For the newer audience

Hey, I know we've acquired some actual newbs lately, so I thought I'd take a moment to refresh everybody on some frequently-asked questions.

What do the red links mean?

That's content that hasn't been written yet. The links are there partly as a preview but more to remind myself where I was going with something.

Well when will they be finished?

Your guess is as good as mine. I have a pretty hardcore case of ADHD, so it's not a matter of "Just do it". The quality and level of creativity I feel defines the Devious games comes at the cost of them being sprawling and parts of them going untouched for years at a time.

I did it this way because I saw a lot of other text game writers who would start a much smaller-focus game, get about halfway through, and then abandon it forever because they got a new idea. I consider the way I do it better because there's at least the potential of rediscovering and revisiting older paths, so that they're never truly "dead". (Your mileage is obviously allowed to vary, but that's my view on it.)

What if I slipped you a little somethin'-somethin' to work on one?

Sorry, it doesn't work like that. It's genuinely not a case of not wanting to write the content, it's of not feeling able to. Even if it did work like that I would almost certainly not work on specific content on commission... I've seen creators go down that road and they usually regret it.

I do accept gifts and gift suggestions on my Throne that might inspire me to work on certain types of content, because that is the way my brain works (new input often causes new output) but I make no guarantees and I'm not trying to get you to bribe me.

Can I contribute content to the game?

No, thank you though. All the other potential issues with this aside, I write this game because I enjoy it. I want to be the one to write the content I've come up with (even if it takes me a long time).

If you want to write something using the settings and concepts here, feel free, I don't mind at all if someone wants to use something like Fast Felipe's or GIPSE. I'd prefer people not use the player characters (like Cyan or Jamie) but I'm not a cop here, I'm not going to throw a fit if someone does. The game has no hard and fast canon but does have a canon explanation for why there's infinite possibilities for things characters or organizations could do or why they'd be different, so it's not like the characters as I write them can be "ruined" or whatever by what someone else's version of them does.

Will there be seasonal updates?

No. I used to do seasonal updates but it wound up strangling my productivity because I tried to force myself to write thematic content rather than what I was actually feeling up to writing at the time.

Sometimes properly thematic updates will be made around the various times (Halloween, Christmas, etc.) but that's more incidental.

How do I find the content mentioned in the release post?

In the game's sidebar, click on the Version History link, there's always a list of the new updates with links that will take you right to them (unless it's expanding on an update from a previous incremental release, then you can just move up slightly and click the original link).

Okay but how do I find the path that leads to that?

Usually if I remember I include a document in the public release that explains this. Since it's rather long I'll just attach the text file to this post. It's got two different methods for doing this easily. If someone asks this on a post I usually don't reply, partly because a lot of the time I don't necessarily remember but also because I expect someone else might be able to explain it better.

(I know this may be shocking to some people but just because I wrote this game doesn't mean I remember everything in it perfectly all the time. You'd probably be surprised by how little I remember of my own stuff. This is why people who do this for big companies get assigned editors.)

Is the Discord just for supporters?

No the Discord is for everyone.

Oh hey the Google Drive link is set to authorized users only I should request access right?

This hasn't happened in a long time but sometimes I forget to set the Google Drive permission to "Anyone with the link can view". If you can't access it, just come back to the post, and if no one else has said so yet leave a comment letting me know.

There are few things that drove me crazier in years past than leaving the computer briefly after posting and coming back to eight access request emails and three people commenting "I can't get the file" and two DMs of same. (Which is probably why I eventually got so good about remembering, but still.)

Will you put up content warnings for what the paths ahead contain?

Sorry, but with a very few exceptions I'm never going to do that. I feel like it chokes the flow of gameplay and the sense of anticipation.

I understand that some subjects/issues/kinks can be difficult for some people to deal with, but I also believe that it is your responsibility to manage your own risk for that. If something you read begins to disturb you, simply backtrack out of the path and read another one. If you have a stronger reaction where even reading a little of something causes a traumatic reaction, you may need to avoid the game entirely. That's fine, it's up to each of us to curate our experiences and exposure to the extent we deem necessary.

Can I ask you questions about the characters/setting?

Sure!

Can I ask you personal questions about yourself?

Depends but in general I would prefer you didn't.

Oh but I had a super personal question about your sexual experiences that I really thought it was okay to ask you in public even though I'm a complete stranger.

Well that's not a very professional answer!

I try not to have that official/"corpo" feel to my interactions with people, it feels weird and phony when I try.

Also I'm not sure what the professional answer would have been when someone asked me if I had any personal experience with certain actions taken by Cyan in one of her more popular paths but I'm pretty sure there isn't one.

Anyway, that's just a handful of things, most of them haven't come up in a long while but just in case, here they are. You all have fun and I'll see you next week!