symptomsofdeceit

[symptomsofdeceit]

heyyy so !! things have gotten. pretty tough recently. so, here's a reminder that my commissions are and have been open! slots are unlimited for the foreseeable future.

all prices are in USD, but I accept non-USD payment as well, as long as I'm able to convert it to USD via something like Paypal.

[symptomsofdeceit]

LOG 02 UPDATE IS LIVE !

✦ you can download it on itch.io now and view the full devlog here () i'll follow up with the updated content warning list and the endings guide shortly ^^

some screenshots for enjoyment, and a read more section for this update's higlights :

THIS UPDATE'S HIGHLIGHTS . . .

STORY PROGRESSION the story will progress based on which route you stayed in previously. there are 3 portions of this update, narrative-wise:

Klein's route (2 branching paths) ~1-hour playtime

Yael's route (linear with added player choices) ~1-hour playtime

General route (shared events and plot progression) ~20 minutes playtime

in the previous update, Klein's route was significantly shorter than Yael's, but this time it's a lot more balanced.

Al's route [prologue] :

al enjoyers, you might want to read this: if you're seeking to gain AP ( affection points ) for him (which will matter in the next update ), stick with Yael's route! just be sure not to gain too many affection points with him LOL—keep him in da friend zone...

[symptomsofdeceit]

Kane Mad Sprite

(stares menacingly)

TW⚠️ Blood

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[symptomsofdeceit]

So I just found out that from sometime in early December until early February I’ll be taking call 100% of the time on top of my scheduled 40 hours (which might go up to 50) a week.

We need someone in my position on call 24/7 or the hospital loses it’s level 1 trauma status. We’re also the main hospital that handles things like aortic transactions, aortic dissections, abdominal aortic aneurysm rupture repairs, and cold (no/very limited circulation) legs for a decently large area.

Having just one person to support all of our endovascular + hybrid operations is ridiculous 😭. One of the medical device representatives I work with used to have my job at this hospital and said he took 100% call for 6 months once, I guess it’s not unheard of.

I am still planning on having a game update in February!! But my free time is going to be even more limited than I expected, and I don’t want to rush and compromise the quality of the new content. I’m thinking that the February update might just include the next part of Nalis’s route, then hopefully I can release Thaumo’s route update not too long after that.

I hope Thaumo enjoyers will not be too disappointed, I just want to make sure I have enough time to really polish up Thaumo’s update as well.

Normally we’re supposed to submit PTO requests at least 6 months ahead of time but I’m fighting for some days off before early December to make progress too! 🤺 🤺

[symptomsofdeceit]

Symptoms of Deceit Update Spoilers!

I don’t want to post too much here, as I’d rather have players see most new things in-game for the first time.

But since this is a CG for an already existing scene (Nalis’s ending in the demo) I thought I’d share it!

(It’s not 100% finished - I want to try to add a little depth to the BG + I forgot his arm scars 🤦‍♀️)

[symptomsofdeceit]

I finally played The Kid at the Back, it was super cute!!!! I love Sol, he’s adorable. Because of his color palette he reminds me of a variable neon sea slug.

[symptomsofdeceit]

I apologize for being so absent here!

As usual my job has been very busy 😅 I’ve been working 60-85 hour weeks pretty consistently lately. One of our surgeons is on bad terms with most of our staff (he’s unwilling to work with them & they’re unwilling to work with him), so I’ve had to step up to support his operations.

My goal is to have the next update for my game ready in late February for the yandere game jam. I’ve already been doing this, but my plan is to just focus on making progress on the update, and to not be online much. Then in late February after I release the update I’ll take an art / coding / writing break to get online again! I’ve really missed seeing asks and fanart, but I want to make sure I can put out some new content in February. Focusing on asks and online content can be my reward after that 💕

This year has gone by so fast 😅 I do feel a little disappointed in myself for not having more progress for the next update done yet. I am pretty happy with how the work I’ve done so far is turning out though!!

I’ve been mostly focusing on Nalis’s route, and I think it does a good job of letting you really get closer to him and learn more about him, and showing his downward spiral into getting more desperate to monopolize you + all of your feelings. The original demo focused more on Thaumo, so it’s been really fun getting to focus on Nalis here!

