#and one to non-stardew Half-life fans

[the-unknown-void]

Actually this is a silly AU I've had for a WHILE now, just wasn't actually into SDV yet.

Basically in my game, because I am insane and always on that damn spectrum, I'm playing as though I were Adrian Shephard. (at least besides all the chaos I'm causing in reality)

But why is Adrian in Stardew Valley? Uh G-Man dropped him. And now he can't find him, so he's just forced to send out Gordon for Half-Life 2 instead As in like, Adrian's been dropped in another dimension, not Stardew & Half-Life being in the same world, that's a completely different AU and that would just be depressing af.

It's just for sillies, it's not supposed to make much sense. This means Adrian still went through Black Mesa- he is like HORRIFICALLY traumatized, I love it cuz it just drastically contrasts with the mood of Stardew. Then from there it's just a load of my own headcanons and yada yada- hehehe.

Me writing Adrian x Elliot fanfic is something me and only friends who really know me would understand.

[huxleyenne]

Stardew Valley Huxverse, An Overview

(Last Updated: 6/9/2023)

What is the Stardew Valley Huxverse?

The Stardew Valley Huxverse is fanfic author Huxleyenne's take (or hot take, if you'd rather) on the characters and setting of the video game Stardew Valley, created by ConcernedApe. Huxverse is canon-derivative but not fully canon-compliant. It is a not-for-profit collection of transformative fanworks created primarily (if not only) by me, Huxleyenne. The purpose of creating a Huxverse label is to distinguish it from canon out of respect for both ConcernedApe and fans who may or may not want to engage with the Huxverse.

Note: Not all fan theories explored or supported in the Huxverse are my original ideas. In fact, most of them aren't. I acknowledge that. They're fun ideas/theories to explore in fanfiction.

What is Stardew Valley canon?

For details regarding what is canon in Stardew Valley, visit stardewvalleywiki dot com, or purchase the game yourself on PC, Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch, iOS or Android and enjoy it!

Characters in the Huxverse (all surnames are non-canon, with the exceptions of Mullner and Rasmodius)

Note: No two farmers exist in the same universe.

Protagonists:

Huey DeBeers (Male Farmer OC, marries only Shane) - Set in a universe where the farmer completes the community center and kicks Joja Co. and Morris to the curb. This farmer is very domestic, loving, and farm-centric. He is a somewhat self-absorbed, impulsive and neurotic workaholic who empathizes deeply with others.

Blayn Belcourt (Male Farmer OC, marries Emily or Abigail) - Set in a universe where the farmer sells his soul to Joja Co., but makes up for it by protecting the village from the monsters who invade it. This farmer is not so domestic, preferring a life of treasure hunting and combat. He loves horseback riding and hates fishing, much to Willy's dismay.

Those are the only two farmers I've created at this time.

Primary Characters:

Shane Hahn, eventual chicken husband to Huey in a slow burn, on-again-off-again relationship with sobriety. He suffers from depression and feelings of inadequacy. His only potential lovers are Huey, whom he marries, or Emily, in the event that Blayn marries Abi.

Note: Shane is my favorite bachelor and marriage candidate. I completed 100% perfection and 40/40 achievements married only to Shane as Huey and I'd do it all again. Search Huxleyenne on Steam if you want to confirm this.

Jas Carina (Shane's goddaughter) and Marnie Forst (Shane's aunt) are Huey's southern neighbors, business associates and eventual inlaws located in Cindersnap Forest. Marnie is sweet, loving, and very accepting of Shane's marriage to Huey. Jas adores Huey, fully recognizing his positive effect on Shane's mental health (psst, kids are smarter than you think.) To Jas, Huey is Uncle Huey.

Emily and Haley Sidney are half-sisters who live together on 2 Willow Lane. Emily is an important friend of Huey and Shane. Alternatively, Emily is one of two people who marries Blayn in the Joja Co. fork in the road. Either way, she'll be her usual cheerful, albeit eccentric self.

