#hopefully won't have to again until March

[scum-belina]

Mowed the lawn today in the cold 💪🏻

[attollogame]

March and the status of Attollo

Hi everyone!

This was posted on patreon, but I thought to extend it on the blog as well for transparency purposes for everyone. If you clicked the read more to check this out, thanks, and glad you're still kicking around!

March consisted of me jumping in and out of medical care for the bulk of the month, and despite the armada of pills and specialists I'm hanging around with in my free time, answers have been nonexistent about what's been going on. I'm tired—understandably so.

So what's this got to do with the game?

Beyond just feeling too tired to do what's required of me for work and school, I've been weirdly anxious about the game in general. I think it's based around comments I received in the past about how the game is, what people's opinions are, etc. I've been genuinely sick to my stomach opening my doc containing the game. I just start writing and then it's like... will people even like this? Or read it? Is it just jargon that they'll skim past for 5 seconds of dialogue with a character they like, and then never touch again? Is it worth putting the lore and stuff when it won't be relevant until later in the game? And so on.

I don't know. It's been a bit of a hole. I'm wondering if maybe I need to rewrite it to make it more appealing, or if it's fine as it is, and all these other anxieties that have by no means been helping my health. I want to write, and maybe that's the worse bit. The want versus the brains refusal to do so.

Anyway. None of this particularly matters, because you guys are mostly keen on when it'll be updated. It will—I'm plugging through it slowly. I originally said I'd post the three on patreon and then bulk release, but I may just post on patreon and then release as the new routes come out as a form of apology for my inability to keep a consistent schedule.

Unfortunately, real life demands often take away from fun side hobbies like this.

I reactivated patreon for this month so hopefully I'll have some new content to post on there as well to kind of... rebuild the confidence about the game.

That being said, I do hope you (the lovely person who has read this far) are doing well. I hope you're healthy, and stress free, and enjoying month 4 of 2024. Stay that way for me, will you?

[mj-iza-writer]

Whumptober Day 16

Necrosis - Swamp - Wound Cleaning - "No, I can't feel anything"

"Caretaker, we shouldn't be doing this", Whumpee stammered, "Whumper will find out."

Caretaker watched Whumpee walk across the floor.

"You seem perfectly fine for someone with as many health concerns as Whumper says you have", Caretaker judged, "so what's the story?"

Suddenly the door swung open and Whumper marched in.

Whumpee's knees buckled in panic, and they fell to the floor.

"What the heck is going on in here?", Whumper yelled.

"Whumpee can walk", Caretaker frowned disapprovingly, "what are you up to?"

"No they can't, you could have severely injured them. Damaged their legs", Whumper yelled as they went to Whumpee and lifted them up, "you could have ruined all of my hard work."

Whumper carried Whumpee to a wheel chair.

"You are here to assist me in their care, I will fire you if this happens again", Whumper stormed out of the room.

Caretaker looked at Whumpee.

Whumpee quickly told them to drop it, "it's safer for everyone", Whumpee sighed.

The next few days Caretaker watched as Whumper took care of a fairly healthy person. They treated Whumpee as though they were extremely sick.

Caretaker frowned, they had to do something or else Whumpee would get sicker.

"Please, Whumper sir", Caretaker heard Whumpee cry out one day, "I hate these."

"I know, but they're good for you", Whumper dumped a bucket of ice into burning hot water, "you won't get better without this."

Whumpee looked down at their body, Whumper was the reason their body was so frail now. They were fine before Whumper took them.

Caretaker came in, "Whumper in my professional opinion, Whumpee is fine, you don't have to..."

Whumper scoffed, "right, you've only been here a week, and you're telling me how to take care of them", Whumper glanced at Whumpee, "you want sick... fine."

Whumper went and grabbed Whumpee, and shoved them to the ground.

Whumpee screamed, "no, what are you doing?"

Whumper kicked them repeatedly in their lower back until Caretaker managed to pull them off.

Caretaker tried to restrain Whumper, he was strong from taking care of Whumpee for so long.

"Let go of me", Whumper yelled as he fought Caretaker, "you want them sick and unable to walk. I'll break every bone in their body."

Caretaker was finally able to overpower Whumper, and restrained them.

Caretaker called emergency for back up.

"Whumpee", Caretaker quickly knelt beside them, "are you alright?"

Whumpee shook, "no, he did something, I can't move", Whumpee started to sob, "I can't feel anything."

"Okay, it's gonna be okay", Caretaker promised, "police and medical will be here soon. We'll get you medical attention."

Whumpee breathed a shaky breath.

Whumper continued to thrash for a second then paused.

"Wait Whumpee, what did I do? Whumpee", Whumper yelled, "I'm sorry, wait, they need my help."

"You injured them, I'm not letting you anywhere near them", Caretaker talked over their shoulder.

"I know what to do though, there will be complications if it goes for a long time untreated", Whumper pulled at the restraints, "Whumpee tell them."

"I don't want you to touch me anymore", Whumpee yelled, "I can't feel anything because of you."

"You just swore you'd break every bone in their body", Caretaker turned angrily.

"I hope I paralyzed you for good this time. I hope you never walk again", Whumper thrashed in the restraints again, for everything I've done for you... you ungrateful..."

Whumper seemed to be getting his wish, a month following, and Whumpee was still paralyzed from their waste down.

Caretaker took care of Whumpee full time now.

"I went from a healthy body to having a caregiver who made me sick. Now I actually need a caregiver. I'm glad it's you", Whumpee smiled at Caretaker as they were wheeled out of therapy one afternoon.

"I'm glad", Caretaker patted Whumpee on the shoulder, "we'll get your body back as much as we can. Maybe you'll even be able to walk one day."

Whumpee grinned, "hopefully one day."

Taglist. As always please let me know if you want to be added or taken off of the list. It's not a problem at all.

@villainsandheroes @the-beasts-have-arrived

@sacredwrath @porschethemermaid

@monarchthefirst @generic-whumperz

@bloodyandfrightened @freefallingup13

@notpeppermint @cyborg0109

@idontreallyexistyet @painfulplots

@whumpbump @everythingsscary

@skittles-the-whumpee @expressionless-fr

@theforeverdyingperson @legendarydelusiongoatee

@candleshopmenace @whumpanthems

@lavndvrr @ivymyers

@starfields08000 @a-living-canvas

@lumpofsand @watermeezer

@indigoviolet311 @whumpy-mountains

@3-2-whump @risk606

@electrons2006 @paperprinxe

@whumprince @kaz-of-crows

@mis-graves @decaffeinatedtimetraveler94

@sausages-things @ragin-cajun-fangirl

@isikedmyself878 @daffyduckcommittedtaxfraud

@valravnthefrenchie @glennemerald

@jasperthecapser @does-directions

@deafeninglittlecrown @jumpywhumpywriter

[coucouatoi]

we're not who we used to be | h.s.

Pairing: Harry Styles X Reader

Summary: Some letters you've written but never sent to Harry over the years.

Warnings: Angst... so much... there's some fluff, emphasise on the some, there's a hopeful ending tho!

A/N: Sooo this is the childhood friends to strangers fic no one asked for... Hope you all enjoy! This is my writing debut in Harry land :)

╭┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈╮

April 10' 2010

To: Harry Styles From: Your first fan

Hiya Harry,

It's currently 11:29 pm about 10 hours away from your audition. I figured since you told me to stop praising you and boosting your ego, I'm writing down the rest of the things I want to say.

Firstly, I know you're going to smash it! All the judges are going to want you in. There's no chance that they won't see how special you are, how you're the next big thing.

I won't let you back out of it last second! Anne, Gemma and I are ready to drag you onto the stage, we've discussed it thoroughly...

Secondly, I'm already so proud of you. This is a huge step, I know how nervous you are about it. How you think that everything is going to go wrong and that you'll fail. I've got enough hope in you for the both of us. I'll stand by your side the whole time and I'll cheer the loudest.

To finish, you're Harry Styles. You can do anything.

Break a leg superstar!!

Cheering you on already,

Your first-ever fan

╭┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈╮

December 12' 2010

To: Harry Styles From: Your biggest fan

Harry!

You've made it all the way to the finals! It's crazy! I knew you could do it but seeing you go further and further has been surreal.

I hope you and the other boys get along well! We haven't had much chance to really gossip about it all, you seem excited with them!

The finale is set to start in about 2 hours and I had to get some emotions out (my mom was tired of hearing them... rude) Anyway! I remembered that I had written you a letter a few months ago and now I'm back in this notebook.

I'm so nervous, excited and kind of nauseous about watching the last episode tonight. I can't even imagine what you're feeling right now... You must be so scared but incredibly jittery!

