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Commissioned Art Flood Done
Posted a month agoWelcome new followers! For those who don't know, the recent art upload bonanza has been a result of me getting my backlog of commissioned art updated. While I do produce content of my own, it is predominantly in the form of writing stories! I don't have much practice in digital art, but I love writing, and the art you've seen me upload is pretty much the kind of writing I do. All the vore.
85 commissioned art pieces uploaded. That was a lot of clicking and a lot of typing! In a few instances I also busted out Clip Studio Paint to combine separate images into a single comic, and in one case produced my own ref sheet based on the received art assets for convenience. But now, with the exception of one or two stragglers (waiting on some extra information), the flood of commissioned art posting is complete! Going forward I'm definitely going to upload as I go and not fall behind like I did this time, haha.
If you notice any typos or wrong information (especially tags/keywords) in the submissions, please don't hesitate to let me know! I strive to make sure everything is properly rated and tagged, so folks who don't want to see certain kinds of content aren't jumpscared with them. This isn't as big a deal with writing, since I've never had someone go "I read several pages of text and was shocked to find out that the prey is eaten at the end!" or whatever. I even went to previously-uploaded commissions and updated their description and info so that my uploaded commissioned art is more consistent across the board.
Lastly, phew over 2000 Favorites across all the recently-uploaded commissions! We are once again reminded of how much more attention-grabbing an art piece is over a piece of writing, no matter how stellar said writing might be. It's just the way of things, though. I hope everyone that's new here sticks around to put up with more of my nonsense writings, and thank you for all your interest!
85 commissioned art pieces uploaded. That was a lot of clicking and a lot of typing! In a few instances I also busted out Clip Studio Paint to combine separate images into a single comic, and in one case produced my own ref sheet based on the received art assets for convenience. But now, with the exception of one or two stragglers (waiting on some extra information), the flood of commissioned art posting is complete! Going forward I'm definitely going to upload as I go and not fall behind like I did this time, haha.
If you notice any typos or wrong information (especially tags/keywords) in the submissions, please don't hesitate to let me know! I strive to make sure everything is properly rated and tagged, so folks who don't want to see certain kinds of content aren't jumpscared with them. This isn't as big a deal with writing, since I've never had someone go "I read several pages of text and was shocked to find out that the prey is eaten at the end!" or whatever. I even went to previously-uploaded commissions and updated their description and info so that my uploaded commissioned art is more consistent across the board.
Lastly, phew over 2000 Favorites across all the recently-uploaded commissions! We are once again reminded of how much more attention-grabbing an art piece is over a piece of writing, no matter how stellar said writing might be. It's just the way of things, though. I hope everyone that's new here sticks around to put up with more of my nonsense writings, and thank you for all your interest!
Commissioned Art Uploads
Posted a month agoI've been pretty bad about uploading art I've commissioned over the years, and have also not wanted to step on the original artists' toes by uploading before them, stealing the thunder.
It's been long enough for most pieces, though, where I feel I can upload the art I've commissioned, and will try to be more diligent about doing so more readily in the future. I'll be uploading a backlog over the next while (there's quite a few to upload, and each one requires metadata, finding/linking to the original submission, and more).
If you're here for the stories, don't worry! Those are still underway. You can track what stories I'm currently working on here on my Trello board. But, I hope everyone enjoys the various nonsense I've gotten art of. Some of it you've probably seen before, as the original artists have uploaded them. There will definitely be artwork that hasn't been uploaded before, though!
It's been long enough for most pieces, though, where I feel I can upload the art I've commissioned, and will try to be more diligent about doing so more readily in the future. I'll be uploading a backlog over the next while (there's quite a few to upload, and each one requires metadata, finding/linking to the original submission, and more).
If you're here for the stories, don't worry! Those are still underway. You can track what stories I'm currently working on here on my Trello board. But, I hope everyone enjoys the various nonsense I've gotten art of. Some of it you've probably seen before, as the original artists have uploaded them. There will definitely be artwork that hasn't been uploaded before, though!
Additional Writing Support Arrives to Fur Affinity
Posted a month agoLovely!
For those unaware, any writer that wishes to publish one of their works to more than one gallery web site usually has to do more than what it takes to publish an illustration. You can just upload the same file type to every gallery, but that usually means a worse experience for users. Written works are only embedded into the gallery site if you upload a specific file type, convert to the site's own format (e.g. bbcode), and so on. This means that every time a writer wants to upload something, they have to take additional time to manually convert their work into a different format to publish an optimal copy of their work.
As you can imagine, that's quite the burden! If you're an artist, imagine if you had to spend 5-10 minutes with every art piece you draw, tweaking it for every individual gallery site you post to. What a pain!
Well, I'm happy to say that in Fur Affinity's September 5th 2025 update, more embedded support has arrived for written works! Importantly: PDF files are now displayed directly in browser. As the PDF file format was built for the purpose of sharing a known formatted document all over, this is excellent.
What does this mean for authors? It means you can do things like:
- Preserve all font styles and formatting (bold, italics, size changes, et al)
- Include illustrations (like any book with accompanying pictures may have)
- Provide links to jump around between points of a work (this comes in handy for choose-your-own-adventure, multiple-endings stories)
- Anything else PDF / document formats let you do
Most importantly: The more gallery sites that do this, the better. It means that a writer can just export 1 copy, and upload it everywhere, instead of having to tailor copies for every site.
Great work, Fur Affinity!
For those unaware, any writer that wishes to publish one of their works to more than one gallery web site usually has to do more than what it takes to publish an illustration. You can just upload the same file type to every gallery, but that usually means a worse experience for users. Written works are only embedded into the gallery site if you upload a specific file type, convert to the site's own format (e.g. bbcode), and so on. This means that every time a writer wants to upload something, they have to take additional time to manually convert their work into a different format to publish an optimal copy of their work.
As you can imagine, that's quite the burden! If you're an artist, imagine if you had to spend 5-10 minutes with every art piece you draw, tweaking it for every individual gallery site you post to. What a pain!
Well, I'm happy to say that in Fur Affinity's September 5th 2025 update, more embedded support has arrived for written works! Importantly: PDF files are now displayed directly in browser. As the PDF file format was built for the purpose of sharing a known formatted document all over, this is excellent.
What does this mean for authors? It means you can do things like:
- Preserve all font styles and formatting (bold, italics, size changes, et al)
- Include illustrations (like any book with accompanying pictures may have)
- Provide links to jump around between points of a work (this comes in handy for choose-your-own-adventure, multiple-endings stories)
- Anything else PDF / document formats let you do
Most importantly: The more gallery sites that do this, the better. It means that a writer can just export 1 copy, and upload it everywhere, instead of having to tailor copies for every site.
Great work, Fur Affinity!
December 2022 Update!
Posted 3 years agoHey everyone. As you might’ve noticed I’ve been spinning up some character introductions lately. At this point I have all of my characters accounted for, in terms of designing some basic background and lore concepts for them. Not only was it fun to flesh out said details, but I’m also going to use this new stuff to write more stories surrounding character beats and whatnot. (Including non-canon Bad Ends for them, depending on what scenario’s drummed up!)
On top of those introductions, I’ve been starting to write more frequently again. Outside jotting down random ideas here and there I’ve not written much in some months. No major life events or anything to report. Hobbies just come and go with me (and for many I’m sure). As of now, though, I’m back in the game. Expect more character introduction posts, and more of my typical fare, in the coming weeks!
Another surprising turn of events (for me anyway) is that I’ve started trying to learn to draw. And unlike previous attempts, I’m trying to stick with it with daily, if short, sessions. Always do something with the tablet at least once a day, even if it’s a little thing. Consistency to build up the skill, and all that. A long-term goal to eventually hit is to provide a design for one or two of my characters that have yet to have had any art of them. Another goal is to try and provide my own thumbnails for my stories. That one’s definitely case by case, but the story I recently published (featuring a certain yoshi being quite full) worked out well, I think! I’ve learned some basic shading techniques, and am working on composition / using shapes to define objects… but for the most part so far it’s largely been copying existing poses to produce stuff. Small steps!
Lastly, on story commissions: I’ve been “on break” for the majority of the year at this point from taking commissions. Honestly, this “break” will become indefinite. I’m not going to close the door on the idea forever, but my primary motivation for taking commissions (to earn revenue, that is then used to get commissions for myself) is no longer a thing for me. That juxtaposed with having to deal with PayPal and real money / personal information inevitably being shared, and I’ve all but lost interest in the concept. That said, trades (art for me, story for you) are still completely on the table! They’d be very rare and most likely just with friends at this point, at least at first, but I’m generally happier writing stories of ideas I have more than anything else. I may also, from time to time, write little “sketch”-tier stories for folks, depending. Do not reach out to me asking for free stuff! I’ll approach you if I’ve an interest in a character you have or something.
That about wraps things up for now! Hopefully you’ll be seeing the occasional story – or even artwork – from me in the coming weeks, and I hope you enjoy them all! Cheers.
On top of those introductions, I’ve been starting to write more frequently again. Outside jotting down random ideas here and there I’ve not written much in some months. No major life events or anything to report. Hobbies just come and go with me (and for many I’m sure). As of now, though, I’m back in the game. Expect more character introduction posts, and more of my typical fare, in the coming weeks!
Another surprising turn of events (for me anyway) is that I’ve started trying to learn to draw. And unlike previous attempts, I’m trying to stick with it with daily, if short, sessions. Always do something with the tablet at least once a day, even if it’s a little thing. Consistency to build up the skill, and all that. A long-term goal to eventually hit is to provide a design for one or two of my characters that have yet to have had any art of them. Another goal is to try and provide my own thumbnails for my stories. That one’s definitely case by case, but the story I recently published (featuring a certain yoshi being quite full) worked out well, I think! I’ve learned some basic shading techniques, and am working on composition / using shapes to define objects… but for the most part so far it’s largely been copying existing poses to produce stuff. Small steps!
