narihira - Tumblr blog

[narihira]

Hey AnimeFest 2018 goers, it’s Ayu! Do you want to play visual novels FOR FREE? Then have we got a room for you! AnimeFest has graciously allowed us to host a visual novel reading room this year, and we’d love it if you came by to say hi, take a break, and play some visual novels!

We’re a little out of the way, so please spread the word so that no one misses out. You can find us in the hotel on the second floor (same floor as the sky bridge) in the Executive Boardroom. Edit: The convention map will call this room “VN.”

Final list of VNs hasn’t been finalized yet, but so far we’ve got a fantasy about a girl who shares her mind with an ancient being, a sweet slice-of-life about working in a cafe, a dark tale of an exiled princess, a bevy of pretty boys in the entertainment industry, and a snarky psychic detective.

I look forward to seeing you there!

[narihira]

did I really come back from the dead to talk about diabolik lovers lmao

[narihira]

Lore, why's there a blog reblogging from your response to a confession about Ayato and saying it's abuse apologism?? Who are they?

I don’t know but they’re wrong and that’s all there is to it.

[narihira]

Hi, just wondering, do you not look at Diabolik Lovers stuff anymore?

Unfortunately, I haven’t really touched Dialovers in a long time... I didn’t pick up the latest game (where Kino made his appearance) and I haven’t been participating in the fandom at all. I still love it, I just don’t have time for it right now.

It both amuses and touches me that so many people still come to this blog to read my old Dialovers posts, though. ;-;

[narihira]

Just a little update to talk about my current solo project: Tremolo! 🌲🌲🌲 It’s a serial interactive fiction where decisions are made via Patreon polls: https://www.patreon.com/yandere ✨✨ If you like the games I’ve worked on, this might be up your alley. There’s magic, horror, existential dread, and, of course, romance. How? Why? When? That’s to be decided. The main character Rhiannon is a little older, at 30 years old, compared to what’s par for the course in otome, and her love interests are pretty diverse, though it seems like my patrons are going pretty all-in on Caroline so far.

New chapters are posted every other week! We’re up to chapter four today. Pledging just $1/month lets you vote, so I’d appreciate it if you considered becoming a patron. Let’s create this story together!

[narihira]

I think you’ve all noticed that I’m not really active on here anymore. I do log on every once in a while to update the Spirit Parade development blog, but that’s really about it. I do have a daily blog and a weekly newsletter, though! Click the link to find out some more information on those.

For more game/writing-related updates, please see my Patreon. I’m doing an interactive fiction project, as well, called Tremolo. Chapters are posted every other week and you can vote on what happens next (like picking choices in a visual novel or otome game) if you’re a patron.

This isn’t to say that I’ll never update this tumblr again—who knows what’ll happen in the future?

Thanks for reading and I hope I see you somewhere else soon.

[narihira]

[narihira]

I’m asking for safe passage… through the Anus.

Thor: Ragnarok (2017), dir. Taika Waititi

[narihira]

☆ ♫ ☆ Fujigaya Taisuke in every PV ►  アイノビート(Ai No Beat) ~ dance version ~

[narihira]

[narihira]

Mikio’s route has been released and is available for play.  Mikio’s route has 5 endings and there are 7 new CGs (plus a couple variations) to find! Spirit Parade costs $20 USD. Buying the full game will allow you to play every route as they are released. You may also purchase Mikio’s route separately for $5 USD.

Unfortunately, there is no patch from the previous version to this one. However, we have now implemented patching through itch.io, so from here on out if you use the itch.io app, you will be able to download patched updates instead of having to redownload the whole file every time something changes. We hope this makes it easier to play the game in the future as more of the routes are released!

Q: I preordered! How do I find my download?

A: You should be able to access your download/preorder by finding the confirmation email sent to you when you preordered or by logging into itch.io. If you can’t find the email or have some other problems locating the download page link, please follow the instructions on this page.

Q: Will you be releasing walkthroughs for the game?

A: We do not plan on releasing walkthroughs. Dedicated players often do this anyway, but there are so many different ways to achieve the endings and variations in the story, depending, that we think it’s best to let players reach the endings organically. As a rule, each character has 2 bad endings (an early and a late), 2 good endings (stay or go), and 1 normal ending. The status screen should definitely be used to check on how much the characters like Nara! We encourage asking the community for help, but we devs are, of course, available to give hints or provide assistance when necessary.