I'm counting the days until I get to see you again! I want to hear everything that's happened behind the scenes! You know how nosy I am!

I've already taken up two pages so I'll stop for now.

You can do this!

Talk to you soon,

Your favourite person ever

╭┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈╮

March 7' 2011

To: You From: Me <3

You called me Angel today...

I don't know what to make of that.

I had so many butterflies in my stomach.

Could you call me that again?

You're my favourite person,

Angel

╭┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈╮

November 20' 2011

To: Harry From: Angel

Boo!

You finally let me listen to the full album today! Said you had to be there when I listened to it so you could give me all the secrets. You also wanted to see live how I reacted to every song. You're too cute.

"I Want" is my current favourite.

You did tell me that you'd resonated with a lot of the lyrics you sang on this album. That almost scares me.

How did you relate? Who was going through your mind?

You do have the world at your feet now. I shouldn't feel jealous but I do like having you all to myself. Don't worry I'll get used to sharing...

The Up All Night Tour is starting soon! I'm happy that you've invited me to come to some shows. I'll be there no matter if I have to miss school.

I have to show all these newbies that I'm THE biggest Harry Styles fan out there!

Hopefully, you thought about me while signing.

Because I think about you all the time,

Your favourite fan.

╭┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈╮

April 13' 2012

To: Harry From: Angel

G'Day Mate!

So you're officially all the way in Australia now! That's so exciting I wish that you could have stuffed me into your suitcase... sniff

I bet it's super warm there! Or not wait their seasons aren't the same as ours, are they? I'm not even sure...

Hopefully, you can tan a little while you're there! Don't go near any animals or insects!!

I miss you a lot, maybe I'll send this one (spoiler I definitely won't).

Talk to you soon hopefully.

Go swim in the ocean,

Someone who wants to be in it

╭┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈╮

August 29' 2012

To: Harry From: Angel?

You haven't come to see me since you've been back.

Too busy being a celebrity?

I've been seeing all these tabloids... I'm not allowed to be jealous I know but I miss you.

I hope you've missed me.

I really really wish you were here with me or that I was with you wherever you are now.

I just want to be us.

Have you forgotten your friend from the small town already?

╭┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈╮

January 1' 2013

To: Harry From: Someone You've Hurt

I don't know what to think,

You kissed me. It made me happy.

You said it was a New Year's kiss.

You said you drank too much, it hurt.

You ended up kissing someone else about 20 minutes later.

That hurt even more it almost made me feel used.

I'm happy you were my first kiss.

I don't think you'll even remember it,

Y/N

╭┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈╮

November 27' 2014

To: Harry From: Me

I love the new album, took me a while to finally listen to it. I thought you'd come home and make me listen to it in your presence.

You didn't. The first album that I've listened to alone.

Spaces and Fools Gold are my favourite songs. I wonder how many lyrics you resonate with. How many of them did you write?

Come home?

Only for a day please,

Your first Angel

╭┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈╮

October 21' 2015

To: Harry From: Y/N

It's been a while,

It's your mom's birthday today. Well only for a few more hours...

She invited my family and me to the party, and of course we went. I didn't think you'd be there. I haven't seen you in almost a year.

It was fun.

Catching up about everything that's been going on with you and the band. Your life is so much more interesting than mine now.

I'm just a boring college student... you're this huge star but that's ok there's no one like you for me, you're my safe place. No matter how far away.

You asked about my love life and I told you about the date I had a few days ago. You asked if we had sex, I lied and said yes. I didn't want to embarrass myself by telling you no one's ever been with me like that.

We ended up getting drunk. Too drunk.

We fucked.

You took my virginity and you have no idea... should I tell you? You were so good. So gentle, loving but you fucked with a purpose, you needed to get off. I won't ever see your childhood bedroom the same way.

This was only a few hours ago.

I've felt every emotion about it. Now I'm crying because I know you'll find someone new to share a bed with. I'm just a notch in your headboard.

It meant everything to me.

But I think I regret it...

Y/N

╭┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈╮

May 12' 2017

To: You From: Me

Really?

I hope Only Angel isn't about me.

But I'm overanalysing every single song. Is one about me? Did you think of me while making this album?

We haven't talked since the last time we saw each other. When we fucked again. It wasn't even the second time, after your mom's birthday two years ago we never stopped. It's all we do when we see each other.

It doesn't make me feel all that much better but I feel like if it wasn't for that we wouldn't even know each other anymore.

I'm moving away this year. Got a job offer in Canada and I'm taking it.

Maybe I'll get over you... hopefully.

I can't live my whole life waiting for someone who I don't know anymore.

I'm blocking your number.

I miss who we used to be,

Your first-ever fan

╭┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈╮

December 4' 2019

To: H From: Y/N

Hello,

You've crawled your way back into my life, Harry. This morning, you decided to send me your album. Your new one, Fine Line. Your fans haven't even heard it yet. The public hasn't either.

You didn't write a single thing in your email, the mp3 link was staring me down with your automated signature. Not even a greeting.

I shouldn't have listened to it.

I don't know why you sent it to me. We haven't spoken or crossed paths in over a year. Not since I moved and tried to get rid of every way of contact between us.

I still haven't answered, I don't think I will.

You don't get to know what I feel about it. Not anymore.

I'm sorry Harry.

I've moved on,

Y/N

╭┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈╮

December 13' 2019

To: H From: Y/N

Your new album came out today.

I'm proud of you even if we are strangers now.

You're a superstar.

I always knew you would be,

Y/N

╭┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈╮

March 17' 2020

To: H From: Y/N

I saw that you had to postpone your tour.

You must feel so defeated.

I know I do. Everything's been closed and opened and closed again here in Canada. It's getting exhausting.

I hope the world starts working again soon.

This all sucks...

Crossing my fingers for the tour,

Y/N

╭┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈╮

May 18' 2022

To: Harry From: Y/N

Hi,

You sent me the album before the release again.

This time you did say something: I miss you Angel, Can we meet up?

I didn't think I could feel so many butterflies in my stomach. I felt like a teenager again. And I cried more than once listening to Harry's House.

I'm still considering if I should answer... if I do what should I choose? Should I agree and go into the unknown or forget it happened and keep on going with my life?

I miss you too... the one I knew. Not the one who used me. I guess I used you too... How did we get here?

All I want is to be loved and to be in love.

I'm not sure if I'm ready for the hurt this will bring but maybe I should just be a grown-up about this...

I want you back in my life.

That scares me,

Y/N

╭┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈╮

August 16' 2022

To: Harry From: Y/N

Well,

I'm going to the Love On Tour today and after we are going to "meet". We even have until the 20th because that is when your next show is, after today obviously.

You were so excited when I agreed.

It's almost as if no time has passed when we text (he changed his number in the last few years... no need for an embarrassing unblocking).

My friend, the one who convinced me to agree, helped me pick out an outfit. Thankfully for her, I won't stick out like a sore thumb in the crowd of feather boas and cowboy hats.

I really want this to work.

I want to believe that we can be good again. We can be healthy for one another again but I'll be worried until I see you.

Until we speak.

I won't let myself touch you, I have a feeling that it would be far too easy to fall back into a bed. Maybe a hug would be okay.

I'm excited for the show, to see the Superstar Harry Styles in action. After so many years you have to have evolved so much.

You aren't little Harry from Worcestershire anymore.

I'm not the same person I once was either.

See you tonight.

Break a leg,

Y/N

[1863-project]

I haven't updated about Murphy since March, so I might as well do that.

(He found a bag and some tissue paper. They're his now.)

Short answer: he's okay at the moment. It's been weird but he's okay right now.

Long answer under the cut.

We've had a verrrry weird time with health stuff. The diabetes was actually temporarily in remission when the ER said he didn't have it, but it's back now and he's doing well on insulin. Whatever is going on with the pancreas nodules, he's acting like himself for now, so I'm enjoying all the time I can with him, whether it's months or years.

He has, however, been having issues with his few remaining teeth. He had an abscess in his cheek that we had to get drained and treated with antibiotics, and then when no veterinary dentist near me would take new patients right away, he got another one a few weeks later in his sinuses, which ended up making him look like a horn was about to sprout from his head, or perhaps Athena. It got so big that he couldn't open his eye.

Murphy managed to take care of that by himself by scratching at himself, which meant that I spent a Sunday night at 11:30 pm draining pus out of his head.

After that, he recovered and with some more antibiotics he was able to open his eye fully again. He's currently waiting to have his teeth potentially pulled, and he has antibiotics to prevent any new infections until then. Hopefully once that's taken care of I won't have to worry as much and can just enjoy the rest of his life with him.