Lastly, on story commissions: I’ve been “on break” for the majority of the year at this point from taking commissions. Honestly, this “break” will become indefinite. I’m not going to close the door on the idea forever, but my primary motivation for taking commissions (to earn revenue, that is then used to get commissions for myself) is no longer a thing for me. That juxtaposed with having to deal with PayPal and real money / personal information inevitably being shared, and I’ve all but lost interest in the concept. That said, trades (art for me, story for you) are still completely on the table! They’d be very rare and most likely just with friends at this point, at least at first, but I’m generally happier writing stories of ideas I have more than anything else. I may also, from time to time, write little “sketch”-tier stories for folks, depending. Do not reach out to me asking for free stuff! I’ll approach you if I’ve an interest in a character you have or something.
That about wraps things up for now! Hopefully you’ll be seeing the occasional story – or even artwork – from me in the coming weeks, and I hope you enjoy them all! Cheers.
Summer Update! Commission Break Marches On
Posted 3 years agoHey all. Updates, uploads, and more have been sporadic lately I know. Just catching up on other hobbies of late that don't directly involve writing. More recently I've been on a reading tear, gobbling up books left and right. (There's a tip for any aspiring writers, or artists in general: Read! See how the literal professionals write! It's an invaluable thing you can do outside directly working on your craft!) I'm working my way through a reading queue over 20 books long, with more to add. Between that, other hobby time, and some decisions regarding purchasing commissions of my own, my writing commission availability remains on hiatus. I'm not retired for good by any means, but I have to admit it's been really nice not having to fret over a queue to complete, which interferes with personal writing I'd like to get done, among other things. I'm fortunate enough to do commissions as a hobby, not a livelihood.
The short version of all this is that commissions are on break until I feel like opening them up again. I don't know how long that'll be or what will occur when I re-open (in terms of what I'll accept), but in the interim I hope to publish some more personal things. These aren't anything grandiose, just stories I'd like to see told. There will be more character introductions in my "Introducing" collection, along with tales that take place in Lutro's PMD canon (the first installment of which is mostly written, and "should" be published in the coming days/weeks) in more bite-sized formats. Overall expect random short stories like the one I published today.
Hope everyone's having a good summer (or winter, for those in the southern hemisphere) and are staying happy, healthy, and safe.
The short version of all this is that commissions are on break until I feel like opening them up again. I don't know how long that'll be or what will occur when I re-open (in terms of what I'll accept), but in the interim I hope to publish some more personal things. These aren't anything grandiose, just stories I'd like to see told. There will be more character introductions in my "Introducing" collection, along with tales that take place in Lutro's PMD canon (the first installment of which is mostly written, and "should" be published in the coming days/weeks) in more bite-sized formats. Overall expect random short stories like the one I published today.
Hope everyone's having a good summer (or winter, for those in the southern hemisphere) and are staying happy, healthy, and safe.
A Non-Fool-Filled Update! Commission Break
Posted 3 years agoHey everyone. I'll preface this right out of the gate with "no, this is not an April Fools update."
I wrapped up a commission this week, and I wanted to say I'm taking a break from commissions for the time being. Want to focus on my own stuff for a bit, and am overall less-incentivized to do commissions for now. I won't be gone forever! I'm sure I'll wake up one day and decide it's time to open up again. But for now, I'm going to be focused on my own stuff for a while.
Ideally, what I can get done includes, but is not limited to, more character introductions, more Cliff's Notes, and maybe, juuuuust maybe, continuing Lutro's little PMD adventure in a more episodic format. Plus additional one-offs of "you know what, I want to have X eat Y" that have cropped up here and there too.
That's all from me today. Be happy!
I wrapped up a commission this week, and I wanted to say I'm taking a break from commissions for the time being. Want to focus on my own stuff for a bit, and am overall less-incentivized to do commissions for now. I won't be gone forever! I'm sure I'll wake up one day and decide it's time to open up again. But for now, I'm going to be focused on my own stuff for a while.
Ideally, what I can get done includes, but is not limited to, more character introductions, more Cliff's Notes, and maybe, juuuuust maybe, continuing Lutro's little PMD adventure in a more episodic format. Plus additional one-offs of "you know what, I want to have X eat Y" that have cropped up here and there too.
That's all from me today. Be happy!
OC Management Madness!
Posted 4 years agoAs you probably noticed today, I posted a lot of things, both written and illustrated! I'm pretty excited about my new yoshi OC, Cliff (seems I have something of an obsession with yoshies in general), having already written several things surrounding the character, which helped spur this action. Guess my break's over, and that time resting built up into this recent creative spurt. Spent the better part of my morning actually preparing for publishing all this stuff. Being a neat freak, I wanted to pre-type all the gallery descriptions, prepare the links (as much as I could) between everything and for artist crediting, arrange gallery folders, prepare tweets, and more. I even made a "Posting Details" step-by-step document to make sure I didn't miss anything! (This blog post was even pre-typed within that file! Before I broke it out into its own when it got long.) You can see how active I've been given the recent activity documented on my Trello board, which, since I've wrapped up commissions just last week, is mostly works I wanted to write.
I've begun taking OC creation a bit more seriously. Before, I'd just make a character, give a little background (if any). Recently I've gotten hooked on the whole "character lore and worldbuilding" aspect of them. This is what inspired the "Introducing..." series (I have a couple other characters already drafted up for this) as well as the general explosion in writing I've been doing in general this past month and a half or so.
Heck, all this creativity has even gotten me to start trying to draw again! As seen with the spiral notebook of Cliff's that is his food diary (and the "Cliff's Notes" series that's based around his entries). Going to see if I can't become a master yoshi artist.
I'm hoping to keep up this creative streak with characters both old and new, some of which haven't been touched in some time, but I wanted to at least give a token backstory for. A few characters even intersect in some ways now! The worldbuilding aspect is definitely being done in small chunks (just "need-to-know" type information for the most part). It's all character-focused, and I don't see myself making stories / etc. that just describe the world(s) these characters reside in (yet).
I'm also going into this not expecting a whole lot from others (this really applies to my efforts writing in general, but this thought crossed my mind when writing this). Despite me obsessing over Cliff and these details, not many will care too much, if at all, about said details. They're here for vore! (And I don't blame 'em!) I'm just some random person yammering on about his OCs, in a sea of others that do the exact same thing. But for me, writing and creative endeavors such as these are about the journey of creation, and for myself. Even if I never uploaded any of this stuff I'd still be happy with what I've done. I do hope, though, that all this work does make others happy / have a good time as well (those that are curious to dive in), but that's by no means some barometer for my own satisfaction. (Frankly this is a prerequisite to being a writer online in general, given the relatively-small amount of attention spectacular works get compared to even the most basic of illustrated works. But that's just the nature of the Internet and art site galleries! Just have to roll with it. ♥)
Here's a summary of everything released today!
Cliff Ref Sheet (and here's the NSFW alternate)
Cliff's Intro Story
Cliff Size Difference (to another yoshi)
First short in the "Cliff's Notes" series
My illustration of Cliff's food diary
That's about it! I do have more stuff on the way, and commissions are always open for those interested. Probably won't be doing another bulk-upload like this, unless I get a hankering for another new character and want to go on about them! Hope everyone in the US has a good turkey day weekend. And the rest of you all have a nice one too!
I've begun taking OC creation a bit more seriously. Before, I'd just make a character, give a little background (if any). Recently I've gotten hooked on the whole "character lore and worldbuilding" aspect of them. This is what inspired the "Introducing..." series (I have a couple other characters already drafted up for this) as well as the general explosion in writing I've been doing in general this past month and a half or so.
Heck, all this creativity has even gotten me to start trying to draw again! As seen with the spiral notebook of Cliff's that is his food diary (and the "Cliff's Notes" series that's based around his entries). Going to see if I can't become a master yoshi artist.
I'm hoping to keep up this creative streak with characters both old and new, some of which haven't been touched in some time, but I wanted to at least give a token backstory for. A few characters even intersect in some ways now! The worldbuilding aspect is definitely being done in small chunks (just "need-to-know" type information for the most part). It's all character-focused, and I don't see myself making stories / etc. that just describe the world(s) these characters reside in (yet).
I'm also going into this not expecting a whole lot from others (this really applies to my efforts writing in general, but this thought crossed my mind when writing this). Despite me obsessing over Cliff and these details, not many will care too much, if at all, about said details. They're here for vore! (And I don't blame 'em!) I'm just some random person yammering on about his OCs, in a sea of others that do the exact same thing. But for me, writing and creative endeavors such as these are about the journey of creation, and for myself. Even if I never uploaded any of this stuff I'd still be happy with what I've done. I do hope, though, that all this work does make others happy / have a good time as well (those that are curious to dive in), but that's by no means some barometer for my own satisfaction. (Frankly this is a prerequisite to being a writer online in general, given the relatively-small amount of attention spectacular works get compared to even the most basic of illustrated works. But that's just the nature of the Internet and art site galleries! Just have to roll with it. ♥)
Here's a summary of everything released today!
Cliff Ref Sheet (and here's the NSFW alternate)
Cliff's Intro Story
Cliff Size Difference (to another yoshi)
First short in the "Cliff's Notes" series
My illustration of Cliff's food diary
That's about it! I do have more stuff on the way, and commissions are always open for those interested. Probably won't be doing another bulk-upload like this, unless I get a hankering for another new character and want to go on about them! Hope everyone in the US has a good turkey day weekend. And the rest of you all have a nice one too!
Still on Quasi-Break + Upcoming Birthday
Posted 4 years agoHope everyone's having a safe and fun summer (or winter, to our friends in the southern hemisphere). I've been enjoying my long break, and finally got the single commission I had queued up since April. So now I'm free from the burden of commissions fully now. Guilt-free, that is.
