J. L. Hilton | Passages to other worlds

Stardew me

Posted on October 20, 2021 by J.L. Hilton

I made a graphic of myself if I lived in Stardew Valley

Check out my STARDEW VALLEY playlist on YouTube

~ J.L. Hilton

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged stardew valley, Video Games | Comments Off

FALLOUT SCAVENGER HUNT 2021 FAQ

Posted on October 19, 2021 by J.L. Hilton

What is a scavenger hunt?

It’s a game in which players gather items on a list. Sometimes the game is played in teams, with the winner(s) being those who collect the most items within a time limit, or those who collect all of the items in the fastest time. American writer and high-society hostess Elsa Maxwell is credited with making the game popular in the 1930s and variations – like this one – continue to be played today.

What is the FALLOUT SCAVENGER HUNT?

The Fallout Scavenger Hunt is a game withing a game. Instead of finding items in the real world, players will gather them in any Fallout game of their choice. We’ve tried to make it possible to complete our scavenger hunt whether you have Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, Fallout 4 or Fallout 76.

The Fallout Scavenger Hunt is entirely free to play and free to enter. The game organizers are not being paid or compensated in any way, other than by having fun. We are not affiliated with Bethesda, Microsoft or anyone, we are doing this on our own.

What can I win?

FALLOUT SCAVENGER HUNT 2021 US PRIZES (laptop with “please stand by” screen for backdrop purposes only, it’s not one of the prizes, read post for details)

One person in the US will win a fan-made prize package which includes ALL of the following:

One Nuka-Cola LED bottle light
One blank composition book with the classic “Wasteland Survival Guide” cover as seen in Fallout 3 *
One prop bottle of Buffout *
One Lucky 8-ball tin (based on the item in Fallout 3) containing a Nuka World replica ticket, a Grandchester Mystery House replica ticket, one Nuka-Cola bottlecap necklace & one Nuka-Cola bottlecap key chain

FALLOUT SCAVENGER HUNT 2021 EUROPE PRIZES (laptop with “please stand by” screen for backdrop purposes only, it’s not one of the prizes, read post for details)

Players in the UK and Europe can play to win a prize package of fan-made goodies that IceStella will ship from the UK, which includes:

One Nuka-Cola LED bottle light
One lined excercise book with a classic “Tales from West Virginia” cover
One prop bottle of Buffout *
One Mentats tin containing 2 Pleasant Valley claim tickets, one Nuka-Cola bottlecap magnet, one Nuka-Cola bottlecap key chain and a selection of Stella Stickers

See IceStella.co.uk for details.

People outside of the US or Europe are welcome to participate but are not eligible for prizes. (Sorry, international shipping costs are too high.)

* Survival guide cover graphic and Buffout label courtesy of emptysamurai on DeviantArt

An example of how the scavenger hunt conditions might be fulfilled in Fallout 4

How do I enter?

Submit ONE screen shot from any FALLOUT game in which ALL of the following are visible (or as many as you can manage to gather together):

an animal
the color orange
a toy
a super mutant (dead or alive)
a food item
a skull
something that glows
something wooden
YOURSELF – meaning your character, vault dweller, sole survivor, etc – wearing a hat and holding a bladed weapon

Something that is both a toy and wood, such as a wooden block, may count for both items on the list. However, the skull inside of the super mutant does not count, as it is not visible.

To submit a screen shot, post it publicly on Twitter or Instagram using #FalloutScavver or email the screen shot to j.l.hilton.author @ gmail.com (remove spaces) or DM on Twitter @AuthorJLHilton.

PLEASE NOTE: Submitting a photo means you allow us to share that photo and your online name or Fallout name with the public. The mailing address and real name of the winner will be kept private and used only to send the prize.

An example of how the scavenger hunt conditions might be fulfilled in Fallout 3

When is the deadline?

Midnight on Halloween, October 31, 2021, but please leave your picture up until November 2 so we have time to find it, in case there are a lot of last-minute entries.

A US winner and a UK/Europe winner will be selected from all eligible entries and contacted on November 2. If you post an entry on Twitter or Instagram, please make sure we will be able to DM you.

