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[bloomdigital]

LongStory fanartists! Help us celebrate!

Have you ever created fanart for LongStory? Then we'd love to hear from you!

We're creating a video to celebrate the 10th anniversary of LongStory, and we want to connect with a few fanartists who would be okay being interviewed about why LongStory was important to them, and what they're up to these days.

If you've ever created fanart for LongStory and would be okay with being interviewed for our celebration video, send us a message! We want to connect with you!

Email: marketing@bloomdigital.to

[bloomdigital]

Since your first game came out 10 years ago when the scope of LGBT media for youth was much worse, what do you think has changed between now and then and what sets Longstory 2 apart from new media which has come out since?

CW: Discussions of homophobia/transphobia in media, mention of conversion therapy law, tropes

This a great question, let's take a look. To put this in a wider context on LGBT rights in general...

Picture it: Sicily... I mean... Toronto, 2014!

While global human rights don't revolve around Canada, (ed note: Although historically Canada has led the way in developing policy based around enshrining human right into law) that's where we're based. Canada was only 10 years out from same-sex marriage being recognized across the country--the States, in comparison, only received the court ruling that would make it legal in June 2015. Sadly, Canada wouldn't make a conversion therapy illegal under the law for another seven years. It'd be another 2 years for "gender identity and expression" to be added as protected under the Canadian Human Rights Act, not like that explicitly protects trans folks, but it's something. So that's an overview of where we were at on the ground, at least.

In the world of games, things were..... Not like that. A couple of big inspirations for LongStory were Life is Strange, which was released throughout 2015, and The Last of Us, especially the "Left Behind" DLC, which was released in 2014. Keep in mind that all of these inspirations, however beautifully written, were penned by straight guys--and that both games either do or can kill off at least one of their queer characters, see: bury your gays trope.

That was the name of the game (in games) at the time: Players occasionally could enjoy decently written LGBT characters, but they were often killed off, for punishment or pathos.

Maybe that heady mix of a country that was rabidly expanding it's understanding of what human conditions and experiences were protected rights, juxtaposed against a games industry that was (and remains) reluctant to expand the definition of who plays games and can be represented in games is what led us to care so deeply about LongStory. The fact is at the time of it's creation many of us were experiencing the joy of seeing our own lives changed by shifting tides of acceptance in families, at school and at work.

Since then, there's been a massive shift in media across the board, including games, turning toward "own voices" stories; creators can tell stories outside their own experiences, but if they do it should be well researched and hopefully include a (properly paid and credited) cultural consultant and/or sensitivity readers. Or admit when you got it wrong, at the very least.

LongStory came onto the scene as we began to see this shift. That and we responded to our players' needs. The game was originally supposed to be about a girl, the original feminine-presenting avatar, but when early players asked if they could be a boy, it was an obvious decision to make a masculine-presenting avatar an option. One of our claims to fame is that we were one of the earlier adopters of pronoun selection as well, including gender neutral pronouns, which also isn't attached to gender presentation (ie. feminine presentation = she/her, masculine = he/him). Now a lot of games (but certainly not all) have gotten better at different iterations of gender presentation instead of just a binary of GIRL/BOY.

The upside to this shift is that now young people are kind of "spoiled for choice", which is a very good thing. Games, movies, TV, books, comics, in media of all kinds for all ages it's often odd when there's not a queer or gender diverse character. Funny how diverse real life is, huh? Our media should reflect that.

We're finally seeing the cracks in the monolithic presumed straight, white, cisgender man audience. It is our genuine hope that the success of LongStory, which honestly comes down to folks continuing to care about the game and ask us these great questions, has had an impact on the growth of the industry and it's increasing inclusion and representation, however imperfect that may sometimes be.

Speaking of imperfection. I was just having a conversation yesterday about the toxic individualist (and, I think, deeply capitalist) idea that when someone else receives, I lose. Now when bigots, fascists and creepy evangelicals see diversity in the media, be it LGBTQ and/or BIPOC representation and/or disabled or non-neurotypical representation it gets labeled as "woke", which is bad because: ?????? I think that comes from a place of believing that when one person wins somebody else has to be losing out. That's not how life works--but it is how capitalism works! Capitalism has made us all so afraid that there is not enough to around, not enough love, or stories, or hero narratives. When the opposite is true, people have an abundance of love and creativity to share, but again, capitalism is sort of based on this idea of scarcity... yeah, it's how to keep people isolated.

