Just A Guy Who Likes What He Likes

Cost me $800, with most of it being shipping. Replacing the (apparently) faulty motherboard cost me $200.

Ugh. That hurt me bad.

Just like the title says.

Not a fan of this blatant attack on creator and consumer freedom by these payment processor scumbags trying to dictate what is and isn't acceptable just because some assholes halfway around the world decided to crusade against content they don't like and don't care one whit about anyone else's feelings on the matter.

It's disgusting and we need much stronger antitrust legislation to neuter these corporate entities and keep them from being a viable tool tothese moral panic crusading douchebags!

I know ppl might find this pointless, but I'm not a fan of circular logic doom loops, so there is a petition from teh ACLU.

Ppl might not sign, but it's better than doing nothing.

Dipping my toes into pixel art has been really fun!

Got in a bit of practice this week and I'm making some decent progress I think!

At least, that's based on the feedback I've gotten from the pieces I've shared on some discord channels I follow.

Been fairly busy with script drafts, character sketches, fanfic writing, and well... sorting through what sorts of stories I want to tell....

Slow going and constantly fighting with myself not to overthink shit and fail before I even meaningfully get anywhere. A struggle I've found a lot of other story/content creators wrestle with....

I do take some comfort in that, but still hard to deal with sometimes regardless.... hence why I'm airing out my thoughts here I suppose.

I've made some decent progress, though not as much as I'd like. I can only blame myself there though but whatever.

And, speaking of airing out my thoughts and stories...

I guess that's 'why' I wanna do this...

One of the nice things about being Asian-American.

So, for anyone who likes indie games, lewd games, and lewd indie games... I present to you, 'Evalia: The Lust Kingdom'.

It's a genuine sandbox style game made using the Ren'Py game making software. Y'know, the one optimized and spec'd out for making visual novels and adventure games.

You are thrust into the role the fully (insofar as the options will allow at least) customizable and recently, seemingly randomly handpicked, monarch of the floating island city-state of Evalia. A very, VERY sex positive kingdom.

You are free to interact with any NPC you like, engage in the day to day politicking of court sessions to build rep with the various factions that make up Evalia, build relationships with whomever you take a fancy too, work to solve the many secrets eValia has hidden underneath the surface(though, admittedly, the narrative has taken a backseat after the initial polt hooks get laid down for the sake of building up a solid feature rich gameplay loopfoundation), explore the various areas of your kingdom, and shape jsut what kind of place you want it to be.

Not only is it your PC and relationships you have control over to customize, but the very makeup of the kingdom's populace too!

Ever dreamed of having a whole harem of women to yourself? Well, now you can!

Want an island full of doods instead? Sure thing!

Futas? Why the hell not?

Mix and match? All good!

It's your kingdom after all, so go nuts.

As for myself, well... I'm very much into roleplaying, so I just filled it with women and futas bc, well... isolated island floating in the sky... so, the odd foreign traffic aside, them babies and population replacement rate gotta come from somewhere, right?

Point is, it's up to you.

Gay, straight, bi, non-binary, futa... it's all good

It's a game that has... a LOT of potential and has come a long way fro a game that's being developed by just one person... Everything from the coding to the art assets!. All just one guy in their free time!

I respect that so much and I use devs like them inspiration and a goal to strive for in my own creative aspirations.

I even subbed to show my support.

Gives me early access and voting rights, so yeah... worth it.

The dev is pretty responsive on the sites they're on but don't yet have a discord... which kinda sucks but, y'know... life.

Potential aside, it's a very ambitious project that will take a long time before it's done... Like, for example, 'The Last Sovereign' by Sierra Lee? That masterpiece of an indie game has been in the works for over a decade! So worth it though! A damn fine game in its own right!

...but I digress.

As for suggestions I've made, which the dev has confirmed an interest in adding at some point include, but are likely not limited too, magic to change genders of yourself and other characters, including other important NPCs, of which is gender balanced for plot purposes, which is fine... but I WANT MY HAREM DAMMIT!

more complex factional politicking both at home and with other nations, more interactive sex, combat, and exploration mechanics, and kinds... oh the kinks!

...Given my own preferences, you can bet your ass I asked if incest/inbreeding would be a viable suggestion... and y'know what? They were totally okay with adding such kinds in and even said that was already in the cards, just a matter of 'when, not if' kinda thing.

Made me pretty happy.

Now, to those who may not be as big into the indie lewd games or mod community... incest is both surprisingly popular and prevalent.

Naturally, degrees vary on how much that content has importance in the plot or is just a kink.

