#studio kura

[rwarwick]

[sophriac]

Guys how we feelin LMFAOO

[danger-bird]

I am rooting for the underdogs again.

Patience is a virtue, dear childern☝🏼

Kuras thought Ais wanted to read the shipment lists with him - turns out that's not what he's looking for. Birthday man wants a birthday kiss!

[slyfire]

these touchstarved LIs...

also the 'darker' cover of everytime we touch is just...perfect.

[dreamtydraw]

The shop just reopened ( yay ) ! I’m finally able to show the new designs I worked on, my favorite being this little series with the touchstarved character !

The stickers are available alongside their bigger version on my shop : Here

[maruuax]

I finally have some time to create touchstarved fanart‼️

[nn-ee-zz]

Sketches of....them

[adastra121]

TOUCHSTARVED Actor AU

I like these kinds of AUs, so these are my headcanons for an AU where Touchstarved is a show and everyone is an actor playing the main five + DLC!

Casting Call

Ais was the first to be cast, so he had some impact on the actors chosen for the other characters.

For instance, the chemistry readings for Vere and Leander’s parts were extremely important.

Ais and Vere hadn’t met before Touchstarved, but they instantly clicked during their chemistry reading and that cemented Vere in the role. That, and Vere’s ability to capture all of the fox’s complexities, nailing the perfect balance between sexy, funny, asshole-ish, charming and absolutely terrifying.

Ais and Leander have worked together in an underrated TV drama when they were first starting out, before either of them really gained popularity.

Before Touchstarved, Ais acted in various film and TV projects, usually in the action or horror genres.

Vere is mainly a theatre actor, who’s mostly known for his roles in musicals. He’s done some short films, but this would be his first major screen role. He’s a trained vocalist, dancer, pianist, flutist, and cellist. He can also play the lute, having learned for a past role. Went to Juilliard.

Leander is a screen actor known for his lead roles in chick flicks, romcoms and TV dramas. When his casting was announced, a lot of people didn’t think he was the right fit for the gothic horror genre. But his performance blew everyone away.

Mhin is a professional stuntperson, who’s had minor roles in film and television, but their past work is primarily in stunts. Aside from being trained in stage combat, they have a black belt in kung fu and a background in gymnastics. As a lover of horror, Mhin was already a huge fan of Ais’s work before they got cast.

MC had some screen acting experience in minor roles, but they are mainly a voice actor. They did a lot of animation and video game voice acting, as well as mocap, but they’ve always wanted to delve into screen acting.

Kuras is a film and theatre actor. He’s mainly known for his Shakespeare theatre performances. He originally auditioned for Ocudeus — he ended up as the angelic doctor instead.

Although he didn’t initially pursue the role of the doctor, Kuras did a lot of research for the part. He consulted medical experts to prepare and studied historical medical practices alongside the script. He also keeps his accent in between takes so he doesn’t lose it.

Elyon had acted in various TV series, mostly mysteries, thrillers, and period dramas. Outside of acting, he also models. He auditioned for Vere’s role and it was a very close decision. Ultimately, Vere was a better fit. But Elyon did so well in his audition that the casting directors had to ask him to try for the Highborn brothel owner’s role and he was perfect for it. 

Sen is a popular actress known for her roles in sci-fi and fantasy shows and films. Fans were surprised when they learned she was going to star in Touchstarved, since it’s produced by a smaller studio. She got a copy of the script and fell in love with the story and with the character.

Mr. Chokey is actually a childhood friend of MC. They’re working on other projects while filming Touchstarved, but they had a lot of fun in their brief scene with MC. MC kept trying to make them break character during their choking scene, there is at least one part of the mad laughter that is genuine.

On the Set of Touchstarved

Shot during the colder months for the foggy, grey atmosphere. When not shooting, a lot of the cast would be bundled up in their coats, holding hot water packs, and huddling close to the heat lamps. Elyon, Mhin and Ais are the best at handling the cold.

Kuras and Sen are the oldest of the main cast, so the two of them sort of look out for the rest of them, especially the younger actors.

Mhin keeps saying “Zenobium” instead of “Senobium.”

MC swears the most when they mess up or forget a line.

