#Blog announcment

[stuckinapril]

noticed a dip in posts about palestine on my dash, so i think it deserves to be said again: palestine is not a trend. caring about genocide is not a trend. there are still reports about humanitarian aid trucks intentionally blocked off from gaza, meaning so many fucking gazans, a big portion of them children, are just bleeding out with no help. it just came out recently that israelis disguised as women and medics infiltrated a west bank hospital, at which point they killed 3 palestinians (whom they claim were militants. right). these people are living day to day without even the most basic utilities. anyone who claims to have “activism fatigue” needs to question why they’re so severely lacking in the most basic forms of compassion. you don’t get to just grow bored of talking about palestine. please never stop calling attention to the genocide happening full force in front of us.

[14dayswithyou]

💖 Day 3.5 is now available! 💖

For the last couple of months, only Server Boosters had access to the 3.5 update... Buuuuut now it's available for everyone to play in the 14DWY Discord — and soon itch.io once I'm happy with the QA and state of the game — so please don't feel pressured to join unless you want to!!

The full devlog + even more screenshots are under the cut ^^

What's been added to the 3.5 version?

📺 Streamer Mode!

I've been told that it's difficult to stream and monetise age-restricted videos on YouTube and Twitch, so I added an option to remove the sexual content and strong language used in the demo.

Now y'all can invite Ren into your bed for cuddles without putting your streamer career on the line /silly /lh

This won't affect the 18+ rating or dark themes/elements of the game, however! Although Streamer Mode will prevent you from seeing any "gruesome" CGs in the future, most of the core elements of the game will still be tied to the choices and decisions you make. So you won't miss out on the overall experience by using streamer mode!!

⚙️ Custom Pronouns!

It only took me one entire year to get around to it, but you can finally choose your own preferred pronouns (or use a set of pronouns instead)... At the cost of being able to change them mid-game ^^;

Since the original pronoun screen wouldn't update until a new scene was displayed, I temporarily disabled the feature. But once I find a workaround, I'll bring it back!

💗 Choose how others perceive you!

You can now choose how the cast and narration perceive you! Originally, the narration was kept strictly gender-neutral (outside of pronouns and genitalia picked by the player), but this will soon change in future updates.

For more clarity: you don't get to choose the words specifically, but you can choose between masculine, feminine, and androgynous terms!

📋 Separate top and bottom genitalia!

You can now choose your tatas and pps separately! >:3

Alongside that, you can also choose your preferred body type!

I removed the "both" genitalia option because a few players still assumed it was an obscure version of "intersex". That wasn't my intention and I don't want to mislead anyone, so I took it out for now ^^;

I also didn't want to include a screenshot of the new genitalia choices in action (because it's NSFW), so y'all get the same character menu screen for the nth time instead lmao

📱 Relationship Screen Overhaul!

You can now change your own status for more immersion, and long-term Server Boosters will eventually be able to submit and use their own icon within the game as well!

Stalking finding your friends has now become easier by using "Buddy Maps"; a new app that allows you to see the location of all the cast members!

I want to offer players more incentive to check the relationship screen since they tend to miss the status updates, so hopefully this might help ;v;

It also says it "updates every few hours" so folks don't go overboard and check every 5 seconds to see where Ren is gdsghf (also keep in mind that he's a hacker lol)

🖤 Additional Scenes Update!

Day 2 received a brand new CG!!!!! Originally, I planned on only adding a few CGs sporadically throughout the game, but it didn't feel right to leave Day 2 so... empty... so I added a brand new CG to (hopefully) make things feel more balanced and natural!

If you decline Teo's offer on Day 3, Leon will now call and try to convince you to reconsider. However, players are still allowed to decline, and if they do, they'll reach a dead end.

After listening to feedback on itch, I changed some of the dialogue during Days 1-3 to make it seem more consistent! They're only small changes though, so it's honestly not worth looking for sdgjssga

🎶 Updated BGM and SFX!

I wanted to try out a different style of music to see if it fits the vibe of 14DWY more! The BGM features more acoustics to suit the "beachy" theme of Corland Bay, though I made a conscious effort to include piano elements as well to stay true to the original!!