Please let us know if you run into any problems or have any questions/comments. Thank you so much for your support and we hope you enjoy Mikio’s route! Please keep an eye on our production diary for more updates as we continue into the Underworld routes.

[narihira]

im losing my mind at this reddit post. its the funniest thing ive ever seen in my life

[narihira]

i have thought a lot about censorship and what is “appropriate”. not a lot of people know this, but lolita was written to show what we allow on our bookshelves: there being no swear words in it meant it was free from censorship. a book about child molestation was allowed because it didn’t explicitly use the word “fuck”. he wrote it to show we don’t really care about protecting children, and it ended up being seen as a romance.

someone once told me - actually, many people have - that lgbt content isn’t appropriate for children. any content. not just kissing. i’m drowned in questions: “won’t the parents have to explain it?” “kids shouldn’t be thinking about sex at this age, or do you think differently?” “what will the kids think?”

at six i saw disney movies. people kiss and get married. i didn’t ask “what does that mean.” i didn’t ask “are those people going to have sex?” i didn’t ask anything, because i was six, and no six year old thinks twice about these things. nobody ever “explained” being straight to me, it was a fact, and it existed, and i was fine with that. why would being gay require a thesis, i wonder.

someone once told me that the one of the reasons people hate lgbt individuals is because they can’t see us as anything but sexual. we’re not people, so much as sinners. that they don’t see love, they see sex. just sex. it’s perversion, not a matter of the heart. only of the body.

i think i was in my early twenties before i saw someone like me. 

how old were you, though, before you saw violence? before you saw sexual assault on tv? i think something like that is only pg-13, and if it’s implied, they can get away with anything. i remember watching things and learning about blood, but knowing sex - sex was what was really wrong. sex was always rated r. sex was always kind of a bad word. i was told a lot that i wasn’t ready.

i had a dream last night that i made a site where people could ask any question they wanted about sex and get answered by a professional. it was shut down in moments because 15 year olds wanted to know if it should hurt, if “double-bagging” was a real thing, if this, if that. we shudder. don’t let the children know about that! 

but at thirteen i had seen enough violence it no longer struck me. i couldn’t say “fuck” but i knew that if you break your femur, you can bleed out internally in under half an hour. in school i wasn’t allowed to write about loving girls because what would the administration think - but i could write about wanting to kill myself and people would say how lovely, how blistering.

i have thought a lot about censorship. sometimes people on this site try it with me: don’t write this, don’t be so nasty. some of it is intrinsic. we know as people with a uterus not to complain about “that time of the month”, we know better than to talk about sexual assault (how shameful), we know that talking about a vagina is somehow scandalous. i can say “dick” and nobody questions me. some people only refer to the bottom half of me by “pussy”. they won’t wrap a mouth around “vagina” like it’s poison to them. even discussing this, that the language halts, that there’s an intrinsic desire to say “girls” instead of “women” - feels naughty, illicit. not for children.

the other day someone suggested i make my blog 18+. i said, okay, it deals a lot with depression and other problems that might be for a mature audience. oh no, they said, that’s not it, i think that’s helpful. i said, okay. so what is it then. well, you’re gay. you write about loving women. and i said, i don’t write about sex often and they said. it’s not about the sex. but wlw isn’t for a general audience. teenagers aren’t ready.

oh.

lolita is recommended for high school and up. i think about that a lot. i know girls who love it, who say it speaks to them on a deep level. it’s beautiful prose, after all. that was the whole point of the novel. something that looked like a rose but was intrinsically awful. i think about how if i was a model they’d want me to look young, thin, prepubescent. how my body would be sold and how through the mall i walk by images of barely-clothed women while mothers cannot breastfeed in public without fear of retribution. 

i think about how i can write a novel about violence and it will be pg-13 but if my characters say “fuck” twice it’s inappropriate. i said fuck three times so far in this post, which makes it only appropriate for adults. 

i think about that, and how my identity is something that people suggest lines up with a swear word. that people shouldn’t talk about it. that it’s a vulgarity. bad for children, harsh, confusing.

fuck. i love women. which one makes this only for those over eighteen.

