valleyofkings-if

[valleyofkings-if]

Is this IF dead?

no, I'm just back in school and decided to step away from tumblr as it was causing undue strain on my mental health.

(I've reduced my presence on all social media, as a whole, over the course of the pandemic. the difference in my mental health is astounding.)

[valleyofkings-if]

to all my non-filipino moots out there who probably have no idea what i’ve been sharing with my filipino anons right now,

OUR COUNTRY IS FUCKED.

imagine choosing a dictator’s son—whose family robbed many people’s lives, our nation’s funds, and even our people’s freedom of speech and expression—whose only platform is “unity”, faked his degree in oxford, has been jobless for six years, and is charged for multiple cases of tax evasion over a woman who has received a post graduate degree, is an attorney, is a strong mother to three daughters who are all successful, who has been the main proponent for the country’s solutions to covid-19, who is not afraid to take on any circumstances despite any hatred and judgement she has faced from misogynists, fake news peddlers, and misinformed people.

imagine choosing a mediocre actor and comedian who has no background in political science and law or whatsoever over an attorney whose platforms are evidence-based and are relevant to the country’s current struggles, just because of his looks.

i personally am worried for my future, and for the future of my fellow countrymen if this is the kind of mindset that majority of people will stick to. i am in pain. i am filled with anxiety about how the next six years will turn out to be for me if corruption and unjust governance will lead the country. though these might be the unofficial results of yesterday’s election, it shows everyone that people can be stupid and fucked in the head, letting themselves make the same mistakes they did decades ago.

stocks are plummeting with the spread of this sad news and the foreign investors are probably laughing at us right now. i know why. this leading candidate is banned in many countries for his crimes yet people are still voting for him.

the worst part is people believe that keeping a good character is enough to lead a country. sure, it is integral, but judging how people want to vote for an undergraduate and his evil upbringing, many people are starting to question if their hard work for getting a degree is still worthwhile, and this includes me.

i am speaking in behalf of many filipinos who are not satisfied with the results of the election. it’s very saddening for me to see selfish adults celebrating the “win” of a thief while their children are filled with horror and anguish.

fuck the marcoses. i stand proudly to fight for what’s right and i keep my moral integrity in me. 💖🌸🌷

HUWAG NINYONG IDAMAY ANG BUONG BANSA SA KATANGAHAN NINYO.

[valleyofkings-if]

not sure if you'd be willing to answer this but any thoughts on the ph election right now? everything I see feels so disheartening and I don't think I can handle what appears to be the evident result

Okay. First of all, to all the others who are reading this, this has nothing to do with interactive fiction or writing in general (so if you'd like to avoid this, stop reading now), but please, please send the best of wishes for the Philippines right now.

Like the anon is implying, we’re in the midst of an election that could determine our future as a country and it is not going well at the slightest. I can't give my specific opinions about the candidates because I feel like I'm in deep enough trouble already lmao but I suppose I can express how much I hate the fact that those in charge of managing the election are turning a blind eye on all the issues (vote buying, machine problems, manipulation of the ballots, and all the obvious violence that have been transpiring all over the country for ONE single day).

I don't know what the others would feel, but I am really not up to seeing another round of extrajudicial killings (especially as someone who has an indigenous heritage). So please, everyone, send your best wishes/prayers for the country, even if it's wholly undeserved. We're a small nation, and perhaps not one that matters to those who are in the West, but these are also people who have faced oppression for countless years, and we need that to change for once.

God only knows how much we as the Filipino youth have been trying so hard.

No matter what happens, I’ve decided to keep working on Hollowed Minds, with everything as it is. But it will definitely be much better for me to do it without the fear of getting labeled as a rebel because of what I write.

Anyway, it’s not over, anon! And if it all comes to worst, just remember that our predecessors have gone through their own share of burdens and have faced them head on!!

And let me give you a virtual hug!!!

[valleyofkings-if]

You write your story and your characters in a unique and beautiful way. Thank you for putting such hard work into them!

I look forward to reading your writing🌟

Your anon fan 🌺

[valleyofkings-if]

this is a bit of a ramble about the if community; not connected to the plot of the game

I want to preface this by saying that I love the IF Community, and I adore my communities on Sinners and Saints and The Numbers Game -- I am grateful for each and every one of you. 99,99% of every ask I get is lovely, supportive and kind. I'm extremely thankful for this.

