cheryl-writes

[cheryl-writes]

do u ever just

[cheryl-writes]

i think one of the most important things you learn about making connections with others is that a significant portion of the time people just do not know theyre doing what theyre doing

[cheryl-writes]

Merry Crisis—Features

Romance-focused x Slice-of-life x Queer x Non-Euro-centric x Character-based

As a late 20-something year-old fresh from a recent break-up and struggling to pay rent in New York, life throws up more questions than answers.

Demo | Cast of characters | Dev log | Back to Main Post | COG forum thread | Dedicated tumblr | Ko-fi

Gameplay features

Full character customisation (with wide-ranging effects on story and gameplay): pick your gender, height, build, personality, tennis style, physical appearance, dominant hand, and many more!

Patch things up with a (very recent) ex, who also happens to be your flatmate in Brooklyn—resolve the issues that had slowly caused a rift between you, or call it quits and move on.

Run into your first-love and find closure or rekindle an old flame. They’re doing ridiculously, absurdly, well—at least on the outside, but you wonder if anything has changed since you’d left Singapore for college.

Have a whirlwind romance with the sexy neighbour that your mom despises, mostly because they’re in an indie band (not a real job), have tattoos, and leave muddy mountain bike tracks on the common corridor.

Survive a week back home with family—and possibly even strengthen your relationships (or quickly lose your sanity when your aunt asks for the fifth time if you’re still single).

Watch the New Year’s Eve fireworks—and contemplate if your future still lies in New York, or if you should finally return to Singapore.

Author’s note

The game explores being in one’s late 20s, being torn between a place you’re born in versus a place you’ve chosen to build your life in, the tension between familiarity and adventure, duty and freedom, and asks: what does ‘home’ truly mean, and is it really where the heart lies?

[cheryl-writes]

edit as you write. use adverbs. use said. outline. or don’t. plot it. pants it. make a mary sue. who cares! just write whatever makes you happy. that’s all this is about. be happy in what you make.

[cheryl-writes]

What's New In IF? Issue 24 (2024)

By Brij, Dion, Bex and Jen

Now Available!

Itch.io - Keep Reading below

If you read the zine, consider liking the post: it helps us see how many people see it! And sharing is caring! <3

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~ EDITORIAL ~

What’s that? A surprise you say?

If you’ve read our last Issue carefully, you might have registered that we are brewing up a surprise! Read Announcements to find out more.

We want some feedback!

As we’re starting to get a hand of things, we would love some feedback from you guys! What you enjoy, want more or less off, how we could improve... Anything goes! We even have a nifty form!

Still looking for members!

Due to the severe changes in the Zine team, we are once again looking for free hands with a couple of hours to kill, and minds, looking to make a little difference in the community!

If you too would like to help us out in a more official capacity, please shoot us a message! You can check out the available positions here, but if you’d like to help in any other way, feel free to contact us as well!

No Small Talk for some time!

We hope you enjoy this new issue!

BRIJ, DION, BEX AND JEN

~ BE PART OF THE ZINE ~

THIS ZINE ONLY HAPPENS WITH YOU!

Want to write 1-2 pages about a neat topic, or deep-dive into a game and review it in details? Share personal experiences or get all academic?

WRITE FOR THE COLUMN!

Prefer to be more low-key but still have something to share? Send us a Zine Letter or share a game title for Highlight on…!

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Excited as we are about next week's interview and have questions for our guest? Or want to see a certain author answer questions next? Message us!

SMALL TALK... IS WAITING!

Came across something interesting? Know a release or an update announced? Saw an event happening? Whether it's a game, an article, a podcast… Add any IF-related content to our mini-database!

EVERY LITTLE BIT COUNTS!

Contact us through Tumblr asks, Forum DMs, or even by email! And thank you for your help!!

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~ EVENT SPOTLIGHT : ECTOCOMP 2024 ~

La Petite Mort or Le Grand Guignol? Either way, it’s going to get spooky!