[zombeebunnie]

Trembling Essence:💙Choice adjustments + Exploration💙

Hi guys and welcome new followers! This update post might be a little short but here's how the game is going so far! Also I was very surprised at how well the endings guide was received so I'll keep that in mind in the future. :,]

Everything started off very slow again and didn't progress much up until a day or two ago. I was able to find the root of this issue so hopefully in the next few days things will return to normal! :]

I also want to talk a little bit deeper about the beginning of the game and what's to come of it.

Summary:

I want this section leading up to the cabin to give you an idea of your surroundings and give an introduction to Noah.

When I went on to redo this part some time around May I got carried away with wanting to add a bunch of adventurous endings. Even though I enjoyed doing this, I understood that it was too much and I was missing the mark I was aiming for. There were a couple of signs but what really made me realize this fully was working on the 'Endings guide'. I want the endings you get at this part to reflect what could possibly happen later on in the game and have symbolic meaning. There will be endings that just 'happen' but I do want to make sure I do that right. :]

With that being said, the start of the game will be reduced from 4 choices back down to 2. No spoilers but again, the pathing won't play out the same from the [Extended Demo] anymore. :]

Exploration:

Before:

After:

I managed to get some CG's done too! For the before and after, I did not like how it looked anymore and the dialog didn't match with what you were seeing on the screen. I wanted this part to look like an actual spooky path you were going down covered in fog. I also added a parallax effect here that really sets the mood! I do plan on fixing up the 'before' image just not right now. :]

This sort of sums up what all has been going on behind the scenes, super close to the cabin. Yay! I fixed up most of what my play testers recommended to me but there's some endings that still need to be seen. :]

If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do on kofi! All donations and tips help tremendously while I continue to work on the game. Thank you to those that optionally bought the [Extended Demo] and the March 2023 demo on itch.io. :,]

Q&A / Ask box is open:

There's been a sudden influx of questions and I really appreciate it, I'll try and answer some of them when I get the chance! Some did have major spoilers being asked so I can't answer them. :,]

If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask here or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I enjoy hearing from you guys!

This is all I have to share for right now but thank you everyone for the uplifting support and patience, I appreciate it! :]

[italianpersonwithashippersheart]

Fourever You Project - Updates Posts

Decided to make a post to put all my updates for this in one place, so I can update this when I find more info.

This BL is adapted from 4 books

I found a summary/review of the books on this link (wattpad book/review list of thai bl novels)

First Post a Refresher x Pilot Gifs by @heretherebedork

The old pilot seems to be no longer available on their Youtube channel. This was filmed before they had casted the actors to play the love interests of any of the main.

Partners Announcements by @blmpff x and x

My First Update x They started to film. At this point in time they also had a fitting day, with Sammy who is a side characters. And Pond and Earth were also in high school uniform probably because there will be flashback involved in their stories.

They filmed with lots of breaks in between Qs and I couldn't understand why until I saw a post that reminded me that Perfect10 liners by New is also a shooting right now.

I expressed my confusiong on New doing a back and forth between project.

They stopped filming in July 12, announced more filming for the 20 and 22. But then on the 18 they announced a Pilot Trailer for Fourever You.

I made this post (linked with all addition) x

In the post @mysterygrl20 also told me that they cancelled the upcoming shooting days.

So To Recap:

worship cerimony march 9

workshops from march 21 to april 26 (not continuous with breaks in between)

First Q may 6

Fitting day may 9

Shooting of 17 Qs up until July 12 (again lots of breaks)

and Now a new Pilot trailer announcment on July 18. Which will come out on the 24. Less then a week since they announced it.

All shooting as stopped. Update (see link below) Shooting is continuing but one of the shooting days was cancelled.

-- Info on crew: writing, directing etc is not on MDL and I can't find it.

--------

Current projection: The new pilot trailer is to either get more brand deals or to better reprresent the series so they can sell it to another studio (probably not gmmtv, at least if it gets at gmmtv it won't be with cooheart. I don't think cooheart will ever jump ship to gmmtv all places, other places sure, but not gmmtv).

Hopefully we will get to see it sometimes next year. If at all. And hopefully we will get to see cooheart before then too.

--------

Clown theory time (thank you @respectthepetty for indulging me) x

-------

Updates og post by @mysterygrl20

Apparently not all the shooting days got cancelled, they are still shooting Q18.

------

Pilot Projection:

There are three ways for this pilot to go

Pilot is using story footage, classical set up for a pilot that vaguely tells you what the story is and the important early beats - Via clothing and locations and the images frin the Qs they shared we can see they are using footage from the Qs. ------ THIS IS BAD! And confusing, because as established in the many updates and this post itself, they are shooting the actual series. So why is the actual series footage would be in a pilot trailer?

Pilot is using story footage - But it's not footages that we can recognize from the Qs. ------ This is stupid. Because that would mean they either filmed this ages ago and realeased this now for unknown reasons. Or stopped filming the actual series to film useless scenes for a pilot trailer that are a copy of scenes that they probably already filmed for the series.

A reacration of the og pilot trailer but with the love interested casted this time and more clear vibes. ----- AKA the good option. Because this one means that mine and @respectthepetty theory is correct. And the series is getting shopped around. My reasoning is: Pilot trailers are to get money and hype from fans. Now the announcement of the pilot and of the hashtag is already generating a bit of hype on twitter. So they have the hype down. But what are they selling? They are in the middle of filming so it's unlikely that it is to attract more brand deals. The only thing left is a licensing deal.)

------

Pilot trailer thoughts x

It seems to be a mix of the first or second option. I don't know anything anymore. I am so confused

----

Update again. Pilot was just a part 1

---------------

Update Air Date Ocotober 3rd thanks to @babyangelsky

Last Update Poster and Trailer

[rikandadefest]

Rik and Ade Fest 2024

And now for a fourth year running: it's the Rik and Ade Fest! We've been trying to get your attention for the past 10 weeks, so hopefully you're listening! Give this blog a follow NOW to stay up to date as this year's fest progresses. Right on!

As usual, you can submit up to 3 prompts for fanart and/or fanfic for any piece of media featuring Rik and/or Ade. Also, as usual, you don't need to commit to making art or fic later to submit a prompt. We need more prompts than participants!

PLEASE READ THIS BIT! 🚨

Unusually, there's an extra rule in place for prompts this year. We're asking you to please not send in any prompts for The Young Ones or Bottom - just for this year! Next year, you can go mad!

Why are we asking this of you? Is it just that we're bastards? Well, we've noticed an (unsurprising) bias towards these two shows throughout fests, so we're trying to give Rik and Ade's lesser known/popular media a chance.

If you do accidentally submit a TYO or Bottom prompt this year, never fear! We won't be adding it to the prompt list this time, but we will hold on to it and add it next year. As well as this, all the previous unclaimed prompts for TYO and Bottom will still be available for artists and writers to claim and make work for this year.

But anyway, here's the ol' reliable Google Form for submissions. It will be open from today (23rd March) until 1st April.

If you're new to the Rik and Ade Fest or just want a refresher, the guidelines are available on the #RikAndAdeFest2024 ao3 collection:

Happy submitting, scumbags! You can contact @xgardensinspace or @neil-neil-orange-peel if you have any questions.

We are aware our fanart books currently have broken links. This is a recent occurrence. Ao3 cannot host pictures, so all fests' art is hosted elsewhere. We're looking for a new host site and may have to contact certain past artists for their art again once one is found. We intend to have this issue fixed before this year's fest is revealed in June. We apologise if this discourages artists from participating, though we would always encourage you to share your art on Tumblr, Instagram, or elsewhere too once a fest is revealed, in any case.

[fiercest-eigengrau-skies]

Help :')

Hey, guys. I never do this. Honestly, I really hate doing this, but I honestly have no other choice at this point.

I'm currently under the threat of eviction following the unexpected loss of my job on the 2nd of this month. My apartment management knows about this, as I made sure they were aware as soon as I found out. I emailed one of the members there and never received an email back. Yesterday, after my maintenance guy came and unclogged my tub and sink, I was handed a 7 day notice. I was also charged late fees I wasn't aware of, as they didn't show up on the online rent portal.

I've faithfully paid my rent reliably since I've lived here (now for close to 3 years), been late once or twice, but I like to think I'm a good renter. However, my apartment complex is under new management and they're pretty tyrannical, but I've already unfortunately signed my lease. Despite them knowing I'm currently out of a job, they don't care whatsoever. (I'm fairly certain this is because they're remodeling all of the apartments and want me out to remodel mine.)