I'm going to continue staying on break for a bit. Maaaybe I'll take a commission here and there, but I think I want to get some of my own stories written. One of which may or may not be inspired by a recent New Pokémon Snap update (no promises but stay tuned!)
This could change on a whim, but being queue-free is nice. (And for those that aren't aware - this is only a hobby for me, not something my livelihood depends on). Part of this continued break is because my birthday is this month (17th) and I'd like to go into it free from stuff to do!
I'm going to continue staying on break for a bit. Maaaybe I'll take a commission here and there, but I think I want to get some of my own stories written. One of which may or may not be inspired by a recent New Pokémon Snap update (no promises but stay tuned!)
This could change on a whim, but being queue-free is nice. (And for those that aren't aware - this is only a hobby for me, not something my livelihood depends on). Part of this continued break is because my birthday is this month (17th) and I'd like to go into it free from stuff to do!
Writing Break!
Posted 4 years agoJust wanted to let everyone know I'm taking a break! After finishing my Yoshi tale last month I haven't written a word. Been spending more time outdoors and such, and the drive to write mostly hasn't been there. There's nothing dramatic going on in my life or anything like that. Just busy with other things for now. I wanted to let everyone know, as this is one of the few times that I won't be accepting new commissions. (Any ones already paid for I'm doing despite this break, no worries there!)
Who knows how long the break will last, but I'll let everyone know when I'm officially open again!
Who knows how long the break will last, but I'll let everyone know when I'm officially open again!
Happy New Year! 2021 Commissions Open
Posted 5 years agoWishing a Happy New Year to everyone! Though it shouldn't be hard to top (knock on wood), here's hoping we see a better year this year.
2021 commissions are officially open. I don't get too much traffic so there's no deadline or limited slots or anything. I have a bit of a backlog to work through for 2020, but I intend to keep up with writing on an almost-daily basis, so sooner or later I'll get to you.
Price for 2021 is $15 / 1000 words. My Trello has the active queue, link to the full rules, and more.
Hope everyone has a great year!
2021 commissions are officially open. I don't get too much traffic so there's no deadline or limited slots or anything. I have a bit of a backlog to work through for 2020, but I intend to keep up with writing on an almost-daily basis, so sooner or later I'll get to you.
Price for 2021 is $15 / 1000 words. My Trello has the active queue, link to the full rules, and more.
Hope everyone has a great year!
Happy Halloween! Commission News
Posted 5 years agoHi everyone. Hope you're having/had a good Halloween! Just wanted to post an update regarding commissions for the rest of this year and on to the next.
- Commissions are closing for the year at the end of November 2020!
- Aside from what's currently on my queue (which is on Trello now), I will not be completing any more commissions this year! I'm taking a writing break for the month of December.
Why am I still taking new commissions, then? Because prices are changing starting 2021, but I want to give people an opportunity to lock in the old prices!
- The current rate is $10 + $10/1000 words. Any new commissions taken on or before November 30th 2020 will get this rate.
- The 2021 rate is $15/1000 words. A slight bump to keep up with the times and such. Plus I wanted to go back to the simpler pricing model.
- Note that 2,000 word story commissions remain the same with this rate! So those getting short stories will not be impacted by this change.
Hope everyone can try to have a good rest of 2020, and onward to 2021!
Quick links for reference:
- Commission Queue
- Full Commission Rules
- Commissions are closing for the year at the end of November 2020!
- Aside from what's currently on my queue (which is on Trello now), I will not be completing any more commissions this year! I'm taking a writing break for the month of December.
Why am I still taking new commissions, then? Because prices are changing starting 2021, but I want to give people an opportunity to lock in the old prices!
- The current rate is $10 + $10/1000 words. Any new commissions taken on or before November 30th 2020 will get this rate.
- The 2021 rate is $15/1000 words. A slight bump to keep up with the times and such. Plus I wanted to go back to the simpler pricing model.
- Note that 2,000 word story commissions remain the same with this rate! So those getting short stories will not be impacted by this change.
Hope everyone can try to have a good rest of 2020, and onward to 2021!
Quick links for reference:
- Commission Queue
- Full Commission Rules
Commissions Wide Open!
Posted 5 years agoHi everyone. After a couple months of not writing, I buckled down and got through my long-standing queue of things to write. In addition, I've been able to write a few personal short stories of just random ideas I've had.
My Trello board has been serving me well, as it is quasi-forcing me to put not-commissions in the queue instead of always abandoning them. As you can see, though, the list is currently empty! If you were interested in commissioning me for a story, give me a buzz! Here or Discord are both acceptable. For now, my terms and such are still on my Eka's Portal commission page, but I'm considering moving those to Trello as well.
Birthday on Monday as well. ♥ Long weekend ahead.
Stay safe and healthy everyone!
My Trello board has been serving me well, as it is quasi-forcing me to put not-commissions in the queue instead of always abandoning them. As you can see, though, the list is currently empty! If you were interested in commissioning me for a story, give me a buzz! Here or Discord are both acceptable. For now, my terms and such are still on my Eka's Portal commission page, but I'm considering moving those to Trello as well.
Birthday on Monday as well. ♥ Long weekend ahead.
Stay safe and healthy everyone!
August Update! Resuming Writing, Trello, and Birthday
Posted 5 years agoI hope everyone's getting along alright. Stay strong.
Wanted to post a little update, now that we're in August of a tumultuous year for many. Through the powers of procrastination, I took the last two months off from writing more-or-less. From one week to the next I just felt like doing other things or not much at all. I could say "it's due to current events" but honestly it was just laziness. Not the end of the world, but I'm just grateful that those who have been sitting in my queue for a while have been outstanding and patient. Thank you.
I now have a Trello board for my writing queue. You can find it here: https://trello.com/b/MbdQWOns. I've used Trello for years prior and have always enjoyed its simplicity, and now I'm moving what I formerly hosted on Eka's Portal to there! You can see what I'm currently writing, both commissions and personal projects alike, and it will always be up to date. I recommend it to anyone who needs a way to easily organize stuff. Note that I would not recommend putting personal info up there (you'll notice I don't post emails or the sort up there, just usernames). Keep that stuff in a Private board, or better: Offline!
Finally, birthday's coming up. Nothing too exciting planned (normal -- not due to current events), but I know a lot of others tend to identify the special day upcoming for them. So, the 17th is the magical date.
Stay safe everyone!
Wanted to post a little update, now that we're in August of a tumultuous year for many. Through the powers of procrastination, I took the last two months off from writing more-or-less. From one week to the next I just felt like doing other things or not much at all. I could say "it's due to current events" but honestly it was just laziness. Not the end of the world, but I'm just grateful that those who have been sitting in my queue for a while have been outstanding and patient. Thank you.
I now have a Trello board for my writing queue. You can find it here: https://trello.com/b/MbdQWOns. I've used Trello for years prior and have always enjoyed its simplicity, and now I'm moving what I formerly hosted on Eka's Portal to there! You can see what I'm currently writing, both commissions and personal projects alike, and it will always be up to date. I recommend it to anyone who needs a way to easily organize stuff. Note that I would not recommend putting personal info up there (you'll notice I don't post emails or the sort up there, just usernames). Keep that stuff in a Private board, or better: Offline!
Finally, birthday's coming up. Nothing too exciting planned (normal -- not due to current events), but I know a lot of others tend to identify the special day upcoming for them. So, the 17th is the magical date.
Stay safe everyone!
State of the Buizel -- June 2020
Posted 5 years agoHey all! Hope everyone's doing well. Especially considering current global events. Hang in there! We'll survive and thrive!
Just wanted to dump some unfiltered status updates out about various things I'm working on and what I've been up to. For the past couple months I've mostly just been doing commissions as they roll in. Earlier in the year, I was pushing to get more chapters of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorer Lutro out, but procrastination and other unrelated hobbies started taking away writing time! I do have several more chapters written, as well as a rough outline for more. I'll try to get some more chapters posted to keep that story going. (I have some character art too! I should get to posting them. Bringing some of the characters in that story to illustrative life.)
Prince Froggy's Revenge has two chapters written and published so far, and has several to go! That's just a bit of a passion project of mine and yoshies are among my favorite characters to write in voracious scenarios. Definitely expect to see more of those (it's not abandoned! Just more procrastination). That's fully planned/plotted out; I just have to get myself into the yoshi mood!
Recently, I've been toying around with the idea of a "sketch" tier of story. These would be 500 word quick one-shots, that, eventually, I maaaay do in a "sketch commission stream" style or something. Not sure yet! I've written a few to see if anything reasonable can happen in that word count. I think, based on the couple reviews I've gotten so far, that it's indeed possible! Keep an eye out for either stream announcements (not likely but possible), or "collection" posts that will feature a bundle of a bunch of short stories packed into either one file, or perhaps a zip/compressed file. A lot's up in the air on this front so far, but I have a good feeling about it.
In general, I want to get more personal stuff going. I often ask talented artists why they don't produce more art since they have the talent to do so. I think I understand why that doesn't happen! Works, even ones you're really personally into, still take time and effort to produce! You even feel like you have to put your best foot forward in those specifically, since they almost represent you in a way. All that said, I definitely want to get more stories of my own out there. Ideas that appeal to me, that just might appeal to others! Either way, the goal is to write what I want.
That's about all I have! I'm still chugging along happily. Stay happy, stay safe, and stay healthy everyone!
Just wanted to dump some unfiltered status updates out about various things I'm working on and what I've been up to. For the past couple months I've mostly just been doing commissions as they roll in. Earlier in the year, I was pushing to get more chapters of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorer Lutro out, but procrastination and other unrelated hobbies started taking away writing time! I do have several more chapters written, as well as a rough outline for more. I'll try to get some more chapters posted to keep that story going. (I have some character art too! I should get to posting them. Bringing some of the characters in that story to illustrative life.)
