Okay, Now Onward To Little Things That Don't Really Matter In The Grand Scheme Of Things. I Also Finally

Okay, now onward to little things that don't really matter in the grand scheme of things. I also finally figured out the genre of game this would be and that's a social game.

I'll start with:

Cosmetics/Character customization

So, I'll start first with general cosmetics. I have a very strong itch to play a game where I can customize both my character and the house/room/plot of land they reside in without the game being either farm based, purely fashion based, typical gacha "wait 30 years or watch an ad", or just "anime" style with no other designs. Because of this, one of the first things I thought of was creating a separate mode where the players could customize a character to their liking, with their pronouns, and more than just "generic anime" hairstyles. There would obviously be generic anime hair styles, but there'd also be afro styles and other poc styles (I'd have to do some research on any other group outside of African though).

In the main mode, you wouldn't be able to chance the MC outside of her name. Her appearance would be locked kind of like Link or the Persona protags. Once you've played through a story and completed it with the MC, you'd be able to replay it as your customized character in the freeplay mode.

There would also be a place for the players to design their own apartment/house/plot of land (depending on what makes the most sense) and through the game's various mini-games, you'd be able to unlock items. Some items would be harder to get and would require playing a mini-game or going through some sequence properly to unlock something. We're going for replayability＼(＾▽＾)／

Since I was thinking for this game to be FtP, I had to come up with something to still make money, but make it accessible for everyone to get everything in the game. So, it made sense to have the paid options be simply to speed things up or get extra of something in case someone is lazy as hell and doesn't want to replay something. However, the option to play it normally isn't a slog either, it's just like playing any game normally vs. cheesing the the area.

Also, I wanted to add this little note but I didn't know where, but I also really wanted this game to be interesting for gaymers as well. I do have family who happen to fall under that category so I have a little--just a tiny bit--of knowledge when it comes to that.

In this case, the game wouldn't be to catered to physical things at all. Obey Me! does a pretty good job keeping the MC gender neutral, but it has its limits and I'm going to push them as hard as I can! (pause) Being who I am, I don't really fit into any category very well as I don't like most traditionally girl things and I'm uninterested in most guy things, so almost all the time my characters interact romantically in a way that you could use any pronoun and it would work. I don't like the term handsome and most certainly do not think the words "pretty" "cute" or "beautiful" only describe women. Usually, my descriptors are general and describe the way someone's appearance makes you feel (ex. if someone has pretty eyes I'll usually just say their eyes are captivating or they're easy to get lost in.)

Events

I wasn't exactly sure what this would be considering I don't want to become an Obey Me! with bi-weekly events that drain your resources, but I also didn't want to make events that had items locked behind their event period and once they were gone, they were gone. I also know apart of the fun with events is working really hard to get something special, so if it's available all the time it wouldn't be very much fun. So, my fix for this was to dog tag a page from Obey Me!

They have it where after six months(?) events come back and the players have free access to participate again for four days so long as they have a consumable. I still don't want it to be exactly like that, so the easiest solution is just to have events rollback when their original date passes (ex. if there's an event during April, then April the next year, the events returns for the same amount of time). Simple and effective.

As for the events themselves. I actually tend to write a holiday special for the bois every year so the usual New Year's, Christmas, Valentine's, Halloween, and Thanksgiving would be celebrated, but I've always wanted to incorporate many celebrations from various places. Things like Mardi Gras which is a celebration that's pretty centralized in one place. Obviously, that would mean some research, but I already have most of the characters having different backgrounds (Brayleigh is French, Jessica is half Japanese/French, Ankara has Pacific Islander in him, Terumichi is Korean, Amai is half Black/Japanese, and Shugi is whatever I need him to be lol) so it'd be pretty easy to use their backgrounds and try and incorporate some festivals, holidays, and other special occasions in here!

And of course, the events would have special outfits for the boys to be dressed in, don't worry. You have no idea that a kimono Aki, demon Akuma, beach Koto, and casual Ankara live rent free in my head.

CGs/character art

I say this a lot, but I'll say it again, I can't draw; however, if I ever did find someone to work with, I'd have a lot of character CGs and just so things can stay as inclusive as possible, their character art would be anywhere between just solo art of the character in question or art with a character insert (maybe like a hand or something)

side note: the only reason I'm not too into having a character insert is because it feels generic and like it's almost impossible to account of every position with a certain hair style or skin tone. I know some games have done it, but they more or less prove my point. In this case, I think less is more.

