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lovebirdgames · 1 year

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To the ready...

This is my last devlog and final reflection before Band Camp Boyfriend releases. We started working on the game in 2015. We released the demo on Itch.io in 2018. We got our Steam page up in 2022. Now here we are in 2023, almost eight years later. We’ve been working towards this moment for eight years.

To be honest, it’s a little bit scary. My anxiety can’t help but whisper, “What if they hate it?” but thankfully logic growls back, “They won’t.” The most important thing is…I love it. I love it and I’m proud of it, and I’m here to reflect on everything and thank everyone for their hard work. Band Camp Boyfriend was once an idea in an instrument truck and today it is a reality thanks to you.

I may use “I” and speak from my perspective here, but I am only one half of the soul of this game. My sister’s heart, creativity, memories, and talents also make up Band Camp Boyfriend. She is just the shyer of the two of us and not as present on social media. So while I speak from my heart, know that it also comes from Alex’s.

Alex and I came up with the characters and stories together. We bounced ideas on band fields, long walks, and over coffee. There are so many warm moments of us barely able to detail our scene ideas in between peals of laughter. Together, we crafted it into better versions, constantly improving on it. As we worked, we covered for each other’s flaws. Alex is the perfectionist between the two of us and she is the more knowledgeable one when it comes to music, as she majored in it. She also was able to do the math and figure out the tough programming. Then she taught me—I am not the perfectionist, but I am the workhorse, the motivator. I am obsessed with checking things off my list and constantly working to whittle it down. And while her writing style is to carefully hone each paragraph, mine is to just devour. I sit down and I just write—though I like to say the characters write themselves. I’m just an invisible presence within the story, writing the scene as it plays out. If you know the characters deeply enough, you always know what they’re going to say next and your fingers fly across the keyboard just to keep up. But enough about me.

Band Camp Boyfriend is the kind of game that absolutely needs an original soundtrack and by God did Alex create an incredible one. The themes, the motifs, the fine details. She has put so much thought and hard work into the music of this game. I have no idea how she does it. It’s magical to me. It adds so much to the game and heightens the emotion by tenfold, and I can’t wait for you to hear each song—from “Let It Slide” to “Swan Song” to the full band performance of the alma mater and that final song in the credits. Every single song brims with Alex’s talent, passion, and hard work.

And honestly, I am blessed to have her as my sister and my best friend. Thank you, Alex, for sharing this journey with me.

One talent my sister and I do not share between us is digital art. We write, we program, she composes…but sprites, CGs, backgrounds, GUI? That’s not something we can do. So we commissioned artists we found on Lemmasoft Forum and I’m so grateful to have found them when we did.

Bunny, our background artist, created the entire world of Band Camp Boyfriend! She worked with us closely to make sure the details were right and was so sweet. It was so cool to be able to move around the world she created and help capture the shots that we wanted. Potouto (now Khoaisama) was also wonderful to work with. She is so full of talent and creates amazing, unique GUI for many different visual novels! Also, I love her enthusiasm. And our chibi artist, Mayunnaise, has created some of the most adorable chibis I’ve ever seen! Thank you all!

I want to say a special thanks to Flora, our sprite/CG artist who was so incredible to work with. She was patient, devoted, talented, and granted us art even better than we imagined…seriously, I would lose my mind over everything she sent us…but one of the best things we attained on this journey was certainly her friendship. Flora, you are a fantastic human being with a wonderful sense of humor! I’m glad you will finally, finally get to see your stunning art in action. Thank you for sticking with us as we kept spinning in circles. “Okay last round of CGs…actually, can you do one more round? Actually, just one more CG. I swear this time it’s the last one, I swear!” She also needs to be commended for her dedication to nailing all the detail on the instruments. That’s not easy to do. Flora, you rock. I hope you love the game.

Next, our stunning voice cast. They brought these characters to life in a way no one else could, better than we ever could have envisioned. Seriously. Their talent made me love these characters even more, which I didn’t realize was possible. I’m sorry for making you all wait for the game so long and I’m thankful you continued to reprise your roles throughout the years when we asked for more lines. Joe, Jonathan, Wish, Jared, Richard, Joseph, Mark, Emily, Melody, Daisy, Daniel, Lasli, Angelo, Riley, Sara, and Steve…thank you from the bottom of my heart for lending us your incredible talents. You are all spectacular voice actors and lovely people.

And I could never forget my fantastic friends who helped beta test the game! Becca, Karen, Kristin, Ross, Chris! Thank you all for lending your time and for being my friends through thick and thin. You each brought your own talents to testing and really helped me to clean up the game. Ross the genius also helped with programming and I am extremely grateful to him and his brilliant mind! Programming the Extras menu was no small feat and I don’t think we could have done it on our own and still met our deadline. Thank you so much for offering your time and working so hard.

We are sorry to cast, crew, and fans that creating the game took so long. This is a hobby and a passion rather than our full-time jobs, and you only have so much time for hobbies as an adult. Life can easily get in the way and we certainly faced our fair share of life changes and hurdles these past 8 years. We often beat ourselves up for not finishing the game in 2020 as we had initially hoped, but I believe this is what was meant to be. The game only got better. Some of the early story decisions make me cringe. Some of the writing I revisited was written by someone with less life experience and a bit tone-deaf on real issues so I was able to fix it. Most importantly, a final route (which was previously going to be DLC for later on) was added and wraps up the game wonderfully. Band Camp Boyfriend was meant to be released in 2023.

I want to thank both of my parents for their unending support through it all. Our dad helped us with the business side of things, getting the game copyrighted, and the joy of taxes. He wholeheartedly supports us in whatever we do, though he is a tad skeptical that a game called Band Camp Boyfriend will sell many copies…so we’re gonna surprise him, right guys? :)

As for my mom…I owe the fact that the game is finally on the cusp of being released to her. She has been our biggest supporter and fan. She has spent hours helping us program and running tests on the game. Until the very last minute, she scraped through the game to make sure there was no crashing. Before that, around two years ago, she sat me down and asked what she could do to help see this special game finally become a reality. It was a major turning point and we owe her so much. Her love of the game kept us going.

Love you both more than words can say. <3

Finally, I want to thank all of the people who have contributed to the wonderful memories and hilarious quotes that have found their way into Band Camp Boyfriend. The three different marching bands I was lucky to be apart of. And to my favorite, hilarious band director and my wise, gentle French horn teacher, who are no longer of this world…thank you for fostering in me a strong love for music, for seeing a talent in me that I couldn’t always see, and for building me into a stronger person. You both left this life too soon, but your impact in so many lives remains. I wish I could show you the game Alex and I created, the game that you helped inspire, and make you smile one more time.

I know some people will look at the hokey title and think it’s just another dating sim, just another gimmicky game, but to some of you, I hope it will be much more than that. As it is to me. It brims with a life of experiences. But not just mine—I’m sure so many of us who have worn a marching band uniform have had the same experiences. And through these experiences, we are connected.

I’ll say it once again, even though it won’t be the last time you hear this: Thank you for playing Band Camp Boyfriend. I dearly, truly hope you love it. I hope the game makes you smile, makes you laugh, makes you cry, and I hope you carry the characters, their lessons, and their story in your heart long after you get that final CG. I’ve carried Band Camp Boyfriend with me for almost eight years; I am so ready to share it with you.

See you at band camp.

-Taylor

#final reflection #game development #devlog #band camp boyfriend

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biitchcakes · 7 months

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@hexsreality asked: 🎲 - Do you have a favourite board game? // ( accepting )

!!!! omg I hardly ever get to talk about this game. Yes ! It's this board game called ATMOSFEAR. And I don't mean the original 1994 Australian version, nor the US & UK rereleases in 1995 with the cassettes. But the 2004 version with the DVD Gatekeeper. GOD !!! What a game. What a silly, fun little game.

I found the ad trailer for it omg !!! HERE it is 😭💖 Hearing that voice after so long, pls. "I AM THE GATEKEEPER" Cackling, losing it, I just ⸺ I hear that anytime I read that word in the wild.

My best friend found a copy of it back in an abandoned house when we were like, 13 or so. We played it for weeks on end, for years on end. Unfortunately, a few years ago it ended up going missing. 😔 Both of us have been searching for a full copy of the game since to very little luck. ( Closest we got was someone selling their copy on eBay for like, 150 dollars but neither of us had that rip. )

Even tho I included a link to the wikipedia AND the ad, I'm still gonna explain the game myself below the read more bc I'm obsessed with it GJKSD :

So, as you can see, there are a few coloured game pieces there at the bottom. You can play as Elizabeth Bathory ( the Vampire ), Gevaudan ( the Werewolf ), Khufu ( the Mummy ), Anne de Chantraine ( the Witch ), Baron Samedi ( the Zombie ), and Hellin ( the Poltergeist ). I was always Elizabeth Bathory and bestie was always Gevaudan.

