#I have a lot of polishes that I've Edited or just made a new polish from scratch by mixing shit together that I already have

[sergle]

Your nails look so pretty! If you don't mind me asking, I've never mixed nail polish colors before but now I really want to. Is it that you later them on top of eachother, or do you actually mix the liquids before applying? And if you mix the liquids, do you pour them into some other container? How do you know how much to use? Do you use an eye dropper or some other kind of tools? What do you stir them with? Sorry that this is a lot of questions 😅

Omg... It's less complicated than you're thinking! It basically goes like this for me, for when I want to make myself a Whole bottle of a color: I'll use a not-new bottle of polish with a base color I don't really like. I had a bottle of bright yellow that I didn't really like the formula, and I didn't really wear the color. Then I just kinda. reach for other polishes and pour them directly into the bottle! arbitrary amounts at a time. For the goldenrod color, I used some really bright orange, a couple drops of black, some neutral jelly polish and a few drops of white. I also normally add some drops of polish thinner, if the polish has thickened, but it's optional tbh. As far as mixing it together in a nice homogenous way, most nail polish has a couple of small steel balls in the bottle, specifically to mix the polish up! So, if you're shaking up a bottle of polish and you hear clicking, that's what that sound is. I just shake the shit out the bottle until the color evens out, and I swatch it a few times, adding more drops of polish until it turns into the color I want. tl;dr you just pour the polish all in the bottle. But for very small batches, you can buy miniature nail polish bottles for really cheap!

[dollfacefantasy]

Restless Dreams

pairing: leon kennedy x fem!reader

summary: leon gets home late after another hard day at work to you having some extra sweet dreams.

cw: nsfw (18+), smut, p in v, fingering, somnophilia, wet dream

word count: 3.6k

a/n: hey everyone!! hope you all enjoy this :) i guess i've been into soft leon with somno lately idk LOL. i was kind of tired myself when writing/editing this, so forgive any errors pretty please. new divider from here. thank you for any comments and reblogs <3

tags: @sleepyluxe @kaitkatme @tosuckmyweenis @pupthepokemonenthusiast @bizzarethirst @death-paint @petitecolibri @iron-toxinz @wildest-dreams-at-midnight @nexysworld @explorevenus

“So what time do you think you’re gonna get here?” you ask before blowing on the drying polish that coats your nails.

“My shift finishes up at 12, and then I gotta file some reports. I’ll probably be done at 1, so not too long after that,” Leon explains through the phone. Despite his attempt to lay it out for you, there’s still a pause, one he came to recognize as your reaction of displeasure. A smile plays on his lips. “But you know the real answer is as soon as I can.”

You look down at your phone on your vanity, a pout forming on your face. Obviously, it wasn’t his fault he had to work so much now. He’d warned you when he started at the police station a few months ago, but it didn’t prepare you for how much you’d miss him.

It made you feel dumb, that nagging, achy feeling of longing in your chest. It wasn’t like he was off to war or something. You still saw him almost everyday. But more and more of his time was consumed by work now. Even when he was with you, he was often exhausted. 

Sometimes all you could think about his new job was that he was your boyfriend, not theirs. You’d mentally scold yourself for being so immature when that happened, but the sentiment still lingered in your head.

“Ok…” you say, trying to keep your voice neutral. He hears the dejection in your tone though.

“Baby,” he coos in that voice that sent warmth through your spine and got you to agree with everything he said, “You know I’d rather be with you. I’m just new and have to take the time to learn. Plus, with the caseload and the number of officers here, they need me at the station.”

“I need you more,” you say. You try to pass it off as playfulness, but it comes from real feelings. Your heart was beginning to tense with resentment for the RPD for taking him away so much. You knew the job meant a lot to him though which is why you would never unleash your admittedly petty frustrations.

A low laugh leaves him, and you can hear that loving smirk on his face as his voice comes through your phone’s speaker.

“Do you now? You’re really missing me that much?” he teases, leaning back in the driver’s seat of his cruiser. 

He knew that you did in fact miss him that much. And even though, since starting at the police station, he tried to project the image of a tough guy, he missed you just as much. That’s why he started calling you during lulls in his shift.

“Mhm. It’s not fair. It’s like I’m sharing you with the station. And I don’t like sharing,” you say with an exaggerated huff.

“Oh, I know you don’t,” he chuckles. He sighs happily, checking the time to calculate how much time was left before he could have you in his arms again. “But not much longer, baby. Then you get me all to yourself for the whole weekend.”

“I better,” you grumble with a smile.

“I promise you will,” he says genuinely. A light on his dashboard flickers, alerting him that his attention is needed elsewhere. “Just don’t stay up too late waiting for me tonight, ok? Your rest is important.”

“Seeing you is more important,” you respond.

“I know, but I prefer my girl when she’s not all cranky and sleep deprived. So try tonight, sweetheart. For me?” he asks.

“I guess,” you concede. Your heart already aches, knowing he’s about to hang up.

“I love you, baby,” he says softly, “I’ll see you later.”

“I love you too,” you tell him before he disconnects the call.

The silence that falls over your room makes it feel even more empty. You tap the glass screen of your phone, scanning for the time before you finish getting ready for bed. Your mouth curves downward when the numbers light up on the screen.

Only 10:30. Too much time till you’ll hear him come through your front door, but it’s not like you can do anything about it. You haphazardly go through the rest of your routine before dragging yourself over to your bed and getting in.

Sliding between the soft pink sheets, you flop down against your pillow and stare at the ceiling as you contemplate how to kill the time. Nothing grabs your interest because none of it’s him. It’s all just filler.

And worst of all, you were starting to feel sleepy. You wanted to wait up for Leon so badly, but you also went through a whole day of your own that tired you out. Plus, your bed was just so comfy with your plush blankets and full pillows, stuffed animals and frilly decorative cushions scattered on one side.

Thinking it would help to keep your eyes actively focused on something, you try to read. Your eyes scan over the words, and it isn’t long before you realize you’d made a horrible mistake. Moving your eyes along the page only made them more drowsy.

Next you turn on the tv and put on something you didn’t really have to pay attention to. But the soft glow of the tv casts across you and the low chatter of the characters becomes background noise, making it even harder for you to keep your eyes open.

You lazily reach across your bed and grab the bunny stuffie Leon had bought for you a few weeks prior. Tucking it beneath your chin and close to your chest, your drooping eyes fall shut and your breaths become soft and even. Barely any time has gone by before you’re sinking into slumber.

Leon glances down at his phone, the small numbers illuminating 2:04 in the darkness of the hallway. He enters your place with the key you gave him and shuts the door as quietly as possible. He knows you’re sleeping from seeing the dark bedroom. Already feeling guilty for taking longer than he’d expected, he didn’t want to add to that feeling by waking you up.

He makes his way to your room, padding silently down the hall. Once he reaches the door, he pushes it open with almost no force in an attempt to avoid even the slightest creak. You’re where he expected you to be, curled up in your bed, completely peaceful as you slept. He knew he probably looked like a little lovesick puppy right about now, eager to hop into bed and snuggle up to your side, but he didn’t care.

It takes him no time to shed his police uniform. He makes quick work of unlacing his boots and kicking them off. His pants and shirt crumple up at the foot of your bed next to his belt and socks. Finally, once he’s got on a pair of sweatpants he kept at your place, he climbs into bed with you.

He shoves your stuffies and extra pillows out of his way with a playful roll of his eyes and gets as close to you as he can. His arm drapes over you, and he nuzzles the back of your neck, planting a few kisses on the base of your head. You smelled so good, felt so soft, perfect to come home to.

His body melts into the mattress, and he’s ready to give into his own urges to sleep. That is until he notices you’re not as peaceful as you appeared from the doorway. His eyebrows raise as he feels your legs squirming. Restless movements from your feet beneath the covers and your thighs shifting aimlessly against each other.

He’s ready to brush it off at first. ‘Must just be having some wild dreams,’ he thinks with another kiss to your head. But then he hears the faintest sound, so quiet that he probably would have missed it had he been focused on anything else. It’s a whimper. A gentle, tender squeak that slips from between your lips into the cool air of your bedroom.

Now, his face conveys his concern. He worries you’re having a nightmare. That at any moment you’ll wake up with tears in your eyes and your heart pounding out of your chest. Immediately, he begins stroking your arm, kissing your temple, murmuring “It’s ok, baby. I’m here.”

