#baodc

[devilscreekballad]

As the game has the option to play as trans, I thought I'd share a fun little tidbit about hormone treatments in those times.

Remember: those kinds of treatments work because men, women, and everyone in between and beyond all have the same base build. Male bodies already produce estrogen, and female bodies already produce testosterone.

Black cohosh is a traditional Native American herb that has historically been used to treat a variety of conditions, including menopause and menstrual issues. Black cohosh also contains certain compounds that stimulate estrogen receptors.

Isoflavones from soy, lentils, and legumes. Lignans from flaxseed, cereal grain, and vegetables. These compounds have cause estrogen-like effects. Flaxseed also slows testosterone production if you eat it long enough. So do mint and licorice root. And alcohol. And tobacco for some reason.

Fenugreek and Milk thistle don't just increase estrogen production, they also induce/support lactation. Fennel too.

Spearmint, usually taken in the form of tea, has been thought for many years to have testosterone reducing properties.

Herbs to boost testosterone naturally and quickly include Ashwagandha, Puncturevine, Epimedium, Yohimbe bark, and Pine bark extract.

There are probably more that I simply can't find right now.

This is a very long info dump into what someone might have used to feel even slightly more comfortable in their skin back then.

Also that it was way easier to get boobs than getting rid of them.

Forgive me for the herb tangent, it's 2:30 in the morning and I haven't slept in three days.

:D Thank you so much for sharing this, feel free to go on as many tangents as you please :3 (also if you got some links to more info, that'd be awesome <3 )

[neverendingn0ise]

Back on my bullshit

[mintgumsstuff]

this is so stupid lmao

[dgoul]

ok. I have a problem.

I've been playing a lot of ponytown these last days and kind of revived the TMA side of it on twt-- BUT ! I come bringing this guy. my OC but pony ( in game he can't ride a horse to save his life )

[minsingmeat]

made art for the thing er

[devilscreekballad]

It's here, it's here. The long awaited Chapter 7 is here.

After the MC got knocked out at the end of ch6 they awake back at the hotel, with Charlie telling them of the rescue mission to get them back. And that an old friend of Lynwood's has joined them, albeit just temporarily. Or maybe he's meant to stay? Also there's a cat.

Play it HERE

-

Updates & Changes (Version 7.0; 10/12/2024)

Added Chapter 7

Added Interlude Chapters from Charlie, Mrs. Meadow's and Lynwood's perspective (Lynwood's is atm incomplete and will be added with the ch8 update)

Updated skintone options

Added option for whether MC swears

Added options to not reveal if you're trans/under the umbrella

Added options to say if you bind/pad your chest or if you are flat-chested

Various bug and prose fixes.

Total Wordcount of this update (with code) 46725 words, bringing the overall wordcount (according to twine) to ~219000 (not counting unused/notes passages).

Can't give an average, sorry, but might very well be around 100k per playthrough now.

Note:

With this update the Choicescript version is on ice, though if there's ever a change to how CoG handles publishing (and if CS gets expanded array usage), who knows what the future holds for a more mobile and screenreader friendly version of Ballad.

For those new to the game:

The West is Wild and the West is Weird. A new century is around the corner, and you are an outlaw traversing the towns and terrains of the Frontier, only to one evening get wrapped up in chasing down the means to stop a doomsday cult from bringing forth the end of days. You’ll face hustlers, grifters, gunslingers and vengeful brides as you make your way to the ghost town of Devil’s Creek to find answers, and hopefully get out of there alive.

What can you play as?

Ballad allows you to set your a broad variety of factor besides gender and age, all which will have a variety of impacts on the story.

Who can you romance?

Right now there are six possible ROs, with more going to be added later:

Charlie, your best friend and partner in crime

Seán and Tommy, and odd couple of outlaws happenstance put into your little posse (they can only be romanced together)

Lynwood, a Pinkerton Agent on Seán's trail

Mrs. Meadows, widow, sharp-shooter and doctor there to make sure you'll uphold your end of the deal

Isaac, former colleague of Lynwood's picking up the trail of a cold case

As this is a Weird West game, some Warnings do apply:

Death

Blood

Violence

Swearing

Alcohol

Smoking

Mindsets and Vocabulary of the late 19th century North America/Europe

Mentions/Discussions of

Sexual Violence/Abuse

Spousal/Parental Abuse

Racism, Sexism, other forms of bigotry

Miscarriage

Infertility

Murder

Animal Death/Animal abuse

Guns

Spiritism

Mediumship

Ghosts

Supernatural events

Capitalism

Pinkertons

Like what you're seeing?

You can support the author on Pat or Ko.

~+~

But now, have fun with the game.