All this to say, there is a new generation of people, afraid of the beautiful exuberance and diversity of life wriggling their way into positions of power, or lobbying and manipulating the systems and people in them to get anti-trans laws on the books, or look for ways to roll back protections on hard fought basic human rights it's taken generations of LGBTQ folks to achieve. More often than not it's just a shameless power grab scapegoating historically marginalized communities. Lots of that. So we're still here, still working on our games, still saying the same things with renewed enthusiasm.

LongStory starts from a place of empathy, which is something that's unfortunately needed now more than ever. We want everyone, but especially young people, to look at a world as it should be, which is diverse and open to exploration, where they can make mistakes but still be surrounded by love and compassion. I think that's what sets LongStory apart from a lot of media and makes it really special.

-MJ (and Miriam)

[bloomdigital]

Which learning disability is Colin supposed to have? His spelling/typing is on par with the other characters and he has good coordination as a star athlete, but the disability is severe enough to have severely impacted his grades in all of his classes, which require different skillsets (a dyscalculaic person wouldn't have as significant of an issue in English, but Colin mentions failing that). He only talks about it once in LS1 before he's DXed, then in the sequel he's already able to liken his disability to things that aren't disabling and has dreams of succeeding in a corporate environment, even though it's only been a few months since his DX. As a person with dyscalculia and dysgraphia myself, that part felt a bit... underresearched?

I'll be honest it probably was under-researched. When you say spelling/ typing you mean when he is texting right? As a note, we didn't make any of the spelling in the game represent how a person might actually type or text for reasons of readability. So that is something to bear in mind, it might have been better for representation reasons to have Colin spelling differently or use shorthands or other tools but that would have gone against our style guide. When the game came out we didn't have emoji's built into our text parser so that was a non-starter anyways.

I am curious to hear more about what parts of colin's conversation in the sequel demo felt like it didn't map to your perception of him in S1 we are still working on the season so we can definitely reflect on getting some better continuity with his arc in season 1.

Comment back if you wish I am happy to keep learning.

[bloomdigital]

ok wait in confused i didnt play the first game so mayb im missing smth but is marcel emirati born in dubai or emirati canadian bc he moves from dubai in the sequel but every1 already knows him. but his name is also not arab but his familys all in dubai. im confused. btw i love nora

Many good questions about Marcel. Marcel is Emirati born in Dubai. His family moved when he was entering grade 7 in Canada. Then in grade 8 feeling frustrated and homesick he went back to Dubai for the summer to live with his aunt and uncle.

In the game story, he tells his friends in Canada he is going back to Dubai for good, but he is young and being away from his parents and brother is tough so he decides at the end of summer that he will return to Canada for high school instead of attending high school in Dubai as planned.

Hope that helps!

[bloomdigital]

THAT'S RIGHT BABES! We are just 12 hours away from the end of our first Kickstarter, and guess what?! WE ARE 105% FUNDED!!

[airhorn.wav]

We've got some treats for our backers, some freebies and add-ons! So if you want to preorder LongStory 2, or you want to add to your pledge, NOW IS THE TIME!

Anyone who preorders the game with a $10 pledge or higher gets a copy of the first LongStory series as well as LongStory 2, no strings attached! We're just so grateful to everyone who backed that we wanted to toss that in so everyone can get the full LS experience.

We've also got some delicious add-ons we've tossed into the mix just to tempt you further!

Add $5 (Canadian dollars) to the mix to date an adorable grandpa! That's right! Later Daters is the game we made in between LS1 and LS2, only this time instead of being a teenager heading toward high school, you're a senior! No, not a high school senior, an actual senior! Later Daters is about finding love later in life, and it explores things like desire, aging, grief and gouging your fellow residents at bridge night. There may even be a connection to LongStory...

LongStory's all about the sticky situation of love and dating as a teenager. For $8 you can get yourself into your own sticky situation with this adorable washi tape featuring your favourite characters and our pronoun emojis! Wear your heart on your sleeve through tape!

