#best games from kickstarter

[tabletopbellhop]

A New Podcast Episode Dropped Today!

Kickstarter My Heart, Ep 229 of The Tabletop Bellhop Gaming Podcast where we talk about the best games to come out of Kickstarter.

We also review The Groundhog Gambit from Grand Gamers Guild and Block And Key from Inside Up Games

[lenaffin]

Touchstarved doodle dump

[robotsprinkles]

played more waking shards with a friend and I have thoughts

[acepalindrome]

Alternatives to Squishmallow

So as many of you have probably already heard, Jazwares, the company that produces Squishmallows, is donating to charities that support Israeli soldiers and the IDF. They’re also supporting Canary Mission, which has been doxxing people who speak out against Israel. BDS hasn’t called for a boycott against them, but I can’t in good faith spend my money on their products, and I would strongly encourage everyone who enjoys plushies to really think long and hard about if you want to give your money to a company that’s helping support genocide!

But the holidays are coming up, and lots of us enjoy plushies and were fans of Squishmallow, and were planning to give Squishmallows to friends and family this year.

Fortunately, there are a number of great plushie companies out there, and I want to promote some of my favorites in the hopes that folks will get their plushie fix from a source that doesn’t side with Israel. So without further ado:

Fluffnest

Fluffnest got their start on Kickstarter a few years ago, and I adore the round shapes of their PuffPal plushies! My favorite is Pete the Possum, which is probably the best possum plush I’ve ever seen. I’ve also got a beautiful moth from their Kickstarter and I’ve been wanting their bats for ages. They also recently had a Kickstarter for an Animal Crossing-esque video game featuring their plushie characters and it looks fantastic.

Squishables

I can’t get over the plague doctor plushies. They’re so perfect and cute, and they’ve released other variations of them called Alter Egos, like a ghostly version, an alien, or a really sweet cottagecore one! They’ve got a ton of variety, but what I like the most are the fantasy plushies. There’s a lich! There are dragons and demons! Cryptids! Biblically accurate angels! A lot of really fun stuff!

Also they do a lot of great charity work! Right now they’re doing an auction for the Food Bank of New York City.

AfternoonFika

AfternoonFika is a very small business of only three people, but their plushies are extremely cute. They tend to sell out fast, so I recommend following them on social media to stay on top of any restocks! They recently released a line of dinosaurs that are precious, and of course I love their iconic cactus cat and cinnamon bun bunny.

Jellycat

Jellycat has been around since 1999, so they’re the oldest of these companies. They’ve got great designs, a ton of variety, and a lot of their plushies are made to be cuddled on and not just displayed. All three of my tiny nephews sleep with a different stuffed dog from Jellycat. My mom has a sun and several succulents that she uses as decorations. There’s a little something for everyone who enjoys plushies!

If you have any other favorite companies I haven’t mentioned, feel free to add on! I’ve enjoyed Squishmallows for a while now and I’m sad to see their leadership coming out on the side that’s committing war crimes on a daily basis, but this is a good time to discover new favorite plushie companies! And remember, money speaks loudly. Even if BDS hasn’t called for a boycott of Jazwares, it sends a message when sales start dropping for companies that support genocide. It’s a small thing, but the little things we do can add up!

[insertdisc5]

hihi!!! i absolutely adore isat and it inspired me to start making my own rpgmaker game, so i had a quick question for you! if you haven't talked about it before, how did you personally go about finding a publisher? im pretty early in my own development process but it just seems like a daunting thing to find one :o

i hope you have a wonderful day!!! :3

I'm so good at bideo game that they came to ME (sparkles) thanks start again a prologue for showing publishers I can do game good

Here's some advice for finding publishers tho (source: I have eyes, and I've taken classes about this):

-first, ask yourself: why do you need a publisher? Money, marketing, producing, all of the above? There are lots of options out there that aren't getting a publisher. You can just hire a producer (like my producer Dora Breckinridge <3)

-have a pitch ready!!!! you can find examples of pitches online, but I highly recommend looking at the Bear & Breakfast one for example. At the very least you should have concept art, if not mockups of what the game could look like, if not actual screenshots

-making a good pitch is art. Highly recommend having someone look it over. Rami Ismail has consultations available just for that purpose and he knows his stuff (all the advice I have comes from him! I took a great class of his a couple months ago)

-once you have a pitch ready, email it to literally every publisher out there. yes I know you're making an rpg and this publisher is only looking for platformers, but send it to them anyway. They will not blacklist you for this lol, worst case scenario is that they won't look at it.

-if you get zero answers, redo your pitch. If you get a couple, that's the ticket. Look at their offers and take the best one. Only say no to the others once you got that shit signed. If you get a BUNCH of answers, it means your idea rules and you could probably self publish it and don't need a publisher. But take one anyway if you want (especially for your first game!)

-having a vertical slice is always good for pitching, but not always needed? (AKA a slice of your game that shows off the story, gameplay, etc... aka shows you know how to do this)

-once you get a publisher contract, ASK A VIDEO GAME LAWYWR TO LOOK IT OVER. NOT JUST A LAWYER. A VIDEO GAME LAWYER. ITS YOUR BABY!!! FUCKING DO IT

-you should probably add a clause about if the publisher goes down. Reminder also that the video game industry is in shambles right now. Manage your expectations

-you can also self publish. It is a thing you can do. Patreon is here. Kickstarter is here. You have options!!! If you can't get a publisher it's not the end of the world!!!!!!

-I'm just a humble dev and those are my own humble thoughts as someone who got very lucky with their publisher. Armor Games was very good to me during the dev of isat!