I have a job lined up as of yesterday, but I don't know when I'll start and it doesn't pay well. (My old job paid $17.50/hr full time and this one pays $11.60/hr + 1% commission + 1$ spiffs part time.) I tried to sign up for unemployment just before I got the call from said job, but I didn't realize my ID expired back in March and won't be able to get a new one until Aug. 23rd.

I currently have roughly $50 to my name for pet food for my cats and mice and for bits of general things, but will get a last paycheck from my old job next week for hopefully around $200 since it was barely a full week's worth (I got paid every two weeks). However, I need a total of $775 for rent, including (what I'm assuming is) $25/day for late fees. I know it's a lot to ask and I don't like to ask, but I'll really take whatever y'all can offer.

Again, anything is appreciated and if y'all could give me some reblogs to spread the word, I'd really appreciate it :')

[shallyne]

The Diary of Feyre Archeron Ch. 2

Chapter two of Feyre's diary! I hope you enjoy,! Things might pick up in the next chapter

Words: 1.4k

February 7th

Dear Diary,

I feel like death on two legs. These past fews were SO hectic.

I've got the job I applied for and they agreed fairly quick for me to work the night shifts, and now I know WHY! Who would have thought so many people went to a seedy diner at the outside of town in the middle of the night? It's weird and I also need to act like nothing is different because mom knows nothing! She doesn't suspect a single thing! I guess being ignored by her has its perks?

Anyway, I'm not going down that route. Point is, I'm trying to juggle work and school and somehow get sleep at some point of the day, which worked until today when I fell asleep in Mr. Suriel’s class. And guess who woke me up? Rhysand!! He was very sweet about it but I felt so embarrassed, I basically bolted away from him and almost walked into a door. Yeah, I can't look at him anytime soon.

Also, dad is acting very weird lately. He's always in his office and barely talks to any of us if he bothers to show up for dinner, even mom and Elain.

Okay, that's it I think.

Byee

February 15th

Dear Diary,

The moon is so pretty. It's like 11pm right now and I'm not at work, I got this Saturday off to work on Sunday which even gives me a little Sunday bonus! Amazing, isn't it?

Back to the moon, it's beautiful! I've never paid much attention to it but now that I did, I never want to look at anything else again. Sitting in the moonlight and writing in my diary? That's so aesthetically pleasing, Pinterest would eat this up!

I'm also not the only one still awake, I can hear dad’s TV, he's watching the news again, as every evening although he's working much later than usual, mom is super grumpy about this. I think they even argued yesterday, I heard weird noises coming from their room.

I also have good news! Rhysand and I have to make a project together for history!! ME and RHYSAND. It's going to be so fun, as long as I keep him far away from my house. He already asked if we wanted to start the project at his house or mine, of course I said his even though I'm super nervous! We're meeting tomorrow. Should I wear the blue sweater? Maybe I can steal some of Elain’s mascara. Or I could ask her. We'll see, I guess.

I also don't know if I should leave my notebook at home. It's full of scribbles of Rhys's eyes. That's very specific but I just can't get them right! How can a person have such unique eyes? If anyone comes close to having literal starry eyes, it's him. So, what would be more embarrassing, if mom found the notebook or Rhys??

I think I'll leave it here, hide it in my closet. If mom still finds it I can lie and say it's just practice! Hopefully she won't find the R+F scribbled in the back.

I'm getting sleepy now, big day tomorrow.

Bye!

March 9th

Dear Diary,

Rhys and I got an A on our project! It was so easy working with him, it didn't even feel like working. He's not just the most beautiful guy I have ever seen, he's also so nice and incredibly smart! I think he also plays sports, what can't he do? Like, leave some talent for us!

I also got into an argument with Nesta if it's acceptable to use sus as a word. It's way too hard and time consuming to always fully spell suspiceus ous, same with saying it. Shortening it saves lots of time! She says it's stupid and to not use it in front of her friends because it's humiliating. To quote her, verbatim, “Stop trying to make sus happen, Feyre! It's not going to happen!” Rude. It's totally going to happen someday and I'm going to tell her “I told you so.” (She hates that)

Also, after weeks of acting sus, dad finally joined us at dinner and actually talked. Mostly to mom and the topic was the airplane that had just disappeared but nonetheless, he talked and his mood seemed better! He also doesn't look like a caveman anymore for the first time since he locked himself in the office, so that's good.

Mom also almost caught me eating chocolate, which would have been a total disaster. She's always making sure that we, mostly Elain and Nesta, aren't overweight. She's weighing them weekly! It's so insane. Sometimes I bring back some leftovers after my shift and sneak them to Elain and Nesta's room. They accept them and mom hasn't kicked me out of the house yet, so I assume they haven't told her. They also don't ask question when I bring the snacks, they just accept it. Good, that means they don't have to lie for me. Or I don't have to lie to them.

Okay, I guess that's it for the day.

PS: is it normal to constantly have a feeling of impending doom? Is it just PMS?

April 29th

Dear Diary,

Since Rhys and I did our project we've spent much more time together! He's so funny, he always makes me laugh. I think we've even become friends. We shared our lunch today, he got a half of my sandwich and I got a half of his! He even gave me his coke zero because he was shocked when I told him I never had any. It was amazing. (the coke, the company and the lunch)

Rhys told me he's super into astronomy, he's a nerd about it and it's so cute. I never saw him so animated about a topic! I mean, when he talks about himself. For some reason he also looks super interested when I talk about painting, he must be a good actor because I can't imagine him really being interested in art but I appreciate it anyway! No one ever really tried to listen to me about my hobbies.

I think I'm talking nonsense again, I don't know why that always happens. Sometimes my thoughts feel like a big heap of muddled words and everything is going on at once.

Oh, right, I almost forgot the most important thing! Rhys and I planned a sleepover during the summer holidays! I told him that I'd like to have a WiiU someday and he suggested a game night, because he has a WiiU, I'm so excited! I hope the time goes by fast, I can't wait. I need a break, my schedule is so tight these days, it's almost suffocating but I can't tell anyone.

It's going to be worth it, though. I'm saving my money, for what, I don't know yet. Maybe my driver's license? I have time to figure it out.

Mom is out for tea with her friends right now, so I'm using the time to listen to Taylor Swift without headphones!

May 31st

Dear Diary,

I could cut the tension here with a knife but either no one tells me what's up or they don't know. I tried to get some infos from our cook, Alis. She's always nice and she gets wind of all the gossip but she couldn't tell me what's going on.

Something isn't right and I need to know what it is, although something tells me I shouldn't. But can I just leave this mystery unsolved? Of course I can't!

It might be quiet right now, mom amd dad are in dad’s office upstairs, Elain and Nesta are in the garden and all the house staff seem to be huddled somewhere around the kitchen, whispering among themselves. Maybe I could eavesdrop? But there isn't really a way to hide without them seeing me. We definitely need more secret nooks in this house, I can't get information like this.

Nesta always says I'm nosy but that's such a negative way to look at it, I'm just curious. How is she not? How is Elain not? Is it wrong to be curious?

Especially if your parents are super jumpy for, like, the whole last week! It's super sus. Last night I knocked over the salt shaker and they flinched! Mom didn't even shout or reprimand me, she just glowered and went back to her dinner, it was sca–

Oh, hold on, the doorbell just rang, be back in a sec.

Taglist:

@captain-of-the-gwynriel-ship @starfall-spirit @rhysiedarling @corcracrow @sydney-fae25 @tothestarsandwhateverend @aayo-whatt @dreamlandreader

[erbezdiez]

Hi everyone! Here's a little update:

My little pet rat Pin, the one I talked about in this post, passed away last Saturday night. I knew he didn't have much left, since the chemo apparently wasn't really making any effect, but it was still a surprise. I was actually planning on giving him a big feast with some of his favorite treats on Sunday, which I guess is the one regret I have.

As far as I know, it wasn't painful. He was on painkillers, so even tho his cancer was affecting him, he wasn't on any pain. He had even started using his hind legs again, which he hadn't been using much since his surgery around March. He was an old man, and he simply went to sleep. He looked really peaceful, like he'd wake up and start running around at any moment. I'm super grateful for that.

So yeah! It's being hard, we had him for three years and suddenly he's just gone. But I know he was loved, and he knew that as well. I'm super thankful to anyone who helped out, anyone who rebloged or liked or donated. We won't have to pay any more visits to the vet, but we'll still be paying around 50 euros each month for his surgery until the end of the year. But hopefully we'll be able to cover that with what we have on us and a couple of conventions we'll be going on these months.

