defiledheartsblog

[defiledheartsblog]

my fave writing reminder

honestly, this phrase has been on my mind more times than i can count. i've kidnapped it, taken it as a hostage with no ransom money because i need it to live permanently in my head.

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the type of ship i fuck with the most

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Demo for Arcadie: Cold Lands is available!

You can now download and play it on Steam!

Tagging @interact-if

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Chapter 1 is out now! (Also, Weekly Update June 7th/8th 2025)

Hi everyone!

Yes. I couldn't hold it back anymore. It's released.

You can play chapter 1 now.

Edit: I'm dumb and stupid and undeserving and forgot to credit her. Many thanks to @partyof4game for betareading, your input was so incredibly helpful. <3

Also, for the actual weekly update:

This week, I worked on Ing's POV of the Eostrae feast of the prologue, which will be available for the highest tiers on Patreon and Ko-Fi.

Also, I've been doing a lot of research, as in the story, MC now reaches Rome and, because the story plays in the very early Roman Empire, shortly after the fall of the Roman Republic, there is so much to read up on, and so much to know about considering buildings and areas.

For example, the Colosseum wasn't built for another 60 years, just like some other major sites. Marble was only brought to Rome when Augustus became the first Emperor (who is still alive when MC is brought to Rome), and only slowly the buildings were built with it instead of stone.

I have read a biography of Augustus, and I still have to read a biography of Tiberius, the second Emperor (who is also relevant for Suevi).

Two other very interesting books I am currently reading are "A Walk Through Ancient Rome: A Tour of the Historical Sites That Shaped the City," which is set in the late fourth century, and, "24 hours in Ancient Rome: A Day in the Life of the People Who Lived There". (Impressively long titles nobody can even remember half of...)

Both books are written by Philip Matyszak, and they are technically set too late (380ish CE and 137 CE instead of 14 CE), but it's the closest I could find, and I need to constantly check if things are realistic for the time I'm writing the story. Still, they give me a pretty good idea of how things were back then.

I've also found some great maps and other helpful resources about the time.

And I've re-read some of the Edda to look for some nice quotes I might be able to use for the story.

And... I've written some. Definitely not as much as I would have liked to (only 4.5k words this week), but there is just too much I really want to be certain about before incorporating it into the story, so reading, research and fact-checking it is for now. :)

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy chapter 1! <3

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Huge game bundle! Lots of great games!

/end adspeak

Seriously though - there's a lot of games in here. Cairn, Mausritter, Wildsea, Gun & Slinger, Signal to Noise, and many many more!

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Started the demo and immediately got swept up in Marcus - the banter that you write is absolutely fantastic, and had me giggling so badly. That said, going through the Marcus route actually caused me to be bewitched by Quinn completely and utterly and I immediately had to replay the public demo to follow Quinn everywhere. What a fascinating character what a mystery I’m so intrigued they are so offputting and strange and hot and I both trust them not at all and with my entire soul. The “why did no one else come here? Why did it have to be me?” and “You won’t gain anything from liking me. I’ll always be here.” Is just so!!! I have so many theories and thoughts to parse through but truly absolutely adore your writing and characterization. I’m absolutely preparing for a third run for Camilla - honestly it’s rare that I get attached to more than one RO but you just have so many with such engaging personalities, storylines and dynamics with the main character. Amazing. I haven’t even talked about how endeared I am to the whole roster of NPCs with us. Yeah truly amazing, there’s no real question here I just wanted to gush about how much I enjoyed your work. Thank you so much !!

Thank you so much, your message made my day 😭💛

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One queer protagonist a day (Pride Month)

01. HARRY DU BOIS (Disco Elysium)

Drunk, amnesiac detective and protagonist of Disco Elysium, Harry can be controlled by the player to investigate a murder but he is very much his own character. His repressed bisexuality can be discovered accidentally in so many different ways, my favorite being the absolute enraptured and dreamy way Harry reacts to the Smoker on the Balcony, which happens indipendently from players' choices!

RPG isometric detective game

Canonically queer protagonist

Queerness does not depend on player's choice

No romance

The rules For something different I wanted to add queer protagonists in videogames (excluding romance simlators). To end up in the list the only criteria were: named protagonist, the protagonist has a story that cannot be customized by the player (so for example the Inquisitor from Dragon Age did not fit!), and ideally the protagonist is their own character not customisable at all.