[raguiras]

TWST Olympics AU #1

Part 1: Heartshackle trio designs!

Reblogs are hella appreciated!! I'm likely shadowbanned 😭

As the Olympic Games are officially starting in a week, I decided to finally sketch some of the designs for my Twisted Wonderland Olympics AU! Next up are Riddle, Trey and Cater.

Everything about the AU below!

AU rules

Feel free to add your own OCs to this AU!

Fan content is obviously allowed! Just tag me in it, please.

AU summary

This is a magicless AU where all of the TWST characters are Olympic athletes in the real world. Some win medals, some barely qualify — but all of them live in the Olympic village. The students are aged up here (usually early to late twenties) while the faculty members have no set age and work as sports reporters.

♤ Character introductions ♤

ACE TRAPPOLA — A 21-year-old Italian prodigy basketball player. He's considered to be his team's ace (pun intended) and is great at tricking his opponents, making tons of baskets for the Italian team, and efficiently assisting his teammates.

DEUCE SPADE — A 21-year-old Japanese track and field athlete competing in various smaller disciplines falling under the "track and field" term. He's extremely average at most things other than sprints, often ends up in the bottom 3, and is secretly incredibly insecure about not being the best at anything.

ALLEN ALAGONA (YUU) — A 21-year-old Japanese-Italian gold-winning figure skater competing for his current home country, Ireland, along with his best friend and sports partner Alcestris. He gave up on his original dream — becoming a musician — and is now working hard to be the best male figure skater in the world, hoping to kickstart a career as a musician later on.

♤ Relationships ♤

ACE & DEUCE — Their friendship originally started when Ace posted a picture of himself watching a sprint competition while Deuce made a grimace in the background, causing the photo to go viral and become a meme. Deuce originally DMed Ace to take the picture down and got teased for it, but this teasing slowly developed into a friendship. While they get along well, Deuce is secretly a bit jealous of Ace for pretty much being a prodigy.

ACE & ALLEN (YUU) — Ace is a fan of Allen and views him as a fellow gold medalist. Being open-minded and "eager" to make new connections, Ace simply DMed Allen one day and the two became unlikely friends. Nowadays, Ace also functions as a matchmaker, being the only person to know just how much Deuce likes Allen...

DEUCE & ALLEN (YUU) — Deuce knows Allen as the most famous figure skater in the world and is absolutely stunned by both his appearance and humbleness. The two accidentally meet at a coffee shop during the games one day, decide to have a drink together, and strike up a conversation. Deuce is fanboying on the inside and trying to hide his surprise that Allen genuinely recognizes such an average athlete as him. Allen, however, already knows Deuce due to closely following all Japanese competitions, and has also noticed how incredibly ambitious Deuce is. Knowing Deuce's pain of carrying other people's hopes and never being the best at anything all too well from his teen years, Allen wants to get to know him better... and what starts off as mutual admiration and a celebrity crush on Deuce's side develops into full-blown love.

♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤

If this post/AU ends up being well-received, I'll introduce Riddle, Trey and Cater next!

♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤

More about the Deuce x Allen ship in the canon lore:

part 1 // part 2 // part 3

Friends who participated in the original AU development some months ago 🫶

@althea-and-alcestris @miss-atena @vanrouge13 @spookyavenuestreet @heyhellohihowareyou @nyx-of-night

[kuroosdarling]

POSITIONS — ༉‧₊˚.

ft. sanji vinsmoke !

꒰ SYNOPSIS ꒱ : sanji always liked missionary, but he was eager to broaden his horizons with you once you give him a proper taste.

꒰ CONTENTS ꒱ : MDNI. brief mention of blood (this man & his nosebleeds) mentions of creampie, overall vanilla sex — wc : 500 words

꒰ NOTES ꒱ : starting to post my fics that are just sitting in my drafts. i asked risu which character to post first and here we are with sanji <33 enjoy !!

reblogs and interactions are always appreciated ! (*ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈)♡*.ﾟ

sanji always loved to take you in missionary. there was something so special to him about seeing your pretty face, slotting his body on top of yours and being as close as possible.

loved pressing his forehead against yours to gaze into your eyes. or better yet, when you carefully push back his slightly damp bangs out of his eyes so you could see his face better.

loved to wrap his arms behind your back, pulling you towards him to press your chests together — utterly driving him insane when he feels your nipples brushing against his.

above all, he loved seeing your precious face. intently watching each beautiful expression morph into bliss as he drove you closer to your pleasure, using your reactions to guide his way there for you.

but one day, you insist on changing positions.

he wasn’t so sure, in fact, he hasn’t ever done anything besides missionary so he didn’t even know how to go about it. but luckily, he had you to show him the way.

it started when you climbed into his lap, effectively kickstarting his old habits. after the initial gush of blood coming out of his nose and a few overly enthusiastic compliments — he simmered back down the moment you slid down on his cock.

it took him a second to try to not come instantly, but the way you were perched up in his lap, your chest directly in front of his face, your hands delicately resting on his shoulders — he couldn’t help it.

but he always had so much more to give you.

he soon realized that maybe new positions were a good thing. a different way for him to worship and love your body. his tongue running all over your chest, circling around your nipples as you bounced on his cock.

it was truly heaven watching you use him to get yourself off. your soft mewls fired up his core, driving his hips up further to meet yours. there was no way he’d want to stop having you like this. it might have even taken over as his new favorite position.

but something else overcomes him when he has you on all fours. the way you look so beautiful presenting yourself for him has his mind going drunk with satisfaction.

knowing that only he could ever have you like this, driving himself further into your warm cunt, deeper than he has ever gone — has him losing his control.

he’s still sweet, but there’s an edge to it now. his hips erratically snapping against you. he feels so high, so overwhelmed with the control you graciously gave him.

it’ll even have him reaching over to take one of his cigarettes, smoking it while his thrusts never falter. the view he has is one of the best ones he’s ever seen. screw the all blue, this right here was his life’s dream.

being able to admire your body from any angle is a new game he adamantly wants to play. so expect him to try and throw you in any position at any time. he has a lot of new things he wants to explore now that he knows how willing you are to help him.