Thanks again for everything! Now back to art :)

[eblu3]

alright I need to explain what the hell has been happening here because I don't think anyone here really understands how bad it's been. here's a timeline:

late 2022: I'm still living in my childhood home with my dad, trying to ease myself into being an adult at a pace that I'm comfortable with, still working my part-time remote job. he falls head over heels for a girl from tampa.

november 2022: dad informs me that he's looking to move to tampa to marry his new gf. this means that I have to move out. I immediately get flustered because I am not enough of a 21 year old to understand how to move into a place yet so it gets backburnered.

january 2023: after a grand total of a single night looking at apartments, dad pulls the trigger for me without asking and signs me up for a $2,000/mo luxury apartment with my brother as my roommate and him as a financial benefactor, hiring movers along the way. my head spins as I realize that I have until the beginning of february to get everything set up. I somehow manage to do it.

february 2023: I move into the apartment. noise issues abound but I get used to them as much as I could. my brother still doesn't have a job, I occasionally poke him to get one because I can't foot 2 grand on top of bills and groceries by myself and dad will only help so much.

march-june 2023: I'm trying. my brother gets a job at a fast food place because everyone's pressuring him to get something and quits after a week because he hates it, yet he still takes the car while I'm not looking and occasionally doordashes. I turn 22, my bike that I've been meaning to learn how to ride gets stolen the same day due to neglect. dad decides to, with the financial support from his new wife, send me all the money that he had been planning to give me over the course of the year so his financial support is out of the picture. my work still won't bring me on full time. my brother eventually gets moved into mom's place because I'm fed up with his antics, but I'm not informed about it until it happens so I don't get any say in the matter or time to prepare. I am officially on borrowed time but shove it to the back of my mind because I am overwhelmed.

september 2023: I am officially out of money and can't pay the rent. I have nowhere else to go except for my mom's house outside of orlando, where she had moved for work earlier that year. I begrudgingly put myself into debt to greystar and let dad pack as much of my stuff as he could into a small u-haul and I move into her place.

october 2023: it's cramped. I am living in a three bedroom household with five people in it. the only space I have to myself is a queen-sized mattress in a room with my brother. I am still paranoid about people looking over my shoulder while I'm doing things so I don't use my computer at all. everyone keeps taking both of the cars and I have no public transit or walkability available to me so I'm essentially trapped in a single-family subdivision most of the time. I pretty much just shut down at this point, only doing the bare minimum to survive. when dad and his wife find out that the landlord is mad at my mom, they quickly move to move me out and into their place where I can hopefully recover.

november 2023: I move to dad's place outside of tampa where I hopefully have a bit more breathing room. it's a struggle to get used to grocery shopping for myself again. it's okay but my trauma responses keep getting triggered by him so it's decided that I need to move out again. my mom, who had recently moved out again to arkansas for work and broken up with my annoyingly conservative stepdad, is struggling to pay the rent, so I end up moving there again. I cross my fingers that this will be the last time in a while, I simply need the time to recover at this point.

december 2023: I move there. I pay half of my salary from my job which still hasn't done anything for me to mom, hopeful that I can just lay low and recover because I am fully out of steam at that point. she's still struggling financially but I don't see how anything could possibly get worse.

january 2024: I decide to ring in the new year by trying to be true to myself. I annoy everyone by constantly posting about a single pokemon I like because I simply have no idea how to control a behavior that I've never really engaged in before.

march 2024: I manage to destroy nearly every friendship I have because I use really crap judgment and choose my words extremely poorly, insulting everyone. I am distraught but force myself to engage in a community that had freaked me out prior because I had nowhere else to go. nothing has changed financially at all for me.

june 2024: mom announces that she is at risk of getting fired and that we need to move into a cheaper place ASAP. my job puts me on performance improvement because my stress and anxiety tank my ability to sleep and work. I apply to a new one, referred to by my mom's new boyfriend, as a hail mary. I get sent into a mental tailspin and try to use the upcoming art fight event as a distraction.

july 2024: I try. I get an interview but it doesn't pan out. mom finds an apartment to get waitlisted on, I'm expected to be the guy that owns it. I am just fully burnt out at this point and people are leaving me again because my stress and depression are boiling over and causing me to wallow in perpetual negativity and touch starvation. not sure what to do next. I write this post.

so uh, if you're wondering why I'm a mess, there you go

[manonamora-if]

The Roads I Maybe Should Have Taken

The TRNT Post Mortem

Oye oye! As was promised, so it is! The Post Mortem for The Roads Not Taken (which hopefully won't be as long as the actual game...)

Follow me into my journey of once again speed-running my way through a competition, and coming out scratched and bruised and still not learning my lessons!

First, some links:

if you haven't played the game yet, I recommend you do before reading this!

you can find its IFDB page here (if you want to leave a review?)

and the STF version source code here for the code curious!

shortened version of the PostMortem on IntFic

Then, a little Table of Content:

The Idea

The Story

The Implementation

The Reception

The Do-Over?

And finally, we start! (under the break because it will be long - LoL at me writing 1/5th of TRNT as a Post Mortem)

I should preface this Post Mortem with I entered the SpringThing on a whim. I had just come out of a conga line of competitions and game jams since last Summer (log of release/update), and had plans on finishing working on other projects instead of this one (which I probably should have... sorry The Rye in the Dark City for abandoning you...). But I obviously didn't do that because here was another new fresh game! And then another two of those just after... whooops...

The idea for TRNT just popped into my brain one day and would not leave me until I implemented it, no matter what (yes, I am still weak willed, I have not learned my lesson from The Thick Table Tavern, the one about not rushing a project and publishing it at a later date when it is truly ready). I did have that thought in the back of my mind that if I do do this, it would be very likely I would end up with a repeat of TTTT, as in: half-full drink with too much ice, and expired garnish falling from the very pretty fancy glass.

Also I did not start working on the entry until the SeedComp was in its voting round (so around the 4-5th of March?). I really wasn't kidding about the speed-running thing....

Another thing: I had never created a parser game before this point AND suck real time at playing them! This was also indicated in my Author's comment.

Nothing obviously stopped me anyway, because here we are...

1- The Idea

A few weeks before the opening of the SpringThing intent, the French IF community was streaming some older parser entries, including Aisle* and Pick-Up the Phone Booth and Die, two games where the player can only do one action before the game ends. I'd never really experienced this kind of game before (the closest being having a sudden death/continue the story choice). It packed a punch, it was funny, and also so very weird. It left me dissatisfied and super intrigued. I wanted to try and do that too someday. *Funnily, someone on the French IF discord thought DOL-OS had been inspired by Sam Barlow's work (it wasn't, but TRNT def was).

Not, I am not going to be hella pretentious and full of myself by putting TRNT on the same level as those games (because I don't think I did a good enough job to merit a comparison), but the one-action-only gameplay and multiple endings drew me in (I love abrupt endings, cf P-Rix). I've mainly written longer form of IF rather than short bites, and I thought it would be fun to try to constrict myself as much as possible, by having just one thing, one action, one outcome.

And also: parsers. I had only dabbled with the Choice-Based/Hyperlink format, so I thought it was time to try the last unexplored part of my IF journey: parsers. Since the SpringThing Festival is a nice place to experiment, I thought why not try to make one then! I could not have survived the anxiety of the IFComp reviews for that one...

Still, it was not going to be without a challenge. I had very little experience with parsers, and I honestly didn't think I could learn how to use a parser program in such short amount of time*, when I had a lot of other stuff at the same time. So I thought, why not make it in Twine**, at least I know this program inside-and-out(almost). There would not be a steep learning curve there... What could go wrong? *lol at me, having made an Adventuron game in a non supported language in about 2 weeks after that, without ever having tried the program beforehand. I could totes have managed!! **Also, when I got set with Twine, I realised how fun it would be to maybe put people's expectations upside down by doing something you're not supposed to with Twine... or parsers!

Well, it was going right at first...

2- The Story

I really wanted to recreate the same gameplay of Aisle with its only-one-action-and-it's-over, so I started listing possible actions and put them into a context where this choice of action would mean everything for the PC - because it is the only action you have. Which might not have been a good take? Aisle works because the setting is incredible mundane, and there are no stakes.

The context pretty quickly drew itself as the player will chose a profession/career path, and if they do/choose something wrong, then...😬too bad for them, they made their choice, deal with the consequences. While, in reality, we are not stuck in a life because of one choice, but with a myriad of them (and still we can change this trajectory), it's still a big pressure you get as a youth, having to choose where to go and what to do when you are done with highschool, and what path to take. It's a lot of responsibility that sometimes feels like it will affect/haunt the rest of your life. Do I still have some of that school/parental pressure from when I had to make that choice ingrained somewhere inside? probably...

