February 2012
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Analogue: A Hate Story →
So, it’s finally finished after a very long half-year of work; in collaboration with Raide and with an original soundtrack by Isaac Schankler.
Uncover the mystery of what happened to the final generation aboard the generation ship Mugunghwa by reading through its dead crew’s logs, with the help of a spunky AI sidekick!
Two pursuable characters. Five endings. A dark visual novel...
January 2012
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Announcing Analogue: A Hate Story →
I’ve talked about it a fair bit, but as of yet haven’t made any sort of formal announcement. Well, here it is: I’m making a game called Analogue: A Hate Story, and it plays a lot like Digital, except instead of being about saving the pre-internet, it’s about exploring the mystery of a long-lost generation ship with the help of a spunky AI sidekick! You can find out more...
December 2011
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This year was a good year
There’s a lot of ways you can look at it that make this year seem a lot more underwhelming than 2010. I was definitely a lot less productive, and there was no sudden huge leap in popularity like when I’d gone from “completely unknown” to where I am now at “not completely unknown.” That’s something that only happens once, obviously.
Mostly, this was a...
November 2011
3 posts
Okay, I THINK I’m caught up on email now. If you were expecting a response from me, and haven’t gotten one yet, please do resend!
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October 2011
3 posts
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Anna Anthropy on "A Closed World" →
the games press has been really excited about this game called a closed world, a game about the experience of being “LGBTQ” and dealing with oppression! of course, christine love, robert yang, stephen lavelle and i have been making games about being queer for YEARS. why does a closed world get the big press?
… a site like gamasutra can post about this game, then rest its little...
September 2011
2 posts
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Let's talk about heterosexuality: A Bride's Story →
Andrew wanted me to write something for 80 Page Giant, so here’s a few paragraphs of me gushing over—of all things—a Kaoru Mori comic. No, seriously! It’s actually great!
I don’t want to do a full review right now, because only one volume out of three has been released thus far, but I will tell you this: buy this comic right god damned now. I can guarantee it’s...
August 2011
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Let's talk about yuri: COME EMBRACE ME, SENPAI! →
This week for 80 Page Giant, I talk about superhero origins.
The basic premise goes something like this: Vega, a superpowered alien, has tasked herself with protecting her city from giant monsters. But lately, she’s been struggling at it, having suddenly lost most of her powers one day.
Therefore, she decides to do the only logical thing to solve the problem: convince her...
July 2011
4 posts
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Let's talk about yuri: Gokujou Drops →
This week for 80 Page Giant, I wrote about the use of groping as a form of dramatic punctuation in Gokujou Drops.
Ostensibly, the premise goes like this: stock perky heroine Komari Maezono is transfering to a boarding school, and her father has agreed to let her live on her own… if she has a roommate. Unfortunately, due to a clerical mix-up, the only available room left is in the...
Let's talk about yuri: Iono the Fanatics →
So some friends of mine have been bothering me to write for their comics blog. I finally got around to it.
The story goes like these: Iono, queen of a small country, decides that her collection of thousands of sobame (alternately translated as both “lady-in-waiting” and “concubine”) doesn’t have enough black-haired girls in it, so she comes to Japan to pick up...
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June 2011
2 posts
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May 2011
1 post
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Interview with Nightmare Mode →
Somehow I forgot to post about this when it actually went up. Some of it might be interesting, once you get past the parts where I try to give my expert opinion on things I’m not actually an expert on. Plus, I FINALLY REVEAL MY PERSONAL OPINION ON MODERN PRIVACY! (No, not really, but she did ask.)
Excerpt:
That’s the downside of interactivity, no? Gamers become so complicit with the...
April 2011
5 posts
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Éowyn is kind of badass
So I just finished rereading Lord of the Rings for the first time in like ten years. It’s amazing, of course, and I was really pleasantly surprised by how much I had forgotten. Like that the “oh, Tolkien just spends ten pages describing scenery!” myth is total bullshit. Or that it fundamentally is far more like an epic myth than the sort of modern high fantasy novels it would go...
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final thoughts on don't take it personally, babe
Let me just thank everyone who commented on the last post, or sent me an email, even if I wasn’t able to respond personally. I definitely very much appreciate the feedback, especially to the people who took the time to write detailed notes. That’s awesome! It’s been taken to heart.
I think I misspoke about Kendall— she’s my favourite character I’ve ever...
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take it personally, babe
Okay, so it’s now been a little over a week since putting out don’t take it personally, babe, it just ain’t your story, and I’ve gotten a lot of comments on it already. I wasn’t expecting it to turn out as popular as Digital ended up, and I don’t think it will be… which is fine. And it definitely attracted much less universal praise, which frankly, I’m not too upset about, because it means I have...
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don't take it personally, babe, it just ain't your...
Okay, I’m really happy to say, after a month, it’s finally finished. This is my longest work to date, and it was definitely one crazy ass month.
don’t take it personally, babe, it just ain’t your story is a spirital sequel of sorts to Digital. It’s much more of a conventional visual novel and focuses instead on the erosion of privacy in modern life on social...
March 2011
11 posts
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In the interview I did for Kill Screen’s intimacy issue, I sort of allude to a specific person accusing me of writing Digital from an explicitly male perspective. (I wish I could say it’s the only time it’s been said; ridiculously, it’s not.) There was actually a story behind that, but understandably, it got cut for space.
The context was that, during an interview for...
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In which I am uncomfortable about a 13-year-old...
So jnbrg posted some of her embarassing teenaged art, and issued an open challenge to do the same. I’m pretty sure I can top her.
When I was 13 I was into really embarassing sprite comic communities, and one of the things that everyone did was make shitty self-insertation avatars based off Mega Man sprites. It actually lead to an interest in pixel art that’s come in handy, so...
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A thousand words about writing tools
A friend of mine has informed me that at some point, every writer is obligated to do a self-indulgent post about what they use to practice their craft.
Well, fair enough. Who am I to shun tradition? My most important writing tools:
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February 2011
5 posts
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Love & Order is ready to pre-order →
So for the past few months I’ve been working on a dating sim game for Riva Celso. After approximately way too long in development, it’s finally finished!
Honestly, I kind of had mixed feelings starting out this project. I normally don’t like dating sims, they’re not really my thing at all; but I was given enough creative leeway on the project that I was able to put in...
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At this point, I’m basically done. We’re just waiting on some art to be finalized before it’s ready to go. I’ll post more about it soon, once it’s actually up for sale, but for now: holy crap! Release is actually in sight!
January 2011
6 posts
“I do feel like it’s kind of pandering to have a lesbian working on every...”
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Love & Order: Dorothy
Dorothy McCoy1 is awesome. She’s easily my favourite pursuable character in the game, and basically the reason why it’s even happening: when I got approached to make this, her inclusion as a potential love interest was my biggest stipulation. And I was really delighted to see her character art; yeah, there’s also a bunch of pretty boys, that’s nice, whatever, the important...
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Love & Order: Jonathan Nguyen
Out of the four pursuable love interests in Love & Order, only two are completely new characters.
If you’re familiar with my earlier visual novels, specifically, Sketchbook: Schoolgirls in Love and Other Assorted Heartbreak, then he should be a familiar face.
I’m happy to let you know that the smug, Senator’s son will be a pursuable character in Love & Order! He...