Stay safe, stay hydrated, stay weird. <3

[devilscreekballad]

The Sugarcube Version is LIVE

Updates 08/16/2024, Version 0.6.9

Updated storyformat to Sugarcube, overhauling the UI

Overhauled naming your horse

Overhauled chosing nationality, splitting it into skincolor and whereabouts. Right now only the whereabouts that are somehow acknowledged in text (published or planned) are standalone options. This might change down the line.

Added option whether or not MC is alright with physical contact

Added in a few name-easter eggs and naming restrictions.

Various bug- and prosefixes

NO new chapter yet, that will come soon.

Enjoy the new version, and report all the bugs and errors that managed to sneak past our testers.

[devilscreekballad]

The twine sugarcube version (not yet published) is officially ported to the point where you can kiss charlie.

[devilscreekballad]

Slight delay on ch8 because I need to research etiquette at the opera again.

Will it be super important? No. Still important enough that I wanna do it right? You know me Dx

[devilscreekballad]

Ch7 Update checklist:

Ch7: Almost done, only about 1000 words to type up and beta.

Interlude: Charlie's PoV: Done, currently in beta. ✅

Interlude: Meadows PoV: Almost done, about 2-3k left to type up and beta.

Interlude: Lynwood PoV: Halfway done, about 6k left to type up and beta.

Once the closed beta is through the update will go live for Patreons and two weeks later it'll hit the public WiP.

Soon

[devilscreekballad]

I'll gladly admit I'm glad getting the porting and update out took this long, for various reasons:

Several important changes to details

More shenanigans

Much needed re-read, because ffs I had forgotten a bunch of plotpoints like Preacher saving Seán from prison.

So yeah, if things don't go entirely sideways, Ballad should be back by the end of the month?

[devilscreekballad]

Guess what we have now...

That's right, we put the Patreon to Live

Here's one promise:

Nothing posted there will be locked exclusively behind a paywall. It will appear there a little earlier, but the only thing you'd 'miss out' are the fancy discord roles? (And the closed beta once the game reaches its final chapters, but that had always been planned to be closed, and isn't completely tied to patreon either, more to being someone I can trust)

But still, every bit helps. <3

Also, in much nicer news: Almost done porting ch6 to sugarcube, which means the overhauled version (albeit without any new chapters yet) will go up on itch soon.

[devilscreekballad]

So you think that putting work into research and crafting a story, fleshing out the world and characters, keeping it all consistent and exciting is worthless? Because there's a machine that will steal from other authors and vomit out nonsensical wordsalad that barely resembles a story.

Tell me anon, does your precious shit know what happened to Josie's second husband? Why is Kaede in America? What's Lynwood's secret? What connection has the Merryborne Asylum to my other game?

Oh sure, your shit can spew out words looking like an answer, but it won't be the correct ones, because that shit cannot craft a story.

To everyone else: I know I am slow with updating, but I am part cause of IRL troubles, part of doing research because I want to make a *good* story. If the craft isn't worth your time, anon, why do you even read?

Edit to elaborate:

Anon, not only is such a suggestion insulting (because you are saying that the work creatives put into their craft is worthless to you), but you also miss another point:

AI can't write. It copies, steals, plagiarises, but it doesn't craft.

Think of it like this:

Take any of the things you named, and imagine it being hooked up to a fresh database full of the works of Agatha Christie. All the books, all the short stories. Also personal correspondence all that. Dictionaries, etiquette books, time-tables, newspapers, etc from her time, creating a database that would have all the knowledge Christie had (that we can fathom). All except 'Murder on the Orient Express' or any mention thereof.

If you'd give that generator, that has ALL the data to look like Christie, the first 30 pages of 'Murder on the Orient Express' and prompt it to finish it based on its database... It couldn't. Because it cannot think. It cannot plot. It doesn't know what it's doing other than stapling the most likely words together. It's a glorified autocorrect, and not even a good one at that. It could not write the story. Because it can just copy, but not craft.

[devilscreekballad]

gurl having a "genderfluid" character in an IF set in the 1800s is crazy 😶😶

If you think that wasn't a thing 'back when':

You're one of today's lucky 10000.

Others have wondered this before, Here is a post on the topic of the Queer Wild West.

Mostly we don't perceive anything before the 1960s the way it was because, well, most media won't acknowledge it (Same issue when it comes to e.g. race. Look how few people know about people like Mary Fields, Nat Love, Bass Reeves, to name the possibly 'most' known ones.)

[devilscreekballad]

Writing Update Interlude and Ch7

Interlude:

Meadows POV 7500 words (not finished)

Lynwood POV 5600 words (not finished)

Charlie POV 6000 words (not finished)

Ch7:

5000 out of at least 25k.

[devilscreekballad]

Hello everyone :)

Just a quick question:

I currently have 4 games total in the making:

Curious Cuisine, Ballad of Devil's Creek, Beggar's Luck and a secret 4th thing (shhh ;) )

Are you alright with there being a bit of a rotation between them, in terms of early access as well?