You put your piece on the matching colour starting space and then, you see that lil thing in the bottom right corner ? That's the WELL OF FEARS. And before the game starts, you write down one of your worst fears, fold it up, and stick it in there. Place the well in the middle of the board. The way to end the game is to get to the well, which you do by ⸺

Collecting one of each key colour from each of the entity's "realms". You do this through gameplay through the cards you see, and through spaces on the board. Rolling the dice can land you on a key space. There is, however, a dreaded black key floating around. And if you acquire that one, you cannot get to the well.

You have 49 MINUTES to do all of this in. Sounds simple enough, except you've got this fella called THE GATEKEEPER on the TV mocking you and making you do stuff the whole time. Pick up cards, trade keys with other players. He can banish you from playing the game, only to come back randomly and release you. Sometimes he just straight up takes time away, or makes a certain player leave the room ! Occasionally, there are mini games for you to play, and if you win, he might give you a reward ( or reward you with not being punished lmao ), or if you fail. . . Rip. Bad things happen.

That's the basic gist of the game, but there is so much more to it than just what I explained. I really really love it with my whole heart. There was some kickstarter campaign not too long ago to make a revival of it, and I wonder how that's doing these days.

Honourable mention to the game Talisman. That board game is rad, I love it so much I have it on both steam and my phone askjfsj

#if you've played this game congrats we're best friends now #and i love you #long post cw #( o o c . )#hexsreality

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juleskelleybooks · 9 months

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Year-End Wrap Up 2023

Thank you to literally everyone who has engaged with the work I've managed to put out despite everything. It was all carved out of me at great cost and with great love, and sharing it brings me joy and is why I keep doing it. Below are some numbers and some thoughts just to quantify things, but thanks.

Stats:

Words Published - 92,122 Words Written - Estimated somewhere in the 50k range Works Published - 2 Units Sold - 399 (self published titles only, includes free downloads) Milestones - Got to sign my physical book in a local bookstore and be featured on their social media as a local author; entered my book to be judged as part of the Lambda Literary Awards

Goals for Next Year:

Actually start keeping track of sales per title etc.

Start tracking words written

Thoughts:

This is mostly for myself, because I have a hard time with things like "accomplishments" and "chronological time" and "object permanency", and because I'm always looking ahead at what I want to have done, like I'm climbing uphill, and all progress feels slow. Sometimes it's good to look back at how far you've come.

At the end of last year, I parted professional ways with my agent (lovely person though she is), so this year was already a bit new in a lot of ways.

In April, Night Is For Hunting released. It's the second Moonrise book, and was intended to be the middle in a trilogy, but the final book has since been canceled (at my request) because I realized that the third book is not within timely reach for me. Still kind of feeling the sting of that. I'm also not super happy with parts of NIFH, as I pushed through places in order to hit (an already extended) deadline. I had grand plans for sections of the book that I just didn't have time to wrangle.

That's kind of a theme for this year, is that I'm learning that being disabled does unfortunately mean that I am less able to do things on the schedule or to the intensity or degree that I wish that I could. The whole reason I went fully self-pub without my lovely agent was because I knew I couldn't have both work that at least approaches my standards and also a standardized publishing schedule. Not at this point in my life, anyway.

In July, Stars Still Fall was released. I wrote what I consider the pivotal scene in that story back in 2018, and have been obsessed with it ever since, so finishing it was accomplishing a major goal. I let myself take my time to get really indulgent with the prose in places, which I enjoyed a lot. I keep poking at it to see if there's any places I'm unhappy with, that I want to change, and so far I haven't found any. (This isn't, of course, to say that it's above criticism. I'm sure it isn't all to everyone's taste. But I'm happy.) I may update the cover at some point to change the typography for the title, because I think it could be better and do better justice to the actual art.

Looking Ahead:

Blackthorn (low-tech space western, bi4bi m/f) seems to have pulled ahead out of the primordial soup of WIPs for now and is rattling full steam ahead. I'm not going to set a due date until I'm closer to the end, but with any luck, I might manage to finish it within two years?

Other projects that are starting to solidify are A Touch of Magic (witchy single dad whose daughter casts a love spell to try to save his job), A Time For Us (completely reworked reissue of M Jules Aedin title Windows in Time featuring a modern-day person helping ghosts from the 1940s at the risk of his own happiness), and whatever I end up renaming Late Blooming (gray-ace middle school teacher finds out he's same-sex attracted shortly after his 40th birthday and a lot of things start making sense, but his crush on the uncle of one of his students is not one of those things).

Thank you, and happy new year!

#wrap up

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the-woods-call-me · 2 years

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*~ My Dream Setup ~*

Very Cute Room builder demo on Steam. ^__^ Reminds me a lot of a tiny, slightly limited (you only get two walls to deco) Happy Home Designer (which I’ve said before was the only AC title I truly obsessed over, lol) so I am sorely tempted to get the full version on release. Will have to mess with it a bit more... >=3

#my dream setup #video game #video games #video game screenshots #indie games #campfire studio #screenshots #screenarchery #screens #virtual photography #pc gaming #game #gaming #gamers of tumblr

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mybookplacenet · 2 years

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Featured Post: Next to Always by A.L. Long

About Next to Always: Steam Level: 5 Sexy and Sizzling HOT!!! It will leave you begging for more... Rade and Dylan’s story continues in Book Two of The Shattered innocence Trilogy. Rade Matheson thought he had everything he needed, Money, Power, and a woman who was willing to submit to him. That was until one night at The Castle changed everything. Losing the only woman who could bring him to his knees was never a possibility for him. Given a second chance, he’s more determined than ever to find the man responsible for taking the one thing he cared about. He ends up finding more than he bargained for. Turns out Michael Stewart wasn’t his only threat. Lust and obsession have a way of revealing themselves when hatred takes a front seat in a deadly game of revenge that Rade isn’t willing to lose. One by one Rade’s secrets begin to unfold, threatening the one chance he has to make Dylan his forever. Dylan Adams ran away from the only man she could ever trust, but when tragedy strikes, Rade is there right beside her. Willing to give him another chance, Dylan confesses her love for him. Everything is perfect, she couldn’t ask for anything more, until her world falls apart. She knew he had secrets, but the one secret she didn’t expect, is the one secret that could tear them apart Buy the ebook: Buy the Book On Amazon Buy the Book On iBooks/iTunes Buy the Book On Kobo Link to Series Buy the Print book: Buy the Book On Amazon Author Bio: Award-winning Author of the Independent Press Award and NYC Big Book Award. A.L. Long is also the recipient of the National Indie Excellence Award. Some would call me a little naughty, but I see myself as a writer of spicy thoughts. Being a romance writer is something that I never imagined I would be doing. There is nothing more rewarding than to put your thoughts down in words and share them. I began writing in 2013 and have enjoyed every minute. When I first started writing, I wasn’t sure what I would write. It didn’t take me long to realize that romance would be my niche. I believe that every life deserves a little bit of romance; a little spice doesn’t hurt either. When I am not writing, I enjoy the company of good friends and relaxing with a delicious glass of red wine. Visit me at www.allongbooks.com for all of my new releases and book signing events. Follow the author on social media: Learn more about the writer. Visit the Author's Website Facebook Fan Page Twitter Instagram Read the full article

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stormblessed95 · 2 years

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MOTS ON:E DVD Pt. 1

This package was released in September 2021 and covers the online concerts performances filmed on 201010 and 201011. There are 3 DVDs included in this package. The first 2 DVDs cover the actual concert in full from 201010. The 2nd DVD also includes the last part of that day 1 concert as well as day 2s solo stages. Disc 3 includes the merch and poster making film and VCR making film, the Rehersals and practice making films and the concert d-day making film. (300 minutes in total from all 3 DVDs.)

