#(the demo is pretty neat too!)

[expvrgction]

"Can a dodgeball cause concussion if you throw it at someone hard enough?" Blazkowicz totally didn't ask that because of a certain video game he decided to play when he took a break from demon hunting.

[all-purpose-dish-soap]

TF141 reactions to "want me to paint your nails?"

PRICE has never been asked that question before

knee-jerk reaction is no. because he is a man.

but he knows better than that, too; it's just an assumption he was raised with and he's lived too long and seen too much to care about other people's judgement.

he leans over and watches you paint yours. seems harmless enough.

he allows you to paint one (1) pinky nail.

you do as neat a job as you can. very deliberate strokes. sliding one of your unpainted nails around the edge of his cuticle to catch a smudge.

you say "there you go :)"

he nods, seems pretty unaffected by the whole thing. just indulging you, it's a good captain thing to do. fun is allowed sometimes as a little treat.

if you catch him looking down at that one painted pinky nail in thought, in meetings, running his thumb over it in thought, no you didn't.

GHOST balks. acts like that's a stupid question. this is a lie.

even if you shrug and say okay, your loss, he feels kinda tingly about it in the stomach for a minute.

but if you were to just... maybe reach over and pull his hand in anyway, he wouldn't stop you.

he just lets you paint his nails. all of them. just sits there like it's not happening.

activates the monkey grooming part of his brain. not only are you doing a nice thing for him for no reason, you're touching him.

like, you're holding his hand almost. that shit is intimate.

his touch-starved ass starts having pavlovian reactions to the smell of nail polish after that.

GAZ says yeah. asks you to show him.

you lean in and show him the hand you're working on.

when you pull his hand over to do his, he pulls an uno reverse. flips your hand over in his.

plucks the nail polish brush out of your hand and starts painting the thumbnail of your non-dominant hand.

he's just doing it as an excuse to have your hand in his. he does not deny it when you point this out. no, he's not letting go.

his grip is secure. you protest and he counters by asking you how long it takes to dry. how many layers. if this is your favorite color. how to clean up that dot he just made on your fingertip.

he is so coolheaded about it that he flusters you the more you try to argue. you eventually have to just shut up and let him work. and answer his questions.

he is smirking.

after that, he makes a point to grab your hand whenever you're not wearing gloves and check your nails. if they're chipped, he quips it's time for him to fill you in.

SOAP says sure >:)

do not trust him. this is a mistake.

the minute you scoot over to pick his hand up, he yanks you over and wrestles you to the floor.

pot of nail polish? spilled. your freshly painted nails? ruined. done for.

you should've known. like this is seriously your fault. you know him.

he gets your nail polish on his fingers by accident. then happily smudges it wherever he can reach. 

he loves wrestling :) and playing too rough on purpose

eventually he will apologize for ruining your manicure.

helps you repaint them. you're awed when he does a better job than you could.

he has steady hands. part of his demo skillset. and he likes sketching, so

you don't have to clean up any of the nails he paints.

he even uses your detail brush to draw a little something on your accent nail to remind you of him. you think it's just something to make up for his bullshit, but now whenever he sees it (and that thumbprint of nail polish he left on the back of your shoulder and didn't tell you) he feels like he signed you <3

...

more multi-141 and poly 141 / masterlist tag

[bearseulgs]

Ni-ki as your boyfriend

gn!reader x ni-ki

genre: fluff ft teensy weensy bit of angst

wc: 688

warnings: kith ^3^, arguing (just a lil mention), pet names, let me know if there's anything else!!

okay first off: mans a total simp

sorry i don't make the rules ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

you'll do a lil dancey dance or recommend smth when listening to the demo of their new song and he'll be like

"yup yup lemme notify the members and manager and producer and choreographer immediately"

u praise him for his charm during one of his parts and he MELTS

you're his life sa vie su vida those are all the languages i know life in sorry

whipped behavior LLLL

ngl i feel like he loves laps. like. idk

like he'll be gaming and you want attention so you just lay your head in his lap and he'll stroke your hair from time to time

or he'll get lunch and come back and there's no seats at the table so as a joke you're like "come here babygirl" while patting your lap and he just

plops down. like he will sit on your lap no hesitation (ma princesse 😔🫶)

Kimmie brought up that he's the type to like matchy matchy things and i 100% agree!!!!

like say he finally finished up his tour and (if you were able to go) he got y'all matching keychains from the city you saw him in

if you couldn't see them he got keychains from one of his favs

or y'all will go to the arcade and get cute matching plushies that you won each other

or making matching earrings with supplies you bought together

i am having so many thoughts

i also think he's the type to film lil tiktok dancey dances with you (AHHH 💞💞)

or if he's got a chill day at work he invites you over for a mini dance party in the practice room

y'all probs have a collaborative playlist of 💖your songs💖 on spotify

he also has a separate playlist of songs that remind him of you

he seems the type to love baking dates but i also would not trust him in the kitchen so let's hope you're a good cook :0

everyone talks about this but rightfully so: nap dates

i want i need pls

good luck being productive within a 2 mile radius of his dorm because he will drag you back to nap with him &lt;3

i am also a firm believer in him lending you his jackets and/or vice versa

doesn't matter if you're taller or shorter, stockier or scrawnier, or same size, jackets will be exchanged

it's just y'all's thing

imagine wearing his green leather jacket to a comeback showcase 😩

taking his phone when he's busy to play on it

he knows you took it because when he gets back his ranking is different (whether for the better or the worse) but he doesn't mind because he loves you &lt;3

laser tag 🫢 like let's say y'all's friends go out for laser tagging one weekend and you do that thing mid game where y'all get all up close and personal and one of y'all kisses the other to distract them then shoots the kissee and walks away AHHH

now that gas prices are going down y'all go on little adventure drives to neat spots around town

what if y'all find a cute lil hidden spot and it becomes like Your Spot 🥺

him having theee most unflattering pic ever of you for your contact then a cute lil name like "my baby 💝" or smth i would cry

anyways now onto the part nobody wants 😔

arguments

i feel like he'd try to avoid serious arguments, of course having some playful bantering, but never taking it too far

but sometimes they're unavoidable

he seems the type to get kinda intense during arguments, and he can be pretty intimidating so i wouldn't blame his partner for getting lowkey scared 😭 but it's not entirely his fault :(

i hope you ain't petty because i don't doubt that he is, so if y'all both are it could be 4ever before things get resolved

but eventually one of y'all is gonna cave because you love each other or whateva 🤢 (jk i love love)

anyways this is getting kinda long so Riki best boy‼️‼️ whoever gets him please treat him well 🥺

a/n: u guys i am so whipped for this boy 💔

©️ bearseulgs 2022

[devilishmango]

what ifs wips are you most excited to drop a demo? i think we need more shoutouts to the authors instead of always whining and hating in their inboxes about taking too long and making them reconsider whether it was a good idea to start an if at all.

True, I've noticed there has been an increased amount of negativity in a lot of IF author's inboxes. 🤔 I remember following a few blogs that ended up being deleted because of the hate they were receiving- before they even uploaded a demo or anything!!

Anyway, here are some IF I found without demos that I think are really neat.

Wanted Game @wanted-game-if I'm so freaking excited for a western fantasy... with a lovecraftian twist, are you kidding me??? awesome.

Red Wood Point Park @campredwood-if UHM a IF where you play as a camp counselor?? AND IT'S COSMIC HORROR?? sign me tf up please.

Dead End @deadend-if an IF where I can romance a reaper? yes please!!