But you make that little noise again, and this time it paints a different picture in Leon’s head. This whimper didn’t sound scared or stressed, like you were crying out for his protection. No, this sound brought to mind images of you writhing beneath him, nails marking his biceps with small crescents as he pumped himself in and out of you.

He shakes his head because that couldn’t be it. That’s just his horny mind creating things that aren’t there from being so pent up.

At least that’s what he tells himself until you make the noise again. It brings the same memories up, but this time he’s even more sure of it. He lifts his head off of yours to look down at you and try to figure out what to do next.

You look so cute, brows slightly furrowed, lips parted. As he brushes some hair from your face, he notices your fingers clutching your stuffed rabbit a little tighter. Your breath hitches for a moment before you let out a soft, sleepy whine of his name.

It’s unmistakable now what’s going on. He smirks and traces a finger over your lips. The pad of his index finger drags on your bottom lip slightly, turning your mouth into that pout he loved so much. He leans and kisses your cheek as you whine again.

“Please.”

He chuckles at how needy you sound even in your sleep, but at the same time, your voice has blood rushing to his cock while his head swirls with desire. He shifts his own hips, subtly pressing his erection against your ass. His eyes flutter at the minute pleasure. He grows more bold, and his hand rubs your hip before coasting up your side to your chest, giving your breast a gentle squeeze.

You whimper louder and squirm. He squeezes again softly while lowering his head to your neck to lay some tender kisses on the side of your throat. His palm leaves your tits and smooths down over your tummy in the direction of your shorts.

Cautiously, he maneuvers his hand past the waistband and dips into your panties. He cups your pussy, feeling the heat radiating off the area. A single finger slides between your folds in almost an exploratory touch. He feels your slick all over his digit. Clearly, this dream was a pretty good one.

He begins to use another finger, sliding the two up and down through your wetness. You roll onto your back, your breasts rising and falling as your breath gets heavier. Your thighs spread a little as if you subconsciously sensed his presence between your legs.

In your dreams, Leon was doing a lot more than rubbing you with his fingers. After you had fallen asleep, it felt like no time had passed. All of the sudden you were just on the table in your dining room, spread out for his rapture. 

You didn’t realize you were dreaming, everything felt so real. To you, he was really there, looking down at you with those loving yet lecherous eyes. Hands roaming your exposed body, lips caressing your skin all over. Everything seemed light and airy while also feeling heavy and thick. Your head, filled with clouds, slipped in and out of the moment. The sensation of him rutting his cock between your thighs and sliding inside of you was your reality at the moment.

In actual reality, Leon continues to move his fingers slowly, swiping them over your entrance and taking them back up to circle your clit. You mewl when he applies some pressure, sending sparks through you. Your squirming becomes more motivated, and he can tell your drifting away from your restful sleep back toward consciousness.

“I’m right here, sweetheart. I’ve got you,” he murmurs, his voice huskier with arousal this time around.

You hear his voice in your dreams. The deep rumble enters your ears as you envision his hips pistoning into your wanting cunt. You mumble something in response, but he can’t understand the sleepy babbling. He rubs your clit a little harder with some more speed. You twitch in response, yet your eyes remain closed.

“I know, baby. I know it feels so good,” he coos and kisses behind your ear.

More incoherent words fall from your mouth. He sucks love bites into your neck, and you tilt your head back, craving more of that feeling. The dream version of him began mimicking the actions of the real Leon as you neared waking.

Whining louder, your fingers dig into the smooth fur of your plush bunny before letting it go. He nips at the sensitive skin of your throat as his fingers travel down and push inside your heat.

The feeling rips a moan from you and causes your eyes to open. Your back arches as he works them deeper. Your hips wriggle a little as you make sense of what’s happening.

“Leon?” you whimper. Your sleepy eyes struggle to stay open after being torn from the fog of sleep.

“That’s right, baby. It’s just me. You were having some nice dreams, weren’t you, pretty girl?” he says.

“Mhm,” you hum mindlessly.

“About me?” he teases, eyes watching your body fidget with the pleasure you felt.

“About you,” you confirm before he leans down and kisses your lips. They were so soft against his own. He slowly moves his mouth with yours and languidly slides his tongue against yours.

You moan into the kiss as his fingers curl within you and hit your favorite spot. Your feet lightly kick at the sensation. Your hips rise a little as you feel the flood gates holding your release about to break.

You’re too sleepy to tell him out right, but he knows the signs. He keeps working you there until your body seizes and arches off the bed. You let out a throaty moan and turn your head to bury your face against his shoulder.

“There you go. Let it all out, sweetheart,” he whispers and kisses your head.

You ride out the high on his hand, and by the time you’re done, you’re ready to fall asleep again. Your mind is hazy with the fog of release. You’re drifting off as your body settles without even realizing it.

You’re only yanked back to reality by Leon scooping you up into his lap. He’s sitting with his back to the headboard, and he situates you between his thighs, back against his chest. His arms keep you caged in nice and close, safe and warm.

“Don’t fall asleep again just yet, babydoll,” he murmurs while kissing up your neck.

Your head lolls back against his shoulder. The fight to stay awake gets a little easier as his hand returns to your soaked panties. He doesn’t tease this time, just slides in two fingers and starts moving them in and out.

The new angle makes you squirm and whine, but he holds you tight in place with his free arm.

“Gotta work you open, honey. Can’t just slide my dick in you with no warm up,” he says with a smirk.

His voice pulls you towards lucidity a little more. Your hands wrap around his free arm for support while your hips instinctively roll into his blissful touch.

“I missed you,” you choke out between gasps and whimpers.

“I know you did,” he teases, grinning against your throat. His cock throbs against the small of your back as his ears latch onto the sound of your slick around his fingers. “Came home to cuddle with my sweet girl, and I find her having such dirty dreams.”

Your cheeks heat up as you start to piece together what had happened. You fully realize now that your escapade on the kitchen table was entirely in your mind. You feel embarrassed for a moment, but the feeling dies pretty quick as you rapidly approach the edge for a second time.

“Not my fault,” you whimper shyly.

He chuckles and kisses your temple once more. “I know it’s not. If anything, it’s mine. I think I’ve been neglecting my baby,” he says with a mocking lilt in his voice.

You cry out as his fingers brush against those same spots that brought you to the finish last time. Your hips twitch, and you grip his thighs as your peak rises within you. Moments later your cumming all over his fingers, sucking in a harsh breath as a second release courses through you, even more intense then the last.

His free arm keeps you secure against his chest while rubbing your side soothingly. The heel of his other palm roughly massages your clit as his fingers pump in and out.

“Good girl,” he coos, “That’s it, just one more and then I can put you to sleep how you deserve.”

As soon as you seem to be coming down, Leon lifts you up again, tugging your clothes off and moving your body around like a doll to get you in the position he wants. You were definitely more pliant after two orgasms, but you could also see how his training had been paying off. Maybe this new job wasn’t all bad.

He has you on your back now, thighs against your chest and knees hooked over his arms. Again, he had no patience to tease right now, so after pushing his sweats down to mid thigh, he takes his cock and slides it in you with no hesitation. He groans as your hole takes him in, your walls pulsing around him even after he bottoms out.

“So wet. I can just slide right in,” he mumbles as his own hips twitch.

Your eyes droop at the stretch. It always felt so satisfying, having him buried balls deep in you. As close as he could possibly be. No fear of him leaving or pain of being separated. You whine and reach up to pull him closer.

He follows along and rests his face against your neck as he begins thrusting. You hear him panting right in your ear. His hands grip your hips so hard you know there’ll be marks.

“Perfect pussy’s made for me,” he grunts while snapping his hips, “Miss it every second I’m not inside it.”

You nod lazily as you continue to clamp down around him. After two releases, you didn’t even feel a building ecstasy anymore, just a constant stream of pleasure.

“Leon,” you whine, “Harder. Wanna feel it.”

He moans at your plea but indulges you, grabbing you harder, pressing your legs higher, filling you deeper.

“Wanna be sore after, don’t you, sweetheart? Want a reminder of me while I’m at work. Something to tide you over till I can do this again. Won’t have to rely on dreams then, right?” he says.

“Yeah,” you whimper. Your bed creaks as he picks up the pace, but your moans mask the sound as they grow in volume.