Caroline, Pierre, and Abigail Padmore live together in Pierre's General Store. Abigail strongly suspects that Pierre is not her biological father and has a strained relationship with both of her parents because of this. She spends most of her time looking for adventure and/or romance with Blayn, or friendship and/or romance with Sebastian (or Sam and Sebastian simultaneously, for my poly readers out there.)

Secondary Characters:

George, Evelyn, and Alex Mullner are townsfolk who live on 1 River Road. Alex and Haley occasionally hook up but are both noncommittal for Reasons.

Sebastian Berg, Robin Silva-Berg (heck yeah, that's a Suikoden reference!), Demetrius Silva, and Maru Silva are a family all farmers often do business with on 24 Mountain Road. Sebastian may date Sam and/or Abigail in either Huey or Blayn's world. Maru may try to date Harvey or Penny but holds back mostly due to her father's meddling. Maru and Sebastian both identify as bisexual, regardless of who they are with or if they end up with anyone at all.

Harvey Whitaker is the one doctor in town who resides in the town's Medical Clinic. He has feelings for Maru, his employee, but suppresses that because he knows it's inappropriate. All around, Harvey tries his best to be good.

Elliot Lew is a formerly wealthy man who threw it all away to pursue his passion for writing and nature. Leah Sagan is a former city girl who threw it all away to pursue her passion for art and slow-paced living. He and Leah are friends and occasional collaborators. Their dynamic is being the two folks who are told they ought to be a couple, but they never click, thus never hook up. Hey, if it ain't it, it ain't it.

Sam, Vincent, Jodi, and Kent Reed are a family who live on 1 Willow Lane and they all have struggles. Sam is self-conscious, somewhat immature, and terrified of angering either of his parents, though he's very protective of his little brother. Vincent is a sweet, if simple-minded child who is friends with Jas. Jodi became a wife and mother young, which has made her high-strung, overbearing and not too easy to get along with (unless you're Caroline). Kent is a veteran who has PTSD and is controlling but tries his best to integrate back into society.

Pam and Penny Lynch live together in a trailer on River Road. Pam is an alcoholic, and Penny is the tutor of Jas and Vincent. Penny is also a potential love interest for Maru or Sam.

Lewis Monday, a lowkey terrible, no good, very bad mayor whom no one does anything about unless Marnie breaks up with him, which I suspect many of us are thirsty for.

Morris Tesmetazon (too on the nose? Oh well, lol) is the big bad exaggeration of a store manager whom many of us love to hate, and for the purposes of the Huxverse, he'll stay that way.

M. Rasmodius, the wizard and mysterious estranged father of both Emily and Abigail, unbeknownst to both of them. Emily and Haley have the same mother, but are unaware that they have different fathers, explaining Emily’s penchant for forest magic and Haley’s lack thereof. Abigail is also unaware that Pierre is not her biological father, though she strongly suspects because a) she knows her mom’s cheated before and b) purple hair. Hey, if the Huxverse is gonna be soapy, it's gonna flood with suds. Embrace the drama, you nerds!

Note: There will not be any surprise incest between Emily and Abi. I hate that trope, so I'm not doing it. Sorry, not sorry.

Tertiary (for now) Characters:

Clint Moore, the town blacksmith. Whether he's a shy, yet harmless man who fancies Emily, or a full-blown creep who feels entitled to her affection depends on what the story needs him to be. I generally lean toward Clint being (mostly) harmless, rubbing people the wrong way at worst, though the Huxverse will never see Clint and Emily become an item.

Marlon Forge and Gil Simmons are members of the Adventure Guild. Marlon may be an alternative love interest for Marnie if she leaves Lewis.

Gus Mariano, owner of the Stardrop Saloon, employer of Emily, feeder of the homeless, and enabler of alcoholics. Whoops.

Willy Melville, a fisherman. Not much else to say.

Sandy Merchant, a friend of Emily, a business owner, turns a blind eye to the illegal casino operating in her store's basement. Hey, it's good money, and Sandy only gets one customer. Think about it.