I'm of a mindset that 'ignoring the thing' or 'ignoring the issue' is just as bad as the thing/the issue itself -- if they are not addressed, nothing will be done. So, I wanted to vent a bit of what's been on my mind. I'm fairly new to the IF Community (since November 2021) and I can't say I've faced any significant hate or bigotry, comparing to other authors I follow. This is more of a combination of my thoughts on my own experiences and the community as a whole.

FIRST THING: SELF INSERTS

I am aware that many readers enjoy IFs as self inserts/reader inserts. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, I myself used to enjoy reader inserts when I was younger. However, I think that many people ignore the differences between IFs and reader-insert fiction. RI fiction is usually a short (100 words-10K words), already written piece of written fiction. There's one plot, one route, one ending. There's no coding involved, no multiple routes, endings, variables, you don't make choices there. It's impossible to make an IF a true self-insert because the games are longer, harder to make and simply it's impossible to make a 100% customisable Main Character. Because it is a Main Character, it is not Y/N. Whenever me or other authors receive asks, the readers often (not always) refer to MC as 'me' or 'us' and it blurs the line between remembering it is the authors character and not you as a reader. We get a lot of "but I wouldn't (re)act like this" or "but I'm a strict bottom" or "but I wouldn't say that" or "but I wouldn't work as a teacher because I hate kids." On one hand, some readers complain about the MC being too blank, on the other, readers complain that MC is not 'truly' customisable. Yes, we are all aware we can't please everyone. Most of us, however, want to accommodate as many people as we can, because we strive to make our work as enjoyable as possible. Some readers send in incredibly detailed, specific scenarios and when I personally get those asks, I can't help but feel like someone is treating me as their 'one-shot' writing machine.

SECOND THING: ENTITLEMENT

This ties to the previous section as well. As I said, 99.99% of readers are amazing -- but this 0.01% exists. There's obviously the entitlement towards the main characters; but let's talk about the entitlement towards the companions and romantic interests. The issue of "can you change their gender/sexuality so I can romance and/or fuck them" or the demand that the character changes a certain way to accommodate the MC (often a self insert). I had the bizarre experience of someone asking for me to change a character's name to something "more sexy" for example. I've seen authors be asked to change a character's sexuality or gender identity at least three separate times. I've seen complaints that it [the game] is 'too gay' and there's 'nothing for straights'. I've seen people ask for a character's sexuality to be not mentioned or for the game to have a trigger warning for this sexuality. There are demands that an NPC or Secondary Character becomes a romantic interest, or that there are (more) possible polyamorous routes. There's the obvious demand for the author to write faster. It's my personal takeaway that a number of readers simply view us--the authors--similarly as a Karen would see a retail worker; I say this as someone who worked in retail. The mindset of 'I'm the client so I get to demand'-- except you don't. Most authors, like me, write for free and don't take money for their work. Some make it optional to support them financially, but that's not a salary. Most authors work alone, learn coding from 0 with minimal help, and either do their own beta testing or ask someone from the community to do it for free. There's minimal or no monetary rewards involved, and the IFs are often made simply as a hobby, as many of us have regular jobs, go to a university or are still in school. It is in the author's right to even delete the entire game and blog with no explanation.

THIRD THING: THE NSFW

I personally am okay with NSFW asks--if they have a clear 'NSFW' before the ask--but not every author is. Not every author is okay with sexual asks and this boundary (every boundary the author sets, honestly) has to be respected. I've talked numerous times that I'm okay with NSFW asks as long as they have 'NSFW' tag and as long as they are not overly graphic or too detailed. I made an entire post talking about this, and that I am not okay with asks relating to sexual violence. I still, however, get asks that are sexual and have no NSFW tag, are graphic/detailed, or that relate to sexual violence. Not to mention, I get sexual asks about asexual and demisexual characters. It's uncomfortable. I sometimes feel like while some readers dislike asexual character's for the sexuality alone, with case of the demisexual characters some readers ignore the character's sexuality entirely and seemingly forget about it--similar thing [ignoring things about a character] happens with the character's boundaries, especially regarding touch or sexual preferences. Some IFs have sexual content or are focused around the sexual content, not all IFs are though, and I feel like a number of readers forget that. The character's are not there for the reader's sexual fantasies, and the author is not a personal smut writer for the readers. It gets especially uncomfortable when readers who self-insert send very NSFW scenario asks using 1st person.