He fucks into you over and over, stoking the flames within himself, trying to build to that explosion. You were so tight, so warm. He hums another low moan and whimpers softly as he feels it right there. He gasps softly before holding you tighter and muttering in your ear.

“Ready for another one, honey? Gonna be the last one and then we’ll get you comfy and off to sleep.”

“Yeah,” you moan again, unable to say much else.

“Good… good girl,” he moans before his hips buck wildly and he finally releases.

You finish for a third time. You cling to him tight as the euphoria washes over you again. Locking your legs around his hips, you keep your face pressed to the warm skin of his neck as it goes through you. You feel the hot flood of cum he fucks into you. His chest is heaving now too as he recovers from the high.

He stays on top of you for a moment before pulling out. You cling harder upon losing that full feeling. He smiles at your desire to be close to him and gives you one more kiss before sitting up.

“So sweet to me, baby. I hope that made up for the late night,” he whispers and strokes your hair.

“It did,” you say with a nod. Your eyes were already shutting again, ready to go back to sleep after being fucked so good.

He looks at you with all the love in the world as he pulls his sweats up. He then helps you pull your panties and shirt back on, trying to laugh at your sleepy, half-assed movements.

After that, he gets you all tucked in next to him, snuggled up in his arms like he originally intended. He even grabs that stuffed bunny he got you and fits it close to you in case you want it.

“Get some rest, honey. You need it,” he whispers while rubbing your back.

“Mhm,” you respond tiredly, “You too. You’re all mine for the weekend, and I don’t want you tired out the whole time.”

“Alright, but I’m gonna be tired out if we do some more of that again tomorrow,” he jokes. He pulls you close to him and shuts his eyes, nestling his head against yours and settling in to rest.

That puts a smile on your face and you nuzzle him once more before letting yourself fall asleep for the night.

[tibby]

i think it's partly bc of rerecording her albums and having fans love the vault tracks that she now feels she cant leave anything on the cutting room floor just in case

i definitely think that's part of it, but - and i say this as someone who likes a majority of the vault tracks - i think it was a good thing that they were initially left on the cutting room floor. including them originally would have detracted from what the albums were trying to say.

speak now and 1989 are the best examples of this. the point of speak now was two things: taylor wanting to prove she could do it on her own, and each song referencing a specific person or scenario. with the exception of when emma falls in love (the weakest of the lot imo) and castles crumbling (which has a feature), the SNTV vault tracks are more...vague in who/what they're about. and sure, if they'd been released on the original album with the secret messages we might have more context, but that isn't something we can say for certain. speak now is the only album that's about multiple people and we can pinpoint who or what each song is referencing (except maybe sparks fly which was included for the fans, and haunted but that could be because i've never cared enough to investigate if it's about john or joe).

as for 1989, i think the vault tracks are definitely stronger than some of the songs that made the cut (as much as i love WTNY and HYGTG, they're not her best work), but i don't think they would have fit into the story she was trying to tell. whether taylor successfully made an album that is about independence and not love is up for debate, but she claims that was her intention. IION and say don't go aren't great fits for that story, especially since it was one she was trying to tell within the secret messages.

i think red's biggest problem is that it was already too long of an album (which is also part of speak now's problem). i think the red vault tracks fit the theme of all the varying degrees of love, but red TV clocks out at over two hours. it's possible that forever winter in particular was too raw a song to release at the time (has she played it live yet? i haven't kept up with eras tour that much).

and while i love the fearless vault tracks, i do wonder if including them would have earned it less acclaim. they're good songs, but fearless is by far her most polished album imo. even the deluxe tracks, which i also adore, kinda take away from how well rounded the standard album is. it's very possible it's only capped at 13 tracks because cds back then could only hold so much, but i also think that it was a better decision for the marketing of the album itself.

but now, with ttpd and the eight million versions of midnights, it's harder to find the good shit because it's surrounded by so much filler. and yeah, part of it is that some of the songs on those albums are just...not good (bejeweled my deepest enemy), but i think a culling would have greatly benefitted them. ESPECIALLY with ttpd. taylor's always been songwriter who releases stuff that could be diary entries, but at least before it was like...you at least edited this. now it just seems like we're getting every single journal entry as is. and it's tiring. 31 songs is too much. hell, 16 songs for lover was too much.

ultimately i think it comes down to the fact that she no longer gets any push back from the people she works with, and fans are both willing to accept quantity over quality and (for many swifties, but not all) there's just a refusal to criticise her work at all. and i think taylor's desire to constantly release new content (which i think is a combination of a constant need for relevancy combined with the fact she's always writing) combined with being surrounded by yes men and adoring fans is impacting her work negatively. which has been the case since lover if not earlier, but i think midnights/ttpd are her most glaring examples of it.

anyway lmao sorry this got long. sorry for never being on here and then finally showing up to have opinions about taylor swift. do you guys still think i'm hot.

[crescencestudio]

๋࣭⭑ Devlog 36 | 11.26.23 ๋࣭⭑

:rises from the dead: I'm.... BAAAAACK!!!!!!

Long time, no talk (kinda) everyone! I hope you've been happy, healthy, and well since we last saw each other and that the wind-down for the year is being kind to you all <3

We have a lot to catch up on, so let's do just that ^^ This is.... so long. I'm really sorry in advance tbh---I thought I hadn't done much because break, but there's quite a bit to show.

It's been a while since a formal update on the routes, so I'll start by telling you all where they officially stand. Before I do, it might be helpful to tell you all how I define percentage completion in my head. Basically, when I finish the draft of a route, I consider it 70% complete. This means I could ship it as is. I wouldn't be happy with the product, but it's playable and makes enough sense---just not the best quality.

When Wudgey finishes their edits, a route is 80%-85% complete, meaning I could ship it as is. I think it'd be pretty good actually and players would be happy. Beyond this point, I am just making fine tuning edits to incorporate more player interaction, polishing the flow of things, etc.

After that, there's basically only Elm and Vi's edits left. When Elm finishes, a route is 95% complete. Again, I think at this point, it's good. Like edits from this point onwards are purely for polishing purpose. After Vi, it's 98% complete. Then the last review comes back to Elm and I for it to be 100% complete. Right now, this is where the routes stand:

Kayn: 98% Complete

Fenir: 95% Complete

Druk: 80% Complete

Etza: 60% Complete (Still working on their draft!)

Do Not ask me about Kuna'a or Aisa LFMASOEIDJ

So most of the routes are actually looking pretty good! They're just getting bounced around to different editors at this point, but the changes made for most of them are basically small. Fenir and Kayn especially could be shipped as is in my eyes if I really wanted to.

Art recently has mostly been focused on commissions. Vui actually is almost done with ALL of the BGs for Alaris!! Isn't that crazy?? In about a year, he was able to create almost 25 BGs with daytime variations!!! He's a phenomenal artist, and I couldn't be happier to be working with him. It's also a bit bittersweet (and alarming??) to know that part of development is already close to ending! q.q

The most exciting art update I have is that we got the GUI assets finished and I've started coding them into the game!! AAAA!! These were the final updated assets I needed, and seeing the fully revamped demo come to life has been so.... Emotional HAHA! It's crazy to see how far Alaris has come from when I was first making it with my little fingies and throwing things together like paper mache. I'm incredibly in love with how all the assets look together, and I couldn't be more grateful for the artists who helped me update the assets!

Updated History Log. Please say you like the dividers between entries---I'm most proud of those

I'm still making my way through coding everything, but here's a couple screen previews so you all can see how things now look in the game!!

First off, is the Dialogue/Choice Screen. You can see that we have a brand new dialogue box (She's Stunning) and Choice Screen! I'm hoping to add some sfx for the choices when you hover over them, and sfx for the new UI in general so there's more user feedback when you click and hover on things. But for now, enjoy this preview of the new dialogue box, choice screen, and the new personality indicators!

Updated Dialogue/Choice Screen: You can't see it as well in GIF format, but the BG also has particles floating around, so there's a tiny bit of animation going on in some of the BGs as well!!