Ais is a menace. Biggest prankster on set and he ad-libs, improvises, and makes faces when the camera isn’t on him to get the others to break character. Leander caught on and now they’re both trying to get each other to break character. Neither have succeeded with Kuras.

Taking off his glove with his teeth, that was Leander improvising. The others tease him about that.

Ais, Mhin, and Sen practise action scenes together, since they all have experience in stage fighting. They’re the ones that do most of their stunt scenes. They often help and offer tips and advice to their castmates for their stunt scenes, too, even though the stunt doubles will do the majority of their stunts.

The cast names Leander as the actor with the most energy for the night scenes. He’s usually keeping everyone’s energy high and cheering the others on.

MC, Vere and Leander film the most TikToks and videos in their downtime of the cast’s shenanigans.

Everyone in the cast has really good chemistry with each other. When they do group interviews, they laugh and joke and poke fun at each other, too. Actually, I feel like all their group interviews veer into unhinged territory, lowkey.

For the majority of MC’s scenes where their bandages are meant to stay on, their bandages are part linen wrappings and part gloves. The costume design team made 16 versions of the bandage part of MC’s costumes for multiple scenes, since there are some where MC has to unwrap the bandages.

The Touchstarved costumes are very detailed and intentional, but there are a few wardrobe malfunctions sometimes. Mhin’s cloak and hood refusing to cooperate, flying into their face. And sometimes, after a difficult fight scene, Ais is missing a horn by the end of it. Kuras's long sleeves have snagged on a few items on set. Vere's chain sometimes comes undone, "I'm free!" and he pretends to attack.

A lot of the prop malfunctions happen with Leander, like his dagger getting stuck or accidentally breaking the doorknob to MC's room during a tense scene. The blooper showed the door opening with Leander awkwardly holding the loose doorknob, "I won't leave you and you won't leave me."

There are a lot of bloopers where MC’s bandage comes undone and their scene partner just acts like the curse has taken hold.

The majority of the series uses practical effects and real sets. There’s CG used, of course — some examples include special effects for some characters’ eyes, and Vere’s ears and tail — but most of what you see on screen can be touched or felt.

Which means everyone wants to jump into the Seaspring. Everyone.

After the “That’s a wrap,” they were finally able to.

Additional

Who’s the most like their character? Most of the cast would say that Kuras feels the most like the angelic doctor, in that he’s playful but hardworking, attentive, and super knowledgeable. Maybe it’s just his mom friend and angelic vibes. Kuras looks out for all of them — reminding the others to hydrate, keeping an eye on them during the more strenuous scenes. But he’s a phenomenal actor, so when he’s in a scene, it’s hard to see him as their castmate — he is the fallen angel.

Second would be Ais, he was first to be cast for a reason. Ais feels like he’s comparatively calmer and secure. They’re both dog lovers, Ais has a few rescues himself.

The rest of the cast share more differences with their characters. Vere is ambitious and creative like the fox, but he sees himself as more serious and reserved. Leander believes he’s friendly and humorous like the leader of the Bloodhounds, but like Ais, he feels like he’s more easygoing and secure in himself. And he describes himself as, despite his experience in romance media, massively bad at flirting. Mhin has the hunter’s dry wit and cynicism, but they describe themselves as more humorous and extroverted, and less emotionally constipated than their character.

The cast would name MC as the least like their character. They are more of a gremlin in real life.

Okay. I have two ideas for this.

Either Leander keeps accidentally spoiling things, it’s partly why there are so many theories about his character before the show even aired. The creators lean into it with all the promo about Leander being “totally normal” and “such a good guy.” Or…

Leander is the anti-spoiler, before Touchstarved’s premiere, he described Leander as the one normal human in the middle of the madness who’s, throughout the season, just trying to figure out where he fits in all of this. In the interviews, he talks about how the series is full of horror — his character gets a few cool moments with his magic here and there, but he was definitely envious of the rest of the cast for some of their truly messed up scenes. He wishes the heroic mage could have had some horrifying moments, too. Man, if only he wasn’t typecast as the good-hearted golden retriever type. But it’s alright, because with all the madness and horror, MC probably needs that normalcy, that unconditional support, and Leander provides that for them. :)

And his castmates who are paired with him for those interviews have varying reactions to those bold-faced lies.