The CGs more looked like just beautiful art of the character from a scene or of them in a stylized outfit. Being able to have a gallery full of each one would be a dream~

Other/Misc.

There's not a lot more I wanted to add, but some small things would be to have a challenge mode for each of the mini-games and achievements for random things.

This is just a off the cuff thought, but it'd be cute to have the overworld city somehow have online multiplayer where people could chat with other people in the city or play solo (since I am more of a solo player anyways).

Competitions kind of rub me the wrong way, but it'd be nice to have some rankings for the mini-games

I guess I'll add this part to the first reblog: I didn't want the game to have bad endings because they usually just making the player feel like shit for having an opinion, so it made more sense to have it like Phoenix Wright where you're playing the story as the MC and to have a separate freeplay mode where character's choice would matter. It might be too ambitious, but having the freeplay mode have different endings sounds interesting.

A small ex. would be in one of the short stories, Cassie is sick and Akihiko comes over to take care of her. The players would then have the option to reject him and see a different route play out, almost like a what-if scenario.

But, for now, that's all the ideas I feel I can share. If I come up with anything else I'll add it, but like always...

Thanks for reading multiple

🍂

Here again after my usual hiatus this time though it was because of real world shit, aka setting appointments to get my teeth removed yay but I wanted to post something.

So, just today (or yesterday it's 2am for me) I finished a page on my website about an idea I got about a game idea. This is pretty common for me, but I wanted to share it here in case anyone was interested :D

Anyways, here's a little preview and you can read the full thing here if you want.

I was also considering making proofs of concepts about some of the mini-games I talked about and other collectables, but who know if I'll get around to that with all the other ideas I have in my head.

Either way, that's the post~

🍂

I tried to ignore my urge but... Fuck it, I saw this and my writer brain was like

So, here it is...

Peaking out from the foliage, the young boy saw what he knew as a predator. His perception of the world that was shaped entire by the tales of his parents led him to assume the midnight feathered man was someone to fear, yet his stomach told him something else.

Yes, his stomach let out sounds of hunger and that pervaded his mind more than any perception of the man before him. The sounds must have been loud as the crow looked up and just managed to catch the mouse trying to hide himself.

Now worried, the mouse hoped he wasn't seen. He thought to move and escape from his range, but he didn't know if that was smart. He wasn't as skilled as his parents in escaping death, so he instead remained hoping that their gaze meeting was just a coincidence.

That's when the boy looked out again and saw the crow crouched near where he hid. The food he was eating was in his hand and the sent of whatever it was found its way to his nose.

The crow had left food for him.

This was something he didn't understand. Weren't birds vicious predators that attacked and even killed their kind?

It seemed even his thoughts could be heard, because the second he thought that, the crow spoke up.

"You can eat that, it's not a trap. I have no need to eat creatures of your kind."

The mouse was still frozen in fear, so the crow went on.

"We don't usually eat your kind you know? That is saved for those barbaric hawks or those listless vultures."

That did line up with what he knew and it was only then the mouse realized he wasn't anything his family had even spoken poorly of. In fact, he hadn't heard anything bad about the collected bird before him. Was this because crows were actually kind?

That didn't line up with what he understood about other birds but...

Once again, his stomach growled.

Unwilling to think more on it, he reached his tiny hand out and dropped to retrieve the food. He looked back at the crow finding him enjoying his own lunch without a concern in the world for him.

The mouse stared for a bit and the crow smiled. As much as he wanted to thank him, he didn't know if he should. So, he instead took the food and ran off leaving the crow in amusement.

So, a while ago I figured out that video games can kind of answer what kind of struggles you face in your actual life.

When I realized this, I was playing Hatsune Miku and noticed I'm decent at most the hard and extreme songs, but I refuse to play them unless I can get a perfect chain on them. It's so bad, that even Cantarella's extreme and extra-extreme is unplayed despite me being able to play both of them. Like, I can learn pretty much all the songs, but if there's even one part I can't play, I won't play it at all.

That told me, just like in real life, I'm scared of failure even if I'll do 99% well on it. If it's not 100% (perfect) then I will just leave it until I rot and die.

I really hate that I'm like this.

