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