But the more foolish idea was to let my brain continue to think more about that context and create a world and story further than the choice. Instead of going forward with the consequences and the hints of what could have happened or just let the choice being the centre piece, the brain just went backwards and created a society (some sort of futuristic one) and vaguely described beings (that are not humans), and the ritualistic culture of this society, etc... While it was fun to think about all of those, and maybe provided a fun setting and enticing story for the player to go through the game, there might have been a bit too much of it. I think, in hindsight, this may have devalued the choice itself (which became even more watered down when I continued on writing the first screens).

And so, the job choice soon became the player is going through some sort of ritual (v trope-y) to determine their place in society. If it has a vibe of The Giver, it shouldn't be too surprising, the book is on my shelf.

So we still have the one-choice-to-rule-them-all, but now there is a also backstory and setting... and I have to include it somewhoeeven if it means cramming it somewhere, anywhere.

Oh wait, I thought, I'll just make it like a prologue to build anticipation for the choice!

And so the brain went on zooming again to create the waiting room, and the agonising walk in the corridor, and the finding your way to the altar, before you cant finally make your choice..... only to end up with two(-ish) paragraphs for each endings. wow - what a good balanced game this is becoming...

Speaking of endings, I had originally listed over 50 actions, each planned to have a different ending.... only to end up with about 11, 7 of those were actually related to the final countdown choice. It made me sadder than when I cut onions :(

It wasn't just the player that needed to make...

At this point, we were two weeks away from the deadline. I had the backbone of the code (-ish), a good third of the writing wasn't complete (and this was mainly those 11 endings), and no one had tested the game yet. There was no way I could have included all 50 original options if I wanted to make the deadline. might have been good in hindsight to remove those choices, especially with the current command system.

So choices had to be made and a buttload of planned things had to be cut. I narrowly managed to finish the needed endings in time (which required re-writing some of those into a fake choice), at least.

At the end, I strayed quite a bit from the Aisle concept of a mini intro - one action - an ending puzzle-y feel (and making the player piece the story together from the endings), to arrive at... well... this anxiously geolian walk to one's doom (or dream). Making the story quite... well... linear.

And from going somewhat wrong, it went a little wrong-er...

3- The Implementation

Wanting to avoid the headache of learning a new program, I had settled on Twine pretty much from the start (SugarCube, because that's how I've been rolling for the past almost 2 years!).

The big problématiques of this project were:

Twine is not a parser program (duh)

SugarCube has its limitations still (and macros that don't always work the way you want to)

I had never written a parser game before and suck at playing them (thank you, French IF streams that helps me enjoy them without experiencing the frustration of not finding the right combo!)

I still suck at JavaScript/jQuery to do weird things with the page (and probably fix all those issues)

and well did I already say Twine is not a parser program?

So I tried to get to the basic of parsers (an input box and text revealing itself onto the page when a command is entered) and prayed for the best. Easy, right?

WRONG!

SugarCube has an input box, but can only autofocus* inside one specific place (so you can't lock it somewhere else but the passage itself, which means you need to add it to every screen...) and when the passage is first loaded (doesn't work if the input box is added later on). *I have also hurt some kitten by overusing autofocus, which was only compensated by offering the the SugarCube God some bug reports about it so those issues could be fixed for the next update (TBA). But you really are not supposed to use autofocus as much as I did... 😬

SugarCube has an input box, but you can only move to another passage after you press Enter. So you can't have some fancy input checks, and you stay on the same page... without some custom listener macro* that is (Bless you Maliface and your Listen Macro) - or I guess some JavaScript code, but who has time for that... I had included a button as an alternative to confirm the commands (which was how I had coded it for DOL-OS), but it would have made the parser experience much worse if using Enter would not have loaded a response (this was a criticism from DOL-OS, which now that I know how to fix, I really should do so...). *at least until the next Sugarcube update which will include a listener.

SugarCube has an input box, but doesn't have a bank of commands, or set object indicator (like with the parsers). While you can technically separate the inputed words with some JavaScript**, whether you do so or not will end with the same amount of spaghetti code at the end, with the different conditional statements for each actions on each screen to show the correct text bits (mine amounted to almost 600 lines of code for 7 screens... without included the printed text! -> see the source code). Now that I've messed around with Adventuron, I can see how easy it is to make a parser game (set up commands and rooms and interactive object), when you have a bank of built-in commands and not have to worry about how to add the new text on the screen. Twine really added a new layer of complexity to this.... Was there a better way of doing this? probably, but don't look at me to find it. *this was how the name chosenname command came to be, and how it only printed the chosen name on the following screens. That and the autofocus being messy...

SugarCube can add text bits to a page, but unlike parser programs, it won't automatically scroll down to the bottom of the page, or at least to the added element. Adding a scroll down to the bottom or scroll up to the page was not too hard (I had some leftover js code), but it was not the solution: the UI is mobile/tablet accessible (smaller screens), which means scrolling to the bottom would make those players having to manually scroll back up (and I am usually quite verbose in my writing). So very much EH.... NOT GREAT! After quite a lot of testing, broken pieces of code, way too much swearing, and re-doing the base of the UI, I did manage to find a solution.... a month into the review/voting period.

But even with those limitations, I pushed through. I knew it was possible to make it work, so I either tried to find work arounds (and gave up the scrolling, at least until the deadline), and pushed through, banging my head against my desk because of what was achievable...

LIKE BUILDING A WHOLE COMMANDS SYSTEM...

Wanting to make things easy for myself (and the players), I thought maybe removing all verbs would make it easier to go through the game, even when having to interact with objects or people around. Enter the bolded word* from the text as the input, press enter, and read the new text! *It was important for me to have some sort of "easy" mode where the interactive things were obvious to the player, coming from a scene where parsers are not the norm/favoured.

Simple right?

This idea... stopped working as soon as I introduced physical actions (sit, stand, jump, etc...), directional actions (the story might be linear but it still has multiple rooms), but most importantly as soon as I wrote flavour texts for one same object. Even if I could get away with removing X/LOOK/EXAMINE*, adding verbs at the end was a necessity (I didn't want to see all the already written variation go to waste...). *I did include look in the code, but mistakenly didn't think about its synonym <- shows the no-knowledge of parser, and not having a bank of commands built-in.

So verbs were added, and then some of its synonyms (but evidently not the most important ones 😬), and then some prepositions just in case, and noun synonyms with adjectives because of how it is described in the text, and then.... so on and so forth. And because of how SugarCube is set, I ended up with lines like this at the end:

<<if ["initiate", "look initiate", "look at initiate", "remember initiate", "initiates", "look initiates", "look at initiates", "remember initiates", "recall initiate", "recall initiates"].contains(_cmd)>>

(and this is not even a correct or complete command list, since it is missing EXAMINE and X)

Et rebelotte for all the interactive words on the page, as well as the added variations requiring another set other verbs. There's not really a verb/noun aliases list to help...

BUT WAIT

Because I always like to make it difficult for myself and not think of the amount of work my ideas/plan will require, I had to make some bits of text appear only once (even if some commands could be used more than once on that page) OR removing the player's ability to make a different action when they do a specific one AND have some bits of text only appear after a command has been used on that page. Pushing the player through extra invisible gates on top of the different rooms. I could have made it easier on myself to break scenes further than I had already done, but nooooooo

And I did this not just once. BUT THREE TIME! When the player is called to get in line, in the corridor, and just before the big doors.

I could have fed myself for a whole week with the spaghetti that came out of my code.

But Manon, I can hear the little devil on my shoulder say, Why all the whining and excuses? You could have stopped if it turned out to be a bad idea, especially if you couldn't implement it properly. Why not have made the story in something else than a parser?

Well...

because Time (wa)s running out and I wasn't going to let all this hard work go to waste by changing everything up at the last minute (it could have worked/been easier, that's true)

because it was still a fun puzzle to solve, even if frustrating most of the time,

because you learn more when you fail than when you win

I'm not a quitter :P (hiding my too many WIPs waiting for me....)

Even if I doubted myself with finishing the game on time, I still pushed myself to cross the finish line, since I knew I would not have finished the project otherwise. Thought it could have been fun to get the 12 angry men passing judgement on my Twine monstrosity making a mockery of parsers had I submitted it to the very serious ParserComp instead. /jk lovingly

So after some "extensive" testing (rushed in the last week, because I am a nightmare to people, sorry @groggydog and @lapinlunairegames for making you go through this, but also thank you for your help!!), I made it to the end!