The Blood Curse Cycle @bloodcursecycle-if on hiatus atm, but I am very excited for this one. Love a good curse that runs in the family. 💅

Keepers @keepersif this looks like an interesting premise- being made/trained to be something like a killing machine. Just my kind of story. 😈

That's all for now, but I am always looking for more IF authors/stories to follow and whatnot. I have a pretty decent sized audience so I'm always happy to share blogs/posts of other IF to get them more attention.

[maleyanderecafe]

Flowers of Evil (Visual Novel)

Created by: boyinajar

Genre: Romance/Horror

Just like a lot of games, I've been having my eye on this one for a bit. Flowers of Evil was made for the #yanjam, and I think as of writing this, the current demo could just be an entire game if some of the options were removed. It's really cool to have non human yandere characters in games, so it was pretty fun playing this one and seeing Wither in action. If you are curious about this game, please check out more at @flowersofevilvn, and they are creating another game called @darlingdollhousevn if you enjoyed this one.

The default name for the MC is Buttercup, so I will refer to them as such through this review.

Buttercup wakes up one day like any other to head to their class in university. Walking through the forest to get to campus, the find out that class is not in session, with a note that states there won't be class today instead of an email. With their new free time, they decide to head into the library and starts to read some poetry when they are interrupted by a man named Wither, who seems interested as well. Buttercup can either try to converse with him or try to leave after first meeting with him.

If Buttercup decides to converse with them, Wither will ask them out on a date. Buttercup will initially refuse because of their classes, though coincidentally, the class is cancelled due to car problems relating to plants. With this, Buttercup accepts Wither's invitation, and the two go walking in the town. After going through the flower shop, Wither suggests going into the woods next. As the two walk, Buttercup suddenly feels really anxious, and tries to leave, however, Wither grabs them. They realize too late that he's not quite human, and Wither explains himself as some sort of lichen. Wither drags Buttercup into the meadow, stating that he created it just for them, just to protect them from the rest of the world.

If Buttercup attempts to leave, Wither will be annoyed, stating that this isn't what was suppose to happen, attempting to sing more poetry to lure them back in. As they leave, they get a notification stating that their next class is cancelled due to some plant problems with the professor's car. Here they can either decide to go home through the path or through the town, freaked out by Wither's presence.

If they decide to go through town, Buttercup feels rather unnerved, and they see Wither following them around. They start to freak out, believing that he might have been following them for some time, even before their initial meeting. Buttercup decides to run home to safety, paranoid that no one can help them, not even the police. After falling asleep, they wake up to the sound of breaking glass only to find Wither, breaking open the window with their hand which has turned into a sharp branch. As the plants capture Buttercup, Wither ends up taking them with him, likely back to the forest.

Going through though the path, Buttercup starts to realize that they've been walking for a lot longer than they should have, and noticed that the path behind them is completely gone. Not able to try to go back, Buttercup tries to keep on going forward, until they reach a meadow that they've never seen before. They end up meeting Wither there, who reveals himself as a lichen. The plants grab at Buttercup onto the floor, with Wither happily lying down with them. Wither captures them, happy that they will be together.

I gotta say that this creator makes pretty good creepy designs, whether it be purposeful or not. I think it really adds to the dangers that yanderes have, and it's especially good for the scenes where Wither breaks into Buttercup's house or when he's stalking them around the town. I think that the design with it's leaves is pretty neat too, though it does kind of look like he's fallen down in the forest and forgot to clean himself up a bit. If he does have a more monstrous form, I think it would be neat to have holes in his face or hands to show off the more decayed side to him, but that's just an idea.

I think that this game does a pretty good job of horror, especially the idea of the plants coming to basically take Buttercup into the meadow, and the way that they're not able to escape. The choice of music makes some scenes feel very tense, especially when Wither reveals himself to not be what he seems. I think the notions of using poetry are pretty nice and it does make me wonder where he learned all of it or how he was able to make a human body in the first place. I assume that he fell for Buttercup because he saw them walking in the forest and tried to make something that would appeal to them.

In terms of yandere behavior, Wither pretty much made their physical appearance based off what Buttercup likes, cancelled two classes to get them to hang out with him (possibly killing one of them, considering the note), stalks them in certain endings, breaks into their house with one and kidnaps them to a meadow filled with their favorite flowers. There's actually quite a lot going on in terms of yandere things, and it does make me curious how Wither was able to pick up on what kind of things Buttercup likes and again, how they got into poetry in the first place. From what I recall reading, it is stated that he has a bit more of chivalrous personality that he bases on the books that he's read, thus leading to all of the ways that they act towards Buttercup. That kind of idea is always pretty cool, with a yandere that tries to become what their lover wants to be.

Overall, a pretty fun and short game. This is technically a demo (though I feel that it could just be it's own full but short game if the other options were removed) and I am curious to see what will happen next. I am excited to see how this one and their other game will develop in the future.

[jamisonwritestf2trash]

Hello again! I was chatting with someone and he said "someone should make writing style hcs for the mercs", and I instantly went "I know a guy" so now i'm here. How do you think the mercs would write? (note: he also said "Scout would write like Greg heffley" which is hilarious)

How Do the TF2 Mercs Write?

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I'm smiling like an idiot rn. This is so sweet, and the promt is very cool! (Your friend is 100% correct, btw.)

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I'm going to headcanon, whay they write about, how they write about those things, and some hand writing pictures of how I think they'd write! So be prepared for a long one 😭 Can you tell I'm an English nerd?

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Demo-

You'd think he'd have super messy handwriting, but he's actually a very neat writer. Has an ink and quill pen set, loves gold ink more than traditional black ink.

He writes about his mom and his childhood. He writes very vividly and with lots of detail. I feel like this man is a walking thesaurus.

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Engie-

He has very clean writing. I'm day to day life (he has the worst writing when working on his projects). Like he'll leave a note on the door saying that the gangs run out of milk and everyone's shocked. You'd think he'd have atrocious handwriting. Learned cursive in school and never really stopped using it.

When he's writing like this, he's normally sending letters to people he cares for or trying to order parts for his latest projects. He's very formal when he writes to anyone.

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Heavy-

Heavy is also blessed with very nice handwriting, but instead of the school system forcing him into writing better it was his mom.

He likes to write about animals and his friends. He keeps a small book by his bed to write little things he learns throughout the day. Not very descriptive, more along the lines of "I heard birds singing this morning, it was pretty." Or "Scout likes brownies more than ice cream." Normally, just mundane things. (Also, he writes mainly in english to improve his ability to understand English words but sometimes defaults to Russian if he can't remember or spell a word properly.)

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Medic-

Ugh. This man writes like a doctor nine times put of ten just to fuck with people. He'll give someone a note, and it just has gibberish on it. He likes to watch them try and decipher it. But when he's not being a menace to society. He has genuinely beautiful handwriting. While it can be overly fancy, sometimes it's also easy to read.

He has two journals, he has a leather-bound one where he writes about Germany, his experiences of leaving his country, when he had his medical license, medical school, etc. Loves to write about the past. He uses that journal as a therapist. And then, of course, he has his neon pink Claire's notebook that he uses to write down every single thing that could be used against someone he's ever heard, with matching glitter pens.

When he writes, he never leaves any details out and is pretty clear and concise. He uses German and English interchangeably. Using English mainly out of habit.

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Scout-

While I do agree that this man probably writes like Greg Heffley (and honestly, his handwriting probably looks the same too.) I'd be wrong not to mention that he writes out little :), :0, >:), and other little faces on his notes, and have almost graffiti handwriting. He practiced writing to look like that, actually. He used to have decently nice handwriting, but he likes this one better.