Prince Froggy's Revenge has two chapters written and published so far, and has several to go! That's just a bit of a passion project of mine and yoshies are among my favorite characters to write in voracious scenarios. Definitely expect to see more of those (it's not abandoned! Just more procrastination). That's fully planned/plotted out; I just have to get myself into the yoshi mood!
Recently, I've been toying around with the idea of a "sketch" tier of story. These would be 500 word quick one-shots, that, eventually, I maaaay do in a "sketch commission stream" style or something. Not sure yet! I've written a few to see if anything reasonable can happen in that word count. I think, based on the couple reviews I've gotten so far, that it's indeed possible! Keep an eye out for either stream announcements (not likely but possible), or "collection" posts that will feature a bundle of a bunch of short stories packed into either one file, or perhaps a zip/compressed file. A lot's up in the air on this front so far, but I have a good feeling about it.
In general, I want to get more personal stuff going. I often ask talented artists why they don't produce more art since they have the talent to do so. I think I understand why that doesn't happen! Works, even ones you're really personally into, still take time and effort to produce! You even feel like you have to put your best foot forward in those specifically, since they almost represent you in a way. All that said, I definitely want to get more stories of my own out there. Ideas that appeal to me, that just might appeal to others! Either way, the goal is to write what I want.
That's about all I have! I'm still chugging along happily. Stay happy, stay safe, and stay healthy everyone!
When FA is Down, Where to Find Lutro? +PMD Story Update
Posted 5 years agoHey all. Just a couple updates and reminders.
Whenever FA is down, you can still find me over on Eka's Portal and InkBunny. Anything I post here will also be posted at least to Eka's Portal, with most stuff also going up on InkBunny as well! (In fact, Eka's has all of my content. InkBunny has "more" than FA, but not all). You may need to register accounts on those sites in order to see some of the more adult-oriented content!
If you're involved in a commission with me, you can find me on those sites as well as my posted Discord information. Email works too! (Just ask for it if it's needed.)
As a final update, I'm giving it a couple more weeks before I post the next chapter of PMD: Explorer Lutro. Want to fine tune the latest chapters and get my juices going for the next part of the story. I have a few chapters already drafted up and want to continue the project further, and would like a little more time revising some of the elements. Please be patient!
That's all for now. Thanks for reading!
Whenever FA is down, you can still find me over on Eka's Portal and InkBunny. Anything I post here will also be posted at least to Eka's Portal, with most stuff also going up on InkBunny as well! (In fact, Eka's has all of my content. InkBunny has "more" than FA, but not all). You may need to register accounts on those sites in order to see some of the more adult-oriented content!
If you're involved in a commission with me, you can find me on those sites as well as my posted Discord information. Email works too! (Just ask for it if it's needed.)
As a final update, I'm giving it a couple more weeks before I post the next chapter of PMD: Explorer Lutro. Want to fine tune the latest chapters and get my juices going for the next part of the story. I have a few chapters already drafted up and want to continue the project further, and would like a little more time revising some of the elements. Please be patient!
That's all for now. Thanks for reading!
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorer Lutro Now Available on FA
Posted 5 years agoFor those of you who don't follow me on FurAffinity (or Twitter), I have been publishing chapters to a story concerning Lutro's canonical history. Today, I have caught my FurAffinity gallery up with all of the currently-released chapters! If you enjoy a good Pokémon Mystery Dungeon adventure (with occasional instances of vore and more), you should check it out!
Here is my FA gallery folder featuring the story so far!
Unlike my other submissions here, I am uploading them as PDF (same as Eka's Portal now). The burden of having to create multiple separate file formats just to suit the whims of every different web site were becoming too tedious to keep up with, at least for this. (Plus, unlike my other writings, this one sometimes features illustrations, which can't get embedded). Maybe some day these sites will have more convenient embed methods, but for now, I hope downloading a PDF to read the chapters isn't too burdensome for anyone!
I plan to release chapters once every two weeks, and will simultaneously release them to Eka's Portal as well as here. Happy reading!
Here is my FA gallery folder featuring the story so far!
Unlike my other submissions here, I am uploading them as PDF (same as Eka's Portal now). The burden of having to create multiple separate file formats just to suit the whims of every different web site were becoming too tedious to keep up with, at least for this. (Plus, unlike my other writings, this one sometimes features illustrations, which can't get embedded). Maybe some day these sites will have more convenient embed methods, but for now, I hope downloading a PDF to read the chapters isn't too burdensome for anyone!
I plan to release chapters once every two weeks, and will simultaneously release them to Eka's Portal as well as here. Happy reading!
Happy 2020! Writing Plans and Price Changes
Posted 6 years agoHappy New Year everyone! Just wanted to announce that I'll be re-starting commission openings "soon" (as always, my Eka's Portal page has the most up-to-date info on whether or not I'm open (check the queue at the bottom!)).
As part of the new year and new slew of commissions to come, I've decided, like many others, to bump my rates a bit. Admittedly this is purely a hobby for me, and I'm in no way dependent on doing these to sustain myself. (If it was, the prices would be much higher!) This change is reflected by relative demand I've had over the past year+ for writing stories, and to accommodate for a lot of the behind-the-scenes kind of work I do in order to prepare to write stories, post them, format them, etc. that weren't really reflected in the word-count-only pricing I've been doing up until now.
So what are the changes? Simple! Just a $10 increase on top of the word count metric. So instead of $20 = 2,000, it is $30 = 2,000. The same "+$10 = +1,000 words" price point remains, for simplicity.
What about non-commissions? Well, I do plan on releasing a new chapter of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorer Lutro every couple weeks or so. I still have a backlog of completed chapters to post so we'll be set for a little while, but I hope to get into writing that more. I also want to write more one-off stories of things I would like to do (something I've been slacking off in over the past several months).
Happy New Year everyone!
As part of the new year and new slew of commissions to come, I've decided, like many others, to bump my rates a bit. Admittedly this is purely a hobby for me, and I'm in no way dependent on doing these to sustain myself. (If it was, the prices would be much higher!) This change is reflected by relative demand I've had over the past year+ for writing stories, and to accommodate for a lot of the behind-the-scenes kind of work I do in order to prepare to write stories, post them, format them, etc. that weren't really reflected in the word-count-only pricing I've been doing up until now.
So what are the changes? Simple! Just a $10 increase on top of the word count metric. So instead of $20 = 2,000, it is $30 = 2,000. The same "+$10 = +1,000 words" price point remains, for simplicity.
What about non-commissions? Well, I do plan on releasing a new chapter of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorer Lutro every couple weeks or so. I still have a backlog of completed chapters to post so we'll be set for a little while, but I hope to get into writing that more. I also want to write more one-off stories of things I would like to do (something I've been slacking off in over the past several months).
Happy New Year everyone!
In Which I Ramble About Pokémon SwSh for Over 3,000 Words
Posted 6 years agoFinished the main story of Pokémon Sword today! Wanted a place to dump my thoughts out, and figured this was the best place!
HEAVY SPOILERS AHEAD! IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED, GO AWAY.
INTRO
This is just a bunch of random thoughts I had while playing Pokémon Sword. Spoilers abound!
I went into it a bit skeptical, but a bit hopeful. The prior two generations did not impress me, to say the least, and pretty much made me swear off of buying more pokémon mainline games in the future. But when SwSh was announced for Switch, a full-blown console instead of a handheld, I decided to give it one last chance to see what they could do to "save" the series for me.
I'll address the copperajah in the room first. I do not care about the national dex "controversy." It's mainly due to my playstyle when it comes to playing a new pokémon game. I catch what's along the way of my play-through, with an emphasis on what is new vs. what is old. (Note that this means that if I didn't happen to use a pokémon in a previous generation, they tend to be given favor too). And unless the pokémon game really grips me (spoiler alert: this one didn't), I play through the game, some of the post-game, then I'm done. As such, the fact that not literally every pokémon ever is around is a complete non-factor for me. I can empathize with those who are missing out on the opportunity to play with their favorites in the latest generation, but for me, personally, it's a complete non-factor in my judgment of this game.
As a secondary note, I'm not going to speculate why things are the way they are. Short development period due to forced release schedule? Lazy developers? Too much executive meddling? Not things I'm going to talk about. I find all that stuff completely speculative, and people will believe what they want to believe in order to validate their opinion of the day. We're only dealing with what we can get our hands on here, i.e. the game itself.
GAMEPLAY AND DYNAMAXING
The gameplay is... pokémon. With the gimmick of this generation being Dynamax/Gigantamax. I will say that of the three we've been presented with so far (Mega Evolutions, Z-Moves, and now Dynamax), I feel that this one was the best of the bunch. The first one just feels way too much like digimon to me (you and your partner through the Power of Friendship work together, and using a special device, you make them evolve temporarily into a more powerful thing). Z-Moves were once-per-combat and generally dull. I feel Dynamax captures the best of both worlds of what they were going for. Strategically, it's basically Pokémon "X-Factor." Three turns to use super moves with more HP as well. A nice game of footsies in pokémon is a welcome bit of strategy, vs "who will just have a bigger 'mon for the rest of combat" or "who uses their one-shot rocket launcher first."
I feel like the gimmick is much better-integrated into the story as well. Galar's history is shaped by the concept of dynamaxing. It ties into the actual story of the game, the towns and gyms/stadiums are built around the Power Spots because they facilitate dynamaxing, etc. So, props to this generation's gimmick, as I feel it's a good one. (Also important note: "Gimmick" is not an evil word automatically. A gimmick is just a primary selling point for something, essentially, and usually unique to the thing being sold.)
