#support game developers

Hi, everyone! Currently, the Love and Deepspace fandom is going through an incredibly rough time. To keep it brief, a highly-anticipated, new character Valko (Ao Yin) was planned to be released on July 9. Unfortunately, due to intense backlash from a part of the fandom, the company decided to completely cancel his release. This decision has devastated the fandom, but those of us who greatly awaited Valko's release remain strong and hopeful, doing whatever is in our power to ensure that our voices are heard.

More importantly, I am devastated that the developers, writers, artists, voice actors, and further members of Valko's creative team have had their years-long work completely obliterated with a single decision and that many may lose their jobs over it. As fandom creators in this part of the world, we share the opportunity of creating and sharing our works more freely and with less restrictions than creators in other spaces. Valko's creators were never even given the chance to share their story.

I hope that whether you are a fandom creator or supporter you will consider signing the four petitions I have linked below. Anyone and everyone who would like to is welcome to sign it. It is completely free! You may be presented with a screen asking for a donation, but that is not required and there is an option to skip. If you run into any issues signing or have questions, please let me know! If you want to know more information before signing, I will link information down below, as well. Some amazing fans put together a beautiful and detailed timeline of the situation.

From the bottom of my heart, I thank you immensely! This really means so much to me. Even if you choose not to sign, I would greatly appreciate it if you could share the petitions with friends, family, fellow gamers, artists, writers, ANYONE!!! The more eyes we can get on this, the better! 

Petition 1: https://www.change.org/p/bring-valko-back

Petition 2: https://www.change.org/p/bring-back-valko-as-a-meaningful-love-interest

Petition 3: https://www.ipetitions.com/p/bring-back-valko-as-a-love-interest-as-it-was-intended/

Petition 4 (from Japanese fandom, but English explanation provided if you scroll down): https://c.org/fZyHpVtf5v

Info on the controversy: https://valko.zeabur.app/controversy.html

If yall have been on the internet for a week or so, you may have heard the shit payment processors are doing to censor stuff across Steam and itch.io. If not, the summary is payment proessors like Visa and Paypal are using their weight in the world to limit games from being shown on platforms like Steam and itch.io. These games are adult themed, violent, or expressions of queer and LGBTQIA+ identity. I've had chooms who released games for the toxic yuri jam on itch that have had them delisted under this wave of censorship. One of the best ways you can get your voice heard is to take turns calling payment processors using the handy guide at ( yellat.money ). If that's daunting for you or you lack the mental energy right now, consider this new option that just popped up.