oh my god you’re so pretty, hello gorgeous!!!!!!!

*coughs coughs*

Dear and dearest Chimfans™ (i made the ™ jokes so many times i know how to type it on the keyboard: alt + 0153… crazy)

More seriously, hello guys, I hope you have been doing all right since the last devlog!! For my part, I passed the first semester of my last year of literature master’s summa cum laude, I’m on the verge of a burnout, but you know what? That’s okay, because I can count on my best friends through these hard times (books… i’ve been reading a lot of books…)

(and grabbed a donut with some friends)

(and i went to the cinema with a friend, i watched the master of kabuki, a 7.5/10 in my book i recommend)

(but like for real, as i’m writing these lines, i’ve read like 38 books since the start of the year; and i’m not even counting those for my masters’)

(if i don’t read then i’ll turn cray-cray and i am chimeriquement not craymeriquement or something)

OMG CAN’T I FOCUS!!!!! WILL IT KILL ME TO BE PROFESSIONAL FOR ONCE

First of all, I wanted to give you a little update on the itch issue, because it’s the main reason for me being less active as a game dev, and to still keep talking about it, because it is alas still an ongoing issue…

The Blue Skies of Milan has been deindexed. And I wish I could tell you this was a joke. My best guess is that it happened the content warning includes, and I quote, “mentions of child labour and child death” and apparently that’s too dark for itch lmao

More seriously, when I found out about this a few weeks ago (a way for devs to know a game has been deindexed is that it doesn’t have a clickthrough rate), I was genuinely shocked because… well… the game is literally just about two kids sharing hopes for the future, I genuinely think it’s the TAMEST game I’ve ever made, like please, look at this horrendous screenshot from this game

like how dare i write such problematic content, right?

It is frustrating indeed, especially since itch isn’t responsive at all when you reach out, and I’ve stopped hoping for human verification (I didn’t contact them for this game, but since I got ghosted for The Daughters of the Sun after they removed it…)

I won’t insist too much on it, but once again, a bummer that itch focuses games that have so much meaning to me: The Daughters of the sun, its sequel and its prequel were made with passion to promote a theatre play that is to me the master work of human creation; High School Lolita is my favourite game of mine, deconstructing the tropes of the very genre of games itch tried to censor; and finally, The Blue Skies of Milan was written to promote the second most meaningful piece of art I’ve met in my life: the anime Romeo’s Blue Skies.

Considering how unhinged itch’s algorithm is when it comes to censorship, I’ve come to one decision. I doubt many people noticed, but a few years ago, I used to write summaries of my games etc. in png pictures, so that I could have fun making the game page “pretty”; that is something I’ve stopped doing since the release of God Bless You for a simple reason: I read that writing info on pictures wasn’t compatible with text-to-speech tools, and I figured making sure my game pages were as accessible as possible was more important than making it fancy.

This is what led, however, to the deindexation of The Blue Skies of Milan: the words “child death” were written on the game page, and it was enough for itch. And who knows what words I might write would accidentally make my game deindexed? So I’ve made a decision for future games: I’ll go back to my old ways, include all the info on the game page in pictures, so that I can have fun with everything again but also can avoid as much as possible itch being a bitch. But since I haven’t turned into a villain, and I still care about accessibility, I will include a link to a Google Doc offering an “accessible” version of the game page, to ensure people using text-to-speech tools can still get the proper info. Similarly, I’ll stop including the content/trigger warning on the game pages but will instead put a link to them. I think I’ll also avoid using the expressions “content/trigger warnings” anymore, just in case lol

But now, you may ask: lmao what future games chim your last game was released seven months ago, and it was an O2A2 one

Well, remember when I said in the previous devlog that I wasn’t sure I was going to participate to NaNoRenO this year?

FUCK ME I GUESS BECAUSE I HAVE A GAME IDEA

I won’t say too much about it, because I kind of want to be in the mindset I was when I developed High School Lolita three years ago (already!): me, my work, my craft, and my urge to create. So it will change a lot from the process I usually go with for my games now (editing, proofreading, working with VAs…), but I feel like this is the kind of stories I need to be absorbed into, madly so lol; and I also want it to be a surprise, even for the friends that usually support me, because you know, gotta keep the flame alive, break the routine etc.

But now, you may ask, o wise reader, what can you expect from this game, entitled The Beauty Marks of Aquarius? Well, think dark romance and gothic horror. I guess also yaoi too??? and yandere-ish (I would argue it is but like I’m not sure that’s what people expect from a yandere story lmaooo, if you know me, you know I can’t just embrace the trope loool)?? And somehow, you know, aubergine emoji, or at least, kind of suggestive in the prose????? Like, don’t expect anything too spicy, especially since, well, ace like I am, I tend to only tackle sex in my work to make it somehow disturbing, but I guess???????? I DON’T KNOW THE GENRE CONVENTIONS OKAY???

And because this devlog lacks pictures, and you’ve been so nice (yes, you have!!), here is a visual snippet (and that’s all you’ll get):

(i swear he’ll have pupils in game)

I’m a bit worried though about the story, since it’s kind of dark without like an actual goal; like, obviously, the game has a message, you can take things from it, but I guess I’m kind of in the spirit of Nabokov when he wrote Lolita: I just need to get the story out, and it’s really more about vibes than about a “message”? But at the same time, I feel like the bad stuff is so bad that it’s rather obvious, so as long as I’m not romanticising it, then I guess it’s fine lmaooo

Oh also, the game is mostly in English, but let’s say it’s centered around a novel, and sometimes I quote some excerpts from the novel (nonexistent, I’m making it up LOL) which are in French, because I can make it sound pretentious and intellectual!!!!! But more seriously, expect a game with like… ✨vibes✨, and I guess more experimental in my story telling loool

but now I HAVE TO SHUT MY MOUTH BECAUSE I WANT IT TO BE A SURPRISE LOOOL, so yeah, that’s all you're getting, find out when the game gets released later this month I guess!

And THAT’S IT!!!!! WE’RE DONE!!!!!!! So I hope you guys can be excited for that, because I am!

Until then, kiss a potato!!!!! See you!!