#maybe I'll just check out the deadlines and see what's the latest one? So I know until which date I can postpone the problem?

[misskamelie]

Being back is currently all about email email send another email answer to email read email email email reality check to see what's the status of different emails

[manonamora-if]

August Check-In!

July has been a bit more chill? I was kind of forced to slow down cause sickness (and other personal stuff), which made progress rather slow... On the other hand, it was nice to have a bit of a break.... and kind of needed, seeing how my body just didn't want to cooperate... I have honestly not written a thing in about a month (I don't count editing/coding/fixing), so I'm half-looking forward half-dreading getting back to it.

Long post ahead:

Start with what has been done this past week (hella busy).

Some other me and IF-me-related stuff

Some IF events to participate in

What I'm planning this month

A little re-haul of the templates and guides, getting some much needed TLC:

fixing typos/errors (mainly guides),

editing the credits with more resource links,

and some reformatting/re-organising the code (mainly templates).

Update your games with the latest version! Or re-download the guides!

ALSO ALSO, this was still technically last Sunday (late), but the SugarCube Guide has been fixed of its broken links, bad formatting, and explanation errors. But as a bonus, I've found some time to add some extra passages:

The other Engine API

Localization and Translation of a game

Events to trigger code at specific rendering moment.

Some of my older Coding In Twine asks, especially the CSS ones

(Version 1.1.0)

MelS finished checking my comments on the investigation part (still needs to add the missing part), and is processing the ones I left on the exploration side (there are a lot, he's doing his best).

Fixed some minor typos in the French version. BUT most importantly, the code is now available on my GitHub! Also will be shortly on the IFArchive.

Clarence Street, 14 est maintenant disponible en Français!

I've also added the source code to my GitHub, as well as sent them to the IFArchive.

I made some minor fixes in the UI for the title page and the Restart one (issue with text size). The source files are also now available on my GitHub and sent to the IFArchive.

Quick list on other IF-me related stuff:

I've finally started AND finished reviewing the Anti-Romance IF/VN entries. That was 20 new reviews (4 I had already done with the NeoTwinies, 1 was mine :P ). If you are interested, check out @manonamora-if-reviews, they are all there. Otherwise, play the entries! I'll prob go back to finishing replaying the IFComp entries and update those reviews... Or you can submit one for me to play!

@if-confessions closed last Monday - well, the asks box did. You can still read and interact with the posts. Just because I won't be answering for a while doesn't mean the discussions are closed.

Another player has been going through the @neo-twiny-jam entries, and gave me some some lovely reviews on IFDB ! That was a nice surprise!

Some IF Events:

The IntroComp entries are out! While voting is set to start out shortly, you can already check the entries (and maybe think of feedback for the author?). Note: the stories submitted were not complete games. Also I missed the deadline... I didn't have a working WIP...

There is still one month to submit your intent to the IFComp (@ifcomp). If you don't plan on submitting a game, you can already create an account to vote. I'm not participating this year, so you might see some reviews of mine this autumn.

Over at the @neointeractives, the Single Choice Jam will be ending in about 2 weeks. There is still time to add your story to the dozen already available!

If you are looking to make something a bit more NSFW, the Orifice Jam might be for you! There is a bit more than 2 weeks to add something hole-y!

THE PLAN (for August):

This is what I'm aiming to do, probably not what I'll end up achieving.

Play some more IF games. Maybe not 7/day like this week, but a few of them/week to add to my review pile. I'm getting closer to the top of the Reviewer List... I don't think I'll ever be number 1, but I need 137 more IF reviews to get to the front page (as of today - after the IFComp this year, probably will need more...). Also I want to be better at reviewing, so practice... Also I want to bring more attention to the French games...

I'd like to swing at least a jam entry for the SingleChoice. Something either silly, or related to one of my WIPs (toying with that...). Maybe testing a new engine for funsies. I have two weeks to think about it...

In the meantime, I need to fix my website. It's a bunch of games behind, and missing some important links too! Also been toying with having a more Web 1.0 vibe to it...

Maybe try to take one one of the WIPs and add a chapter or something (haven't decided which... the folders have been side-eyeing at my complacency).

Add more pages to the SugarCube Guide.

Code the update for TaTEH (dependent on MelS)

And if I can't write a single world, I can pick from the following pile pr probably not too much brain power needed:

translate Escape Goncharov! into French.

fix the bugs in EDOC + overall the French version to match

fix the bugs of TRNT + find a way to add the missing pieces (mayyyybe translate into French?)

fix the formatting of DOL-OS + translate into English

update LPM with the missing content + translate into English

The rest of the To-Do pile is (not month specific):

Finish The Rye in the Dark City (and maybe translate?)

