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The Ink That Bleeds

I've been so consumed by journaling games. I've played a lot of them, read a lot more, designed some (that I haven't published yet), published three so far, and now I really want to tell you about the zine I'm writing about playing them.

One I published is called Be With Me. It's about your time on a reality dating show hoping to find love. Your dating partners are inspired by paint swatches you get from the hardware store. I'm currently Flash Saleing it here.

Another I made with my son is called Vampyres Are People Too. It's available on itch here. It's surprisingly more impactful than you might expect from a game by a ten year old. I wrote about making it with him here.

But, the zine...it's called The Ink That Bleeds. It talks about bleed in of elements from outside a game, bleed out of game elements into your real life, writing dialogue, self care, how journaling games create immersion, and lots of other stuff. There are hundreds and hundreds of journaling games on itch, but no one is talking about them as designed experiences like this. I'm super excited about it.

I write about lots of ones I've played too. All of them are in this itch collection I made, or linked from the collection description at the top.

Probably I will Kickstart the zine in February for Zine Quest. That's my plan anyway. Stay tuned.

And if you have questions or thoughts, the comments are open. Have you been playing journaling games? Which ones? Or if not, I'm really hoping The Ink That Bleeds makes you want to. I think it could.

Thanks,

Paul

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Looking forward to see it at Itch.io now that you kickstarted it. I'm from Brazil and shipping+ printed book would worth the same as a bicycle over here. Do you have plans to sell a digital version here?

I'm not planning to do a digital version. With zines I really like the fun of physical books. Sending them as stamped letter mail, and people getting them in the mail, feels like I'm being truer to the spirit of zines than a pdf or ebook.
I've done my best to keep the price down, and sending them as stamped letter mail is part of it. One to you in Brazil as stamped letter mail is currently just under $5 for the stamps.
Email me: paul (at) halfmeme (d*t) com

Mentioned in this post

A One-page Journaling Game by Czege & Son