Ever since October 2007 spooky-game enthusiasts all over the world have a chance to participate in ECTOCOMP, an annual competition for interactive fiction celebrating the SPOOKY MONTH OF HALLOWEENTOBER. Whether you celebrate Halloween, Day of the Dead, All Saint's Eve, or just love ghost stories and creeping people out, this is your time to shine!

Previously organized by Jason Guest for ADRIFT games, the jam is now open to all development platforms. Since the beginning of this initiative, there has been a motivation to unite and strengthen ties between international communities in the IF world. Creators can submit games either in one of the four main languages - English, Spanish, French and German or any other!

This year marks the 40th anniversary of Ghostbusters. Named after the Ghostbusters’ car license plate number ECTO 1, this year the jam pays tribute to the film that inspired the title! Some other subthemes and inspiration prompts are: Spooky adventure, Sweet supernatural, Halloween fest, Día de Los Muertos, All Saints', All Souls' Eve and any other festivity or mythology around the world.

As per tradition, Ectocomp has two categories:

La Petite Mort, for those who want to speed-write their game in 4 hours or less.

Le Grand Guignol, for games that, for whatever reason, took longer than 4 hours to write.

When the jam is over, all of the submitted games will be uploaded to the IF Archive.

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~ ONGOING (VOTING) ~

The voting for IFComp is still in full swing! Until Oct 15, you can play and rate at least 5 of the 67 entries! Yup, only just 5 games to be an official judge!

Entries have been submitted for the 6th Spooktober Annual Visual Novel Jam! You can vote for your favourites until October 27th! Every October Friday you can also watch Chizu's sponsored Spooktober Stream where she plays through all submissions!

~ ONGOING (SUBMITTING) ~

Another edition of the Bad Art Visual Novel Jam is upon us! The submissions are open until October 19th for anything following the theme Super Hero/Super Villain. Just remember: No good art!

Find inspiration in dusty old decrepit corners, revivify the forgotten - the Revival Jam 2024 is here! You can submit anything you want until the 20th of October.

Strip IF to it’s bare bones and all it become beautiful text. That’s what The Bare-Bones Jam is about.

It’s spooky month and with it comes the annual ECTOCOMP 2024. If it’s spooky or supernatural why not submit it?

Running until Halloween, the Phantasia Jam is a three months game jam to create a fantasy narrative game, with the theme of “Hidden Magic”. It accepts both VN and IF.

On the CoG Forum, Halloween is already there! Until Oct 31st, you can submit your projects to the Halloween Jam - but don't forget the theme! VAMPIRE, Murder, 70’s Disco!

~ OTHER ~

The Interactive Fiction Showcase is still running! If you have completed an IF piece this year, consider submitting it! It is happening only on itch!

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~ NEW RELEASE ~

Room 310: The Awakening (ZX Spectrum) is now available for all ZX Spectrum fans and text adventure enthusiasts.

Sigh of the Abyss (Steam) is a dark fantasy visual novel with choice-heavy narrative and optional, inclusive romances. Play as the Envoy, a product of a bloody ritual and discover the splendor of a Renaissance port city.

Under Care of the Forest (Ren'Py) is a VN about a young witch bride chosen for the Lord of the Forest. Available in English and Russian.

Kingdom of the Seven Stones (Commodore 64) is where thee, the curious stranger, have the chance to enter the realm to embark on a journey of epic proportions.

As always, don't forget to check out the submitted entries to the events mentioned in the previous pages. They deserve some love too!

~ NEW RELEASE (WIP) ~

Help! I Got Isekaied as a Lamia (Twine) is a story where you discover that you have been isekaied not once, but twice. @succubus-interactivefiction

In In The Future You Are My Best Friend (CScript) you take a place of a medieval slave, who is rescued by a time-traveler who claims they share a deep bond.

Nightmare Blunt Rotation (CScript) is a comedy themed IF that focuses on online relationships and how it effects real life perception. @app-ifs

Sabbatum Sanctum (CScript) is a story set in Philippines where you play a former vigilante who decided to turn on a new leaf after taking on revenge against your biggest adversary.

In Talewarden: Riders of the New Day (Itch) you wake up on the desolate wasteland planet called Notoria with no memory of how you got there. Perhaps you will find your way back home... Or get stranded here.