Finish P-Rix - Space Trucker (and try to translate)

Finish Exquisite Cadaver (translation unlikely, current gameplay too complex to port for French)

Add a chapter to CRWL

Re-working TTTT to its originally planned state (lol, not likety)

Re-working SPS Iron Hammer (samesies)

Emptying my inboxes

Let's see what can be accomplished this month! I would like to check some more boxes of my new year resolutions.

[matrose]

Hello ! How are you doing ? I'm a FAN of your artwork and i would like to ask a few questions if it's ok for you to answer them ? I would like to know how long does a drawing take you ? ( like, for a non-background/only character by example and how long does it take you for a full masterpiece like those you are doing for khazad week ? epsecially the last one with the oh so like dream mountains ? ) And did you learn by yourself ? Are there any artists that you admire and that have inspired your style ? oh and the most important : do you think you will ever do illustrations for children's stories like fairy tales? because your artwork is very colorful and cute ( and amazing, marvelous, wonderful, poetic, incredible ) and I can see your kind of drawings on the covers of children's stories ! have a nice day !

oh wow hello!!! i am very well and luckily mostly recovered from being sick so i was properly outside again and visited the deer and goats at the park, so i'm very happy 🥰 this is such an incredibly sweet ask and i am very flattered to have received it!! i'm happy to answer your questions 🫶

luckily, i've got an artprogram (ProCreate) that automatically records my process and tells me how long it took - everything i draw varies greatly in style because i usually draw whatever i feel like drawing and try whatever i want to try...i really really like trying out all the different brushes available to me and see where they take me!! so i'll show you four different drawings and how long they took me:

there's a lot of variables but in general cell-shading is a lot quicker than a painting approach ❣️

my latest drawing for khazad week took around 3 hours i believe - i had a lot of fun with filling everything with these little swirls and shapes, i used to fill entire pages with stuff like that during train rides when i was younger. i'm honestly a bit surprised people are liking it that much but i'm very happy! my backgrounds usually take a bit longer though, i've checked a few bigger drawings and they all come out to around 7 hours!

i had a few How To Draw books in my team, i especially remember one on animals and one on anime that i had when i was 12, though i also remember not really using them and being a bit bored by them. i also had a book about drawing when i was maybe 5 and i remember that one really fondly. it used simply shapes and bright colors and there was an underwater landscape with fish and corals and algae that i thought was sooo beautiful and that i would draw over and over again. i think that one stuck with me haha! otherwise i am self-taught in the sense that i never really attended classes beyond the mandatory ones at school. art/drawing for me personally has always been about having fun and trying myself out and being happy more than anything else.

it's also why i will not and can not ever do art properly as a proper job like graphic design, and i am not sure i could do comissions either. if i am bored and/or restricted the quality greatly suffers...this is truly just for my own fun 😚 though to prematurely answer your last questions i actually COULD very much imagine doing kids books illustrations - those are usually very whimsical and fun and unless the author has very specific pictures in mind already, i could just go nuts with it...kind of a dream honestly though the deadline would be so scary!

as for inspiration...this one is haaard to answer! i constantly get inspired by so many things i see every day - tumblr is so full of wonderful images and nature itself is so beautiful and sometimes i'll recall things from my childhood, books with vaguely remembered illustrations about all kinds of things (the caves in mountains from what i posted yesterday were based on a blurry memory of a book my father read to me when i was pretty young) and then there's museums... on top of it all i study art-history so i am always surrounded by beautiful images...how overwhelming. here are three artists that have inspired me with shapes and colors and patterns:

gustav klimt, phyllis shafer, and wenzel hablik!! in general i really really love art noveau, expressionism, and abstract art and i also love childrens books illustrations!

i don't at all come close to any of them and my more cartoonish style is a way of mimicking features of the art that i love but without putting too much work into it hahahahah

thank you again for this lovely lovely ask, it made me feel really cool 😳 i hope you'll have a wonderful day morning or evening, wherever you are 💐 feel free to ask more questions if i've answered anything in an unclear manner or if you just feel like it:)<3

[nightingaelic]

Companions react to the time stop glitch.

Bruh

The courier gritted their teeth. "I shouldn't have taken this job. Johnson Nash is crazy, there's absolutely no way someone could deliver a package from Goodsprings to Nellis in less than a day, especially if they keep shelling everyone who so much as pokes their head over this ridge!"