Gunther He, the museum guy.

Linus and Leo only go by Linus and Leo, and live simple lives in nature by choice.

Whew. I think that's everybody.

Additional Characters (all non-canon):

Todd Hahn (high school quarterback) Doug Hahn (high school perfect grades) Shane’s two older brothers whom I made up to add to his sense of inadequacy. Ted and Shirley Hahn are Shane’s divorced and volatile parents, from whom he felt no love and hasn’t spoken a word to since he moved out of their house. Shirley’s maiden name is Forst, and she’s the older sister of Marnie.

Jonas and Jean Carina are Jas’s parents who died in a car crash when she was three. Shane, her godfather, Jean’s ex and Jonas’s best friend, temporarily took custody of Jas, and moved to Pelican Town from Zuzu City where his Aunt Marnie, a relatively stable business and homeowner, took permanent legal custody of Jas out of the kindness of her heart, explaining why Jas stays with her after Shane marries Huey and moves in with him.

Freya and Brady DeBeers are Huey and Shane’s children, whom Shane raises at home five days a week while Huey works. Emily is the surrogate mother of both of their children, and both are biologically Shane’s kin (Huey’s first marriage in his early twenties failed partially because he was biologically incapable of impregnating a woman, which is one reason he became a workaholic, and why he identifies and sympathizes so deeply with Shane’s sardonic nature as much as he’d rather not at first.) Yeah, I went surrogate rather than adoption. I'm not gonna lie. I just want to see Brady be a mini-Shane. And yes, I did name him after Tom Brady.

Will I post screencaps of my farms on tumblr supporting the Huxverse?

Heck yeah I will. Give me time and I'll make some good ones.

If others want to make Huxverse fic or fanart of their own, is that OK?

I have no problem with that, as long as it's understood that this is non-canon, not-for-profit, and just for fun; however, to be fair, these are gaps filled, connections made, and surnames researched and decided by Huxleyenne, so credit to Huxleyenne would be appreciated, whereas lack thereof will be considered poor etiquette and frowned down upon.

Note: I do encourage you all to engage with the world of Stardew Valley in your own way. It's only one take, which is already derivative not just of canon, but theories I've read about on various social media outlets. Project the concepts you want to see into your own work.

If someone creates work that is similar, perhaps identical to ideas presented in Huxverse without giving credit, what will Huxleyenne do?

At the end of the day, Stardew Valley is not my IP. I don't have much right to complain. Besides, I'm not the Internet police, and neither are the rest of you. Let's not condone the harassment of any randos on the Internet who might be kids and teenagers for all we know. Plagiarism is only plagiarism if someone copies my work word-for-word and presents it as their own. At the end of the day, that's the only thing that would truly bother me.

Could you let us know why you created this monolith of a post regarding canon-derivative concepts about Stardew Valley characters?

This post primarily is a resource for myself, so I can refer back to it and practice writing consistently without missing details that are important for my fanfiction. I also want to observe how helpful this approach is as I tackle original fiction.

Also, if readers want to know more about what I think as I write, they can use this as a reference if they want, but my hope is that my stories are clear enough and stand well enough on their own so that readers consider this post auxiliary, rather than necessary.

And now the fun question: Which ships will the Huxverse observe?

Shane/Male Farmer (Huey), Emily/Male Farmer (Blayn), Abigail/Male Farmer (Blayn), Shane/Emily, Alex/Haley, Sam/Sebastian, Sam/Penny, Abigail/Sebastian, Abigail/Sam/Sebastian, Jodi/Caroline, Rasmodius/Caroline, Penny/Maru

Also, the necessary question: What are the ages of the farmers, Bachelors, and Bachelorettes in Huxverse as of Spring 1, Year 1?

Huey (32), Blayn (24), Shane (30), Emily (28), Alex (21), Haley (21), Sebastian (24), Abigail (23), Sam (22), Penny (23), Harvey (35), Maru (22), Elliot (33), Leah (27)

Is any part of this post subject to change?