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Another Patreon demo update is out now! Proceed with the party, chat with the Legate, and meet a stranger. 🥸

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Forgot to say, Childhood Epilogue is over!~

The Patreon demo is now 160k+, and im currently just polishing it up before it goes to the public. When it releases is still unknown, and dependent on how well the final two patches play nice lol

Patreon <- If you can't wait, it's there! I'd love and appreciate the support!

As of right now, I'm fixing up the Relationship tab and the Character Search Function, so that you can search up a character's name or as specific detail to find them in case you wanna learn more about them or need a reminder on who tf they are lol. Basically, Character Profiles will be in here.

It's just... incredibly fussy...

After that, I needa include the new Codex (a much more compact and leaner version of the old one that doesnt overwhelm readers) so that you all have the complete package.

Following the Childhood Arc, we'll get the Upbringing Arc in which we choose whether to begin an education focused on being a warrior (Squire Route), or to continue our royal education (Princess/Princess).

The Upbringing Arc is where we'll start seeing alot of the old 300k content but in new form, with new characters. And I must reiterate, we begin the Upbringing Arc at 14!

(I dunno, at 14 I can see way more stuff being plausible, specifically fights and stuff ;D so it helps me as a writer BIG TIME)

You'll have three different casts of characters for the Upbringing Arc.

(Here's Prince/Princess)

(Squire)

And with the three different routes, you get three different conflicts to resolve!

That's all for now, dont wanna share too much in one post or itll get super long.

I'm positive that i've posted about this before though, on both Discord and the free Progress Reports on Patreon! So if you wanna learn more, search around, ask around, in both!

That's all, thank you guys!

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End of May Patreon Demo Update! 🎉

The Eternal Library Patreon demo just got juicier!

I'm excited to share this early access demo update with my Patreon subscribers! If you're enjoying The Rescue side of chapter five, you're going to love it! 💃

Some gems included in the new material:

Moody, magical sailing.

Gorgeous scenery.

Alone time with Dorian.

Secret child NPC sub-plot.

A new character who might be an RO in a future story.

A chance to wear yet another outfit from your fairy godmother. 😆

This update brings the wordcount for the Patreon demo up to 140,000 words!

I'm going to keep working on The Rescue path until it's wrapped up before switching to the other version of this section of story. Still quite a bit of content to get to, including a tasty meal and some tricky negotiations. This chapter is already 30k words long and growing. It's a lot of work, but so worth it!

If you're not already a Patreon subscriber, you can choose any of the paid membership tiers to enjoy the update.

Thanks so much for following along as this story unfolds!

Enjoy your weekend! 💞🌿

Leia

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Hi guys !

The game has been updated for Patreon and Kofi members.

You can join and play the game on Patreon by joining the Soul tier here

or

You can join and play the game on Ko-Fi by joining the Heart tier here

Enjoy !

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Another Patreon demo update is out now! Proceed with the party, chat with the Legate, and meet a stranger. 🥸

[defiledheartsblog]

Another Patreon demo update is out now! Proceed with the party, chat with the Legate, and meet a stranger. 🥸

[defiledheartsblog]

Midnight self-promotion — why not ✨

I always postpone doing this. So here goes, it's near midnight, so it seems a good time.

I recently posted a long Minigame on itch for FREE:

The knight one! But there's also a "douchestrade" minigame and a watson baking one right there!

And if you like those—

On Patreon, a few I like are:

For the regency / H fans ->

And this one which is a playable continuation of the fakeout makeout short story with Lestrade but it takes a sexy turn:

I am also quite happy with these, and they have some game connection:

There's a journal entry of L's right after the bar encounter.

And theres a letter W sends to their sister about first meeting Sherlock:

And a scene for L and MC that's connected to the time between ch4 and the ball.

I recommend these for game relevance <3

But there's more fun stuff on there, too!

--

Additionally, we have a Discord here, which is fun and nice IMO:

And for what's coming up—

I was just given the wonderful prompt of writing about when L and W were at the station together, the scene talked about in ch2, where MC is mentioned and seemingly discussed. <3. That's the next short story, and I'll try to post for the Patreon this week with their progress update.

