#and have no internal dialogue like sims!

[kitsuragied]

SOMETHING STRANGE is in the heart. song by dee-lusions

#(REALIZING THIS IS LIKE. SERIOUS SO WARNING IN ADVANCE FOR GUNS #PANIC ATTACKS #AND UNREALITY) #is it normal to suddenly like really believe something #genuinely believe it even though its weird as shit #and im actively questioning it but also like. well what ELSE could be true other than that everyone is a character/doesnt exist actually #and have no internal dialogue like sims! #and then after like one week to two months one day you wake up and its like. well that was silly #also got really really scared like Diagnosis Cause it Impairs my Daily Life scared #that people could read my mind #its still a recurring thing its just easier for me to deal with now #the read my mind thing was anxiety inducing #and i think ive had a couple other delusions involving monsters in the dark #but the most recent one (''everyone is a character/they dont have any internal dialogue because how else would human sentience make sense'' #was really really upsetting like worse than my other ones in the way that i believed it more and was more scared of it #tw unreality #sorry realized i should do that #anyways #im worried its like my panic attacks in that like. #i started off getting them as like stress induced or sad/angry induced and didnt include the full list of symptoms/werent insanely intense #and then i had one over school shooting fears #tw gun mention #and noticed that it set me off #and now when i see guns i start to feel really cold inside and scared #and then recently i had a panic attack where i actually felt the whole Impending Sense of Doom/Things Are Chasing Me symptom #so yk. it progressed to Official Actual Panic Attack #OH another delusion was that there was a sniper right outside wherever i was and he was going to shoot me #that and the mind reading thing were more like I Can Feel This Even Though I Know On Some Level It Isnt True #but the Everyone is Characters delusion.. i fr believed that #for like a week

[tmos-time]

throws march eridan out into the internet like a farmer feeding corn to his chickens lol

#tmos has art #eridan ampora #sollux captor #erisol #march eridan #homestuck #there is so much i can say about this. like how eridan changing in what feels like the sims 3 customization room is VERY on accident LOL #yes solluxs internal code dialogue is maybe a little jab at people who misgendered my eridan last time i posted march eridan lmao #oh! and. eridans wearing the deadly florals midi skirt from maya kerns clothing store. perpetually sad i cant buy the bee shirt in my size #anyways sorry to mobile users who are going to have to zoom in on this thang o7 one of these days ill remember to make my file vertical lol

[annabelle--cane]

Hey so I'm not good at subtext and I saw you posting about ep 200 of TMA being awesome. I've listened to it a few times and I'm mostly...confused? I don't understand what happened

(I mean, I get what Martin did to Jon, but nothing other than that)

Would you mind explaining why it's impactful to you?

honestly the main standout thing that makes it really shine to me is the soundscaping and vocal editing, and I've seen people take that as an indirect snide comment about the writing before but it really isn't, the entire scene in the panopticon just sounds gorgeous. the distortion and static on jon's voice, the underscoring of the statement, the way jon and martin's dialogue pops out from the sounds of the crumbling tower, it's just. aaaaaaaaaa. I find it really pleasant to listen to, if you've only listened through speakers then I'd 100% recommend trying it with headphones, it is simply very pretty and well made.

from the story side, it's beat after beat of ultimate catharsis for threads and arcs that have been set up for the whole show.

jon going ham and just really brutally killing jonah with his own hands, no supernatural influence, finally fulling snapping and, it sounds like, gutting him like a fish. it's just about the most lively and impassioned we've heard him all season, and, as far as anyone could deserve to do such a thing, he really is the person who deserved to get to do it.

jon and martin both betraying each other and making the choices that the whole story has been leading them to. jon has spent years fighting against his internalized idea that he can't trust anyone and he's the only person who's powerful/expendable/knowledgeable enough to make decisions and solve problems, and at last he submits to it and takes matters into his own hands. martin has spent years operating under the assumption that he's unimportant and incapable, and now just as he finally accepts that his choices have meaning, he sets the plan in motion that ends up getting them both killed. and jon has tried so hard to be transparent and show him trust that he underestimates just how willing jon is to go behind his back and disregard the plan completely.

and the fuckign. web lighter. I have a longstanding obsession with the mechanics of fate in tragedy narratives, and this lighter. hhh. so, fate (the web) was guiding jon & co to release the fears, but to jon's knowledge, killing jonah and becoming the pupil should have been his winning move to keep them contained. as far as he was capable of comprehending, he made all the right choices, but fate (the web) (the oppressive forces that govern all of our lives) doesn't play fair, it planned for this and cheated him. because he couldn't remember the lighter. he couldn't remember that he already gave georgie the catalyst for the explosion.

this tells me a few things: the ultimate end of releasing the fears was always going to happen, there was nothing jon could have done, but, technically, he could have adhered to the plan and lived to spend what was left of his life with martin and the rest of his nearest and dearest. but that was never really an option, was it? jon archivist sims would never have made that decision, that's why martin tried and failed to plan around it, that's why the web tried and succeeded to plan around it, it would never have happened differently. jon made his choice, it made no difference except to doom himself and the one he loves, he didn't have to do it, and it was inevitable.

and after all of that, after the web cheated him, he could still have won. he could have survived the tower collapse and kept the fears. but one of his biggest stated motives, over and over, is that he can't stand to lose anyone else, and martin is not immune to burning buildings the way he is. in an inverse to gertrude, at the last moment, he chose the barest chance for martin to survive over his own life and principles and big picture goals. he could cope with being responsible for killing the world in the abstract, but when it came to watching the person he loves most die right before his eyes, he caved and came around to martin's perspective. the other worlds can cope, he wants to save the man he loves.

#tma #answered #anons

[tciddaemina]

more of the scum villan dating sim au because my brain is breaking

part 1.