Yes, except for the S1Y1 ages. That I'll commit to. The rest could change based on shifting interests and new ideas as I interact with readers and fellow writers.

I read this whole post. What do I win?

Damn, you just won my respect. Good for you!

What?? Come on. What did I really win?

Well, would you look at the time? Gotta run! I'm a writer with a day job, and it's time to go. Later gator!

[goomi07]

Hello and welcome to my blog!

I’m a 17 year old writer that has been interested in writing for a fuck ton of my life so this will be my practice writing til I write a book or something. Please leave criticism for my writing, I'm using this to improve! (Please be nice I will cry)

Some info about me!

I’m a Mexican bisexual girl with absolutely fuck nothing to do so I’ll try to pour my absolute soul into your requests (don’t hope for too much tho I procrastinate). I really love reading, writing, video games (Stardew Valley/The last of Us/Pokemon/etc.), and whatever show/movie I’m obsessing over at the moment.

Fandoms I write for! :

Hazbin Hotel (I will not write for that bug bitch Valentino)

Helluva Boss

Genshin Impact

Brooklyn Nine Nine

COD

Spiderman ATSV

Stardew Valley

My Hero Academia

Things I won’t write! :

NSFW (I’m a minor and it just makes me uncomfy)

Yandere (I don’t rlly fuck with the kidnapping or non-con stuff)

This is a sample of my writing to see what hell you’re getting into!

It was a quiet evening, the rosy sun shutting down her light for the night to flood the lucid sky, as I laid down on the couch mindlessly scrolling through my phone. The tv blared in the background as I continued to stalk through people's Instagram profiles, though it came to a halt when I came across a certain post that caught my eye. It was a poem, more specifically a love poem a girl posted that was given to her from her presumed boyfriend. I sat there as I read the post, a sick feeling of envy mixed with happiness bubbling in my stomach as my eyes traced and reread every little syllable.

It was a beautiful piece of literature. The words blended together perfectly, bringing a giddy smile to my face. It was rather childish how easily worked up I got over words on a paper but with my hopeless romantic ass there was absolutely no saving.

“Ugh I would kill for someone to write this beautifully about me!” I groaned as I harshly dipped my head into the random pillow residing on my couch. My love life is well, very nonexistent, especially when your standards come from the fictional men you read in novels and fan-fiction on the internet. “Well I can keep dreaming” I yawned as I reached for the remote, turning off the tv as I trudged towards my bedroom. My room was a basic light cream color with bookshelves and posters decorating the walls, plants sitting near my half open window- wait. ‘What the hell? Didn’t I close this?- You know what never mind’ I shut the half open window with a sigh, my mind reflecting about these past few months.

Occurrences like this were starting to get more consistent over the span of five months. It started with doors that would be mysteriously open, then it escalated to some of my possessions disappearing and later reappearing later that week or even never at all. I thought I was going insane, so I installed cameras around my apartment hoping to get answers to this ongoing problem…. only to get nothing. I would review the cameras after every outing or disappearance of objects, searching and searching for a single piece of movement on the monochromatic replays of my entire apartment. Yet, there would always be nothing. ‘One day… I’ll figure out what the fuck is happening’ I quickly settled into bed, my hands reaching for the laptop resting on my bookshelf before my head was greeted with the softness of the pillow. I opened my laptop, swiftly typing in my password as I once again opened my security camera footage for the third time this week and rewinded it. Soon my eyes started to flutter shut as my laptop slid off my stomach, the luminescent screen reflecting the unfinished review of the security cameras. I felt my body relax against the mellow sheets, my thoughts hoping for resolution.