He doesn't write much, but when he does, this man writes paragraphs about the most random things. All horribly spelled. This man can't read or write very well. Dyslexic king. He makes sure to get help with spelling, though, so he can write to his mom at least once a month.

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Sniper-

Oh, poor, poor man. Can not write clearly to save his life. Not that he's big on writing to begin with. There was never really any pressure for him to have good handwriting, and he mainly only writes to write himself reminders.

Very nondescript and straight to the point. But has a little quirk of using different dots (like • ○ ● □ ■ ☆) for his notes. He has a little dark brown book for all his reminders.

☆eat (is a common note left in the book). He also has written poetry, but he'd rather die than admit that.

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Spy-

Pretentious motherfucker handwriting and style. Could just be writing a reminder to wish someone a happy birthday and will go all out. It normally takes him 15 minutes to write a small note. He writes letters frequently, with no reason in particular. I think he just really likes writing. Uses big words but not in the same way Demo does. Like Demo will say, "The food was horrific." But Spy will say some shit like "the meal I partook in was horrifically distasteful and..." So on and so on.

I think he can also switch his handwriting at will. If he needs to pretend to have messy handwriting for some reason, he'll do it. Not without sheding a tear at how awful it looks first though.

Writes exclusively in French. One or two words in English every 10,000 words he writes.

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Soldier-

He likes using all capital letters when he writes! He feels like every word he writes is important. It also helps him remember things. I also don't think his vision is the best, so it's hard for him to see any other writing.

He doesn't write often, but he's always listing things, marking things that have changed, and writing down random questions that he'll spend the day trying to answer. Very observation based writing. You catch him writing and it's just a piece of computer paper with a list like,

THE CEREAL WAS MOVED

I SAW A BIRD

WHY DO BIRDS FLY INTO GLASS

ARE BIRDS OKAY AFTER FLYING INTO GLASS.

Very simple writer.

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Pyro-

Scarily neat and beautiful writing. Somehow, they can write like this no matter what situation they're in. I definitely think they just rewrite things they overhear, facts that they like, good memories they remember, and just odd things. Has multiple quotes written down from books they've read. They write with glitterpens, too. They have a bunch of construction paper they use to write on.

They don't really write much for necessity. They only really write to make themselves happy. Can be simple or descriptive depending on what their remembering.

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AH! I HAD SO MUCH FUN DOING THIS ONE! Thanks again for the ask! I hope your friend likes the answers :D

[lunatic-pudge]

Medic SFW Alphabet

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This was supposed to be a Demo SWF alphabet, what happened to me? Just a small TW cause it's Medic and he's a morbid person

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A: Affection (How do they show affection? And how affectionate are they?)

Is an affectionate babe but not by much. He's usually so busy with work that it tends to slip his mind, and he's grown up not getting much love by his parents. People are usually too scared of him to know he's got a small affection bone in him. Will gladly give you lovins if you ask

B: Best Friend (What would they be like a best friend? How would the friendship start?)

The type of best friend who you're constantly checking up on. Says some of the most batshit insane things and is running on a very thin line of either killing everybody around him, or himself. You gotta make sure he doesn't get arrest for his crimes against humanity. You gotta have some amount of insanity going on if you wanna be friends with him. But if you're on his level, then well, this ain't gonna end well :')

C: Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

Does love cuddling but seems to never have time for it. Loves laying on top of you and hearing your heartbeat. Will let you lay on him if you want. His big boobily breasts are warm and very comfy and he's got them big strong arms to wrap around you to keep you safe

D: Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking & cleaning?)

I can see it, but I can also see that he's dedicated so much of his life to his work, that he woudn't want to settle down. I view him as the eldest of the 9 mercs, even if he doesn't really look like it. So he's been through it. He's probably had lovers before but wasn't really able to commit like how they wanted him to. But if you're also a doctor, it might be easier for him to settle down cause you two can work together and such. I'd say he's pretty good at cooking, nothing extravagant about his cooking. He can be messy at times but is also a neat freak. Everything has a specific place and will get mad if it's not where it's supposed to be.

E: Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)

All of his relationships have ended of his partners side. It's cause of how into his work he is. He takes the breakups pretty well. Usually just falls into his work even more.

F: Fiancé(e) (How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)

Would love to get married someday. But it would take a while. It would take a good few years for him to feel ready to pop the question. If he wanted his partner to pop the question to him, he'd be sending them pics of rings he likes and casually talk about ring sizes. He's a spoiled princess

G: Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

Gentle emotionally, not so much physically. Will try to be there for you as best as he can. Gives some pretty damn good advice. Physically though? Doesn't mean to be so rough. He's a feral animal. Tends to be a biter and a scratcher thinking that's a great way to show his love and appreciation

H: Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?)

Loves a good hug or two, but only with certain people like you, Heavy, or Engie. He doesn't like when people touch him, people are gross. His hugs are very comfy. Again, boobily boobies are what your head will be resting against. Can give you the type of hugs where he lifts you off the ground and spins you around

I: I Love You (How fast do they say the L-Word?)

Takes a while for him to say it. It takes a while for him to realize he has feelings for you. And he's used to his partners leaving him. So his first I love you is very special

J: Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?)

Is horrifically jealous. Has a bad habit of becoming a little too obsessed with his s/o. Doesn't like seeing people get just a little too close to you. He's already looking this person up, gathering personal info on them, and will kidnap them and harvest their organs for his work.

K: Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?)

MESSY KISSES. MESSY KISSES. MESSY KISSES. Get's a little too excited to kiss you so he kinda slobbers on you by accident. Loves to kiss you on the top of you head and loves when you kiss him anywhere. Spit in his mouth plz

L: Little Ones (How are they around kids?)

Kids don't like Medic and Medic don't like kids. Kids are terrified of doctors so there ya go. Medic stikes me as someone who got a vasectomy when he was younger cause he knew he absolutely did not want kids. Take a lesson from him, Spy >:( So he tends to avoid being around kids as much as he can.

M: Morning (How are mornings spent with them?)

He's like Sniper where he's up super early and goes to be super late. He's actually quite the morning bird. Will be up way before you. Breakfast and coffee already made. He'd be like a housewife and have your clothes out and ready and luch packed for you when you go to work. Leaves cute little notes in your lunch for you to read, probably has some dad joke in it too

N: Night (How are nights spent with them?)

You'll never see this man sleep. He gets four hours sleep max. He's always on the clock with being the only doctor of the team. And he likes to be up at odd hours of the night, running some weird experiment. He's a restless soul

O: Open (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or wait awhile to reveal things slowly?)

Takes a bit for him to open up. Loves telling stories of his childhood. Will not talk about what he was doing in the 40's for obvious reasons. Prefers to learn more about you rather than talk about himself

P: Patience (How easily angered are they?)

Tries to be patient but sometimes his anger can get the better of him, especially if you do something you're not supposed to do. I TELEPORTED BREAD! But he's a grown man and will apologized for being mad

Q: Quizzes (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every detail in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?)

Scarily accurate memory, especially about your person. If you let him cut you open, he will spend agonizingly long hours memorizing every single detail of you organs. Shape, size, colors. Will memorize even little details like where moles and freckles are, or how you have a slight tooth gap. Werid but cute shit, ya know?

R: Remember (What is their favourite moment in your relationship?)

