https://hellojed.itch.io/crystal-slaves

After deleting the game I had decided to go back in and fix some bugs to submit for the IGF, and here's the build. It includes a bunch of bugfixes and a revised tutorial that should work now. Also included is a strategy guide so playing the game will be a little more clear, maybe.

hey, website's still down! great! haven't been able to apply for disability again for fucking months now.

my dad is coming back home from work soon, so i'll hopefully be able to twist his nipples into taking me to the physical social offices in my city to apply instead. but i still need some help here.

since dad was away from work, mom hasnt had a lot of money to buy food i can eat. and since he isn't back yet, im starving right now.

any help would be deeply, madly appreciated please. even just a couple bucks goes a long way.

... THROUGH THE PHONE.

site's still down and i have yet to receive any temporary benefits as rightfully alotted to me while applying for disability. i need some help. money's hella tight at the moment and i need some food money.

any help you can give me is deeply appreciated.

Made a run up to Daytona last weekend, for a model train show and a car show. Model train show was pretty good, car show didn't pan out, but I made some mall stops along the way. Daytona itself was fine, but beachside. Ugh. Just don't like it. Oh! and I learned how to do some image compression, so load times guaranteed improved.

Anyway, starting with Volusia Mall, the major mall in the area owned by carpet-layer CBL and home to not 1, not 2, but 3 separate Dillards.

Starting with the anchors and general mall shots

• The mall's most photogenic portion is the center court, with multiple skylights. This is Dillard's West, housing the women's department in a former Ivey's, a southern chain bought by Dillards in 1990.
• Turning around, you find Dillard's South, housing the Children's departments in a space with an exhausting history, going from May Cohens->May Florida->Maison Blanche->Gayfers, and finally to Dillard's in 1998 with the Mercantile Stores buyout.
• This smaller court on the eastern end of the mall would have led to the Sears "wing" and the food court, both now stone dead. In the meantime, its been crammed full of "games", vending machines, and a photo booth.
• A tiled, vacant stall in the food court
• A row of 3 vacant food court stalls. Cajun Cafe Grill is a small, no-name chain.
• Our 3rd and final Dillard's, Dillard's East, housing the Men's and Home Goods departments. It was converted from a Belk(-Lindsey) store in 1996.
• These very odd display cases line one side of the hallway to Dillard's East. I like them and their mirror backing quite a lot.
• Sears here closed in a mid 2019 closure round, back when Sears was ailing badly but not as non-existent as it is today.
• Macy's here, which closed in 2021, bears a very rare labelscar- for Burdines, one of two major Florida department stores in the mall age (the other being Maas Brothers). The brand was phased out in 2005 for Macy's, in a sweeping rebrand that killed dozens of local department store brands under Federated Stores. Permits are underway to demolish this anchor building for a 352-unit apartment complex, with construction planned to start this Fall.

Onto storefronts

Left to right!

• Former Hollister, in their iconic "Beach Hut" design
• A former Buckle clothing store, now recycled by discount womens clothing store Sunelli.
• A former Gymboree children's clothing store, this location closed in the company's earlier 2017 bankruptcy. In 2021 it was a store called "GLAM" which has since closed.
• Former Abercrombie & Fitch, which has been recycled as a storefront for "US Simulation", who run military-adjacent flight sims.
• Prolific low-end clothing store Rainbow in a former American Eagle.
• A (relatively) modern FYE, opened in 2015 and a rare non-conversion for this area.
• A closed Journeys Kidz store; Journey's is still operates a full-line store in the mall
• A former KB Toys storefront
• A former small format Mastercuts, still operating as a hair salon.

• A PacSun with the eyecatching "halfpipe" style entrance.
• Mr Dunderbak's started in Tampa, and grew to a small chain in the 70s-80s or thereabouts. This location went independent in 1990 but kept the name, and is now the last location along with the Tampa original. A news article indicated the owner here was looking to retire by April 30th, 2023 but clearly he found a buyer or changed his mind.
• A tiny Gamestop store.
• One of my favorite storefronts that I don't see enough- from media store Suncoast Motion Picture Company. Most of these were converted to FYE following the acquisition, but this one evidently didn't make the cut.
• A former Things Remembered, whose new occupants have just blanked the sign.
• A former Yankee Candle, now recycled as a realtors office.