-

Another week passes and Shen Qingqiu is just about boiling over with frustration. He hadn't know exactly how much time he spent in Luo Binghe's company until after they returned from Maigu ridge, and now Shen Qingqiu is painfully, intimately aware of every second. Binghe lingers around him when he works, and Binghe helps him with his task, and Binghe follows a step behind when Shen Qingqiu goes to his meeting, and sits beside him at dinner, putting things onto Shen Qingqiu's plate and topping up his wine, close enough that their sleeves brush and Shen Qingqiu can smell the musky scent of his the oil he uses for his hair and-

It's driving Shen Qingqiu to distraction. Binghe is always there, right there, close enough to touch. He's always grabbing Shen Qingqiu, offering his arm to help him step down from carriages, stepping in to help smooth his robes, fingers skimming his when he hands him a book or fills his cups of tea. It leaves Shen Qingqiu on fire. He's so distracted he almost dragged his sleeve right through his ink.

He was never this horny before! Shen Qingqiu had spent hours, days, years, in Binghe's company and never noticed, never even thought of such a thing! But now that its on its mind, it's all Shen Qingqiu can think of. He'd felt the heat and weight of that heavenly pillar pressed up against his thigh through Binghe's robes when they clutched each other as Maigu ridge fell around them, and now Shen Qingqiu can't help but be aware it exists at every moment! It's not his fault he wants to hop on that dick!

Shen Qingqiu's tried dropping hits, so many hints, but Binghe never notices. Shen Qingqiu walks closer to him, lays his hand on Binghe's arm when they talk, stares up through his lashes at him as they stand close. He pays so many small compliments and spends so much time in his space that the constant pinging of the alerts is starting to give him a headache.

[+ 5 affection points]

[+ 5 affection points]

[New heart gained! ❤ Affection level has increased!]

[+10 affection points]

Shen Qingqiu could scream. What use are affection points!! What use are stupid fucking heart levels, when Binghe just makes wide, longing eyes at him and does nothing! Shen Qingqiu's so frustrated now that he feels like he might burst. His internal energy is roiling and simmering so badly that he feels like he might deviate!

How is he supposed to explain that to Mu Qingfan when he goes in to his for the checkup of his meridian system, huh? Sorry, Mu-shidi, I'm so distracted getting hot over my disciple and trying to get him for finally fuck me that my energies are falling out of balance? Shen Qingqiu doesn't have the face for that conversation!

If this lasts much longer, Shen Qingqiu might actually combust. There's nothing to it - he has to take things into his own hands, again. The last dialogue prompt had failed utterly, but Shen Qingqiu has an idea.

He and Binghe are walking side by side through the bamboo forest, on a slow leisurely circuit of the peak - strategically proposed that morning. Shen Qingqiu scans the ground, waiting for the chance to present itself, and when they round a bend in the path he 'trips' on a rock, stumbling.

Binghe catches his arm immediately, stepping in close. "Shizun! Are you alright?" His eyes are so wide and dark, brow furrowed with concern, his side pressed warm against Shen Qingqiu's, closer than strictly necessary. Shen Qingqiu can feel every muscle in his beautiful, well endowed chest.

Shen Qingqiu looks up, meeting his eyes, breath caught, the space between them so small. For a moment, time seems to stand still, stray bamboo leaves falling softly in the background behind them, the wind blowing softly in Binghe's hair.

1. BOLD. "B-Binghe..." [Look into his eyes and part your lips, breathless, and wait to be kissed.]

2. EXTRA BOLD. [Lean up and kiss him.]

3. SHY. [Brace a hand on his chest, sliding up those beautiful pecs. Blush and look away.] "Ah- Ah this master is fine. It is nothing."

4. SLY. "Ah, I'm alright, but- My leg. I think perhaps I strained something." [Let yourself be led home so that Binghe can 'inspect' the injury.]

5. COP OUT. [Straighten and walk on.] "This master is fine. Let us continue."

Binghe's face reddens, a soft flush on his cheeks. He draws in a small breath, grip firming on Shen Qingqiu's arm. An alert immediately rings out. [+75 affection points! Record score!]

Yes!! Now they're getting somewhere!! Shen Qingqiu draws in a bashful breath, raising his fan, peering over it at Binghe, up through his lashes. "Binghe... I-"

Go in for the kill! Just a little extra push!!!!

"Shizun, your leg," Binghe says, not quite interrupting. He looks away, face warm, not meeting Shen Qingqiu's eyes - when he looks back again, he's all business, expression growing serious and concerned. "Something must not be right, for you to have tripped so easily. We ought to go see Mu-shishu."

Shen Qingqiu is going to scream. He's going to slap someone. Fucking leaves are falling romantically in the background, it's the perfect scene!!! "No need," he says, hand splaying a little more over Binghe's chest. He tries to look up at him demurely. "I'm sure its not serious. A moment of carelessness, that is all-"

"Shizun is never so careless," Binghe replies, straightening. "Come, lets get to Mu-shishu at once. What if Without A Cure is acting up again - perhaps I didn't clear your meridians correctly-"

Binghe you idiot!!!!! What does a man have to do to get pressed against a tree and fucked around here!!!! How did every maiden from the Frozen Peaks to the Western Sea manage to trip onto that dick in PIDW - and yet one immortal master cannot manage it now??? Airplane's writing was cooked!

"-come, Shizun, let me help you back up the path," Binghe is saying, already leading him on, barrelling over Shen Qingqiu's last attempts to disengaged.

Fucking wife-plots Shen Qingqiu's ass! None of them work! He wants a refund!!!

#my writing #fanfiction #svsss #bingqiu #scum villan unhinged dating sim au #shen qingqiu #luo binghe

[rivalry-trope-enjoyer]

An Unexpected Confession (Leviathan x Reader)

Summary: Leviathan has confided in you for as long as you could remember. It's been an equivalent exchange for the most part, until the topic of relationships come up...

