jennayow

[jennayow]

"fundraiser for displaced members of the queer community in lebanon. share & d.nate" please help

[jennayow]

hi! I'm a queer writer (hopefully author soon) who was massively impacted by gvh. like, "go outside and look at the stars for an hour then throw away my manuscript to start a whole different book" impacted.

your work course-corrected me from writing a flashy action movie to something much slower and more emotional (with alot more gay werewolves).

and first I'd like to thank you. gvh changed me and my art.

but secondly I'd like to ask if it would be appropriate to pay tribute or mention or somehow reference gvh in my novel? it's already there if you look for it, it's unmistakeably a thematic response to what gvh is saying, but I want to do something more explicit. I want people to know "fang was here", and to see that those constellations really did inspire other people.

uh yeah. kind of a long rambling ask. what would you want and/or feel comfortable with? thankyou for what you've done.

Thank you, this is incredibly kind. I hope you don't mind that I've shared this with my coworkers-- one of them actually has a background in publishing, and mentioned that depending on the route you take, a larger publisher may insist on getting the 'rights' to mention GVH or KO_OP by name. It's not impossible, just something to be prepared for.

But however you decide to do it, please feel free...and please let us know what you do! I love the idea of work being created in conversation with GVH. For a game that is so deeply rooted in the importance of self-expression and creativity despite the odds, the highest honor we can get is for people to make work that continues to explore those themes. We're deeply flattered by this and are excited to see what you make!!

[jennayow]

The chance to write for a video game is a privilege. The chance to shape that game into something authentically, unapologetically trans and queer is a gift. To every person who saw themselves in this game, to every trans person who saw /me/ writing to them through these characters, to every Fang, Rosa, and Sage: thank you.

Happy birthday, GVH 🦕☄️

[jennayow]

re: Rosa & Fang, their conversation was inspired by my and my friends' shared experience & parallels growing up as the queer children of immigrant parents. I don't always find other Arab people in queer spaces, but I've found my experiences and feelings mirrored in the lives of countless other people from every part of the world.

anyway! glad it resonated with you, this was a really lovely read

Why Goodbye Volcano High resonates with me as...

...a musician

As a musician, it's hard not to immediately identify with Fang. What musician doesn't want their music to be heard, to play at music festivals, and have music as their career. I can wax poetic about how music is about self expression and it doesn't matter if I have an audience, but in the end, I still want my music to be heard, and enjoyed. And Fang is on track to making this their entire career.

Making music has been a minor hobby for me. Even as a kid, I knew there's almost no chance I can make it as a musician, so I went down the route of being a software engineer instead. It's such a minor part of my life that I don't even bother identifying as a musician, I just fool around with instruments. But something about GVH ignited that passion in me, and during my first playthrough, I wrote six songs inspired by themes in the game. Even if I'll stay an amateur, I want to make the most from life, and not let the fire die. (See last section)

All that said, I felt very bad for Fang throughout the game. I know how tough the life of a full time musician is. The industry is just completely screwed. And unlike me, Fang doesn't have another option other than music. The game also drives it in that Fang's friends all have viable career paths, while Fang doesn't. But then, the meteor throws an interesting wrench into this, as now Fang is the only one who achieved their dreams. I'm not sure what the point of this paragraph is besides fuck capitalism, give musicians a living wage.

...an enby

Fang really made me more comfortable about being non-binary. It's amazing seeing enby representation that doesn't feel shoehorned in, or merely an afterthought. It's actually integral to the story. Both Fang and Sage struggle having their parents take their identities seriously, and that mirrors my own fears of not being taken seriously as an enby myself, which leads me to only come out as non-binary to my closest friends, and just remain a binary trans woman to everyone else.

It's honestly amazing to see everyone in Caldera Bay being accepting of the queer cast, like being queer isn't a big deal at all. And that's how it should be. Everyone just calls Fang by their name and pronouns (except their parents of course), and no one seems to mind that Reed brought Alvin to prom. This really makes me feel more comfortable about my identity, and I feel proud to be queer. We don't owe them normal.

...an immigrant

It's so rare to see stories about the intersection of being trans and being an immigrant, so when I read Rosa's story, I felt it must've been written by someone who also has first hand experience. There's a distinct feel from my family that me being trans is a "western" thing, not something they could ever understand. Or worse, that I'm being corrupted by "the west" in some way by moving there. There's so much extended family I can never see again because I'm now an abomination of the family tree.