~ UPDATES ~

Chains of Destiny (CScript) added extra content to Chapter 2. @chains-of-destiny

College Tennis: Origin Story (CScript) released Chapter 5 for Ko-fi supporters. @collegetennisoriginstory

Help! I can't find my Glasses! (CScript) added new content to the demo. @lacewing-if

Midnight Bay (CScript) released the first half of Chapter 3. @midnight-bay-if

Orphic Love (CScript) released Chapter 5.

Ouroboros (CScript) released Chapter 2 on their Patreon. @louroth

Path of Martial Arts (CScript) added extra content to their public and Patreon demos. @nicky-if

Pythium.exe (CScript) added content to their Prologue. @deputyrook

Spire, Surge and Sea (CScript) added Chapters 5 and 6 to their demo.

Starways Saga (CScript) updated the Naval path.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (CScript) created a Lestrade minigame. @doriana-gray-games

The Bar of the Abyss (CScript) added The Archive to their demo. @thebarontheabyss

The Catalyst (CScript) released part 1 of Chapter 1 to their demo. @rheaofficial

The In-Between (CScript) released early access to Chapter 10 on their Patreon. @dalekowrites

Weeping Gods (CScript) released Chapter 1. @jcollinswrites

Summoner's Return (Twine) added new content to their demo. @king-of-fae

Tales of Wocdes: The Silver Protector (Twine) added Chapter 2 to their demo. @tales-of-wocdes

The Ballad of Devil's Creek (Twine) added Chapter 7 to their demo. @devilscreekballad

The Gray Ascendancy (Twine) added extra content to their demo. @thegrayascendancy-if

The Reaper Watches Me (Twine) added Chapter 2 to their demo. @thereaperwatchesme

Viatica (Twine) added Chapter 10 to their demo. @fir-fireweed

~ OTHER ~

The Retro Adventurers podcast released Episode 8, where they take on two classic text adventure games - Swiss Family Robinson 3 and Valhalla.

Drew Cook released let’s make IF #12: formatting and forgeries, where he walks us through the process of making Inform 7 games!

The VNture Podcast released episode #119, where they discuss unusual conflicts in Visual Novels.

Werewolf: The Apocalypse has released a new DLC: Those Who Refuse to Die, the book and both DLCs are on sale until October 17th.

You can now play demo Innsmouth 22 thanks to Early Access.

~

As always, we apologize in advance for missing any update or release from the past week. We are only volunteers using their limited free time to find as much as we can - but sometimes things pass through the cracks.

If you think something should have been included in this week's zine but did not appear, please shoot us a message! We'll do our best to add it next week! And if you know oncoming news, add it here!

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~ MAYBE YOU NEXT? ~

We did not get a submission this week. But if you have an idea for a short essay, or would like a special space to share your thoughts about IF and the community...

Shoot us an email!

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~ HIGHLIGHT ON ~

A couple of games that we thought were cool.

Aquarium by Harris Powell-Smith (itch.io)

First episode of a very intriguing story about dating cute guys and secrets. There’s also Thanksgiving (episode 2) and the unfinished Valentine’s (episode 3).

//recommended by Dion [Team]//

Your favourite game here?

Do you have a favourite game that deserves some highlighting?

An old or recent game that wowed you so much you spam it to everyone?

Tell us about it! And it might appear here!

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I don't think you guys know how i literally wait for these issues. I always find something really good i haven't heard of or that i didn't know updated.

Thank you so much. This always puts a smile on my face. You guys are awesome! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

- @elegantunknownphantom

WE LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU ALL! WHETHER IT'S GOOD OR BAD, OR EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN...

Have something to say? Send us a message titled: Zine Letter!

Everyone’s favourite holiday is upon us, and as a celebration, we in the WNIF team decided to make the next two issues HALLOWEEN THEMED! What does that mean? Aside from a slight graphic change, we will be adding a recommendation section - something of a larger version of the Highlight on... section you’re already used to.

But for that, we will need your help! Is there a game that you love that just screeches "Halloween!" at you? Share it with us and we will include it in one of our Halloween double-issues so all our other readers can check it out as well.