FOURTH THING: THE HATE ON THE CHARACTERS

This is the most bizarre one for me--the weird waves of hate on specific characters in the IF. This one will be short because simply what the hell. Just because a character is an asshole or evil, does not give anyone the right to then send the author rude/disturbing asks about said character. It's important to remember, IF means interactive FICTION. Those are not real people, and by sending things like this, all you might be able to achieve is to get the author to turn off anon asks, or throw away the whole game.

FIFTH THING: THIS IS FICTION

Relating to the one before -- this is fiction. The authors do not condone murder or petting tigers in real life, if they write about a murderer character or a character petting a tiger. Simple as that.

Anyway that's the end of my ramble, it's a little chaotic, but it feels good to get it out of my system.

[valleyofkings-if]

Demo |  Info Post | Discord | Ko-fi

🧡 Patreon launching 4 Apr 2022 🧡

Words: 270k including code

This update features the following:

✨New graphics overhaul!!✨

More codex entries and "Misclick Manager" added

Recover from your day (and try a Sentiment?)

Visions™️ and Flashbacks™️

Decide how you might find Harpoc's Sanctum

Decide how to spend your evening

NOTE/WARNING! It is highly recommended that you start from the beginning for all features to work correctly.

Legend goes when the world was formed, the mortal races, mortalis, were created with the gift of magic. But as time passed their hubris grew, and the sheevra were created to curb their pride. When it comes to these chaotic and malevolent beings, the lands are full of cautionary tales. Though some would tell you that the stories are just that. To them, names have no power. There are no mysterious deals to fear, and the figure who seduces you into an alley at midnight is certainly no malicious spirit. Which luckily for you means easy prey.

The Nameless is a fantasy interactive fiction WIP that is romance and character driven, with your race loosely based on stories about the fey and other myths - where deals are a weapon and a true name is the most intimate secret someone can offer. You play as a sheevra investigating the city of Renescen after the complete disappearance of one of four sheevra Clans left in a dying, drained world. And you quickly find - through sources both sheevra and mortalis - that the truth is never simple.

Will you find out what happened before it comes for you? Demo |  Info Post | Discord | Ko-fi 🧡 Patreon launching 4 Apr 2022 🧡

If you enjoy this story, please reblog and share!

[valleyofkings-if]

❤️

[valleyofkings-if]

Y’all it’s surreal to me the amount of posts in the IF community I’ve seen talking about anon hate, like, what the fuck??? These people are dedicating a huge amount of their time to bring such amazing and creative worlds for us to explore, and you’re a pathetic enough of an individual to bite the hand that feeds you. If you don’t like an IF, that’s fine, everyone has different tastes and that’s completely normal, but it’s just so dumb to me that you have to express that through hateful words. I feel like these wonderful authors deserve more love, their stories have brought me so much comfort and happiness during this pandemic, I spent so much time creating OCs for these worlds and reading through entire blogs to have some more insight into their creations, it’s surreal to me that there are people that can’t appreciate them. I honestly want to share here a few IFs that I’ve been obsessing over lately, and remind all authors that you’re amazing and deserve every single good thing that happens to you, let’s make this community even better, spread positivity. Some of these are 18+, so beware of that. Speaker (first IF I read) by @speakergame The Nameless by @parkerlyn Shepherds of Haven by @shepherds-of-haven Detectives of Willborne by @detectives-of-willborne-if Witches of Ferngrove by @witchesofferngrove The Marriage Market by @the-marriage-market-if An Affair of the Heart by @doriana-gray-games Sinners and Saints by @sinnersandsaints-linwrites Villain’s Promise by @villains-promise Sinners by @sinners-if Bringer by @bringer-if Olympus: Secret Services by @ekgfiction Myrk Mire by @catt-nuevenor Fell Star by @fell-star-if Attollo by @attollogame Mirror Mine by @if-mirrormine The Exile by @exilethegame OFNA: Birds of a Feather by @ofna Path of Fire by @eleanawrites Red Sugar Society by @redsugarsociety Body Count by @bodycountgame Underbelly by @underbelly-if Few IFs with no demo but that I absolutely love the concept: The Threads That Bind by @threadsthatbind Absentia by @absentia-if Requiem by @requiem-if The Unforeseen Flame by @unforeseenflame Siren by @harlequin-writes Toothache by @if-toothache The Fall by @thefall-if Hades’ Kitchen by @hadeskitchen Verity by @verity-if A Trial of Horror by @atrial-ofhorror-if Zephite by @zephite-if Orenda by @orenda-if Haunt the Bodies by @hauntthebodies ​ If you want me to elaborate more about my opinion of each of these IFs, feel free to send me a message, but the most general way I can say it is that all of these stories have themes that attract me and/or are incredibly well written, go send these authors some love :)

[valleyofkings-if]

"comes back wrong", what a hot trope. incredibly sexy.