My next stop was over to the actual beachside, Daytona Beach is Florida's #1 stickiest beach town as voted by Forbes, and a place I just generally dislike. It's fine, but its just. Sticky. Vibes off the frequency, idk. After paying to park in a low clearance parking garage, I strolled across a pedestrian bridge to my next point of interest- the Ocean Walk Shoppes. Ocean Walk Shoppes is a multi-story, open air shopping center, mostly focused on restaurants, a couple touristy shops, and a movie theater. In development since around 2000, ahem world events affecting tourism, pushed it's opening until 2002. It's managed to hold it's own since then, though in the ensuing years the sun has stripped back the bright shades to pastels, and concentrated the traffic to the ground floor.

• This pedestrian bridge connects the shops to it's primary parking on the other side of A1A
• There's two of these information booths, one each on the 2nd and 3rd floors. Both are disused.
• The closed entrance to Satellite Cinemas, who took over the theater from Paragon in 2018, and closed in 2020.
• An overview of the center from the 2nd floor, looking towards the beach. The seabreeze does make the center a lot nicer.
• Johnny Rockets is closed for remodeling, and this does seem earnest, and not just an excuse for soft closure. Lots of bird spikes, though.
• An exterior view of the pedestrian bridge, going over four lanes of A1A.
• A view of the "Ocean Walk" theater sign, which in addition to having lost an "an", also still bears the logo for it's 2012-2018 operator, Paragon Theaters.
• A "Now Playing" marquee reused as advertising space for Coldstone Creamery.
• A weathered statue on the ground floor, showing an octopus climbing a pillar.
• The shops are quite literally beachside, right next to the bandshell, giving you full audio of whatever cover band is performing there that day.
• A view of the shoppes and attached condos from the parking garage across the street.
• A partially closed set of escalators, with a hanging ghost decoration and a slightly ominous "use escalators at your own risk" sign.

My final stop was at the former Daytona Mall, now split into Midtown Plaza and the Daytona Shopping Center. A small, two anchor hallway between Montgomery Ward and Zayre, Daytona was a 1960s shopping center built in the 1970s. A mall had actually been planned along with the original Wards in 1965, but for one reason or another this didn't happen, and the mall wasn't developed until 1974. Hey uh, you remember that first mall? The big one with multiple anchors and a much more modern layout? Yeah, it opened in 1974. A mile away. Yeahhh... Because of this, Daytona struggled from the start,

It was quickly sold to new owners in 1975, who were into receivership by 1978. John Hancock Insurance sold it onto new owners in 1979, the same year it was announced Montgomery Wards would be rebadged to their discount concept, Jefferson Ward. With the death of Jeffersons in the mid 80s, it ended it's life as a Montgomery Ward Clearance Outlet. Zayre went down in 1988, as part of a handful of closures before the chain's acquisition by Ames that same year (who would go on to close all Florida stores in 1990 anyway), and far end grocery anchor Winn-Dixie would eventually give up too. The original mall has been reconfigured away, but a small hallway of enclosed stores still remains, if being quite architecturally bland.

• This was Winn-Dixie, once planned as an A&P in the 1960s. It's been a revolving door of tenants, the most recent of which being Crunch Fitness. The interior has been gutted, but the exterior is well preserved.
• This space, now a bingo hall, beauty store, and a Save-A-Lot, made up Zayre. I believe the entrance on the left, with the tall facade and tall glass windows, is original to Zayre.
• The entrance to the remaining interior shops.

A smaller update here, or at least not the one I intended to make. Lakeland will be either Soon or Soon-ish, depends how the money works out. Hope you enjoyed, and until next time.