I'm personally fine with either bc, well, all publicity is good publicity in cases like this. Getting ppl to be comfortable with the idea as 'normal' or at least acceptable, is kinda the point here.... regardless of how much it actually exists already despite the 'common sense' of the present day.

Look up them stats. They will surprise you with how not uncommon it actually is. Remember, 8 billion ppl and all that.

But, in the land of fiction and entertainment, it's a good place to really explore those sides of yourself without all the stigma... unless, y'know, you gotta deal with judgmental pricks. I mean, we do, tbf, but fiction is fiction, so getting offended by fiction is just stupid... and honestly makes you look weirder than the ppl who like that fiction in my book.

Anyway, it's a game I recommend trying and keeping an eye on.

Another game I find myself liking is Lust n Farm.

It's more of a focused narrative sandbox/farming sim lite/harem builder, but it is very much an incest romance that, to the dev's credit and shameless lewding aside, is attempting to build a compelling narrative around.

It's got plenty of flaws and is buggy as hell, but it's another one that has a LOT of potential, isn't afraid to explore taboos, and has a decent foundation to work with.

Honestly, I'm a sucker for isolated city settings and interconnected harem building stories, so win-win.

Maybe I'll talk more about that game since I really do think it's good for what it is and who it's aimed at.

And yes, as an incest romance that at least is attempting to take itself seriously for the world it's set in, pregnancies are actual kinda plot integral here.

Made me actually rethink my view on one of the heroines/older sisters.

Y'know. I was really hoping the start of the new year, at least the culturally American one I 'just' celebrated would be as pleasantly uneventful as it was for me.

Alss, 'twas not to be...

Fires and more political chaos as we are once again reminded why our president-elect is a goddamn moron and American 'politics' is nothing but a joke.

But, to the all the people going through hard times with the fires, the rest of of us are with you, and well... I'm glad plenty of ppl from within and without can pick up the slack to help out while the morons we stupidly elected keep fucking thing s up, as they tend to... sadly.

....And that's not even talking about all the other depressing/worrying news stories from elsewhere at home and abroad.

On a more pleasant note, and just as the title says, I get to celebrate 2 New Years celebrations this month! Heh, Once at the beginning, and once at the end. Funny how it nicely the holiday bookends like that. Seriously, how often does that happen?

As for me personally, been writing, getting in some daily exercise routines, donating plasma, gaming, working on trying to make a small/short game or two before the years end... well, coming to terms with how much of a pervert I am, though I won't really go into that unless someone asks I guess...

What about you all, assuming anyone bothers reading this, how has your post-New Year's gone?

...Hopefully, not too bad. And for anyone who has family out in Cali going through rough times, I hope you can be there for them, or at least know they're okay....

I'm not, nor have I ever been especially close to my own family but that doesn't mean I wouldn't eb worried about them in situations like this, so yeah... empathy and all that.

Hung out with a good friend and even had dinner with his family.

....This is kind of annoying and honestly might be some side of myself desperate for release in spite of the 'rational' world we live in that requires way too much self control and... resigned acceptance that reality, and most ppl, don't really care for what I want.

By that I mean... my mind has been in overdrive with very dirty, very taboo fantasies.

I'm generally okay with keeping these feelings in check, but the lack of a viable release outside of the usual stuff, you can understand my feelings of frustration... or maybe you can't, who knows.

I've also been busy doing some writing and playing some games that both channel some of those pent up feelings and stress and for research with my own game making journey. Almost done with the second mini project's design documents, sans and edits... which just leaves getting some assets and actually beginning to put it together.

...Going a bit out of my comfort zone in how each mini project will end, but it's all for the bigger project I'm working towards.

I do have plans to hang out with a friend's family for Christmas, which is cool.

Also gonna make some curry too! I like mine full of spice and spicy, so I modified the recipe I found online to accommodate. It's pretty simple and only takes about 35 - 40 minutes and is even tastier the day after.

Anyway, that's that I guess and I'm glad to air out my thoughts instead of letting them stew in my head and get all depressed.

To anyone who 'does' see this for whatever reason?

Well, my anger and disgust at ppl has simmered back down to tolerable levels that no longer stop me from being unable to write and work on other creative projects, and I'm about done with the design doc on mini prologue/practice project #2 and a few stories I post, mostly fan fics to just... weeb out I guess, along with getting practice in things like dialogue writing in a shorter, less straight up book, style.

But, yeah, how was everyone's Turkey Day?

I don't really have family to enjoy it with and honestly, my heart really wasn't in it to try and deal with the whole 'dinner with other ppl' bit, but... I still felt it worth making a holiday appropriate dinner and try to think of things I was thankful for....