‘Click’

-

It was the next day and I decided to take the chance and go out for a walk to clear my mind. At least that’s what I was planning to do. When I reached to open my apartment door, my eyes caught sight of a small white envelope wedged underneath the front door. I halted in my movement, my hand still resting on the door handle as I continued to stare at the letter. ‘What the hell is this doing here?’ After a moment of deliberation, I slowly bent over and gingerly picked up the small envelope, scanning over its appearance. The envelope was stamped with a light pink wax resembling a crest and it had a small scent of vanilla, both of which were my favorite things. I stared in confusion, my eyes scanning over it once more before turning the envelope over in hopes to find who it was for. Only to find the words ‘My Dearest’ written in red ink. ‘This has got to be some sort of joke. Maybe they got the wrong apartment?’ I continued to re-analyze the letter, flipping it over and over to find some sort of clue who it was for. After spending a few minutes continuing to try to find some trace of a clue, my fingers rested on the red ink on the back of the letter. My heart began to lightly thump in my chest, the hopeless feelings and daydreams flooding my head as my fingers traced the bright red strokes of the words.

‘My Dearest’

I mean.

It wouldn’t hurt to take a peek.

Yeah this was supposed to be a prologue for a Yandere fanfic I was working on before I scrapped it (no it wasn’t gonna be romantic) but let me know if I should start it up again!

I hope you enjoy this blog!!!

[starmagnets]

I love the mage sisters honestly but MAN was it rough trying to figure out designs for them all, not to mention consistently drawing the crest on their caps BUT I'm really happy with how their designs look.

Headcanons under the cut if any of you want to know a little more about my personal headcanons and interpretations for them.

Zan and Magolor are bio siblings, but neither of them are aware of this, since they were separated at a pretty young age. They do eventually find out but that's quite a bit post KSA.

Zan is half halcandran. It's not pictured here but she's got little kitty ears under the hat. I currently don't have a (serious) drawing of her without the hat but I'll probably post it when I do have one finished.

Both Zan and Francisca dye their hair. Zan is naturally a brunette while Francisca is naturally a very light blonde.

Francisca started dyeing her hair because she likes how she looks with blue hair, and Zan started dyeing hers because Flamberge joked that if she did so they would all match. Zan's roots are more visible because she's afraid of potentially damaging the sensitive skin of her ears so she avoids bleaching and dyeing too close to them.

Francisca is really into figure skating. It's her main way of getting exercise outside of training and sparring with her sisters. She doesn't really do competitions, but she does occasionally show off the tricks she's learned.

Flamberge is an avid Stardew Valley player I will not elaborate.

Zan is terrible with names. Like. She cannot remember anybody's name to save her life. She usually uses nicknames bc of this.

Flamberge is banned from the kitchen. Last time she tried to cook something she used her magic to attempt to cook it faster and almost burnt the kitchen down.

Francisca likes making candy and other desserts. She's not really a fan of cooking savoury dishes, though. She's especially a fan of hard candies and caramels.

Flamberge's hair is almost always tangled. She uses the excuse of wearing a hat all the time, but honestly? Her tangled hair problem goes way beyond hat hair. She actually has her hair shorter because it's easier to manage that way.

Flamberge actually doesn't like using her sword outside of serious fights. Whenever she's sparring with her sisters she prefers just using her hands or even a practice staff. She just likes fighting with her hands unless it's a really serious thing.

Francisca is absolutely ruthless in non co-op games. Like, she's not pulling any punches no matter whether she's playing with someone at her skill level or not. She's literally the reason they don't play racing games during family game night anymore.

Flamberge is surprisingly the chillest of them when it comes to gaming.

Zan usually is the one to make dinner. Partly because Francisca doesn't like cooking non-dessert foods that much and Flamberge should not be allowed to cook.

Francisca knits! She'll knit pretty much anything but likes making blankets best.

[spiralatlas]

PAX Australia 2017 Day 3

There are no notes for Day 2 because I spent it socialising a little and sleeping a lot.

Queer Coded: A History of LGBTQIA+ Gaming

David Gaider Q&A

Brian Fairbanks Talks about Addressing Accessibility Through Game Design

Misc: I spent a chunk of the day in the diversity lounge which was fun. I met some great people at the Gender Diverse card game, and got to the semi finals of the Xena Nintendo 64 Fighting Game Tournament (there were only three rounds, but given how much I suck at fighting games this was still a happy surprise, and a sign of what a random button masher the game is)

The gender neutral toilets near the diversity lounge were very well done, unlike GCAP the original signs weren't visible and "with stalls/urinals" was in small letters like an afterthought.