They pulled the map up on their Pip-Boy and scanned it, desperate for any path that might take them into the air force base without being blown to bits. Finding none, they groaned and smashed buttons in frustration, then suddenly vanished altogether.

Their companion looked around in surprise, only to find the artillery barrage had stopped completely and the courier was now standing on the other side of them, holding a grenade rifle with an arrow drawn down the barrel, a snow globe and a few new strings of caps. They were also chewing on their lip. "Ummm..."

Arcade Gannon: "Hold on." Arcade squeezed his eyes shut, shook his head a bit, then reopened them. The courier was still there, looking concerned.

"I think I've been drugged," the researcher admitted nervously, standing up from where he'd been crouching. "You were just taking cover next to me."

Rather than attempt to explain what had just happened, the courier played along. "Really?" they said, stuffing their latest acquisitions inside their pack before Arcade could get a good look at them. "You're losing time? Damn. We should get you back to Freeside and check you in at the clinic for observation."

"What about your delivery?"

"Don't worry about it."

Craig Boone: "Don't do that," Boone said sharply.

"Do... what, exactly?" the courier asked, with mild panic in their voice.

"Disappear on me," Boone replied, gesturing toward the hill that Boomer howitzers were guarding. "Snipers and spotters have to keep track of each other, just as much as their target."

"Oh." The courier's shoulders relaxed a bit. "Okay. Sure. Come on, we should go. Screw Johnson and his impossible deadlines."

Lily Bowen: Lily blinked rapidly. "Are you okay, pumpkin? Did those nasty Boomers knock you out of your hiding place?"

"Ummm... yeah," the courier replied, nodding in bewilderment. "Yeah, I just got kicked back a bit by that last blast. Don't worry, I'm okay."

"Let me look you over, sweetums," Lily insisted, rising from her crouched position. "Poor child. You moved so fast, Grandma missed it. Even Leo missed it, and Leo doesn't miss anything."

Raul Alfonso Tejada: Raul's eyes narrowed. "Did you accidentally turn on a Stealth Boy for a second there, boss?"

"Yes," the courier lied.

"Oh, okay." Raul's eyes went to the gun they were holding. "Nice iron. Haven't seen that one before."

"I, uh, picked it up in Goodsprings," the courier said quickly, stowing it away. "Chet was running a special. Come on, we should get going."

Raul cleared his throat when they turned to the south. "You're forgetting about your package, boss. Should we just leave it here?"

The courier froze for a second before replying. "Nah. I'll report the delivery unsuccessful and pay Johnson back."

"Then can we open it up and see what it was?"

"... No."

Rose of Sharon Cassidy: Cass rubbed her eyes and shook her head slowly. "Shit. I think last night at the saloon is coming back to haunt me. Could've sworn you were... ah, never mind."

"Maybe don't take Trudy up on her challenges the next time we see her," the courier offered, with a reassuring slap on her shoulder. "Come on."

"What about the delivery? Johnson's gonna be pissed."

The courier grinned. "I chucked the package as far up the ridge as I could get it, and I'm not going up there to see where it landed."

Veronica Santangelo: "I... might need a nap," Veronica admitted, looking between the courier and the spot they had just been occupying. "Screw the delivery. You're way past needing to work as a courier, and I'm starting to see things."

"I don't need to, I like to," the courier replied, taking the opening they had been given. "But I do intend to give Johnson a piece of my mind, next time I see him. I'm beat all to hell from those Legion assassins outside Novac, and you're clearly dead on your feet."

They moved to put the snowglobe away, but Veronica held a hand out. "Can I see?"

The courier handed the knick-knack over. Veronica turned it around, watching the faux snow fall over the Vault Boy in an air force uniform, a plane in flight and some background hangars. She snuck a look at the courier, who looked positively nervous. "Cute."

ED-E: ED-E beeped in confusion, turning between the courier and the cover they had just been hiding behind.

"No idea," the courier replied with a shrug.

They turned south, retracing the road that had brought them up to the air force base in the first place. ED-E ran diagnostic after diagnostic, but strangely, nothing out of the ordinary was flagged.

Rex: Rex sniffed the courier over. They smelled odd, like they'd picked up new scents in the last few seconds that previously hadn't been there and weren't anywhere in the immediate vicinity either. He whined.

The courier shook their head. "You wouldn't believe me even if you could understand me, buddy."