Short list honestly, much shorter than I'd like but, oh well. Such is the hand I've been dealt and all that.

More to the point, I hope everyone else's holidays went well, or at the very least, weren't total disasters...

Anyway...

One game I've been playing, partly for research, partly bc I like it, has been very good in seeing just what I can aspire to. I don't think I've seen so much variable checking that goes to show how damn near every choice you make for 2 chapters leads to one hell of a great payoff at the start of Ch. 3 using an RPGM engine 3 generations older than mine! It's testament to the skill in the craft. And, while I do have some gripes about what I'd prefer in terms of storytelling and game experience, it's a very well written and sophisticated piece of interactive fiction. It really is teaching me a lot just by playing it with the sorts of things I want to create and how I could go about doing it, with the help of tutorials.

Come to think of it, I've come to really, REALLY like games that explore their geopolitics and whose harem relationships are about making each other happy and like a family, even if it takes a lot of work ot make it work, heheh.

Plus, dungeon crawling.

Also been watching a lot of medieval to 18th historical vids to brush up on things like cooking, culture, history and all that too... Not saying my world is gonna be a masterpiece so much as I just wanna be thorough.

Incidentally, literally one person actually remembered it was my birthday and wished me well.

Tbh, the only 2 reasons I bother reminding myself these days are to not forget it myself, and because most nobody else bothers to remember it.

Well, if I'm being honest, I'm kinda glad I didn't do anything.... birthday-esque since I couldn't think of anything.

.... Frankly, I just haven't been feeling all that great lately, so that's probably for the best that nobody remembered, as weird as that sounds.

I think, it's fine like this? Yeah, it's probably better this way.

Honestly, right now...

I don't think I've ever felt this disgusted to be an American right now...

Ngl, I honestly feel like Americans are, collectively at least, are the most irredeemably stupid people on the face of the planet....

It's like we are willingly walking into a getting hit by a truck while honestly thinking we're making the right choice.

I'm honestly so angry that it borders on legit misanthropy for this mistake of a species.....

It's made it hard to do any real writing or anything else creative...

I'm trying to find ways to calm myself down but it's hard.... Like, really hard....

Been awhile, I know. But hey, that's how it goes sometimes.

Just like the title says, I've just been really busy doing lots of writing.

Tbh, a lot of it's been mostly proofreading and editing earlier posted stuff and project notes and the occasional indie game script proofreading. That and my mind's been in a 'easily distracted' kinda mood too, so sometimes I've had moments where nothing happens too... which kinda sucks.

Anyway, that's pretty much it for now.

So, as I work to try to make things happen with my games/stories... Money.

It's a pain in the ass, but I guess it is what it is.

Oh, and while I was sharing some of my story ideas with another aspiring dev and I couldn't help but chuckle when the person commented, 'way to make incest not feel like incest'.

Honestly, it was kinda the vibe I was going for thanks to the setting I came up with. I love fantasy games though, so hey.

So, I've been playing around with RPG Mker MZ.

Yeah, it's got a reputation but even so. It's a fun tool to work with so long as you keep in mind its limits and not give a fuck about what the haters say.

Anyway, a lot of the folks I know who dabble in indie game work typically use Ren'Py to make VN style games or Unity for others... sometimes even VNs.

Hell, you can make VNs in RPG maker.

...Crazy, right?

Sure a lot of what I play are indie 18+ games made by like, one or two people but... damn if I don't find them inspiring.

Like, just touching my toes into the process has given me so much more appreciation for the craft.

It's really nice talking to other people working on their own projects too. Especially when you can bounce ideas around with each other.

The only real downsides to the whole experience is the lack of knowledge that hits you real fast and... how much money and time it really takes to make ANYTHING happen.

Sounds like a no brainer, but there's quite a difference between theoretically knowing something and knowing it from first hand experience.

But, I'm learning a lot. I have a long way to go yet, but I'm making progress.

For now, I'm must making something of a pure test game that's most'ly just ot play with ideas and learn the tools while I work on gathering assets and such.

So, in my need to tell stories and, at least attempt to make that happen, I've been busy working on a series of smaller practice projects that will double as prologues for the larger, main project I plan to dump most of what I'll learn into.

It's been a pretty interesting experience trying to figure this out, but those I have shared the ideas with have been pretty supportive of it, so I'm happy I'm on the right track.

I love RPGs and harems though, so I kinda had to... As for the subject matter involved? Well, obviously it'll be an incest harem romance.

As for other stuff?

Just reading, writing, and LOTS of tutorials. Honestly, the more I try to do and focus on one thing, the more I get random flashes inspiration to do other things.... so yeah, I... am all kinds of random right now.