But, on a less painful note, I also noticed that in games like The Legend of Zelda, I'm cheap as hell and will wait until the very last second before spending my rupees. Aka, in the older games, I would wait until my counter was max before buying potions or upgrades of items.

In the later games, I would avoid spending at all until I got the wallet upgrades and even then scarcely would I spend my money.

I think what that is relates more to me being perpetually broke irl. I'm scarce with my money because I know I should keep as much as I can for... whatever I may need.

Also, a not so good bonus is that I will play through most the Zelda games without potions or other healing items (like I usually play hero mode first if I can). Even in games where I have a potion in my inventory, I just won't use it when Link's health is low rip me in A Link To The Past. I think that means even irl I will destroy myself before even thinking about asking for help, which is obviously a terrible way to live :)

While apart of me wishes there was more time in the day to write more, I also know all that would do is make me work on everything all at once.

I kind of punish myself when I don't work on things I've planned but it's hard for me to focua on one thing when I get another idea. So, I'm going to just let things be and make up for it later.

Snippet Saturday [2]

From: The Moon, Wolf, and Rabbit

It didn’t seem as if time was even moving inside of the Tsumi’s study, Cassie—after finding nothing of note in the room—asked him something.

“How long have we been in here?”

“Probably a few hours by now. I’m sure it’s nighttime.”

Cassie sighed. “Then I guess I need to head home. I don’t want my parents worrying something happened.” Cassie paused. “Speaking of that, what about you? Didn’t you have work today?”

“I did, but I actually quit.”

“What? Why?”

“Would you really want some deity checking out a book for you?”

“I would assume I wouldn’t know.”

Tsumi chuckled. “I’m kidding. I really quit because there’s no need for me to work a job anymore.”

“What about food or money? How are you gonna do anything anymore?”

He smiled. “I know you have to get home, but mind if I show you one last thing?”

She shrugged. “I guess, what is it?”

“The answer to your question.”

He took her hand and even though Cassie wasn’t sure why he kept doing that, she made no effort to tell him to stop. She was guided to the strange door she noticed when they arrived. Thinking it was decorative, she ignored it; but Tsumi brought her to the door and opened it.

If Cassie could explain what she expected to see, it wouldn’t have been anything like the sight before her. Not even in the shows she indulged herself in had a location quite like this one. It was an ambient room with soft lighting from a moon lamp hanging from the ceiling. The roof of the large room had other astrological figures; the one she recognized was the Libra symbol.

As they went further into the room, what appeared to be star dust filtered through the air. In the large room there was a couch with a big table right in front of it, along with a few items scattered on the table the room appeared immensely cozy. Above them was a short staircase that seemed to lead to a nook Cassie couldn’t see all the way inside.

Her amazement got the better of her and she once more took in the room, losing herself in its appearance. Tsumi watched her like he did before finding her interest entertaining to watch.

“This place is apparently where I lived at one point. I believe you and the mysterious boy we have yet to meet may also have something like this.”

Cassie scoffed. “Like a family home or something?” She mumbled to herself. “I can’t believe that. Why wouldn’t my family know about it?”

“Like I said, we’re not actually blood related to our past selves. As far as I found, my past self didn’t have children.”

“Then maybe someone in my past did. It just doesn’t make much sense that we’re related to our past selves, but we’re actually them. Almost like some kind of broken reincarnation.”

“Or a rewrite?”

She looked at Tsumi’s, taking in his point. “Yeah, that is the only way this would make sense.”

“If that is the case, then it makes sense why my past self felt I was different. That things would turn out differently.”

Cassie crossed her arms. “I still can’t get over this. It’ll never make much sense that any of this is real.” Cassie looked around. “But I guess it is.”

Tsumi chuckled at her and stepped closer to her. “You know how I like to view it? I like to say this was inevitable, but we were blissfully unaware of it. However, the world knew we had something to do with one another and stuck us together somehow.”

“Sounds like some kind of video game.”

“I know. Hard to believe that stuff could be based in some kind of reality.” Tsumi promptly moved on. “But, I’ll take you home now.”

“Oh, if you quit your job, did you move out of your place?”

“Yes, I did. Again, I had no need for it. Especially when I have this place.”

Cassie looked off. “Then how are we supposed to meet?”

He looked at her and grew a look of fondness. “Don’t worry about that. I can find you anywhere you are in the world and if you ever want to find me, it’s as simple as just calling me.”

