melancholy melody

A little while ago I picked up a troll on Wayfarer's itch.io community forum. This person was angry at Wayfarer's game design, and wrote at length about their issues with it. Now, I think if someone doesn't like my game or my writing style or my design choices—that's fine. Wayfarer is not going to be everyone's cup of tea. But what I do take issue with (aside from their behaviour—criticize my game all you like just don't be a misogynistic asshat or I will block you) is that they began their post by claiming that my game is obviously written by an LLM. Any pushback given by other forum users resulted in them doubling down on it, including the claim that because Wayfarer is an in-browser HTML game it must be AI, along with a number of other pretty nasty things intended to make me upset.

I started this project well before the use of genAI was widespread. Wayfarer has been in the works since 2019. The original concept and prototype were done Oct-Dec 2019, I spent 2020 reworking things and writing the game's opening, and I spent 2021 pushing towards its September release. I have written every word of Wayfarer myself (yes, all 1.8 million of them if we're including Episode 3). My UI is adapted from an open-source template created by a human developer, and the game artwork was drawn by human artists and graphic designers, all of whom are credited in the credits.

If there are mistakes, errors, or inconsistencies in Wayfarer's design, if the lore and worldbuilding is derivative or tropey, that is due to my very human mistakes and decisions. If there are elements of my UI that look bad or don't function smoothly, it's because I am a self-taught coder and I am doing the best with the skills I currently have. I am one person writing and coding an interactive fiction game on my own.

It is mindboggling to me that I even have to say that.

Great news: she loved it. Super tasty apparently. Great success. Along with the kidney-sensitive treats we found, it was a nice way to supplement her diet. Unforseen long-term consequence though: she loved it so much she began demanding it throughout the day. Like, would come up to us and meow, and meow, and meow, and not stop, until we got up, went to the kitchen, and got her some cat drink.

And by doing so on demand, we have unfortunately created a monster: no matter what we are doing at home, Dozy knows that if she sits next to you and meows, 1) you know what she wants, and 2) you know that she will not stop until you get it for her now. And when you do get it, she gets extremely excited. She will bum rush the kitchen door as you enter. She will run around your feet as you open the can. She will let out the creakiest, crunchiest, most nails-on-the-chalkboard meow you've ever heard if she thinks you're not going fast enough.

I do not begrudge her this. It is gratifying to care for a creature whose most ardent desires are so simple that it is this easy to fulfill them. But I am a little sad, because I know in my heart that I have never loved any comestible as much as she loves this cat drink. She has a pleasure of a purity and intensity that I will never know.

Color Palette Meme:

Requested by @reginamillser Regina Mills + PurpleNurple