If we do not hear back from a winner within 24 hours of attempting contact, another winner will be chosen and contacted.

Who are the organizers?

Jewelsmith on Twitter @AuthorJLHilton
Twitch.tv/Jewelsmith
YouTube.com/c/Jewelsmith
Patreon.com/Jewelsmith

IceStella on Twitter @IceStella77
Twitch.tv/IceStella77
YouTube.com/c/IceStella77
Ko-fi.com/IceStella77

Any other rules?

This game is for entertainment only and the organizers reserve the right to decline entries for any reason or to change the conditions of the game at any time.

Posted in News & misc, Science Fiction, Video games | Tagged Fallout, Fallout 3, Fallout 4, Fallout 76, giveaway | Comments Off

FALLOWEEN Photo Challenge 2021: Week Two

Posted on October 17, 2021 by J.L. Hilton

FALLOUT (video game franchise) + HALLOWEEN (holiday) = “FALLOWEEN“

The FALLOWEEN photo challenge was issued by Mrs P on Twitter. There were spooky prompts for each day of October, inspiring players to take screenshots in Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, Fallout 4, Fallout Shelter and Fallout 76.

Fall is my favorite time of the year and Halloween my favorite festival, so I set myself the goal of posting at least one picture for every day of the month.

Here’s what I came up with during week two, but don’t miss week one, week three and week four.

**OCT 11: PUMPKINS** Roadside produce stand, unmarked location between Oberland Station and Vault 81, *Fallout 4*

**OCT 12: MONSTER** The Red Death, a fearsome creature of legend in Far Harbor, casts its sanguine gaze upon the Mariner, *Fallout 4*

**OCT 12: MONSTER** The real monster is the one who slew the beastie with a bat, my 2nd sole survivor Rose the Raider, *Fallout 4*

**OCT 13: BAT** My sole survivor Fiona holding a black baseball bat that’s upgraded with a heated coil from the Nuka World DLC, standing on the bridge between Vault 111 and Sanctuary Hills, *Fallout 4*

**OCT 14: HARVEST** Fields of razorgrain sway in the lazy irradiated breeze at Abernathy Farm. In the backgroun, the warehouse where I manufacture the items in the picture below, *Fallout 4*

**OCT 14: HARVEST** See my Food Processor contraption in action, *Fallout 4*

**OCT 15: AUTUMN** Thanksgiving at Abernathy Farm, *Fallout 4*

**OCT 15: AUTUMN** MacCready sits at the kids’ table during Thanksgiving at Abernathy Farm, *Fallout 4*

**OCT 16: GORE** Disciples gang decor, Fizztop Mountain, Nuka World, *Fallout 4*

**OCT 17: DEMON** Evil wakes in the depths of Dunwich Borers, *Fallout 4*

~ J.L. Hilton

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Posted in Halloween, Photography, Video games | Tagged Fallout, Fallout 3, Fallout 4, Fallout New Vegas, Fallout Shelter, Falloween, Halloween, Video Games | Comments Off

FALLOUT: We Didn’t Start the Fire

Posted on October 14, 2021 by J.L. Hilton

Sung to the tune of “We Didn’t Start the Fire” …

Roosevelt Academy,
mutant in the library,
Nuka Quantum, hard locks,
looting every ammo box,
Pugilism magazine,
super mutant has the key,
Stealth boys, pre-war books,
dancing with my bf Fawkes.

Picking through the ruins,
Silver Lining Drive-In,
Deathclaw vs Enclave,
looting Faded Pomp Estates,
Grognak the Barbarian,
Agatha has scorpions,
Vertibird blown away,
what else do I have to say?

We didn’t start the fire …

~ J.L. Hilton

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Posted in Music, Science Fiction, Video games | Tagged Fallout, Fallout 3 | Comments Off

Try-It Tuesday WYTCHWOOD

Posted on October 12, 2021 by J.L. Hilton

This week, I played the free Steam demo of WYTCHWOOD, a game developed by Toronto-based Alientrap and published by Whitethorn Games. Whitethorn also published two other recent Try-It Tuesday titles, Calico and Teacup. With little time to play video games lately, I appreciate Whitethorn’s focus on stress-free and “bite-sized” games.