Outside of dynamaxing, however? It's the same turn-based combat that, as someone who got Red when it was new, is pretty old hat now. Take away dynamaxing (which the game does save for particular battles) and you have, with little variation, the exact same core gameplay / battle system that's really showing its age. Despite the leap to a new console, we still have turn-based combat that is very easy to manipulate and make the game braindead simple. Not once did I feel like I was going to even come close to losing a battle, until the end when I was skipping every non-required encounter, and where the final battle (the only time you face a 6 pokémon team) actually proved some challenge... that could be tanked easily enough. Yes, I could self-impose rules like "no items" etc., but I think it's time the game does that. Provide a "hard mode" where trainers use more pokémon, or use apparently-smarter AI that the Battle Towers employ. Do something to make the gameplay engaging from a strictly-mechanics standpoint!
I love the wild encounter system. Namely: No randomness. Even tall grass encounters are basically avoidable 100%. Being able to voluntarily enter encounters is 10,000% more bearable and lets me explore a lot more (more on that later though). I'm so glad they brought this over from the Let's Go games. (Shame they didn't bring the following system).
The Wild Area, however, is dampened by said encounters working the same way everywhere. It is a nice break from tradition and a neat addition to the game overall, but there was nothing truly 'wild' about it. Free-range camera and pokémon dens and some watt-shop locations were the only real unique factors (compared to other non-town routes). Neat in concept. needed more fleshing out.
Overall though, the core gameplay is bland. Sadly, Sword/Shield fall back on the same formula. There are... so many ways the core combat could be changed. Yes, it would be a departure from the series, take more time, probably mean even *more* cuts from the pokédex... I wouldn't mind! It would make the gameplay fun again. And, as this a video game, this is one of the most important factors, in my mind, what makes a game good!
MUSIC
On to another thing I think can really make or break a game (that others may not hold as important as I do): The music. Pokémon Black and White dethroned the original games with best overall music in my mind, and I still listen to tracks from that game to this day. Memorable music can make a mediocre game better. And Sword/Shield... Have some entries that qualify! While the wild encounter music and regular trainer battle is alright and easy on the ears, it's nothing memorable to me (the little motif of the main theme in the trainer battle is nice but too deep into the song and not enough of it). The gym battle music is great. Not my favorite gym music of the entire series but very fitting given the theme of being in a big stadium. The variation when the gym leader is on their last pokémon with the crowd chanting is an exquisite touch. (And the return of this music that's more upbeat when you re-fight gym leaders at the end of the game is icing on this cake). Team Yell's theme is solid rock music awesomeness and I was bobbing along with the Team Yell Grunt's animation every time it played. Chairman Rose's battle music is great (though Rose doesn't quite deserve the Epic Choir, it's still a great tune out of context). The music for Eternatus, both before and after you let the dogs out, is also great. The first part needed to be played more (actually "evil" sounding if that makes sense), while the latter is less good, but very heroic and appropriate. (And integrating the dogs' howling with the song is a great touch.)
The non-battle music is hit or miss. Most of it works in the game, and one or two tracks stick out, but I probably won't remember any of them when all's said and done. Good generic pokémon music that's fitting for when you play (which is the goal of backing music by the way! It did its job), but I'm not downloading all four albums plus the secret fifth album like I did with Black/White here. I'll say it's a step ahead of X/Y and Sun/Moon, which has precisely 0 music that I remember. None of it was awful or bad to listen to. There were some, though, that start out good, but then don't keep the same energy going (Oleana battle theme) and just peter out before they get good. (This, by the way, was the issue with like 90% of X/Y's music.)
STORY
That was a lot about music! On to the story. This is another thing I was hoping would be punched up somewhat. The idea that there exists a "Gym Challenge" that only select few trainers can participate in is great. Also, the general atmosphere of everything in Galar centering around this competition (it being their biggest "sport" basically) is super. While I think you and Hop getting randomly sponsored is very plot convenient, I'm okay with that since it's the start of your journey (game-wise).
That's all well and good, but what about the plot of the game? Kinda fell flat for me. For the third time in a row, we're given lore, history, a backstory, something interesting. And for the third time in a row, the game barely scratches the surface of it. If something interesting happens that may disrupt the dull plod through Galar, one of the side characters just goes "don't worry, Player, we'll go handle it. Off-screen!" Most of the game's story is advanced this way: Through other characters describing what they will or have done via talking to you. And then just before your championship bout, "oh yeah I'm evil and going to Darkest Day the land and you're all screwed kthxbye."
Which you then resolve in about 30 minutes of in-game time. Because Hop always knows where to go and -always runs ahead of you to do it first-. This was something that bugged me a lot. Every other character always ran ahead to do the plot-related thing. Sure, you got to do it yourself in actuality, but it was always someone else that ran off, effectively telling you exactly what to do, before you got to do it. It's a very poor way to direct gameplay through story elements and it felt like that you, the player, weren't doing anything.
Overall, the story is the same "you're a new trainer, get 8 badges, defeat the league, stop bad guy, maybe some post-game, the end" formula of a plot. And while the Gym Challenge aspect works really well, from a story perspective it was just going through the motions. Team Yell being not a bad-guy team I liked, and their "gym", while it made no sense that a leader can close down an -entire city-, was a great take on your typical Gym in pokémon: The leader doesn't care, there's no money or upkeep (you fight on essentially a basketball court), and you can't even Dynamax because it's not on a Power Spot. Very memorable, awesome music (taking on the already-great Team Yell battle theme).
The "challenges" prior to gym battles were really just in-universe explanations for the goofy stuff you do prior to reaching a Gym Leader. I liked that! It doesn't -quite- make sense that a full crowd of people are just always milling about a stadium waiting for a challenger to maybe not even qualify for a gym battle, but that's a minor nitpick for what's otherwise a neat in-story explanation. The gym challenges themselves were alright. Just typical Gym fare. The "catch pokémon" one I felt was the most creative.
I wish the tale of the heroes (and the theme that plays when you first see the hero's statue), the Darkest Day, etc. got more screen time. We got some lip service, and then Rose can just... make that day happen again? How? Did he find out it was Eternatus that caused it long ago? I don't think the game confirms -what- caused it way back when. It's just a little buildup with very little payoff. The villains needed a lot more screentime in general, which would've helped with this. Chairman Rose is yet another example of popular media (movies especially) these days not dedicating themselves to having just a pure dag-nasty evil bad guy. I appreciate "the twist" villains and "not overtly bad" people, but it's been done so many times this past decade. And in a pokémon game? It could work (like what if Leon was the bad guy? That'd've been a real "twist bad guy"), but you could see Rose's "turn" from 1,000 miles away, and you're just waiting for the other shoe to drop. (Oleana's character having her angry burst at the end, by the way, was funny but it really wasn't earned. And it turns out she was just a lackey. This is the end of her character development). I would've loved if "Macro Co." folks that you fight at the end ended up being the "bad guy team": All the organizations and sponsors in the region controlled by evil? Sign me up! Sadly, this is just a footnote and doesn't really go anywhere.
In conclusion to the story: Another rote pokémon fare that doesn't justify the jump to a console from a handheld.
SUBPLOT/SIDEQUESTS/ETC.
...And moving on.
Nah I'm kidding. But the game did feel *very* devoid of any deviation from getting you from gym to gym. No real "dungeons" of sorts (caves/mansions/what-have-you). Any non-town was just a route connecting them. Sideplots didn't seem to exist. The post-game "objective" is to "explore Galar to your heart's content." Okay where? I've been everywhere and I don't see any new places to explore. I will admit I haven't looked too hard but it certainly seems like I've been to every major waypoint on the map. I guess I was expecting the world to feel bigger, with the Wild Area inclusion and all, but at the end of the day, it suffers a lot of the FF13 "game of hallways" problem.
(NOTE: I've now played the post-game. I'll put my thoughts about it below, so that post-game spoilers can be their own topic.)
Minigames like the job system? Did it once and forgot about it. This is what happens when you relegate a whole job system to a single menu item on a terminal you can only access from pokémon centers. A terminal that, thanks to you being able to get to your box from anywhere, you really never have to visit. I was excited to hear about it when I saw it online, but in the game? Barely touched, and I have 0 motivation to delve into it.
Camping is this game's pokemonamie-like thing. They didn't re-incorporate petting, which was the literal best thing about Let's Go. Playing with toys is good fun, and seeing your pokémon milling about is neat at first. But the shallowness of the system is revealed pretty quickly, as "speaking" to your pokémon (one or two of them) loops through the same 5-10 scripted lines and it doesn't really matter.
Curry's another thing I basically never did. Thought I would, but honestly I just kept running out of berries. Plus, I had 0 motivation to play with the "Curry Dex" or fill it out in any capacity. Like most of the minigame-esque things in SwSh: Underdeveloped and needed way more time/effort put into it.
Appreciated what character customization you could do. I got rid of my character's vapid wide-eyed stare by giving him sunglasses and a haircut, and his scenes in battles were much-improved overall. (Wish you could that with Hop's utterly-idiotic smile he always has). So this is fine enough to make players unique.
SOME CHARACTER STUFF
Pokémon rivals the past couple generations have been completely boring, existing only as cheerleaders for you and having no personality other than "wow gee willikers I can't wait to be the very best like no-one ever was!" or "guess you curbstomped my team in 3 turns again! Hahaha! You sure are the bestest ever, aren't you rival!" Nonsense like that.
I feel that SwSh... Improved on this a fraction. Hop was completely falling into this stereotype at first. And his constant insistence that you are "his rival" was stupid. But then he lost a fight to Bede and he actually had a reflective moment of "maybe I suck as a trainer." And the game actually lets this linger for a little bit! It doesn't really... go anywhere, but I appreciated Hop not 100% being your cheerleader for the game, and by the end he mellowed out. Don't quite think he deserved to wield the Shield to your Sword, underdeveloped as he was, but at least it was something.
Bede was fun. Like everything else in the game he needed more time, but his plot from being "sassy ass who looks down on everyone" to "dumbstruck at being stripped of his sponsor" to becoming the fairy gym leader was a great little "arc" for a character like that. (And he loves his fairy pokémon now too). Probably my favorite side character.