As for Tumblr peeps, well, I hope you liked the Knight minigame <3 It was... a lot of work. But I'm happy with it! I hope you are, too 🥰

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Essays and Meta on Interactive Fiction Design

2025.5.20: Updated original list with more resources. I've also fixed the links.

Structure

Standard Patterns in Choice-Based Games

Design Patterns in Choose Your Own Adventures

Small-Scale Structures in CYOA

By the Numbers: How to Write a Long Interactive Novel That Doesn't Suck

Adventures in Text: Innovating in Interactive Fiction)

Structuring IF Side Plots)

Narrative Graph Models

Beyond Branching: Quality-Based, Salience-Based, and Waypoint Narrative Structures

Puzzle Dependency Charts

What does your narrative system need to do?

Narrative Logics

Design Decisions: Stats

Loose, Tight, Flat, and Bumpy Stats in ChoiceScript Games

7 Rules for Designing Great Stats

Think Before You Stat

Set, Check, or Gate? A problem in personality stats

Design Decisions: Choice

Mailbag: Moments of Non-Choice

Should Games Have Meaningful Choices?

Creating Choices in Interactive Writing

A Bestiary of Player Agency

Making Interactive Fiction: Branching Choices

Successful Reflective Choices in Interactive Narrative

Design Decisions: Other

Writing in Collaboration with the System

Story vs. Game: The Battle of Interactive Fiction

Narrative States

How to write a branching narrative and won't lose your mind

Storygame Genre

Narrative Mechanics, Narrative Dynamics

That Darn Conundrum

Writing Advice and Opinions

The Seven Deadly Sins of Writing Interactive Fiction

Three Solutions to Three Problems in Interactive Fiction

Writing Interactive Fiction in Six Steps

Writing IF

Game Analysis

CYOA Structures: Tween Romance

These Maps Reveal the Hidden Structures of 'Choose Your Own Adventure' Books

Playing With Words: The remarkable Firewatch is part of a new generation of games taking cues from the text adventures of the 1980s

7 works of interactive fiction that every developer should study

The Illusion of Free Will: On "Bandersnatch" and Interactive Fiction

Scarlet Sails (and a discussion about game size)

Musings on IF

Interactive Fiction as Literature

Riddle Machines: The History and Nature of Interactive Fiction

Toward a Theory of Interactive Fiction

Interactive Fiction for the Modern Game Designer

The Joy of Text: the fall and rise of interactive Fiction

Going Interactive or: How I Learned to Relax and Let the Reader Take Control

In the Beginning Was The Word

An Alternative Taxonomy for Interactive Stories

Misc

Ethically Designing Unethical Worlds

Break the Loop

Game Taxonomies: A High Level Framework for Game Analysis and Design

An in-depth look at what otome players wants

Mailbag: Self-Training in Narrative Design

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I just released another monthly smut, thus increasing the backlog in size (it contains over 80k words!). This month's interactive smut and the backlog are available on my Patreon for my patrons in Outraged Fox tier. Now, the backlog includes:

June 2023: Kinda toxic smut with Marcus in a cave

July: Quinn wakes you up from a nightmare and is pretty weird about it

August: Niall gets ambushed by you in the middle of naked druid rituals (as one does) (with female Hati)

September: Kinda toxic Legate smut

October: Fooling around with a dom Camilla in her wine cellar (with female Hati)

November: You become the offering to Tinsae's goddess (another perfectly normal day in the peaceful town of Moguntiacum)

December: A drinking game with Niall and Marcus

January 2024: Reading poetry with Marcus

February: Quinn hogties you

March: Monster loving

April: Bondage with Niall (Niall is the one tying you up)

May: A trip with Tinsae

June: Revenge with Camilla (feat. Legate)

July: A cute little date with Marcus

August: In a closet with Niall (feat. Marcus and LT vibes)

September: A (slightly tragic) date with Quinn

October: How Samhain celebration could've ended with Tinsae and Camilla

November: Monster loving 🧌

December: A drama-packed scenario with Marcus and Quinn

January 2025: A sequel to the kinda toxic Legate smut (with male Hati)

February: Camilla punishes you (pegging included)

March: Niall is struck with a horny curse (by you)

April: Visiting an orgy with Niall and Tinsae

This month's chosen RO is Marcus 🙏