[onlycosmere]

The Kickstarter goes live tomorrow!

When Brandon Sanderson began working with Brotherwise Games on the first adventure for The Stormlight Roleplaying Game, he considered how it could help him fix holes in the narrative of his bestselling fantasy series. He settled on a mystery from the first Stormlight Archive book, The Way of Kings, that will have big implications for the fifth book in the series, Wind and Truth, which will be released in December.

The Stormlight Archive is set on the planet Roshar, where 10 heroes known as Heralds spent millenia protecting humanity with the help of highly magical swords dubbed Honorblades. All of them abandoned their duties except Taln, the Herald of the Common Man. Despite Taln’s best efforts, the forces of the vengeful god Odium have returned. Taln was left maddened by his ordeal and soon after he first appears in the books, his Honorblade goes missing. Its whereabouts remain unknown.

“The adventure is answering that question,” Sanderson told Polygon. “What happened? Where did it go? What’s going on? And you get to be part of the story. We were looking for an adventure you could do that would intersect with the canon of the books in an interesting way, and allow you to fill in a hole yourself.”

The Kickstarter for the d20-based game goes live on Aug. 6 along with a beta preview of the rules and a first level adventure meant to walk players and game masters through the setting and core mechanics. The hardcover Stonewalkers Adventure, where players encounter Taln and learn what happened to his honorblade, will be released in 2025 along with the Stormlight Roleplaying Game Handbook and World Guide.

...

Players will hunt for Taln’s honorblade across Roshar, from the Shattered Plains where much of The Way of Kings is set, to the magical forest of the goddess Cultivation, where bold souls can receive both a boon and a curse. There are a mix of dungeon crawls, puzzles, chase scenes and prison breaks. As they choose how to approach the problems they face, player characters will be able to attract the attention of spren, spirit-like beings who can bond with like-minded people to bestow them with incredible abilities. Completing the mission can allow them to join the newly re-founded ancient order known as the Knights Radiant.

...

The PCs can meet major antagonists from the books, including the twisted Herald of Justice Nale and the traitorous General Meridas Amaram, and learn how the talking sword Nightblood first featured in Sanderson’s 2009 book Warbreaker wound up on Roshar. As they move through key moments from the series, like the emergence of a raging storm that brings Odium’s most powerful lieutenants back to the world, Sanderson welcomes players to reshape his narrative.

...

“There’s a lot of cultural details being filled in, but at the same time, we dig a little bit further into what each order of Radiants’ oaths, spren, and motivations are,” Sanderson said. “There’s some new stuff there that I think fans will really enjoy.”

[winterrrnight]

12 with rafe I'm begging 😔😔

you ask and I shall deliver 🫡 I hope you like this nada <3 do let me know your views on this! 🩷

especially you

PAIRING: soft!rafe cameron x gn!reader

SUMMARY: there are some things Rafe will do especially just for you.

WARNINGS: established relationship, very much hates everyone but you, the reader is a perfectionist - in constant need of academic validation (it is me guys 😓), fluff, usage of nicknames like babe, baby, sweetheart, minimal swearing

EDITH SPEAKS: this is kind of self indulgent 😀 need me a man who does this for me 😭😭 anyways, yes yes we are kickstarting the fics for the 600 celly! If you were there for my 300 celly, I know how late I got with those requests and I am so sorry about that 🥲 I promise I will try my best to not let that happen this time 🥲

please reblog if you liked reading this! feedback is always appreciated ⛲

a lil note: the song below is used just as the title, and its lyrics aren't used as an inspiration.

PROMPT REQUESTED: “C’mere. Sit down. Tell me what’s going on.”

600 followers celebration || navigation

You sigh as you shut your laptop close, maybe a little too aggressively for your liking, but honestly, you couldn’t care less. You slump your head on the kitchen island in your arms, a headache already starting to creep in your head.

It’s barely week three in your new semester and you’re already piled upon with readings over readings, essays over essays, assignments over assignments, and you barely have any time with yourself or your boyfriend.

“What the actual fuck Kelce!” He groans. “Get your shit together man!” This is just the bare minimum of what he is actually saying. It doesn’t help your situation though, your headache only pulsating more harshly, making you groan in pain.

Speaking of your boyfriend, he’s sitting in the living room, headphones in as he almost yells into the microphone, as his thumbs run rapidly over the controls of the controller gripped tightly in his hands. Curse words followed by his friends’ names leave his lips, as his gaze is fixated on the screen in front of him.

You sigh as you look at him. He does not go to university because just as he graduated high school, his father passed his business onto him.

“No no no no no no!” He yells, “god what the fuck is wrong with you guys?”

His deep voice booms in your ear, and you squeeze your eyes shut, holding your head in your hands as you gently press your temples, but it does not work; Rafe’s voice level only increases with time, and it bothers you more and more.

“Rafe!” You yell out completely exasperated, from your place in the kitchen island. He doesn’t even look at you, and you realize you weren’t loud enough for your voice to penetrate through his headphones.

You get up from your chair and saunter over to Rafe, gripping his headphones and yanking them off. “Shut up!” You snap, as you toss his headphones to the side and leave the living room, stomping off to your bedroom.