Tags: Romantic confession, mutual nerdy pining, fluff, a dating sim get's a little too real

"Ugh, this lead doesn't like any of the gifts I give her!" Leviathan complains, begrudgingly handing the controller to you.

"The Childhood Friend doesn't like sweets anymore, Levi. You'd know this if you actually paid attention during the dialogue," you chuckle teasingly, giving the character a gift that made the video game character swoon.

"Urghhh I'm a failure of a pro-gamer..." Leviathan groans in annoyance, folding his arms as he watch you continue to play the game.

You and Leviathan started playing a dating sim that he failed miserably going in blind the first time. He hated to admit it, but considering the experience you've had with dating sims was a little bit more than him, he reluctantly asked you for your assistance.

All of this struggle towards trying to woo the video game character made a part of Leviathan feel a little bit somber. As you silently cheer after successfully raising the character's love meter, you could see the demon's mood progressively sour.

"Levi, what's wrong?" you ask reluctantly. "We don't have to keep playing if you want."

Leviathan look away from you, trying his best to mask the rock you feel sinking through your chest. It was inexplainable, but you were the last person he would want to bring up such a problem to.

"N-Nothing! We can keep playing, it's okay, we're almost at the first good ending," he denies, looking at the monitor of the paused game.

You frown at his response, clearly not buying his sad attempt at covering up his emotions. "You know you can tell me anything, right?" you put the controller down and shift to your side to face him. "So what's on your mind, Levi?"

Leviathan takes a long pause, his eyes shifting around the room, anywhere but meeting yours. He was having an internal dilemma as he opened his mouth to speak, but words continued to fail. He wanted to run out of his room then and there, but where would he go? Outside?! He'd rather die...

Finally, after what feels like an eternity, he takes a deep breath and decides to let out what has been bothering him little by little. "You might think I'm a loser, o-or maybe you already think I'm a loser... but I don't have any experience at all when it comes to romance," he sighs out, his hands shaking slightly as he spoke.

You listen to him intently, but your gaze makes Leviathan much more nervous than he started out.

"I-I just wonder when I'm gonna be able to have an experience like this outside of 2D, y'know?" he continues, his head feeling light, like he could pass out at any second.

You took a pause before you could say anything to Leviathan, just beginning his messy ramble that stemmed from a bad ending of a video game...

"Ah, forget it... Y/N I don't know when it'll ever be my turn. Maybe I'm just unlovable. Like the no-good loser I've always been meant to be," Leviathan was slowly slipping from a stable state of mind and started to spiral into madness.

"Levi don't say that," you quickly prompt before his thoughts would get any worse, your own nerves settling in watching him talk down to himself like this.

"B-But what if it's true?" he panics.

"It's not," you respond quickly.

He senses a sudden urgency in your voice and quickly tries to stop himself from talking. "I'm so sorry, Y/N... I didn't mean to start acting like this," Leviathan quickly doubles down.

"It's okay," you reassure. "Sometimes I wonder the same for myself," you speak while letting out a soft chuckle.

Leviathan looks up at you in curiosity. "Y-You? A normie like you has to worry about that?" he asks in a state of bewilderment.

"Well, yeah I guess everyone does at some point in their lives." As you spoke, Leviathan's panic tones down slightly. "But it's what you decide to do about that. If you really think you're doomed to be alone, then I guess there's no harm in trying, right?"

"H-Huh?! Like a confession? I don't think I can do that...," Leviathan's constant stammers descends into an incoherent language.

You encourage him with a sweet smile on your face, scooting to him closer on the couch, making him nearly melt from the action.

"Would it help to lead by example then?" you ask in an innocent voice.

"I-I guess..." Leviathan closes his eyes and nods rapidly.

"Well," you begin, putting on a brave smile for the anxious demon in front of you, despite you feeling embarrassed from what you were about to say.

"Leviathan, I like you! How about a date to the arcade sometime?" you follow up with a wink, watching the demon's face turn into one of perpetual shock.

"Woah Y/N that almost sounded real... I-If I didn't know any better I'd say you were actually confessing to me! Haha...," he blurts out in a fit of anxiety, the palms of his hands sweating as he spoke. He wonders how it came out of your mouth so easily, was it so impossible to think of dating someone like him?!

"Oh that was an actual confession," you smile mischievously. "I really do like you Levi!"

*Leviathan.exe has stopped working.*

You watch him freeze in his spot, his entire body shutting down as you spoke, wondering if he was so consumed in digital media that he confused the art of dating sims for reality.

"Now your turn," you tease, anticipating for Leviathan's response.

You would not be able to get a response from Leviathan for at least minutes as he continues to recover. He has an internal battle of whether or not to say something, his words possibly being utter crap, or to sit there and look even more like an idiot in your eyes.

"C-Can I have some time...?" Leviathan pleads, hiding his face in his hands, close to tears over this reciprocation.

You nod in agreement. "Sure, but in the dating sim there would be a time limit~"

"This isn't that!" he retorts quickly, his voice muffled behind his hands.

Each word comes out of the shy demon's mouth slowly, but surely, a coherent sentence of "I like you, too" came to fruition. Despite being broken up by complaints of frustration and nerves rising to his throat, the message came across to you clean and simple.

#leviathan x reader #obey me x reader #obey me shall we date #obey me leviathan #om! leviathan

[youredreamingofroo]

📩 Simblr question of the day: What are some of your favorite behind-the-scene screenshots? I'm throwing this out to gameplayers, storytellers, renderers and the like :)

thank you anon!! 🫶🫶

this question is from the @simblr-question-of-the-day blog, check em out if you haven't :)

I'm gonna throw in mostly blender (and GIMP) BTS screenshots cuz i dont really have anymore BTS screenshots from sims 4 LMAO (I also ended up throwing outtakes in at the end :))

putting them under the cut cuz theres A LOT 😭

the full body (and prototype) pose of the Nirvana x Vanella post

- -

"you got any games on yo phone"

- -

A wip that i never finished,,, but nirvana being hot and seggsy as always (I wish i was that skeleton...)