I figured it'd be better to give players a live example before I make a poll (to see if they prefer the change or not) and publish it to Itch.

Some new SFX have also been added, though it's very minimal and honestly not that noticeable.

How to download and play the update?

(warning: clicking on the following links will open Discord!!) To download the Day 3.5 update, simply join the 14DWY Discord server, verify your age, and visit the "14dwy-updates" channel!

Alternatively, you can also wait until the update is publicly released on Itch to play it as well!! (It normally gets released shortly after a round of QA testing/getting feedback from the server, though I may release it earlier if I feel like it hehe ^^)

Enjoy!!

[duckydrawsart]

I feel like I've reposted and deleted these several times already lol but this time they're staying !! anyways, Shane x Liv sketches from a few years ago that I still like

[plulp]

IM NOT A DOCTOR BUT I THINK I MIGHT BE ABLE TO HELP

[leona-florianova]

Wild how Fallout ghoul Walton Goggins looks like just some guy in makeup. I feel like they somehow made him more...uhhh... normal? sanitized charming basic looking?.

meanwhile look at him in Maze Runner - The Death Cure

*points * ghoul

Hes weird silly character actor why not utilize and exaggerate that..Can still be charming

[stick-by-me]

A celebration is in order!

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Brief Announcement

Hello everyone - this month is a real crunch time for me. As of now I have 7 different major projects to complete within the month. I'm not going to be using tumblr very regularly or heavily, but I will let the queue continue. When I have time, I will update the Palaeoblr Choose Your Own Adventure; but I'm going to have a hiatus on "What's This Dinosaur" until May

Wish me luck on my comps 'cause I'm going to need it,

Meig

[idk-bruh-20]

(I'm not back sorry y'all, just saw we were due for a reminder)

[larkingame]

hello all! been a moment since we last discussed some things, so I'm coming online to discuss the progress of Larkin's development and make a few announcements :)

over the last ten months, larkin has gone through a lot of changes, some of which I've documented here--but most of it I've kept pretty private. I realized that over the few short years I've been developing the game, I sort of grew an unhealthy dependence on my presence within the 'interactive fiction' community that I really, really needed to take a step back from and break, all in order to ensure that I could enjoy working on what originally started out as a passion project for me.

since july of last year, I've completely reshaped and rewritten how larkin exists as a project, shifted it's genre and started collaborating with a few others to ensure it can be of the highest quality it can possibly be. uptop, i'd like to mention @tapeworrmart who's taken on the immense task of putting together most of the game art for me, @khiita and @ann1a-1 who have both taken on the roles of my editors (and also sounding boards for when I am being absolutely insane) and my production manager phillip, who without his assistance, larkin would barely exist. with that, let's do a progress report. the intended demo of larkin, or what i've taken to calling 'episode one' (yes, i said, 'episode,' more on that in a minute) has stretched to just over 200k words worth of content. it stretches all the way from the earliest versions of larkin's original prologue, to the end of the original chapter two. so far, we've completed 3 out of the intended 20 character portraits, as well as some more art that's slowly been in development.

now, on to the announcements. probably the biggest, and the one I am most ashamed of is--due to the fact that I've been slammed with graduate school work and some other external factors, Larkin as it currently exists is not the best that I think it can be. I'm deeply sorry for this, but I want to ensure that you all are getting the highest quality game you could get from me--and right now, I know it's just not that. Which is why I am unfortunately, pushing the release of the demo back until Friday, June 14th, 2024. Patrons will be granted access to the most recent edit of the demo two weeks earlier on Friday, May 31st 2024. In the meantime, I will be working day and night (quite literally) to get what I'm dropping on you up to par and something that I'm happy with.

To make up for this disappointment, I'm planning on repopulating the blog with a lot of content over the coming months, rewriting new versions of old asks, posting art and short stories.