I didn't break anything on Day 3 but did break a mug the next morning. Also the cinema in the Crown Casino is surprisingly inaccessible.

Despite the various mishaps I had a great time and will definitely come again next time we can afford it.

Queer Coded: A History of LGBTQIA+ Gaming

I missed the second half of this to see David Gaider, feeling very annoyed at the programmer.

Anny Sims @ChattyAnny on twitter (I was too slow to get the others!) Keely Thirkell Hayley Williams Soap Pejovic

Most queer characters are just queer coded, with plausible deniability. "It's up to you".Tendency for queer characters to be villains. Indie games tend to be more queer friendly than AAA games.

Lesbians: First known queer character in games: 1986 Moonmist had side-character who was a lesbian murderer.

Other notable lesbian characters:

KOTOR 2003, Juhani, first queer Star Wars character

Gone Home 2013

Dragon Age Inquisition Sera (I thought Sam Traynor from Mass Effect 3 came first?)

Tracer from Overwatch 2016

Trans characters:

1988 Birdo from Super Mario Brothers 2 "A male who believes he is female"

Lots of others but all terrible. Jokes and villains. Trans women seen as threat. Poison from Final Fight 1989, "so you can hit a woman".

Krem DAI 2014 trans man, You can't go "Ok, cool".

Hainly Adams MEA 2017 trans woman. Tells you her deadname, this was patched.

Horizon: Zero Dawn 2017 trans man

Dream Daddy 2017 trans man. One throw away line about wearing a binder, had to be clarified by writers. Non binary people and cosplayers wear binders too!

How do you make it clear they're trans without them implausibly outing themselves or just having it be word of god?

Gay men:

1993 fmv Dracula Unleashed has speaking role

Tended to be background characters, jokes and villains again. No m/m relationships shown onscreen.

Dreamfall: the Longest Journey 2006 (not made super clear until 2015)

Steve Cortez Mass Effect 3 2012

Dorian DAI 2014

Dorian knew exactly what his sexuality was. Coming of age narratives get boring.

Bi Characters (no picture because they're invisible):

1993 Ultima 7 part 2 bi character propositions character regardless of gender.

"Slutty bisexuals". A lot of characters are playersexual and it never comes up outside the relationship.

Zevran DAO 2009

Borderlands 2009

Fable 2004 let player be bi, Fable 2 2008 added bi PCs

Playersexual:

Only queer in the context that they will date players of both genders, but you don't see that unless you play as both.

Dragon Age 2 2011, Anders only mentions his ex-boyfriend if you play as a male PC

Fallout 4 2015. Did have background queer characters.

Stardew Valley 2016

Non Binary:

1995 Chrono Trigger villain

Often robots, aliens or other non human

Frisk Undertale 2015

Life is Strange 2015

Zer0 Borderlands 2 2012

Turing Read Only Memories

Some games let you have gender neutral pronouns.

David Gaider Q&A

1999 Working on Balder's Gate 2, didn't talk about his sexuality at work. Figured he would always be writing stories for straight people.

He was shocked to hear Jade Empire was having same sex romance. Got to be lead writer on DAO after that. "So I can put same sex romances in, right?". More economical to have bi romances, but he would have been happier having some gay characters.

Feeling iffy about playersexuality after DA2, he asked for 2 straight, 2 bi, 2 gay for DAI. "Minority content" is weighed via the percentage of those who play it and those who appreciate it. Eg 5% play dwarves but most see it as a positive thing to be able to do.

Most of his time was spent on the actual plot but Dorian was the most personal writing.

He was targeted by Gamergate but it doesn't compare to, for example, how much Jennifer Helper was targeted.

10 years on Dragon Age was enough, his head would explode if he had to write another story about templars and mages.