- -

I learned how to do text in blender for the first time

- -

If you ever wanted to know what the BTS for that last scene in the Wake up Roo post looked like, here you go LMAOO

- -

not much to say about this one, i think it speaks for itself

- -

whenever I'm doing stuff on GIMP that involves layer modes, I like to go thru pretty much every single mode to see what looks good and sometimes i get fucking flashbanged 😐 (i also usually edit in the dark... so its literally like a flashbang for me)

- -

And for funsies, here's some outtakes that I rendered and may have edited that I never shared :D

- -

if you remember my international womens day post, there was this scene, and while it looks similar, this one is actually darker and is supposed to focus more on Nanel's hand placement :) I didnt go with it cuz iirc it didnt look right next to the other panels, but it is very pretty!

- -

From my emotions/feelings post, this was gonna be the one I used for Roo, but because of the lighting it looks like his mouth is open and not him just showing his teeth in frustration (which was the intent), so I changed it to be closed

- -

I think you can instantly see something is off with Kyneva's eyes... 😭😭 The lighting made her eyelashes look weird so I had to adjust the lighting to be more central (lots of lighting issues with these panels...)

- -

So like the others, the lighting was just too dark and I had to add a brighter light 🙃

- -

As an introduction of the "story" name for Roo and Leo, I was gonna do a post (which is why I learned to make text in blender) where Roo talks about the significance of the word "Hiraeth" in his life, which is that uhhh he learned Hiraeth from Leo lmao. But now he feels "Hiraeth" for Leo essentially. I still like the idea but for some reason I just haven't vibed with the scene and just haven't been motivated to go back and make that scene now esp. since I've introduced the story name now

- -

I was gonna do a short sequence in the Obsession Desperation post where Leo checks his phone and sees the notifs of Roo texting him, but figured it didn't fit the rest of the post and veto'd it :) But I'm planning/thinking of doing a post where it's Leo's POV/Side-of-things

- -

OKAYY finally the last one LMAOO This one i've shared before and is still an outtake, but i just love it so much I wish i could just shove it into peoples faces like its a cake. Only reason I didnt use this is bc I didn't have any dialogue that fit this panel and it didnt really fit in with the rest of the panels (this was for the Inner Child post btw), maybe I'll use it in a diff post one day <:P

#VanellaBW #Nirvana #HeroLB #MGC : HeroLB #Roo #KynevaHW #Hiraeth : Leo #[IAW]:Ithanel #[IAW]:Ithuriel #[IAW]:Nanel #[IAW] #whewwwww lots of pics LMAO #i love some of those BTS pics 😭😭 the hero one might be my favorite #the Roo laying down one is def one where im like “I cant believe the before and after of this...” where its just a rlly scuffed scene #and then a cinematic masterpiece as the after LMAOO #Anonymous #yapping

[barilleon]

My Emergent Narrative at Sandrock

Lately I've been playing My Time at Sandrock, a life sim where you are a builder who moves into a desert town and uses your construction skills to better the lives of its inhabitants. You mine ore, chop wood, build things, make friends, fall in love. It also has a lot of narrative content. Maybe even more than a Rune Factory game. And with so many sidequests, things are bound to clash into each other.

The main quest concerns a bandit named Logan, whose face is plastered on wanted posters all over town from the day you arrive. Once a beloved member of the Sandrock community, Logan now terrorizes the town in a series of very weird and flashy moves: hijacking a train, kidnapping the church minister, and blowing up the water tower. As the main character, it's your job to help the sheriff stop him. On the (in-game) one year anniversary of my arrival in Sandrock, I tried that. And something amazing happened.

Warning: Major Sandrock spoilers under the cut!

To set the scene: I'm dating the barkeep, Owen. He's a sweet guy, not too bad in a fight, and his cooking is unbeatable. He's also the town storyteller, and every Saturday night folks in Sandrock gather at the Blue Moon Saloon to hear him tell one. A few nights ago, he asked me if I would participate. Instead of storytime, he wanted to do a play he wrote. It was a weird play, but I'm a supportive boyfriend so I learned my lines and set the date for the performance: my one-year anniversary of being in Sandrock.

That morning, I pursued the main quest, chasing a lead on Logan across the desert. I fell off a cliff, a ledge so steep that the companions who were with me didn't believe I could survive. They returned to town to spread the news: Leon the Builder was dead.

But I wasn't. I miraculously survived, and had fallen into the bandits' hideout. It's here I learn, from Logan himself, that things are not as they seem: he and his crew are working to expose an international spy and saboteur in Sandrock. They need me and my expert building abilities for their next plot. And everyone in Sandrock is a suspect.

I agreed to help, and they warned me: trust no one, tell no one.

With my worldview completely warped, I return to town. Everyone celebrates because I'm not dead. But with the knowledge that I now have, it's difficult for me to stay optimistic. Which one of these characters is the spy? It could be any one of them.

I check my quest log and realize that the day isn't over. At 6pm tonight, I have to perform in my boyfriend's play. I head over to the Saloon to prepare for the part. We run lines a few times, but I have to admit: my heart's not in it. Will the spy be in the audience? Or worse: could he be on stage with me?

We come out on stage, and we perform pretty well! Things are going great. The audience loves it. But then Owen starts changing the dialogue, speaking to me not as my character but as me. It's then that Owen asks me to marry him.

Reader, in any other universe I would have said yes then and there. That Owen (or the game logic) managed to time this event on the anniversary of my arrival in Sandrock is meaningful enough-just like a real proposal! But the fact that this happened on the same day I was told I couldn't trust anyone--it was too much for my builder to bear.