It was the first time you let him cut you open. He offered to put you under so you didn't have to be awake for it. He spent that whole day learning every little detail of your person. Taking organs out to truly observe them. Being way more delicate with you and your organs than he has with anyone else. Once he was done, he made sure you were healed back up. He'll sit with you while you recover from being put under if you were. Giving you food, drinks, and lots of lovins.

S: Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?)

Very protective. It goes with his obsessivness. Is ready to kill and die for you at any given moment. Just give him to okay and he's attacking someone for you

T: Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, and everyday tasks?)

Sometimes he gets so into his work, he'll forget what day it is. If he forgets a birthday or anniversary, he feels HORRIBLE. Will take you out to a fancy restaurant and spoil the hell out of you. Can surprisingly be romantic.

U: Ugly (What would be some bad habits of theirs?)

The poor thing is so mentally unwell and definitely has been through some traumatic shit and he doesn't cope with it well. Choosing to become obsessed with his work and further his delusions of being a god. You need to help ground him back into reality plz

V: Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?)

Only midly concern. He know he's handsome and a bad bitch. So he does try to keep up with his looks. Usually is too busy being needed by everyone to really do much with his looks, that's okay though

W: Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?)

Kinda? He's weird and flip flops between wanting to sew you two together, and being able to handle not being around you constantly. Will call and spend hours with you on the phone cause he do be loving you

X: Xtra (A random headcanon for them)

Loves music, no matter the genre. Would've became a musician but his loves for medicine and pressure from his parents meant putting music on the back burning, which sucks cause he's very talented. His favorites are the piano, violin, and cello. Yes, he owns all three and they stay in his private quarters. Likes to play his intruments on his spare time. Would be the type to release music under an alias and no one would ever know it was him

Y: Yuck (What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?)

He's very picky with the people he dates. He's not an opposites attract kinda person. He wants someone who he has common ground with. Someone who's completly fine with a phychotic shit he's into

Z: Zzz (What is a sleep habit of theirs?)

Horrible sleep habit. Never sleeps. Definitely someone who gets restless leg syndrome. If he's doing something, he has to finish it before going to bed or he genuinely won't be able to sleep

[ophidian-bite]

I've got a few screen grabs from the demo for your translations. Here's some crops:

first of all! thank you for getting a better shot of the neighbour poster- in mine i couldnt get the small text

also i have truly no idea what the piracy one is supposed to mean but the letters are very clear and there's no other way i can think of to translate it

also if anyone can get a clear shot of the keys on the checkout machine that'd be rad- it's probably pretty predictable but i still think itd be neat cause it might give us a better display of the numbers since i don't think we have all the digits set in stone yet, at least anywhere i can find

also the n/m's in this one could be either or its a little too small to tell

[lynxgriffin]

it makes sense. You've reached your satisfaction and found an interesting endpoint so your Player is able to walk away. The need is there and he was so smug knowing that there's a good chance that someone drawn in with the hook, eagerly seeking a story, would want that.

Forgot to mention: the bonuses again were pretty cool. Unfortunately I wasn't able to read the Princess because my eyes are bad with cursive, but the images alone were hilarious. The other comics were hilarious and the concept art sketches were very cool to look through.

As for OFF, I really recommend going at it again. The fangames are pretty cool too although I can't remember which ones are finished by now and if any new projects have come up or faltered. Aside from Home which is basically "OFF but Judge's PoV" but with its own spin on things.

(3 am Anon at nearly 9 pm. Hello!)

Putting this in another bit just in case because... I get doofy sometimes about things. There is a game thematically/visually similar to OFF while being its own thing if you're interested: Almari. Last I saw it was still being worked on. You're playing as a new entity that is born without emotion so you travel through lands to obtain those ideals. Visuals and enemies are kinda freaky so heads up there. And there's something... sort of similar to Undertale/Earthbound in the sense that it is an fun urban-fantasy RPG with a goofy hometown... and... uh... the MC gets deleted by a glitch before leaving First Town so your controls get hooked to the loser best friend and you can choose to speak with him. Last I saw Glitched was nowhere near done but I know the demo's still up. It's very much Funny SNES Action-Adventure or RPG Game with a cosmic horror twist for the cast.

At the very least, it's the ending I always had in mind from the start!

Oh and thank you for checking out the bonus stuff in the PDF, too! And yeah, I can see the cursive being hard to read...it was just supposed to imitate the sort of thing that Noelle would write in a journal or something, complete with her illustrations!

And haha, I'd have to try it for the first time, since I haven't yet. :P I am spoiled on the ending(s), though. I do think it's pretty neat how many different sorts of thoughtful games there are that spawned from Earthbound and its unique approach to an RPG!

[the-shy-artisan]

SO!

Thoughts on the Monster Hunter: Wilds demo so far (even tho I've only done the entry quest and ran around the map for like an hour lmao):

BABEY SEIKRETS MY LOVE! There's a village filled with so many of them! ;u; Game loses points because it won't let me pet and/or pick them up lmao

The hammer feels weighty and destroying wounds with it's focus move is so incredibly satisfying.

The bow handles similarly to World/Iceborne (which I am so STOKED about, I hated how it felt in Rise/Sunbreak tbh ;;;)

The music is amazing. The sound design is awesome too! Just wait until you run into Ray Dau, it's sounds/roars are so unique.

The wiggling health bar isn't that much of a distraction (well, at least for me). It really only moves if a monster is about to use a really powerful attack (so like, once in a great while).

Speaking of Ray Dau. Holy. Shit. I came so close to beating him on my own, but he ran away :c But the fight I had with him? God, what a rush. He has moves similar to Rathalos, Astalos, and I swear I saw a move or two that looked like Diablos.

The PS5 controller makes sounds! Like breaking rocks, shifting sand, the Seikret's vocalizations. When you catch endemic life, it will make their sounds too! It's such a neat little detail that really immerses you in the world.

NON GENDERED ARMOR LET'S FUCKING GO. I've been using the base male armor. What? I like hoods lmao

The controls are easy to get used to, I fell into a pretty good rhythm once I knew what I was doing.

The map is so BIG. I've gotten lost... twice lol

MOUNTING IS SO MUCH COOLER. But, YOU have to decide when to deal the finishing blow, the game will not tell you (think of how World/Iceborne would have the monster stay still and give you a cue. Wilds doesn't do this).

I can already tell I'm gonna sink so many thousands of hours into this game when it drops next year lololol

Happy Hunting everyone! :D

[cupidscatcafe]

Guys I finally got to see Inside Out 2 and omg do I need to rant

Inside Out is my current hyperfixation and I’m so happy I got to have it right when the second movie came out

So here’s everything I wanted to talk about from my first viewing of Inside Out 2 (Spoilers, obviously)

I’ve placed these in (rough) chronological order

1. Getting to see the emotions room! So, I actually missed the first few minutes because we accidentally bought 3D tickets instead of normal ones so we got the times mixed up. But! I got to see the Demo Day scene on YouTube and OMG THEIR ROOM⁉️ ITS SO CUTE 😭 THE BUNKBEDS, JOY AND FEAR HAVING STARS ON THEIR WALLS, AND ANGER HAVING THE WINDOW THINGY ON HIS 🥺

2. The emotions bed clothes! Omg I would kill for Joy’s pjs! They’re so cute and they definitely made a great decision with the design! I would have never thought of Sadness in a robe but omg does she look adorable! Fear and his plushie are actually like the cutest thing ever aND DISGUST⁉️ SHES SO PRETTY OMG 😭 Not much to say for Anger just cuz I feel like people would of kinda expected that to be his bed clothes 😭