How did you get the job: His story is very specific. He was managing a hotel and a comic book artist in his spare time. A friend was a character artist at Bioware but Gaider wasn't really aware of the specifics. Bioware told their employees "If you know anyone who does game related writing let us know", the friend gave them Gaider's LARP rule book without asking. Got a call, gave the stories he wrote in highschool, got offered a job. He said no, it didn't pay enough, but then he got fired from the hotel. It felt like a sign.  

Who do you think will take the romance torch from Bioware: he’s not sure they're giving it up? EA treats romance fans as a reliable audience who don't need to be advertised to, even though it's why a lot of people play in his experience (though obviously those are the kinds of fans he will tend to meet). There is an underserved audience.

Most proud of: Lots of stuff he's not proud of. Wishes he'd been more involved in community discussions early on. Proud that the team tackled issues as they started arising. Proud of the company for standing by them. Most proud of Dragon Age 2 despite the mixed response. They had very little time to create it. It’s like a very big first draft. They had a plan but didn't get to compare notes once things were written, so he had to trust the team would stick to plan as much as they could despite things being cut on the fly. Team said they were happy in a post-game survey, didn't feel he was too dictatorial.

What does your writing look like, a screenplay? A cutscene does. But it’s generally structured like a tree that expands and then contracts back to the core path before expanding again. Flow charts.

Favourite relationship in a game? Morden in Mass Effect. Cried more than in a movie. Tali was his space girlfriend. Of the ones he's worked on, Morrigan will always be closest. She represents Dragon Age to him. Joyous time working with Claudia Black, first celebrity he'd worked with. Flemeth was originally Arabic, but that actress couldn't do it so they got Kate Mulgrew. They stopped looking for an Arabic actress for Morrigan and looked for someone who matched Kate Mulgrew. Claudia Black's audition tape was her reading Smack That like a beat poet. Gaider was very nervous, he'd never spoken to any actor before. First rule he was told was don't compare them to another celebrity, so naturally he said "I had Helena Bonham Carter in mind when I wrote Morrigan". Claudia Black said "So you're saying I'm a cheap Helena Bonham Carter ;D". She would say "Does he want me to do it more like Helena?" during recording.

Has being so closely associated with diversity had downsides? He may be gay but he's still white and a dude. He feels like it's all he talks about conventions sometimes. Teams need to sit down and look at what they've made. Lot of things made individually without concern for the bigger picture eg only 15% speaking roles in DAI were female until they stopped and looked at it and fixed it.  

"We didn't think about it" is no longer a defense. He wants to help with that, but we should be helping other marginalised voices get into the industry and amplifying their voices.

Wishes it could just be expected and we didn't have to discuss it.

He likes dating sim mechanics in the context of a larger story. But he does like the idea of romance not being as tertiary as it's been in Bioware games, romance as part of the adventure eg a romantic adventure. He's not really interested in social sims or day to day relationships. "My idea of a spicy relationship is to have my life threatened."

Why do you think most AAA companies try to avoid discussions of lgbt stuff, why is it taking so long? Because it's Pandora's Box. There is more being added casually. But if they do nothing they get lumped in with the rest of the industry. As soon as they do anything there are 2 sides: 1. why are you doing this, you're politicising your game. 2. Why aren't you doing more, whatever you did is wrong and not good enough.

Not that flawed attempts should be above criticism. But by mostly focusing criticism on the games that did anything rather than nothing, people have increased the feeling that it's Pandoras box. He understands that it feels like those developers might listen to criticism but the dynamic is sending the wrong lesson.

My question: How do you think inclusion of non binary player characters can work with including gay and lesbian love interests instead of just having playsexuality? “We've thought about it”. He defined playersexual for audience, like Shroedinger's sexuality. He doesn't like it when the only way to have something show up is to have the character talk about it. eg asexual: character would have to sit you down and explain what asexuality is. Is unsexy as a feature. Explaining nuances of sexuality is off putting. If there was more nuance across the industry that would mean no one game has to do everything. Any one game can have only so much within it.