“While our games might challenge you, they’ll respect your time”
– WhitethornDigital.com

WYTCHWOOD is a single-player crafting adventure with storybook artwork and a fairy tale narrative, coming soon to Steam, GOG, Epic, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation and Xbox. As the old witch of the woods, players explore a strange countryside, collect magic ingredients, brew sorcerous spells, employ creative problem solving, and meet several odd characters along the way.

Keep in mind that an “adventure game” is one in which an interactive story is driven by exploration and/or puzzles. This is distinctly different from an “action-adventure” game. WYTCHWOOD plays more like Adventure Time: Finn & Jake Investigations, Teacup or My Brother Rabbit, than like God of War, Dishonored or Tomb Raider.

Unfortunately, I had some technical difficulties during my Twitch stream, which were entirely my own fault, and I don’t have a video to share, but here’s the trailer:

WYTCHWOOD is yet to be rated. The demo featured a talking goat, witchcraft and occult imagery, but lacked sex, graphic violence or adult language. I don’t know what will be in the full game.

I had fun with WYTCHWOOD and the end of the demo piqued my interest so much that I’m eager to stream this soon as it comes out.

* * *

UPDATE DEC 2021: The full WYTCHWOOD game released December 9, 2021, and I streamed my entire playthrough on YouTube.

Click here for my WYTCHWOOD playlist

I loved it and it is definitely one of my favorite games, not just of 2021 but of all time! The combination of fairy tales, witchery, clever writing and unique artwork, along with a sassy protagonist and the collecting, crafting, problem-solving game mechanics, make this a 10/10 for me.

~ J.L. Hilton

My PS4 platinum trophy for WYTCHWOOD

Nintendo Switch: https://cozygames.pub/wytchwood-switch
Xbox: https://cozygames.pub/wytchwood-xbox
PlayStation: https://cozygames.pub/wytchood-playstation
Steam: https://cozygames.pub/wytchwood-steam
GOG: https://cozygames.pub/wytchwood-gog
Epic Games: https://cozygames.pub/wytchwood-epic

See a complete list of video game fiction, articles and more under the Video Games tab of this website or click here

Posted in Fantasy, Video games | Tagged indie games, Try-It Tuesday, Whitethorn Games, Wytchwood | Comments Off

FALLOWEEN Photo Challenge 2021: Week One

Posted on October 10, 2021 by J.L. Hilton

FALLOUT (video game franchise) + HALLOWEEN (holiday) = “FALLOWEEN“

Fall is my favorite time of the year and Halloween my favorite festival, so I set myself the goal of posting at least one picture for every day of the month.

Here’s what I came up with during week one, and don’t miss week two, week three and week four.

**OCT 1: BLACK & ORANGE** Power armor, *Fallout 4*

**OCT 1: BLACK & ORANGE** Wasteland forest, *Fallout 4*

**OCT 1: BLACK & ORANGE** Shroud Manor, *Fallout 4*

**OCT 1: BLACK & ORANGE** Tree shadow on the Museum of Witchcraft, *Fallout 4*

**OCT 2: GRAVEYARD** Cat cemetery near Walden Pond with plastic pumpkins, *Fallout 4*

**OCT 2: GRAVEYARD** Gage’s tomb, *Fallout 4*

I built this cement tomb for Gage in my “Rose the raider” run. I romanced him and created a raider empire in the Commonwealth, then left him for Danse. I joined the Brotherhood of Steel to complete the main story and went around reclaiming the raider outposts and vassals, turning them back into regular settlements, just to see if I could. I killed Gage while reclaiming Starlight. But I kinda liked that piece of shit so I built him a crypt there.