The gym leaders all had their little personality quirks, but are flatlines in terms of development. Moving on.
Leon should have been -your- older brother, not Hop's. He also doesn't really develop any (just 'standard champion character to defeat') and is kinda boring. He was good at not letting his champ status making him a total ass which was appreciated. Buuuut it tilted a little too far towards "just there to encourage the player."
Sonia and Magnolia got like... no screentime. Magnolia appears maybe three times, one of which is post game just to give you a master ball. Sonia exists as a wikipedia article on the Darkest Day, until she suddenly "gets her lab coat"? I had no idea her character was striving to reach anywhere, so that development felt random and un-earned.
As previously discussed, Rose was a boring villain. I get the juxtaposition between happy-go-lucky billionaire CEO who's quirky and turns out to be evil, but it just didn't work for me. And then after you defeat him in a battle he just goes "oh well you can go help the champ now" and then off-screen dialog talks about how "they" took him away for what he did. The End.
And your character? Just another utter blank slate. Silent protagonist is pathetic storytelling most of the time, and here it's no exception. Only in the Eternatus fight did your character show -any- emotion. Otherwise? Same dopey grin, no contribution to any conversation (and the game prompting you to answer between "yes" and "also yes" is dumb, by the way), and a total non-character. I get that the game is saying "hey, this is -you- the player" so they don't want to do anything, but it's so boring and just makes me not care that I'm the league champion for the 8th time now.
DESIGN
It looks nice in HD, I'll give it that. The new pokémon sometimes look neat, sometimes look okay, but there wasn't anything... overtly offensive or anything like that. The starters' evolutions? Meh. Someone needs to teach Game Freak that animals aren't born with clothing. That's what got me the most about scorbunny's evolutions. Why does his middle one have a hoodie? With -pockets-?? Donkey Kong Grass Drum was the best of the three. I like the concept of Inteleon and all three's unique attacks are good. Overall though, another 'meh' set of starters. (At least they weren't box-worthy. Looking at you, chespin evolutions.)
The look of the game is pretty good from a world-building perspective. The sponsor stuff is everywhere and the cities are somewhat-vibrant and lively. I liked the general design aesthetic overall. A positive note to end this rambling rant of a review on.~
SUMMARY
Three strikes, and pokémon is out. No more mainline games for me! Don't get me wrong: There's a lot of -little- improvements in this game. The music's a step up. The story/gameplay integration, importance of you as a Gym Challenger, side characters are also better-handled here. But in the end? It's pokémon again, and that's just not entertaining to me anymore.
Regardless of the cause, this game needed twelve more months, minimum, of development time. Flesh out the story/lore more. Develop something more for combat. Work on 99% of the characters to make their moments matter. While I don't regret playing it and had fun, the biggest sin Sword/Shield commits is "wasted potential."
========= POST GAME UPDATE! SPOILERS BELOW! =========
Post-Game update! The two descendants besmirching the legendary doggos' good name because it's taking away their fame is a really neat plot point! (They look way too ridiculous to take seriously though. And no, the game recognizing this and paying lip-service to it doesn't change this point.) And their idea of running them ragged/turning them evil to make them look bad in the eyes of the public (while dragging Sonia's name through the mud) is also good. Hop having a non-standard rival conclusion to his arc is also most welcome. That being said, this is a microcosm of the storytelling issues with the game: Neat ideas that aren't given nearly enough time to develop or explore, and before you know it it's over... And what's with bad guys just giving up? Or you just letting them continue on with these plainly evil, public-destructing plans? Just tackle them! You don't have to let them walk away!
These story elements really needed to be in the main game, but I understand why the division is where it is... mostly. Honestly, I wouldn't be upset if the championship ended with you winning, and instead of The End, the post-game plot starts: While you're fighting, they steal the sword/shield fragments and then their plot starts. But it is what it is. Doesn't change my overall review above (my only edit to this journal is the post-game stuff). I'll admit this post-game was more engaging than previous generations. But it was still just a scratch on the surface of another set of ideas that could've been great.
HEAVY SPOILERS AHEAD! IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED, GO AWAY.
INTRO
This is just a bunch of random thoughts I had while playing Pokémon Sword. Spoilers abound!
I went into it a bit skeptical, but a bit hopeful. The prior two generations did not impress me, to say the least, and pretty much made me swear off of buying more pokémon mainline games in the future. But when SwSh was announced for Switch, a full-blown console instead of a handheld, I decided to give it one last chance to see what they could do to "save" the series for me.
I'll address the copperajah in the room first. I do not care about the national dex "controversy." It's mainly due to my playstyle when it comes to playing a new pokémon game. I catch what's along the way of my play-through, with an emphasis on what is new vs. what is old. (Note that this means that if I didn't happen to use a pokémon in a previous generation, they tend to be given favor too). And unless the pokémon game really grips me (spoiler alert: this one didn't), I play through the game, some of the post-game, then I'm done. As such, the fact that not literally every pokémon ever is around is a complete non-factor for me. I can empathize with those who are missing out on the opportunity to play with their favorites in the latest generation, but for me, personally, it's a complete non-factor in my judgment of this game.
As a secondary note, I'm not going to speculate why things are the way they are. Short development period due to forced release schedule? Lazy developers? Too much executive meddling? Not things I'm going to talk about. I find all that stuff completely speculative, and people will believe what they want to believe in order to validate their opinion of the day. We're only dealing with what we can get our hands on here, i.e. the game itself.
GAMEPLAY AND DYNAMAXING
The gameplay is... pokémon. With the gimmick of this generation being Dynamax/Gigantamax. I will say that of the three we've been presented with so far (Mega Evolutions, Z-Moves, and now Dynamax), I feel that this one was the best of the bunch. The first one just feels way too much like digimon to me (you and your partner through the Power of Friendship work together, and using a special device, you make them evolve temporarily into a more powerful thing). Z-Moves were once-per-combat and generally dull. I feel Dynamax captures the best of both worlds of what they were going for. Strategically, it's basically Pokémon "X-Factor." Three turns to use super moves with more HP as well. A nice game of footsies in pokémon is a welcome bit of strategy, vs "who will just have a bigger 'mon for the rest of combat" or "who uses their one-shot rocket launcher first."
I feel like the gimmick is much better-integrated into the story as well. Galar's history is shaped by the concept of dynamaxing. It ties into the actual story of the game, the towns and gyms/stadiums are built around the Power Spots because they facilitate dynamaxing, etc. So, props to this generation's gimmick, as I feel it's a good one. (Also important note: "Gimmick" is not an evil word automatically. A gimmick is just a primary selling point for something, essentially, and usually unique to the thing being sold.)
Outside of dynamaxing, however? It's the same turn-based combat that, as someone who got Red when it was new, is pretty old hat now. Take away dynamaxing (which the game does save for particular battles) and you have, with little variation, the exact same core gameplay / battle system that's really showing its age. Despite the leap to a new console, we still have turn-based combat that is very easy to manipulate and make the game braindead simple. Not once did I feel like I was going to even come close to losing a battle, until the end when I was skipping every non-required encounter, and where the final battle (the only time you face a 6 pokémon team) actually proved some challenge... that could be tanked easily enough. Yes, I could self-impose rules like "no items" etc., but I think it's time the game does that. Provide a "hard mode" where trainers use more pokémon, or use apparently-smarter AI that the Battle Towers employ. Do something to make the gameplay engaging from a strictly-mechanics standpoint!
I love the wild encounter system. Namely: No randomness. Even tall grass encounters are basically avoidable 100%. Being able to voluntarily enter encounters is 10,000% more bearable and lets me explore a lot more (more on that later though). I'm so glad they brought this over from the Let's Go games. (Shame they didn't bring the following system).
The Wild Area, however, is dampened by said encounters working the same way everywhere. It is a nice break from tradition and a neat addition to the game overall, but there was nothing truly 'wild' about it. Free-range camera and pokémon dens and some watt-shop locations were the only real unique factors (compared to other non-town routes). Neat in concept. needed more fleshing out.
Overall though, the core gameplay is bland. Sadly, Sword/Shield fall back on the same formula. There are... so many ways the core combat could be changed. Yes, it would be a departure from the series, take more time, probably mean even *more* cuts from the pokédex... I wouldn't mind! It would make the gameplay fun again. And, as this a video game, this is one of the most important factors, in my mind, what makes a game good!
MUSIC
On to another thing I think can really make or break a game (that others may not hold as important as I do): The music. Pokémon Black and White dethroned the original games with best overall music in my mind, and I still listen to tracks from that game to this day. Memorable music can make a mediocre game better. And Sword/Shield... Have some entries that qualify! While the wild encounter music and regular trainer battle is alright and easy on the ears, it's nothing memorable to me (the little motif of the main theme in the trainer battle is nice but too deep into the song and not enough of it). The gym battle music is great. Not my favorite gym music of the entire series but very fitting given the theme of being in a big stadium. The variation when the gym leader is on their last pokémon with the crowd chanting is an exquisite touch. (And the return of this music that's more upbeat when you re-fight gym leaders at the end of the game is icing on this cake). Team Yell's theme is solid rock music awesomeness and I was bobbing along with the Team Yell Grunt's animation every time it played. Chairman Rose's battle music is great (though Rose doesn't quite deserve the Epic Choir, it's still a great tune out of context). The music for Eternatus, both before and after you let the dogs out, is also great. The first part needed to be played more (actually "evil" sounding if that makes sense), while the latter is less good, but very heroic and appropriate. (And integrating the dogs' howling with the song is a great touch.)