Next, we have the Free Time Screen. I actually posted this on Twitter recently but I don't think I posted it on Tumblr! ISN'T SHE STUNNING... ESPECIALLY WITH THE NEW BGS.... I'm especially happy with the text animations that show up at the bottom when you hover over the different choices! I was inspired by a couple other devs (specifically GUI god, @siyo-koy, and renpy animation master @just-a-carrot) to start incorporating animation style elements into my GUI. And I really like how it adds a little ~something~ to the feel of everything ^^

Updated Free Time Screen: begging someone to say they like the text animation so I feel validated for finangling with it

Finally, for our last preview, we have the Save Screen! While it looks new obviously with the new assets, I also did a lot of backend coding revamping for how it actually functions since my coding experience is a bit better now compared to when I was first fighting for my life figuring out save/load screens. The biggest change for you all is that there are now chapter markers so save slots will tell you what chapter that save file is from! And instead of screenshots, it's now a custom icon inside that shows the chapter card. I think it'll make the save screen look more cohesive now and hopefully more intuitive as well!!

Updated Save Screen: With a sprinkle of updated Chapter Card screen preview

That was long. Are any of us surprised, considering I had two months' worth of devlogs piled inside of me, begging to burst from the seams?

Anyways. Only two miscellaneous updates. One is that all soundtracks have been completed for Alaris! Peter finished the last of them recently, and they're all beautiful!!! For ppl who love piano soundtracks... :holds hand in piano lover solidarity:

Other update is that I finally fixed that godforsaken sprite bug that was associated with the energy vision feature from the demo!!! FINALLY!!! AFTER.... SO LONG. Extremely huge thanks to @robobarbie for taking time out of their day to do that; everyone please say thank you!!!!! OGs know how long that bug was bothering me!!!! Robo also gave me a pretty new rain code, so I'm showing you how both look in the new demo so you can appreciate them with me!!

Last miscellaneous update is more on a.... logistical development level?? Basically, now that I have new GUI assets to code, that means I can get a beta build of the routes currently written out. I was feeling really overwhelmed by that idea because most of this year has been focused on writing and making assets, not really coding. Knowing that I can Code and get Playable Builds out to people was stressful because I have to divvy up my time a bit more.

After an extremely insightful talk with beloved and admired Esh of @steamberrystudio I decided I'm probably going to be shifting how development goes from here on out. Instead of focusing head low on getting as many words written for the remaining routes everyday, I'm going to be making smaller but consistent progress and spend the rest of my time coding so that I can have more of a continuous cycle of production going on (e.g., writing a bit, making playable builds, gathering playtester feedback, etc. instead of doing each stage in blocked, sequential order).

I'm mainly telling you all this because it means writing updates will probably seem slower from this point on, but I think production overall will be more efficient because of it! This is also exciting news for playtesters and/or early access backers/patrons because it means you'll have playable content in the near future for content outside of just the demo :')

have u all heard of wudgeous of herotome. of course u have. they r all i talk about at this point

No market research because I've actually been addicted to BG3 LFMAOLSDJF. Actually, I'm taking some inspiration from it for the personality mechanic but eh.

On a more important note, @herotome demo is coming out December 2nd!!!! PLAY IT WITH ME. Wudgey is my editor, so you might think I'm biased but I'M NOT!!! I WAS A FAN OF HEROTOME BEFORE WUDGEY EVEN WORKED W ME!!! They have an exception eye for detail and player experience, and they are actually one of the devs that inspired me to even get into game development.

I just know the demo is going to blow everyone's socks off. OG Herotome prologue build fans know exactly what I'm talking about. Please mark December 2nd on your calendar---you will not regret it.

This was so unbelievably long, but I hope it's appreciated since there was no real devlog update for a hot minute. As always, Thank you all for your patience and continued support. With the year ending soon, I'm getting wrapped up in my feels in usual Crescence fashion. I am a Cancer so no one is surprised.

Next month will probably be more of an end-of-year devlog rather than the usual format. I know the devlogs of late have been all over the place, but once we get into the new year, it will be back to business as usual! Hope you all have a wonderful end to your year; I'll talk to you soon! <3

[fiftymilehighclub]

@habsim & @gummyheaven's limb gradients updated & JewlRyBox

Another day, another set of old skin details in dire need of spit and polish -- this time habsim's finger, hand and forearm gradients and gummyheaven's toe, foot and lower leg gradients. The originals are very old -- so old the originals by habsim didn't have toddlers or kids at all! Because of their age I had to do a lot of editing to bring them up to current standards, including enabling them for all ages and occults (except Werewolves) and fixing an error I found that has lived in gummyheaven's versions possibly since they were first made (the version for right arm tattoos was assigned to left instead, causing a conflict). I've also added more categories for more options -- in addition to their original tattoo locations (left and right forearm, left and right lower leg respectively) I've added versions in body scars (left and right arm, left and right leg) and birthmarks (arms & legs). These new standalones require the left arm or leg tattoo version's mesh to work. All credit for meshes, textures and ideas go to habsim and gummyheaven.

THEN, of course, I've done JewlRyBox recolors for everything! They all require the left arm or leg tattoo mesh, and have been heavily texture-referenced so that they are all dependent upon the left arm or leg tattoo versions. Therefore I've also done a lot of merging and I highly recommend just leaving them alone once downloaded.

Available as a single merged file or a .rar with each limb section merged for meshes and recolors. ONLY CHOOSE ONE EACH.

Patreon Download (always free!)

Google Drive: Meshes // JewlRyBox || SFS: Meshes // JewlRyBox 

@maxismatchccworld @mmoutfitters @childandtoddlercc @thejewlbox @alwaysfreecc

[totaltrauma]

Hi! My name is Wyatt Sheppard, and I'm the writer & illustrator of Total Trauma Comic. (However, I do get lots of help with backgrounds and other assets from my wonderful fiance, @apple-scrumper!)

I'm a part of a system. I'm exceptionally close with my fellow alter Judith (Jude), who I often refer to as my sister. We sometimes work together on projects, like SHINE which we have collaborated on, and a novel we're currently writing together.

I am 26, and I use neopronouns (pri/prin/prinself — pronounced pree/prihn/prihnself). They/them pronouns are also okay to use. I went to college for Creative Writing, and while I love making comics, my real dream is to write novels.

I have currently finished Total Trauma Volume 1, and am working on Volume 2. I have also finished "Heather, Rewritten," a prequel novella. I am currently working on SHINE alongside Jude, as well as WTF4 (World Tour Final Four), another prequel novella. I also completed the Total Trauma Tarot Deck, which can be bought here. A couple of years ago, I made a comic called Triplings, a diary webcomic about me and my siblings.

I've been making content in the Total Drama fandom since I was 17, and I was just a baby alter. As a baby alter, I was desperate for some sense of identity, and I found that in the fictionkin community. (If you don't know what fictionkin is, do me a favor and don't look it up.) All that is to say, I latched on hard to Heather from T/otal D/rama. I started writing about her, and wrote "Heather's Lament," a lengthy fanfic that would (many years) later be polished into "Heather Rewritten." I started to come up with my own personal "canon" for the series, and I spent 5 years bursting at the seams with information about it, until finally, one fateful day I decided to start a comic.

I had actually kind of grown away from T/otal D/rama at that point in my life. I had latched onto a new obsession to spend all of my time thinking and writing about. But I got this idea in my head that I wanted to make comics. I was watching an artist, Jacob Andrews, draw a comic on youtube, and I thought to myself "Man, I would love to make comics." Then I realized that nothing was stopping me.

T/otal D/rama is what I knew how to draw, so, T/otal D/rama it was. (Well, technically what I do is edit the pages together... More about that below.) I blew the dust off my old established "canon," and made the first page. I had had the story of Volume 1, especially the plot surrounding Duncan, living in my head for the past 5 years. It was a lot of fun to revisit that story, and to rediscover my love for this franchise.

I use a program called Paint.NET — I do not recommend it. You could easily do the same thing I do in photoshop, procreate, or whatever you might have access too. Paint.NET is simply free and familiar to me.

I go about making the art for Total Trauma by first editing together screenshots from the show, then tracing over it. Example given below.

It's super easy to do using nothing but the line tool. The only real trick to it is learning how and where to vary your lineweight.

[siderealscribblings]

So made am Account to follow you and express my gratitude. If there are some grammatical mistakes then forgive ne since english is my second language and excuse me if this gets to long I have a lot to say.

First I want to say how grateful I am for your Games of divinity AU. It is always a pleasure to see you updating it and in my case it was literally like a godsend. After the Archon Quest I funnily enough had the same idea for such an AU where Neuvillette would know about Furinas role which would open so many new possibilities and interactions between the two which you perfectly portrayed since the start of your AU. But since I know that my writing is not good and I would never do them justice I instead decided to post the idea on social media back in November.