Well... barely. Ended up with a few bug fixes update along the way.

4- The Reception

(it was like that in my heart)

Like TTTT, this was not explosion of praise and accolades. And I fully expected it. You can't make experiments omelettes without cracking a few programs/rules eggs. At least my omelette didn't have too many eggshells :P

Looking at the numbers, at the time of writing this posts, TRNT is currently sitting at 5 stars (4 ratings) on itch, and 3-1/2 stars on IFDB (2 ratings)*, with 4 reviews on the Forum (bellow the median/average this festival). None of the ratings game with reviews/comments. *When some of the reviews will be moved to the IFDB, I do expect this average to get lower. The itch one is nice (really happy 4 peeps loved it!), but most people only rate when they didn't like it or when they loved it.

As for the feedbacks gotten, they came from a few sources: the people who playtested TRNT, dms on Tumblr and the Forum, the Twine server, and the awaited reviews on the Forum.

Overall, the people who liked the game really enjoyed themselves, from the writing and the worldbuilding being intriguing, or how pretty the UI was. Even with the issues raised during the festival, quite a lot of people (who sent me comments) thought the experiment was either a success, something really cool, or impressive considering the limitations (of the festival and/or of the program). Even in the more critical comments, this experiment was seen as an interesting one to be commended (with a bit of a why did you bother... sprinkled in there). Someone told me TRNT reminded them of the Divergent series (and fair comparison, considering the whole ritual to put you in one job for the rest of your life).

The most surprising thing was that people who never played parser before (or didn't really liked them) found the game entertaining and fun to go through, managing to get to the end without too many issues; while the reviewers with more experience in the genre had a bit more restraints due to the command system I put in place.

Whether my giddiness about verbose writing was to the liking of the player or not, I was honestly happy comments about my grammar didn't make much of an appearance this time around (yay, progress!), and that I would get kudos for the vague story behind the experiment itself, and the structure of the story itself.

But this doesn't mean that it was all sunshine and rainbow here. TRNT had some obvious issues, which should have been squashed during the testing phase had this one been longer (yet again, me speed-running through comps when I should take my time... when will I learn...). There were two main ones: the commands and the UI.

The biggest issue came from the commands, being either unclear or confusing, especially when it came to the cardinal direction, the choice of synonym for the actions, or special actions like the name input. Even if you could go along the story with just a noun or press C until you reached the end, missing important verb commands did not help the game feel complete (EXAMINE/GET/the shortcuts). This is where having some Parser knowledge/experience would have come handy, he.... As for the cardinal directions, it was probably most confusing because I used them as synonyms for forward/back/left/right instead of N/S/W/E (that and it wasn't clear where you were able to go in the text either). Quite a few players were also getting stuck in the corridor (after you come to a stop, you hear some thing up front and your choices are to move to the side/jump or stand still). Special actions like the name input or the final choice were felt a bit off/broke immersion. Party due to the way SugarCube is, partly due to how I organised the game. Having a simple input where the player is asked for their name before the game start and have a say name command, might have worked better there. That and a better hinting system. Fix for those TBD.

Closely followed was the UI being annoying (which ;-; bc I pride myself on creating good UI, but it was fair critique), from the scrolling being an absolute ass, to the confusing bolding of the start of passages being the same as the interactive words (if you didn't change the colour in the settings), to the back/replay last choice command on the END screen not going to the right spot, or the responses of computing an inputted command not appearing/being confusing (in relation to the scrolling), some quirks with the UI being wonky for some screen sizes, etc... Thankfully, all those have been fixed.... but too late for the reviews already published. A quick revamp of the UI base + solving the scrolling issue + slight reformatting of the printed new text bits solved if not all of those issues. Still... too little too late... That's what you get for making a UI in a large screen and only checking different width but not different heights....

A SIDENOTE ON WHY PARSER AND NOT HYPERTEXT

Or me going a bit on a rant. Scroll down to pt 5- The Do-Over to resume coherent levelled conversation.

Still, making a parser a Twine was a CHOICETM, which didn't work for everybody. I don't know if it was because the game was put forth as a Twine game before being a parser, or because the story was maybe a bit too linear/not very interactive compared to other parsers, or because I set out to make a parser before thinking of a story and it showed for some, (or probably because the parser system was not very well implemented) but I did have a few commenters wondering if my choice of making it a parser was the correct one, as in why would you use parser when hyperlinks would have probably worked better?

Maybe a cop-out answer would be Why not. Why not try to break the rules and the codes of what is a Twine game or what is a parser? Why not push Twine to where it is probably not supposed to go (sorry, TME)? Why not blur the lines of the divides between the subgenres of IF? I wrote some part while having a bit of a fever, and my notes had Why not make parsers less puzzle-y/more linear choice-based like? and oh boi is it good to re-read yourself... Cause yiekes what a load of BS.

The other part of the answer is Because experimenting and doing weird thing is fun! Doing weird thing, writing bad code that should probably not work but it does, putting the program on a lifeline, making up stories that are nonsensical, etc... and breaking people's mind in the process with what could be done. Also it was just fun to find out whether it was just possible to do it at all. The rush of happiness when you the puzzle is solved is so incredibly gratifying. It was really fun to try something different (for me but also for what Twine can generally do), to solve a puzzle of mashing two things that don't/shouldn't go together, to find what makes them tick and make it all work, and to challenge myself to do something new (did I mention before it was my fist time making a parser?). AND, having fun creating! And the SpringThing has always been a beacon to promote experimentation with the genre and more out there stuff. So it's was kind of like the stars aligned or something :P

Also Because it was possible!That one is pretty self-explanatory...

Maybe a bit more presumptuous of me: Because experimenting keeps Interactive Fiction fresh and exciting! I'm not trying to set a trend or anything here (honestly, it's not too strange, TRNT's weirdness kind of follows my previous work with TTTT and its mixology element, or DOL-OS with it computer interphase), but isn't fun to see what else can be done in IF, or what new area can be explored now that funky stuff has been tried, or what else should probably not be done (hopefully this doesn't apply to TRNT lol, I think it should be fun to have more parser in Twine). Even if my entry was not really a novel idea even in the gameplay (exhibit A, exhibit B, exhibit C), I still think there should be more weird stuff out there, so I contribute to that where/when I can! It'd be sad if IF became same-y and stale... It'd be fun if someone did something like this because they played TRNT and thought it was neat :P

And Because it didn't fit with my original vision of the game. Even if the game changed quite a lot along the way, the parser element was something I would not compromise with, no matter how good or bad the final product was. Sorry TME for the kittens lost in the autofocus of the textboxes...

I did wonder for a while how many people opened the settings at all 🤔

5- The Do-Over?

Ha.

Haha.

Hahaha.

No.

Honestly... If I was going back to the start, I don't think I would change anything. Even if the length of the testing was more than minimal (still haven't learned my lesson), even if I rushed into the competition (again, not learned my lesson), even if I made errors along the way (well, maybe fixing the UI earlier instead) or let the story stray that much away from the original idea (honestly it was probably for the best that it ended not being too close to Aisle at the end, I might have gotten eviscerated in the reviews). It did what it was supposed to do, and checked all the boxes from what I wanted to try. At the end, to me, it was a complete (and stressful success).

Will there be some changes in the future?

Just a bit, at some point, TBD and TBA. Just to fix the commands a bit, maybe rearrange some passages, add a bit more variation/hidden codex entries, maybe even a new ending or two! But it wouldn't go further than that. TRNT was an experiment through and throuh.

==================== THE END ====================

Anyway, my weird hybrid beast of a parser in Twine and I are done rambling about my awesome show of tricks that may or may not have landed badly and with a broken skateboard. We will go collect our ribbons, now!

Make IF weird, Do word crimes, Have fun

I do wonder if me submitting the game in the Main Garden rather than at the Back Garden played into the expectations of the reviewers, since the BG is meant for more experimental IF. But in the same vein, there was the Kuolema running on a Google Form and people flocked to it so 🤷 It's probably the quality that made things the way it is whooooops :P

[heroofshield]

Whumcember Day 22 Alt 2- Ice (Dragon Age 2, Fenhawke)

@whumpcember

"C'mon it'll be fun." Hawke smiled as she took Fenris's hand and gave it a tug. "Besides, you've never really gone ice skating. And since it's currently winter...no time like the present."

Fenris frowned but let Hawke drag him to the door and outside. He wouldn't admit that all he wanted to do was stay in front of the fire and drink. "Not when she's so excited to show me what 'ice skating' is. This is the first smile I've seen since Carver left." he thought as they made their way through the market and towards the main gates.