The non-battle music is hit or miss. Most of it works in the game, and one or two tracks stick out, but I probably won't remember any of them when all's said and done. Good generic pokémon music that's fitting for when you play (which is the goal of backing music by the way! It did its job), but I'm not downloading all four albums plus the secret fifth album like I did with Black/White here. I'll say it's a step ahead of X/Y and Sun/Moon, which has precisely 0 music that I remember. None of it was awful or bad to listen to. There were some, though, that start out good, but then don't keep the same energy going (Oleana battle theme) and just peter out before they get good. (This, by the way, was the issue with like 90% of X/Y's music.)
STORY
That was a lot about music! On to the story. This is another thing I was hoping would be punched up somewhat. The idea that there exists a "Gym Challenge" that only select few trainers can participate in is great. Also, the general atmosphere of everything in Galar centering around this competition (it being their biggest "sport" basically) is super. While I think you and Hop getting randomly sponsored is very plot convenient, I'm okay with that since it's the start of your journey (game-wise).
That's all well and good, but what about the plot of the game? Kinda fell flat for me. For the third time in a row, we're given lore, history, a backstory, something interesting. And for the third time in a row, the game barely scratches the surface of it. If something interesting happens that may disrupt the dull plod through Galar, one of the side characters just goes "don't worry, Player, we'll go handle it. Off-screen!" Most of the game's story is advanced this way: Through other characters describing what they will or have done via talking to you. And then just before your championship bout, "oh yeah I'm evil and going to Darkest Day the land and you're all screwed kthxbye."
Which you then resolve in about 30 minutes of in-game time. Because Hop always knows where to go and -always runs ahead of you to do it first-. This was something that bugged me a lot. Every other character always ran ahead to do the plot-related thing. Sure, you got to do it yourself in actuality, but it was always someone else that ran off, effectively telling you exactly what to do, before you got to do it. It's a very poor way to direct gameplay through story elements and it felt like that you, the player, weren't doing anything.
Overall, the story is the same "you're a new trainer, get 8 badges, defeat the league, stop bad guy, maybe some post-game, the end" formula of a plot. And while the Gym Challenge aspect works really well, from a story perspective it was just going through the motions. Team Yell being not a bad-guy team I liked, and their "gym", while it made no sense that a leader can close down an -entire city-, was a great take on your typical Gym in pokémon: The leader doesn't care, there's no money or upkeep (you fight on essentially a basketball court), and you can't even Dynamax because it's not on a Power Spot. Very memorable, awesome music (taking on the already-great Team Yell battle theme).
The "challenges" prior to gym battles were really just in-universe explanations for the goofy stuff you do prior to reaching a Gym Leader. I liked that! It doesn't -quite- make sense that a full crowd of people are just always milling about a stadium waiting for a challenger to maybe not even qualify for a gym battle, but that's a minor nitpick for what's otherwise a neat in-story explanation. The gym challenges themselves were alright. Just typical Gym fare. The "catch pokémon" one I felt was the most creative.
I wish the tale of the heroes (and the theme that plays when you first see the hero's statue), the Darkest Day, etc. got more screen time. We got some lip service, and then Rose can just... make that day happen again? How? Did he find out it was Eternatus that caused it long ago? I don't think the game confirms -what- caused it way back when. It's just a little buildup with very little payoff. The villains needed a lot more screentime in general, which would've helped with this. Chairman Rose is yet another example of popular media (movies especially) these days not dedicating themselves to having just a pure dag-nasty evil bad guy. I appreciate "the twist" villains and "not overtly bad" people, but it's been done so many times this past decade. And in a pokémon game? It could work (like what if Leon was the bad guy? That'd've been a real "twist bad guy"), but you could see Rose's "turn" from 1,000 miles away, and you're just waiting for the other shoe to drop. (Oleana's character having her angry burst at the end, by the way, was funny but it really wasn't earned. And it turns out she was just a lackey. This is the end of her character development). I would've loved if "Macro Co." folks that you fight at the end ended up being the "bad guy team": All the organizations and sponsors in the region controlled by evil? Sign me up! Sadly, this is just a footnote and doesn't really go anywhere.
In conclusion to the story: Another rote pokémon fare that doesn't justify the jump to a console from a handheld.
SUBPLOT/SIDEQUESTS/ETC.
...And moving on.
Nah I'm kidding. But the game did feel *very* devoid of any deviation from getting you from gym to gym. No real "dungeons" of sorts (caves/mansions/what-have-you). Any non-town was just a route connecting them. Sideplots didn't seem to exist. The post-game "objective" is to "explore Galar to your heart's content." Okay where? I've been everywhere and I don't see any new places to explore. I will admit I haven't looked too hard but it certainly seems like I've been to every major waypoint on the map. I guess I was expecting the world to feel bigger, with the Wild Area inclusion and all, but at the end of the day, it suffers a lot of the FF13 "game of hallways" problem.
(NOTE: I've now played the post-game. I'll put my thoughts about it below, so that post-game spoilers can be their own topic.)
Minigames like the job system? Did it once and forgot about it. This is what happens when you relegate a whole job system to a single menu item on a terminal you can only access from pokémon centers. A terminal that, thanks to you being able to get to your box from anywhere, you really never have to visit. I was excited to hear about it when I saw it online, but in the game? Barely touched, and I have 0 motivation to delve into it.
Camping is this game's pokemonamie-like thing. They didn't re-incorporate petting, which was the literal best thing about Let's Go. Playing with toys is good fun, and seeing your pokémon milling about is neat at first. But the shallowness of the system is revealed pretty quickly, as "speaking" to your pokémon (one or two of them) loops through the same 5-10 scripted lines and it doesn't really matter.
Curry's another thing I basically never did. Thought I would, but honestly I just kept running out of berries. Plus, I had 0 motivation to play with the "Curry Dex" or fill it out in any capacity. Like most of the minigame-esque things in SwSh: Underdeveloped and needed way more time/effort put into it.
Appreciated what character customization you could do. I got rid of my character's vapid wide-eyed stare by giving him sunglasses and a haircut, and his scenes in battles were much-improved overall. (Wish you could that with Hop's utterly-idiotic smile he always has). So this is fine enough to make players unique.
SOME CHARACTER STUFF
Pokémon rivals the past couple generations have been completely boring, existing only as cheerleaders for you and having no personality other than "wow gee willikers I can't wait to be the very best like no-one ever was!" or "guess you curbstomped my team in 3 turns again! Hahaha! You sure are the bestest ever, aren't you rival!" Nonsense like that.
I feel that SwSh... Improved on this a fraction. Hop was completely falling into this stereotype at first. And his constant insistence that you are "his rival" was stupid. But then he lost a fight to Bede and he actually had a reflective moment of "maybe I suck as a trainer." And the game actually lets this linger for a little bit! It doesn't really... go anywhere, but I appreciated Hop not 100% being your cheerleader for the game, and by the end he mellowed out. Don't quite think he deserved to wield the Shield to your Sword, underdeveloped as he was, but at least it was something.
Bede was fun. Like everything else in the game he needed more time, but his plot from being "sassy ass who looks down on everyone" to "dumbstruck at being stripped of his sponsor" to becoming the fairy gym leader was a great little "arc" for a character like that. (And he loves his fairy pokémon now too). Probably my favorite side character.
The gym leaders all had their little personality quirks, but are flatlines in terms of development. Moving on.
Leon should have been -your- older brother, not Hop's. He also doesn't really develop any (just 'standard champion character to defeat') and is kinda boring. He was good at not letting his champ status making him a total ass which was appreciated. Buuuut it tilted a little too far towards "just there to encourage the player."
Sonia and Magnolia got like... no screentime. Magnolia appears maybe three times, one of which is post game just to give you a master ball. Sonia exists as a wikipedia article on the Darkest Day, until she suddenly "gets her lab coat"? I had no idea her character was striving to reach anywhere, so that development felt random and un-earned.
As previously discussed, Rose was a boring villain. I get the juxtaposition between happy-go-lucky billionaire CEO who's quirky and turns out to be evil, but it just didn't work for me. And then after you defeat him in a battle he just goes "oh well you can go help the champ now" and then off-screen dialog talks about how "they" took him away for what he did. The End.
And your character? Just another utter blank slate. Silent protagonist is pathetic storytelling most of the time, and here it's no exception. Only in the Eternatus fight did your character show -any- emotion. Otherwise? Same dopey grin, no contribution to any conversation (and the game prompting you to answer between "yes" and "also yes" is dumb, by the way), and a total non-character. I get that the game is saying "hey, this is -you- the player" so they don't want to do anything, but it's so boring and just makes me not care that I'm the league champion for the 8th time now.
DESIGN
It looks nice in HD, I'll give it that. The new pokémon sometimes look neat, sometimes look okay, but there wasn't anything... overtly offensive or anything like that. The starters' evolutions? Meh. Someone needs to teach Game Freak that animals aren't born with clothing. That's what got me the most about scorbunny's evolutions. Why does his middle one have a hoodie? With -pockets-?? Donkey Kong Grass Drum was the best of the three. I like the concept of Inteleon and all three's unique attacks are good. Overall though, another 'meh' set of starters. (At least they weren't box-worthy. Looking at you, chespin evolutions.)
The look of the game is pretty good from a world-building perspective. The sponsor stuff is everywhere and the cities are somewhat-vibrant and lively. I liked the general design aesthetic overall. A positive note to end this rambling rant of a review on.~
SUMMARY
Three strikes, and pokémon is out. No more mainline games for me! Don't get me wrong: There's a lot of -little- improvements in this game. The music's a step up. The story/gameplay integration, importance of you as a Gym Challenger, side characters are also better-handled here. But in the end? It's pokémon again, and that's just not entertaining to me anymore.
Regardless of the cause, this game needed twelve more months, minimum, of development time. Flesh out the story/lore more. Develop something more for combat. Work on 99% of the characters to make their moments matter. While I don't regret playing it and had fun, the biggest sin Sword/Shield commits is "wasted potential."