I chose the "run away" option, which promptly ended the cutscene. I haven't spoken to Owen since, and I don't think I will until this business is done. I'm pretty convinced that Owen isn't the spy, but there's too much going on for me right now. I can't think about marriage. And I can't even tell Owen about it, because the bandits swore me to secrecy. And if he knew the truth - that I was collaborating with public enemy number one - would he forgive me? I hate keeping secrets from a partner.

I bet that normally that event is really sweet, but Sandrock really taught me a lesson in how important timing is. Sure, the main story beats will always be the same, but the order in which they're experienced can seriously change the context of the story.

I'm sorry, Owen. I know you deserve answers. But right now I've got none to give. But come hell or heartbreak, I'm gonna save Sandrock.

#my time at sandrock

[hpowellsmith]

Hi!

I know it's a bit unusual, but I wanted to ask what was the inspiration for the Cute Guys and what was your initial plans for the series before you eventually put it aside? Was the PC going to meet more people until the series' closure? Seeing Valentine's released and having played them a few months back kind of got me curious again.

Thanks for your time and wishing you a nice evening 👋☺️

Aww thank you, I always love talking about those games - Aquarium was my first ever completed Twine and Thanksgiving was my third I think? - and I have a lot of fondness for them.

Long inspiration etc related rambles below:

Inspiration wise, Aquarium came about from a prompt from a friend: I posted asking for prompts on a whim as I'd tried making a couple of Twines before but I hadn't finished them. I had played quite a few Twines at that point and a handful of dating sims (though romance-wise I had mostly played things like BioWare RPGs where romance was on the side of a larger plot). And it grew into Aquarium.

I have a deep and abiding fondness for characters connecting, or not, with each other while there are other things going on beneath the surface, I liked the idea of a PC having an internal life that the player doesn't always see, and I really enjoyed the parts in Aquarium and Thanksgiving where the PC can't bring themselves to do certain things (you might see those bits if you get along with Sebastian or Tommy particularly well).

The PC, their life, and some of the other characters - the PC's father, Sebastian and Tommy in particular - are very loosely based on a web of characters, archetypes, and plots from, variously, my wife and my interactive writing, novels, and TTRPG characters, too sprawling/complicated/ long-standing to tease out. When I made Aquarium some of those characters had been rattling around in a variety of iterations for around eight years already - which meant that I both felt confident writing them, and changing them a lot for the purposes of this particular version of them. It was nice to be working with familiar elements for my first IF.

As for plans, I did partially make the final one in the series called New Year's, with the PC at age 29, which was less bleak than Valentine's and which I got much further through making. It's quite different to both the others, and there's a new person in it who the PC's hanging out with. I can't entirely remember but I think I made it before I made Valentine's, and then decided to try Valentine's to fill in the gap between Thanksgiving and New Year's - but Valentine's didn't work out so they both sort of lay dormant for a long time.

That said, the points at which I decided to make each one were fairly spontaneous! With Aquarium I was teaching myself Twine, with Thanksgiving I was learning to make a bigger game and do the countdown thing and such, and New Year's is more... plotty, I guess? Larger in scale certainly.

I'm strongly considering taking another look at New Year's. It stalled because I moved onto other things and I started second-guessing about it not being complicated enough and adding more, but really it's very close to being complete: I playtested it a couple of times today and even if some of the style isn't exactly what I'd do now (I'm more into having the PC's dialogue be shown onscreen these days, for instance) it seems solid.

#asks #interactive fiction #twine games #cute guys (and the lies you tell them)

[antiqua-lugar]

Baldur's Gate 3 is a bad Dating Sim

I think one of the most interesting things for me about all the discourse around the various romances in Baldur's Gate 3 is that a lot of it seems to be influenced by a long tradition of dating sims mechanics, especially in Western RPGs*. Aside from outliers like Dragon Age 2, most dating sim mechanics are about the player having to fit themselves around their LI of choice to give them the happiest ending and that's a way of playing that BG3 is purposefully rejecting (that's why you can't give your companions gifts for instance, I know many people miss it but I think it was a choice made specifically to avoid the "vending machine" approach to romances).

The game encourages you to really read the text, think through your diverse dialogue options and then act based on all avaiable information. However that does go against the most basic instinct that is to accept that if you are romancing X, then this is just your life now. It's a very interesting situation where you are forced to "hold a whole woman in your head" and also forced to re-assest your own character's boundaries and personality and have to figure out situations where your character and your love interest conflict, because your character supposedly has a complex personality and internal life, just like your love interest. And I think that dissonance is probably what motivates a lot of fandom in-fighting. That's not how people are used to play Dating Sims (or how Dating Sims tend to be written, for that matter).

There is a lot of discourse about Astarion and Shadowheart that is specifically related to polyamory, ethical non-monogamy and trauma. While a good chunk of it comes from the fact that the player actually has to make choices on how they want their pixel romance life to go, which naturally results in the instinct of wanting to "protect them" from bad choices, I would argue that the player having to face his own discomfort with polyamory or ethical non-monogamy also plays a factor. Accepting that Astarion and Shadowheart are willing and enthusiastic to engage in group sex forces the player to confront the fact that the player themselves might not be. Your pixel escapist fictional romance is now refusing to let you "Yes, dear" your way out of this and now you have to ask yourself the same questions you would ask yourself in real life. And then you might be in the situation of having to deny your vampire boyfriend who is very enthusiastically into the idea as part of his healing journey as a survivor of slavery and sexual assault, that you, however, don't feel like it. You are asked to accept that while you are fully and completely devoted to Shadowheart and Shadowheart only, she'd climb Mount Halsin in a heartbeat and you are the only reason why she isn't.