3. “Who are you people?” I just kinda think the line delivery was neat :3 also the way Disgust puts herself between the construction people and Sadness to, like, protect her, its just so cute 😭

4. Ennui and her phone I know people don’t really like her that much but I did! I like how she had an app that she could control the console from but where did she even get it from? 😭 Did someone make that just for her or did she just “spawn” with it? 😭

5. “You can’t bottle us up!” The fact Joy gave them that idea and the way Embarrassment poked holes in the jar for them like they’re little rats you’d find in your kitchen 😭 I guess that is kind of what they were to the new emotions but I love how they literally bottled up emotions

6. Lance struggling to walk through the door I just thought it was funny he kept walking into the wall and it took a few tries for him to get through the door 😭

7. Disgust willingly sitting on a slice of pizza Do you know how greasy and gross pizza is 😭? She was hesitant to stand on broccoli but she was fully willing to sit in grease 😭 I just feel like that’s something she would never do 😭

8. The climb up the recall tube Just the way that Sadness was the last option 😭 Fear and Anger werent even an option to Joy, her first choice was Disgust and the only reason she didn’t do it was because she didn’t want to get her dress dirty 😭 Sadness was the only one left so she had too 😭

9. Sar-chasm Really no explanation, the joke is just funny imo

10. Joys “OF COURSE IM DELUSIONAL” It’s been stuck in my head since I first saw a clip of that on Tik Tok and it seriously plays in my mind over and over 😭 I also think it gives us a better idea of what goes on in her head and I really appreciate it 🙏

11. Pillow fort Joy being asked if she was drawing a hippo when she was drawing Riley and her hockey team, Disgust using Anger as a clipboard, Anger drawing Riley giving flowers to the other team, no one standing with Joy when she asked who was on her side, that one person who drew a cat, I just love the scene all together 😭

12. Brainstrom It rains light bulbs ☹️ /pos

13. “Grab an idea” The way Disgust didn’t even wait for any other order and just jumped off the balloon thousands of feet high in the eye of the storm 😭 She could have tried to catch an idea that came near her but she decided to jump 😭

14. Fears parachute He definitely has other safety equipment on his person and I need to know what else he has 🙏 he probably wears knee/elbow pads under his clothes or something 😭

15. Riley dying her hair She used that cherry koolaid thingy to dye her hair in the bathroom and omg that’s so real 😭 I, personally, used to use chalk though 😔

16. Anxiety During the panic attack scene where shes moving so quickly that it looks like she isn’t moving at all 😭 The small flickers were so cool 🙏 I love her design ngl, like shes so ugly shes cute, her character is honestly just so relatable, I love her sm ☹️

17. Riley’s hair Idrk what to say here, I just like her hair and the way it looks damp after her panic attack is just some cool animation 😭

18. Nastolga I just think the joke of her coming to hq when its not her time is funny 😭 She seems like such a cool character and if theres a 3rd movie I would love to see more of her!

19. Anxiety’s Chair I just think it’s really cute that they gave her a massage chair, it looks so relaxing 😭

20. Disgust constantly cleaning her dress She’s just so real for that

21. The animation OMG THE ANIMATION WAS SO PRETTY 😭 The glitter in the emotions hair, Disgust’s run cycle was seriously adorable, Joy and Disgust’s facial expressions (I was really only watching them because they’re my favourites ngl), the different styles for Lance and Bloofy/Pouchie (+ how excited Joy is when meeting Bloofy), Joy’s glow staying (I seriously expected them to forget about it) the way the wind affects their hair, it’s just all so beautiful 😭

I might get to watch it again this week so if I notice/remember anything else I’ll add to the list 🥺

[snugglesquiggle]

right, pinned posts

the main thing i've been working on lately is Hostile Takeover, a longform murder drones fanfic about a lesbian killer robot torn between her directives and her own needs. i've been taking a break from that to write Of Commodified Contradiction, a series of shorts focused on the same pairing

my most extensive work, though, is the many writing about Black Nerve, a dark fantasy setting with giant insects wield magic that dissolves life and matter, mutant bat-blood and of course esoteric fungi. there's a couple of novels and LOT of lore posts

i have a website which is probably the best place to see all of my stuff:

but to get a taste of what you can find on that site, keep reading

most people are probably following me for my murder drones stuff.

as mentioned, i write the critically acclaimed J/Uzi fic, Hostile Takeover:

it's a beyond-novel-length enemies to lovers slowburn, and distinguishes itself by pulling it all off without heavy alteration to canon characterization.

most people are probably put off by the tagged ship, but i've received numerous comments to the effect of "i never liked this ship" or "i didn't think it could be done" followed by "but you somehow pulled it off".

give it a shot!

besides that, i've read a lot of murder drones fanfic, and maintain a page on my website dedicated to indexing and reviewing fics that i'd recommend

several of the people following me are writers, who may be interested in know that i've written several essays on the craft of writing. people tend to find them pretty insightful!

i've written many stories other than Hostile Takeover. you can find them on my site; there's too many to list, but in general, i write nonhuman character near-exclusively. (my friends were only so surprised when i became obsessed with murder drones)

still, HT is my most successful work for a reason, and i'm not certain fans of that will enjoy my earlier writing; i have reservations about recommending most of them. A Chimerical Hope is still cool, i think, though its issues are undeniable

the majority of my site is dedicated its overarching setting: Black Nerve, a dark fantasy world of giant sapient insect ninjas and corrupting fungus and gruesome mutagenic blood magic. there's so much going on there that i just cant get into all of it here. not even sure where you should begin reading

lore posts like "In Dialogue With Plagues", or "Lardsuckers and (What Were) Grubsuckers" give you a taste of just how freaky the setting is, and i think "The Duality of Mantis" is a great look at the weird psychology of the dominant species. but there's so many articles i can't list them all

writing is probably what i've done the most of, but i have other skills :3

i've released four albums of electronic music on bandcamp:

and there's more!

i'm sometimes an artist, and there's gallery on my site with over three hundred pieces i've drawn over the years. i mostly draw these weird alien dudes i invented, plus a lot of praying mantises and dragons and pokemon. quality varies a lot and i'm bad about staying in practice, but here are some pieces i think turned out rather well

ok, now is that it?

well, mostly. i have some poetry that's neat, and i recently produced a game demo that's shaping up into something interesting:

but now, that's probably everything of serious note.

if you read through all of that, i love you. thank you for your time and i hope there's something here you appreciated

[tales-of-wocdes]

I am OBBSESSED with your story, it's absolutely interesting! To be able to play as a troubled—and more than traumatized child is kinda fun and interesting to play with, added with the mystery of the MC's past and what it correlates to the last interlude. Not to mention, I picked my MC to have fox ears, with Harvard commenting I could be from a beastkin heritage or a kitsune... Is that foreshadowing I see?👀

Or maybe not, who knows ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, either way. I'm completely hooked! But that just leaves me a dreading question, but may be necessary. If someday in the future, you'd release the full game, will it be payable? Do you have to pay to play the full game?

The game is interesting story-wise, one I keep coming back to in days and hours on end. Checking it out for new updates or trying out other options in the game, the mechanics are also easy to get used to, although I would have some trouble getting out of, for example profiles that are long since I play on mobile, and the writing is honestly amazing! It's pretty neat, and humorous at times.

But, still. I hope you succeed in this game and make it out of the demo, and I wish you goodluck! This game is really interesting, and i'd be a shame to end it so quickly. I also love how you at times interact with us users, and answering our questions, and also giving us some sneak peaks! Or more information. Keeps us hook, and eager to wait for more of your stories🥰

Anyway, did I ramble on too much?😅

Thank you very much! I keep repeating it a lot, here in these answers and in the comments to the demon, but it is important to say. Hearing that people like my writing and story is quite motivating.