That is where the term “godsend“ comes into play since literally a few days after my post I came across your AU and thought “This is great and all I wanted and even more“. So to me it was a godsend in that moment for which I am grateful to you.

Now we come to the question part. I do not want to pressure you but I wanted to ask when you will release your next chapter because I am craving your beautiful characterizations from Neuvillette and Furina. And also how long it is to the centennial since I can not wait for these two to finally act upon their feelings. Again no pressure but I just can not wait.

In the end I just want to thank you again. Neuvifuri pre Archon Quest but without the wall of Furinas secret between then and to freely express their love for each other is one of if not my favorite trope for this pairing. And your execution of it is just wonderful and beautifully written.

Sorry for the ramblimg I just can not get these two out of my head and stop talking about them help.

Hey there! Thank you so much for reaching out and glad you're enjoying the story so far. I'm polishing the next/last chapter of the Melusine arc which is roughly 10k as of writing this (might get pared down as I edit) so definitely at some point this week. Appreciate your patience as I've had to re-write half this chapter since the first pass was frankly boring to read.

New chapters will be crossposted here in case Ao3 doesn't send you a notification.

[manonamora-if]

September Check-In

WoW another month has passed already... Is time getting faster or my sense of impending end is just getting stronger...

ANYWAY, existential dread aside... August kinda felt like a mix bad. I did do things, but many days I felt like I didn't do enough (prob that dread again - also injury yay). So let's get into it!

Long post ahead again:

Recap of last month's progress

Recap of last week's stuff

Other IF stuff done

Other IF events

Plan for September

- _ -

The plan for the past month was to:

play more IF: ✅, see reviews in @manonamora-if-reviews

whip out something for the Single Choice Jam: ✅ The Dinner*

fix the website: ✅, new and improved*

write for a WIP: 😐not for a WIP but Goncharov Escapes! was remastered (shelved!), and currently working on DOL-OS.

add to the SG guide: ❌, I have a list though

code TTATEH: ❌, MelS isn't done with the edits (long shot).

*still kind of a WIP

I did kind of predict I wouldn't be able to write much in new content...

- _ -

So what about this week:

DOL-OS has been the main think I've been working on this week. And quite a bit of effort has been dumped in there. Since last week progress update:

the translation has been fully completed, and added to the game files (not all is properly coded)

I added some keyboard QoL for the starting puzzle

the UI re-design 75% complete (like coded complete) <- this is taking so freaking long, but it's worth it

I corrected some bugs (padlock, links)

I've been thinking in more details how the added content would look like (text mainly) and how much writing would be needed (a few thousands, I'd wager).

Obviously, I am not done with the project, but I am getting closer. The current hurdle is the finishing the UI-redesign: I really want things to be pristine in terms of visual quality and that requires a lot of testing and detail change. I have a few minor block of passages left and the booting screen to fix, before I can focus on the final beat of the game (not much UI-wise, more regular coding).

This final part will take quite a bit of time as well, because it too requires a bunch of testing (and there's a few accessibility concerns I need to take care of...). I'm confident it won't be too difficult, just... tedious.

But I really want to do a good job with this remaster, adding all the stuff I couldn't the first time before of time constraint (fun fact: DOL-OS was completed in a month...) and coding capabilities (I learned a ton since). I know people really enjoyed it the first time around, but I know it can be even better. Like it should really have that first-place vibe it deserves :P

I am hoping to be done by next weekend, but depending on how polish I can make it, I might need an extra week on top of it. (This would track: 4-ish weeks to make the OG version, 4-ish weeks to remaster it...).

In the meantime, I might post a few screenshots of the redesign and show it in comparison to the current version.

Some of you have noticed the blog has kinda disappeared. It's not gone, just... password locked. The notifications have been run over a bit by bots, the inbox received a few impatient guests, and it's in need of a good cleaning anyway.

I still want to work on the project (I have so many plans), but since writing anything for it has seemed impossible for the past months, I needed a cleaner break from it.

This project is not over, or abandoned. I kind of see it as my magnum opus (because of the sheer size it should have at the end). But because of this, I've realised I need to plan and re-plan things around the project more carefully. And that includes the blog and its content (original or reblogged). I probably should have made a post, huh... but then again, I always to things on a whim :P

Until things have calmed down, it will stay locked. The game, however, is still available to play.

MelS has been doing his best with progress, but lots of IRL work ahead of him, so he's been pacing himself and write when he can. He's kind of sad our hope to wrap up the game by Halloween probably won't happen, but he's trying his best to finish it as soon as possible!

Slightly related: one ending of the game has been written :P (MelS got tired of writing variation, so to do something new he wrote a bit on the last chapter).

Over at @manonamora-if-reviews, I finished reviewing all Single Choice entries. It was loads of fun to see how people interpreted the restrictions. The Jam was even mentioned on Emily Short's blog (patron saint of IF)!

Also in the reviewing department, I'm taking a crack at the Goncharov jam. I had reviewed a few already, but I thought this might be a good time to tackle on the rest! I think I am about half with them. It's nice to get back into the Gonch meme, especially after the remaster

The upload time will be sporadic, like is was the past month.

After that, I think I'll play from French games...

- _ -

Some IF Stuff:

Today is the last day to submit your list of best IF to the TOP 50 list.

Have an IF ghost in your project drawer? Come share and submit it to the Bring Our Your Ghost Jam. Deadline is September 15th!

The IFComp intent deadline has passed, but if you plan on voting for the entries, you can still create an account!

Similarly, if you are planing on reviewing the IFComp entries, you can get your account settled on the IFDB (many peeps create one at the same time during the voting period, and the system sometimes flags it as spam, and hide ratings/reviews).

September is usually a pretty quiet time... unless you are submitting something to the IFComp... But also, I've been trying reeeeaaaaallllyyyyy hard not to look at the Jam tab on itch, so not to be tempted to do a new thing. I've already put out more games this year than last year (counting the tiny ones).

- _ -

The PLAN tm for September

It will essentially be very similar to August...

continue to play and review games (that front page spot is getting closer...). It gives me an opportunity for a break, and I get to think more about game design or writing, or where I could improve. And I get to give the authors some (hopefully) thoughtful words about their games.

finish the DOL-OS remaster. By mid-September, I think I could swing that. Then it will be another shelved game!

either continue a WIP or fix another semi-completed game. I might try to get La Petite Mort in proper shape and translated for the EctoComp? (I need to check if they accept translation, since it was submitted last year)

maybe try to add another block to the SugarCube Guide? I have a few ideas on what to include, but it is mainly a matter of sitting down and doing it. Though I have another template I've been toying with... maybe that might happen first.

That would be neat if I could manage that :P I need to fix the loading screens of Twine games too...

Taking the list of last month...

To-Do not require much of new stuff:

translate Escape Goncharov! into French. ✅

fix the bugs in EDOC + overall the French version to match

fix the bugs of TRNT + find a way to add the missing pieces (mayyyybe translate into French?)

fix the formatting of DOL-OS + translate into English ✅ (ongoing)

update LPM with the missing content + translate into English

The rest of the To-Do pile:

Finish The Rye in the Dark City (and maybe translate?)

Finish P-Rix - Space Trucker (and try to translate)

Finish Exquisite Cadaver (translation unlikely, current gameplay too complex to port for French)

Add a chapter to CRWL + fix the blog

Re-working TTTT to its originally planned state (lol, not likety)

Re-working SPS Iron Hammer (samesies)

Coding TTATEH (MelS dependent)

Emptying my inboxes

(I am pretty sure the focus for the rest of the year will be to finish the first list. With the addition maybe of a small jam entry or two.)

[dreamykrimi]

What does this mean?

Well, it means I'm finally finishing Sweater Weather! Surprised? 

I never intended to abandon Sweater Weather. My life took several hard turns in 2017, and as traumatic as it was, it really did change for the better! But that left very little time or motivation for writing. I've had the bones of the last few chapters for years, and I've added to them little by little. In the last year I've become serious about finishing this fic, and I'd love to tell you all about why, but I'll save the personal stories for later. For now, stay tuned: I will be posting one chapter per week until we’re caught up. Each one shot is now a chapter, and has been edited, rewritten, and polished within an inch of its life with the help of my lovely betas. My writing has grown since 2017, and I hope you like the changes I've made. We worked really hard to make Sweater Weather into something worth coming back to. Once we are caught up to Cider Sweet, I’ll continue to post the new chapters that I have finished. As of right now, Sweater Weather is set to be a 100k+ fic in its entirety. 

