do. But I kept playing because I liked the Tim Burton art style of this game, and how challenging it is. In my first game, I barely survived one day, as I was killed by Darkness. Subsequently, I survived 3 days, 5 days, and I see myself surviving more and more days as I played. It was difficult because no one taught me what to do. No one gave me any tips on surviving anything - hound attacks, winter, keeping my stats up, etc. I learned everything the hard way through lots of reading and experimenting myself. But I'm going to share some tips with you, and hopefully the game won't be as punishing for you as it was for me.


Starting out in Don't Starve...
The first thing you need to look out for would be flint and twig.
flint

twig

This is because you will need 1 flint and 1 twig to make an axe, which will be needed to chop down trees (and birch trees in RoG). You will absolutely need to chop down trees asap because you would need to make fire for the night, as staying in complete darkness will cost you your life. After making an axe (tools tab), chop down evergreens, as well as collect grass. You will need 2 logs and 3 grass to make a campfire.

Gather whatever resources you can as you go, especially food items that you will easily (normally) find around the place you spawn on day 1. These include carrots, berries (on berry bushes), and seeds. Try to gather as many rocks and gold nuggets as well, as you will need these to establish a base. To gather rocks, make a pickaxe (also in tools tab) by using 2 twigs and 2 flints, and then mine boulders. 
Type 1 gives you only rocks.
Type 2 gives you rocks, nitrile and flint.
Type 3 gives you rocks and gold nuggets!


The map is revealed as you explore the area, like in World of Warcraft and many other games. Try to walk and uncover as much area as you can, asap. There are many types of biomes in Don't Starve; the one you should find asap before settling down/creating your base, would be Savanna, with Beefalos. This is quite important for survival as beefalos drop poop (manure) which has many purposes. It can be used as fuel for fire, to make farms, and to fertilize crops and plants.

Once you have found a Beefalo biome, set up permanent camp nearby (not directly beside beefalo herds or in the middle of them, as when beefalos go in heat, they will be aggresive). To set up a permanent camp, start with a fire pit which is made by using 2 logs and 12 rocks (this is where you need a lot of rocks!). Then, proceed to making a Science Machine (under science tab) using 4 rocks, 4 logs, and 1 gold nugget. Having a Science Machine will unlock more recipes. To make something, gather the required materials and prototype it at the Science Machine.

Hope this is helpful! The next blog post will be on more tips on how to survive and maintain your stats. :D



Saturday, 17 January 2015

How to: Simple Potion Bottles

I'm gonna share with you here on how to make these cute little potion bottles. They are great as props for cosplay, especially for many MMORPG characters since many MMOs have potions. Otherwise, they make pretty cute decorations as well!

I made these for my Maple Story cosplay group.

Red potion and Blue potion


What you'll need:
1. Empty glass bottle

Any glass bottle works fine, in general. But I recycled these tiny bottles used to contain coloured contact lenses. We cosplayers have many of these and I use to just keep all of them in a corner cause they looked cute. I supposed most people throw theirs away? 
But now you can find a new use for them instead of throwing them away!


 2. Strips of EVA foam

Every single prop I make is either completely made out of EVA foam or parts of it will definitely be EVA foam. EVA foam is just incredible. <3


*PS: if you have corks, I guess that's an even better option. But if you don't, just use EVA foam like I did. EVA foam/craft foam can be found in many stationery shops/craft stores.

And here's how you make potions!
For standard coloured contacts bottle size, and using 2mm thick EVA foams, cut your strip into 2cm x 7cm pieces. 

Step #1:

Roll the strip of foam into a cylinder. Secure it with UHU or whatever glue you work with normally. For a smoother finish, heat the top and gentle press it a little.


Step #2:

Throw away the rubber cover. Clean your bottle. Make sure it is dry especially the inner surface. Using acrylic paint, colour the insides of the bottle with the desired colour. Allow it to dry. Hold it over the light to ensure that all surfaces are covered evenly. 

Step #3:


Paint your rolled up foam in a mixture of brown, or whatever shade you desire. This may take awhile to dry, so be patient. It is good to spray/cover it with clear lacquer after as the paint may peel of easily otherwise.

Step #4:


Assemble your potion bottle, and it's done!


My Maple Story cosplay group, where I cosplayed as Flame Wizard, Oz.

Nineheart: "As royal advisor, I propose that we reward Noblesses with a choice of either red and blue potion when they complete the quest."
Hawkeye: "I say we should give out both to the pretty ones." *cheeky smile*

For a list of tutorials I have on my blog so far, check this page out.

Friday, 16 January 2015

I dug up an old easter egg


Found this in my hard disk.