Last but CERTAINLY not least, people in mascot suits may not need to keep their head warm, but you sure do! For a $35 add-on you can keep your noggin' nice and toasty in style, and probably start a few conversations. Who is TH? Why do you love them? Why do you speak entirely in haiku? Why do you keep calling your hat a "toque"? What are you, some kinda hoser, ehh?

Once again, we just can't say it enough... THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to everyone who's backed LongStory 2. We couldn't have done this without our amazing fans and players, and we can't wait for you to see the story we've got in store for you! THANK YOU ONE MORE TIME!!!

BECOME A BACKER BY PREORDERING LONGSTORY 2 NOW AND RECEIVE A FREE COPY OF LONGSTORY 1! LESS THAN A DAY TO GO!

[bloomdigital]

Alright folks, it's the last post of my Tumblr takeover. On Monday our preordering campaign will be done and I will be back to being a lowly writer, scrabbling for words in the dirt, my fingers anxiously picking at adjectives and adverbs.

I found this post as I was digging around in the ancient LongStory Tumblr archives and thought it'd be fun to tackle these questions again as a way of saying "adios." It's been an absolute pleasure, thanks for all your support for LongStory 2, we're so excited to share it with you!

MJ LYONS: WRITER AND SCRIPT COORDINATOR

What’s your favourite part about working on LongStory 2?

I started doing some writing on LongStory 2 for episodes 2-5, but I came on as script coordinator because our amazing narrative lead, Heather, is all out working on [redacted secret game]. I got to learn a lot about QA and playtesting getting episode 1 in shape, and it also turns out that when I'm left to my own devices with scripts I take 'em and run. My favourite has been writing Hanna, especially taking the Surfboard Boys gag and running with it. I'm pretty sure it was originally supposed to be a total throwaway line, but I convinced the team to put in a "Surfboard Boys fan" variable, and now there's deep Surfboard Boys lore. Radical.

Why do you think a game like LongStory 2 is important?

Social progress is, unfortunately, not a straight line. It's always two steps forward and one step back. I think we're seeing that a lot these days. It'd be easy to say it's "just in the States," but Canada's facing anti-trans bills, my home province of New Brunswick was one of the early adopters of discriminatory legislation. F***, allow me to say, that. It's easy to feel scared or hopeless, so writing an explicitly pro-LGBTQ, trans- and non-binary-celebratory game that brings players, especially young people, joy is exactly the kind of thing I want to do with my life. In the immortal words of my favourite writer, Ursula K. Le Guin: "Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art, the art of words." Let's all keep fighting for what's right.

You can also follow MJ here on Bluesky and Instagram :)

BECOME A BACKER BY PREORDERING LONGSTORY 2 NOW AND RECEIVE A FREE COPY OF LONGSTORY 1! THREE DAYS TO GO!

MICHAEL LYONS: WRITER

What’s your favourite part about working on LongStory?

My favourite part working on LongStory is definitely writing the dialogue of Weasel Height’s resident enormous, feathered sweetheart, Turkeyhawk. Completely unplanned, another writer and I ended up having Turkey quote 19th century poets in our episodes. I think that says a lot about our magical, humungous, flightless darling.

Why do you think a game like LongStory is important?

I identify as queer and I’m from a small town, so I had no access to any stories about LGBTQ people or relationships until I was well into high school. When I first played LongStory I remember thinking, “I wish I had this game when I was younger.” It’s so exciting to work on a game like that, and I hope young queer or trans kids will play it, see themselves in the story and know they’re not alone.

You can also follow Michael here on Tumblr and on Wordpress  :)

[bloomdigital]

Okay, gather round my introverts, come forth from your dark corners and quiet caves, we must pay tribute to the Queen of the Introverts.

As a dictionary introvert (ie. you look the word up in the dictionary and see my picture next to it), it's sometimes hard to... you know... leave the house and be a human with other humans. When the choice is "go out into the noisy, chaotic, confusing world" or "stay at home and read TTRPG books"...