As they made their way through the snow, Hawke chattered on about how she used to ice skate with Carver and Bethany back in Lothering, how they would have to wait until Malcolm tested the ice to make sure it was thick enough to support their weight. "-and there was always someone who ended up skating too late in the season and went through the ice." Marian paused, realizing what she was saying. "But you don't have to worry about that, we're well into the season and it's been really cold."

"Are you sure?" Fenris said as they made their way to the pond that Hawke had pointed out when they'd gotten in view. He paused, raising an eyebrow at the ice where the water used to be. "It doesn't look that safe to me."

"It's fine. I went out last week and nothing happened." Hawke said, pausing for a moment before letting go of Fenris's hand and marched towards the bank. Not pausing, she moved away from the bank and onto the ice itself.

Fenris's heart leapt into his throat as he heard a crack...but nothing happened. Relaxing slightly he started to follow Hawke, getting onto the edge of the ice.

"See? It's like I-" Hawke started to say, smiling when suddenly there were several sharp cracks and she fell through the ice with a shout.

"Hawke!" Fenris called out, feeling his heart leap into his throat as she disappeared. Frantically he tried to recall what she'd said in the past if someone was to fall through the ice.

Moving quickly, he lay down on the ice- spreading his body weight so he didn't fall through either. Making his way towards the hole, he risked peeking over the broken ice to see if she was there. But only water greeted him and he swallowed thickly before taking a breath and plunging his hand into the water.

The cold instantly shocked him, shooting through his system almost instantly and it took all of his willpower to keep his hand in-moving about to hopefully brush into Hawke's.

The seconds seemed to become an eternity until something bumped against his hand. Resisting the urge to withdraw it, he stopped moving and felt fingers try to grasp his. Not hesitating, he moved his arm further in and was able to take her hand. Pulling with all his strength, Fenris saw Hawke appear and gasp for air. Still focused on getting her out of the water, he grabbed with his other arm and slowly but surely dragged her onto the ice.

Realizing that they weren't out of danger just yet, Fenris somehow managed to get them both off of the ice and onto the ground. It was all a blur, all he could think about was getting Hawke to safety.

Hawke's entire body was shivering and dripping wet. In the back of her mind she knew that she needed to get warm, but the overwhelming chattering of her teeth made it hard to form a coherent thought. Vision blurring, she was dimly aware of Fenris's body pressed against hers and him saying something about getting back to Kirkwall.

--

Anders stoked the fire in Hawke's room while saying, "I hope you won't go onto anymore ice after this. You were half-frozen by the time Fenris carried you back here. You were lucky yet again."

Hawke let out a sneeze and ignored the comment, choosing the burrow herself under the layer of blankets as much as she could. It had been a few day since she'd gone through the ice and still couldn't stop shivering. Peeking over the covers and she saw that her mabari was spread out in front of the fire. "At least one of us is enjoying the warmth."

Anders let a half-smile appear and leaned the poker against the brick, brushing the soot from his hands. "I'll be back tonight to see how you are and Varric'll be by later this afternoon."

"Thanks." Hawke watched as Anders slipped out of the room and closed her eyes, suddenly feeling tired. It felt like she'd closed them for a minute, but when she opened them next, Fenris was asleep in the chair next to the fire.

Slightly smiling, she was glad that he'd been with her that day and hoped the mild attraction they felt between each other could grow as time went on.

[ravenstargames]

✦ Lost in Limbo Devlog #3 | 03.31.23

Almost April already, huh? Time does really fly when you are busy. If February promised to be a stressful month for me and the team, March has been hell let loose. Our second trimester has ended as of today and our plan of action is to do as many things as we can during April, as we will hopefully have less workload from our master.

Without further ado—let's see what we managed to do this month!

Fixing sprites has still been one of our priorities. Truth is our master is doing a good job at teaching us how to do things better, and the eyes that once did those sprites are not the same watching them now. One of our bigger struggles is the lack of personal—we are literally four people doing our best with our daily lives while also being in charge of whole departments, and that is a bit crazy sometimes because there's a lot to do. I hope we can hire some help for the full game, because I don't want us all to crunch forever :').

Following the character art train of thought, this month we will also be giving priority to finishing at least one of our key art / promotional art pieces. Raquel is already working on polishing the sketch and we hope we can finish it soon to really start having a solid package of key art to represent us and our game.

Final piece will include bodies attached to heads, mind you. Unless...

Ahá! Remember last month when we said Raquel and I were working on some LiL backgrounds for a master assignment? Well, they are looking pretty good! We got rid of one forest background during the prologue outline process to alleviate some workload, but we seized the opportunity to bring it back! We won't be showing that one yet as we want to finish it and make an individual post for it, but you can have a look at this one instead!

Taking a stroll through Limbo's woods seems like a good idea...

Not too many news from the writing department this month. I'm going full speed with the fixes and editing the demo script like I planned, and I hope to have everything ready next month, but we'll see how things go. The changes to the script are being very beneficial to the general pace of the prologue. We want to get to the juicy part as soon as possible and have as much content of the LIs as we can, right?

The main lore document is still on the works too, but, dare I say it, I'm very happy with it! I'm secretly hoping we can offer the lore book as a physical reward for our future kickstarter, but that's still far away in the future. The artbook is our main priority!

This month we have also focused on something really special and important that sadly we won't be revealing until it's done because, well, it's in the making, and no one wants to see it all ugly and in progress, right? But we are working very hard and are very excited to be able to show it soon! Agh!

Also, our GUI is almost, almost completely finished! Only the title screen is left, so we are leaving you a preview of another screen right below. Our designer is once again doing an impeccable job.

Yep, you'll have a compendium with all the important bits and lore pieces you discover. Only in the full game, though.

It has been an okay-ish month for us. Very stressful because of our master; there's definitely a lot of excitement we have been bottling up as we found ourselves unable to work on LiL like we wanted to. I hope that April, or at least the beginning of it (before the last trimester of our degree starts getting serious and unhinged, which I'm afraid will happen) proves to be productive and enough to at least tie up some loose ends. The team needs a couple of days to rest, but we are ready to get back on track and do as much as we can this next month.

Thank you all so much for your unending support and for your patience, it means the world to us :') 💜 We hope you all are doing alright!

[azures-grace]

Gonna put the main stuff under a read more until december

Hello people!

I'm going to open up some commissions from now until the end of November! If you DM me proof that you've donated at least 10 USD to a fundraiser on the Palestinian GFM document, I'll draw you a lil doodle.

It'll be flat colors, minimal shading. The doodles might be really slow to come in, I'm in school and it's a lot of work just for that, but i WILL draw something for you.

Fundraiser list overall:

A fundraiser that's really low on funds(it's #140 on the list above):

You can look in my #azure arted tag to see some examples of my art! I'll put a few in the style I'm offering below the terms

Terms:

I won't draw anything NSFW. I am not very good at drawing animals, non-humanoids, or complicated designs. I will draw up to three characters for you. I'll draw OCs, I'll draw characters from games/movies/whatever as long as I'm given a good ref or description.

Blog and Tags

wheee I have a lot of posts

Y'all can just call me Azure (she/her, but they/them works too, I don't mind either way)

this is mostly an art blog, but it's also just my general blog, so here's the art tags if you wanna see the art

MY AO3 :DD

Azure arted-- any and all art of mine (hopefully, if I can remember to tag), digital or traditional

drawings in the big sketchbook :)-- always traditional, done specifically in one 17x14 sketchbook i have. probably will be graphite

Azure animated-- mostly animatics, a good number with traditionally drawn frames

Azure writed-- equally terrible grammar for this one, this is snippets of my writing, I guess.

Here's my Fic tags (will be updated as I write more):

TSoTW/tsotw-- related to my Pirate AU fic (as is the Pirate AU tag) (this will probably only work on my blog, i didn't realize it was a tag lmao)

Iri fic-- posts relating to my fic about my current specialest OC and seven followers

TMHFIM: Too Much Has Fallen In Mine, aka my Fallout 3 fanfiction for Felicity

6th House AU: an au I originally thought up in March of 2023 and have decided to actually look at again.

Some OC tags! The main two as of now!

Ldb OC: Iriae: my Dragonborn, Iriae, who I love very much and have drawn a bunch yippee!

Fo3 OC: Felicity: Lone Wanderer and Courier Six, who cannot be trusted around whiskey and misses her dog as of NV

SoSu: Cynthia: my Sole Survivor. She's. Something.

That is all, thank you very much

Also, I will probably use British spellings, but I am not British, just grew up reading that stuff, so it might flip back and forth.