(This doesn't actually answer my question. I discussed it with my husband afterwards and even he didn't understand what I was asking, so I may have garbled it in my nervousness)

Are some choices "canon"? One of the features of Mass Effect and Dragon Age was the continuity of choices. No "canon" but there is a default. A lot of people feel like they have to play the whole series to get the full experience, was off putting, and he found the Keep a nightmare as a writer.

They had editors keeping track of which choices were incompatible. And that was just the third game. "Can you imagine for a fourth game? Phew! Not my problem :D"

Have you thought about the morals of gamifying romance, saying what people want to hear to get sex? Dragon Age didn't work that way, sex was not at the end. Some characters in DAI had no sex scenes, sex is optional for Dorian's romance. It's a game, everything is gamified, you can't simulate actual relationships. For proper reactivity you’d have to mark every response and keep track of inconsistency, but that’s too much work. Same with polyamory: too many variables!

Maybe get away from the approval system? Pay more attention to overall choices in major quests etc instead of individual lines.

Bi characters in DAI were bi from the start. Not the first thing that comes up during character creation eg Dorian started out as "the good Tevinter". Helps avoid too many assumptions based on sexuality. But once characters started solidifying they would think about who worked for what sexualities. There's no set way to write someone "as" bi, but the writer can have them talk about relevant things in other scenes. Sera's writer is a straight dude, he didn't want to write About The Lesbian Experience, and got lesbians in the company to check out what he was writing.

Have relationships gotten more or less complicated? In Balder's gate 2 there was a single sequence of romance scenes which you could get kicked off. Dragon Age had approval. If it gets complicated but the player can't see it or understand how reactions relate to their previous actions it just seems random or predetermined. Unless they say "I am angry at you because of X", but noone says that.

Brian Fairbanks Talks about Addressing Accessibility Through Game Design

lostandhound1 on twitter

His notes.

He's not blind himself, and while he obviously cares a lot about accessibility had an unfortunate tendency to treat disabled people as a separate, if respected, "Other" to himself and the audience, even though I was right there in a bright red mobility scooter. He advocated person first language, "a person with blindness" etc, but not all disabled people like it and it shouldn't be presented as unambiguous best practice. I'm building up the energy to talk to him about it.

He's a sound designer.

Audio games: designed for people with a vision disability.

Audio game jam: the games tended to be about blindness as a bad thing. It felt victimising.

How can we make people feel powerful?

He was inspired by his dog's amazing sense of smell. The mechanic is that you follow an invisible trail using sound cues, a humming noise that gets louder and quieter.

Sighted people struggle with extracting information from sound. The game is more difficult for sighted people.

He had to add fruit on the ground as an accessibility measure for sighted people.

All music is diegetic: happening inside the world of the game, eg characters are singing.

There's a lack of much budget for audio games, since they're never going to make much money.

In 30 years current 30-something gamers will need accessible games.

Accessibility tends to be added as an afterthought or accident.

For example Pokemon has unique sounds for materials, collisions, monsters that accidentally make it accessible.

Sony reader: US only

Microsoft narrator: good but hard to use as a developer

EA: Proactively adding blind accessibility

Fighting games are often in stereo, blind players can play and even win tournaments.

Demand more from your games.

Developers: find a consultant. Address accessibility early.

It's about empathy. People with disability deserve the same stories to take part in as everyone else.

gameaccessibilityguidelines.com

daisyalesoundworks

binaural sound is going to make a big difference

audiogames.net: where blind gamers go to play games. They're supportive if you ask for advice and feedback.

People don't mind if you don't do immersive, game specific voices and just rely on the screenreader

Sound designers need more love to make VR accessible.  

Braille games?? He doesn't know much about it.

Curb cut effect examples: curb cuts for wheelchairs but also useful for prams etc. Subtitles. Think about short term problems that benefit from accessibility as well eg the screen is broken, there's sunlight on the screen etc.  

Sounds of a blind person navigating their desktop. To me it sounds like a mangled garble of little bursts of cut off computer speech, here’s a description of what’s going on.