When exploring some character arcs in LS2, our producer Miriam suggested that Nora had something of a revelation while visiting family in the Philippines. She got to hang out with all her awesome cousins as a teenager and meet a bunch of their friends, and especially after meeting the Weasel Heights gang at the end of LongStory, she's trying to find some new confidence and not just hide behind a screen anymore. Then immediately regret it, BUT STILL TRY ANYWAYS.

One of my other resolutions for 2024 was to get out of the house more (UGH), so needless to say I'm channeling the feeling of wanting to get out and meet new people (while wanting nothing more than to hide in my bedroom) whenever writing Nora.

-MJ

BECOME A BACKER BY PREORDERING LONGSTORY 2 NOW AND RECEIVE A FREE COPY OF LONGSTORY 1! FOUR DAYS TO GO!

A pic of Nora from @longstorygame bc she’s an absolute sweetheart and i love her !!!

[bloomdigital]

Some concept art of Abby! She's one of the characters that's stayed pretty consistent from the original character art onwards. Abby lovers know... why mess with perfection?

She's been really fun to tackle in LongStory 2, she's trying to be more chill, not let her temper get the better of her. Anyone who struggles with a temper (guilty) knows that's not exactly a linear path. Also, the fact that the player character and Abby are in an open relationship brings a huge, different dynamic to the game. The fact that you can date Hanna (Abby's nemesis) and have a crush on Em (Abby's kinda ex whose heart she broke) is REALLY fun for a writer. 😈 Anyone who's been in an open relationship KNOWS that when feelings for multiple people get involved, things get COMPLICATED.

BECOME A BACKER BY PREORDERING LONGSTORY 2 NOW AND RECEIVE A FREE COPY OF LONGSTORY 1! FOUR DAYS TO GO!

Here it is! The final instalment in our original character art series. We’re sure there are mixed feelings about Abby right now and we can’t WAIT for you to see what happens next in Episode 5 ;) 

[bloomdigital]

👏 TURKEY 👏 ROCKS 👏 MY 👏 SOCKS, 👏 👏 WE 👏 LOVE 👏 OUR 👏 FEATHERED 👏 POET 👏 👏 YES 👏 THIS 👏 IS 👏 HAIKU 👏

Going back through posts of LongStory past I found an "Introducing the Team" post that said Turkey is my favourite character to write, and that remains true. A character that speaks in a combination of pantomime, text and poetry is like gold for a writer. We're also going to get to see sides of Turkey in LongStory 2 that we've never seen before. Curious what sides exactly? YOU SHOULD PLAY THE DEMO! Full episode 1 of LongStory 2... and it'll be a hint of what's to come... BUM BUM BUUUUUM!

Also we've fully funded LongStory 2, and one of the bonuses is that we've decided to give $10 backers a free copy of LongStory as well. So whether you've never played LongStory, or just want to experience it again before playing LongStory 2, it's a nice little bonus for preordering now!

-MJ

BECOME A BACKER BY PREORDERING LONGSTORY 2 NOW AND RECEIVE A FREE COPY OF LONGSTORY 1! FOUR DAYS TO GO!

Just a quick sketch of the best LongStory character.

[bloomdigital]

You know what? LongStory IS a soft, cute and sweet LGBTQ+ dating sim! 🙏

The last few years have been hard on a lot of us. Hell, this year has been hard on a lot of us, and we're only TWO MONTHS into it! Being queer, trans or non-binary just adds a whole other layer to how rough things are, ditto being a sensitive and/or empathetic person. It's easy to be critical or tear someone down; making connections, building community, uplifting people is hard work. It's easy to give into despair and say "what's the point?" The hard thing is to build the world you want, because that's work that never ends. Being soft and vulnerable, having a lot of feelings, caring means you might get hurt, but I'd pick that over closing myself off to the world any day. If I've learned one thing all these years of spinning around on this rock in space it's that you've gotta care for the people in your life who take care of you, even if it means sometimes being disappointed or getting hurt, but that means you're living. At the end of the day that's all we've got.

Okay, I'm stepping off my soapbox now. The softness resonated. One of my 2023 resolutions was "be more earnest," and that was the best so one of my 2024 resolutions is "be EVEN MORE earnest." All of this to say I hope you're all having a lovely day, and if you're not do something small to care for yourself. You deserve some care, even when it feels like you don't. Go be soft.