Next on the agenda and also an equally important announcement. I'm changing the rating of Larkin to Mature or 18+ As I've been writing these past few months, working through a lot of themes and figuring out the story I want to tell, I've found that I think the change in rating is entirely necessary. While I don't think I've ever had that big of a minor fanbase--I think that this is just what I am most comfortable doing. There has consistently grown a little bit more of gore, and trauma exploration, which is the main reason for this change in rating, but, this does allow for the inclusion of something that I've been toying with since the intial release of the game. There is going to be explicit sex scenes in this new version of Larkin--all of which, you the player are able to opt out of, or completely avoid if that's something you want--but I just thought a little announcement would be warranted. This does not mean however, I am comfortable with answering thoroughly explicit asks or getting unsolicited sexual messages. The goal is to keep this game blog mainly tame.

Please respect this boundary of mine.

Third thing to be announced. I've also changed the format in which Larkin will be released. Rather than around the twenty-five chapters in one of a series of 'Books'/'Games', Larkin will be released episodically over four 'seasons' with eight-ten episodes of around 200k-250k words each (though, this is just an early estimate--they could grow longer, as I'm basing this purely off the demo/Episode One)

Finally and a little bit of a fun note: there are now twelve romance options throughout larkin, five male, three female, one non-binary and three gender-selectable. With those upcoming asks, you'll hear more about each in the coming days :)

With all that being said, I wanted to lastly thank all of you for supporting me over the years and putting faith and your interest in this project. truly, the support of all of you means the world to me and I can't wait to share more of larkin with you all.

thank you 💖

[totally-sapphic-posts]

Guys! I have unlocked the secret to meeting other queer women in public!

I started wearing rings, bracelets, eyeliner and mascara more often, and I HAVE BEEN SMILED AT AND FLIRTED WITH X100 MORE THAN NORMAL (no exaggeration). This works with femme clothing and masc clothing.

Guys 😫 I may not be single to entertain these women, but this is useful information!! And none of the rings/bracelets I’ve worn have had rainbows (helpful for those of us who aren’t out/don’t want to wear rainbows).

[crimeronan]

psst. once again it's time to back up ur tumblr blogs. three months ago it took well over a Week for my zip file to arrive in my email, and i can't imagine that wait time has changed, so. start sooner rather than later, friends.

[thatskynews]

THATSKYNEWS' THEMES THROUGHOUT THE YEAR - HAPPY 1ST ANNIVERSAY TO THATSKYNEWS

Days of Bloom 🌸

Season of Passage 🌙

Season of Moments 📷

World Record Breaking AURORA Concert Encores 🏆

Days of Sunlight ☀️

Days of Style 😎

Season of Revival 💝

Days of Mischief 👻

Aviary's Fireworks Festival 🎆

Days of Feast ❄️

Season of Nine-Colored Deer 🦌

[offhandway]

Shun Akiyama, Yakuza 4

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Blog Event: TWST Year IV Anniversary – I've been Dreaming...

🎊 HAPPY YEAR 4 OF TWST!! 🎊

For the first anniversary, we had Magic Mystery Letters!

For the second anniversary, we had Twisted Tarot!

For the third anniversary, we had Topsy Turvy Days!

Well… It’s that time of year again, fellas 😎

Like the previous years, this is a blog event and a self-imposed writing challenge I do around February and/or March to celebrate TWST JP’s launch day (the 18th of March). Starting tomorrow, there will be something posted every day to count down to the 18th (JST)!

The prompts for 2024 will center around the titles granted to players who have 10 or more of a particular character's cards. These will purposefully be written in a somewhat vague and/or fantastical manner to give off the feeling of "being in their dream" as a homage to book 7's ideas and themes. The Overblot boys in particular will lean heavily into the “dream” theme. You’ll see what I mean soon ;)

This will run concurrent with another blog event that was announced earlier (Two Ravens at the Writing Desk).

***PLEASE NOTE: The pieces written for these prompts will follow the canon of the main story, INCLUDING BOOK 7. There WILL be major spoilers, which will be tagged when appropriate.***

[ask-hws-canada]

America: What happened to him?

Kumajirou: He was forced to socialise with extended family.

[goldensunset]