Rafe watches you go away, completely stunned. He takes a deep breath before picking up his headphones. “We’re pausing it for now, and no, I will not hear any shit from either of you,” He fumes in the microphone and shuts off the game before making his way to the bedroom. As he enters inside quietly, he sees you are standing in the balcony, leaning against the railing as you look out, a stressed look on your face.

“Babe,” he says softly as he steps out to the balcony, wrapping an arm around your waist. “What's wrong?”

“Nothin’,” you mutter under your breath, not tearing your eyes away from the sky stretched out in front of you to look at him.

When he detects your reluctance to talk, or to even lean into his touch, he lets out a sigh, his arm dropping back to his side as he sits down on one of the chairs in the balcony.

A few moments pass in utter silence, as all you both here is the sound of the birds chirping in the distance, cars rushing past the streets, and the soft breeze blowing against your skin.

Your back is towards him as he watches you stand next to the railing; he can tell you are completely tense from your stance, the way your shoulders aren’t relaxed, your jaw is clenched a bit, and you are gripping the railing a little too lightly.

“Baby…” he calls out softly, “C’mere. Sit down. Tell me what’s going on.” He says. He’s determined to not let you go unspoken this time, ready to even pull you into his arms if needed.

To his surprise, you don’t deny as you trod to the empty chair next to him and sit down. His arm instantly wraps around your shoulders and he pulls you in his side. He presses a long, yet soft kiss on your forehead, rubbing your arm in a soothing motion.

“I’m sorry if I was too loud baby,” he mumbles against your hairline, “I absolutely didn’t mean to bother you so much,”

You let out a deep exhale as you shake your head. “It’s okay Rafe, I was just… too tense already and that just put me over the edge, I guess,” you murmur softly.

“What’s been keeping you tense then hm?” He asks, pressing another kiss to your forehead, his feeble attempt to comfort you as much as he can.

“This semester’s already kicking my ass,” You sigh. “I already have a shit ton of work to do, and it’s just the third week? I spend all my day doing this shit and I still can’t catch up with it. I barely have time for myself or to spend with you,”

Rafe’s grip tightens a bit on you as he pulls you in closer to himself. “You know I would typically say that it doesn’t matter, don’t stress too much, don’t work so hard blah blah blah, but I know you well enough to know it doesn’t work on you,” he says and he sees a small smile form on your face. “No matter what I’ll say, you will work hard and put in 120% effort for something which doesn’t even count that much for your grade. And you know how much I appreciate that about you, you’re insanely hard working,” a small smile on his lips as his other hand holds onto yours.

“But you know what I can do?” He continues. “I can take great care of you. You don’t have to worry about your meals; I’ll take care of them. I’ll watch a movie, give you kisses and cuddles, or do anything you want when you take a break; which, by the way, I’ll make sure you take. Whenever I see the moment, I’ll take you out wherever you want to go. I don’t want you to take unnecessary stress of the new semester sweetheart, because I know you’ll make it through it okay? You 100% will, I know that.”

You turn to look at him, a softened look in your eye. All his words slowly sink in you, and you realize you don’t have to take as much pressure of the new semester as you were. You rest your head on his shoulder and softly nod. “Thank you Rafe…” you whisper.

“There’s nothing to thank me for you sweetheart, I am your boyfriend, this is the least I can do,” he smiles as he presses another kiss to your forehead.

You slowly feel your tensions melt away as you sit with Rafe on your balcony under the warm afternoon sun, your body muscles relaxing and the stress laying heavy on your mind gradually withering away.

This is one of the moments where you realize Rafe’s the one.

↶ೃ✧˚. ❃ ↷ ˊˎ-

TAGLIST: @runningfrom2am @saccharinesammie @maybankslover @totalswag @madelynie @chenslucy @ietss @elle-mp3 @viawritesstuff @wallsdreams @lunalitva @sadfury @newsies-pape-girl @jamesbuckybarneswify @xxxlaura @thatsthewaythechrissycrumbles @callsignwidow @starkowswife @drewstarkeyswifehoe @jjchaer @f4ll-for-you @wearemadeofstardust0 @drewsmusee @rafegirly @addriaenne @leighbronk @rafesdrew @bejeweledreverie @raf3sgff @aerangi @drewstarkey1bae @moneymaybank @spideysimpossiblegirl @the-tortured-poets-depxrtment

[chaos-in-deepspace]

Motorboats | 18+

Imma be frfr ever since the workout outfits came out and I saw Rafayel running, all I've wanted to do was just grab his boobies and just fejekhsfu. Since the game doesn't allow me to do that, I'm writing it. Anyway, it's unhinged time, so enjoy!

Disclaimer: This is an original fan work for “Love and Deepspace”. Do not repost on other platforms or plagiarize. All characters shown in this fic is 18+. Warnings: Suggestive Themes, playing with men's chesticles, crack fic

Blog Information | Masterlist

Xavier

This man, this poor man hadn't a single clue as to what you were about to do. It was Xavier's fault though, in all honesty. He insisted on walking around the apartment without a shirt on after his workout. A towel slung over his shoulders and his hair dripping onto his chest after his show.

It was enough to drive you absolutely mad, especially when you noticed how nice his boobs looked. So you acted on impulse. Slowly walking up behind him and wrapping your arms around him. Your face was pressed between his shoulder blades while you waited for him to react.

When Xavier turned around, you knew it was your time. Time to accomplish what you were born to do. Without so much as a warning, you placed your hand on his pecks and shoved your face between them. Squeezing them together before rubbing your face between them and making an obnoxious motorboat noise.