MC and Ais are the kind to smile when it happens. Kuras and Vere keep a good poker face, nodding along to Leander’s statements. Mhin tries to keep a straight face, but you can see them dying inside. Sometimes Ais, MC and Vere will play along (“Yeah, very sad for him.” “Whenever we shoot some of the really scary parts sometimes we can see him watch yearningly on the side, a single tear rolling down his face.” “His jealousy fuels me.”).

Mhin often roasts their co-stars — MC and Leander are frequent targets — but as soon as either of them jokingly talk bad about themselves, they give them the most genuine compliments, for example, how they admire how much heart they both throw into their performances and how they inspire Mhin to make their work better.

Elyon’s the cryptid. He’s rarely seen in public or in the behind-the-scenes videos and vlogs, though from the cast’s stories, he does regularly hang out with them, there’s just very little photographic evidence of it. And when he does show up, it’s usually unprepared. Like Vere and Ais could be filming a vlog and then suddenly Elyon passes by in the background — he was in the room the whole time?! Vere and Ais don’t seem surprised at all, so he must have been.

He’s just an introvert.

Sen crochets as a hobby. She actually made something small for each cast member. After the show came out, she shares her handmade Princess, with a little mask that matches her character. The cast and fans love it.

Vere and Ais are very physically affectionate with each other both onscreen and offscreen. They call each other pet names and try to outdo one another with increasingly terrible and cringey names.

Leander is the most physically affectionate of the cast — he’ll give everyone hugs quite often. MC and Mhin receive the most physical affection from everyone. Their co-stars describe the two as very huggable. The cast agrees that Ais gives the best hugs.

The cast still keeps in touch with each other after filming. They have their own group chat.

That’s all I can think of for now! Please feel free to add onto these or share your own Actor AU headcanons!

[asawelf]

I just think they're neat

[vermilionsun]

Before I explain, there are a few issues to keep in mind:

The first Fogfall happened a century ago (“Is Eridia the last city?- The previous largest city, Lovent, was the epicenter of the first Fogfall. In the century since [...] )

We don’t know exactly the LI’s true natures or origins (yet), so monster, human, cursed, whatever their natural state is or however many beings are in one body, the oldest one has the advantage in this...well, 'age line' (?).

Kuras

In his character lore drop, “The Divine Teacher”, it is mentioned his figure has been present since “the earliest civilisations”. But if he’s a Monster, how did he escape the Shroud before the rest of the Monsters?

Vere

We know he’s had over a hundred celebrations (Birthday post ‘23) but also that the Senobium “bound a dangerous beast with a magic collar centuries ago” and the reports of the beasts’ first appearance were “ancient”—for something to be considered ancient, is must be “older than 2,000 to 5,000 years.” Make it make sense. It doesn’t, unless I’m taking the exact words too seriously. (Or he, like the MC, is cursed, and the beast inside him is seperate from Vere, like Ais and Ocudeus)

Ais

Either Ocudeus or him were alive and active before and during the first Fogfall (“As Monsters continued to abandon the Shroud” - character lore drop “Death Knell”).

I believe that this was Ocudeus, but we don’t know when it made the deal with Ais, so I’m putting both of them here.

Mhin

I want you to keep an open mind with this. If Lovent was destroyed during the first Fogfall and Mhin was there, it makes them at least a hundred years old.

Leander

He “came of age and packed his bags to chase his dreams twelve years ago”. The only straightforward thing about this man is his age.

[rwarwick]

[sophriac]

Kiss on forehead from kuras? 💐🥺

BALD 🫵

I didn’t know who to draw him kissing so..

[eniiart]

Heyyy! I'm opening a Touchstarved YCH Commission based on one of the Ouran Highschool Host Club covers! 🌸🌸

【Payment is upfront】

If you want me to draw your Touchstarved oc on this base then feel free to dm me or contact me through my Artistree! >:3 [ link in the comments or in my bio~ ]

🌸🌸

But if anyone wants to draw their character by themselves I'm putting the base-less version here so feel free to use it!

【Just make sure to tag me 🌸🌸】

[slyfire]

everytime we touch~

[portsandstars]

Touchstarved- A Dating Sim About Mental Health!