[narihira]

seduce me with ur history knowledge 

[narihira]

Hello, everyone! While we work on Mikio’s route, we would like to host a contest in the meantime to get ready for the upcoming Underworld routes. As you may have noticed in the common and Hayato routes, there are quite a few notable side characters that help move the story along and really help immerse players in the world of Spirit Parade.

While we have the main plot points for the Underworld routes planned out already, we need your help in bringing a little extra color to the palace of King Enma! Thus, we’d like to invite you guys to join us in our:

Spirit Parade: Create a Character Contest!

Contest Entry Period: Tuesday, October 24th, 2017 12:01 AM CST through December 17th, 2017 at 9:00 PM CST

Theme: We will be choosing two winners for this contest. The first character will be a humanoid character that works alongside the dateable characters in the Underworld routes as a death god. (type 1) The second character will be a more silly, fun Youkai like the supporting characters seen in the common route and Hayato’s route. (type 2) Please make sure that what you come up with fits into the world of Spirit Parade!

How to Enter:

Please submit entries to us via e-mail at romaine@lettucewaltz.org

Entries must be a character bio. You are essentially creating a Spirit Parade original character!

If you are an artist, you are more than welcome to include a drawing of your character. If you are a writer, a description of physical features works as well.

We will be judging based on creativity and how well a character fits into the world of Spirit Parade, so please include things like personality, background, likes, dislikes, what they think about Shuye, Haiyue, Diaochan, etc. There’s no template because we want you to have freedom and fun with it!

Please make sure that your entry follows the rules outlined below.

Rules:

There is no limit on how many entries you submit, but please keep the bios to no more than 1,500 words.

Please make sure your character fits the theme of our game! Spirit Parade is based on and inspired by Asian mythology and cultures. Your character needs to fall under one of the two types we explained above.

If you are including a drawing of your Spirit Parade character, please make sure it is completely original art. We do not allow faceclaims, stolen/edited/traced art, or any form of media that is not created by you.

Entries must have been created for this contest, so please do not submit existing OCs.

Entries may not be edited after submission.

Entries must be submitted within the contest entry period. Any late submissions will not be accepted.

Terms of Service:

Please keep in mind that Spirit Parade is a commercial game and that your submission, if chosen, will be used in it.

However, we will not use the character(s) for any other purpose outside of a supporting character for Spirit Parade.

If your character is chosen, your name will be featured in the credits.

Prizes:

Winners will get their character drawn into a sprite and implemented into the game for the Underworld Routes.

Winners may also choose one of the Spirit Parade wooden charms as shown below*:

*This will require a mailing address

Winners will be announced on or around December 30th. Please let us know if you have any questions or need any clarifications. Thanks for reading and we look forward to seeing your entries!

[narihira]

Um, is it ok to ask for some assistance with getting an ending for Hayato's route? I have no idea what I need to do to get Hayato's Bad ending 1...

Sure! This is a good chance for me to address the way the bad endings in Spirit Parade are structured. Each love interest has two bad endings. Bad Ending 1 is their “early bad end” and Bad Ending 2 is their “later bad end”. Basically, you’ll need to have lower affection at different points in the route, which will result in dramatically different story and character development.

As a hint since this is our first route released, I’ll tell you that Hayato’s early bad end splits off on day 18. So try your best to have a not-so-great relationship with him by then! You can view the Status screen (on the top of the text box) to get a glimpse of how the love interests feel about you. Their portraits will change expression and become more colorful as they build a stronger relationship with you.

Hope that helps!

edit; I answered this on my (pretty much dead) main Tumblr without noticing, but if you guys could keep Spirit Parade-related questions to the Lettuce Waltz blog, we’d appreciate it! ;-;

[narihira]

Thank you for your patience, everyone! Hayato’s route has been released and is available for play. Hayato’s route has 5 endings and there are 10 new CGs to find! Please also note that pre-order pricing for Spirit Parade has now ended and you may now also purchase Hayato’s route separately.

Please let us know if you run into any problems or have any questions/comments and look forward to Mikio’s route being released later this winter!

Q: I preordered! How do I find my download?

A: You should be able to access your download/preorder by finding the confirmation email sent to you when you preordered or by logging into itch.io. If you can’t find the email or have some other problems locating the download page link, please follow the instructions on this page.