It was beautiful. Glorious even. His chest was softer than you imagined despite them being nothing but pure muscle. He smelled like his body wash still and he was cool to the touch. Everything about this moment solidified that it was the best day ever for you.

The action was enough for Xavier to flinch back from your touch, looking down at you with wide eyes as he processed what you did. Your shit eating grin couldn't be contained...until you saw a small, seemingly innocent smile grace Xavier's face.

"Is it my turn now?"

Zayne

Your poor, sweet, and loving doctor. Words couldn't describe your affection towards the man as you watched him hunch over his desk, getting some paperwork done as you waited patiently for your check up. Your beloved Zayne...and his abnormally slutty outfit of the day.

Sure it wasn't technically slutty, but as you looked at the doctor you couldn't help your eyes as they wandered down his form. His lab coat was open, revealing a black turtle neck shirt underneath. The cherry on top were the straps going around his chest that helped accentuate his pectorals.

"Something you need?" The man in question just glanced up at you after noticing your gaze.

"What me? I'm just waiting on you..."

Your sentence seemed to finally kickstart Zayne's appointment with you as he got up and walked over to the examination table. He grabbed his stethoscope, ready to measure your heart.

"Then shame on me for keeping you waiting."

As he went to place it over your chest, you stopped him. Your hand going towards his own chest. It was just so damn tempting. Zayne looked down at you with a questioning gaze. You couldn't help yourself. With him leaning over you, he was at the perfect height.

You took your hands and went to squeeze at his chest, quickly shoving your face between then and motorboating the poor man. The doctor was stunned, standing there as you finished up with a chuckle. You leaned back to see the slight red dusting his cheeks and ears.

"I hope you're happy with yourself."

Oh he had no idea.

Rafayel

It wasn't often that you found yourself blatantly staring directly at Rafayel. Normally you tried to keep your gaze at least a touch subtle, but today there was absolutely no helping it. You made the mistake of asking him to work out with you since you didn't feel like doing it alone. Besides, despite how much he complained about working out, he had muscles that had to be earned from more than just swimming. He also had a small gym set up, which sure as hell beat going to the actual gym.

What you weren't prepared for was his outfit. The skin tight, sleeveless black top left nothing to the imagination. You could see the outline of his nipples and whenever the man would run you saw his chest literally jiggling. It was making you absolutely feral that you didn't realize you had stopped your own workout just to stare at his chest.

When Rafayel noticed he went to a walk and turned to you, "Something caught your attention?" that smug smile would be wiped off his face if you had anything to say about that.

"Ya...come over here. I need your help with something."

Rafayel was more than happy to get off the treadmill, taking a break as he panted slightly. The faint sheen of sweat coating him wasn't helping your thought process at all. The moment he stood in front of you, you couldn't hold back.

Your hands reached towards his chest and your face went between them perfectly. You pushed them together and gave them a harsh squeeze as you rubbed your face between them, making the motorboating noise. As soon as Rafayel knew what was happening he jumped back from you, his arms going to cover his chest. His entire face was red as he gaped at you like a fish out of water. He looked absolutely scandalized.

"What was that for?!"

"Let me do it again. Get back here you coward!" You said as you took a step forward, your hand making the grabby motion. You swore that Rafayel's scream in horror was the best noise ever. If he thought the treadmill was bad, he had no idea how rough it would be running away from you.

[anim-ttrpgs]

Re-Introducing the A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club & FAQ

Alright, so, we have this discord server called the A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club, and it’s exactly what it sounds like. A discord server, run by the A.N.I.M. Team, for reading, analyzing, and playing TTRPGs. It’s free to join, and at the time of writing this it has a community of nearly 200 members.

Also at the time of writing this, for a limited time, you can get a FREE PDF of the July 11th update of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy just by joining the A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club! This is a huge upgrade over the free May 10th version!

Here’s how the book club operates:

Nominations. Members nominate RPGs they wanna play.

Voting. After we finish the current RPG, we vote on what the next one will be. You can vote for as many nominations as you want, and nominations with the most votes wins.

Reading. We encourage you to buy the winning game to support the developers, but if you can’t for any reason, we will find a way to get you a PDF. A rough deadline is set that will allow everyone to read the rulebook at a rate of about 10 pages a day, though reading faster or slower is okay.

Playing. We assign GMs on a volunteer basis, and players are assigned to groups with GMs based on schedule compatibility. Each group plays the same adventure module, so each group will have commonalities in their adventure that they can talk about and compare their experiences with, even with different GMs, players, and characters.

Repeat. Voting begins anew with the nominations that we have accumulated in the mean time.

A.N.I.M.’s current Patreon goal is also tied to the Book Club. If y’all can raise our Patreon income to $310/month, that will allow us to set aside manpower to carve out and organize a small additional space within the ANIM TTRPG Book Club server for other games which do not fit the nomination criteria for the main book club! At the time of writing this, it sits at $259/$310. Signing up to the patreon grants you access to monthly rulebook updates as we continue to finish the game, adventure modules, short fiction, and our patreon discord server.

Below is a bit of an FAQ as an attempt to quell any concerns or hesitations

“The Book Club games probably don’t fit with my schedule.”

They might! Because we assign multiple different groups based on schedule compatibility, the book club games are actually very very schedule-flexible! You might be surprised!

And if they still don’t, even just reading the rulebook and joining in on discussions is a valuable form of participation!

“I’m afraid to play with strangers.”

They won’t exactly be strangers if you hang out around them in the book club long enough! Yes we do get what you mean, but there’s nothing to worry about. The A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club is a safe community, and we have rules and, more importantly, procedures designed to make playing with relative strangers as smooth an experience as it can be!

“What if I don’t like the RPG that wins the vote?”