The beastkin/kitsune thing.... maybe.... ok yes, that is a thing I have planned. I don't have all the details locked but I imagine that MC finding out that they have kitsune heritage happens when it is needed to happen (obviously a choice).

Now time to get a little real about my process and plans. If you would rather not see behind the scenes, I will cut this off here. Because I learned how to do it :D Also long ramblings ahead.

In all honesty, I get ideas while writing. Then I implement those ideas and worry about all the consequences later... A strategy that bites me in the ass quite a bit :D But I like doing it. For example what I said about wings in the previous post. Or the twins and Lexia interlude was not all that planned. I just started writing.

Of course, some of it is planned but a lot of it only comes to me while actively writing. This is probably why my outlines suck :D Maybe I indulge my whims too much, but I do sometimes pull back. Like having multiple heritage features did not happen... Even if that was mainly due to the fact, I am not good enough at coding yet.... Besides the point. Well I have cut some stuff! Like a reaction to meeting Havard where you just sort of squint at him... had no idea where to go with that one.

Now onto a completed game. This is such a far thing into the future, have honestly not considered it much :D This game is planned to cover MC from this age to full adulthood (or young adult at least). That is a lot of time to cover, and as I have said, I refuse to rush. That is a lot of words to write, code, and then edit. It would make sense to make it something worth money.

Yet, the world is something I have had in my head for years and years. I started writing this because I like writing it. I published this demo, because I wanted to see what other people thought of this story. If they like it too. I answer people with such long ramblings because I like discussing this world. I feel like this is the key. I like doing and sharing this.

Right now I am in a situation where I can spend a lot of time on writing the silver protector, and for the past two or so months I have spend most of my free time on the story. That is a lot of hours. This is something that I feel I should say: there will be a time when my personal life does not allow me as much time to work on this. It will happen eventually, though I am uncertain when. That will mean that progress will slow down, even if I don't it to. Until then, I will keep writing because I like doing it.

Of course I have considered things like a patreon or a monthly subscription on kofi or... boosty, I think it is called. Yet I hesitate. Why? Because I am afraid of this becoming more like work rather than a fun enjoyable past time :D Nothing kills motivation than not liking what you do, and things you like can turn into things you don't like... I know this quite well.

Then there is the question of what would I offer those who would pay to support this project? I like giving sneak peeks here to everyone which is a thing people like doing on their patreons right? Progress updates? I don't do those as often but I do them once in a while. Yet, writing this story is a huge use of my time. There is no getting around that truth either. Can I justify it to myself? As long as I like doing it, I think I can.

If I do start a patreon or a monthly subscription thing, it will be for early access to the demo. Perhaps smaller updates instead of full chapters. Then later publish to everyone. See, I have thought about this, and clearly do not like pay walling the story content itself. It would be possible to offer extra content or cut off something like interludes to use as exclusive content, but I don't feel like doing that. All of that is good and fine, but I want to focus on the main story, and if I do interludes, it is because I feel they serve some purpose. Of course, having something like patreon would have a benefit of having a "test group" that would perhaps report bugs and typos to me. Maybe. This is all something to consider and eventually I will need to make a choice.

All right, enough rambling about me and how my brain works. Thank you for asking, and for liking the story so far. I wish you the best.

Don't worry about rambling. I believe the above, and how I tend to answer questions I get in general, shows I ramble a lot :D And I have called the demo, my ramblings too . But what can I say, I like discussing and interacting like this :D

[sangfielle]

Nadeem's Big Febuary 2024 Next Fest Roundup

I've done these little demo roundups for the past couple of nextfests in a more informal capacity, but I wanted to make this one more of an actual Thing and do something like this going forward, since I tend to play around 70-100 of the demos for each nextfest. This is going to be (hopefully) mostly a list of recommendations, but I also have some ones that I'm not strictly recommending that I think are still worth pointing out. I have over 20 games I wanted to point out from this round of demos, so the meat of this post will be below the cut.

The Best

Cryptmaster is a dungeon crawler typing game. It's genuinely laugh out loud funny, and it was a blast to play through with a person looking over my shoulder and commentating. There's not much to say about it that can't be figured out by picking up the game for a few minutes yourself, and there's no reason not to when it's got a free demo. I would recommend this game to basically anyone, and will be playing it as soon as it comes out. Probably the most across the board appealing game that I played from this collection.

Gatekeeper is just plain good. This was the most immediately fun game I played for this. I grow more and more irritated with rogue-lites every next fest, but Gatekeeper is fresh, fun, and fast-paced enough to get away from any distaste for the subgenre I have. Like basically all of the other optional multiplayer games on this list, GK seems to heavily benefit from a second player, but after my friend kept eating shit and dying I still had a fantastic time with this game by myself. Buy this game.

I don't play as many rhythm games as I do a lot of other genres, so if I'm totally wrong and this is just standard fare slop, you'll have to excuse me, but to my mind ADEN is a very unique and fun experience. A sidescroller rhythm/beat-em-up/bullet hell with charming art and fun music, it feels unlike basically anything I've played before, and it's wormed its way into my heart very quickly (even if I'm not quite as good at any of those types of games as I'd like to be).

The Pretty Good

Rotwood is a co-op roguelike game that's a lot of fun to play with friends. While technically 1-to-4 players, it feels like it's definitely meant to be played with at least a second party. If you do have that second party, the game goes by quickly and feels great to play - our 20 minute runs didn't feel like more than 5 minutes during our time with it. Pick it up if you want a non-PvP co-op game, but make sure at least one of your friends is picking it up too.

Cabernet is a narrative RPG set in eastern Europe in the late 1800s. You're Liza, a newly-turned vampire and a prospective doctor before your death. You don't actually get much more than that in the demo, but it gives you enough time to decide if you're interested in the full game or not. I am - it seems neat, and I'll likely be picking it up upon release, but it's not going to be for everyone. If you're into games where the meat of it is walking around and talking to people, it'll likely be a safe choice for you.

Vellum is a charming, if a little janky, co-op action roguelike where you play as fountain pens who are also wizards. As loathe as I am to compare games to others if they aren't ripoffs, it reminded me of playing Tiny Tina's, which I wasn't expecting, but made it more endearing to me. It seems like it would be less fun to play alone, but like Rotwood, just make sure you're making one of your friends grab it when you do, and it should be a lot of fun.

Dungeonborne is a game that speaks for itself very immediately when you start playing. PvPvE dungeon crawlers aren't the most popular genre, to my knowledge, but this game felt very oddly similar to another PvPvE dungeon crawler that was on display 1 or 2 next fests ago. If you and your friends want to dick around in a dungeon and kill skeletons, this is going to be a game that satisfies, and it's funny to play when you're getting yourself and your friends killed. I don't know how much long term value it'll manage to hold.

Children of the Sun is a very stylish puzzle-shooter that is not for me, but will probably be very good to whoever it is for. I would suggest trying out the demo and seeing how you feel about it. I don't have a lot to say about it beyond that, since it isn't a game I spent a lot of time with, beyond that it's very cool looking.