Track List:

1. On

2. N.O.

3. We are Bulletproof pt. 2

4. Intro: Persona (RM)

5. Boy in Luv

6. Dionysus

7. Interlude: Shadow (Suga)

8. Black Swan

9. Ugh (Rap Line)

10. Zero o'clock (Vocal Line)

11. My Time (JK)

12. Filter (Jimin)

13. Moon (Jin)

14. Inner Child (V)

15. Outro: Ego (Jhope)

16. Boy with Luv

17. DNA

18. Dope

19. No More Dream

20. Butterfly

21. Run

22. Dynamite

23. We are Bulletproof: the Eternal

Disc 1

MOTS ONE STAGE Day 1:

I'll again mostly focus on some of my favorite cute interactions they have during these concert, but omg they are SUCH stage commanders. Those live vocals 😍 and the fact they did all this ONLINE during the pandemic. They killed it and I know we all know how gra d this tour couldve been if not for the pandemic. For anyone who hasn't seen the full concert included in this DVD and wants to, I found it for yall on daily motion. You can watch it here with Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 💜💜 these are day 1 streams only and come from the live steam online and not this MOTS ONE DVD. But it's the same concert in the end at least lol

BTS know how to open a show! This is my third time actually watching the concert all the way through since I watched it on the live streams too. But this set list, these performances and stages, these fits. They deserved a whole ass tour. And I'll never forgive C19 for taking that from us and them! 😭 The entrance with ON, followed by NO and the dance break into WAB 😭 GOD THEIR TALENT! I am obsessed with the dance break and their outfits too. (Dance Break Dance Practice should be included here too lol) And this VCR is dramatic as hell my god. 🤣 Intro Persona with Namjoon followed by the rest of the guys showing up to join him straight into Boy in Luv gives me so much MMA 2019 vibes. It's gotta be on purpose. They are SO COOL I swear. Namjoons voice live gives me tingles. I love it so much and same for Tae during Boy in Luv with the growls and Jimin with the high notes!

The intros are all so cute. I love Jimin giggling so hard and Hobi promising us that we will have a good time by starting to sing Promise only for Jin to also join in! And Jin being so excited to give his normal blown kiss to ARMY in greeting is the cutest thing. Yoongi's shadow performance is criminally underrated in this fandom. It's not talked about how epic and cool it was nearly enough and his quick change from white to black! And the transition from how he ended into the other 6 joining him straight into the black swan starting pose. And Jikook in their sheer mesh shirts for black swan. They've BEEN trying to kill ARMY. Followed by Jimin's ethereal solo black swan dance. That is also not talked about nearly enough.

Rapline UGH as boxers is the greatest thing in the world and no one can change my mind. It was so beautifully aggressive. And zero o'clock was just angelic. JinMins voices during that song 😭 istg. And the VCR between 00:00 and the other 5 solo stages is amazing with its allusions to each members solo song in their cuts too. Black Swan Jikook was just trying to warn us for My Time/Filter Jikook. Because they really were out for BLOOD this concert. Just for Moon/Inner Child TaeJin to melt us into a puddle of love. When Tae sings to that little boy, I could die I swear. 🥺😭

And Ego is such a mood lifter. Especially with Hobi reminding everyone that he is the definition of swag. I talk before about how much I love that he added waacking to the Ego choreo. But I love it. And when the other members come out to dance to the end of Ego with him and he goes "let's go my fellas!" 😭 CRIES vmin dancing to Ego together KILLS me too!

I love how BWL usually starts out with 3J dancing, but this time we got Vmin tossing an umbrella back and forth to each other to start us off! So cute. And then we have Vmon framed in rainbow umbrellas for their part which was so cute!! And when they were all running to the next stage together while singing, we had jikook being the cutest dancing together while getting to their new spots while singing "boy with loveeee." Ugh so cute. And if I want to say that they did this BWL performance for the gays with their rainbow lights on their umbrellas, Im going to 🌈🥰

Vhope always smiling so hard when they do their DNA choreo together. 🥺 and the iconic No More Dream dance break coming back in 2020! God I love it. Plus JK carrying Jimin for the iconic kick choreo! He makes it look so easy now! It's been 10 years of JK carrying Jimin 🥺

The way they are running around and looking at and interacting with all the ARMY screens during the last songs 🥺 they are so happy! Jikook finding each other to sing their part in run with arms around shoulders together is adorable. And Hobi Watching Tae do his silly grandpa dance and just immediately joining in! Precious. Everyone being JKs fanboys when he starts singing Dynamite 🥺 and everyone giggling at Taes antics at the end of Dynamite. Lol all the heavy breathing "we ran too much" 😅😭🤣🤣 Seeing how much and how hard the pandemic hit all of them too during these ending mentions is so incredibly emotional. And I can't ever see Jimin break down during his speech without crying myself too. I adore him. All of them. So much. And JK was so antsy to get over there to comfort his hyung too. I'm so glad they all have each other.

Ending the concert with WAB Eternal after all those emotional speeches. It's been like 2 years and I'm still hurting!! Lol and Namjoon, Jin and Jhope all checking on Jimin and lightly teasing him as they walked to the final ending stage all together. Lol his precious hyungs! And JK keeping an eye on Jimin for a bit down the line as they take their final bow. He truly is surrounded by so much love.

I'll do the making films from Disc 3 in the next part! So for now, this post is just the concert and the first two DVDs! Thanks for letting me share! Love yall!

#my thoughts over mots one dvd #obligatory reminder tag that im a jikooker so dont be surprised that this is a jikook focused blog lol #jikook #kookmin #201010 jikook #my thoughts over concert dvds

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finelinevogue · 3 years

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I DONT THINK YOU UNDERSTAND HOW IN LOVE I AM WITH YOUR LAST BLURB!!! please I need to know what happened! dod she messaged back? what did they talk about? maybe write the next from Harry's pov? as you can see, I am way too excited lmaooo

😭😭okay let’s see where this goes;

“Mate, she actually replied.”

Harry nudged Mitch’s arm, both of them sat on Harry’s bed after finishing up from the studio earlier than normal today.

“Who?” Mitch asked, looking up from the laptop the both of them were producing music on. They were currently working on the new single for HS3, fine tuning it before it got released mid October this year.

“Y/N.” Harry answered as if Mitch should already know this.

“Y/N who?”

“Y/N L/N. You know? Jeff’s bestfriends friends daughter?”

“Wait, that Y/N? The one who you’ve been obsessed with for the past month?” Mitch laughed, pausing what he was doing on the laptop and devoting his full attention to his best friend.

“I’m not obsessed.” Harry rolled his eyes, grunting that Mitch put it that way.

“Mate, c’mon. You literally know where she works.” Mitch laughed, shaking his head at his friends ignorance.

“Only ‘cause Jeff told me.” Mitch gave Harry a look, “Oh fuck off! So what if I found her on facebook? She was private anyway.” Harry groaned, shoving Mitch a little because he was a prick.

“Yeah but now it sounds like she’s accepted and is talking to you.”

“But what if she’s only responding because i’m Harry Styles?”

“You know that makes you sound like a dick, right?”

“Didn’t call myself an arrogant son of a bitch for no reason, Mitchy.” Harry patted Mitch’s shoulder and then pulled himself up from the bed to pace the room. He walked up and down the length of his bedroom - which was large enough to have a two bouncy castles inside of.

“Total dick.” Mitch shook his head, watching his best mate lose it over you. “What did she say then?”

“Right, yes.” Harry cleared his throat before turning on his throat to read out your reply. “Hi Harry. I’m doing good thank you and I hope you are too. Being called beautiful before the first date? Wow, I must be doing something right. Sorry for the lingerie photo, by the way! Subtle way of asking whether i’m single by the way. I am. I’m intrigued as to how you know me, so maybe we can grab a drink sometime? x”

“Wait she left a kiss, man?” Mitch asked and Harry was astounded that that was what his initial question was.

“Yeah, why does that matter? I left one too.”

“Um, because women don’t do that to a guy unless they’re best friends with them or are leading them on to be something more.”

“Well we aren’t best friends…”

“No.”

“So…”

“Yeah buddy!” Mitch exclaimed, watching his good friends smile widen on his face. What a sight.

“Thank fuck!” Harry examined, fisting his hand to the sky. “So now what?”

“Now it’s mission possible.” Mitch answered and Harry stopped being excited to be confused over Mitch’s words for a minute.

“What?” Harry questioned back, shoving his phone onto the bed.

“You know, full steam ahead?”

“Mitch…”

“Full throttle baby!”

“What are you…”

“Bro, my god!” Mitch laughed at Harry’s stupidity, “It’s operation let’s make Harry and Y/N a couple.”

“Oh gotcha. Let’s fucking go!” Harry shouted, pumped as a man who’d just drank 7 red bulls would be to finally get to know the girl who he’d been picturing in his dreams.

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blazedrawsstuff · 2 years

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Introducing: Selene Wicked!, beauty queen of the Wicked Wax Museum.

Selene Wicked

Daughter of the Sybil Wicked

Parent

Sybil Wicked

Age

Killer Style

Dark and elegant, a nice spider web or two refines the look tremendously.

Freaky Flaw

Appearance means everything to me, a single smudge on my face, or a stain on my clothes and I feel obliged to fix the mistake post haste. I will not settle for anything less than perfection.

Pet

I'm afraid pets aren't allowed in the museum, I suppose you could consider the animal exhibits pets...but alas, they aren't alive. At least...as far as I know.

Favorite Activity

I have grown fond of researching all matter of topics based on the exhibits in the museum. For instance, I suppose you didn't know Alexander the Great was accidentally buried alive. He a disorder where the immune system attacks the nerves, hence the false declaration of his death. Now you know.