Now for the inevitable self-deprecating countercharm, but I embrace it because...

-MJ

LSTIEN LONGSTORY IS A SOF LGBTQ+ DATING SIM IT’S CUTE AND SWEET AND CHARMING AND OH MY GOD I LOVE THESE KIDS SO MUUUUUCCCHHH @longstorygame

[bloomdigital]

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Part 2/2 of bofable's adorable fan comic "Elaborate Flirting", BECAUSE IT STILL GETS ME.

On top of their art just being RIDICULOUSLY good, bofable now works as a game concept artist. So chase your obsessions, kids! Practice, practice, practice! Make gorgeous art of your original characters! Share your fanart! You'll probably make someone's day!

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A post shared by Bo (@bofable)

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A post shared by Bo (@bofable)

-MJ

BECOME A BACKER BY PREORDERING LONGSTORY 2 NOW AND RECEIVE A FREE COPY OF LONGSTORY 1! FIVE DAYS TO GO!

[bloomdigital]

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OKAY TIME FOR A TOTALLY SELF-INDULGENT FANART SHARE.

I talk about this scene all the time as one of my favourites I've ever written probably 99% because of this comic version bofable did. I do want to say for the record that they did this in 2016 to acknowledge how artists often feel about their older work, but it still makes me smile just as much as the first day that it got posted. I think they captured EXACTLY what we were going for in the "first kiss" scene with Marcel.

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A post shared by Bo (@bofable)

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A post shared by Bo (@bofable)

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Part 1/2 (Tumblr only lets you post 10 external embeds per post...)

-MJ

BECOME A BACKER BY PREORDERING LONGSTORY 2 NOW AND RECEIVE A FREE COPY OF LONGSTORY 1! FIVE DAYS TO GO!

[bloomdigital]

Have any aspects of LS's setting been updated to reflect a more modern setting? The first game is pretty heavily grounded in 2016 what with the early-2010s fashion, style of humor, and pop culture references (Fallout 4, the election, Tumblr as a subcutlure) stuff like that. Is LS2 also taking place that same year, or will it be updated for a more modern setting? Will it be like Butterfly Soup where it's intended as a look back at 14-year-olds from 10 years ago?

LongStory 2 is very much a direct sequel, it continues not long after the "In Dubai" episode, when everyone's coming back at the end of the summer break (so ten years ago). In stylistic terms, we're sticking to where all the kids were at. In game design terms, we've fixed up the assets from LongStory and we're adding some EXCELLENT new stuff--character art, "cutscene" images, music, locations--in for different moments throughout the episodes, and using a lot of the non-school stuff from the first season.

LongStory 2 will be a very comfortable and familiar experience but one where we've upped our game with everything we've learned over the years. If you haven't tried it yet, you should DEFINITELY go play the demo, which is now available on Macs! We think you'll have a good time!

We did get with the times in one sense, we updated the phone texting, because NOBODY texts in landscape mode.

-MJ

BECOME A BACKER BY PREORDERING LONGSTORY 2 NOW AND RECEIVE A FREE COPY OF LONGSTORY 1! FIVE DAYS TO GO!

[bloomdigital]

No matter what his eye colour is, Colin is our precious little cinnamon bun. 😭

I really hope LongStory 2 gets some new fanart coming in because OH MY GOD it's been so fun going back through old fanart. WE HAVE A TALENTED COMMUNITY OF FANS!

-MJ

BECOME A BACKER BY PREORDERING LONGSTORY 2 NOW! JUST ONE WEEK LEFT!

[bloomdigital]

Love the game, can’t wait to play, but I am curious. You have mentioned a few times how the gaming industry has not been to inclusive of the LGBTQ+ community, which is very true and as someone who is the fact that more are coming out is great. You seem to only concentrate on Marcel’s storylines which is great, but it’s the same as everywhere else every other LGBTQ+ show movie or game. It’s all about the gay male characters you can find hundreds of things for them. When it comes to lesbians it’s such a small percentage so I’m just wondering why?

Is Marcel the most popular option or just who’s easier for you to animate?