========= POST GAME UPDATE! SPOILERS BELOW! =========
Post-Game update! The two descendants besmirching the legendary doggos' good name because it's taking away their fame is a really neat plot point! (They look way too ridiculous to take seriously though. And no, the game recognizing this and paying lip-service to it doesn't change this point.) And their idea of running them ragged/turning them evil to make them look bad in the eyes of the public (while dragging Sonia's name through the mud) is also good. Hop having a non-standard rival conclusion to his arc is also most welcome. That being said, this is a microcosm of the storytelling issues with the game: Neat ideas that aren't given nearly enough time to develop or explore, and before you know it it's over... And what's with bad guys just giving up? Or you just letting them continue on with these plainly evil, public-destructing plans? Just tackle them! You don't have to let them walk away!
These story elements really needed to be in the main game, but I understand why the division is where it is... mostly. Honestly, I wouldn't be upset if the championship ended with you winning, and instead of The End, the post-game plot starts: While you're fighting, they steal the sword/shield fragments and then their plot starts. But it is what it is. Doesn't change my overall review above (my only edit to this journal is the post-game stuff). I'll admit this post-game was more engaging than previous generations. But it was still just a scratch on the surface of another set of ideas that could've been great.
NaNoWriMo 2019 Complete!
Posted 6 years agoA couple big binging days coupled with sticking to a regular schedule has me completing this 50,000 word challenge ahead of schedule once again. And this item, everything that was written is already published or is slated to be published in the coming days!
Here are the results. As you can see, the bulk of the work came through people commissioning me. Massive thanks to everyone trusting me to write stuff for you!
I had a 4 day schedule, in which every other day was commissions. The other two were personal stories. Some stories are forthcoming, and are one-offs based on commissions and art I've received over time. The other was my Pokémon Mystery Dungeon / Lutro backstory series that, thanks to this challenge, is finally getting off the ground. I intend to keep that one to a regular schedule (and have the first... 7 or so chapters already written). It's nothing too monumental, and kind of got stalled by attempting something much bigger than I was willing to put the time into. It should still be a fun adventure story, filled with noms and other goodness.
I'm happy to have completed this challenge, and... may do it next year. I'm not sure yet! I know this had an adverse effect on my overall schedule. It definitely shows that if I have a plan, I can stick to it, so that nothing remains stagnant in terms of writing projects or other things. Hope everyone enjoys the glut of content I'm putting out as a result of this!
Here are the results. As you can see, the bulk of the work came through people commissioning me. Massive thanks to everyone trusting me to write stuff for you!
I had a 4 day schedule, in which every other day was commissions. The other two were personal stories. Some stories are forthcoming, and are one-offs based on commissions and art I've received over time. The other was my Pokémon Mystery Dungeon / Lutro backstory series that, thanks to this challenge, is finally getting off the ground. I intend to keep that one to a regular schedule (and have the first... 7 or so chapters already written). It's nothing too monumental, and kind of got stalled by attempting something much bigger than I was willing to put the time into. It should still be a fun adventure story, filled with noms and other goodness.
I'm happy to have completed this challenge, and... may do it next year. I'm not sure yet! I know this had an adverse effect on my overall schedule. It definitely shows that if I have a plan, I can stick to it, so that nothing remains stagnant in terms of writing projects or other things. Hope everyone enjoys the glut of content I'm putting out as a result of this!
New Story/Series - Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorer Lutro!
Posted 6 years agoThis is a story I've been working on for a while now (a lot of procrastination was involved). Finally decided to start posting completed chapters for all to enjoy! It gets its own folder in my Eka's Portal gallery that's available now, right here! I may cross-post it to here for more visibility at some point, but for now I want the updating process to be as painless as possible, so keeping it to a single web site for the moment is what I'm going to do!
This is Lutro's canonical backstory. His history of being an explorer with the story set in a typical PMD universe. There are a few tweaks from PMD, most notable being no magical teleport powers/items and no humans.
And yes, there will be vore. A lot of it! Every so often the story will branch off into an alternative version of said chapter, which usually results in a bad end for the titular buizel. Not all vore will be confined to these bad endings, though, as the heroes of the story, too, will be able to indulge!
Just hope everyone enjoys reading it! I'll try to post updates to it on a semi-regular basis to keep the story ongoing.
This is Lutro's canonical backstory. His history of being an explorer with the story set in a typical PMD universe. There are a few tweaks from PMD, most notable being no magical teleport powers/items and no humans.
And yes, there will be vore. A lot of it! Every so often the story will branch off into an alternative version of said chapter, which usually results in a bad end for the titular buizel. Not all vore will be confined to these bad endings, though, as the heroes of the story, too, will be able to indulge!
Just hope everyone enjoys reading it! I'll try to post updates to it on a semi-regular basis to keep the story ongoing.
NaNoWriMo 2019 Starts Today!
Posted 6 years agoThat's about 1,800 words a day, due to IRL schedule (more if I can manage it). Currently I'm saddled with about 30,000 words in commissions and 20,000 words in other stuff. I've set up a schedule to weave between both of those things so that I (hopefully) don't get burned out.
Last year I managed to finish early. This year I intend to do the same! Except unlike last year, since everything I do (barring the rare private commission) is publishable, you'll certainly be seeing a lot more content from me. If I can squeeze it, I could probably publish one new thing a day! I have some already-completed stuff done in October ready to go, to buffer out the first few days. We'll see what happens.
Good luck to anyone else attempting NaNoWriMo!
Last year I managed to finish early. This year I intend to do the same! Except unlike last year, since everything I do (barring the rare private commission) is publishable, you'll certainly be seeing a lot more content from me. If I can squeeze it, I could probably publish one new thing a day! I have some already-completed stuff done in October ready to go, to buffer out the first few days. We'll see what happens.
Good luck to anyone else attempting NaNoWriMo!
NaNoWriMo 2019 Less than a Week Away!
Posted 6 years agoLast year, I partcipated in National Novel Writing Month. The challenge is a simple one: Write 50,000 words! I was able to complete it ahead of schedule, though admittedly a lot of what I wrote never saw the light of day.
This year, I intend on participating again! But this time, I'm only allowing works that I publish to count, or plan to.
This means that next month, you should expect to see a lot from me! With the exception to a longer-running story I'm hoping to take a big bite out of (no pun intended) this time around, anything else I write will get published rather quickly! Commissions, my stories, everything (which, by the way, means it's a good time to get a story of your own :>)! An additional handicap comes in the form of me potentially being unavailable to get any writing done (due to travel) in the first week of November. Double difficulty!
Planning on getting a lot of writing done, of course. Thanks to everyone who's reached out to me to have their stuff written. I hope to get a lot of good stories out there. (And, if I keep up with yet another attempt at arting -- some illustrations will be uploaded as well!)
Happy Halloween everyone!
This year, I intend on participating again! But this time, I'm only allowing works that I publish to count, or plan to.
This means that next month, you should expect to see a lot from me! With the exception to a longer-running story I'm hoping to take a big bite out of (no pun intended) this time around, anything else I write will get published rather quickly! Commissions, my stories, everything (which, by the way, means it's a good time to get a story of your own :>)! An additional handicap comes in the form of me potentially being unavailable to get any writing done (due to travel) in the first week of November. Double difficulty!
Planning on getting a lot of writing done, of course. Thanks to everyone who's reached out to me to have their stuff written. I hope to get a lot of good stories out there. (And, if I keep up with yet another attempt at arting -- some illustrations will be uploaded as well!)
Happy Halloween everyone!
Happy Halloween! New Story + NaNoWriMo 2019!
Posted 6 years agoHappy Halloween everyone! I decided to write a fun little story for the holiday, which you can find right over here! It features lots of pokémon, some silly cliches, and, of course, a lot of vore. And the predator in question may surprise you!
As always, commissions are open! If you want to see a story of your own written by me, hit me up! Discord or Notes are fine for reaching out to me. These commissions would all go towards me trying to write 50,000 words in November, just like last year. (This means that I'll be burning through the queue pretty fast!) The National November Writing Month challenge is up to bat once again. This year I'll be holding myself to a stricter standard, in which I will only count written works that will be published. That means everyone will enjoy 50,000 words worth of stories to read! You can see last year a lot of the writing went towards 'Other', which was mostly private stuff. Not this year though!
I hope everyone enjoys their Halloween, and if pokémon and vore is your thing, the Halloween-themed story I posted!
As always, commissions are open! If you want to see a story of your own written by me, hit me up! Discord or Notes are fine for reaching out to me. These commissions would all go towards me trying to write 50,000 words in November, just like last year. (This means that I'll be burning through the queue pretty fast!) The National November Writing Month challenge is up to bat once again. This year I'll be holding myself to a stricter standard, in which I will only count written works that will be published. That means everyone will enjoy 50,000 words worth of stories to read! You can see last year a lot of the writing went towards 'Other', which was mostly private stuff. Not this year though!
I hope everyone enjoys their Halloween, and if pokémon and vore is your thing, the Halloween-themed story I posted!
Open for Commissions!
Posted 6 years agoHonestly, I've always been open for commissions, :) although I'm now at a point where my queue is basically completely empty. Meaning that if you're interested in getting a story written, now's the best time to hit me up! My commission info page has all the details, including pricing ($20 for 2,000 words/4 pages; +$10 = +1,000 words/2 pages) and such.
How big does everyone see a "page" anyway? I've seen some writing commissioners sell by the page. In my measurements (using the font/spacing/etc. I use for writing), 1 page is about 500 words. Curious what others see it as, so leave a comment if you'd be so inclined.
How big does everyone see a "page" anyway? I've seen some writing commissioners sell by the page. In my measurements (using the font/spacing/etc. I use for writing), 1 page is about 500 words. Curious what others see it as, so leave a comment if you'd be so inclined.
Birthday!
Posted 6 years agoHave a slice of cake on me. Going to be a nice food-filled relaxing day. Stay happy, all.
