queer autistic tenno supremacy

"You're only as good as your last update," we've heard this philosophy from Rebb and other devs over and over again in interviews. I don't think they're wrong about this--she knows the reality of industry numbers a hell of a lot better than me.

But "only as good as your last update" is an impossible task to meet. It means that every update needs to be both approachable for new players as well as exciting for veterans. It means that every update has to have a flashy, bombastic, bigger-than-ever superlative going on. It means that they can never fall back on basic building blocks of storytelling, like breather moments or wind-down arcs or slow burns.

How can you possibly write slow character growth if you don't know that you'll even have a game by this time next year? The market is too volatile; development is too expensive. You are supporting dozens or hundreds of coders and artists and designers and managers and musicians who all have homes and families and children and debt and health struggles. What's the better bet--to make storytelling choices that play entirely on pre-existing player emotion and a big booby lady that you can pump out quick and get the correct emotional reaction from someone who doesn't read any of the story text and guarantee money every time? Or the risky slow-burn that's narratively gorgeous but has little guaranteed financial return?

Your choice is just never going to be the second one. It can't be. You're too big. There are too many people involved. You cannot gamble on your strange and weird little passion project any more; you need to put out a product that's appealing to the modern limited attention economy. The numbers have to go up. It's not optional.

A live service game suffers from this particularly badly due to the looming specter of inflation. Returns that meant a great performance this year will mean an unlivable performance next year.

did that get your attention? sorry for the clickbait-y title. i'm not ashamed to say i want eyes on this because i want kingsley removed from her position as principle [sic] writer at digital extremes. just so all my cards are on the table.

but more broadly i sincerely believe her ethos and writing direction are bad for the game and bad for the company on the whole. she doesn't care about the story, the worldbuilding, the tropes, the genre conventions. she has proudly proclaimed "i don't even write sci-fi!" in an official public DE-affiliated appearance, as though it's so easy anyone could do it, just look at her! and not an established genre with expectations and conventions the audience (reasonably) expects and the author is (reasonably) expected to follow.

sigh.

sorry, i know you kept reading for the juicy gossip. here is the link to her personal website's "illustration" page: [link] it contains the heading "all illustrations done by me". it also contains generative AI art.

here is the link to an archived version of the site, if the live version mysteriously changes in the next few days: [link]

i realize this is not an accusation to be made lightly, and i didn't initially do so publicly. back in may 2025, i sent an email to the DE head of PR informing them of my suspicions. i received no acknowledgment or response. the genAI art has remained proudly on display on kingsley's site. i figured DE didn't care and decided to let it go.

but given DE's recent anti-AI statement i feel i have a responsibility to draw attention to the problem publicly. this was not my preferred mode to address the issue but it's what is left to me after official private channels failed.

i have some closups of the gen AI art, with explanations of the evidence supporting my accusations, which i know are very serious. i only make this post because i think the community has the right to know.

see here some common gen AI art errors/tells:

garbled or incoherent shapes where a human would put something recognizable:

lack of symmetry in clothing/armor design in a way that is not clearly deliberate:

blurring and mushing shapes together in a vague, indistinguished way:

i do not think all of the art on that page is genAI. much of it is clearly by her own hand, or painted over photos. i am not here to criticize anybody's amateurish or unpolished artistic skill.

i am making this post because:

1) DE has very firmly stated they will not use AI in the production of their games.

2) i see evidence that one of their lead writers has used genAI in the past and tried to pass it off as her own work. and

3) i am worried that she may do so again in the future without informing her employers or her fans.

please do not use this as an excuse to publicly harass kingsley. that is not productive, and not what i want. i simply think that video game fans should have all available information when they are making decisions about what studios—and what behavior—they want to support.

Also updated to say "all illustrations SHOWN HERE done by me" lmfaooooo

kathryn ann kingsley explicitly states she uses AI

did that get your attention? sorry for the clickbait-y title. i'm not ashamed to say i want eyes on this because i want kingsley removed from her position as principle [sic] writer at digital extremes. just so all my cards are on the table.

but more broadly i sincerely believe her ethos and writing direction are bad for the game and bad for the company on the whole. she doesn't care about the story, the worldbuilding, the tropes, the genre conventions. she has proudly proclaimed "i don't even write sci-fi!" in an official public DE-affiliated appearance, as though it's so easy anyone could do it, just look at her! and not an established genre with expectations and conventions the audience (reasonably) expects and the author is (reasonably) expected to follow.

sigh.

sorry, i know you kept reading for the juicy gossip. here is the link to her personal website's "illustration" page: [link] it contains the heading "all illustrations done by me". it also contains generative AI art.

here is the link to an archived version of the site, if the live version mysteriously changes in the next few days: [link]

i realize this is not an accusation to be made lightly, and i didn't initially do so publicly. back in may 2025, i sent an email to the DE head of PR informing them of my suspicions. i received no acknowledgment or response. the genAI art has remained proudly on display on kingsley's site. i figured DE didn't care and decided to let it go.