While we encourage you to step a little out of your comfort zone, participation in any given round of the book club is not mandatory, there’s no punishment for sitting out! It’s cool to just hang around in the discord server and discuss virtually anything if you want to.

Elegantly designed and thoroughly playtested, Eureka represents the culmination of three years of near-daily work from our team, as well as a lot of our own money. If you’re just now reading this and learning about Eureka for the first time, you missed the crowdfunding window unfortunately, but our Kickstarter page is still the best place to learn more about what Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy actually is, as that is where we have all the fancy art assets, the animated trailer, links to video reviews by podcasts and youtubers, and where we post regular updates on the status of our progress finishing the game and getting it ready for final release.

Beta Copies through the Patreon

If you want more than just status updates, going forward you can download regularly updated playable beta versions of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy and it’s adventure modules by subscribing to our Patreon at the $5 tier or higher. Subscribing to our patreon also grants you access to our patreon discord server where you can talk to us directly and offer valuable feedback on our progress and projects.

The A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club

If you would like to meet the A.N.I.M. team and even have a chance to play Eureka with us, you can join the A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club discord server. It’s also just a great place to talk and discuss TTRPGs, so there is no schedule obligation, but the main purpose of it is to nominate, vote on, then read, discuss, and play different indie TTRPGs. We put playgroups together based on scheduling compatibility, so it’s all extremely flexible. This is a free discord server, separate from our patreon exclusive one. https://discord.gg/7jdP8FBPes

Other Stuff

We also have a ko-fi and merchandise if you just wanna give us more money for any reason.

We hope to see you there, and that you will help our dreams come true and launch our careers as indie TTRPG developers with a bang by getting us to our base goal and blowing those stretch goals out of the water, and fight back against WotC's monopoly on the entire hobby. Wish us luck.

[gb-patch]

The Kickstarter for Our Life: Now & Forever will go live in fall of 2023!

Whether it'll end up being in September, October, or November I'm not entirely sure yet. But it could be happening in as little as three months, so I've gotta start promoting this already, haha.

Our Life: Now & Forever Pre-Launch Page Link

The campaign will have perks like keys for the DLCs, the soundtrack, and such. However, it'll also be the place where you can get yourself a voiced name and be listed in the credits!

When the crowdfunding begins an expanded demo is going to become available as well 💖. Things will be pretty exciting.

Game Story:

Begin your life anew in this second installment to the lovingly nostalgic Our Life series! Create an experience that’s all your own in this near-fully customizable, choice-heavy story.

Fall settles over the charming mountain town of Golden Grove as the story  begins. But it isn't only glittering leaves that are changing. You and your mom leave behind everything you knew before when you move to a new home nestled right in the middle of a tight knit cul-de-sac. It’s there where a paper airplane lands at your feet and brings you to  unanticipated crossroads.

Make your own path through life as you grow from childhood to adulthood with your two closest neighbors. Even in the chilly autumn weather, it’ll be a truly heartwarming time.

Developer: GB Patch Games

Price: Free-to-play base game with optional paid DLCs

Rating: Teen

Platforms: Windows, Linux, Mac, Android

Steam Page

Itch.io Page

#########################################

Man, it's been years since we've had a crowdfunding campaign to advertise. Here's hoping it all goes well. We'll do our best ✨

[steddieas-shegoes]

One sentence for your brain kickstart

"How did you do that?!"

Eddie was certain that Nancy Wheeler was the one who sold her soul to the devil.

Or maybe he was just a little loopy from the drugs they were still pumping into his system.

He was told if he could finish all his exams with a C or better, he could graduate. Kind of a "we're sorry we were wrong about you but we want you gone" thing.

Nancy made him flashcards, and sat with him for a couple hours every afternoon going over her own study guides for classes.

She'd quickly found that he was smart enough to pass without her help, except for one subject: pre-calculus.

He tried, she watched him try, and she tried so hard to explain in a way that he could understand, but he just couldn't.

"I'm calling in reinforcements," she said on the third afternoon in a row of Eddie getting so frustrated his heart rate spiked and a nurse walked in to make sure he was okay.

"Who at Hawkins is smarter than you?" Eddie asked, doing his best not to let the frustrated tears fall yet.

"Overall? No one. But in pre-calc? Steve."

No way.

There was no way.

"Steve Harrington? The Steve that carried me out of hell? The Steve that looked me in my eye yesterday and asked if I knew any Hobbits in real life?" Eddie's confusion only grew as Nancy started to nod along. "You can't be fuckin' serious. My future depending on the abilities of Steve."

"If he can't help, I'm not sure who can."

So they finished up his biology practice exam and waited.

When Steve arrived, Nancy caught him up on everything while Eddie watched him nodding along, hands on his hips like he was receiving his next instructions during a basketball game.

She left, saluting him on her way out the door, an unreadable smirk on her face.

"So. Pre-calc is trying to kill you?" Steve asked as he sat in the chair Nancy had just occupied.

"It may succeed," he grumbled back.

"Nah. If I can pass with an A, you can." Steve looked over one of the papers Nancy had handed to him before leaving, brows furrowing. "This is from the practice test you did?"

"Failed it," Eddie nodded, playing with the rings on his finger.

Steve set the papers down on his meal tray on wheels, pulling it closer so they could both look at it.

"I see where you were going. You just took a wrong turn, see?" Steve started working the problem from the beginning, the pencil scratching against the paper as Steve found the answer with ease.

"How did you do that?!" Eddie asked after a moment of shocked silence.

"I'll show you slowly. You're just overthinking the third step."

Steve explained each step, showing him as he went exactly what to do.