Tired of playing dating sims where the Love Interests have trauma larger than the unplayed games in your steam library? Irritated that the fictional characters you encounter in visual novels are even more damaged and problematic than the people you meet on dating apps?

Touchstarved is a game that fixes all of that! In Touchstarved, the Love Interests have all resolved their personal struggles and aim to help you overcome your own with their practical and timely mental health advice!

Meet the cast:

I'd reccomend giving it a try:D Since playing the demo, my sleep schedule has improved, my mind has become quieter, and I've found myself spending less time online. Not only is it fun, it's great for your overall wellbeing! Let me know what you think once you've played!!

[loventian]

Touchstarved character name meanings!

Lemme preface this by saying I’m not a name meanings expert I just love crawling through google pages and over analyzing things ALSO to make sure the results weren’t influenced by fandom everything here is from pre-2020! With that let’s get into things!

Mhin:

Mhin is a little bit tricky, as I can’t find anything for their name spelled as it is. Min, however, has several different sources and meanings.

In Chinese, Min (敏) meanings “quick, clever, sharp” Which seems rather fitting for our neighborhood soulless hunter. An alternative script for Min (民) translates to “people, citizens” which could have some interesting implications, as Mhin is implied to have strong connections to the city of Lovent.

In Burmese Min means “king, ruler” which, connected with the second Chinese translation, could perhaps be some foreshadowing? We don’t know how Mhin is connected to Lovent, but the city must have had a ruling class, perhaps Mhin held a position of power? It could also be why they survived, and which a powerful curse nonetheless

Finally, in Irish Min is said to mean “smooth, fine, small”, though I can’t find as many sources on this one. I include it because people have pointed out Mhin’s cloak pins are triquetra, which are Celtic symbols.

Kuras:

Please know I adore Kuras when I say this, but he really got the short end of the naming stick it seems. The most promising thing I can find is the usage as a Hindi surname, which doesn’t seem to have a meaning listed. If you remove the S and go with Kura, it can mean “river” in Turkish or possibly “fierceness, tiger” in Japanese.

Now here’s the silly translations! In Arabic, Kuras (كراس) seems to translate to brochure. In polish, it translates to chicken.

I truly doubt the devs thought brochure/chicken were good labels for the dear doctor, so I’m favoring the Turkish translation. Mostly because Eridia is a city divided by a river; could there be something deeper hidden in there? Maybe!

Ais:

So clearly Ais has a lot of Japanese influence, with his design being inspired by Oni, so I looked for those possible translations first. Ai (愛) translates to love in Japanese, and is typically used as a broader term to refer to emotions tied to like compassion, empathy, or platonic forms of love (as opposed to 恋/koi which refers to romantic love).

I’m gonna focus on this translation for a bit. Someone on a translation forum phrased it in a way I really love: “Ai” is something you do or give. Ais is our introduction to the Seaspring, and to groupminds in general. While the concept of a hivemind is usually used in horror as a way of taking away agency, the Seaspring is framed as a refuge for people to turn to. Could Ais’ name be an allusion to a goal he keeps hidden? Is the Seaspring a manifestation of a desire to give love despite the violent world? Or am I just reading into this too deep?

Vere:

Vere actually has a straight up name meaning! Most of the sources I found say that Vere is a French/Gaulish name meaning “Alder”, and it usually pops up in the surname “De Vere”. Alders are a kind of bitch tree, and I have no idea how that tie into Vere as a character.

But if we take “Vere” as a word rather then a name, then Latin translates it as meaning “truly, really, actually, rightly”. Vere’s introduction to us is as someone to not trust, a cunning fox waiting for the next meal, stealing our darn room key and lying about it! So I find it really interesting that his name could be a word for truth. Perhaps before his chains Vere was someone a lot more truthful ?

Leander:

Big shout out to Leander for having a plain ass easy to translate name. I’ll give you googles exact definition here: "lion of a man", from leon, "lion", and andros, "man".

That was easy, so now let’s pick it apart!

Traditionally, lions are symbols of nobility, courage, strength, and protection. Leander has a reputation for being That Guy; he’s a leader, a protector of the masses, etc etc. for all intents and purposes, Leander really is a lion of a man!

…On the surface at least. Because under all the symbolism, lions are still predators, no matter how noble.