I hope everyone is doing well, and I can’t even put into words how much I appreciate how patient and supportive people have been 💕💕💕💕

[symptomsofdeceit]

Finally back ish!!

I’m back from seeing my friends! It was really wonderful, I had so much fun with them 💕

After getting back things have been busy. I worked my longest shift so far (24 hours - 12 scheduled and 12 where I was on call but worked every hour), then I got sick.

I wanted to get straight back to game development stuff last month, but my laptop is finally starting to die 😅 so it’s time for me to get a new PC!

I’d like to build my own. I’ve never done it before so it’ll take a minute for me to figure everything out! I’ll be building a cute mechanical keyboard to go with it, too. I also bought a new desk with more space, so it’ll take a while for everything to arrive and me to finish my new setup.

While waiting for that I’ve done more writing though! I’m really happy with how the next part of Nalis’s route is going :)

The next update is going to require a lot of new backgrounds 😔 the arcade, a superstore, and 3 point-and-click areas (Nalis’s room, Thaumo’s room, and the lab). BGs are my least favorite things to draw but I’ll do my best!! I’ve been collecting good reference pics while waiting for my PC parts to arrive too.

I’ve changed some parts of the original demo too. I fixed some grammar issues, improved parts of the code now that I’m more familiar with how Ren’Py works, added a new Nalis CG for Nalis’s ending, and added the option to choose your MC’s aquatic animal + profile pic (when texting).

Because the code is different people will need to delete the old version before starting this one. I’ll include a tutorial when I release the next update.

My plan is still for 2 more big updates: the one I’m working on now (with the lab, arcade, and scenes in Nalis & Thaumo’s apartments), then the endings update.

As always I’m so grateful for everyone’s patience! And I hope everyone is doing very well!!

((edit: I wrote + posted this on my lunch break, so I can’t be online for long today! I’m on call from the end of my shift tonight until the beginning of my shift Monday, but if I’m not called much I’d like to be online more this weekend.))

[symptomsofdeceit]

tldr: life is super busy but I’ll be back & working on game stuff again around August 22nd!

The last week and a half has been so busy!!

I had 4 days where I had to sleep in the hospital call rooms, because I kept getting called in at night & working until the next morning, only having a couple hours before my day shift started. I feel like I’ve barely been home lately 😅

I’m taking 8 days off of work to visit some of my best friends. We’ll be 7 hours ahead of my usual time zone, but my work schedule this week has kinda prepared me for that lol!

I took extra call before my trip to make up for my absence at work, so as soon as I get back I’ll just return to my normal schedule. I’ve really missed working on game stuff but I’m feeling super motivated, I plan to focus on it heavily again once I’m back.

I hope everyone is doing well!!

[symptomsofdeceit]

I should be online more frequently again in September! Work has been crazy busy lately. I’m also taking a week off of work in August to fly out & visit some friends, so my schedule is busier before the trip to make up for that week of absence.

I’ve still been working on writing & art for the next Symptoms of Deceit update when I have time! & after I’m back from my trip I plan to heavily focus on making progress.

I’ve really missed answering asks, it’s always really fun so I’ll try to get on that again when I can. But I wanted to make a post to say that it’ll be inconsistent until September.

(example of part of my schedule in August lol, the # is how many hours my scheduled shift is & C means I am on call after my shift or all day for weekends. I have a work dinner with some medical device reps after my 8 hour shift too 😅)

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😭😭😭😭

Love that Thaumo could shapeshift into anything (as long as there’s no change in mass) but the only things my blog + conversations about the game end up focusing on are random things like tampons and snails. Great use of power Thaumo

Crybaby s/o? Like, the player when they get angry/upset/happy they just start bursting in tears like “My ice cream fell….” or “Thag snail was so cute *sniff*”

At first Thaumo would just blush and get distracted by how cute you are. He’d then try to be helpful but be kinda bad at it, doing things like offering to let you use him as a tissue. He’d really want to kiss your tears away, but he’d only try that if he’s already built up a habit of being invasive & knows you usually let him get away with it. For the ice cream example he’d offer to share his ice cream with you, and for the snail example he’d ask what specifically was cute about it & insist he could be snail-like for you. (I could also see him kicking the snail down a storm drain + into a sewer as you walk away 😭)