I made this back in February 2013, almost 2 years ago! This is about a really old easter egg in Torchlight II. I supposed everyone already know about it now. But eh, what the heck.

This video is supposed to be somewhat a guide and also part of my quest to collect all the Minecraft swords in Torchlight II but I never got around to finishing it.

If you play Torchlight II and you don't know about the Minecraft easter egg in the game, check out the video. XD

Tuesday, 13 January 2015

A Windranger & Death Prophet photos-dumping post

Professional photos of my Windranger & Death Prophet cosplays during CF 2014 that I have so far.














A great big thank you to all the photographers! :D

If you're interested to see more of me and my group's cosplay photos, go check out our official page D2MC on Facebook!


Tuesday, 30 December 2014

Comic Fiesta 2014

Let me just warn you in advance that this is going to be a very lengthy post. :D

Now. Where to start?

I supposed I'll start with an awesome group photo from Day 1. And then move along chronologically.

My beautiful sisters teammates

I cosplayed as Dota 2's Death Prophet on Day 1. Much better this time, I must say. So glad the new body paint and lenses I got were awesome. If you're interested to know, the body paint I used is Snazaroo, and those lenses are white screen lenses.


I arrived around 11am+, and went to the ladies room to do some final touches to my makeup before moving to the convention area. A lady washing her hands saw me and jumped. Hahaha I must've looked really spooky being all green and white-eyed. XD But she later asked me for a selfie, said she wanted to scare her friends.

Walked towards the convention area and got stared at A LOT along the way cause well, I was green. Finally found Anti Mage after some calls.

My best friend cosplaying as Anti Mage

We then proceeded to meet up with Templar Assassin, before going on to meet up with Warlock and Bloodseeker. Got stopped so many times along the way that we didnt make much progress moving out of the area. 

Dota 2 Malaysia Facebook page posted a photo of us!

Moved around the rest of the day with Anti Mage, Warlock, Bloodseeker and the Shopkeeper (yes we have a shopkeeper cosplayer!). Felt really good when people passing by shouts 'Dota 2!'. Feels awesome that people recognize us!

We then spotted a really huge chested Templar Assassin (Deadly Nightshade set). We were all staring at her boobs until we found out that the cosplayer was actually a guy. But seriously, he's really good! He carries the character so well that many thought he was a girl.

Oppai <3

In the evening, we gathered at the fountain -pun intended- for our photoshoot session with FoxFoo Photography, and took Dota-styled selfies!

Imagine this happening in-game...

And then Krobelus, Magina and Rylai went for Starbucks...

We were still in our full costumes and told them that our names were Death Prophet, Anti Mage, and Crystal Maiden

On Day 2, I went to CF cosplaying as Maple Story's Flame Wizard, Oz.

Irena, Oz, Cygnus, Nineheart, Hawkeye

We had a short photoshoot session before heading off to raid the Maple Story booth! Kinda sad that they ran out of all the plushies, and there wasn't any left for us...

Our group

There was a girl cosplaying a normal Mapler (with Maple Bandana) and she has so many Maple Story plushies! She was so sweet and borrowed me a Cargo plushie to pose for some photos. <3

Feels.

After lunch around 4pm, I changed into my Dota 2 Windranger cosplay. Got stopped so many times for photos before I manage to finally get to my destination for round 2 photoshoot with FoxFoo and my Dota 2 group.

I has Rainmaker~ owo

I can't believe that of all things, I forgot to take selfies on Day 2. I had zero selfies as Oz/Lyralei during CF. No Dota 2 group photos yet for day 2. Will make another post filled with our group photos when they're up. Hehe.

Overall, both days of my CF this year was spent with my group mates, and I must say I feel super blessed to be part of these 2 amazing groups - Dota 2 and Maple Story. Thank you guys, for making my CF awesome as hell, and I love each and everyone of you! Can't wait to do more shoots together next year! <3

Also, I got a friendsign from Yugana senpai, in her Mad Moxxi cosplay!!

Thank you Yugana senpai, I will treasure this forever. <3

I'm so super duper happy I'm still squealing with joy inside right now. This is ultimately one of the best 'senpai noticed me' moments ever. <3 I'm feeling encouraged and this makes me wanna keep on improving myself and become better and better at cosplay. Thank you!

I would also like to thank my mom and my brother for going to CF with me and putting up with the crazy schedule of staying there for almost the entire day for the entire weekend. Big thank you to my mom for making my costumes, and Hui Min senpai for making those awesome Windranger pauldrons!

All in all, thank you everyone, for making my CF this year an awesome and memorable one!

Credits
Costumes made by: My mom
Accessories, weapons, armor (except WR pauldrons) made by: Me
Disclaimer: Photos all belong to their respective owners.