We even have a form for it!

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As always, huge thanks to all you readers who liked, shared, and commented on the last issue!

What might be tiny actions are huge support and motivators to us!

Thank you for cheering us on this journey

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

We now have a Linktree! Accessing all of our links has never been easier.

See you again next week!

BRIJ, DION, BEX, JEN

WHAT'S NEW IN IF? 2024-ISSUE 24

[cheryl-writes]

did someone say update?

This was the last step on the Update everything because SugarCube broke everything with the last update tour: the templates. As of today, all the templates are now compatible with SugarCube 2.37.3 (passage code + APIs!).

The changes also include some fixes in the explanations, as well as reformatting the interface (a bit). The whole log of all the edits can be found by clicking on the link below:

The older versions of these templates (2.36 compatible) have been archived on my GitHub. And as of today, any new template created for SugarCube will only be available for 2.37 (too many changes).

If you liked a/some template/s, consider sharing the following posts:

User Interface Template:

Simple Book

One Page (à-la-Chapbook)

Space/Tech Double Whammy

VN-lite RPG

Title Page

Code Template:

Settings

Character creator (+ Guide/Tips)

Also, don't forget to change the IFID when using a template!

[cheryl-writes]

There is no actual game. This is just a game mock-up created for the Mock-up Game Jam by JaylusX

Two of Us is a fantasy visual novel game where you play a wizard on a quest to find herself after she meets who might be her lost twin.

— STORY —

You were just passing through the city when you bumped on someone you didn't know could exist. She looks like you, sounds like you and her life is like a carbon copy of your own. The only difference is that she uses a magic that is similar but opposite to yours.

Could it be that you aren't a single child like you thought?

— FEATURES —

— Choose between on you the two wizards and possible twins.

— Guide them to the mysterious wizard tower set deep in dark forest, hidden behind a thick curtain of fog. It has been calling you both and you must answer.

— Discover the truth behind the secret annual meetings that the highest wizards of the kingdoms hold inside the tower. It might not be what you expect.

— GAMEPLAY —

This being a mockup means there is no actual gameplay, but you can download the screenshot with high resolution and see the images at a higher quality!

LINK

[cheryl-writes]

normalize writing tutorials to yourself

[cheryl-writes]

Being actually for real serious about a series name for Blood Moon and Thicker Than... I was actually thinking about calling it something like 'City of Monsters' or 'This City of Ours' or similar because the city itself is the one constant character throughout.

Thoughts?

[cheryl-writes]

The Great Nation of Alyera had known only prosperity since the young monarch of the royal family took the throne. Great things were promised, and delivered, and nothing seemed to be able to stop the growing bonds within the nation.

Until the monarch’s consort perished…

Until you died… Due to an assassination attempt on the monarch’s life.

Wrought with grief and anger, the Monarch of Alyera promised revenge on all those that took their love from them; no matter the lives that may be taken in order to conquer such a feat.

A land of prosperity and harmony soon falling into war and bloodshed. Something that no one could stop due to the power of the royal family.

It’s for that very reason that the rebel group enacted a ritual that would transport someone to the past; before the kind monarch turned dark.

It’s for that very reason you were resurrected— from your place in limbo— to go back in time and stop the love of your life from turning into something they never should have been.

Will you be able to succeed? Even if it means letting them fall in love with someone else?

Demo Features

This story is 18+. Please be aware of this before continuing forward!

Customizable MC: name, appearance, gender, sexuality, parts of your background, hobbies, and a smattering of other things!

Go back in time to a time before the love of your life became the love of your life. Before they were wrought with so much grief they turned into something you could never imagine.

Will you be able to stop yourself from falling in love with them again? Especially if it means saving them from themself?

Romance a single RO that will hopefully offer enough enjoyment that you don’t mind that there isn’t more! (Customizable appearance— barring their height and few other things.)

Remember your mission… Especially when you’re back in the future and have to deal with the reality of what happened to your love after your death.