Nalis would also blush, but he’d put more effort into hiding that he thinks you’re cute when you cry. He’d go into helping mode more quickly and wipe your tears away, but then get flustered after actually touching your cheeks. He would then clear his throat and focus on making you feel better, for the examples he’d buy you a new ice cream or take a picture of the snail to send to you.

small nsfw bonus for Nalis:

If this is after Nalis’s ending he’d also feel turned on + have to hide an obvious bulge in his pants.

[symptomsofdeceit]

One of if not my favourite Makima panels. And as a light inspiration for Lovel, how could I not redraw?

[symptomsofdeceit]

This is not related to Thaumo or Nalis, so please feel free to skip this if you’re just here for that! Drawing a sea angel for the player’s pfp made me think about an old OC I had.

For a long time I had 6 OCs. I had some ideas for their personalities, careers, and relationships, but mostly just drew them for fun. Each was romantically paired with one of the others & every relationship had at least one yandere lol

I’m only planning on making yandere / murdersim games with a customizable protagonist that’s meant to be a player / player’s oc stand-in.

So my original 6 girls won’t be the main characters of my games, but I still like throwing some of them in as side characters.

I’ve lost most of their art & most of it was never finished 😅 but I thought it would be fun to share what I do still have!

I used to LOVE animating bouncy hair but it is so time consuming 😅

Anyways! My main focus is Thaumo & Nalis, and the one main LI for the next game that’s more murdersim-like that I want to make.

[symptomsofdeceit]

hihihihi!! I love your game and your sillies sooooooo much!!! It's rotting my brain atp lol

I'm sure you've gotten plenty of requests for associated sea creatures so if this has already been asked I'm sorry; do you think you'll add sea angels as an option? They're my favorite little critters (((o(♡´▽`♡)o)))

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Thank you so so much for all of your support, I always smile when I see your name anywhere in my notifications or the tag for my game 💕💕

& I can absolutely add them!! I love sea angels too, they’re super cute.

While I’m here, here’s an update on how some of the profile pics are going (the background color will be whatever you picked):

Here’s the snowflake moray eel, sea bunny, mauve stinger & sea angel pfp icons! I might still make a couple changes to some of them.

[symptomsofdeceit]

Hello! I was wondering if there's a possibility for the MC's associated animal be a moray eel? Btw I love the demo so far and I am a fellow Nalis enjoyer and hater >:3

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Absolutely!! Someone else asked for one as well. I added a snowflake moray eel as one of the options.

I’m so happy that you enjoyed the demo, and I really appreciate both your enjoyment & hate for my awful cuttlefish guy 💕

[symptomsofdeceit]

funny thing about joining your discord server is that I realized my ID expired (luckily I could do the process online lol) but I ended up ordering a new one so indirectly you saved me a lot of trouble lmao

I’m very glad the server worked as a reminder for you to order a new one!! & I’m glad the process was all online, having to go out for things like that sucks.

I hope anyone who sees this also remembers to renew anything that needs renewing!

[symptomsofdeceit]

What would Thaumo and Nalis do if I just went up to them sniffed their head and said “ew do you not take showers????” and proceed to stare at them with the most deadpan look

Thaumo would stare at you with that stunned confused look he sometimes gets for a minute. He’d then try to pull off a pitiful/pathetic expression & insist that he tried… if it wasn’t good enough maybe you should help him next time he is so obvious it is hurting me

Nalis would be more genuinely stunned and worried & immediately smell himself.

• if there’s a strange smell but it’s not coming from him, Nalis would immediately lead you out of the room, then go back & look for the cause of it.

• if there’s no strange smell he’ll accept your teasing & try to tease you back later in the day.

• there’s a small chance that Nalis got too caught up in his work & didn’t go home to shower or sleep that night. If this is the case he’d be kinda embarrassed, mumble that something work related came up, and sulk off for the rest of the day. The following day he’d show up at your desk, freshly showered & carrying your favorite drink, and in a much better mood again.