You are being Bad at Dating Sims. (And they are being Bad at being Dating Sims Love Interests that are supposed to care about you and you only). A similiar issue can be found in the Ascended discourse centering Astarion and Gale where the "Ascending is Good, Actually" discourse is framed almost entirely how this is what they truly want and by not blindly following their desires, the player is "limiting" them and "not accepting them as they are"**. You don't love them enough. You don't give them everything they want.

You are being Bad at Dating Sims.

Baldur's Gate 3 is a bad Dating Sim.

Because...it's not.

*I specify the difference because from the discourse I see around the idea of Good and Bad endings I don't think a lot of BG3 players are really used to the concept that sometime you click the wrong line and then your love interest never confesses to you after three years of dating. Or gets arrested for murder. Or goes for a murder-suicide. Which are all staples of Japanese dating sims and Western dating sims inspired by them specifically. ** There is also a whole argument here to be made about how Ascending is really only an option for the male Origin love interests (even Wyll, despite his content being very cut down, has this dilemma) and how Dating Sims Mechanics when intended for women tend to mirror society's expectations of women's dating behaviours but this is neither here nor there.

#antiqua meta #antiqua plays bg3 #bg3 #I had to get this out of me #I think there is also an intersection of dating sim mechanics VS rpg players entitlement VS normal fandom behaviour #but I am only getting this one out now

[borderline-gays-club]

Damn I really managed to swim out of the void just now. I woke up with a massive gaping hole in my body and I stared out the window for like half an hour in bed trying to convince myself it’s worth it to get up and be alive.

I told myself: well u need to shower. That’s one thing u need to do.

And then I said: well wat abt the rest of the day? I need groceries, I don’t kno wat food to make. Making food feels impossible and I literally don’t care. I don’t even want to play sims which is concerning. I don’t care abt my projects and I can’t b normal , I’m too obsessive and sensitive and...,

Rational mind jumps in(aka parent) : okay yes that’s a lot to process, it’s overwhelming for sure. That’s like 100 topics of pain and discomfort. So let’s focus on one thing. The shower. Can u get up to go to the shower?

Emotional mind (aka baby): I guess so but that’s a lot. I have to get wet and dry again and I’m comfortable here right now with my blankets.

Parent: are u sure ur comfortable? Bc u seem like ur in emotional discomfort. The shower is hard to do but I kno u can do it. I kno in 1 hour if ur still laying here without moving u will sink further into the void.

Baby: I don’t want to sink in the void I really really don’t want to. It already hurts floating on the void I don’t want to sink.

Parent: okay then let’s go shower. I’ll hold ur hand, if u need to cry in the shower that’s ok. If u need to take longer than usual that’s ok. Even if u only get wet that’s better than laying in bed all day paralyzed.

And with that internal conversation I made it to the shower. And I had the energy to ask my friend to go grocery shopping together later today. And I grounded up coffee beans to make my coffee. And now I’m wrapping up this post to go drink my coffee.

Now these internal dialogues don’t always “work”. As in, the baby can throw a tantrum and it takes more patience as the parent to care for the baby. Or sometimes the parent is just too tired and overwhelmed as well and snaps by accident. The parent can b very mean sometimes but then is always very remorseful. But today was a good, patient, nurturing, caring conversation between parent and baby.

I’m proud of myself.

#actually bpd #bgc #bpd #bpd thoughts #living with bpd #quiet borderline #actually borderline #bpd shit #quiet bpd #self parenting

[vargaslovinghours]

Gosh I am so in love with the dating sim idea <33

Partially because I'm interested in computer programming and partially because, like, the ✨dynamics✨ man!!

The idea of Scriabin internally struggling between "I don't *hate* this person" and "This person trying to steal Edgar from me >:0" is just asdf-

What type of endings would there be?

Could you befriend one/both and not go as far as dating?

Could you date both?

Also love love love the UI concept art so much like the yarn-themed dialogue box and hearts system is so creative aaa

Sorry if this is a lot of questions just <333 going feral over this concept <33

Haha no no, no problem at all ♪ We’re both on the same page here, I love the design side of games, backend stuff is super fascinating to me ♫ Plus I just super love the idea of them in a Dating Sim ah ♥

It sounds like a whole heap’a your questions are answered in my first post in the Dating Sim tag :D

However, since I have The Most fun imagining what it’d be like to write/play a Vargas Dating Sim, I will take this opportunity to talk about it more lol:

As you can see in the Endings flow chart, yes, there are a bunch of different endings, all based on the ✨dynamics✨ that the Player pursues with each of the Vargases. In my current draft there’s not a way to date both exactly - at least, you can’t date both behind the other’s back, they will always be generally aware of the relationship status the other has with the Player, Scriabin moreso than Edgar, but Scriabin can’t help but gloat and they talk in their own scenes, so Edgar still knows. You can positively pursue both of them though, which leads to its own ending!

(You can keep both of them at ~5 ♥s and under, but that will still culminate in the Neutral Ending; at least one of them has to be at 7+ ♥s to get a different Positive ending; so, yes but no but also yes??)

You can also deepen your relationship with one over the other! Those, of course, lead to the Bad and Worst Endings, who could’ve guessed :3c Those are some of my favourites, because who’s “Bad” ending it is really depends on the perspective - the Bad (Edgar) Ending is one of Scriabin’s better Endings, as far as his manipulation and possessiveness is concerned. It’s definitely a Bad Ending for the Player tho lol

While the Best Ending doesn’t get as messed up as the Bad Endings (I mean - ideally lol), there is still definitely a lot of tumultuous emotions! They have to share the Player with each other, and each other with the Player, at least to better get to know each other! Scriabin isn’t the only one who feels possessive, even in routes where the player gets closer to Edgar there are still a lot of mixed feelings about being away from Scriabin, even as he starts to get more violent. They’re always weird about each other, they’re the ultimate package deal! 💕

#💟 #Dating Sim #I am once again shouting my love to Zarla's original doodles that inspired me to think about this concept more #I cannot sing their praises high enough they are unparalleled in my heart ♪ Big inspire #Hopefully this answered most of your questions about the thought I've put into it at least haha ♪ #I really do love talking about it I ended up infodumping to smol about it like a week ago because it's still floating in my mind #I jokingly summed it up as the Vargas Fuck/Marry/Kill game lol // #She also seemed really amused at the Best Ending haha ♥ It made me happy #I'm also very glad you like my UI designs! I like them quite a lot as well :D #I was a little sad because I didn't look over my notes very carefully for Requestober so I forgot the yarn trim on the text box itself :') #But it's mostly there so that's the important part ♪ #It's just such a fun concept ahhh ♪♫

[ragnarlothcat]

3 & 16 for the writer's ask game, please!