but given DE's recent anti-AI statement i feel i have a responsibility to draw attention to the problem publicly. this was not my preferred mode to address the issue but it's what is left to me after official private channels failed.

i have some closups of the gen AI art, with explanations of the evidence supporting my accusations, which i know are very serious. i only make this post because i think the community has the right to know.

see here some common gen AI art errors/tells:

garbled or incoherent shapes where a human would put something recognizable:

lack of symmetry in clothing/armor design in a way that is not clearly deliberate:

blurring and mushing shapes together in a vague, indistinguished way:

i do not think all of the art on that page is genAI. much of it is clearly by her own hand, or painted over photos. i am not here to criticize anybody's amateurish or unpolished artistic skill.

i am making this post because:

1) DE has very firmly stated they will not use AI in the production of their games.

2) i see evidence that one of their lead writers has used genAI in the past and tried to pass it off as her own work. and

3) i am worried that she may do so again in the future without informing her employers or her fans.

please do not use this as an excuse to publicly harass kingsley. that is not productive, and not what i want. i simply think that video game fans should have all available information when they are making decisions about what studios—and what behavior—they want to support.

Also updated to say "all illustrations SHOWN HERE done by me" lmfaooooo

this building is a strange mishmash of architectural features, with abstract asymmetrical stained glass windows, a clock with three or maybe four hands on it and no readable numbers, what might be the leadlines of a glass roof over the street on the left, sort of the vague idea of what might be another doorway next to the main one...

seriously, what is this? can you tell? because i can't.

again, i am not seeking to mock "bad" art. artists are people, people make mistakes, i recognize this. but these blurry, vague, formless shapes are merely the general idea of art, and that's all generative AI is really capable of: something that looks fine and even interesting at first glance, but starts to fall apart if you attempt to scrutinize it at anything deeper than a surface level.

did that get your attention? sorry for the clickbait-y title. i'm not ashamed to say i want eyes on this because i want kingsley removed from her position as principle [sic] writer at digital extremes. just so all my cards are on the table.

but more broadly i sincerely believe her ethos and writing direction are bad for the game and bad for the company on the whole. she doesn't care about the story, the worldbuilding, the tropes, the genre conventions. she has proudly proclaimed "i don't even write sci-fi!" in an official public DE-affiliated appearance, as though it's so easy anyone could do it, just look at her! and not an established genre with expectations and conventions the audience (reasonably) expects and the author is (reasonably) expected to follow.

sigh.

sorry, i know you kept reading for the juicy gossip. here is the link to her personal website's "illustration" page: [link] it contains the heading "all illustrations done by me". it also contains generative AI art.

here is the link to an archived version of the site, if the live version mysteriously changes in the next few days: [link]

i realize this is not an accusation to be made lightly, and i didn't initially do so publicly. back in may 2025, i sent an email to the DE head of PR informing them of my suspicions. i received no acknowledgment or response. the genAI art has remained proudly on display on kingsley's site. i figured DE didn't care and decided to let it go.

but given DE's recent anti-AI statement i feel i have a responsibility to draw attention to the problem publicly. this was not my preferred mode to address the issue but it's what is left to me after official private channels failed.

i have some closups of the gen AI art, with explanations of the evidence supporting my accusations, which i know are very serious. i only make this post because i think the community has the right to know.

see here some common gen AI art errors/tells:

garbled or incoherent shapes where a human would put something recognizable:

lack of symmetry in clothing/armor design in a way that is not clearly deliberate:

blurring and mushing shapes together in a vague, indistinguished way:

i do not think all of the art on that page is genAI. much of it is clearly by her own hand, or painted over photos. i am not here to criticize anybody's amateurish or unpolished artistic skill.

i am making this post because:

1) DE has very firmly stated they will not use AI in the production of their games.

2) i see evidence that one of their lead writers has used genAI in the past and tried to pass it off as her own work. and

3) i am worried that she may do so again in the future without informing her employers or her fans.

please do not use this as an excuse to publicly harass kingsley. that is not productive, and not what i want. i simply think that video game fans should have all available information when they are making decisions about what studios—and what behavior—they want to support.

Also updated to say "all illustrations SHOWN HERE done by me" lmfaooooo

"That is when a tall, white-haired elf steps forward on the platform of the gallows. He is clothed in the bright gold and white robes of a magistrate of Höllvandeim..."

A mini figure of Loid's expy in Fables and Frontiers, Head Diva of Höllvandeim, made in Hero Forge kitbashing mode!

Full resolution turnaround gifs available here (portrait) and here (full body).

Hero Forge link and more images (some WIP) below the cut.

(f&f today's chat spoiler)

arthur locked in like he never locked in before for this holy wow

Children of the Void