Pet Peeve

Look but don't touch! My face is a spectacle to behold, but I do NOT wish to have it ruined by anything shape or form!

Favorite Subject

History, as I live in a museum, I am quite knowledgeable about past events. Mad Science too, it's interesting to think what science can do for your looks.

Least Favorite Subject

Volcanology, fire does not bode well for my wax-made body...

Favorite Colors

Black, purple, and red

Favorite Food

While I have no need to consume food, I do have an inclination towards caramel and cheese cubes, as they resemble the wax melts used for the exhibits.

Friends

Frankie Stein

Hoodude Voodoo

Robecca Steam

Personality

Selene is sophisticated and polite, as well as pretty intelligent. Educated in a wide range of history topics due to living in the wax museum. There are times when she switches from rather quiet to talkative when said history subjects are brought up.

Selene is very protective or her face, and will do anything to keep it protected from harm or blemishes. As such, she will sharply stop any advances to touch or otherwise mess with her face.

She obsessed over her looks and thus is a perfectionist when it comes to her appearance. Should her outfit or face be stained or disfigured, she will drop whatever she is doing and rush to the bathroom to fix the mistake or change (hence why she has multiple copies over her outfits in her locker and closet.).

At worst, she is prone to jealousy and spite when she perceives someone as more "beautiful" than her.

Trivia/Additional Information

Selene's name means "Moon", specifically this is referencing the "Waxing Gibbous Phase" of the moon, which is when the moon goes from it's first quarter phase to the full moon phase.

She does not like messy food (such as Ribs or Powdered Donuts), and will often either eat them very carefully or with cloth around her neck.

Selene's birthday is December 9th. The month of her birthday is based on the month "Welcome to The Wicked Wax Museum" (Sybil Wicked's debut book) was published. While the day was based on the release of the third issue of the comic "Download and Die" (May 9th), Sybil's most recent appearance. This also makes her a Sagittarius.

Her favorite season is Winter, while her least favorite is Summer. The latter due to the threat of melting by the suns heat during the season.

Her headcanon voice is Erica Luttrell, who voiced Sapphire on Steven Universe. Erica is also Canadian-born and has played roles for the Goosebumps tv series (as Kim in "Piano Lessons Can Be Murder" and Drew Brockman in "Attack of The Jack-O'-Lanterns").

Her internet username is Candle_Queen, which is a reference to the song by GHOST

#goosebumps #goosebumps fanart #monster high #monster high oc #monster high fanart #selene wicked

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gb-patch · 3 years

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Ask Answers: July 10th

I really let asks get away from me lately. I was super focused on working on that Patreon Moment. With that done I can finally think about doing other things, so here’s a new collection of answers!

Thank you for sending in questions everyone ^^.

For the new Patreon moment, will you be able to reference it in step 4? Or just like a tiny nod to it if you pick certain choices?

There won’t be. I’m sorry if you were hoping for that! The Patreon moment is meant to be entirely optional, it’s not something that gets you extra content in the main game.

Is the new CG artist the main one now? :0 I’ve noticed theres been a difference in the art style recently. Is the old CG artist still going to make art for the game? :0

The original artist still makes CGs for the game sometimes, but he mainly focuses on character sprites.

Are you going to put the NSFW our life moment on a website other than patreon? I would love to get it but I can't use patreon atm.

I don’t know. I'm afraid we can't release the Patreon Moment on a normal game storefront because we can't mix 18+ content with our family friendly game. If there's some other place similar to Patreon where it's not the normal type of full-scale public content releases we'd consider using that, but I’m not sure if there is another site that’s better than Patreon in that regard. I'm sorry.

Out of curiosity, in all of your games so far, which characters in each were the most fun to write? They obviously don't have to be your favorite characters!

Buffalo Seer in AFA, really everyone in XOD/XOBD is pretty equally entertaining to write, The Guide in LoV, and Cove in OL!

idk if you accept "personal" questions, but is there anything you've been watching/ listening to lately

Mostly, I’ve been watching/listening to Authortube videos as of late! It’s people who talk generally about the process of how books become traditionally published and/or share their own experience as they attempt to be published. I don’t have an interest in writing normal text based books, but it’s really interesting to hear about that world. I’m listening to a video about royalties right now as I answer these asks.

Will one of the desserts we get to pick be fudge? That'd be such a cute reference!

Haha, yeah, it should. Unless I completely blank on it and forget when trying to include the various referential food options.

I don't know if this has been asked previously but what would be the approximate heights for the presets MC can choose from Step 2 ~ 4? Are there any measurement you had in mind? Sorry if I didn't make myself clear kk I've been struggling with my English lately 💀

I don’t know, ahah. I didn’t have any numbers in mind for that. So it’s whatever you imagine it is!

I noticed a bug with the Patreon moment when it comes to what your character wears. When Jamie and Cove are kissing while my character only had dresses selected, I had both the option to remove the dress or to remove the shirt... Picking one of the options to interact with Cove, after he removed his shirt, it had Jamie remove their shirt followed by ther pants despite only having dresses picked.

Thank you for reporting ^^

I keep refreshing steam to see when the new doc for xobd will be released. I noticed you haven't posted anything about it in quite some time. Would it be possible to ask about a timeline/potential date? (If it's even this year—) I know you and your team are probably working super hard, I'm just super curious! ~Thank you!~

There are more stories done, I just haven’t gotten around to publicly releasing them. Hopefully I will have a chance to spend the time on that sooner rather than later!

hello!! i’m not sure if it’s an update but i’ve just replayed our life and at the end i can’t propose to cove anymore? :(( i’ve actually tried playing twice but the options are not there anymore, did you guys remove the options? i’m sorry if you’ve answered this before!! thank you and have a good one :)

I’m afraid things haven’t been changed or removed, so I think you might’ve accidentally picked the wrong things somewhere along the way and locked yourself out of being able to propose by mistake. Sometimes you meant to say you want to get married but instead you mis-click and have it so the MC isn’t thinking about marriage or something. All I can suggest is starting from the beginning of Step 3 and making sure to follow the steps listed in the FAQ. I’m sorry for that.

Did yall remove some of the options for when youre making out with Cove in the charity moment? I could've sworn you could grab his bonkadonk and its not there anymore

This is the same situation as the above. We didn’t remove things and you’re not wrong that there are sometimes those options. But there are various choices you have to make to get those options and it sounds like you accidentally missed something. If your relationship isn’t long-term, you can’t do it for example.

HI IM SO EXCITED I CAN FINALLY GET THE STEP 3 DLC

Thank you for getting it!

Is Shiloh super totally straight bc I’m very gay and a huge Shiloh fan, would my man make an exception?😩

Sadly, he is one of our super straight characters. I’m sorry.

Hi, I have a very dumb question. In Step 2 does Cove not wanna share his drink with us at the mall (or rather why he stops drinking it) because it's an indirect kiss? Or is it like ...weird to him to share? Because if I remember right he eats off our spoon in the birthday scene right?

Yeah, he’s awkward about it because he likes the MC and it feels very personal to share a straw with his crush.

Hi! If you don't mind me asking, who is the artist for OL2? Their style is so pretty!

Thank you for saying so! This is her Twitter- https://twitter.com/redridingheart

Do Beginnings & Always and Now & Forever exist in the same universe?

Yep! XOXO Droplets also exists in the same universe. It’s one big GB Patch world, haha.

Do Pran's parents regret the way they raised him? Do they feel ashamed of it?

No. They’re the type of people best cut out because they’re not gonna change. Which is why Pran does go very limited contact when he’s an adult.

Hi! I just wrapped up my second playthrough of Our Life, and I absolutely adore it, but I had a question. I went to the gallery and found I was missing 2 CGS (specifically Step 1-3 and 2-3) and I had no clue where they would've shown up. Which moments are those found in?

You get it by telling Cove about his dad offering you money to be his friend in Step 1 and Step 2. You can’t get both in one playthrough, since you can only tell Cove the truth once. I’m really glad you liked it!

Hi hi! Please, how tall is Baxter and Derek? Love the game so much and I can't wait to see more!

I don’t know, aha. I think Baxter was around 5′10 and Derek was like 5′8/5′9, maybe. I really am not one who has specific heights for things in mind.

is adult cove a bottom, top, or switch?

A switch, though would choose the top if he had to pick.

I was wondering if there is a way to transfer save data? Even if through the game files. I wanted to be able to transfer my save data from my desktop over to my laptop so that I could continue playing right where I left off from but I'm not entirely sure how to go about that.

If you save the save folder/persistent data of the game from your desktop and put it into the game folder on your other device, that could work.