Hello and thank you!!! My next ask is from my pal Artemis so I've got a whole pantheon going on 💙 Living the dream (for this ask game)

3. what fic are you emotionally attached to?

I answered 3 here but I'm also attached to my sims fic, Art Imitates Life. It's fun and goofy and I think it's the first slightly unhinged Obi-Wan I wrote! The poor guy is very collected and competent canonically and then I write him as internally a mess. I don't know why, but this is definitely what started it.

It's also the first of a new series of mine of "Obi-Wan embarrasses himself using technology" which isn't a theme I thought I'd commit to, and yet here we are!

16. Do you re-read old fics? Is there a time in your writing you won’t go back to?

I do! Especially since so many of my old fics are still active WIPs or secretly WIPs. I need to go back and make sure I have the tone and details straight if I'm going to update them. I also do just reread them for fun sometimes since I put in all the stuff I like best for a reason!

I haven't reread my very first fic in a year, probably. I'd toyed with deleting it or subjecting it to major rewrites but someone recently commented that it was their comfort fic which was so wonderful to hear 🥺 It's not hurting me to have it there, I don't think? It's not like people are going to read it and think "her dialogue tags are a bit iffy, I am never reading anything by her again." Or so I hope!

Also I wrote fanfiction as a teenager that I haven't been able to track down again because honestly, I haven't looked that hard. It's in a better place now.

#ask game #athenasolives #obikin #i'm lying my old fanfiction is in a much worse place it's on ff.net

[cloudspark]

Hi there ! For the ask-game about your WIPs, I'm interested to hear more about : (in)convencince store ; skull shuts up AU and the rarepair week (Rain and Cloud particularly) if you have some time to answer it :D

oh thank you so much for asking!!! i always have time to answer :)))

(in)convencince store

a comedy/horror thing partially inspired by "welcome to nightvale" in which Viper is an edgy as hell, but completely normal highschool student who takes a job at a convenince store only to find it is an absolutely batshit supernatural horrors hotspot- where all of the other arcobaleno work. and also their awkwardly edgy chunibyo demeanour somehow makes everyone think they're an incredibly powerful magician and nothing they do can convince anyone otherwise.

the owner is Kawahira, excpet he is never around and nobody likes him. probably won't show up even if hell freezes over- "he didn't last time it happened", according to Skull.

Speaking of Skull, he is 19 and anyone you ask will confirm. How many centuries he has been 19 is more debatable. His fashion sense is as supreme as it is questionable... about as questionable as his standing feud with the ghost-police.

Then we have Verde and Reborn. Verde is the manager, but stays holed up in the backroom-turned-lab, so Reborn plays stand-in, waltzing around pretending he's hot shit and not the fake-manager of a cursed supermarket.

Lal is the vampire BAMF with on/off boyfriend Nello. Everyone but Viper have a supernatural sense for when they break up and get back toghter, which they do almost daily. "geez, keep up??"

Fon is nothing remarkable, really. Really really, except for the little "possessed by a demon" thing. Very kind and polite and occasionally kills and eats people and everyone treats it as a minor inconvenience at best.

Yeah so basically these are the main characters, and the do whacky shit like badly exorcising a daemon spade- posessed freezer or spring cleaning of doom. Everyone thinks Viper's algebra homework is black magic.

skull shuts up AU

ok so i Definetely need a name for this, but I couldn't figure anything good enough out yet lol. I did post a bit about this one before i think actually.

Ok but basiaclly a collection of short oneshots in which Skull is pretty much like his usual lovable self in his thoughts n stuff, but doesn't know much in the way of Italian and as a result keeps largely quiet around the arcobaleno and kind of fade into the background because he avoids inserting himself into things and even opts out when he can’t communicate it. Avoids playing grandiose because it just looks odd that way. A series of coincidences happen too, like things end up looking a certain way for an outsider on missions, and in turn, the arcobaleno ends up perceiving Skull’s personality/person much differently- and as some of it matches Cloud stereotypes they don’t question it.

Some funny misunderstandings, different pov’s and situations, and the arcobaleno gaining quite a bit of healthy respect/fear while skull screams internally.

KHR rarepair week cloud day

hey, u caught me lol, it's the bermuda/skull mid-16th-century-ish painter/model thing.

so bermuda is the son of a german aristocrat who moved to france to purpuse his passion of being a painter during the renaissance, who feels quite lonely in general but has developed a frindship with hsi myserious neighboor skull who now models for his paintings, though bermuda has feeling running deeper by now. this is a look into one of their sessions, as bermuda thinks on their relationship, his own feeligns plus the appeal of the mystery surrounding skull, but the frustation and doubt when it hinders them from getting closer.

KHR rarepair week rain day

ok so be honest; how obvious is it that i am way too fond of skull? haha, he's the best character though so obviosly i'd write for him.

anyhow in this one the prompt was "gamer" so skull gets stuck as a dating sim protagonist, except all of his dialogue options are consistently shit. it's halfway isekai too- as skull in his original world was a wannabe stuntman; he had just graduated and he wakes up to this with no knowledge of how he magically has a career now, he’s still the same person but he has a different history he doesn't know. while freaking out a little bit over how he can maintain this impostor facade checker face shows up and he gets his first 'dialogue option’ as he's invited to the choosen seven.

