Reposted by T.Applesmith
One of my favorite and most effective design patterns is "tell the player exactly what you're gonna do to them, then do it." You can be SIGNIFICANTLY meaner to the player if you simply tell them ahead of time that that's exactly what you'll be doing, and also the suspense of the warning is a delight
![Spinnerette: Your tuuurn ♥ The big celebrity debut!!!
Amber: Aw shush!! (hehe)
Spinnerette: Recording... ...Now!
Amber: Hello! I'm Amber, a velvet ant!
Amber: Really more of a 'wingless wasp', (the males have wings) but ants are sorta wasps too... so I guess it doesn't matter?
Amber: We don't live in hives though. MOST wasps are solitary, bet'cha didn't know that!
[A chart shows a simple phylogenetic tree shows the evolutionary relationships between velvet ants, ants, bees, and other wasps. the base of the tree says "It's 'wasps' all the way down"]
Amber: We're "velvet" because we're sooo fluffy and cute and pretty~
Amber: But like a beautiful rose... look out! We have thorns! Well... stingers. (this time just for the females)
Amber: The stinger's mostly for laying eggs.
Spinnerette: You're some kind of parasite, right?
Amber: PARASITOID. We lay our eggs underground, on top of other bugs' larva. Then our baby eats the other baby.
Spinnerette: [Thinking] My face was too scary but this is alright??](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:j3b6guo6utjxdniqthziaz6q/bafkreicnodkt5qfidijok6duuifcp4k6rymmzehp7d55kzzwtywyevh5vq)
