FAQ

I know we've had a number of new joiners over the last handful of months, so I thought I'd finally write up a FAQ. (And yes, these questions are in fact frequently asked.) I used to have one on Tumblr but that's gone now... apparently, several years after I ceased using it, they decided to nuke it for porn.

When are you going to work on [path]?

I don't know. 

I work on paths when I both feel a combination of inspiration, drive, and proper ideas to work on them. Sometimes those three seldom converge. It's part of why the Devious games are like they are... if I tried to focus on just one game I'd be abandoning them constantly for new grounds, this way it's still all part of one project that I might actually get back to.

Also please don't ask me this, I am stubborn by nature and while I don't do it in punishment for asking, it's just my brain's natural inclination to turn away from something I'm being pressured to do.

Well could I pay you to work on [path]?

Thank you but no. I don't take "commissions" because I feel like forcing myself into writing something doesn't provide the same quality that writing it "spontaneously" does. Also when I try to force it very often my brain stalls out and produces nothing. 

Could I help you write the game?

Again, thank you but no. This presents a lot of problems, one being that it's hard to incorporate additional writing into the proper structure of the game, another being that... I just enjoy working on the game. I get satisfaction out of writing these segments and I don't necessarily want someone else to take my fun.

However, I very much encourage you to work on your own project of whatever kind, and if you want, use stuff from the Devious settings. While my preference is that you not use the player characters, I am 100% fine with you using various NPCs, settings, scenarios, and ideas for your own work. Maybe toss a little note on there that it's not intended as canon to the game if you wanna be extra nice.

How do I get to [segment linked in the updates]?

Uhhhh... I might know this?

Let me explain a lot about this game and how it functions and gets made by saying I have ADHD and that, along with other things, means my memory's not so good. I'm often working off of quick links I've saved to get somewhere. So chances are if someone asks this I'm gonna leave it sitting and hope someone else answers it rather than dig up my files and start looking, sorry.

However! Here is a browser script a very thoughtful reader, NotHere, wrote that will tell you the choices to take to get where you are anywhere in the game:

full code: https://pastebin.com/cyJqxEd6

bookmarklet: https://pastebin.com/FKG8kjeA

Here's how to set a bookmarklet up.

Is [path] abandoned?

If it's still in the game, probably not.

While there are some paths that I've never found a good way to tackle or lost a certain amount of enthusiasm for, most stuff that's still in the game is stuff I still intend to work on someday, even if it's been severely backburnered. 

Why don't you do holiday-themed updates anymore?

Basically same reason as the "when are you going to work on [path]" question. I was finding it kind of stressful to feel pushed to make particular holiday updates, especially Halloween or Christmas, if I didn't have the right mindset or drive for it at the time, and it made me feel guilty when I worked on something else instead.

Eventually I abandoned holiday updates and now just write holiday content any time I feel like it.

Why did you write [stuff]?

'Cause I want to/felt like it. That's... pretty much always the answer.

Why I want to varies... sometimes it's mood, sometimes it's trying something new, sometimes I actually want to try something that's not super interesting to me but I know interests other people, to see if it's something I can start enjoying too. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.

"For the money" is never the answer, btw. This game is a passion project and has been from the start... I only ever set up a Patreon because people kept urging me to and wanting to support me. Also, I am idyut. I guarantee you I am not scheme-y enough to sit down and hatch dastardly plans on how to hook people and draw them in. I just type the weird stuff in my brain and apparently give people weird new kinks accidentally, that is all I do.

Can I have writing tips?

Read a lot of stuff. Write a lot of stuff. Write whatever comes into your head. Let it be as self-indulgent or "cringe" as you want, if you're embarrassed of it you don't have to share it. Similarly don't feel like you have to finish something before moving on to something else, especially if you haven't shared it... the more you write the better you will get at it, like any other skill, plain and simple. Also the more you read the more you will become experienced in a broad range of writing styles and method.

Try to be as proper about spelling as you can manage, but don't pay a single bit of attention to rules of sentence structure that were taught in English class. Those "rules" were invented by people who were bad at writing. Your goal should be to make yourself understood the way you want to be, and you'll learn how to do that as you go. Don't let other people, foolish people, say things, things like, you use too many commas. There's infinite commas, literally infinite commas, you won't deplete the supply, at all.

Also one of my most valuable writing tips I ever got was: "Your writing should be like a woman's skirt. Long enough to cover everything, but short enough to keep it interesting."

Anyway! I'll update this as necessary later on, that's it for now.