Hi! Is it possible for us to know the date when our life: now and forever comes out on steam? Sorry if you've mentioned it before but I haven't seen it and I'm looking foward to that happening and just wanted to know :)

It’s gonna be a long time, I’m afraid. There’s no estimate right now.

I started playing Our Life with my sister a while ago, and I think you guys should know that we discovered your secret. >:)

L from death note and Cove are clearly the same person, and this whole game is just an origin story!!

I’ve never seen that show so I’m sorry to say I don’t understand the connection/reference you’re trying to make. I’m pretty out of the loop when it comes to media. I don’t watch movies or TV.

Will OL2 have options for disabled MCs?

I understand if it's too complicated, just curious

Unfortunately, it’s not really something we have a plan for. We couldn’t finish the game if we tried to include every disability and have it be meaningful. It’d just be too much content to create. But if we decide to only include a few, how would we choose which disabilities get to be represented and which are left out? I don’t know. It’ll probably have to be something we don’t include as an option again, sadly. I’m sorry.

playing our life > anything else

Haha, I’m glad you’re enjoying it.

Honestly, I would like to thank Our Life for helping me come to terms with my sexuality. Before, I never would've actually thought that it was possible to like boys romantically and still be asexual. Almost all of the BL visual novels I've read had unskippable sexual content in them and it honestly just didn't click with what I feel. I'm glad I found Our Life. I love the game, the developers, and this fandom so much. Now, I can safely come out as homoromantic AND asexual (at least anonymously here anyway; my parents are still huge homophobes 😂).

Aw, it’s great to hear you felt comfortable being yourself in the game! That’s wonderful. I’m really sorry about your parents, though.

Will the demo for OL2 be on android? Really not sure if I could wait any longer than I have to aha

Yeah, it’ll be available for Android once we eventually release a demo!

Do all these reveals perhaps mean development is progressing ahead of schedule? Please let that be the case I'm already obsessed with Qiu

No, sorry, aha. Art comes along much faster than script/programming-work for us. It’s gonna be a long time before the game is a finished thing you can actually play. But at least we can look at the beautiful images.

Hey! First of all I wanna say I reallllllyyyyy loooovvveeee Our Life and XOXO Droplets! I have over 300 hours of playtime on Our Life… Anyways, I was just wondering, are the Derek and Baxter DLCs going to come out at the same time? If not, which one do you plan to release first? :3

They will come out separately and Derek will be first! Glad you like the game.

I keep replaying Our Life to get every possible iteration and I am loving it <3 I was wondering if Cove gets locked out of his confession because MC was talking to Lee, would it be possible to confess to him in step 4?

Yeah, you can avoid the confession in Step 3 and then get it in Step 4.

Hi, my Cove wears bracelets through step 2 and 3 but I still don't get an option to give him a bracelet? I didn't even know that was possible until I seen someone else ask about it lol

Hm, did you use the Cove creator? Maybe there’s a bug where using the creator to add bracelets doesn’t fulfill the requirement to give Cove a bracelet in Step 3.

Wait, I'm dense, when does Baxter appear in step 2? Is it from big park firework? I feel so bad since i really love Baxter and waiting to buy his dlc.

It’s in the Soiree Moment. You have to be just friends with Cove, indifferent, or crushing but not ask Cove to the dance at all. Then while there you can find someone new to dance with. But if you bring Cove to the dance while crushing, the MC won’t wanna dance with anyone else so you can’t get the scene.

In step 2 when we go to the soiree I made my mc go alone and baxter chooses the mc to dance, i'm curious, why did he pick the mc? sorry if this has been asked before!

Because the MC looked to be around his age, seemed to also be searching for a partner, and had nice legs. A perfect option for him.

I read some of the FAQs, and I saw that we could tell Baxter about the condo that he rented there was previously the mean old grandparents. how do we get the mc to tell him that?

It happens in the DLC Moment “Late Shift”. If you don’t have a job you instead get a longer scene with Baxter.

I don’t know if you’ve addressed this or not, but are you planning on paying voice actors for our life: now and forever?

Yeah, we pay our VAs in all our projects.

hey can i ask how you did the moments thing in ol? im trying to get into making visual novels and while im VERY sure its out of my comfort zone and all that atm i kinda wanna know just for the future, bc im p sure it would work well for something i wanna do :O but its also fine if you cant say for other reasons :>

I’m afraid I’m not sure what you mean. Are you asking how we programmed the screen or something script related? Adding Moments like that is pretty straightforward, though. You just have buttons that open to different labels and then the scripts are essentially individual short stories/vignettes. Good luck with your VN!

Since Autumn becomes gender fluid later in the game, will there be a character who remains as he/him to romance in game?

OL1 has the he/him LIs, OL2 is all about other genders.

I don't want to impose on your creative plans, but a parrot could possibly make a good pet in an OL-type game? They're pretty long-lived and likely to still be thriving by the end even if the MC got them back in step 1.

I do appreciate the suggestion, but I’m afraid it’s not likely going to happen. I understand there are technically some animals that could theoretically live long enough to last the whole game that or we could have the MC only get a pet after some years have already passed. But the many things that would have to be considered/accommodated for makes it just something we probably can’t manage adding. I’m sorry.

As time passes will we be able to see Qiu and Tamarack's other stage arts as well?

They are both so cute i can't wait to be friends with them!

Yeah, we’ll show content from other Steps in the future. It’ll be a little while from now, though.

Can you date Cove and still have your family comfort you in the car?

You can’t get Cove’s Step 3 confession scene if you have the family comfort you in the car. But that’s not the only way to date him. You can get together with him earlier in the game or later on in Step 4.

Is Mc always going to be the one walking down the aisle or could Cove do it? Also could you choose to have one of your moms walk you?

No. Cove wouldn’t want to walk down the aisle like that and the MC automatically respects that. And the MC also gets to have their preferences respected, so it’s up to you whether they want to do an aisle walk or not. You also can pick who, if anyone, walks with you.

Once step 4 is out, will you be able to go the whole game on crush/love without either of you confessing?

Yes, as long as you tell the game you don’t want to progress the relationship. Even in Step 4 it won’t force you to officially get together.

Howdy, so in Step 4, there will be any Romance with Derek that is not part of any dlc?

He’s only a friend unless you get his romance story.

Will the step 4 in OL2 be one big step or are you considering moments?

Step 4 is just an epilogue in both games.

hi kind of a weird question but!! we know tht cliff doesn't start dating again but. wht abt flings? like does he ever do 1 night stands or anything? thank u!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nope. Cliff has a very small interest in sex. If he’s not in a real relationship with a partner he’s crazy about it simply isn��t something he feels a need for, so one night stands wouldn’t even cross his mind.

sorry if you've already answered this, but i was wondering if there were plans for there to be bonus love interests in OL2 like how we have derek and baxter in OL1.

Maybe! There are side characters who could be given romance stories, but whether or not it will happen depends on funding and how long everything else takes to finish.

I don't know if i'm allowed to ask about ol2 here yet, if not u can ignore this or answer it later. My question is can you date one of them and be good friends with the other? I don't want to be strangers with the other bcs i love them both a lot :<

Yes you can!

what patreon level do i have to be to unlock the nsfw moment? im on the $5 one right now, will that give me access to the moment, or just access to the moment progress?

That’ll give you access! Tier 2 and anything higher allows the player to download it.

#our life #ask #gb patch #gb patch games #all projects #Our Life Beginnings & Always #Our Life: Now & Forever

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celepeace · 4 years

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A monster-taming game recommendation list for fans of Pokemon

Whether you're a pokemon fanatic obsessed with all things pokemon past and present, or a veteran fan disillusioned with GameFreak's recent adoption of monetary philosophies and strategies reminiscent of other major game publishers, or looking for a monster-taming fix as you await new Pokemon content...

I'm compiling here a post of little-known games in the genre that Pokemon fans are likely to enjoy!

Under readmore cause long, but some of these games really don’t get the attention they deserve, so if you have the time, please read!

(I am also likely to keep updating and editing this post)

First up is Temtem!

Temtem is a game made by and for Pokemon fans, from the spanish indie developer Crema. Temtem is currently in early access on Steam and PS5, and is likely to remain in early access until sometime late next year. Full launch will include a Nintendo Switch release, too. Despite this, it has plenty of content to explore before full release. The developers are active, release new content on a semi-regular basis, and are responsive to the community as a whole and individuals if you happen to come across a bug you want to report.

Temtem boasts a wide variety of monsters to collect and train. It takes place in the Airborne Archipelago, a system of floating islands that orbit their star, the Pansun. The monsters inhabiting the archipelago are called Temtem, or tem(s), for short.