**OCT 3: MOON** A sliver of moon seen through the roof of the Museum of Freedom, Concord, above tapestries with images of the moon (same as the images in the building’s mural). I just caught it like this, misty with moonlight, it’s not enhanced with a filter or anything. *Fallout 4*

**OCT 3: MOON** My sole survivor Fiona wearing the Nuka Girl costume, beside the mural in the Museum of Freedom, in Concord, *Fallout 4*

**OCT 3: MOON** My lone wanderer Charity beside the Virgo II lunar lander, in the Museum of Technology, *Fallout 3*

**OCT 4: WITCH** A witch burning exhibit in the Museum of Witchcraft in Salem, *Fallout 4*

Did you know the Museum of Witchcraft exists in real life, too? I wrote about it here, with photos, maps & a brief history of the Salem witch trials

**OCT 5: HAUNTED** While collecting pictures for the Oct 1 prompt “Black & Orange,” I took these screenshots of the wasteland forest in *Fallout 4*

But it wasn’t until I looked at them later that I saw a strange figure in the misty woods

So I launched *Fallout 4*, went back to investigate, and found this mannequin next to a blood-stained tree.

In the shadow of the tree is a headless corpse. I looked everywhere – in the trees, down the hill, under the body – but never found the head.

**OCT 6: SKELETON** This is the only baby skeleton I’ve ever found in a Fallout game. It has an adult-sized skull but a small skeleton body and it totally creeps me out. Mass Bay Medical Center, *Fallout 4*

**OCT 6: SKELETON** Crypt beneath Old North Church, *Fallout 4*. The crypt and church exist in real life, too.

**OCT 6: SKELETON** Shem Drowne’s grave, *Fallout 4*. Shem was a real person and he really did make a gilded grasshopper, that wasn’t invented for the game.

**OCT 7: HOWL** Three Dog working in the radio station, *Fallout Shelter*. He’s also the radio DJ in *Fallout 3*, where he howls and says, “This is Three Dog – HOWWWWWL – and you’re listening to Galaxy News Radio, bringing you the truth no matter how bad it hurts.” Probably inspired by real-life 1960s DJ Wolfman Jack.

**OCT 8: VAMPIRE** Freddy Fear’s House of Scares poster featuring a pre-war vampire costume, Dupont Circle, *Fallout 3*

**OCT 8: VAMPIRE** Vance, leader of the Family, *Fallout 3*

**OCT 8: VAMPIRE** First law of the Family: “Feast not on the flesh; consume only the blood.” *Fallout 3*

**OCT 9: BOO** My sole survivor Fiona, contacting the spirits in Hangman’s Alley, *Fallout 4*

**OCT 10: SCARY MOVIE** Night of the Fish Men’s Revenge, Eden Meadows Cinemas, Far Harbor, *Fallout 4*

~ J.L. Hilton

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Posted in Photography, Science Fiction, Video games | Tagged Fallout, Fallout 3, Fallout 4, Fallout New Vegas, Fallout Shelter, Falloween, Halloween | Comments Off

Try-It Tuesday: TEACUP

Posted on October 7, 2021 by J.L. Hilton

TEACUP is a short and sweet narrative adventure game about a shy frog who collects herbs, sugar, honey and cookies for an upcoming tea party.

It released September 23, 2021, for PC, Switch, Xbox and PlayStation, at a price of $9.99. I played a review copy on PS4 that I received from the publisher, Whitethorn Games, who also published Calico, a game I played earlier this year and really loved.

TEACUP was developed by Smarto Club, a team of three young developers from Santiago, Chile, inspired by games such as Night in the Woods and A Short Hike.

I’m not familiar with those games but of all the games I’ve played, TEACUP reminded me most of Burly Men at Sea because it felt like an interactive picture book, and the game mechanics were a bit like Arthur’s Camping Adventure, a PC game from the year 2000 that my kids loved to play when they were little.

The game’s strengths are its cute and colorful graphics, casual gameplay, animal characters, subtle humor, and variety of mini-games and brain teasers, including a hidden object puzzle, tangram, QTEs and a retro-style arcade game.

TEACUP had a few issues, though, which I hope will be addressed in updates.

Text included multiple typos and confusing sentences, I assume because something was lost in translation. This seems to be common in indie games made outside the US and is not a big deal but … if anyone needs an editor, I’m available!