DEMO

King/Queen/Liege Shaerian of House Elanil

Shaerian, or simply Shae, has been the prospective heir of Alyera since they were born— bypassing their older brother completely. With a gentle heart, that’s filled with compassion, and a warriors spirit, it’s no wonder that Shaerian would later become the ruling monarch of the great elven kingdom.

It’s only when they chose you, a simple human, as their consort that any sort of disfavor for their rule became known, but Shae wouldn’t hear any of it. They didn’t care as long as they had you by their side…

If only you had been able to stay there.

Set Appearance: Shaerian is 6’4” with a lithe/athletic build that all elves seem to possess. Their elegance being negated by the great strength and dexterity of their species. (Hair, eye, and skin color are all customizable. Along with other things too.)

M!Shae has his hair to just above his ears. F!Shae has hers to just beneath her shoulder blades. NB!Shae has theirs to their jawline.

[cheryl-writes]

My writing process:

Stare at blank page for undetermined time (may be minutes, may be months)

Write words

Read words

Delete words

Write different words

Delete words

Write the same words

Keep some words

Delete 90% of the jokes

Question why I write so many deeply cringy jokes

Repeat

[cheryl-writes]

The 100% Good Ready-to-Use Tweego Folder!

The 100% Good Ready-to-Use Tweego Folder is both a coding guide for the Tweego compiler and an easy-install for the program. It is meant to complement the official Tweego documentation, and update the Tweego download folder (formats). The Guide is fairly short and goes over installation of Tweego in Windows and MacOS, the Twee Notation (a.k.a. Passage set-up), and use of Tweego in Windows and MacOS as well as with Twine 1 and Twine 2 formats.

While the Guide was compiled with SugarCube 2.37.3, and the Ready-to-Use Tweego Folder has a base project with SugarCube 2.37.3, Tweego can be used with any Twine 1 and Twine 2 formats. Annotations are also provided to change formats.

READ THE GUIDE & DOWNLOAD THE FOLDER

Note: setting up Tweego is different depending on your device. Check the Guide for full instructions before downloading the Folder (esp. for MacOS).

The Folder includes:

the Ready-to-Use Tweego Guide

Tweego, all official Twine 1 & 2 formats, and relevant scripts

a Base New Project with annotations

GITHUB REPO | RAISE AN ISSUE | TWINE RESOURCES TEMPLATES | SUGARCUBE GUIDE | CSCRIPT 2 SG GUIDE

Twine® is an “an open-source tool for telling interactive, non-linear stories” originally created by Chris Klimas maintained in several different repositories (Twinery.org). Twine is also a registered trademark of the Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation.

Tweego is a free (gratis and libre) command line compiler for Twine/Twee story formats, written in Go, created by TME. The Ready-to-Use folder is based on the one put together by Sjoerd.

READ THE GUIDE & DOWNLOAD THE FOLDER

The previous version of this Guide and Folder (SugarCube 2.36.1/Windows only) is still available for download on my GitHub.

[cheryl-writes]

Looking for New Members!

We are still looking for new members to fill in the following positions!

Social Media Poster (1): someone who will post announcements (new issue, next interview, other) on our different accounts (X, Mastodon, Bluesky, Itch Devlogs, CoG Forum). Potentially will need to interact with other users tagging/replying to us on those platforms.

~

Transcriber (1): someone to transcribe the zine for Tumblr and in the .txt format before it is posted. Templates are already ready for both formats, requiring mostly some copy-pasting and formatting. We would need someone free on Saturday (mid-day UTC).

~

Editor (1): someone who will write the Editorial and Thanks section, select the event to spotlight and games to highlight, and checks the columns sent.

From past experience, we expect a couple of hours per week to complete either the task. You won't be assigned any other duties than the one you signed-up for (unless you want to contribute more).

A Discord username is preferred for communication.

No preferred time-zone.

You must be open and willing to promote all forms of IF (not just choice-based). <- this is really important to us

Interested in helping make a change?

Shoot us a message!

[cheryl-writes]

The 100% Good Twine SugarCube Guide!