HOWEVER! I have a confession to make. I have an ALMOST completed version of Sweater Weather ready to publish. I have several thousand words of content that you have never seen ready to go, but the last chapter has been slippery for me. It's hard for me to finish projects like this, projects that have meant so much to me. I want to get it right, and that's a lot of pressure. So I have a request! Please leave a comment and talk to me about this fic. If you loved it or it meant something to you or just made you feel something- anything- please let me know. Your comments inspire me so much, and it's the thing I've missed the most about Sweater Weather. You have all been so kind to me. Please, I'm asking for that kindness again now to help push me through the end of this fic! 

REGARDING THE ORIGINAL FICS: The individual oneshots from 2017 are going to be removed. I won’t take down the AO3 listing, because it would break my heart to lose the comments and bookmarks and kudos that people have left there over the years. However I will be removing the body of text from each fic and replacing it with a link to the new fic. This is your notice to save the originals NOW if you want a copy. I know I get terribly sentimental about things like this, and if that’s you, too, then you may want to make arrangements now. Some of you have told me that you have printed or even handwritten copies of this fic, and I am so flattered by that. But I’m also a bit embarrassed. My old work is just that, old. This new version of Sweater Weather that I’ve been working on is the one I want everyone to be able to save, print, bind, and return to. That’s part of why I wanted to do this. I want to give you a version that I’m truly proud of. But if you’re a silly little freak like me who holds onto old things like they’re treasure, well, this is your chance to be a silly little freak. 

I’ll be posting this message on my tumblr and adding it as a new chapter to each oneshot to make sure that everyone has a chance to see it. I will make another post on my tumblr when I’m ready to start posting the new version and removing the old ones. I don’t know exactly when that will be, but it should be soon! Keep an eye out for me!

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 5/23/2023

six sentences or less bc that's the kind of week it is

listening

straighten up and fly right from the nat king cole songbook, covered by sammy davis junior. i have a lot of fondness for the nat king cole songbook bc my grandmother had a lot of fondness for it, and this one was very comfortably in our (contralto) ranges. really burrowing into the comforting familiar as we enter the Cross Country Move Hellzone (tm). spotify

-

reading

lot of documentation for work bc i am trying to build a google sheet + calendar for our grants and reports such that when someone adds OR EDITS a row in the grant/report tracker it creates a new google calendar event OR UPDATES existing events. i may have to give up on that second half.

in non-work stuff, it is hysterical how many hackers brian krebs (infosec reporter/journalist/researcher) is able to interview. like when this guy was asked "yo is this your code targeting a specific mastodon server with a crypto scam" the response was

Clicking the “open chat in Telegram” button on Zipper’s Lolzteam profile page launched a Telegram instant message chat window where the user Quotpw responded almost immediately. Asked if they were aware their domain was being used to manage a spam botnet that was pelting Mastodon instances with crypto scam spam, Quotpw confirmed the spam was powered by their software.

“It was made for a limited circle of people,” Quotpw said, noting that they recently released the bot software as open source on GitHub.

we live in the stupidest possible cyberpunk future.

-

watching

i don't know jack about shit about cars and i don't know what the fuck jennings motorsports on youtube is talking about 80% of the time but a friendly guy with a calm voice talking through how he's going to get some cars in the worst shape you've ever seen up and running again? yes good thanks, i've blown through his entire backlog in the last week in my second monitor while i've cleaned data. this man is essentially rebuilding this rare limited edition shiny holographic car from half a frame and a panel LOOK how fucked this thing is.

love the Will It Run? videos bc the answer is almost always yes AND SOMETIMES HE EVEN DRIVES THEM DOWN HIS DRIVEWAY AND BACK even if the cars are barely holding themselves together. the horse souls in these machines can be coaxed back into resurrection with the proper burnt offerings and application of liquefied dinosaur

-

playing

the charm of Powerwash Simulator is somewhat dampened by its extremely buggy achievements bc i KNOW i could get all 40 so fuckin easy if they just WORKED. i didn't get the "main campaign completed!" achievement despite spending nearly forty hours 100%ing every job, so i think the rarity of the achievements is somewhat inaccurate, bc it's more like, did you happen to play through that level at a time when the achievement was working? despite all that, it has been incredibly effective at damping generalized moving anxiety and it's a tremendous catch-up-on-podcasts game. it's hysterical to me this was published by square enix bc this style of simulator game is usually published by Playway or a Playway company, a shadowy network of about a hundred small polish studios, many of which went public and had IPOs in order to hand over a controlling interest of the company to Playway. long history of annoying business practices such as remaking more popular games with the serial numbers filed off and making demos to gauge interest and THEN only making about one full game for every twenty demos, which is very irritating for players. not this one tho, it's in fucking brighton in the uk, no relation!

-

making

this is going to be cleaning and move prep for the next six weeks. i deep cleaned (even mopped!) my kitchen and bathroom last weekend bc it uh. really needed it, and that's the most exciting thing i did. no progress on cleaning the flip clock radio bc i do not currently have the patience to sit down with qtips and get in all the little grooves.

[sarandipitywrites]

dead darlings tag

@darkangel319 tagged me here - thank you! go read her cut here and join me in my urge to punch a king in the face

Rules: Share a part of your writing you love that got cut for the greater good. It doesn't matter if it's a line or a paragraph. It doesn't matter if you might work it back in. If it's not currently in a WIP and you want to share, please do.

so i'm having a great time editing DRDW, but not gonna lie, i miss my boys. so i'm sharing an early, early think piece on Lienzo and Baz's relationship in The Art of Empty Space. i'd still really like it to exist in the next draft in some form but, sadly, i think we're just not going in a direction where this will work as-is. so here's a whole-ass scene that's as good as cut!

some context: Baz has gone through some character changes since i wrote this - he was still fully nonspeaking at this point (in this scene he communicates with a chalk and handheld writing slate as well as sign language) whereas in the other, more recent snippets i've posted here, he only loses speech when stressed. he also was a lot more into bugs in this version, whereas now he's more into plants and magic (he still loves plants in this snippet though).

i'll stash the excerpt under the cut because long, and also because of light and fluffy human/monster romance

tags first: @notwritinganyflufftoday, @macabremoons, @oh-no-another-idea, @reliul, @winglesswriter, and anyone else who wants to share a piece of writing from the cutting room floor :)

“Hey, Baz? Teach me something.” Cicadas droned from the nearby trees and the ocean grumbled against the cliffs below. The air was thick with salt and nectar. Though Baz had yet to pour the wine they’d brought with them, Enzo’s head was already buzzing. Baz paused, mouth of the wine bottle hovering over the glass. He’d insisted on bringing this particular wine for their impromptu picnic — he’d claimed it to be required for the cheese and bread they’d brought from the palace. Enzo suspected he just wanted an excuse to drink in the sun like the overgrown iguana that he was. Setting the glass and bottle down on the thin blanket, Baz hummed and grabbed his slate. “Cicadas can lay dormant for years, waiting for favorable hatching conditions.” Enzo squinted into the trees, trying to spot one of the ugly devils. “You think these guys were around before the curse?” If he could speak their monstrous language, would they reveal the spell’s secrets? “The eggs they hatched from certainly were. The cicadas that laid them are long dead. Adult cicadas only live a few weeks.” “So, what, they wait for years for a good time to hatch, then when the planets align, they emerge, fuck, and die?” Baz snorted, the chalk in his hand snapping in two. He began to reach for a new piece before abandoning the slate in favor of sign. “More or less.” “Sounds awful.” He scooted back on the blanket, shoulder brushing against Baz’s as he resumed filling the wineglasses. Plum and chocolate wafted up from the glass, sending a shiver down Enzo’s spine. Only when the glass was sufficiently full and in Enzo’s hand did Baz respond. “To us, perhaps. But it’s all they know.” “Doesn’t mean you can’t look for something better.” “True. We’re not cicadas, after all.” “Thank the gods for that.” Baz laughed again, a quiet, breathy sound that made Enzo’s chest flutter. He raised his glass in a silent toast. Enzo couldn’t keep the grin from his face. Didn’t bother to try. “To not being cicadas.” The clink of glasses echoed across the terrace.