As far as game mechanics go, it has many similarities to Pokemon, but also many important distinctions. The biggest one, in my opinion, is that the element of chance has been removed from battle entirely. Moves cannot miss, have the same power constantly, and status afflictions have an obviously displayed countdown to when they will wear off (for instance, sleep lasts as long as it says it will last. Not 2-4 turns). PP does not exist, either. Your tems can battle for as long as their HP holds out. In place of PP, a new system called Stamina exists. Stamina is an individual stat, like HP and Attack. Each move costs a certain amount of stamina. If you go over the amount of stamina your tem has, the deficit is detracted from your health instead, and that tem cannot move next turn. Stamina passively regenerates a certain amount each turn, and items and moves exist that can heal stamina. All battles are also double-battles, you and your opponent will typically have two tems on the field at a time. This is just a few of the differences Temtem has from Pokemon, but they're some of the biggest ones.

Temtem is also a massively multiplayer game. You complete the storyline independently (or with a friend through co-op!), but in the overworld you can see other, real players moving around and interacting with the world. There is also public and area-specific chat you can talk to other players through. Despite this, all multiplayer functions are (currently) completely optional. You do not need to interact with others to complete the game.

Overall, Temtem is suitable for the Pokemon fan who is looking for a more challenging experience. Temtem is not a walk in the park you can blaze through with a single super-strong monster. For one, individual tem strength is more well-balanced than it is in Pokemon. There are very few (if any!) completely useless tems. Even some unevolved tems have their niche in the competitive scene! Aside from that, enemy tamers are scaled quite high, and you typically cannot beat them just from the exp you get from other enemy tamers. You have to do some wild-encounter grinding if you want to progress.

Temtem is a very fun game and I've already gotten over 100 hours out of it, despite only 3/5-ish of the planned content being released!

However, I do feel obligated to warn any prospective players of one thing: the current endgame is quite inaccessible. After you complete what is currently implemented of the main storyline, there is still quite a lot left to explore and do, but much of it is locked behind putting a lot of hours into the game. You kind of have to get perfect temtem to do the current PVE (and this is also somewhat true for the PVP too). By perfect I mean you have to breed a good tem and then train it to get the preferable EVs (called TVs in temtem). This takes... well, for a whole team... tens of hours. Of boring grinding. Some people enjoy it! But I don't. Regardless, the game was still worth buying because the non-endgame content is expansive and fun.

So overall, pros & cons:

Pros

Battle system is more friendly towards a competitive scene

Cute monsters

Lots of gay characters, also you can choose pronouns (including they/them) independently from body type and voice

Less difference between the objectively bad tems and good tems than there is in Pokemon

Lots of stuff to do even in early access

Most conversations with dialog choices have the option to be a complete ass for no reason other than it’s fun

Having less type variety in your team is less punishing than in Pokemon due to the synergy system and types overall having less weaknesses and resistances

At least one major character is nonbinary

Cons

Falls prey to the issue of MMOs having in-game economies that are only accessible to diehard no-life players

Related to the above point, cosmetics are prohibitively expensive

Endgame CURRENTLY is inaccessible to most players unless you buy good monsters from other players or spend tens of hours making your own. However I must add that the grind is great if you like that kind of thing and is quite easy and painless to do while watching a show or something.

Here is their Steam page and here is their official website.

Next is Monster Hunter: Stories!

This is a spinoff game of the Monster Hunter franchise released for the 3DS in 2018. If you're anything like me, and you've played the core Monster Hunter games, you've often thought "Man, I wish I could befriend and ride these cool dragon creatures instead of killing or maiming them!"

Well now you can! In Stories, as I will be calling it, you play as a rider rather than a hunter. Riders steal monster eggs from wild nests to raise them among humans as companions and guardians. And yes, egg stealing is a whole mechanic in of itself in this game.

This game works pretty differently from most monster-collecting games. You do battle (usually) against one or two wild monsters using your own, except you fight alongside your monsters too. With swords and stuff. There's armor and weapons you can smelt to make yourself stronger. Type match-ups also kind of don't exist in this game? Except they do? But not in a way you'd expect?

The vast majority of attacking moves you and your monster use fall into categories reminiscent of rock-paper-scissors. Moves can be categorized as power, speed, or technical. Speed beats power, technical beats speed, and power beats technical. The matchup of your move vs your opponent's determines how a turn will go down. If one move beats the other in matchup, then the winner's move will get to go and the loser doesn't get to do anything. If you tie, you both get hit, but for reduced damage. There's also abilities and basic attacks, with abilities basically being the same as pokemon moves, and basic attacks just being "I hit you for normal damage within this category". Also, you don't control what your monster does all the time in battle. You can tell it to use abilities, but what kind basic attacks it carries out is determined by its species' preference. Velicidrome, for instance, prefers speed attacks, but Yian Garuga prefers technical. Stamina also exists in this game in a very similar manner to Temtem.

Overall this game carries over a lot of mechanics Monster Hunter fans will find familiar (how items and statuses work for instance). You don't have to have played a core Monster Hunter game to enjoy Stories though! It's fine and is easy to understand as a stand-alone.

The story has some likable characters and is rather long (it was actually adapted into an anime!), for those of you who enjoy a good story.

I'd really recommend this one especially. If it sounds fun to you and you can drop $30, just do it. I bought it on a whim and I got a few weeks' worth of playing almost nonstop out of it, and I didn't even get to do everything! (I got distracted by Hades, oops)

Stories is also getting a sequel later next year on the nintendo switch! How exciting!

And yes, you do ride the monsters.

Pros & cons:

Pros

Large variety of cool monsters to befriend and raise

Pretty lengthy story

Every tamable monster is also rideable

Deceptively simple combat mechanics, easy to be okay at, hard to master

Incorporates some mechanics from early turn-based party rpgs like Final Fantasy for a nice twist on the monster collecting genre

Cons

Many monsters are objectively outclassed by other ones, making what can be in an actually good team more limited than you’d expect

3DS graphics inherently means the game looks like it was made 7 years before its time

Here is the Monster Hunter Stories official 3DS product page.

And here is Monster Sanctuary!

Monster sanctuary is a game that just had its 1.0 launch- meaning it was in early access and no longer is! Although the devs say they still plan to implement a few more things into the game in future updates. It is available on Steam, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PS4.

Monster sanctuary is a metroidvania twist on the typical monster collecting game, meaning it is also a sidescrolling platformer in which you use abilities you gain throughout the game to explore the world around you. The abilities in this case are the monsters you get! Every monster has an ability that helps you traverse the sanctuary.

Speaking of the sanctuary, the game is set in one. The monster sanctuary is a magically shielded area, cut off from the rest of the world, created by an order of monster keepers, people who befriend and protect the mystical monsters inhabiting the world. Humankind encroached too far on the natural habitat of monsters and were hostile to the native wildlife, so the keepers created an area of varied environments to safely protect and preserve the remaining monsters of the world.

Unlike many other monster collecting games, this game only has 5 types: fire, water, earth, air, and neutral. However, the types themselves do not possess resistances and weaknesses. Instead, each monster has its own assigned weaknesses and resistances. And yes, this can include things like debuffs, physical vs special attacks, and the typical elemental types.

All battles are also 3 vs 3! And unlike in pokemon, where you can only hit the enemies nearest, all monsters have the ability to hit any opponent they want. Turns also work a little differently in that speed doesn't exist, you just use 1 move per monster in your turn and then it goes to your opponent's turn. Your monsters hit in whatever order you want them to.

There is also a quite important combo system in this game, where every hit builds a damage multiplier for the next. Moves often hit multiple times per turn. Healing and buffing actions also build this combo counter. So what monsters you have move in what order really counts!

But the main mechanical difference between this and other games in the genre is how it handles levels and skills. Instead of learning a set move at a certain level, this game incorporates a skill tree, and you get to allocate points into different skills as you grow stronger. And jeez, these skill trees are really extensive. Monster sanctuary is a theorycrafter's dream. Each monster has a unique, specially tailored skill tree, making every monster truly able to have its own niche. You can make use of whatever monster you want if you just put thought into it!

And like Temtem, this game is not made to be beatable by children. I'm sure a child could beat it, but it's not made to be inherently child-friendly like pokemon. It's honestly quite difficult.

On top of that, you are actively encouraged to not just be scraping by each battle. Your performance in battle is rated by an automated system that scores your usage of various mechanics like buffs and debuffs applied, type matchups, and effective usage of combos. The rating system directly influences the rewards you get from each battle, including your likelihood of obtaining an egg from one of the wild monsters you battled (no, you don't catch wild monsters in this game, you get eggs and hatch them). If you're not paying attention to how the game works and making good, effective use of your monsters, you'll have a hard time expanding your team!

The music is also really good, it's made by nature to be able to play over and over and not get old as you explore each area, and the composer(s) really did a good job with this. Some area songs, namely the beach one, I especially enjoy, so much so I've actually played it in the background while I do work.