The 100% Good Twine SugarCube Guide is a coding guide for the SugarCube format of Twine. It is meant as an alternative to the SugarCube documentation, with further explanations, interactive examples, and organised by difficulty. The goal of this guide is to make the learning curve for new SugarCube user less steep, and provide a comprehensive and wide look over the format.

VIEW / DOWNLOAD THE GUIDE!!!!

The Guide is compartmentalised in (currently) four categories:

THE BASICS or the absolute basics to start with SugarCube. No need for extra knowledge. Just the base needed to make something.

THE BASICS + adding interactivity, and creating a fully rounded IF game May require a bit of CSS knowledge (formatting rules)

INTERMEDIATE MODE adding more customisation and complex code Will probably require some CSS knowledge, and maybe some JavaScript

ADVANCE USE the most complex macros and APIs Will surely require some JavaScript/jQuery knowledge

Note: The Advanced Use includes all the APIs, macros, and methods not covered by the previous categories. This includes code requiring very advance knowledge of JavaScript/jQuery to be used properly.

Each category explains many aspects of the format, tailored to a specific level of the user. More simpler explanations and examples are available in earlier chapters, compared to the later ones.

If something is unclear, you found a mistake, you would like more examples in the guide, or would like a feature covered, let me know!

The Guide currently covers all macros (as of SugarCube v.2.37.3), all functions and methods, and APIs. It touches upon the use of HTML, CSS, JavaScript and jQuery, when relevant. It also discusses aspects of accessibility.

The Guides also provides a list of further resources, for the different coding languages.

The Guide is available in a downloadable form for offline view:

HTML file that can be opened in Twine

.tw file that can be opened in Twine

source code, separating the chapters, .js and .css files

GITHUB REPO | RAISE AN ISSUE | TWINE RESOURCES TWEEGO | TEMPLATES | CSCRIPT 2 SG GUIDE

Twine® is an “an open-source tool for telling interactive, non-linear stories” originally created by Chris Klimas maintained in several different repositories (Twinery.org). Twine is also a registered trademark of the Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation.

SugarCube is a free (gratis and libre) coding format for Twine/Twee created and maintained by TME.

VIEW / DOWNLOAD THE GUIDE!!!!

As of this release (v2.0.0), it is up to date with the version 2.37.3. If you are looking for the guide covering SugarCube 2.36.1, you can find it on my GitHub.

Note: the Guide is now complete. There won't be further substantial updates.

[cheryl-writes]

A... hunter sequel? As much as I love playing as a supernatural, that one sounds amazing.

The grey morality of it. Are you a ruthless killer or as someone really conflicted.

Accidentally falling for a werewolf or whatever. Nathan warns you how much of a bad idea it is. It'll break your heart. There was this vampire once...

Being a total badarse. There's so few IFs where you get a crossbow.

It's time to remind these monsters how humans got to the top of the motherfucking food chain. Ain't no where you can run. Ain't no where you can hide. The hunters are cleaning up the night.

[cheryl-writes]

CALLING ALL WRITERS 💗🤓✍️📕📝✏️

Hello! My name is KC Malik and I’m a published writer, indie game developer and editor with over eight years of experience in the writing field. While most of my editing experience has been completely pro-bono, I’d like to offer up my experience to the #writeblr and tumblr interactive fiction communities!

As of right now, I’m working as a game developer on my text-based game Larkin while pursuing a master’s degree in English Education and working as a professional writing tutor. As well as editing my own writing, I’ve worked with editors before and I know what an absolute beast it can be to face such a wall of text. I’ve edited academic work, fiction, fanfics, poems, resumes and cover letters (and of course, interactive fiction 😉) and I would love to help you make your work the best it can be :) With this I offer a variety of packages for editing (all payments through PayPal!)

Please reach out if you’d like to see samples of my work!

RATES:

Under 1k words - $25 + five day turn around

1k-5k words - $40 + 1 week turn around

5k-15k words - $100 + 2 week turn around

Additional Words exceeding 15k - $0.01/word

Faster turnaround - $15/day

[cheryl-writes]

“you’re a writer, right?”

me, staring at the one sentence i’ve managed to add in the last hour and the 12 open tabs on the specifics of shoes in 1845 Ireland: In theory.