It took a couple tries, but Eddie finally got it.

The next day, Nancy gave him another practice test.

He passed with a B.

And after another study session with Steve, he passed the real thing with an A.

When Steve heard, he leaned down and kissed the top of his head unexpectedly.

Eddie stared up at him with wide eyes.

"Dammit. I knew the drugs were good, but now I know I've been dreaming this whole time," Eddie whispered, afraid to wake himself up.

"They haven't even given you anything today so you could take your exams, Eds."

"Oh. Right." Eddie blinked. "So, that was real?"

Steve answered with a brush of his lips against Eddie's.

[transparentgames]

After four years of development, we're finally ready to show Transparent Games' first commercial project, "Saintess of the Golden Bow", to the public. The 1-hour-long demo is completely free to play and shows the beginning of Celeste's story as the Saintess of the Golden Bow.

"Saintess of the Golden Bow" is a project that's very close to my heart. I'm a huge fan of webtoons, especially "Villains are Destined to Die", "I Failed to Oust the Villain" and "Father I Don't Want This Marriage". I wanted to tell the story of a girl that is also a webtoon/webnovel fan, dreaming of what it would be like to be isakai-ed into a fantasy world and have hot guys fall in love with you. 

And she does! After a fateful encounter with Truck-kun, she gets reincarnated in the web novel she's a fan of - "Saint of the Golden Bow". Only that she's not anybody significant, she's just an extra in the main character's backstory - until she changes her new reality and it's her who becomes the Saintess. 

She steals the spotlight from Levi, the book's Saint. Soon she's thrown into going on a journey to defeat the Demon Queen with her Loyal Knight Levi, the Mad Prince Noah and the High Priest Elijah. Whom will she fall in love with?

I'd like to thank my whole team for being with me on my own journey of creating this visual novel. There's still a long road ahead of us - we want to develop the story into a 300k-word otome visual novel. If you want to support us, please subscribe to our patreon or back the kickstarter in the future!

On the Patreon we will be showing WIPs of art, exclusive illustrations and short stories. We also plan to, starting August, release Extended Demo builds first on patreon, and then to the public. We want to show the whole Common Route as an Extended Demo - so about 4 hours of gameplay.

I hope you'll have as much fun with the demo as we had making it. Saintess is really a labor of love, and I'm happy to share that love with you.

I wish everybody all the best,

Anna 'Lavinnia' Kończak

Transparent Games

[spennsrs]

spencer agnew x reader

reader is a new intern/assistant for the games department and her and spencer kinda hit it off

possible slow burn

spencer content <3 love you

↳˳;; ❝ fuckin' nerd ༊*·˚

here we go spencer nation this is for you and erm its somewhat slowburn ig.... no confirmation of relationship so yas... reader referred to using they/them <3

first day jitters fuckin' sucked. [y/n] could attest to that.

they rub their hands on the front of their jeans, the material somewhat grounding them as they stare at the office building... okay, technically it wasn't their first day, they had been there yesterday to set their desk up and get somewhat acquainted with the games side of the office. they met alex tran, jacqi, even vida!

but a specific glasses wearing, kickstart drinkin' idiot (alex tran's words) wasn't there. spencer agnew.. or their boss, essentially.

[y/n] didn't know why they were so nervous. it's not like spencer was a scary guy, per say... maybe he was. shaking their head, [y/n] enters the building with a semi-confident grin on their face, entering the lobby... only to be met with another body. well.. more like colliding.

"oh shit, i'm sorry dude-" "my bad-"

[y/n] collects themself as they brush off their clothes, before looking up to an average height male with curly dark hair and round glasses framing his eyes. he was... cute, in a... kind of dorky, awkward nerdy best friend in some mediocre coming of age novel. they find themself staring and quickly before they start to talk.

"you okay? we bumped pretty hard into each other... usually, i'm paying way more attention, i guess, i'm so sorry-" "hey.. you're that new intern, right? holy shit, you are. [y/n], right? what a first impression... i'm spencer by the way."

fuck. shit. fuckin' shit. of course this was their boss. they just ran into their boss, on their second first day...

"uhm... yeah. i'm [y/n], the one and only, heh. listen, i feel terrible for what i did, i can make it up to you! buy you a coffee, extra work, whatever you need, i'm willing."

their words were met with silence from spencer, and for a brief moment, they thought they fucked up royally. completely. fired on the spot.

"first meeting, an you're already asking me on a date? bold moves, [y/n], but i'm not that easily swayed." spencer's lips tug into a toothy grin, a grin that holds a teasing and chaff, a grin that promises lots of fun jokes at work, a grin that promised to keep them on their toes, to keep their heart fluttering-

[y/n] can't help but snort with a raised brow, determined to give back the same sass. if this is what it was like working here, they could get used to this place. "in your dreams, boss man. workplace relationships never work out anyway." they snap back with a laugh, which makes spencer mirror the action.

"fair enough, fair enough. i'm just pulling your chain, welcome to smosh games. i think we'll get along just fine."