[valleyofkings-if]

“Stories never do truly end…” 

A young heir from one of the many kingdoms that dot the continent of Esterion runs away after witnessing their corrupt uncle orchestrate the death of their parents, thus allowing himself to seize control of the throne. 

But it wasn’t until five long years, a prophesied quest, magical power-ups, and a found family of questionable misfits later, where that said heir then returns home in order to save their people from his iron-fisted rule. 

This is a story that has already happened, and not to mention a story that’s incredibly, and embarrassingly, cliché. Still an arguably enjoyable read regardless, even if it only ever existed within the pages of your old notebook from middle-school. 

…Or at least, that’s how you expected it to stay.

______________________________________

‘[Untitled] Ever After’ is an isekai-fantasy IF made on Twine where you play as a young adult that somehow, either by luck or divine intervention, finds yourself standing in the vast world of the story you’ve once written…More than a decade after its initial ending, apparently.

The lines of creation begin to blur, revealing a setting that is more dynamic and alive, and evolving far beyond the limits once set by your imagination. 

Which then begs the question on what came first; The world that clearly moved on without it’s creator, or the creator that left their world behind? 

…

…

Meanwhile, in a dying land across an endless sea far, far away, there it patiently lies.

It has a hunger that grows, lurking amongst the carcasses of what once was and what never will be.

It killed the old gods…All except for the First.

It will not keep them waiting.  

Keep reading

[valleyofkings-if]

IT'S HERE

The demo is out! Version 1.0.0

Go download it here.

Thank you everyone for all your support! Please don't hesitate to reach out to us if you've found an error or issue with the game. We also have a google form to report bugs, link here.

Let us know what you think. We have a lot more in store for Beau Ideals and can't wait to show everyone. In the mean time, enjoy and Happy New Years!

~Mouse & Ram

[valleyofkings-if]

Beta Readers

Just putting out a call for beta readers as we have half the demo finished. Please let me know in DMs or underneath the post if you would be interested in sparing some time to help us polish off our game and help with any feedback! You'll need a Discord account.

I'll send all more information in DMs and you all will recieve an invite to the Beta Readers discord, as that will be the easiest way to gather everyone's bug reports and feedback for the game.

The way the beta reading will work is that I will send you all the link for one half of the game (which currently will be the prologue + first half of chapter one) and then once the other half is finished, I will send through that. I think this will make the work more digestible and friendly for busy schedules for both the beta readers and myself and Megan.

We're not looking for a large amount of people, but a variety of playthrough styles would be helpful to catch all bugs and continuity errors.

Thank you so much and I hope you all have a great day!

[valleyofkings-if]

spotify wrapped is HERE! send me a number 1-100 and I’ll tell you the song it corresponds with on my top 100 playlist!

[valleyofkings-if]

Hanukkah starts tonight (november 28th), at sundown and will last until Monday, december 6th at sundown. Happy hanukkah to all of my jewish mutuals and followers!

[valleyofkings-if]

Please, o goddess, tell us what is something the ROs need/want/dread to hear 🙏

ajsjdjfjff goddess, pls.

it took some searching but I managed to track down the ask where I previously answered this. (the tumblr search function is less useful than a desiccant in a desert.)

here is the link to the post! enjoy ☺️

[valleyofkings-if]

here, have a free snippet of the hollis short story i wrote. under a cut, trigger warning for death & blood. ft a placeholder commander, she/her, Asha. written prior to deciding this was going to be an if.

are you saying that hollis might not get a happy ending? ;-;

I'm saying that the possibility of a happy ending is going to be much lower due to circumstances surrounding their existence.

[valleyofkings-if]

are you saying that hollis might not get a happy ending? ;-;

I'm saying that the possibility of a happy ending is going to be much lower due to circumstances surrounding their existence.