There is a notable absence of platformers & metroidvanias on my list of games that I played for this next fest, and it's not because there weren't any to play. I'm just very very bad at these games, moreso than any other type of game by a huge margin, and so I do not play them. Ever. There are ones I want to play quite badly, but I pick them up and put them down very quickly because I am worse at them than your average eight year old with an Xbox. I downloaded Tales of Kenzera: ZAU at the behest of a friend without knowing anything about it, and I'm glad I did. Even being as bad at this type of game as I am, I played this demo and had a lot of fun with it. I won't pick up the full game, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't. If you're anyone who has a less tragic experience with the genres than I do, you should definitely try this game out.

Love In a Bottle is a refreshing change of pace as far as romance VNs go - there are vanishingly few of them for/about lesbians and bisexual women compared to games for & about straight women & games about gay men (though these are usually also for straight women... which is not the point of this, so I digress). It's very cute! LIaB follows an only-kind-of-succubus as she moves to a new town and flirts with attractive women. I'm not quite the target audience for this, but not every game needs to be for me, and I enjoyed poking around in it regardless.

Alcyone: The Last City is a game that's hard to get much of a handle on from the very short demo alone, but you get just enough to know it's interesting. What I can glean from the game that you get in the demo is about the same as the steam description: a sci-fi interactive novel set at the end of the universe. I love this kind of shit, so I'm pretty sure I'll like Alcyone.

Pacific Drive is a game about driving your car around while some weird shit happens. That's not a dismissive summary, I'm just not sure how else to categorize it. It seems cool if you like this type of game! Unfortunately my distaste for the wretched automobile extends to video games, so this is not quite my speed, but it seems very charming.

TRIBES 3: Rivals is a PvP FPS game that seems like a lot of fun! There's just one problem with it - this type of multiplayer game isn't in the limelight anymore, and won't attract a lot of players who aren't tryharding. I don't like tryharding in multiplayer games, but it felt good enough to play that I'm willing to give it a shot regardless. I'm worried about Tribes 3's ability to survive longterm in this era of gaming, but I'm holding out at least a little hope for it. I think you should help give it a better chance of survival.

TOUCHSTARVED is a "dark romance visual novel" with five romanceable characters that look like they've either come from Dragon Age concept art or from someone's D&D campaign. If you're not into romance VNs, this game will not be for you. If you are, and you're either attracted to men or like to play romance games with them, this one feels actually better than a lot of them. The worldbuilding, though somewhat sparse in the demo, seems interesting, and the game is weirdly actually gay for a VN where the protagonist doesn't have a set gender. There are no women who are characters in this game. That's not surprising, it's just worth noting. Its dialogue is corny and the way the romanceable characters act irritating, but that's par for the course for the genre, so it's probably not going to be a dealbreaker for you if you're already playing this type of game. I'd say give it a shot if that's already the kind of game you're into, otherwise it's really not worth looking at. I doubt this game is going to win over any new fans to the genre.

The Otherwise Noteworthy

Islands of Insight is... A puzzle MMO with very bad puzzles and similarly bad online play. I don't understand why it exists. I don't understand the type of person who they think will play this. I don't understand why it's a MMO? There's no aspect of the puzzles that I saw that would be served by multiplayer, and the multiplayer functionality is so limited as to be worthless anyway. The most possible interaction you can have with another person is following them around and emoting at them while they do their own set of puzzles. This game is obviously fated to die in obscurity. Why is it a Behaviour game?

Case Files: Behind Closed Doors was the only actual FMV game that this next fest had to offer. The FMV tag is the first section of any given next fest that I look at - I'm a big fan of them, and I think they're really underappreciated, especially in today's gaming world. As a consequence, I'm normally much nicer to them than I am to most video games, but this one fell flat on its face for me. There doesn't feel like there's anything there to actually grab the player or to keep their attention, and I found myself bored with it very quickly. It doesn't help that I get more irritated with the inundation of cop games as opposed to literally anything else in the world of FMV games as time goes on, but I think even if I wasn't sick and tired of them, this game wouldn't feel worth the time it asks you to invest. It's a damn shame.

#BLUD is a game that I wanted to check out, but didn't get to actually play, because I didn't realize this demo was going to shut down after nextfest! That's on me. It seems cool, and I'll be checking it out once it's properly available, but I can't say more than that because I missed the window to play it :(.

Longstory 2, similarly, is a VN I couldn't actually play during this fest, but this one isn't my fault - despite steam having a page for the demo, it wasn't ever actually available? This one is just going on the list because I loved the original Longstory when I was 15. I'm excited for the reminder that it exists, and I'll be going back to the original to see if it holds up to my nostalgia. If it does, I'll be picking up the sequel for sure.

Bewitching Sinners is a trashy romantasy VN. There's not that much else to it. If you like trashy romance VNs, it'll be for you, and if you're not, it won't be. It gets a place on this list because there were a lot of VN demos that I opened and then very quickly closed, and I actually played all the way through this one, so it's a cut above the rest in at least its ability to keep the player from immediately ducking out of due to the evidently garbage writing.

Diets & Deities is noteworthy only in that it's the most blatant ripoff of Everhood that I've seen. It's also a significant downgrade. I like the gameplay of Everhood a lot, and I was hoping that even if this game was a ripoff, it would give me more of the same. I wouldn't love it if it did that, but I would have had a little bit of fun with the demo. It's not more of the same. It feels way worse to play, and I don't know why, but I hate it.

Meta-Ghost: The Breaking Show is all style & no substance. It's very good looking, but it offers little beyond graphics that you couldn't get in a less tired package elsewhere (read: in Hades. This game wants to be Hades so bad it overwhelms any other personality it could possibly hope to have). Similarly to Diets & Deities, it fails to improve on the game it's aping's gameplay & feeling & instead makes it worse, though not to the extreme that D&D does. The only real value I can see in this game that you couldn't get with another game is the multiplayer gimmick, but as that wasn't available in the demo, I can't say whether that makes it worth even taking a second glance at.

Serum is a survival horror adventure game that seems really cool, except it's completely fucking unplayable from how shitty the framerate is. I'd love to recommend it, because I really am interested in this game, but it is in desperate need of some fixes before I can play it, much less tell you to buy it.

Mouthwashing is also a horror game that I hesitate to recommend, but it is at least playable. The demo just shows so little of its hand that I can't even tell if it's worth playing. It clocks in at about a 20 minute runtime, and in those 20 minutes, zero things that were scary or even mildly unsettling happened. It showed a little bit of gore at the end? But that's not really much of anything. I'll be keeping an eye on its development, but I have no idea whether it'll release as a gem of the indie horror scene or as a wet fart.

You can kill me for how many VNs I've put on this list and how many I've enjoyed. Beat me, take my blood, whatever. Glam Pursuit is a game about becoming a star in a not-Hollywood fake setting. The dialogue feels like it was ripped out of Life is Strange, it's corny beyond measure, and it's just all around not very good. However... Something about it captivates me. Sifting through the extreme amount of subtitle errors and typos in this game and the painfully awkward interactions with all the characters around you, I feel like there's something of worth to be found, even if I didn't stumble upon it in the demo. Is it going to be worth it for you to pick up this game? I don't know. Do you like eating garbage if it's shiny? I do. I'll play Glam Pursuit when it comes out. I don't know if you should unless there's something wrong with you.

[prodgermmath]

I'm playing some Nextfest Demos, so here are some quick thoughts.

Rift of the Necrodancer: It's more Necrodancer! Yay! I will say, it feels a bit more... reduced? than Crypt? Let me try and get this into words... Crypt of the Necrodancer was a combination of Rhythm Game and Dungeon crawler, but this is much more straightforwardly a rhythm game, it feels a bit like it's subtracting. But if that allows them to really focus in on aspects and get them great, then that's okay by me. It's Guitar Hero style, but the notes are monsters and have some tricks. I like Cadance's new design. In Crypt she always felt pretty first draft, like they just got as far as "She's blonde and wears a blue bandana" before they started early access, and then they never really got around to changing some of the earlier assets, so she never really had anything beyond that. She is much more clearly her own character now. Also, this isn't in the demo, but I'm really looking forwards to seeing what they do with the characters in it.