I find it really difficult to talk about this as I fear I'd be misread as being racist for suggesting that my home country is more queerphobic or something, but that isn't my point. I just want to tell my story, and my experience of being alienated for both culture and gender, in both my origin and destination countries, is one that most folks can't emphasize with. (Venba also does do a good job with the culture part, so you should check that out too)

There's a separate rant about how this brand of queerphobia was actually planted by Christian missionaries and not at all "traditional culture", but that's for another time.

...someone struggling with mental health

I've been obsessed with the game for months since I played it. I went through what everyone calls "Dino depression", but I think it really helped me, and it was the game I needed to play at this moment in my life. I struggle with depression and burnout. At times it can be hard to know what the point is, or feel that any of this is worth it. The first few weeks after the game, I actually felt more depressed, as I thought about what the point of life is if it all is temporary anyway, and what I would do if a meteor were to hit in 8 months. And I was scared, because I felt like my life wasn't under my control. Over time, I've learned to think about it more positively. If life is temporary, then it's up to me to make the most of it. If life has no meaning, it's up to me to make my own meaning. I have amazing friends around me, and I still have tons of music to make.

[jennayow]

GOODBYE VOLCANO HIGH ⤷ Original songs performed by Fang / Worm Drama

[jennayow]

this is the closest you can get to experiencing a jumpscare on social media

[jennayow]

the real reason i never post here is because i always reblog things to the wrong blog and im too scatterbrained to remember until its too late

[jennayow]

very often i would be overloaded with tasks and kyle would be like "hey i'm not a writer but mind if i take a stab at writing the first draft for this scene?" and he would write something killer every time. this is one of them

Looking at the connective tissue.

[jennayow]

When I was interviewing for my job at KO_OP/narrative on GVH the final question I was asked was "you've read Homestuck, right" which was more of an outright assumption than anything and now I'm seeing GVH references in a homestuck text post. The circle of stupidity is complete

Sollux: everytiime ii 2ee a weiird fa2t food advertii2ment ii get the urge to make fun of iit on trolliian and ii hate that becau2e ii know the ad campaign iis wiinniing. we liive iin a 2ociiety.

Aradia: *staring at the big r0ck in the sky* n0t for much l0nger 0_0

Kanaya: Anarcho Socialism Win! The Meteor Coming To Kill Us Renders All Marketing Absurd In The Face of Certain Doom

[jennayow]

listen if you posted about gvh at any time in the past two months

1. I saw it and I am reading all the tags

2. I am sorry for reblogging multiple posts if you made them. It will happen again

[jennayow]

Lucie Viatge, the character designer of Goodbye Volcano High, recently revealed more concept art for the game, including of the in-universe Magical Girl show "Pretty Heroes" (link in source):

There is also a Magical Girl show in the game, called Pretty Heroes. I designed all the characters! I'm a big magical girl enthusiast, with my favorites being MS Madoka Magica, Cardcaptor Sakura and several Precure seasons (ofc I also like Sailor Moon and many others).

Unless I missed something, I'm pretty sure Pretty Heroes is mostly just mentioned and maybe some poster or merch is shown here and there a couple of times in the entire game, so it was a big surprise learning that there was so much thought put into it. Edit: turns out there IS a scene with them I completely missed, beware spoilers.

[jennayow]

GOODBYE VOLCANO HIGH ➤ Fang's audition outfits

[jennayow]

hiya! a game i worked on just came out and i curated a lil playlist of songs that make me think of it. link here

[jennayow]

I wrote this scene! Very heavily informed by my own experiences being nonbinary and inspired by real conversations I've had with friends and family. I was pretty worried about whether or not this would land for people, but I was relieved when the actors had positive responses during recording and I'm so glad it's resonating with people now that the game is out.

The way Goodbye Volcano High handles transgender and nonbinary characters is some of the best I've ever seen in any video game.

"We don't owe them 'normal'."

[jennayow]

"Man... it sucks that the end of the world is so pretty." "Right? It's hard to feel like everything's gonna be gone when it looks so beautiful right now."

[jennayow]

hehe ^v^

[jennayow]

genuinely unbelievable and so humbling to have gotten this response. haters will (and do) say its fake

A round up of some of my favorite reviews I’ve seen for Goodbye Volcano High. Still reeling and forever will be reeling from the reception to the game we put ourselves into 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