What was kind of a big deal though was cursor control in several of the mini-games. For example, in the hidden object game, I had to find and click on a very small key but had a really hard time getting the arrow to hover over it.

I couldn’t find any options to adjust the sensitivity settings and this turned what should have been a fun, relaxing experience into an exercise in frustration. I might have thought something was wrong with my controller – like the piece of garbage Xbox knockoff I bought once that was full of deadzones – except it’s the same controller I use for every other game and other joystick movement TEACUP was just fine.

This might just be an issue with the PS4 version. Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve played a game that was fine on PC but janky on console.

I think TEACUP is worth buying if you’re looking for a low-key, movie-length adventure or if you’re looking for something to play with children. It’s a singleplayer game but would be perfect for an adult and child to play together.

TEACUP is rated “E” for everyone. While the mini-games are pretty easy (aside from wrestling with the controls from time to time), a few might be too challenging for a young child. The protagonist is a young adult and the text includes some big words that are probably not in a 5-year-old’s vocabulary.

~ J.L. Hilton

See a complete list of video game fiction, articles and more under the Video Games tab of this website or click here

Posted in Fantasy, Video games | Tagged indie games, Try-It Tuesday, Video Games, Whitethorn Games | Comments Off

Morning, Sunshine

Posted on October 4, 2021 by J.L. Hilton

Posted in Romance, Science Fiction, Video games | Tagged Fallout, Fallout 4, Halloween, Hancock, Video Games | Comments Off

Isn’t it ironic… or is it?

Posted on September 30, 2021 by J.L. Hilton

Is it ironic that the lyrics of the song “Ironic” aren’t really ironic? Maybe that was the real irony all along.

~ J.L. Hilton

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Posted in Music, Random thoughts | Comments Off

Try-It Tuesday: POTION CRAFT Alchemist Simulator

Posted on September 21, 2021 by J.L. Hilton

POTION CRAFT: ALCHEMIST SIMULATOR is available in early access on Steam today for only $13.49, 10% off its list price of $14.99.

If you love alchemy in Skyrim, you might like this. I tried a free demo back in July (that’s the video embedded above) and I had a good time. I didn’t understand the haggling at first but eventually figured it out.

In POTION CRAFT, you physically interact with your tools and ingredients to brew potions, experiment with ingredients to create new concoctions, design the labels and bottles for your products, meet various villagers and navigate their needs, from rat poison for farmers (and possibly some other more nefarious plans) to weapon-boosting brews for adventurers.

It is similar to Mystic Inn in that the gameplay revolves around brewing and selling potions, but it’s not one of those timed games where you have to hurry. Play at your own pace.

Not only did I enjoy the gameplay, which is a combination of puzzle game and RPG, but I loved the medieval style music and artwork, which inspired me to make a charm bracelet and necklace featuring some of the POTION CRAFT ingredients.

POTION CRAFT is developed by niceplay games, a team of five people in Russia, and is published by tinyBuild.

Right now, it’s only available on PC. Find out more at PotionCraft.com, Twitter or Discord.

UPDATE OCT 24, 2021: I’m halfway through the chapters of the early access game and much less enchanted with POTION CRAFT than when I played the demo. I could write a long, detailed list of issues but it boils down to the game feeling unbalanced and still needing a lot of work.

According to the developers, there are several features and game mechanics still in the works, so I’m going to try again after a few more updates.

~ J.L. Hilton

See a complete list of video game fiction, articles and more under the Video Games tab of this website or click here

Posted in Art, News & misc, Video games | Tagged jewelry, Potion Craft, Try-It Tuesday, Video Games | Comments Off

Stardew me

FALLOUT SCAVENGER HUNT 2021 FAQ

FALLOWEEN Photo Challenge 2021: Week Two

FALLOUT: We Didn’t Start the Fire

Try-It Tuesday WYTCHWOOD

FALLOWEEN Photo Challenge 2021: Week One

Try-It Tuesday: TEACUP

Morning, Sunshine

Isn’t it ironic… or is it?

Try-It Tuesday: POTION CRAFT Alchemist Simulator

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