That's a good question with a few different components, let's break it down:

Marcel is definitely a fan favourite in terms of the dateable characters. There's a lot of fan love for Marcel in terms of requests, fanart and marketing, with Hanna as a close second, then Turkey and Nora, then Colin and Abby being the least discussed. Doesn't mean he's the only one we focus on in-game, he's 1/5 dateable characters in LongStory, and there was such a strong demand for her that in LongStory 2 players have the opportunity to date Hanna if they choose to, you can play the demo to see what a date with Hanna is like! So the breakdown for dateable characters ends up being three girls, two boys and one Turkeyhawk, plus a crush on enby Em if you choose! We're pretty happy with that.

Marcel never actually identifies as gay or queer--see what I wrote about bringing sexuality and gender variables into LongStory 2 for some more info on that! A playthrough of the demo shows that he doesn't really know what he is dating a boy player character, which is a very real experience at any age, questioning or curious. There's only a couple of characters that really outright state they might be queer, bi or pan. In LongStory, Abby states very upfront that she's into guys and girls, and Nora admits that she has a crush on one of her guildmates, a girl from Australia. Colin, on the other hand, isn't bothered one way or another about dating a boy, girl or enby person. Turkey just has a big heart and a lot of love to give to anyone. Human sexuality is huge, diverse and amorphous! No two people date for the same reason, or feel the same way about the person they're dating, that's an experience we very much want to capture.

Choice is the name of the game in LongStory. Kind of touching on what I wrote in that variables thing, every single player is going to come to a dating game with different expectations, and different reads on the characters, both the player character and who they want to date. Since we let players choose their gender presentation and pronouns, we wanted to make sure players could access the story of whatever character they were interested in without getting bogged down in "she/he/they wouldn't date you because--"

With our other game, Later Daters, we tried something different, our characters do have canonical preferences because they're older and have a history. For LongStory the philosophy was that younger people would be a bit more curious and open to different experiences in dating.

But don't take my word for it! Play the game for yourself, you can very much be a girl who dates girls! But be warned, if you date Hanna there will be an itinerary and an exit survey.

-MJ

BECOME A BACKER BY PREORDERING LONGSTORY 2 NOW! LESS THAN ONE WEEK LEFT!

[bloomdigital]

Okay, but if LongStory was an otome? (But not super genedered...)

Marcel: tsundere (obviously)

Abby: deredere but can end you

Colin: genki guy

Hanna: okay maybe a LITTLE megadere or kekkondere but not to, like, an obsessive level... just a Hanna level

Jennifer: tsungire and WILL end you

Jane: a little himudere a little darudere, doesn't even need to care about ending you or not

Em: BIG kuudere vibes but chill about it

Nora: megane otaku

Turkey: dandere

---

Colin: SASSE-CHAN! Will you play rugby with me after school?!

Hanna: Don't be stupid! Sasse-kun is going to help me study for the midterms! Right Sasse-kun?! RIGHT?!

Abby: But what about my new routine? I'm so excited for you to see it!

Jane: Ugh. Who cares?

Jennifer: You're hanging out with me. This is a threat.

Em: [silhouetted in the window, strums guitar and smiles mysteriously]

Nora: [several Line messages with her favourite anime emoji pack to "Sasse-shi" about the idol meet-and-greet after school]

Marcel: You're all so needy. Don't even bother looking for me in the stairwell after school, Sasse-san...

Turkey: [flower petals fall, sparkles, shyly hands Sasse a single rose]

BECOME A BACKER BY PREORDERING LONGSTORY 2 NOW! JUST ONE WEEK LEFT!

[bloomdigital]

Therapist: Turkeyhawk in suspenders isn't real they can't hurt you

Turkeyhawk in suspenders:

Okay, but going back through some old LongStory concept art... Turkey in a bowtie, tho?

-MJ

BECOME A BACKER BY PREORDERING LONGSTORY 2 NOW! JUST ONE WEEK LEFT!

Hiya everyone! As promised, we thought we’d share another character concept drawing of one of your favourite characters, the one and only Turkeyhawk. Safe to say their looks have changed slightly since then ;) 

PS. We’ve got lots to share so if you’re interested in any other specific characters let us know!