Spilled: A neat little game. I'm unsure how it'll fare stretched out longer, but if you just want a relaxing cleaning type of thing, it seems good for that. I worry that I've become too pessimistic about climate for this kind of idealistic cleaning game, and I'd like to be clear that that's an issue with me, not with the game.

Wilmot Works It Out: A follow up on Wilmot's Warehouse! I loved Wilmot's Warehouse. Please go play Wilmot's Warehouse. Anyway, to this actual game, it's wonderful! A true delight! It's Wilmot's Warehouse but with Jigsaws and less stress! So far, absolutely the stand out of this next fest, though I am only 3 games in. Cannot wait for this game! Oh shit! It comes out next week! I wonder when it'll come out on Switch? That's where I played Warehouse, and I think I may prefer using a controller for it; if there's a delay, though, I'll deffo be picking this up on steam. Maybe Wilmot Works It Out will fix me.

CraftCraft: Fantasy Merchant Simulator: Ah, I see a problem! This game has a colon in the name, making it blend aimlessly with my formatting! That will allow it to hide from predators! Aaaaa!!! A Character Creator! How wonderful! I get to be an Insectoid in it as well! A true delight! Look at my character! I have no idea what the gameplay is like yet, but I very much enjoyed making this Bug Lady!

It's a shopkeeping type of game, but one with a really nice artstyle, and wonderful designs, and I get to be a Bug Lady! Some nice crafting mechanics. I do, as is common for me, wonder how they'll feel when spread over a whole game. One criticism that I do have, is that I think some of the faces are overanimated for how few frames they have. But yeah! Seems fun. I'll probs check it out when it's out for real. Fish Fear Me: I am well known for my love of fishing in games. And I'm also known for my love of Vampire Survivors. So this game, which combines Vampire Survivors style gameplay with Fishing, well let's just say that it left me totally cold. Yep. Did not find myself interested in this game at all, sorry to say. It's the first of these demos that I've just stopped playing rather than reaching the End of Demo screen. The game didn't really seem to be offering me anything beyond the joke of its existence, and all that did was make me want to play Ridiculous Fishing, which did that joke much better and with much better surrounding gameplay.

Anyway! That's me done for today. Maybe I'll be back tomorrow with more demos. I've got another 7 installed that I'd like to get to. Until then!

[jamisonwritestf2trash]

How Would The TF2 Mercs React To Being Given A VR Headset?

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THANK YOU TO @hardwaresysx0!!! I'M SORRY I FORGOT 💖💖💖💖

This is such a fun ask! Ily for being a mutual! I'm also sorry this took so long to write!

I'm adding some mini content of each of them playing Richie's Plank so this isn't too short.

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Demo is confused at first, but is excited to try it. Probably gets sick after about twenty minutes, but is having fun the entire time. He's first up to try the game, he's not too scared of heights, so he figures it'll be easy enough. This man falls on his ass immediately. Not because he's scared or freaks out, the poor guy just got super dizzy and is already way too drunk to walk straight, laughter ensues, and Demo sits on the couch, feeling a bit bitter, but eventually gets over it while laughing at the other Mercs attempts to walk the plank.

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Engie is definitely the one who set the whole thing up. Well, Scout made the suggestion of trying to find a VR headset, and Engie was the only one who could manage to hook it up to the TV, but that's neither here nor there. He thinks the headset is super cool, "Ain't this thing neat?" Has a lot of fun walking the plank, actually does it with no problems, until he gets to the edge and starts looking around, peering over the edge, and then, oops, someone (Scout) pushed him a little and he falls of the plank. That scared him a little. He didn't scream, though (lies), and the other mercs didn't laugh (lies), but he had fun!

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Heavy is not super excited. He doesn't like the idea of falling over like Demo or getting scared and screaming like Engie. He doesn't have to worry too much, though. Scout couldn't really push him if he tried. He's still nervous. He does like the idea of the headset. He likes how real it looks. Once he's ready to walk the plank, he does really well, which, in honesty, isn't surprising. He's not scared of heights, so he's totally fine walking to the edge and even looking over.

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Medic thinks VR is such a cool concept, I wonder if there's any surgury games for this contraption that'd be silly. So maybe controversial take, but Medic is scared of heights, but can hide it so well it's crazy. I'm just imagining that after seeing Scout push Engie and seeing how the others have reacted, he goes to put the headset on and looks Scout dead in the eyes and threatens this man with every possible idea of body horror imaginable if he pushes him. He walks the plank and does well to hide the fact that he's internally freaking out. But manages to be the most composed and most scared. Does that, hands behind your back, chest out walk, does it calmly, he's internally crying, walks to the edge, and walks back. Perfectly calm. "Zhat wasn't bad at all." He's trying to hide the fact he's shaking.

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Scout is the one who originally found the headset and suggested they all do Richie's Plank experience in the first place. He's played BeatSaber before on a headset he rented, so he thinks it's super cool he has one he can keep now. He talks the biggest game, and he's not scared of heights at all (yeah right) This is going to be easy. He nearly pissed himself when he actually looked over the edge. It made him feel just a tad sick, but he pushes through it, making jokes the entire time. He makes it back to the elevator, and then someone suggested he try nightmare mode, let's just say he had a harder time pretending that wasn't scary.

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Sniper could care less about any of this. He thinks it's neat enough, but he'd rather not join in the "fun," but Scout practically begged him to try it just once, even promising not to push him, after Sniper continued to protest. He puts the headset on and is actually pretty impressed with how immersive it is. He walks the plank pretty casually, not scared. He wasn't scared of heights, so it was pretty easy for him to just enjoy the view. He'd definitely be more interested if they were playing SuperHot.

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Spy is interested but pretends like he isn't. Complains about how pushy Scout is about this. He calls it silly and says that the others are being childish for being scared of something that couldn't be scary at all. He puts it on "only to prove to the others, that it's not scary in the slightest." Immediately has to hide the fact that he's a little shaken because he feels like he's actually in the game. Manages to walk the plank with confidence, all the while mocking the mercs for being scared of this. Scout finally got fed up and ended up being the one to push him. Spy may have lost his composer a little bit, Scout was promptly hunted down after that.

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Soldier is super interested, "Can you play war games on it?" Is the first question on his mind. He thinks it's super cool. He walks the plank with a silly little walk and just has a good time. Even goes through the nightmare mode, with a goofy smile. He's just having a good time. I just feel like this man is so thrilled with the idea of being able to be in another world. Will definitely be hogging the headset after this.

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Pyro realistically would be the only one who couldn't play with the VR headset due to their mask. BUT! Due to the magical power of "I can do whatever the fuck I want in my headcanons >:)" I'll say that Engie worked with it to help it fit over their mask. They're so happy! They were already super excited when Scout showed off the headset, and now they can play too? So cool! Similar to Soldier, they're just having a good time walking around and walking the plank just fine. Freaks everyone out when they cheerfully just jump off the end of the plank and hit the ground, giggling at the sounds it makes. But other than that, they had fun!

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I really hope you like this, sorry if it's not the best, it was fun to write though! I'm sorry again for deleting the ask and for the long wait time. I'm going to try and get more consistent with my uploads again!