This is a game I would really recommend. If I made it sound intimidating, it is by no means unbeatable, you're just gonna have to put some thought into how you play. At no point did I actually feel frustrated or like something was impossible. When I hit a wall, I was able to recognize what I did wrong and how I could improve, or I could at least realize something wasn't working and experiment until I found a solution. It's challenging in a genuinely fun, rewarding way.

Pros & cons:

Pros

Extremely in-depth combat system

I genuinely don’t know if there’s an objectively bad monster in this game

Evolution exists but is completely optional, as even un-evolved monsters can be great

Entire soundtrack is full of bangers

Large and diverse variety of monsters to tame

Cons

Story is a little lackluster, but passable

That’s the only con I can think of

Here’s a link to their Steam page and the game’s website.

A kind of unorthodox recommendation is the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series!

Likelihood is that everyone reading this has heard of this series already, but just in case anyone hasn't, I thought I'd include it! I would categorize this as a hybrid between the mystery dungeon genre and the monster collecting genre, because you recruit pokemon as you play and can use those pokemon on your team!

If you're unaware, the mystery dungeon genre is a small subset of dungeon crawler games where you progress through randomly generated levels called mystery dungeons. Throughout the dungeons, there will be enemies to fight and items to collect. The challenge of these games is mostly due to the stamina aspect of them, in that you have to manage your resources as you progress through the level. If you go all out in each fight, you will inevitably lose quite quickly. You have to learn to win against enemies while balancing your use of items and PP, so you have enough for the next fight, and the fight after that.

Pokemon mystery dungeon in particular is famous for its stories, the likes of which isn't seen often in Pokemon games. They are hugely story-driven games and are notable for the emotional depth they possess. It's pretty normal for the average player to cry at least once in the span of the game. There's lots of memes about that specifically.

This entry in my list is also unique for being a series. So, which one should you play first? It actually doesn't matter! Each storyline is entirely self-contained and requires no knowledge of prior entries. The quality of each entry varies and is a point of contention among fans. I say you should play all of them, because they all have their merits (though some more than others.... coughgatestoinfinitycough). They're mostly distinct for the generation of Pokemon they take place in. Rescue team is gen 3, Explorers is gen 4, Gates to Infinity is gen 5, Super Mystery Dungeon is gen 6, and Rescue Team DX is a remake of a gen 3 game but has the mechanics and moves of a gen 8 game.

My only real caution is that you play Explorers of Sky, not Darkness or Time. Sky is basically a combination of the two games with added items and content. It's an objective upgrade over its predecessors, and I honestly wouldn't waste money on the other two.

I’m not going to include a pros and cons list for the PMD series because I’m incredibly biased and it wouldn’t be an honest review.

Next is Monster Crown!

Monster Crown is a monster collecting game that seems to take heavy inspiration from early-gen Pokemon games in particular. It is currently in early access on Steam and is not expensive. I learned about it through the developers of Monster Sanctuary, when they recommended it on their official Discord.

The game has lots of charm and interesting creature designs, and an entirely new take on monster typings as well. Instead of monster types being based off of natural elements like fire, water, electricity, etc. Monster Crown uses typings that seem to be influenced by the personalities of the monsters. For instance, Brutal, Relentless, and Will are all monster types!

It also captures a lot of the charm many of us look fondly upon in early GameBoy-era games. The music is mostly chiptune, with some more modern backing instruments at times, and the visuals are very reminiscent of games like Pokemon Crystal in particular. Monster Crown is definitely the monster collecting game for fans of the 8-bit era!

The thing that stands out the most to me about this game is the breeding system. Instead of one parent monster passing down its species to its offspring, you can create true hybrids in this game.

However, it is very early access. I would consider the current build as an alpha, not even a beta yet! So temper your expectations here. I have not encountered any major bugs, but visual glitches here and there are quite common. The game also could definitely use some polish and streamlining, and is quite limited in content currently. But the dev(s) seem quite active, so I fully expect these kinks to be worked out in time!

The reviews are rather positive, especially for being in early access. I'm all for expanding the monster collecting genre, so if you're looking to expand your horizons in that sense, I would recommend you at least give this one a look! I personally had quite a bit of fun playing Monster Crown and am going to keep an eye out for updates.

Pros & cons:

Pros

Charming artstyle, appealing monster designs

Faithful callback to a bygone era of gaming

Controls are fairly simple and easy to get the hang of (and are completely customizable!)

Cool breeding and hybridization mechanics

There's a starter for each monster type!

You can choose your pronouns, including they/them!

Cons

Inherent nature of being very early access means can be clunky and unpolished at times

Also not much content as of right now, see above

User interface could use some redesign in places

Here’s their Steam page and the official website!

Here’s an oldie but a goodie, Azure Dreams!

This is one I actually haven’t played, mostly because it’s really old and therefore only practically accessible if you play it on an emulator, unless you're one of those old game collectors. Azure Dreams was developed by Konami and released for the PS1 in 1997. My impression of it was that it either didn’t sell well or only took off in Japan, because it’s actually really hard to find any comprehensive information about it on the internet.

Azure Dreams is a monster collecting - dating sim hybrid. You can build relationships with various characters and can pursue some of them romantically, although that isn’t the main draw of the game. There is also a stripped-down version that exists for the GameBoy Color, which forgoes the dating portion of the game entirely.

Azure Dreams is kind of like a mystery dungeon game in that you progress through a randomly generated, ever-changing tower using the help of the familiars you have accrued throughout your adventure. Similarly to Monster Hunter: Stories, you yourself also take part in the fighting alongside your monsters. Each time you enter the tower, your character’s level is lowered to 1, but your familiars keep their experience. Thus, progression is made through strengthening your monsters. To obtain monsters, you collect their eggs, just like in Monster Sanctuary (which, turns out, was at least partially inspired by this game!)

Due to this game being very old and on the PS1, the visuals leave a lot to be desired... but if you can get past that, Azure Dreams has lots of replayability and customization to how you play the game. To this day, it appears it has a somewhat active speedrunning community!

If you don’t mind the effort of using an emulator, and like old games, Azure Dreams just might be that timesink you were looking for in quarantine.

Honorable mentions:

Pokemon Insurgence (or any Pokemon fangame/ROMhack, really!) is a Pokemon fangame that introduces Delta Pokemon, which are really cool type-swapped versions of existing Pokemon. It’s sufficiently challenging and has a lot of variety in what you can catch in the wild, so you can pretty much add whatever you want to your team! The story is quite good, and the main campaign is multiple times longer than a typical Pokemon game’s campaign. Download it here!

ARK: Survival Evolved is NOT a monster collecting game BUT you do get to tame and fight alongside a lot of really cool extinct species, including but not limited to the dinosaurs we all know and love. This game is genuinely fun as hell, especially with friends, but I must warn you: never play on official servers. I highly recommend singleplayer, playing on a casual private server, or making your own server. Here’s the Steam page.

#pokemon #temtem #monster sanctuary #monster hunter stories #monster crown #azure dreams #pokemon mystery dungeon #pokemon alternatives

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sweetaesuga · 4 years

Text

in your heart | halloween

pairing: jungkook x female reader

genre: fluff, lil smut, fratboy jk, ex-fuckboy jk, bookworm reader! established relationship!

warnings: language, jk is horny😐 but she lets him hit it🤠, annoying kids

word count: 2.1k

synopsis: halloween with jungkook and his cousin.

timeline: takes place after the events of in your eyes

↳ in your heart; masterlist

a/n: this is late but EYES WIDE OPEN IS A BOP. i need to start writing my next fic and stop writing drabble skdjdjd

"Fuck, you look so good. Lets just go to your place and spend the night there. Fuck them kids," Jungkook's hands disappeared under your purple dress that he adored and despised at the same time. He wasn't complaining but he didn't want any other person possibly looking up your dress to catch a peek of his favorite pink panties.

"We're not ditching Hyun. You promised him last time that you wouldn't miss out again," he groaned as he instantly knew what you were referring to. Last Halloween, he ditched the both of you for a girl he was wanting to mess around with. Jungkook wasn't going to let this opportunity pass up so last minute he notified you that he wasn’t coming.

"Stop reminding me of my shitty mistakes," he sighed. His face was buried into your green scarf that tickled you every five seconds. His slicked back hair brushed against your cheek constantly. His hands slipped under your underwear causing you to yelp and push him away. "What the hell is wrong with you? It's Halloween and there's kids around."

He pouted, his lower lip pushing out. "What's wrong with me? Not my fault, you look incredible," his eyes lingered on your purple gogo boots that he seemed to be obsessed with. Even imagined you bent over with them while he was behind you, pounding into you. You looked so angelic with them on. He wasn't sure how long he can hold himself back for. "Why would you wear this if you know how I am?"