[y/n] likes to agree with that statement.

only a week of working at smosh, and [y/n] was finding the place to be a second home of sorts.

alex t had quickly climbed the ranks of becoming [y/n]'s favorite person, almost like a brother figure of sorts to the newer employee. on the other end of that, spencer had grown to be [y/n]'s biggest enemy, bully, and pin in their ass.

in a loving way, of course.

the two of them would bounce off each other's energy, and could bicker for hours, and had even developed a bit of a joking beef in the office. this also led to a little.. club of sorts, smosh employees who were banking on spencer and [y/n] eventually ending up together. even mythical employees were in on this, thanks to trevor. (who would've known rhett and link would be the fan club's number one members)

of course, this had led to some unspoken feelings, at least on spencer's side of things. he refused to say a thing, workplace relationships and h.r and all that jazz or whatever. he also didn't want to seem creepy as their boss having a crush on one of the interns. the only person who actively knew about spencer's little... predicament was alex t, which kind of sucks considering how close alex was to [y/n]. so, all in all, he was fucked.

lost in his own thoughts, spencer made his way to the office kitchen to grab another kickstart when he notices [y/n] fiddling with... well, he couldn't give a shit. what mattered was [y/n] was here. he runs a hand through his hair as he approaches them from behind, a wicked grin on his lips before he gently pokes their side. the other's body jolts and spencer catches how their eyes go wide like saucers, before spinning to glare at spencer. he could tell the glare wasn't angry or upset really, but also the bubbling laugh kinda gave them away.

"hey, [y/n], whatcha doin'? anything interesting?"

the other scoffs and turns back to what they were doing, which spencer can actually see is them fixing their lunch as [y/n] releases a dramatic sigh. "i was peacefully making lunch, but now the duke of chaos himself is here."

"duke of chaos? i'm the god of chaos, thank you very much, goddess of idiocy." that earned him another friendly glare over the shoulder. this is what he adored about them. sure, they were really cute, and their laugh was like... the most beautiful song he's heard, and their hands were nice and soft and fit right in his perfectly-

spence, stop getting carried away.. right.

he adored [y/n] because they knew how to joke, how to have a laugh, to keep up with his rather snarky little comments. he really valued that in a friend or a partner, but for some reason.. playful bullying looked really good especially on [y/n]. well... [y/n]'s specific hair color looked good on them as well... and that new top - he knew it was new because maybe he overheard them talking to chanse about it - fit them perfectly, and their eye color fit them perfectly-

"anyone home in there? this is ground control to spencer agnew, do you copy?" .... oh shit, they had been talking. he stared at them with wide eyes, swallowing thickly. he felt something akin to a blush creeping up his neck to settle on his cheeks, and he knew they could see it based on the sly smirk that played onto their lips. "you're lucky it's me you're staring, y'know. think about that next time you gawk at women while zoning out."

"i wasn't-.. shut up, i wasn't gawking!" he definitely was gawking.

"you stupid fuckin' nerd. come on, we have a meeting to get to."

spencer could live with this, keeping the pretty intern a daydream away so they could keep a good work friendship with their inside jokes and their movie nights they'll end up having, spencer sharing his love for kickstarts with [y/n] who will complain but drink them anyway... as long as they were in his life, he didn't quite care what they were, or what other people thought of them. he couldn't care less if he gave his feelings away in the fleeting touches when they returned a pen they borrowed and how he made it linger, or how he stared at them like they hung the stars in the sky just for him... he didn't need a picture perfect movie ending...

all that mattered was he was their stupid fuckin' nerd, where they liked (or knew) it or not.

[tonkable-art]

✷ Tonk's Art Resources ✷

Hi! No one asked but I wanted to make a big list of art resources I use because I like to try and help people be creative! Not everything I list is free (mostly the books & some PDFs), but I’ll try my best to keep a big portion of it unpaid.

I've also made a carrd with the same links and a set of software links + prices but I'll be updating this with more things I find that I think would be helpful. :)

Drawing

GES DRAW PARTY - Timed model videos

Drawing Tutorials Online - Figure drawing tutorials (& fun SVA student sketchbook videos)

Line of Action - Timed model Photos

3 tips to improve your PEOPLE SKETCHING (fast urban sketching techniques), Sketching Scottie

Creating Backgrounds, Tim Mcburnie

Drawabox

Reference Angle

Kaycem

Colour Theory

Why Color Studies Are So Powerful, Light Ponderings

Marco Bucci

Colour Tips and Tricks, Iniro (PDF)

This post

Animation

The Animator’s Survival Kit, Richard E. Williams (book) - I think this one is a pretty obvious must-have

How to Animate Night In The Woods [Scribble Kibble #103], Crowne Prince - Helped me get a grip on After Effects

Little Miss Hellraiser Toon Boom Harmony Rig, Edu Bruks - Free Toon Boom Harmony rig

Alex Grigg // Animation for Anyone

BaM Animation

Storyboarding

Exploring Storyboarding, Wendy Tumminello (book)

Storyboarding Essentials: SCAD Creative Essentials, David Harland Rousseau & Benjamin Reid Phillips (book)

Storyboard Pro Crash Course/Tips for beginners, OhJeeToriG

A Guide To Storyboards, MagicBunnyArt (PDF)

Character Design

Character Design Crash Course - A huge free course document with assignments you can work through

Delicious in Dungeon - Fundamentals of Character Design, lines in motion

Writing

Writing for Animation, Comics, and Games, Christy Marx (book)

Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting, Syd Field (book) - I have the 1987 edition

Reedsy

How to Plot a Comic From Start to Finish!, McKay & Gray

Portfolio Tips

How to make a Character Design Portfolio, Jackie Droujko

Top Tips on How to Kickstart Your Storyboard Portfolio, Brown Bag Films

25 Tips to Create an Animation Demo Reel, Sir Wade Neistadt

Extras

PuccaNoodles’ Animation/Art Resource Sheet

My Study References Pinterest board

Motivation Station - Playlist of sketchbook videos and some speedpaints that I use to motivate & inspire me

The Illustrated Freelancer’s Guide, Heather Parry & Maria Stoian (PDF) - Really useful for freelancers in the UK

Software substitution chart

Adobe Suite substitute chart

Remember to check out the carrd, it might have a more updated list!