* * *

Baz had been right about the wine. Smooth and strong and delightfully fruity, it complemented the tangy cheese and sourdough bread perfectly. By the time they’d polished off the bottle, Enzo’s head buzzed with warmth and delicious lethargy. Enzo turned to tease the Rookport Beast for his fancy knowledge of wine pairings, but the words never quite made it out. Beside him, Baz lay supine on the blanket, one muscled arm draped over his face to shield his eyes from the late afternoon’s light. Enzo’s tongue dried and he found himself lamenting that they hadn’t brought a second bottle of wine. For someone who looked to be born of midnight, Baz seemed to be terribly fond of the sun. Each ray threw the shadows at the hollow of his throat into deep contrast and highlighted each ringlet of his crow-black hair and warmed the cool undertones of his dusky skin to summer twilight. The sun, it seemed, was equally fond of him. “…Hey, Baz?” A grunt revealed him to still be awake. “What… uh…” What would convince him to uncover his face? He cast around and plucked a small blue flower hiding in the shade of a memorial stone. “What kind of flower is this?” Baz was up in an instant, propped up on one hand as he blinked the sunlight from his eyes. For one glorious moment, however, as his eyes fought to adjust after his self-imposed darkness, his pupils shrank to pinpricks in rings of crepuscular copper. He blinked at the flower in Enzo’s hand. “That’s a columbine. It’s a wildflower — pollinators like them, especially hummingbirds”

Hummingbirds were pollinators? Gods, Baz was smart — Enzo still couldn’t get over how smart he was, couldn't understand why he let Enzo hang around him, even when they weren’t working on the curse. If he were Baz, he’d want to spend his free time casting spells and breeding mutant plants and swordfighting, not laying around with a drunk, stupid— “Hey.” Baz’s hand appeared in front of Enzo’s eyes, claws clicking together as he snapped his fingers. “Don’t talk like that. I like spending time with you.” Enzo’s face and ears heated. Thinking out loud. Worse on wine, apparently. “And I’m not any smarter than you.” Baz looked away, his cheekbones stained a deep maroon. “I just remember things. You understand them. You solve problems and people and you know what to say and you can say it, and—” The knot at his throat bobbed. “I think you’re a genius.” Enzo clamped down on his tongue before it could say, ‘Then why do you make me speechless?’ Because he wasn’t that sappy. Not even on wine. “Tell me more?” he asked instead. “About columbines. They’re just… naturally blue like that? Looks like someone pinned two flowers together, one inside the other.” Baz hesitated only a moment before he looked at Enzo again. He really couldn’t resist talking about plants, the big dork. “They… can be a lot of colors.” He took the tiny flower from Enzo’s hand and twirled it between his fingers. Though his talons grazed the flower’s petals, they didn’t tear. “In some parts of the world, they’re thought to symbolize the meeting of two souls — the inner and outer petals. They remind us to have faith in those we love.” Warm skin shifted under his. “…Enzo?” Enzo pulled away, cheek burning like he’d laid it against a stove. “Shit, sorry! Sorry, that was— I didn’t—” “Wait.” Baz chewed his bottom lip, sharp teeth sinking into plump flesh without breaking skin. Drawing Enzo’s eyes inexorably, when he needed to be focused on Baz’s hands— “Come back? Please?” He did. Slowly, carefully. Reminding himself that Baz’s desire — tolerance — for contact was just that. He’d been alone for seven years, maybe longer. He needed human contact, but not the way Enzo needed it. Baz needed it the way all people did, at some point or another, not Enzo’s sick, needy, pathetic— “Enzo?” The sign pressed against his chest, through his shirt, through his skin. Baz’s eyes were right in front of him, pupils blown wide until they nearly eclipsed his irises. Molten copper coronas in the darkness.

He swallowed. How had he gotten there? Had he straddled Baz’s hips of his own accord, or— “Teach me something?” There wasn’t much someone like Enzo could teach someone like Baz. He opened his mouth to say as much, but somehow ended up saying nothing at all. Lips pressed on sunwarmed lips. Chaste. Chapped skin dragging against his. Then again, harder and faster, lips parted, brushing against teeth. Enzo nipped at Baz’s lower lip, eliciting a growl as a big hand combed through his hair, loosening it from its tie. Claws grazed over his scalp, raising the tiny hairs at the nape of his neck. Enzo’s breath came harder and faster. “Your turn,” he breathed. Feeling Baz stiffen beneath him, he kissed him hard. “You won’t hurt me. Tougher than I look, remember?” Slowly, gently Baz returned to Enzo’s mouth, lips sliding against his. He drew Enzo’s bottom lip into his mouth and nibbled at it, tongue swiping across the worried flesh just as quickly. It felt like an apology, a hymnal, and a teasing test all in one. Chills raced across Enzo’s skin, down his spine, straight to the pit of his stomach. He moaned into Baz’s mouth and buried a hand in his hair, springy-soft coils scrunching in his grip. He ran his tongue along the rim of Baz’s lips and, when they parted, plunged in. Sharp teeth grazed against his tongue as he brushed the slick muscle in a caress that drew a sigh and a moan. Enzo’s heart stuttered and he swallowed the sound. Baz’s voice. He’d never dared to wish for it beyond the hums and grunts that made up his companion’s vocalizations, but now, with it reverberating in his chest and soul, a bassy thrum like a big cat’s purr— He wanted it. Wanted to hear it, feel it, always. For him. Only for him.

[celestialcrownsvn]

10/22/23

Y'all ready for this?

3D Camera

I've got some nifty new updates coming! I have been experimenting with the ren'py 3D stage and it was far easier than I thought it would be. It allowed me to do some camera effects that I'd wanted to try but hadn't been able to make smooth enough with just ATL on the sprites or backgrounds.

I also figured out how to use Flatten so that the ATL doesn't show the characters naked when dissolving 🥲

Lots of new coding revelations! I will not be posting a new demo update anytime soon I think, but this is the sort of polish that I'm aiming at for the final version.

Falcon Punch

Betel now has a sprite! Along with the elusive Andromeda falcon. I hope that this will make it clearer which falcon is being talked about when--as long as let you get more attached to your little buddy! Your falcon can have a blue or red chest.

NSFW?

I have added a choice at the beginning that will let people toggle NSFW on or off, so that people don't miss this option when just starting the game.

Sahi's Route

Aalam's route is in full beta testing now, and I'm on to Sahi's route! I've finished the route proper as well as the good and bad ends, and I'm currently editing the best end! I hope to finish within the next few days and move on to Lune's route.

The second draft of the entire game very well maybe completed and tested by the end of the year, or close to it!

The third draft will be all about polish, copyediting, and of course, implementing tester feedback on the routes, adding things people may have felt were missing, etc.

In the meantime the other artists are still working on the additional backgrounds and CGs of course, so there's still a long way to go!

Min Art

I've always planned to draw the start screen myself, and while I like the current picture it was more of a temporary solution. I've been working on a new start screen! It's about 2/3 done.

Additional Min art will include additional sprite outfits, crowns for Sahi and Lune if they're made King of Lauté, and I've decided I will go ahead and do horseback sprites, as I've made such good time with the writing and should have plenty of time while the other artists are finishing up the art.

Ko-Fi

Follow my Ko-fi shop!

I've been slowly adding the Celestial Crowns merch to Ko-Fi! Right now you can get the stickers from the last Kickstarter campaign and two new wallpapers that are incidentally part of the new start screen.

Kickstarter rewards

I'm still waiting to hear back from Kickstarter about the pledges going through. In the meantime, love letters are being recorded, and I streamed the first three scenes of Aalam's route. I'll be recording a clean copy to send to backers once pledges have been processed!

Pinups

You can follow me on twitch (harlevinvns) to see me draw the rest of the pinups live. We're currently working on Leo's.

Conclusion

All is well on the development end. Thanks everyone for joining me on this journey 💖

[crescencestudio]

“Would you choose me in every lifetime?”

Announcing “intertwine,” a short visual novel coming to otome jam 2023 🪡

Hi my friends 💖 I’m adding some Alaris updates under the cut to reassure you of development in case you’re worried about otome jam + Alaris!

I’ve been going back and forth on whether to post this or just keep it to myself, but I thought for the sake of transparency, communication with fans, and just normalizing the harder parts of game dev, it would be better to talk about this.