Thank you for the ask!!!

#ask games #writing

[l-g-6-5]

my nickname is now ghost sim anon ( ´ ꒳ ` ) victoria is getting more content in the future though? that is exciting! i want to ask how you feel about other characters you have written then? alice immediately comes to mind, but also lilly/stella, riley, and luna. i have yet to read lilly's newest questline, yet i enjoy what you have done with their characters! same with the other two

Well, the content is more of a few ideas bouncing around the writing room that we reciprocated to a degree. We'll see. You won't get an answer until the update drops for Halloween.

I usually enjoy writing most of the NPCs I get assigned. Even if I didn't enjoy it at first, I always come around.

Alice is a great one. Writing the blissfully-unaware type is just silly fun. I ran a ton of ideas past the Devs to make sure I had the right vibes for her. I don't often write characters with no internal conflict (Cheshire's initial release, Mikayla, Uwu, Gran), but when I do, I try to have silly fun. Just a grand old time.

Riley is the main reason I hopped into the fandom. I felt like there was HUGE angst and lore potential with her and I was so happy to get the opportunity to write her twice. This idea extends to Arc 2 NPCs I wrote (Rose, Ella, Hikari), to a lesser extent.

Luna had such a serious amd no-nonsense persona before I got her. She had a lot of lore beforehand, which Riley never had. It was hard to make her a relatable character and it took a while to see where I would go with her. Honestly, the fact Arc 1 ended was a huge push for her characterization.

Stella, Lilly, and Head Elf were easier to write because they didn't have a lot of lore at first, which is typical of seasonal NPCs. That gave me the chance to expand them in the first place. The characterization gives the one-off characters depth. I am also super proud of the reference to the ice skates Green Elf loses in Head Elf's dialogue.

Victoria is one of my favorites solely because they let me go wild. She is the only other questline that doesn't end happily (First being Riley's initial appearance). It ends in a whimper and not a bang. I got away with one real raunchy joke. She is one of my favorites, for sure. I am excited to see of we even go anywhere with the story.

#lg answers #ghost simulator #ghost sim anon

[tired-beholding-bitch]

currently obsessed with the idea of Jonathan "I feel... sad. very sad." Sims having the most eloquent, passionate, romantic internal monologue but just

1) completely ignoring it in favour of the honoured practice of Avoiding Being In Touch with His Emotions Least They Overwhelm Him (As They Eventually Will)

2) not being able to put the thoughts into words to save his life. which results in him stuttering his way through the most cryptic, specific, succinct love confessions you've ever heard. still lovely and absolutely heartwrenching but still

#tma #the magnus archives #jonathan sims #listen it's just #he has??? too many thoughts for me to believe he is REALLY that out of touch with life #he feels too much #he's just so fucking good at ignoring it he passes on the other side #he feels the feelings but then has NO idea what they mean #he just lets them sit there and pretends they aren't there until WHAT they are becomes so clear he can't possibly ignore it anymore #it takes him three days to recognise when he's upset about something and a month to know WHY he is #I love him #he's an idiot (affectionate) and I love him #yes this came up because I was writing and like #idk he just has Thoughts but then when I go to write the dialogue immediately following the Thoughts he's like #'I- yeah. I do- I do think you're. Good?' #he's trying but oh my god #also of course it's also very valid to have him stutter his way through the internal monologue too #lets face it it's probably 50/50

[humanimalgam]

*designs dialogue sprites for a game i don’t know how to make*

#wip #i have so much work to do today i should not have spent so long working on this lmao #anyway yes it's my oc marian lol i need to draw more of the outfits i've designed for him bc i live vicariously thru his wardrobe #god he's such a fun character asfdjffgkl honestly one of my fave ocs #whoever sent me that ask saying that they loved everything about him has good taste #idk if they even follow me anymore but if you do i would like to say that he would be romanceable in the theoretical game i wanna make #it's not a dating sim lmao it's intended to be a narrative-heavy puzzle based rpg but i do have an optional romance system planned for it #however i have purposely designed it to be incredibly cryptic and frustrating and nearly impossible to figure out lmao #it depends on you making unmarked decisions throughout the game that add to invisible values representing a character's romantic feelings #though there are a few ways to get a very rough indication of how these values are progressing #you will NEVER get any indication of which choices and activities affect them #hell for that matter you won't even know which characters are romanceable until these values have been raised to a certain point #it's a terrible system that's designed so that even if you unlock a romance you'll have no idea how or why it became available to you #you'll just have to use your intuition and guess based on what you know about them :) just like a real relationship lol #however the system has a plus side #in that it allows me to write the romances so they play out much more plausibly than traditional mechanics would allow for #you'll be able to witness the characters gradually develop feelings reflected in various unmarked changes throughout the game #these include alterations to the protagonist's internal dialogue as well as character interactions & the appearance of new dialogue options #but you won't get any direct indication that these changes were triggered by raising the relevant invisible values #or that the content in question is even something that doesn't appear in every play through #okay wow sorry i rambled for so long about the mechanics of my theoretical game asjhdfsfkglkl #can you tell that the way romance routes are handled in most games has always been a huge disappointment to me #this system is meant to address the things that have always bothered me most about games with multiple romanceable characters lmao #namely that none of the romances end up feeling believable to me... #they all seem simplistic and forced to play out without any regard for the chemistry of the characters involved #so fuck it i would like to try and make a system that is all about building up chemistry #ok i'll shut up for real now asdfdjgfhkl but if you read this far nice job #i love rambling about my ideas but i don't get the feeling many people enjoy listening lol #bee babbles