They stared at each other, and Cassie still couldn’t adjust to the way Tsumi was now. His behavior was something vastly off from his normal and while she wouldn’t say she hated it; she didn’t really know how to respond to this version of himself. She wanted to say something, but she kept it to herself—like always—and instead just nodded to him.

“Alright, that’s simple enough.”

“Right, then let’s get you home.”

It makes me happy to see this as someone who writes a TON of fantasy. I think another way to look at this is to say that you can't be racist to a dog and to apply that to your story. Most people feel it's inhumane to put a human in a cage, but not a dog.

The best way that I avoid this is to think how are my species related. One really specific example is a story where my characters are suppose to be "born by typical human means, but because of when they were born they ended up with special powers lol." I call these guys blood borns and always refer to them as a different species.

I've never even considered referring to them as a race because they're too different from "normal" humans in my story to be considered one.

Funnily enough, because of that, that story isn't my metaphor for racism despite having a plot close to it. The one that is has all the creatures under the same species, but they have differences between them and are put in a caste system referred to as 'classes' that order their importance and the whole plot is that their system is flawed assuming that [superior race] x [anyone else] isn't a true blood. When the caste system simply states that anyone who has two of the same blood type is a true blood.

I just think it's easier for people to use races because in our own world that's how it's used. We treat different "races" as whole other beings, which is really ridiculous.

Fantasy """races"""

We should stop calling fantasy races that. Normalize calling them "species" or "kinds" or "kin", or just anything other than "race".

A "race" is a matter of non-meaningful differences like skincolor and maybe average penis length. There is no evidence that different races are more intelligent etc which can't be explained by differences in opportunity or culture.

A """race""" is not living four times as long, and also they can read people's minds, and they are an anthropomorphic cat, and get +1 to DC saving throws against fire because why not, and have completely different origins to other """races""", also they're genetically predisposed to mindless lawful neutral rampages. That's something else.

High elves and dark elves and wood elves could probably be considered races of each other (if all any stat differences are due to culture or magic, not blood). But not in relation to humans.

I'm just saying; when Tolkien established the concept of fantasy races the word "race" meant something very different than it does now. Not to accuse Tolkien of anything, I have no idea what his stance on that matter was, but still.

Having an entire intelligent species that is inherently evil is one thing, but calling that a """race""", and especially if it gets used as a metaphor for actual races or racism, is another entirely.

The metaphor doesn't work because in real life all races are the same in ability (except for shit like +1 to cow juice digestion or -15 to not combusting in the sun like a vampire).

But racists don't know that or choose not to, they believe some races are better than others and there's a genocide-or-be-replaced situation when there just isn't. Racists often hurt their own race if it means hurting a different race because they believe it's that or their race will cease to exist, like how you might sacrifice a bunch of Gondorians to defeat Mordor, but since that isn't going to happen in real life they are actually just hurting themselves and others for no reason.

The irrationality of racism is crucial for all allegories of it because it's more likely to convince evil people to not be racist than the moral argument.

If in your setting """races""" are as different as they often are in fantasy, you have created a world where replacement theory can actually happen and where there could be some strictly practical arguments for racist policies like paternalism or even genocide which aren't completely imaginary.

Speciesism is also an interesting and valuable concept to explore, since unlike racism it may be practical but still unmoral (being distrusting of or genociding Tolkien or 40k orcs is still genocide but, like, they're orcs. Mindflayers even more so, they can literally only exist by parasitizing and torturing other intelligent species, it's the lesser of two evils). But sometimes speciesism might not be practical either. There is never a reason to discriminate against hobbits, they're just perfect little guys. They just wanna hang out and maybe sell cheap produce, without them the price of turnips will skyrocket! But speciesism should definitely be kept separate from race.

The words we use change how we think to some extent. Especially when in so many settings the "human" ""race"" is invariably Just White People™, then people will start thinking of all non-white races with the same brain pathways we use to conceptualize Orcs and Klingons. They become part of the same "other" as POC, which probably isn't going to improve the othering situation.

I've seen friends of mine (not racists) slip up and say "Humans" when they actually just mean "Europeans" in the context of talking about actual IRL history which is a mistake writers should probably stop priming our brains to make.

Could you imagine if all our crime media did the same thing and made people associate criminals with people of color??? oh wait