This is NOT bad news about Alaris, so please don’t freak out! But as you all may or may not have figured from my devlogs, I've been struggling with working on Alaris for the past... 2 months? I've made progress on it as much as I'm able to, but I've often found myself coming up against a creative wall and/or burnout. And I often feel like I'm disappointing you all because of it. There are a couple of internal deadlines I had set for myself that I just haven't been reaching lately, and while I know no one is actually rushing me, I feel like I'm dropping the ball.

This is common for a lot of indie developers, but I'm a solo developer. While I have a small team who helps me polish Alaris (i.e., editors, BG artist, GUI artist), at the end of the day, I'm the one who is in charge of everything. I don't have a separate person who can handle building out the art assets, or someone who oversees the writing, etc. And so, to feel like I'm making sufficient progress on Alaris, I'm constantly working on it, whether that's reviewing edits, creating CGs, writing the script, approving art assets/creating briefs for those assets, etc. And I do have a day job haha.

For most of Alaris's development, Alaris was my creative hobby, so I didn't really mind putting so much work into it. But lately, I think because I've been revamping the demo, I feel like I've been in this ~game dev thang~ for two years with no complete product to show for it. And having to go back and redo the demo two years into development is like an extra knife to the gut since it feels like... backward progress almost? Even though I know that's not true.

So while an otome jam project might feel inappropriate given I have Alaris to work on, it's something I've wanted to do since becoming a game dev. And after some encouragement from dev friends, I decided to take the leap because having a different creative outlet might resolve some of my struggles with Alaris. Getting to have one complete project would also be a super huge motivation booster for me!

I'm super happy to say that intertwine has been just what I needed. I've felt more motivated to work on both intertwine and Alaris and my dissertation lmao. As I've mentioned, Druk's route has been giving me a hard time, but I recently made a lot of progress on it. Overall, the creative process has just been coming to me more smoothly. So I'm excited to bring you all a complete game by the end of June as well as, what I hope to be, a lot of really nice progress on Alaris <3

[in-the-weeds-scream-ferociously]

Okay, so I hesitate to post this, cuz it's long af and rambly. But I'm puzzled by some of the "essays" or whatever you want to call it that I've been seeing around the internet about how taylor swift is "selling out" or gone full-on "product for mass consumption" mode, and is just shelling out project after project with no concern for quality, just to stay relevant and keep the streams.

I get it that sometimes it's very hard to step outside your own aesthetic experience and remember that most art and cultural experiences are subjective. It's not like i don't catch myself shitting on stuff I dislike as if, for some reason, my dislike for something is justified with anything other than my personal taste, while, when other people dislike what I like, it's because art is subjective. Like, if it's me who dislikes it, then I can explain what is "good quality" and what is "bad quality" - but usually the truth is, for a multitude of reasons, it just doesn't move me or click with me.

If you're not a fan of synth-pop with a focus on narrative lyrics, then taylor's album wasn't made for you. Or even if you are, but for some reason this album wasn't your jam, then it just wasn't your jam. It's alright. I'm not a fan of EDM-based pop, and so Renaissance by Beyoncé wasn't to my liking at all, but i wasn't out here writing dissertations accusing Beyoncé of selling out. And I am a fan of country, for the most part, and I liked some, but certainly not all of her new, also very long, album, and, again, no accusations of anything.

I think there are plenty of things to critically engage with, when it comes to taylor swift (private jet, billionaire status, political silences while branding herlsef "the loudest woman this town has ever seen”), but saying she doesn't care about the quality of her work anymore because you personally don't vibe with her last two albums (midnights and ttpd), and because, instead of editing herself she released 31 songs? She changed styles and directions and you don't like it, that's all. You don't have to listen to 1, 2 or the 31 songs of this album if you don't like it. That's the beauty of diversity in art.

And, in fact, I believe that's why she's allowed herself to put out more and more stuff in recent years. Going back to re-record everything, and discovering the vault songs and giving them new life has made her realise that, in the age of streaming, where no one is limited by the physical capacity of a CD, you shouldn't have to limit your creativity. Because even the songs I find meh about this long-ass album (and of course there are some), someone else might love and see as they're favourite. The world is usually better with more art in it - even if it's not the art YOU personally enjoy.

Furthermore, this album is an exploration of a manic and depressive episode. Imo, it's raw and unedited on purpose. It's not a bug, it's a feature. She does want streams - she does want the number 1's, and all that. But lets be real, if that was really ALL she wanted, she would shell out a polished little album with a lot more bops and easy-to-digest lyrics. AND, i kinda think that if you listen to the album, she is begging you to see her a human being and NOT a product, actually.

Now, having said all this, yeah, it's a cultural phenomenon, and people are bound to want to have a say and discuss it. I kind of get it and I do think people should be honest, and there’s always space for “I didn’t like it” and “it’s not my style” or “I don’t think this works because I don’t appreciate it’s not executed in a way that I like”. Don't take this the wrong way. I'm not saying I think everyone out here dissing the album or whatever is a terrible arrogant person at all. But I don't understand the need to justify not liking something with these borderline morality clauses. I just think we would all be a little bit better if we also sort of remembered to just live and let live a little bit more. It's art, but it's also pop music. It doesn't need to be that deep.

[uroboros-if]

🎉🎉

Just wanted to share you guys the exciting news that I've written the first draft of Chapter 1 to completion!! 🥹

3 weeks ago when I first made an attempt to write a little everyday vs. now!!

I'm going to make some major prose edits, likely implementing a codex, adjusting some stat changes and more, but I can't believe it's all out there now! Hard part is mostly done!!

It's even uploaded on a private itch.io page of mine, which is fully done as well. 😭 I'm so happy!

In other news, we made a website!

Made by amazing partner! I decided to make a website to make character portraits and profiles much more accessible, but all information one might want about the IF will be available there!

We've combed through it, but errors still might slip through. As talented as my partner is, let us know if anything is really messed up on it!

Again, here is the link!!

So many exciting news! Only sad news I have is that there won't be new art this month. Hopefully we will get new art next month!

For now, thank you guys SO much so far. I am so impatient to share what I have, and I am only barely resisting showing you guys what I have now! I'm clinging on to the fact that a lot of the writing is extremely flawed as of now, and I want to deliver it to you guys polished, not hastily written. :)

But things are turning up!! I can finally show everyone what I've been working so hard on for the past few months. I hope to meet people's expectations!

[spacejammie-eimmajecaps]

🌮🍩🍔 for the ask thingy? :)

🌮How do you balance the desire to write for yourself versus the desire to write for an audience?

When I first started writing, the audience definitely kept me going. I loved engaging with readers in the comments, and that "reward" was enough to make me write all the time. I specifically had/have one commenter (Mythical💜) who would always comment on any new fic I posted, and that gave me lots of motivation. That doesn't quite feel like the right word. But it was nice knowing someone would be there to talk with me about what I wrote. The sense of community was vital, and the encouragement built my confidence. Would not be the writer I am today without that support.

Now, though, it's a little different.

Firstly, I'm struggling to have enough energy to reply to comments. I still love and appreciate comments, of course, but I'm just so tired. It's all I can do to get a chapter written and posted, and doing that drains me so much that I have to spend a week or two recovering.

So I'm not engaging with my audience as much, which used to be very enjoyable and motivating for me.

The main thing that keeps me writing now is how badly I want to finish SGB. It's been over 2 years, and while I have the audience in mind to some extent (like thinking a certain reader will probably enjoy a certain line/scene), I am still working on it only because I want the satisfaction of finishing it.

Even if no one was commenting, I don't think I'd be able to stop writing. I want to finish this story more than I've ever wanted anything.

If no one was commenting, though, I'd probably stop updating and just write for myself. Without comments, I'd not know if anyone was still reading, and I wouldn't want to put in the extra effort of polishing a chapter enough to feel comfortable sharing it.

So I guess you could say I'm writing for myself and editing for the audience. That's the balance lol

🍩What advice would you give to aspiring fic writers?

Write about what interests you, experiment with different writing styles and genres, try to find someone who will give you encouragement and positive feedback, read a lot to get a feel for what writing style you like and what you don't like, read books about writing.

🍔What's a headcanon that hasn't made it into a published fic yet?

The only thing that comes to mind is that Kyoutani hates the sight/sound of people puking. It grosses him out and makes him irrationally angry. Idk why that came to me when working on his character sheet for SGB, but it stuck.