"It's our costume, dumbass," you pointed at his white pollo shirt with the bright red tie in between. His dark jeans which tightly enclosed around his thick thighs. "I'm Daphne and you're Fred Jones," you turned away from him, waiting on his cousin to burst through those doors anytime soon so you could avoid Jungkook’s stare.

"Why couldn't we be Shaggy and Velma?" he leaned on the hood of his car, watching a child trip over his own feet. He was close to bursting out in laughter but you shot him a glare just in time. "I wasn't gonna laugh. Seriously though, we're better off as them. Appearance wise—well actually Daphne could've suited you more than Velma but whatever."

You rolled your eyes and stood next to him. His arm came around your shoulder to hold you close. His Victoria's Secret perfume was strong but you don't comment on it."Hyun wanted to be Shaggy. It would make way more sense for him to be, he has a dog."

The second you finished your sentence, a brown Great Dane puppy came running down to you from the house his owner was in. Her steps are big as she leaped to make it to Jungkook and you fast. You squealed, throwing your boyfriend's arm off of you. Jungkook would whine about it but how could he, when it's a cute puppy.

"Nala! Hi girl, how are you doing?"she wagged her tail around as you bent down to caress her fur. A red harness around her chest but no sign of a leash on her. "You don't have your leash on, go put your leash on!" she ignored you and jumped on you again.

"We should get a dog," Jungkook thought out loud from thinking about it too hard. His ears flushed a tint of red from the tip. He turned to see your reaction but you don't appear to be bothered from his suggestion. He released a breath he didn't notice he was holding in. His stupid mind wondering the impossible. There was no way you would want a dog with him.

Luckily his aunt and cousin saved him from any more trouble. He rolled his eyes when Hyun came running to your arms instead of him, his cousin. His brown hair was messy to fit the role of Shaggy. Honestly, Jungkook still thought that he would've made a perfect Shaggy.

"Aww, you look so adorable Hyun! I haven't seen you in almost a year," you hugged him tightly. Ignoring the way your boyfriend was glaring at him, he kissed your cheek. "I can't believe I missed your birthday, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," he reassured you as his mother came from behind him. She greeted the two of you, mentioning how she was happy when she found out the news of the two of you being together.

"It was about time," she muttered under her breath, taking a glance at Jungkook when she bent down to hook the leash on Nala. He looked away, ashamed of previous actions. If Jungkook could’ve been with you over sooner, he would've stopped fooling around with other girls. "Alright, you got everything?" Hyun nodded and gave his mom a kiss. "Behave good for Jungkook and Y/N," she turned to you, handing over this pumpkin basket. "If anything happens please call me. Have him home by ten please."

"We will, come on Hyun," you held your hand for him to take. He hugged his mother again before grabbing your hand. The contrast between the two was cute, your larger hand engulfed his. Jungkook made sure that he rubbed the top of Hyun’s head gently so he wouldn't fuss about Jungkook being extra vicious with him.

Hyun waved at his mother as Jungkook clutched his free hand, watching her figure shrink. He tightened the grasp around your hand. Nala walked in front of you, sniffing all the areas. She became annoyed at one kid, dressed as a witch, coming to pet her harshly. Jungkook was close to telling the child to fuck off but you warned him.

"You're not dad material," you followed Hyun to a house. Jungkook's hot on your trail and ready to defend himself but Nala ran towards a plant to piss on it. "Seriously, don't bother trying to get me pregnant, I do not want your babies."

"Oh shut up. You told me I'm daddy material."

"I thought we agreed we weren't into that too," Hyun ran up the house with the minimal decoration. There were really no other Halloween decorations besides the basket outside with a note on it and a pumpkin on the right. Talk about being in the spirit. "It says to take one," you pointed at the basket filled with bags of candy.

"Take all of them."

"No! Just take one."

"Take all of them, who cares?"

"I care!" you turned around to give him a dirty look. He was already smiling at you, apparent that he knew that he was annoying you. "Take all of them, one of the kids are eventually going to," he shrugged when you continued to stare at him. "I'm speaking facts, bubs—oh! Nala's pooping, did you bring a bag?" he asked while having a stare down with the puppy. Her eyes stared simply at Jungkook as she continued her business on the freshly mowed grass.

"Why would I bring a pooping bag?!" you turned towards him and away from Hyun. He picked up handfuls of candy, nearly putting it in his basket before he noticed something.

"Well shit," Jungkook laughed, looking around to see if any other kid heard him. There's a group of kids coming for the house you're standing at. "My aunt didn't give me one."

"I'm not leaving the poop here," you pointed to the sign that clearly said to pick up after your dog. Jungkook groaned before becoming aware of what was in Hyun's hand. He handed him the poop bag, small poop emojis imprinted over it.

"That's so cute," you gushed over the stupid bag and the puppy too. You don't listen to the basket of candy being emptied into Hyun’s pumpkin basket, too engrossed into Nala. Jungkook shot a thumps up to Hyun, satisfied with his cousin.

Even if you do seem to notice how full his basket was despite only being to five houses, you don't mention it. His collection of candy for the night was becoming so full, Jungkook had to carry some in the pockets of his blue jeans until they eventually became stuffed. He also filled up a takeout bag of Burger King where Jungkook took the two of you to eat.

Nala's on his lap, sleeping from the almost two hour walk. Jungkook picked her up after the first hour and was pleased with how sweet she was in his arms. She clearly enjoyed his warmth the most out of the two of you. The evidence was her snoozing in the middle of noisy fast food place. Hyun was somewhat tired and ready for bed. His bedtime was nearing and the signs of exhaustion were lucid.

"Is Y/N like your girlfriend?" Hyun asked, his chicken nuggets being sloppily dipped in the ketchup. His feet swung high since he was unable to touch the ground.

"Sadly, yes," Jungkook sighed and looked over at you. He smiled at you as he watched the grin grow on your face. "We're dating now. No longer am I a free man, Hyun."

"If you marry her then does that mean she's like part of the family?" Hyun blinked. A bit of ketchup sliding down the corner of his mouth before you wipe it for him.

"Yes—actually I don't what she'll be to you but yes she'll be apart of the family," Jungkook grabbed a fry before pointing it at you. "So if you want her to become apart of the family, tell her to start proposing to me."

"Isn't it the other way around?" he asked, innocently. His curious eyes make your heart flutter.

"No," Jungkook and you respond at the same time. He kicked your boot lightly underneath the table, smiling like an idiot. "Y/N will be proposing to me, we would like to break stereotypes. I want an expensive ring too and I expect you to take care of me."

"Can I be your boyfriend too?" Hyun almost cut off Jungkook to ask his question. You could practically see the steam rushing out of Jungkook's ears the second his cousin finished. You giggled and nodded. Jungkook kicked you underneath the table, trying to persuade you to glance over at him. Hyun hugged you, eyeing your boyfriend. The glint of the sinister in there from your response.

"Well if I marry her, she's my wife," Jungkook jabbed his pointer finger into the boy's chest. "And you're just her boyfriend so you would be nothing compared to me," he leaned back. His arms crossed over his chest, his biceps flaunting out of nowhere. You mentally rolled your eyes at his competitiveness emerging. "Besides she said she wanted a big strong man not a little boy like you."

"That's not true, right?" Hyun turned to you. His eyes begging to you that you truly did not say that. You were prepared to disagree but Jungkook spoke again.

With a playful smug on his face, he rubbed the end of his combat boot against your exposed skin. "That's not she told me last—"

You kicked his leg harshly, earning a cry from him. He grunted as his small jump away from you awakened the puppy. "Be quiet, we're literally in a public place," your cheeks are warm from the information about your intimacy he was spilling out. "We should get going, it's getting late," you slid out of the booth and ignored the protests of the boys who wanted to stay longer. You poured water into Jungkook's hands for Nala to drink outside before departing.

Jungkook carried Hyun on the way back. Slumber made up its mind and took over the exhausted kid. He had poured his energy out running from door to door. Jungkook offered to also carry Nala on his other side but you didn't want to force him to bear all that weight so you suggested for him to take the basket. Once you returned to his aunt’s home, his uncle removed Hyun from his arms before thanking you for looking after him and wishing you a good night.

Jungkook's ready to doze off too tired from the events of tonight to even go to his own place. His ascot tie undone by the time he reached your small apartment complex. He almost missed it if he didn't stop to stare into the mirrors to make sure he wasn't parking on the red line. Your fingers hooked around the ends of your pink lacy underwear before pushing it down. He doesn't grasp how in a blink of an eye, you're on top of him with your buttons from your dress undone.

“What are you doing?” he asked, his hands already on your hips to direct them. Jungkook fidgeted as he watched you pull the straps of your bra down slowly. He was on the verge of taking you right then and there in the backseat of his car as you teased him.

“Giving you your sweets too.”

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